Like some of you, I am not inclined to particularly bash a candidate or have my heart go fluttering either. I am agnostic and I have no problem with those who are passionate as long as my measured reluctance does not stir them into a frenzy of some attempt to intervene for my own good. I have many issues that need fixing and possibly intensive therapy, my refusal to invest in a particular person isn’t one of them.
Although the right has long positioned themselves as being champions for “family values” what they actually champion hegemony, social control, a strict definition of families as being strictly a self contained nuclear unit, and a return to good old fashioned patriarchy. I. Am. Not. Interested. In. That. So… just to annoy people I tell them I don’t care about family values. Did you know watching heads explode could be a sport or a hobby?
Families are blended, extended, made up of (gasp) unmarried people, gay, straight, and the undecided, adults are taking care of their kids, their grandkids, kids that they adopted, unofficially adopted, their own parents, friends, those with chronic illness, disabilities, those who fell on hard times, they are in short making up their own little communities quite in defiance of what the right thinks they should be doing. They might not even think of themselves as rebels. And. They are being squeezed by their obligations, their hopes, and wishes to be a community by a complete lack of legislative support. We constantly ask why ordinary Americans are not agitating and participating. Maybe they are numb, not from political fatigue or disaffection….. they don’t have time. They have no free time, their desire to help others in their families has dire financial consequences as well. They are going into work half asleep because they were up all night before caring or tending to another person. They are worried at work while they are half asleep that might might make an error and lose their job.
Many Americans are every day heroes in this effort. They might not have that self image or a wish to get the keys to the city for recognizing the paths they choose.
FMLA is not enough. Unpaid leave for workers who are lucky enough to be in place that has 50 or more employees is not enough. I am not a policy wonk, nor do I play one in bloggyland.
A few states have attempted to rectify this, New Jersey being the most recent. It will have to pass approval in the General Assembly but the Senate narrowly approved
paid leave for workers to meet the demands of caring for others. It is to be financed through payroll taxes although the article indicates it might also require the shifting of monies from that state’s temporary disability funds.
Those with bigger brains that I can read the actual legislation here.
Most of the objections centered on a perceived hostility to business interests. Six weeks seems barely adequate. Well, it isn’t. Who know if the General Assembly will even pass it. If it does, New Jersey will be the third state along with Washington, set to be implemented in 2009, and California.
