I WRITE IN REFERENCE to Bruce Lang’s Feb. 14 column, “Public-employee unions have it backwards.”

The column is another anti-unionism screed printed by The Journal. I will remind Lang, The Journal and the citizens of Rhode Island that unionism is legal in the state and in the country, and that every benefit unions have received was accomplished legally. If there is an objection to the benefits that unions have obtained for their members, the opposition should go after the executives and their representatives who approved the contracts, and who did so for political reasons.

As for a single party dominating in Rhode Island, I will mention the obvious fact that the Republicans did it to themselves by advocating policies against the interests of the people. The citizens eventually voted out Republicans, and after the election in 2010 there may not be any Republicans in the General Assembly at all.

Other than the above, there is a question that conservatives have never answered about unionism: Why is it that the states that are the most successful, richest, pay the best wages, have the most prestigious universities and are at the forefront of creative activity in all fields are states that have the highest rates of unionism? I mention Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan and Ohio.

Yes, I know that these states, together with all the states, are having budgetary problems in the meltdown. But I remind you that the meltdown was not caused by unionists and their benefit demands but by the insatiable greed of Wall Streeters. About the difficult economy in Michigan, I will inform you, if you did not know, that it was not caused by the auto unions and their benefits but by the incompetence of the auto executives, which is recognized by Congress and the international community. Further, the benefits the auto workers receive are similar to those of workers in the Japanese auto companies in the U.S., except the Japanese are not yet paying for retirees.

Furthermore, when the economy recovers, the states mentioned above will continue their pre-eminent status.

There is one more item: I never, ever heard of a corrupt union official who stole or otherwise unethically took a retirement package or other funds in the millions of dollars, as CEOs do on a regular basis, or took the people for anywhere near the $50 billion that Bernie Madoff is accused of doing. Do I have to tell you that the gargantuan compensation packages that CEOs receive come from profits, which means unreasonable prices for you?

Finally, there has been an unconscionable assault on unions and unionism in Rhode Island for a very long time, now led by the governor, Donald Carcieri, a reactionary ideologue who wants to abolish the benefits secured by the people as a result of the New Deal. Rather, since Carcieri is a political soulmate of George W. Bush, our late unlamented president, whose politics were soundly defeated in the November election, he should consider resigning as governor because his principles are defunct.

Finally, if the anti-unionist conservatives should win and cause the unions to be broken and decertified, then I suspect the state would become a Northern Dog Patch, right down there with an economy like that of Mississippi, Alabama and other states with low unionism. I sometimes wonder if the impoverishment of the citizens of Rhode Island is the objective of conservatives. However, and to the point, as proved by surveys and reported in The Journal, there are more people in Rhode Island and in the United States who want to join unions than who want to abolish them.

I retired from state service about 10 years ago. It meant that I could have established my main residence in another state, and in a state with no personal-income tax, as in Florida, New Hampshire or the State of Washington, but continue to live in Rhode Island for six months every year because Rhode Island has been the locus of my interests. Recently, though, I decided to leave Rhode Island, and either establish my legal residency elsewhere, or move out of the state altogether, and not pay state sales taxes either. Rhode Island, which was once a quaint, friendly, unassuming little corner of America, has now become a hard, mean and miserable place.

T.R. Catanzarite, of Riverside, is a former employee of the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, who retired a decade ago at 58. He has a master’s degree in social work specializing in community organization. Recently, he published a small book on the Vietnam War: Ready, Go! Vietnam Era Writings.