The results of the Nov. 8 election were disappointing at the national level but we must be proud of that we now have a supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature!
Additionally, at the municipal level we were able to pass measures to prevent water pollution in the Ballona Creek and maintain the power of the City Council to hire and fire police and fire chiefs.
When I look back at what transpired this year in the news, I must say that there were at least three things I was grateful for as a Democrat.
The first was Gov. Brown signing SB 32 and AB 197 into law in September. SB 32 requires the state to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. As of now, the state is closer to 1990 emissions levels. So it is certainly a realistic goal to get 40 percent below 1990 levels in 14 years. AB 197 creates a legislative committee to oversee regulators, giving lawmakers more say in how the climate goals are met. California, with a GDP of almost $ 2.5 trillion, is the sixth largest economy in the world. We will be leading the world in climate change technology and innovations.
Secondly, President Obama has created nearly 16 million new jobs in the last eight years as he guided the country out of the worst economic crisis since the
Depression. The national unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent last month, the lowest level since President George W. Bush sat in the White House in 2007.
Discouraged workers are returning to the labor force. Many of the jobs created over the past two years have been in higher-paying industries.
Last, not least, the Los Angeles Times reported the nation’s poverty rate fell to 13.5 percent in 2015 from 14.8 percent a year earlier. Healthy job growth, coupled with moderate wage gains lifted the median household income to $56,500 last year, up 5.2 percent, or $2,800 from 2014. According to the Census Bureau, this is the biggest improvement in poverty and incomes in decades.
As Democrats, we should be proud of the accomplishments of a progressive and the first African-American president. We are the party of job creators. We are the party that has lifted Americans out of poverty. We are the party that will combat climate change to leave a planet that we’ll be proud to pass onto the next generation.
Next Meeting
Join us for our general Culver City Democratic Club meeting, Wednesday at 7 o’clock in the Rotunda Room of the Vets Auditorium.
We will screen Robert Greenwald’s documentary, “Koch Brothers, Exposed.”
It will shed light on how they have turned most of the state legislatures red. In turn, it will teach us what we can do to stem the tide.
Dr. Gyi, president of the Culver City Democratic Club, may be contacted at president@CulverCityDenocratricClub.com
