Editor’s Note: This post is part of Village14’s ongoing series allowing 1 column from each candidate for Congress in the 4th District. – Bryan

We face a historic crisis.  People are hurting all across our district, contending with the pandemic and resulting economic chaos.  It doesn’t help to have an administration in Washington more sealed off from the real world than the NBA Bubble. And led by a man who keeps bragging about being able to identify an elephant.

But the good news is there’s a new energy in our streets that represents an historic opportunity to fix our broken system and bring on the transformational change we long for.  Politicians like Donald Trump will tell you, “I alone can fix it.”  That approach has failed.  Here’s my approach.  It’s not about me.  It’s about you.  It’s about us. I alone can’t fix it, but together, we can.

More than thirty years ago, my friends and I invented City Year. Young people, from all walks of life, privileged and low income, black and white, gay and straight, would join together to serve their communities, tackle problems, turn on their justice nerves and discover our diversity is our greatest strength.  It had never been done before.  It was doubted.  It was hard.  And it worked.

We started here in Massachusetts and built a national community service movement that brought City Year across the country and inspired and launched AmeriCorps. Thirty years later more than 1.1 million people have now served our country in jobs fighting poverty, fixing schools, building homes, providing disaster relief, preserving our environment and caring for seniors and veterans.

I also led the grassroots advocacy campaign that pressured Capitol Hill and won the support of  Senator Ted Kennedy, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That’s how we passed three pieces of federal legislation to build AmeriCorps.  Our broad coalition was strong enough to beat Tom Delay when he tried to kill the AmeriCorps program. And we beat Mitch McConnel in the and passed the Kennedy Serve America Act in the first 100 days, with the most bipartisan vote in the Senate of President Obama’s first term.  This legislation was the largest expansion of national service since the Great Depression. 

I’m not simply offering a theory on how to change things.  I’m the only candidate in this race who’s led a national movement that passed legislation bringing billions of dollars in resources, jobs and scholarships to the 4th District, Massachusetts and across the country.  The key was putting the people’s interest before politics and inspiring everyday folks and common sense leaders from across our country and our political spectrum to do the same. 

The need to put people before politics is why more than ten years ago, I was one of the first Congressional candidates anywhere to reject corporate PAC and lobbyist money.  It’s why I helped to organize the Women’s March and the March For Our Lives gun safety movement, nationwide. It’s why I founded Democracy Entrepreneurs to support a new generation of change agents who are working to make our democracy more participatory, fair, intersectional and Just.

There’s a simple idea at the heart of all this: politics doesn’t change anything, people do. 

I’ve learned through all of my work to make big change in our communities and our country that there is nothing more powerful than people who share values, united in common purpose, acting on their idealism and fighting for social justice. That is how all change starts and ultimately succeeds.

Washington has plenty of lawyers, lobbyists and career politicians.  There aren’t enough movement leaders.  Let’s change that in this election.  We need a New Deal for our time.

Together, we can break open the doors of Congress, finally fight off the coronavirus and safely educate our children. We can jumpstart our economy with a Federal Jobs Guarantee that puts one million people into national service a year and provides Emergency Wage Support to keep workers on the payroll and save Main Street.  We can create a Public Option for Broadband so that everyone has access to this powerful 21st century tool. We can create Restore The Dream Accounts that will launch all young adults with at least $50,000 in assets after they do just one year of national service.

We can provide healthcare to all through a strong public option and by lowering prescription drug costs.  Together, we can enact a Green New Deal, put a Price on Carbon and create high wage jobs.  We can end the spectre of gun violence. And we can establish an American Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to address our 400 years of systemic racism and lead to transformational legal, policy and cultural change.

And guess what?  I also know what an elephant looks like.  It’s the symbol of a broken political party that needs to be swept out of power in this election.  Together, we can take on the corruption and the special interests and restore government Of, By and For the People. 

I ask for your vote and would be honored to serve you. 

Alan Khazei is a Democrat running for Congress in Massachusetts’ 4th District.  He has Founded or Co-Founded nine non-profit organizations all focused on empowering people to make our democracy more fair, inclusive and Just. These include City Year, the Service Year Alliance, Opportunity Nation and Democracy Entrepreneurs.  You can follow him on Twitter @alankhazei, Facebook @khazeiforcongress, Instagram @alankhazei or visit his website at alankhazei.com.