My refusal to attend the State of the Union is not about policy differences , of which I have many. I would attend a State of the Union by a president with whom I disagree if I felt she or he was otherwise respectful and adhered to basic moral values or basic tenets of civility.
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In my career standing up for human rights, I have also been steadfast in listening to those who disagree with me and in building “unlikely alliances." In this Congress, I work with conservative members, co-chairing a new coalition on immigration with GOP Rep. Roger Marshall.
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However, this president has gone beyond the pale, over and over again reaching new lows in his leadership of this country that I love. I hope that there will come a time soon when Republicans who I respect will also understand that to be silent is to be complicit.
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This president has consistently indicated that he has no interest in leading a unified country. He has gone out of his way to play to a small and shrinking base of voters by using language that diminishes and demeans vast swaths of people in our own country and around the world.
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He does and says things that none of us, as parents, would condone for our children. He consistently uses language that is outright racist. He actively uses the highest office of the land to promote hatred as a political tool for his own benefit.
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Civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rep. John Lewis fought hard to move our nation forward on civil rights. Courageous women like Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Ida B. Wells fought for women to have the rights we have today.
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Throughout the course of history, here and abroad, men and women have died to stand up against despots. Our job today is to honor those who came before us by refusing to go backward. Our job today is to stand clearly for a moral center that this president has shunned.
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End of conversation
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You made SOTU about the person, not the Office of the President. SOTU is largely ceremonial, an emblem of our republic. You chose to make it about the occupant of the Oval, and not our democracy. Your choice, your call - and it's a bad one, imo.
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Whatever you think will work. Also, the State of the Union has to be awful to sit through in the best of circumstances
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