UTLA: Bernie Sanders Staying in the Race is Crucial to Defeating Trump, Building the Society We Need
MARCH 21, 2020
Excerpt:
But, it is only March. The Democratic Party currently does not have a platform that addresses the short-term of how we get through the Coronavirus crisis, or the long-term of how we address the above chronic issues.
Bernie Sanders is the candidate who has most deeply addressed these issues, and how we need to re-imagine and re-construct our society healthcare for all, strengthening health and all infrastructure, expanding unemployment benefits, ending under-employment, guaranteeing basic income for all, increasing unionization, ending the incarceration state, abolishing ICE, funding schools and social services, taxing the rich, re-allocating within an enormous military budget towards human needs, creating corporate accountability, winning comprehensive immigration reform, supporting green and life-sustaining industries, addressing homelessness, building free universal pre-school, protecting Social Security, and taking on rising household costs for families. It is for these reasons, last November, after a robust internal process at school sites and in regions, that the UTLA House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed Sanders.
The Democratic Party needs Bernie Sanders to stay in the presidential race right now. If he wins the nomination, this will be good in many ways. If he does not win the nomination, this crisis shows that his ideas must be foundationally embedded in the Democratic Party platform and plans. This will be a necessary disruption of the status quo in the Democratic Party and will give us a chance to re-construct our society based on the common good.
No matter who the nominee is, the actual movement around Sanders must be deeply included in platform development and plan implementation. As Sanders says, Not me, us. The fundamental truth that we need social movements to bring about the change we need will remain the same.
To end the Coronavirus crisis, and protect us into the future, we must re-construct society. Bernie Sanders and his movement staying in the race right now, and being deeply embedded in platform development and plan implementation, is critical to this re-construction process. It will start with defeating Donald Trump.
Alex Caputo-Pearl, UTLA President
Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA NEA Vice President
Juan Ramirez, UTLA AFT Vice President
Gloria Martinez, UTLA Elementary Vice President
Alex Orozco, UTLA Treasurer
Arlene Inouye, UTLA Secretary
https://www.utla.net/news/why-bernie-sanders-staying-race-crucial-defeating-trump-and-building-society-we-need