If the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general — and Philadelphia in particular — is expected to save the United States republic — again — we’re going to need something in return.
For most of us, Labor Day represents the last gasp of summer before school starts or, in the case of the Philadelphia Hall Monitor crew, the start of the City Council session.
But since this is an election year, Labor Day represents the last weekend that you’ll be able to walk the streets, roam the beaches, and even attend a baseball game without tripping over a politician.
As I write this, folks in Pittsburgh are getting ready to have an appearance by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as part of their Labor Day festivities. The president will be stumping for his Vice President, who has replaced him at the top of the Democratic ticket because the Democratic Party is the only group of people I’ve ever encountered in politics that would remove a successful incumbent president from the top of the ticket because they’re having problems messaging against a guy who thinks that Hannibal Lechter from “The Silence of the Lambs” is an actual person.
(This very long sentence indicates I’ve really thought this out.)
Pennsylvania is one of six swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina are the others — that the campaigns, especially the presidential ones, will be laser-focused on until Nov. 5, which is Election Day.
Because we’re on that list, you’re going to see more of Republican nominee Donald Trump, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Harris, and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, than you ever wanted to.
Pennsylvania’s important. Really important. If I had a nickel for every person who talked about how important Pennsylvania was in terms of saving the nation from Project 2025 and Trump’s baser impulses during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Hall Monitor coffers would have gotten the kind of financial boost that’s most often gained through commercial television advertising.
So, after four days of hearing how Pennsylvania is one of the states standing between America and facism, I thought about someone that you wouldn’t associate with politics in any form, unless, of course, it was a movie where the President was Black.
That person: Denzel Washington.
If you spend any time on social media, chances are you’ve seen an interview that Washington did with fellow Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx on Foxx’s show “Off Script With Jamie Foxx.” In this interview, Washington was talking about his first trip to the Oscars. Without going into too much depth, he figured out that he was going to lose the award and decided to leave.
But as Washington walked out, he saw the caterers preparing for the Governor’s Ball, which happens after the Oscars, and decided that if he couldn’t get the Oscar…
“I’m leaving here with something. I’m from around the way. I’m leaving with something.”
When you’re a delegate for the Democratic National Convention and the centerpiece of your state is the poorest city of its size in America, it might be a good idea to have that attitude. So, I asked some of these delegates what kinds of demands that the Commonwealth in general, and Philadelphia in particular should make.
I started with the lead Pennsylvanian, Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“I think it’s clear as Pennsylvania goes, so will go the outcome of this presidential race,” he said. “I think what Kamala Harris is already doing shows that she understands that. As I’ve said this before, as I travel across Pennsylvania, rural, urban, suburban communities, folks basically want the same four things. Great quality, education, safe communities, opportunity and they want their freedoms and rights protected. I hear that wherever I go, from Republicans and Democrats alike.”
Philadelphia’s representatives, however, were a lot more direct in their asks. They see constituents that need affordable housing.
They see residents trying to make sense of situations that no one should have to make sense of.
One of those representatives is City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada. Lozada, a member of Council’s Kensington Caucus, says she’d like to see the needs of communities like the ones she represents get more attention and, most importantly, a street-level view.
“For me, it’s going to be extremely important to be able to connect what I’ve learned here to residents in the Kensington Harrogate community, specifically, because they are where the epicenter is,” she said. “We’re experiencing all of the challenges, so being able to say to them that the opioid crisis is something that this administration will respond to is important. If we want to win this election, we are going to have to ensure that residents on the block in the neighborhoods in all of our communities understand how policy in the White House impacts us daily.”
One of the problems I’ve always had with voters is that they don’t understand that voting is the smallest piece of the puzzle of democracy. Sure, it’s important, but what you do beyond the vote is even more important. Pennsylvania’s voters are about to be asked to lift a country that it helped create up off the mat — again.
This time, the commonwealth in general and the city of Philadelphia in particular, needs to make sure that it’s not on the outside looking in after the election is over.
In other words, we need to be leaving with something.
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