Two Thoughts

DRILL BABY DRILL! When will the president realize that having a domestic supply of oil is to our benefit. I realize that, even if we start drilling tomorrow, we won't see the oil for many years. It may though relax the futures' traders and speculators who are driving up the price of a gallon of oil. We do have enough in our own country. And, we won't be dependent on conditions in the Middle East.

Speaking of the Middle East and the riots there, congratulations to Governor Walker and the legislature of Wisconsin. They found a way to lessen the control of the unions. Those poor union workers will have to write a check for their dues each year, the government won't be automatically deducting them from employees paychecks and sending them onto the union. This is one of the collective bargaining "rights" taken from the unions. They can still bargain for salaries.

The behavior of the pro union and anti Walker groups is reprehensible. Last night, after the vote was taken, people started climbing through the windows and yelling. I've even heard that some of the legislators have received death threats. Don't get me started on the democrats who left the state because they didn't get their way on the bill. They acted like spoiled children having a temper tantrum. Did they hold their breath too?

With all this going on, where is the president? Why isn't he calling for civility? I know he has budget problems of his own, but he is giving tacit approval for this type of behavior. What will happen when the Republicans cut the country's budget? Will we have more protests and possibly riots in the streets?

Public Workers

After watching the news recently, I'm beginning to think I live in the Mid East. There are so many demonstrations against the governor of Wisconsin and there may be some against the governors of Ohio and Indiana. The only thing the governors are guilty of is trying to restrict some of the power of the unions. Public sector workers have walked off their jobs, even the legislators in Wisconsin have abandoned their job which is to debate and then vote on the merits of the bills that come before them. These people have shirked their duties and fled to another state and are in hiding.

Over 40 years ago I said that the unions had outlived their usefulness. Yes, in the beginning, there was a need for them, but now we have minimum wage laws, child labor laws, etc. We don't need the unions.

According to Matthew Continetti of Beltway Confidential last October 1, 2010, "Even President Franklin Roosevelt, a friend of private-sector unionism, drew a line when it came to government workers: 'Meticulous attention,' the president insisted in 1937, 'should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government….The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.' The reason? F.D.R. believed that “[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable.”

Maybe the governor of Wisconsin should follow Ronald Reagan's example and fire the teachers and any other workers who have walked off their jobs.

Governor Walker does not want to eliminate collective bargaining. He merely wants to restrict it to pay and benefits. Other states want to implement "Right to Work" laws. That seems fair to me. Why should a worker be forced to join a union and pay dues. Those dues are used to support political candidates who the worker does not support or agree with.

I hope the legislators who ran away from their responsibilities will not receive any pay for their vacation, nor should the state have to pay their expenses.