Sheltering in place. Addressing the impacts of cove in 19. Its also part of the future of democracy series with Additional Support from the initiative. And a collaborative local center and donor. We hope others will support their examples. I am thrilled to be talking about two experts on a lot of things including the effects of covid19 and the effect it is having. Here in u. S. And around the world. He has written for that magazine since the late 1970s. He takes the human approach to some of the most pressing issues. The authors of the recent beth bestseller. James, thank you so much for being here. He is the director of policy. They had have a impressive career. It has taken her to the International Institute for strategic studies in london. I remember her from in the bay area. In the National Security council. Thank you so much for your time. Its a great pleasure. Thanks to being here. Thank you for joining us. We do want to answer your questions as part of this conversation. You can submit them in the text chat. You can write them in the comments i will be giving those questions as the conversation progresses. As they try to work some of those into the conversation. We start the global picture. And then we come down to earth a little bit later. But to get started and corey lets start with you. Can you give us a sense of how you think democracy around the globe is doing today in this crisis. Democracy is slow to organize slow to Decisive Action but they are also with the Political Science research is quite strong that democracies are also more enduring in their commitment because they have public buyin and legitimacy in a way that authoritarian governments dont head. And i think you begin to see that play out. If you look at the repressive mess of china. They have to enforce lockdown when the crisis was raging there. And the unwillingness of the Chinese Government to share information about their experience in a way that wouldve helped other countries that are prepared for when the virus spread. Compare that to taiwan. Where you have brought public voluntary compliance with what the government wants to do and over longer time thats likely to be sustained. It is not government type. Its not the only thing going on here. The quality of governance that we see. For example the catastrophic failure of the American Government at the federal level to organize, and prepare and bring federal authority and re sources. It is not a failure of government type. Germany, new zealand finland, giving that they are doing great at it. I sure does matter. Do you feel like this is challenging democratic systems in many ways or do you book agree that we are better prepared in many ways because of that buyin and trust that you may not had in a place like china. Iran. One of the lessons of the very long life as a reporter. Is the contradictory things are all simultaneously true. I think both parts of your questions are true. One bit of stage a business here since we are talking about democracy and future in times of stress to recognize the importance of the Commonwealth Club and what it stands for and what it does. Let me talk about two countries in particular one about china and then what about the u. S. And both complemented, and a complimentary sense with the i and the e to what kori was angry in china the fragility of the system and some of its strengths. It is comparable that by one force china has controlled the level of infection like they are claiming that the idea that it stopped at 20,000 or so in depth is hard to imagine. They report a gift from france and china as there is some sense of National Solidarity and pride that has come to the way in which they were ravaged by this early this year and have been somewhat under control but as kori was saying domestically and internationally theres a contradiction within china. Struck in the last the National Government has failed about as dramatically as it possibly could and what are the main themes that my wife and i have been making in the last year as we are reporting in the atlantic in her book and some sessions we give is at this moment of chronic weakness and failure and paralysis of the National Government we have City Government and mayors and a Regional Coalition and state governor and civic organizations still being vital and healthy and representing the america we would like to think exists. This is not a Silver Lining moment for the u. S. Its a Public Health at an economic catastrophe but the way the governor is regardless of party and mayors regardless of party and religious organizations most of them regional contacts have emerged to reflect the way we would like the u. S. To respond. That has been striking and something i hope we can build on for a democratic future. I want to come back to that james because prior to this crisis could you speak to also the sort of immediacy of government like we know and trust the people. You see in a lot of ways here. I want to stick with the International Theme and which is a balance between similarities and effective responsiveness. Taking china and iran and those authoritarian governments out of here but think about korea and singapore could they have much more aggressive tactics in terms of tracking people in terms of ensuring that their citizens are doing what they need to and while they may be far behind in a lot of areas james l. Speak with you first about how you are thinking about that and if you think we are striking the right balance here in the United States. I think nobody looking back from the futurist at this moment in American History is going to be satisfied are pleased our complementary with an i about many things the u. S. Is doing to strike a balance and i think we are feeling our way towards that city by city and state i stayed. Thats the most heartening development both on the west coast and i think in the great lakes there are these regional compacts coming together. I think there will be some balance. Its important about singapore but i lived on the melee polenta love for several years and to recognize the questions of scale bear. It is a city essentially like part of los angeles for the city of San Francisco with a long effective authoritarian tradition. They sort of recognize ustun boast how he showed authoritarianism that works. South korea is a more free swinging place than singapore is but they still have authoritarianism and there were some past than the u. S. Has and is also a more concentrated Geographic Area than the u. S. And i think we can admire the tactics that they use and im sure i think any of us, we had discussion a few months ago we would have been astonished to think the mayor of San Francisco and chicago and los angeles and blatantly new york were thought of as quite strict requirements in keeping with the liberal image of the city. One of the tasks over the next month or two or year or two is evolving towards the except ovell balance among the economic damage that is profound, the privacy interest that we all have and the Public Health interest. Ive been reading once again the plague by albert camo which i would distribute that with the test around the country. These are longterm questions that we are feeling our way towards. Kori would he think about that . Is this the moment where we are giving up some of our Civil Liberties to ensure the ability for economic and Public Health recovery which are really sort of handinhand together or do we really need to be cautious when we think about things like Contract Tracing in the queue are codes they are using in china to let people travel. We certainly can see the Public Health benefits of those things but i wouldnt expect someone if we give up something we should expect to give it back. I think thats right. I also think you should never have a strategy whether its a National Security strategy or Public Health strategy that cuts against the grain of who you are as a political culture. You know we are not singapore but we are a country full of people who deeply distrust their own government and very often with good reason. If you look at the way information surreptitiously is gathered by police and was used for purposes that nobody consented to but let free societies are good at and what the United States and are allowed to speak haitian way is exceptionally good at is arguing these things through and balancing rather than making a binary choice to compromise all of our Civil Liberties or to compromise our Public Health. We are going to have a dig loud discussion and there are already some really good thoughtful interest. Bobby chesney the university of Texas Law School professor has a terrific these about how to hit a balance that permits protecting the common good in a time of a pandemic without too large of a compromise. We need to have an argument about where the tradeoffs are going to be and which set of wrecks risk we prefer to ration. To add onto what kori is saying an important point i think about this tradeoff now is that we try to make the tradeoff a much more draconian debt or coding controls. The past month it would not have done any good because we have no tests. We didnt know anything and so the South Koreans for example had this very elaborate contact. They were testing a very large number. It was an argument that was much much more it would have been good. The other thing i just wanted to say reinforcing koris point we have realtime experiments going on around the country. Tennessee is in similar adjoining states have active policies. New york versus San Francisco etc. Etc. So i think we are having a real discussion and by the end of the year we will now much more. Absolutely. I want to get kori your input on what could be the longterm geopolitical outcomes of this because you know as we are all sort of trying to grapple with whats happening at home people like Vladimir Putin and kim jongun are still doing what they are doing and im wondering i mean looking at china and looking at russia, where is your eye in terms of who is trying to take advantage of us or is it too early to tell . I have been surprised that americas adversaries havent been more aggressive in finding ways to use the moment not just as our internal focus that this is the first time in 75 years that there has been a Major International crisis and the United States has not stepped forward to argue about what we need to be doing to organize other countries in support of a Common Objective and to figure out a way to advance the common good. I think one of the enormous risks that the United States is running is not that our adversaries are critics. Quite the contrary but if you look at the way the Chinese Government has propagandized their success is largely reminding us how untrustworthy the Chinese Government is that the United States, everyone expected the United States to take responsibility and everybody including us is better off when we do that. The first big consequence is the potential we are seeing for the first time, what the President Trump America First reggie looks like. Is much more chaotic and much for dangerous, much more deadly. The second big consequence i think we are seeing is the strain that the Monetary Union asunder and maybe the entire project of reunification because you know 67 of italians now disapprove of the European Union. Everyone is waiting for germany who has been one of the main beneficiaries to relax its concern about deficit spending and about the risk of logs across a very different economies that the European Union could i think germany can further unify europe or their reunification effort will fragment. The Third International consequence is so far only the great powers and the wealthy states have really been hit at this. Countries that have people who travel in large numbers and windows migrates to countries who dont have well developed systems this is going to be a disaster of even more outside of proportions than we have seen in the United States and in other countries that have while developed Public Health. We are not doing nearly enough to help repair and its not just their welfare and interests but we cant actually prophylactically protect ourselves. They will have second and third iterations. We have a vested interest in helping raise the Public Health standards everywhere if we expect to be safe ourselves. James do you feel, you know you think about the critics who accused him of authoritarian tendencies and you will see arguments from part of his response is the opposite. And i know kori it just seems as we have pulled back from the rest of the world we are now having to go to them and ask for help because we dont have a system in place in part because of the gutting of places like the cdc and other institutions in america. Talk about that because it seems sort of the opposite of what some people might do in a moment like this. Yes and so i think i think theres a distinction between personal authoritarianism and governmental effectiveness. You mentioned it back in the air of lee kuan yew who was the very strongwilled and strongarmed leader. It was during the era when he was jailing people that chewed gum and they gave lashes for people who would swear etc. But with highminded ineffective so there was personal authoritarianism toward at least he argued the public good and in the Current Administration it just seems to be personal authoritarianism. I would again in sync with what kori is saying i would suggest these three different timelines which are affecting the way in which the United States and leaders are able to respond. One is the striking fact that the countries come all the countries you expect as an example right now are themselves really wallowing in virus problems. China was the source of this originally in the uk is in terrible shape with the virus in germany and france are struggling as well almost as much as italy. This own arbitrary role has its own problems. We come to say listen to us because we did this right by the ones we mention south korea and taiwan. South korea is not accustomed to a big presence of pop culture in taiwan has its own diplomatic situation that is obvious and limited ability. Read the moment give a traditional usual suspect that are struggling with their own problems. Lets say the rest of this year or the spring, summer and fall where Kori Ridgeland atlantic and if we have all discussed the u. S. Has been missing its mama life for the last career for years are now calling on them for help. They are likely to say what have you done for us lately and why should we be helping you when youve been trotting all over us. Then theres the time after this whole election and they think there is in my view a different view from the rest of the world whether the u. S. Ratifies America First policy or changes the America First policy. To me there are different tranches. Right now nobody is really in a good position to say listen to us except the South Koreans and the taiwanese. Go ahead kori. Id like to reenforce gyms gyms for a good point. The United States has been in negotiations with south korea about costsharing of the deployment for 35,000 or so american troops that are stationed in south korea. On just about the very day President Trump wrote to the president of south korea asking for them to ship us medical equipment because President Trump was also demanding a fivefold increase in what south korea pays United States. We were turning away the South Koreans who work on American Military bases making them less militarily capable and making us really bad allies at the same time we were asking the South Koreans to give us what we need. If i could make one other point in answer to your question it has been a real surprise to me and i like the point that james made between personal authoritarianism and the ability to work the machinery of government. It has been genuinely astonishing to me that President Trump and the president s men who could then so ruthlessly inventive in finding ways to get around the norms and even in some instances diverting spending for the wall, constitutional red lines in President Trumps behavior. This is a president that is brought none of that creativity to using an imperial presidency to protect the lives of americans. I just dont get it. We could all make statements about that but as we have been talking here just saw the president has announced he is suspending all aid for the World Health Organization. I bit my tongue before responding so shall i make a different point . Kori was talking about again the way in which an administration, well i will circle back around. To my mind the most important essay in american political history is one that came out 110 years ago and id probably mentioned it. Its called the more a moral equivalence of war. The argument is looking back on the civil war it was the most horrible episode in American History with many lives lost than all the rest of our wars combined. The personal courage, the sense of the greater good, the Political Leadership of Abraham Lincoln and his associates, the better part of human character and the american ideals were also revoked by the worst event in our history. He said the permanent struggle in the United States was to found a moral equivalent of war and to enlist these better parts of individual behavior without having a natural war. Through the history of the lessons that time its often been militarily challenges themselves were people have been able to say yes or i would argue Public Health challenges. When i was a little kid it was the time of the polio faxing and there was a sense you had to stay home and not go swimming in the summer because you had to endure the limits on your own personal freedom for the greater good. In the Public Health was a moral equivalent of war. The economic devastation thats happening now if we think there is some greater good we are serving that is the part of the american tradition to connect to and on the World Health Organization, dissing on the World Health Organization will not help that in my view. Its a bad decision on the president s part. What if america engaged internationally gets us in International Institutions that are our Early Warning network out of the world. Its gives us the ability to understand how bombs before americans start dying and the centers for Disease Control used to up until a year ago fund the position where an american doctor inside the Chinese Governmental Health Network and that was an extraordinarily good use of american tax dollars because that person knew what was happening no matter what the Chinese Communist ever said. They have the kinds of relationships were people shared information. They had a direct connection back to the cdc so you could sound an alarm early for the United States. Thats what an organization like the World Health Organization. What the president has done with his America First National Security strategy is back away from those institutions and stopped staffing of them and he has stopped staffing them in funding them. The chinese and others move into leadership roles so these organizations will be less help to us and they will be more useful to our adversaries but its a selfdefeating prophecy and the president s part. Of course you know its not just on the world stage. We have seen this administration shirked its duty says the federal government telling governor said was up to them to find their own test and their own protective gear for nurses and doctors but in a way james going back to this idea that youve written about which is the trust that is engendered in our local and state governments isnt that an argument, is this this administrations argument for our evolved federal system . Could you see this and a good thing is the way because we have this leadership and its not just democrats. Michael in ohio and how far hes taken things through permission. Yes. I was going to say yes but, yes and. It is striking that mike dewine a republican from ohio and gavin newsom a democrat of california, republican has matched jay ansley Washington State a democrat obviously. One of the points that jim and i were struck by so much as especially at the mayors level in general and the governors level you dont really know and obviously political alignment matters but National Politics generally governors and mayors cant afford to indulge in that because they have to run the state read so i guess to answer your question more directly yes of course one of the central axes of american live is the balance between the national and state in that balance will continue. Number two, the current disastrous failure of federal leadership. So many governors and not all of them but so many regional officials arent giving exception to the rule. I spent a lot of time reporting in sioux falls south dakota. In the last couple of days a planet where we have spent a lot of times ourselves the mayor is a very conservative republican. He is like other mayor saying we have to have public safety. The governor is south dakota is one of the few governors who say no, not our problem. My point to you was we have governors and mayors who respond to the challenge. Some say would be better if the federal government the federal government is the only one that can allocate equipment among the states. So yes this is a balance country in so many governors and mayors are responding at number three there are jobs for the federal government and the federal government should certain doing them. It seemed like the beginning of early march the potential implications of the shutdown. He has pivoted this week yesterday with total authority over whether states reopened and how they reopen. One question from robert asked if we were over dependent on political and social institutions in leader relationships for ensuring the response to a pandemic is timely and effective. Which also brings me to Something Else that i just noticed watching this which is the day for and sweet scene from a lot of governors like gavin newsom. They dont want to anchor the president and they dont want to criticize him. How are you thinking about that and what is the right way in your mind for us to be maybe even thinking how to ensure it doesnt happen again. I agree with the questioner. I have been surprised at how much of what ive believed were constitutional or statutory constraints of the executive power are actually normative. Susan hennessey and then what is our to be in curse on the blog have a terrific book just out that explores all of the areas in which they were surprised that the president has such a lack of action. I share roberts worries and if coming into sharp relief because the president cant resist the temptation to act like a grifter in the circumstance and say people who support me at the people im going to get federal assistance to and thats morally wrong. It also strikes me as bad politics. It residential Election Year . The ultimate for positive area for safety as Thomas Jefferson tells us all is ultimately the american people. If our fellow americans are going to say thats okay then we have become a very different kind of country than the country that expects its chief executive to be nonpartisan in a National Crisis and to step forward and have a plan and empower positive action. That is actually not what we are seeing President Trump do. Its not only a great sorrow is also having real world effects on peoples lives and on the economy. We are paying a much higher price in economic damage and in human sacrifice for the president s failures. What is your response on what the political implications are going to be for that . I mean it feels like we live in a sort of groundhog day where the numbers go up and down a little bit but the president s base is largely stayed with him. I just wonder like does anything give is my question. I cant give any greater insight than any other american taxpayer on the subject. Talking about electoral politics for a second to the extent and the laws of physics of American History apply to our current time you would observe two things. One is in every president ial election since the civil war the losing candidate has always gotten the least 40 . Herbert hoover got 40 against fdr in 1932. There is a fact that 35 or 40 of the public does not necessarily mean you are going to win. That is just one factor. The other logic is every president in the history of polling at some point above the mid60s in his Approval Rating. I worked for jimmy carter long ago and is highest Approval Rating was 70 of barack obama was in the low 70s. Bill clinton was in the 70s. Donald trump has never reached even 50 in the Approval Rating. By the laws of physics this is not a strong hand beholding in a preelection race. We are hesitant to apply the laws of physics but the other point is to add one thing briefly what kori was saying before theoretically and the way the government is focused on the president in times of crisis representing the interests of the public and state governors represent the interest of their people regardless of their lyrical affiliation. You can see some governors who you know do not agree with donald trump. Governor cuomo in new york, Governor Newsom in california, the governor of washington. They dont agree with him on practically anything but they recognized the interest of their state required them to cooperate with the powers that be in washington. They are behaving the way we are supposed to behave and the people per fishy it themselves. That is abnormal and we won even talk about the dash unless you bring them up. Well i was going to actually. You know, i dont know if you caught yesterdays briefing that he played, was asked if low budget surprisingly a propaganda video. It seemed like something you might play the Campaign Rally over press briefing. Kori im just curious you think americans should be tuning out those briefings because you know the headlines were getting elsewhere but what is your take an approach to all of this. How are you thinking about how to call your own exposure to the media which is really overwhelming right now regardless of where you said clinically. So i do think people should watch the briefings so that they can judge whether the president s comportment is providing information that the public needs for safety and prosperity, whether they are comfortable with the president s behavior, whether he is improving public safety. I personally am shocked that the president is so violating the norm of expected president ial behavior and so politicizing and using for personal aggrandizement what it seems to me would be better use for Public Information by helping people to understand the nature of the problem or helping us understand how to make this okay eventually. The fact that the president is not doing that is something that should weigh heavily in all of our judgment as we choose our political leaders. Coming back to the question i asked earlier about the Silver Lining on that or let them, do you foresee there could be any sort of longterm shift in terms of the power structure in the federal government because of this . I mean we hear a lot about the norms that child may have violated it and what it could mean longer term but it strikes me that this could portend a shift as well. Kori you want to take that first . Its a really interesting challenge marissa. It difficult to know the will result in a shuffling of feet of 40s or responsibilities between states and the federal government. But i do think it will have longterm consequences in reminding us that governors have to be good chief executives in a way very Many National politicians dont have to. Running a senate staff isnt necessarily the best preparation for running the federal government but running a state of the mecca to the california or Washington State or ohio where you have to balance your budget every year and also on health care. Its one taxpayers view but it does seem to be likely that its going to remind us why so many governors have been effective president s. James he mentioned before we were talking about trumps Approval Rating and they want to shift their discussion looking forward to november because obviously the cornerstone of our democracy is a free and fair election. What happened is even in the times we have risen above the noise can you just tell me your thoughts on how things played out there and what concerns you having such an important state for the question of who becomes the next president . Yes indeed and i will preface that with what kori was saying about the governor versus the senators. Governors are looking at raised eyebrows and senators just have to give speeches and take positions in the governors have to manage they have to balance budgets and do all these things. Interestingly thinking about donald trump in office is essentially you view the presidency is a senate seat. Take the speeches and holding rallies and taking positions as opposed to managing things which we had a few senators in office before but the previous ones have had to grasp the mechanics of government. Ive only been seeing it or mitt distance as there have been traveling in a place for the last while, the outcome is significant to have this very resounding victory for the democratic candidate for the Supreme Court there in what looked like the latest instance of one of the other longterm axioms of American History which is the right to vote is not just an issue thats been in the news would last for five years. Any part of American History whether women getting the right to vote or jim crow, the right to vote has always been interested in whatever party thinks they have tried to limit it, think the struggle is worth taking seriously both the mechanics of 6. 5 months from now the mail ballot seemed to be indispensable because of the conditions and registration all the other things which are made chemically necessary. The fact that the unusual conditions are the virus and focusing peoples attention early and the second facts democrats have agreed on a nominee and historically early in the cycle pretty means they are going to spend the next two or three months fighting amongst themselves but we can work out on these turnout in franchise issues which is very important. You are not a new liver talking about mailin ballots or this is become a struggle because republicans have said if its an all mail election republicans would use. Mccarthy accused nancy pelosi but think he called it discussing politics to push broader vote via mail. What do you think about that as i have found really interesting to see the starkly who voted by mail were rural and more conservative welfare and certainly whiter. Bradley would you think about vote by mail and talk about what you think maybe should happen this year. Is a conservative i believe every american citizen of voting age should have the ability to vote and should exercise that because if you dont you are voting for whoever wins. Second of all the cause of concern about the ability of foreign intelligence agents to be able to reach into electronic voting systems i think for reasons that dont have anything to do with domestic american politics, we have to have a manual backup and vote by mail provides one really good way to have a manual backup to every other system. I think we have to have lots of ways of ensuring electoral security and vote by mail provides one of them. I havent seen evidence of significant voter fraud as a result of vote by mail and for people who are mobility challenged or in this crazy dangerous time and you know compromised, the ability to vote without leaving our homes is a number important for this issue at think. Up when you think this has become such a touchstone particularly in conservative circles that vote by mail equals fraud. Given everything you just spoke about kori but also who is taking advantage of it historically has been more conservative. I think any effort to restrict voting always has to come to a place of insecurity that youre going to do to win the argument are you what do you guys think should be happening now because you just noted the election feels sort of far right but its not. The secretaries of state say if we are going to make investment it does need to happen now. James may be concerning cory, what should congress be doing right now . In the theme of the paralysis of federal government we know the house would likely pass any bill for secretaries of states in voting systems but we know Mitch Mcconnell has locked so many efforts in the last year to its not likely to come to the federal government. I think there will be 50 states and a few territories casebycase effort which i mentioned earlier that democrats are extraordinarily early on settling on the nominee. That while direct their attention to that. I agree with kori thats the reason for all the emotion against a typically improvable threat of vote by mail fraud is a sense of existential demographic being on the wrong side of history from the National Republican party. You will recall after mitt romney lost all the studies of the Republican Party were dont attract younger people and nonwhite people in people of a variety of backgrounds i think the low roadway to address that challenge is going to be a statebystate effort over the next few months and it should begin now. Kori would be your thoughts . At think we can all agree Mitch Mcconnell and nancy pelosi are going to sing kumbaya and pretty much agree on it but back to the federal system you will have such in peoples access and ability to get to the polls are virtually there. So im not an expert so im not sure i can actually offer any advice on what we should do. I would have one comment on james point about the study the republicans did after that romney and what i notice in my time is up College Professor and what i noticed in the young people in my acquaintance now is not that they are winnable conservative principles. They think we arent honoring them. And so we actually have to square our shoulders and do the right principled conservative thing and that is how you attract young voters and thats how you have everybody vote. Theres just no substitute for winning the argument and id tersely believe and conservative principles but we actually have to live our principles and let other people sign up to them with us. I wish that kori were one of the 53 members of the Senate Majority right now because the only person ive heard make that case in public is when describing the reason for his vote on impeachment. For some reason people like to think of themselves as conservatives in the gop is what kori just said so well. Do you have concerns of what happened in wisconsin that were elder country in recent years over things like depressing the vote will have on turnout . Obviously its a straight up question of the virus and whether people feel safe to vote and theres a psychological impact even beyond that. Is that a concern right now i guess is the question . If i could jump in here i think that is a concern and has always been and ive been around for a lot of elections now. Its always a question of how those who are in charge of electoral machinery are trying to press that. I think the democrats will probably face on the one hand more practical obstacles in terms of vote by mail and some of the rules that have been changed in my state that there is my activation a more concerted democratic enthusiasm now, and negative enthusiasm to turnout this fall. There was a positive and to the awesome when barack obama was running and for the first time there was less enthusiasm and there will be more negative enthusiasm. That will be the balance between the emotion behind turnout in the obstacles. Kori here in california we like to have a solid with five initiatives everything from marijuana two and seriously and that may not be the case this year. Something ive been giving thought to be saviors is the opposite of coattails this idea that some time local candidates bring people to the polls and are turned off by National Politics. If people dont have the ability to have talents and if its a challenge at any time to get attention if you are not incumbent and how do you do that if you cant fundraiser leave the house . What is that affects on the selection . Is not so much that i have concern is that im excited to see when creativity is driven by the need to innovate in this way because you are right how do you conduct a campaign in this context . The very best article ever written about American Foreign policy was written by James Fallows and it was in the atlantic in 2009 when he came back from having been in beijing. I cant remember the name of the article but the subject was looking at america through the eyes of someone who has lived in china and realizing that we were beginning to get so fearful about the rise of china that we had averted our eyes from what was actually good and id love so much the metaphor of jeremiah. The role of jeremiah in American Foreign policy. When we realize we have a problem following behind japan in the 1970s or chinas not going to become a responsible stakeholder or how when the world are we going to carry out a National Election with all of these what americans are really good at is feeling like we are screwing stuff up and creatively building a better mousetrap. That is the way to bet your money and the United States. We almost never have a right that we mess around and get it right. I think we are going to see huge flowering of that is all the people who are trying to get elected i experimenting is how can i reach voters if i cant actually meet them . I love your optimism and we only have about four minutes left so i want to stay with that because one thing we all need right now is hope. We need to know we all go back and forth and the one hand its like this is awful and we are all stuck at home and the economy is crumbling and who knows whats going to happen and on the other hand we are just being asked to stay at home. Given the sacrifices americans have been asked to make its not that big. We are still in the crisis in their people losing family members every day and its scary and its a lot but i want to start with you first james, is there anything you are hopefully well come out of this whether it be a policy or change in how we think and then i will go to you kori. Thanks to kori for her gracious reference and i honestly cant remember the title. It seems the title was is america going to and there was some failure on the nerve of the effort of the chiefs of Public Health. What i am optimistic about in these very challenging times with the height of unemployment of my lifetime which is we are about to faces connected to what kori was saying. We are having it forced unexpected experimentation in 1000 cities and millions of households and from that i hope that memory of the different way of coping is being developed and ways in which states can Work Together and the concept of regionalism and which communities have a different sense of how people their fates are actually tied together and the physical please places that people share. It is possible that some of these moral equivalent experimentations in a dark time we may discover resources ourselves and resources of our neighbors institutions we didnt know were there. That is what make on the other really dark period and that would be my hope. Kori what about you . You talked about it a little bit. Wealth and prosperity puts a thick layer of adipose tissue over her sensibilities and one of the really beautiful things about this National Crisis is that those of us who are prosperous who live virtual estate distances upholster by privilege and wealth are being reminded how much all of that depends on people who have to take a bus to the Grocery Store and i am really inspired to see all of the ways that Civil Society the civic virtues of americans are being activated and of course which is the start of empathy and i hope that will be the same for us because it will be our coronation if it does. We are going to leave it there. Thank you James Fallows and kori schade. I really appreciate your insights. Thank you bruce. I want to thank the Zuckerberg Initiative and other supporters for making this virtual Virtual Event anothers possible that if you want to see more virtual programs visit the Commonwealth Club efforts in making these virtual programming specials visit Commonwealth Club. Org on line. Thank you and stay safe everyone. Should historians lindsay trabinski looks at George Washingtons presence of followed by david davis supporter and efforts on the country to combat election tampering and former george w. Bush Administration Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice talks about the National Security threat posed by the corona virus pandemic. Good afternoon welcome to white house history live, my name is stuart, im the president of the White House Historical association. Today we are going to have an exciting conversation with the head of our rican sign center for white house history and one of our historians on a brandnew book the cabinet, George Washington and the creation of an american institution, ordinarily we would do this at the house at historic Decatur House which is our base of operation
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