This is how it works. The Writer’s Guild of America has gone on strike. For most of us, this means that shows like House, 24, Desperate Housewives and a whole host of others won’t be on the air. But the writer’s strike has a bigger effect, and not just on our TV watching. Not only will this strike begin to effect the economy, but now it’s affecting the future of our nation. Because when party politics mixes with a writer’s strike, no one gets to benefit.

Let’s talk about Democrats. Support for unions is one of the bedrocks of the Democratic party – in fact, no self-respecting Democratic politician would ever be seen crossing a picket line. And right now, there are plenty of picket lines in front of TV studios. How does it affect you? If you’ve been looking forward to another Democratic primary Presidential debate (and there’s one scheduled December 10), you may wind up disappointed. Hosted by CBS News, this particular debate was scheduled many months in advance. But the Democratic contenders who will appear in the debate absolutely will not cross a picket line. That’s party politics.

The View, ABC’s popular talk show, which is still going despite the strike, is even receiving cancellations from Presidential candidates and their spouses. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have all made statements that they will not cross a picket line – debate or no debate, talk show or no talk show. As these three are the top runners in the Democratic race, it’s not bloody likely CBS is going to hold a debate without them. Ratings do still matter. In a statement, CBS execs said they hope striking writers will honor the debates by putting their picket lines on hold, so that the show can go forward as planned. Sure…that’ll happen.