Goodbye to all that

Let's begin with the obvious: Without unions there would have been no viable American middle class. Apparently this has been forgotten by a large portion of the populace. The mere existence of unions--call it the threat of unions if you like-- forced even non-union employers to increase their wages and benefits. With the security of a good job you could buy a house and send your kids to college. America's middle class became both the envy of working people everywhere and a force that drove much of the world's economy. Americans consumed products from everywhere. They bought cars from Japan, Germany, Italy, Sweden, England and France. (The cars from France, Italy and England were pieces of crap--but that's another story...) They took trips to every exotic destination they could find. And they spent US dollars at every stop. The foundation of all of this was an American manufacturing base that kept jobs and production in the U.S. Life was good and it seemed like it would go on that way forever...

The attack on unions that began full force during the Reagan years, and has continued unabated since then, began the decline of the middle class in this country. Couple that with the plague of outsourcing, the amorality of the multi-national corporations that now play such a prominent role in our everyday lives, and the unregulated and unrepentant cowboys of Wall Street and you have a perfect storm aimed at destroying all the progress working people have made during the last century. The events in Wisconsin show that we have reached a tipping point. If unions are weakened to the point of irrelevance, then all bets are off for our future as a nation. Oh, there will still be a United States, but it won't be recognizable to anyone with a memory.

In Arizona the assault on unions began long ago, while Reagan ( a union member by the way--Screen Actor's Guild) was still a shill for G.E. This is a 'right to work' state--or 'right to starve', as the guys I worked construction with called it... And the people here, who have no knowledge of anything that happened last year, let alone last century, have been bombarded with nothing but fear and loathing for anything even remotely related to unions. Unions are evil and corrupt and they smell bad too. Think of Jimmy Hoffa and the Mob! They force you to pay dues and they drive up costs for everyone. Besides, why do you need a union? Your boss will always take care of you, so shut up and get back to work.

People who move to Arizona are shocked by the low pay--but why should any employer pay a penny more than they have to? And without a strong union presence wages remain stagnant, or even decline. Naturally, people who are chronically underpaid see any tax as an unfair burden. And are easily whipped up into a frenzy against the few unionized jobs that still exist. "Why should they have a living wage, guaranteed raises, health care, and pensions when I don't?" People like that honestly believe that getting rid of the unions will improve their lives. To this toxic mess add a large pool of undocumented workers willing to do any kind of work for meager pay, and the fact that laws against hiring illegals are seldom if ever enforced, and you'll begin to understand why Arizona is the way it is.