[huetius]

My neighbor, who is my rival, wants to get a Red Rider BB Gun. I do not want this to happen, because this threatens my status as the cool kid on the block. If I just buy myself a Red Rider BB Gun, he will call me a copycat and make me look bad. So instead, I buy a Red Rider BB Gun for the dorky kid down the corner, who is not a threat to me. I get to look magnanimous, my rival is thwarted, the dorky kid has a cool toy. It seems that what I have done is certainly good for me, and the dorky kid has for sure gained something, but have I really done a good thing? Or have I done a selfish thing — using the dorky kid as a means to achieve a selfish end (thwarting my rival)? And if we are to say that my intent does not matter, we have to also accept that this has tremendous knock-on implications, especially problematic for concepts upon which we regularly depend, like merit and guilt.

As for whether Unions are good or not, my answer would be that they are good. They represent a tried, effectual response to the “social question” which emerged in the late 19th Century, avoiding the destructive poles of unconstrained capitalism and revolutionary socialism. It is also noteworthy that independent trade unions have historically acted as a bulwark against various totalitarianisms of both left and right. It is also true that some unions have been guilty of violence, corruption, ideological craziness, and narrow selfishness, but I would suggest that this is not a unique problem for unions.