My Passions

This is a partial transcript of the second half of the speech I delivered to the Oregon delegates at the Democratic National Convention on July 27, 2016.

I have four issues that I am going to lobby you about over the course of the next few years, because they are things that we can do, even with a crazy Congress, which I hope soon won’t be so crazy.

I’ve been spending time going coast-to-coast to reform America’s failed prohibition on marijuana. It’s something that I started on in 1973, before any of you, except Joe, were born. But, I have come to realize that this is the epitome of an unfair racist system of justice that comes down too hard on young men of color; the prison industrial complex locking people up. The know nothings that deny the opportunity for the scientific research of marijuana that can have huge therapeutic effects. And, just simple common sense — tax it , regulate it. Don’t waste money trying to enforce something you shouldn’t do in the first place.

This is something that this year, with up to 10 states voting on it, that we can turn the tide with this crazy policy that criminalizes behavior, denies research, and afflicts young men of color, especially African Americans.

I am absolutely convinced that we in Oregon can plot a vision of agriculture reform that stops the insanity of paying too much to the wrong people to grow the wrong crops and subsidizes agribusiness that makes America sick. And that is something we can do in Oregon.

Some of you know I have had my “Sing Your Own Farm Bill” process. We’ve met with over 5,000 people. We’re developing an approach that will be fairer to Oregon’s farmers and ranchers and their future, better for the environment, and save us money. And, we can start it with Oregon.

Some of you know that I am a little bit of an infrastructure geek. I introduced the first gas tax in 23 years and am working with the real infrastructure geek, Peter DeFazio, because it’s past time to rebuild and renew America. We are all concerned about the hollowing out of the middle class and the fact that America is falling apart and falling behind. There’s a very simple solution, sports fans.

In this country, the workplace is changing dramatically. Some of you are concerned about the international trade has on jobs, and you should be. But you know, we lose 5 million jobs every three months in this country and only a tiny portion of those are affected by international commerce.

Change is afoot — driverless cars anybody? The number one category of employment for men without a college degree is driver. Technology is affecting us all. We produce more steel in the United States than we did in 1980. But we produce it with 87,000 people. In 1980, there were almost 400,000.

Where are the jobs going to be? Why not rebuild and renew this country? This is within our capacity.

Last but not least is one issue that maybe some of you may think is a little bit of a fringe issue — animal welfare. It’s not. We have a ballot measure that is part of an effort to make sure that we don’t lose all of the elephants on this planet in the next 10 years, except for zoos.

And it’s not just something we do for these creatures of God. There are 11 million animal welfare voters in this country, and most of them are sympathetic to the things we care about.

These are things that I am going to concentrating on, in addition to my day job, because these are things that will bring people to the ballot box. These are people that will motivate nontraditional voters. These are things that are going to solve problems rather than coming back in four years and griping about them.

Those are my passions, and I urge each of you to leave this convention, dedicated to yours.