Li'l President's Day

It simply is unthinkable and intolerable, to paraphrase a former President of the United States, what some union operatives are doing in Madison, Wisconsin.

For my Presidents' Day message to you, I thought I might turn to one of my favorite quotations from Thomas Jefferson: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical."

That, in essence, is what the Right to Work principle -- that no worker should be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment -- is all about. Forced unionism denies hardworking Americans the right to refrain from financially supporting organizations they oppose.

But with recent events, I can't help but be reminded of another U.S. President's warnings about the dangers of forced unionism militancy in the government sector.

You see, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has proposed a bill that would give most government employees the Right to Work without having to pay tribute to a labor union.

Last week, teacher union militants held "sick-outs" to abandon their students and storm the capitol, demanding the legislature maintain Big Labor's stranglehold over taxpayers. Their extreme tactics shut down schools across the state.

Then, union boss-backed Democrats fled Wisconsin to prevent the state senate from conducting its session, including debate and a vote on Governor Walker's bill to diminish union boss control over the state budget.

Anyone who has studied union boss tactics over the years shouldn't be surprised. Even President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, himself a forced unionism proponent, predicted the devastating consequences of monopoly bargaining in the government sector.

"The employer [of government workers] is the whole people," FDR wrote in a 1937 letter. Government employees, he continued, have

"the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable."

The union bosses' militant tactics in Wisconsin in the last week were indeed unthinkable and intolerable. And predictable.

Happy Presidents' Day,