Arthur Goldstein reports here that Mark Janus, who sold out unionized workers by lending his name to a Supreme Court case against unions, has left his public-sector job to work for the conservative public policy think tank that funded the case. For the speed with which he sold out, and for his eagerness to harm working people, Mark Janus is hereby added to the blog’s “Wall of Shame.”

“Mark Janus, who lent his name to the anti-union lawsuit to screw American working people, has scored a really cool gig with a right-wing think tank. This should be a lesson to us all. It really pays to be the first one to sell out your brothers and sisters nationwide. You collect your union-negotiated retirement benefits, get some cool job sitting around an office somewhere, and you don’t really have to do anything ever again. Was this a deal he made in advance? I don’t see why not.

“So Janus has really paid off for Janus. It’s only the rest of us who will suffer. You see, if you actually study history, you find that Americans do better when they are unionized, not occasionally, not sometimes, but always. You find that unionized workers make more money than non-unionized workers, and you find that non-unionized workers make more money too when union flourishes.

“You will also find that union has been rolled back since Reagan was President. This is part of a concerted anti-union program in the United States and it’s sorely reduced the number of unionized workers. Now when government boasts of job creation it’s often as not jobs that pay minimum wage and come without health insurance or any benefits whatsoever. In fact, many crappy fast food jobs make you sign disclaimers that you won’t jump ship for other crappy fast food jobs. This removes the possibility of the competition that Republicans argue will improve the economy.

“We are a selfish country, and we choose to be that way even when we are screwing ourselves. We have a national news network that caters to the needs of the uber-rich. It’s somehow managed to persuade a great swath of the country that they too might be uber-rich one of these days, and that they therefore must support rules that expand the rights of the uber-rich.

“Of course, that’s not the only way you manipulate the public. You manage them through racism and xenophobia. You make them terrified of Muslims. You make a big thing out of not allowing them entrance to the United States, unless they come from countries with which you do business, in which case they’re fine. You then ignore all terrorist acts committed by white people, because if you demonize white people there goes your base. How are we gonna Make America Great Again if we contend the characters on Leave It to Beaver were terrorists?

“It isn’t easy to get people to act against their self-interest. Fox couldn’t exist, for example, if American hadn’t done away with The Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to present both sides of an issue, rather than simply spout right-wing propaganda. But we’re way down that road now, and it will take a sea change to turn back.

“Janus contended he had to leave his First Amendment rights at the door when he went to work. In reality, unions have separate political funds. I contribute to one. Even though I sometimes disagree with UFT endorsements, I want union to be able to fight things like the Constitutional Convention. Now that we’re in an actual existential crisis, I want union to be able to fight even more…….”