The “Two Dads Defending Democracy” tour, a bipartisan attempt by former Congressman Joe Walsh and gun safety activist Fred Guttenberg to encourage Americans to engage in constructive and respectful political discourse, came to Stony Brook University on Wednesday, Oct. 23. This was the last stop on their tour before the presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 5.  

Before the audience asked questions, Walsh and Guttenberg described how the tour came about. 

Walsh and Guttenberg’s relationship was initially marked by a strong political rivalry. Walsh had been a strong supporter of gun rights, advocating for minimal regulations; his position went against Guttenberg’s gun-reform advocacy as his 14-year-old daughter was one of 17 people killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. 

Guttenberg publicly criticized Walsh, who he believed was a part of the political machinery preventing meaningful reform. 

Eventually, the gap between them was bridged by one simple action: Walsh extended an olive branch to Guttenberg on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

In the social media post, Walsh wrote, “We probably don’t see eye to eye on the issue of guns. But I respect the heck out of you, I so admire your activism, and I continue to pray for your loss.”

Guttenberg spoke about the meaningful social media interaction as “ear opening.”

“We did a back and forth, it led to a phone call, which then led to dinner and a couple of drinks, and Joe’s amazing wife was there and I got to know her as well. And I realized I like him. This is like a good guy,” Guttenberg said. 

After Walsh and Guttenberg introduced the tour’s origins, they opened up the floor for questions from the audience. 

Alfreda James, a retired assistant director for Graduate Student Services at the Career Center, asked the first question. 

“What type of internal war did both of you do to get to the point where you could detach from those passions?” James asked. 

Guttenberg responded by highlighting his feelings of hypocrisy. 

“I had to come to grips with the fact, and be honest with myself, that I was somewhat hypocritical in the way I wasn’t talking to people like Joe,” Guttenberg said. “And I believe this to my core that it is easy to engage with people who I agree with but important and necessary to engage with those who may have differences from you, I wasn’t doing it.”

Guttenberg explained that he taught his children how to engage in respectful discourse with people who have opposing viewpoints but did not practice that same respect in his own life. 

“I was teaching my kids to do it, and I was not doing it,” Guttenberg said. 

Robert Wadolowski, a Ph.D. candidate in physiology and biophysics, asked if presidential nominees were properly representing Americans or if democracy was a farce.   

“There is a superstructure behind democracy that relegates what we do in voting. By the time you get two choices of the 300 million Americans, who are they actually representing? And where the h*** is my voice actually going to fit in there?” Wadolowski asked.

Walsh “fundamentally” disagreed with Wadolowski’s comments. 

“So what? So what, then what do you do [with changing how our political system is conducted]?” Guttenberg responded. “You’ve got two options. You can either decide to help change our democracy, help reform a lot of what you see as detrimental to our democracy or you can choose to just ignore [it] and not vote.”

The event concluded with discussions on topics of fear and the importance of civilized discourse. 

Guttenberg emphasized in an interview with The Statesman that the American vote has never mattered more than now. 

“Never in my lifetime has a vote mattered more for young people,” Guttenberg said. “For college students, your ability to have a say in your futures is dependent on this election. If you don’t vote and this election goes to someone that has said they don’t value democracy, and that they don’t know if there will be another election, you may never get the chance to use your voice to have an influence on what happens next.” 

Guttenberg also highlighted that if someone feels underrepresented in government, then that is a perfect opportunity to run for office. 

“Run for office. You can win,” Guttenberg said. 

Following the event, some audience members were not completely pleased.

“The discussion [portion of the event] centered on the wrong ideas,” Wadolowski said. “They’re constantly analyzing the most topical issue that people are not voting or that there is divisiveness in the country without really ever diving deeper into why that is the way it is.” 

Walsh urged students to vote and “defend our democracy” after the event. 

“Get off your a**, get out and vote, change our f***ing broken politics because I’m going to be dead,” Walsh said. “This country is on you.”