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Arlen Specter Checked A Card
Somehow, what's been lost in all this debate is that democracies typically invite people to check a card to register their desire to participate in that democracy. In the USA, for example, we call it "voter registration."
Unions are democracies. Each has its own "constitution" (bylaws) determined by its members. Each democratically elects its own officers and leaders (by secret ballot). And American workers would like the right to check a union registration card to bring a union to their workplace.
Every voter in America, in fact, checked and signed a card - a public card, which is part of a public record - to be able to participate in our democracy. We publicly register to vote to say, "Yes, I want to be part of the democratic processes in our republic!" For example, Arlen Specter is registered to vote, that voter registration card he checked and signed being the necessary prerequisite to participate in the political processes of this democracy we call The United States of America.
Once registered as a member of a small-d democratic institution, whether it is the USA or the Teamsters, all subsequent votes are in secret. And to register to vote in our national democracy is even more public than to register to vote in a union - card-check records for union organizing are kept confidential from both the union and the employer.
The Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers', and Wal-Mart's talking points on this are pretty simple. They argue that giving people the right to simply check "yes" on a card and sign their name to it to join a union will open up potential union members to coercion. Much like the "coercion" right-wingers decry from voter-registration groups like ACORN. How dare they actually walk up to people and ask them if they want to join a democracy and participate as a voter in determining our collective fate and future?!
Specter publicly checked a card to register to vote. He publicly checked a "yes" box on a card to register to run for political office. He publicly checked a "Democrat" box on a voter-registration-change card to become a Democrat.
How tragic that he doesn't understand - or is willing to kowtow to corporate donors who don't want him to acknowledge - that the right to check a card to join a democracy is the essence of our American system.
And that without the strong presence of democracy in the workplace - unions - balancing the antidemocratic power of corporate capital, American democracy will never be as healthy or resilient as it could and should be.
40 Comments so far
Show AllHell if workers earned reasonable wages and had leisure time and extra energy they might start demanding peace and democracy again as they did in the '60's and '70's.
Keep them in debt, stressed and exhausted.
So we can slaughter tribal peoples worldwide, drain the treasury and torture infidels.
in a few words -- you SUMMED the ENTIRE US ECONOMIC/POLITICAL SYSTEM.
Specter is worthless.
Worse, he could displace a better candidate for the seat. He should have to campaign for the Republican Primary and take his lumps, Go Joe Sestak!
I want to check a card that says..."do you think arlen specter is a total douchebag"
the box checked is a resounding YES
The chemotherapy must've douched out what was left of the dimly lit soul that had actually set up shop there...
Whatever, I guess this qualifies Arlen Sphincter as being a Double-Douche Bag!!
We need a strong challenger against Specter in the forthcoming Democratic primary. Besides his anti-union declarations, he opposes government administered health care for all. Time for him to retire and figure out what he stands for.
A strong challenger against Specter?
You'll have to get Obama's tongue out of Specter's ear first.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Arlen Specter doesn't believe in anything other than Arlen Specter is entitled to be a Senator.
No more switching of parties in mid-term! It's not fair to the voters! It's not right for our process!
Don't our representatives believe in fairness? Don't they believe in upholding the will of their constituents? Don't they... Ah, I see.
Never mind.
At least the writing is on the wall early on in the campaign for senator in Pennsylvania.
The enemy has been defined(early on)and must be defeated.
It's time to dig up any and all information that could influence Spector's candidacy and make it extremely public in Pennsylvania.
The average Pennsylvanian must understand the evil of this man.
All union workers must organize against this man (as did the steelworkers for Obama in Pittsburgh).
All medical professionals should highlight why his stand against single-payer is wrong and of consequence to the average citizen.
Young votyers must understand how this old man is depriving them of a future.
All voters should tell the democratic party that this is unaccepable in spite of what Bidon, Rendell and Obama tell us.
Why should I listen to the three stooges on this account?
The time is now.
Apparently Hartmann either cannot connect the dots or there is something wrong with organic brain function. His essay negatively critiques Specter while ignoring recent statements by Obama who asserted that he will campaign on Specter's behalf. What is it about wimphood and Hartmann? Does he have a problem with holistic thinking? My guess is he is just another 'yes' man who cannot think for himself.
I listen to his radio program sometimes--less than I used to. He's right about a lot of things but it became apparent that his reasoning was often weak, and quite often it was based on false assumptions about historical fact. I just got too irritated at repeatedly weak logic.
Rainborowe
You obviously didn't listen enough. Hartmann is on target most of the time and is a great example of how we can talk to those with whom we disagree. Weak in logic? No way! Peace hugs,
Kate Anne
Sorry. You said he "is on target most of the time." I didn't say he was wrong ALL the time! He is wrong some of the time but it's his logic that bothers me more than his opinions. Let me give you one example:
For weeks/months he kept repeating the stupidity that the US, having elected Obama, showed how superior it was to the countries of Europe who so far had no black head of state or government. That's plain pathetic: The first slave ship from Africa arrived in what was to become the USA around 1620. The first former colonials of African or other non-European descent began arriving in Europe in sufficient numbers to be noticeable in the late 1950s. Given that there are members of parliament in Europe of non-European and immigrant descent already, they are clearly doing a lot better than the USA--certainly not worse.
As for talking with whom we disagree: I read Cracking the Code. I thought it was dreadful because it assumes that right wing nuts conduct conversations/arguments in a normal, rational and civilized manner. If they did I wouldn't need the "code" cracked. In my experience (and I'm surrounded by them) they don't conduct conversations in a normal logical and civilized manner.
Instead they shove their face in mine and shriek Limbaugh/Reilly/Hannity/Savage one-sentence lies at the top of their lungs before heading for the restroom. There's absolutely no conversation you can have with people who do that and Hartmann's book simply doesn't go there.
Rainborowe
Rain, I find Hartmann's ideas rendered through his "articles" and books to be shallow. He likes to characterize himself as a historian but is void of significant knowledge of the craft, its aims, and professional methods. Despite the obvious, Hartmann offers a world class apologetic on behalf of the Democratic Party. He is not in the same league as Hedges, Greenwald, RFK Jr., Nader, Goodman, and numerous other authentic progressives. In fact, the people who dominate his message boards are right of center, and provide a group think sensibility and a gang mentality for any one who thinks outside of his box; say anything that rocks the boat of group think, and his disciples gang attack on schedule or your remarks are deleted or censored. In fact his so called moderators, live on that site 24/7. (The site norm!) In my opinion, Hartmann is all about building his own career and filling his bank account. I simply do not respect the man. He ought to push his tripe in the corporate media and not here.
As a case in point, Hedges latest article says it all, it is prophetic - somehting Hartmann will never be despite his craving to the contrary.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/04
He is good on the disaster of free-trade, deregulation and the effective demise of unions. He's a New Dealer. But his understanding of foreign affairs is weak and simplistic. I can't be bothered with his website because all I could find were silly idiots tossing out empty, short phrases that had nothing to do with anything.
Glad you like Greenwald; that young man has an excellent intellect and his blog is always a joy to read.
Rainborowe
Re. Specter:
Cheer up brothers and sisters. I heard on the radio this morning that after making a big hoopla about getting Specter into the party and then having him piss on their welcome on the TV talk shows, the Senate Dems have voted to take away all his seniority, committee chairs, etc. He's now just another beginner.
Once again I sense that the netroots flooded D.C. with outrage at Biden and Obama's joy at getting that opportunist toe-rag to switch to the Dems, and the Senate gulped and woke up.
The next thing will be the financing of a primary should Sestak run. No way will the voters like the cash going to support a jerk who insisted on TV that he's "not going to be a loyal Democrat."
I have given up sending cash to the Democratic Party in any form. I give to chosen candidates--or not, as the case may be. You send to the party in whatever manifestation it calls itself and the money goes to support the same old Repub-lite candidates and perpetuates the "jobs for the boys" gentlemen's club that is the Senate--and often the House, too.
Rainborowe
Look folks, Arlen Specter may have a brain, unlike most republicnas, but he is still a right wing whore of the corpotations. becoming a democritter has put him in like company. He's still the enemy and if you haven't figured it out yet, you will soon realize that Obama is the enemy of the people as well. He is slicker than snot on a door knob. The only differenece between Bush and Obama, except for the 40 or 50 point difference in there IQ's. Obama is smart and that makes him more dangerous than little King georgie. Hail to the King! Hail Obama for more endless wars, no universal healthcare, no accountability for war criminals, no accountablity for the crooks on wall street. etc.........
to understand his pathology, one must not forget that he was the author of the magic bullet theory when we so much needed truth to power, and actually helped clear the way to the horrific assanitions of MLK @ RFK, wh/have also been so shamefully covered up as has been 9/11. What a different world might it be if MLK and RFK had lived! How many people might still be alive?
Com'n, Spector's only principle is how he can survive the next election. Kick his ass into retirement, wh/will be actually best for his health.
Arlen Expectorate is 79 years old. He is terrified of death. He won't retire because he's afraid that without the action and heat of the totally corrupt political world he shamelessly moves through each day, he will quickly wither and die. Citizens of Pennsylvania: let him die!
"To register to vote in our national democracy is even more public than to register to vote in a union - Card-check records are kept confidential from both the union and the management." -Thomm Hartmann
Wha?
I can understand why and how it might be that card-check records are kept confidential from management, in order to protect individual workers from retaliation or harassment because they favor union membership.
But how can a union hold elections, or membership meetings of any sort, if the union doesn't have the ability to figure out and verify who their own legitimate members are?
Somebody please explain.
Bill from Saginaw
Presumably, once they get the critical number to establish a union, the records are then open and those who have signed are recognized as official members.
Peace hugs,
Kate Anne
What about the existing Democrats in the Senate ? Why not ask, oh say, Evan "Birch boy" Bayh, Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein, etc ... their actual takes on the issues and see how they really differ from Specter? Mr. Hartmann, Specter's joining the Democratic Party is a SYMPTOM of what's the matter with the Party. Had the Democratic Party been more populist progressive, then Specter would have stayed Republican regardless. Then again, I don't even know if I'm fully progressive myself after getting called a "kooky libertarian" for opposing "cap and trade" as a venture capitalist plan all the while supporting good biofuels such as hemp and algae and telling government to butt out and stop funding big agri all the while persecuting small farms to death.
Yes, democrats should seriouusly run against them all in primaries, and Obama must support the upstarts. " Which side are you on!"
OK, this headline has been nagging at me all morning, and now I realize why; it's the first line of a song:
___________________________
♫ Arlen Specter Checked A Card
Doo-dah, doo-dah;
Different party, same blowhard!
Oh, de doo dah day!
Goin' to run all night
Goin' to run all day
His mouth is full of principle
But his hooves are made of clay! ♫
· Yr Obd't Servant
Is this an audience or an oil painting? [tugs frantically at necktie]
· Yr Obd't Servant
Specter is a blowhard pompous ass.
Actually, most real democracies don't have any kind of voluntary voter registration. When you reach voting age you are automatically added to the voter rolls. The voter's address is tracked via an simple address-change card or through a check box on income tax returns.
Re · Yr Obd't Servant
Thanks a lot. Now I'm going to have that ditty on a loop in my head until something else displaces it...doo-dah, doo-dah...damn...
Every one watch as specter will now change political parties because the dems have stripped him of all seniority. Libertarians next, what is your guess? Well done Harry Reid, maybe there is a backbone in that body after all. The dems finally, finally got something right, specter deserves no respect.
Second all of that.
The problem is that we think the problem is Specter, the Reps, the Dems, Bush, Obama, etc. and not the technologically obsolete system of representative government that breeds them.
What really kind of got me about the Specter "switch" was that Obama checked SPECTOR'S card for re-election to the Senate, "welcoming" him to the party and saying he would help him get elected (in a primary, even, against a Democrats, who knows, maybe a liberal one) and at the same time Specter was touting his "independence" by saying he would not vote for EFCA. So this is how Obama is using the power of his presidency to get behind EFCA? By promising to promote the re-election of one of its opponents? Go figure.
w
I seriously doubt that Specter would have even considered the idea of switching to the Democratic Party were the party more in line with progressive populism instead of the current sellout status. PA voters need to pull themselves together if they want to get a candidate that will truly benefit the state and the country too.
thom is partially correct on this issue. i was along time union member and rep. unions tend to be a microcosm of the environment in power in washington at any particular time. acting just like our paid pols. the companies they deal with are more important. i was fired twice in a single year for representing workers as per contract not as per company wishes.
sued the first and was reinstated second i time had to fight both the union and the company and backed both into a corner where i had little problems with either on in the aftermath.unions are vital to any democracy but the union leadership
is more important than just signing a card. arlen spector has always been a fence sitter blowhard and political opportunist.
when he was the chair on the judicial panel he would stage a press conference to battle king george and dick. at the end of the day he would cave in and do as ordered or else. as history shows there was never an else. lucky
democrats!
"when he was the chair on the judicial panel he would stage a press conference to battle king george and dick. at the end of the day he would cave in and do as ordered"
Yes, this is how I remember AS. Complicit with the criminal Bu$h maladministration. Get rid of him.
Poor Arlen...he switched too late.
He may not be able to vote for himself in the PA primary
"Hell if workers earned reasonable wages and had leisure time and extra energy they might start demanding peace and democracy again as they did in the '60's and '70's.
Keep them in debt,stressed and exhausted."
You nailed it glenn.
This whole episode with Specter is such a joke. It's as if he just moved to another apartment in the same damn building.
The D's and R's might as well be one big elitist party.
What? Are us progressives supposed to gloat about Specter's jump? Whooptefrickindo.
Defeat him with a check. Vote in Joe Sestak or another in his place. Let them know that you are tired of their same old pandering ways. There should be a law that each congressmen/women should have a minder with them at all times, just to keep them honest. But, I don't know if the people of Pennsylvania are strong enough to do it. I was born and raised there, but live in the South, now.
see you in hell right on you could you tube obama and bill cliton no thats not a typo standing next to him looking
at obama and thinking damn i thought i was slick!