and one of the things that, you know, when dr. zogby was talking i couldn't help but -- i have been thinking this all day. i am so glad i'm a democrat. i really am. when i look at the array of speakers that have come before us, and by the way, i give the staff great credit. believe me, there are a lot of people who wanted to come and help screen people and all that. and then i look at the issues that we are dealing with and then i ask the question, would the republican drafting committee be anything similar to this? and i would venture to say, no. but one of the things that i need to ing people, we -- we spend a lot of times concentrating on who we are fighting against. but the people that came here today and the ones who have come in the other sessions in d.c. and the ones who will come here tomorrow, will remind us who we are fighting for. not so much who we are fighting against but who we are fighting for. and i told all of our committee members when we met, you know, we are here for a reason. this is a moment, and we have an opportu

dr. zogby. >> i want to take the opportunity to raise a few issues that have not been covered that i believe are important to this issue of expanding and protecting the democracy. in almost every election cycle, in the last decade, we have noticed a lack of civility in this course. -- discourse. i believe it began in a very serious way with the election of president barack obama, some people cannot deal with it, the foreignness of the president and his name. it morphed into an accelerated campaign against islam stared -- sislam. in 2012, it was the double pledge that they would have to take. this year, it has gone to extraordinary lengths, leading a candidate proposed a ban on muslims coming into the country. our platform calls for no religion -- for immigration. [applause] civility leaves to hate crimes. i think this is also something that we will include. and secondly, the -- when it comes to speaking about muslims, there is a danger i fear, that we too often securitized to the conversations,

dr. zogby? >> you thank you, congressman. i just wanted to use the opportunity to raise a few issues that have not been covered that i believe are important for this issue of expanding and protecting our democracy n. almost every election cycle in the last decade we've noticed an increasing lack of civility in political discourse. i believe it began in a very serious way with the election of president barack obama. some people just couldn't deal with it. the foreignness of the president, his name morphed into an accelerated campaign against muslims. in 2010 it was the victory mosque. in 2012 it was the loyalty oath pledge, the double pledge that muslims would have to take. and this year it is going to extraordinary lengths leading one of the candidates to propose a ban on muslims come into the country. our platform should call specifically for no religion test for immigration. [ applause ] this lack of civility leads to hate crimes and support for the hate crime prevention act i think is also something i hope we will include.

dr. zogby. >> i want to take the opportunity to raise a few issues that have not been covered that i believe are important to this issue of expanding and protecting the democracy. in almost every election cycle, in the last decade, we have noticed a lack of civility in discourse. i believe it began in a very serious way with the election of president barack obama, some people cannot deal with it, the foreignness of the president and his name. it morphed into an accelerated campaign against muslims. in 2012, it was the double pledge that they would have to take. this year, it has gone to extraordinary lengths, leading a candidate proposed a ban on muslims coming into the country. our platform calls for no religion tests for immigration. [applause] >> the lack of civility leaves to hate crimes. i think this is also something that we will include. and secondly, the -- when it comes to speaking about muslims, there is a danger i fear, that we too often securitized to the conversations, so that the