Tennessee isn’t known for being the most progressive place in the country. They love their communities, guns and especially their faith. Being the 5^th most religious state in the country, according to Pew Research, you can probably say that their religious moral values are integrated into everyday life in Tennessee, including their politics.

Chattanooga is no different than the rest of Tennessee, or even the South. They are represented by a Republican member in the House, Congressman Fleischmann (R-3), which is a plus 16 Republican seat according to the Cook Index, as well as two Republican Senators, Alexander and Corker. The 3^rd district, including Chattanooga, overwhelmingly voted for Mitt Romney by 64 percent in 2012, and 61 percent for McCain in 2008. Congressman Fleischmann won the general election in 2010 with 61 percent of the vote.

This may pose as a problem to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which is attempting to unionize in the Volkswagen Chattanooga plant. The UAW has a long history of being not only connected with, but supporting, benefiting, and influencing liberal politics around the country. Since 2012, the UAW has given over $15 million in campaign contributions to liberal PACS and candidates, with Barack Obama receiving $148,000 in his re-election campaign. 

Where does the union get the money to support these political endeavors? From its dues-paying, of course. So a UAW member from New York may be indirectly supporting, political candidates from Alabama, Tennessee, and or Mississippi, which they may not agree with or even support.

This fight is not only important for the community of Chattanooga, but is a symbolic effort by the union to organize the entire southern auto industry. You can say that the conservative ways of the South, has warded off the liberal union in foreign owned plants in right to work states for many years. If successful in Chattanooga, the union would view this victory as a gateway to other plants in the South, like the Mercedes in Alabama or Nissan in Mississippi.

It is almost guaranteed that the workers in Chattanooga may have a problem with the political hard-ball that the union is playing. The UAW not only conflicts with the conservative and political values of this community, but threatens to compromising southern identity itself.