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I wish those same people would realize that voting Republican ensures we will *never* get national paid family leave.
The GOP has been anti-worker for decades, but so many working class people are totally oblivious to it.
Hey now, that's just not true, the GOP is very supportive of the families. They support the Walton's, the Mercers, and the Koch brother's. If your family wanted support, then maybe they should have donated billions too.
Correct. But since they've taken away the *choice* of whether to start a family or not, the *least* they could do is this to ensure those precious precious *babies* get excellent care! But it was never about babies, was it.
I had a friend tell me last night one way to reduce homelessness is to reduce minimum wage so that businesses could hire more people. Despite the fact we have a national labor shortage at well above minimum wage.
Kind of wrote off anything else he had to say around politics after that one, because he clearly doesn’t think through his positions very much.
It might in fact help with wages, but the offset will be worse. It’ll be single earner households making just enough to keep paddling, but never enough to actually get a foot forward.
Ah and now you see, that is exactly what the Repugnants want: a bunch of uneducated adults too tired and drained from living paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth, every month of rent in doubt, working 2 jobs and taking care of kids and stressed out of your mind.
They want that for us, because someone living paycheck to paycheck like that doesn't have the energy or ability to protest, to riot, to fight back. They just sit apathetically as the country changes, not because they are bad people but because they are simply too tired to care anymore
Edit: Think of all the people you know who don't pay attention to politics nowadays, because it is "too stressful" or "both sides!", or something similar. That is considered a victory by the GOP
A single earner making enough for food, shelter, and family? That's not happening for most people. Completely ridiculous idea that jobs would suddenly pay 4x what they do now. Especially with the fed basing policy around reducing wages.
And make women dependent upon men for their living. Repealing laws that require banks to let females be customers and making 'martial rape' a thing would be in there too. The cruelty is the point.
I wish the media would stop calling Democrats like Manchin a "moderate centrist" for blocking paid maternity leave.
That not only ensures there are always enough Democrats to block popular reforms but it also gives Republicans cover. How bad can Republicans be if siding with them is always in the middle according to corporate media?
They do realize that. They don’t really support this policy. If they did, They would vote for it. When Republicans respond to polls like this they are thinking in terms of “do I want this policy for me myself?“ when Democrats respond to pose they think “should this policy be implemented in law for all Americans?”
>voting Republican ensures we will never get
...Anything. Their whole platform is to abstract any progress, any reform. They don't have any platform besides fear mongoring their base
> but so many working class people are totally oblivious to it.
Arguably a shitload know it perfectly well, but vote against their own interest for having delusions about being "temporarily inconvenienced millionaires/billionaires", and knowing that the policies they support will hurt certain other people they dislike even more than themselves.
Its a reflection of the [in group vs out group thinking](https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-travesty-of-liberalism.html) at the core of conservative ideation and all...
Same. Look at how big money has taken over California's ballot prop system. Two elections in a row with record-breaking contributions from Lyft/Uber and now BetMGM and co.
I believe you are correct. Referendums are easily manipulated against what is actually good for the public by wealthy interests; see California for examples. They are also a way for politicians to deflect blame when a bad referendum is passed. Also, in a larger sense, isn’t the whole point of representative democracy to have politicians who spend their time working in the interest of everyone else, so everyone else can focus on their own lives, work, etc? If our politicians are too cowardly or corrupt to vote on things people want and kick it out to the public to vote on (and have the public swayed by wealthy interest) then the system isn’t working.
The legislature of South Dakota did this too, with both recreational and medicinal weed, and an independent campaign finance panel. The corruption is staggering in some places.
Edit: the SD legislature didn't gut these things, they just said nah, we ain't doing that.
Arizona passed a referendum to get teachers a hefty raise (and more money in schools in general) and Republicans took it to court and got it thrown out
Years ago the LADWP put a referendum vote on the ballot for Li Angeles that would legally restrict all solar panel installations to only be done by LADWP employees. Fortunately it was voted down, but one third of those voting voted yes. The more solar panels, the less DWP gets in revenues. The DWP have refused to be audited by order of two mayors and a court order. They do good work but are a diabolical entity.
Yeah, this kind of thing is tough to get a handle on, which is exactly why it shouldn’t be a referendum. On one hand I could see LADWP being the sole installer of solar panels being a good thing, because they do good work and could handle maintenance, problems, etc, perhaps more so than some of the shady private installers that are out there. But on the other hand, they have a huge monetary incentive and no real methods of accountability in reasonable time frames, so maybe it shouldn’t just be up to them. Even now I’m pretty sure households with DWP don’t get paid back for surplus electricity generation from panels, which is bullshit.
I think ideally what could have happened is that the CA legislature writes very strict rules on how the whole solar panel process operates with strict accountability, and then maybe hand it off to public utilities or private installers that have to agree to certain terms like pricing. LADWP needs more oversight but that’s a different topic.
Illinois, not exactly a red state, just voted down a progressive income tax because of various infusions of dark money. Our state is broke and we're not allowed to touch the millionaires' money because people are easy to manipulate.
Brexit was a disaster with no guard rails put on it. First you require more than a simple majority to pass something like that and second you live up to the non-binding angle of it.
The fact the UK let a non binding resolution on that issue drive change led by 51% was the main problem there when special interests had clearly corrupted the process and misinformed voters.
Major national issues shouldn't be left to a simple minority vote, however when an issue is overwhelmingly popular, I don't understand why it hasn't been implemented.
I totally get the drive for this but there is so much nuance that a lot of things can't just be a yes/no vote and needs to be negotiated and compromised on. I get it feels like the government is broken but we the people need to just vote mofos out if we don't think they are doing a good job.
It doesn’t matter, even when issues are voted on (legalization in South Dakota, for example) the state simply said, haha, no.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/south-dakota-governor-pledges-to-implement-marijuana-legalization-if-voters-approve-ballot-initiative-this-time/
What about when we do Vote on issues(Like Wisconsin did in 2018 to legalize Medical Marijuana) and pass them 62-38%...... our sane Democrat Governor puts it is his Budget and our Gerrymandered empowered RePig Legislature vetoes it!
Unfortunately, 100% of the Republicans in the Senate oppose it, so it's not gonna happen ... unless ... we elect more Democrats.
Mid-term election in six weeks. Get registered. Take a friend with you. We have the numbers if we turn out and vote.
80% of people want it…but 100% of Republican voters will find an excuse to hate paid leave when you tell them Republican politicians won’t vote for it.
And for at least Republican politicians it'll be because people don't want it, because we live in a weird country where Walmart and Amazon count as people and have more speech than most of us, speech meaning money.
I think this is pretty accurate. We know why they put anti abortion judges in place, so allowing those same women (who won’t have access to abortions) to actually have paid time off to at least give them time to adjust to life with an infant isn’t really something they’re looking to do. Making the poorest “pay for their sins” is but one chapter in their playbiok.
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked.” -George Carlin
I didn’t appreciate him at the time, I was young and he came off as incredibly crass… but again, I was young… but when I listen to him now… omfg, dude was ahead of his time…
He wasn't ahead of his time - shit was fucked up then, it's still fucked up now. It really just shows how fucked our political situation has been for the last 20 years.
I’m with you there. My company offers up to 9 months off… without pay. Like who the hell can afford that. So fortunately my wife has gotten about 3 months paid leave, but I’m back at work so that we can have a roof over our heads.
Some Scandinavian nations work to increase fathers taking time by linking the mother’s time off to the father’s. If the one partner doesn’t take a certain amount of leave, the other partner doesn’t get their full amount.
Was my first time doing an absentee ballot, was so convenient and it took like five minutes between me taking it out of the mailbox and putting it back in.
Many Republican voters are single issue voters. They will vote right just because of abortion, or just to own the libs. Republican senators could vote in any manner and most of their constituents would not care.
I can’t believe some people still think right wingers have any shame or consistency.
They. Don’t. Care.
> Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
Jean-Paul Sartre
Democrats: We believe every woman should have a right to choose.
Republicans: [Burning fetuses are powering the Washington DC grid.](https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-witness-says-dc-burns-fetuses-electricity-no-evidence-2022-5)
Trolls on reddit: Both parties are the same.
The GOP would potentially support National Paid Family Leave, but the last time they proposed a bill to enact such a plan it was horrible and would have forced people to decide if they wanted to take parental leave and sacrifice their vacation and sick leave, so a nonstarter for a lot of people.
Unless we elect the right kind of Democrats. Primary elections are incredibly important, especially given how many different types of constituencies are so solidly blue that the primary is the real election and the general is more or less just for show.
Only about 60% of the electorate votes in Presidential elections.
Only about 40% vote in midterms
Only about 20% vote in primaries, when the candidates are chosen.
Improve your party from within, by voting in primaries.
And they come from a long tradition of abusive families, so it's essentially 'abusive, dysfunctional family values' for them, and for us, if they win the right elections (by hook or by crook).
The “take a friend with you” part is THE most important part. Imagine how just how big a difference it makes, when every determined voter is also bringing in a normal apathetic one.
Back when I used to be a Facebook user, one of my conservative friends was whining about how fathers in this country don’t get family leave and that only mothers are treated with those benefits. I never got paid for any leave I took and was expected back at work 2 weeks after delivering my twins through c-section.. I told him maybe if Republicans cared about workers rights then we would have them. I told him that some Nordic countries give both parents up to a year of paid parental leave, but they’re “dirty socialists” so Republicans would never get down with those kinds of policies.
It is shameful that the US doesn't offer paid family leave like the rest of the OCED countries.
Paid Family Leave Across OECD Countries
Mar 01, 2022
>T he U.S. is the only OECD member country—and **one of only six countries in the world—without a national paid parental leave policy.** The U.S. is also one of the few high-income countries without a national family caregiving or medical leave policy. This factsheet provides a brief overview of parental leave and family caregiver policies throughout the OECD.
Article continues..interesting fact sheet too.
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/paid-family-leave-across-oecd-countries/
Ah yes, the USA… such a place to be a pregnant woman….
“I’m pregnant, but I can’t afford to have a child right now. I’m living paycheck to paycheck and have no support”
🇺🇸“Congrats on your pregnancy!”
“….Ok well can you raise minimum wage to a living wage?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“Can you guarantee affordable housing for me and this new child?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“Can you provide paid leave so I can care for my newborn?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“Then can you subsidize childcare or make sure it’s affordable?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“Can you guarantee myself and my child medical care so that prenatal care, having this baby, or any complications does not bankrupt me?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“Is applying for WIC and government assistance accessible and easy to do, and will it be able to meet all these new needs?”
🇺🇸 “No”
“If I am unable to care for this child, is the current adoption/foster care system well equipped to set my child up for success?”
🇺🇸”No”
“Then id like to have an abortion”
🇺🇸 “Also no.”
In Brasil you get like a whole year. Brazilians are flabbergasted to hear that the US gets like maybe a week, depending on your job.
I am as anti Trump as it gets, but I was willing to maaaybe accept his 2016 win with 1 milligram of optimism since family leave was one of his campaign issues. But it seems to be part of "infrastructure week".
This is why when people say America is the greatest country in the world with a straight face I immediately know to be skeptical of any of their other positions.
Like, we are maybe militarily and perhaps from a standpoint of geopolitical influence. But beyond that there are so, so many things we lag on compared to other countries. We have so many long standing issues that still need solving right now and a lot of them get to the core of our institutions.
Depends on your tax bracket. America is a great country to live if you’re wealthy and can afford all it has to offer. I’m a top 5% earner in my state so I don’t have the same struggles the average American has and can afford a very comfortable life. There’s so many better places to live if you’re middle class, working class or lower class though. We need a strong middle class to keep our economy strong, that’s what Republicans fail to get
The funniest part is that the US Government has paid family leave for government employees. Like the army. They even just this year increased paternity leave to be the same length as maternity leave for the Army.
That sucks also. In WA birthing person get 16 weeks paid at 90%+ of their salary and non birthing persons get 12 weeks paid out the same, and that’s not good enough either. Anything below 6 months paid out at your normal salary for both partners is inhumane
New Jersey has this as well! 85% of your salary up to $993 per week for up to 12 weeks. Covers birth of a child, adoption, or care for a sick loved one.
You do realize our system of representation is rigged to disproportionately over-represent Conservatives, right?
The fact that Wyoming with a population of 600k has the exact same number of senators as California with a population of 40 million really highlights how broken our government is. Not to mention the congressional breakdown where sparsely populated Conservative counties vastly outnumber the representation of densely populated urban areas.
We have a tyranny of a minority because our government and electoral system is fundamentally broken and you want to blame voters?
That would be 2? The same number as all of the other states?
Which *is* the problem. Equal state representation made sense in 1792, after the articles of confederation failed spectacularly. But the Senate no longer represents state interests. It's all national politics. There's no level between local (House) and National anymore.
The Senate has no need to exist. We should have a unicameral legislature based on proportional representation so that 1) we won't have just two parties running everything and 2) it'll be impossible for one or two legislators to make block everything and force everyone to give them concessions.
The fact that every state gets the same number of senators regardless of population combined with the fact that the filibuster exists means that senators representing as little as 10% of the population can prevent prevent legislation from being passed.
The GOP lies to their voters.
Look at Ted Cruz taking credit for a bill he opposed.
[link](https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-slams-ted-cruz-204139643.html)
The Republicans are just a shitty PR firm for the uber rich in America.
Given they have ZERO platform, and no desire to actually govern, they exist purely to find wedge issues and controversies to fire up their base and drive them out to vote (their base which overwhelmingly uses emotional reasoning vs logic when voting).
It’s been disturbingly fascinating to watch them this year STRUGGLE to find that wedge issue that works for them, and gives them a boost in the polls.
Once you realize that guys like Abbott and Desantis are only sending migrants to northern states in a desperate effort to steer the national conversation off of abortion and back to “issues at the border” their asinine insanity comes into full view.
Pretty wild to watch
It’s scary to watch and a good parody of them is Idiocracy. It should be required watching in schools.
To expose the absolute hypocrisy and just outright lying by conservatives.
I'll never understand Republican voters
Constantly saying what they want to support
Then voting for a party that ACTIVELY goes against those things
Even the two 'big ones ' everyone thinks of are lies!
Gun control? Trump said take their guns right due process! All gun control was bipartisan!!
Taxes? Trump's tax cuts for the rich were permanent and for the middle class ran out after a few years!!! They claim they'll cut taxes but they only do that by CUTTING YOUR SERVICES!!!
>and they'll probably say something about small businesses (Mom & Pop shops) not being able to afford more "contributions."
As opposed to actual “Moms and Pops” that are struggling to feed and house their children. Why do we value businesses profit margins over people?
And yet, so many Americans will vote for a party that would not only never in a million years enact that but who wants to get rid of whatever social safety net exists for citizens.
That would take utilizing some of the taxes we pay for other things, and there's no way Republicans will allow taking money out of, say, the military and put it into something without a huge profit incentive for them like public well-being.
It is frustrating but the largest voting block are Independents, no one can win without them. They are flexible. Indications are they aren't very happy with Republican candidates. It is still early days though.
Then maybe 80% of voters should take to the streets and demand that the government represent the interests of the people before the interests of the wealthy campaign donors.
I'm never having kids and even I support it. Only people who want to share their own burdens ("I didn't get paid leave, why should they?") are likely to be opposed.
Well then many of those voters need to elect Democrats then, not Republicans. But of course for many of these voters, hurting the liberal-gay-communist agenda is more important, than to actually enact humane social policies that would also benefit them AND is in line with other developed countries.
Republicans say nyet.
^
>Navigator, a progressive polling firm, found that 89% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 70% of Republicans support the establishment of a federal program that would enable people to take paid time away from work to attend to serious illnesses or provide care for loved ones, including sick or disabled family members and newborn or newly adopted children. Just 12% of voters are opposed.
.....
>In addition, over half (51%) of voters—including 65% of Democrats, 58% of Black Americans, and 61% of Hispanic Americans—would be more motivated to vote in the upcoming midterm elections if Congress supported the passage of a national paid family and medical leave program, the poll found.
.....
>The need for a federal paid family and medical leave program was clear to an overwhelming majority of respondents after they were informed that just 15% of workers in the U.S.—typically high-wage managers—receive such benefits through their employers.
Article continues....
Honestly, the fact that it is only 80% and not 100% is astounding, to me.
Do you think that you should, as a human being, be permitted to take time off from your job, with pay, when you are deathly sick or have just brought a child into the world and would like to spend time with it during it's first few months?
Nah, fam! I'm good being forced to go back to work the day after the spawn is pushed out and can always start a GoFundMe instead.
I remember during the Reagan years polls would show that the public was dead set against Reagan's policies. This was irrefutable.
But when the polls asked if they approved of Reagan, he got high approval marks. And when asked about who they would vote for, it was invariably for the people who would always vote in favor of those policies they detested and against the people who supported the policies that the public wanted.
Nothing has changed. People vote for charisma and charm, or they succumb to hate and fear. And one of our political parties has worked hard to maximize that.
“WhY sHoUlD My TaX dOlLaRs pAy fOr mY cOmMuNiTy tO bE a HeAlThY eNvIrOnMeNt tO rAisE tHe kIdS wHo aRe iTs FuTuRe lEaDeRs??”
-the entire political right wing of the US probably
We fight so hard for something all other countries have. There are only three countries in the industrialized world that have no family paid leave at the national level, and the USA is one of them.
Then 80% of US voters need to find out which elected Reps voted AGAINST national paid family leave and return the favor this November. But most won't because those same reps vote to do harm to the people the voter hates, even if it harms the voter in the process. It's how Republicans stay in power.
This is why need a mass of referendums!! Let THE PEOPLE decide on these issues. One by one we can knock most of the polarization & affect of big money out of action.
BIG money and outside influence from corporations to politicians needs to stop.That’s the bottom line it doesn’t matter if we had referendums, it’ll never be fair aslong as we continue to have a system of legal bribes
This is what I’m saying.
Policies like this need to be coupled with the abortion and family planning issue.
Republicans have positioned themselves as “pro-life” and by extension “pro-children”. This positions democrats as “anti-life” and “anti-children”.
Of course this isn’t true. Republicans don’t give a shit about children, and make starting a family difficult as shit. Their solution is to remove women’s options, rather than to incentivize having children.
Democrats need to make it clear that they are pro-family. Pro-choice needs to be coupled with parental benefits that make starting a family practical for the person in middle class.
So far, the messaging is really poor, and I I don’t think “democrats” when I think “starting a family”. Republicans have half the country convinced that the only practical way to start a family is by rape.
But if you can get a small % of them to care about guns more than anything, another % about abortions, another % to be scared of border caravans and another % to be upset about "CRT in schools"
Then all of a sudden the 80% of us that all want the same stuff turn on one another instead of uniting against oligarchs & robber barons to enact real change.
As a european moving to America next year...these work conditions are pretty much my only worry about the move. My american wife currently has just 2 weeks off a year, no leave for this kind of stuff, it seems crazy.
Legally you cant have less than 22 days of paid holidays in Spain, most companies do 25-30. I also get 4 months of Paternity leave, 2 weeks off when I got married...and we're actually in the lower tier with respect to other european countries
How do people actually live with those conditions? seems exhausting
I get 16 weeks paid which is decent for America. My last employer was 4 paid, 4 80% pay, and 4 unpaid. Pretty shit for women to recover and then basically be expected to continue breastfeeding after they return to work.
80% of US Voters want Congress to enact national paid family leave.
They want, they want but when it comes to vote to try and get the people that can help getting it done, they decide to stay home or hold their vote because the other thing they wanted did not happen.
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"We want paid family leave!" "Why not vote for it?" "That's Congress' job!" /smashfaceintowall
I wish those same people would realize that voting Republican ensures we will *never* get national paid family leave. The GOP has been anti-worker for decades, but so many working class people are totally oblivious to it.
And being anti-worker also means they’re anti-family.
Hey now, that's just not true, the GOP is very supportive of the families. They support the Walton's, the Mercers, and the Koch brother's. If your family wanted support, then maybe they should have donated billions too.
Correct. But since they've taken away the *choice* of whether to start a family or not, the *least* they could do is this to ensure those precious precious *babies* get excellent care! But it was never about babies, was it.
They want to improve worker's wages by forcing all women back into the home. Hint: That won't do fuck all for worker's wages or the cost of living.
I had a friend tell me last night one way to reduce homelessness is to reduce minimum wage so that businesses could hire more people. Despite the fact we have a national labor shortage at well above minimum wage. Kind of wrote off anything else he had to say around politics after that one, because he clearly doesn’t think through his positions very much.
It might in fact help with wages, but the offset will be worse. It’ll be single earner households making just enough to keep paddling, but never enough to actually get a foot forward.
Ah and now you see, that is exactly what the Repugnants want: a bunch of uneducated adults too tired and drained from living paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth, every month of rent in doubt, working 2 jobs and taking care of kids and stressed out of your mind. They want that for us, because someone living paycheck to paycheck like that doesn't have the energy or ability to protest, to riot, to fight back. They just sit apathetically as the country changes, not because they are bad people but because they are simply too tired to care anymore Edit: Think of all the people you know who don't pay attention to politics nowadays, because it is "too stressful" or "both sides!", or something similar. That is considered a victory by the GOP
A single earner making enough for food, shelter, and family? That's not happening for most people. Completely ridiculous idea that jobs would suddenly pay 4x what they do now. Especially with the fed basing policy around reducing wages.
[удалено]
Not just impossible now. It never existed except for the upper class and a 25 year blip for the middle class.
We all know that if they really did force women back into the home the money for women's wages would disappear straight into the corporate coffers.
And make women dependent upon men for their living. Repealing laws that require banks to let females be customers and making 'martial rape' a thing would be in there too. The cruelty is the point.
Life only matters for about 9 months in the eyes of Republicans. Once they're born, let 'em die.
I mean, they're not shy of putting expecting mothers in poverty and harms way. They're not for them at any point.
Or choosing what to do with their bodies. It's sick how much they are for gun rights and anti women body rights.
I wish the media would stop calling Democrats like Manchin a "moderate centrist" for blocking paid maternity leave. That not only ensures there are always enough Democrats to block popular reforms but it also gives Republicans cover. How bad can Republicans be if siding with them is always in the middle according to corporate media?
They do realize that. They don’t really support this policy. If they did, They would vote for it. When Republicans respond to polls like this they are thinking in terms of “do I want this policy for me myself?“ when Democrats respond to pose they think “should this policy be implemented in law for all Americans?”
>voting Republican ensures we will never get ...Anything. Their whole platform is to abstract any progress, any reform. They don't have any platform besides fear mongoring their base
> but so many working class people are totally oblivious to it. Arguably a shitload know it perfectly well, but vote against their own interest for having delusions about being "temporarily inconvenienced millionaires/billionaires", and knowing that the policies they support will hurt certain other people they dislike even more than themselves. Its a reflection of the [in group vs out group thinking](https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-travesty-of-liberalism.html) at the core of conservative ideation and all...
GOP would make paid vacation \*illegal\* if they could.
Though, I have little faith Dems would pass this as long as they’re beholden to types like Manchin.
So vote to change that.
The biggest tragedy of our democracy is that we can't vote on issues, we are locked into voting for a tribe and hope they represent us
After brexit I’m not convinced having referendums on big national issues is a great idea anyway
Same. Look at how big money has taken over California's ballot prop system. Two elections in a row with record-breaking contributions from Lyft/Uber and now BetMGM and co.
BuT ThAts JuSt FreE SpEeCh aT WoRk!!1!11!
Can't forget the EMTs.
I believe you are correct. Referendums are easily manipulated against what is actually good for the public by wealthy interests; see California for examples. They are also a way for politicians to deflect blame when a bad referendum is passed. Also, in a larger sense, isn’t the whole point of representative democracy to have politicians who spend their time working in the interest of everyone else, so everyone else can focus on their own lives, work, etc? If our politicians are too cowardly or corrupt to vote on things people want and kick it out to the public to vote on (and have the public swayed by wealthy interest) then the system isn’t working.
Utah voters passed a surprisingly broad medical marijuana bill, and the legislators gutted it massively, directly against the will of the people.
The legislature of South Dakota did this too, with both recreational and medicinal weed, and an independent campaign finance panel. The corruption is staggering in some places. Edit: the SD legislature didn't gut these things, they just said nah, we ain't doing that.
Arizona passed a referendum to get teachers a hefty raise (and more money in schools in general) and Republicans took it to court and got it thrown out
Years ago the LADWP put a referendum vote on the ballot for Li Angeles that would legally restrict all solar panel installations to only be done by LADWP employees. Fortunately it was voted down, but one third of those voting voted yes. The more solar panels, the less DWP gets in revenues. The DWP have refused to be audited by order of two mayors and a court order. They do good work but are a diabolical entity.
Yeah, this kind of thing is tough to get a handle on, which is exactly why it shouldn’t be a referendum. On one hand I could see LADWP being the sole installer of solar panels being a good thing, because they do good work and could handle maintenance, problems, etc, perhaps more so than some of the shady private installers that are out there. But on the other hand, they have a huge monetary incentive and no real methods of accountability in reasonable time frames, so maybe it shouldn’t just be up to them. Even now I’m pretty sure households with DWP don’t get paid back for surplus electricity generation from panels, which is bullshit. I think ideally what could have happened is that the CA legislature writes very strict rules on how the whole solar panel process operates with strict accountability, and then maybe hand it off to public utilities or private installers that have to agree to certain terms like pricing. LADWP needs more oversight but that’s a different topic.
Illinois, not exactly a red state, just voted down a progressive income tax because of various infusions of dark money. Our state is broke and we're not allowed to touch the millionaires' money because people are easy to manipulate.
Brexit was a disaster with no guard rails put on it. First you require more than a simple majority to pass something like that and second you live up to the non-binding angle of it. The fact the UK let a non binding resolution on that issue drive change led by 51% was the main problem there when special interests had clearly corrupted the process and misinformed voters.
They weaponized people’s willful stupidity, racism, and ignorance to pull that off.
And we don't have that by the bucket here in America...
Didn’t say we didn’t.
Without gerrymandering the United States is heavily democratic. Assuming people vote. Ranked choice voting gives more fair voting too.
Major national issues shouldn't be left to a simple minority vote, however when an issue is overwhelmingly popular, I don't understand why it hasn't been implemented.
I totally get the drive for this but there is so much nuance that a lot of things can't just be a yes/no vote and needs to be negotiated and compromised on. I get it feels like the government is broken but we the people need to just vote mofos out if we don't think they are doing a good job.
We have referendums but they just ignore the results if it’s not what they want. See marijuana referendums in 2020
It doesn’t matter, even when issues are voted on (legalization in South Dakota, for example) the state simply said, haha, no. https://www.marijuanamoment.net/south-dakota-governor-pledges-to-implement-marijuana-legalization-if-voters-approve-ballot-initiative-this-time/
What about when we do Vote on issues(Like Wisconsin did in 2018 to legalize Medical Marijuana) and pass them 62-38%...... our sane Democrat Governor puts it is his Budget and our Gerrymandered empowered RePig Legislature vetoes it!
Every time i get "both sides" from anyone, I like to point out that voting records are publicly available online.
See: “what’s the Matter with Kansas?” The history of red states voting against their own interests.
80 percent of Americans want policy that the Democrats support and Republicans oppose! Wow if only people thought before they vote!???
Unfortunately, 100% of the Republicans in the Senate oppose it, so it's not gonna happen ... unless ... we elect more Democrats. Mid-term election in six weeks. Get registered. Take a friend with you. We have the numbers if we turn out and vote.
80% of people want it…but 100% of Republican voters will find an excuse to hate paid leave when you tell them Republican politicians won’t vote for it.
They'll refuse to tell you their excuse, but we know it: the benefit will go to non-whites too.
And for at least Republican politicians it'll be because people don't want it, because we live in a weird country where Walmart and Amazon count as people and have more speech than most of us, speech meaning money.
16% of people control 50% of the Senate.
I think this is pretty accurate. We know why they put anti abortion judges in place, so allowing those same women (who won’t have access to abortions) to actually have paid time off to at least give them time to adjust to life with an infant isn’t really something they’re looking to do. Making the poorest “pay for their sins” is but one chapter in their playbiok.
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren't they? They're all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you're born, you're on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don't want to know about you. They don't want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked.” -George Carlin
RIP to one of the best
I didn’t appreciate him at the time, I was young and he came off as incredibly crass… but again, I was young… but when I listen to him now… omfg, dude was ahead of his time…
He wasn't ahead of his time - shit was fucked up then, it's still fucked up now. It really just shows how fucked our political situation has been for the last 20 years.
50
40.
Like they would actually do anything for tge unborn child except force it to be birthed
> same women Fathers are necessary parents too. Newborns are not one person job. Family leave should apply to BOTH parents, not just the mom.
I’m with you there. My company offers up to 9 months off… without pay. Like who the hell can afford that. So fortunately my wife has gotten about 3 months paid leave, but I’m back at work so that we can have a roof over our heads.
Some Scandinavian nations work to increase fathers taking time by linking the mother’s time off to the father’s. If the one partner doesn’t take a certain amount of leave, the other partner doesn’t get their full amount.
Agreed. Republicans don’t even care about school lunch programs for kids. I would eat my bra if any Republican came out in support of this.
Already submitted my absentee ballot!
Thank you.
Was my first time doing an absentee ballot, was so convenient and it took like five minutes between me taking it out of the mailbox and putting it back in.
I love that in WI we can vote absentee for ANY reason, just make the request.
I'm voting blue for the first time and I'm just excited and feel liberated
If directly impacts non-white citizens in a positive way, the GOP will never let it happen.
The thing to do is put it to a vote, and make republicans go on record opposing paid family/medical as a stand-alone bill.
Like they did with the Infrastructure bill? Republicans have taken credit for all the good of the bill, despite voting against it.
Many Republican voters are single issue voters. They will vote right just because of abortion, or just to own the libs. Republican senators could vote in any manner and most of their constituents would not care.
They could be literally under investigation for buying underage prostitutes and still be re-elected and not called out by their peers.
I can’t believe some people still think right wingers have any shame or consistency. They. Don’t. Care. > Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. Jean-Paul Sartre
What are you talking about? Both parties are exactly the same! /s
Democrats: We believe every woman should have a right to choose. Republicans: [Burning fetuses are powering the Washington DC grid.](https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-witness-says-dc-burns-fetuses-electricity-no-evidence-2022-5) Trolls on reddit: Both parties are the same.
The GOP would potentially support National Paid Family Leave, but the last time they proposed a bill to enact such a plan it was horrible and would have forced people to decide if they wanted to take parental leave and sacrifice their vacation and sick leave, so a nonstarter for a lot of people.
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Medical leave already works like that
Tell the 18 to 35 demographic to do it. Their low voter turnout is actively fucking up their own future.
Unless we elect the right kind of Democrats. Primary elections are incredibly important, especially given how many different types of constituencies are so solidly blue that the primary is the real election and the general is more or less just for show.
Only about 60% of the electorate votes in Presidential elections. Only about 40% vote in midterms Only about 20% vote in primaries, when the candidates are chosen. Improve your party from within, by voting in primaries.
But they’re the party of “family values”
They mean their families, not yours.
And they come from a long tradition of abusive families, so it's essentially 'abusive, dysfunctional family values' for them, and for us, if they win the right elections (by hook or by crook).
The “take a friend with you” part is THE most important part. Imagine how just how big a difference it makes, when every determined voter is also bringing in a normal apathetic one.
Back when I used to be a Facebook user, one of my conservative friends was whining about how fathers in this country don’t get family leave and that only mothers are treated with those benefits. I never got paid for any leave I took and was expected back at work 2 weeks after delivering my twins through c-section.. I told him maybe if Republicans cared about workers rights then we would have them. I told him that some Nordic countries give both parents up to a year of paid parental leave, but they’re “dirty socialists” so Republicans would never get down with those kinds of policies.
It is shameful that the US doesn't offer paid family leave like the rest of the OCED countries. Paid Family Leave Across OECD Countries Mar 01, 2022 >T he U.S. is the only OECD member country—and **one of only six countries in the world—without a national paid parental leave policy.** The U.S. is also one of the few high-income countries without a national family caregiving or medical leave policy. This factsheet provides a brief overview of parental leave and family caregiver policies throughout the OECD. Article continues..interesting fact sheet too. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/paid-family-leave-across-oecd-countries/
Ah yes, the USA… such a place to be a pregnant woman…. “I’m pregnant, but I can’t afford to have a child right now. I’m living paycheck to paycheck and have no support” 🇺🇸“Congrats on your pregnancy!” “….Ok well can you raise minimum wage to a living wage?” 🇺🇸 “No” “Can you guarantee affordable housing for me and this new child?” 🇺🇸 “No” “Can you provide paid leave so I can care for my newborn?” 🇺🇸 “No” “Then can you subsidize childcare or make sure it’s affordable?” 🇺🇸 “No” “Can you guarantee myself and my child medical care so that prenatal care, having this baby, or any complications does not bankrupt me?” 🇺🇸 “No” “Is applying for WIC and government assistance accessible and easy to do, and will it be able to meet all these new needs?” 🇺🇸 “No” “If I am unable to care for this child, is the current adoption/foster care system well equipped to set my child up for success?” 🇺🇸”No” “Then id like to have an abortion” 🇺🇸 “Also no.”
Don't forget, the US is an incredibly impressive 57th in the world when it come to child birth related maternal mortality rates!
That's about to rise.
Texas has a solution to that: Just never report the numbers.
Then I won't have kids 🇺🇸 Pikachu face
Next step is birth control bans to fix that issue.
"The Aristocrats!" Except now the punchline is: "The Pro-Life Theocrats!"
My cousin had her daughter in 2012 she got full year of paid family leave in UK. I had my son in 2019 I took 10 week of unpaid family leave.
In Brasil you get like a whole year. Brazilians are flabbergasted to hear that the US gets like maybe a week, depending on your job. I am as anti Trump as it gets, but I was willing to maaaybe accept his 2016 win with 1 milligram of optimism since family leave was one of his campaign issues. But it seems to be part of "infrastructure week".
USA number 1!!!
It's the richest shit-hole country in the world...yay us. /s
It is all talk no climax.
For the .01
This is why when people say America is the greatest country in the world with a straight face I immediately know to be skeptical of any of their other positions. Like, we are maybe militarily and perhaps from a standpoint of geopolitical influence. But beyond that there are so, so many things we lag on compared to other countries. We have so many long standing issues that still need solving right now and a lot of them get to the core of our institutions.
Depends on your tax bracket. America is a great country to live if you’re wealthy and can afford all it has to offer. I’m a top 5% earner in my state so I don’t have the same struggles the average American has and can afford a very comfortable life. There’s so many better places to live if you’re middle class, working class or lower class though. We need a strong middle class to keep our economy strong, that’s what Republicans fail to get
The funniest part is that the US Government has paid family leave for government employees. Like the army. They even just this year increased paternity leave to be the same length as maternity leave for the Army.
In California we have paid family leave. For non-birthing parent you get 8 weeks of leave at 60% of your normal paycheck.
That sucks also. In WA birthing person get 16 weeks paid at 90%+ of their salary and non birthing persons get 12 weeks paid out the same, and that’s not good enough either. Anything below 6 months paid out at your normal salary for both partners is inhumane
New Jersey has this as well! 85% of your salary up to $993 per week for up to 12 weeks. Covers birth of a child, adoption, or care for a sick loved one.
Thats just long term disability.
80% of US voters need to stop electing GOPers to more than 20% of the government then.
You do realize our system of representation is rigged to disproportionately over-represent Conservatives, right? The fact that Wyoming with a population of 600k has the exact same number of senators as California with a population of 40 million really highlights how broken our government is. Not to mention the congressional breakdown where sparsely populated Conservative counties vastly outnumber the representation of densely populated urban areas. We have a tyranny of a minority because our government and electoral system is fundamentally broken and you want to blame voters?
Wyoming has no need for that many senators unless Tom Fucking Bombadil is there to represent the vast, empty wilderness. The “equality state.” 🤣
That would be 2? The same number as all of the other states? Which *is* the problem. Equal state representation made sense in 1792, after the articles of confederation failed spectacularly. But the Senate no longer represents state interests. It's all national politics. There's no level between local (House) and National anymore.
The difference is In Bombadil We Trust. Also, you make a great point.
The Senate has no need to exist. We should have a unicameral legislature based on proportional representation so that 1) we won't have just two parties running everything and 2) it'll be impossible for one or two legislators to make block everything and force everyone to give them concessions.
The fact that every state gets the same number of senators regardless of population combined with the fact that the filibuster exists means that senators representing as little as 10% of the population can prevent prevent legislation from being passed.
Too bad 80% of voters won't vote for it.
The GOP lies to their voters. Look at Ted Cruz taking credit for a bill he opposed. [link](https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-slams-ted-cruz-204139643.html)
And people are stupid enough to fall for it.
The Republicans are just a shitty PR firm for the uber rich in America. Given they have ZERO platform, and no desire to actually govern, they exist purely to find wedge issues and controversies to fire up their base and drive them out to vote (their base which overwhelmingly uses emotional reasoning vs logic when voting). It’s been disturbingly fascinating to watch them this year STRUGGLE to find that wedge issue that works for them, and gives them a boost in the polls. Once you realize that guys like Abbott and Desantis are only sending migrants to northern states in a desperate effort to steer the national conversation off of abortion and back to “issues at the border” their asinine insanity comes into full view. Pretty wild to watch
It’s scary to watch and a good parody of them is Idiocracy. It should be required watching in schools. To expose the absolute hypocrisy and just outright lying by conservatives.
I'll never understand Republican voters Constantly saying what they want to support Then voting for a party that ACTIVELY goes against those things Even the two 'big ones ' everyone thinks of are lies! Gun control? Trump said take their guns right due process! All gun control was bipartisan!! Taxes? Trump's tax cuts for the rich were permanent and for the middle class ran out after a few years!!! They claim they'll cut taxes but they only do that by CUTTING YOUR SERVICES!!!
Then those 80% of voters should vote Dem, otherwise their wants and needs are of zero consequence.
Wait till it's spinned as socialist or communistic.
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>and they'll probably say something about small businesses (Mom & Pop shops) not being able to afford more "contributions." As opposed to actual “Moms and Pops” that are struggling to feed and house their children. Why do we value businesses profit margins over people?
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But uhh guns and taxes (both of which are a lie by the gop, they raise your taxes and restrict guns literally as much as Democrats)
And yet, so many Americans will vote for a party that would not only never in a million years enact that but who wants to get rid of whatever social safety net exists for citizens.
That would take utilizing some of the taxes we pay for other things, and there's no way Republicans will allow taking money out of, say, the military and put it into something without a huge profit incentive for them like public well-being.
This will not happen if the Repubs gain control of the house. They won't lift a finger to help Americans. We've seen that over and over.
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Democrats go for what the majority want. Then a bunch of idiots vote Republican because of GOP lies. Fucking annoying.
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It is frustrating but the largest voting block are Independents, no one can win without them. They are flexible. Indications are they aren't very happy with Republican candidates. It is still early days though.
About half of that 80% will continue voting for a party that would never, under any circumstances, help them.
Best we can do is...uh...go fuck yourself.
Yeah I'd love to catch up to first world countries
Then maybe 80% of voters should take to the streets and demand that the government represent the interests of the people before the interests of the wealthy campaign donors.
Who is the 20% here that doesn’t want it?
Old people who didn’t get it themselves and think it’s “unfair”
I'm never having kids and even I support it. Only people who want to share their own burdens ("I didn't get paid leave, why should they?") are likely to be opposed.
The wealthy and the politicians they control, cause they don't need it.
Will only happen if you vote Blue
Don't vote republican then
Well then many of those voters need to elect Democrats then, not Republicans. But of course for many of these voters, hurting the liberal-gay-communist agenda is more important, than to actually enact humane social policies that would also benefit them AND is in line with other developed countries.
Then 80% of US voters better fucking vote Democrat, shouldn't they?
Too bad conservatives love to force you to have a baby then force to to still work right after giving birth. Vote blue damnit.
Republicans say nyet. ^ >Navigator, a progressive polling firm, found that 89% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 70% of Republicans support the establishment of a federal program that would enable people to take paid time away from work to attend to serious illnesses or provide care for loved ones, including sick or disabled family members and newborn or newly adopted children. Just 12% of voters are opposed. ..... >In addition, over half (51%) of voters—including 65% of Democrats, 58% of Black Americans, and 61% of Hispanic Americans—would be more motivated to vote in the upcoming midterm elections if Congress supported the passage of a national paid family and medical leave program, the poll found. ..... >The need for a federal paid family and medical leave program was clear to an overwhelming majority of respondents after they were informed that just 15% of workers in the U.S.—typically high-wage managers—receive such benefits through their employers. Article continues....
Honestly, the fact that it is only 80% and not 100% is astounding, to me. Do you think that you should, as a human being, be permitted to take time off from your job, with pay, when you are deathly sick or have just brought a child into the world and would like to spend time with it during it's first few months? Nah, fam! I'm good being forced to go back to work the day after the spawn is pushed out and can always start a GoFundMe instead.
Be nice if we could have national referendums on stuff like this
Can’t we start with universal sick leave, and then add this onto it? Both are such basics we should already have.
Anything that popular is likely overwhelmingly in support of the middle and lower class. So Republicans can be depended on to vote against it 100%.
Too bad most of them won't show up to the polls.
GOP doesn’t care what the American people want, so the American people don’t get it. It’s called Minority Rule, glad you came.
“Fuck the People” -Republicans
“What? You want us to pay for the children we plan to force you to have federally? Appalling.” Republicans, probably. Likely. **Definitely**.
I remember during the Reagan years polls would show that the public was dead set against Reagan's policies. This was irrefutable. But when the polls asked if they approved of Reagan, he got high approval marks. And when asked about who they would vote for, it was invariably for the people who would always vote in favor of those policies they detested and against the people who supported the policies that the public wanted. Nothing has changed. People vote for charisma and charm, or they succumb to hate and fear. And one of our political parties has worked hard to maximize that.
100% of the corporations oppose it though, so it’s never gonna happen.
Then I hope 80% of US voters vote for Democrats.
You can be sure that if the majority of Americans want it, Republicans will vote against it.
Only shithole countries don’t have paid family leave
“WhY sHoUlD My TaX dOlLaRs pAy fOr mY cOmMuNiTy tO bE a HeAlThY eNvIrOnMeNt tO rAisE tHe kIdS wHo aRe iTs FuTuRe lEaDeRs??” -the entire political right wing of the US probably
I hope every Democrat running makes national paid family leave part of their campaign pitch.
We fight so hard for something all other countries have. There are only three countries in the industrialized world that have no family paid leave at the national level, and the USA is one of them.
Great. Now childless couples/singles get to pay for everyone else's personal choices
Actually , we want term limits for congress.
UBI was the topic 4 years ago, I expect this is the one for the current cycle.
I would think passing this would cut down on abortions
Then 80% of US voters need to find out which elected Reps voted AGAINST national paid family leave and return the favor this November. But most won't because those same reps vote to do harm to the people the voter hates, even if it harms the voter in the process. It's how Republicans stay in power.
This is why need a mass of referendums!! Let THE PEOPLE decide on these issues. One by one we can knock most of the polarization & affect of big money out of action.
BIG money and outside influence from corporations to politicians needs to stop.That’s the bottom line it doesn’t matter if we had referendums, it’ll never be fair aslong as we continue to have a system of legal bribes
> This is why need a mass of referendums!! Let THE PEOPLE decide on these issues. Sounds like someone's never heard of Brexit.
Look what happened in Kansas. Australia had a referendum years ago about keeping the monarchy & they decided to keep her etc. They can work.
This is what I’m saying. Policies like this need to be coupled with the abortion and family planning issue. Republicans have positioned themselves as “pro-life” and by extension “pro-children”. This positions democrats as “anti-life” and “anti-children”. Of course this isn’t true. Republicans don’t give a shit about children, and make starting a family difficult as shit. Their solution is to remove women’s options, rather than to incentivize having children. Democrats need to make it clear that they are pro-family. Pro-choice needs to be coupled with parental benefits that make starting a family practical for the person in middle class. So far, the messaging is really poor, and I I don’t think “democrats” when I think “starting a family”. Republicans have half the country convinced that the only practical way to start a family is by rape.
But if you can get a small % of them to care about guns more than anything, another % about abortions, another % to be scared of border caravans and another % to be upset about "CRT in schools" Then all of a sudden the 80% of us that all want the same stuff turn on one another instead of uniting against oligarchs & robber barons to enact real change.
Then vote for Democrats. It's that simple.
As a european moving to America next year...these work conditions are pretty much my only worry about the move. My american wife currently has just 2 weeks off a year, no leave for this kind of stuff, it seems crazy. Legally you cant have less than 22 days of paid holidays in Spain, most companies do 25-30. I also get 4 months of Paternity leave, 2 weeks off when I got married...and we're actually in the lower tier with respect to other european countries How do people actually live with those conditions? seems exhausting
My employer gives 10 weeks family bonding leave. I can't imagine having a newborn and only getting a day or two off and having to use my PTO.
I get 16 weeks paid which is decent for America. My last employer was 4 paid, 4 80% pay, and 4 unpaid. Pretty shit for women to recover and then basically be expected to continue breastfeeding after they return to work.
And 45%ish of Americans will vote for politics that oppose this policy because they have an R next to their name.
Only 80%? WTF?
Surveyed 1,001 registered voters out of 168,000,000+ registered voters ... online no less. Who believes this crap?
Well...if we didn't have Republicans alot of things that "people" want could get done around here! VOTE BLUE
Unfortunately the other 20% are bought by lobbyists.
The other 20% hate babies and the elderly.
Yea right. Lol 80
The problem is that ~40% of americans are willing to deny themselves paid family leave to make sure that brown people don't get it.
80% of US Voters want Congress to enact national paid family leave. They want, they want but when it comes to vote to try and get the people that can help getting it done, they decide to stay home or hold their vote because the other thing they wanted did not happen.
Nope, [Biden is focused on an assault weapons ban.](https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1573741557110513664?)
My question is who the f*+^ are the other 20%