Canary In A Coal Mine

In these times, when it's fashionable in some circles to blame public employees and organized labor for any economic difficulty, when some people stomp around in tri-cornered hats and claim our country was actually a better place one hundred or even two hundred years ago, I'll glance at a little card on my office wall and read the following words printed on it:

The canary represents the struggle for economic and social justice in our nation.

In the early days of the 20th century, more than 2000 American workers were killed in our coal mines every year.  Miners took a canary into the mines to warn them of toxic gasses; if the canary died, they knew they had to escape quickly.  Miners were forced to provide for their own protection.  No mine safety laws.  No trade unions able to help.  No real support from their government.

A baby born in 1900 had a life expectancy of 47 years.  Today, thanks to progressive government and an aggressive labor movement, Americans can expect to live three decades longer.  It has been a 100-year battle between the privileged and the rest of us.

• We took on oil and chemical companies to enact clean air and safe drinking water laws.              
• We overcame industry opposition to pass auto safety rules.
• We beat back insurance and medical interests to establish Medicare and Medicaid for senior citizens and poor children.
• We fought off Wall Street bankers to create Social Security.
• We battled entrenched business interests to enact women's and civil rights, protections for the disabled, and prohibitions on child labor.

We fought for all of it.  Every bit of progress made in the struggle for economic and social justice came over the opposition of society's most privileged and most powerful.  Remarkably, it was ordinary working families who won so many of these battles against the most entrenched, well-heeled interests.

The canary signifies that the struggle continues today, and that all of us must be ever-vigilant against the powerful interest groups which too often control our government.


Those words were written by Sherrod Brown, U.S. Senator from Ohio.  (Note the lapel pin.)