What happened to the Kingfish? The oil industry and local oligarchs had few options for responding to Governor Long's populist appeal and the success of his egalitarian economic program. On September 8, 1935, Huey Long, by then a U.S. Senator,
was shot dead. He was 42.
It's 1927 again.
Read more: http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=453&row=1
Comment:
This is quite an article showing that today's plight of 99% of the American people mirrors the situation in our nation in 1927. At that time, as it is now, the country was controlled by the super wealthy and monopolistic corporations. The claim is that the ascendancy of the Democratic Party (elected by the people) under Huey Long and FDR turned this country away from disaster with programs based on the redistributing wealth and power. By doing so they created an economic and military giant that was not only the envy of the world, but was the beacon of hope and democracy for the oppressed of the world.
Since the time of FDR, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, corporate America and the wealthy have been trying to dismantle the programs that made us great. And to date, they have been very successful in their efforts to redistribute the wealth and power back to that top 1% of the Americans that now control this country (George Bush's base of the Haves and Have Mores). In other words, as Greg Palast says, "it's 1927 again". I say that it's time to get back to the Democratic Party of FDR and Huey Long and reestablish a government committed to providing for the common good with everyone, including corporate America, paying their "fair share" based on their ability to pay.
An Unhappy Anniversary for Labor
was shot dead. He was 42.
It's 1927 again.
Read more: http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=453&row=1
Comment:
This is quite an article showing that today's plight of 99% of the American people mirrors the situation in our nation in 1927. At that time, as it is now, the country was controlled by the super wealthy and monopolistic corporations. The claim is that the ascendancy of the Democratic Party (elected by the people) under Huey Long and FDR turned this country away from disaster with programs based on the redistributing wealth and power. By doing so they created an economic and military giant that was not only the envy of the world, but was the beacon of hope and democracy for the oppressed of the world.
Since the time of FDR, John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, corporate America and the wealthy have been trying to dismantle the programs that made us great. And to date, they have been very successful in their efforts to redistribute the wealth and power back to that top 1% of the Americans that now control this country (George Bush's base of the Haves and Have Mores). In other words, as Greg Palast says, "it's 1927 again". I say that it's time to get back to the Democratic Party of FDR and Huey Long and reestablish a government committed to providing for the common good with everyone, including corporate America, paying their "fair share" based on their ability to pay.
"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace; business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hatred for me - and I welcome their hatred. I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second administration that in it these forces met their master." ~FDR
An Unhappy Anniversary for Labor
From truthout.org
By Dick Meister
The San Francisco Bay Guardian
Tuesday 22 August 2006
It was 25 years ago this month that Ronald Reagan struck the blow that sent the American labor movement tumbling into a decline it's still struggling mightily to reverse.
Reagan, one of the most anti-labor presidents in history, set the decline in motion by firing 11,500 of the overworked and underpaid air traffic controllers whose work was essential to the operation of the world's most complex aviation system.
Reagan fired them because they dared respond to his administration's refusal to bargain fairly on a new contract by striking in violation of the law prohibiting strikes by federal employees. What's more, he also destroyed their union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO).
Public and private employers everywhere treated Reagan's action as a signal to take an uncompromising stand against the unions that they had accepted and bargained with, however reluctantly, as the legitimate representatives of their workers.
At that time, one-fourth of the US workforce was represented by unions. Today, largely because of employer actions since then - often openly illegal actions - the percentage of workers with union bargaining rights is less than half that.
Ironically, PATCO had broken with other AFL-CIO affiliates to endorse Reagan's successful run for president in 1980. The union did so because Reagan had promised to "take whatever steps are necessary" to improve working conditions and otherwise "bring about a spirit of cooperation between the president and the air traffic controllers."
Firing and permanently replacing strikers, previously a rare occurrence has become a common employer tactic. It's now the strike - an indispensable weapon for workers in collective bargaining - that only rarely occurs.
It isn't just strikers who face penalties for exercising their legal rights. Employers also have taken to firing or otherwise penalizing workers who seek union recognition, despite the law that promises them the right to freely choose unionization. Many employers have also hired " management consultants" who specialize in Reagan-style union busting.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
