We've heard the rhetoric from Democrats: Republicans are in bed with the oil companies. The Republicans favor Wall Street over Main Street. Republicans are on the side of evil health insurance companies. Democrats love to point the finger at Republicans and the influence of their "special interests." But who are the special interests that keep the Democrat Party awash in funds? The anti-business party has to be getting campaign donations from somewhere .. they have to be at the end of somebody's lobbying agenda. So who is it?
Oh come on now. Surely you already know.
The labor unions. The teachers unions. BP may be the current corporate boogey man ...but the damage done to the Gulf ecosystem is already proving to be much less than estimated. In my estimation teachers unions have done far more damage to our nation and our culture this year than BP, and the damage lasts generations. If Americans had a clue about the nature of the damage being done to their children by the refusal of teacher's unions to accept ideas such as school choice and teacher accountability these unions would have been run out of town a decade ago. Our government schools exist to indoctrinate our children into how to be good employees and loyal government subjects. The teacher's unions are willing participants in this effort.
I understand that there are good patriotic union members, and I understand that unions sometimes stumble into positive action .. but by and large unions exist today as organizations designed to help workers escape workplace accountability and to fund economic liberty's greatest enemy, the Democrat Party. Unions are the number one reason so many of our local and state governments are facing tremendous budget problems right now. The wage and pension benefits negotiated by unions - negotiated in return for massive campaign contributions - are a threat to local economies coast to coast. They have managed to scam politicians into a generational theft scheme, which has now left our country, our cities, our states, our taxpayers, deep in the red. This entitlement mentality that permeates from union goons is ultimately paid for by you - the taxpayers - because our gutless politicians are too afraid to lose their support and ultimately their jobs. Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner has the painful truth. These are facts that you and everyone should know .. facts that will demonstrate just how influential these unions are over Democrat politicians.
Public employees and their unions have contributed more money to the 2010 elections than the employees, executives and PACs of every oil company combined, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The $7.9 million that the sector gave to Democrats is more than the Republican haul from Wall Street, insurance or lobbyists.
The public employee sector spent $40 million on lobbying in the first six months of this year -- more than health maintenance organizations, commercial banks and the defense/aerospace industry, according to CRP.
Democrats have raised $1.7 million this year from the American Federation of Teachers, more than Republicans have raised from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, combined.
AFT's PAC spent $21 million in the 2008 election, more than certified "special interests" such as the National Association of Realtors PAC and the National Rifle Association PAC. Combine the PAC spending of the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, and you're at about 36 percent of AFT's spending.
Stunning, isn't it? If you believe that these labor unions, and the teachers unions, truly have your best interests at heart .. that is probably because you grew up in a government school where you were educated to believe that from a young age. The teacher union bailout vote this week is absolutely nothing but Democrat pandering to one of their largest supporters. How hard is this to understand? There is one thing the Democrats got right. This vote was about jobs .. only it wasn't really saving jobs in your community but about saving their own jobs in Washington.
