I was promised a good job if I went to college and worked hard. I went to college and worked hard: nothing. After a year of unemployment and intermittent homelessness, I finally found a job. Problem solved? No. My new insurance won’t cover anything deemed “pre-existing.” As a person with a chronic health condition, it amounts to no insurance at all.

My grandfather, diagnosed with dementia, is faced with losing everything he worked for his entire life to healthcare costs. My father is losing his job of 37 years, and at 50 he has to re-enter the job market in hopes of keeping my childhood home.

The politicians who say they represent me sell out my interests over and over to protect people who make millions in bonuses every year. My paycheck is smaller because my taxes go to military spending and big business bailouts rather than human services, healthcare, or jobs.

This is a society that cares not for people, but for big business. Only through struggling for a society that is run by working people for working people will the pain and struggle of my family be ended. That is why I am a socialist.