Are Wal-Mart Employees Citizens or Subjects?

According to The Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart is is so intimidated by the very possibility of a unionized workforce that its supervisors have been holding mandatory meetings essentially telling employees to vote against Democrats and Sen. Barack Obama this November.

Wal-Mart is taking this outrageous step because the Democrats and Barack Obama have committed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain for fair wages, health care, decent working conditions and a real voice on the job. All of America’s workers have the right to freely decide whom to vote for independent of employer pressure and intimidation.

We are seeing a return of old-fashioned employer intimidation tactics that harken back to the 19th and early 20th century.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Politics claimed that the difference between a citizen and a subject is that a citizen is able to participate in his countries political decision making.

When an corporation uses the threat of intimidation against their employees to force them to vote a certain way, then those employees become subjects of the corporation rather than free citizens able to fully participate in their government.

To get more information on this, check out the AFL-CIO Now Blog:
AFL-CIO Now Blog

George Said It

Our First President

I believe it would be great if the next President of the United States would take steps towards fulfilling the vision that the first President of the United States had for this country.

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.--George Washington

Jury Duty

Jury Duty
I got a notice in the mail the other day that I am to report for jury duty on May 14th. It's been over 20 years since I last had to report for this citizen obligation. The last time I did this, I never served on an actual jury despite the fact that I was in 7 different jury pools! In fact, I was always the first one dismissed from the pool of potential jurors.
That time I was in state district court. This time it's Federal court. I will see if that makes a difference.