Warren brings her fight for big changes to Laconia rally

LACONIA — Jack Woodward was impressed with the message that Democratic Party presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren delivered at a rally in Laconia Tuesday.

Woodward, of Gilford, was among the more than 400 people who filled the Laconia Middle School gymnasium to hear the candidate who is at or near the top of the pack of Democratic candidates, according to recent polls.

“She gave her message with conviction,” said Woodward, a retired educator. “She feels strongly about resolving the inequities in our society and economy.”

During the hour-long event, the Massachusetts senator said the challenges the country is facing today require radical changes.

“If we are going to make change, we need to make big, structural changes,” she said.

For much of her 30-minute speech, she stressed what she sees as the need to change laws to root out corruption in Washington, to mandate a minimum wage that is adequate to support a family’s needs, and to take aggressive action to address climate change.

The so-called town hall forum was Warren’s 20th trip to the state since January.

Warren said her message was more than pointing out the nation’s problems.

“It’s important to give people hope,” she said. “This campaign is about having a vision of what we can do together.”

Warren pushed her plan for a wealth tax on the nation’s super-rich, who she said account for one-tenth of 1 percent of the nation’s taxpayers. Under Warren’s proposal, those with more than $50 million in assets would pay a 2 percent tax on assets in excess of $50 million.

The $2.75 trillion she says the increased tax revenue would bring in would allow the government to do more to help rebuild the nation’s middle class, she stressed.

Thinking back to her childhood when her father was unable to work after a heart attack, and her mother took a job outside the home in order to bring in money, Warren said, “At one time, a full-time minimum-wage job would support a family of three. Today a full-time minimum-wage job will not keep a mama and her baby out of poverty. That’s wrong, and that’s why I am in this fight.

“The central question is what is happening to America’s middle class,” she continued. “Why is it that Americans today, who work every bit as hard as my mother did two generations ago, find the path so much rockier and so much steeper? The answer,” she said, “is who is government working for.”

Warren, who used the word “fight” dozens of times during her talk, said she was prepared for a tough campaign and acknowledged it probably will turn nasty.

In response to one member of the audience who asked how she would respond to attacks that are almost certain to come from President Trump, who has vowed to revive “Pocahontas” attacks against her, she replied, “You don’t back down from a bully.”

At another point, she said her goal is to give the American people hope. “It’s about a vision of what we can do together. I’m not here to trash-talk Donald Trump.”

She said a majority of Americans have become weary over Trump’s actions, rhetoric, and behavior.

“Americans are getting tired of the Donald Trump show. Americans are tired of the ugliness … tired of the name-calling ... tired of the disgusting behavior. It’s getting old and it’s getting boring,” she said.

Ray Valente, of Concord, said Warren’s remarks demonstrated her intelligence and integrity. He added that the real challenge the next president will have to face is “how to get through that wall in Congress.”

Ray Chambers, of Laconia, said he was struck by Warren’s sincerity and was happy that she got into details about some of her ideas. Still, he said, come the New Hampshire Primary, he expects he will be supporting one of Warren’s chief rivals, Bernie Sanders, because Sanders was the first candidate to come out with a Medicare-for-all plan. But, he added, if Warren should become the Democratic Party standard-bearer, he would definitely support her.