Thumbs down for Indiana and the "Right to Work"

I’ve never really cared for politics. I don’t really get wrapped up in the actions of the Indiana State house, nor do I follow federal decisions unless I happen to catch a snippet on the morning news.

Most of the time I figure that there isn’t much that I can do about the decisions being made, so I tend not to spend my time trying to figure out why Mitch Daniels or Obama do what they do.

But I’m sad to say that tomorrow Indiana will probably become labeled as a “Right to Work” state.

Although the title sounds good and I do believe that everyone should have the right to work, that isn’t exactly what is going to happen. At least that is how I am interpreting it.

Of all of the states in the U.S., 38 states have rejected “Right To Work” Legislation. There’s probably a good reason for that! The states that have enacted the law have turned out to be the highest in the nation as far as unemployment is concerned and tend to have lower wages, lower family income, higher rates for uninsured and higher poverty rates. Way to go Indiana… like we don’t have it bad enough already!

I’ve heard on the news that Mitch Daniels is pushing for the “Right to Work” because he believes it will create jobs and increase the economic well-being of the state. I’m not sure I follow this logic. To me, Indiana already has a choice for employees, particularly in the area of construction.

If businesses want to move into the area, they can hire union workers or they can hire non-union workers. Workers can choose whether or not they want to join the union or not. They can choose whether or not to pay union dues or not.

It seems to me that the “Right To Work” Legislation will only hurt Indiana workers and their families. And what frustrates me the most is that many Indiana families probably don’t even know that the vote is coming and that this will probably pass.

As I stated before, I typically have my head in the sand on political issues. But if this passes the Indiana House and Senate, several of my friends and family members will see a decrease in wages and more than likely safety. Union workers are promised good wages, good benefits, increased safety measures and the ability to retire respectably.

For Dan, Todd, my Uncle Tom and many other hard workers in this state, I hope that Indiana votes against the Right to Work Law.

The Real World...

I watched a couple episodes of The Real World from seasons in Washington DC and New Orleans this weekend. I am always interested in the sociology of meshing people from various backgrounds and experiences together in the same living quarters. I’m a fan of Big Brother and Survivor, too. It’s a situation I would never be able to survive!

For those of you who may not be aware of the story line for The Real World, there are typically about eight cast members between the ages 18-25 who are picked to live in a house together and have their lives taped. The show has been running on MTV since 1992.

As many of you might imagine, throwing a group of strangers in a house together often includes many of them hooking up, many of them pursuing their dreams of being in the spotlight and often several verbal altercations. I find the show rather entertaining.

But this weekend, as I watched the episodes, I couldn’t help but wonder when it was that I stopped thinking I could do anything I wanted to do. I watched this group of housemates pursuing all the dreams they had and it made me think. I remember in high school I was interested in photography and wasn’t at all shy about talking to other professional photographers and thinking that I could work for any newspaper or magazine that I wanted. I just went for it. In college, I wanted to work for the newspaper and I did. I wanted to write and I did.

I watched the cast member, Callie, pursue her dreams of being a photographer while in Washington DC. She didn’t know what she was doing, but was willing to learn and not be deterred.

Another cast member, Andrew, wanted to draw cartoons for the Washington Post. He called and got an appointment with one of the editors and talked about what he needed to do to get published. Although he didn’t get published in the Post, he was published in the Washington Times. Again, nothing seemed impossible.

I started asking myself, what’s changed? Maybe it’s age.  Maybe it’s money. I guess when I was in college everything wasn’t about money. I wasn’t paying the mortgage, so it didn’t matter if I was being paid a little or a lot to do what I wanted to do.

Maybe it’s geography…I don’t want to move to follow my dreams. Then again, dreams…. I think I stopped dreaming about the possibilities that life holds when I got a “real” job! I just float through life because I’m content. The bills are paid, I have good friends where I work and I like my job.

I guess this blog has been a little rambling, but I can’t help but wonder…

Does anyone else feel like this? Unsure of when we hit reality and stopped thinking about all the things we could possibly do?