Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2020 NH Democratic Party Convention - Pete Buttigieg 20240714

[cheers and applause] mr. Buttigieg thank you. Thank you. Wow all right. Thank you. Thank you. Democrats. Hampshire thank you so much. Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you. [cheering and applause] you are making me feel right at home. Thank you. And thank you to ray buckley and the New Hampshire Democratic Team were everything you are doing. Thank you to joyce greg. Joyce craig. Im with the people of manchester, my choice is joyce. And thank you, New Hampshire for you bring us the pathbreaking delegation of senator shaheen, senator has an, chris pappas and congresswoman annie kuster. We need more like them in washington. Buttigieg. The most people 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. Was rightpends on a now. For a new generation, not just still, note younger even old enough to vote. Trusting us with their lives. The 13yearold who asked me at an event with tears streaming down his face what we are going to do to keep his school safe because he fears for his life every time he sits down in class. The 12yearold girl in orlando who asked me about health insurance, not because she is a policy bath, because she has type one diabetes and is worried about what will happen if her parents lose their coverage. She is 12. And this is what she is thinking about. And the only fair answer to kids like that is that they should not be dealing with this at all. Our was old enough to vote, should sort that out so they do not have to. That is what we owe to them so they can focus on the in kids. And a few years from now, by the time they are adults, there could be 100 million more guns on the streets. Nowill cross the point of return on climate. And a womans right to choose will not even exist. Or we can act. Not four years from now or 10 years from now but right now. We can act. And it is 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 entires destabilized our country. A crisis that represents the only plausible answer to how a guy like our current president got within cheating distance of the oval in the first place. That does not happen unless something is already wrong. It has been brewing for a long time. We felt it when where i grew up in the socalled rust belt. I have seen how politics affect everyday life. The course of my life altered by the orders that sent me to a foreign war. Just bymarriage exists the grace of a single vote on the u. S. Supreme court and thank you to everyone that helped bring that equality to this land. As a mayor of a city once called dieting and now growing i also know what can happen when people come together. Future changed lemley mobilized around shared values and focused on delivering real results are real people. Bragman pragmatic and values values leadnd leadership. We need more of that in washington right now. Because for too long in washington we had accepted the unacceptable. And now, there is a noise machine making it almost impossible to hear the alarm bells ringing in our everyday lives. Americans are looking a Prescription Drug prices and wondering how they are going to be able to buy groceries and the president has us arguing over whether to buy greenland. Americans are picking up their possessions to flee a superstorm and the president is picking up a 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 is than the top of the from the top of the president s list or come to think of it, the governors. Speaking of governors, let us 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 double, the governor is be doing a minimum wage law. That is wrong. More timent to spend with their kids and the governor a paid, probably vetos family leave bill. That is wrong. , voters have is veto power also and you get to veto this governor and get something better. And it is not just that the policies are all wrong. Usis that they are pitting against each other especially in washington and bringing out the worst in us. They speak of patriotism but surely patriotism lies in defending our beliefs as well as our country. Thathouting down those 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 but an american flag. Symbolizing our responsibility dospeak up when our leaders wrong. That is an act of loyalty to the republic for which it stands. They speak of freedom. They freedom includes freedom to organize for good wages. Freedom to control your own body. Freedom to choose your own spouse. And freedom from racial discrimination. That is freedom too. Speak of these values. They speak of faith. And family. Familyt faith, what 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 am 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 pull this that will bring us together and not terrace apart. That is the way forward. Ideas big enough to meet this moment but it is not enough to think of good policy. We have to unify americans around the solutions are nothing will actually get done. Health careal vision is medicare for all who want it. Let every american have the choice to walk away from the corporaprivate plans and find something better. But when they are ready, because i trust americans to make the right choice. And yes, Health Care Means Mental Health care also and we will unify to save a million deathwhen it comes to from despair. As your president , i will match the ambition of the Marshall Plan with a douglas plan for black america to attack systemic racism in every form in this nation. Create a million paid National Service opportunities a year so that everyone can have the solidarity that i got by going into the military and not have to go to war to get there. We are a nation ready to serve. Women to thet judiciary and the highest levels of this administration. Appointments, i will appoint a secretary of education who actually believes in public education. [cheering] it is time. And while we are at it, and Environmental Protection agency had that actually believes in Climate Change so we can unify the American People around solving that problem before it is too late. The presidency is not the glorification of the president but the unification of the people. Pulling us together in common purpose to challenge our greatest challenges. And if we get that done, then the future does not have to be a dark place. I cannot wait for a future where we look back with pride on the choices that we have made in 2020. I cannot wait to tell my future children about what we did to set them up her success. 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 where 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 that but the hope of those that know we cannot afford to go back. Are you readyire, to spread the sense of hope that is required or 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 change the channel for a Better Future for america . Then with hope and our hearts and fire with our bellies, let us go forward all the way to the white house and beyond. Thank you, New Hampshire and i will see you on the campaign trail. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [cheering and applause]