Michigan

There's a lot of anguish over Michigan's new "right to work" law -- the one that allows workers not to pay union dues even if they are covered by the collective bargaining agreement reached on their behalf by the union.

I don't know the details of what has been happening in Michigan -- how it is that Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the state house. But it seems to me that you cannot blame the Republicans for this. They have always championed "right to work" and every other measure to restrict or eliminate union activity. It's like letting a fox into the hen house and then being surprised you have dead chickens. It's what foxes do.

Blame, if that's what you want to apportion, would seem to go first and foremost to Michigan voters, and particularly white working-class voters who voted against their own economic self-interest by giving the Republicans control of state government. You can be a single-issue voter at your risk, because you vote for a package of measures when you elect one party or the other. It may be that for whatever reason you don't like a black president who Rush Limbaugh has convinced you is going to take away your guns, so you can vote Republican. The next thing you know, the Republicans have gutted union rights and stripped you of a very helpful protection at work.

The unions are also to blame, of course. Now they say they are going to work "unceasingly" to turn Republicans out of office in the next elections. Again, I don't know how active or inactive unions were in the last round of Michigan elections, but the question does come to mind of where were you then. More basic, though, is the fact that unions have allowed the perception to grow that they are complacent and smug, more interested in protecting their members than fighting for the working class in general. This may be an inaccurate perception, but if so it needs to be combated more vigorously.

It is sad to see union rights eroded after all the heroic effort it took to win them. Hopefully, this will produce a backlash strong enough to turn the tide and lead voters to make choices in their own best interest.