Just a reminder: this year marks the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Berkeley Free Speech movement.  It was a movement that could only take place in an environment free from social media, from a job market where potential graduates have to be very careful lest they damage job prospects.

Increasing income inequality chills the exercise of rights, be it free speech or free assembly, or standing up for the Fourth Amendment.  While technically it is illegal to retaliate against workers for speaking out against workplace conditions, employees who do so know that, legal or not, they may well face the loss of jobs, or hours. I have the utmost respect for low-wage employees who fight the good fight, because their economic (and actual) lives are on the line.

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