WHAT THE LEFT HAS GIVEN AMERICA

[NightTrain]

I made this list off the top of my head. If you can think of anything to add, please do!

The list is in approximate chronological order:

The American Revolution

The Constitution of the United States

The Emancipation Proclamation

Child labor laws

Workplace safety regulations

Sanitation laws

Anti-trust legislation

Women's voting rights

Organized labor

Social Security

Rural electrification

Brown v. the Board of Education

The Civil Rights movement

An end to the Vietnam War

Gay and lesbian rights (Still a work in progress, but still....)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Anti-cruelty laws

ones for animals came first. In fact, the way they got to prosecute someone for child abuse was by calling the child an animal!

[stepnw1f]

2. Public Education

Welfare...

[grannylib]

3. Cleaner air, cleaner water, an end to back-alley abortions

[sandnsea]

4. Again, on the Revolution

Those of us on the left, or leftward side, agree on the Revolution. I think in regards to throwing off the rule of the King and religion and self-determination.

I posted this in another thread and think it's very interesting. What if part of our patriotic history was that our country was actually founded by organized labor? I always think of our founders as primarily wealthy businessmen and "landed gentry". Have those of us who labor for a living been sold short even in the founding of our own country?

"Primitive unions, or guilds, of carpenters and cordwainers, cabinet makers and cobblers made their appearance, often temporary, in various cities along the Atlantic seaboard of colonial America. Workers played a significant role in the struggle for independence; carpenters disguised as Mohawk Indians were the "host" group at the Boston Tea Party in 1773. The Continental Congress met in Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia, and there the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. In "pursuit of happiness" through shorter hours and higher pay, printers were the first to go on strike, in New York in 1794; cabinet makers struck in 1796; carpenters in Philadelphia in 1797; cordwainers in 1799."

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Eco_Unionization.htm

[ET Awful]

5. Paid vacation, the weekend, overtime pay, the minimum wage. . .

n/t

[rwenos]

6. The New Deal, And . . .

You've given a swipe to, but not mentioned by name:
The Social Security Act of 1933
The Medicare Act of 1964
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations)
The Clean Air Act
The Clean Water Act
The Endangered Species Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Federal Communications Act (FCC)
The National Defense Student Loans Act
The Marshall Plan
The GI Bill
The Federal Housing Authority Act (FHA home loans)
The Veterans Administration
The Voting Rights Act of 1968
The Abortion Clinic Protection Act of 1993
Every Single Gun Control Bill ever passed
100,000 new cops on the street (1995)
Miranda v. Arizona (right to counsel; police warnings)
Gideon v. Wainright (right to counsel; public defenders)
Roe v. Wade (abortion rights)
Brown v. Board of Education (school desegregation)
Loving v. Virginia (outlawing restrictions on interracial marriage)


I could go on, but you get the point.

[CaTeacher]

8. It is a start--but I see us doing so much more

for America! I hope Kerry helps us to pursue a real progressive agenda. I have high hopes that Kerry and Edwards will pursue a true progressive agenda! I am keeping my fingers crossed, but after the inauguration, I personally would like to see:

Death Penalty Repealed

Strict Gun Control

Rights For Gays--(which MUST include every right afforded to "straights" including marriage and the adoption of children.)

More Stringent Affirmative Action

Health Care for everyone

Free education for all--which will include mandatory cultural education for everyone (not just those of college age)

Fair taxes that will redistribute wealth and equalize society so that we do not have a large gap between rich and poor.

Penalties (or banning) for any "Christian" church that engages in political activity---yes that includes the pope--his recent proclamations against feminism and gay rights put him at the very top of the list.

Strict policies that keep corporations from ruining our environment and from sending jobs overseas.

Expanded welfare benefits to include a basic "living wage" to ALL persons, regardless of their employment status.

Peace.

[Guava Jelly]

7. I had this sent to me via email

WHAT HAS GOP DONE FOR WORKERS?


CLINT C. GOLD
10/24/1999
Tulsa World


Not too long ago, my wife and I attended a TV football
party in south Tulsa. With a lopsided score, the
conversation turned to a livelier subject -- politics. The
crowd was, of course, top-heavy with Republicans. With each
point expressed their faces became more flushed, eyes
bulging a little more and veins popping in their foreheads
as they railed against the liberal programs.

Finally a lone, liberal voice asked: "Will you people
name me one bill your party ever passed to help the working
man of this country?" The question created much din and
clamor, and someone sputtered, "Well, what have the
Democrats done?"

The liberal responded with a few programs and was
interrupted by howling and disdain. He noted that he had
not promised they would like the programs and he asked to
complete his statement -- a difficult task to ask of
Republicans.

He spoke of Social Security; Medicare-Medicaid; Peace
Corps; unemployment insurance; welfare (for the poor and
corporate); civil rights; student grant and loan programs;
safety laws (OSHA); environmental laws; prevailing wage
laws; right to collective bargaining (which brought about
paid medical insurance, paid vacations, pensions, etc.);
workers' compensation; Marshall Plan; flood-disaster
insurance; School Lunch Program; women's rights.

He spoke of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which
established a minimum wage, instituted child labor laws,
and set up time-and-a-half pay for over a 40-hour week.

He mentioned FHA-HUD with its public housing, urban
renewal and 44 million residential homes (before WWII
almost 70 percent of our nation were renters; by the 1970s
this had been reversed). And farm-conservation
subsidies -- USDA programs, Farmers Home Administration (the
bankers didn't want to make rural loans), small
flood-control lakes (more than 3,000 in Oklahoma alone),
rural water districts, rural electricity (REA).

The GI Bill was passed, which the Republicans at the
time bitterly opposed. They were salivating over millions
of returning veterans to hire as cheap labor. More than 8
million have used college benefits, creating millions of
entrepreneurs; most of us had never dreamed of college. For
the unemployed GI, there was $20 a week for 52 weeks to
help get started (a lot of money in those days). The
Veterans Administration provided more than 2 million home
loans.

For the bankers at the football party, it was pointed
out that the liberals saved their industry with the
creation of FDIC and FSLIC, insuring their deposits, and
saved Wall Street with the establishment of the Securities
Exchange Commission.

The oil men came on bended knees to FDR at a time when
East Texas oil was 4 cents a barrel and begged him to save
their industry. He did; prorationing overturned the rule of
capture and the days of flush production were over.
Prorating has served this great industry (and nation)
well.

And the list went on and on, but of course this group
didn't let him get halfway through. He noted they were
weary, inattentive, so again he challenged them to offer up
any Republican legislation examples.

"I'm sure your party has authored one or two comparable
bills from time to time, but I can't think of any, and
apparently you can't either. What it boils down to is this:
the liberals dragged you into the 20th century scratching
and screaming with your heels in the mud, fighting anything
that's progressive, everything that's made this country
great. You Republicans have never understood that the
spending power of blue-collar workers, obtained through
Democrats and unions, is what really made this country
great. You really believe "The Good Life" was obtained from
your own endeavors. You cloak your greed in religion and
patriotism, railing against any form of tax, never
comprehending that these programs have benefited all of us
and our country."

Well, I almost didn't make it out of the house. My wife
and I didn't even get to see the end of the football game.


If Reps. Steve Largent or J.C. Watts had been there,
perhaps politics would never have come up, only the game
plan ... pity.


Clint C. Gold is former mayor of Moore and a retired
savings and loan executive.

[wurzel]

9. Hardly anyone in this country knows how they got what they got.

They seem to think it fell out of the sky. Or because they are "American". Or the wonders of "Free Enterprise". They have no clue how the forty hour week came about. Why they get vacations, overtime pay, and the minimum wage. What they don't know could fill a book. That is why they have lost so much, and will eventually lose it all.