The Griffin Editorial: Advocacy in action

From Monday evening to Tuesday evening, for 25 hours straight, Senator Cory Booker gave a record-breaking speech on the Senate floor. Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, broke the Senate record for the longest speech, surpassing Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act in 1957. Booker acknowledged the previous record holder, powerfully expressing, “To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand,” Mr. Booker said. He countered, “I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.” As powerful a motive as it is, supplanting Thurmond’s record was not the driving force behind Booker’s speech. 

Rather, Booker had larger and less self-fulfilling intentions. When taking the podium, he laid out his goal: “Tonight, I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble. I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because I believe, sincerely, that our country is in crisis.” To defend his belief, Booker read aloud letters from his constituents – both Democrats and Republicans – filled with concerns about the Trump administration's policies, including tariffs, immigration and cuts to education, healthcare and other governmental programs. To adorn his speech, he recited poems and eloquently answered questions from his fellow senators.

Yet, the most laudable aspect of Booker’s marathon was not his setting of a new record, nor was it that he became the voice of those who felt voiceless. Though both are important, they are byproducts of the truly applause-worthy aspect of Booker’s performance: selflessly sacrificing one’s personal comforts to stand up for what is just, what is fair and what is right. It would be easy to carry on with business as usual in the Senate, despite the seemingly crumbling political atmosphere, because senators have more insulation than citizens or even representatives. They maintain their office for six years rather than two, in the case of representatives, or four, in the case of presidents. Some politicians lavish in privilege with the protection they amass as a result of their elected office – but some, like Booker, put their protection to work, pushing it to the limit and testing the boundaries of complacency. Not only did Booker sacrifice mental comforts, like remaining silent, carrying on with the usual voting and remaining in the realm of the familiar, but he also sacrificed physical comforts. In preparation for his marathon speech, Booker fasted from food for days and curbed his water intake as well. Over the course of the speech, his voice went hoarse and his body started cramping, yet he persevered. Here we see the epitome of what an elected representative is – a selfless advocate who realizes that their role requires speaking for not just themselves, but the people they represent, and is willing to act upon that belief despite the sacrifice of comfort and familiarity. 

Booker compared the current crisis to similar crises that occurred during the civil rights movement and the fight for women's suffrage. The same vigor and drive for sacrificing personal comforts in necessity for substantial change was seen in those two periods as well. In the Civil Rights Movement especially, Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. distinguished between unjust and just laws, with unjust laws being out of harmony with moral law. The need to disobey unjust laws in order to preserve morality aligns with the need to disrupt the stagnant ongoings of the legislative branches in order to counteract the rash, unconstitutional and undemocratic decisions of the current administration. Booker asked his fellow senators in his speech, “This is not right or left, it is right or wrong. This is not a partisan moment. It is a moral moment. Where do you stand?” Booker has expressed true advocacy not only in words but in action as well, doing so while reinvigorating a population of the electorate that has felt alienated and powerless. 

-MFB