Why do people elect to be treated this way?

[veronica_rich]

Part XXX in my continuing efforts to understand why anyone would vote Republican right now ... Did anyone else watch "Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" on MSNBC tonight? I'm referring to the bit with the Republican state senator in Wisconsin who was calling the protesters at the state capitol "slobs" and smiling indulgently while four of the protesters in another frame were airing their grievances.

I tune in to this program about once a week just to catch up on the debates flying around about politics; most of my news, I get through reading, not watching TV. I'm not a big fan of the "take a side and rip out a throat" brand of punditry, and that goes for liberals as well as conservatives. I admit as a liberal I usually take a little joy in seeing liberal commentators do this, but that might also be because there seem to be about 8 or 10 yelling conservative voices to 1 liberal, ratio-wise.

Anyway, you can look this up on the Internet if you like. It's quite obvious this senator regards this segment of people who pay his expenses and paychecks as little more than animals - he even talked about the protesters being a particular "breed" of people - and it's just as obvious the four protesters were pissed off. They didn't express themselves as eloquently as I would have liked (not a one of them reminded him of how he gets paid, for example, which is the first thing that came to MY mind), but given their conditions the last several days and their position, I can't blame them.

I know many sane people who still identify as GOP, who aren't classists - hence my initial remark "why are you still supporting this party?" (Although, there were like 7 Republicans in Ohio today who give me hope the GOP hasn't gone completely crazy - look up in the news about that state senate's vote on collective bargaining.)

And, I was going to say something about people who make under $250,000 a year thinking those who want to abolish unions have the right idea, but ... it's too depressing. If they think the 40-hour work week and insurance and retirement and other benefits, and OSHA-compliant workplaces, and other basic laws that require businesses to treat even non-union employees as human beings instead of chattel would even BE in place without the work of unions in the past, and now, there's nothing I can say to educate them. Advocating any abolition of the right to collectively organize and bargain for work conditions just because some unions have displayed corruption or weakness is akin to saying "well, having elected representatives hasn't worked out for us in getting us what we want all the time, so - let's get rid of this republic and put one man in charge of deciding everything!"

Comments

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

I read these posts and confess that while I don't understand the half of it, I'm very glad I don't live in the US. It's bad enough here but at least it's not that bad.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

You know, when I was a kid, I always heard how great the U.S. was in opportunity, rights, equal treatment, etc. I don't know if it's just becoming an adult that's pricked that, or if there are just more pricks than normal in the last 30 years that have materially changed what we used to be as a nation.

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

The only thing that's going to save the American worker as we've known him and HER is unions. I have worked my entire adult life in an industry which does nothing but squeeze the most it possibly can out of its employees and tries to get around whatever labor laws they can, all while they tally up the earnings of their employer via a cash register. It made me sick when I was 20 and makes me sick today when I received notice that my electric bill will probably be going up $20/month on average. If I'm lucky I might get a $20/month raise next month. And it's always been like this - whatever raise I've gotten has been eaten up by my expenses increasing. Add to that the state increasing the income tax by 2/3rds and I feel very discouraged as an American worker right now.

I would happily pay union dues if it meant I would get a reliable raise every year, have respectable benefits I don't have to put half my paycheck toward and be able to bargain for extras like decent work hours, raises, etc. Not being able to bargain is why American workers have been exploited in the retail industry for decades.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Well, what these companies forget is that they GOT to where they are by their workers' efforts, not just those of a few people at the top. You might hit upon the invention or take out the loan and the risk of paying it back - but you wouldn't be able to make the widget or sell it to a wider population without the worker bees' efforts. (And you have people like me, who'll do work at home, too.) I think most people take pride in their work - after all, they spend a lot of their lives DOING it - and while there have to be realistic limits to what an employer can pay them, there are plenty of companies where executives hog SO much more of the money than they pay out to the underlings who do all the grunt labor.

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Replying to you and to neo above: every American employer wants to squeeze the most out of the employee while skirting labour laws. That's the same for everyone--from the guy bagging the groceries at Vons to my sister (who works for a mega-prestigious law firm). Same story.

The problem is that Management forgets that there are reasons we have labour laws. The kinds of abuses in factories that spurred them did not disappear at all---they just outsourced those jobs to places were they can screw labour with impunity.

It will come back and bite them hard, but it won't happen until there is a major tragedy of some sort or a General Strike nationwide. *sigh*

Those morons never learn, do they?

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

In life, with rare exception, you get what you pay for. This is a lesson American companies and governments have not yet learned, it seems. But they're young. They'll learn; if we as a country survive long enough.

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

You are so right! The American public, too, has got to stop expecting first rate quality for 4th rate prices.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

And, when more people who actually live here are paid what they're worth, or at least closer to it than now, they will be willing to spend more disposable income to support other industries. This is what was intended with the stimulus bill on a more general scale - to give local contractors more income through more work on highway and other public works maintenance ... which they would then either use to hire/pay employees or spend themselves in their local economies.

Tangent: This is also a side effect of welfare that its detractors never seem to stop to think about. Without getting into the corruption of the social welfare system - which has plenty in how the money is doled out presently, certainly - when people receive money and they don't travel far away, they have to spend it where they are. Local grocery and other stores benefit; hell, Walmart gets a ton of money out of it (which it COULD use to pay its employees better, but that's our whole bigger point - like a snake eating its own tail here, LOL).

Likewise, even though there's been some corruption in the union system (c'mon, when there's money at stake, and influence, what system with it ISN'T going to experience corruption? It's like Congress, and nobody's calling for their disbandment), its net result is that people's jobs are secure from an employer's whim - yes, it makes it harder to get rid of the incompetents, but on the other hand, it means the line worker isn't going to get fired because she refused to let her foreman fuck her in the bathroom. This means more security, which lulls people into spending more money - most of it locally for cars and hairstyles and TVs and food and movie concessions, etc. etc. Unions also see that people get fairer wages and benefits (which aren't really benefits per se, just a split-out share of wages), which makes them able to spend that discretionary money locally.

Now, in opposition, let's look at who in a company is most likely to be able to afford to travel often overseas and dump all their money on cheaper goods. Oh, wait ...

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

*hugs* AMEN!

[roguedemon.livejournal.com]

Just dropping by to say -- in regards to unions, well said. Extremely.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It's nice to have solidarity somewhere!

[roguedemon.livejournal.com]

Power, sister!