Patriotism is defending your nation's ideals selflessly. To try and compare unionism to that is an utter insult to those whose blood was spilled defending the idea of America.
I don't see a lot of selflessness at play with airline unions in general. What I see is "what can we get for ourselves, and the rest of the employees be damned" over and over again.
Fact is that workers in the US have prospered far better under our oh-so-flawed system than workers have in places where workers of the world united.
Then again, maybe I've just missed news reports on how succesful the Soviet economy has been of late. Or how much social services in Venezuela and Cuba have surpassed those of the US, or how China's education system is so good now that universities here are suffering from the loss of applicants...
Yep. Capitalism might suck because you think you're not getting enough of the pie, but it's a helluva lot better than the alternatives out there. Go do some travel outside the first world and see firsthand just how good you have it. Don't spend a week on the beach in Mexico -- go spend a week in Hermosillo or Nuevo Loredo.
Y'all are so fracking spoiled.... you really have no idea what it means to "beat the working man and woman into the ground while they pad their own pockets" until you walk the neighborhoods in places like Guadalajara, Leon or Toluca. Gated communities for all the upper class, and dirt streets for the "working man and woman" because there is no middle class.
Yep, our system really sucks.
That's why so many people from Mexico, Honduras, Guatamala, etc. are willing to risk their lives walking thru the desert just for the chance to be beaten into the ground here.
Funny, I always had you pegged as a Randite, and they believe that theres no such thing as a "selfless act".
While I'm not claiming to have been all over the world I have been to a few places. Ireland, England, Wales, Canada, Turks and Caicos(sic?), Bermuda and China. Sure there are places that have crappy conditions. But I didnt see poverty in Ireland, England, Wales or Canada like Ive seen right here at home, China, where admittedly my travel was confined to the cities of Bejing and Shanghai were fairly clean and safe. I certainly didnt see anything in those cities like I see in American cities. A large number of those who come here from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala do so for money, having people risk their lives for money is nothing new, and return to their countries on their own. Are you aware that emigration, out of the USA is a growing trend, especially for older people?
Do workers do better in the USA than those in third world countries? I'd guess yes. But is that really a good arguement to say that our system is the best? Nazi Germany and Fascist Spain probably had higher standards of living than most third world countries-does that mean Fascism is the way to go? Do we do have it better than those in Europe, Canada and other developed countries-No. "Go there" you may say. Why should I? I was born here and I'd have to be to them what the Mexicans and Hondurans are to you, besides I'm an American and as such I have the right, secured for me by my forefathers who served during WWI and Korea, to make things better (pursuit of happiness).
If Mexicans just had to cross a river to get to Europe they wouldnt be coming here.
The fact is that you resent what America supposedly stands for-open debate, equal rights, liberty, democracy and the pursuit of happiness. When we struggle for a fair share of the pie you call us ingrates. You seem to feel that this country stands for the rights of Capital, not people.
Unionists made this country the best place to be. However those unionists are long gone and the ones we have today like John Conley are traitors to their legacy. Conley fights against the interests of his members because he cant be held accountable by them. His salary and perks are more like the executives than the workers he claims to represent.
Conley must go.