I never in a zillion years thought I’d run for office

I never in a zillion years thought I’d run for office, let alone for president. But my life has had a lot of twists and turns, just like a lot of people’s.

I grew up in Oklahoma. When I was in middle school, my daddy had a heart attack. We thought we were going to lose him. He made it, but he couldn’t work for a long time.

We lost our family station wagon. We almost lost the house, too, but my mother got a minimum wage job answering phones — and it saved our family.

But that’s not just a story about my family — it’s also a story about government. When I was a little girl, a full-time minimum wage job could support a family of three. But today, it would not keep a mother and a baby out of poverty.

Why? Because leaders in Washington set the minimum wage to boost the profits of giant multinational corporations — not to help families get a toehold in the middle class.

When we have a government that only works for the rich and powerful, that’s corruption, plain and simple, and we need to call it out and fight back. That’s why I’ve got the biggest anti-corruption plan since Watergate, and why all of my plans are really one plan: to put power in the hands of the people, not just the wealthy and well-connected.

I know what’s broken, I know how to fix it, and I’m in this fight all the way — but I can’t do this alone. Our campaign has a powerfully important FEC fundraising deadline on Monday, and that’s why I have to ask: Will you chip in what you can right now to help build up this campaign?

I’ve known what I wanted to do since second grade: become a public-school teacher. But, by the time I graduated from high school, we didn’t have the money for a college application — let alone four years at a university.

My path was bumpy, but I found my big chance: a commuter college that only cost $50 a semester — which I could cover on a part-time waitressing job. I hung onto that chance for dear life, graduated and got to live my dream as a special education teacher in a public school.

But right now, an entire generation of people — just trying to live their dreams by going to school — is getting crushed by student loan debt. So I’ve got a plan to guarantee universal free technical school, community college, and four-year public college for everyone who wants to go, plus at least $50 billion more in funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And we will cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the people who’ve got it.

You know how we’ll pay for it? A small wealth tax on the richest 0.1% of Americans — just two cents on every dollar of net worth above $50 million — will cover all of that and then some.

The rich and powerful have systematically invested in politicians, bought-and-paid-for experts, and armies of lobbyists and lawyers. It’s time we fight back for big, structural change and return the government to the people.

My daddy ended up as a janitor, but his daughter got the opportunity to become a public-school teacher, a college professor, a United States senator, and now a candidate for president of the United States.

I’m in this fight to create opportunities for all of our kids, but it’s going to take a grassroots movement. That’s why I need you in this fight with me.

Will you chip in $3 right now, or whatever you can, and help grow this grassroots campaign and reach our goal before Monday’s deadline?

Let’s dream big, fight hard, and win.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth