Address to the California Democratic Party

It is a great honor to be with you today. And I am so pleased that Julie and our youngest daughter Arianna could be here with me.

In the past few weeks, I have thought long and hard about our party's legacy, responsibility, and mission. About where our party stands today. And about where we must lead California in the years and decades ahead.

We usually come to these conventions to see old friends, to cheer on our standard bearers, to dedicate ourselves once again to the hard work of winning elections.

But, Democrats, this year is different. This convention is different. Why? Because there is an elephant in the room.

Last March, we gathered in Sacramento to celebrate the first Democratic sweep of statewide offices in over a century. Yet a short year later, we Democrats find ourselves on the outside looking in. Reeling from the outcome of October 7th. Still struggling to find some meaning in the turmoil of the recall.

This year is different and it is high time we talk about that elephant.

There is no question that these are difficult times for our party. And, sadly, I see some of our party's leaders drawing precisely the wrong conclusions from the events of the last year.

Some star-struck Democrats seem to believe that the real lesson of Governor Schwarzenegger's election is that Democrats should behave more like Republicans. They say that we should put aside our principles and bow down to a governing philosophy that protects the wealthy, shortchanges investments in our future, and saddles the next generation with elephantine levels of debt.

Others continue to see the recall as a right-wing conspiracy directed from Karl Rove's war room. They say that Democrats are failing because we do not treat politics as a bloodsport. A game of matching the Republicans tactic for tactic, threat for threat, stolen election for stolen election.

Now, I do not discount the Republicans' cold-blooded instinct for grabbing power. But if the events of the last year have any lesson to teach, it is that we must proudly stand up for our values.

Yes, this year is different. It is a time to take stock of what we stand for and what we are willing to fight for.

Make no mistake about it, the people of California did not reject the values of our party in October. The recall prevailed because the voters questioned the sincerity of our convictions and our commitment to fight for their families and their future.

Today, we face a clear choice. We can either stand by or we can stand up.

Standing up for what you believe in is more difficult than it sounds. The election of an attractive, seemingly popular, Hollywood star has already sent some Democrats scurrying for cover, bending to the politics of the moment rather than doing what is right for California.

Fellow Democrats, that is not what I'm going to do! What I'm going to do is stand up for our beliefs. The belief in an economy-and society-that includes everybody, not just the privileged few.

The belief in an education system that embodies excellence, that gives true meaning to the promise of expanding opportunity. The belief that prosperity depends on protecting the water we drink and the air we breathe.

The belief that every child in California ought to be able to see a doctor when they are sick. And the belief that our most sacred obligation as Democrats-as Americans-is to create a better future for generations to come.

We should always be proud that Democrats have led this country's greatest economic expansions. From FDR to Bill Clinton, Democrats have consistently proven that when we invest in the future, when we expand opportunity, when we strengthen the middle class, our entire society prospers. And when we do these things, the people stand with us.

These basic values-Democratic values-stand in stark contrast to the agenda now being advanced by Republican politicians in Sacramento and Washington. The constant din raised by Republican leaders about taxation and deregulation obscures the insidious threat that their policies pose to the long-term strength of our society and our economy.

What has been lost in this din is a creeping, corrosive change in the very fabric and culture of our state and nation.

This nation's success-California's success-has always been based on a fervent belief that only by reinvesting back into society will we create sustained wealth for future generations.

But today, under Republican leadership, something very different is happening. Today the fundamental tenets of economic fairness and broad opportunity are under siege… Yes, under siege… As Republican leaders in this state and across the nation exalt excess and greed.

Think about it. At a time when the wealth in this country is concentrated as never before, in the wake of the greatest wave of corporate corruption since the crash of '29 - this Republican president championed more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Throwing a life preserver to the captains of industry and an anchor to their drowning victims.

And now we see the same cynical philosophy that fueled, and then bankrupted Enron, driving Republican policies in Washington and Sacramento.

Like a corrupt CEO focused on cooking the next earnings report, the Republicans are attempting to shift the costs of their policies off balance sheet and into the future.

While they preach about reducing government spending, they do just the opposite. Heaping enormous contracts on their friends and business associates while financing these excesses in an unprecedented orgy of public borrowing, leaving the next generation holding the bag, just like the workers and pensioners who got fleeced in the Enron debacle.

When California requests more money for schools or roads, the Republicans in Washington ask why we need it. But when Halliburton requests a multi-billion dollar contract, the Republicans ask whether they might not need more.

And when the Republicans in Washington tell Californians to fend for themselves, Governor Schwarzenegger calls President Bush "the greatest ally this golden state has."

The Bush approach is already at work in the new Schwarzenegger administration. In his first days in office, this governor deepened our budget hole by $4 billion. Sending the message that it is more important to cut vehicle fees for the owners of Hummers than to keep tuition costs down for middle class families. Then he proposed to saddle the next generation of Californians with $15 billion in debt! That's right $15 billion in debt!

Now he has unveiled a budget that slashes the very investments - in our universities and colleges, in services for children, in decent health care - which build our wealth and our strength. Without rooting out the waste and fraud he promised to find. Without having the courage to close one corporate tax loophole. Without even asking the wealthiest amongst us to sacrifice for the common good.

A blueprint for the state's future that is both morally and economically bankrupt.

Instead of asking what we can do for our children, Governor Schwarzenegger is asking what our children can do for us.

This is the time when California Democrats must stand up. Stand up and embrace a new vision…Yes, a new vision…for sustained, broad-based prosperity in which all Californians have a chance to participate.

Because right now the Republicans are winning the argument. And they are winning it with the lie that you cannot have growth whose benefits are broadly shared. That paying a living wage and expanding the middle class comes at the expense of economic progress. That funding first class schools and universities is not possible in this society of abundant wealth.

Despite all of our successes, California still has the greatest gap between rich and poor of all but four states - a gap that widened during the last decade. It is unconscionable and it is unacceptable that one in five California children today lives in poverty. And that over 7 million Californians have no health insurance.

Let me repeat that. In the richest state in the wealthiest nation on earth, one in five children lives in poverty. Over seven million Californians have no health insurance.

Our prison budget has soared from $400 million-a-year in the early 1980s to over $5 billion this year. We are spending billions of dollars on jail cells for the young adults whom we failed to educate-with every new prison a monument to our failure.

This, we cannot accept and we will not accept. It is time for us to stand up against President Bush's and Governor Schwarzenegger's assault on the Democratic principles and values that are our legacy and our guideposts to a brighter future.

Democrats, let us stand up. This is our time for choosing.

We can stand by while this governor breaks his promises - or we can stand up for a budget that fulfills the promise of California's future.

We can stand by while this governor decimates the greatest public universities and colleges in the world - or we can stand up for a higher education system that builds opportunities for all children.

We can stand by while this governor cuts healthcare for the children of working families - or we can stand up for universal healthcare.

And we can stand by while this governor does the bidding of the wealthy few - or we can stand up for all those Californians left behind in the wake of economic progress.

Ladies and Gentlemen, they say an elephant never forgets. Well, that's one lesson we can learn from the Republicans.

Let us not forget who we are. Now, more than ever, we have to stand up for our beliefs. To engage Governor Schwarzenegger in a vigorous debate about the future of California. To lay out a vision of growth, progress, and opportunity that will win the hearts and minds of our fellow Californians.

Democrats, it is time to dust ourselves off and stand up! Stand up for our colleges and universities! Stand up for Senate Bill 2 and healthcare for all working families!

Stand up for the next generation of Californians! And stand up for the California Dream!

Democrats, let us stand up! Thank you.