Transcripts For CSPAN Inequality In America 20151225

Reach a level of integrity, honesty, and decency, has a longdistance runner, you have to kill something in yourself, fear. You have to kill something in yourself, europe session with position in status and wealth. Announcer followed by john did forth honor author of the religion does point is beyond ourselves. People, to the, you know, what is it ever may . It is not central. Announcer at 10 00, claire talks about her book. A memoir about her Life Experience in local state and federal government. I dont think we do anybody any favors by trying to dress up politicians as if we are not real human beings that have made major mistakes. And have major problems in our lives. Announcer saturday evening, it is cut in on National Review founder William F Buckley juniors run for that mayor of new york city in 1965 and at 11 00, Winston Groom discusses his latest book. One of the first questions im usually asked when i do a tv or radio show is why did you choose these three men from the Second World War in my answer is believe, embodied, i oftain characteristics courage, character, and patriotism. On sunday, David Patricia looks back at a turning point in World History 1932, the rise of hitler and fdr. At 11 15, alyssa katz discusses her book the influence machine, the u. S. Chamber of commerce and the corporate capture of american life. There is a reason that i chose the chamber of commerce as a subject for my book. It is because this Single Organization really sums up the story of how we got here to this place. Announcer this weekend, watch book tv on cspan2. In 1865, the nation is americas oldest magazine that is still in circulation today. To mark the anniversary, their editor and publisher katrina. Anden hoover joins robert rice and a number of others to discuss inequality in america. This is about one hour and 40 minutes. Thank you. Can you give me . Thank you. It is terrific to be in San Francisco. So many readers and soontobe readers, subscribers in this gorgeous theater. This is the last stop on our trip. 2015 marked the 150th birthday of the nation. It is daunting. [applause] host this is our last stop in introducing a new generation to the next generation. Some 3 Million People come to the nation now every week in different forms, so we are proud of that. Tonight we have gathered some of the great thinkers, activists on issues of fairness, fighting inequality. For a panel, i think that is vital at this time, at any time. It is a transcendent issue of our time. Let me introduce our great moderator, and we shall begin. Ladoris Hazzard Cordell is a retired judge of the superior court of california and former independent Police Auditor. She is a long time advocate for repairing transparency when it comes to police misconduct. She was assistant dean at the stanford law school, where she helped develop a program to increase minority improvement. During her tenure, it went to first place for africanamerican and hispanic students at law schools. She has received prizes for breaking race and gender barriers. She was the first female africanamerican judge in Northern California, the first female africanamerican superior court judge in santa clara county, california. Please welcome judge cordell. [applause] host its like you dont need it. [applause] judge cordell thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening, and welcome to todays special program of the Commonwealth Club of california. Tonights program is cohosted by the nation magazine. I am ladoris cordell, former judge of the superior court of california, former Police Auditor of the city of san jose, and your moderator for this program. 2015 is the 150th birthday of the nation magazine. To commemorate this historic anniversary, we are proud to present a conversation about our countrys inequality crisis, a pressing issue impacting millions of americans, and a core nation issue on which the magazine has long been sounding the alarm. The wealth controlled by the top tenth of the top 1 has more than doubled in the past 30 years in the United States, approaching unprecedented levels. San francisco most certainly symbolizes the inequality issue. The city has been wracked by battles over development, a Homeless Population that spills onto its sidewalks, rocketing housing costs, and increases in crime. With its gleaming New Buildings and influx of Silicon Valley wealth, San Francisco has the Fastest Growing income inequality gap in the nation. So what does this inequality mean for the political process . For the environment . Living wages and immigrant rights . And in turn, for Civil Society and the future of our democracy . Tonight you will have a conversation with four prominent experts about key problems afflicting america, through the lens of the unprecedented wealth in the United States today. First, a senior fellow at the blum center for developing economy. He served as secretary of labor in the Clinton Administration and was named by Time Magazine as one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the 20th century. His latest book is saving capitalism for the many, not the few. Please welcome robert reich. [applause] sec. Reich oh, wow. [applause] judge cordell aijen poo is director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She was a 2014 macarthur genius and was named one of the worlds most 100 influential people by Time Magazine. She is the 2013 World Economic forum young global leader, an author of the age of dignity preparing for the elder being in a change of america. Please welcome aijen poo. [applause] judge cordell van jones is an environmental advocate, civil rights activist. And he is the cofounder of four nonprofit organizations, including rebuild the dream, of which he is president. He is also a cnn political contributor. Van is a yale educated lawyer, and in 2009 worked as the green jobs advisor to president obama. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, rebuild the dream. Please welcome van jones. [applause] judge cordell our final panelist, katrina vanden heuvel, is the publisher and editor of the nation. She is a frequent commentator on tv and radio and the author of numerous books. Her blog appears at thenation. Com. Please welcome katrina heuvel. [applause] judge cordell we are going to start our conversation with a question i am going to throw out for all of you. In a 2014 survey, inequality was the top choice for greatest threat to the world. All of the president ial candidates are talking about inequality. I give you a quote here, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse, and there are more people in poverty than ever before. Those words are the words of mitt romney. [laughter] judge cordell so panelists, are we finally at the Tipping Point . Are americans left and right, rich and poor, all in agreement that our economic and political systems are rigged and have to change . Has all of the anger about inequality become a great unifier, or are we about to tip . [laughter] sec. Reich no. [laughter] [applause] sec. Reich should i explain . [laughter] sec. Reich after years of seeing inequality widened, the median wage stagnates. With the rich getting richer, finally we are getting to a Tipping Point, even among republicans, where it is expected to be fashionable to Say Something about it, but we are not anywhere near doing anything significant about it. There is one candidate who is talking seriously about it, and a few others who are being influenced by him [applause] sec. Reich but i dont want to make this into a partisan forum. My biggest fear is that we may be as a nation heading into a world war. War can bring out either the best or the worst in nations. It sometimes can lead to a great deal of social solidarity, and some very good things can come out of the horrors of war in terms of the issue of inequality, but it can also bring out ugliness. We have to watch that. Judge cordell anybody else . Aijen i think there is other good news, which is that everywhere i turn, i see lowwage workers in motion. I see incredible organizing along fast and workers, health care workers, Domestic Workers. Fight for 15. Walmart workers, retail workers, even the baristas at starbucks. People are coming together, and i think that combined with the vibrancy of the movement for black lives, there is a sense of collective selfconfidence that people who are on the frontlines lines of inequality in this country are starting to express. We actually can turn the tide on this, and we are going to come together and build the kind of movement necessary to do so. That to me is the best news in this situation. A great historian of social movements told me not long ago that she does believe we are in the early stages of what will be the next great social protest movement of this country that will fundamentally transform democracy for all of us. She is right about a lot of things, so i am going to go with that. [laughter] [applause] van first of all, congratulations. I think that you are right, there is an agreement about the problem, not the solution. But there are rightwing populisms that are very interesting now. In their willingness to take this on. They use terms different than are familiar to us, but you hear rightwingers now talking about what they call crony capitalism, and that is their way of talking about the way that the government has been captured to protect big corporations at the expense of working people. I think there is a growing militancy on the right and the left. I also think that when you listen to the orange guy, trump. [laughter] judge cordell john boehner is the orange guy. Sec. Reich who else did you have in mind . Van when you listen to him, there is Something Interesting where there is a style of politics that could be a precursor to something. In other words, i just dont give a dad gum anymore. There is something that is happening where people who felt constrained, there is just not enough cookies on the table now for people to be polite. The temperature is going up on both the right and left, so i do think the income inequality debate is something we should be very observant of for opportunities on the right. Katrina i think the rules are being written in different ways on the left and right. At the heart of it, we are experiencing a failed status quo of deregulation, of corporate trade agreements, of failure to make public investments, of mandatory sentencing. All of this is coming under scrutiny and questioning. You see it in Bernie Sanders campaign and Donald Trumps. Around the world, there are movements like you are describing, both hopeful and not hopeful, whether it is in spain or canada, where it will end will require political power and movements. Judge cordell lets pick up on the political power issue. First of all, this talk about inequality has been around for years. In the 1930s, Supreme Court Justice Louis brandeis once noted, we can have a democracy or great wealth in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both. In 1956 the nation published an article written by w. E. B. Dubois that says we turn over funds to National Profit and have few funds left over for education and health. If we talk about politics, there is a boatload of money left in the lobbying industry. In 2013, apple spent 3. 3 million in lobbying. Amazon, 3. 4 million. Facebook, 6. 4 million. Microsoft, 10. 4 million. Google spent 15 million, all to lobby. Dont we have to hit lobbying to achieve income equality, and how do we do that . Sec. Reich clearly we do, and we have to get money out of politics. We have to reverse Citizens United. [applause] sec. Reich we have to make sure there is Public Financing of all campaigns and make sure there is full disclosure of where the money is coming from. It is easy to say what we should be doing. It is extremely hard to get the power to do it because it paints a chickenandegg problem. The people in power do not want to lose power, and it they fear that any fundamental change would be a threat. Lets go back to the issue of populism, because it is the core question. We see on the right and left upheavals and angry people, all around the world. This is not just an american problem. But how is that anger utilized . What Political Organization will do with that anger . This is a great challenge, it seems, because if we are facing a Common Threat in the form of radical jihadists and, whatever you want to call it, that anger can be turned into something positively creative, or it can be turned into fierce xenophobia and racism. And ethnic exclusivity. We have got to take a leadership role in making sure that anger is channeled in a positive direction. Everybody this fall has to do exactly the same thing. Judge cordell anyone else . Van first of all, from an africanamerican perspective, the conversation about inequality starts with mass incarceration. It starts there [applause] van and then moves to the rest of it. Aijen mentioned black lives, i think this is the most Important Development of our time. A lot of people got mad because kids grabbed their microphones, and that is their only point of reference, missing the entire movie. You now have a generation of African Americans who are coming on the scene, they were 12 years old when obama got into office. They are not impressed with having a negro president. They are not impressed with having a Democratic Party that will say stuff. They are facing incarceration rates that are six time their peers when they are doing the same things. In other words, black kids and white kids do drugs the same amount, but black kids go to prison six times more than their white peers and no one is saying anything. And you have a view of the state that it does a better job of punishing than protecting, that they do a better job of hurting people than helping. The sea violence from the government inside their borders in the form of mass incarceration. Their peers see it at the borders in the form of mass deportations and all people see beyond the border in the form of militarization. You have a seamless web of violence from the government that does not protect from street level violence, it enhances it and nobody is speaking for them. And a Democratic Party that wants to talk about equality. But wont speak of these issues as enter goal to the fight integral to the fight. You cannot have a quality if you are labeled a felon. For doing what you are doing right now or what some of you were doing this weekend. [laughter] you cannot have incoming equality if you cannot get a job, a student loan, a business license. So for those young people to hear a Democratic Party still not dealing with it. I was very impressed, by the way, the only force besides Hillary Clinton that both Political Parties had to address in their debate was black lives matter. Which was started by three and women young women, with nothing but a and they forced both parties to deal with them. We should celebrate that. [applause] judge cordell it appears that race is the weapon of choice for those who want to maintain a status quo and draw attention away from any quality. If you look at donald trump and making America Great again, that is politics, that is code for lets make America White again. So the question is, is the black lives Matter Movement focusing enough on income and wealth inequality, should it be doing more in that area . This is for anybody. Sec. Reich no. Van no. You have a Democratic Party. Judge cordell i think what has emerged postoccupy, postcrash, postobama, there has been a war war within the Democratic Party, the wall street wing and the corporate establishment wing, which often both have failed to take that into account, you could argue that the sticks apply rightly to Bernie Sanders. And consciousness raising done for senator warren, people are speaking in new ways. That battle goes on and it will determine the inequality discussion in this country. Van the way i see it is that the visible fight of the party is between the wall street wing and white economic populists, i mean if you look at reality, there is a white reality. The problem you have is that at the end of the day the republicans and rightwing democrats want black people to settle with trickle down economics and the left wing wants us to settle for trickle down justice. In other words, you shut up, we will not say black, we will not talk about your issues. Shut up and we will talk about taxing wall street, Social Security and income inequality youll get years and youll get yours, dont worry. Katrina and not schools. Judge cordell and not raising the slogans of mass incarceration and as a result you have a third leg in the progressive movement, the Racial Justice leg which has no home , and no candidate and you are talking about dreamers on the latino side, the black lives Matter Movement, native americans, you have a third wing of the party that no candidate and no voice, not even the pretense of a black candidate can have that and they have exploded into view and they have brought out the best of both wings and i was proud of those young people and how Bernie Sanders righted himself and responded with compassion. He was taken aback. I think that these young people have brought out the boast of both parties and best of both parties, this is a healthy thing they achieved. [applause] sec. Reich i think what has happened, again i do not know precisely what is going inside in a campaign or the washington precinct of a party, but i thin the washington precincts of the party, but i think gradually, a dawning realization s occurring, that if you have progressives, and they are white progressives, they cant electoral get an majority. But if you have the progressives people of color, latinos and blacks, you can majority in te the america, and that coalition, if you actually can generate that oalition is a winning collation. Now, what the democrats have done since franklin d. Roosevelt was to exclude africanamericans, very carefully. , very that was fdrs coalition. Working the white, class, and whoever else he could very, veryter, and a direct exclusion of the southern africanamericans, southern blacks. That has been the policy of the Democratic Party all the way up say, bill ould clinton. Bill clinton tried to have a coalition, but the error katrina, wason was bringing in, making alliance with the wall street democrats, undermined everything else. That made it very difficult to actually create a new progressive movement. So the question for the democrats and the question for Bernie Clinton and for sanders and for anybody else, is if theyre , willing to abandon the wall street part of their coalition winning in the new coalition with the people of color. That is the central strategic mind, the nd to my only way we get any kind of the ed america is if democrats choose the latter, not the former. Katrina so if you have these coalitions. Lets say we can actually get together, voting is the bottom line. Voting is critical to an society. Ian and that said, in america, low oter turnout is the rule, not the exception. Bernie sanders wants everybody to automatically be registered 18, but that e doesnt address the issue of getting people to actually vote. In australia, people are fined voting. Should we do the same . Should we penalize people for not voting, or are there other to go to the ople polls . I think the crisis were witnessing is something related to what bob was just speaking about. Rising ition that the american coalition, the republica republicans, the right sees that, and they are doing everything in their power to suppress the vote, to suppress this coming shift in our countrys demography, destiny, politics. The money that is pouring in to suppressing the vote is staggering. Tax, to in to new poll jim crow. I think it will take movements to vote. T im not in favor of mandatory voting. I can be persuaded, but im thinking reverend barber in north carolina, mooral mondays, has made a commitment to devote out the ent to get multijustice,cial, multiissue, toward a third reconstruction. Havingil Rights Movement been the second, and in that reconstruction, rallying people carolina, but rth hes going to travel the country peaking about everything from healthcare to mandatory minimums, to justice, to mass ncarceration, to fast food workers. So i just think theres something in that motion, that we should be aware of the money that has been pumped in, and that should be disclosed. My last point, i think all contributions to super pac should be 100 taxable and the money should go to universal voter registration. This state has done a good thing. [applause] ladoris does anyone on the panel here think that voting should be mandatory . Sec. Reich i certainly dont. I think people will vote when they have something to vote for. [applause] you know, i think that part of it is a question of the we could create an agenda for the future of this country where the full diversity f who we are and who were becoming as a nation and our interests and how theyre interconnected could be rticulated and reflected back in a very compelling agenda thats not imprisoneded by the possible, but e actually about what people need in this country. To ot only survive, but thrive, and not just to some people, all people. When we have that agenda, we will see a desire to different way. Ladoris so both of my grandmothers were the help. They had low wages, no healthcare, long days. Todays Domestic Workers include large numbers of immigrant grandmotherunlike my has had organizations like igents, National Domestic Workers Alliance to advocate for them. Aijen, your focus, and van as well, has been upon grass organizing, but there are some who believe that this has been the wrong approach and the way to think about eradicating inequality is by looking down, not up. Pundant reallyve said the following dont rich, help the poor become richer. All heard at we the beginning, finnions rainbow idle poor, become the idle rich. Whats your view on that . Going about it the wrong way . Aljen well, so ever since the 1930s when our labor laws were put into place as part of the deal was cut, he southern members of congress on to the sign natural Labor Relations act and he fair labor standards act, but they included farm workers and Domestic Workers, who were black workers at the time. Robert mentioned this. And those bills were passeded and exclusions in place, concession to the members of congress and so for more than 75 years, Domestic Workers and farm excluded from en the Core Foundation of our labor protections, and the only thing that has changed that over time, more than seven decades, the only thing that has changed that Workers Organizing at the grass roots level, led by. Pplause] aijen the first was in the worker from tic tlanta named dorothy, she led the National Domestic Workers Union and won an inclusion of workers and minimum wage protections and domestic ation of Workers Organizing in some 30 has won the today Domestic Worker bill of rights in six states in the last five years. Indeed, changing policy and the course of history organizing, s roots and that really has been the only thing that has worked. I would say to that. Ladoris van. Van first of all, i think we should give a round of applies to aijen for her work. [applause] van , you know, i wouldnt dare to add to what she said. Es just not going to be even liberals, like urselves, just dont really have the fingertips for whats going on all too often, so were often trying to solve the wrong problem at the wrong time. Whether you talk about wall street or this new Labor Movement thats coming up. Its breaking all the rules. I mean, everybody applauds now. I hope not to offend anybody, but if you are not the darling of progressives three or four years ago when you were driving immigrant women into the halls of power, that was very weird. And people didnt know what to make of it, and people poopooed all of a izing and sudden you won in three or four states, and extended more rights, your movement extended more rights to more people quicker than anything thats years, in the past 40 exception of the farm workers. This is what happens when people ho are at the boot heel stand up. And so i think, you know, weve people here from human rights and other places. Pissed off, oung, dreadlocks, cops bothering me, were much more militant. Ow im old and on tv and cops i find myself in that very frustrating world, you know, on the one hand, on the these blackand then lives matter kids came and kicked us all in the butt and said, screw you, were getting messed over. So i think theres something to e said for the contribution thats made by people who have a national dog in the race. Ladoris healthcare did not provide ee system to education for everyone. She said i dont want to pay for Donald Trumps children. Neither do i. Something or should college and Vocational Education be free for all . So other countries do it, why not here . Sec. Reich well, i think its terms of tant, in building the kind of coalition gaininglking about, and he kind of grass roots support were talking about, to seek a kind of a system in which not only is Public Higher Education free, and i dont think Donald Trumps children would go to Public Higher Education. But also, that we have a singlepayer healthcare system. [applause] sec. Reich and we may not be this next week or next year, or in a couple of years, but its something to aspire to. Builds and enlarges social solidarity. Links tes the kind of between the poor and the middle whitesbetween blacks and and latinos, between americans, thisally, that can support kind of set of institutions, and the fight is going to be long and bitter and difficult, but uilding on something, as you said before, ive just returned from several weeks in red states and red cities. You may have wondered what i was doing there. [laughter] sec. Reich i was trying to flog a book. In the red very well states or red cities, but what i meeting ver, i had a with a bunch of Small Farmers in organizing o were against some of the big agribusinesses and factory farms. These Small Farmers called themselves conservative republicans, but they were organizing against what they considered to be and were, in forces that the were systematically eating away at their profits and destroying the environments. You know, i met with small not only in ers, stature. They were actually tall, some of them. [laughter] business ere small leaders and franchisees in incinnati and they were organizing against some of the big businesses and big again, were who, undermining their profits and monopolizing. Across red america, i kept running into people who were organizing against the powerful, monopolists, he and the the fight for 15 people kansas st. Louis and city are doing exactly the same thing. And these people have got to be up. Ed he moral majority, not majority, the moral monday people, who i met in raleigh, they are also beginning to wake up with some of these conservative republican groups power he same issues of and wealth ladoris so i think theres a transpartisan movement here to be built on. And youve been writing about it, bob, because theres so much in our history we could retrieve. Theres so much radical history, Bernie Sandersen talks about denmark, i have no problem with denmark, we inrieve some of that history our own country, but the idea of trust busting, we need to revive that. In the ecall years ago, ight against media concentration and for media democracy, a fight the nation to, you had tral trent lot aligned with code pink, because both didnt like the bigness. They wanted localism and diversity, and i think theres a of suspicion of bigness, corporate bigness, that if the tea party hadnt been so racist, you could have found some possible alliances there, but youve written about this. Im not sure i fully agree, but youre saying the future of american politics is between the establishment and the antiestablishment. Thinking sec. Reich there are two antiestablishments now. Thats right, and interesting. Sec. Reich i mean, were finding, in the work that i do, called theres something the Green Tea Movement. [laughter] is that right . I know about the coffee part of it. Coffee part is liberal, and theres a black team. Were allieded with the green for all this. Its the Green Tea Movement and is, argument that they make i think, very compelling. Shouldnt every american have he right and the liberty to power their own homes with their bossed r, without being nd dictated to by the Utility Companies that will tell you when youre going to pay your energy bill, how much its going o cost, how many asthma inhalers youve got to have in your community as a result of it, and yet you dont have that right in america. Theres a Green Tea Movement, a Tea Party People saying were dominated by government monopoly Power Companies telling us we cant own homes with solar and sell that power on a public grid. Thats one thing, on the criminal justice side, i think its very important to understand this. Closely with very the far right and the hard right issues. Nal justice and i pulled together a summit. We said, if we could get 100 leaders together in washington d. C. , left and right, for one hour on criminal justice, we could change everything. We didnt get 100. For seven hours, in march, including 10 congress people, three governors, two cabinet secretaries, and video, nt obama sent a and that was in march. In february, people said criminal Justice Reform was impossible. Now they say its inevitable, because it turns out that theres a conservative critique that says, prisons are a big failed government bureaucracy, and gobble up money liberties and do a horrible job. Rom a Christian Point of view, they dont treat every part with respect and theres no redemption possible. From the libertarian point of view, the liberty of individual entities. You say, i dont trust these guys. Hold on a second. Who do you trust . I can point to three republican governors, deal in georgia, closing prisons, perry in texas, closing prisons. Kasic in ohio closing prisons. Democratic one governor in the country thats including ison, yours, jerry brown. Katrina cuomo. It cuomo got pulled into kicking and screaming, a compromise. Even jerry brown. My point is, just echoing on earlier. Been said the temperature is rising. And theres a liberty and justice for all moment here. Iberty, thats republican, limited government, all this sort of stuff. Justice, thats us. Dont hit on Little People. Theres a liberty and justice for all moment coming that i think we might find some overlap. Ladoris youre listening to clubalifornia commonwealth program, in commemoration of ary, and we annivers are discussing inequality in america. Our speakers are robert reich, former professor and secretary of labor. Aijen poo, van jones, former for house special advisor green jobs and cnn commentator. Katrina vanda heuvel. Former Police Auditor for the jose and your moderator and you can hear Commonwealth Club programs on the radio, catch up with us on facebook and twitter and see Program Videos on our youtube channel. Were at a point where we want to go to questions that have been submitted from the audience. Do that, lets do quick inequality jeopardy round. So im going to give a quote all up equality to you here, and you tell us who said and remember, your answer has to be in the form of a question. So if you dont know for sure the answer, just take a good guess at it. Itll be fine. Here we go. First quote, republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but conflict, the man before the dollar. A guess. Sec. Reich ted cruz. Let let. Ladoris anybody else . Katrina andrew carnegie. Lincoln. M sec. Reich its almost ted cruz. Ladoris all right. Next one. With nt get rich dealing politicians, then theres something wrong with you. [laughter] van willy brown. Ladoris willy brown, he said. [laughter] sec. Reich be careful. He knows what city youre in. Ladoris close. The answer, donald trump. Next one. The law in its majestic equality, for business and rich as well as the poor, from begging under bridges, on the streets and stealing bread. Anatole france. Ladoris bingo, very good. Last one. Those are my [laughter] ladoris last one. Those are my principles. And if you dont like them, well, i have others. Nixon. Hard groucho marx. [laughter] ladoris so now we will turn to questions from you all. Questions for you all. Individuals e enough power to be effective but not enough to be corrupted . Sec. Reich can we give a life line . Van give a round of applause. Federal judge. Give a round of applause. [applause] ladoris who is the epitome of justice. Absolutely. So how do we give people power, not too much . Van its all in the balance, and i love that, i think you had some ideas from our earlier discussion. But listen, this is a dynamic system. People want to figure out, you know, geez, you talk to young 2008, and oted in everything didnt get fixed. I quit. I mean, this is a dynamic system were going to be continuing to interact with and try to improve and learning from for hopefully another thousand years. And so there is no one single answer or one single thing, because even if you fix it today, theres new technologies tomorrow, and y democracies, they practice. Ladoris didnt you write in your book, that it really isnt corruption, right . Say its people making rules . Sec. Reich yes, i mean, the new form of corruption is, in fact, mostly very big institutions, large corporations, wall streets, and lso some very wealthy individuals who are buying their way into american politics in he form of changing the rules the way of the market, the way the market actually functions. Themselves hink of as corrupt. They think thats just the way hey have to lobby in order to maintain themselves and obey the principles of fiduciary obligation to their shareholders, but its actually undermining the entire system. Question, your r honor may i call you your honor . Ladoris i love it. Please do. [laughter] sec. Reich as long as were passing around appreciation, let me just appreciate you. Your Public Service has been exemplary. [applause] [applause]. C. Reich and you are both both great u are artists. Like brother reich here, you are an accomplished artist. Maybe the left brain and the right brain can get us out of this. Ladoris i didnt realize. Lets get back to the questions here. Aijen can i say one thing on that point . Look at, i think if you the healthiest democracies around the world, one thing they have in common is really, really vibrant social movements and so one of the things that we most importanthe things we can do is add oxygen to social movements, because i the context eates view. Ood governance in my sec. Reich i think youre absolutely right, and the greatest enemy of social cynicism. S aijen thats right. Thats right. [applause] sec. Reich and every single time anybody detects any degree of politics in our democracy to function as it it can, they are contributing to a selffulfilling prophecy. Aijen to pick up on the cynicism, its very tricky in e because edia coverag we do a lot of investigations as a nation, and you expose corruption. You expose abuse, in the hope that wrongs will be righted. But it can also lead to cynicism, and i think theres a balancing act there. I agree with you. Its not only cynicism. Its cynicism about the role of government. That is so much at the heart of it. Ive heard so many people, and the re right, say government is the captured, and on behalf oforking the people. Theyre right. You want to take it back, clean working, and show it seems the most important thing you can do in politics, of movements, electoral politics, is to show that you can improve the condition of peoples lives. Wage stagnation. Labor, 40, etary of 50 years, you know, africanamerican communities, white working class, its brutal, and no attention really paid or no concern really showed until these last years. That will turn people away from politi olitics, from government, from a belief that government can a too often f of sided common good. Van ive been sitting here, and i think shes holding out on us, because we were talking about leftright stuff. You have been able to get people on your issues in a way that i think has shocked a lot of people and i thought you might have said something during that leftright conversation. Insight . Ve any aijen i did. I was actually just going to ay i mean, ive been so nspired by hook 50 and all the work youve been leading on mass incarceration and i think that we just have to get smarter and more creative about how we are connecting the dots between and pain that kinds of people feel in this economy. That we f the things think about a lot is the fact this country is actually generation aby boom is reaching retirement age at a ate of a person every eight seconds. 10,000 people turn 65 per day. Call it the silver tsunami, the gray revolution. [laughter] sec. Reich why did somebody give me a microphone . [laughter] aijen and what its resulting in well, and also, because of advances in healthcare and technology, people are living longer than ever before, so people of my grandmothers demographic are the fastestgrowing demographic in the country, 85 and older. The are about to have largest older population weve this ad in the history of country. Country. [applause] aijen no, its a good thing. Exactly. Katrina living longer, loving longer, connecting longer if we have the right supports in place. Because of the huge demand, the need for care givers is going we ugh the roof, and represent care givers. The Fastest Growing occupation care, and on is home the average annual Median Income for Homecare Workers is 13,000 per year. So here you have a situation where millions of people, 27 million, to be precise, by the are going to need care just to meet their basic daily eeds, and then you have an incredibly talented but overstretched and undervalued working poor workforce. If we could connect the dots invest in a ually new care infrastructure and the ability for people to afford the care they need so that they can independently, age connected to their communities and this workforce that can upport that independence actually gets invested in such that these jobs become good jobs for the future, right, its a winwin. People get to age in place, and people get good jobs. Winwin, right. [applause] aijen this is the kind of agenda, right, that connects eople across race, class, generations, and ideology, and we just need that, you know, really comprehensive way in this country, so that instead of polarized,creasingly the long lines of race and generation, were actually turning towards each other and finding solutions at the places where our interests come together. Let me pick up on and ask a question from the audience. Hy do the working class, the working poor, so often vote in defense of the 1 . N other words, vote against their best interest, and how might we change that . Van i want to Say Something about that question. The deal. Think this is a question that ask its a favorite among liberals and progressives, and i dont like it. Ill tell you why i dont like it. There are people who vote self t their economic interests. And there are people in this liberals rich help for higher taxes to poor people are voting against heir economic self interests, but nobody calls them stupid. You say oh, thats because values. Our we care so much about our values, our higher values. Well, great. Im a southerner. I grew up in the rural south. I grew up on the edge of a small town. I grew up in Public School and was in church every sunday. Im much more comfortable in red anyplace rica than else. And that white guy who votes liberal programs is voting against his economic self interests and for a set of values. And if you listen to what he says, hell tell you, i know wind up hurting me. But i dont want you taking and tryingses money to bribe me with their money, so you can undermine my parenting decisions. I want my kids to be independent. If my kid makes a mistake, i stolen nt you taking money to bail them out. Have a value of respecting other peoples property. I have a value of respecting good parenting. I dont like you stealing peoples money to undermine my parenting decision. Now, listen, thats value. Doesnt help you with china. Doesnt help you with a whole set of problems. Ut when we come to people and say, youre just too stupid, to and us r own interests, mart liberal folks on the cuff are going to tell you what your interests are, its highly it also makes it impossible for us to partner. You se i tell you what, if insult somebody, it doesnt wrong,if youre right or if youve offended them. I go the other way and i say, understand, and i believe that you are making reflect yourat both economic interests as do i, and your values, as i do. So lets talk about your values and how we can make your family stronger. Youve got to go around let me tell you, the worst thing you can do to somebody is to tell hem that, and i think the iberal on these coasts, im going to go on about this. Cut out the radio if you need to, but this is important here. I remember in 2004, i had a son big, now hes 11. At as a little burrito baby the time. And i was with a bunch of other folks, and they had just reelected george w. Bush, nd somebody called the middle fuckstan ntry dumb because they didnt vote for john kerry. Moment, im that part of something very important on the left. Nation, i as a remember that moment, and i people is a the politics that is dead on arrival. The elites probably failed, but the people are not the ones to blame. Right youre absolutely then, and i think ill say very briefly, that theres a gop crackup were witnessing, where you have the country Club Establishment republicans, not with a at is going on base. Opulist i can guarantee you donald trump would go to ohio and talk trade, and do real well with a whole set of people, right, left, center, transpartisan. So i think its an interesting moment where there is a group there are people within who you lican party could argue could have voted against their own self interest who are liberals have, waking up saying, wait a minute, im not getting my share from country club kind of republicans, but i agree with you, politics blames the people first. Going anywhere. Van i just want to say i just dont think i may have misspoken. Its very painful for me. I just dont think you can lead dont love. U and i think that theres a part rhetoric that doesnt love the middle of the see them in nt their pain, doesnt see them in their beauty, and almost sort of casts them out in a way. And its painful katrina there are different lefts, there are different rights. My husband is from owensboro, kentucky. We go every year. You know, you get to know people. We went down there a couple of years ago. We went to owensboro, which is by louisville, and we spoke at big trucks and cars. And i was worried. I mean, you know, im editor of the nation. And part of what happens, and just very briefly, as you talk to people, you find common interests. You may not agree on everything, but the idea that everyone has to agree on everything, ive never believed in, but youre able to talk. So much of our media doesnt talk to people. It makes them spectators. It makes them feel cynical. It cuts them out, right. So im just saying, theres a this irling around in issue. Sec. Reich i was told that the reason i got a microphone was because my mike isnt working. So you didnt hear anything ive said all evening. [laughter] and thats sort of depressing. Id like to introduce myself. [laughter] and theres a few things id like to get off my chest. One of them has to do van, id like to speak on behalf of coastal liberals. [laughter] because im sure that there are better, perhaps, great middle, the my outh, but actually, experience is that there is a widespread sense, whether its southern berals or conservatives, or midwestern tea powerlessness. And that sense of powerlessness is almost universal in america except for a very, very small elite. Ow, id like to also put in a good word on on behalf of the baby boomers, who have also come in for some discussion tonight. I was born in 1946. [laughter] so was bill clinton. So was george w. Bush. So was donald trump. Was born os anybody in 1946. [laughter] and a lot of the boomers, political learnings, and the kind of Formidable Political about were not powerlessness. They were about power. Rshiping i mean, we learned through civil Rights Movements, the antiwar movement, we could make change. And i think what americans need more than ever before, and certainly since the 60s, is a a sense that acy, they could make a difference. Years en teaching for 25 young people between the age of i have never in 35 years, encountered a generation 25yearolds that are more realistic and etermined to get back this country than the current one. [applause] so i am very optimistic, but i think we can build the kind of coalition that weve all been hinting around, but it has got of mutuald on a sense interdependence, the need for us to have a voice to overcome a ower structure that has becoming completely unconnected, everyone, ed from including coastal liberals. [laughter] did you hear me . Because sometimes i feel like i dont have a voice. [laughter] ladoris so another question. Lets talk remedies. What are the metrics of success reform . U look for in tax for example, ted cruzs proposal of a flat tax. [laughter] ladoris go for it. Sec. Reich there are a number of tax proposals out there that are, in a time of raging nequality, so extraordinarily stupid that almost works. For dea of a flat tax, example, a flat tax necessarily means that highincome people less and aying lowincome people would be paying more. Thats how you get to a flat tax. So dont have anybody tell you differently. That is going to aggravate country. Ty in this its as bad as trickledown economics. Its as bad as austerity economics. Voodoo, her version of economics. [applause] [laughter] sec. Reich have i found my voice . [laughter] katrina i think on the more positive side, i did love it in the nie sanders said debate that president eisenhower radical than he was, when you consider the 91 marginal tax rate on people making over 400,000, which would be equivalent of about 3 million today. I am passionate about something called the robin hood tax. It also has but ranspartisan support, the conservative finance minister in germany, but the idea is small speculation, stocks, trade, currency, and take that wall street money and reinvest it in main stream, in rebuilding the middle class, and the other thing is tax work, unearned income at the same rate or much higher than work. T is just insane that you have holes edge fund tax loop filling our system. I think bob reich, if we put him here tonight and closed him in the cabinet, could come forward with a manifesto. But quickly, we all know in many ways what the solution is. Its the political its the inequality of political power. Back what could be done to make this a far more rational, far more fair system. Received a ve number of questions just about capitalism and the capitalist ystem and ill just put this one here. Isnt income inequality just the unfortunate reality of a capitalist system . Van yes, at some level, but you can get to a level where the up and you lf seizes have a tremendous problem and i think thats where we are. Say is g i wanted to that somethings happening here in Northern California that i you we havent discussed, know, were moving into the digital age now. See, since usual to were talking about millenials, to see a 23, 26, 31yearold multimultimillionaire wandering around here in the mission district. [laughter] or people who are listening to this on the radio, it used to be a working class neighborhood 20s, and its y now not. So i do think theres something happening and i dont think we you know, past it. There is this technology dimension, and i dont think our conception of the liberal conception, our conception of the state has caught up yet. I still think that we primarily think of the state as a redistributor redistributor, that we are still industrialnd of this ge capitalism, where the production needs to be in the hands of certain people, and the states carry them along by Popular Movement to redistribute on the nd push back environmental destruction and all sorts of stuff. And i just look at whats actually happening in the economy. Say is one thing i can that the future is not being written in laws in washington d. C. Written e seems to be in code in Silicon Valley, and it gets shipped every day fast. And the ability of the state as we have known it to catch up, let alone keep up, is quite dubious. So for me, the Popular Movement becomes much more important to actually get change. I dont just mean Popular Movements to elect candidates. I mean Popular Movements to do battle on a daily basis, to employ technology on a daily basis, to connect with each other on a daily basis and to be actual moment where change is growing exponentially. I dont think the left should anymore say we are trying to make change. When we e sound weird say that. Silicon valley is making change. Revolutions happening in bio tech and nanotech, in drones, and smart screens. Able to pricko be your finger, put it on a slide, put it into a machine and print out a copy of your liver in four years. Thats real. When you have that much change, change. Is not to make change is coming faster than we know. Our goal should be to make hange work for our people, to make change our friend, to find a way, whether we can use the aboutment or not, i worry this Political Coalition talk. Whether we can get the government on our side or not to find ways for Popular Movements to make change our friend, and where government can be captured, great, but i dont think we should leave these communities to the tender market or of the state in an age like this. [applause] katrina the talk about capitalism makes me think why bob has been traversing the country, going to the heartland. Your book is about capitalism. Thoughts. To hear your there are many different kinds of capitalism, so sec. Reich i think the point s that there really is not a division between governments and free markets, and if we accept away ivision, weve given most of the argument. Government is creating the market. In Silicon Valley, if there werent a patent system or an intellectual property system that is enforced by the government, where patents and trademarks continue to get longer and longer, where its harder and harder to litigate against them, where intellectual property is a central subject of he transpacific partnership, where the power over networks in platforms and rd Standard Software portals is getting larger and larger, and in the hands of a smaller and s, andr number of companie antitrust is not being used as it could be used. Very k these are all central questions that have to do with the structure of the markets. Draw the distinction between government and market, and i think that i think part people is ng understanding how government is shaping the market, and its not even a question of the size of government. Its not a large government or small government. The government is working for us, or its working for a smaller and smaller minority of people who have a greater degree of power over it. The na does that mean lobbyists then . Sec. Reich this is a big piece of inequality. Lobbyists and also, political contributions, and relatively er of a small minority to get experts, university experts. Ladoris think tanks. Sec. Reich and think tank experts to substantiate whatever they want, and congressional hearings, and elsewhere. Power wer, all of that has a compounding effect on the market is organized. Let it tilts the market in the increasingly, of the wealthy, and the wealthy institutions of society. And as the market is tilted in that direction, you see that consequence is for the wealthy to have even more power, and large institutions, large corporations, and wall street to even get more power over the ding t, and that compoun gets worse and worse. Its a vicious cycle that unless we understand it, and attempt to reverse it vailing power, we are not going to accomplish much. I couldnt agree with you more, all of you, about the importance of Grass Roots Organization. But Grass Roots Organization is understanding or and recapturing the central society. Ions of our [applause] ladoris so one of the questions follows up on that. Corporations united, i mean Citizens United. So we have a couple of questions about what is to be done to reverse that decision. Constitutional amendment and one question is whats the possibility of even getting support from the that icans to overturn decision. Katrina 15 states, 600 cities issue repeal, to amend Citizens United. Obviously, we need a different Supreme Court. This election is critical, i mean, the next resident will have the power, most likely, you know more about three justices. Hecolleague also writes when writes about this, we must move immediately to repeal. I said john, youve got to give people points along the road. Financing, public 61, has not only elected a mayor who ran on the most ambitious antiinequality agenda we had seen. Lets not forget, he had a lot some uble but is doing good things. But the city council, because of radical nancing, political voices would not have been elected without that. I think Public Financing empowers people. Its not just limiting money. Might nots people who waitress, a n, a sheriff not a sheriff, but movements, an interesting anticorruption trust busting candidate ran with very public oney with some financing, and gave andrew cuomo run for his political electoral life. So i think there are ways to do it, but the Citizens United decision, and not just the Citizens United decision ustice, but others have compounded and dismantled what have remained and left us in a families, the 8 new york sometimes reported last half of ve contributed the Campaign Funding so far in this election so i think the politics of power inequality, you begin with Public Financing, you build out. And i think in cities and states cross this country, you can begin to chip away at Citizens United. Van i just want to say briefly opponents have one trategy, big money in, Little People out. Thats their approach to elections. People out. , little we have a split where you have our movement that talks about big money, and you have the other part that talks act. The Voting Rights we dont talk as much about Citizens United. The Voting Rights. Everybody saw the movie selma. That legislation they fought and died for has been destroyed by the Supreme Court. And so when you have us over here marching for our basic right to vote, and others weve about big money, got to pull that together. Whichuld have one agenda, is big money out, Little People in. Pplause] sec. Reich well, the Supreme Court, remember, were talking about five of nine justices who responsible for the van wasshelby decision, just referring to, for Citizens United. That ts not forget, not many years ago was buckley ersus vallajo, where the Supreme Court found that money was the equivalent of speech. Not only are corporate you know, to conceive somehow that corporations are people and money is speech. Talk about the triumph of big people. Tions over little eve got to get one vote, of five votes, weve got to get one vote changed. This is not impossible. Katrina, you are 100 right. The next president , i think one of the biggest issues i think in terms of this upcoming election issing who is going to get to be president. I dont generally support tests of, you know, you can only be a Supreme Court justice if you if you stand or this one thing or promise this one thing. Believe that the next Supreme Court justice in order o be nominated and confirmed has got to pledge to vote against Citizens United and repeal it. [applause] ladoris so lets talk minimum wage. Are you in favor of raising the minimum wage . If so, what should it be . Katrina 15. [applause] an on interns making 15 hour. [applause] you know, Hillary Clinton sided with alan kruger in the debate. There are debates about regional numbers. I dont know what your latest thinking i think 15 is the go, and i think we see it oving obviously because its the power of movement. And by the way, we havent talked about this, the power of cities and states at a time when washington is in grid lock. Seattle, are the Great Coalition cities,le, and in other its moved like wild fire in the word. Sense of the sec. Reich yeah, cities and states are moving on the minimum wage. Katrina, ono moving, issues you brought up a moment financing, s public maine, recently ohio, connecticut, theyre moving on antijerry antijerrymandering. Public commissions. One of the great things we did in california was get districting out from under the politicians. Im very proud to be the chairman of a National Organization called common cause, which has done a lot of work, and is now focusing on the states on many of these issues. An hour, d to 15 minimum wage, let me just say this. I understand the position that says, well, cost of living is different in different parts of the country and, therefore, one 15 minimum wage might be too much for another place. Kind of nt make that distinction when it comes to worker safety, minimum labor ds, or child minimum standards or any other regard to with minimum decency in america, and i think thats a given that the in 1968 adjusted for inflation would today be 10. 60, and thats not adjusting for the increase in roductivity, the dramatic increase in American Workers productivity, even lowwage workers. Inflationust for both and productivity, the minimum than ould be far higher 15 an hour right now. National uld be a minimally decent wage for americans. Pplause] aijen just a couple of other things about minimum wage, there are groups of workers still excluded from minimum wage protection well, up until ago, 2 million home care workers were excluded and overtime age protections because of that 1930s legacy of racial exclusion and the labor laws, and this department of labor actually change rward on a rule that brought those 2 million workers under protections. [applause] aijen i think its one of the most important victories for that the obama administration, actually. But there are still workers, people with disabilities, who essentially who are still excluded from minimum wage protections. Theres a little cause called 14c which allows for some companies and even nonprofits to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage. Tipped minimum wage, which hasnt been increased. 2. 90. K its still lots of e ways in which we need to also swiss cheese of what is minimum wage and secure it, in addition to raising it to 15. So i just want to so theres restaurantled by the Opportunity Centers united called for one fair wage, to tipped minimum wage altogether and raise us all. Pplause] ladoris so katrina, there was some reference made, and this is a quick question there was some reference made with to the transpacific partnership, we heard mentioned, or which president obama was campaigning. You have called it antiamerican. Call it ms. Heuvel this is a question robert reich should be addressing. I think one of the unamerican aspects in the way the treaty was sold was how secretive it was. This is how trade treaties have been sold through time. Secretive, nontransparent, the incentives for corporations to be nonpatriotic and move out of this country. At its root what i have always fought against is the view the Progressive Left is anticompensation. Its not. We covered seattle, we covered the fights against a beauty oh, we covered the fights for fair globalization. It is for whom, whose behalf, how. Bob referred to the patent laws. The intellectual property protections, the arbitration secrecy, the lack of access for ordinary citizens to know how they are being shafted by these trade deals that have contributed to the stagnation of wages over the last, 40, 50 years. I dont know its antiamerican, but is the worst of america. Its not the best of our traditions. I think the fight still goes on, but this was a case where we saw wall street exerted its strength, its power, and the resident worked hard and over time to sell it. And got into a fight, with i would argue, if Bernie Sanders is contending for this title, the leader of the populist wing of the party for stop senator warren did not back down and spoke articulately and effectively about the reasons why she could see other kinds of trade agreements. Judge cordell we have time for one last question. We have come to the end of the program, so i will pose one last question. If you were elected the next president of the United States, within your first 100 days, name one thing that you would do to end income and or wealth inequality in america. Who wants to go first . Bob . Sec. Reich get big money out of politics. [applause] judge cordell you have to give us a little more. Sec. Reich oh. [laughter] sec. Reich the key to all of this, from the standpoint of what this nation can be and what we want, whether we are talking about a coalition of populist, left, right, whether we are talking about a new set of grassroots initiatives, or whether we are talking about reclaiming our democracy, we can only do it if we get big money out of politics. This is the keystone. It is not the be all, end all, but it is the first preliminary step. If we want to do anything on the other issues, single payer or free public education, minimum wage, whatever you want to begin looking at, you cannot do it if the game is rigged, and it is rigged. Ive been there. Ive seen the rigging. Ive tried to fight against the rigging. I started out in 1967 as an intern for robert f kennedy. There was not all that much rigging then. Washington was a rather poor and seedy place, but it has gotten progressively wealthier. Of the five counties surrounding the district of columbia, three of them are among the wealthiest in the United States. When i started in washington, only 6 of retiring members of Congress Went on to become lobbyists, because there was not that much money in being a lobbyist. Now 50 of retiring members of congress, half of them, become lobbyists because theres so much money. Washington is a glimmering emerald city. We have to get big money out of that city and out of every state capital. [applause] judge cordell if we could hear from the rest . Ms. Poo family care. A new system to support the caregiving needs of families that would allow them to be more affordable and also improve the quality of caregiving jobs. [applause] judge cordell van . Mr. Jones i know we only have one minute left. Ending mass incarceration is the most important thing, i think, that could be done to make it possible for 40 million africanamericans to even have a shot. We have not spoken as much about it as i think we should in these discussions about the economy. So i just have to say this you hear over and over again, 5 of the worlds population, 25 prisoners. Ds that means one out of every four people on planet earth are locked up tonight. In the United States, we only have 5 of the worlds population. Those are disproportionately africanamerican, latino, minorities. It is now better to be innocent. Those numbers do not tell the full story. One out of every four africanamerican men now is predicted to have a prison record by the time they are an adult. Its actually one out of three. That is a repeat of the dehumanization, of enslavement, of jim crow. The idea this could be happening in our country and we continue to act like it is ok or normal i think is something we have to dial up opposition to. There are safe, smart ways to roll back mass incarceration. This has become i want to be clear this has become the signature, defining issue for the Africanamerican Community, period. And you are talking about a population, if you are a democrat, in order for any president ial candidate to win as a democrat, African Americans have to support that candidate 60 . No, im sorry, 70 . No, im sorry, 80 . No, im sorry, 90 . No, im sorry, 92 to 94 . You have a political party, the Democratic Party, that needs near unanimous support from our community, and we have to climb over obstacle after obstacle to vote. Africanamericans are standing in long lines in the rain to vote. And we elect a party that until recently would not even break its breath to talk about the issue. In fact, was on the wrong side of the issue for way too long. I want to say very clearly, for the Latino Community, immigration is number one. For women, choice is number one. The Africanamerican Community has a thousand problems, but for us mass incarceration, where you stand on locking up an entire generation of africanamericans for something we know kids are doing right now, is the number one issue. Anybody i dont care who you are, i dont care what you did in 1963 or 2009 or yesterday if you grab a microphone and you say you are a progressive and you dont speak about this issue with some passion and some heart and some concern and care, as if it were your children under this level of threat, you cannot and should not count on the quiet support of africanamericans. The obama era of black silence is over. Its over. [applause] [cheers] mr. Jones look, i feel horrible, personally horrible. I started my career working on this stuff for years and for decades, and we have failed over and over again to challenge the democrats to do better. To force the democrats to stop chasing after fear mongering and racism and support the political points off of our communitys backs. That is why you are going to see more not less more africanamericans asking these questions, more african murk and scholars asking these questions, and i beg everybody in this room if you hear somebody saying when your thread or anything else, what are these people doing, they are ungrateful, they are uppity, never again, we are not going quietly. This is getting worse, not better. We have been there. The Africanamerican Community has been there on immigrant rights. It was very easy for black folks to come out and say these immigrants are stealing our jobs. You have not heard that. The Obama Coalition includes Latino Community and black leadership. They defend immigrants. The black community could have easily been moved against the lgbt movement. Our churches are not in the right place on this, but you have not seen any prominent africanamerican leadership attacking lesbians and gays for 10 years because the black initiative, we say, shut up, these people are part of the coalition. Latinos and the environmental issue. The entire Congressional Black Caucus voted for capping trade. We have been there for every contingency down the line. And we insist that people be there for us this time. Thank you very much. Judge cordell thank you, president jones. [cheers and applause] ms. Heuvel very briefly, our priorities are skewed. I would say we must end endless wars as americas engagement with the world. [applause] ms. Heuvel americas policing of the world has detracted from the Real Security needs, tackling inequality, redefining security at home. And one thing the president could do in the first two hours is understanding the transition and close the 800 bases ringing this world. They are not going to modernize nuclear weap