They cost us republicans three senate seats. We were poised to win nevada delaware and colorado where the incumbents delaware wasnt an incumbent, but mike cassell was running and hes tremendously popular, the tea party came in, the people did not participate in the primaries to the degree they should have, and the tea party nominated unelectable nominees in all three states and handed the democrats three seats they would not have otherwise had. In 2012 they handed the democrats three more with scary candidates. In 2010 it was the candidate who ran her Campaign First televised ad saying, i am not a witch. Thats a really, really jaunty catchy kind of political platform to run on. And then the other guy in 2012 was talking about legitimate rape, another political position i would recommend any of you thinking of being candidates you should avoid being in favor of that kind of thing. Add it all up if we had those we republicans this those six seats from the two previous elections, plus whe
And so one of the things at the very basic level we need to do is just get more people participating. Its hard to run a good democracy with less than one in five people participating. And what that tends to do is bring out the people who are the most focused and organized and generally the most ideological. And its going to take a while to shift that around. The political scientists will tell you thing that is dont make sense to me but theyre pretty consistent on it that moving to more early voting doesnt actually show an increase in turnout. Which again i thought it would. But do you know why we have voting on tuesdays . Because about 200 years ago most people liked to go to church and a lot lived too far from county seat to get there too far on monday. So you go to church on sunday, ride your horse and vote on tuesday. Chris rock said do you know why . Because they dont want us to vote. There is a strong sentiment that hard working folks who dont have an ability to control their own
The week ahead will task you with thinking about many of these challenges and considerations that Face Congress and the president every day. With your faculty director, you will explore these issues and attempt to find some Bipartisan Solutions. This seminar is a unique spacebased experiential learning opportunity that very few College Students will ever have. Being here in d. C. Together as a group and engaged in the seminar will allow us to do a deep dive into and to remain focused on the issues at hand. With the help of your faculty director, you are able to tie the remarks of one speaker to another, tie them back to your readings, to Small Group Discussions and to what you of learned. You will have the opportunity to reflect on a great deal of content and do it right here in the laboratory of politics in washington, d. C. I would like to introduce you to your faculty director this week. We are really thrilled to have dr. Bose back and i wish we could clone her and have her lead all
Can transcend that. That these trends are not permanent. If we listen to another to one another, we can govern even in this polarized environment. We put together a 29 member commission. We had former interior secretary , senator bennett was one of our members. We had a really Knockout Group of people. Former members of congress governors, cabinet officials. Civic leaders, Business Leader people from all walks of american life. We went through an 18 month process and went all over the country california, ohio, philadelphia. We had meetings and engaged the American Public. Then, they had some debate and a liberation. They had and the liberation. Deliberation. They did find common ground. That is our blueprint for strengthening our democracy. It contains 69 recommendations. Three major areas of reform forming congress, forming our elections system, and a call to public service. Not all of these are a magic pill. If we enact them all tomorrow the system is not going to turn around althoug
Together Syrian People. We appreciate it. We know that youre doing a lot. But they really need to be in a safe zone. So i really asking you and seeking this, its so important. Thank you. Rep. Cicilline mr. Chairman if i might ask indull against for one final quep i question. The role of the current Iraqi Government, you know, there are many people who argue that isis is an outgrowth of policies from iraqi and Syrian Governments that have marginalized sunnis in particular. What do we need to see from the current Iraqi Government or a future Syrian Government to demonstrate the tolerance and inclusiveness that will prevent this kind of violence . Should the United States be doing more to condition some of our support for the Iraqi Government on their commitment to take certain steps to protect minority populations and build a more inclusive government . I mean thats you know, the syrian solution is the longterm answer. But in this interim period, can we be doing more to demand more of th