Douglas Alexander: “I have enjoyed the remarks, as always, by the Senator from Pennsylvania. It is not a bad idea to consider…”

“I have enjoyed the remarks, as always, by the Senator from Pennsylvania. It is not a bad idea to consider labor-management relations in a bipartisan way. A good place to start doing that is in the Senate committees, where this discussion belongs, rather than bringing directly to the floor the question of whether we should just one day decide to get rid of the secret ballot in elections. The Senator from Pennsylvania has done a beautiful job of looking at history. Let me point to some history as well. May 13, 1861, was the day set aside in North Carolina for the election of delegates to the State Convention on Secession from the Union. This is a book by William Trotter about bushwhackers. Part of the United States in which I grew up and my family has come from is where counties and families were divided during the Civil War. On that day, May 13, 1861, according to Mr. Trotter's book, there was to be a vote about secession, and one of the most visible people in the square on that misty spring day was the sheriff, who was an ardent spokesman for secession.”