Contempt for the working man

(Ed Stein)

Ed Stein's commentary:

The Republicans in Wisconsin finally found a way to impose their will without Democrats in attendance. Of course, everyone knows that the suppression of collective bargaining rights has nothing to do with the economy. This is about destroying unions, the largest source of funding for Democrats in the country. The lousy economy has given Republicans in Wisconsin the excuse they needed to achieve their long-sought goal of undermining the power of public unions, and other states with Republican governors and legislatures are sure to follow.

Funny, the same folks who cried foul when health care reform was passed on a strictly partisan vote are silent when Republicans eviscerate collective bargaining without a single Democrat voting with them.  I was tempted to make the elephant in the cartoon a caricature of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, but given that Republicans in other states can’t wait to do the same, I decided to make the cartoon more general. What I wanted to show here was what unions have accomplished over the years, not to mention the contempt the GOP appears to have for the working man. Without collective bargaining, we’d still have six day work weeks, no workplace safety rules, no child labor laws, no overtime, etc. I worry that we’re heading back to the nineteenth century, when robber barons ruled and workers served at the whim of their lords and masters. Where’s Charles Dickens when we need him?

But there's another possibility here, too. Maybe working people are finally starting to wake up:

(Mike Luckovich)