A Union Man

Hang around the McAdams campaign and you’ll run into a union member. Good solid people, working hard and raising families, but finding time to volunteer.

My grandfather was a proud member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. With union protections and union wages he and his fellow union members did well for themselves. He went from living in a car with his wife and kids to home ownership, children in college, and eventually a dignified retirement.

That is the sort of story we used to label, “only in America.”

Now “only in America” has come to mean something else. Here in the U.S. from 2001 to 2008 real wages were stagnant, and since the recession began real wages have declined precipitously. Presently, the gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is greater than in any other advanced western economy.

These are statistics designed to break your heart.

None-the-less, whenever I see a proud union member making phone calls for Ben, and working for a better America, I have hope.