From the halls of the Maine state capitol Craig emphasizes the importance of citizen participation in democracy. And he interviews the kid who held the camera!
This video has captions. To see them, click CC on the video screen.
Here’s what Craig says in the video
Hi everybody. Hey it’s Craig Freshley here.
I am at the state capitol — what we call the State House here in Maine — and I thought that this would be a good time to remind us all what President Obama said in his farewell speech.
Now it doesn’t matter whether you agree with President Obama on most things or not, but I hope you can agree with him on this thing. What he said was, “The most important office in a democracy is citizen.”
You know, there are lots of people around this State House that hold lots of important offices. But they work for us, the citizens of the State of Maine, and for them to work well and for our government to work well it requires citizens to do our part. Of course that means vote but it means more than vote. It also means that we show up and we tell our office holders our opinions.
No matter what age we are we can come to the State House, or we can come to city hall, and we can tell our elected officials what we think about how things should be.
So if you want to help your group, your big group — your country, your state, your city — if you want to help your group make good decisions, participate as a citizen. Vote and even do more than voting.
Hey, I just made a video about being a good citizen and this is Connor right here. He was the guy holding the camera. After I made the little video I got to talking with Connor and learned about why he is here in Augusta today. And I thought I would let him tell you.
Craig: “Connor, why did you come to Augusta today?”
Connor: “I’m here today because of a man here, Randy, he is trying to change the law of the birth certificate.”
Craig: “And so you think that by coming here and talking to Randy you can help get this law changed to the way you want it?”
Connor: “Yes I do.”
Craig: “Nice! Okay, well thanks for being a good citizen, and thanks for helping me make the other video, and thanks for coming to Augusta today and participating in your government. Thanks Connor.”
Connor: “You’re welcome.”
