FORUM
Support small business day after
Black Friday and year-round
i ? .
Gregg
Thompson
Guest
Columnist
The National Federation
of Independent Business is
America's leading small
business advocate. We are
proud to represent 350,000
small, independent business
owners nationwide, includ
ing over 7,000 in North
Carolina. We are also very
proud to cosponsor the 2016
Small Business Saturday promotion with American
Express.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration,
small businesses account for most of the jobs in this coun
try. They have provided 66 percent of all net new jobs
since the 1970s. They represent 99.7 percent of all U.S.
employers.
Most Americans don't know an owner of a big depart
ment store, but there's a good-chance that many people
know small-business owners. They're our friends and
neighbors. They're among the most generous supporters
of civic groups, local charities, youth sports, schools, and
virtually every other form of community activity.
Nov. 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is Small
Business Saturday. It's intended to encourage Americans
to support small business not just one day a year, but
whenever they go shopping.
Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shop
ping season, is when families wake early, sit in traffic,
compete with other drivers for mall parking spots, jostle
with crowds, and stand in line to buy things they could
find much closer to home.
Small Business Saturday offers a much different expe
rience. Shoppers who visit locally owned businesses will
find almost everything they could get at the mall and
plenty of items by local artisans, designers, bakers,
chocolatiers, brewers, and tinkerers that can be found
only on Main Street.
In terms of service, Americans who "shop small" like
ly will be dealing directly with owners who know that
happy customers usually come back.
The campaign to "shop small" on the Saturday after
Thanksgiving started in 2010. It has grown every year.
Last year, more than 95 million Americans visited local
businesses on Small Business Saturday, and they spent
more than $16 billion.
We hope that even more Americans participate this
year. Small Business Saturday is a great way to start the
holidays, support local communities, and boost the
national economy.
Gregg Thompson is North Carolina state director of
the National Federation of Independent Business. He
lives in Raleigh.
Four strategic
recommendations
for dealing with a
Trump presidency
David
Zonder
man
Guest ~
Columnist
Four
strategic rec
ommenda
tions for deal
ing with a
Trump presP"
{lency.
We have
been some
where near here before - Reagan in the
1980s; Bush the Second in the 2000s.
Donald Trump is certainly more crude
and cruel than these past presidents, but he
is also far less ideological. He has no
apparent core values, so who knows how
much he actually believes all the hateful
rhetoric, crazy conspiracy theories, and
unrealistic policy proposals he spewed out
in his toxic campaign.
His instability is certainly cause for
grave concern for all of us, especially any
one in vulnerable communities; but that
very inconsistency also means that he
changes his mind and his message with
the winds, and always professes a willing
ness to make a deal.
So, as someone who has studied and
taught American History for more than
three decades, and spent my entire "voting
life" - all 40 years - as a proud independ
ent, I offer four modest proposals for pro
gressives in these coming years of living
dangerously under Donald Trump.
?One: National political reporter>
Salena Zito of The Atlantic said it very
well: We should "take Trump seriously,
not literally." Yes, we need to call him out
when he makes "un-presidential" state
ments or, even worse, takes actions that
demean the office and undermine our
basic standards of civil liberties and dem
ocratic governance. But we do not need to
hyperventilate over every damn stupid
and offensive tweet, as ugly as they may
be. Save your outrage for the important
issues, we will have many big fights on
policies that could reshape the nation for a
generation or more.
*Two: Speaking of policymaking and
legislation, we should take a lesson from
the conservative playbook but try to be
even smarter and more strategic.
Progressives need to resist as vigorously
as possible bad legislation that strips med
ical insurance from millions of
Americans, or denies the reality of climate
change. But we also need to be open to
genuine compromises if this guy really
wants to make deals, rather than mindless
ly opposing every proposal with the name
Trump on it. He has said he wants to
spend money on infrastructure, protect
Social Security, and question foreign
interventions. Who knows if he means any
of these things, or if he will cave to polit
ical pressure in his own party? But we
lose nothing by calling on him to put real
proposals on the table.
?Three: Progressives need to push for
new political leadership in this nation. We
need people with passion and the ability to
show all the disaffected in our nation -
regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, reli
gion, sexual orientation - that the way for
ward is to unify first around the demand
for clean politics and effective govern
ment. The Progressive Party more than a
century ago understood that you cannot
reform society until you reform politics
and government itself, which can then
pass the necessary legislation to move the
nation forward.
We also need to talk loudly and boldly
about economic policies - yes, it is still
the economy stupid - that have a track
record of actually fighting poverty: higher
minimum wages, paid family leave and
sick days, and the right to form unions and
collectively bargain. Certainly these ideas
are not new, but they need to be put front
and center and spread all over the nation
to every struggling community and house
hold.
?Four: The legendary labor activist
Joe Hill said it best a century ago when he
faced a firing squad in Utah after his con
viction on a trumped up (yes, pun intend
ed) charge of murder: "Don't waste any
time mourning. Organize!" Build on the
strong networks - social and otherwise -
that already exist among those committed
Photd provided by NC Policy WMdi
to social justice in its myriad forms.
Keep pressure on Democrats, espe
cially in the U.S. Senate, to hold their
ranks and put forward genuine enlight
ened alternatives to reactionary policy
proposals; we don't need any more "trian
gulation" to the mushy middle. Keep ask
ing the Trump administration: Have you
delivered on any of your grand campaign
promises? The Republicans now own this
President and Congress; hold them
accountable for their actions and make
them pay for their mistakes
History teaches us that political reac
tions often occur when movements for
social and economic justice become
stronger and frighten those who consider
themselves to be privileged. We are still
strong now and we can build on our
strengths, even in the tough times ahead,
through both strategic resistance and a
willingness to keep envisioning and artic
ulating a better world for everyone.
David Zonderman teaches American
labor history at North Carolina State
University. His opinions are his own.
URL to article: http://wwwjicpolicy
watch .com/2016/11/16/where-do-pro
gressives-go-firom-here/
Copyright ? 2016 NC Policy Watch.
All rights reserved.
How to scrap the Electoral College
John
La Forge
Guest
Columnist
Sixteen years ago, as
the 2000 presidential elec
tion recount in Florida
transfixed the nation, the
newly elected Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton spoke
directly to the likelihood
that A1 Gore would win the
popular vote and still lose
the election:
1 oeueve strongly tnat
in a democracy, we should
respect the will of the peo
ple," Mrs. Clinton said,
"and to me that means it's
time to do away with the
Electoral College and
move to the popular elec
tion of our president," the
New York Times repotted.
If Mrs. Clinton had
worked as hard over the
last 16 years to abolish the
EC as she worked to win
the Democratic nomina
tion, she would be moving
back into the White House
in January.
Five times in U.S. his
tory and twice this century
the popular vote winner
has "lost" the presidential
election because of the
slavery-tainted Electoral
*
College. (Counting
enslaved people as almost
persons increased the offi
cial populations of slavery
states - and in-tum boosted
their Electoral College
clout.)
Secretary Clinton, by
winning more votes than
Donald Trump - between 1
and 1.S million more,
Politifact says 800,000
more - would in any other
country in the world be the
President-elect. But
because of the Electoral
College's absurd winner
take-all rules. Trump snaps,
up every electoral vote in
Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Wisconsin (giving him
his EC margin of victory),
even though he won by a
mere 1 percentage point in
all three states.
Ralph Nader called
again Nov. 10 for elimina
tion of the Electoral
College.
"Hillary Clinton won
the election," Nader said.
"We've gotta get rid of the
Electoral College," he said,
'because it "makes the U.S.
a mockery of the world" -
the same way America's
handgun violence, climate
change denial, death penal
ty and astronomical health
care costs do.
"Nowhere else on
Earth can someone win the
popular vote and lose the
election," he said. '
V
J*
1 * 3 3 10 313*-?
3 , ?' ,, T\
5 5 . * 21 11 20 ?3
55 6 11 8 13 3 (DC)
" ? T 6 ?
6 9 15
\ 34 9
3 u?X\ ?
SL ^ N ^
I ne two
major parties
don't own all
the votes"
Nader said,
referring to
the fact that
"electors" in
the "college"
are nothing but officials
from the two major parties,
elected office holders, or
hinders with vested inter
ests who always vote
blindly for their party's
nominee based only on
their single state's final
tally ?- regardless of the
will of* the nationwide
majority.
The National Popular
Vote bill
"Hillary Clinton won the
election. We've gotta get rid
of the Electoral College."
-Ralph Nader
Ono nnciifar thic nnti
WIIV UllJ TTV1 IV UUO ttliu
democratic election rig
ging is the National
Popular Vote bill. The law
would guarantee the presi
dency to the candidate who
receives the most popular
votes nationwide. The bill
has already been passed
into law in 11 states; states
that control a total of 165
electoral votes. The law
will take effect nationally
when it is enacted by states
with a total of
105 more elec
toral votes.
Most recently,
the bill was
passed 40-to
16 in the
Republican
controlled
Arizona House; 28-to-18
in the Republican-con
trolled Oklahoma Senate;
57-to-4 in the Republican
controlled New York
Senate; and 37-to-21 in the
Democratic-controlled
Oregon House.
The Electoral College
is based on state law, so
when enough additional
states pass the National
Popular Vote bill - enough
to add up to the 270 elec
*
toral votes needed to win
the White House - then the
"electors" would be legally
bound to vote for the popu
lar vote winner and never
again steal an election
from the top vote getter.
Even Trump himself
has criticized the Electoral
College. Just before the
2012 election, in a Twitter
post that looks astonishing
ly factual today, he called
the EC "a disaster for a
democracy." For months
this year he railed against
the "rigged election." But
like all Democrats and all
Republicans before him,
rigged elections are only a
problem when they lose.
For more details about
how to abolish the
Electoral College, check
o u t
nationalpopularvote.com.
(On May 14, 2007, the
North Carolina Senate
passed the National
Popular Vote bill (SB 954),
nationalpopularvote .com
says.)
John LaForge, syndi
cated by PeaceVoice, is co
director of Nukewatch, a
peace and environmental
justice group in Wisconsin,
and is co-editor with
Arianne Peterson of
"Nuclear Heartland,
Revised: A Guide to the
450 Lan4-Based Missiles
of the United States
I
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