“Common ground’s out there”
Excerpts:
“Eroding our civic institutions and our civic trust and making people angrier and yelling at each other and making people cynical about government, that always works better for those who don’t believe in the power of collective action.”
“You don’t need an effective government or a robust press or reasoned debate to work when all you’re concerned about is maintaining power. In fact, the more cynical people are about government and the angrier and more dispirited they are about the prospects for change, the more likely the powerful are able to maintain their power.”
“But we believe that in order to move this country forward, to actually solve problems and make people’s lives better, we need a well-functioning government, we need our civic institutions to work. We need cooperation among people of different political persuasions. And to make that work, we have to restore our faith in democracy.
“When I say bring people together, I mean all of our people... I got votes from every demographic. We won by reaching out to everybody and competing everywhere and by fighting for every vote. And that’s what we’ve got to do in this election and every election after that!
And we can’t do that if we immediately disregard what others have to say from the start because they’re not like us — because they’re white or they’re black or they’re men or women, or they’re gay or they’re straight; if we think that somehow there’s no way they can understand how I’m feeling, and therefore don’t have any standing to speak on certain matters because we’re only defined by certain characteristics.
– We can’t find common ground if we immediately disregard what others have to say from the start because they’re not like us.
That doesn’t work — if you want a healthy democracy. We can’t do that if we traffic in absolutes when it comes to policy. To make democracy work we have to be able to get inside the reality of people who are different, have different experiences, come from different backgrounds. We have to engage them even when it is frustrating; we have to listen to them even when we don’t like what they have to say; we have to hope that we can change their minds and we have to remain open to them changing ours.”
“Making democracy work means holding on to our principles, having clarity about our principles, and then having the confidence to get in the arena and have a serious debate.
“We could sort through our differences and nobody would get exactly what they wanted, but it would be possible to find a basis for common ground.
… I have seen it. I have lived it.
I know there are white people who care deeply about black people being treated unfairly. I have talked to them and loved them. And I know there are black people who care deeply about the struggles of white rural America. I’m one of them and I have a track record to prove it
I know there are evangelicals who are deeply committed to doing something about climate change. I’ve seen them do the work. I know there are conservatives who think there’s nothing compassionate about separating immigrant children from their mothers.
I know there are Republicans who believe that government should only perform a few minimal functions but that one of those functions should be making sure nearly 3,000 Americans don’t die in a hurricane and its aftermath.”
“Common ground’s out there. I see it every day. Just how people interact, how people treat each other.
You see it on the ball field. You see it at work. You see it in places of worship..
But to say that a common ground exists doesn’t mean it will inevitably win out. History shows the power of fear.
And the closer that we get to Election Day, the more those invested in the politics of fear and division will work, will do anything to hang on to their recent gains.”
People ask me, what are you going to do for the election? No, the question is: What are you going to do?
“In the last midterms election, in, fewer than one in five young people voted. One in five. Not two in five, or three in five. One in five. Is it any wonder this Congress doesn’t reflect your values and your priorities? Are you surprised by that?
This whole project of self-government only works if everybody’s doing their part. Don’t tell me your vote doesn’t matter. I’ve won states in the presidential election because of five, ten, twenty votes per precinct.
And if you thought elections don’t matter, I hope these last two years have corrected that impression.”
The best way to protest is to vote!
— not just for Senators and Representatives, but for mayors and sheriffs and state legislators.

