re: A Battlestar too far ...

Dear RDM. You know I love the show. Even though I know that there is definitely left wing politics at play from time to time, you have always handled things with balance - or shown reasons for making the story decisions you have. And I respect that.

Now here comes the "But." As a conservative, I want to say that I enjoyed this week's episode very much (Dirty Hands), but I have to take issue with the propaganda statement you make in the beginning of you podcast about conservatives painting unions as evil and that this episode combats that notion.

First off, conservatives have no problem with the essential reason unions exist - to protect the interests of workers. That has never been an issue for Conservatives. We support the need for worker safety, fair wages, etc. The TRUE reasons why unions exist are very much conservative values.

And you know that kid that was complaining that he didn't want to go to the ship? Well, that sort of happened to me only the other side of the coin. I WANTED to stay on my ship, but because I wasn't a part of the little club, the union had me tossed off, even though I would've joined the union in a heart beat, if asked. Instead, I was let go, left to fend for myself. In fact, Unions have cost me more work in my life than they have either helped me get or protected my job, which again they were MIA.

And that's the point I'm trying to make here. What Conservatives take true issue with is unions going outside of their Constitutionally protected purvue of collective union bargaining and becoming fund raising machines for personal political agendas that we don't agree with. When union dues are taken "at the point of gun" (rhetorical) from members who are conservative and given to left wing causes, with no choice but to leave the union (and usually lose their jobs), then the union has gone away from the original values it was meant to protect.

THIS is why conservatives have attacked unions over the last decade or so. Not because of their constitutional rights to fair collective bargaining but when they violate the same precedents in order to support their personal political causes at the expense of their membership.

Additionally, Tyrol was completely out of line in enlisting his military cohorts in that strike. Adama is right, that IS mutiny. It put the fleet in danger, the Galactica in danger, etc. Tyrol, should've been tried for it, but Adama was more interested in getting results and then addressing Tyrol's concerns with a little mercy. But if he wants to represent unions in the fleet, then he needs to resign and do that because this will become a conflict of interest in real life.

And if the military gets unionized in this series, it will lose a little respect in my mind. Unions have an important function in society, and that was shared very well in this episode. But that comment at the beginning, Ron? Come on, man. Look in the collective mirror.

Labels: BSG, Hollywood, Politics, SciFi