Kal, SEIU and the new union dilema

Other day, I walked into my favorite gin mill after work and ran into a friend, same as I did almost every other day the last quarter century, cept, maybe, when one of our kids was born. Only this time it was different. My friend wasn’t his usual effervescent self.

“Hey Kal, why so glum?” I ask him.

“Oh, nothing,” he says to me.

“Nothing? Yer like a lump on a log, yer head hangin’ over yer beer. What, you thinkin’ about all that business up in Wisconsin? Well, don’t ya worry. We got us a judge up there on our side. She done put the kaibash on the whole thing. Yeah, I tell you, that Governor Walker is gonna be one sorry son-a-bitch.

My friend only shook his head and glanced at me briefly the way he does each spring when I proclaim this is the year fer the Cubs. You know that, “What, are you kidding,” look he gives me when I say something mildly ridiculous.

“What, you don’t think Walker’s gonna win this fight, do ya?” I ask him.

“I don’t know,” he says glumly as he stares into the foam that is fading from the beer that’s gettin’ warm in front of him.

“YOU DON’T KNOW,” I yell out in astonishment. “Hell, it almost sounds like you don’t care.”

“Of course I care,” he says to me. “It’s just, well …”

“IT’S WHAT,” I holler as my patience runs a tad thin.

“Well, if we win …”

“What do you mean, ‘if’?”

“Alright, have it your way, ‘when’ we win,” Kal hollers at me losing his temper a bit, too. “What then?”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'WHAT THEN'?”

“Well, let’s suppose we get everything we want. What are we gonna do then?”

“For lamb’s sake, wolfie, whaddya think we been tryin’ to do here all these years? You think we been tryin’ to lose?”

“No, of course not. But what does it mean to win?”

“Man, I haven’t the slightest idea what the hell yer talkin’ about.”

Kal went and took a long overdue slug off his beer, as though fortifying himself for a difficult task, and then turned in his seat to look me straight in the eyes in a way that always makes me a little uncomfortable.

“Well,” he says, “if we win, what then? If we take over the companies, we run the show, what then?”

I just stared at Kal a minute, my mouth hangin’ open as nothing came to mind. “I don’t know, man. I suppose that’d be a day of celebration, not a day to get all sad about.”

“Okay, let me ask you this: You an American?”

“Well, of course I’m an American. What's that got to do with it?”

Kal swings back to the bar and half mumbles, “I was talkin’ with Jackson today …”

At that point, I couldn’t help but interrupt. “What the heck you doin’ listenin’ to that jerk. What kind a brother is he? Guy drives around with a McCain/Palin sticker on the back of his car. I’m surprised he don’t get his ass kicked off the job site for that, or least get his ass kicked in general.”

“Well, that’s kinda the way I always figured it,” Kal says. “But, today, he tells me about some recording of this guy from SEIU saying we’re gonna collapse the economy and take over.”

“For cryin’ out loud, Kal, you know better than to believe that guy’s crap.”

“That’s what I figured. So, I stopped at home on the way here and looked it up online. Sure as shit, there it is. SEIU guy says we’re gonna collapse JP Morgan by not paying our mortgages. Next thing, the economy falls apart, then the government then, well, then I guess we got violence in the streets.”

“Now, that can’t be true. It’s just some lies from the Republicans.

“Maybe,” Kal says. “But, even if it ain’t true, it got me to thinkin’ – I always knew I’d stand up for my brothers in the union but I also figured I’d stand up for Good-ole Uncle Sam, too. I guess, I just always kinda thought they was one and the same. But now, I don’t know. I mean, lookin’ at things, you know, takin’ over GM and stuff, I thought that was great the unions getting control. But maybe it ain’t so great.”

“Awe come on, the union knows what it’s doing.”

“The Union?" Kal says. “Mostly, we do what our elected leaders tell us to do. That’s the point; this whole thing sounds great for folks like Andy Stern and stuff. I just don’t know that it’s as good for the rest of us. Besides, a collapsed economy and violence doesn't sound too good for anyone, cept maybe Andy Stern and his group.”

Well, now I don’t know what to think. I mean, Kal has always been like a rock – most pro-union guy I know. And here he is having doubts. Funny thing is, I went home and looked up the video myself. This guy commenting on the thing says causing confusion is part of the program. Well, I sure am confused.