At 87, former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer wakes up each morning and asks himself, “What’s my job today?”

Every day, the answer is the same.

“My job is to be a better human being,” Romer said.

As he’s gotten older, the politician and former school superintendent has become less inclined to speak in public, in part because he’s more interested in listening than sharing his own views, and because most speaking engagements are “overly partisan.”

Romer granted a room full of senior citizens a rare opportunity to hear what’s on his mind Aug. 21 at the Colorado Senior Lobby’s Summer Social in Westminster. But he didn’t talk about seniors’ issues. Instead, he focused on what bothers him most about the current state of political affairs in this country.

Romer said he’s frustrated that the 2016 presidential campaign has been eroded by lies, lies that Romer said the mainstream media has been all-too-willing to rebroadcast.

“I’m really worried about my country,” Romer told the senior citizens and lawmakers who gathered at Covenant Village of Colorado retirement community. “I believe so deeply in democracy. When campaigns are almost totally filled with lies, it not only destroys the debate, but it destroys the structure of democracy.”

The former governor said television news outlets that are trying to be fair and balanced in their coverage of the campaign end up promoting falsehoods.

“They give time to stuff that’s absolutely untrue, just totally untrue,” he said of outlets such as CNN and MSNBC. “We are constantly barraged with things that aren’t true.”

As a kid growing up in eastern Colorado, Romer lived not far from Camp Amache, where 10,000 Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II.

He said he was embarrassed that he didn’t know more about the center at the time, and used the internment camp as an example of how much damage lies can do.

“The nation was brainwashed,” he said. “We were worried that everybody who was Japanese was an enemy. It was stupid. That’s how far truth can get screwed up.”

He urged the crowd to dig deep to find the truth before making up their minds about an issue, and to listen to others who may have differing viewpoints.

“Be really inquiring of people who differ with you because you gotta decide what’s right, you gotta act on it, but 10 percent of what you do is probably going to be wrong and you gotta continue to be open to that wrongness and learn from other folks,” he said.

The audience of roughly 100 people broke into applause when Romer advocated for political campaigns that don’t smear and destroy “the personal integrity of the person we oppose.”

“I gave this whole speech without mentioning Donald Trump, aren’t you proud of me?” Romer said, eliciting laughter from the group.

But he was talking about Donald Trump, the Republican nominee and businessman who has come under fire for making inflammatory comments in his campaign.

After the speech, Romer pointed to Trump’s accusation that President Barack Obama founded the terror group ISIS as an example of the behavior that’s been permitted in this election.

He said in an interview that he’s also worried about the number of people who support Trump.

“It tells me something about the American republic I didn’t believe before, that they’re subject to the strongman, dictatorial tactic and it’s really worrisome,” Romer said.

Though he criticized television news for giving Trump and his ideas airtime, he also bemoaned the lack of filter that exists on mediums like Twitter. Now, no one is screening out lies – people can read them in their rawest form, straight from the candidates’ iPhones.

“You can get by with saying anything,” he said.

Romer served as Colorado’s 39th governor from 1987 to 1999. Then, in 2001, he became the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. He retired in 2006.

Now, he spends much of his time commuting back and forth between Washington, D.C., and his home in Denver. Romer continues to work on K-12 education reform. When he’s not working, he said he’s studying.

“What do you do when you’re 87 and you’re not out there trying to organize a revolution, not trying to run for office?” he said. “I’m a truth-seeker. I’m seeking new information.”

At the moment, he’s particularly interested in genetics, evolutionary biology, quantum mechanics and black holes, he said.

“I have a very active mind, and if I don’t have something that I’m inquiring about, I’ll spend too much time reflecting on politics and it’s very bad,” he said.

As one of Colorado’s most prominent senior citizens, Romer said he’s glad to be out of the spotlight most of the time. He said he feels good about his life, in part because he still hears from people who say he made an impact on their lives.

“Age brings, at least to me, a reserve,” he said. “I don’t think my view of my own smartness is very much lower than it was 30 years ago. I’m more humble about how right I am. Age gives you a lot of experience to look at things from both sides.

“I see clearly now. That’s one of the advantages of being an old guy who has his mind.”