If you’re a progressive and you follow the mainstream media, you might think that all you’re supposed to do lately is play weak defense against the attacks on implementation of the Affordable Care Act. That’s exactly what Republicans want — for progressives and Democrats to cower under the Republican agenda (which includes destroying the ACA), like a boxer pinned in the corner. But Messaging Maxim #1 is Go On Offense. That means to come out of the corner swinging, by pushing the progressive agenda. Here are some items on the progressive agenda, in case you’ve been following mainstream media “news” and have forgotten:
1. Pass ENDA
The Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would extend workplace protections to LGBT Americans, passed the U.S. Senate with a surprising number of Republican votes. Now it’s time to pressure U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to bring ENDA up for a vote in the House. One good place to join this effort is at Organizing For Action (OFA).
2. Raise the Federal Minimum Wage
Some states and localities, including California and New Jersey have increased their minimum wage. That’s encouraging, but the federal minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25 per hour, which is only about 50% of the poverty level. The fast food industry is notorious for paying substandard wages even as their businesses and executives make massive profits, salaries and bonuses. Progressives need to lobby Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, and to join efforts by the AFL-CIO and others to pressure companies like McDonald’s to pay their workers a living wage.
3. Turn Back Global Warming
Every few months we get more evidence that our planet is boiling. Targeting coal-fired power plants, which are some of the worst global warming culprits, is a good first step. So is fighting for increased use of clean energy sources such as solar and wind power. Did you know that “green” jobs are growing faster than overall job growth in the U.S.? What, you didn’t hear that from the corporate news media? However, Republicans want to kill the federal tax credits to help these industries stay strong, while keeping them for Big Oil. Want to slow global warming, improve our health and help the economy at the same time? You can start by joining the folks at Moms Clean Air Force.
4. Help the Affordable Care Act Succeed and Push for Single Payer
Republican-fueled “news” reports of the ACA’s demise are greatly exaggerated. What Republicans fear is the likely outcome — that ACA website implementation will work itself out, and that, like Social Security and Medicare, the Affordable Care Act will become a popular and beloved program that helps millions of Americans, which will benefit the Democrats. So step 1 should be to fight the ACA anecdote war and share some of the many “Obamacare” success stories.
Step 2 is to push to expand the ACA and fight for an ever better health insurance system, like Single Payer or “Medicare for All,” so that we don’t have to insert employers into the healthcare equation.
5. Marriage Equality for All
While 15 states thus far have approved marriage equality, America still has a long way to go, and there’s still no federal law or guaranteeing the right of same-sex marriage. In case you think both political parties are the same, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and most leading Democrats have publicly endorsed marriage equality, in obvious contrast to most leading Republicans. There are a number of groups, such as Human Rights Campaign, that are fighting for marriage equality, and they can always use your support and publicity.
6. Stronger Gun Safety Laws
Four people dead in Benghazi is bad. Four Americans dead from gun violence less than every four hours is a whole lot worse. Former Congresswoman and gun violence survivor Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark, both gun owners themselves, are fighting for expanded background checks and other reasonable gun safety measures every day. They could surely use a hand.
This is just a quick list, and is intended as a reminder. You may not favor some of these items, and you may have other items on your list, such as immigration reform including a pathway to citizenship, or overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to help reduce corporate “dark money” in political campaigns. Great. Now make sure you get out there and push your progressive agenda.
