Gary Chaison Announces the Death of Union Political Power

Judged by the amount of post-election coverage in the Gray Lady today -- day #2 following the GOP blowout of the Dems -- I think it is dawning on liberals that the 2014 midterms are a turning point.

For some shallow handwringing from a Deep State liberal, there is Nicholas Kristof's "America's Broken Politics." The Gray Lady actually features a helpful unsigned editorial, "In Red and Blue States, Good Ideas Prevail: From Marijuana to Gun Control, Liberal Initiatives Passed," which provides a rundown of progressive ballot measures that passed on Election Day.

The elephant in the room isn't the GOP mascot. The elephant in the room is the failure of Democratic Party and organized labor to represent the interests of working people. Gary Chaison, a labor academic who is frequently quoted by the mainstream media, sums it all up in a letter that appears in today's paper.

To the Editor: 

Re “Walker Wins Re-election, and Keeps Hope for 2016” (news article, Nov. 5):
Can there be a more glaring sign of the loss of union political power than the election success of Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin? Here is a man who thumbed his nose at the unions in 2012, when he led his Republican state legislature to pass a law that greatly curtailed the activities of Wisconsin’s public worker unions. Mr. Walker survived a recall election and has just won a second term, which might lead to his running for president in 2016. 

In the future, when someone asks, “When did the unions finally lose their political clout?,” the answer will be: “In the 2014 midterm elections, when the unions’ nemesis, Scott Walker, won re-election.”

GARY CHAISON
Worcester, Mass., Nov. 5, 2014 

The writer is a professor of industrial relations at Clark University.

What needs to be done -- clearly -- is a move to a new electoral vehicle. Dump the party of Jackson. After two hundreds years it is time for it to collapse; it is too infested with bankers and stockjobbers and warpigs. Unions should lead the way, but they won't. That is why change is going to have to come from the environmental crowd and socialists. It looks like Obama might soon sign off on Keystone XL. Once he does that there will be a golden opportunity for a large bloc of progressive voters to vacate the Democratic Party. It is something that Bill McKibben should consider in addition to organizing marchers and sit-ins -- a new national political party that can field credible candidates.