I grew up in a working-class family.
My mom cleaned houses and my dad worked to build a small business. They worked themselves to the bone so that my brother and I could have a shot at making it.
And for a moment there, it looked like everything was on track: we had a home, bills were a little less stressful to pay, and I was doing well in school. What may have looked like a modest life to others was a dream come true for us.
But out of nowhere, when I was a teenager, my dad was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He passed away in September of 2008, just as the economy crashed thanks to the greed of Wall Street and millions of jobs across this country vanished.
It felt like the world of our family fell apart as the larger world was falling apart, too.
Overnight, my mom was left to figure out how to provide for two kids by herself, keep our house, pay off my dad's medical bills — all on a house cleaner's salary.
I tell this story not because it is special, but because of how common it is.
While the details may differ, so many of us know what it feels like to be one bad day, one piece of bad news, one small setback from everything falling apart.
But we don't have to live like this in the richest country on earth.
We can build a new world, a better future, where we guarantee the dignity of all of our people.
That future looks like living wages.
It looks like stable housing.
It looks like Medicare for All.
And it looks like respect for all of our differences, no matter who we are or where we come from.
Right now, we must out-organize the oligarchy and we cannot beat them if we take their money.
That is why, even as a waitress with a long-shot campaign, I decided that I would never take money from lobbyists or corporations — and I never will.
In solidarity,
Alexandria
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