We will hear a bit more from her later. For takinghank you the time and caring enough about our country to get together and talk about what we are going to do to make things better. We are in a chaotic and unstable and frightening and divided moment. But i believe it is in our hands to change all of that for the era that is ahead of us. We are lucky and unlucky enough to be among those americans who. Et to be alive this is about more than who is a resident today, although lord knows, we will need a new president. Applause]d we approach choosing whether to buy prescription drugs or and theto buy groceries president still focusing on whether or not to buy greenland, we have a problem. I dont think a person like the current president can ever get within cheating distance of the oval on oval office. We have to respond to the fact that for as long as i have been alive our political and Economic System has not been keeping up with our reality. Up and lifeoing expectancy has been going down. We have a climate that is losing its ability to support our way of life. War with no plan to get out. Sooner or later this comes to a breaking point and we are at that breaking point. It is within our power to do something different. Thats where i come in. Thats why i am running for president. [cheers and applause] with your help. What does it better way look like to build a presidency that can handle those problems in the moment. Policies,get to the we have to anchor ourselves in our values. This will be the campaign that , we are talking about not conservative values but American Values that are best honored by the policies. That has implications. If we are serious about freedom come up then we need policies that recognize there is more to read him then cutting the regulation of a bank somewhere. If we want to experience liberty and freedom we have to deliver policies that give Us Health Care because you are not free if you dont have health care coverage. It holds you back from living the life that you choose. We are also proposing a medicare for all who want it system that gives people the system eedom to choose a public we want to talk about freedom lets make sure we are securing the Freedom Associated with a womans right to choose. We need more men to be feminists out there backing women up out there for their rights. Heres what it means to be serious about freedom. That means we are to be free to decide who to marry. Applause]d i think freedom comes by way of the ability to organize for a good days a for a Good Days Work we stand with organized labor. It is the unions they will have. Our middle class. Economic freedom is freedom also. Applause]d i believe freedom comes by way of education, we have a secretary of education who actually believes in Public Education we need a secretary of education who believes in Public Education. We can be uniting around these american aliens. We can be uniting around the value of patriotism. We gather under a flight that is not an republican flack but an american lag. American flag one that i saluted when i was in uniform knowing it representative freedom but obligation to speak up when our leaders are doing the wrong thing. We should not be accused of being disloyal to the republic for which it stands or be told to go back from where we aim wrong. Where we came from. Security at a time when National Security will require more from us than ever before. Threatsty White Nationalism needs to be called out. Cheers and applause National Security means ensuring the Second Amendment is never twisted into id. Sentence for americans because we are not ready to implement common sense gun reform. If we are serious about security we have got to be able to treat climate disruption as the security of our time. And security in the age of endless war, authorizations for war should have a subset. They should have to go back to congress and make the case and congress should be ready to step up. If we have troops who came go overseas and put their lives on shoulde, Congress Vote on whether or not it should be up for it to do so. Lets rally around these values that bring us together, read him and security that do not belong to a political party. Who does not belong to a political party. We stand for people of any religion and no religion equally because that is the founding idea of this country. Those who are guided by religious faith ought to know there is a choice at a time when we are seeing on the southern budgets that take food eight out of the hands of the gry, knowing that we are commanded by every tradition to concern ourselves with the will being of the , feeding the hungry, welcoming the strangers. Dont let people tell you that Christian Faith means you have to vote republican not when we are seeing when we are seeing what is in this white house. We have a choice and the choice has never been clearer. Is not in the best. Hape at this moment it is not a democracy or even a [applause] republic if districts can be drawn to where politicians are picking out their voters any other way around. If our fellow u. S. Citizens from puerto rico to d. C. Do not have proper representation, we have work to do. [applause] the good news is we can do something about that, it is why i have proposed a Voting Rights act that make sure everyone can exercise their right to vote in this country. [applause] eye view ismayors when there is a problem we find a solution. We have a problem with people dividing against each other and not recognizing as fellow americans people who have a different background, that is a there is a solution and part of that is by creating National Service opportunity so american can Work Together on Something Like i had in the military without having to go to war to get there. That is something that i can do. [applause] we have a problem with systemic racism, which is why am proposing we have a solution as ambitious and bold as the Marshall Plan to rebuild europe, but invest in america. Experience puts you almost in a different country everything to the vote to credit to start a small business, we need health equity, better housing, we have a plan. [applause] when we see a problem with Rural Communities losing population, we have got to act on that. We need a federal government that will support communities developing their plan to innovate and build up jobs, and we need to support immigration as part of the solution for communities who need more jobs and people, and more people willing to be in Rural America if we make it possible. [applause] today, we have been traveling the state talking about the crisis in Mental Health and addiction. It deserves to be named and deserves action. No longer can this be treated as a specialty issue because it affects all of us. We have to act. [applause] what does that look like . It means enforcing parity so that Health Insurance companies have to treat Mental Health conditions and provide for visits just as much as we do for physical health. [applause] means treating our Police Officers training our Police Officers and teachers on signs of Mental Health issues and a place to send them when they identify those issues by making sure that we have the providers that we need. [applause] it means building up our defenses as a country, to the risk posed by Mental Health, addiction, and suicide risk. That is why there should be a three digit number linking to the National Suicide hotline so it could be that easy to tell people where to go. [applause] silenceme to break the that has people struggling with Mental Health issues or addiction thinking that they are alone, because one in five americans will experience a Mental Health challenge. People experiencing that need to know, and their loved ones too, that there is nothing to be ashamed of. Need to talk about these issues as openly as we would talk about cancer or diabetes, because lives are on the line. Deathsdo the math on from alcohol, drugs, and suicide and look what will happen in the next 10 years, it means that we can cut by half the deaths from despair in this country, we will save one million lives. How can we not . How can we not do that . Let us make it happen, together. [applause] that is what this is about, not easy fixes, real solutions. These are problems that will be with us, even when we have gotten a new president. We need to sink our teeth in and realize that we cannot spend all of our time and energy talking about him. We have a show going, quite a show, ik reality show, or a game show, or a horror show. [applause] the thing with horror shows, you cannot look away, that is what makes them gripping. We cannot win by going on his show. We have a better show, and so this movement is about picking up the remote and changing the channel to something better. [applause] that is a little bit about what i believe, what i plan to be doing as president , and why i am running. I want to make sure that we have a conversation. The numbers are getting larger, but this still qualifies as an intimate rather ring enough that we can have a conversation. We gathered questions from folks who are here. Please welcome back, mckenzie, who is going to guide us in those questions. There she is. [applause] [cheerings] a great crowd. First question, what is your relationship to president obama . Ruth. All, iuttigieg first of am a i am an admirer. [applause] this is somebody who operated under some terrible constraints, especially when you look at what happened in the senate. And yet he was able to reverse the trend toward a Great Depression in this country, move us out of the war in iraq. Rescue the auto industry, so that is an important thing where i come from. It was not bad for eight years work. And, [applause] while it is easy to say that there are things we would do different, and we need to move things forward beyond what was achieved with the affordable soe act, but it has saved many live so we must defend it while it is on the books. [applause] i am puzzled that some folks are running against president obama, i am running against president trump. [applause] also say that we are fortunate that he has decided to commit his ex presidency to mentoring a Younger Generation of leaders. In the arts, community organizing, and a little bit of politics, and as part of a new eration i am glad he he he decided to invest his energy. One other thing about this, and this is important. If you dig in on the job growth numbers, the president says you have to vote for me, you have no choice. Because of the economy. It, if you think about under president obama, unemployment was 10, and he got it down to five. The president got it down from five to four, and he thinks he is like the rooster that made the sun come. He says you have no choice to vote for me, and the message is that you may not like the chaos, the bad example that is being youve your kids, but got to support me because of the job growth, that is almost as good as the job growth in the obama years, what an argument. It shows you how out of whack things are. Having said that, this is about what is next, and each moment is different. The moment i had of us is unlike something we have seen. It is not it is not like going back to any other time, it is figuring out how to make the future better than the past, because there is no such thing as again in the real world. [applause] all right, what are your plans for strengthening our Public Schools to provide every child with a quality education . Mayor buttigieg great question. Are you involved in education . No. I married aieg teacher, so i get an education about education every time i come home. And educators i know are dedicated and they bring it home with them when they are involved, but they are not getting the resources they need. There are a lot of Different Things that need to happen across the system in order to support kids in the next generation. The biggest thing is to support our teachers, which means pay them more. [applause] teaching is a profession of unbelievable importance for the future of this country, and it is not being treated that way or viewed in the same professional lens as so many other important professions. If we honored teachers like soldiers and pay them like doctors, this would be a better country. [applause] this is also why we need to invest in Mental Health, and make investments in supporting a professional learning communities among educational professionals and be willing to use federal dollars to help smooth out the fact that it is actually the lowest income districts that have the fewest dollars per pupil going into supporting the kids and getting a good future. You would think it would be the other way around. You would think we would invest more for those who need the most, that is what i aim to fix. There is no question that we. M. D to do a lot around s. T. E education. It is also true that Arts Education is not a luxury. [applause] not a luxury, it is a necessity. If for no other reason than we are not only educating workers, we are educating citizens and we want them to be strong, which means having a wideranging education. [applause] mackenzie next question. Would you want each High School Graduate to do National Service, maybe to forgive our college debt for one year, and that is why that is by patricia ryan. Mayor buttigieg is patricia here . You are here somewhere. Thank you. Heres the way i would do it. I would not do it as a requirement, make it that the norm that everybody does it. If we get it right is that what you look like, whatever you do after high school whether you are applying for your first job or the military, or applying for college, the first question is what did you do during your service and what did you learn, it just becomes universal. That is an investment in the future of this country. Be e do that, we will it will be a benefit because you are getting paid. I also believe that they should qualify for Public Service benefits and we need to make it easier to access the Public Service loan forgiveness program. It is great in theory, but it needs to be userfriendly and it would inspire people to be involved for a whole career of Public Service. [applause] mackenzie do you think that a president should always get the consent of congress explicitly to undertake military action . Mayor buttigieg yes. This was what i was getting to earlier. As our questioner here . Is our questioner here . Right here. Hello. Uttigieg we are why we are where is that congress has walked away from its war powers. A three year in sunset to every authorization. Niger inoldiers in terms of terrorism, and members of congress admitted that they did not know that they were in the country. We have folks deployed in east asper, east africa. We are not that far off from the day when we will see new was about a casualty in afghanistan who was not born on 9 11. I thought i was one of the last troops leaving afghanistan five years ago, and right now there is a soldier packing her bags, ready to go over there, probably wondering a little bit let the end game is and what the mission looks like. I believe a big part of this has to be for congress to step up, and as congress as president i would insist on congressional authorizations before committing troops. [applause] mackenzie describe your prophecies for appointing the Supreme Court justices. Mayor buttigieg great question. By the way, let us all pray for the health and wellbeing of justice ginsburg. [applause] so, the process will involve identifying justices who have that same vision of freedom that i shared earlier. Justices and judges for the bench. We should be a little more expansive in who we look to to be on the bench. Week, i aminst night partial to harvard. Ofre should be a wider range educational backgrounds going into the federal judiciary. Then we have today. And, it should be as common to find people with a background in being a public defender as it is to find people with a background in prosecution. There should be balance. [applause] i will look for people who think for themselves, it will not be about aligning with the partisan politics of the moment. I will care very much about the judgment and values that justices and judges put forward. Here is other thing. I will have to get somebody through the senate. You may have heard where Mitch Mcconnell and 2016 said it was a matter of principle that he would never vote on a justice in the election year, and if he said if it would happen in 2020, he would have a vote. Bipartisan negotiation relies on good faith, and we are seeing the Current Senate majority leadership does not even pretend to be there in good faith. [applause] this is one reason why i agree with harry reid that we have to do away with the filibuster. [applause] and, it is why it is really important, of all the strategies for dealing with which mcconnell, the best one for him as not to be the majority leader anymore, and i need your help to do that. [cheering] that means having a nominee with coattails. Mackenzie what is your favorite symphony . [laughter] mayor buttigieg i did not see that coming. Is there a questioner here for that . What is your favorite symphony . Really, interesting. Good. Im going to go for the seventh, it takes you through all of the emotions, it is heroic, sad, up down, stirring, i have to go with the seventh. Now, it is in my head. Tunesher got one of