Former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin noted the other day:
When we mention the 1 percent and the 99 percent, everybody now knows what we're talking about. It’s part of our vocabulary. How quickly these numbers jumped from the sidelines to the center. I first heard them from Carol Shea Porter, former Congresswoman from New Hampshire. Fighting for the 99 percent was her campaign theme. I thought she was on to something, but I suspect even she had no idea that fighting for the 99 percent would become the mantra for a new grass roots movement.
Carol Shea Porter was my congresswoman for 4 years, from 2006-2010. She was the best representative I can imagine having, the sort of ordinary middle class woman like me going to Congress and fighting for the rest of us, doing her homework, and never being bought by the lobbyists, or taking money from the corporate class. She wrote this on her website in 2006 just before she formally declared her candidacy (sent to me by a friend who had saved it):
Economy
by Carol Shea-Porter
on Thursday, January 26th 2006 11:53 pm
Some people in America are thriving. George Bush and the Republican leaders have consistently voted for the very wealthy, the top 1%, and against the rest of us, and Jeb Bradley has voted with them about 96% of the time. Unfair tax advantages, deceptively packaged as "cuts," have helped the richest one percent of the country, who now hold 40% of the wealth. The loss of this vital tax money (an estimated 48% of the deficit is caused by the Bush tax cuts), coupled with an incredibly expensive war, have left the middle class struggling with the burdens of taxes, high insurance and medical costs, soaring housing prices, and reductions in services.
But don't look to the Republicans and our own Congressman Bradley for any relief. They won't even vote to raise the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for the past eight years. The middle class is stumbling, and the poor have fallen. The US Census Bureau says that in 2004, the poverty rate rose for the fourth straight year. There are now 37 million Americans below the poverty line, which is set at $19,350 for a family of four. There are twelve million kids in poverty, which is 17% of all kids under 18. This is not acceptable in our land of opportunity, and it must change. Instead of cutting services to the needy and squeezing the middle class, let's return to the policies of the 1950's. At that time, taxes from corporations that had the privilege of doing business in this great country made up about 25% of the Federal Government's revenues. They now pay about 10%, but it's patriotic to pay your fair share to support this magnificent country. Let individuals pay their fair share also, because it's both patriotic and necessary in order to restore America's financial health.
She needs all the help we can give her to take back that seat from the corporate shill who now sits in it, and who consistently votes for the 1% and then comes back to NH and lies to us about it. Please consider a donation and sign up for her e-mail list. You can do both here.