On Being A Progressive

From a document in 1912, for pity's sake. And we're still fighting for lots of, most of these things.

I'm a "Progressive" and this is what we stand for (from a 1912 document)

-Effective legislation looking to the prevention of industrial accidents, occupational diseases, overwork, involuntary unemployment, and other injurious effects incident to modern industry;

-The fixing of minimum safety and health standards for the various occupations, and the exercise of the public authority of State and Nation, including the Federal Control over interstate commerce, and the taxing power, to maintain such standards;

-The prohibition of child labor;

-Minimum wage standards for working women, to provide a “living wage” in all industrial occupations;

-The general prohibition of night work for women and the establishment of an eight hour day for women and young persons;

-One day’s rest in seven for all wage workers;

-The eight hour day in continuous twenty-four hour industries;

-The abolition of the convict contract labor system;

-Standards of compensation for death by industrial accident and injury and trade disease which will transfer the burden of lost earnings from the families of working people to the industry, and thus to the community;

-The protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use;

-The development of the creative labor power of America by lifting the last load of illiteracy from American youth and establishing continuation schools for industrial education under public control and encouraging agricultural education and demonstration in rural schools;

-We favor the organization of the workers, men and women, as a means of protecting their interests and of promoting their progress.

How long, America? How long?

Republicans? The question to you, specifically.

Flirting with disaster

So the Repugs threw the Big 3 car makers life line out after all.

For now.

I feel certain that W will come to their--and the carmakers--rescue.

They've got to.

For THEIR sake.

The last thing these Repugs and W want for more of their legacy is to have the demise of the US car industry on their doorstep, like I said yesterday.

The reason why I bring this up again today--other than the fact that it's big news--is because, yes, it happened just last evening but also because of what I didn't mention yesterday.

And that is that it is so painfully obvious that this is those same Repugs attempt to shut down the Labor Unions in Detroit and around the country.

That's what this is, to the largest extent, all about.

Sure, people like Richard Shelby and others can push for the automakers in their own backyards---even though they're, shhhhhh, FOREIGN AUTO COMPANIES.

But they can--and are--going against the Unions, singlemindedly here, while also going against the entire American car industry and all their workers and suppliers. All 2 to 3 million of them out there in the country.

What's really galling about this is that the Repugs big upset was over the Union's refusal to further lower their pay, too.

What unmitigated nerve.

Where were the Repugs outrage, anger and incense over the Big Banks outrageous, multi-million dollar pay, bonus and benefits packages?

Answer: there never was any.

But now, all of a sudden, they want to kill a temporary loan package to one of the most widespread, national industries in the country, just because they think these "little guys", the average worker, these Union employees, won't take further pay cuts.

A pox on their houses, these Repugs.

Don't get me wrong. There's a great deal of truth to the fact that the executives at GM, Ford and Chrysler have been virtually off the charts stupid about running their companies. They should have been making smaller, higher mileage cars for a long time and a long time ago.

They also should have gone much further on making cleaner cars, especially GM, since they killed their electric car. (See the movie: "Who Killed the Electric Car?", menitoned in earlier entry).

I'm no big fan of Detroit, for sure, but taking down a whole industry so you can punish and bust the unions should go in the face of every worker in this country.

Rght this minute, as everyone knew it would, the Dow is down and headed who knows where lower today and the Repugs just don't care. They hate the Unions, they want to cut costs and if they can also help hurt them financially and in any other way, they'll do it, their own reputations and legacies be damned.

And the country, too.

Look at these headlines today, just now, off Reuters:

-Goldman slashes 2009 commodity price forecasts
-Bank of America to cut up to 35,000 jobs
-Retail sales drop for fifth straight month

On top of all this bad news right now, I repeat, the last thing the Repugs want--or need--is to be blamed for ruining an entire, large, multi-billion dollar manufacturing industry in the United States.

I bet W and the White House are paying attention to all this today.

Every once in a while they do.