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Trumka: Massachusetts Voters Say Democrats Haven’t Gone Far Enough
When Massachusetts voters cast their ballots for Scott Brown on Tuesday, they were sending a message to Washington lawmakers that they have not gone far enough to create jobs, reform health care and fix our nation’s economy, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. In a video message, Trumka says voters showed they don’t believe Democrats have overreached—they think that the Democrats underreached.
You see, they believe that Wall Street’s being taken care of. They believe that corporate America is being taken care of. They believe the insurers are being taken care of. But they don’t think that workers are being taken care of.
The corporate media is spinning the election results to make it appear that voters don’t want health care reform or funding for job creation. But as Trumka states: “Voters haven’t changed their mind. Their two top priorities are jobs and health care.”
Yesteday’s election gave us that opportunity. It said to everybody: “We don’t want excuses. We want action. We want you to fix these problems.”
It’s up to us to fight for those issues, because there’s nothing more important than creating an economy that works for average working people. There’s nothing more important than creating jobs, and there’s nothing more important than putting our people to work. Now’s the time for us to do that. It’s up to us to force both parties to fix the problems for working America.
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25 Comments
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Yes, more FDR–less Hoover. Let’s do massive funding of infrastructure and put people to work.
Let’s fight for health care reform that will improve care for all union workers AND everybody else–national single payer.
Now’s the time to be bold!
Kay Tillow
All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676
unionsforsinglepayer.org
President Status Quobama has to make a choice in whether or not he’s going to continue as a corporate butt kisser or for WE THE PEOPLE! and the Corporatcrats are going to lose the next election because if they don’t totally change, I’M STAYING HOME! It seems that for the last 30 years are politicians have been selling us out and it’s time to blow up “bi-partisanship” for the excuse to screw working people that it has always been. No equivocation, screw the corporations!
Especially with the supreme court’s decision to grant the artificial corporation individual status which allows them to bribe all of our potential candidates for president or congress; these multinationals are individual and collective psychopaths and sociopaths, many of whom, should be in jail. They should have no 1st amendment rights as a person, and any campaign contributions from them should be considered a bribe.
Obama failed to learn from the mistakes the Clintons made in the 1990s on health care. They immediately rejected Medicare for all – that is, they placed insurance companies first and the people last – and that’s what Obama did. He learned nothing from the 1994 electoral debacle, and now he has his own. Medicare is tried and tested and hugely popular among its beneficiaries. It’s also much more economical than private insurance, partly because of much lower adminsitrative costs. Medicare for all Americans would have energized the base, converted many doubters, and enhanced the political prospects of Democrats. Maybe Obama, like the Clintons before him, thought that the “clever” thing to do was to do nothing too radical. The people sensed that they came in last and they were rightly angry. Obama deserved this setback. Let’s hope that he finally learns his lesson: put the people first!
The voters want a health care bill that is not full of special interest goodies, backroom deals and bribes.
Joe Wilson was right, the Hispanic caucus saw to that. The Bishops gave us Stupak. No importation of drugs, thanks to PHARMA. No tort reform, well, the House is full of lawyers. No “public option”, thanks to the senator from Aetna. Where was the transparency? And then there’s Ben Nelson, there’s a word for him that rhymes with war! This is not reform!
Democrats: YOU BLEW IT! Now please go back and do this right! Recycle this pile of wasted paper and start over. Get some input from the other side: Verify citizenship for benefits, put in tort reform. If you work WITH republicans, maybe you can avoid pandering to the lobbyists and special interests in your party.
Tell the special interests in your party to consider the greater good, not just what they can grab. Start with the hispanic caucus! Get the bishops out of our government! Tell the insurance and drug companies that you work for Americans. Return their campaign bribes.
If the Democrats don’t make some huge changes, we’re facing a return to Republican rule. No thanks!
Well put.
“Working Together” is what the “10-to-4 Percent Unemployment Jobs Creation Plan” (the 10-to-4 Plan”) is all about.
I gave seven people long enough to ask about “connecting-the-dots.” They have not called to learn more. That would be ok if one could see that they were heading in the right direction. A few weeks ago, people failed to “connect-the-dots” and people got burned.
Well, that almost was a horrific problem. Fortunately, it was not a disaster, but for the heroic efforts of individuals “Working Together.”
The leadership compass in America needs to be re-calibrated. It needs to recognize the kitchen table issue that families in Elkhart, Braddock, Flint, Warren, Youngstown, Newton, Pittsburgh, Peoria, Kannapolis, El Centro and scores of other cities know.
It’s JOBS!
Don’t call it “Green Jobs.” Call it “J-O-B-S.”
I designed the “10-to-4 Plan” to put our people to work because the U.S. consumers represent roughly 3/4 of the U.S. GDP. If 10.2% are unemployed and 17% are underemployed, then one does not need to be Paul Krugman, Ben Bernanke or a staff economist at a Washington think tank to realize that the U.S. economy is not firing on all cylinders.
The Washington wiz kids missed the sub-prime mortgage crisis. They missed the problem with collaterized loan obligations (CLOs). They will likely miss the problem with collaterized debt obligations (CDOs). They probably believe monetary policy tools are the only tools available. Eventually, economic historians will write what people living on America’s Side Streets and Back Streets know. “Trickle down” economics does not work for people living on our Side Streets and Back Streets.
You know the distance that separates the “Haves” and the “Have-Nots” has grown in recent years.
I designed the “10-to-4 Plan” to do what needs to be done in order to solve persistent public problems, reducing the deficit and stimulating the private sector, especially the small and medium size businesses, while re-absorbing underemployed and unemployed workers and re-opening shuttered, mothballed and closed domestic facilities. It brief, it does what our elected representatives should have done if they were listening to the American electorate.
Is it possible that the “activist left” has gone into dormancy, abandoned by Obama and the Democrats? Is it possible that could have been the problem in the Massachusetts Senate election? After all, the left jumped full force into getting
Obama elected, like others, in order to change the ruinous direction of America under Cheney/bush. Now after a year at the helm, we have Obama’s Democrats doing things Cheney/bush Republicans would have done: the bank bailouts without conditions; an auto bailout bush would have done; Iraq withdrawal timeline was drafted under bush; the build-up in Afghanistan could have been authorized by bush; Quantanamo is still open; a health care bill has emerged that bush could easily have signed to benefit the special corporate interests; there’s still no EFCA; the energy bill is being compromised and watered down by Democrats; an administration that, like Cheney/bush, still thinks ‘top-down” not “bottom-up.” Is it just me? We have a prevailing Conservative-Republican condition of pro Wall Street and anti Main Street. We have some Congressional Democrats more conservative than the most conservative members of “the Party of No” and they’re all committee leaders. Is it just me or is it possible that the “activist left” is pissed and has chosen to disengage? It seems to me that the interests of the people have been “back-burnered” by Democrats; a recipe to return quickly to minority status.
Right on target! This was a wake-up call to the politicians that they need to stay focused on the well being of American workers. I hope the days of believing that we have a “labor” party are finally over. BOTH major parties are heavily funded by business and other special interests. The lesson of Massachusetts may have to be repeated again and again until our elected officials understand that they will be judged by their accomplishments and not just by their promises. This is also a great opportunity for unions to again fight for the benefit of ALL workers, union and non-union alike, and demonstrate the strength there is in being part of organized labor.
I understand the time element of moving quickly to get things done while having a majority but- what I would have done however is not let the Republicans know their game plan. I would have taken issues one at a time- put Cap & Trade on the back burner, do EFCA first, should go the fastest; then, make banking regulation overhaul before we find ourself back in the same mess yet trillions more in debt, then; attack the healthcare crisis, and lastly Cap & Trade. If the opposition knows all this is coming down the pike at the same time they have just that more time to work public opinion against it. It is overwhelming to the general public that has been conditioned to not seeing change.
President Trumka, tha AFL-CIO and Labor has to stop ‘caving in’ to the “keep the faith” Dems and their Blue Dog pals and start ‘holding their feet to the fire.’ We will not support Blue Dogs, in fact we are ending this chain of capitulation and from this moment on we will STAND UP for ALL WORKING PEOPLE. In fact we are beginning a US LABOR PARTY where we intend to run OUR CANDIDATES in SELECTED CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS and at this point we understand that WE CANNOT BE HARMED because we are HELPING OURSELVES FOR A CHANGE, instead of HELPING YOU and your CORPORATE MASTERS. LET THE “BLUE CHIPS” FALL WHERE THEY MAY!
I agree with President Trumka. We need to communicate with democrats that this is no time to shrink from the task of putting our people front and center. Jobs and health care are integrally related. We can’t have one without the other.
Single Payer Universal Health Care helps our competitiveness with all the other industrial nations…..then we can create jobs a plenty.
We’re tired of the “party of the working class” making bold declarations, and when the opposition says, “No”, responding with, “Oh, OK.” THAT is where the rage originates. We’ve seen a dramatic deterioration in the US in recent decades. The US is no longer a world leader in anything positive.
When something doesn’t work, even a dog understands that it’s time to try something different. We tried the “FDR plan,” and it was central to turning the US into a world leader. We tried the Reagan plan, and it pulled the nation back, for behind the more advanced nations.
I don’t think what happened in MA was entirely a result of the health care debate. I was pulling for Scott Brown (an anti-illegal candidate) based solely on the fact that Coakley is pro-illegal. With another amnesty bill looming in the near future another pro-illegal in DC is the LAST thing the American people need and I believe a lot of those in MA realized that.
And for those of you who may not have heard, there is a new bill being introduced that would make E-Verify mandatory for ALL employers and put a moratorium on amnesty. And it’s a bi-partisan bill! You can go to NumbersUSA for info on this important pending legislation. I’ve already faxed my anti- illegal Congresswoman and asked her to please co-sponsor this bill and would like to encourage everyone out there to do the same. Make your voices heard! ‘We the People’ are the only ones who can truly bring about change!
OK, Trumka. Then fit the problem! You say NO EXCUSES, then fix the CADILLAC TAX! You did a poor JOB of sugar coating the still mainly unchanged tax. You tried to convince us that you fixed the problem, but most of the taxes still hammer working class folks, while taxes on Boob jobs and face lifts were totally removed. You think we can’t smell a rat? Do you seriously think I will support ANY tax on Union Benefits, just some Rich Snob won’t have to pay taxes for plastic surgery?
If you think that, then I think you will be booted from office like all the politicians that underestimated the peoples anger about being ignored!
A two party system that is indistinguishable from the interests of corporations no longer serves the needs of working class people.Organized labor must distinguish their agenda seperate from the corporate,republican lite democratic party.Single payer-HR 676 was such an opportunity. Endless war and complete capitualation to the financial capital interests will never excite masses of people to political action–in fact it only frustrates and confuses them.We must ramp up our single payer effort and demand EFCA—no compromises.Let us make it clear that we will not accept the insurance company,big pharma,big bank,war contractor minions masquerading as champions of the people no longer. Which political party is the gatekeeper for the corporations seems increasinly insignificant.LET ORGANIZED LABOR begin to sound this clarion call.
Bottom line this health care plan would have bankrupt the country. Everyone in government throws around millions, billions and trillions like it is pocket change. We are in debt to China and Saudi Arabia over our heads and it can never be paid back. We must get back our jobs, protect our borders and stop catering to big business. Newest one, the Supreme Court said the big corporations cannot be limited to the amounts they contribute to campaigns now. Isn’t that special?
We shouldn’t be supporting any corporate political party or politician, Repub., Dem., or whatever. We need a workers party backed by our union dues and our numbers as union members. We should start building this immediately and not give a penny more to the bosses parties: the Dems. and Repubs. . And, if brother Trumka or whoever wants to speak for Labor, for workers, then he should get specific. What jobs program? How many jobs? Where does the money come from? What kind of jobs? Doing what? At union wages and benefits! Brother Trumka is talking vague generalities and sounds just like the big business politicians, unfortunately. Change that tune!
So Democrats haven’t gone far enough so they voted for someone who thinks they have gone too far. Go figure.
As a Mass. Dem, there was some discontent about policy, but also the dem candidate ran a totally awful campaign and was incredibly arrogant about even doing basic campaigning, like shaking hands with people. It was only in the last week that the campaign reached out to us foot soldiers. Too late.
Given that it is really hard to tell what this victory meant. Also there is a little tradition here about electing republicans just for the hell of it every so often because the state is so dominated by the democratic party.
having said that, brown never put the word “republican” on his ads.
Mass. has the best healthcare program in the country and people here just do not understand at all what the rest of the country suffers from at the hands of insurers and others. we have NO for-profit hospitals or health plans in the state! So people here can well afford to not worry about health care reform, we already have it here.
so, in order to send a message they voted in a republican who ran on stopping the health care reform?? And most any thing else the President wants to do? Right some message.. Where was the Kennedy family during this campaign?Did they not care to save the seat and works of Ted?
I wonder if this comment will make it through the censors, but here goes anyway. I am assuming we are organized enough to gather together in a location, perhaps Washington D.C. to show the corporations that we are the people not the corporations. Can someone please explain to me if it possible to organize a nationwide strike of all workers to have our voices heard. A nationwide strike will have a huge impact on the corporations and will bring everything to a screeching halt. Money talks. We have our livelihoods and our standard of living for the future at stake. So with that said ,can we organnize?
agree with all said by Trumka.
But, urgent matter is the SCOTUS decision destroying democracy for oligarchy.
This smells of treason to me. what greater threat to us democratic republic than the giving our country to the super wealthy.
They say Unions will benefit from this alleged “free speech” decision. I who have worked for Unions most of my work life do not believe that any collective group should deny the principle of one person-one vote. Unions cannot compete with Wall street unless and until every worker is organized.
Still AFL/CIO must come out strong for the preservation of democracy, even as it may seem that some power must be released. when it is released to the people, it is exactly what Unions (the good ones) have fought for). I have witnessed the power struggles within and inter- Union. They often shove the member’s/people’s interests into the backgrpound.
Please stop this Supreme Court decision by moving Congress to act to overturn the decision.
Thank you
Congress cannot intervene with this or any other decision by the Supreme Court. Congress and the Supreme Court are in different branches at the federal government level. The Constitution requires the separation of these branches. With the Supreme Court being the highest court of our land, their decisions cannot be overturned or overruled. Even though the ruling by the court on unlimited contributions by corporations is a very disturbing one, it is a ruling that can’t be challenged. Bush Jr.’s appointees (Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito) will continue to legislate right-wing policies from the bench for many decades to come.
For union workers, the ‘throw the bums out’ mentality must start with our own bureaucrats and “business agents”. Our union ‘leaders’ have overseen the drastic decline of our unions nationwide, and if allowed, will lead us off a cliff, turning us into nothing more than ignored cheerleaders for the nicer, less evil slavemasters who control both parties completely. Democrats and Republicans in the meantime are making great progress in their ‘bipartisan’ plan to destroy all of our unions and force all of us to work for a crust of bread and one week vacation a year. Stop blowing smoke and call out the troops while we still have some, or get out of the way so someone else can. No Labor Party could be so weak or slow-growing as to not be better than what we have now, which, the Supreme Court has made clear, is absolutely nothing. Build it, and they will come.
Our unions were built by militant immigrant workers who gave their lives for the 8-hour day, by the IWW, the Molly Maguires, Eugene Debs, Sacco and Venzetti, and socialists and communists in the 30s- workers ready and willing to risk all and go to war against the powerful corporate interests. They are being destroyed by phony, racist, non-struggle cynical hacks seeking to shine the bosses shoes for a tip.