Millions March for all of our rights
In Despair (Nov 8 – Jan 20)
Progressive win: upping the minimum wage
The presidential and congressional election results, for obvious reason, deeply overshadowed any of the progressive wins in this election. But there are a few that are worth highlighting so that we don’t lose sight of some hopeful trends underway.
Minimum wage: Four states just voted to up their minimum wage: Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington, each representing a 40-60% increase from the current rate. This follows from approved ballot initiatives in California and Washington DC earlier this year, all of which ultimately led to higher pay for roughly 8 million working Americans and paid sick days for 1.9 million, according to the Fairness Project. (An additional 14 states saw wage increases at the beginning of 2016, as scheduled.)
Moreover, 15 cities are currently committed and moving towards a $15 minimum wage, and several states and cities are set to put minimum wage measures up for a vote in the next year or two.
These recent gains are reflective of a generally supportive climate for increasing the minimum wage, across partisan lines. During the 2014 mid-term elections, as CNN reports, four red-leaning states: Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, all approved minimum wage increases. Since 2000, in fact, at least 15 minimum wage initiatives have been on the ballot; all of them have passed, and often with wide margins. Support for these measures reflects the general public sentiment: an estimated 6 in 10 Americans back the more progressive $15 minimum wage, according to a 2015 poll by the National Employment Law Project.
These local and state-level initiatives are important for several reasons, the most salient of which is that a federal minimum wage increase has been stagnated by partisan politics, and has left millions of Americans well behind. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that today’s federal minimum wage (at $7.25) is nearly a quarter lower than its 1960s inflation-adjusted value. In other words, the federal lag is contributing to today’s widening economic inequality, and increasing reliance on federal safety net programs.
Jobs too: there’s also evidence that higher minimum wages can help to spur job growth, even as reported by Fox news in 2014 following wage increases across several states.
Trending hikes in minimum wages, including in this election, is a positive and progressive way forward for the country.
Circles of solidarity
Following from the Oakland’s peaceful demonstration, Seattlelites gathered around Green Lake holding hands in a sign of “peaceful protest against President-elect Donald Trump and the fear, hate, racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia that was brought on by the recent election.”
What we can do
I’ve been talking with friends, family and colleagues, circling around the same question: What can we do?
I was reminded that in any sort of social change effort or contentious politics, different tactics are not only inevitable, but necessary. At some point, there will be critical moments when we need to coordinate and effectively rally around a particular initiative. But we can take different paths that are true to ourselves, relevant to our environments.
Below are various ideas that my friends, family and colleagues have shared and discussed.
Demonstrate in show of solidarity: Follow the example of our youth and protest as a sign of solidarity with those most vulnerable: immigrant, hispanic, black, Muslim, women, LGBTQI communities and peoples, or as a commitment to something you believe in, such as climate action. Join protests on inauguration day and especially the day following with the Women’s March on Washington.
Advocate: Be loud and clear that we won’t tolerate messages of hate; use social media, traditional media; talk with friends, family, colleagues. Make it clear that this isn’t our America, that we are not a country that will tolerate and endorse such expressions of hate, racism, sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia. Whatever path we choose, including holding to personal principles of love and compassion, we need a principled and unwavering message that Trump’s inciting of hatred and belittling of our citizens and our democracy is intolerable, will not be accommodated, will not become our new norm. One way to do this is by reducing ignorance that breeds prejudice. Some helpful resources: Muslim Americans fact check; information on immigrants and, from IRC, on refugees.
Volunteer: There are infinite opportunities to volunteer with nonprofit organizations. One idea: support those communities who are most vulnerable, such finding ways to engage with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The International Rescue Committee has a great volunteer program to support refugees navigate their new lives here in the U.S., which will be increasingly difficult in this climate, as well as this guide on other ways to get involved.
In the longer-term, funding for social welfare programs is going to be retracted. You can volunteer for (or donate to) homeless shelters, food pantries, educational programs (see if there are tutoring programs through your local schools or local nonprofits), health clinics, affordable housing programs, youth programs. Contact your local Sierra Club chapter and ask how you can help.
Donate: Nonprofit organizations are going to need as much unrestricted funding as possible to do their work.
Consider donating to civil liberties and social justice organizations like ACLU, NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Centre, Brennan Center; and nonprofit journalism organizations like The Centre for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica, and public information networks like NPR.
Health and especially women’s health and reproductive rights organizations like Planned Parenthood will need our support as will the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights, which are great resources of information. There are lots of great women’s equality and women’s rights organizations, too, like Emerge (America or your home state).
Environmental organizations and advances on climate change, including federally funded research for climate change, are going to take a huge hit under this administration, especially with a climate denier appointed to lead the EPA. Donate to The Sierra Club; among other great work, the Environmental Law Program has gained a ton of traction around pushing to reduce the coal industry. Other great organizations: The Nature Conservancy, Environment America (or Environment Washington, California, etc), EarthJustice, EarthAction, 350.org.
A list of more pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-earth organizations can be found here.
Vote with your money: More and more companies are responding to bad publicity, and/or proactively taking measures to improve their environmental and social impacts. In fact, more and more companies are committed to clean energy and their motivations go beyond state regulation, as expressed by leading companies who fear that abandoning the Paris Climate deal will jeopardize “American prosperity.” In a statement targeting a future Trump administration, 365 companies and major investors emphasized their “deep commitment to addressing climate change.”
Support businesses devoted to clean energy. Support businesses committed to their social and environmental impact. Support businesses who have made clear statements against civil rights violations and discrimination. And pressure others to follow suit, by avoiding their products, divesting in irresponsible companies, and telling others to do so; join campaigns to increase corporate transparency and accountability.
Engage in local and state politics: State initiatives, for example, can help to tackle climate change even in absence of a committed federal government. California, for example, has led the way ahead of federal actions. In my home state of Washington, we can look to how to improve prop 732 and re-submit a proposition to reduce our reliance on coal. Be proactive and find other areas that will need local tax dollars and support for your community and state’s needs by mobilizing or initiating ballot measures.
Prepare for 2016 and 2018: Voting rights have been on the upswing from where they were in the aftermath of the Tea Party surge in 2010. Still, they’re far from where they should be. Find ways to support voter registration, host a voter registration drive, and make more noise about efforts to disenfranchise voters. The Brennan Center is a great source of information.
Seek out ways to participate in local politics; hold our elected officials and the Democratic Party accountable; make clear your voice, your ideas.
Listen and learn: Deep down I do believe that if we are to move forward, we have to learn from this election and recognize how disaffected so many people feel. This is not to say that expressions of hatred should be accommodated or tolerated in any way, but if we continue to isolate ourselves from one another, if Liberals continue to flee from conservative places and from conversations with conservatives, we’re only going to be further divided, and further mobilize the Tea Party-to-Trump phenomenon. We have to find ways to communicate and be open to learning about some of the grievances and perspectives of others. And we have to find ways to engage so that we can effectively communicate our own grievances about why electing Trump is so damaging, and emboldens intolerance, bigotry and hatred, even if that wasn’t the personal views or motivations of all who voted for him.
Finally, share more ideas and mobilize!
Redouble Love
This morning I listened as my husband grew tearful, recounting how our 5 year-old neighbor, with a Hispanic father, was drawn to tears himself last night over the election.
Like so many people around the country, and world, I feel a mix of emotions, mostly from sadness to anger. And then no emotion at all. Just stunned. But I’m trying to harness the words of a dear friend: “redouble love.” The way to navigate this storm, at least at a personal level, is with love and compassion.
While I know that sexism, racism, xenophobia, bigotry, and ignorance played an alarming role in yesterday’s decision, I also sense that largely what drove people to the polls is frustration and disappointment with our political system. When I see it that way, it’s less a message of hate, and I have more compassion for my fellow citizens, for indeed we need to find ways to improve our systems and political equality.
Regardless, the way to absorb and rebound is to emanate love. Not to give up in seeking solutions around poverty; economic, racial, and gender inequality; educational opportunity; equity in health care; green energy and climate change; our justice and criminal system; and a more equitable and just political system. We still have some politicians who will fight for these issues. We are also a country of nearly 2 million nonprofits. We are a country of tens of millions of people dedicated to these issues. If we focus on redoubling our efforts of love and compassion, justice and equality, yesterday’s display of red with Trump at the helm seems at least a little less harrowing.
This is painful and it will be for a long time, but I want you to remember this. Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted… I still believe as deeply as I ever have that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strength in our convictions and love for this nation, our best days are still ahead of us.
A time for Liberal and Conservative optimism?
Overwhelmed by the election, I find myself itching to get back to the issues (woefully absent in the debates and punditry).
One of those issues is around climate change, and more specifically, my optimism in young Republicans who tend to acknowledge that climate change is real, and who are interested in finding solutions. This cohort effect could turn tides on climate policy, as it did recently for gay marriage, and, in part, for women’s rights and civil rights in earlier eras.
A study commissioned by the Young Conservatives for Energy Reform reports that four out of five young Republicans polled think the climate is changing, and two-thirds blame human activity, in part or entirely. Moreover, as the Huffington Post reports, 73 percent have a favorable view of the clean-energy industry, and 59 percent have a positive view of the Environmental Protection Agency. And the Washington Post reports that young Republicans, compared to their older counterparts, are more willing to support action on climate change, including government regulation.
In the broader scheme of things, young Republicans are contributing to the political shift on climate policy by forcing the GOP to reconsider its tenor. Combined with the Pope’s encyclical calling for climate action, the Republican party is seeming more and more out of step with the public by dismissing climate change as a liberal hoax.
A recent poll published in Scientific American estimates that more than four out of five registered voters now support additional funding for energy sources like wind and solar and support giving tax rebates for the purchase of energy-efficient cars and solar panels. Three in four support the regulation of carbon dioxide. While those numbers are more heavily influenced by Democratic voters, young Republicans are helping to narrow those margins.
Interestingly enough, this hope in young Republicans is mirrored in today’s NYTimes column by long-time conservative, David Brooks. Perhaps not exactly the same reform agenda that I might espouse, he does note that: “Most young conservatives are comfortable with ethnic diversity and are weary of the Fox News media-politico complex.” Moreover, he believes in a return to intellection discussions on the role of government, not just its destruction, and thinks that young Republicans do, too.
So here’s to a brighter future for liberals and conservatives. If our younger generation can fight for solutions to climate change, government partisanship and some of the rest, there just may be room for optimism amidst the current political crisis.
[Relevant NYTimes article post-election]
Pantsuit Power Flash Mob for Hillary
We DANCE
Because Love is Love
Because Black Lives Matter
Because climate change is real
Because women’s rights are human rights
Because immigrants make America great
Because every vote matters
We dance for Hillary
Because she fights for us
Liberty University students clash with their president, Jerry Falwell Jr., over his support for Trump
Trump is “actively promoting the very things that we Christians ought to oppose,” the students wrote.
Pragmatic conservative voices
An important difference between Michael Shertoff and Paul Ryan is that one was pragmatic, the other merely political.
In such an acrimonious presidential race, and in the context of a deeply divided country, it’s easy to get wrapped up in partisanship and lose perspective on what we might be celebrating.
Paul Ryan’s news this morning, for example, that he will no longer defend Trump admittedly brought me personal satisfaction, knowing the effect it will have on Trump’s campaign and the GOP prospects for this election. Similarly, the 2005 Trump video that went viral was a huge blow to Trump’s credibility and significantly diminishes his likelihood of taking the White House. Both mean that my party is more likely to win.
But these kinds of Democratic political gains aren’t something to celebrate in and of themselves. The first is merely a political maneuver that sadly comes quite late and doesn’t change Ryan’s endorsement for Trump. The second, an intolerable offense to women, and men, everywhere.
As we near election day, nasty politics and politicking are only going to intensify, and it’s going to be ever easier to get caught up in the partisan battles and celebrate wins or defeats without keeping perspective on the underlying issues, values, and processes. In other words, when the character of our country is at stake, the means, not just the ends, still matter.
All the more reason to keep sight of and recognize those pragmatic voices, especially conservatives, and conservative institutions, who have been outspoken against Trump’s presidential bid, not just for political reasons or partisan wins, but as sensible (voices of) citizens.
An Oct 8 report from the Washington Post captures the growing list of individual Republicans endorsing Clinton/ denouncing Trump. Some notable pragmatists who see Trump as the incompetent and dangerous demagogue for what he is include:
- Much to his credit, 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney was one of the first to stand up and speak out against Trump’s candidacy.
- More recently, Michael Shertoff, former Homeland Security Secretary who has been an arch nemesis of the Clintons, spoke pragmatically about the imperative to put partisanship aside and focus on the issues, especially homeland security. “Which of the two would be better for president?… I’m planning to vote for Hillary Clinton.”
- Lezlee Westine, a former aide to President George W. Bush, stated: “Our nation faces a unique set of challenges that require steady and experienced leadership… That is why today I am personally supporting Hillary Clinton.”
- Michael Morell, a former acting CIA director — who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations — wrote a scathing denunciation of Trump in his endorsement of Clinton.
Several newspapers, too, have come out denouncing Trump as dangerous and unfit, if not in full support of Hillary. Some of those are unprecedented, most notably USAToday; others include those that rarely endorse Democrats, such as The Arizona Republic, The Desert Sun, The Dallas Morning News, and The Houston Chronicle. (Full list of newspaper editorial board endorsements here.)
Pragmatic and enabling voices like these are an important means to sustaining a country of democratic values (and prevents us from becoming something that looks more like an authoritarian, Mugabe-like state). Fortunately, many pragmatists, even if not as many as we might hope, are rising to the occasion.