At The Nation, David Dayen writes—Meet the First 2018 Candidate to Run on a Federal Jobs Guarantee:
Richard Dien Winfield is quick to point out that he was born in Queens, the same borough of New York City as Donald Trump. Now he wants to represent Athens, Georgia, and its rural, heavily conservative environs in Congress. “Republicans in this district were willing to support someone with no Georgia roots, a guy from Queens, talking about bringing jobs back to America,” he reasoned, so why not him?
Winfield’s slogan for his campaign is “Guaranteed Jobs, Fair Wages.” He appears to be the first candidate in the 2018 cycle to run on a federal jobs guarantee for every able-bodied American adult who wants one. Winfield, a philosophy professor at the University of Georgia for 35 years and the author of The Just Economy, will kick off his campaign the weekend before the Martin Luther King holiday, and that’s no accidental timing. King endorsed “employment for everyone in need of a job” during the civil-rights era, and his widow Coretta Scott King co-founded the National Campaign for Full Employment in 1974.
“After winning back political and civil equality, King realized a new chapter had to be opened, the struggle for economic rights,” Winfield said in an interview. “King wanted to transform the entire society so everyone could benefit. That struggle has fallen into oblivion.”
The district, Georgia’s 10th, is currently represented by Republican Jody Hice. He didn’t have an opponent in 2016, which was true for a shocking number of Republican officeholders in the state. And Trump easily carried the district. But this era of resistance has brought out a new crop of Democrats. Most foreground the need to reverse the president’s destructive policies. Few speak about comprehensive policy frameworks that would truly change America. For this reason, Richard Dien Winfield’s longshot bid is drawing attention from academics and activists who have longed for big ideas.
“A new social bill of rights could help transform the political and economic discussions we’re having in this country,” said Mark Paul, a visiting fellow with the Roosevelt Institute who has co-authored some of the major job-guarantee studies. “Richard Dein Winfield could deliver model legislation, setting a viable path towards achieving full employment and economic security for all.”
Progressive economists have latched onto the idea of a federal jobs guarantee, a Depression-era chestnut associated with programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. Under this concept, the government would provide jobs with a decent wage and benefits similar to those enjoyed by public-sector workers. The open-ended program would be funded as needed, expandable in recession, and contractable when the economy recovers. Government would effectively become the employer of last resort. [...]
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QUOTATION OF THE DAY
“In medieval times, contrary to popular belief, most knights were bandits, mercenaries, lawless brigands, skinners, highwaymen, and thieves. The supposed chivalry of Charlemagne and Roland had as much to do with the majority of medieval knights as the historical Jesus with the temporal riches and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter. Generally accompanied by their immoral entourage or servants, priests, and whores, they went from tourney to tourney like a touring rock and roll band, sports team, or gang of South Sea pirates. Court to court, skirmish to skirmish, rape to rape. Fighting as the noble's substitution for work.”
~Tod Wodicka, All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well (2008)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
On this date at Daily Kos in 2007—The Uniter Divides: Bush plan fractures the DLC:
Well, the reviews are in. Bush's 11% doctrine speech was a bomb IED.
So now, the scramble is on for politicians of all stripes to distance themselves from his idiotic "plan." Of course, that surge was well underway even before the teleprompter was even hooked up, and Democratic presidential candidates were among the first to find their way to the microphones.
I'd round 'em up for you, but that's not actually what this post is about. This post is about the few "Democrats" who didn't distance themselves. No Democratic presidential candidate was that stupid, of course. And no, I'm not even talking about Lieberman.
I'm talking about the DLC wonks.
In yesterday's LA Times, Will Marshall stunk up the joint on behalf of the DLC, from his perch at the "Progressive Policy Institute," the DLC's "think" tank:
"Conventional wisdom says that presidential candidates who want to be responsible on this are going to hurt themselves with the angry, impassioned activist left," said Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank. "But the activist left is out of sync with the American public. Americans don't want to concede this is a total debacle."
In today’s Kagro in the Morning show: A $#*+load of Dotard J. Trump’s racism. Trump chickens out on London, blames Obama. Why would a Dem serve on the “voter fraud” commission? Let Maine’s Matt Dunlap explain. Fun Facts Corner! What is the deal with these “anti-terror” tourists?
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