Transcripts For CSPAN2 If You Can Keep It 20170831

I wrote an oped in in the wall street journal i will be talking about that later on by an excited about that i want to know why that is important to tiein the theme of the book but the last time, let me back up if you dont know what socrateses in the city is a lot of people dont know what that is first of all, thank you for rappee of your early bird dinner and hustling to the tv i know is very tough and i appreciated it i have been on cspan before a they get my humor is okay. But i want to say this is the isocrates is in the city event normally i interview someone we have tons of videos of the interviewing extraordinary people. I cannot even think of the aisle list but if you go there you will see we had clad well. We had a share, jack carter burns and allen also George Plimpton the injures sisters the smothers brothers flip wilson. Added a and castillo that was of a cameo in the rich brothers break here of this stage i have interviewed them all. Charles darwin. So we have had the eclectic gas and socrates in the city gets its name from socrates. I am greek so i can pretend anything is not worth living the only unexamined life is not worth living. It you are my friend into a plate i will call you out that we realize said york city people tend to avoid the subjects like god or whatever makes you squirm what is the nature of reality those questions that people dont get into. So everything is fair game that means all kinds of different guests and subjects we encourage you last year we did a bunch of us even san oxford in england because he said what we take it there . We have had a wonderful time over the years we had a speech data podium like s i think about cheers ago we decided i with the then i guess guest one wrote the book i was the speaker and i introduced myself. And get messed with my head so i decided not to do that this time but they have come up with another book so it is of question that we should all be thinking about it is something that we should be interested so my Publisher Viking has many representatives but they picked the date as the release date do they know this is flag day . Industry is very important to me it turns out they did not they just picked it as the day that it should come now. I dont exactly call it a miracle but it is a coincidence but it is that the center of what happens in the book i will not introduce myself. That would be a slap in the face so your beano i. M. Neece allotted you im stunned at how many people are here if youre not from new york raise your hand. Unbelievable. [applause] is incredible im so thrilled and a number of friends have not seen in many years thank you for coming in and sharing this important event so now let me turn to the subject at hand the book i have just written is called if you can keep it so i will talk for a few minutes about that then we will open it up but theres so much i want to say on the subject of the book i hardly know where to start. I will start with the title. If you can keep it some people get the reference and other people did not graduate highschool. Just kidding. I would not have gotten the reference myself but once you know something you feel everybody should know that. In 1787 franklin was exiting Independence Hall in philadelphia. Part of the background is that i did not know this. The Parochial School i went to a Good University but none of these places really seem to communicate that i will show you why wrote the book writers such a burning passion to communicate but is 1787 date struggling so well for the United States of america. We genuinely had miraculously come into existence it is staggering we should not have sense i do not put the battle of long island into the book he could not pull that off. There are so many miracles that happened if you put them together you say this is remarkable nonetheless looking at the things that came together to create the nation. I would read these to say really does seem like god had his hand on the creation of the nation you have to understand it is remarkable that we are here. Become into existence rather miraculously to win the war but in 1783 the articles of confederation with the weak federal government the whole point was heavily federal government. [applause] and the teapartier. But if it is too limited and have no government so there is a fragile balance all of the leaders in the founders understood it was not quite working so they said we have to go back to the drawing board to figure this out and spend 100 days the creation of the constitution itself seems miraculous they have to read what they wrote they all say try to find a compromise between the slave states between maine and georgia was essentially impossible a nonworking in they were despairing this could never work imagine the people inside the Constitutional Convention rethinking what will they do with their . A limited monarchy . There had never ben a republic or anything like that what is the big deal . It is in the history of the world so people are in this room doing something and people are wondering what will happen . A limited monarchy . Weld Benjamin Franklin one of the most secular of all founders asset people to parade you realize how bizarre that was at Benjamin Franklin asked . And he said god came to our aid in the formation of this country why would we doubt he would help us now . The representative the every pass things worked out they created the constitution many of those used the word for iraq unless it was astounding that the seated worked out and he walks out of the building and a woman woman, mrs. Powerball of philadelphia confronts him. So i can imagine in this dowager says dr. Franklin what have you given us . A monarchy or a republic . He says a republic madam, if you can keep it. That is where this comes from. [applause] maybe you heard it history class but it is an odd quirk of history the only way we know about this exchange and franklin is James Mchenry the 34 yearold delegate heard this and went home to write this live and his diary the reason we know the existence of this isnt like the speech this was off the cuff but think of the words if you can keep it he understood what they created buses utterly unprecedented but the greek city states were very small for a tiny period hear we have 13 colonies a couple Million People the idea to bring this idea of Self Government to one nation had never been done and the founders and the framers really understood what they were trying to do had never been done improbably rationally should not be possible because of it has even done for millennia bin why do they think it could be possible now . We take this for granted now of course, it works. But they really did think first of all, the constitution is to be an extraordinary document which it is but requires the people to keep it if you dont it goes away and evaporates the natural state of affairs is not civil republican democracy. This is not normal. That is why well always taken this club so basically franklin did not say this lightly he said if you can keep it now is that to you so pick up that anomaly where to continue and if they dont it goes away so as we know the people did it and it worked i think we forgot about the idea of keeping it so i submit for the last 40 years we have forgotten what it takes to keep it and how important it is for us to keep it so i think we have come to a place where we are in trouble we are not keeping it basically it is like a cup flour and looks very nice but it is dead in two weeks it will look very nice i really think that is where we are that is not the kind of thing you would notice but i think to be a people you have to know who you are that negative narrative has taken hold if you focus on the native americans those are bad things that we need to read knowledge and repent but if you get stuck if you keep saying we are bad and we did this and you are in this self cycle that doesnt never celebrate you are with you abolished slavery and always struggling to do this kind of stuff something goes wrong if you dont boast about your house it will fall down and pershare there is something fundamental to be proud of your family in your village of your islander your nation sanders city there is something fundamental about that we know when nationalism goes wrong we have seen that can go wrong. But we also have to understand that so that can also go wrong not really teaching kids you need to love your country and were at a place where most americans my age and younger registered turned 32 really probably did not get this in school. And never hit me and tell live is it in this room will sing to a man speak at this podium i dedicate the book to eyes that he wrote a book called the three people suicide we had and as a speaker and he spoke about that from here and much of what he said in she was from england how come i have never heard ready is talking about . It was basic but at the heart was the Golden Triangle of freedom and this is what struck me that Golden Triangle of freedom of the founders were aware of this it was simply freedom requires virtue, that requires faith in turn requires freedom. Freedom requires virtue . What does that mean . I spoke at a classroom in texas and the kids knew that yes they are getting in that school but i have never heard this you will certainly never see that on television virtue was like a dirty word and not talk about character what does it mean it is basic that freedom which is Self Government requires the people govern themselves so think about that it means you have to govern yourself it is in just about we govern ourselves better every person has to govern himself so it means the people will pretty much govern themselves most of the time im not afraid of being caught or thrown in the dungeon i believe it is wrong to steal so by march if they are virtuous bin selfgovernment becomes possible sanders did it is impossible unless there are people who can handle it to govern themselves. Freedom requires virtue of some kind. The founders all understood this they all got this. Not everyone was a person of faith is virtuous or vice versa of but the founders knew practically speaking when they saw a Community Serious about its fate they intended to be selfgoverning and virtuous. When they receive the fax in the colonies it is extraordinary. People generally speaking able to govern themselves so they understood that. Faith requires freedom what does that mean . So any type of real kind of faith cannot be forced if you face somebody been you know, unless they do a voluntarily where they going . And the countries did europe a lot of people are going i dont buy it because i want to go to a jail you have to have real freedom for faith to flourish of free market of ideas i go this church because i choose to not because the Government Forces me. Or i dont go to church so were not forcing anyone to go to church or any particular kind of church it is free the founders all understood if the people dont choose themselves it does not work so it wanted a robust expression of faith. This form of government will not work but the faith must be free. So they enshrined that liberty in the constitution is a universal but basically america got this sold guinness said it from this very podium im thinking this is crazy he told me how Government Works and has over 200 years and i have never thought about this. So i was deeply embarrassed in july realized nobody else had. So i thought something is wrong this is strange why dont i know about this . Then one day when my daughter was about seven she is right here and is no longer her seven, i get the cigarette out of your mouth. [laughter] i found a paper model of the Paul Revere House something about that tidiness that appealed to him that would be a nice thing to do with my daughter said that it realized the poem i never really read that the long ride of paul Revere Police stupid people would want poems that rhyme those one elliptical obtuse palms that mean nothing so i picked it up and started to read it. Was a like children you shall hear the big night ride of paul revere. Hardly a man is now live here remembers the fame this day and year and i had the kahn pass that much it was so beautiful and so moving i was stunned by the beauty of the pollen and i thought i have people sneered at this poland . This is where we are in a culture with the patriotism like rockwell is the city it so i said to my daughter to think we can pull this off . So we decided to memorize it in my daughter was seven or eight at the time with a fresh grave could memorize it slightly quicker and i thought to myself i am reading this poem and they are breaking my heart there is no lawyer and to say so revoking the image of a man a few hours from now because that is the father but that means something to you and i was so moved by this up that i thought i have never thought about this. You certainly dont hear about this in the ivy league. Handed is a sad thing but then you start to realize how sad . They turn their backs on fake and as i was never raising this because they are not afraid of patriotism and every march march 25th to celebrate greek Independence Day the kids are forced to memorize poems i hated it. So the one that i remember is about an old patriot and really get choked up you dont understand when your parents are choked up but he was experiencing what i was experiencing because you understand sacrifice these are not something that we take likely slightly so in the Greek Culture we dont want to talk about greek exceptionalism they know that theyre better than everybody it. [laughter] so we were proud of the greek heritage were not ashamed and so my cousin john my father in the al gore were very patriotic but they knew this was a great country so they said something against america they would come after them. Who the hell are you . Have you bed to other countries . To understand what we have . We better be grateful of course it is imperfect other why is you are a fool. To view that nationalistic fool but do not appreciate what we have is wrong with the United States of america so greedy that made me think were living in a really strange time if there were 90 or 80 years old many had memorized that paul revere ride it was what was done because the people need to know the story that makes you a people otherwise to break down into read state blue state monsters beat each other over the head you have done something in common what we had was that kind of history and all those stories everyone liberal conservative we all understood this that paul revere was a hero david hale died for his country age 21 and all those stories from the lips of every american and when you came to america you were forced to learn less people would say we will take about American Culture read want to do that so my parents learned unless they were buying into it because america is not defined by ethnicity it is not defined by religion every religion exist in america the only idea in the history of the world treated and defined by an idea so therefore to keep the republic we must know those hideous and buy into them and live them out or america ceases to exist the more i looked around we really dont know these ideas we have not been taught them they are not popular on tv so what has happened . Are we america in dave only . If that is an idea we dont understand it seems that is what happened. American exceptionalism doesnt mean we are inherently better. I of a christian and so everybody has an equal amount of original sin. Everything we have is a gift from god were not better by where we live for the ethnic background were better than the french but i will be that that im at a time for that. [laughter] were not better than anybody anybody thinks america is better but american exceptionalism refers to these ideas which is a gift from god there is a gift from history we did not create everything that we have it is a gift when you were given the gift to know the value of that the you dont use it as the frisbee that person would be in a wide they could save themselves some money so we have the explicit treasurer and we dont appreciate any more and it isnt easy to keep the republic if you think democracy is easy put that on iraq and afghanistan it doesnt turn out so well because they have not prepared how to use that but we were prepared we had centuries of british law going back to the magna occurred at so we were prepared in a way that was extraordinary in the most extraordinary thing of all reading about George Whitefield i was astounded because he came to this country one of the august figures it in history a cross side evangelist a phenomenon makes Billy Grahams looks like the loser atheist he preached four times a day nonstop unlike anything that has existed coming to the shores and he was day preaching maniac will receive preaching . He was preaching that you must be born again saying the most basic gospel message of jesus and grace and that gen teaching morality talking about what a jerk you are now he tells you you are a coal miner or a loser or failure got lachute has a plan for your life you are no different than the duchess or the duke for the king theyre really upset the duchess said to give making soviet is preaching the message that people say that is true this hierarchy and order created an american character so over the decades he preached up and down the colonys so much that by the time it was over 80 percent of the people had heard him speak in person there were no television in those days so try to imagine how much he preached thousands would come to hear him. Over and over by the time he was done basically the patron saint of america the only celebrity known from maine to georgia everybody bought into this thinking and he said if you are valuable in gods eyes nobody can rule over youve there is a tyrant then if you say be gone. You dont have to submit if king george the third axe lakehead jerk then get rid of him he did not put it that way but these radical ideas so you have all of these americans uniting around these ideas many people very serious about their face away revival breaks out people became more virtuous life franklin loved George Whitefield because for every he goes the people become virtuous and govern themselves and by the time he dies suddenly theyre uniquely prepared to govern themselves some and they go into this room to create this government they can hand over to people who will keep it to have a better chance to keep it so without him we would not exist so that seems to be the case so i thought it is scandalous that we dont know this or how fragile our government the way of life for culture is if we dont get serious about keeping it then it is game over really do think it is as serious what we faced in the revolution or the civil war because it is the existential crisis if were facing a bad guy you can rollout begun to fight the crisis but this is termites silently hollowing out from the inside nobody sees the threat that if we are america in name only as a hollow shell of america then we will cease to have selfgovernment this book is not for democrats or republicans or liberals or conservatives but for all americans we all sense some things are not going well selfgovernments is challenged in a host of ways whether clamoring for an extremely strong leader we know that can go wrong and that comes with problems or for a judiciary that legislates from the bench in the way that is fundamentally and constitutional but it is very fragile you can screw up any way they like because it is so fragile but we are at the existential crisis when longfellow wrote the paul when he rode it because it was 1860 and american was facing an existential crisis and wanted america to wake up to see they had to rise to the occasion and fight so he wrote the poem so i realize this this can make us see where we are and what we need to do so i hope my book fulfills that role i wrote that a whole being we to get the conversation started in a culture because i really do believe there is the existential threat everything will look the same but i think it is something we have to take seriously my publisher has graciously offered to give a number of copies to congress and another person i will not name. I would love to get a letter from me to say what do you think . This is written for every american as fundamental ideas rebutted to them over 200 years now we are ignorant of them now we have to be patriotic to teach our children rubbly stand for so then i can shame the congressman into reading it people say what can i do . Contact your congressmen and basket he got the book and has read it if the people will hold the leaders to recount something can be done not to say it is paid over or hopeless god forbid i am not committed to lose hope travel even at that we have a few minutes for q a. [applause] i would love now if you dont mind my daughter and i have prepared a duet she didnt know i was going to do this im kidding. I would love to have a few minutes for your questions i asked you to put your question in the form of a question i am interested in any statements or the history of your family bellybutton of you have any questions speak loudly. We have a microphone i prefer true or false questions. [laughter] you have to go to the microphone please me brief im holding we can get to a lot of questions. Welcome. I will have a question but first. If i had a thunderbolt right now. [laughter] what is the significance of lady liberty on your cover . We begin with the pledge of allegiance in being flag day we did not do that. No. [laughter] that is so sweet i want to resent you but i can. I dont mind doing that that will shock some people watching space cspan that will freak them now. Just dont do the nazi salute. [laughter] it is the flag day i would love to do that. What a great idea. He is opposed even if i thought it was a bad idea i have to do a. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america. Into the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all period. [applause] any type of patriotism when i go around the country some places cursing God Bless America why we do this . Are we ashamed . Is that the question . What does lady liberty mean . We were just looking for a cheap graphic with no rights attached. [laughter] one thing that i did not say in my speech was that the heart of the book the reason it is okay to talk about american exceptionalism sorry to be proud of the country is because from the beginning this was always a nation for others. But the point is that we have always been generous. We have been generous not just with our treasure with our blood. We have shed blood on cornfields. Why . Anybody who says we did for oil, does enter into the that if you dont understand that american lives have been given for freedom around the world, we have done the right thing around the world when it costs us. Shame on you if you dont know that or you can admit that or you are so cynical that you dont believe that. The simple fact and we have not simply acted in our selfinterest. We have said as we go the world goes in as the world goes we go and aarp voice died in vietnam. Whether we had a right to be there not the point of the idea was we are not just an island and we want to exist here and have everything we have an everybody else can go to hell. Thats never been the american way but that kind of attitude is fundamentally unamerican. We have always said we are here for others of the statue of liberty is an example and i write about it in the epilogue of the book. It was a moment and i think it might have been, im pretty sure it was late 2001 so two months after the attack. We were on the speed ferry going to the 34th street dock and we go to the highlands in new jersey. As you are going on the speed ferry on the upper deck its an amazing thing that i look over and we went really code close to the statue of liberty and i got really choked up. Why did i get choked up . I got choked up because i was thinking of 9 11 also i was thinking of the fact that look at this country. We were attacked by evil men who wanted to do us harm but we still managed to keep a posture from welcoming to the other world. We are the only country that could be attacked by radical muslims and one of the first things we would worry about is that muslims would be attacked by our people. Our present comes out and says you know hes basically trying to say dont do that, folks. Thats the normal natural thing to do is to kick the of some people you think are affiliated with those who dont do that. Thats not the american way. We have always struggled with that. How can we be welcoming to the foreigners in exile. Thats a fundamentally biblical idea that you can take that too far and be really sloppy like Angela Markel and say come on in the deaths. Guilt for what happened eight years ago. They are just trying to redeem themselves and say just come on and. They are not a congressionally but the point is we have to think rationally. We have to form our policies rationally but we all know that we are indeed a nation of immigrants in we all know we have to have a posture that says welcome and we a vice been that way. Essentially we symbolize that and of course its very touching for me because both of my parents have a statue in the 50s. Remember when i asked my mother when i took it or germany and i asked her about that. It was 5 00 a. M. And they were woken up in the of the ship and they ran up and there it was. She says it was very emotional. Why is that emotional for people coming to this country . They know this is real. This is not some cynical idea that america americas really great. They know america really is great. America will give you a fair shake and an opportunity to work hard and send your kids to college. Ive lived the american dream. My parents understood that. They came from another place so to me thats the heart of who we are as a people and its very important understand if he really exist to bless others you know that the different kind of exceptionalism. We have sent missionaries around the world. They are all kinds of people around the world who have heard about freedom who have gotten Economic Freedom who have religious liberty introduced. Why . These are not ours to keep. They are ours to share with the world. We want the whole world to become like america. We dont want to keep these things for ourselves so thats why the statue of liberty is in the book and the reason she is stating is because the question if you can keep it was a pointed statement that frankly made in 1777 in philadelphia and its appointed statement now. I dont think we are keeping it. I think that liberty is proceeding. You can still see the torches still in focus so i dont think its a loss but i think we are losing it. This book for me is something that i wrote. This is my best shot at trying to wake us up to what we have and try to start a movement of some kind so that we would take this seriously. Really think that our election right now is some of this. Everything that is a symptom of this that we the people have to be the people and we have to love and understand our country. A great question, thank you. Before he you leave the last word of the statue of liberty was delivered by john c. Depew probably americas greatest speechwriter who preceded the president of the United States and his ultimate address. You had that put their. We change it when the speakers change it. I suggest all of you look up Chauncey Depew and if you are at it our after dinner speaker and you dont hear one of his quotes you or do a at least a 50 refund. Thats right. Peter has told me that. This club has very much to do with the statue of liberty coming to america and so on and so forth. We have them to thank for that as well. I love your intent to be bipartisan getting the book out. I should tell you im a reagan democrat in our parties have radically different worldviews and many people remember that god was shouted down in the 2012 election. There are people who have watched this on cspan who resent the fact that we recited the pledge of allegiance. What are your thoughts on bridging that divide . Again thats another one of the fundamental reasons i wrote the book. There are people and heres the thing. There will always be ideologues on both sides. There are people for whom being reasonable is not acceptable and they have a take no prisoners attitude. I didnt write this book for those people. I wrote this but for the people in the middle. When i say people in the middle i dont mean ideologically in the middle. They can be people on the right or left but these are people that are opened reading and when they read about this they may say i dont agree with every little thing but basically i get this. When i watch mr. Smith goes to washington my heart is touched. I feel love for my country. We really have to be rational about this and we have to recount the people who are willing to be rational. People have read this book and praised it to our secular liberals. I wanted to write this book for everybody. This is for reasonable people so there are always going to be those people and we have to understand to argue with people on those fringes is to cast pearls before swine. We ought not to do it. Without to just let them think what they want. I would submit to you that there are plenty of americans across the political spectrum, across the faith spectrum who would say yes theres something here and theres something beautiful about teaching our kids the Great Stories of heroes and there is such a thing as a hero. There have been people who have sacrificed their lives so that we can have what we have. We need to understand that, and not teaching that is harm done. We are going to go back to the 1920s but we have to really understand that we have failed. Things have not gone well and im convinced there are people and as i say most people who read the book, most people in this country, they get us. This is not something that the people who run the Editorial Board of the nation or the john birch society. I really dont care. Again this is for all americans and if you understand we are in a tough spot you understand is something that must be taken seriously so thank you. We have a final question. These are nice questions. Hi. Would you be more specific about what things you see as threats to america and why you say we are losing, losing the idea of america . More specific . Yeah more specific. No more specifics about the other. I can be more specific. Not following the constitution. I think there are a number of problems. Heres the thing, we dont talk about virtue anymore. When i was reading particularly some of the stuff from the colonial era but also up into lincoln the things that they said in a language they used was remarkable. They talked about honor and duty we dont talk about that kind of stuff anymore. Now thats a very odd development. What has happened that we are afraid to talk about honor, duty patriotism and love of country. We have to ask ourselves what is happening why do we think its okay to let that stuff evaporates. What will happen exactly and if you are not talking about virtue and you are not teaching virtue in the schools and youre so afraid to teach virtue are right or wrong you are raising amoral people. If you think about it when i say to somebody racism is bad, you will hear that and there are certain things you will hear that they dont really get into why. We ought to be able to have discussions on what we believe what is right and what is wrong. What does happen in orlandos a classic case. If i was in annihilist i would say why do i care . What difference does it make . If you have a worldview that people are created in the image of god and infinitely valuable and every one in the world has value and dignity and so on and so forth, if you believe that then you try to create a society where people respect people with other points of view. But we have to get into that conversation and really where we are right now is its the politically correct sound bite. We its one of the reasons i started talking to have somebodys conversations to introduce people who have written books about these things. We really dont do that anymore. Where did he go . Hes over here someplace. I think that we have to be able to talk about these things and than we have been afraid to. We dont do that and i think you see examples in the culture. Theres a breakdown of culture. I dont want to go into it but in terms of morality, absolutely there are problems. Theres the cheating scandal in all kinds of things where if you are amoral you can say i need to do what i need to do to get ahead. What about teaching kids about as wrong wrong and thats not okay. We dont get into that. Its the whole idea of ethics. Where do you get your right and youre wrong . We are afraid to have those conversations i guess because we are afraid where going to offend someone and thats what concerns me. We have to have these conversations about what am i . If my religion teaches me that sex outside of marriage is wrong or life is not one that i want to follow how do i exist in a culture like this . In america we say you can have all the differences you want. We are free to think what we want but we have to respect each other. Their other places in the world who say if you disagree with someone you can kill them. You can treat them as subhuman and in human. That is what radical islam does and it strikes me as odd that we dont even have a language to talk about. We get uncomfortable talking about it. You know how they treat, how issa streetscapes . They throw them off tall buildings. They kill them. We need to have these conversations about what do we believe as americans . I believe we have completely avoided it. I also think as people ceased to govern themselves the government steps in. The government will grow if people dont govern themselves so you have strange things happening. Even roe v. Wade, even if you agree with the decision the way the court got there is bizarre. How do you find in the constitution a right to samesex marriage are right to abortion. Even legal scholars say it feels like judicial activism. Their job to to interpret the constitution as the job of the people to vote. Thats democracy but in a way the natural course is for a government to grow and grow and grow and to usurp those rights of the people. You see the judiciary and a stronger executive. We sought under bush and we see it under obama. Its the people who have to say no, thats not the way we do things here in this country. We have a different way. The people are the government and we are going to allow people to rule over us. I do think that is the beginning to happen. I dont want to go on any longer but i see all kinds of examples. I hope i wrote about some of them in the book and i will want to think about this more. Its a great question and i dont have more than that. Jojo starbuck the olympic skater. Thank you so much for what you practice tonight. I really do hope that you are starting something in our country with this book and all of us here kind of wish he were running for president. [applause] what do you mean, i am. Bernie the oxygen out of the room. So heres my question. A freedom requires virtue and virtue requires god, what are we going to do . It is politically incorrect to talk about god and to have it in our schools. On cspan, you can just do it. Are in children need to hear it. Heres a thing when people say like well its politically incorrect heres my question. So what . Actually my dear friend dick cavett who said if somebody says to you that will offend some people the response would be okay, so what . I think one of the most wonderful things about American Culture is our desire to please everyone. We worry about offending people. Theres something healthy and beautiful about that or but it can go too far and it can become a flaw. I think it has become a flaw for a spread the idea that we are changing policies, the transgender bathroom thing is such an odd even if you think its a good idea at still another one of these odd things that we are bending over backwards for. 01 of the people. I think its gotten to a point where your average american says something is out of order here. We really need to reassert ourselves and we need to talk about god and faith and virtue. Are people going to do it in the wrong way they are going to do it in the wrong way. I hope i will do it in the right win witness to the way we have the ability to do it in a civil way. Again in the book i talk about this because i think americans have to rise up and begin doing this. We are all responsible for having these conversations. Its not a. There will be some leaders that can model it that we all need to say, so what . Do you think im righteous . Ive got news for you, im not righteous. Have you ever met a real racist . Do you even know what youre talking about . Again leap given so much power to crazy people. The people on university campuses, they are in this tiny academic bubble and academic leaders or the College Administrators are so cowardly that they cannot stand up to these tiny maniacs who they have allowed to be there on the campus. Its an extraordinary thing but again it shows you if you dont have a robust sense of right and wrong you were going to back down when people scream. I really think most americans are i think it appointed new seeing this election they say look we have kind of had enough. We have real problems and lets talk turkey. Lets talk and we have got to stop being so easily offended. Its just ridiculous. The first thing we can do is to say tough luck. I definitely dont mean to offend anybody and if you if all you are going to be as thinskinned thats your choice but im going to keep talking. So thank you. Eric you touched on education and the role of the promotion of virtue. My wife and i believe and chose a classical christian school. The majority of our citizens will be educated so if you could touch on some specifics around regardless of where children go to school we can engage in the Public School system. Im not going to send my daughter to a school so i can make a political statement while her brain is first we have to take care of our own and if it means sending our kids at the school where thats cool, you have to do that first but you are right. We can be voices in the Public Square and in the Public Schools we should be. The Public School situation has gotten out of hand as part of why we are here. I mean in this conversation and wyatt wrote this book because the Teachers Union and so on and so forth are not pulled into the free market. They are in there and they are saying tough luck and you hear over and over again the teachers teaching things that they have no business getting into. The schools are supposed to be in local parameters. The basic idea for freedom is i can raise the way my kids away want to raise my kids. Dont have time to teach my kids so we are going to create a school and pay taxes so somebody else can do what i want them to do. The idea that those teachers say we are going to do what we want to do is fundamentally unamerican and undemocratic. It just doesnt make sense of the idea that we have schools teaching our kids but, Public Schools teaching our kids things that are not what they were called then to be taught is fundamentally crazy. Thats why you have to have school choice. Thats one thing im very happy to say that trump has been talking about school choice. [applause] the idea that i have to send my kid to be indoctrinated by crazy people who arent afraid of losing their jobs is fundamentally unamerican. It is wrong. My mother left communist germany when she was 17 years old by herself. She was having communist garbage pour down her throat everyday at school and she said i couldnt take it. I had to get out of there because it was indoctrination. So she chose not just to go to another school but to leave east germany. I think we have to understand that we have freedom. If somebody says to me for example if i had my kids out of Public School and they say tomorrow we are going to teach thirdgraders about how they can choose their own sexuality, some parent in that school needs to contact all the other parents about school and say heres what we are going to do. We are going to keep our kids home until the maniacs stop teaching things that we dont want them to teach our kids. You have to be willing to keep your kid home. Montgomery was boycott rosa parks started, for a year after the americans didnt ride the bus because they said that is wrong and we are not going to put up with it. I think some people think they can bring the way they think to bear on our kids in that kind of way, see heres the thing. Americans are so nice we dont get angry. You have to say no you are not going to do that. My kid is not going to go to school. What you going to do . Put me in jail . This is america and i really think people have to get involved. Its what it means to be we the people and we have to get involved in these things and we have to be willing to make a fight. The schools, they simply dont have this right. If we allow them to do it we have ourselves to blame. I think we are kind of at a point where the craziness is getting too much attention. We need leaders and great immigrants like me, people who have been raised in a way that they think its okay to get upset rather then i dont want to upset anybody. At some point you have to act. Probably time for just one more question. I appreciate the way you contrasted this robust belief in original sin with virtue that was present at the time and also the founders. I will take the compliment, thank you. Benjamin franklin and Walter Isaacsons biography is a genius hedonist and not all of the founders were absolute saints. What do you see and what is the virtue in america that has been walked away from . I dont think its easy to pinpoint it. I think roughly speaking it started in the 60s basic weight but its a trickledown from the 20s and 30s. The leading schools like gail have already turn this corner in the 30s basically. In europe it turned a corner is the result of world war i that they had seen the twin authorities of church and state basically let them down and they had lost lives and they really turned against those authorities in a way. I think the same thing happened with a loss of confidence in authority to begin with. A kind of a cynicism or nihilism or something but i dont think it really reached us until the 60s and the 70s where it really became codified. It became part of the way we functioned. So its not something you can put your finger on but you do see the media typically tends to be uncomfortably secular even though they are talking to a nation where most people have some kind of faith. You typically dont get that. In other words you dont have a free market operating in the media. The media typically are people that are secular allies people are new york people. They dont get that so they speak a different kind of language. I think the market always corrects itself but it doesnt necessarily do it right away. The truth will come out eventually but we had years of soviet communism before that wall fell down. These things can last a very long time and i would say for 50 or so years we have had this hollywood recently created inside europe in the 60s. All of the films you had before that and i mention mr. Smith goes to washington, suddenly they were seen as corny. Its part of the culture, part of the drinking water. The Ivy League Round to school its part of the way people begin to see things and thats the club you belong to. That the people think and i really think the gatekeepers and people in the media, people and Teachers Union and politics generally speaking a lot of them are those kinds of ideologues. Your average american over time except in america. I think we are at a tipping point. We are very close to the edge so for me there is hope but i say this with the level of desperation as well. We must take this seriously. They cannot go on so there you have it. Well folks, thank you so much for coming. [applause] i appreciate it very much. So many of you have come from out of town. Thank you. I appreciate that. Let me just say what we are going to do is let the party continue and you can hang around as long as you want. I will be signing books as long as there are people who want books signed and im happy to do that just to hang out. Please do tell your friends about socrates in the city. We too read the book. If you dont want to read the book i dont care but at lease buy several copies if you dont mind. We believe it at that. God bless you and God Bless America. [applause] [inaudible conversations] america is not defined by ethnicity. Every ethnicity exist in america its not defined by religion. Every religion exists in america we are defined by an idea. We are only country in the history of the world that was created and defined by an idea and therefore in order to keep the republic as franklin enjoined us to do we must know those ideas. We must understand those ideas. We must buy into those ideas and we must live them out. Will be our guest on our indepth program on sunday september 3 from noon to 3 p. M. Taking your calls talking about his body of work