"Rooting for the underdog—having empathy for the “little guy”—has always been presented as a component of our national character. But that empathy seems to be sorely lacking today. And nowhere is it more apparent than in the public’s understanding and appreciation of labor unions. Instead of cheering for the “little guy”—the working man and woman trying to make a decent living—the public is now unabashedly cheering for the gargantuan corporations who pull the strings.
Instead of being alarmed by the fact that private sector union membership has dwindled to less than 7-percent you now find people who rejoice when they hear of a labor union getting its butt kicked. When word of a huge, multinational corporation like Boeing beating down its union workers reaches the man on the street—a man making a modest wage and hanging on to diminishing benefits—he nods in approval, pleased that these union guys have gotten their comeuppance.
One of the most absurd complaints you hear about unions is that they are “too powerful.” Really? With nearly 90-percent of our jobs being non-union, with company profits at an all-time high, with union contracts being dismantled, with membership dropping, how in God’s name can anyone believe unions are too powerful?? That has to be the greatest propaganda victory in history.
If the Bible were written today, that fight in the Valley of Elah would have a different slant. It would be the heavily favored, corporate-sponsored Philistine giant, Goliath, against David, a union member. As the men battled, the audience would be cheering for the guy with the biggest muscles and the most resources. “Kill the little bastard!”
Abridged from here
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