Mayor de blasio thank you. Thank you so much, everybody. This is a very nice evening we are having. Thank you so much, everybody. This is a very nice evening we are having. I just want to say at the beginning, i love progress iowa. [applause] mayor de blasio everyone in this move room means business, cares, is here to be a make a difference. I did not hear any fear or trepidation, any depression. I hear people ready to fight and win. [applause] it is a veryio good time to be alive. It is a good time to be a progressive. Things are about to change. , at theere together beginning of what will be a new era. Let me think everyone thank everyone at progress iowa. Lets give a round of applause. [applause] melissa,blasio morgan, mark, moving forward all the time. Thank you. [applause] mayor de blasio i want to thank someone. When tammy talked about waking the sleeping bear, it was something very beautiful to say thank you to our opponents for waking us all up and turning as all in to change agents. What an incredible acclamation of faith. Your leadership is making a huge difference. Lets thank her. [applause] mayor de blasio to tammy is wonderful colleague, good friend of mine, mary jane, thank you for all you do. [applause] you toe blasio thank all the wonderful progressive. Lective elected officials to mark and janet for their leadership. I love listening to leaders at the forefront of the legislative battles, filled with energy and hope. Lets income for all that they do. Thank them for all that they do. Mark, i did not know you could wear a sweater like that to an event like this. [laughter] mayor de blasio you are opening up space for sweater wears everywhere wearers everywhere. I want to be clear from the beginning, why does progress ill well not are so much . Because you give hope. You are reaching those 70,000 people, and you are turning them into activist on the issues that matter. You are creating an army. An army of good that is changing this state at the foundations. That is exactly what makes the difference. If i am people ask me including some of our friends in the media. This is the kind of organization that can actually change things area this change things. [applause] let me talk to you about a couple things this evening. I want to talk about a little bit of personal perspective and talking about the grassroots. I have my own personal grassroots connection tyler. It is pretty far back in time and is personally important to me. My grandmother, this is an amazing twist. Grandmother was born in blanchard, iowa. I am not making it up. [applause] it is a blasio powerful story because it speaks to the kinds of things to pass along to every family. Born to a father who loved his farm. He was a Civil War Veteran fought for the union. He loved his farm but decided his daughters needed in education they could only get, if they went to the city. They left and she got the education her father helped her to get. She went on and flourished in her life. There was one example in my own family of the power of education. Even manyrm and decades ago, to liberate people, including women who often were not given their due in that time. Education was the key. Then you fastforward to my mother, who was a child immigrant. She believed she could reach Higher Heights and got an opportunity to go to a college out of town, away from new york. The grandfather came from a small town. He wanted his daughter to have the very best. He blessed her, going to the school that she thought was right for her. Fastforward to my wife. She came from a workingclass family and was told in high school that a High Quality College was not for her. Some of the people in her school did not think an africanamerican woman to go to one of the best colleges. She thought otherwise. She worked her way up. [applause] then my blasio , whoren, kiara and dante gained so much from our new york city Public Schools but who first experienced all that could. E in prek i did not know it at the time, but it seemed to me that a seed was being planted. I told my children i saw them. Oing growing and blossoming i started to realize that every child deserves that. [applause] i tell you that story of generation after generation to tell you that for all of us, the changes we hope for in our city, our town and our country, they should come from not only our hearts that our own personal experience. You should communicate to the people that we talked to from what we have seen with our own eyes ebix variance. My kids got that prek opportunity. I started saying to myself, if it makes such a difference, if it is the beginning, the strong start, why should it not be for everyone . Could we do that . When i ran for mayor of this city, i said very clearly that we have to do something that we have never done before in new york city. We need to give prek to every single child. [applause] mayor de blasio now, guess what . The conventional wisdom said it could not be done. There were doubting thomas is. There were skeptics. When i took office, there were about 20,000 kids. We said in two years, we would reach all the children. Today in new york city, 70,000 kids went to prek. [applause] we added ansio entire additional grade to our school system. It is having an incredible effect. It is for everyone. And we, as progressives, we as democrats do something that shows our entire society can move forward together, people start to believe in us. They can feel it in our lives. And another thing we should remember is when we show what we can achieve, we should go to the next step. I announced earlier this year,ased on the success of prek we are going to make sure that all those hardworking families, the parents struggling to make ends meet, all those kids who deserve the best start will now have universal access to Early Childhood education at the age of three. [applause] these arelasio changes we are making, and they were supposed to be impossible. Now they are happening. I will tell you, i saw this time and time again. Crisis ofaces a Mental Health challenges. A crisis because so many people were afflicted. So many families were struggling and they did not know where to turn. The stigma that held them back. A city or aas society dealing with the problem. My wife said, why dont we bring it out in the open . Why dont we say the city is committed to ensuring that everyone gets the Mental Health care that they need . We will make it part of the conversation every single day. She created an initiative called rise n. Y. C. N. Y. C. Ve getting people to talk about the thing they did not want to talk about. They would come up to her and speak in a hushed tone and whisper their thanks. We have more work to do. Some of our colleagues this evening, we decided it was important to take this message everywhere, including to our houses of worship. We decided we could reach every faith. A few months back, we had the weekend of faith. Simultaneously, in the course of one weekend, 2000 houses of worship from the pulpit talked about Mental Health, talked about how it was ok to come ,orward, if you had a challenge and how people deserve the hope that they needed. We started to break down the stigma right there and open up the doors to those who needed help. [applause] i will give you one more example. Places inlike so many the nation, we had a wound we had to heal. Between ourrift police and our community. Healew that they needed to and we needed to bring them together. We knew we would be stronger and. Etter if we could overcome it it took real work. Cynics and critics and critics said if we tried to heal the wound and respect rights of all members of the community that somehow we would go backwards. We had for years a very broken alienating our communities of color, particularly young men of color were singled out. We cannot move forward or heal unless we address it. If we, head on said that we are going to find a way to be safe but to be fair at the same time, i knew that if we brought police and communities together, it would actually make us safer. It would not only make us safer and more harmonious, it would make us safer. New york city is the safest city in america. [applause] mayor de blasio if you hear the as examples change, everything i told you happened in four years or less. If you hear these examples have changed and say it is a different world or different place, let me remind you of something that will give you a little heart. I just got reelected. I was the first to mccartney elected mayor of new york city since 1985. [applause] 20 yearsblasio preceding the there were republican mayors. The things i am telling you about would have been impossible. During those 20 years, there were many times when we felt the same frustrations that i heard talked about a short time ago. We alwaysell you thought that change was right around the corner. I knew that change was coming. I knew that we had to give people a reason to believe. I knew we had to reach people in their neighborhoods. What isto show them possible. Face, we have a long road in my city. Here is the reality. This year is showing us so sharply, so plainly a simple happen change can anywhere. It most certainly can happen here in iowa. [applause] if ever yousio want an example of true progressive, just look to tom hartman. [applause] he defined for iowa and the whole country what brookestent and strong, progressives could be. A man of the people connected to the people. That has us something been there for a long time. You heard the history before progressive state. It is still there. It is still there because it is in people to believe in fairness. There is a reason he struck that court for so long until a few years ago. It is a cord that we have to strike once again. Are deeplyat islands s are deeply committed people. On andtch what is going they understand. You do not believe me . Maybe you saw a cold in the Des Moines Register a few days ago. State haveof this taken stock of donald trump and his presidency. They have rejected it out of hand. [applause] mayor de blasio 60 , my friends. Saying that they disapprove and want to see a different play. Young orongressman , i wish i waslds a fly on the wall when they opened the papers that day. I do not mean to gloat, but i would have liked to have seen the expression on their faces. They can count. People in their state say the president is taking us in the wrong section. It is time for a change, isnt it . [applause] mayor de blasio we have a moment. We have a clearly defined moment , but we have to meet the moment. I want to tell you, when i heard the idea that there are 100 seats being contested and there will be 100 candidates, that is exactly how you go to the people. [applause] mayor de blasio leave no stone unturned, leave no seat uncontested. Go to the people. , we need to cherish this moment. It is the Perfect Moment to throw off some of the burden that have held us back. Some people last year thought we were in elite party. Democrat party, is it . We are not the party of elites or big donors. We are the party of working people. [applause] now we get too show it in the candidates we choose her every office. Every part of this state and every other state. We go to the people and open wide the party door and knock on the door of every voter. Theirked to the people on doorstep, in their workplace, where they shop, wherever they are. We are there ready to have the conversation. The party that believes so deeply that we are proud to bring our message to each and every person. Because when you do that, you communicate that you are not an elite party or a party that is out of touch. You are a party of the majority if youre willing to have the conversation with anyone. You can change mine that way. That way. 60 of the state have their minds wide open. They are waiting to have that conversation with you. They are ready. They only need you to meet them. Deeply the people, the voters are a lot smarter than the pundits given credit for. We see a lot of evidence of this that they are discerning and a pay a lot of attention. If we come forward and meet them , they will listen. Not everyone. The vast majority will listen. Here is where i do not want to see any of us, i do not want to see us hung up. All they should care about is who they will vote for next time. [applause] we have to show them something real. We have to show them a vision that will change their lives. City to oneone example. I can tell you that one of the reasons i have the privilege of being the first democrat reelected since 1985 is because people can actually identify what democrat leadership meant for their lives, what progressives government meant for them. They come up to me in the streets and subways and say thank you for prek, it has changed my life. They say thank you for fighting for a higher minimum wage. They know when something is real to them. They come up and they say i have needed Mental Health support and now i know where to turn. Those are democratic values. Those are progressive values. Those are the things identified who we are, versus our opponents area that our opponents spend time taking those things away from iowans. We need to let them know who will give them back the things they need. [applause] mayor de blasio people are ready for change. Here is another reason. Over the last month in this country, with all the advantages of the bully pulpit of the white miraculousll of the whenry that you can see you hear the word tax cut. The president has been trying for months to convince people that the tax bill would help them. A lot of us have been around political life for a long time. We have seen tax cuts held out before and we understand the siren call of tax cuts. Something different happened this time. I say this pointedly because the vote is happening this very day and it will be remembered as a bad day in american his three and a day that we will have to fight to overcome. Something else will be remembered. The people did not buy it. Almost two thirds of the American People see this tax bill for what it is. A giveaway to the wealthy and the corporations. They see it. You can look across all the polling and it is shockingly consistent. They are not taking the bait. They are watching. As we going to 2018, it is not just what you are seeing in the register poll. Their frustrations are anger. Realize that the president lied to them. He said he was all about working people. He said i am not from the elite. I will help you out. Take a chance on me. Guess what . Not only did he create the perfect cabinet of millionaires and billionaires. People on the mall. He put them in one cabinet. To simply a tax bill serve his own kind. People see it. It. Reject as they think ahead, they will know they were bamboozled last year. That will put wind in our sales. Here is what i want to tell you as we move ahead. E cannot be timid we cannot take half steps or speak in vague terms. There is a phrase that should define what all of us as progressives and democrats do in 2018. Fortune favors the bold. We have be uncompromising. We have to be strong. We are the party of working people. We believe in the neighbor the labor movement. [applause] we believe that their role,ve done with all sorts of Government Policies helping them to do well should pay their fair share in taxes. [applause] believe thatio we Public Education is the fountain of democracy and fairness in america. [applause] if that is who we are, people will hear it. To follow to the trap that too Many Democrats fell into in washington dc. Too many people in the beltway decided you can only run a Good Campaign if you have a lot of money. If you needed money, you have to savor the donors and homogenize your message and take away the rough edges and not do anything that might offend certain people. Guess what we ended up doing as a party . We were desiccated. Sure, the donors gave money and sure, the party came up with something that seemed maybe, kind of like a message. And, we lost. We were so desirous of the money that we created a vision and a message that we could not win with. That is what happened for years and years. I do not want the money if the money is standing between us and the people. [applause] what winslasio elections is people. Volunteers, activists, people. Elections is ideas. There is this new thing they created called the internet. [laughter] mayor de blasio if you have a good idea, it costs nothing to get it out to them. The Progressive Movement is now at a powerful point of opportunity. Becauseou to hear this i do not want people to think that maybe someday change will come. Change is already happening. The Progressive Movement is growing all over this country. It has been growing for years at the local level. In 2015 andhappened 2016 all over this country. Now we see it growing more deeply. [applause] we are at theo beginning of a progressive era. I know that may sound strange. Washingtonppens in is all the way at the end of the line that starts at the grassroots. Grassroots are already changing. Rassroots are right we have to have the courage to understand that the changes already coming. We have to be ready to meet it with all of our injury energy. We cannot ever feel that we cannot be ourselves. I will do you something very simple. A Progressive Democratic candidate with a clear, strong, economic message, with a populist approach, who will go to the grassroots. That is the republicans worst nightmare. That is what we need more of in this state and every state. When we do it right, anything is possible. You may say wait a minute. What do you mean anything is possible . Surely you understand there are many states where it is difficult to win. States thatre many are difficult to win. I will argue to you that we are in a once in a generation moment. I will argue to you that people are already starting to move. The election of donald trump supercharged them and created in energy and focus like we have never seen before. I will argue that it is reaching every corner of the country. You might say that sounds a little idealistic. Let me talk about what happened a few weeks ago. It started in iowa. We saw this year in iowa in the special election, we saw democrats make ground where they were not supposed to be able to make ground. He saw people of the most conservative places in the state start to vote democrat. He wanted to send a message. They wanted to send a message. Look what happened in new jersey. New jersey flipped from red to blue. It gained seats in the legislature. Seatsa democrats gained in the legislature. In new hampshire, the democrats gained seats. In oklahoma, the democrats gained seats in the legislature. [applause] mayor de blasio in washington state, the legislature flipped the senate. It is already happening. Did i mention virginia . [applause] mayor de blasio we have tonight, in this country, the greatest proof we ever needed of the value of each and every vote. Of house of delegates virginia, one of the oldest legislatures in this whole country. The pundits said the conventional was upset. There was nothing to talk about in 2017. It would firmly remain in republican control of a maybe democrats could work around the margins. It was not on anyones radar that that legislature could change. And today ineat, newport, newport news, awarded, that seat was to the democratic party. [applause] hasr de blasio that seat not created a 5050 tied in the house of delegates in virginia. There is a democratic governor and democratic lieutenant governor. Now the world is turning in virginia. Up. Not making this the recount was completed today and the democrat won by one vote. [applause] mayor de blasio cincy will be on the doors, thank you since you will be on the doors, thank you mark. When someone says my vote does not matter, tell them how an entire legislature was flipped by one vote. [applause] i did save the best for last. Some things are supposed to be literally, physically impossible. Once the Republican Party became the party of roy moore and dave bannon, things started to change. Steve bannon, things started to change. Here is the problem. They nominated roy moore as their candidate for senate. [applause] mayor de blasio do you think the people of this country are dumb . No, they understand that the president and Senate Majority leader supported someone who is a child molester. 2017,oment in history in as if it were somehow invisible. No, people saw it and realized it. That is not the whole story of alabama. The story of alabama is and progressives organizing like never before. They had a sharp contrast to work with. It was an exceptional situation, but you know what else happened . Because doug jones actually stood for something. People could identify him as someone who has done something real, that affected peoples lives. The man prosecuted those bombers in the church in birmingham got away with their crimes for decades. People in alabama felt something. [applause] mayor de blasio people in alabama saw an agent of just this. Justice. Moved them,eone who and then they started to move. The turnout levels of africanamericans in alabama surpassed the levels for president obama because people felt something. People were organized. They went door to door. They did something that was supposed to be impossible. In january, there will be a democratic senator to take the office in alabama. [applause] andr de blasio brothers sisters, this is the actual conclusion. I think we have gotten all the evidence we need from the year 2017 to prepare us for the year 2018. I think we have seen change happen in places where no one could have possibly predicted it. Now we have to show that change will happen everywhere. I have great faith in progress i love. I have great faith and everyone of you. I want to wish you a wonderful holiday he is season. Happy kwanzaa a happy new year. God bless you all. [applause] expands washington journal life every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up, American University law professor, angela davis talks about race. A discussion about politics and the media with saroj azmi. Be sure to watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Book tv in primetime features books about education. At 8 00 p. M. , founder of Success Academy Charter School talks about her work in education and then the radio host talks about his book. Cathy davidson on her book, the new education. Facing highes School Students pursuing higher education. Later, aggressive policy institute fellow, David Osborne on the Charter School movement. Education, wednesday at 8 00 p. M. On cspan2. Cspan us tour continues in january with stops in raleigh, columbia, atlanta and montgomery. It will speak with state officials during our live washington journal program. Join the tour and join us for our stop in raleigh, North Carolina when our guest is North Carolina attorney general, josh stein. All this week, washington journal features key authors of 2017. Book. Cant stern and his it is just under an hour. Washington journal continues. Stern tells us to talk about his expense writing his book republican like me how i left the liberal bubble and learned to love the right, and you chatted with us in the fall about the time this book was being published. What the impetus was for writing this book you going out, a lifelong democrat, decided to live life as a republican. Guest like a lot of people, i have been concerned
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