Two weeks after she made headlines with her claim that Teach for America “kills” the underprivileged children it is meant to serve, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is back in the news again. Again, she is talking about killing, but this time she is the one gunning for hides, and her prey is “the filthy rich” (translation: those are filthy, because they won’t share and share alike, and also happen to be wealthy).
The occasion for her comments, EAGnews.org reports, was the Illinois Labor History Society’s “Salute to Labor’s Historic Heroes from the History Makers of Today.” In her remarks, Lewis advocated taking a pound of flesh from those who could afford it after acknowledging it won’t be forthcoming otherwise:
Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them. Please understand that. However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just — off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that.
I don’t think we’re at that point. And that’s scary to most people. But the key is they think nothing of killing us. They think nothing of putting our people in harm’s way. They think nothing of lethal working conditions.
What, you might ask, does wealth redistribution, whether it be by rule of law or brute force, have to do with education? The answer is nothing. But that is par for the course for Lewis, who divides her time between bellyaching that unions are not powerful enough and adopting social causes like fighting for same-sex unions and supporting the Occupy movement.
Picking up Obama’s mantle of “it’s them (rich pigs) against us (common folk)” is easy. With a straight face she asked her audience:
Which side are you going to be on? So are we going to be on the side of justice? Are we going to be on the side of a living wage for every person? Or are we going to be on the side of people whose entire mentality is based on a lie. ‘Job creators.’ Really? Then why have we lost so many jobs?
A more honest question from her to her rapt listeners would be “Why have you lost so many jobs?” Like Obama, Lewis has a job — and a well-paying one at that. Accuracy in Media reports that she pulls down nearly $300,000 a year in base salary and compensation. The teachers she militates on behalf of are also well-compensated, working nine months out of the year and receiving generous benefits and pensions.
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makes $300m/yr…I guess we now know how Obama got the Mason/Dixon line on “rich”…
to put it into perspective, $300k, 9 months…annualized is $400k. spike that up to a normal workday for most people (I’ll cave and say 8 hours although the people paying her salary probably work 10 or more)…Chicago school teacher works 5 hr days…move that $400k to a normal day is >$600k.
and let’s forget about the generous bennies they get. and let’s forget about their performance.
even at 1/10th her pay pack, she would have been fired from any company I have ever known.
Teejk…This is an example of one of democracy’s (potentially) fatal flaws. There appears to be no way to prevent a majority from legally taking away the wealth of a minority, via taxes, union extortion, and as we see here, physical intimidation.
Wealth redistribution, here we come. Looks like we’ll recycle into something like the old Soviet Union. In some number of years, after we live Soviet style long enough, we’ll recycle, yet again. Fortunately for me, I won’t be around for most of that. I am very concerned, however, about the next 20 years.
Steven
yeah…well…hmmm…
you are looking at a 20+ year window of pain…mine is probably much shorter (genetics).
wealth “redistribution” is also known as “theft” unless sanctioned by the government.
good or bad (unavoidable), I pretty much “prepaid” the tax cost of my retirement so I’m not speaking out of personal greed.
with that disclaimer out of the way, I have to mention Newton’s 3rd law again. We seem to have a majority of people that have only wanted and experienced the first leg, totally oblivious to the second leg. I feel bad for them because the law has never been proven wrong yet.
despicable….
Why do you even want to?
Anyway, I’m glad “they” have it and you don’t, because I suspect if you had it, you’d be a monster.