There can be no doubt that Labor Day is a lapsed holiday in America. It was a once proud tradition celebrating, as the US Department of Labor website puts it, “the social and economic achievements of American workers,” and a “national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” From its roots in the nineteenth century, it has, by the twenty-first century, become an opportunity for barbecues, a much-needed three-day weekend, and a convenient capstone to the summer season.

In a move emblematic of the troubled state of Labor Day celebrations, last year Eric Cantor had the inane audacity to tweet the following: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.” Somehow in the warped logic of American conservative ideology “labor” and “workers” translates to “entrepreneurship” and “business owners.” The sacrifices, blood, and courage on the part of workers that toiled, often in poor conditions for little to no pay, does not figure into such a paltry imagination and indifferent political understanding of labor movements in the United States.

The lapsed state of Labor Day is surely indicative of the lapsed state of labor movements themselves, which have fallen by the wayside in American political rhetoric. Once strong labor organizations have been slandered and gutted by opponents and too often fallen prey to corruption, infighting, and political ennui in this directionless cultural landscape. National statistics indicate that private-sector union membership is at historic lows while Republican leaders such as Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Rick Snyder in Michigan have become revered by their conservative colleagues (and reviled by their foes) for infringing on basic collective bargaining rights.