We don't need unions, we need freedoms

In her August 31 column Janice Kennedy resurrects a litany of marxist fallacies and demonstrates her economic and philosophic illiteracy. Her ad-hominem attacks, animal references and other illogical language simply illustrates her inability to make a rational argument backed by sound moral principles.

I have nothing against unions so long as they do not use force against innocent people. In a free society all relationships are voluntary (on both sides) and that certainly includes all employer/employee, union/member buyer/seller relationships. If a job is a money loser for the company it is perfectly moral for the employer to terminate employees or else the owners of the business and all remaining employees will suffer until the final closure of the business. It is not the responsibility of an employer to protect a job if the position or the employee is not efficient enough to compete and it is certainly immoral of government to force employers to retain money-losing positions and act in a self-destructive manner.

The only moral role of government is to protect the freedom of individual citizens to act according to their choices, so long as they do not initiate force against others. That's it. Any other action of government necessarily violates the rights of some citizens for the possible benefit of others. In a free country the role of government is the protection, not control, of innocent citizens' lives from those at home and abroad who would violate them.

Over decades, governments have enacted legislation specifically forcing some citizens (employers are a common target) to act against their judgment to enrich others. Stripped of all legal defense, these victims of lobbying naturally seek all possible ways to remain in business and be competitive - as any rational person would, they seek less expensive production facilities, less punishing tax jurisdictions, legal systems that protect them instead of harming them and a workforce that is flexible instead of rigid.

It is the souls of the producers, employers, creators, builders and entrepreneurs that are attacked by union-biased laws. If Kennedy truly cared about rights, it is the rights of these most essential people in society that she would be speaking of protecting, instead of encouraging those attempting to shackle and milk them.