How we win

Over the last week we have seen the devastating impact of the right-wing extremist agenda that Republican rule in Washington is forcing on the nation. Over 80 percent of Americans support providing legal protection for the 800,000 Dreamers - young people brought to this country as children who are now our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends and our family members.

Despite the overwhelming view of the American people, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan chose to hold the entire federal government hostage to their blatantly xenophobic and anti-immigrant views.

As I traveled the country in 2015 and 2016 some of the most moving meetings I held were with young Dreamers terrified that they would be rounded up and thrown out of the only country they have ever known. Trump promised to help the Dreamers while he was running for president but, in one of his series of lies, he has reneged on that pledge.

Make no mistake about it. This government shutdown and budget fight in Washington is also about our priorities as a nation. Republicans want massive increases in military spending while refusing to address the crises we face in health care, education, college affordability, infrastructure and more.

This is the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. Of course we can increase the standard of living of people in every zip code in this country - urban and rural - if we invest in our critical domestic needs. But we cannot expect that will happen when we have a president and a party beholden to the Koch brothers and other billionaire campaign contributors. Their agenda is exactly opposite of what the American people want.

From coast to coast Americans want a government that represents all of us, not the 1 percent. They don't want congressional leadership that has tried repeatedly to throw tens of millions of people off their health insurance and then looted the U.S. Treasury to give massive tax breaks to their fat cat donors. This right-wing Republican leadership has got to go! And we are the ones who have to send them packing.

But I cannot do it alone:

Chip in $5 to help us defeat Republicans across the country by reactivating the organizing networks that were at the heart of our grassroots success in 2015 and 2016 and to do it in support of progressive candidates up and down the ballot who will stand with Dreamers and the working people of this country.

I, frankly, am outraged by what Trump and Washington Republicans are doing to our country and to our people. That is why it is so important that we take back the Congress in 2018 from these extremists and why I hope you will join me in that fight.

Being outraged, however, is not enough. We are the ones who have to make it happen. If we fail, what will you tell future generations when they ask, "What did you do in that critical moment when we still had a chance to set things right?"

How we win is straightforward. We have all witnessed the power of grassroots politics. Whether it was the 2016 primary campaign, the millions of women who took to the streets, the people from all walks of life who showed up at airports to protest the bigoted Trump Muslim ban, or the overwhelming majority standing with our Dreamer brothers and sisters, the message is clear. When we stand together we can build the America we all want to see.

Grassroots efforts have been successful in electing new progressive voices from all walks of life in places like Virginia, New York, Alabama, Mississippi and elsewhere. Grassroots efforts can transform this country. But we have to redouble our efforts if we are going to wrest our country back from those whose greed and dishonesty is destroying it.

That is why I want to announce to you a major new three-part initiative for this year and how you can be part of the fight to take our country back.

First, I am committing to travel the country in support of progressives running up and down the ballot. Like I did when together we rallied millions against the Republicans' failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I intend to go to every corner of this country to help build the electoral wave that will sweep Republicans out of the Congress, out of governors' mansions, out of state houses and out of city and town halls.

I hope in my travels that I will see you at these events. Your attendance is critically important to showing the strength of our movement and our resolve.

Second, as we work to create Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, I will be giving special focus to a core group of up-and-coming progressive candidates at the national and state level. We need progressive Democrats who are going to vigorously stand up against Republicans and fight for our values. But the only way they win is if we help them.

These are the type of candidates who do not draw big dollar contributions but they can prevail if we provide them the small dollar, grassroots support they need. As we introduce this growing list of candidates to you over the next couple of months I hope you will give them the support they need to carry our fight forward in their primaries and in the general election.

Finally, I am excited to announce that we will be reactivating the distributed organizing network that was at the heart of our grassroots success in 2015/2016. This will give us the capacity to reach out to millions of households by phone, by email, on social media and by text message.

This will give each of you the power to help elect progressives and defeat Republicans all across the country.

What we have seen over the last depressing year is a full out assault on working people of all races, an assault on marginalized communities and an assault on people based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and national origin.

Trump and the Republicans want to divide and conquer while the billionaire class laughs all the way to the bank and the rest of America falls further and further behind. We cannot let them do it.

The late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan summed it up so well when she described the aspiration of everyone in this country - "What the people want is very simple - they want an America as good as its promise."

Creating that America has been the motivation of my entire political life. I have always believed that together we could make it a reality. Even in these dire times, I feel it more strongly than ever.

Join me in the fight!

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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Something important you can do to advance Medicare for All

I believe, and I think you do too, that it is long past time for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world in guaranteeing health care as a right to every man, woman, and child.

Rich or poor, we are all born, we all get sick, we all have accidents, we all need health care at the end of our lives, and we all die. And in my view, the function of a sane health care system in this country should be to keep all of our people well in a cost effective way, not to make health industry CEOs richer or to drive up the stock prices on Wall Street.

It wasn't long ago that the idea of Medicare for All was dismissed and ridiculed by the corporate media and political establishment in this country. Four years ago, I introduced the bill and there wasn't a single co-sponsor. We were actually relentlessly attacked for the idea before the Iowa Caucuses.

But then our political revolution really gained steam, and it became clear to candidates and elected officials alike that the American people were on board. They believe that it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health care for all as a right, not a privilege.

And as a result of your passion, commitment and enthusiasm on this issue, when I introduced my Medicare for All legislation earlier this year, 16 of my colleagues in the Senate signed on as co-sponsors. I can tell you that no one would have ever thought that was possible just a short while ago.

But if we want to add to that number, our job now is to support those who have come out in favor of our bill and defend them when they are under attack for doing-so. So I want to ask you to do something very important for our cause today:

Canyou split a $3 donation between Elizabeth Warren's and Tammy Baldwin'scampaigns for U.S. Senate? Elizabeth is running for re-election inMassachusetts and Tammy is running for re-election in Wisconsin. Both supportour plan. Both have been attacked by Republicans for doing. Help them, and youhelp our effort to pass Medicare for All.

My Republican colleagues in Congress tell us, over and over again, that we have the "greatest" health care system in the world.

Really?

Today, 28 million Americans have no health insurance and many more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. We pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. In fact, millions of Americans can't afford to purchase the medicine they need.

Too many Americans delay going to the doctor because of the cost, and too many others are forced into bankruptcy or financial ruin because of medical bills. It is not a radical idea to suggest that Americans should be able to get the health care they need, when they need it. Americans should not be dying because of their financial status.

There are millions of people who remain on their jobs today, not because they want to be there or enjoy their work, but because their present employer provides decent health care benefits - and they have no option.

Today the United States spends far more per capita on health care than any other nation on Earth. In fact, we are spending almost twice as much per capita as any other country, while our health care outcomes are often worse.

Instead of providing quality care to all in a cost-effective way, our current system is designed to provide hundreds of billions in profits to insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and medical equipment suppliers.

That system doesn't sound so "great" to me.

Medicare for All would mean comprehensive coverage for all Americans. It would cover the entire continuum of health care: inpatient to outpatient care; preventive to emergency care; primary to specialty care, including long-term and palliative care; vision, hearing and oral health care; mental health and substance abuse services; as well as prescription medications, medical equipment, supplies, diagnostics, and treatments. Patients will be able to choose a health care provider without worrying about whether that provider is in-network and will be able to get the care they need without having to read any fine print or trying to figure out how they can afford the out-of-pocket costs.

Of course, the insurance companies and drug companies in this country are extraordinarily powerful and they are not going down without a fight. They have obscene amounts of wealth and have used that money to protect a dysfunctional system that allows them to make billions in profits while leaving far too many Americans behind.

They will spend obscene amounts of money to stop the movement for Medicare for All, and the candidates and elected officials who support it. But if we stand together, we will win. That's why it's so important for me to ask:

Canyou split a $3 donation between Elizabeth Warren's and Tammy Baldwin'scampaigns for U.S. Senate?

It is time to wage a moral and political war against a dysfunctional health care system in this country. And that means supporting those who stand with us when they are under attack for doing so.

Thank you for taking action in support of our campaign to guarantee health care as a right in this country for every man, woman and child.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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