The 2007 United Autoworkers (UAW) agreements with the Detroit Big Three represented – as many people inside and outside the union have noted – the greatest economic concessions in the history of the union. Yet, in the course of that defeat, a remarkable opposition arose. It was led by a small group of activists who started late in the day and with limited organizational resources. At General Motors (GM), a third of those who cast their ballots voted against the agreement and at Chrysler the vote against the agreement was quite general at the large plants outside of Detroit. The question now is whether that oppositional base can be built on and what its first focus might be.

The debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on health care probably looks like a small nuance in two proposals that are remarkably similar. But the issue at the center of their dispute reflects a lot about our present health-care system and how to achieve genuine reform. What’s generating the heat is a concept called “individual mandate” - using the power of government to force uninsured individuals to buy health insurance. Senator Clinton claims that the only way to achieve “universal” coverage is to require everyone to have insurance. Senator Obama says people don’t have insurance not because they don’t want it, but because they can’t afford it. Both are skipping the main problem.