Divide and Conquer, Collective Bargaining, and the Tower of Babel

"Let us build a city and a tower ... lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

This verse from Genesis Chapter 11 gives the motive for those who built the Tower of Babel.

The LORD comes down to see the city and tower the children of men had built and reaches this conclusion:

"The people are one ... and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do."

The LORD consults with advisers. They declare "Let us go down and confound their language so they may not understand each other."

The result of the divine intervention in the affairs of the children of men was exactly what they feared. "The LORD scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth."

The Tower of Babel story, besides being one of the many interesting stories in Genesis, also illustrates the method used by those in power to frustrate the plans of the children of men: Divide and Conquer.

This strategy has worked so well for those in charge over the millennium that it has remained largely unchanged. Let's look at the efforts to destroy collective bargaining in Wisconsin. Those in charge in the United States have always feared unions and collective bargaining (anybody seen the film 'Matewan?')

There is a good reason for this. It is the same fear the LORD expresses in Genesis. Collectively, the children of men are capable of accomplishing whatever they desire.

We leave aside for now the obvious question of "what is wrong with that?" and move toward the Divide and Conquer strategy used against unions in the United States.

I was still in college when President Reagan declared war on the Air Traffic Controllers Union. The same arguments, almost word for word, used against the Air Traffic Controllers were employed against public workers in Wisconsin. Since 1980, the wages of blue collar Americans have dropped. Most of this has been due to loss of blue collar jobs overseas and the destruction of blue collar unions in manufacturing.

So when apologists for those in power point out that most American workers earn less than the public employee (largely white collar) unions it is classic Divide and Conquer. Pit blue collar workers against white collar workers.

The end result is that all American workers wages and benefits drop.

The prosperity of blue and white collar workers in the United States following WWII combined with the socialist policies enacted by Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt previously, scared those in charge.

They feared the same thing the LORD feared in Genesis, that the children of men would have the means to fulfill all of their dreams. Employing their strategy of Divide and Conquer, efforts to destroy the prosperity of workers in America have been extremely successful.

Racial Equality, Sexual Equality, Abortion Rights, Immigration Rights, and Marriage Rights are examples of social issues that have served this strategy well.

Popular culture plays a role, serving as a Distraction Machine that keeps workers from spending time thinking about who their real enemies are and what they are doing to them.

Let's return to the earlier question. What do we wish for our children? What is wrong with wishing their dreams will come true?

What is wrong with workers in this country doing well? What is wrong with teachers, fire fighters, policemen getting paid well? What was wrong with Air Traffic Controllers having good benefits?

I don't know, I'm going to check out what Charlie Sheen is ranting about today and complain about how greedy school teachers are to my favorite radio talk show host. I'm sure that it will please the LORD.