Individual rights at stake in Wisconsin Re: “Wisconsin stunner: Prosser gains over 7,000 votes after discovery of error,” Beltway Confidential, April
Challenges to Wisconsin’s new collective bargaining law will likely reach the state supreme court, which will hand down a decision at the crossroads between the rights of individuals and the rights of the collective.
Union collective bargaining rights guarantee an individual’s ability to participate in wage and benefit negotiations without fear of retaliation. In states like Wisconsin, unions require that employment be strictly coupled with union membership, thus making union dues mandatory. The issue is expanding beyond union membership to whether the government may require an individual to purchase health insurance.
How far should this go? Do we force healthy foods on overweight people, antiperspirants on those who ride crowded subways, or birth control for those not financially stable enough to raise children? If the list of government mandates keeps growing, at some point virtually everybody will say it goes too far.
Those who truly value individual rights can only come down on one side of this issue. If unions really have the best ideas, they will attract sufficient members without coercion.
Brian Wrenn
Washington
Magnet school poses problem for multiculturalists
Re: “Hispanics, blacks still scarce in TJ’s new class,” April 7
The failure to have a representative ethnic mix at a high school devoted to academic excellence presents a quandary for our educational system. When a school is selected as a beacon for educating the most knowledgeable, is it appropriate to accept students who do not meet its goals?
If open admissions are used, the academic excellence of the school becomes questionable as courses are modified to accommodate less-than-well-prepared minority students.
The discrimination argument does not hold water because Asian students are vastly overrepresented at such academically high-achieving schools nationwide.
Nelson Marans
Silver Spring
Nuclear energy is risky and unnecessary
Re: “Owners of Mass. nuclear plant say facility is safe,” April 6
Thank you to for covering the April 6 Rally for Nuclear Safety at the Massachusetts State House. As one of the groups organizing the event, we are heartened to see that the citizens’ movement opposing risky nuclear power is alive and well.
Nuclear power is inherently dangerous, especially old nuclear power plants like Pilgrim in Plymouth, Mass. Any elected officials who support relicensing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should imagine themselves in the shoes of the mayor of Daiichi, Japan, for one moment.
Massachusetts is a national leader in energy efficiency and truly clean and renewable energy. Why should we continue to use risky, unnecessary nuclear power when we have safer solutions right now?
Audrey Richardson
Clean energy associate,
Environment Massachusetts
