As I look ahead to this coming year, a number of thoughts come to mind.
First and foremost, against an enormous amount of corporate media noise and distraction, it is imperative that we not lose sight of what is most important and the vision that we stand for. We have got to stay focused on those issues that impact the lives of tens of millions of Americans who struggle every day to keep their heads above water economically, and who worry deeply about the kind of future their kids will have.
Yes. We make no apologies in stating that the great moral, economic and political issue of our time is the growing level of income and wealth inequality in our nation. It is a disgrace to everything this country is supposed to stand for when the top one-tenth of 1 percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and when one family (the Waltons) owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent. No. The economy is not sustainable when the middle class continues to disappear and when 95 percent of all new income generated since the Wall Street crash goes to the top 1 percent. In order to create a vibrant economy, working families need disposable income. That is often not the case today.
Yes. We
will continue the fight to have the United States join the rest of the
industrialized world in understanding that health care is a human right of all
people, not a privilege. We will
end the current dysfunctional system in which 40 million Americans remain
uninsured, and tens of millions more are underinsured. No. Private insurance
companies and drug companies should not be making huge profits which result in
the United States spending almost twice as much per capita on health care as
any other nation with outcomes that are often not as good.
Yes. We believe that democracy means one
person, one vote. It does not mean that the Koch Brothers and other
billionaires should be able to buy elections through their ability to spend
unlimited sums of money in campaigns. No. We will not accept Citizens United
as the law of the land. We will overturn it through a constitutional amendment
and move toward public funding of elections.
Yes. We
will fight for a budget that ends corporate tax loopholes and demands that the
wealthy and special interests begin paying their fair share of taxes. It is absurd that we are losing more than $100
billion a year in tax revenue as corporations and the wealthy stash their
profits in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens It is a disgrace that hedge
fund managers pay a lower effective tax rate than teachers or truck drivers.
No. At a time when the middle class is disappearing and when millions of
families have seen significant declines in their incomes, we will not support
more austerity against the elderly, the children and working families. We will
not accept cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, nutrition or affordable
housing.
Yes. We believe that we must rebuild our
crumbling infrastructure (roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants,
rail, airports, older schools, etc.). At a
time when real unemployment is 11.4 percent and youth unemployment is almost 18
percent, a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure would create 13 million
decent paying jobs. No. We do not believe that we must maintain a bloated
military budget which spends almost as much as the rest of the world combined
and may lead us to perpetual warfare in the Middle East.
Yes. We believe that quality education should be available to all Americans regardless of their income. We believe that we should be hiring more teachers and pre-school educators, not firing them. No. We do not believe that it makes any sense that hundreds of thousands of bright young people are unable to afford a higher education while millions leave college and graduate school with heavy debts that will burden them for decades. In a highly competitive global economy, we must not fall further and further behind other countries in the education we provide our people.
Yes. We believe that the scientific community is right. Climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is already creating devastating problems in the United States and throughout the world. We believe that the United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. No. We do not believe that it makes sense to build the Keystone pipeline or other projects which make us more dependent on oil and other fossil fuels.
Let me conclude by relaying to you a simple but important
political truth. The Republican right-wing agenda -- tax breaks for the rich
and large corporations, unfettered free trade, cuts to Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, nutrition and virtually every other program that sustains
working families and low-income people -- is an agenda supported by Fox TV. It
is an agenda supported by The Wall Street Journal. It is an agenda supported by
Rush Limbaugh and the 95 percent of radio talk show hosts who just happen to be
right-wing. It is an agenda supported by the Chamber of Commerce and the
Business Roundtable and much of corporate America.
It is not an agenda supported by the American
people.
By and large, poll after poll shows that the American people support a
progressive agenda that addresses income and wealth inequality, that creates
the millions of jobs we desperately need, that raises the minimum wage, that ends
pay discrimination against women, and that makes sure all Americans can get the
quality education they need.
In the year 2015 our job is to gain control over the national debate, stay
focused on the issues of real importance to the American people, stand up for
our principles, educate and organize. If we do that, I have absolute confidence
that we can turn this country around and become the kind of vital, prosperous
and fair-minded democracy that so many want.