Or anytime online at booktv. Org. Television for serious readers. A healthy democracy doesnt just look like this. It looks like this. Where americans can see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed. A republic thrives. Get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the Nations Capital to wherever you are. Because the opinion that matters most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Heritage Foundation entered morley. Its great to see so manyr friends in the audience with us today. For those of us, those who are n in person watching online or viewing this on cspan, we are grateful that you are interested in with us today. I robert bluey, Vice President of communications at heritage and is my pleasure to host the great cal thomas for todays event there as one of americas most red columnist with a distinguished career in mediacom theres not a lot i can tell you about how you probably dont already know but ill start with his new book which is called a watchman in the night what ive seen over 50 years reporting on america. The book takes you on a journey through his time as a syndicated columnist from the start in 1984 with the Los Angeles Times syndicate to presentday. Have a limited number of Copies Available for sale after todays event which cow will gladly sign for you. This book is his 12. Is a remarkable achievement even for a writer and i can say that as a writer for myself who has not written a single book, his other titles include americas expiration victim the fall of empires and superpowers, and the future of the united states, what works, comments and solutions for a stronger america, the things that mattern most, and Common Ground, how to stop the partisan war that is destroying america before he turned the state over to cal who make remarks and answer your questions, just a few words about his career and the lessons hes taught us through his humor and common sense. He started his career in journalism at the age of 60 and would eventually have his collar printed by hundreds of news outlets including our own daily signal. When that column started he was in fewer than ten papers nationwide, and although he wasnt the only conservative voice appearing on americas editorial pages, cal distinguished himself each week by focusing on objective truth and serving as a watchman for americas founding principles. Cal9 was also a commentator on Fox News Channel for 19 years hosting his own showne and servg as a panelist on others. He has worked for kb or ctv in houston, abc news in washington, and hosted a program cnbc. In 2011 cal received the william f. Buckley, jr. Award to exct from the Visa Research center at the 20, and 2022 the william l l armstrong award for vision theership and service to american idea as a Centennial Institute although cals social political and religious views closely aligned to those we sponsor at the Heritage Foundation he long ago developed a reputation for forging relationships with people who didnt always agree with him. The late bob beckel was one of them cal and bob like the Common Ground column for ten years at usa today. Such an idea might seemli like a lost cause in todays divided country but we could all learn a lesson or two from cal. Was something private dinners of the press and members of congress or bring people together for the National Prayer breakfast needed to enter, trembling and respected and from all walks of life different political beliefs. He was guided from a young age by his faith in jesus christ and has enduring faith a in god. Hes a proud father and grandfather and good friend to many of us here at the Heritage Foundation ladies and gentlemen, please welcome cal thomas. [applause] well, thank you very much, rob. It sounded like you were reading my obit. Appreciate it. You may wonder why more people have not shown up. We had to turn away the the. Because it was so fast. And there are fire regulations here so thats why you see these. But i want to thank everybody for showing up, especially granddaughter crystal, who flew in from san antonio. She will be first female president of the united states. Write that down. Now i confess to a little nervousness being here because the last prominent to speak here got fired. But im going to forge on anyway. 39 years, two columns for week, 4056 columns and counting. I reread every one of them while compiling this book now its not a collection but a road map or diary of what ive witnessed over the decades reporting on this wonderful city and to which i happened to be born. I couldnt help it. My mother was here at the time, so i used to say on the lecture circuit. Im happy to be here tonight from washington where the only politicians with convictions in prison. But im particularly thankful that people with such a wide range of political beliefs offered blurbs for this book and especially honored and pleased that tom, who opened the door for me with the Los Angeles Times syndicate when he was publisher of the l. A. Times, wrote the foreword to it. You cant have a wider spectrum of political positions than henry louis gates, jr from harvard and the host of a wonderful series about an African American to pat sajak of wheel of fortune. I tune in only to see what he is wearing each night. I thank them and the others for honoring me in this way. I thank my longtime who are watching by live stream, connie pollak from the los angeles syndicate and now tracy clark of tribune in chicago. Connie and tracy would have been here but the crime is so bad their cities that they felt it was unsafe them to leave. Its only joke now when you go to the store, buy groceries, assuming you can afford them. In this time of high inflation. You dont argue with the checkout clerk about pounds and gallons and other measurement. You dont stand in line with two jugs of milk and say my standard is this is only one jug or you £2 of meat and say no my standard is only £1. The next voice would hear would be security and yet that is precisely what the loudest voices in our culture are saying. They want to create their own standard switch, and reality are not standards at all. They have their economic standard spending and taxing as if there is no end to it and ignoring what Massive National debt has done to other nations. Are Foreign Policy standards which this administration and the entire left increasingly ignoring that have put our nation at risk from china russia, iran and other forces that see us as weak and indecisive. Only a few years ago, they feared us. Now chinas president xi jinping believes america is in decline. Is there evidence to counter his diagnosis. I just returned from israel, my 27th visit. I may be an honorary jewish, which was very nice, and i met my longtime friend benjamin netanyahu. He told me that israel has managed to delay iran getting a nuclear bomb but only a delay someone will have to stop it. Who might that be . Meanwhile the Biden Administration continues to push the socalled two states solution to palestinian problem. I presume at least they have tabled the crazy idea of a treaty with iran as a regime, as if a regime that claims their god wants. Israel eliminated in us too would abide by anything they would sign with infidels. Must i mention moral standards which are not only being violate but rejected in favor of what is now called woke drag. Storytime 56 labels of gender identification on facebook same sex marriage, puberty blockers, and the rest of the secular progressive agenda. Once people who favored such things were ashamed to say it in public, now they shout it from the house tops. Once such people thought or were told to seek counseling, now they not only seek permission, but approval and demand. You give it to them or they will picket your business or home. See Brett Kavanaugh and other conservative justices. See those who are standing up for womens sports against transgender males. And the hail of criticism that has rained down upon them. The city council of somerville, massachusetts has enacted an ordinance protecting in polyamorous from discrimination. In 2020, the city became the first in the nation, but im betting not the last to recognize polygamy risk relationships as legit domestic partnerships. Romantic relationships are three or more in the city. Well, have many of the same rights as traditionally married couples. Whats next. And there will be a next because without a standard there will be no stopping anything to. What would anyone who says no this too far. Appeal you know reminds me of what mitt romney said after the not so Supreme Court ruled on the legitimacy of same sex marriage. Next, theyll be allowing you to marry your dog. He was. Not so funny, now, is it . Government schools teach a type of reconstructionist. History or herstory that seeks to children with a leftist point of view whose goal is to create a new generation of secular progressives dedicated to envy the success others greedy for what they have and entitled to their money during the last open season on medicare ads ran on tv stations in florida and elsewhere that contained forward free dessert of benefit and entitlement free deserve benefit and entitlement. Now when i was growing up in suburban washington, the standard was inspiration, followed by motivation, followed by perspiration can improve any life. Calvin, our 30th president , said it best. It comes to economic success. You dont build up the weak by tearing down the strong. One of my favorite quotes of his. Other than that to a standard that has been lost in our time. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men. Talent. Genius will. Not unrewarded. Genius is almost a proverb. Education will, not the world is full of derelicts. Persistence and determination. Alone. Omnipotent. Today if you are persistent and successful, you are be taxed and regulated to death. To subsidize others who have been less so. Consider the Biden Administrations proposal to increase rates for people with good credit, to subsidize those with bad credit. And yet, there are as many poor people today as there were when the Great Society in 1965. According to heritage figures, our government. Spent 11 trillion fighting poverty, and it hasnt. There are roughly the same number of poor people today as were 60 years ago. Poverty is more than a lack of money. It is a lack of other things that lead to a lack of money. Do reasonable people think his long time past for approach. Were knee deep in the big muddy and the big fool to push on. With apologies pete seeger recall the Clinton Gingrich welfare reform law in the nineties. The left scream people would starve in the streets if they didnt get welfare checks. They didnt. When they realized the gravy train would no longer be stopping at their mailboxes. Went out and found jobs. Interviewed later, many said they were living a fulfilled life. Welfare was an addictive drug. And when wean themselves from it, they discovered what freedom looks and feels like. And then there is the open border, which is contributing faster to the expiration of america than any foreign power could dream up. I recall the words of Moammar Gadhafi who said that islam will dominate europe without a shot being fired through immigration. The same is happening here. If the government schools dont finish, the job of indoctrinating young hearts and minds with secular progressive progressivism by the time they graduate from high school, you can count on the universities, the job. It make it makes me ask, why are we sending our and grandchildren to these Indoctrination Centers . We dont send our troops, russia, china or iran to be trained. Why do we then send our children to places that teach the opposite of what many of us believe . Thank Goodness School choice spread now to more than 37 states. It needs to be national. It has always amused that those who are prochoice when comes to abortion are antichoice when it comes to the schooling of children enough to have been born. Anyone who reads my columns knows, how much i like definitions. They help focus mind. Heres how dictionary. Com defines standard a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment an average or normal requirement. Today, who can define a without being labeled a racist . Who dares to assert a rule or something normal for being called any number of phobes. What groucho marx said seems applicable today. I have principles. And if you dont like them, i have others. It reminds me of a verse from the Old Testament book of judges in those days, israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit. Another says everyone did. Was right in his own eyes. Paul, the apostle of jesus, it a similar way. Speaking of the times, he said people, will believe whatever their itching ears to hear. But these definitions, america and the rest the world have reached, or are very close to reaching the end times or end of days. This apocalypse is more certain than the many by Climate Change alarmists, none of which have come true. Have you noticed miami is not underwater yet. In my column and in this new book, you will shortly be able to purchase and have me sign for whatever that is worth. And by the way, i have a money back guarantee on this in all of my books. If you dont like it, i guarantee you not to give you money back. I have sought to assert a standard in this book that is fading from our culture nation, a standard that is always not only in america but in other nations, wherever and whenever it has been applied. There is little literally new under the sun, as solomon wrote in ecclesiastes, a book that the rock group known as the byrds. Just wanted to let you know i was hip everything we think has been thought before. Everything we do has been done before. Repeat histories, mistake x. Y. The answer is. Were too often ignorant of history and so are necessarily doomed to repeat it. Look at the kind people who are elected as mayors in high crime cities. People claim to be fed up with crime, and yet they vote for candidates who want to defund or even eliminate the police, or they reduce felony charges to misdemeanors and, release offenders to commit new crimes, including murder. What is with us . The late Roman CatholicBishop Fulton j. Sheen said so many wise things. Here are a few which were uttered more than six decades ago, but still apply today. America it is, is suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance. Tolerance of right and wrong. Truth and error. Virtue and evil. Christ. Chaos. Our country is not overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with a broad minded or the refusal. Take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction or moral principles do not on majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right. Even if no one is right or. Civilization is always in danger. When those who have never learned to are given the right to command. Hmm. Or there is no word more dangerous than liberalism because to oppose it is the new unforgivable sin. And finally. Which sums up everything bishop sheen said, modern prophets say that our economics have failed us. No, it is not our economic which has failed. It is man who has failed. Man who has forgotten god. Hence, no matter of economic or readjustment can posses save our civilization. We can be saved only by a renovation of the inner man, only by a purging of our and souls. For only by seeking first the kingdom of god and his justice. Will all these other things be added unto us . I can think of nothing more profound than that, rob. Wild applause. Thank you. Thank you, cal. Were that. Youre here with. With heritage today. The book officially comes tomorrow, right . A sneak preview. A sneak preview. We want to take your questions. And i know the last time that cal was here, we certainly filled up the whole whole time answering your question. So i want to start with just one. And ive plenty of others to ask him. But but you prepared . First of all, cal, you i mentioned in the introduction, have long spoken about your Christian Faith. How have you been able to find such success in a media environment that seems hostile to the values and beliefs that you have personally . Well, basically i have spent most of my career denouncing other people and later linking up and that help seems to help a lot. No i joined the organizations. I went around the country and met with editors who had never been visited by a columnist. And i genuinely care about my colleagues i admire their work. I, i tell them so they dont necessarily only admire mine, but thats their problem. I you know, when beckel and i wrote this column for usa today called Common Ground it shocked a lot of people including newspeople because is there is money and ratings and confer and you look at whats on tv these days and you have a host and two guests and one of the guests says youre ruining america. You know, youre ruining it. Well, youre a secular or youre a bible thumping bigot. And the host says. And well be back with more discussion after these messages. Well, you know, real people dont do that. And so i try to burse the stereotype of what a conservative and a christian is like. And the secular eyes sense of humor. And i grew a mustache once. Somebody said, i look like saddam hussein. I thought that was nice. And youre i find that, you know, like mary poppins said, a spoonful sugar helps the medicine go down. So you make friends and its hard to resist loving on somebody else, you know . Then first they wonder what your motive is. And then when they see you dont really have one, then they open up. You mentioned sells, though. In todays media environment. Do you think that the approach that you to overc