Transcripts For CSPAN2 David Horowitz Mortality And Faith 20240714

Youve 70 bucks a lot of people think of you mostly as a political conservative but in your book radical son where you talk about you are someone that rates well. And in this book why did you decide to write this book. That is a story of our political transformation. At what point did you stop describing yourselves as a marxist. When a woman that i have accrued it to for the black panty Panther Party was murdered and that was really the end of my career in the left. On the white power structure. It is what they do today. Only they blame it on trump a lot of people dont remember at this time the violence of those years. Before we get into that new book mortality and faith and in faith and it picks up your story with your seminal book i was raised by communist cardcarrying, our whole community. Where were you raised and raise and what is that community. The Upper West Side of manhattan yes. But sunnyside, i lived in the development of world houses. Eleanor roosevelt broke the ground there. The backyards they have a comments and the interesting thing was when that fortyyear easement was lifted everybody extended their backyards into the center. Thats what they left as always fighting. Thats where they end up with the firing squad. You literally were raised among cardcarrying communist. Its one thing to be a democrat. Youre talking about something a little bit different what was this group and who were your parents that you found yourself in the situation. People have a need this book is not a political book. There is politics in it is at a philosophical level. It might be the best book that ive written people have read it certainly they feel in the writing i have read parts of this book all the way through. It is very beautiful your story they are thrown into this world and people have a great need to think of their lives as meaningful. The idea that were all gonna disappear someday and be forgotten is very hard for people to take they develop various type of faith because you cant know. I quote him in this book. You can know through the heart. Nobody can prove that god exists and nobody can prove that they dont exist. Its the perspective. People develop a faith its one kind of faith and communism social justice is another or you can have a faith. The way i described in the book to be in that with the divinity that will sort things out afterwards on the other side for now we see thats to me a healthy faith. But if you dont believe in divinity most people cant face the meaninglessness of our life. For those people and that is that the world is cannot be made into the kingdom of heaven on earth really. I once have an interviewer who said how do you live without that. Isnt everybody looking for the same thing. The radical communist. Were all looking for the same thing but we disagree with how they get there. It does seem to me that people who believe that life has no meaning. In the created is there. Eva green new deal. And you rearrange everything. And the only way to do that they have a lot of sophie soviet union. I dont want you to think its just a book of ideas. My life lessons. You have to deal with that. They have a birth defect or that caused her to die. I take lessons from these. I try to deal with the affirmatives of age. People dont talk about this too much. But theyre living like ten to 20 years longer than the ever did because of science. But they do that i have done some of that in the book. And with each point and try to give whatever resume i head for my life experience. I have Prostate Cancer ive had serious reengineering of my body. Everything else is negotiable. We are going to go to the break we are going to continue talking for as long as you will stay here. The new book is mortality and faith reflections on a journey through time. Stick around. Today we are coming to you on book tv as well. I have i have to ask you before we go further. Probably 20 that are worth reading. I wrote quite a few as a leftist. You really were a radical committed leftist until 1974 or so you werent playing at this. You were very seriously involved in this. To make our lives meaningful we live inside stories that we tell ourselves youre in a your to create a dynasty as one. Theyre all designed to give you hope or you are going to become a favorite in a thousand years. I lived inside that we were to change the world. It was all through the communist was revolution. Thats what its supposed to do. But classes they were all going to be one big family. Thats the vision of progressives. With the earthly redemption. So the progressives worldview that you are there. That is another story. That is the key problem. If you look at the green new deal. That is an incentive to be leave see and lazy and live off other people. The other people will resent that sooner rather than later. And then at of those people began problems. Is ridiculous. Theres millions of people who believe in it. I would say ten or 15 of the 20 democrats also believe it. When you talk about you live inside stories. With the illusion that it will go on forever. Its so easy to forget that you can a die. I talk a lot about the stories there is a lot of literary. He wrote a number of post modern novels what about them. Nothing to be afraid of. Its nothing to be afraid of. As a writer he is a famous writer probably millions of people have read his books. In the generation or two. There was nobody reading his books. Most people dont remember it. He was sort of right about that. He calls that are scratching on the walls. Religious faith is a great combination. Two ideas that have been destructive like social justice in socialism and communism. It is such a consolation for our life. Do you think that life is meaningless. I am agnostic thats why i think im a good witness on all of these issues. When youre talking about communist radicalism when you say that it is at odds with reality. It seems to me that you are saying that the american view of selfgovernment in liberty is not at odds with human nature. When we come back i want to ask about that. Heresy coming up on book tv. Dont go away. We are coming to you on book tv. His new book is mortality and faith. In this book david we are talking about the meaning of life. What were talking about a moment ago is the idea that your previous view the communist view is at odds with human nature. It led to the murder of my friend and a hundred million people. In the 20th century. With that, that story that i lived was shattered thats how i came to all of these views. You only see a piece who are saving the planet and they get meaning out of that. You dont look outside. You look outside because it gives your life meaning and if youre not saving the planet where the planet cant be saved it shatters your personal peace. It takes away your consolation. You have to see that event in 1974. Its as though it took Something Back horrible to wake you up. I was clinically depressed for seven years. See mac at what point did you shift. How to get out of that. That is the subject of a radical nest. I have a writing partner. He is a catholic. Because i have to support my children after while you get decided on the story. So my story now and save this country. They dont understand the founding. They dont understand where freedoms come from. They have a contempt for the people that created our freedoms makes based on missed readings of history. History has no right side. Is not moving anywhere. Why do you say that. It is is a classical view. I talk about the romans and the greeks. Didnt everybody see history as cyclical until you get to the western christian thats where the christians get it. I am always finding it out. It is a fact but i guess the question is that once the bible and the god of bible interest history and creates at least in part although what we call the west and leads to what we have today in america it is at odds with this history. We are a generation away from losing all of our freedoms. If the fight for the regeneration. Is that if the islamicist when theres no reason that they shouldnt they have infiltrated our societies they have a barbaric view of the world they are haters. If they win. Theyre going back to the dark ages. Everything is fragile in that sense. To be an extremist of that. It takes them a lot of resilience. I was can it in genesis. Adam and eve were given the paradise that was much better than the green ntl. You didnt die without pain and childbirth. But it was one condition you did not eat of the tree you did not want to do evil. They defied god. Human beings enjoy doing evil all we have inside of us we had free well. God could easily compel belief. That human corruption is the problem. The source of all social problems is not society. Its us. We have these tendencies that you fight. All the time. You are saying this is inherent. I definitely do. People on the left a monk in the fort century. And they believe that sin is against human nature. Human nature left to itself is good. He believed that if people were good christians all they have to do was want to be good. I hate to cut someone off in the middle of the heresy but we will be right back. You were just talking about the heresy socalled continue please. If you understand that the source of our problems is us is the corruption inside of every human being that has to be brought off to ourselves. And you can see it in infants. If you put three yearolds in a room with a lot of toys and leave it then you can hear screams coming from the room. Once you understand that then you understand that people in government are really dangerous compared to people that are in government we see this all around us today. The corruption is epidemic. And even worse what i call the social redeem us. World war ii globalization. We are going to live under a military regime. In their defense this was as much a threat as the nazis. How are you cannot compensate gas cards in ten years if you dont institute a dictatorship. This is what people and this is what makes you conservative. Your view of human nature. Society makes them evil. Corporations make them evil. He is behind it all. He is a bunker beneath the earth. This one as something is something that you disagree with. You have this shattering experience something that unit was murdered by the black panthers. Helen did it take before you realized i was with the wrong story. It was almost instantaneous. My closest friends when i told them they said it was the white power structure. A friend of a black panther. A big icon of the left. Says there is no such thing as black on black crime. Its crazy stuff. It is fascinating. Mortality in faith. We grab onto stories lately. That is the question when i cannot time to get into it in this segment. I want to talk to you about whether there is the over arching narrative is the new book reflection. Hey there folks im talking to the author of a brandnew book. The subtitle. A lot of people ive admired. Had praised this like crazy. He has never been so moved by davids writing as by this profound book. Nate and sharansky. I have to say your writing in this book we were talking earlier about your contention which i think you agree with. We have to grab onto stories or narratives they had two rather than to rather than say maybe ive missed something know youve missed something. The man did it. Is it kind of like being brainwashed. It seems to me that you are talking about taking your thinking in line with what you are calling human nature. People that are stuck on the other narratives arent willing to do that. Its very difficult. There are two volumes in the autobiography. When im in a bookstore. And it is after this happened. And its a berkeley bookstore. All of these books and then i see the science fiction. Completely outside my world and when i realized this. It was like being in the desert completely flat. I realized that i was nothing. I realize that it was a false idea there was millions who live off of these that is the story that they deem important. That was as difficult of thing as you can possibly do. You talk about that in the new book mortality and faith. I was going in the wrong direction. I have devoted my life. I was 35 years old. I have have devoted my life and evil idea. Thats how i know they are still in nurses. The first thing i wanted to do is say and the people that dont do it they are still communist they never detach themselves from it. Is there a grand narrative. A grand narrative that actually not only happens to be correct but is true on a deeper level. Working with another narrative. You are not entirely convinced its true. I write about mozart. He was an incredible miracle. From the time he was six. And then he read a letter in the 31st year 31 years old and he wrote a letter to his father and it said its the real purpose of our life for several years i become closely related with this true friend in our life. His image is not only no longer terrifying to me but rather something very soothing and comforting. And i think my god for holding me in his grace the opportunity of realizing that he is the key to our real happiness. Death is the door to god. This is me. It is a generous thought from a miraculous soul i wish the faiths of this great gifted young man he was dead for years later by the way. I wish it were mine as well. I wish i could place my trust in all that i had loved. And see them preludes to a better world. Try as i might i may not. To ponder the pointlessness of our strivings on this earth and to ask impossible questions and receive no answers. It is a religious faith. And its very comforting. To be an environmental radical. It is a false faith. Science it is an amazing thing. All of this knowledge and we double it every ten years or whatever. They have no idea how life began. How do you get out of these minerals animal life. Our knowledge is so limited. In they have that character who would stand and say we had three dimensional minds but we live in and a four dimensional universe. And as a same thing as we see that through a glass window. Its interesting. When adam and eve were in the garden in the first chapters of genesis they were seduced into wanting to know evil by the serpent and what did they say. If you eat of that tree you you would be of god. They think that they can read arrange the world and do it in ten years. That arrogance is what causes the death of a hundred million people. These political figures like cortez she has the answers to everything. It is interesting that people always mock people who pray. The first thing it does is it humbles you. Theres powers and mystery behind you. You can never get a hold of. They have to be given the answers. In many ways e talk like a man of faith and you dont sound like someone we all got here by accident. And then you can hardly fault anyone for doing that. Because why should they there is no truth or right and wrong. Is the eric mitac six show. David, we were just talking about this idea you say that some people latch onto a narrative and theyre almost like theyre inside of a dream. That seems to imply to say a real world. You get uncomfortable. I tried to be as good a person as i can. You realize i think it is because. The fact is that you are to thoughtful and been to too much to pointing out lies if you dont believe there is such a thing as truth. Youre absolutely right. Ive been burnt in one church. And im wary. I dont want to surrender my intellect. You are writing the weariness train and just to be i dont want to get too conceptual. Theres no way out of the loop. Now i figured it out. I was too sure of myself. You are asserting at the idea of humility. Respectfully and humbly. As opposed to the idea that we are gonna grab an idea that we are going to write it to the coil. I agree with everything you said. With the 20 odd books we fight the battle. With conviction. And i want to prevent other people like me who are radicals today from going through. With the position of agnosticism. As tempting as it is. God is devilishly tempting you. Were talking about something bigger than religion. Were still trying to figure out what is truth. A humble attitude towards knowing is part of truth. It is the way you approach in the way you begin the search for truth. I was all concerned with astronomy. As i said they dont know the most basic things. That is to the religious view. It also is a door to im going to be wary. I have engaged in my story. My battle with this delusion that human beings without a divinity can redeem the world. The most destructive ideology. That is the ideology of progressives. Is big enough battle for me. You just fight slightly differently than you might have in your previous incarnation. You tell a lot of stories and it is really volume two of your autobiography. Where do you pick up your story in this book. It was published in 1987. I will tell you where this book began. Its interesting. We want to pause on an interesting note. We are talking to David Horwitz about his book mortality and faith. It was around 911. And insulated from a lot of the it would cause you to think about that. And then i was diagnosed right after september 11 what are my feelings as they happen to be. I described throughout the book. In various illnesses. They will cause a lot of people. That is the way the book begins. Its interesting. As one thing to think about our own mortality. I think we can be flippant about the meeting of life and death but when we think about that. The daughter is dying young. When you love someone and they die particularly when they die young that militates much more strongly against the meaninglessness of life than the prospect of our own death. My daughter was an observant. And she believed the rolling of the soul. In a rehab incarnation of the spirit. Her spirit is inside me. I wrote a book about her. The cracking of the heart. Youre absolutely right about that. I write about it here and i say that my life have a winter could never recover. Like i say. Im not only satisfied with the books i write. This one in particular there is a lot of wisdom minute in consolation for people in my father always liked this. Marks got some things right kidney. It kind of took a hit its really hard to speak about it in the original german. When you talk about your book about your daughter died there is something if you are looking for clues to the meaning of life. There is something about love in an attachment to somebody it doesnt seem possible that life could be meaningful. There is a whole passage here about my wife had been looking on the laptop pictures of my daughter after she died she came to me and said lets go out. I was sitting at the table. There was a play it lifted off the table it hit and hit me in the stomach. It was my daughter communicating with us. Offered as an example. It was at least extremely strange. Thats where i leave it as a agnostic. I dont believe you. You dont believe it was zeus it was nothing. Just because we hold things lately hope things lately and were not radicals doesnt mean we cant believe things in it seems to me though youre unwilling to say so that there certain beliefs that are Worth Holding onto. I am fascinated by shows. Theres one called the seatbelt psychic. He picks people up and drives them places. He does things that are uncanny. I just take an agnostic view of that. Im not at all prepared to dismiss it even though there are psychic who are fakers. In the same thing with my daughter. I wish that it were true i wish this was the communication for my daughter. When somebody dies and leaves all of the conversations unfinished. You think of all of the things that you shouldve said. I leave it for what it is. Organ ago with another break. We will be right back. We are talking about mortality and faith. He is a little leftist. It was the other guy with steely dan. Its kind of funny you had chosen to settle in california and youve been there all of these years. As some of the who has become an arch conservative politically youre not in a place where most people share your worldview and people in the media tend to be radically on the left side of things. Do you have any theories as to why that is. Do you have any theories as to why that is. I moved to california in 1959 when i was still a leftist. But california is not a serious place. I cannot walk into a room without being assaulted for a belief. I would be embattled all the time. California on the other hand its very easy to avoid. Actually now i can go on a campus because the leftists leftist decided to shut down this entirely. You cant let them in the door its very dangerous if people like you are on a college campus. Now the administration is so supportive of the fascists. That they just turn my speech into a circus. I find it very easy in california they are interested in their bodies and their careers unless youre in San Francisco. I moved out of the bay area when i voted for reagan. That is when i moved out of the San Francisco bay area. All i talk about his relationships. Its so funny you living on the left the left coast. I guess you make it sound like it has an elegiac tone do you see this as like a final statement. Youre not exactly on your deathbed. I have actually inspired people to act on this. I wrote it that way. The end of the book. Its about a dear friend ed snyder who has created the Philadelphia Flyers a very wealthy man. He was just a wonderful spirit in this life when he died died people come out of the word work and they tell of the things that they did for them. I want to hear the rest of the story but we are can have to end this our we are on youtube if you want to watch this. We will continue the story but that ends this hour. Thank you. We are perhaps cspans book tv. I am having a wonderful conversation with David Horwitz. David, what is the book that we talked about before this book. We were here a few months ago. This is the man that created this. The Philadelphia Flyers and many other things. Around sports. All of the Spectrum Sports shows. When i was suffering from this. Around the clock. I was very reluctant to accept such a gift. But i knew this guy. I didnt want to hurt his feelings. It was a great help to me. And then when he died he was an incredible pain in his son told the story at the Wells Fargo Center when they did the memorial for him. That his last words which were excruciating i want to thank the flyers for what they did for my family. You see i will get emotional. I felt shamed by the sky. I wanted to be a person like that but i did not live up to that standard. He was like a father to them. Everybody loved him. Even though i had been watching flyers games for 40 or 50 years whatever it is he was like a 12yearold. In his first game. He got very upset when things didnt go well. And he would always go to the locker room even when they lost. And again. If we are looking for what is truth which it seems to me the mortality in faith and trying to think about it carefully. Argues again it. Obviously respect that. It seemed just interesting to me thats how you respond emotionally as though theres something but again, somebody who is really cynical, a scientistic, strict materialist. Anytime a sinnic. If they were somebody would say the only reason you respond that way is because evolution has inadvertently programmed you to listen, people who believe that. I understand. And they make an argument fort that and say it is meaningless but youre somehow evolution has favored those who have gened predisposed to thinking that life has meaning, and so it doesnt mean that life has meaning. So theres that to think but. Its such a presumption. Well, yeah. I dont agree with it but just interesting to but im not that person and this is a legacy for my believing parents even though their belief was false. That seems a little cynical but well let it go. The idea of believing not a buddied. The question is what are you believing in. I understand that. Youre parents were passionate people. They didnt know. My father i saw what it did in my father mitchell father was a make man my father was a weak man and communist made him strong. Just personally and his father was very weak. But his political faith made him powerful. He was very are articulate. A good teaker. What did he do for a living . A high school teach, i. Did he pass away before your conversion to not. But he never kind of really understood it. It was i was a disappointment. I wrote a the first book Peter Collier and i wrote together was the rockefellers and it was the front page of the sunday times, awe know how important that is as an author. Yeah. The father was so disappointed because it wasnt but a the economic crisis. He thought he said to me, who wants to read but the rockefellers. Its berg. It was a best seller, dad. Thats pretty good were talking about nature of reality. If lord acton was right and power corrupt shut power corrupts absolutely. As a political conservative we would say that, yes, because human nature is not good, we need to have checks and balances on power, and that anytime power accrues, its a bad thing and so we do what we can struck tylerly to work against thatment structurally to work against that. One thing the founders dud not plan for was the kind of power we have today in corporations, like google, and something has happened social media. They have to break up google and regulate. Its the public conversation, willynilly. The technology is there. We cant hand our National Destiny over to google. Right. Dishonest as they are. Dennis prager had an up a wed in todays wall street journal. Wont air today but where at the talks about this. Prager use has been seriously censored by google and youtube. Its lackless the left has organized which dwarfs anything that mccarthy ever did. His greatest eest danger to america and democracy right now, and that is facebook and google and twitter. But its also color of change, media matters, son of poverty law center. The whole left is organized to suppress and destroy and make a nonpersons conservatives. Theyre communists. The left today, the Progressive Left is a communist left. Nothing no relation so the democratic left. The idea of democratic socialism is an oxymoron. Its ridiculous, cant take away the provide sector and give all power to the government and have a democracy and the fact these people its frightening. For all of her deviousness and dishoney, liz Warren Warren is not a Elizabeth Warren is not a stupid woman. That she has not learned a single them thing from the miss raise of the 20th century atrocities is scary. What i was going to say earlier but goingle and social media, you have two things going on. First, you have the heads of those hugely powerful corporations not only being radically leftest bit willing to use their theyre not democrats. You have any respect for american pluralism when is was a leftist. So show how the left has gotten worst and wore since the 60s. Always wanted to hear what our opponents were saying. Thought it would make me a better radical. To they dont want to hear anymore. Just want to destroy you. Thats the first part. The second part, the one thing i think that the founders couldnt really foresee is the idea of social media. Putting aside the biases of the heads of google and other powerful organizations, amazon, jeff bezos, putting that aside, theres something in the nature of social media it its the kind of a cruel or aggregation that works like a mob. In other words you can by having the Electoral College you, work against the structurally during elections, it in remember culture generally, social media seems to behave like a member in the way if we dead away with the Electoral College and you go to your computer every day and vote on what you think everybody should do. Clearly the townsers tried to create something that would work against that because thats the diskind they understood the root cause of problems is us. And they distrusted the people. They the founders were very brilliant. The put sovereignty in the hands of the people because you dont want one tyrant, but on the other hand they introduced all the skepticism. One is checks and balances. Hang 0en there we want tend to on an exciting note. Dont go away. Were talking with David Horowitz, the new book mortality and faith, some of you are watching once cspan booktv. You can watch the whole interview at our show on youtub. Were talking about social media. Speaking of which youtube, google, the aggregation of power, but i want to talk but the big are issue. Just talked about this, checks and balances. How if the he founders didnt foresee social media, so what is there in our constitution that can help us work against what we see happening. I dont know. Redefine them as public utilities. Theyre using the internet. Listen, no, no. Im not a lawyer. Thats the first part of the problem. The first part of the problem is what den anything prager wrote. If google is censoring people, yes, but they are. Its not a question. What about the larger issue that we are now having National Conversations theres a different consciousness as a result of social media and the internet that didnt exist 20 years ago. Something has happened via twitter and so on where things move differently. Ideas move more quickly. One of the biggest im thinking that the Tech Companies only part of the problem. Msnbc is an nbc, the news media is so corrupt that theyre a direct threat. You have people saying things thatabsolutely false, and clearly politically organized, an attack republicans and trump. You dont think the free market is helping us see that . Because of the existence of alternatives Media Outlets dirk juneteenth an helpful but less and let helpful if google a student same. Watched shep smith say i on fox but all over, on msnbc and cnn that there were 251 mass shooting this year inperand i said to myself that is absurd. I know just on the face of it. When i went to google, i had to go i think it was on the second page that i found an article which knew what the source is. One source its an extreme antigun source and they dont give the criteria for what is a mass shooting so come on. But this gets to the bigger issue. Something is happening, something happened in the culture that is apart from the the remedy for the news media is we immediately laws. Is that possible . Can that help. The New York Times and we the libel laws. If youre a public figure as i am you can say anything but me. Its an opinion protected be the first amendment. And just me calling trump a racist is an opinion protected by the first amendment, where it should be libel. Even though he is the president. When did we cease to have libel lies . The New York Times versus sullivan. What youre is that . I dont remember the year. The Supreme Court decision in New York Times versus sullivan , made the standard for libel so high in this country, not in england but in this country, that you cant sue for libel. You have to show mall has heres my question. When for example, it sounds like youre a racist is a factual statement but its an opinion. But when you have you have one media which is semi free, which is fox. People say fox is the instrument of White Supremacy can. Never watched shepherd smith go after trump for nothing. Not to mention Chris Wallace and others on fox, juan williams. Well,. The problem with democracy is theres no referees. Thats the problem we have now. Theres got to be some institutions that set a standard of some kind of fairness. Right. Didnt always used to be this way. This is about ten or 15 years its been this way. I assume youre a believer in he free market and i assume youre a believer in at the free market of idea. Not in a religious way. What do you mean. Conservatives depend have they dont want you to mess with private companies. And thats an ideology. Right. Youre im a practical person. See the threat from google and facebook and twitter. Im screen sored all the time on twitter. I cant put up an image of my book covers on twitter. Why. Because they instituted some kind of algorithm thats soes despicable, just hearing this. The mere fact that the that the southern poverty law center, people arent in jail and its Michelle Obamas lawyer is running it. Come on. These are the well, listen. Were on booktv. There are people out there dish think that slowly some people are waking up to this. Its taking a long, long time but i agree with you that when you its much more rapid. I have a different perspective. What is more rapid . I became i voted for reagan in 84. And i felt like a voice crying in the wilderness for the next 30 years. The people are very nice to me on the right. But they were calling these people, whoever vindictive, bigots, liberals. Hang on, another break well be right back walking to David Horowitz. Talking to David Horowitz pout his poock, mow fat and faith. You said you think its moving for quickly peoplewaking up, started with obama. Finally in america. Ininequity. Inequity and ininequitiy both. Started win obama they ban to see our radical these people were. I always had a conservatives were uncomfortable with my talking about the malice of the left. The left is really malicious. They think nothing of tee destroying people and lying. Im at the top of the southern poverty has me as one of the ten top hatemongers in america. And its all based on lies. Im ike antiblack. Ive written three books on the race issue and theyre all even a teenager could reading them could see that theyre all based on Martin Luther king and the founders vision that you should judge people on the content of character. This gets back to the meaning of life. Seems to me youre suggesting that folks on the hard left dont have transcendent values and dont think lying to get in power is wrong. The means justifies the owned. The end just the means. Trotsky wrote that, there world and ours, our morals are different. But that suggests that one world view, lets say, more conservative traditional list American World view, believes in transskin dent value and the other view, which is culturally marxist, does not. I. One says theres no meaning, only power. Thats true but its also true that people on the right understand that human human beis lie. And that we have to fight that all the time. Its a natural tendency. People do it all the time. Do it in their everyday life and social situations easier to get out of or change. But we have to fight it. We have to understand that low martin luger wrote a book that the lie is a root of all evil. Didnt know we would get to martin bobber, but im talking to David Horowitz, be to michael bobber and julian barnes. What other literary figure decide you touch upon . I have theres a passage about sol bellow i cant remember the name of the story but a short story but his mother dying of cancer, where he goes out dish dont know if its true story but he has this adventure with a sexual adventure with a woman. A misadventure. And he talks about thinking life is a turn table, where were not moving in the direction, and of course we are heading out, and when he gets back, as he concluder its an embarrass, humiliating one, this prostitute steals his clothes. Classic saul bellow story. He realizes he hopes that his father is mad at him when he opens the door. His mother is alive. Still living. But he was on the turntable and not dont see them where were always progressing towards the end. Because of the force of mortality. And pascal, who was a incredibly poignant and moving figure, and wonderful theological writings, because pascal understood our plight and he actually his book, which has been collected as whatever the thoughts of pascal is about this issue of faith that you cant know. Well, but he he also did have this night of fire where he felt can you talk about senate i read about that recently and id never seen that until recently. Believed that he had a lot of very interesting insights. One is he had a night where he felt he was visited by the god of abraham, isaac and jacob, that is in a kind of whatever the flesh would be. But he also talks about the hidden god, that god has this is about free will. And its another thing that leftists dont understand, progressives dont understand. The fundamental judayey christian belief is god gave us free will to do evil as well as good. Whereas leftists think that were prisoners of racism, sexism, home foe phobia, we dont homo foe bogey, homophobia. Theres a fatalism. The recent generation of left rhyss seems completely fatalistic. Cull curl because they just transferred marxist stupid mod of capitalists exploiting worked, stealing from them because marx was operating with they labor theory of value which is discredited in his lifetime. So, they transferred to what. To race, gender, and sexual orientation. Same oppressent talk about people who are marginalized. If you put rings in your nose and you born male and claim to be a woman, of course youre going to be marginalized figure. You change the attitudes of 6 billion people . This is ridiculous. Were going to they could get if they have the firing squad as an alternative and people are youre right. We just have a few minutes left. David horwitz is my guest. The book is mortality and faith. He flexions of a journey through time the previous back by dark agenda the war to destroy christian america. Well be right back. Talking to David Horowitz. The previous book, darking a the war to destroy christian america. So for somebody who holds truth and meaning lightly, you nonetheless hold them and you seem to be a warrior for what you believe is true or at least the warrior against what you know to be false, and i think as with my friend dennis prager, who is jewish, youre a much better defender of what we call christian values and christian thinking than many christians are. Why is that . First of all because i dont have a stake in the answer. If you are a believer, you believe that jesus christ is our savior, then you are defending that. Theres a lot of things that are prior to any argument. I have no stake in that but i have a clear eyed view of the way the country was created and the freedoms that leftist claim to enjoy but we all enjoy are all christian ideas the founders were christians the settlers, 98 of the settlers were protestant christian, and not to understand them and where they come from, is not to know where you get for your freedoms and therefore you cant defend them, and i began with the occurred to me that you cant have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if theres no god because if its given by the likes of beto orourke or jill brand or Elizabeth Warren, theyll take them away from you the first day that you look crosseyed at them, crosswise as them. So, you have to come to terms with the fact that without a judeochristian view of the world there is no america. And that means the good all the good things in america, its freedoms in particular, and there are various ways to do that. I discuss them in this book, dark agenda, but to me its a practicing pragmatic approach and its effective. At least practicing metic and let me i have wren two becomes, a book called if you can keep it and a biography, Martin Luther and i saw for the first time how it is in fact the bible interpreted correctly that gives thus freedoms we celebrate and hopefully defend in america he had not seen than before. Just got a minute left. Have to ask you a shallow question. Of the current crop of candidates on the democratic side, who one which one or two might end up being our their nominee . I dont know. So embarrassing, all of them. Correct. Nonetheless shameful people. Liars. Im. Appalled that we have an a Political Party that has so gone off the rail. Heres my theory. Going to continue to devour each other. Evidence will be biden. No. Theyrell take kind ive like the jackles will go after the other jack kells they will all be blooded and blooded and i think the mandarins people like Michael Moore saying none of these people can win my theories is when everybody is bloody in the water and no one can beat trump. Out of the weeds like an old bass to save america will come hillary clinton. She will pretend woo. Be tragicked to be at the nominee and will be the nominee. Thats my theory. Were out 0 time so you cant even respond. Already. David, honestly, such a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much. Same, eric. Thank you for having me. A look at authors who appeared recently on booktvs after words. Our weekly Author Interview program that includes bestselling nonfiction books and guest interviewers. Last week natalie wechsler offered thoughts on how the u. S. Education system can be improved by expand thing curriculum of Elementary School students good history, science and he the arts. Then ben howell asks we are evangelicals are choosing political power over christian value. This week on after words, Media Research Center Founder and president , present osell argues the media is biased against president trump. Isnt its fascinating how the media are constantly savaging the president for the language he uses. Well, calling him a nazi. Calling him a fascist, calling him every kind of despicable name you can hurl at the president of the united states. This is again, this is one of the things that the findings of the book that all modicum of decency has been cast aside, but not when donald trump to his opponents but from his opponents to him. The call hi far worse things. Theyre attempting to do far worse to hem chan mat why accuse him of doing to. The its telling. They have no right, noun. You have a right, i have a right, these books have a right to pass judgment on Donald Trumps language. The press done. After words airs saturdays at 10 p. M. And sundays at p. M. Eastern and pacific on booktv on cspan2. All previous after wordses variable as podcasts and to watch online at book tv. Org. Booktv was on hand at politics and pros book store in washington, dc where cbs news legal anis, kim whaley, discussed her book, how to read the constitution and why. Heres a portion of her talk. A monarchy traditionally, the power comps from god. If you slayed the monarch on the battlefield the jolly shires of england the good is god decide you would be king. Or queen, and so the power comps from the god, the people are separate. In our government, the power ultimately always comes from the people, and that document is designed to basically hand out i call it Job Descriptions am Job Description for congress, Job Description for the executive branch, theres a Job Description for judges. But like all of us who have had jobs, if there arent consequences for vote lag your juror description, still stag from the particulars show up late, theres condition sequence because the institution cant function with that kind of bad action. Youll get fired. So, our constitution is a piece of paper to the extent to which we enforce it. Its like a contract. You sign a contract to rennovate your bathroom, put a 5,000 dee deposit on it they come and do demo and walk off and leave you with a mess and take your money. They get to keep the money. The contract done get your money back. You have to go to court put smile enforcing the contract and the constitution is the same way. To watch the rest of the program, visit our web site, booktv. Org and search the authors name. Really led by Jim Billington who would stand in library of congress he served for 28 years. He retired a few years ago. He told me that the National Book festival was something that he needed some help with. It had been started early in 2001. It was an idea really they came from or bush. Laura bush asked j