I am sending this email out to you just before our Fighting Oligarchy tour begins. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and I will be doing five rallies in Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. If you can't attend in person, please watch them on live-stream.
As we hit the road, here is some of what I have been thinking about.
Today in America, the Republican Party controls the White House, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and they hold a majority of the governorships and state legislatures in the country.
We are coming off a presidential election in which millions of Americans who voted for Joe Biden didn't show up to vote for Kamala Harris. It was an also an election in which traditional Democratic Party consistencies — working people, young people, and Latinos — all shifted dramatically toward Donald Trump. And, as you read this, the polls show the Democratic Party has its lowest approval rating in decades.
Why is that happening? How is it that given the anti-worker ideology and policies of the Republican Party, that party now has more working class support than Democrats? How is it, given their views on climate change, student debt, housing, gay rights, etc. that Republicans are gaining support with young people? How is it that despite their clearly racist and xenophobic policies and rhetoric, Republicans are doing better and better with Latinos?
The bad news is that Democratic Establishment politicians, and donors, and the inside-the-beltway consultant class still don't get it. And I'm not sure they ever will. Many of them believe that the answer is "playing dead" and hoping Republican support collapses — or more fundraising, more super PACs, more ads, more press releases and "better messaging."
The good news is that more and more people are waking up to the fact that if Democrats are serious about winning elections the real answer lies in rejecting the corporate wing of the party and empowering those who are prepared to create a grassroots, multi-racial, multi-generational working class party in every state in this country. The good news is that millions of Americans are rejecting the corporate influence in both parties and are prepared to support Independent candidates or run as Independents themselves.
All you have to do is look around.
All across this country Americans - Democrats, Republicans, Independents - are saying loudly and clearly: NO to oligarchy, NO to authoritarianism, NO to kleptocracy, NO to massive cuts in programs that working people desperately need, NO to huge tax breaks for the richest people in our country, NO to maintaining the status quo in an economic and political system that is failing tens of millions of working class families.
At the same time, they are saying just as loudly and as clearly: YES to raising the minimum wage, YES to expanding Social Security, YES to guaranteeing health care as a human right, YES, to cutting the cost of prescription drugs, YES to paid family and medical leave, YES to equal pay for equal work, YES to more affordable housing, YES to making childcare and higher education affordable to all, YES to taking on the existential threat of climate change. And most importantly they are saying YES to a government and an economy that works for all of us and not just the billionaire class and the Oligarchs.
That is why you see thousands and thousands of people coming out to our meetings in Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan and Wisconsin.
It is why more than 50,000 people -- including 25,000 in Denver -- have RSVP'd to our rallies this weekend.
You see it at town hall meetings with unprecedented turnout in congressional districts across the country.
You see it when Republicans have told their members to avoid holding those very same meetings going forward.
It is happening because that is where the people are in this country, and that is where the energy is.
The path forward is clear:
If Democrats are serious about winning elections and addressing the major crises that we face, they must embrace the working class of this country in a way which hasn't been done in almost 60 years.
If Democrats are serious about winning elections and addressing the major crises that we face, Democrats must make it clear that they are prepared to boldly take on the Oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country.
If Democrats are serious about winning elections and addressing the major crises that we face, they must reject the corporate wing of the party and empower those who are prepared to create a grassroots, multi-racial, multi-generational working class party in every state in this country.
And, if Democrats are unable to make that transformation what we will see, and SHOULD see, are more and more Americans fighting for change outside of the broken two-party system.
Will taking on a rigged economy and a corporately dominated political system be easy? Absolutely not. It will require enormous discipline, hard work, and clear thinking.
We're taking on not only the entire Republican Party and their right-wing media outlets, but also the "moderate" corporate media and the entire Democratic Establishment. We're taking on Wall Street and the CEOs of almost every major corporation in the country.
We're taking on all those for whom the status quo is working just great.
That's the bad news.
Here's the good news. The overwhelming majority of Americans are on our side. They don't want us to become an Oligarchy. They don't want us to become an authoritarian society. They don't want us to destroy Social Security, public education and the Veterans Administration while we provide enormous tax breaks to the rich. They don't want us to turn against each other with increased racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia. They don't want us to be in a confrontational relationship with long-time allies like Canada, Mexico and Europe.
Bottom line: the struggle before us will not be easy. But, for the sake of our kids and future generations, it's a struggle we cannot run away from. We must take on Trumpism - and defeat it. We must create a government that works for all, and not just the few.
Needless to say, I intend to do my part — both inside the beltway and throughout the country. In the days, weeks, and months ahead I hope you will join me in that struggle.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
👋 Before you go... 👋
Over the coming weeks, Bernie is going to be engaging in the struggle to determine where we go from here. That will take a modest amount of resources to travel, organize, hold events, and create content that reaches people where they are.
If everyone who read this email contributed $27, we'd have more than enough to get it done.
If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly:
Paid for by Friends of Bernie Sanders
PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402
This email was sent to gahleexholly.hdhask@blogger.com. If you need to, unsubscribe here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails. We hope you'll stay, because emails are such an important part of how we organize and how we raise money. In fact, there is no single greater source for our campaign's fundraising than emails like this one. And that's important, because no one person, not even Bernie Sanders, can take on the billionaire class alone.
Before you go about the rest of your day, help power our fight against the billionaire class by making a contribution today.
Submit this form to update your contact information.
