I am a Sanders Democrat (Very Opposed to Trump) Running for Congress in Nevada — Donate!
To Win in November, Let’s Admit Part of His Appeal is on Jobs Moving Offshore
Donald Trump is hyperbole and excess in its basest human form. The name, which towers above the Las Vegas Strip like symbolism of the imperious strong man we all worry he may truly be, inspires a simultaneous spread of feelings ranging from the dark days of Southern jingoistic populism to absurdity of our country’s reality television fascination with comic relief occasionally sprinkled in with the interjection of thoughts about the Bush dynasty that we all have.
A walking ball of contradictions, the man who opened his campaign with nativist slurs about our Latino neighbors nonetheless emerged victorious among Latinos. The guy who we know has likely never held a gun in his life pontificates poetically about how he is the Second Amendment’s biggest fan. The individual with the most international business associates somehow is the most exclusionary calling for people to be judged by the color of their skin and their religion.
Make no mistake, I think Donald Trump is a race baiting, fear mongering menace who emboldens bigots that would eviscerate the entirety of our nation’s hard fought Civil Rights.
But he is right on one thing and in such a big way that, so far, it has overshadowed his totalitarian flaws — America has lost for too long in trade and workers are mad as hell about it… and they should be.
Free Trade Agreements Haven’t Been Good for the Middle Class
Anybody over 45 years of age remembers the real legacy of NAFTA, the free trade agreement that was thrust upon us as the next saving grace of neoliberal expansion. They lost their jobs.
The great men and women of this country, use to building empires with their hands, crafting their own children’s toys, assembling automobiles that were the envy of the world, and making every part for everything watched again and again as a slick tied company representative told them how “excited” the company was to make some changes that would ensure their continued competitiveness. What change is that? Firing you.
But it gets worse. While our Federal Reserve concerns themselves with maintaining the value of our dollar, our primary international competitors in Asian and Latin America often purposefully devalue their currencies so that they can provide the same services at lower costs. It’s insane.
The great labor movement that created the 40-hour work week, fought for healthcare, and for social security suddenly had to question whether they were putting their members’ jobs on the line by asking for the necessities that decades before were taken for granted.
And it isn’t stopping, either. I am a huge fan of President Obama. I voted for him, called on my friends and colleagues to vote for him, and fought against racist after racist who claimed he wasn’t born in this country or had an illegitimate claim to the presidency. He’s my president.
BUT, he also has tried to push through the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a secretive international trade deal that was negotiated in private, with details kept secret under lock and key, and without welcoming the insights of our working men and women in the labor community. Democrats don’t have a good track record here. We need to quickly stop pretending that we do.
As a Democratic candidate for Congress in Nevada’s 3rd District, I will:
#1 - If a company moves operations offshore, but wants to make money off of American consumers THEN they have to pay a penalty — 20% of the manufacture costs on all products re-entering the US.
#2 - I will vote against any trade deal that is not negotiated on, and agreed upon, by the working men and women of my community including the labor community.
#3 - These great American companies, like GE and Boeing, that make hundreds of millions of US dollars and even receive subsidies and grants from our federal government, will no longer get away with a net tax rate of 0% because they’ve parked their money in an offshore tax haven.
Any additional revenues would be be used towards skills training and education for recently displaced workers seeking a new profession.
The days of us getting whipped around, economically, are over. This is the government for the People and as your representative, my only job will be to fight for you.