Transcripts For CSPAN2 Strangers In Their Own Land 20161016

In the 1970 census, those living abroad, and today all time high of 20 . Thats part of what happened to to our country. A finalist for the National Book award this year, by the way, just announced. Congratulations. Other books include working parents and the revolution at home, the time bind, when home becomes work and work becomes home, and the managed heart the commercial of a the intimate life. She has been awarded therd ulysses metal from University College Dublin Ireland as well as the guggenheim fellowship. Four per books have been named a National New York times notable nonfictionme books of the year in her work appears in 16 languages as a sociology professor at ucberkeley living in berkeley california with her husband. Use] [applause] when i thought we could do is spend a little bit of time to take you on a journey with me questions and comments. Five years ago i sensed, like so many of us did, a split between left and right that was getting more extreme. Each side was hardening. And that we lived in kind of enclaves so that i would talk to my husband and best friend, wed chatter away, and wed agree, and then i would open the newspaper and say, oh, my gosh, look. There are two truths here. Theres im not living in the whole world. Or id look at television and feel the same. And i knew that, actually, other americans were in the same situation, that we live in media enclaves, in technological enclaves and in geographic enclaves. Berkeley, california, teaching sociology, i was in a super enclave. [laughter] so i thought, i want to get out of my enclave, take my political and moral alarm system off and permit myself to get very curious about the lives of people who lived in an enclave as far away and as distant from my own as i could. Where would that be . The split between [inaudible] this mic. Okay. Wrong mic. The split between left and right is not because the left has gotten more left, but because the right has gotten more right, and more people are on the right. So i thought that has mainly, that change has happened mainly in the south. So, good, i wanted to go to the south. But where in the south . I saw in 2012 that while half of whites voted for obama in california and about a third did in the south as a whole region, 14 did in louisiana. So i thought, great, i want to go to louisiana. And i want, i want to talk to whites. Who else . Older whites, maybe especially religious older whites in louisiana. So our voyage starts there with a question. I went with this red state paracox in paradox in mind. How is it true that in the United States is most red states are also the poorer states, ones with worse education, with worse health and lower life expectancies. Those states receive more funds from the federal government in aid than they give in tax dollars. And yet are the most suspicious and resistant to the idea of a federal government. Well, thats really interesting. What goes on with that . And louisiana is a super red state paradox because in 2014 it was the poorest state. 44 of its state budget came from the federal government, and it was very largely, very largely tea party and trump. So it was perfect. I was will at, at an exaggerated version of the red state paradox. And then i made one more move. I thought, okay, a lot of people who are doing well, have worked hard and have succeeded economically wouldnt themselves want medicaid or food stamps, and i could understand perhaps their opposition to that. But how about the environment . I wake up and look, and it was kind of foggy, you know . And there were certain smells around the place. And sometimes my eyes would sting if i was in west lake. This was a petrochemical center, very proud to say it was the buckle of Americas Energy belt, more Petrochemical Companies being lured in with incentive money in order to use the cheap natural gas produced by fracking. So, but there was something in the air, and people were drinking bottled water. So i thought, wait a minute, lets look at the environment here. Its staring me in the face. I didnt go there with that in mind, but it was unavoidable. I discovered that one of the parishes which is around lake charles in the southwest of louisiana which is a center of this petro to chemical petrochemical industry was among the 2 most polluted in the country. And yet there was no discussion of the need to regulate the polluters. And, in fact, people were voting for people who said nothing about pollution. So there i was right almost the key hole of the red state paradox. And i want to tell you, take you on a journey with me to meet some of the most extraordinary, interesting, complex, lovely, caring people who were at the center of this paradox. Meet harold and annette arena. I am seated on a soft living room couch in the home of harold, a gentle cajun pipe fitter, whos carefully holding before me from his adjacent chair a large photo album. He draws his hand back and forth over the plastic covers on the black and white photos. He turns the pages slowly, searching for one. 77 and a former deacon in the Lighthouse Tabernacle pentacostal church, hes dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans. He speaks in a slow baritone, his eyes on the page often concluding a line of thought with a light chuckle as if to say, its all right. He points, there it is. His mother, father, himself and nine siblings standing in two rows, squinting into the sun on the banks of bayou den. It is 1950. Hearld names his brothers harold names his brothers and sisters. He tells how his mother used to catch gar by coaxing the push fish and lifting them into the boat. But its not just his family he wants me to see. As if introducing friendly neighbors, he points behind the family to something else. Standing proud in the water behind the faces in the photograph are commanding, bald cypress trees, large triangular trunks rising prosecute water, once the glorious queens of the forested wetland of southern louisiana and still the official state tree. Green moss hangs from outstretched lower branches. Tree after tree, like lace shawls in a dance hall. Throw a cajun in the swamp, harold chuckles his eyebrows lifting for emphasis and he can make a living. But that was before. Before what . That was before the petrochemical industry came and began to pollute public waters and to contaminate the fish and to lead to blinded turtles with white eyes kind of looking out, not seeing bugs they could eat to stay alive and starving. And before the cows tipped over and before everyone else in harold renos family got cancer and everybody but he and his own wife died. It was a lot to take in, i thought. Wow. I interviewed the man who actually did the polluting. Lee sherman. Just saw him a few days ago when i went back to louisiana, which was the first thing i did after the book came out to put on a dinner for the people that i wrote about. And theyre friends, the guy who did the polluting and the victims of it. Because they feel a victim of something bigger. So harold and annette are voting, have voted republican all their lives, and theyre thinking about voting more trump. Theyre not sure. These days. [laughter] and they didnt like that trump was imitating disabled people. That really, as good religious people, they were appalled at that and the accusations very much took them aback. But they were thinking about it. And, of course, trump wants to abolish the Environmental Protection agency. So were still right there in this red state paradox and the key hoel issue of key hole issue of it. So let me just outline some things that i discovered that felt to them more important than the paradox that i, from berkeley, california, came in curious about. Something bigger was there for them. And i think it was this. It was really three things. I mean, the south, the federal government is the north, right . Okay. I wouldnt give that a lot of weight, but i think its there. Kind of in the background. And i treat that in the book. Then they look at the regulators, and its very interesting because in louisiana the regulators are part of the State Government which has been what scholars would say captured by oil. That is, the State Government is run by oil men or those who owe their Campaign Financing to oil and pretty much do oils bidding. Meanwhile, so that Governor Jindal gave 1. 5 billion in incentive money to these petrochemical and Oil Companies saying, oh, please come to louisiana. And dont go to texas. So with that 1. 5 billion, the Companies Began to give out donations to the audubon society, you know, lets preserve the birds, and to third grade science classes and uniforms for Louisiana State football team. So people loved the companies. They thought the job they got the jobs, but not many jobs. Only 16 of jobs in louisiana have to do at all with the Oil Companies. These are highly automated plants, and the people they bring in are are often from out of state. So to run the petrochemical company, you would want an mit chemist and then filipino pipe fitters are brought in. So there are jobs but not many. But people looking at the companies say, well, some jobs at least and a lot of goody bags. But they look at the state, and they see a state that isnt actually protecting them, where people have been hired to present the illusion of protection without providing the reality of it. In essence, you might say the state has been given the moral dirty work to do to seem to protect but not really protect people. And so people were mad at the state. Didnt do its job, why should i pay taxes to this donothing state especially since i havent had a raise in two decades. Ask jobs are a little and jobs are a little more shaky than they were. So thats a second reason. First, its government as an instrument of the north, then government as an instrument of oil. And then they dont put it together quite the way i just have. But theres a third thing. I came to this whole project with an interesting emotion and feelings. And i think we get to the feelings underneath politics, both rightwing politics and leftwing liberal politics by looking at what i call a deep story. Whats a deep story . Its a story that feels true. You take out moral judgments, you take out facts, and you have a story that is how it feels. What is the renos deep story or that of the other 40 people over five years i came to really know well, 60 interviews in all. The deep story is this, imagine that youre in a line as in a pilgrimage going to the top of a hill where there is the american dream. You have worked very hard for this american dream. Youve been patient, and youre a good person. You dont begrudge anybody, but your line isnt moving toward that dream. And then you see some people seeming to cut ahead of you. You say, whats that about . Well, who are they, these linecutters . Well, those would be blacks on affirmative action who now have access to jobs formerly reserved for whites, those would be women who are, have access to jobs formerly reserved for men, that would be immigrants, it would be refugees, even Public Sector workers like some of these people working in Environmental Protection, in the state agency. What are they doing . Why are they there . So then in the deep story you see someone, Barack Hussein obama, who seems to be whose job it is to be impartial and supervise the line for everyone. But you see him waving to the linecutters. Hes their president. Hes doing for them, and hes leaving me out. In fact, im kind of like a Minority Group although i dont talk about minorities. Im sort of back there, especially as a white man. And, in fact, isnt obama one of those linecutters himself . I heard time and again how did he get to harvard . His mother was a single mom. They didnt have two cents to put together, and how did he get to columbia . Somethings rigged. Somethings rigged. So hes one of them, and hes not representing me. So another thing in this and somebody turns around whos ahead of the line and looks back and says, oh, youre just a southerner, youre illeducated, youre ignorant, and youre a redneck. And then you just feel whipped, you feel insulted, you feel marginalized, you feel what i came to call kind of an honor squeeze. All the sources of honor to which you turn are locked down. First, you want honor for working as hard as you have and having some economic recompense. But, you know, the machine has ground to a halt. So you cant do that. Well, but youre a very good, youre a true believer. Youre a highly religious person as the renos are. But youre living in an increasingly Secular Society that thinks what you believe is wrong. And your family living, and you have your values about a good family, a true woman. And now the law of the land is saying your beliefs are wrong, and youre seen as backward. So and then demographically you feel there are fewer people like us. And they came to feel almost like a native american tribe that was, in fact, a stranger in its own land. And when you add the fact the renos feel that the ground is not their ground, the bay you is not bayou is not their bayou, the fish are not their fish, the trees are not they were in mourning for those trees. They loved those large cypress trees, and they were gone. They were stumps in the bayou. So they felt like strangers in their own land. And we can see the anger, but i dont think we can see the mourning that a lot of people are feeling. So in the end, the state was an instrument for the north, it was an instrument of oil, and it was an instrument of the linecutters, they felt in their deep story. Making them strangers in their own land. So im going to just end with these thoughts. I began with one paradox, but i ended up with another. The paradox i ended up with was how could the Democratic Party call itself, you know, the party of the working people and have working people leaving it in droves . Like, thats the paradox for people who have a different, a deep story and are on the liberal left. A very important paradox. Because i, because of this my husband adam and i were recently in hungary. We were giving talks in budapest where a very rightwing leader, erdogan, has taken over. And as you know, theres been a loss of the free press, a consolidation of power and all the statues have been changed statues have been changed in budapest. There used to be many different ethnicities, and now theyre all heroic hungarian figures and, actually, the history of the hungarian role in the persecution of the jews in world war ii has been erased. If you look at all the statues, there is no sign of that anymore. Recently these have been changed. So i asked an observer, gee, what happened . Because hungary was just dying to get itself out of the claws of the soviet union and was thrilled and relieved to finally be part of european union, and it loved democracy and the free press, and how could this happen . And the mans answer was this nobody thought it could happen. And the left was turned in on itself. Divided and did not vote. Let me just end there. [applause] thank you, arlie. We want to open up the room for questions now. We do have at least 30 minutes for some questions, and we do have a microphone right over here so, because we are on tv, if you could come up to the microphone if you have a question, and well address those. So, first, i wanted to thank you for bringing some empathy to this election cycle. Ive been so disheartened being sensitive to all the tone of derision that has really permeated especially among the left. How could these people think this way, and theres so much otherring which is just furthering the problem in the first place. Right. But i think theres a lot of misperception of this election as the end game, and its not, you know, its just an event. So how do we think beyond the election . Because if trump gets elected, the left is going to feel hurt and alienated. If hillary gets elected, it just continues this strangers in their own land pa paradox. Paradox. How do we continue the empathy after the electionsome. Wonderful question. Absolutely goes to the core of what ive tried to do with this book. Let me just tell you a story about what i came to call the empathy wall that we all need to scale, about actually how wonderful it is to climb it. Its not a chore, its not hard. Its soulenlarging. [laughter] and im at i met an incredible gospel singer at the republican women of southwest louisiana meeting. It was very well organized and huge attendance, and i was at this luncheon table, and across the way was this wonderful gospel singer and her husband was the minister of a very large pentacostal church. And she said i love Rush Limbaugh. You know, the conservative radio commentator. And i thought, id really like to talk to her. [laughter] i have something to learn. And so we did. The next day we met for sweet teas, and we talked, and i said what was it that whats the appeal of Rush Limbaugh . Well, he hates these feminazis. A little moment there. And what is a feminazi . Well, you know, cold, tough, hard sort of selfcentered person destroying families. Okay. And she went on to environmental whackos and all these. And then she asked me, is it hard for you to hear what i am saying . And a bill went off. I thought a bell went off. I thought, actually no, its not hard. Im not here to have a debate. Im here to learn, you know . Ive spent my life teaching students, but now the fun part is learning. She said i do that too. Thats not hard for me either. And then we had that in common. And then she explained that, actually, she caw Rush Limbaugh s defending her against this hail of epithets that came, she thought, from liberal land, you know, that she was seen as fact and homophobic and sexist and racist, and she saw him as defending her from that. Well, i learned a ton over those sweet teas. So i guess what im doing is making an invitation for us to continue this voyage over the empathy wall. Later she said, youre my first democratic friend. [laughter] i thought, good, good. Were getting somewhere. [laughter] and, you know, you dont agree on a lot of things but, hey, youve established a floor of respect and liking on which a lot more can be set, ambivalences can be admitted, complexities arise. You know, youre real people on both sides. And its fantastic. So i just think that after this election whoever wins that people, especially liberals i think need to actually reach out, not be turned inward. Or theres something called living room conversations that have been started where left and right get together, they break food, break bread together, and i just love to see those living room conversations all over the country. Thanks for the question. Thank you. Yeah, i would just add im a nurse, and i would say that its just incredible what happens when people feel heard. Yes. Yeah. Hi, arlie. My name is stacy harris. Im originally from min grab lit, just to give you minneapolis, just to give you some background. I tell people that im from southern minnesota to make them feel more comfortable [laughter] to otherwise i would get a lot of the yankee, go home. One thing ive noticed today is that this topic intrigued me as well as your other books, and the fact that this audience is overwhelmingly white. But i will point out that tennessee is the home of albert gore, senior and junior, particularly with regard to the environment. But my question is this, because were talking about paradoxes and so forth. One of the things that i noticed, im one of the people thats in this bind of voting for the lesser of two evils, and i was looking at the third parties, and i discovered that the tennessee ballot has either six or seven choices on it. Of those three or four, i dont even i cant really even get any information. I may have to google further. But one of the choices intrigued me, and that was the Constitution Party. Because not being an evangelical, i dont profess to know how evangelicals think other than in terms of how i react to their thinking. [laughter] but what i cant understand is and this is nothing new the people that are evangelicals that are voting for trump in spite of all the reasons that they dont want to vote for him, why they are not flocking to the Constitution Party. Now, in tennessee the Constitution Party is not on the ballot. It will be a writein vote, and the writein votes dont count. And ive been a crusader for years about having your writein vote count. It used to be listed in the newspaper, because i think that says something, and this year in particular i think its going to say something. So that is the end of my comments. Im interested in your answers, thank you. Yeah. Of the people that i came to know, i dont know anyone that is voting for a Third Party Candidate at all, including the Constitution Party. They thought about it, but theyre not thinking of doing it. Its interesting, a lot of the Tea Party People i talk to actually have a friendly feeling toward bernie sanders. They say, oh, uncle bernie, you know . Pie in the sky. Hes not real realistic, you kni dont think hes got his platform down but, you know, there was a friendly feeling. And not toward hillary, but toward bernie. So that told me a lot. Actually out fishing, had a couple of beers, and i was out fishing with a guy, super trump, Super Tea Party and dealing with the contradiction which there is between those two. Tea party wants a really slimmeddown government, you know, and trump would seen is wanting a whole sort of how do you get rid of every undocumented worker . Youre going to need a surveillance state thatll cost an arm and a leg. So i think thats their paradox to deal with. But anyway, this guy was dealing with that. At one point he said he put his line out and he said, you know, lets get rid of money out of politics on both sides. Its just polarizing us. I thought, wow. We have a real crossover issue there. You know, your good friends that you think of as enemies would completely agree with that. And he said, you know, these politicians, theyre trying to pit us against each other. So this is what the heart of, quote, the opposition from the left point of view are saying very reasonable and interesting things. So whether they vote for whoever they vote for, i see a lot of crossover issues that we could begin with. Thank you for your work. This question, i think, dovetails neatly from what you were just saying. I spent about twothirds of my relatively young life so far in the rural south. Ive lived here for about nine years. You didnt mention a lot of the following in your discussion, but i have a theory having spent a lot of time in the rural south that social issues, controversial social issues like abortion, samesex marriage tend to be the threshold, tend to tip things politically in the south toward the right. Not so much the economics, not so much the government being the north. And id like to hear your thoughts on that particular issue. Yeah. I think thats right. That kind of corresponds with my impression. I going back to this honor squeeze, i kind of felt that many of these social issues about samesex marriage or a right to abortion are if those things, if the whole Society Changes its view on those things and a quite fundamental part of their selves is challenged, is dwarfed, is dishonored, and i think it is very important. And in a way, these issues have gained federal currency, National Currency without the kinds of conversations that, in fact, cross the empathy wall. You know . I dont know as those conversations have really happened on those issues. One man told me, you know, the south is changing too, but we want to change at our own pace. And they felt that things were being shoved down their throat. Well, thats an interesting comment that i think speaks to, to your point. Yeah. Theres been some interesting talk recently about the effects of peoples own, i guess, geospatial experiences on their political views. So, for instance, the atlantic recently reported that trump has a 26 lead on people who still live in their hometowns. Theres been other Research Showing that, you know, the south is in some way, southerners stray the least far from home. I think they said the median southerner lives nine miles from his or her mother. [laughter] as applied to the people that you spoke with, you know, how many of them are still live anything their hometowns . And of those who are still living in the regional area, how many of them have traveled . What kinds of firsthand knowledge do the people in your book have about the world outside their particular parish in louisiana . Thats great, thats great. Yeah. What we do have is this contrast between locals and cosmopolitans, you could say, to put labels on it. But the people i came to know probably did live nine miles from their mother, and theres a good reason. They love where they are. Theyre committed to their communities and dont want, you know, government messing with that community. So when they travel, they travel elsewhere in the south or, you know, maybe all of us when we travel dont actually travel, you know . [laughter] that we, you know, you get on a plane if youre in berkeley, california, or new york or los angeles and what do you do . You go to london or paris, you go to another city in an urban area or from one coast to another. And then what are you really learning . The people i came to know were extremely knowledgeable about things locally. One man i went fishing with could describe the face of ten kinds of fish, you know . [laughter] you know, teeth, i mean, i never thought about it before, you know . Or the sound of a frog, you know . These were, these were part of the population. And he knew them well. And i once tried out on thinking about empathy and how empathy works, and i said to one woman she was an accountant well, do you think that actually left and right are equally everyone pathetic empathetic people but we have different empathy maps and that actually, you know, liberal democrats are more likely to empathize with people they dont know . That could be, you know, the Syrian Refugees or whatever and whereas people on the right are more likely to empathize, be willing to sacrifice for people they do know. For example, the cajun navy that just rescued people from the floods around baton rouge would be an example of an enormous amount of help and sacrifice to those locals. So i said this to this person. She said, well, no. Were she was tea party. She said, no, our church has a Foreign Mission in africa, and here are the pictures of little children in africa, and you can see them on the corkboard in the hall of the church. And i said, yes, but isnt that partly that these mission, this mission has as its goal to teach about pentacostalism . You know, she said, youve got me there. [laughter] they were wonderful people with a great sense of humor, and you can tell just by her comment the space that opened out when both sides feel freer. I come from a proud history of southern rednecks who [laughter] i pursued my own education would remind me not to give above my raisings. I heard a conversation on public radio, i think Chris Tippett who does a ram about spirituality interviewing ruby sales who is a black activist who began her work during the birmingham years when she was a teenager. She said something that was most interesting. She says that first of all, she wants to go to appalachia and begin a Movement Among the whites. She has learned, she said, to ask a different question. Not a policy question, not a political question, not a welfare question, but she asks, where does it hurt . Oh, good. How does it affect you . Yeah. Where does it wound you . Yeah. And she says thats the start of a different conversation. Yeah. I think shes right. And be she thinks that going to appalachia in the south, a black woman beginning a movement to simply sit down and say where does it hurt is a way to start a new conversation. Id like your response or thought about that. My response is bravo. [laughter] i think shes fabulous, and i think that is, in fact, where exactly you could say where my book points, that it points to ruby sales. Thank you for a wonderful talk. My question is, how do you bring in the facts to counter these deep stories . Because at the end of the day, i think some of these deep stories are actually hurting them. How do you, as an educator, see how we can overcome this and say these are the plain facts on which you can draw your opinions, leaving politics out of it . Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful question. Yeah. Deep stories can hurt both those that the deep story is about, of course, and the very people who hold these deep stories. And in a way, thats kind of what my book is trying to do. I feel its kind of a gift. Like, heres how it looks to me i could be wrong, but i think youre hurting from your own positions. Although i understand your suspicion about State Government. I mean, i thats what i learned, that captive states are, create a lot of this hurt and account for some of the misdirection, from my point of view, of blame. But, yeah, i think were these last two comments are pointing to what hurts, but youre saying, so now what . How what are the policy implications of that . Well, i think we could begin a movement now and a ruby sales kind of movement that, in fact, moved gradually from the deep story and the hurt to what to be done, what could be done about it. This an open atmosphere. In an open atmosphere. A lot of public square, open forums that set this tone. Because we think of politics apart from tone, but tone is everything. Tone is a lot. And if we get the right tone, then i think we can have the right kind of crossover conversations about removing some of the causes of pain in the case of these louisianans, getting some genuine regulation of polluting industries. And in the case of many other issues. As you know, theres now a leftright kind of agreement that we need to reduce prison populations. That these were nonviolent crimes, people get locked up. The prisons are now privatized and it becomes in the interest of the Prison Guards to kind of keep people in because they get its profitable to do so, and theres a whole logic that takes people, especially black men, away from their families. So if youre familyoriented in your politics and moral beliefs, that seems like a good thing. Prisons are expensive. States paying for it in the end so, hey, what are we doing here . Left and right can agree. And i think there are a number of issues when you get down to the details that people could agree on. Thank you. Im from North Carolina. Youve heard an awful lot about what we used to consider one of the most progressive states in the union of late. I am also an evangelical, a retired military person and a retired minister. And i felt compelled when the lady said she didnt know anything about evangelicals to tell her that every time i hear that word on television the last year, i cringe. Wow. Our job as ministers of the gospel of jesus christ was not to present ourselves and to build ourselves up, but to take a message. And that is what a true evangelical tries to do, is not present himself, but to present christ and the claims of christ on lives and to do it in whosoever will, let him come. Right. And i just feel, i felt compelled to say that, because that is the message of christ. Whosoever will, let him come unto me. And thats a true evangelical. And the people that stand up and and condone, in my opinion, saying my of the things which are any of the things which are offensive to anybody on either side is misrepresenting jesus christ. And when i saw some of the College President s and pastors and all this stuff talk about their endorsement can right. I said, my friend, to myself, youre not presenting christ as a whosoever will message. Yeah. So there are a few of us still in North Carolina that are trying [laughter] and well continue to try. Yeah. Yeah. And i just felt as a tarheel and a evangelical and a retired minister and retired military person to say that. Well, wonderful. God bless you. Vote. Thank you. Vote. Vote. [applause] i didnt tell you how to vote. Could i tell one story . Sure. [laughter] i feel right at home. A short story. My i was a 30yearold man, and i was called to a church in a textile mill village town. And it was close to the election. And i said to the people and this was a day when the ministers didnt get up there and tell their people how to vote. They told them to vote. And i said if youll come next sunday, i am going to tell you how to vote. The largest congregation that i had the whole time i was pastor of the church, for 12 years, came, and they were standing and packed and standing around the wall, because nobody was telling a minister was not telling them how to vote. And i said, i came out didnt step in the pulpit, stepped out in front of the congregation, and i said, first of all, if you dont have a car, get a person to take you to the poll. Right. And secondly, you stand in your line, and i just described it [laughter] thats how you vote. [laughter] [applause] well, we have reached the end of our time here. [laughter] vote. Want to thank everybody for their questions and their stories. And were still trying here in tennessee too, sir, so dont feel bad. Youre not alone. [laughter] but we can continue the discussion with arlie in the signing colonnade and just want to, again, say congratulations for being chosen as a finalist for National Book award. Thank you. Strangers in their own land. Thank you very much, arlie. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] and youre watching booktv on cspan2s live coverage of the 28th annual southern festival of books in nashville. In about ten minutes, author Richard Schweid will discuss homelessness in america. Well be right back. [inaudible conversations] host were live here in nashville. This is [inaudible conversations] host the southern festival of books held on the legislative plaza in downtown nashville. Thats the State Capitol back there. And booktv is live with author events on cspan2, National Back Award Finalist Arlie Russell hochschild is speaking right now. But this is aboveground. You can see here theres a nice street festival going on. Just want to give you a sense of what it looks like on the outside here. [inaudible conversations] host down here, downtown nashville. I said this before, but i am in nashville, so i guess i should use the word howdy and welcome. Beautiful day. Its a nice festival. Just a quick look around oh, there we go. There we go. There we go. Had to get a little elvis in there. We are in tennessee, arent we . [laughter] [inaudible conversations] host very nice festival. This is often we dont get a chance to see this part of it when were covering authors on booktv, so we thought wed take this opportunity and just give you a quick show of what it looks like outside of the author events that we do cover. And weve got a full day of coverage today, full day of coverage again tomorrow. And you can find that full schedule at booktv. Org. And if youre in nashville, we do have some booktv bags. So come on in, say hi. Look at all the people. Southern festival of books. Tennessee. Might have to bring back some tshirts. [inaudible conversations] host and, of course, book sales. So just to give you a sense of what it looks like here in downtown nashville. Here we go. And heres a look at some upcoming book fairs and festivals happening around the country. Next saturday booktv is live from madison for the wisconsin book festival. Look for author discussions with Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award Finalist viet, as well as kathy kramer discussing the political career of wisconsin Governor Scott walker. Then on saturday, october 29th, its the louisiana book festival held in baton rouge at the State Capitol. Coming up in november, booktv is live from austin for the texas book festival with the likes of former attorney general alberto gonzalez, Columbia University law professor tim wu and orange is the new black actress diane guerrero. And later in november booktv will be live from the miami book fair, thats november 19th and 20th. Our coverage includes author discussions and callins including senator bernie sanders, fox news host dana perino and cowellson whitehead. For more information about the book tears and fest book fairs and festivals and to watch previous festival coverage, click the book fairs tab on our web site, booktv. Org. Imagine an alternative history of the 1976 president ial election. America is celebrating its bicentennial with fireworks, and two men a republican from michigan and a democrat from georgia are campaigning to be president. What if one of themed had given a speech that predicted the future . My fellow americans, one could imagine him saying, this difficult decade will soon come to an end. The National Hangover from vietnam and watergate will slowly fade. There will be no more lines for gasoline, no more stagflation. In fact, the berlin wall will crumble in our lifetimes, the cold war will end. The Nuclear Threat will recede, and there will be no more Foreign Military threats to our soil. The last of the formal legal barriers to full economic participation by women and people of color will fall. China, korea, brazil, india and south africa will join the Global Economic community and lift hundreds of millions of people out of lifethreatening poverty. Americans will invent or reinvent industries that will create more wealth in the next 30 years than has been created in the entire history of humankind. Technology will dramatically improve the lives of all americans and most people around the globe, and america will continue to be the worlds wealthiest nation with its most productive workers. Now, that would have been a truly incredible, truly astounding set of predictions all of which, as it turns out, would have come true. But imagine if the speech continues. My fellow americans, of all the new wealth our country produces, 95 will go to the top 1 of income earners. A few hundred wealthy families will amass more wealth than the bottom 50 of us combined. The bottom 8090 wont see a dime of increased pay, and the bottom 50 will have to take a pay cut. Were going to export manufacturing, import third world wages, divest from our infrastructure, detax, deregulate, globalize, privatetize, were going to break the unions, shred the funding for rural and urban public education, make debtfree college a thing of the past. Were going to turn our backs on the middle class, were going to replace old jim crow laws with a new economic apartheid for black and brown americans. The net Economic Impact of women doubling their Work Force Participation between 1977 and 2012 will be zero dollars in takehome pay for the bottom 90 of incomeearning families, and the family that can reasonably afford a comfortable mid middle class life on a single persons paycheck today will need two or even three incomes to live the same life a generation from now. Obviously, giving such a speech would have doomed anyones president ial candidacy. [laughter] his party would have been out of power for years. No one in america would have voted for such a vision, and yet the second part of our function