2011-03-08 issues

I begin with a quote attributed¹ to George Washington:

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force.
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Over the past couple weeks thousands of public employees have been protesting in Madison, Wis.
They are mocking the very notion of civil service.
They are exhibiting a sense of entitlement rather than duty to the tax-paying public.
They act as if they would be masters rather than the people's servants.

Wisconsin faces a 3.6 billion dollar shortfall over the next two years.²
The state employees and teachers must step to the plate.
Many of the privileges granted them through past collective-bargaining have been unwise.
To save jobs, Gov. Walker has proposed a bill to take back the most burdensome of these.
The police and firefighters would be exempted.

To have quorum for a vote on this bill, there must be at least one Democrat present in the Senate.
All the Democrat Senators joined the protest by fleeing the state.

The militancy of the public-sector unions ³ and their supporters is wrong and worthy of contempt.
They have occupied the state capital building.
Like a bunch of 60's New Left radicals they yell "hey hey ho ho Scott Walker has got to go".

Then they have the gall to say this is what democracy looks like.

But most disturbing is the illegal strike by the teacher unions.
They have abandoned any pretense of professionalism or civic duty.
This stark unionism is not appropriate when the employer is the tax-paying public.

FDR said so in a 1937 letter ⁴ to the NFFE - the National Federation of Federal Employees:

I quote, "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service … Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. … Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable."^P

What happens only at the state level is not the usual concern of our Federal Issues Committee.
But President Obama chose to interject himself in a state dispute. ⁵

He has openly supported the protesters in Wisconsin.
He makes no distinction between public and private-sector unions.
He characterized Gov. Walker's attempt to restore sane governance as an "assault on unions".
The Washington Post has reported the president’s political machine is working with state and national union officials to mobilize the thousands of protesters in Madison.
They are planning similar demonstrations in other state capitals.

Unions of national scope such as the AFL-CIO and the NEA have made common cause with their affiliates in Wisconsin to keep the protests going.⁶ ^P

The Pennsylvania native Richard Trumka ⁷ is President of the AFL-CIO and a former president of the United Mine Workers.

He spoke at the Wisconsin protest.

In the packet ^P look at the logo of his Wisconsin branch and the logo of the socialist ISO.

They depict the same clenched fist.

Under the direction of Trumka and before him, John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO has embraced a radical agenda.^P

They have appointed Communist Party delegates to positions of power in their Federation.

Trumka and his union bosses see free market capitalism as something to be despised and destroyed.

For them private enterprise is not essential to worker prosperity.

Is it any wonder their private-sector membership has been disappearing?

Many public-sector unions are affiliated with the AFL-CIO ⁸ --
including the American Federation of Government Employees, AFSCME, and the NFFE.

Let me suggest public-sector unions are a means by which communists establish their dictatorship of the proletariat.

Trumka has explained he became involved in the labor movement,
NOT because he wanted to negotiate wages,
but because he saw it as a vehicle to do massive social change.^P

The American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of School Administrators, and many local chapters of the NEA ⁹ are affiliated with the AFL-CIO.
When I took a philosophy of education course at IUP,
I was taught the two functions of a school in society are to transmit and to transform the culture.
Two positions regarding the transformational function are informed conservatism and social reconstruction.
The latter adopts the view that "the school should try to act as a self-conscious agency for social change". ¹⁰

The evidence suggests the NEA at the national level seeks social reconstruction.

The NEA is very sympathetic to Trumka's desire for massive social change.

A former executive director of the Kansas NEA, John Lloyd, has stated,¹¹
(quote) " To understand NEA — to understand the union — read Saul Alinsky. If you read "Rules for Radicals," you will understand NEA more profoundly than reading anything else. Because the whole organization was modeled on that kind of behavior which was really begun when NEA used Saul Alinsky as a consultant to train their own staff. "

Hillary Clinton wrote her Senior thesis on Alinsky.¹²

Barack Obama is well-versed in Alinsky tactics.
As a community organizer, he both taught and implemented these tactics.¹³

Who is Saul Alinsky? ¹⁴

Alinsky’s worldview was that mankind is divided between the haves and the have nots. He wanted a radical change of America’s social and economic structure.

He planned to achieve that through creating public discontent and moral confusion.

He wanted to move the U.S. from capitalism to socialism.

The means of production would be owned by all the people - that is, the government.

"Change" was Alinsky’s favorite word.

He claimed that "justice, morality, law and order are mere words used by the haves to justify and secure their status quo."

The NEA has embraced the tactics of Saul Alinsky.

They have proposed Saul Alinsky as required reading in our public schools.¹⁵

Their battle cry is "Educate, collaborate, AGITATE!"¹⁶ ^P

Saul Alinsky dedicated his book "Rules for Radicals" to (quote)"the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."¹⁷

I don't want our schools to be socially reconstructing our culture into some sort of despotic socialist kingdom ruled and inspired by lucifer.

I want our schools to transmit our true culture - the ideals and practices which promote and sustain the greatness of America.

The question I ask is "Do we really want the education of our children in the hands of the national teacher unions?"

To conclude, I refer you to an article in the packet ^P by Michael Fraley,
- The America of Samuel F. Smith. ¹⁸

Fraley took the occasion to read through the lyrics of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee".

He was amazed by the depth of meaning of the words - their reason, their eloquence.

He was struck by the emphasis given to education as the safeguard of Truth and Righteousness.

We face the enormity of the responsibility to teach the enduring truths to our posterity.

Education is essential to sustaining us as a Nation, pure and triumphant!

"My Country, 'Tis of Thee", served as the de facto national anthem until 1931.¹⁹

Here breathes the song of America - a Land of Liberty ruled and inspired by God.

Thank you

-- Peter Cooper

--- Who rules America? ---