Two Days in September

Two important events will take place this week:

Monday is Labor Day, but what exactly are we celebrating? The current reigning ideology in America has virtually killed the labor movement since 1970. We are living through what many economists are calling The Great Upward Redistribution of American society. The upper 1% enjoys a higher percentage standard of living and greater wealth than at any time since the 1920’, at the expense of working person. Since 2003 the median hourly wage for Americans declined by 2 percept which it rose by 17% for the upper 1 percent. Wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the gross domestic product since 1947, and the average purchasing power of the dollar is about where it was in 1977 for the average person. No wonder Wal-Mart is doing a big business! Remember on Labor Day that for the bottom 90% of the American work force, work just does not seem to pay or provide security the way it used to. Perhaps Tuesday is a good time to keep that thought.

Tuesday is Primary Day and many of us will be casting our votes to choose our favorite candidates for the November election. Some of us in Florida will wonder if our vote will really count, remembering all too well 2000. We need some of the passion demonstrated by the citizens of Mexico following their recent election. Unlike the followers of Lopez Obrador, who demonstrated with passion, when they felt the election results were not accurate, we just passively crumpled in a heap of cynicism. We need to believe in our democracy as much as our Mexican neighbors and refuse to accept the manipulation of voting records, whether by paper ballot, machine or computer.

So if we still believe that America is a land where the ideals of economic and social justice should be practiced at every level of society, then please get out an vote. And if your vote is not counted, then DO SOMETHING about it, and it will take more than letter writing.