The American Political System needs to move back towards independence and not privatization.

I don’t think so. I don’t think our system is broken, but I think it’s out of kilter right now. You know the public is divided into red and blue, but most states are purple. Most states . . . You know the public wants to see something happen. Last November they tried to give a message. They tried to send a message. They voted a lot of incumbents out of office, but I’m not sure the message was received. Now from an AARP standpoint, we try to do a lot of voter education. Last November, 25 percent of all the people who voted across the country were AARP members. So voter education for us is an important thing. And what we . . . what we want people to do is make an informed choice, and tell these people to stop the bickering and do the people’s work.

I have a fierce political philosophy, and it is independence. I really despair when people start off by saying, you know, “I’m a conservative, and therefore . . .” Or, “I’m a liberal, and therefore . . .” You know, “Let’s privatize something,” or “Big government is best.” I just got into this discussion the other day with Newt Gingrich. And what I say is if you’re a business person; if you’re in the military; if you’re a football coach; if you’re anybody – a mother – how do you think? You think about what’s the problem to be solved. And that’s the way we have to be. We have to be pragmatic. So I think of myself as a centrist; as a pragmatic problem solver. And I wish we could get our political leaders to put aside all this ideology and think about problem-solving. Be a centrist. Be independent.

Recorded on: 9/27/07