When a cabal of right wing governors took power in 2010, they had a list of goals that they wanted to accomplish to make sure that they stayed in power as long as possible. On the very top of that list of goals was to demonize and then systematically destroy America’s unions and the entire organized labor movement. By doing that, they believed that they would effectively kill one of the largest Democratic fundraisers in the country. But as we’ve seen in places like Wisconsin and Ohio, the attacks on unions are backfiring, and have created a massive backlash. But that hasn’t stopped the right wing attacks on organized labor, and Mike Papantonio spoke with Nation correspondent John Nichols recently to get some insight into the GOP war on unions.
Sad that with the relative progress Obama has made in 2010, many voters voted impulsively for Republicans without critically thinking of how Republicans were the same people who got us into this economic mess by enabling Wall Street, the big banks, and corporate America to do whatever they wanted to with unlimited amounts of money that’s derived from 99% of the taxpayers.
Too bad there are a lot of right-to-work states out there where collective bargaining is deemed illegal for some reason, even though it may ultimately be a basic, fundamental economic right for workers. Also, I would wonder how much influence the Tea Party has on Virginia gov. Bob McDonnell, particularly since he got elected a year before the big Tea Party sweep in 2010.
As the relative age-old question would go, why is the Right against others’ rights, particularly when it comes to workers who are either unionized or have the “right to work”?
Many people seem to forget that when they put Ronald Reagan and after 8 years, all they got was nothing plus putting in Republicans in Congress in 1994 and in the last congressional elections. Unlike the Germans who learn their lessons in putting the Nazis Party into power, we have not learn our lessons.
This is nothing new. Big corporations have been fighting unions for over a hundred years. For example in northern Mn & Michigan, when wages were only couple bucks aday, mining companies fought again union strikers. Sometimes the Nat´l Guard had to come in. But now, it is more civilized and politics have taken over these issues.
It is not more civilized because politicans like Scott Walker wants to use soldiers to open fire on anyone who is out on the streets protesting. It is a throwback to a 100 years ago.