Sign of the Times

You know you’re seeing something important when the unemployed of this nation begin to band together and speak with one voice.  First, the fact that there’s enough to “band together” means there’s a lot of unemployed Americans!

But now comes a union just for the unemployed.  It apparently started just recently, but already has hundreds of members across the country.  The Union of the Unemployed is open to all.  There are other “freelance unions” out there, but they are mostly for access to benefits and services.  Even when they advocate, they don’t speak for the huge number of unemployed.

As a union guy, I should be happy about the formation of a union of unemployed.  But deep in the pit of my stomach, this feels like the beginning of political stratification by income not principle.  A workers’ party, in other words.

During our last depression, we had troubles with workers’ parties.  They all began with the best of intent, and ended up subverted for other purposes.  We should learn from history.  We can’t wait until the ranks of the unemployed swell to numbers that threaten our democracy.  And believe me, if there’s enough unemployment, democracy is threatened.

So while I encourage people to band together for mutual protection, especially when their government has abandoned them to the wilds of the contemporary robber barons, I worry about the unintended consequences of the politics of the purse.  The solution is to get people to work, even with deficit swelling (for now) public projects, and not to bloat corporate coffers.

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