Viva la Riva-lucíon By: Richard Pereira|Staff Writer
Opinion
I know what some of you may be asking as soon as you saw the headline, ‘who is Gloria La Riva and why are you voting for her?’
If climate change is ever going to be taken seriously as an existential crisis, it needs immediate action.
Gloria La Riva is the presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a communist party that advocates for revolutionary socialism.
It’s scary that temperatures continue to rise every year, the polar ice caps are still melting, and certain parts of the world like California are suffering from increasing wildfires.
I am voting for La Riva because she has policies that would help everyone: guaranteeing healthcare, reversing the effects of climate change immediately, and fighting racism in America.
It’s insulting that the main candidates of this election are either content with letting the planet burn or not willing to make quick legislation that will tackle this issue as soon as possible.
La Riva is on the ballot in Florida and 14 other states and she ran for president in 1992, 2008, 2012, and 2016.
“Using truly sustainable energy and seizing the oil and coal companies to stop fossil fuel pollution, are urgent steps needed to reverse climate change,” La Riva says on her website. “Ultimately, only the socialist reorganization of society can assure the future of the people and the planet.”
Before you start dismissing her candidacy, let me explain: Many forms of communism exist in the world besides authoritarian communism. Trump and Biden represent every problem that is going on in America. They are interested in maintaining the status quo and will do anything to not have change occur, at the expense of the working class and the oppressed. It’s infuriating to see these two be the potential winners, and what they’re offering is more chaos or no fundamental changes to the corrupt systems that continue affecting us to this day. There needs to be a left party that is dedicated to fighting for the people, and the PSL could be the party to do so. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown that healthcare is an essential everyone must have and will suffer consequences if not addressed immediately. Especially with millions of people losing their employer-based health insurance as a result. Healthcare needs to be guaranteed as a right, and La Riva wants it to be the case. La Riva wants to create a completely free and public healthcare system for everyone as the current system has more than 30 million people who don’t have insurance. To have the funding for it, La Riva is in favor of greatly raising taxes on major corporations so people won’t have to worry about being able to afford it. “Although the Affordable Care Act helped in important ways, it was an inadequate fix for the scale of the healthcare crisis we have in this country,” La Riva said in her stance towards healthcare. “We should be providing universal, accessible, and free healthcare for all.”
Trump refuses to condemn white supremacy, sends in the military to stop Black Lives Matter protests, and will not defund the police as he is complicit amidst the chaos. Biden, on the other hand, supported segregationists, spoke out against school desegregation, wrote the infamous ‘94 Crime Bill which caused the mass incarceration of minorities, and wants to increase police funding. as he is partly responsible for the situation we are in now. To support the BLM protests, La Riva and the PSL have been attending them joining the protesters in demanding to charge the officers who are responsible for the murder of African-Americans. To fight racism, La Riva is in favor of paying reparations to minorities, ending mass incarceration of the oppressed and the working class, and fully prosecuting all acts of police brutality and violence. I am certain my vote is not going to be wasted as it can be an investment for their future. The policies they are bringing to the table are the policies I want to see come to fruition in a future America. In the words of famous American socialist Eugene Debs, “it is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it.” Even though I know it won’t happen in this election, voting for La Riva gives me hope that real change will happen in the future for the benefit of everyone else.
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