PHILADELPHIA — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker railed against the idea that America was built on “rugged individualism” during his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday.
Booker said America’s Declaration of Independence was truly a “historic declaration of interdependence.”
“I respect and value the ideals of rugged individualism and self-reliance, but rugged individualism didn’t defeat the British, it didn’t get us to the moon, build our nation’s highways. Rugged individualism didn’t map the human genome. We did that together,” Booker said. “We can’t devolve into a nation where our highest aspiration is that we just tolerate each other. We are not called to be a nation of tolerance. We are called to be a nation of love.”
Booker called on the “nation of love” to stand against Trump and noted the GOP nominee’s disparaging and mocking comments about women, Mexicans, and a disabled journalist as chief among the reasons why.
“We have a presidential nominee in Hillary Clinton who knows that, in a time of stunningly wide disparities of wealth in our nation, America’s greatness must not be measured by how many millionaires and billionaires we have, but by how few people we have living in poverty,” Booker said. “She knows that debt-free college is not a gift, it’s not charity, it’s an investment. It represents the best of our values, the best of our history, the best of our party.”
He continued, “Hillary Clinton knows what Donald Trump betrays time and again in this campaign: that we are not a zero-sum nation, it is not you or me, it is not one America against another America. It is you and I, together, interdependent, interconnected with one single interwoven destiny.”
Booker’s message to the full convention differed somewhat from his message to the Democratic black caucus on Monday morning. His speech before the full convention touted Clinton over Trump, but his speech to the black caucus used Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine to sell the Democratic ticket.
“As much as I love our ticket, and I served in the Senate with Tim Kaine, he’s … extraordinary, when America discovers the gem that he is, I think you’re going to be very excited,” Booker told the black caucus. “I’m very excited about the top of the ticket, but I want you to know that ultimately the test of our future’s not going to be about who’s on the ballot, but it’s going to be about us.”
Booker, once thought to be a potential running mate for Clinton, won election in the Garden State in 2014 after winning his seat in a special election the year before.
