Yesterday I got involved in a pie fight and flame war with an anti Obama Kossack and the main cause was a thought I had about unions. Not the concept, which I support fully but certain elements within them. The fact is there are many progressives, particularly GLBT and African American, who have been treated disrespectfully by old guard macho types who view gays and minorities as something they put up with. There are many examples of this, but this diary may go a ways to explain why WI did not pull through like we hoped, and why OH is splintering.
Now the following is just my experience, but is not unusual.
For many years I've worked at various levels of field operations in Democratic campaigns from Gephardt to Clinton to Gore to Obama, I have been involved and have done my best to ensure progressive majorities and fair labor standards. However, on multiple occasions I have dealt with abusive, racist, and anti-immigrant members of labor unions and while not any where near the majority, they represent a sizable enough minority that I can explain what is going on in Wisconsin and other places. In 2008, I canvassed with several union members, I also canvassed with several progressives, the two are not one in the same. The progressives by and large had a broader world view, were more concerned about the environment and equal rights. The unions were concerned primarily about economic populist issues. On more than one occasion, one particular member of the UAW, asked me if I was going out, meaning to canvas, with that (British Cigarette). Each time I was taken aback and each time he responded with It's their fault we lost in 2004, you know, another worker, a woman referred to "Blacks is someone we need on election day, other than that I try to stay away". This has happened in every campaign. There is a growing social conservative, even nativist streak in the Midwestern trade unions and some in the Northeast. After Wisconsin, I spoke with a couple of my friends from Madison, who were Badgers, and they said the process had been disheartening because many young progressives, who trend what some may call hipster or urbane, were getting poor response from blue collar neighborhoods.
In a chat I had with labor Democrats in Missouri, I heard a man clearly talk about how (British Cigarettes) and N words were ruining the party. These aren't isolated experiences and I am fairly sure other people could come here and talk about their own misgivings, but do not because of fear of reprisal. Just yesterday a Kossack said that in order for him to fight for economic populism, he would not only be willing to throw the GLBT community under the bus, but do the driving. This school of thought is not rare, folks, the party base is splintering among racial and cultural lines. Now this post is not meant to divide, but to inform and to request a summit where we can hammer out our differences. Some won't like the dark truth I am exposing, many would prefer we bite our tongues and get through it until election day when we can go our separate ways. The problem is we can't. As the Tea Party just showed us, what we do in between elections is just as important as during elections. By always having this constant struggle, we almost always immediately disengage from the political process making turnout difficult and making utilization of our majorities harder. I must reiterate the sizable majority of trade union supporters have been respectful and good-hearted Americans, but this poisonous strain exists and seems to be growing, and they are undermining themselves. As the Democratic party shifts more social Libertarian, it is also shifting more economically neoliberal. For labor to regain it's clout, it needs us to support them, but for us to support them, they have to support us.
We can't cherry pick the issues we think will get us elected, in never works. We can't throw gays under the bus or Mexicans under the bus because it might get the blue collar white man to vote for us again. If the blue collar white is so short sided and foolish as to completely screw himself economically in order to protest multiculturalism or diversity, he or she deserves what they get. The problem is the rest of us don't. This issue has to be addressed. I support labor in all it's forms, both organized and non union. I stand by the worker at all times, without exception or reservation. But so that our party can be a respected majority with the clout to pass progressive legislation, I won't tolerate racism from the right or the left. I won't tolerate bigotry. All the labor legislation we could pass would be meaningless if we lacked the moral authority granted by decency. Don't look at a Mexican immigrant as a threat to take your job, look at him as a future union brother. Don't look at a gay man as the reason crotchety middle aged whites go ick and vote Republican. Look at him or her as an upstanding talented American who deserves 100% the rights that you do. I will get flamed for this, the old guard will hit me and I am prepared, because this needs to be out there and it needs to be resolved. We have no chance to unite a country if we are unable to unite ourselves.