this one does something, too. >> yes, okay. happy st. patrick's day, martin. >> dylan, full of tricks. >> that's it. the luck of the irish. let's start our show. >> wednesday afternoon to you. i'm dylan ratigan which feels like an early summer day here in new york city. a new rolling stone article rolling out on the magazine on a financial system and a specific bank. he now has redubbed not as too big to fail but too crooked to fail. when you look at his reporting, the title is appropriate. but first, today's big story around here, anyway. if it's wednesday, it's another dave gop election results and penetrating political analysis. think of our approach today for keeping score at home as if you were watching a baseball game, ultimate fighting maybe. to the scoreboard we go.

rick santorum takes two deeply red southern states last night. alabama and mississippi and long after most of us here on the east coast went to bed early this morning mitt romney took the crucial, crucial, very crucial hawaii caucuses. that is a lot riding on that. the delegate count looks like this. after all, the shooting and money spending and what not, pretty much seems the same. the totals which is what we here use for analysis is along with intrigue. nothing changed on the delegate count. then on intrigue where people put their money on the line, baby, you can't just go talking, romney was at an 87% chance to win everything yesterday. he has an 87% chance to win everything today. did march 13th change a darn thing? to get the answer, we turn to

our mega panel. we can sort of carry on about it. let's introduce our lovely mega panel. the lovely robert cox and the always lovely imagin lloyd-webber. you're in d.c., jonathan. if anybody can feel a ripple of change of anything in the narrative in the trend, if anything, if anybody felt the earthquake, it was you. it couldn't have been big. >> i was going to say, must have been really, really small. we felt nothing. >> yeah. you didn't feel it. >> are we talking about the election? >> yeah, we are. >> as you said, the dynamic really has not changed. mitt romney got four more delegates last night than rick santorum. he still way ahead of rick santorum in the overall delegate count. the only thing that mitt romney has going for him is the fact that he's way ahead in delegates. but that doesn't make for a very compelling case to primary voters for why they should vote for you.

vote for me because the math is on my side is not a winning message when people want to hear what your vision is for the country and how you're going take things forward and how are you going grow the kpeconomy fo folks. so, yeah, there is no ripple of change. >> interesting, rob cox. if you look at what jonathan just laid out which is vote for me. the math is with me. okay. versus a president who's basically saying me, vote for me, at least i'm not those crazy guys. those are our two choices for president of the united states. at least i'm not those crazy guys. the others saying the math is wicked. >> that's who romney is. he's a private equity guy. he is a spread sheets guy. he's a consultant. he takes out the spread sheet and says how i can keep my vote count, my delegate count up above -- >> cost per delegates. he allocated capital to the counties and areas where he knows he can get it. it's not winner take all. it's about winning those delegate counts. that's not a bad -- in some ways that might be inspiring to some

people who think -- >> it's like money ball. >> yeah. so it may be money ball. he is trying to systemically calculating a way to win the presiden presidency. but that is not necessarily the way to win hearts and minds. it's calculating. >> he is winning your heart as an expat? maf enveloping at grandeur of democracy, modelling for the world to behold and worship as an alter of justice and greatness for, you know, the revolution against the oppressive state that is your ancestors that now we've achieved this great model for the world? you are feeling that? >> no. it's funny. funny that really that idea. santorum won last night without the money, though. >> that's good. >> that's good. that's positive. but fundamentally, he still has the delegates and his organization and his money is going to win through. this is all helping obama. he is busy he emassing his war chest.

>> should we talk about something else? >> yeah. >> something funny, jonathan? >> yeah. because we have thoroughly exhausted this conversation. >> that we have. us and the universe, right? anyway. let us move to the state visit. we know that afghanistan where teeing up on a fighting season in afghanistan. that promises to be viciously and bloody on a level we can't even comprehend. we're not withdrawing from afghanistan until 2014. today the president hosting the british prime minister, david cameron, one of our closest allies especially on matters of foreign policy, foreign official state dinner at the white house. afghanistan obviously at the top of the stack closely followed by iran and syria. a closed door meeting between the gentlemen earlier today. here's a clip of what they had to say coming out. >> afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for al qaeda to launch attacks against us. >> what's undeniable and what we

can never forget is our forces are making very real progress. >> the fastest way to end the killing which is what we want to see is for assad to go. >> tehran must understand that it cannot escape or evade the choice before it. meet your international obligations or face the consequences. >> so some vague war threats there from the president with iran. meet your obligations or face the consequences. interesting from a man who says that loose talk of war is -- not that was loose talk of war -- but again the broadness with these things leaves a lot of room for opportunity. and then the other statement statement from prime minister cameron saying we must secure afghanistan so the taliban can never again launch an attack against us. meanwhile, when you talk, you joe to joe sestack and walk through our congress. these men in afghanistan regardless of what our leaders are saying, clearly do not have a mission in that country. it is playing out in a way that is utterly horrific. we need not look any further than past 80 hours of reporting

from afghanistan. walk me inside the mind of these diplomats at this point. >> well, six british soldiers were killed in afghanistan last week. here's the thing, as this big special relationship between the uk and the u.s., we are the one country in the world that will actually do what you tell us to do. cash, blood, if you want it, we'll give it you to. that's why the relationship works. that's why obama is busy rolling out the red carpet for david cameron over the past 24 hours. set first ever foreign leader to be on air force one with obama. >> if you went aren't streets of england, would the british people like, man, we have to make sure we fight another season in afghanistan this summer. >> no, it's not that they're aligned interest in america. you're talking about $900 billion worth of aligned interest. >> so you got an electoral situation this year where you think this could be messy. have you heard anything rather suggesting a mandate for why our

soldiers should fight another bloody war season? >> i think she makes a good point. there are shared interests. it's not just that united kingdom is our poodle and, you know, i know that is certainly a narrative. there is a shared interest in stopping, you know, i mean let's go back to 2001. there was throughout the world the developed world, everywhere. i mean there was an outpouring of sympathy for the united states and for the cause of going into -- >> what was the objective at that time? >> this is the point. we lost complete sight of that objective. and now we have people milling about in afghanistan not sure what they're doing. i mean honestly getting into trouble, things -- this is what happens. we don't have a clear mission. i don't think i heard that from the prime minister and the president today. a reaffirmation of why we're there and why it will take a couple more years before we can say mission is partly accomplished. i mean that's the problem. there still is no -- there's no -- >> there's an argument that absent a border battle, fighting for a specific line in the

ground, excuse me, that in the modern day fighting a blood war for ideas is a doomed proposition. we're in their country killing them because we don't like their ideas. >> right. >> whether it's vietnam or afghanistan. if you're not trying to change a border or achieve some mission, what's my orders to the soldiers that morning? >> well, the mission was to go after the folks who attacked the united states on 9/11. that was more than ten years ago now. and really quite frankly, the mission could very well be lets start the process of getting out of afghanistan by 2014. and i think if someone mentioned maybe a couple days ago that it could be that after the november elections assuming president obama is re-elected that that timetable could be moved up very quickly. there is not a popular war. the american people are tired of this war. they're starting to hear more

people like capitol hill asking the questions why are we still there? why are we still spending a lot of blood and treasure capital that we don't have fighting a war in a country that is known for reason as a graveyard of empires. folks go there, fight big wars and leave with their tails between their legs. and i think that, you know, we shouldn't be surprised if american troops come out of there before 2014. >> yeah. it will be wonderful news. panel stays. but first, an exclusive. rolling stone's matt taibbi in the house with his newly released article that blasts bank of america and the government as the accomplice in a scheme that is not too big to fail. it's too crooked to fail. that's next. later from war to work, our specialists in getting returning troops a new mission upon their return. it is not a school bus but it is

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for the first time since the financial meltdown, the federal reserve being forced to name names and details wlit comes to the bank stress tests, transparency, you think that would be a good thing. four of the 19 that were tested got an f on the stress test which is interesting because you have to understand the critical thing. at the root of the fraud that is the american banking system is an accounting fraud approved

about it government. so when you have approved accounting fraud on your balance sheet at these bank clz is hard to come by, that makes getting an f on your stress test hard to come by. the banks are allowed to it is they are own rules for accounting for the housing assets. they're able to transer if liabilities over to the government through rule changes. you still failed the test? bank of america, however, very good at these sorts of shah nonbegans and they passed their stress test with flying colors scoring an afrment when it comes to cooking the books in that world. and our next guest, rolling stone as matt taibbi claims that government, and i agree with him, is a full-blown accomplice in facilitating the fraud that is the american too big to fail banking system, in fact, matt, i believe has refined the term with a great deal of precision. the article is entitled not too big to fail but too crooked to fail. and he joins us now in a dr show exclusive. our opinions are almost speak for themselves. let's talk a little bit about the new information.

what do you point to in your reporting as evidence of your assertion that bank of america is too crooked to fail? >> well, what i really did is i sort of went back throughout whole history of this recent history of this company. i just sort of compiled all the things that they had been involved with. and i put that side by side with all of the different forms of government support that the bank has received. i think most people think, yeah, they got the t.a.r.p. bailout, the $20 billion to buy merryll lynch. but they don't realize that government support continued on after that. >> to this day. >> to this day. they got billions of dollars in low or zero interest loans from the fed. part of that $16 trillion in emergency lending we found out about last year, last year bank of america shifted trillions of dollars worth of derivatives, very risky toxic derivatives from merrill's books to its own depository side, essentially putting all of us on the hook for some of its most dangerous

bets. then again we have the stress test which is an official government endorsement of the widespread accounting fraud that you talk about with all of these companies. they're all guilty of it equally. what this boils down is we're supporting the banks continually with cheap cash. >> but the counter narrative as to whether it is no we have to support these banks because they are the life blood of our economy. we don't have a choice. >> right. right. but i think that's a self-defeating argument. these companies, what happened after 2008 is all these companies were in trouble. they were doing the same thing. they were dumping the toxic assets on customers all over the world, knowingly, knowing the stuff was going to blow up. when it did blow up, what did we do? we gave them a whole bunch of money. we made them all well again and didn't insist they change, didn't go over and take over the companies and fire the people responsible. so we endorsed all of this bad behavior. and now we see is that companies like bank of america justin in these sorts of behaviors. you know, not only are they

involved with these fraudulent sales of mortgage backed securities, but they're also involved with things like municipal bid rigging and there is all these different activities that these banks are involved with. and, yet, we still support them year after year. >> and i want to look at a couple points from this article specifically. you say that the bank of america is an admitted felon. they have admitted and yet we're giving them billions in federal aid. a street felon who gets out of jail can't even vote in some states and yet bank of america is allowed to receive billions in federal aid and dominate the electoral process with campaign contributions. pretty offensive. >> right. right. absolutely. i mean, it's not just bank of america with the municipal bid rigging. there are a whole bunch of companies involved with this in the last few years. >> which, by the way, municipal bid rigging is a ripoff of communities looking for financing for their schools

that -- the bid rigging makes it sound -- this is the community's money. >> yeah. absolutely. >> schools, police, this sort of thing. >> it makes highways more expensive, schools more expensive. it makes communities forces them to raise their property taxes and cut out essential services. because they're having to pay more to all of these banks -- excuse me, in other words, the banks are charging them more rent effectively. >> effectively, right. for the bond issues. but it's all of them. it's bank of america, j.p. morgan chase, wells fargo, they all have been selling this in the last few years. >> you connect the dots as well on the failure to file paperwork for chain of title in dallas county, texas. you say it cost dallas county, texas, $100 million in municipal available fees for schools, roads, these sorts of things. you say "think of that meaning think of the $100 million in lost fees because they were going around the chain of title fees chain, bank of america was, think of that next time your

county leaves a road unpaved or forced to raise property taxes to keep schools open." >> right. right. look, all the banks got together in the last decade and they said we don't want to have to pay a fee every time we register a deed or do a deed transfer. we're not going to go to the city clishg's office anymore and we're not going to pay that fee. we're going to set up our own private electronic registry system which we're going to control and we're going to pay pennies on the dollar and not going to the city clerk's office anymore and we're not going to pay the fees. >> was that legal? >> no. it wasn't legal. they never asked for permission to do it. and so what happened was counties all around the country like dallas county, like harris county in houston, texas, they just didn't get these fees anymore. so, you know, multiply $100 million for that one county in texas by all the counties in america and you get a sense of the scale of the tax evasion that we're talking about. >> last quote from the article. where we stand now. you say "this, meaning today, is

the cross roads where bank of america now lives. this confluence, trying to convince the government to allow it to remain in business stress testing while it avoids paying back billions of institutional customers it screwed, all the retiree that's got scalped by these people, still do. we saw the goldman sachs article today. really goes to a vacant culture. >> right. absolutely. look, this company is sort of a symbol of what's going on generally in wall street. they screwed all of these clients. >> it's a cultural failure. >> it's a cultural failure. they're not acting on the best interests of their clients. they're trying to get something from their clients. they're trying to scalp them for as much as they can and then get go to the government and get their help in get ago way with it. that's what the settlements are b how much of these lawsuits can we get out of? can you help us get out of the lawsuits?

>> and what campaign contribution dozen we have to give to you or your state to get out? responses from bank of america or any of the other banks in the context of the article? >> no. i sment factual questions. they were not forthcoming. >> they had no official comment or the article at all? >> no. >> i wonder why that is. the people that work at the company are not inherently evil. it's a system that is designed for disruptive purposes that we have to change. >> right. they did answer some questions about the size and the derivatives transfer. but they thought that generally the questions suggested that they weren't going to get a fair shake in the article. >> right. a pleasure to see you. >> good to see you. >> happy early spring to you. get out of the black. you know? we're going to get matt taibbi in this hawaiian shirt in times square partying on the square. too crooked to fail.

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for returning veterans, the trance frigs the front lines to our workforce is a battle in and of itself. our country has a great history and a tragic history when it come to dealing with this issue. think eisenhower and the roads and power grid, think vietnam and a terrible economy in the wake of that war. the unemployment rate right now for veterans of iran and afghanistan remains 5% higher than the national average. that in and of itself is a matter of national shame.

it's why our specialist is leading a new educational program to help america's war heroes find meaningful work for themselves and the process help our own country resume its quest for prosperity in our own communities. alanna mueller is the president of the fast track veterans program. this is a massive problem. obviously one many of us are increasingly concerned about. what is it that you're attempting to do? what do you feel like you know? what do you need to know more about and what happens next? >> thank you. well, i'll tell you, kauffman fast track has been offering courses to entrepreneurs for nearly two decades. >> of any stripe or shape? >> of any stripe or shape. we trained nearly 300,000 people to start or grow companies. one thing we've not done in a very target and specific way is to address the needs of veterans, especially as they return from conflict as we are experiencing right now. and seek to put themselves back to work. and so one of the things that we can now offer is very tailored specific course that's will help

to meet the needs of veterans in particular. >> and can you give us a couple examples? >> absolutely. so we offer two different courses. one will be called fast track new venture, targeted to veterans. and now this is a core course that we offered for many years. it's for anyone with an idea. so if you have an idea of what we will help you to do is to assess the validity of that idea to determine if potentially it's truly feasible in the marketplace and then to review your own plans to see if this -- >> turn the idea into an operating plan. >> exactly right. >> what courses are offered online or in different locations? how does it work if you want to become involved if you're a veteran? >> so we were very fortunate to receive a grant where we can train 300 veterans. we'll be offering ten courses in five different cities. we will also offer four additional courses online. and so if you're in one of the cities, houston, kansas city, san diego, d.c., and two cities in north carolina, i urge people

to please take the courses in person. i think there are something very magical that happens by being in person with your cohort. however, if you're in a location where you are unable to come to a course in person, i think the online classes are perfect for you. >> alan yashgs just -- i mean not to ask an indelicate question. a lot of the folks have come back from, you know, a place i can't even imagine, right? >> right. >> how much -- are they ready to jump into a entrepreneurship course? isn't there season assimilation, here, you have to get back in mainstream into the the workforce and put a tie on. it's not like suiting up to go on a mission. i mean how much of that is necessary before they should come to you? >> or beyond that even, how much of that is somebody else's responsibility that you don't feel you can serve? in other words, that seems to be the eight billion dollar question. how much of that do you have to absorb responsibility for and how much of that is being taken care to have the extent which it can be inside our own

communities. the only way to deal with something like that is not put it on the foundation. it's inside of every community in america to understand that is what the case is. >> well, i'll tell you. certainly, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. right? we're not even purporting that it s however, directly to your question, soldiers returning from war in particular, they have unprecedented leadership skills. they have the ability to manage and mitigate risk. they are able to team and n. a way that few people are really aware of. and so all these attributes including their decision making abilities really make them well poised and well positioned for entrepreneurship. >> yeah. and we saw that with liz perez who is the naval officer with the green and energy independence and all these folks that have -- >> liz is one of our facilitators. one of the exciting things about people like liz perez -- >> do you remember her? she was on the show when we were in austin, texas. has the green energy gc green out of san diego. she was on with john haufman.

anyway, it was an eye moment for me, actually. >> what is exciting about liz and people like her is that they will actually be teaching these courses. so not only are they vets themselves who can actually relate to the people sitting in the room, but they've been in the trenches in terms of entrepreneurship. so not only do they understand veterans where they are, but they also understand business and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. >> go ahead, jonathan. >> so, alanna, they take these courses. but then what happens after that with the veterans? what happens to them? what kind of, i don't know, programs or supports or something that helps them take everything that they've learned and then move night something that really does turn them into an entrepreneur successful or otherwise? >> right. well, i will tell you, one of the things that i find very special about fast track courses, i will tell you i, too, am a graduate of the course. i can relate to this attribute. and that is that the participants actually form ad

hoc advisory councils among the participants that they take the course with. so in addition to creating pure mentorship, they'll also get exposure to subject matter experts, people in their own communities who have been successful in business, who can help them in terms of finding their way through entrepreneurship. >> the moral of the story is that if a community is strong, you have a higher probability of success. >> absolutely. >> and part of this is not just what you're teaching but you're trying to create a cultural environment where communities can be formed among veterans who have an ambition to do these things. >>. that's exactly right. i always say to anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship, don't do this alone. don't do it alone. it may be your idea singularly. but please, surround yourself with -- >> will you elaborate on that a little bit? we all talk -- i talk with a new set of maps versus being awake and asleep and you don't know, when you are asleep, you think you know' want to fight. but there is also the lone wolf

culture in america and that lone wolf culture which has been very glamorous and very popularized for decades is actually antithetical to the culture that is required to do what you're talking about. >> and that is true. you know, what i -- there's this buzz word, the concept of the entrepreneur ecosystem. so those around us who are not only entrepreneurs themselves but who are investors, who are business people who have experienced the highs and lows of successful businesses. who can actually share advice, mentorship and guidance to people who are going through this now. so whether you choose to take a partner on is really -- it's inconsequential to this issue. it really is a matter of surrounding yourself with smart people who you can ask questions to candidly in order to pro tell yourself to success. >> and really, what you're talking about applies to the culture in silicon valley and the veterans and the culture of problem solving in a operating room in hartford, connecticut. this is really healthy, network based culture. >> that's right. >> making the more available to

our veterans. >> that's exactly right. >> great. anyway, thank you for the time. >> thank you. thanks for including me. >> nice to see you, jonathan. thanks for playing today. >> you, too. >> rob, same you to. imigen, happy spring day to you. lovely spring blue. rob with his purple. i don't know about you, jonathan. usually jonathan is the one dressed to go. i feel like you're dressed like a lawyer today, jonathan. you are trying a case? i'm teasing you. we'll see you sooner than later. next up here, it is actually not just a nice spring day in new york, it's a holiday, my friends much it's pie day! today, we stand against the tyranny of meager travel cards.

battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles for every dollar spent on your travel reward card. up to 100,000 miles! hawaii, here we come. claim your miles at capitalone.com today! what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no.

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circle. without the number of pie, we would have no theory of motion or basic understanding of geometry. it was actually studied as far back as the egyptians, babylonians. we get the symbol of pie from the greeks. it was in 1979 that they decided to celebrate this important number and why you may ask celebrate it on march 14th? as pie day? well, 3, 1 and 4 are the first three digits of pie. pie has been calculated out to the ten trillionth decimal digit. nowadays teachers around the world use march 14th to spark interest in math and science and the national pie council, the other pie holds an auction to raise money for charity even congress recognized the importance of pie. national pie day, at least when it comes to modest rituals of

limited political relevance, our congress can get together and pass something. if celebrities, candidates and the president can do it, so, too, can students in this country. the bus tour for america's future kicks off today. and their first stop is talking with us coming up. [ laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore,

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we're back and breaking it down. we talked about create jobs for military vets. now we turn our attention to america's lost generation, our young people. the unemployment rate for the youth in america, 20 somethings, nearly twice the national average. even as our students are graduating with $25,000 in debt. overall americans and american students now hold more student debt than they do credit card debt. that's not because their credit card numbers are small either. the student debt number expected to reach $1.4 trillion with a t by 200. all of this is why our next guests have taken action. remember, the opposite of despair is not hope. but the opposite of despair is action. and they have embarked on a nationwide bus tour as part of their campaign for young america. their mission with their action to spark roundtable discussions to talk to one another about

these issues and brainstorm common sense solutions with us now from their first stop in madison, wisconsin, organizers of the tour, amy lyn, in ational campaign coordinator for the young invincible organization and from washington, executive director aaron smith. the young invincibles is a profit that looks to represent the interests of 18 to 34-year-olds. amy, i love the premise of talking to one another. you say national communications coordinator. conversations where we talk to one another tend to be much better when we don't know when we're looking for answers than when we're trying to fight with each other. why do you believe actually communicating with one another is so valuable and such a necessary beginning point for your generation? >> well, dylan, i think one of the most important things we have to do before we actually say what needs to be changed is we have to talk to the people out there who are affected by this. and that's our generation. we need to know what people are thinking, how they're feeling.

we need to know their stories. and then from that we can decide what would be best solution for our generation. >> it's remarkable, aaron, when you look at the divisions generationally in this country and how policy is made for the benefit of very narrow slices of older generations, almost with wreckless regard for my generation let alone your generation let alone your children. why do you think there is such a disconnect between the generations when it comes to setting national policy right now? >> well, i mean you're absolutely right about the disconnect. i think this is a generation that has tremendous potential. it's the future of our country. it's tech savvy, it's entrepreneurial, it's serving our country in many ways. and we want a shot. we want the same shot that all americans have or had and, you know, our policymakers are not doing enough right now to really

address that. and, you know, frankly, it's partly our responsibility as young people to actually be leaders of change, to talk about the issues that we're facing and also to put forth specific ideas and policies and solutions that we think can address things like college completion or the lack of health care for young people. >> and even beyond that, i mean, don't you think, amy, you can answer this first. you can both answer this question. it's unfair ultimately for us to point all the blame at them whoever they may be, even, by the way, we may be right. it may be all their fault. but they're not going to fix it. and what we're seeing is -- i brought my trusty light bulb for today's show, the 30-year light bulb that costs $20. there are solutions in this mod that will your generation, amy, is presenting all the time, not just new light bulbs. there are new ways to solve america's and the world's problems that cost a lot less and give us a lot more. and that is what really impress mez about your generation is the

rejection of the false paradigm of the two political choices. >> that's absolutely true. what we're doing at this campaign is we're going around the country to talk to people and we're inviting young people to give us their ideas, their creative innovative solutions for these problems. and that includes coming to our website. we want people all over the country to come to youngamerica.iz and give us ideas and share their stories and help our generation to get ahead. >> the last question, one -- the next question anyway in my head is there is a lot of evidence that we already know how to solve a lot of these problems. we know that if you identify the 5% of the people in any health care network who are sick, whether it's a union health care network and corporate and you help those people, health care costs go down by 50%. and people get healthy. you can do this with almost any problem in america if you know what you're looking for. which leaves us really with the fact that we know what to do

and, yet, we won't change our behavior. and that comes more from a cultural problem than from an intellectual problem. why do you think your generation represents culturally about the way we need to bae hehave, not the way that we talk? >> i think you're right. there are some cultural aspects to our generation. i talked before about, you know, our diversity, our tolerance. you had an earlier guest on that talked about entrepreneurship. this generation over half of us want to start a business. and we're already doing that. i mean one of the policies that we looked at is called the youth entrepreneurship act, working with groups like the young entrepreneur council to get the word out about how young people can be drivers of change through starting business. but i'm also glad you brought up the health care example. that's an area where we actually have tackled in some ways one of the problems of, you know, for young people 2.5 million young people now have health insurance because of the new health care law.

we've got free birth control that's coming out as part of the preventative race. so there is a host of benefits. many of them are coming up in the future. so that's an area where we show leadership. we can't go backward. >> amy, if you could deliver one message to the political leadership of this country, congressional leadership, the leadership of the white house and the supreme court with this bus tour, not just through the tv but through the entire campaign. what would that message be? >> i think if i were -- if i had the opportunity, as i do to say to congress to say to washington, to say to policymakers, need to listen to young america. pay attention to what it is we're saying. we have great ideas. great solutions. there are a lot of things right now that aren't working for us. but if you listen to our ideas and our opinions, then, you know, we can get a lot of things

changed aand a lot of problems solved. >> same question you to, aaron? >> go out there. like amy said, talk to young people. you know, have the same kind of conversations. and, you know, think about the future of this country. you look at problem like college costs. we know it's going up. it's out of control. student debt, you know, think about where this country is going to be in 20, 30, 40 years. and, you know, think about what we need to do right now to make sure that this country is on a path to be successful and our young people are on a path to be successful. it starts with youth voices. it starts with student voices. and that's real write what this bus tour is all about. i encourage everyone to participate, host a roundtable go. to youngamerica.is and we're super excited about it. >> is.is the new domain? am i too cool to know that dot-is the cool domain name now? >> it's a new domain people are using it.

dot-is? >> yeah. >> it's pretty cool. >> we have to get dylan ratigan. thank you very much for your time this afternoon. congratulations on your engagement and i hope you enjoy the process, enjoy the year, okay? >> thank you very much. >> all right. >> amy and aaron, thank you. coming up on hard ball, chris matthews one-on-one with george clooney, oh, my! [ male announcer ] what if you had thermal night-vision goggles,

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we have a guest on why swe should all be forced to rock the boat. >> thank you very much. we just celebrated the anniversary of martin luther king jr.'s march from montgomery. part of what we're celebrating is a generation of americans who risked their lives and beaten, jailed, sometimes killed so that all americans would have the right to vote. watching the president's primaries unfold, you have to wonder, is this what they were fighting for? social issues are harped on to divide us and keep us distracted and worst of all, the people we vote into office seem unwilling to speak simple truths. this can't be the vision of our founders or civil rights heroes n our republic, voting is the right and the responsibility of citizenship. the state of our politics isn't really the politician's fault.

they're just working the money funded system we citizens tolerate. who created this system then? it's easy to blame corporations, unions, special interests or lobbyists. but the truth is we created this system through our own apathy and lack of civic participation. it's easy in a country as large as ours to feel like you don't matter. it's easy to think that your little vote isn't worth your time or that your letter or phone call to your legislator doesn't make a difference. this is exactly the mentality that those who seek to gain control our system want you to have. they actively work to make you feel powerless and removed from our government. but despite the money and the system, we are now powerless. we can change the rules, elect better people, demand that our politicians focus on the real issues facing our nation. first, though, we have to vote. not just some of us, not just the ones who can get off work in time, not just the partisans, every single person in america needs to vote. this principal is so critical

that it calls for a radical collusion. some good ideas are proposed on this show and else. where but there is a solution as powerful as it is elegant. compulsory voting, radical participation in our democracy along with true open primaries would immediately shift the powerballance back to where it should have been all along -- to us. it might help if we had an against lying on the ballot, how would this work? we could use carrots or sticks, small fines or rewards forecasting your ballot. and we could have voting wrefr on the internet, on cell phones, at every bank, walmart and post office for two weeks in advance. radical participation. it's time for us to stop complaining about the corrupt system and the lousy politicians and actually implement the vision those civil rights marchers fought and sometimes died for. right now we're just a demographic to be segmented into extremists cheering at a billion dollar cage fight. alice walker, author of "the color purple" wrote, "the most

common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. no matter what the politicians and money interests would have you believe, we're powerful. but only if we are all engaged." dylan? >> well said. when you look like an open primary, some of the things that we talk about, americans are left, trying to nominate a candidate on the internet right now. you really are reminded that we do have the answers to all our problems. we're just not changing our behavior. the constitution doesn't dictate that primaries have to be like this. >> right. this is just the habit that we got into. when you look at, for example, the states that voted last night, you're talking about they had record turnouts for a primary, 23%. >> of what? >> of eligible voters in mississippi and alabama. when you look at midterm elections, you got 35% of voters voting. that's why it's in the party's best interest to play to the most extreme elements, to throat the social issues, to gin up the base. that's who's going to turn out

and that's who's going to decide who wins the election. >> the interesting thing is of the internet and modern connectivity and modern network and the modern solutions, this light bull b is out today. the point is that these things are there for the solving. that it's the culture really is the final barrier. >> that's right. >> the constitution doesn't say you can't do this. >> the constitution doesn't hold us back from anything. i think this is a fundamental reform that could totally change the conversation. the dynamics of money and politics, the type of negative campaigning, all of the things that we complain about could be ameal yated by having everyone part participate. >> my only hesitation is the only hesitation around the obama health care plan. you don't want to mandate into a totally unreformed system. brlt mandate into an open primary. >> it's a chicken and egg question. once you have everybody in, then you can change the system.