The American Worker

The above photo is a common sight after any major storm. Although in this case Santee Cooper is state owned, something of which I am no fan, the distribution is a member owned Cooperative – the workers are with private contractors. In the rural south nonprofit cooperatives are a common phenomena.

Now that is out of the way let's talk about the photo itself. I might not know the men in that photo, but I personally know many like them. These men and women sometimes left school early, and with determination they managed to get that GED . Some went to a technical college while others simply started at the very bottom. No matter their start they work side by side in mountainous regions or low country swamps.

When there is a major outage these men and women find sleep wherever it can be found. They might be found taking an hour nap in one of the trucks while still wearing their soggy clothing. These are the men and women who make sure your house is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

You won't find this labor force filled with illegal immigrants. When you see one of them in a mud filled ditch with a pick and shovel, you will find someone who grew up in the region. Their flesh might be a variety of shades, but they are all Americans and South Carolinians.

We learn politics through sports

I came to realize last night while talking with a friend just how politics and sports are similar. I remember the day I stopped being a NASCAR fan. Dale Earnhardt had just wrecked and his car sat on the grass with flat tires. This accident should have put him out of contention because according to NASCAR rules the car would have had to be towed to the garage area. It is only then the car can be worked on by the crew.

As the rollback truck backed up to the race car and began attaching the cable, Dale began shouting and frantically waving his arms. He stopped the track crewman from further actions, all the while shouting that loading the car would cause further damage.

Moments later Dale's pit crew appeared carrying tires and a jack. While in the infield grass they put tires on the car and Dale was soon back on the track three laps down. He came back to win the race while fans screamed loudly.

1892 Homestead Strike

While watching the History Channel’s Men Who Built America I became intrigued with the Homestead strike of 1892 where 10 men were killed, three of which were Pinkerton agents. History sometimes portrays this as some kind of atrocity. In a sense it was, but who was really at fault? We could blame Carnegie Steel’s Fricke, but that is too easy.

Working conditions were hard, but that was life in America in those days. Those people worked twelve hours a day in the torturous heat. Those men were steel workers who were known for their toughness.

Enter the union who told the men they needed more money, which was fair. The unions took things too far. They convinced those workers that the steel mill belonged to them. They were the ones who built it. Unions and the left are telling people the same things today. They tell people that those who built the industry couldn’t have done it without the worker, which is true in some sense. It’s this kind of thinking that leads many of us to say that unions and the Democratic Party are communistic. They overlook the fact they were given much needed jobs in which to feed their families.

Atlas Shrugged Pt. 1 The Movie.

It's not often that I take the time to write a movie review. When Atlas Shrugged part 1 came out It didn't show any place close. Last night I finally had the chance to see the movie. I have to admit I had trepidations. I knew they had set the movie in the modern area. I also knew it would be an impossible task to make to reproduce the book on the silver screen.

For decades the people holding the movie rights had waited for the right production company. I, like many, had begun to think we would never see the movie come to light. There were high expectations, and I must admit they were met as far as I'm concerned.

The characters were well developed, as was the plot. I do wonder if a movie viewer who hasn't read the book will understand all the plots. If they didn't, I believe in coming segments they will begin to see why the world was crumbling.

China, The West’s Greatest Threat

We cannot walk into most department stores without seeing the shelves filled with products made in China or Mexico. Many people want to enact tariffs to allow American manufacturers to compete. It’s been proven in the past that tariffs only start trade wars. There are many goods in which Americans can only get from other countries. There are also many goods that that we no longer make in this country, and might never be made profitably in this country again.

We often think of cheap goods that are made in China, but it’s much more than that. Today I learned that California is putting a new 2050ft bridge over the San Francisco bay. That bridge is being made in China and shipped in sections for $500 million less than it could be made in the USA. -American workers are assembling the bridge.

Quote from NY Times:
Pan Zhongwang, a 55-year-old steel polisher, is a typical Zhenhua worker. He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week. He lives in a company dorm and earns about $12 a day.

Wisconsin, Land of Theft and Corruption

Since the early twentieth century we have heard about union corruption. Those that are younger than myself no longer have to read about it in history books. They have seen that same corruption on stage in Wisconsin.
If we were to rely on the leftist media we would know only that private citizens were fighting for the right to collective bargain. This is much more than collective bargaining, this is about bribery and public corruption. More than 95% of the Wisconsin union’s contributions go to Democratic candidates or the party itself.  They elected democrats that will in turn give the union more power and benefits. This was a vicious circle that has to be broken.


If I could have had my way, public sector unions would be abolished, not just in Wisconsin, but in the federal government as well. We have union leaders mandating classroom size and the curriculum in schools. This is giving unions power that people thought they were giving to elected school-board members. I often write about how the Executive branch of the federal government is bypassing the Legislative branch, this is much the same thing. In both cases we have non-elected individuals making law or rules for public or private institutions.

Reply to A Liberal’s Questions

There is so much in which to reply. Let’s start with the first amendment. You say in the spirit of the amendment there is separation of church and state. The Federalist Papers tell us the intent of our founders. They wanted to keep religion safe from government, not government safe from religion. In fact some of the founders expressed that states should declare a state religion, one state actually did, but I can’t remember which. We have to read the amendment exactly as it’s written, and it’s meaning is clear that congress shall not declare a state religion and people should be free to practice whatever religion they wish.

Personally I am happy with the separation of church and state, what I do hate is for people to wish something to be in a document, so therefore that’s what must be there. You said several times that O’Donnell made a mistake and was just technically right. She was right in every sense of the word.

Unions, who needs them?

Very often I get into a debate with union workers about their rights. I’m sorry, but I don’t get it. A person asks for a job and the employer gives them one. Suddenly the worker feels he or she has the right to tell the employer how to run his or her business.

Recently I entered into a debate with a Canadian worker that is being locked out because they opposed the company hiring outside contractors. There are too many details to list. but I must say I can feel sympathy for that Canadian worker. I, myself, had my job replaced by outsource workers.

Having said that (I hate that over used phrase), the employer has the right to hire whomever they wish to do the job. In the case of the Canadian, he says the contract workers are inferior to the company workers. This might be so, in fact I am sure its so.