Web Letters: Which Side Are You On?

Ordinarily I would agreed with Mr. Froelich. My high school civics class has absolutely ingrained "the secret ballot equals democracy" into my DNA. Several recent examples, though, may disprove that reality. I'm also beginning to doubt that the secret ballot equals democracy and fair play. I'm also of the impression that workers (i.e., labor) will have a choice of card check or secret ballot. The other issue that I'm beginning to wonder about is the zero sum game of winner take all: 51 percent tyrannizing the 49 percenters. I think democracy should aspire to a higher standard. I'm only three feet tall so I can't compete on the basketball court, but maybe we could play a round of golf?

James L. Pinette

Caribou, ME

I have always supported unions. I have been a Teamster, and a twenty-three-year member of the Service Employees Union with Los Angeles County. I have long considered big business and multinational corporations the enemy. I regard anyone who supports them against the interests of ordinary citizens and workers as the enemy. I am not too fond of the Senate, since, regardless of party, it has become the tool of big business and multinational corporations. Since I know how we became a major industrial nation that gave ordinary workers a middle-classed lifestyle, I regard "free trade" as economic treason. I will never forgive these people for destroying this country!

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA

First, I am no longer a Democratic elected official, but I was.

Labor unions are an important balance to the problem of too-dominant management in the workplace. But the question of destroying the basic democracy of a free ballot does not convince me. If the ballot is equally secret to the union and the management, then it is the workers who win.

Getting the secret balot was one of the basic building blocks of democracy. Disagreement from the Nazis and Stalinists is normal on this point. What would they have done with "card check" instead of elections?

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby , PA