Thread by @pwcdanica

I try not to weigh in on BS like this but for perspective:
At this time in 2016, the HS seniors I saw in Nokesville and Manassas today were freshmen.
This is the cynical example of gov’t he’s set for them their entire HS tenures: win without integrity and don’t trust politicians.

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1133595118483779585

And if your reaction to that is, “Well, sounds like he’s telling it like it is,” then that’s exactly the premise that needs to be challenged.
We shouldn't accept that cynicism, let alone celebrate it.
When you’ve seen this mindset of “win at all costs” up close, it’s even worse.

I spend a *lot* of time interacting with my student constituents, especially at the high school level.
Whether it’s holding student town halls or round tables, watching their theater productions, cheering them on at robotics, basketball and softball, taking Q&A in their classes..

...traveling to D.C. when they’re awarded w/ No Place for Hate banners, seeing The Origin Project unveiling, touring their schools, going to their art festivals, leading tours at the state Capitol, listening to them at public hearings, and being on stage at their graduations...

The reason I do that, why I help pay off their school meal debts and work so damn much on public policy to make sure they’re fed in school without being shamed or carrying debt is because I’m trying to show them some of their elected officials actually give a damn about them.

They shouldn’t have to enter adulthood with a cynical worldview about government and politics. They shouldn’t have to feel nihilistic and feel like politicians are corrupt and politics is dirty and no one cares about them or their community so why bother.
That’s bad for America.

We need to be better than that.
We need to demand better than that.
Nihilism, vindictiveness, cynicism and unaccountability are politically corrosive, unsustainable, shortsighted and detrimental to the cause of government of, for and by the people.
And it’s intentionally toxic.

My student constituents shouldn’t have to see that attitude as an example of acceptable discourse or even parliamentary maneuvering.
They should see that for the BS that it is and feel inspired not to walk away but to say, “We’re better than this. Let’s go change it.”

For every awful example of leadership I see, I see hundreds of thousands of young people who are willing to march and work for a just future.
We can fix this.
My generation is arriving at the age of running our towns, cities, counties, states and country.
Yours is next.

The cynicism we see today will eventually run its course as we acknowledge it’s already hurt so, so many people and continues to poison the well now and for the short run to come.
But this does not have to be our future.
This can be a moment from which we learn what not to do.

While they’ve neglected our climate, we’ll be the ones who salvage it.
While they focus more on restricting our rights than fixing our infrastructure, we’ll flip the script on discrimination and work to build up our communities instead of tear down each other.

Don’t tell us why we can’t succeed.
Tell us what obstacles we need to overcome in order to succeed and then either work with us in good faith to help us remove those barriers or step aside so we can figure it out and get it done.

Politics shouldn’t be about what’s possible through greed and manipulation.
It must be the art of the possible through good faith, good will and good means.
We can be better than this.
We can demand better than this.
We are better than this.
And it’s time to be better than this.