Currently, union power is at low ebb. Yes, unions can be and have been terrible engines of corruption when their power grows. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know people who control millions of dollars are better than those who control billions, if only by degree. We need to tackle wealth disparity.

Social Stockholm Syndrome, venerating their suffering as if ones capacity to suffer is something that should be respected and strengthened like a muscle.

....all while disregarding the dystopic culture that fostered the "growth".

I got in an argument with a pair of my brothers over student loan relief. All 3 of us have paid our student loans back the same way, by living an austere life with 2 jobs for at least a decade. My older brother, the most conservative "progress is a slow march" brother, was absolutely against it. He paid his off, others can too, or at least he should get his money back then, if everyone's just being let off the hook. I disagreed with him, as I usually do but I approach problems different than he does. He looks at the immediate, how it affects him and figures what's fair - and there's nothing wrong with that per se.

I look at the solution and try to identify the markers, or steps, necessary to get there. Then I weigh the steps against the desired solution to determine what is viable. I work backwards from the solution.

My younger brother and I share the same mind on student loans; forgive them, every outstanding balance and end the paygating of knowledge in general - because those holding the keys to the gates didn't come up with the contents theyre guarding, they themselves are stewards, not owners.

I don't care that I was able to pay off my loans, it's more important that we move past the paygating - which is really power projection - than any benefit I myself might be able to gain.

Moving ahead, either personally or socially will at times require looking ahead more than looking at now or the path preceding. I think this kind of insight is crucial to any leadership, large or small, union or otherwise.

I'm if the opinion that if we must make a choice to act together in a group, then let's figure out and establish our best practices, ensure the appropriate smart people are involved and do whatever with the soft (not-monetized) values we want fostered, ie with compassion, patience, understanding, offering respect and integrity, not demanding obedience before giving them. A society that doesn't work from those values will lose those values. And that's pervasive, from your HOA meetings to town hall, from loading dock smoke breaks to union halls. All the way to fancy granite buildings.