Michelle Mensing wrote:
WM: Wait a minute. The DFL, by its name, is the Democratic Farmer Labor party. It is designed that way from an organizing effort by Hubert Humphrey to join democrats to the already existent farmer laborites back in the 40s, I believe--maybe earlier. It is legitimate for the DFL to require that those who wish to be endorsed by the party give proper respect to both farmers and laborers and their contributions to the body politic. These people produce your food and brought the living wage, the 8 hour day, benefits, and safer working conditions. The DFL is their party. That is not to say that non-union working people are any less important. Unions are born out of unfair wages and working conditions for workers. Some places without unions are that way because they are competitive in wages and benefits and because they have good management so their employees don't feel they need union protection.Michelle states: Dyna's post about this issue is one example of what is wrong with the DFL today. When rules and expectations become more important than the community being served, then there is a problem.
(Personal experience, and the experience of the members of my family clan are that those who have union wages have a better life--they own their homes, they don't worry about putting food on the table, they have better health care, and are usually the ones who first produce progeny who go to college.)
WM: That's fine, but he wanted DFL endorsement and said he was a DFL person. He simultaneously said either he's not ready for prime time or that he chooses to thumb his nose at the bedrock party belief by not seeking out a union printer.Don Samuels made a decision to give his business to a local, minority printer who happened to not be union.
The tough part comes when the union printers have all white shops. No person of color can reasonably be expected to spend money where people like him/her are not acceptable as employees.
WM: In his particular case, it may not mean that. However, in general, the DFL is pretty adamant about using union labor when possible and sticking to its creed in that respect.This does not mean he's union bashing and doesn't respect "working folks".
Too, to accuse democrats of creating a dichotomy between party expectations and working people is grossly unfair. Party endorsement speaks to the idea that, as a working person, each member is encouraged to hone his/her skills and go for the union jobs where there are better wages and conditions because other democrats and DFLers sweated, bled, and sometimes died to unionize industries and bureaucracies. If members of the party cannot understand that, the party will eventually dissolve into a puddle of mush.
Mr. Samuels seems to have disregarded that basic tenet of the DFL. It's a mistake that he can recover from, but, not being from either North or Northeast, I cannot say whether or not he will recover in time for this election.
This means he made a different decision than what the party expectationsWM: No, this means that he chose to ignore a basic tenet in the DFL that, over time, has done more to support living wage jobs for people across this state than any other one factor. As a person who has had good union jobs, bad union jobs, and non-union jobs, I can tell you now that if the DFL were to change and ignore that tenet, I'd walk. I'm a working person and I want there to be union jobs for this generation and generations to come and I insist that my political party represent my interests.
would have him do.
WM: We can get all caught up in the notion that somehow by emphasizing unions we are not speaking to the average person. Shame on you that you got all the way to adulthood without knowing what a union bug is. Even if you had bad teachers throughout your childhood, that was an easy thing to find out. I'd go so far as to say it's a hard thing not to find out.He wanted to give his business to the people in his community. I think when an average voter looks at his literature and sees "printed by a local minority business", that will mean more than seeing the union bug. In fact, I don't think the average voter even knows what the union bug is or what it means. I sure didn't until I ran a campaign a few years ago. So we have to ask ourselves, who we are speaking to when we make our political decisions - the insiders who run the show or the outsiders who sometimes vote, but often don't because they think politics is an inside game.
Insiders? In the case of the DFL, I'd be willing to bet that the preponderance of the membership have or have had union jobs and can easily see the great difference between their lives with/without union jobs. Or can see the difference in the lives of their parents with/without union jobs. To be an insider in the DFL is to be a member. There's a great suspicion that there are insiders and outsiders inside the DFL. That's all a matter of how much time any DFLer chooses to put into maintenance of the party.
To be the party that represents laborers (and I doubt there are any farmers in the 3rd ward) means that those in the party, insiders--presumably those who hold party offices, newbys and party regulars ALL agree to the basic tenets and are willing to say and act so publicly.
I see Don Samuel's decision to use a local, minority printer as a positiveWM: It might more properly reflect that some folks want the party to de-emphasize labor as a basic tenet. There is no broader issue in any party comprised of working people than jobs. We who labor have a right to insist that the DFL live up to its name and that its members do likewise if they want endorsement to run for office. To try and create a dichotomy between union and non-union laborers which cannot logically exist and then claim it as the high ground and a loftier goal is to declare with one foot in the swamp and the other on slippery ground.
thing that reflects a much broader issue in politics today - the party vs.
the people.
WM: Ms. Mensing, the party line for any political party is its basic tenets. I'd venture to guess that members of any political party expect that their members will tow the party line or leave to find another party with a more congenial line for them to tow. A labor party backs laborers.At least one aspiring democrat recognizes that the people being represented should be more important than towing the party line.
A farmers' party backs farmers. The democratic part is the method by which they back farmers and laborers.
WizardMarks, Central
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