Transcripts For CSPAN2 Books By The 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidates 20240713

Campaign and we will kick off with michael bennet. Michael bit has been a senator for colorado since 2009. He launched his president ial campaign in may of 2019 and his book, a land of flickering lights came out in june of 2019. Heres a portion of of his discussion from san francisco. You cant accept the way politics works in washington and create a durable solution on climate because you cant fix climate to use at the time. You cant accept the politics where you put in a set of policies during four years of the bomb and message and of the guys coming and rip it out and then four years later, you put it back in and they rip it out. I dont think thats anyway to regulate a Banking System or support education but you certainly cant deal with climate that way and thats what i think sort of as as a definitional matter you cannot accept the current Political Climate in america. Were going to have to build a coalition of americans outside of washington to overcome a broken washington. Thats what were going to do and that sounds really hard and it is really hard but there are no shortcuts in democracy. This why the debate about to get rid of the filibuster, dont get rid of the filibuster, not particular interest to me because the question is can you win states like colorado, iowa, arizona tax because if you cant you will not be able to make the kinds of changes that we need to be able to make. The democrats are putting forth a lot of ideas on Climate Change and the one that is not the most attention for better or worse is the Green New Deal or is that supposed to cause a big green new dream i think she calls it. Not so much anymore. She is buried the hatchet with aoc but Scientists Say the longer you wait the top with the solutions are going to be if youre going to do with this. Where do you come down on this . What you cant be doing that is acceptable that is doable . First of all i believe we should not ever compromise with the science, ever, ever. And thats why i support the findings of the Green New Deal that say weve got to get to net zero carbon by 2050 antara bunch of other things in the findings i agree with. Another approach to the policies going to be more likely to be successful for the reasons that i said earlier. If you come out to colorado and have a conversation with people and say my climate plan by the way went to act urgently and my plan is we will retrofit every building in america and the next ten years and we will give everybody a paid vacation and were going to give everybody a paid job and Bernie Sanders health care plan, pretty soon people will say that doesnt sound like a climate plan. That sounds like something else. And by the with one of the things that drive me nuts about that is the one thing they left off that list was a high Quality Public School for every kid in america. What are the always left behind . Why are the always left behind . They are invisible to us. The kids in these urban school district. They are invisible to the Progressive Left in this country. What i believe is that the tragedy of the last election as i said a minute ago is we lost elections are climate denier. It should be disqualifying for the white house if you deny the Climate Change is real. It should be disqualifying [applause] it should be disqualifying on moral terms but i mean something else. It should be disqualifying on political terms because the majority of americans lead Climate Change is real and the majority of americans believe we need to do something to fix it. The argument we lost to trump which is a disgrace, we should never have lost it, was an economics. He won an argument with the American People what he said it would get with Climate Change its going to be an economic catastrophe for america. When the reverse is true, of course that if we dont deal with climate and will be an economic catastrophe for america. That is an argument we cannot lose again. So it was a failure of democrats to come up with a message. It is. Theres this agonizing description in the book about the Keystone Pipeline folks, and this is the thing where i voted in a way that was not consistent with environmental communities of you, with whom i have a very, very strong relationship. We moved to colorado because my wife was the regional director of earth justice. She was the Rocky Mountain region and they do a great job and i had to crawl into bed every night so i need to be right on these issues. [laughing] but what disturbed me speedy what was alike than that you voted for the Keystone Pipeline . It was fine because weve been through it. What disturbed me was it galvanized are based but it did make anybody else to the table. Someone else once said to me, what would michael have said . Who gets to pick the symbols, the movement or the politicians . I think thats a legitimate question and my answer is probably a little bit of both. The question from this friend of mine in colorado who was very disappointed in the on this but had agreed it was the keystone was a symbol, what would michael have said about the lunch counters in the Civil Rights Movement . This is all in the book, to which is it exactly, thats my point. Because the civil rights, the lunch counters brought them into the Civil Rights Movement. It expanded the movement and built it in a in a way that cod overcome people who fought, who would never give up on segregation in this country. We need the same sort of relentlessness and approach on Climate Change. Weve got to be building a coalition of people to change politics in washington, d. C. So that we have an urgent and durable solution. I believe we can easily do that. The coalition is waiting for us in america to do it but you cant expect its going to be there and you cant make proposals that divide people when youre trying to unite people. I want to end just to be very clear about it, you cannot compromise on the science and we cannot compromise on the science. That is not the same thing as saying we shouldnt should be. How to build a durable Coalition People that can sustain a political outcome in this country. Thats an honorable thing to do i think, not a dishonorable think. As you say in the book why think you allude to this but you talk about segregation, civil rights. Some of the big civil rights bills like a past in the mid\60{l1}s{l0}\60{l1}s{l0} could never have happened without republicans. What has happened to the party not just on civil rights which is more understandable in some ways but on science, on climate . Perfect example, a chapter in a book about italy about Citizens United but the way i described the effect on our country is by using lima change. I do want want to overstate it but the republicans had a fairly honorable environmental tradition. Everybody knows Teddy Roosevelt honorable tradition but imagine this, Richard Nixon signed into law the Clean Air Act and the clean water act and stood up the epa. Ronald reagan close the hole in the ozone layer using a capandtrade system basically. Two george bushes went United Nations and said weve got to do something on climate. In fact, george bush the dad went to detroit, michigan, and said people think we were not getting think that on climate forget about the white house the fact that we would get something done on climate. My friend john mccain who is part of the gang of eight with an immigration, he ran on Climate Change. What happened . What happened was in 2010 the Supreme Court decided Citizens United. That led to the Koch Brothers and other billionaires, fossil fuel people from having to completely outsize role in the politics where they first set out just in that year, they set out to require every member of congress whos a republican to sign a climate pledge the said they were going to say that Climate Change was real and that humans were not going to contribute to it. They went out and signed the pledge. And ever since then weve been living in a world where if a republican washington looks like theyre going to do something on climate, the Koch Brothers have to rattle the coins in the pockets because it is chump change for them and say really . We can put, because of the Supreme Court we can put 30 million in your next primary and you will be dead before the season starts. And that is created this profound corruption of in action and her country. The Supreme Court in their opinion which i used to describe as like reading a seventh graders American Government paper, and then decide that was insulting to americas seventh graders so i dont say that anymore. [laughing] their ignorance of that opinion where they were so focused on this idea of corruption of action. You give me 5000, i go write a bill for you, or you give me 5000 and take a right the bill that has the appearance of being written for you. The court says both those things where the right to worry about and we can limit contributions. Thats what you can only give me 5000. 5000. But then they said, with independent expenditures by definition they are independent so we dont have to worry about and thats why the Koch Brothers can get 1 billion and not not put their name on it and affect all american election. They said this money in american politics will not cause, visit their language, will not cause the American People to lose faith in a democracy. 95 of the American People say theres too much money in our democracy and the billionaires control too much of it. This is one of the huge reasons why we are in the mess were in. Its not the only reason. It was the confluence of the rise of the tea party and reaction to the election of barack obama. It was the Koch Brothers simultaneously being unleashed by the white house and unbelievably corrosive effect in that era of the partisan gerrymandering that happened in the house of representatives. Those things coalesced together in a structural, toxic stew that were still living with. When my friend joe biden says if we just get rid of this goes to the question of trump being a symptom not a cause, said if we just get rid of trump and will also muggle back to normal, ignores the structural issues that exist in the democracy that i lay out in my book and many of us changes over the last ten years and ignores the fact the place is now populated by bunch of Tea Party People and not by the kind of republicans who were available to pass a civil rights bill. Joe Biden National political career began in 1972 when he was elected senator from delaware. He said over 1000 cspan appearances but only once on booktv. He wrote a book in 2007 called promises to keep. We want to show a portion of that now. The twin towers had collapsed by the time we got on the road to bloomington delaware and the death estimates for in new york were five, six, 7000, maybe more. When i got home and put on the television i saw that americans were still had a heart still beating very strong. Doctors and nurses were stan at hospitals in new york ready to treat the wounded. Snaking through the streets and that the avenues were long lines of new yorkers waiting to get their blood. Even though the word was being passed that no more blood was needed. I could see the interfaces. They were hungry to do something, anything nobody was talking about war footings or paybacks. They just wanted to do their part. That was the day that reminded me that even in the moment of almost total silence from their leaders in washington, americans would rise to the occasion. Watching these people in the bloodlines i was convinced that the country would get up off the mat, face the new challenges head on and emerge stronger having faced them. To me, this is the first principle of life, the foundation principle. A blessing you cant learn at the feet of any wise man or woman. Get up. The art of living is simply getting up after you have been knocked down. This is a lesson taught by example and learned into doing. I got the lesson everyday while growing up in a in a nondescrit splitlevel home in the suburbs of wilmington, delaware. My dad was a man of few words. What i learned from him i learned from watching. He had been knocked down hard as a young man but he never stopped trying. He was the first one up in the morning every morning in our home, clean shaven, elegantly dressed, putting on the coffee, getting ready to go to the car dealership to a job he never really liked. My brother said most mornings he could hear dad singing in the kitchen. My dad had real grace. He never ever gave up and he never complained. The world doesnt owe you a living, chile, he would say, but without rancor. He had no time for selfpity. He didnt judge a man by how many times he got knocked down. He judge them by how rapidly he got back up. Get up. That was the phrase. That was the phrase and it is echoed through my whole life. The world dropped on your head . My dad would say get at. Youre lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself. Get that. If you got knocked down, got knocked on your on football field, get that. Bad grade grade. Get up. Girls parents wont let her go out with the catholic boy. Get out. It wasnt just a small things but big ones as well. When the only voice i could hear was my own after the surgery, senator, you might lose your ability to speak, get up. The newspapers are calling you a plagiarist, biden. Get up. Your wife and daughter, im sorry, joe, there was nothing we could do to save them. Get up. Flaunt a class in law school. Get up. Kids make fun of you because you cant pronounce your lasting. You stutter. Biden. There was no daylight between my moms philosophy of life and my dads. She just was more vocal about it and continues to be. He couldnt stand people who abuse power of any kind picking never laid a hand on any of us and if we all heard him time and time again say, it takes a small man to hit a small child. No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman under any circumstances. It was always like getting up and standing up. Standing up to the abuse of power whether it was the hands of a a neighborhood bully or ta dictator. When i was in eighth grade i got invited to the Presbyterian Church for a mix of all the kids went to public school. I was the catholic kid in mayfield and there were not many catholic families. I had to wear one of my dads dress shirts. It was a big deal to go to the dance. The dress shirt was too long so ill never forget my mom rolled up the sleeves twice french cuff shirt and then she couldnt find any cufflinks. My dad worked on friday nights and we couldnt find it. My mother went down to the wash machine in the laundering and picked up the toolbox. Out of the toolbox she literally got a nod and a bolt. You think im kidding, im not. [laughing] and my mom came up from the basement and started to put them into my sleeves. I pulled away and they said im not doing this. Im not going to do this. Im not going to do this, mom. Theyre going to make fun of me. My mother as all of her kids and grandkids have heard said, joey, look at me. I said mom, im not doing it. Im not doing it under any circumstances. She said joey, look at me. If anybody says anything about these nuts and bolts to you, you just looked let them right in e and say, you dont have a pair of these . [laughing] and i said, mom, im not doing this. [applause] im not doing this. What i wanted to go to the stint in the worst way, all the best looking girls and eighth and ninth grade with there. So i went, nuts and bolts and all, and literally i was standing at the punch bowl. One of sort of bullies in the neighborhood, i reached out and he held up my arm said look, look, biden, look at his cufflinks. Nuts and bolts. And at first i felt just so embarrassed, and then they felt more angry than it was embarrassed. I looked him straight in and i said, frank, you dont have a pair of these . It was dead silence. True story. He looked any wind, yeah, yeah, i got a pair of those, too. [laughing] i want you to know, i want you to know, it always reminded me, taught me its not about whether your barefoot are where guccis. Its not about what you nuts and bolts or find cufflinks, its about who you are. Its about what you believe. On my 50th 50th birthday my bet friend, my sister will you stand up . I want you to meet my sister. Shes incredible. [applause] my sister went to tiffanys and had a pair of sterling silver cufflinks made. They are nuts and bolts. [laughing] she got them in for me to remi, to remind me where we come from and remind me about how to judge a person, never forget. Never forget. From time to time he would talk about the holocaust, my dad. He could never understand how people could be persecuted for just being who they were. The war was wrong, joey, at the dinner table. We had only one rule. My dad came home every night from the dealership. One world was dinner was held the place you are expected to have impeccable manners. There was no excuses. As a place we sat to have conversation and occasionally eat. It wasnt about eating. And my dad would respond to what he thought were these terrible things. He said the world was wrong failing to respond to the atrocities against the jews. We should be ashamed. He also is very critical of jews who didnt want to establish the state of israel. He couldnt quite understand and my father was not jewish. We each had a personal responsibility, he told us, just like the nuns told us. It wasnt sufficient enough to point out something was wrong. It was obliged, you are obliged if if you the capacity of it anyway you could have impact on it to intervene. In april 1993 1993 i traveled o belgrade to meet slobodan milosevic. Come in, he said. Lets talk. We sat down at this conference table. He talked. You know you got us all wrong, senator. You got us all wrong. Its the muslims. Its not us. I brought up i largely muslim town that was trying to tell to hold off the serb soldiers who were firing on civilian favorites from artillery pieces that ring the town he were plundering the humanitarian relief efforts and pummeling their convoys. No, no, no. The u. N. Has proceeded this. The recent bombings are not us. Theyre doing it to themselves to make us look bad. He tried to tell me that all sides in boston have artillery batteries and tanks, including muslims. Mr. Malone savage, i said, youre the only person in the world who would say such a ridiculous thing. He could tell that to just about had it with his life and 1. Looked up at me from the table about 10 00 at night with all those maps right in front of him and without any emotion he said what do you think of me . All alligood makeup of my fathe. I said i think youre a god damn war criminal and a going to do everything in my power to spend the rest of my life seeing you are tried as one. He looked right back at me as if i had said to him that i thought he was a wonderful guy. It had no impact on him. But he was not keeping your promises. It was about keeping the promises to yourself as well as keeping your promises of what your country stands for. Like former president ial candidate cory booker, Pete Buttigieg also began his career as a mayor. The south mayor released his book shortest way home in 2019. Here he is at the brooklyn library. Iphone for some people know. I talk about of these, some occult and all kinds of names. Assuming its a real person. You try to give them the benefit of the debt. This stretch of road is terrible for example. Collect all is the problem yes, i know. I on it recently. Ill Say Something were trying to do to fix it and let them know someone they can know. Its a problem but what i say yes, i know people try to get more funds appropriated in the next budget to cover the stretch of road. By the weight road fun is up in the state legislature in april. Would you be willing to send a letter . More times than the people respond to that in a way thats encouraging. Im messing every skeptic becomes a a convert but its helpful. The flipside is it doesnt always bring out our best selves. But its human nature. Its manipulating good and bad things and us as every good and bad influence. Its not itself can only do good work and do evil. Its how we come to it. By the way i think were only beginning to become sophisticated consumers. For example, when you open the newspaper and theres a fullpage ad, it resembles newsprint if you know it looks like a new strip which a look at for second i realize its a fullpage ad taken up by some group with a quirky perspective on issue and take you to second stimulus that. We dont have the same pattern recognition of social media which is part of why its got such potential to lead to misinformation. As we get more and more used to it and go into it and a native way we will become more savvy about it. As we become savvier to think the federal government can and should be doing things to mitigate the damage . I do. We need for one thing we did a policy that clarifies the ownership of data. We are behind on this. We also need a policy that establishes whose job authentication is dick we have the weirdest patchwork of systems. Think about establishing you are who you say you are is one of the basic function of government. The way we do it is through drivers licenses. People dont even try in terms of id. And then your digital id for the most part is your Social Security number as not to geek out interim data sets but as a primary key for database, Social Security numbers suck. It contains information which is a a something you have an id number to do. You can learn things just placing the numbers the second is a something we would never do in any other private which think but we are salsa skirting number is used. Your user id is also your password. We would never do that. We need a better system for digital identification. There are a lot of functions larger because people are running frankly legislating the sinks dont understand them which is why have these embarrassing spectacles of senators quizzing tech executives who have no idea what theyre asking about. Thats not just an age thing. You could be an elderly senator and understand these things but most of them dont. Its just clear were behind. I think the european framework is instructive. I dont know ours would be exactly the same but we could have to clarify some of these things before its too late. You mentioned age. When youre in your late 20s here for straight treasure of indiana. You become a at what age . Twentynine. You are 37 and you have a more out there to running for president of the United States. Why the hurry . [laughing] i dont know that to be in hurry yet to be thinking youre always trying to get a certain destination. I wrote a book because i felt like i had to books worth of things i wanted to share. I had this Exploratory Committee because i believe, heres the process i believe works running for office. You look at the office and what it calls for and what it needs. So what did the south bend need in 2011 tax it needed to bring its youth home. Needed a better model for Economic Development and it needed a sense of faith in its future. You look at is up and what you bring to the table. At the time of jumpers with american Economic Development knowing money for office and my age would act of hope in the future. You see a match and ive gone through the process in order to decide to run for office ive gone to the office to decide not to run for office, a process i decided all the weather whats not to run for congress. The question now is working with the country needs, is it just may be the case for a country were especially a party that has really lost touch with the industrial midwest and socalled forgotten communities in a moment that seems to be crying out for generational change at a time when our politics has become just unbelievably crass and also divorced from reality and also disconnected from the extent to which a politics matters most because it impacts individualize. Is it may be the right idea for a young midwestern millennials intellectual gay mayor to have something to offer . [applause] you mention millennial and the actual look this up to be sure that im on the on google before a commuter on the very lesser of the baby boom generation. You are the very first year of the millennial generation. Consider me a sort of punching bag and tell me how we boomers screwed up everything for you millennials. [laughing] and why we should never be given the reins of government again. [applause] if not all your fault. [laughing] it is interesting though, i recently found out that three of the last four president s, george w. Bush, donald trump and bill clinton, theyre all different ages when they came into the public consciousness. But theyre all the same age. They were born in the same season. They were all born in the summer of i think it was 1946. One generation has mostly been running most things for quite a while. Nothing wrong with that, but i do believe the perspective of a different generation is really important. I come from a generation that, i was in the columbine, i was in high school when columbine happen. Even now are talked about people in charge as if theyre somebody elses problem or very personal i think for anybody my age or younger. So, i think that the younger you are the definition the longer you plan to be here the longer you have at stake in the consequences of the decisions made today. You cant think of it as somebody elses problem. You cant think of it as your grandkids problem. A skeptic would say youre the mayor of a 100,000 people. And youre asking to be a president of the country over 300 million the most powerful nation in the world. Why should we trust you with that . So, theres something a little audacious, very audacious, a little bit obscene, really. Right, about you think about the presidency and what it calls for. Any human being who thinks they belong in that office theres something a little bit crazy about. Well, the current occupant would support that, an extremist. Really, anybody and yet weve had 45 human beings, right, mortals, flawed human believings now, some of them were more all of them were older than i am. Some of them were more experienced in different ways, some were more intelligent than i am, but the real question is how, again, does what you bring match whats out there. So, a conventional question i often get, wouldnt it be better if you spent more time in congress . [laughter] here is the thing about congress. You would have gotten so much done. [laughter] thats the thing of it, automatically the case of being a member of congress, being marinaded in washington right now makes you a better leader . I mean, i dont mean to disrespect good people doing work in congress, but by the way, you could also be a Senior Member of congress or the senate and never in your life managed more than 100 people. So why wouldnt the experience of a mayor, of a city of any size, especially a strong mayor system like we have in indiana so we dont have, unlike pawnee, we dont have a city manager. So, you know, you get the call. It could be an Economic Development question, it could be a parks and recreation controversy, that happens a lot. Ive also got the call about activating the Emergency Operation center for a flood, about what to do when an airplane crashed into a neighborhood, or about an officerinvolved shooting with a lot of racial sensitivity to it and you have to go on television in a matter of minutes and hold a community together. So when you think about the functions of the presidency in my view its threefold, passing and implementing good policies. Its capably running an organization, an administration, and it is Holding People to their highest values and bringing them together. I would argue theres no better preparation for that, at least within government, than leading a city. Maybe leading a state, but also leading a city, theres no where to hide because you eat your own dog food, right. Because you experience all the things you impose on other people because you are by definition a resident of the city that you serve. So, given that i also have more years of government experience than the president , and more years of executive experience than the vicepresident , and more military experience than anybody to walk in that office since george h. W. Bush, maybe experience is one of the main reasons i ought to have, cheeky as it sounds for a 37yearold, maybe experience is one of the reasons i should be at the table. In just a moment were going to show you a portion of our Author Interview program after word which features best selling authors and guest interviewers, former representative from maryland, 6th district, john delaney, who is the first to announce his candidacy in the democratic primary in 2017, has appeared twice on after words, once as an interviewer and once as the author of the right answer. It was published in may of 2018 and it offers his thoughts on bridging americas partisan divide. Its interesting about washington. He wrote these amazing farewell addresses. The first one is when he stepped down as the general of the u. S. Military. And the second one when he stepped down as president. And what was remarkable about washington is he could have stayed on and been the president for the rest of his life. I mean, theres never been a president , nor will there ever be a president as popular as George Washington was at the time. I mean, he was viewed as really the founder of the country in many ways, we have many founding fathers, but washington is almost granitelike in his greatness what he did for this country. He decided we wouldnt have kings and he stepped down. And wrote his farewell address. It tells us a lot about washingtons character and what he thought about this new grand experiment of a country that he was so important to creating. But what he said in his farewell address is he talked about partisan politics and it was amazingly kind of prescient when you think about his words. He talked about the need for Political Parties, that if inherently need a way of organizing ourselves, which i agree with so we need Political Parties. What he didnt talk about, which i bet he was thinking, Political Parties serve a purpose around having a debate. Right. Because debates should actually unify us as opposed to dividing us, but what he warned about was Political Parties who will put their own interests ahead of the country. So he was probably the first person to criticize a person for putting their party ahead of the country. And he said it could lead to treasonous activities. At the beginning, people were worried about this new government of foreign powers, influencing, and you think about the world, and held rivalries in the world and he could forsee a foreign country getting involved, the last election. So he warned about hyper partisan politics getting where people put their Political Party ahead of the country even to the point of committing treason and he warned the country in the sternest language he could muster at the time about it and when you think about it today, i kind of agree with washington because we do need Political Parties. We do need a way of organizing a debate. Because debates are healthy and they should be civil, respectful and based on the facts and it should be a ballot of ideas and it should unify us. Even if it sometimes gets kind of, you know, difficult, it should ultimately unify us. In the book, you also talk about answers and solutions, they shouldnt be republican answers and solutions. How did you come to that conclusion that our the problems that face this country should not just come from one side or the other, but they could possibly be forged together . See, don, i dont think that half the country is entirely wrong about everything they believe, and if you listen to our Political Parties these days, thats kind of what they say, right, which is Democratic Party, with i im a proud member of and i know youre a proud member of and youve been fighting for the Democratic Party longer than i have and thank you for that, but sometimes when you listen to what comes out of the mouth, its like everything a republican believes is wrong, and the republican party, obviously, does the same thing. And so, most americans know that thats not the way this country is. They have friends, they have people they work with, they have neighbors and people they go to church with in the other Political Party and they respect them and like them and have good values and think theyre smart and occasionally good ideas. Thats probably the private sector in me. One of the things i try to do in the private sector is always think about best practices and the best ideas, and you should always be thinking about, 0 being, whats the best idea, whats the best solution, whats the best practice for this opportunity or challenge. And you know, i was just struck by how theres no sill of that in politics, right, theres no little of like, elected officials getting in there and saying, my job is to find the best idea. I dont care where it comes from. Now, what makes you a democrat or a republican is typically orientation how you see the role of government and things like that. They probably lean you toward one set of idea as opposed to the other, but that doesnt mean you entirely focus on what one side is doing. So, youve been a member of congress now since 2013. Thats right. Youve had an opportunity to introduce legislation, work with democrats, republicans, but you also, in the book, call for an end of partisanship, especially partisanship that rewards division. What do you mean by that . So, i think a president or any other elected leader in this country should effectively represent everyone, whether they voted for them or not and they should almost take a pledge never to divide us. That doesnt mean that they dont go out there and why they should vote for me over the other person or why my ideas are better than the other persons ideas or why the future im envisioning is better than what the other person is, but taking it to the step where youre actually kind of cultivating a spirit of division is, i think, one of the things thats going on in this country right now, which is really insidious. And i do think, if you have the privilege of serving, which i feel like i do, we should all in addition to swearing to defend and protect the constitution, we really should pledge to the American People that were not going to say things to divide us, that were going to go out of our way to try to unify the country because the country is inherently stronger when were unified. Again, that doesnt mean we agree with each other on everything. Theres a difference between a respectful disagreement and engaging in divisive rhetoric and politics. , but you also identify because in reading the book, what i found very encouraging is that you took on big issues from universal prek to health care to infrastructure and you wrote in the book that we can solve some of these problems. We can solve all of these problems. , but some of the solutions you propose are still quite polarizing some would say because it involves raising money. I mean, coming up with a dedicated revenue stream. Right. You really came up with great ideas. Do you think some of these ideas can pass through, say the next congress . Some of them are easier than others, right . And right now, the congress is in a tough spot. I mean, one of the things i talked about in the book is that i think someone who is running for president , it would be amazing if a president said in their inauguration speech, they represent every american and to prove it theyre only going to do Bipartisan Legislation in the first 100 days. Like congressman john delaney, senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota appeared on after words twice, once as an interviewer, once as a guest. Her book is called the senator next door and here is a portion. Weve had two strong women, the majority leader one time in the 80s and in the 70s, the secretary of state had run and they had both lost and so when i started running people would literally ask me, newspaper editors would say, do you think a woman can win . And with the reference of this is in 2006 . 2006 and with a reference to kay bailey hutchinson, i said, well, a woman won in texas, so, i think a woman can probably win. I think the last two were in the 80s and 90s, and so then i finally ended up, i didnt really emphasize gender that much because of that issue and other two women who were so accomplished had run a lot on that issue, i didnt. To some of the guys id speak to big rooms of Steel Workers and id say, look, someone would ask that question and id say look, last time i checked, half the voters were men, if i was just running as a woman, i wouldnt win. And really no and one would go, yeah, im running as my record as a prosecutor of what i want to do for the state of minnesota. And so, at the end of the election, when i won by a pretty overwhelming margin, one of the newspaper editors or newspaper reporters, pat lopez who writes for the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted i hadnt emphasized gender. And i didnt. It didnt mean i didnt have a lot of women support, i had a grouped called amys angels, that meant a lot to me, we did a lot in terms of gathering womens support, but it wasnt the theme of my campaign. You know, we have a Record Number of women serving in the u. S. Senate now, but its only 20. Yeah, exactly. And in fact, fewer than 50 women elected to the senate in the history of our country. Its remarkable. For the 20 women now in the senate, do you think that women senators tend to behave differently than the male senators . I do. Theres actually a recent study that showed that from harvard that the women senators tend to sponsor each others bills more, get things done more, theyre more bipartisan. Its not just anecdotal. Whether its Susan Collins in the shutdown, a first major speech and i was the first democrat to join her and we put together a group of 14 and how to end the shutdown, whether its Debby Stabenow or Barbara Boxer working with Mitch Mcconnell just last month to get a transportation bill done so he passed a sixyear highway bill out of the u. S. Senate. So a lot of times you see the women showing this kind of leadership and i think theres a lot more trust because theres only 20 of us and we have, of course, every other month dinners and what we say about the men never goes out of that room. Of course, we never talk about them. Im just kidding. But it was, you know, i think thats been an important part of the senate, the women senators. Of course, the country has never elected a woman to national office, sarah palin to the republican ticket 2008 and Hillary Clinton is favored to win the democratic nomination in 2016 and Carlie Fiorina in the g. O. P. Race. What does the National Factor into the elections . Id go to the governors. Its been difficult for women to women in the kinds of jobs. Weve gotten better in the senate, come on, were still 20 , but first theres the money issue and a lot of women give money to men and a lot of men are in business, so the more we get women in business, i think that will be to our advantage. And the second piece of it is that sometimes voters just its elite for people to think of a woman in that kind of a management role and i think thats why you see the percentage smaller of women governors, and then of course, a woman president has not been achieved yet even though its been achieved in many other countries. I think the time is right, but i think the time has come. I think that people are starting to see more and more women in leadership roles they want their own daughters to be in leadership roles and that changes the thinking. Hillary clinton, youre a supporter of hers in her president ial campaign and shes had some challenges. Do you think sexism is behind some of the criticism of her or is it the same kind of criticism shed be getting if she were a male running . I think throughout her life just like every other woman official, shes got criticism thats not fair thats happened to everyone. I think the key is again, what do you do with it . How do you move on . Ive always said talked in the book, sometimes low expectations where people think can she really do this job and then you have a debate or you have a speech where you show you know your stuff, and you almost can be to your advantage if you do it right. The second thing about this in the book, i talk about sort of the harassment issues which we know still go op all over this country and must be taken seriously and sexist names in so many races where patty murray is called a mom in tennis shoes or Claire Mccaskill gets the opponent who starts talking about, you know, rape somehow the fault of the woman and wont produce a baby and that kind of stuff. You go legitimate thats what he called it legitimate rape. When you go back through those things, you realize they started to boomerang, actually hurts the opponents who say this thing. I had someone who worked for my opponent called me a prom queen, i wish, and daddys little girl and nobody noticed it because i didnt make a big deal out of it. My point is either no one notices it because its so minor and unnecessary and you dont think you need to bring it up, if you do, it boomerangs, i think some of that is behind us, but the real challenge to me is still that thing so hard to define when youre a minority, whether youre a racial minority or youre a minority because youre a woman, only 20 of us in the senate and you always do wonder sometimes, was i not included in that gang to work on that group because they have no women in it and they want today hang out with each other or is it just because they picked people that they wanted to have in the group . And its really hard to define those things. Sharyl sam has written about that lean in, kept out of power and out of the rooms and having to assert yourself to get into the room. I think thats the level of the leadership level and i do not discount sexist words or some of the harassment thats still going on. I think when you get at that leadership level thats where the fight is now and thats where it gets into the president ial level, to make sure that were calling people on when they exclude women from Decision Making roles. It wasnt until november of 2019 that former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced his candidacy for president. Hes written two books, including faith in the dream published in 2012. A year earlier he spoke at the National Press club to discuss his first book a reason to believe, its a memoir of his life and political career. Ive done business all over the world. Remarkable experiences, improbable in the eyes of many. Ive argued in the Supreme Court, hitchhiked from khartoum, counseled two president s and as i reflect on each of the experiences each has roots on the lessons i try to write in this book, these lessons have given me the sense of the possible and thats made all the difference. I write in the book about the transition from the south outside of chicago to milton academy, the experience to try to bridge these very different worlds where each one seemed to demand that you reject the other as the price of acceptance in the one. And how important it was for me to understand ultimately that that was a false choice. I write about the ways the old ladies in big hats in Church Back Home taught me to see that faith is not so much what you say you believe, but how you live. I write about the extraordinary courage and strengths of my wife diane through her first marriage to an abusive husband and the toll my early days on Public Office took on her and how her triumph has strengthened not just me, but thousands of others. Time and time again, experiences of great trial and turmoil have produced transcendent poverty and they have contributed to my idealism. I want to defend and encourage that kind of idealism because i think its what motivates people to make what seems improbable possible. That may sound corny to some of you, especially in hardbitten washington d. C. , but in fact, there is nothing at all corny about hope. And there is nothing at all empowering or ennobling about the alternative. About pessimism. In fact, as governor, it has been a sense of the possible that has helped us achieve many remarkable things against more than customary odds. In these exceptionally cynical times, i think that people are hungry for something more positive and affirming than the steady diet of no that they get. It has implications on both a policy level and a personal level. On a policy level, without a renewed sense of idealism, with all the risk of failure and disappointment that that entails, an essential part of a national character, our cando spirit will be in jeopardy. And none of the big challenges facing this country will successfully be faced. Securing Marriage Equality or expanding health care for everyone or funding our schools at the highest level in history during the worst economy in living memory. These would be a couple of examples of letting our idealism and our highest values guide us at home in the commonwealth of massachusetts. On a personal level, before anyone can change their circumstances, people need a faith in their own capacity to shape a better future. They have to be able to imagine something better. And then apply themselves to achieving it. Hope for the best and work for it is the way my grandmother described it. And thats why i chose to write a book about personal values before i write the one about policy or politics. We have to stand by for that. One of the lessons i write about is forgiveness. As a predicate to moving forward. My parents split up when i was four years old and my father moved to new york with his band, the sunra orchestra, an avant garde jazz band with acquired taste. He was a gifted jazz musician totally committed to his music and in those days would have been described as a black militant hoping for reconciliation that would never come. My mother worked hard to keep my sister and i in touch with them and i believe he regretted not being able to watch us grow up. As i grew up and spread my own wings, he and i had tortured relationship. How concerned he was i was going to milton, concerned it would make me white, not black enough. He was convinced my mother was poisoning us with unflattering opinions of him as a father and as a man. None of this was true, but it was a powerful dynamic in our fractured relationship as i was coming into adulthood. We finally found a way to reconcile tentatively, but meaningfully and i want to read a passage about that. If i could find it and my glasses. Here are my glasses, its come to that. [laughter] the summer before my third year of law school, i worked at a law firm in washington d. C. I turned 25 that july and on my birthday, my father happened to be playing in a local jazz club called pigfoot and invited me to join him. I hpt hadnt spent a birthday with him since i was three, but i agreed. I arrived the end of the first set just before the break and my father was playing the saxophone, jamming with a skilled quartet. I took my seat at a little table and he nodded when i came in. When he finished the number, he took the microphone and said, its my sons birthday, i want to play this next tune. There was warm applause and approving glance from other patrons. Then the place got quiet, played an old standard i cant get started there was no vocalist and by then i developed my own love for jazz, and i knew the words. Ive been around the world in a plane, ive started revolutions in spain. The north pole ive charted, still i cant get started with you. He looked me straight in the eye while he played, long and soulfully and longing with regret and i gazed back at him knowing what he was trying to say. Life is too short to go on like this, lets find a way to come together. No words were spoken, but the music gave us our own language. We communicated more in those few moments than we ever had before. And it was clear how much we both wanted simple understanding. We werent quite there when i graduated from law school, he did not attend commencement, but we were moving closer and it seemed my father never felt threatened by my choices again. I had saved a place and so had he. Ive given a lot of thought over the years to this idea of generational responsibility, that oldfashioned lesson each of us was taught by our grandparents, that were supposed to do what we can in our time, to leave things better for those who come behind us. I have thought about what that means in the context of budget deficits and Health Care Services and educational policy. And ive thought about what it means as the father of two extraordinary young women and many young men who might as well be mine and of whom im equally proud. I am convinced that the most important gift that we can give our heirs is the ability to dream about a better life, a better community, a better country. Thats a gift i was given by grandparents and teachers and more than a few total strangers. And thats what im trying to pass on with this book. Youre watching book tv on yspan 2. Right now were showing you some of the books written by some of the democratic candidates. Author and senator Bernie Sanders has appeared on book tv13 times. After his loss in 2016, he wrote a book called where we go from here, here is a portion of that program. So i think the most important thing, as we sat around that room at our home in burlington that we understood, is that we forced the American People to go outside of the media, go outside of what Congress Talks about and think big, not small. To ask questions that are not going to be asked on cbs and not even fox television. To ask a question, which is never asked, is it appropriate that three people in in country own more wealth than the bottom half of the American People . [applaus [applause]. Now, you can watch, you can watch television from morning to night for years, that question will not come up. Is it appropriate that the top 1 10 of 1 owns more wealth than the bottom 90 . Is it appropriate that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world we have the highest rate of childhood poverty many almost any other major country on earth . Are we concerned that a handful of media conglomerates control what we see, hear, and read . How in gods name does it happen . And i didnt need the u. N. Report on Climate Change or the recent report that came from 13 agencies of the federal government. I knew and you knew three years ago what the media was not talking about and that is that Climate Change was not only real, not only caused by human activity, but already causing devastating harm. Why werent we talking about that issue . [applaus [applause]. So we kind of busted, busted the discussion over open, and maybe that was maybe the most important accomplishment. Thats what we talked about. People sat around the room. We did all of these things. The American People are now asking questions. Why are we the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people . Why is it that young people are leaving school 50, 100,000 in debt . Why do we have more people in jail than any other country on earth . Why is it that we have millions of people in this country who have lived here for decades who are undocumented, who are scared to death theyre going to be deported . So we asked questions that hadnt been out there, you know what happened . The American People started nodding their heads and saying, yeah, thats a good question. I hadnt thought about that. Where do we go from here . So as we sat around that room in burlington for a very long time. We asked the simple question of what happens next . And frankly, it would not have been surprising if we ended up doing what virtually every other losing president ial campaign does, its hard to run a campaign and at the end of it, most cases people say, thanks, we tried, we lost, were going home, back to our lives. We could have done that, not just me, not just jane, but all of the people or many of the people who were actively involved in the campaign so we sat around and we talked and we said, no, we have accomplished too much. We are not going to do what other campaigns have done pack our bags and go home, especially, you know, given the crisis the country faces, were going to stay involved and were going to continue to do everything that we can in a sense to move the Progressive Movement forward. And what was kind of concluded on that day was that we would go forward in terms of the Political Revolution that we have talked about, which was basically twofold. Number one, the need to continue to fight for an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families. And that is what we have done and the truth is, i think, as is widely acknowledged, we have succeeded in that struggle. Three years ago, when i began the campaign for president and i said, the United States must join every other major country on earth, guarantee health care to all people as a right through medicare for all, Single Payer Program [applaus [applause] three years ago people were saying, youre crazy. Nobody believes in that idea, thats too radical, its not what the American People want. Well, guess what . Last couple of polls that have come out on that issue suggest that 70 of the American People believe in medicare for all. [applaus [applause] which is why that concept is attacked by donald trump every single day because he sees the same polls that i see. Three years ago we talked about the fact, again, common sense that everybody now nods their head. Three years ago, not a long time, people werent, saying, you know what . Maybe in the richest country in the history of the world if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty . Whoa, radical idea. [applaus [applause] oh, terrible, extremist, radical idea. How can you believe that . And what we proposed, working with groups like the fight for 15, was that we raise the National Minimum wage from a starvation wage of 7. 25 an hour, which it is today, to 15 an hour, a living wage. [applaus [applause] and again, oh, my god, democrats three years ago were talking about 10. 60 an hour. Not everybody could go at that far and now weve got 30 people on board, the legislation ive introduced for 15 bucks an hour and more importantly, all over the country you have cities and you have states moving toward 15 an hour and by the way, you may have noticed that Companies Like amazon with a little bit of prodding are now moved to 15 an hour. [applaus [applause] and when we talked again, i dont suggest we were the first people to do this. But we raised it to a different level and we said, look, we are living as everybody in this room knows, in a competitive, global economy. And as everybody in this room knows, most of the good paying middle class jobs that are out there require either a Higher Education or Post High School training. Everybody knows that. Nobody disagrees. Nobody disagrees that 20 or 25 years ago the United States of america had the best educated work force in the world. We have the highest percentage of our people with college degrees. Thats no longer the case. So it didnt seem to me to be a radical idea to say that we should make public colleges and universities tuitionfree and lower student debt in this country. [applaus [applause] we talked about, i remember this suscinctly, i with a i was involved in this. And this is the wealthiest country in the world and yet, we have an infrastructure which is our roads, our bridges and if you think flint, michigan is the only city in america with serious water problems, you are mistaken. We have a rail system way, way behind many other countries. We have a major crisis in urban and Rural America in terms of affordable housing. [applause] and gentrification, i might add. Everybody agrees, no debate about that. I rer a few years ago, we said, you know, we tried to get a trillion dollars to be appropriated, oh, its much too much, 460 billion is the best we can do. Even donald trump now recognizes we need a trillion dollars. Terms of immigration reform, while trump is demonizing in a disgusting way undocumented people in this country, it turns out that the overwhelming majority of the American People, some 80 supports providing legal status to the young people in the daca program. 80 of the americans support that. And a majority of the American People support a path toward citizenship for the undocumented. [applaus [applause] and when we talked about a broken criminal Justice System and more people in america in jail, two million, than any other country on earth, when we talked about police brutality, and when we talked about the fact that the rates of recidivism were so very high, what we learned is that the American People, including many conservatives, understand that we need fundamental reform of a broken criminal Justice System, which includes, by the way, ending this disastrous, socalled war on drugs, which has destroyed many lives. [applaus [applause] and the issue is the same, the issue is the same with gun safety legislation. It turns out that a vast majority of the American People support sensible gun safety legislation. Here is my point, my point is two fold. My point is two fold and that is number one, it turns out that the American People, if you give them options, if you allow them to get beyond fox news and rush limbaugh, it turns out that the American People are far more progressive than the media perceives them to be. So, on all of these issues, and many others, it turns out that the American People support governmental policies that work for all of us and not just the 1 . So what we felt in burlington, as we discussed that, is that weve got to continue that fight and we have. And i think weve been pretty successful. But what we also recognized is that you can have all the great ideas in the world, but those ideas dont mean anything unless we have people who are elected, who are going to carry out those ideas. Now, massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has written several books, including this fight is our fight. Here is her book tv appearance. Lets start here in washington. People often drop by our office in washington. We get visits from folks who are in town from massachusetts for convention or business trip or vacation, School Groups or families on spring break come by. Some people come by to talk about a particular issue they care deeply about, the oceans, human trafficking, music education. Some people just want to say hello and stick a pin in the massachusetts map near their hometown. When i can, i have an open house. Visitors form a rough line, we shake hands, they tell me a little about their issues or themselves and we usually take a picture together. We have done some killer selfies. [laughter] we really have. Okay. At one of these gatherings, a nice couple stood first in line, the guy was about my height with closecropped salt and pepper hair. As i stretched out my hand, his face lit up with a broad smile. He wore a dark suit and a nice purple shirt and tie, but what caught me were his eyes, bright, and engaged, and completely locked on mine. Hi, senator. He began. Im mike from douglas, massachusetts, and i have alzheimers, early onset, im 55. Soon i will have forgotten this conversation, i will have forgotten everything. You, my children, my wife. His wife stood quietly as he paused searching for words. Finally he said, everything i know will be taken from me. And that was all it took. My eyes filled with tears and i held my breath. How does anyone deal with that future . For an instant the faces of those i love flitted across my mind, my grandchildren, my husband bruce, my three brothers. And all those who had already died, daddy, mother, aunt bea, our beloved dog otis. Who would i be if i forgot them . Before i could recover enough to speak, mike bounded on. I will have forgotten so im here today while i can remember. Im here to ask you to fight for more funding for research on alzheimers, please. Im going to forget, so i need you to remember. Now, i have walked into that room with my mind on some annoying paper work, thinking ahead to my next meeting. And mike had stopped me cold. His story was like a spear thrust between my ribs, reminding me that everything we do in Washington Matters to real people, people who never planned to ask for help, but who needed it right now. Alzheimers disease offers the perfect example of how foolish it is to short change investments in research. In 2016 alone, americans spent 236 billion dollars caring for people with alzheimers. Thats 236 billion in one year just for care. All that money didnt delay the advance of that illness by a single day. And we will keep on spending these astronomical sums year after year. In fact, the amount will continue to grow so much that by 2050 alzheimers alone could bankrupt medicare. We know that this financial tsunami is coming and weve still got time to do something about it. So, how much does the nih allocate to Alzheimers Research . In 2016 the amount spent on research was less than one half of 1 of the money spent on care. Now, nih isnt heartless or stupid, it just doesnt have enough funding. Even as the population ages and the number of diagnosis increases, Congress Continues to cut research dollars. Medical research at the nih how receives 20 less funding than just 10 years ago. And alzheimers isnt the only pressing medical concern. Think about the other diseases on the cusp of scientific breakthroughs, diabetes, breast cancer, hiv. Think about kids with life threatening allergies or autism. Als trapped in a nonresponsive body until they suffocate. Think about people that dipped into ipos and people in chronic pain. Think about how a single medical breakthrough could give new life to hundreds of thousands of people. Yeah, worked out over this, but the way i figure it, we should all be worked up. It isnt just medical research. If our government had spent the same proportion of its 2016 budget on research that we spent back in the 1960s, we would have devoted an extra 162 billion dollars to basic research in just one year. That would more than quintuple for the National Institutes of health and combined, the five times the funding. I want you to think of the additional scientists and laboratories working hard to solve problems. Can you imagine how much further wed be along on Clean Energy Development or disease resistant crops or cheap ways to turn sea water into fresh drinking water. If we made progress on just those three fronts alone, think how much more money we could save and how much better off our people and our planet would be. Today, only two out of every 11 Research Proposals that are finalists for Research Grants at the National Institutes of health get funding. Two out of 11. The nih is leaving good science on the table because its chronically short of money. One in five Biochemistry Research scientists admit that they are considering leaving the United States so they can continue their work. It is not an exaggeration to say an entire generation of young researchers is threatened with extinction or exile. Some of the work may migrate to another country, but much of the research that is desperately needed simply doesnt get done. I am the director of i asked the director of institute of mental health, he says were on the cusp of a solution and he believes that he and scientists are on the edge of unravelling important puzzles of the brain and exciting opening up for mental illness, alzheimers, park kinsons disease, huntingtons disease, psychosis and schizophrenia. Theres a catch. Without government funding those discoveries will be delayed by years, maybe decades. For me, this fight is about building a future and this fight is also about mike from douglas, massachusetts because mike is starting to have trouble remembering his wife and children. [applaus [applause] i want to say two things about that passage. The first one is that last thursday night i was at mount holy oak in massachusetts. Go holyoke. I was at Mount Holyoke and when i finished reading that passage, mike and his wife cheryl were with us and i asked him to stand and he got this enormous standing ovation, people in tears because they could look at the man im talking about here, and mike is not here in washington tonight, but its the only way i know to say, its real people that are touched by every one of these decisions made in washington. Every time we decide to cut a budget, every time we take research off the table, it touches the lives of real people. And i want to say one more thing, and that is that five weeks ago, President Trump put out his first version of the budget and he proposed a massi massive 5. 8 billion dollar cut to the National Institute of health. It would take away about 20 of their budget. Now this book is about stories. Its about stories like mikes. Its about a story of a woman named gina. Sort of your classic middle class college, got married, had two boys, worked, who now finds herself, boys are grown, and her husband, who is a roofer, his knees are starting to go, starting to have trouble with his back. Gina has worked for several years now at walmart and i asked gina after telling a lot about her life story, what she built, how careful shed been, does gina think that these still middle class . And gina said, i dont think there is a middle class in america anymore. If there was, i wouldnt have to go to the food pantry at the end of every month. Its also a story about cai. Cai who headed off to college with plans, not just a dream, but a plan. Cai was going to go into computers and had pretty wellmapped out idea how to do that, but got her feet tangled up with a foreprofit college and when i pick her up in the book, shes 27 years old. She has no diploma. She has 100,000 in Student Loan Debt and shes working as a waitress. Its about another mike, michael in chicago who worked hard all his life and when the crash of 2008 came, first he lost his house and then he lost his job. He describes the crash as it broke my heart. So, the people in this book are the ones who tried to voice, tried to make real these policies that we make in washington, these Big Decisions we make about the directions that our countries will go, the direction that our government will go. Candidate andrew yang has written two books, smart people should build things came out in 2014, and the war on people in 2018. Announced his candidacy in 2017. Here is a portion of his book tv appearance. There are a number of things that are making americans very, very angry and despairridden and part of it is that our Labor Participation rate has fallen to 62. 9 the same levels as el salvador and the Dominican Republic because of an exodus of men from the work force as were here together, almost one in five american men prime working age 28 and 30 has not worked in the last 12 months chts i started digging into time banking because i was trying to figure out if we actually automate away three and a half million truck drives jobs in this country the next 10 years and 30 of the malls close in the next four years and mcdonalds rolls out selfserve kiosks by 2020, which theyve said they will do. You need to do dramatic things to make more touch points in the economy. The first thing we need to do, we need to put buying power in the hands of every american and this is the ownership model. So, if youre the owner and shareholder of a company, you can declare yourself a dividend and were the owners and shareholders of this country and we can declare ourselves a dividend, but then the next thing is to create touch points where everyones time has value so you look at time banking and you try to rev it up, there are many, many things to the monetary market that does not attribute proper value or any value to. Nurturing children, care giving, environmental sustainability, arts and creativity, journalism increasingly, volunteering in the communities, showing up to a book fair. Just kidding. [laughter] so then the question is, how do you try and reinforce that activity . And certainly people putting money to peoples hands is the biggest step because then people will do great things just because they have the freedom, but then the second thing is, you want to try and create reinforcements and touch points to get, frankly, a lot of unskilled men out of the house because by the data, women are fine when theyre idle. Women are awesome and when youre idle youre aokay. When men are idle, they do not do good things. When women are idle, theyre not idle. Theyre like. [laughter] thats wellsaid. Theyre like cleaning and taking care of their kids. The data around what idle men do is not promising. Its like a progression of video games, substance abuse, gambling, and selfdestruction. And thats data. The guys are laughing because we know, like, you know. So then the question, a very long way of saying, we need to try and reinforce, positive social activities. Three ways we do it, one, we Pay Lip Service to it as we do now and it will continue to dwindle in communities around the country. Number two, we start paying people money to do it and it has perverse outcomes in, many, many respects and number three, a new currency. If you volunteer and the nonprofit says youre here for xhours, you get social credit. If you do something positive in your community, mural, journalism, then you get the social credit and then the social credit has monetary value because president yang has made it exchangeable for dollars, but if you exchange it for dollars and you get taxed on it and that makes you sad so you try to find ways to use it that do not involve trading it in for dollars. What do you do, trade it with your neighbor the same way the time Banking System works. Trade it in for vendors and experiences and you can end up building this pro bust, positive, parallel economy around social good thats been public because we cannot go around being like i made 20. Da, da, da, where you can do that with this new currency. Thats the move we have to start pushing forward in because our communities are disintegrating from the inside out. Andrew, i guess if you believe in a digital, social credit, i guess theres a variety of options for dealings with the vanishing jobs. Obviously, theres universal basic income, other people have proposed matches and investments in jobs and obviously we have deep social problems, capitalism isnt solving for us, like infrastructure, child care, paid leave, longterm care, health care and so, why not actually just have a large scale Public Investment in those areas that put five, 10 Million People to work. Other countries have experienced that. Other, you know, thats not a new model of capitalism, thats a new model thats an existing model that plenty of other countries have experienced with. So if youre willing to kind of have the government allocate, why not invest, instead of a teacher driving an uber, you could just have teachers in the United States make as much as teachers in finland or south korea and they wouldnt have to drive the uber and they could afford child care. So whats your response to that critique . Oh, im a fan of everything you just said. Im for higher teacher salary, im for a massive infrastructure investment, im in for like a massive Public Investment in our completely broken Health Care System where we spend twice as much as other industrialized countries to lesser results. So, someone said the difference between, you know, 25 and 35 is civilization and we need to invest in civilization. The only thing that i would hesitate on is that you shouldnt embark on these large scale societal missions saying and were going to employ like xMillion People. We will employ x Million People through infrastructure, but the issue is you cant try and back into it. As someone who has run Companies Like you would never say im going to like im going to know what number of employees i need before i know what im going to do. So, its possible that like if you build three trillion dollars worth of infrastructure in this country, you might need 10 Million People, might need 12 Million People, its indeterminate. The issue is that you cant guarantee people employment because there are many, many people and we know this, if you have a giant government bureaucracy, like its efficiency will tend to not be great. Its accountability will tend not to be great. You end up with a system where millions of americans are doing work that they know is not that valuable and will be justifying their own livelihoods because thats what humans do. It would be much better to try and get those things done and as efficient a way as possible, not set out saying, hey, well need to employ 10 Million People to do this, but we need to get the job done. If it takes 10 million, fine. If it takes 2 million, also fine and the other 8 Million People, the great challenge is building enough resources in communities so that people dont need to look to the government for a sense of purpose, structure, or fulfillment and work. We need to broaden our vision of work and have it be work that we all actually believe in and want to do in addition to a massive Public Investment in all of the good that we know were underinvesting in right now. Now that wraps up our look at some of the books by some of the 2020 president ial candidates. If youve missed any of this program or would like to watch the candidates in their entirety, go to book tv. Org and watch them online. Youre watching book tv on cspan2, for a complete Television Schedule visit book tv. Org. You can also follow along behind the scenes on social media. Jackie graduate from presbyter in college in clinton south carolina. She received her mba from Georgia State university and lead and hold a chartered Financial Panel designation. Having campaigned twice and lost before her father won the first congressional race jackie understands you cant convey the importance of dreaming big and