I was driving around today and listening to Ed Schultz (liberal radio “talker”) ranting about how the workers in a Volkswagen Plant in Tennessee voted down an opportunity to join the United Auto Workers Union.  While I’m in total support for the workers’ right to join a union and while I “get” Schultz’ outrage at the influence the governor of Tennessee and their Senator Bob Corker played, along with local politicians who used extreme “scare tactics” to influence the vote, there was one main point Schultz made with which I would have to disagree.  Schultz was contending that the actions of Corker and the other republican (of course) politicians succeeding in blocking this attempt at worker’s organizing would be used as a “blueprint” in future situations and that this action (on their part) was unprecedented.  All I could think of as Schultz was saying all this was: “Don’t you remember Ronald Reagan?”  (This is probably the main reason he’s still considered “holy” by today’s republicans)

In 1981 Reagan, very publicly, BROKE the Public Air Traffic Controllers union (PATCO) and that, according to many (including this from an article on Alternet) has been the blueprint of the anti-union movement in America to this day.  If you don’t want to read the entire article, here’s a blurb: “the PATCO strike has become the pivotal event—both symbolically and substantively—in almost everyone’s understanding of the massive realignment of class power in the United States in the last few decades.”  Joseph McCartin’s book, “Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America,” makes my point: “No strike in American history unfolded more visibly before the eyes of the American people or impressed itself more quickly and more deeply into the public consciousness of its time than the PATCO strike. No strike proved more costly to break. And no strike since the advent of the New Deal damaged the U.S. labor movement more.”

Again, I’m not disagreeing with where Schultz’ heart is – I’m right there with him – it’s just that the work of people like Bob Corker and the other republicans in Tennessee is just a carryover of what Reagan set in motion more than three decades ago.  This was the turning point in the BATTLE to reverse the gains of workers and middle class Americans who had benefited from the progressive legislation of the New Deal since the days of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.  Yes, there was a time in my lifetime when workers were valued more than stockholders – where there were clear dis-incentives to GREED among the “leaders” of America.  Reagan’s election is what set in motion the slow steady emergence of those who HATE the New Deal and what it stood for.

Lately, we’ve been hearing (or, at least, I’ve been hearing) an increased amount of dialogue centered on the disparity in wealth that has evolved in America to the point where you’re hearing references to the Marx/Engels theories on the inevitable self-destruction of capitalism.  Of course, any time anyone takes issue with republicans over the REALITY that America’s wealth is getting MORE and MORE concentrated at the top (the so-called 1%) and proposing solutions to the problem, we hear words like “socialist” or “communist” or some other irrational terms.  There are many in the republican party who, it seems, will not be happy until there is no social “SAFETY NET” left in America.  They want an end to every government program that benefits middle class Americans including Social Security and Medicare.  (Of course, they have no issue with the BILLIONS taxpayers put out on “corporate welfare” – including, for example, BILLIONS annually to the oil industry – as one example – not to mention [OK, I’m mentioning it] there’s a long list of multinational corporations which don’t pay a DIME in taxes while making HUGE profits)

So, since the day Reagan took office, workers have been losing ground with their wages and America’s middle class has been slowly voting in republicans (and corporate democrats) who’ve been chipping away at the gains made during the 1930’s through the 1960’s.  There was a lot of sacrifice made by LIBERALS over the years to gain things we take for granted today, things like: the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, child labor laws, Social Security, Medicare, environmental protections, food stamps, unemployment insurance, early childhood education, welfare, vacation pay, livable wages, workplace safety regulations, and I could go on and on.  From what I gathered, the issue in Tennessee that has Schultz so riled up wasn’t even being contested by the employer, Volkswagen.  In fact, from what I gathered, they were fine with this and were looking forward to a “council” with the workers and management that would be intended to make the plant more efficient – just like their union plants elsewhere around the world.  (In fact, the only other Volkswagen plant that isn’t a union shop besides in Tennessee is in China – it’s not hard to get the picture here)

The outrage at the interference by the politicians in Tennessee which violated the neutrality of the vote on whether the workers would join the United Auto Workers is warranted, but I just think it needs to be kept in the proper perspective.  The “blueprint” for undermining collective bargaining and labor unions was established in 1981.  When Reagan BUSTED the PATCO union, there was something approaching 35% of America’s workforce being represented by unions.  Today, the total is something like 10% and it’s the lowest total since the beginnings of the Great Depression.  Do you see a parallel here?  Honestly, there’s so much in America today that is similar to the days before the Great Depression that it’s – well (I’ve got children and grandchildren)……..depressing!  I’ve talked on this site at length about the sophistication of the republican propaganda scheme and the sad (to me) reality is that they’ve succeeded in turning the word “liberal” into something that’s rarely spoken in public these days.  To those of us who call ourselves “progressive,”  changing the perception of that word would be a good place to start.  I’ve read MANY books on American history that confirm (OVER and OVER again) that the gains which have benefited the “working class” in this nation (and other nations as well) have come from LIBERALS!  Trust me, it wasn’t “conservatives” putting their lives on the line in the 30’s to gain those “rights” we all seem to take for granted.

It’s true that “we the people” vote these politicians into office who are convincing us to give up these hard fought for rights.  How do they do it?  Well, like I’ve said, the “liberal media” in America is virtually owned by a group of conservative corporations and the journalism in the so-called “main stream” of America’s media is so focused on being “fair and balanced” (to steal the thunder of none other than GOP TV – er, Fox “news”) that you have to look for people like Jeremy Scahill  and Naomi Klein of the Nation, or Greg Palast (I believe who reports for BBC – he can’t survive in America because he reports what’s actually happening) in alternative places in order to have any chance of having “real” information.  And, while I’ve been ranting against republicans (and will continue, it appears, for the foreseeable future) I’m not that thrilled with the alternative – the democrats.  While I hate to “pile on” President Obama (the republicans have been unbelievable in their attacks – they don’t need my help) he’s not the “change I believe in.”

In fact, one place I totally agreed with Schultz was; WHERE were the DEMOCRATS while the republican politicians in Tennessee were BASHING the union and using classic SCARE TACTICS and FEAR MONGERING to make sure any union “revival” didn’t happen on their “watch?” I’ll tel you where I think they were;  I believe the democrats are almost as scared of the republican controlled “liberal media” as the republicans.  If you’ve been paying attention you know that republicans vote in a “UNIFIED” block based on instructions from whomever (people like the Koch brothers and their cronies) is funneling them the HUGE supply of dollars made available thanks to the Supreme Court and “Citizens United.”  If, as a republican, you vote against the “block” according to your conscience, the result is a well funded “tea party” primary opponent – and, an empty campaign “coffer” – not to mention the tongue lashing from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and the rest of right wing punditry.  They have an audience of MILLIONS of “low information voters” and, as a republican, “you can’t win without them.”  Democrats, I’m afraid, fear the same message machine – albeit to a lessor extent.  If you’re really outspoken like a Dennis Kucinich or an Alan Grayson or a Jeff Merkley or Sherrod Brown or Elizabeth Warren – you can expect the same forces to funnel UNLIMITED funds into a ruthless attempt to smear you into political oblivion!

I read somewhere today where many “liberals” feel that President Obama is “weak.”  I fully understand why they believe that, and I will leave that one to “history” to determine – there’s plenty he’s disappointed me on – but, I think the WEAK moniker DEFINITELY fits MOST of the democrats in Congress.  There’s too many of them “feeding from the same trough” as the republicans.  The main reason, it appears to me, that republicans have been bludgeoning one union shop after another since the day in 1981 when Reagan took the FIRST step is because most union members evidently tended to vote democratic (and, unfortunately, democrats have allowed them (republicans) to get away with it).  So, instead of attempting to address the issues in a way to draw workers to their point of view, the republicans used the destroy and conquer method.  Worse than this, to me, is the apparent FACT that democrats have pretty much given up the fight to restore America’s workforce to a status where collective bargaining is a considered and accepted right.  I’ve said this before, and the assault on unions bears it out well, it’s MUCH EASIER to give up rights than to get them back!  Republicans want to “stamp out” EVERY union in America.  The  recent “vote” in Tennessee clearly demonstrates, reversing the “trend” will not be easy.

According to economist Joseph Stiglitz, “The decline in unionization since World War II in the United States has been associated with a pronounced rise in income and wealth inequality.”  America’s middle class needs to quit arguing over issues like abortion and gay rights and focus on restoring the protections gained by our fathers and grandfathers during the Great Depression that gave us our great middle class.  The union vote in Tennessee was defeated through the traditional fear mongering and scare tactics routinely used by republicans to “get their way.”  It’s time for leaders (somewhere in America) to stand up for workers and say “enough already” to this kind of bullying.