Word: civics
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
This is really kind of a new thing. And the argument that I'm going to try to make is that this is a new kind of service, a new kind of civic engagement; that people are becoming kind of citizen consumers, and that is related to this idea of service. The President: Well, I think you especially see that in the next generation, even among our daughters. I remember Malia maybe three years ago - she was eight or seven - said, you've got to get a hybrid because this is polluting the air and killing polar bears...
Both in terms of volunteerism and this idea of kind of civic consumerism, our polls show that there has been a - for lack of a better term, kind of Obama effect - that includes both of you - and that in some ways you started talking about, early on, this very American idea of doing well by doing good: green industry, the idea that principles and progress are not mutually exclusive. In some way, you've both been an endorsement of this and a beneficiary of it. The President: Our campaign was an example...
...Right. So how - talk about that a little bit - I mean, how you are both kind of cause and effect of this, and you're also in some ways the great champion of it, of these ideas and values that are changing the way civic society works. The President: Well, look, I think our campaign was an expression of people wanting to be engaged and involved in different ways. They didn't want to just be passive consumers of political television ads. They wanted to have their voices heard. They wanted to interact with their membership - or with their neighbor...
...wondering if you would talk just a little bit to that idea of that being this kind of new civic engagement that people have through what they buy, what they purchase, and the kind of choices, the consumer choices that they make. The President: Well, as I said, the - I do think that young people - this next generation is much more aware of the consequences of what they buy, what they use, what they drive. And that's a wonderful thing. And our - all our individual choices, when you aggregate them, end up having a huge effect. And I think...
...think of ourselves. We are again entering a period of social change as Americans are recalibrating our sense of what it means to be a citizen, not just through voting or volunteering but also through commerce: by what we buy. There is a new dimension to civic duty that is growing in America - it's the idea that we can serve not only by spending time in our communities and classrooms but by spending more responsibly. We are starting to put our money where our ideals...