The five of us ran in the 2014 Michigan elections:
to let working people express their anger,
to insist that workers should not pay the cost of the bosses' crisis.
We said, and we continue to say, emergency measures are needed:
to put a halt to unemployment,
to stop the slide in our standard of living,
to stop the destruction of public services and schools.
We said, and we say, the wealth of this society — which today is hoarded by a handful of banks, a couple hundred large companies and a tiny wealthy capitalist class — must be taken and used to pay for measures protecting the lives of ordinary people.
We ran to let working people who agree with this program declare themselves:
to say they are fed up with the Democrats and the Republicans, who both represent only the big companies and the banks;
to say that the working class needs to begin speaking for itself, putting forward its own demands.
Our situation won't be changed with a vote — it will take a fight to stop things from getting worse. Maybe there is no fight today. But this greedy capitalist class will push us into a fight. And all of those who voted for the candidates who stand on this program helped to prepare for the fight. It was the only useful vote.