James Talarico

And it feels like in this moment when democracy is in trouble, both here and abroad,

We have to figure out how to love our neighbors again, especially our neighbors who are different from us, our neighbors who disagree with us.

We've got to find a way to love each other through those disagreements and those differences.

Otherwise, this American experiment won't last.

And so I'm trying to bring some of those teachings from our tradition into the political sphere, because I think they're needed now more than ever before.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So my granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas, and I was named after him.

So when I was growing up, he was always Big Jimmy and I was Little Jimmy.

That was at family gatherings, how they were able to tell us apart when one of us was getting called out for something.

And

He always told me that Christianity is a simple religion, not an easy religion, he would always clarify, but a simple religion, because Jesus gave us these two commandments to follow, love God and love neighbor.

And that second commandment is really what set me on the course I'm on now.

The reason I signed up to be a public school teacher on the west side of San Antonio was that commandment to love my neighbor as myself.

The reason I ran for the state house was to try to follow that commandment and to try to craft public policies that are gonna help my neighbor.

It's gonna make my neighbor's life a little easier, a little less stressful.

And I was able to pass those bills because I was able to love my colleagues, my neighbors in the state legislature, even when we disagreed on other issues.

I always try to remember that everyone I come across

is the expression of a divine source.

Every person that I meet is the bearer of a sacred image.