|
It really is that simple, as hard as that might be to accomplish. History has its cycles. The Union movement originated during a prior cycle like the one we now have entered. The words "Solidarity Forever" weren't just a slogan, they were a way of living, and of fighting. Without the gut support of a strong minority of Americans combined with sympathetic leanings from another equally large group of Americans; we lose. Call "we" whatever you want to call it; call it Democrats or Progressives or Liberals, call it the working and middle class Americans, call it everyday people. Without power rooted in a majority of Americans we are fighting and retreating, and that direction won't change.
We can't buy our way to victory, they will always have more money. We can't lie our way to victory, they will always have a bigger media echo chamber. We have to go back to the only thing that has ever really worked against them; Solidarity. Whether that takes the form of Unions this time is a detail. An important one yes, but a detail.
We have to win the arguments with our neighbors. We need them on our side. Our messaging has to break through beyond forums like this. Ultimately we can write off 60% of the Tea Party, but we can't write off the other 40%. They are lost sheep from our flock. They aren't where we need to start, but we will know when we are winning again when we start to peel them away. For one thing the time has come for all of us to be avidly pro Union, no matter what true stories of some corruption within unions we may learn of. Never support that corruption but always support those unions.
America as a whole needs to remember why Unions formed in the first place - and we need to be a part of reminding them. We have to restore a sense of solidarity against the bosses. Today's bosses are as heartless as any we have known. They may not literally be personally cruel, but they are heartless because corporations only think in numbers, never social needs.
There was outrage in America when the banks made out like bandits with the economic collapse of 2008. But because government had to step in to bail them out or face a total economic meltdown, with behind the scenes manipulation, most of that outrage turned against government, not the wealthy. Republicans today are blowing their cover by pushing for more tax cuts for the rich while slicing public services and doing nothing about jobs. They are vulnerable to a public sea change. We have to make that happen.
|