The private sector has always wanted to do as little as it could do to help the workers, and as much as it could do to exploit them. My grandmother was a striker back in 1910 in Chicago, and what she experienced taught me that if capitalism is unfettered, humans will be treated no better than animals raised for slaughter. Kill one, and replace it with the next in line. People who don't know their history (which is to say most people in the US) have no conception of how criminal, how brutal, how dangerous, business can be, when the workers have no control, because the company has no regard for their welfare, and every regard for "the bottom line".
The business of business many be business, but the business of society is to make sure that people are taken care of in a way that does not violate our collective consciences. Some people may have no consciences where there fellow human beings are concerned, but most of us do- and I hope, with a new administration we may see more protections- and more sensible protections. Lack of comprehensive health care (for example) in a country as big and rich as ours is a huge national shame for us. We are a blighted country in many ways- blighted by our own personal greed and consumerism, and our lack of vision. It amuses me no end that the Neocons thought they had a vision for the rest of the world, when the lack of vision right here in the US is so obvious. It's sad and ironic, and pathetic, and I hope it ends soon. |
