Abstract: Scott Walker has taken upon himself to neuter the bargaining power of unions, in response to an exaggerated budget shortfall. The implications of this action are catastrophic and unprecedented to our democracy itself. Corporate interest has largely co-opted our political system in a way that has been both obvious and egregious over the past two years; I argue that we are losing our democracy, and paint a picture of a future most undesirable as a result.
I wouldn't dare say that these past two years were the most corrupt in the United States' history, but I would certainly say that I have never seen such a level of corruption before.
Governor Scott Walker claims that there is a budget crisis in Wisconsin, and in response, is dissolving public sector unions. The unions have offered to take whatever cuts necessary, but Walker has resolved to destroy them completely. In a strange turn, the only public sector unions Walker is NOT dissolving are the police and fire department unions, which tend to be conservative and have supported Walker's campaign1. Furthermore, Walker's campaign was also financed by the infamous Koch brothers2.
Wisconsin is not facing as bad a shortfall as many other states, states that, while making significant cuts, have not moved to threaten their public-sector unions' existence. New Jersey, for example--which is in one of the greatest state budget crises in the country--while is in the process of making significant cuts to education (that I vehemently disagree with), has not moved to attack the teachers' union.
Even more telling is that there is nothing in the dissolution of the public sector unions that would bring in revenue to the state1. Furthermore, the Wisconsin legislature voted today to make a tax hike require a 2/3 majority3. This is absolutely asinine. It would be incredibly difficult--nearly impossible--to solve a deficit by cutting spending alone, due to interest rates. Wisconsin, thus, is running itself into the ground.
Walker has done a similar thing in the past, in which he fired his unionized security guard for not reason, and then hired Wackenhut to guard a state courthouse in 1993. The firm was investigated for lewd behavior in Kabul, and the security guard who was brought into that Madison courthouse had a criminal record! Furthermore, because he grossly overestimated the money the state would save, as well as the fact that the unwarranted firing of the unionized security guard resulted in a lawsuit, Walker's entire enterprise cost the state an additional $500k(1).
Now is not the time to be dissolving unions, or even diminishing their power. Two years ago, we suffered a remarkably preventable global economic crisis, brought on by a complete lack of foresight, complacence, and unmitigated avarice. Despite that, we have a demographic of very angry lower and middle-class Americans, who have been manipulated by these same corporate interests into attacking themselves when we should be attacking these corporations. It is extremely depressing that at a time when we should punish these corporations to the fullest extent of the law, close tax loopholes for businesses, raise the corporate tax rate to close to 50%, we have elected people who argue for deregulation (after we find out that Burger King novelty glasses are laced with lead and cadmium, and banks are using underhanded procedures to force foreclosures) and seek to destroy workers' access to leverage in negotiations with their superiors. Our middle class isn't shooting itself in the foot; the barrel of that shotgun is pressing against the roof of its mouth, and Scott Walker is going to be the one to pull the trigger.
But worse than that. In attacking unions, Rachel Maddow claims that Scott Walker (and, by extension, the Koch brothers) are going after the heart of the Democratic party, as the GOP at large went after ACORN (which campaigns to get people registered to vote), and, more recently, Planned Parenthood4. Unions generally support the Democratic party, and while one may not agree with the Democratic party, I would venture to suggest that it's far better at present than the alternative.
I hate to be hyperbolic, I really do. But it has never been clearer to me that despite having a very intelligent person in the White House, who can do very little, if not nothing, about the irresponsibility of the federal legislature, and nothing about Wisconsin, and was crippled from the start by an extremely effective propaganda campaign by Fox News, we are losing our democracy to corporate interests in a way that is largely unprecedented.
After Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, the federal government was moved to step in on behalf of the lower class, and what resulted was a large body of regulations that protected--and continue to protect--greater society from corporate mal- and misfeasance, such as the FDA, the SEC, which, unfortunately, due to corporate influence, failed--or neglected--to catch Bernard Madoff, to the EPA, which is also under attack by our federal legislature. But that isn't an argument against regulation, that is simply an argument for more vigilant regulations.
It is worth nothing that the ever observant Represenative Paul Ryan remarked that Madison was like Egypt5. Did he just say what I think he said? Is Scott Walker a smaller Hosni Mubarak? Representative Ryan, much like Job, spoke far more than he knew. For annihilating the leverage of his people in negotiations in the face of an already tyrannical environment, I hope our little Egypt prevails.
What we face as citizens is what many face in countries far worse than ours. Our political will is being wrested from us by skillful manipulation and financial influence. We are being told by Fox News who we are to vote for because our corporations have already purchased them. Politicians are products, bought and paid for by an aristocracy. Imagine that Coke completely wiped out Pepsi, and then had enough resources to wipe out not only Pepsi, but even the last tiny bastions of Sarsaparilla.
Do any of us know what it's like to live under a single-party system? Worse, this isn't due to violence, a coup d'etat, but an influence alien to all of us. This influence doesn't care for political wisdom or the welfare of the community under its control. This influence merely cares for its preservation at the expense of ordinary citizens. What we will have thanks to the Koch brothers will be worse than even theocracy.
What is happening under this system is that the tax cuts are deliberately intended to dismantle the government and its services under an ideology called "Starve the Beast." This ideology seeks to eat away at the government infrastructure by reducing its revenue, much like a lack of blood flow leads to gangrene. The wealthiest Americans will not pay any taxes, but the rest of us will not be entitled even to the services we take for granted and could possibly afford. Because of the two conflicting ideologies within the GOP (Christian Dominionism and corporate libertarianism (libertarianism, by pushing for corporate deregulation, will have eradicated social liberty, as corporations would be able to control our freedoms of expression, of the press, and of association. For evidence, I point to recent firings over Facebook comments and Blacklisting during the Red Scare. The press will have been bought off by corporate interests. Anyone who tries to act like Edward R Murrow will be fired.)), we will no longer have libraries, access to effective public education, or even healthcare, which we would need most of all after the dissolution of the EPA and the revocation of smoking bans. And you can forget about trying to find a job. Thus far, corporate America has not been inclined to hire many people, even after a year of astronomical profits, and there is little to indicate that that will change in the near future.
The dystopia I have just described, while hyperbolic at first glance, is an ever-possible reality should current political trends continue. If Walker and the Tea Party succeed, we will be far worse off than we are now.
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7e4bj5rrd8&feature=player_embedded
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22koch.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB
3) http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/22/us-wisconsin-taxes-idUSTRE71L5F520110222
4) http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-votes-strip-planned-parenthood-federal-funding/story?id=12951080
5) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/paul-ryan-wisconsin-protests-cairo_n_824499.html
6) http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-02-22-1Alibyagas22_ST_N.htm
2 comments:
While I agree corporate America is making a serious attack on the middle class via Fox News and other Murdoch outlets, I can’t let go of a few errors, especially about Governor Christie not attacking the teachers’ association:
1) NJEA members were angered by Christie’s comments to Trenton students, in which he said it was the “greedy teachers union” – and not his $1.3 billion in state aid cuts – that was responsible for the lack of supplies in their classrooms.1 See the news article showing that teachers spend between $500 and $1,000 of their own money each year on school supplies (nurses too.) “So much for ‘greedy teachers,’” Keshishian, NJEA President, said.
2) “Last April, he unjustly and inappropriately accused teachers of using students as ‘drug mules’ while accusing teachers of telling parents how to vote in school budget elections. That was a blatant falsehood. And now he uses students for political purposes. Our members are justifiably outraged.”
3) The Trentonian features Christie ridiculing teachers for attending the two-day NJEA convention, saying that “if the union cared more about all of you learning, they’d be in school, baby, that’s right. They wouldn’t be down there having a party, which is all this is, it’s a party.” “This governor’s comments are irresponsible and out of control,” Keshishian said. “Not only is he lying to students about the obvious impact of his massive cuts to public schools, but it is inconceivable that a governor would use such language with students in order to advance a political agenda. It’s one thing to disagree over policy issues, but demeaning teachers in front of their students is totally unacceptable behavior by the state’s chief executive. It raises serious questions about his character. Keshishian said Christie’s characterization of the NJEA Convention – the largest professional development event in the world for educators with over 300 workshops and seminars spanning two full days – is “particularly disturbing. He wouldn’t even let his Acting Commissioner attend an annual session at the convention with NJEA members, and he clearly has no clue about what happens there,” Keshishian said. Christie wouldn’t even let his Acting Commissioner attend an annual session with NJEA members at the convention.2
There are other daily attacks on teachers noted in the paper.
1http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid616303324001?bctid=665566293001
2http://www.njea.org/news/2010-11-09/njea-christie-irresponsible-and-out-of-control
(By the way, type footnote #s using the exponent symbol near the bold/italics/underline symbols)
I wouldn't deny that he's fighting with the NJEA, but has he attacked in any meaningful way the very existence of the unions the way Scott Walker had?
Post a Comment