Something to Keep in Mind if Kaine Runs
By Steven Osborne | Thursday, February 17th, 2011 | Policy, PoliticsWith our former Governor Tim Kaine considering a return to elected office, his current conduct as DNC Chairman should not be overlooked.
The Daily Caller reports that the organizing arm of the DNC, also known as “Organizing for America,”is actively encouraging and supporting the union protests currently being waged in Wisconsin.
Now to be sure,the union protesters have every right to assemble and petition their government. However, the conduct and tone of the protesters has been, in some cases, quite nasty thus far and really unacceptable considering that they work for the citizens of Wisconsin. Perhaps even more dastardly is the conduct by the Democratic state legislators in Wisconsin who left the state when it appeared that they were going to lose the vote on the pension and collective bargaining issues.
Tim Kaine could have used his position as the Chairman of the DNC to encourage civility in this instance. Instead, he has decided to condone unruly and self serving behavior on the part of the protestors and some of the lawmakers involved.
If fmr. Gov. Kaine is interested in running for the U.S. Senate then he should answer some questions. Does he approve of the protestors who were teachers calling in sick and lying in the process, setting a bad example for the children who are learning under them? Does he approve of government sector employees getting special benefits that private sector employees do not enjoy? Does he believe that Virginia should embrace the kind of public sector collective bargaining that has helped to get states like California, New Jersey, and Wisconsin into the perspective messes in which they currently find themselves?
These are some questions that Gov. Kaine needs to answer. I do not think that most Virginians are eager to end up in the same shape as states like Wisconsin.
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Steven Osborne is a grassroots conservative activist from Central Virginia. He is currently furthering his education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. In addition to writing for Bearing Drift he is also a columnist for the Christian Law Journal.
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19 Responses to "Something to Keep in Mind if Kaine Runs"
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Yes, how dare employees protest the loss of salary, health benefits, pensions, while the Governor provides tax breaks to large corporations instead. How could we civilized rich folks allow such protests to occur?
Yes Mike how dare the public sector employees be treated any differently than any other member of society. Why should they get benefits that others are not entitled to? Why should the public pay for 100% of their health care and pensions? Why shouldn’t they pitch in? Are they not part of the society as a whole are they a higher class because they are civil servants?
Mike, most of those students don’t even know why they’re protesting.
So Matt, you are suggesting that the large middle class of this nation which has consistently lost income, benefits, their homes, access to services, should simply suck it up and stop advocating for their own rights? Are you suggesting that they don’t have the right to free speech or assembly? Are you saying that the persistent increase in the gap between the rich and the rest of society is to applauded and accepted without comment? Are you suggesting that we grant more tax cuts to the wealthy?
I am suggesting that unions do not help create jobs in fact they help kill jobs. And, if these union members many who are teachers by the way who claim they care about the kids they are teaching really cared about the kids maybe they should get back to work. Why should the rest of society pay for everything so that the public union employees can live the high life?
Wisconsin currently faces a $2.3 Billion decifit. Mike what should they do? They have to cut spending and this is a huge expense. You claim to be for everyone well it seems that you are against any GOP idea even if it is the correct one.
Let me guess what your response is they should raise taxes!
Obviously our former Governor has a problem with respecting the rule of law in Wisconson and the position that Gov. Scott Walker is in. Fire all 6000 of them, like Ronald Reagan did with PATCO, and let whats left of the unions sort them out. Lots of people would like to have those high paying jobs no matter what the benefits may be.
What I am saying is that before I cut, I would put everything of the table, including tax breaks to multinatonal corporations, and tax cuts for the wealthy. I would have a full debate about the effect of curtailing these tax breaks which benefit the rich and powerful, and the effect of the cuts on the employees, which of course effects the economy of every city and county where they live. There are options and before you pass this bill introduced just four days ago, you ought to listen to your constituents.
With that being said Mike over the last two years you have railed against the GOP as the party of No. So are you okay with the democratic members of the WI senate running away? At least when the GOP opposed legislation they stood there and fought it and not ran away like disgruntled schoolchildren. Pres. Obama has called on us having a grown up conversation about what needs to be cut. Now since OFA and the DNC are involved how is that suppose to happen?
Matt, that’s simply not accurate. Unions, when they work well with management, help create jobs. They provide employers with well trained and available workers and take the pressure of the company when it comes to overhead on benefits and training.
What Walker should do is sit down with these unions, explain the situation, and ask for their help in closing the gap. He didn’t do that. That’s why folks are rioting up there.
Exactly.
If unions were so great, then everyone would want to be in a union and you wouldn’t have to cram card check down our throats.
Unions have been around forever and they’re still sucking the blood of their hosts. They’re now hosting off the federal and state government. One of the biggest visitors to the White House was Andy Stern and they are one of the biggest contributors to the Democratic party.
If they provided such a fabulous service then they wouldn’t need to practice crony capitalism.
John, many people DO want to be in unions. They simply can’t because the bar to creating one or joining one is so high in most places. That’s why you see things like card check out there – it should be as easy for people to join as it is for them not to join. Right now, it’s far easier to join than not to.
I think there were a lot of problems with card check that made it a bad bill, but the underlying premise is not horribly evil.
I’ve been trying to convince labor that they need to stop focusing solely on the Democrats and recognize that Republicans can play an important role in helping their workers too. Unfortunately, for every guy like me out there, there are a thousand guys like you equating unions to parasites.
The Wisconsin protests with Jesse Jackson and Trumpke doesn’t help your case either. And the Wisconsin Democrats calling for the protests this past Monday.
Smells like some community organizing here also. But situations like this and the hate/death threat from union leaders toward NJ Governor Christie.
These Wisconsin teachers aren’t helping your case out much either. Protests at executives homes, etc.
Let’s add this from Trumpke. They are hearing your message loud and clear across the nation. The Michigan governor did not want what was happening in Wisconsin so she was conceding to the unions.
Boy, I wonder where I’d get the idea that unions are nothing but a bunch of blood sucking parasites that use bully tactics.
Gee, sorry John, is the noise interupting your drink at the club? How inconvenient that the rabble rousers in the middle class would protest the loss of jobs, security, retirement and health benefits, and loss of respect from the Governor of the state. Let’s pass another capital gains tax reduction, and a law to bar the rabble rousers from public spaces instead. If your attitude is indicative of the party rank and file in general, it will be a short tenure in the majority.
Mike likes to live in a fact free but rhetorically soaring class warfare world honed by a generation of gangster socialists. BTW Obama and the Dems would be happy to hose the (nonunion) “rabble rousers”.
Federal workers have no collective bargaining rights for salary and benefits. Wisconsin state teachers do. Why is that? Federal workers pay in for medical and pension more than WI employees. Why is that? What is it about CA, IL, NY that we should stand back and admire? Why are liberals fleeing the leftist utopia of CA for other states? Why are American students so poorly educated after 50 years of left wing educators running things with the highest per capita expenditures in the world?
Wisconsin and other blue states have gone the way of GM and Chrysler in buckling to unjustified demands of union workers; a sad fraction of whom according to their performance should be fired or demoted. Could they do better? Of course. Most have enough ability but there is no incentive to do so and every incentive not to. Even Dem governors like Cuomo see the handwriting on the wall. Even post Soviet Pravda warned that the US was heading down a dangerous road.
@Brian The answer to your question is that Repubs should warmly support private sector unions not run by Marxists and dedicated to providing a quality difference broadly defined with less highly paid workers. Public sector unions have no justification. They just form a positive feedback loop with politicians who want to grow government whether or not it makes any sense. Who are they organizing against? The taxpayers? I could see some other type of organization to deal with health safety issues and perhaps level treatment concerns in the legislative process.
Brian S,
I am not completely against unions but here is why I am against card check and I think this makes sense. Card check would replace the private ballot with a very public declaration. Instead of voting in private, the voter would be subject to pressure. You either signed the card or everyone would know you refused to.
If collective bargaining is the reason for state budget woes, why is it that more states with collective bargaining are doing well relative to those without collective bargaining? Why feed us such a simplistic notion? It has much more to do with poverty levels in the each state. AND our national and state budgets are in such trouble not because of collective bargaining but because Wall Street created the Great Recession in 2008 which caused our property values to plummet and 8 million jobs were lost.
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