Led by Alliance for Retired Americans, Dallas workers push issues ahead of elections

Gene Lantz / People's World

DALLAS—Retired workers here launched a plan of activities on June 22 aimed at strengthening the working class in the electoral arena and elsewhere. After the Dallas chapter of the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans initiated a news conference in front of a Social Security Office, labor and other groups were invited to join in.

The main speaker was in his 60s, while the second was a leader of labor’s youth movement. Both lambasted the reactionaries who are trying to raise the retirement age and cut benefits for seniors.

In a restaurant afterward, activists met and decided that a public action on climate change, given the current floods and heat waves, might be their next move. After that, women’s rights and school funding are under consideration.

These are not random actions; the underlying thinking is that working families have a big stake in the 2024 elections but are not necessarily drawn toward many of the candidates and political parties that they are offered.

Hardly any young voter likes the status quo. The media’s talk about which candidate is too old or which is too demented push the country toward new highs in voter apathy. Meanwhile,  trying to figure out what to do about Palestine or bump-stock machine guns leaves people wondering which candidates to cast ballots for.

The feeling among the crowd in Dallas was that nobody wants to vote for lesser evils, and few want anything to do with processes rigged by the bosses. And yet, working families still have vital interests in the outcome of elections and have to get involved.

Activists at this event are fed up with personality-based arguments, but they say there is another option: actions emphasizing the real issues. In Dallas, that will probably mean some traditional electioneering, such as phone banking or neighborhood canvassing, but it will also take the form of protests, forums, and other public action.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Gene Lantz

Gene Lantz is a long time activist and trade unionist who writes from Dallas, Texas.