by Loren Adams, 11 September 2011
Today marks the tenth anniversary of 9/11 – a day that
will live in infamy. How have we done over the decade? Does our post-9/11
behavior honor the victims? I can’t help but visualize Osama bin Laden looking
up from Hell celebrating the decline of the U.S. But there should be no
self-satisfaction. The weakening of America is not the fruit of Osama’s labor;
it’s the result of rightwing politics coupled with Democratic leadership’s
cowardice. And such has been the condition throughout the post-period. The two parties
are the evil twins “Meany” and “Weiny” – as former Congressman Alan
Grayson correctly tags them. One places party over country while the other
fearfully surrenders to every demand. Result? We’re all screwed.
ONCE UPON A TIME… working folk had power in America and used
it to better themselves and their country. The story actually begins before
unions became influential. So, let’s back up a bit further.
ONCE UPON A TIME… there was a Great Depression caused by over-speculation and
corruption on Wall Street. The Stock Market crashed in 1929. So, voters got
together and threw the bums out in Washington that were in collusion with the
bankers and greedy speculators that caused the mess in the first place. And
they put a man in the White House by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (elected
1932, inaugurated 1933).
FDR was a wise and kind man who saw clearly what the root causes
of Depression were: (1) Lack of government oversight; (2) Extreme disparity of
income; and (3) unfair, unbalanced tax and labor policies favoring the rich. To
jump-start the economy, he immediately started work programs such as WPA and CCC.
He launched Social Security and the National Relations Labor Act (which helped
workers). The whole package was called THE NEW DEAL, because it drastically changed
the course of American history for the better.
Naturally, the opposition fought back hard. They hated FDR and
all he stood for because Roosevelt gave the working people a chance. So, they
took over Congress in 1937, focused on the national debt, forcing the country
deeper into Depression by mandating the U.S. pay back its obligations at an
accelerated pace that had accrued due to the economic collapse they’d caused.
As predicted, their austerity measures (cutting the budget, jobs
programs, social safety-nets, etc.) caused another small depression right in
the middle of the big one. So, it wasn’t until after World War II started in
1941 the country finally climbed out of Depression, because the government
again spent lots of money to pay for necessities… like the biggest conflict in
world history.
After the war, unions were powerful, working people
could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income. Anyone
who wanted a decent paying job could get one. Many jobs were union jobs, and
this meant they had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health
insurance and someone to stick up for them if they were treated unfairly.
People now refer to this period as the “Good Ol’ Days,” and
rightly so. But what many forget is this: Unions and unwavering Democratic
leaders were what put the “Good” into the “Ol’.”
Once upon a time, working people understood their history. They
remembered the 1930s what condition the country was in and who put them there
and why. They recalled the New Deal and National Labor Relations Act –
how these programs initiated in the 30s helped them off the streets and soup
lines.
Now we live in a different century where a lot of younger workers
forget or never knew. Side issues are now more important than labor –
like “Obamacare” and “guns-God-gays.” Little do they realize – the “side
issues” are designed by unscrupulous political operatives to derail their jobs,
livelihoods, and futures. If workers can be distracted by tangents, then
corporatists and the greedy elite will have succeeded in destroying labor, and
by destroying labor, they will have succeeded in destroying America.
America is also negatively impacted by the current President who
sees himself as an Abraham Lincoln instead of a Franklin Roosevelt. Times
demand an FDR, but we’re saddled with Mr. Nice who bargains away bedrock
benefits and rights for the unlikely chance at enemy acceptance. Opponents are
respected more than supporters. Understandably, the base is discouraged to the
point of handing the 2012 election to any contender, including a Perry, Palin
or Bachmann. It’s a situation he alone has created and will lead to driving
nails in the coffin – if not swiftly reversed.
I believe the state of health of domestic labor is the canary in
the coal mine for all America. As our jobs evaporate and relocate elsewhere, everyone
can clearly recognize decline in this country. Have you driven America’s
streets lately and noticed the creeping blight? The nation’s appearance is
disfigured when compared to yesteryears, and that’s only the surface symptom of
a serious chronic infection: encroaching fascism.
Our only option is sticking together with unwavering
determination to throw the bums out. Like a family in the midst of storm, we
must hold on to one another to make it through to a brighter day. Then we can
sing with Judy Garland the lyrics of Wizard of Oz (1939):
“Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high, There's a land
that I heard of Once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”
Once upon a time unions were strong and jobs plentiful.
Those days will come again if we just hold on. There may not be cute birdies flying over colorful rainbows,
but at least we’ll have real hope for tomorrow.