Bullying in my world of political advocacy on behalf of Democrats is on
the rise and civics literacy is on a downward spiral, making being a participating citizen in my own representative Democracy more difficult than it's ever been as I've had to add to the work of informing and inspiring paying close attention to my response to the stimuli. It can be pretty nasty out there!
But. With President Obama as my role
model, I do okay!
Truth. Sometimes I
feel like pushing back against the hate and or the ignorance of our founding document –
hard – but I stop and I think about the President and his knowledge
and his love of our nation and his political temperament, despite it all, and I, for lack of better terminology, behave myself and go
forth more diplomatically in my advocacy work which is done in the midst
of the citizenry he and I share.
Which brings me to the
excerpts of a recent speech he gave in Illinois I am going to share
here because in the heat of it all, as is his habit, he
is thinking about how we, as a citizenry, can be better, including him!
Based on my
experiences in the 2016 world of primaries and caucuses a whole lot
of us should be doing that with him. It's long, probably a 15-20 minute read but this is the perfect time to pause and to hear him and then to return to the election process...
Remarks by the President
in an Address to the Illinois General Assembly
House Chamber
To be a rookie in the
minority party, as I was, is not much fun in any legislature. We
were called “mushrooms” -- because we were kept in the dark and
fed a lot of manure. But one
benefit of being in such a position -- not being invited into the
meetings where the big deals were being made -- is that I had a lot
of time to get to know my colleagues. And many of us were
away from our families, and so we became friends.
We went to fish fries
together. We’d go to union halls. We’d play
in golf scrambles. We had a great bipartisan poker game at
the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association...away
from the glare of TV, or the tweets, or the GIFs of today’s media,
what we discovered was that despite our surface differences --
Democrats and Republicans, downstate hog farmers, inner-city African
Americans, suburban businesspeople, Latinos from Pilsen or Little
Village -- despite those differences, we actually had a lot in
common. We cared about our communities. We
cared about our families. We cared about America.
We fought hard for our
positions. I don’t want to be nostalgic here -- we voted
against each other all the time. And party lines held most
of the time. But those relationships, that trust we’d
built meant that we came at each debate assuming the best in one
another and not the worst.
...And we wouldn’t bend on
our most deeply held principles, but we were willing to forge
compromises in pursuit of a larger goal. We were practical when we
needed to be. We could fight like heck on one issue and
then shake hands on the next. Somebody like Jesse White
was able to travel around the state and people didn’t even know
what party he was necessarily from because he brought so much joy
with the tumblers and the work that they were doing.
So I want you to know that
this is why I’ve always believed so deeply in a better kind of
politics, in part because of what I learned here in this
legislature...A
microcosm of America, where Democrats and Republicans and
independents, and good people of every ethnicity and every faith
shared certain bedrock values.
...And I learned by talking
to your constituents that if you were willing to listen, it was
possible to bridge a lot of differences. I learned that
most Americans aren’t following the ins and outs of the legislature
carefully, but they instinctively know that issues are more
complicated than rehearsed sound bites; that they play differently in
different parts of the state and in the country. They
understand the difference between realism and idealism; the
difference between responsibility and recklessness. They had the
maturity to know what can and cannot be compromised, and to admit the
possibility that the other side just might have a point.
And it convinced me that
if we just approached our national politics the same way the American
people approach their daily lives –- at the workplace, at the
Little League game; at church or the synagogue -- with common sense,
and a commitment to fair play and basic courtesy, that there is no
problem that we couldn’t solve together.
And that was the vision
that guided me when I first ran for the United States Senate. That’s
the vision I shared when I said we are more than just a collection of
red states and blue states, but we are the United States of
America. And that vision is why, nine years ago today, on
the steps of the Old State Capitol just a few blocks from here, I
announced my candidacy for President.
Now, over these nine
years, I want you to know my faith in the generosity and the
fundamental goodness of the American people has been rewarded and
affirmed over and over and over again.
…The point I’m trying
to make is I care about fixing our politics not only because I’m
the President today, or because some of my initiatives have been
blocked by Congress -- that happens to every President...
The reason this is
important to me is, next year I’ll still hold the most important
title of all, and that's the title of citizen. And as an
American citizen, I understand that our progress is not inevitable --
our progress has never been inevitable. It must be fought
for, and won by all of us, with the kind of patriotism that our
fellow Illinoisan, Adlai Stevenson, once described not as a “short,
frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication
of a lifetime.” It requires citizenship and a sense that
we are one.
And today that kind of
citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that
pushes people away from participating in our public life.
...So that’s what’s on my
mind as I come back to Illinois today. This is what will
be a focus of mine over the course of this year and beyond: What
can we do, all of us, together, to try to make our politics
better? And I speak to both sides on this. As
all of you know, it could be better, and all of you would feel
prouder of the work you do if it was better.
So, first, let’s put to
rest a couple of myths about our politics. One is the myth
that the problems with our politics are new. They are
not. American politics has never been particularly gentle
or high-minded -- especially not during times of great change.
…My point is, the
problem is not that politicians are worse, the problem is not that
the issues are tougher. And so it’s important for us to
understand that the situation we find ourselves in today is not
somehow unique or hopeless. We’ve always gone through
periods when our democracy seems stuck. And when that
happens, we have to find a new way of doing business.
We’re in one of those
moments. We’ve got to build a better politics -- one
that’s less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas; one
that’s less of a business and more of a mission; one that
understands the success of the American experiment rests on our
willingness to engage all our citizens in this work.
...And that starts by
acknowledging that we do have a problem. And we all know it.
…you’ve got a
fractured media. Some folks watch FOX News; some folks
read the Huffington Post. And very often, what’s
profitable is the most sensational conflict and the most incendiary
sound bites. And we can choose our own facts. We
don’t have a common basis for what’s true and what’s not.
...You’ve got advocacy
groups that, frankly, sometimes benefit from keeping their members
agitated as much as possible, assured of the righteousness of their
cause. Unlimited dark money -- money that nobody knows
where it’s coming from, who’s paying -- drowns out ordinary
voices. And far too many of us surrender our voices
entirely by choosing not to vote.
...But this isn’t just
an abstract problem for political scientists. This has
real impact on whether or not we can get things done together. This
has a real impact on whether families are able to support themselves,
or whether the homeless are getting shelter on a cold day. It
makes a difference as to the quality of the education that kids are
getting.
...But so often, these
debates, particularly in Washington but increasingly in state
legislatures, become abstractions. It’s as if there are
no people involved, it’s just cardboard cutouts and caricatures of
positions. It encourages the kind of ideological fealty
that rejects any compromise as a form of weakness. And in
a big, complicated democracy like ours, if we can’t compromise, by
definition, we can’t govern ourselves.
Look, I am a progressive
Democrat. I am proud of that. I make no bones
about it.
...I believe that people
should have access to health care. I believe they should
have access to a good public education. I believe that
workers deserve a higher minimum wage. I believe that collective
bargaining is critical to the prospects of the middle class, and that
pensions are vital to retirement, as long as they’re funded
responsibly.
...I believe we’re judged
by how we care for the poor and the vulnerable. I believe
that in order to live up to our ideals, we have to continually fight
discrimination in all its forms. I believe in science, and
the science behind things like climate change, and that a transition
to cleaner sources of energy will help preserve the planet for future
generations.
I believe in a tough,
smart foreign policy that says America will never hesitate to protect
our people and our allies, but that we should use every element of
our power and never rush to war.
Those are the things I
believe.
But here’s the point I
want to make. I believe that there are a lot of
Republicans who share many of these same values, even though they may
disagree with me on the means to achieve them.
…And where I’ve got an
opportunity to find some common ground, that doesn’t make me a
sellout to my own party. …So trying to find common ground
doesn't make me less of a Democrat or less of a progressive. It
means I’m trying to get stuff done.
And the same applies to a
Republican...
… Our Founders trusted
us with the keys to this system of self-government. Our
politics is the place where we try to make this incredible machinery
work; where we come together to settle our differences and solve big
problems, do big things together that we could not possibly do
alone. And our Founders anchored all this in a visionary
Constitution that separates power and demands compromise, precisely
to prevent one party, or one wing of a party, or one faction, or some
powerful interests from getting 100 percent of its way.
So when either side makes
blanket promises to their base that it can’t possibly meet...that
kind of politics means that the supporters will be perennially
disappointed. It only adds to folks’ sense that the
system is rigged...
Now, I don’t pretend to
have all the answers to this. These trends will not change
overnight...
But I do want to offer
some steps that we can take that I believe would help reform our
institutions and move our system in a way that helps reflect our
better selves. And these aren’t particularly original,
but I just want to go ahead and mention them.
First is to take, or at
least reduce, some of the corrosive influence of money in our
politics.
...The second step towards a
better politics is rethinking the way that we draw our congressional
districts. …let’s be very clear here -- nobody has got
clean hands on this thing...
The fact is, today
technology allows parties in power to precision-draw constituencies
so that the opposition’s supporters are packed into as few
districts as possible. That’s why our districts are
shaped like earmuffs or spaghetti. It’s also how one party can
get more seats even when it gets fewer votes.
And while this
gerrymandering may insulate some incumbents from a serious challenge
from the other party, it also means that the main thing those
incumbents are worried about are challengers from the most extreme
voices in their own party...
Now, this is something we
have the power to fix.
…Now, the more Americans
use their voice and participate, the less captive our politics will
be to narrow constituencies. No matter how much
undisclosed money is spent, no matter how many negative ads are run,
no matter how unrepresentative a district is drawn, if everybody
voted, if a far larger number of people voted, that would overcome in
many ways some of these other institutional barriers. It
would make our politics better.
And that’s why a third
step towards a better politics is making voting easier, not harder;
and modernizing it for the way that we live now.
...that brings me to my
last point, which is, even as we change the way system works, we also
have a responsibility to change the way that we, as elected officials
and as citizens, work together. Because this democracy
only works when we get both right -- when the system is fair, but
also when we build a culture that is trying to make it work.
Recently, I’ve been
thinking a lot about something a friend of mine, Deval Patrick, once
said to his constituents when he was governor of Massachusetts. He
said, “Insist from us and from each other a modicum of civility as
the condition for serving you.” This is what he told
voters. “Insist on us having a modicum of civility.”
I think that’s something
that all of us, as Americans, have to insist from each other. Our
children are watching what we do. They don’t just learn it in
school, they learn it by watching us -- the way we conduct ourselves,
the way we treat each other. If we lie about each other,
they learn it’s okay to lie. If we make up facts and
ignore science, then they just think it’s just their opinion that
matters. If they see us insulting each other like school
kids, then they think, well, I guess that's how people are supposed
to behave. The way we respect -- or don’t -- each other
as citizens will determine whether or not the hard, frustrating, but
absolutely necessary work of self-government continues.
I’ve got daughters that
are getting older now, and one of the most important things about
being a parent I think is them just seeing what you do not when
you're out in public, not when you're dealing with somebody
important, but just how do you do -- how do you treat people
generally. And it makes me much more mindful. I
want to live up to their expectations.
And in that same way, I
want this democracy to live up to the people’s expectations. We
can't move forward if all we do is tear each other down. And
the political incentives, as they are today, too often rewards that
kind of behavior. That's what gets attention. So
it will require some courage just to act the way our parents taught
us to act. It shouldn’t, but in this political
environment apparently it does. We’ve got to insist to
do better from each other, for each other.
Rather than reward those
who’d disenfranchise any segment of America, we’ve got to insist
that everybody arm themselves with information, and facts, and that
they vote. If 99 percent of us voted, it wouldn’t matter
how much the 1 percent spends on our elections.
Rather than reward the
most extreme voices, or the most divisive language, or who is best at
launching schoolyard taunts, we should insist on a higher form of
discourse in our common life, one based on empathy and respect, --
which does not mean you abandon principle. It doesn't mean
you're not tough.
Rather than paint those
who disagree with us as motivated by malice, to suggest that any of
us lack patriotism -- we can insist, as Lincoln did, that we are not
enemies, but friends; that our fellow Americans are not only entitled
to a different point of view, but that they love this country as much
as we do.
Rather than reward a 24/7
media that so often thrives on sensationalism and conflict, we have
to stand up and insist, no, reason matters, facts matter; issues are
complicated. When folks just make stuff up, they can’t
go unchallenged. And that’s true for Democrats if you
hear a Democratic make something up, and that’s true for a
Republican if you see a Republican cross that line.
Rather than accept the
notion that compromise is a sellout to one side, we’ve got to
insist on the opposite -- that it can be a genuine victory that means
progress for all sides.,,,
And maybe, most of all,
whenever someone begins to grow cynical about our politics, or
believes that their actions can’t make a difference or it’s not
worth participating in, we’ve got to insist, even against all
evidence to the contrary, that in fact they can make a
difference. And in this job of being a citizen of the
United States of America, that’s a big deal. It's
something we should revere and take seriously.
(Following a riff on
Lincoln)
...And those victories did
not solve all of our problems. He would be attacked at
times for the compromises he was prepared to make by abolitionists
and folks from his own side. It would be 100 years more
until the law guaranteed African Americans the equal rights that they
had been promised. Even 50 years after that, our march is
not yet finished. But because Lincoln made that decision
not to give up, and not to let other voices speak for him, and
because he held in his mind the strength of principle but the vision,
the ability to understand those who disagreed with him, and showed
them respect even as he fought them -- because of what he set in
motion, generations of free men and women of all races and walks of
life have had the chance to choose this country’s course. What
a great gift. What a great legacy he has bestowed up.
And that’s the thing
about America. We are a constant work of progress. And
our success has never been certain, none of our journey has been
preordained. And there’s always been a gap between our
highest ideals and the reality that we witness every single day. But
what makes us exceptional -- what makes us Americans -- is that we
have fought wars, and passed laws, and reformed systems, and
organized unions, and staged protests, and launched mighty movements
to close that gap, and to bring the promise and the practice of
America into closer alignment. We’ve made the effort to
form that “more perfect union.”
Nine years to the day that
I first announced for this office, I still believe in that politics
of hope. And for all the challenges of a rapidly changing
world, and for all the imperfections of our democracy, the capacity
to reach across our differences and choose that kind of politics --
not a cynical politics, not a politics of fear, but that kind of
politics -- sustained over the tranquil and steady dedication of a
lifetime, that’s something that remains entirely up to us.
May Democratic activists find something in President Obama's words that gives strength to go on because ~ it's not easy out there...
The full transcript can be found here
and it can be found on video here
Thank
you for reading!
G., aka
Partisan Democrat
(
Please follow me at http://gkmtnblogs.blogspot.com/
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