Stephan: In the midst of the toxic politics of the christofascist Republican Party and the corporate corruption of the Democratic Party, the states that make up the West Coast, California, Oregon, and Washington are moving in a happier direction, and these policies which foster wellbeing are transforming those states. It is happening almost without coverage by national media.
I see all this as part of the Great Schism Trend, and I think these changes represent what is going to be a fundamental change in how the United States operates, with power shifting away from the constipated and corrupt federal government to the states resulting in a growing disparity in the health of Reed and Blue state societies.
Already the christofascist Red states can be seen as failing societies by almost any social outcome measure you can name, from child mortality to longevity. The stock market may be doing great, but for most of the people in the Red states, life is tough.
The Blue states of the West Coast, in contrast, now are actively moving into a post-carbon energy era, exploring universal healthcare, taking climate change seriously, and passing labor policies fairer to workers. Here is the latest development in this good news trend.
Domestic workers rally on March 2018 after sharing their stories with the Seattle City Council members to make the case for the city’s first Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.
Credit: Domestic Workers/Twitter
On July 27, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan signed into law the city’s domestic workers’ bill of rights. The ordinance, which passed the Seattle City Council unanimously on Monday, establishes protections for the city’s more than 30,000 nannies, caregivers and housekeepers, who have historically been excluded from labor laws. Seattle is now the only city in the United States with a comprehensive domestic workers’ bill of rights. The city joins eight states that have adopted a domestic workers’ bill of rights.
Against a grim national backdrop in which traditional labor unions are being drained of any remaining power, the persistence of the domestic workers’ movement throughout the country is indicative of how labor organizing may continue to evolve, incorporating workers’ efforts to exert pressure directly on local policymaking bodies.
Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, who was just elected to her position in November, was instrumental to the ordinance’s passage.
“As […]
Sadly too true. Stephan, in many of your postings over the recent months you have laid out the signs of a growing fascism in the US as perpetrated by the RINO’s. Today, in the BC Tyee, there is this article, which not only agrees, but, gives evidence for that assumption. It’s not even good for our country, i.e., Canada either.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/07/30/Fourteen-Steps-To-Fascism/