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elleng

(130,845 posts)
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 11:00 AM Aug 2013

from Elizabeth Warren

When I first started thinking about running for the United States Senate, I talked with people in living rooms and backyards all across Massachusetts.

I wanted to hear what people thought about me running, and more importantly, about their concerns, frustrations, and hopes for the future.

And I wanted to have a conversation about what I saw as two fundamentally different visions for America. Are we a country that says, "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own"? Or are we a better people than that?

At one of my first stops at a home in Andover, Massachusetts, someone asked me a question about building a future. I responded by saying "nobody got rich on his own." Somebody else recorded my answer and stuck it up on YouTube a few weeks later. Today, that little video has been seen more than a million times! I'm still amazed by that.

This month is the two-year anniversary of when I started traveling around the Commonwealth, and in so many ways, it has been a long two years for our country. And it's been a long two years for me too of campaigning and serving in the Senate.

But I still feel passionately about what I said back then, and I feel even more passionately about it as I see what's happening in Washington. Watch the video again, share it on Facebook, and remind people what we're still fighting for:

https://donate.elizabethwarren.com/page/share/thevideoanniversary

Two years later, I still believe down to my toes that we are a people that do better when we invest in our future, when we invest in education and infrastructure so that everyone can get ahead.

I've been working hard the past eight months in Washington, but I don't need to tell you that there's still so much work to do.

Big oil companies -- some of the most profitable companies on the planet -- are still guzzling down billions of dollars in subsidies, while Head Start and Meals on Wheels funding are cut in sequestration. Millionaires and billionaires still don't pay their fair share in taxes, but student loans continue to increase and the policy of the federal government is now to profit off our young people getting a higher education.

In other words, the game is still rigged to make the rich and powerful even more rich and powerful. And that means we've got more work to do to help make sure the next kid can get ahead and the kid after that and the kid after that.

As I have traveled back and forth across Massachusetts over the past two years, many people have told me about the challenges they face and their hopes for the future. And every day that I go to the United States Senate I carry those hopes, along with a determination to give families a fighting chance.

It's been two years, but one other thing is still true: I can't do it alone. We're in this together.

Thank you for being a part of this,

Elizabeth

31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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from Elizabeth Warren (Original Post) elleng Aug 2013 OP
Pleased to kick ... Scuba Aug 2013 #1
She understands our Problems Cryptoad Aug 2013 #9
I would hands down vote for her, BUT Tiredofthesame Aug 2013 #13
she talks a good game here hfojvt Aug 2013 #24
She is great but she is still a politican Cryptoad Aug 2013 #26
so the Senator elect who claims to care about the people hfojvt Aug 2013 #27
Politics Cryptoad Aug 2013 #28
for some reason that change did not come slowly hfojvt Aug 2013 #30
Your argument is irrelevant, 1awake Aug 2013 #29
I never said nor meant to imply hfojvt Aug 2013 #31
I love and trust this woman AikidoSoul Aug 2013 #10
That's it exactly. When was the last time you could say that about a politician? Squinch Aug 2013 #20
K&R bahrbearian Aug 2013 #2
Please run for Prez! n/t hootinholler Aug 2013 #3
Warren/Sanders DiverDave Aug 2013 #4
Can we please clone her? mindwalker_i Aug 2013 #5
I agree. Which is why I think we need term limits. 7962 Aug 2013 #8
I agree completely. Tiredofthesame Aug 2013 #15
Can she move to KY and run? blackspade Aug 2013 #6
No. She's ours. MannyGoldstein Aug 2013 #23
Rats. blackspade Aug 2013 #25
K & R ctsnowman Aug 2013 #7
She could be the first woman president. Enthusiast Aug 2013 #11
Sometime I worry about her personal safety... Helen Borg Aug 2013 #12
I may call her office and Bernie Sanders' office.... OneGrassRoot Aug 2013 #14
Thank You mtasselin Aug 2013 #16
She is highly, highly against the TPP MannyGoldstein Aug 2013 #22
k&r Electric Monk Aug 2013 #17
If we had a Congress full of real Democrats like her, instead of Third Way Wall Streeters, the US Zorra Aug 2013 #18
Senator Warren's rhetoric is what the USA requires to define PufPuf23 Aug 2013 #19
She talked the talk, now she's walking the walk MannyGoldstein Aug 2013 #21
 

Tiredofthesame

(62 posts)
13. I would hands down vote for her, BUT
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 01:56 PM
Aug 2013

I believe filling congress with many more like her would be MUCH more effective. She is so great. Big fan.

hfojvt

(37,573 posts)
24. she talks a good game here
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 01:01 AM
Aug 2013

but nobody is asking her to do it alone.

What I wonder is, where the hell was she during the supposed "fiscal cliff" debate?

She was a new Senator-elect. What did she say about the Bush tax cuts?

NOTHING that I ever heard. I felt like it was ME, who was being asked to do it alone.

She talks here about millionaires and billionaires paying their fair share of taxes.

Well, thanks to the passage of ATRA, Wal-mart heirs will get $100,000,000 a year in PERMANENT tax cuts. Where the hell was Senator-elect Warren when this bill was being debated and passed in Congress? Where was she? What was she saying? What was she doing?

I was fighting as hard as I could for a BETTER outcome. Why wasn't she fighting with me?

Here's some of what I wrote about that issue.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1777348

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021824827

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021880321

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888046

and that was just in November. Even on November 9th, I was asking, pleading for some help. For somebody to STAND up and OPPOSE permanent tax cuts for the rich. "So where are the progressive voices calling for the $250,000 to be lowered?"

Who stood up and fought?

Senator Elect Warren? No
Senator Elect Baldwin? No
Re-elected Senator Sherrod Brown? No
Re-elected Congressman Alan Grayson? No
retiring Congressman Dennis Kucinich? No
Congresman John Lewis? No

The only one who I know that fought at the end was Senator Tom Harkin. In the 11th hour when the bad deal was all but done.

Oh, and when it comes to funding for programs that help the poor, it is not only the millionaires and billionaires who are avoiding taxes. Those families making between $90,000 and $180,000 - they get $1.1 trillion in permanent tax cuts.

That could pay for a lot of food stamps and Head Start, but instead it will be $4,000 tax cuts for households making $170,000 a year.

Notice that Senator Warren does not talk about that $1 trillion in permanent tax cuts - it is off the table in any discussion. Does Warren understand THAT problem?

Cryptoad

(8,254 posts)
26. She is great but she is still a politican
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 11:50 AM
Aug 2013

a very smart politician which chooses wisely the ditches she is willing to die in.

do you have the times she voted against those things you mentioned?

We need Politicians who know how to play the game, just not talk the talk!


I like her!

hfojvt

(37,573 posts)
27. so the Senator elect who claims to care about the people
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 12:03 PM
Aug 2013

chose to NOT fight for the people because it was somehow too "dangerous" to do so?

Profiles in WHAT?

Maybe she should join Dorothy, the scarecrow and the tinman on their way to Oz.

And now that the cat has been let out of the bag, there is no more voting about the PERMANENT tax cuts that were passed. The permanent tax cuts that could have been avoided if Congress had only done NOTHING.

Voting now is a moot point.

We needed somebody - a whole lot of somebodies to fight for the people THEN.

Cryptoad

(8,254 posts)
28. Politics
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 12:18 PM
Aug 2013

is a game of deal making,,,,, our system is design for change to come slowly and we have been making progress the last 5 years.... but we really can not make the big changes until we can gain more power in the House and the SCOTUS ...... of unless you are not talking revolution...... now that's different kettle of fish, heh?........ if that is case I think you have the wrong party.

hfojvt

(37,573 posts)
30. for some reason that change did not come slowly
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 02:41 PM
Aug 2013

when Bush was President. Bush tax cuts got passed within months of his 'election' and then a 2nd round within a few months of him proposing them.

Some people, like me, have been fighting to get rid of them since before they were even passed. Presumably we won that battle with the election of a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President.

And yet six years later we are in a worse position than we were in 2007. Back then the Bush tax cuts were set to expire automatically in just 3 years. Now, the vast majority of them are permanent.

Bottom line is that Warren and the Democrats did not fight nearly as hard for the bottom 90% as Republicans fought for the top 5%.

But sure, what the hell, let's call that a compromise and blame it on the "system" rather than the "leaders" who were too far up the ladder to bother or care about fighting for those below them, for all their rhetoric.

Oh but surely Warren will START fighting for me now, but she cannot do it alone, she needs me to tell other people how great SHE is, and needs me to send her some of my vast sums of money.

1awake

(1,494 posts)
29. Your argument is irrelevant,
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 12:18 PM
Aug 2013

even though I am a firm believer in the doom and gloom you put forth. If voting is a moot point now as you say, then what? What ideas do you have moving forward.

I don't ask for a perfect politician. just one that more often than not truly represents the people. I think she fills that requirement better then almost all other politicians we currently have today. In a country where most of my belief in our current politicians, both Democrat and Republican have been smashed, I'll take the few shining lights I can find. Over the last several months, my belief that most of the Democrat's who "represent us" are not anyone that I would ever call Democrat leaves me with thoughts that I am a member in a party that doesn't truly exist. Our party feels like a sham, and Warren is one of the few who helps me feel otherwise on some levels.

hfojvt

(37,573 posts)
31. I never said nor meant to imply
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 02:55 PM
Aug 2013

that voting was a moot point.

My point is, do not tell me what a great fighter Senator Warren is for the people, when she apparently did not bother to fight for the people when the Bush tax cuts were being made permanent.

The rich would certainly be paying more of their fair share if Democrats had allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire instead of making 85% of them permanent (at great gain to the rich).

Senator-elect Warren could have fought, could have been a LEADER in the fight to get rid of the Bush tax cuts.

She either CHOSE not to, or she just did not think it was that important.

But in the latter case, then she is a liar to pretend it is important NOW if it was not important to her then.

Those are PERMANENT tax cuts. We apparently could not get rid of them even when they were scheduled to automatically expire. It would take some kind of a miracle to get rid of them now. They are basically etched in diamond. The opportunity to get rid of them, has passed. Senator-elect Warren stood on the sidelines and watched it go.

Oh yeah, but next time I am sure I can count on her. And Al Franken. And Bernie Sanders. And Sherrod Brown. Fool me once ...

AikidoSoul

(2,150 posts)
10. I love and trust this woman
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 01:26 PM
Aug 2013

and that is only true of a tiny few others in government.

She has the guts, smarts and heart to be a great president.:

loveya:

DiverDave

(4,886 posts)
4. Warren/Sanders
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 12:36 PM
Aug 2013

Or the other way around, what we could do with that team fixing things.
And then I wake up and contemplate Clinton/(dlc choice here)
Not good for the poor man...

mindwalker_i

(4,407 posts)
5. Can we please clone her?
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 12:39 PM
Aug 2013

More realistically, her value and reasons for becomming a Senator need to be duplicated and infused into the rest of the congress. The overwhelming majority of Republicans and, sadly, a not insignificant percentage of Democrats, went to congress for reasons unrelated to making the country work.

 

7962

(11,841 posts)
8. I agree. Which is why I think we need term limits.
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 01:23 PM
Aug 2013

Too many stay for too long and begin to feel as if its THEIR seat. And then pass rules to benefit themselves or their friends.
Pick a number, serve and then make them go home.

 

Tiredofthesame

(62 posts)
15. I agree completely.
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 02:01 PM
Aug 2013

Some say term limits are a bad thing. I don't see how it stops anyone like Warren from running, winning, and kicking ass while she is there. I even say a 1 / 6year term for president is enough. IMO.

OneGrassRoot

(22,920 posts)
14. I may call her office and Bernie Sanders' office....
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 02:00 PM
Aug 2013

and see if they would work with me regarding Wishadoo, especially this activist idea.

Her last line in this letter is why I say this:

"It's been two years, but one other thing is still true: I can't do it alone. We're in this together."


I created this graphic on 11/5/12, after President Obama said this:

"We have a stake in one another ... what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth." - President Barack Obama





mtasselin

(666 posts)
16. Thank You
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 02:05 PM
Aug 2013

Thank you Senator Warren, but my biggest concern now is The Trans Pacific Partnership. I have read many articles about this trade agreement well as many as I can considering it is classified as material, but there is nothing good in it unless you are a corporation. I am not sure if you read this blog but if you do could you comment on TPP.

Zorra

(27,670 posts)
18. If we had a Congress full of real Democrats like her, instead of Third Way Wall Streeters, the US
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 04:23 PM
Aug 2013

Last edited Thu Aug 15, 2013, 02:12 AM - Edit history (1)

could become a beacon of peace, prosperity, democracy, and freedom.

Instead of a dark cloud of war, austerity, plutocracy, and serfdom.

PufPuf23

(8,764 posts)
19. Senator Warren's rhetoric is what the USA requires to define
Wed Aug 14, 2013, 04:44 PM
Aug 2013

itself as a fair and just civilization.

I hope Senator Warren stays the course and becomes a POTUS, a POTUS that kicks ass in non-partisan criminal prosecutions of the evil doers in our midst.

We are a corrupt and amoral civilization from family and community to international business and foreign policy.

We call ourselves a democratic republic for and by the People but we are a rogue military and economic world-wide empire.

We may not be a police state yet but the tools are there, personality disordered individuals to enact, and we already have the highest incarnation rate.

We are the World's most belligerent Terrorists.

We could have been so much better domestically and internationally after WWII but failed.

HRC said something about it takes a village.

I would re-phrase HRC to say success and prosperity and ecological and social harmony require a lack of psychopaths controlling the village.

We reward psychopaths and then they self-select to garnish power and wealth.

Maybe this is the human condition?

Maybe Ms. Warren and a legion of People with good heart and motive can take back the USA and starve global disaster.

The solution will take a generational and individual change and then the results to ensure continuity and the rigor to minimize the power and influence of psychopaths.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
21. She talked the talk, now she's walking the walk
Thu Aug 15, 2013, 12:19 AM
Aug 2013

I look forward to true Democrats walking along with her.

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