With a day and half of recovery time under my belt from my coast-to-coast KOS trip (Tampa-Detroit-Vegas-Houston-Tampa in 26 hours), I finally have a moment to post about it.
First, thank you for the invitation to participate and the overwhelmingly warm reception.
Before we even got checked in at KOS, people were hugging me and snapping pictures. That's a far cry from the hostility, anger and threats that have been directed at me and my family from our friends on the far right.
When I actually spoke (I was about 30 minutes late due to a baggage snafu at the airport), the questions were great and the audience support was warm and unreserved. In total, I think I answered about a dozen questions and had an extra hour or so to chat with others at a book-signing that followed my part of the day.
Thank you also to the hard working organizers, sponsors, volunteers and especially KOS and hotel security who made my experience seamless and enjoyable.
I know a few people at YearlyKOS and many supporters on DailyKOS missed my brief (but hopefully outstanding) remarks. So I have posted them below as they were supposed to be delivered. Those who attended may to have to tell me how close what I actually said was to what I intended to say.
As a last note, a few YearlyKOS goers asked how my PAC (TerriPAC.com) picked the candidates we supported. TerriPAC supports candidates exclusively with the money we raise from people who support our mission and we pick those candidates based, in large part, on what those candidates and their supporters ask us to do.
So if you have a suggestion (or even a few) for who we should help, email the PAC director at Director@TerriPAC.com and let him know. It's also a great idea to let the candidate or campaign know that you contacted us so they can follow-up.
Ok, so it's not the last note but one last thing, I promise. Many of you know I am supporting Jim Davis for Governor in Florida. And many KOS readers are familiar with Democracy for America and their process for earning support. You see where this is going...I'm asking for a favor. If you live in Florida (or maybe even if you don't - I'm note 100% sure what the rules are about that) please take two seconds and vote for DFA to support Jim Davis. I did it already and I'd love for some of the great people I met at YearlyKOS (or have heard from on DailyKOS) to help Jim Davis. Here are the links to make that happen:
If you're already signed-up with DFA and live in Florida, you can support Jim Davis here and here.
If not, you can go here, sign-up and support Jim Davis for Governor after you register.
Now that I've rambled, here's the speech I intended to give at YearlyKOS.
Thanks again to everyone for everything!
Good afternoon.
My name is Mike Schiavo and I'm here to talk with you about privacy.
I don't want to talk too long because I'd rather answer some questions and hear from you. I really just want to make three points about the right-wing and how they run our country.
But let me begin by asking for your understanding. As you may know, I'm not a professional speaker or a politician. In fact, before anyone here knew who I was, before the right-wing made my family a political issue and before their spin and lie machine went to work to ruin my name, I was a private person.
When it came to politics, I was like millions of people in this country. I only voted in Presidential elections and I was a Registered Republican. I was Republican because I believed that great line about less government, more freedom and lower taxes.
I'm no expert in taxes so I'll give them a pass on that one. But maybe nobody in America knows better than I do that the Republican Party does not care about less government and more freedom.
When it suits them. when there a political points to be scored, the right-wing has no problem, no hesitation at all in pushing an aggressive and powerful government into your life for the single and only purpose of limiting your freedom.
And that's not a theory. It's a fact. It's what they did.
On the floor of Congress, in the White House, on 24 hour national television that's exactly what they did to me.
Let me say it again -the right-wing in this country used the power of government to try to take away my legally and morally protected rights.
But if you're here you probably already know that. So, why did they do it?
The right-wing politicians and fanatics will tell you they had to act because they cared about Terri.
Let me tell you as clearly as I can - I think that's a lie.
Not a single one of those people ever met Terri. They didn't care about Terri until she made the front page of the paper. Most of them didn't even know how to say our name. They didn't care about Terri until they figured they could score cheap and easy political points by using her to stir-up anger in their supporters.
So, again, why did they do it?
And here's my first point and maybe most important point. I believe the right-wing and conservative politicians running our country only really care about one thing. They care about getting and keeping power.
Let me explain a little.
Since the public media circus surrounding my case we've learned that our government is listening to our phone calls without court approval is collecting records of who we call,
is stalking law-abiding, tax-paying citizens and is using the power of government to investigate and harass reporters whose only crime is telling the truth.
Each time another story comes out about the conservatives limiting our freedoms, they duck behind the flag saying it's for national security.
But here's my point and it's more of a question. What was the national security interest in taking away my rights?
My case had zero to do with Terrorism or national security. When it comes to explaining why they acted to restrict my liberty and impose on my rights, there was no national interest.
And I'm no expert in terrorism or national security either but maybe, just maybe, when you look at what they did to me and then you look at what they're doing to us all maybe there's a pattern there.
It's no wonder they'd love me to go away and shut-up. It's no wonder they keep trying to trash me. It's because they know that they can't explain the invasion of my privacy and my rights by making us afraid of terrorists.
My second point is about bravery.
I've heard that the hand-full of Republicans who voted against what they tried to do were brave. That's a term I just don't understand, really. I used to think bravery was something you displayed in combat.
But I think it's sad that simply standing up for a tax-paying American, standing up for our laws and courts and standing up and saying that our government has no business interfering in the lives of one family is brave.
If we've come to place where Republicans are brave for simply following the law, we're in real trouble. When following the law and protecting our rights is bravery, it's fair to say our entire government has lost its way.
And my last point before we talk is about action.
Again, I'm no expert but I think there are real problems in our country: lack of health care, poverty, immigration, the environment and so I just don't understand why these same leaders who got Congress to act in mere hours when the TV cameras were on simply can't get it together on anything else.
Remember, when the world was watching, the President flew back from Texas, the Congress convened on a Sunday, the President signed a bill at one in the morning in his pajamas.
So I hope you understand that it broke my heart just weeks later to see the President and Congress claim to be so helpless when people were dying in New Orleans.
When Congress claims they can't do anything about immigration or health care, I don't understand it. Again, I know better than perhaps anyone that Congress can move with ruthless efficiency when they want to. So I have to assume that this Congress and this President just don't want to do anything.
Because nobody in the right-wing gets angry when Americans die in Iraq or New Orleans, nothing gets done.
So, I'm pretty down on our current leadership in our country. Not only because of what they've done to me personally, even though it was inexcusable. But because I believe they have set a path for this country that puts politics ahead of privacy and fear ahead of freedom. And that's dangerous for everyone.
Let me say one final thing before I end. I need your help.
I understand the power of the Internet as a communication tool and we need to use it to remind voters of what happened in my case. Because what the right-wing did to me and my family is one of the clearest examples of an out of control government
And I think it's a key piece in the 2006 election puzzle. And the Republicans know it. Poll after poll continues to show that voters strongly oppose what they tried to do. They know they can't explain it. And they don't want to talk about it. That's why you've already seen some of the key leaders in Congress backing away from what they did.
Many of you know I've started a political committee to engage the out of control politicians and educate voters but I do need your help in telling people about it.
Help me spread the word about TerriPAC and you can count on my time and my voice in this growing national discussion about privacy, our rights and what we really want from our leaders.
Tell me where and tell me when and I will be there.
Thanks for listening to me. I am glad to be here. And I'm happy to talk to you.
Thank you.