Why we need regulation
I've been a liberal since reading Upton Sinclairs "The Jungle" and John Stienback's "Grapes of Wrath" as a teenager
Those books tell the horror that was america before the age of regulation, when businesses grinded rat droppings into their meat grinder and business's hired thugs to destroy unions and deny americans their constitutional right to form an assembly
This article at cleveland.com is just as powerful.
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/11/our_grandfathers_and_fathers_e.html#incart_river_default
[quote]
Why we should re-elect Barack Obama: Victor R. Balest
There are two major perceptions of the function of government in our lives.
One is that government is heavy-handed and intrusive and its regulations are an imposition on our liberties and freedoms. This perception has been a mainstay of the conservative political Right and embraced largely by the Republican Party and its client political appendage, the Tea "Party."
The second perception of government is that it is the last and most important barrier between me and the avaricious and oppressive plutocracy that wants to dominate me and subject me to its arbitrary will. Tyranny can come from many quarters. The debate has been going on for centuries and it is not in danger of ending any time soon.
Because human experience is necessarily limited from one generation to another, and the knowledge acquired may not always be adequately passed forward, we depend upon our knowledge of history to protect us from repeating the mistakes of past generations. This is one major reason why education is so vital to our democratic/republican form of government.
My father is now 96 years old, and he has been witness to a tumultuous century with firsthand experience of the first Great Depression, many wars, the advance of air and automobile travel, radio, television, computers and more. He was a successful business owner working seven days a week for many years. He never thought about whether his success was all of his own making, or whether he had help from the hired employees and/or from government, but he has always held the view that government was largely a force of good in his life. He probably never considered government in a bad light because his intentions were always selfless and not avaricious and greedy. He just made a decent living and he was satisfied with that.
My father experienced firsthand also what can happen to a person in a nation where government does not serve as a protector from the avarice of a minority of powerful and unrestrained plutocrats.
When working as a coal miner in western Pennsylvania beside his father when he was a 16-year-old, in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression, my father was witness to the following event. His father (my grandfather), Paul Balest, was approached one day by his boss. The boss introduced him to a man who was running for political office. The mine boss "advised" my grandfather that he should vote in the upcoming election for this candidate, and this candidate was a Republican. My grandfather replied respectfully that his intention was to vote Democratic in the upcoming election. Bear in mind that this was the same period in our history that unionization of workers was a growing movement in this nation. Put this within the context that overall working conditions were mediocre at best and more often quite dangerous in the mining industry. Know that just prior to this there had been a collapse of the roof in that same mine and one man and one mule were killed, and that the owner of the mine was more upset over the death of the mule than over the worker since the owner would have to pay for the replacement of the mule while replacement of the lost worker was just a matter of hiring another unemployed and desperate human. My grandfather was one of the best workers in that mine and he had one of the best labor jobs.
When my grandfather arrived for work the next day, much to his surprise, he was instructed by management to report to his new position in one of the worst and most dangerous jobs in the mine. He worked for several weeks in that part of the mine where water was knee-deep. My grandfather was no fool, and he understood that this was a clear demonstration of retaliation by the ownership, and this event only strengthened my grandfather's resolve. Eventually the owner relented and put my grandfather back in the job where he had excelled. My grandfather understood that, without union or governmental protections, the plutocrats and their sycophants (otherwise euphemistically referred to as upper and middle management) will grind you into the ground if given the chance, due to a combination of greed and fear; greed because they want their large piece of the pie and all others can fight over what remains, and fear because they refused to relinquish the advantages that they have gained through cunning, wit, deceit, connivance, social and political connections and, yes, some degree of hard work.
Needless to say, to this day my father remains a staunch Democrat, and I am saddened to see that the current generation of younger Americans has little knowledge of the sacrifices made and battles fought by men like John L. Lewis, my grandfather and my father back in the decade of the 1930s. Most if not all of the benefits enjoyed by workers today are due not to the benign altruism of the plutocrat owners but to the efforts and sacrifices of men like my father and grandfather. The hard-won gains of these men -- unionization benefits, decent and safe working conditions, decent pay and shorter work days -- should not be taken as givens in today's workplace. Like political liberty and freedom, if one is not vigilant in fighting and protecting those basic rights of employment, those rights and benefits WILL disappear. Make note all you religious fundamentalists and Tea Party people out there, rules and regulations exist for a reason, for if people were saints we would not need rules and regulations.
In the upcoming presidential election you have four choices. You can vote for 1) the severely conservative Romney of the Republican primaries, or 2) you can vote for the moderate governor of Massachusetts Romney, or 3) for the liberal/progressive dovish, nonhawkish Romney of the most recent two debates, or 4) you can vote for the authentic real deal, Barack Obama. If you are part of the 47 percent of whom candidates Romney and Ryan speak you need to reassess your position in a realistic and brutally honest fashion and recognize who you are and who you must support in an upcoming election that will either thrust this nation back 50 years or will move us forward. I ask of the middle 70 percent in this nation to just do what the plutocrats unabashedly do so well -- I ask that you vote in your own best interest and vote for the re-election of President Barack Obama. [/quote]
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