Mike Siegel’s Runoff Is In 2 Weeks
A day or two ago, Bernie e-mailed his supporters about how “the most important issue facing the American people and the global community is the rapid rise of oligarchy. Never before in modern history have so few had so much wealth and power. Never before has a ruling class been able to exercise that power not only in the United States but in every corner of the planet. Today in America we have more income in wealth inequality than we have ever had.”
Just 3 multi-billionaires, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison— all financiers of the fascist takeover of the Republican party— own more wealth than the bottom half of Americans. “Today in America, continued Bernie, who has spent his life fighting this, “we have more concentration of ownership than we have ever had. In sector after sector— financial services, health care, agriculture, transportation, energy, food, housing, etc.— fewer and fewer giant corporations control what is produced and the prices we pay.”
Today in America we have more media consolidation than we have ever had. Some estimates claim as much as 90% of U.S. media is controlled by just six huge global conglomerates that have a defining impact on our culture and the information we receive.
Today in America we have a political system that is increasingly controlled by the billionaire class. In the recent elections, just 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion to get their candidates elected.
And let’s be clear. This massive level of inequality is only going to get worse under the Trump administration— with Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on earth, playing an active role. If Trump gets his way the very rich will get richer and have more power, while ordinary Americans will get poorer and have less power.
Under Trump there will be more tax breaks for the very wealthy and large corporations while, at the same time, reductions in desperately needed programs for the poor and working class.
Under Trump there will be efforts to privatize Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Administration and public education while, at the same time, making it easier for large corporations to destroy the environment, engage in bigotry and undermine workers’ rights.
We cannot allow this to happen. We have got to take on Trump and the oligarchs. And the best way to do that is to educate and organize, educate and organize. We have got to expand our social media reach to counter the enormous influence of corporate and right-wing media We’ve got to increase our presence in working class communities. We’ve got to find grassroots leaders who are prepared to take on the powerful special interests and run for office at the local, state and federal levels.
These are tough times, but despair is not an option. The stakes are too high, not just for us but for our kids and future generations.
A candidate who Blue America and Bernie have endorsed when he’s run for office, Mike Siegel, came in first in a run for the Austin City Council seat that Leslie Pool is leaving. But there were 6 candidates and even though Mike came in far ahead of any of the others— more than double the votes of his closest rival— he still has to win the runoff on December 14.
And this is all about turnout.
Bernie wants us to back leaders on a local level? I can’t think of anyone better to support than Mike, who was just endorsed by the Austin Chronicle. The maximum contribution anyone is allowed to make is $450 and Mike needs contributions, even $10 and $20 contributions, for his get out the vote efforts. Please contribute on Blue America’s Take Back Texas page here.
On the same page as Bernie, Mike told me today that “the oligarchs are seeking to ruin local democracy, and bend Austin’s municipal government to their will.” This is a statement about the runoff he put together for Blue America. Please read it and consider contributing to his grassroots campaign:
I’m running for City Council as a strong progressive, supporting expansive public investments in housing and climate action, building on my longstanding work to advance police reform and accountability, and demanding that our local elected leaders stand up for Austin values in the face of a Trump-Abbott duopoly. And my opponent, interestingly enough, is appealing to conservative forces to fund his campaign, ranging from the local MAGA police union to our local prince of darkness himself, Elon Musk.
Musk moved to Austin a few years ago, attracted in part by generous incentives provided by the county government. The county commissioners who supported those Tesla subsidies are the kind of “Democrats” who claim to be “progressive” and “environmentalists,” but somehow end up supporting the most conservative candidates possible. The latest news from the Austin Tesla plant is bleak— workers dying on the job, massive chemicals dumped into the state’s largest river, union busting and more. Yet somehow the county leaders who greased the wheels for Tesla’s arrival have stayed in office, and are now trying to prevent my election.
My campaign has built a broad coalition of support— labor unions and environmental groups, Democratic activists and socialists, even Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Greg Casar. Many in the Austin left see me as a potential heir to Casar’s work on City Council. For two terms he helped galvanize the Left through organizing for immigrant rights and worker rights, housing justice and reproductive freedom. My background as a community organizer and former city attorney positions me as a coalition builder and effective legislator, if I can finish the job in this runoff election.
I finished with 40% of the vote in the general election, compared to my opponent’s 20%. So his strategy is focused on tearing me down. My opponent’s leading supporter is the same county commissioner who led the drive to give Musk millions of dollars in public subsidies. They are funneling rightwing money against me to stop me from becoming an effective leader.
We can win this race, hopefully with a strong margin, but I need support to keep my field team knocking doors and to send mail to combat misinformation. Any support from your readers would go a long way to helping me prevail, and in the process giving hope for the progressive movement powering this campaign.
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