Today, I’m excited to join an entire community in enthusiastically endorsing Elizabeth Warren as the next president of the United States. In an urgent time when our federal government’s ability to serve the most vulnerable must be our top priority, @ewarren can lead us there.
In explaining my support, I want to start with perhaps the most prosaic underpinning of my support: my appreciation of @CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This will sound a bit wonky or obtuse, but to me, it explains why Senator Warren is a great leader.
Put simply, millions of ordinary Americans have been spared exploitation by some of the most powerful companies in the world because CFPB had their back. More money in their pockets, but just as important, more control and agency over their lives and more power in their hands.
I point all this out because at a time of rising fascism and violence and bigotry, we know what we must fight, and what we must protect people from. But we don’t always know what the infrastructure of reducing harm *looks like*.
By seeing an institution that exists, that has been shown already to reduce economic harm, we can understand how we might reduce harm for immigrants, for those in the criminal justice system, for anyone with an illness. Not theory, practice. Not promises, reality. Actual policy.
Also? I’m a CEO. So I know better than anybody that CEOs need to be held accountable in America. And Elizabeth Warren hasn’t just talked about it — she’s done it. She’s catalyzed entire federal agencies built to do it. She’s the one my fellow CEOs worry about. And they should.
(I should caveat here that I’ve never been a member of a political party, so I can’t vote in a primary. But from the outside, it is a sign of great hope that the Democrats have fielded the best set of candidate I’ve ever seen, just when it’s needed most.)
Bernie Sanders has undoubtedly led the movement to redefine what seems politically possible in America. If he secures the nomination, I’ll gladly, enthusiastically vote for him. I think the coming coalition between these two cohorts will permanently change America for the better.
We also missed out on great candidates. Julián Castro led with deep conviction, centering people too many others overlook. Kamala Harris gave voice to many whom our system excludes — and I’m proud to have seen an unapologetic Indian American woman claim her place in the race.
But these candidates have been knocked out by the structural barriers that remind me why I don’t belong to a political party. Chief among them is the fact that money controls our political process. Moneyed interests have the same toxic effect on healthcare. And on justice.
So we need a leader who can design, enact and enforce policy solutions at the federal level that meaningfully curtail the influence of money on critical human needs. Elizabeth Warren has delivered that before, against great odds, and held big corporations accountable.
I believe we can judge leaders by *what they do*. I want Senator Warren to do more of what she has done already, but now as President. Because as odious as Donald Trump is, the harms he inflicts will not end when he is defeated. We need sustainable systems and institutions.
I support Elizabeth Warren because I know she will defend the right to reproductive healthcare. I know she will drive criminal justice reform. I know she will respond to the climate crisis. I know she will hold all of us in tech appropriately accountable for what we create.
But I also support Elizabeth Warren because she is that rare candidate who will learn & respond when legitimate criticism is leveled. When the Native voices I listen to tell me that she has not yet earned their trust, or their support, I expect she will work diligently to do so.
Ultimately, we all must hold each other accountable for what we’re doing to fix a country in crisis. For many of the most vulnerable people, here in America and around the world, this is literally a life or death concern. I trust Senator Warren to lead that work.
So, I’m glad to join, many, *many* other Americans of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in supporting @ewarren. You see that the list of supporters here. medium.com/@aapiswithwarr…
@ewarren Oh, and Franklin articulated this case in a way that deeply resonated for me, and it’s worth seeing what he shared: (I'm still mad he got to this first, so it looks like I'm biting his style!)
@ewarren Finally: What may matter most urgently right now is fighting disenfranchisement and disillusionment. We have to get people registered, get them to the polls, make sure their votes are counted, and make sure their voices are heard. Let’s get to work.
