Are you starting to get an idea of what the next year is going to look like in this country?
by Neal Boortz
Did you see what was going on in London over the weekend? There were demonstrations and quite a few riots in the streets. The people who participated in these riots were, for the most part, young, and they called themselves “anarchists.” A few of them — a very few of them — actually had an idea of what they were protesting. For the most part, this was simply a bunch of young people rioting in demonstrating because somebody gave them an excuse to do so. Many of these kids are just a few years away from being totally dependent on their mommies for their food, their shelter their clothing, and whatever other nurturing they managed to get. Many of them now look at the government as a substitute for their mommies, and their upset that the government is telling them that, for the most part the gravy train is pretty much over.It’s also interesting to note, if you happen to see some pictures or videos of the demonstrations, the preponderance of communist and socialist flags and slogans in the crowd. Not surprising. It goes with the territory.
So these kids have their excuse to demonstrate, to put on their hoodies and their masks so they can break windows and start fires. But just what was that excuse? Well, it seems that the government of Great Britain has been spending more than it is taking in and they are now in debt to the tune of $1.4 trillion. That, of course, pales to the $14 trillion that the United States owes. Nonetheless, they’re laying off government workers in Great Britain and they’re cutting spending.
The same type of budget cuts are coming to the United States; unless, that is, we really do decide that it’s OK to leave our children to enjoy less freedom and a lower standard of living than we enjoyed. So you can bet your flat screen TV that these demonstrations, and possibly some nice juicy riots, will be coming to the United States. Only this time, they won’t be led by anarchists. They will be led by labor unions.
You need to know that right now labor unions, especially those who represent large numbers of government workers, are planning for a summer of disruption in the United States. They will target the states where government worker jobs are being cut, and where union power has been attacked. One of the states that will be targeted will be Florida, where a new business-oriented governor, Rick Scott, is seen as an enemy of the almighty and all-powerful teachers unions. Just last Friday the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill which would and payroll deductions for union dues for government employees. The bill also requires the unions to get written permissions from their members before a portion of the dues can be used for political purposes. This is a direct frontal assault on union power. Florida, of course, is a pivotal state in the 2012 presidential election, so the unions certainly will not allow this to happen without protests. The leaders of these unions are clearly aware of two very important facts:
A very large percentage of government union members will simply stop paying their dues. If those dues are not automatically deducted from paychecks. In many cases union dues can soar past $1000 a year. Many of these workers have much better things that they could do with that $1000 then to pay union dues.
If unions have to secure written permission from members to use a portion of the union dues for political purposes, the ultimate result will be that unions have much less money to spend on politics. This is not only bad news for union leaders, who derive their power from their control of this money, but it is also bad news for Democrats. Well over 90% of union political donations go to Democrats.
Are you starting to get an idea of what the next year is going to look like in this country? We are going to have one powerful group of people, Democrats, looking to regain lost power; and another powerful group of people, union leaders, working frantically to prevent an erosion of their power. These two groups of people, Democrats and unions, feed off of one another. Democrats rely on the unions for financial support and volunteer help during elections, and unions rely on Democrats for political protection. What very lovely symbiotic relationship we have here! Just who is that left standing on the outside? Why that’s you! The taxpayer! Democrats certainly don’t derive any power from taxpaying Americans. Their power comes from the moocher class who don’t pay taxes, government employees, and labor unions. If you actually paid federal income taxes the Democrats have already essentially written you off in the next election. They know that about 50% of households in this country have no federal tax liability at all. They also note that taxpayers who happen to be union members and/or government employees are more likely than not to be voting for them in the next election.
Union members, government workers and Democrats are also aided by one other group of people. These are the people who will tell you very loudly that the government needs to cut spending, but who will raise unholy hell if the government tries to cut spending on the program or an issue that is personally important to them. There are a lot of corn farmers in Iowa who will tell you that absolutely the government needs to cut spending, but who will work very hard to defeat any candidate who ever proposes cutting up one penny from the asinine ethanol subsidy program. The attitude of the typical American is clearly that the government should cut spending, but that the government shouldn’t even think about cutting spending on any program that is in any way important to them. It is always somebody else’s government spending program that needs to be cut.
If you spend a little time today looking through the Internet or reading a couple of newspapers you will see that there is a growing and strong public backlash against government spending cuts. This is why there are smiles on so many left-wing faces. It seems that the American people can certainly talk a good game about reducing the size of government, and lowering government spending, but it may turn out that that’s pretty much all this is … just people talking a good game. The Democrats and the left have spent generations working hard to make Americans more and more dependent on government, and it has worked. No, when the government steps forward to tell these people that there just simply isn’t enough money to carry on these government entitlement programs anymore, will the people suck it up and try to accept more of the responsibilities for their own lives? Are you freaking kidding me? Of course they won’t! They’re entitled to these handouts. They’re entitled to have somebody else pay a part of the heating bill. They have a right to demand that somebody else pay for their healthcare. They’re entitled to have somebody else pay part of their rent. It is only right that somebody else pay for their transportation. Oh, and they’re entitled to a job with a living wage, whatever that is, whether or not they actually have any job skills which they can use to earn that wage.
As this government worker unions vs. the taxpayers drama unfolds this summer, let me tell you what you are not going to find. You are not going to find a government worker somewhere who will say: “You know, I have a pretty good job here with really good job security. I have a civil service system that protects me from being fired or transferred for political reasons. I think it’s time we become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem. So I’m going to support efforts to end collective bargaining for my union and I will pay my union dues on my own if I choose to do so.” You won’t hear that statement because people don’t give up power willingly. Why do you think politicians run so hard for reelection?
Here’s something else you won’t hear. A private citizen, saying: “it is time for our family to stand on our own two, four, six or eight feet. We have to stop using the government as an instrument of plunder. If there’s something we can’t afford, we shouldn’t expect the government to take some money away from somebody else by force to give us the money we need to buy it.”
Nope, sorry. I’m very afraid that class of citizen just doesn’t exist in this country anymore. We are a country of government dependency. We don’t look to the government as an entity that is supposed to protect us and our property from others who would use force or fraud to harm us or steal from us. We look to the government as an entity that is designed to plug the gaps left by our responsibility and lack of a work ethic. For many of us, especially young people, the government has become a replacement for mommy and daddy. It’s long past time to cut the apron strings again, but I’m afraid that, except for a few, the willingness just isn’t there.