anselm college. new hampshire. he talked about issues ranging from civil liberty, campaign finance and retirement security. he took questions from the audience. senator sanders is an independent. he said he's considering a presidential run in 2016. new hampshire traditionally holds the first presidential primary. this is part of c-span's road to the white house coverage. >> thank you very much for the kind introduction. let me thank the new hampshire institute of politics for inviting me to be with you this morning. as vermont's senator in my political career, i have done hundreds of town meetings throughout the state of vermont. it is great to do a town meeting here in new hampshire. the reason that i do town meetings, i think the reason why st. anselm holds meetings like this is i think there is an understanding that the way we do politics in this country very often is basically not the right way. the smartest guy in the world cannot talk about the major problems facing this country in a five second sound bite. t

anselm keiffer's massive winged book captures both the spiritual and the material-- the debasement of the word in our time and a persistent belief in it. the wings rise towards the heavens, while the material, lead, insists upon its place on earth. in departure from egypt, keiffer varies the surface texture, including straw and a metal pipe, which suggests the rod of moses, again to re-examine the symbols of belief that have endured in our culture. but in the 20th century, the forces of irrationality and violence have also endured. order, a mysterious piece by robert morris, suggests an altar with painted flames suspended in its center and a sculpture of the fire's smoke curling out into the air. skulls are embedded in the mantel, images of death and sacrifice. sigmar polke uses an overlay of styles and techniques in the death of paganini. his imagery frequently alludes to death and rebirth. computer disks, skulls, and swastikas swirl over the dying genius. in this art, we seem to see the legacy of the west contaminated. this is the bride, by nicky de stael. if, as many contemporary a

anselm's college. we organized a group to say hello to those folks. [laughter] we filled up not this room, but another room. it was a very interesting meeting. they heard from folks they did not necessarily want to hear from. the point is, when so many people are living on the edge, , whene have waiting lists many seniors are in trouble. it would be morally grotesque for anyone to talk about social security. we are working on legislation right now to expand social security. [applause] when anybody tells you misinformation about social security going broke, i think you'll know that social security can pay out benefits for the next 19 years. you could make social security stronger for the next 50 years. right now, somebody makes $10 million a year and so on makes -- [applause] list that cap -- lift that cap and weakening spend benefits. i will say another word on an issue that was very troubling to me. it is an interesting issue. there were some strange bedfellows together. we pride up ourselves on being a free society. we need a serious national conver

anselm's for doing it as well. this is what american democracy is supposed to be about. so let's do this all over the country. let's get millions of people out talking about the real issues facing america. and when we educate and organize, we're going to change this country. thank you so much for being here today. [applause] >> we'd like to thank you for being here. >> thank you. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> next, "q&a" with oklahoma senator tom coburn. after that, david cameron taking questions from members of the house of commons. then another chance to see vermont senator bernie sanders at a town hall meeting in new hampshire. >> c-span, for 35 years, bringing public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences and offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house, all as a public service of private industry. we're c-span, created by the cable

anselm holds meetings like this is i think there is an understanding that the way we do politics in this country very often is basically not the right way. the smartest guy in the world cannot talk about the major problems facing this country in a five second sound bite. the media does a disservice to us and to our nation when they look at politics as an "american idol" show. who's going to win and who's down tomorrow. the problems are serious and we take our responsibility seriously as american citizens, we need to talk about the real issues. respect each other's different point of view and learn from each other. let me begin by telling you a little bit about myself and about my political history, which is very different i think than most folks in the united states senate. i started off my life living in brooklyn, new york. my dad was a paint salesman. he came to america from poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket. he worked very hard. never made a whole lot of money. but turned on out, he ended up, he loved this country because it gave him the freedom to raise two kids.