EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
This act’s title is a misnomer (deliberately misleading) whose purpose appears to be a political attempt by union bosses to hold onto power and influence with the government. They hope this act, pushed through their political cronies in Congress, will keep their dues paying base (read ‘voters’ to a politician, whether a union president or Congressman) from dropping any further. This is another flagrant example of the attempt to erode the rights of Americans. For over half a century union members have not needed ‘Free Choice’ (as per the title of this act), but now there is an outcry for choice? This new act restricts the rights and liberties of workers in organizations targeted for unionization. The secret ballot, like your secret vote for a member of Congress or President, would no longer be secret.
Is the card check system there to protect workers from anti-union pressure by employers before secret ballot elections? Is it really there to PREVENT employers from improving working conditions? How does it protect works who do NOT want to vote for unionize from pro-union pressure, discrimination and harassment?
The ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ would FORBID employers from using incentives or improvements in compensation or working conditions. It is merely a ploy by the pro-union forces to force workers to unionize and then wait for the union to ‘negotiate’ these improvements. When it comes to waving the American flag union leaders are up there with the politicians hand in hand, cash in pockets, contributions to PACs, etc… What about repealing the RIGHTS of the PEOPLE to secret ballots? Is this not a basic right of citizens in a supposedly democratic nation?
For the fence-sitters among us, we can look at this bit of legislation another way. Let’s change some words and see if this still sounds like a reasonable act. Instead of ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ we will call it the ‘Voter Free Choice Act.’ This new act, worded basically the same way as the aforementioned act would alter your rights and liberties as a voter. Your right to a secret ballot for Congressional (and other public elections) would be rescinded and replaced with a card check system. This would be done to ensure that ‘the people’ who were voting for a candidate weren’t unduly influenced by someone in power (i.e. politics). This influence could include vote buying (like employer incentives for employees) through special favors or projects benefiting them, their community, county, or state - directly or indirectly. YOUR INDIVIDUAL (PEOPLE’S) RIGHT to secret balloting is gone with this new ‘Voter Free Choice Act’, just like with the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’, and your candidate does not win. The winning candidate in this situation, just like the hypothetical union in the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ scenario, would know which voters voted for or against them. They could decide to not answer your mail or address your concerns. Since it would be known by everyone that you supported the losing candidate you might find laws, regulations, or court judgments suddenly in question or lost. Towns or counties that supported the losing opposition candidate would suddenly find themselves without any REAL VOICE in Congress – they would have to settle for the leftovers. They might be forced to change their leadership to ensure county, state or federal support. Only those who were ‘in’ with the winners would have any real rights or say-so. Certain areas of the country would get extra money and earmarks of money for projects and jobs. Under the new ‘Voter Free Choice Act’ your town, not sufficiently supportive of the leadership would not even really been considered for any extra funds or earmarks – having earned the displeasure or loss of favor with the newly elected ‘representative’.
Looking at it from this perspective, do you still think the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ is really about ‘free choice’ or about the erosion of civil liberties and the protections of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights (‘Rights of the People, not of the government or the politicians or powerful’)?. Still not convinced? Read on.
Could this happen in the USA?
It happened when the fascists won elections in Germany in the 1920’s and 1930’s – almost everyone knows the outcome and consequences of that power grab. The world got World War II and the Holocaust. In neighboring Italy the same occurred with the rise of Mussolini – another result of elections in a country without adequate constitutional protections. The Bolshevik’s, after seizing power in Czarist Russia and massacring the royal family, held elections where the only candidates were approved by the party – the Communist Party. They held meaningless elections (because there were no write in or independent candidates) to legitimize their power with their own people and the world. The world and even worse, the people of the USSR, got Lenin and Stalin. They ensured their hold on power by eliminating, literally by killing, their opposition. Stalin went one step further by purging his own communist sub-leaders en-masse along with a general terror campaign against the general public. Tens of millions were murdered or died as a direct result of their actions or inactions – the Gulag and millions of people forcibly resettled to Siberia because they came from classes or ethnic groups of people that could not be trusted to support the Communist Party’s murderous policies. Uganda had its’ murderous leader-dictator. The Khmer Rouge took power in the name of the people and proceeded to murder 1/3 of Cambodia’s total population over several years. The list of these supporters of the people goes on and on – and that is just in the last 100 years.
Once again let us ask – could this happen in the United States?
When the people of the above noted countries elected or installed their governments, without the protections afforded by our Constitution and our Bill of Rights (the rights of the people, not the state or other government) they did NOT vote for those leaders to give them the power to murder or enslave them. They voted to improve their lives and those of their neighbors. The governments of these countries, not limited by various layers of protection and checks-and-balance systems found in the USA became a power unto themselves. They became governments that served themselves first and the expense of the people instead of for the people.
Think about it, do you think this is or is not happening in the United States?
When polled about their trust in government and political candidates in general people don’t seem to have much trust in them or the system. Why is it that so many of our Congressmen – both Representatives and Senators – come from the wealthy or privileged classes?
Where is the true middle class representation in Congress?
Do you think that rich and powerful oligarchs really know or care about ‘the people’?
Do you think they say they care because they do or because it will buy them more votes, power and more influence?
I can’t answer these questions for you – you must consider all of them and answer them for yourself. You CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE by considering all of these proposed laws or regulations and making a decision whether they protect our individual rights or do they infringe or restrict our rights.
If you don’t see a problem with the loss of your liberties and giving up YOUR rights (not privileges) FOREVER I invite you to support the misnamed (not an oversight, but a deliberate misnomer to fool the general public) 'Employee Free Choice Act. We will all eventually regret our gradual loss of rights and our freedom (because winning back rights – like with slavery in the 1860’s) costs a lot more time, money and blood than preventing its’ loss in the first place।
Once you lose a right, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem at the time, it is GONE! Think of it like a bag of money and lose a bit. It doesn’t matter because there is still plenty left. After losing coins or dollars one at a time, you say the same ‘It doesn’t matter, we can afford it, there is still plenty left’. One day you lose the last bit of money and what do you say then – there is nothing left to lose and you are at the mercy of your creditors and those with money and power. There is nothing you, as an individual, can do at that point – you have no rights because you have no power or influence. Who will advocate for you – the poor, homeless or downtrodden?
If you value your liberty and individual rights as an American living under and supportive of our Constitution, write you Congressmen and Senators to oppose this and any other infringement of your rights. Do this even if you do not work in a business or industry likely to be unionized now or in the near future. Do this even if the right being restricted doesn’t seem to affect you directly or personally. Because you haven’t used those 20 dollars in the cookie jar are you willing to let someone take it from you? It is the same with your rights – you may not need this or some other right at this time but it IS YOUR RIGHT and FREEDOM – don’t squander it. If we all work together to preserve freedom and limit the scope (not just the size) of government intrusion in our rights, we can keep the Constitution and its limitations on government power and government supremacy over our lives and those of our children and grandchildren in check.
We must be eternally vigilant in the defense of liberty!
This act’s title is a misnomer (deliberately misleading) whose purpose appears to be a political attempt by union bosses to hold onto power and influence with the government. They hope this act, pushed through their political cronies in Congress, will keep their dues paying base (read ‘voters’ to a politician, whether a union president or Congressman) from dropping any further. This is another flagrant example of the attempt to erode the rights of Americans. For over half a century union members have not needed ‘Free Choice’ (as per the title of this act), but now there is an outcry for choice? This new act restricts the rights and liberties of workers in organizations targeted for unionization. The secret ballot, like your secret vote for a member of Congress or President, would no longer be secret.
Is the card check system there to protect workers from anti-union pressure by employers before secret ballot elections? Is it really there to PREVENT employers from improving working conditions? How does it protect works who do NOT want to vote for unionize from pro-union pressure, discrimination and harassment?
The ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ would FORBID employers from using incentives or improvements in compensation or working conditions. It is merely a ploy by the pro-union forces to force workers to unionize and then wait for the union to ‘negotiate’ these improvements. When it comes to waving the American flag union leaders are up there with the politicians hand in hand, cash in pockets, contributions to PACs, etc… What about repealing the RIGHTS of the PEOPLE to secret ballots? Is this not a basic right of citizens in a supposedly democratic nation?
For the fence-sitters among us, we can look at this bit of legislation another way. Let’s change some words and see if this still sounds like a reasonable act. Instead of ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ we will call it the ‘Voter Free Choice Act.’ This new act, worded basically the same way as the aforementioned act would alter your rights and liberties as a voter. Your right to a secret ballot for Congressional (and other public elections) would be rescinded and replaced with a card check system. This would be done to ensure that ‘the people’ who were voting for a candidate weren’t unduly influenced by someone in power (i.e. politics). This influence could include vote buying (like employer incentives for employees) through special favors or projects benefiting them, their community, county, or state - directly or indirectly. YOUR INDIVIDUAL (PEOPLE’S) RIGHT to secret balloting is gone with this new ‘Voter Free Choice Act’, just like with the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’, and your candidate does not win. The winning candidate in this situation, just like the hypothetical union in the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ scenario, would know which voters voted for or against them. They could decide to not answer your mail or address your concerns. Since it would be known by everyone that you supported the losing candidate you might find laws, regulations, or court judgments suddenly in question or lost. Towns or counties that supported the losing opposition candidate would suddenly find themselves without any REAL VOICE in Congress – they would have to settle for the leftovers. They might be forced to change their leadership to ensure county, state or federal support. Only those who were ‘in’ with the winners would have any real rights or say-so. Certain areas of the country would get extra money and earmarks of money for projects and jobs. Under the new ‘Voter Free Choice Act’ your town, not sufficiently supportive of the leadership would not even really been considered for any extra funds or earmarks – having earned the displeasure or loss of favor with the newly elected ‘representative’.
Looking at it from this perspective, do you still think the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ is really about ‘free choice’ or about the erosion of civil liberties and the protections of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights (‘Rights of the People, not of the government or the politicians or powerful’)?. Still not convinced? Read on.
Could this happen in the USA?
It happened when the fascists won elections in Germany in the 1920’s and 1930’s – almost everyone knows the outcome and consequences of that power grab. The world got World War II and the Holocaust. In neighboring Italy the same occurred with the rise of Mussolini – another result of elections in a country without adequate constitutional protections. The Bolshevik’s, after seizing power in Czarist Russia and massacring the royal family, held elections where the only candidates were approved by the party – the Communist Party. They held meaningless elections (because there were no write in or independent candidates) to legitimize their power with their own people and the world. The world and even worse, the people of the USSR, got Lenin and Stalin. They ensured their hold on power by eliminating, literally by killing, their opposition. Stalin went one step further by purging his own communist sub-leaders en-masse along with a general terror campaign against the general public. Tens of millions were murdered or died as a direct result of their actions or inactions – the Gulag and millions of people forcibly resettled to Siberia because they came from classes or ethnic groups of people that could not be trusted to support the Communist Party’s murderous policies. Uganda had its’ murderous leader-dictator. The Khmer Rouge took power in the name of the people and proceeded to murder 1/3 of Cambodia’s total population over several years. The list of these supporters of the people goes on and on – and that is just in the last 100 years.
Once again let us ask – could this happen in the United States?
When the people of the above noted countries elected or installed their governments, without the protections afforded by our Constitution and our Bill of Rights (the rights of the people, not the state or other government) they did NOT vote for those leaders to give them the power to murder or enslave them. They voted to improve their lives and those of their neighbors. The governments of these countries, not limited by various layers of protection and checks-and-balance systems found in the USA became a power unto themselves. They became governments that served themselves first and the expense of the people instead of for the people.
Think about it, do you think this is or is not happening in the United States?
When polled about their trust in government and political candidates in general people don’t seem to have much trust in them or the system. Why is it that so many of our Congressmen – both Representatives and Senators – come from the wealthy or privileged classes?
Where is the true middle class representation in Congress?
Do you think that rich and powerful oligarchs really know or care about ‘the people’?
Do you think they say they care because they do or because it will buy them more votes, power and more influence?
I can’t answer these questions for you – you must consider all of them and answer them for yourself. You CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE by considering all of these proposed laws or regulations and making a decision whether they protect our individual rights or do they infringe or restrict our rights.
If you don’t see a problem with the loss of your liberties and giving up YOUR rights (not privileges) FOREVER I invite you to support the misnamed (not an oversight, but a deliberate misnomer to fool the general public) 'Employee Free Choice Act. We will all eventually regret our gradual loss of rights and our freedom (because winning back rights – like with slavery in the 1860’s) costs a lot more time, money and blood than preventing its’ loss in the first place।
Once you lose a right, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem at the time, it is GONE! Think of it like a bag of money and lose a bit. It doesn’t matter because there is still plenty left. After losing coins or dollars one at a time, you say the same ‘It doesn’t matter, we can afford it, there is still plenty left’. One day you lose the last bit of money and what do you say then – there is nothing left to lose and you are at the mercy of your creditors and those with money and power. There is nothing you, as an individual, can do at that point – you have no rights because you have no power or influence. Who will advocate for you – the poor, homeless or downtrodden?
If you value your liberty and individual rights as an American living under and supportive of our Constitution, write you Congressmen and Senators to oppose this and any other infringement of your rights. Do this even if you do not work in a business or industry likely to be unionized now or in the near future. Do this even if the right being restricted doesn’t seem to affect you directly or personally. Because you haven’t used those 20 dollars in the cookie jar are you willing to let someone take it from you? It is the same with your rights – you may not need this or some other right at this time but it IS YOUR RIGHT and FREEDOM – don’t squander it. If we all work together to preserve freedom and limit the scope (not just the size) of government intrusion in our rights, we can keep the Constitution and its limitations on government power and government supremacy over our lives and those of our children and grandchildren in check.
We must be eternally vigilant in the defense of liberty!
People should read this.
ReplyDelete