On September 30, the Huffington Post interviewed local political organizer and liberal author Robert Creamer. The intent of the piece was to drum up enthusiasm for a progressive rally which was held at the Washington Mall last weekend. Specifically, Creamer said:
“This Saturday, a broad coalition of progressive organizations will hold a massive One Nation Working Together rally — actually kind of a revival — aimed at allowing progressives to emerge from a defensive crouch, stand up straight and mobilize our forces to do battle in the decisive midterm elections.”
“The president’s speech to 27,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, last Monday night fired up all present. It was a great start. But this weekend’s rally organizers plan to communicate one central message to the thousands of activists who will gather in Washington Saturday: The President and other Democratic political leaders are not the only ones responsible for rallying our forces. “
“We have to remember the fundamental difference between the right’s belief in the unbridled pursuit of individual interest and our commitment to the common good; selfishness versus commitment to others; division versus unity; fear versus hope; that we’re all in this together, not “all in this alone.”
As a follow-up, the Huffington Post reported that “tens of thousands of civil rights, labor, and other progressive activists gathered on the National Mall today for the One Nation Working Together ralley, meant to bring attention to the fight for jobs, justice and education and energize the left one month before the midterm elections.”
So let the questions begin.
1. Who exactly is “One Nation Working Together”?
It is organization comprised of between 300 and 400 unions, religious organizations and activist groups. Here is the mission statement on their website -
“We are conservatives and moderates, progressives and liberals, non-believers and people of deep faith, united by escalating assaults on our reason, our environment, and our rights.”
2. Which organizations are listed on One Nation Working Together’s website?
Here’s a representative sample:
AFL-CIO
UAW
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Association of University Professors
American Federation of Teachers
American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA)
Apollo Alliance
Beulah Church of the Nazarene
California Black League of Voters
Chicago Democratic Socialists of America
Chicago Teacher’s Union – AFT Local 1
Coalition of Labor Union Woman
Communications Workers of America
Communist Party USA (CPUSA)
DC Latino Caucus
Democratic Socialists of America
Ex-Offenders Association of PA
Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
Get Equal
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Socialist Organization
Mass Equality
Mass Transgender Political Coalition
NAACP
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
National Council of La Raza
National Education Association
National Missionary Baptist Church
National Union of Home and Health Care Employees
National Urban League
New York Urban League
Planned Parenthood
Progressive Democrats of America
Queers for Economic Justice
Rainbow PUSH Coalition
SEIU 1199
Sierra Club
Teamsters Local 808
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
Urban Agenda
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Welfare Rights Committee
3. Is the White House aligned in any way with this organization?
Well, Obama’s own Organizing for America praised the effort by calling it “the biggest progressive demonstration in decades”.
4. Who exactly spoke at the rally and what did they say?
- Mary Henry, president of the SEIU, vilified corporations by saying that they are “preying on our fears” while corporate profits are expanding.
- National Urban League President Marc Morial “we are four economic empowerment for all.”
- NAACP leader Ben Jealous “let us invest less and less in the wealthiest 1% and more and more in jobs and schools for the other 99%”.
- Al Sharpton “We are the banks and insurance companies. Now it’s time to bail out the American people.”
- Jesse Jackson “we globalized without globalizing workers rights”
- AFL-CIO Pres. Richard Trumka ” our best days are ahead, not behind us, and we will fight for them, and we won’t let anyone stand in our way.”
- United Autoworkers union chief Bob King “those who want to divide us tell us that we cannot win”. Voices of division try to divide us by race, gender, age and other ways. By contrast, those marching here today are leading us on a path of community”.
But the bulk of the reported comments were made by Ed Schultz, the commentator from MSNBC also addressed the crowd. You may remember him from his radio talkshow rant regarding the Massachusetts special election for Senate in which he proclaimed:
“I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I’d try to vote 10 times. I don’t know if they’d let me or not, but I’d try to. Yeah, that’s right. I’d cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. ‘Cause that’s exactly what they are !”
Saturday, Schultz made the following remarks:
“The conservative voices of America, they are holding you down. They don’t believe in your freedom. They want the concentration of wealth. They’ve shipped your job overseas.”
“This is about the people. This is about one nation. This is about our future. This is about our kids, our grandkids, the future of our country. We cannot back down. We will not back down. “
“The other side, they think it’s about profit. They don’t think it’s about people. They don’t want us to have health care.”
“ We as one nation, we as one nation must stand together, must fight the forces of evil, the conservatives in this country across the board want it for them. They don’t want it for the people. They talk about the Constitution but they don’t want to live by it. They talk about our forefathers but they want discrimination. They want to change this country.”
5. What type of signs were displayed at the rally?
6. Does this collective of progressive organizations really represent the passionate concerns the majority of Americans believe today? Are they more representative than conservative-leaning American constitutionalists who attended Glenn Beck’s rally on August 28th?
Apparently, some of the enthusiasm needed a little propping up because many of these “activists” were bused in by the unions. Perhaps these attendance pictures say it best.
7. And finally, how did these “green” liberals respect our planet?
Analysis
With all due respect to the mission statement of One Nation Working Together.org, don’t believe everything you read. I doubt that conservatives would align themselves with the Communist Party or the Socialists Party of America. This rally was about one thing, and one thing only. Keeping the unions in power by keeping the Democrats in power. Sure, there were many other groups endorsing this effort, but those organizations have specific agendas and need a place to hang their hat. This was not about gay rights. This was not about saving the planet. This was not about the fight against racial discrimination.
No, this rally was about union power and the vilification of private enterprise. This rally was about instituting a socialist government in our country, which Marx believed is simply a steppingstone to communism. There was a recurring theme of “justice” to reinforce the idea that 1% of the rich are hiding all the nations wealth. It attempted to leverage class warfare propaganda in order to increase union ranks. It played to an audience who has no concept of how jobs and prosperity are actually created. Instead, they believe that wealth is some static “stash of money” that must be taken from some and given to others. In short, they believe they are entitled to your earnings and that it is reasonable to take them from you by force in order to make everyone “economically equal”, regardless of skill, education, talent or work ethic.
And in order for them to take money from you by force, they must misrepresent conservative principles. It is ludicrous for Ed Schultz to suggest that conservative voices don’t believe in freedom. It’s the height of hypocrisy to assert that the rally was “about our kids, our grandkids, the future of our country” because this same group of progressives has saddled future generations into unmanageable debt. Ed Schultz also proclaimed that conservatives “talk about the constitution but they don’t want to live by it”. All these statements are 180° from reality. Perhaps that’s why Democrat politicians including Charlie Rangle and John Lewis declined the invitation.
One final comment. It’s outrageous that Obama’s own “Organizing for America” praised a rally that openly and blatantly exhibited signs promoting socialism in America. I remember just a few months ago when the media ridiculed anyone suggesting that Obama was a socialist. Well, it appears that the mask is off just 30 days prior to the midterm elections.
Enjoy this clip and vote in November.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkw7n9Qagu8&feature=player_embedded
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/10-2-10-rally-gives-progr_b_744938.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Schultz
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/4773-one-nation-rally-weak-display-of-leftism
http://www.afro.com/sections/news/national/story.htm?storyid=2738
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Good article. The mantra of the socialists/progressives/liberal democrats is that there is only so much money to be made out there, and the little people deserve a bigger piece of the pie. A good conservative knows that you can just bake another pie. Just because one person has lots of money, it does not limit the amount of money you could potentially make. Of course, when you get people to believe that some evil entity out there is hoarding all the money and keeping you from your fair share, it only follows that you would think it fair to forcibly take it from him instead of making your own.
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Unions form the backbone of the nation. There might not be numerous employees left, but they battle for workers’ privileges. These rights, then, are converted over to other non-union jobs. With out unions, we all have been just person workers trying to battle for the privileges.
[...] Right. Its roots go as far back as 1883 when a periodical called Today, featured an excerpt of Karl Marx’s book Captial, that discussed “the principles of neo-Conservatism as expounded by the late Lord [...]
[...] the Right. Its roots go as far back as 1883 when a periodical called Today, featured an excerpt of Karl Marx’s book Captial, that discussed “the principles of neo-Conservatism as expounded by the late Lord [...]