Over the last decade, unions in the U.S. have been lambasted as harbingers of entrepreneurial stagnation and economic backwardness. While the assaults on unions in the U.S. are as old as their inception, the precarious position of unions in the 21st Century has led many to question just how long unions can “hang on” in the U.S.
In some cases, union leadership has been unable to distinguish itself from the political players that it proposes to protect its membership against. That is, union corruption throughout some of the highest levels of leadership of disparate unions across the U.S. have left all unions in general with a perceived “legitimacy gap.”
This perception has fueled the riotous calls of Republican politicians throughout the U.S. to strip the power of unions. These politicians seem to suggest that unions have become parasites upon the U.S. economy. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black!
Of course, not all Republican politicians have been so irresponsible in their assessments of unions. That said, it appears that to be a Republican politician in today’s political climate, you HAVE to refute the very existence of unions.
But as unions are the bulwarks of the middle class of America, what these Republican politicians are really attacking is the middle class.
Hiding behind their rhetoric of “bureaucratic red tape” and the “entrepreneurial spirit,” these demagogues of the super rich claim that unions are an un-American institution, an institution somehow running against the best interests of the country.
What could be more American then the grassroots creation of the various unions throughout the country, however? What could be more American than granting thousands of American citizens the opportunity to live an economically prosperous life, free from the tumultuous tides of an unforgiving global economic structure?
What IS un-American is the attempt by the super rich and their political stooges to concentrate America’s wealth and political power into the hands of an elite minority.
Whether or not the power of union’s rises or falls, one thing is for certain: unions themselves represent a socially rich country, one that seeks to give its citizens a relatively fruitful standard of living.
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