DownWithTyranny!: New Deal Democrat Cecil Bothwell vs Blue Dog Heath Shuler-- A Study In Contrasts

Cecil Bothwell, the real thing

On Labor Day Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell, the progressive Democrat taking on reactionary Blue Dog Heath Shuler in western North Carolina, issued a challenge to his conservative foe: "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has issued a Six-Point Agenda for New Jobs. I signed a pledge to support that agenda and I challenge Rep. Heath Shuler to do the same and to publicly announce his support."

Shuler, whose ~~sister~~ cousin is Liz Shuler, the first woman ever elected Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, has tried to temper his right-wing instincts when it comes to labor issues-- tried but failed. When push has come to shove, he's tended to vote with Republicans against the rights of public employees and against the rights of individual employees in the workplace. It would be hard to imagine him signing on to Trumka's Six-Point Agenda any sooner than Eric Cantor or John Boehner. And that goes a long way to explaining why he's vulnerable to Bothwell's challenge next year. Bothwell:

We American workers need immediate action. Our government can and must put people to work, now. The current recession will only end when unemployment levels are cut in half, and only the U.S. government has the power and obligation to make that happen quickly.

Federal law requires the government, in particular the President and the Federal Reserve, to create jobs. This legal duty comes from three sources: (1) full employment legislation including the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978, (2) the 1977 Federal Reserve Act, and (3) the global consensus based on customary international law that all people have a right to a job with favorable remuneration to provide an adequate standard of living.

This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of law.

It isn’t easy to stand up to the lies and corruption coming from Wall Street, from the multinational corporations, from Fox News and the right-wing noise machine. But we can be heroes and stand up for our families, our neighbors and the future of the American Dream!

There’s a fellow in Burke County who used to work at a furniture factory. He built good furniture and he made pretty good money, $15 per hour plus benefits. He had worked up to two weeks paid vacation, he felt like he was part of a team and together with his wife’s income they’d been able to save and put money down on a house. She was a teaching assistant and she loved both her job and the way her work fit in with her kids’ school schedule.

That fellow’s job has been relocated to China, to a worker who makes 90 cents per hour, while cuts in the NC state budget eliminated his wife’s position in the school. They’re in foreclosure and they aren’t sure what they’ll do or where they’ll go next. The ongoing recession has hit them hard, and even if the economy turned around tomorrow, they’ll be a very long time climbing back.

That story has been repeated across WNC and around the country. One in four jobs lost in the global recession were right here in the United States. We took the big hit.

Our work defines us, enobles us and enables us to participate in the economy. For the great majority of us, the only thing we have to invest in the business world is our muscle and talent and sweat and commitment. That is to say, our lives. We find some sort of work that suits us, or pays enough to convince us that the transaction is worthwhile, and we do it. Day after day, year after year. The bargain with those who pay us is this: Our good work and our loyalty in exchange for your profit and your loyalty. That promise has been broken.

...Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats will tell you that organized labor has hurt American workers by forcing corporations to go overseas. That’s a lie.

Unionization of major industries in America-- autos in the midwest, coal mining in the mid-south, steel manufacturing in the northeast, and some weaving and sewing operations in both south and north-- lifted millions of Americans out of grinding poverty and abusive working conditions. Union campaigns are the reason we don’t have children working in sweatshops like our competitors in China. They brought us the 40-hour work week, job safety rules, benefits including health care and workmen’s compensation, unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws and more. Today unions in telecommunications, construction, public service, airport security, public safety and other fields continue to defend all of us who labor in whatever sector we find work.

Unions created the best trained, most productive work force in the world, and non-union workers benefited as well. The floor was raised, and both workers and owners benefited from the partnership.

...Blue Dogs and Republicans also tell you that cutting federal spending and taxes is the only way to create new jobs. That’s another lie.

Cutting spending and taxes only puts people out of work, and it does nothing to help recovery. Yes, the deficit is a long-term problem we will need to address, after we are all back to work.

Treasury bonds are paying two percent interest right now. It is a great time for the Fed to borrow money-- ask any small business owner who needs capital improvements whether a two percent loan is a good deal! We can and must choose to create public sector jobs today with a reinstatement of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

We need high speed rail nationwide-- air travel and over-the-road trucking are going to be priced out of the market as oil prices rise in the future. Trains are the answer. And we need multi-modal transit systems that connect us to the trains, to our jobs and to our extended families.

We need teachers and teaching assistants in every school system-- Federal money can make this happen fast. America is falling behind our world competitors in both achievement and college matriculation.

We need to provide scholarships for those who are out of work and want to continue their education-- just as we had the GI Bill after WWII. After a decade of unnecesssary wars and collapse of our economy, we need to prepare citizens for the 21st Century.

We need water conservation projects-- we are facing permanent drought both globally and here at home as we run out of fresh water supplies. (Small scale farms should get the same water conservation subsidies currently enjoyed by the corporate giants.)

We need energy conservation projects-- retrofitting homes and businesses with energy saving technologies “creates” more energy at a lower cost than any form of energy production. The cheapest energy is the energy we don’t use.

Cecil Bothwell is the first canddiate added to Blue America's page dedicacted to replacing Blue Dogs with real Democrats-- Bad Dogs. Take a look at his platform and ask yourself if you'd like to help see Cecil Bothwell in Congress instead of Heath Shuler, who has voted almost 60% of the time-- on crucial votes since he was elected-- with the Republicans against the Democratic positions in the House. This is what Cecil is asking voters in North Carolina to consider before they vote in the primary:

Jobs

• Infrastructure: Repair America’s roads and bridges.

• Transportation: Light rail to get people to work … heavy rail for factories.

• Water: Upgrade water and sewage systems.

• Conservation: Planting trees addresses climate change.

• Education: Reinvigorate our schools by hiring artists, writers, musicians, engineers, math and computer geeks, and returning veterans.

Trade

• China is charging a de facto 30% tariff on U.S. goods.

• We have a trade deficit with China that now approaches $1 billion PER DAY.

• If China won’t drop trade barriers, we need to immediately impose a 30 percent tariff on all Chinese goods.
(That’s the way to bring back manufacturing jobs in WNC and across our nation.)

• Renegotiate NAFTA and CAFTA to include worker and environmental protection.

Wall Street

• Regulate Wall St. to prevent another financial collapse.

• Protect consumers from predatory lending.

• End corporate personhood; overturn Citizens United.

• Public financing for elections: government not for sale.

• Restore the right to collective bargaining: CardChek.

Education

• Reform “No Child Left Behind.”

• More flexibility and fairness in our accountability system.

• Bigger investment in teachers and principals.

• A sharper focus on schools and students most at risk.

• Free Public Education from preschool through four years of college.

The Social Safety Net

• Social Security: Remove the cap! The wealthy are only taxed up to $106,000.

• Medicare: Remove the cap! No cuts; instead, Medicare for all as the public option.

• Medicaid: No cuts; this program serves the truly needy, especially children.

Women’s issues

• Equal pay for equal work.

• Full funding for Planned Parenthood and domestic violence prevention programs.

• Abortion should be legal, safe and rare.

• Paid parental leave for one parent for the first five years of a woman’s first two children’s lives.

The National Debt

• Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, implement Financial Transaction Tax.

• Require millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to pay their fair share.

• Cut the Pentagon budget. End the endless wars. Out of Afghanistan, now.

• Cut farm subsidies to agribusiness.