Amen to EPI's Thea Lee on the election.
However, I find myself reviewing the roadblocks to -- and opportunities for -- realizing the hopes of the progressive majority.
1. The working class remains too divided. While the principal symptom of division is racism, both the chief causes and the priority fixes, are economic. Higher wages, full employment, affordable health, big investments in education and public works.will put a big dent in the fascist trump base. But that will not happen without a structural shift in class relations in the US, toward a just distribution of wealth, based on the principle of To Each According To Their Work. Without swelling mass movements and action however, no president or vice president will be able to cross that river. And many billionaire prerogatives, including liberal ones, will not survive the crossing, if it is to be made. Bloombergs and Gates may hate Trump, but they will not lead the charge that substantially taxes their wealth, or imposes public supervision over the investments (and their social or environmental costs/benefits) that their monopolistic enterprises make. Nor are Joe and Kamala Knights of myth and romance, who are coming to save us. They are, or will be, elected leaders, not Kings or Queens. Their destiny rests more in our hands, from which their power and authority derive, than theirs.
2. The international situation will determine a lot: immigration, defense budgets, the decline of US power relative to China's model of socialist-led market economics, and its impact on global health, climate change damage, and economic growth. The irrefutable fact that most of our challenges are global will increase calls for global PUBLIC supervision of economic, population, environmental forces and security. This will require a measured loss of sovereignty by most nations, and abandonment of imperial domination aspirations by all. The bridge to internationalism is the other river that must be crossed -- and that demands a global reckoning with racism, and ultra-nationalism.
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Now that the 2020 presidential election is finally decided, working people can look forward to a moment of hope and opportunity. In January, Americans will have a president and vice president who have pledged to prioritize the needs of working families. Despite extraordinary and unconscionable efforts to silence voters, the democratic process has prevailed in the most important election of our lifetime.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris won on a platform that addresses the urgent needs of working people. EPI has long called for policies that would shift bargaining power back toward workers, curb accelerating income inequality, shore up the nation's infrastructure and educational systems, protect and expand social insurance programs, and help close gender and racial wage gaps. We look forward to working closely with the incoming administration to systematically undo the harm caused by the Trump administration—and to build an economy that works for everyone in America, elevates the contributions of working people, and is committed to addressing and reversing systemic racism.
Many elections across the country demonstrated that progressive, pro-worker policies are not just good economics, but also can be electoral winners. By overwhelming margins, Florida residents voted to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, and Colorado residents voted for a 12-week paid family and medical leave program. As EPI's work has shown, the progressive agenda is both popular and necessary for a robust and fair economic recovery at this precarious moment in history.
We encourage the incoming administration and Congress to focus on building worker power, fighting for racial justice, and making the transformational changes we need to invest in America, including through clean energy and other forms of climate crisis mitigation, public health, the care economy, the immigration system, and public education. This is not a time for timidity or austerity. This is a time for courage and ambition, and we are ready to work with Congress and the incoming administration to achieve the changes our country needs.
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