Day: March 12, 2011

The Emergence Of A People’s Party Movement To Fight The Tea Party Movement And The Republican Party!

The events in Wisconsin these past three weeks, leading to the end of collective bargaining of public service workers there, plus similar action in Ohio and elsewhere yet to be seen, has awakened the middle class, and those less fortunate, to the reality that they cannot sit back and allow the national Democratic Party to plan alone for 2012, as President Obama seems unwilling at this point to challenge the opposition openly, as part of his centrist strategy for re-election.

So the average American who is disgusted with the power and influence of the super rich and the corporations must organize for the future and pressure the Democratic Party in 2011-2012, as much as the right wing Tea Party did the same with the Republican Party in 2009-2010, and is still at work on its evil intentions!

So there is already the emergence of what many might call the People’s Party, with set goals of what they wish to accomplish between now and the Presidential Election of 2012, and Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, is one of those promoting such a development, and discussing it on the Talking Points Memo website two days ago. Of course, reality is that not all of the below ideas can be accomplished quickly, but they are a series of goals for the future.

What are the goals of the People’s Party?

1. Increase the pay and bargaining power of ordinary workers, by promoting collective bargaining and union rights of all workers.

2. Require the super rich to pay their fair share of taxes–which includes capital gains taxes, inheritance taxes, taking away citizenship of those sheltering income overseas, and increasing top marginal tax rates and number of top tax brackets.

3. Protect and expand government programs that advance the middle class and the poor, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Public Education, Pell Grants for college students, Public Transportation, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.

4. End corporate welfare, including wasteful defense spending, agricultural subsidies, and tax subsidies for industries and specific corporations at the state and national level.

5. Save Social Security by raising the income level that is taxed to all income that is earned, just as it is for Medicare.

6. End Wall Street dominance of the economy, requiring smaller banks, having a financial transactions tax, and preventing future bailouts.

7. Enforce regulations that benefit workers, consumers, investors, and the environment, and raise penalties on corporations that violate these regulations.

8. Provide affordable health care for all Americans through adoption of single payer Medicare for all.

9. Slow and reverse climate change through carbon emissions taxes on polluters, and returning these taxes and penalties as tax cuts for the working middle class that has been victimized by these corporations.

10. Take big money out of politics, by fighting the Citizens United Supreme Court case, requiring public financing of all campaigns at all levels, and full disclosure of all campaign contributions to all candidates for any public office at any level.

Wisconsin is a clarion call to all progressives and liberals that they cannot simply lie down and take what they are getting, but must FIGHT for change and reform, because no one is going to give it to them simply because they ask! The fight to overcome the right wing extremism that has taken hold in the House of Representatives and many state governments has just begun!

Wisconsin And The Future Of American Politics: A Turning Point For 2012!

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in the State Senate may have won the struggle with public workers over collective bargaining in the state of Robert LaFollette, Sr. for the moment, by their dastardly legislative “trick”, which allowed them to take away labor rights without a quorum in their legislative body!

But it has aroused liberals, labor, the young, moderates and independents who recognize what Wisconsin represents: an attack on the basic human rights of workers to be able to have a “fair shake” at the bargaining table with their employers, whether the government or private corporations!

A recall movement is beginning against Republican State Senators, and some will be coming up for such elections within a few months. Early next year, the recall campaign will begin against Governor Walker.

The Wisconsin battle will also reverberate in the national campaign of 2012, including the Presidency and Congress, as well as the state governments. Public opinion polls already indicate heavy opposition to what happened in Wisconsin, both inside the state and throughout the nation!

It will mobilize many citizens to get actively involved in the political campaign, and to contribute financially to the Democratic Party, because it is more clear than ever before that the Republican Party continues to work against the interests of the working man and woman, whether blue collar or highly educated white collar workers!

This is a battle for the future! Will America’s future be one of billionaires, such as the Koch Brothers, dictating and mandating working conditions and promoting what is good only for the top two percent and the corporations and banks?

Or will it be one of the promotion of the interests of the rapidly dwindling middle class, and compassion for those less fortunate, who are not born to wealth and privilege and just want a “fair shake” from their government?

This is not just a political battle; it is also a moral battle for decency and social justice, and if it is lost in 2012, the long range implications are horrendous for the future of American democracy!