“It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.”
Do you know who said those words? If you’re thinking it was some radical right-wing Republican, you would be wrong. These are the words of George Meany, the former president of the AFL-CIO in 1955.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an obvious hero to big government liberals, saw unions as a means for workers to share in the profits they helped to create. But since government doesn’t generate profits, and since a strike by government workers would be a strike against taxpayers, FDR considered unionization of government workers “unthinkable and intolerable.”
Today these government worker unions have resulted in an unholy alliance between union bosses and the politicians who write the checks–usually in exchange for votes from union members along with getting a lot of the money back in the form of campaign contributions.
Due to this obvious quid-pro-quo relationship, and the resulting denial of their free speech rights, non-union public school teachers in California went to court in an effort to end the extortion of union “fees” required to be paid in lieu of union dues.
After losing in lower courts, their appeal was heard by the Supreme Court. With current court membership consisting of eight individuals in the aftermath of Antonin Scalia’s passing, the justices issued a 4-4 split decision, giving a victory to the incestual union/government relationship.
As this case clearly proves, it’s very important that Antonin Scalia’s replacement, along with all future appointments, be a strict constitutionalist.
In another First Amendment case that could see the same result, the court is still grappling with the religious liberty issue in a case involving the Obamacare mandate requiring contraception coverage and the Catholic charity Little Sisters of the Poor.
Additional cases that stand to suffer a similar fate are: abortion, affirmative action, and immigration.
While 4-4 decisions can still be heard again, there’s no guarantee that the court will agree to do so. In addition, these ties leave lower court rulings in effect.
Let me be clear on one thing: I’m not suggesting the Senate take any action on filling the court’s open seat. In fact ,the exact opposite is true. Which is why a Newsmax.com story yesterday is particularly troubling.
According to the article, the number of Republican Senators calling for meetings to take place with Obama’s pro-abortion, anti-Second Amendment, liberal nominee, Merrick Garland, is up to sixteen. Since the Democrats only need fourteen defections to put him on the bench, this is a troubling number.
Mitch McConnell promised to postpone a vote on Scalia’s replacement until after the November election, but as we have documented in the past, Mickey has developed an extensive resume of broken promises and can’t be trusted. But with America teetering ever closer to becoming a post-constitutional Republic, it’s more important than ever that he keep this one.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically-incorrect and always “right.” David is also a contributor to RedState.com.
His daily commentary is nationally syndicated via Salem Radio Network.
