Auto industry: Glory Days

During the 1950s, the Detroit Lions won three NFL championships. Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Lou Creekmur, and others confronted the Cleveland Browns in gridiron Armageddons. Subsequent Lions teams did not attain similar glory, but the franchise boasted legends such as Joe Schmidt, Night Train Lane, and Yale Lary. Deep in the long ago we attended a Thanksgiving Day game against the Oakland Raiders, sat directly behind a post, could not see a thing, and had a blast.

This year the Lions went 0-16, a record-setting futility that serves as a metaphor for the woes afflicting Detroit -- which is to say the woes afflicting the auto industry.

Once one of the nation's biggest and most vibrant cities, Detroit has become a shell. Vast stretches of urban desolation break the heart. Industrial cities have declined generally. Detroit displays its wounds most vividly.

How different things were when the automobile industry fueled American prosperity. Efficient factories and sleek designs symbolized sexy ingenuity. Owning a car -- two or more, eventually -- signalled arrival in the middle class. Assembly lines provided steady work with decent wages and good benefits. The production of autos helped to create communities with clubs and social halls, with churches and schools. Executives and workers rooted for the Lions and cheered for the Tigers and Al Kaline.

And the rust came.

Erosion occurred.

Many now sneer at Detroit. Autos stand not for economic supremacy but for overreach and excess, some assert; the car culture even has been denounced as an assault against nature. During the debate regarding a bailout, for instance, the industry's management and labor have taken some hard hits -- many of them jarring but fair, some of them late and unsportsmanlike.

Yes, management frequently erred, and contracts with the United Auto Workers imposed costs and conditions that could not be sustained. Certain arguments, particularly in tone, also seemingly condemn management and labor as virtual villains who almost deserve their doom. Many made mistakes and continue to make them; yet few of the participants were evil, or are. Detroit was not a sullen beast in our midst but a communion of human beings for the most part good, albeit flawed and sometimes testy, but eager to do the best.

Those directly involved in the struggle, including those unintentionally responsible for some of the difficulties, deserve comfort, not scorn. For although the Lions -- even they -- might return to championship form, Detroit never again will be what it was.