On resisting Trump and his empire

Robert Reich
12.14.2016

Many of you ask what your cities and states can do to resist Trump. Here are 10 initiatives you might push at your state or local level.

1. Increase taxes on wealthy individuals. For example: New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) campaigned and won on raising taxes on the very rich to pay for universal pre-kindergarten for New York’s children.
2. Raise taxes on corporations that dole out exorbitant CEO pay. Example: The Portland, Ore., City Council just struck a direct blow at inequality, passing a path-breaking law that will slap a surtax on large corporations that pay their chief executives more than 100 times what they pay their typical worker.
3. Join the Paris agreement on climate. Example: Michael Bloomberg suggests that if Trump withdraws from the Paris agreement, cities and states should join the agreement directly.
4. Enact a carbon tax or cap-and-trade ceiling. Example: California already has a cap-and-trade ceiling on carbon emissions, with 35 percent of the revenue generated earmarked for clean-energy investments in low-income communities.
5. Raise the minimum wage. So far, 14 cities and states have passed $15 minimum-wage measures, 29 states now have minimum wages higher than that of the federal government, and in the 2016 election initiatives raising the minimum wage passed in four states in 2016, including Arizona (which also voted for Trump).
6. Protect part-time and contract workers. Example: San Francisco has passed a worker bill of rights measure that guarantee workers fair schedules and equal treatment for part-time workers. It also requires businesses to provide paid sick leave. Other cities have begun similar reforms.
7. Toughen banking regulations, even if Trump repeals Dodd-Frank. Example: States should charter state mutual banks and insurance companies that offer lower cost services than too-big-to-fail banks.
8. Create sanctuary cities and states that pledge not to give the federal government information about undocumented immigrants. Progressive city mayors and city councils throughout blue and red states — from Salt Lake City to Jackson, Miss. – have already done so, or are moving in this direction.
9. Fight voter suppression and gerrymandering. Take redistricting away from legislatures, and put the design of districts into the hands of independent citizen’s commissions. Litigate against unreasonable limits on who can vote (ID laws, etc.).
10. Eliminate the Electoral College by getting your state to enact a law committing its electors to vote for the presidential candidate receiving the most popular votes nationally.

Source
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf