A powerful union is urging Chuck Schumer to step aside, as Sen. Chris Van Hollen weighs a challenge and Democrats debate new leadership. Will the party embrace a new generation—and a bolder agenda for working people?
In the 1950s, union workers were almost 50% of the workforce.
Today, they are 10% (mostly government employees, ironically). Democrats say that they are pro union, sure. Just like Republicans say that they are for smaller government.
They’re bOtH lying. When Rs are in office, government still balloons; when Ds are in office, unions are still squashed.
The democrats refused to make unions easier. And set up free trade agreements that make outsourcing easier.
The Republicans enacted sweeping legislation and legal changes to limit unions’ effectiveness, then appointed anti-union judges and took executive action against unions.
NAFTA was a Reagan project. It was just signed by Clinton who felt it was better to shove what limited worker protections he could into it, rather than torpedo 15+ years of diplomacy just because it was started by the other side, and was objectively a shitty deal for the workers everywhere.
Not saying that Dems are innocent, just that there are frequently times they get the blame for Repugnicunt fuckery.
Just like that poison pill they shoved into the Big Bullshit Bill that’s gonna royally screw working class people all over
That’s gonna get blamed on the blue water, despite the fact that most of the people that voted for it got replaced and weren’t Democrats.
Honestly, as someone who hates the “both sides” argument, watching the US and us here in Canada still hold onto the “both bad but one worse” bit while other countries are aggressively protesting is kinda saddening. The original commentor did, with the sponge-text, accept that they are not equally bad but they’re very right in saying that establishment Democrats, or the LPC here, are also actively trying to harm the working class. As a Canadian it’s actually worse because we literally have a well-known party, the NDP, who is always fighting for us even when they’re massively outnumbered and we just pretend they’re not there.
We’ve accepted the lesser of two evils for too long. It’s about time we start fighting for something that’s actually good for us.
The problem is, not-voting your way out of it got us 8 years of Trump.
If voting your way out of it doesn’t work, then not voting your way out of it is even worse. You’re going to have to come up with a third option, because neither side is going to be willing to cede power
Edit: etymologists help me out. Why is it that Prime refers to first in all cases, except mathematics, and ultimate refers to the last thing, except for sometimes in mathematics?
And yes, I did have this thought because I started thinking about what the antithesis of Optimus Prime (First Best) would be, and was coming up with Pessimus Ultimate (Last Worst.)
Did mathematics use Greek as a base rather than Latin or something?
Edit 2: just realized that a prime number might be called that because it’s the first number that is only divisible by itself on an infinite timeline, but that still doesn’t help with ultimate, as some of the time that’s just a best guess.
Edit 4: wait, does that mean that there’s a possibility that Pessimus Ultimate actually did/does exist? Would they make Megatron look competent or useless?
I’m not saying that the solution is to stick your head in the sand, I’m saying there’s no real tenacity between the two of us. Neither country actually fights for anything. The US had nothing but the limpest possible protests against the most insane shit and, like I said, up here we literally have a third party that Canadians refuse to vote for despite them being super available.
We’re not trapped in an abusive relationship, we’re here voluntarily. The good news is that that means we still have some level of control but the bad news is that it also means way too many of us are full-fucking-stupid.
There were many protests that never got a minute of media coverage. You would see piles of people in the streets on insta/twitter that would magically vanish and never be touched by any oligarch owned media (all of them)
I’ll openly admit we never dialed it up to France, but if we assemble in the streets, even at no-kings masses, and politicians don’t fear, nothing can happen.
Yea, land of the brave and home of the free needs to get to it. If your movement can be shutdown by a lack of mass-media coverage then it wasn’t a fuckin’ movement, it was a little day out in the sun.
And yes, you’re right that without consequences nothing will happen. My biggest frustration these days is simply things like why we started this conversation, which was that with no prompting the classic “but at least one is slightly less horrid than the other!” crap came up again. We are so fucking scared to have vaguely strong feelings on a subject, to the point where our entirely culture is built on shutting someone down for yelling when someone else hits them.
I’m sick of it, and we need to start saying “great, and that’s nowhere near good enough” instead of the usual “hurray, we corrected 1% of the damage and get to feel good about ourselves so let’s stop there.”
Ive never been in a union, I have organized a few collective bargaining meetings. One was even successful!
I consider myself a solo union, I know that sounds stupid. But, what i mean is, if I make a request, company level, pay, etc. If I am serious about it, my position entering the meeting is that I no longer work there, and practice brutal honesty/radical candor. If I leave with a job, it went my way. If it does not, no big deal, said what needed to be said and they get to stew in it.
Admittedly, this only works well in roles youre pretty integral to a successful team or operation. Much more difficult to do in most roles. That is why unions are so crucial. One cashier not showing up to work for a week is not a big deal. 250,000 cashiers not working for a week is a legit problem for companies. Unions banding together is the ultimate move.
Unions paid my uncle for 2 years when his legs got crushed in a mill accident. Negotiated him back on with a raise in an administrative role when he could not stand and perform the same role.
99% of people are “workers” and we are all pro worker. Unions are the only pro worker entity.
Ha, Democrats hate unions, good luck.
In the 1950s, union workers were almost 50% of the workforce.
Today, they are 10% (mostly government employees, ironically). Democrats say that they are pro union, sure. Just like Republicans say that they are for smaller government.
They’re bOtH lying. When Rs are in office, government still balloons; when Ds are in office, unions are still squashed.
You’re not wrong, but I would say that the Dems saying they are “for unions,” is like Repugnicunts saying they are “for blue collar workers.”
The democrats refused to make unions easier. And set up free trade agreements that make outsourcing easier.
The Republicans enacted sweeping legislation and legal changes to limit unions’ effectiveness, then appointed anti-union judges and took executive action against unions.
These two things are NOT the same.
NAFTA was a Reagan project. It was just signed by Clinton who felt it was better to shove what limited worker protections he could into it, rather than torpedo 15+ years of diplomacy just because it was started by the other side, and was objectively a shitty deal for the workers everywhere.
Not saying that Dems are innocent, just that there are frequently times they get the blame for Repugnicunt fuckery.
Just like that poison pill they shoved into the Big Bullshit Bill that’s gonna royally screw working class people all over That’s gonna get blamed on the blue water, despite the fact that most of the people that voted for it got replaced and weren’t Democrats.
Honestly, as someone who hates the “both sides” argument, watching the US and us here in Canada still hold onto the “both bad but one worse” bit while other countries are aggressively protesting is kinda saddening. The original commentor did, with the sponge-text, accept that they are not equally bad but they’re very right in saying that establishment Democrats, or the LPC here, are also actively trying to harm the working class. As a Canadian it’s actually worse because we literally have a well-known party, the NDP, who is always fighting for us even when they’re massively outnumbered and we just pretend they’re not there.
We’ve accepted the lesser of two evils for too long. It’s about time we start fighting for something that’s actually good for us.
The problem is, not-voting your way out of it got us 8 years of Trump.
If voting your way out of it doesn’t work, then not voting your way out of it is even worse. You’re going to have to come up with a third option, because neither side is going to be willing to cede power
The Ultimate panel of the current penultimate Penny Arcade comic, as of the writing of this comic, has your third way answer.
Edit 3: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2026/11/06/musical-scares that is the comic in question.
Edit: etymologists help me out. Why is it that Prime refers to first in all cases, except mathematics, and ultimate refers to the last thing, except for sometimes in mathematics?
And yes, I did have this thought because I started thinking about what the antithesis of Optimus Prime (First Best) would be, and was coming up with Pessimus Ultimate (Last Worst.)
Did mathematics use Greek as a base rather than Latin or something?
Edit 2: just realized that a prime number might be called that because it’s the first number that is only divisible by itself on an infinite timeline, but that still doesn’t help with ultimate, as some of the time that’s just a best guess.
Edit 4: wait, does that mean that there’s a possibility that Pessimus Ultimate actually did/does exist? Would they make Megatron look competent or useless?
I’m not saying that the solution is to stick your head in the sand, I’m saying there’s no real tenacity between the two of us. Neither country actually fights for anything. The US had nothing but the limpest possible protests against the most insane shit and, like I said, up here we literally have a third party that Canadians refuse to vote for despite them being super available.
We’re not trapped in an abusive relationship, we’re here voluntarily. The good news is that that means we still have some level of control but the bad news is that it also means way too many of us are full-fucking-stupid.
There were many protests that never got a minute of media coverage. You would see piles of people in the streets on insta/twitter that would magically vanish and never be touched by any oligarch owned media (all of them)
I’ll openly admit we never dialed it up to France, but if we assemble in the streets, even at no-kings masses, and politicians don’t fear, nothing can happen.
Yea, land of the brave and home of the free needs to get to it. If your movement can be shutdown by a lack of mass-media coverage then it wasn’t a fuckin’ movement, it was a little day out in the sun.
And yes, you’re right that without consequences nothing will happen. My biggest frustration these days is simply things like why we started this conversation, which was that with no prompting the classic “but at least one is slightly less horrid than the other!” crap came up again. We are so fucking scared to have vaguely strong feelings on a subject, to the point where our entirely culture is built on shutting someone down for yelling when someone else hits them.
I’m sick of it, and we need to start saying “great, and that’s nowhere near good enough” instead of the usual “hurray, we corrected 1% of the damage and get to feel good about ourselves so let’s stop there.”
Ive never been in a union, I have organized a few collective bargaining meetings. One was even successful!
I consider myself a solo union, I know that sounds stupid. But, what i mean is, if I make a request, company level, pay, etc. If I am serious about it, my position entering the meeting is that I no longer work there, and practice brutal honesty/radical candor. If I leave with a job, it went my way. If it does not, no big deal, said what needed to be said and they get to stew in it.
Admittedly, this only works well in roles youre pretty integral to a successful team or operation. Much more difficult to do in most roles. That is why unions are so crucial. One cashier not showing up to work for a week is not a big deal. 250,000 cashiers not working for a week is a legit problem for companies. Unions banding together is the ultimate move.
Unions paid my uncle for 2 years when his legs got crushed in a mill accident. Negotiated him back on with a raise in an administrative role when he could not stand and perform the same role.
99% of people are “workers” and we are all pro worker. Unions are the only pro worker entity.
Democracy and Unions just make sense.