Should CEO's be allowed to force employees to vote Republican?

[alp227]

Thom Hartmann debates David Keating, President-Center for Competitive Politics / Executive Director of Club for Growth, on whether CEO's should be allowed to force their employees to vote for Republican candidates and causes. (From the October 15 Thom Hartmann Program)

At the beginning, Thom read a condensed form of 18 USC Sec. 594 (US Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 29, Section 594):

Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, at any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing such candidate, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

[bluestateguy]

1. Just wait until some Hollywood producer orders all employees and actors to vote for Obama or else

Any actors who fail to do so will be blacklisted in Hollywood.

Then conservatives will decide they are outraged.

[aquart]

4. Sweetie, there is no studio system anymore. Instead, UNIONS.

Don't annoy SAG.

[aquart]

2. No. They should be taxed at 85% from all sources after first $7 million.

They shouldn't have taken those bonuses.

[Live and Learn]

3. Nope! nt

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Only if I can force CEO's to carefully inspect the place where you rest your head on the Guillotine!

[hollysmom]

6. My boss tried to force me to give to the PAC

I felt it was a PAC that was working against my personal interest as they were fighting privacy laws and trying to get opt out changed to you can't opt out. They were going to take my contributions directly out of my pay check. That was when I found they gave the PAC my social security system. Now, I am a mouse than can be intimidated, but don't you give out my personal information to a third party without my permission - I was hysterical, in tears saying/threatening all sorts of things in the HR office. (It had been a long and stressful day, this was shortly before I had to go on disability from a work stress related illness) heh. I got a letter of apology, them taking full financial responsibility if I had any identity theft problem in the next 5 years and they changed company policy where the PAC had to be an outside donation, no longer a deduction on our paycheck and they would not be given employee social security numbers. Pretty funny. I had no idea they would go that far, I was just really upset that a company would so compromise my personal information without my permission. It seemed so wrong, I am pretty sure it was also illegal.

[SemperEadem]

7. no one is allowed to go into the voting booth with you when you vote

so how this idiot CEO pin their own employees future earnings on an election when hundreds of millions of other people who do not work for him vote and will not vote the way the ceo wants? Does anyone else see this brazen disconnect from all good sense and reality?

It's a wonder they can find their way out of the bathroom in the morning. Just stupid on every level.

[Pakid]

8. No just no but

HELL NO!!!!!!

[edhopper]

9. Unfortunately

they will coerce some of their employees, who would be worried about their jobs, to vote for Romney.
And their are no repercussions for this bullying.
But we live in a time when the rich have no accountability for the damage they cause. (see Wall street collapse 2007)

[Dustlawyer]

10. They know they will get some % for doing it, so they do it. Thom had a great argument

that w/o a union, an employee of Georgia Pacific cannot have their views on the election heard by all of their co-workers. This clown had nothing. He was no where near versed on the subject and was not smart enough to be able to spout bull shit or talking points. I could see Thom getting frustrated b/c he could not debate the guy. It was like coming out in the ring in a boxing match only to see that your opponent had no arms!
What worries me is that you can check off what underhanded, cheating methods the Repugs have used this election:
Voter ID
Voter purges
Skewed polls
Employer letters and emails such as this
The last one left, which based on the above appears almost certain they will do b/c Mitt will absolutely do ANYTHING to get elected is electronic vote machine hacking! If you Google Stephen Spoonamore and electronic voting machine, you will see several stories and interviews on how easy and unprotected our electronic voting is to hack. Sorry i do not have the link or know how to post it. They will almost certainly use a "King computer" which can pose as a precinct reporting votes, and the vote tabulation center to the precincts. They massage the vote and send them to the tabulation center to be counted. They do not have to hack individual machines. This means they can do it on a large scale. These machines were intentionally designed not to have paper backup b/c the main company that started electronic vote machines and still produces and sells the most is run by a Fundamentalist Christian far right Repug! I tell you they will stop at nothing!

[fasttense]

11. A CEO saying if their employees don't vote for RepubliCONS or their jobs

would disappear is clearly coercion.

So where is the prosecution?

Oh that's right, CEOs are rich and in America the rich are above the law.

[HopeHoops]

12. No. And neither can they verify it.