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.
There are more good quotes I’d like to share tonight then I’ll have time or space to post. (Especially since, as usual, I’m short on time and running late.)
Many of the quotes I’d like to share are from some really good candidates for congress. But let’s start tonight with something different: the summary of a bill introduced in congress last year which won’t get passed (or even voted out of committee) unless we get more of these good candidates elected.
The bill I’m referring to, which was introduced by Judy Chu (CA-27), is:
H.R.1322 - Women's Health Protection Act of 2017
This bill prohibits any government from imposing on abortion services:
- a requirement that a medical professional perform specific tests or medical procedures;
- a requirement that the same clinician who performs a patient's abortion also perform additional tests, services or procedures;
- a limitation on an abortion provider's ability to prescribe or dispense drugs or provide services via telemedicine;
- a requirement or limitation concerning the physical plant, equipment, staffing, or hospital transfer arrangements of facilities where abortions are performed, or the credentials, hospital privileges, or status of personnel at those facilities;
- a requirement that, prior to obtaining an abortion, a patient make medically unnecessary in-person visits to any individual or entity;
- a limitation on medical training for abortion procedures;
- a prohibition prior to fetal viability, including a prohibition on a particular abortion procedure;
- a prohibition after fetal viability when continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman's life or health;
- a restriction on a woman's ability to obtain an immediate abortion when a delay would pose a risk to the woman's health; or
- a restriction on obtaining an abortion prior to fetal viability based on a woman's reasons or perceived reasons or that requires her to state her reasons before obtaining an abortion.
- A measure or action that is similar to a requirement or limitation listed above is prohibited if it singles out abortion services or makes abortion services more difficult to access and does not significantly advance women's health or the safety of abortion services.
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Hmm. I wasn’t originally planning to quote Judy Chu tonight, but why not?
Things the constitution says should be “well regulated”:
✅Gun ownership
❌Women’s bodies
~ Judy Chu
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This bigoted assumption that immigrants from country X cannot assimilate has been used as a weapon against every wave of new immigrants in our country. And every time, the xenophobes were proven wrong. That's the history and reality of the United States - a country of immigrants.
~ Judy Chu
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Trump spent $1.8 trillion to give billionaires tax breaks, but now wants to claim he cares about the debt by taking $15 billion from things like CHIP, a program that helps poor children receive healthcare.
~ Judy Chu
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Congressional candidates coming up soon, but first a few quotes from an incumbent senator:
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If we're going to reverse the 40-year decline of the middle class and reduce the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else, we must restore the constitutional right of workers to collectively bargain for a better life.
~ Bernie Sanders
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We cannot live in an economy where we do what is only good for the employer. It’s about time that we start looking at the needs of workers, and not just large corporations.
Perhaps the most significant reason for the 40-year decline in the middle class is the decline of trade unionism in America.
In America today, if an employee is engaged in a union organizing campaign, that employee has a one in five chance of getting fired. That is unacceptable and that has got to change.
~ Bernie Sanders
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If we're serious about reducing income inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we must increase the number of union jobs in this country.
~ Bernie Sanders
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The president made clear today that he will not keep the promises he made during the campaign to lower the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs. Instead, he has become a supporter of the pharmaceutical industry's extraordinary greed.
Unlike Trump, Congress must take real action to lower the price of prescription drugs. That means passing legislation requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices and allowing the reimportation of safe, low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
~ Bernie Sanders
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I disagree with John Bolton on a whole lot, but I will give him credit for chutzpah.
This is a man who was a key adviser to George W. Bush in urging him to get involved and to invade Iraq because, supposedly, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
As I think most Americans now know, that effort in Iraq was the worst foreign policy disaster in the modern history of this country. We lost 4,400 American soldiers, brave soldiers, 31,000 wounded, half-a- million Iraqis dead.
And then Bolton talks about the increased influence that Iran now has in Iraq. Yes, that's true. And that's precisely because of the war in Iraq.
So, I think you have some people in Washington, Bolton being one of them, who believe that war and militarism is the answer to everything. We have spent over $2 trillion in the wars in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and yet, today, our infrastructure here in the United States is crumbling.
We have millions of people who can't afford to go to college or are leaving college deeply in debt. Maybe, just maybe, we might want to be investing in the American people, rather than inflated military budgets and more and more wars.
~ Bernie Sanders (during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union)
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Time for a quick Noble Fur break!
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And now back to quotes. This one is long, but it’s important:
If we are going to defeat right-wing Republicans in 2018 and 2020, we need to win in states that Trump won, like Pennsylvania. And, in my view, the only way we win in those states is by supporting progressive candidates who have the guts to defend working-class families -- white, black, Latino, Asian American, Native American -- and take on the power and greed of the billionaire class...
As you know, Donald Trump represents something we have never seen before in the history of the United States. It is not just that he represents the interests of the wealthy and powerful. It's that we have never had a president with more authoritarian tendencies than him.
The 2018 midterm elections will be long remembered as a pivotal moment in American history because, if we are successful, we can put an end to the disastrous Trump agenda. If we are not, we will have at least two more years of a rapid shift toward authoritarianism, the further normalization of corruption and the continued rise of oligarchy.
But we cannot defeat Trump and the Republican Party with the same playbook, or by supporting the same kind of candidates long favored by the political establishment and financial elite. That is how we got to where we are today.
That is why I recently traveled to Pennsylvania to support two strong progressive candidates: Greg Edwards for Congress and Jess King for Congress…
Our job in 2018 is to take on and defeat Trump's authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia and religious bigotry. But we can only do that if we run candidates who can rally the American people around an agenda that works for them, not the billionaire class.
For the past 25 years, Greg Edwards has worked tirelessly to organize for justice in health care, education and economic dignity. The powerful grassroots movement behind Greg Edwards is championing Medicare for all, universal pre-k, debt-free college and raising the minimum wage, and he is living his values of unwavering inclusion by building the diverse coalition Democrats need to win in his district.
Jess King has seen firsthand how the biggest corporations have hurt workers and squashed competition. In Congress, she will work to pass Medicare for all, rein in Wall Street, break up corporate monopolies, and support the real job creators: small businesses in our local economies...
Candidates like Greg and Jess will help us stop Trump while ushering in an era of strong progressive change in this country. Thank you for supporting them. They need our help.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Jess King is running for congress in PA-16.
I'm a working mother running for U.S. Congress in PA's 16th District because I believe the American dream should be for all of us.
~ Jess King
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I commit to holding regular town halls and answering every single question. It’s not that complicated. It’s democracy.
~ Jess King
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It is stark to hear about the huge decline in refugee resettlements in Lancaster County due to the Muslim ban and federal policies. I will fight for refugees and immigrants, because Pennsylvania was built on welcoming refugees and immigrants.
~ Jess King
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Working families across the country haven’t seen a raise since 1980. Our economy has grown - but it’s all just gone to the top. The top 1% have seen incomes go up 300% while the top 0.1% have seen incomes go up 600%. So is it a trickle down, or flood to the top?
~ Jess King
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We’ve got to build a movement big enough to hold ALL OF US. We can’t afford to lose more people to cynicism and to politicians who divide us against each other.
~ Jess King
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Jess King has received strong endorsements from a number of people, including one who traveled to her district to campaign with her last weekend:
I am proud to endorse Jess King for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District. Too often, working people in South Central Pennsylvania have been left behind by the political establishment. Jess King’s vision of an America that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected, is what we need to take back the House of Representatives and the Senate this November.
As a leader in local economic development, Jess has supported thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners to grow and provide decent jobs that pay a living wage. She also has seen firsthand how the biggest corporations have hurt workers and squashed competition. In Congress, she will work to pass Medicare-for-all, rein in Wall Street, break up corporate monopolies, and support the real job creators – small businesses in our local economies.
The grassroots energy Jess has inspired in Lancaster and York counties is a testament to her leadership and her progressive vision. I look forward to working alongside Jess as we rewrite the rules of this rigged economy and build an America for all of us.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Greg Edwards, another very good candidate, is running in neighboring PA-15. Here’s a 2-minute introduction to him for those of you who enjoy videos:.
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When folks know I'm a pastor, their framework of reference is very narrow. So they tend to think of someone who's ultra-conservative. That's unfortunate that that's the framework of reference.
I come out of the black church, in particular the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded by Richard Allen in Philadelphia who walked out of Saint George's Methodist Church because the white people in the church denied him the access, as a person of color, to the altar.
The traditions that run deep in the black prophetic church are never to separate one's faith from the struggles of everyday life. That's not something we're afforded. We can't compartmentalize our belief in universal aspects such as truth, and love, and peace, and justice from the everyday struggles of people having to put food on the table, and having shelter over the head, and having clothing on their back.
~ Greg Edwards
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(That’s from an interview with Greg Edwards conducted by the grass-roots group Tech Solidarity, as is the next quote.)
I think when we when we view health care as an entitlement, not a right, that we undercut our national economy. I think that we also render people disposable. I think that we're spending a lot of time and energy fighting against the consistent onslaught of Republicans who want to repeal and replace the ACA.
We need to be fighting for universal health care for every person, and I think it's proven that it works economically. It's the only right thing to do in a democracy, and I think it begins to help people self-actualize a whole new way of life. I think there are people who are tied to dead end jobs because of a part-time health benefit package.
The fact of the matter is we don't have a health care system, we have a health-care industry that hasn't been about health care for the last 35 years. If you have a healthy citizenry, that everybody can participate in, I think it begins to change the national conversation and the national landscape.
When you rally and you march with people who are not doing it because it's the popular thing, but literally their hospice care, their mother's hospice care, their oxygen tanks, their medication for their heart, the coagulant that is tied to whether they wake up tomorrow or not. You know we're talking about literally the difference between life and death.
~ Greg Edwards
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I believe our current political system is centered on politicians and not people. This moment does not call for moderation, but revolutionary ideals rooted in progress: single-payer health care, livable wages, and equitable education funding. From Allentown to Alburtis to Stroudsburg and beyond, the 7th Congressional District will sink or swim together.
~ Greg Edwards
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And one more quote for the night, to round things out and bring us back to where we started. This is a quote from the issues section of Greg Edwards campaign website, specifically the section reproductive rights:
Access to abortion is basic medical care. Roe v. Wade has been decided and upheld. Greg will fight to protect a person’s right to choose, as we also continue the fight for reproductive justice so that every person -- regardless of race, geography, or socioeconomic status -- has access to the full range of comprehensive care that they need. The government’s role is not to interfere in a person’s medical decisions, nor can one be fully free until they have complete autonomy over their body and how, when, and if they decide to start a family.
Legislation we will fight for: H.R.1322, the Women's Health Protection Act of 2017
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Wish I had more time to include some quotes from other good people such as Kara Eastman, and a very moving video of Paula Jean Swearengin which I had wanted to include last week, didn’t have space to do it justice, so intended to use it this week. Even though she lost her primary last week, it is still something I think you will find inspiring and worth watching when I do manage to share it.
But that will have to wait. In the meantime, here’s a Tom Paxton song to close out tonight’s diary. It’s one of my favorites, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.