Ed Tibbett’s PACG 20th Anniversary Speech as Prepared for Delivery
Sunday, October 19, 2025
I want to thank the organizers of this event for asking me to speak tonight.
Some of you know me. Many don’t. As you’ll understand at the end of this speech, I am not a practiced public speaker. Nor am I an activist. I'm a journalist.
I’ve spent a career covering events like these, not participating in them. In nearly 40 years of writing about the news in eastern Iowa and the Quad-Cities, my role has been as a witness.
Usually, at events like this one, I’m the guy standing in the back, holding up a wall, taking notes.
Still, I am happy to be here tonight to take part in the 20th anniversary of Progressive Action for the Common Good and to recognize the work you have done for our community and our country.
As I thought about what I might say tonight, I remembered the beginning of Progressive Action, and my memory was helped along by an article I wrote for the Quad-City Times about the birth of this group, in 2005.
I recently found a copy of that article, and there were some obvious similarities to today.
Then, like now, an unpopular Republican had just won a second term as president. And a Democratic Party that fought valiantly, but lost, was trying to figure out what would come next, how it would retool for the future.
It’s important to remember just what things were like 20 years ago. I remember the day after the 2004 election, going to a local Democratic Party office. It was like a dark cloud hung over the place.
I have a copy of the Nation magazine from 2004, and on the cover are dark heavy clouds with the headline, “Four more years.” That was the mood.
Yet, 20 years ago, the founders of Progressive Action decided in the wake of that election, not to leave the public square in disappointment but to re-channel their organizational efforts. Not into party politics, but into grass roots action.
They centered their work on the idea that the doors to opportunity and happiness shouldn’t be open to just a privileged few, but to all Americans.
A few minutes ago, Alta Price talked about whether Progressive Action has made a difference, and she mentioned health care. I can tell you, as an outside observer at the time, that, yes, Progressive Action and the people in this room, working with other organizations, made a difference.
I remember before the 2008 caucuses, attending events where people showed up, advocating for universal healthcare, often in blue smocks. People like Karen Metcalf. And it made a difference.
There is a reason Barack Obama came to Iowa after signing the Affordable Care Act to commemorate the moment.
Now, as then, these voices are desperately needed, as we watch our country change and deteriorate in ways that, I believe, many of us could not have imagined 20 years ago.
***
We’ve all seen how Donald Trump’s immigration forces have raided cities like Chicago. They say they’re going after the worst of the worst, but they stake out churches and schools. They’ve swept up grandmothers and children. Recently, they detained a cop.
Often, they act out of simple cruelty. Two weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune reported that federal authorities detained a 60-year-old man, a legal immigrant, who is too frail to work, and because he couldn’t immediately provide his documentation, they gave him a $130 ticket. Even though, the Tribune reported, he’d said he offered to take those officers to his home to show them his papers.
Does that sound like they are going after the worst of the worst? Is this what America is about? Are we the kind of society that asks for your papers?
Most Americans believe in borders, but they also believe in humanity; in a government that exercises restraint and compassion and in helping those who are fleeing violence and poverty and who are willing to contribute.
***
We’ve also watched as the Trump administration has used the power of the government to force law firms, news organizations, universities and television networks to buckle to its ideological will. Unfortunately, out of a sense of fear, economic gain or self-preservation, too many have complied. Or at least relented in the naïve hope that more won’t be demanded of them later.
I am ashamed to say some in my own field are among them.
In Iowa, the state has exercised its own attempt at thought control, imposing a de facto book ban on schools that swept more than 3,000 books off the shelves. They said it was to ban explicit sexual content, but that wasn’t true.
The Des Moines Register now reports some of Iowa’s more aggressive rightwing culture warriors are using the law to try to ban books they think are too critical of policies they support; that, in their opinion, are anti-American. And some want to go beyond schools and expand this effort to target public libraries.
***
We’ve also seen how powerful forces are seeking to remake our economy in ways that are not for the greater good. Congress this year passed a law that cuts almost $1 trillion from the Medicaid program that assists the poor and disabled, and they effectively took that money and transferred it to the top 1% in the US in the form of tax cuts.
In Iowa, the ruling party has shifted how it pays for state government—now choosing to draw more of its revenue from a sales tax that hits lower- and middle-income Iowans the hardest, while drawing less from the income tax, which has historically asked more of upper income Iowans.
Somehow, they thought giving the average millionaire a $67,000 tax break and the typical Iowa family $600 would spur our economy.
Meanwhile, they cut our health care and our schools to try to cover up the growing deficits.
***
These are some of the same issues—if not always by the same name—that the founders of Progressive Action told me 20 years ago they wanted to take on: Economic fairness, democracy and a wider understanding of morality.
Just a brief word about the latter. In the story I wrote 20 years ago, I quoted Ron Quay as saying one of his goals was to reorient our understanding of the word “morality.”
For too long this word has been used by political forces to narrowly misconstrue what it means to be a moral people. As I paraphrased Ron in that 2005 article, “Morality includes a concern for the most vulnerable.” In his own words, he said –I quote—"We’re responsible to each other.”
This is not only for the good of others, but for our own good.
This month, Pope Leo—a native Chicagoan—issued his first apostolic exhortation. In it, he wrote: “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry."
This is not the path we are on now. For one reason or another, our political system has led us astray. Away from true morality, away from pursuing the common good.
As someone who writes about, and believes in, the American form of government, I have faith that, someday, we will find our way back. But if politics is the vehicle for pursuing that path, then it’s the people—in rooms like these, working together—that point the way; that steer our system in the right direction.
Just as Americans have done for 250 years. Just as Progressive Action began doing 20 years ago.
I have to say, I admire the tenacity of many of the people in this room who do this work; who do things like make five phone calls a day—every day—to try to push our country in the right direction. They did it after their hearts were broken by the last election, and they still do it today.
They are often dismissed and derided by the other side. But they persist. And when I see their posts on Facebook, saying, “I made my five calls today,” I can’t help but admire them all the more.
Just as I admire those—many of you in this room—who turned out by the thousands at the “No Kings” march at Vander Veer Park in Davenport yesterday, and by the millions nationwide. I’m sure it infuriated the critics to see all these Americans united behind the idea that in this country we don’t answer to a monarch—or even someone who just wants to be one—but to each other.
As I said at the outset, I am not an activist. I am a reporter, a commentator, a witness. But I want to thank you again for allowing me to be here tonight, to acknowledge and celebrate the 20 years of your work.
This country needs good and decent people like you right now. Real patriots. To stand up for what is right, what is moral and what it means to pursue the common good, and to make our country a more perfect Union.
Thank you.
Some of you know me. Many don’t. As you’ll understand at the end of this speech, I am not a practiced public speaker. Nor am I an activist. I'm a journalist.
I’ve spent a career covering events like these, not participating in them. In nearly 40 years of writing about the news in eastern Iowa and the Quad-Cities, my role has been as a witness.
Usually, at events like this one, I’m the guy standing in the back, holding up a wall, taking notes.
Still, I am happy to be here tonight to take part in the 20th anniversary of Progressive Action for the Common Good and to recognize the work you have done for our community and our country.
As I thought about what I might say tonight, I remembered the beginning of Progressive Action, and my memory was helped along by an article I wrote for the Quad-City Times about the birth of this group, in 2005.
I recently found a copy of that article, and there were some obvious similarities to today.
Then, like now, an unpopular Republican had just won a second term as president. And a Democratic Party that fought valiantly, but lost, was trying to figure out what would come next, how it would retool for the future.
It’s important to remember just what things were like 20 years ago. I remember the day after the 2004 election, going to a local Democratic Party office. It was like a dark cloud hung over the place.
I have a copy of the Nation magazine from 2004, and on the cover are dark heavy clouds with the headline, “Four more years.” That was the mood.
Yet, 20 years ago, the founders of Progressive Action decided in the wake of that election, not to leave the public square in disappointment but to re-channel their organizational efforts. Not into party politics, but into grass roots action.
They centered their work on the idea that the doors to opportunity and happiness shouldn’t be open to just a privileged few, but to all Americans.
A few minutes ago, Alta Price talked about whether Progressive Action has made a difference, and she mentioned health care. I can tell you, as an outside observer at the time, that, yes, Progressive Action and the people in this room, working with other organizations, made a difference.
I remember before the 2008 caucuses, attending events where people showed up, advocating for universal healthcare, often in blue smocks. People like Karen Metcalf. And it made a difference.
There is a reason Barack Obama came to Iowa after signing the Affordable Care Act to commemorate the moment.
Now, as then, these voices are desperately needed, as we watch our country change and deteriorate in ways that, I believe, many of us could not have imagined 20 years ago.
***
We’ve all seen how Donald Trump’s immigration forces have raided cities like Chicago. They say they’re going after the worst of the worst, but they stake out churches and schools. They’ve swept up grandmothers and children. Recently, they detained a cop.
Often, they act out of simple cruelty. Two weeks ago, the Chicago Tribune reported that federal authorities detained a 60-year-old man, a legal immigrant, who is too frail to work, and because he couldn’t immediately provide his documentation, they gave him a $130 ticket. Even though, the Tribune reported, he’d said he offered to take those officers to his home to show them his papers.
Does that sound like they are going after the worst of the worst? Is this what America is about? Are we the kind of society that asks for your papers?
Most Americans believe in borders, but they also believe in humanity; in a government that exercises restraint and compassion and in helping those who are fleeing violence and poverty and who are willing to contribute.
***
We’ve also watched as the Trump administration has used the power of the government to force law firms, news organizations, universities and television networks to buckle to its ideological will. Unfortunately, out of a sense of fear, economic gain or self-preservation, too many have complied. Or at least relented in the naïve hope that more won’t be demanded of them later.
I am ashamed to say some in my own field are among them.
In Iowa, the state has exercised its own attempt at thought control, imposing a de facto book ban on schools that swept more than 3,000 books off the shelves. They said it was to ban explicit sexual content, but that wasn’t true.
The Des Moines Register now reports some of Iowa’s more aggressive rightwing culture warriors are using the law to try to ban books they think are too critical of policies they support; that, in their opinion, are anti-American. And some want to go beyond schools and expand this effort to target public libraries.
***
We’ve also seen how powerful forces are seeking to remake our economy in ways that are not for the greater good. Congress this year passed a law that cuts almost $1 trillion from the Medicaid program that assists the poor and disabled, and they effectively took that money and transferred it to the top 1% in the US in the form of tax cuts.
In Iowa, the ruling party has shifted how it pays for state government—now choosing to draw more of its revenue from a sales tax that hits lower- and middle-income Iowans the hardest, while drawing less from the income tax, which has historically asked more of upper income Iowans.
Somehow, they thought giving the average millionaire a $67,000 tax break and the typical Iowa family $600 would spur our economy.
Meanwhile, they cut our health care and our schools to try to cover up the growing deficits.
***
These are some of the same issues—if not always by the same name—that the founders of Progressive Action told me 20 years ago they wanted to take on: Economic fairness, democracy and a wider understanding of morality.
Just a brief word about the latter. In the story I wrote 20 years ago, I quoted Ron Quay as saying one of his goals was to reorient our understanding of the word “morality.”
For too long this word has been used by political forces to narrowly misconstrue what it means to be a moral people. As I paraphrased Ron in that 2005 article, “Morality includes a concern for the most vulnerable.” In his own words, he said –I quote—"We’re responsible to each other.”
This is not only for the good of others, but for our own good.
This month, Pope Leo—a native Chicagoan—issued his first apostolic exhortation. In it, he wrote: “I am convinced that the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society if we can only set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry."
This is not the path we are on now. For one reason or another, our political system has led us astray. Away from true morality, away from pursuing the common good.
As someone who writes about, and believes in, the American form of government, I have faith that, someday, we will find our way back. But if politics is the vehicle for pursuing that path, then it’s the people—in rooms like these, working together—that point the way; that steer our system in the right direction.
Just as Americans have done for 250 years. Just as Progressive Action began doing 20 years ago.
I have to say, I admire the tenacity of many of the people in this room who do this work; who do things like make five phone calls a day—every day—to try to push our country in the right direction. They did it after their hearts were broken by the last election, and they still do it today.
They are often dismissed and derided by the other side. But they persist. And when I see their posts on Facebook, saying, “I made my five calls today,” I can’t help but admire them all the more.
Just as I admire those—many of you in this room—who turned out by the thousands at the “No Kings” march at Vander Veer Park in Davenport yesterday, and by the millions nationwide. I’m sure it infuriated the critics to see all these Americans united behind the idea that in this country we don’t answer to a monarch—or even someone who just wants to be one—but to each other.
As I said at the outset, I am not an activist. I am a reporter, a commentator, a witness. But I want to thank you again for allowing me to be here tonight, to acknowledge and celebrate the 20 years of your work.
This country needs good and decent people like you right now. Real patriots. To stand up for what is right, what is moral and what it means to pursue the common good, and to make our country a more perfect Union.
Thank you.
RSS Feed
