Guest Post From Hawaii Progressive Candidate Stanley Chang

We've written about the race for the open deep blue seat based in Honolulu before-- like here. Today we're going to hear directly from the candidate Blue America has endorsed, Stanley Chang. If you like what you read before, please consider contributing directly to his grassroots campaign. Remember, whoever wins the August Democratic primary will be going to Congress. And most of Stanley's opponents are pretty dreadful.

Social Security Is The Bedrock Of The Safety Net For Our Kupuna
by Stanley Chang

This election is about fresh ideas and securing a better future for Hawaii. I am running for Congress as a bold progressive who is not afraid to defend our social safety net and advance smart policy solutions that create jobs and grow the economy. I have been consistent on major issues such as fighting for immigration reform, extending marriage equality to all couples, and protecting our environment. On the Honolulu City Council, I have led the charge for funding infrastructure and addressing homelessness, passed a law banning smoking at beaches and parks, and called for decisive action to tackle climate change. I established the Hawaii Future Caucus with other young legislators at the state and local level to address conflict and gridlock by working on important issues such as increasing voter participation and government transparency. Hawaii voters need a representative in Washington who will support a truly progressive agenda and fight for working families. Mahalo for your support of our campaign.

DEFEND SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security is the bedrock of the safety net for our kupuna. Make no mistake, “chained CPI” is a euphemism for deep cuts to Social Security, a program that keeps 22 million seniors out of poverty. I was relieved that the White House dropped chained CPI from its most recent budget proposals, but we should continue to be vigilant. Social Security must be strengthened, not gutted. Let’s look at simple, commonsense reforms, like raising the cap on taxable income, which would ensure that Social Security stays solvent for many more generations. Surely we can do better than to balance the budget on the backs of our kupuna who have worked a lifetime to enjoy a secure retirement.

RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE

When the minimum wage was introduced, it was $10.74 in today’s dollars.  Today, the minimum wage is only $7.25. Many of the homeless on our streets today work full-time jobs, but can’t afford rent or even a security deposit on their minimum wage paychecks. Raising the minimum wage would stimulate the economy, generate more jobs, and lift working families out of poverty. Hawaii is in particular need of a raise as its minimum wage is stuck at the national minimum. No one who works full time should be relegated to poverty and homelessness.

EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

The Republican Congress’s refusal to extend unemployment insurance is balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable in this fragile economic recovery. Unemployment benefits stimulate the economy by increasing consumer spending and provide a vital safety net. I support the Better Off Budget recently announced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which extends this critical program.

REFORM WALL STREET

I support a new Glass-Steagall Act, which for generations banned investment banks from gambling away people’s life savings. America’s five biggest banks hold more than half the banking assets in the country. Clearly, we must fight to increase capital requirements and break up the banks that are “too big to fail.” We have to prevent the large banks from keeping all the profit from the good years while forcing American taxpayers to bail out their losses.

ENSURE ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES

Almost one quarter of American families live outside the mainstream banking system and spend, on average, over $2,000 per year on costly fees and services such as payday loans, bill paying and check cashing. With 35,000 locations across our country, the United States Postal Service is well positioned to provide these service at a low cost to families and is exactly the kind of innovation our financial system and working families need. Providing basic financial services at a dramatically reduced rate while pushing some of the most unscrupulous banking service providers out of the market is a smart move for America.

STOP UNFAIR TRADE DEALS

I oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership, a secretly negotiated package of corporate giveaways that could export millions of jobs overseas and even prevent countries from putting health warnings on cigarettes. Other provisions include prohibiting the U.S. from enforcing our own food safety labeling laws. I’m all for fair competition, but many of the TPP governments directly subsidize competitors of American businesses.

The TPP is a bad deal for America that will cost us jobs at a time when too many families still search for good-paying careers and struggle to make ends meet. The last thing American workers and middle-class families need is another secret sweetheart deal for huge multinational corporations. This is the time when we need to be fighting for greater protections and more opportunities for American working class families by investing in jobs that will grow our clean energy sector, welcome labor organizations to the table, and ensure that consumer and human rights are protected.

The fact that these negotiations have occurred entirely in secret is proof enough that this is a raw deal for our middle-class and everyone trying to join it. A new, far-reaching, sweetheart deal for major corporations is not going to help strengthen and grow our middle class.

PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT

We are proud to be the pro-environment candidate in this election. As a local who was born and raised in Hawaii, I value our state’s unique environment and ecosystem. From mauka to makai, the place we are blessed to call home is unlike any other place on earth. Our state’s environment is key to our tourism-based economy as well as the cornerstone of security. All parents want to know for certain that their children are drinking clean water and breathing clean air. I am committed to preserving our environment and ecosystem for our future generations and designating more land as state or national parks and wildlife areas.

In addition to the carbon resolution I introduced on the Honolulu City Council, I also championed a bill that banned smoking on several beaches and parks on Oahu. I support the Obama Administration’s call for generating 80 percent of the nation’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2035. In Hawaii I support clean energy solutions and technologies that make use of our natural assets such as wind and solar that increase our energy independence and reduce our reliance on oil.

I believe that environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and Superfund are important laws that help the nation’s public health. In addition, these laws have bolstered the United State’s clean technology sector which represents $157 billion in annual revenue and employs an estimated 2.7 million people, up from 489,000 jobs in 2008. Instead of cutting funding or regulatory power, we should be preserving and expanding our existing regime of environmental protections.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

I don’t have to be a woman to understand that the last people we want in the room with a woman and her doctor when making very difficult decisions are politicians telling her what she can and can’t do with her own body. At every step, we can and must empower women with reproductive choice. We must ensure medically accurate, comprehensive sex education in schools. We must ensure the availability of contraception to women and girls of all ages, including to rape victims in emergency rooms. And we must ensure the availability of abortion services to those women who need them.

PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNMENT AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

The battle to advance the progressive agenda is not easy, and I’ve welcomed help from all sides to join the fight. The Hawaii Future Caucus, which I co-founded, brings together a bipartisan coalition focusing on two very specific issues: government transparency and voter participation. These issues lie at the very core of the progressive agenda in this country. I’m happy that they are now common ground for a new generation of bipartisan leaders.