By Frank Lopez
Recording Secretary, USW Local 7609
And so, the proverbial ‘heads of the five families’ of the right wing are still fully engaged in all-out war of right-on-right character assassination. Last week, politico-playboy Newt Gingrich called in a hit. And you know he didn’t use American muscle for the job! He outsourced (in true Republican fashion) and flew in a Sicilian for the job.
His ‘Luca Brasi’ of choice was calling Rick Santorum a “big labor Republican.” Newt is just sick over the fact that Santorum (or Ricky “The Saint,” as he’s known within the right wing Cosa Nostra) supposedly sided with the unions. Newt was alluding to a 1996 shoot-out in the U.S. Senate where Santorum was supposedly in favor of Fed-Ex drivers remaining protected by the Railway Labor Act, a piece of legislation that,, among other things, gives workers the right to organize in their units. Unknowingly, however, Newt’s guy bungled the hit. His Luca Brasi was really more of a Fredo Corleone.
The real story is that in the early stages of this act, Santorum only voted in favor of continuing the debate, probably knowing full well that often bills don’t even get voted on if enough members of the caporegime insist on continuing to debate over them. This Santorum must have some consigliere! Either that or he’s ripping pages right out of Machiavelli.
Later, Santorum voted in favor of the ruling chair, stealthily against Fed-Ex worker interests, under the argument that the provisions in Sect. 1223 of the act were beyond the authority of that committee. Buying more time on the taxpayers’ dime, he once again voted nay and lost.
He did vote in favor of the bill when it finally came up with the Fed-Ex provisions untouched, but don’t let that fool you. He played that one beautifully in true Hyman Roth fashion.
Don’t forget the fact that six years ago, the Teamsters ‘went to the mattresses’ (went to war) with this guy and won! Santorum is crazy… like a fox, avoiding setting off traps. Having that ‘yes’ vote in his track record could confuse a lot of working class people, particularly those who are sitting on the fence. It could trick them into thinking that he is sympathetic to their plight.
In reality, if he takes the big seat, if he gets crowned the capo di tutti capi, workers’ right to organize and possibly even the very existence of a labor movement will “probably swim with the fishes.” If he is as crafty as he appears to be, he knows that siding with labor will displease his neo-con henchmen to no end. That could potentially be the spark to set off some serious unrest on the right side of the aisle (or even a coup d’etat, in the most extreme scenario), and as sly, old Hyman Roth said, “No one wants another war,” more specifically, one that will put a strain on Santorum’s political alliances because any seasoned mafiosi will tell you, “When guys are on the mattresses, they’re not out earning.” When there is too much back and forth in the Senate, it diverts attention from the more important issues as they find new ways to make a buck at the expense of the working class and taxpayers as a whole.
But in analyzing Santorum’s politically cunning style, let’s not shift focus off of the subconscious implications of Newt’s comment. Let’s not gloss over the “big labor Republican” swipe. Aside from being one of the most paradoxical terms ever to be used in political gunplay, it sends a clear subliminal signal to the American people on where Gingrich and his ilk stand as far as the working class of this country goes. I’m sure it doesn’t take a session on Freud’s couch to realize that Gingrich, by dubbing Ricky “the Saint” a big labor Republican, is really saying, “Republicans, lend me your ears. Do not side with someone who is for the working man. I mean, like, working people… they’re gross. They sweat and are not manicured. Yuck! I’m not saying we don’t need those simpletons.; Someone has to serve beneath us, fight our wars, etc. I’m just saying, we should be able to rape and pillage them without those meddling unions getting all Robin Hood on us.”
Newt has been spending way too much time on AshleyMadison.com to realize that the yucky middle class “meat and potatoes” people are the backbone of this country, That’s the country that he so wants to serve as emperor. Newt would find nothing more aesthetically pleasing than a red carpet of worker’s backs on which he can walk as he makes his smug-faced stride up to his throne.
But those who drink the right-wing Kool-Aid, whether they are working class or not, need to see that the truth could set them free. The facts speak for themselves. The underlying sentiment of all of these neo-cons is that the rich can only get richer if the poor stay hungry. And how do you keep the poor hungry? You do it through unfair wages, through poor healthcare (or none at all), through lack of job stability. Basically, by taking away every inalienable right a worker should have, leaving him all too desperate and willing to take whatever scraps may fall from the emperor’s banquet feast table.
The right is fully aware of the fact that having a union around means the working man has the organization and potential strength to look back at them and say,, “Hey, I ain’t no band leader!” (OK, last Mario Puzo reference.) In other words, the upper crust knows that organized labor unions mean worker bees will not lay down to a despot queen of the hive, and in turn the queen can’t push the worker bees too far if she knows what’s good for her and the hive as a whole.
The bottom line is that the hyper-capitalist mentality of ANY given cookie cutter, right- wing boss-of-the-day is anti-union, which, in essence, is anti-worker. Whether Santorum voted pro-union once or not, his behavior reveals that he can play the game of political chess. Santorum, Gingrich, Romney and the rest of that outfit do not care about the pawns on the board. They are all preoccupied with keeping the bishops happy. Well, Newt is probably trying to do the same, except he would probably like to get right up next to the queen because if we all know good old philandering Newt, he’s probably been trying to get her to agree to go hit a happy hour with him for month.
Posted March 12, 2012 at 2:10 pm, in Free Speech Zone
