The left in the Obama era

[dcsmart]

Here, Sharon Smith looks at the prospects for left-wing politics and organizing in the years ahead.

I WANT to start by talking about what a kick I've gotten out of reading and watching the corporate media this week covering Obama's budget proposal.

As I'm sure everyone here is aware, Obama's budget proposal has been greeted with anger and outrage in corporate boardrooms and in luxury penthouses all across America. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, described Obama's budget as "the most redistributionist in modern history."

Martin Regalia, the Chamber's chief economist, told the Financial Times, "I would prefer not to mention the views of our members, which contain too many expletives for a family newspaper." Meanwhile, Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, told the Wall Street Journal, "This budget is a forced march toward socialism, in my opinion, without trying to be dramatic about it."

I would venture to say that melodramatic is more appropriate. Because all the outcry aside, Obama's budget represents merely a slight reduction in the enormous gap between the rich and the poor in the U.S., which had already hit 1929 proportions back in 1989, when former Republican strategist Kevin Phillips pointed that out.

This is what they are all up in arms about. Obama's budget calls for the income tax rate on the very richest people to rise to 39.6 percent from its current 35 percent. Before anyone gets too worked up about that, it is worth noting that the top income tax rate stood at 91 percent under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower and was 70 percent during the reign of Republican Richard M. Nixon And it was 50 percent or higher for the first five years of the Reagan administration.

Even the proposed scaling-down on the super-rich's tax deductions would amount to $28 on every $100 of deductions instead of the current $35--that's just $7 less than now. How will the rich put food on the table?
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I'd like to argue that just as industrial unionism was the key to the 1930s, social justice unionism is the key to the fight today. The fight for justice and the struggles against oppression needs to be central to the class struggle. That will not only be the way forward for us in the U.S. but the way forward for the working class around the world.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/03/04/left-in-the-obama-era

[OutNow]

1. Union Power - YES

While I am not a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), I believe Sharon Smith is correct in her analysis and proposal for strengthening unions. Groups like Janitors for Justice are powerful advocates for social justice. We used to have a middle class in our country where workers could live a good life, educate their children, and retire in dignity. The decline of union strength is a major reason we have lost almost all of the attributes of middle class life.

Progressives of all stripes, some called socialists, some called Democrats, will work together to rebuild unions and fight for economic and social justice.

The Employee Free Choice Act is the first step in that battle.

A proud member of CWA Local 1701, the Alliance@IBM