The Government We Deserve | Beyond Cynicism III

I've been asked by friends to explain my general approval for President Obama's performance during his first 20 months in office. I'll honor those requests over the next few days, one element at a time. I'll include links you can follow to the supporting documentation and, where appropriate, financial figures. And there's a thoughtful overview by Tom Dickinson in the October 28 issue of Rolling Stone.

Fair Pay

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act ensures that our wives, daughters, nieces and neighbors cannot be paid unfairly for their contributions to the businesses and economies in which they work. 

That outcome alone promotes justice. The Ledbetter Act is, however, part of a bigger picture, as President Obama noted at the signing: 

But equal pay is by no means just a women’s issue – it’s a family issue. It’s about parents who find themselves with less money for tuition or child care; couples who wind up with less to retire on; households where, when one breadwinner is paid less than she deserves, that’s the difference between affording the mortgage – or not; between keeping the heat on, or paying the doctor’s bills – or not. And in this economy, when so many folks are already working harder for less and struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford is losing part of each month’s paycheck to simple discrimination.

Promoting equal pay for equal contribution is precisely the sort of change I expected when I cast my vote for Mr. Obama.