On a recent election episode of LaborPress’ Blue Collar Buzz, we looked at a few races — those upcoming and those already decided. Political scientist Anthony DiMaggio provided an illuminating postmortem of the 2016 Presidential Election, while New York City Council candidates Marvin Holland and Justin Brannan both talked about their favorite policy goals. Assembly Member Felix Ortiz, meanwhile, weighed in on the future of single-payer healthcare. Which all begs the question: are the interests of everyday working men & women being served at the ballot box?
The answer to that question, at least at the national level, is a resounding, “You gotta be kidding, right?” Trump trolls may be touting new unemployment figures touching 4.3 percent — but economists continue to describe real wages as “sluggish” — that’s academic-speak for “garbage.”
Half of the country still earns less than $30K a year, as jobs continue to be “outsourced” — another sanitized term for “stolen” — and otherwise corporately undermined; E.g. Charter/Spectrum’s ongoing assault on middle-class workers.
One popular narrative says that many disaffected workers turned a blind eye to Donald Trump’s transparent toxicity last fall, and decided, instead, to give Le Grand Orange oligarch a shot at magically transforming himself into the champion of the proletariat.
DiMaggio, however, told Blue Collar Buzz that the racism, xenophobia and misogyny that undoubtedly helped fuel Trump’s Electoral College win, has actually been “undersold,” while his alleged economic populism has been “oversold.”
With that, DiMaggio also said that he has been careful not to “exonerate the Democratic Party for their failings.”
Marvin Holland and Justin Brannan are two Democrats hoping to win seats in the New York City Council this fall — Holland in the 9th Councilmanic District in Manhattan and Brannan in the 43rd Councilmanic District in Brooklyn. Each man vows to fight hard for working men and women.
“We need to have people in political office, particularly in the City Council, that understand the everyday working man’s— and working woman’s issues,” Holland said.
Brannan said, “You need someone who is going to fight for middle class families and those who are trying to get there.”
Getting into the middle-class would be a helluva lot easier if working people could actually afford comprehensive healthcare.
With millions of Americans continuing to be either uninsured or underinsured under Obamacare — and insane efforts to replace it with something even worse ending up in the toilet — a single-payer, Medicare for all system could not be in more demand.
New York State could get it done — but will the State Legislature oblige? According to Assembly Member Ortiz, that all depends on Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I hope the governor will use his leadership to change the minds of the Senate [about single payer healthcare]. The Senate is the one that is holding back,” the assistant speaker told Blue Collar Buzz.
LaborPress’ “Blue Collar Buzz” airs every Sunday night on AM970 The Answer from 9 to 10 p.m. This week’s episode, as well as every other episode of LaborPress’ “Blue Collar Buzz” is also available on demand at www.am970theanswer.com.
