"We need more women in charge... Americans who before didn't engage in politics but laced up because they, too, believe this time's different...
This moment's too important to sit out ... the antidote to a govet controlled by a powerful few, that divides... is a govt by the organized, energized, inclusive many...
... you cannot wait for a savior ... we don't need a messiah ... all we need are honest, decent, hard working people... and they will make things better if they have support ... it will be a start, and you have to start it.
One election will not fix everything that needs to be fixed, but it will start it.
What's gonna fix our democracy is YOU... you're the antidote...not in just this election but in every subsequent election, and in the days between elections...
... because in the end the threat to our democracy doesn't just come from Trump, or the current batch of Republicans in Congress, or the Koch brothers and their lobbyists, or too much compromise from Democrats or Russian hacking.
The biggest threat to our democracy is indifference... cynicism ... and cynicism led too many people stay home on election day.
To all the young people who are here today .... your generation has more power than anybody to change things... if you want it, you can make sure America gets out of its current funk. If you actually care about it, you have the power to make sure we seize a brighter future.
But to exercise that power you have to show up. If you thought elections don't matter, I hope these last two years have corrected that impression.
So if you don't like what's going on right now, and you shouldn't -- do not complain, don't hashtag, don't get anxious, don't retreat, don't binge ... don't lose yourself in ironic detachment, don't put your head in the sand, don't boo -- VOTE!
... If you are really concerned ... the best way to protest is to VOTE! ... if you turn to politicians who offer nothing but "thoughts and prayers" after a mass shooting, you've got to do what the Parkland kids are doing, some of them aren't even eligible to vote yet ... they don't give up until Congress sees their lives are more important than a check to the NRA ... You've gotta vote!
... When you vote you've got the power to make it easier to afford college, and harder to shoot up a school... you've got the power to make sure a family keeps its health insurance, you could save somebody's life... When you vote you've got the power to make sure that white nationalists don't feel emboldened to march with their hoods off or on in the middle of the day ...
30 minutes. Is democracy worth that? ... Each generations has brought us to the other side, not by sitting around and waiting for something to happen, not by leaving it up to someone to do something, but by leading that movement for change themselves.
Not perfection ... but with each new step we take in the direction of fairness ... hope spreads ... and that can be the legacy of your generation ... that stood up to remind us just how precious our democracy is ... when we fight for it, when we believe in it ... I believe in you. I believe you will help lead us in the right direction and I will be there with you every step of the way."
= new reply since forum marked as read
