Tag: 2014 election

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2014 election aftermath: Union’s bark worse than its bite

F. Vincent Vernuccio, writing for the Mackinac Center

The 2014 election was not so much a referendum on labor reform as yet another reminder that when elected officials protect freedom and taxpayers they do not need to fear the wrath of the union political juggernaut.

These reformers winning and opponents losing cannot be easily dismissed as “it was a Republican wave which protected the politicians who took on labor reform.” Almost more striking than what was in the Republican wins was what was not in the Democrat losses.

In Michigan for example, the birthplace of the UAW, the state with the 5th highest union membership rate in the country and long considered a labor stronghold, right-to-work was nowhere to be found in the election. Not on the ballot as an initiative or Constitutional Amendment, nor even in the gubernatorial or legislative races.

During the sole Michigan gubernatorial debate of the season, the only time worker freedom came up was as a subpart of another question and one that neither candidate addressed.

So low was the saliency of right-to-work as a negative issue that even representatives from the Michigan Education Association dismissed it. At a right-to-work panel discussion in October, MEA communications consultant David Crim explicitly stated:

I do not believe that on November 4th when people go to the polls they are going to say ‘you know what I am going to decide who I am going to vote for, for governor, for the legislature, any office on the ballot based on the right-to-work law that was passed…’ See 46:30 on video 

This is a far cry from the violent protests outside the Capitol and a “there will be blood” threat by Rep. Douglas Geiss, D-Taylor, during the passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law in 2012.

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The same goes for the legislators who voted for right-to-work in Indiana and even for Gov. Kasich in Ohio, whose labor reforms were overturned yet still won re-election handily last night.

Big Labor lost four of the five gubernatorial races the AFL-CIO initially said it would focus on — Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida — with Pennsylvania being their only win.

As Lee Saunders, chairman of the AFL-CIO’s political committee, told The New York Times in February, ousting Republicans in the industrial battleground states was “about survival.”

Labor lost races that were not even initially on their radar. This shockingly includes Illinois, where Gov.-Elect Bruce Rauner dared to take on forced unionism.

The “survival” lesson from the 2014 election is that labor reform is not the third rail of politics. Despite enduring a lot of noise from Big Labor, reformers need not fear its wrath. Voters will continue to reward those who support freedom and taxpayers.

As for labor’s survival, this election should be a lesson. It is time they give up the compulsion and privileges of the past. In order to not just survive but grow, they need to adapt.

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The Election is Over; Now its time to address America’s Crises

The 2014 elections are finally over, and the work of actually resolving America’s many crises must begin.

There is a temptation for the public, the pundits and the politicians alike to say that the nation’s enormous challenges can’t be resolved before the 2016 presidential election, and to accept only minor revisions to the strategies that have resulted in the country’ diminished fortunes over the past several years. But the dire impact of erroneous policies is so significant that delay is unacceptable. Congress must act rapidly, and the President must find the courage and honesty to change course.

The essential linchpin of the American economy is a healthy middle class. A combination of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the increased costs to businesses and consumers alike of Obamacare, heightened fuel prices, and the loss of steady jobs has wreaked havoc with this vital group.

Before the next federal budget is passed, action must be taken to lower taxes on middle income families.  Similarly, the various regulations, including Obamacare mandates that have discouraged businesses from growing and expanding their employment rolls must be repealed. This should also include reducing America’s absurdly high corporate tax rate, which encourages businesses to leave the U.S. and take jobs with them.

The U.S. balance of trade continues to see far too many dollars going overseas. It is time to keep those funds at home, where they can be used to spark the domestic economy.  The most rapid way of doing that is making the nation truly energy independent. Lands under federal control must finally be opened for energy exploitation. Also, attempts to limit other energy sources, including coal, must stop. This will also have two other beneficial effects: it will lower the cost of energy, reducing may other consumer and business expenses, and will also limit the enormous funds Russia and ISIS take in from energy sales that are funneled to their militaries.

It is also time to review American trade policies.  Unfair advantages have been given to foreign competitors, who, not subject to a variety of rigorous federal rules, can manufacture far more cheaply than U.S. companies. Goods imported from abroad for sale in the U.S. should be subjected to similar mandates,or be subjected to fees that level the playing field. Further, nations that restrict imports from America should have reciprocal limitations placed on their exports.
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The most imminent threat, one that has reached a level that constitutes a clear, present and immediate danger to the safety of all Americans, is the dramatic deterioration of America’s defense posture during the past several years. The U.S. military had already been slashed to the bone, best symbolized by the Navy’s reduction from 600 ships to 284. Under the severe cuts of the past several years, America has seen force drops reducing our services to levels not seen since before the First World War.  Under current plans, even North Korea will have a larger army than ours. These reductions have taken place at the same time that Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran have dramatically built up both the size and sophistication of their forces.

Further, in an era when nuclear proliferation is a disturbing reality, and when regimes such as Iran and North Korea are on the verge of having both nuclear weapons and the ICBMs with which to use them to attack America, it is irresponsible to not deploy a comprehensive anti-missile policy.

These threats must be addressed in the next federal budget.

The Legislative Branch must reassert its role as a check on the Executive Branch far more vigorously. During the era of the Obama Presidency, federal agencies such as the IRS, the Federal Communications Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education, and most ominously the Department of Justice have all been used for partisan political gain.  This must cease, and it is within the authority and capability of the newly elected Congress to viably and rapidly address that threat to the American Constitution.

These are crises whose solutions cannot be postponed.

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Will American voters act to reject foreign policy failures?

Americans go to the polls tomorrow in the midst of a more urgent period of crisis than any since the start of the Second World War, and perhaps surpassing even that momentous epoch.

Extraordinary challenges facing our national security will be decided.

The evidence of both the depth of the threats facing the nation is abundant, as is the reality that the dogmas of the past several years have failed to provide any remedies. An objective, clear-eyed view reveals a devastating picture of an America that has seen its fortunes decline precipitously, in large part due to tragically faulty strategies.

At no time since the attack on Pearl Harbor has the United States been in such a weakened position militarily. This time, however, our vulnerability is not due to a sneak attack; it is the result of policies that were never based on any realistic assessments. The Obama-Clinton “reset” with Russia, highlighted by an extraordinary reduction in American arms at the same time that Moscow dramatically upgraded its conventional and nuclear forces, was clearly doomed to fail. But the White House and its supporters were so eager to redistribute military funding to social welfare programs, including an unprecedented leap in food stamps, that they ignored—and continue to ignore– this imminent threat. The same willful blindness applies to our stance towards China’s massive armed forces buildup and to the increasing threat of Islamic terrorism, a threat Mr. Obama and his allies seem reluctant to even call by its proper name.

Since 2009, the United States has endangered staunch friends such as the United Kingdom, Poland, the Philippines, and especially Israel through an inexplicable attitude from the White House that sought to please our opponents more than America’s own interests and that of its allies. Today, a powerful and increasingly dangerous axis with a vast and contiguous portion of the Earth’s geography and population, including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea threatens planetary peace to an unacceptable degree.
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The American electorate tomorrow must make a decision similar to that of the United Kingdom’s in 1940, when Neville Chamberlain, who sought to appease Nazi Germany, was replaced by the clear-eyed Winston Churchill.

But foreign-born threats are not all from enemy weapons. The aimlessness and secretiveness with which the looming threat of Ebola has been met by the White House matches its disarray in other national security concerns.

Similarly, the refusal to not only appropriately secure America’s southern border, but to engage in statements which actually encourage illegal entry provides an effective vector for the introduction of contagious diseases and Islamic terrorists, masquerading as economic immigrants, to the U.S.

Tomorrow, Americans have a choice.  Their decision may determine whether they also have a secure future.