The Force Behind BIG Government

The dots are getting so close together a four year old could connect them. State budgets are in trouble all over the nation. The degree of fiscal disaster including unfunded public pension liabilities varies primarily with the level of growth and influence of public employee unions in each state. In recent decades most citizens with customers to serve who compete in the private sector have scratched their heads as the influence of government has gotten larger and larger. The explanation is simple. The plans of public labor union bosses have been working like a charm. At the core of their growth plans are calls for ever bigger government. The easiest way to make logic of all this is to follow the money. Untold millions in public employee union dues come out of taxpayers pockets through government employee paychecks. These funds are deployed in the political arena at the discretion of public union bosses. Roughly 98% of the time these bosses funnel the money to Democrats.

Union Boss Rich Trumka

When Democrats win elections, they vote for bigger government. As government gets larger, union bosses are afforded more union dues. Over time the growth of government in nearly every state has become a geometric progression. Unfortunately, this circular relationship has continued to this day with state budgets in deficit virtually everywhere. Suddenly in November of 2010, voters in many areas demanded fiscal responsibility. And since Democrats had been in charge of the vast majority of governments around the nation they became the obvious targets. After smashing national and statewide GOP victories in November, policies to limit the size and scope of both government and public employees unions were laid on the table. How will all of this play out in places like Madison, Wisconsin and Santa Fe, New Mexico?

Private sector workers and employers are forced to be spectators. They can’t descend on the state capitol and chant slogans. They have to show up for work each day. At best private sector workers might take a minute or two to read the news to see what happened that day or listen to News New Mexico. In the meantime tens of thousands of union organizers and activists have simply walked off their government jobs. Once they arrive in seats of government like Madison or Santa Fe they scream and holler, essentially demanding there be a continuation of the vicious bigger government cycle.

The good news is now that change is being attempted and the opponents of change have exposed themselves, connecting the dots and identifying the conflicts of interest is simple. Accordingly, counter protests have been organized. But of course the numbers of citizens participating in the counter protests are smaller. The trouble is most people with a real stake in stopping this fiscal death spiral are busy doing their jobs each day. They are glued to their work stations because they must please their customers each day or lose their jobs. Public union members have no similar pressures to deal with.

The Force Behind BIG Government