(This is the text of the speech that I gave at the Vermont Democratic Party’s Unity Rally on Thursday, August 13th in Montpelier.)
Good morning! I stand here as the Majority Leader in the Vermont Senate. But more importantly, I stand here as a citizen. Because under our system of government, we all wield the same power in the voting booth.
Many of you remember U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone who tragically died in a plane crash in 2002. Wellstone is well known for his stirring quote: “We all do better when we all do better.”
But there’s another Wellstone quote that’s become my personal motto: “This is no time for timidity.”
This line focuses my attention and my commitment as I reflect upon the excruciating years of the Trump presidency. We’ve witnessed terrific dysfunction and a tremendous meanness of spirit and strategy.
This is no time for timidity
This line guides me as I contemplate the horrible twists and turns sure to come in this election. And it helps me to stave off feelings of doom and paralysis. It points me towards usefulness and away from feeling useless, and it awakens a hopefulness that fitfully slumbers.
This is no time for timidity
To counteract creeping despondency, my brother-in-law has decided to focus his energy since Trump’s ascendancy. Fighting racism in America has become his most important issue, and he’s spending his time and money to get more people of color elected to higher office. He’s backing a Democratic congressional candidate in his home district and following many other House races across the country.
A former coach, he’s not content to merely watch the court from the sidelines. He’s become absolutely FULLY engaged in the process of changing the face of politics in this country.
He believes, as I do, that we all have a part to play in the great struggle for a more just, a more gentle world. And as we head into the general election, I’ll plan my concrete actions to bring about that change. We all must do the same.
How will we each become more fully engaged in transforming the world? What can we each bring to this all-important task? Will you offer a sharp mind? Time? A meeting space? Money? Communication skills? Energy and positivity? Fierce loyalty or compassion?
Are you a connector? An excellent researcher? Are you an artist? A performer? A great organizer of people? Do you move people with your music, your art, your words? Do you have a big heart that’s searching for a landing place? Or do you have a healthy skepticism that can coax us all towards greatness?
My call to action is expansive, inclusive, and absolutely urgent. It’s well past time for all of us to put down our insecurities; they are serving no good master. Push yourself beyond simply caring (and worrying); it’s time to do.
I know “the doing” feels pointless at times. The world is immense and complicated and often feels like a great mess. What impact do our relatively small actions truly have on anything at all?
But maybe this is actually the wrong question—the wrong frame entirely—for understanding our predicament.
The actions themselves, regardless of grand outcomes, are the point. The process of meaning-making—of crafting culture and creating connections— THAT is the heart of it all.
We’re all living through a deeply troubling time in history, and many of us feel trapped in someone else’s narrative. But the meaning-makers, the history shapers, are not the people at the top. It’s all of us as citizens– engaged, powerful citizens. As a historian, I know this to be true.
The sycophants—and the “yes” men and women—grab the headlines. But historians will look to the rest of us and our response to the insanity.
This is no time for timidity. Or for acrimony among us.
Not because we can’t have legitimate points of disagreement. But because this horrible moment in time is not just about us. It’s about our children and the generations that come after who will want to know: What did you do to fight the darkness?
Great speech!