Many things are impressive from the Jan 6th committee, one of which is Jamie Raskin. Whether you agree or not, i want to bring this to attention because one thing that’s always irritated me is someone lionizing “the center.” The “center” continually drifts rightward. That’s why “the center” is displeased that progressives are trying to pull “the center” somewhat back leftward. Given several years of effort (ok, it might take well over 10 years or longer) we might get to where we can see where “the center” should actually be.
It’s from an email and so i believe i can share it all w/o anyone being irritated.
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This is Rep. Jamie Raskin:
The most important political epiphany I ever had was on the day I announced my first campaign for public office, when I was running for the Maryland State Senate many years ago.
I made a speech setting forth everything I wanted to accomplish: abolish the death penalty in our state, increase the minimum wage, decriminalize marijuana, ban the sale of military-style assault weapons, launch the National Popular Vote interstate compact, and pass marriage equality for our LGBTQ community.
A woman came up to me and said, “Great speech, but one thing—take out everything you have in there about gay marriage. It's not going to happen, and even gay candidates don’t talk about it. It makes you sound really extreme, like you’re not in the political center.”
I paused because I didn’t want to offend her, but my kids were with me watching, and so I said this:
“Thank you so much for saying that to me, because it makes me realize that it is not my ambition to be in the political center, which blows around with the wind. It is my ambition to be in the moral center. That is why I’m a Democrat and that is why I’m a progressive.”
“It is our job to move public opinion and bring the political center to the moral center.”
I was running against a 32-year incumbent who was president pro tem of the Maryland Senate and chair of the Montgomery County Senate delegation. A pundit told a local newspaper that my chances of victory were considered “impossible.”
But nine months later, after building a grassroots campaign that educated and mobilized thousands of people, we won 67 percent of the vote. The day after the election, the Washington Post quoted a pundit who declared that my victory was “inevitable.”
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I really like this story.
What i do when someone makes it a point to ‘explain’ to me that they’re Republican, i ask them “What has the Republican Party done for you? “Ever” will get added if they need to be asked again, which most do. There’s never any factually valid response.
Then i saw this on Rep. Raskin’s website and others might find it useful:
Rep. Raskin’s Roundup of 20 ‘Outrageous Things the GOP House Majority Did in My First Term’
October 22, 2018