The Perfect Metaphor: Unions Tearing Down 'Prosperity'
Very rarely does the perfect metaphor present itself, but it sure did on Tuesday when videos started surfacing online of an incident that took place in Lansing, Michigan.
On the lawn of the Michigan State Capitol, union supporters protesting "right to work" legislation turned into an angry mob and attacked a large tent owned by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that is supporting the legislation. With several people inside the tent, the protesters began tearing it down and slashing it apart with knives. One of the videos shows conservative activist, Steven Crowder, being punched in the face by one of the protesters while someone else is heard shouting, "I'll kill the mother f*cker with a gun. I've killed plenty of mother f*ckers with a gun."
Unions tearing down 'Prosperity'. I can't think of a more accurate visual representation of the modern day role of organized labor.
Of course, this isn't the only recent example we've seen of unions-gone-wild. It was just last year that union supporters busted into and vandalized the Wisconsin State Capitol after Governor Scott Walker's bill to limit collective bargaining rights was passed. The result was $8 million in damage, billed to Wisconsin taxpayers.
It's moments like this that really point out the glaring hypocrisy of not just the mainstream media, but liberalism as a whole.
For years now, the media has gone to great lengths to paint the Tea Party movement as a group of angry, extremists who are inherently dangerous to the country. Yet, all along they've been a peaceful movement standing on a simple message. They don't vandalize property. They don't physically assault anyone. There's never been any such thing as Tea Party mob violence.
Big Labor is clearly another story. To the media, however, the plight of the union protester is a romantic one - the little guy standing up to the rich and greedy CEO. Very rarely do we ever see major news outlets spotlighting union violence. And when they do, they often try to rationalize it as a forgivable reaction brought on by passion. That's because the media largely believes that the end justifies the means when it comes to the unions. And if the means include some broken property and some black eyes, so be it. Nothing to see here...Move along.
You know, it's interesting to hear what these angry protesters have to say when a microphone is held in front of their faces. Their fury comes from the notion of co-workers being given the choice of whether or not to join their union. Rather than viewing the option as an incentive for the unions to make themselves more attractive to workers, they lash out at those who decide that belonging to a union is not in their best interest. They call those people "scabs" and express outrage over them enjoying union benefits without paying union dues.
People enjoying benefits at the cost of others... Hey, that sounds kind of familiar.
How is it anything but completely hypocritical for the media, President Obama, and other liberals to sympathize with organized labor's viewpoint, when they go absolutely ballistic over Mitt Romney pointing out that half the country doesn't pay taxes, yet is afforded the services paid for by those who do? How is it anything but hypocritical for them to vilify the top-earning Americans who pay the vast majority of the country's taxes, while victimizing the fifty percent of people who don't pay a cent, yet enjoy government-provided services for free?
The selective outrage is remarkable, yet not all that surprising.
The good news is that Michigan now has a chance to demonstrate once again what other "right to work" states have already proven: Side-stepping organized labor is a positive path toward prosperity. It's time to take that tent and pitch it back up.