Are we celebrating the virtues of work, or labor unions? I guess it depends on whose page you’re on, eh? I’m not a particularly union-oriented person, after 30 plus years of being forced to belong to one or another of them, but the origins of the day belong to the unions. During my unionized existence, I’ll bet I got all of three Labor Days off. The celebration is lost on me.
But let’s have a couple appropriate quotes, eh? First, on physical toil…
Most of today’s intellectuals, influenced by several generations of Marxist political philosophy, still believe that wealth is created by sheer physical toil. But the high standard of living we enjoy today is not due to our musculature and physical stamina. Many animals have been much stronger. We owe our relative affluence not to muscle power, but to brain power.
- Fredric Hamber
On government…
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned — this is the sum of good government.
- Thomas Jefferson
On the spiritual side…
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.
- Col 3:23
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