The gentleman pictured is Dr. David Alameel. He is the Texas Democratic Party candidate trying to unseat John Cornyn and take his U.S. Senate seat. Dr. Alameel recently sent out the following e-mail -- and in it he explains why he is running for that seat. Dr. Alameel says:The most common question I’ve been asked on this campaign is “why are you running for the U.S. Senate?”
If this type of query is commonplace for any politician running for office, I understand why in my case it is even more relevant.
When I arrived to America as an immigrant from Lebanon, in 1972 at the age 20, I never thought I would have the opportunity to run for elected office in the world’s greatest democracy. I never thought I would build a successful, multimillion-dollar business in partnership with the woman I love. I could have never imagined all the opportunities that America has given me and my family.
My American Dream has far exceeded any of my wildest expectations.
At 62, after a life of work and personal struggles that has taken me from pumping gas to picking strawberries in California; from enlisting and proudly serving in the U.S. Army to attending college and dental school; from opening a small dentist’s office with my wife to –30 years later– selling a network of 26, state-of-the-art dental clinics spread across North Texas, the most natural thing one would expect from me would be a life of rest and leisure.
But I cannot rest.
This American Dream that has so blessed my life –and the life of my family– has become more and more elusive to the generations which have followed us. The opportunities I enjoyed to build my life up, have become scarce for others today.
I had the opportunity to attend university at almost no cost, paying $120 dollars a semester. Today, most Texas students can only contemplate the possibility of attending university –even our public universities– by accepting the fact that when they graduate they will be burdened with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt.
When I arrived to this country, America was still the manufacturing engine of the world. Today, our industrial, manufacturing base has been decimated; our good-paying jobs outsourced to China and other countries, and our trade deficit a sobering marker, reflecting we buy more goods from the world than the goods we sell to the world.
In my youth, America’s Middle Class was stronger, and the Minimum Wage was largely the starting point for our youth to learn the dignity of work and the value of money earned. Today, our social inequality is starting to resemble that of many developing nations, and our minimum wage the flimsy safeguard by which entire families are kept in working poverty.
In the face of realities like these, I cannot rest. As my Catholic faith and Christian principles have taught me, ‘I am my brother’s keeper.’ The gigantic shift that has taken over our country in the last 35 years, of lessening the burdens on our government and multi-billion corporations, and placing them on the shoulders of individuals and families, has to be reversed. This ‘trickled down’ economic world view has wreaked havoc on our working families and small businesses, and showered privilege and wealth on those who least need them.
And this has not happened by accident. In Washington, DC, there’s a faction of politicians who remain entrenched in this trickled down world view, not because of any economic legitimacy or validity, but because it serves the interests of those who largely finance their re-election campaigns. They have opposed minimum wage increases; they have rewarded corporations who outsource our jobs; they have closed their eyes to trillions of dollars in corporate profits held by tax-dodging companies in foreign shelters; they have cut sources of revenue for our government while also cutting the critical, social programs that help our people, without balancing our Federal Budget; they have denied increases in benefits to our Veterans.
My opponent, John Cornyn, is part –in fact, a leader– of this establishment. And in all of these issues, his voting record reflects that he has favored the establishment while voting against everyday, hard-working Texans.
We deserve better. Texans deserve better.
I am running for the U.S. Senate to increase funding to our public schools, and ensure that Education for All is a reality for Texas children.
I am running for the U.S. Senate to reverse the policies that encourage job flight and outsourcing, and to stand up against the Wall Street-financed lobbyists that so pollute our democracy.
I am running for the U.S. Senate to hold the mega corporations and financial institutions accountable for the trillions of dollars they hold –tax-free– in their off shore accounts. I am running for the U.S. Senate because I believe that, with the help of the American people, bad policies and trends can be reversed.
We can rebuild our industrial base; we can bring back good paying jobs; we can increase the minimum wage for our workers; we can keep the promises we made to our seniors; we can do better by our Veterans.
With your support, and by joining the ranks of good Senators like Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown, all this can be achieved if I am your Senator.
We need to start. Now.
And if John Cornyn is so happy with the companies he's helped outsource to China, then perhaps he and his Wall Street buddies should move to China and leave us alone to rebuild our economy.
Sincerely, Dr. David Alameel
