I won't pretend to be the world's most full-throated defender of public sector unions. If I could trade ten points of union density in the private sector for ten points in the public sector, I'd take the trade in a heartbeat. But that is, obviously, not the trade on offer. Nor is what's happening in Wisconsin merely hard bargaining during tough economic times. That would be understandable. Rather, it's an effort to destroy one of the few institutions left that fights relentlessly for the economic interests of the middle class. That's why conservatives oppose unions of all kinds, both public and private, and regardless of their faults, that's why they deserve our support.Drum is echoing the ideas of Larry Bartels, recently expressed in his book Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. The basic idea is that organized labor was for a few decades after 1940 able to counter the influence of the wealthy and big business in Washington DC. With the decline of labor since the 1970s, the working class (read: the middle class) has been steadily losing ground in political debates. A pro-business, pro-wealthy political environment, where both parties try to curry favor with the rich and big business, is the result. The American middle class have very few politically influential organizations in their corner these days. The American poor have none.
“For the last year, as we’ve struggled to pass healthcare reform, we’ve been told that we have to pay for the bill – and the cost over the next decade will be about a trillion dollars. Now the President is being asked to consider an enlarged counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan, which proponents tell us will take at least a decade and would also cost about a trillion dollars. But unlike the healthcare bill, that would not be paid for. We believe that’s wrong,” said Obey. “Regardless of whether one favors the war or not, if it is to be fought, it ought to be paid for.”
