Union members are one of the few demographics that stayed steadily Democratic which is one reason why increasing union membership is vital for the Democrats as well as for workers.
Union members are one of the few demographics that stayed steadily Democratic which is one reason why increasing union membership is vital for the Democrats as well as for workers.
I appreciate your analysis, especially its observation that many unions have grown moribund by centering themselves around a legal regime that appears to now be in exile.
To what extent do you perceive union support for Democrats as ultimately enabling the party’s disregard for working class interests? I wrote recently about how Democrats serving the interest of Wall Street ultimately paved the road for Trump by abandoning middle and working class voters. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/7-ways-democrats-made-donald-trump
Many helped put Trump back in office because the status quo ante under Obama, then Biden, had long been untenable for working families. Unions who enable corporate Democrats might ultimately undermine the interests of their own rank and file.
I say this having run for Congress as a Democrat to challenge a quintessential corporate Democrat and unabashedly corrupt oligarch enabled by unions more beholden to the party’s power structure than their own members or their economic interests.
Definitely an unhealthy relationship between the Democratic party and unions which I've written about previously. But I'd say that the long term decline of union power is what allowed the D party to slide into neoliberalism and not vice versa.
While labor participation has certainly declined from its historic high watermarks in previous eras, that alone doesn't explain the neoliberal co-optation of the Democratic Party.
Union members are one of the few demographics that stayed steadily Democratic which is one reason why increasing union membership is vital for the Democrats as well as for workers.
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/to-unfuck-politics-create-more-union
I appreciate your analysis, especially its observation that many unions have grown moribund by centering themselves around a legal regime that appears to now be in exile.
To what extent do you perceive union support for Democrats as ultimately enabling the party’s disregard for working class interests? I wrote recently about how Democrats serving the interest of Wall Street ultimately paved the road for Trump by abandoning middle and working class voters. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/7-ways-democrats-made-donald-trump
Many helped put Trump back in office because the status quo ante under Obama, then Biden, had long been untenable for working families. Unions who enable corporate Democrats might ultimately undermine the interests of their own rank and file.
I say this having run for Congress as a Democrat to challenge a quintessential corporate Democrat and unabashedly corrupt oligarch enabled by unions more beholden to the party’s power structure than their own members or their economic interests.
Definitely an unhealthy relationship between the Democratic party and unions which I've written about previously. But I'd say that the long term decline of union power is what allowed the D party to slide into neoliberalism and not vice versa.
While labor participation has certainly declined from its historic high watermarks in previous eras, that alone doesn't explain the neoliberal co-optation of the Democratic Party.
Clinton's historic betrayal of the working class reflected his ambition and willingness to sacrifice the interests of his supports for his own personal advancement, at least as much as any exogenous factors. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/fears-of-a-fascist-future-overlook
Biden followed a similar pattern when blocking rail workers from striking in 2022. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/i/137458997/corporate-democrats-embrace-political-theater-rather-than-solidarity
I had thought the opposite...but yeah that scans...