SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
August 5, 2016
Sullivan’s
Salvos 8/9/16
In this edition:
*Boards and Commissions
*Democratic Party Infighting
*Minimum Wage “Intent”
*Did You Know?
*Boards and Commissions
Johnson
County government consists of over 500 employees, 10 elected officials, and approximately
30 Boards and Commissions. I know I don’t talk enough about the tremendous
contributions of our many Boards and Commissions!
From
setting the value of your home, to cleaning up streams, to local foods, to
historic preservation, to assisting veterans, seniors, children, and people
with disabilities – Johnson County has a Board or Commission on almost every
topic imaginable.
These
many topics are tackled by scores of Johnson County residents, who bring their
considerable talents, knowledge, and opinions to the table. Each one volunteers
her/his time to make Johnson County a better place to live, learn, work, and
play.
We
are going to honor the members of our many Boards and Commissions on Thursday,
August 11 at 4PM at the Admin Building. If you are a member of any of our
Boards and Commissions, please attend so we can thank you in person for your
service!
If
you are NOT currently a member, please take a look at our list of Boards and
Commissions on the County website. We’d love to have you join us!
*Democratic Party Infighting
While
it is gradually becoming less and less, there is still a bit of infighting in
the Democratic Party.
This stuff is not new. For one thing, there is pretty much ALWAYS
tension in the Party. And that is healthy! Ideas are always competing. We do
not want to squelch that.
These types of issues come up a lot. Granted, many Sanders
supporters (my kids, for example) do not recall Ralph Nader and the 2000
election.
While 2000 was obviously a disaster, and I wish Nader had done many
things differently, I still believe the primary responsibility for losing in
2000 lies with Al Gore. For one, he could have kept both Bradley and Nader out
of the race by throwing progressives a few bones. But Gore refused, and went
all-in on DLC crap.
So, using 2000 as a guide, we all have work to do. The Clinton
campaign needs to be kind to Sanders supporters, and keep promises that were
made. Sanders supporters need to suck it up and move to fighting for Dems in
the General Election.
Look, I understand what it is like to be on the losing team. Far
too well! I caucused for
Jackson-Jackson-Harkin-Undecided-Bradley-Dean-Obama-Obama-Sanders. I am batting
.222, and started 0-6!
You read that right; I caucused “Undecided” in 1996. We were a
very viable group, but the results reported by the IDP claimed Iowa was
unanimous for President Clinton. It was not. A small controversy ensued. But
you know what? Life went on.
You pick a candidate, and you work like hell for her/him. Then we
vote. If your candidate wins, great. If your candidate loses, you have 3
choices:
1.
Support
the nominee(s);
2.
Do
no harm;
3.
Leave
the Party.
Your vote is sacred, and it is private. No one has a right to
require you to vote a certain way. But parties, being membership organizations,
DO have a right to demand that you at least do no harm.
We
can do this, people. We have done it before. Dems need to all relax, be kind to
each other, and look big picture.
*Minimum Wage “Intent”
I have heard MANY people make the claim, “The minimum wage was
never intended to be a living wage.” That is a bold claim… it implies that you
know what the architects of the program thought.
There is really only one way to fact check that claim, and that is
to go to the Father of the minimum wage: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We should
find out what FDR intended!
Teresa Tritch did exactly that for the New York Times. Here is her
blog post:
In
the more than 75 years since Congress first enacted a federal minimum wage — at
25 cents an hour — lawmakers have increased it nine times, reaching the current
level of $7.25 an hour in 2009. And with every increase the same objections
have been raised.
Today,
instead of dismantling these arguments on my own I decided to get a little help
from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had to fight Republicans,
conservative Democrats, the Supreme Court and corporate leaders to pass the
initial minimum wage in 1938.
*Objection: Raising the
minimum wage will hurt business and reduce employment.
“No business which depends
for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to
continue in this country.” (1933, Statement on National Industrial Recovery
Act)
*Objection: $10.10 an hour
is too much, maybe $9.
“By living wages, I mean
more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of a decent living.” (1933,
Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act)
*Objection: Once you add
in public assistance and tax credits, $9 an hour is plenty, and business could
survive that.
“Do not let any
calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, who has been turning
his employees over to the Government relief rolls in order to preserve his
company’s undistributed reserves, tell you – using his stockholders’ money to
pay the postage for his personal opinions — tell you that a wage of $11.00 a
week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.” (1938,
Fireside Chat, the night before signing the Fair Labor Standards Act that
instituted the federal minimum wage)
*Objection: The minimum
wage is a government mandate that interferes with the free market.
“All but the hopelessly
reactionary will agree that to conserve our primary resources of man power,
government must have some control over maximum hours, minimum wages, the evil
of child labor and the exploitation of unorganized labor.” (1937, Message to
Congress upon introduction of the Fair Labor Standards Act)
It
took five years from F.D.R.’s first inauguration in 1933 to enact the federal
minimum wage. The period encompassed “Black Monday” on May 27, 1935, when the
Supreme Court invalidated the new labor standards in the National Industrial
Recovery Act of 1933, and “White Monday” on March 29, 1937, when the Court
reversed course by upholding the minimum wage in Washington state, setting the
stage for passage of a federal version.
Today,
with census data showing that one third of Americans are either in or near
poverty, the arguments in favor of an adequate minimum wage are still
compelling. The difference is that the minimum wage has gone from being a bold
advance in labor law to a basic tool for broader prosperity, albeit one that
Congress has failed to deploy fully. That is a shame. What F.D.R. said in 1938
about establishing a minimum wage is also true about raising it: “Without
question it starts us toward a better standard of living and increases purchasing
power to buy the products of farm and factory.”
So
next time someone claims, “The minimum wage was never intended to be a living
wage,” refer him to FDR! Nice work, Teresa Tritch!
*DID YOU KNOW?
Most County Boards and Commissions are required by State law, but
several high profile commissions (Local Foods, Criminal Justice Coordinating,
Livable Community for Successful Aging, Minimum Wage Advisory, Juvenile Justice
Youth Development, etc.) were created in response to citizen requests.
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 1:35 PM
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