Look for the Union Label

I recently read about a guy who cries a lot. I believe the article pivoted off a discussion of John Boehner and his tendency to turn on the water works at the drop of a hat or the ribbon cutting at a Jiffy Lube. I'm not really like that, although I am prone to sentimentality. Perhaps I could be in a television show to rival CBS's hit, The Mentalist. My version would be called The Sentimentalist.

I say all that because I must confess that I kind of choke up when I see the commercial below. It is one of a series that was popular long ago in a different land. Leaving aside the obvious stylistic shortcomings in the wardrobe featured in the ad, it plucks my sentimental string because it evokes a time when people had faith in the ability of this nation to support itself and provide for its people. It recalls a time when we could believe that we were all in this together. We worked in different jobs but what one produced depended on what his neighbor produced or sold and so on around the circle.

The people in this ad were not likely "important people" in their communities. They were simply the backbone of the nation. They lived and worked in a time when the truth was still clear that capitalism serves democracy and not the reverse of that.

Come Monday, the Indiana General Assembly will consider action to place our state into the illustrious company of such states as Mississippi and South Carolina in becoming a Right to Work state. Although Mitch Daniels doesn't want the legislation to advance, that stance is for tactical reasons only. It in no way should be seen as the governor's support for his citizens' workplace rights. In rounding up the usual suspects of those who support the bill, look no further than the same group that opposed health care reform; the Indiana Chamber of Commerce supports the legislation. Really, why would the Chamber of Commerce concern itself with workers' rights? It is more concerned with owners' rights.

Me? I'm going to crack open a Union Made Blue Ribbon and watch the I.L.G.W.U. ad one more time. Where's my hanky?