We are in a historic and moral moment
What Senator Cory Booker called for, basically, is an active return to "We the People."
“I came here with a broken heart.”
Toward the end of his 25-hour speech, Senator Booker talked about his life and his meetings with Senator John Lewis. For the next 25 minutes or so, I wept, as what came through so powerfully was the Senator’s love for this country.
For the past few years, patriotism seems to have been equated to huge flags on monster trucks. As we, on both sides, found more and more odious ways to demean “the other side,” the rhetoric seemed to turn away from the dream of creating a land where everyone has a chance to succeed to a litany of things to blame on someone, somewhere.
While Donald Trump convinced a lot of people that we were no longer a great nation, Senator Booker urged us to remember and reinvigorate the dream of a nation of people working together for the betterment of all. “We the people.”
A refrain Booker repeated frequently that the issues in front of us were not about “left or right but, instead, right or wrong. We are now in a moral moment.”
Aside … just to make sure we all understand what Senator Booker just did … the rules of a filibuster are that the Senator has to remain on the Senate floor, standing, speaking or responding to questions continuously, without food or bathroom breaks. (I’m told there’s a candy jar somewhere.) Seems like Booker will also appear on Rachel Maddow’s show afterwards … a bionic man? What a hero! The clip from her show is at the bottom of this post.
Why? — Booker began speaking at 7 p.m. on Monday, determined to disrupt Senate proceedings and draw attention to what he described as the reckless dismantling of government programs and institutions under Trump. His speech—equal parts policy critique and moral call to action—was punctuated by impassioned readings from the Constitution, testimonies from constituents, and references to civil rights icons.
“This is not a partisan moment—it is a moral moment,” Booker said around the 20-hour mark, gripping a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution. “Where do you stand?”
— Cory Booker Breaks Senate Speech Record in 25-Hour Rebuke of Trump Administration, Time
Here’s a 3-minute segment I particularly liked about his time with John Lewis.
Competition? One question that struck me as the Senator approached the filibuster record set by Senator Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 19 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957: Would breaking that record be an ego thing?
Again, Time - from the same article as above, captured the moment, as the Senator answered in a way that made me proud.
“As he neared the record Tuesday evening, Booker noted that he had long been troubled by Thurmond’s place in Senate history and saw his own speech as an opportunity to reclaim the record. "To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand,” Booker said. “I'm not here though because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech. I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful."
Of course, the most famous filibuster will always be Jimmy Stewart’s in Mr. Smith goes to Washington.
Was this a real filibuster?
You will no doubt read that this wasn’t a “real” filibuster because it was not related to a specific bill. So what was it? I would deem it one of the most powerful political speeches on record. A call to action to save our democracy.
I did not watch all 25 hours, but from what I saw and read, he did not depend on children’s books or comics as have some filibusterers in the past. He and his staff had gathered an enormous quantity of information from the Constitution, constituents, and issues from both sides of the aisle. He delivered a passionate, informed speech, with the intent of rousing the spirits of the people of the United States.
I am touched and proud to have been one of the millions of people he was talking to as he called for us to come together as one people and resist the destruction that is happening in our country. The programs and departments being decimated are the ones needed by the people most vulnerable to economic fluctuations … and, apparently, the ones most aggravating to trump or musk.
If you get a chance to hear parts of his speech, I highly recommend taking the time.
PS … turns out that when Strom Thurmond made his filibuster, Congress was a bit different. Fox News tells us that, “There was no television or social media. Most reporters didn’t realize he had been on the floor all night until the next day. He left the floor to use the restroom. Get a sandwich. Allowed Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, D-Texas, to pass bills by unanimous consent and swear-in a new senator.”
(Talk about setting a record, I do believe this is the first time I’ve ever quoted Fox News. Strange things do happen.)
PPS … of all the news headlines I’ve read, ALL of them focused on this speech as if it were a sporting event. Would he break the record? I’m still looking for one covering the content … I’m sure that will come eventually.
Naturally, one of the best clips I’ve found comes from Rachel Maddow (almost 14 minutes) where he shows his passion as he asks, “Where does our constitution live … on paper or in our hearts?”
Rachel asks him what he expects Americans to do and he responds,
“I hope we can all be ignition points for each other. We can’t sit back and do nothing.”
Thank you, Senator Booker and all the people who supported this historic and grueling speech to the American people. He left us with the encouragement to “go make good trouble.”
Would love to hear if he sparked any ideas for how to resist from you.
Posts you might have missed in March:
Jim, I agree that when hope is treated as object to be dusted and displayed on a shelf, it's rather worthless. When it is used as a motivating force, it is powerful. Hope for a better outcome gives us the energy to move. Without hope, we become inert, powerless. For me, "I have hope" is passive; "I hope; therefore I act" is when things begin to change.
"We the people!" Yes! We are the only way we're going to lift ourselves out of this crisis.
Best!
Hope.
The last thing placed in Pandora’s Jar by Zeus so that humans will endure all the evils he put into the jar that were released and still worship the Olympic gods. The gods thrive on the worship of humans.
Hope, so that you will endure to pay taxes, buy products, consume, as the bloated tick gods feast on more of your blood.
Isn’t hope the chains on action?
All hope is lost of my reception into grace; what worse? For where no hope is left, is left no fear.
John Milton
We need a general strike of THE PEOPLE, not wishing and hoping that some leader will lead us out of the land of despair into a land of equality and Justice.
We the people means that our only salvation is through we the people, not through wishing and hoping.
Reduce consuming to weaken the dragon of greed.