Do You Know ALEC ?

 Do you know ALEC ? It's not the name of a person. ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council an organization bills itself as the nation's largest nonpartisan, voluntary, membership organization of state legislators devoted to limited government, free markets, and federalism according to the group's website. Founded in 1973 the current CEO is Lisa B. Nelson, and by it's own account ALEC claims a quarter of state legislators as members. Okay so what's the problem ? ALEC is a secretive right leaning group that brings together legislators with big money business interests to write model legislation that can be introduced and passed into law in any state word for word. 

Legislators connected to ALEC meet with business representatives in task forces to draft bills that are then approved by members and the board. States like West Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Montana, Kansas, and Arizona according to the Brookings Institute have been the leaders in ALEC related activity. Brookings further notes that 57% of those sponsoring ALEC legislation are group members, and they are 90% Republican. Furthermore, working at the state level ALEC has got 9% of its legislation passed compared to Congress where only 2% of legislation introduced passes. 

What kinds of legislation are based on ALEC models? 

1. Laws that require local authorities to enforce Federal immigration laws like taking illegal immigrants into custody. These laws allow private citizens to take local governments to court if they don't think officials are complying with the law. They also make hiring illegal immigrants a criminal offense. 

2. Preventing local governments from restricting ownership of firearms or taking makers of guns, ammo, trade associations, or dealers to court. 

3. Shielding corporations from product liability lawsuits and adopting a presumption in their favor if companies if it can be shown to comply with government standards. 

4. Limiting class action lawsuits by individuals by barring monetary damages or bringing suits with plaintiffs from other states. 

ALEC has also been responsible for anti-immigrant legislation and Stand Your Ground Laws that many believe made it easier for George Zimmerman a neighborhood watch member to kill a black teenager named Trayvon Martin and later be acquitted at trial after police didn't initially arrest Zimmerman, a white Hispanic man, after the shooting happened. 

The organization lost corporate backers like Wal Mart, McDonald's, and General Electric it is believed in connection with the group's efforts to advance that legislation. However companies like Altria ( formerly Phillip Morris); American Electric Power, and Anheuser Busch remain tied to ALEC. Oil companies like Chevron and Marathon and pharmaceutical manufacturuers like Eli Lilly also partner with ALEC. They pay thousands of dollars to be ALEC members and rightwing foundations like the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation have given the organization millions of dollars over the years. 

Our economy is grossly unequal with the middle class struggling to maintain its standard of living while most poor people will never move up the ladder no matter how hard they try. At the same time climate change threatens everyone everywhere. But none of this is natural or inevitable. In the early 1970s rightwing activists and politicians who opposed social changes and struggles around civil rights and gender equality aligned with corporate interests to cut regulations, taxes, and break unions. They grew powerful together through all kinds of advocacy groups and think tanks changing laws and public policies making the economy less equal and livable than it had been for years after the Second World War. This is when ALEC was founded, and it is how the group became so influential.  

The American Legislative Exchange Council advances the interests of monied corporations at the expense of people and their communities. They bring together elected officials and commercial interests who are not accountable to voters where there is no debate or compromise doing things in secret so there is no transparency either. None of this democratic and our collective wellbeing suffers as a result. This is why we don't get paid family leave, reduced carbon emissions, a livable minimum wage, or a fair tax system despite the fact most people want these things. Americans don't trust politicians because they are connected to the rich and powerful, and whether we choose to admit it or not our country is headed towards plutocracy because of groups like ALEC. If we don't organize and challenge them, we will be less free and a lot poorer. 

Sources 

The American Legislative Exchange Council is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism
LEARN MORE

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/alecs-influence-over-lawmaking-in-state-legislatures/

ALEC’s Influence over Lawmaking in State Legislatures | Brookings

https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/how-the-american-legislative-exchange-council-turns-disinformation-into-law/

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It's Not Just Trump Conservatives Are Wrong

 Critics of former President Donald Trump along with the political pundits and media continue to claim his election in 2016 and Presidency broke conservatism, the Republican Party, and American politics. They say our society and political democracy were fine before Donald Trump came along and ruined everything. The establishment is wrong! Our economy hasn't benefitted working people for more than forty years. At the same we have not made nearly enough progress towards a free and equal society for all. Conservative politics is partly responsible for our problems. Not only has the political right undermined our economy in order to advance the interests of big corporations and the wealthy; conservatives have used racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia to mobilize their base. Trump didn't start any of this. He joined the Republican Right for power and glory. It's not just Trump conservatives are wrong. This has been the case for a long time.

Conservatives have been using race for years to get white votes. They made crime, welfare, and affirmative action race problems - things that threaten white people by pushing certain narratives. Black men are criminals who endanger white lives and property. This requires more money for law enforcement, long prison sentences, police racially profiling, stopping, and frisking any black man they see. There's the image of a black woman with multiple children getting cash, food stamps, housing, and healthcare from the government taking tax dollars from hardworking white people. Reagan popularized this notion of the " Welfare Queen" running for President in 1980 which began the conservative ascendancy in American politics. Affirmative Action that has been weakened by the Supreme Court and Voter Referendums in California and Texas gave lesser qualified blacks jobs and college admissions over better qualified whites according to conservative opponents. All this feeds resentment among whites.

Fast forward to 2021 now the problem is critical race theory in public schools. Critical Race theory was developed by academics especially the late Derrick Bell, a Harvard law professor, and others beginning in the 1970s. It posits the systemic racist nature of American law and public policy past and present. The theory has always been controversial within academia and was usually a graduate level university course. However, conservatives falsely claim it is being taught in history and social studies to elementary and high school kids. They claim it makes America and white people out as racists shaming white children. Conservative commentators and media pushed this idea in the aftermath of protests and racial unrest surrounding the killing of George Floyd setting off a populist backlash among white parents. It led to heated arguments and violence at local school board meetings across the country. Whites claimed their rights to control their children's education were being taken away. In the race for Governor of Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe by making this a central issue. 

However, the most dangerous idea coming from conservatives including Fox News personality Tucker Carlson is Great Replacement Theory. The idea is that nonwhites through immigration and higher birthrates are going to replace whites as the majority in America. This will mean less political power for white people. Furthermore, the political left and Democrats through open border policies are driving the trend to build their political base. Of course, this leads to fear and anger among whites who have turned to violence. The idea inspired Patrick Crusius to kill 23 Hispanic Americans in an El Paso Texas Walmart in 2019. More recently at the time of this post another white man armed with an assault rifle - Payton Gendron killed 10 black people in a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo New York. Both men posted online about the Great Replacement prior to the attacks. This politics of white resentment over changes that began with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s is motivated by ideology and opportunism. What's worse racists and political extremists usually on the fringe are becoming part of the mainstream thanks to the Republican Right. 

Xenophobia is closely tied racism on the political right too. Patrick Buchanan a former official in the Nixon Administration, television personality, and columnist was opposing both legal and illegal immigration claiming it would end American and Western Christian Civilization before Donald Trump even became a Republican. He even wrote a book The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization. Many people might forget Buchanan ran for President three times between 1992 and 2000. He failed to get the GOP nomination in 1992 and 1996 before running as the Reform Party candidate in 2000. Over the years Buchanan was fiercely critical of free trade too especially the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and globalism which he claimed destroyed American manufacturing and working-class people's lives. This combined with anti abortion social conservatism predated Donald Trump by two decades. For conservatives, especially whites. immigration is viewed with suspicion and hostility even if it's legal. Immigrants are associated with crime, job loss, and cultural change. For many people on the political right it's like they're "taking over." Donald Trump's brand of nationalist, xenophobic, populism is right where it belongs in the conservative Republican Party. 

While President Trump introduced a travel ban on Muslims after taking office in 2017 his right leaning Republican opponents appear hypocritical because Islamophobia is a political tool to engage their base before Trump came along. 

After the 9/11 terrorist attack Anti Islamic sentiment spread across the country and many conservatives helped spread the notion that Islam is synonymous with terrorism. Right wing commentators and activists pushed the idea as the US went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq billing it as a clash between the America and the Christian West versus the Islamic world. Many on the right claim that no Muslim can be a loyal American. By 2010 Anti Islamic groups with strong conservative ties were pushing anti Sharia Law legislation in numerous states with 201 bills proposed and 14 enacted including those in Texas and Arkansas. Supporters claimed the laws were needed to keep Sharia from being imposed on Americans. It didn't matter that nothing like that was happening. Sharia has to do with personal faith and living within Islam. It's rooted in the Quran and Sunnah (which are personal sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad). It has nothing to do with law in a legal sense. Muslims disagree about it's nature and application. Of course none of this mattered with activists wrongly claiming it subverts the American legal system. So if you think Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green's anti Muslim rhetoric and attacks on fellow representative Ilhan Omar are something new and you blame Donald Trump think again. This has been part of Conservatism for years.

The Supreme Court is likely to strike down Roe v. Wade in next few months in the greatest blow to gender equality yet. President Trump made the decisive move appointing three conservatives to the court Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney-Barret giving the Right a supermajority. But abortion rights were in peril anyway because of restrictions imposed by Republicans in the states. The court had enabled them to effectively regulate abortion out of existence with the 1989 decision Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. Whenever burdensome regulations blocked access to abortion the Federal and Supreme Courts upheld them because the judiciary is increasingly dominated by conservatives. Back in the 1990s Republicans began making the courts a political issue mobilizing their base to end legal abortion. Meanwhile Democrats especially liberals allowed this believing it was politically expedient to avoid controversial social issues. Conservatives through groups like the Federalist Society cultivate lawyers and judges indoctrinating them with ideology, legal, and policy ideas. The Federalist Society is linked up with right wing activists and politicians to get conservatives on the courts. Senate Republicans held up appointments to the Federal courts during the Obama administration including Merrick Garland's appointment to the Supreme Court after Justice Antonin Scalia's death in 2016. 

It's not just gender equality being eroded by conservatives. 

LGBTQ people have made some important strides in America especially after the Supreme Court ruled same sex marriage was a constitutional right in 2015. Maybe we all celebrated too early. Maybe some people thought the battle was over. It's not. LGBTQ persons lack basic protections from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations in 27 states. Also, Federal legislation - The Equality Act passed by the House of Representatives in 2019 is stalled in the Senate. The right to marry is not enough if you can't work, live, or patronize businesses like anyone else due to your sexual orientation or gender identity. Moreover conservatives at the state level are going after transgender people with a particular zeal. They have made school sports for girls a new culture war battlefield banning trans females from competing as girls. Like anything else the political right has made this an activist crusade among parents. Since 2019 12 states have passed bans. If that's not enough Texas is going after parents of trans youth as child abusers when they seek gender affirming care for their children. 

It's easy to be fixated on Donald Trump especially after he incited his followers to violently attack the US Capitol and overturn the 2020 Presidential election results. Trump is dangerous, but he is part of a reactionary conservatism filled with extremists who predate his political rise. Conservatism with its appeals to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and increasingly transphobia must be challenged and defeated. A free and livable America for all depends on that struggle. 

A More Effective Black Politics

 Senate Republicans are blocking police reform and voting rights legislation, and this isn't mere partisanship. It's racial. The Republican Right motivates its white base by equating black protests against police killings with being anti police. They portray themselves as proponents of law and order and supporters of police. Think about slogans like - Back the Blue and Blue Lives Matter. Meanwhile voting and election laws passed by Republicans at the state level burden or suppress black Democratic turnout. Moderate Democrats like Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona don't help either by not joining with other Democrats to end the filibuster. However, the failure to pass legislation important to blacks isn't just about Republicans or Democrats who enable them. We need a more effective black politics. Voting in elections and having black officeholders is not enough. Politics involves citizen engagement, organization, and messaging too. Some will say blacks are doing these things. But, we must do better. 

What's at stake in the Senate ? The George Floyd Police Reform Act makes it easier to get Federal convictions of law enforcement officers for reckless conduct. It limits the use of choke holds and No Knock Warrants as well. However it's most controversial provision limits qualified immunity for officers in private civil litigation. That may be it's biggest obstacle. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act would restore Federal pre clearance for states seeking to change voter and election laws if they routinely violate the 1965 Voter Rights Act. This is crucial because a 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder struck down Federal pre clearance for states with a history of racial discrimination in voting from changing their voting laws. The For The People Act passed by the House in 2019 bans partisan gerrymandering, makes election day a Federal holiday, and allows automatic registration when people get things like driver's licenses unless individuals opt out. With the protests last summer, and the growing recognition of systemic racism among many whites these bills are a good start. None of them are extreme as conservatives claim.

The same passion and energy that pushed street demonstrations all over America must be applied to getting legislation passed. Black voters should be making phone calls, texting, writing letters, and using online petitions to pressure Senate Democrats and President Biden on voting rights and police reform. If Democrats and Republicans can get together on infrastructure then legislation that advances racial justice and democracy should be possible too. Blacks should also put more pressure on corporate backers of both parties to get politicians moving on these reforms too. Above all blacks should remain engaged and prepared for a long hard struggle. Citizen engagement depends on black institutions that draw large groups of people together, allow pooling of resources, and are independent of whites. Think about churches, sororities, fraternities, and professional groups. Whether it's the National Baptist Convention or National Council of Negro Women such organizations can mobilize lots of blacks to fight for a political agenda. They can do voter awareness, registration, and lobbying. We need to realize that while Black Lives Matter has done an amazing job they are not the only group that can or should organize black people. We need a renewed commitment and revitalization of traditional groups like The NAACP and National Urban League. 

So much of politics is about messaging. Blacks need to be online, television, radio, and print creating awareness and motivating people to get involved in passing this legislation and other public policy solutions. Maybe I need to look harder. I have not seen anything anywhere about the George Floyd Police Reform Act, the John Lewis Voter Rights Act, or the For The People Act. Things happen or they don't and too many black people never know. White allies and those who might be persuaded to support our agenda are also ignorant and disengaged. Meanwhile those who oppose us along with the  mainstream media frame messages and discussions to our disadvantage. We need to be making race conscious appeals among blacks while playing to themes of freedom and democracy among whites. Mounting large scale media campaigns is expensive and difficult yet blacks should make the effort.

There are no guarantees in politics and democratic results are not always ideal. But politics is unavoidable. We need it if we are to overcome systemic racism and the economic inequalities that hurt all working people regardless of race. Apathy, cynicism, and disillusionment are understandable because it seems like most if not all white politicians and voters are against anything that significantly helps black people. But history has shown that if blacks take a stand there are whites and others willing to join us in making democracy work for our benefit.

Racism and The Idea of Individualism

 Individual freedom is what America is all about. You can do what you want and make the most of your life. Success or failure is in your hands. That's what we are told and most of us think it's how we live. While there is a lot of truth to all this some of it is a myth. Worse it almost never had anything to do with black people like me because of systemic racism. But I believe in the ideal while striving to make it more of a reality. How we talk about individualism in relation to race is problematic. The emphasis on individualism can be an evasion. It doesn't speak to blacks' experiences, it denies systemic racism, and hinders political discourse. Yet individualism still matters when discussing racism.

A narrow focus on individualism asserts that people are free with natural, or God given rights to do what they want with their person and property until they harm or impose upon others. In this case the only legitimate exercise of state authority is to prevent harm and keep individuals from imposing on each other. This kind of individualism leaves out some important things that make it difficult to discuss racism. Consider this - until 1865 black people were slaves and considered property by law. They were not viewed as equal in relation to whites. Their lives and labor were used for the benefit of slaveowners who believed that freedom and its emphasis on property rights entitled them to own slaves. Any interference with slavery was viewed as an attack on slaveowners individual liberty. We now find this ludicrous and view it as a great tragedy of American history. Yet the idea of noninterference and individualism didn't always apply to blacks. Sometimes it doesn't apply today. Despite guarantees of legal equality systemic racism makes a mockery of individualism. Think about policing that involves racial profiling or stop and frisk. No black person's individual rights are respected. Blacks are criminals. They are a threat. This thinking led to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police. 

At the same time people will argue that police killings and acts of discrimination are rare examples of racism. They are individual rather than social problems. Certain people are racist. Racist individuals commit microaggressions, join hate groups, and explicitly believe in White Supremacy. Such individuals are regarded as unreasonable and less educated. They are associated with the working class and those living in rural areas. This is the conventional wisdom in America. However, racism is a systemic problem. It is subtle yet pervasive. Covert discrimination and the disparate impact of seemingly neutral policies keep black people behind whites in almost every social and economic indicator. A narrow focus on individualism keeps us from discussing systemic racism because most whites don't identify with the system or society. They identify as individuals who haven't done anything to blacks.

Focusing on individualism can hinder our political discourse about race. People talk about color blindness and not seeing race. They argue racism everyone is or should be treated the same. There's a lot of emphasis on merit, competition, hard work, competence, and making good choices. Doing what's right and having certain personal qualities enables you to succeed. Most people would say these things are individual not racial. Some people make it while others do not. Whites and others who think this way don't want government involvement in the marketplace or social programs to achieve racial equality. These people tend to be politically conservative and sometimes moderate. However liberal minded whites are not always interested in addressing race either. Individualism and color blindness are important to them too for different reasons than conservatives. To liberals racism is a difficult and divisive political issue. White liberals want to win elections and advance their policy agenda. They don't want to lose white votes while addressing race or blacks' concerns. The renewed activist push against systemic racism by groups like Black Lives Matter troubles them. Black people demanding action as blacks not Americans is seen as identity politics by these liberals. They claim it denies the individual in favor of the group.  Calling white people and America racist is wrong and won't work anyway. Making race an issue puts whites on the defensive. They become racially conscious in opposition to blacks and anything that might help them. Liberals emphasize the importance of individualism and being American. They argue for good paying jobs, universal healthcare, and stopping climate change that benefit and unify all Americans are more important than systemic racism. 

Liberal and Conservative whites are often united in the belief that legal equality guaranteed by Civil Rights Laws and the decline in racist attitudes among whites means that inequalities are not due to discrimination or bias. Conservatives think blacks lack the cultural and behavioral characteristics to succeed as individuals in a competitive, market driven, society. They cite the decline of marriage and two parent black families. They also point to gun violence, drugs, and academic underachievement among blacks. Liberals look at the same problems claiming past racism has damaged individuals and created a kind of urban underclass. They point to the rise of a black middle class and successful individuals as signs of hope and progress. Individualism is the common denominator in both views of flawed blacks rather than systemic racism as the problem.  

Does any of this mean that individualism has no place in discussions of race? Is the notion of individualism racist? I think the answer is no to both questions. However, it is important to realize that racism in law, public policy, the marketplace, and social institutions interferes with individuals. It also denies them the choices associated with freedom. Black people have never been free or equal to whites as individuals because society has worked against us. Too often we talk about individualism in ways that deny this fact. When it comes to race whites want to talk about individualism outside any social or systemic context that gives it meaning or substance. This keeps us from doing anything about racism, and whites benefit collectively using the rhetoric of individualism while blacks as a group are denied and dismissed. White individuals come together in all kinds of common political pursuits related commerce, taxation, gun ownership, and religious conservatives. When it came to Slavery, legal segregation, opposition to forced busing, or affirmative action they come together consciously as whites not merely individuals. To criticize blacks for fighting against racism collectively and affirming our blackness is disingenuous and hypocritical. Groups banding together to fight for individual freedom made America. 

Confronting and solving the problem of racism goes beyond any high-minded sense of collective moral purpose. The freedom and wellbeing of every American is compromised by systemic racism. Mass incarceration and poverty mean ever increasing taxes for jails and safety nets. Wherever people can't trust the police because brutality and murder have broken that trust crime and unrest cannot be contained forever. Disparities in healthcare during a deadly pandemic puts us all in mortal danger. In these situations, we cannot talk about individuals as if the society they live in and the systems that impact them do not matter. The same thing is true about groups. Individualism is central to American identity as it should be. But it is only meaningful if understood in the proper context. This is especially true when talking about race.

Working People Don't Care About Economic Inequality

 Wage stagnation, decline, wealth, and income inequality don't mean anything to most working-class Americans. Even though it's real people don't blame the system for their struggles. They might say or think anything other than inequality is the problem. Some say life is not fair. Others blame themselves for bad choices or living beyond their means. Maybe somebody is just trying to screw them over. But they rarely consider an unfair and grossly unequal economy. None of this bodes well for the majority's economic wellbeing or freedom. Liberals and leftists need to understand why. 

If you spend enough time around working people, especially manual laborers paid by the hour, you quickly realize they don't think about wealth/ income inequality or the lack of living wages. Even if they struggle to make ends meet and worry about retirement people don't see this as a systemic problem. They know their wages aren't keeping pace with inflation, and they would appreciate a raise or bonus. However, they don't blame management, owners, or investors. They certainly don't think capitalism is a problem. For most working people the enemy is not rich people, corporations, or lobbyists. There is no class consciousness in the Marxist sense. For them government is the problem. It interferes, it's inefficient, and helps those who don't work. That's what people say. They view politicians as selfish and dishonest. Bureaucrats like the woman at the Department of Motor Vehicles or the man from the Internal Revenue Service who audits people's taxes are considered lazy and menacing.  Working people have a strongly negative reaction to them. People complain about the poor making bad choices and getting welfare like single parent mom. They can't stand the guy getting a disability check who they think isn't really disabled. People who work hard and pay taxes see both as taking advantage. 

Furthermore, people don't want to pay more taxes. Keeping your money and doing what you want is the American way.  They don't want rich people to pay more even if they can afford it. It comes off as punishing people for being successful. People say things like, " I wouldn't want them taking my money if I were rich either. " To an extent working people don't have a problem with the wealthy or corporations. At the same time unions have declined. The industrial economy that sustained them is gone. Right leaning Republicans at the state level and the Supreme Court have made it almost impossible for them to organize and collect dues. Even worse is the lack of concern and opposition among working people to organized labor. Workers think unions demand too much and run employers away. Union members are viewed as less productive too. There is also a certain affinity among working class people and small business especially local owners. Working people often start their own businesses. This kind of achievement is a source of pride and encouragement. It's about the " little guy  getting ahead" so working people side with them against taxes, unions, and regulation. This a kind of individualism is very American. Hard work and doing it yourself leads to success - something you feel good about. Wealth and Income inequality are not the issue here. Rich people and corporations create good paying jobs. Small business people are just trying to get ahead too. Government, taxes, and unions just get in the way of individual freedom for ordinary people. 

Wealth and Income inequality are inevitable in a free society. They reflect differences in skill, initiative, and risk. Inequalities reward creativity, innovation, and ambition where people are not interfered with and able to choose. In capitalism people work for others who profit from their labor. But there's often an imbalance of power in that relationship where those who own capital enrich themselves at the expense of fair, living, wages for workers. In this case economic inequalities become too large, and workers are not free like wealthy owners. This has been the case in America for more than four decades now. People see themselves as middle class, yet their wealth, income, status, and political power suggest otherwise. Millions of Americans regardless of race, gender, national origin, or immigration status don't have enough retirement savings, and they have massive credit card debt due to emergencies. They would be financially ruined by a job loss or missed work due to illness. All while they work hard and don't earn enough money. 

Changing this system is very difficult for three reasons. First, people don't believe we can or should rely on the democratic process. They see elected officials who are rich, famous, and powerful doing things they don't agree with. Politicians don't make things better. It's hard to believe things can be changed politically. Voters are skeptical of candidates who call for reform too. Second, we have been told the lie that reform is socialism. Government will own and control you and everything else. Regulated markets, welfare, and progressive taxation are falsely portrayed as socialist. People think of the former Soviet Union. It doesn't matter if a Democrat is moderate and business friendly they are labeled  leftwing socialist. Fear and hostility appeal to ordinary people already struggling. Third, we don't see the value of shared economic prosperity. Anyone who works hard and plays by the rules should be able to stay in the middle class. Poor people should be able to get into that middle class. There's nothing wrong with being rich either. In an economy where we all are striving the rich can't have all the gains while others live on the margin. Workers and owners alike should benefit from a growing, prosperous, economy.

Decent jobs that pay well make the difference between being poor or middle class. No free and democratic society is possible without that middle class. Right now our economy is too unequal, and nothing will change if working people don't care. It's not about getting rid of capitalism which radical leftists advocate. Conservative claims that intrusive government is trying to control everything and everybody are wrong too. The challenge for liberals is to make a compelling, concrete, case to working people for the need to restore balance.

Race and Conservatives

 Maybe it's not fair or accurate to say conservatism and it's adherents are racist. Racism certainly cuts across political boundaries and includes white liberals too. However conservatism is problematic because it denies systemic racism, it benefits from backlash politics, and it envisions an orderly and decent society that tolerates racism. While there is nothing racist in philosophical conservatism, it's easy to understand why conservatives are called racist because of what they do.

Conservatives deny systemic racism thinking it ended with the Civil Rights Movement. That was only a start. Overt racism and legal segregation are no longer a problem, but subtle racism is real. It's how systemic racism works. This racism that still holds black people back economically, socially, and politically. Things like stop and frisk are not isolated incidents. It's official policy for how black neighborhoods are policed. Black people with the same credit and income as whites still pay higher interest rates on a home mortgages. These things happen all the time because it's how society works. Conservatives blame blacks for racial inequality. They cite culture and behaviors like crime, violence, fatherlessness, the decline of marriage, lack of academic engagement, and government programs that discourage work. There was a time when these things were less problematic among blacks, and we were not fully free or equal then either. Racism and an unfair economy put black people in abnormal conditions. It's wrong to expect them to live healthy, normal, decent lives under those circumstances. Conservatives know better to suggest otherwise, but their politics depends on not blaming an society. 

Conservatives benefit from backlash politics appealing to white resentments and fears of racial equality. For some whites any progress by blacks is a threat. Conservatives knew this in the 1960s so they appealed to racism for political gain. They spread racist stereotypes about lazy black welfare recipients living off hard working whites' tax dollars and black criminals who threatened white lives and property. They did this despite the fact more whites get welfare than blacks, and blacks are more likely to commit crimes against other blacks than whites. Over the years this racial politics has become increasingly populist. The narrative goes like this - wealthy liberal elites in the media, entertainment, academia, technology, and government wrongly vilify working class whites as racists. The elites advance blacks at the expense of whites struggling to maintain their way of life and economic wellbeing. In this telling - busing destroyed white neighborhoods and schools in the name of forced integration. Affirmative Action took jobs and college admissions away from qualified whites in favor of unqualified blacks. Today these liberals preside over a global economy driven by technology, finance, free trade, and immigration that is destroying white jobs, communities, and culture. Meanwhile whites can't say or do anything without being labeled racist. At the same time blacks want reparations and to defund the police which liberals will gladly do. To these whites Donald Trump was a hero who fought back. He was their president. Trump was the man fighting the oppressive deep state and globalism that undermined ordinary decent white working Americans. It doesn't matter that Trump and other rich people along with corporate interests rigged the economy to lower their taxes, pay workers less, destroy unions. They play the stock market taking risks they can't afford, and get government bailouts when markets collapse. These same people give money to politicians in both parties who cut safety nets and regulations that benefit the people. Conservatives appeal to racism and white victimology while doing things that undermine whites economically and socially. Meanwhile blacks bear the burdens of racial discrimination and economic inequality.  

Conservatives opposed civil rights laws in the 1960s believing they were government overreach that threatened personal liberty and property rights. All the while they claimed to be against racism and believe all individuals should be equal before the law. What this did in effect was to prioritize the liberty and wellbeing of whites over blacks. It didn't matter to conservatives that legal segregation in the south and de facto racism in other parts of the country harmed blacks or deprived them of the equal right to liberty. And this situation would not work itself out. The stable, orderly, moral, society conservatives believe is essential to human wellbeing is for whites only. It allows injustice against blacks and depends on the goodwill of whites to voluntarily treat blacks better individually. But the government shouldn't do anything because that would be unfair to whites. Conservatives urge blacks to fix themselves morally and culturally. They must stop blaming white society or relying on liberal government to solve their problems. In this way conservatives let themselves and white America off the hook. 

A lot of conservatives are racist and those who aren't don't make things better. Conservatism is clear about what should be preserved, but it's never sure about what needs to change. This is especially true of systemic racism. Maybe it's just too much to expect conservatives to acknowledge racism. They have too much invested in the past and too much to lose in the present by changing their views. However they can't have it both ways. They can't deny racism and benefit from racial politics while claiming to be non racist. Conservatism is too important politically to go unchallenged regarding racism. 

Hard Times for Union Organizing

 Amazon warehouse workers at the company's Bessemer Alabama facility voted 1798 to 738 not join the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union after a year long organizing effort. Many observers said it was an uphill battle likely to fail because the workers were paid more than $15 per hour and had healthcare benefits already. But union officials blamed the company for unfair tactics. There were mandatory captive audience meetings where employees were forced to listen to anti union propaganda. Amazon barred workers from talking about the union and didn't allow organizers on company property. The RWDU may appeal the vote to the National Labor Relations Board. 

This is one of many big defeats for unions trying to organize workers. The retail giant Wal Mart has consistently thwarted union efforts to organize it's employees. The once powerful United Auto Workers has failed repeatedly to organize workers at foreign owned plants including Nissan at Canton Mississippi in 2017 and Volkswagen in Chattanooga Tennessee in 2019.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 10.8 % of all workers belong to a union in 2020. That includes 6.7% of all private sector workers and 34.8 % of all public employees. At it's height organized labor had 33% of all American workers in 1954. While the shift from a manufacturing to service economy along with free trade and globalization has cost millions of union jobs, the environment is less hospitable to organizing as well. Republicans have used their dominance of state governments to push through right to work laws in 27 states. These laws assure workers can't be required to join a union or pay dues. In 2011 Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin effectively stripped public employee unions of their bargaining power through a law that restricted their rights only to negotiating pay raises that could not exceed inflation, requiring unions to win a majority of eligible workers votes on contracts to keep their bargaining rights, and barring the union from requiring dues. Since that time membership in the state employees union and teachers belonging to the American Federation of Teachers have fallen by nearly half in Wisconsin according to the Washington Post. Even worse unions and activists successfully mobilized a recall election that failed to remove Walker in 2012. 

What about Democrats union's traditional allies ? Leading up to the 2009 Presidential election organized labor was pressing for the Employee Free Choice Act which among other things would allow workers to gain union recognition when a majority sign cards rather than voting in elections which unions claim can be swayed by employer intimidation. Barack Obama said he supported the act on the campaign trail. However once in office Obama backed off and did nothing. The legislation died in the Senate due to a Republican filibuster and opposition from some Democrats who were the majority. 

The conservative dominated Supreme Court has also made it harder on unions. In Janus v. AFSCME the court ruled that fair share laws and agreements requiring non union workers who benefit form union contracts to pay union dues are unconstitutional. This has undermined unions' main source of funding. 

Many workers do not support unions either. They think unionized labor is lazy and selfish. A lot of people feel lucky to have a job. Unions are viewed as anti business and hindering growth. In an individualistic country like the U.S many workers would rather go it alone. Others believe they can trust their employers to do the right thing when it comes to pay and benefits. More importantly workers worry that supporting a union will cause companies to move away. They don't want to lose jobs, pay, or benefits. This is especially true in poor and depressed communities. If people are making $ 15 per hour or a little more they don't want to risk joining a union. One observer said people depend on their employers for everything. They worry joining a union will antagonize the company. Intimidation and firings are a reality. Government enforcement of laws against this are lax. Besides there's nothing government can do when companies move away. People struggling to make ends meet know the realities. The Service Employees International Union has been able to organize some janitors and home care workers. However it's not enough. The gig economy, increased use of temporary workers, and classifying workers as independent contractors further complicates things. These workers lack all kinds of benefits and legal protections especially workers termed independent contractors and those in the gig economy.     

Some on the left including union officials believe labor must go beyond collective bargaining and organizing. They think unions must be part of broader struggles for social and economic justice. Issues like racism, supporting undocumented immigrants, and climate change should be taken up by organized labor. This may be happening already with groups like the Service Employees International Union through it's involvement with local campaigns to raise the Minimum Wage - The Fight for $15 per hour. If people know you care about things important to them they will support you in return. More importantly unions can be part of struggles for positive social change.

As long as there's capitalism unions will be necessary. Employers have the power to do whatever they want when workers are not organized, and unions check that power. Everything that makes work safe, decent, and good paying is the result of unions. Our economy is less equal, less livable, or prosperous for the average worker because of the decline and attack on organized labor. The survival of the middle class depends on strong unions.