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Mike Rowe Open Letter To Romney
Dear Governor Romney,
My name is Mike Rowe and I own a small company in California called mikeroweWORKS. Currently, mikeroweWORKS is trying to close the country’s
skills gap by changing the way Americans feel about Work. (I know, right? Ambitious.) Anyway, this Labor Day is our 4th anniversary, and I’m commemorating the occasion with an open letter to you. If you read the whole thing, I’ll vote for you in November.
First things first. mikeroweWORKS grew out of a TV show called Dirty Jobs. If by some chance you are not glued to The Discovery Channel every Wednesday at 10pm, allow me to visually introduce myself. That’s me on the right, preparing to do something dirty.
When Dirty Jobs premiered back in 2003, critics called the show “a calamity of exploding toilets and misadventures in animal husbandry.” They weren’t exactly wrong. But mostly, Dirty Jobs was an unscripted celebration of hard work and skilled labor. It still is. Every week, we highlight regular people who do the kind of jobs most people go out of their way to avoid. My role on the show is that of a “perpetual apprentice.” In that capacity I have completed over three hundred different jobs, visited all fifty states, and worked in every major industry.
Though schizophrenic and void of any actual qualifications, my resume looks pretty impressive, and when our economy officially crapped the bed in 2008, I was perfectly positioned to weigh in on a variety of serious topics. A reporter from The Wall Street Journal called to ask what I thought -
dba_vagabond_trader
September 11th, 2012
This is great! Not all people are suited for college, with the diminishing returns of a degree in Philosophy or Womens studies. I applaud Mike Rowe and his effort to support those interested in learning an income generating skill.
Claudia
September 11th, 2012
Terrific! I’m sending the link to the Romney campaign. If enough of us do this, he CAN’T ignore it!
Stirrin the B.S.
September 11th, 2012
@Claudia – I’m sending this link to my son!
PATH
September 11th, 2012
Claudia – Romney has already acknowledged reading this letter.
muddjuice (Absolutist)
September 11th, 2012
@ PATH
And? Has he responded? Is he going to?
HooHooNayNay
September 11th, 2012
Just when you think this man couldn’t be any hotter; broad shoulders and chest, strong arms, handsome mug, and dead sexy brain.
well now
September 11th, 2012
Mike Rowe is sexy sexy sexy. Love a man who’s covered in dirt from doing a REAL job.
chiefillinicake
September 11th, 2012
Mike Rowe for Secretary of Labor!
Seriously, I’ve stated here before that I run a construction business (electrical) and all of my guys are IBEW union electricians. They’ve all been through 5 years of apprenticeship combined with world-class training in a college-like setting, and their entire compensation package, on average, is worth about $87/hr., my cost.
That’s $174K per man per year based upon a 40 hour week. Yes, you read that right.
But they aren’t white collar, you say. They sweat, and smell, and even eat from a roach coach, you whine.
And it’s cold, and it’s hot, and it’s muddy, and it’s not.
But…but…they aren’t stuck behind a desk, or looking at the same four walls for forty years…in a very real and very masculine sense, these guys are FREE. As in, experiencing FREEDOM, and actually BUILDING something in the process.
When I think about the last two generations op0r so and the amount of pigeonholing that this society has done, as Mr. Rowe points out, about how virtually everyone needing to go to college, it makes me sick!
How many people do you know, particularly in Obama’s America, who have bounced from one shitty Dilbert-esque cubicle situation to another, finding themselves less and less relevant as the years go by?
And how many of them can fix a fucking thing?
We need to get back in the business of being men and realizing that the world that surrounds us didn’t all happen by accident or just appear overnight or spring from Steve Jobs’ precious cabeza.
There’s real work to be done, and no shame in doing it.
And BTW…how many of these precious, worthless as hen’s teeth college boys are enjoying a $174K a year package?
Thought so.
Good work, Mr. Rowe.
chiefillinicake
September 11th, 2012
Sorry…went a little apeshit with the HTML italics doohickey.
And I WENT to college!
IronyCurtain
September 11th, 2012
I’ve been a Dirty Jobs fan since episode 1.
I have always said – and I’m so glad to see Rowe acknowledge – the outright SNOBBERY that exists in todays schools when it comes to preparing kids for future occupations.
Who the hell is gonna fix the toilet when every one is a friggin’ Marine Biologist or Environmental Lawyer?!
Noelegy
September 11th, 2012
@HooHooNayNay, AND he’s trained as a classical opera singer!
Jarhead Cracka
September 11th, 2012
I’ve missed the last year of MikeRowe’s series (always wonder if he has a brother named Mac), but I enjoyed his previous episodes.Growing up Dad always found some of the dirtiest jobs for us to do to earn some $ in the summer. But we learned that honest work was noble, and all 8 of us are in the workforce despite the down economy. Got to swap out a generator tomorrow- I think it will be a dirty job.
@#$@#Corp America
September 11th, 2012
Funny… when I said we should value the workers of America no matter what they do I was booed off the site.
Mike Rowe is awesome… I’m glad he brought this up and I hope people from every walk of life will listen. Now, how about we get the government to fix the bridges before another one falls down? It will take a little tax money and a dirty job or two but it will be worth it… in more ways than one.
Oh, and yes, furry fuck face… If you’re reading this… I’ve already dropped the IP address so you can’t try to track me down again. Freak.
Bad Brad
September 11th, 2012
“Furry fuck face, try and track me down again”
Written like the coward you are.
Bad Brad
September 11th, 2012
Chief. Ditto, and it was Robert Riech that waged war on the trades back during the Clinton Admin. I think that war continues.
HooHooNayNay
September 11th, 2012
Trade schools are seeing an enormous resurgence. My kids are already being encouraged (way early) that they need to learn a skill, rather than get a degree. I got my RN from the community college/ trade school eighteen months ago and now have three jobs, not too shabby in this economy. Two of them want me to go full time and I refuse. The job security’s so good I pick and choose. My wages are between $25/hr at the hospital and $50/hr home health. No lie.
HooHooNayNay
September 11th, 2012
Noelegy, I am tracking that down ASAP…. that baritone, oy vey!!!