The meeting was opened by Sen. Steineger who delivered n introductory speech regarding the history of the United States of America and its foundational act – the Constitution of 1787. Senator stressed that freedom is one of the pillars of American axiology, which is manifested in a host of constitutional guarantees aimed at protecting the individual from arbitrariness of the authorities. In this aspect the US politician has on many occasions made references to the Polish struggle for independence, praising Poles for their readiness to resist the authoritarian regime. The guest also underlined strong European roots and cultural ties of the US with the Old Continent. Senator shared his insights and experiences gained during his rich political engagement at all three levels of US administration – local, state and federal. Particularly interesting were his remarks on the functioning of the US Congress including practical aspects of enacting legislation. The guest also shared his analysis regarding the current 2016 presidential elections; he critically addressed the drawbacks of the US system of political party funding favouring rich candidates and admonished the on-going decline in quality of media coverage. While the guest diplomatically refused to say which candidate will have the upper hand in the upcoming presidential elections, he said the recent controversial statemetns of Donald Trump were rather part of pragmatic political game than manifestations of his true political credo.
After the introduction by Sen. Steineger, the floor was opened for discussion and questions from the audience. The guests gathered at the event touched upon the issues of the US system of jury trials, perspectives for visa-free travels to the US and recent socio-political events in Poland and the US.
„The Debate Club on the Civil Society” is a project launched in February 2015 by the International Institute of the Civil Society and The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Poland. It is targeted at all active leaders of non-governmental organisations, as well as business, cultural, political, educational ones, not excepting people active in the areas of administration and media. The Debate Club provides a platform for interesting, free and factual discussions with outstanding figures from public life concerning civil society as well as modern world problems, as well as chances and challenges. Moreover, the project's aim is to promote the idea of civil society, inculcating civil attitude, increasing the level of socio-civic participation and sensitizing the participants to certain areas of public life. The above mentioned initiative also creates a chance for carrying out numerous informal conversations, and will allow the project's partakers to meet interesting people with similar interests and to share their experiences, ideas and build civil society leaders' networking.
