#WeThePeople candidates with Primaries on June 5th, 2018.

Part 2

Katie Dunne, Passionate believer in democracy and member of UHM's Digital Media Content Crew.

Jon Pelzer on Campaign finance reform, SB 562, Affordable housing and education, Climate change, Military spending and the Dreamers.

On Monday March 19th, 2018 #WeThePeople interviewed Jon Pelzer, candidate for the 30th Congressional District of California.  He is a small business owner and long-time resident of San Fernando Valley.  “I care about strong progressive issues like campaign finance reform, universal healthcare and affordable housing.”  Add to this, the environment and affordable education.
 
To clarify for those who watched Jon on the Ron Placone show…  Jon supported Bernie but voted for HRC in the 2016 Democratic Primary (for fear of Donald Trump and what would become of the Judiciary). On the latter issue Jon says that Mitch McConnell now spends his whole day getting the President’s signature on judicial appointments.  Had HRC won, he thinks she might not have got (all) her picks through, but we wouldn’t have had Neil Gorsuch.  Jon thinks all the “horribleness” of the Trump administration has thrown a light on “everything” and that that has helped to unite Progressives.  It has also exposed the Corporate Democrats in a way that might not otherwise have happened.  I certainly found out a lot this way he says. John has one more question on this matter.  If people had concerns about where you stood on issues, would you be willing to sign a CFar?  Yes, absolutely, Jon answers.  He adds that he has the progressive endorsements that he has, because the people of the Valley know him and his views.
 
Jon doesn’t accept money from PACS, Corporations, or even from Unions.  Personal individual contributions are what he takes.  “I feel that the sanctity of the One Person One Vote is that important...” he says.  Public financing is clearly needed.  The best or fastest way to change the present set-up is to elect people like Jon who will work toward this.
Why run at 65? John Ellis asks.  “Nothing worthwhile is easy, and this is worthwhile.”  I can run (at this moment of my life) so I am doing so, he tells us.
 
Jon considers affordable housing to be his number one issue, and not just because his district is not an inexpensive one to live in.  He argues that in order to really tackle affordable housing successfully, you are forced to address all the other areas of inequality: access to and discrimination in, education, healthcare, transportation… Jon figures one has to do everything possible to allow people to stay in their own homes.  There are two laws that presently make this more difficult.  He would move towards national standards for rent control and make sure that the federal programs we have for both mortgage assistance and rent assistance are upped.  People living in cars – it’s obscene!  A crucial part of this would be paying people a living wage.
 
In his 8 months (so far) of campaigning, constituents have told him that the rents are too high and that there is a lack of continuity with the leases themselves.  He refers to the Ellis Act.  There are landlords who supposedly get out of the rental business just to squeeze people out, before getting back into the business again.  Staying in one’s home is the single biggest hedge against gentrification Jon says.  He mentions the 3 breweries in San Fernando Valley, and that for newcomers; the tasting rooms are often the first step towards becoming part of the community.  For those who work in them, it is a very fast commute which is an added attraction.  A new hub destroys the previous manufacturing base, he points out.
 
Jon believes there is a future for the cannabis industry but hopes that it will not be taken over by those who just want to make a fast buck, but by people who know what it can do and how important it is to veterans and older people.  As to how to pay for cannabis, Jon feels that public banking is putting something in the middle which adds nothing but costs.
 
He is for ranked-choice voting, and if electronic voting, then it has to be open-sourced.
 
Snorky (YT chat) informs Jon about Reverse Osmosis, and tells us that the National Guard can’t give away (in an emergency) water that exists, until Nestle runs out of water it can sell.  That’s horrendous!  Jon says.
 
Jon feels that regarding climate change we should have reacted already.  He’s for “off fossil fuels”.  Is it too ambitious to aim for 100% renewables by 2030 (referencing Oregon) John Ellis asks of him.  You have to start and you need those important goals, Jon replies.  He continues, is it an unreasonable goal?  Look at what is at stake!  Wait long enough and you won’t have to deal with it!  He was arrested recently at a protest, and was one of maybe two people over 30.  He is enthused by the speed at which young people take to the streets and feels that that bodes well for the future.
 
Jon is against money bail and private prisons.  He is also against charter schools, although he feels that we need to look more closely at the reasons why people “choose” them.  He speaks of Prop 13 and the much reduced sum of money available to the public schools system.  All public colleges and universities should be tuition free.  Americans should also be allowed to refinance their student debt to lower rates just like in the case of any other loan.  There should be no profit motive for federal student loans.  At least delay paying back the loans for 10 years!  John Ellis says:  I believe in student debt absolution.
 
Jon continues on the subject of guns and the military.  There is so much money out there, that people can’t get their heads around it!  He talks of taxing Wall Street speculation, progressive inheritance taxes, making corporations pay for the (profits) that are off-shore…  Would he cut military spending?  Yes, by at least 30%! However you do need to make the cuts commensurate with green energy jobs that are going to be affected.  We need to make sure that those whose jobs are being downsized are not hurting.  What I’ve learned during the campaign though, is how entrenched the military is in all aspects of our lives. Did you know that army recruiters can walk anywhere on any high school campus without asking anyone anything?  He speaks of tanks and guns on display at Parades and Fairs, of fathers and sons taking photos of them.  It’s cool, neat, fun to join the military! According to Jon, military grade weapons have no place in public.  There should definitely be waiting periods and very strict background checks.  It’s a matter of political will. Arming the teachers, ICE, the Police Departments…just new markets for the industry!  What of how the Veterans are treated, given all the money the military gets, asks John?  An obscene situation, Jon replies.  He suggests tying veterans’ benefits to any future military spending.  Another war?  You have to take care of the guys and women who are going to fight it!  Should we abolish ICE John asks?  Based on their current behavior?  Yes.  Their original purpose has long since been corrupted, Jon says after a momentary pause.  He was gratified to see the students’ reaction in Florida.  They cut to the chase very quickly.  They have the names of the legislators and they are watching how they vote!
 
What else was mentioned?
 
SB 562…Jon reckons that Anthony Rendon saying that details had to be ironed out wasn’t the real reason.  The donors didn’t want it!  It is not enough to be a Progressive Democrat in Congress; you have to be a Progressive Democrat willing to fight like a Republican!
Jon:  We asked the Dreamers to come out of the shadows with the promise of a path to citizenship…they did so!  Where is the path to citizenship?  Republicans weaponized confusion, and they are so good at doing that, especially with regard to immigration issues.  We need to do everything to take out the confusion.  Co-sponsor bills that clarify the rights of immigrants.  Jon speaks of “discrimination masquerading as an immigration policy”.
 
The links are beneath the video.  Good luck Jon Pelzer!

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Wendy Reed on the meaning of Progressive action and the value of Knowledge and Experience, the Industries in her district, the Military industrial complex, Budgetary priorities, Climate change and what we should do about it, Fascism and Monsanto.

On March 21st, 2018 #WeThePeople interviewed Wendy Reed, who is running in the 23rd Congressional District of California.  She is a small business and Charitable Corporation founder who worked in business finance and legal compliance.  She is also a musician and was a Bernie volunteer.  If she makes it through to the general election, she will be up against Republican Kevin McCarthy, who it appears is the 3rd most powerful person in Congress.
 
She is running to “recover our government from corporate influence, to restore representational government for people, and to face climate change and a deteriorating economy that serves only the super-rich and corporations.”  She wants to convert to sustainable economies and to preserve the rights and programs that our ancestors fought to provide for us.
 
Wendy was originally endorsed by Justice Democrats, and this was pulled (following accusations made against her of “personal harassment and threats against other Democrats in her Community”).  No evidence or links were provided on social media it seems.  She was told by Mr Chakrabarti that JD are a PAC and do not have to provide explanations for their pulling the endorsement.  Her attorney is looking into a defamation suit. The original information came from people who were with another campaign and their smear campaign through the first months of the year was brutal. Here Wendy explains the link between local Democratic politics, Chevron and Halliburton, and how these people don’t like that she stands by the California Democratic Platform against fracking… and how much they don’t stand to make off her campaign.
So, am I going to focus on being a candidate or am I going to focus on engaging people in the Democratic Party, Wendy asks.  She continues, I was a strong Bernie supporter and organizer, and in my personal life expressed many many misgivings about HRC.  I try very hard to focus on my qualifications, my proven progressive work in the community for going on 30 years, “engaging people in government processes and advocating for health, safety, and property rights with local, county, state and federal agencies.” Wendy has also given climate change education to groups.
 
We need, she says, to have people in Congress now that have committed their life to progressive action.  I love that young people are getting involved, but if they haven’t studied American history and economics, political science and public policy and ethics, then they aren’t going to stand by those progressive policies when they get to Washington because they don’t know the history of it, they haven’t lived the effort, the struggle of it. John interrupts to say that he knows lots of young people he’d rather see in office than anybody older and supposedly educated on those subjects. I’d rather he says, have someone who has good intentions, morals and decency and who is willing to learn their job!  How, replies Wendy, can you judge their morals and decency if they have no record, no education?  I’m a little taken aback by your statement says John and there follows a spirited defense of the young Progressives.  There are plenty of people that you are running with that are Progressives and in their twenties and I support many of them.  And I don’t think any of them lack an education or … an understanding of what’s going on the United States or … of how corrupt this country is, or … of what they need to do to fix it, and I don’t think any of them needs to spend decades restudying that ***, I think the one thing we can learn from the past is that people from your generation and my generation have pretty much screwed things up pretty ***.  So what are you saying?  Do they have to be 62 to run?  John then lists off the young candidates in the Progressive Movement around the U.S. who are fighting the good fight and that we know from #WeThePeople.  These are the same kids that are marching he says.  With all due respect, Wendy continues, I think that people need to spend time in their districts, need to understand the different economies … constituencies and the geography of their districts.  Secondly, I have people running against me in my district who have spent their lives in a self-involved way, which had nothing to do with any progressive engagement or any organizing.  John adds now that he has no problem with Wendy addressing her opponents or people she has met personally like that, just not as a blanket statement about all the young people in the Progressive Movement.  Wendy explains that it is important to have studied American history so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes, and in answer to John’s comment regarding the ability of the young to afford a good university education, Wendy says they are entitled to it, but she would prefer they had it before becoming her Representative. She explains that she worked hard to make a good life for herself, and it taught her a lot along the way, but it didn’t prepare her to be a good Congresswoman.  What did that was getting engaged in her community, standing in front of city councils and boards of supervisors at the county level, and engaging in committee work.  She went back to college and studied many useful things and got a Master’s Degree in Public Administration that focused on committee work, on managing conflict, and on developing consensus in committees.  Some of the passionate young people when they come to the Democratic Party process, hadn’t read the bylaws, they hadn’t taken the time to understand research methodology and they didn’t follow the rules of the committee.  They just wanted to protest and that is not very helpful.  Many others who did do these things have been elected all the way up to the executive boards of the Party.
 
Wendy wants to be clear about her views, but John points out that there are highly educated, knowledgeable people in Washington D.C. who are doing a horrible job and destroying the planet and that he would really like to connect Wendy up with many Progressives that are highly educated, that he has met in the Democratic party, because he doesn’t think it’s fair to expect them to have the same type of life experience as her, or the same distance.  Our children, he says, are growing up being shot at in schools.  The level of violence in 1968 is nowhere near what it is today.  And he reminds her that the kids are the ones who rose up on the gun control issue.
 
They move on to talk about resources.  Wendy tells us all about the range of industries represented in her district:  Agriculture, oil, ecological-based, aerospace…  She lovingly describes the beauty of Sequoia National Park, Lake Isabella and more.  She speaks of the district’s diversity (Native American, Undocumented workers, those in Little Texas with Oklahoma roots…).  In 2016, Wendy won 35-43% of the various parts of this nonetheless fairly white and right-wing area.  She is big into the environment.  “How do you balance off-highway vehicle recreation with the need to preserve an endangered desert tortoise?”
 
On to the military industrial complex:  We need says Wendy, to reorient to better support our veterans and our military families. She has plenty to say about the situation. A lot of re-organizing can be done here.  She mentions cyber technology and all the stored information about American citizens.  The main thing is though, Wendy says, that once corporations are no longer dictating what legislation we are going to have and what our budgetary priorities are in Congress, we Progressives will be able to figure it out.  I think that we’ll have a lot of reversals of bad legislation and bad policy, such as the exportation of crude oil that McCarthy (shoved) through 18 months ago.  There is a lot that can be fixed very quickly like DACA and immigration concerns, removing the cap on social security taxes - so we can shore up social security and ensure that that is there for future generations.  We should definitely remove the “suspension of the rules that Congress is acting under” (carte blanche to go to war anywhere).  They didn’t get the part about peace and love.  We are supposed to be a religious nation that cares for our brothers and sisters and we are not implementing legislation or budgetary priorities that reflect that at all.  Our military budget absolutely needs cutting.   They don’t want to provide college and social security to people, childhood lunches, tissues, paper and hot water and soap in the bathrooms in schools, in order to give that money to their donors.  John says that a lot of Progressives say that we need to bake caring for our vets into our military budget.  If you can’t care for them, then there’s no more spending for you.  Yes says Wendy, who goes on to agree that a large chunk of the military budget should be reallocated to education, healthcare for all and making sure we have a living wage.  She adds that we ought not to be playing at corporate imperialism with our military.  This is causing tensions internationally and our own advisors are against it.
 
On climate change, Wendy is very clear.  She speaks of 400 parts per million of CFCs and greenhouse gases on our planet and says we are way past a tipping point.  We need to deal with it head-on, like we did with the space program.  Set a goal and say this is where we are and this is where we need to get to.  We can be investing in infrastructure to convert things that use fossil fuels currently, and electricity generated by fossil fuels, to more sustainable things and things that actually absorb CO2.  We can invest in greening up urban areas that suffer terrible environmental injustice.  Their neighborhoods are more impacted than a higher economic zip code.  We can change out street lamps to LG lamps that absorb CO2 and run themselves off of that etc.  The oil and agricultural industries are just archaic at this point.  They have industrialized and become factory mass-production things that are totally unsustainable economically.  They rely on virtually slave labor with undocumented workers - they’re very upset right now that there is immigration reform.  These are the same people that voted for Donald Trump and wanted immigration reform … just not at their plant.  John reminds everyone what reform means in this instance (ICE separating families…).  If we look at these industries, we stop exporting crude, we stop using fracking to export plastic pellets to make plastic straws and plastic water bottles and we reorient things towards sustainable futures, we can reverse some of the damage and start to try to make the planet livable into the future, and in doing so we generate tremendous economic growth and as with WW2 and the space program, we see tremendous economic boom times after we have addressed the issues.  We need sensible people who listen to scientists, making good decisions as to where our tax dollars go in our budget.  Well said says John!
 
Referencing a quote by Wendy “You can look back to Germany and Europe in the 1920s and 30s and you will see exactly what we have ahead of us.  And it is not pretty.  And the older people here and people like my dad went and prepared for D-Day and fought fascism.  They didn’t do it so that we could elect fascists to Washington D.C.”  John agrees…
They discuss the gradual descent into fascism that has been taking place in the United States and how Congress is allowing the President to do what he is doing. Wendy once felt guilty for having waited so long to get involved in politics (unlike her dad) but was reminded by Henny Kelly that every generation has to fight for their rights.  Fascism never really goes away she says, and we must be vigilant.  She speaks of those of us who grew up listening to JFK and Martin Luther King and those who are like the President or in remote and isolated communities who don’t have to go to school with others who are different from them, and of the fact that they have that same feeling that they are better, superior by virtue of their skin color, race, religion… “We are one race – it’s the human race.  We come in a rainbow of colors, and a rainbow of genders, and sexual orientations, and it is all okay.”  All that people need to do is accept other people’s differences, and love and be kind to others.
 
What of Monsanto, John asks (possibly after a YouTube question).  Wendy sadly explains the impossible bind that people in her district are in.  They realize the toll the work will take on their own and their family’s health and yet they still go to work at those oil fields and those pesticide-laden fields to provide for their families every day.  In the Northern part of this district you go to work at the slaughterhouses, the McDonald's, Hooters… of course we need to take better care of these people’s health.  She tells us about a nerve gas (Chlororaphis?) and its residue on fruit and nuts. Environmental protections have been ditched by this administration and the effects are already making themselves felt, not least by undocumented workers.  GMOs?  It’s all interlinked, Wendy gestures.
 
Wendy’s is a very low budget campaign.  We need those small dollar contributions, she says.  Volunteer, share this information.  Thank you for having me she says.  These videos have a long life and can be shared - when people see them they can decide what the candidates are like and indeed whether to trust them.
 
Let us try to save ourselves and the thousands of other species on this planet. We need to stand together and be kind to each other Wendy ends.  Well, win or lose says John, you are pushing the narrative left, and I thank you for that.
 
Wendy has a beautiful smile and a positive attitude.  She is passionate about Public Administration and knows her district very well.  John was right when he said that she took the heat (in the interview) well.  We do appreciate Wendy Reed coming on the show and fighting for what she believes in.  Her choice of song was both appropriate and beautiful, as were the images.
 
The links are in the video description.  Good luck Wendy Reed!

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Bryan Kim on Supporting the Troops not the defense contractors, Universal Basic Income, Profit vs People’s needs, Social struggle, Unions, Medicare for All, a Green jobs program and 
an Energy revolution.

Bryan Kim is running in Congressional District 53 in California.  He was interviewed by #WeThePeople on May 16th, 2018.  Bryan is a NPP candidate.  He has no financial support from the Democratic Party, of which he was once a member.  He is running against the Establishment Democrat Incumbent Susan Davis, and wishes to do so, on a positive progressive message in order to advance the life situations of middle class families.

Why isn’t there more money for Universal Healthcare, tuition and debt-free colleges and trade schools?  It is because we spend 700 billion dollars a year on our defense budget.  We should support our troops not our defense contractors, Bryan tells us when John mentions the large amount of defense contract money that Susan Davis has access to.  He goes on to mention the connection to Yemen, and to Israel - who then uses the weapons they buy to fire live rounds at demonstrators.  Remember he says, it is not enough to support women and brown folks here, we should be doing so in other countries too. 
John asks whether people in District 53 realize that the money doesn’t go to support the troops, and Bryan tells us that the enlisted soldiers in the Armed Services are very aware that there are more active duty personnel on food stamps and some form of social welfare, than ever before in our history.  I don’t think any human being should be in danger of losing shelter, food, healthcare, access to education… least of all those who have signed a contract to risk their life and take lives for this country, he says.
 
What do you think of Universal Basic Income (UBI) asks John.  I am a big believer in it replies Bryan, and he tells us that the fiscally conservative thing we could do would be to consolidate our social services program into genuinely providing the basic needs for people.  John speaks of how this ties into automation, robotics, loss of jobs…and Bryan mentions having seen memes on the Internet asking why the idea of robots doing all the jobs has become a bad thing.  Anyway, he continues, 3.5 million jobs are in the transportation sector in the United States, so those in this industry should be afraid of self-driving cars, which are a reality.  Budweiser, Bryan tells us, has already made their first delivery with their first automated (semi-truck). These people are about to find themselves unemployed through no fault of their own.  And then there are self-checkout lanes at the grocery store, automated towers at Burger King… So what will we do as a society?  The two refer back to the human disaster that occurred as capitalism began to develop (industrial revolution era).  John speaks about the fact that we’ve been trying to leave the industrial age for 50 years in order to enter the robotics age (his term) where humans work less, but capitalism has kept a stranglehold on us, and now we have an unskilled workforce with nowhere to go.  Bryan thinks it’s unfair to say that people are unskilled, but points out that we have developed the means of production to the point that fewer and fewer people are required to produce the requisite number of goods, so much so that we throw away an awful lot of milk and cheese just to make sure the prices are kept high enough so that a few people can make a profit. So they are not unskilled workers, but workers that have skills that automation has simply replaced.  Even music, he says, is being generated by algorithm and sales distribution is too.  If humans are no longer necessary to the functioning of an economy, the only way forward, is to tax corporate profits to provide a sustainable living for everybody until we live in that ideal, fully automated society where our needs and even luxuries are provided by automation, Bryan states.  Yes says John, but for capitalism that means a massive loss of profit somewhere. Sure, Bryan agrees, adding that in the next 70 to 100 years we will have to decide as a society, to either continue to prioritize profit or move to a society that is driven by human need.  Until we confront the reality that while we live in a for-profit society our planet and our healthcare will be up for sale ... we aren’t going to make the changes that put people ahead of profit. 
 
Bryan speaks of the token level of resistance that the Democrats have put up to Donald Trump, and of how it is really disheartening, and emblematic of how much money they take from big donors, super PACS … We’re about to confirm Gina Haspel!  When Barack Obama promised in the State of the Union for the 3rd year running that he would close Guantanamo Bay, I knew Bryan says - that I would leave the Democratic Party.  Yet I had volunteered for him, voted for him and believed in him.  I didn’t expect to ever feel that way.  Corporate candidates vote for the Industries that donate to them - that’s the way it is.  He believes that to get anywhere in the U.S. there must be fundamentally anti-capitalist political parties and fundamentally pro-worker parties that will drive the country forward into the 21st century that we need to have, and not a future that benefits Jeff Bezos and the folks on the Fortune 500 list.  Bryan speaks of how he came to realize that there are things about the profit system that are at odds with the notions of a healthy democracy.  Ours is just government of the ruling class, a dictatorship of the wealthy, he says. 
 
There has been, Bryan tells us, a phenomenal response to his running as an Independent.  They just broke 35 000 dollars from 2 100 individual donors.  He speaks too, of the struggle to keep net neutrality in spite of the fact that the people want it, and of how the bill will probably die in the House.
 
District 53 is 60 to 65% Democratic, with a healthy ethnic and class blend.  The majority of the people are working or middle class.  Susan Davis represents the large businesses and their shareholders…that donate to her campaign.  We need to be on the front lines of social struggles all over the country, says Bryan.  Not everywhere enjoys the protections that we do in CA. There are over 30 states where you can get fired for being gay and 46 where you can be fired for being trans.  In the age of Donald Trump, we need to all be in this together and not to give ground.
 
More than just fighting for a union, you need to fight for union democracy, and so that the union that you’re building is not one that is about entrenching a couple of guys at the top for the rest of their lives, but one that is about responding to the needs and values of the working class folks that are there, that make that business run, Bryan says.  Now in the 21st century, we live in a world that’s more interconnected than it has ever been.  The idea that you don’t need strong protection and oversight against cyberattacks, or strict rules to hold local police accountable for (not) following the law is an outmoded idea.  Ted Cruz type individuals he says, speak of small government (when it comes to their taxes) but are cool with government preventing you from being gay, smoking pot…
 
Bryan thinks we need to pass the Medicare for All plan that Bernie Sanders introduced in the Senate. We choose not to implement it.  It’s not that we can’t.  Universal healthcare costs less (and includes prevention).  John asks what Bryan - if he were elected, would say to the insurance industries regarding profit. Bryan replies:  You are lucky that you are not going to jail for denying people healthcare based on their inability to pay.  The alternative says John, is that we have to trust big government to negotiate prices on our behalf… which is why we need to get non-corporate candidates in, Bryan stresses, so that we can have democratic oversight over all of this.
 
Bryan would prefer to see non-corporate conservatives in seats rather than candidates who will flip once in.  We are he says, heading towards climate disaster and we need people that will be more than okay.  We need dramatic change now.  What would you do asks John?  Eliminate our subsidies to the coal and oil industry and use that money on a multi-billion if not 1 trillion dollar green jobs program, putting huge numbers of Americans back to work and retraining the workers presently in the fossil fuel and natural gas industries, for the green jobs industry.  We need to transition to a 50%, 80% and then 100% renewable economy and become the leader not just in green jobs but in the manufacturing, research and development of green technology in the U.S. and beyond.  This energy revolution is needed all over the world, and we are rapidly running out of time to make the changes to maintain civilization at its current level of production.
 
Jilly in YouTube chat has a question.  Should Jerry Brown be sued for allowing fracking and offshore drilling?  We should sue the office of the Governor, because the reality is that anytime we can put the costs of environmental damage back on the politicians and the companies that allow it to happen…I’m 100% in favor of that.  And maybe the Governor should lose the house or the savings if people have died or been poisoned as a result of fracking!  Politicians and business people get away with the indirect killing of people (environmental degradation that shortens lifespans).  If it were direct, these people would be in jail.  So yes I’d like to see them going to jail - and not just here in CA but elsewhere as well, including in Montana over those abandoned copper mines … those rivers flow to Oregon too.  We need to protect our waterways wherever they are.  John mentions Exxon.  Bryan answers and agrees that one cannot be an innocent oil executive.  They agree that oil companies are absolutely guilty for raping the planet.  John tells him about the audacity of Rex Tillerson making a statement about morals and integrity or lack thereof in the White House.  It is a sad day when Rex comes across as one of the less corrupt people, they decide.
 
In spite of all that is happening around us today, Bryan Kim comes across as an optimistic person who has thought about the future and where we are headed.  “The worst thing we could do is choose not to fight” he says. Good luck Bryan!

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Bryan Witt on Amtrak, Global warming, the U.S. Empire, Foreign Affairs, Enticing U.S. manufacturers to return home, Single-Payer healthcare, the Housing crisis, Free college tuition, Ending wars for profit and Robust regulation of the banks.

On December 4th, 2017 #WeThePeople interviewed Bryan Witt.  He is running in the 27th Congressional District of California, against Judy Chu – who looks and sounds like a Progressive Democrat - until you take a closer look, and Beatrice Cardenas.  Bryan wants to bring real progress to his district.
 
He has had a cool job working for Amtrak these past 10 years.  He loves it, challenging and stressful though it can be sometimes.  It is also rewarding though.  He traveled a lot over the years, on the Southwest Chief to Chicago, the Coast Starlight to Seattle, the Sunset Limited to New Orleans … He tells us that there are an amazing group of union employees who for the past 40 years have endured all sorts of attacks and difficult conditions (having their funding cut … trying to eliminate them) imposed on Amtrak by Congress, and they’ve survived in spite of it all.
 
We need passenger rail service he tells us.  I’m a huge advocate of local public transportation and of our national rail network.  After 911, Amtrak was the only game in town and we were able to move people around our nation when all the airlines were grounded.  So, not only do we provide for the day to day transportation needs for our people, but also an incredible and very important national security purpose for our nation.  John says that trains are essential in CA, but they are fossil fuel reliant.  How do we modernize the railways? Bryan talks about something he says that older viewers would know, that is that at one time CA had one of the most advanced public transportation systems if not in the US, in the World.  The Pacific Electric Railway ran all over Southern CA (Originally it was a way to get people out into the suburbs to buy residential real estate there).  He explains that there wasn’t a coherent transportation strategy addressing the growth of the automobile (industry) and of population back then (a century ago) … but now we’re getting back on track, he says.  What we need is a connected network of light rail, bike lanes and ways to get people out of automobiles and onto public transportation.  John Mica who was recently voted out of office - Thank God he says, was on the Transportation Infrastructure Committee…and was an enemy of Amtrak.  He very unfairly called our National Transportation Network (Long-Distance Trains) a Soviet-style system.  Bryan continues, our union employees do a very good job with the limited resources that they have to get our passengers out and to their destinations on time.  The National Association of Rail Passengers estimates that if we were to get rid of all our long-distance trains, we’d cut off about 140 million Americans from transportation.  We live he says in a sort of non-reality on both coasts, in truth our country is still largely rural.  The Northeast corridor for Amtrak is very popular.  Kansas has virtually no public transportation aside from Amtrak.  He says that he has had other jobs that paid better, but here he feels as though he is performing a very good public service.  John has taken the train to Seattle, it was fun and great not having to drive, he says.  You’re selling me on trains … How about what the Europeans are doing though … they have trains running on hydrogen, water, solar … Is that possible here?  Jerry Brown is really set on continuing to frack and easing us into calamity he adds.  Bryan responds that he thinks that they should explore whatever new technologies exist out there for running their locomotives.  The latter sit, down in our yards running on idle.  There are some reasons for that being the case, but it probably takes a lot of diesel fuel to restart those engines, so there is diesel fuel being poured into the atmosphere.  I’m all in favor of looking at alternatives.  We know that the environmental damage from fossil fuels is huge and that we are at a tipping point.  Bryan attended lectures where he heard that it may not be possible to address climate change fast enough for it to make a difference, but mitigating the damage being done is very important.  Amtrak, the national airlines … we in particular need to find a way to transition away from fossil fuels.
 
As a member of Congress, Bryan states, I’d like to introduce legislation for a moonshot or Manhattan Project for energy.  I’d like to decommission all or most of our nuclear powered facilities, coal powered facilities … let’s say within 10 years - as a politician I’m throwing a number out there … one can argue about the date later, he adds.  John tells him that he is right on par with scientists and engineers. I love that John says, because we need bold action now.  Incremental climate adjustment and we die.  Congress is fighting wars for profit right now, Bryan continues, rather than dealing with the actual, real, most pressing issue facing humanity now, and that is global warming.  Global oligarchy is the 2nd most pressing issue John adds.
 
Bryan had once volunteered as a reserve police officer with the city of South Pasadena, and later enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.  The 4 years (1985-1989) he spent with the latter, at the end of the Cold War, taught him a great deal about keeping a cool head when tensions are high.  He speaks of danger when empires are winding down.  China is ascending – it has the biggest population, so this was probably bound to happen.  Bryan’s only problem with that is that it is a police state.  He wants to help the United States to skilfully and wisely wind down their empire.  The US has over 800 military bases spread out over 80 countries across the planet.  That to him doesn’t sound like National Defense but Empire.  It’s okay to have a good robust National Defense, but our budget isn’t only 600 billion dollars, when you take the whole National Security State, Department of Energy, our Nuclear program, the Department of Homeland Security, all the Intelligence Agencies and the Military into account … it’s somewhere around 1.2 trillion dollars - which is unsustainable and needs to stop.  The primary reason for this is not that we face all these existential threats around the world; although there are some that we need to recognize; but it is more about making money for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and others in the Defense Industry.  Well said and agreed, says John.  Bryan continues, people are no longer volunteering for the military in the numbers that they need, so they have lowered the standards for entry … which tells Bryan that they are desperate.  It’s supposedly an all-volunteer force right now, but really it’s an all-recruited force.  They are offering increased benefits to get people to join.  70% of new recruits are married, which is a very big burden on our budget (taking care of all the dependents).  It used to be that most recruits were single.  “We need to have a jobs program for people that’s not based on blowing things up and killing people.” Bryan says.  Yes John continues, we’ve used the guise of spreading democracy when really we’re a global arms dealer and warmonger.  Bryan adds, “I would like to see us have our biggest export be a good example!” 
 
Bryan also ran for City Council in Pasadena after being inspired by Bernie Sanders, and witnessed some shenanigans involving party insiders, wealthy donors, elected officials … (Candidates entering the race at the last minute to prevent Progressives from winning was one detail he mentioned.)  We need a new wave of candidates with integrity and courage to move our country forward he says.    He learned a lot while running and spoke to so many people.  He had some good ideas too they thought.  For example, people lament the fact that they have very high housing costs in CA, so, why not offer he said, a third option (to home ownership and renting), make an ordinance and work with the State, by bringing cooperative housing into the mix … it might stabilize housing prices here in the city.  Bernie was the first candidate I really felt I could get behind in 20 years Bryan goes on to say.  He had been listening to the latter for years on the Thom Hartmann show - where he has learned an awful lot of civics and United States history.  I don’t always agree with the way Thom approaches callers on the radio, but that’s a matter of style.  I admire a lot of what he has written and I think he is a national treasure, Bryan tells us.
 
WARNING: NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SHOCKING DETAIL.
 
They discuss China, and John and Bryan speak of the changing perceptions of the US and China and human rights abuses in the Donald Trump era.  Bryan tells us in a very animated manner about re-education camps (slave-labor camps) where newly-arrested non-consenting prisoners of conscience such as practitioners of Falun Gong and members of other religious and minority groups are sent.  The Chinese Communist Party runs a brutal police state, and is also complicit in the murder of their fellow citizens so that they can steal their organs … this is genocide! Bryan considers that the United States should seriously consider ceasing all commercial activity with these gangsters.  Credible sources, he says, estimate that somewhere between 60 and 100 000 people have been murdered for their organs – some of them while they were still living, to maintain the freshness of that organ.  This is truly sickening and on par with the worst atrocities of the Nazis and Joseph Stalin. We need sanctions, to have some of those involved placed on an Interpol watch list, to get to the bottom of all this and to ship them off to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.  Judy Chu didn’t co-sponsor the bill from Congress regarding this matter (180 other Representatives did).  Her family immigrated he believes from mainland China.  If I were to find out something similar regarding Holland (the country of his ancestors) I’d be screaming about it, he says!  Bryan mentions that although the Wall came down, we still only have an Armistice with North Korea and the other big communist party is still running things in China and responsible for 60 million deaths.  But we’re buddies now and we trade with them says John sarcastically, which is why the other Members of Congress didn’t co-sponsor the bill no doubt.  He adds that sanctions on China are problematic, because all of our “stuff” is made there.
 
Bryan would like to put forth a plan to entice the manufacturers back to the US, even if half the workforce is robots, fine, but bring them back he says.  Nations fight sometimes, if we have another conflict on a par with WW2, we’ll be in big trouble.  Progressive friends, we rightfully criticize corporations for shrinking the middle class, influencing our elections … but many of our friends, neighbors and family members are invested in the stock market (41ks and other areas).  This is the dilemma that we have.  We need to evaluate all the stakeholders and not to do anything reckless.  Act with wisdom and with the smartest people in the room.   From Amtrak I’ve learned that I may not know the answer to everything, but I’m surrounded by institutional memory. I know who to call…  Team effort, like with scientists John says.  By the way Bryan tells us, at Caltech and JPL, there are lots of Bernie Sanders supporters.
 
Bryan’s district is sort of evenly divided between NPP, Democrats and Republicans.  He quotes Bernie at the People’s Summit “The leadership of the Democratic Party has betrayed the Working Class in almost every imaginable way.”  Progressives need to explain that they’re not Communists coming to take everything from everyone, but rather to represent everyone.  Democrats only represent the top 10% ... but the 90% deserve representation too.  Corporations are acting legally right now.  We need to change the legislation.  John says that in order to regulate the corporations we need to put people in power that are not for sale…like you.  I like free enterprise, to make money, freedom … Bryan continues, but 800 times the salary of the rank and file, that’s too much!!  John thinks Bryan gives the corporations too much credit.  Corporations in a capitalist society, he says, where there is very little democracy left and it is driven by profit, can do what they want.  They take advantage of what is there.  If we shifted this so the benefit was towards the citizens …
 
Bryan wants to be clear.  Free enterprise to him is someone starting small and eventually opening a café or a business that benefits the community, and building that business up over time.  Capitalism seems to have morphed into greedy lawyers and accountants who get together, collude with each other, find a marginal product and then travel around saturating one community after another, sometimes traveling the world in the process.  For example he says, Starbucks - where you stand in line for 35 minutes to pay $7 for a cup of coffee.  That’s not sustainable.  It doesn’t benefit our communities.  Estate tax isn’t only to generate revenue, it performs a societal function.  We want to make sure we don’t have dynasties or monarchies.  Someone said that people forget, that for a thousand years Europe was locked in the vice grip of the monarchy, the aristocracy and the church.  We’ve kind of come full circle haven’t we?  Yes says John.  We’ve allowed these monarchs (without silly clothes) to take power because you, I and all of us had fallen asleep at the wheel of our democracy. Bryan nods.  We have to convince the 1% that it is in all of our interest to have a very robust middle class, otherwise we may find ourselves facing something other than a political revolution, and none of us want that.  They agree that it will probably take years to achieve that goal.
 
Bryan stayed within the Democratic Party, but he says his goal is to disrupt, demoralize and dismantle the corrupt leadership that we have in there right now.  John nods.  Chris Hedges thinks an electoral strategy isn’t as important as getting out in the streets.  I think both are.  We need the people prepared to run for office, and also millions on the streets reminding those in power that they can shut things down from time to time and that they aren’t going away.  You’re rocking it with the audience Laura and John tell Bryan. 
 
Do you believe in the Deep State?  Yes, Bryan says.  I think there are people out there, in and out of government (the administrators of our intelligence agencies, those who get appointed to Secretary of State …) who sometimes hold up progress.  Even President Reagan got shut down on some things.  Bryan says that rather than going to Wall Street, if young people went into the intelligence agencies, eventually we’d turn that around.  What about groups such as BNC etc. talking to young people on campuses about that? 
 
I have he says, a sort of semi-conservative world view.  I am very optimistic about the strength of our institutions, the state of our union … which are actually still quite robust.  (12/04/2017)  What isn’t strong is that we’ve allowed people within these institutions to subvert them, Debbie Wasserman Schultz for example.  There is too much emphasis on the National Security State still, but we do need some kind of intelligence apparatus.  There are very dangerous actors in the world to keep an eye on, but we also need people with the highest ethical standards to occupy those agencies.  Thanks, says John, for what you just said, because it’s hard not to see the government as one giant corrupt ball.  There are good people working for it.  We should engage and talk with people rather than blow them up through drone attacks, Bryan says.  He wants a peaceful revolution.
 
The conversation moves on to healthcare and Judy Chu in CA.  I think John says, that our government with the tax bill and what they are doing with healthcare are taking away my rights, my privileges, my ability to have healthcare.  They’re trying to kill me.  That’s how it feels.  Where do you stand Bryan?  Bryan feels that healthcare is a right.  Judy Chu votes progressive, but takes money from those who undermine our democracy.  Why doesn’t she support Single-Payer Healthcare?  The majority of our people want it.  The Congress won’t deliver it, so if we need to chase every last one of them out, so be it!  It’s a human right.  Leave ACA in place, but if we are going to repeal it then replace it with Single-Payer Healthcare.  We could have passed it here, but for Anthony Rendon!
 
He talks about real estate and says that he doesn’t believe that residential real estate should be an investment.  Strong regulation is needed to stabilize real estate prices.  Some of the demand he suggests, might be artificial.  John warns that housing was crazy before cannabis was legalized in Oregon, and it’s worse now.  Do you see a recession in the housing market coming, John asks?  I think we will have one Bryan says.  Google the 2 Santa Claus theory (Thom Hartmann).  You might find some suggestion as to why the Republicans are putting forth such an insane tax plan.  They’ve done it before.  He explains further anyway.  The Republicans run up the deficit spending, knowing that they are going to lose the next election (which is at least encouraging for 2018 and 2020!).  They know that by doing this they are going to crash the economy and put the Democrats in a position where they’ll never be able to implement the social programs that we all want.  I almost think it is somewhat treasonous to intentionally craft legislation that you know is going to crash the economy … I want to do not what’s best for my party, but for the constituents of the 27th District, our country and the planet, Bryan insists.
 
So, I’m for free college tuition, Medicare for all, ending these wars for profit, a strict and very robust regulation with Wall Street and especially with our banking industry.  Dennis Kucinich, one of my heroes, put forth a bill in 2011.  Bryan tells us about the National Emergency Employment Development (NEED) Act.  In some ways, they wanted to abolish the Federal Reserve with that Act, and incorporate an agency like it within the Department of the Treasury, to be overseen by Congress.  This is entirely consistent with our Constitution, Article 1, Section 8.  We should not have to pay interest on our money.  The US can print our own currency, backed up by the full faith and credit of our country, with the difference that the banks will not get cut in on the action.  To quote Henry Ford “If the American people truly understood our banking and monetary system, there would be a revolution before the morning.”
 
Bryan ends with the following comment.  I think the trend in the country is an aggressive progressive one and I hope that people will trust me with this very important work.
 
Bryan Witt has a wonderful manner.  He comes across as wise, calm, interesting and concerned primarily about the welfare of the people and trying to do his part to help improve the world and our common future. He plays guitar, has a friendly smile and a sense of humor.  The links are in the video description.  Best of luck Bryan!

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