Hi Gang,
The SF Taxpayers Union is hosting a fundraiser for our new SF Supervisor
Ed Jew March 13th 6-8PM. Ed Jew is the most consistent voice for
taxpayers in City Hall. He sits virtually no committees because Aaron
Peskin insists all committee members have union credentials. While
Libertarians have no problem with unions per se, the fact that unions
are using the power of government and tax payer money to advance their
private agenda just like the mercantilist policies of government and
corporate welfare should concern every freedom loving Libertarian. See
article below.
Ed has refused to play this game and I think we should show up for him.
Please mark the date....I will be there and would like suggest the LPSF
officially endorse the event as a co-sponsor. This will not be good for
our "left" outreach but the event is about taxes...the antithesis of
freedom and charity. So we can't let a good anti-tax guy like Ed get any
less support than a good opponent of the drug war or sex worker rights
advocate...right?
I look forward to seeing you all there.
Michael Denny
Sympathy for the Devil
by Vedran Vuk <mailto:vvuk1@…>
Halliburton, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, and Lockheed Martin quickly roll off
the lips of anyone attacking special interest groups influencing policy
in this country.
However this viewpoint of major corporations maintaining power through
political contributions is only a skip-deep view of those who are really
trying to run this country.
Some of the most influential groups around are not capitalists but
instead labor unions. The usual suspects are only used as scapegoats for
the constant corruption that occurs year after year. Liberal after
liberal keeps screaming at oil companies and other major corporations.
As the right hand points at the financiers of the Republican Party with
contempt, the left hand is handed its own wad of cash from corrupting
organizations with their own agendas. The whole debate of oil companies
and Lockheed Martin contracts is only a distraction from the even bigger
beguilers creeping around Congress.
The main groups behind these activities are labor unions. The trap is
set perfectly. Make everyone hate business. Talk about lobbyists and
special interest groups. Scream "Corporation! Corporation! Corporation!"
while secretly influencing politics more than the blatant poster boys of
campaign financing. The American people willingly fall into this snare
every time.
Let's take a look at some of these coercive unions. The Center for
Responsive Politics <http://www.opensecrets.org/> organizes campaign
financing in an easy readable format.
Their list of the top 100 major donors since 1989
<http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.asp?order=A> quickly shows the
reality of special interest groups which is far from the all too popular
dejections against the oil boys.
Here are the labor unions with their rankings:
* American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees (#1)
* National Education Association (#4)
* International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (#6)
* Laborers Union (#7)
* Service Employees International Union (#9)
* Carpenters and Joiners Union (#10)
* Teamsters Union (#12)
* Communications Workers of America (#13)
* United Auto Workers (#14)
* Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union (#18)
* United Food and Commercial Workers Union (#19)
* National Association of Letter Carriers (#26)
* AFL-CIO (#27)
* Sheet Metal Workers Union (#37)
* Plumbers & Pipefitters Union (#45)
* International Association of Firefighters (#50)
* United Steel Workers of America (#51)
* Ironworkers Union (#60)
* American Maritime Officers (#86)
* Seafarers International Union (#93)
* Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (#96)
Six from the top ten major donors are labor unions! Yet discussions
around campaign financing do not regularly acknowledge these groups as
culprits.
It's no wonder the United States is being infiltrated with Socialist and
Communist ideas of redistribution. Many of these labor unions were born
in their beginnings with outright Marxist ideologies. Their influence is
spreading this agenda to this day.
The number one, American Federation of State, County, & Municipal
Employees, holds itself as a major hypocrite. Labor Unions in theory are
supposed to use collective bargaining against exploitative money hungry
corporations. Their employer is not a corporation but the government.
The union throws in all this money to campaigns in order to see how much
more they can steal from taxpayers.
Unions eventually kill the industries in which they are prevalent, but
with a limitless supply of taxpayer money the lifeblood of this union
flows at our expense.
They're not the only ones; all of these unions are caught in a deep
hypocrisy. These "exploited" workers are always attempting to garner
higher wages. If their wages are so low, then how are they able to hire
lobbyists with permanent positions in Washington with millions of
dollars to bribe politicians? This hardly sounds like down-trodden
exploited workers to me.
Now let's look at our earlier-mentioned poster boys and their rankings.
A good first look is at General Motors. GM ranks 68th while the United
Auto Workers 14th. If these corporations have so much money to influence
politics then why are the workers of General Motors giving more money
than GM itself? The realities of finance are far from the
anti-corporation and anti-business mentality spoon-fed to the American
people on a daily basis.
Now for our poster boys:
* Lockheed Martin (#35)
* Chevron (#67)
* Exxon Mobil (#73)
* BP (#100)
*Halliburton the most demonized company around doesn't even make the top
100 list!
I'm not attempting to pretend that this is the sole bribing that goes on
in Congress, but this list does give a general idea of the some of the
bigger donors.
If these companies are supposedly so influential, then the oil industry
should not be so regulated. If their influence is so huge, we would have
plenty of new refineries as well as no taxes on gas. However these
restrictions and taxes do exist.
If I had the perceived omnipotent power of oil companies, I would not
start a war in Iraq. I would end the restrictions at home. Simply ending
gasoline taxes could yield higher profits than any war imaginable.
The accusations facing oil companies are not all-encompassing in their
field. The rich in general are constantly accused of controlling this
country. But once again we must ask, "If they run this country why do
they pay 40% income tax; why does the top 50% pay about 97% of the taxes
to fund everything in this country?"
It hardly seems with these numbers that the rich are controlling America
in their favor. Labor unions play a huge underestimated roll in America.
Socialist policies like universal healthcare did not become platforms
for the Democratic Party out of thin air. Someone with money and
influence has been pushing these long-run disastrous policies; that
someone is the labor unions.
I dislike everyone on this top 100 list. But, if we're going to have a
serious discussion regarding special interest groups in Washington D.C.,
we need to tell the full story.
I hate the devil, but I do harbor a slight sympathy for the devil when
other demons are running wild and destroying freedom without anyone
noticing. The finger pointing needs to point out the deception in every
special interest group, not just a few major corporations. The Iraq War
has blinded many wise, common sense people from seeing the atrocities at
home. The Democrats through their labor union funding are just as
corrupt and controlled as Republicans.
Let's not single out a few and attack them. Let's attack the institution
of lobbying on every level and have sympathy for no devil.
February 23, 2007
Vedran Vuk [send him mail <mailto:vvuk1@…> ] is a student of
Economics at Loyola University of New Orleans, and a 2006 Summer Fellow
at the Mises Institute <http://www.mises.org/> .
Copyright (c) 2007 LewRockwell.com