Bernie needs your help
(I've don't recall ever receiving an email from him soliciting donations. I'm not sure the links cut and pasted okay, so I'm adding the you can use if you're able to give.)
https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/contribution.aspx?X=O38xUCC6cZGS0TNzu8CLUeXX4zv56X+V8jBJ4XZiYQM%3d&b=671847
Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Burlington, Vermont: “You‘ve got a guy here by the name of Bernie Sanders that’s a whole lot like a guy named Russ Feingold, who was defeated by somebody named Ron Johnson from Wisconsin. You can do it here. Just like Russ Feingold got beat in Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders can get beat (in Vermont).” According to one media report, Priebus’ comment drew huge applause.
Dear Mary Ellen,
I want to take this opportunity to thank many of you for the political and financial support you have offered my re-election campaign as Vermont’s Senator, and all of you for your continued efforts in the fight for economic and social justice and a world of peace.
Today, as the political situation heats up in Vermont, I am writing to request your urgent support. As the longest serving Independent in congressional history and, perhaps, the most progressive member of the U.S. Senate, there is no one that the Big Money interests in Washington would prefer to see defeated. Whether it is Wall Street, the oil companies, the insurance and drug companies, the coal and nuclear industries, or the military-industrial-complex, I’ve helped lead the opposition against all of them and their never-ending greed. Now, with the absurd Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowing billionaires and corporations to spend unlimited sums of money on campaigns, this could be payback time for them.
Please help me be prepared to withstand whatever attacks may come by donating as generously as possible today.
I also want to remind you that on March 31, just 5 days away, all Senate candidates will file detailed financial reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). In the political world that we live in today, these FEC reports are enormously important because they provide public information as to the state of campaigns. With regard to my re-election effort, these reports will tell our friends and supporters the financial status of our campaign: the amount of funds we have raised, spent, and how much ‘cash-on-hand’ we have. They will also give the Republican National Committee, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers the same information -- telling them how vulnerable we might be to a massive infusion of right-wing money into the state to defeat me.
Please donate today to ensure that our campaign has the resources necessary to combat whatever lies and distortions the right-wing may throw at us.
I don’t have to tell you that many Americans are extremely dispirited about the economic and political situation in our country today. While we are seeing some signs of recovery from the horrendous recession caused by the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, almost 25 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, millions of others are working longer hours for lower wages and we have more people living in poverty than at any time in the modern history of our country.
While the rich get richer and corporate profits soar, the middle class continues to evaporate and many older workers worry that their “golden years” of retirement may not be so golden after all. Young people, often leaving college or graduate school in suffocating debt, are now seeing a stark reversal of the American dream -- with the likelihood that they will experience a lower standard of living than their parents. Students leaving high school and looking for work are finding it even harder.
But it’s not just the economic situation facing America. It’s the political situation as well. People turn on their television sets and watch, in disbelief, what the Republican presidential candidates are saying. What are these people talking about? What world do they live in? What would happen if one of them got elected?
At a time when the top 400 individuals own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans, and with the U.S. having the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country, are they really talking about giving MORE tax breaks to the rich? With corporate profits exploding and, as a result of massive tax loopholes, many profitable corporations now paying NOTHING in federal income taxes, do they really want to LOWER corporate tax rates? Do major Republican candidates for president really believe that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional? Do some of them really want to abolish the Departments of Education, Energy and the EPA? Despite the overwhelming body of scientific evidence, do they really believe that global warming does not exist and that we should maintain our dependence on fossil fuels?
And then there are their views on social issues. We’re not talking here simply about their continued and obsessive efforts to deny a woman the right to choose with regard to abortion. That’s old news. We are talking about a new full-scale war against women’s rights and the rolling back of protections that women secured more than half a century ago. The Republican Party, for example, has been united in their support of the Blunt Amendment which, fortunately, we defeated in the Senate last month. That amendment would have given ANY employer in America (not just religious organizations) the right to deny insurance-covered birth control to an employee because of a “moral objection.”
The right-wing extremist Republican Party of today does not simply want to cut programs desperately needed by the middle class -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public health, food stamps, education, environmental protection, etc. They want to go much further than that. Their goal is to repeal or significantly alter virtually every major piece of legislation passed in the last 80 years which provides security and protection for working families, the elderly, the sick, children and the poor. Their view of government is that it has NO role in the well-being of its citizens, and that it should be shrunk, in the words of conservative guru Grover Norquist, “down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” They want to bring us back to a time, over a hundred years ago, when the Big Money interests controlled virtually every aspect of our economic and political life.
To resist that effort is the great struggle of our time. We must not allow that to happen.
But we cannot only be on the defensive. We must be AGGRESSIVE in continuing the fight for our progressive agenda:
Not only must we resist cuts in Social Security, we must lift the cap on taxing higher incomes so that Social Security will be strong for the next 75 years.
Not only must we oppose cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, we must see health care as a right of all and continue the struggle for a Medicare for All Single Payer health care system.
Not only must we oppose placing the burden of deficit reduction on the backs of working families, we must demand a progressive tax system in which the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.
Not only must we oppose those who deny the reality of global warming, we must demand the transformation of our energy system away from fossil fuels into energy efficiency and such sustainable energies as wind, solar, geothermal and bio-mass.
Not only must we oppose cuts in unemployment compensation, we must fight for a jobs program that creates the many millions of jobs our country desperately needs.
These are pivotal times in the history of our country. I have been extremely proud to have represented Vermont in the Senate for the last five years and to have worked with you in the fight to protect and expand our progressive vision.
I would very much appreciate your support in my re-election effort.
Sincerely,
Senator Bernie Sanders
PS: With the March 31, FEC financial filing deadline quickly approaching, your generous support is greatly needed. Please, click here to donate today to maintain our strong progressive voice in the U.S. Senate.
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