Tim Westra 2020
April 5th
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Before his rally at UW-Green Bay, Tim spent time door-knocking in Brown County, speaking to voters primarily about economic issues. He emphasized a vision
of standing up for manufacturing communities that had been left behind by disastrous trade deals negotiated by the Republican and Democratic establishment. He hit Wolf on NAFTA, saying the President was doing little to nothing the would actually make a difference for American workers on their end of the deal.
After speaking to several households, he drove 30 minutes to Greenleaf, where he visited the Brickstead Dairy Farm. He described his agriculture plan, adding that he was the only presidential candidate with a plan for farmers. Dairy farmers in Wisconsin were worried about farm closures, with almost 800 closing this year; Tim assured them that his supply management system would guarantee farmers a decent price and allow them to keep their farms open. He also promised to tackle uncompetitive behavior by Big Ag and would promote tax credits for small cooperatives in Wisconsin.
After touring the farm, he returned to Green Bay, where he arrived at the university campus for his rally. After being introduced by some student volunteers and a union leader from NJ, Tim walked onstage to Bruce Springsteen.
"Before starting, I'd like to stop and thank UW for so graciously accommodating us today. The efforts of this campaign are really boosted by the actions of everyone in our wider community, and I'm so grateful that folks on the school board allowed us to use this space. I'm also so thankful for the tremendous energy of the grassroots supporters and volunteers who are the real heroes of this primary."
"Folks, I would like you to close your eyes and imagine it's Election Day 2020. The Democratic nominee will be giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. The fossil fuel companies, the war contractors, the banks, all of corporate America - they seized the economy and have added trillions in unproductive spending to the national debt in the form of wars and tax cuts for themselves. We now pay five times more for higher education, five times more for defense, and twice what we paid for health care."
"Millions of Americans are stuck in abysmally low-paying jobs, so many have been evicted from their homes, they're left without health care, without pensions. Trillions of dollars for unnecessary wars, a bailout for the banks, and tax cuts for the billionaire class, paid for with their borrowed money."
"If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy."
"I will apologize on behalf of how our party treated Wisconsin in the last general election. We took your communities for granted. We took your workers for granted. We took your farmers for granted."
"Our party has changed. Our party will now return to our New Deal roots, and fight for the working class, not the big companies. We will fight against disastrous trade deals. We will fight for good farm prices. We will fight for workplace democracy. For universal healthcare. For universal housing. For universal college. For the ideal of equal opportunity that our founding fathers promised!"
"And how do we do that? We need a multigenerational, multiracial, multisexual movement that holds our leaders to account and promote our worker-led agenda to pressure the Washington hacks to carry it out! We do that when we elect a president that can actually win. Not an armchair thinker. Not an ideologue. Not a career politician. We need someone with a track record of progressive change."
"I made hard choices even when they threatened my career. I was out of a job for publicly fighting the passage of NAFTA. I voted against the repeal of Glass Steagall, against the wishes of the party establishment. Voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, and for the rights of the gay community. I wrote the damn Affordable Care Act, extending healthcare to 20 million people! We say we want universal healthcare; let's ask who got it done!"
"We can't afford another Republican administration. Wake up, Wisconsin. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing. Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are still closing, good paying jobs lost."
"This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can't open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy for working people. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many."
"Wake up, Wisconsin. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment."
"Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with our working class campaign to restore justice to the White House."
"We are all children of God. We all deserve to operate under America's promise. We all deserve to be treated with dignity. The poor. The hungry. The wretched. This is their country too!"
"These are values we all agree on, whether we call ourselves progressives, conservatives, independents, Democrats, or Republicans. These are values our mothers have taught us since before preschool. The value of honesty. The value of compassion. The value of sharing. So why does the Washington elite run away from these values when it comes time to use them?"
"It's because the system is rotten to its core. The corporate fat cats buy the souls of our elected officials, so that our vote no longer counts. Our democracy died the day the parties ran away from working people and got in bed with the corporate lobbyists. But this campaign will signal to the establishment: your time is up. We have no corporate donors, no Super PAC, no closed-door fundraisers. This is powered by the people."
"Friends, let us rise up! Let us rise up in solidarity and scream to the elitists who ignore us: we are worthy of your respect! We will put workers first! We will unite, and you will understand that your time is up."
