Eric Liu: Citizen Power

As the United States heads for what portends to be a raucous convention season, Dialogue host Marcia Franklin talks with Eric Liu, the founder of Citizen University in Seattle, about whether it’s even possible in a seemingly fractured society to have a civil discussion about politics. Liu, also the executive director of the Citizenship and American Identity Program at the Aspen Institute, is trying to reclaim civic education from the doldrums and encourage Americans to act on their rights. His TED Talk on the subject has more than a million and a half views.

Franklin and Liu discuss the “tectonic” demographic shift in the country and what it potentially means for governing, how Americans from diverse backgrounds are still bound together by a common creed, and what he describes as a “third Reconstruction Period” in the United States. Liu, an attorney, is the author of more than a half-dozen books, including “Gardens of Democracy,” “Guiding Lights,” “The True Patriot,” and “The Accidental Asian.”

Originally aired: 07/15/2016