By Carol Lucas
During the last election, I remember seeing the name J.B. Pritzker, but it was just in passing. Apparently he was under consideration for the position of vice-president as Kamala Harris’ running mate. It was noted that he is presently the Democratic governor of Illinois, but at that time little else was given about the man.
Certainly enthusiasm for Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz was definitive, and I saw this man as a much-needed addition to the ticket. He generated a lot “down-home” common sense aura that I felt was not only welcome, but also needed.
Of course, we all know the outcome of the election as well the myriad of tsunami-like results of that election. That, however, is not the point of this piece.
There appears to be a change afoot in the Democratic party as they try to find their way and articulate where they want to see the country go. While words like autocracy, dictatorship, or fascism should stir any real patriot who loves his country, the Democrats are seemingly floundering, despite 47’s record-setting low marks for his first 100 days.
It is one thing to call attention to what is wrong; heaven knows there are a sufficient number of examples to fill a book the size of War and Peace (no pun intended). It is quite another to put together a specific plan to counter the atrocities this administration has perpetrated.
The Democrats, in my opinion, were initially stopped dead in their tracks with the shock and awe tactics beginning on Day 1. Yes, we were told by 47 what his plans were, but given his propensity to lie, no one seemed to take him seriously.
On a positive note, people across the country began coming out in droves to protest what they see as the dismantling of our democracy. These actions on the part of the administration seems to have awakened the bear, so to speak.
Writing that last comment, I was compelled to do a little research on what I believe is a realistic symbol for what is happening right now in our country. What I found in one source was compelling: “The awakening bear can represent a symbol of rebirth; furthermore, it can be seen as an entity moving from a state of passivity or ignorance to one of awareness and activity.”
And so, dear reader, it is to the “activity” that I move this piece forward. And that growing activity of carrying signs and protesting what is happening in, and to, our country, brings me to the aforementioned J.B. Pritzker.
While he may be well known in the state of Illinois that he governs, on the national scene, I believe he made what I will call his debut in what can only be described as a “barn-burning” speech to Democrats in New Hampshire.
After walking out to the American Authors song “Go Big or Go Home,” Pritzker urged Democrats to stop listening to “do-nothing political types” who are calling for caution at a time when Americans are demanding urgent action, and to “fight — EVERYWHERE AND ALL AT ONCE.”
Now this is truly a clarion call, and it reflects exactly what the administration did from Day 1.
Pritzker gave definitive examples that all boil down to, “fight fire with fire.” The following highlights the spell-binding message he gave. What I am including are his quotes and his alone.
He first addressed the hanging of the flag upside-down on Yosemite National Park’s famous cliff El Capitan. He went on to talk about the “welcome” to J.D. Vance to Sugar Bush Resort in Vermont, calling attention to the attacks on veterans, people with disabilities, LGBTQ Americans immigrant workers and people of color. This brought about Vance’s leaving the area abruptly.
Pritzker urged Democrats to lead with the same passion as those Vermonters.
Perhaps one of his most memorable quotes dealt with immigration: “It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law. This is not about immigration but about the Constitution. “Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the most effective campaign slogan in history.”
He went on to say, “Today, it’s an immigrant with a tattoo. Tomorrow, it’s a citizen whose Facebook post annoys Trump.”
The man certainly did his homework when he also included this: 46% … of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.”
Immigration was not the only point of the Governor’s attack on how this administration is trying to “gut” the constitution. He took on the Cabinet choices in a much more definitive way than my satirical approach last week.
“We have a Secretary of Education who hates teachers and schools,” he said. “We have a Secretary of Transportation who hates public transit. We have an Attorney General who hates the Constitution. We have a Secretary of State, the son of naturalized citizens — a family of refugees — on a crusade to expel our country of both.
“We have a head of the Department of Government Efficiency — an immigrant granted the privilege of living and working here, a man who has made hundreds of billions of dollars after the government rescued his business for him — who is looking to destroy the American middle class to fund tax cuts for himself. And we have a President who claims to love America but who hates our military so much that he calls them ‘losers’ and ‘suckers’ and who can’t be bothered to delay his golf game to greet the bodies of four fallen US soldiers.
And we have a Grand Old Party, so afraid of the felon and the fraud that they put in the White House that they would sooner watch him destroy our country than lift a hand to save it.”
Pritzker called on Democrats to “stop wondering if you can trust the nuclear codes to people who don’t know how to organize a group chat. It’s time to stop ignoring the hypocrisy in wearing a big gold cross while announcing the defunding of children’s cancer research.
“I understand the tendency to give in to despair right now,” he said, “But despair is an indulgence that we cannot afford in the times upon which history turns.
“Cowardice can be contagious,” Pritzker said, but so too can courage. … Just as the hope that we hold onto in the darkness, shines with its own … special light.
“So I have one question for all of you,” he concluded. “Are you ready for the fight?”
Presidential material? To quote Sarah Palin once again, “You betcha!”
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
