We can absolutely restore the profession. Yeah, it's A LOT bigger than simply wearing a union pin, or in some cases joining one, but we're going to have to recognize why things were the way they were back in the glory days, be grippingly honest with ourselves about where we are today and work as a single force to get things back to where they ought to be. And unless we're all on the same page whether it be via a national campaign or winning the struggle to bring back some self-esteem to this profession, guess what, these WILL be your "good old days".
If you think we can't, well, go back to DeVry. If you think we can, well get on it.
A "brown shirts" approach isn't going to work for sure because it fuels the naysayers and turns off people that need to hear the message. However we're all going to have to get on the same end of the rope from student pilots, all the way up to that senior 64.9999 year old A380 captain.
Sorry for the rambling soliloquy.