It’s Labor Day in America
Before we all head out to the beach, host the backyard barbeque, watch the ballgame, and enjoy the day off, let’s take a moment to appreciate what this day represents.
Labor Day is the recognition of the AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT. In other words — today we remember what UNIONS have done for us. Not just union members, past and present, but all workers. Everyone. Indeed, we have all benefited from not just labor, but the activism and the sacrifice of those before us and that they did. They protested in the streets and picketed at the factories and boycotted the stores and all-too-often even gave their own lives for PROGRESS.
Since the formation of workers’ guilds in the early 19th century, the powerful elites have vilified unions. Conservatives continue to abhor what unions represent — insisting on fair compensation and worker protections.
But the fact is, if it wasn’t for LIBERALS, LEFTISTS, and PROGRESSIVES fighting for what’s right — as the fiercest proponents and defenders of unions — most workers would still be working for slave wages….with zero benefits….toiling away in appalling conditions….while working far more hours. Don’t believe me? Then, look at third-world sweatshops where there are no labor unions. Check out the dreadful conditions of factories that pump out cheap projects for corporations just so your stock portfolio shows an uptick. Go look at a textile factory in the Philipines or a diamond mine in Angola. If it wasn’t for unions, those conditions would be HERE. Corporations would be treating people like cattle. Children would be working in coal mines for pennies. There would be no safety nets. Think Amazon.
COLLECTIVIZATION, in other words, workers binding together, is the primary reason there’s a middle-class in America. Individuals simply aren’t powerful enough, nor can they mediate, negotiate, and threaten to strike if they aren’t given a fair share. So, they must unite — collectively.
Attacked and threatened as unions are right now, it was the labor movement that made America great. For those who espouse our so-called exceptionalism, the very supposition of the United States as “the greatest country on earth” and “the world’s most dominant economy” owes its credence almost entirely to labor — the men and women (and sadly during much of our history–children) who built the nation.
You can thank liberals for making it all possible.
Happy Labor Day.
