Welcome once again to a $27-group / Political Revolution open thread — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, and enjoy some inspiring quotes, good music, and (most importantly) a picture or two of Noble Fur.
As usual I’m short on time and running late on a lot of things, so once again no cryptograms. (But I’ll try to make up for it by providing lots of typos for you to puzzle over.)
All right, let’s get to some of tonight’s quotes...
Let’s start with a few short quotes:
The average cashier at McDonald's would have to work for 895 years to earn what the CEO makes in a year. Corporate greed has got to end. No more paying workers starvation wages.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Congratulations to teachers for leading this country forward. A nation which doesn’t educate its children properly will fail. Instead of spending billions on jails and incarceration, we must invest in our teachers and schools.
~ Bernie Sanders
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We have a crisis of public education funding in this country. Twenty-nine states gave less money to schools in 2015 than they did before the recession. That is outrageous.
~ Bernie Sanders
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And regarding regarding the recent teachers’ walking in Arizona:
Thousands of teachers in a so-called "red state" are marching to demand support for our kids over more handouts to billionaires. That is what real change looks like.
~ Bernie Sanders
There’s a video with music by the RedForEd teachers’ band which I think you might enjoy, but unfortunately I don’t see a way to include it on this page. But if you’d like to watch and listen to it, here’s where to go.
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For a long time, Washington has worked for people who can write big campaign checks and hire armies of lobbyists. But the Trump Administration doesn't even have the decency to be embarrassed for blatant corruption. The American people deserve better — and we won't stop fighting until we get it.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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I believe every person should have the dignity of a job but also a living wage. Too many have to work two or three low wage jobs just to make ends meet. We as a nation can do better.
~ Merrilee Wineinger
Merrilee who? some of you are asking. Well, I’m glad you asked.
As many of you probably know, one of the most important congressional races coming up this year is Tennessee district 6. (Well, it’s one of the most important races to those of us who live there.) The Democratic Party has pretty much neglected and abandoned our district in recent years, largely ceding the seat to Republican Diane Black — who has been terrible for the state of Tennessee and terrible for the nation as a whole. Don’t get me started on all the wrong things she’s said and done...
This year she’s retiring from congress in order to take a shot at being governor. There will be a bad Republican running to replace her — but there’s at least one really good Democrat who’s competing for a chance to turn the seat blue again. She’s Merrilee Wineinger, she’s a new member of Daily Kos, and she’ll be posting regular question-and-answer diaries. Here’s a little information about her from the diary she posted this morning:
My name is Merrilee Wineinger, and I’m running to be next Representative for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, which is an open seat due to Diane Black’s decision to run for our state’s governor.
I’m introducing myself to the Daily Kos community because I need your support to take compassion and justice to Washington, D.C.
So here’s a little background on me. I am an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, and over the past 15 years, I have served as the United Methodist Tennessee Grassroots Organizer. I have fought for Medicaid expansion and women's, children's and immigrant’s rights. I have worked to end childhood obesity, to find an alternative to the death penalty, and to stop racial injustice.
I am running for Congress because the values of courage, honesty, integrity, humility, and justice are missing from our federal government. Additionally, I am angry and tired of the lack of compassion and justice in Washington, D.C.
I have brought Tennesseans together to stand up to power. Now, it's time to take their voices to D.C. I am running to be their change agent. I will listen to what is in the hearts of the people in District 6, what makes their bellies burn, and what weighs on their mind.
I am running on the issues of Health Care, Education, and Equality. But more importantly, I am running for the seniors, families, single men and women, and children in the 6th District.
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You can learn more about her and her platform on her campaign website (and in future Daily Kos diaries).
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Another good candidate worth your attention is Abdul El-Sayed, who’s running for governor in Michigan. Here’s something very important he said recently:
Today marks FOUR YEARS since the switch of Flint's water source, and yet still:
❌No clean water for the city.
❌No more free water bottle distribution.
❌12,400 pipes that need to be replaced.
This. Is. A. Crime. We need justice for Flint.
Abdul El-Sayed
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In Michigan, candidates can raise unlimited money through Super PACs, as long as they aren’t “directly” coordinating with the Super PAC. That’s not democracy – that’s bribery. Time to demand greater transparency from our government.
Abdul El-Sayed
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As you may know, Donald Trump skipped the annual White House Correspondents Dinner to do a 2020 presidential campaign rally in Michigan. Here’s what Abdul El-Sayed said about that:
Michigan has a message for you today, Donald Trump:
We reject your Medicare cuts.
We reject your ending of DACA.
We reject your corporate tax cuts.
We reject your Muslim bans.
We reject your hate.
We reject your lies.
We reject what you’re doing to our country.
And here’s the platform Abdul El-Sayed is running on, in 20 quick points:
- Fight inequality in all forms
- Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour
- Implement state-level single-payer healthcare
- Protect a woman’s right to choose and eliminate the gender pay gap
- Never accept a dime of corporate money and get the money out of politics
- Rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges
- Make college tuition free for families earning under $150K & Reinvest in public education
- End the profit motive in public education
- Reform auto insurance to reduce costs while protecting people
- Fund and implement universal Pre-Kindergarten
- Amend civil rights legislation to enumerate protections for LGBTQ+ Michiganders
- Reform our criminal justice system & tackle mass incarceration and police violence
- Aggressive action on climate, environmental justice, and no new fossil fuel infrastructure
- Legalize marijuana
- Fight for clean water for all and shut down Enbridge’s Line 5
- Tackle the opioid epidemic through comprehensive mental health reform
- Stand with labor to end Right to Work and protect Prevailing Wage
- Provide high-speed broadband internet to every community in Michigan and protect net neutrality
- Support child and elderly care for Michiganders
- End gerrymandering and legislative term limits and reinstate FOIA for public officials
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Recently Mike Pompeo’s nomination to be Secretary of State came up in the senate. Rand Paul, who had early on claimed he would vote responsibly to keep Pompeo out of that position, predictably switched to a yes vote when it came time to vote. Six Democrats [Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Joe Manchin, D-W. Va.; Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.] and one Independent [Angus King, I-Maine] also cast craven votes to confirm Pompeo.
Even though the confirmation vote is over, I think it’s still worth reading and remembering the words of one of the senators who voted responsibly:
I voted against Pompeo because we need a secretary of state who'll check Trump’s bellicose nature, not encourage it. After 15+ years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we need someone who will bring nations together in diplomatic efforts, not someone who supports never-ending wars.
We need a secretary of state who will stand up for people of all faiths, sexual orientations and genders, not someone like Pompeo who opposes women’s rights and LGBTQ rights and who promotes religious bigotry.
And we need a secretary of state who will address the crisis of climate change, not stymie action on one of the world’s most serious security threats.
For all these reasons, Mike Pompeo is absolutely the wrong choice to serve as the United States’ top diplomat.
~ Bernie Sanders
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One more short Bernie Sanders quote, and then we’ll get to tonight’s title quote …
Take a look at what Finland, the happiest country in the world, is doing. If Finland can provide everyone with health care, send everyone to college for free and provide affordable child care, why can't the US?
That’s a good question! Hopefully the 2018 and 2020 elections will get us closer to a good answer.
Meanwhile, here to talk more about how Finland does it is Anu Partanen:
A lot of it has to do with something that, to many Americans, especially, can sound a little counterintuitive. It's about freedom to make choices. We tend to think often that the United States is truly the land of freedom. We tend to think often that the United States is truly the land of freedom. Americans really value and appreciate freedom, and for a long time, it's absolutely true that Americans had been the freest people in the world.
And then we look at Nordic countries and we might think that, "Well, they're kind of those socialist nanny states where people sacrifice their freedom for the common good." But I actually think it's the other way around. The Nordic countries today offer their citizens much more freedom than the United States does.
Anu Partanen
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I think Noble Fur might be upset if I closed the diary without including some music, so here’s a song by one of my favorite folks singers, Judy Small: