Joseph Tache

[{"question": "Ballotpedia survey responses", "answer_html": "<p>See also: <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a></p>\n<div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-xs-10 col-md-6 col-xs-offset-1 col-md-offset-3\"><p><a href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\"><img align=\"middle\" alt=\"Candidate Connection\" src=\"https://cdn.ballotpedia.org/images/8/88/Candidate_Connection_Logo.png\" width=\"90%\"/></a></p></div></div>\n<p>Joseph Tache completed <a href=\"/Ballotpedia%27s_Candidate_Connection\">Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection</a> survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tache's responses.</p>\n<p><span class=\"expand-all\">Expand all</span> | <span class=\"collapse-all\">Collapse all</span></p>\n<div aria-multiselectable=\"true\" class=\"panel-group\" id=\"accordion\" role=\"tablist\"><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tPlease list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse-key-message-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><ul><li>Capitalism is a national emergency; the solution is socialism!\r\n<p>In the world’s richest country, millions of people are struggling to afford their basic necessities. Here in Massachusetts, rents and prices are through the roof.\r\n</p><p>In our capitalist society, resources are hoarded by greedy billionaires. The richest 900 people in the U.S. own as much wealth as the poorest 170,000,000 of us. This system of inequality is administered by Republican and Democratic politicians who serve the billionaires.\r\n</p>\nWe have the means to improve our society for everyone, we just need the power. As a socialist, I will propose legislation to redistribute that wealth and reorganize the economy to meet our needs: funding quality housing, healthcare, and education.</li><li>Climate change and war are existential threats to humanity. They are caused by capitalism. The billionaires in charge care more about profit and domination than they do about the well-being of the people and our planet. Only under socialism, with working people in power, can we implement real solutions.\r\n\r\nThe U.S. military budget is bigger than the next nine countries’ combined. I will propose legislation to cut that bloated budget by 90% and usher in a new era of foreign policy based on solidarity and diplomacy, not domination. \r\n\r\nThe money saved will fund millions of new well-paying union jobs to address society’s needs. A top priority will be to decommission the billionaires’ fossil fuel infrastructure and build a renewable energy grid.</li><li>We must overcome the Trump administration’s divide-and-conquer strategy to defeat its attacks on our rights.\r\n\r\nTrump’s program is simple: steal from the poor and give to the rich. He and his allies know that this program is unpopular. This is why they attack our basic democratic rights and try to divide us.\r\n\r\nThey blame DEI (i.e. Black people), immigrants, transgender people, and other vulnerable groups for society’s problems so that we as working class people will point the finger at each other rather than at the billionaires and politicians who are truly responsible. \r\n\r\nWe combat their division with solidarity. This socialist campaign is for everyone, of every background and identity, who is sick of living under the billionaires’ thumbs.</li></ul></span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading1-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse1-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse1-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading1-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse1-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tWe have enough wealth in this country to ensure a dignified life for every one of us. Instead, politicians have prioritized providing tax cuts for billionaires, cutting the funding of our essential social programs, and funding war and militarism instead.<br/><br/>\r\nI am passionate about all areas of policy that allow us to unleash our society’s vast resources and people power to guarantee a dignified life for us all. We will need to build a powerful movement to make that possibility a reality. I am committed to helping build that movement, independently of the Democratic and Republican parties: a socialist movement.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse2-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading2-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse2-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse2-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading2-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse2-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe U.S. is the richest country in the world, but our economy is precarious. Nearly two-thirds of adults live paycheck to paycheck. Food insecurity is rising even though 40% of our food supply is thrown away every year. It is harder and harder to access dignified housing even though there are more empty homes on the market than homeless people in this country. Healthcare is so pricey that medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy, and yet health outcomes like life expectancy, maternal mortality, and infant mortality are worse in the U.S. than in countries with fewer resources.<br/><br/>\n<p>Already, tens of millions of Americans experience long-term unemployment, and as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly develops, it threatens to completely change our economy and eliminate many of the meaningful jobs we still have left. In many sectors — such as retail, customer service, and warehousing — this technology has already had quite negative impacts on working people.<br/><br/>\nThe problem isn’t with the technology itself, but rather, who controls it. If AI remains in the hands of billionaires, it will cause an unemployment catastrophe and accelerate climate change (the AI “gold rush” is consuming massive amounts of electricity and water).<br/><br/>\nI will propose legislation to ensure that AI and other advanced technologies are properly regulated and deployed to benefit society. Insofar as dangerous or menial jobs can be replaced by automation, we should use federal funding to invest in training people for and creating millions of essential jobs in healthcare, education, and infrastructure construction — industries that are currently understaffed across the country.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nIn the 1930s and 40s, federal funding created over 10 million jobs to construct lasting public infrastructure through the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. Today, we can use federal funding to create millions of jobs that work to reorganize our economy and provide dignified housing, healthcare, education, nutritious food, childcare, and dignified retirement for all.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse3-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading3-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse3-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse3-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat are your thoughts on term limits?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading3-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse3-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe current generation of Congressional leadership in our country has completely failed us. It is time for them to move on. But if they are replaced by younger politicians who represent the same capitalist interests that the current generation represents, nothing will change.<br/><br/>\nIf an elected official is doing a good job representing working people, there is no need to force them out of office. Too many Congresspeople, new and tenured, claim to represent us but really serve the billionaires. What we need more than term limits is to end the control that billionaires have over our country’s politics.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse4-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading4-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse4-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse4-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat qualities does the U.S. Senate possess that makes it unique as an institution?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading4-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse4-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe median net worth of U.S. Senators is somewhere between $1-2 million, making it one of the world’s wealthiest legislative bodies. The majority of Senators also rely on PACs (i.e. legal bribery organizations primarily funded by billionaires) to fund their election campaigns. You could argue that the influence of big money in the Senate is quite unique, even by capitalist standards!<br/><br/>\n<p>The U.S. Senate plays a central role in setting the federal budget, determining foreign policy priorities, passing federal legislation, and overseeing the activities of federal agencies — all responsibilities that have big impacts on the lives of everyday people.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nWorking peoples’ experiences and interests are glaringly absent from this institution. My campaign is fighting to change that.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse5-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading5-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse5-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse5-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tDo you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading5-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse5-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tMy years of experience as an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation have been invaluable in developing me as a leader. I look forward to gaining new experiences if elected to the Senate. Experience is the greatest teacher, and it can be gained over time.<br/><br/>\n<p>Moral fortitude and integrity, on the other hand, are more difficult to recover once they have been abandoned. The majority of Congresspeople receive donations from billionaire interests that donate to their campaign. Their decisions are then driven by billionaire interests, rather than their principles. In that sense, long-term experience in government can actually become a drawback, as politicians become steeped in the corruption and legalized bribery of our political system.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nWe need leadership — leadership that works alongside the people and is beholden to them, not the billionaires.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse6-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading6-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse6-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse6-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat do you think of the filibuster?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading6-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse6-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tThe filibuster is an anti-democratic tool that is used as a roadblock against the implementation of policies that are popular among the majority of people in this country.<br/><br/>\n<p>During Joe Biden’s administration, Democrats had a majority in the House and Senate. They did very little with that majority. They blamed the filibuster, which requires at least 60% of Senators to agree to bring legislation to a vote.<br/><br/>\nAfter the 2020 elections, the Democratic Party promised us paid family and medical leave, universal childcare, free community college, Medicare expansion, the PRO Act (expanding labor rights), and the Women’s Health Protection Act (enshrining access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare). They did not deliver on any of those promises because they allowed Republicans (and even some Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) to use the filibuster to block that legislation.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nThe filibuster can be overturned by a simple majority (51%) vote in the Senate. Why didn’t the Democratic Party end the filibuster when they controlled the White House and Congress between 2020-2022, so that they could deliver on their campaign promises? Their failure to do so is one of many examples of why we need to build a movement that is independent of both Democrats and Republicans.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse7-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading7-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse7-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse7-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tIs there a particular senator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading7-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse7-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tCharles Sumner, who was a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts between 1851-1874. From his first day in Congress to his last, Sumner was a fighter for the abolition of slavery, and the expansion of civil and economic rights — movements that were bigger than just one man.<br/><br/>\n<p>Sumner entered Congress the year after Congress had passed the detestable Fugitive Slave Act. At the time, the abolitionist movement was not yet very powerful, and most people believed that slavery was a permanent institution in U.S. society.<br/><br/>\nSumner did not acquiesce to slavery in the name of “pragmatism”. During his 10 years in Congress before the Civil War, Sumner fought tooth and nail against slavery, helping to build the abolitionist movement. During the war, he was an advocate for the Emancipation Proclamation, the admission of Black soldiers into the Union army, and the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.  During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, he fought for the expansion of rights for “freedmen”, including voting rights, access to education, and land ownership. The policies he fought for, like universal education, were to benefit not only freed Black people, but people of all backgrounds.<br/><br/>\n</p>\nI will offer similarly bold leadership. The inequality and suffering created by capitalism is not permanent. Like Sumner fought for a reconstruction of U.S. society to overcome injustices of slavery, I will fight for a socialist reconstruction to overcome the injustice of capitalism.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse8-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading8-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse8-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse8-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tHow would you evaluate a judicial nominee?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading8-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse8-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI would only approve a judicial nominee who interprets the law consistently with rights of the whole population in mind — including workers, women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse9-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading9-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse9-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse9-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat kind of relationships would you build with other senators?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading9-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse9-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI am willing to work with anyone who fights for the interests of the majority of people, rather than the billionaires.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse10-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading10-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse10-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse10-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tDo you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading10-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse10-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tCompromise is a necessary part of life. However, some compromises are unacceptable.<br/><br/>\nThe majority of politicians in Congress take money from billionaires, and they compromise the interests of working people in order to serve those billionaires. Those are compromises I will never make.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse11-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading11-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse11-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse11-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tHow should the U.S. Senate use its investigative powers?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading11-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse11-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tBillionaires commit crimes in plain sight every day: wage theft, tax evasion, and fraud. Healthcare corporations, for example, defraud Medicare and Medicaid for tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars every year. The Senate should more thoroughly investigate these instances of billionaires and millionaires stealing from workers, taxpayers, and the overall wealth of society.<br/><br/>\nThe Trump administration is also rampantly violating democratic rights and civil liberties via ICE terror campaigns, military occupations of U.S. cities, attacks against activists for exercising their rights to speech and protest, and more. As a Senator, I would fight to investigate those responsible for these grave violations of First and Fifth Amendment rights and hold them accountable.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse12-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading12-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse12-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse12-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat criteria would you apply when deciding whether to confirm presidential appointees to their Cabinet?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading12-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse12-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI will only vote to confirm appointees who I believe will work to improve the quality of life for the majority of people in our country, and who have respect for the people of the world. There is no one in the Trump Cabinet whose nomination I would have supported.\t\t\t</span></div></div></div></div><div class=\"panel panel-default\"><div class=\"panel-heading\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse13-376557-2025-10-25\" id=\"heading13-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tab\"><p class=\"panel-title\" style=\"font-size: 14px;font-weight: 600;\"><a aria-controls=\"collapse13-376557-2025-10-25\" aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"collapsed\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" href=\"#collapse13-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"button\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-right pull-right\"></i><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-down pull-right\"></i>\t\t\t\tWhat committees interest you?\t\t\t</a></p></div><div aria-labelledby=\"heading13-376557-2025-10-25\" class=\"panel-collapse collapse\" id=\"collapse13-376557-2025-10-25\" role=\"tabpanel\"><div class=\"panel-body\" style=\"max-height: 500px; overflow-y: scroll;\"><div class=\"answers-container\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">\t\t\t\tI am willing to serve wherever I can be of the most benefit to the working people of Massachusetts, but I am most interested in the following four committees that focus on the key issues highlighted in my program:<br/><br/>\n<ul><li>Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs<br/></li>\n<li>Environment and Public Works<br/></li>\n<li>Foreign Relations<br/></li>\n<li>Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.\t\t\t</li></ul></span></div></div></div></div></div>\n<div class=\"small\" data-nosnippet=\"\"><p><i><b>Note:</b> Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.</i></p></div>", "answer_text": "See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection\n\nJoseph Tache completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tache's responses.\nExpand all | Collapse all\nPlease list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Capitalism is a national emergency; the solution is socialism! In the world’s richest country, millions of people are struggling to afford their basic necessities. Here in Massachusetts, rents and prices are through the roof. In our capitalist society, resources are hoarded by greedy billionaires. The richest 900 people in the U.S. own as much wealth as the poorest 170,000,000 of us. This system of inequality is administered by Republican and Democratic politicians who serve the billionaires. We have the means to improve our society for everyone, we just need the power. As a socialist, I will propose legislation to redistribute that wealth and reorganize the economy to meet our needs: funding quality housing, healthcare, and education. Climate change and war are existential threats to humanity. They are caused by capitalism. The billionaires in charge care more about profit and domination than they do about the well-being of the people and our planet. Only under socialism, with working people in power, can we implement real solutions.\r\n\r\nThe U.S. military budget is bigger than the next nine countries’ combined. I will propose legislation to cut that bloated budget by 90% and usher in a new era of foreign policy based on solidarity and diplomacy, not domination. \r\n\r\nThe money saved will fund millions of new well-paying union jobs to address society’s needs. A top priority will be to decommission the billionaires’ fossil fuel infrastructure and build a renewable energy grid. We must overcome the Trump administration’s divide-and-conquer strategy to defeat its attacks on our rights.\r\n\r\nTrump’s program is simple: steal from the poor and give to the rich. He and his allies know that this program is unpopular. This is why they attack our basic democratic rights and try to divide us.\r\n\r\nThey blame DEI (i.e. Black people), immigrants, transgender people, and other vulnerable groups for society’s problems so that we as working class people will point the finger at each other rather than at the billionaires and politicians who are truly responsible. \r\n\r\nWe combat their division with solidarity. This socialist campaign is for everyone, of every background and identity, who is sick of living under the billionaires’ thumbs. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? We have enough wealth in this country to ensure a dignified life for every one of us. Instead, politicians have prioritized providing tax cuts for billionaires, cutting the funding of our essential social programs, and funding war and militarism instead. I am passionate about all areas of policy that allow us to unleash our society’s vast resources and people power to guarantee a dignified life for us all. We will need to build a powerful movement to make that possibility a reality. I am committed to helping build that movement, independently of the Democratic and Republican parties: a socialist movement. What do you perceive to be the United States' greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade? The U.S. is the richest country in the world, but our economy is precarious. Nearly two-thirds of adults live paycheck to paycheck. Food insecurity is rising even though 40% of our food supply is thrown away every year. It is harder and harder to access dignified housing even though there are more empty homes on the market than homeless people in this country. Healthcare is so pricey that medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy, and yet health outcomes like life expectancy, maternal mortality, and infant mortality are worse in the U.S. than in countries with fewer resources. Already, tens of millions of Americans experience long-term unemployment, and as artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly develops, it threatens to completely change our economy and eliminate many of the meaningful jobs we still have left. In many sectors — such as retail, customer service, and warehousing — this technology has already had quite negative impacts on working people. The problem isn’t with the technology itself, but rather, who controls it. If AI remains in the hands of billionaires, it will cause an unemployment catastrophe and accelerate climate change (the AI “gold rush” is consuming massive amounts of electricity and water). I will propose legislation to ensure that AI and other advanced technologies are properly regulated and deployed to benefit society. Insofar as dangerous or menial jobs can be replaced by automation, we should use federal funding to invest in training people for and creating millions of essential jobs in healthcare, education, and infrastructure construction — industries that are currently understaffed across the country. In the 1930s and 40s, federal funding created over 10 million jobs to construct lasting public infrastructure through the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. Today, we can use federal funding to create millions of jobs that work to reorganize our economy and provide dignified housing, healthcare, education, nutritious food, childcare, and dignified retirement for all. What are your thoughts on term limits? The current generation of Congressional leadership in our country has completely failed us. It is time for them to move on. But if they are replaced by younger politicians who represent the same capitalist interests that the current generation represents, nothing will change. If an elected official is doing a good job representing working people, there is no need to force them out of office. Too many Congresspeople, new and tenured, claim to represent us but really serve the billionaires. What we need more than term limits is to end the control that billionaires have over our country’s politics. What qualities does the U.S. Senate possess that makes it unique as an institution? The median net worth of U.S. Senators is somewhere between $1-2 million, making it one of the world’s wealthiest legislative bodies. The majority of Senators also rely on PACs (i.e. legal bribery organizations primarily funded by billionaires) to fund their election campaigns. You could argue that the influence of big money in the Senate is quite unique, even by capitalist standards! The U.S. Senate plays a central role in setting the federal budget, determining foreign policy priorities, passing federal legislation, and overseeing the activities of federal agencies — all responsibilities that have big impacts on the lives of everyday people. Working peoples’ experiences and interests are glaringly absent from this institution. My campaign is fighting to change that. Do you believe that it’s beneficial for senators to have previous experience in government or politics? My years of experience as an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation have been invaluable in developing me as a leader. I look forward to gaining new experiences if elected to the Senate. Experience is the greatest teacher, and it can be gained over time. Moral fortitude and integrity, on the other hand, are more difficult to recover once they have been abandoned. The majority of Congresspeople receive donations from billionaire interests that donate to their campaign. Their decisions are then driven by billionaire interests, rather than their principles. In that sense, long-term experience in government can actually become a drawback, as politicians become steeped in the corruption and legalized bribery of our political system. We need leadership — leadership that works alongside the people and is beholden to them, not the billionaires. What do you think of the filibuster? The filibuster is an anti-democratic tool that is used as a roadblock against the implementation of policies that are popular among the majority of people in this country. During Joe Biden’s administration, Democrats had a majority in the House and Senate. They did very little with that majority. They blamed the filibuster, which requires at least 60% of Senators to agree to bring legislation to a vote. After the 2020 elections, the Democratic Party promised us paid family and medical leave, universal childcare, free community college, Medicare expansion, the PRO Act (expanding labor rights), and the Women’s Health Protection Act (enshrining access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare). They did not deliver on any of those promises because they allowed Republicans (and even some Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) to use the filibuster to block that legislation. The filibuster can be overturned by a simple majority (51%) vote in the Senate. Why didn’t the Democratic Party end the filibuster when they controlled the White House and Congress between 2020-2022, so that they could deliver on their campaign promises? Their failure to do so is one of many examples of why we need to build a movement that is independent of both Democrats and Republicans. Is there a particular senator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after? Charles Sumner, who was a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts between 1851-1874. From his first day in Congress to his last, Sumner was a fighter for the abolition of slavery, and the expansion of civil and economic rights — movements that were bigger than just one man. Sumner entered Congress the year after Congress had passed the detestable Fugitive Slave Act. At the time, the abolitionist movement was not yet very powerful, and most people believed that slavery was a permanent institution in U.S. society. Sumner did not acquiesce to slavery in the name of “pragmatism”. During his 10 years in Congress before the Civil War, Sumner fought tooth and nail against slavery, helping to build the abolitionist movement. During the war, he was an advocate for the Emancipation Proclamation, the admission of Black soldiers into the Union army, and the passage of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.  During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, he fought for the expansion of rights for “freedmen”, including voting rights, access to education, and land ownership. The policies he fought for, like universal education, were to benefit not only freed Black people, but people of all backgrounds. I will offer similarly bold leadership. The inequality and suffering created by capitalism is not permanent. Like Sumner fought for a reconstruction of U.S. society to overcome injustices of slavery, I will fight for a socialist reconstruction to overcome the injustice of capitalism. How would you evaluate a judicial nominee? I would only approve a judicial nominee who interprets the law consistently with rights of the whole population in mind — including workers, women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. What kind of relationships would you build with other senators? I am willing to work with anyone who fights for the interests of the majority of people, rather than the billionaires. Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking? Compromise is a necessary part of life. However, some compromises are unacceptable. The majority of politicians in Congress take money from billionaires, and they compromise the interests of working people in order to serve those billionaires. Those are compromises I will never make. How should the U.S. Senate use its investigative powers? Billionaires commit crimes in plain sight every day: wage theft, tax evasion, and fraud. Healthcare corporations, for example, defraud Medicare and Medicaid for tens (if not hundreds) of billions of dollars every year. The Senate should more thoroughly investigate these instances of billionaires and millionaires stealing from workers, taxpayers, and the overall wealth of society. The Trump administration is also rampantly violating democratic rights and civil liberties via ICE terror campaigns, military occupations of U.S. cities, attacks against activists for exercising their rights to speech and protest, and more. As a Senator, I would fight to investigate those responsible for these grave violations of First and Fifth Amendment rights and hold them accountable. What criteria would you apply when deciding whether to confirm presidential appointees to their Cabinet? I will only vote to confirm appointees who I believe will work to improve the quality of life for the majority of people in our country, and who have respect for the people of the world. There is no one in the Trump Cabinet whose nomination I would have supported. What committees interest you? I am willing to serve wherever I can be of the most benefit to the working people of Massachusetts, but I am most interested in the following four committees that focus on the key issues highlighted in my program: Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Environment and Public Works Foreign Relations Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.\nNote: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it."}]