Rally for America stands for the middle class

OCEANSIDE — While the third annual Tea Party rally took place at the Pier Amphitheater, 130 people gathered two blocks away at the Civic Center Plaza for the first Rally for America on April 15.
Rally participants held “workers rights” signs and chanted in bullhorns in support of jobs creation, collective bargaining rights and tax code reform, in which big businesses pay their share.
Among those present were struggling young professionals and military veterans whose service helped them earn U.S. citizenship.
Kyle Krahel-Frolander, a member of the Democratic Club of Carlsbad Oceanside, which endorsed the event, said the gathering was not a protest to the Tea Party rally.
“We’re talking about a lot of the same things, but see different solutions,” Krahel-Frolander said. “People in charge of our country are pushing the middle class down.”
“We are defending the middle class and demanding jobs creation,” Krahel-Frolander added. “We are rallying to tell our leaders that they have to prioritize that.”
Participants also supported using taxes for community services including Social Security and Medicare.
“We support using our tax dollars we already collect to pay for our essentials,” Chuck Lowery, former Oceanside councilman, said.
“We don’t have to tax anybody anymore,” Lowery added. “We just have to collect taxes from those companies that avoid paying them.”
Democrats are asking mega companies to pay their fair share, including the General Electric Company that made $14.2 billion in global profits, including $5.1 billion in U.S. operations, and paid zero in U.S. federal taxes. “And that’s just one company,” Lowery said.
They are also asking for reductions in state and federal spending to ease the burden on the middle class.
“The real reason our government is in trouble is the loss of revenues,” Krahel-Frolander said. “Our government’s spending hasn’t slowed down.”
“The pie hasn’t been divided out very well,” Krahel-Frolander added. “There is a lot of economic potential, but America is stagnating right now.”