this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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My home state of Oregon mandates a minimum wage of $13.20 in rural areas and $15.45 in the Portland metro area, and it adjusts to inflation. Oregon has been governed by Democrats for years. Thanks to these and other laws, I can go down to a McDonald's and get a job that pays $16-17 an hour to start in my city. TriMet in Portland is always advertising a $28 starting wage for bus drivers (no CDL) up to $37 after three years. Rent in my city is $800-900 for a one-bedroom flat with excellent free public transit and fair bikeability. Fuel prices are reasonable. We have strong protections for tenants against abusive landlords. Strong anti-discrimination laws. Everyone has paid sick days. No regressive sales tax. Working-class people can afford a roof over their heads and decent food on the table.
Check out the neighbouring state minimum wages.
But yeah, keep harping on about how both parties are the same and that Democrats don't do more to help the working man.
I was part of that! I was on a team that made a web site that visualized the effect on poverty levels on a county-by-county basis when the minimum wage was at different levels. It made the need for a split minimum wage obvious, since the minimum wage that is necessary for metro areas is inappropriate for rural areas. Rumor has it that the legislature used it in the decision making to some degree.
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I think that's why it's important to encourage participation in the primary process. There are the neoliberals mixed in with the social democrats and actual socialists. We should be voting for and supporting the latter in the primaries if we want to influence the party in a leftward direction.
That's actually better than I thought. People in other states are so used to the dysfunction that they literally don't believe these things are possible.
Good news doesn't spread as quickly as bad news and rage bait. "McDonald's Workers Can Afford Flat on 1/3 of Income" isn't a good headline but "Families Increasingly Priced Out By Red-Hot Housing Market" does.
None of these are living wages. You don't get a cookie for doing the bare minimum of keeping people out of effective slavery. Give me a fucking break.
Your other comment says—
I don't. But it's undeniably true that one party is much better, in my opinion, than the other. They aren't a perfect party but to equate them with the Republican Party simply because they aren't doing a perfect (or in many cases, even a good) job is stupid.
Right now, the choices are "bare minimum" or "nothing at all". These choices are not the same. One is clearly better.
If you would like a more nuanced opinion then read carefully the rest of my comments in this thread. I'm not going to repeat my points for every person who comes along with the same retort and insult thinking they've "got" me.
"Look at how well the democrats allow the capitalists to treat me as they ensure they can continue to exploit my labour for their own profit uninterrupted!!11"
(seriously - start by looking at those companies profit margins for a tip of the iceberg idea of just how much they are making off of your labour before you do a happy dance over a couple of dollars more they're willing to throw your way to keep you from demanding actual freedom)
But yeah, keep harping on about how represented you are in the sham they call electoral politics..
I think OP is just saying that democrats are better than Republicans. We have multiple parties in my country but people vote for tree ones that support capitalism and rich people. We also have people that support a politician that was found guilty of fraud.
Rich people have power so they can do what they want.
OK so one of the slavers is nicer than the other... You're still owned by slavers. Holy fuck, Liberals are just as fucking dumb as conservatives.
Funny meme, doesn't make me wrong. The comic itself agrees with me.
Funny how people deny the truth when it's not stated as a joke. Almost like you all aren't actually processing the message. Democrats are liberals. Democrats are still allowing Republicans to keep your wages down.
You use the word "liberal" like it is supposed to be an insult
It should be. Almost as bad as "conservative".
What you've said is that someone who agrees with you 50-80% of the time is as bad as someone who thinks you are the devil incarnate and doesn't agree with you at all.
No you utter numpty. What I said is the equivalent of, "if you have a nazi sitting at a table and five people sitting at the table who won't condemn the nazi, you have six nazis."
Learn. From. History.
Arguments against electoral democracy by so-called socialists always boil down to "it's not perfect so why bother".
Okay, so keep complaining. Your vision of a better tomorrow isn't going to magically come true if you complain hard enough. You can help make it come true only by participating in the political system we have today. Even if you think it doesn't work, you have no choice but to participate anyway and hope you are wrong.
This is how I got banned from Hexbear. I told someone "You can either participate in the current system or plot to overthrow it. Are you working with the next Lenin or Mao, or merely fantasizing about it?"
So what about you? What are you doing to build the future you want?
I'm not complaining to complain and I'm not saying don't vote. What the flying fuck are all these assumptions coming from you?
What I'm saying is the two party system gives you a choice between two enemies. Yet you dumbasses CONSTANTLY pretend that Democrats good just because Republicans bad.
A vote doesn't, and SHOULD NOT, come with an ass kissing.
I make these assumptions because the type of people who use the type of language that you do and espouse similar views to you tend to also do these other things. It's called "generalisation", and although I apologise if I've made an incorrect one, it is a part of human thinking and everyone does it, including you.
It is my belief that the terms "good" and "bad" are poor labels and not suitably descriptive, especially for most political ideologies. I can only say that Democrats tend to enact policies that I agree with more while Republicans do not. That is why I say that Democrats are "better". Whether "better" means "good" is irrelevant. I don't like the two-party system and I work to change it by circulating ballot initiatives to move us toward proportional and ranked-choice voting. But when we only have two choices, it makes sense to vote and campaign for the one you disagree with least, then criticise and exert political pressure as necessary to nudge them in the right direction. Note that political pressure comes only collectively as a voting bloc, and a voting bloc that doesn't participate isn't going to be effective at exerting political pressure and having their demands acceded to. I understand that you vote, but not everyone who thinks the way you do does.
"... and then criticize and exert political pressure as necessary..."
Yes, exactly. and it'd be really fucking nice if people would stop treating me like a Republican for stating the BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS of, "hey guys, the Democrats aren't your allies, either."
So pathetic how you claim to support democracy but shit on anyone who criticizes your precious political party and then make juvenile excuses for doing so.
Isn't California full of homeless people?
Have you ever been to California actually? Yes the situation is bad but not everywhere is California is like that.
Yes, and that's because the progressive and left-wing of the Democratic Party is losing a power struggle against the centrists and neoliberals. If you want to change that, be sure to vote in the party primary elections and to encourage everyone you know to do the same.
Register to vote
That's waaaay more complicated than just minimum wage. $16 isn't even a living wage here in L.A. where we've got lots of homelessness.
We ought to employ Land Value Taxation to fund the basic necessities for survival, and the remainder should go towards a UBI.
For what it's worth, the minimum wage in LA will rise to $17.28 in July of this year. I get that's still not very high by LA standards, but I stress that progress is better than stagnation.
California is full of … people.