Young Oak Kim: “I rise today because we have a crisis of confidence in our government. It is a crisis that is being driven by the Trump…”

“I rise today because we have a crisis of confidence in our government. It is a crisis that is being driven by the Trump administration with one goal in mind: to let the well-off and the well-connected play by their own set of rules while you, the American people, continue to scrape by. It is a crisis that puts us at a crossroads. Will we take the steps necessary to address the corruption and restore trust or will we break our institutions even further and usher in a golden age of corruption? In order to answer those questions, we need to have a real understanding of a few things. One, how deep is this crisis in confidence? Two, in what way is the Trump administration putting their thumb on the scale for the well-off and the well-connected? Three, how is that impacting the rest of us and how will it impact America's future? Four, and finally, how can we fight back? Now, let's start with the crisis that we are in. When I talk about this crisis in confidence, what we are talking about is the belief that your government is working for you; that it is working for the American people--all of its people--a belief that, no matter the challenge you face or the ambitions that you have, that your government has your best interests at heart. That is the fundamental credence of our democracy. It is of, by, and for the people. And that belief is always important. But when times are tough, it is even more critical than ever. Let's be clear: These are tough times.…”