I'm with tater on this one.
Take it from me, I work in one of the most heavily unionized private industries in the country, but the unions aren't even as nice or discreet as a paycheck pamphlet when it comes to this sort of thing. There are rallies and propaganda and office posterboards galore, to say nothing of the stigma that comes with being identified as anything other than a staunch Democrat.
Skybird brought up the point of coercion, and he is somewhat correct that the association between a paycheck and a vote can be coercive.... to weak-willed idiots. Granted, a significant portion of the electorate is comprised of said idiots, but there is no cure for idiocy and trying to develop a system in which they are not taken advantage of in some way is an exercise in futility. Moreover, it's an outright repudiation of the principles of individual human sovereignty and dignity.
I ask the naysayers to think about it for a moment. Where the McDonalds corporation will never know
if its employees voted, much less
how they voted, unions are comprised of people who are ever on the alert for anyone who might sabotage the Democratic agenda they are so heavily invested in for their own benefit. Again, I ask you to believe me on this one as a man who has been stigmatized as a "company man", a "fascist", and even a "Pinkerton".
The
really interesting thing about this is the attention it has recieved in the media and on this forum. Unions take advantage of us (Americans) every day with their completely illogical and excessive demands by abusing our system of government to further their own interests at the cost of others in this nation and throughout the world; an agenda which is decidedly against progressive ideals.* Even so, the rather trivial act of a corporation, which itself is a bunch of people working to achieve prosperity for themselves by actually providing something other people want at a reasonable price (even Democrats
choose to eat at McDonalds), is suddenly rebuked for daring to support a party which is somewhat less disinclined to their interests!? Really!?
Such a concept probably sounds idiotic and beneath the dignity of honest liberals when I say it the way I did above, but it is the truth. For those who still don't understand, let me make it perfectly clear; You have been prostituted by the collective self-interest of people who can simply make convincing arguments as to why their prosperity is critical to your own.
Admittedly, I don't work for BNSF Railways Inc out of the goodness of my heart, or because I have a passion for trains. I work for BNSF because it's an easy ride to prosperity. I am no saint, but at least I have the temerity and honesty to admit that I'm prospering and making insane wages for the very simple work I do because my union uses every mechanism it can to dupe you out of your money. I'm not proud of it, but at least I'm honest. You are, all of you, being railroaded by the railroad unions, amongst others. You have to pay more for goods so that I can enjoy a relatively carefree lifestyle. That is not right. Were I a better man, I would quit out of principle, but I need to keep a roof over my head, and I'm a lazy jerk to boot. But you don't even have the choice of kicking a-holes like me out of our positions.
The unions, which are comprised of like-minded, and often worse people, won't let you. They've already co-opted the political system by pulling on your heartstrings; an easy thing to do in prosperous nation where people have the resources and therefore the freedom to be inattentive.
Do you get it yet? You've been had by people who have capitalized on their own self-interst at your expense, unknowingly or not. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should be attacking McDonalds for pursuing its own self-interest at no-one's expense whilst labor unions circumvent discussions such as these and rely upon federal mandate to force you to pay for their prosperity. It isn't right, it isn't fair, and it certainly isn't productive. It isn't this ridiculous indictment of McDonalds that needs to be pursued, it's the already effective agenda of unions who try to circumvent the laws of free trade for their own benefit, and the politicians who shamelessly court their vote for their own benefit.