Citizen University TV
Lessons in civic power with host Eric LiuAbout Citizen University TV
Citizen University TV offers an up-close look at lessons in civic power and engagement.
Eric Liu is founder of Citizen University and executive director of the Aspen Institute Program on Citizenship and American Identity. He was a speechwriter and deputy domestic-policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. He is the author of You're More Powerful Than You Think: A Citizen's Guide to Making Change Happen and A Chinaman's Chance, and co-author of The Gardens of Democracy and The True Patriot. For 11 years, Eric interviewed hundreds of Seattle's leaders for Seattle Voices on Seattle Channel. He is a regular columnist for CNN.com and a correspondent for TheAtlantic.com.
Eric Liu refers to America's favorite pastime, baseball, to help answer the question, what does it mean to be responsible? He says there are two ways to interpret this. First, what is it we should expect to be blamed for or held to account? Second, what ways are we living up to obligation or expectation? He says both are at play as our political culture has increasingly favored one definition over the other, often with negative consequences. Liu says to move forward we need to recommit ourselves to our duties: to connect, cultivate, circulate, and question ourselves. Liu's address was delivered April 6, 2019, at the Impact Hub Seattle as part of Citizen University's Civic Saturday, the civic analog to a faith gathering.