MMT candidate 6: Ezra Watson in NY-21

Welcome to Activist #MMT candidate interview number six, hosted by Ramona Massachi (Twitter/@RamonaMassachi) and co-hosted by me. Today, we talk with Ezra Watson, who's running to represent New York's twenty-first Congressional district. (Here's a list of all MMT candidate interviews.) Ezra was inspired to run by the January insurrection at the Capital building, and his own precarious job as a contingent worker in the semiconductor industry. Despite requiring highly specialized skills, he describes his job as comparable to, and precarious as, the gig workers employed by companies such as Uber and DoorDash. Ezra says a primary reason for the precariousness of these jobs is the lack of good healthcare options, which is sometimes prohibitively expensive or not option at all. Ezra's running in New York's 21st Congressional district, which is enormous. It encompasses the Adirondack mountains and takes several hours by car to traverse. The district, which is agriculture-heavy, has for years voted almost exclusively Republican. Even so, the Democratic primary field is crowded, with a front-runner who is, not-so-surprisingly, a former CIA agent. Ezra's the only self-proclaimed Bernie Sanders-style progressive in the race, but the Republican incumbent calls every single Democratic candidate "a far-left socialist". This is leveraging nebulous and meaningless fear to give people a boogeyman to run away from, while marketing themselves as the only one who can ward these zombie-like boogeymen off. It's a lesser-of-two-evils race to the bottom, with no space for positivity or hope. That's where Ezra comes in. The two pillars of his campaign are the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, the latter in response to his own difficulties in getting healthcare. (He's currently on a payment plan for what should have been a routine visit.) Despite being a long shot, he is fighting for people who have been deceived into believing that getting what they need can only hurt them even more. Modern Money Theory, or MMT, illuminates a large part of that deception. Ezra is enthusiastically learning MMT, and is determined to leverage it to provide some of that hope and positivity, and ultimately, desperately needed policy – whether they realize it or not. You can support Ezra's candidacy by visiting watsonforcongress.org and @ezrawatsonforcongress on Facebook and @EzraWatsonforNY on Twitter. You'll also find a link to donate to his campaign in the show notes. (A big thanks to Beyond the Spectrum for the "MMT Candidate" logo.) There are three goals of this MMT candidate interview series: the first is to support and give a platform to candidates who care about all people, and because of this, are ignored by the so-called news outlets that are, in reality, news of, by, and for the rich. The second goal is to determine what these candidates need to beat corrupt opponents supported by a corrupt party in a corrupt campaign finance system, and especially, once in office, to avoid becoming corrupted themselves. Finally, the third goal is to create a community of like minded, MMT-aware candidates who can support each other through their campaigns, and especially once in office. The latter is in order to remain focused on what really matters, which is all their constituents, in an environment where there is overwhelming pressure to focus only on the needs, favors, promises, and especially money of big donors – both in and out of their district. If you're a candidate and would like to be interviewed by Ramona, please contact her directly on Twitter at @RamonaMassachi, or me at [email protected]. If there's a candidate you would like to see interviewed by Ramona, please let us know, and please recommend us to them! This candidate interview series is above and beyond Activist #MMT's regular episodes. If you like what you hear and would like to support this interview series and this podcast, please consider becoming a monthly patron at patreon.com/activistmmt. And now, onto our conversation with candidate for New York's twenty-first Congressional district, Ezra Watson. Enjoy.