We Don’t Let Up
Politics matter to us 
every Election Day

Article

When I look around today and see what’s going on in our country, I see how easy it is to become discouraged by all the negative forces that are working against us and working families everywhere. Attempts to derail the Affordable Care Act, attacks against our pensions and stiff opposition to lifting the minimum wage for low-wage workers can make it seem like we’re pushing uphill with no end in sight.

It’s easy to say “I’m tired, and I’m sitting this one out.” Or “My vote doesn’t matter, so why bother?” It’s easy to become disenchanted and to argue “nothing I do will change anything anyway.” But let me remind you of what you already know: Complacency is the greatest danger of all.

People ask me: “Why is this election so important? It’s a mid-term election. There aren’t any ‘major’ offices in play. Why do we need to fight now?” I tell them it’s important because the forces of greed and privilege aren’t taking a break this election cycle, so neither can we.

Rich getting richer at our expense

The rich are getting richer, and they want to keep it that way. Who suffers in that scenario? Working families do. The people who go to work every day–who have doubled their productivity since 1968 and are getting paid less for it–are being told to “do more with less” so that corporations and their rich shareholders can continue amassing the wealth of this nation at everyone else’s expense.

What are they doing with that wealth? They are using it to silence our voice. A few years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Citizens United case that corporations had the same right to spend money in elections as people do and that money is speech. Now big businesses can spend as much as they want in our elections to drown out the voice of workers like you and me.

We have to participate in this election to overcome the very rich corporate interests that only want to keep growing richer at our expense. We are the only ones who can protect good paying jobs. We are the only ones who can move the dialogue toward economic justice and income security. We are the ones who will knock on doors, make the phone calls and get people to the polls on Election Day. We must be relentless.