Demanding Choices, Not Options
31 Aug 2008
The article below was written by a comrade of the International Republican
Socialist Network for a special edition of the Reflections Without Borders
newsletter/broadsheet. It concerns the current California state budget crisis,
which has caused the state to lay off over 22,000 part-time and temporary
workers and to not fund a host of social programs for the past two months.
It was distributed at a demonstration in front of the StateBuilding in San
Francisco at a demonstration by care providers to children, the aged, and the
disabled, who have gone unpaid by the State of California since the beginning
of July. Its key point is that workers must stop allowing the ruling class to
determine what options we have and must instead demand the right to enact real
choices about the society we live in and the manner in which it is governed.
Reflections Without Borders is committed to restoring the working class to the
leadership of the revolutionary movement in the US and is focused on building
class conciousness within the working class of the US, both native born and
immigrant. It is opposed to reformism and commited to putting socialism on the
immediate agenda of the working class.
__________________________________________________
Demanding Choices, Not Options
Since June 30th California has had no budget. As a result, poor families
dependent on State funds for housing assistance, low income families requiring
funds for medical care, seniors on fixed incomes relying on various types of
assistance, the physically or psychologically disabled, and many other low
income working people have gone without the funds they need for 8 weeks. In
addition to withholding funds vital to the livelihood of many working poor,
retirees, and the disabled, the Governor wants to cut State workers’ wages to
the $6.55 an hour Federal minimum wage and has already laid-off over 22,000
part-time and temporary State workers. This has slashed State services to
hundreds of thousands of Californians, caused economic hardship for the
displaced workers, and increased workloads for the remaining State workers
still on the job.
The reason for this widespread misery is an undemocratic State Constitution that
requires a two-thirds majority to approve the State budget, which has allowed 8
members of the Legislature to thwart all efforts to pass a budget. The media
has cast the story as being a battle of wills between the Governor and State
Controller; a partisan battle between Democrats and Republicans; and as
“unavoidable belt-tightening” during a period of economic downturn.
Californians are told the State must reduce spending and that they accept
reduced State services, as well as the annual spectacle of the State government
shutting down for weeks or months while a budget is hammered out. When the
drama has ended, they’ll be told they must accept reduced services and whole
programs will be cut. State workers will be told that they must bear “their
share” of the cuts.
We refuse to allow the issue to be framed for us by the politicians, media
pundits, and various “experts” that are brought out time and again to tell
us what our options are. So long as we allow those in power—whether
governmental or corporate—to define our options, we will lose. Democracy is
not about choosing between cancer and polio, nor opting for the lesser evil;
democracy is the majority ruling, in their own interests. It is about
empowerment of the people, not about getting to choose which candidate, amongst
all those in the pocket of big corporations, will get to screw the working
people who form the State’s majority, while protecting the interests of a
small minority of wealthy and powerful people.
Over and over we are told that “hard times” make it necessary for us to
accept cuts in the State staffers, like those who ensure that unemployed and
disabled workers in California receive benefits and who earn as little as
$40,426 a year. Noone, however, ever suggests we instead cut the ten Directors
employed by EDD, who earn p to $129,252 a year each and provide no direct
service to California residents. Looked at another way, instead of cutting any
of the 2,996 workers at EDD ensuring that the unemployed and disabled workers in
California receive benefits, why not released all of the non-violent offenders
in State prisons on marijuana charges. Then we could empty at least a quarter
of the cells in the prisons and dispense with over 6,000 of the 24,932 prison
guards, earning up to $73,728 a year. For that matter, maybe we would be
better off not paying the 40 Senators and 80 Legislators, who earn up to
$133,638 each, and use those funds to retain the services we need.
Working people must stop allowing our options to be defined for us. If there
must be cuts, we insist that the residents of the State decide what programs to
fund and which State employees are most expendable. Funding for the needs of
working people must be the first priority; while funding for the Department of
Corporations, high priced administrators’ salaries (and the cost of flying
them around the State for photo-ops and useless publicity events), the ever
expanding prisons, and expenditures for elected officials to ride in limos must
be the first things to go. We demand that services to those most in need be the
first things funded and that State employees who provide direct services to the
public be retained over highly paid administrators and analysts.
The article below was written by a comrade of the International Republican
Socialist Network for a special edition of the Reflections Without Borders
newsletter/broadsheet. It concerns the current California state budget crisis,
which has caused the state to lay off over 22,000 part-time and temporary
workers and to not fund a host of social programs for the past two months.
It was distributed at a demonstration in front of the StateBuilding in San
Francisco at a demonstration by care providers to children, the aged, and the
disabled, who have gone unpaid by the State of California since the beginning
of July. Its key point is that workers must stop allowing the ruling class to
determine what options we have and must instead demand the right to enact real
choices about the society we live in and the manner in which it is governed.
Reflections Without Borders is committed to restoring the working class to the
leadership of the revolutionary movement in the US and is focused on building
class conciousness within the working class of the US, both native born and
immigrant. It is opposed to reformism and commited to putting socialism on the
immediate agenda of the working class.
__________________________________________________
Demanding Choices, Not Options
Since June 30th California has had no budget. As a result, poor families
dependent on State funds for housing assistance, low income families requiring
funds for medical care, seniors on fixed incomes relying on various types of
assistance, the physically or psychologically disabled, and many other low
income working people have gone without the funds they need for 8 weeks. In
addition to withholding funds vital to the livelihood of many working poor,
retirees, and the disabled, the Governor wants to cut State workers’ wages to
the $6.55 an hour Federal minimum wage and has already laid-off over 22,000
part-time and temporary State workers. This has slashed State services to
hundreds of thousands of Californians, caused economic hardship for the
displaced workers, and increased workloads for the remaining State workers
still on the job.
The reason for this widespread misery is an undemocratic State Constitution that
requires a two-thirds majority to approve the State budget, which has allowed 8
members of the Legislature to thwart all efforts to pass a budget. The media
has cast the story as being a battle of wills between the Governor and State
Controller; a partisan battle between Democrats and Republicans; and as
“unavoidable belt-tightening” during a period of economic downturn.
Californians are told the State must reduce spending and that they accept
reduced State services, as well as the annual spectacle of the State government
shutting down for weeks or months while a budget is hammered out. When the
drama has ended, they’ll be told they must accept reduced services and whole
programs will be cut. State workers will be told that they must bear “their
share” of the cuts.
We refuse to allow the issue to be framed for us by the politicians, media
pundits, and various “experts” that are brought out time and again to tell
us what our options are. So long as we allow those in power—whether
governmental or corporate—to define our options, we will lose. Democracy is
not about choosing between cancer and polio, nor opting for the lesser evil;
democracy is the majority ruling, in their own interests. It is about
empowerment of the people, not about getting to choose which candidate, amongst
all those in the pocket of big corporations, will get to screw the working
people who form the State’s majority, while protecting the interests of a
small minority of wealthy and powerful people.
Over and over we are told that “hard times” make it necessary for us to
accept cuts in the State staffers, like those who ensure that unemployed and
disabled workers in California receive benefits and who earn as little as
$40,426 a year. Noone, however, ever suggests we instead cut the ten Directors
employed by EDD, who earn p to $129,252 a year each and provide no direct
service to California residents. Looked at another way, instead of cutting any
of the 2,996 workers at EDD ensuring that the unemployed and disabled workers in
California receive benefits, why not released all of the non-violent offenders
in State prisons on marijuana charges. Then we could empty at least a quarter
of the cells in the prisons and dispense with over 6,000 of the 24,932 prison
guards, earning up to $73,728 a year. For that matter, maybe we would be
better off not paying the 40 Senators and 80 Legislators, who earn up to
$133,638 each, and use those funds to retain the services we need.
Working people must stop allowing our options to be defined for us. If there
must be cuts, we insist that the residents of the State decide what programs to
fund and which State employees are most expendable. Funding for the needs of
working people must be the first priority; while funding for the Department of
Corporations, high priced administrators’ salaries (and the cost of flying
them around the State for photo-ops and useless publicity events), the ever
expanding prisons, and expenditures for elected officials to ride in limos must
be the first things to go. We demand that services to those most in need be the
first things funded and that State employees who provide direct services to the
public be retained over highly paid administrators and analysts.