Unkind and unfair

I was thinking about the resurgence of the '70's policies and their inevitable consequences, and I realized something. 

We, as a nation, have become profoundly unkind and unfair.  

History repeats; or if it doesn't straight up repeat, it rhymes.  Or at least, that used to be the case, when it was actually taught as a series of choice/consequence pairs. Now, it just repeats.  Over and over.  About every twenty or thirty years.  

We used to learn from history, until people who were kind and gentle and didn't want to traumatize the kids changed the way it was taught (at the behest of people who thought that they'd find it easier to seize power if it wasn't taught...and they were right).  We no longer learn from the mistakes others have made; instead, we make our own.  

When I was in school, I read history.  I read a lot of history.  Mostly because of the self-esteem movement blocking me from reading-level-appropriate fiction because "we don't want to make your classmate that can't read feel bad."  I read a lot dissecting how this act led to that reprisal.  

And then, I saw similar playing out on the playground: one of my classmates would be an asshole, and another classmate would bop them, or kick them, and their behavior straightened up.  Action/choice led to obvious (and fair) consequences.  

And so, children used to learn not to be dicks to each other.  

I also saw when the "anti-bullying" turned from "Hey, y'all, stop being a dick to the weird kid" to "Oh, you poor, disenfranchised baby, you can be mean to anyone, and we'll punish them for applying consequences." 

That was profoundly unkind, and unfair: kids are dicks.  And they've got to learn that there are consequences.  By preventing the consequences of their actions from being applied, the "kind" grownups removed an opportunity and an incentive to learn socially appropriate behavior.  

It's spreading, even now: we've seen it with people living way above their means; we've seen it with businesses going under because they've made long-term stupid their missions statement.  And it's because kids aren't taught consequences of their choices at young enough ages, because kids are protected from the fallout of their own stupid choices.  

It's a profound disservice, and we're really starting to see the economic fallout: in slapping layers of regulations on businesses, the government are jacking up the costs of doing business.  The businesses start jacking up prices, and people stop buying from them.  The government slaps more regulations on the businesses, limiting how much they're allowed to charge, so the business cuts prices...but also cuts quality.  Which drives more people away from them...and then the business starts failing. 

We've seen what happens when they're allowed to fail.  Yes, it's horrible for the people employed by the business; however it's worse when the business is bailed out by the government.  Especially when part of the bail out is new regulations that prevent new businesses from rising up and doing what the failing one was doing, but better and cheaper and higher quality, because there are better choices--smarter choices--being made.  

Case in point: car makers with plants in the United States.  The ones owned by American companies are infested with unions and slammed with regulations; the ones owned by foreign car manufacturers have some of the same regulations, but they're not infested with parasites on top of it.  American car makers are failing; they're failing, and their flailing for government bailouts.  

Unfortunately, those come with more shackles strings attached.  

I say let them fail.  Let the unions murder the jobs that they claim they're trying to protect.  Let the government murder the industries.  Let them fail.  

Maybe, just maybe, we can figure out where the fail point was, and fix the problem.  

But it takes failure, it takes natural consequences to punish bad choices before we can even begin to recover.  

The fail point is government.  The fail point is regulations, regulatory costs, and the push by the stupid and uneducated toward the impossible. 

It's not fair to the rest of us.  It's not kind to us, or to our children.  

We're not allowed to hit the bully back.  We're not allowed to side-step the increasing regulations laid on vital infrastructure.  

Sarah Hoyt says "Build over, build under, build around." And we're going to have to.  Because the Gods of the Copybook Headings will not be gainsaid.  

Not teaching that has been the harshest, most unfair, most unkind thing that weaponized "nice" has done.

The schadenfreude is delicious this time of year...

It cracks me up that the unions that pushed so hard for Obama and his "Affordable" Care Act are freaking right the fuck out because it's doing what those of us who understand how reality works said it would do.

Detroit as a picture of our future.

It's not pretty.  It's nearly bankrupt, paying out $47 million more than it takes in, including $1.08 in retirement benefits for every $1.00 in salary to those still working.  Almost half of those of an age to work don't work, and aren't looking for work.  More than ten percent of those working have government jobs--and when they retire, they'll be sucking down even more of the city's non-existent resources. 

Out of Detroit's children, seven percent score as proficient or better in reading, and far fewer (4%) are proficient in math.  Compare that to Michigan's 32% proficient in reading and 31% in math.  It's not surprising, given how many teachers are union thugs that only want the paycheck and the benefits, and don't give a shit about the rest of the job (as demonstrated by how many skipped work to try to prevent the passage of laws removing some of the power wielded by the unions).

The people  of Detroit aren't in any better shape: many are desperate and amoral enough to resort to grave robbing.

This is what the rest of us are looking at if the socialist agenda isn't stopped.

This is how it should happen.

Remember the whole "Let's walk out on Black Friday!" threatened Wal-Mart strike?

It fizzled.  One single worker walked out.  She walked out on a $12/hour job.  And Wal-Mart isn't going to let her come back. 

Good riddance.  I just wish she could be denied aid because she walked out on a job that was pretty secure, steady work. 

In this economy...

I think, if I were a business owner, I'd have a zero tolerance policy for strikes.  I'd write it into the employment contracts that walk-out strike equals "I quit."  I mean, look at what happens when employees go on strike: Hostess, a national name brand in goodies, is going under.  As in, totally gone.  That's 18,000 more jobs gone because of a few who demanded more than what the company could afford to give them. 

Now, Wal-Mart is having issues with strikers.  There have been plans announced that there will be a walk-out strike on Black Friday--perhaps the biggest shopping day of the year. 

Enough of this shit, people.  Stop whining.  You have a fucking job with a fucking paycheck.  You're luckier than almost 20% of the nation.  Suck it up and get to work so that your company can stay afloat, and you can keep your fucking job.

I understand that unions were necessary, at one point--that working conditions used to be a hell of a lot more dangerous, and work hours unreasonable (16 hour days and six or seven day weeks is unreasonable.  12 hour days four days a week is not.).  That time has passed. 

The giant uber-unions (UAW, NEA, et.al.) really need to follow suit. 

WOW! Leftists with a sense of humor, and a fiscal conservative governor without one!

I mean, usually, it's the lefties that don't have a sense of humor, and the righties that do. But here, it's the other way around.

And yes, I thought the joke was as funny when it was about a Repubican as I thought it was about a Dhimmicrite.

I hate unions.

They may have served a valuable purpose when created, but unions have outlived their legitimate usefulness, and evolved into nothing more than corrupt, criminal gangs. Don't believe me?

Take a look at what teachers' unions are doing: the last thing that should be done in the LA school districts is shortening the school year. The kids aren't learning to read, write, or do basic math as it is.

Or here, take a look at the latest scam that the SEIU wants to perpetrate on us. Looks to me like it's now time to take your retirement savings and bury it in the back yard.

Any political action group that swears to lobby to make unions illegal would get my support. And any politician that caters to unions emphatically does not.