Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Being there for each other isn't charity, it's solidarity

John Burbank / Syndicated Columnist

 This week the Council on Foundations is meeting in Seattle. This gathering will generate a lot of talking and planning about eradicating poverty. For most foundations, the connection is charity.

Charity attempts to address the generation of poverty that is part and parcel of our uniquely American capitalist economy, unbounded by many of the rules that define democracy in many other countries. Government and democracy in our country are often subservient to, instead of partners with, corporate business. This hemming in of our democratic decision-making results in band-aids in the place of progress. Charity provides the money for these band-aids.

Government does as well. Rather than questioning the inequities of our society, public policy makers are apt to default to reinforcing social divides that cordon off government services for the poor, as in child-care subsidies, or the rich, as in government contracts for non-competitive bids for "disaster relief" services.

Contrast charity to the idea of solidarity. Solidarity implies that we all are together in this society, sharing rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Instead of looking down or up the social ladder from our own station in life, solidarity demands shared responsibilities and rights as Americans. What a strange notion - solidarity as Americans. It sounds sort of patriotic.

Social Security is one bedrock for social solidarity in the United States. All workers contribute to Social Security. And all retirees realize the lifeline of Social Security as they age. Our parents get Social Security, so they are economically independent. Our friends who are disabled from work get Social Security. The children and spouses of workers who have died get Social Security to enable them to keep house and home.

Or course, George Bush has been working hard to dismantle Social Security, but just because of the very nature of the program - that everyone pays in and everyone benefits - Bush has failed at rolling the people to destroy this program. Think back two years. Bush was leading a campaign to dismantle Social Security. He sounded like Chicken Little, with claims that Social Security was going broke, while it was running a surplus and the government was borrowing from its trust fund to pay for other programs.

Now Social Security is barely mentioned by the administration, and for good reason. The latest report of the Social Security Administration (with a majority of commissioners appointed by Bush) extends the time period for which the Social Security program is projected to be able to pay full benefits with no changes to 2041. The new projections show that after the trust fund is projected to be depleted, the program will be able to pay an average wage earner a benefit that is 2 percent higher in real terms than an average wage earner who retires this year will receive. These projections are based on negative assumptions about productivity growth and unemployment. So at least we know that one program for solidarity and security is in good shape!

Our Legislature took a big stride for solidarity in passing family leave insurance this month. Here's a policy and program that is available for all workers, those who make $10 an hour, those who make $25 an hour, and those who make $75 an hour. The key is work, not how much you get paid.

Family leave insurance will provide partial compensation for five weeks to workers taking time off to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. It is not a lot of money - $250 a week. But it sure will help pay the bills and enable parents to care for their newborn children, and not jeopardize their jobs in doing so. It enables workers to balance their responsibilities as parents with their role as breadwinners. It creates the first foundation for early learning and simply tender, loving and present care for infants in our state.

Of course, not all of us will have children in future years. But we know someone who will - it may be our daughters and their spouses, our nieces and nephews, our grandchildren. So paid family leave is an act of solidarity, not charity. It is a lot harder to take away, because in taking it away, we all get hurt.

As the fight over Social Security showed, in a democracy, once a right is given, it is hard to take away. After all, we do vote!

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.
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