Unions and the blue social model

I must take umbrage with a number of the arguments posited by Katie Beasley in her Feb. 7 column titled “Say yes to unions.”

Beasley begins with an ad hominem attack on the insatiable and rapacious “upper class,” which she sees pushing others down the “ladder of prosperity.”

This approach is indicative of what Walter Russell Mead termed the “blue social model” and the rise of organized labor that it spawned.

American society, however, has made significant advances in the past century. As we’ve seen through populist, grassroots movements, social media has largely supplanted organized labor as the modern means of advocacy.

Now, unions primarily raise money for the Democratic Party in its fervent pursuit to uphold the crumbling blue social model through mandatory dues.

Between 2004 and 2006, the Indiana State Teachers Association gave approximately $2.35 million in political donations. Of that money, $2.1 million was given to Democratic candidates and $250,000 was given to Republicans.

This leaves us with a rather sobering picture of 21st-century state politics: Political organizations donate massive sums of money for the sole purpose of maintaining the status quo.

Can’t we all agree that the current political system is failing us? What, then, should we do? Should we follow Beasley and those who believe that unions are merely looking out for the little guy?

Or should we develop a new social model founded on the ideals of real liberty and individual autonomy?

Proponents of organized labor today say the sky is falling because of newly proposed right-to-work legislation in multiple states.

That view is largely regressive. The next social model should be premised on the democratization of access to opportunity and power.

We must adopt a system where freedom is more than a term used flippantly by the likes of Beasley. To frame this issue as liberal versus conservative, Republican versus Democrat or rich versus poor is to merely entrench the notions of an antiquated social model.

As it stands, support for Beasley, and the blue social model which she evangelizes, goes against liberty, no matter how you slice it.

— mvogler@indiana.edu