When we cast our votes tomorrow, we'll be making a fundamental choice between two distinct visions for America. Our next president will have a tremendous amount of influence over whether we protect and create good, secure jobs for the 99 percent -- or whether we continue to ship good paying jobs overseas so that wealthy corporations and private equity firms can make obscene profits while the American Dream slips out of reach for the rest of us.
Despite what the millions of dollars in super PAC advertisements and the incessant punditry tell us, this election isn't about Republican vs. Democrat or left vs. right. For non-partisan insight into what this election is really about, look no further than this just-released video that tells the story of the workers at the Bain Capital-owned Sensata plan in Freeport, Ill. These 170 workers have been fighting valiantly to save good American jobs. And they know, first-hand, that this Election Day is about our families, our communities, and the future of the middle class in this country.
As the Sensata workers' struggle to save their jobs shows us, there are important questions we should ask ourselves on Election Day -- and "Am I liberal or conservative?" is not one of them. Do we want to be a country that stands up for good jobs and a strong middle class? Or a country that values corporate profits over our communities?
Do we want to be the kind of country where people say, "Who cares?" to workers speaking out about outsourcing, or the kind of country where we honor and support folks fighting to keep good, secure jobs here at home?
And we should ask ourselves whether we want the story of the Sensata workers and Freeport, Illinois, to play out in thousands of other communities across the country, or whether we want to put a stop to the devastating practice of outsourcing and rebuild an America where hardworking people can have access to a decent, middle-class life.
In the words of Sensata worker Dot Turner, who worked hard at the same job for 43 years and yet will likely spend Election Day filing for unemployment for the first time: "It's going take all of us as Americans to stand up and say, 'No more.'"
This election is our chance to do just that, and we should keep the Sensata workers in our hearts and minds as we cast our votes in an election that will, without a doubt, determine America's economic future.