Your barista is not your enemy.

Schools across the US need to do a better job teaching civics and history.  What those history lessons will show is that unions are largely responsible for the creation of the middle class.  There wasn't always a middle class.  The emergence of the middle class happened when child labor was ended, when the 40 hour work-week was instituted, when safety on the job was recognized as a reasonable expectation, and when Henry Ford was forced to stop sending goon squads into the homes of his employees at night to conduct searches.

Yes, everyone can tell stories about how some union was too greedy or protected unworthy workers, or engaged in some other offense.  But overall, I have to believe that the good they have done vastly outweighs the evil they have done.  As evidence of that assertion take a second look at the above list and imagine those dark days returning.

The percentage of Americans with membership in unions has been declining for some time.  So too are the percentage of Americans that can describe themselves as Middle Class.  The Middle Class is rapidly becoming a sliver of our society.  Soon, I fear, we'll need a name for the largest segment of American society.  May I suggest the following:

• wage slaves
• the working poor
• serfs
• tired, poor, huddled masses
• the downwardly mobile
• former home owners

Union members are not Al Queda.  They are not the Viet Cong.  They are not anyone's enemies.  They are our neighbors, our kids' teachers, the people who keep us safe.  They are the people who make our lives better.