The War on the Middle Class by the Middle Class

The recent move by the Republicans in Wisconsin to eliminate collective bargaining by government-paid employees (something that has worked in that state for the past 100 years) has brought to light a remarkable reality.

Conservative, middle-class Americans are supporting policies designed to destroy the middle class.

Note the objections: Unions are the cause of the economic woes of the nation. They are the reason for outsourcing. The reason health care costs are so high. Their unreasonable demands for benefits suck the government dry.

And yet, who are these bloodsucking union members? Teachers, custodians, police officers, nurses, firefighters -- the very heart of the middle class. These are in large part people with whom we entrust our lives.

Teachers and nurses are required, even before starting their profession, to go through at least six years of schooling, most or all of which they need to pay for themselves. Police officers and firefighters are required to go through specialized training designed to eliminate all but the finest of the candidates. They all are dedicated to their work, and routinely go beyond what is required of them in order to do the best job possible. This is the very definition of the middle class.

These are not people with large pensions, stock options, expensive cars, and luxurious homes. These are not people for whom the salary is the bottom line. Those things belong to the upper-middle and upper class, people who negotiate health care, supplemental insurance, stock, moving expenses, vacation time, severence packages, and parking spaces on condition of hiring. They belong to the people who manage stock portfolios, purchase multiple homes as tax shelters, complain about how expensive it is to take a nanny on vacation, and write a check in full for a new car.

And yet, listen to the non-union members of the middle class, and you would think I was describing union members. Who is it who doesn't like the unions? In large part, it is the corporate money managers who look at the benefits portion of an employee's compensation and see it as an easy place to find more profit for the stock holders. It is the businesses who resent safety regulations they consider optional. It is the wealthy who resent giving up even a penny of their millions.

Before you continue to condemn the other half of the middle class, non-union middle class, check your sources. Who is it telling you that the unions are so bad? What is their vested interest?

Look at Wisconsin, and you will see big-oil behind that assault.

Think about it. The corporations & the wealthy must love watching the middle class destroy itself. Are you really that eager to do their dirty  work?

On Being A 5th Grader

Yes, it does sound like this will be a guest column by a 5th grader.


Instead, it's my own commentary on having a 5th grader in the house. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Just tonight:

"Today Megan and I were working on something together. We heard someone going 'unngghh! Can't fart!' We turned and looked and it was Billy."

The other morning, there were tears about not wanting to wear glasses to school. It seems that there is a boy who teases her about wearing them. On this particular day, she was going with some classmates (not all) on a field trip. Why was she in tears? Because even though he wasn't going, some of his friends would be and "They will see me in my glasses and tell Evan!" It is a real issue -- this has been going on for some time, but this was the one day he wouldn't be there to see her wear them, and she was in tears.

We find ourselves telling her things like, "Boys are stupid." "Just tell someone who's mean, 'Knock it off,' like you do the dog." "No, you can't wear purple eyeshadow to school."

"I did a dog burp. It was kind of a silent one."

"No one has glasses and a retainer!"

"But everyone has an iPhone!"

Who knew it was so challenging being the big kids in school? I just don't remember 5th grade being this sensational. But, they tell me, things are different these days. (Yeah, right.) Kids are more aggressive. More this and that. But one thing's for sure: It gets worse.

And the best thing of all: Next year she'll be in middle school.