May 1 Is 'Bernie Sanders' Labor Day in Europe ... My Take on What It All Means

May 1 is the European version of our Labor Day, and it's a much different occasion than the one we celebrate on the first Monday of each September.

See May 1: Labor Day in Photos which is subtitled 'Countries around the world celebrate workers' day with rallies:'

{NOTE: I strongly suspect that Bernie Sanders doesn't have real fact based knowledge of what Labor Day is actually like in much of the rest of the world. On the other hand, I do. Accordingly, I'd like to share some of what I know with you.}

"Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" is perhaps the most famous rallying cry of the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx in 1848.  And today that's pretty much the rallying cry of the 'working man' proletariat in Russia, much of the rest of Europe, Latin America, and many other places, including growing parts of America --- cue Bernie Sanders and his dedicated band of naive young college enthusiasts and others.

Except there's long been a huuuuuge problem associated with uniting the workers of the world. Except in America, where We the People are the ones in charge, the workers aren't the rulers.

You see, the Bernie Sanders types, the Putins, the Castros, the Hollandes and the Rousseffs (see Brazil's Workers' Party Taps Dilma Rousseff Supporters for May Day Rallies), among others, are always the ones who end up in charge of the so-called egalitarian socialistic countries.

And, unlike America, widespread prosperity and free speech are never a real part of the bargain between the rulers and the ruled. In those countries, the socialistic egalitarian rulers are always more equal than the ruled.

Here's a brief overview of what I know, based on a lifetime of relevant experience and observation.

I was raised in central Illinois during the post WWII years. My Dad was an hourly paid charter member of the Distillery Workers' union and my Mom was an hourly paid worker at our grade school cafeteria. We were definitely 'blue collar.'

While growing up, I was strongly encouraged by both of my parents to taste the working man's world and work hard in the summers as an hourly paid worker, which I did. And after getting a strong dose of reality and why higher education was important, they then strongly urged me to attend college, which I did at the University of Nebraska.

After graduation I enrolled at the University of Denver law school and while attending law school worked as an unpaid summer intern for a labor lawyer representing unions. He advised me to represent companies after graduating from law school, assuming I wanted to have a successful career in labor relations, which I did.

After graduation, I worked in labor relations, negotiated labor agreements and handled arbitration proceedings and National Labor Relations Board matters for the company where I was employed.

I then went into general management, and near the end of a long career in management, eventually happened to be in Sweden (to attend a Volvo board meeting the next day) on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in the early 2000's. That's when I happened upon the complete and unfettered European version of a Labor Day celebration and how their May 1 socialistic centered activities and accompanying parades differed greatly from our Labor Day in September which honors the working man and the American labor movement.

It was a socialistic experience all the way, as is the case with most European and Latin American countries and companies.

Young people and Bernie Sanders supporters should ask themselves why the U.S. unemployment rate is 50% lower than that of Europe, why corruption is widespread throughout Latin America, why attendance on American campuses is so popular with Chinese students (see Why So Many Chinese Students Come to the U.S.) and why America has long been and remains the most prosperous nation in the history of the world.

Of course, we have huuuuuge problems to solve, but Bernie, Hillary, Donald and Ted won't be able to solve them for us. That's where We the People come in, and that's why we always have and always will win in the end. Because when the chips are down and the game is on the line, free Americans are always up to the task at hand, whatever it happens to be. We the People are winners!

And while we're at it, there's one more thing I'd like to share. Right here in 'River City,' former NBA basketball player, dunker extraordinaire and philosopher Spud Webb famously said all that needs to be said about America, "If you can dream it, you can do it." 

For free Americans that will always be true. 

The secret sauce, however, for each and all of us, is in the actual doing and the details, and not the dreaming.

That's my take.

Thanks. Bob.