Seattle’s Elite Begin Their Counter Attack

[xchrom]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/17-3



Seattle’s corporations were blindsided, it all happened so fast. Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant’s successful City Council campaign tore through Seattle politics like a tornado, leaving the 1% devastated, unable to cope with a storm they didn't see coming. The Seattle elite had no way to counter her arguments, silence her supporters, or keep her from gathering a tidal wave of support for the $15 campaign. The establishment was paralyzed, powerless.


But Sawant’s election victory was just the beginning of the humiliation for Seattle’s super wealthy. After singlehandedly transforming city politics, Sawant used her newly elected bully pulpit to torment the mayor and City Council and harangue Seattle's corporations, while simultaneously mobilizing thousands in the streets to bulldoze through her progressive agenda. The 1% had absolutely no idea what to do — they’d never experienced anything like it. They conceded defeat and agreed to a $15 minimum wage — in words.

Sawant didn’t buy it, refusing to declare victory until it was in her hands. After the mayor and the City Council created a committee to implement the $15 minimum wage, Sawant was busy sounding the alarm bells, correctly predicting that such a radical change would never be accepted without a fight by Seattle's 1%, who would eventually recover from their shell shock and re-group to attack.

That attack is now beginning. But a direct assault isn't yet possible. Sawant’s position is fortified by her broad-based support, the result of her devastatingly effective campaign. Thus, the 1% are playing a long game, using a combination of tried and true tactics, where they’ll “agree” to Sawant’s demands on one hand, while slandering her as an “extremist” on the other, all the while proposing a plan for $15 with just enough loopholes to render it meaningless. For example, the corporations want a $15 that includes “total compensation,” meaning that any benefit — like health insurance costs — could be counted as part of a worker’s wage, thus changing the definition of minimum wage.

[Ron Green]

1. Next, Single Payer for WA...

Decouple health care from employment.

[seveneyes]

3. Can a Seattle City Council member incite state law?

That may be more futile than the resistance to it.

[chknltl]

4. If all politics are local....

Last edited Thu Apr 17, 2014, 01:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Single Payer would be a struggle and a half to push through on a statewide level because Eastern Washington is fairly conservative. I admit to having zero understanding of the mechanics of my suggestion here but maybe Single Payer Health Care could somehow be looked into on a county by county basis. It would start and likely find favorable backing in both King and Pierce counties and if passed it would gain popularity throughout the state as the voters watched how well it enriched the counties that were wise enough to enact it.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. It can be done, but yeah, that one would be an ugly fight.

[Phlem]

2. We're so lucky to have her.

And she was voted in by the people. Hear that Thirdway, it can and it will happen. All you centrists better pick a side Because the left is coming.



-p

[Zorra]

5. We need a POTUS just like her, someone who will simply subjugate the plantation class.

End of story.

[rurallib]

6. Surprised the "we will move our businesses" card is not being played

I would have expected that to be one of their first moves.
Pretty polarizing, though

[mountain grammy]

7. Way to go, Seattle!

[calimary]

8. I would hope she would teach a few other Dems how to mount one of those tornado-style

campaigns! I'd actually hope she could teach MORE than a few Dems what to do! That's what we need. Fast, overwhelming, and devastating. Hit 'em and hit 'em HARD - so fast they're knocked off their pegs and need to take a moment or two to figure out what just hit 'em. And by the time they do, the head-start is way too far ahead and well-reinforced.

[Phlem]

9. I'd love to see her replace Maria Cantwell.

Maria been sucking on the teet of goverment for a long time while laying low. She needs to go.

-p

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Cantwell is a 1%'er

She's been helpful on some things, but I tend to think, Sawant walks the walk. More people like her, please, even if not specifically Sawant, because she's already quite productive in her current role.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. As someone who lives here, and is in favor of the 15$ minimum wage...

I do have to point out, this is a WILDLY over-optimistic interpretation of the fight so far.

Most people around here haven't even noticed it. It's viewed as a curiosity, not a 'tornado'. But who knows, that may help too, if it doesn't mobilize opposition.

I work for a pretty big company, and am exposed to some pretty high-end earners in the company, and I don't know a single one that actually HATES Sawant. More common to hear that she is 'interesting'.


I don't think the idea of a higher minimum wage is actually that unpopular in this region either, so this isn't nearly as contentious as one might assume. Recall that our state minimum wage was already the highest in the nation, until last month. (F-U Connecticut, we WILL return fire!)

[freshwest]

13. I see a connection with the Hobby Lobby moving into Seattle.

I hope readers here will allow that this is part of that push and give it read and get involved. Even if one is not in Seattle, note what they are doing in MA and other states:

HOBBY LOBBY takes over old K-Mart in Seattle

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10823259

The OP is just observation, but more information was added and some activists are hoping to investigate what they are up to in Seattle.

Nationally, their actions are clearly political:

Hobby Lobby’s secret agenda: How it’s quietly funding a vast right-wing movement

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10823259#post33

This is a stealth to manuever to counter liberal Seattle. See in thread what they are doing to entrench their belief system in other states in the thread. This is the power of wealth, buying up the means of production and people's livelihoods daily.

Definitely 1%ers when you see the amount of wealth they are generating, and how they are using nationally to steal our rights from us. And I bet they will fight the $15 wage. So when the 1% say they will move out of Seattle, don't think they won't have others move in to do damage.

I've worked in the past with others to save the Commons in WA state, and it's been a mix of success, failure and stalemate. The demand of capital never ends and protests in the streets may do the job; elections may do the job; but look at the job they are doing on us with what they are allowed to own. Yeah, that is one store front. But look to see more than just their money laundering store soon.

In the cases I'm familiar with, there was some money from out of state who had no idea they were being used to steal the ground underneath us. When apprised of the facts, they did not go along. Others in WA kept at it because there was money for them, and hid behind ideology, and those who needed a place to live be damned.

I bet the Hobby Lobby will use its place to prosletize right wing religion and causes. We know big money is coming into our state to defeat us and silence our voices. Going at Seattle from the 'business as usual, so it's good' angle is what led to this state of affairs. People shut their mouths in terror of not making a living when faced down by the God of Capital. It is a faith based religion, it is not logical, except in the demands it makes to take more as its only purpose is to enrich the owners. Not that we don't have some excellent businesses here, but I consider the big picture.

A representative told me recently that the once effective contract between government, workers and business, which empowered workers, cared for those who capitalism has let down or stolen from, and th owners is utterly broken. So the 1% and their many willing hands will subvert government in their desire to starve it and replace it with other means of control.

Not attempting to hijack the thread, but this is a big issue for me and people I know locally, to have this reactionary group get a bigger face. We already have an increased number of reactionary, commercialized and skews GOP religious groups making their presence more obvious with big money that is funding them from somewhere. Here is the push back and it's going to be a fight.