Americans Rejecting Extremism on Both Sides: Political Activist

Tell me, what is your hope for America? My hope for America is that we use this moment to really look towards the future. The United States can win the 21st century the same way that we won the 20th century. But in order to do that, we need to have a really compelling vision about what we're going to be. We're a nation of ideals. We believe that everyone can be an American, no matter where you come from across this great world. We believe that anyone can make a difference and get ahead and actually have the American dream. But these are things we just believe. We need to actually turn it into policies that actually work for everybody. With respect to this particular convention, I've been told that it's unique. It's unusual. It's my first, so I don't have anything to measure against. What's your take? Well, this is my first convention too, but I've watched a lot on TV and I have a lot of friends that have been at prior conventions, so I feel like I've been here in spirit before. It feels to me like going to a rock concert or a pep rally or a major sporting event. Sports is one of the few things where people can be against each other at the game time, but then when the game is over, you congratulate. The players are hugging each other on the field, even though they're on opposite sides. I believe our politics can be that way as well. We can fight hard. There is a winner at the end of these contests, but we should still be able to love each other together as Americans. Let's talk about that because I'm also quite interested in bipartisanship or working together, as you describe it. But it seems like that's a very difficult thing to achieve on many fronts. Actually, China, which we talked about, is one of the areas where there seems to be more bipartisanship, perhaps some of the other foreign policy positions. What do you see as the role of bipartisanship here, and is it possible? I do think we're going to actually see a rise again of bipartisanship. That's partly why I founded and co-founded this organization called Together! We're endorsing eight Democrats for Congress who are young Democrats, and eight Republicans for Congress who are young Republicans, and two independents as well. We're trying to grow what's called the Problem Solvers Caucus. It's a group of people in Congress that work together on bipartisan legislation to try to solve problems that are bedeviling our country. You may have noticed that a couple of the members of the squad actually lost their primaries. People like Marjorie Taylor Greene got driven out of her district to a next door district. I think people on the Republican side are starting to push against the fringe on their side as well. I do think you're going to see a growth of the center. This is not going to happen overnight. It's going to take two years, five years, 10 years to happen. But we're at a turning point where Americans have said enough to polarization, and they just want people to get the job done. Is there particular areas where the Problem Solvers Caucus is working on right now that you're particularly focused on? Actually, they're working on a number of areas, but I think the biggest one would be immigration. I really hope that Kamala makes that one of the things that she works on in her first 100 days. That was an area where she was put in charge of it during the Biden administration, and we were so close. There was a bill that was in the Senate where there was a bipartisan agreement. It includes more border security, more border judges, but also some type of path for the dreamers is really important. If we can actually get that legislation done, that will release so much of the polarization in this country. As Ronald Reagan said, we're the only country on earth where you can come from anywhere. You come from Africa to America, you live here, you become a citizen, you become an American. Same as you come from South America, China, India, wherever. It doesn't matter where in the world you come from, you can become an American if you accept our ideals and become an economic member of our country.