Current Article

Government Workers, Sucking At the Public Teat

By Larry Johnson on October 21, 2011 at 4:59 PM in Current Affairs

Consider this a follow-up comment to Reverend Amy’s excellent piece. Obama’s socialist mindset and orientation were on display over the last several days as he pleaded for the Senate to pass a bill funding a host of public employees. If you work for Government–that includes Federal, State or Local–you are enjoying a form of “white” man’s welfare. Yep, that includes members of the military and the intelligence community as well. Stepping on some toes? I am not saying that we do not need some of these jobs done, but I am thoroughly fed up with so-called conservatives who have spent their entire working life working for the government and are unwilling to entertain cuts to their particular rice bowl.

Why am I taking these shots? I’m listening to the belly aching and complaining of so-called fiscal conservatives in Ohio who are upset that police, fire fighters and teachers and to pay more to fund their pensions and have to pay more for healthcare. Cut me a break. If you are a cop, a fire fighter or a public teacher you are getting paid with public dollars. That’s money that is collected from tax payers. I am not arguing that you have no value or contribute nothing to society. But, you do not make the same kind of economic contribution to society that someone who runs a business or manufacturing plant.
Listening to Joe Biden and Barack Obama equate giving states $35 billion to put police, fire fighters and teachers to work and call that a jobs program is a joke. They have no sense of irony. They tried to make that case the week that news emerged that the Washington, DC area is now the wealthiest part of the country.

Washington, D.C., nosed out San Jose, Calif., as the nation’s highest-income metropolitan region, fueled mainly by its army of attorneys, consultants, lobbyists and outside government contractors.

Census data for 2010 show median household income was $84,523 in the D.C. area, compared with $83,944 for the San Jose region, the epicenter of Silicon Valley. Both numbers are well above the median income of about $50,000 for the nation as a whole. While Washington’s incomes in 2010 were lower than in 2009, paychecks in the D.C. region have been more stable overall.

What is the difference between public and private sectors? You don’t have a choice about who fights your fires or patrols your streets. And, in heavily unionized school systems, you have little control or input over who teaches your kid.

Private sector? Unless you have a monopoly and are a company owned town or a vendor that the government dictates must be supported, you have to provide a service that people want to pay for. You have to satisfy your customers or you won’t be in business for long. It is that prospect of losing customers that ultimately can empower consumers. By contrast, if your government sucks you have to wait for the next election cycle and, even then, there is no assurance you can get the change that you demand and deserve.

We have witnessed an explosion of the public sector over the last twenty years. When you add in the companies that are feeding at the trough of government contracting the picture of those sucking at Uncle Sam’s tits is big and ugly.

Okay, got your dander up?

Anonymous

If obama pulls out the troops in Iraq by year’s end, what are these people supposed to do for jobs?

“Say What You Will…It Feels So Good”
http://www.saywhatyouwill.proboards.com

Anonymous

Let’s see. They are used to taking orders. They are creative in the filed. They don’t mind slapping people around.

They could go to work for the Obama campaign.

Anonymous

lmao…..good one!!

“Say What You Will…It Feels So Good”

Anonymous

Let’s see. They are used to taking orders. They are creative in the filed. They don’t mind slapping people around.

They could go to work for the Obama campaign.
an observer

That is a very real problem.
Not just the troops, there are a lot of contract jobs that will be cut.
Some estimate 1.4 million employed directly and indirectly.

Anonymous

It’s a mess any way you cut it…

“Say What You Will…It Feels So Good”

1momofsoldier1

I’m confused when you say that “fiscally conservatives ” are belly aching. I’m from Ohio and the only ones that are complaining are public union, liberals, not fiscal conservatives. I have 2 brothers who are state workers and one cop in the family and all of them want this bill. Theyre fed up with the unions, period.
Anonymous

Bravo. I would add that the growth of the public sector has been for longer than 20 years and through Democratic and Republican office holders.

While we do need public service employees for a range of reasons, we have become too reliant on government solutions and at any cost.

Government solutions are generally wrong almost 100% of the time.

The difference between the Tea Party Movement and the Occupy Wall Street Bowel Movement is that the TP seeks less government and more self reliance, while the OWS platoon seeks greater government reliance.

Any reading of the Federalist Papers will make clear that the founding fathers sought self-reliance and very limited government.

We now have enormous cabinet level department that have no real need and accomplish nothing. Top of that list is the Department of Education,and Energy. I would even put the Department of Homeland Security on there which seems to have redundant functions with other departments.

There needs to be a President who can act like one of those major consulting companies do for major corporations and re-engineer the Federal Government as well as the programs.

The piece of that effort should be an aggressive outplacement program for the eventual legions of government workers who will lose their jobs so that they can have help in transitioning into the private sector.
Anonymous

I think a whole lotta government workers could be eliminated and nobody would notice they were gone. It takes like five or six people to do tasks that could easily be done by one or two people. Of course, the one or two that could do it are too lazy or too unmotivated to do the workload they should be doing. These jobs are a terrible drain on the taxpayers.
Anonymous

Larry, as you know, I worked for the Federal government, first in the Marines and then with CIA, from age 17 until I was 46. And then I really started to contribute to my country.

While I am proud of my service and feel that I earned my meager pension, what I now do in private business directly contributes to the livelihoods of those who work with me at my company. Furthermore, we help our clients achieve better lives for themselves, their families and, if they are business owners themselves, their own employees. The better we do our job, the more money that this extended network makes, and ultimately, the more taxes that we all pay for the betterment of the country at large.

Increasingly, I get the feeling that those that we entrust with our tax dollars don’t fully understand this economic model. When Federal employees have “offsite” conferences in luxury hotels and spend $16 on the muffins that are served with the coffee, I begin to question the stewardship of the tax dollars that I give them to efficiently and effectively provide services in the common interest.

In particular, I don’t think that our current President and many in key roles in his administration have a clue as to how all of this works. The Vice President certainly doesn’t and, based on recent statements, neither does the Senate Majority Leader.

And that’s why I will be voting to replace them in 2012.

Anonymous

What a great comment. And written by someone who’s walked the walk in both sectors. Thanks, and i hope you speak more about your experiences. – Bronwyn
Wbboe

Excellent points. Semper fi.

Years ago I arranged for a legislative forum for the cattle industry. One of my guests was Bill Heffernan who was Professor of Rural Sociology at University of Missouri. He spoke to this very issue. He was on the side of the small farm, and against the corporate farm. Agri business funded the University just as it funds Texas A&M. Therefore he always stood in harms way.

His argument was that when you have a small farmer, the agri-dollar he generates through his efforts stays in the local community where it passes through seven sets of hands–from the hardware store where it is initially spent to the grocery store to the restaurant to the bowling alley to the auto dealership to the sale barn to the mechanic to the feedlot before it leaves the community and in this way the infrastructure of a small town survives and the town along with it prospers.

Converselyr, if that same agri-dollar is generated by a corporate farm then it leaves the community immediately and goes back to the corporate headquarters. The small town infrastructure gets none of it, dies on the vine and the small town . . why the small town just blows away in the wind. This is the story of entire states in the mid west plains states.

Obama is a corporatist and staunch opponent of small business. Therefore, he would favor the corporate farm over the small farmer, because the corporate farm would give him kickbacks. And then there is also his disparaging remarks about people in small towns who cling to their guns and religion which tells the rest of the story.

In sum, I think it is fair to say that regardless of where the son of a bitch was born, he ain’t American.

Anonymous

A civil servant is sometimes like a broken cannon – it won’t work and you can’t fire it.

George S. Patton

Anonymous

Hilarious. – B.
Wbboe

Wonderful. I never heard that one before. If Patton were the boss, I rather suspect that he would find creative ways to make it work up to and including a firing squad. Bitch slaps are for wimp. Real me use bullet with no blindfolds or last cigarettes because nicotine can be hazardous to your heath.

Anonymous

“or last cigarettes because nicotine can be hazardous to your heath”.

Reminds me of an old novel, I think was On the Beach…which tells of survivors of atomic destruction living in the Southern Hemisphere. Some are sent out in a submarine to the west coast of US, chasing down a signal that has been heard coming from near Seattle.
At some point, a child who comes down with measles isn’t allowed on the boat because she is contagious…and no one wants to spread measles among them ..although they all have suicide pills to use before their inevitable radiation deaths.

HELENK

after reading this article maybe the management of the AFT would be a good place to start the layoffs

http://townhall.com/columnists/katiepavlich/2011/10/21/atf_ignored_death_threats,_tried_to_frame_whistleblower_agent_to_cover_corruption/page/full/
Anonymous

No Larry, you can’t have what’s in my rice bowl! I will defend my rice bowl all the way to the unenjoyment line. (All publicly funded).
Pat W.

The rabidly voracious appetite for taxpayer funds to fund fiscally unsustainable increases in pay and benefit packages for municipal employees has been made abundantly clear in the community in which I call home. It is an older inner ring suburb with a population of about 25,000 in a major metropolitan area.

It is a relatively affluent highly educated community with a stable downtown retail center providing steady sales tax revenues. Its public and private schools rank near the top in educational achievements both state- and nationwide. Crime statistic rates are so low as to be almost meaningless. The demographics are about 65% Caucasian and 35% Chinese. Most residences are single family owner occupied.

Because this community is considered highly desirable, its home values over the last ten years have risen and remained relatively stable throughout the last mortgage meltdown. Assessed values for property tax
calculations are allowed to increase with the cost of living subject to
an annual limit. Exemplarily, the assessed value on my house throughout all the ups and downs in the market since TY2000 has steadily increased over the years and today reflects accurately its current market value.

Thus, this is a city with a relatively stable population and a stable local economy giving it a
relatively stable tax base which increases overall tax revenue in proportion to cost of living and economic growth. Yet,our city council has now proposed a plan to outsource our city police department to the county because it claims it can no longer afford to provide these services.

At city council meetings and other public hearings, the city council members only repeat the refrain that the city is “losing” revenues be cause its ability to raise taxes, especially on real estate, is constrained by the state constitution. Yet there is never a discussion of the total budget, only specific hearings to address the “crisis” in a particular expenditure, whether fire, police or schools. The discussion is never from where else can we eliminate expenditures, it is always that this particular program under discussion needs more money and needs it now to survive.

Here are some salient facts regarding our police department. In 2005, the total payroll including wages and benefits for sworn uniformed officers and administrative staff was $3.8 million. The total headcount of the department in that year was 40. Thus, in 2005 the department incurred expenditures of $95,000 per employee, a figure that seems reasonable for this area.

However, in 2010, the total payroll was $4.8 million. This million dollar increase came after ten employee positions, both uniformed and administrative, were removed from the budget in prior years between 2005 and 2010, thereby reducing the total headcount to 30. Accordingly, the department incurred expenditures of $160,000 per employee, an increase of over 68%.

I have yet to find any substantive justification for increasing labor costs by 68% per person over the last five years when there has not been any structural change in the community and that inflation and cost of living has been at historical lows over this time period. I am increasingly being led to believe that the increase is due solely to fiscal mismanagement and civic leaders who believe that tax revenues come from an infinitely large source detached from the taxpayer.
Anonymous

Thanks, Larry – I appreciate the compliment!

And I really appreciate your post. Well said, sir. It is ugly indeed…
yttik

“Okay, got your dander up?”

LOL, no! I’ve already had this issue get on my last nerve. I live in a dinky little depressed area and have watched our government grow to an unsustainable size. As the Gov has grown, we’ve had to create more and more useless jobs to support all this expansion. Then we had to build more buildings to house them all in. Naturally we then invent new taxes, fees, and regulations to try and pay for it all. You now have to get permit to build a fence on your own property and it takes three girls to process the paperwork and a supervisor to make sure they do it right. You know what fences are still standing around here? The ones that were built 50 years ago before we had all this nonsense in place.

I miss the olden days when we had one cop on duty. We now have 7 different branches of law enforcement and all their personnel. Our population didn’t increase and really, neither did violent crime. We just have so many new stupid laws and bloody regulations, that it takes a team of cops to ticket people for smoking on a public sidewalk and another team to go around measuring people’s tires to make sure they are within 12 inces of the curb.

Here there is a great deal of resentment because the only people still working are gov employees. There’s not a lot of empathy for people complaining about their pensions when you haven’t seen a paycheck in over 18 months.
Anonymous

You are ALL WRONG! We do NEED more Government workers, and we need them now!

Now how many Border Patrol Agents could we get with that $35 billion if it was spent wisely rather than as a bribe to Obama’s pet unions???

Juliezzz

just bring the soldiers home from overseas and we will have all the border Agents we need. Problem solved. So….no need for more government workers.
elaine

POdVet. We’ll be paying the troops that are coming home from Iraq maybe we could put some of them on the border, that’s if it’d pass posse comitatus muster.
elaine

POdVet. We’ll be paying the troops that are coming home from Iraq maybe we could put some of them on the border, that’s if it’d pass posse comitatus muster.
yttik

If you need border agents, we have an over funded, over staffed border patrol in my neck of the woods. They really aren’t needed up here because not many Canadians are trying to sneak into the country and all our foreigners have been brought here legally to work for Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money. No, I’m not kidding.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/10/federal_stimulus_money_for_ore.html

Anonymous

Weren’t they talking about a fence on the Canadian border…ha ha, that will do it.

Anonymous

LJ,

I can’t add much to what you say or to what others have contributed on the comment thread.

I am a retired teacher, now doing part-time teaching at a community college because they had to scour the area for people who had the credentials for teaching what I teach. I feel a little guilty doing this job, and have made it clear that I will continue next semester–only after they have made sure people who need to work are assigned classes before me.

What makes me the most angry is that we need so many teachers at the community college because most students have to take several semesters of PRE-college-level courses since they weren’t prepared for college level courses, even though most earned high school diplomas. That is what I am teaching. And the drop out rate is enormous–many of these younger people are using Pell grants and financial aid, but when they realize they DO have to come to class to keep up and they DO have to do homework, they just stop coming, don’t even bother to officially withdraw, just take the F.

The type of Englih I teach–I am not exaggerating–is the same as what I used to teach in the early 70′s to ninth-graders.

I worked with high school teachers before I retired who were some of the best of the applicants we had to pick from since our district was one that attracted top candidates—-BUT, they didn’t even begin to know the subjects they were to teach as much as our generation were required to know when we began our careers.

And then, rather than earning their extra hours of credit, as all teachers need to earn to maintain licenses, in their content area, they took easy, mindless “education” classes to learn all the new terminology and social engineering theories that pass for ED classes these day. They could get those in the evenings without really doing homework, and they would therefore not assign their own students homework so they wouldn’t have to grade papers since they would be in evening classes. That left their summers totally free.

I know teachers put in more hours than, for instance, pharmaceutical reps, and earn less money. BUT, give me a break, they are still in a profession that guarantees their job after four years and provides absolutely great benefits.

I clearly remember that in my generation, those of us who went into teaching considered it a calling, not just a job.

Now in CO we will be voting on a special statuatory proposition to set up a new special temporary tax for schools. There are no accountability requirements put in. The conservative groups are fighting it hard, and I get those emails; the CEA is lobbying hard for its passage, and I get those emails also (since I am still officially a member of the NEA because that is the only way I could maintain some of my insurance policies).

I am NOT voting yes on that one.

Anonymous

In NYS, teachers need Master’s degrees, and the course content has to be in the area of the teacher’s major/teaching certificate.
Also, years ago, unions were forced upon teachers in NYS by the Board of Regents..who said teachers had to negotiate contracts through unions. At first you could stay out of the union if you chose to do so, later you had pay dues regardless of your membership. Now I think all have to be dues paying union members.
And no strikes were/are allowed. I remember my sister-in-law’s teachers group went on strike and were penalized two days pay for each day out.
I, for one, resisted unions as long as I could because I thought it was unprofessional for teachers to belong to a union.
And schools do have to lay off teachers when local taxes plus state aid doesn’t support their budgets. I have been a school board member, and I know how difficult it is to balance a budget.
In addition, i do not think a teaching degree in most subject areas is golden anymore. Some schools, ironically, are finding it difficult to hire superintendents and other administrators.

Anonymous

The whole problem with the ideology and the constructs of the Left are that they are trying to create a Utopia. Something that is not real, and, I think, should not be real. Relying on the State to bring about all those good things–equality, justice, classlessness, every time it is tried, has failed.

Today 2 commentators that I admire were talking about Steve Job’s journey with his cancer. Job’s mind was revolutionary in that he could dream up new inventions out of the sheer strength of his positive mind. When he was told of his cancer and that it could be remedied by surgery, he sought out, instead, alternative therapies that reflected his own positive thinking in order to achieve something great. 9 months went by, with no success, until his wife finally asked him to reconsider the surgery. It was too late. Ann Althouse says in her column:

“Just getting the obvious surgery… that’s for drones… that’s for… a garden of pure ideology… secure from the pests of any contradictory true thoughts… Our Unification of Thoughts… ordinary people who don’t use Apple products…. Accordingly, first the diets and acupuncture and then pushing the frontiers of medicine…
Normalphobia.
I love the products that flowed from that fear, but cancer has its own ideas. It can kill you.”

Tammy Bruce said today something that I thought was profound. I paraphrase:

She was discussing “magical thinking” and Steve Job’s cancer story. What I heard you say is that magical thinking is good for creating something new, that hasn’t been invented yet, but it cannot be used to get rid of something that exists in reality.

I am looking at alternative medicine in a different way than I have before. Especially the theories and therapies advocated by people on the Left. I do believe in a combination of healing therapies but one cannot treat everything in this way. Sometimes we have to choose the hard reality, the practical, obvious truth that shows itself to be true time after time, though we wish we could invent another, more idealized reality.

This the brings me to think of the magical thinking of the Left that thinks the government only will bring about true happiness or that elected Boob who has no earthly or real credentials. Like Stevie Nicks sings in “Gypsy”, “she was just a wish, she was just A WISH”. Hopefully, we are not too late to rid our nation of this cancer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7E0uA0WrDk

Anonymous

Why a man as brilliant as Steve Jobs would be so stupid as to not immediately have surgery for cancer is a mystery to me. He said that it was “too invasive”. Well, what is cancer if not an invasion of your body by a disease?? When I found out I had breast cancer, I had some choices, a lumpectomy on both breasts, then more surgery if that was found to not be enough. I opted for a full on attack, a radical mastectomy, both breasts, with nodes. My sentinel node showed cancer, so if that had been taken in a first surgery, another surgery would have been needed to take out the rest of the nodes. By not waiting and taking the hard road, I won the battle. I had chemo for an entire summer and then showed no cancer at the end of chemo. My two check ups so far have shown me to be still cancer-free. If Steve Jobs had taken the same attitude, he would still be here. So my advice to people being diagnosed with cancer is to take the full on attack mode, it works when dilly-dallying will only make things worse. I did look into alternative treatments, but only for nutritional support, not for treating the actual cancer. The only thing that works for cancer, so far, is surgery and/or chemo/radiation, depending on the cancer type. To ignore conventional medicine, which has a pretty good track record when it comes to cancer, is just plain stupid. I would have thought Steve Jobs was a person who would not be that stupid. I was wrong, and he is dead because he was wrong too.

Anonymous

I think your story is really heroic. Thank you, I’m glad you are here and I’m glad you choose to tell your story so it can be an inspiration to others. Yes, what a useless waste Jobs’ death is.
Anonymous

Bravo.

Everyone I know who has had cnacer has done what you did and attack it aggressively. It is hard to understand why Jobs decided on this. The ony thing I can think of is that he could not imagine that he was a mortal and vulnerable as the rest of us. Maybe he thought he was smarter than everyone else and could beat it in al alternate manner. Or maybe he was just too scared.
acdc

I am of a different opinion, having seen cancers cured by “alternative methods” in both human and animal. The herb blend “Essiac” is v. often effective, but may have to start at an early stage. My best friend got rid of a melanoma skin cancer on her eyebrow that her doctor was sure would require surgery. I know of a brilliant physist, government-employee in intelligence work, who cured a brain tumor by alternative methods. It had been diagnosed as hopeless. She is still alive 12 yrs later.

Chemo apparently does not work on pancreatic anyway.

Alternative methods can work but I guess it depends on which ones, kind and stage of cancer, and your own physiology.

btw, most doctors polled claim they would not do chemo if they themselves were diagnosed; but that’s just what they say. I don’t know what the ones who get cancer end up doing, percentage-wise.

candymarl

Sucking at the public teat?
Yes Mr. Johnson you have offended me!

I’ll have you know I have bodacious tatas!

Custis!

AC

Let’s hear it for bodacious tatas.
AC

Let’s hear it for bodacious tatas.

Anonymous

I think the government has been reading their spam.
Anonymous

I think the government has been reading their spam.
Anonymous

Here’s another angle. You can watch the cable news or the late night TCM movies to understand what is happening in the world. The first is a good explanation for the OWS movement. The 2nd hasn’t happened yet, I guess, but it goes to show a bizarre future, but is it any more bizarre than what’s happening in our world today for realz?
All times are EST:2:00 AM79 minTV-PG
horror
Gamma People, The (1956)A mad scientist uses gamma rays to turn the country’s youth into either geniuses or subhumans at the bidding of an equally mad dictator.Dir: John Gilling Cast: Paul Douglas, Eva Bartok, Leslie Phillips.
CLOSELEONARD MALTIN REVIEW:D: John Gilling. Paul Douglas, Eva Bartok, Leslie Phillips, Walter Rilla. Douglas and Phillips happen upon comic-opera country ruled by scientists trying to create geniuses; they do, but sometimes brainless “goons” also. Worse, the geniuses have no emotions. Peculiar Ruritanian sci-fi adventure.REVIEW:

3:30 AMC-94 minTV-14horrorWild, Wild Planet, The (1965)Space amazons control the Earth by shrinking its leaders.Dir: Anthony Dawson Cast: Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato.

Anonymous

So the republicans are the geniuses and the brainless goons are the dems? ~

“Say What You Will…It Feels So Good”

Anonymous

END OF WORLD ALERT: This may be OT, but, maybe not.

Just go over and read what that brilliant Uppity Woman says about the world coming to an end. Too funny.http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com/

Anonymous

I’m still here.

Anonymous

I’m so glad! I’m very happy to have missed it again, too! Do you think anyone will ever believe that guy again?
Anonymous

I’m so glad! I’m very happy to have missed it again, too! Do you think anyone will ever believe that guy again?

Anonymous

Drummers At Occupy Wall Street Demand $8,000 At General Assembly

http://gothamist.com/2011/10/21/drummers_at_occupy_wall_street_dema.php

Anonymous

Tell them to buy Gibson guitars.

Anonymous

roflmao…

Anonymous

Civilized society depends on government to provide basic necessities, a platform that is conducive to progress, upon which to operate upon.
Unless we as a nation do not have a leadership that is prepared to conduct their agenda based upon the principles of our Constitution, then our beautiful sovreign republic will disintegrate, and the rest of the nations of the planet will shortly thereafter, follow suit. At this moment, the monetarist system of the oligarchs, centered in the City of London within the Bank of England, and the banking cartels known as the Inter Alpha Group, are planning the demise of the United States and the withdrawel of financial liquidity is almost complete. Sarkozy has declared that we have a nine day window in which we must watch the EU morph from the remains of a collection of sovreign nations into areas that will be bled to death by austerity measures. Right now 125 EU reps. are poised to take over the Greek parliament and start selling off the countries assets, the airports, the railroads, the government buildings, whole ports and islands etc, and for the proceeds to go towards reducing the banks debts so that the bankers will not have to suffer a haircut. Masses of toxic derivatives from the EU banks have been transfered through Merrill Lynch to the B of A Commercial Divisionso that they will be insured by the FDIC. Meaning the US taxpayer is on the hook for another 75 trillion dollars. Other large banks like Morgan etc are on the verge of transferring all their EU banking debts similarly for another about of the same size , this is tantamound to another couple of bailouts of 140 trillion dollars. We need to pass the RETURN TO PRUDENT BANKING ACT HR 1489 tomorrow, to restore the Glass Steagall standard which would render all the toxic debts null and void in as much as they would no longer be the responsibility of the US and EU taxpayers. This is what FDR did after which he established the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system and started a vast infrastructure program. This time around because of the enormity of the amount that has been drained out of the monetarist system, it will be necessary to return to the Constitutional Hamiltonian method of currency being uttered by Congress, not the FED. This is mandated in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. Check out the larouchepac.com website for more information on Glass Steagall and the NAWAPA project for reemploying the US workforce and more. Sleep well if you can.
Wbboe

Art imitates life–32 years later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=-_cdbByTeNE
Wbboe

The Frontlash Strategy is Obama’s Only Hope.
(Excerpted from an article by Jay Cost)

What is clear from the exit poll
data as well as the campaign itself was that Reid perfectly executed the
“frontlash” strategy. He attacked Angle with vigor and, thanks in no small part
to the Republican’s own missteps, was able to tag her as extreme. A staggering
45 percent of voters thought Angle’s positions were “too conservative,” and
Reid captured 75 percent of those voters.

This “frontlash” strategy has deep
roots in the American political tradition. The Lyndon Johnson campaign actually
coined the term in 1964; fearful of an electoral backlash to the Civil
Rights Act, Johnson set about creating a frontlash by tagging Goldwater
as a dangerous extremist. The “Daisy
Ad” is the most infamous example, but this ad is actually a better
illustration of frontlash in action.

“The stakes are too high.” That was
the theme that LBJ hit, again and again. It worked to an amazing degree. LBJ
won the largest popular vote majority up to that time, including 77 percent of
independents and 27 percent of Republicans, two figures that are unprecedented
in the postwar era. And, of course, Johnson’s coattails swept out Republicans
from Congress and swept in liberal Democrats, paving the way for the Great
Society reforms of 1965-66.

All
of this was probably a bit of overkill by LBJ, who after his defeat for the
Senate in 1941 never left anything to chance. The fact of the matter is that
the president would likely have won anyway: the economy was going gangbusters,
the country was still mourning the death of JFK, LBJ had not yet begun combat
operations in Vietnam, and the race riots of the late 1960s hadn’t begun.

It should be clear by now that
Barack Obama plans to run a version of the frontlash strategy, and unlike LBJ
it is an absolute necessity for him. He can’t run on his record, and amping up
the Democratic base with partisan red meat is not enough to win election in a
country where independents hold the balance of power.

That’s where frontlash comes into
play.

Any time you hear the Democrats
squawking about how the Republicans are “anti-science,” that’s the frontlash in
action. The goal is to tag the GOP as a bunch of flat earth throwbacks who are
too extreme for the independent swing voters to support.

Will it work? Well, that depends. On
the Republicans.

Democrats (and Republicans, for that matter) always try running some version
of frontlash every year, throwing out charges about how the opponent is too
extreme on this item or that. In an evenly divided electorate, such as the
national one, it only works when the candidate under attack is weak. Is he
given to foolish or outlandish statements? Does he needlessly antagonize
certain classes of voters? Does he appear to lose his cool? These are the sorts
of questions that, if answered in the affirmative, facilitate the frontlash.
And in certain conditions – such as Nevada last year – it is sufficient for
electoral victory.

This is sober advice for Republican primary voters as they begin to evaluate
the potential GOP nominees. Yes, it is critically important that the choice of
the party reflects and respects the views of most Republicans. But it is of
equal importance that he or she does not commit unforced errors that facilitate
Obama’s frontlash campaign.

Assuming that the economy does not substantially
rebound, the deficit does not magically disappear, or Obamacare suddenly
becomes popular – frontlash is pretty much the only shot Obama has. There’s no
reason for the GOP to give him a helping hand
Lupe

I am a retired public employee so I do get my dander up when government employees are used as scapegoats for what seems to me to be a totally insane fiscal policy. I would classify public employees into two main groups, first service employees like teachers, fire, and safety. I don’t believe you can short change this group without shortchanging yourself. The second group are regulators. We need them too, but they won’t do any good without good laws and good rules and most importantly, honest, transparent politicians who will work for the public and the common good and not the special interests. I am totally convinced that the housing bubble and its consequences occurred because regulators were not allowed by truly evil politicians and private sector wheeler dealers to enforce existing laws that would have prevented it.

But the government also hands out billions of dollars to so-called non-profit groups,contracts with for-profit privatization firms, and corporate subsidies of all kinds. The waste here is enormous and one has to wonder how many of these dollars are going to foreign investors or being outsourced.
At the same time, salaries of government employees seem to have risen quite a bit in the last decade. I don’t see a reason for this. It makes no sense to me. The only explanation that comes to mind is that these changes are part of some scheme of some lunatic economist from Chicago or Harvard to push some hidden agenda.

Something’s not right, but it is very short-sighted to make public employees a scapegoat while promoting a libertarian government. That won’t work either. We need balanced government that promotes the common good. The main problem is finding a way to elect representatives in state and local government who understand this and who will work for balanced government.

Anonymous

There will always be need for government workers as long as there is a government. I think what LJ is reacting to is the idiotic comment by Harry Reid that the private sector job market is fine while the public sector is in bad shape. On the federal level it is the opposite.

The other issue is pensions and benefits. Those are far better in the public sector than in the private sector. In some cases it is excessive and taxpayers who do not have the same benefits have to pay for them.

You also said that:
“regulators were not allowed by truly evil politicians and private sector wheeler dealers to enforce existing laws that would have prevented it.”
You are partially right. But the root cause of the problem cannot be ignored. It was the Community Reinvestment Act that was this liberal ideological fantasy that every American should have the “right” to own a home. The problem is that the half-wit politicians never bothered to think through the implications and consequences.

The CRA gave civil rights activists the opportunity to sue banks in court and force them to break their lending practices and give mortgages to people not worthy and were a major credit risk. More and more government backed mortgages were required and in the ’90′s HUD forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give much more loans to unqualified people because of the CRA. Eventually financial institutions had ti find tools to deal with the bad loans which led us to the point.

The biggest lie is the blame-the-banks for the mortgage crisis because the fault is entirely on the elected people we send to D.C.: congressmen, senators, and presidents.

candymarl

I have a suggestion. Let’s take out all of the dictators, some of whom we put in power, then we Americans can move there, run the country, and maybe get some jobs.

There ya go. Government jobs. Cuz they sure ain’t interested in having private sector jobs here.
Anonymous

Lech Walesa Will Not Attend Radical #OWS Protests – They’re Too Extreme

Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the Polish Solidarity Movement Lech Walesa announced that he will not be attending the Obama-endorsed
Occupy Wall Street protests. This comes after he discovered the
protests were organized by radical anarchists, Code Pink, the American
Communist movement, jihadists, anti-Israel, socialist, and anti- free
enterprise interests.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/lech-walesa-will-not-attend-ows-protests-after-learning-about-its-radical-far-left-bent/
Anonymous

Lech Walesa Will Not Attend Radical #OWS Protests – They’re Too Extreme

Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the Polish Solidarity Movement Lech Walesa announced that he will not be attending the Obama-endorsed
Occupy Wall Street protests. This comes after he discovered the
protests were organized by radical anarchists, Code Pink, the American
Communist movement, jihadists, anti-Israel, socialist, and anti- free
enterprise interests.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/lech-walesa-will-not-attend-ows-protests-after-learning-about-its-radical-far-left-bent/
Dbb

Larry, you’ve been sucking
on the government teat your entire working life, even now when you’re now in
the “private sector” because its patently obvious that without the fees you get directly or indirectly from
government, BERG would close shop immediately. But of course you’re indispensable to the salvation of
our republic, right, Larry unlike all those useless schoolteachers, firemen,
and policemen

Anonymous

Sniff….Sniff….. I thought so !!
candymarl

Dear Dbb,

Suck this. Oh that would be my ass in your face.

Let’s throw down. I’m actually from the hood. Not like those white bread whiners begging for money.

Driguana

Again, what a fascinating discussion. So let me see if I can get my thoughts out clearly and succinctly. I have worked the past 23 years for local government in Santa Fe in urban and regional land use planning….a very controversial subject these days. All of us who live here have seen over the past 30 years a constant degredation in the landscape and in the availability of natural resources, especially water. The issue is, and this is the area that I work most specifically in, the rights of individual property owners versus “community” rights. What can I do with my property and how does it affect my neighbors?…is the basic question. It is very difficult work and for me both personally and professionally, I am always in a lose/lose situation…someone is always mad at me. Zoning, land use rights and the rights of small, unicorporated places are huge issues here.
One way we have chosen to meet the challenge has been through an aggressive community planning program….let the residents of these places have more say in their governance. Let them create their own plans and ordinances. And we do this through our own form of consensus…..our method differs radically from the OWS technique but is still done without “voting”. There is something about voting that quickly becomes divisive and manipulative. While many think this is a ludicrous idea, we have created 13 community plans, all of which function well and are strongly supported.
The other serious and related issue is job creation. We are trying two things at the local level. One, find ways to let people do more “commercial” type things on their own residential properties….again, very controversial. And, two, pick an industry that has relevance and importance within the community and support it. We have chosen to support the film industry, especially the independent filmmaker. As you may know, many movies are shot here. Again our position is controversial but we have succeeded in establishing only the second Media District in the country and have almost completed a new large film studio. Who gains? carpenters, hair dressers, equestrian specialists, writers etc. So the “role” of government for us has been “stimulating” and, ironically, much closer to “tea party” principles than to those of the mainstream political party that has dominated this area for decades.

Anonymous

What you have done is have the local community make decisions and not some federal bureaucrat who has never set foot in that area make it based on some ideological policy.

Driguana

yes, and while it is rife with its own problems, it has allowed more say at the local level which has many benefits.

an observer

I guess there are a lot of people on the teat, including the private finacial sector:
“More than a dozen members of the regional Federal Reserve boards have had ties to banks or companies that received emergency funds during the crisis, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.”
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-18
Anonymous

One of the best, and easiest to understand explanations of the public and private sector differences. Thank you.

The fact that Washington D.C. is now the wealthiest part of the country is not going to be beneficial to any politician. Even the Great Obami, who is trying desperately to “frame” himself as an outsider is going to “pay” for this in support and votes.IMO (Do they really think all of us are as stupid as his adoring acolytes?)

Most people outside the “beltway” have nothing but contempt for those within. I would think this information will intensify that contempt.

In many areas Public Sector Unions are being dirty words.
AbigailA

Interesting how much closer “That giant sucking sound” (Ross Perot, 1992) is when one cleans the wax out their ears.
Anonymous

Here is a really great article (no surprise) by Thomas Sowell. This paragraph could have been written by Abigail A:

“Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catch phrases”.

The article makes many good points. Here is one that suggests that government intervention only serves to hold back and down, those for which it is designed:

“Do people who advocate special government programs for blacks realize that the federal government has had special programs for American Indians, including affirmative action, since the early 19th century — and that American Indians remain one of the few groups worse off than blacks?”

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/10/18/random_thoughts_111714.html
Deapthrowt

Washington DC area is the wealthiest because of the dual income government workers each pulling down over $100,000 a year times two means average DC area households bringing in almost a quarter of a million dollars every year – all disposable income which has to be factored too because they don’t have to take anything off the top for health care or retirement. That is a lot of walking around money for government bureaucrats our tax dollars continue to support.

NB: “teachers, fire, police” is just buzz-word Union-Speak. When only these same people get touted as the middle-class jobs to save, please substitute demands to save public employee union jobs and not “middle class jobs”
Anonymous

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton walks past a General Motors “Spark” while touring the GM
Power train plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan October 23, 2011.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UZBEKISTAN -