President's Report

December 2007

BRUCE W. BOTH'S COLUMN

Much of this issue is focused on the American Dream. I would like to share with you my vision of the American Dream and Working America.

            Millions of Americans wonder what the future will bring. The inherited expectation that each generation could earn at least the comfort and security of the one before it, and probably more, is a defining American belief. We cannot lose that hope, that belief, in the American Dream.

            Everyday, our children ask how can I afford to remain here with the burden of high taxes, student loans, the exportation of jobs overseas and the high cost of housing. It is a problem that many families must face.

There is a disconnect, if you will, of Corporate America and Working America. The middle class and the working poor are being squeezed now more than ever. While the richest 1% of Americans have nearly doubled their income in the past ten years, real wages for most American workers have in fact declined.

            Families have managed to keep their heads above water by working longer hours, working second jobs, relying on a spouse’s second paycheck and sending their children to work just to keep up with the rising costs of healthcare, child care, food, transportation, shelter and taxes.

            For workers, the foundation of the American Dream is a good job with decent pay, affordable health care benefits, a secure retirement and opportunity for their children. The central focus for attaining the American Dream is a good job and for many that means a good union job.

            Unions are not the enemy rather unions are the means for many to attain the American Dream.

            In 1898 Samuel Gompers said this about unions:

“The trade unions are the legitimate outgrowth of modern society and industrial conditions… They were born of the necessity of workers to protect and defend themselves from encroachment, injustice and wrong….To protect the workers in their inalienable rights to a higher and better life; to protect them; not only as equals above before the law, but also in their health, their homes, their firesides, their liberties as men, as workers, and as citizens; to overcome and conquer prejudices and antagonism; to secure to them the right to life; the right to be full sharers in the abundance which is the result of their brain and brawn, and the civilization of which they are the founders and the mainstay; to this the workers are entitled…The attainment of these is the glorious mission of the trade unions”.

            Elected officials must not forget the working man. Ted Kennedy said this when he spoke of the people who represent us:

“The rising tide must lift all boats, not just the yachts. That is our duty as progressives. That is the defining mission of the Democratic Party”.

                        Let me leave you with this thought:

The American Dream remains the most powerful expression of the hopes and aspirations of working

families in the United States. The dream is for everyone – men and women, young and old, immigrant and native born, all races, all occupations, from East to West and North to South. The American Dream is our faith in ourselves and our future. The American Dream is what makes us America.

            Finally, during this holiday season, take time to remember the men and women stationed overseas. I wish you all a safe and happy holiday.