I’m not trying to stir up trouble here, or be insulting, but I just don’t understand Republicans. Individually I sometimes do, but as a group, they seem to say one thing and do another. There are many examples of this, but the one I want to focus on today is the big brouhaha in Wisconsin. For whatever reasons, and I’m sure there are many on both sides, the state is coming to a crazy standstill, and from what I’ve read in articles online, and seen in facebook statuses, people seem to be dividing along union lines. And this is where I don’t get it.
Unions are the Republicans of business. Big Business is basically like a government. When you work for someone, they set the laws, give you your rights, and tell you what to do. The individual has little power, other than to quit I suppose, but at the end of the day, the power is in the hands of the boss, or the corporation. And Republicans should hate this. I went to the G.O.P. website to see what they profess to believe, and I got this quote: “With a core belief in the primacy of individuals, the Republican Party, since its inception, has been at the forefront of the fight for individuals’ rights in opposition to a large, intrusive government.” This is, according to their website, the primary belief of the Republican party.
So in the business world, who is fighting for the rights of the individuals, in opposition to a large, intrusive “government”? Unions! At their very core, unions are about individuals banding together, making sure they are not oppressed by a larger power. They protect workers’ safety and well-being, and ensure financial success for the individuals. Now, can unions take it too far? Of course. Anyone can take anything too far. And any healthy relationship has to be a balance, a give and take between the two opposing sides. But if I had to guess just based on their website, I would guess that Republicans would be all over supporting unions.
Now, I’m not writing this because I am pro-union (which I usually am), or anti-union (which I sometimes am). I’m writing this because I don’t understand the political position of the Republican party on the issue of unions. If I wanted to make a case for unions, specifically the teachers unions which are in question, I would point out that in 2010, Wisconsin was 3rd in the country in SAT scores and 16th in ACT scores, whereas states like Texas (that do not allow collective bargaining) ranked 45th and 34th respectively. But I am not trying to make that case, and obviously there are numerous factors that give Wisconsin high test scores and Texas low test scores, so pointing to any one fact really doesn’t make any case. I would say that obviously the people in Wisconsin are doing something right, unions or not, but that doesn’t confuse me. What confuses me is, why aren’t conservatives using these facts to support the collective rights of the individual?
For some reason, Republicans are pro-big business. It may have something to do with the fact that most of their leaders are involved in big business, and have a lot to financially gain from squashing the little guy, but for a regular old conservative person, who believes that individuals should have rights, and not be shoved around by a governing body, this anti-union position makes no sense. At least to me. Can someone explain it?
Those in charge like to make the rules for everyone else. The types of people who are in charge of corporations similarly are also in charge of the Republican party. It is a mentality similar to a church you and I both know.
Well, you might start with looking at the oxymoron inherent in “collective rights of the individual”. Collectives and individuals are not the saem thingat all
No collectives and individuals aren’t the same but without a collective advocating for individual rights they do not exist. History has shown us time and again that in order to secure individual rights a collective needs to stand together…see civil rights movement, women’s right’s movement and current democracy movements across the Middle East.
Hmmm – the Whig v. the Marxist view of history – an old old argument. I like to think that history is more than just the clash of mobs in the night and has something to do with the individual and the spark of the soul
….see Gandhi, Mandela, King
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No history isn’t just a clash of mobs and I’m certainly not arguing that. What would the Civil Rights movement been without MLK? Probably not much, but what would MLK have been without the legions of people his message inspired? It took collective persistent action of thousands of people to push through change. Now imagine they didn’t have the legal right to organize and fight for their rights?
That’s really the crux of the issue. Individuals must have the right to organize and give voice to a group of people who would not otherwise have a voice. Reducing the rights of unions to bargain in my view is a reduction of individual rights because it does not allow for that kind of organizing.