An election night message we shouldn’t ignore
There were many victory speeches by Democratic candidates on Nov. 3, but few of them better encapsulated the problems that have plagued our politics and the path forward to repair this country than the one delivered by Sen.-elect James Talarico of Texas. We assume most readers probably didn’t hear Talarico’s words, so we are running an extended excerpt that came after he highlighted all the ways his opponents sought to use divisive, emotional appeals to hold onto power. As he did during his entire campaign, he preached the opposite, espousing a populist politics based on loving our neighbors. Here are Mr. Talarico’s words:
“Because despite our differences, we all want the same things: a safe neighborhood, a good job, a high quality, well-funded public school, and the ability to see a doctor when we need one.
“But the billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians fighting on our screens, they want us at each other’s throats. They want us focused on how we’re different instead of on how we’re the same. They want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them.
“The real fight in this country is not left versus right. It is top versus bottom. The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided, because our unity is a threat to their wealth and their power. We saw it in this race. We saw it in every billionaire-funded attack ad.
“The people at the top divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion, by culture, so we don’t notice that they are picking our pockets. That they are defunding our schools, that they are gutting our health care, that they are raising taxes on all of us while they cut taxes for themselves.
“It is the oldest strategy in the world, divide and conquer.
“But tonight we sent a crystal-clear message to the people at the top. We will not be conquered. I think it’s safe to say that we are tired of being pitted against each other. We are tired of being told to hate each other.
“It has been 10 years of this kind of politics, politics as blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as professional wrestling.
“It tears families apart. It ends friendships, and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time. People across the political spectrum are hungry for a different kind of politics. Not a politics of hate, not a politics of fear, not a politics of division, but a politics of love.
“And we know how to get there. We must get big money out of our politics, so no billionaire or trillionaire can buy our elections.
“We must unrig this economic system that only benefits the top one percent We must pass universal health care, so no one goes bankrupt just because they get sick. We must invest in our teachers and our students, so every underdog has a fighting chance. We must end these corrupt forever wars that are driving up prices and killing our great men and women in uniform.
“And we must heal the deep spiritual corruption at the root of all of these crises. We must bridge the divides between us and repair the ties that bind us.”
