Perspective – Who We Can Be
The perspective of Who We Can Be was powerfully illustrated by the words of Hakeem Jeffries, the new House Minority Leader, when he handed over the gavel from the Democrats to the Republicans early on the morning of January 7. (Almost exactly two years after the January 6, 2021 Insurrection.)
Jeffries explained that Democrats will never compromise on the democratic principles of our country:
- American values over autocracy
- Benevolence over bigotry
- The Constitution over the cult
- Democracy over demagogues
- Economic opportunity over extremism
- Freedom over fascism
- Governing over gaslighting
- Hopefulness over hatred
- Inclusion over isolation
- Justice over judicial overreach
- Knowledge over kangaroo courts
- Liberty over limitation
- Maturity over Mar-a-logo
- Normalcy over negativity
- Opportunity over obstruction
- People over politics
- Quality of life issues over QA-non
- Reason over racism
- Substance over slander
- Triumph over tyranny
- Understanding over ugliness
- Voting rights over vote suppression
- Working families over the well-connected
- Xenial* over xenophobia
- “Yes, we can” over “you can’t do it”
- Zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation
I hope we can keep this perspective as we encounter the challenges we know loom ahead in 2023.
May we embrace this perspective as we find the courage to take many small steps in 2023 to be Who We Can Be!
*Xenial – hospitality, especially to strangers or foreigners
