Winning Progressive

Over the past three-and-a-half years, President Obama and Democrats have successfully enacted significant progressive legislation and executive policies that have, among other things, created 5.2 million private sector jobs over the past 31 months, kept our nation safe and taken out Bin Laden, made a fairer and more just society, advanced gender equality, and rescued the American auto industry.  At stake in November 2012 is whether these accomplishments will be repealed by the GOP, or whether we will be able to continue to focus on moving our country forward in 2013 and beyond.

Unfortunately, the message of the significant progress that has been achieved so far during the Obama Administration won’t get out unless we progressives talk to our neighbors and friends, write letters to our local newspapers, and use social media to help keep other voters well informed.  In order to help our readers do so, below are links to Winning Progressive’s coverage of just some of the Obama Administration’s progressive accomplishments.  Please share widely.

List of 2009-2010 Democratic Accomplishments

Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Rescuing the American Auto Industry

Closing the Medicare Doughnut Hole

The Successful 2009 Stimulus

Credit Card Industry Reform

Fighting For Small Businesses

Ending Combat Operations in Iraq

Ending Abusive Health Insurance Industry Practices

Expanding Health Insurance Coverage to 32 Million More Americans

Making College More Affordable

Reforming Wall Street

2011 Health Care Reform Benefits

Eliminating Co-Pays on Contraceptive Services as Preventive Care

Challenging the Defense of Marriage Act in Federal Court

Rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline

Finalizing Air Pollution Rules That Will Save 13,000 Lives Per Year

Increasing Vehicle Fuel Efficiency to 35.5mpg By 2016 and 54.5 by 2025

Implementing a Sensible New Immigration Policy for “DREAMers”

Obama DOJ Wins Significant, Though Not Complete, Victory Over Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law

American High-Speed Rail Moving Forward

A Good Friend of Labor

Obama’s Record of Support for Israel

This is part 2 of our progressive voters guide to initiatives that will be on state ballots this November.  Part 1 of the guide is available here.

If you live in a state with one of the ballot initiatives, please get involved by speaking with your family, friends, and colleagues; by volunteering; and by writing a letter to your local newspaper editor.  If you live out-of-state, please contribute what you can to support the efforts of the progressive organizations who are working on these initiatives.

Worker’s Rights

Michigan Proposal 2 – vote Yes on the the “Protect Working Families” ballot proposal, which would grant both private and public sector employees a state constitutional right to bargain collectively through labor unions, and to negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements.  At a time of continued assault on the rights of working people, Proposal 2 would provide working Michiganders with protection from right-wing attacks, and would be a strong statement in favor of union rights.

* Protect Working Families

* Contribute

* Volunteer

* Facebook page

* Michigan newspapers

Michigan Proposal 4 – vote Yes on the “Home Health Care Amendment” to help improve the quality and availability of home health care services. The proposal would amend the state constitution to create the Michigan Quality Home Care Council, which would create a registry of qualified home health care providers, run background checks on providers, establish job training programs for home health care providers, establish wage and condition of employment standards for providers, and grant providers a limited right to collectively bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions.

* Keep Home Care Safe

* Contribute

* Volunteer

*Facebook page

* Michigan newspapers

California Proposition 32 – vote No on Proposition 32, which would vastly restrict the ability of working people and labor unions to engage in political advocacy.  The proposition is billed as an effort to get special interest money out of politics in California. But the reality is that while the proposition would stop unions from spending their members’ dues on political action and restrict campaign contributions from “special interests,” it includes a long list of exemptions that allow hedge funds, investment firms, real-estate developers, insurance companies, and other corporate interests to continue buying elections at will.

* No On 32

* Contribute

* Facebook Page

Campaign Finance

Montana Corporate Contributions Initiative, I-166 - vote Yes on ballot initiative I-166, which: (1) would establish a state policy that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights, (2) calls for restoring Montana’s ban on corporate campaign contributions (which was struck down in June 2012 by the U.S. Supreme Court), and (3) urges the state’s Congressional delegation to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would overturn Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions that establish that corporations have a free speech right to spend unlimited amounts on campaign contributions.

* Stand With Montanans

* Contribute

* Volunteer

*Facebook page

* Montana newspapers

Education

Idaho Propositions 1, 2, and 3 – vote No on Idaho propositions 1, 2, and 3, which seek to approve anti-teacher legislation passed by the Idaho legislature in 2011.  Proposition 1 would forbid teachers from collectively bargaining about anything except wages and benefits.  In other words, teachers would no longer be able to raise their voices about classroom size, funding for classroom supplies, student safety, etc.  Proposition 2 would link teacher pay to standardized testing.  Proposition 3 would try to divert students and funding away from public schools by requiring local school districts to spend money providing laptops to students who pursued on-line schooling.

* Vote No on Props 1, 2, and 3

* Contribute

* Volunteer

* Facebook page

* Idaho newspapers

Oregon Measure 85 – the Corporate Tax “Kicker” Funds for Education Initiative – vote Yes on Oregon Measure 85, which would provide that certain higher than expected tax revenues from corporate taxes would go towards K-12 education funding, rather than being refunded to corporations.  Under Oregon law, the Governor must, every two years, estimate the amount of tax revenue the state expects to receive. If actual revenue from corporate taxpayers exceeds the estimate by more than 2%, the excess amount is refunded.  Measure 85 would provide that such excess amounts are, instead, dedicated to K-12 funding.

* Our Oregon

* Contribute

* Volunteer

* Facebook page

* Oregon newspapers

Washington Charter School Initiative 1240 – vote No on Initiative 1240, which would start chipping away at public education in Washington State by allowing 40 charter schools to be formed over the next five years.  Washington is currently one of only eight states in the US that has no charter schools.  Initiative is the fourth attempt by charter school advocates to bring charters to the state of Washington.

* No on 1240

* Contribute

* Volunteer

* Facebook page

* Washington newspapers

For this weekend’s reading list we have articles on the Chicago teachers strike, charter schools, tax rates and economic growth, social mobility, and taxpayer subsidies to professional sports teams.

Two Visions For Chicago’s Schools – education expert Diane Ravitch details the differences at stake in the Chicago teacher’s strike between the education “reformers’” strategy of charter schools, testing, and busting teacher’s unions, and teacher’s efforts to strengthen our public education system.  For an explanation from a Chicago teacher of why he is striking, check out this article.

Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945 – a study by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service finds no correlation between the top marginal income tax rate or the capital gains tax rate and economic growth, but finds that the top tax rates are correlated with income inequality.

Promoting Social Mobility - a forum debating whether early childhood intervention can help reduce economic inequality and, if so, the best methods and programs for achieving such results.

Charter Schools: Finding Out the Facts – an overview of research regarding the performance of charter schools, which finds mixed results and that, on the whole, charter schools perform no better than the public school system.

In Stadium Building Spree, U.S. Taxpayers Lose $4 Billion – an accounting of how tax free municipal bonds used to finance the construction of a rash of new professional sports stadiums will cost U.S. taxpayers $4 billion while the value of professional teams has doubled over the past decade.

For this weekend’s reading list, we have a report on the importance of labor unions to creating a strong middle class; historic Labor Day speeches by John Lewis, Frances Perkins, Walter Reuther, and Harry Truman; and articles on the dangers facing workers in numerous occupations.

Unions Make the Middle Class – a report documenting how labor unions strengthen the middle class by providing working people with a voice both on the job and in our democracy.

Labor and the Nation – labor leader John L. Lewis explained in his 1937 Labor Day speech the importance of labor unions for achieving social justice, and the underhanded and sometimes violent tactics used by opponents of labor to undermine unions.

Speech on the Social Security Act – FDR’s Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, speech on Labor Day 1935 celebrating the passage of the Social Security Act.

Labor Day Address - United Auto Worker President Walter P. Reuther’s 1958 Labor Day address in which he explained the importance of a strong labor movement to creating a strong economy and dividing up the economic abundance that would result.

Labor Day Address in Cadillac Square, Detroit – President Harry Truman’s 1948 Labor Day address in which he kicked off the Presidential campaign by focusing on how a Republican victory would threaten worker’s right to organize.

Happy Labor Day. Here’s the Best Reporting on Worker Safety – a collection of articles on the dangers facing workers in poultry plants, warehouses, and chocolate factories, and on the frequently inadequate enforcement of workplace safety laws by OSHA.

For this weekend’s reading list we have a moving photo essay about the human toll of coal mining, the dangers posed by the lawsuit to strike down the anti-marriage-equality Proposition 8 going to the Supreme Court, ways to save the global economy, the importance of unions to democracy and the middle class, and the political benefits of President Obama’s contraception compromise.

If you have any feedback on these articles, or would like to recommend an article for next weekend’s reading list, please let us know in the comments section below or at the Winning Progressive Facebook page.

Coal – The Big Picture – a moving photo essay of the terrible human toll that the mining of 7000 megatons of coal has on people in the nearly seventy countries worldwide that mine coal.

Gambling With Gay Marriage - An essay detailing how, for all of the legal merits of the federal court challenge to California’s anti-marriage-equality Proposition 8, the case poses a huge political risk of either a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in favor of bans on marriage equality or a 5-4 pro-equality decision that triggers a political backlash against marriage equality.

13 Out of the Tinderbox Ways to Save the Economy – A series of essays in this month’s Foreign Policy magazine about ways to save the global economy, including essays calling for reducing military spending, increasing inflation, a $1 trillion global investment in infrastructure, and greening cities.

Unions Make Democracy Work For the Middle Class -  A new report from the Center for American Progress about how unions are critical to both a secure middle class and a vibrant democracy

Contraception Row Could Rebound in Obama’s Favor - an argument that President Obama’s contraception “compromise” – which still ensures that everyone has access to no co-pay contraception – should politically benefit Obama as he has shown himself to be reasonable while the GOP has loudly taken a public position that is opposed to the views of the majority of Americans.

At the time of this writing, the Super Bowl has just started.  But here at Winning Progressive, we already know what our favorite Super Bowl commercial is.  It is an online commercial put together by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (“AFSCME”) pushing back on the attack on workers being proposed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Arizona) and her Republican cronies.  The commercial intertwines footage of Gov. Brewer’s disastrous debate performance in the 2010 elections with an overview of how the GOP is attacking workers in the state.

As has been explained at Talking Points Memo, the GOP’s assault on labor in the state goes far beyond the anti-union legislation that was pushed by conservatives in Wisconsin.  In particular, the Arizona legislation would do four things:

The bills include a total ban on collective bargaining for Arizona’s public employees, including at the city and county levels.

. . . . .

Beyond a ban on collective bargaining, the bills would also prohibit state and local government workers from deducting money from their paychecks to pay union dues.

They would ban state and local governments from paying anyone to spend time doing union work, a practice known as “release time.”

And in another break from the Wisconsin model, the restrictions would affect every type of public union, including police and firefighters.

The Arizona anti-worker legislation is a joint effort of the American Legislation Exchange Committee (“ALEC”), the shadowy right wing group that writes much of the conservative legislation being promoted in state legislatures; the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank in Arizona, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.   By attacking the unions of police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other public employees, the legislation would strike yet another blow against some of the last remaining secure middle class jobs in Arizona, and is clearly part of a conservative effort to attack those jobs throughout the country.

The Arizona anti-worker legislation was introduced last Monday and pushed through a Senate committee in less than 48 hours, which means unions and their allies are scrambling to organize in opposition.  While the GOP controls the House, Senate, and Governor’s office in the state, organizing against this legislation is important both to try to stop it and to help prepare to defeat anti-worker Republicans in the 2012 elections in the state.  For example, just last November, the rabidly conservative State Senator Russell Pearce, who authored the anti-immigrant SB 1070, was recalled due to organized opposition to that legislation.

Here are some steps you can take to help protect the rights of working people in Arizona:

* sign AFSCME’s letter opposing the conservative attack on labor

* if you live in Arizona, write a letter to your local newspaper editor and contact your elected officials to tell them to oppose SB 1484, 1485, 1486, and 1487

* “Like” the Arizona AFL-CIO and Resist Arizona Anti Union Bills Facebook pages so that you can keep up to date with the organizing against this legislation.