Social Security was designed in 1935 to provide a base level income for our parents, grandparents, and older neighbors. It is not a government handout; it is a system we all pay into, collectively. We pay now so current recipients can receive benefits with the expectation that future generations will do the same, ensuring all our neighbors can experience some basic level of dignity during retirement age. The Republican Party actively seeks to dismantle programs like Social Security because the ultra-wealthy refuse to pay their fair share of taxes and instead have successfully shifted that burden onto working class Americans.

The surveillance state is the “Big Brother” we’ve long been taught to fear. These technologies are unreliable but also have been continually misused by bad faith actors within law enforcement. They have illegally been used to violate restraining orders, to track the movements of individuals, and to target our most vulnerable neighbors. Cities across the nation that had previously adopted the technology are actively passing legislation to ban them. This technology has no place in a free society.

AI is an abomination. Proponents will tell you it paves the way for a better future for humanity. Even if we had a currently nonexistent social safety net, this is a lie. This technology exists to steal your labor and eliminate your jobs so that the billionaire class can ever further line their pockets. I didn’t grow up dreaming of lining the boss’s pockets, did you? Data centers are equally abominable. They destroy the environment, overtax our infrastructure, poison our drinking water, and ruin the quality of life for anyone in the community. These technologies are being forced upon us at an alarming rate and the Federal Government must act swiftly to pass strict guidelines that ensure protections for the people.

It’s ironic that Republicans often bemoan a bygone era of American prosperity while Democrats promise a better future. In the 1950’s (under a Republican President), the wealthy were taxed at three times the current rate. This was a policy that came out of the Democratic led New Deal. Now Republicans long for a past defined by a nation that taxed the wealthy, while Democrats refuse to properly tax their billionaire donors. Our tax burden shouldn’t fall on the poor, the working class, and middle class families. It should fall on the people who profit off of all of our hard work.

Understanding why the cost of everyday goods we need to provide for our families sometimes skyrockets can be confusing. The simple explanation is that these costs are tied to policy decisions at the Federal level. When we fail to embrace clean energy technology, when we end farm subsidies, undercut FDA oversight, and embark on unnecessary and immoral foreign wars, one result is that we the people pay more at the register. Government can work for the people but for far too long our elected officials have chosen to line their own pockets rather than look our for their constituents.

Healthcare is a human right. Policy decisions at the State and Federal level have resulted in the closure of too many rural Tennessee hospitals making it ever more difficult for people to seek care. Meanwhile, executives and shareholders of insurance companies rake in profits. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without universal healthcare. It is long past time to change that.

We need to stop spending billions on unnecessary wars like the war in Iran or the genocide in Gaza. We need to stop cutting taxes on the ultra rich. We need a government that serves the people rather than special interests.