I thought this was an interesting article on the lessons the “labor media” can learn from “black media.” I think it is interesting in that it illustrates labor’s biggest problem – its lack of connection to today’s working person – and not necessarily because I think copying the “black media” is a prescription for labor’s success. I keep putting “black media” in quotes because I think it is a misnomer – there certainly are publications predominately geared to african-american readers, although I think there is an increasing diversity of point of view in the black community – hip-hop, progressive, religious/evangelical and even conservative – that makes it hard to pigeon-hole, as Swanson does in his article. However I think it is indisputable that african-americans vote, by and large, as a bloc and overwhelmingly Democratic. While Swanson’s basic point is true – labor doesn’t do nearly as good of a job of convincing its constituents to vote as a bloc (with over 1/3 of union members voting for Bush) – I am not sure it follows that this is because labor’s message is poorly communicated (or conversely that african americans vote as a bloc because the “black media” does such a great job of communicating to voters). As became painfully evident after the election, the only reason labor leaders (and other prominent leaders on the left) can fathom to explain why working class voters vote “against their interests” is because they are just too stupid to know any better. The more polite way to put this (Swanson does it both ways in his article) is to say that those labor elites “in the know” are just not doing a good enough job communicating what should be self-evident to voters. What’s missing in this introspective search for answers is – well – introspection. Maybe working class americans do not share the same monolithic values (like hispanic voters, who clearly do not vote as a bloc). Many of these voters are “values” voters, or 2d amendment voters, or (insert your “backwards,” “NASCAR-loving,” “Jesus-land” issue here). It is truly hard to imagine labor doing a better job of getting its message to its voters than it did this year. Nearly $200 million dollars, tens of thousands of volunteers and millions of hours were spent getting the message out – virtually every union member received multiple contacts. I guarantee this was much more contact than african-american voters received. The problem is not the delivery – it is the message. Organized labor’s message does not resonate with a large number of its constituents. That may be because 1/3 of the labor movement is just too stupid to vote properly. I’m inclined to think that there is a second possibility – that labor’s elite is too blind (or, dare I say, stupid?) to see that their message to american workers just isn’t compelling. Now, someone help me down off this soapbox.
