“Vote your conscience. Vote your heart. Vote for what you believe.”
U.S. Rep. James McGovern delivered that message to a packed room of students, faculty, and staff during an October 26 visit to Clark University that involved discussions about civic responsibility, the upcoming midterms, the war in Iran, and the ongoing challenges for families and individuals to meet their household expenses for food, gas, healthcare, and utilities.
McGovern visited Clark at the invitation of Political Science Professor Kristen Williams and Psychology Professor Johanna Volhardt as part of Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies, which they co-teach in the peace and conflict studies concentration. The class was open to the entire Clark community.
The Massachusetts Democrat, who has represented Central and Western Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997 — and who received an honorary degree from Clark in 2021 — devoted most of his time on campus to engaging with his audience through a question-and-answer format.
The nation is in precarious condition, McGovern said, calling it “disheartening” that the United States has lost global esteem, particularly among former allies. He cited the civilian deaths in the Iran war, which not only has cost close to $100 billion to wage but was launched without congressional approval.
“We have the ability to move things in a different direction.”
Rep. Jim McGovern
“What happens here is really important, but what happens halfway around the world affects us, too,” he said.
Throughout the conversation, McGovern pressed audience members to make their voices heard on the issues.
“You have a right and obligation to be outraged, and I hope you can turn that anger into action,” he said. “I worry that people feel their voice doesn’t matter, but it does matter. We have the ability to move things in a different direction.” He noted that nearly 50 million people suffer from food insecurity, which he said is inexcusable for a country as wealthy as the U.S.
A Democratic victory in November does not guarantee change. In fact, McGovern said, “that is when the work begins” to repair the current administration’s policies. Asked for his perspective on capitalism, McGovern said he supports free enterprise, but that it’s also important to recognize the value of essential government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP.
The current system is weighted toward the very wealthy, he insisted, at the expense of those without access to resources. “I want you to be successful,” he said, gesturing to the students in the audience, “but not force others to pay the price for that by not being able to earn a living. People want to be able to live a comfortable life, and that’s not happening in this country.”
McGovern acknowledged that both political parties have become too dependent on money because of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision (he does not accept corporate PAC money, he said). When first elected in 1996, the congressman recalled, he raised $500,000 for his campaign. Today, campaign spending for a congressional race can easily fall within the $30 million to $40 million range, he said.
“This is undercutting our democracy,” McGovern said, as deep-pocketed donors may expect favors down the line, even when those votes don’t reflect the officeholder’s values. “In a perfect world, we should have a cap on how much can be raised and take special interests out of politics. I can’t imagine this is how the founders envisioned the system.”
McGovern advised the audience to reject attempts to suppress the vote. He recalled that he was the last member of Congress to leave the Capitol floor on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters tried to prevent the certification of the presidential election results and threatened violence against legislators.
Americans need to rise up in peaceful protest against any movements that seek to curtail free and fair elections, McGovern stressed.
“Protest is not a thing of the 1960s,” he said. “It needs to be a thing now.”
