There is still a recount, but it appears that a referendum to create a local minimum wage of $15/hour in SeaTac, Washington has succeeded. On one side, the usual business interests are engaging in doomsaying. On the other side, labor groups such as the SEIU (which has also backed fast food worker demands for $15/hour) have waged a strong fight.
In most municipalities, this sort of law is risky, as businesses may make good on their threats to leave. SeaTac has the advantage of infrastructure, being the home of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is not easy to move. Socialism in one city might just work there. SeaTac also has a high minority population, which may be a harbinger of future ethnic minority-labor union coalitions to raise wages in the US.
In any case, the mere fact that people are discussing and acting on this sort of measure is itself a shocking sign of progress in US political discourse. Some recent articles have noted that young Americans are less likely to reject Marxist analysis than are those who were shaped by Cold War propaganda and anxieties. It seems that immigrants from places that have seen actual Marxist movements and policies are also unlikely to share the sharply libertarian approach to economic issues that has had a stranglehold on US culture since the US was founded (i.e., the myth of the self-made "man").
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