You would like to disenfranchise voters between the ages of 18 and 25. >> Wrong. >> You want to increase the voting age to 25 years old, why do you want to do that? >> Speaker 2: Well, I don't wanna disenfranchise anybody, but I do think that we need to revive civic duty in this country. [00:00:16] So right now I think we suffer a crisis of national pride in the United States of America. So the same logic that we apply to who want to come to this country to say that you have to know something about the country before you vote in that country. I think it is fair to apply that same logic to somebody who turns 18 and [00:00:36] acquires their citizenship that way, and if not that, then at least to serve the country in some minimal way. So if you ask me, are we better off or worse off as a nation, if every high school senior has to pass the same civics test that every immigrant [00:00:52] has to pass in order to become a voting citizen. I think that will make our country stronger, I think that will make our country more united, I think that will make our voting populace more informed, people more proud to be an American. There was a ten year old girl who approached me in Iowa last week having [00:01:08] heard about this policy and some of the criticisms from the left and otherwise. She printed out the 100 question test, she scored 100%, 60% surpassing score. If a ten year old girl in Iowa can do it, yes, every high school senior can and should, too, that's not a Republican idea or a Democrat idea. [00:01:25] Now, I personally believe that voting rates amongst young Americans will actually skyrocket once we revive that sense of civic pride and civic duty. I also favor making election day a national holiday, we should make voting in this country a civic ritual, that it should mean something, [00:01:45] it unites us to say that we take the time to know about our country, our constitution, and then participate in our republic. And so I'm not saying you have to agree with me on that, but I do think that if you're not gonna agree with me on that, then I challenge you to find a better idea, and I'm open to it myself for [00:02:02] how we revive that missing civic pride in our country. But one way or another, we're gonna have to think outside of the existing box to do it, and that's part of where I'm leading the way. >> Speaker 3: So Vivek I wanna ask a follow up on that, I have an idea that I've discussed on the show before I think that after people leave high school, they can go to the military, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, etc. [00:02:20] I think it unites the country, so I understand I have a different idea- >> Speaker 2: I think that's interesting. >> Speaker 3: Okay now, in terms of the you say they need to know civics, but you know that if you knew civics that this country also has a history of poll taxes, literacy tests, etc. To specifically disenfranchise some voters, and [00:02:39] you know that the Republicans are losing under 25 year old voters in a massive way. And that is absolutely clear based on the demographics, on the polling information. So it looks really convenient that all of a sudden you don't want as [00:02:55] many young voters, etc. But then here comes the question, so if we did your literacy test, your civics test, and it turned out that 80% of Republicans don't pass it, but 60% of Democrats do pass it, so it's a massive, massive disadvantage for Republicans. [00:03:14] You just can't get your ignorant young folks, it's a hypothetical, ignorant young folks that are Republicans to pass any of these tests. Are you still okay with saying, no, 80% of Republican voters that are young, you can't vote because you're too ignorant. >> Speaker 2: I'm okay with it regardless, and [00:03:29] I think that the reason we applied the standard is think about the logic. The poll taxes, a lot of those were made with the explicit purpose of disenfranchising specific groups of people at a point in our national history when we were coming off of some inequitable treatment. [00:03:45] Historically, in the eyes of the law, thankfully, we've moved forward this country many decades past where we were even in the civil rights movement. Now today we do, I will remind you there's a reason why we require every immigrant to this country to know those things before they vote. [00:04:01] That's a good thing, by the way I think that's important, but that same logic, if an immigrant knows has to know it in order to vote. I don't think it is wrong to say no matter what your skin color or what your political affiliation, you should know the same things about the country at minimum to vote. [00:04:17] And to those for whom you say tests aren't everything, there's a separate point I've built in six months of service to the country in a first responder role or a military role. But the point is you've got to have some skin in the game or else you really have no way to play in the game, I think English should be the only language at the voting box. [00:04:35] >> Speaker 3: [CROSSTALK] So Vivek, if you don't know that there is no such thing as fake electors, then I guess we would disqualify almost all Republican voters, right? >> Speaker 2: Look, I think that you could take that civics test, see how you do, I challenge you to do it, my sense is, my guess you'd probably do pretty well. [00:04:53] >> Speaker 3: [CROSSTALK] I already took it, I'm a national US citizen, so yes I can, I crashed it and I guarantee you I would do it much, much better than- >> [CROSSTALK] So you yourself were an immigrant to this country, great, my sense is that many people find this a little too frightening until they take a look at it. And then you say, hey, if somebody's voting for President of the United States, [00:05:11] do we think it's important that they know what branch of government the US president leads. I think most people think that's a legitimate thing for somebody to know when they're voting for the US president. >> Are you positive Donald Trump would pass your test? He took a dementia test and thought it was an IQ test, he thinks you could suspend the Constitution for no reason, he thinks you could do martial law, [00:05:30] I'm sorry that's the greatest president of the 21st century. >> Speaker 2: I think I'm interested in the future of the country, but I'm not interested in particularly psychoanalyzing another individual who seems to be your obsession for the day, when there's actually a lot more to talk about the future of the country. >> [CROSSTALK] I don't know why you're even running yes and when you say, [00:05:46] he's the greatest