WALMART TO DEMOCRATS: DROP DEAD

Here's one of the best reasons yet to vote against McCain and the Republicans this fall. Walmart, the Octopus of twenty-first century capitalism, is steering its staff toward supporting the Republican Party. Today's Wall Street Journal reported that the company is holding "mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside forworkers if stores were to be unionized." It seems that the "Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the meetings don't specifically tell attendees how to vote in November's election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Walmart fears that a Democratic president and congress will support legislation that will make it easier for unions to organize workers. In this battle, according to the WSJ, Walmart and its business allies are predicting a "David-and-Goliath confrontation." That the world's largest employer--and one of corporate America's fiercest and most effective union-busters--sees itself as an "underdog" is testimony to the Orwellian language that big business has used to deprive workers of the basic freedom to organize and act collectively in their interests. This from a company that fires its union-supporting members, discriminates against women workers, and even went so far to force its "associates" to work overtime by locking them in a store.

Of the hundred reasons to vote against the GOP this fall, this one makes my top five.