In this room in one sense by the presence of pat oliphant. So please greet pat. But even more by the work of pat which yowull see on the screen. The culture he reptde esreprese highly specific. Daily perspective over the course of more than 60 years as a cartoonist, producing more than 10,000 individual cartoons, five days a week for the denver post, for several years, for the washington star for several years, and then along the way, pat oliphant became the first 20th century cartoonist to work independently of any newspaper. Thats how popular his work was, and it was syndicated through newspapers all across the country, out of his studio. So a specific daily comments on events as they were occurring, far from being balanced, they were opinion atded. That was part of their virtue. And obviously, not so much in words, although there are words, but especially in pictures and the work of the art of pat oliphant not just confined to cartoons but also to paintings and sculpture. Before i i
Pillars to look more broadly and more deeply that the instability. From yemen to syria to iraq and iran the region more than ever is in the permanent read the turmoil of endless wars and tragically despite decades of intense and american attention of billions of dollars more often than not a failure. May be the caveat is an absolute failure and to foster stability and a better life for the people of the region. Of course the one ultimately responsible for the success or failure are the people who live there. And with todays middle east raises a lot of questions about whether the United States should continue to be engaged in the region and if so, how . In this regard the editors of seven pillars, michael and brian and their co contributors have given us a gift. They identified seven factors that affect stability and examine what they mean and the role they play. The pillars they identified with the legitimacy of islam and ideology education economy and governance i found many of the au
The scheduling of this book and panel is certainly timely given the rising crisis with iran. Will get to the subject eventually, but the point of the book entitled transeven and the discussion is to look more broadly and more deeply of the drivers entitled seven pillars. From yemen to syria iraq and now with iran, the region more than ever seems in a permanent state of turmoil. Its become a land of endless wars. And tragically, despite decades of intense and often wellmeaning american attention and expenditure of billions of dollars, u. S. Policy has more often than not been a failure. Maybe the caveat more often than not is too kind. Its been absolute failure. The basic aim was to foster stability and a better life for the people of the region. Of course the ones ultimately responsible for a country success or failure of the people who live there. But the catastrophe of todays middle east raises a lot of questions about whether the United States should continue to be engaged in the re
Its become a land of endless wars. Tragically, despite decades of intense and often wellmeaning american attention and expenditure billions of dollars, u. S. Policy has more often than not been a failure. Maybe the caveat more often than not is to kind. Its been an absolute failure if one accepts the basic aim was to foster stability and a better life for the people of the region. Of course the ones ultimately responsible for a country success or failure of the people who live there. But the catastrophe of todays middle east raises a lot of questions about whether the United States should continue to be engaged in the region, and if so, how . In this regard the editors of aid money, Michael Rubin and Brian Katulis, and their cocontributors, have given given us a gift. They identify seven factors that affect stability or not and examine what they mean and the role they play. The pillars that they identify our legitimacy, islam, arab ideology, the militaries, education, economy, and gove
Why did you want to write about Political Parties . Your first book was focused on political lobbying. In the universe of potential reforms, the electoral college. The money in politics which we hear a ton about. Executive power. You chose to focus on parties as a linchpin. Can you talk about what drew you to parties . Tell us about the process. Great to be with you again matt. A fun reunion on cspan. So why did i write this book . I wrote this book because i was worried about american democracy. I saw hyper partisanship as a serious problem affecting our country and i wanted to think about if there was some way to maybe solve that problem. It kind of flowed in an indirect way from my previous book which was about the growth of corporate lobbying. In that book, i had concluded that one way reason they were so powerful was because they wrote a lot of the laws. Because there was not a tremendous amount of expertise. After that book came out, i went talking to folks in and around congress