"Three people are sitting at a table: One of them is David Koch, one is a Tea party member, and one is a teacher who is in a public employees union. In the middle of the table there is a plate with one dozen cookies on it. David Koch reaches across and takes 11 of the cookies and then looks at the tea partier and says, "Look out for that union lady, she wants a piece of your cookie."
- Miles Cobbett
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln, Republican
"It is right to struggle against an unjust economic system that does not uphold the priority of the human being over capital and land." - Pope John Paul II
Here is the most recent statement of support for working Americans and their right to organize, from Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development:
"You and our brother bishops in Wisconsin are offering a timely reminder of what the Church teaches on the rights and duties of workers, including the right to form and belong to unions and other associations, and the obligation to address difficult problems with respect for the rights and needs of all. As you insist, ‘hard times do not nullify the moral obligation each of us has to respect the legitimate rights of workers.’”
“Catholic teaching and your statement remind us these are not just political conflicts or economic choices; they are moral choices with enormous human dimensions. The debates over worker representation and collective bargaining are not simply matters of ideology or power, but involve principles of justice, participation and how workers can have a voice in the workplace and economy....”
“We pray that the leaders and people of Wisconsin—and across our nation—will respond to your “appeal to everyone—lawmakers, citizens, workers, and labor unions—to move beyond divisive words and actions and work together, so that Wisconsin can recover in a humane way from the current fiscal crisis.”
The full letter from the Bishop Blaire is available here.
Tea Party groups can scream about unions and immigrants and black people and everything else that doesn't fit into their view of "Real America", but on this set of issues, they're nothing more than Ugly Americans.
Keep fighting.
One day our whispers will be louder than your screams...