I won't make a "thing" about the fact that a comment I posted earlier this week on a diary asking what questions one would like to ask Hillary and/or Bernie disappeared from the comments section within hours of my posting it. Maybe it was a technical glitch rather than censorship. I suppose from a Progressive viewpoint, my question was politically incorrect (p.i.). A lot of what I read on Daily Kos seems anything but progressive-minded to me. Or maybe I should say rational or even understandable. I don't strive so much to present what sound like "politically correct" ideas from the Progressive perspective. I try to present practical ideas based on facts and on the principles of equality and fairness. Thus the p.i. question that disappeared appears below the squiggle:
Considering the vastly varying cost of living in different parts of the country (e.g. average rent in San Francisco is $4000), how can a standard minimum wage be considered fair to all? Would you consider establishing a government-funded jobs program for which all financially needy adult citizens would be eligible and which would pay a minimum healthful living wage (a varying amount based on cost of living in a specific location as well as on the person's personal needs)? This would motivate private employers to offer their employees compensation packages worth at least that much. The goal of the jobs program would be to utilize the talents and abilities of the participants in ways that would enhance and maintain the Common Good. For more details check out www.pair2.blogspot.com, Posts G and H, Poverty and Capitalism, I & II.
I like Bernie Sanders and want him to be President. All of his ideas are super, with the exception of one or two, including the $15/hr. I would think Progressives would care about everyone. Burdening small business employers, the group that employs more people in the United States than Big Business, is not going to encourage them to hire the financially-challenged unemployed. So once again the unemployed poor and disenfranchised will be overlooked for the sake of those who already have jobs. This is what we call "Progressive"? If there were not a viable alternative, that would be one thing. But Bernie Sanders, et. al., don't seem to be at all interested in an alternative that could eliminate most social welfare programs, unemployment, and involuntary poverty. It's a bit of a let-down, really.