Speaker 1: Hi, Hi Stephen, Hi, Mr President, Good morning. How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm good? My my mom just wanted to say hi
Speaker 1: to you, Mr President. Let me give her the headphones
Speaker 1: for a second and let you speak to her for
Speaker 1: a little. Um. Yeah, hi, Mr President. Hello. How are
Speaker 1: you good? And you? How are you? I'm doing great?
Speaker 1: Are you guys weathering the storm? All right? If you
Speaker 1: got power? Yeah, we have power right now. We're okay.
Speaker 1: So and Stephen and the rest of the family. They
Speaker 1: don't have a power and water for like four days,
Speaker 1: so it would be safe. You're probably your son. Thank you, sir,
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir. Hi to missus Hillary Clinton, I will
Speaker 1: thank you. The summer of nineteen sixty three, between my
Speaker 1: junior and senior years of high school, was one of
Speaker 1: the most formative periods of my life. I was seriously
Speaker 1: considering pursuing a life in public service at the time
Speaker 1: that I attended Boy State, a program sponsored by the
Speaker 1: American Legion along with the American Legion Auxiliaries Girls State.
Speaker 1: This program brings high school juniors together to learn how
Speaker 1: government works and to experience for themselves what it takes
Speaker 1: to run for office and then to serve. Attendees are
Speaker 1: divided into two fictional political parties, then Nate draft platforms,
Speaker 1: hold elections for local and state offices, and vote on
Speaker 1: issues in legislative sessions. At the end of the week,
Speaker 1: two senators are elected to represent their state at Boys Nation,
Speaker 1: held later in the summer. I was lucky enough to
Speaker 1: be one of the two from Arkansas by the nine,
Speaker 1: giving me the chance to visit Washington for the first time,
Speaker 1: meet fascinating people from all over the country, and even
Speaker 1: shake hands with President Kennedy. So why am I telling
Speaker 1: you this? Because Boys State and Boys Nation helped to
Speaker 1: teach me from a young age that democracy requires us
Speaker 1: to get off the sidelines and into the arena. In
Speaker 1: perfect as it may be, we can't take this system
Speaker 1: of ours for granted, and if we want to make
Speaker 1: it better and make a difference in people's lives, we
Speaker 1: need to stand up, show up, and speak up, day
Speaker 1: after day and year after year. Today I'm joined by
Speaker 1: a remarkable young man whose own experience at Boy State
Speaker 1: is inspiring people across America. Stephen Garza is the breakout
Speaker 1: star and in many ways, the hero, of the critically
Speaker 1: acclaimed documentary Boy State, which follows a thousand boys from
Speaker 1: across Texas in the summer of as they met to
Speaker 1: learn how to build a representative democracy from the ground up.
Speaker 1: In the film, Stephen shows us the value of believing
Speaker 1: in yourself and your principles, the power of honest dialogue,
Speaker 1: the bridge art divides, and how we can breathe new
Speaker 1: life into our democracy. Stephen became the first high school
Speaker 1: graduate in his family and is now a sophomore at
Speaker 1: the University of Texas at Austin. He has the strongest
Speaker 1: are to take what he's learned to serve as community
Speaker 1: and to be an advocate for others. Stephen, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for joining us today. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: that wonderful introduction, Mr President, and thank you for taking
Speaker 1: some time to say hi to my mom, who's a
Speaker 1: big fan. Perhaps we could start by telling us how
Speaker 1: the storm has affected you and your family and how
Speaker 1: you're doing, and what's your reaction to it all is
Speaker 1: um Like many Texans, it was a very rough week
Speaker 1: last week for some Texans. It was a deadly week.
Speaker 1: Are power went out at about two o'clock in the
Speaker 1: morning on Monday and didn't come back fully until about
Speaker 1: Wednesday night. Our water went out Tuesday and when it
Speaker 1: came back, we realized that about seven pipes in our
Speaker 1: house had broken, one of them actually above my bed
Speaker 1: and one of them in my closets. So it wasn't
Speaker 1: very um pleasant to deal with. And it's it's been, um,
Speaker 1: I mean a rough few years to to you know,
Speaker 1: especially being a Houstonian living through these climate events again.
Speaker 1: And in seventeen we had Hurricane Harvey completely decimate the
Speaker 1: city once in a thousand years storm. And now, you know,
Speaker 1: two or three years later, now we have this once
Speaker 1: in a generation winner storm. Uh. And these once in
Speaker 1: a generation, once in the like time events are becoming, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, once every couple of years, you know, in
Speaker 1: Texas and all across the country. And addressing you know,
Speaker 1: human activity in the climate, UH is instrumental in tackling that.
Speaker 1: And there's just a good quote that I've seen going
Speaker 1: around is that, um that you shouldn't place people who
Speaker 1: don't believe in government in charge of government, otherwise you
Speaker 1: end up with situations like we just had and people
Speaker 1: don't believe that government can be used as a source
Speaker 1: for good and and positive change in people's lives. Well,
Speaker 1: I agree with that. I mean, it's just such an
Speaker 1: easy I felt. We may have cultural differences, and we
Speaker 1: may have, you know, factual arguments about whether this or
Speaker 1: that policy would work or not, but hating the government
Speaker 1: as a loser. I mean, I remember we it reached
Speaker 1: a fever pitch in the United States when I served
Speaker 1: in when the new Gingrich and his group, when the
Speaker 1: House and the Senate, and then the fever broke a
Speaker 1: little after the Oklahoma City bombing, and people realize, all
Speaker 1: these people that got killed with his government protests, including
Speaker 1: their children in preschool in the building, We're just like them.
Speaker 1: They had jobs to do when they were helping, and
Speaker 1: we needed their help. We needed them to do what
Speaker 1: they were doing. So I agree with that. I think
Speaker 1: that one of the things I'd like to see your
Speaker 1: generation do. We need to start asking people what the
Speaker 1: government do. If you want to have a great nation,
Speaker 1: if you want America to be great, and you wanted
Speaker 1: to be a place of opportunity and growth, there are
Speaker 1: no examples of that anywhere on Earth, in countries that
Speaker 1: do not have strong effective governments to do certain things.
Speaker 1: In other words, if you want a strong private sector,
Speaker 1: or precondition of it as having a strong and effective government,
Speaker 1: So how how much do you think what you experienced
Speaker 1: that Boy State mirrored what you see going on in
Speaker 1: the real world today, and how and how much of
Speaker 1: it was different. My experiences at Boy State were I mean,
Speaker 1: very very very positive ones. I mean I I went
Speaker 1: into the program with a being in the racial and
Speaker 1: political minority um and knowing that this is a conservative
Speaker 1: white elector at that I have to to speak to
Speaker 1: and to be elected from. And my strategy was to
Speaker 1: appeal to their sense of of of service and their
Speaker 1: sense of patriotism. Uh that we didn't want to see
Speaker 1: this country go to the point that it inevitably ended
Speaker 1: up going to on January six. We didn't want a
Speaker 1: civil war, you know. When there was Toxic Succession of
Speaker 1: Boys State, as much of a joke as it could
Speaker 1: have been. To me, I found it very disrespectful of
Speaker 1: the legionnaires. The American Legion hosts Texas Boys State. The
Speaker 1: Legion is made up of veterans of armed armed services.
Speaker 1: To succeed is to dishonor the memories and make their
Speaker 1: sacrifices in vain. We have the opportunity to do something great.
Speaker 1: Are we gonna make headlines for the wrong reasons? Are
Speaker 1: we gonna dishonor the legion Paris who considered us to
Speaker 1: be the best that Texas has to offer. Or will
Speaker 1: we show the world what patriots are made of that
Speaker 1: when things get tough, we pull ourselves by our bootstraps
Speaker 1: like true Texans and get after it, leave Texas graver
Speaker 1: than it was when we found it. Right, Well, we
Speaker 1: aren't successing as damn it. We are nationalist, one Nason
Speaker 1: under God, lover that the Constitution of the United States.
Speaker 1: Let's do something great for Texas, animating for the country, goup,
Speaker 1: let's every single one of you. And I think that
Speaker 1: that that speech that I gave catapulted me to my
Speaker 1: party's nomination for governor of Texas boys state, UH and
Speaker 1: just seeing their united in the sense of this vision
Speaker 1: for the United States, for the vision of America. Where
Speaker 1: we can have these disagreements, we can have different opinions
Speaker 1: and on some hills will die on defending some UH
Speaker 1: policy positions, whether to be you know, immigration or abortion.
Speaker 1: But because we don't agree on all these issues doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that we can't at least come to the table
Speaker 1: and have a discussion on maybe some areas within that
Speaker 1: issue that we do agree upon. Our job at Boys
Speaker 1: State was to show that those who are in government
Speaker 1: that the younger generation could do it better than them,
Speaker 1: because we actually want to have these conversations with each other,
Speaker 1: and we want to have this debate and and work
Speaker 1: together not as as Democrat, Republican, right left, liberal, conservative,
Speaker 1: but as Americans who at the end of the day
Speaker 1: want what's best for their country. And I think all
Speaker 1: of us would have been very, very shocked, um, if
Speaker 1: you told us in twenty team what would happen at
Speaker 1: the end of the of the Trump presidency. And I
Speaker 1: think that those kids that were there in my generation
Speaker 1: in general want to have a ah a country when
Speaker 1: that they want to inherit a country not on its
Speaker 1: last legs, but with the renewed spirit of reconciliation. Um.
Speaker 1: It's it's just very disheartening to see at the same
Speaker 1: time strengthening our resolved to make sure that you know,
Speaker 1: our our democracy got rocked on January six, It stumbled it,
Speaker 1: it took a shot to the to the chin, but
Speaker 1: making sure that it's resolved is stronger than anything that
Speaker 1: can be thrown at it. And making sure that we
Speaker 1: play a part in ensuring that this country that we've
Speaker 1: inherited is able to be inherited by those who come
Speaker 1: after us. Well, obviously I agree, and I think I
Speaker 1: think it's really important. The one thing that we have
Speaker 1: to remember that I learned. I learned there's a great
Speaker 1: difference between a poll of what do you support or
Speaker 1: oppose something and whether it's a voting issue for you,
Speaker 1: And what I think your generation can do is on
Speaker 1: a lot of these critical issues, make it a voting
Speaker 1: issue so that even if the culture seems to be
Speaker 1: tugging against you, you can prevail. When the school shooting
Speaker 1: occurred at Columbine when I was president in Colorado, uh,
Speaker 1: it was the one of the whole series that occurred
Speaker 1: all the way from Oregon to my home state of Arkansas.
Speaker 1: Columbine seemed to galvanize the nation, and there was a clear, uh,
Speaker 1: a lot of support for closing the gun show loophole
Speaker 1: because these guns have been bought at a gun sale.
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, at the time the technology was
Speaker 1: not as advanced as it is now. It's laughable. It
Speaker 1: would be nothing to close the gun show loophole and
Speaker 1: nothing to have instant background checks for online sales. There
Speaker 1: were no online gun sales when I took office. So anyway,
Speaker 1: the Republican governor of Colorado, a conservative, supported a referendum
Speaker 1: to close the gun sholder whole. The rest random past
Speaker 1: seventy to thirty, but Bush still defeated Gore one. Now, nationally,
Speaker 1: if you look at what the Stoneman Douglas kids did,
Speaker 1: what they did was what happened at column By twenty
Speaker 1: years ago on steroids. They and their allies in Chicago
Speaker 1: and elsewhere made gun safety of voting issue in And
Speaker 1: that's what we have to do for all these issues.
Speaker 1: They have to be a voting issue. And you've one
Speaker 1: of the things I hope you got out of your
Speaker 1: boys I experience and all the stuff that's happened since
Speaker 1: then as a result of it is it took me
Speaker 1: a long time to figure out how to make decisions
Speaker 1: with a strategy behind making an issue of voting issue.
Speaker 1: I would take a fifty to forty nine issue if
Speaker 1: a d percent of people on my side, we're going
Speaker 1: to vote on the vices of it. Right. It's UM,
Speaker 1: it's walking a tight rope. I mean I knew that. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: it's a very tribal setting that you're in, and UM
Speaker 1: a lot of the kids kind of me being the
Speaker 1: dark horse in the race. All of the kids were
Speaker 1: taller than me, more handsome, They looked like the the
Speaker 1: ideal politician, and I was not UM. And I decided
Speaker 1: to knowing that as a you know, as as you know,
Speaker 1: somebody who identified as the Democrat running in a sea
Speaker 1: of of Republican um was not advantageous to me. And
Speaker 1: I knew that I couldn't um go on stage and
Speaker 1: list all these different policy positions that I held with
Speaker 1: and expect to get that to get elected. UM. I
Speaker 1: knew that what I had to do was appeal to
Speaker 1: the again, to their better senses of of you know,
Speaker 1: I get you know, we're here to have fun, but actually,
Speaker 1: let's actually let's do something. Let's listen that's ever been
Speaker 1: done before. Let's let's actually, uh not treat each other
Speaker 1: like the enemy. Because I think the the fault in
Speaker 1: the boy state system is that when you get there,
Speaker 1: you're assigned a party of color, blue, yellow, nationalist, federalist,
Speaker 1: and you're told that you hate this so outher party.
Speaker 1: You're told that they're the opposition, that you need to
Speaker 1: crush them, uh and and destroy them absolutely. In these elections, Uh,
Speaker 1: and I think when you when you um said that
Speaker 1: as what politics is, while it's not inaccurate to what
Speaker 1: politics is in the real world. Uh, it's definitely not
Speaker 1: that way we should be going about things. And so
Speaker 1: running on a message at a guilty conservative voters to
Speaker 1: vote for me, especially on the gun issue. UM. I ran,
Speaker 1: you know, primarily as as a pro unity, pro America
Speaker 1: candidate boys State, and I made it to the runoffs. UM.
Speaker 1: In the fourteen a way primary, I got a third
Speaker 1: of the vote and the second place person got eight
Speaker 1: percent of the vote, and so we headed into a runoff.
Speaker 1: And a wrench was thrown into my my strategy when uh,
Speaker 1: people found pictures of me leading a March for Our
Speaker 1: Lives demonstration in Houston, which I was a an executive
Speaker 1: organizer of And so now I had to explain my
Speaker 1: position to a group of conservative people. And when I
Speaker 1: got up on the stage, man, they started uh booing
Speaker 1: me and jeering me and heckling me. I am not
Speaker 1: anti Second Amendment. I am pro guns, but I'm also
Speaker 1: a common sense kind of person for the collective security
Speaker 1: of the people. Someone should not be able to own
Speaker 1: a rocket launcher, feel exactly, and listen. I'm using it
Speaker 1: as a example. You know, I have this prepared speech.
Speaker 1: I have to get rid of it. There's being I
Speaker 1: can't use any of it now. I have to just
Speaker 1: address this. But listen. Not too long ago, tennf a
Speaker 1: high school shout up not far from where I live,
Speaker 1: and that it hurts man, you know those seeing uh,
Speaker 1: those people, these kids who shouldn't go through these things.
Speaker 1: We can do something about it. We don't have to
Speaker 1: just because we don't agree on everything, the saying that
Speaker 1: we shouldn't come to the table and talk to each other.
Speaker 1: We should choose something. You know, we're going to protect
Speaker 1: our fellow teenagers and I just a teenagers. People going
Speaker 1: out to a nightclub, man or a movie theater. We
Speaker 1: should have end but just talking to them about the
Speaker 1: fact that our generation, uh, you know, because Calum, most
Speaker 1: of us were born in two thousand two and one, uh,
Speaker 1: and all we ever known was school shooting drills. The
Speaker 1: siren after Marjorie Stoneman Douglas happened. Um a few days later.
Speaker 1: Uh in high school, we were all walking in the halls,
Speaker 1: and I was walking with a friend, and as we're
Speaker 1: all walking to our next class, the fire alarm goes off,
Speaker 1: which has never happened before. It's always predetermined, it's always scheduled. Um,
Speaker 1: and we all know that one's gonna happen. And so
Speaker 1: everybody just stopped. Um, you know, hundreds of kids just
Speaker 1: stop what they were doing and just kind of looked
Speaker 1: at each other wondering what's going on? Is something happening,
Speaker 1: and the teachers not also knowing what's going on, rushing
Speaker 1: us out of the building into the parking lot and
Speaker 1: just to get out of there. That this isn't planned.
Speaker 1: You know, your your your your mind starts going to
Speaker 1: that dark place of what could be happening. Uh, And
Speaker 1: and and telling that to this conservative boy and saying
Speaker 1: that no, you shouldn't be worried about going to school
Speaker 1: and getting shot, going to a movie theater and getting shot,
Speaker 1: going to a nightclub or a restaurant or a place
Speaker 1: of worship and fear these things and some of these
Speaker 1: things we're not going to agree on, but there are
Speaker 1: so many things we can agree on that could prevent
Speaker 1: such things from happening. And we need to get that done.
Speaker 1: We need to show that, uh, the adults in the room,
Speaker 1: that we can do it better than them. That we
Speaker 1: could actually tackle these crises together because we've been through
Speaker 1: it and we've seen it, and we're tired of all
Speaker 1: this uh gridlock and partnership of things never getting done.
Speaker 1: And by the end of that speech to them, they
Speaker 1: gave me a standing ovation, and in that runoff election,
Speaker 1: I won the vote in that room of of my
Speaker 1: conservative boys against my candidate who was unabashedly pro Second Amendment.
Speaker 1: Don't tread on me, come and take it. Well, I
Speaker 1: think that's the only strategy that works. What you said,
Speaker 1: you have to say, look, here's a problem, and your
Speaker 1: fellow Americans in this case, or your fellow Texans, they
Speaker 1: got this problem and we need your help. What I
Speaker 1: used to do and pushing all this gun stuff, I'd say, look,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to interfere with your hunting, your sports, shooting,
Speaker 1: even your right to protect your family and your home.
Speaker 1: But I do want you to help us keep guns
Speaker 1: out of the hands of people that even you think
Speaker 1: shouldn't have them. And we can't do that unless we
Speaker 1: can do comprehensive background checks of everybody. And I made
Speaker 1: a similar argument on the assault weapon span, but I
Speaker 1: was always saying, instead of calling them names, I would say,
Speaker 1: we need your help, we need to call them out,
Speaker 1: give him a chance to be bigger. That's what you
Speaker 1: did when you want, I think. And then there was
Speaker 1: a student to UM and and not gonna remember this,
Speaker 1: but a few weeks after Parkland, Santa Fe High School
Speaker 1: and in the Houston area was was shut up and
Speaker 1: and a number of students died, and UM I met
Speaker 1: with a student who was there UM when the shooting
Speaker 1: occurred at Boys State. His name was Riley Uh, and
Speaker 1: we sat down after dinner. Riley was like many people
Speaker 1: in the Santa Fe community. I think that the reason
Speaker 1: it didn't get as much attention is because that community
Speaker 1: was more conservative on guns and didn't place the fault
Speaker 1: of gun reform as the issue. They made it more
Speaker 1: mental health, the traditional way people conservatives talk about UM
Speaker 1: gun rights. And here I am somebody who's never experienced
Speaker 1: being into school shooting and he has, and I as
Speaker 1: somebody who have who has my views on it. I
Speaker 1: need to listen to him and hear what he has
Speaker 1: to say, because he's somebody who lived through it. And
Speaker 1: it was a very proactive conversation and we disagreed on
Speaker 1: a few things, but Uh, you know, I explained the
Speaker 1: the loopholes, uh, that universal background checks would close, and
Speaker 1: you know, we wouldn't want somebody to have a gun
Speaker 1: who uh you can't trust, right, you wouldn't give any
Speaker 1: just anybody a gun, would you? And he said no,
Speaker 1: and he's you know, we walked away, uh with a
Speaker 1: better understanding of each other and an agreement on an
Speaker 1: issue that he hadn't thought about before and and agreed with.
Speaker 1: And we were on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's missing in today's politics, is
Speaker 1: that that personal conversation, that personal connection with people, rather
Speaker 1: than um, you know, calling each other out on social media,
Speaker 1: calling each other the enemy, trying to score political points
Speaker 1: or your favor with the media. By starting by starting something, UM.
Speaker 1: I think that that's you know, I think the film
Speaker 1: Boy State is about how can we bridge that divide
Speaker 1: in our country. Let's take a look at how some
Speaker 1: of UM America's youth is trying to tackle it. And
Speaker 1: it is very hard. I mean, ultimately I don't win
Speaker 1: the governor's race, I I and I do lose, and
Speaker 1: but taking that that loss as UM a point of pride,
Speaker 1: knowing that I was able to unite these people was very,
Speaker 1: very UM. They gave me hope for the future. The
Speaker 1: thing I liked about you is, boy, you were hard
Speaker 1: over on what you believe, but you you've found a
Speaker 1: way to talk to people about it and to listen
Speaker 1: to them. Now things have gotten so polarized in America
Speaker 1: that your suspect if you listen to somebody who disagrees
Speaker 1: with you, and you give them a forum, and you
Speaker 1: give them a hearing, and you look for a way
Speaker 1: where you might find common ground, Uh, it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: not easy. And as much as I preach about the
Speaker 1: needs to talk to one another, I've also I'll convictim
Speaker 1: to that sense of of tribalism and of of UM.
Speaker 1: You know, there are some things that I think about tweeting,
Speaker 1: and I either don't tweet it out or deleted as
Speaker 1: soon as they tweeted, just knowing that this isn't the
Speaker 1: right way to go on about doing the things that
Speaker 1: UM I want to help accomplish. That that need for UM,
Speaker 1: for unity is is UM. So it's so important that UM.
Speaker 1: I think that this country will tear itself apart if
Speaker 1: we don't, we'll be back with more of my conversation
Speaker 1: with Steven Garza. After this, I got on out of
Speaker 1: boy State, including a lot lifetime friends. But I think
Speaker 1: it's more important than ever that people like you who
Speaker 1: believe in inclusive governments, inclusive societies, inclusive communities, do stuff
Speaker 1: that gives you the practical skills and the rhetorical insight
Speaker 1: to prevail. And like you've proved an election, you don't
Speaker 1: have to win everyone. Heck, I've lost two elections for
Speaker 1: ran for president, but I think this is important. We've
Speaker 1: got to get young people to get off the sidelines
Speaker 1: and into the arena. And and even myself had to.
Speaker 1: You know, when I first voted, I um, I turned
Speaker 1: eighteen the day before the midterm election in eighteen. I
Speaker 1: was born to Member five and the election was November six,
Speaker 1: and I registered to vote in September. Uh, you're able
Speaker 1: to register seventeen years, ten months. And um the day
Speaker 1: of I I don't see my registration online and that
Speaker 1: keep checking every day, and I assume they'll put it
Speaker 1: in on my birthday, because you know, on my e team.
Speaker 1: Yet uh and the day of I don't see it.
Speaker 1: So I call the the elections office in Houston and
Speaker 1: it's run by a Republican and I asked them where,
Speaker 1: you know where my registration was, and they said, we
Speaker 1: don't have it. I don't We don't have you in
Speaker 1: the system. And I said, but I have my registration
Speaker 1: stuff right here, and they're like, okay, well you need
Speaker 1: to come down to the election office before we close. Also,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like thirty minutes away, and we close
Speaker 1: in like forty five minutes. So I have, you know,
Speaker 1: wake up my mom, who's just taking a nap, and
Speaker 1: we rush over to the elections office and I hand
Speaker 1: over my my receipt that I registered to vote, and
Speaker 1: they signed me up to vote, and I go the
Speaker 1: next day after school, I go to vote at my
Speaker 1: precinct at local fire station and I give them all
Speaker 1: my information and they say that I'm out in the
Speaker 1: system and they're like, we're gonna have to vote provisional.
Speaker 1: And so I'm annoyed and I fell about my provisional
Speaker 1: ballot and you know, vote and I favorally happy about voting,
Speaker 1: and I go home, and three weeks later I received
Speaker 1: a letter in the mail UH stating that my provid
Speaker 1: the Provisional Ballot Board, who reviews all the provisional ballots
Speaker 1: had denied my vote because I had voted in the
Speaker 1: wrong precinct. UM. The thing was is that I hadn't
Speaker 1: and I knew that I hadn't, and I knew that
Speaker 1: I made sure everything was right, but they told me
Speaker 1: that I did. And so I had to contact the
Speaker 1: a c o U of Texas on my behalf to
Speaker 1: research and to reach out to the office, and and
Speaker 1: their investigation concluded that UM, I had met obstacles every
Speaker 1: single way, from the loss of my registration to not
Speaker 1: being in the system on election day, to being having
Speaker 1: my right to vote or being disenfranchise effectively by my
Speaker 1: vote not accounting because of an error made on their
Speaker 1: part every step of the way. UM luckily, and that
Speaker 1: election that the Republican was ousted by a Democrat who
Speaker 1: assured me that UH, that they would make sure that
Speaker 1: this never happened again. And they and they kept their
Speaker 1: promise on that because Houston and Harris County introduced county
Speaker 1: wide polling places that you'll be able to vote anywhere
Speaker 1: in the county. Well, let's just follow up on that.
Speaker 1: The the one thing that you don't learn at Voice
Speaker 1: State is that there's nobody there trying to stop you
Speaker 1: from voting. Everybody gets to vote, right, So it is
Speaker 1: what it is, and demographically it might not be like
Speaker 1: your community, and people may not be buying what you're selling.
Speaker 1: But at least if you if you can register or
Speaker 1: you can be deemed as registering, and it's on the level.
Speaker 1: There's the apparatus in America. The amount of time and
Speaker 1: energy that is being spent by organized groups to keep
Speaker 1: people away from the polls is breath taking. And as
Speaker 1: I said, there's been a hundred bills introducing state legislatures
Speaker 1: just sense President Biden's victory to make it harder to vote.
Speaker 1: In Georgia, where the two Senate seats were one, there
Speaker 1: are bills now designed to eliminate vote by mail unless
Speaker 1: one you have an acceptable excuse and two you have
Speaker 1: a sworn AFFI David stating that excuse that you sign.
Speaker 1: So I think that one of the things that look
Speaker 1: this is an old story that I can remember fighting
Speaker 1: with legislators and in my native state, who's actually believed
Speaker 1: that it should be harder for people to vote, because
Speaker 1: you get a better class of people voting if it
Speaker 1: were harder to vote. And we all know what that's
Speaker 1: about so, but that was forty years ago. We're gonna say,
Speaker 1: we don't need that, we need everybody to vote. We
Speaker 1: need people on deck here. And I think that whether
Speaker 1: this current trend continues, that is, it depends first on
Speaker 1: the performance of the government in Washington administrates, secondly on
Speaker 1: the willingness of some Republicans to work with the Democrats,
Speaker 1: and third on whether we can protect the franchise. Because
Speaker 1: one of the things that we may have started doing
Speaker 1: at Boy State is let people serve on the Supreme
Speaker 1: courts too, because these court decisions are unbelievable. And the U. S.
Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled last year, while most of us, including me,
Speaker 1: were concerned with the presidential race, the U. S. Supreme
Speaker 1: Court ruled that they're the only constitutional right which could
Speaker 1: be violated with no consequence in the courts is the
Speaker 1: right to have your vote counted on a more or
Speaker 1: less equal basis. That is they ruth They said, gerrymandering
Speaker 1: absolutely can be unconstitutional, but the U. S. Supreme Court
Speaker 1: can't do a thing in the world about it because
Speaker 1: the Constitution lets state legislatures draw district lines. And that's
Speaker 1: just first of all, it's an absurd decision because that's
Speaker 1: and fifteenth Amendment when slavery was ended, guaranteeing the right
Speaker 1: to vote, and then equal protection of the laws meant
Speaker 1: that the federal government, the Spring Court could judge what
Speaker 1: states do. So it doesn't make a look of sense
Speaker 1: the decision, but the U. S. Supreme Court did decide it.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna have to keep fighting for these things.
Speaker 1: And that's one that you can make your boy state
Speaker 1: speech on. You know, you all think everybody I would
Speaker 1: be able to vote or that you don't you just think,
Speaker 1: you know, in America we're all equal, or we are
Speaker 1: we'll be right back. Since you've been in college, you
Speaker 1: think that your generation, because of all the events of
Speaker 1: the last five six years, is more willing to participate
Speaker 1: in politics and public service now or less. I think
Speaker 1: they're definitely more willing because they realize that the state
Speaker 1: that they have in this um that ultimately again we're
Speaker 1: gonna inherit this country and with that country comes all
Speaker 1: its problems. Um. You know, as a young person, I well,
Speaker 1: I guess I am still a young person. As a
Speaker 1: younger person, you know, being fourteen, fifteen, six, Yeah, when
Speaker 1: you know, when I was you know, first got into
Speaker 1: you know, into politics and involved with the Democratic Party
Speaker 1: at fourteen of teen. Uh. People kind of were confused
Speaker 1: as to why I was doing it, and I said, well, um,
Speaker 1: I can't vote, uh, so I don't have a say
Speaker 1: in what happens in Washington, do see. I think I'm
Speaker 1: pretty well versed in and and and what my beliefs are,
Speaker 1: um and and what I think is right and wrong.
Speaker 1: But I don't have a voice in Washington. I don't
Speaker 1: have a voice yet. The decisions that are they're making, well,
Speaker 1: I'm fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old are gonna affect
Speaker 1: me when I'm fifty years old. And so I thought
Speaker 1: it was very important for me to be involved. And
Speaker 1: I see a little of a lot of young people
Speaker 1: realize that that uh, the reason that college is so expensive,
Speaker 1: the reason that it's gonna be hard for us to
Speaker 1: buy homes, the reason why wages are low, the reason
Speaker 1: why we're experiencing these uh climate events is because of
Speaker 1: of government. And if we want us to be able
Speaker 1: to uh go to school at a reasonable level or
Speaker 1: at a reasonable price, or own a home or you know,
Speaker 1: make sure that we have a a living wage and
Speaker 1: that we're not working paycheck to paycheck, just struggling to
Speaker 1: get by. UH. And that you know, going to see
Speaker 1: a doctor won't bankrupt us. Um. And we need to
Speaker 1: be involved in politics. We need to be involved in
Speaker 1: government and be aware and uh, you know, just doing
Speaker 1: our civic duty to be aware of what's going on
Speaker 1: in our country and participating in it. And you don't
Speaker 1: have to become a political staffer or run for Congress
Speaker 1: to do so. It's just by by voting and by
Speaker 1: taking your friends to vote, your family's vote. UM, by
Speaker 1: you know, reading the news, by staying engaged enough today
Speaker 1: on what's going on, UH can sometimes be enough for
Speaker 1: somebody who doesn't want to pursue politics professionally. Is just
Speaker 1: making sure that there uh know what's going on and
Speaker 1: that they have an active participation because you know, every
Speaker 1: decision made is going to affect them. UM. And and
Speaker 1: for a long time, when I went to Washington to
Speaker 1: Boys Nation, President Kennedy met us in the Rose Garden
Speaker 1: and he thanked us because we had just voted in
Speaker 1: our muck Senate session in Washington. We had just voted
Speaker 1: for civil rights bill that he couldn't get through the
Speaker 1: Senate in the real life Senate because they had a
Speaker 1: filibuster rule, and I never will forget he came down
Speaker 1: and it was a beautiful day in the Rose Garden
Speaker 1: in July of nine, and he shook hands with us.
Speaker 1: All of us were in like the first two rows.
Speaker 1: He shook hands with us, And it made such a
Speaker 1: big impression on me that after I got elected president,
Speaker 1: I actually did a photo line so that every person
Speaker 1: there could get a picture, because it's like you, you know,
Speaker 1: you never dreamed five years ago that you'd be everything
Speaker 1: would happen to you as a result of this movie.
Speaker 1: I don't think right, definitely not speaking to you today.
Speaker 1: So I just decided I ought to do that, and
Speaker 1: I did it for seven or the eight years I
Speaker 1: was president. One year my job required me to be
Speaker 1: out of town while Boys Nation the week they were there,
Speaker 1: of and I couldn't do a thing about it. But
Speaker 1: otherwise always did it, and it leaves an impression. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm sure that that uh left a huge impression on
Speaker 1: on on your life and kind of guided you to
Speaker 1: that sense of like this is what you're you're destined
Speaker 1: to do and so and I have you know, I
Speaker 1: feel the same feeling right now, getting the opportunity to
Speaker 1: speak with you right now, UM, that sense of of
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't expect to have, you know, five
Speaker 1: years ago. I didn't expect to be where I am today.
Speaker 1: But I think I'm doing something right, and so I
Speaker 1: plan on continuing, uh, the path that I'm on. Well,
Speaker 1: I think obviously I think you should and I think
Speaker 1: you should encourage others. And I don't think you can
Speaker 1: get discouraged when things don't work out. I mean, it's amazing,
Speaker 1: you know. And I've been working on some of these
Speaker 1: things since the nineteen sixties. And every time you think
Speaker 1: you got a battle, one something goes along and you
Speaker 1: fall back down the hill and you are to get
Speaker 1: up and dust yourself off and push the rock up
Speaker 1: the hill again. That's the work of democracy. You have
Speaker 1: to keep doing it. Thank you well and and and
Speaker 1: I want to say, what the greatest honors in my
Speaker 1: life to be able to to spend some time with you,
Speaker 1: Mr President, And then thank you for offering me the
Speaker 1: opportunity to learn from you and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: take your your your advice and your wisdom as I
Speaker 1: go on about this uh political life that I plan
Speaker 1: on pursuing. I thought you were great in the movie.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a gutsy thing you did. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you stood your ground on the gun safety issue,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad to see the remarkable growth has continued
Speaker 1: in your life and your understanding since you made that film,
Speaker 1: and I wish you will and just keep active. Thank you,
Speaker 1: was ther President? Why am I telling you? This is
Speaker 1: a production of our Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and
Speaker 1: at Will Media. Our executive producers are Craig Manascian and
Speaker 1: Will Malnadi. Our production team includes Mitch Bluestein, Jamison cat Sufis,
Speaker 1: Tom Galton, Sarah Harrows, and Jake Young, with production support
Speaker 1: from Tyler Scott and Olatavia Young. Original music by What White.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to John Sykes, Tina Flinoid, John Davidson on
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Speaker 1: I'm myshe Alexander. I'm senior Impact and Design Manager and
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