Address to the California Democratic Party

It's great for Julie and me to be here among old friends, to feel the energy of our young delegates, and to see the faces of so many people who give so much of themselves working to make a difference.  It is a particular privilege to welcome home and congratulate our new leaders Nancy Pelosi and Bob Matsui as they launch the campaign to win back the House. 

Being here amongst all of you makes me feel proud to be a Democrat.

These conventions are important because they give us all a chance to break away from the grind, to forget for a weekend about the daily demands of politics - the policy minutiae, the detailed budget briefings, the debates about fine points and narrow issues - and to focus instead on bigger questions.  Like who we are, and what we stand for, and why we have chosen to participate in politics and democracy in the first place.

Twelve years ago, when I became party chair, I vowed that California Democrats would stop apologizing for our ideas and retreating from our beliefs.  And when we started talking about what we stood for as a party, we changed the country.  We mobilized tens of thousands of people who had never volunteered in a campaign before and signed up over one million new voters.  We elected two women to the United States Senate.  And, we ended the presidency of the first George Bush. 

Today, I am deeply concerned that we are not discussing our principles as a party enough, particularly when it comes to critical issues like education, the economy, and investments in our future.  Yet, I cannot recall a more important moment for California Democrats to stand up and fight for our core values.

The struggling national economy has left millions of Americans fearful for their future.  In the wake of Bush's failed economic leadership, nearly every state is awash in red ink. Cut adrift by Washington, state leaders across America  are being forced to decide whether to cut schools or close emergency rooms. 

The greatest wave of corporate corruption since the crash of 1929 has shattered public confidence in our financial institutions.  While millions of Americans lost their pensions and while California retirees were presented an $850 million bill for the WorldCom fraud alone, President Bush proposed more tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.  Throwing a life preserver to the captains of industry, not to their drowning victims.

While the nation-and California--suffers, the Bush administration is obsessed with fighting a war halfway across the globe.  Without the support of our allies.  Without having effectively made the case to the world. 

America, at its best, has sought to inspire people across the globe.  As just one example, over one hundred thousand Peace Corps volunteers, like my daughter Megan who is serving in Senegal, West Africa, have labored to bridge the distances between the nations of this world.  But now, this President, by his actions, is diminishing respect for American leadership and is sowing the virulent seeds of anti-Americanism, with consequences for generations to come.

 Meanwhile, the President is once again AWOL on the real issues of domestic security.  Jobs.  Schools.  Cops on the street.  A clean and safe environment.

And the Republican prescription for our ailing economy?  Over $2 trillion in giveaways to Wall Street's wealthiest investors.  A tax plan where 50% of the nation's taxpayers would receive $100 or less, while the fortunate few who make $1 million or more a year would get an average tax cut of over $90,000.   A blank check to corporate America, saddling the next generation with record debt while crippling our ability to invest in our kids' future.  Creating an America where if you work for a living, you pay taxes, but if you collect dividends while sipping a cappuccino, you don't. 

It's worse than that.  The president's dividend tax cut will devastate school construction plans across the country.  It will drive up interest costs on tax-exempt bonds, sapping $155 billion from investment in schools, parks, and transit.

But give the Republicans credit.  As abominable as their policies are, they stand up for their beliefs.  Unabashedly.  Unashamedly.  They truly believe that America is at its best when we take from schools and take from healthcare and give to the few at the top.  And they're ready to fight for that belief. 

Fellow Democrats, what are we willing to fight for?

Can you believe that just months after the first Democratic sweep of statewide offices in California since 1882 that we are debating how much we're going to cut public education?  Instead of retreating from our core values, we should do what is best for California - investing in our future.  We should not concede a $5 billion cut in school funding before the debate even begins. 

I have a simple view:  As Democrats, we need to stand up and fight.  We cannot and must not balance the budget on the backs of our schools and our future.  I understand the enormous challenges posed by the budget shortfall.  I appreciate the difficulties faced by the governor and the Legislature in fashioning a solution. And, I am mindful of the two-thirds vote requirement in the Legislature to enact new revenue increases.  Nevertheless, I submit to you that if we're not willing to fight for the education of our children, what are we willing to fight for?

If our only response to the Republican mantra of "cut, cut, cut" is that "everyone must share in the pain of this budget", I fear for who's going to win that fight.  I say if the Republicans want to cut education, let them be the ones to rip the textbooks out of our children's hands. 
 
A previous generation of Californians built a first-class educational system that stood as the envy of the nation and that accorded us unbounded opportunity.  Our parents believed in the value of education and, in many cases, borrowed money to pay for our schooling.  Now is the time to honor their legacy by sacrificing for the next generation.

The debate about education is not about revenues.  It is not  about budgets.  It is about our core values.

If we do not fight on this hallowed ground, where will we fight?

California stands today as the wealthiest state in the richest nation on earth.  Our economy is the fifth largest in the world, with a gross state product of $1.4 trillion.  We Californians spend more each year on automobiles than we do on the education of our elementary, middle school, and high school students.  The question before us is not whether we can afford to educate our children, but whether we have the political will to do so.

Last month, in a letter to the governor and our legislative leaders, I outlined some ideas about how we can make up enough revenue to save our schools from these proposed cuts - without destroying other critical services. And, I said that we should stand up and support fair revenue proposals to accomplish this goal.  Since that time I have been traveling to the districts of Republican legislators - from San Diego to Fresno to Chico - to bring home the message that Republican intransigence is directly threatening the quality of local schools and our economic future.

Just consider the consequences of failing to act.  How many more dropouts?  How many quality teachers will leave the classroom forever?  How large will class sizes grow?  In some Los Angeles schools, classes are now so crowded that students have to sit on overturned trashcans because there aren't enough desks and chairs to go around.  Teachers don't have enough books to send home for their kids to study.  And, as we gather today, tens of thousands of pink slips are in the mail to teachers throughout our state.

For the first time in years, student test scores are up.  Why on earth would we want to stop now?  Is there any compelling argument for cutting education spending by $10,000 per classroom?  Is anyone saying, "Kids are doing too well, so let's spend less?"

Good public schools are the cornerstone of democracy in this country and California's ticket to economic competitiveness in the 21st Century.  There is no theory of economic progress that starts with a below-average educational system.  Without good schools, all of the talk about equality, diversity and opportunity is meaningless.  When our education system fails our children, hope falls out of reach.  Opportunity becomes impossibility.

When I visited Alvin Elementary School in Santa Maria this week, I was moved by the words of a parent, José Lopez, who said that if we do not stop these budget cuts, "the consequences will be devastating, the effect will be permanent, and…our children will not be prepared for a better future." 

Already, our economy and social fabric are threatened by a growing disparity of opportunity.  The widening chasm between the haves and have-nots.  The increasing numbers of Californians stuck outside of the mainstream of economic opportunity.  If we abandon our commitment to education now, we will pay a dear price.  In the 1980s and 1990s, we spent billions of dollars on jail cells for the young adults whom we failed to educate - with every new prison a monument to our failure.

Once again, I ask you: what are we willing to fight for?

This is a decisive moment for us - as Democrats and as Californians.  We must offer a vision of educational excellence that is the foundation of broad economic progress.  We must stand our ground as the stewards of expanding opportunity.  We must reject the premise that cuts in school funding are inevitable.  And, we must draw a line in the sand and say that we will not roll back the progress we have made over the past four years. 

With much at stake, we must stand and fight for our values and our future.  This is our legacy.  This is our responsibility.  This is our mission.