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Netroots Nation: Real Answers for the Middle Class |
Some 85 percent of the American public says they are unhappy with the U.S. economy, according to a new Time/Rockefeller Foundation poll, which called the figure “an unprecedented downer for an optimistic nation.”
Concerns about the economy have raced ahead of any other issue this election season, as hard-hit middle class families struggle to pay the bills—and keep a roof over their heads.
At the Netroots Nation conference in Austin this morning, a panel explored economic policies that could make a positive influence in the lives of middle class families—and discussed how we hold lawmakers accountable for making those policies.
Panelists on the “Middle Class Isn’t the Middle of the Road” discussed the shifting meaning of the term “middle class” and how, too often, politicians and the media equate “middle class” with “moderate” policies that instead benefit corporations and elites, such as bad trade deals, corporate tax cuts and “you’re-on-your-own” health care.
Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute says that for too long, policies aimed at the middle class have been built around very small-scale ideas that don’t provide fundamental help. The current economic crisis shows the need to change that.
As progressives, we have an opportunity now, because the struggles are severe and obvious, to offer a policy for the middle class. We have to speak to the middle class with a progressive vision.
Julia Rosen, who works for the California-based Courage Campaign and blogs at Calitics, and David Goldstein, who blogs about Washington state politics at Horse’s Ass, are two bloggers using online outreach to advocate for progressive policies. Goldstein says there has been a deliberate, and successful, attempt by corporate interests to co-opt the term “middle class.”
The majority of Americans identify as middle class, and the right uses that term to try and tie the middle class to the interests of the wealthy. Our long-term project is to change the way people think about these issues.
David Sirota, author of Uprising, says the failing economy is creating solidarity between working class and middle class people—one omitted by the elite corporate media. “Middle class,” as presented in the media, doesn’t describe the experiences, challenges and beliefs of real middle class people.
The have-nots and the have-a-little-bits are far more progressive and pop on econ issues than what is presented in the media. The center among these people is far more progressive than the center that is discussed in our politics and in our media.
Sirota says that, ultimately, jobs and wages are the underlying issue. Stagnant wages, even during a time of rising productivity, mean that members of the middle class aren’t making enough money, and policies aimed at tax giveaways to the very wealthy have jeopardized the schools, infrastructure and health care that working people depend on.
Unions and other institutions need to be strengthened, Sirota says, so that working people can fight for their interests on the job and in the community.
We’ve forgotten the importance of direct action. We live in a society where people are trapped into thinking that the only way to make change is through electoral politics, but so much change in American history has happened through direct action.
Unions are the most powerful form of direct action—it’s people saying, we are going to get together, and together we are going to wield our collective economic power, our work. Unions and direct action community organizations have to be part of this, because there’s a lot of potential power.
Battista says bloggers need to be driving this conversation. The netroots, she says, need to make supporting the middle class a litmus test issue—and they need to communicate clearly about these policies
This doesn’t have to be academic. We have the best tool of all: We have people’s stories. You can’t make populist rhetoric real without getting real people connected to policy.
Get more from the official Netroots Nation site here, and check out the Northwest Progressive Advocate blog for a roundup of more Netroots Nation coverage.
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