Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20150410

Effective tool for changing policy. There is a bit of him talking about the book. I have then to the house of people who were destroyed by People Like Us on twitter. People who have not left their homes in a year and a half. I have been to the homes of both these chambers and the shamed to make sense of whats become of us. Things started well. With social media, the silence has a voice and it was an eloquent voice. You could chat with likeminded strangers. Then when the powerful transgressed, we realized we could do something about it. If some he wrote a racist column, we could hurt them with a social media shaming. It felt like the democratization of justice. Host we want to know what you think about the issue of public shaming. Here are the phone numbers in case you would like to participate. You can go ahead and dialin. Were going to show you and obviously you can participate the a social media as well if you would like to send a tweet about the use of social media in public shaming. You can make a comment on our facebook age. You can send an email to the washington journal. He gives a case study here in a minute. We will show you some more video of him talking about a case study. He followed through on the issue of public shaming to give you a sense of what his book is about and what he is looking at. He talks about a woman name justine. This video is a little over three minutes long and stick with us during. She had 170 twitter followers. She was going from new york through london to cape town. She was tweeting little acerbic jones to her twitter followers. She would chuckle to herself. She would press send and got no replies. She felt that feeling that we feel when the internet does not congratulate us for being funny. She got to heathrow and came up with another acerbic little joke and tweeted to 170 followers. Right now, if you were to put her on a scale of terribleness, what would you give her . A lot of people would give her attend. A 10. She never got any replies. She woke up in cape town and stretched and turned on her phone and there was a text from some and she had not spoken to since high school. She said i am so sorry to see whats happening too. You are the worldwide number one trending topic on twitter right now. I managed to convince her to talk to me. She really did not want to. I convinced her to. I met her in a bar on 10th avenue. I asked her what the joke meant. She said putting us living in america puts us in a bubble about the third world. She said she would never talk to a journalist again but she wanted to explain to me how crazy her situation was and how the punishment did not fit the crime. She said she cried out her body weight in the first 24 hours. You dont sleep. It you wake up forgetting where you are. She released an apology statement and cut short her vacation. Workers were threatening to strike at the hotel she but. No one could guarantee her safety. She started to cry. I set looking at her for a moment. I tried to save something to improve the mood. Sometimes thing to reach and the deer before people see sense. It never struck me that id end up the brutal nadir. I stayed in touch with her. The man who it started the campaign against her, 70 had sent the tweet to have a he 15,000 followers. I asked him how it felt that he said it will. Delicious. I dont think he was being glib. We want to destroy people, but we dont want to feel bad about it. We just call them a sociopath and say they are fine. Host that was jon ronson talking about his new book. We want to hear from you. Do you think public shaming is an effective Public Policy tool . 202 is the area code. Willslate did a review of the book. This is a little bit of what they wrote. Shaming is a form of social control. It occurs when a person violates the norms of the community and other people respond by publicly criticizing. That is a little bit of what late writes about shaming. Jon ronson appeared on vanity fair video along with Monica Lewinsky talking about this issue. This is a portion of the interview. Whats challenging about social media is if i were to make a joke, i would be aware of my audience. We want to live in a world where people can have competing ideas and varying viewpoints on things. Thats where we are in such an important time about figuring out how we will create this social space. You can have different views and have different layers of humor and all sorts of other things. You can be impudent and foolhardy and listen to each others the views and debate. You said, people had forgotten that woman was dimensional and had a soul and was once broken. This is the problem with social media and journalism to an extent. We like to pretend that people arent mott are not dimensional. Thats not true. We know thats not true about people. We tricked ourselves into believing that its true. Host this tweet from on richie. Jack is in bradenton florida on the independent line. What do you think about this topic . Caller as a 30yearold and living in florida near county where the three young teenage girls were arrested for publicly shaming the a social media and committing suicide, from my perspective i have seen it myself. It weighs on your selfesteem. If you post a picture on social media and you only get five likes, you feel as if you dont have enough friends. It is a tool, its a heavy topic. Thank you very much. Host the next call is from erie, pennsylvania. Caller hi. Thank you for cspan. You guys are great. Everybody gets to voice their opinion. What i want to say is i think public shaming is a product of what we grew up with in america. If you do something wrong, you should be counted out for it. I want to give you an example. Brian williams which shamed publicly. He made up lies about the in a helicopter or whatever he was. Hillary clinton is the nominee for the president of the United States for the Democratic Party and she lied and said i was under fire with her daughter. We know it was a lie. We saw the footage. Its selective shaming. There are so many examples. Host do you think Brian Williams deserves redemption . Caller it depends on why he lied about those stories. Why did hillary lie that she was under fire . It kind of takes away the valor of those people that volunteer and put their lives at risk. These people want to say they were there as well. I am retired from the air force. I was never under fire. I would not make it up. I cant believe that we let certain people go because of their statements. She gets to get away with this. There should be a standard about shaming. All of the stuff with bill, where he messed around with monica is documented. Those are all public shaming events. They should be. When you lie under oath you should be publicly shamed. Host you mentioned president clinton and Monica Lewinsky. On march 20, she gave a tad talk. The public humiliation was excruciating. Life was almost unbearable. This was not something that happened with regularity back then in 1998. By this i mean the stealing of peoples private words and conversations or photos and then making them public. Public without consent, public without context, public without compassion. In 2010, social media has been born. The landscape has become much more populated with instances like mine, whether they made a mistake. Now its for both public and private people. The consequences have become dire. Host dd tweet sin. It is a form of bullying. Bar is in oregon on the independent line. Caller i am in between. Feel thing i want to say about shaming is it seems like its like thumpers mother. If you cant Say Something nice dont say anything at all. We have gotten to the point that everything is so negative and so brutal that we have forgotten what class is about. We forgotten that its nice to be kind. We certainly dont know how to communicate anymore. Thats all i really want to say. I think its getting to the point that everything is so negative. I love cspan. Ive been watching you guys since you started. Keep up the good work. Host joe is in pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I have no social media whatsoever. Once you get on that stuff, you Say Something untoward or something you think is funny that some deals doesnt, public shaming is mobs run amok. Its mob rule. A mob is an ugly, terrible thing. We have seen in this country. Mobs running out crazy. It turns out Nothing Happened that was illegal. Mob rule. Social media, sending all of this nonsense all over the place. Social media is a terrible thing for society. Host back to jon ronsons book, he talked with mike daisy, the general visited the reports on factories in china that make apple products. It did not occur. Here is a little of what mike had to say. Next call is scott in new york. You are on cspan. We are talking about the use of public shaming on social media. Caller good morning. I have been calling. You have your phone lines under control a lot better than you did 15 years ago. Public shaming is good as long as you are telling the truth about what you are doing. One morning in the late 90s when that cap part deck gephardt was on, i asked him of bob dole ever let Newt Gingrich the 120,000. After i got the call on air Newt Gingrich stepped out of public office. I talked about bill clinton and it kennedy. Public shaming, as long as its the truth and you stick to evidence is wonderful. I hear a lot of people smear the president for reasons that they cant back up what they are saying, that is wrong. You need to hold the people who do bring the shaming up. Its good for society. I got my comment taken away. They said i could come to the meetings but i could not speak because they dont like people bringing the truth up. My chief of police tried to beat me up in the hallway. The public works director was threatening to beat me up and the chief of police told me i was instigating. Caller a caller said its bullying. I think some people deserve to be shamed. Especially george ws george w. Bush. They planned to go into iraq even without wmd. A thousand soldiers have been killed. Close to a million iraqis. To make it worse, he joked at a press hearing that he was searching for w mds, looking for them under his desk and behind his curtains. This is despicable and he deserved to be shamed. Host what do you think on the other side about Hillary Clinton and her using a private email account. Caller id like to know all the particulars about was in that account. I agree as a democrat about her line about ducking bullets in the bosnian airport. Host when it comes to politics, does public shaming work . Does it change policy . She is gone. Marianne is in pittsburgh. Caller im just calling to say that everything is not about that. Its about lets get to the truth. Lets not lie to the American Public about benghazi. Theyre more scandals that i have ever seen. The president has acted so immaturely. He is not for the American People. Please dont cut me off. Every american must think why are all these regulations on our jobs . I went to the doctor yesterday and they told me they will i am a chronic pain sufferer. Who are they to tell me they think its best for me. Lets get to the truth. Host this is randy on the line for independent people. Caller thank you for taking my call. The United States in 2012, nobody died from marijuana. 13,000 people were shot and killed in one year. How is it possible that we can shoot people for something they dont die over . Thats all its about. It doesnt matter if you have an education or not. Host that is randy in michigan. We are talking about public shaming particular when it comes to social media. Jon ronson has a new book out. If you want to see the full program, it airs this weekend on book tv. This is the cover. It airs at 9 00 on book tv this weekend. The next call is carl in west virginia. Go ahead. What do you think about public shaming . Caller i think republicans have to resort to public shaming because the media is against them. I think people like senator warren who claims she was an American Indian to get special favors going to college and harry reid getting on the floor the senate and telling everybody that mitt romney never played taxes, the republicans have to turn to social media because they know the Mainstream Media is all against them. Host here is a little bit more from john ronson. All we can think to do is shame. Its become this default position. He was a psychiatrist. He spent his life in max min security prisons. If people really want to think about solving violence, they should think about him. All violence is an attempt to replace shame with selfesteem. Host jeff tweet senate. Brenda is in beech island, South Carolina. Caller i think a lot of the time public shaming is american citizens are able to get our rights or what we want to be done. We were told one thing and it ended up being completely different. Amnesty, all the people that dont want it at a number of people who have gotten drivers licenses and now they are coming here even more so. Everything that the citizens dont want, its like were being ignored. Its makeup making people speak out more. It just ends up landing on all of these different people because everybody is so disgusted with the fact that no one is listening to the citizens. Host next up is troy in new york. Caller how are you. Social media can be used for good things. Right now theres a campaign to help me get my stuff back that was stolen. I lost my site. My friends came and stole my recording studio. You can see a link to my kickstarter page. One persons shame could be another persons starter. We are so divided in this country, especially when you look at cspan in the morning. People can have two different views. She was a great state senator. She was a great secretary of state thank you. Host that is troy in new york. This is twitter. Douglasville, georgia. Hi, diane. Caller good morning. I am calling to say ive been watching. I watched cspan every day. I see a split in the society. They are leaning to one side. They are always asking about others. How about what is going on at cspan . Host what do you want to know . Caller how many of you are millionaires . You havent changed. Do not the aggregate other people. Lets everybody be more supportive of others. Give specific. Its a shame the way people just we are all going to die. We are all gods children. People show each other what love is all about. We dont hear it. Lets think about the future and try to make this country. We need cooperation. We need that. We expect. My son has been to iraq three times. And afghanistan once. Im glad he is not suffering like others. We need more cooperation. We all make mistakes. No one is perfect. Lets remember that. Host Monica Lewinsky talked about the affect of public shaming. I was on the phone with my mom in 2010. We were talking about the news of Young College freshmen from Rutgers University named tyler clementi. He was secretly webcams by his roommate while being in bed with another man. When the online world learned of the incident, the bullying ignited. A few days later, tyler jumped from the George Washington bridge to his death. He was 18. My mom was beside herself about what happened to tyler and his family and she was gutted with pain in a way that i could not quite understand. Eventually she was reliving 1998. She was reliving a time when she sat by my bed every night. Reliving a time when she made me shower with the bathroom door open. When both of my parents feared that i would be humiliated to death, literally. Host more colors illustrating public shaming by public shaming. George is in florida on the republican line. Caller good morning. You are one of the best. I would like to shout out to Brian Williams. This is a ramification of hightech development. It how are you going to stop anyone from shaming another . Its the change the channel. Its all you can do. You cant write laws the police such a thing. You cant stop this. Why even fret over it . Lets get back to shaming one another and at the same time i would like to ask what the solution is. If you can scroll on the bottom, you could see a lot more tweets are in host thats a good idea. Susan is next in virginia. Caller i just want to say that was a good idea about scrolling down. Host we do that a lot when the senate or house is in. We try to do that during votes in the senate and house. It just adds more information. Caller i am discouraged by the lack of empathy that love these colors have expressed. They have gone off topic. When you listen to the conversations that this guys office had with these writers its heartbreaking. To think that these people who are calling in our talking at Hillary Clinton or Brian Williams, they are not getting it. I think it said. This is a very upsetting thing to think that there are people out there that it any moment their lives can be ruined. Because of some offhand comment. Its the lack of empathy. Host up next, jeff in maryland. Caller good morning. I just wanted to say that shaming politicians, it doesnt work. You have to have moral fiber to begin with. Politicians as a group, they dont have that. As far as individuals, people like Monica Lewinsky, she came to the scandal great. She seems like shes in a really good place. An individual, it can bring out the good and the bad. As far as politicians go, they get caught in scandals. All they do is look at us and say who me and they get reelected. Host what do you think about redemption for those who get caught . Caller can you name me a politician who has . Who is asked for forgiveness for their low crimes and misdemeanors . I cant think of a politician in recent memory whos made a speech to the American People apologizing for something theyve done in office. They seem like they are entitled to put the screws to the people and thats what they are there for. Host one more piece of video from Monica Lewinsky. There are no parameters along how people can observe you and put you at a public stockade. There is a very personal price to public humiliation. The growth of the internet has jacked up that price. For nearly two decades we have been sowing the seed of shame and public humiliation in our cultural soil on and offline. Gossip websites, paparazzi, reality programming politics, news outlets hackers all traffic in shame. Its led to the sensitization and an environment online which lends itself to trolling invasion of privacy, and cyber bullying. Host one more quote from jon ronsons book. He writes this is jon ronsons new book. Its been the basis of our discussion this morning in this first segment of washington journal co. He will be on cspan talking about his book this weekend. The program is just a little over an hour long. It airs saturday night at 9 00 and sunday night at 7 00. You can check the schedule at book tv. Org. On an unrelated issue, we have this tweet. Back to your calls on social media and public shaming. Host i cut him off. I apologize. George in tennessee. Independent line. Caller i have a question of shaming. Its such a general topic. Using social media to shame individuals, its got to be unethical and its not criminal yet. For politicians who are public figures who put themselves out there, that maybe one way of getting around the media bias. I do not use twitter or facebook. I depend on cspan. For public figures who do significant wrong things like lying to the public or illegal acts. Both clintons clearly have performed illegal acts back in their arkansas days. They get a pass. One way to get the message to the people is some type of shaming. Good luck. Thank you. Host richard tweets in. Public people will be publicly shamed. The next call is daniel in washington dc. I apologize. Caller i dont think its effective. I dont think its constructive. I think what happens is even when its a significant exposure of an institution or a politician or Law Enforcement, what happens is the gotcha moment overrides the ability to have a constructive debate. You see it over and over again. It could be the president caught in a scandal, it overrides another narrative that could be more pressing. It could be Foreign Policy or a domestic concern. The constant focus on their financial dealings. They could be note weather. I often think they overwhelm. It actually insulates the powerful and the media ends up not following truly important stories. They got caught up in the gotcha moment. Host are you a user of social media . Caller i do use some of it occasionally. Its like a hammer. It can be used for constructive purposes or it could be used to destroy. Host lets take it to the phone calls that we get, what about the anonymity . Does that give people more licensed use that hammer in a less than constructive way . Caller that seems to be an issue in terms of the anonymity. It extends much more broadly. People who can supply donations to political parties, as for the media, nobody knows who you are. It allows people to hide. Anon posed i am not opposed. If you post something that is hideous, you should be subject to the anonymity part is an issue. It allows people to come out in ugly ways. Host sharon is in minneapolis. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. On the local news this morning in minneapolis, i saw they are starting to put on social media people who have dogs that have bitten someone or attacked someone in any way. I think its an excellent idea. Im having problems with my neighbor. I recently had a hip replacement. I am in a lot of pain. I have not called the humane society. I am given her a chance to police on her dog. I think its a great idea to post these dogs that are vicious on social media and shame the owners. Thats all i have the say. Host that was shared in minneapolis. Al is in portland. Caller i believe that the shaming thing comes from our losing all sense of common decency. I feel the when you have nothing good to say about someone, say nothing. Now, children seem to be instructed to say what ever is in their mind and have no feeling toward the consequences of the person about whom there talking. The way the speaker of the house said my top priority is to make sure this is a one term resident did that wouldve been seen as treasonous when i was young. It is rude and mean. Things have changed. Host are public figures, are they legitimate targets for public shaming . Caller no sir. Nobody is a legitimate target. If he is lying or doing something that should shame him he shamed himself. Host finally, bill in chicago. Caller what happened between lewinsky and president clinton was an indiscretion. It was a private indiscretion. He did not tell anybody. She could have kept her mouth shut. Host a couple of more tweets. Thanks for participating in this first segment. We have three more segments coming up this morning. Up next is marc morial. There is a new report out on black america that we will discuss with him. After that, a republican pollster that has signed on with marco rubio. He has a new ebook out. Youre watching washington journal or go. Here are some of their featured programs for this weekend on the cspan networks or it on book tv, president of americans for tax or firm over norquist says americans are tired of the irs raid sunday night, susan butler on Franklin Roosevelt and josef stalin. Saturday night at 8 00, university of virginia professor on how civil war veterans readers have changed from the reconstruction era to present. American history tv is live sunday from appomattox courthouse. Were you a fan of the first ladies series. It is now a book. Looking inside the personal lives of every first lady in american history. Based on original interviews, learn details of all 45 first ladies are in the book the book provides stories of these fast and women who survived the scrutiny of the white house. They changed history. The first ladies book is illuminating and entertaining. It is available as a hardcover or ebook. For the cover price of just 28. 99. Host on your screen is former new orleans mayor marc morial. Thank you for being with us. We are discussing the new urban league report. This is the 2015 a of black america report. Before we get into the report, i want to ask you what do you think of the response in South Carolina to the shooting of mr. Scott . Guest the important thing is that the family and the lawyers are conducting themselves with absolute dignity and professionalism in how they have responded to the death of a loved one. Number two, the local officials risk wanted very quickly once presented with evidence and the evidence was the videotape. It they responded to fire the officer and two book him on charges. In that respect, this case is very different from prior cases where there was a long time. In ferguson there was a local denial before there was an investigation. There was not an indictment. What stunning about this case is we not only witnessed this awful incident, this shooting of a man who was fleeing, we also saw the effort to cover it up instinctively. That was deeply troubling. The effort to plant the taser at the persons body. The Police Reports the written by the other officers who said it that they had administered aid to the dying man when he videotape indicates thats not the case. There is the tragedy of the death, but there are these actions taken by the police before the videotape surfaced. Now there is another video of dash cam that shows that mr. Scott fled. That was not the right thing to do. That does not justify him being shot in the back and killed while fleeing. This is another one of these incidents that were going to have a big debate. The bottom line is there was an excessive and unnecessary and the illegal use of force against mr. Scott. Because of a traffic stop, he is dead. Host as a former mayor, how you approach that . Guest its important that local officials have to work to be in communication with the community. They need to be introspective. When ever incidents this happen, a mayor will say do i have a larger problem with my Police Department or is this an aberrational incident . Is this an unfortunate incident that are training or our approach, if i were looking at this with the evidence, i would be troubled at the coverup. That might lead me to independently review the last three to five years of prior incidents of conflict between the police and citizens in my community. There is information out there there are a large lawsuits that have been filed against the North Charleston Police Department. We cannot speak to the merits of those suits. 40 sounds like a large number to me. Given the size of North Charleston, i think youre going to see the Just Department look at the specifics. They will have to examine the actions of this Police Department. Right now, there are greater than 10 departments, it may be closer to 20 that are under federal consent. This speaks to the idea that this broader problem of Police Community relations and the use of Excessive Force and brutality, we may see the tip of the iceberg and we have a broader systemic challenge in this nation when it comes to policing. Lets not take away the idea that Many Police Officers are hardworking honest, competent will do the right thing. As with any industry or important institution, a few bad apples can not only spoil the bunch, the coverup speaks to not just incidents, but a question of culture. This is an important conversation for us to have in america. Host as the mayor of new orleans, the jew face similar issues at all . Caller guest we face the time that was clearly broken. We had 400 murders a year. We had a federal criminal investigation for corruption and brutality. I took it as a charge to lead a reform effort. On corruption, that turned to some extent on race. I think one must grab the bull by the horns as i think we did in new orleans. Five to six years later we had an accredited Police Department and brought the murder rate down by some 60 and we reduced the number of civil Rights Violations to a very small number. We changed that department. It took a lot of work, Broad Community coalition, house cleaning, some 50 to 60 officers were terminated. It took a very, very good new police chief i hired, Richard Pennington who helped me with effort support from the business and religious communities and elected officials. It took changes in state law local policy, increases in police pay, upgrading of equipment. It took a broad effort but it paid important dividends in new orleans in the 1990s. It is tragic that after Richard Pennington and i left in 2002, the department retrenched to the extent that it is currently now under a Consent Decree with the department of justice. So leadership counts, Community Effort counts. I think local elected officials who may be watching, mayor, city councilman county commissioners, if you have a local Law Enforcement agency, you need to look at it very closely, very carefully. Examine whether you have issues challenges, or problems. If you do, work to fix it. Host 1 in the National Marc morial in the National League of 2016. Easy the economic recovery has become a tale of two nations. What do you mean . Guest the economic recovery, which we certainly can applaud. The idea that we have had this incredible strength of job creation. The largest, if you will consistent. Consistent period of jobs being created since the 1970s is something that is noteworthy and we applaud. When we look at this closely carefully, and examine it, we found that amongst the top 70 cities or 70 largest cities in america, there were 33 of those cities, almost half, not quite half, that have black Unemployment Rates exceeding 15 and seven that have black Unemployment Rates exceeding 20 , including a number of cities, chicago, toledo, cleveland, in the midwest particularly that have high Unemployment Rates. These unemployment levels, 15, 17, 20, 21 23 , and portions of these cities in the black community in many of these communities is still a recession era environment. The job creation has not reached everyone and that requires attention of everyone to ask why is this occurring and ask why is this to some extent a deviation from prior patterns. Most economic recoveries we have lives are votes. This economic recovery is leaving lifting votes but leaving many behind. For the Hispanic Community we look at those, too. You have a mixed bag. You have doubledigit latino unemployment in many communities across the nation, but there are a few where the rate is now in Single Digits albeit higher than it is in the mainstream white america. Youve got this tale of two nations in this recovery era and this requires us to really put it out there and talk about it to let people know that while we can applaud job creation in the recovery, there are large portions of the community being left behind. Host i want to run through some statistics that you have in your report beginning with the Unemployment Rate. Africanamericans, 10 . Whites, 4. 9 . Household incomes africanamericans 34,815. Whites 57,000 687,000. Poverty level for africanamericans, with the 7. 6 . Whites, 11. 1 . Median wealth, africanamericans, 6,314 as compared to whites with 110,500. Guest wide disparities. I think these numbers tell a story and i would say that the listeners when people hear these numbers, to some it might be a shock, to some it might be surprised. Two others it may not be a shock or surprise, but our obligation has been out for almost 40 years to speak the facts on these very significant disparities. I would say if you think about it and you talk about the wealth gap in this country, that wealth gap has actually widened somewhat post the recession because for most americans their wealth has historically been tied up in the equity in their homes. For africanamericans, almost disproportionately, their wealth was centered around equity in their homes. As the bank and foreclosure crisis raged, the homeownership rate of months africanamericans amongst africanamericans declined. They declined across the board because the recession hit every community, but it hit the black community in a much more significant and dramatically. Now, the black Home Ownership rate which had almost gotten to 50 is now down in the low 40 42 , 43 , give or take a couple of tenths of a percentage point. When you think of it rebuilding wealth, and wealth is important because it is an important moment of economic of economic and family opportunities. You need to help your family and children, and it is usually the initial capital that many people use, equity in one some, to start a small business, to put kids through college. Weve got to make sure that as we reformed the Banking System that it is not reforming the way. I think that cuts off access to credit for homeownership, for communities that suffer greatly by the recession. Building a strong homeownership climate and culture in the future is still an essential element and a key to the american dream. Host marc morial is our guest, the head of the National Urban league and former mayor of new orleans. We are talking about the urban leagues 2015 report on black america. Which in the cover letter that mr. Marc morial put on the report, he says that these are the times when the collective consciousness of the people also unapologetically screams that it is time for a change. Back in providence, back in providence, rhode island. Republican line. Caller good morning. I am a retired stock and bond broker and the gentleman there talking about that and i was fortunate, i was trained by a couple of jewish men, and they told me jack, this is going back, starting in 1975. God rest their souls, youve got to bring value to the table. I never forgot that, so i spent 30 years in the industry and it all right. You have to bring skill sets to the table in order to get people out of poverty. The only skill set i had was to speak, so i could talk. For example, if you know a very good welder or very good with scientific mathematics, you bring value to the table. Without that, i dont care who is in the white house, barack obama or george bush, it is not going to matter. You know i am right, marc morial. One statistic i am surprised you did not put in the, my wife is chinese, the lowest Unemployment Rate is the asian community. And the lows they have the lowest Unemployment Rate. But those statistics are rarely put out. Host all right, lets get a response from our guest. Guest we are looking at including asian statistics in our reports in the future. The data port agents is not as easily or read of the available as it is for africanamericans whites, and even recently can we get the type of data really look at 300 datasets for our report for the latino community. There is no doubt. Yet, look, bringing something to the table. Everybody brings their godgiven talent, their hard work, the responsibility to the table. Many of the Unemployed People in the country are people who were employed, who do have skills for whom the structure of the economy has affected them. We had a lot of manufacturing jobs in the midwest. People who would trained to work in that sector, who had careers in that sector when the economy retracted, many of the jobs moved into other regions of the country. They moved overseas, and many of these individuals were left, if you will, holding the bag with no opportunity, finding themselves in their 40s or 50s with the need to find new employment. Some did, many did. In many cases, they may have found a new job in a profession or occupation that paid less and had less benefits than their prior manufacturing job. You also had cutbacks in the recession at state and local governments, state and local agencies teachers, city and county employees. You had significant cutbacks, so there is a large casualty of americans out there with skills opportunity. One thing the Unemployment Rate also measures, because you only look at people who are looking for a job, it also measures the people who want to work. The people who have put in an application for work. And i would submit for people looking at this issue that putting more people to work and helping people find employment and focusing on this as a nation benefits everyone. Weve got an Economy Today is 70 consumer driven. The more people who work, the more people who have earnings and a paycheck. The more people that are going to spend. Theyre going to spend on the necessities in life, and clothing, shelter. They are going to spend money on the niceties in life. Maybe it is travel or certain Household Goods or going out to a restaurant. We have an interdependent economy and i would submit to you that the key the key, the essential key to future growth of this economy is to reduce this overall Unemployment Rate and try to create an opportunity for wages to increase so people have more disposable income. Our report court our report points to important challenges. What i want to do important for the listeners is also say it is very important to understand that the discussion about the American Economy and the urban communities, weve got to understand in the context of 2015. And postrecession america. In the lessons of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, help us. This is a very different landscape we are facing in 2015. There we faced even 20 years ago. Host tracy is in leesburg, virginia, democrat. Caller good morning. Thank you for the topic. I have a comment and a question. I live out in Loudoun County the wealthiest county in the country. I have two africanamerican boys. Both graduated and went on to college and have are back in the area. Quick scenario on how the difference is. My sons were on their way to the gas station come along story short, they got pulled over by the police and they were released because the police thought they had drugs in the car. Not even one month later i find is in the car with three other im side, one son was in the car with three other white boys that were in the car. They got pulled over and Nothing Happened. I think that the problem that i am seen between my sons and some of their friends that they have out here is there is a perception that when you see minorities in the car today they are either up to no good unemployed, not doing well. I think there is always a Quick Reaction not just from Law Enforcement but from other people to trust that they are a good candidate unemployed, they are employed and not doing harm. I think that is the biggest challenge africanamerican men have a good it is unfortunate because in both scenarios both scenarios with both sets of friends i think it was unnecessary, but they seem to have gotten a pass when they were with their white friends versus by themselves. Host all right, tracy. We will leave it there. Marc morial. Guest she puts finger on a problem that we all see and our young people face all the time. That is whether there is this there is this sort of subconscious bias built in perception. It leads to differential treatment and i think she put her finger on it that her sons were treated differently depending on whose company they were with. For her to say this and share this, what i would say to people and this is so important when people think about the police, many people in america have no contact with the police at all. Some people have contact with the police that is positive, some negative. I think it is important for people to understand and talk to their friends to better understand how they are differentials in treating people. Walter scott was a 50yearold man. Walter scott is not the young teenager, not even a young man. He is a middle aged man at the age of 50. Yet, he was chased down and shot in the back as though somehow he was posing a threat. I think this is indicative to with the caller is talking about. Host donnie, elberton, georgia. You are on with marc morial of the National Urban league. Caller good morning. Good morning, mr. Marc morial. I am a 40yearold black man and i have to daughters, 117 years old and 111 years old. I always stress to my kids one 17 years old and one 11 years old. I always stress to my kids about doing well in school and when i was a kid, i used to love to read books. I was told i might black friends and other friends that i was acting white. We need to get away from that and stop teaching our black kids they are acting white somehow if they want to get their education and read books, if they want to use correct grammar. We need to stop that and get away from that because it caused me some problems going up because i wanted to be accepted by my friends and it caused me some issues and i backed away from my studies and as a result, i suffered in the long run for that. Can you please comment on that sir . Thank you. Guest i honestly hear that from time to time, but i candidly do not think it is widespread. I think that most parents, most communities stress with their young people, reinforce with their young people the importance of education. The importance of reading, the importance of learning. You hear it in the pulpits churches houses of worship, in peoples kitchens all the time. There is always a pressure that young people have, particularly teenagers and adolescents, to be hip and cool. I response should be we can never fail to reinforce with our children and those of us that proper have an opportunity to talk to parents, the importance of positive reinforcements on academic achievement and not be distracted by other conversations that are going to be out there. Young people have pressure always, whether it is pressure that comes from years from peers to cut class or pressure from peers to use illegal narcotic substances, or treasure from peers to engage in inappropriate or pressure from pers to engage in inappropriate behavior. We need to focus on being a balance in our messages, emphasis, and we have an opportunity to talk to young people. For someone who has your values about the importance of education is to carry that message to high schools, colleges to talk to young people and reinforce this. We have got to all take responsibility to do it to support what is best in the community in every way, shape or form that we can. Host the state of black america report put out by the National Urban league includes a section on education. It is available at stateofamerica estate of stateofblackamerica. Org, in case you are interested in meeting the point reading the report for yourself. Guest overall, Graduation Rates are up. High School Blackout rates are down somewhat in the nation, so that is good news. However, the gaps are still wide in our country. The Graduation Rates are not where they ought to be. They are certainly not where they ought to be for black young people. They are not where they are for latino young people, and they are not where they are for white young people. We have got to understand that this problem is rod, widespread and that we have got to create as much emphasis as we can as a National Cause to educate and provide supports needed for our children to succeed because this 21st century economy is looking for more skills. It is looking for better skills. It needs and it has an appetite for people that have not only high school, but post secondary education. We have got to emphasize i grew up in southern louisiana. It was not uncommon for people to be able to get a good paying job working in the oil industry on a rig that provided for their families and maybe they went to 8, 9, or 10th grade. Those type of opportunities even those jobs today, require mathematical and some scientific aptitude. Even yesterdays jobs yesterdays jobs require a different level of skill for children to be able to succeed and young people to be able to succeed, so that is why this conversation have to be in a 2015 reality. Host tillman tweets into you what is the bigger problem in inner cities . Is it Gang Violence or road cops . Guest violence, violence, violence is a problem. The challenge with gain the violence or rogue cops is that with rogue cops it is a violent taking underplays under the cloak and color of law. When people are sworn to protect and serve and they heard the community and there is no accountability is what spurs the reaction we see. I abort all violence. I dont care where it comes from, who it is. Out on. We have got to confront that challenge across the board. Gain the violence in many communities is absolutely a problem, but when we talk about Police Violence, whether it is ferguson, new york, the reaction was not just about the incident. The reaction was the failure of the system to hold people accountable. When the system has an opportunity to bring cases against tank violence, the ability to get convictions is strong and good. And Police Violence cases, there are too many instances where no charges are brought. Instances where charges are not brought, there is not even any disciplinary action against the Police Officers. It is the accountability system that i think raises a lot of concerns. Violence should be aboard, it should be condemned. We should work to eliminated. No matter who it is perpetrated by. Nazo, long beach, please, go ahead. Caller good morning, mr. Marc morial. Leisure to speak with you. I want to touch race and chime in. You had a guy who called in from rhode island, the retired on the broker. I wish you would have given him additional time to elaborate and expand on his comments as i think he was spot on. Skill set is necessary for work and labor efforts regardless of what goes on in washington, d. C. To piggyback on that, where does the urban league, the ncaa and a place to be an what is the problem with moving forward legislation . Legislation that prohibits racial profiling . Legislation that tracks National Databases or police that tracks complaints and things of that nature . On that particular issue. As far as economics again the guy from rhode island was spot on and it starts with skill set development which begins in the Public Schools which are gosh pisspoor. We have had an africanamerican in office to terms and the guy never mentions africanamerican community. His efforts and resources have been put behind furthering the Lgbt Community and illegal alien population here. Until we as a community can become more sophisticated with the people that we elect and go for and not just look at the skin color host i think we got the point we will leave it there. Guest let me take the last thing first. Give president obama credit for the my brothers Keeper Initiative because of the portable health care act. Our data shows this and i should of tension did at the top. There has been a narrowing of help disparities of Health Disparities in america but large numbers of African Americans can have insurance for the first time and while it is not the headline, it is a fact. I think thirdly, this Justice Department under eric holder who i think is a fine public official and has been, if you will, one of the best attorney generals we have had when it comes to enforcing civil rights laws, whether it is Voting Rights laws by bringing cases in cases like texas, whether it is in the police and in a policeman conduct arena. While the media and the headlines may not get him this credit, i certainly think that that is the case. Now, do i want but i like to see this president his last 18 months, focused more on these pressing problems of lack underemployment of black underemployment and unemployment . Absolutely, yes. The president has proposed legislation as far back as three years ago called the Affordable Care act. It was meant in the same ration the same fashion that many important pieces of legislation have that with a block in the house and a filibuster in the senate. Where these important pieces of legislation cant even get a hearing or get voted on. It was as though they were never introduced because they are not been heard because of the Political Climate in washington which is divided and congress has to share a great deal of responsibility for their failure to act and respond. The important element about antiracial profiling legislation and other types of legislation. Right now, there is new legislation introduced or about to be introduced that would reform the grand jury process. There have been proposals to create a national antiracial profiling law. These proposals never see the light of day in the congress. You cant even get a hearing scheduled and you cant get the congress to act on these things. There is one thing to propose and another thing for congress to focus on disposing of these important pieces of legislation. We do need a national antiracial profiling law. We do need, i think, a new law. The 21st century law that gives the Justice Department opportunity to step in and prosecute Police Officers when in fact local officials do not when there has been inappropriate or excessive use of force that rises to a constitutional level. We do need these sorts of things and i think you are going to hear many of us talking about these types of proposals and talking about this type of legislation. We are about to move into a cycle where there is a president ial campaign and for all candidates of all parties and dispositions, we are going to ask them where they stand on issues of justice and civil rights enforcement. Where they stand on issues of urban Economic Policy and on lifting those votes that are stuck at the bottom. Where they stand on ensuring that there will be continued focus on academic achievement gap. Opportunity now that we will have a cycle of discussions about the future of the country in the context of a president ial campaign means that everyone out there listening, we need to raise these issues. We need to ask all candidates all the way across the border all away across the board, where do you stand, what are your ideas, what is your proposal what are you going to do . And i think you will hear many of our focus is many of our process focusing many of our voices focusing on that as we move forward. Host next call is robert in florida, democrats line. Caller i really appreciate your viewers on this terrible issue which is thrusting Law Enforcement in our country. Getting back to that horrific and disturbing incident in South Carolina. Currently, i understand that when a Law Enforcement official kohls out his gun and uses it, he comes into an immediate review process. He is put on administrative leave. Here is a possible suggestion and i think your experience as a mayor might be pertinent here. Why not put every single time an officer takes out his gun whether he shoots it or not, why not review that situation . Why not at least put it on some kind of administrative review . Just a possible suggestion. Comments, please. Guest so, very importantly there are, and you will see this mainly with big city departments. Many big city departments have an automatic review process whenever an officer discharges his or her gun. In a number of departments that involves an immediate transfer for temporary period of time to administrative duty or administrative responsibility. I think what we are talking about, and this is the essence of the issue, whether we need to have broad, national standards. The department in North Charleston is a significant urban community. I think it is nearly 100,000 people or thereabouts or slightly less. Ferguson, of course, 21,000 people. Smaller communities and smaller departments dont have the kind of rigorous policies that many of the large and some of that are large city departments run. Your point is very well taken, but the importance is whether we need to have a uniform stand one of the things the National Urban league has urged is that we move in the direction to require every Police Department there are about 18,000 local Law Enforcement units in the country, to have a National Accreditation. There is an accrediting body, private nonprofit body, and only about 1000 and 18,000 local law was meant units in the country have that accreditation. It holds everyone to standards. Everyone understands standards when it comes to food, when it comes to medicine, when it comes to appliances. There are standards that these products and goods have to adhere to. I believe the same thing is in order today for policing. That there ought to be a set of standards that every department certainly hasnt to meet. They have to meet in order to be eligible for federal funds. But i also think they have to meet to be consistent with the expectations that citizens have. At the Police Department and Law Enforcement office is going to be focused on protecting and serving and never going to be an agency or body that citizens in the community, lawabiding citizens fear or get nervous about because of concerns that they are not going to treat People Fairly not two people politely, and they will carry out violence on people based on race, income, or neighborhood they live in. We need to advance and in the urban league at our website, we have advanced 10 ideas, 10 reform ideas, the National Accreditation is one of them. We think that that would respond to what the callers suggestion is which is to have a standard on use of force applied across the board. Host few minutes left with marc morial. Bill is in stone mountain, georgia. Caller i have a question. I would like to know specifically since your guest is the president of the urban league, specifically and this and being specific. What is the urban league doing for the urban parts of our community . I live in a suburb of atlanta. Pick up a paper, watch the news and it is just unbelievable. The violence that is going on complements of our young blacks. If you can be specific to what you are doing with these things . Guest thank you for your question. Let me just paint a picture of the urban league. The urban league operates a network of 95 affiliates across the nation. We are not in every county, we are not in every city, but we are in 95 cities across the nation. Through that network we provide a lot of direct services. One of the most important direct services we provide is job training, job placement and Leadership Development programs. Here is what i think its important, so in last year of 2014, we provided Job Placement Services to about 10,000 americans. Currently, we have a very Successful Program called the urban Youth Empowerment program. That program provides, if you will, career counseling, job training generally currency diploma, education for approximately 4000 clients across the nation. Heres the rub. We are doing excellent work, but the challenges that the scale of one to we do is not large enough to meet the needs of many of these communities. We are private Nonprofit Organization funded by a combination of government, the private sector, committed individuals who support our work. Our work is not carried out with volunteers, it is carried out with professionals professional educators, professional counselors, professional social workers across the nation. What i would say is that if you look at the performance, for example, if you come to an urban league urban Youth Empowerment program, and you have an experience with the criminal justice system, your propensity of being a recidivist or repeat offender declines dramatically. We have excellent numbers and very good performance on that. The number of people we reach is not significant enough and i say all the time to anyone who will listen, members of congress, business leaders, foundation leaders, that there are many important worthwhile efforts out there. When you do this kind of work like the urban Youth Empowerment work and job training and job placement, you will not read about this kind of positive work on the front pages of the newspaper on the 5 00 6 00, 11 00 news in many communities. This does not generate news attention. I recognize that the many people listening may be hearing about this maybe for the first time. At our website nationala urbanleague. Org, you can get a snapshot in the picture of the work we are doing. That is helping people to change lives. Much more needs to be done. It is too easy in many states for people to get guns. We have lacks gun laws. In many states we need many more efforts to help young people guide young people into the right directions. What this report says and what my experiences of the urban League Movement say is that if we want to confront this problem, we need to do more. Is it . About the communitys responsibility is it about individual responsibility . Is it about family responsibility . I say it is all of the above. It is not one versus the other. It is all of the above. That is what the urban League Stands for. All of the above and doing everything we can to help young people accomplish and achieve to become citizens and taxpayers of tomorrow. Host time for one last call. Tony in fort lauderdale, republican. We have one minute left. Caller i will be quick. Mr. Marc morial i am an immigrant to this country and ive been here going on 40 years. I have always heard races defend their racism by pointing to one bad action by some minority or this black guy robbed this person or whatever. What i see the socalled black leaders do is they take any Police Interaction be a justified or a heinous murder like happened last week in South Carolina, and they lump them all together and use them as fundraisers raised to generate this content and it does not help black people. One more question, what do you make per year helping us as black people . Thank you. Guest let me say this. I dont know of anyone that quote, uses human tragedy to raise money. Respectfully, sir, i think it is a bit of a cheap shot for someone to suggest that or say that. The work that we do, all of us do, and we focus on Economic Empowerment and we speak out on justice issues and i have colleague organizations that very much do the same. We work hard, we are passionate about it, and i am a trained professional. I have an undergraduate degree from the university of pennsylvania, a law degree from georgetown, i have served as a legislator, mayor, and i do this work because i am passionate about it. Many of my colleagues around the country do this work because they are passionate about it. Many of them could be doing other things, practicing law working in investment ranking running their own businesses this is an important challenge we have in this nation. We thank those that support this work. No one is using anything to raise money. We have to speak in many instances to the tragedies that occur in america. I will give you an example, and this is my last point. In one of our cities, our affiliate just honored the police chief and honored that citys Police Department for the very important work they had done to make things better and to reform the relationship between the police and the community. So while the headlines may capture the tragedies, the headlines dont capture the whole picture. For everyone who was listening to date or watching today, we have got to remember that. Just because it is on the news doesnt mean it tells of the whole story about what is occurring at the community level. While many Police Departments have challenges in america there are many out there who i feel are doing good work and doing the right thing. It is the bad apples get the ink. Host here is what the National Urban leagues 2015 state of black america report looks like. Save our cities, education, jobs, and justice. State of black america. Org in case you would like to read it for yourself. Marc morial is the president. Guest thank you for having me and thank you to the callers, listeners, and viewers. Host weve got about one hour and 15 minutes left in this mornings washington journal. Coming up next republican whit ayres who runs a republican Consulting Firm and has put out this book, 2016 and beyond how republicans can elect a president in the new america. It is an ebook and we will talk to him about it in a minute on the washington journal. Were you a fan of cspans first lady series question mark first ladies is now a book looking include inside the personal life of every first lady in american history, based on personal interviews, and learn details about 45 first ladies that made these women who they were. Their lives, ambitions, and unique partnerships with the president ial spouses to read the book, first ladies president ial historians on the 45 iconic american women provides fascinating stories that survived the scrutiny of the white house at some and sometimes at personal cost of supporting their famous husbands. Cspans first ladies is an illuminating, entertaining and inspiring read and is available as a hardcover or ebook through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. For the cover price of just 28. 99. This sunday on q a, Senior Editor for the Weekly Standard is cooked and refurbished and on his bike we are, the gop president ial candidates for 2016 and what voters are looking for in a candidate. They want somebody who looks like he has stood up for them. I am amazed to the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment. The sense of being put upon. Those people really dont understand us. He was a guy who does understand us and he will stick it to them. And that happens for both sides. Hillary clinton gave her own version of that kind of thing. I dont think that was actually true 30 years ago. Resentment has always been part of politics, obviously. But the degree to which it is almost exclusively the motivating factor into the committed republicans and democrats. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern and pacific on cspans q a. Washington journal continues. Host whit ayres is the author of 2016 and beyond how republicans can elect a president in the new america. Mr. Whit ayres, in the chapter called the challenge, you write that uncomfortable reality is that the Republican Party has a wornout Business Model for 21st century residential electorate. But once sold so effectively is no longer persuasive. Guest peter, the country is changing so rapidly demographically that many people dont appreciate just how fundamental the changes are. We have an electorate that every election since 1996, whites have declined by 2 to percent, or four percentage points. To appoint or in the 2012 election, whites were down to 72 of the electorate. If the same trend continues, it will be down to 69 of the electorate in 2000. What difference does that make. It makes a huge difference. It makes a difference in the fundamental outcomes of the election. Rather than just change at the margin. If we have the same demographics in 2008 or 2012 that we had with Ronald Reagan was elected john mccain would have won the president ial election in a lake and mitt romney would have won the president ial election in 2012. These are very fundamental changes in any party that hopes to compete at the president ial level in the 21st century and they need to adapt to them. Host one of those demographic issues is the latino vote. George w. Bush, 40 , 44 of the latino vote. Romney, 27 . How does a Republican Party increased that 27 . Guest by reaching out very aggressively to the Hispanic Community. By advertising on hispanic media, radio, and tv. And by having a tone of inclusiveness that makes all americans, and especially latino americans, believe that we want them as part of the center right coalition. It is entirely possible for republican candidates to do very well among latino voters. Martinez, marco rubio in florida won majorities of hispanic voters in those states. George w. Bush, as you mentioned, 144 in 2004 in his reelection campaign. A number of Texas Republicans have done very well in latino communities in texas going back to john towers, senator john towers the way up to senator john cornyn and governor added. It is entirely possible to get substantial hispanic votes for republican candidates but we got to try. Host some of our viewers may disagree with that you write the vast majority of americans including an overwhelming majority of republicans supports allowing undocumented immigrants to gain legal residency status if they serve in the military or graduate from college or paid a fine, have a job and learn english. Guest they may not like supporting that, but most americans recognize that we are not going to deport 11 million people. And most americans realize that we have a fundamentally broken immigration system that is not serving the needs of our economy, not serving the needs of latinos, not serving the league the needs of the country. And so if you look at reality and say, what do we do about it . The vast majority of americans support tough and their standards for remaining in the country that includes things like fines, pain back taxes having a job, learning english. It is the conditions that are critical peter, for getting to that conclusion. Almost no one is for blanket amnesty were you just say nevermind, i dont mind if you broke our laws, we will just forget about it. Almost nobody is for that, but most americans to support tough and fair paths to some sort of legal status. Host 202 is the area code if you would like to talk about the republicans and election 2016. With republican consultant whit ayres, 202 7848001 in the Republican Party. 202 7848000 four democrats and 202 7488002 for all others. One of the other issues if you take on is the issue of gay marriage. Our republican supportive of gay marriage . Guest they dont have to be supportive of gay marriage, but they have to be at least open to gay and lesbian voters and gay and lesbian relationships. On no issue in american life, peter, since i have measuring a look opinion have opinions changed as rapidly as they have on gay and lesbian relationships. We now have a majority of the country that believes gay and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable. When george bush was inaugurated, which was not that long ago, and substantial majority believed that gay and lesbian relationships work morally and acceptable. That isnt that is a fundamental change in this country and occurring at lightning speed. Particularly with young people. Republicans need certainly do not need to be seen as antigay cousin they will never connect with young people. 60 of Republican Voters under age 30 support gay marriage. It is hard to believe, but there is a huge generational difference on these issues and young people are very much in a very different place than their elders are. Host whit ayres, at the end of each chapter you have used and donts sections, dos and donts sections. When it comes to gay marriage, what should republicans not do in your view and what should they do in your view . Guest republicans cant be seen as condemning and as judgmental. Republicans need to have a tone of inclusiveness welcoming all people who share our values and our principles into the centerright coalition. Republican candidates do not have to be for gay marriage, but i do think having each of the states follow their own values i. D. Systems makes a lot of sense. There is a genius in our federal system because we had such a dramatically different areas in places like nasa to mississippi Washington State in places like massachusetts, mississippi, Washington State. Our local governments control that and it makes a lot of sense to me. Host if someone were running against your candidate and heard you saying all this, they could conceivably run against the progay marriage, proimmigration america, and how would you defend against that . Guest they dont have to be progay marriage but they need to be but they do not need to be condemning of relationships. They have to paint a vivid and compelling vision for greater Economic Opportunity for all americans. Not just not right not just white americans, old, young black, men, women. They need to paint a compelling vision of a stronger American Home and a stronger america abroad. That is what will gather people of all comments behind the republican coalition. Ronald reagan truly believed that the republican principles of individual liberty, Strong Families, limited government, free enterprise, and a Strong America abroad will know no think boundaries. But we need is a candidate that can articulate those principles in a way that appeals to people who have not yet taken a series of at the Republican Party. We need a candidate the transformational candidate who can redefine the Republican Party for the new america that is consistent with republican principles. Host when it comes to National Security, to the republicans to the different candidates running for president have a different message . Guest well, they will be all over the map based upon what we have seen. Some of the potential candidates and announce candidates. What is clearly the case in the Republican Party anyway, is that happy muscular Foreign Policy where america does not lead from behind is the dominant thinking within the centerright coalition. Problems dont go away just because we ignore them. Weve gotten fitted examples with that with the rise of isis and the increase of National Security during the 2014 election. Most people on the centerright coalition are going to be looking for a candidate that once a muscular Foreign Policy and an america that leads from the front and not behind. Host why do, in both parties why do they tend to start over on the edges more on the edges of the political spectrum and then work their way into the middle for the general election . Guest the structure of primaries and particularly caucuses tend to drop activist. The people who are a little farther from the center in so far as the activity in the primaries and caucuses go. As you move toward the larger states and especially as you move toward the general election it is a lot of the people who are closer to the center that will hold the balance of power. It is because of the structure of the way we have established the primaries and caucuses that you have some of the more liberal people in the Democratic Party and some of the more conservative people in the Republican Party that tend to dominate those elections. Host is it fair that i was get all the attention they get . Guest i think it is fine for smaller states, peter, to get some attention of the start. What it does is allow candidates who are not particularly well known or not particularly wealthy to get a fair hearing and to sit in peoples living rooms and get to know people. I have been to the iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primaries, and it truly is it is a neighborhood eating. It is gathering one dozen of your neighbors who to hear the president could be the leader of the free world. There is a certain attractiveness about that to me where you dont have to have the kind of money it would take to advertise in california to run for president. Host whit ayres, how did you get into this business . Guest i love politics. My 11th grade teacher mr. Angstrom got me in love with government and i have had that love ever since. Got a bunch of degrees of Political Science, taught Political Science at the university of South Carolina and then went into politics with governor Terrell Campbell who was governor of South Carolina and asked me to join his administration. Something i have loved and what polling does is allow me to marry my love of Political Science with my love of practical politics. Host what is your role in marco rubios 2016 . Guest to be the poster for the campaign if he announces. We will see. He will tell us what he will do on monday. Host whether or not he announces if you run for president , cspan will be live from miami on monday. Guest that is a good choice peter. Host dd fredericks tweets and isnt there a difference in latino voting patterns . You sound as if they are monolithic. Guest not at all. Latino voting patterns are not one of the are not monolithic. Puerto ricans have a very different perspective on immigration from those who came from mexico. Cubans have a very different perspective on it. So it is not at all monolithic but we do have to appreciate the fact that mitt romney want a substantial majority won a substantial majority of mindset of white voters, 59 . The larger boat than even Ronald Reagan got. The reason he is not president is because barack obama won an overwhelming majority of nonwhite voters. 93 of africanamericans, 71 of latinos, 73 of asians. That is a problem that the republican nominee needs to address. Host 2016 2016 and beyond the scope is the name of the book. 70 22 support republicans white evangelicals, white southerners, white men college or less, white in general and the silent generation. 69 to 86 generation, all support the republican side. On the democrat side, blacks, 80 . Asians, 65 to 23. Religiously unaffiliated, 61, 25. Postgraduate women, jewish hispanic, and millennial generation are some of the groups that support democrats more than republicans. Lets take some calls, mr. Whit ayres. John is in virginia on the democrat line. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. I want to respect the guest and what he says. I can tell you this. If he runs as a republican on the pop up, he will lose the election immediately. Republicans are out of ideas by now. They only have 47 . All they are looking for is another 3 said they can win the election. But having said this, when i look at the spanish senators, marco rubio or ted cruz, they are not bringing any spanish. They are attacking their own people. You elect someone who will bring you something. You dont havehost are you hispanic . Caller i am and often i am africanamerican. I am independent. Host Howard Ted Cruz and marco rubio insulting spanish people . Caller they always put down the poor people. I may misuse the language that i should not, but i think when you are latino, lets say immigration. Ted cruz and rubio vote against immigration. If i am a hispanic voter, i will not vote someone who is supporting my family or doing Something Different than what i need host lets hear from whit ayres. Guest john and i may agree more than he thinks. A good republican does not put anybody down. A good republican paints a vivid and compelling picture of greater Economic Opportunity for all americans. That is one of the things we need to address and that 2016 campaign. We have an economy that is still not robust. It has not come back fully from the deep recession. A good republican candidate will have a message for all americans. All americans of all races creeds, nationalities, on how we can get this economy going create greater Economic Opportunity. Host in your book 2016 and beyond the first up is recognizing the need for change. Acknowledge that the republican message that worked so well in president ial election in the second half of the 20 century will not work and this century. That is the critical first step. Recognizing a problem is often emotionally and psychologically challenging. Guest there are so many changes going on. It is discomforting. Lets acknowledge that. It does not look like the america you or i grew up in. That does not mean that republican consoles and philosophy cannot sell equally well in the new america. We have to have a candidate that realizes we need to take that message into nonwhite communities to younger people. People we have not traditionally taken that message to in some elections. It will work. Im convinced it will work with the right transformational candidate. Host james and collins mississippi, independent line. Caller good morning. I wanted to make a statement. Cspan has been a pioneer of getting both parties together. I would hope that cspan, what he brings each candidate on, the date that cspan will make them stay to the point of what they are going to do and stop talking about what the other party is doing wrong. When you get people running for president of the usa, we do not want to hear you talk about what the other candidate with the republicans are democrats are doing wrong. We want to hear what republicans are saying. I am africanamerican African American in mississippi. I know that. It is time for the media and cspan to hold these candidates accountable for what they are going to do and stop letting them talk about each other. That is the only way youre going to get the country together. When you have one candidate talking about Hillary Clinton or rubio, you do not get nothing out of that. We need cspan to hold you to what youre going to do the next four years. When the media starts focusing on that, you will find out that all races of people will say it aint about democrat, republican, independent, it is about what the party will do for us. As long as we have this back and forth about what was did or done, you get no answers. The you please help us and talk. Rand paul, they are criticizing him, the Republican Party. Ron paul is the only one i have seen that host thank you. Whit ayres, response for that caller. Guest one of the things i talk about is the book is the critical importance for candidates to be positive and optimistic and forwardlooking. Paint a compelling vision of the future. People vote for things as well as against things. We need a candidate who can paint that vision that will attract people to the party, not just trash of the other party. Host is important to talk about issues . As James Madison as james mentioned, the media can get sidetracked on a particular event than issues. Host guest issue matters. Vision matters. It is not the only thing that matters. Party is a fundamental component. People are also electing a president who they hope has the character and temperament to be a good leader. Particular is a president gets reelected. They will face issues you never imagined them being faced with one big when they first got elected. Classic example is george w. Bush racing 9 11. It was all about economy and taxes and the 2000 campaign. You have to have someone with the judgment, temperament, and the ability to work through issues we cannot anticipate in the future and to have confidence that person will handle those issues well. Issues are only one piece of the puzzle. Guest host to reset in tennessee. Republican line. Caller i mean no disrespect but you are totally wrong. The republicans want won the senate because they ran on a platform fighting president obamas ilLegal Immigration. That is the only reason they want won. They want Legal Immigration not ilLegal Immigration by executive board executive order. Your opinion on gay marriage, when it was put to the voters and every state gay marriage was voted down by the people. It was a liberal activist Supreme Court who overturned the peoples vote of not wanting gay marriage. You are just wrong. I am sorry. This whole discussion is all about republicans have to do. Everything they are doing wrong. So you have republicans already losing the election. You are biased. Thank you. Guest it is sloppy first time someone has flaw i was wrong. You may have misunderstood the hopefulness i have about republicans in 2016. Republicans are in about the same place that democrats were in in 1989 after they lost five of the previous six elections in the popular vote. The democrats looked hopeless. We talked about a republican lock on the Electoral College in the 1980s. All of a sudden, here comes bill clinton and says i am for ending welfare as we know it. For the death penalty. By the way, we do not talk about fellow americans that way. He redefined the Democratic Party and set them on a path to win five of the six elections in the popular vote. The Republican Party is one candidate and election away from resurrection. I am convinced republicans can win in 2016 with the right candidate and message. Host in your book, this is the ebook copy i am reading from here, when it comes to the issue of gay marriage that she brought up republicans, 26 say yes it should be recognized as valid. 72 say no it should not. Overall, adults in america 53 . As a republican consultants, how do you tell your candidate 53 overall support it. But in the primary, only 26 support it. Guest i am not going to tell what a candidate to think about any article, moral issue. I will find out what they believe and work to put together a message that is inclusive and does not write a bunch of people off. We can make too much of the gay marriage issue. If you make a list of all the important, Critical Issues facing the country, gay marriage provides with vies with Climate Change at the bottom of the list. People will pick a president based on his position on the economy, foreign affairs, health care, education. Issues that are the top of peoples agenda. What it does is what gay marriage does is sense sets a tone of inclusiveness. Whether we will fight for Strong Families and a Strong America. It is as much a symbolic issue as a voting issue. Host what about some fiscal issues you talk about. A balanced budget amendment. Does that work sell . I am sorry to be crass, but it is it an effective tool . Guest the vast majority of americans do not like the fact that we are spending money we do not have. They do not like the fact that we are building up a mountain of debt for our children and grandchildren to deal with. That is why most are for a balanced budget and some kind of global constraint. All the incentives in our fiscal life are for keeping our taxes down or spending more money on government benefits. It is no surprise we have yawning deficits. We need global restraint that you guys work it out but do not spend more money than you have so we do not heard in our children with a mountain of debt. Host dos and donts, public and Public Opinion Research Really indicates that some fiscal messages are more effective than others. Make the case that the only way to cure the deficit problem is by growing the private sector economy. We have to get spending under control to get the this been a higher priority on beneficiaries than making sure the government is balanced. Guest forming entitlements because you will never get the budget balanced otherwise is not near as persuasive as saying the entitlement programs are in trouble because of the demographic changes. We have a lot more retirees and a lot fewer workers. The way to argue for entitlement reform is by saying we need to make changes to protect and preserve these programs for future generations. That is a far more effective message been saying we need to reform these entitlement programs just to balance our books. Host james in new jersey democrat. Caller good morning, washington journal, the best show on television. How this man can say the Republican Party is for the working and middle class is beyond me. If you look at the history of the country starting with the Ronald Reagan, one of the worst president s we had for the working class history proves it. They believe in fiction. They do not believe in facts. He was a piece time resident that caused the biggest debt in the history of the country. He was the one who started the downfall to hurt the working people of the country. George bush the father comes in and he continues on brutal economics, the same garbage that got us in trouble. He left the debt to clinton. Clinton the democrat thinks that they host all this said, conclude. Caller what was that . Host major conclusion. Caller my conclusion is that the Democrat Party gets us out of that. The republicans put us in debt host lets get a response. Guest we have had the most breathtakingly high deficits during the Obama Administration then cap ever had. Breathtakingly high. The best thing for working men and women is a vibrant, growing economy. That is what republican candidates are going to be talking about. How we get this economy going not just for a segment of the people but for all the people. That is the best solution for working men and women. Host this is something you discuss in your book. You talk about the fact that during Ronald Reagan, deficits went higher. Are you handing your opponents Campaign Primer with this . Guest my hope is to sketch out how the republican can win using republican principles in the new america. My hope is all republicans all candidates on the republican side can run their campaigns in a way that is inclusive and brown and sells the ability of republican principles and the type of vision that appeals to a right of center electorate. The majority is still a centerright country. Host check is in ohio. Hello. Caller thank you cspan. This gentleman keeps talking about the Republican Party can do in the future. Once they get an office, will they change and hurt the Common People . Host can you give an example of what you mean . Caller like if they want to do away with obama care. Well, a lot of people need of obama care because we do not have it. They do not have insurance. They want to cut spending by then they bailed out the banks and stuff. It does not make sense. If these guys want to do something, do something and stick to it. Please host thank you. Guest it is really in important for every political leader to be consistent in office with what they said your they are going to do. That is how they get credibility. The fastest way to destroy credibility is to do something you promised not to do once you get into office. I agree with you. It is important for people to do what they said they are going to do and do their best to live up to the promises made made during a campaign. Host patrick is calling in from michigan on our independent line. Patricia, i apologize. Caller that is all right. Good morning. We are talking about the candidates. I am not looking at them. I am looking at the American People. They seem to not care about anything that is going on with the country. They are not looking under the mask. As far as the Republican Party it is no wonder we are tired of the establishment. Putting the mccains out there the romneys. They run the conservatives down like they are animals you are never going to be united like that. They are taught to be frightened to death of the conservative. Tell me what the conservatives say that is so dangerous to this country. Mccains, mcdonalds, mcconnells, these people have to be gone. If the American People have to start caring about the country again. And what is going on with it. Another thing, this pope, is going to get the christians to go with the left. His policies are astronomically wrong. When obama asked him to come over to this country, you know it is a bad sign. He will be for obama. God help this country. Thank you. Guest i think it is important that the next republican candidate for president be candidate who can unite the party. That means uniting is this People Tea Party people, social conservatives, libertarians, internationalists. We need a candidate who will unite the centerright coalition to be competitive in 2016. That includes conservatives like you are talking about. Host whit ayres, you have a chapter on obamacare. Obamacare and its legacy. In your view, is it going away . Guest we have a major Supreme Court case that is coming down the height pike that will have a lot to say about that answer. What i do think we will do is have should a republican get into office an alternative to obamacare that has a much different perspective. More private sector involvement. Fewer mandates from the government. You are mandates on who should i insurance and what kind you should buy. We are not going back to the system we had before. Only 18 of americans want the one we had before. The majority want Something Different from obamacare. That is the task of what i hope will be the next republican president. Host mike is on our republican line from illinois. Caller if republicans want to be in the white house, they have to go out there with some of their slogans. It is time for them to support the be against immigration. I know that if the majority of them want to be voted in, they should not listen to their emotions. Host back to immigration, mr. Ayres. Guest as i said, the immigration system is broken. Seriously broken. Most americans recognize that. It is incredibly complex. It involves things like people overstaying their visas. 40 of Illegal Immigrants came here legally. It involves border control. It involves visas for the highly educated. We are kicking those out because they cannot get a visa. These are people who have created jobs. It does not make sense. Most of the time, when you have a seriously broken system, it is the obligation of our government to do what it can to fix that. That is what the people support. That is what the chapter on immigration demonstrates. That people do support fair, reasonable tough immigration reform. It can be done in a number of ways. The house once a sequential way which is fine, as long as it addresses all parts of the broken system. Host during election season, we often hear from reviewers on washington journal, be for something not be against something. I will for the on you. What are two things you would advise a client to do, running against Hillary Clinton . Guest present a vision of the future and what america is going to look like and a more hopeful and optimistic way in the 21st century. Hillary clinton sounds sort of like the past two a great many americans. The most important thing is to create a vision of the future. The second thing is to create a hopeful and optimistic tone that reflects Ronald Reagans. A lot of people do not appreciate how inclusive he was. He talked about his shining city on the hill being populated by people of all different kinds working together to create a better america. It helps to go back and look at reagans farewell address that he gave in 1988. I close my book with that because of that address has the kind of tone that is inclusive once a better world for all americans. That is the kind of tone i think a 2016 republican candidate needs. It is a combination of vision for the future and tone of inclusiveness that brings more people into the centerright coalition. Host this is available via ebook guest . And paperback host democrat, michigan. Please go ahead with your question or comments. Caller i think a more appropriate title for your book is believe me, not your lying eyes. I think the Republican Party has lost all credibility, for me. I cannot vote republican because when i look at you and listen to you, i see misstatements like the one you just made about the obama deficit. You make it seem as though it was created solely by president obama when president obama actually put george w. Bush is bushs two wars and taxes on the books. I look at people who voted for george w. Bush and dick cheney twice and ruined this country financially, racially, and every other way, around the world. We had hope and change when president obama was elected. For the last six years, the Republican Party has done everything it can to murder hope and change. You have embraced a policy of keeping america down economically. Your governors would not accept stimulus money that was instituted to try and bring back the economy. Now you want to say that the economy, the economic recovery, is not robust enough. Your party cap it down and you blamed it on president obama host we got the idea. Guest president obama has been president for the last six years. His party controlled congress for the first part of his first term and did what they wanted. Republicans were in no position to block much of anything between 2008 and 2010. I think we have a different perspective about the state of the economy and what it will take to get it going. I am persuaded that republican principles of limited government, free enterprise, Strong Families, and a Strong America will be better for this country. Host marlin in georgia. Hello. Caller i do agree with the previous caller and many others. What he says about obama inheriting a mess, a truly monumental mess, that is the case. Bush tax cuts and the wars were added to the books. What obama done in office, he had to stimulate the economy by creating the stimulus. He had to pick up the loss of revenue from millions of jobs lost. He had to step in. I think about the current republican governors. I think the idea that income inequality grew mostly under republican governors. The top 1 has gained all the wealth. The bottom 99 has suffered tremendous loss under current gop policies put into effect by reagan. Also the fact that republicans deny the reality of Climate Change. It is detrimental to the American Public. This incessant war on the poor is another major concern of mine. Lack of investment into infrastructure. When you do your homework, i find out certain things to be true. One is the fact that when you look at what party produces the most jobs, i find that emma craddick president s produce more jobs than republican president s host we have a lot on the table and a little time. Guest i think you will find that most americans have not been happy with the state of the economy under the Obama Administration. That is a reason why president obama has really been able to get a majority of americans approving his performance. I think in 2016, americans will be ready for a different approach and path than what the democrats have offered over the last eight years. I am hopeful the republican nominee will paint a compelling picture of a better and more hopeful future. Host it is something you talk about in europe book 2016 and beyond that henry brought up about income inequality. Is that an issue that resonates with voters . Guest it is not income inequality in and of itself. It is the lack of upward mobility Economic Opportunity for all. If we can are just that and get more growth that filters down to all people in this country, that is what they are most concerned about. Americans are not particularly concerned about unequal canonic out economic outcomes as long as the gain is fair and everyone moves up. We have had too few people moving up. We have not had growth in median incomes for the middle class. That is the issue rather than inequality. I talk in my book about the importance of opportunity versus addressing inequality. It is clear that a majority of americans want greater Economic Opportunity rather than have the government tried to enforce some kind of limit on how much you quality or inequality we have at the end of the competition. Host our focus groups valuable as a poster . Guest as long as you understand what they do. You use polls to measure Public Opinion. You use focus groups to better understand Public Opinion. You cannot take 12 people and say these are the views of people around the country. But it could be revealing to see how people think, hard they react to certain candidates how they react to certain candidates. Their emotional and rational reaction to various candidates and their messages and appeal. It could be valuable as long as you understand what they can be used for and what they are not good for. Host david is calling in from cincinnati on our independent line. Caller what are the republicans going to do to reform Social Security i understand Social Security is going to run out of money in the next couple of years. What are republicans going to do to fix those things . Guest we are going to have a nominee in 2016 that i think will address that. That is a critically important issue facing the company the country. Simply because we have so many fewer workers and so many more retirees. We have to make modest changes to Social Security. It is not going anywhere. We will figure it out. But there need to be modest changes that ensure it is there for my generation, my childrens generation, and my and childrens generation. I am persuaded we can get a bipartisan majority you once they take a clear look at the product problem and recognize the kinds of changes that are needed to be preserved. Host this tweet comes in that you may be rights, but so long as equally capable americans remain unemployed, they will not hide the buy the h1b these arguments. Guest if you look at the kinds of people being denied access to stay in this country, you will see people starting his essays and creating jobs. Starting businesses and creating jobs. These are job creators. If you are interested in growing the economy, expanding opportunity, increasing the median age which is what we have talked about you will have to allow those people who have come here to be educated to stay here, if they want and grow the economy and create more jobs. Host boringfileclerk tweets in how can republicans become more hip . Guest it may be significant particularly in dealing with young people. You get a candidate who is comfortable with Technology Social media and a candidate who may be interested in the music that younger people listen to. I do not know that it is the most important thing in a republican nominee, but it helps connect with some of the younger people where we need to do significantly better. Host if you look at it from our point of view in news media, how do you rate through in an interview with a candidate to get him or her off message . So you get something that is not on message . Guest a good candidate knows what he or she wants to say and would like to minute and would like to queue medicaid that. It is not helpful to get a candidate off message if you have them saying they have not thought through. A good candidate can be a very effective committee cater without seeming like they are wrote. You do not want a candidate limited by his or her talking points, but one who understands the depths of the proposals they are trying to make and how they want to move the country forward. The best candidates go well beyond their talking points, which i think is what youre talking about getting them off message. They can talk about what they want with great specificity and intelligence. That is what we need to be persuasive, not only to you but to voters. Host mike in maryland, youre the last call. Caller good morning. I totally agree with your statements on the most important thing being Strong Economy and strong vision to people to make people excited about that. My question is, it goes back to the beginning, when you are talking about the percentages of race and different voters. Isnt that one of mental outlook essentially what is causing things like mitt romney to get a spray tan before he goes on tv and getting people talking points to laugh about . The last thing is a statement of if people understand history and look at the Founding Fathers and who was most in line with their views, it is rand paul. I think people do not understand that. They are following his new story and the tweets and the latest buzz. Thank you. Guest i think it is critically important that a candidate addressed people of all kinds. That is what good candidates do. There are certain patterns in voting behavior that you need to look at if youre a pollster. If they are alarming patterns you need to adjust them. Your fundamental point i take completely. A candidate needs to address his or her vision and ideas about what they want to do with america to all americans, not just some limited subset. That is part of the message in the book. The publicans need to reach out, not just to people they know are with them, but people they can persuade to be with them. Host i want to go back to near where we started. This is from the book. The challenge with republicans is obvious. Even george w. Bushs comfortable reelection win in 2004 with 58 of the white vote and 26 of the nonwhite vote would be a losing hand in 2016. Again the demographics guest it was striking to me when iran the numbers if we have a 69 white 31 nonwhite vote in 2016, the last republican to win comfortably would lose. That is what makes it so critical for the republican nominee to reach out to nonwhite communities. Reach out to hispanics asians, those who have not been voting with republicans, and persuade them to join the centerright coalition. It is critical for a republican candidate to be successful in this new america that does not look like the america you and i grew up in. Host whit ayres, republican consultant and author of 2016 and beyond. Thank you for being with us. About 20 minutes left in the washington journal. We have talked a lot of Public Policy issues but have not talked about some. If you have one on your mind and would like to talk on it talk about it, there are our phone numbers. 202 is our area code. We take those calls in a minute. Hillary clinton is due to announce her campaign for presidency this week. That is what all the news reports are saying. At the National Press club yesterday, we covered and even looking at the email situation at the state department. Here is what tom blanton director of the National Security archives had to say. Scandal is not the private server. The scandal is the atrocious state of government email recordkeeping. The Silver Lining of the entire issue is missing. Without mrs. Clintons private server state. Gov would likely have saved a fraction of the 30,000 emails she has turned over. That is how bad the email recordkeeping system is. That is the headline of this issue. If you ask using a private server is terrible fact is, i agree that is a terrible practice. But everyone does it. 88 Staff Members of president george w. Bush use the private Republican National committee servers to run the email accounts. powell, for his email used aol. Com, not state. Gov. Governor jeb bush of florida who has posted over 100,000 of his emails as governor those were all hosted on a private server in the Governors Office that mr. Bush took with him when he left office. Private servers are what everyone has done. I agree with jason, it is against the law. It is bad practice. You should not do it. But everybody does it. Mrs. Clinton probably found out they all use private servers and said we will use that. Why could she get away with . That . That is the tougher question jason is posing. Where were the watchers . Our first director, scott armstrong, on whom are lawsuit is named, on jong b reagan, the bush, the clinton that is when we won it in 1993. We got and archiving system that saved the Clinton Emails after that. That is how it should be done. President george w. Bush, a chance a technology transfer, it jumped the efiling system. We brought a new lawsuit. Against another resident, a guy named obama. The Obama White House from day one per in an er private system. The white house is practically the only agency that saves it email and electronically. Washington journal continues. Host we are live on washington journal on this spring morning. Phone numbers on the screen. If you would like to dial in and talk about Public Policy issues. We are going to try to get their news articles. You have probably seen announcements about Hillary Clinton had intentionally potentially making her announcement. Whenever or wherever it happens you can imagine cspan cameras will be there as well. Politico talks about Lincoln Chafee announcing his explored or committee, saying clinton should not be president because of her iraq vote. Bill clinton takes on the new york times, says politico. You saw the article on march 29 on bill clinton and his potential role in a Hillary Clinton campaign. He took issue with that in austin at a clinton dinner, a Clinton Foundation dinner. You can find the on politico, in case you are interested. Richie in philadelphia on our republican line. What is on your mind . Caller good morning, how are you . I want to talk about obama. He is biracial. Every time people talk about mr. Obama, they should referred to him as such. You cannot hate someone for being black when he is not black. Host victoria is in oregon. Milino . Caller it is milino. Your previous guest, the republican sultans. He made a comment about we will fix Social Security with modest changes. That is code for middleclass, lets up the age of retirement. How about the people who do not a Social Security taxes if their income is over 117,000 a year. They only pay up to that. I. E. , rock stars nba, nfl, billionaires. My second comment, scott walkers claim to fame is lusting unions busting unions. Mainly public service. He left Fire Departments and police alone, but nursing and teachers. Host kenny in tennessee on the republican line. What is on your mind . Caller i noticed on the tv the other day, the republican are right is attacking the eye doctor guy, rand paul. They are trying to make him look when what they are doing is making him look good. Independent review these attacks by the far right on someone like rand paul as being, if you guys are against him, there must be something good about him. It is like their attack ads are backfiring because they make independent actually look at the guy. Host kenny in bristol tennessee. Budget chairmen are back at work. The republican chairmans of the house and Senate Committees have returned to capitol hill to discuss the differences. Tom price, senator mike enzi met on thursday. They said there parties committed to creating a balanced budget. Republicans hope to finish a joint housesenate budget by wednesday of next week, a deadline that looks like it will be hard to meet. Congress on the second week of a recess and will be back on monday. Felicia is an ocean springs, mississippi, on our republican line. Caller i have a question. After seeing the tax revenues stimulative in washington, oregon, and colorado, with the legalization of would the legalization of marijuana stingley the economy by creating job entry in a product similar to alcohol had . Host do you thicket would . Caller yes. Host why . Caller if you look at the economy and the amount of income that has come in from legalizing , the amount of money they are able to process, including Public Schools and every other issue they have, why would they not want to stimulate the economy that way . Why would the banks and politicians not want to get involved and encourage this . Host that is felicia and ocean springs. Barbara is in jacksonville florida. Caller good morning. We as americans have fallen so far from where we first started. The Founding Fathers, they came to america because they wanted a free environment where they could serve god as they choose. They were not perfect but because they loved and feared god, God Bless America to become the leading nation of the world. We have fallen so far from what the fathers envisioned this country to be. A democracy. How can we preach democracy and not practice it ourselves . The eye of the world is upon us. We have cheapened our country. We are destroying our self from within. A nation divided against itself cannot stand. We need to come back to god as a nation, the principles on which this country was built. Host briber in jacksonville. From politico, drug report still dominance. Drudge report still dominant. It is the leading source of referral traffic according to the leading advertisement management firm. It has not changed in it has not changed much in more than two decades and has a normans influence. 87 of its own traffic is from readers going work late to drudge report and staying there for an average of 30 minutes. 2 million daily, unique visitors. Around 700 million page views according to this article in politico. Ray, South Dartmouth massachusetts. Independent line. Caller how are you. Your last guest, he was saying how they took over congress and the senate. They have to remember, only 27 of the people voted. The next time, when the president comes up, they are all going to come up for votes. I do not think they will win. I think they are going to be looking for jobs. All these Countries Companies moving their Corporate Headquarters overseas so they do not have to pay their their share of taxes they should not be able to do anything with the state. Im talking cvs, burger king, any of those places. They are moving their Companies Overseas so they do not have to pay taxes. You know what i mean . Host that is ray in south yarmouth, massachusetts. Conrad, republican in philadelphia. Hi. Caller how are you doing. I just want to understand from both parties how they can say they raised 50 million if they can figure out how to raise this money to run for reelection , but in the white house they do not have to figure out how to take care of schools and senior citizens, there is a lot of money floating out there. People do not have lobbyists for them. Walmart and kmart have lobbyists to help them get what they want. As long as the system is set up the way it is they say they want to represent everybody that they get line cited and forget everyone when they get to washington. They can get on tv like this guy who got on to state got 30 million. They cannot figure out how to fund our schools. They can send people to iran and everybody else. Everybody that the United States partners with overseas somewhere along the way, they take our money and we get the shaft. How about the United States . It starts at home host comrade in philadelphia. The new york times, Paul Campaign taking virtual currency. The president ial fundraising, never known for its transparency, may have become more secretive. In announcing his candidacy for resident this week, and under rand paul waded into new waters when he said he would accept Campaign Contributions in bitcoins it a largely untraceable virtual currency, in amounts up to 100. Donors were given three options for making a contribution. Credit card, paypal paypal, or bitcoins. While some state and federal candidates have started excepting bitcoins, mr. Paul is the first president ial candidate to do so. Don is in missoula, montana on an democrat line. Caller i would like to thank you for having me on. To listen to mr. Ayres earlier to listen to what he said a lot of people have to realize that anymore, the republicans do not run their party like they did years ago. I am 66 now. The republicans are basically run by the koch brothers. When it comes to voting, not even when womens rights came out, every woman ayotte, all of them they did not vote. I thought for sure the womens bill would pass and they did not vote for it. Host next weekend in los angeles is the annual Los Angeles Times festival of books. Book tv will be live april 18 and 19 from the university of Southern California campus. Nicco mele he nicco mele is the publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Wonder they start sponsoring this . Caller guest we started this about 20 years ago. It was an important way the newspaper could engage in the community. Provide a space for all kinds of people from publishers, authors, thinkers, but also chefs and artists and actors and actresses. To come together and celebrate. Los angeles is one of the creative capitals of the world. Host what can we expect . Guest we will have over 500 authors, celebrities, musicians, artists, etc. , as well as booksellers, publishers, and cultural organizations across nine stages. There is something for everyone. Bring your kids, your grandparents. We have candice bergen, t. C. Boyle, roy choi, your favorite billy idol, Joyce Carol Oates jason segel. Polly perretti. Octavia spencer. There is someone for everyone. Families foodies, hipsters students. More than 100 conversations on everything from california crime noir to Digital Privacy rights to the future of american identity. Host what kind of reaction do you get . Guest it has been an immediate success. When we started, he became a cornerstone event in los angeles culture. People market it all year long. It has been a signature events. The Los Angeles Times invites everyone to celebrate this great city. It has grown to one of the largest festivals of its kind. Theres nothing like it anywhere in the u. S. It started simply. It was about bringing together people who create books and people who love to read them. It has grown into a much daughter celebration. We have a big book award we give out every year. We are adding something new called an idea exchange. Malcolm gladwell will be in conversation with the Los Angeles Times critic. If you listen to npr, you are probably familiar with that critic as the film critic. Host as regulars bureaus as regular viewers know, booktv will be there. We have partnered with the l. A. Times festival of books to create a book bag. We will hand those out from the cspan bus. If you familiar with the area, just off the usc the usc campus. We are about half a block from tommy the trojan. Is there a cost . Guest the bulk of the event is free. Some are ticketed due to limited space. This is a chance to invite the country in to los angeles to look at california as the gateway to both latin america and the pacific rim. To look at the future challenges the country faces and its future. From jack to Climate Change to immigration from drought to Climate Change to immigration. Across the board, all kinds of exciting opportunities. Host you can go to latimes. Com and follow the festival at l afob. Booktv will be live on cspan to all week and next weekend from the Los Angeles Times festival of books. Saturday and sunday, april 18 and 19. Go to booktv. Org to get the full schedule. Lot of call in opportunities panels, nonfiction authors you will hear from all weekend on the tv. A few minutes left on our program. Ronald is in philadelphia. A republican. You are on washington journal. Caller how are you doing. Actually i am independent. I do not know why they put me down as republican. The only time a republican want to be all that with minorities and gay people is election day and war. We accept everybody on election day and war. Then the remember the log cabin crew these to have . You do not hear about them no more. But they bring it up election day. In the first place, we should have corporations now churches, we are this and that we want limited government. Corporations tell you everything. If it kills you, what the heck. Have a good day. Host ellen is in new york city, democrat. Caller i am talking about the use of the private server by mrs. Hillary clinton. She knows how damaging recorded information can be, since she took part in the impeachment hearings of Richard Nixon in which an 18 minute gap in the recording was used for his removal from office. She is well aware. She could have removed millions of emails that we do not know about. It would be interesting to see that this could be the snake that comes back to bite her. Host alex, chattanooga tennessee. Republican. Hello. Caller hello and thank you for allowing me. I called in on the republican line. I have to confess is it is getting more and more difficult to admit i actually am republican. When i first became active and worked for the indiana Republican Party as a College Republican in 1986, republicans stood for limited government. They were responsive to the concepts of being truly conservatives as far as taxes. Today, georgia has increased taxes. An absolute exorbitant amount. That is a republican governor legislature. They are doing it across the country, raising taxes. It is embarrassing the hypocrisy we see consistently in the Republican Party. I am disappointed and ashamed of my republican friends allowing this to continue. I wish we would step up. One of the problems one of your people pointed out 27 voted in the last election that gave republicans a seemingly served majority. That is a fallacy that will either operate as mr. Whit ayres pointed out. Host who do you think you are leaning towards in 2016 . Caller i do not vote on the social issues that people want to hammer and pick on women. They want to pick on gay people. They want to pick on the elderly. I am a George Pataki guy at this point in time. I hope they will be a window there. I dont see how we could make good progress. So much in the south is hellbent to be bigots and racists. The t