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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2013)
Opinion Still Reeling from the Tea Party’s Party M y barber shook his head as I sat down in his chair. He was deeply disturbed by the Tea Party shut- down of the government. Despite the fact that it was over, he was still unsettled. He told me about two tenants of a house that he owns who both work for the feder- al government. They could not pay their rent. He said to me: “Mr. Fletcher, yes, they are now sup- posed to get the money that they lost…but what about the next time?” What about the next time, indeed. The Tea Party Republicans attempted to fly their planes into the “battleship” of government, making the assumption that the “battleship” would change course. That did not happen and the Tea Party Republicans lost badly. But their loss was politi- cal. For thousands of federal workers and contractors, the loss was very material. T RANS A FRICA Bill Fletcher Jr. Many more than you might think live paycheck to paycheck, and they were being squeezed more than they have in quite some time. Some of the local chapters of my own union – the American Federation of Government Employees – were providing food and gas-cards for workers so that they could simply report to work (if they had been declared “essen- tial employees”) and survive. And during all of this, the Tea Party Republicans in Congress contin- ued to collect their own paychecks. The kamikaze run by the Tea Party Republicans seems to have backfired. People are furious with them. Whether that anger will last, and most importantly, whether it will last into the 2014 midterm elections, remains an open ques- tion. But for now many of them are serving as a doormat on which countless citizens are wiping their feet. The Tea Party Republicans felt nothing about destroying the lives have lost his house. In the context of this travesty there will be many people who will throw their hands into the air in complete and total disgust. Such a response is quite understandable, but it is equally unacceptable. It is not enough to get disgusted. The brand of poli- tics represented by the Tea Party crowd needs to be removed from the scene. This means that we can- The kamikaze run by the Tea Party Republicans seems to have backfired of hundreds of thousands of peo- ple. They thought nothing of the ripple effect that a government shutdown would have, as in the case of my barber. Think about it. His tenants could not pay him. Well, if the shutdown had continued, he would not have been able to pay his mortgage and could not walk away from elections, but we need, instead, to walk to the polls and cast our votes thought- fully and carefully. It is not a matter of ‘anyone but the Tea Party,’ as comforting as that may sound and feel. Rather, as we think about 2014 and beyond, we need to really develop candidates who speak on behalf of the com- mon person. They not only must be dramatically different from the Tea Party, but such candidates must understand the plight of the bottom 90 percent of this country and the urgency to act in the inter- est of positive change. If we have learned anything from the government shutdown it should be that governing is much too important to leave to the slick- sters, demagogues, and those representing the rich and power- ful. Bill Fletcher, Jr. works for the American Federation of Govern- ment Employees, and is also a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us” – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. Follow him on Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com. Postal continued from page 1 postal, non-union Matheson corporation in Portland,” the group says in a press release before the arrests. “At the same time, Port- land postal truckers are being put on standby while the low-wage, non-postal, non-union, Dill Star/LAPO trucking com- pany takes their work.” In September 2012 the US Postal Service reported a $15.9 billion loss. That triggered a string of cuts and changes that have closed mail processing centers and post offices across the United States. The causes of these troubling losses include a sharp decline in the number of let- ters written and mailed. The post office has not so far gained enough of the market share for packages to compensate for these losses. But the postal workers advocates say politically motivated legislation is a key reason behind the problems. Advocates for the postal workers say this requirement has created an artificial crisis. And they point out that elderly and isolated people depend on the mail service for med- ications, disability checks and other vital mail. Other Republican proposals to stanch the losses include, ending Saturday delivery and replacing delivery to individual houses with deliveries to neighborhood boxes. Conservative think tanks also have advocat- ed for ending delivery to rural areas of the country where revenues don’t cover costs. Yet Congressional Republicans have been unwilling to get rid of a 1909 temperance movement inspired law that forbids USPS from shipping alcohol, a potentially lucra- tive market area. Week on the Web Why Republicans Should Embrace a New Immigration Law. Studies say legalizing immigrants increases tax revenues and boosts the economy ... Opinion Live in Humboldt, Boise or Eliot? Sign Up for a Free Street Tree. Students from Rosemary Anderson High School are taking part in Friends of Trees Albina Tree Initiative that will plant 140 trees .... NW News House Committee to Question Spy Chiefs About Phone Tapping Allegations. Among those on the hot www. seat: Director of National Intelligence James Clapper .... National News Need Insurance Help in Portland? The Skanner News decided to test the system by calling up and asking about their sign-up help ... NW News Black Farmers Finally Collect in $1.2 Billion in Discrimination Case. Some farmers grew old and died waiting for the slow hands of justice to turn in their favor .... National News Caribbean Nations Unite urge countries which profited from the slave trade to discuss reparations. Move could have implications for Blacks throughout the U.S. ..... World News October 30, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 5
