The Republican takeover of the Senate majority really shouldn’t matter much to progressives. Even when Democrats have the majority, precious little gets done in a body that lets a minority of members obstruct.
A modern, future-oriented agenda has been advancing on the state level — as progressive governors rush into the vacuum of inaction left by Washington. And its supporters are not just Democrats but also independents and Republicans who respect mainstream science and regard the working poor as something more than cheap labor.
Thus, we see victories for universal health coverage, higher minimum wages, the fight against global warming, slowing the war on drugs, and gay marriage. And with little thanks to Capitol Hill.
Massachusetts has run a universal health care system for about eight years. Its plan was based on a conservative blueprint pushed through by a Republican governor, but when it surfaced as the model for the Affordable Care Act, the right disowned it. Two important points: Massachusetts showed it could guarantee coverage while maintaining one of the nation’s strongest economies; and even without Obamacare, other states would have followed its example.
Cap and trade reduces emissions of planet-warming gases by creating a market for them. It was another conservative idea, but when Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency proposed such a system, the Republican Congress turned on it.
California shrugged and created its own. At least 10 states have since adopted their own cap-and-trade programs.
Setting the standard
Sacramento has long been the capital of American environmental policy. In 2004, California set fuel economy standards higher than Washington’s. Soon, other states embraced them, and before you knew it, 40 percent of the U.S. car market was under the California rules.
That left automakers with two choices: Build all cars to the tighter specifications or challenge California’s right to set them. They decided to challenge, running to the George W. Bush administration for relief, which they got.
But in 2008, California and 14 other states successfully sued the EPA for turning down California’s request to set stricter emissions. Now when Washington talks about changing the fuel economy standards, the automakers want California at the table.
Hostility toward modern science and unwillingness to pay for it have slowed funding for U.S. research, but not in future-minded states. When Bush sharply restricted federal support of embryonic stem cell research on religious grounds, Californians voted to spend $3 billion of their own money on it. Connecticut and others responded with their programs, serving humankind and also building up cutting-edge industries employing thousands of their residents.
As Washington state and Colorado allow the sale of recreational marijuana, other states are sure to follow, as Oregon just did. The tax money will be welcome, of course, and so will be the savings from not having to arrest and imprison nonviolent drug users.
Washington state also has led the charge for raising the minimum wage. That campaign is now spreading to other states.
Progressives, ask yourselves, “What good is flowing from Washington these days?” Almost nothing at all is flowing from Washington, so go around it and do your thing.
Froma Harrop is a columnist for Creators.com. Email: fharrop@gmail.com
