I just had to post this because it’s at Onion/satire level. And it’s scary as hell.
The Libertarian Party of NH’s official twitter account just tweeted this:
I’m going to repeat this as a screen shot for those who can’t access tweets and in case those weirdos take it down:
We should never forget that people with views like this are one of the many reasons we need strong unions:
Union organizing and child labor reform were often intertwined, and common initiatives were conducted by organizations led by working women and middle class consumers, such as state Consumers’ Leagues and Working Women’s Societies. These organizations generated the National Consumers’ League in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, which shared goals of challenging child labor, including through anti-sweatshop campaigns and labeling programs. The National Child Labor Committee’s work to end child labor was combined with efforts to provide free, compulsory education for all children, and culminated in the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which set federal standards for child labor.
The article from which this quote was taken goes on to present a timeline of the actions that ended child labor in the U.S. and the intense involvement of the workers/union movement to make that happen.
While libertarians and republicans/RWNJ are not one and the same, there is significant overlap between republican extremists and libertarians. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire is virulently opposed to mask mandates and pandemic public health measures. And when it comes to guns (from the LPNH’s written platform):
We support every individual’s right to self-defense and, by extension, the right to keep and bear arms. We believe that every person may exercise their right to self-defense wherever they have a right to be. We reject all laws at any level of government restricting, prohibiting, registering, or monitoring the ownership, manufacture, modification, transport or transfer of any item, tool, or accessory that may be used for self-defense.
Sound familiar? A Venn diagram would likely show a big intersection between the two in terms of some of the most reactionary and most extremist views.
Meanwhile, there’s evidence that unions decrease racism among white union members — yet another reason republicans hate unions.
Cross-sectionalanalysesconsistentlyshowthatwhiteunion members have lower racial resentmentandgreatersupportforpoliciesthatbenefitAfricanAmericans.Moreimportantly, our panelanalysissuggeststhatgainingunionmembershipbetween2010and2016reducedracial resentmentamongwhite workers.Thefindingshighlighttheimportantroleoflaborunionsinmasspoliticsand,morebroadly,theimportanceof organizational membership for political attitudes and behavior.
Stronger unions with increased membership are almost as crucial to our democracy as our right to vote.
