Secret Ballot

The top legislative priority of House Democrats in the new Congress will be card-check, a bill that, if signed into law, would end the secret ballot for union organizing.

This afternoon, House Democrats, in a secret ballot, decided to toss Rep. John Dingell (Mich.), whose more than 50 years of service to the Congress apparently wasn’t worth anything, from his chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee. His replacement? Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), a well-known left-wing ideologue.

The Democrats know about the power of the secret ballot.

The secret ballot showed the true intellectual stripes of House Democrats. By a three-vote margin, they chose to be on the far left of the political spectrum.

And the secret ballot will show the true thoughts of most people on the right to organize. Most workers know what has happened to the auto industry. They don’t want their industry (and their jobs) to go down the tubes. So, if there is a secret ballot, most people will choose not to organize.

The ramifications of the card-check legislation that the Democratic Congress is considering are enormous. Think of the message this sends! The secret ballot is bad because it promotes actual democracy! And these people might actually vote in their economic self-interest! How pernicious!

The secret ballot is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. People vote their conscience in private, without intimidation. They vote how they want to vote without having a snarling henchman looking over their shoulder.

This is the true power of democracy.

Democrats saw that power of democracy when they fired one of their best committee chairmen and most able members of the House. And it must have scared them.

Democracy cannot be trusted. Not when it comes to organizing a union. The people should be heard, but only if they have the guts speak up. Now shut up and vote to organize — or else!

Visit www.thefeeherytheory.com.