By Dale McCoy

My next commentary is either going to be on the “Anatomy of a Collapse: An In Depth Look at the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis,” or I may get really serious and write on “How to Catch a Snapping Turtle.” I am open to your suggestions, so please let me know which way to go.  In the mean time, since the Blue Collar Commentary is in its infancy, I’d like to introduce myself a little more. I think this post will shed some more light on who I am and how I think.

Throughout my entire adult life, I have always loved quotes. A simple, carefully worded sentence can speak volumes. Politicians and philosophers throughout history are remembered for their short, powerful statements. Today’s sound-bite may be tomorrow’s accepted truth.

Some things that I read or hear immediately embed themselves in my long term memory. These embedded thoughts inspire me and help shape my beliefs. It is my intent to share these thoughts and quotes with you from time to time on the BCC.  One other comment here; my own quotes are independent of anything that I have read, but I can’t guarantee that they are unique. I will never intentionally take credit for someone else’s ideas, but with billions of people and thousands of years of written history, it is unlikely that anyone has a truly original thought. After all, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV).

For this post I will start with my construction career and work my way into the tea party

• “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” (Confucius). At age 25, I was not happy with my job, and unsure about my future. I had always liked working with my hands, and construction work appealed to me. I had an associate’s degree in Industrial Electricity, so I applied for an apprenticeship.

• “Just remember, you are going to give this the best years of your life and the best hours of the day. Make sure it’s something that you like to do”(Bruce B. my first year apprenticeship teacher). Bruce said this on our first night of school. His quote struck a little closer to home on how important it is to make the right career choice. Bruce was a no-nonsense guy who didn’t spend a lot of time pondering life’s gray areas. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always respected him. He was a good man, and he is sadly missed. A few more from Bruce…

• “You know what your trouble is? You’re so busy knowing everything that you haven’t got time to learn anything.” Spoken to a stubborn student. ( Wasn’t me that particular time )

• “You never remember what you got right, and you never forget what you got wrong.” Spoken while discussing one of my test answers that he marked wrong (I still contend that I was right).

• “I may not always be right, but I am always the boss.” That’s how the test question discussion ended. Bruce was a hard guy to argue with.

As I worked my way through the apprenticeship, I realized that I did indeed like what I was doing. Building things with my hands, troubleshooting, and laboring were very satisfying. The men that I worked with were independent and free spirited. Some of the most intelligent, hardworking and interesting people that I have ever met are (or were) construction workers. Although a lot of the work we did was high, hot, dirty, or dangerous, (sometimes all of the above), there was always a spirit of camaraderie and purpose. I miss it. We didn’t spend a lot of time on sensitivity and emotion either, construction work lacked political correctness.

“There is a certain purity in a lack of political correctness” (this one is mine).  For the most part, construction workers are straightforward and thick skinned. They tell you what they think. The wishy-washy ones who chose their words very carefully were the ones that I didn’t trust. The rest of us poked fun at each other and used humor to help take the hard edge off of a working man’s life.  For example…

• “This place was running when you got here, and this place will be running when you leave.” One of my buddies bringing someone down a notch. It is important to remain humble.

• “I tried to get in your local, but I wasn’t drunk, and I wasn’t divorced, and they wouldn’t let me in.” A pipe fitter explaining to me why he wasn’t an electrician.

• “I didn’t hire you from the neck down” (Mike S.). A variation of “Use your bleeping head.”

• ” Ain’t nothing but a math problem” (Taz, explaining a layoff). It’s only a matter of time until I devote a posting to the “Taz.”
• “If you’re so smart, how come you’re working for me?” Taz again, voicing a little of his philosophy.

OK, so you get the picture on how I felt about working construction.  I loved it. So why did I leave? There are a lot of reasons, but most notable is the fact that things have changed a lot in the last 25 years. When I started my apprenticeship, a lot of my peers flunked out.  Our leaders insisted that we must remain competitive. We were afforded a lot of flexibility on the job, but we were also expected to work hard and to police ourselves. The work was risky, but the rewards were high. Some of us worked steady, some were laid off a lot. It wasn’t perfectly fair, but work ethic and skill were very important.  You had the ability to “drag up” and go to another job. There were a lot less rules. There were a lot less people taking care of us “for our own good.” It was the essence of freedom.

Over the years, we lowered our apprenticeship standards. We began to rely more and more on our political allies to keep us in the game. We organized to maintain our numbers. It got to the point that no matter what the Democratic Party stood for, we were told that we had to support them. One of my union leaders once said, “You can kid around about guns and abortion, but this is your job we’re talking about.” This is the kind of foolish logic that is used to coerce men to vote against their principles. Who the hell is kidding around about guns and abortion?  We don’t kid about such things.  When votes count more than principles, disaster looms.

At this point I must point out that I am not now, nor have I ever been a registered Republican, but that shouldn’t matter anyway. Political party is secondary to what’s best for the country. As my friend Billy O once said, “I don’t give a damn about your political party, do what’s right for the country.”  These are my thoughts exactly.

“One’s beliefs are often compromised by their livelihood, but there must be a limit to that compromise.”  This is my statement.  I reached the limit, and I was fortunate enough to be presented with a separate opportunity for employment. I still appreciate the union. It was good to me, and in fact I still carry my ticket. But I refuse to follow anyone down the path to socialism. High taxes and over-regulation have destroyed our industrial base. An entitlement mentality is destroying our work ethic. Liberal, socialist policies have destroyed the incentive for capital investment. These same policies are destroying the very fabric of our society.

It is not possible for everyone to work for the government, it is not possible for everyone to work in the “service” industry, and it is not possible to tax ourselves into prosperity. Very few construction workers have the ability to drag up today. There’s nowhere to go.   And what do we hear from the democratic leaders?   Crack down on the mines, crack down on the power plants, crack down on the oil companies, crack down on the pharmaceutical industry, the banks, the insurers, the doctors…

• “We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle” (Winston Churchill). Think Tarp, think stimulus, think bailout, and think American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

• “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding” (Louis D. Brandeis).

• “If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law” (Winston again).

• “Whether or not such laws are made with good intentions, the consequences of their failure look the same” (Me…..from my “Open Letter” commentary).

I have always been a student of history.  It never ceases to amaze me that mankind must re-learn the hardest lessons over and over again. I see where my country is going.  It’s all happened before. This next list of quotes will include less commentary as they tend to speak for themselves. They also do a wonderful job of describing why I became and remain involved with the Tea Party movement.

• “That will never happen here.” I wonder how many times this has been repeated throughout history? This attitude is the seed of tyranny.

• “A vote is like a rifle, it’s usefulness depends on the character of the user” (Teddy Roosevelt). Our last election resulted in a huge swing to the left.

• “Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don’t need it, and hell where they already have it” (Ronald Reagan). Twentieth Century history validates the wisdom of this statement.

• “Liberalism is based on short term compassion; conservatism is based on long term reality” (My own). Most liberal people are intelligent and kind, but the policies they support are not sustainable in the long run. The logical end to these policies will be financial ruin and loss of freedom. It’s happening right now, all around us.

• “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”(Plato). It’s time to get involved. Here’s another one by Plato…

• “Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.”

• Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor safety” (Benjamin Franklin). Franklin studied Plato.

• “”When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” (Franklin again). Think welfare, stimulus, health care, social security, unemployment compensation, etc. We’re broke, and still some support politicians who promise even more entitlement spending.

• “Our democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not” (Thomas Jefferson).

• “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscienceto remain silent” (Jefferson again).

• “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing  -  after they’ve tried everything else” (Winston again). I pray that Winston is right.

Dale