On Thursday, far-left activists, including the four far-left freshman congresswomen known collectively as “The Squad,” released their vision of a new more socialist America. Called the Working Families Party’s “People’s Charter,” the plan looks to push a potential Joe Biden presidency even further to the left than it already is.
Among other things, the People’s Charter calls for defunding police departments nationwide, a minimum wage of $15.00 per hour, and a complete embrace of the so-called “Green New Deal,” and to “repair historic harms and end systemic racism.”
Among the charter’s signatories are members of Congress Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
The Charter is also supported by Black Lives Matter, Service Employees Union International (SEIU), Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives, and the climate alarmist group the Sunrise Movement.
“There is no doubt we need to evict Donald Trump and immediately begin the work of repairing and rebuilding stronger,” said Pressley. “Our country is facing overlapping crises of public health, economic inequality and systemic racism. The People’s Charter offers a pathway to work together toward healing and justice for everyone.”
The Charter reads like a socialist wish list:
• “Shift resources away from policing, jails and detention centers, endless wars and agencies that separate families. Shift resources into schools, housing, healthcare and jobs, to enable all people — especially Black and brown people, immigrants and Indigenous people — to thrive.”
• “Extend expanded $600 per week Unemployment Insurance until there are jobs for people to return to. Make sure it’s available for everyone, regardless of immigration status.”
• “No evictions, foreclosures or utility shut-offs during the pandemic. Cancel rent and suspend debt payments until jobs return.”
• “Make healthcare free and universal and take hospital and health insurance profits out of it.”
And so on and so on. The far left wing of the Democrat Party is letting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris know exactly where they stand and that they won’t be satisfied with just a Democrat victory. Nothing less than a complete dive into the socialist end of the pool will suffice.
“It’s putting a stake in the ground that we believe Joe Biden can become a New Deal 2.0 president,” said California’s Ro Khanna. “He has talked about the crisis that Roosevelt faced. He has talked about wanting to have a New Deal for the 21st century. That should be the direction he goes instead of the incrementalism of the ’90’s.”
Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the Working Families Party, admits that Biden was not the organization’s first choice. Nevertheless, the group is using this new charter as a way to fire up the far left-wing base to vote for Biden instead of sitting out the election.
“We endorsed Elizabeth Warren and then we endorsed Bernie Sanders, so it’s not surprising that our party and our base have some policy differences with Joe Biden,” Mitchell said. “People, in order to be enthusiastic about voting, need to vote for something — and the People’s Charter provides folks with something that is outside of the candidates’ politics to vote for. It also sets up conditions post-election to articulate that this election was a referendum on this agenda.”
Some on the far left saw Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate as a gesture of goodwill toward the faction. The release of the People’s Charter would seem to signify that gestures are not enough for progressives who are tired of the status quo. In order to secure the votes of the far left who may be disheartened by the loss of Warren and Sanders, Biden and Harris may need to fully embrace this platform.
To the Working Families Party, the election of Biden is only the beginning of a radical restructuring of America into their vision of a socialist utopia.
“We’ve always said that electing Joe Biden is a doorway, not a destination,” Mitchell said in a statement. “The People’s Charter is that destination: a nation that cares for all of us, no matter what we look like, where we come from, or how much money is in our pockets.”
