By Jim Marcinkowski

It was a basic tenet in PoliSci 101 at Michigan State that a country's political system is based to a large degree on its economic system. It is also true that those who participate in the election system will reap the economic bounty.

The first six years of the Bush administration, when Republicans virtually controlled the entire government, provided a unique glimpse into what the Republican Party is really all about. With unfettered control the richest received record tax relief, corporations located off shore to escape U.S. taxes, free trade agreements sent American jobs (and our standard of living) overseas, aid to higher education received the largest cuts in history, CEO and corporate profits set new record highs - and wages for everyone else stagnated.

It is beyond serious debate that the result of the enactment of pure Republican control is that the rich got richer, the poor, even poorer and our middle class working families are marked for extinction.

So how were Republicans able to wreak such havoc without having riots in the streets? Actually, it was very simple - divide and conquer. Simply put, they were able to place all the divisive social issues on the front porch, while they entered the back kitchen door and stole all of the money from the cookie jar. We were so busy with the packages on the porch that no one noticed the empty cookie jar until it was too late, the damage was done and the thieves were gone.

This was true of the Democratic Party as well as organized labor that has now become the whipping boy of the corporate elites. Knowing what we know now, the real question becomes where do we go from here?

Focus

"Labor Unions" and the "Democratic Party" are not synonymous or interchangeable terms. For too long the relationship between the two has developed into a symbiotic dependency with less than satisfying results. That needs to change if labor is going to provide the best representation for its members and if we are to avoid the demise of the middle class and unions altogether. We need to focus.

Labor must devise a singular interest above all others, the economic best interest of the working middle class. Some may call it a litmus test. So be it. The economic best interest of working families has to do with wages, health benefits, working conditions, free trade agreements and the loss of good jobs. It has nothing to do with the Second Amendment (gun control), gay rights or abortion.

All important issues to be sure, but as a Democratic candidate for congress with across the board union support, I was bombarded with questions on these latter issues at almost every meeting with union members. For their part, union members must extend their active support based simply on key economic (union) principles. Correspondingly, the Democratic Party should not expect union members to be in support of all of their candidates just because they happen to be Democrats.

Discipline

Union members are an incredible resource for candidates both in volunteers and monetary support. But unions also need to instill a political discipline on their members and the distribution of their resources. Once union leaders focus their membership on the proper economic issues, they must make sure the membership understands that that focus is indeed THE priority. It is much easier to debate the finer points of the abortion issue from the kitchen table when your house is not subject to foreclosure or the Second Amendment - if you still have paid vacation time to go hunting. The bottom line is that unions need to have the internal discipline to have their membership support ONLY those candidates that support union economic issues.

While it is true that the view of individual union members spans the range of political issues, focus and discipline must trump individual beliefs. After all, the very basis for forming unions in the first place was the common interest of its members, ALL of its members.

Loyalty

Like focus and discipline, loyalty is a key factor if we are to re-establish unions as the force behind working Americans. Union loyalty should be rewarded while any disloyalty dealt with harshly. No second chances - no "ifs," "ands," or "buts." You have one chance to do the right thing, period.
This is where it all comes together. If you are a union activist or member, support the candidate, any candidate that supports union economic issues regardless of the other issues.

If you are a union lobbyist, there is no such thing as compromise. If a city council person or state legislator is "with us on most issues," that's not good enough for union support. Either they are with us 100% or they're not with us. Not practical you say? Too bad. (My guess is that you would only have to pull support once and the message would get out). It all begins at the local level.

Consider the following: I was a member of Teamsters Local 214 in Royal Oak. When the union was organized in 2003, the city commission was controlled by Republicans. The commission voted 6-1 in favor of the union. The dissenting vote? - the now current state representative from Royal Oak, a DEMOCRAT! Fast forward to 2007 and you'll find that the Teamster's bargaining unit in Royal Oak no longer exists. Why? Because the mayor, a DEMOCRAT, lead the charge to hire a law firm to destroy it! To unions across the state, these acts should be unforgivable, but no one is holding them accountable and union political funds continue to flow into local party coffers.

We are at war!

To borrow a caption from Lou Dobbs, there is a "War on the Middle Class." The enemy is the entire Republican party, some Democrats and some union members that will place their personal political priorities over those of the union in general. Michigan, where a good part of the labor movement first took root is now considering whether we will become a right-to-work state! If we are to survive, it is time to take the fight to the streets, to demand focus and loyalty and to leave a political body count in our wake. We have an obligation to pass on to our children what we were given. As it now stands, we will become the first generation to turn over something considerably less.

(The author, a former Republican, is a retired CIA officer, county prosecutor, FBI agent, and Navy veteran who lost in his bid last year to unseat Republican Eighth District Congressman Mike Rogers).