Americans

By now, you've seen the video of the weeping "Democracy died tonight" jackass, inconsolable because the union-backed and promoted attempt to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker didn't turn out the way he preferred. But just in case you haven't:

No doubt you find it as disgusting and contemptible as I do. No doubt you'd be marginally embarrassed to admit to a Martian that you and the sniveler belong to the same species. But worse would be any notion that the two of you share your conceptions of justice or "democracy," the shibboleth-word the Left thinks can be used to bludgeon us into bending to its will.

I have only one question for you, and I suggest you take your time over it:

Why?

***

The recall election was about a transfer program disguised as a labor agreement. Under that program, Wisconsin taxpayers would transfer ever more of their justly earned incomes to government employees, in the form of salaries, pensions, and noncash benefits, regardless of any objective need, any performance measures, and indeed, any actual performance on the part of those government employees. Governor Walker and the GOP-dominated Wisconsin legislature succeeded in enacting modest corrections to that program:

• They curbed public-employee unions' collective bargaining privileges;
• They ended mandatory union-dues-collection by Wisconsin for those unions;
• They compelled those employees to contribute to the funding of their pensions;
• They compelled those employees to accept a larger share of the cost of their health care insurance.

That's what had the Left up in arms. The unions are the muscle of the Left. They've been instrumental in every intimidation tactic the Left has wielded against Americans' freedom this century past. They enjoy special privileges no other institution in America possesses. And they have contributed materially to the conquest and subsequent ruination of America's cities, by putting their clout to the service of political racialists and redistributionists and elevating them to power. The government-employee unions have been particularly significant in these regards, by pressing relentlessly for increases in the size, scope, and cost of state and municipal governments.

Without the unions, the Left's gains in political power would have been far more modest.

But not enough persons actually grasp the magnitude of unions' influence on America's decline. Ask a hundred randomly selected persons whether unions are a good thing or a bad one, and the balance of answers is likely to favor unionism...because after all, we wouldn't want those heartless plutocrat capitalists in their top hats to run roughshod over poor defenseless workers, now would we?

A union is a device for coercing employers into paying more for labor than the market would normally bear. It's a transfer program in its own right, backed by two important federal laws passed under Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Wagner Act and the Norris-LaGuardia Act. Look 'em up.

A union markets its "services" solely by coercion. If you've heard the phrase "card check" but have wondered why there's so much emotion attached to the debate over it, that's the reason.

So our video sniveler was upset that a group of overtly oppressive, coercive forces, whose major effect is to extort employers and incidentally to reduce the number of persons working in particular occupations, failed to overturn the elections of men who acted to reduce their power. That's what he meant in saying that "democracy died tonight."

Let's imagine that you style yourself an American. I certainly hope you do, but for current purposes let's stipulate it. Does our video sniveler deserve the same appellation?

***

An American is supposed to be a free, self-reliant person of independent judgment. His freedom is assumed from the protection of his rights afforded by the Constitution of the United States and the subordinate constitutions and charters of the states, counties, and municipalities. His self-reliance is assumed from the freedom of the markets in which he works and vends the products of his labor. His independent judgment is assumed by the democratic process by which he chooses his representatives and (in some states) can initiate or pass on legislation.

An American is not supposed to rely on a gang with special privileges, whose members routinely use violence, fraud, and intimidation, for his latitude, his opinions, or his daily bread.

But according to the video sniveler, "democracy died tonight" because exactly such a gang, which openly used violence, intimidation, lies, and vandalism in its attempts to thwart the Wisconsin legislature, failed to exact retribution from the legislators and executives who stood in its way.

You must make a choice.
You must prepare to announce that choice widely.
You must also prepare to act on that choice, in every appropriate venue.
It's really quite simple, an either-or proposition that admits of no ambiguity:

Are you an American, or is he?

Think about it, if you must.