Published in the August 13, 2018 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Area Democrats held a different type of tent revival Sunday on the Lower Common, listening enthusiastically as Congressman Seth Moulton urged them to get more involved and elect new leaders with a fresh, inspiring vision of America’s future.
Moulton, whom many consider just such a leader, is on a mission to help win back the U.S. House of Representatives for his party, he told those in the audience. The Wakefield Democratic Town Committee hosted the event, and it drew faithful from around the area.
The second term Congressman from Marblehead, a Harvard graduate who served four tours of duty in Iraq, explained that Democrats’ “messaging” must change. He later agreed with a Gloucester questioner who said the party must clearly lay out “what the country needs to look like in the future.” Young people, the man said, are ready to get involved but need some sort of blueprint.
Moulton said, “(This) is what I try to do each day. We are losing jobs not to immigrants, but to robots,” adding that Washington needs to create economic opportunities “that matter” in a new economy and not one rooted in past industries like coal mining.
Representing most of the North Shore, Moulton spends some of his time campaigning for other Democrats around the country. He said he was in San Francisco on just such an effort when the Parkland, Florida school shootings occurred. He was at an event when a man who was involved in trying to reform gun laws stood and asked, “What is Congress doing? Nothing.”
Moulton realized the truth of the statement, adding, “The reality is that Congress is not getting a lot done,” and the only way for things to happen in Washington is for leaders with fresh ideas on important issues to get elected.
“People are involved in our democracy,” Moulton explained, pointing to recent teacher demonstrations, the #MeToo movement, and young people expressing a desire to get into politics. “This energy, this involvement, is a very good thing, and makes me optimistic about the future,” he said.
Moulton fielded questions from the audience, many of whom drove through a heavy downpour to attend.
A Salisbury resident, retired from the federal government, expressed dismay that in the current budget proposed by the Trump administration, there is a zero percent increase for federal employees and some benefits and other Cost Of Living Adjustments have been eliminated. The man fears that Medicare and Medicaid will be the next victims.
“This is a concern,” Moulton answered. “I think that’s exactly what they’re doing. This is the Republican playbook. They have delivered us the biggest national deficit win history with this tax cut plan. The small bump in individual’s pay checks will end, but not the corporate tax break. I heard (Republicans) may even try another tax cut for the rich this fall. The Republicans are not the party of fiscal responsibility… It’s Democrats who will have to fight to save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. We must change the national dialogue. That’s why Democrats must take back the House.”
Responding to a question about the Democrats’ need to get their message to resonate with the majority of Americans, Moulton said that it has been helping that some “are not always doing what our party tells us to do.”
Moulton, for one, is known for working on a bipartisan level to get legislation passed. At one point he asked, “How do you work with someone like Ted Cruz? You can’t, so you have to find Republicans you can work with.”
He added, “It is time for a new generation of leadership (which understands) that it is far better to pass gun reform on a bipartisanship vote.” Moulton then offered a criticism of his own party on the totally partisan passage of Obamacare, saying that health care reform law would be that much stronger if it had Republican support.
A Burlington resident asked Moulton what should be done about a reported White House plan to ban the issuance of green cards to those who once may have needed government assistance.
“First we make sure bigoted laws like this don’t get passed,” he said, and then attacked the trust fund rich who don’t work but benefit from our nation’s military defending them. “I believe in a country where everyone pays their fair share and where everyone has a job that matters.” This can best be achieved, Moulton added, by electing officials voters can trust.
Lynnfield resident Wally McKenzie asked the Congressman what party volunteers can do to help the Democrats take back the House.
Moulton answered that the party needs people who understand service and leadership. “Find a candidate who is inspiring to you and get involved in one of their campaigns,” he continued, directing people to his website ServeAmericaPAC.com to learn about such candidates.
“The number one criteria for me is they have to be great leaders,” Moulton said, using as a prime example Amy McGrath of Kentucky, a recently retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat fighter pilot who will face Republican incumbent Andy Barr for a House seat in November.
Moulton also spoke quite a bit about the country’s immigration system, saying that while it is certainly “broken” we need laws that make sense. One thing that does not, he said, is meeting a deported U.S. Navy veteran during a fact finding trip to Mexico. “Deported veteran,” he said, is a “term that shouldn’t even exist.”
“We need a party with a diverse voice,” he said. “Our party is strongest when we embrace our diversity. We will win only if we represent a broader America.”
Jim Scott of Wakefield told Moulton that people “who should be voting Democrat” are not because they look at the relatively healthy economy and low unemployment and don’t see a reason why.
“First, it’s the Obama recovery that has led to this turnaround. That’s the reality,” Moulton said to the cheering crowd. “But a lot of Americans are still hurting. Real wages have not gone up in 20 years. There are still plenty being left behind. (President Trump) is benefitting from a Democrat’s good work and he’s determined to make it come undone.”
Near the end of his roughly one hour appearance, Moulton said Democrats need to get their act together in a big way.
“No company that is in the worst position it’s been in since the 1920s would say, ‘Let’s do nothing’ (to fix itself). We need to talk about what we are going to do for the country, that America needs leadership that you can trust… We must keep fighting to make changes in our party so we can become the majority party again.”
