And Foreign Policy. Tel he is a graduate of west point, army,ear veteran of the serves as a professor at Georgetown University and has visiting professor at the National Defense university. He serves on the board of marine corps the University Foundation and the Advisory Boards for the west for oral history and operation renewed hope. Me in welcoming jim. [applause] you for coming to what should be an extraordinary event. Pete is not only a great friend but he defines the definition of american. Graduate of princeton and harvard. We wont hold that against him. He served in the u. S. Army. Right . Yes. Is another mark in his favor. Three combat tours, right . Three tours. Yes. Three tours. Combatnze stars, infantry man badge. Extraordinary, including now working with fox news. Put his life on the line im not really sure what possessed him to write this, but i think in the arena is both, you know, courageous, dangerous politicallyy incorrect. In the world in which you live, something that just seems quaint and distasteful tond address anymore. But for those of us who have around the island in the potomac and seen some of not just his legacy but the legacy of people who thought, you know what . Matterhis really does that, decide whog wing who we as being aential to democracy. Maybe theres not a better time for this book. Certainly i applaud pete for on and coming here today to share his thoughts. Pete is going to talk. Well take q a and pete will recognize his own questions and well do that till the end of the hour. When we get to q a, if you would wait for the microphone if hand and waitur for pete to recognize you, then wait for the microphones so hear listening online can the question as well. And if youd state your name and affiliation, that would be awesome. Sometimeshat, because we start late here, but we always end on time. So with that, please join me in the author of in the arena. [applause] jim, thank you very much. The heritage foundation, im grateful for this opportunity. Got the book early, you read it, engaged in it, offered to host. That. Rateful for this feels like a Family Reunion basically, in this audience. I thank all of you for being here. So many wonderful faces, people known and worked with. Folks online, thanks for sticking with us. First i want to thank a bunch of people, but my former colleagues here at concerned vets which make up a big bulk of this audience, im grateful that youre here. To 8te this book from 4 a. M. On many mornings while running cba. What we did at cba that was an inspiration for me. To action. That is exactly the call to action that is the organization. Pleasure toways a work with you. I appreciate the work you continue to do from jay and bill caroline and sarah and dan and will and sean, amber and kevin, fred, and even my brother, phil, who is in the front row here. To thank all of you. And, of course, who was with us pomeroy. Kate kate was also an inspiration for me to write this book. Me, you need to write it and i took her advice. Im glad i did. So, kate, thanks for being here. I also want to thank my very nat hoops,e buddy, who is here and is acknowledged as well in the book. This book literally would not happened without nat, without him teaching me how to think and write and argue in fromge and pulling me back the brink of some absurd things that i put in the pages of publications. That is the content editor and for good reason. Nat, thank you for your help on project. And then so many others that are not here. Wife, our boys, boone and rex, who i dedicate this book to. Yes. I always get laughs out of that. Theyre good southern names up north. My parents, my brother nate, who himself. In the arena i also want to recognize david, who is a very good friend of was a fellow traveler of vets for freedom and author thislf and also encouraged project from the beginning. To the book itself, when i was afghanistan, i carried with me a quote in a black frame. Durable black frame. It up wherever i was. It was Teddy Roosevelts man in the arena quote. Of you are familiar with it. Its the quote its not the critic who counts, its the man the arena,ally in whose face is marred by blood and sweat and dust, who strives valiantly, who comes up short again and again, because there ando effort without error short coming but who does deeds,y strive to do the who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best, knows in of highthe triumph achievement and if he fails, greatly so daring that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Its a famous quote. Many of you probably are motivated by it as well. This book aims to ask those questions of the American People today. This book is not about my life. Im not audacious enough to believe that i should be writing a biography at the age of 35. State senator from illinois. [laughter] this book is also not about Teddy Roosevelt. Of course, it channels his historic speech but its not about him. To litigatempting his life as a conservative. Im very aware of his and what helurch gave us in 1912 in the candidacy presidency of Woodrow Wilson. To say that Teddy Roosevelt as failed while daring greatly is generous. So this book is not about me, not about roosevelt. It is a call to action. Is meant to inspire, motivate and remind americans of makesgeneration what America Special and that it is wort fighting for. And some worth fighting for. Of us carried a rifle and many in this generation still do. But you dont have to carry a in the arena. Its our job to instill in every generation the principles that is, as you all here know, an experiment. An experiment in human freedom. See, if the 21st century isnt an American Century, then 21st century will not be a free century. Its just a fact. The worldround in today, there are threats that ideologist around the ideologies around the world, quite different from ours. Quote i put throughout the book is the phrase, history is not over. History is never over. Have to do is look to western europe today to realize that when you decide to gut your to pay for your welfare state and you forget who you have a tendency to end up riding the wave of history as shaping it. If getting off to a good start isimportant, then no one more responsible for the 20th century being the 20th century than Teddy Roosevelt. Sent the great white fleet around the world in 1907 and who the chief agitator for american involvement in world war i. If you remember, Woodrow Wilson declared he wanted peace without victory which would be i think and would be a very different looking peace than we have today. Ways, the 20th century the back of Teddy Roosevelt. Why then, as i think about it, rooseveltd the entire speech, thats when i really woke up to the power of the quote. The quote itself is powerful. The quote itself is motivating. Ways theres no value assertion in the quote. Its being in the arena. Arena . T is the where is the arena . What does it mean . What i write in the book is its youre arena or my arena or a you do you argument. The arena for this exceptional american experiment that was gifted to us 240 years and has to be perpetuated in every single generation. Know the reagan quote. Were never more than one generation from extinction. It doesnt get passed to the next generation. A beautiful quote. And a more reminder difficult reality in a on a daily basis. See, the moat, man in the arena, is just one quote of the larger speech called citizenship in a republic. Roosevelt gave it in 1910 in front of french elites at the university of paris. And when i read the speech for time, after just looking at the quote and never really thinking of the context, i was blown away. In many ways, it is sort of was p. C. Fore there it struck me as the road map of what we need in America Today in order to restore our republic. Why should i stand up and think theat i direction of america should be, when instead i can channel a that has speech timeless resonance today and reminds us of the very of republics that are required in every generation, no matter what, no matter whether or not we have or any othercebook number of modern developments. The ingredients, the basic seeds same. Epublic are the he posits a very simple thieves. Thesis. The he says the average citizen must be a good citizen if great sched. Cs are to succeed. The average citizen must be a citizen if great republics are to succeed. Or event rulers necessarily heroic citizens. A dailyizens that on basis, in a personal way, understand what it takes to keep the greatestica country in the world. Good citizens are the only to big government. Us, goodstory shows citizens who understand why america is exceptional and lineal, they are the thin between freedom and tyranny. They are the ones who understand our american experiment truly is exceptional, not pause or boastful, because because we understand that this american experiment, when it was was just that, an experiment. In fact, europe sort of laughed at us and said, a piece of paper . A constitution is whats going to stand between you and a tyrant . Gonna hand over power peacefully . There was this sense that it just wasnt possible. Founders reminded us that our rights come from a creator and not from government. They understood a balance of power which checked the fallen tendency humans, the toward tyranny and ambition. They understood freedom of as opposed to freedom from religion. They understood amendments like the first and second are indispensable to free peoples, the ability to articulate speech spectrum,across the which roosevelt talks about powerfully in the speech. Tolerance is tolerating very dissenting opinions. And the second amendment, the bear arms and protect yourself. Also understand were a country of laws, not men. Angels, we wouldnt need these types of arrangements. Citizens andt good good patriots. Good citizens at home and good patriots in the world. Thats really the breakdown of the book. Thatts intentionally in order. Because i talk about its militaryolicy and then and National Security. You look at the world today and theres a lot to talk about. But you cant talk about American Leadership until you talk about restoring and maintaining citizenship. If you dont understand who you what you believe and you dont educate that in every generation, you can forget about attempting to be the leader in the world or attempting to in controversial and difficult places. You need to shore up, you might first. E homefront what is a good citizen . Its not just voting or jury duty. Not protesting necessarily. Those are all ingredients of what we do in republics, of what citizens do. Of course, voting and all those things are good. But roosevelt points out that gritty, homely virtues, the civic virtues. He uses the word efficient, usually a word we think of when we think of light bulbs and starting pitchers. You dont think of it when you think of citizens. Is firstof citizenship inward. Who are you as an individual, and who do you do . Others oughtng how live. He uses the first principle is work. Willingness to keep a job and provide for your family. The second is fight. And viral people, a men ande spirit for women. Strength, vigor and power. Were a bike helmet culture. Wimps. H our kids to be we turn our men into women and our women into men. We need to be willing to stand up for and fight for the things that we believe in, whether its on a battlefield or here at home. He talks about his large patriotic families, demographics. A lot aboutote demographics and talked a lot demographics. The anecdote i use oven is of an interpreter. Not a radical. Young kid, in the United States today. Risk his he would life for me and i would for him. And he we were talking about religion, christianity, islamment and he said, pete, it islam willle that rule the world. The prophet foretold it. And youreg 10 kids having one. Powerful poignancy in that phrase. I mentioned theyre gutting forr militaries to pay their welfare state. When you forget who you are and demand allegiance and assimilation from populations that separate themselves and kids while youre having one, thats how london becomes the most the most in london becomes muhammad for newborn boys. For us to think that things like go away is willful blindness. So western europe, whether its 50, 75 years from now is going to look very different. Antimuslimn phrase. Its a reality that because they dont do integration, because they havent done that well in not theeurope, theyre melting pot that america has been so far, theyre going to have massive cultural classes as have already seen and then the migrant crisis only accelerate problems that we see there. As many of you know, europe preview of america. In the Second Chapter of the book, its about france and what from france that was frankly a formerly great to give that decided away its status by making very intentional decisions at home. America can learn from that. Now, we have massive advantages but still a lot to learn. Character. Aspect is whether its faith, whether its faith or believing something in something greater than yourself. George washington said in his first inaugural, religion and morality are indispensable supports of a republic. Youout faith, and then wonder why we get what we get in our culture. Social talking about conservatism. In the book, as a former a social i still am ardentative but a former a forr social conservative, you go to war, see some things and you realize theres other things in are a moret important priority. Im not talking about prolife issues. Fight thatts a conservatives should continue to fight and win but i think we obsess over things like samesex marriage and it inhibits our ability to talk about the real challenges facing families, parents and kids in our culture. Then he talks about after you focus on yourself, looking outward. About equalot opportunity, which should be, needs to be the star of and republicans. The left is, of course, the party of equal outcome. The strident if we dont strive daily to be the party of equal opportunity, then the mark. Ss i think its fair to say republicans and conservatives missed they ways mark on that for a long time. Talking about things like marginal tax rates when peoples mindsets are very different and theyre seeing these massive shifts in our economy and the lived. Ir lives are we have to have clear eyes about approaching that. That means not just unburdening regulations and problems for those or pushing back against thendency for those at bottom but also making sure those at the top play by the rules. Its the regulations. Its the tax code. Lobbyists that, of course, rig the system so that tose at the top are able gain it to their advantage. And in many ways, block out who would otherwise have social mobility. Income and equality. About ishould talk social mobility. The about to rise, the ability country to have every opportunity that your parents or previous gen previous generations. He also talks about what undercuts, focused on rights duties, citizenry that believes that man is perfectible and therefore you for utopian ideas. Citizenship that is invested in ise rel tism, that there no relativism. Relativism. We see that on the battlefield. Theres no reason why the had to put things on the front page 32 Straight Days in a row. Is no home team in america. In many ways, the American Press today, because its passe to say that america is good or passe to say that im and therefore i support the causes we undertake. Often many ways, controversial and open to dissint. Is class warfare. Roosevelt says at the end of the hand when class warfare commences, whether its left, right, black, male, female, young, old. Gendersen classes and pitted against each other in this nation over the last seven thes, which is toxic to body politic and citizenship. You start with citizenship without citizenship you cant create the good patriots worldthe good patriots on stage that you need to be. You guys have all seen the i dont know if youve seen the bumper sticker, think globally, locally . Its a popular environmental bumper sticker. Rip thatoosevelt would off and say, think globally act globally. Meaning remember who you are, to ak globally in defense act globally of those america is good, is worth fighting for, is truly beentional and america has a force for good in the world. And, oh, by the way, winning the is a goodwe fight thing. Roosevelt talks about that in the speech. Are we a people willing and able prevail . Sounds like a basic simple question but there are critical write in the book about iraq, 2005 and 2006 when i and then 2007 and 2008 and i see some people here who are part of vets for freedom. Of freedom and tyranny is oftentimes decided in those , when difficult moments half the country wants to take expedient route and say, lets set a time line for the war. Lets pop smoke and leave this difficult battlefield. Says, no,ther half this is the exact moment when you need to be willing to double down, when you need to be take the fight to the enemy. Ive never been more proud, as i book, than when george w. Bush announced the surge in iraq and did the right face of Massive Public pressure, doubledown to defeat a vicious enemy. Future of our security depends on the battle in baghdad. Ask yourself today if he was right. And unfortunately, of course, he was. And the surge did work and it successful and alqaeda and largely defeated. By february of 2010, joe biden a greataring iraq achievement of the obama administration. Such a great achievement that he happened to visit again four, five days ago with political chaos unfolding. Took for granted the stability and the gains that were made through greedy dark moment and assumed they would perpetuate themselves, without how centralg defeating islamists in iraq was ours. Ir narrative and are we the paper tiger that Osama Bin Laden said we are . Are we able to show the resolve of our forefathers and win the wars that we fight . Thats not call for endless nation building or fighting every on the horizon. Learn fromwe should iraq is that resolve works, not mil middle eastern wars are terrible. Home,nation build at fortress america, thats it. The difficult part is, of narrative in the republican and Democratic Army the wrongin direction. What i basically do over a couple of chapters in the book the iraqhe case that war is a war we should learn from about what to do in the moments, as opposed to run from. I think republicans and conservatives should stand every forum they can and point across the aisle to Hillary Clinton and barack joe biden and say, youre the reason isis has proliferated in iraq and afghanistan. It was american retreat that created those seeds and it was policies that advanced chaos in the region and theres any number of obviously its more complex situation when you unfold every layer of that, but ultimately it was a lack of military will and a lack of political engagement. Simply decided that we were over iraq. Thats because today we have, as roosevelt warns a in his speech, the first president of the United States who considers a citizen of the world. And roosevelt talked about that 1910, warning against those who see themselves first as world, whosehe International Feeling for humanity swamps national feeling. In fact he said citizens of the world are usually the worst citizens of their own country. Because they point out a humanity and the things that we with them without focusing on what makes, in the case, their country great and why its worth fighting for. Policy arack obamas coexist policy. Does it make you throw up in bit too whenlittle you see it . Yeah. That is an example of his mindset. Its not that coexisting is bad. Coexisting is a means, not an ends, just like engagement is not an ends, but for this administration, when asked about his doctrine, he said it engage. Engaging is no t a doctrine. And so what you have is a series of progressive elites who went at places like princeton and harvard. A lot of us know a lot of little obamas, wonderful people, but big believers in the state, in what we can accomplish if we just build another international institution. Then theyre eventually forced to emerge from their utopian cocoons, from their solidarity marches. And what happens when the world still doesnt want to coexist as progressive and obama . Lly sensitive as what if isis instead of wanting to coexist is chopping off the of christians . About the islam state, pushing gay men off of a the same dayraq, that the white house is lighting up the white house, in the rainbow, in solidarity . What if they dont want to coexist . Instead of hitting a reset button, the dictator in lines in redrawing the Eastern Europe . At that point, their mind reads not compute, because theyre not on campus anymore in lounge. Uate student theyre the commander in chief. And the things that they learned on campus that were supposed to lead to a perpetual peace, well, inturns out the bad guys this world arent interested in coexisting or engaging on those levels. Rather than calling out real or heaven abject evil forbid confronting them, the clinton, they look around for Mutual Understanding solidarity marches, they so eagerly and selfrighteously graduate students except they dont work. They seek the impossible global consensus. Agreementsor peace that have no attachment to military realities on the ground. Need tolare the negotiate without preconditions. They unilaterally withdraw from wars without caring what happens. Just end that war. They dismiss growing threats as the jv and unilaterally declare no boots on the ground. Apologize profusely for past sins. They send nonlethal aid when thatse lethal stuff actually needed. They seek the moral high ground by leading from behind and they use of violence, of course, just so 19th century. Try to coexist with a backward world and surprise, surprise, it doesnt work. Result over the last seven years is an incoherent interventions, noninterventions, highstake ink and its utterly incoherent, because americas leadership doesnt believe in the use of American Power as a security inedom and the world. We get incoherence like the bin and then the bo bergdahl swap. We get a white house that the simply doesnt recognize. Do wegood patriots, what need to do . We need to unapologetically lead. Be willing to acknowledge that without america, there is no leader of the free world. Again, it doesnt mean we have everythe policemen in corner but we better be the worlds sheriff with a big shiny say ourilling to security and our interests are important to us. And our word matters and we will our allies and stand up to our enemies. Theeed to be able to crush Islamic State and unleash hell on them by loosing rules of engagement and recognizing that theyre a vicious enemy that, the longer that black flag wees, the more vulnerable are on every front. We need to stand by dissidents in the world, who we have utterly as i talked before, we need to be willing to talk about things like the iraq war and the book talks about comparing iraq to libya. Stan to i didnt serve in libya and i went to afghanistan wanting to believe that we could surge the way we did in iraq. What you can accomplish in afghanistan is different from what you can accomplish in iraq. This administration cynically told us that was the good work. They were never invested there, which is a moral center. Women to aen and battlefront they never believed in. When you gave the speech about that war, you told the enemy youre going to leave the minute you did. It would be a joke but its not its not funny and thats the problem. The problem is we also have an electric today seduced by the idea of american disengagement. I try to take on some of the trends in National Security and Foreign Policy and explain how there is difference of opinion across the spectrum, there is a reason to be proud of what was accomplished even if today, the outcomes are worse than murky. Saying, iclose by used to say that i fought so my kids dont have to. I carried a rifle so my kids never would. That is just not true and i dont say it anymore. I served knowing my kids will have two as well. Maybe they will carry a rifle or a Balance Sheet of a capitalist, whatever it is, but every single generation is going to have to contribute and return. We are not cogs in an american empire. We are called to be engaged, good citizens in an ongoing experiment. We stand at the doorstep of another Woodrow Wilson, who Teddy Roosevelt tangled with. A man who said and was derided for saying he was too proud to fight vicious enemies in the world. Obama emanates the same sentiment today. When he waselt, agitating for american involvement in world war i, he tried to lead the roosevelt division, which ultimately never happened. He wanted to lead the front. We must be awoken again. Our educational institutions, our families, how critical that inca incapacity is. As i said, i have a policy chapter in the back of the book that talks about simple recommendations. It is not meant to be a carte blanche. I wrote about five simple things in every category that i think would go a long way to restore leadership in our country. I want to thank you for being here, for being in the arena in different capacities. I see people out here fighting for the things america represents. It is a difficult fight. It can be a demoralizing fight, but i would encourage you to go back to founding documents, historical speeches like this to be reminded of what our country represents, of the types of men and women it perpetuated who had courage to do difficult things in difficult times. I want to read the speech reprinted in the book, so you can make your own judgments about the speech. A trigger warning, it might. You to enter the arena, if you are not already. [applause] any questions, friendly or otherwise . Thank are permitted you very much. If youre permitted to answer a question like this, i was wondering if you could give us some ideas of your thoughts about Donald Trumps insistence that the war in iraq was a mistake. Are you able to comment on that . Sure, uhhuh. I had commented about it on National Television many times, so ill repeat what i said there. No, i take, i take issue with his characterization of the iraq war. I think that, this book, in fact, in many ways is a pushback against that narrative. I dont think we should be following in with the code pink, moveon. Org narrative of the war, which is what it is. It may feel politically expedient to answer that way to begin with, i be i think but i think its much more politically powerful and principled to argue that, hey, even if you didnt like how we got into the war, ultimately, finishing it properly is really important and has massive implications. And that george w. Bush surged and had a successful strategy, and this president gave it away. So if you want to look at the carnage of isis in iraq and syria, point to the abandonment of iraq and the abandonment of a red line in syria, and that hangs on the neck of barack obama and Hillary Clinton. So i, it was, you know, interesting this campaign, iraq, has been difficult to litigate for a lot of people. Jeb bush, it took him a week to figure out where he wanted to be on that issue. There have been very few moments where with ive been proud of republicans on their articulation of iraq. I really can only think of marco one. Rubio was asked about it, and he said it was not a mistake. Iraq was not a mistake. And i remember just sitting there saying, finally, at least somebody wont cave in to, i think, that narrative. Hopefully, the reality is that whoever the next commander in chief is whether its trump or cruz is willing to truly unleash total war on the Islamic State. And so what i do take issue with is the way people characterize ted cruz and Donald Trumps whether its carpet bombing or the willingness to unhandcuff the enemy, is their focus is on doing whatever it takes to focus the Islamic State, not we want to find a way to kill civilians. Carpet bombing is not targeting civilians. Carpet bombing is if we know where the headquarters of isis is in raqqa, were going to bomb it even if there happen to be some homes nearby. Or when were looking at the fuel trucks leaving to turkey to sell on the black market were not going to drop leaflets. Because we think the drivers are civilian casualties. Were going to bomb the oil trucks. I think its a difference of disposition, for sure. Mr. Sean reilly. Right there in the back. Sorry. How you doing . Doing all right. Good. [laughter] a question about you talked about the social issues, and you said that, you know, on some of them maybe there are, theres some kind of obsession. And i dont completely disagree with that. I think in a lot of ways, same sex marriage has been fought and it is water under the bridge, but then you mentioned the illumination of the white house, right, with the colors. And i think that theres a certain sense in which a lot of the rest of the world does not agree theres a lot of the world that does not agree with the United States on that issue. When they look at the way that that is being litigated in the courts and lack of magnanimity of the victors in those struggles, theyre motivated to push back against us. And when our Foreign Policy looks like were going to be promoting those sorts of things against their will, it seems like we cant ignore the social issues here at home especially when, in the light of that kind of Foreign Policy. Thats a really good point. Well, i also, you know, would note the hypocrisy of divesting from North Carolina but headquartering anywhere else in the world where being a homosexual is illegal, right . Hypocrisy is rampant on issues like this. My argument is more about the amount of focus and energy that should go to it here at home. And i think to your opening statement, in many ways that issue was whether you think it was lost or won, it was lost in the culture long before it was anywhere else. And so it almost feels like and is a dead horse that conservatives could be tempted to continue to beat which prevents us from making far more not far, but very legitimate arguments about, say, marital divorce rates with kids or out of wedlock births, things like that that really should be a focus of tightknit families and keeping them together. Instead, were dismissed by, you know, the media, the left, the everything as bigots and una able to make a lot of those core arguments that need to be made. But, yeah, does that mean thats the way whole world looks at that issue . Absolutely not. There are plenty of conservative quarters in this world who look at us sideways and say and it just affirms for them, right, the absolute immorality of america that is totally decadent. And so thats a balance that has i just dont think its a point of emphasis at any level. I dont think we should be trying to make a big issue of it here, and i dont think we should be attempting to impose it on anywhere abroad as well. Mr. Nathaniel hoops. Who also was my bunk mate for four years at princeton. We did sleep in bunk beds. [laughter] you like that intro . I do like it. I thank you for the book. Its fantastic. Just talking about the citizenship, i think one of the things that a lot of us outside of the whole political fights that we continue to have on the role of government and the iraq war and social issues and so forth, i think one of the things that probably a lot of us feel as troubled by the sense of breakdown of just overall social cohesion in the country whether its, you know, too much time staring at the phones rather than talking to your neighbors or whether its just, like, the sense in the schools that there isnt the kind of citizenship isnt being taught. Uhhuh. Citizenship, you know, sometimes like you say its more than just voting or basics. Its also about just engaging with the Broader Community in a way that says, you know, i care about my community. Like, i care enough to want to know my neighbors. And i guess one of the powerful things that id love to hear what got you inspired to talk to, about citizenship with where you grew up in minnesota . Yeah. No, it as i was writing and researching and thinking about this, i ended up ive never thought of my parents as inherently political or politically involved. In fact, you know, they werent partisan. We didnt talk about the Republican Party or democrats in high school. Frankly, in college was really the first time i was introduced to ideologies and perspectives in a meaningful way. But when i started looking into the speech, i started to realize what good citizens my parents really were. They always worked hard, never asked for handouts, never made excuses. Mom watchdogged the pta and watchdogged the local curriculum which really embarrassed me as a kid because i couldnt go to certain things at certain times because she was paying attention to what was being taught in the classrooms. In the book i dont impugn small families, i just make the case for large, patriotic families, and they raised a family full of boys that they told to be competitive and go out there and dust it off and love your cup. Love your country. I was not from a military family. I absorbed a lot of that from basic rituals going to the in minnesotaparade and watching the vets walk down main street. Watch the world war ii guys whose uniforms dont fit anymore. The korean war vets and the vietnam vets and gulf war vets. Because there arent many in southern minnesota, the parade [snaps]is long the whole city stands, the whole city is there, everyone issa everyone is saluting clapping, and then, of course, it ends at Memorial Park down because this isnt veterans day, its memorial day, and were memorializing those who gave their lives from this tiny little town in southern minnesota which could be replicated anywhere across all 50 states. So they didnt sit there and preach or beat into me read the constitution. It was just this sense of what it means to be a productive contributor to this country. And, of course, the fourth ingredient that roosevelt talks about is faith and character. And as much as i may have wanted to rebel against it at many points in my life which i write about, the reminder that there are things greater than you that someone in my case, you know, died on the cross to redeem you for the sins that you will have in this world was something that i carried with me and kept me humble and reminded me of who i was in this fallen world. Those are the way more important ingredients than sending our kids, making sure my kids get to go to princeton or harvard. Which, of course, is wonderful and great opportunities and open tons of doors. But the more important piece is whether or not they come out of childhood and school and everywhere else as good citizens. So we actually, im from a Public School, i went to Public School all my life. Im a big believer in Public Schools, but i worry im going to have to deconstruct eight hours of every day they learn in school something very different. So we find a way to pay a modest tuition to send them to Liberty Classical Academy which is a Little Christian Academy up the road from us, and we drive them every day, where they learn patriotism, faith, civics and classics. And they may not have a Great Basketball Team which im a little worried about and football team. [laughter] libertys not known for its gridiron skills. But i feel like theyll be infused the world today is much different than the assumption that in small town forest lake, minnesota, youre going to get infused with those Community Values the way that i was. And i think our educational systems and our culture and our media have been captured in so many places by moral relativism, by whether its progressive elites with a very different view of what we should be emphasizing with our kids. I was even tempted not to include a whole lot about how do you infuse citizenship in a Public School level, because it becomes so political about how you teach founding documents, how you teach the founders. And in the world today where different people with different ideologies control that curriculum, you could see it descending quite quickly into a different narrative of citizenship and the constitution. So my recommendation is founding documents, original documents, talk about original documents, talk about, you know, reading the constitution, the declaration, the federalist papers, things like that and discussing those is a great place to start. I also talk about home schooling. In fact, one of recommendations here is making home schooling more robust and possible. I mean, when i grew up, you met home school kids, you thought they were kind of weird, right . Oh, man, theyre not socialized. Thats not the case. I know so many wonderful home schooled kids who have a great are wonderfully grounded, wonderfully educated and are amazing citizens in this country. And if the Public Schools are not an alternative because you feel like your kids arent being educated or you cant afford a private school, then we should make things like home schooling more possible, easier, more streamlined as an option. And i think so its, to me, its, theres a lot that goes into the education of the formal nature of citizenship. But its more about trying to remind and what roosevelt wrote about was gritty, homely virtues of everyday life which are not sexy and, you know, may not be cool on facebook, but theyre really important. Thank you. Hey, pete, im peter sommerville, i work for a tech startup. Were crowd funding Business Loans for the next generation of awesome veteran owned Small Businesses. Tailing off the last question about just how we influence culture, i remember when i was going through my Marine Corps Training down in quantico, i would come up to the mall on weekends during the height of the iraq war, and there was very little sense of Public Awareness of the veteran community. Were 40 years into an allvolunteer military which is great in many ways, but it seems like families i know either theres no one, or theres ten. How do we influence that culture to keep that sort of redblooded americanism alive . Sure. Im not a fan of Something Like universal service because i think it devolves into massive government growth, and eventually youre serving for things very disconnected from the original idea. But i do talk about a more robust sort of Decision Point through selective service, this idea that what if we made that little envelope you send back when youre 18 actually meaningful, so at that point youre making a real decision about, hey, do i want to serve in the military . And heres the benefits that would come from. Bernie sanders is running around talking about free college. Well, the military already gives away free college. Theres plenty of ways you could incentivize whether its through, hopefully, simply through the tax code or through educational benefits or others real service and investment so that kids are making decisions. And then its honored that, hey, wow, you took that step to be a part of the minuteman corps or something where maybe youre not in the military. How many of us know people who are wonderful patriots who, if they could, would add themselves to a list and make sure they stay physically fit every year, and they could say, hey, im prepared to go if my country needs me. Sort of the next level the step before the draft, right . I think a lot of people would do that, because they would feel skin in the game to say, hey, if that big moment comes, im ready to carry a rifle for my nation. Or i am ready to do this or that. I think there is an interim step there that would be a pretty interesting way to tie people a little bit more to service. But you talked about vets, which obviously is a passion of mine. A lot of people here from concerned vets. A lot of what i talk about in the book too is the way that entrenched interests in washington and entitled crony classes protect the way, protect what they have. And prevent any real, meaningful change from happening. And, of course, a lot of the work ive done and a lot of people here have done is at the department of veterans affairs. Theres no better example of that crony status quo than the v. A. And the ongoing efforts of concerned vets for america, efforts i was involved in are met by, met by a brick wall for those who were supposed to be for things that reform systems that are broken. And here we are two years after the scandal, and things are no better. In fact, many places theyve gotten worse. Vets have a choice card, but they dont have any choice. No ones being held accountable at the v. A. Whos stopping it . The white house has no interest in this. It is a political issue they have tried to stop from the beginning. The v. A. Is of course going to stifle reforms and bob mcdonald, while a nice guy, has been an utter failure as the v. A. Secretary. Youve got government unions, someone tweeted at me last night that in here i talk about Civil Service reform. Well, youre damn right. In fact, it should be across government, but lets start at the v. A. And make sure that those who work in our government are held accountable. That if theyre not doing a good job, they can be fired. Thats a pretty basic principle. Accountabilitys how you change cultures, but government unions have a grip on that. And then its special interests. And you want to talk about establishment this or establishment that, we hear that word a lot on the political spectrum. Special interests exist everywhere including in the vet space, and its traditional veteran Service Organizations here in washington who are up willing to change, who want to get invited to the white house cocktail parties and play nice with everybody at all times that stifle things like basic choice, things like accountability. And then they impugn and attack their opponents at every turn because thats what the left does. They cant they dont have an argument, its always another five billion for the v. A. What they do is they attack you personally. If you want some fun reading, read a 29page document focused just on me by other organizations. Basically, its a hit list of everything ive done in my life because they dont want to argue the merits of the issue or issue a report like we did at concerned vets, they just want to attack the opponents and say we just want to privatize it and shut it down. Thats why things dont change, and its hard to be a good citizen in that environment, because its easy to get along. And you can take that example throughout every spectrum of government and every level of government, and it every place youre going to meet resistance. Every place theres going to be a critic. Every place youre going to fail, and then you going to fail again and again. And all they want you to do is quit. All they want you to do is quit. At every level. The school board, the local government wants you to get, the v. A. Wants us to quit because then we can all keep our jobs, and everybody can live fat and happy, and nothing will have to change. Thats why people are ticked off in this country today. Nothing changes, and everyone overpromises and never delivers. And what this book, i hope, will help do is remind people that the fight is worth it, that youre never going to get it in the first try, youre never going to get it in the first month or the first year. Its never the first bill. Its going to have to be the sustained iteration of the truth of what works, and then the advocacy behind it as individuals and organizations. And having the courage to believe in america. To believe in what it represents. Not cower from those who have a new idea of what it means. And i think a document like roosevelts speech is a great pathway to remind us of that kind of thing. All right. So let me just steal the last question. Yeah. Other than fixing the v. A. , what is the thing that we as citizens could or should be doing for our veterans particularly as it attaches to that issue of citizenship . I think the first thing is and weve talked about it, actually, here in this auditorium once before is recognizing and raising awareness about issues facing the Veterans Community without stigmatizing them. And making sure that we acknowledge challenges facing vets, but we dont create the caricature that theyre ticking time bombs who are inevitably broken and damaged goods. Its empowering them through any number of vehicles, through education, through opportunities, through Small Business financing. Its recognizing that these guys are going to be guys and gals are going to be the future leaders theyre going to rebuild our country. Theyre going to rebuild our communities, our civic organizations, our schools. Theyre the core of people in america that understands what it means to serve something greater than themselves. Theyve been in an arena thats highly controversial with a public that didnt quite support them the whole time. And they found a way to get it done. And, frankly, get it done quite successfully. So im confident that them and their families and those who come around them are in some ways provide the nucleus of the types of folks that are going to get out there and make sure that the 21st century is an American Century as well. Because its not i used to say this on the defend freedom tour for concerned vets all the time, its not going to be your neighbor whos, you know, down in the basement playing, you know, worlds of warcraft and watching tmz. Theyre not going to do it. Theyre literally not. They have no idea. Theyre sort of just existing in this country without a sense of where it comes from and why it matters. Its going to have to be those of us who do. And if we do so tepidly or we do so saying, yeah, americas kind of good but, you know, then were going to get steamrolled. So if you dont educate them, remind yourself what makes this place special and that our founders truly did something exceptional, then you will get steamrolled. So education up front is the beginning, and then finding the courage and i think vets, obviously, have shown that courage in one capacity and will again. I ask you to join me in thanking the author of in the arena, there are books available outside, and pete will stick around a bit if youd like your book signed. Thank you again for coming and please join me in thank our author, pete hegseth. [applause] thank you. [indistinct conversation] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] history bookshelf features the countrys bestknown American History writers of the past decade talking about their books. You can watch our weekly series every saturday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on history tv on cspan3. Announcer 2 campaign 2020. Watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. Cspans campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Tonight, Emory University professor teaches a class about antisemitism in america and Holocaust Denial. She shares the story of her 1996 lawsuit against a Holocaust Denial which was turned into the 2016 movie, denial. Here is a preview. We dont believe history belongs in the courts. The way of adjudicating things in a court, in a legal context is quite different. But Matthews Point is correct. Many people assume, she must have sued him. Very me and we took a it wasntay really about that. Lawyers,t down with my we were both on the same page. Triald, we dont have a to prove that world war i to prove that the civil war happened in the United States or whatever. Why do you need a trial to prove the holocaust happened . That is not what we were about. My book was about looking at deniers and david irving said he was not a denier, he is not a falsify or, he does not lie about history. So what we did, and it should be of interest to any student in history, is we followed the footnotes back to the source. We were not proving what happened. We were not proving how many people were murdered in auschwitz or the other camps. We were arguing that when david peoplesays only 64,000 died there, the evidence he was using does not prove his point. In other words, we were following his claims to show that he engaged in distortion of information, false claims. Learn more about antisemitism in america and Holocaust Denial tonight at 8 00 p. M. On lectures in history. Joined the classroom here on American History tv. In his new book, talking to strangers, Malcolm Gladwell details what he thinks people make inaccurate judgments about people they dont know. Step out of the car. I am going to drag you out of here. Get out of the car she is in prison for resisting arrest and hangs herself in her cell. Eight tragic and unexpected result, but that whole exchange we saw, which goes on and on and it,we only saw a snippet of that was the kind of when i first saw that online, that was when i realized what i wanted to write about, because if you break that exchange down, moment by moment, you see multiple failures of understanding, of empathy, of a million things. Announcer 2 sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q and a. Tv, on American History civil rights activists discuss their experiences as part of the 1960s black freedom movement. Panelists talk about Race Relations in modern times and how Lessons Learned in the 1960s might be applied today. The discussion was part of association of africanamerican museums annual conference. [applause] it is a rare occasion where you get to be in the presence of the people who have sat you on the shoulders of. Yous a rare occasion when get to praise and give honor to the people that have literally created a path so you can be on that path. Me, this will be an emotional panel. I will try to get through these questions without bawling my eyes out. Toare taught in this country honor our soldiers. We are