Needed: A trustworthy president

Like every progressive who believes in leaders who are intelligent, honest and decent human beings, I’m firmly in the camp of “anybody but Trump” in the 2020 presidential elections. But I’m not sure there’s one candidate more likely to beat Trump than another. His fanatical supporters are stuck in their blind loyalty and ignorance while the rest of us, the majority of voters, know he’s been in office far too long already. We just have to show up and vote him out in 2020.

During this long run-up to primary season, I’ve been searching for a candidate who inspires me and whose policies I believe will lead our country in a better direction. Change is desperately needed in so many areas, but, for me, the over-riding issue is income inequality. I am thoroughly disgusted by corporations and their wealthy CEOs who earn hundreds of millions of dollars—seriously, whose work could possibly be worth that much?—and yet guzzle at the trough of corporate welfare every chance they get while also arguing that a minimum wage of $7.25 is plenty for those not lucky enough to live in a mansion.

That’s why I’m throwing my support behind Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary. Warren wants to tax ultra-millionaires, the top 0.1 percent of Americans, a mere 2 percent tax each year on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and a 3 percent tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion. Surely these ultra-rich millionaires can spare 2 or 3 cents on every dollar once they’ve accumulated more than $50 million in assets. This small assessment will affect just 75,000 households but will generate $2.75 trillion in revenue over a 10-year period. It’s the very least they can do to help a country that has rewarded them with more riches than any one person deserves.

Warren wants to spend the money to cover the cost of universal child care and early learning for poor working families, and to cancel student debt and make college more affordable. She wants to create jobs by creating or rehabilitating more than three million affordable housing units by setting the estate tax back where it was when George W. Bush was president.

I like Warren’s concept of accountable capitalism to compel the boards of large corporations to consider the interests of workers and communities in their decision-making, not just the interests of shareholders. She wants at least 40 percent of board members to be workers, a powerful voice to oppose stock buybacks that just make the rich richer instead of raising wages to let everyone share in the wealth they created.

Public lands are also important to me, and Warren has pledged to end offshore drilling on day one of her presidency. She takes climate change seriously and pledges $2 trillion toward developing and exporting green technology.

Warren also seems to understand what is driving the opioid epidemic and plans to allocate significant resources to first responders, public health departments and communities to provide prevention, treatment and recovery services.

And while there’s certainly room for debate within the progressive community, I agree with Warren’s plan to abolish the presidential electors system and impeach our deceitful president.

But what clinched the deal for me is her commitment to raise wages and fund education and training for child care workers, the people we entrust with our most vulnerable pre-school children. She thinks they should be paid salaries similar to public school teachers, a stance I wholly support, to raise quality and reduce turnover of these vital workers.

The first Democratic candidate debates are next week. Spend a couple of hours and hear them out. I’ll be rooting for Warren.