Alpa Endorses Kerry?

[Hugh Jorgan]

KERRY



Although I will not vote for Kerry, I have no problem with ALPA endorsing him on the grounds of a single issue - - LABOR.


ALPA IS, after all, a LABOR UNION, and I am, after all, an hourly wage earner.

Sheesh, four pages of posts and finally, someone gets it. It's not about who YOU support, it's about who ALPA is supporting. To say a LABOR union should support anything other than the Democratic candidate is to say to those around you that you weren't paying attention in Political Science 101 class. ALPA is simply playing along in their role in the political process. Get it? Vote for whomever you choose, but a little understanding of political alignments might help before you step in the booth.

 

[radiofly er]

Kerrry!

 

[moscowcfi]

Sheesh, four pages of posts and finally, someone gets it. It's not about who YOU support, it's about who ALPA is supporting. To say a LABOR union should support anything other than the Democratic candidate is to say to those around you that you weren't paying attention in Political Science 101 class. ALPA is simply playing along in their role in the political process. Get it? Vote for whomever you choose, but a little understanding of political alignments might help before you step in the booth.

Now I'm sorry, but this is nonsense. By throwing in unconditional support to the Democrats (and it has definitely been pretty much unconditional), the unions have accomplished two things. First, the Democrats now take them for granted. Whereas in the past parties had to work hard to earn union support, Democrats check the Union column in their favor without even having to think about labor issues. Second, by consistently and vehemently lashing out at Republicans, unions have effectively burned the bridges between them and a political power that regularly holds power. Why in the world should Republicans do anything for labor when they are spat upon by labor constantly? There is no room for dialogue - only name calling. This kind of scorched-earth politiking has hurt workers in this country, not advanced their cause. And when you consider that a large percentage of those workers are Republicans themselves, these kinds of tactics are despicable.

 

[AFELLOWAVIATOR]

Sheesh, four pages of posts and finally, someone gets it. It's not about who YOU support, it's about who ALPA is supporting. To say a LABOR union should support anything other than the Democratic candidate is to say to those around you that you weren't paying attention in Political Science 101 class. ALPA is simply playing along in their role in the political process. Get it? Vote for whomever you choose, but a little understanding of political alignments might help before you step in the booth.

Who the hell do you think "YOU" is? Pardon my grammar. A Union is not some "thing". It is a group. A group of "people". Whether you support Kerry or not is your business, but I do question your views on what a Union is.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Now I'm sorry, but this is nonsense. .

It's not any more nonsense than the Democrats taking for granted the environmentalists, the pro-abortionists, the minorities, Hollywood elite, gun control advocates, urban areas, etc. It's not any more nonsense than the Republicans taking for granted the anti-abortionists, the religious right, the military, big oil, rural areas, etc. Generally, the republicans vote for management-friendly bills and the democrats vote for labor-friendly bills. It's very partisan and very factual. It's also part of what is broken, in my view, with our system as it stands today, but that's another conversation altogether.

As for what a labor union is (and by the way, who I vote for truly is my business alone, you don't see me advocating a candidate here), yes, it's comprised of people, just as any political party is. But the Union is still an entity, like it or not. That enity, just like a party, has to take a general stand and it would be ludicrus for a labor union to take the conservative stance based on the paradigms of our system. If I'm wrong, please help me to understand why. In case you are still not sure who YOU is. You are you. I am me. We (I assume) are part of the same union, but not all of us may agree issue for issue on who we feel WE (as individuals) should support. You vote for who you want. I'll vote for who I want. When I go to bed tonight, I'll still know who's on which side of what and the silliness in Washington will continue.

 

[JonnyKnoxville]

KERRY...Didn't any of you Bush supporters read flying the line Vol. II on ALPA's history and how every republican f*cks unionized pilots over?

 

[100-1/2]

Which came first?

Deregulation or ALPA?

Deregulation created competition and jobs. With out either, there would be less pilots, airlines and need for existence of ALPA. Conservativism stimulated growth and opportunity through this deregulation... liberalism, liberitarism and greenism have just benn getting stimulated.

BUSH... although, he spends too, much time trying to get along with everyone. He needs to be more Reagan'esque' and just lay it all out on the table and run with any one that will follow in rebuilding the legacy liberals so elloquently trashed for eight long years.

...you asked. Just my set of copper Lincolns.

100-1/2

 

[threegreen123]

I have lived in MA my whole life and I have one thing to say about Kerry. He has voted to raise my taxes 47 times...

just the facts

Well I have one thing to ask then...how would you pay for the (unnecessary) war then?? People bitch and moan about paying more taxes, but the second they see the opportunity to kick some a$$ they say lets go. This whole administration just has lack of common sense written all over it, I mean...is Bush really serious about the stuff he says (democratic civil Iraq soon)? Ask yourself this...is the world really safer from terror now? I would say its no better, and maybe worse. Can this many people really overlook all the things that were said that weren't true?? I mean, people wanted to get rid of clinton cause he got a da#n BJ, and this administration flat out lied or half-truthed us. How can you find that acceptable? Oh wait, its the media. I forgot. Oh wait Bush was misinformed. I forgot. Oh wait...(insert this and that excuse). I forgot. I just really can't believe any one would vote for Bush. Kerry is no gem, but comeon, he can't be worse.

 

[BFE]

KERRY...Didn't any of you Bush supporters read flying the line Vol. II on ALPA's history and how every republican f*cks unionized pilots over?

You mean like what Clinton did to the APA at AA in Feb 97?
Can we say PEB? Oh but he's a dem, we'll just forget that.

 

[prodigal]

No brainer. BUSH.
Libertarians have a lot going for them but are as yet unelectable (and would only serve to elect the Dem candidate) and are too far out there on some issues. Now if we could only merge the Libertarians and the Republicans. Oh, here's an idea . . . the Republicans could go back to their ideological roots and quit trying to outspend the dems (security issues aside).