Obama Levels Cheap Shot At Unions - Again

[Fumesucker]

296. Where I live the perception is that you get a union job by being related to or knowing someone

And I don't think that perception is entirely unjustified, I've seen it happen in my own family my brother got a union job because of who he knows. Too bad for him he's not physically able any more to maintain the pace required in that particular job although he's on formal hiatus with the union until he gets a hip replacement at which point he might go back. A former son in law of mine and the father of some of my grandkids is a union member who gleefully told me he "voted for anyone with an R by their name". A nephew also is a union member and I know for sure both he and his wife vote Republican.

Some poor schlub making minimum wage or a bit more isn't going to be particularly sympathetic when he loses that job because the transit union is on strike to make more money when they already make a lot more than he has ever made. His employer doesn't care why he doesn't show up on time or even at all, he's not there when scheduled and they can always find someone that can make it.

I think the unions have been their own worst enemies in quite a few ways, I already mentioned beating up anti-war protesters, that turned off a lot of young men of my generation. Frankly from where I sit union members do come across as arrogant and overpaid a lot of the time and far too many union members vote Republican for cultural reasons on things like guns and abortion (nephew is one of those). I suspect that a lot of the Reagan Democrats were union, I remember arguing with them about him back in the day. You might recall that Reagan was actually president of a union for a while and he was endorsed by PATCO, which union he eventually broke by firing all of them.

You'll never get the upper middle class non-union types to support unions but unions are managing to thoroughly alienate the poor and lower middle class too with some of the things they do. As an older white guy living in the deep South it would be so much easier for me socially if I were to just go with the flow and be a conservative or at least just nod my head and go along when the conservatives start spouting their crap. Then I come on DU and get called a "brogressive" or some other insulting damn name if I mention economic justice. If the next 19 or however many months there are to the election are going to be like the last few I think I may to have to find somewhere else to hang out online, I'm getting really tired of catching shit both in real life and on DU.

There are a lot of DUers I like but the atmosphere here has been sucky for a long time and is getting rapidly worse, the only thing that keeps me here now really is habit.