Never too far from their
Roots! December 12, 2008
Actor LeVar Burton as
Kunta Kinte enslaved, from the 1977 miniseries “Roots”
While I have watched on
television the unfolding drama of the Congressional wheeling and dealing
as it considers the financial rescue of the “Big 3” automakers an underlying
current has come to me that I find intriguing.
I am struck with the fact
that the most vocal opponents just happen to be from states that were four
of the thirteen original colonies in our nation. Not only are they
among that first thirteen but they were all part of the secession of the
Civil War southern states. The most striking commonality is that
these four Confederate states harbored a immense number of slaves.
In my intrigue one must
include the state of Alabama, certainly also part of the Confederacy, and
although not an original colony undoubtedly a slave state. South
Carolina by far harbored the largest slave population in 
actual
count. On the basis of a percentage of population slaves were in
the highest concentration in Alabama prior to the Civil War. This
is demonstrated by the graphic illustrating slave demographics around 1860.
In the post Civil War
era the political landscape of the old South changed markedly. Politically
the southern states have become a bastion for Conservative Democrats and
then Republicans. From the end of the war up to the Civil Rights
movement of a century later, a high density of conservative office holders
became a reality in a deeply disgruntled South.
Uttering slogans like
the “South Shall Rise Again” and of course flying the Confederate flag
everywhere you looked the southern states clung tightly to the values it
had claimed for centuries. These outward acts of restrained defiance
eventually gave way to the early premise of “States Rights” that was the
unifying stance with regard to imposed changes in the southern social and
political order.
These themes were nothing
more than rallying cries for southern whites and evolved into the infamous
“Southern Strategy”, popularized by the Nixon Campaigns in the 70’s.
The buzzwords “Law and Order” remain to this day in the attempt to cloak
the remaining lines of racial inequity.
With that backdrop we
jump forward to today as the country faces the impending collapse of Chevy,
Chrysler and perhaps Ford. The non-availability of commercial credit
has led them to seek federal intervention through a bridge loan that the
Administration and House have agreed to.
This legislation authorizing
a multi-billion dollar cash infusion from the government has now bogged
down in the Senate. Interestingly the most outspoken opponents to
the legislation are the aforementioned Southern States of Alabama, South
Caroline, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Of course it no coincidence
that these states in addition to their common racial roots have each attracted
foreign automakers. Alabama has Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai; Tennessee
has Nissan and the possibility of Volkswagen; there is BMW in South Carolina;
and Kia is in Georgia to name a few. On top of that, Fiat and many
other European car companies are also looking at the South to locate new
manufacturing operations.
These states are so attractive
because special tax incentives were offered by the states, and but perhaps
most notably the workers are not unionized. The cost per employee
in the South is very nearly half that of those in the northern states of
Michigan, Ohio and others. Specifically, it costs $70.00 per hour
for union employees and $40 for non-union workers.
Although the modern day
south no longer has slaves it is surely maintaining its history for providing
an attractive source of cheap labor. Now I am not saying that the
auto worker in the south is enslaved but it still makes for an interesting
parallel.
Let’s just suppose that
the rescue plan for the “Big 3” fails, could the new anthem of the south
be, “See, we rose again!”? In that circumstance I can’t help but
imagine that crushing the “Union” could still carry some appeal to those
bigoted die-hards that cling to the old values.
Shortsightedness is the
only way to describe the actions of Senators Shelby, (R) Alabama, Corker
of Tennessee, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and others. Of course,
narrow parochial views always are, and in this instance of myopia the result
may be a greater downturn in the United States equaling if not rivaling
that of the Great Depression.
“Save your Dixie cups
y’all!”
December 15, 2008
In the days/hours since
my initial posting I recognized that I had not spoken loudly enough or
sufficiently enough regarding the relationship of the conservative political
agenda against the organized labor movement.
I failed to mention that
for the last thirty to forty years the South in company with its political
allies and friends has done everything in its power to kill the unions
because the unions and their organizers have been a thorn in the side for
the conservative politicians.
This discomfiture has
existed for some time now and for a myriad number of reasons. Organized
labor via “collective bargaining” has traditionally caused companies to
provide their workers with more lucrative contracts.
Under the cloud of a job
“action”, such as a work slow down or a strike they have been successful
in negotiating higher wages, health care, retirement funds, improved working
conditions and many other benefits. Obviously these conditions
have created tenure and seniority for union members. All of these
contributors to this disparity in the workplaces have served to make the
union shops attractive enough to entice many a transplant to relocate.
As a reward the worker
will vote as “recommended” by the union which allows organized labor to
deliver huge numbers of voters to causes and candidates, typically those
that support them such as the Democrats. If the Southern Senators
are successful in causing the downfall of the Big 3 automakers and the
UAW (United Auto Workers) they figure to gain significantly number increases
in their base.
Pure and simple Shelby,
Corker, McConnell and company cannot state that their agenda is to kill
the unions, so they mask it with rhetoric about how the unions were unwilling
to negotiate thus shifting the blame to their adversary for the failure
of the industry.
"Dixie cups? No
way! Never!"
