Dozens of protestors from San Antonio and New Braunfels descended on U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith’s SA office to demand a jobs-creation plan from Smith and Congress.
“We think that America’s lost its focus,” said Stephen Baird. “Back in the November 2010 elections people were voting against certain people because they didn’t have jobs. They weren’t doing it because of the budget deficit. So what we’re saying is we need to focus more on how to create jobs.”
The group took the opportunity to present Smith’s district director with a grassroots plan being pushed at similar events around the country organized by MoveOn.org, titled the Contract for the American Dream.
“I think oil companies, which have served this state well, and wealthy people, who have benefited — my sense is they would not mind paying their fair share,” said a charitable Paashka Prowell, MoveOn.org organizer out of Guadalupe-Comal-Hays chapter.
“Exactly what does the Republican Party have in mind with the recreation of jobs?” asked Pamela Phillips, retired United Airlines flight attendant. “I hear a lot of great, grandiose statements, but there’s no particulars
There’s a lot of sound bites going on, and everybody seems content with that. I want to know specifics.
Honks from Loop 1604’s frontage road were frequent in response to signs that read “Jobs, Not Cuts” and “Tax the Rich.”
The Contract calls for more investment in the nation's infrastructure and public schools and stimulating of the clean-energy sector. To pay for that? Hasta la vista, Bush-era giveaways for the wealthiest Americans and bringing our troops home.
Although Prowell, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said savings could still be found in the Department of Defense budget while maintaining operations overseas, ending the war in Afghanistan and the nation-building exercise in Iraq would instantly free up $3 billion per week. And we thought kooky social liberalism was to blame for this mess. Where'd we get that idea?
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