Four months ago, nearly everyone thought the interest rate on Stafford student loans was going to double -- and that there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Republicans in Washington were beating the drums of austerity, trying to convince Americans that everyone, except the ultra-rich, should be tightening their belts. Common beltway wisdom held that students were going to be sacrificed -- especially since their lobbying sway in Washington D.C. is far from overwhelming.
But Washington wisdom doesn't always account for an outside game. And when everyday Americans stand up and fight for something they believe in, they often win.
The way I see it, there are three reasons why we won on this particular fight:
1. The fight looked lost, but we jumped into the ring anyway with all our force.
The Rebuild The Dream community alone sent nearly 300,000 letters and petitions to Congress, made more than 15,000 phone calls, and sent over 3,000 letters to the editors of local papers across the country. All that pressure attracted the President himself to jump in and campaign hard, and his support was invaluable for this win. Getting President Obama on board was an impressive coalition effort involving U.S. PIRG, USSA, Campus Progress, Young Invincibles, Credo Action, and Rebuild the Dream.
2. Grassroots pressure still works, and we proved it.
In the age of Citizens United, many progressives have lost hope in the power of individuals to affect change. We still have reason to hope: we might not be able to win in a battle of dollars, but we have the boots on the ground to stir things up. At the end of the day, every politician needs votes as well as money, and we used online and on-the-ground tactics to convince members of Congress and the President to join in the cause.
3. Young people matter, and they can do huge things if we let them.
Young people captured the media's attention on this fight. They stormed Sallie Mae's corporate headquarters and held a massive "debt for diplomas" fake graduation ceremony where new grads were given massive amounts of debt. Young people have the power to change the conversation, and here they did. Millennials will make up 1/3 of the eligible voters in 2016, so politicians should start paying more attention.
All of our organizations were firing on all cylinders, and it worked. We proved in this fight that millions of Americans are willing to stand up and fight for the American Dream. With that dream under attack by billionaires and bankers, it is more important than ever that we come together to organize on behalf of everyone's dreams. When we fight, we win, and this time-- we won.
Follow Van Jones on Twitter: www.twitter.com/VanJones68
For starters, anybody who believed that everyone's Stafford loans were doing up wasn't reading the news. The only loans set to be impacted WERE LOANS MADE THIS YEAR. That would be only a small fraction of loans. Let's not blow this out of proportion.
Second, this wasn't some grand victory for the write-ins; both parties wanted this to happen, they just had to work out the details on how to pay for it.
Third, this doesn't even get to the heart of the matter: why should students be paying just under 3% instead of about 6% for their loans? What magical property of student loans makes them worthy of subsidies (paid for by the taxpayer) that other loans don't get? While the taxpayer is on the hook here if students default, this is preemptively giving up some of the gains and thus increasing risk to taxpayers.
Finally, what does this have to do with millionaires or billionaires? It seems like Jones just can't help himself but try to make a false political attack/point with his every article.
You are a tiger in my view, but you have lowered the standard. Don't celebrate mediocrity. Dropping rates for students is good, but no big deal for a country as rich as ours. This country can afford anything for students, including free education.
It is almost pitiful to see President Obama fighting to lower student interest rates by a quarter or half a percentage. Big deal. Who is fooling who? This country can afford to give every student free education if they qualify. I am one guy that refuse to be fooled twice by President Obama. If he wants to fight for Democrats, he has to fight big, else he is just toying around.
This is a great country. Remember: the exceptional country? Yes we are. The richest country on earth. We can afford free education, free healthcare, better modern infrastructure. Don't let President Obama fool you. This is the greatest country on earth. Recession or no recession, we can afford damn anything we please. The money spent on defending Europe alone can pay for streets paved with gold!
We just don't have a President who wants to harness the will of the hoi poloi.
While the red carpet treatment is maintained for the foreign graduate students, many of which got free undergrad education in their home countries, we are bankrupting our American students, forcing them to waste precious years working in odd jobs while their foreign counterparts sail through graduate school and into their careers.
In all likelihood, the American students that should be in graduate school are instead WAITING ON THEIR TABLES IN THE SCHOOL LUNCHROOM, trying to pay college loans, the rent and avoid bankruptcy while they study, in their spare time, in their chosen field. WHAT is wrong with this picture and is it now time for us to expose this perfidy and DO SOMETHING about it?
This is NOT about ability or willingness to do the work....IT IS ABOUT OPPORTUNITY.
Destroying our middle class and sabotaging or delaying the future prospects of our younger generation DO NOT A STRONG COUNTRY MAKE.
You need to work on your English vocabulary. There is no such thing as "free" education.
It should read : " I like community involvement and here's why."
Yet to fill in the blank left by the lead in headline. (((No mention of what the victory was.))) Oh , nice to know something didn't happen. What specifically did happen in regards to the effect, the specific victory not only or simply to process leading up to it?
Summary of article : people can bring about change.
Great! Glad to hear that .
Now
What
Change
Was
Brought
About?
(I'm guessing it's something about student loan rates, but what exactly is for another blog , I guess.)
Seems like the author's under some pressure, for the benefit of the doubt , to grab for the drama and forget the finer points.
So yeah, you can either have stagnant wages at McDonalds and no debt or you can be an engineer with 10's of thousands in debt and stagnant wages. There is also the issue of age for engineers. Most employers will fire you when you hit mid-50's as an engineer. They like to hire imported workers on H-1b to replace us. So McDonalds isn't looking so bad.
If Romney wins nothing will change. We will still have free trade with communist, still have work visas, still have amnesty for illegals, and still keep moving towards corporate communism.
Please Mr. Jones, stop trying to help us young folks.
Congress want to help? How about allowing those rates to be reduced? I know many people who will ultimately pay $60,000 on $20,000 borrowed. How is that anything but robbery?