For GOP, Right To Work = Obamacare

As the battle with the Public Employee Unions in Wisconsin continues to rage, some states have taken the battle as a cue to push for Right to Work laws in their states.  But just as Obamacare became the key vote in the Democrats losses in the 2010 elections, Right to Work laws may be the GOP’s undoing.

Labor-supporters and detractors alike have historically been opposed to collective bargaining for the PEUs, but as union membership began to decline in the 50’s and 60’s, the public employees were seen as fertile ground to gain members and dollars.  In 1959, progressive Wisconsin became the first state to sanction collective bargaining rights for public employees.  While the practice has spread to other states, today 24 states still restrict or limit that right, as does the federal government.

Defining the difference between the PEUs and private-sector unions is key for the conservative viewpoint to prevail.  This is why the union leadership, Democrats and others have sought to blur that line.  But the case for PEUs is not analogous to the private-sector unions.  As The National Review's Jonah Goldberg stated in his article, Public Unions Must Go,

"Traditional, private-sector unions were born out of an often-bloody adversarial relationship between labor and management....

Government unions have no such narrative on their side. Do you recall the Great DMV Cave-in of 1959? How about the travails of second-grade teachers recounted in Upton Sinclair’s famous schoolhouse sequel to The Jungle? No? Don’t feel bad, because no such horror stories exist."

If this distinction becomes lost, the GOP cannot win this fight. 

Today, conservatives sit at the table as the adults.  They were given this place of leadership because they promised to cut spending.  In light of the budget deficits, conservatives are making bold choices.  As many see it, Governor Walker’s fight is not against the unions, it’s a fight for fiscal sanity – a fight for the taxpayers.  In this fight, the GOP has the high road. 

But in taking on the private sector unions, the Republicans relinquish their lofty position.  Ceasing to be a budget battle for the taxpayers, it becomes seen as an attack on union households.  In swing states, the GOP cannot win this fight - there are too many average households that contain current or former union members.  In these states, the fight is against their daddy or their grandpa's union?  For good or bad, unions have a relevant history for many generations, even if union membership wasn't passed down to the current generation.  If Gov. Walker and other like-minded Governors are to be successful in their fight, it cannot be seen as a fight against the long history of the private unions in this country.

When the line between the PEUs and private sector unions is drawn clearly, the battleground becomes less hazy.  In the proper light, even long standing union members can see the difference between their battles with the business owners and the PEUs fight against the taxpayers.  The case for PEUs has always been illegitimate and this argument can prevail when it is not hidden behind the private unions.

In the media, the words of former AFL-CIO President George Meany and  President Franklin D. Roosevelt in stating their opposition to collective bargaining rights for government workers were coming to light.  But no sooner were the words beginning to gain traction that the GOP controlled legislature in Indiana rose up to shoot itself in the foot.  By making a push for Right to Work laws in the private sector, they effectively blurred the line without any outside help from the unions.  The momentum in Wisconsin began to falter, as the Democrats in Indiana went on the lam in a concerted move to equate the two very different battles.  Luckily for the GOP, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels wisely chose to cut off the Republican charge against the unions before it ever started.

If the GOP believes it can successfully take on all unions, they have misread their mandate.  While the Indiana lawmakers may claim they are doing what is best for Indiana, they and other state legislatures must understand that their actions are not happening in a vacuum.  As the average person sits down to watch the news, the bits and pieces from each state begin to form a whole.  Wisconsin , Ohio and New Jersey are battling public unions, while Missouri, Indiana and Michigan are battling for Right to Work.  The President says the Republicans are trying to bust the unions.  If a person weren't up on the issue, how would it appear?  Republicans can only win the debate against the PEUs by contrasting them to the private unions, but not while they appear to be attacking those same private unions in another state.

In many states, the so-called swing states, the GOP has risen to leadership only recently.  Here in my state of Missouri, Republicans lead the legislature, but we have a Democrat in the Governor's mansion.  My county voted for a Republican in the last Congressional race for the first time since I've been alive.  The GOP (thanks to the Tea Party) has made tremendous inroads into the local Democrat strongholds.  But those gains are tenuous today.  Moving Missouri into strong if not permanent red territory is within our grasp.  But with the wrong moves, Missouri could quickly swing back the other way.

In Jefferson City, GOP leaders are pushing Right To Work in order to capitalize while the opportunity presents itself.  But with Jay Nixon as a Governor, the only way forward is a ballot proposition.  As a union officer, I can say that the charge against Right to Work will be hard and heavy - it in fact has already begun.  The union media blitz will seek to overwhelm.  Winning a ballot initiative in Missouri is difficult enough.   Winning over the union machine may be a bridge too far.

In Missouri, ballot propositions turn into a Hatfield and McCoy type feud.  By the time the vote takes place, no one really knows what they're voting for and after it's over, it's not over.  The results of a hotly contested ballot initiative will soon be fought again during the next legislative session as the losing side "reloads".

In Missouri, riverboat gambling failed before it passed.  It passed with limits that no longer exist.  Recently, one of our riverboat casinos was built several blocks away from the river.  It's okay though, since the gaming floor is floating atop a small layer of water.  Those who congratulated themselves on winning the war against casinos two decades ago understand what I'm saying.  Risking the GOP gains in the state on a ballot proposition would be folly.

In early 2010, the House Democrats went through a remarkable set of events to pass President Obama's Health Care Reform law.  Today, many of them are no longer in Washington because of that vote.  Republicans now hold control of that chamber and with the gains expected in the next election cycle, they should regain control of the Senate also.  If a Republican should be elected President, the formal repeal of Obamacare would be the first order of business - even though it may have been found unconstitutional by the highest court at that point.  It would be a vivid display of what happens when one party seeks to over reach its mandate in a strict party line vote against the prevailing will of the people.  

Let the thought of such an image be burned into the back of the minds of statehouse Republicans as they risk their party's leadership for what may be a fleeting victory.  If they continue down this path, Right To Work will be the GOP's Obamacare.

* This post has been modified after it was originally published.  I accidentally included Ohio among the states seeking Right to Work laws, when it should have been listed as a state opposing public unions.  I have updated the post and it should be accurate now.

Ruminations from the Void

From time to time here at Sam’s Taste of Chaos, I will post my current thinking on anything and everything.  It will simply be a collection of whatever random, often trivial thoughts are flying through my head.  Imagine it as cutting my skull open, turning it upside down and shaking it to see what falls out.  I can’t think of any particular reason why this should be interesting for anyone, but to paraphrase my favorite poet, mine not to reason why; mine but to do and to write.  So into the void we ride.

Minute to Win It - I was exposed to this show last night and now I fear for our nation’s ability to Win the Future™.  It was two hours of watching two girls compete in the type of backyard/church basement activities we would do when I was a kid.  That’s two hours of a national TV audience on a big three network watching two girls carry an egg on a tray, blowing ping pong balls off a pizza pan and trying to roll quarters into the tines of a fork.  (In my defense, we were at the neighbors for dinner.  At home we had the ABC and FOX lineups recording to the DVR.) (No, I still don’t know if that’s good, but it definitely makes me feel better.)

My alarm did not function properly this morning, so I went off to work without my coffee.  Keep this in mind as you read.

Children are off school today again (Note: be sure to read my post from yesterday – I Give Up, Al Gore! Now Make it Stop Snowing).   Cabin fever has set in at our home, so we are leaving town for a couple of days.  No real agenda; just tired of kids sitting in the same room for hours on end. (Indoor pool and hot tub are beckoning)

I’m a union officer with the Laborers. I represent workers at a mining/manufacturing plant.  Teamsters’ President, Jimmy Hoffa has a piece today defending public unions.  But even I am put off by the public unions.  My job is to leverage our workers’ rights with the private owner’s rights; even there, our stake is disproportionate.  But the public union workers as voters are part of the electorate and have de facto authority over ‘ownership’; in effect placing them on both sides of the bargaining table.

On the same topic, Right to Work is being debated in the Missouri legislature.  In my opinion, until we can enforce our borders against illegal immigration, this is a discussion to be put off to another day.  States have been flooded by illegals following RTW implementation.  In addition, the state should try to attract new businesses in ways that do not punish Missouri's current businesses which RTW would do.  Let’s evaluate our tax structure first.  Illinois has opened the flood gates by raising taxes.  Missouri can do its part to reap the rewards by lowering the cost for all businesses through lower taxes.  Several versions of a bill to eliminate the income tax through revision of the sales tax are on the table.  We should act now.

I’ll try to finish off my (starting to seem a bit creepy) obsession with Reagan on a lighter note.  If you have read the graphic novel Watchmen you know that in extending Nixon’s presidency into the 80’s, Reagan’s disappears from history.  The author Alan Moore, a terrific writer, wanted to write an anti-Reaganism story.  But he unknowingly, did the opposite.  Without Reagan, the only hope for averting a nuclear holocaust was having the smartest man on earth manufacture a perceived alien attack, with mass destruction and wide-scale death, in order to bring foes together against this unified threat.  Would I prefer that a hero might never be needed? Sure.  Unfortunately, events had degraded America to the point that finding one was imperative.  President Reagan was that hero.  The story was written in 1986, so Moore can be forgiven for being on the wrong side of history.  But why are so many still under the misconception that this Watchmen’s truth is still validated?

As to the underlying basis for it's title, the Watchmen rings true today.  We can give the government control over our healthcare, our businesses, our economy, our education, even our lives; but who watches the watchmen?  The beauty of America is that we, the people; each of us hold the keys to our own fate.  We write our own story and follow our own path.  The miracle of America is that we rise above our mortal failings as a people because no one is indispensable, yet none are unimportant.  As Dr. Manhattan found,

"But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget... I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from the another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take our breath away."