Born on Third

Sher forwarded me an interesting article inspired by the NFL Players showing union support prior to the opening night Thursday game between the Vikings and Saints and the subsequent outrage on talk radio about anything "pro-union."

That kind of thinking is spreading, because our pop culture priests have succeeded in filling the population with shame and nervous self-loathing to the point where they think of anyone who isn't an employer as a parasite, and anyone who isn't rich and famous, or trying to be, as a loser. People even think of themselves this way, which is why there are so many down-and-out people voting to give tax breaks to the same bankers who've been robbing them for years, and booing when the mere concept of unions shows up for a few seconds in a football game. It's sad, and a lot of it's the fault of mean little assholes like Cowherd. Shame on him.

Now I hate overblown and backward-thinking unions as much as the next guy. The type of working environment where one is encouraged to work less because you make the rest of the folks look bad. Almost nothing repulses me more. But the one thing that does is the person who is born on third base and thinks he/she hit a triple. The type of people who win the lottery and think it's because they picked the smart numbers. This kind of smugness about "success" and contempt for "failure" is classless.

The wider issue is balancing the fact that not everyone is equal. Some are more talented and valuable than others. Those people ought to be rewarded more. Overly egalitarian ideas of distribution are crippling to an economy and the spirit and creativity of people. That said, I don't think anyone wants to live in a brutal "winner-take-all" society like a lot of Latin American countries. A country of lords and peasants where the winners have everything the peasants have nothing. Unions and other such organizations, I think, can help us re-find or remain a country that values and protects the middle class. A middle class is key. It has been the key to American prosperity and political stability throughout the 20th century. And frankly, the extreme wealth of a lot of talented individuals are built on the shoulders of a lot folks before them and a lot folks who collaborate with them. Just finding the right balance is tough.