We are all very familiar. [laughter] he was very generous leading me into his world for a while and i came to understand more about what was going on and in some ways the bottom line is that he was enormously proud of the country and the experience that he had and lets be blunt he also grew up in the educational environment that he hadnt earned much about Tiananmen Square or the details of the cultural revolution but he had the sense that the vision that we had overseas wasnt the vision that he had inside and so i think we are going to see more of that kind of clash in the years ahead between what the china is that people feel on the ground and a china that we are beginning to understand from outside. Thank you very much for listening. I appreciate it. [applause] i will be happy if anybody has questions to answer. [applause] i read your book and its marvelous and its great to see you. I wanted to ask about the activists in Tiananmen Square. Some of them have been caught up in the age of anxiety and affluence that some probably havent. And my other question has to do with the orders he talked you talked about the rise of buddhism. Does that make life any easier for the falling of the dalai lama and of course chinas influence exerts on things like not allowing them into south africa. That is astonishing given the history of the Nobel Laureates that meant there or didnt. But also the situation do you see this in terms of ameliorating the separation movements . I will do my best to answer fast because there are several people with questions. The question of the tiananmen generation for people that were caught up in that it was the defining experience of their lives, the young people in the square and theyve gone in all different directions. Some of them have indeed become members of the new rich and others never recovered from the political disappointment of what was possible and impossible and im afraid that the situation in the far western china and tibet is not improving its getting worse at the moment. There is growing tension and there is at the moment though political framework for how to relieve this the tension and the tension continues to grow into their growth is because of the policy and i think that there is a sense that its going to be one of the defining issues in china. Thank you for your question. I went to china for the first time last year and a side from the incredible development, one of the things that strikes you is the number of these which he showed these huge apartment buildings everywhere many of which sorrowfully finished Still Standing and yet they seem to be building more. Whats happening with all this and why does this keep going on and is there going to be some sort of a collapse that felt leave all sorts of people bankrupt . The ghost cities as you are discarding them or phenomenon. They were cute three or four years ago. Thats when you had in the simplest terms the engine of growth which was a combination of the local government policy and the availability of cheap money in the financial crisis to incentivize people and often times they began to build the Market Forces into china is going through this roller coaster and the question about the future of the economy and whats going to happen and in some places i can tell you there are hundreds of millions of people to go from the countryside is it that the timing issue. To talk about the china interest. In the last half of my life the there is this political censorship political view. I wonder if your input about the challenges to get to where you want to go its a great question. In the end theres only one decision that has has to be made which is when and how does change happen. I. Its more diverse and they have more demands and its up to the system. Its going to be the thing to be watching is who among the leadership will figure out first that if they want to remain in the position they have now. [applause] former congressman alan west do you miss being in congress . The thing is about serving the people thats what ive done my entire life in the military some of what goes on inside of the institutions i could do without. Would you ever consider running again . I think its so important that you are obedience to his will. Recently i moved out to dallas texas for the National Center for policy analysis and who would have ever thought after i came after the speaker in last september that they would offer me that incredible position as a 31yearold conservative policy center and a soap i think you have to listen to that. What is the focus of the policy . There are several different focuses one is the tax policy, healthcare, education, National Security policy which we can build into a little bit more. I think that National Security is becoming a lot more prominent issue for the american people. Whats the advantage or disadvantage of being located in dallas as a National Policy . I think the great advantages that were not inside the beltway so we are not cheated by a lot of the political machinations that go on. And i like to say we are part of the waffle house crowd because a lot of the things with policy solutions you can talk in the world of think tanks and the academic world but you have to give the everyday american citizens that understand so they can make the right decision when it comes to our electoral process one. Is. What he titled. When you come from a dad served in world war ii and a brother that served in vietnam myself and my nephew that is a major in the army as well its appropriate. Those are the nicknames of mom and dad. They were an incredible mother and father and it just wasnt what they were able to do for us to the boys. As for the extended family and the examples that they set and thats what i try to honor and live for today. What kind of work did they do that they do and what was their life like . We were a lower middle income family and the crew up at the old fourth neighborhood in Atlanta Georgia as a matter of fact the same neighborhood doctor king was born and raised in so my school was right across where the final resting place is so it had an incredible impact on me but after they moved up to atlanta, he was a nursing assistant at the Veterans Administration hospital and my mother even though she wasnt in the military she might as well have been she was a civilian worker with the six marine Corps Headquarters in Atlanta Georgia. What got you into the military . Like i said when you have a dad served in world war ii and is sitting down and hearing the stories that he shared with you as a little boy then also as a marine infantryman i will never forget the time on the easter that he sent back a little replica of a marine in dress uniform for me to wear in hear in church and i was so proud to do that. The day that my older brother and my dad sat down with me and said they wanted me to be the first officer in the family because the dad had been a corporal and my dad had been a Lance Corporal so i started in 1976 in the tenth grade and went on to tennessee. The generations in the family have served in combat for the great nation. You talk about what happened in iraq in your book in the republic. What was the situation . They told me the most important responsibility for the Commanding Officer is to take care of the family and the combat and especially to know you have a genuine care and concern for them because they will achieve any mission and so when the word was out that there was an increase of threats against the unit and then there was the threat personally against the commander we found out that there was an iraq Police Officer linking some information and he wasnt forthcoming with the people that we had assigned to us and if you know the culture over there, they are nothing to be very compliant and so i made the decision to use what michael the psychological intimidation tactic and i fired my service over and then i went and reported some of the Commanding Officers. The amount of the attack did go down. As part of the normal cycle. You should be willing to lay down your life and put the career on the line for those that have been called to serve with you in the combat zone. Its unrealistic but i need a promise to the parent and the spouses and children that i would do Everything Possible to bring their husbands back to them safe. What you do it would you do that again . Absolutely. How did you get to congress . It was interesting i was actually a civilian military adviser to the afghan army down in kandahar. Just because you retire and hand the military uniform doesnt mean the oath you took to support and defend the constitution is ended and that was really very forthright for me so i saw serving in running for congress as a continuation. A stack to use the ocean up there they had a separate little beach and what i found was so incredible is that of the year that i was sworn into congress 50 years later i was the representative of Fort Lauderdale beach. It is truly about the pursuit of happiness to say that they can guarantee that happiness. You also tell the story in your book about a black woman that un counter on the campaign trail. Thats interesting that was something in port st. Lucie county and it was quite interesting because she felt that i had somehow betrayed my race because i was a conservative and a republican but if you go back and read the writing and understand booker t. Washington who are called at the first black conservatives, he had three points, education, entrepreneurship and selfreliance and if we still have those three principles and foundations in the community i think that you wouldnt see what you see happening in baltimore were chicago, he would have more of the two parent households. It was quite interesting but i think that ive been true to the principles and values my parents raised me with. The hunt for the black conservative leads us to a metaphorical tree that the end goal is still. Its very interesting that they had this activist into the thing he said about Justice Clarence thomas is horrible and despicable to say that he was a clown in blackface and so this is the means by which people are going to disparage and attack and seek to undermine black conservatism. Its not something new but it is something that is threatening to people that want to have a political hold on the community. I always tell folks if you are going to invest money you are going to diversify your investment but why would you put all of your political investment into oneparty that will eventually take you for granted and the other part will not even consider. 50 years ago. Its to say that any woman that had a child out of wedlock and as long as she didnt have a man out of the home the government would continue to provide a check. 50 years ago. Today its 25 . Now its me standing up and bringing Something Like that out makes me a sellout im proud to be called that. Are there more black conservatives than it is like on or seems to be in your view . Absolutely. Its interesting when i travel all across the country through the airports as a matter of fact when i was flying