american dream for the next generation." and we will discuss the national teacher shortage and other challenges facing public school teachers with the national education association president, becky pringle. join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning, and welcome to "washington journal." as the midterm elections approach this fall, pollsters often ask this question to voters, is the country on the right track her off in the wrong direction? although the right track number has been taking up in recent days, nearly two thirds of americans say the country is on the wrong track. so this morning, we want to hear from you. how do we get this country moving in the right direction? what are your ideas and

solutions? and what do you want our nation's leaders to know? here is how you can weigh yan. republicans, dial (202) 748-8000 -- republicans, your number is (202) 748-8001. democrats, dial (202) 748-8000. independents, your line is (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. you can contact us at facebook.com/c-span. we are on twitter at @cspanwj. and on instagram at @cspanwj. so let's start off looking at a poll that came out a few days ago. it showed that 26% of those

polled, about 1500 adult citizens, 26% said this country was on the right track, 63% said the country is going in the wrong direction. that is actually an improvement, because the percentage of those who said the country was headed in the wrong direction is down about seven percentage points in the last week. and then when it came to president joe biden, his approval is up slightly, up to 42% approval rating. but still, half of those polled said that they disapprove of the president's performance. that was conducted august 13 through 16. on the generic ballot, 46% of those polled said they would prefer a democratic candidate versus 42% who say they would

rather see a rep. pocan: candidate represent -- a republican candidate representing them. about 12% are undecided. again, we're going to be talking to you in just a minute. first, let's go back to last week and hear from president joe biden during the signing of the climate change and health care cost will called the inflation reduction act. he spoke about his recent legislative victory. [video clip] pres. biden: today, too often,

we can choose noise and substance. too often -- transform, that is what is happening now. the american rescue plan and helped create nearly 10 million new jobs, once in the generation infrastructure law to rebuild roads, bridges, deliver clean water, high-speed amid -- internet to every american, first and safety law in 30 years , and there will still be in assault weapons ban, but that is another story. and the first health care law and decades, for the first time. groundbreaking science law to ensure technologies and jobs in the future are made here in america, in america. [applause] and all this progress is part of our vision and plan, a

determined effort to get the job done for the american people. host: that was president biden touting his recent legislative achievement. but during that same time that the house was passing the inflation reduction act, we heard from republicans, including house majority leader kevin mccarthy, who attacked democrats and president joe biden on their record, especially when it comes to inflation. let's hear a little bit of that. [video clip] rep. mccarthy: answer me this question, is america better off today than they were two years ago? is the price of gasoline lower? it is? the price of gasoline is lower today than it was two years ago? i guess you believe inflation is zero, too. i am not quite sure about your math. is groceries lower than two years ago? are they car prices lower than

two years ago? are your food prices? i would love an actual debate right here. why don't we have that? because the american people are having a challenge. you know, one of the most successful businesses in america is walmart. when walmart wants to look at where the economy is in america, they do not go hire economists. do you know what they do? they just check the data of americans and what they buy. for those who answered yes, you ought to study it, too. look at four products, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, whole-wheat, and white bread. and you know what? if the hamburger bun sales go down and the hotdog bun sales go down and the whole-wheat sales go down, do white bread sales go

up? we are in an economic crisis. you know why? because people can no longer to make the decision to have hamburgers with hamburger buns. they have to put them in bread. for all of you who said yes, why don't you get out of washington for a moment and go ask your constituents if they are better off today than they were two years ago. because no, gas is not lower, gas is higher. no, the car prices are higher, and the food prices are higher, and they are going up each and every day. host: again, we are talking to you today about whether you believe the u.s. is on the right track and what you want our leaders to know about how to move the country forward. first, evan in crownpoint, indiana, on the republican line. good morning. caller: how are you this morning? host: good.

caller: i think you have got the best job in the world, working for c-span. caller: -- host: so what do you think, how is the country doing? caller: i think it is not going well, but i do not think it is president biden's faults though. host: what would you want our nation's leaders to know about how to get the country on the right track? caller: what i want them to know is that what we should do is reorganize the republican party or abolish it, one or the other. host: why do you say that? what is your thinking about why the solution is either reorganizing or eating rid of your party? host: i am a defendant of lincoln republicans.

i have been a republican all my life, but i have not voted for a republican president since gerald ford, except for last time that mr. trump ran. and that was a guess, but i guessed wrong. host: ok, let's go next to robin in cleveland, tennessee, on the democratic line. what do you think about today's topic? caller: i think the country is doing fine. people are working. i think the biggest danger to our country right now is the republican party. i think people need to be asking these republican politicians, do they believe in a republic? do they believe in democracy? because at this point, they have not showed anything they believe in, other than a devotion to pahrump and his life -- two

trump and his life. so the republican party -- in my family and in this county, we used to be republicans. there are a lot of black republicans. black republicans have turned against the republican party because the republican party has turned against the constitution. they have a slightest devotion and stand for nothing -- they have a slavest devotion and stand for nothing, not for medicare, not for the environment, not for helping the economy. they don't stand for anything other than a slavist devotion to a criminal. so for this country to get back on the right track, the republican party is going to have to be defeated in 2022. furthermore, until they change who they are. it is a lot of white nationalists. it is a party of white nationalists and a party of white nationalist christians.

for the people that are not that -- the biggest danger to our country, the biggest danger to democracy, the biggest danger to our security is the republican party. host: we are going to go next to karen in alabaster, alabama, on the republican line. caller: hey, good morning. so this is, to me, it is not even a republican versus democrat issue anymore. it is a political elite establishment that is in washington, d.c., and the american people. and i am really concerned about our elections this november because of the executive order that joe biden signed back in 2021 for federal agencies to kind of help register people to vote, people who are getting federal benefits, from housing, food stamps, a ton of them.

and they are not being very transparent about it. but this message is not for them, this is for people who are listening. you have to get out and vote in november, and you have to get out and watch the polls. we really have to watch and make sure that they do not steal the election, like they did in 2020. that is the conclusion i am coming to. if you think it is bad now, you have seen nothing yet, if they win the house and the senate. so i am really scared for our country. host: let's hear now from lauren in st. paul, minnesota, on the independent line. caller: good morning. i will give you a two-fold answer. the first one is we spend far too much time not talking about the beauty of the constitution and the founding of america and too much emphasis on tearing it down. i will just talk about the separation of power, executive,

judicial, and legislative branch. brilliant idea. not that the founding was great, there have been problems, but the framework of the constitution needs to be taught in middle and high school kids so that people can understand how the citizens can make this a better republic. that is the first thing. the second thing kind of goes to the constitution, we have too much consolidated power in washington, d.c., looking for a one-size solution for the 50 states. where politicians, and i will even say spineless politicians, who prefer to play to the extremes rather than going back to the constitution and looking at -- remembering that the purpose of the constitution was to limit the role of the federal government with all other powers relegated to the states.

so one would be more civic education. and we need washington, d.c., to let more governance come out of the states and local municipalities. thank you for the opportunity, and i think you're doing a good job thus far. host: now to indian trail, north carolina, a call on the democratic line. caller: yes, i have a very simple statement. i don't understand that lady who doesn't understand, if she watches anything but fox, there is no platform, no direction for the republican party. all that station, all the other republican stations, all they do -- and i am a kind person, a christian -- they do not know

what christianity is. it says in the bible, those who stood with the fort truong -- tongues, like trump, they are evil and will put their people on you. that lady says if we do not get out and vote for republicans, what are we voting for? all they do, i am a psychology major, all they do when they open their mouths on tv is threatened, talk about how bad the democrats are, talk about how they are trying to take over the world. they are trying to help people puled -- help people. joe biden has made more effort in trying to come up with programs that will help people, average, ordinary people. i am 78 years old, and that man has not been a rock star like trump thinks he is, but he is a

good man. he might have got a drug -- a drug addict son, but he is not a drug addict. and he is not a liar. and i do not like the republicans, like mccarthy, thinking he is so godlike, and a day after january 6, he knew trump had done wrong. trump did -- as they say, invading mar-a-lago, the man committed a crime just by removing the papers. that's it. he has already committed a crime. there is nothing else to prove. he took papers that were supposed to be going to our government to preserve. he took them. he took 15 batches the first

time. and the second time, it was gobs of boxes he took. host: ok, let's hear next from scott in michigan on the independent line. go ahead, scott. caller: yeah, after that lady, i just had to turn the channels. and not to fox here it i watch is really news more, lady -- i watch israeli news more, lady. but we have to get started at the borders and go up. we cannot give people free phones, free this, free that. walkover, don't know -- don't do nothing to us. then we have our proud people in new york. we should have a 20% tax on ar guns, just another way of trying to get your gun. other than that, this president can have a new fence around his

house, but not our government along the border. these people that bitch about fox and all the democrats, we argue all the time, my friends and i that are democrats, we love it. but that is us. it is not the government. the government should be protecting our property on the border. not just saying, come on down, joe. host: ok. next up is vicky in orlando, florida, calling on the republican line. caller: good morning. i just wanted to talk about democracy. democracy has been dead. i do not know why people quote the constitution and you're right, i'm right -- your rights, my rights -- we have no rights in america at the moment. they get our vote every two

years, every four years, get on all your news channels to say what they are going to do, what they are not going to do. and once we vote them in, they go washington or the state capitals, and they don't give a crap what they do. they don't do nothing for the american people. that deal joe biden passed as a joke. it is going to stop inflation. i mean, really. y'all must really think you got some crazy folks out here in the world. but you know, that is away way government has been for hundreds of years. so i get it, you know, and never gonna get no better. as long as we vote these people in up there that don't care about the voters. and when you stop -- when they start caring about the american people, then things might change. but if they want to give every illegal alien that crosses that

border a handshake, clothing, food, a high-end hotel to live in, where we got americans here living on the street. something wrong with our country. and i don't even know what to say about it when the president won't even go down there and try to the border together. he acts like it ain't even going on. is he asleep or is he dead? i can't understand that. but thank you, ma'am. host: on the line next is thelma on the democratic line in new york city. are you there? caller: yes, i am here. good morning. host: go ahead with your comments. caller: yes, good morning. the reason for my call is to say

--i am here, can you hear me? host: yes. caller: the reason for my call -- hello, can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. let's come back to thelma. let's bring up wayne in maryland on the independent line. caller: good morning. yes, i would like to say, first of all, the price of oil is not controlled by our government or anybody's governments, per se. it is controlled by several companies and the price of gas, in our country, that is controlled exclusively by the oil companies. and the oil companies are trying to play kingmaker in our country by raising the price of gasoline

to bring down the current government and bring back the former government. because they figure it was a much more better atmosphere for business, for making big money. next thing i would like to say is -- was made for the worst of the worst, and that is exactly what donald trump needs to do today. thank you. host: we are listening to your calls today about solutions to put the u.s. on the right track. republicans, as a reminder, your line is (202) 748-8001. democrats call (202) 748-8000. independents, dial (202)

748-8002. before we get to more of your calls, let's listen to republican representative dan crenshaw. he was on cnn's "state of the union" yesterday, and he distanced himself from those in the party who are using rhetoric like defund the fbi after the search of president trump's florida home. [video clip] rep. crenshaw: it is crazy and makes us seem like extremist democrats. marjorie and aoc can join defund the fbi if they want. but we want transparency. the criticism against the fbi and doj are fully warranted. it is not those criticisms that lead to a crazy person attacking an fbi -- >> i'm not saying that, i am saying people who say kill fbi -- rep. crenshaw: it is completely wrong, but that is not were 99%

of republicans are at, of course. what frustrates republicans when you hear the criticism is, last time i checked, you have even the white house spokesperson saying, yes, people should be out protesting in front of a supreme court justice's home, even after brett kavanaugh had his life threatened over this. it is a double standard that frustrates republicans when we talk about these issues. doesn't make it right. i like to be on the side of it is all bad, no matter who is saying it. host: let's get to some more of your calls about whether the u.s. is on the right track and what you would like your elected officials to hear. our next caller is from nimitz, california. republican line. clavon, hello. caller: i am calling in because

the state of the progress of our nation is headed downhill. i was raised in southern paris, and the values that they taught me is greatly diminished from back in the 1970's when people would help people and really just -- host: are you still there? caller: yeah, i am here. we're supposed to be coming together more better with the democrats. it don't look like we're coming together at all. we are may more divided than we have ever been in the history of my living. and i just feel that more dialogue needs to be in progress

between both parties, and we need to work together instead of further apart. host: let's hear now from jonathan in canton, ohio, on the democratic line. caller: yes, good morning. i would like to make a point of view. it is interesting everyone has, republicans and democrats have the party view of how they feel. in all reality, how trump is saying that the election was stolen, the precipice of where he is coming from is that blacks are not considered a whole human being in the constitution and that we are 3/5. so the people that are calling in on the republican line,

especially after the supreme court overruled the voting rights, and people today say quit talking about the past, let's talk about what is really going on, the real precipice of what the election was stolen for, that white people, republican people, feel that the election was stolen because black people are not qualified to vote. now when they start talking the truth and democrats get real with it, then it can be democratic and can be a democracy. but until -- until everybody stops trying to out-talk each other, it is still going to be a bunch of lies. in the government often lies. some people calling in need to get a reality check when you call and talk about christianity, it is disgusting. because christianity is a religion.

spirituality and grace comes from jesus, through god. so don't -- host: let's hear now from jimmy in fairhaven, massachusetts. he is calling as an independent. caller: yeah, good morning. you know what the big problem is here in our country today? we spending too much money. we are basically getting rid of all the money that we have saved in the treasury. we need to pay down our national debt, cut spending. and we have given $30 billion to the ukraine, and we keep spending and spending. you know, the reality is we are going broke. and republicans and democrats keep putting it to uncle sam's high-interest credit card, and we're going broke. and we are not going to have a country left. host: up next is a republican from alabama.

caller: good morning. i want to start by -- the man that just called in from ohio and the lady from north carolina, i do not know where they live or what kind of income they have or anything like that, but they need to recheck. as far as him bringing up black folk, we live in 2022, we do not live in the 1900's anymore. and i think we all are created equal. that is what my bible says. to use a color to justify your point don't hold water with me. all the stuff that went on way back -- none of us were here then. move on. get another life.

but i do not consider myself a religion, i consider myself a relationship with god. and i serve the god. and another thing, who is in control of the climate? who invented the climate? who was here before we were? all of this is created by god. i do not care what you do, you're not going to control the climate. almighty god is. host: ok. next is jackie in missouri, calling as an independent. caller: yes, ma'am. first of all, the government has to work together, republicans and democrats. when the people of this country

see that our government is so divided, the people are going to be divided. and i think that if the democrats, because lord knows i have tried to give joe biden a chance and the democrats, but when i see the crime that is going on in this country and the people that is getting hurt, the innocence of our country being killed every day, it is heartbreaking, especially when those in the control right now never speak on the crime problem. too much innocence is being lost in this country. something needs to be done about it. thank you very much. host: the next call is on the republican line, savannah, tennessee. caller: hi.

host: hi, connie. caller: nice to be able to talk to you today. i have listened to everybody's comments and statements. i was raised as an agricultural -- farmers daughter, of five children. he always believed -- him and my mom or from the democratic party. but the democratic party does not stand for the things they say. they say they are going to do certain things, and they don't do it. this term, they have not done what they say that they are going to do. now, since biden has came in, everything has -- prices has gone up, inflation has gone up,

rent has gone up, the interest rates have gone up, gas has gone up. everything has gone up. jobs -- people are not working. they sat there when the riots came on. and they got unemployment way too long, and because of the coronavirus, we could not help it. but this has become a match between the political parties. and it is we, the people, of the constitution. if we vote and we vote for president trump, at least he did what he said he would do. whether he was in debates and this one crossed him, slander was done. but they have done everything they can to discredit him and

his party, the republicans. i do believe that things has gotten totally out of hand, the media, everything, to the point that people are so afraid of their future, of what their children is going to have, they probably will not even have medicare, if we even do, the baby boomers. you cannot even -- you are scared to even go out in the cities anymore. there's drive-by shootings. and i am not against any race or anybody. i am like that woman, god created us all equal. but that was not a time to warrant -- and a certain race or color that matters. host: let's hear from jerry in

martin, north dakota, on the democratic line. caller: hi, good morning. i still believe the 10 commandments are the laws of the land, and i do not care how many laws you got. they are the main laws. there are so many things going wrong. how in the world can you possibly say that trump did not break the laws? he stole from us. and he broke the law, and he should be held responsible for his errors. as far as immigration goes, we can use those people. we need people to help with food and stuff. and if nothing else, let them plant trees on all the thousands of acres of mountains. replace them that have burned, put them to use. but i cannot see anybody who

would back up this man. he is evil, and there's no getting around it. and these people think he done so good, what in the world did he do for you? where did he spend his trillions of dollars? did you benefit? i didn't, and i am on social security. first thing he did when he came in was raised medicare $29. so i do not see where you think this guy is so great. he is carrying far too much baggage to be put in as president again, and i do not think he can run again, according to the constitution. if you are involved in an insurrection, you are not to. come on, people, wake up. host: let's hear from angela on the independent line, from massachusetts. caller: thank you for taking my call, and thank you for c-span.

a lot of these people calling our seniors. i am 86 years old, and the first am i voted i voted for john f. kennedy. after that, i did not vote because we had such a shortage of gasoline. with the presidents, every single democrat, even lyndon johnson, he has made -- oh, let's make the new deal. this provided families, single-family homes, that they can get all kinds of subsidies and rents and everything. this has contributed to a lot of our crime in our cities. unfortunately, most of the blacks are killing the plaques. chicago, cleveland, los angeles, new york city. these are crime-infested democratically run cities. i live not far from boston, and

i hope this does not permeate into our city. because i like to go up there and visit with friends and family. but i am scared to death to ever put my foot in new york city. the crime there, and eric adams said he was going to take care of things. it has gotten much worse. and now all these people are coming into our country. how are they going to find jobs? my daughter lives in california and she was in a supermarket, and a panhandler came up to her and said, can you spare me a few dollars? my daughter looked at him and gave him a few dollars, and she said, why aren't you working? he said, i am undocumented. you know something, i do not want to face panhandlers at the supermarket because people are here illegally and doing this. another thing about joe biden, he lost $80 billion of military

equipment in afghanistan. he made that a really tragic thing. 13 of our most wonderful soldiers were killed there. and we still have people there. he said he was going to leave no one behind. there are still americans left behind there. and the saber rattling out in the china sea, the chinese are just wishing that joe biden will stay in office so they can go into taiwan, who makes a lot of the chips that we need to use in our technology. south korea and all those countries there are afraid that the chinese are going to go into taiwan and take this strategic place. and a lot of these people in washington are indebted to the chinese. nancy pelosi's husband is indebted to the chinese. even our illustrious mcconnell, his wife is chinese and he is involved.

and loads and loads of property and farmland, especially that woman from north dakota, they are buying farmland near our bases. host: now to bob in taxes on the republican line. -- bob in texas on the republican line. caller: yes, the solution to our problem is really simple. and it is the first sentence of the entirety of the u.s. law -- do you know what that might be? host: tell us. caller: go to the law library at your courthouse and go to u.s. code, first book, first page, first sentence. and there it talks about the laws of nature and of nature's

god. we -- william blackstone was the scholar that all of our founders reference more than anybody. and he said that no human laws should be suffered to contradict these, the laws of nature and of nature's god. and that is creation and the bible. and that is the foundation of everything we do. so instead of talking about all these issues, we got to get back to the principles. the second sentence, you will find all men are created equal. it is like in god's image with inalienable lights, life, liberty, property, and the separate -- pursuit of happiness. any politician, crenshaw, whoever, that you have on, just ask about the first sentence of u.s. law and the importance of that, and that will get us back on track.

and i certainly appreciate c-span and you, and i am sorry, i do not know your name. host: thank you. jim is on the call next, on the democratic line, from new jersey. caller: i am a democrat, been a democrat for more than 50 years. and the democratic party today is not the democratic party it was. there has always been divide within the party. you had the jfk democrats. and it down south, you had those who had different beliefs. the sad thing is i think the jfk democrats are gone. we have taken an compartmentalized everybody. that small group, this small group, that small group. and everybody has a complaint, and the media amplifies this,

our differences. it is not our differences that make us good, they make us successful. it is our commonalities, it is what we have in common with each other. until we get back to the principal of that and the media stops separating everybody, it is not going to change. just think about 2020, the summer. they attacked the white house. that was called peaceful protest. they burned a church. several secret service agents were injured. that was peaceful protest. how about minnesota? all that damage. peaceful protest. it is a blm protest. they burned him alive, nobody

mentioned that, did they? all these different things were people have been killed, and they call it peaceful. the media has to get back to actually reporting facts instead of opinion. host: let's go now to eric in belleville, illinois, on the independent line. caller: good morning. how you doing? hello? host: yes, good. go ahead. caller: i just want to say i think they are doing a great job . it has already been prophesies d, and god bless y'all. host: all ride, let's go next to gary. he is on the republican line, from georgia. caller: yes, ma'am, good morning. i have been watching c-span for probably about 35 years now. and i have noticed the most

common denominator here with everything is people don't have the true facts in front of them. you have your facts, i have my facts. well, whose facts are real? whose facts are true? i think c-span would do everybody a great favor if y'all took the top 25 issues that separate democrats and republicans and separate them out by what is truth, what is belief, and what is disinformation, as they like to call it. nobody can read other people's minds. so to make blanket assumptions about people overstuff that you

cannot tell what is the real truth, you are just wasting your time and your energy. i think everybody would be served a little bit better if we all step back, look at things, find out what is real and what isn't real. thank you. host: we now go to paulette in monticello, florida, on the democratic line. caller: immigration should be fair and equal across the board, regardless of kickback. example, some people can come and set up stores and shops and get loans and some people can't, and that is not fair. next, the harassment to women

that a politician admitted to before being elected and the fact that the politician also stated that they do not want to pay taxes attracted a lot of people that want to harass women or do not want to pay taxes. next, we really need to pay attention to the local races and the state legislators and the laws that are being passed, because the news is showing things that really is not important as the state laws that are being passed. lastly, everyone loses in a war. i do not think people really want that. they need to work together. thank you. host: let's hear now from rick in iowa, who is calling on the independent line. caller: hi there.

i just wanted to say that i think there's three things to do. you got a great topic this morning. three things to do to get the american people back on track. number one is have term limits in the government. number two, a flat income tax. and number three is treat people like you like to be treated. and that is my comment. thanks a lot. host: let's hear from phil on the republican line, charleston, south carolina. caller: how are you all doing this morning? i just have one piece of advice for the americans in this country. i hear all these people on here talking about all these immigrants. what all the americans in this country need to do, all of you go to the schools, take some time, ride down to the school,

take a look around at all the hungry american children out there. go down the road, look at all the american people living in cars. look at the american veterans living on the streets. we cannot fix this country until the americans stand up. all americans need to stand up for americans right now. the rest of the world is hurting, that is for dang sure. but america is hurting real bad, and the americans are not used to this. the americans live here for freedom, for peace, for prosperity, to work there butts off their lives to have something, so this government can take everything from you, let your kids suffer, let your elderly mom and dads suffer, while you work your butt off and they tax us so they can give the money away to other countries and other families. the americans need to start standing up for americans. donald trump had it right,

america comes first. without america, there is no world. it will end, i promise you. host: let's hear now from jeff in indianapolis, calling as a democrat. caller: good morning. yes, thank god for c-span. c-span, you are definitely fair and balanced, unlike fox, which means fascist over exaggerating, that is what they do at fox, so thank god for c-span. you guys are very pro-democracy. as far as whether we are on the right track or not, i just want to say thank god for joe biden. is he perfect? no. but he sure is better than the last one we had sitting in the white house who basically tried to commit a coup and stop the democratic process of transfer of power. and if they think for one minute

that donald trump -- the so-called maga people, if they think donald trump really cares about them, no, he doesn't. he could care less about you. i thought they republican party of law and order, and now the republicans are about defunding the fbi and are making threats against the fbi. the republican party is definitely not the party of abraham lincoln anymore. they are now a party of qanon, alex jones, and david duke. they should never return to power after what they tried to do on january 6, 2021. overthrowing our nation. black lives matter, antifa never try to overthrow the nation. but the proud boys in the old keepers, yes, they tried. i want to emphasize the word tried. if it were black folks that did

try to overthrow the government, they would have never made it to the front steps. so the republican party want to establish a fascist regime, which we are not going to allow, so they can weigh take -- so they can maintain white male privilege. thank you. host: next is rhonda in sacramento, calling as an independent. caller: good morning to you. it is an honor to speak with you. all my life i have been from a family of democrats. i am 63 years old in the next couple of days. and your question is, how are we going to get on the right track? when biden and kamala were running for the presidential seat, those were their words, that we want to put this country back together. at the time, because i did not want to vote for trump, i said,

all right, that sounds really good to me, i am going to vote democratic, and i put my ballot in behind biden and kamala, because they said we're going to put this country back on track. since he has been sitting in office, all i hear is talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. here in sacramento county of california and across california, we are in a homeless crisis. it has been said that in the los angeles area, there have been busloads of immigrants coming from the border. biden promised, and kamala did, before biden said we are going to get the border in order. where and when is that going to be done? our homeless crisis is not only with americans now but with

those coming across the border with their children living in panic. our crime here in sacramento valley is over the top. we do not even have enough cops to walk the streets. so this morning, i called to say to you, a couple days before my earth day, that i want -- before my birthday, that i want someone in that seat, not biden, not trump, someone who will say i am going to be the people's president, not democrat, not republican. but i want something done for the people because we are all struggling now. we are struggling. i appreciate you taking my call. welcome to "washington journal." i hope we see you more often. goodbye. host: thanks, and happy birthda y. next is anthony in minneapolis, calling as a democrat. caller: good morning.

i would like to say that i hope you in your other job might look into this. why is it that white people continue to holler about chicago? they are killing people everywhere. all of these mass shootings. it is white people. you cannot go anywhere. now it has got so bad, the police cannot even go to the fbi. the country is in a lot of trouble. and whether they know it or not, there will not be in america. why is it that nobody can see it ? they constantly blame the president because nothing is getting done. the senate and the house have to do the bills. stop being more on send narrowminded -- stop being morons and narrowminded.

americans are always worrying about what the other person is getting. what about south america and the drugs? why don't we fix south america? would you want someone to come tell you that your daughter is going to be a prostitute? hell no. so why do you think somebody else, because they speak another language, is ok with that? you constantly vote in the same white people that do not give a damn about you white people. look, $2.5 trillion they gave to rich people. they did not give you anything. i mean, it is ridiculous. wake up. most of those people that were in those riots you're talking about were white people. 90% of those people were white. you people are losing your minds . we are going to have a war soon, and you guys are perpetuating it, listening to people that

want war, trump and his gang. host: let's hear from michael calling on the republican line, from pittsburgh. caller: good morning, c-span, and thank you for taking my call. a general, to paraphrase, he said history is doomed to repeat it -- those who do not learn from history is doomed to repeat it. warren g. harding, the president right after world war i, there is a good book, and in it, he resurrects warren g. harding who has always been vilified as one of our worst presidents, just as grant was. then we really look into some of the things he did, you realize he did some things wrong and he was held accountable, but they

magnified all the problems, all the bad things he did, scandal that he was not aware of at the time and it was not as big a deal as the media made it out to be. ever since then, historians have demonized him. but what he did, he came to power right after world war i when we had a huge depression, economic depression. nobody had jobs and you had inflation, all kinds of things going on. and it was just horrible for the american people who were suffering. and you had a lot of soldiers coming back from world war i who did not have jobs coming home. much the same situations. and he just cut taxes, cut government spending

despite differences we may have in terms of ideology, there is common ground where we can be thinking. one of the first things that can be done is to reinstate the fairness doctrine. fox news, -- -- msnbc, all of

the media is being held in the hands of very few elite people who continuously so dissension -- sew dissension among the people. another thing that needs to be looked at is where is the american treasure going? there is a reason china is about to eclipse the united states as the world's greatest economic power. in the 1970's, democrats and republicans exported the manufacturing base and jobs of americans overseas. we are embroiled in meddling in everyone else's business but our own. we have overthrown or attempted to overthrow 50 different foreign regimes since world war ii. right now we are trying to overthrow the russians, the

venezuelans, the iranians. we are meddling in everybody else's business, spending trillions or billions of dollars, i don't want to exaggerate to the ukraine. host: let's take a quick break. coming up we will hear from ceo david sokol, discussing his book "america in perspective: defending the american dream for the next generation". later, we will hear from national education association president becky pringle. she will be talking about the national teacher shortage. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ >> it is time to wrap up the season with the c-span shop end of summer sale. now through tuesday at c-span shop.org, save 25% on apparel items. there is something for every

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and unfiltered -- >> my heart goes out to those people who have the best of intentions are overzealous, that i'm sure you know of. if i could have spent a little more time being a politician last year and less time being president, i would have kicked them out. i did not know they were doing -- what they were doing. >> find them on the c-span2 mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: we are back, and joining as is teton capital ceo david sokol. he is here to discuss his book "america in perspective: defending the american dream for the next generation." he co-authored this with the president of freedom works, a small government economic freedom group that is right-

leaning. welcome, dvaid. -- david. guest: thank you for having me. host: thank you for joining us. you spent their career in business, you work warren buffett's right-hand man at brookshire hathaway. --what made you decide to read this book and why now? guest: thank you, adam and i were talking about the good fortune we had to be born in america and to take it vantage of the american dream. i grew up in a low income family and people would say we were poor. it did not feel that way. we do not have a lot but we were never hungry and things of that nature. but my father emphasized the american dream and the ability to choose what you want to do and go after it. you would not be here --limited

here in america. adam and i realized we both come from immigrant parents -- grandparents. america seemed to be drifting away from recognizing the exceptional nature of this country and the opportunity the american dream provides. host: so the subtitle of your book, as you mentioned is " defending the american dream for the next generation." defending it from home? -- whom? can you explain how you got that title?? guest: it's a great question. we used it as a working title originally. as we continue to research and work together, we realized defending the american dream was a significant part of keeping american perspective. what we mean by that is it is too easy today as americans, we

want to separate ourselves, most becoming tribal and how we separate each other and break ourselves apart, find disagreement rather than common ground. american history is about being a melting pot. there is no multicultural nation on the planet that has been as successful on america --as america and being prosperous and multicultural. it is only in recent years that we decided to try to attack each other from different angles, separate us into different racial, religious or ethnic groups, sexual groups. the american dream really is available to everyone. but it has to be worked on and worked for. education plays an enormous role , but we need to get back to where we are americans first and other things later. i am proud to be a polish american.

my grandparents and my father taught us as young kids we are americans first. we can have our polish heritage second and be proud of that, but the american dream has to be viewed in the context of us being together, not separate entities. does not mean people can't retain their heritage or religious backgrounds or sexual orientations, etc. but that we are proud of america and we believe in what this exceptional country has done and the foundation of how it got here. host: we are talking with david sokol, who wrote a book titled " america in perspective." we want to get your calls so dial-in, republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, and

independents, your number is (202) 748-8003. you can start calling in. i want to bring in a little bit of a quote from your book, before we go there, you just mentioned the dividing lines of race, sexual orientation. do you think america has gotten worse on those issues, and if so, what was the golden age for that? it sounds like you said that we are more divided and we once were -- than we once were. guest: i think we have folks on both sides of the aisle want - - that want to divide us. one of the great things about the history of america if you go back to its founding and the good and bad eras of our country's history is we are a meritocracy. our self-governing nature, it is

not a small group of people that run our country, it is we the people that elect our representatives and can un-elect them. we have been through difficulties as a country and yet we have this self-healing nature. i think today america is more understanding of all the differences that each of us bring to this mosaic we call america. this multicultural, multireligious country. and sexual orientation. all of these things, i think over time we have gotten much better than the past. if you think back 30 or 40 years, many of the issues that today we are still working on were taboo to talk about. what is important to recognize in this process is that america has made mistakes in the past. we are not perfect and no one

said the american structure is perfect. the best that has been said is it is the best system ever devised to allow freedom for its citizens and to allow people to move in a positive direction based on the voice of the people. we have a long ways to go and i doubt we will ever reach perfection. it is not the nature of human beings to be satisfied with the status quo. but america has gotten tremendously better over the last 246 years and you can look at. as indications of that. it is in many ways harmful to our country to look at those issues using today's vision, using today's vision -- america has done a remarkable job of improving itself along the way through consensus of the people. host: let's pull up a quote from your book. it says, " right now the country

faces an assortment of threats, some novel, some social and economic. they must be avoided if we are to avoid existential pitfalls including insolvency, economic stagflation and cultural and social -- we sincerely believe america is in a difficult position right now. if things go the wrong way, there could be disastrous consequences for you, your family and future generations of america." i want to get into your perspective on those threats. let's start with what you see as economic threats. you talked about some of the entitlement programs under the new deal and lbj's great society

that you describe as welfare schemes. describe why you think those are economic threats to america. guest: you have to start with the facts, just facts as one of your colors -- callers said. just the recent interest rate increases that were necessary but painful, to hundred basis points or two interest points of --have increased the interest cost to our country 600 dollars a year. --$600 billion a year. the amount we are spending cannot be sustained forever. we are borrowing money from our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, not just our children. the various social safety nets we have, which are well intended, there is no question

-- social security, our welfare system. but the reality is systems we put in place 60 and 70 years ago are not necessarily providing the benefit intended. that does not mean anyone's intentions were bad in the 1950's and 60's. it just means from time to time, we need leaders who will take a moment to look at our system, look at the various ways we expend dollars and not just look to spend future dollars but how do we reuse those dollars in a more effective way? the reality is, if we look at the welfare system since the 1950's, we have just as high a poverty rate as we did then. yet we have a larger population. of even though the percentage is improved, the number of people is higher. that tells me and most economists the system is not working. we are not giving people the

helping hand we committed to. we are at third-generation folks living on welfare as a lifetime -- lifestyle, and i don't blame those and visuals. if you tell them they are victims and don't provide them a way through this, they will end up following what people before them did. what we need to do is look at the dollars we spend. we may need to spend more dollars but in a more appropriate way. it is those kinds of issues that i think, today, our elected officials on either side of the party don't look to the long haul. they look to getting reelected and that is a weakness we have. we as voters have to keep our politicians to their word. when a politician says he is going to reduce poverty in communities, we need to hold them accountable for those words. if they don't do it, we have the power to replace them. those economic issues are what

scare me. if we are able to put more people to work and off of welfare rolls, we can balance budgets in the future. host: i want to ask one more question before we go to callers. in terms of social threats, you have a term called the hr-ization of american life. can you explain what you mean by that term and how it is used through your book? guest: for me, it is a code word for this term called "wokeness." we are turning against each other. the way you solve discrimination is not to discriminate. and yet, we have started going in the opposite direction where we think there is a way to solve dissemination by using reverse dissemination, and that is never proven to be true. -- reverse discrimination and

that is never proven to be true. we are all americans, whether we are white, black, asian, catholic or muslim or jewish, whatever religion, whether we have different sexual orientations, we are all americans. we should not discriminate against anybody, any of those categories. the wokeness of today, cancel culture, we are losing what has made america rate, which is our consensusbuilding society over time. if some elite group says your views are not acceptable, we are going to cancel you, that is one of the worst things i can imagine for a country based on a consensus. i don't want any elites, myself or anyone else, if someone views me as elites, i should not tell

people -- get to tell people how to live their life. this is america for the people and we are losing that through wokeness, hr-ism and breaking down our multicultural society. host: let's go to the phone lines. we have cindy calling on the independent line from waukesha was constant -- , wisconsin. caller: thank you for having me on. host: what questions do you have for david sokol? caller: there are so many things he spoke about. multicultural should include teaching the truth and history of this country. i don't believe we have accepted the fact that we have created privileged lifestyle for the

white. i know you talked about the welfare system, and i agree with you, it does hold people back. but we have not come up with a solution. we are not educating everybody equally. we are not doing a lot of things we should be doing and we can look at a multitude of ways to correct that. that might help bring everybody into the fold so that certain groups don't feel excluded or persecuted. more woke isn't really a word about weick -- white protecting them selves against black, it is -- and our country has held all races back of lower economic standings. we have not figured out how to fix that without it being a welfare state. when we can fix education and truly give everybody an equal

opportunity without putting them in debt as lower income, we need to educate everybody and except our own history and teach the truth of our own history as a country so we can all accept each other as a group and not segmented tribes, balkanization as you say. how do we find the common ground? how do we teach the common ground? how do we go backwards or forwards with truth and not whitewash? host: david, your thoughts? guest: yeah, i think there are great comments. the reality is, and i would urge folks to read this book -- all of the proceeds go to not-for-profit's so i am not promoting it for myself.

i could not agree with you more. we have broken ourselves down in the key issue, if there is one thing the data shows, is that education is the true leveling field for all races and segments of our society. we've got a broken educational system. there is no excuse for america falling sobol -- so far behind in comparison to other countries. we've got two things, letting teachers teach and teaching the basics first. reading, writing and arithmetic. those may seem to be boring subject's to some, the reality is if our children can't speak properly, write properly and communicate properly, if they don't understand basic maths and sciences they will struggle in the economy.

that does not mean everybody needs to be an engineer or scientist, but we have to get the basics first. there is plenty of time to teach kids beyond the basics, but if we don't get the basics we are dooming children to a second-class life in this country. that is on acceptable. one thing i believe strongly in our charter schools, finding school systems that can compete with our existing broken system. that is not a criticism of all teachers. i have several family members that are great schoolteachers. they love their job. but they often point out that the structure they are in limits their ability to teach the way they believe they should and they are not given enough time with the basics. i think the caller's comments are important. the way we write down this -- break down this balkanization is to give everyone an education and we are not doing that.

host: let's go to someone in arizona on the republican line. caller: good morning, c-span. david, i know you are trying to do positive thoughts and i'm sure your book has those. the lady before me on the phone try to talk about it. the first thing is the department of education needs to be dissolved. it needs to be local control by local parents, period. in terms of controlling the cost of spending and the trillions of dollars that was eating us alive, you can't have 287 departments in the federal government, period. it has got to reduce romantically and return the things to our legislation back to the states. the other side of spending, we were at a point where we need to have a president that is going to close the border.

the border needs to be closed at least for five years. no more immigrants coming into the country. i don't know if there is a way to get them to go back in a peaceful manner. i am all for it. and by the millions, to go back. the positive side of legislation is --and the thing i can't get about the biden administration is why has congress allowed him to literally revoke the commerce law? why can a president have the ability to shut down the most valuable asset we have in the world, and that is oil? oil can take the trillions of dollars that we have in debt and eliminated just by selling oil for $100 a barrel.

host: i'm going to step in and asked, david, the caller -- mentioned immigration and there is a chapter in your book. -- guest: what is hard for me and most americans to get their minds around, i am a grandson of immigrants from poland, adam is from central europe, my co-author. we both believe in the multicultural nature of america, it is one of the things that has made us rich culturally as a nation. illegal immigration is a different matter. it is fascinating to see the number of cities that are having immigrants brought to them and they are saying it is unfair, a city the size of new york cannot

possibly take care of several hundred. yet they have no issue with those illegal immigrants being forced upon smaller cities throughout the southern border. it is hard for the average american to get their mind around why we have laws and don't enforce them. but the point i would make, the caller made one point about getting people to go back home peacefully. i think congress will have to get its mind around the fact that going on 30 years now, our government has not really enforced our immigration laws, particularly on the southern border. to penalize people who came here and in many cases were almost invited here to cross the border illegally, we need to deal with that population in an intelligent fashion. one of the things you have to do to be able to do that is to have a order -- border.

if you agree to give those people over time citizenship, assuming they earn it, you can't leave the border open to unmitigated illegal immigration. i have a neice, niece in law, my nephew's wife, who took three years to come here legally even though she was married to an american. she went to the system properly as did my grandparents. and those people are great. what we need to stop immigration that is illegal and repair the immigration system and only congress can do that. it is clear this president is not going to enforce the immigration laws. we need congress to step up. this has been going on too long and it is causing too much heartache for too many people, including illegal immigrants.

we are the greatest multicultural country on the planet and we need to stop these self-inflicted wounds. one aspect of this that is mind blowing to me is the problem coming across our southern border. -- fentanyl problem coming across our southern border. we are not taking steps to control this and it puts all of our youth at risk. immigration is critical to the future of our country, we should not stop immigration but we should make it legal and enforce our laws. host: let's hear now from craig on the democratic line calling from virginia. go ahead. caller: good morning, mr. sokol. guest: good morning. caller: the young lady two calls ahead of me from wisconsin

pretty much stole my thunder about the woke movement. what i find so disturbing is for us to not be able to acknowledge who we are as a country -- i am a black american. it seems when we express ourselves, we are constantly being suppressed. you always hear about the inner-city, chicago, which is where i was born. new york city, l.a., oakland. but you never hear about rural parts of this country. i was in the service, so i served in a lot of rural areas. i will tell you that education, when it comes to diversity or the differences between races, is at an all-time low. for certain groups of people to turn their back on your own

history and be afraid to learn about themselves, no matter how far you run from your history, you have got to face it and you are going to be there. the problem that this country has is it has to wake up and realize, in order for us to go forward, we have to go together. as far as the illegal immigration, i think it is corporations, banks, along with companies hiring illegals, it was good for a long time. now they are making it a political issue. obama's administration had the lowest migration in like 20 years before that. i don't understand the problem with what is going on at the border. there politicizing it in order to utilize it to stay in power. they need to -- sure, the border needs to have regulations.

but the banks, those coyotes are bringing those people up with loans. those people can afford to come from central america all the way to this country. they get loans before they get here and they have to pay them back. they are coming to this country that way and they have been doing it for years. host: david, we have heard a couple of callers mention american history and telling the truth. what are your thoughts about that topic, of what should be taught about american history when it comes to race relations particularly? guest: it is a great question. the caller us -- is exactly right. the history of our country, one

of the things you will find in our book that is important is we don't shy away from going out completely the history of this country and particularly the negative parts. the reason we don't shy away from particularly slavery and the civil war and reconstruction thereafter is because on one hand, they were horrible portions of our history. but on the other hand, they are the part of our history we should be the most proud of. i know that sounds odd. but the fact of the matter is this is one of the only countries in the history of this planet that healed itself. slavery was horrible. it never should've existed here or all over the world where it started. it is not the way you treat your fellow man and we all should agree to that. but the reality is back in the 1700s it did exist. we are one of the only countries on this planet, the only country

that went to war with itself to do away with it. we are one of the only countries that looked forward to continue to self heal. i think american history is one of the most important things for our youth to be taught in school and it should be accurate american history. but accurate american history is different than a history of somebody who looks back from 2022 and decides they are going to put moral standards on people 250 years before them without taking into account the societal expectations throughout the world and the united states. it is interesting when we look at how our country has self healed, women received a vote many years after african-american males proceed --received the vote.

they both should have had the vote when the country was formed, but the reality is the societal norms of the time, females did knock at the vote until the 1900s and is that right? in hindsight, i am glad they got the vote. but it showed that we have to be honest about our history and the evolution of our history. the dutch no one i know that has a rational mind could argue that slavery in any form is appropriate. almost 8% of the population of this country died to do away with this country. many african-americans that joined the military where they were allowed to join to that effort, and many died. slavery should not have existed, i could not agree more.

but we had a serious issue within our country called slavery and we routed it out. and we still need to be better on race relations, not only with african-americans but all races. but find another country that went to war with itself. as a predominantly white nation, to purge slavery. i think it is important when we think about history to think about the negative pieces we have learned but we also need to be honest about what is good about america. host: our nextcall -- our next caller is on the independent line, sabrina from asheville, north carolina. caller: hi. i have found the biggest problem

i -- it creates a financial hardship throughout your life. [indiscernible] they are doing it anyway. i recently learned of something that is far more important. my brother was in the icu and i watched a nurse administer anesthesia to my brother and then i was told by policy not to perform cpr on their patients, and the hospital my brother was in was a trauma hospital. they have said if they cannot resuscitate their patients since

covid-19, the icu and the hospital has become a death zone. i don't know who helped them push that policy through. but that needs to be changed immediately. it has got to stop. i am so tired of these people oppressing laypeople and trying to kill us off like we are nothing. we need to fix the problems and i wish people would wake up and try to improve the future for our next generation. host: any thoughts on that? guest: first of all, my some of the for your family, losing your brother and not getting appropriate treatment. i wish i knew a solution to the immediacy of that problem, but having lost loved ones myself, it is not something that is easily resolved. i would say you are right to be angry about it and your right to

talk to people and change out leadership. we've got to start changing out local leadership when they promised things and don't deliver. whether it is mayors and city councilmembers, school boards, legislature -- legislators, these are fixable. maybe none of us will be completely happy with fix, but we have gone too long leaving old laws and old ways in place without looking and saying, how can we fix this system? a couple of years ago when it was identified that our veterans hospitals were a disaster, but is something we can fix. something we have a lot of expertise as a nation around. at the time it seems like we threw money at an existing problem.

as the veterans administration still the right way to help our veterans, or with the significant health care advantages through our country should we be providing them the access to go to any, does any hospital they want to? i don't know that that is the right answer, but the colors comments -- caller's comments should strike all of us with concern because we are hearing these things too often. we need to start electing local representatives that don't just tell us who -- what they want to hear but they do things they say they will do and they will show a demonstrated effort to solve these problems. we are not holding our elected officials i think accountable often enough. host: next we have michael on the democratic line. he is calling from deerfield beach, florida. caller: yeah, hi.

i was listening to you and i was struck by the capacity -- i will be honest, i understand it is internal psychiatry the culture you are speaking to come up which is what i was also searching because of these social problems. we listen to someone from other parties and we under -- wonder how an intelligent person can have such convoluted information. who can do that? why can that happen? how can you attack woke is him -- woke-ism and anti-fascist?

what is wrong with people like you and others, nothing is wrong with you, you had a bad childhood, but you are not damaged, you are problem -- perf ect for a damaged world. if you see a friends head blow up and you don't dive under a table when you hear a car backfire for the rest of your life something is wrong with you. that is what is social animal is, it is about a balance between self and group interest. certain segments of society will have huge self-interest, which is what we call libertarianism. that is why we have the natural order. there is the republican and far right trump gatherings speaking to things like libertarianism. that is where comes from. host: david, tell us a little

about your politics. are you a libertarian? what do you identify as politically and what are your thoughts about someone who does not live in washington about politics here at the nation's capital? guest: i am a registered republican. i would view myself as a fiscal conservative and social moderate. to be clear about my issue with woke-ism. it is not that anybody should have the right to say anything they want, i have a problem where people believe that their view should cancel someone else's. i don't think i should have a right to tell someone that they should not be woke or they should not say things that they view as whatever that term means to them, and is a very dangerous era where we are going and the

question begs this issue, florida as an example. florida is grappling with a lot of change as the rest of the change -- country is. there are religious people who don't have some beliefs. there are people whose brother passed away, she has experience as others don't have. that is the great thing about a country built on the consensus of the people. it takes time. on the other hand, if the prior caller is accepted on face value, he was clearly headed in the direction that authoritarian government is the right answer.

like royals, where a king and queen determine what is right and wrong. that is what our founding fathers left and they did it very reason. -- for a reason. they did not believe one half of 1% should rule the country. they believe we the people should rule the country. they set of institutions that could require us to have checks and balances. our three branches of government independently check and balance each other. when i hear people talk about they did not like certain rulings the supreme court made it, they want to stack the court or destroy the court, that is how countries destroy themselves. argentina is an example of a country that had every opportunity to be as successful as america, but when they decided to destroy the court system in the 1900s, they went direction and never recovered.

it is hard to have a government of the people because we are all different and there are 300 plus million of us. but the reality is if we allow ourselves to use the institutions that we have and force our elected officials to represent us, we will continue to get better. that is my message. while i vote conservatively from a financial perspective and moderately from a social perspective, i think the real issue i have is i am a proud american. and i am proud to be of polish descent. i think we all need to think of ourselves more in that direction and work to solve these problems. host: we have been chatting this morning with david sokol, ceo of teton. he also wrote a book with adam,

the title of the book is "america in perspective: defending the american dream for the next generation." thank you for being here. guest: it is a pleasure to be here, thank you to you and the callers. host: later we will hear from national education association president becky pringle, talking about challenges facing public school teachers but first it is open forum. or chance to weigh in on any political or public policy issue on your mind this morning. you can start calling in now and we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span rings you an unfiltered view of government. our newsletter, word for word, recaps the day, from halls of congress to daily press briefings to remarks from the president. stay up-to-date on everything

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get information, but only on c-span2 you get it straight from the source. no matter where you from or where you stand on issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happened here, or here, or anywhere, america is watching on c-span, powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: a comeback to washington journal. the lines are open, we want to hear from you about whatever political or public policy topic is on your mind is morning. just a reminder the number to call for republicans, guest: -- (202) 748-8001. democrats, your line is (202) 748-8000. independence dial (202) 748-8003 . you can also send us a text.

please steve is on the democratic line in austin texas. what is on your mind? caller: good morning. i was thinking, what is it about policy today that is making other people behave differently from how they were raised, values they learned in their churches, and i realize it is a honey boo boo nation. we are addicted to the drama. they are addicted to political drama and that's their attraction to a certain president, i don't even like to speak his name.

i want to remind the rest of us who are not part of the honey boo boo nation -- we are just anticipating the new political drama. host: let's go to philip in orlando calling as an independent. caller: good morning, young lady, you have been doing a fine job since you have been coming in. where do we start? this is amazing. i have been talking about this stuff for over 30 years since i was a student that was part of an immigration process at a preparatory school in virginia. i realize by that experience that -- how this is.

this describes a lot of the emotions and historical changes we had to go through to get here. one of the main things in the present generation of immigrants coming to america is that compared to the black population and native american population is that everything is sort of handed to them to a degree. we had to fight for everything we got. when it comes to learning about black history, i'm in a state where you can't even teach it. tell me what that is all about. at the end of the day, it is the people using blunt instruments called politicians to get what they want. they will do anything to maintain power. cheat, lie, steal. you have to take a second look in the mirror and check yourself out because you are not doing anything spiritual at all.

you're playing a game of politics. we have a bunch of people that are maintaining the status quo and robbing everything we have. that is my perspective. i wish i could share more, but maybe you'll get an understanding. host: let's go to jeff in missouri calling as a republican. guest: -- caller: i want to remind everyone of the true coup. the true coup is when hillary clinton lost and refused to accept it. they tried to say it is not her

president, they did not send the fbi after her president. the materials in trump's house ours of the trove can remind the world with the true history really is. the true coup comes from the democratic party, coming from hillary clinton's laws, obama and biden's intelligence agency investigating a sitting president, and propagating lies that now, in the day that we live in today, we all know that obama and biden did that. host: do you believe joe biden is not the president? caller: no, i believe he won because they out game tim -- gam ed him. i'm saying the real coup is 2016 when they did not accept it.

do you accept that president trump won? host: must go to our next caller. next. caller: yeah, that color brought up something about the election. the republican nominee, president trump tried to overthrow a legal election. what concerned me about that is he did not have no problem trying to take away my vote. i cast a legal vote, and now he wants to come in and lie about it and tell his reporters that i don't care what all of the courts said, my vote don't count. taken away and give to him.

that is not america and that is traitorous. and the one last thing. why is donald trump playing foot sies with putin in that meeting without any supervision? that tells me that he had those documents in his house with nuclear classified documents so he can transfer those to putin so putin can help him overturn the country. i don't understand why they vote for trump. he is a traitor. host: we have been talking a lot about supporters of former president trump and his critics, republican liz cheney lost her primary last week. let's hear from another

republican, representative andy barr from kentucky was on meet the press yesterday and talked about the defeat in the wyoming republican primary. he said it reveals a massive disconnect between what americans want in their politicians. >> i think it goes to show that election outcomes in a lot of these primaries, it goes to show these do not belong to politicians in washington. these belong to the american people and there is a massive disconnect between the priorities of politicians in washington and the concerns of the american people. back in my district in irvine, kentucky, mount sterling, richmond, not once has any of my constituents, republican or democrat, talked about the 2020 election, january 6, the committee in washington or any of these issues.

they are talking about not being able to afford putting food on the table, putting gas in their trucks and not being able to see their grandson again because he died of a fentanyl overdose because we don't have control over our southern border. that is what the american people care about and politicians who abscess about the past are not in touch with the american people. >> so you are saying republicans who are campaigning on donald trump selection to nihilism are making a mistake -- trump's election denial are making a mis take? >> i'm saying we are focused on things people care about. host: the lines are open, we are listening to your calls about what ever you think the news of the day is on politics and public policy. democrats, please dial (202)

748-8000, republicans, your line is (202) 748-8001, independent style (202) 748-8002, or a text message, (202) 748-8003. let's hope -- let's hear from maryland. >> thank you for taking my call. i wanted to point out from the last one who was here, i think he was not shortsighted with respect to using words, woke, etc., he is talking about symptoms of problems that go far beyond the scope of this conversation. for example, illegal immigration. if you want to really understand what happens and what is the

cause of illegal immigration, we have to go back. there's america, companies that want to destabilize the country and creating -- and the people on these indigenous lands were stripped of their property rights and the never developed a history event. go to a gentleman who estimated that since vietnam, he estimated upwards of 20 million innocent lives were taken by americans from vietnam, throughout the war and this area.

what i'm saying is if we go back in history, native americans, african americans who were disenfranchised came here and worked years with no concentration. once they ignore the causation and want to talk the symptoms that were created by an unjust cause. i would encourage all americans, and i agree we must go forward together, but we most go forward intelligently together with knowledge. thank you for taking my call. host: let's talk to joe from scranton, pennsylvania on the democratic line. caller: hi, there was a trip to china right after he got out of the white house and got a billion-dollar tax break.

-- thank you, goodbye. host: caller: i've been looking t statistics about how the republicans are demonizing law enforcement. the fbi investigated jfk, mlk. they did the gymnasts pretty bad it. i don't know how great they are. they demonized all police as races who were hunting down all minorities to kill them. democratic supporters wanted to attack court justices. would it be ok people protested the mar-a-lago raid. now they don't want to call it a raid because that seems too harsh.

this hypocrisy is ridiculous from the democrats. they act like 2020 didn't happen. that january 6 was the worst thing ever and republicans are against the government and the police. the democrats did that as well. they did it for a year. they did the same thing with voting in 2016. when the democrats protested it. they all wanted to not certified. now it's against the law and they want to throw these people out of congress. do people not see what's happened. host: mike is on the line on the independent line from miami beach. caller: good morning. i want to tie something the previous test said into current

politics. in terms of looking back in american history, every day we have celebrated the positive things about this country since its inception. i don't think there's any shortage of celebration and emulation of the positive things about this country, specifically the declaration of independence and bill of rights. the ability for those documents to evolve and change with the times. it's a survival skill that's going to be necessary for the united states to survive as a country. if you look at history, are there any countries or nation states or territories that are intact today that were then? we have a lifespan as a country. we can make ourselves healthy and last longer. we can make ourselves friendly

and have more allies. we can choose to defiantly ignore all of our shortcomings and start throwing fists at everybody and end up dead on the sidewalk. when it comes to looking at american history, i think almost everybody on the right has no true empathy or understanding of what has taken place. you will have italian americans who say what about us? irish-americans like my family, we were persecuted. it's true. every ethnicity, every race has been wronged in some way by someone. the policy of this country like the caller from maryland would say, the first use of the marines outside the united states was to go on behalf of a

single corporation to overthrow a government to make it more friendly. hawaii, overthrown. guatemala, overthrown. chile, overthrown. we destroyed katie so they would have to export to us. that continues today. host: let's hear from jane on the democratic line in louisiana. caller: i want to talk about donald trump. anybody with two brain cells knows that he is a liar, a con man it a traitor, and a racist. what draws people to him is that last thing. he's a racist. we've got people that claim to be christians following him. donald trump has more in common with the devil than jesus. now they've made donald trump

their lord and savior. it's not going to work. host: up next is lou in tampa calling as a republican. caller: hello, america would thank you for c-span. this talk by the democrats saying that trump is an anti-semite, that's not right. he wanted peace through the abraham accords. also, in jerusalem. he put the embassy in jerusalem. i want to say one more thing. i was recently in louisiana. in new orleans.

we have a terrible problem with the homeless. all over this country. we need to do something because people are on the cliff, myself included about rent skyrocketing. what's most important is food on the table in the roof over our head. that's what people need. host: let's hear from carl calling from new orleans on the independent line. caller: good morning. i've been listening this morning. i enjoy c-span. if this is the example of the american electorate, we are extremely uninformed and uneducated about the political system. everyone is speaking about their feelings. partial understanding of what's

going on, everyone is getting their description from how they feel. the number one issue we have is that we have a two-party system and one party is not for democracy. if you want talk of inflation, immigration, any topic you want to choose needs to be on the back burner at this moment. the only thing that counts is that we have a party that has become fascist. host: our next caller is ted on the democratic line in oregon. caller: good morning. i just want to say i commend every c-span host. i discovered the show 20 years ago in the morning drinking

coffee doing my job, one of most important jobs on the planet that deals with every person every day. sometimes, i listen and i listen. i've got to say that every c-span host from peter to greta to everyone, i would take anyone to vegas because you've got the best poker face i've ever seen with all the wtf moments. thank you. host: our next caller is carl on the republican line, calling from michigan. caller: this is carl. i just want to say, i think it's a woman's right to choose, not having a man control them. i expect all women to vote this.

this year. to me, it's unreal to see women become second-class citizens because of men controlling everything. they need to get out to vote or they deserve what happens to them. a man should never control a woman's right to choose. host: the next caller is robert on the democratic line from north carolina. caller: i think joe biden is doing a great job. he's been able to get the build back better past. there are jobs out there in the economy. there are a lot of people who need to take those jobs. liz cheney is speaking about

trump and who he really is. i think republicans of listened to that and get a better understanding of what's going on. i think looking at the senators, they need to come on board and listen to the democratic point of view. they need to work together. we did this when they worked together, back when clinton was in office, when reagan was in office. they worked together. i think they need to have a clear understanding to bring that back and get things done for the people. i think the state department needs to work on bringing brittney griner home. there's not a lot of talk about that. i think we need to try and get her home. i appreciate you. thank you very much. host: let's hear now from steve

on the independent line calling from arkansas. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. you had a clip from nbc interview with somebody i suppose was a gop candidate. somebody should ask him or should tell him joe biden offered a solution to reduce inflation. he wanted to invest $750 billion. that should increase supply. it should help competitive markets. that should reduce inflation. you may agree or disagree, but what is your solution? what is your plan to reduce inflation? are you going to beg the king of saudi arabia? are you going to beg vladimir putin to help you with oil production?

are you going to stop helping ukraine so that vladimir putin is pleased? what is it that you are going to be doing. thank you again. hopefully, we will hear from gop colleagues. host: mike is calling on the democratic line from california. caller: hello. thank you. i was going to say, it's amazing how you are doing. you could have pedro and jesse show you were that kyl button is. anyway, hopefully you won't do that on me. the number one thing is get hoover's name off the fbi building. let's have a popular vote. in writing to my company i deal

with, i would encourage you to get the film of donald trump giving his little talk about you knew i was a snake. some film about where he did that demonstration of his and like where he went icebox, cookies, and did it over again. as far as -- i would draw attention to the very first tee party rally. they were in new england. they had the rebel flags and the images of obama. it the cooler heads said that's too crazy. when you see these pickup trucks driving around with gigantic

american flags, they would really like for those to be rebel flags. that's not cool anymore. that's still a reason why they don't. another thing for you, talk about critical race theory, let's take the films of the lynchings and identify these people hanging around and look them up in their yearbooks and identify them. god bless them. if i were -- i wasn't going to stop this. people go with the flow, sometimes it's going down the toilet. host: we are going to have to let that be the last topic. we are going to go to don in alabama on the independent line. caller: our politics has gotten like our tax laws, it takes a lawyer to figure out what it is. i think it's time everybody got

out and voted with their heart instead of politics. thank you. host: we are going to take a quick rake and then, we will have national education association president becky pringle join us to talk about the teacher shortage and other challenges facing public school teachers. we will be right back. >> the january 6 committee has revealed the findings from its investigation. all week, what c-span as we look back at the eight hearings featuring previously undisclosed evidence and witness testimony. tonight at at 8:00, former justice department officials address allegations of election fraud made by donald trump and his request to alter the outcome of the election.

watch monday on c-span or any time on demand. >> live sunday, september 4 on in-depth, steven hayward will be our guest to talk about leadership, ronald reagan, the american conservative movement. he's the author of several books. join in the conversation with your phone calls, texts, and tweets. in depth steven hayward live sunday, september 4 at noon on book tv. >> now available in the c-span shop, the 2022 congressional directory.

order a copy of the directory. the spiral-bound book as your guide to the federal government with contact information for every member of congress, including committee assignments. also contact information for the cabinet and state governors. order your copy today. every c-span shop purchase help support c-span's nonprofit operation. >> washington journal continues. host: we have with us today iq pringle, president of the national education association. that is the largest teacher union representing 3 million teachers and school personnel. could morning. thank you for joining us. guest: it's good to be with you again. host: we are going to be talking today about the teacher shortage and other issues facing public school teachers. can you remind our viewers about the work of the nea, how many

members you have, anything else you want to share with us. guest: i would love to talk about the nea. the nea is made up of over 3 million members who are teachers and nurses and school counselors and retired educators. they are support professionals. those who have made the choice to become teachers, we represent educators all over this country and around the world. we represent those who teach our servicemen and women across the world. we advocate for education professionals. every single student, everyone has what they need and what they deserve so they can live. we wake up every day fighting for our students, collaborating with our parents, and with our allies to make sure that our

students have the resources and support they need so they can be successful. host: let's talk about the teacher shortage. we hear so much about it right now. you recently called it a five alarm crisis. how serious is it? what could be the impact on classrooms and students? guest: we've been sounding this alarm for almost a decade and a half. the reason we started talking about it was because we were noticing the decline in the number of students in college who were choosing to go into the profession. we were seeing so many teachers, especially in that zero to five years of teaching who were leaving the profession. our black and brown teachers were leaving the profession. we were becoming less and less diverse. we started talking about this a

decade and a half ago. the pandemic worsened it. the conditions it educators found themselves in it, what they were being asked to do at a time of crisis in the country, was just overwhelming. the nea did a survey. we were shocked honestly that 55% of educators said to us they were planning to leave the profession. we are working with them and allies and leaders to address this reality, not just right now. this is a chronic problem. we have to address it systemically. that's what we're doing. host: we are going to get to some of your calls and just a moment. i want to give you the numbers because they are a little bit different. if you are a parent, we want you

to call (202) 748-8000. if you are an educator, dial (202) 748-8001. anyone else who doesn't fit either one of those categories, 8002. you can still send us a text message at (202) 748-8003. we've seen some research about the teacher shortage. it talks about being different when it comes to certain states, certain regions. we've heard that the shortage could be different in suburban districts than it is in rural or urban districts. can you talk a little bit about the variations with the teacher shortage and what is driving that? guest: one more thing i would add to the list you gave, we see

shortages in certain disciplines, special education is always at the top of the list. we see shortages in elementary education, science and math. what i want to be clear about is this shortage of educators is really about a shortage of resources. it's about a shortage of professional pay. it's about time to plan it, time to have those connections with our students. it's about a shortage of respect. that's what we are hearing from reporters -- educators all over the country. depending on what we've seen it tied to, it's whether or not that state or that community has

invested in their public schools. in places they have not invested in public schools for decades, we see those shortages even higher. i want to make clear, i taught middle school science. this is that time of year where educators are prepared to go back to school. some of already started. they are full of excitement and hope. what they are hoping for is this country lives up to its promise for students and that it respects and honors the important work they do. host: you talked about this shortage and its variations. can you talk about some of the solutions the nea and other organizations have put forward to address the issues? guest: this is a complex problem. there is not just one answer. we do know this. when educators talk to me about

respect, they mean a couple of things. the respect of them as professionals, giving them professional pay. they know that if they are going to do the job they love, they have to be able to take care of their own families without taking two or three jobs. we have to address that issue. we also have to address the reality that so many of our students are coming to school with mental health issues. we don't have the counselors and the nurses and the mental health professionals to address this issue. we know our parents need help. they can surround their students with the support they need. we are working in collaboration with communities to ensure that we have those resources. those are the kinds of things we are focused on.

when we advocate together, then we don't see those shortages. there are dangerous levels we see in some communities. host: we are going to go to the phone lines. if you are a parent, dial (202) 748-8000. if you are an educator, (202) 748-8001. on the parent line it, we have chris from kentucky. go ahead. caller: good morning. i want to tell you, i've seen you on here before. i can tell you are a long-standing administrator. i can see you looking over your glasses and making children do

what they are supposed to do. my question is there is a group now i'm paying attention to. they are the moms for liberty. they are a right wing organization of women, predominately european women who are doing everything they can to take over control of the school system. i want to know what the nea is doing. how is the nea and teachers and diminish traders having to deal with groups like this who are coming from outside trying to promote their agenda as opposed to what's best for all the children trying to get an education in our system. guest: thanks for the question. i had the opportunity to visit educators and parents and

students in your home state of kentucky. what they are doing there and what we are doing across the country is making sure that we are lifting up our voices and collaborating together to ensure that educators can teach the complete history of this country, that they can be treated as the professionals they are, they are making decisions that will actually ensure that every single student has with they need to succeed. we will not be distracted, we will not be distracted by those politicians or those groups who want nothing more than to destroy our public schools. that universal public education system that is at the foundation of this democracy. we are calling on everyone to stand with us and to fight against anything that threatens

our students rights, all of them, to a high quality universal public education that reflects the vast and important diversity of this country and make sure that every one of them has the support that they need and deserve. host: let's hear now from class lane -- kathleen in mississippi, calling as a grandparent. caller: good morning. the reason i'm calling, we seem to have different people putting words in our mouths that are not

true. we know every time they say something, it is wrong. we might be fighting a recession, who caused the recession? about our teachers, about our teachers, the christian schools are getting $5,000. the bus drivers are not. they bring our precious children to school. don't believe everything you hear. we are the deepest red state. host: how does the nea work with leaders of states that are republican controlled states? the nea is considered more

left-leaning. how do you manage that dynamic in states like mississippi? guest: i want to acknowledge something our caller just said about our bus drivers. they work in our schools and ensure our students have what they need. they are unsung heroes. she is correct. we need to pay them a living wage. they are a part of our school family. we work with states, every single state, whether they are a red state or a blue state or a purple state. we have educators in every single district, all across the country. our educators are concerned about the fact that people in elected positions are not making the kind of decisions that are going to make sure our precious children have the resources they

needed, all the educators they need it, that they have bus drivers to take them to school, that they have health care, investing in our climate during this country and around the world. they are lifting up their voices as trusted professionals in their communities and asking others to join us. making decisions about who is in those elected positions, whether a school board or the white house. when i started teaching, i did not have a clue that it was my responsibility to be a mom and making sure people were making decisions about my kids, heard my voice, made the death -- best decisions. it's important that we advocate

for the investments that are needed in our public schools. we do that in every single state across the nation. if we talk about at our students need and deserve, that is a message that is not a red or blue message. that is a message every parent wants to hear. host: let's hear now from elizabeth calling as an educator from new jersey. liz? go ahead. you are on now. caller: i agree largely with what the guest is saying. i am a current retiree from the state of new jersey school teacher. i'm in any eight retiree member. this problem predates the

pandemic. it predates probably 2008 when the crash came. we were facing underfunding of schools. i think particularly in the right to work states, mostly red states, the best thing any teacher can do their if they want to improve their professional position in those states is to organize their workplace. they have to lobby to get the right to organize probably. they have to get somebody there who is advocating for teachers. when you advocate for teachers, you're also advocating for the classrooms where they work as teachers. there is no excuse. we are sitting here today.

florida thinks that combat veterans with should be marching through classrooms? that is ridiculous. it shows how little regard they have for the teachers of that state and for our nation. first on the agenda in the red state, teachers need to organize. you're not going to get anywhere without. thank you. host: let's go to mary from wisconsin calling on the parent line. go ahead. caller: i was wondering if they could put the money into having a psychiatrist come in to the school to protect the children, to let them know that if they are being abused at home they have someone to talk to. if they are being sexually or

physically abused, there's no way they are going to be able to pay attention in school. they are going to be there to hide but not to learn. if they are encouraging those children, they don't talk to you. if the child asks the question, they respond back by hissing at them. teacher should not allow them to do that. they should have the courage to talk, to use their voice. that's the only way they can protect themselves. you are allowing them to sort of be in a pedophile state. they are afraid to talk. also, use the money to be doled

out by the state and nothing government. they allow kitty litter in bathrooms and kids are defecating in kitty litter boxes. they are giving puberty lockers. host: you have any thoughts about some of these statements? guest: we absolutely need more resources for until health services. one of the things we encourage and work with educators and parents on doing is developing plans to use the american rescue plan money that we got from the by demonstration. it's a historic investment. we said that part of that funding needed to go to ensuring more counselors and health professionals, making sure we have more training so that we can support our students. i want to go back to your previous color and thank her for

her longtime service and being a member of the new jersey education association. we have collective reckoning laws. educators earn more money. we don't have as much of a shortage. they are advocating for mental health resources. we are using the collective bargaining to advocate for schools. host: today is the first day of a teachers strike in ohio. the nea on its twitter account posted we join in solidarity with our columbus union family as they strike for better learning conditions, smaller class sizes, well-rounded curriculum that includes art, music, pe.

what is the union doing for these teachers? what exactly do you want to happen. guest: we are so proud of our educators in columbus. it's always a hard decision to go on strike. when you are in a situation where we are not being afforded the opportunity to bargain in an environment that allows us to fight for what we know our students need and deserve, that's what the educators in columbus are doing. when you don't have that, sometimes we have to take action as they did last night. they voted to go on strike. they have 3 million educators

all over this country who are walking that line with them in spirit. it's a hard decision to make. what the national education association brings to columbus is that solidarity, that collective support so that they can continue that fight, so they have safe schools and resources the students need, the educators have what they need to do the job they love. that's what the columbus educators are fighting for. they will hold that line until they get what the students and schools need. host: we are talking with becky pringle, the president of the national education association, the largest teacher union. you can call, parent style -- parents dial (202) 748-8000.

educators, (202) 748-8001. let's take some more of your call. sarah is on the parent line from virginia. caller: good morning. i'm a grandmother. my children were educated in the public school system. i have 10 grandchildren and seven of them were educated in the public school system. three in catholic school. i went to catholic school. i have a daughter-in-law who just retired as a biology teacher after 30 years. i have two granddaughters who are in college right now studying to be educators. i have three nieces who are educators. i am astounded and shocked at what has happened with regard to going after teachers, school

board members, pta members, it is disgusting. my question to the mothers who gathered in loudoun county is if you think you could do a better job teaching, given -- give them the keys to the classroom and say be my guest. they buy their own supplies because there is not enough money or the school does not allocate enough. they sacrifice time away from their own families to educate your children. you should be thankful for that. if you think you could do a better job, come right on in the classroom. when i had children in school, i was a teachers aide. i got involved.

i saw with the teachers dead. i supported them and i still support them. host: thoughts for that collar? guest: thank you for supporting and continuing to support our public schools. thank you for the role you played in making sure that members of your family went into the education profession. no educator should be in a position where they are being harassed or threatened. they are teaching the true history of this country, no educator should be harassed or threatened because you are demanding the resources and support and investments in our students. no educator should be harassed or threatened because they are doing the job they love. we know that environment is adding to the crisis in

education. there are people who are making the decision to not continue because they don't feel supported or respected. what the caller said is what everyone needs to do. it is our responsibility to fight for our public schools, to fight alongside our educators, to work with parents who support us. we need to make sure their voices are lifted up in this conversation. i want to talk about her student voices. we have seen them rise up and demand more and better. when our students are rising up and winning schools to be safe and funded, we want to make sure we have the opportunity to learn about the history of this country. we know we have to do what they are asking us to do.

host: our next caller is robin from new york on the educator line. caller: i am a private school teacher through covid. i agree with the last collar about it being impossible for teachers to teach because the parents think they know everything. i disagree with you on one point. minority and poor children wind up being heavily drugged, to the point they can barely function. they are so heavily medicated with anti-psychotics. they are sitting there drooling. mental hygiene is used on poor and inner-city kids. to control them in a way that doesn't happen to rich kids and the side effects are devastating. that is a problem.

there is no therapy for poor and minority children. there is heavy dragging that causes seizures. the last caller was right. it's getting difficult to work as a teacher. it's gotten really out of control. guest: when we talk about making sure that our students have mental health resources, what we are talking about is making sure we have professionals in our schools and communities. we are talking about making sure educators have the kind of professional development and training and resources to meet the needs of the societal challenges that find their way into art schoolhouses. it was only made worse by this

ongoing pandemic. the covid pandemic disproportionately affected black and brown and indigenous communities. the equity that has been built into every social system disproportionately impacts. we know that more people got sick from an died from covid in our lack and brown communities. parents lost their jobs. more students didn't have access to the kinds of technology they needed to continue their learning. as we think about the mental health crisis, we have to address the inequities that are built into the system and make sure that our students are getting the kind of therapy and counseling ongoing that they need, not just while they are in

school, but as they are working and living in their communities as well. host: i want to pivot just a little bit when we talk about pain teachers and helping young professionals stay in education, a lot of talk is about the student loans, student debt. the most recent pause on debt repayment is set to respire. the secretary of education was asked about if there would be another temporary extension. >> we've been really focused on making sure we are protecting our students and borrowers. $32 billion from day one. august 31 is a date many people are waiting to hear something. we've been talking about this. the american people will hear

within the next week or so. i don't have any news to announce today. the american people hill -- will hear directly from us. host: when you're talking to young teachers, how important is this issue? what do you think should be done? guest: it's an absolutely important issue for not only our young teachers. what people don't necessarily know is we have educators who have been teaching for a long time who cannot tire because they have so much debt. we are working very closely with the department of education. we have been advocating for a prominent -- permanent loan forgiveness for the last three years. before the election, it was one of our main issues.

would they be willing to forgive these loans? we have worked on extending the pause on paying those loans off. we need to expand that. under the trump administration and that betsy devos administration, we did not live up to our promise that if they worked 10 years they would be forgiven their loans. during that administration, they ended up owing more money. we need to forgive the loans. we know it not only affects teachers, it affects public service workers all over the country. if we do that, it is not only an investment in our schools and students, if we don't do that and we lose more educators, that

impacts our students. we also know that for people to make that choice to go into public service, it is important that we forgive these loans and help the economy. it will make sure that families have what they need. it will ensure that other students will make that choice to follow us in the education profession. we will fight for that. i'm encouraged by the secretary and the administration saying they are hearing this. we are waiting to hear what they are proposing. we will continue to fight for student loan forgiveness. host: let's hear now from a retired educator from massachusetts. caller: good morning. thank you for your service. i am a 30 year veteran teacher. i retired four years ago. i have my own business.

i'm an author. i think about the shortage of teachers. my son works in maine as an administrator. my sister-in-law went back to school in her 60's and became a teacher in florida. she recently told me about the shortage. my question is, how can retired teachers help with the shortage without jeopardizing the retirement benefits? when you go back in to the system, your retirement benefits have to be reworked. i have many retired teacher friends who would love to help with the shortage. how can this be done?

is there a way to involve retired teachers who still want to help? guest: yes. there are some states that have made changes to their laws so that retired teachers are not penalized if they come back and help. that is a solution put in place. the one thing i want to caution about is short-term solutions are not thinking about long-term solutions. we are working hard to do that. we have to think about this copper of lee. we have to make sure that we attract and retain young educators. that means they are respected as professionals. that means they have good health care. all of those things combined are

the things we have to do to make the change. one thing i want to caution about, some states are lowering their requirements for people who are standing in front of our kids and teaching. we do not want to see those standards lowered. we do not want to send a message that anyone can teach. we know that isn't true. we don't want to lower standards. we do want to address some carriers, making sure there are not barriers that are preventing us diversifying our profession. we don't want to lower those standards. we know our students deserve the highest qualified teachers. we have to do what we must to attract them and keep them in the profession. host: we are still taking your calls. on the parent line, carrie is in

texas. caller: thanks for taking my call. i've got two things here. as far -- we spend more money per student than any country in the world. i think we would be doing good financially. i don't know if the money is going somewhere else in the system. my second thing is it seems like globally, we rank near 40th when it comes to important subjects like math and science. that's all i have. host: your thoughts? guest: we know that we have not invested in public education for decades. all of us watched in horror at of years ago as state after state joined the movement.

we saw teachers living in their cars. we saw support staff that could not feed their families. the light was shining on the fact that we were not taking care of our students. we know that when the pandemic hit and we saw that, we did not have the ventilation. all of that was decades of disinvestment in our public schools. we also know that we have in issue of equity that we have never addressed. when we as a country are compared to other countries, when we unpack those comparisons, the gaps that exist are the gaps in investment in making sure that we are funding our schools equitably and that all of our students, students

living in poverty who have special needs that are lgb to -- lgbt to plus, that they have the resources that they need. we started addressing it as one of the civil rights legislation's in the late 60's. we have gotten further and further away from dealing with the inequities that are built into every social system. we as a country must live up to the promise that when we say all students, we mean all students. host: we have a tweet. he writes:

i would agree -- assume you don't agree with getting rid of the teachers unions. guest: it's important to have that collective voice so they can fight for what is right. it is absolutely essential that as a country, we address the growing inequities in this country that impact our students coming to school every day. one of the things we are fighting for is community schools. the reason we have font for last investments is because we know that for our students, we have to address all of the issues they bring to our schools. we can't do that ourselves.

we have to make sure that our community understands it's the shared responsibility to address the needs of all of our students. we have to address health care needs. too many of them live in food deserts. we have to a drees -- address the homelessness. we have to address the fact that we have students every day who come to us and don't have basic needs. if they are not met, we know they cannot learn. we as educators can't do that alone. we are fighting for community schools so they are the hub of that community. we are addressing the issues in that community. we are doing it together for our students, sharing that responsibility. that is what we need in every single school in this country.

host: we have a tweet. any final thoughts about what you just heard? guest: i talked for a long time. i talked to educators from california to kentucky. i have never been more proud to be an educator than i was during the years of this pandemic. they stood up, they stood in gaps for our students and parents and communities in ways

i knew they would do. that's what educators do. with the pandemic i am so proud of what they did and how they so quickly changed to virtual learning and the instructions going to end person, hybrid, all kinds of things to try to ensure that our students continued to learn. yes we had gaps in learning, yes we had gaps that impacted and continue to impact our students. and yes we saw educators stand up in ways they never thought they had to but they did it. they tried to make sure that they had hot spots so they could continue to learn. this country has got to address those kinds of inequities we have are -- we know we have in

our system. we as educators across this country will continue to stand up and demand the schools, the resources, the support that our students and never educators need and deserve. host: we have been chatting with president of national education association. thank you for joining us this morning. guest: thank you. please stay safe. host: that will do it for us with "washington journal". please join us again tomorrow at 7 a.m. eastern. have a great day. ♪ >>