When You See a Shaft of Light, Grab It.

In 1948 President Harry Truman desegregated the armed forces by issuing Executive Order 9981.  There was much foot-dragging and even propositions by some in high places that the Order did not mean what it seemed to say; Truman reiterated that it meant exactly what it said.  Racism did not end in the United States.  And it is tar too much to say that it was the starting gun of the active Civil Rights Movement.  But it was not a trivial measure.  The President acted because his best advice and his own moral compass told him that it was the right thing to do and that NO progress was to be forthcoming from the legislative branch any time soon.

Obama’s position today is not an apple compared to an orange.  There are many indications that the “right side of history” will coalesce into a consensus that it is an appropriate role of government to provide economic access and opportunity to most Americans.  Support in that direction is not currently coming from the legislature.  The President can not do what is needed.  That would indeed take several acts of Congress.  But the President can do something.  Arguments that it’s been too long in coming do not diminish the importance of action when it finally happens in real time.

Income inequality (more accurately – wealth inequality) has only become sexy as a talking point in the last year. The fissure that became a chasm was discernable as a trend by the mid seventies.  Now even the Republicans have to pay lip service to it.  (No, that’s not irony, it’s farce.)  Obama was able to treat it like something more than an ornament in his recent State of the Union address.

The true news is that the very day after the President so elegantly and eloquently invoked the spirit of democracy to face this beast, he advanced at least two significant initiatives on his own authority.  Obama invented (yes, he gets the credit) the myRA and he increased the minimum wage for employees on subsequent federal contracts to $10.10/hour.  Is the minimum wage increase enough?  Dissenters say it will cost jobs.  Supporters say the move is a far cry from an increase in the federal minimum wage.  Does it matter?

Hell yes.  Like in 1948, it matters when the US government sets a standard of behavior, unequivocally and unapologetically.  This WILL be followed by legislated change.  It will be demanded by earnest constituents and employers needing a level playing field.

The myRA does not have the weight of a mandated structure authorized by Congress  - like Social Security, passed by Congress at Roosevelt’s request in 1935.  The myRA (a play on IRA) is a way for an ordinary person to start a retirement savings account that will act like a Roth IRA with easily affordable monthly contributions.  Is it enough to make a difference?  Not by itself.  But the federal standard and expectation is unmistakable. And like the waters that carve out a gorge or the minimum wage rule for contractors, it will prove ultimately irresistible.