Welcome once again to a $27-group / The Political Revolution open thread — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy some inspiring quotes and good music, and (most importantly) spend time gazing at a picture or two of foresterbob’s cat Noble Fur.
As usual I’m running late and short on time. There were a lot of really good speeches this past week, but regretfully I don’t have time today to find or make transcripts to excerpt some of the best bits. Maybe next week…
In the meantime, here are a few good quotes I did have time to include.
Powerful special interests may have the money. But we have something better. We have the people.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Over the last 2 years and before, you and I and millions of Americans have stood up and fought for justice in every part of our society. Because of all the work we have done, we are now on the brink of winning not just an election, but transforming our country.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Today we say to the one percent, listen up: under a Bernie Sanders administration you are not going to be getting more tax breaks. On the contrary you are going to start paying your fair share.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Today we say to the private health insurance companies, whether you like it or not, the United States will join every other major country on Earth and guarantee healthcare to all people as a right.
~ Bernie Sanders
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If somebody wants to call me a radical, okay, here it is: I believe that people are inherently entitled to health care. I believe people are entitled to get the best education they can. I believe that people are entitled to live in a clean environment.
~ Bernie Sanders
While health insurance and drug companies make billions in profits, thousands of Americans die each year because they lack access to health care.
We must make health care a right, not a privilege. Thank you Pramila Jayapal for helping to lead the effort to pass Medicare for All.
~ Bernie Sanders
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It’s time to put health over profits. It’s time to guarantee health care as a human right. It’s time for Medicare for All.
~ Pramila Jayapal
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Whether you're rich or poor, everyone should have the same guarantee of quality health care. Yesterday, we launched the Medicare for All Act. Today, we get to work.
~ Pramila Jayapal
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There are some things that should not be provided through the for-profit marketplace, and we believe health care should be one of them.
~ Pramila Jayapal
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Why is it that the U.S., the richest country in the world, cannot guarantee health care for every single person in this country? We should be leading in this issue and I think the Medicare for All Act is the plan that gets us there.
~ Pramila Jayapal
The American people know the time to make health care a right and not a privilege is now. The Medicare For All bill Pramila Jayapal and others unveiled Wednesday would finally make that a reality — and I couldn’t be prouder to co-sponsor it.
~ Rashida Tlaib
No person should have to choose between their health and their livelihoods. It's time to change the game and provide quality, affordable health care for every person living in the U.S. That's why I'm proud to stand with Pramila Jayapal as a cosponsor of the Medicare for All Act.
~ Jerry Nadler
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Health care is a human RIGHT.
Every single person living in this country, regardless of zip code, should have access to quality, affordable health coverage. That’s why, I’m proud to join over 100 of my colleagues in co-sponsoring the Medicare For All Act.
~ Nanette Barragan
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Medicare for all is not some crazy idea.
It's supported by 70% of the American people.
It's co-sponsored by more than 100 members of Congress.
It's what we must do to end the international disgrace of being the only major country not to make health care a right.
~ Bernie Sanders
In one of the richest countries in the world, health care should be a right for all, not a privilege for the wealthy.
~ Richard Blumenthal
Warren Pieces
Massachusetts families pay an eye-popping $20,000 a year for infant child care — that’s more than in-state college tuition. My plan for Universal Child Care would make child care free for tens of thousands of Massachusetts families, and millions more across the country.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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Under oath and in an open session of Congress, one of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisors implicated him in criminal activity while he’s been in the White House.
And this is on top of the 34 individuals and 3 companies that have been indicted, convicted, or pled guilty -- including Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman and former National Security Advisor.
Our criminal justice system is hanging on and doing its job -- the truth is coming out -- despite unprecedented, relentless, and potentially illegal pressure from Donald Trump and his associates in and out of government.
But here’s the biggest threat right now: Donald Trump, or the next President, using the pardon power to cover up and permanently excuse this wrongdoing.
So let me be perfectly clear, in the way that everyone who might be President next should be: If I’m elected President of the United States, there will be no pardons for anyone implicated in these investigations.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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The pardon and clemency powers are supposed to be about granting mercy to the powerless – not immunity for the powerful.
President Obama understood that. That’s why he responded to a broken system of mass incarceration by using his authority to commute the harsh sentences of hundreds of nonviolent drug offenders.
Who has Donald Trump helped with the pardon power? Right-wing cronies and political allies.
- Dinesh D'Souza, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who pled guilty to illegal violations of campaign finance laws.
- Scooter Libby, a top lieutenant of Dick Cheney who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice involving the politically motivated leak of a CIA operative's identity.
- Joe Arpaio, a racist Arizona sheriff who targeted Latinos and defied court orders in between serving as a campaign surrogate for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump shouldn’t use his power to shield his friends from justice. And the next President shouldn’t protect them, either.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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Saudi Arabia brutally murdered a journalist in its own consulate and bombed Yemeni civilians with US-armed warplanes. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it also may have transferred US weapons to violent extremists.
It's time to start holding Saudi Arabia accountable.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis – we have to treat it like one. Some towns are making real progress with state and federal grants, but they need more resources. My plan, the CARE act, would spend $100B on treatment, recovery, and research.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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It’s time to legalize marijuana, and stand against an unjust criminal justice system. I’m proud to co-sponsor the Marijuana Justice Act.
~ Elizabeth Warren
The Climate Crisis
We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it. That's why I'm running for president: to make defeating climate change the nation's top priority.
~ Jay Inslee
The science is clear: We have a short period of time to act. Whether we shrink from this challenge, or rise to it, is the single biggest question we face.
~ Jay Inslee
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Today, we say to Trump and the fossil fuel industry: climate change is not a hoax but is an existential threat to our country and the entire planet. All of us have a moral responsibility to leave our children and grandkids a healthy and habitable planet.
~ Bernie Sanders
AOC
According to the GOP, when poor and working people advocate for themselves, we shouldn’t listen because they’re “irresponsible.”
Yet when higher incomes fight for working people, we shouldn’t listen because they’re “hypocrites.”
How about we fight for the right thing because it’s the right thing?
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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I'm spending a few hours today doing call-time.
But instead of calling donors, I’m calling constituents to personally follow up on casework they’ve brought to our office, and give them progress updates myself.
Getting big money out of politics means your representatives can do more of this.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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My staff and I come to decisions through robust discussion and debate -- we operate as a team.
They are also introduced at community events, because I want constituents to grow familiar with the people picking up the phone when they call.
As an educational organizer, I view it as development.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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This next quote is from an article by George Zornick, “Elizabeth Warren Is Not Afraid of the Democrats”, in the current issue of The Nation.
The 2020 presidential candidate has a long track record of opposing lobbyists, billionaires, the Republicans — and her own party.
When Senator Elizabeth Warren declared that she was running for president in February, she described Donald Trump’s administration as “the most corrupt in living memory.” But she didn’t stop there: “Even after Trump is gone, it won’t be enough to do a better job of running a broken system,” she said.
Warren’s speech was centered around the notion that political corruption is not a uniquely Republican problem. “To protect their economic advantages, the rich and powerful have rigged our political system as well,” she continued. “They’ve bought off or bullied politicians in both parties to make sure Washington is always on their side.”
Anyone who’s followed Warren’s career knows she’s been making statements like this for years. But her position is suddenly mainstream: Almost every major contender for the Democratic presidential nomination is rejecting corporate PAC money and decrying the influence of the financial sector, albeit with varying degrees of sincerity ...
Not Me, Us!
600,000 people, disproportionately people of color, were arrested for possession of marijuana in 2017.
It is time to decriminalize marijuana, expunge past marijuana convictions and end the failed war on drugs.
Today’s House Oversight hearing with Michael Cohen confirms what we already knew: the president is a liar, a racist, and very likely a criminal.
5 states have now passed legislation increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. I congratulate the Vermont Senate for doing the same.
Let's make sure every worker in Vermont and throughout the country has the right to a living wage.
The Wabtec corporation provided some $60 million in payments to the company's 20 top executives as a result of its merger with GE but is now trying to force workers into 12 hour shifts without overtime pay.
That is outrageous. I stand with UE Local 506 and 618.
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When we are in the White House, we will enact a federal jobs guarantee, to ensure that everyone is guaranteed a stable job. Between transforming our energy system and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, there is more than enough work to be done. Let's do it.
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The people of Venezuela are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis. The Maduro government must put the needs of its people first, allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from violence against protesters.
Instead of demonizing the undocumented immigrants in this country, we're going to pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide a path toward citizenship. We're going to provide legal status to the 1.8 million young people eligible for the DACA program. The United States will no longer snatch babies from the arms of their mothers.
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How is it that the billionaires of this country get huge tax breaks, but our teachers and children get broken chairs, flooded classrooms and inadequate support staff in their schools?
I’m running for president because we need a radical change in national priorities.
If we can spend over $700 billion on our military every year we can certainly make public colleges and universities tuition-free in America.
There are 140 million poor and low-income people in this country, while the three richest people are together worth over $318 billion.
This is the reason we fight for a government and economy that work for more than the top 1%.
We have got to get our priorities right.
Instead of giving huge tax breaks to billionaires and profitable corporations, we must create the best public educational system in the world. Instead of major increases in military spending, we must invest in our kids.
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Today, I want to welcome you to a campaign which says, loudly and clearly, that the underlying principles of our government will not be greed, hatred and lies. It will not be racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and religious bigotry. That is going to end.
I believe health care must be a right, not a privilege.
I believe we must combat climate change, save the planet and create millions of jobs.
I believe everyone in America should be able to attend college, regardless of their family’s income.
What’s radical about that?
Here’s a short video for those who enjoy travelling back and forth in time between now and 75 years ago:
And here’s tonight’s final quote, which I took from the George Zornick article quoted earlier:
The role of congressional oversight is to ask the tough questions, to push back on the decisions, to request additional information, and to recheck the numbers. It’s our job to be cranky.
~ Elizabeth Warren