WEBVTT 00:00:01.343 --> 00:00:02.494 Over the decades, 00:00:02.518 --> 00:00:05.839 my colleagues and I have exposed terrible misdeeds and crimes 00:00:05.863 --> 00:00:07.496 by large corporations, 00:00:08.471 --> 00:00:10.223 which have taken many lives 00:00:10.247 --> 00:00:12.303 and caused injuries and diseases, 00:00:13.215 --> 00:00:16.568 on top of damaging economic costs, 00:00:16.592 --> 00:00:18.696 affecting many incidents. 00:00:19.974 --> 00:00:21.733 But exposure was not enough. 00:00:22.521 --> 00:00:25.177 We had to secure congressional mandates 00:00:26.245 --> 00:00:28.195 to prevent such devastation. 00:00:28.877 --> 00:00:32.795 As a result, many lives were saved and many traumas prevented, 00:00:32.819 --> 00:00:36.442 especially in the areas of automobile, pharmaceutical, environmental 00:00:36.466 --> 00:00:38.557 and workplace health and safety. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.581 --> 00:00:42.311 Along the way, we kept getting one question again and again: 00:00:43.104 --> 00:00:45.779 "Ralph, how do you do all this? 00:00:45.803 --> 00:00:47.499 Your groups are small, 00:00:47.523 --> 00:00:49.256 your funds are modest 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:52.612 and you don't make campaign contributions to politicians." NOTE Paragraph 00:00:53.480 --> 00:00:56.001 My response points to an overlooked, 00:00:56.025 --> 00:00:58.588 amazing pattern of American history. 00:00:59.026 --> 00:01:01.674 Just about every advance in justice, 00:01:01.698 --> 00:01:03.887 every blessing of democracy, 00:01:03.911 --> 00:01:07.773 came from the efforts of small numbers of individual citizens. 00:01:08.590 --> 00:01:10.593 They knew what they were talking about. 00:01:11.045 --> 00:01:13.256 They expanded public opinion, 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.515 or what Abraham Lincoln called "the all-important public sentiment." 00:01:17.994 --> 00:01:20.685 The few citizens who started these movements 00:01:20.709 --> 00:01:24.164 enlisted larger numbers along the way 00:01:24.188 --> 00:01:27.141 to achieving these reforms and redirections. 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:30.165 However, even at their peak, 00:01:30.189 --> 00:01:35.740 the actively engaged people never exceeded one percent of the citizenry, 00:01:35.764 --> 00:01:37.333 often far less. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:37.887 --> 00:01:41.257 These builders of democracy and justice 00:01:41.281 --> 00:01:44.098 came out of the antislavery drives, 00:01:44.122 --> 00:01:46.476 the pressures for women's right to vote. 00:01:47.015 --> 00:01:51.169 They rose from farmers and workers in industrial sectors 00:01:51.193 --> 00:01:55.910 demanding regulation of banks, railroads and manufacturers 00:01:55.934 --> 00:01:57.909 and fair labor standards. 00:01:58.373 --> 00:02:00.176 In the 20th century, 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:06.428 improvements of life came with tiny third parties and their allies 00:02:06.452 --> 00:02:09.480 pushing the major parties in the electoral arena 00:02:09.504 --> 00:02:11.479 to adopt such measures, 00:02:12.325 --> 00:02:15.696 such as the right to form labor unions, 00:02:15.720 --> 00:02:17.299 the 40-hour week, 00:02:17.323 --> 00:02:19.681 progressive taxation, the minimum wage, 00:02:19.705 --> 00:02:21.866 unemployment compensation 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:23.365 and social security. 00:02:23.865 --> 00:02:25.837 More recently came Medicare 00:02:25.861 --> 00:02:28.547 and civil rights, civil liberties, 00:02:28.571 --> 00:02:30.556 nuclear arms treaties, 00:02:30.580 --> 00:02:33.138 consumer and environmental triumphs -- 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:36.443 all sparked by citizen advocates 00:02:36.467 --> 00:02:38.121 and small third parties 00:02:38.145 --> 00:02:40.404 who never won a national election. 00:02:41.547 --> 00:02:44.331 If you're willing to lose persistently, 00:02:44.355 --> 00:02:47.006 your causes can become winners in time. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:48.236 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:48.260 --> 00:02:50.860 The story of how I came to these civic activities 00:02:50.884 --> 00:02:52.764 may be instructive 00:02:52.788 --> 00:02:56.601 for people who go along with Senator Daniel Webster's belief, 00:02:57.141 --> 00:03:00.506 "Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:01.654 --> 00:03:06.184 I grew up in a small, highly industrialized town in Connecticut 00:03:06.208 --> 00:03:08.440 with three siblings and parents 00:03:08.464 --> 00:03:12.273 who owned a popular restaurant, bakery and delicatessen. 00:03:13.122 --> 00:03:14.468 Two waterways, 00:03:14.492 --> 00:03:16.873 the Mad River and the Still River, 00:03:16.897 --> 00:03:19.200 crossed alongside our main street. 00:03:20.022 --> 00:03:24.571 As a child, I asked why couldn't we wade and fish in them, 00:03:24.595 --> 00:03:27.198 like the rivers we read about in our schoolbooks. 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:31.880 The answer: the factories freely use these rivers 00:03:31.904 --> 00:03:35.741 to dump harmful toxic chemicals and other pollutants. 00:03:35.765 --> 00:03:41.069 In fact, the companies took control of rivers that belonged to all of us 00:03:41.093 --> 00:03:43.328 for their own profitable pursuits. 00:03:43.352 --> 00:03:48.172 Later, I realized the rivers were not part of our normal lives at all, 00:03:48.196 --> 00:03:50.773 except when they flooded our streets. 00:03:50.797 --> 00:03:54.641 There were no water pollution regulations to speak of then. 00:03:54.665 --> 00:03:58.375 I realized only strong laws could clean up our waterways. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:58.955 --> 00:04:03.678 My youthful observation of our town's two river-sewers 00:04:03.702 --> 00:04:07.864 started a straight line to my eighth-grade graduation speech 00:04:07.888 --> 00:04:13.893 about the great conservationist, national park advocate John Muir, 00:04:13.917 --> 00:04:18.758 then to my studies at Princeton on the origins of public sanitation, 00:04:18.782 --> 00:04:21.522 and then to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." 00:04:22.115 --> 00:04:24.288 These engagements prepared me 00:04:24.312 --> 00:04:28.198 for seizing the golden hour of environmental lawmaking 00:04:28.222 --> 00:04:30.167 in the early 1970s. 00:04:30.191 --> 00:04:32.358 I played a leading citizen role 00:04:32.382 --> 00:04:35.177 in lobbying through Congress the Clean Air Act; 00:04:35.201 --> 00:04:37.907 the clean water laws, EPA; 00:04:37.931 --> 00:04:40.587 workplace safety standards, OSHA; 00:04:40.611 --> 00:04:42.712 and the Safe Drinking Water Act. 00:04:42.736 --> 00:04:45.004 If there's less lead in your body, 00:04:45.028 --> 00:04:47.349 no more asbestos in your lungs 00:04:47.373 --> 00:04:49.281 and cleaner air and water, 00:04:49.305 --> 00:04:52.546 it's because of those laws over the years. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:53.115 --> 00:04:57.345 Today, enforcement of these lifesaving laws under Trump 00:04:57.369 --> 00:05:00.177 is being dismantled wholesale. 00:05:00.894 --> 00:05:04.496 Rolling back these perils is the immediate challenge 00:05:04.520 --> 00:05:07.032 to a resurgent environmental movement 00:05:07.056 --> 00:05:08.512 for the young generation. 00:05:08.536 --> 00:05:12.631 As for consumer advocates, there are no permanent victories. 00:05:12.655 --> 00:05:15.102 Passing a law is only the first step. 00:05:15.126 --> 00:05:19.041 The next step, and the next step, is defending the law. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:22.939 For me, some of these battles were highly personal. 00:05:22.963 --> 00:05:28.147 I lost friends in high school and college to highway collisions, 00:05:28.171 --> 00:05:30.695 the first leading cause of death in that age group. 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:33.645 Then, the blame was put on the driver, 00:05:33.669 --> 00:05:37.031 derisively called "the nut behind the wheel." 00:05:37.637 --> 00:05:40.682 True, drunk drivers had responsibility, 00:05:40.706 --> 00:05:45.101 but safer-designed vehicles and highways could prevent crashes 00:05:45.125 --> 00:05:47.842 and diminish their severity when they occurred. 00:05:47.866 --> 00:05:50.090 There were no seat belts, padded dash panels, 00:05:50.114 --> 00:05:54.199 no airbags or other crash-worthy protections 00:05:54.223 --> 00:05:57.880 to diminish the severity of collisions. 00:05:57.904 --> 00:06:03.720 The brakes, tires and handling stability of US vehicles left much to be desired, 00:06:03.744 --> 00:06:06.896 even in comparison with foreign manufacturers. 00:06:07.468 --> 00:06:09.291 I liked to hitchhike, 00:06:09.315 --> 00:06:12.782 including back and forth from Princeton and Harvard Law School. 00:06:13.314 --> 00:06:18.411 Sometimes, a driver and I came upon ghastly crash scenes. 00:06:18.974 --> 00:06:21.596 The horrors made a deep impression on me. 00:06:22.214 --> 00:06:25.253 They sparked my writing a paper at law school 00:06:25.277 --> 00:06:29.704 on unsafe automotive design and the need for motor vehicle safety laws. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:33.687 One of my closest friends at law school, Fred Condon, 00:06:33.711 --> 00:06:38.185 was driving home one day from work to his young family in New Hampshire 00:06:39.222 --> 00:06:43.730 and momentarily drowsed behind the wheel of his station wagon. 00:06:44.247 --> 00:06:47.446 The vehicle went to the shoulder of the road and tipped over. 00:06:47.931 --> 00:06:50.515 There were no seat belts in 1961. 00:06:50.911 --> 00:06:52.773 Fred became a paraplegic. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:53.437 --> 00:06:58.090 Such preventable violence created fire in my belly. 00:06:58.526 --> 00:07:02.743 The auto industry was cruelly refusing to install 00:07:02.767 --> 00:07:06.982 long-known lifesaving safety features and pollution controls. 00:07:07.006 --> 00:07:11.860 Instead, the industry focused on advertising the annual style changes 00:07:11.884 --> 00:07:13.614 and excessive horsepower. 00:07:13.638 --> 00:07:14.942 I was outraged. 00:07:16.188 --> 00:07:20.001 The more I investigated the suppression of auto safety devices, 00:07:20.025 --> 00:07:23.582 publicized evidence from court cases about the auto companies 00:07:23.606 --> 00:07:26.845 negligently harming vehicle occupants -- 00:07:26.869 --> 00:07:31.258 especially the instability of a GM vehicle called the Corvair -- 00:07:31.282 --> 00:07:35.876 the more General Motors was keen on discrediting my writings and testimony. 00:07:35.900 --> 00:07:40.931 They hired private detectives to follow me in order to get dirt. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:41.503 --> 00:07:45.096 After the publication of my book, "Unsafe at Any Speed," 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.723 GM wanted to undermine my forthcoming testimony 00:07:48.747 --> 00:07:51.482 before a Senate subcommittee in 1966. 00:07:52.125 --> 00:07:53.982 The Capitol Police caught them. 00:07:54.715 --> 00:07:56.988 The media was all over the struggle in Congress 00:07:57.012 --> 00:07:59.163 between me and giant General Motors. 00:07:59.644 --> 00:08:02.835 With remarkable speed compared to today, 00:08:02.859 --> 00:08:08.668 in 1966, Congress and President Johnson brought the largest industry in America 00:08:08.692 --> 00:08:10.406 under federal regulation 00:08:10.430 --> 00:08:14.821 for safety, pollution control and fuel efficiency. 00:08:14.845 --> 00:08:17.110 By the year 2015, 00:08:17.134 --> 00:08:21.477 three and a half million deaths were averted just in the US, 00:08:21.501 --> 00:08:23.688 millions more injuries prevented, 00:08:23.712 --> 00:08:26.256 billions of dollars saved. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:26.280 --> 00:08:31.101 What did it take for a victory against such overwhelming odds? 00:08:31.691 --> 00:08:33.548 Well, there were: 00:08:33.572 --> 00:08:38.702 one, a few advocates who knew how to communicate the evidence everywhere; 00:08:38.726 --> 00:08:43.405 two, several key receptive congressional committee chairs 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:44.974 led by three senators; 00:08:45.590 --> 00:08:48.987 three, about seven reporters from major newspapers 00:08:49.011 --> 00:08:53.221 who regularly reported on the unfolding story; 00:08:53.245 --> 00:08:56.970 four, President Lyndon Johnson, with assistance, 00:08:56.994 --> 00:09:02.503 amenable to creating a regulatory safety agency, NHTSA; 00:09:02.527 --> 00:09:08.493 and five, a dozen auto engineers, inspectors and physicians 00:09:08.517 --> 00:09:11.337 who divulged crucial information, 00:09:11.361 --> 00:09:13.874 and who need to be better known. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:13.898 --> 00:09:17.588 One more factor was critical: informed public opinion. 00:09:17.612 --> 00:09:22.722 A majority of people learned about how much safer their cars could be. 00:09:22.746 --> 00:09:25.579 They wanted their vehicles to be fuel-efficient. 00:09:25.603 --> 00:09:27.931 They wanted to breathe cleaner air. 00:09:28.471 --> 00:09:31.408 The result: in September 1966, 00:09:31.432 --> 00:09:36.237 President Lyndon Johnson signed the safety legislation in the White House 00:09:36.261 --> 00:09:39.506 with me by his side, receiving a pen! NOTE Paragraph 00:09:39.530 --> 00:09:40.539 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:40.563 --> 00:09:44.260 Between 1966 and 1976, 00:09:44.284 --> 00:09:48.771 those six critically connected factors were used over and over. 00:09:49.334 --> 00:09:53.842 It became the golden age of legislation and regulatory action 00:09:53.866 --> 00:09:57.382 for consumer, worker and environmental protection. 00:09:57.967 --> 00:10:01.116 Those connected elements of our past campaigns 00:10:01.140 --> 00:10:05.566 need to be kept in mind by people striving to do the same today 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:07.507 for drinking water safety, 00:10:07.531 --> 00:10:09.879 antibiotic resistance deaths, 00:10:09.903 --> 00:10:12.521 criminal justice reform, 00:10:12.545 --> 00:10:15.135 risks from climate disruption, 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.363 bio- and nanotech impacts, 00:10:17.387 --> 00:10:18.933 the nuclear arms race, 00:10:18.957 --> 00:10:20.115 peace treaties, 00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:21.477 dangers to children, 00:10:21.501 --> 00:10:23.640 chemical and radioactive perils, 00:10:23.664 --> 00:10:25.210 and the like. 00:10:25.234 --> 00:10:31.129 According to a solid study in 2016 by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 00:10:31.153 --> 00:10:33.222 preventable hospital deaths 00:10:33.246 --> 00:10:37.968 take a mind-boggling 5,000 lives a week in America. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:39.170 --> 00:10:41.975 The 1980s climax: 00:10:41.999 --> 00:10:46.839 our dramatic struggle to limit smoking in public places, 00:10:46.863 --> 00:10:48.505 regulate the tobacco industry 00:10:48.529 --> 00:10:51.693 and establish conditions for reducing smoking. 00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:55.945 Their struggle began in earnest in 1964, 00:10:55.969 --> 00:10:58.822 with the US Surgeon General's famous report 00:10:58.846 --> 00:11:02.942 linking cigarette smoking to cancer and other diseases. 00:11:02.966 --> 00:11:07.464 Over 400,000 deaths a year in the United States 00:11:07.488 --> 00:11:09.460 are related to smoking. 00:11:10.172 --> 00:11:15.656 Public hearings, litigation, media exposés and industry whistleblowers 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:20.569 joined with crucial medical scientists to take on a very powerful industry. 00:11:21.046 --> 00:11:24.581 I asked Michael Pertschuk, a leading Senate staffer, 00:11:24.605 --> 00:11:30.280 how many full-time advocates were working on tobacco industry control at that time. 00:11:30.304 --> 00:11:35.630 Mr. Pertschuk estimated no more than 1,000 full-time champions in the US 00:11:35.654 --> 00:11:37.785 pressing for a smoke-free society. 00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:43.511 I say that's a remarkably small number of people making it happen. 00:11:44.233 --> 00:11:49.055 They had a public opinion majority of aroused people, nonsmokers, 00:11:49.079 --> 00:11:50.419 behind them. 00:11:50.443 --> 00:11:53.722 Many smokers were quitting the nicotine addiction. 00:11:53.746 --> 00:11:57.185 Just think: from 45 percent of adults 00:11:57.209 --> 00:12:01.287 down to 15 percent by 2018. 00:12:01.746 --> 00:12:04.574 The tipping point was when Congress passed legislation 00:12:04.598 --> 00:12:07.109 empowering the Food and Drug Administration 00:12:07.133 --> 00:12:09.566 to regulate the tobacco companies. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:09.590 --> 00:12:12.955 Keep in mind that advances for consumers and workers 00:12:12.979 --> 00:12:17.347 are usually followed by a variety of corporate counterattacks. 00:12:17.371 --> 00:12:20.893 When the fervor behind such reform fades, 00:12:21.734 --> 00:12:28.065 then legislatures and regulatory agencies become very vulnerable to industry capture 00:12:28.089 --> 00:12:31.060 that stalls existing or further enforcement. 00:12:31.719 --> 00:12:32.896 What's that saying? 00:12:32.920 --> 00:12:36.633 "Justice requires constant vigilance." 00:12:37.142 --> 00:12:38.647 We see the difference between 00:12:38.671 --> 00:12:43.700 the driven stamina of counterattacking, profit-driven corporate power 00:12:43.724 --> 00:12:47.760 and the fatigue that overcomes a voluntary citizenry 00:12:47.784 --> 00:12:50.980 whose awareness and skill need renewal. 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.704 It is not a fair contest 00:12:53.728 --> 00:12:57.636 between large companies like General Motors, Pfizer, 00:12:57.660 --> 00:13:01.623 ExxonMobil, Wells Fargo, Monsanto, 00:13:01.647 --> 00:13:05.325 plus other very wealthy companies and lobbyists, 00:13:05.349 --> 00:13:09.463 compared to people protection groups with very limited resources. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:10.070 --> 00:13:13.016 Moreover, the corporations have immunities and privileges 00:13:13.040 --> 00:13:15.923 unavailable to real human beings. 00:13:16.443 --> 00:13:22.150 For example, Takata was guilty of a horrific airbag scandal, 00:13:22.174 --> 00:13:25.060 but the company escaped criminal prosecution. 00:13:25.084 --> 00:13:31.371 Instead, Takata was allowed to go bankrupt and its executives kept nice nest eggs. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:32.077 --> 00:13:35.910 But organized people need not be awed by corporate power. 00:13:35.934 --> 00:13:38.605 Lawmakers still want votes 00:13:38.629 --> 00:13:43.857 more than they need campaign finance from corporations. 00:13:44.616 --> 00:13:48.998 We far outnumber corporations in potential influence. 00:13:49.506 --> 00:13:52.247 But voters must be connected clearly 00:13:52.271 --> 00:13:57.017 to what organized voters want from the lawmakers. 00:13:57.041 --> 00:14:02.043 Delegating the constitutional authority of "we the people," 00:14:02.067 --> 00:14:05.607 we want them to do the people's work. 00:14:06.584 --> 00:14:08.402 A people's Congress, 00:14:08.426 --> 00:14:11.806 the most constitutionally powerful branch of government, 00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:16.673 can override, block or rechannel the most destructive corporations. 00:14:17.736 --> 00:14:21.899 There are only 100 senators and 435 representatives 00:14:21.923 --> 00:14:25.327 with just two million organized activists back home, 00:14:25.351 --> 00:14:27.334 a Congress watchdog hobby. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:27.798 --> 00:14:31.521 Congressional justice can be made reliable and prompt. 00:14:31.545 --> 00:14:34.603 We've proved that again and again with far fewer people. 00:14:35.183 --> 00:14:38.464 But today, Congress, marinated in campaign money, 00:14:38.488 --> 00:14:42.486 has been abdicating its responsibilities to an executive branch 00:14:42.510 --> 00:14:46.834 which too often has become a corporate state controlled by big companies. 00:14:47.557 --> 00:14:53.082 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1938, in a message to Congress, 00:14:53.106 --> 00:14:57.464 called concentrated corporate power over our government 00:14:57.488 --> 00:15:00.266 quote -- fascism -- end quote. 00:15:00.905 --> 00:15:04.207 A modest engagement of one percent of adults 00:15:04.231 --> 00:15:07.855 in each of the 435 congressional districts, 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.577 summoning senators and representatives or state legislators 00:15:11.601 --> 00:15:13.966 to their own town meetings, 00:15:13.990 --> 00:15:16.552 where the citizenry presents their agenda, 00:15:16.576 --> 00:15:18.717 backed by a majority of voters, 00:15:18.741 --> 00:15:20.699 can turn Congress around. 00:15:20.723 --> 00:15:26.142 Our representatives can become a fountainhead of democracy and justice, 00:15:26.166 --> 00:15:28.166 elevating human possibilities. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:28.618 --> 00:15:30.368 I dream of our schools, 00:15:30.392 --> 00:15:31.849 or after-school clinics, 00:15:31.873 --> 00:15:36.510 teaching community civic action skills, leading to the good life. 00:15:36.534 --> 00:15:39.034 Adult education classes should do the same. 00:15:39.058 --> 00:15:43.976 We need to create citizen training and action libraries. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.888 Students and adults love knowledge that relates to their daily lives. 00:15:49.375 --> 00:15:53.852 Large majorities of Americans, regardless of political labels, 00:15:53.876 --> 00:15:55.364 favor a living wage, 00:15:55.388 --> 00:15:57.105 universal health insurance, 00:15:57.129 --> 00:16:00.717 real enforcement against corporate crime, fraud and abuse. 00:16:00.741 --> 00:16:03.175 They want a fair, productive tax system, 00:16:03.199 --> 00:16:06.897 public budgets returning value to the people back home 00:16:06.921 --> 00:16:08.589 in modern infrastructure, 00:16:08.613 --> 00:16:11.193 and an end to most corporate subsidies. 00:16:11.217 --> 00:16:15.785 Increasingly, they're demanding serious attention to climate disruption 00:16:15.809 --> 00:16:19.960 and other environmental and global health perils and pandemics. 00:16:20.563 --> 00:16:23.236 Big majorities of people want efficient government, 00:16:23.260 --> 00:16:27.850 an end to endless, aggressive wars that boomerang. 00:16:27.874 --> 00:16:32.536 They want clean elections and fair rules for voters and candidates. 00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:35.539 These are changes that bring people together, 00:16:35.563 --> 00:16:38.233 changes Congress can make happen. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:38.257 --> 00:16:40.991 People around the world favor democracy, 00:16:41.015 --> 00:16:45.119 because it brings the best out of its inhabitants and its leaders. 00:16:45.143 --> 00:16:47.963 But this objective requires citizens to want to spend time 00:16:47.987 --> 00:16:51.244 on this great opportunity called democracy, 00:16:51.268 --> 00:16:53.458 between and at elections. 00:16:53.922 --> 00:16:57.066 History gives examples that encourage us to believe 00:16:57.090 --> 00:16:59.920 that breaking through power is easier than we think. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:00.328 --> 00:17:02.915 People say to me, "I don't know what to do!" 00:17:02.939 --> 00:17:04.580 Start to learn by doing. 00:17:05.074 --> 00:17:07.015 The more they practice citizen action, 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.373 the more skilled and innovative they become at it. 00:17:09.910 --> 00:17:14.472 Like learning a trade, a profession, a hobby, learning how to swim, 00:17:14.496 --> 00:17:17.378 their doubts, prejudgments and hesitancy 00:17:17.402 --> 00:17:20.497 begin to melt away in the crucible of action. 00:17:20.521 --> 00:17:23.746 Their arguments for change become deeper and sharper. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:24.361 --> 00:17:27.704 From 1965 to 1966, 00:17:27.728 --> 00:17:30.983 when I was making the case for safer automobiles, 00:17:31.007 --> 00:17:34.402 I realized that there were a lot of industries making a lot of money 00:17:34.426 --> 00:17:37.956 from dealing with the horrific results of crashes: 00:17:37.980 --> 00:17:42.384 medical care, insurance sales, repairing cars ... 00:17:42.408 --> 00:17:47.034 There was a perverse incentive to do nothing but maintain the status quo. 00:17:47.058 --> 00:17:50.766 By contrast, preventing these tragedies 00:17:50.790 --> 00:17:54.755 frees consumer dollars to spend or save in voluntary [ways] 00:17:54.779 --> 00:17:56.881 for better livelihoods. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:57.430 --> 00:18:01.692 What it takes is a small number of people to exert their civic muscle, 00:18:01.716 --> 00:18:04.275 both as individuals and organized groups, 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:06.877 on our legal decision makers. 00:18:06.901 --> 00:18:12.055 Ideally, it only takes a few enlightened rich people contributing funds 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:16.745 to accelerate citizen efforts against the commanders of greed and power. 00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.972 Why, in our past, rich people donated essential money 00:18:19.996 --> 00:18:24.505 for the antislavery, women's right to vote and civil rights movements. 00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:26.021 We should remember that. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:26.045 --> 00:18:28.148 With the onset of climate catastrophe, 00:18:28.172 --> 00:18:32.915 every one of us needs to have a higher estimate of our own significance, 00:18:32.939 --> 00:18:36.451 of our own sustained dedication to the civic life, 00:18:36.475 --> 00:18:39.856 as part of a normal way of daily living, 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.512 along with our personal family life. 00:18:42.536 --> 00:18:45.800 Showing up thoughtfully is half of democracy. 00:18:45.824 --> 00:18:49.199 That's what advances life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:49.581 --> 00:18:53.015 Remember, our country is full of problems we don't deserve 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:55.569 and solutions which we do not apply. 00:18:56.022 --> 00:19:00.964 That gap is a democracy gap that no power can stop us from closing. 00:19:00.988 --> 00:19:03.719 We owe this to our posterity. 00:19:03.743 --> 00:19:05.540 Don't we want our descendants, 00:19:05.564 --> 00:19:09.750 instead of cursing us for our shortsighted neglect, 00:19:09.774 --> 00:19:12.256 don't we want them to bless our foresight 00:19:12.280 --> 00:19:16.740 and bright horizons which can fulfill their lives peacefully 00:19:16.764 --> 00:19:18.660 and advance the common good? NOTE Paragraph 00:19:19.135 --> 00:19:20.384 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:21.028 --> 00:19:23.341 (Applause)