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February 1, 2010

Labor Unions Fork Out Big Bucks to Take Down Tea Parties

Topics: Political News and commentaries

I missed this the other day but it's worth addressing. The Daily Caller reports that a new anti-Tea Party web site, TheTeaPartyIsOver.org, has connections to unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees:

[...] The American Public Policy Committee pays for the site, whose self-declared mission is to "prevent the Tea Party's dangerous ideas from gaining legislative traction."

According to Opensecrets.org, the top two financial backers of the American Public Policy Committee this year are Patriot Majority West and Patriot Majority, largely funded by union dollars.

During the 2008 election cycle, the AFSCME contributed $5.8 million and the SEIU donated $770,000 to Patriot Majority. Teamsters Union also donated $250,000, United Food & Commercial Workers Union gave $125,000 and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO donated $6,500 to the group.

[...] The site encourages visitors to call Republicans Randy Hultgren, Arie Friedman and David McAloon -- all running for the U.S. House in Illinois - to "reject the dangerous ideas of the Tea Party."

"This movement is a fad," the Web site reads, whose "ideas include undermining the legitimacy of the federal government in favor of a radical right-wing form of state's rights."

Since when is state's rights a "radical" idea? Apparently the union bosses never heard of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which states that all powers not given to the federal government are given to the states and the people, and the powers of the federal government (under the Constitution) are few and the powers of the states are many. And as for that "radical" agenda, pray tell, what's so "radical" about ordinary citizens reclaiming America's founding principles?

The union bosses seem to miss what most of their members clearly got in Massachusetts. And that is, as Glenn Reynolds notes, Tea Partiers are quite clear on what they're for: A limited government, one that keeps its nose out of their business and focuses on things like protecting the country in preference to redistributing income.

In other words, the union bosses are wasting their member's dues. Neither the web site nor their anti-Tea Party campaign will stop the voices of American voters from being heard. Americans are embracing the core values of the Tea Party movement in ever-growing numbers, and contrary to the views of the labor bosses, there is nothing radical about fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. These values are what made America great - and it's unfortunate that our president's agenda (and that of the unions) runs completely counter to the values of our founding fathers.

Posted by Richard at February 1, 2010 4:22 PM

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