What's That About ‘Special Interests’?

National Review: Apparently Democrats Don’t Have Any, The Way They Tell It

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Thomas Sowell.

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We take it for granted that a vote means a secret ballot, but it was not always that way. Moreover, it will not remain that way for workers who vote on whether or not they want a labor union, if legislation sponsored by congressional Democrats and endorsed by Senator Barack Obama becomes law.

Before there were secret ballots, voters dared not express their true preferences if those who watched them vote could retaliate - whether by firing them, beating them up, or in other ways.

Anyone who is serious about people being free to express themselves with their votes wants a secret ballot.

The problem for labor unions is that workers in the private sector increasingly vote against being represented by unions. The proportion of workers in the private sector who are represented by unions has fallen below 10 percent.

Since unions are losing the game under the current rules, their obvious answer is to change the rules. Specifically, they want to do away with secret ballots when the government conducts elections to determine whether the workers in a particular company or industry want to be represented by a union.

With labor unions being major supporters of the Democratic party - spending hundreds of millions of dollars in this year’s election campaign - it is hardly surprising that congressional Democrats have lined up solidly behind legislation to let union organizers simply collect signed cards from a majority of workers, in order to be certified as the officially recognized union for those workers.

Of course, the union organizers will then know who did and who did not vote for them. And they may have long memories, or short fuses, or both. Moreover, the workers themselves know that, so they may find it prudent to sign up for a union, whether they want one or not.

This legislation passed the House of Representatives last year but did not make it through the Senate. “I will make it the law of the land when I’m President of the United States,” Barack Obama has said to the AFL-CIO.

Senator Obama has also said many times that he is against “special interests.” But, like most politicians who say that, he means that he is against other politicians’ special interests. His own special interests are never called special interests.

Neither are the environmental extremists who support the Democrats called special interests. But the green zealots who have for decades blocked the country from using oil within our own borders - more oil than in Saudi Arabia, by the way - are also among the special interests with a big voice in the Democratic party.

They are also a major factor in shutting down the democratic voting process - in this case, in the House of Representatives, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi refuses to allow a vote on drilling for oil in places where the green zealots don’t want drilling.

The Congressional Democrats could of course vote to continue forbidding drilling in those places. But voters paying $4 a gallon for gas are not likely to agree with the green zealots - and recent polls show that they do not.

Rather than lose votes in the November elections by voting with the green zealots, or lose the money that the green zealots contribute to the Democratic-party coffers, Nancy Pelosi simply shut down the House of Representatives, so that there could be no votes, and turned off the lights so that C-SPAN could not broadcast Republicans’ speeches protesting what happened.

After all, what is democracy compared to support from the green zealots?

It is the same story when it comes to the teachers’ unions, the biggest special interest of all in the Democratic party. They not only contribute money, they can contribute people who walk the precincts on election nights, rounding up the faithful to go vote.

Even the Congressional Black Caucus dares not vote for vouchers or any other form of school choice that the teachers’ unions oppose. Better to let a whole generation of black children be trapped in failing schools that employ union teachers.

But special interests? Not at all.

[bluestardad]

NRO YOU AND THE WEEKLY STANDARD CANT BUY THEM WITH YOUR AIPAC MEMBERS.

DEMOCRATIC FUNDING IS COMING FROM THE PEOPLE THAT IS WHY YOU TRASH THEM EVERY CHANCE YOU GET!

DONT GO AWAY MAD JUST GO AWAY!

[bm6005]

Neither party serves the American people''s best interests! Vote out all incumbents regardless of party! We''ll be better off with all new rookies; less thievery.

[sparks224]

The idea that trade unions and environmental groups are Special Interests is laughable.

The phrase "Special Interests" was coined to describe big money corporations that use their wealth to manipulate the government.

EXXON-MOBIL is a Special Interest.

The NRO is just another right-wing noise machine peddling false impressions.
It''s what they do.

[sparks224]

chatmandu002,
If unions have registered lobbyists in Washington, they are doing a very bad job. Anti-union legislation has been passed and as a result unions have been in decline along with the American middle class.

On the other hand, the big money corporations have gotten everything they wanted. They have been able to literally write their own legislation.

[chatmandu002]

I wonder how many of the unions have registered lobbyists in Washington? Probably as many as the business groups. The unions don''t have any special interest in what the government does.
Those big bad business companies shouldn''t have any lobbyists. We should put them all out of business and have the government support everybody.
Isn''t that the purpose of government, to support the people from cradle to grave. Free everything for life.
Oh, the Utopian life of a Socialist. How sweet it is.

[sparks224]

The idea that trade unions and environmental groups are Special Interests is laughable.

The phrase "Special Interests" was coined to describe big money corporations that use their wealth to manipulate the government.

EXXON-MOBIL is a Special Interest.

The NRO is just another right-wing noise machine peddling false impressions.
It%u2019s what they do.

[greeneyes222]

In practical terms there''s no real difference between the Democrats and Republicans. Both have special interests, both promise wonderful things, neither delivers.

We''ve gone from a do-nothing Republican Congress to a do-less Democratic one. Obama fans babble on about the evils of free trade and "neocons", conveniently ignoring the fact that Clinton pushed NAFTA. We''ve been served poorly by both parties. Greed trumps political party.

The only difference is the advertising, and people used to know enough to take advertising with a grain of salt. From all the "he said/he said" arguments, that''s no longer the case.

[wogerwabbit]

NRO=Not Really Objective

[irliberal]

Whoa! What''s that loud whine? Oh, just another article from the NRO. Move on, nothing to see here.

[noloyalisti]

The lying, senile McSame (kind of reminds me of the corporate puppet Reagan) said he wanted special interests out of his campaign. Yet his main campaign people are corporate lobbyists. Where is that story from the fascist media corporations?

[hypnotoad72]

Most union people I know like to say "We won''t force you to vote ___, we are merely showing you the difference between ____ and ____ and why we in union management support _____. Because their records show they care for the workers as much as everyone else."

Sadly, unions seem to be a necessary evil. They used to be great, and in ways they have gone overboard... Unions gave us 40 hour work weeks, time to be with families, a bit more stability, et cetera...

And I too am annoyed at the liberals whining "do not drill, wah wah wah!" Of course, Forbes recently put up an article saying we were exporting a lot of oil too... wonder if it''s still around, retracted, corrected, or whatever...

[veteran188]

right on noloyalista!

The fascist police state created by the bush/mcain

evangelicals knows no bounds when it comes to greed driven graft

[noloyalisti]

Of course many of the Democrats are owned by special interests. That''s how it is in a fascist country like America. But at least some of them are progressive unlike the religious extremist war-mongering members og the Party of Death and Spending, the GOP.