Commentary and Opinion 2008

2008 Commentary

Stranded by snow, we're seeing value of community

12.24.2008 | John Burbank | For a lot of us, these past 10 days of snow and cold have been a bit trying, with lost days of work and school. Our usual holiday plans are all messed up, work unfinished, homework undone, holiday concerts and plays unperformed, parties ungotten to, presents unbought. But for many people, the same people, that is, us, these past 10 days have been a rebirth of community. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Cutting health care exactly the wrong tack to embrace

12.10.2008 | John Burbank | Just a couple of months ago campaign rhetoric was flowing like champagne at a wedding reception. That rhetoric, from both Democrats and Republicans, was all about making sure we had a “world-class” education for the children of our state, and that health care would be both affordable and accessible. But that was then, and with the campaigns over, our elected officials are dropping their campaign promises like hot potatoes. Full Column | Everett Herald »

One reason to be thankful: we've had our wake-up call

11.26.2008 | John Burbank | Can we be thankful? We have friends and family and food, all in large doses on Thursday. We also have a houseful of worries, which perhaps we can put off for a couple of days: mortgage payments, WaMu layoffs, shrinking public support for public education, health care costs, an economy that is sliding into depression. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Local governments, with help, can stem this decline

11.12.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Erin, a mortgage counselor at a nonprofit organization, experiences the economic crisis up-close and personal every day. For the past six years, she's helped people behind on their mortgages fight to stay in their homes -- or at least held their hand through the foreclosure process. Now, as the need for services is spiking, Erin's agency is losing funding and she could face a layoff herself. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Full Column | Real Change News »

Recipe for economic rescue

11.11.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | This long election season is finally over — even if vote counting isn’t. Now we can stop listening to candidates’ promises and start prioritizing what we really need from Olympia and the other Washington. Full Column | Real Change News »

Individuals reap benefits when communities unite

10.29.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Halloween rules in my neighborhood. From a pumpkin on the porch to front lawns transformed into graveyards, almost every house is decorated this year. Some have always gone all out with seasonal displays, but this near unanimity seems new. Maybe it's the recent influx of younger couples into the neighborhood. Or maybe it's the recession. Full Column | Everett Herald »

McCain, Obama on taxes: Who helps middle-income Americans?

10.24.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | The most important job of the next president of the United States will be to get our economy moving and rebuild the middle class. Doing so will require short-term stimulus, investing for the long run, and doing something about health costs that are crippling economic prospects for families and businesses. Full Column | Puget Sound Business Journal »

Basic rules, enforcement enable society to function

10.15.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | I confess I speed when traffic allows. But I never go more than 10 mph over the speed limit. That's not due to my general law-abiding nature, concern for public safety or desire to conserve gas. It's knowing that a State Patrol trooper with a radar gun might be lurking around the next bend. Sometimes I resent that brake on my speed. But I'm also glad that someone is keeping the truly crazy drivers from endangering us all. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Prosperity for all is best built from the ground up

10.01.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | In their debate last week, both Dino Rossi and Gov. Chris Gregoire called for rollbacks that would hurt Washington's working families and thus our economy. Both candidates need to take a lesson from the 1930s by building - instead of shredding - the foundations for economic security and prosperity. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Funding early learning pays off in the long run

09.17.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | I remember my son's first day of kindergarten. It was 18 years ago, but I still can picture that circle of little faces around the big classroom table, with anxious parents hovering behind. And I remember my dismay upon realizing that even I, with no training, could pick out the kids in that circle who were going to struggle in school. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Bush years have taken a heavy toll on most families

09.03.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | My friend Becky's house hasn't sold. She put her house on the market months ago, priced to sell, and is still waiting for the first offer. It's a lovely home in a pleasant neighborhood, conveniently located to regional job centers. And still it sits empty. What a difference a year makes. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Getting to gender equity requires valuing families

08.20.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | I was asked once in a job interview what my husband thought of me applying and whether, as the mother of two young children, I could handle the position. Not surprisingly, they offered the job to a man, so I didn't have the pleasure of turning them down. Full Column | Everett Herald »Full Column | Real Change News »

Direct part of oil windfall to where it's truly needed

08.06.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | I met someone in the grocery store the other day who had just moved back to the city from the suburbs. The reason: gas prices. A year ago the average cost per gallon in Washington was $2.96. On Aug. 1, it was $4.17, according to AAA. That's 18 cents below the peak price a few weeks ago. With global demand booming, gas is going to stay expensive. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Fairer play next time

08.05.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Last week I spent a couple days in our nation’s capitol. After my meetings, I had time to stroll down the mall from the Lincoln Memorial, past the Washington Monument, and White House, toward the Capitol building. I saw families from across the United States and around the world posing for pictures, absorbing the history around them. Full Column | Real Change News »

Washington's tax system sorely needs a makeover

07.23.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | We could get through this economic downturn like the last one, by cutting children's health insurance, short-changing teachers, and spending down the rainy day fund. Or we could raise taxes. The trouble is that most of our state taxes fall hardest on working families already struggling to pay the bills. Full Column | Everett Herald » Full Column | Seattle Post-Intelligencer »

Disadvantaged kids, too, deserve a shot at success

07.09.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Much has been written about Generation Y. Yet today’s young adults are coming of age in an economy that makes it difficult for many to set out on their own. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Fixing health care mess would help all workers

06.25.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | My friend Millie expects to be unemployed soon. At age 60 and after 10 years with her employer, she had her hours cut last fall. She has been told to expect fewer hours next month and no work after August. Millie hasn't shown up in unemployment statistics yet, but she's feeling the uncertain economy. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Juneteenth good reminder that change requires fight

06.11.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Juneteenth allows us to celebrate that real progress has happened before and can happen again. It also reminds us that change does not come easily. Now in June 2008, we can hope that real change will come in our nation. But we had better prepare to fight for it. Full Column | everett Herald »

We need to reawaken our community-building spirit

05.28.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Mrs. Porter came over in the middle of the night to stay with us kids when my mother went into labor with my baby brother. She invited us for dinner the day a tree fell over in our backyard, taking our electrical wires down with it. She fed our cats when we were away. The day I turned 18, she registered me to vote. This flood of memories was launched by a YouTube video from my sister of Barack Obama campaigning in front of an Indianapolis polling station. There right at the start is Mrs. Porter, shaking hands with Obama. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Helping working mothers benefits the rest of society

05.14.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | My own kids are mostly grown up, so I sought out two younger women this week to hear their perspectives on being a working mother today. Both women recognized that they were fortunate -- with two incomes and supportive employers. Even so, struggles with child care, commutes and rising prices took a toll. "We need help," they concluded. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Full Column | Real Change News »

On key labor anniversary, many old conflicts remain

04.30.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | We've made a lot of progress since 1886, but history has a funny way of cycling back on us. That first Labor Day occurred at a time of economic and political turmoil. Markets were increasingly globalized. Mass immigration seemed to threaten American identity. Workplace standards -- or lack thereof -- left many working families struggling. Terrorists threw bombs and the government cracked down on civil liberties in the name of greater security. In other words, it was a time in many ways like our own. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Government can, should temper pain of recession

04.16.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | It seems like the economic news keeps getting worse. Fuel prices still climbing, food prices soaring, foreclosures and layoffs. The only silver lining is that we're doing better in Washington than the rest of the country. Now a report has come out confirming what many of us suspected -- the rich are getting richer, while most of us are just getting by. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Full Column | Real Change News »

Social Security represents the best of American ideals

04.02.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | I thought about my grandmother when the annual report of the Social Security trustees came out last week. Years of propaganda by Social Security's opponents have convinced many Americans the system is in trouble. Most young people I talk to assume that Social Security won't be there for them. And why wouldn't they, when the press and politicians from both parties have parroted the "crisis" line for years? Full Column | Everett Herald» Full Column | Wenatchee World » Full Column | Tacoma News Tribune »

Little-noticed bills make a big difference for many

03.19.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | The 2008 Washington Legislature passed 341 bills -- out of more than 4,000 up for consideration. Even those of us who spend a lot of time in Olympia can't keep track of them all, and most people never hear about the majority of new laws. Here are a few good bills that quietly made it through the legislative obstacle course this year. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Piecemeal tax breaks don't expand opportunity for all

03.05.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | A tax break for groomers of cross-country ski trails, or space for three more students in community college? Forgiving sales tax on the Tacoma Narrows bridge, or full-day kindergarten for 7,200 more 5-year-olds? Lawmakers in Olympia are grappling with these questions as the House and Senate try to reconcile their competing budgets in the final days of the legislative session. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Together, we the people make our government work

02.20.2008 | John Burbank | The great thing about representative democracy is that if our representatives make the right decisions, we can re-elect them and if they make the wrong decisions, we can throw them out. Legislators come and go, constantly bringing in new perspectives, refreshed from the latest election victory or chastised by defeat. The result is a constant refreshing of political viewpoints and the development of new solutions for the greater good. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Family Leave Starts Here

02.19.2008 | Marilyn Watkins | Last year Gov. Chris Gregoire and our legislature took a historic step, making Washington just the second state in the nation to promise paid family leave to all new parents. For the current legislative session the action around family leave isn’t quite as dramatic, but we still have important work to make sure that the family leave insurance program begins paying benefits as scheduled in October 2009. Full Column | Real Change News »

Foundation of security has been fraying for 30 years

02.06.2008 | John Burbank | Last week I was planning to write about Saturday's precinct caucuses in our state, and how we actually have a voice in deciding the next presidential candidates. But now I am writing this column from Vermont, where my mother just had a massive stroke and died. Events in our lives overtake us, and give us perspective on who we are and what we do and say. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Recruit good teachers by helping to pay their tuition

01.23.2008 | John Burbank | We already have a shortage of math teachers. It's going to grow worse with the retirement of hundreds of math teachers in the coming years. Ingrid's chair is less than a mile from the University of Washington main campus, but it might as well be in Timbuktu. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Most legislators take their responsibilities to heart

01.09.2008 | John Burbank | Presidential jockeying tends to suck up all the pundits' opinions and thinking about politics and democracy. But Washington, D.C., does not have a monopoly on decision-making. Much of the real action in politics and democracy starts in the states. Full Column | Everett Herald »

Lessons in Prosperity

01.01.2008 | John Burbank | After high school I worked in Finland for a year. Back then, Finland was a rural country. Many of the roads were dirt. We used an outhouse. A big farm had 20 cows. It was an economy on a different scale than in America. I returned 20 years later in the middle of a severe recession. But I didn’t see one homeless or hungry person. The community centers and swimming pools were in great shape. The trains ran on time, and quickly. The ski tracks were well maintained. Most of all, there was an almost palpable sense of opportunity and hope for the future. Full Column | Real Change News »