Save 400,000 teaching jobs? Create 1.9 million jobs? Restore vital infrastructure? Nope, Eric Cantor won’t even put the bill up for a vote. Yet the president refuses to quit, and I rather suspect he won’t stop waving this jobs bill around on his non-stop campaign to make 2012 all about Congress. Meanwhile, the Occupation of Wall Street demands:
CONGRESS PASS THE BUFFETT RULE ON FAIR TAXATION SO THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE & CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOP HOLES AND ENACT A PROHIBITION ON HIDING FUNDS OFF SHORE. No more GE paying zero or negative taxes. Pass the Buffet Rule on fair taxation so the rich pay their fair share. (If we have a really had a good negotiating position and have the place surrounded, we could actually dial up taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporations even higher…back to what they once were in the 50′s and 60′s.
The American Jobs Act contains the Buffet Rule. Just like the tea party “movement” coalesced around health care reform, this new movement could coalesce around the AJA — though in a positive direction — and give itself enormous credibility. Never mind the president; he will win or lose reelection on his own. If we really want the Buffet Rule, it’s on the plate. Moreover, pressure on Congress to pass the AJA will accomplish the very important task I laid out last week:
It’s not enough to make noise. It’s not enough to Occupy Wall Street or Court Street. Organizers (and that now includes me) must create the infrastructure that can vent all that energy toward constructive ends, i.e. alleviation of the crisis.
It is also not enough to create crisis. The Occupation has been talking up crisis creation in its model, but if the movement is to appear effective it must be seen as part of the solution. Over at OpEd News, a writer offers up verbiage very much like what I see from Occupation supporters on Twitter:
Democrats–or at least those still with souls–need to take a stand and support Occupy Wall Street. They need to embrace the movement and not be idle. They must recognize that this is just the beginning of a revolution, and one that should eventually have the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans; I believe it is only a matter of time.
I’m speaking particularly to Democrats in the city and in neighboring counties in Long Island, New Jersey, the Lower Hudson Valley, and Connecticut. I’m speaking to politicians, activists, and committee members. These are the people with the organizational tools, the networks, and the supporters to help this movement along. These are the people that can validate the demonstrations and bring legitimacy to the movement.
If Democrats fail to take to streets, it will be a failure to affirm one of the party’s basic tenets, and that is to look out for the well-being of 100 percent Americans–the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor.
In order to win Democrats, the movement will have to include them. Yet what I see very often is a full-throated rejection of the party that isn’t full-bore crazy. So what if you don’t want to build Democratic Party infrastructure? Just do build infrastructure. Include Democrats. It’s not very hard, and it’s not “selling out.” This blog throws its unequivocal support to Henry Baber, Mountain Party candidate for Governor of West Virginia, for example.
Inclusiveness — rather than litmus tests — should characterize any movement that is serious about representing 99% of Americans.
