Vote Buying 101
Senate Democrats are putting on a clinic in Washington on how to buy votes. They are pushing forward with plans to introduce legislation that would earmark a portion of the $700 billion bailout for the failing American auto companies.
So how is this vote buying? Simple. The auto makers employees are members of the UAW. The UAW is lobbying the Democrats to send money to the auto industry in exchange for votes. If the Democrats send money to the auto makers, the unions will strongly suggest (i.e. coerce) that their membership vote Democrat in the next election.
The Democrats don’t give a crap about whether the workers in Detroit and other auto factories across the country keep their jobs or not. They care only about seizing power and using that power to steal the American public’s money and spend it on more vote buying programs so that they can maintain power.
Now, I think it’s been evident from other posts that I’ve made, that I am against the bailout. But just the possibility of the auto makers being bailed out makes me madder than anything else. The auto makers have been failing for years – why should they be bailed out now (other than the aforementioned vote buying scam)?
Companies like AIG, Bank of America, etc. are being bailed out because they got caught up in the booming economy and made some incredibly risky decisions revolving around the expanding credit markets. Things suddenly went sour and they lost a ton of money. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think that’s an excuse to bail them out, but it makes more sense than the auto makers.
Auto makers – and let me be clear, I’m talking about GM and Ford – have a history of making poor decisions that long ago crippled them and begin their demise. They weren’t caught off guard by a slumping economy and suddenly found themselves in the tank. They’ve been in the crapper for a long time.
Why? Because they allowed their employees to unionize and control all their employee related costs. Because they failed to understand the American auto market and adapt quickly. Because they failed to make themselves more efficient when their competitors (Honda and Toyota) were revolutionizing the industry with how they assembled cars and changed production lines. Because they failed to control overhead by reducing the number of employees, factories and dealerships as the demand for their cars fell.
For all of these reasons, GM and Ford don’t deserve our money. All this $25 billion will do is delay the inevitable. GM and Ford are ill equipped to compete in the auto market in today’s economy because they have completely failed to change the way they do business. Even as they lay dying, they continue to crank out SUV’s, even though the American market is moving away from gas guzzling behemoths. They will crash and burn with or without our money.
This is another opportunity for us as Americans to use our purchasing power to make a statement to government and private industry that we are displeased with the bailout. Don’t buy Ford or GM products. Actually, I don’t really need to say that, as most people don’t buy them now.
Don’t let the Democrats get away with buying votes using your money. Contact your Senator and make him or her fully aware of your displeasure in what the Democrats are attempting to do. Make them aware that your vote cannot be bought and will be used to support another candidate should they support the Democrats in their bid to buy votes.
You have a voice America. Use it.
Comments
3 Comments on Vote Buying 101
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More on the Auto Bailout | Hellfire and Brainstorm on
Sat, 15th Nov 2008 3:19 pm
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Public Works Project | Hellfire and Brainstorm on
Wed, 17th Dec 2008 12:50 am
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Something To Be Proud Of | Hellfire and Brainstorm on
Thu, 29th Jan 2009 10:17 pm
[...] if you paid close attention to my first post regarding the the auto bailout, you will notice that I mentioned that the UAW was lobbying the Democrats to send an obscene amount [...]
[...] think I’ve made my views on the government dipping into my wallet to pay for garbage like this very clear. So let’s take a look at option 2 – borrowing to pay for the public works [...]
[...] should start off by saying that I have been adamantly against any sort of taxpayer bailout of the big 3 American auto makers. That being said, Ford made me [...]
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