Here are a few takeaways from the Our Revolution event last night in San Antonio, Texas. I hope others who were there or who are planning to attend the next event in Lubbock can comment and/or add anything I might have missed. Thanks!
Jim Hightower, former Agricultural Commissioner for Texas, gave a delightful and funny speech about his participation in Our Revolution and the importance of Texas in setting a national agenda for progressives. He then introduced Nina Turner, President of Our Revolution, who gave a rousing and moving speech about her reasons for entering politics. She also talked about her brother, a political conservative, with whom she talks frequently. She underlined the importance of continuing to talk to people with whom we disagree, and engaging them in finding solutions for the common problems we face. Both speakers were interrupted frequently by applause and cheers.
Finally, the headliner, Bernie Sanders, came on to a long standing ovation. In his speech, he highlighted how progressive ideas had become more mainstream since the election: the idea of expanding Social Security benefits, of local initiatives to make public higher education tuition-free, of state ballot referendums that decriminalize marijuana use to roll back the failed war on drugs, and of the new push for sensible gun laws followed by the events in Florida. He mentioned that of 29 candidates endorsed by Our Revolution, 17 won their primaries (9 won outright, 8 move on to runoffs). Like Nina, he said that we needed to view Trump voters differently from how they are often portrayed. He emphasized that candidate Trump continually told voters that he felt their pain, that he was going to bring jobs back to the laid off, put in something even better than Obamacare, and many other promises to look at for working folks. The problem with Trump’s great speeches, as Bernie summed it up: “he lied.” He noted that the next Our Revolution event, planned for Lubbock, had already seen its 1,000 tickets already reserved (the event, like this one, is free but requires a reserved ticket). Lubbock is deep red, but as Jim Hightower noted in his speech, they voted for him twice, and people even in deep red areas are hungry to talk about real solutions to the problems we face.
I hope someone who attends the Lubbock event can tell us how it went!