Dr. Rodolfo Cortes – California CD40 – U.S. Congress
We Can Have a Government That Benefits the People
MEET RODOLFO:
The United States Congress has the ability to guarantee housing, healthcare, education, and freedom from hunger for all U.S. residents. Yet, members of Congress from both major parties have consistently declined to deliver these benefits to the people. As income and wealth inequality soar, it's time for revolutionary leadership in D.C.
Born to working-class parents in Mexico, Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan and his family immigrated to a tiny rented room in Downey, California when Rodolfo was nine years old. Overcoming his family’s economic limitations, he attended college at UC Berkeley and received his Ph. D from Stanford University. Now 30, Rodolfo aims to become a U.S. Representative in order that he may use the privilege of that position to empower the working class.
Rodolfo’s opponent is Lucille Roybal-Allard, whose family have held the House District for over 50 years. During that time the Roybals and the Democratic Party at large have received billions from the same corporations that profit from the suffering of the working class. At a time when 65% of the people in the District rent their home, Roybal-Allard recently bought a fourth house at Lake Arrowhead. Having led a life of privilege, Roybal-Allard cannot truly understand nor represent the struggle of the working class she claims to represent.
Roybal-Allard is emblematic of the nature of the Democratic Party's relationship with donors and constituents: She represents big money, while claiming to speak for regular people. Despite being a lifelong Democrat, Rodolfo left the Party as a result of its treatment of the true peoples' candidate for President: Bernie Sanders. Rodolfo is now a member of the anti-corporate, pro-worker, pro-environment, anti-war Green Party, which embodies some of humanity's highest ideals: Social Justice/Equal Opportunity, Non-Violence, Ecological Wisdom, Feminism/Gender Equality, and Personal/Global Responsibility.
As a social scientist, Rodolfo knows that the United States Congress has the ability to guarantee housing, healthcare, education, and freedom from hunger for all U.S. residents. In Congress, he will denounce the economic and political lies told by the Business Party (i.e., the Dems and the GOP). He will stand against austerity and war. He will fight for a Green New Deal to employ the population, transform our infrastructure, and preserve the Earth for future generations. He will stand for working families, women, people of color, students, seniors, LGBTQA, disabled individuals, and all other marginalized populations. He will push for a better society through funding for science, engineering, the humanities, and the arts.
Ultimately, Rodolfo knows that if humanity is to survive global climate change, the United States federal government must enact bold and immediate policy changes. These changes are not supported by either the Democrat or the Republican Parties. Given the failures of the establishment, Rodolfo aims to draft, defend, and deliver the most progressive, leftist, socialist legislation possible. A better world is possible.
Rodolfo is pushing for a Green New Deal to the help the species survive, return the climate cycle to "normal," improve our infrastructure, employ the population, and chart a positive future for our youth. Rodolfo advocates for the creation of a Federal Jobs Guarantee with Basic Income as a component of the Green New Deal, providing immediate relief for low income Americans. He aims to sponsor and co-sponsor bills to push a progressive agenda:
Guaranteed healthcare, housing, education, water, and food for all
Push for environmental justice, shut down disease-causing polluters, enact policies to heal the climate and reforest the Earth
Create the Department of Peace and Wellbeing, end the wars
Teach children to interact with nature in a positive way, including growing their own food and using Earth-friendly habits at school and in daily living
Increasing resources spent toward research and development technologies in all sciences and fields of engineering, as well as investment in the arts and humanistic pursuits.
California Congressional District 40:
723,345 residents
130,202 can't afford to see a doctor
73,968 children are in poverty
325,505 without a high school degree
$42,902 median household income
Sources: U.S. Census, Trust for America's Health.
The District is a textbook example of "environmental racism."
The community is being poisoned by corporations.
Please consider contributing to Rodolfo's campaign if you are able. Very important for this district.
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