When Barack Obama was campaigning several years ago to be elected president of the United States, he said that “we are going to fundamentally change America.” After his election, he began to move in that direction both through his direct actions (the health care law is one example) and through the people he appointed to head the numerous regulatory agencies that more and more often confound the private sector.
Recently he said that the “private sector is doing fine” and suggested that public-sector hiring should be the focus. At the same time, he reminds us that he believes government should be the catalyst to reduce unemployment and help turn the economy around. He remained true to his belief that a powerful central government with a relatively small group making universal decisions for everyone is the path to a prosperous future.
However, his beliefs are not reflected by history or the current situation in much of Europe. Still, the president continues to think his administration can escape the calamities other central governments have seen.
Most recently, the president said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
That sentence, though out of context, sends the same sort of message as, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”
What the president said both before and after that sentence sent chills down the spines of conservatives, making it clear he was referring to help of all kinds, including the bridges and highways that allowed individual risk-takers to launch trucking companies and long-distance ground transportation businesses (like Greyhound).
But his statement ignores that the private sector pays for what governments do, and that often what the private sector pays governments to do impairs the private sector. Regulations swell, and opportunities for startups are thwarted.
A friend of mine has created a scentless hunter’s soap. He has spent at least three years wading through the regulatory process so he can bring this modest little business to the market. It may get to market in another year. I suspect he will not credit “somebody else” if he does scramble through the brambles of bringing a new product to the public. Nor will all the construction business owners who started in the back of a pickup truck or in their garages agree with the president’s assessment about who can claim credit for getting started.
There is one area where government has been essential for the success of a particular organizational model. Unions, most notably public employee unions, rely on government protection. As a result, public employee union membership is the only unionized sector that has shown consistent growth. Private-sector union membership has been in decline for years.
That hasn’t escaped the notice of the president’s administration. The first step was a proposal in Congress, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which, under certain circumstances, would have allowed a private-sector union to be certified as the exclusive bargaining agent for employees of a company without a vote of the employees. The bill had additional provisions forcing contracts regardless of what management felt it could accommodate. That did not get through Congress, so the regulators have taken over.
The National Labor Relations Act had its beginnings in 1947. The National Labor Relations Board, which interprets, enforces and these days rewrites the act’s rules governing labor relations in this country, consists of five members and a general counsel, all appointed by the president. The terms are staggered. Four of the six members of the current group have been appointed by Obama.
As a result, the board has proposed, and in many cases approved, rules dramatically shifting the posture of the National Labor Relations Act from one of semi-neutrality to one that leans aggressively in the favor of unions. The clear intent is to enable union organizers to bring more companies under the dominance of collective bargaining agreements. What can’t be done under the old approaches, which served the unions well until they began to abuse their images, is being changed by regulation.
Yes, the president is attempting to make fundamental changes. Yes, he believes more public employment is a good thing. Yes, he believes government is the root of all things of value. As Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn says, we are on the edge of seeing massive changes in the way this country’s government works, changes that should be unacceptable to most Americans. In November we will see if they are.
Hawkins is retired after 35 years as a construction industry association manager. He was a broadcast reporter and news anchor in Denver. As a Navy officer, he saw action in Vietnam in the River Assault Squadrons and is the recipient of a Silver Star and Purple Heart. He can be reached at george.hawkins@sddt.com.
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