Van Jones to Conservatives: Put Down the Red, White & Blue Wrecking Ball | Big Think

Van Jones to Conservatives: Put Down the Red, White & Blue Wrecking Ball

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What should Democrats compromise on this year? Absolutely nothing, says Van Jones.

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Van Jones:

Van Jones is a social entrepreneur, CNN political contributor and host of The Messy Truth with Van Jones. Famous for his heart-felt election night coverage, Jones showed up as “the voice of reason” for people in red states and blue throughout the volatile 2016 political season. In response to much civil unrest and energy post-election, Jones launched the #Love Army -- a values-based movement that is working for an America where everyone counts.

Jones has founded and led numerous social enterprises engaged in social and environmental justice, including The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and The Dream Corps.

Jones is a Yale-educated attorney. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012). The second book chronicles his journey as an environmental and human rights activist to becoming a White House policy advisor.

He was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act. Signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007, the Green Jobs Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term “green jobs.” During the Obama Administration, the legislation has resulted in $500 million in national funding for green jobs training.

In 2009, Jones worked as the green jobs advisor to President Barack Obama. In this role, Jones helped to lead the inter-agency process that oversaw the multi-billion dollar investment in skills training and jobs development within the environmental and green energy sectors.

Jones has been honored with numerous awards and spotlighted on several lists of high achievers, including: the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader” designation; Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done”; TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in The World”; and the Root's 2014 "The Root 100." In 2017, Van Jones signed a management deal with Roc Nation, becoming the first political commentator & activist in their family. Jones lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife & two children.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Van Jones: I can't think of a single issue that Democrats should drop. Which American value should Democrats betray, “America the Beautiful?” Should we say, “Listen, we don't care about ‘America the Beautiful’ anymore. We’re going to get in bed with the oil spillers and the clear-cutters and the mountaintop removers and the people who want to destroy America’s beauty for profit?” I don't want to betray that value. I’ve taught my kid to sing that song. I should probably stick up for it.

Which American values should we betray? You’ve got the Statue of Liberty. Maybe we should just knock that over and build a little mall there, a little strip mall where the statue used to be, so we can join the anti-immigrant crowd. No. The statute says, “Give me your tired, give me your poor, give your huddled masses who yearn to breathe free.” If that sentiment was good enough for our grandparents, it should be good enough for our grandchildren. The color of the immigrants might change. Our national values should not change. We are a nation of immigrants. We should be respectful of the contribution of immigrants. And you cannot be an anti-immigrant bigot and a patriot at the same time. Those are things that don't go together.

We’re supposed to give that up? We’re supposed to give up the idea of liberty and justice for all? Oh, okay, we believe in liberty and justice for all, just not for the gay people. You know, just leave them out. Or not for those poor urban black kids. We’ll leave them out. We’ll give them justice based on their hoodies they're wearing rather than based on what they’re actually doing. I mean, which American value are we supposed to betray?

I’m not going to betray any of them. I think we should have liberty and justice for all. I think we should honor not just the Statue of Liberty as symbol but as also the substance that that statue stands for. I think we should believe in “America the Beautiful" and defend America’s beauty. I’m not willing to give up any American values to appease people who, if you gave up those values, they would move ten more feet to the right anyway.

Anybody who is in public life needs to find out what they believe in. And public life will test you.

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