For several months, America Speaks has been hosting voters from across generations across the country and across the political spectrum. But today is special because you’re about to hear voices from the future. College kids, many of them voting for president for the very first time.
Schrader News went to the campus of George Washington University right here in the nation’s capitol, to listen to and learn from students from a multitude of states socioeconomic backgrounds and political persuasions. With thanks to Frank Sesno — former CNN, Washington bureau chief and current professor at GW — we have a rare opportunity to hear what the next generation of leaders are thinking about right now.
We begin by taking the student pulse on democracy itself. Thank you, Frank. This is both an honor and a privilege to be able to moderate the voices, the students from the next generation of America’s leaders, 20 students, 12 different states GW University, let’s get the conversation started.
I want you to give me a word or phrase to describe Democracy in America right now.
Inequity. Injustice, lacking fragile, polarized, fragile, tested, flood, unhealthy, breaking down in peril, compromise, evolving, divided, challenge in progress, strain, but I’ve never heard it this bad.
And you’re the generation that’s supposed to be positive, you’re the generation [that] is supposed to be optimistic about the future, and used to describe the system that governs us so negatively. What’s gone wrong? Why has it become so bad? And if you, I mean, we, grew up in such a volatile hostile time.
I mean, I went to high school in 2016, which was the Donald Trump Hillary Clinton election. You know, I went to I’ve been in more courtrooms, more legislative hearings, more protests, and I’ve been to high school football games or, you know, university formals. So I just feel a sense of fatigue about,
you know, change in progress for the future and how our government systems are providing for us. You’re nodding, by the way, what you just said, is really powerful. It’s the opening of this group. I’m not used to this.
But more courtrooms and more conflict than joyful occasions. Is that your experience? I would agree with that. Ever since, like, I became aware of like, politics and things that are happening around my community. I’ve just noticed a lot of division, a lot of lack of awareness of issues happening on the ground, and no, not much work being done in order to address them. You agree with this? I definitely agree. I feel that going into school at such a trying time, whether it be school shooter scares or rapid polarization. And at the end of the day, our voice is being silenced because of our age. It makes me feel that on Capitol Hill, our lives our lives, but rather just another number in the statistic. Is anybody here positive? Go ahead, make me feel better, because you all have depress me so much. I think that there’s been a really serious underestimation of young voters. And I think there’s a really clear pattern of specifically Gen Z, younger millennials to showing up in really big numbers and caring about issues that are affecting us. Like 2018, you saw the highest youth voter turnout in history, that was a record for a midterm, right? That was a record breaking year for youth voter turnout, and that was on the heels of Sandy Hook.
A couple of big mass shootings and a movement around that 2020 pandemic, like challenging year for voting, right? A lot of people had a difficult time voting, a lot of people had an easy time voting.
So let’s talk about freedom of speech for one second, do you feel like you can say anything to anyone at any time? As long as it’s reasonable? As long as it’s not hate filled? or dangerous? Do you feel you have genuine freedom of speech? Does anyone not feel that way? I personally don’t feel like we have January freedom of speech and a lot of circumstances most of because a lot of the things we say to other people if they have a different opinion than us, they always come back with us with not like attacking our opinions, but attacking us as people and they make these
these made these like assumptions about us about who we are individually when it could have absolutely nothing with to do with like any of our arguments. So that’s the purpose of conversations like this and you feel comfortable, disagreeing, but you’re going to walk out as friends or as colleagues.
Do you
Feel your freedoms are being protected by the government? Or do you feel that they’re in jeopardy right now? I feel like they’re in jeopardy. Because Because in June of 2022, I woke up for the first time with less rights when I went to bed with the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and all of a sudden, I lost bodily autonomy, or freedom is being protected. Are they in jeopardy? I think as a man, my freedoms are being protected. You know, I’ve kind of walked the street, I don’t have to worry about anything. But for women, especially like you said, with Roe v. Wade, like, now you have the government telling you what to do with your body. And that’s not right. Other comments on this? There’s a lot of talk about I think younger voters and how young people are going to get things done. But you look at the state of like Florida right now. And how do we expect young voters to get things done when the government is crippling their education on issues that aren’t political at all, but are now considered political issues such as such as trans rights, just the whole LGBTQ plus community in general, you can’t discuss a gay marriage in Florida schools anymore. You can’t even discuss the topic of trans this at all in a Florida School. And that’s not a political issue. That is a human rights issue. And it’s just a fact of life. I feel like there’s a lot of people in this young generation that will cancel other people for saying things that are different than them.
And it’s pretty easy to define, in my opinion, I mean, it’s just, you know, looking at the person’s name, putting it out there Daxing them and, you know, giving their name to their employer,
as anyone here said something in a political realm that caused you serious penalties.
What was it? So when I was in high school, I led an anti racism campaign because my school district made national news because there was a black student in middle school, he had a head carving, which was against dress code. And so the principal colored it in with a sharpie, as a disciplinary consequence. And because of that, we led an anti racism campaign, I had a teacher kicked me out of class not allowed me to take an exam. And then, as a result of that, I ended up having panic attacks in her classes was during COVID. So that was like the first AP class I’ve ever dropped in my life. And eventually, that dropped my GPA so much that I got my admissions rescinded from the first college that I applied to before coming to GW, what happened to you. I mean, just throughout high school, I would, you know, speak strongly in favor of the Second Amendment and gun rights. And, you know, a lot of people would punish me for that a lot of people wouldn’t want to be friends with me just because of my beliefs. I support his right to speak about it. I mean, talking about whether or not it means we have to be friends with someone, I just know, you know, that. I don’t want to be friends with someone who spent their days in high school in high school classrooms where people have been killed because of the Second Amendment. Defending the Second Amendment like that, thinking about that context, is enough for me to know. But I do support, like,
as a journalism major, like I kind of have to stand by the First Amendment and like, freedom of speech, I do believe everybody should have the right to say what they think. But yeah, we grew up with Obama, we grew up with Trump. And then we just have these complete different experiences. And there’s all these different issues that are just coming up compared to what happened during our parents generations. So rent is going much higher, everybody’s suicide rates are going much higher, we’re feeling a lot more anxiety, because of all the pressure that we’re feeling we need to have in order to be able to live a sustainable lifestyle here in the United States. So so that that way we could be able to be able to fulfill what our parents were able to fulfill is our political system working.
Why not?
The two sides are so divided. And the fact that nobody can actually listen to each other, I think is the biggest issue out of all of it. The fact that I mean, I think it’s a good thing that maybe your family, you talk about political conversations, but a lot of people don’t and they completely avoid it. And so I think that’s like, that’s the starting point of where our whole democracy comes from? Is those basic conversations with the people who are closest to you who are different from who you are, what you believe in and who you are. Next up a question that needs to be asked more often, and to more people. Do you feel listened to and respected by the people who run this country? Or do you feel ignored and forgotten? The reaction from our college cohort may surprise you, but the average member of Congress standing here right now? Or senator? Do they understand what you’re going through? Or don’t they have a clue?
Who says they understand Raise your hands? Who says they don’t have a clue? Raise your hands. Okay. Start here and work down. Why don’t they have a clue? Well, I think there’s just the age divide. If you look at the average age of the United States Senate, most of them could possibly be our grandparents here the average age of a senator deceased.
Exactly. So I think you know,
It’s just become very out of touch by not even being close to our age level. And I do also think people have become more out of touch to a lot due to social media. So why does the average Senator Congressman not understand you? I think because our generation has had such a formative experience with so many different crises in our lifetime. Like we like had the COVID 19 pandemic, which everyone went through. But these were the years of our development, like we were missing prom, we were missing school, like kids are not being able to like learn to read, learn to do math. But then at the same time, we had the Black Lives Matter. We have like one of the most polarizing elections in our country in 2020. Like every single or every single summer that we’ve had, has been progressively hotter and hotter. I had a friend the other day, tell me, you know, my birthday used to be involved, but now it still feels like summer and that lived experience with climate change, the fear of not inheriting a livable Earth. It’s just not something that they share. I think that an awful lot of them would disagree with you very strongly, in that. senators and congressmen have been working on the climate issue for decades trying to bring about change. Yeah, but they don’t understand the fear of growing up through it. Like I grew up going through natural disasters that I knew were fueled by climate change. I’m from Texas, I went through winter storm urea. And then when I looked at my legislators, they were too busy making political comments making jabs at each other. But they weren’t the ones who are sitting through it. Why do elected officials not understand you? I think they do understand, I think they’d benefit from keeping us polarized and keeping our needs in front of us like, so they’re doing it every week. Yeah, absolutely. And they’re benefiting from it. So the question isn’t, is the government protecting our freedoms, we have to protect our freedoms.
Interesting point, who’s doing it, who’s deliberately dividing you? local elites, such as politicians, people who I don’t know, but have a lot of money? I don’t want to name drop corporations, but big name corporations, I think we could all agree, make up the political elite. Y’all think big corporations are deliberately trying to divide you? I asked a question on that. What issues do you think they used to divide us? Because I always hear people say like, they distract us with small political issues that keep us from getting to the big stuff. But what are those small issues? You think the distraction was what I think any of the issues that come under the umbrella that is the culture wars, so would you think that the trans rights debate is one of those issues that distracts us?
I think that issue is a very real issue. And I think all those issues are real issues. But yes, I think that in the media, it gets manipulated to turn us against each other and make us feel like our needs are not being met by the government, complaining about government being divided and polarized. But like we all said that at the beginning, like my word was strained, we all said that it was divided polarized, whatever, if we’re all complaining about that, but we won’t reach across the aisle and show bipartisanship with our fellow like young people. How do we expect the government to do the same? The problem here lies within the two party system, I feel that when we as a nation, do not educate ourselves to the level that we want bipartisanship and we want discussion, we instead resort to a conflict of me versus them of red versus blue of this side versus that side? And not what policy can we make, so that our children and our future can live a better life than us. But I feel like the two party system isn’t the cause of polarization. It’s just a symptom of it. It’s not like if we didn’t have these two parties to fall into, we magically have more moderate beliefs. Just the reality is there are people who are extreme on certain issues, and that we have giant banners that we’re inevitably going to fall under because of that. It’s not like if you got rid of Democrats and Republicans, I’m going to become more moderate on the gun gun debate, I’m still going to be as extreme on that as I am. So what concerns or scares young people the most is a climate, the debt, the divisions and polarization of the country, China, Russia, or Iran, the only way to know is to ask, and that’s exactly what we did. Let’s listen in.
I’m sure that politics policy, government, democracy doesn’t keep you up at night, as much as the next exam or the paper you have to do. But if something were to keep you awake at night, involving our democracy, what concerns or scares you the most? I think it’s a lack of national identity. Which means basically, there’s nothing we can basically be in common with, because back then there were a lot of things that we can be in common with now, it just feels like there’s very less and less ideas we could agree on completely. What concerns you the most, I think, the lack of protection for vulnerable communities, I think this country is so large that they really don’t have a like a wholesale way to provide blanket protection. So if you’re a trans person living in this country, like you know, there’s prominent politicians calling you a sex offender every day and a pervert and you know, saying all this stuff and if you’re black, if you go to a Walmart, you’ll
Get publicly executed by cop for looking suspicious. So it’s just not a great place for a lot of people. Thank God I’m blessed. I’m privileged, like I’m having a great life here in America. But for a lot of people, that is not the case. What concerns you the most?
As someone who helped register 1000s of you for the 2020 election to vote, people voting without knowing who they’re talking about people voting because their favorite celebrity on social media told them to
does that happen? For sure the work that I did voter registration, I look back at it. Honestly, a lot of those people who I registered,
they just voted based off of what the celebrity attached organization, like told them to do. Who gets their news, at least in part, from Tik Tok? Honestly, raise your hands. Yeah. 12345 of you. You kind of have to, though, because that’s where a lot I think, I don’t think enough people raise their hands if
you kind of have to, because part of digesting the news is also digesting what other people are seeing. I can’t just delete Tik Tok because I know everybody uses it, how am I going to be in touch with what everybody perceives the world to be like people don’t people see tear down just like you know, people just make fun dances, but it actually is a useful tool of education. It’s really good to mobilize young people. Now is there misinformation, obviously, which is a problem. However, you cannot fully discredit it, because of some of the first stories you hear about. Some of the first reports are from tick tock like social media can be a great place for you to get information and it’s accessible. And it’s free. You know, like when I wake up every morning, it’s very embarrassing, and I don’t like this about myself, I’ll check my phone, it’s the first thing that they do. And
young people are notoriously optimistic, even in the face of tremendous challenges. So I asked our college kids to explain what gives them hope for the future. Considering the negativity of their parents and grandparents, their responses were a rare breath of fresh air. Can I get three or four of you to tell me what is great about American democracy and why it’s working?
Go?
Why did no one react to me?
Oh, well, I gave you. I mean, I was I did. What is great about American democracy is that we’re able to do this right now. Like, we’re able to talk about our different opinions, you know, talk about the state of our country, and also just be able to speak and not have any fear of legal consequences. As long as we stay within the realms of what’s legally allowed us, I gave you the chance to be positive, and you didn’t take me up on it. Why?
I think we were all just very privileged. And a lot of the issues that democracy globally faces we don’t experience here. So
it’s hard to come up with anything, because we’re just taught to complain, complain, complain, because we kind of have it. We don’t have it all. But we have a lot better than a lot of people. I disagree. I think it’s hopeful that nobody said something positive. And I think the answers that we give are very hopeful. I think that it is a positive reflection on democracy itself, that everyone has said something along the lines of like, democracy is flawed, we want to make it better. But at the same time, democracy isn’t about sitting here complaining about our issues. I don’t sit I don’t go to GW and I don’t I don’t sit in a room with people like you because I hate America. I love America. And I think loving this country means that, like you said, we sit here and
I love your loves that loves America.
Okay, you’ve got the darkest look on your face. You don’t love explain why. I mean, America, the country like America that got whatever raised their hands. You didn’t Why didn’t you because it’s flawed, I can’t go right ahead and say that. I love America, because there’s just there are too many issues. There are too many people in power that have power to do things and take away rights that I don’t believe in and there that was just previously with Trump, like I don’t love the America that voted for him. And the government that even though Hillary got more popular votes, got him into office. I don’t live in Ghana, why don’t you love America? I mean, it’s the same as just blindly loving anything. I mean, I was born here. So just kind of wasn’t my choice. And I’m grateful to live in a country with so many freedoms, and I’m grateful have a place or a forum to discuss what I believe in. But I also think, like, Why do I have to? Why do I have to love a country? You know, it’s just a country. I love my family. I love my friends. And I’ll have to, you know,
express my adoration for a place that I was just pointing to who else doesn’t love America here? All three of you. Go ahead. I don’t love America because my people are forced to come here. So
It’s not like we were given a choice to be here.
I’m not saying with what Kayla said, I feel that although I was born here, there’s many years of, you know, history where my people were enslaved where they were forced to. They were dehumanized, where they were forced to do things that they didn’t want to. And even today, we see a similar system in place, the criminal justice system, where people are literally dead in jails, for misdemeanors who aren’t able to make the cash bail, because they don’t have the funds. And I just feel that there’s a lot of work to be done. And as a citizen today, I’m trying to make a change. But I wouldn’t say it right out. I love America, because of the lack of progress. So there’s so many things that could be potentially could put that could be potentially changed about America. But there’s so much lack of progress in the past few years that I can’t say, that could love America, once there’s progress, and work towards the thing that we’re striving for. Once there’s more improvements to democracy and everything that we want, then I could possibly say that we’d love America more. And I think, you know, realize that you can love America, but also want better than the status quo. I love it. You know, this is a place where, you know, none of us are from here. All of our families eventually came here. Somehow my family came from Eastern Europe, avoiding people wanting to kill Jews. And you know, there’s been a place that’s been open for us. And, you know, we have the ability to ask for more and ask for better. And I think that’s what we’re all up here doing. And I think it’s important to keep that in mind as well. Our interview with you. I was born here, but I’ve was raised in South America, like less than America. And I came back because like i Guys, I think like opportunities in this country are way better than holdouts in America. Like even I’m for like my politics. My government was like, impeach It was bad. So I think like perhaps it is also worth it to recognize the amount of opportunities, professional growth opportunities, this country also provides you if you’re willing to work for it. I do recognize that there are some things that we have to like, improve. And I think we could because like our generation is actually pretty woke as someone says, but like, opportunities should also be recognized.
If I’m to ask you what issue if you could say to your elected leaders, this is the issue that you have to address and fix right now.
One issue? What’s that issue? The action because personally, I think that Clarence Thomas, as you sitting in Thurgood Marshall seat, hurts as a black person, because of what Thurgood Marshall went through, and did for us as black people. And now, Clarence Thomas is sitting in his seat. And he benefited from affirmative action, but he voted against it. The one issue, I don’t have one to show I’m sorry, but I will say racial inequality and affordable housing, just because from time and time again, we see how people who are disenfranchised and marginalized communities how they have a harder time getting opportunities, and just getting up there. And in terms of affordable housing, we have individuals who are literally still out on the street, especially here in DC in New York and major cities around the nation. They do not have a place to stay, they are abused. And I just feel like those are the two issues that needs to be addressed. The one issue, inflation and standards of living. So when most people most Americans are living so close to the poverty line. They’re not worried about other political issues or other like rights, equal rights, you’re worrying about like, oh, do I have enough money to make this month’s rent? Is there one issue, voting rights, if we can’t fix voting rights, we can’t fix the economy. We can’t fix racial justice issues. We can’t fix climate issues. We can’t fix social issues like LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, health care in general, your one issue, climate change, because climate change makes everything worse, it means there’s less homes available, because like flood levels are rising because seas are rising. It means that communities that already have really strained infrastructure, it’s getting worse and they don’t have the money to recover. It means that we’re increasingly spending more and more money that could go towards welfare could go towards improving social conditions in America, to just repairing the damage from natural disasters. And this past summer has been truly truly brutal, and it’s going to be the best one we have yet. Your one issue.
The partisan alliances that we have in government, I think the only way to solve all of these issues is if we develop a bipartisan nature, back in the Congress, whether it’s house representatives or the Senate. The partisan nature that it operates in now, is just causing so much divisiveness when it comes to the discussion on climate change, which should be a bipartisan issue. And same for inequity and inflation. These are things that we should be able to discuss in Congress and come to some sort of conclusion or compromise and I think there’s a standstill all over the legislative body.
Control is another important thing. I’m I’m more than happy to have a conversation with someone who’s pro Second Amendment.
I do think it’s you know, we shouldn’t have first graders getting mowed gallon school, it shouldn’t be something, oh, another mass shooting today in the school, it should not be something that’s regular.
I think it’s immigration for security. There are a lot of individuals that do want come to this country. But at the same time, we need to make sure that the individuals that do want to come to this country, they want to make sure that they want to choose a nation like my grandparents, they were immigrants. And they want to make sure that he could contribute to the country as much as possible. And I admire all of the people that want to come here, legally, but at the same time, they need to make sure that they follow the rules and the regulations. I’ve been called a word doctor for my academic focus on precise language and meeting. So I decided to play psychiatrists for a few minutes showing the visuals of some of the most iconic elements of American democracy and generate a reaction and that it did
what comes to mind first when you see that Joe Biden privilege somebody else power president’s house. Okay, that’s too easy.
Somebody else what comes to mind when you see that? The sniper on top of the room?
Really?
We have a shirt please.
Who was not born here? You see that picture? All four of you. What comes to mind first?
Feel like I’m in the most important place in the entire world.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty cool and fancy.
Pretty cool, man.
Well, I came here when I was a young child. So to me, I see Barack Obama.
Some of the most chaotic events in history. You see this? What are you thinking? What are you thinking?
What are you thinking? January 6, what are you thinking? What do you think he loves you? halls of power in need of repair? Okay, offs. Really good architecture.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Okay, let’s do number four.
Quick.
Conservative on democratic Trump Tower, Harlan Crowe, on elected.
You read way too much news. derelict, picking up the slack. Evil.
Disappointing. That used to be my favorite branch, sitting next to this document. It’s arguably one of the most important documents in all of history.
Your reaction to this? Me? Yeah, it’s the foundation of our country.
Which means, which means it’s been the protection for up tyranny. That’s why I believe, for me, I think,
I think like who is the people, because the time was written the people was not the entire people. And to this day, we are still trying to find like, what is the people?
Your reaction to this document? I was thinking the same thing. Who are the people, the founding fathers that wrote it? You know, Thomas Jefferson, like they were concerned about different things than the people in America are concerned about now. So the fact that we still, you know, put the Declaration of Independence in the Constitution as they are written on such a high pedestal, you know, makes me think that we should be rethinking them. I agree with you. But as a person who carries a pocket constitution everywhere,
is your nerd.
Pretty much
the documents iconic, like what do you think of when it came out? And what it determined for our country as a living breathing? Document? Yes, I think it was written under extremely limited circumstances. And no, it didn’t represent the entire country, and still doesn’t in some ways.
But the point of it was to have some sort of evolving nature. I just think, historically, when you look at the historical context of when it came out, I think it’s a pretty cool document. The content notwithstanding, I just want to say that to remind everyone, this is the power that we give the government. So this is technically supposed to be our power, our power vested into the government for the social contract. The The question is, is that power still adequately represented? Or is it misconstrued in a way that the government controls the people? I agree, I just feel like this document doesn’t represent who we are today. It doesn’t work for the system in place today. And I thought that there needs to be a way for us to go back and do some things over. Yeah. I think the Constitution was one of the main things that prevented Donald Trump from remaining in the presidency, unelected.
I completely agree with that point. I think that in so many fundamental ways, we do need to adapt and change.
But it’s an outline for the country that we have today. And I think a lot of us raise our hands when we said that it is the
Greatest country and and so that’s a good outline.
I mean, it is the founding document, but I would kind of agree that, you know, the people is really in flux. Now. I mean, corporations are just taking over big pharma especially, they just keep litigating and going against the people’s interests. So who are we the people anymore?
I think it’s been kind of weaponized, recently, especially during discourse around the culture wars. It’s like, what about my First Amendment rights? What about my second amendment rights? So I think it’s usually not usually, but sometimes it’s used as a tool to advance someone’s agenda. I think it’s important to that we also realize that when this document was made women and African Americans were not mentioned until ratification of different amendments.
What comes to mind first,
division,
polarization, dysfunction, polarization,
polarization, scripted.
Why do you feel that way?
On it was just
like automatic reaction.
So, don’t apologize. And so a lot of people feel
you’ve been somewhat critical,
justifiably about where things are right now and the situation that you as the next generation face. But what gives you hope,
specifically, when you wake up in the morning, and you’re sick? I’m so glad to live in America. Some of you may feel that way. Is there anything that gives you hope for the future? We’ll do the four of you, five of you, right here, my colleagues in my generation, because I think that, like people have said before, we’re tired of a lot of these issues, we’ve grown up with a lot of issues. But we’re not too tired to fix them. What gives you hope? I mean, I agree with you there. I mean, I mean, yes, we may disagree on political issues, but at least we understand the fragility and also sort of like the crisis, that we are here in America, we are willing to work together and be able to move forward so that that way, we can be able to have those tough conversations and have those difficult,
difficult conversations so that we can be able to fix some of the some of the issues here in our governments and help the people, what gives you hope. I think we’re at a point where as bad as things are, we are seeing the youngest people ever elected to Congress, we’re seeing the most progressive people ever elected to Congress. And so as frustrating as it is that nothing’s happening right now, I do think that history tends to skew towards progress. And I think we’re gonna be seeing that here. Three more
people I haven’t heard from Go ahead. I think that I would agree that our generation is what gives me hope. I think we had a conversation earlier about young voters. And I think the electorate in America has fundamentally changed. We’re the most educated generation, we’ve shown that we’re willing to show up, we’re willing to fight. And we’re also done with complacency as a generation, I think that has that’s not an option for us, because these issues have been shoved into her face and tell me something positive, something hopeful about this country. I feel that now as a society, within civic engagement and civic education a lot more seriously. And it’s something that especially our generation is looking forward to, I see myself and a lot of my friends being excited to vote after return a team, something that’s completely different from something I myself noticed just 10 years ago, my parents would consider voting to be like a chore. So I feel that shift in attitudes showcases that we’re ready to make a change and to fight for our beliefs tomorrow, something really positive. I agree with you, because I worked at a middle school here in DC over the summer, and they focus a lot on civic engagement and just like making sure that they have relationships with the government and standing up for themselves and their rights.
I’m ready to love people and I think people are ready to love back. I think the good mornings to strangers, helping out a neighbor, those like we talked about political polarization this entire time, but it really just boils down to how we treat each other. And
not to weird you out. But I do love all of you guys. I do love, love. Love you guys. That’s what I’m hopeful about. Just for the record, I’m weirded out.
My final question was my favorite. It President Biden was standing here right now, what would you tell them? And then to keep this session perfectly balanced politically? I asked them to respond to the same question. If former President Trump was standing right here right now. Not surprisingly, the fireworks started immediately. Last two questions. I’m President Joseph Biden. I
I’m standing in front of you right now. What do you want to tell me?
Why are you not letting Kamala Harris do a lot of work?
Thank you for investing in young people. Why do you want to run again?
debate the other candidates, please.
Listen to other people’s opinions, including Republicans. Close the border.
Stop, okay. And fossil fuel projects, like you said,
I’m former President Donald Trump. What do you want to tell me standing right in front of you? What would you say to me?
Your Twitter was hilarious.
Very funny. I’ll thank you.
Why would you tell me I would say you lost the election.
What would you tell me?
Why do you want to press one month motivates you must not be in jail? Do you believe in privacy? What would you tell me? Respect our institutions? What would you tell me?
Just listen to other people.
See you in court.
And that’s going to be the last word. Whether you agree or disagree with what they say listening to college kids, as always lively, always informative and always thought provoking. It gives us an exceptional glimpse into the future right now. And that’s all the time we have for this week. I’m Dr. Frank Luntz. This is America Speaks, and I hope you’ll keep returning week after week to hear the true voice of the American people. Have a great day.
Commentary
Our commentary partners will help you reach your own conclusions on complex topics.
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Nov 21 Dr. Frank LuntzAmerica’s Gen Z on democracy, politics and the future
By Straight Arrow News
Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z represents the youngest cohort of eligible voters. Shaped by the digital age, climate concerns, economic shifts, and the impact of COVID-19, the generation’s identity has now been further influenced by the specter of global conflicts. With 41 million Gen Z members eligible to cast votes–and many participating in a presidential election for the first time–the question arises: How do they envision the future of their democracy?
In this 36-minute episode of America Speaks, political analyst and pollster Dr. Frank Luntz asks students at George Washington University what issues concern them the most, what they think of today’s political leaders and what gives them hope for our future. Their answers reveal how much progress we have yet to make in our own country and for all humans who believe in democracy around the world.
For several months, America Speaks has been hosting voters from across generations across the country and across the political spectrum. But today is special because you’re about to hear voices from the future. College kids, many of them voting for president for the very first time.
Schrader News went to the campus of George Washington University right here in the nation’s capitol, to listen to and learn from students from a multitude of states socioeconomic backgrounds and political persuasions. With thanks to Frank Sesno — former CNN, Washington bureau chief and current professor at GW — we have a rare opportunity to hear what the next generation of leaders are thinking about right now.
We begin by taking the student pulse on democracy itself. Thank you, Frank. This is both an honor and a privilege to be able to moderate the voices, the students from the next generation of America’s leaders, 20 students, 12 different states GW University, let’s get the conversation started.
I want you to give me a word or phrase to describe Democracy in America right now.
Inequity. Injustice, lacking fragile, polarized, fragile, tested, flood, unhealthy, breaking down in peril, compromise, evolving, divided, challenge in progress, strain, but I’ve never heard it this bad.
And you’re the generation that’s supposed to be positive, you’re the generation [that] is supposed to be optimistic about the future, and used to describe the system that governs us so negatively. What’s gone wrong? Why has it become so bad? And if you, I mean, we, grew up in such a volatile hostile time.
I mean, I went to high school in 2016, which was the Donald Trump Hillary Clinton election. You know, I went to I’ve been in more courtrooms, more legislative hearings, more protests, and I’ve been to high school football games or, you know, university formals. So I just feel a sense of fatigue about,
you know, change in progress for the future and how our government systems are providing for us. You’re nodding, by the way, what you just said, is really powerful. It’s the opening of this group. I’m not used to this.
But more courtrooms and more conflict than joyful occasions. Is that your experience? I would agree with that. Ever since, like, I became aware of like, politics and things that are happening around my community. I’ve just noticed a lot of division, a lot of lack of awareness of issues happening on the ground, and no, not much work being done in order to address them. You agree with this? I definitely agree. I feel that going into school at such a trying time, whether it be school shooter scares or rapid polarization. And at the end of the day, our voice is being silenced because of our age. It makes me feel that on Capitol Hill, our lives our lives, but rather just another number in the statistic. Is anybody here positive? Go ahead, make me feel better, because you all have depress me so much. I think that there’s been a really serious underestimation of young voters. And I think there’s a really clear pattern of specifically Gen Z, younger millennials to showing up in really big numbers and caring about issues that are affecting us. Like 2018, you saw the highest youth voter turnout in history, that was a record for a midterm, right? That was a record breaking year for youth voter turnout, and that was on the heels of Sandy Hook.
A couple of big mass shootings and a movement around that 2020 pandemic, like challenging year for voting, right? A lot of people had a difficult time voting, a lot of people had an easy time voting.
So let’s talk about freedom of speech for one second, do you feel like you can say anything to anyone at any time? As long as it’s reasonable? As long as it’s not hate filled? or dangerous? Do you feel you have genuine freedom of speech? Does anyone not feel that way? I personally don’t feel like we have January freedom of speech and a lot of circumstances most of because a lot of the things we say to other people if they have a different opinion than us, they always come back with us with not like attacking our opinions, but attacking us as people and they make these
these made these like assumptions about us about who we are individually when it could have absolutely nothing with to do with like any of our arguments. So that’s the purpose of conversations like this and you feel comfortable, disagreeing, but you’re going to walk out as friends or as colleagues.
Do you
Feel your freedoms are being protected by the government? Or do you feel that they’re in jeopardy right now? I feel like they’re in jeopardy. Because Because in June of 2022, I woke up for the first time with less rights when I went to bed with the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and all of a sudden, I lost bodily autonomy, or freedom is being protected. Are they in jeopardy? I think as a man, my freedoms are being protected. You know, I’ve kind of walked the street, I don’t have to worry about anything. But for women, especially like you said, with Roe v. Wade, like, now you have the government telling you what to do with your body. And that’s not right. Other comments on this? There’s a lot of talk about I think younger voters and how young people are going to get things done. But you look at the state of like Florida right now. And how do we expect young voters to get things done when the government is crippling their education on issues that aren’t political at all, but are now considered political issues such as such as trans rights, just the whole LGBTQ plus community in general, you can’t discuss a gay marriage in Florida schools anymore. You can’t even discuss the topic of trans this at all in a Florida School. And that’s not a political issue. That is a human rights issue. And it’s just a fact of life. I feel like there’s a lot of people in this young generation that will cancel other people for saying things that are different than them.
And it’s pretty easy to define, in my opinion, I mean, it’s just, you know, looking at the person’s name, putting it out there Daxing them and, you know, giving their name to their employer,
as anyone here said something in a political realm that caused you serious penalties.
What was it? So when I was in high school, I led an anti racism campaign because my school district made national news because there was a black student in middle school, he had a head carving, which was against dress code. And so the principal colored it in with a sharpie, as a disciplinary consequence. And because of that, we led an anti racism campaign, I had a teacher kicked me out of class not allowed me to take an exam. And then, as a result of that, I ended up having panic attacks in her classes was during COVID. So that was like the first AP class I’ve ever dropped in my life. And eventually, that dropped my GPA so much that I got my admissions rescinded from the first college that I applied to before coming to GW, what happened to you. I mean, just throughout high school, I would, you know, speak strongly in favor of the Second Amendment and gun rights. And, you know, a lot of people would punish me for that a lot of people wouldn’t want to be friends with me just because of my beliefs. I support his right to speak about it. I mean, talking about whether or not it means we have to be friends with someone, I just know, you know, that. I don’t want to be friends with someone who spent their days in high school in high school classrooms where people have been killed because of the Second Amendment. Defending the Second Amendment like that, thinking about that context, is enough for me to know. But I do support, like,
as a journalism major, like I kind of have to stand by the First Amendment and like, freedom of speech, I do believe everybody should have the right to say what they think. But yeah, we grew up with Obama, we grew up with Trump. And then we just have these complete different experiences. And there’s all these different issues that are just coming up compared to what happened during our parents generations. So rent is going much higher, everybody’s suicide rates are going much higher, we’re feeling a lot more anxiety, because of all the pressure that we’re feeling we need to have in order to be able to live a sustainable lifestyle here in the United States. So so that that way we could be able to be able to fulfill what our parents were able to fulfill is our political system working.
Why not?
The two sides are so divided. And the fact that nobody can actually listen to each other, I think is the biggest issue out of all of it. The fact that I mean, I think it’s a good thing that maybe your family, you talk about political conversations, but a lot of people don’t and they completely avoid it. And so I think that’s like, that’s the starting point of where our whole democracy comes from? Is those basic conversations with the people who are closest to you who are different from who you are, what you believe in and who you are. Next up a question that needs to be asked more often, and to more people. Do you feel listened to and respected by the people who run this country? Or do you feel ignored and forgotten? The reaction from our college cohort may surprise you, but the average member of Congress standing here right now? Or senator? Do they understand what you’re going through? Or don’t they have a clue?
Who says they understand Raise your hands? Who says they don’t have a clue? Raise your hands. Okay. Start here and work down. Why don’t they have a clue? Well, I think there’s just the age divide. If you look at the average age of the United States Senate, most of them could possibly be our grandparents here the average age of a senator deceased.
Exactly. So I think you know,
It’s just become very out of touch by not even being close to our age level. And I do also think people have become more out of touch to a lot due to social media. So why does the average Senator Congressman not understand you? I think because our generation has had such a formative experience with so many different crises in our lifetime. Like we like had the COVID 19 pandemic, which everyone went through. But these were the years of our development, like we were missing prom, we were missing school, like kids are not being able to like learn to read, learn to do math. But then at the same time, we had the Black Lives Matter. We have like one of the most polarizing elections in our country in 2020. Like every single or every single summer that we’ve had, has been progressively hotter and hotter. I had a friend the other day, tell me, you know, my birthday used to be involved, but now it still feels like summer and that lived experience with climate change, the fear of not inheriting a livable Earth. It’s just not something that they share. I think that an awful lot of them would disagree with you very strongly, in that. senators and congressmen have been working on the climate issue for decades trying to bring about change. Yeah, but they don’t understand the fear of growing up through it. Like I grew up going through natural disasters that I knew were fueled by climate change. I’m from Texas, I went through winter storm urea. And then when I looked at my legislators, they were too busy making political comments making jabs at each other. But they weren’t the ones who are sitting through it. Why do elected officials not understand you? I think they do understand, I think they’d benefit from keeping us polarized and keeping our needs in front of us like, so they’re doing it every week. Yeah, absolutely. And they’re benefiting from it. So the question isn’t, is the government protecting our freedoms, we have to protect our freedoms.
Interesting point, who’s doing it, who’s deliberately dividing you? local elites, such as politicians, people who I don’t know, but have a lot of money? I don’t want to name drop corporations, but big name corporations, I think we could all agree, make up the political elite. Y’all think big corporations are deliberately trying to divide you? I asked a question on that. What issues do you think they used to divide us? Because I always hear people say like, they distract us with small political issues that keep us from getting to the big stuff. But what are those small issues? You think the distraction was what I think any of the issues that come under the umbrella that is the culture wars, so would you think that the trans rights debate is one of those issues that distracts us?
I think that issue is a very real issue. And I think all those issues are real issues. But yes, I think that in the media, it gets manipulated to turn us against each other and make us feel like our needs are not being met by the government, complaining about government being divided and polarized. But like we all said that at the beginning, like my word was strained, we all said that it was divided polarized, whatever, if we’re all complaining about that, but we won’t reach across the aisle and show bipartisanship with our fellow like young people. How do we expect the government to do the same? The problem here lies within the two party system, I feel that when we as a nation, do not educate ourselves to the level that we want bipartisanship and we want discussion, we instead resort to a conflict of me versus them of red versus blue of this side versus that side? And not what policy can we make, so that our children and our future can live a better life than us. But I feel like the two party system isn’t the cause of polarization. It’s just a symptom of it. It’s not like if we didn’t have these two parties to fall into, we magically have more moderate beliefs. Just the reality is there are people who are extreme on certain issues, and that we have giant banners that we’re inevitably going to fall under because of that. It’s not like if you got rid of Democrats and Republicans, I’m going to become more moderate on the gun gun debate, I’m still going to be as extreme on that as I am. So what concerns or scares young people the most is a climate, the debt, the divisions and polarization of the country, China, Russia, or Iran, the only way to know is to ask, and that’s exactly what we did. Let’s listen in.
I’m sure that politics policy, government, democracy doesn’t keep you up at night, as much as the next exam or the paper you have to do. But if something were to keep you awake at night, involving our democracy, what concerns or scares you the most? I think it’s a lack of national identity. Which means basically, there’s nothing we can basically be in common with, because back then there were a lot of things that we can be in common with now, it just feels like there’s very less and less ideas we could agree on completely. What concerns you the most, I think, the lack of protection for vulnerable communities, I think this country is so large that they really don’t have a like a wholesale way to provide blanket protection. So if you’re a trans person living in this country, like you know, there’s prominent politicians calling you a sex offender every day and a pervert and you know, saying all this stuff and if you’re black, if you go to a Walmart, you’ll
Get publicly executed by cop for looking suspicious. So it’s just not a great place for a lot of people. Thank God I’m blessed. I’m privileged, like I’m having a great life here in America. But for a lot of people, that is not the case. What concerns you the most?
As someone who helped register 1000s of you for the 2020 election to vote, people voting without knowing who they’re talking about people voting because their favorite celebrity on social media told them to
does that happen? For sure the work that I did voter registration, I look back at it. Honestly, a lot of those people who I registered,
they just voted based off of what the celebrity attached organization, like told them to do. Who gets their news, at least in part, from Tik Tok? Honestly, raise your hands. Yeah. 12345 of you. You kind of have to, though, because that’s where a lot I think, I don’t think enough people raise their hands if
you kind of have to, because part of digesting the news is also digesting what other people are seeing. I can’t just delete Tik Tok because I know everybody uses it, how am I going to be in touch with what everybody perceives the world to be like people don’t people see tear down just like you know, people just make fun dances, but it actually is a useful tool of education. It’s really good to mobilize young people. Now is there misinformation, obviously, which is a problem. However, you cannot fully discredit it, because of some of the first stories you hear about. Some of the first reports are from tick tock like social media can be a great place for you to get information and it’s accessible. And it’s free. You know, like when I wake up every morning, it’s very embarrassing, and I don’t like this about myself, I’ll check my phone, it’s the first thing that they do. And
young people are notoriously optimistic, even in the face of tremendous challenges. So I asked our college kids to explain what gives them hope for the future. Considering the negativity of their parents and grandparents, their responses were a rare breath of fresh air. Can I get three or four of you to tell me what is great about American democracy and why it’s working?
Go?
Why did no one react to me?
Oh, well, I gave you. I mean, I was I did. What is great about American democracy is that we’re able to do this right now. Like, we’re able to talk about our different opinions, you know, talk about the state of our country, and also just be able to speak and not have any fear of legal consequences. As long as we stay within the realms of what’s legally allowed us, I gave you the chance to be positive, and you didn’t take me up on it. Why?
I think we were all just very privileged. And a lot of the issues that democracy globally faces we don’t experience here. So
it’s hard to come up with anything, because we’re just taught to complain, complain, complain, because we kind of have it. We don’t have it all. But we have a lot better than a lot of people. I disagree. I think it’s hopeful that nobody said something positive. And I think the answers that we give are very hopeful. I think that it is a positive reflection on democracy itself, that everyone has said something along the lines of like, democracy is flawed, we want to make it better. But at the same time, democracy isn’t about sitting here complaining about our issues. I don’t sit I don’t go to GW and I don’t I don’t sit in a room with people like you because I hate America. I love America. And I think loving this country means that, like you said, we sit here and
I love your loves that loves America.
Okay, you’ve got the darkest look on your face. You don’t love explain why. I mean, America, the country like America that got whatever raised their hands. You didn’t Why didn’t you because it’s flawed, I can’t go right ahead and say that. I love America, because there’s just there are too many issues. There are too many people in power that have power to do things and take away rights that I don’t believe in and there that was just previously with Trump, like I don’t love the America that voted for him. And the government that even though Hillary got more popular votes, got him into office. I don’t live in Ghana, why don’t you love America? I mean, it’s the same as just blindly loving anything. I mean, I was born here. So just kind of wasn’t my choice. And I’m grateful to live in a country with so many freedoms, and I’m grateful have a place or a forum to discuss what I believe in. But I also think, like, Why do I have to? Why do I have to love a country? You know, it’s just a country. I love my family. I love my friends. And I’ll have to, you know,
express my adoration for a place that I was just pointing to who else doesn’t love America here? All three of you. Go ahead. I don’t love America because my people are forced to come here. So
It’s not like we were given a choice to be here.
I’m not saying with what Kayla said, I feel that although I was born here, there’s many years of, you know, history where my people were enslaved where they were forced to. They were dehumanized, where they were forced to do things that they didn’t want to. And even today, we see a similar system in place, the criminal justice system, where people are literally dead in jails, for misdemeanors who aren’t able to make the cash bail, because they don’t have the funds. And I just feel that there’s a lot of work to be done. And as a citizen today, I’m trying to make a change. But I wouldn’t say it right out. I love America, because of the lack of progress. So there’s so many things that could be potentially could put that could be potentially changed about America. But there’s so much lack of progress in the past few years that I can’t say, that could love America, once there’s progress, and work towards the thing that we’re striving for. Once there’s more improvements to democracy and everything that we want, then I could possibly say that we’d love America more. And I think, you know, realize that you can love America, but also want better than the status quo. I love it. You know, this is a place where, you know, none of us are from here. All of our families eventually came here. Somehow my family came from Eastern Europe, avoiding people wanting to kill Jews. And you know, there’s been a place that’s been open for us. And, you know, we have the ability to ask for more and ask for better. And I think that’s what we’re all up here doing. And I think it’s important to keep that in mind as well. Our interview with you. I was born here, but I’ve was raised in South America, like less than America. And I came back because like i Guys, I think like opportunities in this country are way better than holdouts in America. Like even I’m for like my politics. My government was like, impeach It was bad. So I think like perhaps it is also worth it to recognize the amount of opportunities, professional growth opportunities, this country also provides you if you’re willing to work for it. I do recognize that there are some things that we have to like, improve. And I think we could because like our generation is actually pretty woke as someone says, but like, opportunities should also be recognized.
If I’m to ask you what issue if you could say to your elected leaders, this is the issue that you have to address and fix right now.
One issue? What’s that issue? The action because personally, I think that Clarence Thomas, as you sitting in Thurgood Marshall seat, hurts as a black person, because of what Thurgood Marshall went through, and did for us as black people. And now, Clarence Thomas is sitting in his seat. And he benefited from affirmative action, but he voted against it. The one issue, I don’t have one to show I’m sorry, but I will say racial inequality and affordable housing, just because from time and time again, we see how people who are disenfranchised and marginalized communities how they have a harder time getting opportunities, and just getting up there. And in terms of affordable housing, we have individuals who are literally still out on the street, especially here in DC in New York and major cities around the nation. They do not have a place to stay, they are abused. And I just feel like those are the two issues that needs to be addressed. The one issue, inflation and standards of living. So when most people most Americans are living so close to the poverty line. They’re not worried about other political issues or other like rights, equal rights, you’re worrying about like, oh, do I have enough money to make this month’s rent? Is there one issue, voting rights, if we can’t fix voting rights, we can’t fix the economy. We can’t fix racial justice issues. We can’t fix climate issues. We can’t fix social issues like LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, health care in general, your one issue, climate change, because climate change makes everything worse, it means there’s less homes available, because like flood levels are rising because seas are rising. It means that communities that already have really strained infrastructure, it’s getting worse and they don’t have the money to recover. It means that we’re increasingly spending more and more money that could go towards welfare could go towards improving social conditions in America, to just repairing the damage from natural disasters. And this past summer has been truly truly brutal, and it’s going to be the best one we have yet. Your one issue.
The partisan alliances that we have in government, I think the only way to solve all of these issues is if we develop a bipartisan nature, back in the Congress, whether it’s house representatives or the Senate. The partisan nature that it operates in now, is just causing so much divisiveness when it comes to the discussion on climate change, which should be a bipartisan issue. And same for inequity and inflation. These are things that we should be able to discuss in Congress and come to some sort of conclusion or compromise and I think there’s a standstill all over the legislative body.
Control is another important thing. I’m I’m more than happy to have a conversation with someone who’s pro Second Amendment.
I do think it’s you know, we shouldn’t have first graders getting mowed gallon school, it shouldn’t be something, oh, another mass shooting today in the school, it should not be something that’s regular.
I think it’s immigration for security. There are a lot of individuals that do want come to this country. But at the same time, we need to make sure that the individuals that do want to come to this country, they want to make sure that they want to choose a nation like my grandparents, they were immigrants. And they want to make sure that he could contribute to the country as much as possible. And I admire all of the people that want to come here, legally, but at the same time, they need to make sure that they follow the rules and the regulations. I’ve been called a word doctor for my academic focus on precise language and meeting. So I decided to play psychiatrists for a few minutes showing the visuals of some of the most iconic elements of American democracy and generate a reaction and that it did
what comes to mind first when you see that Joe Biden privilege somebody else power president’s house. Okay, that’s too easy.
Somebody else what comes to mind when you see that? The sniper on top of the room?
Really?
We have a shirt please.
Who was not born here? You see that picture? All four of you. What comes to mind first?
Feel like I’m in the most important place in the entire world.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty cool and fancy.
Pretty cool, man.
Well, I came here when I was a young child. So to me, I see Barack Obama.
Some of the most chaotic events in history. You see this? What are you thinking? What are you thinking?
What are you thinking? January 6, what are you thinking? What do you think he loves you? halls of power in need of repair? Okay, offs. Really good architecture.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Okay, let’s do number four.
Quick.
Conservative on democratic Trump Tower, Harlan Crowe, on elected.
You read way too much news. derelict, picking up the slack. Evil.
Disappointing. That used to be my favorite branch, sitting next to this document. It’s arguably one of the most important documents in all of history.
Your reaction to this? Me? Yeah, it’s the foundation of our country.
Which means, which means it’s been the protection for up tyranny. That’s why I believe, for me, I think,
I think like who is the people, because the time was written the people was not the entire people. And to this day, we are still trying to find like, what is the people?
Your reaction to this document? I was thinking the same thing. Who are the people, the founding fathers that wrote it? You know, Thomas Jefferson, like they were concerned about different things than the people in America are concerned about now. So the fact that we still, you know, put the Declaration of Independence in the Constitution as they are written on such a high pedestal, you know, makes me think that we should be rethinking them. I agree with you. But as a person who carries a pocket constitution everywhere,
is your nerd.
Pretty much
the documents iconic, like what do you think of when it came out? And what it determined for our country as a living breathing? Document? Yes, I think it was written under extremely limited circumstances. And no, it didn’t represent the entire country, and still doesn’t in some ways.
But the point of it was to have some sort of evolving nature. I just think, historically, when you look at the historical context of when it came out, I think it’s a pretty cool document. The content notwithstanding, I just want to say that to remind everyone, this is the power that we give the government. So this is technically supposed to be our power, our power vested into the government for the social contract. The The question is, is that power still adequately represented? Or is it misconstrued in a way that the government controls the people? I agree, I just feel like this document doesn’t represent who we are today. It doesn’t work for the system in place today. And I thought that there needs to be a way for us to go back and do some things over. Yeah. I think the Constitution was one of the main things that prevented Donald Trump from remaining in the presidency, unelected.
I completely agree with that point. I think that in so many fundamental ways, we do need to adapt and change.
But it’s an outline for the country that we have today. And I think a lot of us raise our hands when we said that it is the
Greatest country and and so that’s a good outline.
I mean, it is the founding document, but I would kind of agree that, you know, the people is really in flux. Now. I mean, corporations are just taking over big pharma especially, they just keep litigating and going against the people’s interests. So who are we the people anymore?
I think it’s been kind of weaponized, recently, especially during discourse around the culture wars. It’s like, what about my First Amendment rights? What about my second amendment rights? So I think it’s usually not usually, but sometimes it’s used as a tool to advance someone’s agenda. I think it’s important to that we also realize that when this document was made women and African Americans were not mentioned until ratification of different amendments.
What comes to mind first,
division,
polarization, dysfunction, polarization,
polarization, scripted.
Why do you feel that way?
On it was just
like automatic reaction.
So, don’t apologize. And so a lot of people feel
you’ve been somewhat critical,
justifiably about where things are right now and the situation that you as the next generation face. But what gives you hope,
specifically, when you wake up in the morning, and you’re sick? I’m so glad to live in America. Some of you may feel that way. Is there anything that gives you hope for the future? We’ll do the four of you, five of you, right here, my colleagues in my generation, because I think that, like people have said before, we’re tired of a lot of these issues, we’ve grown up with a lot of issues. But we’re not too tired to fix them. What gives you hope? I mean, I agree with you there. I mean, I mean, yes, we may disagree on political issues, but at least we understand the fragility and also sort of like the crisis, that we are here in America, we are willing to work together and be able to move forward so that that way, we can be able to have those tough conversations and have those difficult,
difficult conversations so that we can be able to fix some of the some of the issues here in our governments and help the people, what gives you hope. I think we’re at a point where as bad as things are, we are seeing the youngest people ever elected to Congress, we’re seeing the most progressive people ever elected to Congress. And so as frustrating as it is that nothing’s happening right now, I do think that history tends to skew towards progress. And I think we’re gonna be seeing that here. Three more
people I haven’t heard from Go ahead. I think that I would agree that our generation is what gives me hope. I think we had a conversation earlier about young voters. And I think the electorate in America has fundamentally changed. We’re the most educated generation, we’ve shown that we’re willing to show up, we’re willing to fight. And we’re also done with complacency as a generation, I think that has that’s not an option for us, because these issues have been shoved into her face and tell me something positive, something hopeful about this country. I feel that now as a society, within civic engagement and civic education a lot more seriously. And it’s something that especially our generation is looking forward to, I see myself and a lot of my friends being excited to vote after return a team, something that’s completely different from something I myself noticed just 10 years ago, my parents would consider voting to be like a chore. So I feel that shift in attitudes showcases that we’re ready to make a change and to fight for our beliefs tomorrow, something really positive. I agree with you, because I worked at a middle school here in DC over the summer, and they focus a lot on civic engagement and just like making sure that they have relationships with the government and standing up for themselves and their rights.
I’m ready to love people and I think people are ready to love back. I think the good mornings to strangers, helping out a neighbor, those like we talked about political polarization this entire time, but it really just boils down to how we treat each other. And
not to weird you out. But I do love all of you guys. I do love, love. Love you guys. That’s what I’m hopeful about. Just for the record, I’m weirded out.
My final question was my favorite. It President Biden was standing here right now, what would you tell them? And then to keep this session perfectly balanced politically? I asked them to respond to the same question. If former President Trump was standing right here right now. Not surprisingly, the fireworks started immediately. Last two questions. I’m President Joseph Biden. I
I’m standing in front of you right now. What do you want to tell me?
Why are you not letting Kamala Harris do a lot of work?
Thank you for investing in young people. Why do you want to run again?
debate the other candidates, please.
Listen to other people’s opinions, including Republicans. Close the border.
Stop, okay. And fossil fuel projects, like you said,
I’m former President Donald Trump. What do you want to tell me standing right in front of you? What would you say to me?
Your Twitter was hilarious.
Very funny. I’ll thank you.
Why would you tell me I would say you lost the election.
What would you tell me?
Why do you want to press one month motivates you must not be in jail? Do you believe in privacy? What would you tell me? Respect our institutions? What would you tell me?
Just listen to other people.
See you in court.
And that’s going to be the last word. Whether you agree or disagree with what they say listening to college kids, as always lively, always informative and always thought provoking. It gives us an exceptional glimpse into the future right now. And that’s all the time we have for this week. I’m Dr. Frank Luntz. This is America Speaks, and I hope you’ll keep returning week after week to hear the true voice of the American people. Have a great day.
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