by Lorenzo Canizares
That’s a question in many people’s mind. Pundits are debating back
and forth if the American Jobs Act (AJA) could be implemented or not.
Have no doubts about it, it will be very important to regular
common-folks if AJA was able to succeed. But knowing the cast of players
we can safely suspect that if the bill passes it might not be as
attractive as the original proposal. After all, Republicans see the
solution to the economic crisis through gutting regulations, keeping
taxes on the rich low, cutting government programs, and preventing
inflation from diluting the wealth of the wealthy.
But, as
important as it is, the drama of the bill should not be the main
concern of the progressive movement. The main concern of the progressive
movement is to continue doing what it has started doing – organize
people to take independent action. If we get organized it will help all,
including Obama. It will provide the American people the ability to
express their frustrations through organized channels, and maximize
their power. Occupy Wall Street has shown to the rest of us that anger
is widespread. It’s much broader than just the working class, women, gays, and
minorities. I sincerely believe progressives speak to what most
Americans have on their mind, our inaction in organizing or total
dependency on Obama’s appeal could be disastrous for the nation.
Representative Peter DeFazio, Democrat from Oregon, says it correctly
“In my district, the enthusiasm for him has mostly evaporated. There is
tremendous discontent with his direction.” (NYT 9/11/11.) We are talking
here about a district that Obama won by 11 points in 2008.
The
United States political movement went through a major change when the
people that were the backbone of Roosevelt’s support in the 1930-40’s
labor and community struggles, were expelled from the AFL-CIO and also
had to suffer the McCarthy period. After cleansing the labor movement of
first class political activists there was a failure by the Democratic
Party to step up to the plate and organize the American people against
the ideological offensive being directed at them from conservative
forces. Many Democrats couldn’t lead any fight back because many of them
“agreed” with what the conservatives were saying.
Obama
still has magnificent appeal. Even though columnist Charles Blow points
out that according to a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released in
early September, Obama’s approval as a leader have descended from 70
percent when he took office to 42 percent last month. But, a turnaround
is not out of the question especially if he shows people that he has a
backbone after all. He has promised to take the case of AJA to every
corner of America. Progressives should wholeheartedly support that, and
furthermore, be participant in organizing people to wherever he is going
to be speaking at. As Paul Krugman recently stated “ I was favorably
surprised by President Barack Obama’s new jobs plan, which is
significantly bolder and better than I expected…If it actually became
law, it would probably make a significant dent in unemployment.” We need
to create a movement independent of the Democratic Party but this
movement certainly needs to open its doors wide to include most of the
people that are Democratic Party loyalists.
A large
movement will make everybody pay attention to the issues. Part of the
Tea Party beginning appeal to common-folks was because it looked strong
and could get things done. The progressive movement needs to create the
same image and also use the same intertwining that is used by the Tea
Party regarding the Republican Party. There are many trying in earnest
to organize the progressive movement towards action. All of these
independent efforts, including theAFL-CIO, will not mean much if these
efforts don’t find common ground to act together. Grouping of a few
thousands will not inspire fear or reflection.After all, we are trying
to solve the nation’s stagnation peacefully and constructively, and
working in peace always requires more strength to get things
accomplished.
One very positive aspect that have been
developed in the past few weeks is that organizations are making a
serious attempt to provide an ideological platform with which we can
rally the American people around. The spread of these ideas are
indispensable to energize the American people into action and provide
direction on what to fight about.
The American Jobs Act is
a very powerful tool. As Mark Zandi, chief economist of
Moody’s Analytics, says “The plan, if enacted would boost economic growth
next year by2% and create 2 million additional jobs.” Also as Jules
Witcover has stated “AJA is designed , if the Republicans slam the door
on it, to give Obama more tangible evidence that the opposition party is
responsible for what he called the ‘circus’ of partisanship and
inaction in Washington.” The American Jobs Act is also a clear
indication that Obama has abandoned the belief that you can work with
Republicans to improve the economic conditions of the country. Maybe,he
is also finally getting ready to remind the nation how Clinton left a
balanced budget and how Bush/Cheney turned this balanced budget into a
$10.6trillion national debt, with an ongoing $1.3 trillion annual
deficit. And that the Wall Street collapse, as well as Europe’s,
originated through the same speculative housing bubble.
To
conclude,Progressive forces need to come together under a minimum
program that will be able to have massive appeal, come together with as
many as people as we can from the Democratic Party that agree with the
common points, and start working energetically to defeat the Republicans
attempt to change the character of our nation.
If we organize and fight back with a minimum program of positive proposals we will win.
