john opdycke. [ applause ] okay. so welcome. thank you all for being here. and joining in this conversation. here's where i want to start out. why should the american people care about political reform? put in a slightly different way, what's going on? what's the state of play? what's the state of affairs in this country that makes it the case that the american people should focus on concern themselves and become involved in issues of political reform? let me open it up to the group here. >> i don't mind starting. i think they are concerned about political reform if you just look at the voters. by the way, can everyone in the back row here me? all right. great. they are concerned about political reform and all you have to do is take a look at what is going on with voter registration and recognize it. a large segment of the population is giving up on the two parties. they are reregistering as independents through no organizational effort whatsoever. they have become disgusted with what they see is happening politically. they are disconnecting and disassociati