Along with dozens of progressive politicians and organizations, Rep. Ilhan Omar has signed her name to the Working Families Party’s new “People’s Charter.”
The Working Families Party is a “multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful.” According to the WFP website, the group believes wealthy political insiders have rigged the economy and democracy in the U.S., and then blame “poor people or people of different races or different places.”
The WFP claims equality and freedom for all is “unrealized” in the U.S. The party recruits and trains candidates who can “help build the multiracial movement we need to win the America we deserve.”
The People’s Charter has been signed by Omar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, among many other left-leaning politicians and organizations. The charter is a 1,000-word document proposing the latest progressive actions to reformulate government spending and create an “America that works for the many, not the privileged and powerful few.”
According to Politico, progressives have a different strategy now than they did in the 2016 election. They are organizing behind Joe Biden, but are “also vowing to turn around and place immediate pressure on Biden to stand with them on key issues if he is elected,” Politico said.
“Why are we kicking this off now, with just 26 days until Election Day? Because beating Donald Trump is a doorway, not a destination,” the WFP said in a press release announcing the charter. “If we take back the White House we can go on offense and demand Democrats take bold action starting in January 2021. In order to be successful, we must start building a movement now.”
The WFP is promoting the charter in its campaign to influence progressive voters to choose Biden, Maurice “Moe” Mitchell, national director of the party, told Politico, saying it “also sets up conditions postelection.”
“It’s putting a stake in the ground that we believe Joe Biden can become a New Deal 2.0 president,” Rep. Ro Khanna, who has signed onto the platform, told Politico. “He has talked about the crisis that Roosevelt faced. He has talked about wanting to have a new New Deal for the 21st century. That should be the direction he goes instead of the incrementalism of the ’90s.”
The People’s Charter promotes, among several other policies, ending systemic racism, extending the $600 weekly unemployment insurance until the economy fully reopens, making unemployment benefits available to everyone regardless of immigration status, and putting “16 million people back to work immediately.”
It also calls for making $15 per hour the minimum wage everywhere, instituting free and universal health care, shifting “resources away from policing,” and canceling all student debt, which is “an unfair burden on working and middle class young adults.”
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
