Before I get started I would like to point out, that I don't believe all Alaskans are deadbeats. The pioneers of Alaska were surely hard working tough bread. I'm also not completely anti-union or anti-social programs. I truly believe that many union workers earn their money and that many people on social programs just had a string of bad luck.
However, I've lived in Alaska for a little over a decade now. One thing I've noticed about this state is the extensive number of people who live off their fellow Americans and Alaskans. There is a huge "entitlement way of thinking" and a "look out for number one" mentality up here. Someone told me that after the Big Lake fire was over, many Alaskans thought the government should pay for their vacation homes. I don't have a vacation home and if I did I don't think it's the governments responsibility to cover me.
When I first arrived in Alaska I met a lady who worked for the state. She pointed out that on the federal level she always voted conservative and on the local level she voted liberal. She explained it this way, on the federal level Alaskans should vote conservative to protect the oil industry which in turn will mean more money for Alaskans. Yet on the local level, if you are a state employee you should vote liberal to protect your union benefits. She loved Mr. Knowles. This lady was an office manager who managed less than 10 employees. According to her, she had a retirement worth well over 1 million dollars. I was in the military at the time; she said she would hide her sons before she sent them to war. This lady was simply a self-serving deadbeat who was the center of her own universe. My only regret was not asking the waitress for two checks.
Alaska is one of the most unionized states in the nation from public servants to utilities to oil companies. We also receive more pork per ca-pita than any other state. I liked uncle Ted, but there is no way on earth I would have had the balls to ask my fellow Americans to pay for a $2 million bus stop (I think that was the amount Anchorage mayor Mark Begich asked for, but I could be wrong). We have soldiers in Iraq without adequate tools needed to do their job, which is to kill the hell out of the Islamo Fascist. I was ashamed of uncle Ted when he almost had a heart attack on the senate floor over the bloated bridge money. I wish he had gotten as upset when senator Dick "Turban Durbin" made his comments. Or why isn't he as outraged for the Marines at camp Pendleton who were falsely accused of killing Iraqi civilians. Anyway that's another story.
From what I understand Alaska state spending is 2.5 times the per ca-pita national average. I pay more property taxes on my 1700 sq. foot home than my father does on 400 acres of farmland in the lower 48. You would think that the majority of the people on hillside in Anchorage would be business owners. Yet in my experience most of them are unionized workers. There are some estimates that claim 40% of Alaska's population is employed by the government. Add in the number of people in this state who receive social service entitlements (many of which are funded through the huge pork this state receives) and you may very well have the most socialist state in the nation.
Perhaps this is why we have busloads entitlement moms who keep having babies out of wedlock coming to Alaska every year. Perhaps this is why we have teachers who chose to be teachers for the benefits rather than the children, and police unions who support union loving candidates rather than those who would help them fight crime. And don't even get me started on the utilities. We all know why they are so high. And like any business oil companies must recoup their cost. And if they or any of their sub-contractors are union then that cost will be more. And guess who pays, we do at the pump. My God if all of the lower 48 states were like Alaska, America would have fallen a long time ago.
In most states you are compensated by what the free market says you are worth, as it should in a Free Society. I work for a business like most people do in most states. I get paid by what I produce and my negotiating skills. Again this is how it should be in a free society. You have the right to make whatever you can as long as you do it the old fashioned way, honest Entrepreneurship & Investing rather than Union-ship or Robbing the publics trust.
I'm not anti-union or anti-social programs. I use Eisenhower's Yardstick, which says "is it good for America".
Years ago unions served their purpose. They prevented sweatshops and created better labor laws. And yes some companies do treat their employees badly. Years ago social programs benefited the widowed, the truly sick and disabled. Social Security disability is an insurance program that you pay into, if you are truly sick and disabled then yes you have the right to make a claim and expect benefits.
Yet today because of abuses, social programs and unions have morphed into something monstrous that no longer meets Eisenhower's yardstick rule. Our nation is being devoured from within. One of the greatest challenges of a free society is to maintain a balance of power between special interest groups. In Alaska we have seen the scales severely tipped in favor of those who would rob us. But the most important component of our nations survival is this, the service of others before self.
During the great depression you had children running away from home so their younger brothers and sisters would have food. During WWII old men stood on the beach looking for the Japanese Navy. In the Revolutionary War farmers let their crops rot in the field to go fight for freedom. What was the saying " We pledge our lives and fortunes for this endeavor"
Modern day Americans have certainly fallen short of their patriotic duty and dishonored their fathers. And I'm sorry to say Alaskans have sunk even further.
