My State of the Swamp Speech
I received a few requests for a written version of my speech from ’s State of the Swamp event from last week, so I am reprinting them here (I ran out of time so wasn’t able to deliver the very last part).
I have to be honest, this was my first “rally-style event” in which I was giving remarks, so I was nervous! It’s simple, but hopefully gets the message across. (Video below, I start at 1:05.)
I defy the idea that cruelty makes a country strong.
Tonight, we just heard a lot of talk about strength.
“Strong borders.”
”Strong leaders.”
”Strong America.”
But I’m here to say this as someone who spent years enforcing the law of this country:
There is nothing strong about abandoning the rule of law.
Because the rule of law is not just a set of rules.
It’s a moral promise.
And here’s the part that often gets lost:
The rule of law only survives if ordinary people have moral courage.
Not dramatic courage.
Not movie-scene courage.
The everyday kind.
The courage to say, this isn’t right.
The courage to refuse to go along.
The courage to see other people as fully human.
And here’s the part I want us to sit with tonight:
The root of moral courage is empathy.
Do you know what Elon Musk said?
He said “the problem is that there is too much empathy.”
I say there is not enough.
Empathy is what stops us from treating people as enemies instead of neighbors.
Empathy is what stops the law from becoming a weapon.
Empathy is what reminds us that power exists to protect the vulnerable—not to punish them.
Authoritarians understand this better than anyone.
They know that if they can drain empathy from a society,
they can hollow out its laws from the inside.
So they tell us to fear one another.
They tell us some people don’t belong.
They tell us cruelty is strength.
But cruelty is not strength.
Cruelty is what happens when empathy disappears.
And when empathy disappears, the rule of law is next.
I’ve seen this up close.
The most dangerous moments are not when laws are broken loudly—
but when they’re bent quietly, justified politely,
and obeyed without question.
History teaches us this again and again:
The greatest harms are not carried out by monsters.
They are carried out by regular people
who convince themselves they have no choice,
that it’s not their responsibility,
that someone else will speak up.
Moral courage is refusing that lie.
It’s choosing empathy when obedience would be easier.
It’s choosing principle when silence would be safer.
And here’s the good news—because there is good news:
Empathy is contagious.
Courage is contagious.
Democracy is contagious.
Every time someone says “no,”
it gets easier for the next person to say it too.
So tonight, in response to fear, we choose empathy.
In response to lies, we choose truth.
In response to power without conscience, we choose the rule of law.
Not because it’s easy.
Not because it’s comfortable.
But because it’s who we are.
Because democracy doesn’t defend itself.
We do.
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