Media that fosters fully dysfunctional. [applause] so unfortunately there are things happening at the trump rallies better so jarring in so unsettling suffering from groupthink to say this is unreasonable. This is what is going on is unreasonable. And then just to sit there and i saw a couple weeks ago. And instead of saying i am horrified it was a mistake but at that point to say how they are acting were being but we ought to be saying if he is too much of a fool was the ally of adolf hitler with the advancement of the genocidal war against committee in which hundreds of thousands of americans to sit there and say i care about veterans. That is the point of the media system. In you are too cruel and unusual to be the president of the United States. [applause] it in your book with the bipartisanship to many people registered as independents they might be calling for us. In to be more bipartisan. To join a group of 20 people out of 435. Tell me about that. What about that move towards independence . That is one of the most troubling. We do a lot of surveys and experiments and but we find when americans are asked what they were from the representatives most say compromise they ask there congressperson to achieve compromise to avoid gridlock but when theyre congressperson sacrifice principles to reach a compromise they are furious they know what theyre all compromised week when congress and with the other ones to compromise. Stowe to pretend they dont support the party in this occurs is in both parties they were equally guilty. With their own representative compromise. In for those to sacrifice their own party principles. [applause] if youre interested in these questions get as many people here as possible. I appreciate what the panel is talking about. And with my own reaction to this. Politics is my number one hobby around us a Kitchen Table to grow up a democrat but now because of the media run by multimillionaires they run the Campaign Just like a reality show. And i get sucked into them. By first question and a couple months ago that this is the next episode. Did i realize i was getting off on that. They could be trivializing the the media. And there is no way to learn. To give hours of my time so the question is about to donald trump and to escalate. And with that black protester. And i am concerned. In there is a way to a tube down this maelstrom. Here is the bottomline. Kin to be all just get along . In the media system appears to be literally incapable of what theyre dealing with. But here is the bottomline to go to those fundamental issues you cannot have debates where the up moderators to talk about the head size what was he referring to . This is an insult you become stupider by watching that debate. So the bottom line is this that the journalist must understand their duty is to the people in the fact is there are people like trump rallies to rise to a higher level. I dont expect donald trump will take them there but the media are forcing it to a higher level. But here is the bottom line. Were not discussing the fundamental issues at the core of the campaign because with the tension in end concern i dont care what that doctor tells you to do that diagnosis to be reasonable in the problem in a realistic ways. To keep us in a place to be knocked off. And we have to believe the media. [applause] Harvey Wasserman said any statement of a republican governor or secretary of state which aids the elections in 60 seconds. Far more concerned about the laws that have been passed and governance. How do we get the media to respond . And then you invest in them as people. To support democracy now and to into those programs. The other day doing a fantastic interview with orrin hatch with the Supreme Court you need to start making a lot of noise about those who are doing it right to absolutely object. We ought to be making noise. To write a letter to petition and you know, what will happen . Those undergoing in to the weekly newspaper. With that underpinning of democracy. Library, friends of the festival and the university. Professor, thank you for joining us. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] on. [inaudible] theyre ashamed to be associated with them so they tell her friends and neighbor. These people are not willing to do any activities, this of course hurts the candidate that they secretly support. There is a big problem. [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] nota. We have more independence than we have ever had in the history. The parties should come around, i think very soon to realize they are the ones that get in the way. I think the biggest right blake is outside candidates are achieving our precedented success in the selection. If you could identify one issue with the democrats and one issue with the republicans . I think it is the fact that the democrat and republicans, at least i we see them on television and covered by media are disproportionately negative. It is a lot of aggression. Neither democrats nor republicans want to be associated with that. Here in arizona, what is the situation . We have a Massive Group of independents. Its the Second Largest Group in the population. Both candidates are trying to cast themselves as the independent candidate when in fact they were both wellestablished in their own parties. Arizona is no exception here just like the rest of the country. Everyone running away from parties trying to disassociate themselves from the establishment. Lets hear from our viewers, caller i will not vote for trump under any circumstances. I remember 1933 in germany, 1927 in germany. This is what it is starting to look like, the nazis chasing the the communist, the communist jason the nazis. The other thing i want to suggest about taking large money and perhaps corrupt money out of politics, there is no reelections. Expand, reexamine the terms for house of representatives, the senate and presidency, make them longer. No reelections. It takes all of the money out of politics. Even if someone is running for a position, a bank decides to give them a lot of money, theres no guarantee they will live up to their expectations because they know there is no reelection and they can doublecross them. Im wondering if that is an idea. Thank you bernie. Guest i think the point youre hitting on is there is huge amounts of money in politics. Its actually fueling outsiders in both parties. I have have been asked many times why there are voters out there who have not yet decided between trump and bernie sanders. It is actually a choice people having a hard time making. I think they appeal to both and the rejection of this massive amount of money a politics. Both candidates are doing a good job associating themselves with that. Host did the parties in a sense, squander their positions . Guest in what sense . Spee1 the way that people are feeling about the Political Parties right now . Guest the parties may be taken advantage of their captive audience. In the United States it is incredibly powerful, very stable. People, as the color just mention tend to stick with the entire party their whole life. Its unusual for individuals to switch parties. And parties and parties are taking advantage of that. They know there voters will remain loyal and they dont necessarily need to do anything to keep those voters because they assume they will stay that way. Host brad and oklahoma city. Caller good afternoon. Thank you very much. Before i was in the u. S. Army and i went to vietnam it was very much conservative. When when i came back it was very much liberal. Guest i completely agree with what you are speculating about the american population. It is what we are finding. The vast majority of independents to prefer one of the two parties. They are ashamed to see and thats why theyre ashamed to call themselves independents. People will not do the things parties need to win. Host such as . Spee2 telling your your friends to vote, putting up a yard sign, telling people why you prefer a candidate over another. Parties want americans to vote for them of course but they want more than that. Host how is it a conservative effort on both sides to shame the other side . Guest we have problems of both parties. Activists do not look a lot like the voters. Activists tend to be educated, more interested in politics, and tend to be more extreme ideologically. The words and actions they are taking are not necessarily persuasive for the average american and either party. Host professor claire, did the Citizens United case contribute to the downfall of the parties opening up money from other sources . Guest one of the problems with that case, theres a massive increase in negativity and advertisements for example. In the Media Coverage of candidates. We have found that over Time Campaign coverage, advertisements have become increasingly negative. This helps to fuel the turn towards independence. In fact independence. In fact we find that americans read about negative issues there are more likely to call themselves independents. Caller i enjoy the coverage, what i like the most is when they mentioned that we need to bring the issues to the public and the media. I have turned my tv off and stopped watching even cspan, happen to be watching cspan to tonight and was really pleased to find you had this festival going on with this discussion. I am a democrat and i have volunteered in many, many elections and campaigns. The reason i dont want to sign in my yard, i dont want to volunteer anymore is because it doesnt do any good. Money, you waste your time, but i am more leaning towards independence. The other thing i like is i think more of these discussions on tv rather than debates you seem to get more done. The debate doesnt do anything its like a reality show. People are sick and tired of it. Guest thank you for that comment. One thing we did in our research as we did a content analysis of the language that is used in president ial debates. We did not include this years president ial debate because the book was published this year. Previous to this year we found that language and president ial debates become increasingly negative. We have participants negative. We have participants in our study read a transcript of president ial debate and even when they read actual transcripts of president ial debate they became even more likely to say they are independent. So the media is to blame on a lot of the discussion and thats not unfounded. The media showing disproportionately negative of the candidates. The candidates are guest when did the decline in Party Leadership begin . We have seen a massive explosion over the last decade. So it has grown quite substantially in recent history. Host the next call comes from miguel in california. Caller i am an independent. And i generally vote democrat. I am an independent because i dont think you can and i want to be part of a larger Political Campaign that connects all of my views. Do you think its time for another party . Or do we need to come around to the parties that we have on the table right now. Host what do you think miguel . Caller should we start considering a new party or should we coalesce around the parties that we have . Host do you think that should happen . Caller i think it might be time to look at an alternative because a lot of independents dont want to be associated with any of the campaigns. Host thank you sir. Guest we have a few successful independent campaigns. Bernie sanders is one of them, but typically independent candidates to not do as well as one might expect given how many independents there are in the electorate. That is because americans tend to be loyal to their party identification. Its difficult to get people to vote outside the party line. Candidates like sanders and trump are allowing them to vote for the same party they always voted for but in no way that makes them file their rejecting the establishment. I dont predict any successful independent run out anytime soon because they independent voters tend to be loyal to the party they always voted for. Host what miguel was saying about a third party you dont see that happening . Speak. Guest people were independents usually always vote for one party. So its very difficult to get people to pull away from that. Host the next call from doris in california. Caller hello, glad to speak with you. I. I want to address what she was saying earlier that people are ashamed of their party or shame to be identify. I think with the type of violence we have seen there is also a freer factor. If you think that you want to go see and hear your candidate, that there may be 200 activists who are only there to keep you from seeing that candidate causing violence then i think you cannot go. How is this person supposed to present what theyre supposed to presented people. Then they are are afraid to go in or frayed when leave they may be attacked. I know people are blaming donald trump a lot, donald trump did not cause this 200 people to comment who wanted to make trouble, that was their choice. I also saw a television the black man who grabbed the microphone and do not let it go as the police were trying to get him off the stage. I think our democracy is suffering by some of the things like the black lives matter who are calling for death to police and want to go in a disrupting key people from hearing the candidates. What is your thinking on that . Host doors, is danl trump your candidate right now . Caller not right now