Its members see inequality as a danger - they worry big money is corrupting politics and driving civil unrest. The nonprofit Patriotic Millionaires has lobbied Congress to make changes for more than a decade. Over a month of meetings, dozens of residents got a crash course on inequality and learned why this group of rich people wants to pay higher taxes and raise the minimum wage. Others showed up for the freebies: door prizes, dinner and $50. 'My first thought of it was, really? They care about Columbus County? Cause nobody cares about Columbus County like that,' says April Thomas, who has three children and works at a vape and tobacco shop. Did they want to come talk about the economy with Patriotic Millionaires?
They got cold calls, flyers in the mail and in-person pitches at the local Pecan Harvest Festival. Late last year, people in tiny Whiteville, N.C., were recruited to weekly meetings with a group they'd never heard of.
The group wants working-class voters to lobby Congress on raising the minimum wage and taxing the rich. Erica Payne, founder of Patriotic Millionaires, offers a crash course on economic inequality to residents of Whiteville, N.C.
