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I often look back on President Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and wonder what we wanted. What we expected from a man inheriting a free falling economy, two wars, and all the rest that Bush and Cheney left behind for him. The soaring rhetoric of his campaign raised expectations to sky high levels. Every president over promises. Perhaps not all intend to, but it is a part of the campaign game. Hope and Change sounded marvelous didn’t it? That wasn’t the problem though. I think the greater issue is, it sounded easy. We should know better. Real change comes not only at a cost, but quite often in painful, ruthless inches that tax both stamina and resolve. Two things this nation has proven itself to be in short supply of.
Oh sure, maybe Obama hasn’t been all we may have hoped he would be. Occasionally, I feel that way. Then I compare him to the alternative. When I do, the air I breathe fills with jasmine, and anything I take a drink of turns to mother’s milk. That is not the prevailing opinion of the average American. For many, change has come too slow during this presidency. It’s okay to hate incrementalism. I’m no fan either. However, in a strange way, it’s almost like science. It’s not going to change whether you like it or not. For better or worse, baby steps is generally how we roll.
The thing is, that’s not all on the President. FDR was once approached by a Democratic Senator with a new proposal. He made his argument for the legislation and, at the end of the discussion, FDR said “That’s great, now make me do it.” Every President needs to be pushed by both their party and the public. Do you really think LBJ wanted to deal with the sturm und drang of the Civil Rights movement? Or FDR the great Depression? All things being equal, I would guess not. However, history met them in the form of pressure. That pressure did not come from above them–how could it?–it came from below, as a groundswell.
I mention FDR and LBJ most specifically because they probably passed more meaningful progressive legislation than any other President of the 20th century (with apologies to Teddy). We forget something though. For most of their tenure, they had very strong majorities in both houses of congress. A fact that allows for the greater passage of meaningful legislation. They also had a motivated populous pushing for change. Whether it was FDR’s New Deal, or LBJ’s Great Society, there was a hunger in the land for something more.
Barack Obama has had neither of those things. Oh, it’s true, he briefly had majorities in both the House and the Senate until he did that awful thing we elected him to do. You know, improve our health care. He did so with a flawed bill that not only wasn’t the “Medicare for all” the far left wanted, or even the more modest public option the left of center would have liked to have seen. That being said, not only was it the best he could do, but it’s also working. Even stout Obama critics from the far left like Paul Krugman accept that now.
He also passed a stimulus bill that many–including Krugman–feel was too small, but may well have staved off another Great Depression. He also moved to stabilize the auto industry. A ringing success that too few have spoken about. It appears that he has also kept us safe. There has been no second 9/11 and bin Laden sleeps with the fishes–literally. He embraced gay marriage. Begrudgingly at first and with an assist from Crazy Joe, but it’s no small thing to be the first leader of the free world to do so.
All of that doesn’t mean I believe he’s always been right. He doubled down in Afghanistan, wasn’t hard enough on Wall Street (although Dodd-Frank is not nothing), has been too slow on immigration, hasn’t solved the riddle of income inequality, and expanded both the drone program to kill, and the authority of the NSA to peep through our cyber windows. Depending on where you fall on the political spectrum of the left, those shortfalls probably fall somewhere in a range between disappointing and outright folly. He has not been a perfect President. If he were, he would be the first.
I will tell you this. His greatest political mistake was not necessarily any of the things listed above. As my good friend and fellow scribe, David Harada-Stone, once said to me, “Obama’s greatest mistake was overestimating the American public.” To this I say, and how.
We are terrible. The only group of people I can think of in this country that might be worse are those that presently serve in congress. Democrats who run from the President, and their own successes, and Republicans who run from sanity.
That truth does not let us off the hook. A few weeks ago, the center-right columnist, Jon Avlon, was on Real Time with Bill Maher, and he made the most simple and yet one of strongest defenses of the Obama presidency I have heard. He essentially said, if you compare the way things are now to the way they were when he entered the office, it is inarguable that things are appreciably better. He’s exactly right. And somehow, this is true despite zero assistance from that not so loyal opposition known as the GOP, and relatively feckless support from the party whose standard Barack Obama bears like a 60 pound stone.
For this, we–the American people–have paid this man almost no dividend. His approval ratings are underwater, and the oh so recent midterms were an unqualified disaster, due in no small part to the inability of those of us on the left to show up. We provided a vacuum for a sour, science denying, willfully ignorant, and yes, appreciably racist hard right to step right in, and wipe the floor with us. We made it so easy; it’s embarrassing.
And that’s mostly how I feel right now about this country, and those that are contained within. Embarrassed. Because if you would have told me at the ass end of the Bush Administration that in six short years, the stock market would be at record highs, millions more people would have health care, job growth would be constant and ever expanding, we would be relatively safe from terrorists and loose nukes, have many fewer troops in harm’s way, be nearing a full acceptance of gay rights, and generally just not walking around trying not to shit our pants as all that we hold dear seems to be crumbling around us, not only would I be ecstatic, I would have purchased a hammer and a chisel from the hardware store, hopped in my car, set my GPS for Mount Rushmore, and requested a photo of the man who would lead us out of that doleful wilderness so I could get to adding a fifth face to that monument. But that’s just me.
So what should President Obama do with his remaining two years surrounded by an obstructionist Republican majority, a reeling Democratic minority, and a public that can’t be bothered to know or appreciate anything he has done? He should tell us all to go straight to Hell, and do what he’s been doing for the last six years…what he by and large believes is right. Only now, he should do it harder. The irony of it all is that will probably end up being what is best for us as well.
There is no point in trying to cure the sickness of apathy, misplaced anger, and reckless stupidity that grips this country, the way many seem to foolishly fear Ebola one day will. In short, we can’t be pleased. Therefore, this president should set his sights higher–not that it will be hard to do. He should look to those who will either come after us, or are still too young to understand the complexities of the difficult times we live in. Those whom he might just be able to leave a better world. Maybe they will thank him for it. Certainly those that go on to become historians will.
And that seems to be just what he’s doing. It has barely been a week since his party and his supporters abandoned him. In that time he has pushed for–in the strongest of terms–the maintaining of net neutrality. Late last night he reached a historic accord with China (China!) to greatly reduce carbon emissions, and next week he’s primed to take major executive action on immigration reform. If you are a progressive, these are exactly the things you should want. If you are anyone else, these are exactly the things you need–whether you want them or not.
I wish I could I say we were worthy of it. That we would recognize it. That we might deserve it. Lucky for us, as Clint Eastwood once said, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” And we are damn lucky. Much luckier to have Obama than he is to have us.
As you know, occasionally, we will repost pieces we appreciate. Here is a little something from our friend/writer Bruce Lindner who is always right on.
I sometimes marvel at how short-sighted this president’s adversaries are. As everyone knows, when he was sworn in six years ago, Senator Mitch McConnell announced that his primary goal was to make President Obama a one-term president. And true to his word, he’s hindered this president’s efforts whenever possible. The economy was in the porcelain fixture and President Obama found himself as welcome by the Republicans as if he had a rattlesnake slithering out of his pocket. So whatever was to become of his presidency, he’d either get ALL the blame or ALL the credit; with the Republicans pushing hard for the former.
The Bush recession was so deep and the bleeding of jobs so bad, it had nowhere to go but up. Not that this president’s policies didn’t contribute to turning things around, but the point being, the efforts of the Republican opposition — by their own decree — would be to contribute nothing. Had they had any smarts at all, they’d have cooperated at least enough so that they could later claim part of the credit for whatever successes were inevitably to come. But they didn’t. They stuck to their goal of pushing this president towards failure. Sorry about your luck Mr. Turtle; he didn’t fail. You did.
In the coming decades (assuming Karl Rove doesn’t get to write it), historians will record that the greatest economic dip in almost a century happened under an incompetent Republican administration that rammed through Republican foreign and domestic policies, largely opposed by the Democrats but backed with enthusiastic Republican support. We all know how that turned out. And the man who succeeded him, a Democrat who was met with open, often racially tinged hostility, turned things around before his two terms were up. In less than six years, all the jobs lost during the Great Bush Recession had been restored, the deficit had been whittled down by two-thirds, the stock market had gone through the roof, women’s equality, gay and immigrant rights had been advanced, Public Enemy No. 1 had been vanquished, the taxpayers spared from absorbing the healthcare expenses of uninsured patients, all without so much as a pinky being lifted by a single Republican…except for the ones this president had the courage to seat in his cabinet.
Things may look like the food fight scene from Animal House right now, but when historians have finished documenting and assessing the events of the Obama era, he’s going to come out looking like a saint, whereas the rabid opposition is going to look like a mob of Tasmanian Devils. Because of their own documented words and misdeeds, there’ll be no denying who did what, which party oversaw the Great Recession, and which president reversed it. Not even by Turdblossom himself.If he/she were smart – and that’s a BIG if – the next Democrat who runs for president should run on this record and remind the electorate daily of why the Republican candidate deserves zero credit for where things stand in November 2016. Because they contributed ZERO to any of the achievements listed above. And the record backs it up.
Whatever you thought about the crazy kids camping out during the height of The Occupy movement, it is generally accepted that the aftermath of those sleep-ins changed the international conversation about the haves and the have-nots. Suddenly the term," the 1%," became part of the American lexicon. When Mitt "Mittens" Romney threw out an offhand remark about 47% of the population not relating to him, it raised the level in the watershed possibilities of the moment. If the years since the crash of 2008 have told us anything, it is that there is a widening gap between what has become the have it all and the have nothing.
We are surging toward a greater inequality with no more room left to squeeze out the poor. 1928 has nothing on us. We thought The Great Depression could never happen again. But a giggly little Texan named George W. Bush left us at its peak. Peak years for income concentration overall, but not peak years for shared income generation. And no real adjustment in workers' wages to adjust for inflation.
No Hope In Sight
Now, we have to take all of this in context. This is not the end of the world. In general, at the same time as a spate of deregulation allowed for the siphoning of wealth from those at the bottom to those at the top, other positive measures of earth metrics have flourished. "The number of people who have died as a result of war, civil war, and, yes, terrorism, is down 50% this decade from the 1990s." ~ CNN's Zakaria in his piece "Reasons For Optimism In Today's World." I don't know if that's saying much, but it sure sounds like it is. "Death by war or terrorism is down 75% from the preceding five decades, the decades of the Cold War, and it is, of course, down 99% from the decade before that, which is World War II." ~~ reports Zakaria. Harvard professor Steven Pinker says that "we are living in the most peaceful times in human history."
Not that there is any comfort there for the world's refugees, or the world's hungry, or those cringing at gunpoint. But stats are stats.
Nonetheless, there are sure plenty of gun collecting, shelter building folks that think this is the end of times. In reality, there have been doomsayers as long as we've had sayers. So, it's hard to count us out just yet.
"When we look at the problems we face — economic crises, terrorism, climate change, resource scarcity — keep in mind that these problems are real, but also that the human reaction and response to them will also be real." That's our forever cheerleader Zakaria.
Why A Labor Day Holiday?
Let's take a good look on this Labor Day, 2014, at what problems a working person currently faces, and see if we can't focus on that for a bit, in honor of the holiday, right? So, um, why is there a Labor Day? We hear a lot about it being some sort of celebration of union ideals: work weeks, and weekends, child labor laws, and some safety stuff, but a national holiday? That sort of seems excessive, no?
Today, Salon muses that "Union membership used to be a matter of economic self-interest, divorced from political or cultural concerns. In the 1960s, union members supported the New Deal welfare state, while also backing the Vietnam War, racially restrictive housing covenants, bans on abortion and birth control. Perfect for the GOP. Richard Nixon — who used to call his ideal voter “a 47-year-old machinist’s wife outside Dayton” — won his 1972 landslide with a “blue-collar strategy” that attracted the support of white male unionists." Unions were helpful to the interests of the GOP, and helpful to the interests of the worker. So it was a win win. What went so horribly wrong?
Wisconsin Union Protests Overtake Their Capitol
Past Is Prologue, My Friend
In the good ol' days, things where not all that good, and a work "day" meant a totally different thing. In the 19th Century, industrial accidents were common place, with no possible redress for grievances. Companies owned whole towns. The stores, the housing, the electric company, the water, everything.
In exchange for steady employment, workers began to compromise their rights in the workplace. Longer work hours and pay cuts were imposed. Try to complain, and you'd be out on the street looking for a job where none existed. You'd take what you could get, if you were on your own, and you'd do everything to keep what ya got when you had to support a family. Once you complained, or asked for better working conditions, you lost your home, right off, and of course your job, and your kid's schooling, 'cause the company owned the school too.
Sure a few Americans had a lot. But for hundreds of years, this stranglehold on your civil rights in the workplace was your lot, your kid's lot, and so on and so on. Just the price of working for business.
Throughout the latter part of the 19th century, labor started to realize they had had enough. In 1892, at the Carnegie's Homestead plant near Pittsburgh, there was a pay slash for the steel workers. Extremely upset about this pay cut, the workers held a strike. The company officials called in Pinkerton detectives to stop these riots. The detectives were unable to stop the defiant strikers; the strikers, armed with rifles and dynamite, were eventually broken by the Pennsylvania state militia. At least ten persons were killed and sixty were injured.
Along the way to the right to unionize, workers were shot at, hit with fire bombs, cowards shooting at the mothers' of children and unarmed men. A labor movement in Chicago in 1894 left 30 Pullman workers dead. Pullman had cut wages about one-third. The workers angered at the wage cuts, led a strike on the Company. Strikers interfered with railway traffic from Chicago to the Pacific Coast, sometimes overturning railroad cars.
Women's voices were instrumental in event after event in the history of the worker's rights movement. In 1902, Mother Jones was called "the most dangerous woman in America" for her success in organizing mine workers and their families against the mine owners, and was known as the "miners' angel." Jones worked as a teacher and dressmaker, but after her husband and four children all died of yellow fever and her workshop was destroyed in a fire in 1871, she began working as an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union. Starting in 1897, at around 60 years of age, she then helped coordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. In 1903, upset about the lax enforcement of the child labor laws in the Pennsylvania mines and silk mills, she organized a Children's March from Philadelphia to the home of then president Theodore Roosevelt in New York.
The reality is there were revolutions that led up to the existence of eight hour work days, putting an end to child labor along with it. There was the Ludlow incident. Tents that housed evicted striking workers were torched, with children in them. "The tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914 resulted in some two dozen people dead. The National Guard, the actual American National Guard, was called in and ordered to butcher unarmed people from a distance. History calls it The Ludlow Massacre. Reported death tolls vary but include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent.
Ruins of the Ludlow Colony in the aftermath of the massacre
Ludlow was the deadliest single incident in the southern Colorado Coal Strike, lasting from September 1913 through December 1914. The strike was organized by the United Mine Workers of America(UMWA) against coal mining companies in Colorado. The three largest companies involved were the Rockefeller family-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company (RMF), and the Victor-American Fuel Company (VAF). In retaliation for Ludlow, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines over the next ten days, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard along a 40-mile front from Trinidad toWalsenburg. The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Thomas G. Andrews described it as the "deadliest strike in the history of the United States".
Historian Howard Zinn described the Ludlow Massacre as "the culminating act of perhaps the most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history". Congress responded to public outcry by directing the House Committee on Mines and Mining to investigate the incident. Its report, published in 1915, was influential in promoting child labor laws and an eight-hour work day. But nothing like progress happens without taking its own sweet time.
By 1930, with the great stock market crash of 1928, things had gone from worse to worse. "They used to say once you pass the gates of General Motors, forget about The United States Constitution. Workers had no rights when you entered that plant. When workers started organizing, bosses actually hired lip readers to watch the men talk to each other to find out if the workers were talking union. If you were caught, you'd get beaten up." Marissa Tomei speaking the words of a female 1930s labor strike leader on the History Channel.
Who Are These Union Members?
These days, the sectors with the largest percentage of unionized employees are education, training and library occupations, with 35.4% of them paying dues to a union. It used to be that belonging to a labor union-made you a Democrat. Now, being a Democrat is more likely to make you a union member. Fun fact: Teachers and librarians vote overwhelmingly Democratic, not because they’re union members, but because the combination of low pay and intellectual inquiry in those professions attracts liberals. Those fields are dominated by women, many with master’s degrees, women who vote for Democrats. In fact, the Center for Economic and Policy Research predicts that by 2020, a majority of union members will be women.
More Fun Facts: In 1983, over half of union members were white men. Now, a little over a third are. In New York City, less than a quarter of union members are white men. Blacks are more likely to be unionized than whites. College-educated whites are more likely to be unionized than non-college whites. Public sector employees are more likely to belong to unions than private sector employees. And since most union members now work in the public sector, the war on unions has become yet another front in the larger conservative war on government.
Meanwhile, in manufacturing, the unionization rate has plummeted from 30% in 1983, to 9.4% today. During those three decades, the United Auto Workers’ membership dropped from 1.2 million to 390,000. That’s mainly due to the loss of market share to foreign manufacturers. Because when those foreign manufacturers build plants in the United States, they build in the South, a region hostile to unionism.
To be clear, overall, union members made up 20% of the workforce in 1983, and they made up 11% of the workforce in 2012. In New York, 23.2% of workers belong to a union. In Tennessee, 4.8% do. (Only Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina are less unionized.) ~~Salon
There are some taking on the local union busters and winning. People like Karen, the outspoken president of the Chicago Teachers Union, are the face 21st century unionism, which has been transformed from a movement devoted to protecting the safety and livelihoods of blue-collar workers to a stronghold of white-collar liberalism. Liberal. Another crest of honor the GOP has turned into a curse word.
What Does Organizing Look Like Now
A piece by Edward McClelland of Salon tells the tale. "Earlier this year, the UAW tried to organize a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Despite the tacit support of the company, which needed an independent union to form a European-style works council, the UAW lost the election, 712-626. Before the vote, the anti-union faction, which called itself Southern Momentum, invoked cultural, regional, racial and political resentments to persuade the conservative white men working in the plant that a union was a threat not only to their livelihoods, but to their way of life. Billboards labeled the Democratic-leaning union the 'United Obama Workers,' and presented 'ruin porn' images of the derelict Packard Motors plant alongside the slogan, “Detroit: Brought to you by the UAW.”
Most interestingly, McClelland adds, "Before the vote (in Chattanooga), a pamphlet distributed to workers compared the unionizing campaign to a campaign by the Union Army in the Civil War (the civil war, for christ's sake): “One hundred and fifty years ago … the people of Tennessee routed such a force in the Battle of Chickamauga." McClelland further confesses, "When I heard a Sheet Metal Workers business agent from Syracuse theorize that Southerners dislike unions because “the name reminds them of the Union Army,” I thought he was nuts. Since Chattanooga, I think he may have been on to something. Bottom line: If you buy a BMW built-in Alabama, or a Toyota built-in Mississippi, you’re not helping the American labor movement."
A War On The Poor Is Underway Today
The GOP is running a corporation-only campaign against the rest of the country. Has to be said. Once the Citizens United case was ruled on by the current Supreme Court of the United States, corporations became people and their myopic view of profits-over-employees'-quality-of-life began to dominate the national conversation. Wealth will trickle down, you can't tax business, you can't impose healthcare benefits, and you can't extend healthcare benefits. If you are alive today, and not a child, you know that we are headed right back to that time when you suffered in silence with nothing, because you were treated like nothing. All of that, sits in direct defiance of the history of what is now the annual 3 day holiday, Labor Day. What do we mean, "war on the poor?" Robert Reich explains it perfectly in 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
Robert Reich made a full-length documentary that came out last year about this. One you can access. One you should access. As a policy geek, as a wonk, as a citizen. Some have called it an 'Inconvenient Truth' of the economy sector. Reich makes "a passionate argument on behalf of the middle class in INEQUALITY FOR ALL.
As any history loving wonk knows, Reich is a former US Secretary of Labor. He's also a professor, best-selling author, and he succinctly demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy.
You can buy a copy of the film, and learn more about what Robert Reich is doing to take on the obstacles to economic equality one by one. Reich explains how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy itself. We've been here before. We began regulating big business and the rights of the workforce, and things got better. What happened?
Here's the cliff notes. The GOP platform in recent history, and the view espoused by Republican candidates going into 2014 and 2016, has been that the poor deserve to be where they are. They are lazy, and no one can or should help them. They can help themselves; let them eat cake.
The GOP Stands Against
1. Extending unemployment benefits. Stats tell us there is 1 job opening for every 3 people unemployed and looking. That tells us 2 out of 3 can't work. They need to eat; they need to feed their families; they need to live somewhere; they need hope. But no, we are too busy a country to have to hand out hand-outs to those out of work losers. This way, "those people" will take what they can get when we do have a job for them. A minimum wage job. They'll work longer hours, and work harder for us, with the constant overwhelming fear of abject poverty on their minds.
Republicans Don't
2. Want to raise the minimum wage. Even though today's federal minimum wage setting is 25% below what it was in 1968, when you adjust for inflation, they absolutely do not want to raise the minimum wage. GOP candidates and those running for re-election are very clear this would be bad for business. They aren't just tepid on the idea of raising the minimum wage, they aren't just adamantly opposed to raising the minimum wage, recently Congressman have advocated for repealing any minimum wage at all. And they run on that platform.
The Fiscal Conservative Tea Party Caucus Will Not
3. Extend Medicaid benefits to millions of low wage workers, even though the federal funding is there for the taking.
Congressmen Happily Announce
4. They want to cut food stamps. The GOP has already passed legislation that cut food stamps. And they are going to do it again.
The GOP
5. Refuses to invest in education or job training. No jobs bills have been presented by the GOP since the crash of 2008.
The GOP
6. Doesn't want to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure, or generate any jobs programs. Bridges have failed, people have died. Other countries have high speed trains. But not us.
Republicans Don't Believe In
7. Any type of regulation on business. After all, we "are being regulated to death as it is." Heard that one before? How could we be, when business is running wild with our quality of life, from wages to weather?
Republican Governors Are
8. Out to bust unions. "Collective bargaining is inimical to the conservative ideal of individualism," explains Reich. Power does not want to be fought with power. Neocons yell, 'Unions are “socialist.”' to try and disparage the ideal behind worker's rights. Why? Because unions members tend to vote for, and financially support, Democratic Candidates. Unions, also, tend to be made up of us. Us the workers.
Obama said in his formal holiday proclamation yesterday, “From assembly lines to classrooms, across highways and steel mills, American workers strengthen the foundation of our country and demonstrate that our economy grows best from the middle out.” Well if we are the backbone, why must business consistently, throughout history, try to break our backs?
Are You Mad Yet? Can't Take It Anymore?
Each of these measures, is designed to take away the power of the helpless. It's despicable, and it's a shame. For profits to be up, you need low wages, and unregulated business, no pollution restrictions, no environmental restrictions, no changes in industry standards, no safety protocols, no nothing between the sellers and the buyers. In order to keep your workers from trying to change that paradigm, you need to make sure that most of the work force stays unemployed, desperate to feed their families. That part seems key. Then the workforce, a line item affecting your bottom line, will take what they can get, and won't complain about toxic chemicals or the like. They'll do it in exchange for regular work. Because they don't have a lot of other options.
"This war against the poor and working class is designed to make sure that Americans who have been losing ground for 30 years, don't dare do anything about it." Robert Reich.
On this Labor Day let's actually talk about Labor, shall we? Without extended unemployment benefits, without unions, without education, with no job training, a declining human wage, no Medicaid, no food stamps, and no comprehensive jobs program, what do Americans have left to pull themselves up with?
Again, when you are desperate you won't make a fuss, you won't run the risk of losing your job, you won't run for office, you won't unionize. And a whole bunch of folk are feeling desperate around now.
Want To Do Something About It?
We've done it before. Hopefully, this time we don't need pitchforks and bullet proof vests.
The way to fix these problems is to identify the problems. We only have a little bit of homework. We need to raise the minimum wage and strengthen worker's voices. We need to find a plurality of ways to invest in education. We have to put the reforms back on Wall Street that saved us after the 30s, fix the tax system, and get money out of politics by reinstating publicly funded election rules. And for goodness sake, whatever you do, push back on the over abundance of union bashing, will ya?
"Human action and human achievement have managed to tackle terrible problems. Trust yourself; you know what you should do. You know the kind of life you should live. You don’t need an ethics course to know what you shouldn’t do. Just trust in your instincts, be true to them, and you will make for yourself a great and a good life. And, in doing so, you will change the world." ~~ Fareed Zakaria.
You'll need to be armed with some facts. As a start, you could actually download an app that keeps you engaged in Robert Reich's campaign. And maybe watch the film. The rest is up to you. Our future is up to you. Don't be quiet about it.
So it would seem the race is now officially on. President Obama, commonly known as POTUS (President Of The United States, for the less literary savvy), has decided that bipartisan is no longer the way to go. He's making visits to the opposition's back yards, and bridges, and holding vigil during his Create Jobs tour right in front of their most needy infrastructure spots.
This Policy Geek traveled all over the country over the last two and a half years, and saw many a shovel ready construction site being shoveled. I mean everywhere. With big signs telling you they were stimulus projects. The Republicans generally didn't like the signs.
There was also lots of talk of (R) Governors lining up to refuse their portion of the stimulus funds as they became available. And now, now that POTUS is pushing for more infrastructure work to be put into action, the GOP says they never saw any fixin' of any roads being done by anyone over the last two and a half years and; therefore, if we passed an infrastructure Jobs Bill now, nothing would come of it. So odd. And then they filibuster, and vote it down for debate.
Usually, these are the guys who love them some construction money, and love passing it out to supporters they've befriended along the way, bid or no bid. Not this time. This time Rove and friends decided that it would be best if everything the United States Government votes to do, should be blocked. Period. Or left as unfunded mandates. Or non-approved appointments. Until this Democratic President is no longer in the Oval Office. That's the goal. The numero uno goal. In fact, if no votes passed at all, that would be fine with them. Unless it was to ban abortion, or remove civil rights, or as Perry just rewrote it, "take back the country like we did in our revolution of the 16th Century." Not sure what country he was talking about, but I'm pretty sure he was like 200 years off for the good 'ol U.S. of A.
But history and integrity and honesty have not been this part of this season's republican lexicon. Oh, hell no! It's tax cuts and godless liberals and invisible racism and wealthy treason talkers. That's what the GOP is putting up as their best and brightest. Oy.
So what R we gonna do about this Jobs Bill? Here's the latest from the White House: "
Last night, the American Jobs Act was filibustered by Senate Republicans. There was no vote on the actual bill. But it would have succeeded: the American Jobs Act has at least 51 votes -- a clear majority -- to pass the Senate. And a new poll shows that 63 percent of Americans support it, too. Today the President recorded a message he wants you to see, laying out where we go from here in the fight for jobs.
Watch President Obama's video -- and pass it on to anyone you think should see it.
"I've got news for them. Not this time. Not with so many Americans out of work. I will not take no for an answer. Force them to vote!!" ~ President Barack Obama
Bachmann is suggesting no taxes. Cain is suggesting a flat tax. They all want more military spending. We have to change this, but it is up to us. Now, we need to push even harder. Our voices make a difference. They really do. Call, write a letter, or send an e-mail. Don't give up. We need to put people back to work, and create an America the rest of the world wants to do business in.
What's not to love about New York City cops? They're brave and tough. They get there quickly and they take care of the city that doesn't sleep ~ keeping it safe from any possible additional terrorist attacks.
But there's a dark side to the American cop on the beat.
The Dark Side of The Men In Blue (OccupyWallSt.org, 2011)
It comes with the very nature of who applies to be a police officer in the USA. If you are the physical type, that enjoys a good ass kicking now and then, and you are searching for a career choice, it would seem that some sort of "protection services" might be the just the gig you're looking for. Unless you are planning on becoming a no-holds-bar-overseas-outside-the-justice-system-contract killer, and who wants all that travel anyway, you might find yourself attracted to joining The Force. Even the International Business News (UK) reports that, there are always a certain percentage, that come along with those who protect and serve and are compassionate, and they are the assholes, and the bigots, and the bullies. And sometimes, they get to have their day.
Michael Moore Late Night At Wall St (OccupyWallSt.Org, 2011)
NY Daily News has said that from 2007 to 2009 the number of officers with NYPD who received civilian complaints were up nearly 50%. Because of excessive force claims, in 2009 alone 315 of the 35,000 of officers were enrolled in a monitoring program created by the NYPD. Despite complaints of excessive force, many more incidents of go unreported because citizens are afraid. So the NYPD in Blue created a program to monitor these complaints back in 2007 and while keeping track of reports, they found that 90% of the reported cases where violent tactics were used the individual subjected to "use of force" was not even arrested. That kind of tells you everything you need to know right there. Many of those cases involved an officer drawing his weapon. In fact in four out of every five cases in which a weapon was pulled no arrest was made. In the vast majority of those cases involving a gun being drawn the officers justified that "use of force" because they suspected the individual possessed a weapon even when no weapon was actually found.
Some Familiar Faces Visit To Support (OccupyWallStreet.org, 2011)
Reuters says that the Occupation Of Wall Street is evolving as a result. As of 3:00 p.m. Eastern today, they are claiming that The Occupy Wall Street movement was planning on Friday (tomorrow) an unauthorized demonstration on the streets outside the New York City police center of operations.
This evening at 8:00 PM, Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the protesters.
According to our friends over at PoliticsUSA, on Countdown With Keith Olbermann tonight, Sen. Bernie Sanders became the first US Senator to voice his support for Occupy Wall Street. (Video) Sanders said, “What I appreciate about what’s going on in New York right now is that there is a spotlight being focused on Wall Street. We desperately need that. If we are going to get out of this recession, if we’re going to create the millions of jobs we desperately need, we need real Wall Street reform"
Al Sharpton Lending His Name To Cause (OccupyWallSt.org)
We are gonna need some reform. The right thing to do now would be to get a consensus on how to word a petition and ask for Police Department Reform & Training, nationwide. You're thinking a petition takes time, it's a pain in the neck, etc.
Well, take a millisecond and check out this new link: www.whitehouse.gov/petition.
They have the coolest new feature over at The White House's website, and if you set up a petition on specific matter (really easy to do) and you pass it around to your friends (keyboard ready), and it gets 5,000 signatures, only 5,000, they promise to take the matter up. Usually you would take months to create a petition and then run around getting 100,000 signatures before one of your Senator's assistants would answer your call. Not anymore. You could start a petition to repeal the Citizen United decision while you are at it. Hard to complain to a true policy geek, 'cause she'll tell you exactly how to solve the problem right then and there. So ~ petitions, check, doable, check, timely, check.
Well, today is Monday and now we have some pretty great footage of the weekend up on You Tube. Hundreds did show up over the weekend to Occupy Zuccotti Park now re-named Liberty Plaza, on the corner of Liberty st. and Broadway claiming Food and Democracy are free. Reports from those on the ground claim that approximately 300 spent the night in a makeshift tent city Sunday night. Here's some fun footage from the first March Saturday:
Saturday's March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33xCHwT1dsY&NR=1
And on Sunday a small group worked as a megaphone for one man's call to join the protest on Monday:
People As Megaphone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEuGX0-VvjQ&feature=related
For more direct information, you can call for information:
and for General Assembly news and minutes go to nycga.net.
It also appears that Anonymous is supporting the whole "camp out on wall street" concept.
(https://occupywallst.org/, 2011)
The question is, is this our Tahrir moment? There shouldn't be any molotov cocktails, but there are people, and the numbers are growing.
As a policy geek, I want to know what are they really asking for? It is clear that large Corporations grew out of a need for The People to have goods and services delivered bundled to keep down costs of basic living, and all the fun stuff we like to buy too. The companies that grew out of our Age of Industrialization became fatly fed over the whole consolidation concept, and began to think for themselves. They no longer wanted to just service the people, they formed their own edicts: profits before all.
Now you can count on your average Joe to put himself first when making choices, so you know he cares about A Person. And maybe his relatives or close friends. They will come first. So you can count on Joe to care about A Few People. But a Corporation, they will never put people first. It just doesn't make economic sense. They will always put profits first. And by removing regulations over these Corporations, we are encouraging that kind of behavior. The few who manage the Corporations that America hosts, use the consolidated money and power to increase their ability to make profits to the detriment of those working for them, and those absorbing their products and services. We can use tax reform and regulatory action to curb those directives, and make it more profitable for Corporations to think of people first, but that hasn't happened yet, and shows no sign of starting to happen when he look to the horizon. Decisions like Citizens United have cemented their cash lust into protocol. Sad, but true. And as long as a very few people run Corporations like money sucking machines, we are going to continue the trend we have now of the top 2% in this country owning all the wealth. Bad model for growth. Horrible plan for any country, let alone The United States, whose charter begins with We The People.
The next logical question would be, Exactly what can be done to put people first? We need a check list. E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. And right now, our motto has changed to Out of Many, Profit For the Few. This is not sustainable.
The People of The Occupy Wall Street moment have formed their list of requests as follows:
This statement is ours, and for anyone who will get behind it. Representing ourselves, we bring this call for revolution.
We want freedom for all, without regards for identity, because we are all people, and because no other reason should be needed. However, this freedom has been largely taken from the people, and slowly made to trickle down, whenever we get angry.
Money, it has been said, has taken over politics. In truth, we say, money has always been part of the capitalist political system. A system based on the existence of have and have nots, where inequality is inherent to the system, will inevitably lead to a situation where the haves find a way to rule, whether by the sword or by the dollar.
We agree that we need to see election reform. However, the election reform proposed ignores the causes which allowed such a system to happen. Some will readily blame the federal reserve, but the political system has been beholden to political machinations of the wealthy well before its founding.
We need to address the core facts: these corporations, even if they were unable to compete in the electoral arena, would still remain control of society. They would retain economic control, which would allow them to retain political control. Term limits would, again, not solve this, as many in the political class already leave politics to find themselves as part of the corporate elites.
We need to retake the freedom that has been stolen from the people, altogether.
If you agree that freedom is the right to communicate, to live, to be, to go, to love, to do what you will without the impositions of others, then you might be one of us.
If you agree that a person is entitled to the sweat of their brows, that being talented at management should not entitle others to act like overseers and overlords, that all workers should have the right to engage in decisions, democratically, then you might be one of us.
If you agree that freedom for some is not the same as freedom for all, and that freedom for all is the only true freedom, then you might be one of us.
If you agree that power is not right, that life trumps property, then you might be one of us.
If you agree that state and corporation are merely two sides of the same oppressive power structure, if you realize how media distorts things to preserve it, how it pits the people against the people to remain in power, then you might be one of us.
And so we call on people to act
We call for protests to remain active in the cities. Those already there, to grow, to organize, to raise consciousnesses, for those cities where there are no protests, for protests to organize and disrupt the system.
We call for workers to not only strike, but seize their workplaces collectively, and to organize them democratically. We call for students and teachers to act together, to teach democracy, not merely the teachers to the students, but the students to the teachers. To seize the classrooms and free minds together.
We call for the unemployed to volunteer, to learn, to teach, to use what skills they have to support themselves as part of the revolting people as a community.
We call for the organization of people's assemblies in every city, every public square, every township.
We call for the seizure and use of abandoned buildings, of abandoned land, of every property seized and abandoned by speculators, for the people, for every group that will organize them.
We call for a revolution of the mind as well as the body politic.
That's where we are today. If you follow twitter, use #libertyPlaza to follow or file reports. This shows no signs of slowing down, so grab your popcorn, tune in, and turn on.
I don't know if this will continue to grow or not, and I don't know exactly what the protesters want, but there is something fun happening at Ground Zero.
They chose this weekend to start it, with mostly everything closed, and now they are calling on all artists to come down and preform as part of the protest. Delightful. ;-) This Policy Geek is all a giggle over it. Here's the call for artists:
