seattle wa

<h1 class="pageTitle" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></h1><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/12/13/indigenous-pipeline-oil-gas-insurers/">https://theintercept.com/2020/12/13/indigenous-pipeline-oil-gas-insurers/</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">as&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">OIL AND</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">gas projects expand across the United States and Canada, often imperiling Indigenous land without ever obtaining consent, land defenders are increasingly pressuring the financiers of fossil fuel infrastructure — banks, insurance companies, and asset managers — to respect their sovereign land right. Amplifying the calls of this grassroots movement, the largest organization representing American Indians and Alaskan Natives passed a historic</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ncai.org/attachments/Resolution_YQHxwQjdcImnMBQHuvxuwXlCoTXaKnHftxZNNghmvnppWlvWMrM_PDX-20-036%20merged.pdf" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">resolution</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">last month calling on “private insurance companies to end their underwriting of the expansion of tar sands oil, Arctic oil and gas, and LNG export terminals.”</span></font></p><div data-reactid="217" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The resolution, put forward by the National Congress of American Indians, or NCAI, also asks insurance companies to adopt policies on “free, prior, and informed consent.” This&nbsp;<b>principle,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fao.org/indigenous-peoples/our-pillars/fpic/en/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">enshrined</a>&nbsp;in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,&nbsp;</b>is “really just a fancy way of saying that any corporation, any bank, any agency that wants to engage in a project that impacts Indigenous lands and treaty lands must get consent from that particular tribal nation or Indigenous community,</span>” said Matt Remle, who is Lakota and the primary author of the resolution. “And if the community says no, that project doesn’t happen.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remle is also the co-founder of <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Mazaska Talks, an Indigenous-led organization focused on campaigns to&nbsp;<a href="https://mazaskatalks.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">divest</a>&nbsp;from projects that violate human rights and treaty rights abuses, which came out of an effort that began about five years ago to defund the Dakota Access pipeline.</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;This movement pushed the city of Seattle to divest $3 billion from Wells Fargo in 2017</span>,</b>&nbsp;one of the main backers of the pipeline, and sparked&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/these-cities-are-divesting-from-the-banks-that-support-the-dakota-access-pipeline/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">similar campaigns</a>&nbsp;throughout the country. More recently,&nbsp;<a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/every-major-bank-has-now-ruled-out-funding-arctic-drill-1845782346" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">every major bank</a>&nbsp;has agreed to not fund drilling in the Arctic after facing pressure from&nbsp;<a href="https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Stop the Money Pipeline</a>, a coalition of over 130 organizations&nbsp;which includes Mazaska Talks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">most Wall Street banks at least publicly acknowledge free, prior, and informed consent while still financing projects, like the tar sands pipelines, that face Indigenous-led opposition. Yet no major U.S. insurance companies, the biggest insurers of oil and gas projects across the globe, have released publicly facing statements about Indigenous rights, let alone the principle of free, prior, and informed consent, according to Elana Sulakshana, energy finance campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. This is, in part, why there has recently been more intense scrutiny of insurance companies’ enablement of fossil fuel projects on Indigenous land.</font></span></p></div><div class="img-wrap align-bleed large-bleed width-auto" data-reactid="229" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; transition: opacity 300ms linear 200ms; opacity: 1; width: auto;"><div data-reactid="230" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p class="caption overlayed" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; word-spacing: -0.25em; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activists demand the city of Seattle to divest its&nbsp;money and banking business from Wells Fargo, over the company’s investment in the Dakota Access pipeline, in 2016.</font></font></font></font>

Photo: Alex Garland]</p></div></div><div data-reactid="231" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resolution’s passage builds on the grassroots Indigenous movements underway that have been pressuring insurance companies, as one tool among many, to defend their land.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For instance, last month, the Gwich’in Steering Committee wrote a<a href="https://ourarcticrefuge.org/letter-to-insurance-companies/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;letter</a>&nbsp;asking insurers to not back the destruction of the sacred calving grounds in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife refuge.&nbsp;</b>Drilling in the calving grounds threatens the migratory&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/science/land-mammal-migrations.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Porcupine caribou</a>, which in turn “threatens the Gwich’in existence and way of life.” The letter calls upon oil and gas companies, banks, and insurance companies to “stand with the Gwich’in Nation by not initiating any oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This letter was prompted by the Trump administration rushing to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/16/arctic-refuge-drilling-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">auction off drilling rights</a>&nbsp;in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doi.gov/pmb/cadr/programs/native/Executive-Order-13175" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">federal law</a>, all agencies are required to respect Indigenous nations’ right to self-governance, which means consulting with communities about drilling projects. The Bureau of Land Management, the agency that administers federal land, did not engage in any form of meaningful consent</span>, said Bernadette Demientieff, the executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. She noted that the agency held public meetings in only three of the nine Gwich’in communities in Alaska and did not hold meetings in communities accessible only by boat or plane.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They only had hearings in certain communities. They did not have the government-to-government consultation that they’re supposed to,” said Demientieff. “They basically came to our community and told us what they were going to do. That was it.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Bureau of Land Management pushed back against the claim that it did not engage in government-to-government consultation, stating that it held more than 25 meetings “with tribal governments with the potential to be directly affected by an oil and gas leasing program.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Gwich’in Steering Committee also reached out individually to the 22 insurance companies addressed in the public letter to request a meeting. So far they’ve had one meeting, with Swiss Re, in which Demientieff spoke about the environmental devastation they have been witnessing, she said, such as the erosion of the land beneath coastal villages and “thousands and thousands of<a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/09/06/warming-rivers-salmon-die-offs/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;dead fish</a>&nbsp;in our lakes and rivers.”&nbsp;On December 14, the committee&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wilderness.org/articles/media-resources/insurer-swiss-re-takes-stand-against-arctic-refuge-drilling#" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a>&nbsp;that Swiss Re had committed not to “provide coverage or investment support for projects related to exploration, drilling or&nbsp;production of oil or gas in the Arctic, including in the Arctic&nbsp;National&nbsp;Wildlife Refuge.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">OTHER INDIGENOUS NATIONS</span>&nbsp;have also been seeking to meet with insurance companies. On September 2, the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association, which represents 16 tribal nations, sent&nbsp;<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/15U6RJsOlV5VCvv7V2NNSWTejmkrXpvvz/view" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">a letter</a>&nbsp;to David Long, the&nbsp;CEO of Liberty Mutual, urging the insurance company to “immediately end its relationship” with the Keystone XL pipeline. This pipeline is expected to carry bitumen oil from Alberta’s tar sands into the United States in a proposed route that would violate Indigenous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ienearth.org/new-map-shows-kxl-pipeline-route/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">treaty rights and sacred sites</a>. Long and Liberty Mutual did not respond to requests for comment.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Liberty Mutual</b>&nbsp;is providing financial backing to the Keystone XL pipeline with a publicly filed<a href="https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/hydrocarbonpipeline/2009/hp09-001/bond.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;surety bond</a>&nbsp;worth $15.6 million. An additional $15.6 million bond is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/news/4464733-transcanada-files-bond-keystone-xl-pipeline-prepares-2019-construction" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">required</a>&nbsp;after construction begins....</font></p></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see fox collage photo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-story-that-conservatives-are-getting-about-seattles-autonomous-zone-is-complete-fiction/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/the-story-that-conservatives-are-getting-about-seattles-autonomous-zone-is-complete-fiction/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="story-intro story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For days, Donald Trump has been tweeting about the “anarchist&nbsp;take over” of Seattle. According to Trump, the city is being “pillaged” by “terrorists” who are murder-burning their way across the city. These “armed lunatics” have “taken over a major American city,” and what frustrates Trump most is that the mayor and governor don’t even seem to know that their city is missing. In addition, the media is conducting a “total blackout on the insanity” in Seattle.&nbsp; Trump has ordered&nbsp;Mayor Jenny Durkan to “take back the city fast” and promised that if they don’t do something, he will!</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “autonomous zone,” formed by peaceful protesters in a small area of&nbsp;Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, has been<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/12/seattle-protests-autonomous-zone-315149" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">&nbsp;described by Durkan</a>&nbsp;as an example of free speech and genuine patriotism; and by&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/seattle-autonomous-zone.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New York Times</a></em>&nbsp;as “part street festival, part commune.” But what viewers of Fox News and other conservative media are seeing is something very, very different. Across conservative media, Seattle is being portrayed as a city in chaos, under siege, and simply burning. Where are conservative outlets getting this? Easy …&nbsp;they’re making it up.</font></p></div><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="col-sm-12" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="story-body story-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Seattle Autonomous Zone grew up in the wake of the protests over the police murder of George Floyd, and also in response to aggressive actions taken by the Seattle police (both in the the last two weeks and in previous protests) and has largely been in place since Monday.&nbsp;The reaction of city officials has varied from tolerance&nbsp;to cooperation, and even encouragement. City officials have helped to make sure that services within the area are continuing, and that sanitation&nbsp;supplies are secure. Seattle’s police chief has continued to express frustration, particularly after police deserted and boarded up a precinct house, but the perimeter of the “zone” has largely remained open for people to come and go, and is free of the lines of heavily armored forces seen around protests nationwide. For the most part, local officials seem content to simply wait, so long as the area stays peaceful.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But peaceful is not what Fox News or OAN viewers are seeing, what visitors to right-wing blogs are reading, or what listeners to the vast array of right-wing radio stations are hearing. On those sources, the zone is not a small area where people are distributing free pizza and constructing a somewhat pitiful community garden—it’s a hotbed of violence where buildings are burning and people are dying.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to support that position, Fox News hasn’t just been making up stories—it’s been manufacturing images and video. As the&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/fox-news-runs-digitally-altered-images-in-coverage-of-seattles-protests-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Seattle Times&nbsp;</a></em>reports, Fox has “digitally altered” images to make the situation in the area seem dire. That includes putting together elements from multiple images to create a misleading collage, lifting signs and symbols from one area to impose them on another, and it means that many of the images Fox is using&nbsp;to present the image of chaos in Seattle …&nbsp;aren’t even from Seattle.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Images that appear to show masked and armed men inside the zone are in fact composites taken on different dates and in different places. Burning buildings are actually from shots taken in St. Paul during the first days of the protests there. Some of the pictures Fox has merged together in their “coverage” of the current Seattle are actually two weeks old—or elements from two-week old pictures have been inserted into current scenes to make the situation appear worse than it is.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox has also continued to report, and other sources have repeated, claims that businesses inside the zone are being extorted for protection payments, even after the police chief in Seattle investigated these claims and found nothing to them.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The protesters within the zone are anarchists in the sense that there is no formal leadership, which has led to numerous voices claiming to speak for the group and issue various lists of demands (some of which have appeared<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1952321" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">&nbsp;on Daily Kos</a>). But the most prominent demands of those in the zone are a defunding of the Seattle police, charges against police involved in violence toward Black people,&nbsp;reparations for past victims of police violence, and a dismissal of charges against protesters.&nbsp;In the last few days, representatives from the police have&nbsp;met&nbsp;with some of those inside the zone in hopes of finding points of agreement.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The decades, the Seattle police have been involved in repeated acts of violence—from an<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/15/1905821/-Seattle-cops-ride-bikes-into-pedestrians-in-violent-melee-with-anti-Trump-protesters" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">&nbsp;assault on peaceful protesters</a>&nbsp;during a 2019 protest, to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/2/18/1365156/-Thanks-to-police-dash-cam-Seattle-man-exonerated-in-brutal-unnecessary-arrest-VIDEO" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a brutal, unnecessary arrest</a>&nbsp;captured on video, to even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/10/23/1338625/-Seattle-cops-trying-to-sue-for-their-constitutional-right-to-use-excessive-force" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">suing to be able to use&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">more violence</em></a>. The department has a long-standing and well-deserved reputation for using unnecessary levels of force. That’s why, under the Obama administration, the department was<a href="https://static.squarespace.com/static/5425b9f0e4b0d66352331e0e/t/5436d96ee4b087e24b9d38a1/1412880750546/spd_findletter_12-16-11.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">&nbsp;investigated for Civil Rights violations</a>&nbsp;and required to take steps to address systemic problems. Against that background, many in Seattle, including many Seattle officials, seem open to the idea of making the Capitol Hill area an ongoing experiment in operating without police, and for how shared community resources can be mixed with ordinary shops and businesses.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservatives aren’t upset because Seattle is burning. They’re terrified because it is not.</font></p></div></div></div></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">seattle socialist squeak out vic over amazon 1119</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/seattle-bans-foreign-influenced-corporations-from-spending-in-local-elections/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/seattle-bans-foreign-influenced-corporations-from-spending-in-local-elections/</a></font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/welcome-to-amazons-post-truth-society/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/welcome-to-amazons-post-truth-society/</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Welcome to Amazon’s post-truth society</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Keith A. Spencer / Salon November 9, 2019</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This year’s election for Seattle city council was a referendum — not on any issue or party, but on the ability of Amazon, the 13th largest corporation on Earth, to manipulate public opinion and subvert democracy in order to maintain political control over its hometown.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among all seven city council seats that were up for election, there was a pro-Amazon candidate and a candidate that favored populist will over the needs of massive corporations.&nbsp; Amazon spent money to support seven different candidates, one for each open seat.<b>&nbsp;As you might expect, all of the candidates Amazon backed were neoliberals — an excellent, general political term to refer to these politicians’ collective belief in social liberalism (as long as it doesn’t interfere with the profit margins of corporations) and economic policy of deferring to the ruling elite and their consultant-class lackeys on such policy matters</b>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Neoliberalism is an anti-democratic political position; it presupposes that the liberal capitalist democratic order maintains some stable state when the ruling class pulls the levers that govern society, and keeps the pesky masses barred from interfering in their accumulation of capital. “[Neoliberalism] means the dismantling of publicly owned industry and deregulation of capital, especially finance capital; the elimination of public provisions and the idea of public goods; and the most basic submission of everything to markets and to unregulated markets,” scholar Wendy Brown told Salon in 2016.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The votes are still being tallied, but relatively speaking, it seems Amazon’s electioneering was partly successful: three pro-Amazon candidates seem all but certain to win election to city council, three seemed destined to lose, and one race is still very much up in the air</b>, the competition between District 3 incumbent Councilmember Kshama Sawant and her competitor Egan Orion.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet three (or four) victories out of seven is a good outcome for Amazon when you consider their bang-to-buck ratio. Amazon’s revenues last year were $232.8 billion; they spent about $1.5 million backing neoliberal candidates in Seattle, by way of donating to an Orwellian-named political action committee (PAC) called Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy. $1.5 million may sound like a lot to you or me, but it is pocket change for Amazon — 0.00064% of the company’s 2018 revenues. This is the equivalent of someone with a $100,000 annual salary donating 64 cents to a political cause.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vote tallies continue to come in, but as of publication, three-term Councilmember Kshama Sawant is running a few hundred votes behind Amazon-sponsored Egan Orion, and she may well be unseated. That would suit Amazon’s interests nicely: Sawant’s policy platform was that of a left-populist, and she, like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, was working to build a democratic coalition to fight for the economic rights of the masses over the “rights” of corporations like Amazon. These include Seattle’s $15-an-hour minimum wage, which Sawant helped usher in; the ongoing fight for comprehensive rent control; and taxes on big corporations to help pay for housing and homelessness services. This kind of people power terrifies corporations and their CEOs, who prefer neoliberal candidates who believe in rule by the elite.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>All of this is to say that a corporation’s massive sums of money, when invested in public relations firms to craft a propaganda message, work pretty well.</b>&nbsp;Modern corporations understand that people’s minds are malleable; one only needs the right dosage of industrial-psychological manipulation to sway public opinion.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fact that the amount of money that Amazon sank into the race spent was a pittance (to them) is important. It means that they know now how much it costs to manipulate public opinion for their own gain. Spending twice as much or even ten times as much on the next city council race would still constitute a rounding error to their accountants — as consequential to Amazon’s bank account as the loss of a single drop of blood is to a blue whale.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part of the philosophical justification for democracy is that the masses are clever enough to figure out what is best for them and what isn’t. But money is generally the determining factor in who wins an election — or more specifically, the ability of money to pay for propaganda. One of the most important yet under-appreciated academic studies of the past half-decade, a paper by Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen titled “How Money Drives US Congressional Elections,” found a linear correlation between a candidate’s war chest and their probability of victory for all Senate and House elections from 1980 through 2012. In this chart from their paper, the horizontal axis shows the difference between the Democratic and Republican candidates’ campaign money. The vertical axis shows the percentage of votes the Democrat won over their GOP opponent. The correlation is remarkable.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;“The conclusion has to be that spending by major political parties is indeed strongly related to the proportion of votes they win and has been for as long as we have data,” the authors write.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is all to say that propaganda works incredibly well — and the kinds of propaganda that rich people and industry have the capacity to fund can sway people routinely to vote against their best interests. To use a loaded term, “brainwashing” is real, but it doesn’t look like we think it does, creating vortices over our eyes as we gaze at a candidate. It’s just a function of money.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When I was a kid, I remember my liberal family crowing about conservatives “voting against their best interest.” But it’s not merely conservatives that do this. There’s a selection bias for the kinds of liberal candidates that make it past the Democratic primaries, or the parties that we’re “allowed” to vote for; all of this is controlled, more or less, by the money and influence of these rich people. Industrial psychology is so sophisticated, so sinister, that it is not at all difficult (with money) to manipulate the populace en masse such that they vote for the ruling class’s preferred candidates, whether neoliberal liberals or neoliberal conservatives.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This all goes back to a phrase that’s become in vogue lately: post-truth. We are told we are in a new epoch of American civilization, the post-truth society, where many of us deny facts because we have chosen a different social media reality bubble, or because our dear leader tells us so. We often hear that this phenomenon was uniquely created by Trump and his underlings who aspire to be like him, but particularly by his unique ability to confidently fabricate facts, ideas and policies without blinking.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet this Trumpian trait, I think, is more a function of being a rich asshole who has been surrounded his entire life by yes-men than it is due to some kind of nascent political transformation. All billionaires and CEOs are uniquely convinced of their godliness and self-righteousness; just look at Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, who think that they alone have the fortitude and wisdom to lead humanity to the stars; or Mike Bloomberg or Tom Steyer, who feel they are uniquely situated to decide our political fortunes for us. No, the post-truth society precedes Trump, or any of these men who fund (or become) political candidates. It is something innate to capitalism itself.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democracy and capitalism are incompatible inasmuch as the rich are given free license to employ public relations teams and marketers — propagandists, largely — to manipulate and dictate public opinion, and sway many to vote against their best interest. They, and their think tanks and assistants and firms, tell us what political positions are realistic, and which are impossible; which candidates are viable or not; which future paths are possible for humanity. It is very difficult to think beyond the specter of the future they set out for us through their media. This extends to art, particularly film and video games — but that story is one best saved for a different article.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In certain western democracies, there is marginally more control over the ability of the rich to influence elections. But the impact of said regulations are marginal at best; even when the rich can’t give to candidates, they often own papers or media outlets, and can, in other ways, subtly dictate the political reality of a nation-state. In other words, you can temper the ways in which capitalism and inequality distort and undermine democracy; but you cannot eliminate it completely so long as its innate class antagonisms remain intact. That means the post-truth society is with us now, as it has always been; it is intrinsic to our economic system.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">socialist re-elected, majority women</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/6/a_socialist_elected_in_seattle_kshama</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>City leaders launched Seattle on the path to a Green New Deal this week</b>, passing a resolution that starts laying out an ambitious plan for how the city can cut its greenhouse gas emissions in ways that protect the climate and improve the lives of its residents.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's a nonbinding resolution, and like the national&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04032019/green-new-deal-carbon-tax-compromise-climate-policy-congress-ocasio-cortez-sunrise-ccl-economists" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Green New Deal</a>manifesto that's being promoted by Democrats in Congress, presidential hopefuls and the young activists in the Sunrise Movement, it's still mostly aspirational.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But it begins to sketch out a roadmap for Seattle's future as the city tries to both adapt to&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a>&nbsp;and cut emissions in line with what the world's scientists say is needed.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The&nbsp;<a href="https://seattle.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4078775&GUID=A91E660A-1F3A-4545-8D24-281916F6EDB4&Options=ID%7CText%7C&Search=&FullText=1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">resolution</a>&nbsp;envisions free public transit, a limit on new fossil fuel construction, 100 percent electric vehicles for ride sharing, and an infrastructure plan that takes sea level rise into account, among other ideas.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The big question confronting city officials and environmentalists now is how to begin implementing—and paying for—many of these initiatives. There are hints within the resolution, which mentions a congestion pricing plan to support low-income transit, using proceeds from a soda tax to promote healthy foods, and developing "green zones" to provide financing in neighborhoods that have historically borne the brunt of pollution.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some climate activists see Seattle's measure as the first step toward moving from symbolic gestures to specific goals and potential ways to implement them.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It lays out the goals and timeline and ways to get there," said Alec Connon, an organizer with the environmental advocacy group 350 Seattle. "No policies have changed, but it is a clear statement of intent from Seattle leaders that they're understanding the sheer severity and urgency of the climate emergency."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The move by Seattle highlights how local and state governments are setting ambitious targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of federal action, particularly at a time when scientific warnings are becoming increasingly urgent and the Trump administration is backing out of federal efforts aimed at curbing climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This spring, Washington became the&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07052019/100-percent-clean-energy-map-inslee-washington-california-puerto-rico" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">fifth state or territory</a>—following Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Puerto Rico—to pass legislation committing to 100 percent clean electricity by 2045. Other states,&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062019/new-york-100-percent-clean-energy-climate-targets-net-zero-oregon-cap-trade" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">including New York</a>, have adopted aggressive policies to meet goals set by the&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Paris climate agreement</a>, which the Trump administration abandoned in 2017.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Climate change is one of the gravest threats we face, and the solutions to climate change must also be solutions that address income inequality and racial inequity," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement after the City Council unanimously passed the resolution Monday. "While they debate the Green New Deal in the other Washington, we must continue to do more in Seattle."</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Translating Goals Into Policy</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While a nonbinding resolution can set out goals, the city will have to find ways to translate those goals into actual policy to make a difference.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The bigger story is, 'Does Seattle take that next step?' Whether that's developing a tax or finding ways to earmark funding and go deeper into the implementation process," said Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked if the city of Seattle had any specific plans on how it would fund the goals in the resolution, Jessica Finn Coven, the city's director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment said, "the answer is yes and no."&nbsp;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, Durkan proposed a&nbsp;<a href="https://durkan.seattle.gov/2019/08/to-help-combat-climate-crisis-mayor-durkan-proposes-converting-thousands-of-oil-heated-seattle-homes-to-cleaner-lower-carbon-electric-heat/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">tax on home heating oil</a>&nbsp;to help as many as 18,000 Seattle homes transition from oil to some form of cleaner energy. So, when it comes to funding the specific goal of transitioning away from using oil to heat homes, there is a specific mechanism on the table, Finn Coven said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the broader proposals in the resolution, she said, city lawmakers are researching their options and working with constituents and community leaders to determine how to move forward.</font></p><div class="media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 648px; margin: 0.25em auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><figure id="file-273112" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg with-caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 2em; line-height: 1.6; border-right: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-left: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-image: initial; border-top: none;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix "Climate change is one of the gravest threats we face and the solutions to climate change must also be solutions that address income inequality and racial inequity,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said. "While they debate the Green New Deal in the other Washington, we must continue to do more in Seattle.”</font></p></div></figcaption></figure></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connon said he hopes to see policies soon now that the resolution has passed, and he believes there are promising funding options available to help the city pay for some of the initiatives laid out in the measure, such as congestion pricing and implementing new taxes.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As an example of one viable option used in another city, Connon points to a move by Portland, Oregon, where voters last November&nbsp;<a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-oregon-clean-energy-gross-receipts-tax-result/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">passed a measure</a>that imposes a tax on large retailers to help pay for the city's clean energy efforts.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another way Seattle could pay for its green goals would be a levy, Connon said. Earlier this spring, nearly 70 percent of Seattle voters backed a $2.2 billion education levy.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's no reason the city couldn't do a Green New Deal levy to help kick this off," he said.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">'Cities Continue to Push the Needle'</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Seattle is one of a handful of U.S. cities that have mitigation goals for urban heat islands, have adopted or advocated for stringent building energy codes and have set targets for energy efficient transportation plans that take into mind low-income communities, according to a report released last month by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When it comes to reducing energy use and trying to spur renewable energy, "cities continue to push the needle," said David Ribeiro, senior research manager at ACEEE.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ACEEE&nbsp;<a href="https://aceee.org/research-report/u1904" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">report</a>&nbsp;found that 75 large U.S. cities had taken more than 200 actions on renewable energy and energy efficiency. Seattle ranked No. 3 in the report, behind San Francisco and Boston.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"In the case of Seattle, they are a city that's already leading on clean energy," Ribeiro said. "They have aggressive goals; they have aggressive policies; they have good planning processes."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ribeiro said it's hard to know whether Seattle's Green New Deal resolution will push more cities to follow suit. Los Angeles recently released a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lamayor.org/mayor-garcetti-launches-la%E2%80%99s-green-new-deal" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">"Green New Deal" sustainability plan</a>&nbsp;focused heavily on energy efficiency and renewable energy.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think it's all a matter of the interest of the residents and business owners in that city," Ribeiro said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Published Aug. 14, 2019</font></span></p></div><div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><tbody class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionBlockOuter"><tr><td class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding: 9px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionRightContentOuter" width="100%" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionRightContentInner" style="padding: 0px 9px;"><table class="yiv2129720842mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="352" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv2129720842mcnTextContent" style="line-height: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif">W<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=5d0a7d6919&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">hat Would a City-Level Green New Deal Look Like? Seattle Is About to Find Out&nbsp;</a></span></span>
<font style="background-color: inherit;">BY: KRISTOFFER TIGUE</font>
<span style="font-family: arial, " helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" sans-serif="sans-serif">The city has a plan and some big ideas for pro-climate policies that also boost equality. And it's talking about ways to pay for them.</span></font></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv2129720842mcnButtonBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" min-width="min-width"><tbody class="yiv2129720842mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td valign="top" align="center" class="yiv2129720842mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv2129720842mcnButtonContentContainer" style="border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(142, 196, 77);"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" class="yiv2129720842mcnButtonContent" style="padding: 6px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv2129720842mcnButton " title="Read More" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=d5e1d224cb&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; display: block; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 14px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Read More</font></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div class="m-ad m-admobile_article_body" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><div id="div-gpt-ad-mobile_article_body" class="dfp_ad" data-cb-dfp-id="unit=mobile_article_body" data-cb-ad-id="Mobile article body" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="m-ad m-adnative_ad_mobile" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><div id="div-gpt-ad-native_ad_mobile" class="dfp_ad" data-cb-dfp-id="unit=native_ad_mobile" data-cb-ad-id="Native ad mobile" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left; font-style: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div style="text-align: left; font-style: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ref reurters</font></div><div style="text-align: left; font-style: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>‘Living wage’ law is unconstitutional – if you ask lobbyists</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Ron Fein<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>October 6, 2014</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Demonstrators rally to raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 for fast-food workers at City Hall in Seattle</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Industry trade groups are now challenging Seattle’s new minimum wage law as unconstitutional. They claim the city’s $15 an hour rate violates the 14th Amendment. Passed just after the Civil War to ensure equal rights for the newly freed slaves, that amendment says no state may “deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the industry lawsuit, the minimum wage law violates this Equal Protection Clause because it phases in the higher wage at a different schedule for franchised companies than for small local businesses.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the trade groups’ argument twists the real intent of the 14th Amendment. Its drafters had a special interest in whether workers could earn&nbsp;<b>“fair, living wages,” our research has revealed. That phrase was often used by Senator Jacob Howard, a staunch Republican who served as the 14th Amendment’s Senate floor manager in 1866.</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>
</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>During congressional hearings, Howard repeatedly asked witnesses whether employers were paying the newly freed slaves “fair, living wages.”</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Howard had reason to emphasize this point. Even before the Civil War ended, the Union Army was deeply concerned about whether freedmen were receiving fair wages. An 1865 Army work plan, for example, instructed officers to assist freedmen in obtaining “fair wages for their labor.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sometimes it was a struggle to achieve this. When employers in two recalcitrant South Carolina counties persisted in underpaying the freedmen, one Army general contemplated moving those counties’ entire freed population to areas that would pay them “fair wages.” By 1866, a special military unit established to assist freedmen during the post-Civil War Reconstruction had resorted to distributing standard labor contracts, with fixed labor rates, that would promote “prosperous relations between capital and labor” and be “satisfactory to the freedmen.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Many Americans viewed “fair, living wages” as an integral part of the struggle from slavery to full citizenship. The influential abolitionist editor Horace Greeley — famous for his 1865 editorial that advised “Go West, young man” — wrote a widely reprinted open letter to “the Colored People of North Carolina” on September 14, 1865. He urged them to take immediate steps to demand “fair, living wages” as part of their larger struggle for equal rights.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">So when members of the special congressional committee asked whether freedmen could earn fair or living wages, they understood the issue as intimately connected with the equality that the 14th Amendment ultimately enshrined.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That wasn’t the only concern behind the 14th Amendment, of course. But, unlike protection of the economic advantages that franchised businesses have over small local businesses, it was part of the 14th Amendment’s overall goals.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Given how important obtaining “fair, living wages” was to the 14th Amendment’s authors, industry lawyers have no basis to argue that the Equal Protection Clause protects the companies, rather than the workers. But it’s not surprising. Ever since the 14th Amendment was passed, corporate lawyers have tried to leverage it to strike down laws like Seattle’s.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 1938, a frustrated Supreme Court justice complained that of the cases in the court in which the 14th Amendment was applied during the first 50 years after its adoption, “less than one-half of 1 percent invoked it in protection of the negro race, and more than 50 percent asked that its benefits be extended to corporations.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Just this year, the Equal Protection Clause has been invoked on behalf of coal companies and multinational agribusiness conglomerates.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We need to put a stop to this unfounded constitutional argument. The businesses had their opportunity to make their case to the city of Seattle — and they lost. They shouldn’t be allowed to run to court under the banner of the 14th Amendment.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Abraham Lincoln was just a rookie congressman, he wrote that securing “to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government.” That’s what Seattle’s law does. Sixteen years after Lincoln wrote that, he vowed at Gettysburg to preserve a “government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people.” That’s what the industry’s lawsuit threatens.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The congressmen of Reconstruction sought to carry forward Lincoln’s legacy with the 14th Amendment. Their vision of full equality is not yet realized. But if they could see what Seattle is trying to achieve, they would be proud.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/10/06/the-fight-for-living-wages-is-for-workers-not-corporations/">http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/10/06/the-fight-for-living-wages-is-for-workers-not-corporations/</a></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="rc" data-hveid="27" data-ved="0ahUKEwivpf_fipjSAhXHQSYKHWKvDzYQFQgbKAAwAA" style="position: relative;"><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><div id="r1-0" class="result results_links_deep highlight_d" data-nir="1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; padding: 0.5em 10px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 23.04px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="resultbody links_main links_deep" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="resulttitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: middle; position: static; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/6/a_socialist_elected_in_seattle_kshama" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">A&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Elected</span>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>: Kshama Sawant on Occupy ...</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/6/a_socialist_elected_in_seattle_kshama" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: default; position: absolute; right: 614px; top: 0.7em; width: 1em; white-space: nowrap; speak: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span class="resultchecktt" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 2; vertical-align: middle; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; border-radius: 1em; visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; display: inline-block; position: absolute; height: 2em; z-index: 200; bottom: 2.5em; left: -0.95em; background-color: rgba(138, 138, 138, 0.901961);" /></a></h2><div class="resultsnippet" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We go now to&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>, where we're joined by Kshama Sawant, newly&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">elected</span>&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;city ... I want to play highlights from&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">news</span>&nbsp;coverage of a recent march ...</font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="resulticon" style="margin: -3px 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; 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-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="resultbody links_main links_deep" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="resulttitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: middle; position: static; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/news/2014/01/27/22472667-seattles-socialist-councilwoman-to-accept-less-than-half-of-117k-salary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle's</span>&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;councilwoman to accept less than half of ...</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/news/2014/01/27/22472667-seattles-socialist-councilwoman-to-accept-less-than-half-of-117k-salary" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; 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vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle's</span>&nbsp;only&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;City Council member announced Monday that she will make good on a campaign pledge and accept only $40,000 a year in salary ...&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">women</span>, and ...</font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; 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overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="https://shadowproof.com/2015/06/05/seattle-councilmember-kshama-sawant-visits-new-york-city-for-fundraiser/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>&nbsp;Councilmember Kshama Sawant, Up for&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Re</span>&nbsp;...</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="https://shadowproof.com/2015/06/05/seattle-councilmember-kshama-sawant-visits-new-york-city-for-fundraiser/" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: default; position: absolute; right: 614px; top: 0.7em; width: 1em; white-space: nowrap; speak: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span class="resultchecktt" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 2; vertical-align: middle; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; border-radius: 1em; visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; display: inline-block; position: absolute; height: 2em; z-index: 200; bottom: 2.5em; left: -0.95em; background-color: rgba(138, 138, 138, 0.901961);" /></a></h2><div class="resultsnippet" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kshama Sawant, the first&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">socialist</span>&nbsp;to be&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">elected</span>&nbsp;to the&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>&nbsp;City Council since 1877, attended a fundraiser for her&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">re</span>-election campaign at the All Souls Unitarian ...</font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="resulticon" style="margin: -3px 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block; width: 16px;"><a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=socialist%20re%2Delected%2C%20majority%20women%20seattle%20news+site:shadowproof.com" title="Search domain shadowproof.com" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><img title="Search domain shadowproof.com" height="16" width="16" class="resulticonimg" src="https://icons.duckduckgo.com/ip2/shadowproof.com.ico" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 16px;" /></a></span><a class="resulturl" href="https://shadowproof.com/2015/06/05/seattle-councilmember-kshama-sawant-visits-new-york-city-for-fundraiser/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><span class="resulturldomain" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">shadowproof.com</span><span class="resulturlfull" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; visibility: visible;">/2015/06/05/seattle-councilmember-kshama-s...</span></a></font></div></div></div></div><div id="r1-3" class="result results_links_deep highlight_d" data-nir="1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; padding: 0.5em 10px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 23.04px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="resultbody links_main links_deep" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="resulttitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: middle; position: static; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="http://www.socialistworld.net/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">socialistworld.net - website of the CWI - committee for a ...</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="http://www.socialistworld.net/" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: default; position: absolute; right: 614px; top: 0.7em; width: 1em; white-space: nowrap; speak: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span class="resultchecktt" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 2; vertical-align: middle; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; border-radius: 1em; visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; display: inline-block; position: absolute; height: 2em; z-index: 200; bottom: 2.5em; left: -0.95em; background-color: rgba(138, 138, 138, 0.901961);" /></a></h2><div class="resultsnippet" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... ROSA and&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;Party (CWI in Ireland) ... Kshama Sawant&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">re-elected</span>&nbsp;-&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle's</span>&nbsp;political revolution continues. ... I want to subscribe news@socialistworld.net.</font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="resulticon" style="margin: -3px 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block; width: 16px;"><a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=socialist%20re%2Delected%2C%20majority%20women%20seattle%20news+site:www.socialistworld.net" title="Search domain www.socialistworld.net" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><img title="Search domain www.socialistworld.net" height="16" width="16" class="resulticonimg" src="https://icons.duckduckgo.com/ip2/www.socialistworld.net.ico" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 16px;" /></a></span><a class="resulturl" href="http://www.socialistworld.net/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><span class="resulturldomain" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">socialistworld.net</span><span class="resulturlfull" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; visibility: visible;" /></a></font></div></div></div></div><div id="r1-4" class="result results_links_deep highlight_d" data-nir="1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; padding: 0.5em 10px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 23.04px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="resultbody links_main links_deep" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="resulttitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: middle; position: static; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;Party of America - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: default; position: absolute; right: 614px; top: 0.7em; width: 1em; white-space: nowrap; speak: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span class="resultchecktt" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 2; vertical-align: middle; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; border-radius: 1em; visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; display: inline-block; position: absolute; height: 2em; z-index: 200; bottom: 2.5em; left: -0.95em; background-color: rgba(138, 138, 138, 0.901961);" /></a></h2><div class="resultsnippet" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">majority</span>)&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;Party ... James S. Glaser, who were&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">re-elected</span>&nbsp;by acclamation. ... (Girard, Kansas), The<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;(<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>&nbsp;and Toledo, OH), The Worker's Call ...</font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="resulticon" style="margin: -3px 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block; width: 16px;"><a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=socialist%20re%2Delected%2C%20majority%20women%20seattle%20news+site:en.wikipedia.org" title="Search domain en.wikipedia.org" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><img title="Search domain en.wikipedia.org" height="16" width="16" class="resulticonimg" src="https://duckduckgo.com/assets/icons/favicons/wikipedia.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 16px;" /></a></span><a class="resulturl" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><span class="resulturldomain" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">en.wikipedia.org</span><span class="resulturlfull" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; visibility: visible;">/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America</span></a></font></div></div></div></div><div id="r1-5" class="result results_links_deep highlight_d" data-nir="1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; padding: 0.5em 10px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 23.04px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; cursor: pointer; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="resultbody links_main links_deep" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h2 class="resulttitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: middle; position: static; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%;"><a class="resulta" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;Party of Washington - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</font></a><a class="resultcheck" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington" style="margin: 0px 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; cursor: default; position: absolute; right: 614px; top: 0.7em; width: 1em; white-space: nowrap; speak: none; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span class="resultchecktt" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 2; vertical-align: middle; transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out 0s; border-radius: 1em; visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; display: inline-block; position: absolute; height: 2em; z-index: 200; bottom: 2.5em; left: -0.95em; background-color: rgba(138, 138, 138, 0.901961);" /></a></h2><div class="resultsnippet" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.38; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... and its&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">elected</span>&nbsp;government won by&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">socialist</span>&nbsp;political candidates, ... In September 1898 the SDA&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">re</span>-incorporated in&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Seattle</span>&nbsp;as the Co-Operative ...&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Socialist</span>&nbsp;<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">News</span></font></div><div class="resultextras" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="resultextrasurl" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="resulticon" style="margin: -3px 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; overflow: hidden; display: inline-block; width: 16px;"><a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=socialist%20re%2Delected%2C%20majority%20women%20seattle%20news+site:en.wikipedia.org" title="Search domain en.wikipedia.org" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><img title="Search domain en.wikipedia.org" height="16" width="16" class="resulticonimg" src="https://duckduckgo.com/assets/icons/favicons/wikipedia.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 16px;" /></a></span><a class="resulturl" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;"><span class="resulturldomain" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;">en.wikipedia.org</span><span class="resulturlfull" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; visibility: visible;">/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_Washington</span></a></font></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28.16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much to the detriment of Washington State’s biggest corporate donors like Microsoft and Starbucks, and to the chagrin of Seattle’s newspaper of record, Seattle voters have elected to have publicly-financed elections, and to severely limit the influence of corporate power on city hall.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28.16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The I-122 initiative — also known as “Honest Elections Seattle” — passed with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.king5.com/story/news/politics/city/2015/11/03/elections-seattle-initiative-122/75122694/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s;">60 percent</a>&nbsp;of votes cast. The initiative provides $100 in “Democracy Vouchers” for each of Seattle’s 400,000-plus registered voters, meaning that ordinary voters can counter corporate influence on elections by up to $40 million in a given cycle. The funding for the vouchers comes from an $8 property tax levied on homes worth $400,000 or more.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28.16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">but I-122 does more than just provide public campaign financing — I-122 also prohibits corporations that do more than $250,000 in annual business with the city from donating to local political campaigns. It also outright bans all donations from corporations that put more than $5,000 a &nbsp;year into lobbying elected officials.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28.16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voters in Seattle have good reason to demand publicly-financed elections, given the disproportionate influence corporate donors have won through campaign donations and lobbying. As&nbsp;<a href="http://www.occupy.com/article/today-major-city-may-become-first-have-publicly-financed-elections" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s;">Occupy.com</a>&nbsp;reported, Mayor Ed Murray’s 2013 campaign asked for and received the maximum allowed donation from Microsoft. After Murray won the election, Microsoft was awarded a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sightline.org/2015/10/14/honest-elections-seattle-bans-pay-to-play/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s;">$46,000 contract</a>&nbsp;to provide tech support for Murray’s transition team.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28.16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But that’s just one example — the below list, compiled by the Seattle-based Sightline Institute, shows how corporations exploited the pay-for-play system to win favors from city hall. While this list shows the ten worst offenders, Sightline discovered that 22 of the biggest corporate donors won&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sightline.org/2015/10/14/honest-elections-seattle-bans-pay-to-play/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.3s;">$84 million in contracts</a>&nbsp;from the city of Seattle between 2013 and 2015, in return for donating just $28,000 to candidates for municipal elections and lobbying.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><h1 class="pageTitle" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></h1><h1 class="pageTitle" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px 20px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Should McDonald’s & Monsanto Have the Same Rights as People? A Debate on Corporate Personhood</font></h1><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Citizens United v.&nbsp;</span><span class="caps" style="line-height: 24px;">FEC</span><span style="line-height: 24px;">&nbsp;decision striking down the prohibition on corporate expenditures in federal elections. In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are people, with the same right to influence politics as voters. Meanwhile, many corporations including McDonald’s, Monsanto and Peabody Energy have cited the principle of corporate constitutional rights in recent efforts to fight back against new laws. McDonald’s and other franchises are suing the city of Seattle over its new $15-an-hour minimum wage law, arguing it violates its corporate personhood rights. They are basing their case on the 14th Amendment, a constitutional provision written to protect newly freed slaves after the Civil War and ensure equal rights for all people. Monsanto is challenging Vermont’s recently passed&nbsp;</span><span class="caps" style="line-height: 24px;">GMO</span><span style="line-height: 24px;">-labeling law under the First Amendment, claiming that it forces them to "speak" against their will. We host a debate on the movement to draft a constitutional amendment to overturn the doctrine of corporate constitutional rights with two guests<b>: Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech for People, and Kent Greenfield,</b>professor of law and Dean’s Research Scholar at&nbsp;<b>Boston College Law School.</b></span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.democracynow.org/2015/3/13/should_mcdonalds_monsanto_have_the_same</font></div></div></div></div></div>