Gabbard’s message resonates with Bankhead crowd

Tulsi Gabbard must have known she was on favorable ground last week at the Bankhead Theater when she was greeted with a standing ovation during her presentation. It was even stronger and broader after his 50-minute presentation.

Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, launched the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Speaker Series as an organizer. Gabbard said it took Chamber President and CEO Inge Houston 18 months before calendars lined up for the June 18 appearance.

Her speech, likely a “stump speech” that she will deliver across the country over the next few months, focused on how Washington, D.C. and many levels of government are broken and the need for citizens to win back their republic.

Perhaps his biggest warning reflects his 2020 campaign platform, hawkish against terrorists and very reluctant to get involved in foreign wars. Responding to a question about the Biden administration’s foreign policy, she said it is bringing Russia, China and Iran closer together and dragging the world into another Cold War with the threat of nuclear war, intentionally or not, closer than ever.

She quoted former President Ronald Reagan as saying that a nuclear war could never be won and should never be fought. Reagan hated nuclear weapons and wanted the world to be rid of them. She recommended watching a recent YouTube ad from New York that almost blithely discussed a nuclear exchange – much like those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s remember the exercises of getting under our desk in case of attack.

Gabbard said she understands why many people are sitting out amid toxic and bitterly divided politics. That said, she argued that we can’t afford it.

She denounced the failure of the US Department of Education and the educational establishment across the country, pointing out that functional illiteracy among high school students is higher than it has ever been in her lifetime . Add to that the fact that 30 to 40 percent of Gen Z say they are not proud to be Americans.

Add to that the way the Biden administration is perverting Title IX to require transgender men to be able to compete with women, completely reversing more than 50 years of progress for women in athletics and education . Today there are more women enrolled in higher education than men.

She said this amounted to a denial of the objective truth of biology – male gender and female gender. The government decides whether this is true or not.

Gabbard opened her speech by describing her childhood years in Hawaii as the fourth of five children who all worked in their parents’ restaurants and were homeschooled. The experience gives her a perspective on small business that many of her former congressional colleagues lack. What she learned from her parents’ life of service: being outward-looking and serving others.

She finished school and then enlisted in the military after 9/11. She is currently a lieutenant colonel in the reserves. After being elected to Congress, as one of two representatives from a small state, she wondered how to build relationships with her colleagues. Go to the gym – advice she easily followed by working out at 6:30 a.m.

This led to a relationship with a more senior Republican that grew to the point where she considered breaking with Democrats and voting for a bill dealing with immigration. He said it was just a courier bill for her party so she should keep her powder dry.

With just 15% of his colleagues using the gym, there remained the challenge of connecting with others. His solution, his mother’s macadamia nut caramel. She first asked her mother for 424 small boxes and was told yes. Then came the second request: She needed larger boxes for each person’s staff. Mom agreed and she said she would stir two large pots of caramel with her dad ready for the final taste to approve them. She hand wrote a note to each member to accompany the caramel.

Drawing attention through food with lots of attention to detail worked. She said many colleagues found her in the field to introduce themselves and thank her. This led her to be part of a bipartisan group that worked across issues and resulted in Hawaii-specific legislation, which had already been proposed and never moved forward.

These are the type of personal, productive relationships she would like us to build with our leaders.

Editor’s Note: Journalist Tim Hunt has been writing about the Tri-Valley community for more than 40 years. He grew up in the Valley and lives in Pleasanton. His blog “Tim Talk” appears online at PleasantonWeekly.com.

Related