Remembering the “Full-Dinner Pail” on Labor Day

 By John Hendrickson - Posted at Caffeinated Thoughts:

“The Full-Dinner Pail” was a campaign slogan utilized by President William McKinley and other Republicans to symbolize support for working Americans. It is often assumed that Republicans are opposed to labor, but this notion is false. President Donald J. Trump’s America First policies were pro-labor. Whether unshackling businesses from excessive regulations, cutting tax rates, and pursuing trade agreements that place the interests of American workers first, President Trump was working to improve the lives of workers across the nation. J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy and current candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in Ohio, is campaigning on a similar agenda of placing workers and families first. President Trump and Vance are just two recent examples of conservatives who are campaigning and fighting for pro-labor policies. Nevertheless, these policies have a historical track record of success and providing opportunity, most notably those of President Calvin Coolidge.

Calvin Coolidge is most often remembered for his dry wit, silence, and conservative economic and foreign policies, but he is not often remembered as a friend of labor. Coolidge himself was an example of the Protestant work ethic, who viewed work as honorable...

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