Last night I made it to the Dean Meetup again. The most interesting thing that came out of the discussion was a reference to an 
article by Black Commentator that recognizes Howard Dean's Dec 7th statement on race as the most important by a white policitian in 40 years. They said
[Dean] presents whites in the South and elsewhere with the only principled choice they should be offered: to vote their interests, or vote for their bosses’ interests (if they are lucky enough to have a job). Although corporate media called Dean’s statement his “southern strategy,” it is in fact the only position that holds out any hope for a national Democratic victory in 2004 – whether enough southern whites emerge from their racist “false consciousness” or not.
The December 7 speech is a clear and definitive break from the lethal grip of the Democratic Leadership Council, the southern-born, corporate-mouthpiece faction of the party. The DLC’s favored presidential candidate is Senator Joe Lieberman, it’s most illustrious personality is Bill Clinton, and it’s most prestigious founding member is none other than – Al Gore.
Gore’s endorsement of Dean should be viewed as head-swiveling proof of the bankruptcy of the DLC’s white “swing voter” strategy. The DLC-Emeritus has effectively jumped ship.
I think a lot of Republicans are going to look around themselves this year and suddenly realize where the party has been taking them. One of Lucy's friends, who has always been a Republican said she wasn't going to vote for Bush. In a confidential whisper, she told Lucy, "I don't think he's got all his marbles!"
- The American Prospect has some good articles about low wages in the US based on a recent report from the Russell Sage Foundation. Three of the articles are available via the web. In the first, Christopher Jencks article The Low Wage Puzzle argues that the problem is relatively straightforward
- So why do ordinary American workers get to keep less of what they produce than ordinary workers in other rich countries? And why is this form of American exceptionalism becoming more pronounced? The answer turns out be pretty simple: "It's politics, stupid."
In the US, people's attitudes and the current forms of government are hostile to unions and other entities that could reverse the trends. A second article by Harold Meyerson, Las Vegas as a Workers' Paradise, describes how a union transformed the Las Vegas service industry jobs from low-wage into middle-class jobs. A final article, by Robert Kuttner High-Wage America synthesizes the arguments with an analysis that current trade arrangements disproportionately benefit investors relative to others and suggests that, in addition to strengthening unions and regulation, we should also restructure trade in ways that will foster higher wages.