War On The American Worker

I have to say that I have been watching what is happening in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio with a mixture of pride and fright. I am so proud of my fellow American workers for standing up to be heard when it seems that nobody wants to listen. I am so proud that they are standing up to fight for their rights and freedoms in an age when it seems all those rights are being chipped away piece by piece. These are rights that were fought for, hard fought for. Just as people died to ensure the freedom in America, people died to ensure the rights being fought for in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana… The right of collective bargaining, the right to Unionize, the right of a 40 hour workweek, the right to have health benefits, the right to receive overtime pay, the right to earn a minimum wage. Don’t be fooled, don’t be lied to, these rights were ought for, these rights were bled for. People DIED to ensure those rights for the American worker. Those people were honorable, brave patriots, just as patriotic as the most loyal American soldier.

(Teamsters vs police 1934, Chicago)

However, I am frightened, because it looks like the people in charge could not care less. In Ohio, the legislature seems to have locked itself away to do its business without. In Wisconsin, the Governor has said that the legislature will just wait for the protests to end and go on about its business of stripping away the rights of the workers. How dictatorial. Have they no shame? Have they no conscious? Do they live in houses with no mirrors? Or, if their houses have mirrors, how can they stand to look at themselves in them? These people who are demonstrating are human beings. They are mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, grandchildren, and, even more importantly… they are Americans! And they have every right to live and work and earn a living wage for their labor as any other human on the planet. How can anyone truly say they love their country and then strip away the livelihood of other Americans? They are not Patriots, they are not Americans, they are not even humans. They are Daleks. They want to subjugate and dominate their fellows and decimate all those who are different, through whatever means necessary; meaning economically and politically.

(Lawrence textile Strike 1912, Mass.)

Welcome to the American Oligarchy. Welcome to the America where the corporations control the legislatures. An America where the corporations (or the billionaires like the Koch Brothers) tell the legislatures, “kill the unions” and the legislatures do everything in their power to bend over and comply. And, as it seems to be building to in Ohio and Wisconsin, sometimes the legislature will even do things outside its power to get the job done. I fear that the situation in Wisconsin is building to the state legislature ramming the Governor’s bill through illegally, and daring anybody to stop them. Of course, it will then go to the SCOTUS, but as Citizens United proved, that is also a body that is now bought and sold by the corporations and billionaires, too.

As I said, I fear demonstrations won’t do the job. Not alone. Revolution? No. Nobody wants that. What we need, though, I believe, is a clear and ample demonstration of how powerful worker organizing can be. I think every union member, in every union, in every state in the country needs to strike. Immediately. Nationwide. And they should make it clear why they are doing so, and make it clear that they will continue to strike until all the states’ unreasonable demands are off the table. In addition, workforces that are not unionized should become so, as fast as possible. Computer Programmers, unionize. Wal Mart employees, unionize. McDonald’s employees, unionize. It will be painful, it will take sacrifice, it might take blood, but just as it takes sacrifice, blood and tears to keep this country free, it takes the same to guarantee your rights. The right to organize. The right to earn a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. The right to healthcare. The right to be heard. These are the rights that the American workforce is currently guaranteed. These are the rights that are being slowly destroyed. These are the rights that American PATRIOTS fought, bled and died for. How can anybody forget that? Do these people think that these rights just materialized out of thin air out of the goodness of the corporations’ hearts? “Oh, they gave us a 40 hour workweek and vacation time and got rid of the child labor laws because they love us.”

I would suggest the current situation, and what is asked of working class and middle class Americans versus what is asked of the ultra-wealthy or the corporations, is absolute proof that is an utter fallacy.

As the news trickles out, it is becoming more and more apparent that the Koch Brothers are at the root of this current anti-American-worker movement. It looks like it is their money that catapulted the issue into the state legislatures, and their pockets that will be seeing the most benefit from this Anti-American-worker movement. It would be delightful if Wikileaks or the hacker group Anonymous could do their work on these guys. I would love to see the emails that flew back and forth from them to Scott Walker, or to other Wisconsin Republicans. I wonder just how incriminating they would be, and how many years all involved would get themselves locked up as a result.

Perhaps all the protests and demonstrations are taking place against the incorrect target. Perhaps there should be protests against the ultra-wealthy, starting with the Koch Brothers. I wonder how they would react if those 70,000 working class citizens that are encamped in Wisconsin showed up on their front lawns, wherever that may be, and encamped there for a few weeks… or months. That would be a beautiful sight. Then, it could be followed by demonstrating against the Walton (Wal Mart) family. Then Rupert Murdoch. Etc, etc, etc…

With this situation, The Koch brothers, and their lapdog Scott Walker, sent a shot across the bow of the American working class with the attempted legislative changes in Wisconsin. A few other governors, probably also Koch lapdogs, have followed suit. In all those places the American public have stood up and taken notice. They have declared war on the American working and middle class with these actions. If they want war, they should have it. Protest, peacefully, protest, protest, protest, every place, every time, stand up and stay up, do NOT let them push you back down. Protest the state legislatures that are attempting to pass these horrible bills. Protest Scott Walker at home, at work, and everywhere he attempts to go. Do not let him have a moment of peace where he cannot hear the protest chants. Do the same with the Koch Brothers. Do the same with Fox News. Do the same to anybody that dares to push the working class down. Throughout this economic downturn the working class and the middle class have been asked to sacrifice over and over, and they have. But, what have the Koch brothers sacrificed? What have they offered other than misery for the typical American? What are they if they are not Un-American Oligarchs?

I keep hearing that the reason we’re having an economic crisis in this country is because all the jobs have moved overseas. That is true. I keep hearing that the reason all the jobs have moved overseas is because of American Labor Unions. That is also true. In a sense. In the same sense that Luke Skywalker’s father was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader. The reason the jobs moved overseas is because the workers overseas can be paid 30 cents an hour. Make no mistake, if the Koch Brothers (or the Walton family) could pay their American employees 30 cents an hour, they would. The reason they cannot is because of the Unions, and collective bargaining. People fought and literally DIED to make sure they had to pay Americans a decent wage. The problem is not that the Unions forced a better wage, but that the foreign countries do not have unions! Absolutely do not for one second think that this current movement among state legislatures is anything less than an attempt to completely dismantle everything the American Labor Unions have achieved for the American worker. If the bill in Wisconsin passes, then in the near future you can say goodbye to a living wage, say goodbye to a 40 hour workweek (if you haven’t lost that one already), and say goodbye to child labor laws. For a start.

(Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Baltimore)

How can anybody think that anyone speaking out AGAINST the unions are patriotic? The patriots are the ones out in the cold chanting, fighting for their livelihood. As I write this I am listening to excerpts of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck speak out against these thousands of hard working Americans. They are pigs. Unpatriotic, Un-American asshats. Why do they hate America? Why do they hate the American worker? Why do they want the American worker to be reduced to the same level of a Chinese sweat-shop slave?

Because standing against those people is exactly that.

But, the saddest thing about the whole situation is that in the 1970's, I remember seeing signs like this all over the country, in almost every store I walked into: