Issue Position: Good Jobs and Strong Middle Class

Issue Position

The ranks of the middle class are being deliberately hollowed out. Poverty is on the rise, with one in six of us living in poverty. For the first time ever children are not going to be better off than their parents. At the same time, American workers have been increasing their productivity. While corporate profits increase, income disparity is greater than it has been since the Great Depression, taxes are decreasing for the wealthiest and increasing for everyone else, and public services that support and maintain a strong middle class: education, public safety, fair practices in the free market, transportation and infrastructure, access to affordable and high quality health care, a secure retirement, are being undermined.

I will continue to fight to restore shared prosperity and fairness.
Education. Start investing once again in the world class education system, starting with high quality early childhood education. Make sure our public K-12 schools ensure all kids are prepared for life and for work. Make access to higher education more affordable. Restore our research universities and colleges to the status of best in the world.

Collective Bargaining. Reverse the erosion of collective bargaining power so that unions are again positioned to project strength on behalf of America workers so that wages, salaries, working conditions, and benefits to support working class families are reestablished.

Human Rights. By advancing and protecting human and civil rights we affirm the bedrock of our country's long journey towards true democracy, that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, and everyone is allowed free and fair access to opportunity so their talents, dreams, and aspirations can carry them as far as they can go.

Progressive Taxation. Paying for public services in a manner that is politically and economically fair. Those who have benefited by the investments we all make together are asked to do their part so that those who come later might also have the opportunity to build a safe and secure life for themselves and their families.

Strong Democracy. Our state's constitution needs to be made perfectly clear that it is only actual, living citizens, not corporations, that enjoy human rights and the ability to participate in our democracy.

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