Monday, September 02, 2002

well damn. I had written a long and impassioned Labor Day speech, and Blogger ate it. I won't try to reconstruct it, other than to say this: as you can see from the post below, it makes me mad when people (either because they are ill-informed, or because they're trying to ill-inform others) state or imply that there's something un-American about a labor organization. More than most other institutions in our society, labor organizations and their members manifest some of the virtues that Americans like to think are particularly American (though every other society probably thinks the same thing about itself): courage, and loyalty to a community. This is not to say that labor organizations are all perfect, but it is to say that in our law practice we see, every day, people who stand up for what they believe in, at great personal risk (not only economic risk but physical risk, including clients who have been killed on the picket line), to help not only themselves but their colleagues. And, when they succeed, they do it by coming together across the lines that regularly divide our culture. So -- all you bloggers who pride yourselves on being able to sniff out bias and factual errors in the media -- please exercise those skills the next time you read or hear that unions are killing the such-and-such industry through their outrageous demands, or that the such-and-such union is a bunch of anti-Americans, or that Democrats shouldn't stir up class warfare. Ask yourself whose interest it is in, to have those things received as the common wisdom. Unless you're the boss, the answer is "not yours". As for the rest, Blogger ate my homework. Happy Labor Day. Sam

posted by sam 8:18 PM 0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

email: first name@last name dot net