For many of us, Labor Day signals the unofficial end to summer, while for others it’s just another 3-day weekend. But its history is an acknowledgement and celebration of our working men and women in the United States.
And yet the holiday is often portrayed as specifically for Labor Unions, which really doesn’t make sense nowadays, if it ever did. Back in the 1950’s (when over a third of the nation’s workers were unionized) it was at least arguable. But now? That number has dwindled to roughly only 12% of all workers, …and falling. And if we take out Public Sector unions, it drops to around 6%.
A variety of reasons have contributed to this, but the primary culprit is inescapable: Union Leadership itself.
And to illustrate what I mean (or just for its sheer entertainment value), please take a moment to enjoy the following clip from one of our favorite guys, Steven Crowder.
Believe it or not, by winning his recall election, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has done his foes – the Wisconsin Democratic Party, the public sector unions, the progressives and angry leftists – a favor.
He has liberated them from the soothing illusion that they are popular, and that the public agrees with them.
Although the final count got a bit closer by the end, Scott Walker crushed Tom Barrett last night in the Wisconsin recall election by about 170,000 votes, 53% to 46%. And if you aren’t aware, yes, that’s a lot. Especially when CNN was saying that the exit polls looked like it was going to be a coin-flip and go far into the night.
There’s also an excellent post in the Daily Caller:
If you pause and listen carefully, you might be able to hear the despair coming from Jim Messina, President Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, and David Axelrod, Obama’s top strategist and communications director, as the meaning of Wisconsin’s recall election becomes clear.
In the final hours before Governor Scott Walker’s victory, with the writing on the wall, President Obama and his campaign could only muster a tweet and a last-minute video for challenger Tom Barrett. But do not let that tepid support fool you: Democrats and their union allies spent an astronomical amount on a judicial election, four state legislative recalls and the recall of Governor Walker, only to lose.
Democrats, Big Labor and Team Obama initially put all their chips on the table, organizing a massive get-out-the-vote effort to unseat Walker. The day before the recall, Wisconsin’s MacIver Instituteillustrated just how much money Big Labor has spent: more than $21 million. Earlier in the month, the MacIver Institute put up a matrix to “put an end to any stories that Big Labor, the Democratic Party and other left-wing organizations aren’t going all out to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.” The spin aside, Team Obama, Big Labor and Democrats were heavily invested and suffered a huge loss in Wisconsin.
Almost never reported fact: the union political operatives are paid, boys-n-girls, yet money paid to them doesn’tget counted as money spent on the campaign. Not realizing that is what allows displays like this……..
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That’s classic; I’m gonna have to save that clip….
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Last point: for over a year, the media covered the recall effort, telling us over and over that it was vitally important, and then just within the last couple of weeks told us not to worry about Wisconsin anymore: it was just a local election. Yeah, NO implications for the general election to be found there.
Nope, nope, no sir. Nothing to learn from Wisconsin at all.
Well, does THIS face look like last night’s election had “no national implications“? I don’t think so…
Two Heads are Better Than One 