Transcripts For CSPAN2 After Words Cal Thomas Americas Expiration Date 20240713

2026. Really . The only thing we learn from history as we have heard the cliches that we learn nothing from history. Eight empires and great nations. The average length is 250 years. Some lasted longer like the roman empire, but all followed the same pattern to decline. Among the characteristics that contributed to those declines were Massive National debt. United states 23 trillion and growing. Just the interest on it alone is greater than the Gross Domestic Product of some nations. I liked President Trumps state of the union speech the other night except for one thing. He did not talk about cutting a single Government Program. This is the only nonpartisan thing that happens in this town is spending. The second contribution to the decline of great nations and superpowers and empires is uncontrolled immigration without assimilation. We want people to come to america but we want them to come legally and in an orderly fashion. To be assimilated like immigrants of the past and become fully americans. Then we have a loss of a moral sense also contributing to the decline of great nations. In America Today as cole porter wrote in the 1930s, anything goes. If you say stop or this is too far, you are immediately denounced as bigots or one of many folds. All of this is not a prophetic book. I am not wearing a sandwich board saying the end is near. But i am saying that while america is a great nation, there are certain seeds that are being sown for our destruction and we have to renewed the values that the greatest generation that we have been living off of by inertia for the last 60 or 70 years fought and died for. To that point, america is in peril because we have lost our sense of right and wrong and no longer submit to a Higher Authority by our own experiences. When i look around the country i see most people trying to do the right thing. Where specifically do you see society going wrong. I think we are tolerating virtually everything now. You take a look at the value of human life. Not just abortion, weve had 60 million of them since roe versus wade did there are other challenges now. Chicago, baltimore. Major cities. Major shootings every weekend. So many now that it hardly even makes the news. This is how cheap life has become in america. People getting shot and killed because driveby shootings, Somebody Just me, i wanted the Leather Jacket or the expensive shoes. Now we are seeing in the debate against healthcare, the Clinton Administration when president clinton put hilary, his wife, in charge of reforming healthcare in america. The pressure to save money will be so great that once you have devalued human life at one end, the pressure to devalue it at the other end and in between, if you are not contributing enough in your taxes, taking more than you are getting, it will start at the extremes. Once the precedent is set like doctor assisted suicide in some states, particularly the west coast, it is a very slow step to the next step. One of the other things i mentioned was a poll of millennials, a loss of a sense of god or a transcendent also contributes to the decline of nations and superpowers. You have to have a reason for living on this earth. There has to be more to life than that. 20 of millennials according to the polls had no religious affiliation at all. They answered none when asked by the pollsters. Whether you happen to be religious or not. A lot of conservatives say they believe in american exceptionalism. Is that a little foolish . America is unique among nations. There is no lifetime guarantee on it. As i argue in the book, the roman empire, bet eternal city, it is now in ruins. They thought that they would be around forever. Overextension. Military experimentation, military overreach. 1972 democratic residential candidate, senator from south dakota, friend of mine said during the vietnam war, we cannot be the policeman of the world. It is true. President trump has been jawboning, not only our nato alliance, but others that have benefited for decades from the Nuclear Umbrella to pony up and pay more and to provide more troops in their own defense. I think that that is a very good thing. Certainly on the right path on that issue. In your book you go through eight different empires. I think some people may find it tough to draw the parallel between the Ottoman Empire what the salt instead and what americans are doing. What are you seeing that is similar . Human nature never changes. You cannot change their human nature. Greed, envy, entitlement. Sexual pleasure. Military overreach. The seven deadly sins. You cannot change human nature. The point of the book and looking at the history of these various empires and superpowers is to say, okay, you had emperors, you had all of these other titles and people dressing differently and the rest, but they all suffered from the same internal dysfunction. By the way, this is why a sense of the transcendent and being accountable to god is important for the extension and life of any nation. You also go through, and it is really fascinating, you state that there are cycles that these empires go through. The thesis right now is we are in the cycle as decadence. What does that mean exactly . The book is based on an essay by the late diplomats as you mentioned. The final stage of collapse, lincoln talked about this. If america is to fail it will fail from within before it is ever conquered from without. Reprinting his harvard and templeton prize speech in the book. He was asked repeatedly can you refresh the listeners on who that is. A great russian writer and so many others. A prisoner in the soviet union. He was finally released. He came to america to warn america, as im trying to do in this book that there is no lifetime guarantee on any nation. To get back to the decadence thing, there is a common denominator. A loss of a sense of god. Military overreach. Uncontrolled emigration without consolidation. A loss of a sense of right and wrong. Two day if you say anything is wrong, behavior or whatever, you are immediately denounced of being one of many kind of photos. This keeps a lot of people from speaking out because they dont want to be denounced and criticized. The national debt, no one is talking out. The last time there was any serious addressing. Why do you see that as a serious issue . Lets remember when paul ryan was speaker of the house. He came up with a serious proposal which everybody knew needed to be done, but was afraid to talk about. The two major drivers of the entitlement programs and the debt which continues to grow. He was denounced by the left. A political ad was created pushing granny in a wheelchair over a cliff. Very funny, but not a serious response to what Everybody Knows must be done. The politicians of both parties continue to kick the can down the road. We need to reform social security. Not Everybody Needs it. It should be needs tested. Anyone who touched it, we will guarantee, you will keep your social security. That sounds great, but Everybody Knows you cannot continue to spend with more and more people retiring and fewer people working or the programs will be bankrupt. The politicians dont want to do anything about it. They are afraid they will be denounced like paul ryan. You talk about a loss of a sense of duty. It seems to me that these politics that seem to refuse to take this on dont have a sense of duty there. How do you think we could restore that. Younger people dont serve in the military and dont know anybody that did. When i was growing up, not only my dad, but many members served in the military. My generation, i have a lot of friends are voluntarily joined the military after 9 11. Good. Millions of people on active duty right now without a draft. I do feel that when we talk about millennials, they get swept under the rug. In your generation, people were drafted. They did not have a choice. My brother is in the marine corps voluntarily. A lot of loss. It gets swept under the rug. I think a lot of people care. I think everybody ought to do some kind of Public Service to serve their country. Could be the military, could be in private, it could be in addition to the job. The freedoms we enjoy are not the natural state of humanity. If you look around the world as i argue in my book, denial of womens rights, lack of a free press, all of these things seem to be the norm. We have to renew, like a library book if youre old enough to remember them. I still have a library in my town. To have a library card, though . My kids do. Legitimately continue the borrowing experiment. Built in a sustained america. Weve been through the revolutionary war against a superior power. A great depression. Recessions. Vietnam war. Now we are facing perhaps the greatest challenge of all. Terrorism and the growth of china and its aggressiveness around the world under the radar for a lot of people. They are Building Bases in south america. Nobody is really addressing these things. These values, we cannot live off the inertia of previous generations that share them. God bless those people that volunteer for the military. Not only after 9 11, but since then. Some just volunteered to get their tuition paid for and that is fine. We are very grateful for them. They dont do it for the benefits. The va has not been very well ran lately. What do you think the differences between the greatest generation. I do think that you are right. It goes to a loss of sense of duty. Patriotism, shared values. What do you see . I think, you know, the whole idea of obligation, we have an obligation to transfer to our children and grandchildren, the virtues and values that we inherited. If we are of a certain age. Most of the world war ii generation is gone now. We still honor them in many ways, but, remember the super bowl where several veterans of world war ii where 100 years old, 100 being the birthday of the nfl. Nice little connection there. But they are fading. You will remember, i think, certainly you have studied the history, those that came back from vietnam were spat upon, demonstrated against, treated as murderers and the rest. We have not really seen an appreciation of those that have served their country and served it with honor and distinction. We do not teach patriotism anymore. They have done away with the pledge of allegiance and a lot of Public Schools. This is america. Excuse me. If you want to pledge allegiance to your country, why did you come here. If you do not teach these values , yes, indoctrinate those virtues which has a negative connotation, but in freedom, duty, honor and country have to be taught. You do not catch them naturally like you catch a virus. I am so curious about your thoughts in the current political environment because of your history with faith and politics. You were a Founding Member or a veteran of the majority, but you did break with it once you saw was being produced by a power. It seems like there are a lot of parallels today. There are. I learned that virtue and morals do not come from the top down, they come from the bottom up. Not only true in this country, but virtually every other nation that has sustained beyond its birthdate. I think that, you know, faith is something that can be transferred to others, but it cannot be done by the government you cannot expect, especially people that do not believe as i do to accept what i believe based on legislation or president or election. I think that you can argue in the Public Square without saying you are trying to impose biblical values upon people. Certain things common to all humanity. Treating others with respect. Equality for women. Golden rule. Love other people as you love yourself. We could use more of that in washington. You asked about politics. I have been doing my column now for almost 36 years. Twice a week. Do the math. I know. Things have really changed a lot. Part of it is the 24seven news cycle. Part of it is the polarization that im not seen since the vietnam war. I would argue in some ways it is even worse. People do not know each other anymore except by labels. Simply reinforcing what they already think. They do not listen to another point of view. You had a column common ground. I think that it is harder to do now. My argument was, look, i dont care if it is liberal or conservative or program. Lets have an unbiased look at it. If its producing the results as advertised by its charter or legislation at a reasonable cost and it cannot be done better by the private sector, we keep it. If not, we get rid of it. We do that in business if you have a sales plan. If your competition is selling more items than you are and your plan is failing, you get rid of it or you go out of business. Why cant we do that with government . The only proof of eternal life in washington is a Government Program. It is easier to kill a vampire than a Government Program. We can even injure much less than actually cut it. You know, there was a federal tea tasting commission for years before that went out of business. A National Helium reserve when people thought that dirigibles may be useful in warfare. After the explosion in the 1930s, part of the expression, shot that down. This is the problem. Once a Program Gives past, they forget about it. Bureaucracy grows. I did an interview with betsy devos. Trying to cut the federal presence in public education. Her predecessor in the Reagan Administration try to get rid of it. Could not do it. You have the teachers unions and all this stuff. I think that we need a top to bottom look at our government, its purpose and the increasing loss of individual freedom as government grows. The topic of christians and government and the media. To date evangelicals are perceived by many as one more Interest Group attacking the Republican Party and especially President Trump. They need to make a choice as to which one is there true master. They cannot choose both. A lot of my evangelical brother and, i love President Trumps policies. I think they are working better than any president republican or democrat we have had in recent years. Whether it is unemployment or employment across all demographics. The stock market. Do you think that that is him or just a fact there was unified republican government and maybe some of the business thought pressure was relieved. In the beginning. Of course, the first year or so. Democrats were still critics of president obama. The power is limited in some ways. A lot of it has to do with consumer confidence. Asking a question about the evangelicals. In terms and issues, whether it is prolife, religious freedom, second amendment, he has been better than any republican or democrat president including ronald reagan, in my memory. Do a lot of them like their personality . Do a lot of them like his language . No. They have been given the choice in 2016 between Hillary Clinton who was far less liberal in their minds and trump who may have been imperfect morally, and arent we all at some level, but you appealed to them on the basis of the policies in which they believe. We will have the same choice this year. Jesus said my kingdom is out of this world. That is the higher kingdom and all the rest is just, you know, the rest. I am sympathetic to voters that make that choice. In washington there is a lot of christian republicans you have to make a choice about how they can survey president. Who forces people to defend really tough things. Unchristian like behavior. What advice do you have towards a faithful young person who is asked to serve the president , but may be uncomfortable with some of those things . In terms of christian like behavior, i am not 100 in that area either. We have all fallen short in the glory of god. We are all pressing in the upward way. I think, look, no one is Perfect People in congress that are imPerfect People. Bill clinton certainly had his problems. This is the kingdom of this world and this is how it operates. You have to look beyond that, in some areas and decide on the policy matters. It is too easy to say we are not electing a deacon or an elder in our church. Okay. It would be great to have somebody that combines all of these things like mike pence. I have known him for 30 years. He has a serious christian. He was made fun of when he said he would not eat along with the woman unless his wife was present. A lot of people mocked him. Then came along for the harvey scandal. Nobody ever got in trouble for what they did not do. If we impeach trump, mike pence is there. I dont know if i should tell this story or not. You definitely should. The pornographer larry flynt, who i knew a little bit because of the profession, not because i was engage in any activity. You just knew of him. I met him a couple of times. Where . He was on fox once. I thought youd be interested in something. This was when he was doing Background Investigations on conservatives and christians that were hypocritical and out having affairs and other things. Before the clinton impeachment. That is right. We offered a Million Dollars to anyone that could expose these people. I said what is that larry appeared we did a Background Investigation on you. We did not find anything. Personally approved by larry flynn. I guess thats a relief. [laughter] youre looking in the wrong place for my sins. That is not one of them, fortunately. Steps of impeachment. Mitt romney was a loan republican vote. I did want to ask you, you often reference romans 131. No authority except god and those that exist have been instituted by god to argue against things like impeachment and removal. If you believe in the scripture as written, does that mean any elected president can do whatever they like . Barack obama, President Trump, clinton. We have a constitution. People swear to uphold the constitution. I believe that there are several areas where they intersect. Otherwise jefferson would not say that all men meaning the human race, not just males, are created equal and are endowed by their creator. Among these the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happyness. The next clause, jefferson outlined the purpose of government as he always did. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. What rights . The rights that god had endowed. As James Madison said if men were angels we would not need this. We need more gun control laws. Tell me a law that lawbreakers will obey and i will consider it. Im not done, i canttell you. Thats a very prominent evangelical leader said in 2016 god showed up. What i wrote in response is who showed up when obama was elected or clinton or the bushes . You cant say that. God isnt a republican. Host dont tell some evangelicals that. Guest nebuchadnezzar who Saddam Hussein patterned himself after, there were a lot of lousy leaders in scripture in both old and new testaments so you cant argue that only somebody you voted for it is gods will so because that puts you in the place of them which is the first sin by the way. Host but there are a lot of fake abidingrepublicans that feel they have to go along withanything trump does right now. Jerry falwell was doing that , is there anything President Trump could do that would endangersupport from your other evangelical leaders and he said no. And thats the shortest answer ive seen on that question s. Guest the president said he has struck such strong evangelical supportthat he can walk down fifth avenue and shoot someone. Host is that because of trump or people are with him against the democrats . Guest king david when he was king over israel had the best line ever on this. He said but not your trust in kings or mortal flesh and he was king so basically dont trust him. We have leaders, i have my preferences, you have your preferences but the thing that bothers me now among other things is that, and somebody made this point the other night on television, a member ofcongress. It used to be when you had an election thelosing side would lick its wounds, theyd have meetings, how do we retool our message, how do we win next time . Now its how do we bring this guy down . This person down . They were arguing about impeachment, the democrats were even before the election and certainly the day or two after some of the quotes from some of the more radical members of congress. Thats not the way to do it and this poisons the atmosphere and as people said during this recent impeachment fiasco, impeachment was supposed to be rare and now i fear the republicans could be put back in control of both houses and there is a democrat president theyre going to go the same route and that will poison the political atmosphere even more than it is now which is bad enough. Host it gets to the concept of forgiveness, starting over, the blank slate and at the National Prayer breakfast , all arthur spoke who everyone knows from eei. Guest harvard professor. Host one of the nicest guys. Guest columnist for the Washington Post. Host he stood upat the podium and said raise your hand if you love someone that you disagree with politically and most of the audience raised their hands but President Trump didnt. Guest i am writing a column called missed opportunity. The thing about reconciliation is that the power comes from the person who feels that he or she has been offended. To extend forgiveness to the person who is guilty of the offense is as jesus said keeping coals of fire upon their head. Now if the president really wanted to bomb nancy pelosi, it was the perfect opportunity. His speech was brilliant, it was wonderful and the president didnt even go down nancy pelosi sitting at the other end of the table. If he had gone down and just shook her hand, there would have been tears. That would have been one of the greatest symbols of reconciliation and forgiveness and Arthur Brooks said during his talk before thepresident got up, if you cant do it out of your heart , fake it. Whos better at faking it than the reality tv star donald trump . But jesus set the example when he was on the cross. He was unfairly tried, unfairly convicted and he was unfairly crucified and yet he said father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That is the ultimate reconciling statement and i think its not about the president agreeing with nancy pelosi. I think rightly feeling that he was wrong by these articles of impeachment, it was the last step after the molar report. Charges of racism, all these other things that had been thrown at him that didnt stick so then a try the impeachment route. I think he could perform a Great Healing act had gone, and it would have cost him nothing. What brings people back from extending that grace to others in this political moment on both sides . Its all about the quest for power but its not real power. God offers power, he is as the only power to change a life and change the direction of nations. And i think thefundraisers , ive seen some of this from the inside you tell a great story about when you are at the majority and you were asked why is everything always so apocalyptic . Why cant we ever say we are doing a good job . I asked a prominent pastor not associated with the moral majority i said why dont you ever send out a positive letter on what youre doing with peoples contributions and he said you cant raise money on a positive. How cynical is that . If you say things are going great, thanks for your contributions, youre not going to send anymore money but if you say the world going to pot , the president is terrible, whatever, send me 20. That is cynical manipulation i dont care, the left does the same thing and some of them use the same fundraisers, they were both sides of the streets like a cheap hooker and as long as the checks clear, who cares and contributes to the citizen, the polarization and the anger. We are not each others enemies as lincoln said. If we dont make this great experiment called democracy or Constitutional Republic for succeeding generations as i argue in my book were going to expire. There is no guarantee. Things are looking great but when things are looking great its time to shore up the foundations. The strongest road is if the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do and i think our foundations are being destroyed atseveral levels as i argue. Before the right people to lead to the country to the way back . Its not a person, its bubble up, its not trickledown. Host why have those efforts failed in the past . The parallels are so strong today. Guest you cant change a heart through legislation. Some will argue what about civil rights. What about civil rights . There was huge resistance to brown versus board of education. There was opposition to interracial marriage and not just from the south other parts of thecountry but slowly , slowly over the years when that generation that was so racist and bigoted finally died out and was replaced by another more broadminded, more biblically oriented i would argue generation, those things began to change so laws can be good and they can shape but law cannot force me to love my wife or to be a good father to my children or an example or role models to my peers, thats my responsibility and i have the ultimate responsibility to god for whom i shall stand and give an account of my life. No legislation can force it to be righteous, to be good, to be a good husbandand father. To be committed, not to commit adultery and these other things. This comes from the heart and only god can reach that, no legislation and no president. Host it seems like theres a lot of legislation moving these days but in President Trump trying to reach out to evangelicals looks to people who are really controversial like paula white who youve written about who preaches the prosperity gospel. I think it would be useful for you to point out your thoughts on. This is not something new. During the Nixon Administration Charles Olson was one of the top aides, he did some time in watergate but i wrote this wonderful book called bornagain. Even bob woodward who was pretty cynical about all of this acknowledged that colton was a changed man he said in his preconversion days that evangelicals were the easiest to manipulate, they bring him in, they have a picture of president nixon and all of a sudden nixon could do no wrong. Thats the seduction. I would suggest that power or the sense of power in washington dc is a greater seduction than sex. Its more powerful, it is more subtle. Its unseen, if youre having an affair with somebody you can see them but the whole power thing, well know. Im not asking for an answer. Its rhetorical, thank you. Whats it really is seductive kissinger talked about this some years ago, the former secretary of state. Our is a very subtle and seductive thing and its not really power at all, if it were with things not have changed by now and all of the things that the president ial candidates, especially the democrats are talking about. Education and employmentwhich is great. Wouldnt all of that have changed by now russian mark they spent all this money, they had all this time to fix it. They had democrat president s with democrat congresses and how come things are better . Because thats not where the real answer is, its in the heart and only god can preach it. It seems like we republicans and evangelicals risk a backlash for not doing the most good that they can when they have the power and i worry thats whats happening to the church because Catholic Church corruption, people seeking to make money for their Church Rather than providing for the poor and also young people looking at republicans in power large moving the ball on entitlement for both government and military expansion, what have you so when were told when everything is so nationalized in our system and everybody looks to washington for answers, howdo we get them to look inward . My standard opening line on the election is im happy to be here live from washington dc are the only politicians with convictions are in prison always gets a laugh, bipartisan. Hopefully not too many more outcome is always says the second time uses it, the third time as i always say. The way it works. I think once again you go back to the selection of power and conservatives are as guilty of this as liberals but in another area. They want Smaller Government and yet theyre constantly looking to government to change things. You cant have it both ways. Government was designed to be limited either founders so that the people would be unlimited in their pursuit of happiness however they define it but now its reversed too many republicans seem to be just as happy to manage the growth of government and look at ways away the appropriations committee, the only bipartisan thing that happens in this town anymore is spending at how you get republicans and democrats together is to spend money. Send it back to the days or for an airplane so the military doesnt want or thats been outmoded. One of the great inventions was the base realignment and the Closing Commission which drove politicians crazy because they were closing down basis that were world war ii vintage and have been used in years but it brought money into the system but it worked and i think we need another one of those. We need a top to bottom look at every single Government Program and we eliminate the ones that dont work andwe keep the ones that are. That would save a ton of money. I guess we talked a lot about people who do it wrong but you think is doing it right . Is there anybody that somebody could look at and say its hard to start from the bottom up, young people need someone to look towards. Who has done it right in all of your time of writing columns, certainly there are some rays of hope. Growing up, my parents were my role model. A stuck together, i didnt know anybody who was divorced. Where did you grow up . Guest suburban maryland in Northern Virginia and went to school here, graduated from Northern University but things started to change in the 60s. You had the hafner playboy philosophy which told men they didnt have to wait until they were in a committed relationship with their wife to have sex than the rebellion against attitude i have Helen Gurley Brown who said nice girl so to happen, bag also everywhere. Kind of philosophy and then women were upset and still are today that men cant make commitments, they cant trust them and then dont feel any obligation to stick it out in marriage, its just awful and this is the crumbling of society. It is pretty clear, you think marriage is a key building block. Guest any family is the foundation of any culture or society. If you dont have a reason for coming home from work at night and as the old caveman philosophy going out and slaughtering dinner you can put it over the open fire. Im glad i dont have to weed out the cows at the store. Or the frozen dinner, yes but those things change. The foundation of any society , of any culture is a Strong Family and again, no one can force me to be faithful to my wife but if i am faithful and if i dont commit adultery and if i am honest in my business dealings, not only save yourself problems but you influence others. People say why are you the way you are, i say im not in a great example but if you see any good in me, it is god reproducing himself in me and tell memore, okay. I think when jesus said my kingdom is not of this world and you see all the prophecies in both old and new testaments and daniel and revelations and in the gospel that everything is winding down for the final act and depending on whose side youre on, determines whether youre going to spend eternity and who youre going to spend it with but this is again, history is important. I argue in the book at the closest we get to history is the instant replay in sports. People dont know what happened a generation ago. When i was growing up and i started out in the News Business i wanted to know a lot about who went before. I talked to these older guys and they were mostly men, women came later who were correspondents in world war ii remembered a lot of stuff and it was instant history and i want them to pour their lives into me and i was a young kid at nbc in washington as a copy boy and these were my heroes read i have their pictures hanging on my wall at home and they wouldnt be known to todays generation probably but who do we have like that you are as you say role models in our lives read not sports figures, certainly, certainly not politicians but whos out there mark clergy, maybe some but a lot of them are compromised by the unbroken fealty to this president or another republican president and the left has the same thing read they excuse bill clinton. Thats just sex, its between him and his wife and you go back and look at James Carville who poohpoohed the whole thing so this is not unique to President Trump, this has been going on a long time. You go through all these empires, the rise and fall, some of them great, some of them flawed readwhich declines you the most . I have to say rome because the romans had this version of las vegas they went to and it wasntjust nero, it was a whole bunch of them , they would go out and have sex whomever in the bass and all that stuff and they really thought they had it all. There was a military and the decadence that characterized the fall, they were given the classic on this rise and fall of the roman empire and i say i dont presume to do any better but i had a few things and i think that is the greatest danger of all. A society that turns in on itself and begins to undercut the basic values that help build it and sustain it through wars, depression, recession, terrorism, all these other things is committing suicide. And again, ill repeat myself but these values have to be renewed by every generation and sometimes within generations or they evaporate and i fear that we are in danger of that right now and thats what i wrote the book. The debt, which one thing can we change that gets the best result . Guest i dont think you can do it by executiveorder. The founders knew what they were doing when they added this fusion of power so i think what the president has done on immigration and shifting funds to help build a wall. Host you think were going to get along . Guest of it is being built by notice of wind blew over a section of it but the really illegal immigration has down substantially and hes done through executive order and jawboning to mexico and honduras and el salvador, hes got most governments to stand up and stem the flow and in those credit for that so theres a lot like that that executive order and youre going to have to change the courts and then host when you talk about changing things through legislation, i think about the abortion thing a lot and could we change peoples minds through the government for that question because before we had the morning after pill and all that, people had hangers and as a woman ithink that this is a personal problem. You have to talk with people directly. Guest the thousands of Pregnancy Health centers that have cropped up at since roe versus wade, ive raised millions of dollars and heard the stories of women who have abortions id only known the following or seen a picture, at planned parenthood to turn the monitor around during sound so the woman see that gestation and this is showing progressabortion rate is down substantially. I have suggested that legislatures all should path for disclosure acts we take a left view of that, before an abortion occurs, a woman is to know about her alternatives including the adoption. You have to see a sonogram of her baby. This changes, polls have shown around 90 percent of abortion minded person see a picture of their baby and choose life and i think thats a great tool so im for empowering women, im for empowering them to give them more information. Its just a question in terms of strategy and reading your book, youre talking about bottomup solutions for these moral problems, it did make me wonder if evangelicals are wrong to put so much emphasis on overturning roe versus wade when those kind of efforts seem far more effective. They are, i dont think its either or and there will still be states like new york, california, vermont and some others will have how already , your school of new york signed this legislation that was probably the most liberal abortion legislation ever right up until the moment of live birth. The president during his state of the Union Address introduced this woman and her child was born 21 weeks and a few days, the earliest premature baby ever survived and yet for mother wanted to abort her 21 weeks for 22 weeks or 30 weeks, or the moment of delivery, under current law you would be thickly free to do so you is that the kind of power we should give individuals and what about the man, the husband, he has no say. Zero even though he may be loving, even though he may be willing to do anything including the child in production, theres no rights. Theres a liberal friend of mine who said if we wanted to get a ticket to the men, we should makethem pay Child Support the moment the path they pass a pregnancy test and i saidthats great , why not mark the doctor, the ice cream and pickles at midnight. You didnt do that . I think hospitals would come back. Certainly all these problems have existed for quite a long time and you say the thing that will save us is revival of american spirit. And revivals have saved us, some of us in the past. So what would that looklike . A couple of things, two kinds of revivals read there is a spiritual one that comes only from god and if you look at the revival of 1857, it began with what the religious historian j edward or called a concert of prayer, two men got together on their lunch hour in wall street and began to pray once a week for revival, then they decided the problems of america as is we were being torn apart in 1857 with the civil war to follow just a few years later. But so they needed to meet every day for prayer than in the group got so big that they couldnt fit them all in the dutch history building in Lower Manhattan so they to the churches at night and invited their spouses andkids. And at the height of the revival which exploded, 10,000 people a week in new york city alone were being converted. When we got down appellation to west virginia, they cut holes in ice to baptize people in the middleof winter , prompting one, you gotta let me hit the punchline, prompting one commentator to say that on fire, you know that, i blew the punchline now because you interrupted me rid when baptists do that, you know theyre really on fire. So thats where real change comes from, the spiritual level read on the Political Economic level, that comes from people just deciding to live differently. Look at our Public Schools now. A lot of schools no longer are allowing and in fact there outlawing the pledge of allegiance for the flag. We did that every day in school. This is america, you dont want to offend immigrants, this is the United States i think i mentioned earlier, mexico is better, then goback to mexico pledge allegiance to mexico. Immigrants and then assimilated, nothyphenated. I wouldnt say its all immigrants that are opposed to making this course, a lot of times its liberal teachers who want tobe inclusive and think somehow the pledge of allegiance, this isnt a widespread problem, i dont want to overplay it. It seems the older i get, inclusive everything except what i believe. We have to tolerate everything except what im intolerant of you we have to believe in everything except what i believe so i find that some of my liberal secular progressive friends who talk a great game about diversity. I love the word diversity, they never talk about ideological diversity but a liberal is a liberal whether its male or female, africanamerican, hispanic, like you know, whatever. Its not about what you look like on the outside, its about your thinking process on the inside so real diversity mean people of different political points of view and backgrounds but you dont seethat increasingly at our universities. Universities when i was growing up we tolerated all kinds of speech. We wanted to hear opinions that were different from ours, now you have conservative speakers if there invited at all shouted down or demonstrated against universities. You think widely no conservatives being discriminate against because you look at the success of ox news and its the mostwatched cable station ever. Two, 3 Million People ever. Some of those influential voices are conservatives. Host guest depends what you mean by influential. Okay, rush, god bless him, i hope he survives. Host i will say he wrote a forward one of your books and hes had recently diagnosed lung cancer. People who dont knowyou dont really understand him. The laugh he really is a humble man. If you listen to him at christmas or listen to him last week. Its part showbiz and he used humor, i use them or what he uses humor to get, thank you. But he uses the humor to make a larger point. But heres the thing, this is what i argue in the book. People now tune and mostly only to those programs that reinforce what they already think that they dont listen to other points of view i would much rather in an argument by discussing the virtues and fallacies of a particular program or proposal that i would just into ninja programs area i listen to rush, i listen to hannity but i also listen to others and i would just winning an election because that doesnt change any minds. I want to win the issue and i think thats what were not focusing on. Its much better to win the issue and to win the election because you dont persuade the otherside that. To that point, you have throughout your career from what ive been able to understand always to have your views included in the mainstreamages , in the mainstream media, not being regulated as a Christian Conservative on the back page or you know, in the crazy aisle at the bookstore. Im not always predictable and i think that helps a lot. But why is that important for conservativesto do because its easy to be typecast, but in a box and you resisted it. The editors have been good to me, i joined some of their organizations and im an in person when i used to do a lot more speaking engagements than i do. I would meet with the editor and the local newspaper and most of them would say youre the first columnist ever to meet with me and i would go out at night and a group and id say how many people subscribed your local paper, usually pure than half, sometimes a third and idsay shout out the reason, why dont you . Well, i never see my views represented or they always stereotype what i believe and i said how many would subscribed your paper if i were in it . Every hand goes up. Host you were syndicated. Guest is the over 500 but the news is trouble so i wanted to call the publisher tomorrow, call the publisher because the publisher control the Purse Strings and you say if you take thomas, im going to subscribed your paper i feel to them on the basis of diversity and money. And the sense of humor. A conservative. You want to post instructions, take me you have this demographic youve ignored for stereotypes, youre going to get their subscriptions. Week after week. It is all very timely. Be the most controversial. It is hard to be reliable and consistent. One of the problems in journalism today, you look at the New York Times in Washington Post. A revival of political washington. They are so predictable. I grew up with the Washington Post and the washington daily news. Had more newspapers here. You dont have to read them anymore. Every article, every editorial, every columnist are all antitrump. They are all thinking of new ways to denounce trump. Hes had some plans about trump to sometimes. Thats okay. When do you see people fall over the edge. When they have blanket faith. Then it becomes almost cultlike. That is not good for the person. They need to be held accountable if they do something wrong, that does not mean they are being judgmental. You are not living up to the standard that you professed or the standard that we express a view. That is okay. You can still go for them. You can still approve their policies. You cannot give blanket absolution. The president uses a lot of bad language. He takes gods name in vain which is one of the commandments not to do. He makes all kinds of references that would be especially evangelicals if somebody did it in their church. Especially for the pulpit. There is always a danger in this. The great seduction of politics. Both sides have done it. I knew people, i talked to a guy i had known for years, one of bill clintons spiritual advisors. I hate that phrase. I said remember when you said that some of us were getting too close to reagan, you know. He said this is different. I said really. I think that we need to keep our eyes, we, those that are followers of jesus of nazareth on the prize, on the person. Not to put our trust in princesses and kings. The ultimate prize is eternal life. The short term prize is to really have an influence on other people. As Arthur Brooks set up the National Prayer breakfast this year, loving your enemies is one of the most powerful things that anyone can do. When an average unbeliever looks at the christian community, as if there was such a thing, is the first thing loving their enemies, praying for those, instructions from jesus himself, those that believe the bible is a narrative infallible, it does not immediately come to other peoples mind or my mind that they are following the precepts and commands of the one they are following. If you really want to have influence, look at the time in both testaments. Does it come from Political Leadership . No. Mustard seed, last place at the table when i am weak, i am strong. Humble yourself and he will exalt you. Those who wait upon the lord shall renew their strength not with wings of eagles. Over and over again because we are stupid and we do not listen. He repeats himself. If you want my power, you have to do it my way. Must be your servant first appeared washing his feet. All of these things. Humility gets gods attention. Where do you see humility in washington . Humble yourself. I cannot think of better messages to and on. Thank you so much. Americas expiration tape. This program is available as a podcast. All afterwards programs can be viewed on our website apple tv. Org cspan. Created by brought to you by your television provider. [applause] hello, everyone. Can you hear me okay . I am trying to not be in the view. By the end of this we will be behind the curtain. Welcome to the book event. My name is rebecca oliver. I am the director where the largest literary arts organization, we exist to support writers at every stage of their writing c