(I was invited to give the invocation over lunch at Washington Days by the KDP chair, Jeanna Repass, March 16, 2024.)
I want to thank Jeanna for inviting me to do this. I think of it as the invocation I will never get to give on the House floor. Both because I’m a lobbyist and because they don’t want to hear what I have to say. We had a pastor scheduled to give the invocation in the senate and they sent his script back twice because he said that people should have access to health care. I would say more than that.
I’ve been a Democrat my whole life. I grew up thinking that if you were Jewish you had to be a Democrat. I kind of didn't know that there was such a thing about you as Jewish Republicans until I moved to Wichita - they have black Republicans there too. I also have no members of my immediate family who are Trumpers. And for this Lord we thank you. We have a cousin who’s a Trumper but we never liked him much anyway.
I don’t have to tell you that we face very challenging times, and part of what makes them challenging is that they are being done in the name of a particular religious understanding. If a particular understanding of Christianity teaches that abortion is wrong then that has to be put into law. if they convince themselves that they’re “helping” LGBT people by oppressing them then that’s what they’ll do. This is called Christian nationalism and it’s the greatest danger facing this country right now. Because they do it in the name of religion they believe in what they’re doing Very very tightly. The only way to stop them is to beat them and the only way to beat them is by winning elections and the only way to win elections is with Democrats.
We are Democrats because we believe that we should help those who need it. We believe that the resources of society should be more fairly distributed so that everyone has what they need to not only survive, but thrive. We believe people should have enough to eat and a secure place to live and a job that pays a living wage and healthcare and access to clean air and clean water and a stable climate. We believe that people should have the right to decide what happens to their own bodies. We believe immigrants are a blessing to our society. We believe in public education! I have often said that Republicans hate public education because it has the 3 things they hate most: public sector unions, public spending, and facts. They’re not a big fan of those.
My friend we are democrats because of our values: on stewardship solidarity steadfastness. Basic fairness. Democracy. Care and concern for the stranger, the widow and the orphan. My friends, these are time honored values, they are sacred values, they are Democratic values.
Whether or not we believe in God, we hold these sacred values very strongly, they inform our work and they are really why we do all this. Beneath whatever disagreements we may have == the conviction that the world can be a better place and we can help make it so – is something we share. It motivates us, our work. It is these sacred values that we much hold on to during times of distress.
May this meal, and our time together here today, be blessed. We express gratitude to those who put this meal before us: the workers in the field, the transportation, those who prepared it and served it to us. May sharing this meal deepen the bonds between us and strengthen our commitment for the work before us. May this meal, and our work, be blessed. Motzi
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