these issues and who have thought about this. and we just played what is the usual conflicting debates we hear in the after math. you are here to dig deeper on not just gun policy, which is something you know about, you worked on the judiciary committee. and also some of what undergirds this, it s a by partisan argument, you were arguing that money distorts what democracy would otherwise produce, that the nra is part of the problem, as we look here at people gathering here in florida, these are people we heard from directly today saying they want action. so my question to you is, and obviously take as much time as you need to answer it. my question to you is does that distorted democracy problem and that deregulated politics problem in your view power the problem we have with guns in this country? it does. what has happened here is we
that would fix the shelby decision and we re hopeful that would happen. we re thrilled that president clinton spoke about it and now president obama will speak about it. it s the most important issue in our democracy right now. and how does this relate to what s happened in wisconsin and ohio where hours and early voting is being pulled back and weekend voting and sunday voting, which does really discriminate more against working class people, people who can t get to the polls during the day, and people of color? you know, it s people of color and poor and rural voters and elderly voters and all of the people who are going to have difficulty dealing with these restrictions, we ve seen this effort that began in the south. migrate into the north like a cancer. people have figured out how you can restrict certain groups from being able to participate in the political process and it s happening all over the country. that s why i identify this as a democracy problem. here we are today c
some of these people are gone. when we have this final vote, a bunch of them aren t going to be with you. what kind of deal do you make where you give people things and they still vote against you? that s the point we ve been discussing, there s a democracy problem and irresponsibility when you encourage these people. this vote in the end whether we get it thursday or in the tenth inning, it s going to have republicans voting against it. we shouldn t give them anything. you re talking about individuals who have total control. it s frightening and the conversation sadly will continue. up next, polling i wish had been around when my dad was running in the primary, rational conservative is actually popular now. ted cruz, thank you for that one. has it s ups and downs.
reverend al. i think we have to get beyond the tea party. i know tea partiers. some are people in trouble. they re manipulated for sure, but the problem we face is not a handful of tea party hostage takers. the problem in the country is the head lock that a few corporate interests and some very wealthy elites have put on our revenues. i have to say on our democracy. look at the polls. you see a majority of americans saying, don t touch the big three. government needs to invest. we are in trouble. we need programs that will help grow the economy, not contract it. yet, this is where we ve come. we have a democracy problem here. we don t have the problem just of the run-away power of a small minority in the house. it s much bigger than that. do you think the bush tax cuts are here to stay? let me tell you something. yes, i think they re here to stay. the president caved in on them once, and i m afraid he will cave in again. we have lost the focus on jobs totally, and in this case, loo
anti-democratic filibuster. that was in december. i said last year this time. hold it. before we got to december, before the midterm elections, where were the democrats who had the majority of the house standing up saying then, let us take these tax cuts to the floor and let us deal with a lot of that? we were being shaken down by an anti-democratic filibuster deal in the senate. let s not forget how our democracy is corrupted from the top. we have a big problem here, and it s a democracy problem. you re getting at it with these questions, and i hope these are some topics. i hope somebody gives me answers. i see everybody blaming everybody else. go ahead, doctor dyson. to your point the reality is they were blue dog democrats there as well. the problem that president obama has faced from the very beginning let s be honest