By James Turnage; Author of “A Little Murder in the Biggest Little City”
For decades the current Republican Party in name only has waged wars against women, minorities, Muslims, and the working class.
I was part of the 2010 Decennial Census. We learned many worrisome facts about America in the 21st century. One was that allowing for inflation and other factors, the income of the working class had remained virtually stagnant for two decades. The profits of large corporations increased by hundreds of percentage points over the same period, with CEOs and members of the Boards of Directors receiving the majority of the benefits.
After the great depression of 2008, big business took advantage of workers. When they began to rehire employees displaced because of Wall Street greed, they offered them wages nearly one-half of what they were making when they were laid off. A large number were offered part-time work without benefits.
The entire Republican Party is unified in their opposition to an increase in the federal minimum wage. The party of special interests is obeying lobbyists for the fast food industry and others who are afraid of a decrease in their bloated profits.
There is not a single state in America where $7.25 per hour is a livable wage for even one person. If the minimum wage was raised to $15.00 per hour, this would not be a livable wage in our major cities, and poverty wages in cities like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington D.C., and others.
Recently Trump’s National Labor Relations Board made a decision to allow businesses to declare certain employees ‘independent contractors.’ This is a blatant attempt to avoid paying payroll taxes, social security, medical benefits, and contribute to unemployment compensation.
A line in a movie: “America is not a country, it’s a business:” is fact not fiction. The guideline for right-wing politicians has been “profit before people” for decades; time for real change.
Capitalism fails, as it always has. Greed replaces need. Equality cannot be achieved for all Americans as long as the gap in income inequality continues to widen.
No working man or woman can vote for a Republican candidate and believe that they have the answers to solve our nation’s many problems. They have become the enemy and giving them power is waving a white flag and surrendering to the one percent of wealthiest Americans.
Tell everyone; “the truth lives here.”
Op-ed by James Turnage
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