If my recollection is accurate, it was Hillary Clinton who popularized the notion of a vast right wing conspiracy, hereafter abbreviated VRWC. Of course it wasn't a conspiracy so much as a vast right wing propaganda network. In many ways it was, and is, the antithesis of the blogosphere. Whereas the blogosphere is spontaneous decentralized and grassroots, the VRWC is a deliberate, centralized strategy hatched by some of the right wing uber rich involving think tanks, talk radio, politicians, lobbyists and assorted subservient media outlets and media personalities. One of the most apparent traces of the current VRWC is that every day there seem to be talking points of which everyone on the right is aware and is promoting. One of the most recent and most prominent targets of the VRWC is an old favorite, unions.
One thing the VRWC learned long ago was it was at it's most effective, not when it was promoting an idea, since it had no good ones, but when it was demonizing an opponent. Liberals, Democrats, the Media, Academia, Immigrants, the ACLU, and the Left Wing Blogosphere have been among the objects of this demonization. But the unions are certainly one of their favorites. So for the VRWC, the only real concern about the problems in Detroit is how to use them to attack the UAW. If you have any doubt about this read the article entitled, GOP: 'ACTION ALERT - AUTO BAILOUT'.. As far as they are concerned if Detroit goes down, as long as it takes the UAW with it, it's a good thing. And this is the point that must be emphasized, the VRWC would rather destroy a union than save Detroit.
It is unfortunate that myths like the unproductive and overpaid union worker are allowed to fester much like the myth of the $73.00 an hour wage. It is absurd to think that the current assembly line worker is in any way a cause of the current crisis, yet that is the message the VRWC wants to be received. And what they do not want anyone to believe is the reality that the failures of Detroit are much more a consequence of Detroit's culture of corporate capitalism, a culture that rewards often shortsighted, but temporarily profitable, decisions at the expense of the long term health of the corporation. It has left the car companies, not unproductive or overburdened with legacy expenses, but glacially slow to adapt to any changes in the market, which is the real source of their current crisis.
The improvement in working conditions over the past century is the consequence of strong unions. And many, such as myself, who have no union affiliation are the greatest beneficiaries of the efforts of those unions. The conditions, under which we all work, would be a lot different if there never were unions or if the unions were to disappear. It is the existence of unions that is, in many cases, the only hope of keeping an employer in line, even when that employer is non union.
It is often no longer the corporation or even corporate management that is the enemy of the union. It's the economic neocons, who find a voice for their concerns in the VRWC. The ecomomic neocons see any power in the hands of the workers as an affront to their understanding of the economic foundation of our nation. The unions are the perfect scapegoat to blame the failures of their own belief in an unchecked and unregulated free market economy. So the attack on unions has the dual purpose of giving the VRWC its demon and the economic neocons their scapegoat. It's an attack whose fallacies seem apparent to most today, but one which should never be allowed to get traction. But it does have the unfortunate effect of leaving a lingering bad taste for unions in many people's minds, even if they don't agree with the overarching argument.