For far too long, the Democratic party (the party of Roosevelt, James Madison, and JFK) has lost its way because we are not focusing on the people of this great nation. In the last 8 years alone, democrats have had a net loss of 1,042 federal and state seats, including the disastrous election of Donald Trump. These losses are not by accident. They are a result of people's lack of trust, interest, and engagement in our party.
Indeed, there is a reason that labor has traditionally been with the Democratic party. There has always been one fundamental tenet of the Democratic party that had, up until recently, been non-negotiable. It drove our messaging, it was why we enjoyed a coalition of working class whites, working class African Americans, working class immigrants; Democrats have ALWAYS implemented policies that benefit working people no matter their race or gender.
It was the Democratic party that fought for tighter regulations on Wall Street, to make sure that working people weren’t taken advantage of by Wall Street titans.
It was the Democratic party who fought for tax relief for middle class families, instead of millionaires and billionaires.
This party, that embraced my family when we immigrated to America, knew that we were bringing a strong work ethic and family values that would translate to a better America. This party wanted to help us, to empower us to fulfill the American Dream.
Sadly, the Democratic party has lost its way, and we are to blame just as much as anything else. We stopped demanding what we want from our politicians, and instead started accepting that things are hard, that we can’t introduce certain issues because “it’ll never happen.” We stopped fighting for what was right and settled for what was politically feasible. We relented to the idea that hard was impossible.
The Democratic party lost its way when we became just as big of hypocrites on Wall Street/corporate money as Republicans.
We lost our way when we started a system where superdelegates were more important than the people who actually knock on doors and make phone calls.
We lost our way when the party started to influence primaries. Instead of giving people a choice, a battle of ideas; we started getting candidates we didn’t want who weren’t going to fight for us. Don’t worry though, they are "more electable" the party tried to tell us.
The good news is, all is not lost. We can be that party again. To do it though, we need to make some serious changes to how the party operates.
(1) We must demand that the Democratic Party emphatically reject corporate/Wall Street money so that elected officials are only accountable to the people they represent, not corporate interests;
(2) We must get rid of the superdelegate system, which undermines our Democracy. We need to make sure that everyone's voice (young and old) is heard. The only super vote is your vote; and
(3) We must demand that the Democratic Party amend its bylaws to prohibit the DNC and its charter members from directly or indirectly interfering in Democratic party primary elections and/or attempting to influence an outcome of a primary election.
These reforms are hard, especially corporate money. I get it, I live in this world too and I (horrifyingly) understand that money is everything in politics. What the establishment doesn’t realize though is that if the democratic party gets back to its roots the people will be there. The base of the party will be waiting with open arms, and reward us with door knocks, small dollar donations, and energy that will be unprecedented in American political history.
Fair and transparent primary elections will bring millions of people back to our party and will reverse the losing trend we have been experiencing, which (among other things) has put Roe v. Wade in jeopardy, our public schools in the hands of corporate monsters, and our environment in the hands of climate change deniers. We, as Democrats, can do better and we should do better.
My name is Jesse Sbaih, and I am running for the United States Senate in Nevada. If elected I will make these changes. I will do what is hard, because frankly it is the only way to bring this party that I love out of the wilderness.
Please watch the video below and/or visit www.jessefornevada.com to learn more about me and our historic campaign.