Unions Touted By Democrats

People who complain about government in the United States should remember what the country was like before we had "government 'for the people,' " said the speaker at the Kosciusko County Democrat Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Saturday.

Chuck Deppert, president of Indiana's AFL-CIO, said real government in the United States didn't start until the 1960s, with programs like Medicaid, Medicare and civil rights legislation.

"We forget that the first 150 years after the Constitution was signed we lived dog-eat-dog in this country. It was survival of the fittest," he said to the crowd of approximately 150 people at 2517 Restaurant.

He cited slavery, lack of women's rights and child labor as examples of U.S. citizens being treated unfairly by their own country. He also said that soldiers returning from duty in World War I were jailed after they marched on Washington to protest being denied pensions by the government.

Most recently, Deppert said, many people say government should be run like a business, or business should be in charge of government.

"America's gone through several phases in our history and I'm kind of worried about this one," he said. "Some people are doing very, very well in this economy, and others are not doing so well. ... The ones who are doing well are the ones the Republicans want to give tax breaks to."

Companies are paying their CEOs more and their employees less or moving their operations to Third World countries, where labor is cheaper, he said. "Big business and the super-rich are gorging themselves on our taxes" while families are trying to make ends meet, he said.

The United States, including labor unions, after World War II became "lazy and sassy" by not preparing for a global economy, he said. He predicted that around 2000 "we'll either see the most representative government in the world eat itself up from within or we'll get on with rewriting the programs that make the country work."

He reminded those present that the Democratic Party has a history of standing up for the underdog: "We better remember as Democrats that government's about helping people," he said. "That's what Democrats have stood for all these years: To help folks who otherwise can't help themselves.

"We should have only the government we need but we should have all the government we deserve," he said.

He praised Indiana's new governor, Frank O'Bannon, as a "governor with a heart," and said now is the perfect time for Democrats and unions to make a difference in Indiana.

A local Democratic Party member working toward making a difference in Kosciusko County was recognized as the Democrat of the Year by party chairman Steve Haines.

Maxine Pifer was called a "tireless worker," especially during elections, and Haines said she will serve as the Democrat on the county's election board.

St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan announced that the county's next recipients of the Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana's highest honor, will be Merlin and Ruth Yoder. The award was approved and will be presented in a ceremony within the next few weeks.