I had i have enormous privilegef introducing our guests. First discovered chapbooks for governor bush with the 43rd governor of the state of florida, the First Republic estates history to be reelected. And his limited government approach he unleashed one of the robust and dynamic economies in the states history. Creating 1. 3 million net new jobs, improving the stage credit rating. Currently governor bush serves as chairman for send back Investment Partners headquartered in coral gables, florida. Tonight guests of honor author citizen mack, senator connie mack. 1982 senator mack left a successful banking career to run for the house of representatives where he served three terms before running for one of floridas season in the u. S. Senate. He served to tranfour choosing not to run for reelection. Upon returning to the private sector he became chaplain followed by chairman apparatus in coral gables sort of. With that i will hand it over to governor bush to begin the conversation, just keep in mind you can submit questions to the chat feature and later in the event will have time to answer those. Thank you very much. It is such a joy to have this conversation with a man i admire so much, and event the book. Its a great book. Thank you. The New York Times today had an article about independent bookstores that i think is worth mentioning because im a kindle guy but every time i i read a k on kindle i buy ten books to be able to send to friends. Its important to be able to focus on the fact that as a nation we need to be literate and we need to be supporting authors across the spectrum but im a big fan of yours and a big supporter of this so i can books. I read on kindle. I got ten books im going to buy and of other people do that as well. If you have a chance i would suggest you do at an independent bookstore which are struggling to the pandemic. Enough of my pay Political Announcement but jeb, maybe a suggestion. There are four independent bookstores that a participating in this tour. Im glad you brought it up. I think we ought to know who they are. Midtown reader, books and books down in coral gables. Bookstore one in sarasota, and story and song. They are very special. And midtown reader happens to be the bookstore of sally bradshaw, so i have gained greater appreciation for the struggles of a Small Business owner as well during these times. Connie, it wasnt mentioned a lot in the book but its probably appropriate to talk about, your childhood, would you go of course you were born in philadelphia at some point you moved down to florida and became a true blue floridian. Describe your childhood. I was born in philadelphia, 1940. The family moved to fort myers in 1950. We ended up in fort myers because my grandfathers Baseball Team trains in fort myers back in the 20s and 30s. One of the greatest teams that have played the game train gear in fort myers in 1929, philadelphia athletics. Dad in 1931, yeah, making 31 33 was a coach, firstbase coac coach. I traveled with the team. They left fort myers when he sold his interest in the game the family moved to fort myers in 1950. I grew up really in fort myers, great school, high school in university of florida . To go to high school . Fort myers high school. Fort myers junior senior high. Seventh and eighth grade went to school with the ninth, tenth, 11th and 12th. It was the Major High School in lee county back in those days. You are one of the few people who serve in the sense that also has, your grandparents that are lights out important so many ways. Describe that. I knew about connie mack the first, Cornelius Mcgillicuddy but i didnt know about your other grandfather, which is a story that you can share that much when you were on the stump. Its always that balance. If youre out there trumping about your grandfathers and not yourself, who are you . What do you believe . I kind of stayed away that but obviously extremely proud of my heritage from my mothers side. They are texans. My greatgrandfather John Shepherd was a congressman from texas in the 1800s. He died in 1904, i think. My grandfather ran for his seat, he won that seat and went to the house in 1994 where he remained until i believe 1912 when he was appointed to the senate, and as we remarked before, in those days senators were not directly elected, they were appointed by the state legislatures. He was in the senate from 19121941. He died as i forgot of the term now. He had seniority. He was the dean of the senate when he died in 1940. He had an amazing, an enormous career. And Lyndon Johnson tried to replace him and got beat which people dont member. He came back in 48 and became the United States senator and was the dean of the senate in his time, to. I might just pick up on one thought since were down this road. When i was seven, mother and dad took, there were four children in the fan at the time and were living in philadelphia, and it took us by trained washington d. C. And remember they gave us little pads and pencils to take notes about the things were saying and what we had an opportunity to participate in. I remember seeing my stepgrandfather who i i have nt mentioned yet because when my grandfather died, my grandmothe grandmother, a a year later, my the other United States senator from texas, tom connolly. He was in the senate until 1952 or 54, and very interesting and but i saw him speak on the floor of the senate when i was seven. Im sure back in my mind that little tree was planted. I wonder if i could do that someday . Its a great interesting family background. Absolutely. Listen, part of the chapter of the book i found the most moving was the story about a relationship with your brother michael. You talk about his battle with cancer, and included had an impact on your life. Its such a beautiful story of love, brotherly love, both you and your other brother dennis. Spending the night on the floor as he was suffering with his dreaded disease. Can you share some insight into that . Again it truly was one of those events that takes place any persons like the changes to the are and what the internet doing with her life. I can remember, i remember one conversation with mike. Remember the movie came out called god, and john denver played the role . I remember. Michael was all kinds of competing with incredible pain but through that pain we would sit there and we were discussed all the meaning and purpose of life. What am i i supposed be doing h my life and what his life all about . Mike was speaking as if he were playing god through george burns, and it was wholly, absently howlers discussion we had. Again, mike and dennis, jew of my brothers, i have several others, mike indents and i all went to university of florida together, and the same fraternity. Dennis graduate of them went in his class with honors. Michael, after having a radical neck surgery, didnt drop out of law school, continued on, graduated number one in his class with high honors. He was a brilliant young man. Played guitar, played the piano. Loved to sing. He was just a bright, capable, loving guy. And somebody that i love dearly and losing and really forced me to look at myself and say okay, what are you going to do with your life now . Its the most meaningful experience ive had in my life. Its an important point which is we live life when we have tragedy hit us, we can either go into the fetal position and just like say life is not fair and its just not fair and im not going, i become a bitter, or you can reflect on it and figure out something that can be purposeful. Your Public Service sounds, in the book emily was driven by a motivation to serve others in your post elected official life has certainly been exact same thing. I commend you for that. Well get into politics in the bit eighty it if i can pick up os and take the store and go with it. While i didnt end up in the fetal position, i ended up really dealing with the question after michaels death. Fortunately it didnt last too long and i was never quote treated for depression but i know i was depressed. One of the people i counsel with was a fellow by the name of don chaney was a reverent of a small Church Called church of the brethren. In conversations with don, at one point he kept stressing, you are a very special person. We kind of deflected. Were not comfortable being told those kinds of things. He was head over and over and finally i looked at them when the edison, what i hear you saying to me is that the failure to use the talent that god has given you is the worst sin a person can commit. And no sooner had i said that, i knew exactly what i had to do, that i was going to run for congress. I drove home that evening. Really tears coming down my face as i i was driving because i ws scared to death. I was actually scared to death, hated to give speeches and your income i got home and i said what would you say about to do i was going to run for congress . She said great. Go for. Thats fantastic. Ill tell you a quick story. When i lost my race for governor in 1994 it was traumatic as i put my heart and soul in the race, and losing, you never had that experience so you dont know how it feels. Its not good. Its better to win and lose. I was to people find a bad candidate to run against because you have a better chance. I came in second and it was, felt like a left a lot of people down. I convinced myself is going to convert to catholicism, at a mass every sunday but i wasnt catholic. Going to the rci a process after the election with the regular people that had faith in god made a huge difference in my life. To this day. Its amazing how if you have your eyes open and your ears open and you really are open to the new thinking, you can, it changed her life. But if you go into the fetal position you will never be able to do it. You are living proof of that, right . Have proven that your motivation driven by the tragedy of your brothers loss made a huge difference, for our state. Im so thankful that you had that experience. I have often said about your experience of losing the first race, youre the only person that i know the lost a race and said, you know what, im going to find out really why did i i lose that race and what do i need to do to win the next time i do it. You spent the next four years, i think four years, the next four years saying im going to learn as much as i can possibly learn about the state of florida and the concerns of the people of the state and you did. It was a pleasure for me to play the role to be with you when you were out campaigning. Can you share, you ran for congress, you mentioned that. Kind of out of the blue. Never been involved that actively in politics. In the book you talk about an incredible debate at the Tiger Bay Club of naples. Yes. Its unbelievable. At almost reminds me of what politics are today. In 19 whenever that was, 82, that kind of stuff to happen as much. Now its pretty commonplace. But tell the story of the Tiger Bay Club, its a nonpartisan gathering people talk about politics, there exist all across the state. You were there and your opponent, what did he do and how did you respond . When of the most amazing responses. It was connie mack at his best. Things just happen and you have to do with them. This is 82, Tiger Bay Club. Supposed to be a candidate for them, if you will. It wasnt a debate but would you make a speech and of the person is there and they can make a speech. It was during the runup election. Back in those days when Runoff Election if he didnt win the primary by more than 50 . I am there and im waiting for my opponent to show up. One of the managers of this event came over to me and said, we have just been informed that your opponent will not be here because of some other reason, and we have one of the folks that lost in the primary election is here to speak on his behalf, if thats all right with you. What am i going to say . I said sure, absolutely. This fellow, jim garner was his name, and he got up and turmoil he ripped. He didnt even say hello to the audience. He just really just rips into me about i was a potted, i was a crook, that the bank was collapsing. Ive been fired from a job, and im sitting there. This is a raised platform and so you get a pretty good view of everybody and bit at of you. Im looking at this guy and i cant, i cant really believe it. I had one of those moments where i really felt like, when you get an out of body experience. I felt like maybe i was ten, 12, feet up above everybody looking down on this scene that was taking place, just total personal assassination. He gets to and sits down. The moderator looked at me and said, connie, its your turn to speak. Im thinking to myself, what in the world am i going to say . I get up there and i said to folks, i remember when i made my announcement that i was running for office. I asked the question, why arent there more good, qualified individuals involved in Politics Today . And i said, what you just saw is the reason that they dont. And i sat down. That was it. The room just erupted. It was just, it was a gut reaction how to respond and it was absolutely right on target. By the way, you show your class always, you can a person you are. You dont mention the name of your opponent. You dont mention the names of people who criticize you in the book which again not in this new kind of cultural environment, the memoirs in britain in 2020 about 2020 fish prints what are they gory details about that person. But you showed tremendous class then and in the book you share the story in a really classy way as well. It seems to me if i had to pick the legacy of connie mack, if i had to describe it, its embedded in this book which is, and its in your introduction, which is that freedom is the core of all Human Progress, that freedom is worth the struggle. As congressman and us United States center you acted on that. Drupal philosophy, we are so thankful for your support of Political Prisoners in oppressive regimes in cuba, nicaragua and other places around the world. You were a constant advocate for freedom, not only in the United States but around the world. How are we doing now, do you think, on the freedom agenda . Its a tough question. The country stands for and will always be committed to freedom and the notion that freedom is the core of all Human Progress. We are going through a time. Were on our we are adjusting to a new world order. We started talk about the world order back when your dad was president and the soviet union collapsed. We are trying to find our way in the new world really. Focus has been on different aspects of freedom. Free markets, Free Enterprise and so forth. Some of those things are not in approach and exactly the same way, even though i the case perspective trumps activities with respect to trade. We ended up with a new agreement with mexico and canada, as i think fundamentally we went through this most contentious period of time we ended up with the notion that free trade is important. This country, i mean, a free society, a Democratic Society has to be committed to freedom, and we always will be. What i fear about Politics Today is its more reactionary. Its prying on peoples angst and fears, and theres legitimate reasons people appear today. Theres a lot going on. The explosion of technology and the disruption that that brings. Our cultural changes. People are legitimately anxious. But what i i admire about your political career and those, the philosophy i subscribe to us will come you have to be hopeful and optimistic. You have to describe to people the less green valley on the other side of you. Rocky climb, were all on it together. At the end of the day things can get better. I love the connie mack philosophy of politics a lot more than what were seeing today. If not related to the president or his opponents. Its related to just a political culture today is more, instead of hopeful and optimistic as we can see why people are more anxious because people are praying on their angst. How do we get out of that . Theres a saying at alcoholics anonymous. Its this is one of those terrible moments when, its putting principle over personality. Where im going with that come the two words i would use is right now there is hatred on one side and there is anger on the other. And every media outlet, including all of us that go around with an iphone that can either take pictures and send information, we are all focused on how much anger and how much hatred there is, instead of saying lets talk about the issues that are important to the country. As individuals i think we have a responsibility to look through what we are seeing and hearing from the media today, and look at the issues that are facing the country. Whether thats broad Economic Issues or excuse me or local issues in our communities. Getting involved, by getting involved youre going to change things. A lot of us need to quit getting focused on anger, hate and fear, and Start Talking about the issues that are important to us. You bring up a good point which is weary bottomup country. Our success has typically been where people act on their own sense of consciousness in their own belief that they can make a difference, and act on it. Itll talk about. They dont gripe about it. They go out and do it. Maybe thats the path forward for our country is to go back to the roots of the founding, which was not an overly reliant on washington d. C. Right, right. Your service as United States senator particularly was focused on a lot of things but Foreign Policy is where you made your mark in so many ways. How do you think american Foreign Policy, Going Forward, needs to be . What is americas role in the world compared to look, we grew up it the reagan era and restoring americas leadership in the world really mattered back then, and he was hugely successful. Weve had iterations of that in successive presidencies, but the world has changed dramatically, and what he sees americas role in the world, not just as relates to freedom but just in terms of bringing security and aspirations for all of us . Phone [phone ringing] where i would start is sorry. I think that might be you, jeb. [phone ringing] at something i cant my bad. Okay. So i think where i would start is your brother, george w. , in my opinion, is one of the greatest inaugural addresses in his second inaugural when he made the case that americas responsibility is to protect freedom around the globe. I think eventually as we work through the Foreign Policy issues that are facing our country we have got to get back to that notion. Theres a real debate today as you well know as to whether america should continue to kind of project out this commitment to freedom or should we withdraw. I dont think we can withdraw. The second part of it is, seems to me Going Forward that our relationship with china is the key relationship and we will have to figure out how were going to work through that. And so what that requires i think is that we as a nation need to start working with our allies whether theyre in europe or in other parts of asia in building organizations and institutions that reflect todays modern commitment to freedom and build these organizations in way we can contain what i think is a potentially frightening experience with china. I i think its a great challenge of our time and engagement with allies seems to be really important to be able to contain chinas ambitions if they are aspiring to be dominant. I think youre right about that. We have to combat activities rather than United Nations. Just try, the things that you are incredible. China i dont know if it was cuba or nicaragua, was just put on the Human Rights Council i think. I said to myself, that is so outrageous. We are kind of face with the position of saying maybe its time for us to leave. There are times in my career where i really thought that. We have got to somehow or another make the United Nations more accountable to the notion that freedom is the core of all Human Progress and it ought to be part of defending that freedom. Absolutely. I have a few more questions. One, after talk you about another politically and since we share a common opponent, buddy mckay. Florida come for every reason come out of the white is but florida is a place where close elections seem to always take place. Yours was a doozy. Just to get people some people may not remember your race with buddy mckay for the United States senate but you at first all you have the run against two icons. Not one. Which most politicians kind of maneuver around, try to forget what they can do. Youre going to run against lawton childs, who never lost, and did he got out of the race. And then i very similar kind of person in terms of respect for the people of florida and he got out of the race in the new and against buddy mckay. That race was pretty close. 50. 4 of the vote. How many days are how many weeks did that go on post election and how is that on your family and just the craziness of that experience . Well, i mean, it was eight days before is concluded so it wasnt terribly long but i will take the eight days seem like a very long time to me. Eightytwo . 82 . 1988. So 1988. So that we are, the votes had been counted and, or been counted, and its about 12 30 p. M. And weve been getting all the information back and forth about account. Sometimes ahs been told these are in total conversation. You are up or down, up or down. And some of the data that was, and seem to indicate that i was going to win my political consultant was going to brief the family on the victory turkey was literally telling them why i was going to win. We had tvs behind him, and one by one as hes talking, they say tonight, cbs declared buddy mckay the when in the election. Abc, cnn. It was a pretty rocky i went to bed thinking were 25 votes behind, thinking we lost the race, couldnt sleep, got up, one of the great lines of bob dole is being asked by the press, how did you sleep last night . I said i slept great. I slept like a baby. I woke up every two hours crying. With about 30 two my 35000 votes and that in fact turned out to be the case, but he challenged the notion. We didnt have hanging chads, but we had fully designed ballots apparently being claimed and parts of the state where not all the voters apparently were able to have their poets counted because they was a dropoff between the president ial election and the Senate Election , so it was a precursor to the election in 2000. The difference that occurred is that the major newspapers in the state basically said to buddy, its time to call this thing over. Of the votes have been counted, connie is ahead by 35000 votes or so and he decided not to take the next step, which was to go to court and thats where 2000 is different for gore decided to take it to court and when it got to court the whole thing just sort of went off at one other thing, your dad won the president ial election in 1988, i think, in the state of florida by 11, 12 or 13 of the vote, huge and i would never my point here is i would never won the race if he had not one forward in such a big way. Im a proud chairman of that campaign and i appreciate that acknowledgment. It was a big deal. In fact i resigned as secretary of commerce and was working fulltime for my dads campaign and i moved to california to campaign there may be august because the campaign was pretty much over, dukakis got no track so florida is always close in the good news is for everyone watching thinking 2028 president ial race with huge interest. It will be a close race. Floridas election laws are the best in the country now and the votes will be counted on Election Night so you dont have to hyperventilate, all the people watching this. It will go fine. The winner will be probably announced that night if not there is a process to count and all that stuffs Lessons Learned from your race in the 2000 election, so tell me about your post Public Service life because its been remarkable. You have been involved and incredibly focused on the fight against cancer and your advocacy for the Moffitt Cancer Center has been extraordinary as a leader, as the chairman of the board and chairman emeritus i guess now so talk me talk to me about what its like after running for office and being involved in dc, what is life like now . Its been a wonderful 20 years. Its been a wonderful experience for me. I came up with the phrase people would say where you going to do when you leave and i would say i want to put together an eclectic election collection of activities. I did do a Little Government Relations lobbying stuff during the first year or two i was out of the senate. That went by the wayside fairly quickly. The other two components were engagement in the fight against cancer and medical research and of the other was in service on corporate boards. So, of those corporate boards, two of them were Biotech Companies with a genzyme one of the leading Biotech Companies in the world and the other was a start up. You mentioned earlier learning that experience, i mean, everyone runs for office should have to sit on the board of a company thats desperately trying to make sure he doesnt get shut down, closed or run out of cash. The corporate experience was extreme, but Moffitt Cancer Center, lee moffitt created the center. He and i had a conversation about the possibility of my joining their organization and he offered that if i would that they would naming the chairman of the board and i said i think thats a great idea, lets do it. Moffitt Cancer Center is a wonderful institution, one of my main objectives there was to create a significant premier Melanoma Program because melanoma is the cancer that killed my brother, michael. We now have a premier Melanoma Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center, which im very proud. Thats fantastic. I have one more political question, which is why the hell did you not accept being the Vice President nominee with my brother . I mean, i actually tried my best to persuade you. I know you did. Thats an interesting part of the book. I had a conversation with your brother not long ago because this book kind of brought it to my mind and maybe i sent the wrong message to georgia w when i said no and i told him look, i admire you and i love what you stood for, what you worked for, but it just wasnt time for me and again, the bottom line is that in 1996, bob dole put me on the short list to be a Vice President ial candidate again in 1996. At some point bob said look, i need to know if i were to say to you i want you to run i need to know you will say yes or no and so i went through that process of trying to decide and it was a heartwrenching experience to go through and try to figure out was this the right thing to do. In the end, i said okay, im going to do it. I was never so relieved in my life when bob dole picked jack kemp to be his running mate. Good man. Wonderful guy. Anyway, so the experience of going through that really thinking through did i want to do it and not being selected the conclusion i came to his you know, you really dont want to go to the next level and again, if it had been earlier, this was 2000 when he was talking to me and i had already announced almost two years before that i would not run for reelection. Ive never regretted it, but i dont know how many other people have been in that position that said no. Probably none. Think about it, connie, in 2000 and you were on the ticket george would have won by more than 547 votes. [laughter] ive heard that. You would have saved lot of agony for a whole lot of people and you would have been a great partner with him for sure. Its interesting to think about, your decision process was your own, but the fact for two election cycles in a row you are considered someone that special to be a Vice President ial nominee, you know its a reflection on your service, which was full of integrity, full of consistency and you happen to be you know you were a very top popular senator in a really important state. It was a great life, no question about it. I got two more questions. One, there was a chapter in the book about the Prayer Breakfast in the senate, Prayer Breakfast describe to me how important it was in your life and how you kind of moved towards it and how it became interval in your service. Well, as you mentioned earlier we are both catholic and so i grew up as a catholic. I was an altar boy, so spiritual religious perspectives were always a part of me, but not you know they werent a leading force in what i was engaged in. I find myself in the senate and two of my good friends senator coates terrible for another moment. David durham connect no, it wasnt. Anyway, invite me too come to the bible study to the bible study and i said you know my schedule is so busy there is no way i can do it. I kind of them blew it off, but dan coats just never quit and he just kept saying connie, this is perfect for you. You really ought to come, so i did. I started going to the Bible Studies and Prayer Breakfast this. One day in a discussion with dan coats at the bible study as we were waiting for others to come in and a strange little moment occurs. Dan and i are talking about the loving relationship between us and our god and we started talking about from the standpoint of relationship between our own fathers here on earth and that kind of discussion in the next thing i knew, im going to skip ahead because the next thing i knew we were sitting in this bible study and lloyd said is there anyone in the room that would like for us to pray for them for a deeper relationship with jesus christ. Im not kidding you, im looking at lloyd, i mean, eyeball to eyeball and the thing going through my mind like a bright light New York Times square the messages it aint me, buddy. As soon as i said that, i said i want you to pray for me and the next thing we moved to the center of the room and each of them pray for me and it was a moment in which i felt like my life really changed. I gave up this sense of being in control, the notion of attorney the life over more to god and that eventually led to other roles for me too play in the senate. That was a lifechanging moment for me and it occurred in the United States senate. Again, very special. I have always found you to be a person with a lots of serenity , this a very not just cool, calm and collected, but altogether just totally in touch with the important things of life, good humor, humble, but i think this experience as you described me be the reason i felt this. I dont know. I dont know if there was a before connie and after connie moment, but most of my experiences with you are that you are just you know you have a relationship with a higher being that is powerful. Theres another aspect to it. Com. I appreciate you saying that. I think one of the most important things for each of us is to understand who we are. Lots of people have ideas about who we are, but its really important to try to understand what it is that makes you tick, what you do the things you do, who are you . And that makes a difference. Under this calm and cool individual theres a lot going on, jeb. Thats good to know one final question and then we will open it up for questions to the book reads in some ways like a love story, a romantic love story. How is priscilla doing . Thank you for asking about her. Shes going through some tough years you know the last five, six, seven years medical issues with her back in severe pain, but she has worked through all of that. We have found procedures that address that pain and she has come back strong. She had two cases of meningitis if you can believe that one after the other peer it where it came from no one knows. She had one case of pneumonia, but now she seems to be strong and out of pain and as loving as she always has been. What a delightful warming and you are blessed to have her as your soulmate. Amy, are we going to open this up for questions about temeculas, we will transition into the questions thank you, senator mack. The first question we have is if you can please explain the significance of the books title lets say what the title is again. Its gentoo citizen mack politics, an honorable calling i was asked by a friend of mine with that name of the book was and i said citizen mack politics, an honorable calling and he said oh, its fiction. [laughter] it goes back to what jeb and i were talking about earlier, my greatgrandfather, grandfather, state the step grandfather also read in the house in the senate my mother always talked to them in such a deeply respectful way in talking about how honorable they were and i just always looked up politics as being an honorable calling. Notice i did say honorable profession, i sent honorable calling and the difference is that means those of us who run for office have a responsibility to make sure its an honorable calling and that we act accordingly. So, citizen mack the other part of it is the notion you dont spend your entire life and politics. You know, i had a life 16 years in banking before i had before office and then 16 to 18 years in the private sector, so the notion as a citizen you go and you serve and there is a time to say thank you and a time to go home and a time to do Something Else with your life, so those are the two thoughts that come to my mind with respect to the title. The next question is, is it possible to take the high road and politics considering the personal personal attacks and lack of civility today . Absolutely there is and i would say to the listeners that i happen to believe that most of the people who are in Politics Today do it for the right reasons, but like life seems like our focus is always on the negative side of things and so they are the ones that get the attention. Yes, i think absolutely there is a bit of advice i got very early on in my First Campaign in 1982. That advice was, dont take anything personally. That is tough to do in politics, but if you take that perspective , it makes life easier. Absolutely. What is one message you hope readers take from your book . I guess the bottom line is that i hope they take the notion that politics is an honorable calling, that its something they can do. Jeb and i are just two individuals that made the decision to run, but theres almost anyway in the world theres openings for people to become involved in politics, so i would hope they would read the book, maybe one of little bit something about it and understand the could do it to. Again, would make the point dont take anything personally. You will be attacked and your parents will wonder is this really the person we raised being attacked this way. Let it go by and it will all work out. And dont read your twitter feed. Good advice now. Jeb, thats an interesting point. I think it was probably 87 im in my third term as a congressman, i told my staff, i said i dont want to read anything written about me whether its good or bad. Now, you have a responsibility to tell me whats been written in the reason i make this point, if you read something it just seems to hurt so much more. If someone tells you they have written it, its a little bit easier to take, so i went through my entire Senate Career without reading the articles written about me. Wow. You are the only senator, i promise. It works. It worked. Speaking of which in this is a question i will extend to you, what personal obstacles did you face in office and what advice would you do people that face the same opticals . I will let you go first, jeb. I dont know. To me the chance to serve was such a blessing and privilege. I woke up every day even when bad news happened, which was a regularly under my watch, you know stuff for was flying all the time. I considered it a joy to serve so there were no obstacles but i felt, i mean, there were burdens, there were problems. Of the biggest issues for me were when public life kind of contaminated private life when your family somehow is subjected to the things. That was hard, but i had a blast , i mean, it was the greatest joy of my life to serve for eight years as governor. I have no regrets at all. Mistakes i made, for sure, but there were no obstacles i felt i could not be overcome. It was incredible joy. There are obstacles, obviously. The difficulties of first of all making the decision and convincing others that you are the person they ought to be supporting, i mean, that requires again an understanding of who you are and a commitment to a political life and that leads me too this point. I really think most people, though, when you ask them why they are running for office dont really have a good answer to it took people will Say Something like well, its time to give back. To me, thats like the kremlin using a health issue as a reason for someone not showing up at the same. I really think one of the big obstacles needs to be overcome is that a candidate really needs to fully understand what the motivations are for them and what they want to accomplish. Again, i say that because i was almost forced to do that back in 1982, and i think it was such a meaningful thing to be able to have written it down as to what i was really about and what i was trying to accomplish, so that the big obstacle. I know that two of you touched a bit on things from the past we can bring to the future, but what are some things about our current culture you would like to see us leave behind in the future . Leave behind . Yes. We dont have enough time. Well, the whole thing with the social media, we have got to figure out how to deal with that. I dont know if folks watch the documentary called the social dilemma on netflix. Everyone in america should see that to understand how social media is manipulating as and if we understand how we are being manipulated we will never stop people from manipulating, but if we understand its happening and try to learn how to deal with it, that i think would be one of the most significant things we can change. I would say making sure we focus on the things we have in common, and reestablish a set of shared values of what it is to be an american is the first step moving towards a consensus oriented political situation. What we are doing now is the exact opposite. Politicians win by dividing, by creating wedges, by stoking fear on both sides and the great moments in. [crying] s tenure in the United States senate and a congressman was when we found Common Ground to solve problems. Connie, you were there when Social Security was reformed and it lasted until now, i mean, literally tip oneill and Ronald Reagan found consensus and it was supported by democrats and republicans in the solvency of the Social Security system lasted till about now. Now it will be insolvent again and we need that kind of leadership again for a whole series of things for us to remain the greatest country on the face of the earth. I hope that happens. I dont want to be nostalgic about the old days because theyre semi phenomenal things going on now, but our political system doesnt work when we dont focus on bridging gaps rather than makings bigger. Heres a personal finance story. In 1983, i find myself in congress. My First Political office. Everything brandnew to me and the mx missile was the big thing being debated at the time and i was not even sworn in when i was on the floor listening to this debate. I know over those first number of months, i listened to my democratic colleagues on the other side of the aisle that said they cant possibly believe what they are saying. Its so outrageous. No one could believe in the. Well, as i got to know some of my friends on the other side of the aisle they were saying the exact same thing about me. My point there is, we need to understand that people who have different views than we do honestly have those who use and they have concerns and our responsibility is to try to understand what those concerns are, what their motivations are and openness into discussion. Its going to take a well together, but i found that was an important perspective they thought i was anyway, i wont go beyond that. Exactly right. If you assume that someone disagrees with you is evil or the enemy, you have a totally different mindset than saying maybe they are wrong and i have to persuade them of the my view. Now, we just assume if someone has a different view that they are evil, the enemy. We have to get beyond that somehow. There will be a catalyst look, our country is to dynamic, we have the ability, we are too resilient to live through this for years and years and years to come and we will figure it out. We have time for one more question. The Republican Party of Less Government, less taxes, more freedom recover from the tramp era . Thats yours. [laughter] interest in the word recover from. The notion of lets see that with my tagline, less taxing, less spending, Less Government and more freedom and i think thats as valid today as it was then and at some point someone will refocus on of those issues and it will be centerpoint again, but yes the notion of Less Government and more freedom is a great opportunity for this country. There it is, baby. I want to thank everyone for your incredible questions you sent in and thank you senator mack and governor bush, for this amazing conversation. Thank you very much. Thank you, jeb. Love you, connie. Love you too, buddy. Take care. Heres a book of some Publishing Industry news. Interested in selling its trade division to focus on educational publishing on the matter considered one of the big publishers a make 180 million in sales in 2019. Longtime executive editor has died at the age of 85. He is played a key role in the creation of the publisher which is a merger of growth and Atlantic Monthly press in 1993. In the wake of britains second lock down to mitigate eighteen , many of the countrys authors provided sign for our bookshops. Their goal is to steer book buyers towards their local bookshops by providing exclusives. Also, another strong week for print books sales up nine and a half percent for the week ended october 31. Seven annual prizes were announced last week during a virtual ceremony hosted by the Austin Central library. Prizes are given by the Kirkus Review to authors of nonfiction, fiction and young reader books including 50000 for each winner. This years winner was michael denzil smith. Book tv will continue to bring new programs and publishing news. You can watch all of our past programs anytime at book tv. Org. Watch indepth with author and chair of africanamerican studies at Princeton University live sunday december 6, at noon. His most recent books include begin again, james baldwins america and urgent lessons for our own, accidents democracy and black. Uncommon faith. Adjoining on the live to our conversation with phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. Sunday december 6, noon eastern on book tv on cspan2. You are watching the tv on cspan2. Every weekend with the latest nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by americas cabletelevision companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Next on cspan book tv, the Washington Post pulitzer prizewinning book critic Carlos Lozada offers his thoughts on the volume of books written about President Trump turkey is interviewed by New York Times review editor pamela paul. Afterwards is a weekly Interview Program with relevant cast posts interviewing top nonfiction authors about their latest work. All afterwards programs are available as podcasts. come a carlos, to talk to you, another book critic. Had you primarily think of yourlf
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