Early in the morning of January 7th, 2023, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had finally made enough concessions to the fringe members of his conference to buy their votes. They finally allowed him to become the Speaker of the House (at least for a few months).
Part of the ceremonial transfer of power in the House required the Democratic Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), to formally present the Speaker’s gavel to McCarthy. Jeffries speech should be read or watched by every American. It demonstrates the intelligence and grace of a true leader. The speech also makes absolutely clear that the Democrats are the party that cares about, and works for, the people (ALL the people) of the United States.
In one part of the speech, Jeffries lists the values of the Democratic Party alphabetically:
House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation.
Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic House Minority Leader
This alphabetical recitation of the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties was clever and witty, but it was not glib. Representative Jeffries, as the House Democratic Leader, was delivering a strong clear message to the House Republicans, and to America, about the unshakeable root values of his Democratic caucus – and of the Democratic Party in America.
This list not only captures the optimistic, patriotic, humane values of the Democratic Party, it exposes and denounces the authoritarian, demagogic, cultic, beliefs and practices of the current, Trumpist, Republican Party.
This list deserves to be read slowly and thoughtfully – and more than once. This is not a list of vague, idealistic, hypothetical, standards. Each item in the list could easily be followed by multiple historical, legislative, and media examples of Democratic integrity versus Republican corruption.
Do not let the Republican propaganda media tell you what Democrats believe. We know what we believe. We know what we stand for. Ask us. Listen to us. Look at our record of accomplishment. Work with us to do even better.
This statement by our House Democratic Leader summarizes our values very well. Please forward this post to someone who needs to hear this massage.
Sources:
Hakeem Jeffries, “Minority Leader speech,” (video, 15 min.), CNN, January 7, 2023.
Arianna Coghill, “Hakeem Jeffries Just Made History — and Gave a Helluva Speech,” Mother Jones, January 7, 2023.
Thanks, I know what I believe but it’s nice to see it in such a succinct form. It’s tiring to read the comments in the paper about what “democrats” believe and stand for and know that it’s based on ignorance and hate.