By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
Published on
DickMorris.com on November 22, 2010
Does President Obama plan to move to the center in response to his
overwhelming rejection at the polls on November 2nd? No way!
Instead, he is moving to implement, through executive action, two of the
most controversial items in his 2010 agenda -- a carbon tax and
pollution permit system and a ban on the use of secret ballots in union
elections. Through executive action by the Environmental
Protection Administration (EPA) and the National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB), the Obama Administration is planning to effectuate both policies
without asking Congress.
Never mind that he couldn't persuade even a top heavy Democratic
Congress to pass either program. Or that public opinion polls show
massive rejection of both measures. Or that each is a sure job
killer by itself -- and together, they are even worse. This
arrogant, ideologically-driven radical is determined to have his way and
the public be damned!
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The EPA is currently soliciting public comments for its plan to use the
Clean Air Act of 1970 to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.
The Clean Air Act, as the name indicates, is designed to fight
against pollution -- unhealthy chemicals that are belched into
the air by smokestacks. It was passed to fight sulfur
dioxide, particulates, nitrous oxides and other chemicals that
cause human diseases. To use it to fight carbon dioxide --
which we all breathe without ill effects -- because of concerns
about global warming -- is a perversion of the law.
Worse, because the Clean Air Act is designed to protect public
health by measuring aggregate pollution in each geographic area,
it limits economic development in communities where the
pollution levels exceed prescribed standards. But carbon
dioxide doesn't poison anyone. It makes no sense to ban
factory expansion in areas where the nature of the industries is
that there will be high carbon dioxide levels (like oil area of
Texas and Louisiana). But that's what the EPA plans to do,
virtually making economic growth illegal in large parts of the
United States. |
Meanwhile, Craig Becker, the former
chief counsel of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) -- now
the head of the NLRB -- has secured a 3-2 majority party line majority
to repeal the Dana decision which mandates secret ballots in
unionization elections. The NLRB will rule that if a majority of
workers check off that they want a union on cards then the union will
automatically be approved without a secret ballot vote of the entire
workforce. Currently, if a majority of the workers sign the cards,
a secret ballot vote is then triggered. Frequently, the union
loses these elections, proving that the card check off is subject to
coercion and bullying. The Democratic majority in the Senate
wouldn't approve the card check change so the NLRB is planning to
accomplish the same objective administratively, trapping workers into
unionization they would reject if afforded the opportunity to vote by
secret ballot.
Both the pollution permit/carbon tax and the forced unionization
proposals will be job killers. The U.S. has maintained its 25%
share of global manufacturing by replacing workers with energy driven
machines. In the past ten years, the number of manufacturing
employees has declined by 33% but our production has risen by 50%.
But automation takes energy -- lots of it -- by taxing energy, we are
eliminating the strategy that has preserved our jobs. And massive
unionization of the private sector will also drive out our jobs.
Since 1990, unionized manufacturing jobs have declined by 75%. But
non-union manufacturing jobs have actually risen over the same period by
15%.
After he lost Congress in 1992, Bill Clinton, too, resorted to executive
orders to maintain his momentum as president. With Congress
unwilling to pass anything he proposed, the president canvassed the
Administration for ideas that could be implemented by executive orders.
A very productive period followed during which tobacco regulation,
higher educational standards, affirmative action reform, and other key
measures were implemented without asking Congress' permission. But
Clinton's executive orders were on subjects on which Congress had not
voted. They did not contradict the express will of the body.
Obama is using the strategy to act in direct defiance of Congressional
action. He is passing ideas Congress refused to pass, even when he
had huge majorities.
Obama will live to regret these moves. Republicans in the House
will defund these actions and insert legislative language making it a
crime to spend appropriated funds to implement them. By this
strategy, all of the controversial Obama legislation will be at issue
during the budget fight -- taxes, Obamacare, cap and trade, and card
check. The more these issues are inserted into the budget fight,
the greater the chances of Republican victory.
So President Obama has not learned the lessons of 2010 and likely never
will.
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***COPYRIGHT EILEEN MCGANN AND DICK MORRIS 2010. ***