Fix our broken health care system

 

MEDICARE FOR ALL

 

Health care is a basic human right, and working people should never be refused quality medical care simply because they can not afford it. Medical care in the United States costs nearly twice as much as it does in most developed countries. As the richest country on earth, I refuse to believe that our Government is unable to help. Recent polls show that 88% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans support Medicare for All. In 2022, supporting M4A should be a pre-requisite for any Democrat seeking federal office.

 

As your Senator I will champion Medicare for All as the only solution to the broken American health care system. Every year trillions of American dollars are wasted in the private health insurance industry — trillions of dollars that do nothing to help working people. Medicare for All will save you money, it will rescue rural hospitals, and it will make sure that you never have to choose between paying for groceries and paying for health care.

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Reset the American economy for working people

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$15 LIVING WAGE and WEALTH TAX

 

In the American economy, the deck is stacked against working people. While ultra-millionaires and billionaires continue to get richer and richer, the rest of us suffer from starvation wages, and the cost of our survival continues to skyrocket. 

 

We need to reset the American economy for working people with a $15 Living Wage so that no one has to struggle off a starvation paycheck. We also need ultra-millionaires and billionaires who have profited the most off the labor of working people to pay their fair share in a Wealth Tax of 2% on every dollar of net worth above $50 million.

 

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Protect our environment by creating millions of jobs

 

GREEN NEW DEAL

 

The existential crisis of climate change isn’t just the greatest threat facing our planet; it’s also the greatest opportunity for adding millions of jobs to the American economy. Less than one percent of American workers are employed by the fossil fuel industry, while everyone on the planet is threatened by the climate crisis every single day. Creating new jobs in green energy is both the only way to save our planet and the best way to stimulate our economy.

 

As your Senator I will work with other progressive Democrats to pass the Green New Deal into law for the sake of working people in Florida and across the country. Bold, immediate action is the only way to protect our environment and economy from the existential threat of climate change.

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Ensure real racial justice for all people

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

 

Racial inequality is not just an issue of police brutality and incarceration; it plagues every aspect of our society, from our classrooms to our environment. Every law that is passed by Congress must take the fight for racial justice into consideration in order to truly tackle systemic racism in America.

 

Every major crisis in America disproportionately harms minority communities — COVID-19, income inequality, the climate crisis, incarceration, police brutality, and the list goes on. As your Senator I will ensure that in every piece of legislation we craft, the needs of black Americans are at the forefront of our priorities.

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ADOS REPARATIONS

 

No group in our nations history has contributed more to the development of our nation, and received less for their production. American Descendants of Slavery continue to suffer from a wealth gap, an education gap, and income gap across the country. When black neighborhoods do begin to thrive, they are immediately threatened by predatory gentrification.

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The United States government holds no greater debt unpaid than the one it owes to the American Descendants of Slavery. A comprehensive reparations program is essential, and must begin with a minimum of $20T in cash payments and the designation of descendants of chattel slavery in the United States as a protected category. 

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Build a more just society for our neighbors

 

ELIMINATE STUDENT DEBT

 

Working people in America have never been the priority of those who represent them. Our Government has allowed barriers to employment and education for far too long, keeping the working class one step behind. It’s long past time for that to change and for the American Government to start putting your priorities first. The children of wealthy families do not need to take out students loans in order to attend college, student loans are effectively a tax on the poor and middle class for daring to reach beyond their station.

 

As an educator I know firsthand that the cost of higher education is a social barrier that only harms working people. We need to Eliminate Student Debt — not just by canceling existing student loans, but by eliminating the student loan industry altogether. Student loans are the only way that working people are able to afford a college education. Eliminating Student Debt altogether will force colleges and universities to drastically lower the price of higher education, allowing the working class a clear pathway to better jobs.

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FULL LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

 

The number one correlator across the nation for changes in our incarceration rates are changes in our sentencing guidelines for marijuana related offenses. While a number of states have already fully legalized marijuana, resulting in a reduction in crime, incarceration and suicide rates, as well as massive surplus to state revenues, other states, like Florida, continue to use it as a way to target minorities for disenfranchisement. We do not have controlled borders between our states, and the full legalization of marijuana must be made at the federal level to ensure the safety of citizens as they travel freely throughout the nation. This must include the full pardon and immediate release of every man, woman, and child currently, or previously incarcerated for a marijuana related offense.

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STATEHOOD FOR D.C. AND PUERTO RICO

 

Every American citizen deserves full representation in the legislative bodies of our nation. Residents of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia are subject to the laws passed by the Untied States Congress, but have no means for input or redress. Residents of D.C. in particular are subject to the most egregious violations of one our nation's founding tenets, "No Taxation Without Representation." Full statehood must be awarded to both regions, including the appropriate representation in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

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Keep all our communities equally safe

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EQUAL PROTECTION FOR ALL PEOPLE

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It is long past time that we ensure Equal Protection for All People by addressing every issue in our criminal justice system:

• We must Abolish Private Prisons so that no more Americans are sold into private slavery by their own government. 

• We must Decriminalize All Drug-Related Offenses to ensure that sick people are not treated like criminals. 

• We must pass explicit Protections for Trans People, and ensure access to puberty blockers for trans children.

• We must decriminalize sex work, and ensure the existence of safe spaces for sex workers to work and advertise.

• We must Make the Right to Vote an Inalienable Right to eliminate the political incentive of mass incarceration. 

• We must enact Common Sense Gun Control — universal background checks, red flag laws, mandatory firearm training, end the gun show loophole, and ban “high speed” firearms.

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We must protect the reproductive rights of all Americans, and access to safe reproductive health care must be made available to every person, in every state, and every community. Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, and it MUST stay that way.

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Stabilize our foreign relations and end our endless wars

 

NO EMBARGOES, NO SANCTIONS

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The United States of America has no business making unilateral decisions that impact the stability of other sovereign nations. We must lift all current sanctions and embargoes currently in effect on other nations, chief among them our neighboring nation of Cuba. History has shown us that the leaders of a state will never suffer when their nation's ability to trade and prosper is threatened, there will always be enough for those at the top, it is the people at the bottom who will always suffer. Never again should this happen as the result of strategic efforts by our government.

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END THE CYCLE OF GLOBAL WAR

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For far too long, the United States has sacrificed her children to the military industrial complex, sending our youth across the world to an endless cycle of foreign wars, radicalizing future generations of terrorists through mindless collateral damage and the destabilization of foreign nations, to feed the economic interests of our wealthy and corporate elite. As a nation, we must take a step back from our self-proclaimed title as moral leaders of the world, and use our vast military strength only as a support for the common good of the global community, and only at the request of international bodies such as NATO and the United Nations.

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