I had a great professor in law school. He taught constitutional and contract law.
He once told us a great story in class. Here it is:
There was a poor old farmer who lived in Russia a long time ago. He had one cow. That cow plowed and tilled his fields and provided him and his family with milk which they drank and made cheese from. One day the cow died. The farmer was saddened and distraught as he wondered how he would provide for his family without the cow. He decides to go fishing. While fishing he catches a golden fish. The golden fish says to the farmer: "I'm a golden fish and I can grant you any wish you so desire just so long as you release me back in the water."
The old farmer thought long and hard and said to the golden fish: "Kill my neighbour's cow".
[quote author=The Chairman link=topic=85266.msg532613#msg532613 date=1384807180]
dont get it
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I'll explain and elaborate when I get some more time Krish. 8)
The story above illustrates the populist thinking of the people who support a guy like Rob Ford, and to a larger extent, to the people who support right wing conservative governments.
Rob Ford was elected after the former mayor, David Miller (a left winger), declined to run for a third term. Public opinion was against Miller after two civic strikes. One of those was a strike by the city's garbage collectors which (it goes without saying) was not popular. Instead of taking a hard line with the unions Miller negotiated with them to reach deals and end the strikes.
Rob Ford and the right wing conservatives then went into overdrive. They convinced a lot of people that the bureaucrats at city hall were spending tax dollars irresponsibly. Even worst, these bureaucrats were negotiating with public service unions when they called strikes. Public service union members are generally well paid, have very good job security, and have excellent pensions and other benefits.
The subtext of Ford's populist message was this: Why should someone else have a job for life? Why should someone else have a better pension than mine? Why should someone else have better benefits than me?
Ford got elected because he promised to wage war with the unions on behalf of the "little guy" (read poor old Russian farmer). If I can't have a cow which gives me milk and cheese then neither can my neighbour.
A lot of people don't seem to realize that unions in the private sector are an endangered species. As a result the public sector has now become the institution with the most unionized employees in Canada.
When Rob Ford talks about "Gravy Train" he's referring to those public service unionized employees. The reason he has so much populist support is directly linked to the decline of the ordinary Joe's who belong to private sector unions.
The ordinary Joe's vastly outnumber the public sector unionized Joe's. Whenever there is a public sector strike the ordinary Joe's fill the right wing radio talk shows with their utter disgust and contempt of the unionized Joe. In these times you often hear the ordinary Joe say "how can garbage collector make $26 an hour, have the best pension and benefits in the world, and have the temerity to go on strike? I don't make that much, have those benefits and pension and I can't go on strike".
Well Rob Ford was their man to end the gravy train called the public sector unions.
[quote author=Snoopster link=topic=85266.msg532611#msg532611 date=1384805870]
The old farmer thought long and hard and said to the golden fish: "Kill my neighbour's cow".
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