I'M tired of all the whining about Gary Rodrigues, the public employee union leader. In politics whiners,
losers one and sameEveryone whines, "He's got too much power. He's got a stranglehold on the government. He's not nice." Whine, whine, whine.
Listen. Rodrigues doesn't get paid for being nice. He gets paid for doing a job. All this whining amounts to nothing more than a complaint that he does his job too well.
His job is to protect union jobs, period. It's not his job to make sure that government runs well or efficiently, any more than it is the newspaper union's job to make sure my column is entertaining. Rodrigues isn't an elected official. He doesn't represent the people of Hawaii. It's not his responsibility to oversee grand economic policy for the state. His focus is on protecting public employee jobs and making sure those employees are safe, happy and financially secure.
Rodrigues is exceedingly good at his job. He has managed to turn his position into one of the most powerful in the state. He has managed to use politics and leverage to turn the public workers into a powerful force in government. Sure, that may mean that Hawaii will continue to slide toward bankruptcy because the public employee union has just about stopped privatization in its tracks. That's politics.
But let me tell you something, it's not Rodrigues' fault. It's your's. You are the one who pulls the lever in the election booth. You're the one who keeps putting hacks and boobs back into the Legislature simply because you recognize their names and actually have no clue as to their hidden loyalties, agendas and personal aspirations.
YOU'RE the one who allows the Legislature to enact laws that block privatization, laws that the state Supreme Court HAS to uphold. You are the one who gives these guys the power to do whatever they want.
And what do you do? You whine. Boo hoo hoo. Gary's too strong. The Supreme Court is politically motivated. Senate President Norman Mizuguchi appointed Rodrigues to the Judicial Selection Commission so he has even more power. Whine, whine, whine.
Stop it. Rodrigues, Mizuguchi, the Supreme Court ... they are all doing their jobs. If you don't like the way Mizuguchi runs things, why do you keep voting for him, you babooze. If you think that the state can save money by using private services instead of armies of double and tripple-dipping, job-for-life public workers, then put someone in the Legislature who will write the laws to allow it. You are the one who decides if government is going to be a giant employer or whether its role is to create a framework where private enterprise can thrive and individuals can prosper.
I've said this before, but I personally don't think the founders of this country actually envisioned the role of government as being the employer of armies of garbage collectors.
But don't go blaming the Supreme Court when it simply upholds the laws that you had drawn up. Don't blame Rodrigues for having power. You give it to him.
How? Because you have created a system of government by popularity, not results. You are more interested in the politics of nostalgia, not reality.
Let me tell you a secret. The government is you, not them. It works on a system of checks and balances. If everyone does their job, power is shared equally. If one segment slacks off, then power will go to the few who are smart enough to grab it.
I admire Rodrigues. Not only does he have power, but he flaunts it. And unlike the teachers and parents of Kamehameha Schools' kids who have finally risen up against the imperial Bishop Estate, Rodrigues, Mizuguchi and every other politician in the pockets of special interests knows you won't do a thing about it.