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Without question Sawant has plenty of supporters within Seattle, nobody said she didn’t and that’s why she is able to do the crazy stuff that she’s does.
That was a good fluff story, which honestly is very true. My only question was how much money did Sawant’s organization donate towards this article? Sawant is very good at “creating an illustration” and “coming off” as a person of Color that also “suffered the hardships of the Working-Class” when that’s the furthest thing from the truth since she has always lived a very privileged life.
Nothing is wrong with being rich or well off, but don’t “fake the funk” by claiming that you know how it feels to live Pay Check to Pay Check or ever having to eat a “government cheese” sandwich because she hasn’t. It’s nothing but smoke and mirrors for her to achieve her goals, which only causes more hate and division.
Honestly, because of most of the policies Sawant has forcefully pushed upon the people of Seattle, is now being paid back with the blood and lives from Black, Brown, along with the White and Asian communities. Seriously, how well has Defund the Police worked in Seattle? How many lives, of ALL people of ALL Colors has it claimed? How has the QoL been improved for people of ALL Colors, due to all the lawlessness caused by Defund the Police?
I have no problems with police reform and police accountable, which is a must and I support 100%. But at the SAME time, I think there should be political reform and political accountability as well since for too long politicians can simply walk away from all the willful damage they caused.
I grew up with kids from parents who moved to Seattle during and after World War Two who either worked in the war industries or served in the military. For the first five years of my life, I grew up in the old Yesler Terrance projects before my parents bought a house in a mixed Black, Mexican, Filipino and Native American lower Working-Class neighborhood in South Seattle. Where else could a nappy headed mixed Black and White kid fall in love and later be married to a skinny mixed Filipina/Thai and Native American girl back in 1980? This is way Seattle was so great and special to many people of Color from the 1940s to the 1970s/1980s.
And I remember both the Good and Bad of the old Central District AND there was no shortage of the bad, so let’s not lie to ourselves in thinking that the CD was some mystical or magical place. I had many friends I grew up with, that later moved to the CD, to include my future wife, back in the mid/late 1970s,
I have no doubt that Sawant will win in this recall effort, which I hope I’m wrong, but her “operatives” are very aggressive and motivated to keep her in the City Council since they have no desire to see Seattle heal and be the city of prosperity as we move forward into the 21st Century.
From the Seattle Times:
Sawant’s allies have erected a handful of sidewalk tents around renter-dense Capitol Hill to hawk on-the-spot votes against the recall. A tabletop printer at each uses a cellphone connection to dispense ballots for district voters, inches away from anti-recall leaflets and posters. Visits to four outposts Wednesday found campaign staff energetically denouncing the recall while offering assistance with casting ballots. These “grassroots voting stations” exist beyond reach of Washington’s prohibition on electioneering at government voting centers, an omission the Legislature should correct to keep municipal elections clear of hands-on activism. Sawant must not eke out a win under such dubious tactics.
Those grassroots voting stations drive me CRAZY! They're on every corner and trying to get around the people attending them is like trying to get through a used car lot full of hungry sales people. I can't wait until this is done.
I have no doubt that Sawant will win in this recall effort, which I hope I’m wrong. But her “operatives” are very aggressive and motivated to keep her in the City Council. They have no desire to see Seattle heal and be the city of prosperity as we move forward into the 21st Century.
Government Cheese.
Have any of you eaten it?
It was high quality and really good.
Perfect for grilled cheese sammiches.
Tasted so good I didn’t even know I was poor .
Extreme viewpoints (far left or right) are always very stringent on their perspective, as seen by MAGA supporters or the Sawant/ AOC type. Their supporters are passionate for the cause but feel that there is only 1 way to fix things. But we are lucky that US has a strong democratic foundation, dating 250 years, so we deal this via election and people's choice.
There are many controversial topics that span across the democrat and republican spectrum,but following are some thoughts being a centrist.
1) Law enforcement/ social justice- police forces are the backbone of a functioning society, so we need to provide them all the support. Policies should be strict, so that repeat offenders are heavily discouraged to commit crime. But at the same time, the officers can be trained on proper behavior and being respectful to law abiding citizen. Disciplinary action should be taken at individual officer level if evidence is found.
2) Immigration- US has always relied on immigrants to make economic progress, even the biggest companies like Tesla, MSFT, Google are either founded or run by people that came here to start a better life (Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, Satya Nadella). In addition, with the declining natural birth, immigration is needed to bring in more younger tax paying population to support the older (baby boomer) generation. But this should be done in a structured legal way and not just allow every other random person to cross the border without consequences. There can be a point based system to bring in the right folks with right skillset and few thousand legal asylum seekers/ refugees based on humanitarian ground. But the illegal people should be held accountable for their action.
3) Taxation/ capitalism/ social programs- Capitalism may not be perfect, but it's the best solution humans have developed after trial and error and has done wonders to bring millions of people out of poverty and develop US, western europe, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and many other nations. There should not be a ceiling/ limit on high an individual can grow. People like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates have created thousands of jobs and investment and moved the society forward.. we need more such people and not constrain their growth. Increasing tax has unintended consequence of stifling growth as there is less money to spend on investment/ R&D.
At the same time, it's not acceptable that so many people have to live on the street or not have the basic amenities of life like food and shelter. In fact the existing revenue generated by the cities is sufficient to help these people if they are spent more efficiently . As public/ government agencies are inefficient in fund use, public-private partnership should be looked into. Also, the current leaders in charge of such social service organizations should be held accountable based on metrics and performance (just like a private company).
4) Climate change/ jobs protection--- With rapid industrialization, our impact on the ecosystem is very real. We are pumping Co2 and extracting minerals at rapid pace impacting the natural balance as seen by extreme weather worldwide. But there needs to be a structured approach to handle this that can create jobs while also allowing us to address this issue for the next generation.
For example: nuclear energy is one of the cleanest forms of energy and very safe (just because we have aircraft crashes does not mean we stop flying and building aircrafts). So just like France, US can look into that. Also, building solar panels and EV batteries are not as clean as they look at a high level, since these require extraction of minerals like cobalt, lithium, nikel which has environmental impact as well. So, we need to invest on R&D to make those technologies better while allowing some traditional oil based industry in place-- it can be gradually phased our as nuclear and alternate sources come into place. This retains existing job while moving the newer generation towards future professions.
5) Stimulus/ Borrowing/ Infrastructure- US currently has quite a high debt of 29 trillion, which debt-gdp ratio growing higher. This is not always bad, if today's investment can produce higher return in future thus offsetting the borrowing cost. But the investment needs to be used wisely in key strategic areas that improves certain aspects of the country, for example core infrastructure like ports, bridges, airports are important along with investment in long term areas of artificial intelligence, bio manufacturing, genomics etc. that can build long term competitive advantage for US. This in turn will create jobs and help the economy.
But borrowing money and spending on non value generating social programs is not wise. Those agencies should be asked to use existing money more efficiently versus handing down more checks.
Last edited by uniquetraveler; 12-06-2021 at 01:13 PM..
Views are always molded by one's own experience. Sharing some experiences as a 1st generation south asian american.
Immigration
- It took me 20 years to get US citizenship legally, includes 4 years of college education (which my family paid for) followed by 16 years of legal work and paying taxes.
# During my undergrad days I spent the entirety of the time in computer labs, engineering classes to get a good job after graduation. International students can get OPT (optional practical training) to work in US legally for 12 months, but only 5-10% of companies that came to campus for hiring, sponsor for it. If you don't get one in 30 days after graduation, you have to leave the country. So, in my 4 years I never went to a single campus party and only went to a club once with friends.. since couldn't afford to lose focus.
From OPT to work visa is even harder, the job has to be posted for competitive bids by US citizen and you have to compete with all to get it based on qualification. On top of that there is a lottery (since there is always more applicants), if you pass both hurdles you get the work permit for 3 years. During this time the company can sponsor for immigration, but even a minor violation like speeding ticket can nullify your application. For 16 years, I made sure that I didn't have a single traffic infringement.. I once got a parking ticket for overstaying in a spot by 30 min (caused 2 years of delay in immigration due to additional check)
So, it really seems unfair, when people that come illegally and on top of it gets involved in crime, is offered a free pass. I do agree that not everyone can be skilled immigrant, so government should add quota for asylum seekers, refugees and other difficulties, but they should also follow a process like the rest of us.
Diversity/ social justice
I moved here right during 9/11, as a brown south asian, profiling was rampant. I was selected for "random checking" at airport 10 out of 10 times. The officers at the airport were rude/ condescending and made you question your own self worth. But at the same time, the protection in place kept such incidents from happening again. I understand the security and safety aspect of it..Yes, I would like the airport immigration officers to be better trained, to be professional but polite; I wouldn't encourage defunding them or removing them all together and risk the safety of everyone.
As for regular day to day affair, I did face bias in different forms. Some were more subtle, like at work senior leaders always categorized me as technical resource and not strategic as I am south asian, even after I got MBA from Ivy league university at one point and worked on many business aspect of the company. At some places like USPS, I could notice change in facial expression in some (from smiling, friendly behavior to locals to indifferent/ stern while serving me). At Starbucks and Panda express, I have been asked to show driver's license while picking up order-- not in Seattle but happened when I was living in south.
On the other hand, I have met some of the most helpful and friendly european american/white people over the years. Many have become long term friends.People that have supported every step of the journey in states. These people are trying to live their lives like rest of us and has nothing to do with slave owners did 200 years back. So, painting everyone with the same brush and labelling whites as "racist" is simply not right.
I’d say they are centrist, with some center right and center left positions, from where I stand.
I primarily object to 1) which does not acknowledge systemic racism (nonracist cops in a racist system will still cause negative effects, it’s not just that there are some police that are breaking the law). Police reform requires changes in policy not just the actions of individual officers. Again, reform, not defunding.
And as for 2, the US doesn’t have a system where just anyone can walk in. And has a responsibility to follow international law where it comes to refugees and asylum seekers.
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