Sales Tax Fiasco Should Put the Idea of a Progressive Political Party Back on the Front Burner

In a completely unsurprising move, the Mass. Senate passed a big hike in the state sales tax from 5% to 6.25% - following on the heels of a recent House vote. With veto-proof margins in both chambers, this regressive tax boondoggle is shortly going to sail across Gov. Deval Patrick's desk ... whether he's against the increase or not. Ultimately, he's not against regressive taxes at all, although he's fighting fruitlessly against this one and in favor of a raft of other regressive taxes like a gas tax. At the same time, a bill that would have increased the more progressive income tax from 5.35% to 5.95% was quickly shot down by the Senate.

Rather than sound the same notes in favor of a graduated income tax that we've been consistently hitting at Open Media Boston since our inception over a year ago (e.g., it puts a more equitable part of the burden of taxation on the rich and corporations who have been the main beneficiaries of the existing system), we're going to change tack a bit and talk about something you usually only hear in public from the thinning ranks of Mass. Republicans. We're going to point out the obvious and state that the government of our Commonwealth is completely dominated by Democrats.

These are the same Democrats backed by non-profit advocates for the many public programs that benefit working people in Massachusetts and virtually the entire state labor movement. These are the supposedly left-of-center politicians that cause much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair among conservatives nationwide. This is same Bay State that's supposed to be awash in hard-line "communist" politicians - ready to surge forth and help Pres. Barrack Obama mop up the last resistance to Big Government before sending everyone to gulags in ... we don't know ... Vermont or somewhere.

The reality is, of course, quite different. Most politicians at the State House might be technically called Democrats, but that appellation is only a flag of convenience for the average careerist type that is basically handed their seat in a barely-contested election about 10 years after they started as an intern for their predecessor. Such politicians know who rules the roost of state politics and also know that they have to be Democrats if they expect to get the kind of plum committee assignments that lead to sweetheart deals (and eventually life-long high-level employment opportunities with various overgenerous corporate donors). Given that, there's quite a lot of right-wingers among State House Democrats. In fairness, it should also be said that there are a number of left Democrats, but nowhere near a majority in either chamber. Some left Democrats are progressive in a sense we would agree with at Open Media Boston, while others are, shall we say, shaky at best in their commitment to working families. And as long as that remains the case, progressives have a serious problem if there's to be any significant movement towards a state government that works first-and-foremost for working families.

A couple of weeks ago, we demanded strong leadership from the ranks of progressive unions and non-profits in the fight for a fair graduated income tax. Now we must add to that cry a further demand that progressives start refusing to back politicians that won't do the right thing by their constituencies in critical matters like taxation, health care, housing, labor, welfare, education and environmental policy.

We don't have a suggestion at this juncture as to what a viable alternative party to the Democrats might be in Massachusetts. In the last decade alone, the Green-Rainbow Party, the Labor Party, and the Working Families Party have all provided a place for thousands of progressive activists to take a shot at becoming a major force in state politics. But none of them have achieved escape velocity yet. And it's true that there are numerous serious barriers to entry for any so-called "third party" in the two-party winner-take-all American political system. It is also true that these efforts have all suffered from the fact that most of their potential allies in unions and non-profits have refused to back them ... often out of the palpable fear of losing what few resources that state government may make available for their sector.

But as Noam Chomsky put it when a questioner bemoaned the seemingly low possibility for success for such efforts here - at a forum shortly after the Presidential election last November - if popular movements in some of the poorest places on Earth like Bolivia can put left-wing governments into power then surely Americans can. Which holds as true on the state level as it does on the national.

If Mass. progressives are really serious about building a strong social justice movement and taking power in state government, however, it's becoming increasingly clear that they are not going to be able to do that through the auspices of the corporate-dominated Democratic Party. No disrespect to left Democratic formations like Progressive Democrats of America, but left Democrats have been trying to move their party away from domination by business interests for decades and have failed.

Doesn't it seem like it might be a better strategy to move away from the Democrats entirely? It remains the road less traveled in American left poltics.

At Open Media Boston, we think the idea has to be given serious consideration by those who have been loathe to consider it. As we watch gains being made by strong new left parties in Europe and throughout Latin America. And we see how they are able to push their respective national political debates to the left - even in the absence of majority support - we cannot help but think about how great it would be to get the same thing going here.

Whether that means encouraging people to support one of the existing progressive parties or starting something new, we cannot yet say. But whatever progressives do in labor and the non-profit sector, we think they should give serious thought to ditching the Democrats. Because, by and large, they have long ago ditched us. This week's regressive tax hike is just one more nail in the coffin of the possibility of a left resurgence in the Democratic Party. Looks like it's past time to give up the ghost, and build a new progressive political machine.

Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston.