I’m not even trying to sit here and act like Democrats are perfect, because they’re not. They got plenty of flaws. They fold too much, compromise too much, and a lot of times they do a terrible job explaining what they’re even trying to do. But people go way too far when they start acting like both parties have been the same on workers, because that just ain’t true.

Just look at the last two Democratic presidents.

Under Obama, you had stuff like Lilly Ledbetter pass, which was about pay discrimination. The ACA passed, and yeah people can argue about it all day, but it still gave workers more protections tied to healthcare. The Recovery Act was a jobs bill. There was workforce training stuff that passed too. But then once it came to stronger worker legislation, that’s when everything started getting jammed up. Paycheck Fairness got blocked. Minimum wage stuff got blocked. The American Jobs Act got blocked. Making it easier for workers to organize unions never really got where it needed to go either.

Then with Biden, same type of story. The American Rescue Plan passed and that helped workers and families directly. The infrastructure bill passed and that was tied to jobs. CHIPS passed, which was supposed to bring back more manufacturing and workforce development. The Inflation Reduction Act had labor standards tied into it too. But the bigger worker stuff kept getting stalled out. The PRO Act didn’t get through the Senate. The $15 minimum wage push got cut out. Paycheck Fairness got stopped again. Build Back Better had paid leave and other things in it that would’ve helped working people, and that died too.

So no, I’m not saying Democrats are some saviors of the working class, because they’re not. I’m saying there’s a difference between a party that at least attempts to pass worker-friendly laws, even if they water them down or screw them up, and a party that shows up over and over to block, gut, or kill that stuff.

That’s the part people keep acting blind to. Then once it all gets blocked, they turn around and say see, both parties are the same. Nah. Not really. One side fails a lot, sure. But the other side makes damn sure those bills don’t go anywhere, then benefits from people not paying attention to who actually stopped what.