“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost” -Ronald Reagan
Although Ronald Reagan, patron saint of the far right, was speaking about the unions in Poland and the attempts by the Communists to break those unions, He went on to talk about the universal right to belong a free union and have the right to collective bargaining. This shows me how close we have become to becoming another totalitarian country in the past few years.
Instead of Communists or Fascists, we have a few billionaires and multinational corporations who have a willing accomplice in the GOP. This is not an economic struggle to rein in deficits. This is an attack on the rights of all Americans and as Ronald Reagan later said in the same speech… we are only 1 generation away from the same enslavement if we allow these rights to be taken from us.
The most significant factor in the development of an American middle class was the union movement, and the most significant factor in the decline of the American middle class is the decline of union membership. The budget in Wisconsin (and in other States) was busted when the GOP enacted huge tax breaks for their corporate masters, not because teachers were being overpaid. The same Republicans who argued that multi-million dollar bonuses for executives of Wall St. firm bailed out with tax dollars are warranted to recruit the best and brightest, also argue that good health insurance and retirement programs for teachers, police and firemen are unaffordable.
Many experts argue that the present turmoil in the Middle East is simply a reaction of those societies to economic injustice. That same injustice is being perpetrated on Americans today.
FiegerTime - Geoffrey Fieger's Blog 
1932 (or somewhere in that time frame)
Enabling Act….Germany allows that one Person can rule by decree
Dissolution of the Labor Unions by the 3rd Reich
Nazis………One Party Rule
Scapegoat…..The Jewish people
Germany characterized by very high unemployment and
inflation.
2011
Emergency Financial Manager Act
one person allowed to come into a governmental entity
and govern absolutely and disband union contracts
and take away authority of governing bodies that were
democratically elected
Michigan Legislature
Introduction of over 31 bills designed to basically make public and private sector labor unions extinct.
Wisconsin
Remove the collective bargaing rights of all public employees, execpt for the possibility of police and fire fighters. A Totalitarian ruler needs the military to govern.
1930’s………… Nazi Party
2011……………Tea Party
2011 Scapegoats
Public Employee Labor Unions
Anyone who may profess to be of the Muslim Religion
Economic Conditions
High Unemployment, low wages and pathetic purchasing power of the middle class
Next on the chopping block…….Private Sector Labor Unions
Results:
1930’s One Party Rule=Nazis
2011 ” ” ” = Republicans and Tea Party
Or do the Republicans and Tea Party belong to one and the same organization?
2011
Mr. Fieger,
In my opinion America took a big step backwards with the way Wisconsin handled their budget deficit by taking away the unions from the people that need them most.
Unions were created to help the average citizen or union member and it is this group of people that are going to be hurt the most my not having rights to bargaining and representation.
The rights and vote of the people have been somewhat of a farce for a long time now and it gets worse with each day that passes.
Yes, I agree that our government is not headed in the right direction. We say that we strive to be a democracy and then we or better yet, many of our elected officials make huge strides to make sure that is not happening.
It saddens me to see these things happening all around us and in America where we always boast that “we are the best in the world”.
Stay tuned to see what happens tomorrow, next week and next month. Somehow we have to turn this all around and stand up for what is right.
Randall Ross
It’s high time people realize that Unions are part of the solution, not the problem. Unions barely make double digit percentages of the workforce, yet they are constantly blamed for the increased cost of products.
Instead of blaming the worker who broke their back in a factory, breathing in God knows what factory air, and reducing their life expectancy, all so they could provide a middle class living for their family only to beaten up by the media and corporate greed mongers.
Why don’t they look at the Wall Street schlep who shuffled mortgage papers from 1 desk to another and pulled home $500k a year. Eventually THEY melted down our economy and didn’t have funds to lend when it blew up in their face. That’s what nailed the car companies, not the Union worker.
God forbid a worker might want health insurance, and something better than 3rd world working conditions.
@Joseph Sikora,
I hear that. Boy, do I hear that. Loud and clear.
I just got laid off from a government job but next week my union is going to go out and protest. The problem is getting people together. At my union meeting, I asked some other people if they were going. They basically said it wasn’t going to do anything, so why bother? Well, probably not, but it couldn’t hurt. We have to kick these politicians where it really counts– their pockets. And their votes. And if enough people show up, it just might work. I plan go out there and give ’em hell. I can be loud and obnoxious, more than a lot of guys, when the situation warrants (and, admittedly, sometimes when it doesn’t). One of many reasons why I use the online nickname InYourFaceNewYorker, although the name really doesn’t apply as much one would think. I just picked it because I think it sounds funny.
As for the health insurance, isn’t it a national disgrace that we don’t have universal healthcare? I hate it when people who are against it say, “Oh, we’d have to wait in line for doctors and wouldn’t be able to choose our doctors.” First of all, the “waiting in line” thing is generally a myth, from what foreigners have told me. Secondly, even if it were true, is the answer to that, then, to deprive people of what is a basic human right? My grandmother used that argument, and you’d think that since she’s about to turn 87 she would realize that she gets screwed the most under the system we have. And choosing your own doctor? You can’t always do that here anyway. When I switched insurance plans I had to go to a new doctor. I like him, but I had a good relationship with my old one (and that’s important– don’t get me started on the doctor I had who started screaming at me about my cholesterol levels) and didn’t want to switch. Besides, in these other countries you still can opt for private healthcare. They have a CHOICE. We don’t.
My favorite argument against universal healthcare, by far, is the whole “death panel” thing, thank you very much Sarah Palin! By what warped piece of illogic did this ridiculous woman think that death panels would result? Was she sitting around, bored, one Friday night thinking, “What boneheaded lie shall I tell next?” As if a lot of people aren’t dying under our healthcare system… Remember in ’05 or ’06 when that person in an emergency room bled to death because the hospital had to clear everything with the insurance company?
Michael Moore’s Sicko really crystalizes the situation America is in regarding healthcare…
Julie
@Julie My Congressman, John Dingell, has been trying since his start in Congress in 1955 to introduce ALL inclusive health care (a basic human right in a RICH country like the USA). Michael Moore came out with 1 documentary and all of sudden HEALTH CARE REFORM!
I’m convinced the NEW way for change isn’t through only our politicians, but to turn everything into a movie, or 3 min youtube video!
And to your credit, I’ve noticed in strife with a LARGE CORPORATION that the women are more willing to speak up and stand behind what’s right then the men!
I have no idea if it’s true or not that women are more willing to stand up for what’s right, but if it is I would imagine it’s because they’ve gotten the short end of the stick for so many years.
But what you are saying about movies having a greater impact is true. I guess it’s just this generation. Remember after Sicko came out a man working for an insurance company that was perpetuating the “death panels” lie quit his job and announced that it was just that, a lie? Obviously, he saw– was FORCED to acknowledge– how people were genuinely suffering. Images are powerful, right? Remember when Super Size Me came out McPoison’s discontinued their super size option and then introduced their “adult happy meal” which included a GODDAMNED PEDOMETER and, I think, an exercise DVD? And McPoison’s claimed that the movie had nothing to do with this, that they did it because, “We’re McPoison’s. We care!”
Here’s a Photoshopped image of a McPoison’s sign that I made a couple years ago. Not the best Photoshopping (I need to fix the letters; they aren’t seamless) but you get the idea. 😉 http://www.flickr.com/photos/44125890@N02/5815133849/in/photostream