start	end	text
11040	16480	So first and foremost, this is really supposed to be interactive. I'm going to try a different
16480	21300	style of presenting for our section here at the Voting Village. And there should be a microphone
21920	26900	right over there. If anyone, you guys are brave enough to grab it as I'm asking different
26900	31800	questions. I would love to hear you comment. This is something that's going to be really
31800	37580	important to me in terms of understanding where people are in terms of how they view
37580	42360	what it means to be an American, what it means to be a citizen, and that sort of thing.
43200	49240	So this is just to set the stage, let you guys know where I'm hoping to go. We're going to talk
49440	54560	a little bit about what it means to be an American, obviously. I have a laundry list
54560	62160	of questions for you all. This is so weird. And really, again, trying to establish a framework
62160	69800	for how we define this thing called democracy in 2023. We have technology intersecting with
69800	75700	these nasty laws, a patchwork system of privacy laws at the state level. And what I really want
75700	80860	to try to get a feel for is what you all think this democracy should actually look like.
80900	84960	Now, of course, the natural question is, well, Kendall, why the hell are we talking about that
84960	91260	here? So one of the things I'm going to do is I'm going to kind of set a stage for what this talk
91260	96080	is and what this isn't. But first, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about myself, because
96080	100580	I know the bio, I really didn't turn my bio in on time. So it's probably all over the place,
100580	105280	talking about blockchain, which is not really what I do anymore. So one of the things I do,
105280	109580	again, cybersecurity privacy attorney, I do a lot of diligence work, I analyze results
109580	114720	from penetration testing for my clients. And I really assist in the area of privacy law compliance.
114720	119180	So dealing with the privacy laws, both internationally, GDPR, and also in California,
119180	124180	the CPRA, and this, again, this patchwork system of privacy legislation that we have coming down
124180	128040	the pipeline. Something else that I'm going to talk to you guys a little bit about, which will
128040	132860	relate to what I'm going to discuss today, is on the side of that, I am also an antique and rare
132860	137500	book dealer. In November, I will be the, believe it or not, or maybe, I guess, believe it, I will
137500	142900	be the first black antique book dealer in the country, which is super weird, but maybe not
142900	149660	really surprising. And the youngest. So there you go. Right? I'm also a professional track
149660	154840	athlete. I'm a long jumper. Every day for me is a day at the beach. So the goal is Olympic trials
154840	158980	next year, and hopefully Paris. And then I can finally hang these spikes up and never see a pair
158980	165020	of running shoes ever again. I swear to God, I can't wait. Recently, and this is kind of what
165020	170140	I talked about yesterday on the panel with Chris Krebs and my colleagues, I was recently named to
170140	176020	the American Council on Germany. This was a post-war transatlantic effort to sort of address
176020	180340	transatlantic policy issues. And what they do, they take 20 German nationals and 20 Americans
180840	186040	in various sectors, they stick them in a room in Germany and sort of go through the discussion
186040	191340	process of how to address global issues, right? Everything from technology, law and policy,
191340	196400	to government, to how do we get along better? And how do we become the leaders of the world that we
196400	201380	really hope to be? And so I hope to kind of weave that in here today. And then there's also a bunch
201380	207840	of other boring stuff you guys probably want to know about, but please ask me. So here's what this
207840	212620	is, or here's what this is not, right? I'm not here to lecture you. I don't think anyone really wants
212620	219300	to hear about the law. I certainly don't. This is not going to be a broad discussion of election
219300	223680	technology. And we spent a lot of time on that today. I will leave that to people who are way
223680	229880	more intelligent than I am. And we'll be talking about that basically all week. This is also not
229880	235520	something that is going to be substantially about racial identity. I'm not here talking to you as
235800	242800	a black male with an afro and a picket. I should probably take that out. It's really not what this
242800	247800	is. This is really coming from my perspective as an American citizen, and about someone who
247800	253440	really cares about the welfare of this country, and about creating more young leaders that are
253440	260600	going to help protect what we hold to be near, dear, and true to our beliefs. And this also
260600	265400	isn't about personal politics, right? I really don't care who the hell you voted for. I really
265400	272300	don't. Part of my issue and how I came to address some of these topics is, I think it's utterly
272300	279140	ridiculous that we can't be in disagreement and have a productive conversation. And part of
279140	285180	what I want to draw on for this discussion is, how did we get here? How come we can't do
285180	291560	that anymore? And how can we fix it, right? What this is, like I was saying, we are going to do a
291560	296120	bit of problem solving. Problem solving in the sense of, again, like how do we create a better
296120	301400	system for effective communication? How do we both come to the table, having voted for different
301400	306160	individuals, having different beliefs, and use those sort of backgrounds and beliefs to create
306340	311060	a better country, a better system, and better institutions that will help protect what we
311060	318180	hold near and dear? Maybe it's a bit of a reality check, maybe not. But I definitely do want to
318180	326900	go about reidentifying some of these systemic issues in education, voting rights, and just
326900	333400	overall how do we get along better, right? And who knows? My hope for this talk is that by the
333400	339240	end of it, everyone's a little better off, not in the sense of anything that I'm saying,
339240	343480	but really what you all are saying. I want to hear from individuals who have been around a little
343480	348140	bit longer than I have, who have had different educational backgrounds, and can help draw on
348140	351880	some of their experiences growing up that maybe I didn't have.
353700	359600	Okay, so a couple questions. These are some things I want you guys to think about. So
360040	364660	hopefully you guys can see them, but really what I want you to keep in the back of your mind is
365140	371380	what does it mean to be an American? And this is an important question, right? If you notice,
371380	376740	I'm asking you what does it mean, not what it should mean. There's a very important distinction
377240	382560	because what I want to try to figure out is based off of what we see here in the world today,
382560	386300	what does it look like it means to be an American? If you were to come from a different country
386300	391100	and view everything happening in America in the past decade or two decades or three decades,
391100	396840	how would you view American identity, right? What does a functioning democracy require,
396840	400640	right? One of the things we talk about in this country is how much we uphold the system of
400640	406080	freedom and how democracy is important. And part of our role in the world is protecting democracy,
406080	410400	giving other individuals and other nations and the people within those nations access to
410400	415060	this beautiful system we call democracy. But one of the things that never gets talked about
415060	420760	is what democracy actually requires, right? It's really, in my opinion, it's not this system
420760	426380	that allows individuals to be passive. You have to be active. You have to be proactive.
426900	431800	And I want to sort of understand from you all's point of view, what does that mean? It means
431800	436340	different things to different people, depending on where you're coming from, your demographics,
436340	442440	and obviously the generation you came up in. And then finally, how do you find your place in
442440	449000	society? That's a typo. That is hilarious. But what I want to try to figure out is as we sort
449000	456520	of look at the way elections have been going, and we're coming into 2024 here pretty soon,
456520	461480	one of the concepts that always gets discussed is this vision for America, the future. What does the
461480	465780	future look like? And we hear about how we paint this picture, but one of the things that doesn't
465780	470960	get discussed is really how does everybody fit within that picture? So I'm going to talk a little
470960	477300	bit about what happens when people get excluded and is whether or not that is a symptom of some
477300	482980	of the protests that we see, some of the conflict that we see across the world and across America.
484820	492040	So you guys, like, does anyone not know who this is? George H.W. Bush. George Bush,
492040	498120	senior, right? So very young one. I picked this one on purpose because if I had picked,
498120	503780	probably a more recent one, you guys would have been slammed up. So the 41st president of the
503780	510460	United States passes away in November 30th, 2018. Why do I have his picture up here? Let me tell
510460	517160	you a quick story. So I'm from San Francisco, California, a small borough in San Francisco,
517160	521960	Ingleside Terrace, also grew up in part of Bernal Heights. I was never really politically engaged
521960	528040	growing up. Neither were my parents, right? And I remember growing up and hearing about, you know,
528120	531560	Clinton running for president and George Bush running for president and kind of, you know,
531560	539560	the back and forth. And when George Bush senior died, something really weird happened to me,
539560	544740	right? My family, myself, we were raised to be Democrats, right? And we'll talk about that later,
544740	549820	what it means to be raised in a specific political party and not really knowing why the hell you're
549820	556920	in that political party. So he passes away in 2018. And I remember watching the funeral procession
558120	565900	and I was like viscerally upset. And I had no idea why. No idea why. I had never met him. I had
565900	570480	never really followed his viewpoints or anything like that. But I remember feeling actually
570480	576620	heartbroken. And it took me about two weeks to put my finger on it. And I'll tell you what it was.
577020	586820	When he passed away, for me, it symbolized a true changing of the guard. Because when I was young,
586820	590740	there was a time where, yeah, maybe you're a Democrat, maybe you're a Republican,
591180	595360	you voted for who you wanted to vote for, you had your opinions, you had your preferences.
595840	602820	But you didn't really have this deep fear, right? Mainly because at the end of the day,
602820	608280	you felt like there was still a place for you in the country. You felt that even though
608280	613020	individuals had a different lens, they had a different viewpoint, they had a different approach
613020	619280	to progress. Those individuals still wanted what was best for you. The only difference was
619280	626180	what they thought was best for you was different. That's it. When he passed away, for me,
626180	634080	at least this is my personal opinion, it felt like the last of a dying breed. And I try not
634080	638320	to use the word patriot because I know that triggers people sometimes. Again, I don't really
638320	646800	care. But for me, he was a real symbol of one of the last patriots that my generation remembers.
647200	650540	In the sense of somebody who, hey, you know, listen, you're a Republican, you have your
650540	655960	different beliefs, but I still want what was best for you. So even if someone like him got elected,
656460	662720	I didn't have this deep fear that we were going to sort of plummet into chaos.
662940	667460	Because the love for the country, the love for the people within that country was still there.
667460	673060	And that really was the impetus for my discussion. Because I wanted to figure out
673940	678800	how we restore that. How we get back to this place where at the end of the day,
678800	683060	there really is a place for everybody. And more importantly, that there is a restored
683060	689180	vision of America and of democracy that is inclusive in the sense of wanting everybody
689180	696640	to succeed and wanting everyone to have a seat at the table. Any questions so far? Comments?
696640	698700	Yeah, no, please. Seriously.
702240	709020	He was the last president who served in the military. So one idea I've been playing with
709020	716740	is should we have some kind of required service for everybody? Because we don't, I mean,
716740	725440	our generation has lost that feeling that we are all working towards the security of our nation.
726030	731300	Very interesting point. So what she said was, he was the last, I think you said he was the last?
734300	740400	I personally cannot verify that. But let's, but let's, your point is still made, right? The point
740400	745820	that she was making was that because he served in the military, there was a sense of being
746840	753200	educated and really having, feeling like you had ownership and duty for the welfare of the
753200	757980	country. I'm going to try not to skip ahead a whole lot, but that's a big part of what I want
757980	763080	to talk about. So I'm going to, like a bit of a spoiler. So I was born in 91, right? My birthday
763080	770240	was July 24, just turned 32. Yay, me. And one of the things that I want to talk about is this
770240	776860	concept of civics. Because as I was actually exploring how we got here, and why the viewpoints
776860	782380	were so different, I was, I was asking people who are a little bit older than me who had,
782860	791300	how they had developed this sense of duty and obligation towards protecting the nation,
791300	797280	not just on a, on a physical, military front, but just in terms of protecting the institutions,
797280	801900	doing things like showing up to the PTA meetings, protecting your schools, protecting your communities
802420	807340	and being involved. A lot of the conversations that I have with my generation, and obviously
807340	811340	it's not everybody, especially people in my community, depending on where you are,
811340	818460	there is a sense that the nation was was kind of just handed to you in the sense of, not that we
818460	823080	didn't have to fight for it, but there was a different way that we were approached in terms
823080	829020	of understanding our role within this, this democracy, right? One of the examples that I
829020	835680	use is I was on a plane. Actually, no, we won't use use that example. But my parents, my grandparents,
835680	840960	they were talking about growing up in an era where we were involved in very substantial
840960	846340	international conflicts. And what that did was at the federal level, that prompted discussions
846340	851840	about how do you educate these young people to really care about America to have this loyalty
851840	857000	to how do you how do you build the patriot? How do you build the American citizen? And for me,
857000	862020	what I found so far is a lot of it has to do with civics. Now, I would imagine that the civics
862020	867340	education, or I guess social studies, I think, for me, and maybe a few other of us was very
867340	872480	different than some of you all. Can someone talk about what they had in civics class, like, like
872480	882500	that experience? Can you? I had civics class, and you just learned about, like, a sterile clinical
882500	889500	approach to where the country was formatted and, you know, structured, but it was, you know, not,
889500	894660	not, I would say not passionate, because teachers were passionate, but it wasn't, you know,
894660	900320	biased or anything like that. It was just like a dispassionate portrayal of the structure of the
900320	904420	organization of the country. See if I can turn this up.
908600	913980	We can't hear him. I was trying to get everybody to hear him. It's okay. All right. So we're going
913980	918400	to switch gears here. So I'm gonna show you another president. We all know George Washington,
918400	926640	right? Part of what I'm gonna talk about here is sort of a difference in approach. So as I
926640	930940	talked to you guys earlier, one of the things that I do aside from being an athlete, aside from being
930940	935320	an attorney, aside from being someone who does a lot of work in the election security space,
935320	940780	is I'm an antique and rare book dealer. I'm sort of like the black Nicolas Cage in National
940780	946060	Treasure, right? And so one of the really cool things about having been a lawyer as well and
946060	951680	in going through Georgetown Law is a lot of these foundational documents that, you know, the
951680	956420	Supreme Court, that are presidential nominees, that just society in general seems to be talking
956560	961940	a lot about. I actually get to handle them. And I get to check this out. I get to read the rest of
961940	967840	the sentence. You see what I mean? You see where I'm going here, right? Exactly. Because I can read
967840	973500	cursive, right? And one of the things that I found to be so compelling is oftentimes these are
973500	982300	our founders, these very supported and revered leaders, really get misquoted. We get these
982300	986960	soundbites that says, well, they said this. Well, the rest of it actually said all this other stuff
986960	992660	about needing to revisit the Constitution and how this is the best we could do and so on and so
992660	997620	forth. Some of that, by the way, is Benjamin Franklin himself, actually, oddly enough. And so
997620	1003980	I have two pictures here. Again, Antique and Rare Book Dealer. One is George Washington's
1003980	1011340	Farewell Address, which I actually did not in any other time, I would have brought it with me,
1011340	1016660	but I actually do have a copy of it, which is super duper cool. So if you guys have antiques
1016660	1020400	or want to nerd out about stuff like that, please just find me in the back at some point.
1020880	1025240	And I really wanted to talk about George Washington's Farewell Address. So
1027620	1034160	it's interesting. So George Washington, he has led this growing nation. He has been a military
1034160	1040820	leader. He has been sort of an economic savant and has created this or has leaned into creating
1040820	1046340	what would be the Supreme Court, working with John Jay. And here he is about to leave. No one
1046340	1051200	wants him to leave, but he feels like it's his duty to leave. Now, the question is, so why am
1051200	1056100	I talking about his Farewell Address? I would encourage each and every one of you to go home
1056100	1061940	and read George Washington's Farewell Address, not just because it's great to have some context,
1061940	1067600	but one of the things that I loved about what he put in there was he articulated this wonderful
1067600	1075440	vision for America and for what America should look like and what it would mean to be an American
1075440	1080200	citizen. So I put a couple, just a couple of stanzas here just to kind of give people a picture
1080200	1084620	of it. There's one or two of them that I didn't include that I want to talk a little bit about,
1084620	1089800	but one, you know, just like this first part, the name of American, which belongs to you,
1089800	1095460	right? This should be something we should actually teach, right? Because there's this concept of
1095460	1101300	ownership that so many of us don't actually get, right? Now, what happens when you feel like you
1101300	1108240	don't have ownership of where you, of really where you belong? Well, I think a lot of people begin to
1108240	1114920	take a backseat to getting involved. I think they begin to rely on other people to advocate for
1114920	1118880	the rights and privileges that we should all be advocating for. How many of you guys are
1118880	1122960	poll workers? How many of you guys work the polls, like work the voting polls, right?
1123280	1127320	Round of applause for you guys that do that. That is awesome. It's a very thankless job and
1127320	1132280	it's very necessary, but that's a perfect example. That's a perfect example. The people that volunteer
1132800	1139660	and work at election polls and those types of things, that is the type of citizenship
1140280	1145980	that I've always believed George Washington was talking about. So something else that I didn't
1145980	1152780	list here, and really the basis of the title of this talk was citizen or subject. And so towards
1152780	1157900	the end of his farewell address, George Washington talks about the difference between being a citizen
1157900	1164500	and being a subject. One of the things that he says is, a true American citizen takes interest
1164500	1170860	in ownership over the welfare of his or her institutions. A subject counts on other people
1170860	1177700	to do that for them. Meaning this, if you have a problem with your government, you say, well,
1177700	1182260	you know what? Someone else will do it. Someone else will vote. Someone else should figure that
1182260	1187480	out. I'm going to ask these five people over here to fix it. That's a subject in his view.
1187480	1191960	A citizen actually stands up and does that themselves. Now, I'm not talking about necessarily
1191960	1196340	protesting and storming capitals or anything like that, but I'm talking about taking the
1196340	1202020	type of responsibility that's necessary to actually create the America and create the
1202020	1207220	democracy that you want to live in. One of the first questions that I asked here was,
1207220	1212440	what does democracy look like? What does it mean to be an American rather than what it should?
1212440	1216820	So just pausing right there, I would love to get a couple of reactions.
1216980	1221540	What are your thoughts so far? In your opinion, what does it mean to be a citizen?
1223640	1226880	Yeah, please. I really hope this works.
1229320	1236180	For me, it was John Kennedy. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for
1236180	1243200	your country. So what she said was, for her, it was Kennedy's speech where he said, ask not
1243200	1249100	what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. So the million dollar
1249100	1255020	question for me is, how do we create that? How do we create that? No, that's an actual question.
1255020	1258860	Because one of the things that I do is I hold a lot of different discussion spaces for people
1258860	1264900	in my generation and across generations as well to try to get back at that core message of,
1264900	1270000	how do we actually repair the system? And how do we get back to the type of America that I think
1270000	1274300	we'd actually all like to live in, where we feel we have ownership, we have responsibility,
1274300	1277480	and we can actually build on the type of changes that we'd like to see?
1280400	1286780	So we had civics classes, but that was it. I don't think that how to be a citizen or how to
1286780	1292180	participate in a society is modeled in any of the entertainment or optional media that people like
1292180	1296340	to consume. And I think that the people who create media have a responsibility to model that
1296340	1301540	for us. Because if we don't have to go to school, only a few people who are interested in it,
1301540	1305500	basically as a hobby, are going to learn how civics works or remember how civics works on
1305500	1314760	an ongoing basis. When it comes to the media, I'm afraid they're more interested in promoting
1315680	1320980	what's interesting to the public instead of what's in the public's interest.
1320980	1325400	Interesting. So what she said was in terms of the media, right? In terms of the media,
1325400	1330760	it seems like they're more interested in promoting what is interesting instead of what is in the
1330760	1336380	public interest. That's an interesting point. Show of hands, don't mean to put everybody like
1336380	1340700	put anyone in like an age bracket, but can you raise your hand if you took civics during a time
1340700	1347060	where the nation was at war? I would really love to hear some like, I think one of the ways that
1347060	1353140	this discussion is important is I'd like to hear how that civics class went differently.
1353780	1358220	Can someone please talk to that? Now, just mind you, one of the reasons why we're recording this
1358220	1364720	is we never actually have this talk, right? This never happens. So I want to really try to take
1364720	1369420	advantage of drawing on past experiences, drawing on what works and what didn't. I'll tell you
1369420	1373580	another story and then we'll wrap up and then I'll let you guys go back to eating.
1377290	1382870	So can you hear me? Is this working? So I grew up during the Vietnam War and all my family went to
1382870	1390090	Vietnam and it was a very unpopular war. However, when your family goes to war, my family's fought
1390090	1396070	in every war since the Revolutionary War, okay? You have an ownership of the country because your
1396070	1401470	family has sacrificed to the country. But on the other side of it, you know the pain of war
1401470	1407690	and you become a person who does not want to go to war. So you believe in detente and negotiating,
1407690	1412830	knowing that war is the last option. And I used to debate this in college, by the way.
1412830	1417310	So, you know, what can we do to become a community? How can we get along with the
1417310	1422250	other parts of the world? So I grew up with the civics being very proud of my country,
1422250	1426730	but also very reluctant to go to war because I knew the cost of war.
1426730	1431530	So interesting. So your civics course was love of country,
1432210	1437910	willing to go to war, but as a last resort. More focused on negotiation.
1448420	1453780	Like patching on a computer, we grew up knowing our country was not perfect. We'd gone to Vietnam,
1453780	1459400	right? And even though it was wrong, my whole family, all my 36 first cousins,
1459960	1465440	so everybody went to war. We paid the price because we loved the country,
1465440	1469660	but it wasn't exactly a great war, right? I also grew up during civil rights,
1469660	1474020	right? So it's like a computer patch. You know, we understood it's not a perfect country,
1474020	1479200	but it's a great country. And that we're going to constantly be improving and patching it versus
1479200	1484040	just saying we're a perfect country. We're imperfect, but I still think we're the greatest
1484040	1499780	country in the world. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. So I am a son of a Vietnam veteran.
1501560	1507600	And by the time I was 18, my friends were going off to fight in Iraq war.
1507900	1514520	One of the biggest things that I noticed, I'm rural Ohio, cows and fields and all that. And
1514520	1521960	the big thing about what we were taught then is you were expected to stand up. You had an
1521960	1529300	obligation as an American to step up and be part of the military, to be proud of your country.
1529960	1536100	Even though my father had a negative opinion about the Vietnam war and what happened to him
1536100	1548720	afterwards, he still appreciated and taught me and the importance of actually being active
1549380	1557340	within the community, within politics, as paying back for the benefits of actually being able to
1557340	1565260	be here, be an American. That's one of the biggest things I remember going up is, you know,
1566400	1571620	I remember trying to enlist in the military and not being able to, and being extremely disappointed
1573100	1578160	of many times trying to enlist and many times getting denied. Right.
1579480	1582080	And feeling like I was letting the world down.
1583420	1590660	And now I know with my children, that mindset, that mentality is not there.
1590660	1596900	Why do you think that is? Because, because here's the thing. So, so a lot of us,
1596900	1601140	civics for us was schoolhouse rock. Conjunction, junction, you know, what's your function,
1601140	1605100	all that stuff. You know, it was, you know, I'm the bill sitting on Capitol Hill,
1605100	1610920	right? That was no, I'm serious. I'm really not exaggerating. That was our civics. And it was,
1610920	1617100	it was, it was really, it was really interesting to hear about the different perspectives of how
1617100	1623460	people get educated on being productive members of society. For example, when your classmates are
1623460	1628940	being drafted, right? That creates an entirely different dynamic, not just on campus, but
1628940	1633480	internally, right? The, your, your viewpoint, knowing that at any given moment, your, you know,
1633480	1637620	your son, your, you know, your brother, your classmate, they can be shipped off at any given
1637620	1643600	moment. And the mindset you have to cultivate to, to accept that, to be proud of that, to support
1643600	1649860	that, I think is entirely different from what we see today. Now here's the twist. One of the things
1649860	1654040	that we talked about with George Washington was sort of what it meant to be an American, what it
1654040	1659520	meant to be a citizen, upholding your institutions, all these other things. We live in a completely
1659520	1665360	different era now, right? This whole concept of what I think we used to call the American dream
1665360	1670400	has shifted dramatically in the sense of now the American dream isn't, you know, hey, I want to,
1670400	1673780	you know, better my country. I want, I want to be involved that, you know, the American dream is
1673780	1680080	really, ideally, I would like to ascend to a level economically, economically, so that these local
1680080	1685540	problems don't really affect me as much, right? Why do I care about education when I can, when I
1685540	1691000	can afford a private tutor? Why would I care? Why would I care about public, you know, education?
1691000	1697460	And so one of the questions that I ask people is, have we made it too hard to be an American,
1697460	1704380	right? It is so hard to afford housing. You can't find nutritional food a lot of places.
1705180	1709980	Politics can be an absolute mess, depending on what you believe. And so all these, all these
1709980	1714880	different touch points, and then when you add on sort of our reliance on social media platforms,
1714880	1720460	and this whole digitally driven society that we live in now, all of this traffic that we're trying
1720460	1726340	to, to, to grasp hold of while supporting our families, you only have 24 hours in, you know,
1726340	1732040	in the day, right? What time do you have to really investigate individual's politics and
1732040	1736840	be involved in local elections? Now, this is not a belief of mine. This is, this is a question,
1736840	1742520	question being like, is it, is it, is it, do you believe it is too hard or become increasingly
1742520	1747980	and unreasonably difficult to do those little things that democracy requires?
1749040	1752920	All of you, yeah, that's going to be a, why don't we, why don't we pass it this way?
1752920	1756080	I would hope not.
1757540	1758500	It used to be...
1770280	1783490	Battery change. Gotta love that, right? Yeah, go ahead.
1788330	1797070	Okay. Okay. The, um, it used to be difficult to actually understand, it used to be difficult
1797070	1803910	to actually understand the policies or political stuff, but now with the internet and with you,
1803910	1808410	with all that social media, even though you can withstand the, you had to go through the
1808410	1816290	toxicity of it, you still can get the information you need. So, I mean, so basically it has improved,
1816290	1823050	just became more, you had to get tougher skin to deal with it. Okay. There's a lot more details
1823050	1827390	are there. Just had to find them now. Okay. Go ahead. That's right behind you.
1827950	1835550	I guess my question or comment is that one of the changes is the move of control from the
1835550	1841450	local to the federal. So it's much harder to be involved if the decisions are in Washington
1841450	1845570	versus if it's a local question in your town, much easier to just go to a board meeting and
1845570	1851170	answer those questions. So that to me has been a change over the past 20, 30 years where more
1851170	1857190	things have gone to the federal government and then back to states or local areas.
1857370	1862550	So that's an interesting point. So his comment was the decision-making, the level of decision
1862550	1868850	making has actually shifted, right? Local politics aren't really as much of an impactful deal anymore
1868850	1874850	because a lot of those decisions have gone on to the federal level. But isn't that potentially a
1874850	1879910	symptom of what we're talking about now in terms of getting people involved at sort of that local
1879910	1885830	baseline level, right? Like if individuals aren't feeling active, if they're not feeling like it is
1885830	1892210	their responsibility to uphold their institutions both locally and nationally, you sort of have to
1892210	1898810	rely on what's happening at the federal level. That could very well be a symptom of the very
1898810	1909890	discussion that we're having because the concept is those two should be able to coexist just well,
1909890	1913970	and so when I ask the question of have we made it too hard to be an American which is,
1913970	1919930	you know, I guess it's sort of like, you know, hail Mary, throw a question. It really does draw on
1919930	1926890	how we begin to learn how to manage, right, all of this different information, all of the
1926890	1931750	responsibilities, and also, you know, the gentleman here talked about social media and talked about
1931750	1937110	being able to access the information. Can you trust the information that you see, right?
1938130	1939870	Is there somebody else?
1943300	1950800	So my feeling is that the local is what really affects my life. I'm in California. The Board of
1950800	1955820	Supervisors for my county, their decisions about whether they're going to fix the roads and how
1955820	1961220	much money they're going to spend on the schools is going to be more impactful on my life than
1961220	1967040	the stuff that's being done on the national level a lot of times on a day-to-day basis.
1967040	1972720	I'm not quite sure why people feel like they can't reach that. I can write a letter to my
1972720	1977500	Board of Supervisors, I can show up at the meetings, and I can have a lot of effect.
1978200	1979180	Do you do that?
1980900	1987040	I have shown up at meetings. I haven't said much, but I do show up sometimes when there's
1987760	1989700	policies I'm interested in, yeah.
1989780	1992400	That's interesting. Just by a quick show of hands and we'll get to you. Quick show of hands,
1992400	1994340	how many of you all have ever written your senator?
1996080	1997180	This week.
1998180	1999420	You said this week?
2001000	2004340	What about showing up at county board meetings?
2004340	2006720	Wait a minute, the FBI is here, we're not answering.
2007640	2012800	I know, right? It's interesting. So, none of my friends have ever done that,
2013300	2018400	right? And it was interesting, I'll tell you a really quick story. I was on one of those
2018400	2023560	very unfortunate plane rides that are six hours long and you feel like you got stuck to somebody
2023560	2028900	who's going to talk your ear off, usually it's me. And I was, I had the window seat,
2028900	2036040	we had an older woman who was in the middle and someone who was a male who was about in his 40s
2036040	2041000	in the aisle. And I actually engaged in this very same conversation with them,
2041000	2043660	which was dangerous on a six hour flight.
2044660	2051080	She, full disclosure, she told me she was about 75, 76, he was about 42. And it was
2052380	2057220	incredibly fascinating to hear the differences in where they thought their responsibility was.
2057240	2061800	The woman, she went on and on about, you know, some of the stuff we talked about,
2061800	2065160	about what it was like living through a draft, what it was like when your siblings were going
2065160	2069640	away to war. And I remember at one point, she talked about writing her senator.
2070000	2073140	And the gentleman to my left, and I had also echoed this because I had,
2073140	2077780	I've never written my senator, I'll call though. Gentleman to my left thought that it was
2077780	2083080	completely unreasonable to do that because there would be no impact whatsoever. And he was just
2083080	2088660	wasting his time. And we were too far gone. And the woman in the middle seat said something that
2088660	2095580	I think I will never forget. It was a big part of why I want to talk about this. She quite simply
2095580	2104000	said, this is your country too. Right? It's not about and this was what really shifted it for me.
2104000	2110460	She said, you might not feel like you're going to change anything. But you're being selfish
2110460	2114860	because you're talking about it through the lens of whether or not you're going to see that change.
2116240	2121280	She looked at it through the lens of, hey, I'm going to do everything I can,
2121280	2125660	because this isn't really about me. This is about creating a better nation. This is about
2125660	2130900	creating better policy. And this is about creating a world that moving forward,
2130900	2135280	individuals are actually living better than I did. I might never see the progress that I'm
2135280	2141520	advocating for ever. And a conversation that I had actually at the American Council on Germany
2141520	2146800	with my American colleagues is we feel like there's a real lack in that type of thinking these
2146800	2152800	days. A lot of people we believe have been making policy decisions based off of the now, which isn't
2152800	2157540	necessarily bad. But the concept of having forward looking politics in terms of how do we create
2157940	2163600	a better system for the people coming up really feels like it's virtually deteriorating, right?
2163980	2168940	I have no idea who has the mic. She was waiting and then we'll, we got about like five minutes.
2169240	2175600	I've served on a public school board and a public park board, was elected. And when it comes to
2175600	2180160	going to supervisors meetings or county commissioner meetings or school board meetings,
2180160	2186980	you got to look at the budget. It is so driven by federal funds that they really can't make
2186980	2194580	decisions anymore at the local level, because if they don't agree with what the federal fund
2194580	2199020	is requiring, they don't get that money. Right, right, right. It's a great point. So
2199020	2203480	just, just to kind of actually, we'll go right behind you and then I'll ask one more question.
2204780	2210220	I write to my local officials because I've learned that I get personal responses from them. And I tell
2210220	2216020	all of my friends that, but most of the systems that we interact with in our lives seem to be,
2216020	2221880	they're designed so that you can say something, but you'll never get a response. Whether that's,
2221880	2227120	you know, an automated phone tree, whether that's a company policy that has no nuance
2227120	2233580	for exceptional circumstances, whether that is parts of, of government feedback processes that
2233580	2238920	like the point seems to be listening, but not actually acting on that feedback. I think that
2239040	2243760	a lot of my friends have the perception that this is designed to mollify them instead of actually
2243760	2250400	being something that's honestly soliciting their input. Very interesting. Yeah.
2251540	2259140	So just before we turn around a little too, too much, we're talking a lot about why you should
2259140	2265700	get involved. And the people that, that do spend, spend time going to these meetings and writing
2265700	2271360	their, their, their representatives. Does anyone not have any interest in that whatsoever? Like,
2271360	2275820	is there anyone here? Hopefully this is safe. Hopefully this is a safe space. Does anyone just
2275820	2281780	completely disagree? I'm only asking because part of, part of how we make progress is,
2281780	2285940	is understanding the other side of this. Understanding someone who very well might
2285940	2291340	say, listen, I'm a single parent. I've got two jobs. I don't have time for this.
2292500	2300300	Anyone feel that way? Okay, cool. Yeah. Can we, no, no, no. Okay. Okay. Can you get it?
2300300	2303100	Does anyone want to speak to it? Yeah.
2305980	2311080	I want to go ahead and speak to the idea that maybe now there's less,
2312600	2319340	there's less leeway for you to go out and, you know, participate in ways that don't, you know,
2319340	2323580	to the way you were talking about before, you know, people are trying to achieve that higher
2323580	2330060	standard of living so that they can sort of escape these problems. You know, I live in an HOA,
2330060	2334540	it's always a problem trying to find people to run for the board because it's a thankless job
2334540	2339260	that everybody wants results from. But if you do something that people don't agree with,
2339260	2345740	you get pilloried. At a local level, there's always the risk that if you act in a way that
2345740	2350680	some group doesn't like, they'll go and dox you. And there is a cost to stepping forward and
2350680	2357540	volunteering on a local basis because people perceive that for whether it's true or not,
2357540	2362280	what you're doing on a local level has an impact on a state or national level now.
2362760	2367200	Social media has basically made every local race a national race in some cases.
2367260	2371940	So there's a high cost to participating, whether it's a cost in terms of time
2371940	2378800	or money. I mean, how many people want to serve on a jury now? How many places actually pay you
2378800	2383100	anything to serve on a jury? That's a cost. That's actually one of your responsibilities
2383100	2388800	as an American citizen, is to serve as a juror, to allow people to have the choice of opting for
2389040	2396940	a jury with a trial with a jury of your peers. These are all part and parcel of your responsibility.
2397580	2402140	A lot of people want the benefits but are not willing to put in the time. But part of that
2402140	2406420	may be because the cost is very high, like you were talking about. If you're a single parent
2406420	2412000	with two kids and you're barely scraping by, how can you sacrifice a week or two to do jury duty?
2412400	2416840	Yeah. Can we get the gentleman here? Why is it so hard to be an American?
2416840	2424740	Why is it so hard? Why is it so hard? Right? And I mean, you know, there's a lot of variance in
2424740	2428180	opinion in terms of whether or not it is and isn't difficult, you know, right? No, no, no,
2428180	2436500	I'm not saying you're right or wrong. You know, I'm saying, well, I think part of it has a lot
2436500	2440820	to do with time. Right? You know, when you're dealing with things like inflation, when you're
2440820	2444260	dealing with competing interests, we have the whole situation going on with China right now.
2444260	2450680	There's so much happening that, again, you're still limited to that 24 hours in the day.
2451160	2455860	Right? Now, it doesn't mean that should be an excuse. But if we have kind of come to an
2455860	2460480	agreement that it has become a little bit more difficult in terms of the distractions, in terms
2460480	2466080	of how you manage your day, how you manage your year, how to deal with sort of the ebbs and flows
2466080	2473680	of just being in society these days, the question then becomes, what do we do about it?
2473880	2477560	And not to make this dark, can we do anything about it?
2478940	2482160	Let me just say this. One second.
2483620	2488040	Yeah, let me just say, I think it's a lot perception. I was just at a fundraiser for
2488040	2493920	Tim Scott, who I really like a lot from South Carolina. Tim Scott grew up at a time when if
2493920	2497460	you were a black man, you couldn't walk on the sidewalk. You had to get off so a white man could
2497460	2502820	walk by. His father told him when he was young, he says, you can be bitter or you can be better.
2503000	2509500	I thought, boy, that sums it up. So in the kind of businesses that I was in and the time I was in,
2509500	2514620	I remember walking into a room and all the men in the room thought I was the secretary.
2514620	2519060	I was the negotiator for the oil company. So I got everybody coffee because they asked me to.
2519060	2523720	And then I sat down and I negotiated the contract of which apparently they hadn't read because the
2523720	2528760	clause allowed something they weren't aware of. Anyway, long story short, we've come a long way,
2528760	2533260	baby. So you can be bitter or you can be better. I think part of it's a mindset.
2534020	2539400	You know, I used to have 140 reps when I retired from my other company. And I could give somebody
2539400	2544880	just crap territory and they always made it happen. And then other people never had what
2544880	2549780	they needed. I think a lot of it's a mindset. We're still a great country. We're evolving,
2550180	2554080	right? Jobs said if you're not evolving, you're going out of business.
2554220	2558760	So get out of your pity party, pick yourself up by the bootstraps. We have a great country
2559400	2562640	and make yourself better. Stop being bitter.
2564780	2569340	Perspective, a common one too, right? The counter argument that a lot of people would say is,
2569340	2573460	well, that's easier said than done, right? Which is which is a huge scapegoat for a lot of people.
2573460	2578360	There's that's the other. That's the other side of it. Hold on one second.
2578660	2583180	What I was going to say was that we're not even we're talking about participating,
2583180	2588740	but we're not even haven't even scratched the surface with voting. The huge number of people
2588740	2595180	who don't even show up to vote, you know, let alone participate in making the government work.
2595440	2599960	So, you know, can we how can we increase voter participation, for example?
2600820	2606260	How do you make people want to, right? You know, the reason why I decided to have this
2606260	2612720	conversation here is because we're not looking at the problem right here, right? We're in the
2612720	2619280	voting village. We're literally here listening, discussing, addressing one of the pillars that is
2619280	2626120	fundamental to protecting this institution that we call voting, elections, democracy,
2626120	2630460	however you want to break that down. But the question is, I want to see more of this.
2631040	2635960	And one of the reasons why we talk why we spend so much time here is because at the end of this,
2635960	2640040	people are going to draft a report on what happened here today. And we're going to try to
2640040	2645840	turn that report into policy and encourage people to protect their systems and to invest
2645840	2652780	in better safeguards to protect their elections. That takes work. And it takes people to actually
2652780	2658700	believe that this is worth saving. It takes people believing that they have a responsibility,
2658700	2664120	an obligation, a duty, and one that they feel here. And I don't know if we're in a place yet
2664120	2670320	where we've figured out a mechanism by which we can spread that message to where people actually
2670320	2676280	interpret that, they digest it, and they begin to live and breathe it. So I'll end with this.
2676620	2681980	I think there's a lot of hope. I think there's a lot of opportunity. I am incredibly grateful
2681980	2685880	that we were able to have a discussion like this, one that is one of the first that I've been a part
2685880	2691320	of. I don't know if DEF CON's ever done one like this on a subject like it. And I really appreciate
2691320	2697620	everyone's willingness to engage. The next task is to take this discussion home with you and
2697620	2705700	actually think about what needs to change. Whether it's civics, whether it is giving people time off
2705700	2711300	so they can go vote, whether it's all these seemingly little things to make this process
2711300	2718680	that we talk about being an American not so much easier, but more manageable to navigate.
2719400	2724820	I think as we begin to rely more on technology, as politics begins to take more of a hold over
2724820	2730380	this next couple of years, it requires people to spend more time thinking both logically and just
2730380	2734420	generally about the issues and being able to question what they're reading and what they're
2734420	2739620	and then to be able to act on it. So with that, thank you so much and I hope to see you guys soon.