Mayor Pete to Speak at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention
Key excerpts as prepared for delivery:
So much depends on us right now. A generation of Americans, younger than I am, alive right now but not yet old enough to vote, is watching what we choose to do with their lives on the line.
The 13-year-old boy who asked me what we were going to do to keep his school safe, tears running down his face, because he feels his life is in danger every time he sits down in class. [...]
The only fair answer for those kids is that they shouldn’t be dealing with this. We—and by we I mean anyone old enough to vote—are supposed to deal with things like this so they don’t have to. So they can focus on being kids.
A few years from now, by the time they are adults, we will have reached the point of no return on the climate. A hundred million more guns will be on the street, and a woman’s right to choose might not exist.
Or we can act. Not four years from now, not a decade from now—but right now. This is our shot. [...]
And as the mayor of a city once called dying but now growing and finding a better future, I also know what can happen when people come together.
Our city’s comeback didn’t start with promising to Make South Bend Great Again, because there is no “again” in real life. [...]
And now there’s a noise machine making it almost impossible to hear the alarm bells ringing in our everyday lives.
Americans are figuring out how to afford to buy groceries, and this President gets us arguing over whether to buy Greenland.
Americans are picking up their possessions to evacuate before a deadly storm, and the president is picking up a Sharpie to change a weather map.
Politics is supposed to be about making our lives better. But nothing could be further from the top of the president’s list. Or the governor’s. [...]
And it’s not just that the policies are bad. It’s that our political leaders, especially in Washington, pit us against each other. And bring out the worst in us.
They speak of patriotism. But surely patriotism lies in speaking up for our beliefs, not in shouting down those who dissent and telling them to go back to where they came from. The flag I saluted at daybreak when I was in the military wasn’t a Republican flag, it was an American flag.
They speak of freedom. But surely freedom includes the freedom to organize for good wages, and the freedom to control your own body, the freedom to choose your own spouse, and the freedom to be treated equally regardless of race.
They speak of faith, and family. But what faith, what family values, would condone families being torn apart at the border? Surely faith and family values has something to do with feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger and lifting up the least among us.
They divide us around the very values that are supposed to hold us together. Thanksgiving meals have become minefields. Cable ratings go up, and trust in our fellow Americans goes down. [...]
The answer to Donald Trump isn’t playing his game or going on his show.
It is a focus on improving our everyday lives. It’s ensuring that our shared values light the way to our better future. And it’s an insistence on doing it together.
We need ideas big enough to meet the challenges of our moment. But it’s not enough to think up a good policy. We have to unify Americans around these solutions or nothing will actually get done.
That’s why my health care vision is Medicare for All Who Want it. Let every American have the choice to walk away from a private plan and into a public alternative—but let them decide when they’re ready.
And when it comes to health care, let’s break the silence around mental health and addiction. I’ll bring us together to address this crisis of care and crisis of belonging--and save up to 1 million lives over the next decade. [...]
The purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the president, it is in pulling Americans together in common purpose to tackle the greatest challenges before us. [...]
The future doesn’t have to be a dark place. I can’t wait for a future where we look back with pride on the choices we made, now, in this season of great challenge and great consequence. [...]
We can do better. So are you ready? Are you ready to leave behind the reality show and change the channel to a new kind of politics? Are you ready to break from the past and bring some real solutions to Washington?
Then with hope in our hearts and fire in our bellies, let’s go forward all the way to the White House and beyond.
