WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — As part of “The Public Interest with Ravi Kapur,” House of Representative candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni sits down to talk about examples he has faced when dealing with republicans on the other side. Working with colleagues representing a different party in 2016 has given Kulkarni a positive outlook on how it can bring the United States of America back together again from a dangerous experience he faced in Iraq.
Q: Do you think that in this environment you can get along with the other side to put our country back together again?
A: Sure. When I was in Iraq for example, I actually had to sit down across the table from people who were literally paying money to try and kill me — shoot rockets at our base and plant bombs at the side of the road. I feel like if I can sit down at the table with someone who is trying to kill me, I can sit down at the table with a republican and try to work things out for people. I’ll give you a good example, after the 2016 election when things were so divisive in our country, I reached out to some republican colleagues and said, ‘Why don’t we start a group where we don’t debate things. We just sit down for meals and listen to each other once a week, and try to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes to understand their perspective rather than attacking — which is what we see everyday on TV. Out of that group, three of us have won our nominations for Congress. Two republicans and myself as a democrat. All of us have agreed that if we get to Congress next year we’ll start breaking bread in the Capitol, which I think is the model that other people should use.