Welcome once again to $27 Quotes — 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.
I only have time to post a few of the inspiring quotes from this past week, but at least I have time to post a small sampling...
First, though, here’s a little music to enjoy while reading tonight’s quotes:
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And now, on to some quotes!
I’ve been criticized for being an "alarmist" on climate change.
You’re damn right I’m an alarmist.
The scientists tell us we must act immediately to end our fossil fuel dependence, and that is what I'm going to do.
~ Bernie Sanders
If members of Congress were forced to live on $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage would be raised immediately.
~ Bernie Sanders
We have a government that works great for the wealthy and the well-connected—and for no one else. That is corruption, pure and simple, and we need to call it out for what it is.
~ Elizabeth Warren
It’s time to close Guantanamo Bay. It not only costs us money—it’s an international embarrassment. We have to be an America that lives our values every single day.
~ Elizabeth Warren
We are fighting to ensure that these 5 Rights become a reality for every American.
Universal health care must be a right, not a privilege. Everyone should have the chance to live a healthy life — and our government needs to act to protect and expand the foundations of our health care system.
- 2. The Right to an Equal Vote
A strong democracy depends on the broadest participation possible. Everyone must have an equal voice to demand justice from our government, and everyone must be able to vote — with no discrimination and no barriers.
- 3. The Right to Clean Air and Clean Water
Everyone has the right to breathe fresh air and drink clean water, free from industrial poisons. Corporations must not be able to violate this right for the sake of their profits.
Without guaranteed access to a good education, there’s no such thing as equal opportunity. Our government must protect the right to a free, quality, public education from preschool through college and skills training.
- 5. The Right to a Living Wage
No one should be forced to work more than one full-time job just to survive, and no one should see their raise eaten up by the rising cost of living. We must guarantee a livable minimum wage.
~ Tom Steyer
NDAA
There was a gigantically wasteful military spending bill which passed in congress this week and Trump signed into law:
Congress just approved a $738 billion military spending bill that provides a $22 billion increase over last year, and brings the total increases in the 3 Trump years to $130 billion.
Sadly, this year is the first budget passed by a House Democratic majority, which dropped defunding of the Saudi-led Yemen attacks and restored funding for a new round of nuclear weapons after a conference committee with the Senate included all of that and more.
... We need to build a majority in the Congress that will demand new priorities like a Green New Deal, Medicare For All and free public college. One of the ways we can pay for that is less wasteful military spending.
~ Ben Cohen [of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream]
Today [December 17] I refused to fund this President's inhumane immigration policies and endless defense spending.
DonaldTrump's border wall, his family separation policies & child detention centers are not something I can support.
We must fund the government without funding hate.
~ Mark Pocan [WI-02]
I refuse to support more funding for President Trump’s immoral mass detention policies and unchecked and wasteful Pentagon spending. House Democrats must do better — we cannot rubber stamp hateful and dangerous policies.
We cannot keep giving the Department of Defense Department of Homeland Security a blank check.
~ Pramila Jayapal
Congress just passed a $738 billion defense package. We spend more on defense than:
- China
- Saudi Arabia
- Russia
- India
- UK
- France
- Japan
- Germany
- South Korea
- Brazil
...combined.
We need to fundamentally change our priorities as a nation.
~ Bernie Sanders
For the amount we spent on war last year, we could have funded:
- 806,711 Elementary School Teachers
- 880,199 Clean Energy Jobs
- 1.17 million Infrastructure Jobs
- 7.32 million Head Start Slots
- or 1.85 million full college scholarships
Don't tell me we can't "afford" it.
~ Ilhan Omar
USMCA
Another bill which came up in the House this past week is the new version of NAFTA, now called the US-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement [USMCA]:
Today, I voted against the USMCA.
Yes, it's better than NAFTA, but I'm not confident it fixes core flaws that led to rampant outsourcing, andand it fails to take bold action on our global climate crisis.
Our trade deal must be a model for future deals—not just a marginal improvement.
~ Mark Pocan
Big problems require big solutions.
Democrats need a bold, progressive vision to win 2020.
Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan co-authored an Op-Ed which appeared this week in USA Today. Here’s an excerpt:
There is a false choice being presented to voters in 2020 — a narrative that claims Democrats should aim lower and promise less if we want to beat President Donald Trump.
We disagree completely.
As progressive leaders in Congress, we know for a fact that bold and populist ideas are the only way we can win back the White House, and bring the Senate and House along with it.
The truth is our country is not nearly as divided as some would like you to believe. Nationwide, people across the political spectrum are facing the same kitchen table issues. How will they afford their health care? Will they be able to pay the mortgage? Can they keep up with the rising cost of child care?
Americans face enormous challenges because the wealthiest and corporations have been prioritized over working people, the poor and the most vulnerable. We have met with fast-food workers nationwide who can’t afford rent on their poverty wages. We have heard from constituents who can’t even afford the price of their child’s insulin and patients who go to bed wondering how they will pay for chemotherapy.
None of these families can afford half measures — they need structural change to restore power to working people…
Jayapal summed up her feelings on this well on twitter:
On issue after issue, progressive ideas are incredibly popular.
Why? Because progressive values are mainstream values: They benefit the vast majority of the American people. Our country deserves big, bold solutions to our most pressing challenges.
~ Pramila Jayapal
Let’s not get fooled into playing it safe or offering small fixes for enormous crises. Let’s run on vision: for this party and for this country. Let’s give voters something to vote for.
~ Pramila Jayapal
As did Pocan:
Americans want monumental solutions to our monumental problems.
Overwhelmingly, they want Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, abortion access, immigration reform and a living wage.
Pramila Jayapal and I think our party MUST be defined by the voice of the people.
~ Mark Pocan
Mass incarceration is not an urban problem, it’s a nationwide crisis.
Mass incarceration is not an urban problem, it’s a nationwide crisis. When we talk about job loss, addiction epidemics and poverty in rural America, we cannot ignore how it is tied to rural booms in mass incarceration—especially for Black and Brown people.
~ Mark Pocan
If we are going to confront institutional racism in this country, we need to radically transform our approach to criminal justice.
Locking up people for decades on minor drug offenses is immoral.
We must invest in restorative justice.
~ Ilhan Omar
The U.S. should not be locking up people for being poor. Cash bail is a disgrace and should be abolished.
~ Bernie Sanders
Respect for All People
Have you ever seen an American politician asked to defend themselves against charges that they are bigoted against Palestinians? In American political discourse, the category of anti-Palestinian bigotry essentially does not exist. That's how far we still have to go.
~ Peter Beinart
I admire the fact that Bernie Sanders speaks up for the Palestinians. I suspect that this costs him votes every time he does it, and yet he brings it up regularly. It's like his concern for the crisis in Yemen -- no votes in it, but a sign of values and authenticity.
~ Nicholas Kristof
A Few Quickie Quotes
For anyone who accuses us of instituting "purity tests" — it’s called having values. It’s called giving a damn.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Republicans in Wisconsin and Georgia have purged a combined half a million Americans from their voting rolls, because they are too cowardly to engage in free, fair and open elections. That is outrageous.
I have experienced hard-won elections and tough losses, but it would never occur to me in a million years to rig an election by suppressing the vote. Officials who can’t win support from voters need to get out of politics and find another job.
~ Bernie Sanders
At the end of the day, the only way we make real change in this country is through grassroots activism.
~ Bernie Sanders
and lastly, tonight’s title quote:
You cannot change a corrupt system by taking its money.
~ Bernie Sanders
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