I first was young corporal wayne johnson, 22 years old, citizen of the british west indies. My second was corporal manual rivera, citizen of mexico. My third, Staff Sergeant remy lebrune, of canada. Lawful permanent residents served at higher rates than itive born americans and first years in the fleet brought that home to me in human terms because the person i relied on most to teach a young infantry lieutenant his skills were all noncitizens in my first few years in the marine force. And many times i would attend swearing ceremonies when soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast n, swarthy oath of allegiance taken by all who wish to become u. S. Citizens. Here is what that says. I will read it to you. I hereby declare on oath that i absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all fidelity to any foreign prince, state or sovereignty of whom were of which i have heretofore been a subject or citizen, that i will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of america against all enemies foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, i will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law, that i will perform noncompetitive service when required by the law. That i will perform work of National Importance under civilian direction when required by the law and i take this obligation freely without any reservation or purpose of evasion, so help a god. I have seen veterans of many battles take this oath with tears in their eyes, tears some nativeborn americans who take freedoms for granted have difficulty understanding or empathizing with. I remember on board the ship one take in the South China Sea one day in the South China Sea, we spotted a boat with refugees. They can only see the bow of the ship coming straight onto them and through binoculars we could see the fear and apprehension on their faces as they stared at us. As we turned to come alongside to render aid, those on board saw the american flag. Cheering and waving, hugging each other, they thought this young lieutenant and his they taught this young lieutenant what americans of the ship american citizenship meant to others. I was having lunch in washington, dc with a very sophisticated foreign ambassador years later. He educated me about post world war ii america, a country that made the single most self sacrificial pledge in world history. He said after world war ii you could have told europe twice in 25 years you have dragged us into one of your wars. We are through, we are turning to asia and africa, latin america for markets. You deal with the soviet army. He said instead you pledged 100 million dead americans and a nuclear war to protect democracy in europe. That is what he thought represented americas citizenship as they looked at the world along the lines of what krion was talking about earlier. It took me a while to figure out why so many looked to america for reassurance in troubled times. They educated me on what responsibilities are in perfect countries citizens have carried out in the past. Looking back what all did i learn from marines of all races and creeds, incumbents so severe you could scrape off the veneer of civilization from every one of us . From refugees on an overcrowded boat in the pacific and other events . What i learned in terms of the militarys role is this. America does not have to be perfect to be worth loving, supporting and defending. There are rhythms in life and in a countrys life that as long as each generation commits to the founding principles our country produces to stand for, professes to stand for, our experiment in democracys future remains in our hands and makes legitimate calls for our support. I saw the microcosm of america every day in the marines and when fighting for life, i saw the best of life keeping faith in the goodness in each other. Faith that even in the crucible of combat, america was worth fighting for. Even when we are not perfect because we share a passion to be improving the citizens of this country, to fix what is broken, to never be complacent and never and to turn over to the next generation the same freedoms we enjoy. I believe a country like ours is like a bank. You have to put something in if you want to take something out. You want freedom, you need to commit something. Oftentimes collegiates can Say Something to members of their college that resonates to one another simply because of the shared formative experience. Alum saidat one yale to other graduates in 1940, a dark time worldwide, facing a muscular and fascist enemy. Walter said you took the good things for granted. Now you must earn them again. For every right that you cherish, you have a duty which you must fulfill. For every hope you entertain, you have a task you must perform. For every good you wish to preserve, you will have to sacrifice your comfort and your knees. Your ease. There is nothing for nothing any longer. I think his words are applicable to citizens today of this big experiment and they are worth considering. Thank you very much. Michael thank you. [applause] michael we now have time for conversation, questions and discussion. By askingme the pump each of our spec our speakers. They will not know what they are being asked. We will find out with the answer. I hope you will be thinking of questions you would like to put to them and to be lining up behind these microphones. You can ask. Please try to keep your questions as brief as i am going to begin mine. I will begin with kiron. Your words were profound and pessimistic. I feel sad at the end. To you is, what is the greatest source of optimism thesee in the world or in United States today about a revival of good citizenship . Kiron that is a hard question. Your discussion helped me think about the more optimistic side of the citizenship in america. We would not have the debate we are having now about Global Citizenship if we had civics education. Much of what is being debated now is a violation of some of the basic understandings of how morgan is that nations organize themselves, the history of citizenship. Much of it is trying to make us. Ore moral part of the argument is we have such a responsibility to others to the environment, the degradation we have seen, to somethingar, if we do better with people, we will get better outcomes. First we need to understand principles and how we got here. That ties all of our presentations together. To the kind of education, it does not have to be one we did in the past, but where we do teach the west, we teach the classics and include them in our standard curricula, we will see a different debate. Global citizenship is not the way to make the world more moral, to make people more moral because it doesnt address the issue of the hard work and responsibility we face on a daily basis of being part of a polity. Positivesere is some to starting with the fundamental 16. Lems of k through what hoover is doing here is our way of contributing to a more moral education. Josh, let me ask you this. You mentioned the founders of this country. I did as well. I hear from young people and students, why are we talking about those guys . They you can demise ferment they epitomize for many people today white male privilege. They are what we should be, that is what we should be casting aside to create a new more egalitarian world. What do you say to those people . Josiah i want to say that their worries are not meaningless. They are not empty. Had a hasas deep problems with race, obviously slavery. So then it is not an empty concern that they have. But i think leaping to the thought that because people have a certain ethnicity, had a certain class standing, had a , the idea istion that those people had or have, that the form of government that they devised, is somehow inherently corrupt. Is born withit defect, that it is so defective the subject to be a completely rejected idea. What i hope to do in my teaching is not to convince people that there is a Perfect Union that momentated at a single in the 18th century and we have fallen short of that, or that the the classics that the founders read, the greek and roman are the unique exempulars of a kind of ethics, morality and that returning to them is the only way to go forward. If we dont understand the background, the grounding from which, the impulse to say that i care about justice, i care about equality, i care about the that is being, to some byent, violated incarceration. Finding out where those ideas frequently initially, how theyve been developed over into aow they were built constitutional order, how that in different democratic experiments over time, not only 18th century one but early now subsequent ones thats going to be important for them to then finally make their judgment about how can floms is in a democracy livelfilled in the age we in. Not going to go back to the 18th century. Oft, the foundation equality, freedom, dignity, and there areance that certain baseline conditions that are necessary to sustain those values, those ideas were, in fact, originated then or and we could then build on that, i think, to perfectndeed, a more union. Never a perfect one. Said, its anm ongoing experiment. And id like to say to them, thats what youre we do doking for, that better. Michael general, as i have heard you talking, it seemed to me that one of the themes of similar toare so what many at the founding about the importance of selfsacrifice for the common that good citizenship and patriotism, patriotism in particular, love of country, is the blessings and privileges that we enjoy from nation, as much as it is based upon the sacrifices that we make for the nation. So my question to you is, outside of the military, when at youve come now the mostrd, one of privileged places on the planet and you see the society that we are in and that our students are in. Where is the source of selfsacrifice in a society like that . Gen. Mattis where is the source . Michael if self sacrifice is citizenship, to patriotism as i think you have perceived, why does it come from domesticry Privileged Society . Gen. Mattis i think it starts, gratitude a sense of for all that were given and an awareness of that. Its hard to have that when youre young and you grow up with something and its always been there. You just getgen, to breathe it. As we heard, our Education System is probably not putting a on showing people how fortunate they are. Of ourd to see many privileges and all of our benefits of democracy, through other peoples eyes who did not have those benefits. And i think if we could bring a dozen students from hong kong right now to the stanford aroundand let them walk and say what its like, when you dont have it, thats when you really notice it. This room were born here, completely by accident. Here by choice. Responsibility to the next generation to turn over thee freedoms intact and country a little bit better. Jefferson used this word and i had more it when ive than one beer. We hold this country in usefront. And you canrarian chop down the tree, you can change the course of the streams, you can plow the ground, whatever you want with it. But you must turn it over to or son in as good or better condition than youve got it. Inhold this country usefront. Its not about making a sacrifice, per se, its carrying out your duty to the next generation and not being so selfish that you think you can just spend money by borrowing wantou can do whatever you to the environment without taking care of it. To turn it over in as good a shape or better. Thats a responsibility. That is the source, to me, why ierything you do and dont feel at all like i was a martyr by going out and serving in the infantry for 40 years. Ill look you in the eye, ive met you, and ill tell everyone it was worth every day of it. Voted for,e who you whether youre male or female, whether you go to the church or synagogue or is is is a saloon, youre worth it. Thats what freedom is all about. That doesnt stop at the waters edge. Hard example is whats motivating many of the kids in kong right now to stay the course against an onerous bunch. More of a its responsibility than a sense of going for self sacrifice. Always been enough patriots to step forward and god there will always be them but we all need to roll up this country keep in that trajectory. Thats a responsibility. Michael do i see a question here . Dont be shy. Citizen young voter and and given the vast wisdom on the stage here, my question to you is, what, in the next year or two, scares you . Seeing the news ongoing in iran and china and north korea and noise going on. Im still trying to piece it all together what scares much noise, i want to know what scares you specifically, given your experiences, when you look at these things. Thatel who wants to take on. You . Scares this year, within the next two years, what scares you . You one of the things that scares me is when i the candidates from both of great parties of this country anding about silly stuff not addressing things that country. Tter to the gen. Mattis let me add something there. I was a secretary of defense and of you know what that means. Youre supposed to defend the country. There are threats. Were concerned about north korean millions and Nuclear Things and those russia has developed rhetoric and invading countries and we an ambientism, threat thats out there. Without losingct constitutional freedoms or overreact what scares me any external threat is how americans are treating each other right now in public life. [applause] gen. Mattis we dont get back showing some fundamental respect, to listening to one ofther, to showing a degree friendliness toward one another ive fought terrorists for a long time. I know what terrorists look like. Someone in public life calling a fellow american a terrorist because they have a idea, that worries me more than the russian army. I guarantee you. Ill leave it at that. Michael shall we take another question . Fewve heard there are a different countries, of the countries i have been to, the switzerland. I remember everyone seems genuinely invested in making better place. A Road Construction projects, literally working, not just holding up a sign or something. Differenta immigration policy. They have mandatory military service. What do you think it would take us to get our citizenry towards what switzerland has thats realistic to get with . Ody on board michael josh, youre probably closer to switzerland . Josiah switzerland has a very interesting history. Some of the , switzerland were exempulars of direct democracy. They have a tradition of citizens not only engaging in the kind of work that they have a tradition of citizens not general mattis is talking about, military service, not only a communitygoing to gathering in which theyre deciding the basic rules and decisions about their local community. So i think that one of the things that could get us back is wenking about ways in which can take our tradition of american federalism and making making what we do locally more engaged and then more connected to what we do nationally so that you can feel that as a citizen, you actually have a voice and that you can use that voice to at least make some or help make some or to making local decisions and that those local an integrated role to play in the larger community, the national community, of which you are a part. And thats going to take some thinking about institutional design. Ups basically stepping federalism to a 21st century level. Is the how to do that challenge and thats a challenge that i hope that your generation on. Oing to take michael theres also the issue chocolate. [laughter] here . L a question over said onel mattis, you of the keys to citizenship is trust and thats trust in each as citizens and trust in the government. So my question for all of you teachable . T is it trainable . And how badly has social media, our Political Polarization and the thousands of factcheck demonstrated of our current trust and whatd do we need to do to rebuild it . Gen. Mattis its a great question. The senior marine on campus here retired force guard, its the retired captain, george schultz. And secretary schultz will tell you that in all factors dealing Human Interaction engagement, trust is what he calls the coin of the realm. It starts, i think, at home, civicsly, but i think education is where you can put a strong rationale together for why, without trust, cannot have a functioning democracy, because if you cant another, why would you be willing to have others with power, basically. , in at, youve got to in community, give power to some people. You hire a policeman. Give authority to the mayor to distribute the towns money. How can you have this work if you dont have trust . So you can train to it. Can actually put people in difficult circumstances where they have to trust one another. Thats why we seem to come together more during a crisis. After 9 11, right we all pulled together. But we shouldnt have to wait for that. Best interests, to work with one another. Withthe only way to work one another is to trust each other and im not sure at times people dont trust. Because i found i forget who it was he said its harder to trust somebody once youve met them. [laughter] gen. Mattis you reverse it is the way i would put it. Once you meet, its also harder them. E the best i can give you i dont have a good answer for you. Ive seen trust work, though. Have now, for example, we excellent trusted relations between the u. S. Military and the mexican military. Consideringnder, some of the rhetoric that youve heard, how could we have that. And the fact is, by both militarys now, weveight established that trust. Ive seen it work even when orer things were going wrong were difficult. Its a matter of rolling up your sleeves and giving your word. When you give your word, you have to be there. Michael i would like to throw to kiron, too. Kiron im of a couple of minds. With the statement that trust is the coin of the realm governmentt run a without it. Having been in washington, ive seen recently that not only its just trust that americans lack for their own government, but somehow and i think most of the problems were talking about 16e are k through problems we have moved so far transactional direction where almost every engagement, isecially in washington, about what will this do for me, very, very quickly. Trust is not a factor when youre dominated by transactions. How we fix that, i dont know. There should be, in a ofocracy, a healthy distrust government always. And so when i read polls show that only 40 of Americans Trust this or that branch of government or the whole government, theres nothing i our founding that suggests that we should give over our cognitive abilities and to rival hypothesize to elected or unelected government officials. But knowing how to do that responsibly i think is a huge pr