What I Stand For

All people deserve dignity, safety, and a government that represents them and fights for their rights. We the people created the government to protect us from tyranny. Currently we have a federal government that is stomping on our rights, so we must turn to our state government to protect us. I will never give an inch on the rights I grew up believing were inalienable.

All people are people. We are created equal. Oligarchs have tried to divide us. They’ve tried to trick us into thinking the reason our wages have gone stagnant and inflation has skyrocketed is because our neighbors aren’t pulling their weight. It isn’t. It’s because the oligarchs are obsessed with squeezing every penny out of our labor and keeping the profits for themselves. When they screw up, they pass the losses onto us through higher prices, higher taxes, and lower wages. They’ve bought national politicians through the court ruling of Citizens United, which is just a fancy name for legalized bribes, and got themselves giant tax cuts in return. Our state can raise taxes on the wealthiest among us, even if the federal government just wants to twiddle it’s thumbs. But we’re going to need fighters like me willing to to work for it.

These past few months, ICE has been unleashed on our neighbors. Snatching people up for daring to speak with an accent or having a darker than snow skin tone. We watched them kill two ordinary Minnesotans just trying to help their neighbors. Those images will live with all of us. It’s easy to think that it was just a problem in the cities, but our neighbors in Wright County have been taken too. ICE may have slowed it’s kidnapping campaign, but they’re still here. The doors they kicked in still need to be paid for. The businesses they closed down still haven’t made up the money they lost. The damage they caused in the hearts and minds of all Minnesotans will take decades to heal. For some families, like those of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the pain will last a lifetime.

The Oligarchs have tried to divide us into thinking our LGBTQ+ neighbors are somehow hurting our children by just existing. I grew up surrounded by the rainbow community and I’m a better person because of it. From them I learned the importance of being true to yourself and they imbibed me with the strength to stand up for not only myself but also for people who haven’t found their voice yet. The saying “be careful who you hate, it just might be someone you love” rings loudly in a time where kids have become a political weapon. Shame doesn’t change a person’s identity, it just changes who they trust.

We all need healthcare. No one should go bankrupt because they got sick. Every other western nation has figured out a way to guarantee their citizens healthcare. We need to follow their examples and find a way to make sure every Minnesotan has access to healthcare they can afford. The ACA started as a state program, we can show the rest of the nation how to get universal healthcare by making a state wide program.

I am a former United Auto Worker. I was working at the St. Paul Ford plant when it closed. The state and the union made it possible for over one thousand workers to move on after their layoff with several pathways to gain other skills. I know the power of collective bargaining and how it changes the lives of workers for the better. I am personally offended by “right to work laws” and will never be part of union busting bills.

We’ve been divided on almost everything, but I know we all want the same thing. Safety and prosperity for ourselves and our families. Now more than ever I’ve been thinking of Senator Wellstone’s words “we all do better when we all do better.” He was right. We need to stop fighting each other and look up at who’s really making our lives harder.