True Or False: Doug MacEachern Is A Libertarian Hack

Last Sunday, Doug MacEachern, who is one of the crack team of editorial columnists at The Arizona Republic, (to my knowledge the only daily paper in a major metropolitan area to NEVER win a Pulitzer Prize for anything other than cartoons), took up his quill pen, and ever ready righteous indignation, to warn us--yet again--of the dangers of creeping unionism in Phoenix. Oh, those pesky labor unions with their demands for a living wage, safe workplaces, and, horrors, benefits. They must be stopped! And MacEachern, the Paul Revere of the Arizona branch of the Free Market/To Hell With The Workers Club, is just the guy to do it.

For those of you fortunate enough to never have read any of his work, MacEachern has been writing essentially the same column for at least 20 years. Always some variation of "the unions are bad, regulations are bad, multiculturalism is bad, liberals are very bad, the free market is the only thing that will save us" crap that the right, and libertarians in particular, spew out on a regular basis.

The cornerstones of their "ideal" Arizona are low taxes and low wages and the "freedom" to fuck over your workers. Because, uh, I don't know, Ayn Rand? The fact that this method has never delivered the results they swore it would, and has in fact resulted in Arizona being the southwestern version of Mississippi, does not deter them from constantly repeating them. That's the thing about True Believers: They have faith and that's what really matters. Not facts--faith. "If only we could drive wages down even lower and remove all taxes...then you'll see how right we are!" Uh huh.

So, of course, unions are the root cause of all the bad in our would be capitalist paradise--at least in the bullshit fantasy libertarian world that Dougie Mac flits around in.

Somewhere On The Road To Serfdom

The good people of Wisconsin have decided that they would rather be serfs, ruled by a weaselly, beady-eyed, bought and paid for Corporate Whore like Scott Walker and his blood sucking minions...

Good for them!

I say let's run those "union thugs" out of town!
To Hell with the minimum wage and benefits!
To Hell with the 40 hour week!
To Hell with pensions!
Bring back child labor!

To Hell with Healthcare!
To Hell with Public Education!
To Hell with clean air and water!
To Hell with the safety net!
Privatize Everything!

To Hell with progress!
The Enlightenment was a tragic mistake!
Keep women in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant!
Taxes are Socialism!
Freedom Isn't Free!

All Hail The Corporation!

Follow the Money

Most things in life really aren't that complicated. We're born, we live for awhile, and then we die. The seasons follow one another in an orderly fashion. And the rich find ways to stay rich. If that means keeping other folks poor, so be it. Simple.

The reason there are so many "illegals" in Arizona is that a long, long, time ago somebody discovered that they will work for less than we will. They won't demand any benefits either. Demand? Hell, we'll send you back across the border! There are plenty more where you came from. Simple.

So all of these jobs that they are "stealing" from us haven't really been "stolen" by the "illegals" as much as they've been given to the lowest bidder. Simple.

Left to his own devices, without any governmental oversight or regulations, and lacking a moral compass, an employer will always seek out the cheapest labor, whether or not it's "illegal". Simple.

The same theory applies to all of the trans-national corporations that have outsourced millions of American manufacturing jobs over the last 30 years. It has nothing to do with "productivity". American workers are among the most productive in the world. No, the corporations simply discovered that they could pay a whole lot less for labor in India, or China, or wherever. Then they blame those "spoiled" American workers and their "corrupt" unions for "forcing" them overseas. Then they give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses and a pat on the back for being such smart businessmen. Simple.

By the way, the rest of us are lying if we say that we haven't benefited in some way from the cheap labor. But at what cost? Slowly but surely, the middle class disappears. And who do we blame? Not the corporations that sold us out by putting their bottom line ahead of their country's economic health, nor the politicians who enabled them. Not the employers that have profited for years by paying the lowest wages they can get away with, nor the policies that allow them to. No, we blame the "illegals", or the unions, or the liberals. Simple.

Wait...What?

So it turns out that many of those poor, "heavily taxed" corporations don't pay ANY income tax at all. Not one single penny. Instead, they get billions of dollars in refunds. GE, Exxon-Mobil, Boeing, Citigroup, Bank of America. No taxes. Nada, zip, zilch.

What I want to know is where is the Tea Party outrage at this theft? (Really, what else would you call it but theft?) Where are the stupid signs and silly hats now? Where are the armed nitwits with the threatening language, misquoting Thomas Jefferson? Time to put up or shut up, Patriots. Get off your asses and get in the streets. I dare you. Just don't wait for the Koch brothers to pay for your little rallies this time.

No? Well, I guess it is easier to scream about the food stamp recipients who might be getting ice cream for their kids instead of bulk staples. They're the ones ripping us all off, right?

Or those spoiled teachers! Hell, they only work 9 months a year! Parasites!

Or those union thugs! They're the ones holding us back, with their pensions, and health care, and collective bargaining.

Or those 'lazy' Mexicans, taking all of the lucrative jobs picking lettuce or grapefruits away from "good Americans."

Of course, you know what the real problem is, don't ya? It's that damn Obama, who wasn't even born here, forcing socialism down our throats!

I keep thinking that at the end of the day there must be a limit to stupidity. Some finite point where even the dullest amongst us finally takes a good, hard look at things and says, "Wait...What?"

But there's no sign of it yet.

The GOP war on the middle class and the poor

The GOP took over the House of Representatives and several statehouses and Governorships in 2010 by running on the platform of reducing the deficit and creating jobs. Thus far, I haven't seen a single thing -- not one solitary single bill -- to indicate that they weren't lying through their teeth.

The first place where this was really noticeable was in Wisconsin. Gov. Walker ran on a "get the state out of the red" platform. Not once in his campaign did he ever mention dismantling the public unions for all intents and purposes. So what has he done in a mere 11 weeks in office? Destroyed the public sector unions -- except, of course, those that supported him in the election. Not a single bill to create jobs for Wisconsinites -- instead he and the Repulican legislature have passed bills that according to the experts will result in the loss of thousands of jobs as well as killing job expansion.

In Maine, the anti-labor forces led by Governor Paul LePage have reached new heights of silliness. The Governor, who claims the state is another one facing severe budget deficits, is actually spending money to remove a mural depicting the history of labor in Maine. Where is this mural located? The Capitol building? The governor's mansion? No, it's at the Department of Labor! You know, the department assigned to ensure the rights of workers in the state. The reason it is being removed, at taxpayer expense, is that it is actually not pro-business enough. You read that correctly. It actually celebrates labor without giving enough credit to business -- you know, the people who actually fought against labor expansion, minimum wage, the 40-hour work week, etc. Spending taxpayer money on this is something Gov. LePage actually deems important -- all while trying to weaken unions and increase the work week, even on 16 and 17 year old kids!

Florida, led by newly-elected Governor Rick Scott -- he of the fraud problems (he was forced to resign as CEO of Columbia/HCA in 1997 after the company was found guilty of fraud and Medicare violations, including 14 felonies) -- has introduced its own bills aimed at weakening labor unions. First is a bill similar to one under consideration in Maine that will ban the government from automatically collecting union dues. The purpose of this is to make people leave the unions, under the assumption that while unions will still fight for the rights of workers, the people can reap the benefits without having to actually support the unions financially. The second bill will force the unions to tell the members every year what they must do to decertify their union -- in other words, the unions will be forced to tell the members how to destroy their unions. This one is a classic. Scott yesterday signed a bill implementing merit pay for teachers while eliminating tenure for new hires and he is pushing a bill that will privatize public hospitals.

Believe it or not, it gets worse than this. Perhaps the champion of them all is Governor John Kasich of Ohio, the former Fox News right-wing pundit. In Ohio, a bill has passed the Senate and looks to pass the House that will restrict the rights of over 350,000 public sector union members there. At least Kasich is more consistent than Walker -- he doesn't care which unions supported him, he is all in favor of ruining them all. Including the police and firefighter unions! Now some may say that Kasich is really just doing his best to cut the deficit, but those who make that argument then must deal with the fact that Kasich just gave his new chief of staff a healthy pay increase over the previous Governor's chief of staff of about 40% to $175,000. His reason for this is that you must pay and pay well to attract people from the private sector into the public sector. You see, Kasich says basically that union members are overpaid, lazy slobs and don't deserve what they're making, but in some cases (as long as it suits him) they actually need to make more!

I haven't even gone into Michigan, Arizona, South Carolina, Colorado and a few other states yet. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The only good things I'm really seeing about all this is that 1) it is definitely opening the eyes of the voters (the governor and legislature approval ratings are dropping precipitously in all these states); and 2) the Democratic base is beginning to be galvanized, after meekly sitting on the sidelines in 2010. Let's hope so. Someone has to do something to stop these con men before the middle class is completely destroyed.

Alice in Wonderland

I'm really beginning to feel the way that Lewis Carroll's delightful young heroine felt after she slipped down the hole -- or how Dorothy felt after her house landed in a far, faraway place. My first thought every time I turn on the news is, "what the hell is going on here?"

I'll start with the unbelievable battle against labor the Republicans are waging right now. If I understand the Republican position correctly, getting rid of unions will both add great jobs and empower the average American worker. Could this be true? If so, how do we explain the economic prosperity that the country enjoyed when unions were at their strongest? And how do we explain the repeated recessions we've seen since Reagan and his acolytes decided that unions were the worst thing to ever happen to America? And more importantly, where are the jobs?

Here's what really gets me, that it seems that nobody is seeing. The anti-union fight corresponds EXACTLY with the anti-immigrant fight. You see, if you get rid of the unions, then those folks who want jobs will be forced into lower paying work, which of course benefits our corporate overlords. If they can't get those jobs, then who is to blame? Is it the aforementioned corporate overlords who will do anything in order to increase profits? Of course not -- it's the fault of the immigrants, damn it! If they weren't here to do those crappy jobs like cleaning toilets, then the rest of us would be forced to and the corporate overlords would then be able to increase their profits while keeping the rest of us in our place giving thanks to them for our crappy little paychecks.

Now let's talk about something that really doesn't get discussed much -- net neutrality. This is absolutely mind-boggling. You see, according to the Republicans and their corporate overlords, making sure that everyone has access to the internet, both to read and to create, actually HURTS all of us -- in fact, internet freedom is actually internet censorship! Again, it seems like I've gone straight down that rabbithole. Down is up, left is right, north is south, etc... Apparently giving corporations the ability to censor what you can read by way of raising prices, restricting access, etc.,  is actually protecting freedom of speech. I suppose that's true -- if you consider the idea of freedom of speech being "I speak, you listen, and don't you forget it."

So getting rid of the process designed to help workers actually helps workers. Getting rid of things that protect freedom of speech actually helps freedom of speech. Next thing I know, they'll be saying that getting rid of food actually helps make sure that all nutrition needs are met.....

I saw this last night and my jaw dropped. How an elected official can have this much disdain for the citizens of his state is absolutely beyond me. I hope that the people in his district immediately begin work to unseat this idiot from the state senate.



Thanks to Crooks and Liars and MSNBC for the video.

The movement to eradicate labor -- and its possible consequences

The worse it gets for the labor movement in this country, the more people are going to be driven to what Bruce talks about here. A wonderful video from his Charlotte, NC show back on the Born in the USA tour.

Goodbye to all that

Let's begin with the obvious: Without unions there would have been no viable American middle class. Apparently this has been forgotten by a large portion of the populace. The mere existence of unions--call it the threat of unions if you like-- forced even non-union employers to increase their wages and benefits. With the security of a good job you could buy a house and send your kids to college. America's middle class became both the envy of working people everywhere and a force that drove much of the world's economy. Americans consumed products from everywhere. They bought cars from Japan, Germany, Italy, Sweden, England and France. (The cars from France, Italy and England were pieces of crap--but that's another story...) They took trips to every exotic destination they could find. And they spent US dollars at every stop. The foundation of all of this was an American manufacturing base that kept jobs and production in the U.S. Life was good and it seemed like it would go on that way forever...

The attack on unions that began full force during the Reagan years, and has continued unabated since then, began the decline of the middle class in this country. Couple that with the plague of outsourcing, the amorality of the multi-national corporations that now play such a prominent role in our everyday lives, and the unregulated and unrepentant cowboys of Wall Street and you have a perfect storm aimed at destroying all the progress working people have made during the last century. The events in Wisconsin show that we have reached a tipping point. If unions are weakened to the point of irrelevance, then all bets are off for our future as a nation. Oh, there will still be a United States, but it won't be recognizable to anyone with a memory.

In Arizona the assault on unions began long ago, while Reagan ( a union member by the way--Screen Actor's Guild) was still a shill for G.E. This is a 'right to work' state--or 'right to starve', as the guys I worked construction with called it... And the people here, who have no knowledge of anything that happened last year, let alone last century, have been bombarded with nothing but fear and loathing for anything even remotely related to unions. Unions are evil and corrupt and they smell bad too. Think of Jimmy Hoffa and the Mob! They force you to pay dues and they drive up costs for everyone. Besides, why do you need a union? Your boss will always take care of you, so shut up and get back to work.

People who move to Arizona are shocked by the low pay--but why should any employer pay a penny more than they have to? And without a strong union presence wages remain stagnant, or even decline. Naturally, people who are chronically underpaid see any tax as an unfair burden. And are easily whipped up into a frenzy against the few unionized jobs that still exist. "Why should they have a living wage, guaranteed raises, health care, and pensions when I don't?" People like that honestly believe that getting rid of the unions will improve their lives. To this toxic mess add a large pool of undocumented workers willing to do any kind of work for meager pay, and the fact that laws against hiring illegals are seldom if ever enforced, and you'll begin to understand why Arizona is the way it is.

Music video of the day

With the whole Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, etc. labor messes going on, this video seemed appropriate. Here's Bruce's words regarding this song, from the Seeger Session CD...

"The most important political protest song of all-time, sung around the world when people fight for justice and equality. Originally a Baptist hymn, brought into the labor movement in the 1930s, popularized among civil rights workers in the 1950s at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee."

Enjoy....