Do We Need a Poor People's Coming-Out Movement?
Governor Andrew Cuomo says raising the minimum wage in New York is harder than passing marriage equality. Is that true? Is it spin? If we were to say it's true--is it all about money, or could it be that there's something we need, namely a coming-out movement about poverty in America?
Governor Andrew Cuomo says raising the minimum wage in New York is harder than passing marriage equality. Is that true? Is it spin? If we were to say it's true--is it all about money, or could it be that there's something we need, namely a coming-out movement about poverty in America?
Democrats in the New York State Assembly have passed a bill to raise the minimum wage from the federal $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. Last week, during a Capitol press conference, the governor said this is probably where the bill is stuck at least for this session. There's likely to be no passing a minimum wage hike through the Republican-controlled Senate, the issue's just too divisive, said the governor. Isn't this the same savvy politician who last year convinced four Senate Republicans to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage? Cuomo insisted that this time it's different.
"This is broader and a deeper divide," Cuomo said. "Marriage, in some ways, was more of a personal judgment for people on their personal values.
There's certainly a case to be made that the governor could apply himself more forcefully to the task of raising the wage. (Although the speaker wouldn't like it, he could for example, hike the wage by order of the state Labor Department.) It's also true that where politics is concerned, deeply held beliefs are usually less relevant than deep pockets. Most LGBT activists aren't well-to-do--but some are, and they knew how to use it. The wage-raisers, by contrast, may have the popular will on their side, but they're up against an entire Chamber of Commerce-funded army of opinion shapers, propagandists and paid-off politicians who argue that living wages lead to dead business. They're up against the well financed spin, and they're up against the already freaked-out business owners who believe it.
All that having been said, can we talk for a moment about the words "personal" and "poverty"? "Silence=Death," said the movement against AIDS. "Come Out! Come Out!" said the gay liberation movement. The movement for LGBT equality pushed itself from the margins to the mainstream against a tide of powerful politicians and a whole host of big-mouth churches with one simple message: we are your sisters and your brothers. Hollywood and TV helped, but making LGBT lives real took real, personal, coming out: at work, in schools and, yes, in Washington and in state politics.
In the United States today, some 103 million Americans live in or near poverty. Over half of all the jobs in our country pay $34,000 per year or less (barely twice the poverty line for a family of three). While the rich have become super-rich, 6 million Americans are living on an income of only food stamps. It's incredible that we tolerate for a minute the reality of 6 million of us living on food stamps alone. Yet we do, says Peter Edelman--a former senior staffer for Robert F. Kennedy who served in the Clinton administration until he resigned to protest welfare reform. He believes we tolerate it largely because the poor tend to blame themselves or believe they're alone. I suspect it's because we're experiencing a new kind of segregation. Somehow, neither policy makers nor opinion makers seem to know enough poor people well enough to feel them, living and breathing.
A working-class coming-out movement: do you think it's possible? I had a chance to interview Edelman, on May 22 at the Soros Foundation, about his new book, So Rich So Poor, Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America. A video of our entire conversation appears at GRITtv.org.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Governor Andrew Cuomo says raising the minimum wage in New York is harder than passing marriage equality. Is that true? Is it spin? If we were to say it's true--is it all about money, or could it be that there's something we need, namely a coming-out movement about poverty in America?
Democrats in the New York State Assembly have passed a bill to raise the minimum wage from the federal $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. Last week, during a Capitol press conference, the governor said this is probably where the bill is stuck at least for this session. There's likely to be no passing a minimum wage hike through the Republican-controlled Senate, the issue's just too divisive, said the governor. Isn't this the same savvy politician who last year convinced four Senate Republicans to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage? Cuomo insisted that this time it's different.
"This is broader and a deeper divide," Cuomo said. "Marriage, in some ways, was more of a personal judgment for people on their personal values.
There's certainly a case to be made that the governor could apply himself more forcefully to the task of raising the wage. (Although the speaker wouldn't like it, he could for example, hike the wage by order of the state Labor Department.) It's also true that where politics is concerned, deeply held beliefs are usually less relevant than deep pockets. Most LGBT activists aren't well-to-do--but some are, and they knew how to use it. The wage-raisers, by contrast, may have the popular will on their side, but they're up against an entire Chamber of Commerce-funded army of opinion shapers, propagandists and paid-off politicians who argue that living wages lead to dead business. They're up against the well financed spin, and they're up against the already freaked-out business owners who believe it.
All that having been said, can we talk for a moment about the words "personal" and "poverty"? "Silence=Death," said the movement against AIDS. "Come Out! Come Out!" said the gay liberation movement. The movement for LGBT equality pushed itself from the margins to the mainstream against a tide of powerful politicians and a whole host of big-mouth churches with one simple message: we are your sisters and your brothers. Hollywood and TV helped, but making LGBT lives real took real, personal, coming out: at work, in schools and, yes, in Washington and in state politics.
In the United States today, some 103 million Americans live in or near poverty. Over half of all the jobs in our country pay $34,000 per year or less (barely twice the poverty line for a family of three). While the rich have become super-rich, 6 million Americans are living on an income of only food stamps. It's incredible that we tolerate for a minute the reality of 6 million of us living on food stamps alone. Yet we do, says Peter Edelman--a former senior staffer for Robert F. Kennedy who served in the Clinton administration until he resigned to protest welfare reform. He believes we tolerate it largely because the poor tend to blame themselves or believe they're alone. I suspect it's because we're experiencing a new kind of segregation. Somehow, neither policy makers nor opinion makers seem to know enough poor people well enough to feel them, living and breathing.
A working-class coming-out movement: do you think it's possible? I had a chance to interview Edelman, on May 22 at the Soros Foundation, about his new book, So Rich So Poor, Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America. A video of our entire conversation appears at GRITtv.org.
Governor Andrew Cuomo says raising the minimum wage in New York is harder than passing marriage equality. Is that true? Is it spin? If we were to say it's true--is it all about money, or could it be that there's something we need, namely a coming-out movement about poverty in America?
Democrats in the New York State Assembly have passed a bill to raise the minimum wage from the federal $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. Last week, during a Capitol press conference, the governor said this is probably where the bill is stuck at least for this session. There's likely to be no passing a minimum wage hike through the Republican-controlled Senate, the issue's just too divisive, said the governor. Isn't this the same savvy politician who last year convinced four Senate Republicans to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage? Cuomo insisted that this time it's different.
"This is broader and a deeper divide," Cuomo said. "Marriage, in some ways, was more of a personal judgment for people on their personal values.
There's certainly a case to be made that the governor could apply himself more forcefully to the task of raising the wage. (Although the speaker wouldn't like it, he could for example, hike the wage by order of the state Labor Department.) It's also true that where politics is concerned, deeply held beliefs are usually less relevant than deep pockets. Most LGBT activists aren't well-to-do--but some are, and they knew how to use it. The wage-raisers, by contrast, may have the popular will on their side, but they're up against an entire Chamber of Commerce-funded army of opinion shapers, propagandists and paid-off politicians who argue that living wages lead to dead business. They're up against the well financed spin, and they're up against the already freaked-out business owners who believe it.
All that having been said, can we talk for a moment about the words "personal" and "poverty"? "Silence=Death," said the movement against AIDS. "Come Out! Come Out!" said the gay liberation movement. The movement for LGBT equality pushed itself from the margins to the mainstream against a tide of powerful politicians and a whole host of big-mouth churches with one simple message: we are your sisters and your brothers. Hollywood and TV helped, but making LGBT lives real took real, personal, coming out: at work, in schools and, yes, in Washington and in state politics.
In the United States today, some 103 million Americans live in or near poverty. Over half of all the jobs in our country pay $34,000 per year or less (barely twice the poverty line for a family of three). While the rich have become super-rich, 6 million Americans are living on an income of only food stamps. It's incredible that we tolerate for a minute the reality of 6 million of us living on food stamps alone. Yet we do, says Peter Edelman--a former senior staffer for Robert F. Kennedy who served in the Clinton administration until he resigned to protest welfare reform. He believes we tolerate it largely because the poor tend to blame themselves or believe they're alone. I suspect it's because we're experiencing a new kind of segregation. Somehow, neither policy makers nor opinion makers seem to know enough poor people well enough to feel them, living and breathing.
A working-class coming-out movement: do you think it's possible? I had a chance to interview Edelman, on May 22 at the Soros Foundation, about his new book, So Rich So Poor, Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America. A video of our entire conversation appears at GRITtv.org.