The End of the Values Voters?
Although it's probably wishful thinking, you have to think that voters will have the economy in mind instead of abortion when they go to the polls in just two weeks. I live in a small town in central PA, and my father has worked at a cabinet factory for over thirty years. Though he started out in the plant sanding cabinets, he has worked the office of the company for almost twenty years. He's gone very far without a college education-- he's a good numbers man who's governed mostly by logic and reason. He likes his job and the people he works with, and he's been on salary for a pretty long time.
The factory has had some rough periods, but this slump has been the worst. It just goes to show that we can't afford to think on a local level anymore in a globalized world. The global affects the local and vice versa, and even backwoods conservatives that work in the factories are finding this one out. The sub-prime crisis has spread pain all around. If people aren't buying houses, they're probably also not putting in thousands of dollars in cabinetry.
The company employs around 2200 people, and over the course of several layoffs, has let around 500 people go. As with most factories, (or at least the ones that are still producing in the US) this company hires a massive percentage of workers in the local area. My uncle, aunt, cousin, father, brother, sister-in-law and cousin all work there. The layoffs work by seniority, and my aunt and my brother got the boot last Friday. So far, they've gone back seven years and two months for the lay-offs. Anyone with less time there is already gone. And they'll lose their health insurance at the end of the month as well. The production plant has had several days off in the past month and it will also be closed tomorrow. Many people know that it's coming, but it's still a real shock. This is going to be really hard for my aunt, who is a creature of habit and a worry-wart. She loved what she did (she ran buggies of work back and forth between the plant), but even if she gets called back, there's no knowing what work she'll be doing. There were a lot of tears going around on Friday, and my uncle said he felt like he had been at an eight-hour funeral.
My dad's position is pretty safe: no one does what he does and he's about #50 in terms of lengthiest employment. The plant's owner and other area leaders were really crushed to have to give people the slip, but what can you do? The problem is that production will now be less efficient, since younger workers are more skilled with computers and have the practice. That's also going to hurt your numbers. We are all hoping that we've reached the end of all of this, but we just don't know. And even if this is the end, it's going to take a lot of time to make up all the lost ground.
So back to my original point: when I worked at the factory for two summers during college, I was shocked at how conservative almost everyone in the plant was. Traditional Gods-guns-and Country folk. But where are there guns, their traditions, and their God when they have to file for unemployment? It's another example of what happens when you ignore the bottom line. Religion and values are fine and well, as long as they don't cloud your mind too much. What I see at the factory is multiplied large scale in every American town-- don't let the fags marry and don't let abortions happen, even if it means sending your kids to a shitty public school, having your sons and daughters die in the sand and seeing the Republicans your job overseas. We've seen the warnings for so long, but no one wanted to open their eyes. Maybe it takes something catastrophic on a personal level, like losing your job, to get people to change the views they've held all their lives for often irrational reasons.
The factory has had some rough periods, but this slump has been the worst. It just goes to show that we can't afford to think on a local level anymore in a globalized world. The global affects the local and vice versa, and even backwoods conservatives that work in the factories are finding this one out. The sub-prime crisis has spread pain all around. If people aren't buying houses, they're probably also not putting in thousands of dollars in cabinetry.
The company employs around 2200 people, and over the course of several layoffs, has let around 500 people go. As with most factories, (or at least the ones that are still producing in the US) this company hires a massive percentage of workers in the local area. My uncle, aunt, cousin, father, brother, sister-in-law and cousin all work there. The layoffs work by seniority, and my aunt and my brother got the boot last Friday. So far, they've gone back seven years and two months for the lay-offs. Anyone with less time there is already gone. And they'll lose their health insurance at the end of the month as well. The production plant has had several days off in the past month and it will also be closed tomorrow. Many people know that it's coming, but it's still a real shock. This is going to be really hard for my aunt, who is a creature of habit and a worry-wart. She loved what she did (she ran buggies of work back and forth between the plant), but even if she gets called back, there's no knowing what work she'll be doing. There were a lot of tears going around on Friday, and my uncle said he felt like he had been at an eight-hour funeral.
My dad's position is pretty safe: no one does what he does and he's about #50 in terms of lengthiest employment. The plant's owner and other area leaders were really crushed to have to give people the slip, but what can you do? The problem is that production will now be less efficient, since younger workers are more skilled with computers and have the practice. That's also going to hurt your numbers. We are all hoping that we've reached the end of all of this, but we just don't know. And even if this is the end, it's going to take a lot of time to make up all the lost ground.
So back to my original point: when I worked at the factory for two summers during college, I was shocked at how conservative almost everyone in the plant was. Traditional Gods-guns-and Country folk. But where are there guns, their traditions, and their God when they have to file for unemployment? It's another example of what happens when you ignore the bottom line. Religion and values are fine and well, as long as they don't cloud your mind too much. What I see at the factory is multiplied large scale in every American town-- don't let the fags marry and don't let abortions happen, even if it means sending your kids to a shitty public school, having your sons and daughters die in the sand and seeing the Republicans your job overseas. We've seen the warnings for so long, but no one wanted to open their eyes. Maybe it takes something catastrophic on a personal level, like losing your job, to get people to change the views they've held all their lives for often irrational reasons.