See also,
Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class | Death of the Liberal Class?
Friday, October 22 2010 8:00 PM
* Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class
* Death of the Liberal Class?
Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class
The Interview: Chris Hedges: The Liberal Class
American journalist and author Chris Hedges will discuss his upcoming book
"Death of the Liberal Class", where he laments the failure of the liberal
class to act as a moderating influence in public life - and has allowed for
the rise of radicalism - the very threat to liberal democracy.
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Gurstein
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 4:29 AM
To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION';
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Subject: [Futurework] FW: [SPAM] A Lifetime of 'You're On Your Own'
-----Original Message-----
From: Portside Moderator [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 3:59 AM
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Subject: [SPAM] A Lifetime of 'You're On Your Own'
[For documentation of each of the points made in this
article, go to the links in the original. - moderator]
A Lifetime of 'You're On Your Own'
by Faiz Shakir, Benjamin Armbruster, George Zornick,
Zaid Jilani, Alex Seitz-Wald, Ian Milhiser, and Tanya
Somanader
October 21, 2010
http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2010/10/pr20101021
More than seventy years ago, the Supreme Court abandoned
a brief, disastrous experiment with "tentherism," a constitutional theory
that early twentieth century justices wielded to protect monopolies, strip
workers of their right to organize and knock down child labor laws. This
discredited constitutional theory is back -- with a vengeance -- endangering
Medicare, Social Security, the minimum wage and even the national highway
system and America's membership in the United Nations. For the first time in
three generations, the right is fielding a slate of candidates convinced
that any attempt to better the lives of ordinary Americans violates the
Constitution -- while a number of sitting lawmakers such as Reps. John
Shadegg (R-AZ) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL) are already actively pushing
tentherism from within the Congress. Make no mistake, this agenda threatens
all Americans, from the youngest schoolchild to the most venerable retirees.
SLAMMING SCHOOLHOUSE DOORS: Tentherism's core tenet is
that the 10th Amendment must be read too narrowly to
permit much of the progress of the last century. Thus,
for example, because the Constitution doesn't actually
use the word "education" -- it instead gives Congress
broad authority to spend money to advance the "common
defense" and "general welfare" -- Senate candidates like
Ken Buck (R-CO) and Sharron Angle (R-NV) claim that the
federal Department of Education is unconstitutional.
That means no federal student loan assistance or Pell
Grants for middle class students struggling to pay for
college, and no education funds providing opportunities
to students desperately trying to break into the middle
class. And that's hardly the worst news tenthers have in
store for young Americans. Alaska GOP Senate candidate
Joe Miller wants to declare child labor laws
unconstitutional -- returning America to the day when ten-year-olds labored
in coal mines.
THANKLESS LABOR: Tenther candidates have even worse
plans for working age Americans. Miller and West
Virginia GOP Senate candidate John Raese both claim that
the federal minimum wage is unconstitutional -- a
position the Supreme Court unanimously rejected in 1941.
If you're a person of color or a woman or a person of
faith than you are also out of luck, because Kentucky
GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul agrees with Justice
Clarence Thomas that the ban on employment and pay discrimination is
unconstitutional (don't try to get a meal on your lunch break either,
because both men feel the same way about the ban on whites-only lunch
counters). Significantly, the constitutional doctrine which supports the
minimum wage is the same one which supports child labor laws and bans on
discrimination, so when a candidate comes out in opposition to any one of
these laws, it is likely that they oppose all of them. To top this all off,
Alaska's Miller even claims that unemployment benefits violate the
Constitution, so Americans who are unable to find work in the new tenther
regime will simply be cast out into the cold.
AN IMPOVERISHED RETIREMENT: Social Security may be the
most successful program in American history. Without it,
nearly half of all seniors would live below the poverty
line. Yet, because words like "retirement" don't
specifically appear in the Constitution, tenthers think
that Social Security is forbidden. Indeed, Social
Security has not just been labeled unconstitutional by
specific GOP candidates, the Republican Party's "Pledge
To America" embraces a tenther understanding of the Constitution which
endangers both Social Security and Medicare. Tenthers respond to claims that
they would abolish America's entire safety net for seniors by pointing out
that state governments could still create their own retirement programs, but
such a state takeover of retirement programs is economically impossible
unless America forbids its citizens from retiring in a different state than
the one that they paid taxes in while working. Some tenther candidates have
also suggested that Social Security can survive so long as it is privatized,
but privatization would impose significant new risks on seniors, create new
administrative costs, force benefit reductions and cost more money than the
present system. In other words, the right has a simple plan for American
families: making sure that everyone at the dinner table is completely on
their own.
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