Many observers were surprised when Michigan, historically a stronghold of union power, became the nation’s 24th “Right to Work” state. The backlash from November’s unsuccessful attempt to pass a referendum forbidding the state from adopting a right to work law was a major factor in Michigan’s rejection of compulsory unionism. The need for drastic action to improve Michigan’s economy, which is suffering from years of big government policies, also influenced many Michigan legislators to support right to work.
Let us be clear: right to work laws simply prohibit coercion. They prevent states from forcing employers to operate as closed union shops, and thus they prevent unions from forcing individuals to join. In many cases right to work laws are the only remedy to federal laws which empower union bosses to impose union dues as a condition of employment.
Right to work laws do not prevent unions from bargaining collectively with employers, and they do not prevent individuals from forming or joining unions if they believe it will benefit them. Despite all the hype, right to work laws merely enforce the fundamental right to control one’s own labor.
States with right to work laws enjoy greater economic growth and a higher standard of living than states without such laws. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, from 2001-2011 employment in right to work states grew by 2.4%, while employment in union states fell by 3.4%! During the same period wages rose by 12.5% in right to work states, while rising by a mere 3.1% in union states. Clearly, “Right to Work” is good for business and labor.
Workers are best served when union leaders have to earn their membership and dues by demonstrating the benefits they provide. Instead, unions use government influence and political patronage. The result is bad laws that force workers to subsidize unions and well-paid union bosses.
Of course government should not regulate internal union affairs, or interfere in labor disputes for the benefit of employers. Government should never forbid private-sector workers from striking. Employees should be free to join unions or not, and employers should be able to bargain with unions or not. Labor, like all goods and services, is best allocated by market forces rather than the heavy, restrictive hand of government. Voluntarism works.
Federal laws forcing employees to pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job are blatantly unconstitutional. Furthermore, Congress does not have the moral authority to grant a private third party the right to interfere in private employment arrangements. No wonder polls report that 80 percent of the American people believe compulsory union laws need to be changed.
Unions’ dirty little secret is that real wages cannot rise unless productivity rises. American workers cannot improve their standard of living simply by bullying employers with union tactics. Instead, employers, employees, and unions must recognize that only market mechanisms can signal employment needs and wage levels in any industry. Profits or losses from capital investment are not illusions that can be overcome by laws or regulations; they are real-world signals that directly affect wages and employment opportunities. Union advocates can choose to ignore reality, but they cannot overcome the basic laws of economics.
As always, the principle of liberty will provide the most prosperous society possible. Right to work laws are a positive step toward economic liberty.
Enjoy this classic Ron Paul speech from May 19, 2009.
Transcript
Ron Paul: The title to my special order tonight is ‘Current Conditions or Just a Bad Dream’.
Could it all be a bad dream or a nightmare? Is it my imagination or have we lost our minds?
It’s surreal, it’s just not believable.
A grand absurdity, a great deception, a delusion of momentous proportions based on preposterous notions and on ideas whose time should never have come.
Simplicity, grossly distorted and complicated.
Insanity, passed off as logic.
Grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff.
Evil described as virtue.
Ignorance pawned off as wisdom.
Destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism.
Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the “war on terror.”
Surely attacks on foreign countries will increase as a result of this move, but more and more the strikes will take place under cover of darkness and outside the knowledge of Congress or the American people. The move also represents a further blurring of the lines between the military and intelligence services, with the CIA becoming more like a secret military unto itself. This is a very troubling development.
In 2010, I said in a speech that there had been a CIA coup in this country. The CIA runs the military, the drone program, and they are in drug trafficking. The CIA is a secretive government all on its own. With this new expanded Defense Intelligence Agency presence overseas it will be even worse. Because the DIA is operationally under control of the Pentagon, direct Congressional oversight of the program will be more difficult. Perhaps this is as intended. The CIA will be training the DIA in its facilities to conduct operations overseas. Much of this will include developing targeting data for the president’s expanding drone warfare program.
Already the president has demonstrated his preference for ever more drone attacks overseas. In Pakistan, for example, President Obama has in his first four years authorized six times more drone strikes than under all eight years of the Bush Administration. Nearly three thousand individuals have been killed by these drones, many of those non-combatants.
President Obama said recently of Israel’s strikes against the Palestinians in Gaza, “No country on Earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.” This announcement by the administration amounts to precisely that: the US intends to rain down ever more missiles on citizens overseas. I believe what the president says about Israel is true everywhere, so what about those overseas who live in fear of our raining missiles? How will they feel about the United States? Is it not possible that we may be inviting more blowback by expanding the covert war overseas? Does that make us safer?
An exhaustive study earlier this year by Stanford and New YorkUniversity law schools found that US drone strikes on Pakistan are “damaging and counterproductive,” potentially creating more terrorists than they kill. Its recommendations of a radical re-appraisal of the program obviously fell on deaf ears in the administration.
Thousands of new DIA spies are to be hired and placed undercover alongside their CIA counterparts to help foment ever more covert wars and coups in foreign lands. Congress is silent. Where will it all end?
On November 14 Ron Paul gave one of the most powerful speeches mankind has ever heard. In just 48 minutes, Ron Paul condensed down his thirty plus years of fighting tyranny into this incredibly important and profound warning that if we don’t turn things around, we are in deep, deep trouble and are going to repeat history.
Alex Jones and his team took the time to illustrate and document some of the facts presented in Ron Paul’s speech. The impressive result is this outstanding video:
After leaving Congress, Ron Paul will continue speaking up for liberty. Starting January 8 Ron Paul is available to speak at events around the world. He is represented by the Greater Talent Network, America’s leading celebrity speakers bureau:
At the podium, Dr. Paul delivers a candid look at the dysfunctional American political system. Using anecdotes from his 23 years in Congress, he highlights the need for a limited government and more personal liberties. Dr. Paul captures audiences’ attention by relating the occurrence of current national issues such as debt, privacy and freedom to the government’s neglect to follow the constitution. Despite the less than ideal condition of the country, Dr. Paul is an optimist. His unwavering passion leaves audiences motivated to speak out, wake up and let politicians know what they want.
To have Ron Paul speak at your event call 212.645.4200 or email info@greatertalent.com. More information is available here.
Neal Conan: Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas has been called the Godfather of the Tea Party. He ran for president on the Libertarian Party line, but returned to Congress as a Republican. He ran twice again more for president, and along the way, he sparked what some call the ‘Ron Paul Revolution’. It promotes smaller government, less regulation and spending, and a greatly diminished U.S. role overseas. Congressman Paul retires at the end of this present term, and, Ron Paul supporters, we want to hear from you: where do you go once your leader has retired from Congress? Call us at 800-989-825 or email us at totn@npr.org You can also join the conversation at our website www.npr.org and click on ‘Talk of the Nation’. Of course, political junkie, Ken Rudin, is with us and Congressman Paul joins us from his office in Lake Jackson, Texas. It’s good to have you back on the program, sir.
Ron Paul: Thank you, it’s nice to be with you.
Neal Conan: I wonder, what advice would you have for your supporters, where should they go once you’ve retired?
Ron Paul: Well, you know, I think about that in a different way. I don’t think people have to have leaders, because I emphasis so much about the individual. If there is a revolution, it’s going to be spontaneous. So much of what happened in our campaign didn’t come from a well-organized campaign, it came from a lot of individuals getting together on the internet and spontaneously doing things. They raised money spontaneously, they would come out to rally spontaneously, with the help of the internet and with our encouragement. So I think they’ll have plenty of places to go, I think they’ll act as individuals, so they’re going to create a whole new atmosphere, and they’re going to propel the revolution in a very healthy way.
Neal Conan: Inside the Republican Party, or inside the Libertarian Party?
In 2010, I said in a speech that there had been a CIA coup in this country. The CIA runs the military, the drone program, and they are in drug trafficking. The CIA is a secretive government unto itself.
Now we are told [see article] that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is to be radically expanded overseas to rival the CIA in size.
Thousands of new DIA spies are to be hired and placed undercover to help foment ever more covert wars and coups in foreign lands. Where will it all end? – Ron Paul
Ron Paul: “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. The CIA runs everything, they run the military. They’re the ones who are over there lobbing missiles and bombs on countries. … And of course the CIA is every bit as secretive as the Federal Reserve. … And yet think of the harm they have done since they were established [after] World War II. They are a government unto themselves. They’re in businesses, in drug businesses, they take out dictators … We need to take out the CIA.”
As the year draws to an end, America faces yet another Congressionally-manufactured crisis which will likely end in yet another 11th hour compromise, resulting in more government growth touted as “saving” the economy. While cutting taxes is always a good idea, setting up a ticking time bomb with a sunset provision, as the Bush tax cuts did, is terrible policy. Congress should have just cut taxes. But instead, we have a crisis that is sure not to go to waste.
The hysteria surrounding the January 1 deadline for the Budget Control Act’s spending cuts and expiration of the Bush tax cuts seems all too familiar. Even the language is predictably hysterical: if government reduces planned spending increases by even a tiny amount, the economy will go over a “fiscal cliff.” This is nonsense.
This rhetoric is based on the belief that government spending sustains the economy, when in fact the opposite is true. Every dollar the government spends is a dollar taken from consumers, businessmen, or investors. Reducing spending can only help the economy by putting money back in the hands of ordinary Americans. Politicians who claim to support the free market and the lower and middle-class should take this to heart.
The reality is, however, that neither Republicans nor Democrats are serious about cutting spending. Even though U.S. military spending is exponentially larger than any other country and is notorious for its inefficiency and cost overruns, Republicans cannot seem to stomach even one penny of cuts to the Pentagon’s budget. This is unfortunate because this is the easiest, most obvious place to start getting spending under control. The military-industrial complex and unconstitutional overseas military interventions should be the first place we look for budget cuts.
Similarly, Democrats are digging in their heels on not cutting any welfare or entitlement spending and instead propose to fix the deficit by raising taxes on the rich, even though the U.S. Government already has a progressive tax code and the rich already pay more than their fair share. Furthermore, these higher taxes would fall on small business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs—in other words, the source of economic growth and new jobs!
The truth is that there is no excuse for government spending being as high as it is, nor for taxes being as high as they are. Even the God of the Old Testament only asked for 10% as a tithe and offering, and Americans revolted against the King of England for taxes that amounted to less than five percent. Yet so many people today complain about “loopholes” for the rich that lower their actual tax rate to “only” 13% in some instances. Even that is a criminal amount to pay for a wasteful, abusive, unconstitutional government.
We are indeed headed to a fiscal cliff and have been long before this latest hysteria cropped up. But it is not cuts to spending or reduced government “revenue” that will send us over the cliff, it is continued government spending that will. Until the federal government limits itself to its Constitutionally-mandated role, spending and taxation will remain out of control.
Look for a “bipartisan” compromise in late December, with Republicans giving in to tax increases and settling for phony spending cuts that actually grow government, and Democrats caving on defense cuts in exchange for tax increases. This is how the government has always grown: both sides will sacrifice their pro-liberty, small government stances in certain areas in order to grow the government where they prefer.
Alan Colmes: I’m Alan Colmes, and I’m always delighted to have with us on the program Congressman Ron Paul. Dr. Paul is leaving Congress after this term, he served during the late 1970s and early 1980s and returned in 1997 to represent the 14th congressional district in Texas. In 1988 he was the Libertarian Party candidate for President, he’s also the author of several books, including The Challenge to Liberty, The Case for Gold, and The Republic. By the way, you’ve done some great cookbooks, too.
Ron Paul: Oh, yea, my wife did those and we kid a lot about that. I always ask, “Why do you want to do such a silly thing as a cookbook”, but then it turns out that she probably got more votes for me than I got for myself.
Alan Colmes: Are you disappointed with the results of this election?
Ron Paul: Well, not in any way, it is probably exactly what I expected. I remember a couple of days before the election I was asked to predict the outcome, and I said the status quo is going to win. So, from my viewpoint, where I want less war and better protection of civil liberties and free markets, we still have the status quo, we still have the deficits, and they’re going to argue for a while longer. So, I guess I wouldn’t say it’s a disappointment. It’s disappointing, I guess, if we don’t ever shift gears, but it wasn’t unexpected.
Alan Colmes: You didn’t think it would make a difference if it if it was Obama or Romney?
Ron Paul: No, not really.
Alan Colmes: Did you vote for Garry Johnson?
Ron Paul: I’m not telling.
Alan Colmes: You haven’t answered that question yet.
Ron Paul: No, I haven’t answered it, and it’s a little bit late now.
“Benjamin Franklin once stated that democracy is two wolves and one lamb voting on what to have for dinner, while liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting that vote. Slowly but surely, the lambs are being disarmed while the wolves continue to sharpen their teeth.” — Judge Andrew Napolitano, Lies the Government Told You
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Ron and Carol: Married for 55 Years
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