David Reichert (R-WA) Needs Independent Voters To Be Reelected But Jason Ritchie Has Other Plans For Those Voters

Many of us know about WA-08 because a progressive champion, Darcy Burner ran against Republican incumbent Dave Reichert in 2006 and 2008. Darcy came close but never unseated Reichert... and the DCCC has ignored the district. They shouldn't. With a PVI of R+1, President Obama won it in 2008 against McCain 51-47% and last year against Romney 50-48%. It's a winnable district and this year the Democrat running against Reichert is Jason Ritchie, an Issaquah small businessman. I asked him to introduce himself to DWT readers. This is his guest post:


Pragmatic Progressivism
by Jason Ritchie

I am running for Congress because I want to give people in central Washington a reason to get involved politically and to care about our country. Apathy and distrust are a cancer growing on our country. I want to give people a reason to vote for progressive Democrats. I want to accomplish progressive goals including creating stable jobs with a living wage, breaking up monopolistic corporations, leveling the economic playing field and creating a society where the true meaning of equal protection under the law applies to everyone, regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. I believe it is important as a progressive Democrat that we demonstrate on local, state and federal levels what we can do to better our country.

The vast difference between rich and poor in America must be addressed. While I believe in the American Dream, and that those with means should be able to achieve financial success, it must not be at the expense of their fellow Americans. I believe those with means have an obligation to their fellow citizens to reinforce social safety nets like Social Security, Medicare and SNAP. We have watched as our middle class has been decimated and jobs shipped overseas. Social assistance programs have been dramatically underfunded and have taken on negative connotations because we as progressives have lost the political argument on the national stage. We have a responsibility to make this right.

I want to live in a country where an ever-growing middle class is the economic engine of our nation. I want to create social and economic ladders, cultivating economic upward mobility, so that children born to hard-working families can afford to go to college, to buy a home, to get health insurance, to earn a pension, and to know that their country will not ignore them when they fall on hard times.

Just as our constitution calls for three equal branches of government, I believe that our nation also has three equal branches: the government, business and the individual. It is our role as progressives to make sure that each of these groups has an equal say and shared responsibilities, each reliant on the other and working for the greater good.

I think it’s important as a progressive to also be pragmatic. It’s crucial that progressive members in government show their willingness to work with others to find common ground, to incrementally move our country toward a better place for all. Every day, progressives stand against hard-core conservatives who are unwilling to negotiate and unwilling to see another point of view. We as progressives should never be so arrogant. There is a place in government for all parties, for all points of view and for all voices to be heard.

When the government is held hostage by one political perspective to the detriment of all others, things must change. When laws are passed that serve to benefit only one of the three equal branches of our nation, things must change. When the individual feels disenfranchised, things must change. When businesses reap record profits while wages remain stagnant, things must change. When the gap between upper class and lower class grows so much that there is no more middle class, things must change.

I believe it is time for progressive voices to stand up and be heard, for our ideas to be clearly illustrated, to be taken seriously in the national media and for our fellow citizens to understand that the only chance we have as a nation is to work together, left and right, progressive and conservative, to rebuild the middle class and create a seat at the table of American life for all.