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Sept. 14, 2004 For some irrational reason I keep getting called a socialist. I don’t know why. However, the people calling me this are normally people who I could just as easily push into the ‘fascist’ label. 90% of the time, this socialist label is tacked on to my position on big business and labor. If only they took the time to actually look at my stance on the subject. Let me be the first to say that I support business and labor as two sides to a very important American coin. I do not see why these two positions need necessarily contradict each other. Given the zealots of each side, though, I do see why most would think as they do about the subject. I shall expound on this. Business is beneficial to the functioning and advancement of the United States of America. It promotes commerce and generally serves a great good. Labor is also very important to our system, as it provides the backbone and support which allows business to function fluidly. Together, working in tandem, both sides create the economic powerhouse the world has come to know as the United States. When left to its own devices in this county, business is expected to play fair by the people. That was substantially the policy of Theodore Roosevelt, of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and a list of other Presidents. It is not a bad principle. When business plays fair and acts with decency, all efforts must be made to bolster and support it, for it is doing a wonderful service to the country. However, when, like Enron, a company takes advantage of the trust of the people, involves itself in shady dealings and seeks more to gain for itself than for the benefit of those it serves, it is only proper that it be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Allowing a business the right to violate the law only encourages a general feeling of lawlessness throughout the business world. On the same coin, labor; when it gets too comfortable with its position influence in a community and begins asking for too much and offering too little in return, it must be made understand that it is not above the law. Labor must be made understand that the needs of the people supercede the needs of the union. Labor has every right to be at the bargaining table in business, as it is an integral cog, but it does not have the right to dictate wholly what it thinks should be right. The key, as with all ideological positions, business and labor included, lies in both sides admitting the benefits and drawbacks of the other, of accepting the opposing side as valid and important. If both sides are kept in check by their own will, that speaks highly of the entire system, but if a higher power must from time to time keep in check the organizations, that also speaks well for the system. Government should not be afraid to, when it is merited, act where action is necessary. The true power comes from the ability to, as a Democrat or Republican, say that labor is sometimes wrong and business is sometimes right. Both must look out for the people first, as they are indirectly in control of what the people receive as a product of their labor. Standing by labor or business unconditionally is foolish if one is not prepared to tell that organization when they are wrong. If it must be government who tells either organization when they have overstepped, so be it. That is not socialism, friends, but holding people accountable for their actions and making sure that the people get as fair a deal as possible. It is making sure that corporations or labor do not gain so much power that they feel themselves above the call of law and decency. Business should be allowed to grow, as should labor, uninhibited, so long as they keep in check with the laws and the people. I’d love some feedback on this. ------------ About the author: Max Burns lives in Indianapolis and interns with the Indiana Democratic Party. Visit A Big Cup O' JMHX or read the fantasy-fiction novel "Alcardia". Email: DeMBurns@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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