we both know that so much of this anger is coming not from a sense of even focused hatred. it's this unfocused rage. and that rage is generated by the fact that you know and i know that you're not master of your own destiny while i am. but there's nothing special about me. it's not because i'm white. it's not because of my birth. i had a small inheritance, i gave it away. the difference between us is i believe i'm the master of my own destiny and you don't. and you don't believe you're the master of your own destiny because it's been in other people's interest for fifty years to tell you that you're powerless and hopeless and a victim of forces much larger than your control. but i'm here to tell you it's not true. i'm here to tell you that if you give us an opportunity, one opportunity, to create the economic opportunities that we believe we can create, you will be able to be the master of your own life. and if that means that the goal in your life is to sit around and do nothing, you have a right to do that. but if you want more, we'll show you how you can do it. we're not going to do it for

you. our main job is to get out of your way because we believe that every single one of you has a dream that is somehow been buried by the absolute certainty that it's never going to happen. and we both know it's not going to happen. not the way things are going now. we are going to get out of your way and provide an opportunity for those of you to work as hard as you want to for as long as you want to. but if you decide to pick up that little golden nugget, it will put you back in charge of your own destiny and you will be a fully human man just like the rest of us. every single one of us feels the same way, if i was in your situation i would vote exactly the way you do too. but there's a better life out there for you. there is. and i know it's true. and you know it's true. any way, my name's mitt romney, i'd like to have your vote and if i don't get it, i understand. i do. but i wanted to tell you at least that i respect all of you enough to come here in person and endure the rage and endure the hatred and all the jeers because i want to be president of the people of the united

states of america. and i can't do my job if i don't hear what you're angry about. how can i do my job if i don't know what you're so enraged about? how can we solve these problems together if i don't even know what they are? if mitt romney had given that little speech one time, one time, that giant who cares about you most would have been another category he would have won. and we would have won that election with 80% of the vote. yes, sir? >> speaking of mitt romney, how did the media convince us that a moderate republican by which we really mean liberal republican, is the only one that could win? >> i guess the same way that a hen house guarded by wolves convinces the farmer that wolves are the perfect guard for a hen house. i mean, look, we have evidence,

you know. i mean, this is an important part of our philosophy. our philosophy's very simple really. we try to discover what's objectively true, and we try to move to where the truth is. we don't try to drag the truth kicking and screaming to a pre-dug trench that we're in. we want to know where the truth is, the truth isn't going to move for me. the truth doesn't care about what i think. i could have a theory about the acceleration rate of gravity when i drop a ball, but the acceleration rate of gravity is the same throughout the entire planet. i'm either on the truth or the truth is somewhere other than where i am. i want to be on the truth. so in answer to your question, we have some evidence about this. for example, in 1980 we had a guy who ran for office on a platform of conservatism. and miserably he only won 45 states. he only won 45 states in that election of 1980, but after four years of track record, after four years of evidence of these policies, he ran again. and that time he only won 49

states. and he came 5,000 votes short of winning every state because he believed in these values. he knew how to explain these values. he loved these values. and he wasn't a nasty man. he was a happy warrior. he disagreed with people. you couldn't hate ronlds reagan if you knew him because he seemed like such a nice guy. and he had a fundamental humanity about him that made these policies palpable. but if i'm talking to conservative pundits, well, we had a conservative run in 1980. he won 45 states. he ran after a four-year track record in '84. he won 49 states. that's 49 out of 57 states, mr. obama, that's an impressive record. and then if you want to say those days are over, they did a survey not long ago they asked the american people who would you vote for ronald reagan or barack obama, ronald reagan beat him by 2 to 1. in 2010 we were told do not fight an ideological battle,

obama's at the height of his powers, we can't possibly beat him. we came out, the tea party was invented, came out against obamacare, enormous republican victory in 2010. 2012, no, you can't attack barack obama personally, you have to just attack his policies. remember i told you about the villain earlier? about the villain in "star wars," that's really saying ob-one says to luke, tell me about this darth vader character and luke says, well, darth's not a bad man, luke, it's just his policies are not good for the empire. he wants a 12% tax and we think the empire tax should be 7% tax. now you're going to get in a star fighter to risk your life to destroy a bad guy who's not a bad guy after all? no, barack obama's destructive to this country. his entire belief system is antithet kal to what makes this country work. so attack him for it. don't lie. but hit back. then you've got two villains, right? then it's which villain makes

more sense to me. people will not vote for darth vader under any circumstances. they won't. so let's have two darth vaders and see which one we like best. but the evidence is there. and in 2014 we ran an ideological conservative election and we won gigantic. so you're telling me that this doesn't make any sense because we're going to lose the soccer moms. and let's just say that you're right. if you're saying we're conservatives and we have to walk to moderates, the definition of a moderate is somebody who hasn't made up their mind. maybe we ought to start thinking about why they haven't made up their mind instead of walking to them bringing a case to bring them to us, eliminate moderates as a political force completely by turning them into conservatives by making what's an obvious case for everybody's benefit. if we did that we wouldn't be having these discussions anymore. i got time for one more and then i'm going to have to go. i'm going to have to go like barack obama at tee time. i'm going to have to be out that door like a rocket. i'm sorry if i didn't gelt a chance to talk and mix

afterwards, but i'll be back next year. do one more. >> all right. how often do youaudiences? and do you have any evidence that you've been successful in converting the attendees to your way of thinking? >> i haven't spoke as much as i would like. i do have some evidence that i'm converting attendees. i have evidence because i can see people are thinking and you can see the smoke coming out of their ears. and it's not -- look, all i do is i'm just barely young enough, and i'm 55, i'm just barely young enough to have shared the pop culture. i was a space age kid. i was an apollo kid. nobody today connects with that. but i'm in show business. i watch a lot of tv. "simpsons" have been on tv for a long time. it's just not funny and hasn't been forever, but it used to be. and i can do simplesons impressions and i know what family guy is and i know what "game of thrones" and "the

hunger games," i know what they are. i speak the language of these people. i understand it. so when a young person hears somebody who can talk about "star wars," who can talk about these things in a language they can understand, they are able to hear the ideas behind them for the first time ever. so i'd love to tell you that all these people come and sign up, but i will tell you one thing in the times i've had to have one-on-one conversations where i have actual feedback, it's astonishing, absolutely astonishing, how easy it is to flip these people. tammy bruce pointed that out to me once. she was current lesbian and former head of -- became a conservative radio talk show host because she saw the light and started asking questions. and we were at an event once, not together, but at the same event, and she asked me once, she said, do you ever realized how easy it is 20 minutes of talking to these people and they're like solidly converted? i said, yeah, it's because they don't know what they believe because their ideas don't stand up to scrutiny. they believe what they believe for the same reason the empire has no clothes, right? everybody agrees. everybody agrees.

well, if you don't see the magnificent blue vest, then that's only the stupid and venal people don't see the magnificence of the embroidery on this waistcoat that the emperor's wearing right now. well, obviously it's magnificent. all it takes is one little boy to say he's not wearing any clothes, he's naked. and the whole thing falls down. it's just that simple. now it's like, oh, now i have to start thinking about things. it's just that easy to convince these people. it's really just that easy. and it's time for me to go to the airport. but i'll tell you this last thing about that question, when i went to the university of toronto and to oberland back-to-back a couple years ago, i thought that my mission there was to present conservative values in an understandable way. an enthusiastic passionate understandable way using language people could connect to as i try to do tonight. but after i got there i realized i was wrong about that, that was a mistake. because i got interviewed by a reporter from the "toronto sun" before i did the toronto show.

we met at a cafe downtown. she said to me after it was over i never met a conservative before. i said i'm not surprised. but what she but what she meant by that was -- you seem to nice. [ laughter ] >> and she's right. i had a good friend of mine, when i hear you speak, don't take this the wrong way, you kind of sound line a liberal. because i do genuinely care about these things. i want to do it right. i don't want to do what feels good, i want to do what is the best. the things that feel the worst, are the best. that is what tough love is. and when i went to the colonel campuses, my job was not to convey principles, it was to convince these people that i was a human being with true feelings and i cared just as much and the

solutions i had in mind did real good and theirs didn't. if you feel good about something that does harm and i do something that is not politically attractive, who is the real person, who has the real virtue. once you start talking to people in this language, they think maybe there is something to this afterwardment and they pick up a mark lebbin book and it is over after that. i could not flip the whole country. there are 3% that are the true believers that understand these ideas destroy freedom and prosperity. that is what they want. they want to rule over the ruins. those people we cannot flip. but the rest of them we could. we have to do it by being honest and emotional, connecting to the emotional argument. we have obama care as a national law today not because of the benefits of obama care. we later found out a few weeks or months ago that the entire purpose of the stack of

documents that go from the top to the bottom of the stage, was to make it so obtuse that no one could understand it. that was the mission of the legislation. make it unintelligible. so why do we have obama care? not because of the brilliant argument. because barack obama would stand on the floor of the house of representatives and clouded in the glory of america, he's surrounded by the podium, the flags, the dome, everything, all of america power and prestige is focused on this one individual standing there and he didn't say, do you know if we have socialized health care, this 14% reduction, blah, blah, blah, 8% coverage -- blah -- no, he said meet bernice johnson. would you stand up and a little old lady in the balcony stands up and waved shyly. bernice had a pre-existing condition. they burned through her life savings and her husband, a

veteran, and it bankrupt her and the entire society but due to the legislation we've passed, whatever the case may be, bernice is now able to visit her grand children and is expected to live a full and loving life. and bernice i wanted to tell you that we're happy to have you here. and every person watching, me included, conservatives, gladiator and warrior myself said i don't want that woman to die. i don't want her to die. i don't. i don't want her to die. so okay, whatever, yeah, let's do it. but what we didn't see when we're looking at bernice, is the millions. people dying from health care that gets rationed or the nightmares of the national health care system in great britain and people taken off of health care by the ridiculous mandates. my coverage includes mammograms and birth control pills. it cost money but i have it and thank you mr. obama.

and all of the consequences of this are not discernible because they are not real. but that woman is. and the person who understood this most fully was the most evil man who ever lived. he understood this without the slightest hesitation. joseph stalin said, a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. right? it's a statistic. we argue statistics. they put a face on what they are trying to do and most of us, even all of us in here would say i don't want anything bad to happen to that woman and we lose our ability to think rationally because of our emotional response. so if we don't understand the language of how this works and show people whose lives have been ruined by socialized health care and over here is a person whose life was saved by private health care and here is why, we're going to lose to these weenies. i'm tired of losing to these

weenies. i have to get on an airline and fly back to mortar. thank you so much for having me. [ applause [ applause ] >> remember, we have some books for sale. shadow bosses and also james o'keefe's book "break through" back in the room. [ proceeding concluded ] tonight on american history tv, programming about ronald

reagan. at 8:00 p.m., regent university ronald reagan symposium speaks about the speeches that defined his revolution, the evil empire speech and the west berlin call to gora chofr to tear down this wall. and a look back at his june 8th, 1982, address to the british parliament at the london palace of westminster. it was remembered for his declaration that the march for freedom and democracy will leave lennonism on the ash of history. that is coming up tonight ony c-span 3. today at 4:00 p.m., a hearing on the growing trend from heroin abuse. and possible solutions to the problem. the white house director of national drug control policy and the dea acting deputy director

testify. they discuss pain relief medications. that hearing is on c-span. a panel of millennials discussed the issues, culture and misunderstandings and stereotypes about their generation. the founder of the director of the national policy student organization and barbara bush, daughter of laura and george w. bush who founded a global health start-up offers their views. the new america foundation hosted this event. so, to introduce these five panelists on the far side is sarah valenzuela. she is the director of external relations for the public advocates office in the city of new york. next to her is barbara bush. a co-founder and the ceo of global health corp and a member of the leadership counsel at the

aspen institute. next to barbara is jake horowitz and the editor in chief of mic, formerly known as policy, from those of you who remember it from back in the day. and next to jake is joel gamble, the director of the roosevelt campus network who most recently won the mcarthur aware for creative and effective institutions. >> yeah. >> so a big round of applause for them. [ applause ] >> thanks again, everyone, for coming out. and i'm going to just turn it right over to jake. >> thank you, so much and thank you for everybody who is coming out. i am going to be following along on twitter so if peek want to tweet questions at us i will try to get into a q&a session. i've been told to be a cool moderator so i will participate as much as possible in the discussion and not make it too stiff. but i think first off, i have a question i want to ask all of you that is really, really important and everybody in the

audience also, should we be using the n-word tonig -- the m not. >> i use the term to describe millennials as folks 18-34. it is looking at a generation and the context that it evolved in but i think it is effective for us to talk about the generation after millennials. the folks not 18-33 but going into college, their a different generation. so it is important to talk about the 18-34 age group but also the folks that are coming up after. >> do you guys use it or ban it or what? >> you know, i don't use it that much and i think maybe we should do it more in government. but i tend to think and i don't know about the audience, but people use millennials in a derogatory term. we need to grasp what it is. it is the 18-34 age group and those of us in the room.

and i agree we should empower the generation to come and the generation that came before us is also important and in talking about millennials we need to talk about who came befores you because those -- before us because those are who we need to learn from and reach forward. >> and barbara. >> i work with those that millennials, i hear you are a millennial so describe what you think. and there are millions of millennials and we have certain things that are similar but we are all -- i can't speak for every millennial. >> and at mic we don't use the term because it is used to stereo taupe the generation more than a word anybody our age even knows what it means. but i thought i had to ask. >> so are we allowed to use it? >> we're alose -- allowed to use it. we'll start to use it tonight.

the best way to set this conversation is to set up a generation that is zifers, the most diverse and educated, very active and very informed, came out for president obama in record numbers and then on the other hand you have a generation that has been -- has been described as one of the most stereotypes and if you look in the media, it is everything -- i'm sure we could all toss out a term here but it is everything from lazy to narcissistic, to self-obsessed to -- does anybody have a favorite term they like? and there is a real sort of fundamental misunderstanding as to who this generation it, particularly in political circles and in media. so i guess i wanted to start by just asking each of you why you think the generation is to misunderstood and how you and your own have sort of approached that problem?

maybe sarah, if you want to start. >> so i think you already touched on it. we are the most diverse generation in the united states and because of that we don't all fall under one or two umbrellas. when you look at the generations before us, they had certain things going in the u.s., whether it was a depression, a major war or a major artistic influence that was kind of really grasping most of that generation. with us, we were a generation that has so many things coming at us. we have technology rampantly running through our generation and separating us from the generation after us and i have no idea what my niece is talking about sometimes but it is sort a diverse group it is hard to box us in all one and that is why in terms of civic engagement and government, people are banging their heads on the wall on how

to reach it, there is no one set way to do it. we are a diverse group. look at the people up here or in one room, there is no way we relate to one singular thing. >> and how you have approached the misunderstanding or is there a misunderstanding. >> i would agree there is a misunderstanding of our generation and because we are influencing business and government and policy we're being disruptive and looking at new ways to do things and not necessarily trusting or in favor of establishment or institutions. there is a recent pew research poll showing that we trust political and religious institutions for less than those before us. that is disconcerting. that means there needs to be a change in the status quo to engage young people. think about the past election, there are folks talking about millennials didn't turn out to vote but in reality we turned out at the same level at in 2010

but the problem was people didn't know how to reach us. they were using old campaign tactics to engage. i don't check my mailbox for vote by mail ballots but if you were to contact me via text message, i'll actually see it. and that is a way we can engage millennials in a different way that is not as happening as much as it should be. >> and barbara, are your friends taking selfies every day. >> well i still have a blackberry, which i shouldn't admit, but the good news is i can't take a selfie on it because it doesn't have a camera. and i echo what both of them just said. and there is advances that we have grown up more globally connected than any own generation and we have a voice and whether we use it well is a different piece. but that is confusing to older people with now with twitter and platforms where your voice can

be contributing to dialogue it is a different story. and i think those are huge assets to why millennials have a lot of value right now. >> totally. i guess i would be curious to hear from all of you, and i can share my experience at mic too, but for the people -- younger and older people in the audience what, is the secret sauce, if you could say? everybody wants to reach the demo, it sounds like everybody misunderstands the demo, how do you reach millennials and how you have done it in your own work and maybe even of you can speak to that a little bit. >> i think i know the secret sauce. if i did i would sell it because i would make a lot of money. one thing that is important to think about when engaging our generation is that forms of engagement won't res own ate for other generations. we are community oriented and horizontal and have access to

different types of people and more intra connected, even globally. and this top down, let me tell you what to do, doesn't work. and that means for institutions and for government, i think millennials believe in the effectiveness or the potential for effective government but it is just not happening right nowment anow. and the yes is how do you -- the question is how do you bring in more participation for government because that will allow our generation to buy in, that sense that somebody is listening to it us. >> and your organization is doing it every day. college students all across the country. how have you managed to reach them on a daily basis. >> i think speaking to the top down and us not jiving well with that, the beauty of the roosevelt campus is we're driven by the ideas of our membership. we have chapter add cross the country in 38 states and those folks are working in ideas in their own community and doing

the research and publishing memos and taking them to stakeholders. one of our students brit bird is looking at new york city parking policy and how that could bring in revenues to effect local communities. he goes to school in new york city and is coming up with ideas and supporting it and that is the kind of horizontal engagement that i'm talking about. not us telling you what your agenda should be but you being able to build it yourself. >> and i think i would just piggy back on that because if you look at the elections that we've seen over the past even since 2008, democrats lot insane amount this past year, and some of us in this room mourned it, and some of us celebrated it r per -- perhaps, but we'll relate to a candidate not the issues they are running on and we are a more horizontally based

generation. if they think they should have the right to tell me what i should do with my body or people from immigrant family whether or not that politician believes that immigration reform is a priority, those are the things our generation cares about and for me from a government perspective we're learning to engage people. just an example from our office, lettisha jame is working on campus sexual assault. she could just do a campus sexual assault bill, go into city council and pass it. but instead tomorrow she's bringing her bill before 200 students and letting them rip it apart and rewrite it. i think that is a better way of engaging them. and guess what -- from a political and a legislative perspective, that is a much better bill. when the community that it is effecting is actually involved in it. >> barbara, what is the secret sauce. give it to me now?

>> i don't know that we figured out the secret sauce either. but i -- global health corp works on solving global health issues but every single one of the fellows wants to solve huge problems. their excited about issues focused and how their skillset and background could solve issues. and what they are excited about is figuring out this system is broken, how am i going to fix it. i'm an architect, what amming -- going to do with my engineering background to figure out a new solution for this. for us. it is easy. we accept 2% of the people to the program because they are desperate to get their foot in the door to figure out a better world or be part of the solution. >> totally. for us, at mic, it is authenticity of voice. you know, young people make up our staff, young people are writing in a voice and a

sensibility that resonated for the way we look at the world. which is hard for people to understand. we say why do young people need a media company. we look at the world very differently than our parents, as you said on many different issues. we have really different perspectives and for us it is really engaging young people on the issues that matter, not sort of talking down to our generation and treating us in stereotypes but focusing on what are the issues. and so as editor in chief i ask everybody one question that drives whether it is a mic story or not and is this something you would share with your friends over dinner which is a different audience than sitting with your parents over dinner or somebody else. anyw anyway, so one interesting thing that i wanted to touch on, is there is a few examples now of big moments, and we have seen millennials mobilization. more recently the ferguson,

black lives matter protest, you've seen young people all over the country out in the streets, occupy wall street, and same thing but it petered out. my question for people here is, are these movements difficult to sustain. in the case of occupy, we didn't see a long, drawn out sustainability and time will tell what happens with the ferguson movement but how do you engage this generation to stay motivations on an issue over time and do we have a shorter attention span. i know that is a stereo type but does that make it more challenging. >> i think it takes redefining what a movement means. we can say that occupy wall street, the groups are no longer camping out, right. we don't see the signs as much any more. we say see it -- we may see it

on eric garner, the occupy, the court signs and for me it is not just about the people, it is about the conversation. and occupy wall street may not have bodies on the ground camping out and drumming and protesting but they were a catalyst for a discussion that continued up into the supreme court. people are still talking about the things that the occupy movement brought up, whether it is the affordability of college, the 1% and those things are still happening. so i think the movement is still continuing, maybe it is just different. that is what is different about our generation. we're still the civil rights movement, unfortunately still has to happen in our day and age i'm sure during lbj and martin luther king jr.'s, time they would never want us to continue to fight that, but that movement is still going and we see it today through the eric garner stuff. >> and i want to ask both of you, i get asked by friends all of time, overseas, living in

arab countries, they can't understand after the arab spring why young people here don't stand up more and don't protest and aren't out in the streets and if the situation is that bad why don't we speak up. is there something to this point, that young people engage differently when they want to make their voices heard and not in the '60s sensibility of what it meant to be an activist? >> i want to say yes and no if that is a fair answer to make. i think there are still a lot of folk engaging in direct actions. you see them in ferguson and staten island. you see people doing the direct action tactics. but what is different about the generation is the ability to amplify those beyond who they would normally effect, especially using social media and other technology. we've seen the erm earthence -- the emergence of black twitter. and we have news organizations that wouldn't pick them up before.

so the ability to amplify things from i think the ground level is different because we have technology that facilitates that which i think says something for how establishment institutions need to think about how they engage with our generation. we still haven't figured out how young people and the communities built online and in person can marry with institutions like government, like large corporations and things of that nature. that is stilt something we have to sort out. >> i think it is a combo of both to your point. yes, there is protesting and that can be part of a movement but there are phases to it. and i think about the aids movement in the united states, where gay men in new york and san francisco were protesting and they realized even though they didn't know policy, they were the big leaders in the space, but they were lawyers working in real estate, they learned everything about policy and then went to the nih and

were able to speak to what they were dealing with. and that looks very different than standing in the street. but it is equally if not more so important because it effects millions of more people lives. we need to remember there is both. there is a stark image you can remember in your mind. and one going on behind closed doors that we feed to be a part of and it is all of our responsibility to be educated an how that can happen also. >> and i want to ask specifically because i know it is something important to you about national service. and another way of asking the question is, president obama in 2008, i distinctly remember his victory speech where he came out and said this is a great victory but this is about you and not about me. for this to be a real victory everybody needs to do service in their communities. i wonder what you think about whether or not that is happening? are young people as motivated and engaged -- we saw a huge

amount of enthusiasm in the beginning of the obama presidency, a lot of friends of mine who have never heard of community service and what that was, all of a sudden were doing community service and america corp and others. i was reading a story about enrollment numbers going down and i wonder what you would say about that. is national service -- again, a way of asking very hard to sustain for this generation and is it still happening. why don't we start with somebody else. barbara? >> maybe it is because what i work on every day, but i see hundreds of people joaning global health corp. they are 30 and under. the average age is 26. 40% are quitting their jobs to make a different and 40% have a

master's degree. and they are working into a healthy world. and we accept 2% of the people that apply and we're five years old so we're basically a start-up and so the fact that people are coming to an organization without a big name and working on these issues says a lot to me. on the tfa front, i red that article -- i read that article last week also, but i don't know if it is a defeat for them. if you asked them five years ago where do you think your application numbers will be, they won't have dreamed of where they would be last year or the year before. and so their numbers rosee norm asly -- enormously after 2008. and that was huge. and i don't think they've dropped pre-2008 numbers right now and so it can be perceived in different ways. i meet people every day, begging us, how can i figure out how to

work on health issues and how do i get my foot in the door. and service may look different. it may not look like working in government but working on very challenging issues. >> joel, would you agree. >> i would agree it does take place in a lot of different ways. 85% of the folks in the network go into a career in government service, whether it is in the nonprofit sector. and we're working with people dedicated to that. we're now ten years old aside from putting boots on the ground and campaigns, we can put our government in the office and working in the white house. so i think that generation has an imperative to serve. >> and i want to ask just before i get to you, sarah, specifically, we had a writer on mlk day this year who talked about -- as he called it -- the

santa clausification of the day. as mlk is a big national day of service, as he put it, it obscures what the purpose of the day was to begin with. i'm not sure if i agree with that or not but i want to throw that out as an idea and be curious as to how you think of something like that. these big national days of service, are they the right way to think about national service for this generation or maybe not? >> i'm going to address teach for america stuff because i am a teach for america alum and that was a way for me to get into national service. and i was an alum in 2005 -- i'm old. and it was an incredible way to jump in and after two years i went to the hill for five years because i truly believed that legislation was the way that i could effect the students in the classroom. and i think that programs like

joelle and barbara are doing, encourage people to leave their jobs. but with the new generation people are looking at start-ups as a way of being part of a social movement and having national service. because there are plenty of start-ups from our generation that are helping people. for instance, in -- someone in the audience has to shout it out, there is an app for women to -- when they've been sexually assaulted on street -- >> holler back. >> holler back -- yes. that is an incredible app. it is allowing governments throughout the nation to be able to look at that data and see this is a real problem and now that conversation has been spurred, right. so i think looking at it differently as what national service actually is has changed in our generation. as for santa clausing holidays, i'm of the opinion if you can get more people out on a day to go into your community and have

that one experience where they have the spark to go to barbara and say i want to do this more, i don't see that as, you know, a bad thing. so i -- it is hard for me to say that for us to push it on a national front, as a day where everyone needs to come out is bad. i just don't. >> okay. so i'm a believer of more questions from the audience and not less. so maybe i'll do one or two more and then open it up. i want to ask one question about political participation. you mentioned this earlier but i think another issuey/d for th generation is sort of the barriers to entry for running for office or participating in elected political life. and you know, from my experience, this generation looks at elected political life a lot differently than others. so running for office or working on the hill may or may not be the best way to participate in -- in service.

and as we've been discussing. so i would be curious to hear what you have to say joelle, but what are the biggest barriers for young people participating in politics and why are young people not doing it more. >> to be frank, the people in the political office today often times -- i mean, we look at the news, if we do look at the news, and we see all of this in-fighting and bickering over things that just don't seem to matter versus the big issues that are effecting us, young people like getting jobs or doing something about climate change, right, making sure that everyone has health care for all. those are the issues that young people are vested in but we don't see that happening in congress, right. we hear about corporate interests. the revolving door happening between big financial firms and the u.s. government. and we think, well why would i want to be that person. but that doesn't mean that i don't think young people believe in the potential for government. so the campus network ran a

project called government by and for where we survey thousands of people across the country about what their views were for the government and what could be. and if you ask people what could government be, you get a different answer than what government is. we think that government can provide for the common good and be well managed and serve as a source of innovation. and frankly no one can scale innovation like government can. so what matters is that we invest in organizations, in local and state governments and places where we can gain access where we can provide opportunities for participation at a wider scale. and i think that groundswell can lead to a wide scale change in government. >> dream job, start-up, politics, one or the other. >> what? >> i think probably more times than most i'm asked if i'm going to run for office. i don't know. my inkling is that that is a no.

but i think dream job is literally continuing to do what i'm doing and that is pushing my job and my office -- it is sometimes on a very small level of being a public relations to the community. and i think whatever i do when i grow up is going to -- is going to have to be something that is connected to service. because it is important for us to reconnect. but i do want to touch actually on how we can be more politically active and want to be in office and that is if more of us start voting. first of all, i don't understand why election day isn't a national holiday. if we want to talk about santa clausing thing, give people an opportunity to not have an excuse to vote, that have national holidays. i think that is a huge, huge thing that would actually change a lot of what is going on in congress. because when we vote, we're influencing who steps through that door on capitol hill.

unfortunately, like joelle said, maybe most of us didn't drop off between 2010 and 2014 but there is still not enough of us. if you look at who voted in the mayoral campaign for new york city, it is low%. less than 10% of people voted in the primary. so 10% -- less than 10% of new york city chose who our mayor was going to be. so i think if we start voting more and seeing people that we -- that reflect who we are and an electorate-driven congress, i think we'll see changes and more inspired to be in office and i won't have an easier answer when someone comes to me and tells me to run. >> and barbara? >> dream jobs, start-up versus -- five years olds -- not start-up but a five-year-old organization. i have no interest in running for office.

i love policy and i don't love politics and i think that is okay. and i love working with people every day that are trying to figure out how they can learn skills on the ground right now so they are informs when working on policy in positions of greater influence. >> and i promise this is my last one and it will take a few minutes and it will take a few hits and a one word or a one teet answer to these. what would you say to the one thing that the one people over 50 don't understand about young people? >> that is hard. i guess i would say inner connectivity. >> what do you mean by that? >> well you said one word to i said inter-connectivity. so i think the way that we're connected, via our devices, or

always on our phones, and like barbara mentioned globally even is something that i think maybe someone over 50 might not quite understand. some people do. my mom is on facebook and twitter. she does her thing. but i think that the people assume the way we are interconnected we're self-absorbed. because we're sharing and putting things on instagram that it is a sign we're not paying attention but it is indicative of the potential for connectivity that we have and how that connectivity can actually be used for broader scale change. and when it comes to things like civic technology where folks are taking advantage of that connectivity and actually building stronger communities, allow for sharing of resources, there is a lot of potential there. and so i would say, inter-connectivity for that reason. >> let me do another one to change it up. what should our leaders know

about young people, in one tweet or less, sarah? >> what should our leaders know? >> yes. >> that we're watching you. [ laughter ] >> that we're watching you and we'll tell everyone what you did. yes. everyone has their phones. and it is true. and if leaders understood that -- how many of us have seen and we have a couple of politics in new york who have done this or done something really done on twitter or facebook, or have done something really dumb, it blasts through the news. i mean, we're watching you. and we have this tool -- i'm more than my phone. this is not a distraction, this is a tool. i'm going to tell the world. i'm going to let them know what you are doing. >> okay. barbara, you're opinion of left shark at the super bowl? >> amazing. inspirational. [ laughter ] >> let me ask a real question.

what do i want to ask you? um, i guess, what is the one issue that you think is most important for young people in 2016? >> my goodness. so many. well, i think this gets back to the millennials -- well this is not a one word answer, but we all have issues that are important to us and our communities and important to where we live. not saying there is one issue that is important because there is so -- every issue is connected. and figuring out how to have a bigger lense and solving each issue. and my last thing to copy your question to her is i never really understand why older people are like, well i don't understand millennials. you can ask people what they are interested in. you can ask them how they want to communicate and how they want to partner with you. and instead of categorizing this one group as an illusive group, we all have the power to make

relationships with people. >> i'm going to close just by doing a quick survey of the audience. so on the question of what issue most young people are interested in in 2016, mic surveys the readers and we recently did a survey and i just want to get a quick show of hands or somebody can shout it out. what is the most important foreign policy issue for 18-35-year-olds, by i think 44% margin? any guesses? no? it is not left shark. [ laughter ] yeah. >> foreign policy of global warming -- >> ding, ding, ding. you got it! totally! >> wow! >> you're a reporter i think, right? >> [ inaudible ]. >> so we polled our audience and climate change was the most important issue for people on

foreign policy. and then on national issues, what do you think? somebody shout something else. >> immigration. >> jobs, marriage equality. it is actually income inequality and income disparity. did you say that? we should have a prize. yeah, income inequality was the most important issue. i don't know if they are the most important issues for 2016, so i thought it was interesting. so let's open it up for questions. i wand to remind everybody, if you are going to ask a question, use the microphone. you are going to be on c-span. i know there is a lot of millennials watching c-span. you're going to be on c-span, so then if people want to tweet, i'll have my phone also. >> i heard jon stewart is going to be on c-span now. [ laughter ] >> raise your hand and then we have a mic coming around. >> so can you hear me?

i'm a researcher and what the model that i'm always asked about, you mentioned religious institution and government and health care, and everybody sort of thinks about engagement and then they say about what loyalty. can i make them a life-long x party person or brand person or contributing religious person. is that a model or a broken older model that you can be a life-long person. >> i can take that because i think about this a lot but i think it is true that once you become locked in a loyal brand person, you're locked in for good. there is plenty of examples of brands that have done this well with this demographic, whether it is whole foods, or others, i think that is actually why we've sunshine ma seen many, many more brands

coming out during big events like the super bowl and other big events and making their social issues -- their policies on social issues known. you've seen many more brands taking a stand on gay rights and climate change because people recognize that for millennials, once you sort of buy into the eejos and a -- eejos and a brand, you are locked in for good. because eating at whole foods, even though it is expensive, you agree with the philosophy of the company as much as you do about the product. and the same thing for politics. i think authenticity is really important. so the best example is somebody who uses facebook and twitter well is cory booker. there are a few others. he is actually tweeting every day. i think there is only one person who has access to his twitter account other than him. he is on twitter all day responding to people. and it may be about serious things or maybe just about everyday life things and that

realness and humanness is really, really important. and regardless of where he stands on plsy, it has made many people in our generation excited about him as a candidate and watching his rise through government more closely than others. but you guys can weigh in. >> i think that is right. i think you can definitely lock people in but at the same thing about our generation and the tool through social media is if you do mess up and you lie to us, much like people are dropping american apparel or urban outfitters over things, they had brand loyalty but once something came out about them being either anti-gay or having a sexual abuse problem, immediately the loyalship dropped. so that is a power that we have in our generation and i think generations in general are voters so -- >> so i'm a gen x professor who

teaches to millennials so i'm trying to figure it out. if i'm teaching the history of the baby boom generation do i talk about the economy and the rising middle class and the growth of opportunities is shaping that generation for everything of how they thought of civil rights to how they thought about politics. so you have a generation or millennials have a generation with an equality, as the survey pointed out, of the hardening of movement from one class to another with jobs that are less stable or more fleeting, less and fewer unions, how does all of that in your various opinion shave the outlook of politics an the culture of the millennials generation? >> anybody want to touch on that? >> in 140 characters. >> i'll keep my comments brief on this. but i think this is a deeply

skeptical generation. we feel like we've been lied to one too many times by politicians, by corporations, by media but we're very optimistic which is interesting because if you ask our parents, will the world be better for our kids than for us and everybody said no way, we screwed it up. but if you ask young people the same thing they say yes, we are the maker, entrepreneurial generation. i started a media company but there are people who say the economy is bad but what does that phrase make lemonade out of lemons and people are going out every day and starting companies and trying to make the best of it. so i think the -- that is a very unique thing for this generation, that there is this sort of optimism that we'll make the world a better place and change the world for the better and that is how we've dealt with the problems you've mentioned. i'm curious to think what you guys thought too.

>> my experience echoed yours. we started global health corp in 2009. it was an unstable job market. and people reconsidered what their careers could look like and thought about, okay, if i'm watching things fall apart, if you think about how you felt in 2008, it felt like things were falling apart. and thinking, well what do i want my future to look like, i think i should think about what is the world that i want to see, and what do i care about in order to do my part to change this. and i think that had a huge impact on our generation. we started at the same time as you all did, around then, and there is obviously a huge burgeoning start-up state. there are tons of enterprises that are focusing on start-up and i think there is creativity coming out of an unsure job market. >> i think there is also something to the fact that we grew up during a really, really

serious economic crisis, long-standing foreign wars, partisan bickering on the 24-hour news cycle, et cetera, et cetera. that coupled with our optimism makes our generation desire to see ourself reflected in more spaces especially since we're more diverse. to say what sarah said, when it comes to not respecting the generations or the blblt community, we don't see that as something that we would stand for. we want to see ourselves reflected in these sfass and reflected in leadership positions because frankly during our coming of age, government has failed, especially in establishment institutions. >> and our generation relates to the things our patients, grandparents had. we still have civil rights

struggles an we still have women getting $0.77 to the dollar every men are getting. we haven't reached the equality that our parents fighted for. as latino we are an emerging population and still treated as second class citizens. so you are teaching about a different generation but it relates to us and we are a more introspective generation and more comfortable about how we feel about issues and what you do is helping us to not repeat history but to continue the struggle because it is probably going to unfortunately be a struggle for the next one and we do want a legacy that may be as brighter and more optimistic. but we're still fighting the same fights that our previous generations did so. >> i want somebody to prove the stereo type right, that millennials are on twitter all day.

you can tweet me. i can take snaps too or go on yik yak. i have that on my phone too. in the back maybe. >> hi there. just following up on a comment that jake made about some of the companies taking on causes as a way to brand themselves, whole foods and global warming. two examples, goldman sachs came out for gay marriage in 2012 or '13 and that is great, but they are also are not great on financial reform. american apparel came out on immigration reform but not great on worker's rights, workplace safety and sexual harassment and things like that, should millennials embrace corporations taking on policy or is it them buying a certain cause and polluting in another cause. >> who wants to take on the corporations? [ laughter ] >> it is a great question, by the way. >> yeah.

it's tough. so i'm just reeling from that joke. but it is tough because, you know, the idea of csr is important and i think that is a baseline, frankly in my opinion. you should not -- it should be a standard that companies are good on social issues. i think your exampleh@yk/bout american apparel, to me, at least, and a lot of the folks that i hang out with, that is baseline for us. i think what matters is where folks stand, like you said, on policy issues. and i think there is an opportunity and i think we see this with a lot of social media campaigns with a lot of young people starting nonprofits, a lot of young people, even roosevelt, getting involved with the policy process to ill lucid ate the nuances that aren't often seen. because a press release saying we support immigration reform will only go so far because there are people looking at what

american apparel is doing on workers' rights so there is an opportunity for the baseline to change. is where i'm at. >> i would just echo that. i think there is an authenticity that can't be overlooked. these are not token things to throw around, you support gay rights on twitter and all of a sudden you are a great company and young people know and have been talking about and can point to which still haven't changed, that being said, i think -- so the super bowl was an amazing moment this year, i think. whereas in previous years -- we have an identity section at mic which is focused on feminism, lgbt rights, social justice issues and every year the super bowl becomes this moment where there is all kinds of ads, sexist advertisements or ways that brands take advantage of sexualized depictions of women

and this year we didn't see that at all -- >> seriously. >> not as in the same years as past. >> i saw a different super bowl. >> really? so our coverage was positive. there is degrees of it. it was mostly positive relative to years past. and i think that is by enlarge a good thing. and there is always more to be done. on specific advertisements there may have been sort of wanting more from a company but i think by enlarge as things change it is a good thing. i think the grammys is another good example where there is a lot to poke at, but also the fact that black lives matter was mentioned, that the president came on national tv and talked about domestic violence, that social justice issues were a big part of the grammys in the way that we haven't seen. again, that didn't change the fact that chris brown was in the audience, but it sort of moved

miles and bounds from where we were at. if that makes sense. >> i think the first thing that came to my mind when you said that was the nfl. right. the nfl had this long-going stance where they don't comment on what their players are doing and this year we saw them really pushed against a rock and a hard place. while goodal and his company or organization has a lot of movement to make, i can't help but be happy that the conversation has started they are putting money into anti-domestic violence campaigns. does that mean i think the nfl is the absolute soap box to go to to talk about domestic violence. no. they are a major deal to whether it is contracts, to players taking maternity leave, but i'm hap happy there are companies making a stance. and our generation or other generations aren't as shallow as

others think we are. because we have the tool of social media, when american apparel has -- they had migrant workers in their campaigns, right? and it made them look like they just love all immigrant workers and they weren't even paying half of the people in the ads, that came out really quickly, right. so i applaud companies that get that they need to put their money behind issues that matter to our generation because i think that is a stepping-stone to actually becoming better companies. >> i think you have -- one in the back. >> my name is bill mccown and i'm a journalist and author and came here today in part -- i came here today thinking about kayla mueller and i find her generation alley impressive and a real tribute to the best you have to offer. that being said, i find the

generationalin sol airity -- insol airity kind of emotional. so we're involved in a steep crisis of legitimacy on the part of our leadership, moral, political, social. how are you going to avoid those issues and i'll just give you an example. if you had to do a work cloud right now of what was on the panel, you would have lbgt rights, twitter, economic disparity and income inequality and we have some trend lines going that are not good. and part of that is our dysfunctional leadership. what are you goes going to do -- are you guys going to do that is different? >> well, is the question how are we going to solve income inequality or do it differently. >> if you had to define --

personally, i think income inequality and class classification and lack of upward mobility will kill this country. we're not going to become a social democracy like europe. we'll have to figure this out. so if you do premise that is the challenge, what do you see your generation doing that other generations, x -- x-ers, everybody else is working to do. >> i think as we highlighted, everybody has different challenges they think about and i have friends for the last two months that have been out in the streets in new york for the black lives matter protest and that is their issue. i would say a few things. i think one, i think sort of online activism gets a really bad wrap, particularly for older

people. what is that term -- yes, slack-tivism. i don't think that is true. i think that is overblown. there is examples with change.org and petitions have resulted in major change business corporations reversing policies which are amazing -- amazing moments that have shown this generation is not unengaged and does activism and is still doing activism. and i think that is one thing. i think secondly, just to the point earlier on our panel about the biggest barrier in politics, i mean the money in politics issue is just insane. and for me, the biggest barrier for more young people our age entering politics is just the amount of money you need to raise in order to run and it is very difficult for somebody under 35 to do it and that is just sort of the truth of the matter which i think has

resulted in other farms of activism and sort of working to change the system. so i think there is a lot of great work being done by everybody on this panel and otherwise. and i'm not sure how we're going to solve all of the world's problems but i know it will look a lot differently than sort of working within the system. and there will be people who do that, and that is a good thing. but it is going to look a lot more diverse than it does in the typical political organizing sense. >> on the beat of things that are going to be or could be different, i think we've talked about online engagement and twitter and social media but i think what is yet to be seen and will be seen is how online translated into offline community building for us. for the ability for us in localities to be connected and still rooted in a place. so for us at the roosevelt campus institute we're working

on an innishive at looking at the banner of income and inequality and there folks working humboldt county, eureka, california, all connected because they have the ability to connect to people, they're on the ground, in physical communities face to face. so i think that's something that could be very different the con funs of online and offline activity. >> i think we're not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we're going from a carriage from a prius. we're no longer using the -- the hash tag black lives matter, that hash tag has to do with black lives matter in terms of access to affordable housing and higher education. i think those issues while maybe th