Illinois Candidate Wants to Feed People, Not Fund Foreign Wars
The Intercept reports that Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh is using her campaign funds to directly support mutual aid efforts, a stark contrast to the standard political playbook. While most candidates funnel donor money into lavish self-promotion and D.C. influence peddling—often with foreign policy implications—Abughazaleh is, shockingly, aiming to feed her constituents. This
radical idea of campaign funds for constituent needs might seem quaint to the politicians who secured, say, the $14 billion in additional aid to Israel recently, including $3.5 billion in foreign military financing, all while domestic programs face cuts. (See Senate vote on HR 815). One might wonder if the politicians who voted overwhelmingly for additional foreign military aid, often after
receiving significant donations from groups like AIPAC (OpenSecrets.org details these contributions), have ever considered using those same political funds to address hunger in their own districts. Perhaps the abstract concept of 'national security' is simply more palatable than the tangible, immediate needs of the American public. After all, it's easier to bomb distant nations than to bother with
providing food and shelter at home.