I’m not running for President because I read something in a book. I’m not running for President because some political consultant told me what I’m supposed to say. I’m running for President because for 54 years of my life I have believed to my soul that the men and women who worked in that mill with my father were worth every bit as much as the man that owned that mill. - John Edwards Here’s what I believe. I believe we have 50 million service economy workers in the United States of America. We’re going to have 10-15 million more over the course of the next decade. Whether those families, those millions of families live in poverty or earn a decent middle class standard of living depends upon whether they’re members of unions. Whether they’re able to strengthen and grow the middle class depends on whether they’re organaized. - John Edwards Here’s my view. If you can join the Republican Party by signing your name to a card, any worker in America should be able to join a union by doing exactly the same thing. That’s democracy in the workplace; that’s what we believe in. - John Edwards If, to show your strength, your solidarity, your courage, in standing up for your workers…If it becomes necessary to get a decent wage, to have healthcare coverage, to have pension protection… if it becomes necessary to go out on strike, when you’re walking that picket line nobody, nobody should be able to walk through that picket line and take your job away from you. Not in America when I’m President of the United States. - John Edwards I run for President of the United States on behalf of the men and women who worked in the mill with my father. I run for President of the United States on behalf of the families whose lives were devastated when that mill closed and they lost their jobs. - John Edwards