Labor Day
From Ezra Klein via Minipundit:
So I thought we ought to pause for a moment to reflect on Labor Day, and the struggles of organized labor (struggles often met with brutal violence) to obtain for huge numbers of people the essential building blocks of the good American life: the weekend, health care benefits, paid holidays, safe working conditions, good wages. In this day and age when both our government and our corporations seem dedicated to screwing the American worker in every way possible, it's good to stop and give thanks for those who had the balls to fight back and secure some measure of power and dignity for those who don't get to walk the gilded corridors. And let's hope that that fight continues. (And dare I add: Let's make sure Democrats are leading that fight!)
(The Klein post has some great links for those who are interested in finding out more about the history of this holiday.)
Ah, Labor Day. That fine September morning when we celebrate the genius of Jonathan Labor, who first invented the barbecue on a hot, late Summer morning when he accidentally dropped some raw meat on the superheated grill of his Toyota Corolla. God bless you, Jonathan Labor. And God bless America.We Americans seem to have a wonderful ability to drain our holidays (both religious and secular), of all meaning and allow them to degenerate into mere milestone markers in the calendar and occasions for bland consumerism and leisure. I am certainly very American in this respect.
So I thought we ought to pause for a moment to reflect on Labor Day, and the struggles of organized labor (struggles often met with brutal violence) to obtain for huge numbers of people the essential building blocks of the good American life: the weekend, health care benefits, paid holidays, safe working conditions, good wages. In this day and age when both our government and our corporations seem dedicated to screwing the American worker in every way possible, it's good to stop and give thanks for those who had the balls to fight back and secure some measure of power and dignity for those who don't get to walk the gilded corridors. And let's hope that that fight continues. (And dare I add: Let's make sure Democrats are leading that fight!)
(The Klein post has some great links for those who are interested in finding out more about the history of this holiday.)
Comments