everything devoted to politics right here. this is a special event, we are pleased that you could come out and make it. we have some special guests here today, the deputy secretary of state of new hampshire is here with us. also, one of the all-time greats of new hampshire, the person who has protected our primary and brought forth a real democracy in new hampshire and brought forth a lot of the wonderful aspects of this primary data so -- that so many people celebrate, especially us here at the institute of politics. without further ado, i would like to introduce secretary of state bill gardner. [applause] sec. gardner: thank you. every four years, this is a special night in new hampshire. it is a reflection of the primary and what it all about. the new hampshire primary from the beginning has been about the little guy. it gives an opportunity for any person who meets the qualifications to be able to have a chance to run for president, get on the ballot here, and we have had several instances over the years where someone who came into the state and was little known, added up -- ended up winning new hampshire and ended up becoming president. the primary has had a good record. no person has served as president since the people of new hampshire could vote directly for a presidential candidate. every single person since that time in 1952 who served as president has one at least one new hampshire primary. this evening gives an opportunity for all of those who are on the ballot to come and participate. we have 33 democrats on the ballot this time and 17 republicans. it is not unusual that we get 50, mid 60's is the highest we have had, since 1972, there has been an evening like this where all of those who are on the ballot will be able to have a chance to get their word out at a debate like this. tonight follows in that tradition. i want to introduce the person who is going to moderate this, who will introduce the candidates who will be here for the first one. last time four years ago, we had more republicans on the ballot than we had democrats and the republicans went first. four years ago, and this year, there are more democrats on the ballot, so the democrats are going first. with that, i would like to a newuce josh mcalpine, hampshire journalist who i personally hold a great deal of respect for, watching him over the years, he is going to be the moderator and i would like to -- he will then introduce the candidates and our panelists. josh? [applause] josh: i never thought there would be a day i would be introduced by someone i respect as much as secretary of state bill gardner. thank you for all you do for new hampshire. the new hampshire primary matters and it is the reason we can have something like this take place tonight. thank you again. i'm not going to spend a whole lot of time talking, let's get to know our candidates first. i will introduce them to the stage. it will not be in direct order as they are seated. let's start with mosey boyd from arkansas. followed by raymond michael from new york. how are you, sir? sam sloan from new york. mark stewart from connecticut. someone who really cherishes , who ity, david this'll understand has not arrived. moving forward, we have robbie wells. good to see you, sir. who am i missing? anyone? jason dunlop, sorry about that. jason hill's from maryland. >> dave is here. josh: what is that? mr. sasol. right on time. anybody checked that bag? all right. yeah, why don't we [inaudible] >> it has my notes. >> sorry, folks. josh: these are the candidates. thank you for arriving. the lesser-known candidates, but that does not diminish your willingness to serve. we certainly appreciate you being here. let me introduce our panelists who will ask the questions. starting with holly raymer, one of the most respected journalists in the state of new hampshire, 23 years for "the associated press" and has covered presidential campaigns and asked a lot of questions and they are always fair and down the middle and they are important. john d'este, sitting next to holly, a longtime journalist in new hampshire, political reporter for wmur. prior to that was with "the union leader." both former colleagues. we are lucky to have them both tonight. let's give a welcome to the panelists, as well. each candidate will be given a two minute opportunity for opening statements. the questions themselves, despite a typo, will require one minute response. we have tracy -- katie, sorry about that. katie has the time cards, she will let you know when we are getting close. any follow-ups, if they are required, i ask you to keep them short. we'll get started with the questions first -- in a moment. first, let's do opening statements and start at the far end, go right to left. if you are looking at the audience, with mr. wells. >> hello, everyone. my name is robbie wells. i am seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2020. i am from atlanta, georgia. it is great to be here in a new hampshire again. my thoughts and prayers are with the nine people that were lost two days ago in california and whether you are a sports hero or just an average joe, we are part of the family called the united states and these people billy -- will be missed. we face a critical moment in our nation. we must get real with the direction our nation is going to go. there are good people running for president that you see on tv all the time. i want you to understand, we have to get serious about this at real. you need someone that has the toughness to go up against mr. trump and defeat him. number one. and number two, someone who has the stamina to give you eight years of continuity in the white house. i truly believe i can do that. i believe my background doesn't -- does speak well for that. you deserve a president who loves all the people and has a plan to unify this country. i truly believe that whether you are black or white, male or female, young or old, a member of the lgbtq community, whatever your religion may be, we are all very unique in this country. we can celebrate our differences because we have one common bond. we are all americans. i have seen adversaries become allies when they come together with a common goal. that common goal is to achieve global, sustainable energy independence for the sake of our children. and our children's children, but make no mistake, america will achieve greatness for the first time once the lines of separation that have divided our people are completely a raise. -- erased. again, my name is robby wells. god bless each and everyone of you. [applause] josh: our next candidate, thistle from texas. >> hello everyone. sorry i am late, i was on the bus, it ran a little late. is anyone here from the nursing school? hi. you guys took care of my dad for 10 years, so thank you. i appreciated that. i am not really from texas. i am a veteran, i have been all over the country. i retired twice from the navy in a wheelchair. once in 1992 and again in 1996. i volunteered to serve in texas on the border because 80% of the drugs that come into america illegally cross that border in texas. the border is 1954 miles long from san diego to corpus. that is quite a wall. about $100 billion project with donald trump. $100 billion. that is a lot of money. i don't really feel it is necessary. we have a lot more pressing issues that we have to deal with where that money could be used. we need a clean energy initiative in the united states or you are probably not going to see grandchildren, quite frankly, according to the scientists and global warming initiatives programs going on. i was going to talk about the ba -- v.a. and substandards there, but i think the accountability in d.c. needs to be readdressed. like i said, our priorities need to change. i am here to try to help. i have been in the military since i was 16. my father served in the military from the age of 17 until he was 60. like i said, if it was not for saint anselm's, i would not be here. thank you. josh: thank you, appreciate that. mark stewart, connecticut. mark, take it away. >> thank you. i am an educator and businessman and i am running really for a better congress. i want a show of hands, how many here think our democracy runs imperfectly? how many think -- keep your hands up if this is the case -- our democracy is broken? a lot of you. there is a chance to dramatically change it and i lot of things move quickly and -- in washington, you think gosh, this is not going to happen until i am middle age. i am in middle age, i was saying that in my 20's. i am here to gain traction in any forum that will have me. i thank you and hope there will be others -- i'm not going to say just two weeks because i am in the ballot for four other primaries. vermont is up next. the message is similar and one to democrats and independents and libertarians and even republicans. things are broken. it takes an outsider to change it dramatically. it takes on your part a willingness to vote for an outsider. it is not going to damage bernie sanders if he gets one less delegate at the democratic party convention. but look what a vote -- let's say 2% in new hampshire, vote for one of us. because of being outsiders with a message that is a message are probably what you have to say, but gets diluted, diluted in congress where they have to trade off favors, gets diluted because individual candidates and legislators have to play to what media wants, what will 0-secondn a 3 soundbite. democrats who are not satisfied with the leaders on the national stage now, consider going outside the box. stewart for liberty is my website. we have 500 videos. i would love to have you watch. josh: thank you very much. appreciate that. next, mr. sloan. >> my name is sam sloan. i am a book publisher and internationally rated chess player. if you play the game of chess or study it seriously, you have almost certainly studied one of my books. if you study mathematics, you probably studied one of my math books i have published or reprinted. i have published 974 books. that is something like a record. we started off with 10 major candidates, none of these candidates are sitting amongst us. of the 10 that started, four are left. the ones that are out spend tens of millions of dollars in the money was wasted, down the drain because they are not running anymore. this is a ridiculous situation that so much money is wasted on major candidates and we are sitting here, any of us are just as qualified and good and we would make just as good a president as those guys who dropped out or the four that are still left. looking at the candidates still left, what can any of them do? i have done a lot of things. for example, i argued before the supreme court, won a case 9-0. i am the only living nonlawyer who has done that. nobody else but me has done this. nobody but me has published 974 books. nobody but me has done a whole bunch of things. you can look at my biography, i have done a bunch of things that nobody else has done. i'm am a person who gets out and does things every day, i get stuff done, i stir up trouble. it's true, but anyway, things happen when i am around. you will see that consistently. i think you'll know that if by some chance i get lucky and i am elected, things will start happening fast. there will be a difference having me around than other people. that is my major point, and i want you to look at the major candidates. can any of them do anything? just take any candidate. which of them can actually do something other than smile, have a nice smile, nice personality, and get votes, most of them are not capable of anything at all except running for election and getting elected. josh: thank you very much. appreciate that opening statement. next, mr. morose. >> my name is raymond michael morose. i am here running as a worker's president to get more unions in the workforce. the unions will need -- we need unions to help people with the coming displacement of workers to the computerization of jobs. when i was driving up here, i passed thousands of truck drivers whose jobs will be lost in the near future due to computer-driven trucks. robotics. workers -- toll workers, some are already gone. what happened to employment security? we need it. we need more unions that will provide it. i choose workers over algorithms, workers over robotic transport. i think we need worker counsel at every corporation, as germany does, every level so they can find work or retraining. we need a new respect for labor president. i will work to pass an act which will protect workers pensions that might run out of money. we need to make it easier, not harder, to form unions and collectively bargain. since ronald reagan, unions have declined because it is harder to form unions and collectively bargain. the development of cryptocurrencies will displace financial workers. will these financial institutions retrain workers for new jobs, i don't think so. i think we should develop quantum computing agency now that ibm developed a quantum computer and the federal government will oversee the implications of that as it relates to cryptocurrency. lastly, on the displacement line, we can have 30%, 40% unionized workforce in the country and as a society, we would be better off. thank you. thank you very much for that statement. josh: mr. dunlap. >> i want to start by apologizing. i am a bit nervous. this is one of the most terrifying things i have done. you will know why as you learn more about me. people like me are not supposed to seek the public light. sidney harris said that the difference difference between nationalism and patriotism is a nationalist -- a patriot is proud of what the country has done and a nationalist is proud to matter what it has done. the former has a responsibility to make sure the tale is told right. the latter leads to war. i want patriots to defend. if you think you hear steel in my voice, you do not. you hear titanium in my spine. i have four screws. i have served in every major engagement in some form since the balkans. i speak russian, german, serbian, croatian. at 17, i applied for my first secret clearance and had renewed every four years until i was 28 and retired. i retired from the military. when donald trump attacked the u.s. ic, he is not attacking nameless people in suits. he is attacking uniformed personnel. privates, specialists, sailors, people that service every day. people tend to separate those because they do not know, they assume the nsa is something else. it is not. it is people like us that protect you. that's what we did, and this is not the way our country is supposed to work. what will happen, i predict the steele dossier, i predate the u.s. government on the jamal khashoggi murder. if you look at the capital gazette and what that was. we are going to end up with a bigger disparity between the electoral college and popular vote but nobody has a strategy to be trump and russia and china and saudi arabia. it is only what they are going to do after the election, but they don't have a plan to win the election. they have a plan, but nobody has a strategy. thank you. >> the last opening statement comes from this void. boyd.m ms. >> thank you for having me. i'm grateful to be here. thank you for coming. i am running for president to rebuild patriotism by uniting americans around our shared values. i want to take a moment to speak to the nation through this opportunity we have this evening. president trump, vice president pence, senators, u.s. congress members, service members, public servants at the national and state and local levels, new hampshire voters, and my fellow americans, thank you all. i look forward to the opportunity to serve as your next commander-in-chief. i am ready for this job. i am the right woman at the right time. i own true grit law firm in fort smith, arkansas, i manage the river valley economic development council, and i lead madam president political action committee dedicated to electing women to the white house. for 20 years, i have supported women to serve as president of the united states. i just want to give you a brief history lesson. women have been running for president for over 150 years. in 1870, victoria woodhall announced herself as a candidate in the 1872 election. i think that is a long time to wait our turn. i have a plan for winning this race. i am working with robby wells and i believe we can rise up. we can rise up with robbie.com. i have an undergraduate degree from brown university in american civilization, looking at our multicultural history. i have a masters degree in national security studies from the school of foreign service at georgetown. i have a law degree from the university of arkansas at little rock. i believe i had the experience, the compassion, and the commitment to make this race happen. my campaign funds say mosie boyd for president, true grit. i have earned that and i hope to have the opportunity to share more and how we can work together and rise up at this critical time to defend our national sovereignty to protect our liberties and freedom. there is a reason the new hampshire state motto is live free or die. i believe this is a decision point and we need change. thank you. >> thank you very much, ms. boyd. time for the opening statements during the time for the q&a portion. we will send the first question to ms. boyd. >> welcome to new hampshire. welcome back to new hampshire. some of you have been here many times. you all made impressive opening statements and opening cases. let's be more specific. there is a feeling among -- you are running as democrats. democrats will be voting for you in the primary. voting in the primary or undeclared. make the case to those voters who are democrats, undeclared, as to the number one issue that seems to be on their minds before you get to the actual issues, taking donald trump out of office. how do you plan to do that in a more effective way than these top-tier candidates we see on television and on the national debate stage every day? why should these voters of new hampshire who are listening, look to you as the alternative? >> we are looking to win in november with a majority of the vote and the majority of the electoral college. right now, we are focused on the most liberal part of the democratic party. there is a whole spectrum of democrats that have been voting republican for a while. in the november election, we need moderates, independents, conservative democrats, and enough people to win the november election and the electoral college majority to be sworn in on january 20, 2021. i believe as a moderate democrat who has friends who are conservative and independent, who are willing to support me, the chairman of the republican party in my home county has said that if i win the democratic nomination, he will vote for me. one of our leading q&a group members who is a former mayor in fort smith, arkansas is an enthusiastic supporter of me and he wants to support a reasonable candidate in this next election. i think as fun as it is to speak to the far left, i think we have too much noise at the extremes of both parties and it is time to come back to the middle. and serve the american people. >> same question for mr. dunlop. what is your strategy to take down donald trump? remove him from office, i should say. donald trump has already drawn his line. he declared himself a nationalist. the next election has to be nationalism versus patriotism. the republican party is running under faux patriotism. they attacked my brothers like lt. col. vindman because of where he came from. he signed a contract and served with honor, same with anybody else. they will attack veterans but try to cloak themselves in the valor of others. he decided to do that. we have a choice to make. we have two big a candidate that can say -- or we can pick someone who gets close to it. it will look the same on both sides if we pick someone who decides to wrap themselves in the valor of others. we need to think closely about this. >> just to make sure everyone is paying attention, mr. stuart, what is your strategy? how do you win? >> i am a libertarian. a liberty-minded democrat, but with a lot of conservative principles that i hope independents and even democrats will be open to, thus i am not nearly as concerned about donald trump getting reelected or not as i am about a congress that does not pay attention to what we want. a congress that for 60 years has run deficits and put younger people in jeopardy of never being able to hold a job where, 20 years from now, having a tax rate of less than 50%. a congress that is a responsive -- irresponsive to people's needs. thus, it is important and whatever party to recognize that somebody -- most of us call ourselves libertarians -- that is socially permissive, fiscally strict, probably the right candidate, not just for president, but for every congressional seat that might be up. >> time well keep us from allowing every candidate to answer every question. we will move forward. holly raymer is directing her question to mr. weld. >> with the impeachment trial underway in the senate, talk about whether you believe president trump should be removed from office. if you have not made up your mind, what witnesses would you want to hear from and what questions would you have? >> holly, thank you for your question about the impeachment. i would rather keep the focus on my campaign because it is my desire to take on mr. trump in the general election. you see, i do have a track record of going up against bullies and racists. i am undefeated against them and you can check my history that i'm telling you the truth. in fact, as probably the only college football coach on the stage and a man that also served in the u.s. army during the wars with afghanistan and iraq, i know what teamwork means and i have a good group of people around me. if you look at is, we had a president that would follow the constitution and do everything for the betterment of the people and ask those questions on any decision he made, we would not be in this situation where we have an impeachment trial going on. that is what you are going to get from me as your president. a president that will make every decision based on, is this constitutional, and for the betterment of the people? if i can answer yes to both of those, we will proceed with it. i truly believe america right now needs some tough love. i am an outsider, but the old saying, fight fire with fire, you need somebody like that that can go up against donald trump and i am that guy. thank you. >> thank you. same question for mr. thislte. >> thank you for that question. the impeachment has been on my mind quite a bit. i am not concerned with the impeachment. i'm concerned with the envelope from robert mueller that is sealed. i would like to unseal that. i think if i were to ask any question, it would be, what is in that envelope? it is not my job to take out donald trump. since we are here, i can probably make a biblical reference. it was not king david's job to take out saul. here is the situation. the people need to decide if this man is fit for duty. the people need to make that decision. i'm going to give you my resume and i am going to put forth my name so you have a choice. that is it. i am not going to stand up on stage and spend $200 million and say i am a socialist when i am buying bumper stickers signs and ice creams from people. i would rather see that money go to college tuition. king david cut solomon's robe -- saul's robe to prove he did not have to kill him. i made a video called "walls or windmills." i made a video and i'm sure you have seen donald trump talk about the sound of windmills causing cancer. i think it is the sound of my voice causing cancer to his wallet. >> thank you very much. let's go back to john d'esteso. mr. moroz and mr. sloan. most democratic voters seem to be concerned about health care. there is a debate among the so-called well-known candidates, i say so-called with respect to all of you, based on whether there should be free, government-one health care or there should be a public option open to those who wanted, versus some sort of enhancement of the current system. as someone who is concerned about the average middle-class worker, i wonder what you feel is the most effective for the people that you speak about, union members, and people in that middle-class, what is your thoughts about health care? >> i believe in the medicare for all. i would like unions to keep their medical health care that they fought for. you can do both. i think the public option, if i am not mistaken, does that. it keeps the unions health care, but goes out an option for everybody in the country to have health care, which i think is right. you spend trillions on military, trillions on everything else. health care should be the number one priority. >> what does health care look like in america under president sloan? >> i think donald trump should be removed, but we know that is not going to happen. i think the candidates are making a mistake, talking about removing trump. they should talk about the issues that address the people. they should not be talking about trump at all. the people against trump cannot tack him -- can attack in those ways. the questions that come up next on the questions candidates should address. health care for all is a communist plot. it is not workable. what about illegal aliens? other people who were just born? all kinds of people -- it is an impractical thing. we have to have a system where people can buy their own health care or someone like me, i have no health care a, i just have medicaid. fortunately, i have never been sick, so i don't need it. i don't think it is a workable idea. these left-wing ideas like bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, those are too far out. those people will not win and if they do, it will be a disaster because they will be defeated by trump. >> can i have a 40 seconds response? >> we have to keep it moving forward. there are a lot of issues to get to. there will be a chance afterwards. let's go to holly raymer. >> 17 states have passed red flag laws that would allow police or relatives to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from people who present a danger to themselves or others. the new hampshire house recently passed a bill, although the governor says he will veto it. do you agree with those laws? what gun-control measures would you support? >> this is among the toughest calls among the gun control thing. whether somebody who may be a danger to him or herself or others should be restrained. i am on the side of it needs to be really short-lived with scrutiny not from the government so much as were neighbors. if you see something, say something. it is a good thing. not as government policy, but as public policy. the restraints of taking away somebody's right to defend themselves, which is the primary use of the gun, it -- is something i fear for a young teenage girl who somebody claims, she is a danger, but now she is open to kidnapping, raping, murder without a way to protect herself. i am on the side of really restrained on these kind of laws. >> mr. wells? >> i believe every law-abiding, mentally competent person has a right to bear arms, protect themselves and family. i said law-abiding. the red flag laws, make sure those that are not law-abiding, we take the guns out of their hands. as a former educator, back in 2012, when sandy hook occurred, i had tears in my eyes and took a pause. is there anything i can come up with that is going to help? i could have been in my students -- that could have been my class, my colleagues. i have come up with a plan that will protect every school. we will protect you in every school from kindergarten to college by taking our unemployed veterans, screen and then, train them, put them back to work in every school across this country as guardians for our children. the schools are our sanctuaries for our children. they will be off-limits for psychopaths out there. >> i want to know where you fall on this, ms. boyd. >> i am a member of well armed women. especially at this time, our nation appears to be subject to influence from foreign governments, it is a particularly bad time to be talking about limiting access to guns. i think our founding fathers, the drafters of the constitution, wrote the second amendment for a reason. it is an important part of our constitution and our way of life. i am painfully aware of the tragic loss of life. i want to direct everyone to the national network of safe communities. nnscommunities.org. it is a strategy for reducing gun violence and reducing drug markets that have a secondary cause of death. national network of safe communities, it is a well proven strategy for reaching out to those individuals who might be subject to the red flag procedures, with skilled individuals who can bring those people back into the fold and give them the care they need. i am sorry i have a limited amount of time to answer this because i have -- >> we have other people, this is an important issue. mr. dunlop? >> i am probably one of the few people that has used a weapon in combat. >> that is not true. >> that is why i said few. >> thank you both for your service. my brothers and sisters in the vietnam war era know this. we choose to be ready, we do not choose the war. we choose the politicians. the joint special operations command is not a lethality we need on our street. but it is the m4 or ar, there is a problem with that. they decided to be that lethal or they need to do a product recall because it should not be working the way it is. maybe it is just me, but we need to focus more on the well-regulated part, everybody is skipping that. >> mr. moroz. >> red flag law, you said 17 states? that should be a mental health issue. beyond that, they should have -- the nra, they block it. they should have a government about that keeps the done statistics records. everything from the police department, all that input, so they can make better decisions like that red flag law. a lot of people have until health problems have access to a gun, they'd shoot themselves. you do not have any central database to go by because the nra blocks that and they need that. >> thank you very much. mr. sloan, where do you draw the line between public safety and the constitution? >> i do not believe the right to bear arms of the constitution gives you the right to cary a collection or high-powered weapons. if you go back to study the history of that provision, they did not have any idea it would be interpreted in that way. it is a right to have private militias, that is what the second amendment talks about. small groups to defend towns. like this town we are in right now. my daughter was in the marines, she served in the war in iraq, she knows how to handle these guns, a competent in firearms. she agrees with me that the general public should not have uzis, high-powered weapons like the las vegas shooter, shooting 30 bullets in a few seconds. why should these guns be allowed in the hands of the general public? these are military weapons, not useful for hunting or self-defense. they should be taken away from the population. >> mr. thistle? >> the spirit of the second amendment was so we can disarm thei government, not each other. t technically, i could have a tank in my front yard and a carrier jet. or an aircraft carrier off my peer. the spirit of the second amendment was to protect us against tyranny, not against someone walking into a squirrel with a machine gun. that is unacceptable as is. there is a program for that, it is called troops to teachers. that is the veteran program that puts teachers in schools, not unemployed veterans with machine guns. that is not my idea of doing things. i used to be a police officer after i served as a veteran. it takes a lot of different training to be a police officer than it is to be a guy with a pair of boots and a rifle. the training is completely different to be a police officer than it is to be a veteran. i think we need to look at that. >> let's go back to our panel. question for john. another major issue being discussed, especially on the democratic side, we would like to get your view on, we are at a college with a lot of students here, and perhaps a few parents who put their children through school. another major issue beig college debt has been a major point of contention among these so-called well-known candidates. a few of the candidates such as elizabeth warren and bernie sanders want free college for everyone. other candidates say there should be more limited expression of free college, maybe just for a two-year degree. these plans, regardless, can cost trillions of dollars. not only tell us where you stand on that spectrum in terms of lowering college debt, how you would do it, but how you pay for it. >> thank you. this is one of only two issues where i come in libertarian, do believe in government welfare. what is for single mothers, the other is for college students for a servant -- certain period of time -- i think that time has ended. for about five to 10 years when 17-year-olds signed contracts to pay back four years of loans based on promises from older americans saying, you will get a job, you can major in poetry, it does not matter, they were baidu. things have -- they were lied to. a put a huge burden on people a few years older than you. i think you know, your eyes are wide awake, if you will be a little arts major, you have to be careful about how you will make money. science majors do pretty well, but you still have to be career oriented. for that earlier group, i believe in some sort of payback welfare that the government could help. as for free college, that is silly. st. anselm's could not be a good college if it was free. you get what you pay for. >> how do you keep a mortgage without a house when you get out of school? >> we are about $2 trillion in college debt. he is my plan. you hear of city year? fema? in other countries, they do to years of military service regardless of sex, age, race, does not matter. we are all equal on the same page. you want free college, do two years of service. you work for a program like teach america or city year or americorps. then you get two years of free college. you give, you serve, then we will give you back a couple years of college. college is not limited just to academia. it would be an apprentice program with a union or a journeyman program. it makes sense. you should have a trade in order to fall back on something. we were always encouraged to get a trade first, then go and get a traditional classical education. that is how i would deal with it. the $2 trillion of deficit, that is a drop in the bucket compared to the national debt that we have to pay back. we can thank our grandparents for that. >> same question for you, ms. boyd. >> give everyone free college tuition, i would love to be able to pay for it myself. i am not able to do that. i am not sure our nation collectively is currently able to do that. i would hope that our universities can be as economical as possible and make tuition as economical as possible. i not only support community colleges as an economical choice, i like the idea -- i think it is unconscionable that student loan interest rates are higher than most other interest rates at the moment. i think releasing them and allowing them to float with the various rates would make more sense. i think earning it builds character and i think we need to look to our national debt. that is a national security issue that we have overlooked for a long time and i hope we will get into that question later. >> thank you very much. let's go back to the panel. question for mr. wells and a follow-up from mr. sloan. mr. stewart and mr. dunlap. >> democrats have expressed outrage over president trump's immigration policies, but they are not always specific about what they would do in terms of immigration reform. what would your specific plan be and how do you balance humanitarian concerns, border enforcement, these complicated issues? >> i appreciate your question. under my administration, we will build bridges, not walls. you win with people, not things. here is what i mean. i have a plan called service for freedom. this is how it will work. we are going to double our border patrol without raising taxes. how? simple. dissolve ice. take those 20,000 positions and retrain those people to double our border patrol and we have to look at the problem we have with the undocumented immigrants we have. they come in because they cannot afford financially to go through the process because the process is broken. here is what we are going to do to alleviate that. service for freedom. once we have a secure border, anybody that wants to come and i cannot afford to go to the process, they can serve in our military, local, state, or federal positions for four years. they will learn english, learn about the history of our country, earn a wage that is taxable, and at the end of that process, they will gain citizenship. service for freedom. it is already a law. i just want to expand this law. >> if you dissolve ice, how do you keep drugs like fentanyl, how do you police that? >> you have to look at the problems we have. if you look across the country, i look at what ice has done in some of the southern states, it is almost like a modern-day kgb. they can just go into your home without following the fourth amendment. correct.hink that is >> mr. stewart. >> i love the values that most modern immigrants bring here. they often come here with more of an american spirit for individualism and community and working hard that maybe the average american born american. i would like to see a relatively open immigration system. but while there are laws on the books, we have to enforce them. if we don't want certain people it is our right as americans to those laws deserve a change, we need a couple years to wrangle with what kind of people do we want? we do not want certain people, it is our right as americans to say no, this is not an automatic sanctuary, there are other places for people who are financially deprived. the best solution is export american values to as many nations as possible so that fewer people feel the need to illegally cross borders because they are prosperous and happy at home. >> thank you, mr. stewart. same question on immigration. >> i am not in favor of open borders. i think a lot of the rhetoric mr. trump has issued, like people on welfare would be denied a green card, this is talk, the law hasn't changed. my daughter in the back row, her mother is from another country. i brought her and she is no citizen. the law hasn't changed. you have to keep enforcing the border and deporting people who come illegally. that is the only way. there isn't any way to change it that i can think of areas this problem has been before the congress for many, many years and they never come up with a solution and i don't think they are going to. they need to enforce the laws. >> there is no solution to the problem? same question to you. >> according to donald trump, i wouldn't be a u.s. citizen. i was born in a country that no longer exists. my father was doing a tour of west germany. you would lose the protections of service members and people that serve abroad, you have a kid, he is a citizen. we as americans need to start deciding are we about the huddled masses yearning to be free or do we want the moderately income instead of the poor to come? the little public charge thing, that is not the way this country works. it used to be we helped out each other. you want to come to this country, as long as you can contribute something, doesn't matter what. that is the way it should work. we should not be, you don't have enough money or you are from the wrong country, or what can you give us? >> let's go back to the panelists. next question belongs to -- yes. >> you hit on this with mr. wells during a follow-up and so i would like to give the other candidates an opportunity to talk about the crisis of the opioids which is a major issue in the state of new hampshire, which was something donald trump was surprised by four years ago that a state with mountains and lakes and forests could have this crisis going on. at this point not only is it just opioids, but it is being broadened out now, meth and cocaine are making an unfortunate come back. there are funds that would allow flexibility in the use of those funds. i would just like to know, do you have any unique ideas that we haven't heard that might be something that, even if you don't make it as president, someone out there could say, hey, here is an idea, maybe this will work. >> we'll start with mr. rose, please. >> the opioid crisis is a travesty. those corporations that pushed the opioid crisis on america, they should be dissolved and use the money to set up a program modeled after portugal's where they do treat drug addiction the -- no matter what it is, cocaine, heroin, whatever. as a mental health issue, not a criminal issue. nobody wants to hear that should be legalized, but unless you decriminalize it and treat it as a health problem, you won't have the money to pay for it. >> thank you, sir. we will come back to you on this one. mr. stewart. >> opioids have a good use. it has been abused, but it is not right to penalize companies for selling a product that can be used for good or can be used for bad. i am not sure what brand of water is here, but i could drown somebody if i misused it. to hold companies liable for the misuse by humans is to diminish us. we all have brainpower. we all can resist. it can be hard when there is chemical impulses going against you. but please, don't think it is a societal force that is beyond you. one solution, and i am not sure i am the only one to say that, is for people to recognize you are harming more than just yourself when you take that substances, you are harming other people who care about you and there could be a god cares about you, who doesn't want you to abuse yourself. when you have a better sense of why you are here and why drugs should not be in you, it may help people from taking them in the first place. >> i have a strong opinion on this and have been working on this for over five years in portsmouth, arkansas. i am sorry for the short amount of time we have to answer. we have something where we have yard signs that say, you matter, and don't give up. they have sprung up and are very helpful in terms of mental wellness. we lost over 70,000 americans in 2017, close to that in 2018. 2019 numbers are not out yet. every year we are losing more than the total number of service members lost in vietnam and the two iraq wars combined. i heard on the campaign trail in new hampshire, i don't care about those people. that is a frustrating -- you know, it is a response i can sort of see where somebody can get to that, but it is an on acceptable attitude for how we approach this moving forward. we need to shift the nomenclature and start talking about it as fighting chemical warfare on our own turf. what it is.ly chemicals being shipped through the u.s. mail along with illegal drugs, and the pharmaceutical companies are currently marketing -- criminally marketing. i want to add one more thing. americans don't leave americans on the battlefield. we need to make sure they are treated. >> thank you. mr. thistle. >> this is a touchy subject for me. i was at donald trump's first event. i took a picture that is on my facebook with two miss new hampshires. the miss new hampshire who took the photo was a miss new hampshire when i was a youth. she said mr. thistle, i have lost two of my children to the opioid crisis. i don't think i can lose the third. what can you do to help? i said i need two things. i need the resources and i need the authority. that is it. i was on the border in texas. i know about the border war. none of you can talk to me about that. i served in the texas state guard as a warrant officer. i know the v.a. passes out opioids like m&ms and skittles because i was the one i was passed to. for 20 years, i was misdiagnosed with brain tumors and i was a state policeman. i would have never taken a drug without -- on a recreational basis. they gave me morphine, hydrocortisone, and other medications. this is all about the sackler family not being arrested with the rico act and sending prostitutes, i mean drug sales or preservatives, in to see the doctors and taking the bahamas. >> appreciate it. same question. i want everybody to weigh in. >> too many explosions. it is a big problem. it is a problem by design. it was designed to be addictive to bind to receptors to the brain. we need alternatives not just for treatment but also, not just for the treatment of pain but also the treatment of addiction. my biggest thing would be to push for the legalization of marijuana and to use cannabis derivatives from it. believe it or not, it helps out a lot. i have four screws and two pins in my spine. as soon as i left the hospital, i move towards a medical marijuana program. it helped. you don't have to smoke it. everyone thinks of a reefer. they have thc, patches and other forms of ingestion as well. it would be easier to deal with that instead of the binding of opioid receptors. >> my dad would not have anything to do with refer. mr. sloan and mr. wells. >> libertarian answer is everything should be legal and then people will stop being affected because they will be -- marijuana, they -- for the last 30 to 50 years, i have been legalizing advocating. everyone thought i was crazy. my mother says marijuana is a very dangerous drug. she had patients who were addicted and she was a child psychiatrist. she knew more about it than i realized. but i think they made the right step when they legalized marijuana. other subjects like heroin is a dangerous product but if they legalize it, to take of the profit away from the people who are selling it, once there is no profit in it, the people will be able to control it. >> thank you. >> i agree with a lot of the comments that have been made especially by the lady on the far end. let me switch gears for a quick minute on marijuana and let's just talk about history. let's look at when we tried to do away with alcohol in the 1920's. about 100 years ago. didn't work. it was nancy reagan who said, just say no, before most of you were even born. didn't work. we waste over $30 billion annually chasing down young people who smoke marijuana and throwing them in jail. my plan is to decriminalize and do the same thing president obama did in 2014 with colorado. we will save that and tax the industry. that is another $30 billion, $60 billion annually to make college education freedom. i also have a plan that eliminates the $1.5 trillion in student loan debt. we are $1.5 trillion. i have a plan that will get rid of that and i will be happy to talk to you. >> i have never seen anyone od smoking a joint. they just eat my doritos. >> that is a very serious issue here in new hampshire. final question. >> ms. boyd mentioned this briefly in her opening but this is an issue from the last debate for the other democratic candidates. senator warren says senator sanders once told her he didn't bring a woman can win the presidency. do you agree with your and what degree does sexism affect politics? >> i think the democratic candidates are going to win by playing on the same team. it is a team sport and we need to support each other and be encouraging of each other. our number one goal in my opinion is protecting our national sovereignty, protecting our democracy. making sure that we still have three branches of government with checks and balances. i think the small issues are irrelevant in this particular race. i know a lot about women running for president. it has been 150 years. we want to protect democracy, we need to choose the best candidate. i have what it takes to bring people together, democrats and republicans, conservative and liberal, listening to each other. we all have our own set of life experiences that bring our own set of facts to the table. until we start honestly listening, which means not talking, we will not get to the best results. we need to listen to each other. that in my opinion is my top priority. we need to find common ground. we can do that on many issues. so long as there is so much noise on the extremes of both parties, it is a distraction from what is in america's best interest. >> thank you very much. let's keep everyone awake at night will end on this question. >> keeping me awake at night is foreign interference. russia, china, saudi arabia are interfering. it is going on whether it is online advertisements -- i could point out examples of people pretending to be soldiers to incite violence or certain opinion. nobody is doing anything about it. people are nothing attention. that is what i'm trying to get everybody to do is pay attention. they are interfering right now. the current administration has said they will look to foreign governments for help. they set it on tv. we need to have a strategy for this and an actual plan. that should be concerning. donald john trump, you have failed this nation. >> the number one issue is cyber warfare. hillary would've won that election. she lost by 70,000 votes over three states. we may have won the cold war, but putin and my russian cousin, they won the cyber war. if you don't think they are coming again, they are -- you are wrong. they have excellent i.t. people, troll farms set up. facebook doesn't care because they are making $600 billion. we need to have some type of federal intervention at every state, every local level because we are not ready. >> i apologize for the hard rep. i want to give everyone time. what is keeping you awake at night? 45 seconds down the line. >> i didn't get a chance to answer the questions that i wanted to answer, so i sort of missed the boat a few times when they asked me a question and then they have to someone a question i did want to answer. in any case -- >> i apologize for how that broke down. >> i think the democrats are heading for disaster. i think the candidates, the four who have survived and are still running are weak. i think they can be defeated. joe biden is said to be the best, but i don't see him beating trump. i thought you would give me 45 seconds. >> how are we doing? 10 seconds more. >> look at the candidates -- i will make some people upset but let's be frank. one of the candidates surviving is a communist. he is a communist. i have known this guy for a long time. another one is -- old folks home and none of these people are going to beat donald trump. >> you're going over your time. >> i would like to address your last question. of course a woman can be elected president. hillary clinton got more votes than donald trump. there have been strong leaders as examples, margaret thatcher, angela merkel, the head of ireland for a while and island is doing great. it shows something about the leading candidates and us here. some of them are liars. it is part of their politics. elizabeth warren lied. bernie sanders is a sad standup guy. i have known him for five years. there is no way he would have said that but it makes the sound by so elizabeth warren has to go that way. they are so distant from you and i and almost everyone here. where else do you see seven democrats who are -- here and yet on stage they are so different and distant. please consider that when you think about average americans running for office. >> mr. thistle and then mr. rose. >> the thing that keeps me awake at night is the ignorance and complacency in your generation. we really need to get on the -- this green energy initiative. if you look at the beginnings of the -- sissel 2020. this is not adequate to interview someone further job of the ceo of the nation. -- for their job of the ceo of the nation. none of the candidates have accurate time frames. if you show up too early, just a regular person, you run out of funds before you can make it to the november 1 signing onto the ballot. $1000 -- i should have got a waiver. i am a disabled vet. >> you didn't show up early to this. >> you guys need to study more. >> mr. wells. >> what keeps me up at night, as the current ambassador for the peace commission, i get to travel around the world speaking in front of thousands of people regarding my plan for global sustainable energy independence. i believe this is what is going to push world peace. i have seen adversaries to come allies when they find a common -- become allies when they find a common goal to work towards. global energy sustainability is that. within two years or the two terms i am president, we will achieve sustainable energy independence here. i know america is watching. we can win this thing. we are going to be on enough ballots we are going to have an outside chance to win the nomination of the democratic party. if nobody has got enough delegates, i am a fighter. i will go to the floor and fight it out for each and everyone of you because i am a believer. dreams still come true. mr. trump, i am sure you are watching. do not play with me. >> thank you very much. let's hear it for the lesser-known candidates. maybe that will not be the case after tonight. thank you for joining us, everyone. [applause] our live campaign coverage from new hampshire continues today. democratic candidate pete intigieg attends an event nashua at 11:00 a.m. eastern. senator bernie sanders is in hanover at 1:30 p.m. and joe biden makes a stop in hudson, new hampshire for a get out the vote of that at 3:30 p.m. eastern. that is all live today on c-span. ♪ the new hampshire primary is tuesday. watch results and candidate speeches starting at 7:30 p.m. eastern live on c-span,