@emrazz 1/16 So this is how I came to support Sanders - before he announced his candidacy he was not on my radar screen at all. Then, in late 2014, I started to see social media posts of his talking about individual issues like healthcare, income inequality, student debt, etc.
@emrazz 2/16 I was on FMLA leave caring for my mom. She was a lifelong Dem & champion of the underdog; her mom was a Suffragette. Caregiving is flurries of activity interspersed w/ long periods of nothing, I had blocks of time on my hands & I began copying and pasting Bernies posts.
@emrazz 3/16 I thought ‘this looks like a pretty interesting campaign platform’ & of course it was. I’m a lifelong Dem, but occasionally registered DTS & voted outside the party, so Bernie’s being an Independent was not a problem for me. I could relate, & I think a lot of folks do too.
@emrazz 4/16 When I was a kid, I had an ideal in my heart & head of what it meant to be an American: we had freedom, civil rights, lived in the land of equal opportunity for all. My dad was an immigrant; a hard working union man, same company for 25 years, only ever missed 1 day of work.
@emrazz 5/16 Even in our large family with a SAH mom we never went hungry, never rationed medical care, never missed a mortgage payment or had a car repossessed. So naturally I assumed that was my birthright: a good job, a living wage, homeownership, financial stability, and more.
@emrazz 6/16 I came of age in the late 70’s, struggled through the 80’s, tried college, couldn’t afford it, quit to raise my kids, always worked but rarely made enough to feel secure. We’ve faced poverty, hunger, job loss, eviction, repossession, bankruptcy. Not exactly my American Dream
@emrazz 7/16 In my 40’s I started a business, cashed in my meager retirement & supported family for 3 years, then recession hit & wiped us out. So at 46, newly divorced, went back to a salaried job. I’m a hardworking intelligent person, I took a risk, figuring I’d have time to recoup.
@emrazz 8/16 I knew things were harder for me than for my parents: wages were stagnant, unions were losing ground, college was unaffordable, housing prices were outrageous, interest rates on everything was usurious. My first full time job at minimum wage paid $630/month. Rent was $140.
@emrazz 9/16 Now it takes 2 minimum wage jobs to afford a basic apartment; our buying power has halved. My entire adult life I've watched as wages shrank and corporate profits skyrocketed. American workers have made huge strides in productivity but enjoyed none of the financial rewards.
@emrazz 10/16 Banks make record profits while I pay $35 for being $ .10 off on my balance- That’s 4 days of meals. I’m still carrying medical debt from when kids were young & we had good insurance from my employer. Interest rates are usurious, consumer debt is neverending by design.
@emrazz 11/16 Recently, my new husband needed a joint replacement- we were told our ins co might deny us because of age - we looked at alternatives - turns out that we Americans are paying $14,000 for a hip joint that Belgians are paying $300 for - same brand, same model, same materials.
@emrazz 12/16 For <$15,000 we could fly to Europe, hotel, labs, surgery, recovery & PT for abt what DePuy charges Americans just for the hip! Why? Bc Belgium has laws that limit profits that HC co’s make. Most other countries control medical costs this way - except US. Who’s great now?
@emrazz 13/16 So why Bernie? BC he sees our predicament, he has lived it, sees his kids & grandkids struggling & he wants to fix it. He knows you can’t take corp$$ unless you do the bidding of big corporations. He’s got the largest number of individual donors & donations in history.
@emrazz 14/16 Bernie is on the right side of every issue. He’s never had to evolve his position on LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, racial equality, education, criminal justice. There was never a time when he ‘didn’t pay attention to politics’; he’s always been fighting for the underdog.
@emrazz 15/16 Why is that important? Bc our system of making laws is lengthy, byzantine & excruciating. You’ve got to have a clear unwavering ideal & the determination to stand your ground or you’ll end up passing a bill that is only a hollow shell. We don’t have time for that anymore.
@emrazz 16/16 Even if we reined in corporate greed, eliminated the influence of big money in politics and provided Medicare for all, we have just a few years before we reach a point of no return for the environment of the world to be safe for our kids and grandkids.
@emrazz 17/16 worked on Obama’s campaign ‘08 & ‘12; I had Hope & was ready for Change. He was handed a disastrous economy, but I was so disappointed that he let pressure from his corp donors color his policy. Criminal financiers who crashed the economy should have gone to jail.
@emrazz 18/16 ... Homeowners should have been bailed out instead of too big to fail banks. Monsanto should have been prosecuted instead of protected. Our bloated military budget should have been slashed, not increased for greedy defense contractors.
@emrazz 19/16 You cannot serve two masters, right? Well Obama could not truly serve the interests of the American people when he owed allegiance to his big money corporate donors. And this will be true of any democrat who takes corporate donations at any time for any purpose.
@emrazz 20/16 These are the reasons that @BernieSanders has my vote for President. I’m a woman, mom, & a feminist. Only #BernieSanders has the character & integrity to stay the course, & because his campaign is individually funded he can easily tell the big money interests to pound sand.
