During Wednesday’s town hall event in Salida, Colorado, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) spoke about the importance of political engagement.
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00:00I want to join me in welcoming Senator Bennett.
00:08Thank you, Mr. Robertson.
00:11Thank you, Mr. Davis.
00:14Thank you, J.D. County, for being here.
00:17What an unbelievable turnout.
00:20Do not tell them that I said this.
00:23But I think we have more people in J.D. County
00:27than we had with J.D. News in Boulder County.
00:32So, thank you, and I feel that there.
00:34That's a reflection of how much you love her
00:38and how worried you are.
00:40P.T. Wood, thank you for your introduction, for your service.
00:44You and your partnership.
00:46We appreciate it.
00:48Your county commissioners have been great partners in this part of the world
00:52for many years.
00:54I don't know about what part of it, because they're simply trying to do it,
00:59represent you in the best way they can.
01:01And they understand, I think, the fundamental responsibilities
01:05of a public servant and a democracy.
01:08I am deeply appreciative for the example that they have set.
01:12I'm also deeply appreciative for the example that Brittany sets
01:16every time she gets on the airplane.
01:19It's one thing.
01:20She now has two children under the age of five.
01:25And she gets on that plane just like everybody else.
01:28She drives herself to the airport, gets herself to the plane,
01:32brings Sam with her, gets to the other end, takes care of Sam,
01:37and advocates on behalf of our democracy in our state.
01:41It's bad for them playing with Sam and comes all the way back here.
01:44I was sitting in the Intelligence Committee last week,
01:48and that's actually not a bad place to work because it's in secret.
01:54So, people like the jackass portion goes down a lot,
01:58and there are no cameras, and there's nobody looking from outside,
02:03but there are these little TV sets, and I could see Brittany on it.
02:08I didn't have the sound on it, but I could see her advocating for her bill,
02:13for moms to be able to go to the world.
02:16And I was so proud of what she was trying to do to democratize this place.
02:27It needs her voice.
02:29It needs her voice.
02:30And I am grateful that all of you are out here.
02:33We are here, all of us are here,
02:35because we are deeply worried about our country.
02:38You know, like you, my parents raised me to have high aspirations
02:44for the United States of America,
02:46high aspirations for our democracy.
02:48We all have our own family stories.
02:50I know Brittany's family story well,
02:52because we've known each other for a long time.
02:55In my case, my dad was a public servant for much of his career.
02:59He was a federal employee, actually.
03:02And my mom was an immigrant who had been born in Warsaw in 1938,
03:08a Polish Jew, when the year before Hitler invaded Warsaw,
03:13probably the worst place in the world you could have been born at that time.
03:17And her parents and she, after they had survived the war,
03:21were miraculous and made it to the United States.
03:24My mom was 11 years old,
03:26the only one in the family who could speak any English.
03:30And she enrolled herself in the New York Public Schools.
03:33And my grandparents, who had, you know,
03:39they thought they didn't have accents the whole time that I was growing up,
03:43but had one of the thickest accents of anybody that I know,
03:47were among the greatest patriots I have ever known,
03:51because they loved this country for our democracy, for our rule of law.
03:59And the fact that they could participate even with those accents,
04:05even with their religion, even though they come from someplace else,
04:10they could participate in the life of our democracy.
04:14I'll never forget my grandmother telling me the story of seeing,
04:18going to the lunch counter near the small business that they had in New York,
04:24and seeing, after he was president of the United States,
04:28Harry Truman sitting at the end of the lunch counter,
04:31eating lunch with my grandmother.
04:34And to her, that's what this country was all about.
04:38She would be shocked to find ourselves in the position that we are in.
04:44And I think it is critical for us to stand up at this moment.
04:49We all have to. We all have to.
04:52And by the way, if you're looking for an antidote to the social media
04:57that is tearing us apart, to the digital world that is tearing us apart,
05:02it is being here tonight. It is being here tonight.
05:06It is being effective for the country here.
05:10Totally, I don't know if it's the last thing
05:13that's showing up in the democracy,
05:15and tonight that's what you've done.
05:17And that's what we have to do every single day
05:20for as long as this guy is president.
05:22We need to make sure that the guardrails of this democracy hold,
05:26and they will.
05:28But we've learned something very important
05:30that my grandparents knew, and that people all over the world know,
05:35which is who have lived in corrupt countries
05:38where they've been subjected to political violence,
05:41and there is no rule of law.
05:43What they know is that there is nothing self-executing about a democracy.
05:47A democracy doesn't take care of itself.
05:50If the people don't show up, the democracy will perish.
05:55And our democracy will perish.
05:57If the people don't know that.
05:59That's why we're here tonight.
06:01That's why we're here tonight.