9:15.s" segment and our guests will talk about how americans spend their money and time on travel and also talk about foreign visitors who come to the united states for travel and tourism, the big topics of discussion. i will be a 9:15 tomorrow. we will take your phone calls and look at the papers as well. "washington journal" comes your way at 7:00. we will see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute]

>> happy independence day. next, continuing our conversation from "washington journal," a discussion on citizenship in america and how it relates to community engagement and self governance. then, remarks from treasury secretary jacob lew. then, the museum hosts interviews with photographers detailing the syrian civil war. >> we came out of those buildings, and we could see a sea of humanity coming from union station. we knew it was going to be big. we were supposed to be leading the march, but people were already marching. it was like saying there go my people, let me catch up with them. [laughter]

,his sea of humanity pushed us pushed us, so we just walked on and started moving toward the washington monument, on toward the lincoln memorial. it was a wonderful period in american history. >> today, civil rights pioneer congressman john lewis shares his experience on the march on washington 50 years later. some of the, historians we spoke with on our first season of "first ladies." @7:10 p.m., photographers display their work. at 8:00 p.m., bill clinton and chris christie discussed proactive steps against disaster, and then a panel talks about what it is to be an american citizen. >> to be an american citizen is

to be one of the paragons of freedom and democratic particles and a beacon for the rest of the world. i think we have done that very well in the last 200 years and we will do it at her in the next 2 -- do it that are -- do it better in the next 200 years. >> do you think americans have extra responsibility? >> absolutely. we're the number one consumers in the world, so we have to do it responsibly. we have not done that well, but we will have to improve. >> it feels great. i am at the top of my class. first i was failing, and then the teacher help me out, and i am a straight a student now. that is how i feel about america. second chances. we have a good president. that is it. >> to be an american citizen is something everyone aims at,

becoming someone that is respected, who does not stop at airports and is being asked for things like -- we have no idea what they are asking about. we are not being american citizens. to live in a country that is free, that respects everyone's beliefs, that is how i look at this. i come from the middle east, and i come every year, twice every year, at least, and i am here on a conference as a teacher. >> i am from france originally, and before i came to the u.s. i learned a lot about american population through school. the idea was more economical -- successful americans, is this owners and all of that, so when i came to the u.s., that is what i started to do, create my own business in south jersey, and i

would say the main difference between the french and americans is food. [laughter] from a political point of view, i guess, and lifestyle, are pretty similar. you have a lot of people, especially in d.c. who are fighting for the fiscal point of view. eating differently, that would be the main points i would say, to becoming an american. >> news from egypt this morning. the chief justice of egypt's constitutional court was sworn in as the interim president taking over hours after the military ousted mohammed morsi. in affice was taken to they and according

news media, and reminds for will be -- at least more and sore will be sworn in as interim leader. the president and the first lady and a view barbecue of the fireworks. defense secretary chuck hagel issued a statement on behalf of the troops. he says -- that from chuck hagel, defense secretary. next, a discussion on how the definition of citizenship in america has changed over the decades. the panelists talk about citizenship and how it relates to community engagement and self governance. from the aspen institute, it is

in our. >> i will be serving as our moderator. one of our panelists, mickey edwards, was not able to be with us. we will channel mickey the best we can. i wanted to introduce the panelists here and frame up the issue. we will begin a conversation on the theme of imagining or reimagining citizenship and we want to allot a good chunk of time for conversation here throughout the room, and i really emphasize that. if you have questions, conversation is very much in the spirit of what we are talking about. , sequentially,e to my immediate left is heather smith, dear friend and collaborator who is the president of rock the vote. many of you know rock the vote began over 20 years ago in affiliation with mtv, and works today to mobilize young people

of the millennial generation not only to vote, but to engage in civic activity across the board and become more cynically aware and educated. we will talk a lot more about what rock the vote does. only in this context, to heather poss left -- -- heather's left -- [laughter] our friend mark meckler. he is one of the founders of the tea party patriots. he left the tea party patriots as an organization and found it citizens for self governance, which is working in interesting, cross-partisan ways to really reinvigorate the sense of actual citizen self-governance. next, i am delighted to have cristina jimenez, the founding director of united we dream, and one of the nations leading

voices and activists for comprehensive immigration reform and also for the community of undocumented americans. she has been a champion, herself, as an undocumented member of our community, and i believe as we all sat down here the immigration bill went to floor debate in the united states said, so we are right on the zeitgeist right here. not, but not least, needing introduction to anyone who has ever been to aspen, listen to the radio or open a newspaper, particular "the washington post "thej. dionne of washington post," npr and the brookings institution. i wanted to post a -- pose a question, and we will enter into more of an organic conversation. the opening question is, simply, giving the moment we are in --

we are in a remarkable moment, not just because the immigration bill is him before, but for a variety of reasons -- this week's supreme court decision, what has been going on in the debate over the nsa and government and its relationship with citizens, the irs scandal -- all of these things that are forcing us and giving us opportunities and obligations to reflect on what it means to be a citizen. citizenship is a status under the law that some people have and some of -- some do not, but it is also a set of norms and values and a set of privileges and immunities to use the language of the constitution -- a bundle of rights. we do not talk about how citizenship is a under love responsibility. -- a bill of responsibility. that is a theme we will ring out. that word, which even five, 10 years ago, and a musty, 1950 poss eat your vegetable kind of

feel to it erie now it is hot, -- feel to it. now, it is hot. given this moment, this time that we are in, how would you define or redefine citizenship in the united states? >> thank you. it is a good question and we started to get more and more about this recently in light of the immigration fight and in light of what the dreamers were doing around the country. if we said citizenship, most people in the world on legal status, but we thought it is more than that. if you call yourself an american, regardless of your status, if you call this place home, it is your role and obligation to make this country work for you, and as an organizer of young people 18-to- 29 years old, we have an opportunity to define what it means. i try to get young people fired up about all sorts of issues,

and get them engaged, but the thing they have been most passionate about over the last handful of years was the arab spring, and it was seeing young people like themselves fighting, losing their lives in many cases, to have a democracy. that really hit home, and we started to see incredible solidarity, people posting things, getting engaged and wanting to do things with our organization as a result. we have young people realizing democracy is something that you fight for -- this concept of self-rule. we have to expand the definition further to also include that it is something you have to keep working at current as one of our partners -- working at. as one of our partners says, it is not -- a mock us is not announced. about status, but about making the country work

hais the same spirit that citizens for self governance are activated by. >> it is. i came out of the tea party movement, and that is what drove the tea party movement, a sense of disconnect from our system of government. the statistics are different than what the media will tell you. roughly 27% of the tea party movement are democrat or independent. they are not there because they are right wingers were republicans. they felt that whoever they voted for, whether they participated with in voting and they were not getting what they voted for. as somebody on the right, although not a republican, i felt i was not getting who i , and whether i am in front of a progressive, liberal, conservative or tea party audience i asked the same questions, like who in the room

voted for continuing a $1 trillion deficit? i have not found that person in america yet. that begs the question, if you i am nototing for it, voting for it, why our representatives continuing to do it? it shows a disconnect the between citizens and the government. -- is thee the closer the government gets, the greater the connection. congressional approval and rates are at an all-time low. if you look at local government, on average, approval ratings run 60% plus. that shows that when people feel they can engage with their governance system, self- government and participate, they are satisfied with the results. for us, redefining citizenship is not voting for your congressman, but being engaged at the local level.

>> we will talk about how the local problem-solving on issues like criminal justice, for instance, allow you to build unlikely rise and left alliances and coalitions. cristina jimenez, what does this mean to you? >> thank you for having -- having us here. i'm happy to represent dreamers in this conversation. for us, we have been doing that, in the past decade of organizing and sharing our story -- as someone who grew up on documented in new york city, we are redefining citizenship and expanding the concept of citizenship because it is beyond the place you were born. i was born in ecuador, so i am executory and citizen, but all of the value -- ecuadorian citizen, but all of the values i embrace i learned here. i see myself as a citizen. i do not have a paper that says

i am an american citizen, and many of the dreamers do not either, but what we have done is asked to keep -- exercising peopleship by holding accountable even though we do not have the right to vote. it comes down to a responsibility of contributing and a responsibility for the common good of not only immigrant communities but the rest of our community in america. i think it is about understanding citizenship is beyond having the right to vote. it is about engagement, being part of the political process, and what you have seen with the dreamers is it does not matter if we do not get to elect honest members or senators, we have elect congress members or senators, we have gone to their offices and say this is my story. for us, we have been redefining citizenship and what it means to us, and we believe we are

americans even though we do not have the papers to show that we are and we were not born in this country. as we think about the impact of potential immigration reform, we get into more interesting thinking about how we will continue to redefine citizenship. >> this question right now, e.j. asnne, is front and center we debate immigration reform -- the idea of a pathway to citizenship. we have spent a lot of time talking about that pathway, how long it should be, what you need to be to get on the pathway, we not talked about the destination, citizenship itself and what it takes to reinvigorate that. e.j. dionne was part of the franklin project, an initiative that grew out of last year's ideas festival, promoting an idea of national service, trying to spark a national movement around national service. for you, this question of citizenship might not be about redefining, but simply returning to an older sense of citizenship.

>> right. just for the record, i did vote to add $1 trillion to the deficit because i think if we had not done that, we would not have ended an economic downturn. [indiscernible] [laughter] we are not here to argue about that, although i would be happy to. you asked an interesting question and you talked to us about it before -- "what is citizenship?" to me it is to share in the joys and burdens of self government and to balance your own legitimate interest with the common good. that is what the credit citizenship or -- democratic citizenship or citizenship in a democratic republic is all about. --family -- favorite quote "one politics goes well, we can know a good income and that we cannot know alone."

that speaks -- in common that we cannot know alone." that speaks to the things we do together. even when they are creative and part of the things on our own. i want to put on the table the question, are we making it harder for people to be good citizens? in the phoenix new nationalism -- saying this new nationalism the speech that president obama likes to quote that teddy roosevelt gave he said "no man could be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living and hours short enough so that after his days work is done he will have time to bear his share in the management of the community to help in carrying the general load."

he went onto say "we we keep countless men from being good citizens by the conditions of life in which we surround them." at some point, whenever you talk about citizenship, you sound preachy and you say people are not as good as they should be, but i would be asking, if we want more people to vote, why are we making efforts to make it harder for them to vote? if we want people to serve, why do we make it harder for them to serve? there were more than a half- million young people that wanted to go into americorps for 82,000 spots. you could multiply that across service opportunities. if we want citizens to be better informed, why do we do such an inadequate job of teaching our kids citizenship and government in high school? my kids went to a great public high school and they were able to take the ap state and local

government class. it is a great class. it should be available to all of our students. it is useful and civic. i have a long list. if we want people to engage in the public debate, why do we make it so unattractive question mark and imagine -- unattractive? imagine television ads like the ones we have in politics -- if you buy that burger, you will be poisoned, if you fly that airline, you will crash -- that is what we tell people about public life. ofitics is the only line work that advertises against itself year after you -- year. the other thing i would say, to provoke you a little bit, if we want people to be citizens, something we do together, why do we wrap ourselves in the language of individual market choice? there is a place for market choice, market choice is not all

of life, and the language we have surrounded ourselves with sometimes operate against this. that youot sure, mark, would disagree when it is market above all else that we lose something in the way we govern ourselves, live our lives in community and family. if i were to connect the dots between the impetus for the tea party, self-governance and the teddy roosevelt speech -- part of what teddy roosevelt was talking about was inequality. when you have severe, structural inequality, it becomes as a simple fact harder for many more people to engage in civic life. the other dimension of inequality that your work speaks to his a sense that too many -- speaks to is a sense that too many decisions are made by a small elite, and this is across parties, across regions, in a

sense rigging the game. >> i agree. to answer the market choice question, what is the alternative, and today it is choice by a small, ruling elite that is mostly disconnected from the rest of the population. i have spent very little time in washington, d.c., and a lot of in places like kalamazoo, michigan, and i find that people inis that the people in washington -- those places -- the people in those places look at people in washington like they are aliens and vice versa. i see more construction crane in washington, d.c., and i have ever seen in any city. lamborghini of north america put their headquarters there. the complaint is too many people want to pay cash. seven of the 10 wealthiest

counties are around the beltway. right now, it is market choice against the choice of people that are enriching themselves at the expense of all of us. >> heather, when we were prepping for this conversation, you describe how there were so many in the millennial generation that regardless of party are dubious and skeptical of politics but are still trying to find ways to do essentially politics by other means. what do you see happening with a young people you are working with at rock the vote? >> to build off of e.j. dionne 's question, why are we doing all of these things if we do not want people to be good citizens? i think most young people pretty much believe that those in power do not want us to be better citizens and they are doing a lot of things really well to keep us away from the political system, and they are quite disgusted by the partisan bickering and the distrust of politicians to actually solve

the problems that they face every single day. these are real problems. these are students, on average, graduating with $25,000 worth of debt to my yet we have on monday, -- that, yet we have on monday, the opportunity to double the interest rate, and no action has been taken. what we have seen is them turning to themselves -- not that they do not care, but they are trying to find solutions on their own. i heard a great statistic the other day that more young people fund themselves through kickstart her and generated more money for the arts -- kickstart generated more money for the arts than the national endowment for the arts giveaway. >> that is free market. >> that is free market, but i fear that keeps them from engaging in the government. >> cristina jimenez, you embody a fact of american history,

american political history is a story of outsiders coming in to remind insiders what the creed was supposed to meet -- mean. that is the irish arriving, the civil rights movement, the immigrant rights movement, for you, to be coming from the outside into the inside, you know this is about learning the machinery of governing, how policy is made, about markups of bills in committee and senate and so forth. s lot of things that many other in your generation are saying it is a waste of my time, you are doubling down on to get smart on. how do you share a message to dreamers or native born americans that it matters you understand the rules of the game? >> what has ruled -- worked for us is we have achieved

victories by organizing, taking action and getting engaged. for us, the reason you want to get engaged, and why we want to share our stories and be engaged in the political process -- you know, it has been a roller coaster to be part of the markups and the committees, understanding the inside games that happen in the beltway, but also understanding the power we have outside of the beltway in educating others and in powering young people to do that. after organizing over 10 years, the immigrant youth movement reached the most significant action, the deferred action that protected people from deportation. when that happened, young people felt that i am not a voter, not a citizen, but sharing my story, getting engaged, writing those letters, knocking on doors to get out latino voters in new

mexico, florida, nevada -- all of that work. >> that -- all of that work. this is a discerning audience, but let me define what we say -- what we mean when we stage reamer. -- dreamer. these are people that were brought here by their parents and are being granted a pathway to citizenship. that was the origin of the idea of dreamers. >> at is something we claim because otherwise, media and otherwise, when i was 19 i was given interviews, and i was cited as an illegal student, an illegal alien, so we needed to find a way to share a identity -- and identity with the immigrant youth that would not make you feel like the other and

the alien. that is why dreamer came about as a term that we use. >> ej, one of the most formative books i read in political life is one of your earliest books, "why americans hate politics." i think it was 1991 and it is still as fresh today. i urge you to get it because it describes the politics of false choice, which today is more amplified, and the most basic false choice you are describing in that book is to be american, to be a citizen, is to understand there are these tensions all the time between federal and state, between individualism and collective action, between what we do in order to be free for ourselves, and what we do to plan for the future, and that to actually engage in civic life is to recognize that you cannot make a false choice between these things. 20-some years after this book,

the you feel that our civic culture, when it comes to thinking about us as citizens, that we are worse off or better off? >> first of all, my next book is going to be called "why i love eric liu." [laughter] >> you have at least one buyer. >> i do not think we have gotten a lot better. i was hoping we were. i cannot resist constantly jumping to mark's provocations. i just want to mention on market choice, one of my favorite new york jokes is about a corrupt judge who gets $10,000 from one lawyer to fix the case, $5,000 from the other lawyer, and he has a conference, and he says if you give me another $5,000, we could have this trial on the level. there are certain things we do not want hot and sold.

-- bought and sold. for example, i do not think you should i or sell how long someone lives. that is why i think is have healtho insurance for people that cannot -- afford it. we know there are limits to market. i just wanted to put that in. this false choice concept, the last book i wrote was called "our divided political heart," and it was about the false choice between liberty and community. we have always valued individualism and liberty, but we have always -- afford it. we know there are limits to market. i just wanted to put that in. also believe ine concept -- believed in and questioned -- requested after community. that includes actions of government, but it is not limited to government.

we did not see government as apart from community. if you believe that public action was only something invented by woodrow wilson or the new deal, then you have to abrahamt henry clay and lincoln and alexander hamilton and a whole lot of other people in our history who believed that a prosperous, inventive, entrepreneurial economy depended on government and other collective forces doing a lot of things to make that possible. clay in particular used to talk about internal improvements, which in we -- in an ugly way we now call infrastructure. also believe inhe acknowledgedd bind us together and allow us to have commerce, and this involves doing things collectively that serve the interest of prosperity, and, i believe, in the long run, liberty. my friends with the in the tea party is they view

the founding and the constitution itself as almost entirely about individualism and liberty and forget, as i always like to say, that the very first word of the constitution is "we." i document. >> we talked about and work together on this project you got involved in called living room conversations. one of the cofounders of moveon.org, a progressive organization, has created a set of projects called simply living room conversations in which the format is very simple and, actually, i want to let you describe it because you and joan have participated, not in coming out and magically finding all the ways we have found consensus, but maybe

getting to a little bit of what e.j. dionne is talking about, recognizing there is not an either or. there are tensions between liberty and community, tensions between a strong state and free people. >> it is an organization called living room conversations. you can find them on the web easy enough. , onea, strange bedfellows of the founders of moveon.org, -- obviously, strange bedfellows -- one of the founders of moveon.org and one of the founders of the tea party movement. if you turn on television, what you will see is how you can be divided or how to talk at each other and not with each other. models the life people their behavior on. if you are a conservative and sit down with liberal friends, you are good at aching him angry pretty quickly. -- good at making them angry 80

quickly. -- pretty quickly area what we are trying to teach is how to have those conversations in a civil way, and it starts with humanity -- what are you passionate about, why are you here, what you hope to accomplish and what do you hope for in your own community? after that first hour, you think i like these people. you go into the room with a sense of trepidation. one of my friends said they're coming to my house. liberals?u feed >> arugula. [laughter] >> poison. it is funny, but that is how we are divided. s ofve in the rural california. -50, and when if

's i asked if i needed to stop at the border and get a previous export. we find that we are concerned about the same things in our community. we find that we do not believe our schools are operating well, that our prison system is appalling and we believe in justice system reform. we find the vast majority of americans believe the war on drugs is a complete and total failure, doing damage to our country generationally, but the powers that be keep doing the same thing. out of that grow projects that we can work on together, and we are working on criminal justice reform. plus, crony capitalism is another great one. none of us like the fact that all of this money in washington is trading and for favored constituencies and regular citizens are on the house side. everyone is frustrated by that

except for the people in bc -- d.c. getting greased. >> so much a political media teaches us to be divided, but i want to expand to the larger frame of culture. so much of what rock the vote voices to enlist great from popular culture -- celebrities, movie stars, musicians, part acres of all -- art makers of all time -- all kinds. what have you learned about how culture makers can change citizenship and have this influence? >> what we try to do is take what you are doing one-on-one and monitor that behavior through a much larger audience. using celebrities, musicians, artists in our work humbly as tw -- probably has two different benefits. i speak to rooms of young

people. it is refreshing to look out see a face that i am not twice the age of. when i talk, it is almost like their parents talking. i can tell them to vote, why it matters, and they kind of rule their eyes. if i name dropped, "this morning i was having a conversation with the bass player in nirvana about the base -- about the votewhen i talk, it is almost le their parents talking. i can tell them to vote, why it -- suddenly, act" there faces light up. it is true. they can grab the attention of an audience that is not naturally political, not inclined to think about these issues, and get them not only to pay attention, but to change how they think about the question.

instead of getting their attention, it changes the norm around what it means to vote and be a citizen. it is like a giant marketing campaign. >> you can do something very powerful with inattention once you have it. >> it is true. i will give you an interesting example. prop 8 yesterday was gay marriage. 10 years ago, this is not something that was favorable. we have been working with artist to talk about the issue, with television shows to write this off into their scripts, musicians writing about this in their lyrics, and 10 years later the number has flipped. as they were passing the supreme court thing yesterday, i went back to statistics where eight in 10 americans claim they know somebody who is gay, and when you are asking them who that is,

the majority listed television character. [laughter] >> that is either a hopeful sign or a very disturbing sign. >> yesterday, with the gay marriage thing, the number one -- passed around thing on the internet was a quote from the love song. >> the thing that rock the vote is doing is converting that attention into the actual teaching of the actual skills of being a citizen. you created democracy school. >> democracy class, yes. we decided we cannot bring artists into every classroom, but we can put them on video. we have the videos about the history of voting, why it matters, power and all the things that are excited about this. teachers can sign up.

their classroom. it is the coolest day of the school year for the kids because there is this cool boxed with all these stamps on it. the teacher tells them to put their pencils away, and it is people they see on television talking to them. they get to stand up and interact, and they learn how the world process works, why it -- you like poor old process works, electoralters -- process works, and why it matters. >> when you talk about the future of democracy, we talk a lot about this millennial generation, a phrase that is used over and over again. how do we make it possible for a million young people in the united states every year to me engage in a meaningful form of service?

the thing that strikes me is one of the threads of that conversation, and the project began one year ago with general stanley mcchrystal. stanley mcchrystal speaks a sayinge that seems -- this for me because it is a language where we have to in his words creates a culture of responsibility. not what i get to do, not do not tread on me, but what i am supposed to do, my part of things, and you alluded to how that thread of conversation -- ricci --cci preachy. what is your instinct on how we catalyze the responsibility half of citizenship in a way that does not become here is somebody telling me to eat my vegetables or scolding me?

>> i think the idea of emphasizing the joys of wielding power -- we did mean the world government, but self- government is a remarkable thing. when you talk about what is happening in the senate today, the fact that the immigration bill is on the floor is the direct result of what latino voters chose to do in large numbers in the last election, and if latinos have not shifted their votes to send a message to the republican party in particular in this case, i do not think we would be in today. when somebody says politics never works, that is simply not true. the other thing is we almost always say that is really political. it is almost always a negative. what is politics? is the alternative to war. it is how we settle differences. we will have different interests

and sense of values, and we could either work out how we live together, or we start doing serious damage to each other. i salute what ui doing with these -- what you are doing with these sessions. a lot of times people disagree, but we do not have real argument. we have counter-assertions, like that guy does not understand english, so i will say it louder. christopher/, the great historian, said you put your own ideas at risk by entering into the ideas of your opponent, initially to convert them, but in the process you expressed, if only to yourself, a willingness to change your mind as you are listening. on the millennial's, i am a huge millennial plan -- fan.

18-to-35, broadly they be a little older, when you look at this generation, they have done a lot more service. some say they had to because high school had rules or they did it to get into college, but services help to transform them. , think they get this liberty community thing better than the rest of us do except for that greatest generation that has largely passed. on one hand, they are incredibly entrepreneurial, this crowd funding and that sort of thing, but they also understand public institutions. they have a strong sense of community. the form social networks. that is not an accident. i have a lot of genuine hope in this generation. i teach in college and i am genuinely impressed by the kids

that come in class after class. >> cristina jimenez, i want to give you the last word before we open up the conversation more widely, but one of the things e.j. said was -- that was important, imagining yourself in the shoes on the other side -- we came from another panel about citizen artist and the role of the arts in cultivating a capacity to be self-governing citizens. the key to that conversation boiled down to what e.j. just said, empathy, cultivating a capacity for empathy, imagining yourself in someone else's shoes. the dreamers, the immigrant rights movement more broadly, has been one of the most successful, emotionally moving exercises in activating empathy that we have seen in politics in a long time. at a personal level, not as an

orchestrator of all this at aical action, but personal level how have you gone about trying to create that sense of empathy when you encounter people who come into the conversation saying you are a legal or i have an idea, let's deport you? how do you create a bridge of empathy where they might still want to delay or defer forever the pathway to citizenship, but at least they will be able to imagine what it is like to be you? >> i tell my story had it comes all -- story. when you share your story, your passion, what do you do, how you are contributing to your community, you realize we have a lot of things in common and my dreams are your dreams and in so many ways i am you. i am you. when we get to that, it is really hard for someone -- and i had many friends and colleagues

,n college who were republicans identified themselves as republican, and they did not know i was undocumented. i was not sharing had i had many friends -- sharing and i had -- many friends and when they found , i felt iundocumented would be rejected, but that did not happen because they realized getting to know me and my story that i was like them. i had dreams like them, wanted to pursue different things, go to college and graduate, and that makes all the difference. >> the power of your story is remarkable. one of the things i would like to do now is open up the conversation. if you have questions for our panelists, we have focused with microphone -- folks with

microphones, but if you have it, and, we would like to hear the -- a comment, we would like to it as well. >> if you could wait for a microphone. the chairs ago i was of the americorps program in houston and we were able to raise more money than anybody else did, any other community, and bill clinton wanted us to have as his nature thing, one million people -- major thing i'm a one million people -- major thing, one million people in america. senator chuck grassley wanted to have zero. >> let's compromise at half of a million. inthere was a meeting washington, d.c., with three senators and two

representatives and people from two other communities who ran americorps in those cities. we said ok, let's go for the one million, and they said where will you get the money? i am going to shorten this discussion. that was pretty much the end of the process and bill clinton wanted it really badly. he wanted it to be one of the things we remember him for, so how are we going to pay for -- in those days we were only paying about $7,500 to each of what we called volunteers. chuck grassley did not call them volunteers because they got $7,500. >> i think it is the right question, and if you look back on the session it is something that needs to be worked out -- how much more public money are we willing to put into this and how much private money can be

raised to fill in the difference? what were the sources the -- either state and local entities willing to take in? kick in?n -- on the other hand, these are people doing good work for little money. on what chuckect grassley and the army said. they would always say paid volunteerism. they were asked a leading question -- the folks that served under you in a rack would not be taking kindly -- in iraq would take kindly to be known as aid volunteers, and the notion that you are giving them makesend so they can live them less of volunteers, and what stanley mcchrystal said was

i want these kids to come not just from scarsdale, but from east los angeles, and if you want all americans to serve, including families that cannot support them while they are serving their country, you have to have some money behind it. you need the will to try to create this, and the will can create the willingness to pay for it, but at a time of just crunches it is a real challenge -- budget crunches, it is a real challenge. >> let's get a couple of more voices in here. ebu runs an organization called the interfaith youth core. he is one of the central agers along with -- figures along with e.j. in a conversation about faith and pluralism. >> you took my first two lines. thank you.

talking about this and linking it to the arab spring, it was famously said that one of the geniuses of american society was civic institutions. i want you to reflect on the future of civic institutions in light of the number of unaffiliated millennial's. historically, religious communities have been a major driver of civic institutions. the internet.e of there is the sexiness of revolution versus trying to build something over 30, 40, 50 years. in 30 or 40 years, will we have the same civic institutional structure in the united states that we do right now? >> that is a good question and i spent a lot of my time trying to convince people to vote, and i would add to that list party

affiliations, so they are not identified as democrats or republicans, but independently, and you are losing that infrastructure and sense of community. i think they will reshape what it looks like. they are continuing to gather together and take collective action through different solutions. onlineow that it's often and through the social networks that they are building, and it just locally, but in other states across the country and quite globally as well. i do not know what that will turn into. it is an interesting question. cristina jimenez, i wonder what you think. >> what we have seen with the immigrant community is if it is not there, we have to build it. even within the immigrant advocacy community, there was not space for youth empowerment and we decided we needed to have young people aching choices, driving our agenda, organizing

and creating a difference to have an impact. that is a we do with the united we dream network. that fromperience is 2008 we had seven affiliate organizations and we have 52 in 25 states today. there is a hunger to be part of a network. i am not a debbie downer about facebook and twitter because those are tools that are giving us a sense of connection, even with young people in egypt, right, leading their social movement. from my perspective, i see millennials and dreamers using social network tools to our advantage in being able to be innovative as to think that in the next five or 10 years when we think about the possibility of immigration reform, and you think about 11 the people living in the shadows, --

million people living in the shadows, what is the opportunity to get those folks engaged? >> mark, did you want to add something? >> all we are talking about largely is the role of intermediary organizations in society and history shows us the bigger and more powerful government gets, the less of those organizations we have, the less organized they are and the less powerful they are because necessary to the existence of those organizations is power. really what we are talking about is the distribution of power in society. there is a feeling in the immigrant network where the feeling that they cannot cover something makes your ability -- they can accomplish something makes the organization strong. if they are simply structured for communication, people will not dissipate -- participate. >> i think it is flatly wrong

and disproved by our history and the new deal, the g.i. bill and veterans organizations -- if i could just say quickly on the , we will always have enough sports leagues because we are sports-obsessed and i said a lot of time on sports fields with my kids. one of the things we do not take into account enough is how much of our civic infrastructure was built by the unpaid labor timemen and we had a long when women were not getting opportunities in the workforce as they should be and where wages were high enough that they could raise a family on one earner, the women realized we wanted the same opportunities, but we were leaning on them more than we want to let on to ourselves. what i worry about his organization that next people

across -- makes people across lines.people of all we do not have enough bridging social capital and we have to work on that. >> let's start right here and then we'll move to the back on the side of the room. yes, you. >> hi. i work for a nonprofit in education and we talk about the populations that we serve and i have done different kinds of s through theject last five to 10 years, and i'm wondering about the ethics of service. we do not talk about the ethical implications of particularly white, middle-class people,

going into low income minority immunities and saying i am serving you -- communities, and saying i am serving you and you deserve this service. that is a powerful message we are sending to our middle-class and our youth to say that certain people are deserving of service and certain people are deserving of providing that service. how does that play out in your identity as a leader or a follower and your ability to imagine yourself as someone that would be a change maker rather than a follower? i would like to see more discussion around the ethics of service. >> great question. >> i the value of universal service, the idea that everybody should serve says that the lowest income kid in the country has the highest --

and service isn't just about that but low-income kids having the stuff rich-income kids have and serving in the same way. so no matter how rich or poor or what our ethnic background is. that's why i like the idea of making it universal. >> let's get another question into the mix here. es, ma'am? either way. [laughter] >> struggling for the mike. >> that's my daughter. [laughter] >> oh! ha ha. >> shelly, washington d.c. time national finance cochair for the ready for hillary pack. >> you were here for our first meeting. >> thank you very much. i appreciate that coming from you.

and i want to highlight one of the things we're doing and then ask you because you touched on money before but what we are trying to do is build on packs and packs have had negative reputation for buying elections but what we're doing is something very different and on june 30 you will see what we have accomplished to date, the thousands and thousands of people who have chose on the step up and support it. we're now talking about national service and these national servants need to be paid at some point. where does the pun come from and what should the role of those and others that can support these important initiatives to break through to new levels, can you commesht on that, please? >> well, marco or heather you were just having a conversation about money and politics. >> i agree with what you're

doing with that is phenomenal. packs are like any entity, they can be used for good or bad. they are like people. some people do gooth good and some people do bad so the idea that pracks evil is wrong. it just depends on how they are used and depends on your politics. so if you're anti-hillary in 2013 you probably don't like that pack. so i just see them as a vessel to be used and the ethics you fill them with. i don't person have a problem with money in politics, the last cycle roughly $7 billion. we spent more money on potato chips than presidential politics so i want more money on politics, more messaging throughout and more to be heard. you're to be commended for what you're doing. heavyweight center >> yes. i do have a problem with money and politics and the role it plays in now but the problem is

engaging in more and more people. we have 60% turning out in an election nationally and 60 under 30 vote percentaging and we heralded it as a record turnout but only half of them voted. at would it look like if 60%-80% vote? in terms of the pack, grassroots organizing and empowering people to get invested in a campaign to writing the check is a powerful thing and how we will start to invest people in our political processes once again. >> i think the answer to big money is going to be matching funds or vouchers or tax credits. some combination of things that pri lidge the small giver and i don't think you will ever flood out the big money but to have

small money be combev big money is -- there's a proposal in new york to have a five-to-one match and mark and i can determine how you fund it but the best answer now compared to united and -- >> we could literally have this conversation this afternoon but i just want to close with a simple charge to all of you. that this has been a great conversation and y'all have asked some great questions but the question is what are we going to do? what is in the am bit of our power for do to revitalize our citizenship in the united states? and we have heard several great, overlapping conception of what it means to -- whether it's strictly the government or the level of service in community or weather it's trying to mobilize money in new

ways and whether it's about traying to re-envig trait away way we teach the very nature of citizenship and self-governing democracy, whatever your ang is, everybody here has a way to engage here. and let me put it in a different way, everybody here has an obligation. we can't come out of an obligation like this and say that's great. i'm going to go to the planetarium now. everybody says what am i going to pledge to myself if not the person i came here with to reinvigorate this just notch? it might be here or at a national level and if a room like this can make kind of commitment, we will set forth civil contagions everybody has been putting forth here in bodies. so thank you so much for everything and pass it on. [applause]

>> if you missed any of this event on citizenship hosted by the aspen institute we will re-air it at 8:45 p.m. eastern tonight on c-span or you can watch it anytime online at c-span.org. happy independence day. coming up next on c-span, remarks from secretary treasure ck lew at a naturalization ceremony then pulitzer prize-winning photographers.

en at the u.s. capital for representative john dingell who became the longest-serving representative in congress. >> what came out of those buildings, and we can see a sea of humanity coming from union station. and we knew it was going to be big. it was supposed to be leading the mar people were already marching. it's like there go my people. let me catch one them. and that sea of humanity just pushed us. pushed us. so we just locked arms and started moving towards the washington monument on toward lincoln memorial. what a wonderful period i think in american history. >> today, july 4 at the 2:20

p.m. eastern, civil rights pioneer john lewis shares his experience on the march on washington 50 years later, and at 4:45 later some we spoke with on our series on first ladies. then at 7:00 some pulitzer prize winners display their work. others s christie and discuss what it is to be a modern day citizen. >> to me, an american, i think america's the land of opportunity. so there's so many things you could accomplish in my lifetime, and really my daughter has all those opportunities. i think that's one of the greatest things about america is she can do whatever she wants. doesn't matter her sex or her

nationality or race. and i think that opportunity that our forefathers actually fought for is present and available to me and i just think it's great. i can use that and build a great life and be happy. that's what i think it means to be an american. >> well, you got to know the history of america and you know, i know my history is like my culture on black and native americans. i consider myself american. i am very thankful for what i have but i also know if i were to ask this question to my grandmother, it would be a totally different answer. but i feel you got to play your part, do the right thing. go to work. can't rely on the government to pay for your living. i think that's -- like people on welfare or people who have money still try to use the system and this plays a big role. people who really do need money

-- i think if everybody would just be honest and work hard and this country could be even greater than it already is. >> well, i am canadian. i have lived here for a few years and i am married to an american and have an american daughter but i would say to be an american, you live in a free country in north network general. you have so many opportunities. so many opportunities to grow and to do different things with your life, and you can honestly change the course of your life from wherever you're at. i find the a a big difference is in the u.s. we tend to be quick with things and in canada we seem to be more relaxed and do our best to move ahead but not be as pushy. that's just something i notice as a difference but i am true my homeland but i do love living in the u.s. that's what i think it means to be an american.

>> treasury secretary jack lew spoke earlier this week at a naturalization ceremony held by his apartment. -- by his department and talked about the immigration bill recently passed in the senate and why he thinks it's good. this was one of several naturalization ceremonies to take place during independence day. it's 25 minutes. >> good morning. my name is sara taylor and i'm

from the washington district. it is my flows welcome you here to this beautiful ceremony room for this beautiful observance of independence day at the department of the treasury. to officially begin our naturalization ceremony, i would like everyone to rise and remain standing for the presentation of colors by the armed color guard and the national anthem as sung by chief musician, courtney illiams, united states navy.

♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting

in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there o say does that star-spangled banner et wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

> please beseated. candidates for citizenship, when i call your country, please stand and remain standing. afghanistan. belgium. democratic republic of the congo. ecuador. egypt. ethiopia. ghana. india. indonesia. iran. jordan. pakistan. panama. preview. -- peru. russia. somalia. south korea.

the ukraine. united kingdom. venezuela. and vietnam. are all my candidates standing? very good. i'd like to introduce you to alejandro mayorkas who is the director of -- i present to you 30 candidates representing 21 countries each of whom have applied to become united states citizens. each of the candidates has been interviewed and demonstrated the ability to read, write and speak words in the english language and demonstrated his or her knowledge of the history and principles and form of the government of the united states. director alejandro mayorkas i recommend that these candidates be administered the oath of allegiance there biadmitting them to the united states citizenship. >> thank you candidates, secretary lewand candidates for citizenship good morning it is

my distinct privilege to administer the oath of allegiance to citizenship candidates please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i hereby declare on oath. hat i absolutely and entirely. -- all allegiance and delity to any foreign -- poeten tate of state or sovereignty of whom or which i for been -- that i will support and defend the constitution and laws of the united states of america.

against all enemies, foreign and domestic. thatly bear true faith and llegiance to the same. thatly bear arms on behalf of the united states. when required by the law. they perform non-combatant service. in the armed forces of the united states. when required by the law. that i will perform work of national importance. under civilian direction. when required by the law. and that i take this obligation freely. without any mental reservation.

or purpose of evasion. so help me god. congratulations. [applause] please be seated. congratulations. you are now united states citizens. citizens of a country that is defined by the principles of liberty, equality and justice for all. my parents brought my sister and me to this country in 1960 as political refugees escaping the communist takeover of cuba. actually my mother was twice a refugee in her life.

she came to cuba fleeing nazi europe during the second world war. i was naturalized in 1973 and today i have had the privilege of administering the oath to you in my capacity as the director of the united states citizenship and immigration services. this country is like no other. a country that always has been and forever will remain a nation of immigrants. in a moment, a special individual will stand before you to share his thoughts about this special day in your lives and in the life of our country. he is the nation's 76th and current secretary of the treasury. he previously served as the white house chief of staff to the president barack obama and as the president of budget and management of both presidents clinton and obama.

secretary's brief walk from his stage to the lectern presents a great journey. one that stretches back in time and reaches into a better tomorrow that he has helped make possible. fast journey that speaks to the power of character and hard work and of our nation's promise of opportunity. it is a journey that began in this country decades ago when his father arrived as an immigrant, like you and me. it is my privilege to welcome united states secretary of the treasury, jack lew who honors us today with his presence. [applause] >> thank you director alejandro mayorkas for conducting the oath of allegiance and for the kind words and let me welcome all our guests to the treasury department today. to those of you who took the oath of citizenship this

morning congratulations on an extraordinary accomplish maintenance. it's an honor to be among the first to address you as my fellow americans. [applause] as director alejandro mayorkas said this occasion is especially poignant for me. my father was born in poland and his family left their hometown at the end of world war i. they were lucky. they had the chance to leave was e the second world war under way and they were the ally -- but built on promise of freedom and opportunity. a country where hard work can lead to a better life where we can shape our future sand the futures of those around us and where our children can achieve things beyond anything we can imagine.

today i stand here as a first-generation american and the secretary of the treasury of the united states. this is something my parents could never have foreseen a half century ago. each of you have taken a different journey and each of you has your own situations to overcome. you had to work for this. nobody gave this to you. coming here from afghanistan devoting his career to helping those coming here. no one gave this to another who fled at 6 years old without knowing a word of english but saw it as taunt to rebuild his life learning english and making friends and finding work. herbert grew up in panama and served in the marines for eight

years. when his two sons learned he was about to become a u.s. tseng they were surprised. they thought he already was. his reply, on paper i'm not but deep down i have always been an american. today we're proud of all these new americans and grateful to all you who raised your hands moments ago. your decision to become americans has made our country stronger. we have always been a nation of immigrants. it's what defines us and makes our economy so vibrant. it's no surprise when you look at the nation's best businesses many were started by immigrants or children of immigrants. more than a quarter of all new small businesses and one out of four high-tech startups. see immigration is not just something consistent with our values but also consistent with growing our economy and increasing jobs and expanding

our middle class yet the troubleling truth remains too many immigrants do not get a fair shot at the american dream. too often they are forced to live in the shadows. it not only hurts them but america as well. for instance our immigration opens the top universities to the brightest minds but the same system tells these men and twosome get out of our country once they are threw studying and it's basically pushing innovations and jobs beyond our borders encouraging growth outside the united states but the truth is this is not good economic policy. but that's the way our immigration system works today and like a head wind in our economic sails. now there's a bipartisan comprehensive legislation that does a number of things, it strengthens our borders and provides a pathway for citizenship for the 11 million

people here illegally and will boost economic growth. lit bring highly-skilled scientists and entrepreneurs to the united states and fuel and generate economic activity. more new businesses and jobs and exports. we also will see our deficit hrink with added jobs on the payroll, according to the non-partisan congressional budget office this legislation will lower our deficits by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decades so it's important to our economy and who we are as a people that we reform our immigration system. and you will make sure the door you just walked through will remain open to the millions of hard-working immigrants who want to call america home. tomorrow, july 4 we hark mark the birth of our nation. we will mark it by holding

parades on main streets and placing flags on our homes and lighting up the night sky. we do this to celebrate everything we love about this country. our rights, our responsibility and our commitments to each other. but tpwhound that, we're celebrating the millions of immigrants celebrating our country. alfred, the ark tect of this beautiful room and the architect of our economy. we're celebrating all these men and women coming to our sthors help build better lives for their families over the years and celebrating all of you not only for what you have given but for what you will continue to give this country, a country we all love and whose future we all share. thank you everyone. and congratulations. and ladies and gentlemen, if you will please stand and join me, we will resite together in ewan son our pledge of allegiance. [applause]

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. congratulations and welcome to your new lives as citizens of this great country, the united states of america, and have a great fourth of july. [applause] >> please be seated. at this time, i am going to call you each by name, and you will have an opportunity to proceed across the stage. we will have a receiving line here with the director and you will get your certificate of

naturalization then return to your seat so if i can have the secretary join me here. thank you. nicholas adolfo al have a rado lopez. [applause] [next candidate] [applause]

[next candidate] [applause] [next candidate] [applause] [next candidate] [applause] [next candidate] [applause] [next candidate] [applause]