The state government of South Carolina, along with local governments in the Lowcountry of South Carolina made a deal with Boeing to entice them to build their new plant near the Charleston Air Force Base. In return for such incentives, working families got jobs. There was just one problem. South Carolina is a right to work state, which makes it harder for big labor bosses to “wet their beaks” on the backs of working men and women.
So, big labor went into overdrive, with their big labor lawyers, moving to make Boeing build its new plant where they can “wet their beaks” more easily. Senator Jim DeMint called it “thuggery.” DeMint is not far off in that assessment.
What started out as a South Carolina issue is now one about the heart and soul of the nation. Are we a people who believe in the right to work, that is a man or woman contracting for their labor, free from paying some sort of “protection money” to some union, or are a way a nation in which working men and women have to let big labor get a cut of their paychecks in order to have a decent job? It is no longer about South Carolina, or even Boeing, it is about that.
And, just where does the President of the United States stand on such? The President claims to be champion of hard working folks looking for work. Well, he will not find better hard working folks looking for work than those in South Carolina. The President also owes big labor bosses big for political and financial support. So, whose side is the President going to be on? The working man or woman who really can not afford to pay some union boss dues with things like gas prices, or the union bosses who need to wet their beaks? The next few weeks will tell.
There is also something the more cynical will say is at work. Something we at VUI do not really want to think about the President of the United States. Some contend that right to work states like South Carolina did not vote for him, so his political apparutus is apt to go after them to protect states like Washington, who big labor delivered for him in 2008. Look at the situation and make up your own minds.
One thing is for certain, the government of the United States must make clear that true freedom means a man or woman can contract for their labor with an employer without having to give some labor boss his “dues” or cut. Big labor demanding a cut is just as bad as big corporations controlling things or big government demanding their taxes. Such things shut working families out, no matter how much the President and his big union boss backers say they are all for working families.
