Quote for Today (Smart People Will get the Point)

[Omaha Steve]

"The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold strugges, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute and above all new wage levels that meant not mere survival, but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1965

[proudohioan]

1. Excellent quote. Thanks for posting it.

[lunatica]

2. If you're waiting for the rich to pull you up out of poverty and despair

Good luck.

[hyphenate]

31. But that's the point of the quote--

it's the power of the people, FOR the people! The rich then, as they are now, are roadblocks, and will resist any and all efforts to give people beneath them a better life. WE outnumber them, and if folks with lower incomes figured that out, we would certainly, by simple power of vote, be able to make sure it was numbers, not dollars which ran the country.

King was giving people a motive to stand up and be counted, as we cannot and should not leave our fate up to those whose greed overcomes their sense of altruism.

I'm sure most people have heard the term, "A company man" sometime in their life--the term largely came out of rich white men as "captains of industry" and people working for THEM, and their sense of largesse was all that kept people from potter's fields. It was when these people chose to be mean assholes that those who were poorer were most hurt, and there was no safety net available. Of course, we saw this also with natural and economic disasters, but it was the "company" where you worked your whole life until the day you died (or more rarely, retired), where you were unable to move up in class that really made the difference.

[dotymed]

46. No Doubt...

The sad part is that we basically have to start all over. The wealthy have been working to derail all of the progress made by the Labor Movement since their victories. While we thought that we had won some concessions, they knew that it was a battle victory and they proceeded to gain the upper hand in the War for Workers Rights. Outsourcing became their weapon of choice. It brought us to our knees and forced us to readily accept stagnant wages and decreasing benefits for decades, while "their" pay and bonuses soared. It amazes me that so many Americans readily admit the positive effect of the Labor Movement, yet they bitch about the harm that Unions cause. Idiots. I apologize, I was a (dupe) non-Union carpenter for many years. When I finally joined the Union, my "lot in life" increased dramatically. Now, I SIT (not many physical options available to me at this point) and watch as the remnants of our Unions crumble. They are forced to accept scraps that a short while ago they would have railed against. If only Americans (like most other "civilized nations) would Unionize and fight. There is still a war raging, perhaps our enlistment numbers will rise and Americans will realize the need for Unity. The Truth is such an invaluable weapon and since the death of THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE (among other educational resources), it is hard to get the message out. Our lives as workers will not improve until our people are informed of, and Fight against,those who are ruining America for greed...

[conservdem]

3. Thank you for posting this great quote!

[WhiteTara]

4. kick!

[Catshrink]

5. Thank you.

No wonder there is such an effort to discredit and destroy unions.

[abelenkpe]

51. Mean spirited and misinformed

people are trying to tear down unions. I used to read a financial blog that made some interesting points about the economy but has turned into a continual rant against unions spreading misinformation and lies daily attempting to pit public sector union employees against private sector employees. Todays entry even feature here say in a quote from a known racist freeper who claims a LA union teacher would vote against charter schools to protect teacher benefits as if that is somehow a bad thing. What to get mad? Read: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/02/chicago-public-schools-system-is-broke.html And that's just todays rant.
People need to counter these attacks wherever they appear. Loudly and succinctly. There are those eager to use the economic downturn to their benefit, to rip what remains of the middle class to shreds using divide and conquer to keep workers fighting amongst themselves rather than focused on the real culprits.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Recommended

The captains have regained near absolute control, yet again. Wonder what needs to be done... hmm?

My tines are sharpened.

[rurallib]

7. Some will not like me to bring up John Edwards but he had many good points

I remember the night I saw him say "Those in power will not give it up. It must be taken from them."

[Sherman A1]

35. Agreed, but let us look to an earlier time and another progressive

that being Teddy Roosevelt. He too was a champion of family values that included a living wage, workman's comp, pensions, health insurance for workers that were part of the social contract. He too saw the effects of the first batch of Robber Barons who are similar to today's bunch. Makes one wonder what happened to the progressive part of the Republican Party?

[SoCalDem]

39. Edwards was the consummate pol.. he picked up populist ideas from others, and revamped them

he hoped his Kennedy-esque looks would propel him to the top.. Even his "2nd" family was modeled after the Caroline & John-John theme.. He saw himself in the Oval Office, but took a detour through Motel 6 with a groupie..:(

[saracat]

58. So? The message was what was valid. All pols are phoney. In the end

all that matters is the message and whether they deliver.

[lxlxlxl]

72. that's not true...and honestly i dont want people like him representing my beliefs

people like edwards actually HARM what he is pretending to believe in. its not just the affairs, the guy didnt READ. he didnt KNOW things about politics unless he was told. he was a dem sarah palin and we should be honest about that.

[BeatleBoot]

8. Shoot. I'm a dumbass and I get it!

Keep it rockin' Omaha Steve!


:yourock:

[blueredneck]

9. How True.

Great Quote!

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Only willfully ignorant and/or inherently mean spirited people would not undestand this.

Thanks for quoting.

[kath]

11. Wow. WIsh I could rec this 10 times!

[femmocrat]

12. So true. K&R

Proud union member here! :hi:

[patrice]

13. We really ARE the ones we have been waiting for. Our time always has been, is, and will be Now.

[Lisa0825]

14. I am stealing that fr my new FB status!

:applause:

[jwirr]

15. Thank you. That quote will always ring true because those captains

are forever resisting even when they are down.

[gtar100]

16. "they resisted" - so true. And now we've got a chorus of voices echoed in our media

that want to turn everything over to private industry leaders again, get rid of all worker rights, and trust that the capitalists will do the right thing. The "captains of industry" are sociopaths and must be *forced* into doing the right thing. Our business laws are just not structured in a way that rewards benefit to communities over benefit to the self-serving interests of business.

[bridgit]

17. You had to be tougher than Broderick Crawford back then but some people were

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6VBdu_ur48

[Libertas1776]

18. i hate how

these dare i say socialist beliefs of some of our greatest Americans are always swept under the rug, either it be MLK Jr, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and more. Like it is something to be ashamed of. Hell no, its something to be embraced, to be proud of. More Americans need to learn these things.

[kestrel91316]

23. they aren't "socialist" beliefs but rather HUMANITARIAN beliefs......

[Libertas1776]

28. socialist is humanitarian IMO

[bvar22]

19. K&R...I wish we had a Political Party

...that represents the American Working Class.
We used to have one.

Economic Injustice IS the biggest "Social Issue" in America today.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[pnorman]

59. I was going to bookmark this thread just for that MLK quote.

But that Wellstone quote alone would have warranted it.

The Memorial Ceremony for Paul, his wife,daughter, and friends, was on-line, and for a long time the link to it was my sig-line. It finally disappeared before I was able to find out how to save it to my HD. I still miss it.

[DesertFlower]

20. exactly. nt

[Vincent441]

21. What is a strugge?

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hyphenate]

32. typo, I think?

[kestrel91316]

22. K&R. Now let me go read the replies and see who shows up to piss in this thread.

[sheldon]

25. Great quote.

[hyphenate]

33. Poppy looks like Hitler

in that pic, just without the moustache.

[pundaint]

63. nice poster in your message.

[DallasNE]

26. This Shows That

We have moved backwards in some ways over the past 45 years because Dr. King is speaking in the past tense about overcoming the captains of industry. Today we have to talk in the future tense about overcoming these same captains of industry.

[riverdale]

50. +1

There is no way someone could survive on minimum wage today.

[valerief]

27. Great quote! nt

[hay rick]

29. K&R

[diane in sf]

30. We shall overcome...

[Oldtimeralso]

34. K & R and proud to help union solidarity n/t

[Cetacea]

36. K&R !

[upi402]

37. Obama got his. fuck us! fuck the movement!

no
text
:argh:

[DisgustedInMN]

38. The captains of industry have purchased ..

... our government. Our "elected" from both major parties have both prostituted themselves to corporate greed. Neither the corporations nor their lackeys in political office will willingly give up their death grip on this Nation and We the People. That which will not be given willingly, WILL be taken. History has proven that over and over. I hope that this Nation will survive the coming storm.

[Starry Messenger]

40. Thank you.

[undergroundnomore]

41. MLK was

a man for all times.

[orbitalman]

42. I Get It!!

[Mira]

43. If it is to be, it is up to me. Recommended

[pleah]

44. K&R

[Bluenorthwest]

45. Excellent quote

I wonder often if King's words are read save for the few famous quotes.

[safeinOhio]

47. Solidarity forever

The Union makes us strong.

[mckara]

48. Smart People Get the Quote, But Stupid Folk Get To Vote

People who hate egalitarian societies are masters at getting ignorant people to vote against their own interests.

[Odin2005]

49. K&R

[Fire1]

52. Amen, Reverend. n/t

[JNelson6563]

53. Hammer, meet nail.

:toast:

[alfredo]

54. Excellent.

[LuckyLib]

55. And child labor laws, and the minimum wage, and safety regulations, and, and . . .

[Martin Eden]

56. Unions are EVIL in rightwing ideology

I can understand why the Fat Cats hate the unions, but why have so many lower/middle class RWers swallowed that rhetoric?

If any movement of the last century truly lifted the majority of Americans out of poverty and onto the path of the Amnerican Dream, it was the efforts of unions to secure livable wages & safe working conditions.

And yet, somehow, the corporatocracy has succeeded in making anti-unionism part of the "populist" appeal of RW ideology.

It boggles the mind.

[Flatulo]

57. Irrelevant today. Everything is going to China, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Unions won't help. There's no one to strike against, because no one wants you to work for them. Corporate America has already outsourced the manufacturing class, and the professional class is being outsourced as we speak. Engineering, marketing, customer support - it's all going, going, gone.

The only jobs that cannot be outsourced are the trades (plumbing, electical, auto repair) and physican/nursing positions. And these won't matter much longer anyway, because without an income, the defunct middle class will have no need for their services.

[Marr]

60. That is absolutely right, and just the kind of thing our "trickle down", asshole

politicians refuse to accept. It seems like practically the entire establishment, from the White House to Wall Street, is part of a Randian cult. They all think society runs because wealthy people make it do so.

[Spike89]

61. Not to disagree that there are anti-unionists, but

The cause isn't simply that they sent all the "good union jobs" overseas. That simply isn't the entire truth. Reality is that unions lost much power because the value of labor has lost power. Too many people ignore the changes in the infrastructure over the past couple generations. Computers have changed the environment as much as mass-production and the industrial revolution did 200 years ago. I'm not really speaking of the PC on your desk, but it has a role in "boosting efficiency". Rather, embedded systems based on computers run welding stations (robots) in car factories, control stitching patterns in garment centers, and even assemble the circuit boards of the next generation of efficiency tools.

China is by and large a scapegoat for labor problems. Sure, there is off-shoring and many industries still haven't automated fully, but the fact is that traditional labor jobs are not going "to" anywhere else, they are just going away.

[dajoki]

62. K&R

[GreenTea]

64. I will always support workers UNIONS! The only united workers voice against

billion dollar corporations and their army of corporate lobbyist....

Corporations that are ALWAYS lobbying to take more away from the workers income, benefits & pensions...to increase their own corporate profits for even more profit.

Workers absolutely need a united voice, a voice for worker solidarity.

There is no national voice to encourage fairness, to help workers, except labor unions!

Corporate fascist Republicans are always trying to outlaw unions.....

Republicans have done a very effective job over the last 40 years, through legislation and ignoring workers rights to near destruction of unions....once worker union membership was around 50%

Now, it's down to 7 to 9% - no accident, a very concerted effort by corporations & republicans to outlaw unions....

As the corporations have flourished in that same time span (largely at the workers expense) never willing to be fair nor share their greedy corporate profits with their workers, only take more away from them for even larger profits.

[RoccoR5955]

65. K & R n/t

[sam sarrha]

66. here is Proof they have almost taken it all back... >>Link>>

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

the bottom 80% have only 7% of the countries financial wealth..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woIkIph5xcU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtERmD5llpo&feature=related
when i i was in west africa in '73 working in Drought Relief death all around, i had a moment of horrific realisation... that has lasted a life time.
"all it takes is one bad president, a change in the weather, ..and my country will be worse than this"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsnwAcMkXZc&feature=related

this is what we will face if we don't get off our ass's and campaign, take a vacation day on election day and taxi as many party members to the polls as we can.. if the Thuglican's win again we can all be doomed.

[baldguy]

67. The middle class has more interests in common with the poor than the rich.

The sooner they realize that the better off it will be for all concerned.

[harun]

68. I disagree.

The captains of industry were not overcome. They allowed the transformation as they were threatened by the communists who were providing this transformation. This competition with Capitalism is why they desisted and allowed these transformations. Of course they wouldn't have even capitulated that if it wasn't from tremendous pressure also from the labor movement. However, without this pressure from an opposing system threatening to eventually eat these captains of industry they feel now they have to yield nothing. Watch CNBC any business day while covering the market. They will talk of how great it is wage growth has been decimated. When asked about comments like that they will respond, "It is great for Corporate America". Corporate America is the boss now, they are winning and they feel they have to yield NOTHING to the labor movement.

We will not get Health Care reform, we will not get Labor reform. The courts will move further right siding with Corporations over individuals. The march to Corporate Fascism has not slowed nor will it.

[arthritisR_US]

69. great quote! n/t

[liberalhistorian]

70. This is what is so upsetting about the current

crop of union-busting actions throughout the country; the mass RI firings, the D.C. nurse firings for even long-time employees who couldn't make it in during the snowstorm and many others recently. Blatant, in-your-face union busting. And it was especially truly disgusting and disheartening to see so many DUers supporting and cheering it.

I saw a bumpersticker once that said "if you enjoy your weekends, thank a union." Actually, that should be if you enjoy the 40-hour workweek, retirement and health benefits, paid vacation and sick days, actually being treated like a human being, etc., etc. And how many union members in the "olden" days fought and DIED for that? Yes, died, many of them. And the RW has done a great demonizing job on unions these past several decades, to the point where less than twelve percent of workers are even unionized anymore. That is one major reason why we're going so far backwards in terms of employment rights, workplace conditions, etc., etc. And far too many progressives are either apathetic about it, indifferent, or support/cheer it. Including DUers. I'm not naming names, but you know who you are.

[liberal N proud]

71. K&R