AMERICAN WORKERS

America has always hated its workers. Since the Industrial Revolution, when our economy turned from agriculture to industry, the workers have been hated and reviled. Throughout the 19th century, mines and factories locked in their employees and forced them to work 12 and 14 hours a day for peanuts. We had factories that had children eight years old working for almost nothing.

When the workers would strike they would be assaulted by company goons, who were aided by the police, the military, and vigilantes. Our labor history is bloody. Nothing changed within industry until Franklin D Roosevelt's second term in 1936, when the labor unions finally took a step up on the ladder.

Leaders like John L. Lewis of the miners and Walter Reuther of the autos started to exert pressure on the Democratic Party. The unions formed the CIO for industry and the AFL for construction. When I was a kid, The unions were the cojones of the Democratic Party. They were tough, and they had the scars to prove it. In 1956, the CIO and the AFL joined, and that lasted until the present day. They are no longer united. Divided we fall.

As the unions fade into history, the sweatshops will be coming back. WalMart is showing the way. Without the tough union people, the Democratic Party is a joke because it has no guts. Democratic senators are noted only by their apologies to Republicans -- criminals who should be in jail. Demos need some toughies. Women are okay but they must be Bella Absugs. The demos should filibuster every bill or nominee who's antiethical to workers, and they should filibuster and shut the senate down every time it needs to shut down.

They must be down and dirty.

Don Phelps