Daimler: Unionization Is For The Employees To Decide

Communists? Because union means communism? That's the thinking?

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos I can't speak for other nations but look into who is in charge of most of the US unions, where/how they spend their money, and who are their political allies.

@28-Cars-Later Democrats? Most unions, in Western (yes, I include Latin America in Western) countries, even advanced and established democratic countries, have ties to parties and groups, much, much to the left of the US Democrats. That hardly qualifies them as Communists. They work within the established institutional framework and are considered and essential part of capitalism (unions) and democracy (all left wing parties, even if fr left) in all these countries. Except the US. Where many equate the Democrats with communists. You wish. Or dream.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos Not unions, anyone who 28cars disagrees with is a communist. Regardless of veteran status, expedition awards etc. I vote Democrat more often than not, so I'm a communist in the eyes of those who let certain interest groups do their thinking for them. None of my Cambodian or Vietnamese friends think I'm a communist, but they let knowledge of the words meaning get in the way.

@05lgt As did my father, and yet his and I presume your breed of "blue dog" is dying out pure and simple. Personally I would prefer a centrist approach but this seldom seems to happen.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos I wish it was a dream because then I could wake up.

@05lgt Can't claim to be in 28's head, but it does seem a lot of people in America don't know what a Communist is. Anyway, people like that should relax a little. The only place in the world where bona fide Communists won a national majority election was Chile with Salvador Allende (and some even dispute he was a Communist). In European parliamentary style democracies Communists sometimes have even shared power, but don't take over. Seems democracies are pretty safe from Communists. So, it's completely wrong and counter intuitive that anything remotely Communist stands a chance in the US. Oh well.

@28-Cars-Later The US is nothing but centrist. The Republicans very seldomly pull them off to the right and the Democrats very rarely bring them ever so slightly to the left. But both US parties are centrist.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos Why would you want to wake up 28? You still live in a dream. Has gotten a (very small) bit corrupted and old, and needs adjustments and evolving in political structures, but nothing that cannot be made forthwith we the immense reserves of talent and financial prowess the US has. Those things are not going anywhere anytime soon and the Democrats are not squandering it. The US needs to evolve sure, but there is no nation on earth that doesn't need to and there is certainly no other country that could do it as swiftly and humanely as the US.

@28-Cars-Later 28, I won't call you a fascist (you're not) and I won't call you any of the other dirty words some people wish could be attached to conservative voters. Can you try to ease up on the communist shtick? I know it's become a great club to beat democrats with, but it's very offensive to the people who've had the bad luck to actually interact with communist states.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos I am well aware of Operation Condor and its effects on South America so it is safe to say we in the US have yet to see cruelty perpetrated by such groups as Shining Path or FARC, but this does not mean it is impossible. Nor does it mean the same hogwash these groups believed in is not shared by political leaders in my country. Oh and Daniel Ortega, a long time Sandinista, is currently President of Nicaragua by a 2008 election. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ortega Conveniently the Communist Sandinistas have rebranded themselves "social democrats", how cute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front

@05lgt I agree with your point, such things are easily interpreted differently depending on the audience. My mistake. Goodnight gentleman.

@Marcelo de Vasconcellos Nicaragua is hardly an example of a stable and well-established democracy (or even a real one), while suffering from an even more pernicious sort of intervention in Chiquita bananas than Operation Condor ever was. That being said, tigers change their stripes and do so in order to obtain power, among other reasons. Look at my own country where the previous president was only elected after his party embraced capitalism fully and the current one was so far left in her youth that she was arrested and tortured during the military dictatorship. Fact remains that places like Colombia that sprung so long lasted movements as the FARC did so because far left groups were not allowed to participate in the process. When democracy opens up to these groups they quickly become neutered. Crazies exist on both sides 28 and the "more real" the democracy the harder it is to undermine it, being that they are especially resilient to left wing threats as people tend to not buy the full left ideals. Most modern democracies that have been toppled have been toppled by right wing movements.