DRAFT: Alabama Remarks

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P17 P22 V11 D6 V14

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everyone - Sending this draft of remarks for tomorrow in Alabama. This is a stump speech based on the op-ed that was approved this morning. Thanks to everyone who has given input so far. We'll send a draft to the book tonight, so if folks could weigh in ASAP, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you! Lauren *HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON* *REMARKS AT ALABAMA DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE* *HOOVER, ALABAMA* *OCTOBER 17TH, 2015* Hello, Alabama Democrats! What a week! Who watched the debate on Tuesday? I don’t know about you, but it made me proud to be a Democrat. When Republicans debate, they double down on trickle down. They demonize immigrants. And for people who say they love small government, they seem to spend a lot of time talking about how the government should regulate and restrict women’s reproductive health. But you heard something very different at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, didn’t you? You heard real solutions to the problems that keep families up at night. Plans to raise wages and create good jobs … make college affordable … keep our communities safe from gun violence … defend women’s right to make our own health decisions … take on economic inequality and racial inequality … That’s what the Democratic Party is all about. We should all be proud of what we stand for and who we fight for – hard-working middle-class families, immigrants and entrepreneurs, teachers and nurses, students and factory workers, firefighters, veterans, everyone who’s ever been knocked down but refused to be counted out. People of all races, all religions, gay and straight, rich and poor, young and old … everyone, every American, has a place in our party. That’s what makes us *Democrats*. And, I know our Republican friends hate to hear this, but it’s no accident that America’s economy is stronger when there’s a Democrat in the White House. Unemployment goes down. The stock market goes up, and it goes up faster. Businesses do better. Deficits get smaller. Under a Republican President, we’re four times more likely to see a recession. And then a Democrat has to come in and clean up the mess. Just look at how far we’ve come in the past six and a half years. I don’t think President Obama gets nearly the credit he deserves. Remember the mess he inherited? The Great Recession could have become a Great Depression. But thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the American people—and the President’s leadership—we worked our way back from the brink. Saved the auto industry. Imposed tough new rules on Wall Street. Helped 16 million people gain access to quality, affordable health care. America is stronger, healthier, more prosperous, more free and more fair today than we were before President Obama took office. Now, I’m not running for President Obama’s third term. And I’m not running for my husband’s third term. I’m running for my *first* term. But you better believe that, as President, I’ll proudly carry forward this record of Democratic achievement. That doesn’t mean resting on our laurels. Not at all. There’s still so much left to do. We’re standing again. But we’re not yet running the way America should. For most people, paychecks haven’t budged in years. The minimum wage may as well be called what it is: a poverty wage. Many women are still paid less than men—and women of color paid least of all. The cost of everything from college to prescription drugs keeps going up. Unemployment for African Americans is still more than double that of white Americans. Student debt is still holding too many people back. In many states, quality child care is even more expensive than college tuition. And even though it would help working families all across this country, paid family leave is not yet the law of the land. I’m running for president to change all that. I’m running to give hardworking families a raise. To fight for small businesses that create jobs. To make sure that when a company does well, it’s not just the shareholders and executives who benefit—it’s also the people who work at that company and make those profits. I’m running to make life a little easier for working parents. To close the wage gap—because women deserve fair pay. To defend the Affordable Care Act, and make sure everyone in America has access to quality, affordable health care. To put a world-class education within reach for all Americans, from early childhood education all the way through college. Under my plan cost won’t be a barrier and debt will never hold you back. If you live here in Hoover and want to go to the University of Alabama, you won’t have to borrow a cent to pay tuition. And I want to do more to support Historically Black Colleges, which often have to scramble for resources. I’m running for President to end the era of mass incarceration. We can’t keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. I’m running to take on the racial discrimination that despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, still plays a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind. We need to stand up and say loudly and clearly that black lives matter. And we need to go further. We need to take on the systemic inequities so many Americans face—especially people of color—in health care, housing, education, and criminal justice. I’m running for president to defend the most fundamental right in our democracy – the right to vote. I was over in South Texas earlier this week. It’s a place close to my heart. When I was 24 years old, I went there for the summer to register voters for Democratic National Committee. I went with my boyfriend – this tall, brilliant guy with a bushy head of hair a beard, and a passion for Democratic politics … Now, the people of South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley were a little skeptical of a blond girl from Chicago who didn’t speak a word of Spanish. That was understandable. But as I drove around knocking on doors, people welcomed me into their homes. I sat at a lot of kitchen tables. I drank a lot of very strong coffee. And I listened as people talked to me about their hopes and fears and dreams for their families’ futures. And even though a lot of what I heard was new to me, a lot of it was familiar. I met mothers and grandmothers who worked long hours for not that much money. They were a lot like my mother. I met parents running small businesses, teaching their kids the value of hard work, that everything good in life is worth working for. They were a lot like my father. A lot of the people I met that summer weren’t registered because they didn’t believe their vote would matter. And that’s not because they were cynical – it’s because they had never seen anything to convince them otherwise. I spent a lot of time that summer thinking about why voting is important. Of course, elections help determine the direction of our country. But beyond that, there’s something special about voting. Something powerful and sacred. That moment when you cast a vote – that’s a reminder that you count. That each and every one of us counts. That what we do and think and believe really does have an impact on our future. We may be up against Super PACs and billionaires. But Donald Trump and the Koch Brothers, for all their money, they get only one vote on Election Day, just like everyone else. One person, one vote. That’s what we believe. And no one should be able to take that vote away from us. That’s why we can’t close our eyes to attacks on voting rights across the country. They don’t just threaten the trustworthiness of our elections. They threaten what it means to be a citizen. To be an American. In Alabama, without an ID, you can’t vote. Yet Governor Bentley and his administration announced plans this month to close 31 driver’s license offices across the state. They just so happened to include every single county where African Americans make up more than 75 percent of registered voters. What a coincidence! The closings will make getting driver’s licenses and personal identification cards much harder for many African Americans, putting up new barriers to voting. As many Alabamans have said in recent days, that’s just dead wrong. The Governor and his administration are insisting the closings had nothing to do with race. Maybe they really believe that. But the facts tell a different story. The efforts to roll back voting rights in Alabama are a blast from the Jim Crow Past. Fifty years after Rosa Parks sat and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched and John Lewis bled, it’s hard to believe Americans are still forced to fight for their right to vote—especially in places where the civil rights movement fought so hard all those years ago. Governor Bentley and other Republicans in Alabama have offered the same excuses we’ve always heard to justify laws that disproportionately affect people of color—or, for that matter, low-income people, women, young people, and seniors. It reminds me of that old saying: “You find a turtle on a fence post, it didn’t get there on its own.” Institutionalized racism doesn’t just happen. People make it happen. But for every Republican governor working to dismantle voting rights, there are Americans determined to keep marching forward. I’m proud of everyone in Alabama who leapt into action to confront this injustice. So here’s my message to you today: Don’t give up. Keep marching. Keep demanding justice. Don’t stop until you get it. You’ve got people all over America rooting for you and standing with you. I am one of them. And I will never turn my back on you. It’s time for Governor Bentley and the Alabama legislature to listen to their constituents and reverse the decision to close the DMV offices. Not tomorrow. Not eventually. Right now. And they should do more than that. Alabama is one of 17 states with no early voting. That needs to change. If a family leaving church on the Sunday before Election Day feels inspired to go out and vote, they should be able to do that. People who serve time should have their voting rights restored when they get out. They’re citizens, too. Nothing about having been in prison changes that. Alabama should stop requiring people to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote. It’s demeaning, it’s discriminatory, and it has to end. Too many people don’t have access to their birth certificate or passport—for example, college students who are living away from home. We should be doing everything we can to get more people involved in our political process, not turning them away when they try to participate. And I’m not just picking on Alabama. This state is not alone in limiting voting rights. I wish you were – but you aren’t. Many states have passed laws that make voting harder. And since the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, the situation has gotten even worse. Some people seem totally fine with this situation. They’d keep pushing our country in this shameful direction. And that includes many of the Republican candidates for president. Jeb Bush says he wouldn’t reauthorize the Voting Rights Act because voting conditions have improved since it was passed. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put it, that’s like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you’re not getting wet. If a law is working, we should let it keep working. When recently asked about voter ID laws, Marco Rubio replied, “What’s the big deal?” John Kasich restricted early voting in Ohio after the 2008 election, when 77 percent of early voters in the most populated county were African American. What part of democracy are all these candidates so afraid of? Many of the leaders and activists who marched and fought for the right to vote are no longer alive to stop these abuses. But we are. And we have an obligation to act. First, Congress should put principle ahead of politics and pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act. This bipartisan bill would restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Second, we should set a standard across this country of at least 20 days of early, in-person voting—including opportunities for weekend and evening voting. We should make it easier for people to cast their ballots. Third, we should enact universal, automatic voter registration, so every young person in every state is automatically registered to vote when they turn 18, unless they opt out. I applaud California for beginning to implement a similar approach last week. More states should follow their lead. These steps alone won’t solve everything. But we owe it to future generations to fight back against attacks on voting. We owe it to them to make sure our voting system works for a modern America. We need to meet this moment with the bravery and determination of those who came before us. It’s time for leaders in every party, at every level of government, to be on the right side of history. And once again, the movement can start right here in Alabama. I know the challenges we face are daunting. We’re up against some pretty powerful forces who will do, say, and spend whatever it takes to stop us. So progress is going to take every one of us doing our part. I’m a progressive who likes to get things done. I know how to stand my ground and how to find common ground. Some of you might remember we had a vigorous campaign back in 2008. President Obama and I went at it pretty good. And he won and I lost. Then, to my great surprise, he asked me to be his Secretary of State. He wouldn’t take no for an answer – believe me, I tried. In the end, he made that request, and I accepted it, because we both love our country. And that’s how democracy is supposed to work. Americans may differ, bicker, stumble, and fall. But we’re at our best when we pick each other up. We’ve got a long campaign ahead of us. And this isn’t going to be easy. But I’ve been fighting for families and underdogs my entire life, and I’m not going to stop now. In fact, I’m just getting warmed up. So I’m here to ask for your help. I’m not taking a single primary or caucus-goer for granted. I’m building an organization in all 50 states and territories to help Democrats win up and down the ticket, not just the presidential campaign. It’s time to rebuild our party from the ground up. And if you make me the nominee, that’s exactly what we’ll do. I’ve been around long enough to know every county and local office counts; every school board and state house and Senate seat counts; every single one. So we have to compete everywhere. When our state parties are strong, we win. So I hope you’ll join me, because we’re building something that will last long after next November. Together, we can make sure that every person in America—no matter who they are, where they come from, what language they speak at home, or the color of their skin—has the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. We can build an America where there are no ceilings for anyone. Where no one is left out or left behind. And a father can look his daughter in the eye and say: You can be anything you want to be—even president of the United States. Thank you.