Los Angeles Labor is the antidote to the Republican tea party politics!

http://launionaflcio.org/by Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

(Los Angeles) – We did it!  We elected Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer, and all of our statewide candidates, Kamala Harris pending.  Across the country, the Republican and tea party candidates may have won, but in California, the two main expressions of tea party politics, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, were stopped in their tracks.

For the last six weeks, we ran a major campaign from Lancaster to Long Beach to elect Jerry Brown. We filled more than 14,000 volunteer shifts on the phones and knocking on doors. Our efforts resulted in 450,000 one-on-one conversations with voters on the most important issue of this election—Jobs.

“We learned here in California, that the antidote to the tea party is the labor, Latino, African-American, progressive White vote coming together,” said Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO “If we do our job right, there are more of us than there are of them. Thanks to all of the sisters and brothers of LA Labor who did all the work and deserve this victory.”

Missing: A Vision of Economic Possibility

It is now the morning after. Republicans, as expected, are celebrating a sweeping victory. Democrats are licking their wounds. Meanwhile, record numbers of people are still contending with the hardships of unemployment and foreclosure with no relief in sight. And the nation braces for deepening political gridlock.

It is a moment of opportunity for America to set a new course and for a young President Barack Obama to establish his place in history as a path-breaking leader.

So how does electoral failure and political gridlock create a moment of opportunity?

We are a nation consumed by short-term thinking and fragmented political contests centered on narrowly defined issues. Neither of our two major parties has a credible vision for the economic future of our nation.

The Republicans offer only their standard prescription of tax cuts for the rich, a rollback of regulations on predatory corporations, and elimination of the social safety net—a proven prescription for further job loss and devastation of the middle class.

The Democrats have no identifiable program for economic recovery, let alone for adapting our economy to the dramatic demographic, environmental, economic, and political changes that rule out any chance of a return to pre-2008 business as usual.

10 Ways to Solve the Jobs Problem
There are many ways to create jobs while building a better economy.

Continue reading Unemployment and Home Foreclosures Still Top Issues →