GAZED

Category: politics

  • The Great Labor Awakening

    The Great Labor Awakening

    A great reckoning has come for the American business model of labor exploitation — will corporations choose growing labor shortages and boycotts, or employee rights and fair pay? Although the top 10 percent in the U.S. own 70 percent of the U.S. wealth, the working class holds tremendous untapped power capable of transforming the corporatist modum operatus. We’re in the midst of a great labor awakening across the country — from the labor strikes, mass resignations, and boycotts. Time is up for corporatism and the trickle-down fairy tale stockholm syndrome America believed in all while wages haven’t kept up with the 57% rise in inflation & 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years, while 29 million go without health insurance, and while 38 million go hungry in the wealthiest country on earth.

    From John Deere to nurses to Kellogg plant workers — waves of strikes across the country are highlighting economic inequality amid a time of anti-union legislation and a widening wealth gap. Labor “shortages” are leveraging the working class’ voice in the conversation on harsh working conditions and stagnant pay. Over 100,000 unionized employees — from Hollywood production crew members, to John Deere factory workers and Kaiser Permanente nurses — overwhelmingly voted to authorize strikes. 

    This all comes during a time of worsening income inequality. Through 2020, Americans experienced mass hunger, unemployment, sickness, and an eviction crisis at a level not seen since the Great Depression through no fault of their own and with little relief. The other America —the billionaire class’ — has seen their wealth surpass a $1.9 trillion gain since mid-March, 2020 when most federal and state economic restrictions responding to the virus were in place. While over 70 million Americans filed for unemployment (40% of the labor force), evictions rose, and food banks ran out of food, 660 billionaires saw their wealth rise 40% to $4.1 trillion 10 months into the pandemic and Wall Street minted 56 new billionaires. This amount is two-thirds higher than the $2.4 trillion in total wealth held by the bottom half of the population of 165 million. The pandemic has exacerbated the nation’s economic inequality.

    Wealth is quite literally being heinously stolen from workers. While 45 out of 50 of the biggest U.S. companies turned a profit since March, the majority of firms cut staff and gave most of the profits to shareholders. John Deere’s CEO for one, has seen his salary rise 160% during the pandemic, while the workers producing the wealth struggle for fair pay. The company made $2.75 billion in profit in 2020, paid out $1.3 billion in dividend payments and they bought back $750 million in stock on top of the obscene CEO pay increases. 

    Union members are simply demanding fair pay. John Deere offered an initial raise of 5-6% with a total increase in wages of 11% over 6 years, but inflation over the last year alone was 5%. (It is normally 2.5-3%.) After those 6 years they’d be earning less than they are now while the company keeps pumping up executive’s salaries and distributing worker-produced profits to shareholders.

    Workers — unwilling to work starvation wage jobs subsidized by taxpayers through social programs — are en mass exodus. The U..S. had 10.4 million unfilled job openings in August, down from a record high of 11 million in July. Our front-line workers, so essential to our economy as the rest of America discovered, can’t afford their own survival. 

    The collective bargaining power of unions and progressives is what brought us the weekend, the 8-hour work-day, anti-trust laws — it outlawed child labor. Sadly, waning union power in recent decades has prevented further change towards justice and fairness.  In 2020, there were just 11 major work strikes, while from 1950 to 1980, the U.S. saw an average of about 300 per year per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of 2020, only 11.% of the workforce was unionized, compared to 20% in 1983. 

    Despite the anti-union and labor rights efforts of the previous administration, which gave $2 trillion to wealthy Americans, Americans’ union approval is at a 60-year high. Over two-thirds of those surveyed and 77% of Americans 18-34 were in favor per a September Gallup poll. Democrats have been negotiating for an infrastructure package that would provide thousands of jobs to union workers. The conditions of the jobs, however, need an overhaul.

    America must improve its plummeting living standards by doing more than clapping for our front-line workers who uphold our economy and line shareholders and executives pockets with their sweat and toil. As AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “This is the capitalist system that has driven us to the brink,” she added. “Inequality is just getting worse and worse. … We think unions are the solution.”

  • Is Biden Responsible for the 7-Year High Gas Prices?

    Is Biden Responsible for the 7-Year High Gas Prices?

    Since the U.S. economic reopening began, gas prices rapidly hit a 7-year national average high of $3.24 a gallon. Consumers are feeling pain at the pump and wondering if this is the fruit of President Joe Biden’s energy policies. This oil and gas sticker shock threatens to strengthen the country’s biggest inflation scare in over 12 years, but are these simply supply and demand market forces at play and what tools does the U.S. president have to alleviate this? Do solutions that have been outlined clash with U.S. climate diplomacy initiatives?

    Crude Oil Prices and Market Forces

    Voters historically blame high gas prices on whoever is the current president, but short-term retail gas prices are not affected by long-term presidential energy policies, rather by crude oil prices that move by the very forces of supply and demand. As with other commodities, when supply exceeds demand, prices fall, and the inverse is true. 

    These two forces are affected by production costs, and supply and demand shocks like — natural disaster, geopolitical instability like war, and any unexpected event that constrains output or disrupts the supply chain. A positive supply shock increases output which makes prices fall, and the inverse is true as well.

    In addition to supply and demand shocks, decisions about supply output are made by producers like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), independent petro-states like Russia, and private oil-producing firms like ExxonMobil. OPEC controls almost 80% of the world’s supply of oil reserves. This consortium sets production levels to meet global demand which in turn influences the price of oil and gas. 

    The U.S. president does not control OPEC and can not set prices. Supply shortages and rising post-economic reopening gas demand caused the rise in gas prices.

    Effects of Biden’s Energy Policies 

    The average retail gas price is now $1.02/gallon higher than a year ago, and higher than any time since 2014. Over a third of U.S. energy consumption in 2020 was supplied by natural gas. Oil and gas prices began to rise in May 2020 — tripling between then and the last week of December 2020. This is just the natural increase in demand for gas as the economy began opening back up from the pandemic shutdowns.  

    The entire world experienced this bounceback in oil and gas prices, and even other natural resources like lumber, metals, cotton, and sugar skyrocketed. Gas prices rose 280% in Europe this year and led to a 100%-plus surge in the U.S. due to factors like low storage levels, carbon prices, and reduced Russian supplies.

     Presidents historically can only take very few actions — release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increase gas taxes, or engage in Middle East conflict. Biden has done none of this, yet people point to his long-term energy policies that do not affect current supply, as proof of his culpability in the crisis. 

    Detractors often point to Biden’s cancelation of the treaty-violating Keystone XL pipeline, and suspension of new oil and gas permits for federal land and water. However, these actions drive up gasoline prices in years time, not mere months. These measures could only restrict oil supplies years in the future. Companies even have years of permits stockpiled in preparation for moves like this. 

    The oil market only directly reacts to moves by OPEC that quickly impact present supply and gas prices are directly correlated to the price per barrel of WTI crude oil.

    What Biden Can Do

    What can Biden really do to bring gas prices down? The U.S. planned to get OPEC and its allies to unleash spigots which hasn’t succeeded yet. OPEC+ announced it would only gradually add supply to the market instead of following the White House’s calls to ramp up production. This sent crude prices above $79 a barrel for the first time since November 2014.

    Tapping the Emergency Oil Stockpile

    Energy Secretary Granholm said Biden is considering releasing barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (the nation’s emergency stockpile of crude). Oil prices tumbled below $75 a barrel following these comments about the SPR which the administration used last month after Hurricane Ida. After clarifying there was no immediate plan for this, crude rose back near $79. However, tapping into the SPR could be too inconsequential of a move. Goldman Sachs believes releasing up to 60 million barrels of oil from the SPR would only be of “modest help,” cutting their year-end forecast for $90 Brent crude by just $3.

    Oil Exports

    Granholm expanded, adding that they have not ruled out banning oil exports, but the Energy Department walked back on it saying there’s no plan for that. A ban would likely only make Brent prices rise due to weaker supply. 

    Therefore, the White House must persuade OPEC+ to return production that was diminished during the pandemic

    Pushing OPEC to produce more fossil fuels while huddling with leaders in Glasgow at COP26 summit just signals the start of a tricky energy transition towards sustainability.

    Overall though, higher gas prices raise the risk of stagflation – high inflation, low growth. Goldman Sachs predicts higher oil demand, with a $5 per barrel upside risk to its fourth-quarter 2021 Brent price forecast of $80 a barrel. Brent is trading at about $74 currently .

  • Starvation Wages Caused The Labor Shortage, Not Unemployment Insurance

    Starvation Wages Caused The Labor Shortage, Not Unemployment Insurance

    “No one wants to work anymore,” reads one sign taped to a McDonald’s drive-thru. Many fast-food and service industry companies are reporting that they’re facing a labor shortage created by unemployment insurance. This myth has been refuted by workers and analysts’ data. The real problem is the stagnant, starvation minimum wage which if it kept pace with the over 657% rise in inflation & 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years, would be $24.  The free market capitalist solution is for employers to raise their wages and offer safe working conditions to attract workers. 

    Labor Effects of Unemployment Insurance

    A letter from the National Owners Association, a group of McDonald’s franchisees, stated, “When people can make more staying at home than going to work, they will stay at home.”

    While April’s job numbers were dire compared to March — 266,000 jobs added versus 916,000 in March — a $300 a week benefit is not the cause of this so-called “labor shortage.” Unemployment benefits to help people survive a pandemic that has killed 587,000 people and unemployed 114 million in 2020, are not generous enough to cause people to resign to unemployment. Workers report wanting a fair wage to work in hazardous conditions. 

    Furthermore, various studies found that even the $600 unemployment insurance from 2020 had little to no labor supply effects (employment or job search.) One study found that, “employers did not experience greater difficulty finding applicants for their vacancies after the CARES Act, despite the large increase in unemployment benefits.”

    Studies show that unemployed workers who receive benefits search for jobs more, get better offers, and get roles more suitable for their educational background.

    Laying blame on the labor force, who has experienced eviction, mass hunger and unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, while billionaire class’ wealth surpassed a $1.9 trillion gain, is both callous and unwarranted.

    Unemployment benefits are not depressing work, starvation wages are.

    A Starvation Wage

    If the minimum wage kept pace with the over 657% rise in inflation and 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years, it would be $24. It peaked in 1968 at $11.18 when a manufacturing job bought you a house for $26,600. The $15 minimum wage was needed years ago.

    Workers making $7.25 an hour earn 18% less than those in 2009 did. Raising the minimum wage modestly to $15 per hour would give more than 32 million Americans a raise.

    Moreover, exploitative corporations use taxpayer money to subsidize starvation wages that leave employees relying on public assistance programs to barely survive, while executives reap billions in profit. Approximately 70% of adult wage earners receiving Medicaid and SNAP benefits worked full-time hours on a weekly basis. It’s morally despicable that someone working full-time can’t afford to exist. There is no excuse for multi-million and billion-dollar corporations (like Walmart who gained $64 billion during the pandemic) not paying their workers enough to eat and survive. Corporations’ labor costs are so low they’re being subsidized by taxpayers.

    If businesses refuse to pay their workers $15 an hour to survive, they shouldn’t exist. The free market capitalist solution is for them to meet the market need and provide livable compensation in exchange for producing all the labor keeping their businesses running. 

    The problem in the United States is not unemployed workers in a pandemic receiving $300 extra to survive, it’s that employers are robbing those producing wealth of their dignity and ability to support themselves. We should all be fighting to raise wages for the most vulnerable among us. As 1 Timothy says, “a worker is worth their wages,” or as Leviticus 19:13 says, “You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.” Or as Deuteronomy 24:14 says,  “You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.”

  • How Taxpayers Subsidize Corporations’ Starvation Wages

    How Taxpayers Subsidize Corporations’ Starvation Wages

    A recent study proved that large corporations use taxpayer money to subsidize starvation wages which leave employees relying on public assistance programs to just survive, while executives reap billions in profit. The Government Accountability Office undertook the study at the request of Sen. Bernie Sanders to answer questions about the relationship between employers and the federal benefits programs. They found that 5.7 million Medicaid enrollees and 4.7 million SNAP recipients who worked full-time earned wages so low that they qualified for these programs.The time for a reckoning on corporations’ labor exploitation has come and we must ask ourselves why a minimum wage that hasn’t kept up with the 657% increase in inflation and 176% increase in productivity is acceptable. If a company can’t pay the labor force creating their wealth well enough to feed themselves, their nefarious business plan is inherently flawed. 

    Exploitation should not be subsidized.  Yet, according to the study titled “Millions of Full-time Workers Rely on Federal Health Care and Food Assistance Programs,”  this is exactly what American tax dollars are funding. Among the largest culprits, were Walmart McDonalds who have the most workers on food stamps and Medicaid. Walmart was in the top four employers of SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries in each state, while McDonald’s was in the top five in the nine states reported. Within the nine states that responded about SNAP benefits, Wlmart employed 14,500 workers receiving the benefit and McDonalds 8,780. Out of the six states that responded about Medicaid enrollees, Walmart came out first place, with 10,350 employees. McDonald’s followed it with 4,600 Medicaid enrollees in those states.

    This November 2020 study came just as 660 billionaires gained $1.9 trillion while hunger rose 28%, 73 million lost work, 12 million lost health insurance, & over 25 million fell ill with Covid-19.

    Moreover, today’s $7.25 minimum wage is 29% lower than it was 50 years ago despite the fact that productivity has doubled since the late 1960s. The minimum wage would be $24.00 today if it kept up with the over 657% rise in inflation & 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years. Hard-working Americans driving the economy through their labor are being robbed.

    Approximately 70% of adult wage earners receiving Medicaid and SNAP benefits worked full-time hours on a weekly basis. It’s morally despicable that someone working full-time can’t afford to exist. There is no excuse for multi-million and billion-dollar corporations (like Walmart who gained $64 billion during the pandemic) not paying their workers enough to eat and survive. Corporations’ labor costs are so low they’re being subsidized by taxpayers. Huge corporations are making billions in profit by relying on corporate welfare from the government by paying their workers poverty wages. It’s time for large corporations to finally pay their workers a living wage. Corporate welfare must end. 

  • Soaring Wealth Inequality and Pandemic Profiteers: A Call for Tax Reform

    Soaring Wealth Inequality and Pandemic Profiteers: A Call for Tax Reform

    Mass hunger, unemployment, sickness, and an eviction crisis are things Americans are experiencing at a level not seen since the Great Depression through no fault of their own and with no relief. The other America, the billionaire class’ wealth has seen their wealth surpass a $1.9 trillion gain since mid-March, 2020 when most federal and state economic restrictions responding to the virus were in place. While over 70 million Americans filed for unemployment (40% of the labor force), evictions rose, and food banks ran out of food, 660 billionaires saw their wealth rise 40% to $4.1 trillion 10 months into the pandemic and Wall Street minted 56 new billionaires. This amount is two-thirds higher than the $2.4 trillion in total wealth held by the bottom half of the population of 165 million. The pandemic has exacerbated the nation’s economic inequality.

    Recession by The Numbers: U.S. Job Losses

    Regular Americans have not fared as well as billionaires during the pandemic: The pandemic hit the airlines ($34B in losses), restaurants ($240B in losses), hotels, and mall-based retailers the hardest while industries like tech boomed. The unemployment rate stood at 6.7% beginning January. Over 25 million have fallen ill with the virus and more than 420,000 have died from it. [Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center]. Over 73 million lost work between Mar. 21 and Dec. 26, 2020. [S. Department of Labor]. 16 million were collecting unemployment on Jan. 2, 2021. [S. Department of Labor]. Nearly 100,000 businesses have permanently closed. [Yelp/CNBC]. 12 million workers have likely lost employer-sponsored health insurance during the pandemic as of August 26, 2020. [Economic Policy Institute]. 14 million adults—1 in 5 renters—reported in December being behind in their rent. [CBPP]. 

    Employment for t those making less than $27,000 a year remains over 20% below January 2020 levels. Last month, 29 million adults lacked sufficient foodt, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, up 28% since before the pandemic. From Nov. 25-Dec. 7, between 8 -12 million children lacked food [Center on Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP)]. Over a third of U.S. adults who have fallen behind on rent or mortgage payments are likely to face eviction or foreclosure over the next two months, per the December Census Bureau survey.

    This economic inequality also exists among racial, ethnic, and gender gaps. Low-wage workers, people of color and women have suffered disproportionately in the combined medical and economic crises of 2020. Latinos are more likely to become infected with Covid-19 and Blacks to die from the disease than are white people. While the Labor Department showed that all of the job losses in December were positions previously held by women

    Billionaire Wealth and Pandemic Profiteers

    Polar opposite to this, the one-percent’s wealth soared to the tune of $1.9 trillion and the US gained 56 new billionaires between mid-March and Dec. 22 per a December report from the Institute for Policy Studies. America’s 659 billionaires now hold roughly $4 trillion in wealth — roughly double what the 165 million poorest Americans are collectively worth. The 10 richest billionaires have a combined net worth of more than $1 trillion.

     Some of the biggest winners during this pandemic have been companies like Amazon, who’s profit increased by about 70% to $14.1 billion while they exploit their workers. Jeff Bozeos, Elon Musk,and Bill Gates were each worth more than $100 billion on Jan. 18.  Elon Musk’s wealth grew by over $154 billion, from $24.6 billion on March 18 to $179.2 billion on Jan. 18. Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew from $113 billion on March 18 to $182 billion, an increase of 61%. Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth grew from $54.7 billion on March 18 to $92 billion, an increase of over two-thirds

    It’s difficult to fathom such massive wealth gains concentrated at the top while workers are suffering during a pandemic-induced world economic collapse marked by an increased surge in evictions, over 465,000 COVID deaths, 6.7% unemployment, and a 28% increase in hunger. But the top 20% of earners have not had to worry about these issues as they carry out their jobs from home, gain from the Fed’s 0% rates, refinancing mortgages at record low rates, and watch the value of their stocks, bonds, and investment accounts surge. Those whose wealth is captured by financial assets have benefited during an economic collapse.

    Tax Reform

    This $1.9 trillion wealth gain by 660 U.S. billionaires is large enough to pay for all the relief for working families in President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue package which includes $1,400 in direct payments to individuals, $400-a-week supplements to unemployment benefits, and an expanded child tax credit. A stimulus check of more than $3,400 for every one of the roughly 331 million people in the United States.

    There is no reason why workers should be struggling while billionaire CEOs amass trillions of dollars in wealth built by workers. This is why tax reform is necessary. Biden’s promising tax plan wants to deliver on this by transforming parts of billionaire gains into public revenue to help the nation. But this still falls short of structural change to how wealth is taxed. 

    Moody’s Analytics, “The Biden Fiscal Rescue Package,” Jan. 15, 2021

    Forbes, “Forbes Publishes 34th Annual List Of Global Billionaires,” March 18, 2020.

    The best approach is an annual wealth tax on the top 0.1% of  households like the tax plan proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders among others. Taxing those worth over $32 million only will “raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over the next decade and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years, which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.”

    Another solution is the taxation of annual investment gains on tradable assets as advocated by Senate Finance Committee chair,  Ron Wyden. 

    Economic Inequality Is Institutional Robbery

    Over the last 30 years, the top 1 percent has seen a $21 trillion increase in its wealth, while the bottom half of American society has actually lost $900 billion in wealth.

    Moreover, today’s $7.25 minimum wage is 29% lower than it was 50 years ago despite the fact that productivity has doubled since the late 1960s. The minimum wage would be $24.00 today if it kept up with the over 657% rise in inflation & 176% rise in productivity over the past 50 years. Hard-working Americans driving the economy through their labor are being robbed.

  • How Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders Will Wield His Power

    Incoming Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will exert great influence over domestic economic issues that will finally help the American working class like never before through a special budget mechanism. Vowing to move quickly to push through an economic stimulus package and fight economic inequality to “boldly address the needs of working families,” he will hold robust influence over taxes, health care, and climate change among other issues during the worst depression since the Great Depression. Sanders said the first order of business must be the Covid bill with $2,000 checks, and that Democrats have to be “bold in a way that we have not seen since FDR in the 1930s.” What kind of legislation can he help Congress move through with a narrow majority and with what budget mechanisms?

    “Let me just be very clear as the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee: Remember what happened in 2010. Democrats got wiped out. They had the power, but they did not deliver for the American people. We must have an aggressive agenda.”

    Sen. Sanders became the incoming Senate Budget Committee Chairman after the Georgia election resulted in a Senate Democratic majority. While Biden said he considered Bernie Sanders for Labor Secretary, they both agreed he was needed more in the Senate. “I did give serious consideration to my friend Bernie Sanders for this position,” Biden said at an event announcing more economic appointments. He explained, “Bernie and I agreed – in fact, Bernie said we can’t put control of the Senate at risk with a special election in Vermont.” This was ultimately a good choice given Democrats’ slim 50-50 majority even facing inside roadblocks from more conservative Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin III who opposes $1,400 direct payment relief.

    Nevertheless the Senate Budget Committee Chairman wields significant power that can make a great impact on the lives of Americans that have been ignored in the way of corporate interests. The Senate Committee on the Budget was established in 1974 by the Congressional Budget Act. Along with the House Budget Committee, it drafts Congress’ annual budget plan and monitors budget actions. 

    Former Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, picked Sanders to be the ranking member in 2014 and dismissed “radical” smears about him, saying, “Even though he is a person who is known as a real progressive socialist, he never was a problem for my caucus…He didn’t try to be a rebel.” A true assessment since the democratic socialist” label equates to a center-left democrat in most western democracies. 

    Now the most progressive Senator will have a powerful role in shaping Democrats’ spending agenda. Bernie Sanders seeks to move quickly to push through an economic stimulus package saying, “I believe that the crisis is of enormous severity and we’ve got to move as rapidly as we can.” The urgency working-class people, the unemployed, the starving, the ignored feel in America will finally be represented by Bernie Sanders.

    Bernie’s secret legislative weapon within a slim majority? A budget mechanism called reconciliation. Budget conciliation allows Congress to move certain legislation a majority instead of 60 votes. Sanders said, “We have to be very, very aggressive, and I intend as chairman of the committee to use reconciliation to do just that.” He went on to say that  his reconciliation legislation “will have strong support among Democrats.” 

    This powerful tool passed legislation like the Trump tax cuts, Bush tax cuts, and Obamacare. The process starts with the Senate and House Budget Committees’ budget resolution. This means that Senator Sanders will lead important legislation originating in the Senate Budget Committee. 

    Bernie Sanders will effectively get to decide how vast Biden’s spending plans can be and he said he plans to test the bounds of reconciliation to address “structural problems in American society.” He plans to focus on pushing forth the stimulus package first and not tying his long-term priorities like universal healthcare to it. Biden’s team said they will work with Bernie Sanders and other leaders to write legislation for Biden’s agenda despite their differences on issues like single-payer healthcare. Sanders will exert great leadership, pragmatism, and compassion — an example of everything a public servant should hold — as the Senate Budget Committee Chairman. A true mensch. 

    “The first order of business, by the way,” the Vermont senator continued, “is to pass an emergency Covid-19 bill which, among many other things, says to working-class Americans, ‘We know you’re in pain, and we’re gonna get you a $2,000 check… We are on your side.’”

    Senator Sanders supports $2,000 direct payments and money for states and cities to fund Covid vaccine distribution, contact tracing, and testing.

    He is also calling for an emergency universal health care program to be created so that people won’t have to go without medical treatment during a pandemic because they’re uninsured. This is a transformative idea that would  help millions of Americans who have to choose between treatment or bankruptcy, food or medicine ven resorting to rationing medicine or crowdfunding. This emergency program would most likely help advocate for the passage of Medicare for All down the line — a fiscally responsible choice that would save an estimated 68,000 lives a year while reducing health care spending by $450 billion and grant access to a basic necessity for 27.9 million uninsured Americans. 

    “In the past, Republicans used budget reconciliation to pass massive tax breaks for the rich and large corporations with a simple majority vote. As the incoming Chairman of the Budget Committee, I will fight to use the same process to boldly address the needs of working families.”

    Wielding a powerful gavel, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders will help working-class Americans like the massive Trump and Bush tax breaks passed through budget reconciliation helped tax-evading corporations and the top 1%. He will ensure that $2,000 direct payments are the “first order of business” upon taking power and warned of electoral backlash like in the 2010 midterms. For his entire career, Senator Sanders’ heart  has always been with struggling Americans who have faced stagnant poverty wages, a lack of healthcare affordability, and have been blocked from economic advancement by skyrocketing educational costs all while the rich get richer through Congressional legislation. We always have spending for defense contractors, (imaginary) border walls, and Wall St. subsidies but none for health care, education, or jobs. Senate Budget Chairman Sanders will radically change that and move the needle of socioeconomic equality towards justice and advancement. Godspeed to Bernie Sanders in achieving his legislative goals as Budget Committee Chairman.

  • How Trump’s Rhetoric Incited a Violent Insurrection at the Capitol

    How Trump’s Rhetoric Incited a Violent Insurrection at the Capitol

    In 1861, 11 senators and 3 representatives were expelled from Congress for supporting the insurrection and refusing to recognize Lincoln’s electoral win. Today, congressmen and republican governors are calling for the impeachment and/or removal of treasonous President Trump under the 25th Amendment for inciting a domestic terrorist coup attempt to stop the Electoral College count that ended in 4 deaths yesterday, January 6th. Elected officials were forced to evacuate from the Capitol after armed MAGA insurrectionists branding nazi insignia, MAGA shirts, and explosives, hung nooses, and flew Confederate and nazi flags while trashing the Capitol and searching for the Electoral College votes. Trump continued inciting the mob reiterating his lie that, “we had an election stolen from us…this was a fraudulent election,” and told them “We love you, you’re very special,” before telling them to go home. Donald Trump Jr. filmed the President watching the violent coup gleefully. Only 14 were arrested yesterday as the National Guard and army present during peaceful Black Lives Matter protests were nowhere in sight during the break-in.

    Trump and his allies lost 62 lawsuits, 3 recounts and staged a failed coup at the US Capitol to overturn a fair and free election.

    Domestic terrorists were allowed to invade and destroy federal property freely while BLM protestors have been left disabled by rubber bullets, pulled by unmarked vans, and thrown on the concrete to bleed out. Our democracy and national security are on the verge of destruction if no consequences follow this terrorist coup d’etat attempted by the President of the United States. Donald Trump, the MAGA insurrectionists, and elected officials who inspired them must be tried for treason, sedition, and subversive activities under 18 USC Chapter 115.  Cori Bush has already introduced legislation to sanction, remove House members from office who supported 2020 election challenges. The 147 who voted to disenfranchise voters in a bid to overturn free and fair elections must also face legal consequences.

    Violent White Supremacist Insurrection at the Capitol

    Not even during the Civil War did the Confederate flag make it to the Capitol, yet these Trump-supporting terrorists were allowed to invade and threaten congresspeople and staffers’ lives. This attack was orchestrated by the corrupt criminal authoritarian Trump regime because Vice President Pence failed to stop the Electoral College count. 

    Insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and broke in after a cop opened the gates. These attacks resulted in four deaths — yet only 14 arrests were made yesterday. Nooses were hung outside the Capitol and confederate flags waved inside. They released gas into the Capitol and stole federal property. Federal law enforcement found explosive devices as well. A protester in the Capitol appeared to be carrying a handgun on his hip along with zipties. Outside, Congresswoman Mary Miller quoted Hitler, “Hitler was right on one thing,” praising his political organization skills to a pro-Trump crowd. The insurrectionists chanted “the media is the enemy of the people,” destroyed equipment, and chased out reporters. Two insurrectionists even mocked George Floyd’s death. 

    This extremist violence is a widespread ideology — 45% of Republicans approve of the storming of the Capitol building. And we’re meant to accept this extremism as “economic anxiety?”

    What Incited the Terrorist Attack on the Capitol

    Despite this failed coup, Congress confirmed the results of the Electoral College this morning. Joe Biden will be sworn in as President of the United States at noon on January 20. 

    Trump and his allies lost 62 lawsuits, 3 recounts and staged a failed coup at the US Capitol to avoid this result.

    Trump’s incitement of violence to overthrow the election results is well-documented. He organized the insurrection, even tweeting out on December 30th, “JANUARY 6TH, SEE YOU IN DC!” He has repeatedly called on his supporters to take action if he lost. He’s told the “Proud Boys” to “stand back and stand by,” called the violent Charlottesville nazis “very fine people,” has told his supporters to fight protestors, telling them, “I’ll pay your legal fees,” and told terrorists who committed sedition yesterday, “We love you, you’re very special,” while continuing to push false claims of election fraud that even his own attorney general has debunked.

    While the insurrection was ongoing, Trump sent out a message to the violent mob reiterating his lie that they “had an election stolen from [them]…this was a fraudulent election.” The Trump family even gleefully watched the violent mob. Meanwhile, in response to peaceful Black Lives Matter protests, Trump said, “When the looting starts the shooting starts.”

    This attempted coup is on Donald Trump and he must be held responsible for endangering the lives of congressmen and staffers in an attempt to overturn an election. 

    It’s not only Trump that should be held responsible but also lawyers like Rudy Giuliani who echoed his rigged election claims and declared, “let’s have trial by combat,” to a crowd.

    The seditious seven congressmen who voted to invalidate the election also propagated the election fraud myth which incited this heinous insurrection. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott, and Tommy Tuberville all voted to overthrow American democracy. Ted Cruz even solicited donations through a text while the mob took over the Capitol, stating, “I’m leading the fight to reject electors.” Moreover, 147 Republicans voted to disenfranchise voters yesterday in a bid to overturn free and fair elections.

    The United States Constitution gives the US Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote and that power should be exercised lest this happens again. It was exercised in 

    In 1861, 11 senators and 3 representatives were expelled from Congress for supporting the insurrection and refusing to recognize Lincoln’s electoral win. Self-serving attempts at sedition are a threat to democracy.

    Law Enforcement Complicity

    But it wasn’t just elected officials who allowed this Capitol invasion to happen. Law enforcement was filmed opening the gates, waving white supremacists in all while refusing to call the National Guard for backup. The domestic terrorists who committed sedition took selfies with cops, walked around stealing federal property, and were calmly escorted out. The cognitive dissonance in the way law enforcement treats these domestic terrorists versus how it treats peaceful Black and brown protestors is despicable. The National Guard and army were present during Black Lives Matter protests where innocent, unarmed people lost their eyes, were taken in unmarked vans, and injured by military-grade riot gear.

    There were over 14,000 arrests at the George Floyd protests, yet only 14 made last night. We had a serious act of domestic terrorism and no law enforcement agency issued a statement. These right-wing terrorists threatened the safety of congresspeople and were free to go. While officers shoved an innocent 75-year-old man so hard he cracked his skull on the pavement in Buffalo, New York. Militarized police once even broke up a peaceful violin vigil for an innocent young man an officer killed.

    This was not a security breach. The Capitol terrorists planned the threats online for weeks and agencies and personnel did not race to secure the Capitol. We spend $740 billion a year on defense and we failed to protect our nation’s Capitol from armed domestic terrorists.

    Impeachment, Removal, and Prosecution?

    Bipartisan calls for impeachment are gathering momentum from elected officials. Rep. Ilhan Omar began drawing the Articles of Impeachment yesterday tweeting, “Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.” Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and other democrats have called for Trump to be removed by impeachment or the 25th Amendment to bar the demagogue from ever holding public office and endangering American lives ever again. All the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee just wrote a letter to Vice President Pence, urging him to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also called for Trump to resign or be removed. Furthermore, Cori Bush introduced legislation to sanction, remove House members from office who supported 2020 election challenges.

    Officials feel that the nation is at grave risk as long as he remains in power with the capability to influence his cult following to commit more dangerous crimes through his lies. For this reason, Facebook and Instagram have blocked President Trump’s accounts “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” according to Zuckerberg.

    18 USC Chapter 115

    The impeachment resolutions have been written. Per these Articles, President Donald J. Trump must be impeached and removed based on two charges. The first — demanding that the Georgia secretary of state “find votes” and his abuse of power in inciting a coup at the Capitol, and the second — incitement of insurrection. Donald Trump must be impeached and removed and members of congress who attempted to overthrow a free and fair election can be charged with sedition.

    The main three laws broken by the Capitol MAGA insurrectionists are under 18 USC Chapter 115 – treason, sedition, and subversive activities — § 2383. rebellion or insurrection, § 2384. seditious conspiracy, and § 2385. advocating the overthrow of the government.

    More charges could fall under the following laws: 

    18 USC § 231 – Civil disorders

    18 USC § 241 – Conspiracy against rights

    18 USC § 371–373 – Conspiracy

    18 U.S. Code § 842 – Explosives 

    38 U.S. Code § 930 – firearms in federal facilities

    18 USC 1361 – damage to gov’t property

    18 USC 2101 – riots 

    18 USC 2112, 2114 – robbery/burglary of federal property 

    14) 18 USC 1505: 

    15) 40 U.S.C. 5104 prohibits bringing weapons into the Capitol or engaging in “violent entry and disorderly conduct

    This didn’t happen in a vacuum. Four years of Trump’s vitriolic hatred, lies, and demagoguery proliferated all over fake news media channels like Facebook got us here. A coup was orchestrated by domestic terrorists to overthrow an election and law enforcement waived them in, Trump watched and kept fueling the lies about the election that encouraged them. Not even during the Civil War did the treasonous confederate flag make it to the Capitol. It wasn’t a failure, it was a win for these right-wing extremists and a lack of repercussions erases the legal lines making room for even more attacks. Donald J. Trump and his enablers must be removed and charged for encouraging an insurrection, an attempted coup.

    As Voltaire once said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” We must not allow demagoguery to go unchecked. Facts must prevail. Democracy must survive.

  • Democracy Under Attack: 106 Reps. and 17 States Back Texas’ Seditious Election Lawsuit

    Democracy Under Attack: 106 Reps. and 17 States Back Texas’ Seditious Election Lawsuit

    The Texas GOP suggested secession from the United States this morning after, on Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a seditious, undemocratic lawsuit by Texas, supported by 106 House Republicans, asking to overthrow the election results from four states Trump lost in November — GA, MI, PA, and WI. The suit was filed by TX AG Ken Paxton, who has been indicted on felony securities fraud charges and is currently under FBI investigation for political power abuse. This lawsuit was dismissed for lacking any standing in reality. Desperate claims that the election was “rigged” with voter fraud were even debunked by Trump’s attorney general, William P. Barr.  Many, including GOP Senator Ben Sasse, believe this undemocratic, frivolous lawsuit was nothing more than Paxton seeking a Trump pardon.

    The Texas lawsuit challenged the election in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan asking the Supreme Court the block the states from casting their electoral votes for president-elect Biden. It sought to shift the selection of electors to states’ legislatures thereby throwing out millions of votes.

    The court dismissed the lawsuit with an order saying Texas lacked standing and “has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.” The majority ruled that Texas could not file the election suit, stating, “The state of Texas’ motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing,” 

    In a last blow, after election-lawsuit 51 court losses, the Supreme Court composed of a third of Trump appointees completely rebuked Trump’s desperate, groundless attempt to steal the election. The court would not engage in an effort to tell other states how to conduct their elections. This failed stunt attempted to invoke the Supreme Court’s “original jurisdiction,” to act as a trial court for interstate disputes normally used for boundary disputes.

    Trump remarked on his last defeat tweeting, “The Supreme Court really let us down.No Wisdom, No Courage!”

    Among the dozen briefs and motions the Supreme Court received, was an amicus brief from 106 Republican House members (“The Kraken Caucus”) in support of Texas’ bid to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the Supreme Court and disenfranchise millions of Americans based on conspiracy theories. Even 17 Republican state attorney generals expressed support to overturn Biden’s win.

    It stated, “This brief presents [our] concern as Members of Congress, shared by untold millions of their constituents, that the unconstitutional irregularities involved in the 2020 presidential election cast doubt upon its outcome and the integrity of the American system of elections.” 

    In an even more ridiculous move, this morning in a statement, the Texas GOP called for secession from the United States in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that dismissed their conspiracy theories. “Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution,” Allen West said.

    The danger isn’t the frivolous lawsuit that was unanimously predicted to be dismissed, but the undemocratic values that call for the overturning of an election and disenfranchisement of millions of voters. Conspiracy theories that have 17 states and 106 representatives denying U.S. presidential election outcomes are threatening democracy. The Texas lawsuit filers and supporters have engaged in an effort to commit sedition, subvert American democracy, and disenfranchise millions of American voters all over voter fraud conspiracy theories even debunked by Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr. Barr said that the Justice Department had uncovered no voting fraud “on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” 

    As a Pennsylvania brief said, this Texas lawsuit is nothing more than a “seditious abuse of the judicial process, and should send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated.” Sen. Ben Sasse believes that “from the brief, it looks like a fella begging for a pardon filed a PR stunt rather than a lawsuit.”

    Trump lost the popular vote twice, lost all election recounts, lost all 51 court challenges, and yesterday, he lost at the Supreme Court. Monday he will lose the Electoral College. Yet Texas is calling for secession and 17 states are calling for an overturning of President-elect Joe Biden’s win while disenfranchising millions of Americans based on conspiracy theories. Our democracy is under attack from deeply unhinged people.

  • Progressives Are Not Responsible for House Losses

    Progressives Are Not Responsible for House Losses

    Democrats wrongly blame progressives for a net five centrist candidate House losses despite Americans’ overwhelming support for progressive policies. All 112 co-sponsors of Medicare for All on the ballot won, and 97 out of 98 co-sponsors of the Green New Deal on the ballot won. A recent Fox News exit poll further corroborated the fact that Americans support Medicare for All, amnesty for immigrants, and other left-leaning policies that have been vilified as extremist by corporatist party leaders. Blaming the grassroots ideology that energized voters to turn-out in record-breaking numbers while ignoring Americans’ true ideological support is a losing strategy that has already left the Democratic party with the thinnest majority in two decades.

    Americans enacted their support for a progressive agenda in the 2020 election. Progressives passed a $15 minimum wage in Florida, legalized marijuana in Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and New Jersey, got Colorado 12 weeks of paid family leave, increased taxes on the wealthy to fund education in Arizona. These policies are where the numbers, turnout, and support is. Democrats must restore the party of the New Deal instead of attacking progressives in-touch with the will of the people. Not a single progressive lost their seat during this election, the lost House seats are centrists.

    A recent Fox News Exit Poll showed that 72% of Americans want government-run healthcare like Medicare for All among other left-leaning policies like stricter gun laws (55%).  Fifty-eight percent of Americans support single-payer, 88% oppose cuts to Social Security, voters in red states want Medicaid expanded, 68% think the wealthy pay too little taxes, 64% support regulating greenhouse gas emissions,58%  support breaking up big banks, 63% support raising the minimum wage to $15.00, 53% support labor union law, 64% think corporations don’t pay their fair share.

    The Democratic party once cared about these working-class issues — John F. Kennedy once advocated for Medicare For All and Eisenhower’s top tax bracket was 90% when the middle-class was booming.

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi has lost seven incumbents and that number could rise to about twelve as votes are counted from New York, Utah, and California. These have all been center-leaning democrats. Not one single candidate that co-sponsored Medicare for All in a swing district lost their seat. Even Mike Levin — an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal — kept his seat. 

    Yet losing candidates are blaming progressives and the Movement for Black Lives — all the base of their electorate which secured Joe Biden’s win. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a New York Times interview cites internal hostility to progressive causes, saying “It’s been extremely hostile to anything that even smells progressive.” 

    Congresswomen like Spanberger blame talk of “socialism” and “defunding the police ” for her near-loss, stating that attack ads on those ideas almost cost her and other Democrats their races. In reality, that’s an indictment on the failure of Democrat’s digital messaging that leaves them vulnerable to false Republican attacks. 

    Rep. AOC accurately diagnosed this problem in The Times interview stating, that a lack of digital messaging during a pandemic that made Democratic candidates vulnerable to attacks like “sitting ducks.”

     “If you’re not door-knocking, if you’re not on the internet, if your main points of reliance are TV and mail, then you’re not running a campaign on all cylinders. I just don’t see how anyone could be making ideological claims when they didn’t run a full-fledged campaign.

    Conor Lamb spent $2,000 on Facebook the week before the election. I don’t think anybody who is not on the internet in a real way in the Year of our Lord 2020 and loses an election can blame anyone else when you’re not even really on the internet.” 

    AOC expanded by remarking that the party is “hemorrhaging incumbent candidates to progressive insurgents” and the “D.C.C.C. banned every single firm that is the best in the country at digital organizing,” because they were associated with progressives.

    “So I need my colleagues to understand that we are not the enemy. And that their base is not the enemy. That the Movement for Black Lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for all is not the enemy. This isn’t even just about winning an argument. It’s that if they keep going after the wrong thing, I mean, they’re just setting up their own obsolescence.”

    The progressive activists Democrats are disparaging are the ones that secured the White House. Joe Biden should not adopt a Republican view of the party if Democrats ever hope to win again. Or the immigrant activists that delivered AZ and NV and 94% of Detroit residents who went to Biden, and Black organizers that tripled turnout in Georgia, and organizers in Philadelphia will not turn out for them.

    “It’s really hard for us to turn out nonvoters when they feel like nothing changes for them. When they feel like people don’t see them, or even acknowledge their turnout.

    If the party believes after 94 percent of Detroit went to Biden, after Black organizers just doubled and tripled turnout down in Georgia, after so many people organized Philadelphia, the signal from the Democratic Party is the John Kasich’s won us this election? I mean, I can’t even describe how dangerous that is.”

    If Democrats are to prevent further future losses they should turn from their corporate donors and to the progressive will of the American people and restore the party of the New Deal that brought the middle-class, workers’ rights, and bent the moral arc of history towards progress. 

  • Economic Populism Can Combat Democrats’ Declining Minority Support

    Economic Populism Can Combat Democrats’ Declining Minority Support

    Trump won the highest share of non-white electorate vote of any Republican in 60 years, while moderate Democrats lost support and seats. Despite Joe Biden’s expected narrow win, Democrats face a disconcerting problem from declining minority and Latino support that can only be regained through the proven-effective economic populism of the likes of Bernie Sanders. According to the Edison Research exit poll, Trump garnered 32% of the Latino vote, 31% of the Asian vote, and 12% of the Black vote. While pundits may blame stereotypical voting motivators like “machismo,” or conservative social policies, they’re not rooted in reality. Polling consistently shows that Latinos’ primary voting concerns are jobs and the economy. This downward trending support for Democrats points to a lack of attention to Latino voting concerns from the Biden campaign and a corporatist Democratic platform that doesn’t resonate with working-class people of all backgrounds. Biden ran a sufficient, but mostly opposition-campaign that ignored Latino voters—the largest nonwhite voting block (32 million) according to political insiders. As voters of color grow as a share of the electorate, the Democratic party must address their economic policy concerns through effective outreach, while fighting fake news. When Latinos list the economy and jobs as their primary issues, maybe it’s time to consider economic populism like Bernie (who fared better than Biden among them) did. 

    According to the exit poll, Trump just won the highest share of non-white support of any Republican in 60 years. He did better with every gender and race except white men (5 point decline.) He gained 2% with white women, 4% with black men, 4% with black women, 3% with Latino men, and 3% with Latino women, and 5% with ‘other.’ Although exit polls are not empirical fact, these voting estimates fall in line with 2016 results. AP VoteCast calculates that Trump won 8% of the Black vote (a 2 percentage-point gain on his 2016 numbers.)

    While this harrowing support came as a shock to many on Tuesday, as birther-in-chief Trump has repeatedly attacked minorities with hateful racist actions and sided with white supremacists, 29% of Hispanics have identified as Republican for the last two decades. If we’re to ever finally flip states like Texas with sizable and rapidly growing Hispanic voting blocs, it’s crucial that we actually court their vote with economic policy substance and messaging. While also fighting fake news that endlessly pushed lies like Biden calling African-Americans “super-predators” to that demographic. This year also saw an increase in  Spanish-language social media disinformation aimed at Democrats.

    Latinos for Trump

    Latinos support for Trump isn’t surprising but the causes (messaging and faux populism) must be examined if we’re to ever flip states like Texas. Florida Hispanics’ 47% Trump support seems like a lost-cause, but when 40% of Hispanics in Texas vote for the man who directly characterized their immigrant population as rapists and drug traffickers who “bring crime,” it points to a Democratic failure that must be addressed. This 40% figure is higher than the 32% national Hispanic support Trump won.

    Democrats Lack Economic Policies and Outreach

    Democrats have complacently resigned to the myth that Latinos are all Democratic — and have continued losing support through a lack of economic populism and outreach by moving to the corporatist right. All while Biden ignored Latino voters in the 2020 presidential election. They’ve abandoned their New Deal-style platform that gave birth to the middle-class. The solution is returning to a working-class party — for the working class. Bernie Sanders’ primary success among Latinos has proven that populism works — talking jobs, the economy, and addressing working-class needs works. 

    Joe Biden won the primary in-spite of his efforts to gain Latino voters. Over 20 Latino political insiders said they saw zero plan from Biden to gain Hispanic voters and there’s little evidence the campaign is devoting resources to mobilize the Latino vote.“I do not think that the Biden campaign thinks that Latinos are part of their path to victory,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, the former digital organizing director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. “If you don’t think Latinos are part of your path to victory, then you do what they’re doing.” “Right now I can’t tell what their strategy is with the Latino community. I just don’t see it,” said one Latino lawmaker who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

    Moreover, centrism is to blame for declining minority support. The only seats that Democrats lost this election were centrists. No progressives lost their seats. And sticking to centrist, corporatist politics would deliver catastrophic losses in 2022 for Democrats. 

    So while a bloc of Latinos has always voted conservative — 37% in 1984, 27% in 2012 — their conservatism is not fueled primarily by social issues but by economic messaging. Turning states like Texas blue can be done, Beto O’Rourke only lost by a narrow two points of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Democrats just need a policy platform shift towards progressive economic policies and a serious turnaround in messaging. 

    Latinos’ Political Philosophy

    Ignoring the policy concerns of 18% of the U.S. population and 32 million voters is a sound way to guarantee even more congressional losses in 2022. Latinos’ primary voting concern is not immigration or elusive “unity,” but rather, jobs and the economy — it ranks first at 23% in a Unidos US Electorate Survey. There can be no equality or unity without economic justice — it’s what directly affects the livelihoods of hard-working families. Democrats have abandoned this messaging in favor of the oligarchy’s corporate interests and obfuscated that with platitudes.

    Latinos also ranked healthcare as a primary issue — concerned that it’s too expensive and unaffordable. These two policy concerns they cited that the ideal candidate would address hold up nationally, in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas — all heavily populated Latino states. Nationally and in these states they also cited student loans and college cost concerns, social security cuts, and housing affordability in addition to concerns over Trump’s treatment of immigrants.

    A democratic platform that cares about Latinos — the largest voting bloc — supports free college, Medicare for All, and economic justice in general. Democrats don’t push for the (faux) populism that Trump did in 2016. 

    Bernie Sanders’ Economic Populism Wins Among Latinos

    Economic populism is the reason Bernie Sanders fared much better among Latinos than Biden.  got less minority support than Hillary who had less than Obama. The reason Trump did better with people of color is that he improved support through simple economics and jobs class language. While Democrats focused on a pure opposition campaign that lacks class language.

    Bernie Sanders won landslide levels of Latino support — 53% in Nevada — three times as much as Joe Biden who got 17%. He also won 49% in California, compared to Biden’s 19%. This is because he hired Latino activists that actually knew how to deliver economic justice message through outreach like Belén Sisa, his Latino Press Secretary.

    Bernie Sanders actually offered substantive solutions to Latinos instead of just offering platitudes about unity and brushing the entire voting bloc’s concerns as being about immigration alone.

    National Progressive Policy Support

    It’s no surprise then that Sanders was voted the most popular politician in America per a Fox News poll.  There’s a reason he has a higher approval rating than any Democrat or Republican on the hill. It’s not just his unwavering morals, pseudonym as the “Amendment King,” or corporate-interest free record. It’s an obfuscated fact that the majority of the country supports progressive policies and the majority of the electorate identifies as independents.

    Fifty-eight percent of Americans support single-payer, 88% oppose cuts to Social Security, voters in red states want Medicaid expanded, 68% think the wealthy pay too little taxes, 64% support regulating greenhouse gas emissions,58%  support breaking up big banks, 63% support raising the minimum wage to $15.00, 53% support labor union law, 64% think corporations don’t pay their fair share.

    The Democratic party once cared about these working-class issues — John F. Kennedy once advocated for Medicare For All and Eisenhower’s top tax bracket was 90% when the middle-class was booming.

    Bernie didn’t patronize Latinos with empty platitudes, or Despacito, or by sprinkling Spanish words here and there. He listened to the concerns that after working-class people and offered substantive solutions centered around free education, universal healthcare, higher wages, and more.

    Neo-liberalism lost in 2016 after years of democratic establishment politics failed to deliver hope and change. Working-class whites who previously voted for Obama were fed up with establishment politics and an unresponsive plutocracy so they voted for the only general election candidate who wasn’t bought by Wall Street and promised to remedy working-class struggles. Who else had a populist, working-class message and wasn’t lying about it? Sanders who made economic inequality the platform of his campaign would have obliterated Trump. But he won, and the country lost thanks to democrat hubris.

    Left-wing policies are where the numbers are at. Hillary failed to draw Obama voters and experienced the downfalls of low-voter turnout that come with a centrist, establishment, purely opposition campaign. She won 55% of the vote compared to Obama’s 69% in 2012, seeing a decrease in support from black, Latino,  young voters, and non-college whites. She lost the rust-belt Bernie had won the primary in, lost the millennial vote Bernie gained more votes. Both Trump and her combined, and garnered only 28% of the non-college white vote that Obama had previously won 40% of in 2012.

    To avoid even more major losses, Democrats must turn to progressive policies supported by the majority of Americans instead of platitudes and pandering.