Tim Walz on Labor Day
The Labor Day clip of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaking in Milwaukee (“very good at this” below) went viral on Monday. After I transcribed and posted the gist of it on several platforms, it went nuts on Mastodon. (Don’t ask me why, but I seem to get more traffic on Mastodon than on X, Blue Sky or Threads.)
As a teacher and coach for years, Walz said, “I was a dues-paying member of my union.” When Republican critics accused him of being “in the pocket of organized labor,” he said, “That’s a damn lie. I am the pocket!” Want to attack him for standing up for collective bargaining, for fair wages, safe working conditions, for health care and retirement, have at it.
Democrats have to run for something, Walz continued, not just against the other guys. Fair wages and safe working conditions, expanded health care and addressing climate change, etc. are on Democrats’ agenda. Just one vote made the difference in moving Minnesota forward. “That’s our vision for the country,” Walz said in asking the crowd to give Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and President Kamala Harris working majorities.
Donald Trump opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage and Republicans back “right to work” laws meant to undercut workers’ power to negotiate for pay and benefits, Walz continued.
We know what right to work means, Walz went on. “It means the right to work for less money. It means the right to work in dangerous situations. It means the right to work with no pensions.”
Democrats have to run for something. But it’s also important to be informed, Walz told the crowd. Project 2025 should be subtitled “How to screw the working people.” That’s the Trump-Vance agenda. They’re even going after the 40-hour work week, looking to bring back child labor, and going after Social Security and Medicare while giving the rich another tax cut:
Here’s the money quote:
You tell me who in Wisconsin is sitting around saying, Damn, I wish they’d give billionaires tax cuts and screw me over. Damn, I wish they’d take my health care away. I wish they’d underfund my public school. I wish they would make my job more difficult and more dangerous, and then at the end of the day, I wish they’d make me work till I’m 75 years old. No one’s saying that. No one’s asking for that agenda. What they’re asking for is to be treated fairly with dignity. That’s what we ask.
Full speech here.
“This choir riff proves that we are truly living in the era of @anatosaurus now,” tweeted Anand Giridharadas who devoted a chapter of “The Persuaders” 2023 to Anat Shenker-Osorio’s efforts to change how Democrats communicate in plain-speak. Walz does it naturally.
Turn in your hymn books to page Tim Walz.