Responsibilities in the United States was to take a bit of a selfie. What the reality on the ground regarding rights and responsibilities in the United States is and our findings have been rather sobering. To put it mildly and with this book we are handing over to you and we are handing this handing over this book to the public. The intention of of of generating discussion about what the realities are around rights and responsibilities. And allow me by of doing some stage setting here just to for a moment about the title, why we have chosen the title and but also historical reference here is are the underlying historical reality to which this title is a reference. So the title again is Holding Together the main is Holding Together the what is supposed to be Holding Together about. We are talking about the United States. One truly remarkable thing, the United States, is that it has been together one way or another, obviously with a lot of challenges, but it has been Holding Together as the republic, as democracy for about 250 years. And that an amazing we saw the democracy that the republic can become this old saw is is an amazing accomplishment and it will require a lot of sustained work to actually make sure that theres going be another 250 years now that there is a future at all and our book is meant to make is designed to make a contribution to the kind of debate that is needed so that is an ongoing Holding Together. If you think about Historical Context here, the the athenian democracy athens a democracy for about 300 years it was Holding Together as the democracy for over 300 years before it fell apart as that kind of governance. The republican stage of roman history lasted for about 500 years before it fell apart as that particular governance structure. And what enabled these to to last for that long was that athens for these 300 years and roma sort of public for about 500 years, had a sense of Holding Together a shared had had a shared perception that the relevance of forwarding together as a democracy also public was, much more important than that any particular side would get its and for that reason they lasted that long and that to my mind is also the secret for ongoing existence of a political entity to continue into future. That there is a spirit theres a spirit of Holding Together a willingness, a determination to maintain the political structure over above possible interests that that might be prominent at some point in time. So again, our book is meant to be a contribution to that kind of debate is necessary for the United States to to continue to hold together. I am delighted to be introducing to be able to introduce our speakers for today. Now i in a moment will hand over to my colleague of the course and this was my ramon was a coauthor of this book major major brain behind this book. Also and who will give an overview of the societal rights crisis this book is concerned with . She will then hand over to john chaddock, who is lead author of the study the moving spirit, really behind this project. And john will talk about some key findings and in this book. And then we are very lucky to be joined by two very distinguished colleagues from harvard law school. So, john then turned over to martha minow, former dean, distinguished professor at the harvard law school, a and martha will benton over to have a distinguished colleague at harvard law school, alan jenkins. Both of them, both martha minow and alan jenkins would have commented on of the book. And after that, we will be having a bit of a roundtable and a q and a with all of you, for which i will urge you then social my later with urge you to put your questions in the chat function. And now without further ado, from my end over to you. Sushma. Thank you. Matthias thank john, martha, alan and all of you joining us today. Any research and writing endeavor, particularly one that is collective in nature but takes a course of time and the arc time over which this particular book was researched and written was a particularly critical moment in the nations history. We witness protests for, Racial Justice that swept the country. We witness and interact on the capitol on january sixth and an impeachment process. We watched in horror at the attacks on Voting Rights, a more general rollback on a range of rights and a pending act that affected millions of people around the world, including in the United States. So the starting for our book Holding Together in the martha minow says rights are both ideals and of the shortfall of human. And i think that really captures quite well what we accomplished or what we tried to accomplish which is pointing out shortfalls but also pointing the ideals on which this nation built and pointing to a roadmap for us to build together a more just and open society. So i want to turn it over to john, who will share some the key findings in the project, which included not just Desk Research but also polling town halls, conversations with people around the country, as well as consultations, experts from a range of sectors. So over to john. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sushma and thank you and marcus for being such standing colleagues as well as coauthors. This project and i also want to thank especially martha minow for her eloquent forward and shell give remarks about this book and. Then also, i want to thank Allan Jenkins for, his thoughtful comments throughout the project. And i also should really give a big shout out to our Research Assistant whose outstanding work is. In 100 pages of footnotes. So those of you who look at the size of the book know that you probably dont need to all the pages, but definitely 100 pages of footnotes provided great deal of detail about the research thats been done. So this book is about a search for the values can hold the country together. As mathias said, i think we know that the u. S. Is a nation of unprecedented diversity. Its been built over a centuries, not on ancestry as so many other countries have, but on immigration and on a history of slavery and on the subjugation of its indigenous people. So its a very complex in which americans have been thrown together by chance. And sometimes exploitation, but have held together over these centuries by a belief that, and i quote, all people are created equal and have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I think were all familiar with where that quote comes from. Now, there have been centuries of struggle for equal rights. Equal rights for realization of these rights, constantly punctuated by violence and rage, racism and bloodshed. Civil war. Segregation and above all, heroic movements of the people for. Their rights over the centuries of american history, the right to vote to equal protection and equal opportunity or freedom of speech and religion, individual dignity, autonomy, due process of law, and a democratic of government. And it is our view at, based on everything that weve studied in this book, that the ongoing long struggle for rights actually defines what it is to be an american today. And it has in the past. Our book is about these values, about how theyre being hijacked and about how can mobilize to reclaim them. And i think its the book that hopefully can encourage and indeed give hope to the defenders of equal rights in. These deeply discouraging times. Now, the central question that we take up in the book is what do americans actually think about their rights today . This is original, not simply research. And to find out, conducted a series of town Hall Meetings around the country and nationwide polls. The polls were run by the National Opinion research center, the university of chicago, one of the leading nonpartisan polling organizations in the country, and the results were quite remarkable, and here are some of them. 80 of americans across the political spectrum said that without our rights, america aka is nothing. Rights today are not secure. But americans have more in common than many people think. Now, thats a remarkable and complex set of views that were expressed on the front end of our poll and in many of our National TownHall Meetings. It seems to fly in the face of all the polarization that we see in the country today and in a moment. And later on in the in our discussion, i think will address that. But sticking with the polls, when we dig into the polls we find that they really suggest theres a possibility of bridging political divisions by, focusing on shared values, the shared values of equal rights. A majority of americans agree that rights actually include responsibilities. They are not simply freestanding rights that exist for individuals groups. But there are broader civic responsibilities. Eight out of ten in our poll agree personal freedom must be balance against the responsibility to keep people safe in a pandemic notwithstanding all of the controversies around mask and all the various measures taken during the pandemic. 80 of americans actually agree that they have a Civic Responsibility to help people keep people safe. The pandemic. Seven out of ten in our poll agree that the u. S. Should have automatic Voter Registration because citizens have both a right and a responsibility to vote now. 30 of americans in our poll reject the culture wars that are being fought at the political that really are the things seem to define the poll or the Political Polarization of the day. They reject them because they dont live at the extreme. They live across the broad center. 72 say that theyre fed up with polarization and that politicians are intentionally dividing our country. Surprise. Recently, again, the polls show that the pandemic actually caused a majority of americans to have more, not less respect for others. 75 say that the events of the last two years have made me think more positively toward americans of different races or ethnicities than mine. And 73 say that the racial diversity makes our country stronger. The pandemic has also stimulated public support for what we call economic rights, which may be found explicitly in the constitution, but which are increasing only important to americans. A right to health care now favored by 75 of americans. A right to educate. 72 . A right to housing 71 . So the bottom line of our polls and there are many, many more results that are comparable to what ive just told you is that a majority of americans have an expansive view of their and responsibilities as citizens. And this really comes to toots, what i would call reaching back into an earlier era of american history, a silent majority, a silent majority is demographically and politically diverse, made up of democrats, independents and yes, even some voters, to be sure, who may disagree on specific issues but have a common commit to democratic values. The silent majority has potential to hold the country together, but its diversity keeps it from being politically cohesive and its overshadowed by a much more activist extremist manner. Its over working to prevent it, working to prevent the country from together. And its this minority is found in the 30 approximately of those who dont agree with many of the propositions our poll. The extremist minority is made up of a mostly constituency thats motivated by fear fear that the equal rights of others they see as threats to their racial, cultural and political dominance. We know their major cause in 2021 was overturn the president ial election by spreading claims about voter fraud. And of course, that led to the january 6th violent insurrection, capable because this campaign failed the extremist minority is now trying to change the rules of game. Theyre attacking democrat values that have broad support. The silent majority. Theyre manipulating institutions that were designed to check in the constitution. They were not promote destructive power. The courts in particular. Also the congress. The state legislatures. This extremist minority. We need to look out a little more closely to see what its comprised of. There are really four groups. Youre all with the leaders political entrepreneur. Others like donald trump and the politicians who are jockeying to succeed him, who promote lies and fears and prejudices and grievances to, attack enemies and keep their followers line. Then there are organizers and supporters who see the promise of equal rights for all americans as a threat to their previous dominance, Voting Rights as a threat to demographic dominance, racial as a threat to racial supremacy. The third group of the extremist and social media that are spreading disinformation that poisons the democracy. And the fourth group, in a way, is the most and in some respects the most surprising, because theyre in the federal courts, having been appointed by a president who twice lost the popular vote. And theyre especially the Supreme Court, where theyre on the verge of destroying rights. A majority of americans say they want to see protected. Now, this extremist minority is undermining the electoral process. Over the last year, 19 states with trump nominee, state legislatures enacted, 35 new state laws that make it harder for americans in those states to vote. But the polls show that a majority of americans want strengthen, not weaken, the right to vote. 87 , including percent of republicans, Favor National standards to protect the electoral process. 82 , including 55 of republicans, favor increased early voting, promote maximum participation. Even more disturbingly right to equal protection of law is under severe attack. An assault on the rights of women is now coming from Supreme Court, which on the verge of overturning long settled Constitutional Rights, including a womans right to choose whether to bear a child. This is completely of step with Public Opinion. 72 , including 55 of republicans, agree that a womans right to make decisions affecting body and her personal life should be protected. Civil Rights Enforcement been undermined, making it more difficult challenge systemic Racial Discrimination. But 81 , including 64 of republicans, agree that the laws against Racial Discrimination should be strengthened, not weakened. Discrimination against lgbtq people has greatly as a result of the culture war against gays. But 76 , including 64 of republicans agree that people should be protected against racial because of their Sexual Orientation or gender identity. So these are some remarkable findings in our polls. And its clear that there is a huge gap. Public policy on rights and Public Opinion and on rights as American Values that at least theoretically are holding our country together and we need to explore further what can do to this gap. Are certainly plenty of ways according to what weve found in our studies in which the underlying causes for the gap can be attacked. But its going to be a long and slow process. Polarization has causes. Certainly the political culture wars that i mentioned that are used by extremist polities like the Florida Governor ron desantis, to stimulate this extremist base, the spread of disinformation through social media and, other means of spreading information on the spurious charges of election, greatly amplified by social media led to the capitol insurrection. The politics of fear that are stimulated by politics and in the extreme minority attacks on Asian Americans as causes the pandemic attacks on immigrants as criminals and racist rapists by president , former President Trump and on the Mainstream Press as enemies the people. So there are many causes of polarization Party Primaries that promote extreme maoism are another cause that punished moderates. Were seeing right now a whole parade of primaries in which parties, particularly the republican party, is being pushed further and further to the right, to an extreme position by the Party Primary process. So there are many potential remedies and i wont go them in any great detail, but i will just put them out there and we can discuss them a little bit further later. Above all, we want to depose authorize the electoral process, for example, by nonpartisan oversight elections, which is favored by. 87 of americans. We want to reduce the influence of major donors in political campaigns through a transparent, messy and required disclosure. Public financing. These are all tools are at hand and, which some of which actually have bypassed is an interest. If not support. We could bring in structure changes like ranked Choice Voting that promotes a more more moderation and make moderate a range of multiple choice for voters available. Again, something to be explored further, which we go into in some depth in our book. There are other policy reforms that we could accomplish by reaching across the partisan divide that have crossed cutting appeal. Again, according to the research that weve done. Regulate social media by requiring transparency of the algorithms that it uses to spread disinformation. 81 of americans would support that. Protecting the privacy of personal data requiring transfer Police Guidelines and training on the use of force. 85 of americans support that. And even in the hotly