If the workers of the world really could unite, what would they do?

I know, this is decidedly off-topic for this blog. Just something I was thinking about in the shower this morning.

So...the workers.

If I look back thirty years, I remember a time when most workers gathered together in unions, to create a balance of power between employers and employees.

They fought for a fair wage and decent working conditions.

Their task wasn’t easy, because they not only faced fierce opposition, but also had to organize themselves locally through phone calls, printed sheets of paper and word of mouth. But still, they had their meetings and organized demonstrations and, when they felt it necessary, strikes.

Among them, perhaps there were some dreamers. And among those dreamers, maybe some imagined a day when technology would allow workers to communicate with one another instantaneously, across the country, and even across the world. The stuff of science fiction.

They perhaps imagined what might be possible if everyone could connect with one another, worldwide.

An end to war, injustice, famine, child slavery, torture, poverty and more.

A worldwide union of workers - that’s you and me - could finally provide a meaningful balance of power between governments and the people. We would have the power to right the most egregious wrongs.

And today we have that power. We have the web, and we have social media. We can connect with one another, worldwide. We could force change.

What do we actually do with this power?

For the most part, we play games, go shopping and talk about the weather.

Our fathers and their fathers before them must be turning in their graves and crying in shame.