Stand up and say you're mad as hell and you won't take it anymore!
Elizabeth Warren was a guest speaker this week at
The Code Conference—"where top industry influencers in media and technology gather for in-depth conversations about the impact of digital technology on our lives and our businesses, today and in the future."
Taking a question from an audience member, Elizabeth Warren said she's mad as hell and you should be too. Watch as she succinctly laid out why politicians don't represent the voters and the one and only way that will change:
Audience member: How are the 50% of people who can vote but don't supposed to actually believe any politician that says that we are going to rebuild this country? And the energy infrastructure, internet infrastructure, education, all these things matter. I believe that and with interest rates this low, it makes sense to issue paper on 30 or 100-year notes to rebuild America. Why aren't we doing that?
Senator Elizabeth Warren: It is exactly the right question. We are not doing it because the people in Washington, too many of the people in Washington, do not represent the folks who elected them. They represent the rich and the powerful who don't want to see their taxes raised, who don't want to see any change. We're perfectly happy with things where they are. Indeed, they're doing great with things where they are. And they stay in the ear of enough of the folks in Washington that it has made it almost impossible to get any kind of change.
The only way we get change is when enough people in this country say—I'm mad as hell and I'm fed up and I'm not going to do this anymore. You are not going to go back and represent me in Washington, D.C. if you are not willing to pass a meaningful infrastructure bill. If you are not willing to refinance student loan interest rates and stop dragging in billions of dollars in profits off the backs of kids who otherwise can't afford to go to college. If you don't say you're going to fund the NIH (National Institute of Health) and the NISF (National Science Foundation), because that is our future. We have to make these issues salient and not just wonky.
When you hear us talk about this and you say (pointing to other panelist), "this is the wonkiest conference ever", can you imagine saying that at a tech conference? When you say this is the wonkiest conference we've ever had—NO! These have to be the things that you wake up people all over America and say—what matters? Whether or not you're going to have a job. Whether or not you're going to have a retirement. Whether or not your kids are going to have any chance to build a future them. It's got to be about these core issues and we've got to talk about them, talk about them enough until there's some real change in this country. That's all I know to do.
Watch and share it from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters: