Defining Economic Justice
"Economic justice, which touches the individual person as well as the social order, encompasses the moral principles which guide us in designing our economic institutions. These institutions determine how each person earns a living, enters into contracts, exchanges goods and services with others and otherwise produces an independent material foundation for his or her economic sustenance. The ultimate purpose of economic justice is to free each person to engage creatively in the unlimited work beyond economics, that of the mind and the spirit."
-- Center For Economic and Social Justice
http://www.cesj.org/thirdway/economicjustice-defined.htm
Films from the multiple Media That Matters Film Festival collections explore the issue of economic justice from an international perspective. Here's one example:
6:34 minDocumentaryDirected & Produced by Brent Joseph Winner of the Legacy Award
"This film follows Louis Harding as he rebuilds the community center he opened just one month before Hurricane Katrina hit and destroyed his work. Despite the setback, 72-year-old Harding refuses to give up on his mission to combat poverty in New Orleans. He discusses the importance of history, heroes and self-esteem in the black community and explains why making his dream a reality is more important now than ever before."
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/8/a_loud_color/
For even more films on this issue, visit MediaRights.org.
Media That Matters and Arts Engine
"The Media That Matters Film Festival is the premier showcase for short films on the most important topics of the day. Local and global, online and in communities around the world, Media That Matters engages diverse audiences and inspires them to take action."
"From gay rights to global warming, the jury-selected collection represents the work of a diverse group of independent filmmakers, many of whom are under 21. The films are equally diverse in style and content, with documentaries, music videos, animations, experimental work and everything else in between. What all the films have in common is that they spark debate and action in 12 minutes or less."
Media That Matters FOCUS
"Media That Matters FOCUS is a new series of curated collections that center on particular issues. Our first FOCUS release (October 2006) is Media That Matters: Good Food, a collection of shorts on food and sustainability. Following the model of our annual festival, the films stream online, screen around the country and are distributed on DVD. Stay tuned for new FOCUS collections on LGBT Rights, Criminal Justice and more in years to come."
Arts Engine
Arts Engine supports, produces and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. By fostering the production and use of independent film, video and new media, Arts Engine connects media makers and active audiences in order to spur critical consideration of pressing social issues. Learn more at www.artsengine.net.
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/about/
For those of us who are "Pro-life Democrats", we understand it means a lot more than simply opposing abortion. It means that we must respect life. Respect of life requires that we as a society (as well as individuals) oppose injustices, including economic injustice. Senator McCain's record on children's issues is yet another example of the hypocrisy of the Republic "pro-life" stance. This year, the Action Council for Children Defense Fund voted Senator McCain one of the worst Senators for children. This was in part due to his vote on the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That vote and others which ignore the realities of a economically divided country of haves and have nots, in my view, do little to respect (or promote) life.
Therefore, in making our political choices and affiliations, those of us who do not believe the Constitution overrides a state's choice to ban abortion must choice between those who claim to respect life and those who, although of a different view on this very important issue, understand that respect of life requires bringing life into a world committed to economic justice. I choose the latter group and so remain a democrat.
Yesterday I presented a long passge from a new book by Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America. It quotes one of his early campaign speeches where RFK articulated a powerful moral argument against the Vietnam war. I am intrigued at the powerful responses that the 1968 campaign elicits even 40 years later. RFK was seen by many contemporary observers as a political opportunist who only jumped into the campaign after Senator Eugene McCarthy humiliated Johnson in the New Hampshire primary (he didn't beat him but did remarkably well against a sitting incumbent). While it is impossible to know for certain what really happened, Clarke argues that Kennedy struggled mightily with his decsion to enter the race and his campaign really changed in late March with the sudden announcement by LBJ that he was not running for re-election and in early April when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.
In a later passage Clarke describes an interesting way in which RFK tried to frame the economic debate of his day;
In prepared speeches and impromptu remarks throughout his campaign, Kennedy would continue to describe the sufferings of poor Americans and assail the GNP as a measure of national worth. As in Kansas, these passages received loud applause. Walinsky [a Kennedy aide] believes thay were effective because audiences recognized that they were what he calls "an authentic expression of Kennedy's life as a political figure and as a human being." Kennedy's riff on the GNP was more than a clever bit of speechwrighting, it was a summary of the causes that he had championed during his years a s a U.S. Senator. (p. 49)
I'm reading another book Millennial Makover by Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais which describes a generational theory of history. This intriguing way of looking at how American society changes in distinctive generational patterns suggests that 2008 has the potential to be a watershed election, one ushering in an era of civic minded problem solving unlike anything we have experienced in America since the New Deal. If this is one of those once in a lifetime elections, shouldn't we push the envelope? By this I mean speak truth about an immoral war, and an equally immoral economic system.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice" Are you concerned about the economy, economic justice, and how your congress is voting on these issues? Please visit the website for themiddleclass.org, link it to your blog or organization website, use the information to write to your members of congress about specific legislation. And please visit the website for The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, Dr. King's nonpartisan legacy for justice in an America still polarized through economic policies and access to opportunities.
Quoted from both websites: "The middle class is more than an income bracket. Over the past fifty years, a middle-class standard of living in the United States has come to mean having a secure job, the opportunity to own a home, access to health care, retirement security, time off for vacation, illness and the birth or adoption of a child, opportunities to save for the future and the ability to provide a good education, including a college education, for one’s children. When these middle-class fundamentals are within the reach of most Americans, the nation is stronger economically, culturally and democratically.
Most Americans identify themselves as middle class. Yet DMI is concerned not only with those who currently enjoy a middle-class standard of living, but also with expanding the middle class by increasing the ability and opportunities of poor people to enter the middle class. The middle class is strengthened when more poor people are able to work their way into its ranks. In a nation that is increasingly polarized between the very wealthy and everyone else, DMI sees the poor and middle class as sharing many of the same interests. Simply put: what strengthens and expands the middle class is good for America. "
"We hope themiddleclass.org will be useful tool both for evaluating Congress and for pointing those concerned about the American middle class in the right direction on key pieces of legislation. While many organizations issue scorecards based on a single issue, the Drum Major Institute is distinctive in its focus on an overall agenda of expanding opportunity for middle-class and aspiring middle-class Americans.
As a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization, the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy neither supports nor opposes any candidate for office. Rather, we believe better policy can be created when ordinary citizens – not just political insiders – know how their legislators voted on the issues that matter most to them, and when legislators know their constituents are watching."
"Originally called the Drum Major Foundation, DMI was founded by Harry Wachtel, lawyer and advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the turbulent years of the civil rights movement. DMI was relaunched in 1999 by New York attorney William Wachtel, Harry's son, Martin Luther King III, and Ambassador Andrew Young. "
http://www.themiddleclass.org/ link to themiddleclass.org
http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/ link to DrumMajorInstitute.org
Both Senators Obama and Clinton got A+ for their 2007 voting record on economic justice issues.
