in its current form," Lincoln told those gathered for the luncheon at the governor's mansion. "I may not have said that as clearly before, but I'm saying it now." ... "It is one of those issues that creates great division, as well as distraction, at a time when we need all hands on deck," Lincoln said. [...] "We need workers and we need business at the table, if we're going to put this economy back on track, and I don't think the discussion on the Employee Free Choice Act has helped us do that."
Depending on your point of view, the Employee Free Choice Act either heralds the inspired and long-overdue recognition of the rights of American workers or the advent of the socialist apocalypse. Propaganda and spin being what they are, both sides of this argument have worked furiously to plant their arguments into the minds of the American Sheeple. All that aside, though, what really is so wrong and horribly evil with protecting the rights of American workers from those who would exploit them? And why have so many of our political "leaders" convinced themselves that EFCA is little more than a gateway drug leading directly to...GASP!!...socialism?
I can understand the interests of Republicans. After all, most of those folks will drop trou and grab the Astroglide whenever Big Business arches their collective eyebrows. Now a Democratic senator from Wal-Mart Arkansas, is doing the same thing. Republicans tend to hold the contracts and financial compensation of Wall Street to be sacrosanct...while simultaneously and conspicuously refusing to apply the same standard to working Americans. That a Democrat has now swallowed the KoolAid only serves to demonstrate that Democrats still need to grow a pair.
Of course, business interests donate far more money to politicians than working men and women, and businesses don't donate without at least an implied expectation of a quid pro quo. No one can deny that Congress isn't the best legislature money can buy. It would nice to think that Republicans (and now Democrats) in Congress could recognize that American workers are every bit as deserving of special consideration as business interests are.
Notably, Lincoln waited until after Vice President Biden helped her raise $800,000 before announcing her opposition to a piece of legislation that both Biden and Obama strongly support.
The sad thing is that it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell Republicans from "moderate" Democrats. Most of these "Conservadems" or "Blue Dogs"...or as I prefer to call them, "(&^%$#@ cowards", are far more concerned with their own narrow self-interest than the interests of those they were elected to represent. Where were these folks on November 4th, when it became clear that this nation was demanding change? Where was Blanche Lincoln? In Wal-Mart's corporate office with a pair of knee pads and a tube of Astroglide? Why else would Lincoln have so little interest in and commitment to the interests of her middle class constituents...you know, the ones who sent her to Washington in the first place?
The reality is that all politicians revere the middle class...when they need their votes to ensure their re-election to their cushy sinecure. One Election Day passes, the not-so-coded message to working men and women is, to quote Dick Cheney, "Go (&^% yourself." Sure, the middle class votes, but money is still the mother's milk of politics...and what better way to ensure your supply than by sucking at the corporate teat?
I can understand Republicans demonstrating their long-standing and abiding hatred of the American middle class. I think we've all become inured to that nonsense. That a Democrat would fall prey to the same twisted self-interest and abject distaste for the very people they represent is disturbing beyond measure. That she would be so open in her exploitation of the President and Vice-President is unforgivable.
I can only hope that there's a reserved parking space in Hell with Blanche Lincoln's name on it.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
