If Biden really wants to be FDR, he should oppose public sector unions

President Joe Biden has made it pretty clear he idolizes Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR). A painting of #32 hangs in his office, he frequently invokes the former president in his speeches, and the media often draws comparisons between the two progressives.

Article by Hannah Cox from FEE.

But as much as Biden seems to draw on FDR’s legacy, his knowledge of his positions seems to have one glaring omission. FDR was opposed to public sector unions.

Public sector unions are having a moment in the spotlight, and not in a good way. Their actions over the past year have incurred ire from all political directions. Many Americans have become aware of the role police unions play in protecting bad apples, blocking popular criminal justice reforms, and preventing transparency as extrajudicial killings and the resulting protests have demanded attention on our justice system.

And across the nation, millions of families have been harmed by teachers’ unions who in many states played a significant role in keeping schools locked down—often for overtly political reasons. Some demanded taxpayer-funded childcare before they would return to the classroom, others insisted on Medicare for All at the federal level, raising taxes at the state level, blocking charter schools, or defunding the police.

Corey DeAngelis, National Director of Research at the American Federation for Children found that, “School closures are uncorrelated with the actual incidence of the virus, but are rather strongly associated with unionization, which implies that the decision to close schools has been a political—not scientific—decision.”

These school closures have had devastating effects on families and children: the loss of education, loss of work, and mental health issues at the top of the list.

But while the public’s sentiments towards public sector unions may be shifting, membership remains five times higher than that in private sector unions.

For many Americans, labor unions have long been a fading issue. Private sector membership is at an all-time low, more than half the country prohibits workers from being forced to join a union, and thanks to a recent US Supreme Court decision, employees can no longer be compelled to pay union dues. It turns out that when given the choice, most workers feel they are better off without a union in the free market.

But in the public sector, government-employees continue to embrace unionization because of the ways it allows them to entrench their own power. This was a problem predicted by FDR.

While FDR was a huge proponent of private sector unions and did much to increase their power over individuals, he was opposed to organized labor in the public sector for a few reasons. First, when public unions strike, they strike against taxpayers (their ultimate employers). He considered this “unthinkable and intolerable.”

Secondly, FDR and other earlier leaders in the union movement recognized that while unions serve as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help generate, government workers do not generate profits. Therefore, public unions merely lobby for more tax money.

And lastly, government collective bargaining ultimately means voters have less of a say in their own political process and on public policy. Their elected officials instead are forced to negotiate spending and policy decisions with unions versus the people they are supposed to represent. That is certainly a perversion of democratic processes, and it’s one democrats used to be opposed to.

President Joe Biden seems determined to elevate unions. In his first few months in office he has already pushed the PRO Act (which kills independent contracting at unions’ behest), advocated the elimination of Right to Work laws, and launched a new task force that will explore ways for the government to use its authority to push unionization. These actions are a grave mistake and will further remove power from the people and give it to special interests.

Instead of focusing on ways to eliminate workers’ choices and job opportunities in the free market, the Biden administration ought to be working to uphold the rights of taxpayers and free them from the oppression of public sector unions.

Ultimately, public sector unions work against the American people on their own dime. FDR opposed that injustice, and if Biden really wants to follow in his footsteps, he should, too.

‘The Purge’ by Big Tech targets conservatives, including us

Just when we thought the Covid-19 lockdowns were ending and our ability to stay afloat was improving, censorship reared its ugly head.

For the last few months, NOQ Report, Conservative Playbook, and the American Conservative Movement have appealed to our readers for assistance in staying afloat through Covid-19 lockdowns. The downturn in the economy has limited our ability to generate proper ad revenue just as our traffic was skyrocketing. We had our first sustained stretch of three months with over a million visitors in November, December, and January, but February saw a dip.

It wasn’t just the shortened month. We expected that. We also expected the continuation of dropping traffic from “woke” Big Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, but it has actually been much worse than anticipated. Our Twitter account was banned. Both of our YouTube accounts were banned. Facebook “fact-checks” everything we post. Spotify canceled us. Medium canceled us. Apple canceled us. Why? Because we believe in the truth prevailing, and that means we will continue to discuss “taboo” topics.

The 2020 presidential election was stolen. You can’t say that on Big Tech platforms without risking cancellation, but we’d rather get cancelled for telling the truth rather than staying around to repeat mainstream media’s lies. They have been covering it up since before the election and they’ve convinced the vast majority of conservative news outlets that they will be harmed if they continue to discuss voter fraud. We refuse to back down. The truth is the truth.

The lies associated with Covid-19 are only slightly more prevalent than the suppression of valid scientific information that runs counter to the prescribed narrative. We should be allowed to ask questions about the vaccines, for example, as there is ample evidence for concern. One does not have to be an “anti-vaxxer” in order to want answers about vaccines that are still considered experimental and that have a track record in a short period of time of having side-effects, including death. One of our stories about the Johnson & Johnson “vaccine” causing blood clots was “fact-checked” and removed one day before the government hit the brakes on it. These questions and news items are not allowed on Big Tech which is just another reason we are getting canceled.

There are more topics that they refuse to allow. In turn, we refuse to stop discussing them. This is why we desperately need your help. The best way NOQ, CP, and ACM readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We are on track to be short by about $4100 per month in order to maintain operations.

The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. We had 5,657,724 sessions on our website from November, 2020, through February, 2021. Our intention is to elevate that to higher levels this year by focusing on a strategy that relies on free speech rather than being beholden to progressive Big Tech companies.

During that four-month stretch, Twitter and Facebook accounted for about 20% of our traffic. We are actively working on operating as if that traffic is zero, replacing it with platforms that operate more freely such as Gab, Parler, and others. While we were never as dependent on Big Tech as most conservative sites, we’d like to be completely free from them. That doesn’t mean we will block them, but we refuse to be beholden to companies that absolutely despise us simply because of our political ideology.

We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.

As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.

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