Labor is Politically Orphaned…For Now

Something that I’ve been wanting to write about, but I can’t fully form my thesis, is how labor has no home in either party. Democrats were once, sort-of, the party of labor, but their advocacy for the working man often veered very close to communism, with its hostility to private enterprise.

With the Democrat Party now controlled by the anti-American climate and gender crowd, patriotic working people have drifted toward the Republican Party. But much of the GOP leadership and its financial supporters are still actively hostile to blue collar Americans, preferring to outsource manufacturing to countries that use slave and child labor rather than pay Americans a living wage.

Labor has no party, and that is a situation that cannot hold indefinitely.

Maybe that is my thesis. A huge voting block that is scorned by the leadership of both parties is setting the stage for something to change, but I don’t know what it will be or how.

There was a piece by George Liebmann today at The American Conservative that I found interesting. Although it doesn’t discuss how Labor is politically orphaned right now, it does discuss how the Democrats abandoned Labor.

“The Democrats and Labor: The Democratic Party was once the party of Labor. That has changed.” [The American Conservative – 9/04/2023]

American manufacturing has dwindled, along with interest in the related parts of its educational system, engineering, and high school vocational education. Labor Day Democratic celebrations have become almost as rare as politically incorrect Jefferson-Jackson Dinners.

A major difference between Franklin Roosevelt and modern Democrats is how they like to spend government assistance money. While I am no fan of Franklin Roosevelt, at least his federal programs paid people for labor, not to be on the dole. As Liebmann notes, that is a far cry from Obama’s assistance programs, which paid people not to work.

The recovery program carried out through various New Deal agencies—the PWA, WPA, CCC, and NYA—in the 1930s had been a work program, not a dole, founded on Roosevelt’s declared premise that “continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the national spirit.” The Obama administration, by contrast, engaged in a sub rosa expansion of cash relief, through extended unemployment compensation, food stamps, and lax administration of the Social Security disability program.

The people whom Hillary smeared as being “deplorables” and whom Obama smeared as being “bitter clingers” were abandoned by the Democrats. To a great extent, the working man didn’t leave the Democrat Party, he was kicked out.

On this Labor Day, we will hear more from the Democrats about the Stonewall gay rights demonstration against behavior-oriented health insurance premiums than we will about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that gave rise to the labor-protective legislation of the Al Smith and FDR administrations.

The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 05:36 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 first

Posted by: Reforger at September 04, 2023 04:17 PM (B705c)

2 "Labor has no party, and that is a situation that cannot hold indefinitely."

The Communist Party of the USA to step up?

Posted by: davidt at September 04, 2023 04:19 PM (SYTee)

3 To a great extent, the working man didn’t leave the Democratic Party, he was kicked out.

And then the Party did a world tour, visiting Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.

Posted by: Question authority bumper sticker at September 04, 2023 04:19 PM (Rbu5d)

4 The people whom Hillary smeared as being “deplorables” and whom Obama smeared as being “bitter clingers” were abandoned by the Democrats. To a great extent, the working man didn’t leave the Democrat Party, he was kicked out.

People who work at manual jobs can smell. They must be shunned. Probably none of them even know what arugula is.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 04, 2023 04:20 PM (I/Qkd)

5 Wow. Read the content. Missed the first.

Posted by: Cosda at September 04, 2023 04:20 PM (6QxIl)

6 Seems to me that labor unions once served a purpose to improve life for workers but now labor unions are like Cardinal Richeleau.. "All for one, and more for me"

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at September 04, 2023 04:21 PM (Wy1BU)

7 The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton

Buck I don't disagree with your premise; but, it looks like you're asserting facts not in evidence.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 04:21 PM (KWwlz)

8 The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever.

Sure they will. They'll continue to vote for the D because daddy and grandaddy did, and those Rs are white shoe country clubber snobs who hate working people.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 04, 2023 04:21 PM (Angsy)

9 With the Democrat Party now controlled by the anti-American climate and gender crowd, patriotic working people have drifted toward the Republican Party. But much of the GOP leadership and its financial supporters are still actively hostile to blue collar Americans, preferring to outsource manufacturing to countries that use slave and child labor rather than pay Americans a living wage.

Bingo. Thanks for the thread, Buck.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at September 04, 2023 04:22 PM (V8he0)

10 The people whom Hillary smeared as being “deplorables” and whom Obama smeared as being “bitter clingers” were abandoned by the Democrats. To a great extent, the working man didn’t leave the Democrat Party, he was kicked out.

As tempting as it is to put the blame entirely on the Dem "elites", the working class shares some of the blame. It has been obvious for decades that the Dems didn't represent them, other than to offer bribes in the form of bailouts for staying in the party. That was apparently good enough.

This changes when the working class whites abandon the Dems altogether, which I think is in the process of happening.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 04, 2023 04:22 PM (I/Qkd)

11 As many are aware, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is building a billion-dollar fab in N Phoenix; this is about 5 mi from my house and I've been watching it go up since the start. TSMC is having to slow work due to an insufficient labor supply of engineers to install the tech systems required in chip fabrication. A friend of my wife is involved in government-education liaison. The gov-ed complex is working to update curriculum to provide more engineers capable of hi-tech work. The shortage of even INSTALLATION engineers was a surprise to me - this is the kind of labor we need if we are to continue to progress, and the kind against which Democrats and teacher unions militate. If we had a real oppo party on the side of both education and workers, this wouldn't happen - and it must change.

Posted by: Alexander Scipio at September 04, 2023 04:23 PM (NX5U7)

12 Also worth noting that many of FDR's spending programs yielded actual, lasting, net-benefit things like dams and roads. Likewise not a huge fan of the guy, but he's a far cry from the donkey dorks that followed in LBJ's wake spending trillions of dollars on nothingness.

Posted by: CppThis at September 04, 2023 04:23 PM (PZvjL)

13 The way you can really tell elections are rigged is by how politicians run for office. They used to promise goodies to get your vote. They no longer do.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (ouTlx)

14 Both parties are beholden to the rich bedwetters like Soros, Musk, Gates, Bezos and the Czerviks of the world, who run things and always will.

The poors are kept happy with drugs, gambling, sports and porn and they love it so nothing will change.

The poors and animals are free…

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (R/m4+)

15 That VDH column posted in the last thread seems to have relevance here too. But one thing I noticed, not one mention of the GOPe standing aside and letting the Ds run riot over us. They wouldn't get so far if a real opposition party existed.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (Angsy)

16 Labor unions are communist adjacent. They were the head OKC the spear that started the exportation of jobs overseas. I would like to see them die rather than having them rejuvenated.

They've been a bane to this country since their inception.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (BdMk6)

17 This is DJTs base. This is the line he us pursuing. This was also Nixon's approach. It is how to consolidate an overwhelming electoral coalition.

This is also why the GOP is going to be forced to wrap things up. Because their donors won't allow them to deal with Labor.

This is precisely the fracture point DJT is exploiting.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:25 PM (BB+an)

18 If we had a real oppo party on the side of both education and workers, this wouldn't happen - and it must change.

While I agree with the problem you describe, I'm not sure government has a useful role to play. Things get better when enough people decide they'd rather do something useful than be another gray cog in a vast, pointless machine.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 04, 2023 04:25 PM (I/Qkd)

19 Seems to me that labor unions once served a purpose to improve life for workers but now labor unions are like Cardinal Richeleau.. "All for one, and more for me"
Posted by: Madamemayhem

Agree, at an interview when I got out of the Navy I was told I would have to join 'the' union and pay dues.
I made the mistake of asking what I would receive for paying dues. The guy couldn't answer the question.
I didn't get the job and I'm pretty glad I didn't.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 04:25 PM (KWwlz)

20 Yep. Canada's leftist New Democrat Party sold out the white working class a long time ago too to suck uncontrolled immigration dick and, now, Big Pharma.

Posted by: andycanuck (krqg6) at September 04, 2023 04:26 PM (krqg6)

21 Biden the Traitor like Clinton(Bill)and Obama s ells out American Woekers and sends all the jobs to other Nations

Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at September 04, 2023 04:27 PM (FLiOE)

22 @Buck: "Labor has no party, and that is a situation that cannot hold indefinitely."

Maybe nationally, but I'd wager there's not much daylight between labor and more progressive Democrats in the usual cities.

Posted by: Walter Freeman at September 04, 2023 04:27 PM (k1Qly)

23 "Labor" has no political home now because "Labor" as an organized political force no longer exists. There are a few big grifting operations still going in auto manufacturing, but so much of that has been offshore that they are now just a shadow of what they once were.

Through ngo's and billionaires, the Left has come up with new ways to fund themselves. "Labor" is last centuries forgotten news

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:27 PM (kHRz0)

24 Also worth noting that many of FDR's spending programs yielded actual, lasting, net-benefit things like dams and roads. Likewise not a huge fan of the guy, but he's a far cry from the donkey dorks that followed in LBJ's wake spending trillions of dollars on nothingness.
Posted by: CppThis at September 04, 2023 04:23 PM (PZvjL)

Say what anyone will, Union Labor built this country into the GOAT powerhouse.

Personally, I'd rather an ironworker or machinist be making absurd money than a teacher or HR "person" or whatever.

HR is just in house Unions. Totally co-opted.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:28 PM (BB+an)

25 16 Labor unions are communist adjacent. ...They've been a bane to this country since their inception.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (BdMk6)

Commies were the baby-daddies of labor unions in this country.

Posted by: Question authority bumper sticker at September 04, 2023 04:28 PM (Rbu5d)

26 head of the spear. (Fuck this iPhone)

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at September 04, 2023 04:28 PM (BdMk6)

27 Cultural Marxism has left labor first race and sex division

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 04:28 PM (MOY79)

28 Biden the Traitor like Clinton(Bill)and Obama s ells out American Woekers and sends all the jobs to other Nations

Nope, that's too easy. Jobs went overseas for a number of reasons, but one of the main ones, if not the main one, was that too many American workers didn't see a connection between the value of the work they performed, and the money they expected to perform it.

Exhibit #1: the UAW.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 04, 2023 04:29 PM (I/Qkd)

29 "Labor" what a bullshit party identification.
Everybody labors. There are people who labor to live day to day. There are people who labor in slavery. There are people who labor to greatness. There are people who labor to...

Labor is simply what humans do to live.

Posted by: Reforger at September 04, 2023 04:29 PM (B705c)

30 I have a small quibble...

The American working man has no party, but the organized labor hierarchy most certainly does.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 04, 2023 04:29 PM (M5QzP)

31 6 Seems to me that labor unions once served a purpose to improve life for workers but now labor unions are like Cardinal Richeleau.. "All for one, and more for me"
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at September 04, 2023 04:21 PM (Wy1BU)

I was thinking about this yesterday while eating a nice steak. Everyone who's remotely paying attention knows that America faces a crippling labor crisis due to a number of factors ranging from outsourcing to public-school elitism. So where are the unions, the supposed other champion of the working man, in all this? They gonna offer training or a marketing message aimed at the kids? They even smart enough to understand that they may well cease to exist in the 2030s and Evil Fatcat Management(tm) has nothing to do with it?

Posted by: CppThis at September 04, 2023 04:29 PM (PZvjL)

32 Agree, at an interview when I got out of the Navy I was told I would have to join 'the' union and pay dues.
I made the mistake of asking what I would receive for paying dues. The guy couldn't answer the question.
I didn't get the job and I'm pretty glad I didn't.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 04:25 PM (KWwlz)

Paying union dues is akin to paying taxes. Don't pay, and violence will be visited upon you. Pay and get nothing in return. Only difference is you can avoid dues by not working union jobs.

Posted by: Forced payments for nothing in return. Like alimony. at September 04, 2023 04:30 PM (fhX0j)

33 The American working man has no party, but the organized labor hierarchy most certainly does.

That sums it up nicely.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 04, 2023 04:30 PM (I/Qkd)

34 They even smart enough to understand that they may well cease to exist in the 2030s and Evil Fatcat Management(tm) has nothing to do with it?

They've been promised a seat on the bus but given no ticket.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at September 04, 2023 04:32 PM (V8he0)

35 Labor, as a movement, is a prime example of how a large organization/movement can easily be completely and permanently destroyed after they allow their leadership to become completely corrupt.

The only unions that have pull now are the government unions, like the teachers and SEIU. And that's not Labor at all, that's just a highly organized extortion racket.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:34 PM (kHRz0)

36 But much of the GOP leadership and its financial supporters are still actively hostile to blue collar Americans, preferring to outsource manufacturing to countries that use slave and child labor rather than pay Americans a living wage.

Or import millions of cheap foreign laborers from third world countries to replace American workers who "just can't cut it" as Marco Rubio's chief of staff put it.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 04, 2023 04:35 PM (GAih5)

37 The only unions that have pull now are the government unions, like the teachers and SEIU. And that's not Labor at all, that's just a highly organized extortion racket.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:34 PM (kHRz0)

Precisely.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:35 PM (BB+an)

38 My late first husband worked in a union shop Otis Elevator. When he died, the company realized the cost to me for COBRA on his insurance would be enormous. The company paid those costs for a year. No cost to me whatsoever. The "union" sent a small flower arrangement to the funeral. It probably cost as much as $10.
But the union kept driving their wages higher and the Peoples Socialist Utopia of Bloomington kept putting in more environmental regulations and less than 3 years after my fh passed, Otis Elevator moved operations out of Indiana to Mexico.

Unions suck now. They represent no one except the guys in suits who never turned a wrench. Most people understand this.

Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at September 04, 2023 04:36 PM (Wy1BU)

39 Or import millions of cheap foreign laborers from third world countries to replace American workers who "just can't cut it" as Marco Rubio's chief of staff put it.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 04, 2023 04:35 PM (GAih5)

Bill Kristol calling Americans degenerate.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:37 PM (BB+an)

40 Quibble.

Quibble.

Such a nice, woody sounding word. Not tinny at all.

Posted by: andycanuck (krqg6) at September 04, 2023 04:37 PM (krqg6)

41 The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever.
---
Interesting proposition...If they *did* gain power, what would they do with it?

Of course, The Powers That Be are hellbent on eliminating the working men and women as not only a political force, but of their lives in general.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 04, 2023 04:37 PM (BpYfr)

42 Our Fraternal Order of Police is awful. Mostly leftists, do nothing for us but the occasional text.

Most cops are conservative but the people who run the FOP definitely are not. It's frustrating.

Posted by: Wyatt Earp at September 04, 2023 04:38 PM (d2bW3)

43 The only unions that have pull now are the government unions, like the teachers and SEIU. And that's not Labor at all, that's just a highly organized extortion racket.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:34 PM (kHRz0)

The whole labor union concept is based on extortion. Why do you think labor unions so joined with the mafia?

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at September 04, 2023 04:38 PM (BdMk6)

44 Seems to me that labor unions once served a purpose to improve life for workers but now labor unions are like Cardinal Richeleau.. "All for one, and more for me"
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at September 04, 2023 04:21 PM (Wy1BU)

Unions suck now. They represent no one except the guys in suits who never turned a wrench. Most people understand this.
Posted by: Madamemayhem (uppity wench) at September 04, 2023 04:36 PM (Wy1BU)

This is another reason why Labor could be a major political battleground. The unions, as traditionally constructed, have failed.

If we can figure out a better formulation, or an institution that can replace them to serve as the advocates of labor, it would quickly become the most powerful political force in the country.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at September 04, 2023 04:39 PM (gJKGU)

45 Interesting proposition...If they *did* gain power, what would they do with it?

Of course, The Powers That Be are hellbent on eliminating the working men and women as not only a political force, but of their lives in general.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 04, 2023 04:37 PM (BpYfr)

It's DJT. That's what they are doing. Look at his policies.

And I just realized that's the "conservative" opposition to DJT.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:39 PM (BB+an)

46 35 Labor, as a movement, is a prime example of how a large organization/movement can easily be completely and permanently destroyed after they allow their leadership to become completely corrupt.

The only unions that have pull now are the government unions, like the teachers and SEIU. And that's not Labor at all, that's just a highly organized extortion racket.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:34 PM (kHRz0)

As in the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten.

Posted by: m at September 04, 2023 04:40 PM (Dz9Qm)

47 The only unions that have pull now are the government unions, like the teachers and SEIU. And that's not Labor at all, that's just a highly organized extortion racket.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 04, 2023 04:34 PM (kHRz0)

Public-sector unions should be illegal. The financially interested party - the taxpayer - cannot adequately be represented during negotiations.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at September 04, 2023 04:40 PM (gJKGU)

48 'Bill Kristol calling Americans degenerate.'

Kevin Williamson saying working class people deserved to die out.

Jeb Bush telling us we had to import more 'fertile' immigrants.

NRO telling Oliver Anthony to shut up and get a job.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at September 04, 2023 04:40 PM (GAih5)

49 The proper term is Industrial Union. And in Industry, Unions work and are apptopriate.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:41 PM (BB+an)

50 Might be a stomp nood ^ up there.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 04, 2023 04:42 PM (Q4IgG)

51 A bit more precisely, Red States tend to be right to work states and the residents don't like someone stealing a piece of your paycheck while working against your interests.
In the meantime, Biden hasn't given a speech about jobs that doesn't emphasize Union Jobs and supported that malarkey in California attacking gig workers.
So the Union itself is still firmly attached to Uncle Joe's buttocks, the rank and file not so much

Posted by: 2nd Amendment at September 04, 2023 04:42 PM (3aOHH)

52 50 Might be a stomp nood ^ up there.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 04, 2023 04:42 PM (Q4IgG)

Ace stomped himself.

Posted by: m at September 04, 2023 04:43 PM (Dz9Qm)

53 Or import millions of cheap foreign laborers from third world countries to replace American workers who "just can't cut it" as Marco Rubio's chief of staff put it.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo
-------

TSMC tried to hire here but there are no skilled workers for the job. They are now lobbying the government to allow them to import workers.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 04, 2023 04:43 PM (aDPLI)

54 52 50 Might be a stomp nood ^ up there.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 04, 2023 04:42 PM (Q4IgG)

Ace stomped himself.
Posted by: m at September 04, 2023 04:43 PM (Dz9Qm)

Oh, Ace stomped Buck!

Posted by: m at September 04, 2023 04:44 PM (Dz9Qm)

55
Posted by Buck Throckmorton at 04:15 PM
Posted by Ace at 04:39 PM

Posted by: m at September 04, 2023 04:44 PM (Dz9Qm)

56 The Left's abandonment of labor in favor of alphabet soup nonsense is the biggest unforced error in American political history. I can't underline it hard enough, we need to figure out how to use this and lean into it with all we have.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at September 04, 2023 04:46 PM (gJKGU)

57 Labor has no party, and that is a situation that cannot hold indefinitely.

Obama began, Biden is attempting to finish, transforming the Democrat party from being ostensibly the party of the working man to the party of the coastal elites, the government dependent poor, and illegal immigrant. The Republican party is content to enjoy the largeness of their corporate donors and ignore that they have gutted the American economy by shipping manufacturing overseas while suppressing domestic wages by quietly cheerleading for more illegal immigration. So yes, labor, or more accurately it seems the middle class, predominately white, has had but one political champion over the last 50 years, Donald J. Trump. It is without surprise that both are under unrelenting attack. The middle class as a cancer for their white privilege, and Trump as threat who could unleash a political revolution that outlasts him and upend the Democrat-Republican oligarchy state that is well on its way to destroying the American experiment and the culture that made that possible.

Posted by: Lost In Space at September 04, 2023 04:53 PM (jlbtb)

58 Public unions should be outlawed. But they are not and never will be. I'd be like congress voting for term/age limits, or making insider trading illegal for themselves.

Posted by: Regular joe at September 04, 2023 04:57 PM (nnp+f)

59 Had grilled hamburger, coleslaw and baked beans, but let wife grill and she had to have them overdone

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 04:59 PM (MOY79)

60 Someone bought me a bottle of GlenDronach for my birthday. I've never heard of it but I'm told it's collector quality.

Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at September 04, 2023 05:05 PM (VdGjU)

61 Democrats don't need voters.
Biden himself declared that in 2020, when he was asked by a blue collar white guy, Biden said "I don't need your vote".
And, sunnavabitch... he was right.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at September 04, 2023 05:14 PM (MeG8a)

62 Labor and syndicalism go together like peas and carrots. No thanks.

Posted by: Oglebay at September 04, 2023 05:20 PM (ogTiX)

63 "almost as rare as politically incorrect Jefferson-Jackson Dinners"

George Jefferson and REVruuund JACKson?

I've never been to one of those. What do they serve?

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at September 04, 2023 05:39 PM (Mzdiz)

64 Deja Vue all over again!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 05:39 PM (KWwlz)

65 Just got off the lake. What did I miss today?

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 05:43 PM (rscIS)

66 George Jefferson and REVruuund JACKson?

I've never been to one of those. What do they serve?
Posted by: Miley, okravangelist
--------------

Fried chicken, watermelon and collard greens? NTTAWWT.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 05:45 PM (rscIS)

67 olddog just the end of world

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 05:46 PM (MOY79)

68 The middle class as a cancer for their white privilege, and Trump as threat who could unleash a political revolution that outlasts him and upend the Democrat-Republican oligarchy state that is well on its way to destroying the American experiment and the culture that made that possible.
Posted by: Lost In Space at September 04, 2023 04:53 PM (jlbtb)

DJT saw Nixon and learned what went wrong from Roy Cohn.

When he was presented with a similar dilemma he didn't fail. Instead, he chose neither insurrection or surrender.

He won at that point.

He's going to realize Nixon's insight into US politics and forge Nixon's coalition into a new party after the GOP wraps it up.

Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 05:46 PM (twjRB)

69 The Unions built America.

Posted by: fd at September 04, 2023 05:46 PM (vFG9F)

70 I know it's true because I heard it on the news.

Posted by: fd at September 04, 2023 05:47 PM (vFG9F)

71 Fried chicken, watermelon and collard greens? NTTAWWT.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 05:45 PM (rscIS)

Nah to the collards! We have about 5 or 6 20-30+ lb watermelons in the garden.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at September 04, 2023 05:48 PM (Mzdiz)

72 The Unions built America.
Posted by: fd

LMAO

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 05:49 PM (KWwlz)

73 Holy Heck. I have never seen a thread brought back from the dead. Surly this is sign that the end is near, likely from geothermal drilling which will unleash hordes of mole men who will swarm over the earth's surface devouring human babies and avocados.

Posted by: Lost In Space at September 04, 2023 05:49 PM (jlbtb)

74
My local radio station today had real-time audio of Biden in Philly talking to union members. I suspect he was hitting Hunter's stash before he spoke because he sounded energetic as hell. Everything he said was a lie but the union members ate it up like prime sirloin to be festooned around their 65 inch waistlines tomorrow.

When everything is a lie, there is no truth left.

The only 'silver lining' is the (D)'s are so concerned about the ability to generate a couple of hundred thousand fraudulent votes in Pennsylvania Joe is spending a helluva lotta time here.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 04, 2023 05:52 PM (enJYY)

75 Something that I’ve been wanting to write about, but I can’t fully form my thesis, is how labor has no home in either party.

There is no one the French Davidians, The Branch Covidians, and the BushCheneyClintons hate more than LABOR,

The sun at 23X does not burn as hot as that hatred.

Every woman or man that goes to work at a non-Big Govt job knows this but votes (D) because they want to be nice to 1. a central american illegal, 2. a pregnant teenager, or/and 3. mamma that had that sweet Big Govt job.

They also think they will not be replaced.

Think about the indians (dot) at the Home Depot office trained by those that replaced the Ga Tech IT peeps, or chinese that work at UTMB (or any big hosp) for less money and to steal the IT.

Its nice to be nice to the nice failed.

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 05:52 PM (BRHaw)

76 With the ballot box being compromised, none of us, working man, white collar, pink collar, etc. are represented.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at September 04, 2023 05:52 PM (8fpTj)

77 olddog just the end of world
Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 05:46
-----------

So, same-o same-o?

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 05:53 PM (rscIS)

78 Prevailing Wages (aka forced union) does nothing.

I get a contract and go to a sub. They go to the union hall and hire a guy that was on the last prevailing wages job.

So there is no more money as no new hires happened.

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 05:55 PM (BRHaw)

79 Sure don't hear much lately about those kids (and their parents) missing in Lahaina. Funny, that.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at September 04, 2023 05:56 PM (YRsIm)

80 Nah to the collards! We have about 5 or 6 20-30+ lb watermelons in the garden.
Posted by: Miley, okravangelist
------------

Yeah, never really got collard greens. I'll take the spinach.

Something weird about watermelons, though. Ate it all my life until several years ago. Tears me up just like cukes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 05:57 PM (rscIS)

81 Lahaina fell off the news

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 05:57 PM (MOY79)

82 Well, that's where I thought I was.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 04, 2023 05:58 PM (aDPLI)

83 "The recovery program carried out through various New Deal agencies—the PWA, WPA, CCC, and NYA—in the 1930s had been a work program, not a dole, founded on Roosevelt’s declared premise that “continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the national spirit.”
----------

My Dad, at 16, was in a CCC camp up in Minnesota for a couple years, after hoboing for a couple. He then joined the Army in 1936 and served for 30 years. He credited Roosevelt with saving his life.

Posted by: Javems at September 04, 2023 05:58 PM (8I4hW)

84 The self-described lesbian Marxist running the American Library Association (ALA) wants utilize these places as good-old fashioned indoctrination centers and has some sick words for those criticizing her.

The Federalist reported last week that ALA President Emily Drabinski was caught making several disturbing remarks in a video which help reveal her true agenda.

Em, you would be the first rounded up. Yo cant breed, you cant work hard, and you make a bad comfort woman for the troupes.

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 05:59 PM (BRHaw)

85 Test

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenko stuff at September 04, 2023 05:59 PM (hIWPn)

86 81 Lahaina fell off the news
Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 05:57 PM (MOY79)

Where is Bary?

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 06:00 PM (BRHaw)

87 My "working" theory is that The Left "left" labor because the working man didn't want to overthrow the bosses, seize the means of production, and install The Left as their leadership. Nope, the proletariat wanted better pay, an eight hour day, a house of their own, a new or late model Chevrolet, Ford, or Plymouth in the driveway, a few bucks for the Missus to buy a new dress from time to time, and the chance to save up for Junior's college education so he didn't have to work on the line like his old man. And just to have Saturday to cook out, listen to the game on the radio, and chill.

I figure The Left sussed that out and said "Screw YOU prole! If you're not going to kneel down and kiss my feet, we'll let foreign companies in to destroy your employers or ship your jobs overseas."

Posted by: mmack at September 04, 2023 06:00 PM (N8znn)

88 S'funny was just auto banhammered.
Restart device - back in the fold!?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenko stuff at September 04, 2023 06:00 PM (hIWPn)

89 I figure The Left sussed that out and said "Screw YOU prole! If you're not going t kneel down and kiss my feet, we'll let foreign companies in to destroy your employers or ship your jobs overseas."
Posted by: mmack at September 04, 2023 06:00 PM (N8znn)

you forgot the chamber of commerce

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 06:02 PM (BRHaw)

90 Guys in the CCC camps had to send money home to their folks. Wasn't optional. I can drive in all directions here and find buildings made by FDR's programs. We get nothing from government spending now.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 04, 2023 06:04 PM (ouTlx)

91 Let me jump in here right now. Organized labor made the same mistake Black America made, and Law and Order Whites made. In all the above cases, they threw all in for one party and damn the consequences. In all the above cases, they learned - although some still wish to ignore - that the Party has no loyalty.

Better yet, and we can talk about this until the sun goes down, is this notion amongst old Eighties Republicans and now Modern Liberals that somehow, someway, loyalty to the company or party will be returned. That notion flies in the face of not only recorded history but recent history. Yet, the same ol' folks still make the same ol' mistakes.

The last ten years have been the loud denial of things we already knew, from generations insisting that we never learned them.

Posted by: Reality at September 04, 2023 06:04 PM (nraLl)

92 A few books read lately explained long ago the Marxists knew America wasn't going down like Russian Revolution with class warfare, Cultural Marxism theory took over with Race, then sex first ghey then Trannies became the cause.

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 06:06 PM (MOY79)

93 Lahaina, they cover information the boss tells them to cover.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 04, 2023 06:06 PM (aDPLI)

94 90 Guys in the CCC camps had to send money home to their folks. Wasn't optional. I can drive in all directions here and find buildings made by FDR's programs. We get nothing from government spending now.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 04, 2023 06:04 PM (ouTlx)

Dear Mom,

Here is 9 dollars and 25 cents. Not much but next week I am getting a blow job from my camp girlfriend so I will send 8 bucks.

Posted by: Naven at September 04, 2023 06:06 PM (BRHaw)

95
It would be kinda funny if the SS isn't letting Joe back in his China/Ukraine paid for beach house because some tiny 5'0" 120 pound Brazilian murderer snuck into this country, killed his US girlfriend citizen, got locked up, escaped, and is working his way south toward DE.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 04, 2023 06:08 PM (enJYY)

96 So it's time to tap the unemployed ass's and make them work. Arbeit mach frei!

Or Gimmie dat!

Posted by: torabora at September 04, 2023 06:08 PM (MALyz)

97 Lahaina fell off the news
Posted by: Skip

Well it did burn up.
(too soon?)

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 06:08 PM (KWwlz)

98 92 A few books read lately explained long ago the Marxists knew America wasn't going down like Russian Revolution with class warfare, Cultural Marxism theory took over with Race, then sex first ghey then Trannies became the cause.
Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 06:06 PM (MOY79)

I was born that way
I changed

unpossible

Posted by: Naven at September 04, 2023 06:09 PM (BRHaw)

99 "The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever."

lol, ya think?

*cracks a PBR, goes back to winding a little toroid transformer*

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying for decades at September 04, 2023 06:09 PM (vbuLV)

100 100

Posted by: Naven at September 04, 2023 06:11 PM (BRHaw)

101 I'd be for paying inmates a minimum wage if it would be used for alimony and child support.

And prison guards should be paid a bonus for each day their charges stay out of prison on parole.

Posted by: torabora at September 04, 2023 06:11 PM (MALyz)

102 off sox

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 06:11 PM (BRHaw)

103 killed his US girlfriend citizen, got locked up, escaped, and is working his way south toward DE.
Posted by: Divide by Zero
------

They make the Cuban boat people look like pacifists.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 04, 2023 06:11 PM (aDPLI)

104 Here is 9 dollars and 25 cents. Not much but next week I am getting a blow job from my camp girlfriend so I will send 8 bucks.
Posted by: Naven

Just ran a 'current value' calculation and 1930 10 dollars would roughly be around 200 bucks in 2023.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at September 04, 2023 06:12 PM (KWwlz)

105 When you capitalize "labor" - Labor - you're not talking about "the working man." You're talking about unions. And when you're talking about unions you are talking about communism. Mostly in America, the unions stopped being agents of revolution when they discovered there was gold in them thar ~~hills~~ union members.

But it's always been the unions that Democrats loved, much more than the working man, himself. They talked a good game about getting the working man more, but that was always about buying votes (just like welfare). It was never really about equality between Labor and Management. The Dems never cared about small business, as it could never unionize them - mainly, IMO, because they couldn't gen up grievances against the owner of a store where everyone lives in the same neighborhood.

But, this is on par with the discussion of "capitalism," as if Marx's term has diddly to do with America. We should not use that term, and we shouldn't allow anyone to talk about Labor, either. They're people. The same as "management" or your boss.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:12 PM (rPEZU)

106 Hard to believe...

Leading Report
@LeadingReport

BREAKING: CDC has stated that Americans who have received mRNA COVID vaccines are now at a higher risk of infection from new variants of the virus than those who are unvaccinated.

Posted by: Mister Ghost at September 04, 2023 06:12 PM (TGPs7)

107 95
It would be kinda funny if the SS isn't letting Joe back in his China/Ukraine paid for beach house because some tiny 5'0" 120 pound Brazilian murderer snuck into this country, killed his US girlfriend citizen, got locked up, escaped, and is working his way south toward DE.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 04, 2023 06:08 PM (enJYY)

now do the majic negros cook

Posted by: rhennigantx at September 04, 2023 06:13 PM (BRHaw)

108 They make the Cuban boat people look like pacifists.

In all fairness, they just shot each other up - and those that got caught in the middle of the game. From what I've read and been told, they had no expectation of mercy or success if they went looking for trouble like a straight up B&E in an innocent neighborhood.

Posted by: Reality at September 04, 2023 06:13 PM (nraLl)

109 I'd be for paying inmates a minimum wage if it would be used for alimony and child support.

And prison guards should be paid a bonus for each day their charges stay out of prison on parole.
Posted by: torabora at September 04, 2023 06:11
--------------

Nah, bruh. That's a hard pass.

Posted by: olddog in mo at September 04, 2023 06:14 PM (rscIS)

110 The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever.
They have the power right now. It's why we see progressivism ascendant in our culture. They've been converted (though many would deny it), and they vote for it all day long, and twice in Chicago. The only way to make a difference is to convert them back to Christian morality and Americanism.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:14 PM (rPEZU)

111 The world according to Politico . . .

Brent Baker 🇺🇦
@BrentHBaker
So much for @Politico national investigative reporter @HeidiReports doing any investigating: Republicans are “going to try to impeach Joe Biden based on charges that don’t exist and evidence that doesn’t exist.” #ThisWeek

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at September 04, 2023 06:16 PM (FVME7)

112 Nood hole in water

Posted by: Zeera the ungoverened at September 04, 2023 06:17 PM (VefU6)

113 When you capitalize "labor" - Labor - you're not talking about "the working man." You're talking about unions. And when you're talking about unions you are talking about communism. Mostly in America, the unions stopped being agents of revolution when they discovered there was gold in them thar hills union members.

Fair. And when you talk about "Capitalism" or "Corporations" - you're not talking about Free Trade either. You're talking about entities that use every legal and political tool at their reach to drive down the cost of labor. Be it by hook or crook. Often by political means.

When faced with that ? Is collective bargaining a hard sell ? No, it ain't. We do not live in a free economy, and never have. We can not have an honest conversation until we agree on that. Pure and simple.

Posted by: Reality at September 04, 2023 06:17 PM (nraLl)

114 many of FDR's spending programs yielded actual, lasting, net-benefit things like dams and roads.

Posted by: CppThis at September 04, 2023 04:23 PM (PZvjL)

True, but they were also many times things that weren't needed. Maybe not most, certainly not all, but some portion of them were make work.

Having said that, I prefer make work to people getting paid to sit around and stuff their face with Cheetos.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:18 PM (rPEZU)

115 Been watching Green Hornet, on 3rd E and Black Beauty has a video drone, in 1966

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 06:18 PM (MOY79)

116 Kiss of nood

Posted by: Skip at September 04, 2023 06:21 PM (MOY79)

117 79 Sure don't hear much lately about those kids (and their parents) missing in Lahaina. Funny, that.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at September 04, 2023 05:56 PM (YRsIm)

I suspect the locals are under orders to release a new, much higher death toll only when the Junta gives the OK. The Junta will give the OK when a big shiny squirrel to comes along to keep the deaths of a lot of kids out of the news. The Junta cannot wait forever; it may soon have to order Jack Smith to file another 10 or so 'explosive criminal charges' against Trump.

Posted by: GL at September 04, 2023 06:22 PM (5fDan)

118 The whole labor union concept is based on extortion.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at September 04, 2023 04:38 PM (BdMk6)

Yep. ^This^.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:24 PM (rPEZU)

119 But much of the GOP leadership and its financial supporters are still actively hostile to blue collar Americans, preferring to outsource manufacturing to countries that use slave and child labor rather than pay Americans a living wage.

-------------

There is the Orange Man Bad elephant in the room who addressed this problem during his administration by instituting tariffs on China and encouraged companies to bring their manufacturing back home. Labor may not have a party but they do have a candidate.

Posted by: President Select Decaf at September 04, 2023 06:24 PM (3JfbU)

120 That VDH column posted in the last thread seems to have relevance here too. But one thing I noticed, not one mention of the GOPe standing aside and letting the Ds run riot over us. They wouldn't get so far if a real opposition party existed.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 04, 2023 04:24 PM (Angsy)

------------------

The Republicans' silence id deafening in almost every issue facing the nation. You could swear there are just a handful of them in congress and that everyone else is a Dem.

Posted by: President Select Decaf at September 04, 2023 06:30 PM (3JfbU)

121 This is DJTs base. This is the line he us pursuing. This was also Nixon's approach. It is how to consolidate an overwhelming electoral coalition.

This is also why the GOP is going to be forced to wrap things up. Because their donors won't allow them to deal with Labor.

This is precisely the fracture point DJT is exploiting.
Posted by: Thesokorus at September 04, 2023 04:25 PM (BB+an)

-------------

This is also why DeSantis is tanking in the polls as he has been associated with billionaire donors.

Posted by: President Select Decaf at September 04, 2023 06:32 PM (3JfbU)

122 loyalty to the company or party will be returned

Posted by: Reality at September 04, 2023 06:04 PM (nraLl)

The problem is they threw in with a party, instead of throwing in with their principles and demanding any party adhere to them. Once it becomes a question of loyalty to an organization or a person you've lost any control. If you have standard by which to judge and are willing to throw out the ones who don't meet that standard, you retain power.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:33 PM (rPEZU)

123 We do not live in a free economy, and never have.

Posted by: Reality at September 04, 2023 06:17 PM (nraLl)

Bullcrap.

Posted by: GWB at September 04, 2023 06:36 PM (rPEZU)

124 In the meantime, Biden hasn't given a speech about jobs that doesn't emphasize Union Jobs and supported that malarkey in California attacking gig workers.
So the Union itself is still firmly attached to Uncle Joe's buttocks, the rank and file not so much
Posted by: 2nd Amendment at September 04, 2023 04:42 PM (3aOHH)

--------------

We have finally caught up to the old Soviet Union, we now have our own Uncle Joe who is just as cruel and corrupt as theirs was.

Posted by: President Select Decaf at September 04, 2023 06:42 PM (3JfbU)

125 The problem is that 'labor' has shown that they are completely willing to vote against their own actual interests by continuing to support predatory unions to shower the Democrat party with donations for decades.

Posted by: DudeAbiding at September 04, 2023 07:03 PM (setIA)

126 They may have kicked the labor rank-in-file out of the Democrat Party but the labor leadership hasn’t gotten the message.

Posted by: SMOD at September 04, 2023 07:23 PM (RovqD)

127 As a former Union rep in some giant electron union, the rank and file usually get screwed by both management and the union... after my time, the union convinced one local to go on strike after the union signed deals with the company for 2 much larger locals, and then managed to get them an even worse deal...

Posted by: JD at September 04, 2023 07:38 PM (MK90b)

128 Very bad analysis because it ignores the policies of the first term of President Trump that increased the economic well-being of working Americans more than the wealthy and those on welfare.

But this blog and its authors have their collective heads up their assholes because the Deuce (AllahFatAss) who allegedly runs/owns this website is in bed with the globalist US Chamber of Commerce RINOs who are financially supporting (and burning their money even faster than during the Jeb! please clap campaign).

This blog is almost as bad as SnobLine (aka Powerline) and the National Review.

I repeat my request for a heads up when AllahFatAss starts writing for The Bulwark.

Posted by: MAGA Dummy at September 04, 2023 09:03 PM (FkMTW)

129 “The working men and women of America will not remain politically powerless forever”. And as a reminder, hyper evil rich people DO NOT WORK.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at September 04, 2023 09:05 PM (f0XAF)

130 “ But much of the GOP leadership and its financial supporters are still actively hostile to blue collar Americans, preferring to outsource manufacturing to countries that use slave and child labor rather than pay Americans a living wage.
Takeaways:
1) Manufacturing jobs are THE ONLY JOBS THAT MATTER. You work in an oilfield? A farm or a ranch? You’re a doctor? Well, you are s***. Some people will not be happy unless 100% of jobs are in a factory somewhere. (Oddly, I think we are big enough to where we should be doing…everything, and doing it well. Which we can, because this IS America.)
2) missing: the educational system sucks, and our manufacturing is high end. Companies cannot hire people who can’t do algebra but can identify 5000 genders with their associated pronouns. And state/local governments in many places work hard to run off businesses with excessive taxation and regulation. (But businesses should shut up and endure anyway, because patriotism, right?)
3) A “living wage”? Tell me you’re a Marxist without telling me you’re a Marxist. Why don’t you DEFINE a “living wage”? With a NUMBER.

I’m sorry I couldn’t address this sooner but I work at night.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at September 04, 2023 09:13 PM (f0XAF)

131 The UniParty sold our asses out to China et al as part of the never-ending Marshall Plan where politico's sell us off and pocket the returns; we have cheap things, therefore, 'the cost of living' lowers even though it isn't true. Energy and food costs are as high as ever even though our borders remain open for the world to exploit.

In 2020 we had the highest purchasing power we ever had and now it is back to 2016 and before: Govt induced inflation is high so we raise the welfare benefits and on it goes while the middle class gets destroyed. That is the goal of both parties.

Posted by: Danimal28 at September 04, 2023 09:24 PM (ryUqI)

132 Great post, Buck. Thank you.
“The way you can really tell elections are rigged is by how politicians run for office. They used to promise goodies to get your vote. They no longer do.” Shack, notsothoreau. They don’t cuz they don’t have to with rigged “elections”. Elections is really no longer a useful word. We need to call them something else.

Posted by: FINGERS at September 05, 2023 12:01 AM (C8ve7)

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