Such nice behavior in Michigan

By JIM THOMPSON
HCP columnist

The behavior of organized labor in Michigan this past week should bring a tear to every patriotic American’s eye. Well, maybe not.

Destroying property (ripping down Americans for Prosperity’s tent and cutting it up for souvenirs), teachers calling in sick in order to go to Lansing to protest, and vile speeches about democracy at work, just make the rest of us aspire to never buy union-made goods and services again.

With actions like these, what could ever motivate me to want to buy an American-made car, washing machine or refrigerator? Or vote for a school levy?

Thugs are thugs. No one who respects freedom of choice, democracy or civil obedience should ever lift a finger to support such people.

Plenty of left-wing people are happy to tell us that President Obama won the presidential election and if you have a problem with that, you are just a whiner.

Well, unions in Michigan, you sucked the cow dry and now you have lost. Yet, you are not content to whine, you want to destroy property, make somebody pay. What hypocrisy.

And speaking of hypocrites, how about that John Boehner? It looks like he is going to cave on tax increases (and may have by the time you read this).

I don’t see why the Republicans think they are under so much “pressure.” Weren’t they elected to hold the line? Do they think President Obama will not invite them to his next White House barbecue unless they go along?

The Republican Party has succeeded in making itself nearly worthless — about as worthless as the Whigs were when Abraham Lincoln et. al. came along and founded the Republicans.

The progressive liberals have spent decades arguing up is down, night is day; and the Republicans, for some unknown reason, have felt the need to say, “me, too.”

There is no place left in America for conservatives.

And if there is no place in America for conservatives, there is no place in the rest of the world, either. It is as if being a conservative is some sort of a disease — you are shouted down as being the radical right or worse for simply having a limited government, conservative viewpoint.

News flash — wishing for limited government does not make one a racist. Belonging to the NRA is not equivalent to being the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Questioning the UN’s views on (fill in the blank) is not indicative of Neanderthal tendencies.

The nuttiness is everywhere. Even Jeff Immelt, the head of General Electric and like John Boehner, a suburban native of conservative Cincinnati, is praising how well Communist China works. Yes, totalitarian states can work, as long as the knives are sharp and the guns are loaded.

Freedom seems to be on the retreat around the world, if one looks at the big picture.

However, to come full circle, actions in Michigan, and earlier in Wisconsin and Indiana, seem to indicate that, at least some politicians in some state legislatures understand that more freedom for workers, freedom to choose whether or not their hard-earned dollars go to unions they do not support and for causes they dislike, just might be a good thing. 

Will the rest of the Midwest pick up this new call to freedom? Can the Midwest be the genesis of a new political party of conservative and constitutional ideals? There just may be a little glimmer of hope north of the Ohio River. Let’s hope so.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga., following decades of wandering the world, and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.