And not just for you. That said, I suspect the problem is more one of myopia than unions. Perhaps as simple as our old friend Mr. Alienation.
I guess it's just easy to blame the unions up here because they are one of a limited number of giants in the land. If the unions dislike something, it dies. Costco, Boeing, and Microsoft also share that status. Something about being a major provider of jobs and a major holder of liquid assets meant to be used on political campaigns.
To a disturbing degree, many, most, Americans don't see themselves as part of a community anymore (after all, that's the root word in "communism" and we all know that's bad; all things collective are, as Ayn Rand wisely taught us. 
) Hence the people gunning for your Senator are only looking at how this one vote stands to hurt them; the sacrifices that would otherwise be required of other groups aren't their concern. Of course, if the Legislature had simply decided to raise taxes enough that they didn't have to cut any services or jobs, they'd have a completely different demographic screaming for their heads for precisely the same reason.
) Hence the people gunning for your Senator are only looking at how this one vote stands to hurt them; the sacrifices that would otherwise be required of other groups aren't their concern. Of course, if the Legislature had simply decided to raise taxes enough that they didn't have to cut any services or jobs, they'd have a completely different demographic screaming for their heads for precisely the same reason. Exactly... here in WA the only time the truly conservative voters get active is when taxes are raised. That's also when the independents and weak democrats shift to the right. If my Senator had voted for more taxes, she'd be facing a stronger opposition from the Right, as would many other incumbents.
They're not seeing all the positive things your Senator does that only affect them tangentially, or remembering all the times she was on their side, since that's ancient history now. Remember, in politics it's "what have you done for me lately?" Unions happen to be robust enough in WA, apparently, that they have the financial and political clout to single-handedly win elections, but I assure you that's not the case nationally. Last I checked (and that was the mid-nineties) national union membership was around 12% and falling due to the combined effects of shrinking US manufacturing, Taft-Hartley and applying RICO laws to unions as if they were AUTOMATICALLY organized crime. After all, the unions were enraged when Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers thirty years ago, but it didn't change anything (apart from the sudden spike in airplanes landing IN runways instead of ON them. )
The unions are very robust up here. All of the state workers in service roles are unionized, and we've got two or three of Boeing's largest plants, and most of the coastal towns were founded as mill towns... and you see the picture. Unions are very strong up here.
The fools doorbelled me yesterday... they'd sent two union members around with a kid trying to drum up resentment against my Senator. (First of all, you'd think they'd eliminate campaign staff for the opposition from their list of potential supporters....) When I asked questions about why they were opposing her, their answers became weaker and weaker the deeper I pressed. In the end, it boiled down to "well, we didn't agree with that last vote she made." Which is asinine because every Democrat in a reliable District was forced by party leadership to vote for the budget. The only ones let off were Dems in swing Districts who might lose their seats for the vote.
So, yeah, this time, in this place, it happens to be the unions, but other times and other places it's completely different groups doing exactly the same things for the same reasons. It may be a little more frantic up there because, frankly, US unions are running scared and have been for some time. For a generation the decline of US manufacturing has routinely made them choose between cuts to pay and benefits or unemployment, and as prices rise there's a limit to how much wages can fall before mere survival becomes impossible. Go someplace else and it's ranchers bitching about property taxes, or businesses bitching about regulation, or environmentalists bitching about LACK of regulation, or inner city residents bitching about inadequate school funding. And not one of them gives a dead rats ass about the problems of any of the others.
God love the independent spirit....
That's our kinder gentler ownership society, m'friend, not so much "ownership" as "you're on your own. " Until we remember that nothing happens in a vacuum, that we hang together or hang separately, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. "Union" in every sense is becoming an obsolete concept in America.
I was Phelix on wotmania, I will always be Phelix in the "real" world, and now I am Phelix on RAFO.
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
Politics and the unions
- 01/08/2010 12:17:01 PM
911 Views
Yet another fine example of how unions are detrimental to the nation. *NM*
- 01/08/2010 02:14:54 PM
225 Views
Also of how the election system is dreadful, though. *NM*
- 01/08/2010 03:41:32 PM
203 Views
I agree with both of you.
- 01/08/2010 06:30:22 PM
546 Views
To paraphrase Winston Churchill...
- 01/08/2010 06:52:39 PM
565 Views
The man was a genius.
- 01/08/2010 06:56:54 PM
531 Views
The man was a ^%^%*^%#$$#$#**! ^%$#%$! $$#$#! ^%^%! ^%(*! &&&(&**&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- 02/08/2010 06:40:32 AM
601 Views
No, he was. Classic case of good speech-making covering up decades of blunders & douchey policy *NM*
- 02/08/2010 10:34:33 PM
281 Views
You get in bed with cats (unions), you wake up with fleas. *NM*
- 01/08/2010 05:03:58 PM
237 Views
They're impossible to avoid here.
- 01/08/2010 06:35:37 PM
569 Views
Don't try to sully dogs with your so-called facts. The phrase works better with cats. 
- 01/08/2010 06:50:13 PM
565 Views
- 01/08/2010 06:50:13 PM
565 Views
That truly sucks, man, sorry.
- 02/08/2010 05:32:03 AM
633 Views
Thanks...
- 03/08/2010 05:02:19 AM
647 Views
You're welcome; expect an edit when I'm not too tired to be coherent.
- 03/08/2010 11:23:57 PM
489 Views
civil service unions are the worst
- 02/08/2010 05:58:13 PM
592 Views
hey now. northern california isn't that flaky
- 02/08/2010 09:36:57 PM
466 Views
I always considered the bay port of northern califonria
- 02/08/2010 10:19:17 PM
520 Views
well i only actually know my family up there 
- 02/08/2010 10:39:24 PM
514 Views
- 02/08/2010 10:39:24 PM
514 Views
I have extended family in Alturas and Grass Valley. It's beautiful up there.
- 05/08/2010 03:00:17 PM
519 Views