The heart of
Penny U is conversation based on questions posed as springboards.
Why did we come?
At the
beginning of this Penny U, everyone said a few words about what incident or
ideas drew them to this conversation. We heard: the Penny U announcement at James Galbraith's Town Hall
talk; changes in the work place; Naomi Klein; Robert Reich; ideas in the book Spirit Level: Why more equal societies
almost always do better, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett; ideas about
"post-work," guaranteed income, and democracy inside work places; Town
Hall talks by Matt Taibbi and Robert Reich; the film Inequality for All; health disparities; Jane Jacobs' ideas about
cities and economies, Lewis Hyde's book The
Gift, and "the fact that my husband is an artist."
Questions for the day
The heart of
Penny U is conversation based on questions we pose as springboards. This month
the questions were:
• Why is democracy threatened by inequality? Democracy is defined as
"a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and
exercised by them directly or indirectly" or "the absence of
hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges." How does
economic inequality threaten it? Why does Thomas Piketty believe that extreme
inequality threatens democratic institutions, or why did James Galbraith
include as one of his reasons for a strong middle class in the 20th century the
fact that the "common wealth" was supported, that is, the things we
consume in common like the environment, education, culture? Does this, or how
does this, get translated into our civic life in Seattle?
• Are social movements
necessary to fighting inequality? Matt Taibbi lectured
this month on this book, The Divide. In it he juxtaposes the lenience our
government has taken towards financial crimes since the great recession with
the harsh policing and prosecution of poor communities of color. These
injustices, Taibbi argues, inspired the Occupy and Black Lives Matter
movements, respectively, and these movements share a common legacy in
challenging the status quo of inequality. Are social movements necessary to
challenge inequality in this country, and what role do they have to play?
• What can we do here to address income inequality? Members of the audience asked James Galbraith his advice for Seattle's City Council and local activists
about what specifically our city or region can do to address income inequality.
He deferred, citing the "Galbraith rule" to never give advice on
local politics. What do you think can
be done on a local level to address these problems – what can local government
do, and what can we as members of our specific communities do?
THE CONVERSATIONS
After the
questions were posed, the 15-20 of us present divided into smaller groups
around one of the three questions. One person at each table took notes to share
here.
What can be done locally to address
income inequality?
• The
conversation started with a discussion of $15 wage policies.
• We
have problems getting accurate economic information.
• The
energy has to be concentrated on geographic areas that need social programs,
and to be sustainable, communities themselves must be empowered.
• What
is Seattle's economic/cultural heritage?
Boom and bust.
• Is
inequality an issue here? It's important to ask the people suffering from
inequality.
Who is the working class?
• Housing
costs push poorer people out to suburban and semi-rural communities.
• College
subsidies through the federal 529 program ultimately serves the wealthy and the
connected.
• Who is the working class?
• A
stark comparison can be made between health care workers in the current
structure and blue collar manufacturing workers in the past who earned a living
wage and could support a family.
• Would
it be possible for government to raise capital gains tax at the state level in
order to make community college education affordable or free?
• Looking
at tax strategy as a solution is perhaps the worst strategy, especially at the
national level. When the tax measure to support the bus system failed in King
County, that left the cities to close the gaps, which only happened in Seattle.
Can Seattle be a
"democracy laboratory"?
• What
will be the impact of district representation in Seattle? Probably more
diversity.
• Can
local government in Seattle serve as an effective model to the outside? Can we be a "democracy laboratory"
?
Are social movements necessary to fighting inequality?
The big
answer from this group came early: "Yes, movements are necessary."
Then they asked, "What role do
movements play?"
• They're
important in how they interact with laws and social norms, for both immediate
and long-term impacts.
• They
build visibility & exposure and have an effect on media and politicians.
• They
can leverage media effectively, and use social media to have an influence.
• What
is the role of nonprofits in creating and sustaining the movement? What role
must they play? What role do they have to play?
• Movements
are necessary because they become the momentum for change.
• What
emotional states start or are sustaining forces for a movement?
There's power in a movement
of diverse people who share a "common enough" focus.
• There's
power when a diversity of people in a movement come together with a
"common enough" focus. There's great potential in movements that come
from different life experiences, and from different social classes.
• How
can we pull people into a movement who are not totally aligned? That is, how
can we align diverse parties, especially across economic differences?
• The
group discussed timing & leadership, spontaneity vs. planning, and
leadership & grassroots.
And then they asked, what are the threats to movements?
• Not
having a voice
• Internal
disagreement
• Feeling
impotent
• Family
pressures
• Future
job limitations
• When
good people do nothing.
If they'd
had more time, the group would have taken up another question they asked, What
are the elements of effective movements?
Why is democracy threatened by inequality?
The group began by discussing the
definition of democracy (above) and related terms.
• What's
the difference between democracy and liberalism? Are they connected? Democracy
is concerned with power being distributed as broadly as possible. Liberalism
aims to protect people against the state (and more). Is this the distinction
between a politics that resolves disputes in courts and one that resolves them
through debates and movements?
• And
what is a republic? A government where power is not hereditary [and where power
resides in representatives of citizens with the power to vote]. Founding
Fathers had a fear of hereditary wealth and
a fear of the mob.
• How
does a representative process affect democracy? And how does accountability fit
into this? In the early Greek republic, representatives had to give an annual account
of their actions to the people who elected them. Could we do that?
• At
the same time, when 27% of the population doesn't vote it means we as citizens
aren't taking responsibility for our own power.
How can the responsibility to participate be real and not just a nominal possibility?
• Democracy
also involves participation and negotiation – the ability to make decisions
about things that affect our lives. Many obstacles can prevent people from
participating. Historically slavery was a clear exclusion. Today, poverty and
too much work can be a barrier. How can the right or responsibility to
participate be real and not just a nominal possibility?
• Isn't
the privatization of public services another obstacle? People take Uber just because they don't want
to get on the bus. They are less invested in the public good, in the common
wealth. How can we recover a sense of what government can accomplish, of the
positive role it can play?
• When
corporations take over, where's democracy then? Is there something called the
vote of the market? Can you vote with your money? Can that be democracy? How do
we fight that? Boycotts maybe. Does this
constitute unequal voting rights?
Can you vote with your
money? Can that be democracy?
• A
condo I had in the past had unequal voting rights based on the square footage
and value of your apartment; the higher and larger (hence, more expensive) your
apartment, the more your vote was worth. In Athenian democracy, officials were
chosen in large part by lottery (from among the small percentage eligible to
vote).
• What
can we do to get people who aren't involved now (or who are excluded) to
participate? Perhaps because Americans are such an optimistic people that we
think, "Some day I'll be rich,
so let's just not change things." The reality is that the U.S. has one of
the lowest rates of social mobility.
How do we create a belief
that collective action will pay off?
• Organizing
is the key, in the workplace and elsewhere. How do we create a belief that
collective action will pay off? It can't just be up to each of us as
individuals.
