FLIPPABLE: Becca Rausch for MA-SD Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex
am a Needham Town Meeting Member, attorney with experience in the public sector and private practice, educator, dedicated community leader and coalition-builder, union steward, spouse, and parent. I moved to the Boston area for college and, with the exception of a few years spent living on the West Coast, I’ve been here ever since. My husband and I moved to Needham just a few months before our first son was born. We are grateful to live and raise our family in Massachusetts, a leader among the states in health care, marriage equality, and other positive social change, a beautiful environment, and a home of strong communities.
My parents raised me and my sister in a strong and supportive community and instilled in me the value of public service at a young age. But the community was not perfect. When I was 15, I walked into math class and found a swastika on my desk. I remember feeling completely stunned, frozen in place, standing and looking down at an image so hurtful, in so many ways. It wasn’t the first time I was treated badly because of my religion, or my sex, but that moment was my first real experience as the target of such deeply-seated hate. In some ways, it was a privilege to have not had such an experience until 10th grade, but that kind of treatment is never a privilege. After the shock wore off, my gut reaction was to think, “I want to fix this.”
A society full of hate, negativity, and injustice is, simply put, not acceptable. Anti-Semitism and, in various other moments, sexism, happen to be the frames in which I experience discrimination and animosity, but there are so many more reasons why people are treated poorly when they are different from the majority or the people in power.
My personal moments pushed me to work on, and through, these problems ever since. In college, I studied American society and histories of injustice. I went to law school to learn to use the law as a vehicle for social change, for I have long believed that meaningful change occurs from working within the system, applying a new perspective or attitude. As an attorney, I developed two areas of legal expertise: health law, so my work would support the delivery of care to those in need, and information and data management and privacy, so my work would protect people from predators and promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
To me, this is about meaningful access to government and equality across the board. And until we achieve that, there’s a lot of work to do.
People interact with government in all sorts of ways. We drive on roads. We send our kids to school. We vote. We pay taxes. We marry. We seek information. We use social services. The rules and policies about roads, education, voting, healthcare, information, and so much more influence people’s lives in tangible ways. Without representative voices at the table, the creation of those laws and the distribution of funds will be inherently unequal.
My desire to be an agent of meaningful change led me to run for Needham Town Meeting in early 2017, representing the young families of Needham. As a Town Meeting Member, I have supported initiatives that build our community and enhance our public education system, including full-day Kindergarten and our community pool reconstruction.
Massachusetts is a great place to live, and I know we can be even better. I believe our communities are stronger when progressive social policies are implemented by a transparent and accountable government. I want to ensure people can take the time they need to care for new babies, sick children, and ailing parents without worrying about losing their jobs or missing needed paychecks. I want to ensure people can get the health care they need without worrying about the bill. I want everyone to be able to exercise their right to vote. I want parents to be able to go to work without having to pay more for daycare than they pay for their mortgages. I want our young people to be able to get the education they want and deserve. I want our elders to be able to age in place and with dignity. I want our environment to be sustainable. I want the government to be open and accessible, and to spend our tax dollars wisely, not wastefully. And, I want to listen to you, my constituents, and work together to achieve the good ideas you have for Massachusetts.
This is our Commonwealth, and now is our moment. Let’s get it done.
https://www.beccarausch.com
