Living Wage, Clean Elections, Medical Marijuana
Forget Washington, all GOOD politics is local
States, cities go for Living Wage, Clean Elections, and medical pot
Edited by Jim Hightower and Phillip Frazer
What an embarrassment our national government is. Mired in the sickening muck of corrupt corporate money and right-wing ideology, our so-called leaders continue todivert our public treasury and our nation’s unlimited potential for good into war, into the pockets of the superrich, into the self-serving whims of greedheaded corporate executives, into a rising police state, into the careless desecration of nature…into waste.
Then why am I laughing, why am I almost giddy with optimism about where we’re heading? You might say, That’s an easy question, Hightower–you’re either stupid or insane. Indeed, I know a few leaders of progressive groups based in Washington who have been drained of all optimism.
Wrong. Led by ACORN, the innovative community-organizing group, a broad coalition of wage-increase advocates has shifted the battlefield to the cities, counties, and states, putting forth a concept called the Living Wage. The idea is that corporations getting contracts, subsidies, or other benefits from local governments should not get away with poverty pay. Pushing local ordinances or ballot measures, the Living Wage coalitions propose pay scales that raise the minimum above the region’s poverty level, with most proposals requiring some health-care benefits and many indexing the pay levels to inflation.
Well, you might think, that’s a nice proposition, but people are way too conservative to go for it. Wrong. In fact, when put before voters, Living Wage initiatives typically win by more than two thirds of the vote.
A telling case is Florida. In 2004, a modest initiative was on the ballot proposing to raise the state’s minimum wage by a buck, to $6.15 an hour. John Kerry’s presidential campaign studiously avoided supporting this measure, fearing that voters in this red state were so conservative that being associated with a wage hike would hurt his chances. So much for his political genius–72% of Floridians approved the pay increase! Kerry, on the other hand, got only 47% of the vote.
For these Living Wage battles, coalitions have been forged among workers, poor people, women, churchgoers, small-business owners, neighborhood groups, civilrights advocates–and even some conservative business leaders who either see it as a moral issue or understand that higher pay means more spending and a stronger local economy. That’s a pretty stout coalition! While it has received little national media coverage, these combined efforts are achieving stunning successes all across the country. More than 130 cities, counties, and states have already enacted some form of the Living Wage.
These victories are not just coming in the liberal outposts of, say, New York City and San Francisco, but also in such places as Dayton, OH ($9.30 per hour, with benefits); Palm Beach, FL ($9.73, with benefits); Louisville, KY ($10.20, indexed to inflation); Pima County, AZ ($8.35, with benefits, indexed); Bozeman, MT ($9.73, with benefits); Rochester NY ($9.43, with benefits, indexed); Covallis, OR ($9.00, indexed); the Richmond, VA, school district ($8.77, with benefits); and the Central Arkansas Library System ($9.00, with benefits, indexed).
….{snip}….
The power is ours
On big issue after big issue– such as dramatically cutting the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, declaring energy independence with a crash program of renewable energy and conservation, bringing the troops home from Bush’s war of lies in Iraq, and giving Americans relief from the price gouging of drug companies– Washington has become the enemy. But rather than wring our hands about that, we can roll up our sleeves and join hands with the grassroots groups that are taking action on these problems and making progress. Congress and presidential candidates are too corrupted or too cowardly to lead our country back to its democratic ideals. We have to lead ourselves–and there is opportunity for you to be part of the renewal right where you live.
http://urlet.com/parlays.mask
highboldtage
