Elizabeth Warren says she is not running for president in 2016 but as The Nation reported earlier this week, “when the senator from Massachusetts took the stage at this year’s Netroots Nation conference… Warren came to Detroit with the platform on which Democrats should be running in 2016. And in 2014.”
What Elizabeth Warren brought to the Netroots Nation gathering was a progressive vision that is of the moment—a vision rooted in the understandings that have been established in the years since the “Republican wave” election of 2010. As Republicans in Congress practiced obstructionism, and as an increasingly activist Supreme Court knocked down historic democratic protections, Republican governors aggressively attacked labor rights, voting rights and women’s rights. Citizens responded with rallies, marches and movements—in state capitals, on Wall Street, across the country. They developed a new progressive vision that is more aggressive and more precisely focused on economic and social justice demands, and on challenging the power of corporations and their political allies.
Warren’s Netroots Nation speech incorporated what has been learned, and what has been demanded. She made a connection between the movements and the political process that has tremendous significance for the coming election cycles.
Warren’s Democratic Party has not fully recognized that connection—not by a long shot—but Warren gets it. And the response of the thousands of activists, organizers and communicators gathered at the Netroots conference suggests that “the base” is ready to rally around it.
As Warren puts it: “This is a fight over economics, a fight over privilege, a fight over power. But deep down it’s a fight over values. These are progressive ideas; these are progressive values. These are America’s values. And these are the values we are willing to fight for.”
Below is Warren’s 10 point vision for America as detailed towards the conclusion of her speech, followed a video of that portion of her speech.
Sometimes we have to get together and we have to talk about what are our values. We have to talk about what does it mean to be a progressive. We have to talk about about what does it mean to be American. So let’s spend a minute talking about what we believe in.
1. We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement and we are willing to fight for it. We are willing to fight for it.
2. We believe in science… and we are willing to fight for it.
3. We believe that the Internet shouldn’t be rigged to benefit big corporations… and we will fight for it.
4. We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty… and we are willing to fight for it. We will fight for it. Let me add to that we believe that fast food workers deserve a livable wage and when they take to picket lines we are proud to fight along side of them.
5. We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt, and we are willing to fight for it.6. We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity. And that means protecting Social Security, Medicare and pensions, and we will fight for them. We will fight.
7. Oh—we believe, but I can’t believe that I have to say this in 2014—we believe in equal pay for equal work. And we are willing to fight for it.
8. We believe that equal means equal, and that’s true in marriage, it’s true in the workplace, it’s true in all of America. And we are willing to fight for it.
9. We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant and that means we’ve got to be willing to fight for it…
10. Oh—and we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. and we have rights and we will overturn [Supreme Court decisions] and we will fight for it. We will fight for it. Right here in this room.
This is where it happens. This is 21 st century democracy. This is the future of America. This is where we decide that we the people will fight for what we believe in. We’re going to do this and we are going to win.
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- Editorial Note – January 15, 2019
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