Editor’s Note. Luis J. Rodriguez has announced he is running for governor of California. Here is his statement:
Imagine a New California for Shared Well-being, Then Let’s Build It!
My name is Luis J. Rodriguez. I’m running for governor of California. I’m the social, economic, and environmental justice candidate. What distinguishes me from Governor Gavin Newsom? I’m for a complete shift in how we imagine and implement governance in this state. Governor Newsom recently revealed his state budget of $286.4 billion. This includes around $45 billion in surplus revenues. This is the largest budget in state history. While many of his plans should be lauded, they are mostly highly financed inadequacies. We need, finally, to end poverty. We need to finally end homelessness. We need to finally have a clean and green environment. We need to end the Carceral State and militarized deadly-force policing. We need single-payer universal healthcare for everyone. Quality free education for all. We need access to the arts–workshops, bookstores, cultural centers, art galleries, public art, theaters, and more–in every neighborhood, instead of concentrating the arts in museum rows, arts districts, downtowns. We don’t need a budget that just throws money at the problem while maintaining the status quo. California has made massive inroads in containing COVID, but also not enough. Just funding is just not good enough. We need a big dream, then a big delivery. We need a philosophical shift, then the practicable means to achieve this shift.
This is not politics as usual. This is politics with soul, politics with depth.
I call this campaign, “Imagine a New California for Shared Well-Being, Then Let’s Build It.”
We are embarking on raising at least a million dollars for this campaign–even if it’s one dollar from a million people in a state of 40 million. Please join me!
