Can Democrats Get A New Party, Too?

The Article: Can Democrats Get a New Party, Too? by Lawrence Lessig in The Atlantic.

The Text: It’s obvious to any sane Republican that the GOP needs to remake itself. The brand “rich, white, and male” may be fine for a fraternity (in 1953). It’s not so great for a political party today. If anything is certain about 2016, it is that the Republicans will survive only if the GOP becomes something more. Its followers, in other words, are about to get a new party.

But with Hillary Clinton seemingly poised to run for president and resume the Clinton dynasty’s reign, here’s the question Democrats need to ask: Can we get a new party too?

Our problem isn’t the Republicans’ — we’re not too exclusive. It’s the opposite: We are wildly too inclusive. The Democrats are indeed a rainbow coalition, courting every hue of American society. But the leaders of the party believe that at our core, there must be a dark shade of green. For at least 20 years, conventional Democratic wisdom has been that we can do nothing unless we give pride of place to large-dollar funders of Democratic campaigns. This money, most Democrats would concede, may well be evil, but it is a necessary evil. And the trick, we’ve been told again and again, is to pass as much policy as we can, subject to the constraints of raising big money.

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Monty Python On Crackpot Religions

Go, Dubya!

Alas, even W. cannot have it all. Despite his achievements, the peaks of the Swiss Alps will likely remain out of reach given the fact that if he goes to Switzerland, he’ll face prosecution as a war criminal.

See Ya Later, Eight-Hour Work Day

The Article: They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week by Dave Johnson in AlterNet.

The Text: Republicans are trying to pass an “alternative” to overtime pay. This is really about taking away the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek. Will weekends be next? What about an “alternative” to paying workers at all?

House Republicans are pushing a bill that takes away extra pay for overtime, substituting “comp” time instead. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 is the law that brought us the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour workweek. This law does not prohibit employers from requiring workers to work over 40 hours. Instead, it gives employers an incentive to instead pay extra or hire more people, and gives employees a premium if they do have to work longer. (Note that this is also the law that brought us a minimum wage and outlawed child labor.)

There is proof that overtime pay works: workers like domestic workers and agricultural workers – jobs not covered by the FLSA – are twice as likely to have to work more than 40 hours in a week. And even with this law, Americans already work more hours than in almost any other industrialized country.

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The Ten Best George Carlin Clips On American Politics And Culture

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