As timely as ever, 'Politics in America: the American Right' chronicles the conservative assault on organized labor

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a multi-part series.

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Kentucky Local 1360/KEA-NEA retiree

We are witnessing a corporate assault on all the gains that have been made over decades to achieve economic and social justice for the middle class and working class. These games were achieved through the government activism of the New Deal in the 1930s and the Great Society programs of the 1960s, along with the struggles of popular movements such as labor, feminist, environmental and civil rights. Collective bargaining rights are especially under fierce attack and laws to protect workplace labor standards are being undermined. The freedom of unions to exist is being challenged. This is the result of determined, coordinated, long-term strategy by an ideological movement that seeks to eventually destroy labor unions and erase the gains made by all progressive movements.

So Joanne Ricca introduced readers to “Politics in America: the American Right,” her report summarizing the rightwing war on organized labor. Ricca, a former legislative research and policy director for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, updated the report in 2012, the year she retired. 

Though the report is going on 13 years old, it's still timely with Donald Trump back in the White House, a MAGA GOP majority in the House and Senate and a far-right majority on the Supreme Court. The report touches on a rightwing agenda that included voter suppression, private school voucher programs and the weakening or abolishing of laws that guarantee worker rights, protect consumers and safeguard the environment. It's essentially the same agenda spelled out in Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint for a second Trump term. 

While Trump is busy implementing Project 2025, he is still claiming to be the working class champion. But his “union talk is pure BS,” warned Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president last October. “He’s always been anti-worker, pushing union-busting Right to Work and gutting wages and safety protections. He wasn’t on our side as president, and he sure isn’t now.” 

(While Democrat Joe Biden was the most pro-union president since Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Republican Trump was the most anti-union president since FDR's GOP predecessors -- Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. Their Only Rich Lives Matter policies in the 1920s triggered the Great Depression.

In her email which included her report, Ricca wrote that “it is clear that a strong, broad, class-based labor movement is essential to effectively challenge the Tyrant and the Right's ideology, and offer hope for a better life.  I am encouraged by the polling which shows strong public support for unions, including from youth, at a time when cynicism about institutions is prevalent. The new organizing efforts are also inspiring.” 

Ricca began her report by explaining that America has always had a right wing. But she added that "the Right Wing activism of the last few decades is different. It is important to understand that the political effectiveness of the Right is the result of decades of dedicated organizing, and that the Right has not been systematically challenged up to this point.”

She wrote that right wing ideology is rooted in four basic principles.

Survival Of The Fittest

“The Right believes that anyone who does not succeed or prosper in the system lacks the necessary self-discipline, or was born with the wrong genes. Because the term ‘survival of the fittest’ sounds too cruel, the Right has popularized the concept of ‘personal responsibility’. That means individuals are on their own to deal with retirement security, health care, and job loss due to unfairly negotiated international trade agreements, corporate mergers and the consequences of unregulated financial speculation on Wall Street. Those who achieve wealth and power are viewed as the most fit, the product of an economic natural selection known as Social Darwinism. As of 2010, the bottom 50% of American households held just 1.1% of the nation’s wealth, while the top 10% held 74.5% of the nation's wealth during the same period. This concentration of wealth enables the rich to increase their political power, making campaign donations to candidates who will further expand the privileged status of the top 10%. For the Right, this extreme income inequality is a perfectly acceptable consequence of the survival of the fittest ideology.”

Note: “With more attention being paid to economic inequality in the United States, it’s also worth looking at how the nation compares globally,” wrote  Drew DeSilver, a senior writer at Pew Research Center, in December, 2013. “As it happens, the U.S. has one of the most unequal income distributions in the developed world, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — even after taxes and social-welfare policies are taken into account."

Government Should Serve Capital. 

The Right believes that the forces of private enterprise should run the economy. It is opposed to regulations in the interest of workers, the environment, consumers, the elderly and the powerless. However, regulations that promote and protect corporate and investor interests are essential, such as international trade agreements like NAFTA that protect capital, patents and intellectual property. The Right hated the activism of government during the Great Depression of the 1930s when job programs were created to help the unemployed and regulations were imposed on banks and corporations. The Right especially opposed the Social Security program and collective bargaining rights for workers. The Right believes public services should be privatized (corporatized), including public education. Social programs should be minimal with church-based charity aiding those in need. The role of government is basically to provide a military defense, to protect and promote business and investor interest, and to structure the economy and tax system so that income and wealth are concentrated at the top.”

Read “Project 2025 Could Become a ‘Political Reality That Would Upend Medical Practice," "How Project 2025 Would Devastate Public Education," "Project 2025 Threatens Full Privatization of Medicare—A Death Sentence for Millions," "Raising the Retirement Age for Social Security Would Cut Benefits by Thousands of Dollars Each Year"  

Property Rights Supersede Human Rights

“The Right is determined to protect the property rights of investors and corporate owners. Russell Kirk, a major conservative theorist who wrote The Conservative Mind, emphasized that property ownership is what separates humans from other animals so 'the rights of property are more important than the right to life'. For government to order business owners to behave a certain way – such as establishing labor standards (minimum wage, overtime, rights, workplace health, and safety laws) and laws to protect the environment – violates the right to control your own property. Kirk opposed the notion of worker 'rights' and wrote that limiting working hours and requiring periodic holidays meant workers insisted on a 'right to be idle'. Read: "Project 2025 and Unions."  

Decisions Should Be Made By The Elite

“It follows then that those who accumulate the most wealth deserve to make the decisions. Contrary to its populist rhetoric, the Right believes that the masses of people have a basic incompetence. Its theorists often refer to democracy as 'mob rule.' Consistent with this view, the Right will oppose any policy to expand citizen participation and create a more informed electorate – such as the Voting Rights Act, the Freedom of Information Act, voter registration at the polls, and the movement to defund public radio, television and the arts. The nationwide campaign to suppress the vote (of those more likely to vote. Democratic), by passing state laws requiring a photo ID for voting is an example of obstructing Democratic participation. The movement to defund public education and shift taxpayer support to private school vouchers reflects this lack of commitment to a broadly well-educated population. And the main target of the right has always been the labor movement because unions are the most powerful mass-based, democratic organizations to give the average person an organized voice in their workplace and society. Read "Trump's inaugural brings the world's billionaire elites en masse to DC," "Trump’s victory adds record $64bn to wealth of richest top 10," "Billionaires Who Will Dominate Trump Economic Team Eager To Push Policies Making Themselves Even Richer."

NEXT TIME: “WHY THE LABOR MOVEMENT IS THE #1 TARGET OF THE RIGHT”