Jim McDermott Luncheon Speech
Washington State Democratic Central Committee
Saturday
January 29, 2005
Thank you. Thank you for extending me an invitation to speak to you today.
And . . . Congratulations! Congratulations to all of you on your own election . . . or re-election . . . to your leadership positions in the State Democratic Party.
I especially thank Paul Berendt for inviting me to speak to you today and I congratulate him on drawing a "line in the sand" and insisting that every vote be counted in the Governors' race. Paul, thank you on behalf of all of us for your good work.
We Democrats, all of us, have a lot of work to do.
Those of us in Congress will be fighting Republican attempts to dismantle programs and assault institutions that we Democrats have held dear for decades. Republicans have already begun to move forward with:
Radical changes to our social Security System
They will move to create a draft . . . or the equivalent of a draft.
Our civil liberties are under attack - Patriot Act II is on it way.
The Republican agenda for our courts - including the Supreme Court- is even more astonishing.
The Republican assault on our values will extend to health care, education civil liberties, foreign policy, worker safety, women's issues . . . it's an across-the- board, full on attack.
Believe me, we Democrats in Congress have our work cut out.
But all of you in this room also have a job to do.
Those of you here in this room, and in reorganization meetings around the country, make up the core of the Democratic Party.
When you think about it, your presence here today and your work with our Party in the weeks and months ahead, will put into place the campaigns and candidates that will shape our party and reassert our Democratic values over the next two very important years.
Today, I want to talk a bit about how we got here . . . about Republican tactics . . . about how they did it . . . about how these characters operate.
I also want to talk about what I think we Democrats can do about it.
First of all, let's talk about:
Thirty years ago, Hunter Thompson wrote a book with an intriguing title. The book was about the 1972 presidential campaign. Its title . . . "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail".
Today, Republicans have elevated the concept of fear and loathing in politics to a new level - It's become sort of an art form for them, both on the campaign trail and in the Congress.
Michael Moore alluded to it in his movie Fahrenheit 911. Actually, it's one of the reasons that he filmed the 911 interview with me and put me in his film.
Prior to my life as a Member of Congress, I was a psychiatrist. Michael was looking for a psychiatrist's point of view, and comments on the effects that fear has on all of us.
And believe me, Republicans work very hard to promote fear.
(Images of Fear)
Remember when we were told about weapons of mass destruction . . . weapons that were, as it turns out, non- existent . . . but was used as a reason, a non-existent reason, to take our county into a war?
A color-coded system of alerts was created by the new Department of Homeland Security . . . Orange alerts . . . Red alerts . . . Yellow alerts . . . a daily reminder of the risk of terrorist attacks and the risk to our safety and security.
Remember the 33 pounds of "weapons grade uranium" that was reported in the media that 33 pounds turned out to be 3 ounces of non-radioactive metal.
Remember the talk of "Smallpox" - another issue used to raise our anxiety levels.
I was impressed enough with the use of "fear" as a campaign tactic that I wrote an article on it late last fall called "Fear Factor".
If you don't think that all this has an effect, listen to this quote:
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Sound familiar . . . Actually the quote is from Hermann Goering as he testified at the Nuremberg trials. But doesn't it remind you of what we experienced just last year.
The "artful" Republicans also rely on a sort of "newspeak" - to drive their message. It really is a misuse of language to cleverly frame their messages.
George Lakoff is a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at the University of California at Berkeley. His book: "Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think" dissects some of the conservative catchphrases:
A War (kind of a bad word) becomes . . . "The war on terror"
A catch phrase for funding private education becomes . . . "No child left behind"
"The energy crisis" - not an oil company rip-off . . . but a "crisis"
Social Security is now characterized as a "crisis". Private investments of Social Security funds in the stock market are now referred to as "Personalized Accounts".
We have "voter revolts . . . implying that the population is being ruled unfairly.
What about:
"Tax relief". . . relief is not a neutral term, it implies that taxes are some sort of an affliction rather than a responsibility.
You get the idea. The use . . . misuse of language, spewed out by the conservative talk show network and picked up by the mainstream media has helped frame the discussion of these important issues in a manner that is very favorable to conservatives. It is designed to put our Democratic values on the defensive.
In addition to the images of fear and the clever, but effective, "misuse" of language is the tactic of intimidation and threats. It is a Newt Gingrich or a Karl Rove "take-no-prisoners" style of politics.
It is the type of ugly politics that goes after an American war hero, like Senator Max Cleland. Max was a Senator, a triple amputee, who fought tirelessly for veterans from his wheelchair on the floor of the United States Senate.
He is a man of character who was deeply committed to helping veterans, yet was defeated by a relentless campaign of innuendo and misrepresentation fueled by $12 million dollars of last-minute advertising that implied that he was "soft" on veterans.
The Republicans use campaigns like the one that defeated Max as a warning to other Democrats - "Question an ill-conceived war - you are unpatriotic - you may be the next Max Cleland"!
For those of us in strong Democratic districts - there is another tactic. . . using the legal system to grind down opponents.
My own battle in the courts with the Newt Gingrich gang, or what's left of it, has been going on for 8 years - all the way to the Supreme Court and back again. My case is a First Amendment case that continues to this day.
It is about whether or not we are going to permit the government to regulate the truthful transmission of information on matters of public concern. The case now has the attention of most major news gathering organizations in our country who are rushing in to defend the First Amendment.
There are a couple of thing that I want to suggest to you.
First of all, let's look to the future and not talk so much about the past. We can learn from the past. We can learn from our experiences. What I talked about earlier is not to be forgotten, but our thoughts and actions should be forward thinking.
If we start thinking about the future again, we will all realize that we have a bright future, and that things will change. Most importantly, we are the people who will bring about that change.
The second thing that I'll suggest to you is that we Democrats are not going to achieve our goals by simply attacking Republicans - no matter how much fun we have doing it.
We can come to meetings like this one, and we can sit around our living rooms and talk about the sad state of affairs that Republicans have created . . . but the bottom line is that Democrats have to offer alternatives.
We must return to being a party of ideas rooted in our Democratic values. And . . . we cannot lose site of those values.
Next week when our Democratic caucus meets in the other Washington to develop its congressional agenda, I hope that our focus, in the broadest terms, will be on these pillars of Democratic values:An increase in the minimum wage so that people in our country can afford to live decently
Affordable housing for all our citizens
Affordable, adequate health care for everyone
Accessible education for all
Environmental stewardship that truly protects and preserves our nationI also hope that our caucus will advance bold programs to achieve these values. And I hope that we as a caucus will be willing to take the fight for these values straight to the American people.
I am now the ranking Democratic member of the Human Resources sub-committee on Ways and Means. Even as a minority member, being a ranking sub-committee member on the most powerful committee in the US Congress gives me a greater ability to impact legislation.
This session I will likely submit a bill to raise the minimum wage in this country. Raising the minimum wage is a concept that will help tens of millions of people in our country.
That bill will be sent to the Human Resources committee and I will fight for it. At least we will get people across this country talking about it.(Fighting for our values)
A final suggestion that I'll make to you is that we must be willing to stand up for our values and to fight for them.
It's easy to stand in the back of the room and watch the parade go by. Anybody can do that.
As leaders in our Party it is our job to challenge things that are wrong.
To vote against bad ideas and to vote against bad appointments.
It is also our job as leaders to introduce new ideas and bold approaches to solving our problems. To start the debate and to take our case to the American people.
I know that there were those in our party who suggested to Paul Berendt that the Governor's race was a lost cause. That it was too expensive. That the money couldn't be raised is such a short time.
It would have been easy for him to stand in the back of the room and watch the Republican parade go by.
But instead of allowing our state to become another Florida, our party fought back, and insisted that every vote be counted in the Governor's race.
And . . . we won.
And . . . because of that, we have a chance to make Washington State a better place to live and to take care of our citizens.
There is also a lesson to be learned from how the recount battle was fought.
The money was raised in a very short period of time. There were some large donations of course, but hundreds of thousands of dollars came in the form of small donations from all over the country. From Democrats who were fighting back.
I am also encouraged by the national race for DNC chair. I am an enthusiastic supporter of Howard Dean. I like the energy he brought to the presidential campaign. I liked the way his campaign brought new people and new energy to our Party.
All of you sitting in this room today should remember that we can make a difference. That collectively, we citizens can change things. That our collective voices are heard in Washington D.C. and in our state capitols.
But we can only be heard if each of us is willing to stand up for our values. To defend our Democratic values and to fight for our principles.
There is someone here today who should serve as an inspiration to all of us.
A couple of weeks ago, a member of my staff came into my office and handed me a copy of a letter sent to me from the state party office.
Actually, the letter was sent to Paul Berendt. It was from a Democrat over in Mason County. She called herself an "old lady without any political clout"
But . . . she had a statement to make.
Paul sent me the letter, because she wanted to find a way to help me.
Here is part of what she said:
"We are only a small area, but the Mason County democrats are a great, enthusiastic bunch - and if I could get a few of our people to join me in this letter, perhaps this might motivate others, hopefully state-wide to band together and devise a plan to show the other Washington that our elected Representatives are not to be trifled with."
The letter was written by Adelheid Krohne and signed by Adelheid and 22 of her friends.
Adelheid is here today with some of her friends - I met them all earlier. If she wouldn't mind, I'd like to introduce her to you. Adelheid, would you join me up here, I have something for you.
First of all
I want to thank you and your friends for supporting me. I can assure you that it means a lot to me - it inspires me to keep on fighting.
I also want to thank you for reminding us all that we all need to take the initiative to get active . . . to get others active . . . to stand up and be counted . . .and not be pushed around.
There is strength in numbers, and if Democrats all over our state and our country take the kind of initiative that you and your friends did, we will win this battle to defend our Democratic principles.
I have something for you. It's a copy of your letter - Paul is going to let me keep the original - but I have a copy for you with a note of appreciation from me.
It's a note that expresses my thanks to you and your friends for supporting me - but also thanks you for reminding all of us to get active - and that we are never too old to join the fight for our Democratic values.
Thank you so very much.
And thanks to all of you so much for having me as your luncheon speaker.
Revision date: May 10, 2005
