Marriage Equality Shows California Progressives Should Think Big

Even in cases where the public is clearly on the progressive side—such as state campaigns to raise the minimum wage—initiatives are drafted to ensure an easy victory, rather than trying for far more significant wage hikes that would require a stronger grassroots effort.

As SEIU’s Stephen Lerner has said in the context of the labor movement, progressives must stop being satisfied with seizing the low hanging fruit. And when conservatives are pushing sweeping measures while progressives promote incremental reform, change is guaranteed to move in a largely right-wing direction.

Pushing for Real Change

As I wrote on June 10th, progressives have unduly limited their agendas. This has occurred for two reasons.

First, lack of progress in reversing Reagan era cuts, as well as those implemented through Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” in 1995, have led many to conclude that implementing far-reaching measures is politically impossible. Bill Clinton’s failure to reverse Reagan’s agenda, and his preaching the virtues of incremental change, has dispirited activists’ sense of political possibilities to this day.

Second, since the Reagan Administration, progressives have lacked confidence that the public supports a progressive agenda. This perspective is understandable. For all of the polls showing that voters support universal health care, living wages, affordable housing, and other progressive policies, the only polls that really matter are on Election Day---and, until 2006, the outcome of federal elections has not given progressives much reason for hope.

But the prospect of an Obama presidency alters both of the above factors.

By defeating Hillary Clinton, Obama prevented another Democratic Administration focused on school uniforms and other examples of purely incremental, if not symbolic, “change.” And the failure of conservative government during the Bush years has created the greatest public support in decades for moving in a progressive direction.

But “real” change has no chance of occurring if activists are content to settle for less.
And this requires a changing of the pessimism that has infiltrated progressive minds since the Reagan era.

Understanding The Big Picture

Fortunately, some of the key progressive constituencies appear to be ready to set a high bar for a President Obama, instead of accepting a moderate agenda that only looks significant due to its contrast with Bush.

For example, organized labor is putting the Employee Free Choice Act on its “must do” list for Obama’s first 100 days. Labor realizes that unless they change the laws that easily prevent employees from joining unions, all of the successful organizing in the world will not meaningfully increase union density in the employment market.

Universal health care is also on labor’s (and everyone’s) priority list, as are tough measures to combat global warming.

If implementing such measures appears daunting, consider that our next president wrote a book entitled “The Audacity of Hope.” And also recognize that as recently as 2000, most would have given any progressive programs a greater chance of implementation than marriage equality, which California begins today.

Randy Shaw is the editor and publisher of Beyond Chron, an alternative online daily newspaper, with whose permission this article is republished.