Lots Of Room For Improvement
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
It's funny how things evolve.
Take government, for example.
Generally I'm for less government. It seems the government is everywhere and into everything.
Does this mean that we need no government or that all government is bad? Of course not.
We very much need to be governed. And we very much need a federal government.
Think of it this way. If there were no federal government, there might still be places in this country where women and blacks wouldn't be allowed to vote.
There would be no interstate highways. There would be no Social Security. No Medicare. No national monuments or parks. No national security.
Point is, there are lots of reasons we need federal supervision. Our founding fathers knew that and provided a most innovative and progressive way to carry it out - a representative government.
A government that grew from the people.
It's the evolution of our government that bothers me.
I realize that change is constant and our government had to evolve. After all, when the constitution was written, there were no cars or telephones.
But now, it appears the government wants to regulate everything. Everything from toasters to clothes dryers.
Of course a construction site should be safe. But do we need a material safety data sheet for a cooler of water on the back of a contractor's pickup?
The cost of regulation makes the cost of doing business soar. And businesses pass the costs on to us.
Where local and state governments ought to be running the show - like in education, for example - the federal government gets involved.
And all this despite the fact that most of the people our government represents don't really want all that government.
Which brings us back to another way I think government has evolved in a bad way.
What started out as a government beholden to the people it governs has turned into a government beholden to the guy with the thickest wallet.
Special interests rule in Washington. Big money is what runs campaigns. And our lawmakers are in a relentless, endless pursuit of big money.
No matter what anyone says, big money influences policy at all levels of our government.
I don't want to scrap our form of government, but I think there is a vast amount of room for improvement.
But it seems that any call for reform is met with severe resistance. And the reform has to come from within. Things like campaign finance reform, for example, have to be enacted by the people who benefit most from leaving things the way they are.
Maybe if we show an interest and exert enough pressure on our lawmakers they'll see it our way on some of these issues.
Another entity that has evolved over the years is the labor union.
The concept of a labor union is positive. Unions have done lots of good things for workers in this country. There was a time when child labor, sweatshops, long hours and unsafe conditions made working downright deadly for lots of people.
Workers were abused and exploited by employers.
To a lesser degree, some of those conditions exist even today, with illegal aliens and other workers being exploited in sweatshop environments.
Labor unions brought a level of credibility and dignity to millions of American workers.
But just like government, labor unions have evolved.
Of course employers should provide a safe work environment and reasonable compensation. But should auto workers get 80 percent pay for 36 weeks if they are laid off?
Anymore, it seems unions are more into politics then workers.
Unions spent an untoward amount of money on advertising during the last election cycle. The AFL-CIO alone spent some $35 million in attempts to unseat Republican congressmen.
But just as the federal government seems to have lost sight of the needs of its constituents, it appears unions may be a bit out of touch with rank-and-file members.
Surveys show that union members, by significant margins, feel they are kept in the dark about how their dues are spent.
In addition, only a small percentage of union members want their dues spent on political activities. Topping most union members' lists for dues expenditures is preserving jobs, increasing wages and benefits, and improving the image of unions.
By a large margin, union members support the balanced budget amendment and welfare reform that requires recipients to work.
The $500 tax credit pushed by the GOP was supported by nearly 80 percent of union members surveyed.
Yet their union was out to unseat Congressmen who supported those very things.
And while union leaders decry the salaries of CEOs, union leaders themselves aren't doing too bad.
John Sweeney, the head of the AFL-CIO, gets nearly $200,000 in salary and compensation from that union. As head of the SEIU, Sweeney draws an additional $230,000.
Gerald McEntee, head of AFSCME, makes around $345,000.
Does this mean that labor unions are all bad and should be abolished? Of course not.
But as in government, I think there is room for improvement. [[In-content Ad]]
It's funny how things evolve.
Take government, for example.
Generally I'm for less government. It seems the government is everywhere and into everything.
Does this mean that we need no government or that all government is bad? Of course not.
We very much need to be governed. And we very much need a federal government.
Think of it this way. If there were no federal government, there might still be places in this country where women and blacks wouldn't be allowed to vote.
There would be no interstate highways. There would be no Social Security. No Medicare. No national monuments or parks. No national security.
Point is, there are lots of reasons we need federal supervision. Our founding fathers knew that and provided a most innovative and progressive way to carry it out - a representative government.
A government that grew from the people.
It's the evolution of our government that bothers me.
I realize that change is constant and our government had to evolve. After all, when the constitution was written, there were no cars or telephones.
But now, it appears the government wants to regulate everything. Everything from toasters to clothes dryers.
Of course a construction site should be safe. But do we need a material safety data sheet for a cooler of water on the back of a contractor's pickup?
The cost of regulation makes the cost of doing business soar. And businesses pass the costs on to us.
Where local and state governments ought to be running the show - like in education, for example - the federal government gets involved.
And all this despite the fact that most of the people our government represents don't really want all that government.
Which brings us back to another way I think government has evolved in a bad way.
What started out as a government beholden to the people it governs has turned into a government beholden to the guy with the thickest wallet.
Special interests rule in Washington. Big money is what runs campaigns. And our lawmakers are in a relentless, endless pursuit of big money.
No matter what anyone says, big money influences policy at all levels of our government.
I don't want to scrap our form of government, but I think there is a vast amount of room for improvement.
But it seems that any call for reform is met with severe resistance. And the reform has to come from within. Things like campaign finance reform, for example, have to be enacted by the people who benefit most from leaving things the way they are.
Maybe if we show an interest and exert enough pressure on our lawmakers they'll see it our way on some of these issues.
Another entity that has evolved over the years is the labor union.
The concept of a labor union is positive. Unions have done lots of good things for workers in this country. There was a time when child labor, sweatshops, long hours and unsafe conditions made working downright deadly for lots of people.
Workers were abused and exploited by employers.
To a lesser degree, some of those conditions exist even today, with illegal aliens and other workers being exploited in sweatshop environments.
Labor unions brought a level of credibility and dignity to millions of American workers.
But just like government, labor unions have evolved.
Of course employers should provide a safe work environment and reasonable compensation. But should auto workers get 80 percent pay for 36 weeks if they are laid off?
Anymore, it seems unions are more into politics then workers.
Unions spent an untoward amount of money on advertising during the last election cycle. The AFL-CIO alone spent some $35 million in attempts to unseat Republican congressmen.
But just as the federal government seems to have lost sight of the needs of its constituents, it appears unions may be a bit out of touch with rank-and-file members.
Surveys show that union members, by significant margins, feel they are kept in the dark about how their dues are spent.
In addition, only a small percentage of union members want their dues spent on political activities. Topping most union members' lists for dues expenditures is preserving jobs, increasing wages and benefits, and improving the image of unions.
By a large margin, union members support the balanced budget amendment and welfare reform that requires recipients to work.
The $500 tax credit pushed by the GOP was supported by nearly 80 percent of union members surveyed.
Yet their union was out to unseat Congressmen who supported those very things.
And while union leaders decry the salaries of CEOs, union leaders themselves aren't doing too bad.
John Sweeney, the head of the AFL-CIO, gets nearly $200,000 in salary and compensation from that union. As head of the SEIU, Sweeney draws an additional $230,000.
Gerald McEntee, head of AFSCME, makes around $345,000.
Does this mean that labor unions are all bad and should be abolished? Of course not.
But as in government, I think there is room for improvement. [[In-content Ad]]