Fwd: regarding the proposed minimum wage bill by Sen. Murray and Sanders

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 May 2017 07:00:25 -0700
Subject: regarding the proposed minimum wage bill by Sen. Murray and Sanders
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@freelists.org>
Cc: carjar82 <carjar82@gmail.com>

This morning I received a request from Senator Patty Murray to support
a proposed bill by herself and Bernie Sanders to raise the minimum
wage to $15 per hour, by the year 2024. Since the article Sen. Murray
asked me to read is on Face Book, which I will not subscribe to, and
in the Seattle Times, which I cannot read without subscribing to the
on-line edition, I am unable to send along that Op Ed article. But
here is my response to Senator Murray:

A brief word of explanation:
I am a strong supporter of both Senators Murray and Sanders. But I
refuse to sign up with Face Book, so I am unable to read the article
in the Seattle Times.
I am also totally blind, and use a screen reader(Jaws) to access
information on-line. I had hoped to post the article on Blind
Democracy, a national list used by many Progressive blind people(and
at least a couple of Radicals).
While I applaud any legislation that raises the minimum wage to $15
per hour, I feel as if it is hope deferred when the target date is set
so far in the future. 2024, for many workers, might as well be
"Never!"
I understand that in order to have even a slight chance of passage,
such a proposal needs to move carefully. But where is the
conversation regarding the fact that workers have been cheated out of
a decent living wage for many long years? $22 per hour would be
closer to where the minimum wage should be set, Today! not at some
future date. By 2024, the minimum wage will most likely need to be
adjusted to around $25 per hour.
And what about a Minimum health protection? And what about fully paid
basic education...to whatever level each individual achieves? And
what about the millions of American Working Poor who are imprisoned in
our nation's slums and ghettos, where they are guaranteed substandard
life. Where they are faced with daily danger, attacks by American
raised Terrorists...police, loan sharks, banks, and lack of education
and basic health maintenance? Not to even scratch the surface.
As I say, we do need to be realistic about what should be our
priorities, and how fast we can move toward our goals of an equal
America. But maybe it's time to say that we can't fight oppression by
talking nice to our oppressors.
I do recall saying that I would be brief...well, like any political
American, I can't resist babbling. But I'll stop for now, frustrated
both by the exclusion from the article in the Seattle Times, and by
the slow moving wheels of Justice.
Nonetheless, I am out here, supporting Senators Murray and Sanders,
among others.

Cordially,
Carl Jarvis, Director
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services
2510 Snow Creek Road: Quilcene, WA 98376
phone: 360-765-4239
email: carjar82@gmail.com