DownWithTyranny!: Candidate Announcement-- Daylin Leach Is Running For Congress In Pennsylvania's Most Gerrymandered Seat

The DCCC insists that its candidates avoid "controversial" issues. The opposite of that approach is... Pennsylvania state Senator Daylin Leach, the most progressive person in the Pennsylvania legislature. He just threw his hat into the hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination for the 7th district seat currently held by dull backbencher and Paul Ryan rubber stamp Pat Meehan. The 7th is a minutely gerrymandered district. Obama beat McCain 53-46% and then lost to Romney 50-49%. Hillary beat Trumpanzee 49.3% to 47.0%. Last year, the DCCC candidate, Bill Golderer was destroyed by progressive Mary Ellen Balchunis in the primary-- 52,792 (74%) to 18,509 (26%)-- and the DCCC was so furious that they sabotaged her general election campaign and made sure Meehan was reelected. That's what they do. Meehan beat her 225,678 (59.5%) to 153,824 (40.5%). I had dinner with Mary Ellen a few weeks ago and she said she is seriously considering running again, though she hasn't pulled the trigger yet. From what I can tell, there are at least half a dozen candidates already in, Daylin plus Dan Muroff, John McGinty, Molly Sheehan, Paul-David Perry and "ex"-Republican Elizabeth Moro (who used a different name when she was a Republican).

Unless you're new at DWT you know we've supported Daylin in the past. These are two of his videos from 2014. They'll help you understand who he is. First "the liberal lion" clip:

And this is the one where he talked about the importance of protecting Social Security and the safety net from Republican predators:

A couple of weeks ago, he ran some ideas for a speech by me, many of which turned up in his announcement video. I kept the stuff he had to say about the economic.

Our first crisis is economic. We are increasingly becoming a nation separate and divided by economic station. The top 1% of Americans have 40% of our wealth. The bottom 80% have just 7%. The average CEO used to make 50 times what their average worker made. Now, they make almost 400 times what their average employee makes. This means that employee must work the entire summer to make what the CEO makes in one hour.

Just 8 people, six of them Americans, own more than the combined wealth of half the human race. A minimum wage worker now lives deep below the poverty line, and has not seen that wage go up in a decade. And a worker who works a job where he or she theoretically receives tips, do you know what their minimum wage is? $2.13 per hour, and it has not gone up for almost a quarter of a century.

Average Americans increasingly can’t afford college for their kids and have to work 2 jobs just to get by. And every one of this administration’s policies are designed to make these trends even worse. Now don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with people being very wealthy. I’m open to ideas on how I can become very wealthy. But how much disparity is enough? A society where so few flourish while so many struggle is not sustainable. Further, it is immoral.

There are a few, relatively simple things we can do to ensure that everyone can live a decent life in America, where not only the job creators, but the actual job doers can get by. Why should you go to work and break your back every day and still struggle to get ahead? I’ve introduced legislation in Harrisburg that would raise the minimum wage to a livable $15 per hour, and once and for all eliminate the obscene tip minimum wage. And I’ll fight for this Washington.

If you have a new child, or a sick relative, why should you not be able to take some time to take care of your family? We are one of only 3 industrialized countries on the planet that have no mandatory paid family leave. I introduced family leave in Harrisburg, and I’ll fight for that Washington.

Why should parents agonize because they can’t afford to get their kids an education? And why should we as a society throw away all of that talent and potential? nIt is time America joins much of the rest of the world and creates a cost-free college option for kids who want nothing more than to better themselves and serve their country.

Who here likes when they go to a restaurant and the chef coughs in their taco-bowl? Hands! Hands! Lets end the days when a sick person has to choose between staying home and getting better and keeping their job.

And lets create millions of jobs by finally investing in our infrastructure, building badly needed roads and bridges and clean led-free water pipes. Lets enact trade policies that open markets while protecting Americans from unfair competition from countries that pay their workers slave wages.

Lets acknowledge, that Health care is a human right. And we don’t give people “access” to human rights if they are wealthy enough. A “right” means we all have by virtue of being human beings. And the only way to truly guarantee that human right is something much of the rest of the world has already figured out. A single-payer health care system that puts patients over profits.

If we do these things, create good-paying jobs, making those jobs pay, making sure people can get health care, that people can educate their children, we will make the lives of all Americans livable… and, the Koch Brothers will still be able to afford to go out for their birthdays.

How's you like to see someone with that spirit and those ideas in Congress-- instead of Pat Meehan? If you'd like to contribute to his campaign, you can do it here.