-by Erica Smith (D-NC),
candidate, U.S. Senate
Black people in America, and working people of all colors and creeds, particularly in the south, whether they know it or not, have felt the repercussions of the Jim Crow era relic that is the filibuster. We have felt it in every new voter suppression law. We have felt it in the wage gap. We have felt it in the failure to build an economy that works for all of us and a democracy that includes all of us.
Like so much of what plagues are politics, the filibuster is the result of an era in which government was composed exclusively of wealthy white men who cared more about preserving their way of life than of bringing us closer to our founding ideals.
The filibuster was not in the constitution. It was created as a means of preventing progress and it has succeeded in that aim.
At this moment, we have a choice to make.
A choice between the filibuster and a living wage. A choice between the filibuster and access to clean air and clean water. A choice between the filibuster and our democracy.
The Senate MUST end the filibuster.
My message to Democrats in the Senate is a clear one. I am running for U.S. Senate in the battleground state of North Carolina. I am not afraid of the political repercussions of Democrats ending the filibuster. I am afraid of the political repercussions of Democrats failing to deliver on the robust agenda they ran on and were elected on. I am afraid that we will fail to protect our democracy from the GOP assault on voting rights, I am afraid that we will fail to give workers the support they need as we emerge from this recession and I am afraid that we will not do enough to change a healthcare system that is fundamentally broken.
We are building a diverse working class coalition that is united behind policy solutions big enough and bold enough to address the severe challenges that we face. This coming decade can be a transformative one for our country. One that finally brings us closer to fulfilling the elusive promise of equality and opportunity for all.
We can usher in a third reconstruction. We can address the climate crisis and the economic crisis with the Green New Deal. We can build a 21st century middle class by strengthening unions. At long last, we can prioritize people over profits and pass Medicare for All.
We can truly accomplish all of that. All it takes is the political courage to choose the people over politics as usual.
A word from Howie: Erica is up against the full might and determination of an establishment determined to preserve the status quo and sabotage meaningful change and progress. They will do anything to stop her from getting into the Senate, even, as we saw last cycle, smearing her good name and installing a loser candidate who would never win against a Republican. Please consider contributing to her campaign-- any amount helps-- by clicking on the 2022 Blue America Senate thermometer above... And watch that video again!
If she 'splained it real careful... would any of them understand? It *IS* NC, after all.