OPINION: We need a new generation of leadership

By LUCAS KUNCE

I wanted to visit with you about our country’s greatest asset. A force that built our country. A force that defended our country. A force that created the middle-class way of life in our country.

Any guesses? I’m talking about American workers.

For decades, workers have banded together to demand dignity for everyday people — securing safer workplaces, eight-hour workdays, weekends, and benefits like paid leave, healthcare, and retirement for millions of Americans… all while building our country from the ground up.

But massive corporations and the corrupt politicians they’ve bought have launched an all-out assault on America’s greatest asset.

Through corporate PACs, powerful lobbyists, and state-by-state assaults on unions, now only a handful of companies dominate our economy in a system that’s rigged against working people.

It has destroyed family farms, made the costs of life-saving drugs skyrocket, suppressed wages, made it impossible for small businesses to compete, and shipped countless jobs overseas. And after they finish stripping our communities for parts, they leave behind forgotten towns and neighborhoods filled with boarded-up buildings and empty lots.

CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE
It’s class warfare from the top — and this is not a war we can afford to lose.

We need a new generation of leadership ready to lead, fight, and organize against corrupt corporate elites in both parties who’ve used division and obstruction to prevent every effort to empower American workers. Efforts like passing the PRO Act, guaranteeing a living wage, and breaking up Big Ag, Big Tech, the pharmaceutical cartels, and the rest of the monopolists whose goal is to destroy our way of life.

Thanks to years of corrupt political leadership in Missouri, our state has become the front line in this fight. We can’t afford to have another corrupt, career politician fill this open seat just so they can protect a broken status quo.

(Lucas Kunce is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate to fill the seat of retiring Senator Roy Blunt. Other announced Democratic candidates are Spencer Toder, Gena Ross, Louis Rolen, Tim Shepard, Jewel Kelly, Dr. MD Rabbi Alam and Trudy Busch Valentine.)