Working for a living

Talking about politics is hard for most of us. The mealtime/reunion maxim in my family has always been: don't talk about politics or religion. Of course my extended family has had it's share of Christo-fascists for years (Frank, I think his name was, fundamentalist preacher who wore a clerical collar!); but most folks seem to have similar rules.

The same rule usually applies in the workplace, because it may be hard to work closely with people day in and day out if you've had a really unpleasant exchange about some political issue. As a teacher, I've had to deal with some pretty narrow-minded folks through the years, and speaking my mind has to some degree always kept me separated from many of my colleagues.

So I have gotten quieter as the issues have gotten more divisive, but it seems to me (IMHO, as you forum hounds have it) if we are going to make inroads into swing voter/non-voter land, we must begin talking about these things to everyone, and especially to our fellow workers. Here in the south, where racism, sexism and other forms of heart-pinching hatred induce most of the white folks to vote consistently against their own economic interests, our only hope is to get folks thinking about the realities of working for a living in a Republican dominated America. The same thing may be true in much of the country now, if the 2004 election is any indication.

Most of these are good people at heart, but the faux-morality of the Repubs, buttressed by the constant pounding of the hard-core right - “Maybe Rush has a point about that, you know? And Brother Ryan said last Sunday...” - has confused them. Their religion is pretty well below the thought line anyway, so it's hard for many of them to see how racism or opposition to gay rights is not just a clear moral stand, “good Christian values”. They don't stop to weigh it against their ideas of political freedom, justice and equality.

According to my most politically astute friend Neill, most of the local small business people, even those active in the local Republican organization, are not really Republican in philosophy, and if you get them talking and ask them the right questions, they'll reveal as much. Often, these people are lost in fantasies of becoming millionaires in five years, and thus hope to reap the benefits of Republican policies when they get in “the club.”

So how do we talk to these people, and their still-wondering non-voter counterparts, without driving them further away? I think the answer is to find opportunities to talk about our deepest values in the context of the work situation we share. Other shared interests, such as family and children, may also provide opportunities for discussion of values. If we maintain a high level of awareness and sensitivity, we can subtly connect these values to our political stance, and over a period of time begin to have an impact. It is very important that we don't come on too strong, for people accept new ideas best when it seems to them that the ideas came from within, rather than from someone else.

So what are the core values that most of our fellow workers likely share and that lead us to vote progressive, liberal, left, or Democratic? Here's a list of moral values based on personal characteristics most of us would like to see in those we work with:
=fairness
=unselfishness
=responsibility
=self-discipline
=courage
=honesty
=trust
=reliability
=openness
=caring and empathy
=compassion
=cooperation.

You can probably add to or refine this list from your own experiences with living and working. Each of these characteristics has a political component, a political expression. Words like freedom, democracy, equality, justice, community, equity, opportunity, community, service, and security are the expressions of these ideas in the public sphere.

George Lakoff, linguist and author of Moral Politics, says, “If we communicate our values clearly, most people will recognize them as their own, personally more authentic and more deeply American than those put forth by conservatives. At the very least they will see progressives as having deeply held, traditional American principles. This would be a huge step forward from the present state, in which conservatives are seen as having a monopoly on "values" and progressives are framed as the party of "if it feels good, do it," with no higher principles.” [“Our Moral Values,” The Nation, Nov. 18]

Lakoff also points out that idealized family values projected onto the nation become political values, and notes that though conservatives have laid claim to “family values,” what they propound is only one of the models of family in our society. Their idea of family values is the “strict father” version, Lakoff says, which assumes children are bad and have to be threatened and punshished in order to be made good. The progressive model of governance comes from another family model, the nurturant family, where parents see their job as to nurture children and raise them to be nurturers of others. The aim of the nurturant model is fullfillment in life, which requires freedom and equal opportunity in open communities of honest, trusting citizens. A progressive society!

Many people in our society are responsive to the ideals of the nurturant family, and will respond to our talk of such ideas in a non-political way. If we understand how these values are connected to our national goals and policies, we can naturally and casually bring these ideas into conversation at work in ways that will help initiate uncommitted but concerned citizens into the national dialogue with progressive inclinations.

Lakoff draws these connections clearly: “If you empathize with your children, you will want them to have strong protection, fair and equal treatment and fulfillment in life. Fulfillment requires freedom, freedom requires opportunity and opportunity requires prosperity. Since your family lives in, and requires, a community, community building and community service are required. Community requires cooperation, which requires trust, which requires honesty and open communication. Those are the progressive values--in politics as well as family life.

“Take protection. In addition to physical protection, there is environmental protection, worker protection and consumer protection, as well as all the "safety nets"--Social Security, Medicare and so on. Equality means full political and social equality, without regard to wealth, race, religion or gender. Openness requires open government and a free, inquiring press. Progressive political ideals are nurturant moral ideals.”

The conservative family model leads to the current national model: “We need a strong President who knows right from wrong to defend the nation. Social programs are immoral because they give people things they haven't earned and so make them undisciplined--both dependent and less able to function morally. The prosperous people are the good people. Those who are not prosperous deserve their poverty. Taxes take away the rightful rewards of the prosperous. Wrongdoers should be punished severely. Government should get out of the way of disciplined (hence good) people seeking their self-interest. The President is to be obeyed; since he knows right from wrong, his authority is legitimate and not to be questioned....

“The so-called "moral issues" are affronts to strict-father morality. Strict-father marriage cannot be gay; it must be between a man and a woman. For a wife to seek an abortion on her own or a daughter to need one is an affront to strict-father control over the behavior of the women in his family. They are not the main moral issues in themselves; rather they are symbolic of the entire strict-father identity as applied to all spheres of life.”

Another whole sphere of workplace interest is wages and working conditions. Whether or not we work with people who are paid hourly wages, we can raise the issue with fellow workers. There is evidence that many Americans, even those self-identify as conservative and who vote Republican, favor raising the minimum wage. In both Florida and Nevada in the 2004 election, “voters overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to raise the minimum wage by one dollar,” according to an article by Peter Dreier and Kelly Candaele. [“Democrats Should Fight for a Moral Minimum Wage,” The Nation, Dec. 3]

"The minimum-wage campaign brought a lot of people out to vote who otherwise might have stayed home," explained Brian Kettenring, an organizer for ACORN, a community group that spearheaded the Florida effort. "Most of those new voters probably voted for Kerry, which narrowed Bush's margin. But we also found that lots of swing voters, who weren't sure how they were going to vote for President, enthusiastically supported raising the minimum wage." That enthusiam produces a 70% vote in favor of the proposal.

This is another issue that is based on progressive moral values. Dreier and Kelly emphasize that progressives could win elections by framing “economic justice as a moral issue.” When people are presented clearly with the economics facts of everyday life for the poor, most respond positively. For example, do the math: the current minimum wage comes out to $10,712 annually. Before taxes. The poverty minimum wage, one that would produce $19,000 annually, is $9.50. How can a nominally Christian nation allow citizens to live at such levels in the midst of the abundance we see all around us? Isn't this a moral issue? Though I'm a Buddhist, even I could quote Jesus on these issues!

A few more facts for your arsenal: “If the federal minimum wage were increased to just $7 an hour, at least 7.4 million workers would receive a wage boost. If the minimum wage were pegged at $9.50, millions more would be lifted out of poverty. The largest group of beneficiaries would be children, whose parents would have more money for rent, food, clothing and other basic necessities.”

And when they say, 'yeah but...' here's the economics of it: “Because the working poor spend everything they earn, every penny of a minimum-wage increase goes back into the economy, increasing consumer demand and adding at least as many jobs as are lost. Most employers actually gain, absorbing the increase through decreased absenteeism, lower recruiting and training costs, higher productivity and increased worker morale.”

Progressive organizations are planning initiatives on many of these concerns. If we are out there building the momentum for them, things could change, and change quickly in this country. It takes a little planning and a little “chutzpah” as my New York relatives say, but the stakes are high. There are 100 million people in America who haven't been voting: our friends, neighbors and co-workers.

If we don't talk to them, guess who will?