A large coalition of labor and community organizations has launched a national “Living Wage for All” campaign, a bold push to address the affordability crisis, a centerpiece of which is raising the minimum wage closer to the actual cost of living (at least $25 nationwide and $30 in higher-cost regions) for all workers, with no exceptions. This is of course worth doing simply for the sake of fairness and justice, so that all of us can make ends meet and lead dignified lives, but it’s even more critically important in this dangerous historical moment. Many working people, feeling betrayed by elites, have concluded that our system of government hasn’t worked for them, and some have been seduced by far-right “fake populism.” According to Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage, one of the most effective, tireless advocates for working people in the nation, we can rally many working people to the urgent defense against plundering kleptocratic authoritarianism, but only if we demonstrate to them that democracy is worth saving by insisting on making it responsive to their economic struggles. This effort could very well be the key element in any strategy that will permit us to successfully resist the oligarchic coup now underway.