It's NOT Big Brother We Should Worry About, It's Big Business. Threatened Layoffs If Mitt Loses

[WisonsinProud]

Re: There they go again... CEO threatens to fire employees unless they vote right

Citizens of the USA are not permitted simply to go and vote, as in any civilized country. We must register with a political party (i.e., as a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent) prior to voting.

Every state has different voting laws. In Wisconsin (yes I realized I mistyped my username after my first post) you only need register to vote with your district. No one is registered with a party.

 

[quasar]

This is LEGAL in the United States!?!?

(wait, let me guess - it's illegal in some states, but legal in others)

It's frightening isn't it, and yet here in the UK these things happen - but on a much smaller scale, and without the bullying. Here in Lincolnshire, back in the day when many people worked on the land, employees would regularly vote for who their landowners voted for. The theory being that if the landowners were voting for the party that had the best policies for their business success, it was in the employees interests to vote the same in order to safeguard their jobs. Not so much the case with automation everywhere now, but it still happens...

As for the US, it really is disgraceful beyond words that a country which promotes democracy across the globe, should allow it to be so corrupted on it's own turf

 

[rareboy]

Step 1. Stop registering political affiliations.

Step 2. Stop electing Sheriffs and Judges.

Step 3. Kill the idea that money is speech. Forbid PACS and SuperPacs.

Step 4. Institute 60 day election periods

Step 5. Get rid of primaries.

Step 6. Kill gerrymandering.

Step 7. Impose term limits on legislators.

Step 8. Get rid of the electoral college.

I'm sure that there are more steps to take, but until some or all of these steps are taken, the American system of voting is so broken that it is no wonder that it is drifting away from being the model of free and fair elections.

 

[Benvolio]

Yes, money is speech. This year, the media, more than ever before have actively campaigned for candidates. How is their money different from other money? Silencing the PACS would not silence the media, or the malefactors of great wealth, like Soros.
It is not possible to end gerrymandering for the simple reason that any way in which the lines are drawn affect the composition of the electorate. There is often no objectively correct way to draw the lines. A classic illustration is that a few years ago, the Democrats passed a federal statute requiring states to draw the lines in such a way as to ensure minority representation. But the effect was to gather Democrats minorities together in some districts, leaving other districts where the Democrats had no chance.
If you think it is wrong for employers to suggest that the election may adversely affect the business and the employees, is it not also wrong for the labor bosses to suggest that they should vote in ways that will hurt the employer?

 

[quasar]

...If you think it is wrong for employers to suggest that the election may adversely affect the business and the employees, is it not also wrong for the labor bosses to suggest that they should vote in ways that will hurt the employer?

There's nothing wrong with either of them pointing out possible scenarios dependent upon the eventual victor, but it's downright wrong to blackmail an employee to vote in a certain way in order to keep their job. My employer pays me to do specific tasks, and whilst my Terms & Conditions may restrict certain aspects of my private life regarding drink, drugs, acceptable public behaviour, they haven't bought my right to a free vote. I may well be a Labour supporter in some areas, but if the Tory party policies at our next election made more sense to me, then I might be more inclined to vote Tory. The most important thing is, I have the free choice to make that decision without fear of repercussion from my employer.

 

[Benvolio]

Remember, the employer has no way of knowing how the employee votes. It is not a threat, it is informing the employee how the election may adversely affect the business.

 

[quasar]

Remember, the employer has no way of knowing how the employee votes. It is not a threat, it is informing the employee how the election may adversely affect the business.

I appreciate that this 'theoretically' (and legally) would not happen, but if I was an employee here:

The largest privately held US coal company, Murray Energy, was also found to have pressured its employees to donate money to Republican candidates, The New Republic found.

“We have been insulted by every salaried employee who does not support our efforts,” CEO Robert Murray wrote in a letter to employees, which listed names of those who had not yet attended fundraisers. http://rt.com/usa/news/koch-brothers-obama-vote-501/

I'd figure that it wouldn't be that big a leap for my boss to guess if I voted Republican or Democrat. Whilst Murray Energy won't know which of it's employees voted Democrat, by listing those employees who haven't attended Republican fundraisers, they're subtly saying "We know who you are, and when Obama take office again, you'll be the first to go..." - and because your Employment Laws are not as progressive as ours, they'll probably get away with it.

It's certainly an interesting insight into US politics.

 

[MassRuss]

I may well be a Labour supporter in some areas, but if the Tory party policies at our next election made more sense to me, then I might be more inclined to vote Tory. The most important thing is, I have the free choice to make that decision without fear of repercussion from my employer.

This is where you're lucky in the UK in that you have a conservative party that hasn't lost it's mind to all the "phobias", xeno, homo. Islama, & to religious zealots, all though I'm sure you have your share. Sometimes I swear we would have been better off with a parliamentary form of government, with a figurehead president (like modern Germany) or dare I say it, a monarch. Did you know that at one time, it was bandied about in post revolutionary America, to ask one of Frederick the Great's brothers to reign here as king? That would have caused more confusion in WWI, possibly turning the American branch of the Hohenzollerns into the House of Virginia, Massachusetts or New Jersey!!

If they changed it today, I'd vote for Prince Harry as King of the US, LOL

 

[opinterph]

Citizens of the USA are not permitted simply to go and vote, as in any civilized country. We must register with a political party (i.e., as a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent) prior to voting.

That is not true in my state; however, we must choose a particular party ballot (or independent) when voting in any Primary Election.

As of 2010, 28 states and the District of Columbia allow registered voters to indicate a party preference when registering to vote; the following 22 states (mostly in the South and the Midwest) do not provide for party preferences in voter registration: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Wiki (2010)

Types of Elections in the United States