Interesting Thought of the Day
Sometimes I listen to the Thom Hartmann show on the Sirius XM Progress channel. This afternoon one of the callers had an interesting idea: he wanted Democrats to focus on making life as hard as possible for those in the red states while fighting for the blue states. As an example, he wanted Democrats to not oppose the repeal of the Federal Minimum Wage, or at least vote against repeal but let it pass by not using the filibuster. Should that be repealed, minimum wages would be left to be set by the states, and the blue states would keep it between $12 and $15 while the red states would implement no minimum wages. The point is to make the Republican and Trump voter suffer as much as possible.
This seems like the opposite of progressive thinking. “You voted for Trump, now deal with the consequences.” But where do we draw the line? “You had unprotected sex and got an STD, now deal with the consequences.” But then the STD just keeps spreading and people get sick and die like the AIDS crisis in the 80s/90s. Apples and oranges, I know, but I have a hard time with anyone who claims to be a Democrat or a Progressive consciously supporting, or not obstructing, the suffering of others.
I agree, but I do wonder how else will these low information Trump voters who so often vote against their interest because of their religion or because of their racism will learn. Also, I am not a State’s Rights guy. We are one nation and a strong Federal government establishing national standards is necessary.
They will just blame someone else anyway. It will never be their fault. Better to fight the good fight.
Why stop at minimum wage? Why not continue to erode women’s right to make reproductive choices? Let air and water quality standards be eroded? Dumb down educational standards? Burn coal like it’s 1899? I’ll tell you why.
Because even if you can accept that states will be allowed to continue to set standards more protective/progressive than federal standards, lack of a strong federal mandate will act as a progress deterrent to states who will be fearful that setting higher wages and environmental protection will cause economic harm.
Also, uneducated people are allowed to cross state lines. So is water pollution and air pollution. Dare I mention how little of Delaware will be left when climate change takes a bite?
The sort of thinking featured in this post is antithetical to our fight. Progressives should fight for everyone in this country to have a similar standard of living, enhanced human rights, clean air, access to health care and fair pay for a day’s work. Or we will all pay the price.
Repeat after Michelle: When they go low, we go high.