The rich and powerful will do whatever it takes to stop us -- so it's going to take all of us to win this fight.
Our democracy has been hijacked by the rich and the powerful.
They made it work for themselves, and they have left everyone else behind. And we see the effects each and every day:
We see it when corporate executives cut pay and lay off workers.
We see it when insurance companies deny patients treatments they need and access to doctors they count on.
We see it when our broken criminal justice system destroys Black and Brown families.
The list goes on: A generation crushed under the weight of student debt. The gun industry blocks reforms that would save lives. Big oil companies destroy our planet and keep calling the shots in Washington.
That's corruption, pure and simple — and it's time to call it out and fight back. If we as a country want to meet the challenges of this moment in history, we must fight for big, structural change.
Some are afraid because they're part of the wealthy and well-connected and they could lose their influence.
Some are afraid because they have built their own success around sucking up to the wealthy and well-connected.
And some are afraid because they've become so cynical or beaten down that they just don't think real change is possible.
Not me. I'm not afraid — I'm in this fight all the way.
Even if the rich and powerful don't like it, even if the fat cats from Big Ag and Big Tech and Big Pharma say no, we need big ideas so we can actually fix the challenges of our time.
We need big ideas to inspire people — to come out and caucus, and to come out and vote.
We need big ideas to take back the U.S. Senate in 2020 to put Mitch McConnell out of a job.
We need big ideas and, the absolutely critical part, we need to be willing to fight for them.
This is a time of crisis. Washington insiders, media pundits, fancy experts — even plenty of people in our own party — want to deny it. They think running some vague campaign that nibbles around the edges is the safe strategy.
But if the best we can do is to promise to return to "business as usual" after Donald Trump, Democrats will lose.
We win elections when we have solutions that are big enough to meet the challenges that people face in their lives. Because fear and complacency don't win elections; hope and courage win elections.
