>>>>Not necessarily... your 401k is something you choose once, and may check upon from time to time, but even that's a package. So you own several close-to-nothings in a few dozen places, and your authority to make a decision (as an investor) is limited to choosing the package. So saying that Joe Q is somehow sharing responsibility for the mass mess that market has got into is just like accusing the Floridians for the Iraq war.
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>>>My state's boy Mitch "Money is free speech" McConnell says unions shouldn't support candidates monetarily because it presumes speaking on behalf of all the Joe Q union members. But then (could you have guessed this) it's fine for corporate mgmt to support candidates with corp monies because if it doesn't represent Joe Q(ubicle), he's free to go find another job. We call it 'demockracy'. Let's all vote now!
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>>Apples and onions. Employees do not pay dues to management to represent them. If you'd have used the analogy with shareholders you would've been closer. It's still different in that shareholders own a piece of a company while union members own nothing, but closer nonetheless.
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>>Now if your equating unions to corporations then I guess the taxes should apply equally as well.
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>>Of course unions will hardly be the supposed bastion of democracy soon if their lobbyists get their way and remove the secret ballot. All in the name of democracy of course.
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>I don't know that unions were ever intended to be bastions of democracy. They arose as a reaction to vicious exploitation by ownership. It's important to keep that in mind, even when unions are their own worst enemies with excesses of their own.

I guess that comment needed a ;), It was a joke Mike.

I understand the important role of unions in our history for the reason you stated plus others. Moreso than any other state, here in California they have become the de-facto rulers of the state. The teachers, nurses, police and prison guard unions basically own this state and nothing gets done without their consent and their cut, much in the same way corporate interests control many facets of our federal government.

That being said, the empowerment of the individual through technological & financial freedom has lessened the effectiveness and need for unions in the 21st century. As a result, membership, and more importantly dues, are down, hence they are trying to remove one of the greatest protections the individual enjoys in a democracy, namely the secret ballot. With the willing participation of the Democratic party leadership, an Obama presidency virtually guarantees this result.