[1]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress[2]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress

I grew up in a working-class family.

My mom cleaned houses and my dad worked to build a small business. My
parents worked themselves to the bone so that my brother and I could just
have a shot.

And for a moment there, it looked like we were going to make it: 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 suddenly, 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 in the Great Recession 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, put them through school, keep our house, pay off my dad's medical
bills — all on a house cleaner salary.

That's how I became a waitress. Because it was millions of innocent
working families who paid the price, while the billionaires and thieves
who defrauded our financial system got off richer than ever before. And
not a single one of them went to jail.

And you know what?

That is the story that Republicans mock — not just mine, but all of ours —
when they say a waitress or working person is unqualified to serve in
Congress.

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 for
life to be one bad day, one bad piece of news, one major setback from
everything feeling like it's going to fall apart.

We don't have to live like this anymore.

We can make a new world, a better country, where we can fight for the
dignity of all people.

And it looks like living wages.
It looks like stable housing.
It looks like guaranteed health care.
And it looks like respect for all of our differences, no matter who we are
or where we come from.

That means that we must choose to out-organize the oligarchy. We will and
must do away with the power of big money.

And 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.

[ [link removed] ]Will you make a $5 contribution right now to help us host
more town halls on the road? These town halls take major resources to host
safely.

Every donation helps us mobilize, organize, and fight for the working
class in the places that need it most.



[ [link removed] ]Contribute $5



In solidarity,

Alexandria


 


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