As Go Unions, So Goes the Middle Class

As Go Unions, So Goes the Middle Class

As Go Unions, So Goes the Middle Class

The fate of America’s unions and the fate of our middle class are inextricably intertwined.

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The fate of America’s unions and the fate of our middle class are inextricably intertwined. More than any other movement, the labor movement has worked to ensure essential benefits and working conditions for ordinary Americans, creating a long-term recipe for prosperity. Unions are the bedrock of the Democratic party, funding and supporting candidates who campaigned on the platform of the middle and working classes.

But are Democrats willing to hit back when unions are attacked? Barbara Ehrenreich, sociologist and author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, joins Rachel Maddow to discuss the absence and need for a populist economic dialogue on the Democrats’ campaign trail. 

Anna Lekas Miller

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With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

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Onward,

Katrina vanden Huevel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

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