The Horse Holders

There is a photo out there showing WW1 era soldiers posing with their cannon crew.  Some reading my blog may know it well.  But it epitomizes what we are in for with continued unionization and government.  I couldn't find it easy but let me know it is out there.  In it, there is the cannon with the soldier that fires it, the one that uses that plunger thing to push the powder and ball, and two men posing on the right.  Someone looking at it would immediately notice that the two next to the cannon seem to have obvious jobs.  But what about the two off to the side?  It turns out that back in the day, when horses did the pulling, there had to be men there to keep the horses from bolting every time the cannon fired.  But as time passed you would think that the man hours needed to fire the cannon would be cut in half if we take horses off the battlefield.  This photo shows that people were so stuck on the four men crew - perhaps due to the need to 'keep them employed' - that they still used them well after they were needed.  A picture paint a thousand words.

I am not against unionization.  In fact, I consider any group of people working as a collective to be a 'union' and  they have every right.  The problem is that there is an inherent conflict of interest to consider when the government (at any level) engages with a collective agreement.  But on a more general level its all about buying votes.  And while you go to work, get groceries, sleep someone somewhere in the deep halls of government is supposed to be vetting for public services.  They could hire private companies to do it or they could keep it in house.  With a private contract they could have service level agreements.

With unionized in house employment it tends to get tricky.  First, since it buys the votes of masses versus a corporate entity it a far more efficient vote buying system.  Second, it is hard to pin down service expectations in the same way a crack addict gets to where he cares less about the source -- just give me the stuff.  No one cares to get these people to actually work, innovate, do things better each time, and do it with less not more!  They only care about filling the rolls with voters.  There is no interest in getting ride of those useless men doing nothing beside the 'cannons' of our day.

Do:
- vote for candidates who are private oriented.  Ok that sounds bad.  Clinton would do.  No I mean that they shy away from this union thing in favor or the union of people under the umbrella of a corporate or business entity.
- go to public forums that involve projects in your community.  Speak up on labor concerns and is it really needed.
- treat your government employed union worker 'like you would the tax collector' for in fact this person is in effect stealing your money at gunpoint.  Be nice, but not cordial.  But you can tell them that they are really just selfish folk that need to get real to save our country.

Do not:
- become violent.  I will always say that so long as I feel our society is intact.
- confuse unions with organizations that simply tend to be forums for common interest.

Gosh, so much to say but gotta go.
dfl