Today, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg addressed the NH Democrats State Convention.

His full remarks as prepared for delivery are included below.

Read the full transcript of his remarks below:

Thank you. Thank you. Alright, thank you. Thank you. Hello New Hampshire Democrats. Thank you so much. Thank you New Hampshire. Thank you. You’re making me feel right at home. Thank you. And thank you to Ray Buckley and the New Hampshire Democratic Party team for everything that you are doing. Thank you, Joyce Craig, I am with the people of Manchester — my choice is Joyce. And thank you, New Hampshire, for giving us the pathbreaking delegation of Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan, Chris Pappas, and Congresswoman Annie Kuster. We need more like them in Washington. My name is Pete Buttigieg, most people just call me Mayor Pete, and I am running for president– I am running for president because I think America might be running out of time. So much depends on us right now, for a new generation, not just mine, but one younger still, not even old enough to vote, trusting us with their lives. The 13 year old who asked me at an event, with tears streaming down his face, what we’re going to do to keep his school safe because he fears for his life every time he sits down in class. The 12 year old girl in Orlando who asked me about health insurance, not because she’s a policy buff, but because she’s got type 1 diabetes and she is worried about what will happen if her parents lose their coverage. She’s 12, and this is what she’s thinking about. And the only fair answer to kids, is that they shouldn’t be dealing with this at all. We, all of us old enough to vote, should sort that out so they don’t have to. That’s what we owe to them so they can focus on being kid. And a few years from now, by the time they’re adults, there could be 100 million more guns on the streets, we will cross the point of no return on climate, and a woman’s right to choose won’t even exist. Or, we can act. Not four years from now, not 10 years from now, but right now we can act. And it’s not just kids — none of us can afford to ignore the problems that we have tolerated for far too long, because they amount to a crisis that has destabilized our entire country — a crisis that represents the only plausible answer to how a guy like the current president ever got within cheating distance of the Oval Office in the first place. That doesn’t happen unless something is already wrong. It’s been brewing for a long time. We felt it where I grew up, in the so-called Rust Belt. I’ve seen how politics affects everyday life. I’ve seen the face of my city changed by deindustrialization, the course of my life altered by the orders that sent me to a foreign war, even my marriage exists just by the grace of a single vote on the United States Supreme Court — and thank you for everybody who helped bring that equality to this land. But as the mayor of a city, once called dying and now growing, I also know what will happen when people come together. Our city’s future change when we mobilized around shared values and focused on delivering real results for real people, pragmatic and values driven leadership — it’s what mayors practice every day, and we need a lot more of that in Washington right now. Because for too long in Washington, we have accepted the unacceptable, and now there’s a noise machine making it almost impossible to hear the alarm bells ringing in our everyday lives. Americans are looking at prescription drug prices and wondering how they’re going to be able to buy groceries, and the president has got us arguing over whether to buy Greenland. Americans are picking up their possessions to flee a superstorm, and the president is picking up his Sharpie to redraw a weather map. How did we get here? Politics is supposed to be about making our everyday lives better, but nothing could be further from the top of the president’s list — or come to think of it, the governor’s; speaking of pens, let’s talk about that veto pen. Because your legislature is doing extraordinary work responding to the needs of the everyday, but when people need to get paid more, plain and simple, the governor is vetoing a minimum wage law — that is wrong. Parents want to spend more with their kids and the governor proudly, proudly, vetoes a paid family leave bill — that is wrong. The good news is, voters have veto power too, and you get to veto this governor and get something better. And it’s not just that the policies are all wrong, it’s that they are pitting us against each other, especially in Washington, bringing out the worst in us. They speak of patriotism, but surely patriotism lies in defending our beliefs as well as our country — not shouting down those who dissent and telling them to go back to where they came from. Because the flag that was on my shoulder when I stepped off that airplane that took me to Afghanistan was not a Republican flag, it was an American flag symbolizing our responsibility to speak up when our leaders do wrong — that is an act of loyalty to the republic for which it stands. They speak of freedom; surely freedom includes the freedom to organize for good wages, freedom to control your own body, freedom to choose your own spouse, and freedom from racial discrimination — that’s freedom too. They speak of these values, they speak of faith and family, but what faith, what family values, would condone families being torn apart at the border? Surely faith and family has something to do with feeding the hungry, and welcoming the stranger, and lifting up the least among us. Those are our values. So today, I’m here to offer a clear choice and a clear message. The answer to Donald Trump is not playing his game or going on his show. It is a laser focus on improving everyday lives and doing it in the name of shared values that light the way to a better future — the kind of boldness that will bring us together, not tear us apart. That is the way forward. We need ideas big enough to meet this moment, but it’s not enough to think up good policy — we’ve got to unify Americans around these solutions, or nothing will actually get done. That’s why my health care vision is Medicare for All Who Want it; let every American have the choice to walk away from the corporate, private plans and towards something better — but when they’re ready, because I trust Americans to make that right choice. And yes, health care means mental health care too, and we will unify to save a million lives when it comes to deaths from despair. As your president, I will match the ambition of the Marshall Plan with a Douglass Plan for Black America, to attack systemic racism in every form in this nation. I’ll create a million paid national service opportunities a year, so that everyone can have the solidarity that I got in the military without having to go to war in order to get there. We are a nation ready to serve. I will appoint women to the judiciary and the highest levels of this administration; and speaking of appointments, I will appoint a Secretary of Education who actually believes in public education; it’s time. And while we’re at it, an Environmental Protection Agency head who actually believes in climate change, so that we can unify the American people around solving that problem before it is too late. The purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the president, it is the unification of the people — pulling us together in common purpose to tackle our greatest challenges. And if we get that done, then the future doesn’t have to be a dark place. I can’t wait for a future where we look back with pride on the choices that we made in 2020. I can’t wait to tell my future children about what we did to set them up for success — to tell them that in 2020, we created an economy where a rising tide really does lift all boats; that once upon a time, it was the case that children were learning active shooter drills before they learned to read, but we summoned the courage to get weapons of war out of American neighborhoods; that we beat the odds and got ahead of climate change before it ruined the opportunities in their lives; and delivered a society where your race has no bearing on your health, or your wealth, or your relationship with law enforcement — we will be so proud. Running for office is an act of hope that we can get this done, not the hope of the naive, but the hope of those who know we can’t afford to go back. So New Hampshire, are you ready to spread the sense of hope required to deliver a new and better future? Are you ready to break from the past and bring a better era to American life? Are you ready to put away the reality show in Washington and the channel to a new future for the American people? Then with hope in our hearts and fire in our bellies, let’s go forward all the way to the White House and beyond. Thank you for New Hampshire, and I will see you on the campaign trail. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.



The New Hampshire Labor News is a group of NH Workers who believe that we need to protect ourselves against the attacks on workers. We are proud union members who are working to preserve the middle class. The NHLN talks mostly about news and politics from NH. We also talk about national issues that effect working men and women here in the Granite State.

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