A rising tide lifts all boats. But only as the sea recedes and hulls settle on arid seabeds do the mightiest show their true size.
The first fight for workers rights was to convince the Aristocracy that broad prosperity could be achieved without an authoritarian social order and ruling elite. This fight has lasted thousands of years and is in many places still going on. Workers have won have unbelievable and historic battles over the past centuries. The abolition of slavery, Woman's rights, child-labor laws, the 40 hour work week, sick leave, humane working conditions, overtime, the ability to file grievances against your employer. The list goes on.
We fought and won because we know the truth.
A healthy worker is a productive worker. A worker who feels well compensated is a productive worker. A worker who doesn't work to the point of exhaustion is a productive worker. A worker with higher education is a productive worker. A worker in well-lit, comfortable conditions is a productive worker. A worker who enjoys his job is a productive worker.
A hungry worker is a possible thief. A disgruntled worker, a saboteur. A low-paid worker, an industrial spy. A sick worker, a harm to your other employees.
Worker's rights are how the West has been continually raising the tide and providing such vast increases in quality of life over the last century.
But as time passes, the elite begin wondering why they ever started adding water in the first place. No large ship has been set on fire by disgruntled peasants in a long time. The ships made by their factories are of higher quality then ever and there are always new customers. The only problem are the rabble on those other ships: so close now. At first they built taller and taller ships, until the could build no higher. Still the riff-raff bothered them. Their noise, their savagery, their arrogance. Something must be done.
The biggest boat owners begin hoarding water while blaming the poorest and smallest boats for stealing all of it. The medium boats bicker, some vilifying the poor, some saying its natural and there is nothing to do about it.
A third timid voice asks about the water pumps he saw being delivered to a superliner. Could they have anything to do with the lowering depth?
The crowd reacts, horrified, "but even the biggest boats are getting lower", "what if they're pumping water IN", "class war!!".
The biggest boats remain undeterred. They're set. Free water, a desperate vilified underclass for servants, and, even if they do suck out all the water, they'll still be in the tallest boats.
It has been years since Labor has been on the offensive, and its all too easy to say that we can't change what's happening. But never forget that the for all their rhetoric, the upper class doesn't care about a rising tide, all they want is a big boat.
