Power & Politics: One-on-one with outgoing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona reflects on tenure and future 

Power & Politics: Combating ghost guns; 1:1 with oversight committee co-chair State Rep. Lucy Dathan

Former State Rep. Jack Hennessy dies at 73

Power & Politics: Jodi Rell’s legacy; the reopening of Norwalk’s I-95 overpass

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

connecticut

News 12 Staff

CTPP112B_2024-11-02-16-57-48

And in our synagogue where he grew up, he was one of us. And I think that's what endeared him to so many people. I'm Mark Suo. Welcome back to Power and Politics. That was Rabbi Daniel Cohn of congregation, a good Shalom in Stanford, Eulogizing, Senator Joe Lieberman at his temple back in March. Now, the Senator wrote a book that was released after he passed called Face Answers to America's political crisis. How religion can help us out of the mess we're in. The rabbi joins us now to talk about the book, Senator Liebman. So Senator Lieberman and much more and thank you for being with us. My pleasure and honor. Well, the book has the word Faith in the title. Can Faith Help Us Out Of This Mess 100%. I mean, I feel that one of uh Senator Liebman's great character traits was his commitment to God. And commitment to God is not only about commitment to God, but it's about seeing God in every human being. We're in a place right now. We're living in a very self centered world and faith really can bring us back to being more other centered, more generous of spirit and really build more unity amidst the, uh really, I would say, important diversity. Uh but not to allow that to divide us as unfortunately, it has now. Certainly Senator Lieberman was known for reaching across the aisle and working with everyone regardless of their political party. But bipartisanship is practically gone. It seems in Washington, how important is it to bring it back? I think it's critically important. I mean, we are the United States of America. And the truth is is that we all come from slightly different backgrounds. We have different ethnicities, different cultures. And at the end of the day, the stronger we are in unity, the greater we are as a country and we shouldn't look at the diversity as a weakness, but we need to find ways to how can we harness the beautiful mosaic of our country around common values, common aspirations. So I think that we can accomplish so much more that taps into the mission of America and us as a beacon to the world when we can really come across the aisle and focus not on what divides us, but what unites us. And one other point, Senator Lehman was all about solutions. It's easy to think about problems. And he said this countless times, I can stay in my corner and say either you do everything that I want or I'm not agreeing to anything. And he said, you know what? And he said he learned this from, uh, from, uh, you know, early in his career. Let's be practical. Let's find a way to each give a little bit so we can actually work towards the benefit of our citizens and the country. Now, Liebman says, uh, we need a new religious awakening in America. What would that look like? Well, you start putting on a yarmulke. Just kidding. Not exactly. Uh, you know, Judaism isn't looking for everybody to be Jewish. The idea is, is that, you know, when God speaks to Abraham, he says you should be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Imagine if we saw people, not for what they look like, but to find the divinity within. Imagine if we were able to give people the benefit of the doubt, I always remind people to live with faith means look at others the way you want God to look at you. How many of us are? Perfect answer, none but God brings us back into the world. Because you know what if you can give me one redemptive reason to bring you back into this world, I'm gonna infuse you with life today. And imagine if that's the generosity of spirit that our country had. So I do believe we do need an awakening to gain more courage, moral clarity, not to wait to be the recipient of somebody's act of kindness. We're not entitled to anything but to anticipate opportunities to flood our community with kindness. To see the face of God and a human being and to stand for what is right. As Senator Lieberman said, not just on what's convenient. One of the things that he told me when I was interviewing for my book, a legacy was I always wanna be remembered, not for playing Life safe, but for doing what's right. Well said, well, the country as we know is so divided is faith, the path to bringing people together. I truly believe that it is. I mean, I believe so strongly that the diminishment of faith has caused a lot of our issues today. People decide their behavior. Unfortunately, these days about the following, will I be caught? It's not about whether you're gonna be caught. It's about when nobody's looking, are you gonna do the right thing? And I believe more people who go to houses of faith who bring faith into their life, they'll understand there's accountability for their actions. They'll ask themselves every day that I'm not thinking about external regulation. But on inner motivation, the greatness of America is that we don't regulate what everybody does. You have freedom, but it counts on a belief in God to say, you know what, at some point I'm gonna be held accountable for my life. I know that my life is a gift and what can I do to take God's gift and to uplift the world around me? So I believe our country can be even extraordinarily more unified, extraordinarily, more light filled. Uh the more we bring faith, not an onerous way, but inspire people to make faith the central component of the rhythm of their daily life. So the senator also spoke about the entertainment industry's large role in influencing our values. How can Hollywood do better? Well, by the way, it's an easy question to ask, how can somebody else do better? And I do believe that we have responsibility, whether we are parents, whether we're business people, whether we're in Hollywood to promote positive values. You know, I think that many times values are not taught, they're caught. So imagine this for a moment, if a child or adult for that matter is being surrounded by negative role models and negative influences, it's true. It may just be Hollywood, but it also has an impact on us. And I think we have to look at ourselves. How much time are we spending on social media in general? How much time are we allowing negativity, stereotypes and frankly wasting of time to take away from us becoming the best version of ourselves? So yes, we can. Hollywood can do better. But we have to say, how am I gonna do better to make sure that I'm not, you might say taken over by the influences of social media or my phone for instance and say, what am I going to do to build deep relationships? What am I going to do to elevate the world that's around me. Rabbi Cohen. Thank you so much for being with us. Always a pleasure to be with you. Same here. Well, a half a million people already voted in our state. But can the ballot counters keep up with a huge turnout for early voting?

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/737b0dc4-b082-4659-9e46-1fd3395b8bfd/737b0dc4-b082-4659-9e46-1fd3395b8bfd.transcribe

CTPP112C_2024-11-02-16-58-14

Well, election day is Tuesday and the polls open at 6 a.m. sharp, but you can continue to vote early through this weekend. Going into this weekend, roughly half a million people have done just that. But can election workers handle the crush of voters? News? 12 Connecticut's John Craven takes a look just here in Norwalk, 10,000 people have already voted early but all these ballots can't be counted until election day. Election officials say they are ready deep in a double secure area of Norwalk City Hall. I gotta tell it that test is over voter registrars so I could learn are making sure every vote is counted. We're testing the tabulator and preparing them for election day. Early voting turnout is shattering expectations. It's a good sized crowd for early voting. This is more convenient. It's nice in here. I've never seen it like this before. Once ballots are cast, they're sealed in envelopes and then they get put in the vault in the town clerk's office and we don't touch them until election day. All these early voting ballots have to be counted on election day, but registrars think they'll have enough time. That's because towns can start counting when the polls open at 6 a.m. They have to wait until 10 to count absentee ballots through four tabulators in different groups by election officials say they're ready but they could use some help. We're still hiring, trust me. 2038547996. As for Brian, if you haven't voted early yet, you have until Sunday in Norwalk. John Craven News 12, Connecticut and that's all our time. I'm Mark Sudal and don't forget to vote. It's a privilege that hundreds of millions of people around the world don't have. But you do. Thanks for watching.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/f43f3217-61b8-49f9-8116-545b4faf6a67/f43f3217-61b8-49f9-8116-545b4faf6a67.transcribe

Democratic Party Chair Nancy Dinardo and Republican Party Chair Ben Proto join the show. 

Power & Politics: Countdown to Election Day – party chairs weigh in

Democratic Party Chair Nancy Dinardo and Republican Party Chair Ben Proto join the show.

More Stories

Power & Politics: One-on-one with outgoing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona reflects on tenure and future

Power & Politics: Combating ghost guns; 1:1 with oversight committee co-chair State Rep. Lucy Dathan

Former State Rep. Jack Hennessy dies at 73

Power & Politics: Jodi Rell’s legacy; the reopening of Norwalk’s I-95 overpass

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

Power & Politics: One-on-one with outgoing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona reflects on tenure and future

Power & Politics: Combating ghost guns; 1:1 with oversight committee co-chair State Rep. Lucy Dathan

Former State Rep. Jack Hennessy dies at 73

Power & Politics: Jodi Rell’s legacy; the reopening of Norwalk’s I-95 overpass

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

VOTE 2024: Connecticut voters guide

More from News 12

Power & Politics: One-on-one with outgoing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona reflects on tenure and future

Power & Politics: Combating ghost guns; 1:1 with oversight committee co-chair State Rep. Lucy Dathan

Power & Politics: Jodi Rell’s legacy; the reopening of Norwalk’s I-95 overpass

Power & Politics: 1:1 with Rep. Himes on Trump’s Cabinet picks, his plans for new session

Power & Politics: Washington shifts right – but CT remains Democratic stronghold

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Ad Choices