RON RADOSH ON EFFORTS TO EXPLOIT THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICS: The problem is, entitled government employees — with benefits, pay, and working conditions that are better than the average American’s — don’t really seem much like exploited sweatshop workers from a century ago. “Does Raynor and film producer Levin really believe that a teacher today, with high union benefits not enjoyed by private sector workers, who works 9 to 3 with time off, and with three months off in summers, is anywhere near the same boat as those who worked twelve hour days in a New York City sweatshop in 1911? Do bus and train engineers earning salaries sometimes amounting to close to $100,000 a year or more, really think that despite a high cost of living, their conditions are akin to those of the Triangle workers?”

They may think that — it’s amazing the fantasies a full-blown entitlement mentality can indulge — but I doubt most voters will agree.