November 15, 2011

Whither the White Working Class?

By Christopher Chantrill
There's plenty of fight left in the white working class.  In Ohio last week it decisively defeated the Republican plan to curb government union power.  Pity it doesn't make any difference.  Pity the policemen and the firemen and the teachers and the social workers and the pension fund bondholders; they are screwed anyway, because there is no more money. All in all, the white working class has had a raw deal.  First, it escaped the frying pan of rural laboring only to land in the fire of the factory system.  But it didn't give up.  It organized its own social safety net, with labor unions, fraternal associations, and ethnic clubs, and was well on the way to making its factory fate bearable when the Serpent turned up in the Garden of Eden, this time disguised as an educated progressive elite. You chaps are being screwed, said the Serpent.  Why, if you vote for us, we will force the bosses to give you More.  More unions, more wages, more health...(Read Full Article)