One of the most popular social media "definitions" of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. By this definition, the way progressives speak to voters is insane. If the upcoming campaign to defend Councilmember Todd Gloria's minimum wage/paid sick leave law follows our progressive pattern, it will get the same results from voters that past Referendized laws have gotten - i.e. we're going to lose.

Because San Diego has a lot of hard working people who don't make enough to provide for their families, Gloria proposed a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage to $11.25 an hour over a few years. It also calls for paid sick leave. While mandatory sick leave applies to all San Diego workers, most of the higher paid workers in town already have it so it primarily effects the same pool of low wage people, a large number of which are working in the tourism/restaurant and retail sectors. 

This law is a good thing. Everyone can see it is a good thing and most voters want to do the right thing. It's very popular.

Republicans: "We all want to help the poor. but If we raise the minimum wage/pay people for staying home when they're sick, we will need to raise prices and cut jobs. Instead of taking money from your family to pay for them, they should just pull themselves up, like you did."

 

Most studies find that a desire toward altruism is a real motivation for most voters. In the absence of the threat to other basic human motivations, they "will do the right thing". The problem is that the Republicans are ALWAYS going to provide that threat by describing it as a zero sum game situation. Specifically, they are going to couch it as we can only help them by hurting us.

Most voters want to help that little unnamed and unknown kid whose parents can't afford to take the time off from work to take him to the doctor when he's sick, but if it means we won't have the money in the tuition account when our little Billy is ready for Harvard, well, that just can't happen.

Not surprisingly, I blame it on Reagan. Before him there were enough people who remembered how the Democratic Party and progressive policies pulled our asses out of the fire caused by the trickle-down Republican policies of the 1920s. Reagan managed to turn selfishness and greed into a civic virtue and, progressives never learned to adapt. In a society which has been taught for 35 years that giving people a hand is going to hurt me, "do the right thing" is no longer a good enough campaign cry.

The sad part of this is that it is totally unnecessary. Mayor Faulconer's and Councilmember Sherman's arguments are BULL - as has been the trickle-down, supply side, or as I like to call it, "Screw the grandkids' inheritance, I'm buying a deluxe motor home and driving to Branson" theories of the Republicans since day one.

Rather than focusing on the benefits to the working poor (who for a wide range of reasons don't vote as frequently as their more affluent counterparts), we should talk about the benefits to the middle class (who do vote). Democrats, the working poor and voters in general already know what a minimum wage increase can do for the working poor. We should be telling middle-class voters what it will do for them and we should be calling out Faulconer/Sherman - turning the veto into a liability rather than a campaign talking point.

Fact:  13 States increased their minimum wage in early 2014. With one exception, those States' level of job creation was higher, not lower, than the national average. The exception was New Jersey, whose Governor seems hell bent on destroying his State's economy to make himself look more attractive to the teabagger Republican primary voter.

Fact: Following the City of Seattle's increase of the minimum wage to $15, the City's unemployment rate decreased 17.46%, falling from 6.3% to 5.2%. The unemployment rate drop was larger than other cities in the State that did not increase the minimum wage.

October's Club meeting should be interesting. We hope to generate a little more light and a little less heat as we consider endorsements in the San Diego City Council District 7 race and the California State Senate District 39 race. Because October is traditionally our last meeting of the year we will also be electing our delegates to the State Party's Pre-endorsement Conference in January. 

The State Party awards one Pre-endorsement Conference delegate to Democratic clubs for each 20 members of that club in an Assembly District. Based on our membership as of July 1st of this year, that means Dems for Equality will get about 12 delegates in the 78th AD, and 1 delegate in both the 79th and 80th AD. This number represents a large block of all the votes at the Conference which proposes endorsements in area Congressional, State Senate and Assembly District races. If you are a Dems for Equality member in one of these Assembly Districts who would like to represent the Club at the Pre-Endorsement Conference, let us know HERE. The Conference will be held in San Diego and our By-laws bind delegates elected by the Club to support the candidates endorsed by Dems for Equality.