not working for anyone else. and when it comes to climate change, our very existence is at stake. but washington refuses to lift a finger without permission from the fossil fuel companies that s dangerous and it s wrong. [cheers and applause] and it isn t just climate change. look at any other major issue in america, gun violence, student loan debt, the crushing cost of health care, mistreatment of our veterans, a broken criminal justice system, an immigration system that lacks common sense and under this administration, lacks a conscience.
[cheers] gerrymandering by democrats and republicans, and overturn citizen s united, our democracy is not for sale. and by the way, by the way, if we truly believe that, then we also need to end the unwritten rule of politics that says that anyone who wants to run for office has to start by sucking up to a bunch of rich on wall street and powerful insiders in washington. so, i m opting out of that rule. i m not taking a dime of pac money in this campaign. [cheers] warren! warren! warren! warren! warren!
[cheers] overwhelming majorities of americans want action. huge crowds march on washington demanding change, letters, phone calls, protests, but nothing happens, nothing. why? because if you don t have money and you don t have connections, washington doesn t want to hear from you. when government works only for the wealthy and the well-connected, that is corruption plain and simple, and we need to call it out. [cheers and applause] corruption is a cancer on our democracy. and we will get rid of it only with strong medicine, with real structural reform.
where it belongs. [cheers and applause] and that is why i have proposed the strongest and most comprehensive anti-corruption law since watergate. [cheers] let me just give you some examples, just some examples. shut down the revolving door between wall street and washington. [cheers] end lobbying as we know it. [cheers] and while we re at it, are ban foreign governments from hiring lobbyists in washington. [cheers] oh, and make justices of the united states supreme court follow a basic code of ethics. [cheers] ban members of congress from
rich. i mean really rich, but they wanted to be even richer and they didn t care who got hurt, so every year bit by bit, they lobbied washington and paid off politicians to tilt the system just a little more in their direction, and year by year, bit by bit, more of the wealth and opportunity went to the people at the very top. and that is how today in the richest country in the history of the world tens of millions of people are struggling to get by. since the early 1970 s, adjusted for inflation, wages in america have barely budged, but the cost of housing has gone up nearly two-thirds. the cost of college has nearly tripled and 40% of americans couldn t find $400 to cover an