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You want to know why jobs and pensions are gone?
Because you fell for the oldest trick in the book. You’ve been flim flamed, you’ve been bamboozled, hood winked, run amok. You let wealthy, white Men Like Trump convince you two lies were truths.
Lie #1:
That you have the potential to be part of their exclusive club (white or close enough, check the paper bag by the door) so naturally, if you work hard enough you’ll be as rich as they are someday. Newsflash: it ain’t gonna happen. There is no meritocracy. No boot straps even if you owned a pair of boots. The sad fact is a child born in poverty in the United States will most likely remain poor. Men Like Trump made their money the old fashioned way. They inherited it. So it follows that because you see yourself as a Millionaire-in-Waiting, you believe “Big Government” will take all your hard earned Capital Gains money to spend on extravagances like repaving roads, fixing crumbling schools & repairing 100 year old bridges. And impose far too many pesky regulations that infringe upon your God Given Right to eat spoiled food, drink polluted water and breathe foul air. (It’s okay to regulate bedrooms, vaginas & restrooms though) Remember when Mitt Romney got caught throwing shade at 47% of Americans at that fundraiser? Hate to break it to you, that’s what Men Like Trump think of you. You’ll never be in their Club.
Lie#2:
Minorities (not white, failed paper bag test) are your enemies. When in fact, you have much more in common with folks on your own socioeconomic level, regardless of race then others of your same race at a higher strata. (I can cite, but I’m not gonna, sue me) You’d realize the importance of unity among those with shared economic interests if you took your head out of your ass long enough to see the Shell Game Men Like Trump are playing. But alas, critical thinking wouldn’t make you a good Cats Paw or Attack Dog to run interference while Men Like Trump further their own agendas while enriching themselves at your expense. The engine for (legal) upward mobility for the “working class” historically in this country were, you guessed it –
Unions.
Unions were only levers Labor had against Management to increase wages & gain benefits, improve workplace safety and working conditions and protect pensions owed for decades of work. You worked a Union shop? You paid your dues. The members vote strike? You strike. Your a member in good standing? They took care of you and your family while you walked the picket line. Meanwhile, the Union leadership hired lawyers and through the collective bargaining process you got a new contract members voted on. You went back to work with no fear of reprisal. It was democracy in action. You helped Men Like Trump gut Labor Unions.
Men Like Trump are great at creating jobs, just not in this country.
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Men like Trump convinced you that it would be a bad idea to increase existing Unions or for Non-Union workplaces to Unionize. Power only cedes to power. The threat of a Strikes impact on a Company’s Quarterly reports were the only thing Men Like Trump feared. It hung over their heads like the Sword of Damocles. You gave them away. Even better, Men Like Trump “allowed” you to vote on “Right To Work” initiatives on your states ballots. (New employees weren’t forced to pay Union dues) Collective Bargaining was only effective if you had strong Union support. No dues? No new members? No lawyers. No compensation walking the line. Red States overwhelmingly voted for Right To Work Unions, already weekend withered on the vine.
Today, employment numbers are up but only part time jobs are available after The Great Recession ( Don’t get me started on that) You pull Organized Labors teeth and wonder why Management treats you like garbage? Men Like Trump didn’t have to do much to make you give away over 100 plus years of hard fought gains Organized Labor carved out for American workers. Here’s what Labor Unions fought for, that you gave away-
- Five Day Work Week,
- Lunch Breaks,
- Paid Vacation,
- Sick Days,
- The Eight Hour Work Day,
- Safety Regulations,
- First Child Labor Laws,
- Time 1/2 for Overtime.
These and other very common sense perks were all given away on the pretense that companies couldn’t keep doors open or afford them. So you gave it all back. Then, once you killed your own Labor Unions, they closed up shop and re opened overseas anyway. Or filed for Bankruptcy (Men Like Trump love Bankruptcy) and have the courts get them off the hook for paying your pension your family was counting on. They even convinced you that a business paying a living wage was akin to robbing small business owners blind. While it’s ok for you to subsidize Wal Mart workers who need public assistance and health care from the state to make ends meet. Make me understand how increasing the minimum wage of a working poor household, who will inevitably spend this extra money locally on food and durable goods which help the economy to the benefit of all, is a bad thing? I’ll wait.
If you really want to support this man who am I to stop you?
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Men Like Trump are great at creating jobs, just not in this country. Now, I get it. You’re angry. You have every right to be. If I were a white man and I couldn’t make it in America of all places? I’d be angry too. Angry enough I might even listen to a “straight shooter” who tells me I’m blameless for my circumstance and somehow America is sick and he has the magic elixir to make America well like some Medicine Show huckster. I might be angry enough to vote for a “self made” millionaire I’ve seen on TV for years who relishes to tell people the one thing most non reptilian employers dread to tell an employee, “we have to let you go.” Oh, sorry YOU’RE FIRED! And adapts the persona of what a weak man thinks is strength. But, I could never stomach a person let alone a Presidential candidate, that can only either creepily sexualize any woman he finds attractive, (even his own daughter) or demean, degrade and ridicule the ones he doesn’t or don’t agree with him. If you’ve read this far your hackles are up, ready to lash out. I don’t know Donald Trump like you do.
You’re right. Maybe I’ve got no idea what I’m talking about. Maybe I’m just another liberal douchebag banging on random keys who hates America, maybe I somehow hurt your feelings? Or maybe, I’ve got a point and despite your distain for the messenger, the message on some level rings true to you? You may be full of righteous indignation. But before you upset your wife or girlfriend and stay up too late because “someone is wrong on the Internet” and you must set me straight with citations and web links and Trumps policy plans. Listen to her, go to bed. Sleep the sleep of the just. I’m not going to change your mind and you certainly won’t change mine.
If you really want to support this man who am I to stop you?
I just think it’s prudent to be careful what you wish for.
Not your Enemy, A Fellow American
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Photo: Getty Images
Well done you!