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Speaker 1: Hi, Hi Stephen, Hi, Mr President, Good morning. How are you?

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Speaker 1: I'm good? My my mom just wanted to say hi

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Speaker 1: to you, Mr President. Let me give her the headphones

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Speaker 1: for a second and let you speak to her for

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Speaker 1: a little. Um. Yeah, hi, Mr President. Hello. How are

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Speaker 1: you good? And you? How are you? I'm doing great?

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Speaker 1: Are you guys weathering the storm? All right? If you

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Speaker 1: got power? Yeah, we have power right now. We're okay.

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Speaker 1: So and Stephen and the rest of the family. They

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Speaker 1: don't have a power and water for like four days,

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Speaker 1: so it would be safe. You're probably your son. Thank you, sir,

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Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Hi to missus Hillary Clinton, I will

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Speaker 1: thank you. The summer of nineteen sixty three, between my

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Speaker 1: junior and senior years of high school, was one of

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Speaker 1: the most formative periods of my life. I was seriously

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Speaker 1: considering pursuing a life in public service at the time

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Speaker 1: that I attended Boy State, a program sponsored by the

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Speaker 1: American Legion along with the American Legion Auxiliaries Girls State.

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Speaker 1: This program brings high school juniors together to learn how

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Speaker 1: government works and to experience for themselves what it takes

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Speaker 1: to run for office and then to serve. Attendees are

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Speaker 1: divided into two fictional political parties, then Nate draft platforms,

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Speaker 1: hold elections for local and state offices, and vote on

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Speaker 1: issues in legislative sessions. At the end of the week,

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Speaker 1: two senators are elected to represent their state at Boys Nation,

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Speaker 1: held later in the summer. I was lucky enough to

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Speaker 1: be one of the two from Arkansas by the nine,

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Speaker 1: giving me the chance to visit Washington for the first time,

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Speaker 1: meet fascinating people from all over the country, and even

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Speaker 1: shake hands with President Kennedy. So why am I telling

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Speaker 1: you this? Because Boys State and Boys Nation helped to

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Speaker 1: teach me from a young age that democracy requires us

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Speaker 1: to get off the sidelines and into the arena. In

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Speaker 1: perfect as it may be, we can't take this system

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Speaker 1: of ours for granted, and if we want to make

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Speaker 1: it better and make a difference in people's lives, we

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Speaker 1: need to stand up, show up, and speak up, day

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Speaker 1: after day and year after year. Today I'm joined by

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Speaker 1: a remarkable young man whose own experience at Boy State

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Speaker 1: is inspiring people across America. Stephen Garza is the breakout

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Speaker 1: star and in many ways, the hero, of the critically

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Speaker 1: acclaimed documentary Boy State, which follows a thousand boys from

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Speaker 1: across Texas in the summer of as they met to

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Speaker 1: learn how to build a representative democracy from the ground up.

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Speaker 1: In the film, Stephen shows us the value of believing

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Speaker 1: in yourself and your principles, the power of honest dialogue,

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Speaker 1: the bridge art divides, and how we can breathe new

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Speaker 1: life into our democracy. Stephen became the first high school

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Speaker 1: graduate in his family and is now a sophomore at

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Speaker 1: the University of Texas at Austin. He has the strongest

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Speaker 1: are to take what he's learned to serve as community

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Speaker 1: and to be an advocate for others. Stephen, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for joining us today. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: that wonderful introduction, Mr President, and thank you for taking

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Speaker 1: some time to say hi to my mom, who's a

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Speaker 1: big fan. Perhaps we could start by telling us how

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Speaker 1: the storm has affected you and your family and how

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Speaker 1: you're doing, and what's your reaction to it all is

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Speaker 1: um Like many Texans, it was a very rough week

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Speaker 1: last week for some Texans. It was a deadly week.

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Speaker 1: Are power went out at about two o'clock in the

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Speaker 1: morning on Monday and didn't come back fully until about

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Speaker 1: Wednesday night. Our water went out Tuesday and when it

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Speaker 1: came back, we realized that about seven pipes in our

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Speaker 1: house had broken, one of them actually above my bed

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Speaker 1: and one of them in my closets. So it wasn't

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Speaker 1: very um pleasant to deal with. And it's it's been, um,

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Speaker 1: I mean a rough few years to to you know,

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Speaker 1: especially being a Houstonian living through these climate events again.

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Speaker 1: And in seventeen we had Hurricane Harvey completely decimate the

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Speaker 1: city once in a thousand years storm. And now, you know,

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Speaker 1: two or three years later, now we have this once

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Speaker 1: in a generation winner storm. Uh. And these once in

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Speaker 1: a generation, once in the like time events are becoming, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, once every couple of years, you know, in

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Speaker 1: Texas and all across the country. And addressing you know,

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Speaker 1: human activity in the climate, UH is instrumental in tackling that.

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Speaker 1: And there's just a good quote that I've seen going

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Speaker 1: around is that, um that you shouldn't place people who

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Speaker 1: don't believe in government in charge of government, otherwise you

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Speaker 1: end up with situations like we just had and people

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Speaker 1: don't believe that government can be used as a source

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Speaker 1: for good and and positive change in people's lives. Well,

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Speaker 1: I agree with that. I mean, it's just such an

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Speaker 1: easy I felt. We may have cultural differences, and we

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Speaker 1: may have, you know, factual arguments about whether this or

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Speaker 1: that policy would work or not, but hating the government

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Speaker 1: as a loser. I mean, I remember we it reached

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Speaker 1: a fever pitch in the United States when I served

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Speaker 1: in when the new Gingrich and his group, when the

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Speaker 1: House and the Senate, and then the fever broke a

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Speaker 1: little after the Oklahoma City bombing, and people realize, all

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Speaker 1: these people that got killed with his government protests, including

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Speaker 1: their children in preschool in the building, We're just like them.

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Speaker 1: They had jobs to do when they were helping, and

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Speaker 1: we needed their help. We needed them to do what

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Speaker 1: they were doing. So I agree with that. I think

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Speaker 1: that one of the things I'd like to see your

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Speaker 1: generation do. We need to start asking people what the

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Speaker 1: government do. If you want to have a great nation,

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Speaker 1: if you want America to be great, and you wanted

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Speaker 1: to be a place of opportunity and growth, there are

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Speaker 1: no examples of that anywhere on Earth, in countries that

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Speaker 1: do not have strong effective governments to do certain things.

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Speaker 1: In other words, if you want a strong private sector,

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Speaker 1: or precondition of it as having a strong and effective government,

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Speaker 1: So how how much do you think what you experienced

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Speaker 1: that Boy State mirrored what you see going on in

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Speaker 1: the real world today, and how and how much of

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Speaker 1: it was different. My experiences at Boy State were I mean,

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Speaker 1: very very very positive ones. I mean I I went

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Speaker 1: into the program with a being in the racial and

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Speaker 1: political minority um and knowing that this is a conservative

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Speaker 1: white elector at that I have to to speak to

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Speaker 1: and to be elected from. And my strategy was to

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Speaker 1: appeal to their sense of of of service and their

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Speaker 1: sense of patriotism. Uh that we didn't want to see

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Speaker 1: this country go to the point that it inevitably ended

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Speaker 1: up going to on January six. We didn't want a

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Speaker 1: civil war, you know. When there was Toxic Succession of

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Speaker 1: Boys State, as much of a joke as it could

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Speaker 1: have been. To me, I found it very disrespectful of

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Speaker 1: the legionnaires. The American Legion hosts Texas Boys State. The

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Speaker 1: Legion is made up of veterans of armed armed services.

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Speaker 1: To succeed is to dishonor the memories and make their

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Speaker 1: sacrifices in vain. We have the opportunity to do something great.

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Speaker 1: Are we gonna make headlines for the wrong reasons? Are

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Speaker 1: we gonna dishonor the legion Paris who considered us to

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Speaker 1: be the best that Texas has to offer. Or will

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Speaker 1: we show the world what patriots are made of that

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Speaker 1: when things get tough, we pull ourselves by our bootstraps

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Speaker 1: like true Texans and get after it, leave Texas graver

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Speaker 1: than it was when we found it. Right, Well, we

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Speaker 1: aren't successing as damn it. We are nationalist, one Nason

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Speaker 1: under God, lover that the Constitution of the United States.

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Speaker 1: Let's do something great for Texas, animating for the country, goup,

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Speaker 1: let's every single one of you. And I think that

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Speaker 1: that that speech that I gave catapulted me to my

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Speaker 1: party's nomination for governor of Texas boys state, UH and

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Speaker 1: just seeing their united in the sense of this vision

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Speaker 1: for the United States, for the vision of America. Where

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Speaker 1: we can have these disagreements, we can have different opinions

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Speaker 1: and on some hills will die on defending some UH

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Speaker 1: policy positions, whether to be you know, immigration or abortion.

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Speaker 1: But because we don't agree on all these issues doesn't

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Speaker 1: mean that we can't at least come to the table

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Speaker 1: and have a discussion on maybe some areas within that

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Speaker 1: issue that we do agree upon. Our job at Boys

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Speaker 1: State was to show that those who are in government

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Speaker 1: that the younger generation could do it better than them,

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Speaker 1: because we actually want to have these conversations with each other,

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Speaker 1: and we want to have this debate and and work

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Speaker 1: together not as as Democrat, Republican, right left, liberal, conservative,

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Speaker 1: but as Americans who at the end of the day

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Speaker 1: want what's best for their country. And I think all

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Speaker 1: of us would have been very, very shocked, um, if

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Speaker 1: you told us in twenty team what would happen at

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Speaker 1: the end of the of the Trump presidency. And I

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Speaker 1: think that those kids that were there in my generation

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Speaker 1: in general want to have a ah a country when

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Speaker 1: that they want to inherit a country not on its

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Speaker 1: last legs, but with the renewed spirit of reconciliation. Um.

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Speaker 1: It's it's just very disheartening to see at the same

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Speaker 1: time strengthening our resolved to make sure that you know,

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Speaker 1: our our democracy got rocked on January six, It stumbled it,

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Speaker 1: it took a shot to the to the chin, but

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Speaker 1: making sure that it's resolved is stronger than anything that

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Speaker 1: can be thrown at it. And making sure that we

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Speaker 1: play a part in ensuring that this country that we've

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Speaker 1: inherited is able to be inherited by those who come

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Speaker 1: after us. Well, obviously I agree, and I think I

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Speaker 1: think it's really important. The one thing that we have

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Speaker 1: to remember that I learned. I learned there's a great

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Speaker 1: difference between a poll of what do you support or

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Speaker 1: oppose something and whether it's a voting issue for you,

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Speaker 1: And what I think your generation can do is on

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Speaker 1: a lot of these critical issues, make it a voting

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Speaker 1: issue so that even if the culture seems to be

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Speaker 1: tugging against you, you can prevail. When the school shooting

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Speaker 1: occurred at Columbine when I was president in Colorado, uh,

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Speaker 1: it was the one of the whole series that occurred

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Speaker 1: all the way from Oregon to my home state of Arkansas.

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Speaker 1: Columbine seemed to galvanize the nation, and there was a clear, uh,

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Speaker 1: a lot of support for closing the gun show loophole

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Speaker 1: because these guns have been bought at a gun sale.

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Speaker 1: And keep in mind, at the time the technology was

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Speaker 1: not as advanced as it is now. It's laughable. It

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Speaker 1: would be nothing to close the gun show loophole and

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Speaker 1: nothing to have instant background checks for online sales. There

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Speaker 1: were no online gun sales when I took office. So anyway,

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Speaker 1: the Republican governor of Colorado, a conservative, supported a referendum

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Speaker 1: to close the gun sholder whole. The rest random past

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Speaker 1: seventy to thirty, but Bush still defeated Gore one. Now, nationally,

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Speaker 1: if you look at what the Stoneman Douglas kids did,

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Speaker 1: what they did was what happened at column By twenty

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Speaker 1: years ago on steroids. They and their allies in Chicago

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Speaker 1: and elsewhere made gun safety of voting issue in And

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Speaker 1: that's what we have to do for all these issues.

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Speaker 1: They have to be a voting issue. And you've one

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Speaker 1: of the things I hope you got out of your

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Speaker 1: boys I experience and all the stuff that's happened since

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Speaker 1: then as a result of it is it took me

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Speaker 1: a long time to figure out how to make decisions

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Speaker 1: with a strategy behind making an issue of voting issue.

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Speaker 1: I would take a fifty to forty nine issue if

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Speaker 1: a d percent of people on my side, we're going

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Speaker 1: to vote on the vices of it. Right. It's UM,

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Speaker 1: it's walking a tight rope. I mean I knew that. Um. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's a very tribal setting that you're in, and UM

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Speaker 1: a lot of the kids kind of me being the

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Speaker 1: dark horse in the race. All of the kids were

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Speaker 1: taller than me, more handsome, They looked like the the

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Speaker 1: ideal politician, and I was not UM. And I decided

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Speaker 1: to knowing that as a you know, as as you know,

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Speaker 1: somebody who identified as the Democrat running in a sea

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Speaker 1: of of Republican um was not advantageous to me. And

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Speaker 1: I knew that I couldn't um go on stage and

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Speaker 1: list all these different policy positions that I held with

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Speaker 1: and expect to get that to get elected. UM. I

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Speaker 1: knew that what I had to do was appeal to

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Speaker 1: the again, to their better senses of of you know,

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Speaker 1: I get you know, we're here to have fun, but actually,

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Speaker 1: let's actually let's do something. Let's listen that's ever been

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Speaker 1: done before. Let's let's actually, uh not treat each other

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Speaker 1: like the enemy. Because I think the the fault in

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Speaker 1: the boy state system is that when you get there,

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Speaker 1: you're assigned a party of color, blue, yellow, nationalist, federalist,

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Speaker 1: and you're told that you hate this so outher party.

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Speaker 1: You're told that they're the opposition, that you need to

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Speaker 1: crush them, uh and and destroy them absolutely. In these elections, Uh,

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Speaker 1: and I think when you when you um said that

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Speaker 1: as what politics is, while it's not inaccurate to what

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Speaker 1: politics is in the real world. Uh, it's definitely not

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Speaker 1: that way we should be going about things. And so

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Speaker 1: running on a message at a guilty conservative voters to

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Speaker 1: vote for me, especially on the gun issue. UM. I ran,

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Speaker 1: you know, primarily as as a pro unity, pro America

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Speaker 1: candidate boys State, and I made it to the runoffs. UM.

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Speaker 1: In the fourteen a way primary, I got a third

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Speaker 1: of the vote and the second place person got eight

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Speaker 1: percent of the vote, and so we headed into a runoff.

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Speaker 1: And a wrench was thrown into my my strategy when uh,

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Speaker 1: people found pictures of me leading a March for Our

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Speaker 1: Lives demonstration in Houston, which I was a an executive

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Speaker 1: organizer of And so now I had to explain my

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Speaker 1: position to a group of conservative people. And when I

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Speaker 1: got up on the stage, man, they started uh booing

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Speaker 1: me and jeering me and heckling me. I am not

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Speaker 1: anti Second Amendment. I am pro guns, but I'm also

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Speaker 1: a common sense kind of person for the collective security

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Speaker 1: of the people. Someone should not be able to own

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Speaker 1: a rocket launcher, feel exactly, and listen. I'm using it

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Speaker 1: as a example. You know, I have this prepared speech.

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Speaker 1: I have to get rid of it. There's being I

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Speaker 1: can't use any of it now. I have to just

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Speaker 1: address this. But listen. Not too long ago, tennf a

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Speaker 1: high school shout up not far from where I live,

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Speaker 1: and that it hurts man, you know those seeing uh,

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Speaker 1: those people, these kids who shouldn't go through these things.

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Speaker 1: We can do something about it. We don't have to

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Speaker 1: just because we don't agree on everything, the saying that

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Speaker 1: we shouldn't come to the table and talk to each other.

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Speaker 1: We should choose something. You know, we're going to protect

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Speaker 1: our fellow teenagers and I just a teenagers. People going

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Speaker 1: out to a nightclub, man or a movie theater. We

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Speaker 1: should have end but just talking to them about the

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Speaker 1: fact that our generation, uh, you know, because Calum, most

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Speaker 1: of us were born in two thousand two and one, uh,

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Speaker 1: and all we ever known was school shooting drills. The

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Speaker 1: siren after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas happened. Um a few days later.

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Speaker 1: Uh in high school, we were all walking in the halls,

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Speaker 1: and I was walking with a friend, and as we're

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Speaker 1: all walking to our next class, the fire alarm goes off,

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Speaker 1: which has never happened before. It's always predetermined, it's always scheduled. Um,

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Speaker 1: and we all know that one's gonna happen. And so

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Speaker 1: everybody just stopped. Um, you know, hundreds of kids just

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Speaker 1: stop what they were doing and just kind of looked

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Speaker 1: at each other wondering what's going on? Is something happening,

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Speaker 1: and the teachers not also knowing what's going on, rushing

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Speaker 1: us out of the building into the parking lot and

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Speaker 1: just to get out of there. That this isn't planned.

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Speaker 1: You know, your your your your mind starts going to

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Speaker 1: that dark place of what could be happening. Uh, And

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Speaker 1: and and telling that to this conservative boy and saying

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Speaker 1: that no, you shouldn't be worried about going to school

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Speaker 1: and getting shot, going to a movie theater and getting shot,

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Speaker 1: going to a nightclub or a restaurant or a place

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Speaker 1: of worship and fear these things and some of these

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Speaker 1: things we're not going to agree on, but there are

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Speaker 1: so many things we can agree on that could prevent

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Speaker 1: such things from happening. And we need to get that done.

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Speaker 1: We need to show that, uh, the adults in the room,

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Speaker 1: that we can do it better than them. That we

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Speaker 1: could actually tackle these crises together because we've been through

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Speaker 1: it and we've seen it, and we're tired of all

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Speaker 1: this uh gridlock and partnership of things never getting done.

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Speaker 1: And by the end of that speech to them, they

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Speaker 1: gave me a standing ovation, and in that runoff election,

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Speaker 1: I won the vote in that room of of my

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Speaker 1: conservative boys against my candidate who was unabashedly pro Second Amendment.

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Speaker 1: Don't tread on me, come and take it. Well, I

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Speaker 1: think that's the only strategy that works. What you said,

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Speaker 1: you have to say, look, here's a problem, and your

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Speaker 1: fellow Americans in this case, or your fellow Texans, they

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Speaker 1: got this problem and we need your help. What I

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Speaker 1: used to do and pushing all this gun stuff, I'd say, look,

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Speaker 1: I'm not trying to interfere with your hunting, your sports, shooting,

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Speaker 1: even your right to protect your family and your home.

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Speaker 1: But I do want you to help us keep guns

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Speaker 1: out of the hands of people that even you think

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Speaker 1: shouldn't have them. And we can't do that unless we

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Speaker 1: can do comprehensive background checks of everybody. And I made

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Speaker 1: a similar argument on the assault weapon span, but I

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Speaker 1: was always saying, instead of calling them names, I would say,

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Speaker 1: we need your help, we need to call them out,

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Speaker 1: give him a chance to be bigger. That's what you

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Speaker 1: did when you want, I think. And then there was

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Speaker 1: a student to UM and and not gonna remember this,

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Speaker 1: but a few weeks after Parkland, Santa Fe High School

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Speaker 1: and in the Houston area was was shut up and

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Speaker 1: and a number of students died, and UM I met

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Speaker 1: with a student who was there UM when the shooting

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Speaker 1: occurred at Boys State. His name was Riley Uh, and

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Speaker 1: we sat down after dinner. Riley was like many people

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Speaker 1: in the Santa Fe community. I think that the reason

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Speaker 1: it didn't get as much attention is because that community

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Speaker 1: was more conservative on guns and didn't place the fault

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Speaker 1: of gun reform as the issue. They made it more

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Speaker 1: mental health, the traditional way people conservatives talk about UM

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Speaker 1: gun rights. And here I am somebody who's never experienced

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Speaker 1: being into school shooting and he has, and I as

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Speaker 1: somebody who have who has my views on it. I

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Speaker 1: need to listen to him and hear what he has

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Speaker 1: to say, because he's somebody who lived through it. And

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Speaker 1: it was a very proactive conversation and we disagreed on

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Speaker 1: a few things, but Uh, you know, I explained the

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Speaker 1: the loopholes, uh, that universal background checks would close, and

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Speaker 1: you know, we wouldn't want somebody to have a gun

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Speaker 1: who uh you can't trust, right, you wouldn't give any

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Speaker 1: just anybody a gun, would you? And he said no,

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Speaker 1: and he's you know, we walked away, uh with a

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Speaker 1: better understanding of each other and an agreement on an

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Speaker 1: issue that he hadn't thought about before and and agreed with.

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Speaker 1: And we were on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's what's missing in today's politics, is

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Speaker 1: that that personal conversation, that personal connection with people, rather

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Speaker 1: than um, you know, calling each other out on social media,

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Speaker 1: calling each other the enemy, trying to score political points

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Speaker 1: or your favor with the media. By starting by starting something, UM.

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Speaker 1: I think that that's you know, I think the film

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Speaker 1: Boy State is about how can we bridge that divide

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Speaker 1: in our country. Let's take a look at how some

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Speaker 1: of UM America's youth is trying to tackle it. And

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Speaker 1: it is very hard. I mean, ultimately I don't win

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Speaker 1: the governor's race, I I and I do lose, and

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Speaker 1: but taking that that loss as UM a point of pride,

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Speaker 1: knowing that I was able to unite these people was very,

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Speaker 1: very UM. They gave me hope for the future. The

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Speaker 1: thing I liked about you is, boy, you were hard

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Speaker 1: over on what you believe, but you you've found a

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Speaker 1: way to talk to people about it and to listen

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Speaker 1: to them. Now things have gotten so polarized in America

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Speaker 1: that your suspect if you listen to somebody who disagrees

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Speaker 1: with you, and you give them a forum, and you

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Speaker 1: give them a hearing, and you look for a way

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Speaker 1: where you might find common ground, Uh, it's it's definitely

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Speaker 1: not easy. And as much as I preach about the

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Speaker 1: needs to talk to one another, I've also I'll convictim

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Speaker 1: to that sense of of tribalism and of of UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are some things that I think about tweeting,

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Speaker 1: and I either don't tweet it out or deleted as

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Speaker 1: soon as they tweeted, just knowing that this isn't the

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Speaker 1: right way to go on about doing the things that

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Speaker 1: UM I want to help accomplish. That that need for UM,

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Speaker 1: for unity is is UM. So it's so important that UM.

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Speaker 1: I think that this country will tear itself apart if

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Speaker 1: we don't, we'll be back with more of my conversation

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Speaker 1: with Steven Garza. After this, I got on out of

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Speaker 1: boy State, including a lot lifetime friends. But I think

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Speaker 1: it's more important than ever that people like you who

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Speaker 1: believe in inclusive governments, inclusive societies, inclusive communities, do stuff

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Speaker 1: that gives you the practical skills and the rhetorical insight

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Speaker 1: to prevail. And like you've proved an election, you don't

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Speaker 1: have to win everyone. Heck, I've lost two elections for

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Speaker 1: ran for president, but I think this is important. We've

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Speaker 1: got to get young people to get off the sidelines

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Speaker 1: and into the arena. And and even myself had to.

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Speaker 1: You know, when I first voted, I um, I turned

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Speaker 1: eighteen the day before the midterm election in eighteen. I

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Speaker 1: was born to Member five and the election was November six,

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Speaker 1: and I registered to vote in September. Uh, you're able

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Speaker 1: to register seventeen years, ten months. And um the day

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Speaker 1: of I I don't see my registration online and that

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Speaker 1: keep checking every day, and I assume they'll put it

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Speaker 1: in on my birthday, because you know, on my e team.

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Speaker 1: Yet uh and the day of I don't see it.

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Speaker 1: So I call the the elections office in Houston and

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Speaker 1: it's run by a Republican and I asked them where,

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Speaker 1: you know where my registration was, and they said, we

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Speaker 1: don't have it. I don't We don't have you in

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Speaker 1: the system. And I said, but I have my registration

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Speaker 1: stuff right here, and they're like, okay, well you need

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Speaker 1: to come down to the election office before we close. Also,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's like thirty minutes away, and we close

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Speaker 1: in like forty five minutes. So I have, you know,

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Speaker 1: wake up my mom, who's just taking a nap, and

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Speaker 1: we rush over to the elections office and I hand

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Speaker 1: over my my receipt that I registered to vote, and

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Speaker 1: they signed me up to vote, and I go the

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Speaker 1: next day after school, I go to vote at my

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Speaker 1: precinct at local fire station and I give them all

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Speaker 1: my information and they say that I'm out in the

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Speaker 1: system and they're like, we're gonna have to vote provisional.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm annoyed and I fell about my provisional

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Speaker 1: ballot and you know, vote and I favorally happy about voting,

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Speaker 1: and I go home, and three weeks later I received

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Speaker 1: a letter in the mail UH stating that my provid

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Speaker 1: the Provisional Ballot Board, who reviews all the provisional ballots

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Speaker 1: had denied my vote because I had voted in the

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Speaker 1: wrong precinct. UM. The thing was is that I hadn't

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Speaker 1: and I knew that I hadn't, and I knew that

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Speaker 1: I made sure everything was right, but they told me

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Speaker 1: that I did. And so I had to contact the

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Speaker 1: a c o U of Texas on my behalf to

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Speaker 1: research and to reach out to the office, and and

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Speaker 1: their investigation concluded that UM, I had met obstacles every

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Speaker 1: single way, from the loss of my registration to not

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Speaker 1: being in the system on election day, to being having

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Speaker 1: my right to vote or being disenfranchise effectively by my

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Speaker 1: vote not accounting because of an error made on their

431
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: part every step of the way. UM luckily, and that

432
00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: election that the Republican was ousted by a Democrat who

433
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: assured me that UH, that they would make sure that

434
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:06,919
Speaker 1: this never happened again. And they and they kept their

435
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 1: promise on that because Houston and Harris County introduced county

436
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: wide polling places that you'll be able to vote anywhere

437
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,159
Speaker 1: in the county. Well, let's just follow up on that.

438
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: The the one thing that you don't learn at Voice

439
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,879
Speaker 1: State is that there's nobody there trying to stop you

440
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,240
Speaker 1: from voting. Everybody gets to vote, right, So it is

441
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,680
Speaker 1: what it is, and demographically it might not be like

442
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 1: your community, and people may not be buying what you're selling.

443
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: But at least if you if you can register or

444
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: you can be deemed as registering, and it's on the level.

445
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,200
Speaker 1: There's the apparatus in America. The amount of time and

446
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,360
Speaker 1: energy that is being spent by organized groups to keep

447
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 1: people away from the polls is breath taking. And as

448
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,679
Speaker 1: I said, there's been a hundred bills introducing state legislatures

449
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: just sense President Biden's victory to make it harder to vote.

450
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: In Georgia, where the two Senate seats were one, there

451
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 1: are bills now designed to eliminate vote by mail unless

452
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: one you have an acceptable excuse and two you have

453
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: a sworn AFFI David stating that excuse that you sign.

454
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,880
Speaker 1: So I think that one of the things that look

455
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 1: this is an old story that I can remember fighting

456
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: with legislators and in my native state, who's actually believed

457
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 1: that it should be harder for people to vote, because

458
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: you get a better class of people voting if it

459
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 1: were harder to vote. And we all know what that's

460
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 1: about so, but that was forty years ago. We're gonna say,

461
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 1: we don't need that, we need everybody to vote. We

462
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 1: need people on deck here. And I think that whether

463
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 1: this current trend continues, that is, it depends first on

464
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:18,240
Speaker 1: the performance of the government in Washington administrates, secondly on

465
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: the willingness of some Republicans to work with the Democrats,

466
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 1: and third on whether we can protect the franchise. Because

467
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: one of the things that we may have started doing

468
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: at Boy State is let people serve on the Supreme

469
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: courts too, because these court decisions are unbelievable. And the U. S.

470
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled last year, while most of us, including me,

471
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: were concerned with the presidential race, the U. S. Supreme

472
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:55,480
Speaker 1: Court ruled that they're the only constitutional right which could

473
00:29:55,520 --> 00:30:00,840
Speaker 1: be violated with no consequence in the courts is the

474
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: right to have your vote counted on a more or

475
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 1: less equal basis. That is they ruth They said, gerrymandering

476
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: absolutely can be unconstitutional, but the U. S. Supreme Court

477
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 1: can't do a thing in the world about it because

478
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: the Constitution lets state legislatures draw district lines. And that's

479
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: just first of all, it's an absurd decision because that's

480
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 1: and fifteenth Amendment when slavery was ended, guaranteeing the right

481
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 1: to vote, and then equal protection of the laws meant

482
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: that the federal government, the Spring Court could judge what

483
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: states do. So it doesn't make a look of sense

484
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 1: the decision, but the U. S. Supreme Court did decide it.

485
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 1: So you're gonna have to keep fighting for these things.

486
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 1: And that's one that you can make your boy state

487
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: speech on. You know, you all think everybody I would

488
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: be able to vote or that you don't you just think,

489
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: you know, in America we're all equal, or we are

490
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: we'll be right back. Since you've been in college, you

491
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: think that your generation, because of all the events of

492
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: the last five six years, is more willing to participate

493
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: in politics and public service now or less. I think

494
00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 1: they're definitely more willing because they realize that the state

495
00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: that they have in this um that ultimately again we're

496
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,239
Speaker 1: gonna inherit this country and with that country comes all

497
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: its problems. Um. You know, as a young person, I well,

498
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 1: I guess I am still a young person. As a

499
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: younger person, you know, being fourteen, fifteen, six, Yeah, when

500
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,520
Speaker 1: you know, when I was you know, first got into

501
00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: you know, into politics and involved with the Democratic Party

502
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 1: at fourteen of teen. Uh. People kind of were confused

503
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: as to why I was doing it, and I said, well, um,

504
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,280
Speaker 1: I can't vote, uh, so I don't have a say

505
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: in what happens in Washington, do see. I think I'm

506
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,200
Speaker 1: pretty well versed in and and and what my beliefs are,

507
00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: um and and what I think is right and wrong.

508
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: But I don't have a voice in Washington. I don't

509
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: have a voice yet. The decisions that are they're making, well,

510
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 1: I'm fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old are gonna affect

511
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: me when I'm fifty years old. And so I thought

512
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: it was very important for me to be involved. And

513
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: I see a little of a lot of young people

514
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 1: realize that that uh, the reason that college is so expensive,

515
00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 1: the reason that it's gonna be hard for us to

516
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 1: buy homes, the reason why wages are low, the reason

517
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: why we're experiencing these uh climate events is because of

518
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: of government. And if we want us to be able

519
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 1: to uh go to school at a reasonable level or

520
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: at a reasonable price, or own a home or you know,

521
00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,960
Speaker 1: make sure that we have a a living wage and

522
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: that we're not working paycheck to paycheck, just struggling to

523
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:14,560
Speaker 1: get by. UH. And that you know, going to see

524
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 1: a doctor won't bankrupt us. Um. And we need to

525
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 1: be involved in politics. We need to be involved in

526
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,480
Speaker 1: government and be aware and uh, you know, just doing

527
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 1: our civic duty to be aware of what's going on

528
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 1: in our country and participating in it. And you don't

529
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 1: have to become a political staffer or run for Congress

530
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 1: to do so. It's just by by voting and by

531
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,360
Speaker 1: taking your friends to vote, your family's vote. UM, by

532
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 1: you know, reading the news, by staying engaged enough today

533
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: on what's going on, UH can sometimes be enough for

534
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:48,680
Speaker 1: somebody who doesn't want to pursue politics professionally. Is just

535
00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:52,600
Speaker 1: making sure that there uh know what's going on and

536
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: that they have an active participation because you know, every

537
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 1: decision made is going to affect them. UM. And and

538
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: for a long time, when I went to Washington to

539
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 1: Boys Nation, President Kennedy met us in the Rose Garden

540
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:11,800
Speaker 1: and he thanked us because we had just voted in

541
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: our muck Senate session in Washington. We had just voted

542
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: for civil rights bill that he couldn't get through the

543
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 1: Senate in the real life Senate because they had a

544
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,319
Speaker 1: filibuster rule, and I never will forget he came down

545
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:28,640
Speaker 1: and it was a beautiful day in the Rose Garden

546
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:34,560
Speaker 1: in July of nine, and he shook hands with us.

547
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 1: All of us were in like the first two rows.

548
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 1: He shook hands with us, And it made such a

549
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 1: big impression on me that after I got elected president,

550
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,760
Speaker 1: I actually did a photo line so that every person

551
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: there could get a picture, because it's like you, you know,

552
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 1: you never dreamed five years ago that you'd be everything

553
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:56,720
Speaker 1: would happen to you as a result of this movie.

554
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: I don't think right, definitely not speaking to you today.

555
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 1: So I just decided I ought to do that, and

556
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: I did it for seven or the eight years I

557
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,880
Speaker 1: was president. One year my job required me to be

558
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,440
Speaker 1: out of town while Boys Nation the week they were there,

559
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 1: of and I couldn't do a thing about it. But

560
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 1: otherwise always did it, and it leaves an impression. Um,

561
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: I'm sure that that uh left a huge impression on

562
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 1: on on your life and kind of guided you to

563
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: that sense of like this is what you're you're destined

564
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 1: to do and so and I have you know, I

565
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 1: feel the same feeling right now, getting the opportunity to

566
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 1: speak with you right now, UM, that sense of of

567
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't expect to have, you know, five

568
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: years ago. I didn't expect to be where I am today.

569
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: But I think I'm doing something right, and so I

570
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,560
Speaker 1: plan on continuing, uh, the path that I'm on. Well,

571
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: I think obviously I think you should and I think

572
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:53,839
Speaker 1: you should encourage others. And I don't think you can

573
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:59,400
Speaker 1: get discouraged when things don't work out. I mean, it's amazing,

574
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 1: you know. And I've been working on some of these

575
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 1: things since the nineteen sixties. And every time you think

576
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,800
Speaker 1: you got a battle, one something goes along and you

577
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 1: fall back down the hill and you are to get

578
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:12,799
Speaker 1: up and dust yourself off and push the rock up

579
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: the hill again. That's the work of democracy. You have

580
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 1: to keep doing it. Thank you well and and and

581
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 1: I want to say, what the greatest honors in my

582
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,600
Speaker 1: life to be able to to spend some time with you,

583
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,279
Speaker 1: Mr President, And then thank you for offering me the

584
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,440
Speaker 1: opportunity to learn from you and and uh, you know,

585
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,640
Speaker 1: take your your your advice and your wisdom as I

586
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 1: go on about this uh political life that I plan

587
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 1: on pursuing. I thought you were great in the movie.

588
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 1: I thought it was a gutsy thing you did. I'm

589
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 1: glad you stood your ground on the gun safety issue,

590
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 1: and I'm glad to see the remarkable growth has continued

591
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:54,160
Speaker 1: in your life and your understanding since you made that film,

592
00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: and I wish you will and just keep active. Thank you,

593
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: was ther President? Why am I telling you? This is

594
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,360
Speaker 1: a production of our Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and

595
00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 1: at Will Media. Our executive producers are Craig Manascian and

596
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: Will Malnadi. Our production team includes Mitch Bluestein, Jamison cat Sufis,

597
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: Tom Galton, Sarah Harrows, and Jake Young, with production support

598
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: from Tyler Scott and Olatavia Young. Original music by What White.

599
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,279
Speaker 1: Special thanks to John Sykes, Tina Flinoid, John Davidson on

600
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: hell Arena, Corey Gantley, Oscar Flores, Kevin Thurm, and all

601
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:39,600
Speaker 1: our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. If

602
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:41,799
Speaker 1: you have an idea of suggestion for the show, we'd

603
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,160
Speaker 1: love to hear from you, so please visit Clinton Foundation

604
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 1: dot org Slash podcast to share your thoughts with us.

605
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 1: If you like the show, tell someone else about it.

606
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,719
Speaker 1: You can subscribe to who Am I telling you this?

607
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:58,240
Speaker 1: On the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever

608
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 1: you get your podcast. By listening to this podcast, you're

609
00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 1: helping support the work of the Clinton Foundation. So thank you. Hi.

610
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: I'm myshe Alexander. I'm senior Impact and Design Manager and

611
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 1: a proud alumni of the Clinton Global Initiative University c

612
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: g I U. President Clinton and Chelsea often say that

613
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: you're never too young to make a difference, and a

614
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,879
Speaker 1: c g I you were working to engage the next

615
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: generation of leaders on college campuses across the country and

616
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 1: around the world to turn their big ideas for social

617
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 1: change into meaningful action. Through our year round program of mentorship,

618
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,800
Speaker 1: skills training, and partnership building, we're cultivating a community of

619
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,840
Speaker 1: more than ten thousand students and alumni who are committed

620
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 1: to taking real, concrete steps towards working together and solving

621
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: the pressing global challenges that affect us all from responding

622
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 1: to COVID nineteen to expanding access to clean water, to

623
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,440
Speaker 1: supporting refugees and so much more. The students of c

624
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: g I you demonstrate the future of impact. Learn more

625
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 1: about this work and see how you can get involved.

626
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 1: Visit www dot Clinton foundation dot org. Slash podcast h