Email from "Fighting Bernie" Sanders.

Real change never takes place from the top down. It takes place when ordinary people, by the millions, are prepared to stand up and fight for justice.



Dear DU'er -

Thank you very much for your ongoing support which is making possible the great Fighting Oligarchy rallies that we are holding all across the country. So far we have held 30 events in 17 states where we have spoken to almost 300,000 people.

Your generosity has also allowed us to hire organizers in congressional districts where Republicans won with slim margins along with several states where progressives are running for the House and the Senate.

We are doing this tour and hiring these organizers because you know your history as well as I do. You know that real change never takes place from the top down. It takes place when ordinary people, by the millions, are prepared to stand up and fight for justice.

This past weekend I returned to Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. And what a great trip it was. In addition to holding standing room only rallies in urban and rural areas, I met with the immigrant community in West Liberty, Iowa, resident doctors in the Chicago area and spoke to the national convention of the UE Workers.

In Davenport, Iowa almost 1,500 people turned out for a rally. It was a crowd that rivaled the size of some of the events we held in Davenport during our presidential campaigns and speaks to the hunger there for an understanding about what is going on in this country, how we are going to take on Trumpism and what we must do to fundamentally transform our society.



Davenport

We also held a smaller event in West Liberty, Iowa — a town of 3,724, the majority of whom are Latino. We met in a Catholic Church with people whose family members have been deported by the Trump administration. Many of the people in this community work at a meat packing plant, an industry that helped keep food on tables during COVID even while its workers were among the hardest hit. The meeting was hosted by a priest who had buried 10 workers during that pandemic. Now, members of this community are having their families snatched up and deported. It was a very difficult meeting.

After Iowa, we returned to Wisconsin for a rally with Rebecca Cooke in the beautiful town of Viroqua, Wisconsin. Rebecca is running for Congress and is one of the great candidates we are supporting. She is a waitress, grew up on a local farm, understands what’s happening to rural America and is running an excellent grassroots campaign.


Viroqua

In a town of 4,400 people, 1,000 showed up at our event. In rural towns and urban cities, most Americans understand, no matter where they live, that the current economic and political systems are rigged and broken in favor of the rich and that we need fundamental changes.

After Wisconsin we traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan for a rally with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed that was attended by more than 2,000 people.


Kalamazoo

Abdul is running for Senate in Michigan and was not only a supporter of our presidential campaign, but is a physician who knows from personal experience that our current health care system is completely broken. He understands that health care is a human right, which is why he supports Medicare for All. In fact, he wrote an excellent book on that subject.

We ended the tour in Chicago, Illinois with a large rally Sunday evening where I was joined by Robert Peters who is running for Congress and Delia Ramirez, one of the great progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives.



Chicago

While I was in Chicago I also had the opportunity to meet with 25 resident doctors who practice in hospitals run by the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois and Northwestern University. And what they told me was incredibly distressing. These are dedicated young physicians who are working 70 to 80 hours a week, with totally inadequate salaries, while they attempt to pay off student debts of up to $500,000. Meanwhile, day after day, they provide care to low income patients who can't afford the medicine they need to survive and, in too many instances, delay getting the treatment they required.



We live in the richest country in the history of the world, yet we remain the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right. We spend far more money per capita on health care than any country on earth while we get worse outcomes. Life expectancy in America is 4 years less than other developed nations and, if you are working class, you live a 7 years shorter life than the wealthy.

No matter how bad you think our health care system is, believe me, it is worse. The function of a rational healthcare system should not be to make huge profits for the drug companies and the insurance companies. It should be to provide quality care to every man, woman, and child. That is why I will continue to fight for Medicare for All.

These are crazy times. These are dangerous times.

It appears that every day we’re dealing with one crisis or another, outrageous decisions and statements from the White House, and the continued undermining of the Constitution by Trump.

We have an economy in which we have a grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, where the middle class is being decimated, and more than half of our people continue to live paycheck to paycheck -- many for starvation wages.

The situation in Gaza is horrific, last year was the hottest year ever recorded, the assault on a woman's right to choose continues, gun deaths are at historic highs, and we have a corrupt campaign finance system that allows the billionaire class of this country the ability to buy our elections.

In the midst of all that the Democratic Establishment politicians, donors, and the inside-the-beltway consultant class still don’t get it. And I’m not sure they ever will. Many of them believe that the answer is “playing dead” and hoping Republican support collapses — or more super PACs, more ads, more press releases and “better messaging” will be the answer.

The good news is that more and more people are waking up to the fact that if Democrats are serious about winning elections the real answer lies in rejecting the corporate wing of the party and empowering those who are prepared to create a grassroots, multi-racial, multi-generational working class party in every state in this country.

Bottom line: the struggle before us will not be easy. But, for the sake of our kids and future generations, it’s a struggle we cannot run away from. We must take on Trumpism - and defeat it. We must take on the Oligarchs and defeat them. We must straighten democracy and create a government that works for all, and not just the few.

Needless to say, I will continue to do my part — both inside the beltway and throughout the country. Thank you for being a part of that struggle.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders
(I am including the contribution link)

👋 Before you go... 👋

Thank you to everyone who has donated to make Bernie's work over the last few months possible. But we're not done yet.

Bernie just wrapped up stops in Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, and will be on to Maine next. These rallies — large and small, in big cities and rural areas — are expensive. But they are important. If everyone who read this message contributed $27, we'd have more than enough to get it done.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fobs-june25-email