Court’s decision lives in infamy

To the Telegram:

Sadly, my home state of Wisconsin proved June 5 that unlimited money will win over people power almost every time. It’s a sad fact the candidate with the most money, no matter how flawed — as proved in Florida in 2010 — usually wins.

The recent Supreme Court decision allowing billionaires and multinational (or foreign) corporations to pour unlimited money into campaigns allows for easy sale of our government.

The Wisconsin recall election signals not only the last gasp of unions, but an end to the middle class as well.

Big corporate money and corporate conservative media (the liberal media, a myth perpetuated by the far right, faded by 1980) have brainwashed a large segment of our population into believing that unions are evil.

If you will use some commonsense and a do bit of research, it becomes obvious the unions are one of the last bastions protecting the middle class. Without labor unions there would be no 40 hour work week, no minimum wage, sweatshop conditions would still be the norm and child labor law would be no more (or a tiny) middle class. The height of the labor movement was also the height of the Americans middle class.

Over the last four decades, as union participation has faded from 30 percent of workers to about 10 percent, the percentage of Americans considered a part of the middle class has faded from well over 50 percent to 40 percent or less. The numbers in poverty have soared. As the wealthiest 1 or 2 percent continue to consolidate the nation’s wealth and power, the rest of us pay the price. Without a doubt the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision will rival the Dred Scott decision in infamy while irreparably damaging the nation I love.

Richard Primuth,

Tampa, Fla.

Tags: opinion, letters