Voting with Their Wallets
Voters across the nation dealt a major defeat to the radical anti-government movement. In state after state, the people rejected the starvation tax policies of the Norquistas and reaffirmed their shared commitment to investment in essential public services. Looking ahead to 2006, this augurs well for good government Democrats and represents a stern warning to President Bush and the Congressional GOP.
The triumph of common sense started in Colorado last week. There, voters overwhelmingly supported a suspension of the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) in the face of deficits topping $3 billion. Republican Governor Bill Owen, who came to office championing TABOR, backed the campaign to undue the damage to the state. As Governor Owen concluded, "I can't imagine what Colorado would have looked like if we'd lost. Coloradans looked at a complicated issue and did the right thing."
California, too, rejected spending straight-jackets. Soon-to-be ex-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put his remaining political capital behind Measure 76, which would have mandated severe limitations on the growth of state spending. As with his other proposals, the people of California decisively rejected by 62%-38% Arnold's formula for defunding essential government services.
Even virulent anti-tax Washington toed the line on common sense government investment in needed public infrastructure. Voters there turned back a repeal of the state's gasoline tax increase, revenue from which is funding a broad range of badly needed transportation and other infrastructure projects. Passage of Initiative 912 would have stripped $5.5 billion of out of the state's massive $8.5 billion transportation package. Voters in gridlocked King County (Seattle) and Snohomish County overwhelmingly rejected 912.
While President Bush and the Republican leadership in Washington press ahead with crippling spending cuts and $70 billion in tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans, in the states the voters have clearly articulated different set of priorities and support for the public good. Over the past week, anti-government zealots like Norquist and Schwarzenegger were, in the words of neo-con godfather Irving Kristol, "mugged by reality." In 2006, politicians ignore those lessons at their peril.
as much as i would like to state otherwise, voters did NOT 'overwhelmingly supported a suspension of the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR)'. Referendum C passed 53% for, 47% against; the companion referendum, Referendum D failed: 50.4% against, 49.6% for. this is definitely a step in the right direction for Colorado voters but it will be critical that politicians deliver on their promises regarding C&D in order to not lose progress towards Colorado becoming a blue state.
How do we get a progressive agenda done today?
The answer appears in your wallet. I imagine each of you have studied the union movement. The union movement has brought us the 40 hour work week and the minimum wage. The union movement had focused on the individual employers to get these benefits.
Today corporations have taken over the Republican party and even write the legislation that hurts ordinary people.
We need to form our own ad hoc union and instead of going on a work strike we need to go on a purchasing strike. We need to target some of the major contributors of money to the Republican party as they pull the levers of power and they have the most to lose and they can get the pressure every day instead of the officeholders that only run every 2, 4 and 6 years.
We need to go on strike against Walmart, Wendy's, Outback Steak House, Dominos Pizza, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Eckerd, CVS and Walgreens, GE and Exxon/Mobil.
We need to call these companies and thell them we have gone on strike against them until they get the RNC to hold a press conference announcing that they will accede to our demands of a TEN dollar an hour minimum wage, an unemployment insurance benefit that will last 1 year instead of 6 months, a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare of 80 percent coverage and no privatization of social security and increasing the social security payroll tax,removing the 88,000 dollar a year FICA taxable income limit, and vote by mail throughout the US with paper ballots and an independent civil service that registers people to vote and counts votes. We need this and more. You make the demands, you go on strike. You have the money and the Republican contributors either do as we want or they go broke under our purchasing strike.
browse http://www.hoflink.com/~dbaer/petitions.htm