I was always told by my family that to get a decent job I needed an education. Going to college was the only way to escape my fate of hating my job, getting low wages, and dealing with a ruthless boss.

While in college, I realized that most people in the world live in poverty, suffer through war, and live in absolute hunger. I saw both the Democrats and Republicans doing nothing to end the war in Iraq. To top it off, I would personally be up to my ears in debt from college and had worked mainly retail jobs my entire life, with no prospects of getting a better job in the foreseeable future.

I see socialism as the only way to end poverty and oppression. The ruling classes all over the world make profits off the misery of working-class and poor people. Capitalism has created an enormous amount of wealth for society, but that wealth is concentrated in the hands of very few.

We need to bring democracy to the economy to deal with the destruction of the environment and end poverty and war. We need a political party that fights for jobs, living wages, universal healthcare, and affordable education rather than corporate politicians that support the profiteering of the super-rich.