What's Wrong?

This blog is here to inform its readers of the flaws I perceive in American society that have the potential to be solved if enough people stand up for justice and solve it.

I will discuss them one by one, although it should be noted that they all fit together within the fabric of our society and each problem affects the structure as a whole.

First on my list is something near to my heart at the moment: business and commerce. I am a recent liberal arts college graduate waiting to begin my career, but I have yet to find an institution that will hire me. So, I turn for need of survival to customer service jobs, working retail, etc. The federal government has all but eradicated the existence of workers' unions, leaving "blue-collar" commercial workers with effectively no rights and no protection by law. This means that corporations can create their own set of rules for their workers according to what will be the most economical for the company, without giving a thought to the humane rights of the workers.

The result? Workers struggle daily with tyrannical supervisors who care little for the niceties of respectfulness. Companies take advantage of their helpless workers, randomly cutting their hours or witholding paychecks. Without the protection of labor unions to keep management in check, workers are treated like second-class citizens who don't deserve the same respect given in other professions.

Yet this is a phenomenon that seems to be found only in America. American educational systems raise up "white-collar" professions as not only the ideal, but the minimum requirement for participation in the middle class. All other jobs, the janitors, the salespeople, the waitstaff, are seen as somehow failing in society. No one in America chooses to become a truck driver. It is merely something that is settled for, when one fails at becoming the quintissential doctor or lawyer.

Yet in other countries of the world, the janitor, the waiter, and the sales clerk are treated with the same professional respect given to a doctor. In Europe, the school systems are organized so that when one completes school, one has become a master in a profession, whether it be law-making or baking. There is little resentment or condescension upon "blue-collar" workers, for they have mastered their profession like everyone else in the society.

I conclude that America needs to reinstate the forceful presence of unions, making them available to all workers in every field, enabling workers to exercise their rights and giving them protection from corporate corruption. The government also should protect and encourage unionization, to ensure quality work and to help eliminate abuse and poor morale. Moreover, workers should know of their existing rights and, be they doctor or grocer, never hesitate to speak out in defense of them.