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PA Sales Tax can be Expanded in an Equitable Way

  By Budget, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Public Policy, Taxation

Originally published in NewsWorks, December 7, 2015 Legislators have been considering raising new — and necessary — revenue by expanding the sales tax base to include more goods and services instead of increasing the sales tax rate. This would be a good way to raise revenue if it is done in ways that make the tax more equitable. Still a broader sales tax would fall more heavily on low-income families. Legislators could limit the burden on those least able to bear it by coupling the sales tax expansion with a new, refundable sales tax credit. The inequity of the sales tax The original budget framework increased the state’s sales tax rate from 7 percent to 8.25 percent (and from 8 percent to 9.25 percent in Philadelphia). This proposal was opposed by many legislators. Some opposed any tax increase. Others worried that businesses near our borders with other states would lose… Continue reading

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The Possibility of President Trump and the Limits of Nate Silver’s Thinking.

  By Elections, Politics, US

Google “Trump could win” and you will find out something I told you about two months ago, Trump has a real chance to win the Republican nomination. Nate Silver is still holding out. But as I’ll point out below, I think he is reasons are specious Why could Trump win? For all the reasons I’ve been saying. 1. His message resonates with a substantial part of the Republican electorate which is motivated by racial and anti-feminist resentment, and fear of a world that seems untethered, not economic issues. His tough guy act gives his angry, scared followers some faith that he will be leader who will protect them and stand up for them. Trump is making a classic fascist appeal and, given the circumstances of American life today, it is finding some resonance in about a third of the Republican electorate. 2. His lead in the polls-which he has sustained… Continue reading

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For City Commissioner: Carol Jenkins and Lisa Deeley

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Two candidates for City Commissioner stand far above all the others. Carol Jenkins and Lisa Deeley. City Commissioner is one of those row offices that carries out a really important function that is utterly unknown to most people. The City Commissioners are responsible for making sure that the machinery of our elections—from the books that contain the names of registered voters to the voting machines that record our votes—work and work fairly. When that machinery doesn’t work, as it nearly didn’t in 2012, people can be denied the basic right central to democratic politics. When the machinery of our elections is used to help one party or one faction or one candidate rather another—when polling places are moved to help some candidates or you have to know someone on the inside to even get the results of previous elections—then our elections are fundamentally unfair. When the Commissioners do their basic… Continue reading

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Jim Kenney, With Pleasure

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

I’m going to vote for Jim Kenney for Mayor next week. One reason, as I wrote earlier in the week, is to stop the Four Billionaires from electing a Mayor. But there is another reason as well. I think he could be a really good mayor. That he’s even running tells you a lot about why. Kenney got into the race late when the most likely candidate to take up the labor / progressive mantel against Tony Williams, after Darrell Clarke and Alan Butkovtiz declined to run. Clarke and Butkovitz had their own reasons not to run, but certainly one consideration was that Williams had broad support and the promise, which turned into reality, of getting a huge amount of funding from the Three Billionaires. Kenney had that reason to not run, as well. But, when the possibility of getting in late opened up when Ken Trujillo dropped out and… Continue reading

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Council at Large Choices

  By Philadelphia, Progressive Politics

Here’s why I’m voting for Sherrie Cohen, Helen Gym, Bill Greenlee, Wilson Goode, and Derek Green for City Council at Large We have, it seems, almost an embarrassment of good candidates for Council at Large this year including both challengers and incumbents. But look closely and a few stand out above the others, not just because they have good characters and good ideas but because they have the potential to bring something to Philadelphia politics that we have long needed—a connection and commitment to engaging the public, and especially the progressive / labor community,  in politics. When I ran myself for this position in 2007 I said, repeatedly, that politics was broken in Philadelphia. That’s a little less so today in large because of some new voices, and reinvigorated old voices in Council and because of the efforts of Council President Darrel Clarke to make Council more assertive. But one… Continue reading

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What Has to Change and What Doesn’t: A First Look at Klein

  By Environment, Philosophy, Political Organizing, Politics, Progressive Politics, Public Policy

Introduction I’d been planning to read “This Changes Everything (TCE)” for a few months, both because I want to learn more about the climate change issue and because I want to learn more about Naomi Klein’s take on the world. I’ve doing preliminary work on a project of my own on progressive political and policy strategy. (I’m also finishing another book now about sexuality and politics but I always work on two projects at once.) I finally started the book a week or so ago because my friend Cate Poe invited to join an on-line reading group. I’m only about half way through at the moment so this is a preliminary report, some of my initial thoughts on the book. I normally wouldn’t write anything until I was done with a book and spent a good deal of time thinking about it, but I feel some obligation to Cate to… Continue reading

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The Best and Worst in Biblical Religion: An Open Letter to Christine Flowers

  By International politics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Religious fundamentalism

Christine, You have asked me to apologize to your friend, who called Islam evil, for calling her ignorant and bigoted. And you have threatened to block me on Facebook if I don’t do so. I have no intention of apologizing and instead I’m going to explain why I think you need to apologize for betraying the best in the religious tradition of which you claim to be so proud. If you don’t like what I have to say and you block me, that’s fine. I frankly think I’ve learned all anyone can from reading you. Let me take a moment to explain how I look at the political, moral, and religious traditions that animate our country. I grew up in an orthodox Jewish synagogue, though I moved away from orthodoxy pretty soon after my Bar Mitzvah. I’ve spent most of the last forty years studying the history of political and… Continue reading

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PGW, Darrell Clarke, and the Papers

  By Philadelphia, Public Policy, Urbanism

In a city that, despite its recent growth, has a poverty rate of 30.2% and schools that have been devastated by deep budget cuts, our two daily newspapers are now crusading to….sell the gas works. In a city that has suffered from a governor who demanded those education cuts and a mayor who was ineffective in blocking them, our two daily papers are now crusading…to make City Council President Darrell Clarke, public enemy number one. This crusade is, fortunately for Philadelphia, not working. Unless I missed a protest at Council or sit-in at Dilworth Park, the city is not rallying to the cause of selling PGW or tarring and feathering Darrell Clarke. Nor should they. The sale of PGW proposed by Mayor Nutter remains a bad deal. And outside of a couple of blocks in Center City and a few pages on Facebook, most Philadelphians know it. I explained the… Continue reading

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Why Women Don’t Report Rape

  By Criminal Justice, Feminism, Love and Sex, Sexual and gender equality

Defending Cosby Many people have long loved Bill Cosby, for his abilities as an entertainer, his attractive persona or, in some cases, his penchant for blaming young black people for their difficulties. And many—although fewer each week—of these people have been so deeply troubled by the multiple accusations of sexual violence against Cosby that they have rushed to his defense. Their responses to the accusations have echoed two themes that are quite common when women accuse men of rape. First, many of the accusers have themselves been accused of lying, of making up stories about Cosby. The motives attributed to these women are varied—some have been said to be gold diggers who either hope for an out of court financial settlement of the kind Cosby gave to Andrea Constand or who hope to parlay their accusation into a magazine or book deal. (The statute of limitations for both criminal and… Continue reading

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Beyond Cameras and Training — Here are 5 More Ways to Improve Police Oversight

  By Criminal Justice

First published in NewsWorks December 8, 2014 Even if I were not a political scientist who understood both the importance of what police officers do every day and the dangers they face in their job, I would have a very personal reason for appreciating their work. Years ago, police officers put their bodies on the line to protect my father, when he was a justice of the peace in upstate New York. So like most Americans, I’m not inclined to criticize police officers who use force to protect themselves and others. At the same time, the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner remind us that sometimes police officers use deadly force in questionable circumstances. And there is dramatic statistical evidence that institutional racism plays a role in who is killed by the police — black men die at disproportionate rates. But very rarely are police officers held… Continue reading