Silly Little Country

Hopeyness Aspect 1

Paul Mirengoff does us all the kind service of a close reading of Mr. Hope and Change's views regarding one of the most appalling suggestions the Democrats and their Union supporters are pushing - called by several names things like the apparently neutral 'card-check', but never from that side by documenting that it is that the determination of a workforce to introduce a union can now be required to be by a public vote, no longer a private one. A key Change for the big Hoper is to remove the secret ballot. Grrrr.
I was astonished reading this analysis of Obama's argument as it was clearly lacking anything I would consider principle. As Paul documents closely, Obama's position is that he wants more organizing efforts to win and this is his currently supported way to achieve that (and well, he would accept other ways, blah, blah, blah, as befitting an utter windbag.

He wants to achieve a leftist result -- make it much easier for unions to become the bargaining representative of employees. He ignores the non-leftist objection to the mechanism he has endorsed for achieving this result -- that "card checks" are anti-democratic -- and suggests that the real objection may be the desire to keep workers out of unions. And he says he has no time for this sort of objection.

Well, er, I , um, and maybe many blacks in history think that a secret ballot is a fairer way for them to record their preferences on an issue in any sort of election. I cannot think of any institution I have worked in that allows voting and excludes a request for a secret ballot - and I have worked in a few and always felt that making this request binding was obviously right. Obama is surely right that he wants more unions than I want to see, but impugning my objection is disgusting. This is just too fundamental.
Because - why is a non-secret ballot likely to deliver the results Obama and his union funders want? I do not even have to answer. Thuggery and intimidation, even if at only some low level. Even a low level will make the life of employees identified as being reluctant to install a level of union supervisors forcing mediocrity on their institution, partly possibly because of their recognition of their own higher personal productivity, hard to bear. (Yeah maybe I am being extreme but not from what I have seen.)
The Great Bloviator will be windbagging on in the weeks to come. I am hoping he remains as willing to reveal his true (lack of) logic in future interviews.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 2:44 PM