The weakening of Unions has fucked with the Democratic Party and its historic support [View all]

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of working class people.

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No, the problem is that the Democratic Party lacks an institutional counterweight to the loud voices of wealthy donors and power brokers. There are unions, but they are weak, made brittle by declining membership and a new wave of “right-to-work” laws meant to undermine unions’ ability to represent all workers in a shop, eroding their viability. And while there are other groups that advocate for progressive economic policy and solutions to inequality, there’s no real substitute for unions and their broad influence among workers, activists, and lawmakers.

Yes, unions were rough and unpolished, often hidebound and prone to corruption. But they were also a broad force for the interests of working- and middle-class Americans. They organized, advocated, and pressured Democrats from the left, acting against the corporate and financial interests that hold a large say in Washington. Their decline doesn’t just correspond with the twilight of the social democratic vision in American politics—from the New Deal to the Great Society—it also corresponds with the overall decline of middle-class fortunes.

There is no balance of economic and political power. Instead, we have corporate dominance with modest resistance from the remnants of organized labor. As such, not only is it difficult to create periods of progressive change—it took eight years of disaster and an economic crisis to create the conditions for 2008—but it’s almost impossible to sustain them: The most productive period of Obama’s presidency lasted two years. Since then, it’s been defensive actions, rear-guard retreats, and the occasionally successful skirmish.

Liberals want the Democratic Party to be an effective vehicle for economic liberalism. But without a countervailing force to challenge business interests and support the left over the long term—beyond the occasional insurgent candidacy in a presidential campaign—there’s little hope for change.


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http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/03/republicans_and_democrats_won_t_do_anything_to_fix_inequality_don_t_expect.html