Unions Fix an Underlying Problem Affordability and Tax-The-Rich Can’t
“Affordability” is the hot topic among Democrats and both that and tax-the-rich efforts can help, but unions do something more. Whereas affordability and tax-the-rich plans bandage over the underlying problem, unions actually fix it. Fix the problem of the excessive influence of the top relative to everyone else.
The nation and economy are not focused on the well-being of the bulk of the people as the top goal. That is because of the endless problem of wealth and power warping things. Within the American experience, though, we have had times of being better at pushing back.
Affordability policies should be a piece of the economic improvement but they don’t change the fundamental system. On housing for instance there could be revisions of zoning and red tape to improve availability. There could be many such steps but they are just a way to help people get by who are having a hard time getting by because the system is warped against them. They help but don’t solve that underlying problem.
Tax-the-rich policies are similar. The rich should be taxed more but then the money ends up with federal and state legislatures which might use it to help people. Maybe, maybe not. Whether that comes as free childcare or a bigger tax return, it’s the government saying, “You’re not doing well because the system is against you, so here’s a little something to soften that”. For one, that could change with the next administration. For another it’s probably not enough, just a little to take the edge off. Most importantly it doesn’t change the status. You are someone who is somewhat oppressed and the big entity that can sometimes be helpful, government, will deign to help you a little.
Unions and collective bargaining and similar systems help people, but they do that by changing their leverage. Changing the fundamental dynamic from big, powerful entities pushing people around, to something closer to two powerful entities, the companies and the unions, who must negotiate to middle ground because neither has absolute sway.
It not only makes that happen, it makes a statement, that people are not to be pushed around, that the system has to give them their fair due.
You may not even be aware that it makes that statement if for instance people where you work unionized, but knowing you’re now part of a union would change your outlook. Change from feeling like a peon at the mercy of the company, to an equal player as part of a union that can ensure fair treatment. Even if your employer treats employees well, or at least you well, that’s almost a gift. It’s not guaranteed. It could change on a whim if there are new owners. With a union you’re not treated well because the company feels generous. You’re treated well because you deserve to be and have the leverage to make sure that happens even when company owners don’t feel generous. The fundamental situation is different.
It’s not that unions are such great things in themselves, it is that change in the dynamic that is great. Unions happen to be one well-known, well used structure that could be greatly expanded.
Unions in work places or across industries only achieve that leveling up of leverage in work places, while the same kind of leveling up needs to happen across politics and policies and the entire system. But they are a step in that direction. They help us realize that we can have leverage. They break the seemingly invincible aura of the wealthy and powerful. They create some momentum, some expectation, that similar results should happen in other parts of the system.
The key thing here is that people need this outlook. You, need this outlook. With the right changes it is possible to make the system much more that way. We’ve never made it perfect but we have come closer to it at times in the past.
So what are we waiting for now? Well, first of all, for you, and for Democratic leadership, to really get that distinction. Affordability programs and tax-the-rich should be part of the plan but raising up this distinction to be the key issue is so important nothing else matters. Or at least everything else follows after that. Changing that fundamental dynamic is the only thing that actually fixes the problem rather than just hiding it under a little help.
Democratic candidates who make it clear and believable that they absolutely will not relent on that key issue would likely attract overwhelming and surprising support, even from recent Republican voters. That could start a time of, not just Democrats winning votes for a while, but of significant change that would be good for people. Which in turn would situate Democrats to be the leading party for years, or even decades. That’s what happened the last time after they created such people-focused systemic changes. They held decades as the leading party in Congress brought about by their creation of the New Deal era.
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