BENTONVILLE -- Youth is the hope for an eroding political system, former President Barack Obama said Monday.

About 700 people gathered at the Heartland Whole Health Institute on Monday to hear a conversation between the 44th U.S. president and Olivia Walton, board chairperson for Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

The conversation was the first in the Building Bridges speaker series meant to spark conversations about the American spirit and "meeting in the middle with curiosity, courage and care," according to Rod Bigelow, executive director of Crystal Bridges and the Momentary.

The American spirit is the notion of citizenship -- "we the people," Obama said. The U.S. was the first country to remove the hierarchy -- with some caveats, he added.

The American spirit, however, allows

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