I have been a political activist since the 1960s. I am a charter member of The Democratic Socialists of America . I have been working to inform people about Global Warming since before the term became widely known. I believe that people come before profit always.
I am an example of what immigrant families produced in this country. My mother’s parents came here with nothing. My mother had an eighth grade education. My dad’s family came a generation or so earlier but they too were working people. None of them had more than a high school diploma.
I went to college on the NROTC program and did my doctorate on government scholarships generated by the fear caused by the Russians launching Sputnik. None of these are available now.
I did my postdoc training at the Weizmann Institute in Israel in the 1960s. The Labor Party was in control of a socialist government then and life was good. For our Family of four we had single payer total health coverage including vision, dental, hospital, prescription and non-prescription drugs and doctor for $10.00 per month. To put this into perspective, I was on a USPHS Postdoctoral Fellowship and earning $6,500.00 per year. My health care cost was in the top bracket because I made more than my Israeli mentor and he was at the top of their pay scale.
Later I worked on my sabbatical years in France and Germany and again enjoyed their social security programs (which includes health care) the day I arrived.
Having been a child during WWII I was born in a special time. The depression was over but not forgotten. We were working class and knew what FDR was all about. Then things began to change. The oligarchy despised FDR even though he saved their system for them.
Gradually they learned how to divide people and turn them against each other. They used the security and well being FDR created to lull people into thinking the struggle was over then they began to chip away at all that had been gained.
My life as an American citizen has been one of undoing myth after myth until now I see fascism face to face rather than through the news reels back then.
So why can I claim to be on the winning side? It is simple. It does not have to do with winning elections. I have been on the side that lost too many times. It has to do with standing up for what you know is right no matter what happens.
I have watched Bernie Sanders do that. He is a winner. He has won most of his elections and yet that is almost a byproduct of his winning nature. Bernie knows what is right and does not waiver.
Those of you who understand this are on the winning side as well. We are building a political revolution so everyone can be winners. Meanwhile our ranks grow and we know we are winners.