Transcripts For CSPAN Race In America 20130902

My name is jerry streets. I work at a church in you have in new haven. I was also a chaplain of Yale University for 15 years and have been a member of Divinity School since 1987. For 63lived in basia years. Was from a prominent africanamerican family in and part of my family was polish catholic. Members i have of that kind of experience is how home at basia, but in the neighborhood, it was considered just black. We think about our local experiences and our history of race. For me, i think one of the greatest challenges for us, to have a different kind of language and critique for the world of culture and racism, not culture and race. Draw station i tried to from that, all the good things, one of the ways culture functions is that it can be a conduit for ideology, four perspectives. And racism for me is the ways by which we take any aspect of any Ethnic Community and privilege it or disqualify it over others. So it is not just a matter of looks. It is a language, it is the distinctions we make of language, gender, sexua orientation. Ideology, that also relates privileges and sometimes is used to [indiscernible] people who use those characteristics. I am aware in some situations, what i walk into a room, my gender and as per serves my gender and race as perceived by those people and when there and how theyion are going to fit together what they [indiscernible] in an actual presentation. And sometimes as a pastor and a worker, bothal eras of professional practice i am engaged in, i see so many signs of hope as you indicated, in interesting dating. If you take [indiscernible] from families were multiethnic, to where the world [indiscernible] and to some extent that is true. But i think we have to allow for the fact that it is not either or, but both and. That is, you have this multiplicity of blending community, but at the same time you can have [indiscernible] or taketill privileges a certain aspects of people and use that as a means of discrimination. Let me say, just recently there has been in the call for education, an article about the makeup of leadership of all the ivy league schools, i was actually disappointed and concerned about a comment made attempted to a senior administrator who indicated and im paraphrasing that for minority people, african rican people, opportunity does the person dominate accommodate the dominant culture to make people feel comfortable . Thenought was, if they do, what does that mean, and what happens when you do make everyone feel comfortable, but the ones that youre making feel comfortable are still looking at you through the lens of those folk and how does that get negotiated and in spite of how comfortable you can make people feel, there still is because you are not invited, you assume conversations because and the the ambiguity, same people youre making feel comfortable still identify your language, looks, gender, out of their prism of his and of history. Lastts pick up on that point. Everybody on the stageto be a white man. [indiscernible] [laughter] we all know how to make other people comfortable. Yeah. The question i want to put to future, how much additional room will there be for us to have allamerica edges, all of our expressions, ity understood without feeling [indiscernible] . We can always hope. I want us to go back first to this issue of interracial is him becauserracialism, there is increasing visibility of interracialism and intermarriage, but we all know it is nothing new. As jerry pointed out already. And i cannot help but wonder if some of the sort of celebration of interracialism at the celebrity level might also function sometimes to obscure racialized systems of oppression that we call racism, and i do not want to go any further in the conversation here. I want to mention because it is a book that has had immense impact in my crow,g, the new jim because we had this as a common read this past year. And she talks about how a maskslind society in fact a new jim crow, which she diagnoses as the system of mass incarceration and the drug war color,eps communities of particularly africanamerican men, but not exclusively the same could be said for hispanic man and immigrants and illegal immigration is being tackled through mass incarceration, and native americans are also disproportionately incarcerated of theat every level criminal justice system, we know there is racial discrimination, and that goes on under the rhetoric of a Colorblind Society that then makes us believe that it is not because of race that so many people of color are kept in a kind of permanent underclass, both in prison and through the felony laws that keep them away from full participation in the society after their release. So i think it is important in any conversation about race i find to make that point, kind of like a reality check, if we are talking about increasing it is not again, and just a happy picture. Lets not allow that conversation to obscure what in fact is still structured in our society. There is huge Racial Disparity that we need to tackle. I think there are signs of hope in the increasing awareness of the issue that we see in, for example, at the Divinity School reading this book, and there is immense attention to this book around the country, in various churches and faith communities. But i do not see that going away. I do not see racism and White Privilege disappearing as a result of butou make a double point, the cause you also suggested because you also suggested the reason for continued disparities is incarceration, and that is structurally similar to what was being said earlier, that even if judgments about race are based on color, yes, but you are removed from it, some other factor that is tied to race or his survey was very much connected. The point i am getting, even as race itself on the face of things becomes less visible, or just way more complex, thanks to Kim Kardashian [laughter] it does not mean that and life prospects and possibilities are thrown away. [indiscernible] betweeno distinguish culture and racism, but i want to make the same point between the internal experience of identity and what is described by the society. Both of you spent a youof time or i suspect having read your essays, and i know you have experiences with theines a plug experience of trying to sort out your own identity in the world, but finding it differently how you see your own life, and it is becoming more difficult for people over the next 40 years, where there own internal sense of who they are in racial, whatever else terms does not necessarily map onto what they being told about themselves. I will combine that with the question you asked radius. Previous, where we are always negotiating, learning how to be white guys. Absolutely. Sometimes i identify as it indianamerican hindu, raised in the south. I am a proud southerner. Very proud to be from atlanta. I am hindu, also. Fine when i amis teaching and i want to wear my the long outfits, the topic comes down to here, but to a formal function or something among even a formal function on andus, i will wear a sari, that is good because it makes the university looks good. I will be out there. That is one thing. Then to beer thing able to actually have access to the president and the board of advisors, which is the various Vice President s, and do they really want to hear what i have to say there, right . So there is acceptance of diversity, but in certain locations. Who defined those locations depends on who has the power to him and that is very real for me. Simply because i cant get indian food wherever i because i can get indian food whenever i want, and i can dress however i want, and it is seen as cool and fashionable does not need that i still have not fighting my way to have my voice heard in ways that really impact , for example, my students or the Larger Population in general. And it takes so much energy, for those of you who have to do it, we have torategy, strategize as to how we are going to play it. That is neverending. I do not know how to do that everyday there were a lot of double negatives there. [laughter] absolutely. I was teaching my first second animation Asian American studies class and at and ad of that class, second of expected an ax and out of view, does not a southern one. [laughter] i share the same experience in this sense that i have a very ethnic name. In neworn and raised england, and i always have teachers or faculty members, even at work, folks will assume that i do not speak english, or they will assume that i just came from such and such country. It was very hard for me growing up with an ethnic name. It has been hard for me with the things that im doing. This year, after share the invocation during commencement. Of trusty members looking at me like, what is she doing here . And when i was introduced as the chaplain it was like, of oh, youre the chaplain . What is that supposed to mean . You look younger. I thought you were one of the students. Well, thank you very much. That idea has not been the first. Walking into classrooms, i could remember my friend and i at the divinities school, we were at the graduate School Campus and we would say, this building was so beautiful, but it was not created for people like us. There were white men at one point sitting here, and now you have folks of color looking around and you look at the ictures and it is like, whoa, dont see anyone who looks like me. What does that mean . It has definitely been an experience to be the first, or even to walk and carry the torch of someone who passed it to me. I remember my experiences as a law professor and looking some on the wall, and i saw men and women of different shades, but every picture looked exactly like every other picture. There was a stronghold, and a few were willing to fit into that picture, you could be there. And increasingly, that is the kind of bind that we find ourselves in. Everyone on this panel has something to do with religion. [indiscernible] [laughter] about religion and race. Religion has played a significant role in maintaining, or justifying racial and other hierarchies. That often the case religions can play a role in prodding societies to dismantle racial and other hierarchies. I want to give you guys to think about the future. Looking forward, what do you think would be the role of the future . Within the larger christian world, the more difficult questions and what it means to live out a Christian Life has a deep ethical and spiritual implications. It is hard to have a conversation about because we tend to talk a lot about ideological, an political, values conflict, which is important also. But the deeper question about our common humanity and how we are called into community with one another and how that sense of community can undergird and make sure our core values as a Democratic Society become a for religion. In the late 1700s, a very insightful slave was converted to christianity. He made the assumption based on his conversion that he was now equal to his master. And he said so, and the master said, no, i dont think so. And they called a conference to discuss this question. Converts to christianity, is he or she now . Qual to his master and the conclusion was, yes, but only in heaven. [laughter] of the slavetatus remains slave. Not free, but slave. The spiritual status was equal, but that was something he the only experience in heaven. Religion then, wheels ofe of those ideology that continues to oppress people. Religion, like any ideology, can be used for good or for evil. [indiscernible] i want to share a couple of things that he said. Ne, hes been careful about it of thes an understanding self and why we are here on planet earth, can that be mined . O break down saidso said is often that in these two situations , im aure describing christian now and im free, i guess, in heaven. There is the separation of church in state. The state was still free to shackle him. I actually wrote about this in my essay in reflections magazine if anyone wants to follow on that topic. This 17th century moment, or 18thcentury moment , canyoure talking about slaves convert to christianity and then become equal, it was not only a moment of christianity facilitating oppression, but also a moment in which racial and religious identities are clearly separated. Prior to the time, there had been an assumption, and continue to be in some ways that it was he dance that could be enslaved could leak hat could be enslaved. Race andories of religion were not clear the distinguished in that. Biden is kind of moment, now theres a separation between, ok, a slate can be christian, but that does not change their status as black, and therefore inflatable. Enslavable. And want to get back to the question that you asked. I do not always do that. Will religion play . This may be a cop out answer, and i will elaborate a little bit, but i think that inevitably our religious communities will continue to be both. Continuing to support the status quo of racism in many ways, but at the same time, we will also at times and in certain ways, prophetic voices for change. There are signs for hobe on the latter end hope on the latter end. There is new attention in many communities on the question of effort totice and an make Christian Churches as speaking specifically with the lakers in context as well, more multiracial. And i am speaking specifically within a christian context as well, more multiracial. We have been some of the most segregated races in general in america. Changed. Has not but there is an increasing awareness of that as a problem and a challenge. And the reason it is a problem you know, segregated, safe communities have sometimes been a positive resource for racial minorities. Within the context of a racist society, sometimes segregated, save communities have been a kind of necessary and good as a means to gain support and spiritual sustenance. While these communities save cultural experiences, it is predominantly churches, be they , that reinforces a justification that an affront to them is an affront to the gods that all of them serve. And no one should be satisfied of america indiscernible] thank you. But rethinking what everyone has to do, it is not just rethinking what we think about blacks, but also about whites. As hard as this work is, it has the potential for [indiscernible] there is a sociologist at who named michael emerson, has done a good deal of work on multiracial churches, or the challenge of how the churches can become more multiracial. That he also has an essay in the reflections magazine. If the United States is to successfully tackle the problems of racism, it has to be done at the level of churches. And he is talking specifically about churches, but we could clearly broaden that out to other faiths faith based groups more broadly. Segregated communities within based communities play a role in setting up boundaries. With the in group and the how group and what connection is that you have and how you can benefit in terms of getting a job and all of the other you know. He says it is an ethical obligation and the only way that the United States can tackle Racial Justice is to get at it through religious communities. For about one minute and 26 seconds. I will stop. For a long time, their work on race and religion continues to be done in a christian context. Were looking a blackandwhite in a crushing context. Dohink about what we need to is toce and religion 2. 0, consider the christian context, but then again, this situation. Withn hispanic protestant an indian background, with an arab muslim, all of these things are like juggling balls. At one sense, looking at black and white in the christian context, you have a control, if you will. It is much more difficult when we are considering all of these balls up in the air. Its christianaid norm activity. Because christianity affects all of the religions in terms of what they are when they come here. Im talking about some 300 years ago and im talking about someone who landed at Newark Airport yesterday. If you come with me to travel on a monday night, you will see my mom and dad put themselves before the deities and prostrate themselves. But that can be seen as kind of crazy or really overzealous. Because the normal way of praying is to sit in a pew with your hands folded. Depending on your tradition. The way i envision it is a dna double helix. I think that is a common feature that we will have to look at while still juggling these balls. Religion and its connection with race in the future, what can you . In aam hindu and i grew up hindu community. One of the things that will continue to affect hindu communities and other immigrant religious communities is migration. In immigrant live communities live transnational lives. In my case, theres more than one place a call home. I call atlanta, ga. Home, and i call india home. Im still working on calling new jersey home. But i will get there. [laughter] how does travel back and forth, family members travel back and in myimpact how hinduism case, i went to india every summer. Did,hankful that they because im flynt in the language and everything. But only three months a year with what i see how hinduism is lived in india, which is very different from the United States. There, its on thursday and everyone has thursday off. Class andcancelling tried to explain my students why they have thursday off. Hostility could grow. Me, it is this constant negotiation. But i think transnational as some is going to continue to affect how religious communities form in the United States. The immigration peace toce has the potential continue affecting the american scene. Since the 1970s, we have had the Hindu Temples at all across the netted states. Done in the end the indian architectural style. All of this blood, sweat, tears was put in by these immigrants who came over pos 1965. Generation, second theyre not going. Them as thelating concert migration. Is goingo see how that to last and what kind of impact there will be. Theyre not necessarily going to houses of worship. Theyre trying to figure out how hinduism relates to their lives. They want it, but they are struggling. And that is probably different panel. A few years ago i had the privilege of sitting down with a and they be married, waited for a whole year. The reason for that intensity was the groom was first generation pakistani and muslim and the bride was a first generation corrine in christian. Corian and christian. There were educating their families and parents about why they made the choice of the make that they made. And how they were going to accommodate the religious values at the core of both families. Learning a wonderful experience for everyone. They just had their first child a year ago. And that will have an impact in public places, along with the push back. On ins gone has gone white communities, too. Theyre struggling to figure out what it means to be part of this larger makes in the future. I think it is important that we consider listening to the children and to the Younger Generations. Specifically in our faith communities. They have so much to give. And within my community, the media is something that is embraced. Aat does it mean to be in community that is molded generational and multiethnic and multicultural . And we need to give children to worship and allow their to be the traditional way for those who may want that experience. But at times, that can be difficult. My experience, it is the language. The Younger Generation wants to worship in english. That is different. It is going to take time and a lot of work. I am hopeful and i believe that will continue to listen and be open to change. We should be mindful of the impact of china and other parts , on south america america, and on africa. Have a number of African American friends and internationals you talk about live in the United States, work andhina, backandforth, this developing relationship between the American People, africanamericans, and chinese, that is another mix of immigration. , whative been listening an interesting impact of china. This conversation can continue. You all have been very kind to listen in on us talk. Would love to your your thoughts on any of these subjects and more. To participate in an online discussion, there is a link that you can find on your web browser. Is a key code, and if you do not know what that is, ask someone younger than you are. Maybe we can be part of the same ongoing conversation as well. Thank you so much. This has been a delight. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] tonight, Supreme Court Justice Stephen breyer and former massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Margaret marshall, who wrote the 2003 Decision Making her state the first to legalize samesex marriage, discusses constitutional issues between state court and the Supreme Court. The media is an increasingly dominant criteria for every first lehia first lady. But at the end, biographical human stories are not limited to the 19th century or 20th century or the media or anything else. It is how these people into work. And prevail. Is how these people endure and prevail in the rough world of politics. Cspanon in two of the original series, first ladies. Livesg at their private and public roles. Tonight at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan radio, and c span. Org. Of live, tomorrow afternoon at 12 30 p. M. , a look at the benefits and risks of High Precision missiles targeted anywhere in the world. And then add to 30 p. M. , we will take you live to capitol hill where the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a hearing to draft a resolution authorizing the use of military force in syria. Secretary of state john kerry and secretary of defense chuck hagel are among the witnesses. The commission on political reform created by the Bipartisan Policy Center to Seek Solutions for ending partisanship in politics and government hosted a town hall discussion this last july in philadelphia. There was a Panel Discussion on Public Service, featuring commission members, including former senators trent lott and Olympia Snowe as well as id kennedy. This is one hour and 50 minutes. [applause] good afternoon. I am former senator Olympia Snowe and a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. I want to welcome you for ways a second series of National Conversations on american unity. What a true pleasure is to be able to gather in the great city of philadelphia, not all in the birth of america incurred here, but the genesis of what became an unprecedented experiment in government that would forever changed the face of our planet and humankind. Just to think about it, the two most seminal political documents created across the independent just across the Independence Mall from here. If we could bottle that atmosphere in that room and ship it off to congress, we would be onto something, right . [applause] rosen,to thank jeffrey obviously, for his visionary and exceptional leadership, both for him and the National Constitution centers for their hosting this important dialogue today. Allowing the awesome surroundings and the spirit of the Founding Fathers to serve as inspiration as we can mean an Public Attitudes toward service and government, as well as we can do to ensure that more americans are actively engaged with democracy, their community, and government. I would like to express my profound appreciation to the usa and meza especially, the , whongton bureau chief will be moderating. Today have been Invaluable Partners with the organizinger in these forums. I am also very proud to be able to cochair the commission on political reform with two former Senate Majority leaders, trent lott who will be here today, and tom daschle as well, and also former congressman dan brockman, who you will be hearing from shortly. Governor, senator, and secretary of the interior who will be on a subsequent panel. This will be untrue the Important Initiative a truly Important Initiative as we engage america. I am also grateful for the distinguished guests and represent a wide ranging array of perspectives and backgrounds and experiences in both the public and private sectors. Im also delighted to be able to welcome pennsylvanias state senator, senator Harris Walker. Were delighted to have you here. [applause] certainly can tell you he represented the essence of Public Service. We are delighted that you could be here with us today. The Bipartisan Policy Center created the commission on political reform. What makes it unique is we are engaging all of you as the public in his discussion about the causes and consequences of americas political, partisan divide. And what we can do about it, because that is what we are, a cando organization and a cando country. Issuing a sieve a specific set of reforms in the electro, congressional, as well onthe putting an emphasis encouraging the public and w ca. Will be issuing a set of recommendations at the conclusion of all of these National Town meetings. We kicked off the first town meeting, as i said earlier, at the Reagan Library in march. Following todays event, there will be two other events, one in october in columbus, ohio, at ohio state university. And then in march, and 2014 to at the Kennedy Institute and the jfk library in boston. Youll be hearing from the panel about exploring ways in which we can encourage and broaden Public Service and various aspects to Public Service. There are many dimensions to Public Service, but most especially, to encourage and broaden the pool of quality individuals who are willing to run for office and work for government, and most especially to apply their talents at all levels of government. We have seen there has been an explosive rise in hyper partisanship in washington as we see overall in the political system. We have seen too many talented men and women on so many college whouses across the country are skeptical because they do not believe they can have an impact in the world around them and they do not see Public Office as a desirable or viable option for their future. It is a national travesty and one that we must change. We have to determine how we can not only the political poison as environment, but also the inner workings of government. Be reaped restored and regarded as the means by which we meet monumental challenges and forge greater achievements. It encapsulates more than just running for office or serving in government. That was illustrated will be illustrated perfectly buyer latinos speaker we are fortunate to have this afternoon. Gm jim really does exemplified the best in the public field through building privatepublic partnerships. It is the story not only to be told, but to be replicated. He has established a company from a 350 million multiyear lingualve multi programs to implement Early Childhood education. But gm was not contented have to initiate the idea. He also championed the importance and significance of its two organizations across this country and even testified across the country. That is true commitment. Beyond that, he has been involved in so many other spheres. He was the president of the federal Advisory Council on the Federal Reserve system. He has been involved and engaged in numerous cultural, educational, and physical organizations. Distinctive recognitions in the form of the Horatio Algers distinguished citizen award, the corporate citizenry award. He has been awarded excellence in Corporate Finances and the workshop on maria ward. And during his tenure as ceo of the his company was named great work place award for working mothers. It does not get better than that. He personifies the notion of Public Service in its brightest and broadest facets. Contributions truly do shine a spotlight on how one person can make a difference because jim rohr has. Please give a very warm welcome to jim rohr. [applause] this is my best day. What a wonderful introduction. I will have to can that one. There are probably a lot of people would disagree with it. Thank you very much, senator. And with your own believable unbelievable career in the senate, have to thank you for that and congratulate you for that and for what you are continuing to do to bring a bipartisan nature to your office and run the country. Thank you. Can we have a round of applause for the senator . [applause] it is great to be here at a time when bipartisanship is so important. There are a number of things that we have to think about. Ourrder to make sure country gets back on track that we had been on from for a long time. This is a commitment to america. You are committing to bipartisanship. Whathen you think about took place here a couple hundred years ago, the characters that showed up here rode their horses to town to negotiate with the government must be. Could you imagine what it would be like if you wrote your horse all the way up from virginia . What kind of movie would be in . You would be in . [laughter] these people were the most disparate group of people you could ever imagine, coming from different countries, backgrounds to be here. But they came together in philadelphia and met in a bipartisan way and forged what is our constitution and what is the beginning of our country. It is amazing that these people worked together like that, and frankly, that they created something very special we have to remind ourselves that was not done easily. It took some great leadership and great compromising in order to get it right for the majority of the people of this country. Are here for this bipartisan program, so probably shedding light where there is no darkness. You people are already brought in. In. Bought we Work Together on teams and in partnerships and we know those accomplished a great deal more. I pulled some of the convert comments that came out of the congress lately that i thought were very team building. I thought of that already. [laughter] i dont need your help. [laughter] me show youand let how to do this, that always brings the team together. [laughter] if i needed your help, i would have passed for 8. Those are all quotations from recent weeks i would have asked for its. Those are all quotations from recent weeks. Isstructive dialogue critically important for the future of this country. We will not get to where we need settingthout actually aside some of our partisanship in order to seek the solutions forry, an agenda on the things that really matter. On thea common agenda things that really matter. That are a lot of things we talk about every day. To miss our focus sometimes and the things that are really important. Think about some of the trans. Im a pretty positive guy. Part of this is a result of the American Dream. A man came years ago over on a boat and he spoke french. I do not know why. I never met him. For some reason, he went to cleveland. [laughter] he got a job as a cook. My grandmother came over from ireland and got a job doing the laundry in hotel. I have seen pictures of these people. Relatively ordinary people my grandmother was not quite so ordinary. She was about 4 foot 11 inches in diameter. [laughter] child. D one that child never spoke gaelic. Never spoke french. Only spoke english. And the command was that child would go to school and to college. He did go to college. That was my father and he had a family. He was a very hardworking person. He passed away when i was 10. I got the idea of how to work hard because that was the culture of his family. I was fortunate enough to go to another game and work my way through ohio state. To another game and work my way through her ohio state. And ive had a wonderful career and a wonderful family. I am probably the American Dream in many ways. Things that you get to learn about in building a company and working for a company is how important education is the and how important it is to build a team. Have aortant is to Diverse Group of people around as 18. Work together you have to be able to force that team. Abraham lincoln made his wonderful speech at the gettysburg address. When he pulled his cabinet together, it was a team of very accomplished people in their own right and remarkably diverse in opinion, and in many cases, his opponents. But he put together what he thought was the best cabinet. They came together at a very important time in our countrys history and is a key to we are today. It is about having people discuss things in a bipartisan way. Also, to be successful you have to be honest. At have to take a hard look the issues that are really important. You have to use facts. Sometimes we do not like to use fax. If there is a big challenge, we do not like to look at the facts and we want to put it aside and hope to get better. And we say is politically incorrect to discuss that in that way, because it is easier to deal with it that way. The fact of the matter is, when you put your big challenges aside, they do not get fixed. They actually get worse. And then you have there with a ticket prices to fix things. You ought to have a crisis. It takes aays say crisis to fix things. Daniel after have a crisis. Then you have to have a crisis. Twould like to talk about big challenges where i think we are dropping the ball. You could actually be pessimistic about these things. I think we can get out ahead of this and actually fix it, which have far reaching effects. We are failing our children. We are feeling the next generation. Why do i say that . Were going to give the next generation somewhere between 17 and 20 trillion worth of debt. We did not inherit 17 trillion worth of debt. It has doubled in six years. We are running in excess of 1 trillion a year in debt. We have run it up from 1 trillion to over 3 trillion in order to keep Interest Rates low. And that move would be another five under billion dollars a year in Interest Payments on our debt. It is a fact. We do not want to deal with it. We do not want to discuss it. It is a very difficult this issue. And every child will inherit a the equivalent of 50,000. These are things that we can deal with. These are things that will be a burden to the next generation. We have to get out in front of them. Rates iswn interest good for the coming out of the recession. I think it was the right thing. And the government spending, we could argue about how much money was spent by the government. Frankly, you could not have affected public spending at the time. But now we have to stop it and come together in order to deal with this. Our debt to gdp ratio is about 75 . Five years ago, it was half of that. We have problems coming along with baby boomers and other entitlements. Theyre going to make it more difficult. And aswe pass on this, they stay in washington about a kid can down the road, the issues will get bigger rather than smaller. Washington,ay in kick the can down the road, the issues will get bigger rather than smaller. We have to come together in a way that we have not come together in the past and look at our expenses. This is a believe it or not question. When i was first working in banking, there was a doctor making 1 million a year in 1973 who could not make the payment on his loan. I found out he was spending more than 1 million a year. That is why he could not pay his debt. It is not about how much you make, but how much you spend. Adjust the tax rates. Ithout having a crisis secondly, education. Large9, we created a federal agency to oversee the education policy for the nation to ensure the preeminence of america for the global competition for the future. We find it through the department of education at 70 billion. The deaths of that telex that the u. S. Still lags behind in reading, math, science. And High School Graduation rates are not improving. There somewhere in the low 70s. And that is ok with us. Are these standards ok, that 25 of our High School Students do not graduate high school . That is a very big burden on the future of the country. When you look at urban areas, the rate plummets. The Graduation Rate for the nations 50 largest cities was closer to 50 . , less thangrew up in ,5 of the students graduate and only 40 of the students within city limits graduate. Kids do not graduate from high school. What are there opportunities . The same story played out across the country. How do we expect our children and grandchildren to succeed in life with that kind of burden that they are inheriting from us . The fundamental idea of what it means to be american, we thought that any child who can dream lab the argentine to pursue that dream and, perhaps achieve it. Who can dream, and have the opportunity to pursue that dream and, perhaps, achieving it. But for many, the burden is too difficult and the distances too great. We know from studies that came out about 10 or 12 years ago that it takes about 30 years to do these studies, but the surest, most effective way to help children rise above these circumstances is Early Childhood education. Successful children grow up to be successful adults. It starts with school readiness. Over yearsanslates and Higher Educational attainment, Better Qualified workers, increased earnings, and it all makes sense. The children who are not prepared when they come to a kindergarten are very difficult. Therefore less likely to be in special education or to they are 40 less likely to be in special education or to be held back, and 70 more likely to commit a bank run by the age of 18. And theyre less likely to graduate high school and go on to college. Imagine what pittsburgh or philadelphia or detroit would look like if all the children were ready for school when it came to kindergarten. Instead, they are putting billions of dollars into a system that just tries to work for children who are unprepared to go to school. One of the Top Economists in the country to the number of studies and recently revealed some things about the Public Education system. Underserved children without access to early child of education show up in kindergarten 18 months or less prepared than their counterparts. In other words, they have 25 to 50 lower vocabulary. And that point forward, the gap grows. Does not narrow, it grows. If your 25 to the 50 less capable and prepared then the kid next you, you will learn at a slower rate. And children that turn age 18, the gap is still the same or greater. 40 billion approved last year for programs, which is terrific. That is for Higher Education and that is great for our economy. But those grants cannot help the nearly 60 percent of the visit of disadvantaged children who an dreman graduate high school. The only answer is Early Childhood education. For every dollar that we spend on the early traveled education, we get 16 or more back in return in welfare and rehabilitation rates. Factual. And many states in the country use of fourth grade literacy as the single best predictor of the need for a joke jail cells 20 years later. It is an issue that we now know how to fix. Gavend number of years ago back to the community, and the committee was always a part of the culture of the company. We asked ourselves, if we focus on something, could we do a little better . And we felt that we could if we focused. And we asked our employees what they thought was important and they said children and education. 30year cities were coming out talking about how early how important early Child Education was. We have had a wonderful experience in philadelphia with it. It is a 350 Million Initiative that supports the communities with math and science. It underscores the importance of the first five years and provides innovative opportunities to assist families and Community Educators to enhance childrens learning development. We partnered with mr. Rogers neighborhood. We partnered with headstart. And we had a number of partners here in philadelphia. We partner with Different Community organizations add delete shuibian centers. And in our employees volunteer. Now more thanare 27 of our 56,000 employees. They have contributed 350,000 the centers, and they feel really great about being part of it. Has servedgram approximately 2 million children, and we have evidence, especially in philadelphia where we keep track of a significant improvement in the kids learning ability from yeartoyear. We have to tackle this as a nation. Instead of the Union Address hes year by the president , echoed the call of many for the access of early job of education. There is no one size fits all. Each community is different. And we have to look at how we fund these programs because they have to be done locally and done differently in the face of harsh realities of growing deficits apolo leval already. At the local level already. And full of children do not have and a handful of children do not have preschool at all really. We talk about a widening gap of achievements between the rich and poor. This is where it begins. It begins in the beginning. Her the charleta education is the on ramp to social mobility Early Childhood education is the on ramp to social mobility in the market. We have to find ways to make the necessary investments. These dollars we give to Early Childhood education is not an expense. It is an investment in our future, in their kids futures. There are a number of ways to do it. Not really a liberal or conservative debate. It is a matter of right and wrong. There are ways to deal with and i think, frankly, when you look at the different programs around the country, you see that there is some real hope. Is a number of subsidized childhood care systems in their. When it was defunded in 2011, it cost. Childcare is 1500 less. In indiana, a trust has offered a plan to provide prekindergarten for all in the Indiana Public School system. Are is required, but it is sizable step in terms of closing the gap. There are a couple of examples of programs, but there are lots of programs across the country. Forwardy have to step on a bipartisan basis and recognize how important this is. Governor rendell included it in his budget when he was there. Another governor, even though he had to cut his budget, and he increased it. It needs to go with a national mandate. Recognized as something we have to do nationally to solve this Graduation Rate problem. Making a difference. Frankly, this is one of the very best rings that happened to me in my career. The idea that 2 million children are a little bit better off because of what we did is very important, and i encourage you to see how you can get engaged in the Early Childhood debate. The achieved ability of the American Dream for every american child. Those in favor of prekindergarten education. Speak in your community about the importance and team with different people, because that is how we are much more effective. Therganizations Like Committee for economic development, which has a great deal of publications really focused on this issue. We should seemes there isroblems no question, we have the resources to deal with these issues. We have much tougher issues, frankly. I think we have to look at the next generation and say to ourselves we cannot give them trillions of dollars of debt. It would not be appropriate. We can not give them the burden where such a significant number of children will not finish high school and cannot compete in the global economy. Bigger issues. They came together in a bipartisan way, and they discussed it. We have to discuss them, our entitlements and our tax position, our Early Childhood education policy, and work it out in a bipartisan way. I do not think there is any question that the leadership in this country can come together on these issues. These, allt solve the rest of our issues do not matter. The rest of the issues do not matter, and we will have a crisis. I think the leadership should come together in a bipartisan way and focus on these issues and make sure that every young child can pursue their American Dream. Thank you very much. [applause] and now, welcoming your moderator for the next section. She is a moderator. Susan. What a privilege it is to be at this Historic Place at this important moment in our nations history. To beday is allotted working with the Bipartisan Policy Center and its position on political reform, on the big challenges facing our government do our country, which we with just about every day 150 miles down the road in washington, d. C. That me introduce our members, those on the commission for political reform. The former director of the white house policy council, the former director of the peace corps and president of hobart and William Smith colleges. [applause] eric motley, former. The president of global citizens. The former secretary of education. Sus senate form majority leader and cochair on political reform. Kennedy, cofounder of the institute for the United States senate. Karen hughes, former undersecretary of state for Public Policy and public affairs. And u. S. Army retired and managing director. [applause] you can read more complete biographies in our programs. Onare asking people watching our webcast to join us in the conversation. If you are physically here, you can fill out one of the cards at your seats with your comments and questions, and if you are digitally here, you can send us a twitter or tweak. Usa, and before we begin, here is a quick video that my colleagues at usa today made for this event. It features some faces you are likely to recognize. Lets watch. I and the Washington Bureau chief of usa today. It has long been a truism for parents across the country. Their children could grow up to be president. But is it still something they aspire to . Opinions have soured. Lickman should know. Commissionairs the on political reform for the Bipartisan Policy Center. 1976. To me, it was a glory job, the best job in the world, and we had very prestigious people in those positions who were well thought of. Whether it was justified or not, that was a secondary question, but the media was generally more disposed to reporting positive stories, and the attitude by the proposition was not to kill things at all costs, and at most, politicians were viewed neutrally. That is so much differently. In a National Poll taken, the overwhelming majority of americans say they have never seriously can entered running for Public Office at any level. They say they are not that interested in politics, that politics is too vicious, and that it is a waste of time because politicians cannot get anything done. Four americans are also not interested in serving in other civic manners, as in serving on a jury. People running for office, obviously, there is a disincentive with raising so and the political system, which obviously has to change. I know there are questions about the amount of money, but also the negative advertisements, fixed posing themselves and their families. I say what you say in your district miles away is 100 44 characters and the speed of light away from everyone else using twitter. My dad ran for the legislature in 1970. We watched watergate. There were riots in chicago for the democratic convention. It was a rough and tumble everything isnow, immediate. Everything is very open and transparent, and so your time to really think through things has shrunk down. Running for office is not the only way to help your community, of course. Some are volunteering at a school or homeless shelter. They say the best way to make positive changes in our society is by local charities and faith waste organizations, not through local government. They wonder if they can get things done and if it is worth the drive. Blame people for being frustrated or soured. You turn on television, and there is a personal attack. Washen mitt romney governor, massachusetts lost 40,000 manufacturing jobs. Obama, failing workers. This becomes a real disincentive to running. Of course, it does. Who would want to put themselves through that . People who are willing to take hits even though they are not fair solve americas problems, people willing to put up with and endure that kind of behavior because they know there is a greater goal we are achieving. A way the system works is if you can work on the substantive problems. Issues like the filibuster, issues like reform on the hill, but to make the American People believe that the system is on the level, you have got to get these problems resolved. You have got to do things, especially doing big things. There was a famous architect who said make no little plans, because they do not have the power to stir mens souls. [applause] dan glickman, the world of nonprofit organizations and more, thank you for your service. [applause] feel free to jump in with your own comments or west end. Let me start down at the other end. We found in our National Poll, changing attitudes towards the value of politics. You each have had long careers in Public Service. You seen changing attitudes yourself towards Public Service, and especially among young people . Yes, i will begin. Thank you for this wonderful video. I speak with College Students on College Campuses you ask them a number of questions, and one of them is, how many of you do you want to run for Public Office . Raisedave one person their hand, but most of the people do not raise their hand. I ask them, how many of you want to be a pointed, and maybe you get a few hands, and then i asked who would like to work for a nonprofit or start your own enterprise to affect change, and every hand in the room goes up, and i need this millennial generation is showing civic habits on par with the greatest generation in terms of their willingness to serve. Worries me is when jim outlined the three issues that are the most serious for the country, addressing our national debt, closing the achievement gap, and boosting economic mobility, government has to play a role on each one of those issues to affect change of scale, so i think the issue is how do we make sure we take this energy and aptitude of millennials, who want to serve their country in some way, and they are interested in National Service, to take one, off the chart. Through government service, they can Work Together across party, race, ethnicity, income, and people of different backgrounds to affect change. I offer my perspective as a College President , a former director of the peace corps, and chairing the board of National Community service. I think the millennial generation is the most service oriented, like you said, since the greatest generation. You see it quantitatively with the number of students volunteering, wanting to be in the peace corps, and teach for america and the peace corps are highly sought after positions. So the millennials are very service oriented. Our commission is, how do we think about pathways to service to capture that sense of idealism . My own observation is that it is a very pragmatic sense of idealism, very direct. That is why habitat for humanity is popular or americorps or score, direct impact in their communities where they can make a difference. The good news is this is a highlyion with idealistic aspirations, commitment to our country, but they went to see realitybased solutions to do it, how we organize to prepare the generation is an important part of our task. Young people want to make a tangible difference. I spent the spring at the Harvard Institute for politics, and a lot of people are interested, and they have a lot of questions about running for politics about whether you can create change. In the state department, i have the opportunity to meet some wonderful career Civil Servants and Civil Service people who have spent their entire careers and have done amazing things, and i do not think those stories are heard as loudly. Helping democracy be established in countries. Imagine hearing about eradicating polio. Opportunities i think that people have to serve and make an impact and to make that tangible difference and be very great in government, and i think we need to do a better job of sharing that more broadly with a wider group of american citizens. Of the wara veteran in afghanistan. Thank you for your service. And a managing director of a campaign to bridge the gap between military and civilians. Here is a question we got on our website from patrick, who identifies himself as a veteran. Should military or some other type of service be required, and paramount, and there was an article that argued if we had more military veterans in congress, we would have fuel or fewer Nuclear Option showdowns. Why do you think that would be the case . Thanks for the question, susan and patrick. I am honored to be on the commission to represent veterans and also to represent the city of philadelphia, and thank you, all from philadelphia, who came out today. It is a good question, and patricks question makes sense, this idea that veterans in allow congressmen and women to act in a more partisan manner, and being trained to be leaders and team builders, and when they make it to capitol hill, that is precisely what they do. 35 years ago, 75 of congress had served in the military. Today, only 20 . Part of that is a numbers aim and demographics. Have a larger group of veterans. But part of it is that veterans are not being elected to. Ongress even right now losing races or retiring. We had a net loss i think of 11 veterans in Congress Last november, and then we had two of our most long serving veterans in the senate has to weigh after the election, so we are right about 100 veterans in congress right now. Those people are the ones we should look to or this leadership. Quote,as a comment or a where we said there was what you would not teach your children to buterate in kindergarten, would it not be amazing if we had a place to send future leaders to learn how to be good team players . Learn how to solve problem . And to teach them about leadership . Well, we do, and it is called the United States military, and we graduate people from that every year. I think it is really important to think about not only getting more veterans into congress for more bipartisanship, but even today, looking to the veterans who are in congress for some of these solutions. We have 12 amazing new veterans who just joined the house, and we have some of the first female combat veterans to serve in congress. Winners,urple heart aviators, and these are people who have seen military service, and it is important to be part of something bigger than yourself and to serve a purpose, and they carry that forward. It is very useful in our national leadership. We have a question we want to post to our online audience. Do you believe there are adequate opportunities for people to serve in their communities . And if you would like to vote, go to the website, and we will have the responses in a few minutes, and you can always tweak or ask your question or make a comment, just use the. There has been a comment submitted on twitter, and here is what it says. Women are vastly under representative. How do we make it a safer place for women . Nation on ane enormous gender gap when it came to office. Everyone knows men should be in charge, right . A smaller percentage of women have said they have kids that are running. Is that something we should be concerned about, and what can we do about it . I think we need to do everything we can to see women more broadly represented. We are more than 51st at of the population, but we are a very much smaller percentage office, both at the National Level and the local level. You see cabinet officials. We still have so few in the history, women who have been in the cabinet. We are so lucky to have margaret spelling, who was our secretary of education with president bush, but women are rosalie underrepresented, and i think there are a lot of reasons. There is raising money. The life dial of having to be on the road, away, raising money. I go back to raising money, raising money, raising money. The money raised is enormous, but if you had more women whose voices were there, and i look at Olympia Snowe and how much the arete misses her voice, we so lucky you are still on the road and giving your message, olympia, and so happy to be a part of this commission with you. Temper theen to dialogue. I think women understand the teamwork that we were just talking about. I think you need as many diverse points of view as possible. We need to have a conversation, and women tend to be pretty good at talking and having that conversation. Do not think there are easy answers to it. To call it a safer space, i would welcome the other women to talk about it. I am just going to say this. Opportunities in government for women are amazing. In fact, when i think about my own career, people ask me, how do we get ahead in government . How do we get ahead in our careers . As sentound that women to very Senior Leadership responsibility and management roles in the government that may not have been available in the private sector, so it is a great place to build and nurture and foster a very significant and impact full career, and so i think we need to advertise, if you will, to women, around young and old alike, young and middle aged alike, the opportunities and government are terrific and a great place to have a very successful, very impact full, very interesting career. What i think about what we have learned from problem programs like teach for america, the female workforce, we have learned that when you pick excellent people and send them together to a place, when teach for america started, they would send one excellent teacher into a disparate school, and that poor person would wash out after time. T period of when you started to have three or four teachers, it grew in the school. Involved in education. And theyme excellent, went on to become principals and superintendents, and they made big careers because of this Public Service experience with teach for america. Senator, you heard chris talk about the impact of veterans in congress, and more do you think men act 20 womenly than women . In the u. S. Senate. Are women mored. Likely to cooperate, or is that not nothing you think really happens . Greg first of all, we just witnessed an unusual event. It is obvious that i am a former senator, because i have been here 20 minutes and have not tried to dominate or filibuster the conversation. I could not help but inc. As i listened to the question, thinking about the situation before we came here today and even the answer is. Even though i am out of congress now, i was a house number and eighth editor for 19 and worked with Olympia Snowe. Olympia know was my chief deputy whip, the highest ranking woman in the Republican Leadership up to that point. The question is, are there enough opportunities in Public Service or elected office . Absolutely. If you want to take advantage of them, they are there. And we need to do a better job of helping young people than how do you prepare, be involved, making them aware of what you can do in federal government or elect to office. Yes, sure. For women . Yes. If youre going to be in congress, you need to be in washington, and quite often, you have got family back home. Maybe you have another job. It is not something that pays all whole lot of money. Was in on the high times in congress when we got eggs done, and i was there during some of the load times, and i worry about where we are now, but as solomon would say, this, too, shall pass, if people get involved and try to do more, so thank you for being here, and one other thing. I am excited to be here. This is hallowed ground, philadelphia, what it has meant to this country, and to be here with the Bipartisan Policy Center, this is really great, beautiful, a wonderful place, and we need to all come here and think about what happened here and what we are going to do to preserve this republic. Women do bring a difference, and i think that is good. I remember when i was majority leader, there was a group that would quite often make a decision that we were going in a direction, and we were prepared to go off in that somebody, oren olympia, would say, are you sure about that . Would you like to think about that a little bit more . And i made a point of reaching out to the women in the senate, and i think olympia will tell you that. Diane feinstein will tell you that. So i do not have any problems. In fact, i would like to see more women involved. Haveof the time, they amylase. They have children. They have responsibilities. We have some women now in congress who are having children, and we have got one who is pregnant right now. In manyorry for her respects because she is trying to do about four or five different tasks, and i think it is good, but i do not think we should presume that they are instantly going to bring great common sense to the institution, but what is going on in washington now and what you hear in the media and about bipartisanship, i got very frustrated mice off with how difficult it got to get things done and negativity. If you make a mistake, you get it for days. Know, we are talking about that, thinking about that, and i believe in the future, we will see a different attitude. Know thef congress American People are not happy. They know that. We will make changes. So i could go on and give a filibuster, but i will stop with that. Have insue we discussing today has gotten more activity on twitter than this one with the disparity between men and women and their willingness to run for Public Office. Sent zeroew jersey women to congress. We should know that New Hampshire no longer elects men to the state office. And another that only eight percent of women have seriously considered running for office. One writes in, i am the eight percent. And from the democratic womens club, step up. Part of thing is to be the process, and finally, chris writes that women are clearly smarter than men. [laughter] what about the role of education . One of the pollsters in our survey said that his first job was teaching civics to ninth and 10th graders. He does not do that anymore. Does anyone do that anymore . Way weeach civics the should . No, i do not think we do. If you take philadelphia, where work, thered do my is the good news bad news dichotomy. The School District in philadelphia did a groundbreaking thing, making civics and Service Learning a requirement for all students, and there are many students in the city of philadelphia who come from underserved communities, who are struggling, and who do not have a sense of purpose, selfesteem, and a sense that there are opportunities for them, and what we have seen at global citizens, ongoing Civic Engagement, is that this is a time for discovery. We have seen young people doing service and finding something from within themselves, so there are wonderful initiatives, including the 18 to 25yearolds , and others are working on this Exciting Initiative to allow greater capacity for americans to serve either in the military or the peace corps or americorps, but i am more concerned about how we are doing with young people, and when i say young people, i mean eight years old, nine years old, and right now in philadelphia, we terrible, terrible dilemma. We came out of this school year with a deficit of 304 million dollars, and in order to bridge that gap, we got some money from the commonwealth and from the city, but as a result of that, down to about 150 million right now, there are going to be no assistant principals. There are going to be no art teachers, no music teachers, and there will be no sports programs. How many of you can think of the , the sense of teamwork we had from having those opportunities, and the situation in the Philadelphia School which now sees Service Learning eroding. 15 years ago, great possibilities, and now it does not exist. We are concerned about young people wanting to go into government or the nonprofits, and i think we need to start engaging them and challenging to do the things for us at the earliest of age, but, of course, the great surprise is the transformation that young people feel and the possibilities for discovery. To weigh, do you want in on this as a former education secretary . More mathematics and science. Eating and exercise. Should this be part of it . Absolutely, and while there ando federal mandate, obviously those issues are decided by states, i think most states have some sort of civic education, Civic Engagement tricky when that speaks to this. One of the things i am encouraged by is in the last Education Report card results, we started to see some increases in levels of Civic Literacy and engagement, so it is encouraging. I think the other thing that happens, there are tons of resources available, things that you are doing, joseph oconnor, and tools available to our teachers to teach civics and social studies and the like, but they are not very well harnessed together. Maybe that is a role at the bipartisan policy commission, we can create some toolkits to allow teachers to access some of these resources more readily, and we have to start with the teachers. Have our teachers embed this in the Preparation Program so they think it is important there, as well. Going back to civics education. Go ahead. It is also sort of how we talk about it, because there is something when you say civics that people tune out and do not think about it in terms of being active citizens, and when we think about it in terms of citizenship, understanding what our government is, here we are in philadelphia, where we had our Constitutional Convention, and i cannot help but think about that famous line of benjamin franklin, that he was leaving the Constitutional Convention and was asked, what oryou have, a monarchy republic . And he said, a republic, if you can keep it, and the only way you can keep it is if you understand what your government is and what your responsibilities are to your government. And he believed that citizens had an obligation to give back back to and this goes the service you are talking about, that you all care so passionately about. It goes back to Service Learning in the earliest years, incorporating service into the curriculum, from the earliest years. Teamwork. Teams through service, whether it is in the military, whether it is in civilian service, and that just filters up, really, into this whole notion of not worrying about the parties, not worrying about those labels, so when hopefully you do run for the office and get to congress, you are able to build that kind of teamwork, and you become active citizens. Maybe this is just my dream world of what we can have, but it all goes back to that early citizenship and understanding. It is absolutely true. Youreally do not think when are serving someone at a homeless station if they are a republican or democrat. You are doing something that brings them together. We have lost some of the things that unite us as a people, as a country, and we need to reclaim that national unity, a shared purpose. You are a special assistant for george w. Bush, which means you were an extremely popular man in washington for a while. Yes. [laughter] what about people the president wanted in key jobs . What made them reluctant . What are the obstacles to getting the best people into government . I think most of the obstacles, and i should say that i had a boss who said to me with all of the staff, there were two things he said that really stuck with me, and one is that you are not important, the work you are doing is in port and, and they were talking about when you leave the white house, be sure to get a dog, because you will want someone to love you and care for you. The invitations will stop. You will be less popular. Get a dog. Women want tod serve, and we saw them across the country. There were tens of thousands that came in every day, from inlege students to citizens montgomery, alabama, two retired federalists. There are 1. 9 million jobs in the federal government. 4005 hundred of those are politically appointed. There are 250 submissions. These are parttime jobs, where men and women can serve free of charge without any compensation all across the country on our boards, science boards, river and fishery boards, sewage boards, you name it. There is a board for you out there. And every day, people were coming by our office, wanting to serve, but one of the great in pediments of the appointments process, the process of going through the paperwork, the process of being confirmed with multitude ofthe disclosure forms that you had to submit, and there have been many attempts to reform that process. People,e a number of margaret spelling on a commission looking to see that we can reform the political appointments process to make it less laborious, but even though we had a very laborious process, people still want to serve. I am not convinced that if you discourage people wanting to serve i think we have been talking about this service. There are countless jobs and fellowship programs in the federal government, management fellowship programs, white house fellowship programs, fellowship programs at nih, the National Endowment for the arts. You name it, you can do it, and i think there are so many people who are just unaware of what great opportunities there are and how diverse those opportunities are in federal government. We need a campaign to say this is your country, these are great opportunities to serve. Serving in the arts and humanities in the federal government. Did you know that you can serve as a Research Assistant at nah nih . Do you know you can help with the fisheries . That is part of our challenge. That is part of our opportunity to help people appreciate how great it is to serve and what opportunities there are to serve. There are nine people on this panel. Dealt with you have the confirmation . So we have had three. On a scale of one to 10, how onerous was that . I do not think we are necessarily discouraging people from surfing, but it is interrupting an effective operation of government and agencies. I was concerned. Corps,ector of the peace and i also served on a Community Service board. It is rigorous. I think there has to be transparency. But the process is laborious. The paperwork could be streamlined, which your commission has done wonderful work, but i do not know that it service. Retarding the execution of effective government service, that is what anduld be concerned about, as a College President , they will send the fbi to your office to ask questions, and they asked me, well, we would like to speak if your neighbor is. I live next to a fraternity. [laughter] fine. Go knock on the door. Wake them up. Director,ace corps with a Commission Meeting read times a year, does it require those types of levels of inquiry that are appropriate . Level,ink at the cabinet i worked at the white house for f or years 44 years. For four years. In terms of the paperwork and back laws. To get the confirmation. In the same way, i served at the white house previous the, so the fbi had already investigated me and talk to the neighbor is. But it can be a lengthy process. That viceunate also President Biden was there, and i had ipod is report. There were opportunities to sit down with members of this then members of the senate. They had spent years working on the issue and were able to share a lot of knowledge with the. It canow difficult sometimes be to bring people in, and the lengthy waiting period, so when i left the state department, i think it took eight months for another appointee to be named and put them in the process and confirmed, so you end up with big gaps of time where these important jobs are sometimes not filled, and i do not think that is the most effective way to govern. Lets report the results of our first online polling. The opportunity for Public Service, here is what you told us. Yes, and we are going to ask the second question. Do you favor programs that pay for education costs in exchange for Public Service, like the peace corps or americorps . You can vote on our website. Karen, you did work for the state department. Saw politics in other countries. Our American Attitudes towards Public Service different than in other countries . I think the american attitude toward service is different and in a very positive way. One of the things that struck me across the country, not just in the campaign but across the world as the undersecretary of state, everywhere i went, there engaged andns involved in giving to themselves to help other people, whether it was church congregations, individual americans i remember seeing a Young American holding the hand of a man dying of aids in africa. There are people that go around the world with disasters to serve, hospital ships with volunteers, nurses and doctors, reviving health care in latin america. It really was a powerful testimony, and one of the things we wanted to do was to share that american sense of service and giving back, and to teach that in the communities around the world, we would try to get local people involved in volunteer efforts that are so much a part of the fabric of american life. It made me proud to be an american, to see the good and the way americans across the world were working to expand opportunity, whether it was with the government or the private sector or with religious congregations. Having lunch today with some young people from philadelphia, andalso in our audience, joseph who is with the Young Democrats of america asks about faith and religion forming our contributing to this whole organization that is dividing the nation . What do you think . I do not think it has to. There is the Interfaith Youth core, and they bring people together, christian, muslim, different faiths, a common purpose, and they do not begin by talking about faith create they begin serving sidebyside to solve problems in local communities, and then they come together to talk about what was it about your faith, your christian faith, that brought you here, or the five pillars of islam that brought you here . And there are all of the worlds great religions that have charity and service and compassion and a willingness to give back to one another as fundamental tenants, and when world,k back around the these hotspots, where people are literally warring in the names of faith that have at their core, and tenants, you see the power of not only interfaith dialogue but interfaith action, and president bush started the office of community faithbased initiative, because when we looked across the country and talk about the young people, you see these individual citizens stepping forward to tackle great things. More often than not, we saw people were working through so hebased institutions, tried to harness that power, and fortunately, president obama continued that, but because he saw them helping the needy and the poor. Across the world, i think a lot of people took our American Freedom of religion to mean freedom from religion. They do not understand that for many, it is an important part of their lives. To engage in this dialogue, it was a wonderful conversation opener, to say that i am a religious person, and other people are of different faiths or of no faith at all. You talk about what we did have in common, almost every faith, they say the highest priority in my faith is to love god and love my neighbor, and there are others in the world that believe that is their priority, as well, so it opens the door to a lot of wonderful conversations. It should not be a problem. It should be part of the solution unless it is used to oppress or prevent a free and open society. I always had my greatest respect of men and women of all faiths, whether it was Joe Lieberman that i admired greatly, because he would not campaign on a saturday. That was his holy day, and i admired that. I would fly into washington, and seeing his plane sitting on the runway because he was not going to campaign on saturday. A mormon from oregon, one of the finest americans i have ever known, and he felt very strongly about his faith. I was southern baptist, but i was always raised to be respectful of other peoples faith. That is part of religious faith, i think, to have an open attitude. We know that in the world and now, it is used to abuse and mistreat people, but it should not be that way. I am very encouraged by people of faith and people of all backgrounds wanting to serve and, frankly, not having the same kinds of concerns that we older folks have had, and we look back to the 2008 president ial election, and we saw and after, people putting these kinds of judgments on high, so i think we are very encouraged by that. After september 11, 2001, in philadelphia, we went and met with members of the largest mosque in the city, and if you remember back to that time, there was a great deal of ridicule of muslims, but also, violence against people who were not even muslims. Sikhs and others who were not muslim. There were people who did not have the same kinds of aspirations. They came together. A food bank for two hours and served sideby side. Maybe we were a little nervous, because they did not know one another, but they came together in fellowship and talked and found out that service can break down barriers. It can build relationships, and it can help us realize how much more we have in common, and as a result of that, these students from the mosque and from the Jewish Day School have served together 11 straight years. They have programs between the schools that go back and forth, and so i am very optimistic that if we promote Public Service and service at the youngest of ages, it is a wonderful way of getting away from the kinds of considerations that we sometimes have, whether it is in religion or arguing about public hollis e. Enormous enthusiasm for the idea of mandatory Public Service for 18 to 25yearold, except among 18 to 25yearolds. [laughter] most americans over 30 thought that was a great idea, but under 30, they thought it was not. Ideas about public transit, that it was a good idea for somebody else to do. Thinkris, what do you about a year of mandatory service . Corps,d be in the peace americorps, or habitat for humanity. Toone of the things we get do, we pay taxes, we vote, we have to serve on juries. If you are male, you have to register for selective service. That wouldow if change soon because of females in combat, but this idea that you volunteer in a way for , we have that to a degree already. We are not compelling people. We are not constricting people conscripting people into the military. An all volunteer force. Just like anyone who volunteers for americorps, who volunteers for the peace corps, everyone who serves in the military today volunteers to serve. And i think that is important, because military service inspires other types of service. In terms of making it compulsory and mandated by law, that is a tough proposition. Isbe an easier proposition to make it a cultural expectation. This idea that everybody has an opportunity to serve, and i want to interject that i was surprised as a whole that most opportunitiesat to serve and thought they were ample because there is half a Million People who did not get into americorps last year that would disagree with that. 580,000 people applied. About 80,000 people served. So if we had a cultural that everyone had a you or some short term of service, whether it was in the military, americorps, the ease score, whether it was opportunities that are certified as bona fide National Service opportunities, we would create a country where everybody serves, and as john often says, you can walk up to someone in a cafe and say, so where did you serve . Where did you spend your year of service . Maybe not everybody has an answer, but most people would, and that could lead to a better cultural view of service and that people want to do something bigger than themselves, and that would elevate it, the understanding that just like you can serve in philadelphia, someone else chose to do their service on capitol hill or elsewhere. Running the franklin project, aimed at a similar idea. Tell us about this. Yes, it was named for a wacky inventor, benjamin franklin, who not only believed in a Constitutional Government but also started an apron society, the volunteer fire department, and the hospital. In fact, he did so much to promote citizenship and interface relationships. That we should offer him a pulpit. There are people of the great world faith that supported him to his grave because he had a great vision of an acumen ago society and citizenship, so our commander in afghanistan, general stanley mcchrystal, he comes back to america, and he says for the first time in a war, less than one of serving. Are there was the assumption that defending the country and serving the country is someone elses job, and he went on to scale civilian service. I love the way you framed it. When you said the way we frame it to every 18yearold, we make it a rite of passage to serve in the army or serve in habitat for humanity. You can serve in the navy, or you can join the peace corps. You can join your Service Effort with your faithbased institution, and we are working with millennials all across the country. Glickman andn others, these wonderful americans, condoleezza rice, and in addition to growing americorps and some of these other efforts in partnership with the private sector, creating the National Service certification system, so any college and university, any nonprofit, any enterprise could create fulltime National Service divisions, because, 150,000 people want to serve in that ise corps, and like a generation of talent and idealism being needlessly lost. . Hat where i am from, if you tell me it is mandatory, you are probably not going to do it. I believe in freedom and encouraging to do things, but i must confess that i am very attracted by what you said, and i would like to encourage more participation. I like that year of participation. One thing we have talked a lot about, and we have ignored something else, the keynote speaker talked about it, one of the realities we have to deal with is our government is in a lot of debt. We have got a lot of fiscal problems. A lot of these ideas are fantastic, but the question always has to be, ok, how are we going to pay for it . And i do think that is part of our civic responsibility, too, not leaving our grandchildren with an overbearing debt that could destroy our country, so that is a little bit of rain on the parade here. This is all well and good, but one reason we do not have a whole lot more of these positions is there is a cost factor involved, and we have to keep that in mind. Susan, one of the powerful components, and i agree with you 100 are sent, the fema core is mobilizing National Service participants and saving the taxpayers of 60 million per year, and all of these agencies are looking. How do we put people at in the National Service and reduce the cost to government . I lost my home and community to katrina. What i saw at katrina, i will always be appreciative of and indebted, faithbased people, the eagles that came. Let me tell you, it changed the attitude of people of illegal aliens, immigrants, because we would still be in debris down there, and there were volunteers, and they came from all over the country. They paid their expenses. It was muslims and everybody, and i have never seen anything quite like it in my life, and that is the american spirit. It is there more than you realize. It sometimes takes leadership or an event to inspire it to come forward. The National Chamber foundation, the effort, i think we need to herald some of the things we heard this morning from john, and that is what Corporate America does to harness their employee core, and these are outside of the mandatory year of Public Service for our 18yearolds. It is a culture of contributing to your community, and Corporate America has stepped up to the plate in amazing, amazing ways, from Early Childhood to the dropout issue, to the environment, disaster relief, and on and on and on, and that is part of the culture. What i worry about is we are going to chattel, like israel, our young people into something, that we are missing something in the bathwater if we lets take a look at the results from our second audience purchase a patient question. Popular idea among people yes, andus online, 75 we will pose our third and final audience question would you personally consider serving at the local, state, or federal level, if given the opportunity . Here is another question from our audience. This question is, how can we say we have great Civic Engagement if we have one of the lowest voter turnouts in the world . What do you think . [laughter] i am beginning to think. Great challenge and great opportunity for us is to remind citizens that we have a responsibility to the preservation of this republic. Responsibility is engagement. We go back to education and a lack of civics that is being taught. How can you appreciate the power of your government to be transformative in the lives of its citizens if you do not understand how the Government Works . An emphasis on the importance of greaterducation, a campaign to waken peoples appreciation for the role that government really plays in their lives and the difference they can make. Small community in alabama, very poor, and there was a woman who took dignity in the fact that she was a poll watcher. If you ask her anything about herself, she would work it in, well, i work at the pharmacy, but also a poll watcher. She appreciated the role she was playing in the community, and it was an Important Role. We have to encourage the imagination that whatever you do, teach america, through your church, civic organizations in your town, to service in the military that you are playing an Important Role in helping to preserve this great republic. And i think to build on erics good points, part of what is being done with the franklin project if there was this , a realion of service expectoration of service. We have seen it about military and congress, about returning peace corps volunteers their level of Civic Engagement is significant. It will develop now with teach for america alums. Their level of engagement will be that much more substantive. To greater and heightened level of citizenship with voting, i would argue. I have people say to me, they are all the same, either one of them, it is the system. Everyponse to them is election involves a choice. You which one is closer to your point of view . We also, those of us in public life, have a responsibility of recognizing the effect that nastiness, vitriol, the dysfunction of our political system now is turning off a lot of our fellow americans, and i do not blame them. In 1994i served as an observer in south africa when mandela was elected. Votedhed people who never before stand patiently in line 10 hours. A very informed electorate who have never voted for. Came back, primary election day in philadelphia, throughout the commonwealth, 25 of the people eligible to vote showed up. This past primary election, it 9 . Nine percent i think it is one a combination of changing culture, working on these great initiatives to encourage people to serve and create more opportunities to serve, but also it involves a breaking down the barriers of voting. We have a controversial voter id law before the courts in pennsylvania. And it is very partisan. I would like to see opportunities for people to vote which makes it easier, online voting, where there are very few makingf fraud not to be it onerous for people to vote. Ofhink it is a process harnessing all these different things. I was going to say the same thing about raking down barriers to vote. If we can do secure banking online, i think we can do secure voting online. If you see you have more than one day of voting, where you have increased voter participation, extended voting in that way, make it easier for people to get to the polls, easier to exercise the franchise, i think you will get increased participation. How about voting on saturday like in alabama louisiana . I thought that was great. It is one of many things we could do to make it easier for people. I am from a shipbuilding community. It was very difficult for the chip yard workers to get to vote , and if on saturday, it would be easier, and that is one of many things we could do to make voting easier and more understandable. Consolidating election day and School Board Election on they getcycle lets up with primary or general elections there are many things we could do to encourage tos education encourage participation. Between of the skepticism is a fundamental american trait and that is what we found. They trust the federal government to do the right thing only some of the time. We did not give the option none of the time. 13 percent volunteered not have the time. This attitude, it does not matter, why bother, and i wonder if the panelist think that is one of the reasons we see people not wanting to vote, but not only wanting to run and work in a campaign. Does that have an effect . Who would like to speak . Sure, a loaded question here. I think karen discussed this people do not get proper education in the schools about the problems of democracy and what we can do in government to solve them. They think about our they think of government bureaucrats, and holding up examples we saved a million lives over the last decade from malaria in africa. That was largely because the government went from a 35 Million Investment to a 1. 2 billion investment and brought to world together around saving all these Young Mothers and children. Jim mentioned High School Graduation rates. The good news is after four president s set a goal of 90 High School Graduation rate, for the first time last year we were able to report that the name should was on pace to meet that that the nation was on pace to me that Graduation Rate. I asked cokie roberts, good news is not news. It has to be cynical and divisive and partisan. I think there is his effort called the partnership for Public Service. They hold up people in government and look at exhibit glickman, snowe, dan Harris Walker if you do not think voting or leadership matters, think about what they have been able to accomplish. We need to resurrect that in people. I have faith in the government only some of the time. I know there are a lot of good people doing their best in trying to make it better, and they have to answer to the superiors, but i have to remind people we are still healing with human beings. Preferences, purchases, abilities, lack of abilities, but i spent a number of years in the house and senate , majority and minority. Ilyzed the correct six analyzed the demographics of every member who i was trying to influence. It was obvious to me, people laid about their congressman or senator, they put them there, and most of the time they reflected the makeup of the demographics of the Congressional District they were from. That was true in my own case. I was born in a whirl area. We lived on the coast. I was involved in a fishing industry. District after district, while there are exceptions, most of the time what you get from government is what you put in to government and who you elect. I think it is going to the and there isment, a disconnect in the way people think about their service in their communities and the service of those who represent them. Today, i met a lot of young people serving in a lot of capacities, and governor granholm, she spoke and said to them that their service was not about that, it was about something there, it was not about you, it is about everybody. They figured and shook their heads yes. I wondered and i did not ask, i wondered, what if we asked them about service at the federal level, about service in congress . Is that not about you . Many of them had the perception that the people who run for office, who take the federal positions, it is many times about them selves, and it is a larger question among with lots of factors involved. I do not know if the perception is right, but it involves the electoral process, it involves campaign finance, it involves the way the processes occur on capitol hill, and i want to table for later, because that is the next stop on this tour, to talk about electoral reform, and if you should consult a bridge, the Public Service perception at the ground level and the way people look at their service in congress or at the federal level. It was interesting, enlightening what these young people who are dedicated to service were thinking. We asked would you currently consider serving in the local , state or federal level . Here is what you told us. Three to one, people would be willing to service. That in encouraging. A couple more comments. , Public Service means stepping up on your own and not waiting for the government to do it. From cindy, i believe Public Service should be requisite for most persons receiving public assistance. Is that feasible . One, how is it so many Public Servants get rich from Public Service . Hasa tweet from Ted Washington become a modern day politburo, leaders who can no longer serve the people . Anyone say yes . Mike . T to take the congresspeople be, a modern day politburo, out of touch with the people . That federal officials, members of congress, others in washington are really disconnected . I want to quote a great political leader, trent lott, who just said five seconds ago you get the government you deserve. I want to echo something and experience that eric had whether you want hank paulson to serve as secretary of the treasury, or fill in the blank, some wonderful person, people will serve when tapped on the shoulder. Sometimes you have to say we need you. If i had a nickel for every person who served as the bush who said when the president. Sked you to serve, you served i am sure that is true on your side of the aisle, vicki. I think americans have that in their dna. We got to go find them, too. I do not think we have become a group of elitists. Have you looked at the house lately . Iey are very reflective, and do not mean that in a negative way. Most of them are not wealthy. Most of them make a sacrifice. When you talk about the amount of travel, owing back and forth, the time away from family, the areraising, and what you paid when you have to maintain some living arrangement in washington and some living appraisers back home, because if you dont, people will say he has gone off to washington and it is not one of us anymore. It is a great honor to serve in the congress, and i appreciate every moment i was able to represent the people of my district and my state. But one of the reasons why left when i did, when i retired, was because i got to the end of my line. With hurricane katrina, i cannot pay my bills. You may find that hard to believe, but one of the things i did not like, i got tired of raising money around the clock. Senate races in went from costing 2 million bucks if you ran statewide to 40 million in a state like south dakota. The fundraising chase is a real problem. You might say, what is your solution . I have not figured that out yet. I do not want government to pay for it. I do not want the taxpayers to pay for it unless they choose. There is that other side. I do not think it is a politburo. I do not think they are a bunch of elitists. You know what the one word that describes what is not right about washington now . Leadership. Men and women that are willing to say we are going to get the results on a farm bill, on Immigration Reform, on the budget, on water resources, on infrastructure. We are going to get it done. It takes the shape that should it takes leadership to say byhave tax reform rendering november 1 because it is going in front of him for the house. That is what it takes. If your leaders take that kind of position, they could lose their leadership position. But why are you there if you are not willing to take a little risk and try to do what is necessary for the country . I think that is something we need to think about. I think right across the board we need women and men will say we are going to deal with this. I am from a state where i got three democrats because i tried to pass Immigration Reform in 2007. I felt like we needed it for our country, not just because of illegals, because our legal system is a disaster. If you have a talent, and ability, something you could offer, a physicist from sweden, you can almost not get into america if you try to do it legally. We need Immigration Reform so that people who are here are and live a life of dignity and so we can control it in the future so that we can encourage people that want to come to this beacon of freedom and get here in a sensible way. That is what we need more of, people who will put their next on the line. That is one reason this is partisan i am a fan of marco rubio, and i talked about his effort on Immigration Reform. You need to do this. If you do this, it will show courage and leadership, but know this the matter what happens, pass or fail, you will get hammered from the left and the right. So be it. I think people are hungry for leaders that will say this is right for the country, i am going to do it, follow me. [applause] why should i follow that . [laughter] when i left the white house, i had the good fortune of going to state and working for ambassador inhes in public diplomacy, fulbright programs, and it was there i discovered who really makes the government work. It is all the countless men and women who work as care foreignin the farmer service. That gave me great confidence in the government and great confidence in citizens not giving up and investing in this Great American enterprise. That is a great those are great words to close. I want to thank our panelists for being with us today for this great panel. [applause] the Bipartisan Policy Center, the National Constitution center, which provided this wonderful venue, and our audience in philadelphia and online. We hope to see you this fall for our next town hall at ohio state on october 15. Andwe will take a break well be back with our next panel of former members former governors. Thank you. Tonight Stephen Breyer and former Supreme Court justice in massachusetts Margaret Marshall discussed constitutional issues and additional differences between the Supreme Court and state court. Watch the discussion tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan. The media is clearly a dominant, increasingly dominant criteria for every first lady. There are the, endless biographical, human limited which are not to the 19th, 20th century or media. It is how these people endure and prevail in a very rough world of politics. Richard norton smith and fthers preview season 2 o first ladies. Looking at their private lives and public roles. Eastern, on c span, cspan radio, and www. C span. Org. 12e tomorrow on cspan at 0130, and look at who and risks of using highprecision missiles capable of striking targets anywhere in the world under an hour. At 2 30, we will take you live to capitol hill or the Senate Foreign relations mitty will hold Foreign Relations committee will hold a hearing. Hagel willand chuck be witnesses. Full chambers in the boat and house will not take up the resolutions until they return next week. On this labor day, washington journal talked about right to work laws. This is about an hour 10 minutes. Host as promised, issues dealing with labor on this labor day. Our first guest is mark mix, he is the president of national right to work Legal Defense foundation. Mr. Mix, welcome. Guest pedro, good to be with you. Host tell us about your organization. Guest it was founded in 1968. We provide Free Legal Services to employees who had their rights violated. Weve been to the u. S. Supreme court 15 times. Weve got our 16th case pending in the october term. All of this litigation on behalf of employees who either been fired or had their rights violated because they were forced pay dues or fees to a union to keep a job. The litigation goes on. We have about 240 cases. We have about 211. Were representing tens of thousands of employees across america from the u. S. Supreme court, the Appellate Court the National Labor relations board. Host taking from your name, what are righttowork laws . Guest they are laws in 24 states that protect the workers right to work free of paying fees to a union. Back in 1935 under the wagner act, Union Officials were granted the power to compel someone to pay them. Over the course from 1935 to today, labor law has developed to a point where we cant force them to be members of the a union. Righttowork laws comes in and fight that injustice. Host what are some states and notable ones . Guest the notable ones on december 11, 2014, michigan became the 24th righttowork state. Back in 2001 oklahoma passed right to work law and idaho. Weve got the Rocky Mountain region, midwest, and the south now almost half the states are enjoying righttowork freedom. In wisconsin, Governor Walker passed righttowork law for the Government Employee in conference. Host as far as the laws passed in other states this will include both sides. As far as with us a state passes these laws, what happens to a state once they do that . Some things i read, economically there could be concerns at least from those who express labor opinions. Guest the first thing that happens individual workers now can hold Union Officials accountable for the work they do. They can vote with their pocketbooks. Secondly what happens, we will certainly have a debate about this, the economic of it are in great in favor of those states that provide freedom to the workers. If you look at 2009, manufacturing is outstanding what the change has been. First and foremost the issue is freedom and the workers get the choice. Workers and righttowork states join unions. There are a couple righttowork that have Higher Union Density that dont have righttowork laws. Union officials dont lake that. They like the privilege of forcing workers to pay them a fee. Host labor unions arent forbidden to practice or at least conduct business . Guest absolutely not. Under federal law, everyone has the right to organize and bargain collectively. The question is, do you force someone never wanted, never voted or never asked for union and force them to pay dues or keep their jobs. There are philosophical reasons. There are perhaps economic reasons, religious reasons. Its not for us to ask that question. We shouldnt have to have a litmus test for someone say you have to give up your Political Rights to maintain your workplace rights or religious rights or conscious issues in order to protect your right to work. Its not for us to ask those questions. People have reasons of their own. Host our guest joining us until 9 15 to talk about issues when it comes to labor. Hes mark mix with the national right to work Legal Defense foundation. This was from the seius jerry hudson. It talked specifically about right to work laws. He said the laws have intent to cripple unions. By allowing employees to benefit from collective bargaining agreements. Guest let me unpack that. First and foremost, youll see his argument is predicated on attacking workers. Somehow there are some workers out there that you would gladly accept union dues in their in situations. Hes saying somehow workers will choose not to support them. Its not an argument against labor or management. Secondly i would say in right to work states there are vibrant union movements. What happens in those states, unions are much more accountable. They have to be tuned in to what happened on the shop floor as opposed to whats happening here in washington or the state capital where their power is derived from government action. They created this problem back in 1935 and now theyre living with it. What they did, they came here to washington under the roosevelt administration, they got a federal labor policy that gave them tremendous power over workers and now theyre complaining because the government is reacting and workers are actually voting with their pocketbooks. Host some of the states listed for right to work laws, they are listed in blue on this map that were showing you. Those with union laws or at least allow union are in yellow. Whats the trend . Are more states becoming right to work states . Guest ultimately all 50 state will enjoy the freedom and protection of a right to work law. Hopefully well pass it here and amend the federal labor policy. Thats where it can be solved. Senator rand paul has a bill in u. S. Senate that is one page bill. It repeals the provision that authorize Union Officials to have workers fired. Host first call from you is from diana from new jersey on the democrats line. Caller i was wondering if your caller could address how they dont enforce the prevailing wage rates. I dont understand people backlash to union because it provided middle class for america with a decent wage and allows middle class to raise their money and not be stuck in poverty. My husband complains theres no one, hes a union worker, he sees people coming here and no one is enforcing the prevailing rates. Theyre hiring Illegal Immigrants because the Construction Industry has been decimated. Just want to know who is in charge of enforcing the laws. Guest diana, thank you for your interest and passion there. Diana speaks about the prevailing wage law which is a wage mechanism in the Construction Industry applied by the federal government and the state government. On at federal construction job the prevailing wage law is enforced by labor. What she mentions here, in a Construction Industry, they set a wage that is prevailing in that particular area on a construction job funded with government money. The interesting part about that the origins of the prevailing law are not something we like to talk about in america. It was designed to keep black construction workers out of the north. Enforcements are pretty important thing, and obviously the government is responsible for that. Union officials like the prevailing wage law in their case they can use it to elevate local wages to a point nonunion and union free Construction Companies cant compete because the labor line item is really the one area where theres some latitude, if you will. So its important element but its something many states are addressing for taxpayers. Host independent line is next. Caller i want to make a comment to the cspan commentators. They do a lot of talking, and sometimes its 15 minutes before a call gets in. We want to hit these guys with hard hitting questions. This guy come on and pretends hes for workers rights. Its all about driving down wages. Thats why a lot of Companies Went to the south because they had right to work laws. You can hire people at lower wages. More profits for the employer. This guy telling employers employers are more concerned about making more money. Oftentimes these workers, if theyre not in the union, they benefit from the union agreement, but they dont have to pay the union dues. This is all about driving down wages just like these free trade agreements. This guy pretend hes for working people and represent the employers. Like obama said one time, the right to work for less. The right to work for less. Thats what these right to work laws are for. Host monty adds on twitter asked about organization if its financed by corporations fighting unions . Guest thanks for your passion. Sorry we dont get a chance to know each other. You make assumptions based on what my passion is. I came from a union household. My stepfather was a 32year member of the international machinists. My mother worked at School Lunchroom washing dishes. My brother had to Pay Union Dues in order to teach students in the fourth grade. Dont come off telling me that you know what my motivations are. The right to associate presumes the right not to associate, ed. You shouldnt question anyones right not to associate and what theyre rationale may be. Getting back to his question about us and who we are. I spoke already about the litigation. Were representing employees. Were suing employers and unions alike. We have plenty of laws against employer who are conspiring to convenient workers rights as well. Were bringing a gentlemen here from the u. S. Supreme court on november 13 to argue his case when the employer and union got together and conspired to force him into a union he never wanted to be in. Saying somehow Corporate America is on our side is wrong. Do you think gm supports right to work, you think chrysler does or pepsi or cocacola . Theyre interested sitting down once every three years or five years with one party and negotiating a blanket contract for everyone, no matter how poorly that person does that job. If workers want to do that, they have a right to do that and we protect that right under the right to work law. Host if i may ask, who finances your organization . Guest we have a very aggressive high volume and low volume program. I travel recruiting support. Our average contribution for the committee is 55. Average annual contribution for the foundation is about 74. Host corporate donations part of that . Guest primarily corporate organizations do not support the right to work. We find a lot of Small Business people. About a third of our membership are retired or Current Union members. They want us to help them and be their voice in the marketplace. They know if they speak up, bad things can happen. Host the Supreme Court case you mentioned, whats the ultimate question for the justices . Guest the ultimate question is whether or not a union and an employer can exchange valuable things as it related to unionizing the workforce. The question in this case, engages and involves situation where a union was helpful to a gambling operation to pass something that allows them to get a slot machine on their premises. In return for that activity, the employer agreed to allow the union to get the names and addresses of all the employees at the workplace. They allowed them access to the property these are things they asked for, to talk with the workers. Then they asked for, card check unionization drive where workers would have no chance to go behind a curtain to say yes or no. They wouldnt allow them to do that. We have contended in series of cases, several of them have moved out. In this case, we have argued that these are valuable things. Thats a violation of section 302 of the tafthartley act. In this particular case, the employer decided not execute the contract and the union sued them in state court for executing this contract, saying these things are extremely valuable to them. It has a potential major impact on how unions organize. They may have to go back out to convince workers to vote for them behind the ballot as opposed organizing an campaign against the employer and getting employer to agree to accept them without a secret ballot vote. Host when is that hearing set for . Guest that will be set for november 15. Host thomas is up on the democrats line. Caller i want to make a comment. Ive lived in two different right to work states, kansas and North Carolina. In a few months, i will be moving to a democratically controlled state. I worked for a Company Called scientific corporation. About seven or eight years ago there was about 250 employees at that company that trying to get the union in there. Now, once the company host caller, youre breaking up a little bit. Go ahead. Caller yes. The company got all the names of the individual that will vote. They were in the paper here in North Carolina in statesville, that on the front page, they fired every single one of these individuals because they were going to vote in a union. Then the company put up a fence around the property to keep anybody off the property that doesnt work there so the workers cant form or fight for equal rights or good pay or what have you. I dont like this right to work, it benefits corporations and the 1 . For you to say it doesnt, this is something people need to put out there now. Youre all bunch of liars. Guest thank you, thomas. Happy labor day to you, too. I think we have a different view on this. It sounds to me what the company has done a violation of labor law. There are very wellimplemented rules and regulations about how a company can treat employees. I would encourage you to follow up on that and make sure the employees have done that. Theres obviously a place for someone to look at that behavior of the company. Host gallup puts out a poll and take a look at approval of unions in the United States. About 54 showing approval of unions. Got to know that trend has been dropping since 2001. Guest Public Opinion of unions and the right for workers to join and bargain is something americans see as part of this process. The one part they dont see though is compulsion, and when they actually understand that a worker with lose their job for simply failing to pay dues or fees, they begin to push back against compusory unions. The card check debate. When you come here to washington, you say you dont want to give workers the right to vote behind a curtain yes or no, the public responds to that. May be in a macro perspective and maybe not in the micro perspective of labor law. But those types of stands really just resonate in a negative way with people across america. When you talk about labor unions and their history and what they can do, pedro, theres a place for organized labor in the past and theres a place for them today and theres a place for them in the future. Until they allowe the United States government and get back into the business of representing workers, then, well see what unions can do. That will be the voice that workers will want. Host for your organization it is about compulsion dues . Guest there are issue there is that are problematic as it relates to state rights. The history of labor policy in america is really a fascinating history for those that jump into it. The idea of compulsion, that a private organization has the ability to have you fired for failing to pay 38 bucks a month because you disagree for whatever reason according to the seiu its because you you want to benefit. Host people will have a legal case saying they were fired unduly. Wouldnt they have a legal case because they dont want to join a union . Guest i dont believe right now under current law they cannot be fired for not joining a union. Your question was, if they dont pay dues, if we get to the point where there is no compulsion, they could be fired. Host fired because of that but not for job performance. Wouldnt they have a legal case saying im fired . Guest thats the beauty of the tragedy of this issue. You have no recourse. What will happen in a union situation, if you dont tend to your dues, the union will write a letter to the employer, saying pedro has not paid his dues. If you dont pay and you dont forward his dues or whatever the clause says, the employer is required to fire you from your job. You have no recourse. It is perfectly legal to have you fired for not tendering dues and fees to a union. Host melissa is up next from a republican line. Lewis youre on the line go ahead. Lewis, one more time, hello. Lets go on to lance. Lance is from huntsville, texas, independent line. Caller my question for the guest is, with Union Membership at a hundredyear low, we know unions are funded by working class individuals. These organizations that are attacking unions and coming up with these right to work laws, who are they being funded by . Guest pedro and i had that discussion earlier. We survive on voluntary contributions. We have to go out and convince people to support us. As i mentioned earlier, our average contribution is about 55. The average contribution to our foundation is about 74. We mail and aggressively talk about right to work to a very large audience. We have a very large component of individuals who support us financially who are labor Union Members, retired members who are interested in having a voice thats beyond their voice in the workplace as it relates to ending force unionism in america. Host viewers talked about the state of union as far as membership. In 2012 about seven million members of a union. Thats shown some decreases since early 1970s. Guest back in october 2009, we crossed a line where theres more Government Union members in america than there are private sector unions. The aflcio indicate they represent 14. 5 Million People in there. They represent those workers. Not all of them are members of the union. The numbers there i think is a response to where organized labor is going. They are getting more militant in the political process. Theyre relying more on government power. This is a function of them losing sight. Host next call is from howard. Howard join us from new jersey. On the democratic line. Thanks for holding on. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Just like to say to the gentleman, he speaks very well and makes a very good argument. Im 72 plus years and im a new York City Police officer. I remember my folks when they first came to new york, they had difficulty. My father being able to obtain a job. Unions do have their problems, theres no doubt and he makes a very good argument, but nevertheless, there are arguments about affirmative action, but by the same token it was one of the things greatest things that happened in the police department. Unions leveled the playing field. If a individual does not have any representation or any power where he can speak to an employer without a union, if you dont have a union in place to listen to you or not fire you when he wants to, he can send you home when he wants to. Theres no guarantee, theres no seniority that you can count on. Someone coming along in 10 days, you can get laid off and that person will take your position. The unions and the rules and regulations affiliated with it allows individuals to have some seniority counts. Host caller, thank you. Guest sounds like a good argument for join the union. The right to join a union is undisputed. The issue is really clearly and you make a good point about why someone who want to join a union. It they do those things and if they provide those services, i would suggest people join the union voluntarily and be willing to do that. When Union Officials overlay that fabric of compulsion that says you must join when they say youre forced pay dues or fees in order to keep a job, why do they need compulsion if theyre doing all of these great things for workers. Why do unions rely on compulsion . Youre saying we can solve all the problems in the country by forcing everyone to pay dues to a labor union. I disagree. Host a viewer asked, what is a closed shop . Guest closed shop was a creation of the wagner act. The idea that the definition of the closed shop was reformed back in 1963 in a Supreme Court case, we cant force you to be a formal member of the union. The closed shop was, you had to be a union member, you had to be a part of the union, you had to pay dues in order to keep your job. Now you dont have to be a formal member of the union but you still center to pay up to one hundred percent of unions to keep your job. Union security clause is negotiated by the union. They want the ability to force everyone to pay fees and they want the employer to take the dues out of the paycheck of the employers first. Then they start negotiating. The Union Security clause say you got to pay fees in order to keep your job. Host what about the dues . Guest the unions spend about 1. 7 billions on lobbies and politics. They got to be involved in politics. They are a big player in politics. Host what is suppose to be done with the dues . Guest we think the dues should be enhanced the Worker Experience and right for workers expanding that. When you rely on government for your power, you got to be playing in government. Thats one of the problems Union Officials have. Gompers knew that once the Union Officials started relying on government for their move, they will lose sight of what their mission was for the workers. As i said already, he said the workers for america is here to volunteer institution. Host scranton, pennsylvania, republican line. Caller thank you for taking the call. Mark, youre doing a great job. I greatly appreciate you getting out there. I myself testified on this issue. Its not just compulsory payments, its for teachers and other workers automatically deducted from the paycheck. They dont have a say if they pay dues or not. You bring up a great point about how theyre using this political power. Were seeing a pension crisis across our country. Why not help those employees and workers with only of that dues and give them part of their pension if they were really up for the employees . Thank you so much and god bless you. Host what type of money are we talking when youre talking dues . How much do you have to pay . Caller i am not a union member. Ive read the contracts through the teachers in our area. I was shocked to find out that they automatically deduct that dues from the paychecks. Thats right in their contract. I do not believe that should be happening. Guest union dues, were estimating they are about 800 to 1,000 a year. Union dues is usually a percentage of a pay rate. Every time the pay rate is raised, the union dues goes up. We find union dues vary anywhere from 600 to Airline Pilots and other pay a percentage of their salary. Host according to you, most of that comes off automatically even before the rest of the check comes to the employee . Guest very common negotiating tool is to get whats called a checkoff. That is automatic payroll deduction. They have to go to each person and say you owe us 35, the collection mechanism will be very problematic for them. Theyre fiending that case up in wisconsin, Governor Walker reformed the bargaining system. What he did, they passed a right to work law for employees in the government up there. About 60 showed the employees union no longer forward those dues to the union. I think the union has to actually collect those dues now because the payroll deduction system has been taken away. They are really struggling. Now they got to convince you like a bill, they got to provide a good product. Then you got to pay them. That checkoff mechanism is very critical in making sure that they get that dues money. Organized labor is a 20 billion a year business according to the department of labor statistics filings they put in each year. Thats not even every union america. Its big business. Host theres a story out of michigan saying union there, the uaw, said it will appeal, saying michigans right to work applies to laws state employee. Uaw local 6000 is the Largest Union represented state employee with about 17,000 members. State employees are covered by this law passed in december. Guest one of the biggest local unions in america is Government Employees, which kind of a trend we spoke about earlier. The question is, whether or not the private sector and Public Sector work to law. The question does the Public Sector right to work law cover employees in government. There are some nuances in michigan law, i know theres question about pension money. There was a contention that the vote in the legislature could not control Labor Management relations. I they the court said we disagree. The Legislature Said this is going to cover those employees. They are the employer of these people. Theyre the ones that provide appropriations and money for the government to function. Therefore, they are in a position to make a determination about what the workplace rights are going to be for employees. Theres no surprise the union will appeal that. Host independent line up next. Caller happy labor day. Before we go on, i have a question for you, pedro, after this guy is on will which a representative to talk about whats good about unions . Host yes, the head of seiu will be on. Caller i want to address mark. My name is mark as well. He keeps talking about why compulsory withholding of dues is such a bad thing. Its not really compulsory. If you dont want to take that job, which where the various benefits have been gained by unions, if you dont want that salary, retirement fund, or Health Insurance that union got for them, then dont go to work there and then you dont have to pay those union fees. The reason that has to be done is theres easy for someone to come in after all the wonderful things the union got. I dont want to pay the fees but i still want those benefits. Why should someone come in on a free ride and not pay to the union and belong to the union when the union is what made that job as good as it could be, when you know they had a fight to get those benefits . Guest thank you, mark. Great question. I think the answer is real simple. Marks argument is predicated somehow the workers claim they want to represent. I will leave it in the hands of the worker about what choice they make. The second issue there is the issue of benefit. Theres assumption that everything the union does benefits the workplace. I dont think thats true. I guess if we take marks statement to a logical conclusion, what hes saying is, you can quit your job and you dont get an opportunity to work there because this is in place. I dont necessarily agree with that. I guess thats a decision someone has to make. Its amazing we put workers in a place where on one hand, in order to protect their Political Rights for example we had a union member who found out that his dues money was being used for a political cause he opposed. He ended up filing a lawsuit, you cant use that money for politics or issues i oppose. The Supreme Court in 1988 said you right, you one. Win. Unions now have been able to take political money and use for politics until 1988 said they couldnt do that anymore. In order to exercise that right to protect their political views, they have to give up their workplace rights. They cant vote on the union contracts. They cant vote in union elections. They cant participate in any workplace committees or anything the union controls. In order to protect their workplace rights, they give up their individual Political Rights or religious rights. Thats a choice that a worker should never have to make. Host in about 10 minutes, we will be joined by mary kay henry, shes president of Service Employees International Union. Our next call, florida, democrats line, paul, hello. Caller how you doing . Im listening to mark here. Hes selling snake oil to people already hurting and making low wages. It seems like hes attacking government workers, anybody that wants to organize for better wages. I hear you saying that someone doesnt pay their union dues, that they are going to be fired. Thats a lie. Im worker and have been for the last 12, 13 years. That has never happened. You coming from a family of union people, you know how tough it was. You know how tough a struggle it is. I dont understand why you would say that were getting our money from government, government backed. Im sure that the people you represent, your Organization Get backing from these big corporations, walmart, mcdonalds and all of these other companies that drive the wages down and that dont pay workers anything. You never explain how come they sending jobs overseas. You know why, they want low skilled workers and they want to dumb down the people and keep them at Poverty Level where they cant have benefits. I dont hear you saying that about your organization. Guest thanks for participating today and your passion to response here. Im sorry we disagree with the issue. To say that workers arent fired for failure to pay dues and fees, its there. I would encourage to you look at your contract and look for a clause that says Union Security. Read through that paragraph and you will find, unfortunately, i believe that probably 80 or 90 of these contracts have that in there, will you find a clause saying if you dont tend your fees, the union can request your employee to have you fired. Thats a fact. Any Union Official wants to dispute that is really being disingenuous. You will find it is a requirement to be a member of Good Standing in this union. Member in Good Standing according to a Supreme Court case, doesnt mean you have to be a member of the union, it means you have to pay the dues and fees in order to keep your job. If its not in your longshoreman contract, congratulations to you. Thats a good thing. But it is in contract after contract across america and it says if you dont tend to your dues or fees, you are fired from your job. Host what do you make about the argument we heard from the fast strike last week about a living wage . Guest thats interesting. I think its an important issue. The idea of people coming together voluntarily, standing up and having their voices heard. Thats the freedom of assembly in america. Theres nothing wrong with that. The issue is, they want to find a way what the seiu say, a fair way to unionize these workers. Whos funding it, whos promoting, who is out there pushing these people along, youll find out the Service Employees International Union is behind that. I think the president will be on after this. Host madison, wisconsin, independent line. Caller thank you. I find it interesting on labor day, a benefit derived from unions, that a person who supports right to work states, would have the opportunity on labor day to attack unions. Thats my first question. The second question i will have to ask is, he talks about the unions being political. Yet in all of these right to work states, we have republican governors, how political is that . My question then is, can you give me, sir, a breakdown as to the wages in these right to work states . Vis a vis, the other states lack support unions. If you can explain to the audience which states pay a better wage, a liveable wage. Which states offer a better wage . Guest thanks for participating today. I will be glad to answer that question. I think from a standpoint of labor day, this is a good time it talk about issues related to labor laws, labor unions. Im glad cspan decided to inject this issue into the debate on labor day. Its a worthy discussion. To your issue about wages, that is an interesting question. Its a very prominent argument in organized labor discussion against right to work. The fact of the matter is, the American Federation of teachers, which is affiliate of which is affiliate of aflcio, did a study of teacher salary using wages. Researchers there werent tuned into the strategy. They adjusted it for cost of living. When the American Federation of teachers adjusted cost of living, they found out that teachers were better off in right to work states than non right to work states. Host mark mix president of the national right to work Legal Defense foundation. Mr. Mix, thank you. Host about 7you. Million people in the private sector. Does that concern you . Very much. It is a concern for every american that we will not be able to rebuild the american middle class unless we support workers like the fast food togetherho are joining to bring up wages in this nation. And that was an interest of yours to organize fast food workers . Stion mark guest what we want to do is support work with their Community Allies to say we can do better as a nation. Corporations are recording record profits. Mcdonalds and walmart are the largest employers around the globe, and they can afford to have their workers be paid enough so they can earn a decent standard of living. Wages,f you double the it would affect the bottom line and the worker . Guest the question i have is why does the consumer have to absorb the whole amount in record profits are being earned. It used to be in your a country where there was a agreement between management and labor that when workers did better, corporations did better. I actually think the fast food workers and walmart workers are opening up a great debate in our nation about how multinationals invest again in American Workers so that we can get the economy going again from the middle out. Unless workers have money in their pockets, theres no way for goods and officers to be bought, and when people can spend money, more jobs can be created in our great nation. Host how does seiu position yourselves in that debate . Guest we think that every worker needs to have a living wage. While we fight for the minimum wage being raised, we also think that workers ought to be able to get the 15 an hour demand. In fast food, we respresent nurses and janitors and some of who not gotten it. That ought to be a way for everybody to work hard and feed their families. Host would you like to unionize fast food workers . Guest we support them going together. Whether they become members of our union is not our concern now. What they have done for all of us is shift the debate from, are you kidding, 15, to why not 15 . They done that in just a year. You can feel people beginning to have a real conversation about how mcdonalds and wendys reinvest in workers in addition to may be consumers paying 5 or 25 cents more. Host back to question of decline of those joining workers. What do you think is the reasons why those numbers are declining . Guest i think theres been a sustained attack on Workers Organization for the last 40 years, when there was a trickle down economic agenda which said, jobs are going to get created magically by things trickling down. People thought, why do auto workers need to earn a middle class standard of living. By joining together, they established that. I think what fast food and wal mart workers are saying in a service economy, those jobs are no longer starter jobs that High School Students do. Those are the only jobs in many communities of color and in white rural area thats people can get. People want to work hard for a living in our nation and they deserve to be able to feed their families when they go to work. Host if you want to talk to our guest its 2025853880 for democrats, 2025853881 for republicans and for independents, 2025853882. If youre a union employee, feel free to call in as well. As far as the declines are concerned, right to work policy which we heard from our last guest, those numbers going down . Guest hugely. That has been a concerted attack by republican governors. We saw schneider in michigan do it and before indiana. I think its huge hit on the American Economy when workers are not able to join together and drive wages up any longer. It isnt just for Union Members that helps, wages were rising for everyone. We think we all as a nation should be concerned about policies that make that possible in a service economy. Host you talked about compulsory due and what they are used for. They are used for political purposes. Guest thats not correct. What we use our member dues for is to represent their interest. Our members voluntarily giving political money by checking off saying i will give 10 a month. We have 300,000 seiu members that do that every month. They do that voluntarily. Thats just an attack on unions and i think we need to be seen as the last line of defense against Corporate Power in our democracy. The question is whether were going to have a democracy that everybody can participate in not just the will of the corporations. Host slight edging out for those part of unions in the Public Sector. Because theyre in public environment, does that represent different challenges for those than in priority companies . Guest when you look at the history, it was private Sector Workers in the industrial economy that created the ability for Public Sector workers to form unions. At late at the 1960s and 1970s it was illegal for Public Service workers to form unions. Now the attack on Public Workers comes after the damaging of private sector organizations. I think what we have to do as a nation is ask ourselves, do we want to be a country of the very rich and the very poor. Thats what were headed. Without the ability of workers to join together, we are not going to create good jobs in this economy without that ability. Host our guest with us until the end of our program. Shes mary kay henry. First call is from james chicago, illinois, democrats line. Caller hello. Ms. Henry. Ive been a member for seiu local 1 here in chicago since 2000. I work as a Security Officer. I was working as a Security Officer back in 2011. I was fired for misjudgment on the part of the management that secure. I went to seiu local 1 for help. I wasnt able to get it. The person that was suppose to take my case had not. He had retired. He was a dinosaur fossil. I guess he didnt feel like it at the time. I was ask him to try to take my case and look into it. Ive been getting calls and they had someone come from detroit, i think her name was erica. Guest james, it will be great for you and i talk offline on your issue. You come from one of our proudest local, its the founding local of our union. The unions formed an organization in spite of ridicule. Its the same debate were having today, people thought in chicago in the 1920s, why would flat janitors be able to form a union . They were ridiculed. When they finally formed a union, the organizers was asked what are you proudest of, the wage increase you got or the Health Benefits . He said no it was my dignity. Being able to form a organization and be recognized by their employer, finally had the community understand the work they do as important for the people that they served in their apartment buildings. Important story. Host from alabama, this is danny independent line. M a retiree from the seiu caller hello. My name is benny. Im a retiree from the seiu union. I have to say that the benefits that i had, me and my family, me being a member great Health Insurance and on and on. I cannot understand why any member benefiting from the union or nonmember, dont want to Pay Union Dues. I was talking to a young lady that worked for mcdonald three days ago. She told me she had been working for mcdonald for seven years. She only makes 7. 44 an hour. This is ridiculous. I think the public needs to put some input into supporting these workers, speaking out. May be getting in line with them to get a union in there. Guest danny, youre making an incredibly important point which is that we are calling on elected officials at the city, state and federal level to support these workers. We agree with you that what they are trying to do by taking the 7. 44 an hour job and make it 15, isnt just for themselves and their families but for their entire community. Thank you for your support of that worker. Host facts about living wage. It will raise the minimum hour raise a level sufficient for workers. Employers signed contracts with Government Agencies received the subsidies and subsidies from them must agree to pay a living wage. In 2011, 125 local governments had living wage clause. Ultimately there is a cost. Something would have to give as far as their expenses. Guest the way to think about it is its a good investment. Workers productivity is at all time high. Its way in which corporations can invest in our economy and get the economic engine of our nation going at a pace that no Government Intervention can do by itself. Its a way to help increase it would to get them returned but to Human Capital as well will stop host up next is tim from wood stock, georgia, republican like for our line for our guest. Caller good morning. My name is tim. I had been working in Public Utilities sense age 19. One of the companies i worked for was for Florida Power and light. Even though work conditions have gotten better since the industrial revolution, i do think theres a need for unions. One reason is because in the south, the wages are much lower, unfair wages and were not getting paid what we should be getting paid for the hard work were doing. Also employee abuse. I dont feel an employee should be able to go to work, work hard and then a manager decides one day, well, we dont need you anymore because youre getting paid too much and well just fire you and hire somebody for a lower wage. I think thats unfair. These things are not being looked at. Thats what that gentlemen that was speaking before prior to you maam. I didnt mention any of these things. I seen firsthand the abuse that i went through and i like to know also, is it possible for employees if we wanted to unionize, how can we do that . Guest theres people in that community that can answer that question. You can go to our website, seiu. Org. We will connect you with the right union. Tim, i want to thank you for making the case about how important it is to support workers who are trying to join together and make sure that we reward work again in this nation. You just described what millions of workers feel as we enter this labor day that were working harder and harder and barely able to get by much less get ahead. Host who do you represent . Guest we represent healthcare workers, Public Service workers at the city, state and county level, Family Child Care providers and janitors and Security Officers. Host we have a viewer who asked why do Public Sector need unions . Guest for the same reason that all workers need unions. Which is that it is not people have to be able to join together and think about their Economic Conditions but also be able to participate in the political process by having a community that thinks about what are the interest of working people in this country so that we can begin to insist on a government that is proworker instead of procorporation. Host how do wage and benefits to Public Workers . Guest because of the attack on unions and private sector over the last 40 decades. In many communities Public Service workers are earning about the same in wages. Because of healthcare and pension benefits that theyve won over the last two decades, theyre probably 10 higher than private sector worker. Host kristina is from new york on our independent line. Caller good morning. This may not be mary kays area of specialty. I have two questions for her. How can you with the w. T. O. And nafta and globalization, how can we actually protect american lifestyle unions and the rest of the world is basically not the whole rest of the world, but large portion of the world and jobs are being outsourced left and right. The second part of my question is, my son is an electrical engineer, but he will be if he can get a job. Many of the jobs goes to visas, people from other countries that, employed for lesser amounts. Since seventh grade he decided he wanted to be an engineer. Now theres just tens of thousands of Unemployed People with the higher skills. They might as well been born in india because they arent going to get a job here. Guest kristina, what we need to do is get involved and get organized. We have thousands of our members were involved in the august recess in insisting on common sense imImmigration Reform so that 11 million workers can come out of the shadows and into the full light of citizenship in this nation. We can have even handed treatment of workers across the country. I think we need to support the fast food workers, walmart workers, warehouse workers, janitors, Security Officers. Theres millions of workers trying to join together and lift their wages and create good jobs in the Service Sector of the u. S. Economy. I think we need to support that. We also need to get involved in our political process and insist elected officials stand with working peoples ability to form unions but also to have a tax policy that allows for investment in our communities, a good Public Education system. Those are the three concrete things i can think of to respond to your question. Host as far as proposals for immigration, what do you think whats been rolled out as far as the white house approach and how does that affect your industry . Guest our members have been totally supportive of president s position on common sense Immigration Reform. We have made it our number one priority. We have hundreds of members working on thousands of august recess action. Were proud that 25 House Republicans declared their support a pathway to citizenship over the course of august. Weve come back into september and look forward to the house having a robust debate and passing common sense Immigration Reform. We are completely focused and fierce to make sure that the momentum that that was created this august, that we get the house leadership to call for a vote in the house this fall. Host from westburg, connecticut, edward, democrats line. Caller listen, i support the young lady speaking. Shes done a terrific job. Guest i appreciate you considering me, young brother. Thank you. Caller you look young. My reasoning for calling i totally support her position. I live in rather high income area but this country can only prosper if the lower wage people can actually earn decent living. They are the ones who buy the refrigerators, the washing machines. People in my area, buy one washing machine and one refrigerator. But the masses of people also need to buy things. If they can afford it, the economy will therefore prosper. Im in favor of the president S Immigration policy. These visas that bring in people in order to lower the wages is not exactly a good thing. I would caution the government to be careful about this. It can cause severe disparity of income. We have to have people well educated, they spend a lot of money, Student Loan Debt is extraordinarily high and they have to be rewarded with good jobs and we must expand our one of the best ways is to have a 15 and our minimum wage salary. Guest great. I agree with the caller. The one thing i would say on the visa program, that we need to think about how we are educating American Workers and making it possible for our country to generate as many engineers as india and china are generating. Theyve had government policy that supports Public Education and encouraging young people into that profession. We need to muscle up as a nation and do the same. Host walmart, theres a bill from the council saying that walmart have to pay at least 12. 50 an hour. Walmart said themselves, guest we see this as a great example of corporation bullying a community by not agreeing to a standard of living. That is not about getting ahead pedro. Its about workers being able to get by and make it possible to do housing and food in the same month instead of having to trade off one against the other. I applaud the d. C. City councils effort. I am totally disgusted by wal marts bullying tactics and threatening not building that store because of the living wage. Host this story said the mayor expressed, because the legislation affect on economic development. Guest thats a totally legitimate response of mayor being concerned about a community that needs jobs badly. Thats why i think its so bad for us as a nation to allow corporations to dictate what the wages are and why we need to support workers making a very legitimate demand. That not all the profits just a piece of the profits get reinvested in workers so that they arent relying on food stamps and subsidized housing and medicaid in order to make ends meet. Thats the situation more many low wage workers. With corporations that are earning record profits. Host heres decatur, georgia, john on our republican line. Caller good morning. I may live in atlanta. I make less than 10 an hour. I take dont any benefit or food stamps. I make a living. Just an anecdotal story, i had an interesting conversation with a guy. He been here for three years. He had two full time, he work almost 40 hours a week and 30 hours a week at wendys and he has another part time job. Three jobs and hes been working for three years. I said you dont have any time to spend your money. He said i saved 15,000 in three years. Its extraordinary. Then he made the comment when he came to america, he didnt believe all the free jobs. This guy, his attitude and perspective was an inspiration to me. When it comes to its kind of subjective thing. I lived all over this country, worked in many different jobs and many different places. Ill tell you one thing, the last guest is right, the right to work state and cost of living is much cheaper. Here in atlanta, i see people all the time coming here from new york because they cant afford to live in new york. Thats just one example. Guest i just think what you are doing this labor day is honoring the incredible initiative of both immigrant workers in our nation but also there are millions of workers who like you have made a decision to take as much work as you can to make ends meet. I honor that. I think what we also want to do is pose a question about is it enough in a nation that has the wealth and resource that we have that there are a growing number of people working poverty wage jobs who cant save enough money to put their kids in college . Are looking at a future where their children are going to be worse off than we are. I just think that sort of breaks a basic American Value this labor day. That i salute the fast food workers for calling the question on us all and saying we can do better as a nation. Host steven moore from the washington journal. We quoted the federal earned income tax credit that supplement the full time minimum wage salary, by almost 68 hub 6800 a year. Guest i heard this arc. Its wonderful to think about the earned income tax credit but really, why do we have to subsidize corporations who can reinvest in their workers . If it was a service core where we were putting people back to work to clean up our communities or rebuild our bridges, i can understand using the eitc. I think that the basic question that were asking needs to get answered. Why cant workers go to work and expect to make their basic needs get met by their wage . Thats what fast food and wal mart workers and all kinds of Service Workers are asking this labor day. Host judy up next from new york. Independent line. Caller i want to ask mary kay what salary she gets of the union. I worked for the state of no, new york, they took out my union. I was against the union and they took it out anyway and they put the money towards a democratic and elected obama and other places. Shes saying it didnt happen. It did happen. If you go to mcdonalds she wants this big wage, do you think what the poor people will be paying for a hamburger . Guest the question we need to ask mcdonalds why does all of the cost of a new wage have to get passed on to the consumer and why cant just a piece of why cant a piece of their profits get reinvested in the ability for workers to have a living rather than having to give up one to give up another month by month. That is what i think the fast food workers are asking us this labor day. I just wanted to ask ms. Henry. Everybody is cleaning about the wage increase for the working person. No one seems to be bothered by the fact that ceos and corporations are making so many millions of dollars. They are not looking out for the wealth there of the country or country andn of our what will be prosperous to us. Are askingink you the right question. What we saw the fast food strikes last thursday and with the celebration of the march on washington, as a nation we really have to dress this economic inequality and asked the questions you are at skiing. Asking. How can profits be reinvested in workers . I think this is right. How do we grow this economy from the middle out . By getting good jobs back in this nation through government investment, and in getting low wage service jobs to be good jobs that people can sit their family. He speaks largely. He did not mention specifically. He spoke of the cadillac insurance plans that unions have fought for. What is the concern . We have isern making sure the Affordable Care act gets implemented. We have artie seen how people have benefited from no pre existing conditions. 20 on the administrative fees. Three 7 Million People have gotten a refund. Our concern is that a hit implemented. Mrs. I get addressed until 2018. It is going to jot down healthcare costs. There was an amount set by congress when the debate happened which i cannot remember at the moment. It is the amount per year for that healthcare. Tax on theould be a amount beyond 20,000 a year. He is concerned because he is part of a cadillac plan now. The great thing about the way that was sorted out as we pushed out the time for implementation. We are confident if we include more americans we are going to bring down the overall cost to the nation. . Are those seen equally is one benefit over the other . Of those plans, workers are paying a share of the Health Insurance as the costs have been increasing and as they wanted to shift costs. Your organizations taken a Pacific Point on this issue . We are very involved in the negotiation. We did not want this and pose because it punishes plans that try and do the best for workers. We understood it as a way that there had to be some give and take. We are trying to make everyone understand we have a million healthcare workers. They are at county fairs trying to educate people about the benefits of this act. Were going going to have hundreds of our members helping to sign up newly eligible people. We look at the latest from syria with steve clemons. He will take your questions about how the decisions used military force against the assad regime and could affect Foreign Relations. He will also look at how instability in the middle east is affect and oil prices. Our guest is the president of citizens for Affordable Energy and former president of the shell oil company. We will also be joined by producers of the documentary americanmade movie. John mccain and Lindsey Graham met with president obama asked the white house on monday afternoon to discuss syria. After were these book with reporters for little less than half an hour. Afterwards they spoke with reporters for little less than half an hour. Good afternoon. A very good and of syria. Discussion we emphasized to the president that has now its been over a year since the president said it would be a game changer if chemical weapons were used. It has been two years since the president said assad must leave. We will emphasize the importance we place to actions that would degrade assads capabilities, upgrade the opposition, and to change the momentum on the ground in order that the Free Syrian Army can prevail over time. That does not mean we support boots on the ground. Now it is an unfair fight with the thousands of hezbollah fighters who have weapons coming in from russia and iran, and iran basically being a sponsor of bashar alassad. So we had a productive conversation. Both senator graham and i are in agreement, that now that a resolution is going to be before the congress of the United States, we want to work to make that resolution something that a majority of members of both houses can support. A rejection of that, a vote against that resolution by congress, i think would be catastrophic because it would undermine the credibility of the United States of america and the president of United States. None of us want that. But we do want an articulation of goals that over time will degrade assads capabilities, increase and upgrade the capabilities of the Free Syrian Army and the free syrian government, so they can reverse the trend. Assad has received an abundance of support from his sponsors, russia and iran. Finally, this is a regional conflict. This is not a conflict that is confined to just syria. Lebanon is destabilized. Jordan is badly destabilized. Iraq has turned into an aiding place for al qaeda and islamic terrorists. We have to understand that not only is there a threat, that this conflict spreading, but the iranian issue is one and their pursuit of Nuclear Weapons that will be directly affected by our actions in syria. I want to again, we appreciate the president meeting with us. We had a candid exchange of views. And i think we have found some areas that we can Work Together. But we have a long way to go. The way i would turn the conversation is there is a consensus being formed that we need to degrade assads capabilities and upgrade the opposition. The first thing i suggested to the president is get the opposition a chance to meet directly to the American People. John and i and the president all believe that are not al qaeda sympathizers. They are not trying to replace assad, whose whole family has been brutal for generations, to have al qaeda run syria. That makes no sense. It is time for the Syrian Opposition to step forward. I want a statement from the opposition that if we get in charge of syria, with your help, we will run out chemical weapons. There will be no chemical weapons because we will turn them over to the interNational Community. We would like to see a more sustained military effort, but understand where the president is at on that issue, but it is my hope even a limited military strike will degrade his capabilities. There seems to be emerging from this administration a solid plan to upgrade the opposition. It is the time to be more overt. When it comes to financing, the people in the region need to bear the lions share. What can i say to people in South Carolina . I cannot say a lot about iraq and afghanistan, because i do not want to. I can tell the people of South Carolina if we do not get syria right, it will weigh strongly on the president s shoulders. With the chemical weapons being used in syria, what effect would that have on iran in terms of their Nuclear Program . Most south carolinians get that point. I hope we will know more about degrading and upgrading, and when the vote comes we can go to the floor and say the administration has a plan apart from a limited action that will allow us to get to where we need to get to as a nation, which is to turn around from Nuclear Weapons. If we were to strike soon, the opposition is in any kind of position to take advantage of that . They could take advantage of it, but the question is how much . The fact is we have not given the arms and equipment to the resistance, which has been shameful, while huge amounts of arms have flown in from russia and iran, and now thousands of hezbollah on the ground from lebanon. If we have a plan to give them the arms they need, which i believe is part of an upgrade that we could orchestrate and this government could do, it would matter. We need to do it frankly it is shameful that we have not. We should have done it two years ago. With a limited strike that you might have is that a Fair Assessment . It is a Fair Assessment to say we still have a significant concerns, but we believe there is in formulation a strategy to upgrade the capabilities of the Free Syrian Army and to degrade the capabilities of assad. Before this meeting, we had not had that indication. Now it is a question whether that will be put into a concrete strategy that we can sell to our colleagues. Senator mccain, we have heard republicans and democrats coming out of briefings skeptical about this. How hard is the president going to have to work to get this resolution passed . I think he is going to have to work very hard. Americans are very skeptical. Americans have to be assured that the plan will not entail american boots on the ground. I believe if we can formulate this strategy that i just articulated, degrading assads capability, upgrading resistance, and in the long term i think that we have a chance of succeeding in the vote. Do you think congressmen will reject this . If the congress were to reject a resolution like this after the president of the United States has already committed to action, the consequences would be catastrophic in that the credibility of this country with friends and allies alike would be shredded, and there would be implications not only for this presidency, but for future presidencies as well. The president has no one to blame except himself about the lack of public understanding about what has taken place in syria. Two years ago there was an opportunity to get assad out, a year from now there will be tens of thousands of refugees. Two years ago, there were no refugees in the jordanian kingdom. We urge the president to up his game and inform the American People what does it mean that assad wins and the opposition loses . What does it mean that assad, with backing of iran and russians, wins after we said assad has to go . The russians and the iranians are all in. I see an effort by this administration to counter. If we do not get syria right, good luck in the hitting the iranians to change their behavior. We let it be known that we do not want to end this war. War is a terrible thing. We do not sustainable security. And syria is a cancer that is growing. For two years the president has allowed us to become quite frankly and when it comes to selling the American People, what we should do in syria, given the indifference and contradictions, it has to be a tough sell, but is not too late. Clear the air. Be decisive, be firm about why it matters to us as a nation to get syria right. I will go to South Carolina and listen to the people to give them what happens if we do nothing and what happens if we get syria right. A weak response is almost as bad as doing nothing. Senator mccain, is what you heard from the president s vision for you and senator graham to go out and try to gain support for the president s plan . I think it is encouraging, but we have to have concrete plans great we have to have concrete details. And we have to be a short at this is a dramatic difference from the last two years of a policy of neglect which has led to the deaths of a hundred thousand people, a million children being refugees, and a spreading of this conflict through the region. Are you satisfied that this timeline is of no consequence . I am not satisfied. Everyone knows that assad is moving his assets into civilian populations. It is much harder now than it would have and if we had acted initially. Is this a heartening aspect of the president in terms of penetrating blows that can be struck . Those are some of the details that frankly they have not shared with us and probably should not, but we have been given some reason to believe that very serious strikes may take based as opposed to cosmetic. I say that may, because we need to see a lot of the details. For the first time i have an understanding that what happens the first day after the smoke clears. Israel does not announce their attacks ahead of time for a reason. This is bizarre to give the enemy weeks to reconfigure their force, but we are where we are, and a degrading strike, limited in scope, to degrade the chemical weapons Delivery System, could have a beneficial effect of the battlefield momentum. There will never be a political settlement in syria as long as assad is winning. I told the president , how do you expect anybody as long as assad is winning . And if you believed syria will not accept him, then he has to go. The president needs to do a better job selling this. What do you mean, what does he need to do specifically . Articulate a strategy and a plan, which so far has not been there. This meant was they were going to have some strikes, and specifically categorizing that is not intended to effect regime change. I disagree with that, and i believe if we can degrade and as i mentioned and upgrade, then i think we have a chance. But we need to see that plan, we need to see that strategy articulated. We have to make it clear that a vote against this would be catastrophic in its consequences, not only as far as this issue is concerned, but in the future. The president talks about regime change too often. Is this a situation where that is not as important as in other issues . It is a tough sell. Whenever you commit american forces, even in limited military involvement, and there is a credibility gap because of the last two years where nothing has happened while people have been massacred by the thousands, as much as more than 100,000. Theres a credibility gap with some of us who believe we could have ended this war two years ago, when now there is possibly a change in strategy that could bring successful conclusion to this conflict. Did he say how he was going to articulate we cant talk [indiscernible] i think many of my colleagues in congress have yet to be convinced either way. They need to have the hearings that we will have starting tomorrow in the Foreign Relations committee, and they need to be briefed, and they need to understand, and i am sure they do, the seriousness of this issue. From my point of view, the Republican Point of view, there is a libertarian wing that respects fortress america will not work. But having said that, it is not a history that most members are reluctant to engage when it comes to syria because they do not know what is going to happen. They do not have any idea how this military strike, limited in focus and nature, will change things. What are they going to tell people back home . We shoot missiles, and then what . For the first time i see the development of a strategy that will upgrade the opposition as well as degrade assad, that i think if it becomes a reality we will know in the next couple days that i can believe in my heart will work, and to my colleagues, if you think the outcome in syria does not matter to the United States, then you must really believe the king of jordan is a somebody else in the mideast. If you cannot see the connection between syria and iran, you are blind at a time when history needs us to have good eyesight. The connection between syria and iran is clear, and to disconnect these two would be a huge policy National Security mistake, and i hope the president above all else will make that connection. [indiscernible] what senator graham said about the opposition . We will use military means to upgrade the opposition. The president said it would be a catastrophe does that not really mean a weak response is something that would give us a serious dilemma. Do you think he really would go forward with an attack of Congress Rejects it would be harder if congress has rejected it. He had ample precedent in previous republican and democratic president s in acting without the approval of congress. What do you think this about face is about . I think he found with the british voting the way they did and obviously without the United Nations approval, as long as the russians and the chinese are there, that perhaps that a resolution of congress would give him some more sustainability. And by the way, again, these attacks have to be sustainable. Sustainable to degrade assads capability and upgrade the Free Syrian Armys capability to bring this conflict to an end. He will only leave when the tide of battle turns against him. How long is sustainable . It is harder and harder now with this delay. He is moving his forces around and making it more difficult to target them, despite what the chairman of the joint chiefs might say. Anyone who knows the military in actions, like lindsey said, the israelis and others do not telegraph their intention days, even weeks ahead of time. If the goal is to have a military strike to degrade the capability of the assad regime to develop chemical weapons in the future, that means Delivery Systems have to be affected. It means the ability to deliver has to be affected. If that is done in a way to keep down chemical weapons Delivery Systems, that will have a substantial effect the grading the capability of the assad regime. You are to upgrading the capability of the opposition, cohesion, and giving reasonable force behind the opposition. These three things would work, but if the goal is to put it in my lap, i welcome a discussion about what we should do. I have been telling you for two years what i think. I welcome the discussion with the president and congress. To those who say in the Congress Syria not our business, then you really honest to god do not understand the world in which we live in. If you do not understand that the American People are not going to follow an uncertain now is the time for you to reshape public and world opinion. Take advantage of it. Tell the president , what does it matter to us as a nation if assad wins . I believe the president is capable of doing that, and is ready to do it, and if he is ready to do that, i am ready to go to my colleagues and say now is the time for us to come together before it is too late. Are you confident that supporting the opposition would not also support links to al qaeda . I am 100 confident that we will know who the Free Syrian Army is, you know what they need, they have a preponderant force fighting against assad, and some of these al qaeda groups are spending their time trying to impose sharia law. There is a definite Geographic Division between them. We know who they are. If they have a safe area, we would know exactly how to get those weapons to them. Saudis have provided weapons. Are you reworking republican policy . We are going to have hearings in the foreign relation committee. You personally . I am already talking to a lot of my colleagues, but before i cant persuade them to support this, i have to be persuaded. I am saying that the president i think made sense in a lot of things he had to say, but we are a long way from achieving what i think would be a most effective strategy, and finally for those who say we do not care about syria, it does not matter to us, czechoslovakia did not matter in the 1930s, and china did not matter when atrocities took place in those countries, we paid a horrible price for not paying attention to what happened in those countries, and we paid a heavy price in world war ii. We have to Pay Attention to this region, and we have to bring assad down. Isnt what is being contemplated about as risk free as it gets, by the way . Isnt that a key selling point . Absolutely, and the key selling point is no american boots on the ground. They are tired and weary of that, and we have to tell them, no american boots on the ground. You have to show them a way forward, and that so far has not been articulated to congress or the people. [indiscernible] you needed to degrade command and control you still believe that . I believe it. Destroying the chemical weapons Delivery System they are one and the same. The Delivery Systems are the same. They are the scud missiles, that deliver conventional weapons as well as chemical weapons. The grading these capabilities for chemical weapons would degrade his capability. To grant an advantage that assad has is air. He uses it to move his logistics around. Air moves his supplies and supplies from iran and russia. He uses it to launch attacks against the Free Syrian Army, which is the deciding factor on the battlefield. You take out his air, he is at a distinct disadvantage. Ok, thanks. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] in a few moments, a form on individual Constitutional Rights with Supreme Court Justice Stephen breyer. Mccain and Lindsey Graham talk about syria. Now a discussion on individual Constitutional Rights with Stephen Breyer and Margaret Marshall. She wrote a decisionmaking massachusetts the first state to legalize samesex marriage. This is about an hour. I would like to thank all of you for being