Cartoons and a DeathDear Friends: Leave it to cartoonist Gary Huck to remind us all just how good "free trade" (especially with such a beacon of pro-worker policies, product quality and safety, and human rights as China) is for us all--especially in light of just how good it's recently proven for quite a few dogs (and cats): Remember how, back in the 1900s and again in the 1930s, some makers of harmful, even deadly, foods, drugs, and cosmetics and their apologists actually (and, yes, seriously) claimed that government regulation violated their "right" to profit by selling products that harmed or killed? (That's really not far from what some "pro-business" "conservatives" in our own time have argued, that profit, property, and power should somehow trump all else--as those who so believe so often do, "knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.") That's "free trade" and the "free market" for you--if left unregulated and untrammeled by any other considerations such as fairness, justice, and common sense, free only for those with money and power. To be truly free, "free trade," the "free market," and "free enterprise" must be fair trade, a fair market, and fair enterprise. That means regulation. Only thus can truly orderly, workable markets and a like economy exist! Huck's fellow cartoonist (and, often, cartooning partner) Mike Konopacki has a new cartoon that reminds us all of this with respect to how these principles apply to employers that have returned workers' loyalty with pay and benefit cuts, arbitrary treatment, and greed-driven layoffs: It's not only factory workers, but all of us who work for a living, who should, when needed, likewise remind employers that loyalty is a two-way street; to get it, one must give it. Over the last 25 to 30 years or so, especially during this current decade, a lot of employers in this country of ours seem to have forgotten--or arrogantly disregarded--that basic fact. Those employers deserve as much loyalty and consideration as they give workers, their communities and families, and, often, this country itself--little or none. Meanwhile, Jerry Falwell's death, while certainly no reason for joy or celebration, merits thought. The "Christian Right" he did so much to bring about was and is, like his "Moral Majority" and his similarly doubly misnamed "Liberty University," neither. Many of his views and his remarks over the years, most notably those on gays and lesbians, on feminists, on AIDS, and on religious freedom and diversity, not to mention Teletubbies character Tinky Winky (whose carrying a purse, Falwell suggested, indicated he was gay), were not only outrageous but, without any hyperbolizing, insane. What is truly frightening, however, is how millions of Americans over the 25 years or so since Falwell's rise and ultimate political decline have, as Thomas Frank so well explored in his recent bestseller What's the Matter with Kansas?, bought into the dangerous right-wing drivel he and his political playmates have peddled. In the name of faith and God, Falwell and his ilk have mocked, distorted, and ignored the noblest values of Christianity and all the world's other great religions; in the name of motherhood and apple pie, they have sought to deny women, children, families, and others in need the basic necessities of life, including, yes, food; in the name of patriotism and country, they have tried to whip up public frenzy over the occasional flag burning while ignoring and, often, condoning the continuing desecration of our Constitution and the rights and the way of life it was and is designed to protect. As with the dangers of unregulated pet food, it seems to have taken a string of disasters to make people realize what's been going on and what's at stake. It seems to have taken years of a rotten economy, two stolen presidential elections, any number of other terrifying actions and revelations about what was once our government, a widespread, major natural disaster compounded by disastrous governmental inaction and incompetence, and a disastrous war in Iraq to make most Americans wake up to the poisonous nature of what so many were sold. When Falwell stepped down in 1987 as leader of his so-called "Moral Majority," he said, "I shudder to think where the country would be right now if the religious right had not evolved." Like many other thoughtful Americans then and now, I shudder to think where our country has been taken--more accurately, how it has been hijacked or stolen--by the "religious right" and its political playmates. I sicken to think about how much hard-won social progress this country made, from the New Deal era on, has been endangered or even wiped out by Falwell and his friends. I sadden at how much progress this coun ...[Message truncated]
[Continued--Part 2 of 2] Like many other thoughtful Americans then and now, I shudder to think where our country has been taken--more accurately, how it has been hijacked or stolen--by the "religious right" and its political playmates. I sicken to think about how much hard-won social progress this country made, from the New Deal era on, has been endangered or even wiped out by Falwell and his friends. I sadden at how much progress this country could have continued to make over the last 25 to 30 years or so had it not been for their influence and actions, and how long it will take to repair and reverse the damage they've done to our country--and to us. Yes, Falwell's death, like Ronald Reagan's, is no reason for joy or celebration. But if we are to mourn, let it be for all of these things and, above all, for all of the people policies like those he advocated have hurt. Fight back--hard. Fight back--now. | |
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