Take a few minutes and let my try to persuade you why Robert Reich needs to jump into the 2016 race for President.
I wrote a diary yesterday that focused on Reich's economic message - economic populism aimed at making the lives of the vast majority (the 99%) better. The diary is a summary of Reich's latest article up on his website and also at the Campaign for America's Future.
Reich's article puts forward a progressive agenda I think anyone who calls themselves a Kossack can get behind.
Reich has also published a documentary titled Inequality for All that I think is the best case as to why inequality is a threat to our democracy and why we need to remake our economic system so that it functions like it did in the last half of the 20th century. The documentary is for sale, but you can also pick up a lot of Reich's ideas at his personal website, here.
But today I want to focus on an issue that anyone who calls themselves an American should get behind - Voting Rights - and why Robert Reich has the potential to champion this issue in 2016 based on his personal story.
Follow me over.
For those who aren't aware, Robert Reich was a childhood friend of Michael Schwerner, the Mississippi Freedom Rider who gave his life so that more Americans could have the power to vote and shape their lives:
As a child, Reich was bullied, and sought out the protection of older boys; one of them was Michael Schwerner, who would be murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in 1964 for registration of African-American voters. Reich cites this event as an inspiration to "fight the bullies, to protect the powerless, to make sure that the people without a voice have a voice."[11]
Wiki Link
You also can listen to and read a transcript of Reich discussing the issues laid out in his documentary, as well as his relationship to Michael Schwerner, here.
Michael Schwerner, along with his friends who also met the same fate — James Cheney and Andrew Goodman — are to be awarded the Medal of Freedom posthumously by President Obama.
I don't think I need to tell you why the Voting Right Act is important, nor that it is under serious attack.
We seem to be on the cusp of throwing away the sacrifice of Civil Rights activists — among whom I count family and teachers — that put an end to most discrimination at the voting booth. We also are throwing away the efforts of progressives who fought so that we could lead much, much better lives.
That cannot happen. We need someone who can make an unequivocal case for why the efforts of civil rights activists should not be in vain and why we have to demand the poor and marginalized in this country must have the same chance to cast a vote as the rich and powerful.
Robert Reich brings an authoritative voice to the issue of voting rights.
Robert Reich is an authoritative voice on every issue that 2016 will hinge on — inequality and wealth distribution, big money's influence in elections and voting rights.
We need him standing side-by-side with Bernie Sanders and one or two more progressives reminding Americans that they are in truth progressives. That they stand on the shoulders of progressives who ensured better lives for them and their children and that we cannot turn our backs on all of those who came before us and sacrificed so much so that we could lead better lives - that would be the ultimate act of selfishness.
Robert Reich can help us do that.