Who Is In Office Matters And So Does Your Voice

Three weeks ago I told you about the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act filed by Senator Bernie Sanders. Also known as the Stop Bezos Act it was written so that if passed it would require employers like Amazon and Walmart to pay taxes to offset the amount of federal assistance their full time employees collect due to the low wages they and similar employers pay. The federal assistance provided to employees effectively subsidizes highly profitable companies like Amazon and Walmart. This week Jeff Bezos the CEO of Amazon announced that the company has raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour and publicly thanked Sen. Sanders and thousands of activists for pushing his company to make that decision.

The news about Amazon raising wages to a livable level is timely since we’re just over two weeks away from the start of early voting and there are too many Texans especially in towns like Seguin who don’t vote especially in mid-term elections. If you’re a regular reader of this column you are probably known among your family and friends as politically knowledgeable and aware; not because you read this column but because you’re interested in the topic and this column among others in the Friday editorial section is an indicator of your interest. Studies show the fact that your family and friends respect your knowledge means on average you have more power to persuade 10 people to vote and who to vote for. That makes you much more effective than some stranger knocking on their door or calling them on the phone.
When someone you’re talking to about voting says voting doesn’t matter or all politicians are alike you can point to Sen. Sanders impact on the decision wage increase as evidence that not all politicians are alike. If the family member or friend you’re talking to says their vote doesn’t matter remind them that in 2017 a state legislature seat in Virginia was decided by a coin toss because the vote was tied. Or you can point to the 2010 race for Texas House District 48 in Austin which Donna Howard won by just 12 votes. Or Lisa Jackson’s 5 vote margin of victory in the race for Mayor of Cibolo in the 2013 election.

Amazon isn’t the only highly profitable company that needs to raise wages, Senator Sanders isn’t going to fix the country by himself even if he is elected president in 2020, and your vote alone isn’t likely to swing an election but if all of us work together to raise awareness and we each do our part to bring out those 10 voters we have influence with, we can make a difference.

Early voting starts Monday October 22 put that date on your calendar and get to the polls early, if you do you might save yourself a lot of candidate phone calls as they try to spend their limited time on people who haven’t voted yet. Remind those family members and friends to get to the polls early too.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - October 5, 2018