The Scenery: a Union Strike

Every morning since September, I loaded my two boys into the car at precisely 8 am to drive the oldest, Jake, to school. The nearly half hour drive into West Cobb gave us an opportunity to share our thoughts, make up new songs, play "I Spy" and enjoy the scenery. For months, Jake enjoyed watching the construction of a new, high-tech bank: LGE Credit Union.

Then, the scenery changed. As we passed LGE Credit Union one morning, Jake called out, "Hey! What are they doing over there?!" Several men and women had set up a tent, put out some chairs and held up their signs. The Machinists Union was on strike.

The strike only lasted 13 days, but it seemed like for ever. (They probably only strike on "business days"!) Jake was so curious about what they were doing that I finally pulled over and asked on our way home from school one afternoon. And this is what he said:

• LGE stole our pensions and now they're worth 50% of what they were worth

• LGE has ended our automatic pay raise every 6 months and gone to merit pay

I just about lost it in laughter! This is why these people were on strike, costing their employer thousands of dollars? Because they're going to be held accountable for their efforts and their retirement money is in a viable retirement fund? Ha!

First of all, the facts play out that LGE converted their pensions to 401ks. They didn't "steal" the worker's pensions. How many people have lost money in their investments over the past 4 years? How would the Machinists Union be immune?

Secondly, merit pay is a basic American ideal. We're guaranteed opportunity but it's how we respond to the opportunity that determines our success. I will only work for merit pay. It's up to me to make big of whatever opportunity is in front of me. The harder and smarter I work, the more I will achieve.

So if you're not paid on merit, how are you paid?

Collective bargaining. Collective bargaining by a Union in which the workers are members. Collective bargaining and automatic raises are a lose/lose for employees and employers. Employees with drive and ingenuity are dampened by those working just enough to stay employed, which destroys overall work ethic. Employees have a pride in their union, not in their employer, which creates a chasm between the two. Employers treat everyone the same which fosters complacency rather than motivating excellence.

Politics is inserted into situations it needn't be. Many Unions and corporations have different goals, but that's a whole other subject worthy of another blog post...

And so, after two and a half weeks, the picketers were gone. LGE Credit Union did something you don't hear many companies doing - THEY REPLACED SOME OF THE PICKETING WORKERS! Way to go, LGE! Eleven workers were replaced, and so it seems that the man I spoke to just a few days earlier had wised up... it's better to have a job based on merit pay than a Union and no job.

The Race Card

I accept that we look at the world a bit differently. Our entire lives, we've been reminded of our race, gender and household income. Any time we fill out a form, whether it be for a doctor visit or loan application, there's that question:

Race: White or Caucasian, Black or African American, Asian or Phillipino, Latino or Hispanic, Other???

Our government reminds us that we have different colors of skin or varying ethnicities. I've always checked that box "white or caucasian". I've never been a part of what the government labels a "minority", although there really isn't a box for me because I'm a pure American mutt, just like most of my friends!

So, no, I don't know where you're coming from when it feels like you're being discriminated against because you're black, asian or latino.

In the age of Affirmative Action, it actually seems that people who aren't white have an advantage! Isn't that why we disclose our race? It's not to make sure that enough white people are getting loans or the jobs, it's to require that a certain number of "minorities" get those things. These Affirmative Action rules discard being judged by the "content of our character" in favor of the color of our skin.

From the website of the National Association for the Advancement of Conservative People of all Colors:

We believe that race is an institution designed to keep like minded citizens apart and separate. The institution of race has given us racism, social and political segregation and numerous barriers both physically and psychologically. The NAACPC stands strong behind the belief that there are no differences in people relative to skin color.

I do know what it feels like to make bad decisions and wish I had something besides myself to blame. From where I'm looking, we have a President who has instated some of the most radical regulations that will bleed Americans of our liberties and our work ethic. Here are a few examples:

• Government borrowing and then spending to stimulate our economy does nothing but kill private business. TARP was the stupidest thing Bush could have done before leaving office. On Obama's request and with the help of a Democrat controlled Congress, Bush passed TARP in November months before Obama would be sworn-in. If he didn't agree with TARP, he should have let Obama sign it himself. Obviously, he agreed. Bailouts of corporations is unacceptable and un-American. Unless we let the market work, we will control it to death. Let them fail and watch innovation at work.
• Cash for Clunkers wasted tax-payer money to supplement the purchase of brand new cars. Before leaving the lot, the dealership was required to destroy the old cars, which negatively impacts the used-car market. Rather than selling them for use or for parts to pay for the program, they were destroyed. In the name of the environment, the Obama administration encouraged the unnecessary purchase of thousands of new vehicles and wasted the "reusable" cars for people who truly need a break. If participants weren't already planning to purchase a new car, Cash for Clunkers put each buyer in debtors prison.
• ObamaCare is a gigantic entitlement program that doesn't solve any of the real problems in our healthcare system. Medicare and Medicaid are programs that should be designed and implemented on the state level. It creates more taxes and takes over an entire portion of our economy.
• The Obama Administration is pushing hard for some sort of Cap & Trade legislation which disincentivises investments in America and leaches more profits from businesses & households.
• Extreme extensions of unemployment has encouraged some workers to enjoy the time off rather than taking a job under their pay grade or perhaps two jobs. Unemployment funds are dry in every state, so the unemployed are living off future taxable earnings of Americans.
• More than 50% of people granted government mortgage loan modifications are defaulting! Rather than allowing these people to default on their home mortgage, we supplemented their mortgages with tax dollars and they defaulted again anyway! Wasted, borrowed money when half of the recipients should have gone directly to renting!

It's the policies that infuriate me! And the catch is that Obama is doing exactly what he said he would! It's just that the results aren't what people hoped for. Instead of a government run utopia, we have a crumpling, over-regulated society.

It is the intention of our federal government to reduce our liberties and increase our dependence upon it. It's been a long and well-planned scheme beginning back in the early 1900s. We just happen to be in the perfect storm - an "economic crisis", a war (or 2), and a black president who fuels race issues to distract us from the destruction of our Constitutional Republic.

Let's get off the race card and focus on our Constitution. The changes back to our roots may seem radical, but once we get a taste of liberty and freedom, the rewards will be great!

Thought provoking on cigarettes...

Cigarettes are gross. They stink and they make people stink and they are just gross. Beyond that, it's been widely advertised (through the government) for generations that they're bad for your health! **this is after years of propaganda stating that cigs were GOOD for your health**

When I was just 7 years old, my little bro and I plastered "No Smoking" signs all over our house to show our mom how much we cared about her and wanted her to quit. Where did we get that idea? From school, of course! I'd like to think it worked, too, since she quit smoking that year.

At 11 years old, I vividly remember walking through the Oaks Mall in Gainesville Florida and complaining to my non-smoking mom how nasty it was that people were smoking inside. Soon after that, the Oaks Mall voluntarily banned smoking in doors. It was wonderful!

Right after college, I found myself back in Tallahassee lobbying with members of the Florida Restaurant Association and the Florida Hotel & Motel Association (now the Florida Restaurant and Hotel Association) against a law proposed to ban smoking in public places. Restaurants, hotels and other businesses said it was their right to choose whether they wanted to be smoking in their establishments. After all, the best vote is one with the dollars! There were already places like the Oaks Mall that had voluntarily banned smoking! We lost.

Now we have a complicated, draconian law regulating Florida businesses, which includes the entertainment industry (we're losing massive amounts of revenue because smoking is banned on movie sets, meaning that companies that can & want to, will shoot elsewhere). Rather than allowing me, the non-smoking Floridian, to choose where I spend my hard-earned money, my choices are limited. As a business owner, I can't capitalize on offering a non-smoking establishment.

So anyway, I came across this thought provoking piece from Dr. William C. Douglass. With my Constitution Colored glasses on, it's extremely interesting how our minds are molded through government propaganda...

Tobacco attack in Massachusetts

They're baking more than beans in Boston -- Massachusetts officials are roasting common sense and decency, too.

The state is getting ready to force stores that sell cigarettes to put up disgusting photos that show the alleged damages of smoking. Whether you smoke or not, you're going to have to stare at these awful state propaganda posters -- the new law says they'll have to go right next to the cash registers at some 9,000 convenience stores, pharmacies, gas stations and anyplace else with the nerve to sell tobacco products.

Shopkeepers who refuse to deface their businesses with oversized images of rotting teeth and black lungs will face hundreds of dollars in fines.

The only hangup right now, ironically, is more political correctness: Officials are trying to figure out how many languages the signs should be in. By the time they're done, these things will be a mile long, and stores will have to use them as wallpaper.

Even if you don't live in Massachusetts, you should care -- because you're paying for this bird-brained scheme. The program is being funded by $316,000 in federal stimulus money. That means some well-connected poster-maker is getting ready to print his ticket into the good life.

The rest of us won't be nearly as stimulated, especially if this catches on. Regardless of how you feel about smoking, there are plenty of industries out there that COULD get this kind of treatment someday.

Today, it's cigarettes. Tomorrow, some public health dummy may decide he doesn't like drinking, sex, bingo night or stinky cheese -- and you'll be forced to deal with whatever rules and obstacles he puts in your way.

If this was purely about showing people the true health ravages of their lifestyle choices, then your local fast food dive would be adorned with pictures of bloated, obese corpses.

But they wouldn't dare try that.

In America, it's OK to go after smokers. But don't your dare touch somebody's Big Mac!

A poster child for common sense,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

P.S. Doesn't change my mind on the grossness of cigarettes, just opens my mind up more to deception and the underlying motives of our government...