This is the fourth in a series of personal accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. In this letter, Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp addresses accusations made by Tucson right-wing shock jock Jon Justice and Andrew Lee, another radio personality. Justice’s 104.1 website includes the headline: “Occupy Movement Planning Violence?” But, of course, since there hasn’t been any violence locally, there is no local content under that purposefully misleading headline. [Emphasis added below.]

October 30: Notes from the Occupation
by Mary DeCamp

Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp

I didn’t get the chance to tell you both [Jon Justice and Andrew Lee] about Occupy Tucson’s experience with threats against police when you shared the info on Occupy Phoenix on your radio program last Friday.

Early on, the same sort of violent propaganda popped up in our Tucson encampment. There was a poster/sign advocating violence against the police. Immediately when it was discovered, the Tucson Police Dept. was notified. One of our tech-savvy people traced the origin of the artwork to a facebook page and turned that information over to the officials for their intervention and action. The perpetrator was NOT one of the Occupiers, but a nighttime visitor, operating under the cloak of darkness, trying to incite unrest. We immediately nipped the problem in the bud.

We have been very cooperative and accommodating with the officials. We are working with the Little Angels on organizing support & volunteers for their upcoming event in Armory Park. Tonight we are meeting with El Tour de Tucson folks to work out whatever accommodations they will need to use the park. We are peaceable people, following the example of our Boston Tea Party forefathers in resisting the oppressive overreach of authority, fraud, and abuse in our day-to-day lives.

People complain that the grass in the park is not getting watered. It is the dormant season and watering is not crucial. Besides, we live in a dessert and we need to STOP WATERING landscaping. Our quantity and our quality of water has dropped precipitously in the past decades and we must take action to preserve our most precious natural resources.

People complain about the cost associated with the Occupation. The taxpayer money spent on policing is being wasted and people should be up in arms about it. It is ridiculous to dispatch fleets of 9 to 24 uniformed officers to ticket us each night. Three would be ample. We all line up to receive our citations, and there have been NO incidents of resistance or violence. We self-police. We actually SAVE the City money by providing much needed social services to the most compromised residents. Occupying these past 2 weeks has really opened my eyes to the numbers of severely mentally ill and homeless people shambling around our streets. Our presence in the park protects them from the ravages of “bum fights”, prostitution, and other indignities they suffer just to scrap together the money they need to survive. We feed and shelter them, just like Jesus would have done. Think of how much money is spent on arresting, prosecuting, defending, incarcerating, and probating Tucson’s most at-risk population. Or the costs of emergency room services that the City has to pick up. We provide preventative measures that SPARE THOSE COSTS. We, the people, are providing services that Big Government and Big Business can’t seem to deliver effectively.

People complain that we are a bunch of lazy hippie kids who don’t want to work. That is not true, either. Our demographics cover a very wide range – we have young, old, illiterate, professionals, black, white, Hispanic, religious, agnostic, gorgeous and ugly – just like any other gathering of human beings. The people in the park want to be engaged meaningfully in Tucson’s social structure. They want to work, but there isn’t work to be had. If you’ve been unemployed for any length of time, you carry a taint that makes employers suspicious and unwilling to hire you. Our society has made poverty a punishable crime.

People complain we don’t have a park permit. Well, right across the street is the Tucson Children’s Museum. Mrs. Walkup sits on their board. They pay $1 a year for their rent. We’re happy to double that and pay $2 a year. Fair enough? [Sounds fair to me.] The permits that are doled out specify a beginning time and an end time for the use of the public facilities. The Occupation does not have a specific end time. We are here for the long haul. It ain’t easy, but I feel it is my patriotic duty to stand for a higher purpose. And the others who are there, willing to assume the risks and burdens of camping out in a public park, share my sentiments.

And if we’re all bent out of shape about people sleeping in the wrong spot, let’s issue a citation to Police Chief Villasenor who is supposed to be living and sleeping within city limits. His house in Pima County is underwater, like many of us, and he cannot afford to relocate. So we wink and nod and say “that’s okay” while we want to crack down on the Tucson Occupiers? It doesn’t seem fair to me. The police have been great – we really appreciate their protection and civility – but 60% of our police force also live outside the City and I know that some of them feel that coming into Tucson to do their jobs is kind of like visiting the zoo to see what exotic animals live there. Neighbor-to-neighbor policing allows a more humane perspective to color these interactions, I believe.

Look at what Tucson Occupiers are accomplishing. Direct democracy. We have 2 General Assemblies each day where everyone’s voice is heard. Everyone gets to register their thoughts and concerns. We work cooperatively to address the needs and interests of our community. We’ve organized different teams to deal with all facets of the Occupation – Peacekeepers, Food Crew, Medics, Education & Outreach, Media & PR, Sanitation & Facility Maintenance, even Meditation. We’ve had no problems that we haven’t been able to address and solve internally. Really, do we deserve your wrath and ire? What are you afraid of?

Rather than hatin’ on us, you should be applauding our sense of civic responsibility and doing all you can to SUPPORT our efforts.

Thanks, fellows,
Mary DeCamp
www.DeCampForMayor.org

Previous articles in this series:
Oct. 23: Green Tea
Oct. 25: Of Permits and Police
Oct. 26: Tucson Mayor and Council Meeting

This is the third in a series of personal accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. On October 25, the Tucson’s Mayor and Council held a closed door session to discuss Occupy Tucson. Here is a recap of the post-executive session discussion.

Oct 26: Notes from the Occupation

By Mary DeCamp

Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp

Life in a tent in the heart of Tucsonis a fantastic experience.  Even for a 54-year-old female mayoral candidate.  At least for THIS Green Party candidate who is participating in Occupy Tucson as part of the 99% fed up with the status quo and pushing for change.

Yesterday was the Mayor & City Council Study Session meeting to discuss the Occupation and our law-breaking/free speech actions.  The item didn’t make it onto the agenda for the regular MCC evening meeting, but it came up during the afternoon “where the sausage is made” meeting.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich, our champion who released a press statement in favor of Occupy Tucson last week, was unable to attend the meeting, and many of the usual staff members who accompany the other 5 elected Council members were absent as well.  The ones who were there went into executive session behind closed doors to discuss the situation but emerged later and held about 20 minutes of public discussion.

The first Councilwoman waffled a bit, honoring the efforts made by Tucson Police Department, Parks & Rec employees, and the City Attorney but acknowledging the importance of supporting freedom of speech efforts.  She wondered if the City ordinance regarding park use could be re-written to reflect the intent of the group using the space to skirt the problems.  The City Attorney said only behaviors could be legislated, not intent, and that was not a solution.  The Councilwoman wondered about having all the Occupiers sign a waiver that would free the City from health and safety liability issues, but again she was told that would not solve the problem because there was no way to cover all contingencies.  She basically said, “well, carry on, then, and keep us posted.”  Daily meetings continue between City officials;  the relationship between key players on both sides are respectful, courteous, and ongoing.

The second Councilman skipped weighing in on the issue.  He is locked in a re-election race against a strong opponent who is heavily funded and endorsed by the Tea Party loyalists who want self-reliance to triumph and scofflaws to be punished.  My feeling is the current Tea Party followers have lost sight of their founding principles – if these same folks were living in Boston at the time tea was dumped in the harbor to protest legislation without representation they would have called for capital punishment for those ne’er-do-wells who damaged capitalists’ property on behalf of the downtrodden.  Nonetheless, this Councilman’s voice has been quieted by pragmatic political concerns.

The third Councilwoman was our missing Shero.  No idea why she was not present, but she’s been a champion and has bravely taken a supportive stand.  Kudos and thanks go to her.

The forth Councilwoman is also in a re-election race.  Her opponent is also endorsed by the Tea Party and he works as a systems analyst for Raytheon, one of the hearts of the military-industrial-complex beast we are fighting.  This Councilwoman wanted to know about complaints from businesses in the neighborhood, how much paid overtime and scheduling inconvenience this caused the Tucson Police, how the landscaping and watering schedule was affected, and whether the Occupiers were discriminatory in asking people to leave the camp.

The fifth Councilman asked about what was happening in other cities.  Both the Police Chief and the City Attorney assured him they had been in contact with peers in other places and that there was very wide variation in the reactions to Occupation.  The Councilman asked about fines and jail time for those arrested.  He was told that a maximum was in place ($1,000 + 6 mos in jail per citation), but that no MINIMUM was set; that would be at the discretion of the prosecutor and the judge.

The sixth Councilman reported he’d heard concerns from the neighbors (and I know that he’s also heard SUPPORT from others, but he failed to mention that side of the equation).  He said that the City Council adopts ordinances, the Police enforce them, and the judicial branch sorts out any conflicts.  He effectively washed his hands of the matter, turning it over to another governmental branch, as is quite appropriate and convenient.

The Mayor, who is known as “Smiling Bob” and will be retiring in a matter of months, didn’t have anything substantive to contribute.

This morning is our first court date for arraignment.  More updates will be forthcoming as information emerges.

Thanks for your continuing support and interest.  We are making history and it is an honor to be your scribe as the tale unfolds.

Embrace affection – it costs the same as hate and feels a lot better for all involved.

Mary DeCamp
www.DeCampForMayor.org

Previous articles in this series:
Oct. 23: Green Tea
Oct. 25: Of Permits and Police

This is the second post in a series of personal accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. [Emphasis added.]

Oct. 25: Notes from the Occupation

By Mary DeCamp

Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp

Tea Party events that use city property have a beginning time and an end time – the Occupy Movement does not.  We are exercising our first amendment rights to peaceably assemble, to petition our government, and to challenge the fascism that has crept in and taken over.  If we followed the rules, we would not be news and the media would ignore our concerns.  Permission from corrupt officials was not a concern for the original Tea Partiers in BostonHarbor, was it?  Action was taken after the normal courses of appeal failed.  That’s what we are doing today.

Should anyone be hurt, I imagine the same policies that covered the kid who was struck by lightning in a Tucson park last year would apply.  The Occupy Tucson movement has a medical team on site, a security team, peace-keepers, food handlers who follow sanitary and safety guidelines, etc.  We are much safer, better organized, and less of a risk to the city than a bunch of unorganized homeless.  The park is cleaner, safer, and more attractive now than it was before we occupied.  We come together as a community to mutually support and police each other.  The homeless fringe are in less danger with us there than they are on their own in this cold, cruel, self-interested world.  It is a win-win-win.

The City of Tucson is spending an inordinate amount on security and a SWAT presence.  I heard someone state it was $35,000 a week.  This is bogus and unnecessary.  The TPD come and sweep the park, in numbers that began at around 2 dozen officers and now are no less than 9 uniformed cops, equipped with state-of-the-art technological toys.  It is a huge waste of taxpayers’ money.  We are not vagrants, we are not a danger.

And the laws are unequally applied.  Someone circulates through the tents, announcing it is “ticket o’clock” and those who cannot bear the expense of the heavy-handed civil system.  Those unwilling to assume the cost (financial, reputation, court time, etc.), simply cross the street and form a prayer circle or wander about until the police leave and then they return to sleep for the night.  What other parks are subject to this style of enforcement?  Why pick and choose where and when to enforce the law?  It seems a hugely unnecessary expense.

Remember, too, that though the State passed the medical marijuana law we still don’t have medical marijuana dispensaries because that violates federal law.  Here we are standing for federal law, but we are persecuted for violating a city ordinance.  It doesn’t compute.

The most poignant experience I have had during the Occupy Movement is at “ticket o’clock”.  Patriots emerge from their slumber, stand sleepily in line to peacefully accept their tickets, and a lone violin player comes to serenade us.  The juxtaposition of some slovenly and sleepy citizens, fully uniformed and weaponized policemen (not many women at all), and the lone musician have etched this experience in my brain.

The range of people is amazing.  The courage is astounding.  The need is great.  We are being true to the foundations the Tea Party Movement based itself on, yet we are dismissed as “Flea baggers.”  Did you see the picture circulating of our elected US representatives playing computer, anyone? solitaire, checking the sports scores, or using the internet to chat while the budget bill was discussed?  It is shocking, and I am proud to be on the other side of the 1% / 99% divide.

Jesus preached compassion and social responsibility.  Gandhi said one of the 7 cardinal sins was Wealth Without Work.  All religious leaders say that self-interest is insufficient, there must be social responsibility to care for the less fortunate and those who lose out in the competitive culture of a dominant hierarchy.  That is all we are doing ~ just following the example of those who have been on the right side of history in the past.

Mary DeCamp
www.DeCampForMayor.org

Previous articles in this series:
Oct. 23: Green Tea

I am beginning a series of first-hand accounts from the Occupation of Tucson. These very personal and highly descriptive accounts are written by Green Party Mayoral Candate Mary DeCamp who has been camping out at Armory Park since Day 1 of the Occupation. [Emphasis added.]

Oct 23: Notes from the Occupation

By Mary DeCamp

Green Party Mayoral Candidate Mary DeCamp

Yesterday [Saturday, Oct. 22] I was invited to a local Tea Party candidate forum in Presidio Park, just outside the Tucson City Council building.  I eagerly accepted the invitation to present my mayoral platform to this group who typically do not embrace any candidate who suggests widening the dialog beyond the supremecy of Individual Rights.  Since I am part of Occupy Tucson, a group the Tea Party derisively refers to as “Flea Baggers” to balance out their tag as “Tea Baggers”, I figured I’d encounter a hostile crowd.  I was correct.

About 100 folks, mostly gray-haired, white, and clad in red shirts, gathered to hear from local notaries like the new right-wing talk radio host JT Harris, a failed Republican mayoral candidate (too few nominating signatures on his filing petition) Shaun McCluskey,  a token female Tea Party official (Jennifer, but didn’t catch last name), and a trio of Republican candidates.  I strode in with Dave Croteau, my past primary opponent cum current campaign manager, and took my place in the crowd.  Dave set out my quarter page fliers on the literature table.  We stood and listened.

Talk show host Mr. Harris stressed the need to keep love in one’s heart and a smile on one’s face when met with jeers from the uninformed left wing spokespeople who would attack them.  Mr. McCluskey condemned the Occupy Tucson movement as dirty law-breaking hippies who were just out for a fun time and who should be arrested for breaking the law by not acquiring a park permit to occupy the space.  Ms. Jennifer recounted the difficulties she had in getting her business established in the face of bureaucratic obstacles.  Mr. Studwell decried the run-up in city staff numbers and salaries.  And the Republican mayoral candidate, Rick Grinnell, recounted his experience with a local steak house (promotional agent) and the need for service-oriented city officials.

The microphone and public address system went down during the speeches.  They were at a loss.  Ms. Jennifer complained that they’d paid their permit fee to access the electrical outlet and now it wasn’t working.  Luckily there was a strapping young fellow in the crowd wearing an “Occupy Tucson” t-shirt who could step forward, fix their electrical problems, and restore the functioning capacity of the system.

Then it was my turn to speak.  I took the now working microphone, complimented Phil for his technical expertise and willingness to help fix the problem and commended him for his service to the 99% occupying Armory Park.  I was meet with jeers and heckling.  I smiled, as the raido host had earlier instructed me to do, kept love in my heart, and pointed out to the assembled crowd how grateful I was for the earlier instruction.  I pointed out that Mr. McCluskey was picking and choosing which laws to follow, since the Occupiers were following constitutional rights to free assembly, to petition our government, and to free speech.  I asked why Arizona was willing to comply with federal laws against marijuana when our state voters supported medical marijuana dispensary clinics but they favored a city ordinance prohibitting peaceable assembly.  I also invited anyone who wanted more information on my campaign to ask Dave Croteau for it, since the fliers I set out on the table had been taken by someone in the crowd.  I pointed out that Dave had been at their very first Tea Party formation rally at that very same park a couple of years ago.

I went on to outline my platform about setting up Community Conservation Centers in each of our 131 registered neighborhood associations that would take advantage of existing dormant resources to lead the nation in microbusiness development at no cost to big government or to big business.  I introduced the idea of Solari Circles to fund the start-up businesses – affinity groups of 6, 8, 10 friends with investment funds to commit who were scared off by the volatility of the stock market.

They listened.  They were more respectful.  Unconvinced, probably, but nonetheless attentive.

I applauded a new start-up newspaper that had been introduced that day, especially since the current mainstream media were so intent on ignoring my candidacy and my common sense platform.

The organizers said that was enough, and thanked me for coming, and moved on to the other Republican candidates running for City Council and the lone Democratic candidate, Paul Cunninghmam, who was brave enough to show up in his own red shirt.

Thanks everyone, for your interest in the M4M campaign.  Please vote and encourage your friends to vote.

Love,
Mary
www.DeCampForMayor.org

Given: System-wide, US healthcare costs have been on an upward trajectory for decades.

Given: The #1 reason Americans go bankrupt is that they cannot pay their medical bills.

Given: As we grow older, our healthcare (and health insurance) costs increase.

Given: Baby Boomers are entering their Golden Years, and between 2010 and 2040, the US population over 65 years of age will double.

Given: Fiscal hawks at the state and federal level want to reduce, dramatically change, or eliminate government-backed health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid), as well as social safety net programs (ie, Social Security, food stamps, and unemployement).

Given these facts: It is not difficult to see how the colliding forces of an aging population, increasing healthcare costs, and decreasing government support could create a perfect storm in US in the not-so-distant future.

New research published in the September 2011 issue of The American Journal of Medicine gives us a glimpse of what that perfect storm may look like.

Using statistical modeling, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco and Columbia University reported that without significant changes in risk factors or treatments, “…the aging of the US population will result in a sizeable increase in coronary heart disease incidence, prevalence, mortality, and costs.”

More specifically:

• “…incident coronary heart disease [new cases] is projected to increase by approximately 26%, from 981,000 in 2010 to 1,234,000 in 2040…
• “Prevalent coronary heart disease [is projected to increase] by 47%, from 11.7 million to 17.3 million.
• “Mortality will be affected strongly by the aging population; annual coronary heart disease deaths are projected to increase by 56% over the next 30 years, from 392,000 to 610,000.
• “Coronary heart disease-related health care costs are projected to rise by 41% from $126.2 billion in 2010 to $177.5 billion in 2040 in the United States.”

The public health and economic consequences of these projections are staggering– particularly if extremist Teapublicans like Congressman Paul Ryan and sheep-like followers (including Arizona’s own Jeff Flake) have their way.

Let’s assess the current situation…

• 52 million Americans don’t have health insurance.
• 61% of bankruptcies in the US due to medical costs.
• 9.1% of Americans are unemployed.
• Teapublicans– with the help of President Obama– want to fix the “deficit problem” by cutting entitlement programs WITHOUT cutting military spending or raising revenues or creating jobs (which would boost the economy).

If you think income disparity and greed are destroying our country now, just wait. If Teapublicans like Michelle “down with entitlements” Bachmann, Rick “minimum wage” Perry, Mitt “the oligarch’s baby” Romney, Sarah “cut NPR to balance the budget” Palin, Jeff “I was against austerity before I was for it” Flake*, and, of course, FOX “the poor need to pay their fair share” News have their way, there will be literally millions of sick, elderly Americans living at the subsistence level without healthcare services or medicine.

Is this the future we want?

The balanced budget deal passed earlier this month is the only one in history that includes cuts in spending and no increases in revenue. We need sanity in government, and I’m not sure we’ll get it from the Gang of 12.

We need to put people back to work– at good-paying jobs (not the kind Perry created in Texas)– so they can contribute to the economy and contribute to Medicare and Social Security through their paychecks. To control healthcare costs, we need universal healthcare– instead of this hybrid system that allows insurance companies to continue their rape of the American people. We need to eliminate the Bush era tax cuts for the rich and cut tax loopholes for individuals and corporations. We need to end the wars and cut military spending.

Yes, we need sanity in government.

* In all fairness, this is also the position of Senators Jon Kyl, John McCain, and Mitch McConnell and Congressmen John Boehner and Paul Ryan.

Members of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) Tucson Chapter demonstrated their support for Medicare on the recent 46th anniversary of this important component of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other social safety net programs were under attack by Congressional Republicans during the recent budget deficit/debit ceiling fiasco in Congress.

Extremist Teapublicans– including Arizona’s five Teapublican Congressional Representatives, Paul Gosar (CD1), Trent Franks (CD2), Ben Quayle (CD3), David Schweikert (CD5), and Jeff Flake (CD6)– brought the country to the brink of default by choosing to cling to their ideology, rather than thinking about what’s best for our country and voting with the majority of Americans.

For the final vote, Gosar joined Democratic Blue Dog Gabirelle Giffords (CD8) and voted for the compromise debt ceiling bill. Progressive Democrats Raul Grijalva (CD7) and Ed Pastor (CD4) voted against the bill– since it included no revenue increases and leaves Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid volunterable to future cuts.

Franks, Quayle, Schweikert, and Flake voted the straight Teapublican line on every vote– including voting against the debt ceiling deal because it didn’t include a balanced budget amendment.

In these tough economic times, it is disheartening that so many Congressional representatives are more concerned with ideology over the health and economic well-being of US citizens.

This graphic, based upon Department of Labor statistics, shows that overall middle class income has decreased with union membership.

According to Michael Moore, the beginning of the end was 30 years ago yesterday. On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers who had defied his back-to-work order. They had been on strike only two days. From Michael Moore’s The Day the Middle Class Died.

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, “When did this all begin, America’s downward slide?” They say they’ve heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent’s income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how “lowly” your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.

Young people have heard of this mythical time — but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, “When did this all end?”, I say, “It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981.”

Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to “go for it” — to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.

And they’ve succeeded.

Thirty years of trickle down economics later…

Productivity is up, wages are in decline, union membership continues to decline, corporate profits are breaking records, unemployment and housing forclosures are ravishing the middle class, Americans are going bankrupt due to sky-rocketing medical costs, and income disparities between the richest 1 percent and the rest of us are ever-widening.

Meanwhile, Congress– owned by big business and paralyzed by ideology– fiddles while Rome burns.

Americans are weary from grinding recession and disenchanted [putting it mildly] with our out-of-touch government. After the recent debt ceiling fiasco and the shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) due to an ideological, anti-union battle, a full 14 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, according to a recent CNN poll. (A commentator on National Public Radio’s Diane Rehm Show quipped that the 14 percent who said they approved of Congress’ performance must not have understood the question.)

And why shouldn’t we feel disenfranchised by this corporate-controlled government? In poll after poll taken during the protracted debt/deficit battle, Americans said they favored a balanced approach to deficit reduction– one that decreased spending + increased revenues– but that’s not what we got in the end. What we got was a Tea Party dream, a deficit reduction deal based solely on cuts which will likely cost the US 1.8 million jobs. Congressional Teapublicans– including five from Arizona (Jeff Flake, Trent Franks, Phil Gossar– even scared Wall Street and financial markets worldwide with their intransigence and extremism.

From Noam Chomsky’s America in Decline…

For the public, the primary domestic concern is unemployment. Under current circumstances, that crisis can be overcome only by a significant government stimulus, well beyond the recent one, which barely matched decline in state and local spending – though even that limited initiative probably saved millions of jobs.

For financial institutions the primary concern is the deficit. Therefore, only the deficit is under discussion. A large majority of the population favor addressing the deficit by taxing the very rich (72 percent, 27 percent opposed), reports a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Cutting health programs is opposed by overwhelming majorities (69 percent Medicaid, 78 percent Medicare). The likely outcome is therefore the opposite.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes surveyed how the public would eliminate the deficit. PIPA director Steven Kull writes, “Clearly both the administration and the Republican-led House (of Representatives) are out of step with the public’s values and priorities in regard to the budget.”

The survey illustrates the deep divide: “The biggest difference in spending is that the public favored deep cuts in defense spending, while the administration and the House propose modest increases. The public also favored more spending on job training, education and pollution control than did either the administration or the House.”

The final “compromise” – more accurately, capitulation to the far right – is the opposite throughout, and is almost certain to lead to slower growth and long-term harm to all but the rich and the corporations, which are enjoying record profits.

Is Tucson the new ‘Hooverville’?

Homeless shanty towns-- Hoovervilles-- sprang up during the Great Depression. (Photo Credit: Dorthea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.)

What has all of this got to do with life here in Tucson? Plenty. Two recent studies show that: 1) Tucson has the highest rate of poverty of any major city in the sunbelt and 2) Tucson has the “sickest” housing market in the US.

These statistics– coupled with Arizona’s Starve-the-Beast-Feed-the-Capitalists state government and Teapublican Congressional representatives–Gosar (CD1), Franks (CD2), Quayle (CD3, Schweikert (CD5), and Flake (CD6)– paint a pretty bleak future for the Old Pueblo.

What can we do about it? A few weeks ago at a City Council meeting, political activist Jim Hannley suggested that the Tucson Mayor and Council set up a citizens’ commission to study local poverty (Check out the video at about 3:16 minutes in part 2.) In 2007, then Tucson City Councilman Steve Leal’s office compiled a “Poverty and Urban Stress” report. With dozens of statistical graphics, the 90+ page document details poverty, educational attainment, crime, and other urban stress indicators citywide and by Council ward. At the time, the Arizona Daily Star lauded the report and the City Council agreed to revisit the report annually… but didn’t. That was 2007– before the market crash of 2008 and the ensuing recession. Obviously Tucson’s economy– as well as the state’s and the nation’s– has slid since the report was created.

Repeatedly, the Tucson City Council has bowed to local business interests, at the expense of citizens and workers. The City’s budget– like the state’s and the nation’s– has been cut by cutting jobs, thus worsening our economy by increasing unemployment.

It’s time for Tucson’s Mayor and Council to take the long view on our economy. Leal’s report should be updated and expanded to include multi-year trend data. After the update, a citizens’ commission focusing on poverty, the local economy, and jobs should be created to study the data and make recommendations based upon economic research and best practices from other cities.

As Tucson celebrates its 236th birthday this month, it’s time for Tucsonans to stop grumbling, to start fighting for economic and social justice, and to take a lesson from The Little Engine that Could: I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

It’s highly ironic that the current social and political battle over our nation’s debt and deficit is occurring this week with the 46th anniversary of the signing of Social Security Act of 1965 on Saturday, July 30.

After a long political battle dating from Harry Truman’s presidency to Lyndon Johnson’s, Johnson signed this legislation creating universal, single payer healthcare insurance for the nation’s elderly (Medicare) and indigent (Medicaid).

From The Nation…

With reporters and photographers surrounding them, Johnson took a place beside former President Harry Truman, who the sitting president thanked for “planting the seeds of compassion and duty which have today flowered into care for the sick and serenity for the fearful.” [Emphasis added.]

These healthcare reforms were part of Johnson’s Great Society, which had two primary goals: to eliminate poverty and to eliminate racial injustice. After his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964, Johnson and his progressive Democratic Congress enacted forward-thinking reforms that were reminiscent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and began the full-on War on Poverty, which reduced the poverty rate significantly over the subsequent 10 years. Many important Great Society programs– aimed at improving labor, healthcare, and education for poor and working class Americans– are still in existence: Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, student loans for college, work study, and Head Start. These programs were strengthened under Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

It is so sad how far we have fallen from this level of compassion. The programs of Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society– programs that have provided a social safety net for millions of Americans and wiped out many inequities of the past– are now facing a full-frontal attack by conservatives, bankrolled by big business.

Republican Congressmen would have you believe that the nation’s financial problems can be fixed by just cutting spending– specifically dramatically changing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (long-term spending) and dramatically cutting other discretionary (non-military) spending (ie, food stamps, children’s healthcare, food safety, pollution abatement, etc) which actually makes up less than 20 percent of the budget. Oh, yeah, and they want to protect oil subsidies, corporate tax loopholes (which allow multinational corporations like Bank of America to pay no taxes; tax loopholes for the rich; continue the Bush era tax cuts that they fought so hard for in December 2010; dismantle Social Security (so retirement funds for those under 50 can be gambled on the stock market); and offer more tax cuts (more trickle down economics).

At a time of high unemployment, high gasoline costs, high food prices, escalating college education tuition, skyrocketing healthcare expenses, a disintigrating social safety net, and soaring corporate profits– Republicans want workers, the elderly, and the indigent to “tighten their belts” to protect the profits and tax breaks of corporate jet owners, big oil, big pharma, big insurance, and Wall Street gamblers and corporate execs everywhere.

From the Associated Press (via the Arizona Daily Star)…

Two years after economists say the Great Recession ended, the recovery has been the weakest and most lopsided of any since the 1930s.

After previous recessions, people in all income groups tended to benefit. This time, ordinary Americans are struggling with job insecurity, too much debt and pay raises that haven’t kept up with prices at the grocery store and gas station. The economy’s meager gains are going mostly to the wealthiest.

Workers’ wages and benefits make up 57.5 percent of the economy, an all-time low. Until the mid-2000s, that figure had been remarkably stable – about 64 percent through boom and bust alike.

Executive pay is included in this figure, but rank-and-file workers are far more dependent on regular wages and benefits. A big chunk of the economy’s gains has gone to investors in the form of higher corporate profits.

“The spoils have really gone to capital, to the shareholders,” says David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates in Toronto.

Corporate profits are up by almost half since the recession ended in June 2009. In the first two years after the recessions of 1991 and 2001, profits rose 11 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

And an Associated Press analysis found that the typical CEO of a major company earned $9 million last year, up a fourth from 2009.

Driven by higher profits, the Dow Jones industrial average has staged a breathtaking 90 percent rally since bottoming at 6,547 on March 9, 2009. Those stock market gains go disproportionately to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, who own more than 80 percent of outstanding stock, according to an analysis by Edward Wolff, an economist at Bard College.

But if the Great Recession is long gone from Wall Street and corporate boardrooms, it lingers on Main Street:

• Unemployment has never been so high – 9.1 percent – this long after any recession since World War II. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.

• The average worker’s hourly wages, after accounting for inflation, were 1.6 percent lower in May than a year earlier. Rising gasoline and food prices have devoured any pay raises for most Americans.

• The jobs that are being created pay less than the ones that vanished in the recession. Higher-paying jobs in the private sector, the ones that pay roughly $19 to $31 an hour, made up 40 percent of the jobs lost from January 2008 to February 2010 but only 27 percent of the jobs created since then.

Hard times have made Americans more dependent than ever on social programs, which accounted for a record 18 percent of personal income in the last three months of 2010 before coming down a bit this year. Almost 45 million Americans are on food stamps, another record…

Federal Reserve numbers crunched by Haver Analytics suggest that Americans have a long way to go before their finances will be strong enough to support robust spending: Despite cutting what they owe the past three years, the average household’s debts equal 119 percent of annual after-tax income. At the same point after the 1981-82 recession, debts were at 66 percent; after the 1990-91 recession, 85 percent; and after the 2001 recession, 114 percent. [Emphasis added.]

At a time when Americans can least afford it and the income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of us is larger than the Grand Canyon, Republicans are asking for even further financial sacrifices from Main Street Americans AND they are willing to throw the world into financial crisis as they cling to their trickle down ideology of protecting the rich while casting the rest of us aside. If they want to “fix” Social Security, they should put Americans back to work at good-paying jobs. According to 2009 figures from the US Census, 14.3 percent of Americans (and 20.7 percent of American children) are living in poverty; 43 million Americans– the largest number ever.

What can you do about it?

Call your Congressional Representatives today and tell them to vote to:

• raise the debt ceiling (and stop the grandstanding),
• raise revenues (by cutting military spending, eliminating corporate loopholes that allow them to avoid paying taxes, eliminate Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, etc.),
• protect the programs that benefit millions of Americans: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment, college tuition grants, etc.
• solve the deficit problem by putting Americans back to work.

Here are the numbers:
CD8 Gabrielle Giffords: 520-881-3588 (local) or 202-225-2542 (DC)
CD7 Raul Grijalva: 520-622-6788 (local) or 202-225-2435 (DC)

CD6 Jeff Flake from Mesa (We need to lean on this guy who wants to be our next Senator.):
480-833-0092 (in Mesa) or 202-225-2635 (DC)

Senator Jon Kyl 520-575-8633 (local) or 202-224-4521 (DC)
Senator John McCain 520-670-6334 (local) or 202-224-2245 (DC)

What else can you do?

Progressive Democrats of America’s Tucson Chapter is holding a demonstration to show support for protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on Saturday, July 30 from 10 a.m. – noon at the corner of Speedway and Campbell.

MoveOn.org is calling on us– all of us– to visit our Congressional representatives’ offices today, July 26, at noon and tell them to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Don’t let extremist Teapublicans destroy our economy and our country’s social safety net– as they play chicken with President Obama and the world financial markets over raising the debt ceiling. (If you know anyone who lives in John Boehner’s Ohio district, forward it to him.)

From Move On…

This weekend, it became 100% clear that Republicans would rather see America default, Social Security checks stop going out, the stock market plummet, and unemployment soar than give one inch on their position: that the very richest people and most profitable corporations shouldn’t pay one penny more in taxes.

Even after the president offered Republicans a debt-ceiling deal most MoveOn members probably consider unconscionable—with trillions in cuts, even to Medicare and Social Security—speaker Boehner still walked away from the table.

Republicans hope the threat of default will be enough to force Democrats to sacrifice and compromise even more.

But Democrats like Raul Grijalva are standing strong. Rep. Grijalva is one of 80 Democrats who have joined Leader Pelosi in saying that cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits are off the table. Over the next few days, Rep. Grijalva will face extreme pressure to cave into every Republican demand and let irresponsible threats drive terrible decisions in Washington.

That’s why, with other leaders of the American Dream movement, we’re putting out an urgent call for every patriotic American to show up outside progressive congressional offices on Tuesday at noon to deliver a crucial message of support: “Thank you for protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Keep standing strong.”

Can you deliver the message to Rep. Grijalva at his office on Tuesday at noon?

Yes, I can drop by on Tuesday!

We’ll follow up with all the details and a link to print your own “Keep standing strong” signs to bring to Rep. Grijalva.

Then you just have to show up on Tuesday here:

738 North 5th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705

We need to show as much public support as possible, so please pass this along to anyone else you know who could join in on Tuesday. This is a moment when we need to bring the progressive movement together to show our strength and show our boldest leaders that we’re with them. 

Let’s get out there on Tuesday and let leaders like Rep. Grijalva know how important it is to keep standing up to Republican threats. We can’t let Republicans crash the American economy to protect tax giveaways for the rich.

As someone who lives in CD8– Gabrielle Giffords’ district– I received a different version of this MoveOn letter urging CD8 residents to go to her office (3945 E. Fort Lowell Road, Suite 211) to encourage her to support the position that Pelosi and Grijalva have taken. I don’t know how many people will show up at Giffords’ office, but I think it’s a good idea because it emphasizes that CD8 residents need to have a dog in this fight.

Raising the debit ceiling and reducing the deficit by cutting corporate subsidies and tax loopholes for the rich– while protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid– are crucial issues. If you can’t go to your Congressional representative’s office today in person, contact them. Here is their contact information: Raul and Gabby.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' staff sponsored a deficit reduction town hall on June 30, 2011 in Tucson.

The featured speakers at a recent deficit reduction town hall in Tucson– David Walker from the Comeback America Initiative and Robert Bixby of the Concord Coalition– were well-versed in how bad the US economy is, the dangers of out-of-control spending, revisionist history on how we got here, and the right-wing solutions for fixing our financial problems.

The ideas covered in the talks (eg, government is too big; we need to cut spending; entitlement programs are burying us economically; healthcare reform costs too much; corporations are taxed too much; Washington is in gridlock) were almost as disturbing as the budget-balancing ideas that were left out (eg, end the wars; drop our inefficient and costly, capitalism-based healthcare system for single-payer national healthcare; put people to work at good-paying jobs, so they can fuel the economy and contribute to Social Security; end the Bush era tax cuts; raise the Social Security contribution cap; close corporate tax loopholes; disincentivize sending US jobs to other countries; end the war on drugs, legalize marijuana and tax it; invest in research to create new good jobs going forward; invest in public education and subsidize college to grow our next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs; end our love affair with trickle-down economics).

Walker repeatedly said that both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for the out-of-control spending that has increased the deficit and the debt. Ironically, Walked never mentioned trickle-down economics or Presidents Ronald Reagan or George Bush #2– two people whose failed economic policies did more to bury our country in debt than anyone else. He said that the deficit and debt were under control until 1982, when magically everything went south– with no mention of who was elected in 1982 and what he [Reagan] did to destroy the economy.

Walker did give Presidents George Bush #1 and Bill Clinton credit for being fiscally responsible and reducing the deficit but didn’t mention that they both raised taxes (something Republicans in Congress refuse to do now). He also never mentioned that after Bill Clinton raised taxes on the rich and controlled spending, he oversaw the longest economic boom in US history and handed George Bush #2 a budget surplus. In fact, when Walker mentioned the recent 10-year period where all hell broke loose financially, he left out the role of Bush #2 and his Republican-controlled Congress, who cut taxes, started multiple unfunded wars, spent money we didn’t have, handed pharmaceutical companies a blank check with the Medicare prescription drug benefit, and oversaw the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression. This is revisionist history at its best… or worst.

The evening ended with small-group, interactive deficit-reduction roundtable discussions where people could share ideas. Check out this post which includes a link to the New York Times’ deficit reduction exercise if you want to try your hand at reducing the deficit and debt.

This town hall was awash right-wing ideals. So, why was it sponsored by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ staff? And, why was Giffords’ staff overtly suppressing free speech at the event? It should have been sponsored by the Tucson Tea Party. Check out the video for clips of the speeches and discussion.