But that aside, today being a holiday in celebration of increasingly disorganized labor, I thought I'd present the following recent poem, "Pity the Nation" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 88 year old poet and publisher, who was featured on "Democracy Now!" this morning:
Pity the Nation
- Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation -- oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.
Here's hoping everyone had a great Labor Day weekend, despite its increasing meaninglessness.
2 comments:
Dada, I don't know what Labor Day means anymore either. I thought it was about organized labor unions who ensured that profit motive alone did not dictate how employers treated employees.
Beginning with Reagan's dismantling of the right to strike through today's labor laws being written by industry execs, we end up with disasters like Crandall Cyn and Sago, whose miners were non-union. We get Fed agencies responsible for industry oversight whose heads come straight from the BofDs of the industries they purport to regulate.
This reckless pursuit of profit affects most aspects of our american life. Remember when Ford decided it would be less expensive to pay off lawsuits for those killed or injured driving their exploding Pintos than to recall a dangerous car? I have a sinking feeling that in today's business climate, our lying leaders would simply dictate that the Pinto is a Patriot Car & to drive one is to spread freedom, that a little death or injury are acceptable casualties in the cause of economic democracy. What I'm most afraid of is that the populous would believe that & continue driving those exploding Pintos.
I hope to one day see Labor Day regain its meaningfulness & not just be a summer-ending holiday. Too many people fought hard & died for labor rights. ~~ D.K.
They heyday of Labor Unions & movements seem to have gone by the wayside. Anymore mega corporations like WalMart (Always Low Wages, Always!) actually have a kind of *union trauma team* they fly in when rumblings of union activity are reported. They take over the manager's duties and fire anyone who is suspected of involvment. That sure puts the kabosh on it, people fearing the loss of the job that does not pay enough for them to afford health care. I personally observed an employer doing quite well, that pays a low wage & had an employee fair, reps promoting welfare programs-Government subsidized housing, childcare, & poverty level medical assistance-- as we strolled through the offerings in the $60 MILLION dollar building! Hmmm it would seem that the worker bees are getting the short end of the stick. It's great those programs exist, but why are employees of a company that can afford a $60 million dollar building getting paid so low a wage to qualify for welfare assistance programs? These days, when a labor union goes on strike, they are told report to work by this date, or you'll be replaced. The crowning glory of the labor movement has been the Pension and retirement packages. Cash flow & health care after you retire. So many companies just shrug, claim bankruptcy & walk away. The Government is supposed to oversee it, but now disappearing pensions are becoming an industry standard. I suspect no changes will happen unless the Gvmnt pensions go away... then there would be action. As a worker bee who, by virture of not being the lead dog, often gets the same view in the work world...
it is a raw deal. Ever read your periodical Social Security update? In 2017 . Soc S. will pay more in benefits than is collected. By 2041 the fund will be exhausted. then they will pay .75 cents on the dollar. Celebrate?
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