On Saturday, Sept. 27, Sen. Elizabeth Warren held a rally at Clinton College. Though it was scheduled to be an indoor event, the large amount of community leaders, press, teachers and students flooded the campus center which pushed the event outside.
Though the weather was steamy, the crowd was animated and excited as they awaited the arrival of Warren on the outdoor stage. The event started with a few introductions from the 13th president of Clinton College, Lester McCorn who is from the very state that Warren represents, Massachusetts.
Warren took the stage and the crowd erupted with loud cheers and chants. She began her speech sharing how she came to South Carolina with her family, as opposed to last time and even said, “I’m delighted to be here with all of you and bless you one and all for standing out here in the sun to try to save our democracy.”
Warren shared a bit about her background to relate with the audience. She shared how she was the youngest of three and that she had “much older” brothers. Warren was considered what her mom would call “the miracle baby”. By the time she made it to middle school she was the only child left in the house. Her dad worked multiple jobs and during her time in middle school he suffered a heart attack — leaving him unable to work. She expressed how her family lost a lot of things, like their station wagon, and soon it would have been their house.
However, her mother, at fifty years old, after crying and chanting that they “would not lose this house” Warren said that she, “She wipes her face, pulls that dress, puts on her high heels, and walks to the sears and gets a full time minimum wage job. That full time minimum wage job saved our house and more importantly it saved our family.”
“If you want to know who I am there it is, and I thought for many, many years that’s the lesson that my mother taught me. It’s no matter how scared you are, no matter how hard it looks, when it comes down to it you reach down deep you find what you have to find, you pull it up and you take care of the people you love,“ Warren said.
“It was years and years later that I came to understand that wasn’t just what my mama taught me, this is what millions of people across the country do every day,” Warren said.
Warren addressed some of the problems with how the government runs, more specifically in who the government works for.
“We have a government that works great, works fabulously, for giant drug companies just not for people trying to get a prescription filled. We have a government that works great for giant oil companies that want to drill everywhere. Just not for the rest of use who see climate change bearing upon us,” Warren said. “We have a government that works great for big gun manufacturers just not for those who worry about the safety of our children.”
“Here’s the deal: when you see a government that works great for those with money and not for everyone else that is corruption, pure and simple, and you need to call it out for what it is,” Warren said.
Warren explained her three step plan on what she’s going to do if she wins the presidency. Step one aims to attack the corruption head on.
“First part [of step one] end lobbying as we know it. Stop the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. [Have the] United States Supreme Court follow basic rules of ethics, and just one more have the people who run for federal office put their tax returns online,” Warren said.
“The next step is structural change in the economy. So think of it this way, we’ve got these giant giant corporations now that have swallowed little business, medium businesses, and what used to big businesses. The problem is they have too much power,” Warren said. “Washington can’t survive as a democracy when you’ve got that kind of power in the hands of the corporation it’s time to fight back.”
The way to achieve this structural change, she said, is by doing a wealth tax. This means that there would be a 2 percent tax on income totaling more than $50 million.
“Your first $50 million free and clear but your $50 million and first dollar you have to pitch in two cents for every dollar after that. Now, I want you to think about it this way, you’ve been paying wealth tax pretty much forever it’s just called a property tax,” Warren said.
With these tax dollars, Warren said universal child care and pre-kindergarten, raises in wages for preschool teachers and child care workers and an expanded Pell Grant would be possible.
“We can do all of that for our littlest babies and we can do more that same two cents can do that plus we can provide tuition free technical school, two-year college and four-year college for everyone who wants an education,” Warren said. “And there’s more, we can actually make college accessible to people who come from poor families. We can expand the Pell grants in every direction and give an opportunity to all of our kids. Plus we can cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the people.”
Part three in Warren’s plan involves living one’s own values. She stressed that “hard work[ing] people are entitled to retire with some dignity. We can increase payroll taxes on the top 2 percent, extend[ing] the life of social security for decades to come. [We can] increase the social security monthly check by 200 bucks for everyone and increase disability payments by 200 dollars a month,” Warren said.
Part three of Warren’s plan emphasises the need to “protect the democracy”
“It’s time to roll back every racist voter suppression law in this country, stop political gerrymandering,” Warren said.
While many of the onlookers went to take pictures with Warren, we approached a few of the Winthrop students that were there to get their opinions on the event.
Kayla Jenkins, a sophomore special education major, said the wealth tax was the part of Warren’s plan that stood out to her the most.
“I think the rally went really well. She did an amazing job not only talking about her plans but outlining how she wants to achieve them. The plan that stuck out to me the most was the 2 [per]cent tax on the rich. So for anyone that makes over $50 million. I really liked it because it’s not like we are asking them straight up for half their wealth, but asking them for 2 cents and 2 cents of what they make over $50 million will add up for the economy while not putting a big hole in their pockets,” Jenkins said. 
Paris Williams, a junior political science major, said that this rally influenced her vote towards the Warren campaign.
“I’m more likely to vote for her since I was able to see her in person, I still want to hear other candidates but I think she’s a good candidate and she is for the people and it shows in everything that she does. Also, I would like to see her go against Trump because she is strong and always ready for a challenge,” Williams said.
The rally ended with Warren answering questions from the audience and she signed off with her campaign statement.
“Dream Big, Fight Hard.”
Photos: Tate Walden/ The Johnsonian
