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A New American Dream: James Talarico's Full Policy Address — Transcript

by James Talarico · 3,301 words · 690 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Hey, Arlington.
0:01>> [cheering]
0:03>> It is so good to see you.
0:06Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
0:07you for being here.
0:09Thank you.
0:10>> [cheering]
0:11>> Thank you, Mayor Ross.
0:13Thank you, Mayor Ross, for those kind
0:15words.
0:16Thank you.
0:17Thank you, Mayor, for those kind words
0:20and for your service to this community.
0:22Thank you to Judge Whitley, the legend,
0:25for being here.
0:27Thank you
0:28to my friend and one of the best servant
0:31leaders in this state, Congressman Marc
0:33Veasey.
0:35And thank you
0:37to our next Tarrant County District
0:40Attorney, Tiffany Burks.
0:42>> [cheering and screaming]
0:45[applause]
0:46>> And And thank you to all of you for
0:49being here this evening. It is an honor
0:51to be in Arlington, Texas, to be
0:54in
0:55the American Dream City.
0:58And that is
1:00And that is so appropriate because
1:02tonight we are kicking off our new
1:05American Dream tour. One thing
1:08>> [cheering]
1:09>> One thing is clear across this state.
1:13Big cities, small towns, red areas, blue
1:16areas alike,
1:18everyone is struggling.
1:20No matter how hard Texans work,
1:23no matter how much they save, sacrifice,
1:27and stretch,
1:28those ends never seem to meet.
1:32After tonight, we're traveling to 10
1:35cities across Texas to talk about a new
1:38vision for our economy,
1:40to talk about a new American Dream.
1:44A few days before America's 250th
1:47birthday,
1:48I met a grandmother in Houston.
1:52Her name is Augusta.
1:54Augusta cares for her 5-year-old
1:57grandson who has autism.
1:59She works at the airport
2:02clocking 10-hour shifts
2:04cleaning planes after the passengers get
2:07off.
2:08It's backbreaking work.
2:10But Augusta shows up
2:12day in and day out.
2:15She is serving
2:17her community.
2:18In return for that service
2:21to squeeze a little more profit
2:23out of Augusta
2:25the airlines cut the AC
2:28in the planes.
2:30So Augusta
2:31spends all day on the tarmac
2:34in a tin can
2:36in the Texas heat
2:38spraying and scrubbing
2:40and picking up trash as fast as she can
2:43before the next plane lands.
2:45Her wages don't cover her basic living
2:49expenses
2:50including rent
2:51for her small apartment which is now
2:54$1,500 a month.
2:56Now she and her grandson
2:59are facing eviction.
3:01Augusta
3:03is working hard.
3:04She is taking responsibility.
3:07She is caring for those around her.
3:10What kind of country are we
3:13if we let a woman like that go down?
3:16In the US Senate we're going to have
3:18Augusta's back.
3:20We are going to have
3:23>> [applause]
3:25>> We are going to have the backs
3:27of every Texan who is working hard and
3:30playing by the rules.
3:32We know it doesn't have to be this way
3:35because we know it wasn't always this
3:38way.
3:39The young people here might not remember
3:41this, but those of you who are a little
3:43older may.
3:45Not so long ago
3:46you could afford to live a good life in
3:49America.
3:50You could buy a home in your 20s.
3:53You could go to college for cheap or
3:55free.
3:57You could support a whole family on one
4:00paycheck.
4:01You could afford to get married, to have
4:03kids, to retire comfortably.
4:06You could fulfill
4:08your God-given potential.
4:11We called it
4:12the American dream.
4:14In the middle of the 20th century, we
4:17invested in healthcare and education.
4:20We built homes and highways.
4:23We protected workers' rights and
4:25workers' paychecks.
4:27We blocked consolidation and we
4:29encouraged competition.
4:31We built the largest, strongest middle
4:35class in the history of the world.
4:39But today,
4:40that middle class has disappeared.
4:43For too many of our neighbors,
4:46for too many Texans like Augusta,
4:48the American dream
4:50has become an American nightmare.
4:53It is too expensive to buy a home. It's
4:55too expensive to get married and have
4:57kids. It's too expensive to retire
5:00comfortably.
5:02People are working hard. Every day
5:04they're playing by the rules, but those
5:06rules of today weren't written for us.
5:10They were written for billionaires.
5:13We can't afford a home, but Jeff Bezos
5:16has at least a dozen.
5:19We can't afford to fill up our tank, but
5:21Mark Zuckerberg is launching helicopters
5:24off his mega yacht.
5:26One in five Texas children
5:29live in poverty.
5:31But one of our own residents became the
5:34world's first trillionaire.
5:37Those
5:39Those three men
5:41now own more wealth than the entire
5:44middle class.
5:46The top 1%
5:48has put the American dream behind a
5:50paywall.
5:5250 years ago
5:54a corporate lawyer
5:56named Lewis Powell circulated a memo
5:58around DC.
6:00A blueprint for how corporations could
6:03amass political power,
6:05reverse the gains of the Great Society
6:07and the New Deal,
6:09and rig the system for themselves.
6:11The Powell memo outlined a strategy
6:15unite corporate special interests,
6:17privilege corporate perspectives in the
6:20media,
6:21appoint sympathetic judges to the court,
6:24and buy politicians in both political
6:27parties.
6:29And it worked.
6:30Republicans and some Democrats sold the
6:34false gospel of trickle-down economics.
6:38That
6:40>> [cheering]
6:40>> That idea
6:42that the best way to grow the economy is
6:45to let the rich get richer and forget
6:47about everybody else.
6:49That the best way to motivate wealthy
6:52people is to give them money.
6:54And the best way to motivate the rest of
6:56us is to take it away.
6:59Someday, somehow, they told us the gains
7:03would trickle down to the rest of us.
7:05Trickle-down economics is not a theory.
7:09It is theft.
7:11For 50 years
7:13>> [cheering and applause]
7:16>> For 50 years
7:18billionaire mega donors and their puppet
7:21politicians have been stealing from the
7:24American people.
7:25Stealing the wealth that we created
7:29with their bribes,
7:30their bailouts,
7:32and their billionaire tax breaks.
7:34This
7:35affordability crisis
7:37isn't something that happened over the
7:39last 5 years.
7:41This affordability crisis has been 50
7:44years in the making.
7:46Since the late 1970s, mega donors and
7:49corporate special interests have been
7:51buying politicians in both political
7:53parties.
7:54And then those politicians turned around
7:56and rigged the economy to benefit their
7:59wealthy donors at our expense.
8:01We have an affordability crisis because
8:05we have a corruption crisis.
8:07We
8:11>> [applause]
8:15>> We
8:16are getting screwed.
8:18Whether whether you're a little more
8:21conservative or a little more
8:22progressive, we're all getting screwed.
8:26None of us can afford groceries. None of
8:28us can afford gas. None of us can afford
8:31health care.
8:32The billionaires buying the system,
8:35buying politicians like Ken Paxton, they
8:39don't care who you are.
8:41They don't care about your politics.
8:44They only care about their profits.
8:47They don't see us as Democrats and
8:50Republicans.
8:52They don't see red or blue.
8:55They only see green.
8:57They see us
8:59They see us as people to rip off.
9:03They see us as one opposing team. So, we
9:06might as well start acting like one.
9:09It's time.
9:12>> [applause]
9:12[cheering]
9:17>> It's time.
9:19It's time for us to come together across
9:22these manufactured divisions to take on
9:26the people at the top who have been
9:28screwing us over for far too long.
9:31Because the real fight in this country
9:34is not left versus right.
9:37It's top versus bottom. That [cheering]
9:43>> [applause]
9:44>> That is the movement
9:46that we are building here in Texas.
9:49This is not a politics of fear.
9:52This is not a politics of division.
9:55This is a politics of unity.
9:58A politics of friendship.
10:01A politics of love.
10:04This new kind of politics can change our
10:06state.
10:07It can change our country.
10:10This new kind of politics can build a
10:13new American dream.
10:16We need
10:18>> [applause]
10:19>> We need
10:21We need a new American dream for today's
10:24economy.
10:25We forget
10:27that the idea behind capitalism was
10:30simple and at the time revolutionary.
10:33People should get fairly compensated for
10:36their labor.
10:37We should get paid for our work.
10:40But that's not what we have right now.
10:44Today, we have an economy that rewards
10:47wealth instead of work.
10:49You can't tell me
10:51that the market is working as it should
10:54when billionaires are becoming
10:56trillionaires while the people who
10:58actually do all the work can't afford
11:00the basics.
11:06>> [applause]
11:07>> Adam Smith
11:09Adam Smith is rolling over in his grave.
11:13This is not capitalism. This is crony
11:16capitalism.
11:17>> [cheering and applause]
11:21>> As Dr. King said,
11:23we have socialism for the rich
11:26and rugged individualism for the poor.
11:30It's time.
11:32It is time to raise the minimum wage and
11:36expand overtime pay so workers can
11:38actually share in the wealth they
11:40create.
11:41>> [cheering]
11:42[applause]
11:46>> It's time
11:47to repeal the big ugly bills tax breaks
11:50for the top 1%
11:53>> [cheering]
11:55[applause]
11:56>> and
11:58and give that $1 trillion to the middle
12:02class in the form of a cost of living
12:04tax cut.
12:09>> [applause]
12:09>> It's time.
12:11It's time to cut taxes for small local
12:14businesses instead of giant
12:16multinational corporations.
12:18>> [cheering]
12:23>> And it is time
12:24to rebuild labor unions in this country
12:28so employees can negotiate with their
12:30bosses for fairer pay, better benefits,
12:34and safer working conditions.
12:38>> [cheering]
12:41>> Working Texans
12:43Working Texans are drowning.
12:46And they're drowning in debt.
12:49Household debt reached an all-time high
12:53in the first quarter of this year.
12:55It is time to cancel medical debt and
12:58stop hospitals and insurance companies
13:01from overcharging their patients.
13:05>> [cheering and applause]
13:10>> You shouldn't go into debt just because
13:12you get sick.
13:14It is time.
13:16It is time to also cap sky-high credit
13:20card interest cards and re- and reel in
13:24these predatory credit card companies
13:26that are ripping off working people
13:28across this state and across this
13:30country.
13:36>> [applause]
13:37>> It is time to invest in college and
13:40career education like we did with the GI
13:43Bill to educate an entire new generation
13:46of Americans without saddling them with
13:49a lifetime of student debt.
13:54And it's not just personal debt.
13:56We have to get serious about the
13:58national debt, which is higher than at
14:01any other point in American history. We
14:04are stealing from future generations.
14:07We're always told that the only way to
14:10lower the debt is to do it on the backs
14:13of working people.
14:15But that's not true.
14:17We can close the deficit and we can do
14:19it by closing billionaire tax loopholes,
14:22cracking down
14:24>> [cheering]
14:30>> cracking down
14:32on tax cheats and ending forever wars
14:35that send billions of our tax dollars
14:37overseas.
14:39>> [cheering]
14:41[applause]
14:43[cheering]
14:46>> We need
14:47We need a new American dream for today's
14:50families.
14:52I am running for LBJ's Senate seat.
14:56Like
14:57>> [cheering]
14:58>> Like me
14:59Lyndon Johnson was a Texas teacher
15:02before he ran for office.
15:04And
15:05And in office
15:07LBJ made the largest federal investment
15:12in America's children and families
15:15larger than anything we'd ever seen in
15:17the history of this country.
15:19Head Start, Title One, Medicare,
15:22Medicaid, public television.
15:25>> [cheering]
15:27>> When
15:30>> [applause]
15:31>> When we win back LBJ's seat, we can pass
15:36an LBJ-sized investment in public
15:39schools across this country.
15:41>> [cheering]
15:47[applause and cheering]
15:49>> We
15:51We can pass universal child care and
15:54paid family leave, so no one has to
15:56choose between earning a living and
15:59raising a family.
16:01>> [cheering]
16:06[applause]
16:06>> We can
16:08We can expand the child tax credit and
16:11make it permanent, so no child lives in
16:14poverty in the wealthiest nation in the
16:16history of the world.
16:18>> [cheering]
16:19[applause]
16:23>> We can slash the red tape preventing us
16:27from building new homes across this
16:29country, and we can provide down payment
16:31assistance to first-time home buyers, so
16:34every American has a place they can call
16:36home.
16:38>> [cheering]
16:38[applause]
16:44>> And we can fight tooth and nail against
16:47attacks on Medicare and ensure that the
16:50wealthiest Americans are paying their
16:52fair share into Social Security, so
16:54every American can afford to retire with
16:57dignity.
16:59>> [cheering]
17:00[applause]
17:03>> We need
17:04a new American dream for today's energy.
17:09Texas is the undisputed energy capital
17:12of America.
17:14We are number one in oil and gas. We're
17:16also number one in wind and solar.
17:20We
17:23We are an all the above energy
17:25powerhouse, which is what true energy
17:28independence requires. Gas in your tank,
17:31oil under your hood, and a solar panel
17:34on your roof. Cheap, reliable energy for
17:38all.
17:39It is time.
17:41It is time to stop attacking our growing
17:45renewable sector in Texas. Do not play
17:47politics with our Texas energy industry.
17:53>> [cheering]
17:54[applause]
17:56>> We should
17:58We should invest in the renewable energy
18:01technologies of the future. And we
18:03should partner with our oil and gas
18:05industry, so Texas can stay an energy
18:08leader in the 21st century, just like we
18:11were in the 20th century. Texas should
18:14leverage
18:16our energy expertise to lead America
18:19toward a cleaner, cheaper future.
18:22And we need a new American dream for
18:26today's technology.
18:28We cannot let artificial intelligence
18:31become yet another arena where
18:34billionaires write the rules for the
18:36rest of us.
18:38>> [cheering]
18:41[applause]
18:44>> Working people,
18:46working people must get a say and a
18:50share of that AI future.
18:53We can start by cracking down on the
18:56data centers that are jacking up our
18:58utility bills and using up all our
19:00water.
19:03>> [applause]
19:05[cheering]
19:06>> And if data center companies can't meet
19:09our demands, they shouldn't be built in
19:11our communities.
19:12>> [cheering]
19:15>> We
19:17We can go further. We can establish an
19:20AI dividend. So, every American citizen
19:23owns a piece of these American AI
19:26companies. If they are going to use our
19:29human ingenuity, if they're going to use
19:32our collective intellectual property,
19:35then we want our royalty checks.
19:38>> [cheering]
19:42>> And
19:44and
19:45we can double down on human creativity.
19:49We can invest in entrepreneurship grants
19:53for people with a great idea, for a
19:55business, for an invention, for a piece
19:58of art, but don't know any big
20:00investors.
20:01Startup funding for the little guy.
20:04It'll pay off
20:06just like it did when the government
20:08invested in companies like Tesla and
20:11innovations like the internet.
20:13The people at the top are afraid of this
20:17new American dream.
20:19They're scared of this room in
20:22Arlington, Texas, of all of us coming
20:25together across race and gender and age
20:28and party
20:30to dream a little bigger.
20:32They're going to claim
20:34that this new dream is radical.
20:36They're going to claim that it's
20:38extreme.
20:39They're going to claim we're socialist
20:42or communist or whatever sounds scariest
20:45in a headline.
20:47And in return, we'll say,
20:49"Is that the best you can do?"
20:52>> [cheering]
20:52>> These
20:56>> [applause]
20:57>> These are
20:59These are the same old scare tactics.
21:03This is the same old politics of the
21:05past.
21:07The names they'll call us the only
21:10reveal how small their dreams really
21:13are.
21:14The people
21:16the people at the top want this to be a
21:18contest of names
21:21because they know that they'll lose a
21:23contest of ideas.
21:30Both
21:32Both the math
21:35and the past make it clear
21:38that a country that takes care of its
21:40people
21:41grows faster than a country that
21:43abandons them.
21:46>> [cheering]
21:46[applause]
21:47>> In 1914
21:49in 1914
21:51when a reporter asked Henry Ford, a
21:53titan of industry, why he doubled the
21:56daily wage for all of his workers,
21:59legend says he gave them a simple
22:01answer.
22:02So they can afford to buy my cars.
22:07When you give
22:08When you give rich people money, they
22:10save it. When you give working people
22:12money, we spend it. We stimulate the
22:15economy.
22:16Despite
22:18what that false gospel of trickle-down
22:20economic tells us,
22:23pro-people policy
22:24is pro-growth policy. It is not an
22:28either-or choice.
22:30>> [applause]
22:31>> Listen.
22:33If you
22:35hate politics,
22:36I get it.
22:38If you don't think that you have time
22:40for
22:41for politics, I get that, too.
22:44And if you don't believe anything can
22:46good
22:47can come from the political process, I
22:49certainly get that.
22:51But let me explain
22:54why this moment
22:55in this state, in this race
22:58matters
22:59so much
23:01for your family
23:02and for your community.
23:04If you are struggling
23:06to afford groceries,
23:08if you're struggling to afford gas, if
23:10you're struggling to afford housing,
23:12child care, and prescription drugs, the
23:14things that we need to survive, it's not
23:17because you're lazy,
23:20it's not because you made bad choices,
23:23it is because the system has been rigged
23:25against you
23:27by billionaire mega donors and corrupt
23:29politicians like Ken Paxton.
23:32I
23:33>> [applause]
23:35>> I don't take
23:37I don't take corporate PAC money and I
23:39never will. If I
23:42>> [cheering]
23:46>> If I
23:49If I can earn your trust
23:52and if you send me to the United States
23:54Senate, I will be your senator. I'll be
23:59I'll be a senator
24:01I'll be a senator for every Texan who
24:03can't afford one.
24:05I will fight to unrig this economy. I
24:07will fight to lower your costs and raise
24:10your pay and unlike Ken Paxton, I will
24:13fight
24:14to put your hard-earned money where it
24:17belongs, in your pocket. I
24:20>> [cheering]
24:23[applause]
24:24>> I will fight
24:26to make sure that you can live a new
24:29American dream.
24:30A new American dream means if you're
24:32working hard and playing by the rules,
24:34you should be able to afford a house big
24:37enough to raise a family in.
24:39A quality education for yourself and for
24:42your kids. A retirement that is
24:45comfortable and secure and most
24:47importantly,
24:48time
24:49doing what you love with the people you
24:53love.
24:54A new
24:56>> [applause]
24:58>> A new American dream
25:00means you can start getting ahead
25:02instead of falling behind.
25:04A new American dream means you can rest
25:06your head on your pillow at night
25:08knowing your bank account is going up,
25:11not down.
25:12And you can wake up in the morning with
25:14full faith that your kids and their kids
25:19will also be able to live a new American
25:22dream of their own.
25:23Before I was a
25:25Before I was a politician on stages like
25:28this,
25:29I was a public school teacher in room
25:34in room
25:35>> [cheering and applause]
25:38>> in room 112 at Rhodes Middle School on
25:41the west side of San Antonio.
25:43The west side.
25:45The west side is a beautiful, historic
25:48neighborhood.
25:49It's also one of the poorest zip codes
25:52in the entire state of Texas.
25:54Every day I saw my students and their
25:56families struggle heroically
25:59to overcome a rigged system holding them
26:02back.
26:03My students
26:05weren't just kids, they were survivors,
26:08fighters, dreamers.
26:10My students, many of them immigrants
26:13or children of immigrants,
26:16understood something about America that
26:19our leaders have forgotten.
26:22That this is supposed to be the land of
26:24opportunity.
26:25That this is the place where dreams can
26:29come true.
26:30We deserve
26:32the chance to chase our dreams,
26:34to pursue happiness.
26:36That's how it used to be in this
26:38country, and it can be that way again.
26:41We can reject the corruption that has
26:44defined both parties for decades.
26:46We can build an America of limitless
26:49opportunity
26:51for people like Augusta
26:53and her grandson
26:55for students
26:57like mine on the west side of San
26:58Antonio
27:00and for every single family with an
27:02American dream of their own.
27:04That is why I'm running.
27:07That is why I am in this race. That is
27:09what this election is about. In the US
27:12Senate we're going to have Augusta's
27:14back. In the US Senate we are going to
27:16have my students backs.
27:19And in the US Senate we are going to
27:21have the back of every Texan who is
27:23working hard and playing by the rules
27:25across this state and together we will
27:28build a new American dream. Thank you
27:30for being here in Arlington. God bless
27:32you.
27:33>> [cheering]
27:33>> God bless the great American city
27:37>> [applause]
27:38>> and God bless the great state of Texas.
27:39Thank y'all. Let's go win this thing.
27:41Thank you.
27:42>> [cheering]
27:45>> Only in America,
27:48dreaming in red, white, and blue.
27:51>> [music]

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