When government over regulates or labor over demands through having too much power, it is just as corrosive to the overall wellbeing of the community as exploitation by unrestrained big business interests. The power of unions needs to be balanced by right-to-work laws, which protect individual workers from being coerced by overzealous, power-hungry union leaders. The economic shambles that was once the proud city of Detroit stands as graphic testimony of the ability of unrestrained union power to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. America does have a thriving automobile industry, it's just far from Detroit. Instead it is in Tennessee (Nissan and Volkswagon), South Carolina (BMW), and Alabama (Mercedes Benz), which are all right-to-work states. Similarly, government officials were tempted by too much power, and their oppressive regulations and high tax rates were stifling innovation and productivity in the last half of the 20th century until the Reagan revolution pulled the balance back in a healthier direction. Remember the air traffic controllers who thought that their union could defy the government? America's federal government system of checks and balances is an instructive example of how to resolve the inherent conflicts caused by human selfishness. Each branch of government checks and balances the other, diffusing the power among the several branches. In a similar fashion, America's modified capitalist system has management (capital), the workers (unions), and government (laws and regulations), diffusing the power through checks and balances. Our economy gets into trouble when one or more of these three entities get too much power in relation to the others. Our healthiest and most widespread prosperity occurs when these three groups are working harmoniously together, each clearly checking and balancing the power and innate selfishness of the other two. Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email ( baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp). Copyright (c) 2012 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net |