By Glynn Wilson –

The third night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was mostly about telling the story of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the vice presidential nominee and keynote speaker, with the theme of American freedom.

But it was not the laissez-faire economic free market capitalism of libertarians and conservative Republicans of old that was on the ballot. It was the freedom of Moses, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. and anyone from a small town who manages to find their way out and make something of themselves in a country designed for such a purpose.

Coach Walz delivered a short, 16-minute pre-game pep talk to the fired up Democrats in United Center to cap off the night of patriotic fervor, coming to a close with the tune of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” blasting in the loud speakers.

But it was the surprise appearance of Oprah Winfrey that got the crowd going the most. Her soaring sing-song rhetoric matched the brilliance of Michelle Obama from night two – she called the Obamas speeches “epic fire” – and was the most reminiscent of the promises of a small town preacher like King talking about his people getting to the promised land.

First she said what matters most to all Americans is “freedom.”

“There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of us against them. People who want to scare you, who want to RULE you,” she said. “People would have you believe that books are dangerous, and assault rifles are safe. That there’s a white way to worship and a wrong way to love. People who first seek to divide, and then to conquer.

“But here’s the thing,” she said. “When we stand together, it is impossible to conquer us.”

She quoted the great John Lewis, who said, “No matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we’re all in the same boat now.”

He was one of the brilliant Americans who helped to get us where we are, she said.

“But he also knew that the work is not done. The work will never be done because freedom isn’t free. America is an ongoing project. It requires openness to the hard work and heart work of democracy. And every now and then, it requires standing up to life’s bullies.”

“We are not so different from our neighbors,” she said later. “”When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No, we just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady — well, we try to get that cat out too.”

The crowd went wild.

In closing and urging Democrats to go to work to get Kamala Harris and Tim Walz elected over Donald Trump and JD Vance in November, she said, “let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday. We won’t be sent back, pushed back, kicked back. WE ARE NOT GOING BACK!”

Tim Walz

Accepting the party’s nomination for Vice President, Walz challenged the Democrats to work like an underdog team “down by a field goal” and “in the fourth quarter.”

“But we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball,” he said. “We’re driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team.”

Walz offered himself as a bridge to disillusioned Americans who regard the Democratic Party as a bastion of coastal elitism, accentuating his Midwestern roots and portraying the Democratic ticket as one that champions pragmatism and patriotism.

“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason,” he said. “We love this country.”

In the most consequential speech of his storied career, he said: “We’re going to leave it on the field. We can sleep when we’re dead. That’s how we’ll keep moving forward.”

Walz began his career as a culturally conservative Democrat on some issues like gun ownership, before evolving in recent years into a liberal favorite. His first term as governor was marked by consensus-building with Republicans who controlled one chamber of the State Legislature. But when Democrats won majorities in the 2022 election, he pressed to enact a sweeping agenda of progressive priorities.

“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” Walz said.

Back in 2006, he flipped a largely rural and more conservative House district in southern Minnesota.

“Never underestimate a public-school teacher,” Walz said to cheers from the sympathetic crowd.

Describing lessons from his time in Congress, he said: “I learned how to work across the aisle on issues like growing the rural economies and taking care of veterans, and I learned how to compromise without compromising my values.”

In an attempt to reach out to white, male gun owners, hunters and Second Amendment advocates in Trump’s orbit, several speakers made a point of talking about the sharp shooter in Walz, who won shooting contests while in Congress.

“I’m a better shot than most Republicans in Congress,” he said. “And I have the trophies to prove it.”

A graduate of Chadron State College in Nebraska, Walz has relished turning charges of elitism against Republicans such as Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, who attended Yale Law School.

“I had 24 kids in my high school class,” Walz said. “And none of them went to Yale.”

In the attempt to reclaim the American flag from the Republicans and reframe the national debate about “freedom” away from the right-wing Republican brand of big flag waving patriotism that supports big corporate money and power over the “little man,” Walz and other speakers pointed out over and over again that the government trying to ban gay marriage and abortion is federal and state intrusion into Americans’ lives.

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make,” Walz said. “And even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.”

Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, and is not afraid to tout his service, even as Trump’s VP pick has tried to swift boat him over it.

As for Trump himself, Walz turned to the kind of prairie populism that helped propel him in Minnesota, saying that the former president’s agenda “serves nobody, except the richest and the most extreme amongst us” and did “nothing for our neighbors in need.”

And he echoed arguments made by Democrats throughout the convention that Americans had grown tired of Trump’s insults and brash aggression.

“Leaders don’t spend all day insulting people and blaming others. Leaders do the work,” Walz said, comparing Trump unfavorably to the high schoolers he had taught. “So I don’t know about you: I’m ready to turn the page on these guys.”

“No matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead because that’s what we want for ourselves,” he said. “Kamala Harris is tough. Kamala Harris is experienced. And Kamala Harris is ready.”

Other Speakers

Throughout the night, Democrats channeled Ned Flanders, the “Simpsons” character known as the most neighborly neighbor in Springfield.

Speaker after speaker stressed that, even as they thrashed Donald Trump inside the convention hall, they did not view his followers as their enemies.

“That family down the road — they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they are your neighbors,” Walz said. “You look out for them, and they look out for you.”

Former President Bill Clinton urged Democrats to embrace the neighborly approach of the “Good Samaritan” with those of opposing beliefs.

“I urge you not to demean them, but not to pretend you don’t disagree with them if you do. Treat them with respect,” he said, “just the way you would like them to treat you.”

He brought out an interesting factoid. Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, he said, and he claimed he tripled checked it, 51,000 new jobs have been created in the U.S. Fifty million of those came under the administrations of Democrats, compared to a net of just 1 million under Republican presidents.

“It’s true,” he said.

“Here’s what I want you to know,” Clinton concluded. “If you vote for this team, if you can get them elected and let them bring in this breath of fresh air, you will be proud of it for the rest of your life.”

Other speakers included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and two governors, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Wes Moore of Maryland.

Watch the videos here:

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