Union-Busting Southern Republicans

Let's be honest. The GOP (Greedy Old Party) has never been about workers, but only capital. In other words, they're fascists, pure, plain and simple. Billions for Wall Street, but not a dime for Main Street.
Here's a great quote from Robert L. Borosage at the Huffington Post:

What was the sticking point? It wasn't getting rid of the CEOs that drove the companies into the ditch. It wasn't forcing the creditors to cut their loans in exchange for stock, giving them a stake in the future. It wasn't accepting an auto czar to enforce the agreement and drive a transition to fuel efficient cars. That was agreed to. No, led by benighted Tennessee Senator Bob Corker -- known previously solely for his "call me" race bait campaign ad that helped him win election -- Republicans wanted to break the union, and punish the workers.

And why?

The South is emerging as a major player in the auto industry, but non-unionized. With plenty of new plants and more on the way, the Southern labor market is enjoying an unusual prosperity, and when it ain't raining, who needs a union.

In time, as the work force ages, and questions of retirement and medical benefits emerge, we will witness a new climate for unions. When this younger work force experiences the harshness of the corporate world - a world devoid of compassion, driven as it is by Wall Street, they will begin to ask, "Who will defend us after we defended the company? Who will go to bat for us after we've spent ourselves for them?"

We see this emerging with FedEx employees. There was a time when FedEx employees received the same wages as UPS (unionized), but with the slightest vagaries of the economy, wages and benefits have been stripped away like a child pulling leaves off a branch. Suddenly, a union looks pretty good, but it's an amazing story how the head of FedEx, Fred Smith, crafted the company in partnership with fascist elements in our government - I mean Repubs, and all those silly and foolish Reagan Dems - to make unionizing a very difficult process. A brilliant and evil man.

But the Teamsters are working hard in conjunction with local groups to come to the defense of the FedEx employee. Check out the work of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) and LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy).

The crudeness and callousness of corporate America is a poison in the American soul, and justice is the antidote.

I write this blog as a Christian, and I know that justice is the heart and soul of a living faith. A faith without justice, a faith that talks Jesus and fails to build a Jesus world is an imposter of the worst kind. Women and men of faith everywhere need to take up the cause of American workers, and workers around the world.

Perhaps there was a time private companies had some compassion for their workers, but that element is long gone in publicly traded corporations.

Sure, the auto companies made plenty of mistakes, but so did Wall Street, and no one clamored for wage concessions for Wall Street employees. Granted, some Republicans weren't too keen on bailing out Wall Street either, because core Republican philosophy is essentially Darwinian - survival of the fittest. While fighting Darwinism in the schools, the Repubs practice it economically with a passion.

Sure, poorly managed companies ought not to be rewarded, but a bailout for the auto industry isn't a reward, but a means by which a new industry might emerge, and new unions also, in partnership with a new government.

With a disdain appropriate to a medieval despot, Southern Republicans are throwing the north away - a final battle in their Civil War.

Lincoln was right: the economic philosophy of the South was corrupt, and it still is. Fascist to the core!

What with all the last-minutes rules emerging out of the twisted remains of the Bush Administration, the fascists are well on their way to adding their final flourish to the mess they've made. In their dash to the finish line, implementing more failed policies in a near-suicidal craze - like an insane lover - "If I can't her, you can't either."

Oh for a new vision of life, a vision of compassion and cooperation - recognizing the role of a real government, of the people, by the people and for the people.