i'm going to take a moment and give a reflection on 15 years worth of americaspeaks. miles senate, tom said. we grew up to create large scale, pubic processes to bring the general interest public into debate on specific issues match to real decisions being made at that time. went to economic developer. went on health care refor we have done budget priorities, you name it, we have done it. there are four things, and part of our credibility to w are completely nonpartisan. we ourselves as an organization never take a position on the issue and never advocate for it. we are advocating that ordinary americans in this country should have more influence on policy. as an antidote against money to special interest influence on policy. there are four things. we've been doing this now, kind of scares me to realizethis, but a decade and have. i n't know the total number of projects we have done here and abroad, ankly, but let me speak only in america. four things that have happened in every single project we have ever done. number one, the radical solution on both the right and t

today there's also been work with federal managers that americaspeaks has led to make them work and talkeach other and governed in a more collaborative and participatory way. and has been tremendous amount of work on election reform, campaign finance reform in the meantime as well. today, we seek to talk about all those issues, look at where we stand on them, see what the barriers exist, and see if we can make progress. so that firsthand, the continuation of ongoing work on democracy issues, is one of the reasons that we are here. but the second reason we're here, we're also an extraordinary moment in our nation's public life. it's not only a continuation moment as i see it. it's a change moment, even a crisis moment, for our democracy. our country is debating fundamental, enormous economic and social issues, and is at a deep politic crossroads. with have dp and prolonged economic crisis, fight or financial regulation regulation, health care reform, immigration reform, and our environmental future. and yet, at just the moment when we need our democracy to work as well as it possibly can,

i just want to make sure that people are aware of the people that put this event toether, from americaspeakse of the partners, carolyn lukensmeyer and joe golden joe, where are you? regime and. thank you very muc from demos i want to thank brenda white and also acknowledged having the key and the two key leaders of our washington ofce were sitting in the back of the room. thank you very much. from everyday democracy, martha mccoy who's here, and pat scully who could make it today, but has been part of t process everince. d archon fung fro the ash center at the nnedy school of harvard has been a bad as part. and also jane austen a huge amount of logistics work just last week to make sure we get here. so thank you to all the been part of it. perfect timing. and i wan to introduce karen hobert flynn. you have her bio in your ocket, but karen is someone who is the vice president for state governments and state chapters fo common use. she's also a connecticut, a leader of democracy work in connecticut where she and i worked together for going on 25 years. and it's been a delight to work with her