American Feud

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This non-partisan classroom friendly documentary traces the American story of liberalism and conservatism featuring voices from many perspectives. It invites the audience to take a collective look in the mirror and journey through the shifting history of words and ideas that divide America. Revised, updated and re-released in 2017, the new version explores the problem of dysfunctional government in light of a liberalism and conservatism that have become increasingly incoherent.

Study guide for American Feud

. . . American Feud offers an insightful and refreshingly unbiased review of how we got to where we are in the political divide. Using a chronological theme ranging from the formation of our country up to the results of the 2006 general election, the film traces the development and evolution of the divergent political philosophies of conservatism and liberalism. The producers have utilized a variety of clear interviews with historians and other observers of our unique system (Noam Chomsky, G. Gordon Liddy, Donna Brazile, and many others), crisp graphics, a remarkable collection of archival photos and live-action footage, and a smooth narration to present this impressive program. Viewers effortlessly follow the sequence of both international and domestic events which affected the electorate. Commentary includes the philosophies from all aspects of the political spectrum and does so in a wonderfully nonjudgemental manner. Viewers are left with a challenge to consider what our country’s collective future holds in the political arena. . . . Classroom teachers as well as individual researchers will appreciate the chapter selection option and the number of extras included in this useful title. Dwain Thomas – School Library Journal.com

. . . This documentary provides a balanced introduction to American conservative and liberal movements . . .The commentators provide a good mix of praise and criticism on both sides of the argument. . . The overall production quality is quite good . . Recommended for all viewers with political leanings. Stephen L. Hupp – LIBRARYJOURNAL.COM

. . . should be seen widely. We need the historical perspective, and the interviews with adherents of many different viewpoints shows that individuals can have more nuanced views than the monolithic stances both parties are trying to project. . . . This is a video recommended for many types of libraries, ranging from high schools and colleges to public libraries of various sizes. It provides an important civic education. Brian Falato, University of South Florida Tampa Campus Library, EMRO Reviewer

. . . Political cartoons, wacky special sound effects, and the antics of donkey and elephant mascots inject a humorous touch into this evenhanded topical history. Carol Holzberg – BOOKLIST

. . . American Feud is a surprisingly entertaining and informative documentary about political history that treats both sides fairly, gives some interesting historical detail, and manages to rope in some intellectual heavyweights on both sides of the spectrum. In fact, it’s a lot better than most of the political content you’re likely to see on any of the 24-hour news networks this year. . . In the end, American Feud isn’t just an exploration of two well-entrenched political ideologies, but an argument that maybe it’s time to search for a new path. Not just one that’s in the middle, but one that incorporates ideas from both while addressing the unique challenges of this millennium. Of course, it’s hard to find a new path unless you understand the one you’ve been on, and American Feud explains that while being both witty and informative, and, best of all, genuinely impartial. Whatever your political persuasion, American Feud is highly recommended. Victor Valdiva – DVDVerdict.com

. . . This documentary points out the absurdities of today’s "tribal definitions" by showing examples of hypocrisy and misunderstanding of popular political catchphrases throughout American history . . . "American Feud" effectively dismantles our outdated political definitions without becoming a preachy lecture on language. . . . Bruce Siwy – SOMERSET DAILY AMERICAN

. . . American Feud offers an informative and entertaining ninty minutes of pondering where the differences lie, and it will be a unique gift for anyone on your list boning up on Democrats and Republicans in the American political landscape. Barbara’s Byline – POLITICS – PROSE.COM

"This is a very lively and provocative examination of political labels in American life and how they conceal as much as they reveal. It’s a real contribution to public understanding." Marcus Raskin – co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies

"I began watching this with trepidation and ended in jubilation. This wonderful talkumentary is a scrupulously non-partisan, yet tough-minded celebration of democracy and a delightfully fiendish counterattack on the cant delivered from sides of the political spectrum. What’s most striking about the film is how the better souls on both the left and right emerge as kindred spirits. Frequently hilarious, always honest, and very highly recommended!" Ralph Peters – columnist and author of Looking For Trouble, Adventures in a Broken World

"I enjoyed your video, American Feud, greatly. I think it will find great use in high school classes. It is entertaining, balanced, and informative." Donald T. Critchlow, Professor of History, Saint Louis University, Editor, Journal of Policy History, General Editor, Cambridge Essential Histories (CUP), Senior Scholar, Center for Social Philosophy and Policy, Bowling Green State University

"This is a feud you want to get in the middle of. Richard Hall has produced an accessible, wide-ranging review of how and why we came to use the labels "Liberal" and "Conservative" — and what Americans can do to get beyond them." Eric Liu, co-author of "The True Patriot"

"American Feud is a very nicely done production that will be useful in secondary school courses on history, social studies and American government. Clear, comprehensive and even-handed, different portions of the documentary can serve as starting points for discussions of myriad topics in history, philosophy, economics and government." Morris P. Fiorina, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, Author, Culture War: The Myth of a Polarized America.

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Main credits

Hall, Richard (film director)
Hall, Richard (film producer)
Hall, Richard (videographer)
Hall, Richard (editor of moving image work)
Fary, Simone (film producer)

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

liberal; conservative; political science; Republican Party; Democratic Party; tribalism; Noam Chomsky; Howard Zinn,History; "American Feud"; Nerds Make Media; Gilded Age; Progressive Era; documentary; doc; politics;

WEBVTT

00:00:06.375 --> 00:00:10.333
Hello, I\'m the director
of American Feud, A History of Conservatives
and Liberals.

00:00:10.333 --> 00:00:12.792
In the summer of 2004,

00:00:12.792 --> 00:00:14.999
I set out to talk to
a wide variety of people,

00:00:14.999 --> 00:00:17.542
from Noam Chomsky to
G. Gordon Liddy,

00:00:17.999 --> 00:00:20.375
to Howard Zinn, to
Mona Charen.

00:00:21.375 --> 00:00:24.208
I talked to partisans
and non-partisans,

00:00:24.208 --> 00:00:27.291
libertarians, radicals
and none of the above.

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We called this effort
liberalism and conservatism

00:00:32.208 --> 00:00:35.000
101 for citizens fed
up with the status quo.

00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:38.291
The documentary was
completed in 2008.

00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:42.125
Lo and behold, in 2016,
the citizens are still fed up

00:00:44.417 --> 00:00:47.959
with the status quo.

00:00:48.999 --> 00:00:52.999
I have decided to update
and re-release American Feud, because I believe that knowing
the history of liberalism and

00:00:53.250 --> 00:00:56.792
conservatism is the only way
we can begin to understand

00:00:56.792 --> 00:01:00.291
the bizarre state of
American politics.

00:01:00.959 --> 00:01:02.999
You don\'t know what.

00:01:04.333 --> 00:01:08.333
We\'re gonna drain the
swamp of Washington.We\'re gonna have
fun doing it,

00:01:08.333 --> 00:01:09.709
and we\'re all doing
it together.

00:01:16.125 --> 00:01:19.375
[Music]

00:01:19.375 --> 00:01:21.917
If we lose freedom here,
there\'s no place to escape.

00:01:21.917 --> 00:01:23.999
This is the last stand.

00:01:42.583 --> 00:01:46.458
Any time you use Red for
the conservative party,

00:01:46.458 --> 00:01:49.917
and blue for the
liberal party,

00:01:49.917 --> 00:01:51.750
if we accept
those definitions,

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you\'re just totally out
of scheme with the

00:01:54.083 --> 00:01:57.583
colors of history.

00:01:57.583 --> 00:01:58.999
In other words, communism
was red and tourism was blue,

00:01:59.625 --> 00:02:03.291
so why do we have
it reversed?

00:02:03.291 --> 00:02:05.500
Obviously some noodle head at
the media got this rolling,

00:02:05.792 --> 00:02:09.125
and it\'s unfortunate.

00:02:09.125 --> 00:02:10.667
When I started following
politics in the 1950s,

00:02:10.834 --> 00:02:13.458
it was axiomatic that the
democrats were the party of

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the poor and the
working class,

00:02:15.875 --> 00:02:17.625
the republicans, were
the party of the rich.

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That\'s been sort of
turned upside down.

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This is a narrative invented
by republicans to claim

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majoritarian legitimacy for a
president who in fact did not

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win a majority, who
lost in a popular vote.

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And indeed this is something
that they\'ve been saying for a

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really long time.

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On the one hand you have
Richard Nixon\'s Middle

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America, the Silent Majority.

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It is another voice.

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It is the quiet voice in
the tumult the shouting.

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It is the voice of the
great majority of Americans,

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the forgotten Americans,
the non-shouters,

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the none demonstrators.

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The good old
grass roots people,

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you know, Reagan Country,
you know.

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You think of all the different
ways that they have evoked

00:03:02.750 --> 00:03:04.999
Middle America over the years.

00:03:04.999 --> 00:03:06.458
And then on the other hand
you have the liberal elite,

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the people who drive Volvos
and eat sushi and drink lattes

00:03:09.583 --> 00:03:13.542
or whatever, you know,
whatever stereotype it is.

00:03:13.542 --> 00:03:15.625
And this, the red state,
blue state thing is just this

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republican vision,
cast as sociology,

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cast as something real.

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[Music]

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It is striking that
the democratic vote is so

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clustered in a few places,

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and the republican vote
is everywhere else.

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You know, we often laugh
and say, we wish

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that we could vote by,
by square mileage in America.

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Then, then conservatives
would win all the time.

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[Music]

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[Music]

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It\'s true that, you know, the
southern states are generally

00:04:07.999 --> 00:04:10.667
are always more conservative
than the northern states.

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But it would be an over
simplification to simply

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describe the division in the
country as a geographic one.

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Because the division is
really an ideological one.

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And that division exists in
every state in the union.

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That is, while the southern
states may have a majority of,

00:04:26.999 --> 00:04:31.083
let\'s say pro war people,
there exists in a southern

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states a strong
minority of anti war people.

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In other words, in every
region of the country there is

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a division.

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All of this, in my opinion,
is a total waste of time. I don\'t know why those
two colors were chosen,

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and I hope at some point,
when things get more rational

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again, they can do a
better job (laughs).

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[Music]

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Modern liberalism began as a
protest against the so called

00:05:17.999 --> 00:05:21.875
robber barons,
the industrialists,

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bankers, financiers, the
Andrew Carnegie\'s and

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J.P. Morgans, and
John D. Rockefellers

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who were perceived as

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revolutionizing
American Society, and

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revolutionizing it not in a

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positive sense, in dividing
the rich from the poor,

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in controlling government
for their own interests.

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The whole language of the
\"special interests\" against

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the popular interests which
is so much a part of our,

00:05:49.041 --> 00:05:52.041
of our political
language today,

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really got started
in a mass sense,

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in the gilded age.

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A lot of people forget in the
Bryan years that you had the

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depression of 1893
was a wicked one,

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especially in the farm states.

00:06:04.834 --> 00:06:06.041
It was Bryan who
really defined the faith of

00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:13.500
Democratic Party as,
redistributing wealth from the

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top to the bottom.

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And giving wealth to
the bottom being the,

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the basis for prosperity
for the whole society.

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You shall not press down
upon the brow of labor

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this crown of thorns.

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You shall not crucify
mankind upon a cross of gold.

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If McKinley hadn\'t
been a strong republican,

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Bryan might have won
the presidency

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on a very radical platform.

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It turned out that the
republicans took a number of the things he stood for in
the next couple of decades.

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They had to.

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[Music]

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Up until William
Jennings Bryan,

00:07:12.583 --> 00:07:14.250
the Democratic Party was
basically libertarian.

00:07:14.250 --> 00:07:16.500
It stood for personal
freedom, and low taxes,

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and free markets,
particularly free trade.

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And the Republican
Party was pretty statist.

00:07:23.041 --> 00:07:25.999
It stood for a sort of
religious conservatism and

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protectionism, and
nanny state intervention.

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In some ways even
under McKinley,

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but under Teddy Roosevelt,

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they became the
progressive party.

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And a republican led
progressivism played the major

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role in transforming
the United States,

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and helping it to move
into the 20th Century in a

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successful way.

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These were busy,
exciting years for America,

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now becoming a world power.

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The Panama Canal was started,
pure food legislation passed,

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conservation furthered.

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The dynamic, old rough rider
steered the ship of state

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with a resolute, forceful hand.

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Long after his seven
years as president were over,

00:08:05.500 --> 00:08:07.750
he remained in the
public spotlight,

00:08:07.750 --> 00:08:09.999
a respected and beloved figure.

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The excesses of
immigration, urbanism,

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industrialism could be
mitigated by professional

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intervention, by imposing
rationality in human affairs,

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so that we see emerging
in the progressive area,

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city planning,
public education,

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public health, public welfare.

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All these institutions
which were designed

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to improve human well-being.

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And they provide the pretext
for the welfare of state,

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which is the
institutionalization

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of that possibility.

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There was a time when the
conservative and liberal meant

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about the same thing.

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It meant something like
classical liberalism,

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belief in freedom of
trade, limited state,

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protection of civil
rights, so on and so forth.

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You have to say, you know,
what kind of liberal are you

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talking about?

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You know, look at a classic
liberal like John Stuart Mill.

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[Music]

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[Music]

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We have to keep in mind that
the term liberal in the 18th,

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and into the 19th century,
what we now call classical

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liberals, really is what
we would call a

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conservative today.

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So the terms do change.

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I think a liberal is someone
who is often well intentioned,

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but misguided and they view
the individual in a way that

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is not consistent with
how human beings have acted

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throughout time.

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Which is a beauty of
the capitalist system.

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It\'s designed to harness
one\'s need to act

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in one\'s own self interest.

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Which is a good thing
if properly harnessed.

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[Music]

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[Music]

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A liberal is somebody who
for one reason or another,

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is willing to say they are
part of a declining species.

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And in this sense I think a
liberal is sort of an odd

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breed of cat.

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I\'m a liberal.

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Though a liberal who\'s been
mugged by a certain amount of

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historical reality to
understand that one has to

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make haste slowly.

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I\'m a liberal and
I\'m proud of it.

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And the L word is
okay in my book.

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And I think that those
liberals who are out there

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that have to stop, trying to
shy away from being liberal.

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There\'s nothing wrong with it.

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Some years ago, I found that
what resonated with me was

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something that Al Gore used
a couple of decades ago to

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characterize
himself, a raging moderate.

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I label myself as a
radical, not as a liberal.

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That is in general liberals
want to operate within the

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existing social order.

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You know, a liberal in the
United States usually believes

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in capitalism, believes
in more benign capitalism.

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Liberalism will go along
with an expansionist foreign

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policy, even with war, and
maybe will criticize the war,

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how it\'s conducted, will
distinguish between good wars,

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bad wars, just
wars, unjust wars.

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A radical will question
the very idea of war.

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It really wasn\'t \'til
the 30s that Franklin D.

00:12:08.458 --> 00:12:12.333
Roosevelt grasped the
term, captured the term,

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if you will, and
began to run with it,

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and it became very difficult
for many people we now call

00:12:18.625 --> 00:12:21.959
conservatives,
like Herbert Hoover,

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to give up that term.

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Through the Franklin
Roosevelt administration,

00:12:27.291 --> 00:12:28.959
there were still
people who said,

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I\'m a liberal, and I\'m against
the sort of thing Franklin

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Roosevelt is doing!

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[Music]

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[Music]

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A new liberalism came
along in the 1930s because of

00:12:50.999 --> 00:12:54.000
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
building on the progressive

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tradition, and the idea of
not of limited government,

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but activist government.

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In our efforts for recovery,
we have avoided on the one

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hand the theory that business
should and must be taken over

00:13:05.625 --> 00:13:08.917
into an all
embracing government.

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We have avoided
on the other hand,

00:13:11.999 --> 00:13:14.667
the equally untenable theory
that is in an interference

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with liberty to offer
reasonable help when private

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enterprise is in need.

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The idea that the government
should help Americans in

00:13:25.667 --> 00:13:29.083
trouble, the idea that taxes
should be raised are on rich

00:13:30.208 --> 00:13:33.959
Americans in order to do that.

00:13:33.959 --> 00:13:35.834
The idea that workers
didn\'t just have the right,

00:13:35.999 --> 00:13:40.041
but in many ways, needed to
have labor unions to protect

00:13:40.041 --> 00:13:43.208
them, to protect
democracy at work.

00:13:45.208 --> 00:13:48.999
Fred is a shop steward
for the union

00:13:48.999 --> 00:13:50.709
which has an agreement
with the mill.

00:13:50.709 --> 00:13:51.999
He represents the workers on

00:13:51.999 --> 00:13:53.709
the plant\'s labor
management committee.

00:13:53.709 --> 00:13:55.709
These days, they\'re discussing
production problems.

00:13:55.709 --> 00:13:58.709
And they\'ve been doing
a great job up there,

00:13:58.709 --> 00:14:00.375
working together,
planning together,

00:14:00.375 --> 00:14:02.834
figuring out new ways
to make more steel.

00:14:02.834 --> 00:14:05.542
These are historic advances.

00:14:05.542 --> 00:14:07.333
And I think in that sense,
the 1930s was a golden era of

00:14:07.834 --> 00:14:11.166
liberalism, certainly.

00:14:11.166 --> 00:14:12.959
And of course, those who call
themselves liberals were more

00:14:12.959 --> 00:14:15.000
popular, and won elections
more easily than they ever

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:18.041
had before or since.

00:14:18.041 --> 00:14:20.166
[Music]

00:14:25.291 --> 00:14:30.291
[Music]

00:14:41.999 --> 00:14:45.875
Basically the political
coalition that Franklin

00:14:45.875 --> 00:14:48.959
Roosevelt made was to take
progressive republicans into

00:14:50.041 --> 00:14:54.041
the Democratic Party,
both voters and politicians.

00:14:54.041 --> 00:14:57.542
Roosevelt\'s intimidation
of the Supreme Court of the

00:14:57.542 --> 00:15:00.999
United States got us
where we are today.

00:15:00.999 --> 00:15:04.041
Because when he came up with
a whole series of programs

00:15:04.542 --> 00:15:08.291
which were blatantly
unconstitutional,

00:15:08.291 --> 00:15:11.542
and the Supreme Court said
so, he threatened to pack the

00:15:11.542 --> 00:15:14.625
Supreme Court.

00:15:14.625 --> 00:15:15.834
And they buckled
under, to that threat.

00:15:15.834 --> 00:15:19.458
FDR has become a hallowed
figure in American Liberalism,

00:15:19.999 --> 00:15:23.999
and it\'s worth noting that
there were some episodes

00:15:24.083 --> 00:15:28.166
within the new deal, which
people are eager to forget,

00:15:30.417 --> 00:15:34.083
stacking the
Supreme Court being one,

00:15:34.083 --> 00:15:36.999
but also in the configuration
of the Social Security Act.

00:15:36.999 --> 00:15:40.875
One of the things that FDR did
was he negotiated a deal with

00:15:41.792 --> 00:15:45.875
southern legislators through
which two different groups

00:15:45.875 --> 00:15:49.333
of people were exempt
from protections

00:15:49.333 --> 00:15:52.250
under social security.

00:15:52.250 --> 00:15:53.999
And those two groups
were domestic workers,

00:15:53.999 --> 00:15:55.875
and agriculture workers.

00:15:55.875 --> 00:15:58.083
Why would this resonate
with southern legislators?

00:15:58.083 --> 00:16:00.458
Both of those occupational
groups were overwhelmingly

00:16:01.999 --> 00:16:05.500
African American.

00:16:05.500 --> 00:16:06.999
This social security measure
gives at least some protection

00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:12.709
to 30 millions of our citizens
who will reap direct benefits

00:16:14.667 --> 00:16:18.333
through unemployment
compensation,

00:16:18.333 --> 00:16:20.834
through old age pension, and
through increased services

00:16:21.834 --> 00:16:25.417
for the protection
of children,

00:16:25.417 --> 00:16:27.166
and the prevention
of ill health.

00:16:27.166 --> 00:16:29.417
Roosevelt was a patrician.

00:16:29.417 --> 00:16:31.291
He came from a
wealthy background.

00:16:31.291 --> 00:16:33.083
But he did put through
social democratic policies.

00:16:33.083 --> 00:16:36.125
Not because he
wanted to particularly,

00:16:36.125 --> 00:16:39.166
but because there were big
popular mass movements

00:16:39.166 --> 00:16:41.166
pushing him to.

00:16:41.166 --> 00:16:42.250
Those were days of real
political firmament

00:16:42.250 --> 00:16:45.166
and organizing.

00:16:45.166 --> 00:16:49.125
The CIO was organized, sit
down strikes were taking place, which are just one step
before takeover of industry by

00:16:49.375 --> 00:16:52.875
the working class.

00:16:52.875 --> 00:16:54.166
Roosevelt during the
great depression was really

00:16:54.166 --> 00:16:56.333
concerned with improving the
working of capitalism as he

00:16:56.333 --> 00:16:58.999
saw it, rather than with
nationalizing the means of

00:16:58.999 --> 00:17:01.166
production, distribution,
and exchange;

00:17:01.166 --> 00:17:02.875
which many people in
Europe wanted to do.

00:17:02.875 --> 00:17:04.458
Most labor leaders in this
country wanted what they would

00:17:04.458 --> 00:17:06.999
call a fair share of
the American dream,

00:17:06.999 --> 00:17:08.500
not, not a new sort of system.

00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:11.667
[Music]

00:17:11.667 --> 00:17:14.999
These Iowa farmers have
armed themselves

00:17:14.999 --> 00:17:16.999
to oppose the farm strike.

00:17:16.999 --> 00:17:18.333
They call themselves
the law and order league.

00:17:18.333 --> 00:17:20.625
And they\'re guarding farm
product shipments

00:17:20.625 --> 00:17:22.999
through the picket lines.

00:17:22.999 --> 00:17:27.208
Meanwhile, reconstruction work
is going ahead rapidly on the railroad and highway bridges
burned by the farm strikers

00:17:27.208 --> 00:17:30.999
several days ago, in a
desperate effort to halt the

00:17:30.999 --> 00:17:33.625
movement of farm produce.

00:17:33.625 --> 00:17:35.542
Anti-picketing sympathy is
growing stronger among the

00:17:35.542 --> 00:17:38.667
farm residents
of this section.

00:17:38.667 --> 00:17:40.500
Liberalism was already in
trouble after about six years

00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:42.999
of Roosevelt\'s administration.

00:17:42.999 --> 00:17:44.417
[Music]

00:17:45.375 --> 00:17:48.999
Yesterday,
December 7th 1941,

00:17:53.834 --> 00:17:55.583
a date which will
live in infamy.

00:17:59.041 --> 00:18:01.834
The United States of America
was suddenly

00:18:03.083 --> 00:18:06.750
and deliberately attacked.

00:18:06.750 --> 00:18:08.750
In World War Two, the
new deal was replaced by,

00:18:08.999 --> 00:18:12.999
\"win the war\" and in the
process of winning the war,

00:18:13.250 --> 00:18:16.999
certainly the
state grew larger.

00:18:16.999 --> 00:18:19.375
The government took
on more functions

00:18:19.375 --> 00:18:21.041
it had not had before.

00:18:21.041 --> 00:18:22.625
But the price of that I think
was a demobilization of many

00:18:22.625 --> 00:18:26.000
of the social movements, which
under girded the new deal.

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.250
[Music]

00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:39.999
\"Rest Your job is done
Now that we won

00:18:41.625 --> 00:18:45.375
We blessed the fight
We\'ll still go on\"

00:18:59.999 --> 00:19:03.583
I\'m Edward R. Murrow.

00:19:03.583 --> 00:19:04.999
The opposing point of view
in this conflict rests on a

00:19:04.999 --> 00:19:07.999
fundamentally
different vision of man.

00:19:07.999 --> 00:19:10.417
As a creature not of
God, but of the state.

00:19:10.875 --> 00:19:14.959
In this system, the value
of individual man diminishes

00:19:14.959 --> 00:19:18.083
sharply, and the
state is all important.

00:19:18.083 --> 00:19:21.250
What we oppose fundamentally
is the aggressive nature of

00:19:21.250 --> 00:19:24.208
the communist state.

00:19:24.208 --> 00:19:25.999
It\'s unceasing effort to
expand wherever it can,

00:19:25.999 --> 00:19:28.999
to grow bigger,
to take over...

00:19:28.999 --> 00:19:30.999
After World War Two,

00:19:30.999 --> 00:19:32.125
Conservatives were for

00:19:34.250 --> 00:19:36.250
defeating communism,
not just containing it.

00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:39.458
And secondly with
regard to government,

00:19:39.458 --> 00:19:41.959
we weren\'t interested in
managing it more efficiently,

00:19:41.959 --> 00:19:45.500
which is what the so called
modern republicans were doing,

00:19:45.500 --> 00:19:48.999
but in reducing its size.

00:19:48.999 --> 00:19:50.999
[Music]

00:19:56.458 --> 00:20:00.417
In the post war era, the
social insurance programs

00:20:00.417 --> 00:20:03.709
that were liberally inspired
began to consume

00:20:03.709 --> 00:20:06.166
ever more of
budgetary resources.

00:20:08.583 --> 00:20:12.709
Here\'s how it works: old age
and survivor\'s insurance is

00:20:12.959 --> 00:20:16.291
earned by most of us.

00:20:16.291 --> 00:20:17.917
Because most jobs
are now covered by

00:20:17.917 --> 00:20:19.792
the social security act.

00:20:20.458 --> 00:20:21.250
After working about
a year and a half,

00:20:24.208 --> 00:20:25.709
you become insured for
the next year and a half.

00:20:25.709 --> 00:20:28.750
From then on, you\'re insured
for an additional year

00:20:28.750 --> 00:20:31.999
for each six months
that you work.

00:20:32.999 --> 00:20:34.208
At the end of
ten years of work,

00:20:36.709 --> 00:20:38.458
you are insured for
the rest of your life.

00:20:38.458 --> 00:20:40.750
Virtually every social welfare
program was an open-ended

00:20:42.625 --> 00:20:45.999
entitlement.

00:20:45.999 --> 00:20:46.999
Which meant that there
were no constraints,

00:20:46.999 --> 00:20:49.959
no physical constraints that
could be put on the expansion

00:20:49.959 --> 00:20:52.999
of those programs.

00:20:52.999 --> 00:20:54.166
Conservatives had every
reason to be concerned,

00:20:54.166 --> 00:20:57.583
because essentially there
was no way of controlling

00:20:57.583 --> 00:21:00.625
expenditures.

00:21:00.625 --> 00:21:01.999
America has always been
much more skeptical about the

00:21:01.999 --> 00:21:04.583
centralized state than
any European country.

00:21:04.583 --> 00:21:06.709
Most Europeans believe in
their heart of hearts that

00:21:06.709 --> 00:21:08.917
power is something that
is possessed by the state,

00:21:08.917 --> 00:21:11.999
and is generously
handed down to individuals.

00:21:11.999 --> 00:21:14.417
And I think Americans
have exactly the opposite

00:21:14.417 --> 00:21:16.417
assumption.

00:21:16.417 --> 00:21:18.999
Power is something that
the individuals possess. And they reluctantly
hand it upwards.

00:21:18.999 --> 00:21:21.041
And they first of all hand it
to the lowest possible level.

00:21:21.041 --> 00:21:23.333
And only in the end,
finally to federal government.

00:21:23.333 --> 00:21:26.250
It\'s a different
view of the world.

00:21:26.250 --> 00:21:27.999
No government ever voluntarily
reduces itself in size.

00:21:27.999 --> 00:21:30.250
So government programs once
launched never disappeared.

00:21:30.250 --> 00:21:34.000
Actually a government
bureau is the nearest thing to

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.999
eternal life we\'ll
ever see on this earth.

00:21:39.999 --> 00:21:43.999
After the Second World War,
the US economy relies very

00:21:43.999 --> 00:21:46.999
heavily on the dynamic
state sector for creativity,

00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:50.875
production, and so
on and so forth.

00:21:50.875 --> 00:21:53.959
If you listen to Alan Greenspan,

00:21:53.959 --> 00:21:56.375
he\'ll tell you that
our economy depends on

00:21:56.375 --> 00:21:59.959
entrepreneurial initiative,
and consumer choice,

00:22:00.041 --> 00:22:03.999
and even gives
examples, like computers,

00:22:03.999 --> 00:22:06.792
the internet, lasers,
automation, containers.

00:22:09.250 --> 00:22:12.834
He gives a long list.

00:22:12.834 --> 00:22:14.208
The only problem
with that list is,

00:22:14.208 --> 00:22:15.792
that anyone familiar with
the economy knows every single

00:22:15.792 --> 00:22:19.667
element of it comes
out of the state sector,

00:22:19.667 --> 00:22:21.999
places like MIT.

00:22:21.999 --> 00:22:23.999
Computers were
developed here in Harvard,

00:22:23.999 --> 00:22:27.959
a couple of other places
within the federal system for

00:22:27.959 --> 00:22:30.875
decades before they were
handed over to private

00:22:30.875 --> 00:22:33.667
corporations,
which are tyrannies,

00:22:33.667 --> 00:22:35.458
to make profits from.

00:22:35.458 --> 00:22:37.500
And the same is true
right down the list,

00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:39.999
case by case.

00:22:39.999 --> 00:22:43.417
Do you see any objection to
this on the part of the so called conservatives?

00:22:43.417 --> 00:22:44.709
[Music]

00:22:44.709 --> 00:22:48.291
Air defense required
split second presentation,as well as split
second calculation.

00:22:48.291 --> 00:22:51.959
Given this objective, IBM
applied the latest extension

00:22:51.959 --> 00:22:55.625
of data processing,
the display scope.

00:22:55.625 --> 00:22:59.625
A giant picture tube on
which computer results are

00:23:00.125 --> 00:23:04.166
instantaneously and
continuously translated into

00:23:04.166 --> 00:23:07.000
graphic images.

00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:08.458
It sage, air ...

00:23:08.458 --> 00:23:10.291
Conservatives began to fight
back against the pillars of

00:23:10.291 --> 00:23:14.083
the new deal state,
and the new deal order.

00:23:14.083 --> 00:23:17.375
Labor, some groups to
the left of the new deal,

00:23:17.375 --> 00:23:20.917
like the communist party were
attacked and marginalized.

00:23:20.917 --> 00:23:22.999
The veterans movement arose,
predominantly a conservative

00:23:24.166 --> 00:23:28.208
movement, American Legion,
Veterans of Foreign wars,

00:23:28.208 --> 00:23:30.999
Catholic War Veterans
supporting the GI bill,

00:23:31.583 --> 00:23:35.667
but opposing what they saw
as a drift of the democratic

00:23:35.667 --> 00:23:39.208
party towards the left, and
the softness of the democratic

00:23:39.208 --> 00:23:41.999
party towards
the new enemy of,

00:23:41.999 --> 00:23:43.750
of communism.

00:23:43.750 --> 00:23:45.208
The areas in white on this
map represent

00:23:46.250 --> 00:23:49.417
the part of the world
composed of ourselves

00:23:49.417 --> 00:23:52.125
and those who share
our beliefs.

00:23:52.125 --> 00:23:53.999
The communist see it as their
goal constantly to win an

00:23:53.999 --> 00:23:57.041
advantage in the
minds of the people here,

00:23:57.041 --> 00:23:59.500
and to separate us.

00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:00.999
The black portion of the map
is the communist dominated

00:24:01.875 --> 00:24:05.999
part of the world, controlled
by the Soviet Union and the

00:24:05.999 --> 00:24:09.041
Chinese communist regime.

00:24:09.041 --> 00:24:11.417
As between the values
of equality or freedom,

00:24:13.583 --> 00:24:16.999
liberty versus equality.

00:24:16.999 --> 00:24:18.709
I think that both liberals and
conservatives believe in both.

00:24:18.709 --> 00:24:21.999
But I think that conservatives
put liberty above equality,

00:24:21.999 --> 00:24:25.417
and liberals put
equality above liberty.

00:24:40.375 --> 00:24:44.041
Limited government,
the free market,

00:24:44.041 --> 00:24:46.625
individual freedom
and responsibility,

00:24:46.917 --> 00:24:50.999
a strong national defense, and
traditional American values.

00:24:57.291 --> 00:25:01.000
Belief in God, a
commitment to family,

00:25:04.125 --> 00:25:05.999
respect for community.

00:25:07.709 --> 00:25:09.375
The conservatives in America
are the free market party.

00:25:09.375 --> 00:25:12.458
They aren\'t interested
in some Edmund Burkean,

00:25:12.458 --> 00:25:14.542
you know, maintaining a
connection with the past.

00:25:14.542 --> 00:25:17.291
No, they\'re about, let
the market do its thing.

00:25:18.999 --> 00:25:20.999
Edmund Burke was a,
principally a late

00:25:22.750 --> 00:25:26.000
18th century British statesman
and member of parliament,

00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.417
who defined his
conservatism based,

00:25:29.417 --> 00:25:32.000
a fair measure on the radical
and discontinuous politics

00:25:36.083 --> 00:25:39.999
that he saw in the
French Revolution,

00:25:39.999 --> 00:25:41.458
with the notions of equality,
and uprooting of institutions.

00:25:43.375 --> 00:25:47.542
He defined conservatism in a
way that made it anti-jacobin

00:25:49.208 --> 00:25:52.999
- opposed to the
French Revolution.

00:25:52.999 --> 00:25:54.834
Director What is it about
your life that made you a

00:25:54.834 --> 00:25:57.625
conservative?

00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:03.709
I guess because I had the
benefit of a superb education,

00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:09.375
and studied American history
very carefully and very well,

00:26:12.625 --> 00:26:16.709
realized what a boon we had
received from the founding

00:26:18.834 --> 00:26:22.333
fathers, early on in my life.

00:26:22.333 --> 00:26:24.500
And had appreciated
it ever since.

00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:27.250
I tell my students I\'m
a recovering liberal.

00:26:30.999 --> 00:26:34.999
I guess I would call myself
a conservative these days.

00:26:34.999 --> 00:26:37.458
I used to be a liberal so I
have the advantage of having

00:26:39.542 --> 00:26:43.417
some personal understand
of both points of view.

00:26:43.417 --> 00:26:45.625
I would describe myself
a radical pragmatist,

00:26:45.625 --> 00:26:49.417
but no one would
know what that meant.

00:26:49.417 --> 00:26:51.000
So, that\'s a non starter.

00:26:53.999 --> 00:26:56.999
What you want to do is
move toward the best.

00:26:56.999 --> 00:27:00.291
And that\'s qualitatively
different from the center.

00:27:00.999 --> 00:27:04.999
The real term for what I
am is probably more like a

00:27:04.999 --> 00:27:07.999
democratic socialist.

00:27:07.999 --> 00:27:09.417
Social democrat.

00:27:09.417 --> 00:27:10.625
Sorry.

00:27:10.625 --> 00:27:11.999
Social democrat is what we say.

00:27:11.999 --> 00:27:13.667
The S word...

00:27:13.667 --> 00:27:14.999
that really rubs people
in America the wrong way,

00:27:14.999 --> 00:27:16.999
or a populist,
which was once

00:27:16.999 --> 00:27:19.999
a powerful tradition
here in America.

00:27:19.999 --> 00:27:22.999
And what\'s funny is that
that Burkean conservatism,

00:27:22.999 --> 00:27:26.999
that\'s something that
I don\'t have a whole,

00:27:26.999 --> 00:27:29.542
a big problem with.

00:27:29.542 --> 00:27:30.999
I think that we, we should
try to preserve our past.

00:27:31.999 --> 00:27:35.125
[Music]

00:27:44.542 --> 00:27:48.333
In many ways the
United States is a very,

00:27:48.333 --> 00:27:50.999
very tradition bound,
tradition oriented country,

00:27:50.999 --> 00:27:53.999
it thinks of itself in many
ways as a youthful country,

00:27:53.999 --> 00:27:57.000
an innovative country.

00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:58.375
But in many ways,
it\'s an old country.

00:27:58.375 --> 00:28:01.375
Galileo was once offered a
chair at Harvard University.

00:28:01.375 --> 00:28:04.583
The declaration of
independence was signed

00:28:04.583 --> 00:28:06.583
a century before the unification
of both Germany and Italy,

00:28:06.583 --> 00:28:09.709
which is supposed to
be part of Old Europe.

00:28:09.709 --> 00:28:11.375
America is the
world\'s oldest republic.

00:28:11.375 --> 00:28:13.458
It\'s oldest democracy,
it\'s oldest federal system.

00:28:13.458 --> 00:28:15.750
The constitution was a
conservative document.

00:28:15.750 --> 00:28:18.917
It was a document that
established a central

00:28:18.917 --> 00:28:22.500
government which was strong
enough to defend the interests

00:28:22.959 --> 00:28:26.500
of slave holders
and merchants,

00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:28.999
and westward expansionists.

00:28:28.999 --> 00:28:31.458
If you\'re a conservative,
presumably it means you want

00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.583
to conserve something.

00:28:35.583 --> 00:28:39.458
So an interesting question is,
do you want to conserve the medieval world order?

00:28:39.458 --> 00:28:41.250
Do you want to conserve the
early modern world order?

00:28:41.250 --> 00:28:44.125
Do you want to conserve 1776?

00:28:44.125 --> 00:28:46.999
What does it mean to be a
conservative in a country

00:28:46.999 --> 00:28:49.999
founded in liberal revolution?

00:28:49.999 --> 00:28:51.959
Well, you know, you
could agree with traditional

00:28:51.959 --> 00:28:54.000
conservatism,
classical liberalism or not.

00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.667
But at least it was
a serious position.

00:28:57.667 --> 00:28:59.417
So Adam Smith is
worth taken seriously.

00:28:59.417 --> 00:29:01.999
David Hume, James
Madison and others,

00:29:01.999 --> 00:29:05.083
their ideas and later
developments of them,

00:29:05.083 --> 00:29:08.291
because the world didn\'t
end two centuries ago.

00:29:08.291 --> 00:29:10.458
Those ideas are
worth taking seriously.

00:29:10.458 --> 00:29:12.875
And if people
honestly sustain them,

00:29:12.875 --> 00:29:16.000
they have to be
taken seriously.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:17.750
On the other hand, when people
misuse the term to refer to a,

00:29:18.166 --> 00:29:21.999
say a Reaganite,
Statist, Extremist.

00:29:25.166 --> 00:29:28.999
I mean that\'s just
defaming the term.

00:29:28.999 --> 00:29:32.458
Conservatism should mean,
not only that some rise with

00:29:32.458 --> 00:29:35.999
conservative principles, but
everybody has a chance

00:29:35.999 --> 00:29:38.999
to rise regardless
of who they are

00:29:38.999 --> 00:29:40.792
so they can live their
God-given purpose.

00:29:40.792 --> 00:29:42.999
That\'s what
conservatism should be.

00:29:42.999 --> 00:29:45.250
Debate Moderator: Governor
Kasich, thank you.

00:29:45.250 --> 00:29:46.959
Director How would you
define a conservative?

00:29:46.959 --> 00:29:49.583
Someone with money and
things they\'re afraid to lose.

00:29:50.208 --> 00:29:53.792
That\'s a conservative.

00:29:53.792 --> 00:29:55.375
I know the image of us is a
bunch of people get together

00:29:55.375 --> 00:29:58.750
on New Year\'s and
ring in the old.

00:29:58.750 --> 00:29:59.999
It\'s just that we tend to be a
little bit more traditional.

00:29:59.999 --> 00:30:03.667
My view of conservatism and
conservatives is that they

00:30:03.667 --> 00:30:07.250
generally trust
individuals more than they do

00:30:07.250 --> 00:30:10.291
institutions, particularly
governmental institutions.

00:30:10.291 --> 00:30:12.625
They trust the ability of an
individual to fend for him or

00:30:12.625 --> 00:30:16.583
herself, whether that\'s
feeding his or her family,

00:30:16.583 --> 00:30:19.834
or defining the best way
to go about achieving

00:30:19.834 --> 00:30:22.750
a particular end.

00:30:23.041 --> 00:30:23.792
[Music]

00:30:31.999 --> 00:30:35.999
In the 1950\'s, John Kenneth
Galbraith wrote a book called

00:30:36.583 --> 00:30:39.999
The Liberal Hour.

00:30:39.999 --> 00:30:41.291
And the title came
from Adlai Stevenson,

00:30:41.291 --> 00:30:43.542
who made a speech who said
that the republicans

00:30:43.542 --> 00:30:46.125
are conservatives
most of the time,

00:30:46.125 --> 00:30:49.041
but when it comes
to election time,

00:30:49.041 --> 00:30:51.041
they have the liberal hour,

00:30:51.041 --> 00:30:52.375
in which they pretend
to be liberals.

00:30:52.375 --> 00:30:54.875
[Music]

00:31:04.583 --> 00:31:08.500
The overwhelming
accomplishment of liberalism

00:31:08.500 --> 00:31:11.625
was to invent the
American middle class.

00:31:12.999 --> 00:31:15.166
Meet Joe, the king of
the workers of the world.

00:31:16.999 --> 00:31:19.500
Hi folks.

00:31:25.999 --> 00:31:29.999
Joe is the king because he can
buy more with his wages than

00:31:29.999 --> 00:31:32.999
any other worker on the globe.

00:31:32.999 --> 00:31:34.999
Before the advent of
modern liberalism,

00:31:34.999 --> 00:31:37.417
something like 20 percent
of the population might have

00:31:37.999 --> 00:31:41.999
considered, might have been
considered to be middle class.

00:31:41.999 --> 00:31:44.959
And about 50 percent of the
population was actually poor.

00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:49.500
In 1932, we were
attacking the citadel of

00:31:50.959 --> 00:31:54.000
special privilege and greed.

00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:56.083
We were fighting to drive
the money changers

00:31:56.083 --> 00:31:59.166
from the temple.

00:32:00.333 --> 00:32:01.667
Today, in 1948, we are now the
defenders of the stronghold of

00:32:03.542 --> 00:32:07.250
democracy, and of
equal opportunity.

00:32:07.250 --> 00:32:10.792
The haven of the
ordinary people of this land,

00:32:10.792 --> 00:32:13.500
and not of the favored
classes and the powerful few.

00:32:15.417 --> 00:32:16.959
[Music]

00:32:22.999 --> 00:32:26.999
If you go back to the 1950s,
there\'s hardly anybody

00:32:26.999 --> 00:32:29.625
who would call
themselves a conservative.

00:32:29.625 --> 00:32:32.125
I think Eisenhower was
sort of a great consolidator.

00:32:32.125 --> 00:32:34.875
That is, in his heart
of hearts he was pretty

00:32:35.999 --> 00:32:39.208
conservative.

00:32:39.208 --> 00:32:40.375
But he was a good
politician, and he wrote a,

00:32:40.375 --> 00:32:42.750
sort of famous letter to
his brother who was a real

00:32:42.750 --> 00:32:45.999
conservative,
Milton Eisenhower,

00:32:45.999 --> 00:32:48.083
who wanted social
security, rolled back,

00:32:48.083 --> 00:32:51.291
who wanted labor
laws repealed,

00:32:51.291 --> 00:32:53.792
who wanted to go
back to the 1920s,

00:32:53.792 --> 00:32:54.999
politically.

00:32:54.999 --> 00:32:56.250
Telling his brother, look,
we can\'t do these things.

00:32:56.250 --> 00:32:58.917
You\'ll marginalize the
republican party for the rest

00:32:58.917 --> 00:33:02.959
of our lives if you try to
try to roll back the New Deal.

00:33:03.083 --> 00:33:06.333
[Music]

00:33:11.458 --> 00:33:16.458
[Music]

00:33:25.999 --> 00:33:29.999
You have to remember that
liberalism from 1945 until

00:33:29.999 --> 00:33:33.291
sometime in the mid-1970s
is a cold war liberalism.

00:33:34.417 --> 00:33:38.542
Liberals were the ones who
were there at the beginning of

00:33:38.542 --> 00:33:41.041
the cold war.

00:33:41.041 --> 00:33:43.375
They were in office at the
beginning of the cold war, they were the
architects of the cold war.

00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:49.999
In the election of
1860, Abraham Lincoln said,

00:33:49.999 --> 00:33:53.750
the question was, whether
this nation could exist

00:33:53.750 --> 00:33:55.458
half slave or half free.

00:33:55.458 --> 00:33:58.375
In the election of 1960,
and with the world around us,

00:33:58.375 --> 00:34:01.625
the question is whether the
world will exist half slave

00:34:01.999 --> 00:34:05.250
or half free.

00:34:05.250 --> 00:34:06.999
Now liberal democrat 1960 was
somebody who was a firm anti

00:34:08.208 --> 00:34:11.999
communist, who was
pro civil rights,

00:34:12.625 --> 00:34:16.834
who had a basically benevolent
and optimistic view about the

00:34:18.166 --> 00:34:21.583
United States.

00:34:21.583 --> 00:34:22.999
I\'m not satisfied until
every American enjoys his full

00:34:23.500 --> 00:34:26.999
constitutional rights.

00:34:26.999 --> 00:34:28.333
If a Negro baby is born, and
this is true also of Puerto

00:34:28.625 --> 00:34:32.458
Ricans and Mexicans
in some of our cities,

00:34:32.458 --> 00:34:34.875
he has about ½ as much chance
to get through high school

00:34:34.999 --> 00:34:38.208
as a white baby.

00:34:38.208 --> 00:34:39.709
He has 1/3 as much chance to
get through college

00:34:39.709 --> 00:34:42.041
as a white student.

00:34:42.041 --> 00:34:44.750
He has about a third as much
chance to be a professional man.

00:34:44.750 --> 00:34:48.000
About half as much
chance to own a house.

00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:50.000
He has about a four times as
much chance that he\'ll be out

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.999
of work in his life,
as the white baby.

00:34:53.999 --> 00:34:55.999
I think we can do better.

00:34:55.999 --> 00:34:57.250
I don\'t want the talents of
any American to go waste.

00:34:57.250 --> 00:35:00.625
[Music]

00:35:05.834 --> 00:35:10.834
[Music]

00:35:16.250 --> 00:35:20.125
In the 1960s American
liberals advocated the

00:35:20.125 --> 00:35:21.999
creation of the European
style welfare state,

00:35:21.999 --> 00:35:24.125
such as through Lyndon Johnson\'s
great society program.

00:35:24.125 --> 00:35:27.250
And in fact, they passed
restrictions on fire arms,

00:35:27.250 --> 00:35:30.208
mounted campaigns to
outlaw executions,

00:35:30.208 --> 00:35:31.999
legalized abortion, introduced
racial equality through

00:35:31.999 --> 00:35:35.125
positive discrimination.

00:35:35.125 --> 00:35:36.542
And in many ways, moving
popular opinion with them.

00:35:36.542 --> 00:35:39.750
By the mid-1960s for example,
support for the death penalty

00:35:39.750 --> 00:35:42.875
had fallen to just 43
percent of the population.

00:35:42.875 --> 00:35:45.125
This nation, this generation
in this hour has man\'s first

00:35:49.083 --> 00:35:52.875
chance to build
a great society.

00:35:53.375 --> 00:35:57.208
That very phrase, a
great society shows you,

00:35:57.208 --> 00:36:01.333
that he thought, he could do
anything if you really just

00:36:01.333 --> 00:36:04.166
had enough money, you
could solve any problem.

00:36:04.166 --> 00:36:06.999
Because tonight the contest is
the same that we have faced at

00:36:08.041 --> 00:36:11.917
every turning
point in history.

00:36:11.917 --> 00:36:14.333
It is not between
liberals and conservatives.

00:36:14.999 --> 00:36:18.667
It is not between
party and party,

00:36:18.875 --> 00:36:22.291
or platform and platform.

00:36:23.041 --> 00:36:24.834
It is between
courage and community!

00:36:27.999 --> 00:36:30.792
The civil rights
movement advances.

00:36:31.750 --> 00:36:33.375
In part, because it gets the
support of liberals who see

00:36:36.041 --> 00:36:39.999
it\'s advances as necessary
to win the cold war.

00:36:39.999 --> 00:36:42.792
Because the Soviet Union,
and the people\'s republic of

00:36:43.458 --> 00:36:46.166
China, and other
communist forces in the world,

00:36:46.166 --> 00:36:48.667
are saying, I charge the
United States with hypocrisy.

00:36:48.667 --> 00:36:50.999
They\'re saying, how can you
go around the world saying,

00:36:50.999 --> 00:36:54.667
you\'re the
government of freedom,

00:36:54.667 --> 00:36:55.959
the country that
believes in democracy.

00:36:55.959 --> 00:36:57.500
And a black citizen can\'t walk
into a lunch counter and sit

00:36:58.583 --> 00:37:02.000
down and eat a hamburger.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:03.999
In much of the deep south,
black citizens can\'t vote.

00:37:04.999 --> 00:37:08.125
[Music]

00:37:08.125 --> 00:37:12.125
Hatred is easier to organize
than understanding.

00:37:12.125 --> 00:37:14.625
And there was a minority in
our state who found it to

00:37:14.625 --> 00:37:17.500
their advantage to bring
hate to Little Rock in 1957.

00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:21.583
While we watched the white
children went to school,

00:37:22.250 --> 00:37:25.834
and we stood outside.

00:37:27.999 --> 00:37:31.667
When my parents had no
money to vaccinate us,

00:37:31.667 --> 00:37:34.291
to get us immunizations
before we started school,

00:37:34.291 --> 00:37:36.875
you know what, thank God we
had a democratic president

00:37:36.875 --> 00:37:39.583
who launched a war on poverty,

00:37:39.583 --> 00:37:41.208
who ensured that we had
a head start in life.

00:37:41.999 --> 00:37:43.834
Now it\'s not about
what you\'ve done for me,

00:37:45.834 --> 00:37:48.999
or what you\'ve
done against me.

00:37:48.999 --> 00:37:50.999
It\'s what have you
done for me lately,

00:37:50.999 --> 00:37:52.041
and what are you going to
do for me in the future.

00:37:52.041 --> 00:37:54.375
And this administration
today, here and now,

00:37:55.709 --> 00:37:59.667
declares unconditional
war on poverty in America.

00:38:06.208 --> 00:38:10.333
Government under liberals
like Johnson was talking a lot

00:38:10.333 --> 00:38:12.875
about helping others.

00:38:12.875 --> 00:38:15.083
It was not talking about
universal programs like social

00:38:15.999 --> 00:38:19.792
security, like
National Health Insurance,

00:38:19.792 --> 00:38:21.750
for example.

00:38:21.750 --> 00:38:23.291
He wasn\'t even talking that
much about universal programs

00:38:23.291 --> 00:38:26.709
like Medicare.

00:38:26.709 --> 00:38:27.999
It was talking much more,
trying to sell what was a

00:38:27.999 --> 00:38:31.458
pretty hard
sell, civil rights,

00:38:31.458 --> 00:38:33.500
anti poverty.

00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:34.667
They want to do good
things for other people

00:38:35.917 --> 00:38:38.542
with other people\'s money.

00:38:39.333 --> 00:38:40.999
Those who seek to
live your lives for you,

00:38:42.166 --> 00:38:45.333
to take your liberty in
return for aiding of others,

00:38:45.333 --> 00:38:48.999
those who elevate the state
and downgrade the citizen,

00:38:50.417 --> 00:38:54.583
must see ultimately a world
in which earthly power can be

00:38:56.333 --> 00:38:59.999
substituted for divine will.

00:38:59.999 --> 00:39:01.750
[Music]

00:39:07.999 --> 00:39:11.999
In 1964, of course, American
Conservative threw up its

00:39:11.999 --> 00:39:14.999
first serious presidential
candidate who embraced the

00:39:14.999 --> 00:39:17.583
term conservative.

00:39:17.583 --> 00:39:21.625
And Barry Goldwater was duly
walloped by the biggest margin in American
presidential history.

00:39:21.625 --> 00:39:23.041
This was partly because the
Arizona senator was a slightly

00:39:23.041 --> 00:39:26.000
odd, eccentric
presidential candidate.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:28.667
I\'m opposed to
foreign aid, economic aid.

00:39:28.667 --> 00:39:31.750
I\'ve never voted for it
since I\'ve been in the senate.

00:39:31.750 --> 00:39:34.417
I\'m extremely proud that we
have an American who speaks

00:39:34.999 --> 00:39:38.999
with guts and who will put
America back where it belongs.

00:39:38.999 --> 00:39:42.458
Barry Goldwater raised
so many of the issues,

00:39:42.458 --> 00:39:46.125
which at the time, and an
approach to those issues,

00:39:46.125 --> 00:39:49.999
which were radical then,
extreme then if you will,

00:39:49.999 --> 00:39:53.250
but which are now mainstream.

00:39:53.250 --> 00:39:55.166
Such as, why not
privatize, at least partially,

00:39:56.834 --> 00:40:00.000
social security.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:01.417
What about doing away
with farm subsidies?

00:40:01.417 --> 00:40:04.125
I think he\'s the first man to
run for president that I\'ve

00:40:04.125 --> 00:40:07.999
seen in the past 30
years, that will stand on the

00:40:07.999 --> 00:40:11.500
principles of the
founding fathers

00:40:11.500 --> 00:40:13.999
who wrote the federal
constitution.

00:40:13.999 --> 00:40:15.999
Director From what I\'ve read,
the southern strategy sort of

00:40:15.999 --> 00:40:18.542
started when you were involved
in politics in the 60s.

00:40:20.041 --> 00:40:24.208
Well the first thing you\'re
gonna have to do there is back

00:40:24.208 --> 00:40:27.125
up, because the first southern
strategy overtly was Barry

00:40:28.166 --> 00:40:31.667
Goldwater in 1964.

00:40:31.667 --> 00:40:33.625
And Goldwater\'s southern
strategy was basically to

00:40:33.875 --> 00:40:37.999
appeal to the south on the
idea of the civil rights issue

00:40:37.999 --> 00:40:41.208
as being radicalism
and anti-southernism.

00:40:41.458 --> 00:40:45.041
And it did
appeal to the south,

00:40:45.041 --> 00:40:48.417
but just the Deep South.

00:40:48.417 --> 00:40:49.792
Just the south that had
the, the heavy ratios of

00:40:49.999 --> 00:40:53.375
black-white division.

00:40:53.375 --> 00:40:54.999
And Goldwater was
absolutely wiped out.

00:40:54.999 --> 00:40:57.999
[Music]

00:40:58.834 --> 00:41:02.875
But I think Goldwater\'s
failure also stemmed from the

00:41:02.875 --> 00:41:05.208
fact that he was just too
far outside the American

00:41:05.208 --> 00:41:07.417
mainstream at the time.

00:41:07.417 --> 00:41:09.792
Shrill voices have tried to
lay claim to the great spirit

00:41:12.250 --> 00:41:15.834
of the American past.

00:41:15.834 --> 00:41:17.041
But they long for a
past that never was.

00:41:17.875 --> 00:41:21.709
In their recklessness,
in their radicalism,

00:41:22.333 --> 00:41:26.291
they distort the American
conservative tradition.

00:41:27.166 --> 00:41:30.999
I don\'t believe
in big government,

00:41:30.999 --> 00:41:32.625
but I believe in
effective government action.

00:41:32.625 --> 00:41:35.208
And I think that\'s the only
way that the United States is

00:41:35.208 --> 00:41:38.208
going to maintain its freedom.

00:41:38.208 --> 00:41:39.999
It\'s the only way it\'s
going to move ahead.

00:41:39.999 --> 00:41:42.542
[Music]

00:41:47.667 --> 00:41:52.667
[Music]

00:41:55.083 --> 00:41:59.041
There wouldn\'t have been a
President Reagan without

00:41:59.041 --> 00:42:02.250
a presidential candidate
Barry Goldwater.

00:42:02.250 --> 00:42:05.542
After all it was Goldwater
who gave Mr. Reagan

00:42:05.542 --> 00:42:09.250
the opportunity to make a
nationally televised speech,

00:42:09.250 --> 00:42:12.792
the famous
\"time for choosing,

00:42:12.792 --> 00:42:14.667
which made him a national
political star overnight.

00:42:14.667 --> 00:42:17.959
If we lose freedom here,
there\'s no place to escape to.

00:42:17.959 --> 00:42:20.625
This is the last
stand on earth.

00:42:20.625 --> 00:42:22.333
And this idea that government
is beholden to the people,

00:42:22.333 --> 00:42:25.834
that it has no other source
of power except the sovereign

00:42:25.834 --> 00:42:28.250
people, is still the newest
and the most unique idea in

00:42:28.250 --> 00:42:31.417
all the long history of
man\'s relation to man.

00:42:31.417 --> 00:42:33.999
This is the issue
of this election.

00:42:33.999 --> 00:42:36.333
Whether we believe in our
capacity for self-government,

00:42:36.333 --> 00:42:39.333
or whether we abandon
the American Revolution

00:42:39.333 --> 00:42:41.875
and confess that a little
intellectual elite in a far

00:42:41.875 --> 00:42:44.999
distant capital can plan our
lives for us better than

00:42:44.999 --> 00:42:47.750
we can plan them ourselves.

00:42:47.750 --> 00:42:48.999
[Music]

00:42:53.875 --> 00:42:57.750
I think it\'s essential to
presume competence

00:42:57.750 --> 00:43:00.792
on the part of people.

00:43:00.792 --> 00:43:02.458
And one of the Achilles heels
of liberalism is a presumption

00:43:02.959 --> 00:43:06.208
of incompetence.

00:43:06.208 --> 00:43:08.291
And then you get
the nanny state.

00:43:08.291 --> 00:43:10.125
All these professionals
taking care of citizens,

00:43:10.125 --> 00:43:13.667
who often don\'t need it
and frequently resent it.

00:43:13.999 --> 00:43:18.041
In the summer of 1967 I worked
as an intern in the office of

00:43:18.041 --> 00:43:21.999
the mayor of Detroit, the
late Jerome B. Cavanagh.

00:43:21.999 --> 00:43:24.375
He was a very talented
and charming man.

00:43:24.375 --> 00:43:27.625
And that was the
summer of the Detroit Riot.

00:43:27.999 --> 00:43:30.458
I very much admired the kind
of liberal policies that Mayor

00:43:32.083 --> 00:43:34.999
Cavanagh was trying
to put into effect.

00:43:34.999 --> 00:43:36.583
And I thought those would
make life better

00:43:36.583 --> 00:43:38.625
in our central cities.

00:43:38.625 --> 00:43:40.125
But in the years
following that riot,

00:43:40.917 --> 00:43:44.667
I really say what
happened to Detroit,

00:43:44.667 --> 00:43:46.583
and how the well intentioned
policies of welfare and crime

00:43:47.999 --> 00:43:51.999
control, that were put into
effect by Cavanagh and his

00:43:51.999 --> 00:43:54.959
successors, ended up in
resulting in terrible

00:43:54.959 --> 00:43:57.208
devastation.

00:43:57.208 --> 00:43:58.166
Yes Detroit is
enjoying its finest hour.

00:43:58.166 --> 00:44:01.375
There is a renaissance,
a rebirth in the city.

00:44:01.834 --> 00:44:05.875
There is a resurgence of
civic pride and unfettered

00:44:05.875 --> 00:44:09.417
imagination, a new
renaissance is changing

00:44:09.917 --> 00:44:13.250
the face of the city.

00:44:13.250 --> 00:44:14.999
This renaissance is seen
everywhere and is the direct

00:44:16.917 --> 00:44:19.959
result of considered planning.

00:44:19.959 --> 00:44:22.208
When the cities went up in
flame because many poor black

00:44:22.208 --> 00:44:26.208
Americans were angry about
the lack of progress in their

00:44:26.208 --> 00:44:28.999
economic lives, many white
democrats blamed liberals

00:44:31.208 --> 00:44:35.000
for taking their money,
not helping them,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:38.999
helping other people who
didn\'t deserve to be helped.

00:44:38.999 --> 00:44:42.166
And that I think was
at base the thinking,

00:44:42.166 --> 00:44:46.041
many ways the myth that
lost liberals their majority.

00:44:47.750 --> 00:44:51.875
The president tells us he\'s
now going to start building

00:44:51.875 --> 00:44:54.709
public housing
units in the thousands.

00:44:54.709 --> 00:44:56.999
Where heretofore, we\'ve only
built them in the hundreds.

00:44:56.999 --> 00:44:58.999
But FHA and the veteran\'s
administration tell us,

00:44:58.999 --> 00:45:02.208
they have 120,000 housing
units they\'ve taken back

00:45:02.458 --> 00:45:06.041
through mortgage foreclosure.

00:45:06.041 --> 00:45:07.917
For three decades, we\'ve
sought to solve the problems

00:45:07.917 --> 00:45:10.834
of unemployment,
through government planning.

00:45:10.834 --> 00:45:12.959
And the more the plans fail,
the more the planners plan.

00:45:12.959 --> 00:45:14.959
What failed is the
programs weren\'t carried out.

00:45:14.959 --> 00:45:17.999
They were overwhelmed
by an economic disaster,

00:45:21.500 --> 00:45:25.333
which was the result
of the war in Vietnam,

00:45:25.333 --> 00:45:27.792
and the refusal to pay for it.

00:45:27.792 --> 00:45:29.041
The country went into
stagflation because of the

00:45:29.041 --> 00:45:32.583
huge expenditures of the war.

00:45:49.041 --> 00:45:52.999
As President Johnson has
said, upon our strength,

00:45:52.999 --> 00:45:55.999
and upon our
wisdom rest the future.

00:45:55.999 --> 00:45:57.875
Not only of our
American way of life,

00:45:57.875 --> 00:46:00.250
but of the great
society of free men.

00:46:00.250 --> 00:46:02.999
And the president has also said,

00:46:02.999 --> 00:46:06.000
let the world know we
walked the road of peace.

00:46:09.999 --> 00:46:13.999
Johnson wouldn\'t make up his
mind on whether they\'d raise

00:46:13.999 --> 00:46:16.875
taxes or they\'d finance Vietnam
through deficit spending.

00:46:16.875 --> 00:46:20.250
And inflation was
generated in a major way.

00:46:20.250 --> 00:46:23.542
So I looked on these
people and I thought they were

00:46:23.542 --> 00:46:26.999
economically
radical and half naiïve.

00:46:27.999 --> 00:46:31.583
They were sociologically radical

00:46:32.125 --> 00:46:35.875
and provocative in my opinion.

00:46:35.875 --> 00:46:39.375
And they ran a crummy war.

00:46:39.375 --> 00:46:42.250
They didn\'t pay attention
to the generals

00:46:42.250 --> 00:46:44.125
or the demonstrators.

00:46:44.125 --> 00:46:45.875
As we look at America
we see cities

00:46:47.041 --> 00:46:48.542
enveloped in
smoke and flame.

00:46:48.542 --> 00:46:50.458
We hear sirens in the night.

00:46:50.458 --> 00:46:52.625
We see Americans dying on
distant battle fields abroad.

00:46:52.999 --> 00:46:56.834
We see Americans
hating each other,

00:46:56.834 --> 00:46:59.999
fighting each other,
killing each other at home.

00:46:59.999 --> 00:47:03.333
And as we see and
hear these things,

00:47:03.333 --> 00:47:06.166
millions of Americans
cry out in anguish.

00:47:06.166 --> 00:47:09.667
Did we come all
this way for this?

00:47:09.667 --> 00:47:11.375
Did American boys die
in Normandy and Korea,

00:47:11.875 --> 00:47:15.375
and in Valley Forge for this?

00:47:15.375 --> 00:47:17.834
[Music]

00:47:22.166 --> 00:47:26.375
Maybe you\'re one of those who
stood for America way back in

00:47:26.375 --> 00:47:28.792
1968 sick of hearing those
rich kids badmouth the country

00:47:29.625 --> 00:47:32.999
every night on TV.

00:47:32.999 --> 00:47:37.667
Maybe you know exactly
what Richard Nixon meantwhen he talked about the
silent majority,

00:47:37.667 --> 00:47:39.834
the people whose hard work
was rewarded with nothing

00:47:39.834 --> 00:47:42.125
but insults from
the network news,

00:47:42.125 --> 00:47:43.792
and the know-it-all
college professors.

00:47:43.792 --> 00:47:45.875
None of them interested in
anything you had to say.

00:47:45.875 --> 00:47:48.000
We were corrupt, we were a
sick society, people said.

00:47:49.667 --> 00:47:53.625
We were, you know, and if
you have a little bit of

00:47:53.625 --> 00:47:56.250
perspective on
history, you know,

00:47:56.250 --> 00:47:57.999
you have to say, these
people are absolutely mad!

00:47:57.999 --> 00:48:01.125
Compared to other societies,
any other place or time in the

00:48:02.041 --> 00:48:05.875
world, this is a sick society?

00:48:05.875 --> 00:48:07.583
We in the black community
see the police as enemies.

00:48:07.583 --> 00:48:10.750
And I remind everybody here
that I may very well be shot

00:48:11.208 --> 00:48:14.917
as I walk out of that door,

00:48:14.917 --> 00:48:16.417
if I happen to anger
some white police.

00:48:16.417 --> 00:48:18.583
I\'m very much aware of that,
and every black person is.

00:48:18.583 --> 00:48:20.875
Everybody, and his mother
knows that the police is the

00:48:20.875 --> 00:48:23.959
number one problem in America.

00:48:27.083 --> 00:48:30.583
Stop punching me.

00:48:30.583 --> 00:48:31.999
Stop punching me man.

00:48:31.999 --> 00:48:33.667
On your face.

00:48:38.417 --> 00:48:42.458
Thousands of demonstrators
oppose to the Vietnam war,

00:48:42.458 --> 00:48:45.250
assembled in the nation\'s
capital for a mass protest.

00:48:45.250 --> 00:48:48.542
A three hour parade took
the demonstrators across the

00:48:48.542 --> 00:48:51.291
Potomac on their
way to the Pentagon.

00:48:51.291 --> 00:48:53.458
The crowd estimated at
about 50, 00 persons,

00:48:53.458 --> 00:48:56.291
was a loose confederation
of some 150 groups.

00:48:56.291 --> 00:48:59.875
And included adults,
students, even children.

00:48:59.875 --> 00:49:02.999
The people who had just
started out opposing the

00:49:02.999 --> 00:49:05.999
Vietnam War, but who
considered themselves

00:49:05.999 --> 00:49:08.583
basically in support of
the American government,

00:49:08.583 --> 00:49:10.999
came to the view that is
was more than a Vietnam War.

00:49:10.999 --> 00:49:14.250
There was something
fundamental about the American

00:49:14.250 --> 00:49:16.750
government that led it
into war after war...And they

00:49:17.625 --> 00:49:21.583
became radical critics of
American Foreign policy.

00:49:25.999 --> 00:49:29.542
And this is the time.

00:49:29.542 --> 00:49:31.000
It is the time for this
land to become again,

00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:34.166
a witness to the world
for what is just

00:49:34.333 --> 00:49:37.999
and noble in human affairs.

00:49:38.999 --> 00:49:40.542
So let us close ...

00:49:42.458 --> 00:49:43.959
We thought that once
liberals left power,

00:49:44.667 --> 00:49:48.500
the only alternative
would be people like us.

00:49:48.500 --> 00:49:51.125
That was not just
naiïve, it was stupid.

00:49:51.125 --> 00:49:54.291
And being politically stupid
is in some ways worse than

00:49:54.291 --> 00:49:58.125
being politically immoral,
because you lose more quickly,

00:49:58.125 --> 00:50:01.333
and you help your adversaries.

00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:05.999
We never took seriously
that conservatives might

00:50:05.999 --> 00:50:08.999
actually take over.

00:50:36.500 --> 00:50:40.542
You get reaction, you get
a conservative fight back.

00:50:40.542 --> 00:50:42.792
You\'ve got, of course, you\'ve
got National Review from the

00:50:42.792 --> 00:50:44.834
mid-1950s, but you get think
tanks such as Heritage and of

00:50:44.834 --> 00:50:47.250
course the Cato Institute.

00:50:47.250 --> 00:50:48.625
You get the creation of
organizations such as the

00:50:48.625 --> 00:50:50.375
conservative union.

00:50:50.375 --> 00:50:51.625
And in the process
of this fight back,

00:50:51.625 --> 00:50:53.333
you get the creation of a
very distinctive brand of

00:50:53.333 --> 00:50:55.458
conservatism,
much more vibrant,

00:50:55.458 --> 00:50:57.041
much more radical, and much
more bold than anything

00:50:57.041 --> 00:50:59.999
you see in Europe.

00:50:59.999 --> 00:51:01.083
You know the whole idea of
being angry and not wanting to

00:51:01.083 --> 00:51:03.625
take it anymore, which used
to be a more of a liberal idea

00:51:03.625 --> 00:51:06.208
that you want to
fight the powers that be,

00:51:06.208 --> 00:51:08.166
this became something
the conservatives

00:51:08.166 --> 00:51:09.999
begin to stand for.

00:51:09.999 --> 00:51:11.375
Liberals never
seem to go away.

00:51:11.375 --> 00:51:13.166
No matter how many electoral
victories these guys win.

00:51:13.166 --> 00:51:16.333
It\'s always a botch.

00:51:16.333 --> 00:51:19.166
It\'s always screwed up.

00:51:19.166 --> 00:51:20.375
The liberals are
always ruining everything.

00:51:20.375 --> 00:51:22.417
And they\'re always, you know,
these crazy kids on campuses

00:51:22.417 --> 00:51:24.834
insulting our values, and
there\'s always these

00:51:24.834 --> 00:51:27.333
offensive TV shows.

00:51:27.333 --> 00:51:29.583
And they turn on the
radio in their car,

00:51:29.583 --> 00:51:31.208
and they get really mad
about something or another.

00:51:31.208 --> 00:51:33.542
And it\'s like everything in
the world that they encounter

00:51:33.542 --> 00:51:36.999
is evidence of the
perfidy of liberalism.

00:51:37.667 --> 00:51:41.709
And conservatives were
organizing very intelligently,

00:51:43.959 --> 00:51:47.208
very successfully.

00:51:47.208 --> 00:51:48.959
In the way
liberals had organized,

00:51:48.959 --> 00:51:51.917
20, 30 years earlier.

00:51:51.917 --> 00:51:53.959
If you looked around for
advice and counsel and

00:51:53.959 --> 00:51:56.999
analysis in previous decades,
members of congress and the

00:51:57.750 --> 00:52:01.917
executive department have been
able to turn to the academy.

00:52:01.917 --> 00:52:05.375
But certainly by the 1970s,
and increasingly since then,

00:52:05.375 --> 00:52:09.041
academicians have turned
inward with their research,

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:13.542
with their analysis.

00:52:13.542 --> 00:52:14.999
I think they\'re
talking only to themselves.

00:52:14.999 --> 00:52:16.709
They are becoming
more and more arcane.

00:52:16.709 --> 00:52:19.834
And the problem
with that is that,

00:52:19.834 --> 00:52:22.375
essentially you throw out
traditional methods for

00:52:22.375 --> 00:52:26.250
determining reality in favor
of virtually anything goes.

00:52:28.834 --> 00:52:32.709
What you end up with is
intellectual anarchy.

00:52:32.709 --> 00:52:35.667
[Music]

00:52:35.834 --> 00:52:39.667
Liberalism certainly
in the 60s and 70s,

00:52:39.667 --> 00:52:41.875
was, seeing government as
the answer to everything.

00:52:41.875 --> 00:52:44.500
There was
poverty, a new program.

00:52:44.500 --> 00:52:46.166
Oh there\'s a
problem of housing,

00:52:46.166 --> 00:52:47.999
create a new
welfare bureaucracy.

00:52:47.999 --> 00:52:49.500
And the sense that coming out
of that was a failure of the

00:52:49.500 --> 00:52:52.542
welfare state,
broken families,

00:52:52.542 --> 00:52:54.208
more crime, you know,
inflation of the Carter Era,

00:52:54.208 --> 00:52:58.000
stagflation where you
had a stagnant economy

00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:00.166
and high inflation.

00:53:00.166 --> 00:53:01.291
With the Iranian take
over the US embassy,

00:53:01.291 --> 00:53:03.458
a perception of weakness in
the international sphere.

00:53:03.458 --> 00:53:05.917
You know, you had
economic failure at home,

00:53:05.917 --> 00:53:08.542
a bad economy, failed
government policies,

00:53:08.542 --> 00:53:11.875
insecurity in terms
of crime at home,

00:53:11.875 --> 00:53:13.999
and insecurity abroad.

00:53:13.999 --> 00:53:15.333
[Music]

00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:26.750
It is a crisis of competence.

00:53:26.750 --> 00:53:30.083
It is a crisis that strikes
at the very heart and soul and

00:53:31.458 --> 00:53:34.999
spirit of our national world.

00:53:34.999 --> 00:53:36.625
We can see this crisis in
the growing doubt about the

00:53:37.917 --> 00:53:41.333
meaning of our own lives,
and in the loss of a unity of

00:53:41.999 --> 00:53:45.458
purpose for our nation.

00:53:47.750 --> 00:53:51.792
The 60s and the movements of
the 60s caused a great fear in

00:53:52.792 --> 00:53:56.667
the conservative
classes of the United States.

00:53:56.667 --> 00:53:59.542
And they set out to reverse
that distrust of authority,

00:54:00.208 --> 00:54:04.083
that had become so
powerful in the 1960s.

00:54:05.792 --> 00:54:09.792
They set out to restore
the idea of acceptable wars.

00:54:10.999 --> 00:54:14.792
And they did it by
making war on little,

00:54:14.999 --> 00:54:19.000
weak countries, where they
could have a short war with

00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:21.999
few American casualties.

00:54:21.999 --> 00:54:23.500
A generation shaped by
Vietnam must remember

00:54:26.041 --> 00:54:29.625
the lessons of Vietnam.

00:54:29.625 --> 00:54:31.166
When America uses
force in the world,

00:54:31.166 --> 00:54:34.000
the cause must be just.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:36.417
The goal must be clear,
and the victory

00:54:36.417 --> 00:54:38.999
must be overwhelming.

00:54:38.999 --> 00:54:41.000
I had been one of those who
thought that the Vietnam war

00:54:42.999 --> 00:54:45.083
was something America
should not have undertaken.

00:54:45.999 --> 00:54:49.999
But as I watched the foreign
policy in the late 1970s,

00:54:50.500 --> 00:54:54.125
as America
retreated in the world.

00:54:54.125 --> 00:54:55.999
I decided that that
was not a good thing.

00:54:55.999 --> 00:54:59.583
And that America
taking a more assertive,

00:54:59.583 --> 00:55:03.625
forward looking involved role
in the world was a better idea.

00:55:05.999 --> 00:55:09.458
The ideas of Ronald Reagan.

00:55:09.458 --> 00:55:12.125
Never before in our history
have Americans been called

00:55:12.458 --> 00:55:16.500
upon to face three grave
threats to our very existence.

00:55:16.500 --> 00:55:19.999
Anyone of which
could destroy us.

00:55:19.999 --> 00:55:23.000
We face a
disintegrating economy,

00:55:23.000 --> 00:55:25.999
a weakened defense and an
energy policy based on the

00:55:25.999 --> 00:55:29.291
sharing of scarcity.

00:55:29.291 --> 00:55:31.041
Reagan was critical to
conservatism because he was

00:55:34.667 --> 00:55:38.583
able to capture the
idealism of conservatism.

00:55:38.583 --> 00:55:42.375
Not just its sour, how
much is this gonna cost side,

00:55:42.709 --> 00:55:46.583
which lots of members of
congress had mastered.

00:55:46.583 --> 00:55:49.542
He was not just an attractive,
brilliant communicator,

00:55:51.959 --> 00:55:55.750
but somebody who took
conservative ideas

00:55:55.750 --> 00:55:58.083
and made them work.

00:55:58.083 --> 00:55:59.834
When I traveled with
him on the campaign,

00:55:59.834 --> 00:56:01.500
I worked for him in
1979, 1980 in the campaign.

00:56:01.500 --> 00:56:03.999
I was in the White
House afterwards.

00:56:03.999 --> 00:56:05.750
He read articles,
read magazines.

00:56:05.750 --> 00:56:08.291
He\'d pull articles out
and hand them to us,

00:56:08.291 --> 00:56:10.166
and say, look at
this, look at that.

00:56:10.166 --> 00:56:11.583
This is a man who actually
cared deeply about philosophy.

00:56:11.583 --> 00:56:14.750
And while some of his policies
didn\'t turn out the way

00:56:14.750 --> 00:56:18.166
I wish they had, and
government, you know,

00:56:18.166 --> 00:56:19.000
spending grew, what have you.

00:56:19.000 --> 00:56:20.417
He had a vision of
limited government.

00:56:20.417 --> 00:56:22.583
Maybe it was Ronald Reagan
that pulled you into the

00:56:22.583 --> 00:56:25.709
conservative swirl.

00:56:25.709 --> 00:56:26.999
The way he had of
talking about that sunshiny,

00:56:26.999 --> 00:56:29.250
Glen Miller America that
you remembered from the time

00:56:29.250 --> 00:56:31.917
before everything
went to hell.

00:56:31.917 --> 00:56:33.625
Trust me government, asks that
we concentrate our hopes and

00:56:34.999 --> 00:56:38.041
dreams on one man.

00:56:38.041 --> 00:56:39.750
That we trust him to
do what\'s best for us.

00:56:39.750 --> 00:56:42.750
My view of government places
trust not in one person or one

00:56:43.250 --> 00:56:47.458
party, but in those values that
transcend persons and parties.

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:53.250
[Music]

00:56:58.375 --> 00:57:03.458
[Music]

00:57:05.999 --> 00:57:09.999
He was a believer in
a very powerful state,

00:57:09.999 --> 00:57:12.667
radical interference
in the market.

00:57:12.667 --> 00:57:15.959
He was strongly
opposed to free trade.

00:57:15.959 --> 00:57:18.333
He was the most protectionist
president in the post war

00:57:18.999 --> 00:57:22.250
American history.

00:57:22.250 --> 00:57:23.333
In fact, introduced more
protectionist barriers,

00:57:23.333 --> 00:57:25.999
than all post war US
presidents combined.

00:57:25.999 --> 00:57:29.625
To call this conservatism is
just deprive the term of any

00:57:31.375 --> 00:57:34.875
meaningful sense.

00:57:34.875 --> 00:57:37.999
The old notion of conservatism
which was a preference for the

00:57:37.999 --> 00:57:40.917
status quo, a preference for
non-governmental involvement

00:57:43.583 --> 00:57:47.667
in human affairs, is given
away to a much more dynamic

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:53.875
and vibrant notion
of conservatism.

00:57:53.875 --> 00:57:56.999
They made a
dirty word out of a,

00:57:56.999 --> 00:57:59.542
out of what a conservative is.

00:57:59.542 --> 00:58:01.333
And being a conservative isn\'t
really a bad thing if you

00:58:01.333 --> 00:58:04.959
really know what the
true meaning of being a

00:58:04.959 --> 00:58:06.999
conservative is.

00:58:06.999 --> 00:58:08.166
I will be honored to accept
your nomination for

00:58:08.166 --> 00:58:11.250
Vice President of the
United States.

00:58:12.583 --> 00:58:13.750
Thank you.

00:58:15.917 --> 00:58:17.166
I feel the present
conservative movement is the

00:58:17.500 --> 00:58:21.041
invasion of the
body snatchers.

00:58:21.041 --> 00:58:22.999
Fear of the United States
has mounted very rapidly,

00:58:23.542 --> 00:58:26.999
almost all over the world.

00:58:26.999 --> 00:58:29.542
The Iraq war was a clear case.

00:58:29.542 --> 00:58:32.999
I mean, there were extensive
international polls on this.

00:58:32.999 --> 00:58:36.333
And you couldn\'t get beyond
single digit support for it in

00:58:37.959 --> 00:58:41.250
almost any country.

00:58:41.250 --> 00:58:42.999
I have seen our
military at its finest,

00:58:42.999 --> 00:58:45.500
with the best equipment,
the best training

00:58:45.500 --> 00:58:46.959
and the best leadership.

00:58:46.959 --> 00:58:48.625
I am proud of them.

00:58:48.625 --> 00:58:50.917
I have had the responsibility
for their well-being.

00:58:50.917 --> 00:58:54.083
And I can promise them
now, help is on the way.

00:58:54.667 --> 00:58:57.999
[Applause]

00:59:05.041 --> 00:59:09.166
The difficulty I face now
in the new century is that my

00:59:09.166 --> 00:59:13.083
idea of reckless and counter
productive is exemplified by a

00:59:14.041 --> 00:59:17.999
conservatism which
is not conservatism.

00:59:18.166 --> 00:59:22.041
So for me if you take my
conservatism in the 60s,

00:59:23.375 --> 00:59:27.000
it would make me
just as disgusted,

00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:29.250
with this crowd in this decade
as I was with the Johnson

00:59:30.208 --> 00:59:33.792
people forty years ago.

00:59:33.792 --> 00:59:35.667
Amidst all this violence.

00:59:36.542 --> 00:59:37.999
I know Americans
ask the question,

00:59:37.999 --> 00:59:39.542
Is the sacrifice worth it?

00:59:39.542 --> 00:59:42.792
It is worth it.

00:59:42.792 --> 00:59:45.333
And it is vital to the future
security of our country.

00:59:45.709 --> 00:59:48.458
Why must we take
this painful road?

00:59:49.500 --> 00:59:53.583
Why must this nation hazard
its ease and its interest,

00:59:56.792 --> 01:00:00.750
and its power for the sake
of a people so far away?

01:00:02.999 --> 01:00:07.000
We fight because we must fight
if we are to live in a world

01:00:09.750 --> 01:00:13.625
where every country can
shape its own destiny.

01:00:13.875 --> 01:00:17.999
The terrorists believe that
free societies are essentially

01:00:17.999 --> 01:00:21.250
corrupt and decadent.

01:00:21.250 --> 01:00:24.999
And with a few hard blows,
they can force us to retreat.

01:00:25.792 --> 01:00:29.041
They are mistaken.

01:00:29.041 --> 01:00:31.000
We will not be defeated.

01:00:32.542 --> 01:00:34.792
Obviously 911 has
changed everything to my mind.

01:00:36.999 --> 01:00:40.999
It\'s one of those defining
moments in our history,

01:00:40.999 --> 01:00:43.999
just as Pearl Harbor was.

01:00:43.999 --> 01:00:46.208
Our country is in
serious trouble.

01:00:46.208 --> 01:00:49.125
Director Do you think
that conservatism is,

01:00:49.125 --> 01:00:51.500
the wheels are
coming off of it now?

01:00:51.500 --> 01:00:54.750
I\'m not certain that the

01:00:54.750 --> 01:00:56.500
wheels are coming off
of conservatism.

01:00:56.500 --> 01:00:57.999
They have made
strategic investments

01:00:57.999 --> 01:00:59.999
in the next generation.

01:00:59.999 --> 01:01:01.667
They have identified
young talent,

01:01:01.667 --> 01:01:03.458
and they have brought them to
Washington DC for seminars,

01:01:04.291 --> 01:01:07.709
for internships.

01:01:07.709 --> 01:01:09.083
I\'ve been asked
to speak a little bit

01:01:09.083 --> 01:01:11.917
about immigration and terrorism.

01:01:11.917 --> 01:01:13.999
When conservative women say
promiscuity is degrading and

01:01:13.999 --> 01:01:16.999
self-destructive, liberals
in the media call us prudes.

01:01:16.999 --> 01:01:20.709
Conservatives have been
very diligent about that

01:01:20.709 --> 01:01:23.250
for the last 20 years.

01:01:23.250 --> 01:01:25.041
Liberals haven\'t
figured it out.

01:01:25.041 --> 01:01:27.166
It\'s not enough to
say, with Michael Moore,

01:01:27.166 --> 01:01:29.792
or Barbara Ehrenreich, or
Noam Chomsky,

01:01:29.792 --> 01:01:33.125
that \"our ideas are right.\"

01:01:33.125 --> 01:01:37.375
All we have to do is just
keep putting them out there as strongly as we can.

01:01:37.375 --> 01:01:39.999
And eventually
people will come to us.

01:01:39.999 --> 01:01:41.999
Politics is a
matter of persuasion.

01:01:41.999 --> 01:01:45.166
And you persuade by giving
people something that they

01:01:47.291 --> 01:01:50.875
need and that they want.

01:01:50.875 --> 01:01:51.959
Not just by telling
them over and over again,

01:01:51.959 --> 01:01:54.709
how right you are.

01:01:54.709 --> 01:01:55.999
And we will join the rest of
the industrialized world and

01:01:58.750 --> 01:02:02.625
guarantee health care to
all people as a right!

01:02:12.542 --> 01:02:15.792
[Music]

01:02:16.041 --> 01:02:19.999
There was a baseball
player once who said,

01:02:19.999 --> 01:02:21.458
he\'s got second
base so messed up,

01:02:21.458 --> 01:02:22.834
nobody can play it.

01:02:22.834 --> 01:02:26.625
Today\'s liberals have messed
up the word liberal so bad,nobody wants it.

01:02:26.625 --> 01:02:27.875
The liberals don\'t want
to be called liberal.

01:02:27.875 --> 01:02:30.041
And you\'ll notice that
newspapers almost never call a

01:02:30.041 --> 01:02:32.458
liberal senator liberal,
because they think it\'s a

01:02:32.458 --> 01:02:34.458
swear word.

01:02:34.458 --> 01:02:35.999
[Music]

01:02:36.999 --> 01:02:40.999
A liberal of course has
been a much maligned word.

01:02:40.999 --> 01:02:43.750
So that\'s why we
use progressive here.

01:02:43.750 --> 01:02:45.625
The public still
believed in liberal ideals.

01:02:47.542 --> 01:02:49.542
But the word liberal have
become an unsavory word.

01:02:49.542 --> 01:02:53.375
And so people, especially
politicians who are timid and

01:02:55.583 --> 01:02:59.250
did want to meet
the problem head on,

01:02:59.250 --> 01:03:01.917
they retreated from
the word liberal.

01:03:01.917 --> 01:03:05.083
George McGovern did
call himself a liberal,

01:03:05.083 --> 01:03:06.999
but Jimmy Carter didn\'t.

01:03:06.999 --> 01:03:08.417
I think it\'s in the 80s that a
lot of liberals begin to use

01:03:09.834 --> 01:03:13.667
the term progressive
to describe themselves,

01:03:13.667 --> 01:03:16.999
a kind of weasel
word, I think.

01:03:16.999 --> 01:03:19.083
Because it doesn\'t really mean
anything to very many people.

01:03:19.083 --> 01:03:21.750
But it\'s a term that hadn\'t
been rendered illegitimate.

01:03:24.667 --> 01:03:27.333
I think that you can
argue that liberalism

01:03:28.500 --> 01:03:31.792
was an aberration in America.

01:03:31.792 --> 01:03:35.333
That really,
the tradition in America

01:03:36.166 --> 01:03:39.917
is more conservative tradition.

01:03:39.917 --> 01:03:41.999
The people who call themselves
liberals include a lot of

01:03:41.999 --> 01:03:44.959
people who simply have no
grasp of a political dynamics

01:03:44.959 --> 01:03:48.583
of religion, of war, of the
importance of the military to

01:03:48.999 --> 01:03:52.583
a large part of Middle America,

01:03:52.583 --> 01:03:54.999
of the fear of the United
States losing its role both in

01:03:55.500 --> 01:03:59.667
the world militarily, in terms
of safety and economically.

01:04:01.333 --> 01:04:05.375
I just think liberals do
not grasp a lot of things.

01:04:05.999 --> 01:04:09.999
Ever since about 1972, the
whole issue of values has

01:04:11.999 --> 01:04:16.041
taken a much higher profile
and a much more dominant role

01:04:16.041 --> 01:04:19.250
in electoral politics
than issues like income,

01:04:19.250 --> 01:04:22.291
perceived economic interest.

01:04:22.291 --> 01:04:24.999
By the 1980s, the major media
had become so dominated

01:04:25.999 --> 01:04:29.375
by corporate wealth.

01:04:29.375 --> 01:04:30.999
The radio talk shows which
are listened to by enormous

01:04:33.333 --> 01:04:37.458
numbers of Americans, kept
persuading the American people

01:04:42.583 --> 01:04:46.083
that liberals were dangerous.

01:04:46.083 --> 01:04:48.999
Colonel, we need to take
a quick break for some

01:04:48.999 --> 01:04:52.333
commercial messages
with your kind indulgence.

01:04:52.333 --> 01:04:55.500
We\'ll be right back to talk
more about your brand new

01:04:55.500 --> 01:04:58.625
book, Reckless Disregard,
How Liberal Democrats

01:04:58.625 --> 01:05:01.458
Undercut Our Military,
Endanger Our Soldiers,

01:05:01.959 --> 01:05:05.500
and Jeopardize Our Security.

01:05:05.500 --> 01:05:07.834
By 1988, all George Bush had
to do to win election was to

01:05:10.999 --> 01:05:14.999
pin the label of
liberal on Michael Dukakis,

01:05:15.166 --> 01:05:18.834
and he won the presidency.

01:05:18.834 --> 01:05:20.583
[Music]

01:05:25.750 --> 01:05:29.417
The problem is
that the democrats,

01:05:29.417 --> 01:05:31.999
in the last 20 or so years,
they decided that it was time

01:05:33.999 --> 01:05:37.417
they change their appeal.

01:05:37.417 --> 01:05:39.583
And they started reaching out.

01:05:39.583 --> 01:05:42.333
And instead of appealing to
members of the working class

01:05:42.333 --> 01:05:45.542
and organized labors, that
they look for a new coalition.

01:05:45.542 --> 01:05:48.999
Students and the main
group being professionals.

01:05:50.542 --> 01:05:54.667
Here in Washington, especially
you hear it all the time,

01:05:54.667 --> 01:05:57.999
that the democrats have to
move away from the left and

01:05:57.999 --> 01:06:00.625
they have to
become more centrist,

01:06:00.625 --> 01:06:02.291
and you know.

01:06:02.291 --> 01:06:03.709
A perfect example, Bill
Clinton signing off on NAFDA,

01:06:03.709 --> 01:06:07.417
which was a republican
free trade deal.

01:06:07.417 --> 01:06:09.750
You know that was adamantly
opposed by unions

01:06:11.959 --> 01:06:15.667
and working class people
in this country.

01:06:15.667 --> 01:06:17.959
And he went for it anyway.

01:06:17.959 --> 01:06:19.041
[Music]

01:06:27.999 --> 01:06:31.999
The term liberal was almost
radioactive for a broader

01:06:33.041 --> 01:06:36.959
public, for sizable
period of time.

01:06:36.959 --> 01:06:39.291
Democrats began to call
themselves progressives

01:06:39.291 --> 01:06:43.041
because they didn\'t want
to use the term liberal.

01:06:43.041 --> 01:06:45.999
And when surveys went out
there and asked voters whether

01:06:45.999 --> 01:06:48.792
they were liberal or
conservative or moderate,

01:06:48.792 --> 01:06:51.291
liberals lost out in a
big way to conservatives.

01:06:51.291 --> 01:06:54.333
And it was great to call
yourself a conservative if you

01:06:54.333 --> 01:06:57.792
were in politics.

01:06:57.792 --> 01:06:58.999
Now, even though we have this
growing foothold of those who

01:07:00.458 --> 01:07:04.750
call themselves conservatives,
I think they are more radical

01:07:04.750 --> 01:07:07.417
than what we used to
call conservatives.

01:07:07.417 --> 01:07:09.583
But the term liberal is
making a sizeable come back.

01:07:09.583 --> 01:07:12.125
The numbers are up, and
you\'re seeing more and more

01:07:12.125 --> 01:07:14.999
politicians who are
willing to use that phrase to

01:07:14.999 --> 01:07:17.834
characterize themselves.

01:07:19.166 --> 01:07:22.999
So we really need to get
ourselves back to where we

01:07:22.999 --> 01:07:25.542
are, we used to be.

01:07:25.542 --> 01:07:26.999
We need to be democrats, we
need to speak out about what\'s

01:07:26.999 --> 01:07:29.625
right, and stop this
foolishness of trying to be

01:07:29.625 --> 01:07:31.750
like the republicans.

01:07:31.750 --> 01:07:32.999
Now some of the people who
don\'t like the term liberal

01:07:32.999 --> 01:07:35.417
today, what they don\'t like
is free speech and religious

01:07:35.417 --> 01:07:37.917
toleration and
individual freedom.

01:07:37.917 --> 01:07:40.375
They don\'t like the
women\'s revolution,

01:07:40.375 --> 01:07:41.999
they don\'t like the
sexual revolution.

01:07:41.999 --> 01:07:43.959
They don\'t like
gay liberation.

01:07:43.959 --> 01:07:45.667
They don\'t like
equality for gay people.

01:07:45.667 --> 01:07:47.792
They don\'t like freedom to
be blasphemous or obscene.

01:07:47.792 --> 01:07:51.250
And so those people are
objecting to the traditional

01:07:51.834 --> 01:07:55.959
meaning of liberalism, which
has gotten mixed up with the

01:07:55.959 --> 01:07:59.333
big spending, big government,
big taxing kind of liberalism.

01:08:12.083 --> 01:08:16.041
To engage in debate when
the members are not here,

01:08:16.041 --> 01:08:18.166
whose patriotism he imputes.

01:08:18.166 --> 01:08:20.083
Is he not willing to engage
in debate when we are here.

01:08:20.083 --> 01:08:23.125
That\'s the question.

01:08:23.125 --> 01:08:24.999
And the gentlemen has raised
the question of the patriotism.

01:08:24.999 --> 01:08:27.208
The gentleman has.

01:08:27.208 --> 01:08:29.750
The gentleman declines
to yield any further.

01:08:29.750 --> 01:08:33.083
Reclaiming my
time for a moment,

01:08:33.083 --> 01:08:35.250
I will tender to the very
distinguished majority leader,

01:08:35.250 --> 01:08:37.917
the simple proposition that I
will yield you as much time

01:08:37.917 --> 01:08:40.792
as you desire, if in return
you will ensure me that this

01:08:40.959 --> 01:08:44.792
dialogue will
continue until I\'m finished.

01:08:44.792 --> 01:08:46.458
Newt Gingrich looked at,
when he came into congress,

01:08:46.458 --> 01:08:50.333
more than a quarter century of
democrats having hegemony over

01:08:51.458 --> 01:08:54.999
the house of representatives.

01:08:54.999 --> 01:08:56.542
No election, he came in at 1978.

01:08:56.542 --> 01:08:59.959
Being even close enough that
republicans could expect

01:08:59.999 --> 01:09:03.792
a chance to obtain the majority.

01:09:03.792 --> 01:09:06.750
And came in with a full blown
plan of how to break that

01:09:06.750 --> 01:09:10.083
hegemony, the
process over 16 years,

01:09:10.291 --> 01:09:14.166
that Newt took before he
achieved this incredible

01:09:15.208 --> 01:09:19.166
success in 1994, of a
republican majority in the

01:09:19.166 --> 01:09:23.250
house, was to basically
create a more conservative and

01:09:25.999 --> 01:09:29.999
radicalized party and have
republicans despise democrats.

01:09:31.999 --> 01:09:35.999
Not just see them as
adversaries but as the enemy,

01:09:35.999 --> 01:09:39.166
and have a country
disgusted with congress,

01:09:39.166 --> 01:09:42.667
which means they\'d be
disgusted with government,

01:09:42.667 --> 01:09:44.500
which means they
would want the party

01:09:44.500 --> 01:09:46.250
that was against government.

01:09:46.250 --> 01:09:47.999
We\'re gonna drain the
swamp of Washington.

01:09:47.999 --> 01:09:50.999
We\'re gonna have fun doing it.
We\'re all doing it together.

01:09:51.166 --> 01:09:53.333
And it is funny.

01:09:57.834 --> 01:10:01.999
The fundamental realities of
the American political process

01:10:01.999 --> 01:10:03.999
right now are pretty grim.

01:10:03.999 --> 01:10:05.709
Presidential primary process
for the republican party,

01:10:06.333 --> 01:10:10.291
which has been shaped
much more by this change.

01:10:10.291 --> 01:10:13.750
It\'s moved more
sharply to the right,

01:10:13.750 --> 01:10:15.999
than democrats have
moved to the left.

01:10:15.999 --> 01:10:18.041
The democrats have moved,
but they\'re moving more

01:10:18.041 --> 01:10:20.583
rhetorically
within their own party.

01:10:20.583 --> 01:10:22.375
Republicans are moving, not
only towards a more radical

01:10:22.583 --> 01:10:26.792
position, which means not just
we want a smaller government,

01:10:26.792 --> 01:10:29.542
but we want to blow
the whole thing up.

01:10:29.542 --> 01:10:31.375
I mean I come from a
very conservative state,

01:10:31.375 --> 01:10:34.333
Texas.

01:10:34.333 --> 01:10:37.500
And a lot of republican
congressman from Texas. Some of these are very
fine principled people,

01:10:37.792 --> 01:10:41.542
and would like to
vote in the middle.

01:10:41.542 --> 01:10:43.959
They would like to be able to
support bipartisan solutions.

01:10:43.959 --> 01:10:46.542
But they are, they live
in mortal fear that

01:10:46.542 --> 01:10:49.250
there\'s going to be a small
turnout of dedicated

01:10:49.500 --> 01:10:52.999
zealots in their primary.

01:10:52.999 --> 01:10:54.208
And that if they ever
say anything nice about

01:10:54.208 --> 01:10:56.750
legislation
offered by a democrat,

01:10:56.750 --> 01:10:58.125
or if they ever indicate that
they might be willing to do

01:10:58.125 --> 01:11:00.917
something at a
bipartisan basis,

01:11:00.917 --> 01:11:02.500
they\'ll have a very
serious primary challenge.

01:11:02.500 --> 01:11:05.125
[Music]

01:11:11.000 --> 01:11:15.000
Exhibit A in the tribal
realities in the Obama Era,

01:11:16.041 --> 01:11:20.041
was this effort to try to find
a way to resolve our

01:11:21.375 --> 01:11:24.792
fiscal problems.

01:11:24.792 --> 01:11:27.083
And we had something that used
to be fairly common place,

01:11:27.291 --> 01:11:31.417
in the senate, a commendable
bipartisan effort to get us

01:11:32.999 --> 01:11:37.000
through the tough decisions,
by creating a commission with

01:11:37.000 --> 01:11:40.999
teeth, that could
recommend, sweeping changes,

01:11:41.375 --> 01:11:44.959
in budgets and taxation.

01:11:44.959 --> 01:11:47.250
And so we had conservative
republican Judd Gregg of New

01:11:47.250 --> 01:11:50.999
Hampshire in the Senate,
joined with his democratic

01:11:50.999 --> 01:11:53.625
colleague, moderate Kent
Conrad of North Dakota to

01:11:53.875 --> 01:11:57.291
propose such a commission.

01:11:57.291 --> 01:11:59.125
What was striking is, through
the first several months of

01:12:00.083 --> 01:12:04.208
the Obama Administration,
there are almost literally

01:12:04.208 --> 01:12:06.375
wasn\'t a day that went by when
senate republican leader Mitch

01:12:08.166 --> 01:12:12.041
McConnell wouldn\'t say
something on the floor.

01:12:12.041 --> 01:12:14.999
Unless we act now, these
programs will no longer be

01:12:14.999 --> 01:12:17.999
sustainable and spending and
debt will continue to spiral

01:12:17.999 --> 01:12:21.083
out of control.

01:12:21.083 --> 01:12:22.999
Now, the good news is a
solution actually exist.

01:12:23.500 --> 01:12:27.083
As I\'ve said
many times before,

01:12:27.083 --> 01:12:29.583
the best way to
address this crisis

01:12:29.583 --> 01:12:31.333
is the Conrad-Gregg proposal.

01:12:31.333 --> 01:12:33.999
So as 2009 came to an end
Barack Obama endorsed the

01:12:37.000 --> 01:12:40.999
Gregg-Conrad Commission
and shortly after that,

01:12:40.999 --> 01:12:43.917
the senate voted on it.

01:12:43.917 --> 01:12:45.917
Mr. President, I believe this
is a defining moment for this

01:12:48.125 --> 01:12:51.875
chamber and for this congress.

01:12:51.875 --> 01:12:53.792
We are headed colleagues
for a debt 400% of the gross

01:12:55.834 --> 01:12:59.375
domestic product
of this country.

01:12:59.375 --> 01:13:02.333
It got 53 votes of support but
republics filibustered it

01:13:04.125 --> 01:13:07.625
and it needed 60.

01:13:07.625 --> 01:13:09.709
And what was striking is
that seven original republican

01:13:11.500 --> 01:13:15.291
cosponsors of the
Gregg-Conrad Commission

01:13:15.291 --> 01:13:18.999
and Mitch McConnell
joined the filibuster

01:13:19.375 --> 01:13:23.083
and voted to kill their
own commission.

01:13:23.999 --> 01:13:26.999
Why?

01:13:26.999 --> 01:13:28.792
I spent years after this going
around the country talking

01:13:29.625 --> 01:13:33.667
about my book, giving speeches
and asking people please

01:13:33.667 --> 01:13:36.999
somebody give me an
explanation other than if he

01:13:37.999 --> 01:13:41.999
is for it, we\'re against it
even though we were for it

01:13:41.999 --> 01:13:45.458
yesterday and even though
we were for it this morning

01:13:47.250 --> 01:13:49.750
and there is none.

01:13:50.750 --> 01:13:54.208
Nobody has come up with
a different explanation. There\'s never been a better
time to adapt this sensible

01:13:54.208 --> 01:13:57.834
by partners and proposal.

01:13:59.208 --> 01:14:02.999
The Tea Party movement with a
combination of social media,

01:14:04.333 --> 01:14:08.291
talk radio, blogs and
importantly the efforts of

01:14:11.625 --> 01:14:15.667
republican congressional
leaders to exploit that anger

01:14:15.999 --> 01:14:20.041
with the advent of Obama and
you have a combustible force

01:14:22.417 --> 01:14:26.458
that emerged and then of
course had immense success for

01:14:28.417 --> 01:14:32.375
the republican leaders who
helped to engineer it

01:14:32.375 --> 01:14:34.999
and steer it with the
2010 midterm elections.

01:14:46.625 --> 01:14:50.750
With all the gloom and doom,
the fact is we had a global

01:14:50.750 --> 01:14:54.041
financial crisis that came
within an inch of creating a

01:14:54.999 --> 01:14:58.999
global depression that
would have made the 1930s look

01:14:58.999 --> 01:15:02.291
pretty pale by comparison.

01:15:02.291 --> 01:15:04.166
We came out of it taking a
long time and we\'re still not

01:15:05.917 --> 01:15:09.999
in a great position but with
a continuing robust private

01:15:11.999 --> 01:15:15.999
sector and an economy
beginning to work unemployment

01:15:16.583 --> 01:15:20.208
reduced by a
significant measure,

01:15:20.208 --> 01:15:22.999
some level of economic growth.

01:15:22.999 --> 01:15:25.333
The parliamentary
systems in Britain,

01:15:25.333 --> 01:15:29.333
in continental Europe that had
the capacity to act quickly in

01:15:30.041 --> 01:15:34.083
ways that we couldn\'t and
presumably legitimacy for

01:15:34.083 --> 01:15:36.999
their action foundered.

01:15:36.999 --> 01:15:39.625
Many of them had
double dip recessions.

01:15:39.625 --> 01:15:41.999
They\'ve continued to have high
levels of unemployment and

01:15:41.999 --> 01:15:44.917
lower growth and continued to
struggle because you can have

01:15:44.917 --> 01:15:48.250
a great political system
that can act but if the actors

01:15:48.250 --> 01:15:51.458
makes stupid decisions and
keep doubling down on those

01:15:51.458 --> 01:15:55.000
decisions that doesn\'t
make them better than us.

01:16:06.208 --> 01:16:10.291
Well, the term conservative
had a meaning at one time.

01:16:10.291 --> 01:16:13.999
In fact the same is true for
the term liberal but their

01:16:13.999 --> 01:16:18.000
meanings have been, the terms
have been so corrupted that

01:16:18.000 --> 01:16:21.166
they\'re almost unusable.

01:16:21.166 --> 01:16:22.709
I thought after the end of
the Cold War a lot of people

01:16:22.709 --> 01:16:24.667
thought that, that liberalism
and conservatism which was so

01:16:24.667 --> 01:16:28.333
bound up with different
positions on communism and on

01:16:28.333 --> 01:16:30.999
the Cold War would, would
begin to unravel and we see

01:16:30.999 --> 01:16:34.000
some third way.

01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:35.709
That didn\'t really
happen, you know,

01:16:35.875 --> 01:16:39.834
we do not have a new
center in American politics,

01:16:39.834 --> 01:16:41.999
at least not rhetorically.

01:16:41.999 --> 01:16:43.834
And, and that\'s because I
think both sides need to base

01:16:44.333 --> 01:16:48.333
themselves on a traditional
vision of the way things

01:16:48.333 --> 01:16:50.917
should be and they
need to have enemies.

01:16:53.999 --> 01:16:57.999
Every American should be
terrified at the prospect of a

01:16:57.999 --> 01:17:01.500
Hillary Clinton Presidency.

01:17:01.500 --> 01:17:02.834
There is no next election.

01:17:02.834 --> 01:17:04.500
This is it.

01:17:04.500 --> 01:17:06.083
The Republican Party
increasingly in part because

01:17:06.083 --> 01:17:08.999
of the response to their
populous right and the

01:17:09.709 --> 01:17:13.542
anti-immigrant
nativist component of that.

01:17:13.542 --> 01:17:15.999
And yes, we will build
a great, great wall.

01:17:37.333 --> 01:17:41.291
Moving further and further
away from being able to

01:17:41.291 --> 01:17:43.667
capture any greater
significant share of minority

01:17:43.999 --> 01:17:47.999
voters, Hispanic-Americans,
Asian-Americans,

01:17:47.999 --> 01:17:50.999
African-Americans becoming
much more fundamentally a

01:17:50.999 --> 01:17:54.834
white party and a party that
has as its driving dominant

01:17:56.000 --> 01:18:00.166
force, the south which is a
region that is very different

01:18:01.417 --> 01:18:05.625
150 years and more after the
Civil War culturally and in

01:18:08.375 --> 01:18:12.583
its approaches to policy than
the rest of the country and a

01:18:14.500 --> 01:18:18.625
democratic party that has been
losing support among white

01:18:18.625 --> 01:18:22.500
voters in particular
working class white voters.

01:18:22.500 --> 01:18:25.999
When you talk to democrats and
they\'ll tell you that there is

01:18:25.999 --> 01:18:28.917
no such thing as a working
class anymore and I mean

01:18:28.917 --> 01:18:31.999
they\'re, they\'re so utterly
pessimistic about these people

01:18:31.999 --> 01:18:34.999
that used to be their base.

01:18:34.999 --> 01:18:36.291
It\'s astonishing to me.

01:18:36.291 --> 01:18:38.709
But they, you know, they at
the highest levels of the

01:18:38.999 --> 01:18:42.999
party there is very little
interest in talking to these

01:18:42.999 --> 01:18:46.333
people anymore.

01:18:46.333 --> 01:18:50.750
You know, to just being
grossly generalistic you could put half of Trump\'s
supporters into

01:18:50.999 --> 01:18:54.709
what I call the basket
of deplorables.

01:18:57.083 --> 01:19:00.333
Right?

01:19:00.999 --> 01:19:02.417
We\'re going to have a racial
division in our parties

01:19:02.583 --> 01:19:06.375
along with the broader
tribal division.

01:19:24.333 --> 01:19:27.750
That\'s right.

01:19:28.417 --> 01:19:30.999
I don\'t think the
country is bitterly divided.

01:19:30.999 --> 01:19:33.000
I think political activists
are bitterly divided.

01:19:33.000 --> 01:19:35.166
Well, the country has often
been divided but it\'s seldom

01:19:35.166 --> 01:19:37.417
been divided so evenly.

01:19:37.417 --> 01:19:39.500
It was in the period
after the Civil War.

01:19:39.500 --> 01:19:41.999
If you look at the election
returns there and it was

01:19:41.999 --> 01:19:44.041
divided really over
Civil War issues.

01:19:44.041 --> 01:19:46.917
Was the Civil War a
good thing or not?

01:19:46.917 --> 01:19:48.999
The democrats thought
not generally speaking.

01:19:48.999 --> 01:19:51.500
The republicans thought it
was and that division lasted

01:19:51.834 --> 01:19:55.625
into the 1890s for
really about 30 years.

01:19:55.625 --> 01:19:59.375
You know, you come to the
conclusion political science,

01:19:59.375 --> 01:20:01.417
they call it the ideological
sorting of the parties but we

01:20:01.417 --> 01:20:04.250
used to have
conservative democrats,

01:20:04.250 --> 01:20:05.999
liberal republicans and
parties mattered but there\'s a

01:20:05.999 --> 01:20:09.250
lot of crossover on voting
and as time evolved

01:20:09.250 --> 01:20:13.041
that we started seeing
the middle disappear.

01:20:13.041 --> 01:20:14.999
And we said why is this?

01:20:14.999 --> 01:20:16.709
And so we started to take a
look at what has happened over

01:20:16.709 --> 01:20:18.999
the last 20 years that
has made this happen?

01:20:18.999 --> 01:20:21.999
Three major factors that have
occurred over the last two

01:20:21.999 --> 01:20:25.208
decades that had
helped cause this.

01:20:25.208 --> 01:20:27.208
First was really the advent
of single party districts.

01:20:28.083 --> 01:20:30.834
The districts have to be
the same in population

01:20:31.999 --> 01:20:34.542
but if you look at
the house today,

01:20:34.542 --> 01:20:36.875
probably 80% of these districts.

01:20:36.875 --> 01:20:39.208
The primary is the only
race that matters and

01:20:39.208 --> 01:20:41.917
members have now oriented
their voting records,

01:20:41.917 --> 01:20:43.667
their rhetoric, their
attention to that narrow

01:20:43.667 --> 01:20:45.999
ideological band
that nominates them.

01:20:45.999 --> 01:20:48.208
But two other factors
of come into play.

01:20:48.208 --> 01:20:50.250
One is the media models that
have evolved since the equal

01:20:50.917 --> 01:20:54.999
time doctrine went away and
that is you now have media

01:20:54.999 --> 01:20:57.875
outlets whether
it\'s cable news,

01:20:57.875 --> 01:20:59.500
talk radio, internet sites
that that cater to a one

01:21:00.625 --> 01:21:03.999
ideological group.

01:21:03.999 --> 01:21:05.291
We\'ve, we\'ve got the Clintons
involved with hardcore

01:21:05.291 --> 01:21:08.291
Satanism, blood rituals,
Aleister Crowley stuff,

01:21:08.291 --> 01:21:11.291
the WikiLeaks
have released it,

01:21:11.291 --> 01:21:13.250
Google has had it
authenticated...

01:21:13.250 --> 01:21:15.417
I know you\'re frustrated
with the news media.

01:21:15.417 --> 01:21:17.999
The news media is frustrated
with the news media.

01:21:17.999 --> 01:21:20.667
That, that\'s their model.

01:21:20.667 --> 01:21:23.792
This is, so we don\'t consider
it serious news but it\'s certainly an entertainment
model that is a successful

01:21:23.792 --> 01:21:26.250
business model.

01:21:26.250 --> 01:21:27.166
Pizzagate is real.

01:21:27.166 --> 01:21:28.583
Only question is
exactly what is it?

01:21:30.709 --> 01:21:32.208
But, but something
with codes is going on.

01:21:32.208 --> 01:21:35.041
Adding to that is what\'s
happened to campaign finance.

01:21:35.041 --> 01:21:38.291
Fundamentally we have
to change the campaign

01:21:38.291 --> 01:21:40.500
finance system.

01:21:40.500 --> 01:21:41.750
We know that the big money
coming in is directly deeply

01:21:44.458 --> 01:21:48.166
insidiously corrupting
of politicians.

01:21:48.166 --> 01:21:51.542
Now, this corruption in
government is a symptom,

01:21:51.999 --> 01:21:55.125
isn\'t it?

01:21:55.125 --> 01:21:58.291
I mean it\'s a symptom of
something that\'s wrong with our whole people?

01:21:58.291 --> 01:21:59.083
Yes.

01:21:59.083 --> 01:22:01.750
It\'s the measles are breaking
out and that\'s good because

01:22:01.750 --> 01:22:05.834
now we know what the
trouble is and we can cure it.

01:22:05.834 --> 01:22:07.959
I have ultimate faith in
the American people will,

01:22:07.959 --> 01:22:11.458
this is a temporary thing and
this is only a surface thing.

01:22:11.999 --> 01:22:15.999
I\'ve just received a call
from Secretary Clinton.

01:22:22.792 --> 01:22:26.792
She congratulated us,
it\'s about us on our victory

01:22:28.166 --> 01:22:32.125
and I congratulated her
and her family on a very,

01:22:33.041 --> 01:22:36.709
very hard fought campaign.

01:22:36.709 --> 01:22:38.999
I mean she, she
fought very hard.

01:22:43.667 --> 01:22:47.291
What disturbs me
about the labels,

01:22:47.291 --> 01:22:50.000
liberal and conservative is
the individuals where the

01:22:51.291 --> 01:22:55.458
brain actually works and where
language actually comes out,

01:22:55.458 --> 01:22:59.208
individuals have to
subordinate themselves

01:22:59.208 --> 01:23:02.500
to the tribal definition.

01:23:02.500 --> 01:23:06.500
So if I\'m liberal I have to
talk liberal talk or if I\'m conservative I have to
talk conservative talk.

01:23:06.500 --> 01:23:09.625
The words don\'t mean very
much but we need some kind of

01:23:09.625 --> 01:23:12.999
labels to tell us what
people think and so on.

01:23:13.999 --> 01:23:16.542
If you ask the
American people

01:23:17.583 --> 01:23:18.834
are you liberal or conservative?

01:23:18.834 --> 01:23:19.792
A huge percentage
will reject both.

01:23:19.792 --> 01:23:21.500
Director If the, the label is
conservative and liberal have

01:23:21.500 --> 01:23:24.291
basically lost
all their meaning,

01:23:24.291 --> 01:23:25.750
what\'s their function?

01:23:25.750 --> 01:23:26.875
They\'re part of the way
of reducing or eroding the

01:23:26.875 --> 01:23:30.375
democratic culture of focusing
attention on concerns that are

01:23:34.917 --> 01:23:38.375
marginal to the population.

01:23:38.375 --> 01:23:40.458
So the public relations
industry which basically runs

01:23:40.458 --> 01:23:44.333
elections is dedicated in
fact they tell you to focusing

01:23:45.959 --> 01:23:49.709
elections on what
they call qualities,

01:23:49.709 --> 01:23:52.000
not issues.

01:23:52.000 --> 01:23:53.166
Like when an
election comes along,

01:23:53.166 --> 01:23:56.375
an image is created of the
candidate as a strong leader

01:23:58.166 --> 01:24:02.041
or trustworthy or someone
you\'d like to meet

01:24:02.041 --> 01:24:05.458
in a bar or, you know,

01:24:05.458 --> 01:24:06.917
kid you hated in the fourth
grade or something like that.

01:24:06.917 --> 01:24:09.667
That\'s what, that\'s what
elections are focused on.

01:24:10.500 --> 01:24:14.291
That\'s what we would call
a failed state

01:24:14.291 --> 01:24:17.041
if it was another country.

01:24:17.041 --> 01:24:18.625
That is a country in which
there are political forms,

01:24:18.625 --> 01:24:22.625
democratic forms but they\'re
not supposed to function.

01:24:22.625 --> 01:24:25.083
If democratic forms function
then the population

01:24:25.667 --> 01:24:29.166
votes on issues - failed state,

01:24:29.166 --> 01:24:31.417
failed state,

01:24:31.417 --> 01:24:32.709
failed state,

01:24:32.709 --> 01:24:33.834
failed state,

01:24:33.834 --> 01:24:35.999
failed state.

01:24:39.000 --> 01:24:42.999
It\'s like having one foot in
a bucket of cement

01:24:42.999 --> 01:24:46.999
which is conservatism, another
foot in a bucket of cement

01:24:46.999 --> 01:24:50.500
which is liberalism, and
it impedes our mobility.

01:24:52.166 --> 01:24:55.417
[Music]

01:25:08.709 --> 01:25:09.959
[Music]

01:25:16.999 --> 01:25:21.999
[Music]

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