Help us unseat a fake progressive!
Howdy there! I’m Summer Miller and I‘m running a grassroots campaign for US congress to represent Massachusetts’ 2nd district. My congressman has been in office for over 20 years and though he caucuses with the Progressives, he takes money from defense contractors, weapons developers, corporations, the pharmaceutical industry, all of it. He’s as establishment and corrupt as they come and his laws don’t go far enough. If we’re going to fix this broken system, we need reshape congress to reflect our changing society.
I grew up in rural Virginia. When I came out to my parents, they told me that I wasn’t going to be allowed to transition as long as I lived with them. So when I turned 18, I left home. I slept on couches for a while, jumping from one acquaintance’s house to the next until I met some very stable and loyal friends who helped build me back up again. Thanks to my new family, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to move to Massachusetts with my girlfriend and start a new life. This place has accepted me with open arms and now I would like nothing more than to give back to the people of this district. The incrementalism favored by the Democratic establishment has failed us. It has given us Donald Trump. We live in one of the most progressive districts in the country. We don’t have to follow behind the change. We can help lead this movement, get money out of politics, and craft a new government that works for our people!
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MY PLATFORM:
Q: How do we pay for it?
A: End the oil wars, tax Wall Street, tax millionaires and billionaires appropriately, and invest in our own people. You might be surprised at the several trillion extra dollars we would have, the amount of jobs it would create, the huge boost in benefits it would give the middle class to go and pursue their goals.
I WILL FIGHT FOR:
SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL:
Health care is a human right. Millions of people in this country can not afford a $1,000 medical emergency. Children are dying because their parents can’t afford insulin. Your employer should not have a say in what doctor you’re allowed to go to.
RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE:
According to the Economic Policy Institute, “If the minimum wage had been raised at the same pace as productivity growth since the late 1960’s, it would be over $20 an hour today.” I support and will fight for a federal minimum wage increase to $20 an hour over a 5-year period.
FREE COLLEGE AND ABSOLVING STUDENT DEBT:
A less than 1% tax on Wall Street stock traders would completely cover the cost of the nation’s college tuition and ensure that anyone, regardless of their parents’ income could go to the college of their choosing. I say, ‘Why stop there?’ Let’s completely absolve student debt in this country. Our government is set to turn a $70 billion profit by saddling our recently graduated students who are just starting their lives with debt while it provides tax cuts to billionaires.
PROGRESSIVE TAX BRACKETS FOR MA:
Massachusetts’ low-income and middle class citizens pay the exact same rate in taxes as billionaires. I will work with MA’s elected officials to pass a progressive, bracketed tax system to give our average citizens some much-needed relief.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
We have to try and transition to 100% green energy by 2035. Sound unrealistic? It kind of is. It’s going to take a miracle. The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has said that by 2050, it will be too late to turn back the damage of climate change. If you think we have a “border crisis,” now, just wait until millions of people get displaced from their homes due to rising sea levels. This is going to happen in my lifetime if we don’t do something to stop it. I wholeheartedly support legislation like the Green New Deal and the Off Fossil Fuels Act.
As well as calling for a full ban on fracking and offshore oil drilling, I will fight to implement a corporate carbon tax — NOT a carbon tax on the use of personal vehicles. Further investments must also be made into solar and wind energy. Publicly accessible charging stations for electric vehicles should be provided.
A federal jobs guarantee should be provided for any citizen who would like to assist with the transition to green infrastructure. Pensions for those who are displaced by the transition (such as Appalachian coal miners) must be fully funded.
The United States’ military industrial complex is responsible for more carbon emissions than two-thirds of the world’s countries. At that, nearly every war we’ve been involved in for decades has been fought in the name of oil. We need to pull out of the middle-east entirely. Let’s bring our troops home to help with the transition to green infrastructure as well as doubling their starting salaries, as they make barely above federal minimum wage.
Accounting for an estimated 51% of Earth’s greenhouse gas emissions, the factory farming industry is the single greatest contributor to climate change.
The US spends $20 billion a year on farm subsidies, and 77% of those subsidies go to the top 10%; the corporate factory farms. Ending subsidies for corporate farms and instead funneling them into our local farms as well as the research and development of lab-grown meats and other meat and dairy alternatives will greatly reduce humanity’s negative impact on the environment. We can seize the land from the big agribusiness companies and work on reforestation efforts.
PUBLIC HOUSING:
No one in the United States of America should be forced to sleep on the street. The commodification of housing has to end. As part of our transition to green infrastructure, we will develop free public housing.
END THE DRUG WAR:
We’re in the middle of an opioid crisis. Convicting, punishing, and shaming people who are addicted to drugs doesn’t work, yet we continue to do so. People can not get better if they’re afraid of the repercussions of asking for help. It’s time to not only legalize recreational marijuana nationwide, but also to decriminalize all drugs.
All non-violent drug offenders should be released from incarceration, and have the charges wiped from their records as rehabilitation facilities staffed with physicians, psychologists, and social workers are established to help treat addicts.
GUN REFORM:
We need to take a stand against gun violence and stop beating around the bush. A license should be required to legally own a gun. I support a full ban on assault weapons, bump stocks, and gun modification kits.
Domestic abusers should be banned from purchasing guns, and the gun show loophole should be closed. I will fight to ban the PACs and lobbyists that allow for so much NRA money to be involved in politics.
PRISON REFORM:
Our prison system is a disaster. When someone is convicted of a crime, that stays with them forever. In many cases, they are unable to find work or a place to live. They end up forced to turn to crime again to survive. We need to wipe the criminal records of those who serve their time. What was the purpose of them giving up years of their life if we continue to punish them when they leave incarceration?
Nearly half a million people are held in jail every day having been convicted of no crime simply because they couldn’t afford bail. This is legalized kidnapping for ransom. Some people have even died while being held on bail for crimes they didn’t commit and no one was held accountable. This is a trap for low-income and middle class Americans. Someone who was desperate enough to steal $20 worth of products from a store probably can’t afford bail. Meanwhile, rich people who have committed murder have been able to literally buy their way out jail. Families’ lives are being ripped apart for profit. If found innocent they do not get the bail money back, which in some cases can be upwards of $100,000. The money bail system needs to end. Non-violent criminals can be issued a ticket with a court date just like traffic violators.
Currently, we show no interest in rehabilitating our criminals. Instead they get used for slave labor, shamed, assaulted, tortured, even killed. Being in these hostile environments for months or years at a time does nothing to help anyone. Other countries have figured this out, yet we refuse to get on board. These institutions must no longer be allowed to profit off of human suffering. I am calling for a complete ban on for-profit prisons and the establishment of a set of prisoners’ rights. Our current prisons also need to be renovated and modernized. Furthermore, the United States government should not have the right to decide when any man dies. I’m for abolishing the death penalty.
POLICE REFORM:
I come from a family full of police officers, so I know what I’m saying when I say that police officers are dangerous. Police officers are just people; people with guns who are legally authorized to kill. Departments need to be de-militarized and retrained to emphasize harm reduction practices. Officers must be equipped with remote-operated body cams.
Police officers too often prey on the fact that people are unaware of what their rights are. (“You can’t film here!”) Departments must provide free public “Know Your Rights,” seminars regularly.
VOTING REFORM:
Not only should Election Day be a national holiday, but US citizens should be automatically registered at age 18 with an opt-out feature. Voting rights must be restored to convicted felons once their sentences have been served.
Gerrymandering is a form of voter suppression. I will work to establish a bipartisan redistricting committee in Congress as well as crack down on voter purging.
The Electoral College must be abolished to ensure that every vote actually matters. I support a ranked-choice voting system in which citizens are able to pick their favorite candidates in order and if their first choice doesn’t receive enough votes to win the nomination, the vote goes to their second choice and so on.
PROTECTING WHISTLE-BLOWERS:
Legal protections for whistle-blowers must be put in place. Our government needs to be held accountable when it oversteps its boundaries. The charges against Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and Chelsea Manning must be dropped.
NEW STATES:
I fully support and will fight to grant full statehood to Washington DC and the United States territories of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
IMMIGRATION REFORM:
ICE is hunting people down, separating parents from their children, stuffing them into overcrowded cages, withholding food and water from people, raping people, and letting them die. ICE needs to be abolished and those responsible must be prosecuted for their human rights abuses.
We need to strengthen DACA protections and provide a streamlined pathway to citizenship as well as refugee status. We also need to recognize that people are fleeing from Latin America because the US has caused economic instability in that region through over a century of military coups and corporate meddling. If we really are going to fix the refugee crisis, we need to invest in the countries we’ve messed up. I will work to pass a ban on deportations. We do not have the right to kick people out of a land that we stole.
DECRIMINALIZE SEX WORK:
I support the full decriminalization of sex work and the repeal of FOSTA and SESTA. Legalization ignores the fact that sex workers by and large operate independently and will still criminalize sex workers who can not afford the business licenses, a place to operate from, etc. unless they want to work for a brothel-owner who will more than likely take a share of their profits. Full decriminalization will even allow sex workers to establish their own terms of service and seek legal help when necessary.
DEMOCRATIZE THE WORK PLACE:
Corporations have no reservations hurting their workers to turn a profit. I will fight for democratically elected workers to sit on the board of directors as representatives and provide oversight, making sure that the workers’ best interests are always in mind. I will support pro-unionization efforts and work to provide protections for striking workers.
LGBTQIA+ RIGHTS:
Conversion therapy for minors is still legal in over 30 US states. I will work to ban conversion therapy nationwide, provide public accommodation protections for the gay and trans communities, end the “trans panic” defense, allow transgender service members back into the military, and fight for the Equality Act.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS:
Regardless of how you personally feel about abortions, the government can not stop them — it can only stop safe abortions. Outlawing abortions will only lead to more dead women, more families growing up in poverty, and more children growing up in the foster care system. We need to make Roe v. Wade federal law and expand funding to Planned Parenthood.
I will also fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and provide universal child care and pre-k.
ANTI-CORRUPTION:
Getting the influence of corporate money out of politics is one of my primary goals. Elected officials should represent their constituents, not their corporate benefactors. I support banning corporate PACs altogether as well as banning lobbyists from paying politicians.
AVAILABILITY TO MY CONSTITUENTS:
As a public servant, it would be my job to serve the public. I have no interest in money. As your representative, I will never accept a pay-raise, I will never accept a corporate PAC, nor will I ever accept money from lobbyists.
I will be available for meetings and events both in and outside of the office and will also hold a free town hall within the district every month so that residents can voice their concerns to me directly and tell me what I can do to help them.
SUMMER MILLER 2020
LEAD, DON’T FOLLOW.
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