Americans Prefer Conflict to Consensus

The Center for American Progress is a labor-friendly organization, and wants to know “Why Is the Public Suddenly Down on Unions?” Authors David Madland and Karla Walter examine this question at great length and, through the historical study of opinion surveys about unions, they find that the public likes unions when economic times are good and dislikes them when economic times are bad. They then conclude that support for unions will recover when the economy does.

This analysis is helpful, but buried inside is a point that is profound in its simplicity.

Despite their skepticism of power, however, the American public realizes that the competing interests of government, labor, and business create a system of checks and balances between these actors that prevents too much power from being concentrated in these institutions. Consequently, Americans approve of conflict within and among their major institutions. The institutionalized tension between labor and business is seen as checking the power of both institutions.

So it turns out that even after 220 years, Americans still like checks and balances. Madland and Walter find that although government, labor and business have competing interests, public opinion of them rises and falls together. The authors mosey alongside the reason for this without stating it outright when they discuss the unpopularity of the GM and Chrysler bailouts.

If government, labor and business have nothing else in common, they all do pine for what’s in the taxpayer’s wallet. So when the average American sees the car companies and autoworkers unions successfully lobby the federal government for a bailout, he or she sees collusion among all three and concludes “This can’t be good for me.”

This wariness of consensus supports the position of hardline unionists, who oppose collaboration with management on principle. The public generally doesn’t want labor and management on the same side because it distrusts their combined power. At the same time, this outlook is problematic for public sector unions, because their members are government workers, and their interests coincide with those of government. It also explains why the public dislikes corporate tax breaks. It seems to indicate a too cozy relationship between government and business.

Politicians and the press often claim that the public wants to “get things done.” What they fail to realize is the public also wants their institutions to prevent other institutions from getting things done.

This post was promoted from GreenRoom to HotAir.com.
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