Because Rome wasn't built in a day

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Most change happens through evolution, not revolution. This is a very important thing for my fellow liberals to remember. We have had a record breaking number of minorities in the Democratic Primary this election. That my friends is a damn beautiful thing. That is progress. That is something to celebrate. That is something to be proud of. But where do we go from here? 

How about we complain and throw temper tantrums? 

When I was in school, we were taught about the term W.A.S.P. No, not the extremely controversial 80’s metal band that switched to Christian rock half a decade ago. I mean White Anglo Saxon Protestant. No one ever talks about that term anymore. The reason is that it has been obliterated. We haven’t had a true W.A.S.P. president in well over a decade. 

Progress is slow. Progress demands patience, but I think that’s why Bernie is the wise choice. He’s been patient with his mission for longer than I’ve been alive.

But he is also the only candidate that has put such a great effort into putting things in place for progress after his term. 

It would be silly to dismiss his part in getting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elected. She’s not old enough to run yet, but she will be no matter how long his run is. Who else has prepared us for progress as much as he has? 

Yes we should have a female president, but it has to be the right one. It can’t be just anyone. Clinton has shown even more why she was the wrong choice. She lost her bid for president 3 times (including the 2008 primary run), and it is more clear now than ever why. 

I adore Elisabeth Warren, but she too is showing why she may not be the best choice. 

But how many times has AOC shut down attacks on her better than any political leader (male or female)? 

Progress takes time, but I strongly feel that a vote for Bernie is actually a vote for our first female president. 

Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

Photo Credits: https://unsplash.com/@midwestiscool?utm_source=squarespace&medium=referral https://unsplash.com/@willianwest?utm_source=squarespace&medium=referral

The Squad To Endorse Bernie Sanders

Or… “Why We Should All Say #IEndorseBernieSanders”

So The Squad has made it clear that they are on the road to a full endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota will announce their endorsement just days from now. 

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib has said she will hold back, but with Senator Sanders coming to her district on Oct 27th, it's a good bet she will join in at that time. 

The only hold out right now is Rep. Ayanna Pressley, but this could be part of a larger strategy. 

If they all announced their support of Senator Bernie Sanders on the same day, it would generate one day of news stories. 

Having their announcements separated by almost a week each keeps endorsements in the air.

Because of this extremely smart strategy, they have a bigger chance of encouraging others to endorse him as well.  

All four of these women are sharp as fresh new tacks and know how to strategize like few others can. 

It's their precision in this skill that got them all into office. 

They also understand the long tail strategy, and I believe that this is all part of a much larger plan. 

Imagine if you will that the Senator wins and they get him into office. 

If he bows out for a second term, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be old enough to run for president herself. 

If he stays for eight years, these ladies could be planning to have a full eight years of true progressive leadership in this country. 

That might be enough to fix most of the damage that the current occupant of the White House has done to this country. 

Never forget for a second what Bernie Sanders’ mantra has been from the beginning. 

"It's not me, but us."

Share this story if you agree. 

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen

Why Jimmy Hoffa Jr Is Wrong About Medicare For All

I have been a proud member of Teamsters Local 252 for over two decades now. I have seen our union get more and more cozy in bed with industry as the time has passed. Never has this been more clear than when our weak and feckless leader made a stand against Medicare For All. 

"The Teamsters have health care for all. And I just think we have to educate (the candidates) on that issue. I can't believe they would say that we're going to give up our insurance."

Either he’s just plain stupid, or he’s been paid off by the medical insurance companies. I have medical insurance. I’m one of the lucky citizens of the U.S.A. But with every claim denied I am reminded that we need Medicare For All. With every sick person I have serving me food at a restaurant, I am reminded why we need Medicare For All. With every Teamster member that ends up with cancer, and has to continue to work even through their last days of life, just so that they can continue medical care until they are dead, I am reminded why we need Medicare For All. 

You see, Mr. Hoffa, the insurance companies have totally failed at their job to take care of us. People who fail that badly at their job need to be fired. It seems that you are one of those people, because you are failing your members by not pushing for Medicare For All. You have failed at your job by not endorsing the most consistently Pro-Union candidate in my lifetime. Senator Bernie Sanders has always been on the correct side of history. Senator Bernie Sanders has consistently been very vocal about his support for unions. He doesn’t just support the unions during an election. His voting record speaks louder than anything could. If you ever paid attention to what will help your members, you would know this. 

I implore you to prove me wrong. I beg you to show everyone that you indeed do have a backbone. Show us long standing members that you give a rat’s ass about us. Because right now most of us consider you a corporate sellout, and a disgrace to the name Hoffa. 

This opinion piece was inspired by and references the following sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/politics/teamsters-endorsement-process-2020/index.html

https://teamster.org/news

https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/27110/bernie-sanders/43/labor-unions#.XaDq2UZKiUk

https://wholewashington.org/

Photo by Piron Guillaume

If You Support Vote Blue No Matter Who...

So I am seeing a bigger push than ever from the “Vote blue no matter who” movement. In principle I agree and support that fully. In fact, this article is written with the hope that it helps that movement. We need to do whatever we can to get rid of the toxic Cheeto. So please know that I write this BECAUSE I support “Vote Blue no matter who”.

But there is a serious marketing problem the movement is having. Not one single meme promoting “Vote blue no matter who” even mentions Bernie Sanders. Why is that? I have seen floods of articles and video that do not mention him either. This is despite him being the current front runner! This article will be posted on the Next Uprising Facebook page, so please feel free to prove me wrong. Post those “Vote blue no matter who” memes that actually recognize Bernie Sanders.

Now why is this such a problem? You want those Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination! Remember what happened last time? Bernie made it clear that he was throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton, because he knew she was better than the petulant child we have in the White House right now.

The problem however was that Bernie supporters were not all Democrats. There was also a good amount of Green party members, people who never voted before, and even lifelong Republicans that were ready to vote for Bernie Sanders. How do you get them to support your Democratic nomination after you work so hard to sabotage their candidate? How do you get them to be “Vote blue no matter who” when they see 4 top DNC officials step down due to corruption?

It wasn't just DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz that had to step down (after it was shown that the DNC had a clear bias against Bernie Sanders). There was also DNC CEO Amy Dacey, CFO Brad Marshall, and Communications Director Luis Miranda.

Then to top it all off, Hillary Clinton hired Debbie Wasserman Shultz for her campaign! I know this is all water under the bridge now,  and the DNC has made changes to hopefully prevent that level of corrupt behavior this election, but we must learn from our mistakes. Otherwise we are doomed to revisit the repercussions. Those repercussions are four more years of the liar in chief. We need to do all we can to prevent that.

This is not a plea for equal time. This is not me trying to get more recognition for Senator Sanders. This is me trying to make sure that whoever wins this upcoming primary, gets as much support as possible!

So please stop sharing that meme, article, bar chart, or video if it doesn’t give equal time to all candidates. If Bernie doesn’t win this, we need his supporters to vote for them. Don’t we? Let’s make sure everyone embraces “Vote blue no matter who!”

Background of image by Donald Tong

Momentum is all that matters to me

So Bernie Sanders has entered the race. Although I was passionately behind him the first time, I questioned if he could get the momentum again. It's pretty difficult to catch lightening in a bottle twice.

Now before you Hillary Clinton fans get too excited, let me point out that Hillary Clinton is only 6 years younger than Bernie. So any jokes about his age only come off as nothing more than sour grapes. Please don't forget that she was the one who got the official nomination. She received his endorsement. She was the "IT" girl for the DNC from the beginning. They made it clear that they didn't care about the primary, and were going to do everything they could to make sure she won that nomination. She still lost to Trump. So chill. There are many amazing female candidates out there for you to get excited about. I ask you to put your energy into promoting them instead of bashing any candidate. You don't like him. Great! Use that. This is what the primary is about. If you don't want him to win in the primary, work like crazy to lift up one of the many great women running. They are pretty amazing and deserve your passion.

Let's keep it as positive as possible. Let's keep it about a person's voting record. Let's keep it about their chances at beating the bloated Cheeto we currently have for a president. But most importantly let's keep it about who has the most momentum.

So this primary I am not going to get too excited about anyone just yet. I am going to see who has the most momentum. Momentum is all that matters to me.

How can I have such a calloused attitude about this primary? Because I only care about beating Trump. That's first. Second, please look at our Congress. It's full of amazing women, minorities, and young people. It's full of the future! No matter what Democrat we get in the White House, they will be pressured to get behind the things that congress wants to get behind. So even if we get some sell out liberal who's corporate backers want them to vote against (for example) Medicare For All wins, they will be put in their place by that congress.

If we can get more minorities, women, and young people to win over the senate too? It's all over for the corporate backed Democrats.

So can we just make sure the DNC doesn't start looking to extinguish any flames? If someone is burning hot, fuel that fire! Let's get behind that person!

I will end with this. I am going to start posting more often, but every post will end with the following hashtag. #SavagelyUnited Because when this primary is over, we need to be Savagely United. Who's with me at least on that?