When did unions and workers become "special interests"?

[mandyky]

Good ole Ahnold, says they are. Who does he think the tax payers are?

And then there are the Southern conservatives, like Zell Miller who call gays and Right to Choice folks special interests.

To me Special Interests are Lobbyists and Big Business who get more access because they give more money.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. According to the conservatives,

lobbyists and big business are legitamate constituents. People? What are they? No money, no rights in their eyes.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Special Interests are those you don't agree with.

[Gothic Sponge]

3. It's all a part of their Orwellian newspeak

[tom_paine]

4. When we passively allowed them to Orwell the language 20 years ago

War is Peace
Slavery is Freedom
Ignorance is Strength

They have been working on this level, WITHOUT OPPOSITION, for more than 20 years. Many of their Orwellianisms are irreversible, IMHO.

We will see if Free America can stop this NOW, when we needed to years ago.

[Minstrel Boy]

9. so true, tom.

They knew the importance of defining the terms, and they controlled the levers to make it so.

Losing that fight lost the country. America won't really come back before the words which describe it are rescued.

[checks-n-balances]

5. They started being "special interests" when Reagan said so

A pre-emptive strike before anyone could put that label on - as you rightly said - the real Special Interests (Lobbyists and Big Business).

Funny how lots of things became "true" around that time, and too many people have believed these memes ever since.

Time to trade in that koolade for some truth serum antidote.

[cthrumatrix]

6. It's called "nobody challenges them on anything".... so they can say

anything

[Krupskaya]

7. I'm just fine

...with unions being a special interest. They are. And the quicker they can get their asses in gear and start influencing things again, the happier I'll be.

[Cannikin]

8. 'Special interest'=Lobbyist that doesn't represent a large company

[HawkerHurricane]

10. "Special" Interest = Groups I want to disparage

Thus, Unions are a Special Interest, Corporations are not.

Enviormentalists are a special interest, pollutters are not.

The ACLU is a special interest, the SBC is not.

See a pattern?

[Junkdrawer]

11. After the Viet Nam War, the left fractured into "special interests"...

BTW: The weakening of this "hard to hold together" coalition is one of the main reasons Reaganism took root.