Hard on issues, soft on people.
Healthcare is a human right: Healthcare, including mental health and dental health, are human rights. The wellbeing and health all people and their lives must come far above profit. We must cut out the “middle man,” remove health insurance companies from our healthcare system, and implement a single payer system. Healthcare should be between the doctor and the patient. Helping, curing, and bettering patients and their lives, as well as educating, promoting, and maintaining health and wellness should be the priority.
Housing is a human right: Housing is a right of all people, not a privilege. All people have the right to hold public space. We must end gentrification and the criminalization of homelessness and poverty. I support efforts to organize renters and tentants so as to shift power away from landlords and developers. I believe in a move to fully socialized housing. Until that is actualized, we must fight for affordable housing.
Immigration, migration, and asylum are human rights: Abolish ICE, recognize and defend the rights of immigrant communities, and a path to citizenship must be made a reality because no human being is illegal.
Environmental justice and eco-socialism: Arguably the most pressing issue of our time, we need to take WWII like action to halting and combating the climate crisis. The Paris Climate Agreement is the bare minimum. We need to reduce emissions globally via a Green New Deal, now. We must transform our energy system to 100% renewable energy while ensuring that that transition is just for communities and workers, including fossil fuel industry workers. We must take care and ensure justice for communities of color who are disproportionately affected. We must hold the fossil fuel industry accountable. We must invest in conservation and public lands.
No more wars: War must be a last resort, not the first option. Our military’s focus should be on responding to humanitarian crisis’ in a caring manner. We must care for our veterans and prioritize their mental health. We need a peaceful, compassionate foreign policy and an end America's interventionist wars of regime change.
Guns: I would love a world without guns. I don’t think that world is possible. I fear a repeal of the second amendment would be dangerous and used against low income people and communities of color. What I do know is that we need common sense gun regulations that keep guns out of dangerous hands and aims to eliminate gun violence. Not one more. No student should live in fear at school and we cannot continue down a path of waking up to another mass shooting.
Palestinian rights and sovereignty: We must end the suffering of the Palestinian people including ending the blockade and halting settlement expansion in the West Bank. Palestinians have a right to a state of their own.
Israel’s right to exist: We must ensure Israel is safe from both state and non-state actors.
BDS: We must preserve our first amendment right to boycott and divest without retaliation from our government.
Black Lives Matter:
Supporter and ally to American Indian Movement:
Supporter and ally to Centro CSO:
Standing with the Muslim community:
Racial Justice: (systemic racism, equal representation, affirmative action, the erasure of history from school curriculums)
Fighting bigotry:
Rights of those with disabilities:
LGBTQ+ rights: Defend the right to love and live without fear, especially for those at the margins such as trans people of color.
Intersectional feminism and women’s rights: Protect reproductive health rights and fight for the security and safety of the most vulnerable women, like trans women and female service workers.
Tuition-free, debt-free public colleges and universities: No one should have to give up the opportunity to receive a higher education because they cannot afford it. The pursuit of a higher education is integral part of the pursuit of happiness and is a public good not a private commodity.
Standing with public school teachers and public education: I was educated in the public school system and public education should be prioritized. Our public school teachers should be paid more and class sizes should be smaller. I oppose the privatization of education through charter schools and vouchers. Quality education is right to all people, regardless of income, place of residence, or place of birth.
Animal rights: As an vegan, animal rights is something very important to me. I do not believe human beings are superior to animals in any capacity. I will actively fight oppression, including that of animals, and stand against all "-isms," including speciesism. All living, sentient beings are equal and deserve the right to life and compassion. Animals are not our food, our entertainment, or a product and should not be exploited for our benefit in any industry.
Campaign finance reform and money in politics: We must get corporate money out of politics. We need an aggressive and swift move to public financing in all areas of our politics. Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
Income and wealth inequality: Corporate profits are at an all-time high, and wages for workers at an all-time low; meanwhile, the middle class is disappearing. The gap between the ridiculously rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider. We must implement and enforce taxes on corporations and the multi-millionaires and billionaires of this county to close this gap.
Internet rights: Municipalities and/or states should offer publicly owned and democratically controlled, co-operative, or open access broadband networks. We must break up internet service provider monopolies and anticompetitive mergers.
Public transportation: We have, for too long, relied on long car commutes and have had to deal with the traffic congestion and dangerous emissions that come along with it. We need to reverse these trends and create more livable, connected, and vibrant communities by way of investing in 100% renewable-energy-powered public transportation.
Workers rights: All workers have the right to unionize, the right to strike, and the right to organize and negotiate collectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. The current lack of organizing to unionize workers has lead to a rise in mass income and wealth inequality.
Reparations: I support reparations for the enslavement and dispossession of African-Americans and Indigenous People. Reparations should also be taken for discrimination, segregation, environmental racism, exploitation, the political, economic, and social impacts of colonialism, and for the destruction of cultural assets and sacred sites.
Capitalism is not our friend:
Special thank you to Ricardo Gutierrez, Mai Do, Ryan Skolnik, kat walker, Robert Leahey, Ankur Patel, Bernie Sanders, The movement for black lives and Democratic socialists of america who helped me put into words all that we are fighting for.
Current candidates, legislation, and ballot measures I endorse:
bernie sanders for president 2020
AB 479 - Plant-based Meal Option K-12 Schools
AB 572 - California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act
AB 486 - Pet Evacuation
AB 1586 - Replacing Animals in Science
AB 889 - California Transparency in Research Act
SB 202 - Doggy Donor Bill
SB 54 - Solid Waste
SB 564 - End to Deepfake Porn
SB 636 - Ballot Label DISCLOSE Act
AB 1482 - Anti-Rent Gouging
AB 1217 - Issue Ad Disclose Act
AB 1784 - Secure the Vote Act
AB 1482 - Tenancy Rent Caps
AB 44 - Fur products: prohibition
AB 571 - Protect local elections from wealthy special interests
AB 1260 - Exotic Skin Sale Ban
SB 313 - Circus Cruelty Prevention Act
SB 201 - Text Message DISCLOSE Act
SB 47 - DISCLOSE Bill
SB 1138 - Plant Based Meal Option
AB 273 - Fur trapping
AB 1054 - Public Utilities Wildfires and
Employee ProtectionAB 857 - Public Banking Act
AB 733 - End the Use of Live Fish to Test Water Quality - Vetoed
SB 64 - Pet Microchipping - Vetoed
AB 1249 - Animal Testing Cosmetics - Vetoed
SB 1487 - African Species Protection - Vetoed
H.R.1384 - Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act of 2019
H.Res.109 - Green New Deal
YES ON ACA 6
YES ON ACA 8
NO ON AB 527
NO ON AB 700
NO ON AB 719
NO ON AB 56
NO ON SB 350
NO ON SB 774
NO ON SB 592
NO ON SB 330
NO ON AB 1561