Our moral virtue as a nation is determined, in part, by how we treat the lowest sectors of our society.

Don’t get me wrong, I favor globalism as the best sustainable method for solving the tenacious problem of developing-world poverty from which, among other things, radical fundamentalists like al-Qaida draw their influence. Just look at the present oil crunch and you can see the fingerprint of increased demand in China and India, whose new markets are proof positive that some people in these formerly hopeless lands are now enjoying the novel blessings of local prosperity. Where there is prosperity, there follows peace, and world peace is exactly what this nation’s populace most desires deep down, and for which we as a nation would somewhat gladly suffer the pangs of job insecurity.

But unfortunately the present system of globalization is gravely imperfect, resembling a chaotic new era of robber baron dominance writ large, rather than the American ideal of creating a focused program to sincerely raise the standard of living for the varied peoples of the world through mutual sacrifice at the top and bottom sectors of our land. We now see a new world of worker insecurity through the debilitation of traditional unions backing for their fair share of the economic pie, while investors at the topmost percentiles of our society pocket an unjustifiable majority of the profits from every factory and office they exploit around the world.

Without unions here, there will be no more guarantee that the majority of our populace any longer will possess the requisite leisure with which to make the informed decisions upon which any proper democracy must be based. There is now hope though, in the form of the Employee Free Choice Act, by which workers here could be more easily able to form such unions without fear of undue employer retaliation. Unless such collective formations are made more possible, corporate entities will follow their present course toward the wholesale debilitation of the lower and middle classes, as well as the destruction of clear headed democracy in this country altogether. Save our nation; support these bills.

Joseph Schaedler is a Minneapolis resident. Please send comments to [email protected].