In The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, New York, 1993(1962), p. 88), James Baldwin writes: People are not, for example, terribly anxious to be equal…but they love the idea of being superior. And this human truth has an especially grinding force here [in America], where identity is almost impossible to achieve and people are perpetually attemptingContinue reading “James Baldwin On The Non-Existence Of The American Worker”
Tag Archives: Wisconsin recall
Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’
Scott Walker is well on his way to destroying one of the finest systems of public education in this country. Those who cheered his attack on public sector unions will cheer this move on too: it has everything they want. A repeal of tenure, destruction of faculty governance, budget slashing, more power to university administrators.Continue reading “Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’”
Misery Needs Company, Contd.
Misery Needs Company, Part Deux prompted a series of useful comments from readers Melon, Dan K., and JR. I’m going to respond here to a central thread therein. As Dan K. asks, ‘Are luxurious union contracts contributing in a significant way to our economic problems’? (By ‘economic problems,’ I presume state budgets like Wisconsin’s are atContinue reading “Misery Needs Company, Contd.”
Misery Needs Company, Part Deux: Scapegoating Unions
Reader JR left an interesting comment yesterday, responding to my post ‘Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions.’ Rather than excerpt it here and respond piecemeal, I’m going to just write a few thoughts prompted by it. (Please do read the comment in full.) There are, I think, two points that are being conflatedContinue reading “Misery Needs Company, Part Deux: Scapegoating Unions”
Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions
In the midst of a Facebook discussion about the possible reasons for Scott Walker’s victory in Wisconsin, a participant stated, [T]here is an incredible amount of hostility towards Unions, and a unique hostility towards Public-Sector Unions. If you look at what the Unions were fighting for it’s very hard for a private sector employee toContinue reading “Misery Needs Company: The American Worker’s Hostility Toward Unions”