Madonna del Sasso Catholic Church, Salinas, California
Wednesday Night, November 16
We’ve heard a lot this fall about the 1% and the
99%. And I guess those numbers tell a
story that has troubled most of us for a long, long while. It’s a story about a divided economy. It’s a story about 99% struggling to pay the
bills and make the mortgage and raise the kids—while 1% are living the dream
and spinning their wheels on easy street.
We’ve heard a good bit about the 1 and the 99 this fall. And we’re disturbed by numbers like
that. We know what they mean.
But let’s be honest tonight. We’re up against so much more than numbers,
so much more than statistics, a market index, a housing trend. We the people, we the 99%, have lost control
of our economy. We see it every
day. We see extreme partisanship ripping
the heart out of our political institutions.
We see crazy money buying influence in electoral politics. We see years of regressive tax policy
weakening education and slicing up the social safety net. However it’s happened, this much is clear, on
the Central Coast and around California: a privileged few have taken control of
our economy. And that’s not going work
anymore. Tonight, we’re taking
responsibility not only for COPA, not only for our beloved institutions and cities,
but for our economy. We want it
to work for all of us: not just the 1%, not just the 10%, but for all of us.
Because you know what? It’s not their economy. It’s not Washington’s economy. It’s not Wall Street’s economy. We’re talking about our economy, about
the people’s economy. And friends, it’s
so much more than numbers and trends. It’s the way we feed and care for one another;
it’s the way we honor our elders; and it’s the way we pass on values and
opportunities to our kids.
We’re not satisfied with a divided economy. We’re not satisfied with the dismantling of
social safety nets and public education.
We’re not satisfied with a privileged few calling all the shots. It’s our economy—and we want it to
work for all of us.
Now listen, we’re not interested in demonizing the
1%. That’s not how we roll in COPA. We’re not interested in going to war with the
1%. But you’d better believe we’re
interested in knowing how they work. And
you’d better believe we’re determined to be a powerful force in the politics of
our community. So yes, we want to know
who that 1% is—and we want them to know us.
And how very serious we
are.
But nothing’s going to change unless we take
charge. Right here in Salinas. Right here in Central California. Because fundamentally, this is not a crisis
about the GNP or the Fortune 500. This
is not a crisis about American competitiveness or the greening of the
economy. Fundamentally, this is a crisis about us: about you and me,
about our politics, about the ways we practice politics in our generation. Maybe we’ve been too passive. Maybe we given away too much power to that
1%.
And if that’s so, then it’s time to take backour economy, the people’s economy. So
that things work for everybody. For all
our families. And that begins right here. That begins right now. That begins with us.
Now you didn’t have to be here tonight. You could have stayed home with your families. You could have graded papers or worked on
tomorrow’s lesson plan. But you made a
sacrifice to be here tonight. You
made a choice. You chose COPA. Because you know what we’re up against in
California. And you know we have to do
this work together.
Years ago, Nelson Mandela addressed his people in
South Africa with these cautionary words.
They seem the right way to begin tonight: “Your playing small does not
serve the world,” he said. “There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around
you. We were born to make manifest the
glory of God within us. It is not just
in some; it is in everyone.” Let’s begin
right there. Our playing small does not
serve the world. Our playing small does
not serve California or California’s families.
It’s time to play big, COPA. It’s
time to play big.
