Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, the Democrat nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, denounced the Declaration of Independence, capitalism, billionaires, and what he called “American exceptionalism.”
Rabb made the remarks during the “America at 250 — Trump Fascism, Historical Erasure, and the Battle Over Truth” panel, held June 26 at People’s Plaza on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Rabb is running unopposed in Pennsylvania’s heavily Democrat 3rd Congressional District and is widely expected to win election to Congress in November.
During the discussion, Rabb argued that the Declaration of Independence did not deliver freedom to everyone and instead helped preserve the power of a privileged class.
“Those screeds that were very lofty but were notoriously catering to a performative aspect of collective genius that purposely erased indigenous and black peoples,” Rabb said.
“It created distance from an empire to help very privileged people continue that privilege and ultimately institutionalize that through the U.S. Constitution many years later. But it certainly did not provide independence to indigenous and black peoples. And we cannot talk about anything today without acknowledging that this is a nation born on stolen land & stolen labor.”
Rabb also said reparations would be one of his priorities if elected to Congress, calling himself “one of the few unapologetic reparationists going to Congress.”
According to Rabb, reparations are not simply about compensating black Americans but about reshaping society as a whole.
“Reparations is not something that repairs black people,” he said. “It repairs society itself. And that benefits everyone. Everyone.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat also criticized what he described as the country’s political and economic foundations. Rabb said Americans cannot solve those problems without first rejecting long-held national ideals.
“Fascism is not new. These systems of harm are built into the very fabric of this nation,” Rabb added.
“You cannot kill the beast until you name it. And that is difficult for many people who want to embrace certain tropes, certain narratives, whether it’s the American dream or American exceptionalism or the Protestant work ethic or so many other myths that do us no — they are a disservice.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) endorsed Rabb’s congressional campaign, joining progressive groups including Justice Democrats, the Working Families Party, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the Sunrise Movement in backing his bid for Congress.
Rabb, a five-term Pennsylvania lawmaker who identifies as a democratic socialist, has consistently aligned himself with the left’s most progressive causes.
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