Unions Today: D.O.A.?

After what happened in Wisconsin last week, many folks are trying to extrapolate the significance--everyone from your local grocer to Mitt Romney has interpreted the recall that wasn't as something of a harbinger for this fall. Nate Silver, et al. have warned about reading too much into a race in which Walker, Karl Rove, the Kochs, and a few others outspent Tom Barrett and the Democrats 8 to 1.

With that disparity in money spent on ad buys, what did you think was going to happen? Heck, Walker and his out-of-state supporters were running ads in January against Tom Barrett, who wasn't named the Democratic nominee until May. 

btw, 93% of election winners spend more money to get elected than his or her opponent--yes, it really is that simple.You can thank the Citizens United ruling--again. I remember the days when liberals were the ones accused of "judicial activism." (haha).

Here are a couple pieces that are worth checking out--

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Jacob Levy of Bleeding Heart Libertarians offers his Thoughts on Unions.
*be sure you stay with the entire piece to see where he's going with his argument--

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Richard Yeselson of The New Republic argues that Wisconsin is just the latest for the death spiral of unions. 
Interestingly, he doesn't hold conservatives accountable for the decline--they've always hated unions--it's the indifference from the middle class, who have benefited from unions throughout our history, that is allowing the power class to strangle public unions as they have done to private unions. A good read. 

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here is an earlier piece where I share my views about unions:

According to economist Paul Krugman, today’s wealth disparity hasn’t been seen since the days of the “robber barons,” who were flourishing as America celebrated its first Labor Day in 1894.  

Peruse a recent Repository:

-pollution limits for drilling but not fracking

-Kasich seeks to privatize the lottery and turnpike, as done with some prisons and the liquor agency

-Sec. of State attempting to ban Cuyahoga Co. from mailing ballots to registered voters

-Team NEO/JobsOhio excited about business recruitment

What do these news items have in common? They are evidence of practices that benefit the few, often at the expense and detriment of the many. How does not having pollution limits on fracking help us? What’s the benefit to the state in privatizing lottery profits?  Why should we disenfranchise voters in one county just because we’re disenfranchising them in others? And please tell me why Team NEO/JobsOhio, who simply tell corporations “come and get it!” can siphon off millions of our tax dollars for themselves—with little to no “sunshine”? Again, these all benefit the elite few at the expense of the majority.

It’s no coincidence that that the wealth gap has widened over the last 30 years as some have sought to chip away at the very things that benefit most of us, things like access to higher education and affordable healthcare, a fair wage, and safe food and clean water. Unions are one of the few things left between us and today’s robber barons.

Like many of you, my family is stretching its dollars at the grocery store, and, of course, we want the butcher’s thumb off the scale when we buy our groundchuck. And we should expect the same from our media when it comes to unionism. 

Are unions relevant today? Lord help us if they’re not.

*a version of this piece appeared in The Canton Repository in response to the question: "Are unions still relevant today?"