re: #175 oaktree

As you say, it’s a mixed bag, like many things in this world.

I grew up all my life hearing tales of the mines, of “Mingo, Bloody Mingo,” the Matewan Massacre, the Battle of Blair Mountain, and learned, much to my surprise, that my grandmother’s family were involved (they ran the company store, but opened up unlimited lines of credit for striking miners). Then, I hear about how crooked and corrupt Boyle was, how Jablonsky was the closest thing to a modern-day martyr (gunned down by Boyle’s thugs), and how, in general, the national leadership were more like Boyle and less like Jablonsky, and that this is why the unions are a joke and a fraud, and I just sort of scratch my head.

In my heart, I know these things to be true, but I also know the enormous drag on industry that an out-of-control union can impose. I’m conflicted.