Al Gore Speaks Out Against California Education Budget Cuts
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2008
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Al Gore Speaks Out Against California Education Budget Cuts
18 Assemblymembers, including Speaker Karen Bass, Respond to Gore’s Video
LOS ANGELES, CA — Al Gore, former Vice President and Nobel Laureate, added his voice to the debate about the California budget crisis today, telling members of the Courage Campaign that cutting education spending should not be on the table.
In a video and email to the Courage Campaign’s nearly 100,000 members, Mr. Gore said, “Why, in the midst of this downturn, is one of the first proposals for cutting aimed at public education? Because, in order to do well in the future and grow the economy out of these hard times, we have to invest more — not less — in high-quality public education.”
The email and video from Gore are rare. He has generally focused on issues related to climate change in recent years. In the email (appended below) and video, Gore asks members of the Courage Campaign and others in California to provide their own responses either in writing or by video. Both Gore’s video and the public responses appear on a special Courage Campaign page at Current.com, part of the television network Gore founded three years ago in San Francisco:
http://www.current.com/education
Eighteen members of California’s state assembly have also posted their responses to Gore. Speaker Karen Bass recorded a video response as well, commenting that “public education is a right and if we cut education, or if we don’t fully fund education, then essentially you are telling a whole sector of society that they don’t matter.”
“If the politicians in Sacramento cannot figure out how to pay for education, healthcare, infrastructure and public safety, they should go home,” said Rick Jacobs, Chair and Founder of the Courage Campaign. “The Republicans only know how to say no. As Al Gore says, the time is now to say yes to California’s future.”
Over 170 people have already responded to Al Gore, including “wendydcr” who wrote, “The cutting of funds for education is a short term solution to our budget crisis that will in the near-term and long-term jeopardize the future of this state. We need to continue to invest in education and, in fact, should increase funding.”
The Courage Campaign, a progressive online organizing network working to change California politics, has been waging a campaign to force the Republicans in the legislature to address the long-term issues that face the state, not simply use their veto power to protect the wealthy.
Last week, the Courage Campaign aired a TV ad in Sacramento called “Yacht Party 2”, provocatively portraying the priorities of the California Republican Party in subsidizing yacht owners while ignoring the budget deficit. That ad was aired in Sacramento and has now been viewed 59,414 times on YouTube, which appears to be the most views ever recorded on YouTube for a video related to California politics. “Yacht Party 2” can be viewed at:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/YachtParty2
The email sent by Al Gore to Courage Campaign members is appended below.
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Dear Friend,
I don’t write emails like this often.
But, with Californians facing a massive budget crisis and potentially devastating cuts to education, I feel compelled to speak out. As members of the Courage Campaign community, I hope you will speak out as well.
I recorded this one-minute video for the Courage Campaign on Current.com. Please watch it and let me know what you think by recording a short video or typing a written response of your own:
http://www.current.com/education
Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, asked me an interesting question in an interview a few months ago:
“How do we engineer the sweeping social and political and industrial change that we need in a short period of time, from top to bottom?”
My answer is that we must create a shift in consciousness — and, education is the catalyst for this shift.
That’s why I recorded this video for the Courage Campaign. Please watch it on Current.com and, if you feel so inspired, respond with a webcam video or text response of your own:
http://www.current.com/education
Education is not a partisan issue. It is a crucial building block toward creating a more informed democracy. We can solve the climate crisis, and every other problem facing our nation, if we begin by transforming America’s priorities on education.
As parents, teachers and students speak out about these proposed cuts, they need your support, now more than ever. Please forward this message to your friends who care about the future of California and our country as much as you do.
I hope you will take a moment today to record a short webcam video or write a response to my video. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, can change the conversation in California.
Thank you,
Al Gore