We often hear from our liberal friends how retrogressive conservatives want to restore an earlier American era, usually the 1950s, while far-sighted progressives keep pushing the country forward toward a better future. So it’s interesting to read John Judis’s defense of the NLRB’s complaint against Boeing for moving production from a unionized plant in Washington to a non-union shop in South Carolina. Judis writes in TNR (emphasis added):
The Boeing case, then, isn’t just about corporate prerogatives. It’s also about the future of American politics. With Solomon’s complaint, the NLRB has taken a small but definite step toward restoring an earlier America—one where politics wasn’t dominated by the Chamber of Commerce or demagogues like Jim DeMint, and workers had rights that mattered.
Phil and Claude may have more to say about the merits of the NLRB complaint, but it’s fascinating to see progressives pining for a return to the good ol’ days.
To the extent that the United States since 1980 has been, essentially, a long and mostly uninterrupted series of victories for conservatives over liberals in the realm of economic and foreign policy, it is completely rational for liberals to long for the days of the early- and mid-twentieth century.
The tendency of progressives toward regression is quite ironic indeed. As I said in a recent post: “We all press forward because it’s in our own interest to do so. Could it be that government presses backward for similar reasons?” (http://www.commonsenseconcept.com/magic-of-regressio/)
And same with unions.