Federalist Party NPC Elections HQ

[Joseph Cao]

[At the invitation of the Mayor of New York City, the Representative gave the closing speech at an evening event in the Lower East Side to kick off the Mayor's reelection campaign. The speech, of which a transcript is provided below, was held in a large room with social distancing regulations and masks for all attendees and was streamed online on the New York Federalists' website and social media.]

Thank you for that speech! Thank you, Manhattan! It’s great to be here with you all. And I want to thank the mayor for inviting me back here, the city for hosting us, and all of you for coming in masks and continuing to stay six feet apart.

I remember last cycle when we were here – aside from the most excellent Poirot, hardly anyone was on the trail and willing to defend their vision of how New York and New Yorkers could forge ahead in the midst of these troubled waters. But we were, and you listened. We reached out to all of you, even the staunchest partisans, with a promise to govern responsibly instead of demonizing everyone who didn’t fully agree with us. So as we gather here today with a promise to do the same, I want to briefly sketch out what I see as the driving factor that has underpinned this mayoralty’s vision and the actions that have been taken by your mayor over the past seven months.

As you’ve seen in the polling numbers, our promise hasn't always seemed like the most enticing option. Governing responsibly is boring! It isn’t flashy or made for prime time, and it isn’t the sort of thing that attracts attention and popularity points. But what we’ve tried to do is study the facts carefully, debate our options and costs and benefits, and carefully roll out reforms that are continuously evaluated before codifying them into proper policy. We do our best to involve everyone who would be affected, both regular folks and experts. We ask of you an engagement in the civic process; not just your input on the policies that will affect you, but of the active involvement of community leaders and ordinary folks in crafting the policies themselves. Sometimes there are new ideas that work; sometimes there aren’t. There are plenty of battle-tested ideas that we’ve adapted for the changing society in which we live – the old and tried, after all, is often superior to the new and untried.

If “measure twice, cut once” is an unlovely way to go about politics, it’s because we understand – like the New Yorkers of times past who powered the garment industry here – that it is nevertheless a form of governance that yields results for the people. If we insisted on this approach over the past months, it’s because it was and is imperative that the policy garments we make for New Yorkers be tailored to the needs of this city. As leaders, we serve the people first and foremost; it would be a dereliction of duty if we didn’t keep you all in the loop and make sure that the authority your mayor wields in office isn’t creating detrimental effects for the communities he serves.

And as we begin this campaign in the midst of all that’s plaguing our society – the pandemic, the economic prospects, the very real damage done to families and communities as they face this snowstorm of problems and their snowballing effects – we hope that you’ll be informed. We hope that the citizens of New York will carefully weigh the candidates for City Hall, their policies, and their merits independently of the spin and partisan fighting that has consumed so much of this nation’s attention. At the end of the day, regardless of what decision they make at the ballot box, we hope that New Yorkers will see the worth of policies that have been measured twice and cut once, that keep the cold and the frost out, and that fit this city like a glove. Or even a serviceable pair of mittens. Thank you once again, New York, for your time, and remember to get out to vote this February!

[Joseph Cao]

[The following was posted to the Mayor of New York City's website and social media on Saturday morning, alongside a republication of an earlier announcement from February 2nd.]

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"On behalf of this administration, of my family and I, and of the Federalist Party of New York, I’d like to wish a very happy Lunar New Year to all those celebrating. As our city continues to fight the pandemic, we hope you’ll find prosperity – in whatever form, financial, social, or familial – even in the unlikeliest of places.

"This is the first Lunar New Year celebration held under the shadow of COVID. It’s been a hard year for Asian-owned businesses because of the pandemic and the unjustified xenophobia that they’ve been targeted with. So why not turn that around? Earlier this month, I was pleased to announce that the Mayor’s Office was partnering with our city’s Asian-owned business associations to put together a list of small businesses to support, which you can find on the Mayor's website. And you can still support them! More participating businesses have been added to the list and I’d urge us all to show them the support that only New Yorkers can give.

"My family and I have our own long history with Asian food, of which we’ve made no secret. I’m glad to have received input from some of my fellow Federalists in addition to submitting my own – special thanks to our fine state senator from Flushing and our state assemblyman from Staten Island for the suggestions they made.

"Stay safe, New York. Thank you for your time."

###

[NOTE FROM CAO: I did have a hand in creating the list – chiefly the recommendation of a certain locally owned Vietnamese restaurant in Brooklyn which I had the privilege of visiting in pre-COVID times. For obvious reasons, though, the mayor mentioned only the fellow New Yorkers who helped with the list. ]

[Joseph Cao]

[Following a masked and socially distanced roundtable meeting with community leaders from neighborhoods across northern Brooklyn regarding the COVID situation, Representative Cao joined the mayor in visiting hospital workers and doctors (still masked) at the Woodhull Medical Center. Later, on the trail nearby, Cao gave a brief* speech addressing the work that he and the mayor alongside other prominent Federalist officeholders had been doing on the COVID front, of which a transcript may be found below.]

Thank you. Honored to be here in Bedford-Stuyvesant with you all today. And I do have to remark that it’s very thoughtful of everyone to have come here still masked up and social distancing – thoughtful not just toward those gathered here, but with regard to the message that New York City is sending and the example it’s setting for the region and the nation. A little Thought for Others, as they say, can make all the difference in our continued struggle against the coronavirus.

The mayor and I recently had the privilege of meeting with the community leaders for Bed-Stuy and also those of Bushwick and Williamsburg, some of whom are here with us today, and we want to be clear – as we were during that roundtable – that this administration has been working for you from day one. Just like the public workers over at Woodhull and in other hospitals across this city, we’re serious about serving everyone and making sure we get through the pandemic together. They have their job – to keep us citizens healthy; and we have ours, which is likewise to keep this city safe and run it well. Our work with NYC Health+Hospitals over the healthcare plan that covers many of you here is part of that. Their impeccable history in keeping accurate medical records has been invaluable to the coordination of our city’s and state’s COVID task forces.

I’d like to put in a word here for the coordination and cooperation that has quietly driven our COVID response here in the city, and the ways in which it’s kept us on the road with our eyes on the target in vaccinations, the target in lowering infections and flattening the curve, and what have you. As the vaccination rollout begins across the nation, the mayor’s been fighting for New York in public and in private. Obviously at the regional level we’ve got a bit of a bottleneck with regard to getting vaccines from the federal government out to the communities of New York City. To be clear, that should not have happened. As a representative serving you all in the federal government, and as a representative who actually sponsored and advocated heavily for the bill kickstarting our nationwide vaccination campaign, I’ve recognized from the start that this has to happen as fast as possible. We’re public servants elected by people like you who count on us to get things done where you can’t, so it would naturally be a dereliction of duty if an officeholder, regardless of their party, doesn’t feel the sense of urgency that we Federalists know all too well from reading our constituents’ messages and taking their calls.

The mayor has publicly called out higher leadership where higher leadership has dragged its feet, as many of you will know. And a lesser public servant would have kept it at that, believing that their duty ends at making noise in the public square. But he’s worked quietly behind the scenes in addition to his advocation for New York City in public, trying to hash out an agreement with regional leadership to get our citizens vaccinated as soon as humanly possible. He’s worked with the Governor and with Albany to coordinate our COVID response in the meantime, including our work on the vaccination infrastructure that we’ve got to have ready to go as soon as the good folks up at the Daniel Moynihan building give the word. New York’s governors and New York City’s mayors have historically not had good working relationships, but I’m proud to say, as a fellow party member, that both of them are better public servants than to let their disagreements get in the way of serving the people of New York. So in the meantime, as with our previous work on COVID guidelines, we’re confident that the screening and scheduling systems they’ve set in place will serve all New Yorkers well regardless of their circumstances. I’m told the Governor’s team has insisted on stress-testing them to ensure they can handle everyone and not break under the pressure when it does come. And the mayor has been an excellent intermediary between Albany and the Health+Hospitals people who have offered their truly impressive expertise in communicating crucial public health information by ensuring that the online infrastructure is multilingual, accessible and navigable to all.

This is not the time for patchwork systems or for petty partisan bickering – the lives of many of New York’s citizens are at stake. I hope the mayor’s mountain-moving in the midst of a pandemic that has blown a hole in all our lives makes clear the scale of his dedication to the people, his status as an exemplary public servant, and the reasons behind his fight for a second term. We Federalists have always put the people and the communities first; we’ll continue to fight for you. And when you get out to vote this weekend for federal House, for the presidency and Senate, and next weekend for the mayor’s race, we urge you all to vote on behalf of your communities and for the candidates who will do likewise.

[Joseph Cao]

[On Wednesday morning, shortly before heading to a public townhall in the area to meet and greet constituents as part of his reelection campaign, Representative Cao gave a short address in the Queens neighborhood of Jamaica where he was joined by the mayor and his own reelection campaign. The address was held outdoors, streamed online, and had enforced masking and social distancing policies in effect.]

Hello there, Jamaica! Thank you for coming today and staying masked up and continuing to socially distance. And I’m honored to see you all here, a day out from what promises to be one of the highest-turnout elections in recent history. It’s one of the few chances you have to exercise your right to representation that gets things done for your families and your communities, so regardless of what party you support, please get out and vote!

On that note, I recently got a letter from a constituent – an upstater, living in Hudson to be precise, who lamented the state of our political scene and asked what the point of continuing to be active in such a political landscape could be. Many of us here today, myself included, are not impressed with the extent to which politics has been debased to personal attacks and pure partisanship. And I want to be clear. The people here today, the people all over New York and the country, have the ability beyond simply their votes to steer the course within which politicians operate. There is an Article II right which empowers us all to talk to our public servants, as the voter from Hudson did with me, to argue with them and give their points of view. Atlasians can exercise that right, and they can choose public servants who reject the mud and the partisan slapfest.

From my first forays into politics I’ve believed in a fundamentally decent nation of people who don’t want the political malpractice that we see today, who operate within norms that their families, friends, and communities like Jamaica sustain through simply being decent people to their fellow human beings. I pledged as well, during my election to the House, to fight for such Atlasians and uphold their values in my votes and my rhetoric. If Atlasia is to find decency again in the national square, it needs leaders who will treat the good of the nation as paramount, superseding all other partisan concerns, and focus on the people – really focus on them, in word and deed. My answer to the constituent from Hudson, then, is that my vision has not changed: to continue leading the effort to find common ground legislatively on the issues that affect us all. Public servants on the national scene like Frémont Speaker Siren, Southern Speaker Tmth, and Senator Spark have done likewise; I have had the pleasure of supporting all of them at one point or another and continue to support their efforts to put people over party.

People (and constituents) have talked to me about the naivety of holding this view, of being consistently willing to cross partisan lines to work with others on finding common ground. The Federalist Party of New York has also faced questions about their willingness to break the partisan mold here with the mayor’s actions. Maybe they are right, and I bear no illusions that every politician is willing to put partisan concerns aside on these matters. But a two-way street is necessary for effective legislating and governing on behalf of the people. I and other Federalists on the state and local level here have assumed the best of intentions on all sides when working across party lines; we have to, if we are to properly do the job of representing our fellow citizens. It is somewhat disappointing, then, when those on the other side of the aisle aren’t willing to extend the same courtesy. The people of Jamaica have seen this firsthand in the mayor’s tenure, in the concrete actions he has taken to improve the economic conditions of New Yorkers and his willingness to be conciliatory in the face of opposition and attacks. New York has a choice to make next weekend, as they do this weekend, and it is my hope when you do so that you take the mayor’s results and quiet focus on governing into account. Get out to vote, and vote your assessment of what you’ve seen here in the city over the past seven months. Thank you, Jamaica, and it is my pleasure to now welcome the Mayor of New York City!

[Joseph Cao]

The following 15-second ads by the NYC Mayor's re-election campaign will run high-intensity on local radio stations in New York City until the election:

Elect a leader who focuses on this city's issues, not an enabler of our toxic politics. Vote Lewis Silver for Mayor on Election Weekend.

We can focus on fixing New York City's problems, or we can import even more problems from Nyman. Vote smart. Vote Lewis Silver for Mayor on Election Weekend.

A flyer (of which the following is a mockup) will be distributed in selected neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx:

New York City can't be managed from Nyman.

Don't give the Nyman overreach brigade that chance.

Vote Lewis Silver for Mayor on Election Weekend.

[Joseph Cao]

On Wednesday morning, Representative Cao was invited to assist a first-term Federalist assemblyman from Staten Island in his campaign efforts on behalf of the incumbent mayor on Staten Island’s North Shore, where they later participated in GOTV efforts with local Federalist volunteers. Both activities were held under strict masking and social distancing policies.

I want to thank the assemblyman for that remarkably honest speech regarding his thoughts on our election. For myself, I can’t say that this has been the best week for people who want politics to be constructive and to help our fellow citizens get a fair shake. My constituents on all sides of the aisle have had a great deal to say about the recent election, hardly any of it good for anyone involved. And they’re especially concerned that the political process seems to be broken for them.

Like many of you, my own instincts this election were to try not to get bogged down in the drama that Nyman apparently cannot survive without. Just as I've always done, I – together with several of my fellow Federalists – kept a focus on doing my job in Congress, just as we as a nation tried to attend to our jobs and our daily lives in the midst of this nasty political atmosphere. And one particular job on we have always striven to reach above and beyond has been the promotion of a healthier local and regional politics. That’s been the hallmark of our Federalist lawmakers over the past sessions of Congress on everything from vaccinations to protecting small businesses. The people of New York City and of Lincoln at large will recognize the signs of this: not just in our words but in our actions, including the efforts of Councillor Brother Jonathan and his hard work on a farm bill that will do nothing but good for Lincoln's citizens.

I say all this because we of the Federalist Party must make it clear as a duty to our constituents where our focus is. Those at the federal level are free to propose reforms for the sake of action if they so wish, and we will naturally monitor these developments and we Federalists with the opportunity to do so will register our own concerns on behalf of the people we serve. But we will return to the one place in politics where the citizenry are best placed to have their voice heard. At a time when federal politics could not be more depressing and debilitating, the regions and our state and local governments need leaders who will keep the focus of the political process on the people, where it belongs, and most emphatically not leaders who want to bring Nyman’s toxic discourse into the few places that have not already been suffocated by them.

Local issues deserve local leaders. This election could have gone a number of ways, but at the end of it our neighbors remain our neighbors and our communities remain our communities. It will be our fellow citizens who we meet on a daily basis, rather than either Presidential candidate, who help us deliver our groceries and check on us when our electricity goes out. It will be our fellow citizens who make the decision to be kind to one another, to be excellent to each other, and to reject the jangling discords that perpetually invade our political discourse. We will continue to live together, to learn together, to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, and to take charge of this nation's survival together, on the stage where it truly matters: from one person to another. It is the people who make this city, this state, this region, and this nation truly great. And it will take leaders who understand this – who live this in their daily lives and the policies and actions they take – to guide this nation through the storms we still face.

New York City, when you get out to vote this weekend, the choice you mark on your ballot is purely your decision and will remain between yourself and your conscience. But I hope, as do the millions across our nation who want politics to work for them again, that you always choose kindness and compassion, now and in the future. Thank you for your time here, folks. Go make sure you’re registered, yourselves and everyone you know, and go make your voice heard this weekend!

[Joseph Cao]

[Alongside the Mayor and several Federalist volunteers, Representative Cao spent several hours on the stump in Harlem. This involved a town hall, a public fundraising event at the local community center, and the closing speech at an outdoor rally (with masking and social distancing policies strictly enforced), of which a transcript is provided below.]

Thank you for those kind words. And thank you, Harlem, for the energy you’ve shown all through today on behalf of your families and your communities! Continuing to mask up and socially distance is an essential part of our continued precautions against the coronavirus as we ramp up our vaccination campaign, and hopefully we’ll soon reach a point in this long tunnel we’re all in where a light appears at its end.

I’m inclined to think the Mayor has perhaps been a little too effusive with his speech. This is, after all, supposed to be his election coming up in a couple of days. More to the point, we don’t want to oversell the recent federal bill, which I’m pleased to say looks likely to pass unanimously – it’s very much a small step in the right direction, and an overdue one at that. Then again, because that is the reality of our situation, I also try to be mindful of downplaying the role I hold as someone who you all put your trust in as recently as last weekend to continue bringing your voices to the halls of power in Nyman. We hold a massive responsibility here with our office, and it is our job to deliver, both myself and my fellow representatives. If I have made a small step, hopefully it becomes part of a giant step forward that our Congress and our nation takes for the underprivileged and the marginalized, for some of you here today who have been dealt an unfair hand in society through no fault of your own. And to my knowledge we’ve tried not to lose sight of that, the mayor and I.

So with that in mind, I want to talk about the health and wellbeing of our kids here in New York City, where excellent work is being done. The biggest school district in the nation is tough to manage at the best of times; even more so during a pandemic that has forced our kids into virtual learning for those who can afford it and complete academic stagnation for those who can’t. What has guided the Mayor’s team through this, then, has been two things. It is a downside of officeholding that we are always being pulled away from thinking in community terms and toward more abstract arguments about “implementing policies” that don’t involve the role of the people being affected by those policies. The Federalist Party’s focus on a healthy regional and local form of government has been part of our recommitment to the community: making sure we don’t forget about the part of politics that really matters, namely the side of it that affects ordinary Atlasians like you and I. Sure, the Mayor's office has the statistics and the school records, and they factor that information into their decisions. But like the rest of the Federalist Party, they maintain a commitment to never forgetting that behind each academic record is a child and a still-unfinished education. And we craft our policies accordingly, as he's made clear over the past months regarding his plan and the city’s path toward an education system that serves every New Yorker.

That itself forms the second thing that's guided the Mayor’s team – “every New Yorker” is supremely understated. New York has an ethnic, racial, social, and educational diversity that is reflected in its kids and ought to be reflected in its education system. And I’m pleased to say that the current system reflects the differing needs of our kids very well – accomodations for special ed, a better system for lower-income kids who need a quality education just as much as anyone else – thanks partially to the mayor’s efforts in providing further funds and stipulations for our public education system. There’s lots of talk about accountability on the national level, but I feel obliged to point out that it’s having its day in New York City and has been for the past four months. This diversity has to be nurtured; the whole idea of education is to invest in our kids’ futures, and when the pandemic ends we believe we'll be well placed to see the next generation of New Yorkers push the city onward and upward.

Obviously it hasn’t ended yet, however, and in the meantime our children are still learning virtually. As he mentioned in the very first speech of his re-election campaign, your Mayor's worked with teachers in the public school system and with some privately owned schools to craft an education plan that puts every child in a position to be able to learn remotely. I think the plan has been reasonably successful – it’s done its job, and even Laborite and Liberal members of the city council have applauded it. At the end of the day, that’s the sort of policy we aim for on the local level: one that works across political lines and works closely with the communities it aims to serve. It is not flashy or viral, as some would have you believe. It is a good steady form of governance that I firmly believe New Yorkers will see the value of when they go to the polls this weekend. Stay safe, Harlem! Thank you for coming, and get your friends and family and everyone you know out to vote for the New York you deserve!

[Joseph Cao]

[Following their GOTV efforts in Harlem, Mr. Cao and Mayor Silver proceeded further north to the Bronx to join a local leader and former state assembly candidate in doing community work, before picking up the distribution of campaign literature and stumping in surrounding neighborhoods under continued masking and social distancing measures. This ended with another, similarly masked and socially distanced event in Woodlawn Heights, where Cao once again gave the closing speech, of which a transcript is provided below.]

I talked earlier in Harlem about the diversity that we see here in New York City, and especially, I might say, here in the heart of Brooklyn. The diversity that your mayor's taken into account and acted on every day of his tenure, with results that show his understanding of what New Yorkers need as you all face a pandemic and a very specific brew of economic troubles that much of the rest of the nation doesn't deal with. He’s told the truth about New York City and about the way Labor ran this state and this region when it mattered; he's also reached out to them and cooperated with them for the good of New Yorkers when it mattered. Like another large food product I could name, the Big Apple stands alone. It's always had the problems that come with being a great city, a regional capital, and a beacon of liberty. And like his predecessors, the Mayor is a heterodox political presence who hasn't hesitated to break with his party when the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers depended on it.

The difference between him and his predecessors, however, is that the Federalist Party at all levels of government has always been a big tent which welcomes people like the Mayor into it alongside other aisle-crossers like Councillor Brother Jonathan and myself. Many of my more conservative friends and constituents have made their displeasure known with some recent actions taken by the Councillor, and we’ve had some heated court battles and decisions around this region in particular. Now, I have my own disagreements with the Council at times. I have argued my own piece in Congress where my authority to serve the people lies. And it appears heartening that the Council is broaching the subject again to move it toward a more constitutionally sound framework. But none of this should detract from the basic reality that Jonathan is a staunch Federalist like myself and like the mayor here.

Every member of the Lincoln Federalists experienced the same events in our region; different conclusions were reached, and both conclusions were criticized at different points. It showcases a diversity of thought within the party to reflect the diversity of New York City. It's a healthy process for everyone to lay out their arguments for the people, not just within Lincoln but nationwide. Within this big tent called the Federalist Party, we have historically welcomed just such a diversity of thought. We have a united vision and that’s never wavered. But there always have been and always will be differences in process and approach and method in getting there. Having a united vision for the betterment of the people and the nation doesn’t require unanimity of thought. I wouldn't want our party to fixate on that and I’m glad we haven’t headed down that road thus far. There will be disagreements, as always, but those are a natural and healthy part of a healthy party based on principles rather than personality.

Moreover, our principles are not pie-in-the-sky ivory-tower pontificating and they never have been, contrary to what some want you to believe. Our party has a history of delivering for the people as an application of just these principles, from implementation of the healthcare system we use to the continued efforts of our federal and regional lawmakers towards a better Atlasia for the people and the regions on all fronts – the pandemic, the economy, our struggling workers, and our marginalized communities. If we have ever claimed to hold heaven, in the words of Johnny Cash, we have always tried to spread it around: to the regions; to the local governments; to the people and the communities who will do best with it.

It is also why, as long as our citizens do their best with standing up for their own communities and working toward a better nation by reaching out to their fellow Atlasians, I remain optimistic that this toxic period in our nation’s politics shall pass. The people will shape the direction in which this nation ultimately goes. So get out to vote, and get out to exercise your right to steer this ship and this city toward a better future for the people of New York! Thank you all, folks, and stay safe!

[Joseph Cao]

[On the final day of campaigning, Representative Cao and some of the mayor's surrogates in the city joined a physical and online effort to get New Yorkers out to the polls. As part of this effort, the Representative delivered a final speech at an outdoor masked and socially distanced event in Sunset Park, which was livestreamed on the New York Federalist Party's website and social media; a transcript of his full remarks is provided below.]

Here we are at voting day, and in the wake of a few weeks' campaigning in the shadow of the highest-turnout presidential election in history everything has been rather like a passing vision for me. I don't know about the Mayor, or the rest of you all gathered here tonight, but I am absolutely bowled over by the support you've shown us. Hopefully the other parties campaigning can also agree on the need for actually sticking to discussion of how we in politics can help Atlasians of all stripes, because that sort of fundamental respect for their fellow citizens is something that the people I see in front of me wearing masks and socially distancing all intuitively understand and respond to.

And as people go out to vote, I suppose the basic question some may still have beneath all the policy and vision we've laid out is: why vote for this party? What's in it?

On a purely stylistic note, though one that reveals something deeper about how the people and parties of this nation choose to operate, there is one answer. During these hard and anxious times it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices in politics, voices that New York City's resident Founding Father specifically warned against encouraging. Flattering our prejudices and exciting the apprehensions of the citizenry is a great political drug which also happens to be the surest form of poison for all of us, because in appealing to and feeding to the worst parts of our politics we end up with a political wasteland populated by blind rage and partisanship for its own sake, and it's extremely difficult for the actual needs of our communities to be expressed and acted on. We must resist that temptation, and this mayor has done just that, speaking when he needs to speak and always in service of a better policy or a new political development for New York's citizens. The body politic is always in sore need of people who will steer the everyday work of politics, the sweating over legislation and arguments over regulation that dominate the day-to-day running of this metropolis.

But, on a deeper level, that need and our party's stance on this speaks to something else too. The Federalist mindset, that local government from the regions on down and the people inhabiting them need a bigger voice, is indisputably our defining characteristic. It is the expression of a far more fundamental animating principle: that too much power in the hands of someone or something is bound to have unfortunate consequences. We do our best through our policies at all levels of government to maintain that, to place more power in the hands of the people who can use it best on behalf of their families and communities, and to keep this ship of state pointed directly on course to help the nation achieve its continued progress. This is, at heart, a principle that demands constant thought and balance to keep this country from veering toward concentrating too much power in the hands of any one entity. When we say we practice the politics of prudence, it is this thought process that underlies all the effects we see on a policy level as regards good governance, clear and careful legislation, and all the rest of it.

Prudence is interesting; part of it implies recognizing bounds of some sort, whether those of the government or those of ourselves – we the people and some of us the occupiers of offices and bearers of the public trust. There are very real limits to what we can do. New York isn't a Gotham City waiting for a sufficiently wealthy and renowned public servant to swoop in and save all at once. Part of our job as officeholders is recognizing these limits – constitutional, procedural, physical – and doing our best to work within them. Again, it takes someone like our Mayor here to do the job and do it well.

So why work? Why put up the fight, with all these limits and this man-against-the-world rhetoric? To quote a party chair and former President, if we want something done, we do it ourselves: as individuals, as communities, or (in New York's case) as a city. We continue our efforts because we were given that responsibility on behalf of the people. We fight because New Yorkers need a way out for the young man next door who's been out of work for months, for the single mother with three kids up the corridor, for the elderly minority woman living in poverty and without a place to turn. It is on behalf of out community and the people we serve that those of us gathered here today have risen up to say our piece and to make the impact on politics, no matter how local, that these fellow human beings and Atlasians need.

We have fought for you, and as the care your mayor displayed in governing these past few months has shown, every part of that fight he's taken has demonstrated exceptional care and regard for you all and every one of the New Yorkers he serves – Labor or Federalist, DA or Liberal, Peace or Independent. He's fought for you, and you now get to choose whether or not to give him the opportunity to fight for you again. Get out to vote if you haven't already, New York City! Thank you all; Dave bless Atlasia and everyone in it. Good night.

[Joseph Cao]

[After a three-day absence from Nyman, during which he made his way westward across the nation and talked to fellow citizens and constituents, Representative Cao surfaced in Traverse City on Sunday evening to open a general event organized by the Federalist Party of Michigan and attended by state legislative candidates. The speech, which was given to a masked and socially distanced audience and livestreamed on the party's website and social media, is reproduced below.]

Hello, folks! Great to be here, and although I’m rather sad to have to return to civilization now I couldn’t think of a much better place to do it than Traverse City. (And there certainly could be more dangerous places to do it – glad to see everyone here still masking up and socially distancing!) As we stand here on the verge of spring again, while waiting for the cherry blossoms to bloom once more, I’m sure we all are looking forward to a better and more hopeful season for Michigan.

But I didn’t come here solely to compliment your scenery – I wanted to say as well that the Michigan Federalist Party isn’t just looking forward to spring along with the rest of us, but also has a forward-looking plan for this state and for communities like Traverse City. And you’ll hear a lot about that in the coming days from our candidates. Our party takes pride in representing a diverse range of political and ideological viewpoints from all over the state, from Detroit’s East Side to suburban Lansing to the small towns across the UP and the Thumb. And no matter where our candidates call home, all of them are dedicated to helping their communities through the tough times we’re all facing, to giving their fellow citizens a voice and a hand in the governing process.

We’ve just gone through a presidential cycle that it’s fair to say has left a bad taste in our mouths. Watching people on the ground in its aftermath has been an object lesson in how little of it has actually been about the needs of our citizens. There has been and is still a lot to do on the state and local level to improve the lot of the ordinary Atlasian, those living close to the poverty line and those who stretch dollars between rent and groceries and those whose kids and grandkids face an uncertain future in education and in the environment and in the shape of our nation. And Nyman could learn quite a bit from what has been done at a level at which our fellow Atlasians are best placed to see change in their daily lives.

The Federalist Party was founded on a dedication to change driven at these levels, and it continues to promote policies that do just that. It’s why prominent Federalists, including myself, have highlighted renewable energy and other efforts against climate change as investments in our collective future. It’s why we continue to push for fiscal responsibility and an economy that will remain equipped to serve our nation’s citizens for the decades to come. And it’s why we believe in economic policies that empower Main Street and keep Wall Street from rigging the economic agenda in their favor. We’ve worked with the Governor and his DA allies in the legislature, with Labor, with the Liberals, and with Peace whenever opportunities have arisen to help and empower Michiganders in any way possible. And they come up more often than you might guess from the acrimony of the national political scene!

Over the past few days, I’ve been making my way across the country incognito to keep in touch with the Atlasian people and how they’re getting by. I’ve done it before – even visited this neck of the woods last August – but as I said earlier, it’s been particularly interesting in the aftermath of the election. Talking to folks who don’t obsessively follow the political circus but who need the support people in power can offer them is something most, if not all, politicians should do on the regular; it keeps us and our priorities grounded and reminds us why we hold the positions we do. The people of this nation, those who live paycheck to paycheck and those who face challenges in a society that doesn’t always accommodate them, they remind us of what politics can be.

If this election sees the re-establishment of politics as a tool for constructive and positive change in the lives of ordinary Atlasians, and as something that gets people to come together at the local level to make that change happen, it will be a win for federalism no matter how we Federalists fare at the polls. So regardless of which way you lean politically, I encourage you all to assess the parties’ platforms in that spirit over the next two weeks – stay informed, make your choices wisely, and go vote on the 27th!

[Joseph Cao]

[At the request of the Federalist Party of Wisconsin, Mr. Cao joined the party’s gubernatorial candidate in Platteville to campaign for a promising state House candidate. The event, which concluded a day of doorknocking and a virtual roundtable featuring several other candidates for the state legislature from across western Wisconsin, was masked and socially distanced and concluded with a stump speech by the gubernatorial candidate, who was introduced by Cao in the speech below.]

Thank you. Honored to be here in Platteville this evening with you all, and I certainly am grateful to see everyone still masked up and doing their best to socially distance. As I’m sure everyone is familiar with by now, it’s these little considerations that protect citizens in every corner of the country; and if there’s one thing Wisconsinites have demonstrated throughout their state’s history it is just this consideration and Thought for Others that makes all the difference.

It is good to be back here in this particular corner of the country for reasons other than that, though. This is a part of the state lying right on the state border, with Illinois just a short drive down the road, and hardly anyone on either side of the border pays much attention to the folks who live and work here. But the Federalists are a party that cares about each and every community in this nation and we will continue to listen to communities like Platteville as we do for others like it all across Atlasia. We will be back for the people and the towns that deserve a say in their state’s affairs just like everyone else, and if you vote for your Federalist candidate for Governor and the state legislature you can rest assured that that will guide our policies as this stage navigates the problems it faces.

As a party, we’re no strangers to working across the aisle when the people we serve need assistance. Our state legislators have been proud to work with both Governor Baldwin here and Governor Gaviotti on the other side of the line with state budgets, the regional COVID-19 response, and more besides. Bipartisanship isn’t dead. Far from it! It’s a way forward for our nation that ensures communities like Platteville don’t get left behind. The lower the level of government, the less your party label should matter. Nobody argues about party platforms when town councils gather to help their fellow citizens who live below the poverty line and to provide upkeep for public utilities and parks. Cooperation is the bedrock of a functioning society; its reflection in the people we elect to represent that society is essential if our leaders are to keep Atlasia and all its communities afloat.

So I’m very proud of our local Federalists who live out that principle every day. And in particular I want to talk about one of them, a Councilman many of you will know who happens to be here with us today. He’s not a partisan by any means, a true swing voter at the national level, and he knows the value of investing in Platteville's future as well as the future of Wisconsin. Thanks to his efforts on behalf of UW–Platteville, state authorities have approved a project brought forward by the university to construct the largest solar array in this state and reduce the burden on Platteville's local energy grid. It promises to help establish Platteville as a leading player in Wisconsin’s energy landscape – and a particularly good position on a landscape which is slowly but surely shifting toward a better and more renewable-focused future. And as the university will tell you, our next generation is intimately involved with the whole process from drawing board to construction. It’s the kind of forward thinking we need much more of in politics, especially at the local level where it matters for the everyday lives of the people who need this most.

Which is why we at the Federalist Party fully support his bid for state representative, why your Liberal mayor and a prominent Labor councilwoman has endorsed him, and why we’re confident that candidates like him up and down the Federalist slate will bring a vision for this state with which the people of Wisconsin can agree. We hope you’ll all do your best to appraise us and the other parties over the next two weeks, and make your choice in the upcoming elections on behalf of yourself, your family, and your community and their needs which this state and this nation must act on one way or the other. Good luck, Platteville, and please allow me to introduce the leader of the Federalist slate, a hard worker for Wisconsin who’s done excellent work for the people with his office – the next Governor of Wisconsin!

[Joseph Cao]

Statement from Vermont Senate Federalist Leader Elaine Stone and Vermont General Assembly Federalist Leader Russ Webster, on behalf of their respective caucuses

“Governor Campbell’s actions in regard to the enforcement of LC 10.9, and certain of her comments on the matter in her press conference yesterday, have been of enormous concern to us and to our constituents. Many Vermonters have expressed the opinion that this is very out of character for her. Until yesterday she was, by all appearances, in campaign and in policy, in public and in private, strongly in favor of enforcing a mask mandate and other COVID rules found in the No Need to Spread Disease Act.

“We would rather not be drawn on this matter, but the Governor’s apparent and sudden change of heart is not conducive to the consistent policymaking that our state needs. We would remind our constituents that, with the exception of one assemblyman, the Federalist legislative caucus is united in keeping the mask mandate and the rest of LC 10.9 for the duration of the pandemic, and we will continue to legislate accordingly. It is the opinion of our caucus that the Governor would do well to reflect on the promises she made to all Vermonters and whether her recent actions are really of help to them.

“In view of the body of Governor Campbell’s previous actions and statements, which were strongly supportive of COVID regulations, we can only conclude that her actions yesterday constitute a momentary lapse in judgement. However, we are more than ready to join our colleagues across the aisle to hold her accountable through legislative means should she continue to push this stance unilaterally. In the meantime, as we – including Governor Campbell – consistently stressed during our campaign last fall, we encourage all Vermonters to continue to mask up and socially distance and, in the words of Councillor Brother Jonathan, to be mindful of the ties that bind us all to one another.”

X Elaine Stone
X Russell Philip Webster

[META NOTE: This has been discussed with Peanut at length and a mutual agreement has been reached to avoid reopening the argument, so I will merely state for the record that the recent GM action involving Vermont’s Governor is highly, highly out of character for her, the Vermont Federalist Party more generally, and my own campaign efforts:

…as for us officeholders, it falls to us to support them [healthcare workers] and give them space to do what they need to do.

(Rally in Bennington, October 15)

To beat this crisis, our citizens need to step up en masse; and what we’ve seen, what has made us all immensely proud, has been you Atlasian citizens as a whole, doing just that. Masking up even in the absence of mask mandates; closing your businesses even before and after the duration of lockdown orders in your state; continuing to educate yourselves about this crisis and adapting to it in the good old timeless ingenious American fashion – that, more than anything we poor few officeholders can do to personally prevent the spread of the virus, is what will get us through this intact…

(Rally in Newport, October 18)

As I said elsewhere, a party that promotes going above and beyond existing mask mandates in Essex County of all places is hardly the sort of party to refuse to enforce mask mandates while in office. The statement above reflects that and is a reaction to the GM-simulated event, the sort of thing GM actions are supposed to do. Please do not take this as an attack on the GM, we have gone over that ground before and I’m trying to work within the Game Engine and the NPC system more generally.]

[Joseph Cao]

[To aid their electoral efforts, the Federalist Party of Indiana organized a series of events to accompany a voter registration drive in towns near the Illinois border. During one of these masked and socially distanced drives, the gubernatorial candidate and a first-time state Senate candidate were joined by Representative Cao for a day of door-knocking and voter outreach in the Lafayette area, concluding in Fowler with the following speech by the Representative.]

Thank you for that. Well, folks, that was your next Governor with his plans for the state's education and pension systems, and I hope some of them have given you further consideration for the upcoming election. Good to see everyone out here still masked and socially distancing, by the way – with the excellent news from New York City that Lincoln’s vaccination initiative is well underway, let’s keep our precautions up, finish the course strong and get this country back on track.

And I must said I’m very honored to be here – my home is just over the border there to the west, but you good folks here in Fowler have just the same fundamental approach to life as my own family and friends in downstate Illinois, one that understands oftentimes the value to getting something done yourself before a higher authority solves it for you. There is value in a community composed of good people like yourself who will help each other along and make sure, like the wagon trains that passed through Indiana long ago, that nobody is left behind: not the old, not the weak, not the sick, not the struggling. And there is value in local leaders and governments who understand this intimately and act on it in the policies they push.

Local leaders like your mayor here, who I’m sure you all know is running for the state Senate. The mayor’s priorities have consistently been those who need help, but it is a reflection of his core motivation that he hasn’t fallen into the trap of considering people apart from their circumstances. People think of bureaucratic governments as faceless for a reason. A government that doesn't consider why people live the lives they do or have the circumstances they do is a government that can't truly help its people no matter how hard they try. And your mayor’s done just the opposite: the education plan he has overseen, one that heavily informed the Federalist plan for Indiana's public schools, has had some innovative input from the people it serves – our parents and kids, our long-suffering teachers, and more than a few local veterans of the education system whose experience has been instrumental in bringing it into the twenty-first century and through a pandemic that has forced our kids online. I’m extremely glad that it has borne the fruit you all have seen in Fowler’s school system over the past couple of years.

And that’s just the foremost of the many accomplishments your mayor has gotten through during his tenure, and one of the many policies he plans to bring to the state legislature. But it’s more than just policies which he’ll take there if you come out to support him next weekend. It is a fundamental appreciation he holds of what makes politics work, the product of the work he’s put into making Fowler a better place for its citizens. The experiences of people like your mayor here at the local level have shaped how the Indiana Federalist Party operates. Our policies have consistently recognized that Hoosiers of all stripes deserve the chance to put that fundamentally Midwestern independent thinking into action beyond the limited circles of their daily lives. Parents deserve a school system that actively helps their kids to step up. Workers deserve the right to not be exploited by their employers. Those sidelined on the benches of life with disabilities or handicaps, who aren’t able to climb the ladder of Atlasian society through no fault of their own, deserve a system of government that looks out for them and provides for them precisely because they are still part of the community and shouldn’t be left behind.

Candidates like your mayor have a proven record of representing Hoosiers' interests at the local level – no matter who you are or what you do, yet ever mindful of who you are and what you do – and we’ll work with all parties in the Statehouse to bring communities like Fowler a better education system and a better-run government that works for each and every one of you. You matter; you should matter; and as far as the Federalists are concerned, you will continue to matter. Good luck, Fowler, and be sure to make your voice heard – get out to vote!

[Joseph Cao]

[Yesterday evening, at the conclusion of a day of door-knocking and voter outreach in Detroit’s southern neighborhoods, Representative Cao was invited to give the opening speech at a masked and socially distanced general event downtown for the gubernatorial candidate and other state legislative candidates of the Federalist Party. The Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’ was played immediately prior to the Representative’s speech, which was streamed on party websites and social media.]

Hello, everyone! Good evening, Detroit! Yes, I know there isn’t a South Detroit – Canada is right across the river, after all – but here in Downtown we are pretty far south for the city. The House of Representatives did recently pass a bill honoring a notable Atlasian from my own state after all; and if East Chicago can pass muster with the People’s House, South Detroit ought to be good enough for them too.

Now, the House has certainly been considering bills of a more pressing nature as well; one of them, which I was very happy to sponsor on behalf of former House Speaker Thumb, launched our federal vaccination effort. I’m extremely heartened to hear that many of you have gotten the vaccine and done your part in getting the nation closer to the light at the end of this tunnel. We can push the death rate down further, and the infection rate along with it, but we’re going to need everyone on board. So, for those of you here and everyone who’s watching or listening to this tonight, unless you have a medical condition that prevents you from taking the vaccine, please book a vaccination appointment at your earliest convenience – and after you’ve taken it make sure to continue taking precautions and wearing your mask for two or three weeks as you’re all doing now, because the vaccine needs that time to get you properly immunized to COVID. Though you good folks here in Detroit may know that by now, since Councilwoman Watson has been doing an amazing job at public health messaging on behalf of the City.

That’s just one of the reasons I believe, as does the Federalist Party, that she’s more than ready to face the challenges in the Governor's office. She understands quite fairly the importance that science holds during this time and has no hesitation in making sure the people of Detroit know that as well; she’ll also stand ready to get done for all of Michigan what she’s gotten done for Detroit. You can absolutely trust her to follow the science just as properly as she’s informed everyone of it. But as she has also taken care to emphasize, this city and this state has experienced an economic toll that cannot be discounted, and it will be Councilwoman Watson’s priority in the governor’s office to lead a recovery that revitalizes Michigan’s economy by giving our small businesses the help they need. Leaders all over the country from the president on down have had this fine line to walk, but few have done it as well – and will continue to do it as well – as your next Governor.

Obviously there is much in the Councilwoman’s background that has informed her considerable talent for walking this line. Like her, however, the Federalist Party of Michigan and its state legislators have also stressed the need for scientifically informed political decisions that nevertheless prioritize the people they serve. As far as it goes in politics, science is very much meant to be a means of helping the people rather than an end in itself. So is politics itself, really. Too many people see politics as something to be won, or to be bent to our viewpoint – the viewpoint that obviously will solve all our dilemmas and end the deep-seated problems in our society and our economic landscape, if only the people with different viewpoints weren’t blocking our progress. Like the scientific process, politics is a means rather than an end, and that is something our fine candidates all over this great state understand because of what they’ve seen and experienced in this vast patchwork of people and communities called Michigan. Michiganders aren’t innate voters for any one party who just need that party to flip a switch and usher in the Utopia on the backs of an approving populace. You are, in all your diversity of opinion and experience, ordinary folks who have issues you care about and are willing to discuss so as to find the best way forward, rather than blindly swallow whatever party apparatchiks tell you is the best policy.

That is the political process: the means of working through the unglamorousness, the tradeoffs and limitations and compromises, in pursuit of an end the voters need rather than an end the party wants. The Federalists have our policies – which your candidates here will be happy to expand on shortly – but they serve the people of Michigan, their constituents will attest that they’ve served well, and every single candidate here will put the needs of Detroit and Michigan first. Forget whether parties win or lose in elections: if the people you elect to the legislature this month can commit to that and act on it, regardless of party, the people will have been served well. That’s the hope we hold for this state; and now, it is my very great pleasure to welcome a fine public servant who has served you all well and will continue to do so: the next Governor of Michigan, Councilwoman Bernice Reeves Watson!

[Joseph Cao]

[Ahead of congressional work, Representative Cao spent the morning door-knocking and talking to voters in the northern neighborhoods of Nyman alongside the Governor, a prospective Councilor, and a team of Federalist volunteers, all of whom made sure to observe COVID regulations. The following speech was given to a limited audience at a masked and socially distanced event in the approximate vicinity of North Michigan Park.]

Hey, everyone. Great to see you all out and about – I know many of you have availed yourselves of the vaccination programs in action around the city, but in case you haven’t, please get your COVID shot! It’s something everyone needs if we are to get out of this pandemic: medical workers; service workers; teachers; everyone with breath in their lungs and a love for this nation, may Dave continue to bless it.

For a long time now, the people of Nyman have – through no fault of their own – gotten front-row seats to all that goes on in that collection of federal buildings down on the National Mall. And the more inane drama can often leave people like you all discouraged for the state of politics in your own backyard. But what can come out of the deliberation that was built into those buildings, the reason why they have more than one building in the first place, is very different. The checks and balances built into the very structure of how the federal government operates are not obstructive or vestigial, as some commentators have claimed. Far from it! By fostering debate and compromise and a systematic process of discussion, they play an instrumental role in making bad policy good and good policy better; in crafting policies that all our citizens can benefit from. Without this system built to bring everyone to the policy table and learn to hang together, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, this nation would certainly hang separately.

As a far more politically divided state than most, the people of Nyman know quite well the outsized role compromise and deliberation has had to play in proper governance. It has been our responsibility over the past six months to tackle the issues faced by our hardworking individuals and families, and tackle them well through the quality check that only sustained legislative deliberation can provide. One of those issues is quite literally the foundational issue for future generations. It is a strongly held belief of the Federalist Party of Nyman, and its regional and national counterparts, that families are a crucial unit in maintaining the cohesiveness of our communities and deserve all the support we can give them. The Federalist-led steps toward universal pre-K for Nyman’s children, including kids who aren’t able to attend regular school for personal reasons, have provided a base for this. Lower-income folks, working parents, single parents, parents who choose homeschooling as a preference or a necessity for their children: no matter your circumstance, your kids deserve the best education we can give them. It’s a foundational issue and provides a sound base that, as my good friend and former colleague Senator Scott recently pointed out – and I fully agree with that conclusion – will sustain the positive educational reforms needed to keep our education system well-oiled for years to come.

Now, as it happens, nobody has a monopoly on good policy, and it really shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for many of us to acknowledge that. Although this initiative passed with bipartisan support, it owes much of its foundation to a bill originally written by Senator Spark during his time in the Southern Chamber. He’s an independent now, of course, but it was my honor to serve alongside him in the House – where he first introduced a bill that looks likely to be signed into law very soon – and even as an independent he hasn’t wavered in his dedication to you all and to the other Southerners he serves. Independent or partisan, Peace or DA or Liberal or Labor, we’ve reached out to and worked with anyone and everyone who has come up with legislation or ideas that help Nyman’s citizens. I did mention the political division earlier; it isn’t always a bad thing in and of itself, as long as there is an impetus to build bridges between differing parties and legislators for the good of the people they serve. And if bridge-building is possible in the war zone that Congress can feel like on occasion, it is absolutely possible in a state not thoroughly dominated by any one party, where it is very obvious that the viewpoints of others matter and can be engaged with.

We will continue to do just that, and we will continue to heed what the citizens we represent have to say – their needs, the issues their communities face, and the future we all move toward together are the foundation of the responsibility leaders must hold as their duty to the people. Leaders like Senator Yankee and Southern Governor LT, like Governor Spanier, like the Councilors of all parties who remain dedicated to advancing the livelihoods and lives of Nyman’s citizens. It is very much an honor of mine to now introduce a candidate for the Council who you may know from her expertise in doing just that while leading the Office of Community Affairs: folks, please welcome your next Councilor!

[Joseph Cao]

[While making their way upriver on a campaign swing across the towns of southern Indiana, the Federalist gubernatorial candidate and a number of state legislative candidates for the area were joined by Representative Cao and other regional Federalist surrogates. This happened shortly before their midmorning stop in Evansville, where the Representative was tasked with introducing the gubernatorial candidate at a masked and socially distanced event streamed live on party websites and social media.]

Thank you for that, folks. It’s great to be here in Evansville this morning, and I have no doubt in my mind that the very wise words your state representative has just given you all regarding the state of our politics will prove correct – particularly if, as seems hopeful on my travels around this state, Hoosiers turn out in force this weekend to vote for an Indiana that they and their families and communities need. I have seen just about all of you masked up and socially distancing, and better still, you all have expressed a hope and a vision forward for the political scene that we here at the Federalist Party have high hopes of sustaining in the months ahead.

I want to talk for a bit about those two: families and communities, and Indiana’s reputation in recent years has been of a state that values both in its governance and the bearings of its citizens. And let me start by making one thing clear. Your state representatives, your state Senate candidate here, and the Federalist Party of Indiana as a whole are unambiguously and consistently pro-life. Our party believes in minimizing abortions through purely common-sense means that preserve the rights of our nation’s women; indiscriminately knifing the medical sector that provides such procedures, as some partisans have accused us of wanting to do, is far from common sense and a harmful and counterproductive tactic that has been tried before at great cost to this nation’s social fabric. While there is naturally a wide range of opinions among our rank-and-file, we are clear on this much: that the lives of the mother and her child must be protected – not just during pregnancy, but during birth, after birth, and all the way through childhood and adulthood to the day they die.

The act of being born into a family, no matter its circumstance, should make clear why strengthening the Atlasian family has been a deeply-held value of Indiana’s Federalist Party and many of its counterparts around the nation. The family is the original community. It has an enormous amount of responsibility and potential to shape the path a child takes from the moment of birth, through their development and education at home and in and out of school, and throughout their gradual induction into adulthood. It is an integral part of what has held this nation’s tangled web together since its conception – since the visionaries who called for this union to join, or die – and it is that same urgency that we need here today. Families have had immense stress piled upon them through the immense social and political upheaval of the past decades, many made worse by an uncaring government; the flight of industry and younger folks from vast swathes of Atlasia has only made the problem worse as the modern economy leaves Evansville and its fellow struggling towns behind; and today, one year through a pandemic that has taken all this and cranked it up to 11, it is on the government to realize the role it’s played in pushing economic and educational policies that overlook what the family has provided for Atlasian society throughout this nation’s history. And it is on them – on the state legislators and the gubernatorial candidate who the Federalist Party is running – to do better.

I just mentioned the pandemic, which has reopened many wounds that were still recovering before our lives were upended. Not least among these is the opioid crisis that has ravaged lives and communities like southern Indiana. We’ve seen a resurgence in fatal overdoses in this part of the nation, every one of which has ripped a seam in a family and a community, dozens in Evansville alone; and they did not need to go out this way. There is a systemic failure on the part of government and administration, a capitulation to the impersonal forces that have battered communities all across our nation, when stories like these are repeated over and over and over. Your candidate for the state Senate has been behind the community’s push for state funding to tackle an issue that has fallen off the radar at precisely the time when monitoring and counteracting this sort of threat is crucial. And if elected, she will not forget who and what put her in a position to help the community she has long served. Her extensive work with the downtrodden, the sidelined, and those languishing in the back-alleys of life is exactly what is needed in government to combat an apathy that distances our representatives from those they are supposed to serve.

Life in all its forms – during birth, during childhood, during adulthood, during the twilight when folks slip into that semi-darkness that our government is all too often ill-equipped to peer through and keep the candle flame of their lives from extinguishing with a whimper – must always be protected, and especially so in a pandemic that has already claimed too many of them. On their own, officeholders can’t stop pandemics from happening, singlehandedly fix the opioid crises, or reverse a decades-long trend of urban flight. These are and have consistently been efforts that the community must do its part to achieve; our candidates here understand that and have made sure that they know what is needed, what can be done, and what can be taken up in Evansville and communities like it across Indiana. One of them is here today, a Hoosier through and through with the vision to get us through the coming months and the track record to tackle issues plaguing every city and every hamlet in this state from Indianapolis to Inglefield. Please give a warm welcome to your next Governor!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao travelled across the state border to Gary to join a trio of state legislative candidates and spend a few hours campaigning and door-knocking alongside the local Federalist team at their request. To conclude the day's work, a general masked and socially distanced event was held downtown, at which Cao was tasked with introducing a first-term state Senator locked in a tight race; the speech is reproduced below for public release.]

I talked about the importance of communities yesterday – communities of people like the ones that have given Gary its sense of identity and, through your continued mask-wearing and social distancing, protected this city and this state – and as your state Senate candidate here very kindly raised that issue in the remarks he has just given, this seems like a good opportunity to tell you all what the Federalist Party has done and plans to do on another related issue.

It isn’t just the Atlasian family that has been hit hard by the decline of the industries that powered Gary and cities and towns like it across our nation. The workers, the people who immigrated here seeking a more secure means of income and a familiar industry, and every single member of communities like these, family or no family, have had the rug pulled out from underneath them. They’ve watched the onset of automation and the capricity of modern industries hang them out to dry, without getting a say over what happens to their own livelihoods. And in all this there is a need for the state government to rededicate itself to the purpose of its existence. It is imperative that Indianans have a government that empowers the people they are supposed to serve; all the different stories and lives within this state of yours, union workers and struggling families and the unemployed, from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River.

We are under no illusions as to the difficulty of this endeavor, especially considering the struggles your Governor has faced over the previous months. But we at the Federalist Party are optimistic as to what our gubernatorial candidate here can achieve. It has been a fault of the office he seeks that its occupants tend to be consumed with partisan tunnel vision, constantly focused on their own narrow goals on behalf of their own narrow supporters. Your candidate here has spent years among the patchwork of communities in this state by virtue of his line of work and the office he holds, getting to know many of them in great detail, and as he’s demonstrated time and time again on the campaign trail he has been more than willing to put that experience and that fundamental understanding to good use advocating policies that many of these communities need and have fought for. All Indianans, regardless of their circumstance, can count on him to fight for them in the Governor’s office, and his fellow Federalists in the legislature have long since proven their credentials in representing their own constituencies – we are confident that the people of Indiana have the good sense to evaluate the candidates who are fundamentally dedicated to their community and will elect legislators who are willing to work across party lines on behalf of their constituents no matter what party they belong to.

But we aren’t simply riding on one man’s experience – it is the wide policy platform the Federalist Party has put forth, one that we have returned to again and again in campaigns up and down this state. The platform has always been based around our realization of the value inherent in our past, present, and future. For future Atlasians to continue being able to use what we have built up for them, both the physical infrastructure and the economic and social structure that sustained communities provide, it has always been imperative for us to emphasize the preservation of what has worked in practice. And that includes planting a clear flag for fiscal responsibility. Our dedication to matching every spending proposal with revenue, something that we have insisted on at all levels of government from the presidency on down, is a case in point; these and other efforts we have put in can and will pave the way for a better long-term economic outlook that will see future generations better able to provide for themselves. I think the budgetary actions of your state representative in conjunction with two of her colleagues from different parties have clearly demonstrated the breadth and depth of support this basic dedication to tried-and-true responsible government enjoys among the current electorate – and if you elect candidates who will work for your kids’ and grandkids’ futures as well as your own, Indiana will truly have a state government that fights for its people’s present and future.

Of course, I’ve stressed just one plank of our platform. And while I naturally encourage all of you to educate yourselves and read it, it is on us as well to deliver the case for what we have done with it while in office. Here to tell you all how her work has helped to empower the workers in the community she serves, and given your local industry a new lease on life that has brought it permanently into the twenty-first century and into a position to keep families and people rooted and flourishing for the foreseeable future, please welcome your next state Senator!

[Joseph Cao]

[Before resuming his congressional duties, the Representative joined Governor Caroline Spanier in the Capitol Hill neighborhood to meet and greet voters ahead of the weekend’s election, precluding a party effort to bring Nyman’s voters to the polls; his efforts in the resulting masked and socially distanced event alongside the Governor included the following speech, which was posted to local and regional Federalist websites and social media.]

Hello, Capitol Hill! Thanks for indulging us once again. I do love seeing you all here, and personally I couldn’t think of a better neighborhood to experience as part of my service to the nation over yonder in the Capitol. It is a very fine day to be out and about and to be wearing your masks and socially distancing, even as we move through a historic vaccination program that has been wildly successful and brought us that much closer to overcoming COVID-19.

And there could hardly be a better place than Nyman, D.C., to have a brief tangential historical presentation. As many of you will know, Nyman used to be an anomaly within our nation. Almost uniquely within this country, and in contrast to the rallying cry that launched the War for Independence, it had no federal representation. The provision of full rights to you all here in this state happened within recent living memory – a bit of error-rectifying that has been nothing but good for the people who can finally count themselves due representation as well as taxation.

The people of Nyman therefore understand better than most the value and potential of representative democracy. What you all have seen from the daily comings and goings of federal officeholders, and the workings of government on its good days and its bad days, has been a demonstration of what this representation can do for the people who are being represented – from my own Illinois to the PPT’s North Carolina to the Vice President’s Oregon to the Speaker’s Northern Marianas. You know that the sausage-making process of democracy, the airing of disagreements that precludes the process of tinkering with bills that are acceptable to most if not all of our citizens, is rarely pretty. But when everyone involved approaches it from the mindset of understanding their role as representative of a diverse nation rather than arbiter of the objective truth, it gets results for the people. So Governor Spanier here and her fellow Federalists in the Council have taken their duty to represent you all very seriously.

People from out of state focus on the White House and on Capitol Hill, those two famous seats of government, and that has been something that shows up in politics to a certain degree; the federal government’s actions dominate the discourse and have done so for most of Atlasia’s history. But the Capitol isn’t the only thing on Capitol Hill. This neighborhood naturally takes its name from the far more eye-catching landmark next to it, but the fact remains that the architects who designed Nyman did not place the Capitol at a distance from the people it serves. From its location on First Street, it is clear that the people have just as much of a say in the governance of Nyman as do those housed in the Capitol building. Nyman the state has had a long history of being overshadowed by the goings-on in Nyman the seat of power. Variations of this perception of Nyman as a special place of government kept its residents without federal representation for centuries after its founding. And the people deserved better. You still deserve better – a politics that recognizes what you need as a state and as citizens with just exactly the same rights as their fellow Atlasians.

That has showed up in the governing philosophy of not just your Governor, but also the Federalists and other parties in the Council. In some ways, being aware of your extreme proximity to policymaking that affects the entire nation and makes its influence felt on the world beyond helps to sharpen the governing mind and draws into contrast the very mundane, humdrum, unglamorous things that have to be done when running a state that’s both defined and not defined by the two white buildings on the National Mall. Policies like the progress we’re making on reforming the Nyman Metro, in concert with both DA and Labor councilors, and curbing the excess waste that has been a staple of government projects in the past. Policies like improvements to the public utilities that you ordinary folks depend on each day. Policies like the educational reform which will ensure our kids get the good education they deserve, no matter their background.

Other parties may struggle to go every other breath without saying “Nyman,” but only one party has had the record of getting things done for the people who live in Nyman – you all are arguably the most important part of this city and this state, and whatever happens on Election Day, I think we can be proud of what we’ve been able to do together on behalf of you all. So as I conclude here, it’s only appropriate that the stage be yielded to the fine public servant who has made much of this possible. Please give a warm welcome to Governor Spanier!

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao was present in Richland Center to introduce the gubernatorial candidate, who made a surprise appearance and meet-and-greet with community leaders and state legislative candidates from the surrounding towns. He was asked to give an introductory speech for the candidate at a masked and socially distanced event in Richland Center’s center, which is reprinted below for public release.]

Hello, Richland Center! Thanks for having us here, thanks for masking up and being considerate toward each other, and thank you to your state representative here for that excellent summary of what he’s done in the state legislature, warts and all. There is much that goes on in the halls of power that rarely gets to the voters who benefit most from knowing it. It’s good to see public servants like your state representative for taking the responsibility of informing you all, and if the press folks over there catch any inaccuracies I certainly hope you’ll hear about those as well.

The obligation for them and the obligation we all have, including you all in the audience as you go about your daily lives, is an important one that needs addressing. What we’re doing here is political, yes. But it should be made very clear, as I have done and as representatives of other parties have done, that the political world should not take precedence over the world we live in. In this world, many of us will experience the opportunity to do something that fundamentally positively impacts other people’s lives, no matter how small an action it might be. Everyone has the opportunity to help their neighbor. The town council has the opportunity to help the struggling family. The state representative has had the opportunity, as he’s just told you, to bring better futures to young people with artistic talents of the kind that have made Richland Center renowned in the past. I believe our public servants of whatever party are fundamentally decent people who likewise want to help the people they serve, and to the extent that they fail at that and play to the divisiveness that we see among the political classes, a large proportion of the blame has to be laid at the undercurrents of party politics which pull them out of touch of the problems and the needs people like you have.

To address that, it is imperative that everyone understands why we have division and, while we may not be able to overcome it completely in one go, why and how we continue to make progress in doing so. The divisions I alluded to earlier are minor in comparison to the problems people still face, which can’t be blamed entirely on malevolent outside forces like special interests or the big bad opposing party that I’ve heard more than a few people go on about recently. These are problems that won’t be solved by pretending everyone secretly agrees with you and can be converted to a diehard supporter of whatever team you’re on; that’s just papering over the cracks. We do our best to fix them, us officeholders and you folks, by being decent toward our fellow Atlasians in our daily lives and in the jobs we hold and the legislation we pass. It's not called the Golden Rule for nothing.

Part of that includes the decency and opportunity owed to our younger generation. As your state representative has just remarked, he’s been proud to continue Richland Center’s rich history of lifting up the obvious talents in our younger generation and bringing new opportunities for development in areas beyond the usual public school curricula, most recently through the first bill he wrote during the past legislative session. And it certainly was fitting to invoke the oldest continuously-performing high school band in the nation, which was founded right here in this town and continues to this day. But that isn’t all: on his suggestion, and as they announced earlier this month, our gubernatorial ticket has pledged to make a new set of grants available through Wisconsin’s public schools and state universities focusing on STEM. Wisconsin can take a place at the forefront of our nation’s education system as a promoter of all talents and abilities. It’s currencies like these – raw talent and creativity in our younger generations – which have driven the nation to greater heights and are at even more of a premium than ever thanks to the primacy of information in today’s world, and which this state and this nation have to continue investing in if it is to reach higher still.

Then again, I’m just the messenger. Here to elaborate on more of the Federalist plan in education and further development of our kids, of the road to a better future for which Richland Center and Wisconsin can once again serve as an outpost, please welcome the next governor of the Badger State!

[Joseph Cao]

[On a side detour north, Representative Cao made a stop in Spring Green for a meal and encountered two legislative candidates who invited him to give an impromptu speech at a masked and socially distanced event. The following speech was given with very little preparation.]

Honored to be here in Spring Green today – and not just because of the distinctly outstanding speech your state Senate candidate has just given, which I think deserves to be saved for posterity, or just because of the consideration you folks have shown by coming here still masked up and still socially distancing. Make sure to get your vaccine shots in if you haven’t done so, by the way! This is an area where we have been working as one body in the state legislature, regardless of party and ideology: to get vaccines out to people like you and bring our country over the curve that COVID-19 has set in front of us.

Most folks pay attention to Spring Green in connection with Frank Lloyd Wright’s childhood home. There is certainly a justification for that attention: it’s rare to find yourself in the birthplace of one of the great architects of American history, an influential designer beyond these shores as well as within them, as I was pleasantly surprised to discover just an hour or so ago when we passed by the home itself. And in the architecture movement he founded, one that spread all over the world, he has most certainly left his mark on Wisconsin just as much as Wisconsin left its mark on him in the formative years of his career. I’m told by your state Senate candidate here that many of Spring Green’s buildings, including those that house your public institutions, still bear Wright’s legacy in the design and construction of those buildings which were overseen by his eponymous foundation or architects who trained under him.

We don’t have legislative architects or philosophical thinkers on the level of a Frank Lloyd Wright in our modern politics – none with the ability to influence entire generations. It’s a matter for debate when we last had a politician of such exceptional caliber that large swathes of the political universe bent around them. Perhaps that is for the best. Part of what made Wright a success (as other artists have done before him) was his championing of ideas that outlasted him, rather than himself, and the temptation for politicians to self-aggrandize is sometimes simply too great. Certainly the Federalist Party has fallen victim to this problem as well; I would be lying if I said we’d never tripped up. Uniquely among the parties we see today, however, the Federalists have built their core around a dedication to a very different kind of institution: the political and social institutions which our communities depend on, and which we here in the political world urgently need to be more mindful of. The institution called democracy has enabled your voices to be heard – not perfectly, but that ideal has acted as a guiding light for successive generations to bring yet more Atlasians into the sphere of the public square. And at the same time, the political checks and balances built into the system we have today ensure that these voices can be heard by different people, acted on by different representatives of the people, and brought together to form better laws and a better direction for this nation and its people.

There is a constant and ever-present need to commit ourselves to these institutions and institutional principles that have preserved this ideal for the next generation to continue working toward. It’s a massive undertaking but one that needs to be done if politics is to continue to be the best avenue for social and societal change; if we are to continue our commitment to the common market of ideas in which this nation was conceived, with the common goal of all us citizens in searching for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  In every age and in every generation there are threats to damage these commitments: opportunism; corruption; mutual distrust; tribalism; partisanship for partisanship’s sake; a recession of the people’s will and its legitimacy in our politics. The fundamental opportunism of the soulless political operative in a political world is directly opposed to the line of thinking that undergirds how our society is supposed to work. There are Atlasian successes, successes like Frank Lloyd Wright, not just because of their innate talent but because of the environment in which they grew and developed into the visionaries that they would become. And it is the duty of our officeholders to preserve the environment and its supporting institutions which give rise to a society where anyone can succeed; to help those who are stuck, through no fault of their own, in circumstances that impede this chance to succeed; and to fend off the innate every-man-for-himself us-over-them mentality that regularly threatens to knock this to pieces.

With the Federalist Party, you know exactly what you’re getting: a wholesale commitment to giving the people of communities like Spring Green, communities all over Wisconsin and the nation, the power to stand up – a power that exists thanks to our many institutions, the most important of which our Founders wrote down all those years ago on a piece of paper now preserved in Nyman – and the power to have their voice, their needs, and their problems head and resolved by the people in power. We will always do what is best for the community, on behalf of the community, by the community, and for the community. Here to elaborate on what that has meant for her journey on standing up for the lower-income folks she serves here in Sauk County, and what she plans to do in the state legislature, please welcome your next state representative!

[Joseph Cao]

[The Representative was present in Wausau this evening at a request from the Federalist gubernatorial candidate, who was making a swing across towns and cities in northern Wisconsin. The following speech was delivered to a small masked and socially distanced audience and livestreamed on party websites and social media.]

My sincere thanks to the next Governor of Wisconsin – and folks, remember to get out and vote this weekend! But more importantly, make sure you inform yourselves. Your masking and social distancing is a mark of the concern you and like-minded citizens across this great nation continue to demonstrate as we shift into the final phase of beating this pandemic, a virtue that has founded this nation – the virtue that informed that revolutionary thought that all people were created equal – and remains a bedrock of Atlasian society.

Though I’m sure you folks here know all about rock. I spent a very edifying hour with a former employee of Anderson Brothers and Johnson, the granite supplier which employs some of you here, and learned of Wausau’s unique place among Wisconsin’s geological landscape; it is the premier source of red granite, the state stone and a remarkably beautiful one. It was an opportune discovery early in this city’s history that brought Wausau’s quarries to great state prominence and has contributed its small part to your reputation for job creation and growth in just about every industry imaginable. There is much to admire about the growth of a formerly small community on the outskirts of Wisconsin which has occurred while not leaving anyone behind, and although he will deny it, I suspect your prospective state representative here has had a small hand in leading the charge for better labor laws that give the worker their due to be an active member of any community they wish to join.

But there is a different kind of bedrock, for which I firmly believe a market also exists here in Wausau and across this great state. This faraway place may as well have been across the ocean from the center of our nation’s political scene back when the ideals that birthed the Revolution were being thrown around in Philadelphia and New York City. It is a testament to the power of those ideals that they sustained the birth of our nation by fire and musket, brought the former colonies together to form a nation, and became the foundation for that same nation which now stretches from sea to shining sea and across the oceans to a bunch of territories as well. And in our politics today, we are still reaching for the full potential of what those ideals can mean in the lives of all the people they affect here in this nation, and how our government from the White House to the Wausau town council can bring that potential to flower for our citizens.

So there is no room for complacency in our politics when it comes to the enduring need to refresh our commitment to the foundation of what makes Atlasia a great nation. This nation was conceived in and dedicated to an ideal that it spent the next two hundred and fifty years (and counting) trying to live up to. Ordinary workers did not always have a voice; that was changed. People tiptoed around the idea of Afro-Atlasians and immigrants having the same societal rights as their white counterparts; that was changed through much effort and a test of whether a nation so conceived and so dedicated could long endure. Women’s right to vote was nonexistent, until that changed with the outpouring of a movement that finally fixed the old declaration that all men were created equal. With each step we have taken – a more welcoming Atlasia that recognized the value of new citizens and immigrants; a more equitable school system that has shown promise in giving the same educational opportunities to all kids; a modern economy with safeguards built in that ensure nobody is left behind – we have continued that long trek along the moral arc of our nation.

And in Wisconsin’s state government today there is a continued need for that commitment coupled with a concern for the communities which fall under the promise of that ideal but still go unrealized nevertheless. It is a promise that deserves to shine in its proper place, as your red granite does in Wisconsin’s collective consciousness, and that place is the office of a Governor and dozens of state legislators across this state who have shown a firm foundation in the principles I’ve expounded on and a drive to put them into action for every last community across Wisconsin. You know where this party is coming from, and you know where we’re going – one of the people who hopes to lead that way is here with us, an accomplished pillar of this community with a proven dedication to uplifting his fellow citizens. Your next state Senator, everybody!

[Joseph Cao]

[In the wee hours of the morning, the following flyers were distributed to residential neighborhoods in Nyman on behalf of Governor Spanier's reelection campaign.]

Labor is right about one thing, even if their bumbling campaigners here don’t realize it.

Reject the fearmongering and desperate attempts to make this election about an issue where there is already consensus in this state.

Vote for the party with a record of getting things done for your family, your jobs, and your public transport.

Vote for the party with a plan.

Vote Federalist.

[Joseph Cao]

[In the wee hours of the morning, Representative Cao made a detour to Indianapolis to join a state Senate candidate fighting a close race in the city’s suburbs. Following a consultation with Indiana Federalist Party leaders, he gave the following speech to close out an early-morning rally where masking and social distancing were enforced.]

Thank you for having us, Indianapolis! Glad to see everyone continuing to mask up and socially distance, and as your state Senate candidate very rightly said, please get vaccinated as soon as you can! And I must say that sign he erected over across the street is a rather eye-catching way of getting the message across, though it wouldn’t be the first thing to divert my attention. Crossing over the river on my way here, I was rather tempted to stop and enjoy the view from over the water. Duty always calls, of course, in this case the opportunity to talk to you all. But it got me to thinking about the very prominent role the White River and the tributary system that covers this state has played in the Hoosier consciousness.

Indiana wouldn’t be what it is today without the Wabash river system, and it looms large in the history of what has driven the state forward. It brought industry to the state almost on the heels of the first settlers; during the nineteenth century it admitted steamships which brought commercial opportunities up from the Ohio River; and today, after decades of awareness campaigns, the rivers of Indiana are dotted with natural parks and wildlife and sources of recreation and culture that have grown up along with the communities along these riverbanks and will, fortune willing, sustain them long into the future. When the White River experienced a chemical spill, the towns along the river swung into action and called on state help to restore the natural order of things and bring irresponsible industries to bear for their actions. Anderson, just upriver, invested substantial time and effort in fixing a part of the environment that had heavily shaped their community then and now.

It’s exemplary work like this that the Federalist Party means when we talk about the power of the communities we all live in to chart their own course by, of, and for their citizens. And the potential for change and how different communities across this state and this nation deal with it has been a particular focus of ours. The river is often constrained by the bounds it cut itself, but when it does change course, everyone in the vicinity has to adapt. Our lives get upended by the cataclysms of COVID-19, or the convulsions of the economy, and as we run for cover it falls to the people we elect on the local and state and regional and national levels to decide how best to navigate the new course that the river has taken.

That has been made very obvious in the stories we have seen and heard throughout this month. One of the first events I attended here in Indiana was down west, on the banks of the Wabash not too far away, over in Vermillion County by the Illinois border. And fittingly for the name, the state legislative candidate who I campaigned with was not too proud to admit that the good done for his community sprung directly from his work with Labor and other parties. Like him, our party’s state legislators have worked time and again with their Labor counterparts, with their DA counterparts, with their Liberal counterparts, and given the opportunity would gladly reach across the aisle. The needs of their communities – of the good folks here in Indianapolis, up in Lafayette, in the hinterlands of Michiana, and down near the Kentucky border – don’t care what party label is worn.

On the other hand, the parties still have an obligation to take that same view, unhindered by partisan blinders, of what their communities need. Politics lies downriver from its origins in the people who it serves. I have no doubts as to the good work other parties have done for their communities; we wouldn’t have been willing to work with their legislators for the good of our shared constituents if it were otherwise. But we work with Labor and other parties where it matters – in the people’s house, where our differences in opinion are on full display – and not behind voters’ backs in backroom deals. In their attempts to wrest back the political high ground they seem to have lost sight of what happens when political games take precedence over the communities which their state legislators still serve well. And in doing so they’re threatening to leave people high and dry, cut off as the river’s course changes for the benefit of a few political operatives in a back room who, in the words of another Governor, want to make this about winning elections instead of electing the best people.

R2D2 admitted in his farewell address that he had frequently been overridden by party concerns; that that would be one reason his thoughts would go unheeded; that, in the grand scheme of things, he was nobody. No one person in Indiana may be a somebody – if the Governor of Lincoln was a nobody, hardly anyone would be somebody – but part of our creed as Federalists is that you have the power to make your voice heard in these matters. This attempted overriding of your voice should make very clear where things stand. I urge everyone here – all those listening – all clear-eyed Hoosiers regardless of party – to vote your conscience, and I urge all good Federalists to cast their second preference for the party that has likewise stood up for the Hoosiers left high and dry by this abrupt change in the course of politics. If you are a Federalist in Indiana, I urge you to second-preference the Liberal candidate for every office up and down the ballot.

There are some things bigger than party. When the river bursts its banks, it is not the leaders who should run for political cover, and the voters know this. We stand for federalism, for the power of voters and communities to decide their own fates instead of having party apparatchiks distort their choice for them, and if you get out and vote we will sleep easier for your demonstration that the people can overcome the raging of politics and have a bridge built over these troubled waters that will bring the focus of politics back where it should be. Thank you very much, Indianapolis; thank you, folks, for coming; and Dave bless.

[Joseph Cao]

[Representative Cao made a final eastward swing across Wisconsin, stopping in Ripon to visit local Federalist leaders and oversee their GOTV coordination, before delivering the following livestreamed speech to a masked and socially distanced audience not far from the Little White Schoolhouse.]

In the Federalist Party’s long history, people have questioned the value of the regions and of regionalism. It has receded somewhat today, but there are still fundamental misunderstandings at work in our politics and it is long past time to set some of them straight. Wisconsinites deserve leaders who will tell you where they are coming from, what basic principles they are grounded in, and we will do our best here in the birthplace of one of our former political parties to make that case on behalf of the Federalists.

At risk of again inviting the cries of “platitude” for making a basic observation, our states are products of specific communities that have specific needs. It is all very well to argue for local control, as other parties have learned to do, and the fact that we have worked closely with them for the good of our constituents to achieve the very same results they tout should be a sign that we are quite willing to put our work where our mouth is on these matters. But the laboratory of democracy that we call Wisconsin is very different from those other laboratories called South Carolina or South Dakota, the results we seek must needs be achieved through different means in different states, and that is something that has been severely lacking in campaigns from across the aisle thus far.

Our states multiply the loci of power within Atlasia and, in doing so, bring that power within reach of the people; they provide a path for that power to flow from the bottom up. If Labor insists on referring back to the exact same record in every city and every state they visit, and in creating little replicas of our federal government with exactly the same approach to policy in every state across the union, then it does not matter how loudly they emphasize local control if that local control is subsumed to the agenda of the people in the federal government. Our policies here in Wisconsin are brought directly to you from our state legislators and our local candidates for precisely that reason: it is the people who actually originate it who are best served to talk about it to the people they serve. The researchers hard at work here in this particular laboratory of democracy, and in others across the country, don’t need higher-ranking researchers kicking down the doors and telling them what results they should get.

And the other pillar of federalism is very much a recognition at the root of everything that you can’t kick people out of the tent. Each community is a tent that officeholders must learn to navigate. Wisconsin is a big, magnificent state that contains multitudes of such communities and needs leaders who understand that basic state of affairs and what is needed at any time. Atlasia is a big tent, a marketplace of ideas and a melting pot where people may disagree – may even hate what the other has to say – but will defend to the death their right to state their case. It is imperative that we learn to agree to disagree even if we can’t reach a common solution. The party-above-all-else mindset that drives so much of politics today is a cancer – a stain on what politics can and ought to be. There is no reasonable excuse to drive wedges between our citizens, to tell people in different parts of the tent that they ought not to associate with each other, or to attempt to purge the tent of everyone except people of your own party.

I have long advocated for the primacy of principles over party. It is highly dangerous for politics when we put loyalty to a party over adherence to our principles, and that weird worship of one party which springs up in the heat of campaigning on all sides of the aisle is something I generally try to avoid – as do the Federalist candidates here in Wisconsin and in other states across Lincoln. It would, moreover, be intellectually dishonest to say that one party is the arbiter of these principles. What has been erected here is a reminder that even long-dead parties of nations past, which lost their way by leaving their principles at the door as they entered the halls of power, must needs have their root in the principle reaffirmed on that cold day in 1854 that all men are created equal and all are endowed with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It falls to the public servants in communities like Ripon all over Wisconsin to follow those guiding principles and to develop them as they see fit in a way that assists every last Wisconsinite – the proposal by your own candidates for tax credits that don’t leave dependents out in the cold is merely one among the many examples that our candidates up and down the state have proposed, a rich diversity of the kind that can come only from a common understanding of the value inherent in this laboratory of democracy and all its disparate communities. Here at the site of a declaration of intent and of principle, I hope all of us regardless of party can rededicate ourselves to truly serving the people, in this artificial hothouse called the campaign trail as well as in the seat of government and in communities all over Wisconsin. Thank you, folks, for having us, and remember to get out tomorrow and vote for federalism!

[Joseph Cao]

[The following speech was delivered as Mr. Cao continued his eastward swing across the Badger State under masked and socially distanced conditions in Kaukauna, where he attended a town hall with several other state legislative candidates before speaking to a limited audience. Part of it was live-streamed by the Nyman Federalist Party’s website and social media in addition to those of Wisconsin’s Federalist Party.]

Honored to be here in Kaukauna today – the Fox River Valley is a beautiful place, and by masking up and continuing to socially distance, you good folks have demonstrated the same fundamental care for your citizens as Nature has clearly done for your surroundings. Make sure to go get the vaccine if you haven’t already – it is an essential part of the final leg on this struggle back to normality we have all been running for a year.

The regional government has been picking up its previous slack on matters like these, I’m happy to say. As vaccinations continue, the Lincoln Council has begun laying the groundwork for schools to reopen –  a cross-partisan effort that the school district here in Kaukauna has famously been a fierce proponent of over the past week. I can also report that your Councillors, particularly our own Brother Jonathan who’s spent much of the past few days in Vermont in deep discussion with the good folks there, are doing their jobs and consulting with their constituents so as to put their safety and wellbeing first. That doesn’t belong to a specific party. When there is good to be done, in preserving the lives and livelihoods of the people we serve, we in the Federalist Party will most certainly do what we can to achieve it – as I have every confidence our counterparts will do.

Unfortunately, despite actually being relevant to the lives of millions of Lincolnites and all you folks here in Wisconsin, there is a good chance that this will get lost in the shuffle of invective being hurled around. And a lot of the rhetoric we’ve heard from politicos recently is based in artificial opposition, emphasis on “artificial.” The reason women’s rights are under attack is because the big scary Federalists are busy gutting Planned Parenthood. The reason you’re out of a job during the pandemic is because the Federalists helped special interests get even richer at your expense. The reason the very real racial divisions we have in Atlasia still exist is because the Federalists are raging racists. And on and on and on it goes. Never mind that the attacks are entirely fact-free and impervious to correction – those making the attacks will continue to throw mud at the wall and see what sticks. I trust the voters will recognize desperate attacks when they see them and vote accordingly.

The same folks will then tell you with their next breath that we’re all in this together, which is where they have it exactly right. We are all in the same boat for practical purposes, all have a voice in the way our country is steered through the crises besetting us, and all have needs and problems in our own communities that need to be addressed. This argument is raised in service of asking everyone to vote for them, and them only. Not so! We may be a political party, but we are going to tell you the truth even if it kills us politically. The beauty of the Federalist Party is that we won’t be cut adrift if people attack us in the rarefied political sphere from which these attacks have come. And the idea that we are somehow acting out of fear of “the people” – the shield used by the same operatives who have decided to pull the wool over the eyes of Indianans and Oklahomans – is laughable. We are very proud of the work we’ve done among you good folks and on behalf of you citizens of Atlasia, and we urge you to vote your conscience – for whoever has done the best job at representing you, solving the problems that crop up in your community, and putting forth a concrete vision rooted in their understanding of how politics can and should work.

We Federalists here, in Wisconsin and in Lincoln, have done our level best to stay out of attacking others, and frankly the atmosphere is bad enough as it is. But the people Wisconsin once showed that they will not tolerate lies and accusations made up out of whole cloth, hurled at those who serve our nation in governments across Atlasia, and I believe they will do so again. Thank you very much, Kaukauna, and as I have said, and I’ll repeat: vote your conscience. Vote for, at long last, a sense of decency in our politics so we can focus on what matters – working for you the people.