Trump Act II. Democratic incumbent leadership was so sure it was impossible that they did not blink (not at first) when Biden decided to run for a second term. No new blood for this Party! They were so convinced that ignoring inhumanity is the price of power that they forced themselves to ignore voters’ cries for mercy for Gazans in Palestine. The Epstein files showed us what else DNC leadership is willing to ignore, and the establishment tried to make us ignore it, too.
Yes, Trump is a liar, and he traveled on Epstein’s plane at least 8 times. Trump described Epstein in a 2002 New York Magazine interview as a “terrific guy” whom he had known for 15 years. Trump’s exposure as an Epstein lackey is one of the main reasons why we are at war with Iran.
All of this is bad, and it has gotten much worse, but it did not happen suddenly. It happened because most of us have been bleeding slowly while the rich, along with our representatives, have gotten stupidly richer. This donor class has also become much less sympathetic. Sixty percent of billionaire wealth comes from inheritance, cronyism, corruption, or monopoly power.
Thompson is trying to talk the talk of democracy while kowtowing to oligarchs. Thompson is a self-confessed get-along Blue Dog Democrat. Blue Dog Democrats describes themselves as all about “common sense.”
What does common sense mean to Mike Thompson? Here is just one meat-and-potatoes example. It means being resolutely middle-of-the-road for 26 years, while unaffordability in his District reaches the point where 80% of its residents can’t afford to buy a home. It means K-12 enrollment in Sonoma County has plummeted from 5,076 students to just 3,078 (39%) from 1999 to April 2025.
It means that when the country asked the Democrats to hold the line on a government shutdown in late 2024, Thompson and other “common sense” Democrats got really mad and INSISTED ON PROCESS! Shirt-and-tie Thompson and his Blue Dog Democrats, six, including Thompson, broke ranks and voted to end the shutdown.
Thompson’s common sense meant that the shutdown ended 222 to 209, and we were handed an immediate $150 billion bill for ICE, detention, border walls, law enforcement, and surveillance, along with a $1 trillion reduction (over 10 years) in healthcare and food subsidies, and a complete repeal of $900 billion in clean energy and transportation investments.
Thompson’s brand of common sense has crippled most of our ability to live without fear of fiscal calamity.
Thompson’s common sense means rolling over for a massive tax shield for the multi-million-dollar “lifestyle estates” and corporate-owned wineries in Napa and Sonoma. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the average annual gift to multi-millionaires is about $42 billion. Since 1999, the total gift has been $1.2 to $1.5 trillion, mostly to the very rich. That’s when Thompson began his long run as our local House Representative and should have been fighting for tax reform as a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, but he did not. Thompson is not a fighter.
The share of the 1.2 trillion in tax breaks given to the wealthy would have provided 3.45 billion dollars for CA-4, that’s $128 million a year for Yolo, Solano, Napa, and Yuba County schools, housing assistance, and drug rehabilitation that was NOT provided because Thompson has been very okay with giving away the store.
Incumbents are supposedly good at bringing in special projects. An estimate of the total value of special projects that Thompson has brought to District CA-4 during the last 27 years is $225 million. $225 million is much less than $3.5 billion.
Some 800 Billionaires receive 50% of the total cost of this multibillion-dollar estate tax break every year.
Most of us are at the end of our financial and emotional ropes because we have a Democratic Party that talks democracy and walks oligarchy. The financial rip-off is just one example. When you examine the slow progress on healthcare, housing affordability, education, and environmental degradation, their votes are on the record for all to see.
We need new leadership.
Voters are ready for outsiders who don’t have a line of credit with the old-guard money pots, PACs, foreign lobbies (such as AIPAC), the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, or big oil.
In our district, Eric Jones is running for Congress to fight for all residents. Eric Jones is a self-made 35-year-old from Maine whose mother faced the challenges of low wages and a disabled war veteran husband. Eric, an exceptional student, never stopped excelling after receiving financial aid to attend Yale. Upon graduation, Eric wanted to enter public service, but his family faced crippling medical bills, so he took a job in business. He did very well, took care of his family, and now he wants to give back what this country needs: a hard-working, brash, smart, not-groomed-by-the-Party fighter to represent them in Congress.
Eric Jones is unafraid to “tax the rich.” His campaign is powered by a broad coalition of voters tired of giving up their future to donor-class Democrats. Eric is fighting to end corruption and make government accountable. He is fighting to provide housing, universal childcare, affordable healthcare, and strong protections for workers and veterans.
It is deadly, and getting deadlier, for our country to have leadership that cannot take bold steps to invest in our future by taxing excessive wealth. Vote for Eric Jones.
Disclaimer: Opinions are those of the writer and do not reflect those of The Vanguard or its Editorial Staff. The Vanguard does not endorse political candidates and is committed to publishing all public opinions and maintaining an open forum subject to guidelines related to decency and tone, not content.
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