Kshama Sawant is a Socialist running for the Seattle City Council. She is up against Richard Conlin, a Democrat. Some of the things she stands for include:
*Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
*Rent Control
*The right to unionize
Now, I know a few of you on here like to say that 'this site is only for democrats!' but times are changing, and her opponent Richard Conlin was the only member of the Seattle City council to vote against paid sick leave.
In 2010, he voted to create an additional fine for aggressive panhandlers, which the city's Human Rights Commission unanimously opposed as violating the city's human rights standards. The city already had a criminal law against aggressive begging. Still, Conlin fought for the bill, which was the top priority of the Downtown Seattle Association (a business lobby whose members donate heavily to Conlin's campaigns).
Conlin also opposed a homeless shelter at the Sunny Jim peanut butter factory site, voted to oppose regulations that would make homeless encampments safer, and was the only council member to vote against a paid sick leave bill.
This is why you should vote for Sawant. Electing a socialist would take all the poison out of the right-wing accusations of Obama being a socialist, but that's not the important thing. The important thing is bringing all these problems facing the poor and disenfranchised to the limelight.
This would be quite historical as well since Seattle has never had a socialist city councilor. If you are tired of right-wing democrats, and the austerity agenda in general, and if you live in Seattle, vote for a real alternative, a genuine socialist alternative to austerity and kicking sand in the faces of the poor, vote Kshama Sawant!
Also, there's another socialist running in Minneapolis. His name is Ty Moore. Vote for him if you live in Minneapolis. If these victories happen, we can prove to the right-wing that we are not afraid of their smears, because our ideas are just frankly cooler and better.
