Host will you for your politics is anyone. I think marsha left would be the easiest way to summon up. P. J. i was a leftwinger but, i did not make enough sense to actually be a communist or anything like that. Host when did the transformation occur. P. J. it was gradual. There is a book coming out, i just about this. Its coming out from the Hoover Institution is backing this. It is called why i turned right. This is to rebut a bunch of us who went right. It is a long story in a motel it will give you the short version. I was a radical left. Very much in favor of some sort of socialist thing in america. I got a job. And i get the job paying 150 a week. I was a messenger in new york. That was a lot of money as far as i was concerned. I was living down in the lower east side. I was very broke. I get paid every two weeks. I was really looking forward to that 300 bucks. And so was my landlord mistake. In my drug dealer. Among other people. I got my first paycheck and i got down to 178 or so. This must be 300. But after federal taxes and state taxes, city taxes and Social Security. Healthcare, Retirement Fund which i really care a lot about those days. I had been advocating socialism, marxist pretty communism. For your screaming and yelling and demonstrating in the street. And we already have it. They just took half of my fate. What is going on here. Im not rockefeller. He just took out my pay. Of socialism. That is when i started to step out of it. It took a while. Host somebody else made a switch in their politics was christopher hitchens. P. J. much more recently. Host s and 93, this is what he had to say about you then. This guy is a next another ex leftist radical from the 60s. And being permanently paranoid. In the 60s. They put on a tie and is been catching this chip ever since. And hes humorist. First books and essays. One is quite funny. Its called Republican Party reptile. In the next one was called holidays and health. In more recent one is called give the war a chance. And much better than any of my books have done. It is my revenge upon him. I met him. Hung out with him in a bar. So i reckon it was running on empty with this chip. But i know, i have been there. Ive been the radical. Now i see how wonderful it would be completely buttoned up and button down toy. And basically depends on the satire. Some people are trying to make jokes. Okay slot nice to have the people. I said look, in the words of the title, is quite funny but not funny enough. Speech of Christopher Christopher christopher. I might get away with slander and a verbal assault. I dont think i have ever gotten away with just a little guy. Not even gotten away with physical assault. So i think he overstates the case. And also the course, im long past the point where i can claim to be republican button down or not. Im an old republican. Nine like most like white guys. We are all republicans even if we sometimes callers loves something else. Like democrat. Host you didnt know you will come over here and get attacked did you. All the trouble in the world. P. J. Orourke. In any good book to read people. The first book. When was this put out. The racial addition of that was 1983. Host was is about. P. J. this book bound up being adam smith. I was simply puzzled and i did not understand why some countries are rich in other countries are poor. And so i started poking around, going to rich countries and poor countries and try to see if i can figure out why this country was rich in other countries report. That was from that experience that the editor of globe clinic in england, who came up with this idea of a series of books. Books that change the world. I went my books on adam smith is one. Christopher has been also on thomas paine. Twice the men. In very good to dance. It was because of adam smith in the poking around that toby asked me to write on adam smith. Host command, new jersey. I am not sure why p. J. Orourke deserves to be taken seriously to given time on the show when a man who i suspect never wore the uniform, and a from hearing about his politics in the vietnam era, would not have done is artist maybe to even avoid wearing the uniform. We have homework now that we should not have had. It might happen to been a republican for 50 years. Voting three times for Richard Nixon twice ronald ragan. Thousands of americans have been killed. A lot of iraqis have been killed. No useful purpose is served by the store. I think it is it, that p. J. Orourke can make fun of work and find something amusing about it but the question that i wanted to ask ms. Pretty he talks about the imperative of the free markets. Dizzy of any conception about why we have things like the minimum wage law, maximum laws and osha laws. Is he remember the condition that existed in america before we had those laws. And the way that laborers were obliged to work 12 hour days, 60 weeks. Is that what he thinks is freedom. Host thank you color. So that was on the democratic line. In your dedication to give law a chance print heres what you like many men of my generation i had opportunity to get for chancellor probably chickened out. I went to my god physical and sunny when the doctors on or about the history of drug abuse. The letter was for a half pages long with three and half pages devoted to listing the drugs that i end up used. I was shuttered into the office of psychiatrist who who had a 45 minute meeting with me. And he said and shouted at me, you are aft up and do not along the army. I do not have to go but then of course meant that someone else to go in my place. I would like to dedicate this book to him. I hope you got back in one piece fellow. I hope you are more use to your platoon mates that i wouldve been. I hope youre into helping out in a 191, 170 punch me in the face for me along here peacefully, i hope that was you. I got a couple nice letters from a dedication like this. The people who thought maybe they had punched me in the face. Host with with the fellow said on the phone. I never asked somebody to take me seriously. P. J. is making fun of war, lets put it this way. A bad situation, and war is a really rotten situation. Like the disease, death itself. It is not change, we make fun of things not because we approve of them or love them. Not because they are cute and cuddly. We make fun of things in order to cope with their own terror in our own unease. Our own horse. Our anger to god. Our disappointment with ourselves etc. And so forth. Humor is a defense mechanism. You can just take drugs, you can make yourself all pompous and pious. We can do all of those things. So when i made fun of war, dont make fun of work. Its unfortunately not point to make war better. Nor is it going to make it worse. As to free markets and minimum wage, and people working in coal mines and working putting on hours a day, 90s a week and so on and so forth, it is interesting you say you are in favor its pretty you mediate to get that a lot of people. But of course and all what adam smith meant what adam smith was talking about was keeping coercion on a bike. And keeping it out of marketplace is only one aspect of keeping it out of life targeted announcement the nations, the evidence that he wrote is a very important book that he wrote called the theory of moral sentiments which is about morality. All about making people live on persuasion and i give up group force. That is the core of morality. It is the core of a free society. Nf democracy. He lived in a pre democratic era rating he didnt quite understand it. That democracy could work but he did understand the freedom could work. Dave was the moral and practical and just plain sort of synthetic advocates of freedom. The roots of freedom is persuasion. It the idea that you want free markets this not mean that you want markets moved by force. It does not make that you want markets will fight anarchy. In fuzzy rollup and good enough lives that we are only for the fourth level. It is not prescriptive. It does not tell us exactly how to conduct a free market. It does not give us exact rules. It does tell us that there should be rules we should all of a those rules but it does not say what exactly what those rules are. In both five and the wealth of nations, adam smith actually tries to look down some rules. He tries to take his theories and make them prescriptive actually give us political policy. Someone failed book. It there five books in the fifth book stinks. Management turns into a policy, he becomes his foolishness as the rest of us to put the pad in this white house and the home this Congress Said to the very angry color, i would just like to say this. First i have no idea why three hours should be wasted on me. And im not going to claim there is good reason. If you have certain ideas about how freedom should be conducted, may well be right. The ledges are worth arguing about. They may not be the same as i have. Dont just because you want to limit certain freedoms from the market, you may be wise. Maybe the correct thing to do is to limit those freedoms. But them and smog but your desire to limit freedom. Everybody wants to limit freedom from those who desire that there be human slavery to the to people who are in favor of minimum wage laws. Everybody is smug about their desire to limit him and freedoms. Some really do need to be limited. That does not make you a good person for recognizing that. Assuming your organs are good but nothing a person you deserve no smugness. And you dont deserve to be venture anger on foolish innocent humorous just because you have some desire to limit so there. P. J. Orourke has been on book tv over 20 times over the past few years. Attribute to the american automobile. Driving like crazy. This event was held at that eaters and Automotive Museum in los angeles. In june of 2009. It is im afraid, thus time to say how shall we put it, sayonara to the american car. The market automobile companies, 40 gm and even chrysler, they will live long in some form predict havent dubbed a dragging their chains that taxpayers expense. And the fools in the corner offices in detroit and the fools officials at detroit unions will retire to their vacation homes in palm beach and st. Petersburg respectively. They dont deserve our sympathy. A more than the trolls under the capital down in washington too. The pity the poor american car when congress and the white house get through with it. A lightweight vehicle with them a small Carbon Footprint using alternative. When i was a kid we call in the schwinn. [laughter]. And it is been a great hundred and ten. It is been a great run. 110 years since the brothers but the First American automobile. In springfield, massachusetts. The second company, if it had been a success, springfield, massachusetts might be today, as motor city and full of envy house. Which is it so happens, is full of anyway. But, where the emerging car, a lot more than the entertaining spectacle of the detroit helen bring in fact many people my age, we are very existence to the car. To his backseat. If you check our parents wedding anniversary with her birthdate time the right, thats probably what we were conceived. There was no premarital before the invention of the internal Combustion Engine brain is true pretty good snake in burlington or commit your farmhouse because your mom and dad, they didnt have a car so they can commute so they were stuck on all day working on the farm. Your farmhouse did have a rec room because recreation had get not been discovered due to all of the formwork. On a saturday night you could take a girl on the buggy that it was hard to get her into the mood to let you bust into her course that because you were facing behind and of course. And just boils atmosphere. So the car let us out of the farm or out of the barn and while the car senate destroyed the American Nuclear family and anyone whos had one can tell you that that was a relief to all concerned. And they caused america to be paved. Theres much things much worse things than the private. But why, we never hear a thank you, forgetting all of america paved from those kids in the body gas to skateboard all the time. Cars provided america with an enviable way to live. You could not get a good job putting enters on counseling just cannot be done that the car. And i think that american car was a source of intellectual stimulation. Did you even think of the innovation. But the invention, sheer genius that transformed the 1908 model t ford into the 1968 shelby gt 500. In the course of one single human lifetime. Eating tickets. Compare this to progress in the previous mode of transportation. Horse production, ors design pretty unchanged for thousands of years. And you know when it comes to creativity with a horse, actually did a Little Research on this when i was writing about the separated unto that. Nobody thought to put a stroke, nobody thought topanga syrup from the saddle. Until about 580. The syrup isnt invented then. People have been riding horses for thousands of years and it took him until 582 event this. What were they putting the feet. If automobile design and engineering and proceeded to the same pace as course design and engineering, we would be powering ourselves in the road by running with both of our feet stuck through a hole in the floor like fred flintstone. Although it may come to that with it 2010 obama will be. But most important of all, cars fulfilled the ideal of americas that if others. Of all of the truths, we hold to be selfevident, of all of the unalienable rights with which we are endowed, which one is most important to the american dream. It is right there, front and center. Flat in the name, the declaration of independence. Freedom, freedom to get out of town. Freedom to get the neck out here. King george, you have the keys. And thats within the declaration of independence is what it says. Ive got to tell you the saga of the markings are pretty slim abstract matter to me. This is no subject of fanciful theories. Now nancy pelosi, she may think she was transferred home from the Maternity Ward of pink lovely clothes supported by low carbon seraphim. But i know it was the car got me to where i am. My grandfather, jacob, he was born in 1977 for he was born on the farm the size of this funding here. In lime city, ohio which was on the city. It didnt even have any lime. Grandpa was one of ten kids in the growth in a one room unpainted check. I have a photograph of of them lined up by age. Staring at the photographer, amazed to see someone in juice. My great grandfather, barney. He was woodcutter. In the midwest. When there are countries unemployed quite a lot. Some drunken villager it. I got a copy of his marriage certificate with his expert there. His only compliment aside from the ten think anyone. The only thing amber compulsion his life was a train barreled thanks, to haul them on, dead drunk. He would follow the cabin to pass on the wagon and the horses would bring him home. J, he let them armed with a fifth grade education headed for the bright lights of toledo ohio. A motoric is among the mechanic and then one day, horses but equal of the shop he saw the future. He fixed that to read it and didnt take long to clean her hands were to be had more money was to be made. Selling them instead of repairing them. Also my uncle archies birthday, and wedding anniversary were a little too close for comfort. He got in the car business. By the time i came along in the 40s, we had the buick dealership. My spotter was a sales manager. And joe is younger brother ran the garlic and Parts Department and all of the ensign the girl cousins work in the office. Now the boy cousins and me, we worked out of the car lot cleaning and waxing cars. Arches soninlaw, when going to run the ohio Car Dealer Association and i would go on to do whatever it is that i do. And even in these dark days, for the american automobile, the times that we shouldve stayed in toledo and taken over the buick agency. Because really man those late night tv local car dealership ads, i got this whole that i wanted to pirate Treasure Island buick. About with a parent on my shoulder eyepatch. On down to pirate patch. And where you can walk the plank. Dont miss our pieces of used cars pretty free chocolate lens with the kitties. Its been a great life. But what died in 1960. An aspirin but car dealer. We owe everything to the american car. Without it, we cannot read. We didnt have enough food and suffering so our history begins the beginning of the american car. , no, some of us, having gone to college. We didnt go far in college we didnt do very well but we went. So i take the demise of the mark inc. I take it personally. I am mad. All are going to be like ralph nader. What fun to be to jump on him with both feet print and send the biggest squirting out of his quite and can bring an annoying 75 clearly insane, think we should do that. Clint took more than one man in his ignorant and wellwritten book of unsafe at any speed direct the most important industry in the nation. The corvair and rough was just wrong about it High School Girlfriend connie had a corvair. She was the worst driver in the world one of the fastest. She could not get yourself killed in it. It could not be done. So ralph was all right. Theres plenty of blame to go around for the death the market car. Not really sure about that either. Its true that the car executives are knuckleheads. But all of them are. The bill gates. Know if you are where the god zillion dollars, when you go to a Barber College and get a decent 5dollar haircut. Labor Union Leadership is mending. One thing to be mad at them another thing to expect does Labor Union Leaders to be done at the uaw hall sitting on a chair yelling we demand less money from the buses. Lets just not going to happen. Car workers make 600 an hour or so im told. They get laid off every time a camel parts and opec meeting. Maybe a phase twoso if theyre getting up a braided so i think to understand what doomed the american automobile, we have to give up on economics in turn to melodrama. Politicians and journalists, financial analysts and all of the others purveyors of the but now, they been looking at the cars as if a convertible with this, fire the nbas, hiring boat. Fate of detroit is not a matter of financial crisis of foreign competition corporate greed and union trans energy costs or measuring shoe size of the thumbprint in the carbon. Its a tragic romance. Titanic clashes and lost love in wild horses. Especially wild horses. We have opened up our archives to look at other programs with p. J. Orourke and he is the author of 19 books bring in 2010