Al From's group wanted a "bloodless revolution" in our Democratic Party.

[99th_Monkey]

57. That is quite an eye-opening piece of writing. You actually answered my question. Thank you.

Color me naive. My career trajectory never included a job where I belonged to a union, so most of I know about unions is from studying union history in grad school, here-say from friends who were in a union, movies and a few books here and there. I've always been a Democrat (except for a few brief periods of Green or Independent). I worked on Robert Kennedy's campaign in 2 states in 1968, knowing Kennedys were strong union supporters, and experienced first-hand a strong union organizing presence at the 1999 Seattle WTO protest. That said, I've never belonged to a union per se.

So, as you may imagine, I pretty much assumed a union was, well, a real union, except for the most obvious frauds, like Police "Unions" or notoriously corrupt ones like with Jimmy Hoffa. and so forth.

One of the most illuminating thing about this Primary season is how Bernie's candidacy has exposed a few dark corners of the Democratic Party, this being one of them. The DNC also comes to mind, as we're seeing them dodge and weave to subvert democratic processes within the party to heavily favor their hand-picked "preordained candidate. And, I don't think it's coincidental that it's been that way ever since Bill Clinton was president. Now you're helping me understand about the unions piece too, and why they seem so ineffectual, with some important exceptions I'm sure. But as I've already confessed, i'm largely ignorant about the present composition of unions, how authentic they are, etc. so I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, I sincerely thank you for your very informative post. I live in a Left Coast bubble -- and have most my life -- which definitely has it's upsides, but seeing clearly how the party and the union movement really operate in other parts of the country is not one of them. You've helped me with a blind-spot.