Transcripts For CSPAN Politics And Public Policy Today 20161

Solutions. Ndonnu besyoan woinon aha toerade thavoa e th. Anusfret ibredopl at methwo p ce alraurenundo was m awih rppedir arm idag fginerce th ti cthco t inn ll atus ajus ia orer w esy llignet atth ad titiisouju sy goff alrns culengal lhie yawve in donhal tref ani itve t f coin otg lsem nthi horns , le hso [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] nebraska senator ben sasse constitution. He this is 45 minutes. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I want to welcome everyone to the 15th annual lecture. Im the president of the society. The memorial lecture series started ted olsons inaugural election. It reminded us how to be an american and how legal tradition is a critical part of our identities. Barbara understood this connection. Towant the lecture series foster principles that expand freedom and the rule of law. Include the man who this convention is honoring, star,e scalia, judges can edith jones, former attorney general michael mukasey, peter teal, and that brings us to todays lecture. It will be my honor to introduce senator ben sasse. After graduating from harvard college, he went on a wrestling scholarship and earned a history phd at yale. He worked for private equity firms before he to president of Midland University which he pulled out of difficult financial straits. Then he ran for the senate. Since he has been elected done a, he has not only couple of things that i will mention quickly, but he is also moonlighted. Uber andriven for my understanding is he has a fivestar rating. [laughter] [applause] in addition to his bio and his driving, i would add that asse, despite his youth, exemplifies the idea our founders had for the senate. Some wise heads will be focused on the good of the country and who would look towards the ways in which our republic needed to meet the ever adjusting challenges of governing a free people. I think the senator may have a little to say about that and i am honored to welcome him. Sen. Sasse . [applause] sen. Sasse when he mentioned the driving, i imagine some of you were sucking up as you are trying to get out here. We never had a press strategy around it. That was a mistake. I have a brand that has been tied to the president ial nominee a lot for the last nine months, not something i have been seeking. If i had known that i could just drive uber, i wouldve gotten out of the doghouse. That would have been a helpful step to take. For those of you who dont know, i want to talk about how we shouldnt have republican and democratic categories on a whole bunch in the execution of law in the article to branch two branch. We shouldnt have them in judging. There are whole bunch of places we should not have those categories, and i dont want to assume all of you are as oriented as i am, but i assume that most of you are. One of the great things i learned driving this weekend, one of them is that town halls were not always totally representative of the public at large. The people who come to them tend to be more obsessively focused on politics and policies than the public in general. If you do a work to her bang tour, youa worwork are in a service posture and you learn about different industries, but you also just talk to people in daytoday life and you learn things that are different than just town hall meetings. I do town halls, but i also do them because i have three children, two daughters and a son. I had never been a politician before. As was mentioned, that might be a good thing. Im the only guy in the senate who does the family commute. If youre the only one doing something, it probably means you are a naive rookie and probably a fool. I dont want to be away from my kids, but i dont know what they would do in washington. When i come to washington, i bring with me whichever kid moms most sick of [laughter]. Sen. Sasse this week, i have my fiveyearold son and that is a new bag of worms to have running around the senate. He is not bashful about asking questions during my committee hearings. When i do work tours at home, it is a chance to make my children suffer. We feed cattle at 5 00 in the morning and i want them to have that work ethic experience of having to get up and get out and do something when it is cold and you dont feel like doing it. When i drove this weekend, it was hardly because i am a nerd interested in the disintermediation for parts of the service economy, and i wanted to talk to the kinds of consumers, that also the people who were driving for uber, and little did i know that if you drive on game day in lincoln, you find out they have a market oriented lever to make sure they have enough supplyside of the bar district. If you throw up in an uber, you will be fined 150. This is because the contractor is driving his or her own vehicle. I have learned a lot that may not seem like it is directly relevant, but in certain ways i think it is relevant to what we want to talk about tonight. Before we do that, i want to say directly in front of 600 of his closest friends, what a privilege it is to follow ted olson in this lecture by 15 years and to be here celebrating barbara. [applause] sen. Sasse she was an incredibly special woman, and even if you are like me and do not really know her, i met her in social circles and passing and do not really know where it all, but knew her largerthanlife personality and convictions and commitment to try and persuade other people about the american idea. She is an impressive person and to build on her legacy and speak tonight is a true honor. I began to write some notes about her, and then frankly i realized that what i was going to say probably was not as meaningful as being able to give you all a reminder of what you heard last year. Ive read some of the lectures that preceded tonight, and last year when tom cotton gave his lecture, he talked about this guy he referred to as susan davis for a while, which is the stage name of anna cotten. It is one of the largest cattle counties in nebraska. Nebraska is the largest cattle state in the nation, take that you texans. [laughter] sen. Sasse when she got to the university, she founded the Federalist Society. There was a chapter there that made a big impact on her life. Tom is married to a woman, and she was formidably shaped because of things and investments people have made before, and those people, or you all, there are now 60,000 alumni of chapters what would our mass be now . 36 years . Anna benefited from the fact that barbara had been the founder of that chapter. Tom said this, he gave a lot of personal details in the teeth discussed character and then he discussed character. He gave a beautiful, long paragraph, and he said this about someone like barbara. Aristotle, the first great teacher of character, wrote a lot about character formation, and the only way to develop character is the hard way. The way of making each twice each day for 1000 days and is for another 1000 days, the way of listening to ones conscience when pleasure beckons or paint repels, and to see the good in both the circumstances immediately present and in eternal truths. Aristotle teaches the true virtue is not only knowing good but doing it, also, for he says that we are not studying to know what virtue is but to become good, for otherwise there would be no profit in this. The key to Character Development for aristotle is practical wisdom, the ability to observe circumstances combined with knowledge and right principles to reach sound judgment and moral matters. It is the exercise of practical wisdom in every situation that leads to virtue. He said this as well, to do this to the right person at the right extent at the right time with the right motive in the right way, this is not for everyone nor is it always easy, therefore goodness is both rare and laudable and notable. Let us applaud the fact that that character was barbaras. [applause] sen. Sasse there are a whole bunch of reasons why it is daunting to stand in front of a group as auguste and learned as this, not least of which is that i am not an attorney. I join with you because of what the Federalist Society has been fighting for, but i do not have your training, and so there are a whole bunch of places i can step in plot holes potholes. I am a historian by training and was a College President for five years before running for office, for most of my 25 years as an adult, i have worked for a consulting group, a consulting firm, and i have gone into organizations that were a mess, and apart from helping leaders and boards asking questions about whether their institution is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish. Maybe its should be retired. Maybe your philanthropy project succeeded. Maybe was written 10 years ago and did not succeed but it doesnt make sense anymore. Institutions need to die and cultural pluralism allows the experiment of a voluntary organizations and that is a good thing. I came here tonight to speak primarily about successes and some adjacent problems that are not a criticism of the federal stock, but a crisis that i would called the fact that we have been raising a couple of generations of american orphans in the sense that president reagan used to warn that in any Free Republic you are only one generation from the extinction of freedom. If you do not pass on the meaning of america to the people who will be ruling america, because we dont believe in a professional incoming class, if the people who are supposed to rule america in 10, 20 and 30 years do not understand what america is, if they do not understand the american idea, freedom will slip away. We have, for nearly half a century, stopped discussing who we are as a people. We dont have a shared understanding of these things, and that is not precisely the Federalist Societys mission. I was going to give you a brief history of the Federalist Society and celebrate some of the high moments, partly as a way to laud you, but also to focus in my preparation and learn more, and as a former professor, i learned selfishly and then i have the excuse as an audience. [laughter] sen. Sasse i was heading into this to remind you of it, and then i was going to have an analogy of religion in the early modern period. I say that because i am a historian and my mom believes i wasted all my years in new haven. I have to prove her wrong once a year. I also think there are probably a whole bunch of cultural and religious pluralism jokes i can make as a protestant at a time when the Supreme Court has a vacancy and my people are unrepresented on the court. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse i had a disparate impact joke and an affirmative action joke but i will spare you all. There is a really important thing that happened in the 10 years after the reformation. It starts as an intellectual debate about how people are saved and theologians are debating in latin and in a Specialized Institution of a hierarchal church. By the 1580s, there is a Reformation Movement and a countermovement that are heavily involved with laity. How you went from an intellectual debate from clergy in latin to a Mass Movement relates to a moment in the 15271528 period, when that is Martin Luther assumed that the debates he was having were surely reaching the people. Martin luther left and went out into saxony and started interviewing pastors and mothers and dads and 14yearold kids and he came to the conclusion that they dont have any idea what we are talking about. This movement is not actually penetrating, it is having political implications, and the world was being turned upside down in a whole bunch of ways, but it was not reaching the masses. The catechism Movement Starts in 1528 and 1529, and what i had come to originally speak about was that. I was going to talk about the difference between the movement you have been so successful at, the fact that before 1981 at yale and at the conference, and 1982 in 1985 when general lees addresses the aba and talks about original intent and the debates that followed for the next 45 years that went from original intent to original public meaning and all the jokes we have about history doesnt matter. You go through this moment where you get to a place to think how stunning it is when Justice Kagan is at her confirmation and she proclaims we disagree with her about what she thinks she means when she says it, but it is a pretty stunning thing about the success, the founders, the nurturers and investors in this movement that Justice Kagan would say, were all originalists now. We dont think she really gets it. [laughter] sen. Sasse and yet, you cannot just say the texts are irrelevant. That is a fascinating thing. When thinking about what it was going to say, i admit, my skepticism about the nominees of both of the parties over the course of the last 69 months to not have to do with speculation about how the election would turn out. The concerns i had about executive restraint in both parties. I admit, i was surprised by the outcome last tuesday night, and i realized there are all sorts of new moments of opportunity from this not just because there are policy preferences that will be advanced by president elect trump that i appreciate more than the policy preferences that would be advanced by secretary clinton, and not just because i think it is highly likely that his first nominee for the court will come from that list of 21. Those are really great things. But i think there might be a new moment of opportunity, and i would like to explore the own little bit tonight about what the opportunity for american citizenship might be in the strange time we are now entering. I did not pivot what i am going to talk about because i thought of it on my own. I will admit a little bit of butterflies to say this. I am pivoting what im going to talk about because of how many of you in this audience reached out to me recently concerned about your own organization. What is it like to be the nonattorney given the Barbara Olson lecture and then tell you that you need introspection. You have two big and important projects on the agenda. Your talked about the article one project and you have talked about Regulatory Reform, and you have a standing mission to serve as gatekeepers of the kind of people who should be on the federal bench. And all sorts of fundamental ways, you are about advancing an organization that teaches at law schools across the country, were not a lot of other people are advancing this vision, the founders understanding of separation of powers, of limited government, of checks and balances. These are beautiful things that our people do not understand. Right now, current polling data shows that 41 of americans under age 35, 41 of americans under age 35 think the First Amendment is dangerous. Because you might use your freedom of speech to Say Something that would hurt someone elses feelings. That is actually quite the point of america. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse for those of you who need a trigger warning or want to flee to a safe space, let me forewarn you, our founders in virginia, there were a bunch of materialist, commercial folks. So we will ignore those. By large, the american founding was led by a whole bunch of people who differed about the nature of god and heaven and hell and how salvation might be achieved, and they came from a continent where people had been thinking for about 100 years that you should kill each other if you disagreed about those things. You should spill blood over those questions. Hear me clearly, i think those questions are critically important. I think those questions are more important than policy and politics. I also think the american experiment is the most glorious experiment in the history of the world because it takes seriously the human soul, it takes seriously conscience it takes , seriously persuasion and the idea that if you differ about big and important things, you cant solve that by bodily violence. Instead, we have this crazy idea that we will come together in a community, we will expand the domain or the reach, as madison would have said, to incorporate more and more people with more and more disagreements so we can get to a place where everybody understands themselves to be a minority. And if everybody every american understands themselves to be a credo minority, and less honey, if youre watching on cspan, i dont mean you [laughter] sen. Sasse the founders were scared to death about the tyranny of the majority, said they wanted to create a minority consciousness for all of us. The First Amendment our constitution is glorious because freedom comes first, net for rights comes first, god gives us with dignity, and we come together as a people to form a government as a secular tool to secure those rights and our constitution says the rights of the people are limitless. That is what the bill of rights is trying to tell us. It is outside the document. On some of the most important things and we will run into the ninth and 10th amendment which, powers which work expressly government, only locals can exercise them. And if there are a bunch of rights we havent talked about here, people have all those rights too. We will start the bill of rights ,ith the most important topline freedom. What is the most important freedom . Religion,amendment is freedom of speech, press, assembly, redress of grievances. That means all of you who became an important still part of our First Amendment. [laughter] sen. Sasse lets hear it for the lobbyists. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse those freedoms are what the First Amendment amendment is about and the idea that any american to think the First Amendment might go too far means that we as a people have not done the first things of teaching it. The data is much worse than just something you might think emanates from the campuses right now, the 41 of americans under age 35 who think the First Amendment goes too far. If you ask the general voting public, can you name some of the freedoms in the First Amendment, what is the bill of rights about, what can you name . 57 can name freedom of speech. 57 . 19 name freedom of religion as a freedom that exists, and none of the other three freedoms in the First Amendment break 10 . Think about it. When you think of Benjamin Franklin ambling out of Midland University<\/a> which he pulled out of difficult financial straits. Then he ran for the senate. Since he has been elected done a, he has not only couple of things that i will mention quickly, but he is also moonlighted. Uber andriven for my understanding is he has a fivestar rating. [laughter] [applause] in addition to his bio and his driving, i would add that asse, despite his youth, exemplifies the idea our founders had for the senate. Some wise heads will be focused on the good of the country and who would look towards the ways in which our republic needed to meet the ever adjusting challenges of governing a free people. I think the senator may have a little to say about that and i am honored to welcome him. Sen. Sasse . [applause] sen. Sasse when he mentioned the driving, i imagine some of you were sucking up as you are trying to get out here. We never had a press strategy around it. That was a mistake. I have a brand that has been tied to the president ial nominee a lot for the last nine months, not something i have been seeking. If i had known that i could just drive uber, i wouldve gotten out of the doghouse. That would have been a helpful step to take. For those of you who dont know, i want to talk about how we shouldnt have republican and democratic categories on a whole bunch in the execution of law in the article to branch two branch. We shouldnt have them in judging. There are whole bunch of places we should not have those categories, and i dont want to assume all of you are as oriented as i am, but i assume that most of you are. One of the great things i learned driving this weekend, one of them is that town halls were not always totally representative of the public at large. The people who come to them tend to be more obsessively focused on politics and policies than the public in general. If you do a work to her bang tour, youa worwork are in a service posture and you learn about different industries, but you also just talk to people in daytoday life and you learn things that are different than just town hall meetings. I do town halls, but i also do them because i have three children, two daughters and a son. I had never been a politician before. As was mentioned, that might be a good thing. Im the only guy in the senate who does the family commute. If youre the only one doing something, it probably means you are a naive rookie and probably a fool. I dont want to be away from my kids, but i dont know what they would do in washington. When i come to washington, i bring with me whichever kid moms most sick of [laughter]. Sen. Sasse this week, i have my fiveyearold son and that is a new bag of worms to have running around the senate. He is not bashful about asking questions during my committee hearings. When i do work tours at home, it is a chance to make my children suffer. We feed cattle at 5 00 in the morning and i want them to have that work ethic experience of having to get up and get out and do something when it is cold and you dont feel like doing it. When i drove this weekend, it was hardly because i am a nerd interested in the disintermediation for parts of the service economy, and i wanted to talk to the kinds of consumers, that also the people who were driving for uber, and little did i know that if you drive on game day in lincoln, you find out they have a market oriented lever to make sure they have enough supplyside of the bar district. If you throw up in an uber, you will be fined 150. This is because the contractor is driving his or her own vehicle. I have learned a lot that may not seem like it is directly relevant, but in certain ways i think it is relevant to what we want to talk about tonight. Before we do that, i want to say directly in front of 600 of his closest friends, what a privilege it is to follow ted olson in this lecture by 15 years and to be here celebrating barbara. [applause] sen. Sasse she was an incredibly special woman, and even if you are like me and do not really know her, i met her in social circles and passing and do not really know where it all, but knew her largerthanlife personality and convictions and commitment to try and persuade other people about the american idea. She is an impressive person and to build on her legacy and speak tonight is a true honor. I began to write some notes about her, and then frankly i realized that what i was going to say probably was not as meaningful as being able to give you all a reminder of what you heard last year. Ive read some of the lectures that preceded tonight, and last year when tom cotton gave his lecture, he talked about this guy he referred to as susan davis for a while, which is the stage name of anna cotten. It is one of the largest cattle counties in nebraska. Nebraska is the largest cattle state in the nation, take that you texans. [laughter] sen. Sasse when she got to the university, she founded the Federalist Society<\/a>. There was a chapter there that made a big impact on her life. Tom is married to a woman, and she was formidably shaped because of things and investments people have made before, and those people, or you all, there are now 60,000 alumni of chapters what would our mass be now . 36 years . Anna benefited from the fact that barbara had been the founder of that chapter. Tom said this, he gave a lot of personal details in the teeth discussed character and then he discussed character. He gave a beautiful, long paragraph, and he said this about someone like barbara. Aristotle, the first great teacher of character, wrote a lot about character formation, and the only way to develop character is the hard way. The way of making each twice each day for 1000 days and is for another 1000 days, the way of listening to ones conscience when pleasure beckons or paint repels, and to see the good in both the circumstances immediately present and in eternal truths. Aristotle teaches the true virtue is not only knowing good but doing it, also, for he says that we are not studying to know what virtue is but to become good, for otherwise there would be no profit in this. The key to Character Development<\/a> for aristotle is practical wisdom, the ability to observe circumstances combined with knowledge and right principles to reach sound judgment and moral matters. It is the exercise of practical wisdom in every situation that leads to virtue. He said this as well, to do this to the right person at the right extent at the right time with the right motive in the right way, this is not for everyone nor is it always easy, therefore goodness is both rare and laudable and notable. Let us applaud the fact that that character was barbaras. [applause] sen. Sasse there are a whole bunch of reasons why it is daunting to stand in front of a group as auguste and learned as this, not least of which is that i am not an attorney. I join with you because of what the Federalist Society<\/a> has been fighting for, but i do not have your training, and so there are a whole bunch of places i can step in plot holes potholes. I am a historian by training and was a College President<\/a> for five years before running for office, for most of my 25 years as an adult, i have worked for a consulting group, a consulting firm, and i have gone into organizations that were a mess, and apart from helping leaders and boards asking questions about whether their institution is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish. Maybe its should be retired. Maybe your philanthropy project succeeded. Maybe was written 10 years ago and did not succeed but it doesnt make sense anymore. Institutions need to die and cultural pluralism allows the experiment of a voluntary organizations and that is a good thing. I came here tonight to speak primarily about successes and some adjacent problems that are not a criticism of the federal stock, but a crisis that i would called the fact that we have been raising a couple of generations of american orphans in the sense that president reagan used to warn that in any Free Republic<\/a> you are only one generation from the extinction of freedom. If you do not pass on the meaning of america to the people who will be ruling america, because we dont believe in a professional incoming class, if the people who are supposed to rule america in 10, 20 and 30 years do not understand what america is, if they do not understand the american idea, freedom will slip away. We have, for nearly half a century, stopped discussing who we are as a people. We dont have a shared understanding of these things, and that is not precisely the Federalist Society<\/a>s mission. I was going to give you a brief history of the Federalist Society<\/a> and celebrate some of the high moments, partly as a way to laud you, but also to focus in my preparation and learn more, and as a former professor, i learned selfishly and then i have the excuse as an audience. [laughter] sen. Sasse i was heading into this to remind you of it, and then i was going to have an analogy of religion in the early modern period. I say that because i am a historian and my mom believes i wasted all my years in new haven. I have to prove her wrong once a year. I also think there are probably a whole bunch of cultural and religious pluralism jokes i can make as a protestant at a time when the Supreme Court<\/a> has a vacancy and my people are unrepresented on the court. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse i had a disparate impact joke and an affirmative action joke but i will spare you all. There is a really important thing that happened in the 10 years after the reformation. It starts as an intellectual debate about how people are saved and theologians are debating in latin and in a Specialized Institution<\/a> of a hierarchal church. By the 1580s, there is a Reformation Movement<\/a> and a countermovement that are heavily involved with laity. How you went from an intellectual debate from clergy in latin to a Mass Movement<\/a> relates to a moment in the 15271528 period, when that is Martin Luther<\/a> assumed that the debates he was having were surely reaching the people. Martin luther left and went out into saxony and started interviewing pastors and mothers and dads and 14yearold kids and he came to the conclusion that they dont have any idea what we are talking about. This movement is not actually penetrating, it is having political implications, and the world was being turned upside down in a whole bunch of ways, but it was not reaching the masses. The catechism Movement Starts<\/a> in 1528 and 1529, and what i had come to originally speak about was that. I was going to talk about the difference between the movement you have been so successful at, the fact that before 1981 at yale and at the conference, and 1982 in 1985 when general lees addresses the aba and talks about original intent and the debates that followed for the next 45 years that went from original intent to original public meaning and all the jokes we have about history doesnt matter. You go through this moment where you get to a place to think how stunning it is when Justice Kagan<\/a> is at her confirmation and she proclaims we disagree with her about what she thinks she means when she says it, but it is a pretty stunning thing about the success, the founders, the nurturers and investors in this movement that Justice Kagan<\/a> would say, were all originalists now. We dont think she really gets it. [laughter] sen. Sasse and yet, you cannot just say the texts are irrelevant. That is a fascinating thing. When thinking about what it was going to say, i admit, my skepticism about the nominees of both of the parties over the course of the last 69 months to not have to do with speculation about how the election would turn out. The concerns i had about executive restraint in both parties. I admit, i was surprised by the outcome last tuesday night, and i realized there are all sorts of new moments of opportunity from this not just because there are policy preferences that will be advanced by president elect trump that i appreciate more than the policy preferences that would be advanced by secretary clinton, and not just because i think it is highly likely that his first nominee for the court will come from that list of 21. Those are really great things. But i think there might be a new moment of opportunity, and i would like to explore the own little bit tonight about what the opportunity for american citizenship might be in the strange time we are now entering. I did not pivot what i am going to talk about because i thought of it on my own. I will admit a little bit of butterflies to say this. I am pivoting what im going to talk about because of how many of you in this audience reached out to me recently concerned about your own organization. What is it like to be the nonattorney given the Barbara Olson<\/a> lecture and then tell you that you need introspection. You have two big and important projects on the agenda. Your talked about the article one project and you have talked about Regulatory Reform<\/a>, and you have a standing mission to serve as gatekeepers of the kind of people who should be on the federal bench. And all sorts of fundamental ways, you are about advancing an organization that teaches at law schools across the country, were not a lot of other people are advancing this vision, the founders understanding of separation of powers, of limited government, of checks and balances. These are beautiful things that our people do not understand. Right now, current polling data shows that 41 of americans under age 35, 41 of americans under age 35 think the First Amendment<\/a> is dangerous. Because you might use your freedom of speech to Say Something<\/a> that would hurt someone elses feelings. That is actually quite the point of america. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse for those of you who need a trigger warning or want to flee to a safe space, let me forewarn you, our founders in virginia, there were a bunch of materialist, commercial folks. So we will ignore those. By large, the american founding was led by a whole bunch of people who differed about the nature of god and heaven and hell and how salvation might be achieved, and they came from a continent where people had been thinking for about 100 years that you should kill each other if you disagreed about those things. You should spill blood over those questions. Hear me clearly, i think those questions are critically important. I think those questions are more important than policy and politics. I also think the american experiment is the most glorious experiment in the history of the world because it takes seriously the human soul, it takes seriously conscience it takes , seriously persuasion and the idea that if you differ about big and important things, you cant solve that by bodily violence. Instead, we have this crazy idea that we will come together in a community, we will expand the domain or the reach, as madison would have said, to incorporate more and more people with more and more disagreements so we can get to a place where everybody understands themselves to be a minority. And if everybody every american understands themselves to be a credo minority, and less honey, if youre watching on cspan, i dont mean you [laughter] sen. Sasse the founders were scared to death about the tyranny of the majority, said they wanted to create a minority consciousness for all of us. The First Amendment<\/a> our constitution is glorious because freedom comes first, net for rights comes first, god gives us with dignity, and we come together as a people to form a government as a secular tool to secure those rights and our constitution says the rights of the people are limitless. That is what the bill of rights is trying to tell us. It is outside the document. On some of the most important things and we will run into the ninth and 10th amendment which, powers which work expressly government, only locals can exercise them. And if there are a bunch of rights we havent talked about here, people have all those rights too. We will start the bill of rights ,ith the most important topline freedom. What is the most important freedom . Religion,amendment is freedom of speech, press, assembly, redress of grievances. That means all of you who became an important still part of our First Amendment<\/a>. [laughter] sen. Sasse lets hear it for the lobbyists. [laughter] [applause] sen. Sasse those freedoms are what the First Amendment<\/a> amendment is about and the idea that any american to think the First Amendment<\/a> might go too far means that we as a people have not done the first things of teaching it. The data is much worse than just something you might think emanates from the campuses right now, the 41 of americans under age 35 who think the First Amendment<\/a> goes too far. If you ask the general voting public, can you name some of the freedoms in the First Amendment<\/a>, what is the bill of rights about, what can you name . 57 can name freedom of speech. 57 . 19 name freedom of religion as a freedom that exists, and none of the other three freedoms in the First Amendment<\/a> break 10 . Think about it. When you think of Benjamin Franklin<\/a> ambling out of Constitution Hall<\/a> in philadelphia in 1788 and the little old lady and the maybe apocryphal story where she comes up and says mr. Franklin, what kind of government did you give us . What kind of government have you built . And he said, it is a republic if you can keep it. I would hazard to guess that most of our founders in philadelphia, if they knew the state of civic understanding today, they may have made another run at George Washington<\/a> about accepting that monarchy. [laughter] there are fundamental things that we are not getting done and they are a crisis. I thought i might be standing in front of you talking about this at a time when we were about to fill Justice Scalias<\/a> seat with some horrible super legislator who wanted a job that didnt require them to run for reelection. And i say as someone who lived on a campaign bus with three small children for 16 months, i did 1000 events, nearly 400 town and fouryearold throw up on the seat no one paid me , the 150 ubercharge. It is not fair for some democratic nominee [applause] [laughter] to go and try and make law on the Court Without<\/a> having to stand before the people for reelection. The real reason it is not fair is because the people are supposed to rule and policy is supposed to be made by the people through their elected representatives. And 435 of the 535 people that i work with are able to be fired ireable within 23 months and 29 days. It is a glorious thing. We also have a sixyear term. [laughter] policy should be made in the article one branch. Policy should not be made by unelected judges. Policy, except in the case of Foreign Policy<\/a> emergency are not , to be made by the article two branch regardless of what color jersey the person is wearing who inhabits that branch. [applause] some of you know the waters of the u. S. Role of the epa and essentially, it is a bunch of postmodern mumbojumbo that says in the clean water act, when it says there is an interintrastate distinction, we at the epa would like to have more powers so we will obliterate that distinction. In the county in which i live in nebraska, my county supervisors cannot make their own decisions about road widening project along a two lane county road that has a manmade ditch next to it that is usually dry and when it has water, it comes from an irrigation system that the farmer has erected there. That is supposedly a interstate navigable waterway and the epas reach now extends there. That is laughably absurd. I want to take a crane and put a speedboat in that ditch and have my kids stand behind it and i want to film a Youtube Video<\/a> of them crying that the skiing is not working so well and i want to talk to the epa administrator about how she can fix my problem. [laughter] i was traveling nebraska last summer and met a rancher who is a largerthanlife marlborough man and he was angry about the waters of the u. S. Rule and i was in line with him on the issue and yet i still thought i might die from this encounter. [laughter] finally, he goes from anger to resignation and then he pivots and he says i am not just mad about this rule. Do you know what i am really mad about . I am mad about my memory because i keep racking my brain, but no matter how hard i try, i cannot remember who i voted for at epa. [applause] [laughter] sen. Sasse i have heard readouts from some of your panel today. And i think that king richard should be fired. That is my personal view. [applause] sen. Sasse because these regulatory agencies are not in any way ultimately accountable to the people. And you all have two projects. You have an article one project about the restoration of balance between the legislature and the executive branch. These are equal branches but they are listed in an order, article one, article two, article three for a reason. Because they move from where policymaking and more democratically accountable to less policymaking and less democratically accountable. Again [applause] the 435 of the 535 people can be fired every 24 months and most policy is to be made by statue. In the executive branch, the president has really important commanderinchief responsibilities, especially in an emergency. But his job is less democratically accountable because there is only one time that he or she stands for election. And the courts are to be making new policy and therefore they have lifetime tenure. But if they were going to be a legislative, super legislator body, they should have to stand before the people. We need to teach that again if we are going to, as Benjamin Franklin<\/a> enjoined us, if we are going to succeed at keeping the republic. And many of you in this room, even though you dont talk to it much in polite company, are currently worried that the caricature of the left, of those of us who say that originalism is not because of our policy preferences, it is not because of our preferred outcomes, it is because of our constitutionalism. It is because of our oaths of office. Its because of our belief in the fact that policymaking should ultimately be accountable to the people. We say that we are not driven by outcomes. And yet, many of you, i think, have said to me, that you are actually worried that the article one project and the Regulatory Reform<\/a> project might get a momentum that does not but it might become a new power not just to destroy things that were wrong they built up but to become a new policymaking tool. And the article one project, for all of our supposed sincerity about having policymaking go back to a legislature, might have actually been because of a blue wall. And the fact that there was a belief that republicans who had won one quadrennial election since 1988, think about that at a popular vote level, since 1988, we were at a place where had secretary clinton won this election, we would get to 2020 and you would have americans in their 30s, you would have americans in their 30s who would have seen one time when the republicans won a popular vote since the cold war. One time in their lifetime and that was when the democrats nominated a quasifrenchman in the aftermath of 9 11. That was a mistake. [laughter] i didnt plan that. Note to self. Call secretary kerry to apologize. If we are sincere about what we believe, it needs to be the case that we again remember what we thought two weeks ago. Which was that we need checks and balances. That we need a separation of powers. That we need cultural catechesis for the next generation. That we need everyone democrat, republican, or independent, to know why it is a troubling speech for a president of the United States<\/a> who has taken an oath of office to say that it does not matter if the Legislature Passes<\/a> the laws that i want them to pass. I have a pen and a phone. That was troubling when the man who said it was a democrat. And it will be troubling regardless of the partisan label of the person who occupies 1600 pennsylvania avenue. [applause] sen. Sasse here is the opportunity of the moment though. The opportunity of the moment is just as madison envisioned a time when every american should think of themselves as a creedal minority and should go and want to defend the creedal minorities. No american should naturally aspire to be a part of some majoriatarian coalition that wants to grow washington and shrink the centers of america where life is actually lived. American impulse is to want to see those and to see their families and to see the rotary clubs and to see the churches and the synagogues and as tocqueville thought of it, as the rotary club as the center of American Life<\/a>. When tocqueville came here, he was coming in the 1830s as a travel reporter. Our kids know the birthdate of america as july 4, 1776 and we all think of this republic as being inaugurated in 1788 or 1789 but europeans at that time saw us as religious zealots on the frontier of the earth and the british had just been distracted by having a drunk, crazy king, prussian soldiers that did not want to fight, and distraction with battle with france. It was not until the war of 1812 that brits and europeans come to think of us as truly independent. And so we win our independence in the 18teens, for ideological reasons, for ideological regions reasons for intellectual , reasons, for philosophical reasons. Think about margaret thatchers great line that european nations are born of history but america is the only nation born of a philosophy. By the 1830s, there is a thriving economy here. There is a market revolution. A putting out revolution. The ways goods are being produced in more specialized ways. There is a canal revolution. A railroad revolution. And europeans cannot make any sense about why this is happening. And so tocqueville comes here as a travel reporter to write back and explain to europeans why this is such a glorious, dynamic place. Not just with religious and cultural liberties, but economic vitality. He says if you have a better economy than our countries in europe, it must be because you have better bureaucrats. So he comes to washington, d. C. Because he is going to find the meaning of american dynamism. He is sure that it exists in the centers of power. It must exist in the capital. And he gets here and he says actually, washington, d. C. Is a swamp with a bunch of people that are not that creative. [laughter] not a lot has changed. [applause] sen. Sasse i know that we have 10,000 current members of fedsoc and 10,000 alums. But when you are clapped and you are at the Mayflower Hotel<\/a> in washington, i feel like we should do the drain the swamp chant. Tocqueville says the america that he found, he went to where there were then 25 states. And he goes to 17 of the states. And he says, i have found the meaning of america. It is the rotary clubs. We europeans have the that the idea that there is a is a continuation between isolated individualism and state run collectivism. These americans believe this crazy, glorious thing. These americans actually believe in community. It isnt the case, barney frank that government is just another , word for those things we choose to do together. Government is another word for coercion. There is some coercion that is necessary. [applause] government has important responsibilities, we are not anarchists. But community is the word for things we choose to do together. Voluntarism and persuasion are the words that show how American Community<\/a> is formed. Because if you want to persuade someone to marry you, if you want them to join your synagogue or your church, if you want them to buy your product, you do not supplicate at the king and his court to get a charter and be the monopoly provider of that service. You go and build a better mousetrap and you learn how to sell it. You go on shark tank. [applause] and when we say the first institutions of American Life<\/a> are in the private sector and not in the public sector, we are not just talking about capitalism. We are talking about notforprofit adventures. We are talking about social philanthropy. And tocqueville says we are talking about the rotary club, we are talking about blood, sweat, and tears of neighbors. People who are living out a life of gratitude by serving those people who live next door to them who might actually give their lives. All of the things that actually define happiness are driven by your family and your friends and your work and your belief system that you wrestle through with the people you actually know. Washington exists, this is the american idea, washington exists to provide a framework for ordered liberty. Not to root out dissent and disagreement. Not to try to squash down on the difference of opinion that we have, but rather to allow 1000 flowers to bloom and to allow people to try to persuade their neighbors. And if we believe those things, then we want to do Everything Possible<\/a> to take any occasion to teach the next generation that we arent really about power. We are about a framework for ordered liberty so that love and persuasion in their communities is where they can live lives that truly flourish. And if we believe those things, wed look for any opportunity to do that teaching. And we were scared that we were going to have to do that teaching at a time of the political culture and the balance on the court would have drifted more and more toward a washingtoncentric view of the world. We have a new opportunity. And many of you in this room will have special opportunities. Because many of you are about to go and serve our president elect , and you will be trying to do the very important work of helping him ably and dutifully pass the laws that have been passed by the congress and to be , prepared to be commander in chief all of the time but especially in times of crisis and emergency. And you will be raising your hands and swearingin of to limited government. When you swear that oath, you are about the project of continuing to depoliticize American Life<\/a>. Because that is what originalism was really about. We were trying to depoliticize the policy preferences of those who were unelected and serving in the administration of justice on the courts. Regularly Regulatory Reform<\/a> is about about depoliticizing in the execution of many complicated statues. The attack on Political Correctness<\/a> that did get a big vote of confidence in this election is about the politicizing conversation so that people can wrestle through real ideas, instead of always fearful. Be federalism that we would like to see recovered is about the politicizing the fact that many government decisions should be made across 50 laboratories of democracy so that it can be closer to the people. So that you can have an experiment with what works and what does not work. Nebraska and vermont have different values and people and different problems. We have different topography. We will feed the world and they are going to make some really good ice cream. [laughter] sen. Sasse but we should not try and everyone from burlington, i would love to buy you a steak afterwards. [laughter] there are important interstate Environmental Issues<\/a> that need to be solved in washington. But every decision that should be solved in washington should not be driven back to the states. I wanted to think about when , tocqueville was coming here, what Public Discourse<\/a> looked like in the form of schoolbooks and in the form of public art to make sure that kids understood what came next. Think about for those of you that have spent any time in annapolis. Think about what it meant when general washington, in december of 1783, resigned his commission in maryland at the Maryland Senate<\/a> because the Continental Congress<\/a> had been meeting there. And he came and he resigned his commission and that famous painting that still sits in annapolis of president , then general washington resigning his commission. That came out in 1824. Right up the street in baltimore , the monument the Washington Monument<\/a> of baltimore, when we hear Washington Monument<\/a>, we think of the one just one mile from us here. The 550 foot tower that exists here. But the one in baltimore is quite a bit more interesting. Because what did he say . What is on the top . For those of you have been to the 180 foot tower and a 15 foot George Washington<\/a> at the top. What is the artist trying to say with that piece of art . He has washington wearing a roman toga. And he is laying down his commission. It is the scene that happened in annapolis when washington resigned his commission in 1783 and he is handing back the scroll but he is wearing a roman toga. Why . Because they knew the story of cincinnatus. They knew the dangers of caesarism. They knew this guy whose term of counsel was over and he went back to growing cabbage and whatever forsaken vegetable it was, and they came to get him and they asked him if he would be dictator. This was a legitimate calling. He accepted the calling. He came back and he took up near limitless power. Ostensibly for six months. They won the battle in two weeks. And cincinnatus resigns his commission and tries to go back home. And the people say no, you should become dictator. And he says no, that is not the law. But they say, no, no one would oppose it. You just have this glorious military victory. You did it in two weeks. No one would oppose you. And he says no, we are a republic and in a republic, we follow laws. And he goes back home. And american schoolkids in the 1820s and 1830s wouldve understood what that toga meant on that statue. The most vivid picture, the most vivid symbol of freedom and of natural rights and of individual liberty that exists in iconic form anywhere on this globe is the dome of the capital. And when you are in the dome of the capital, there are three famous paintings. Yet there are usually only two that we talk about. There is the declaration, the committee drafting the declaration of independence and there is the surrender of the british at yorktown. And both of these paintings are filled with drama. You can hear the trumpets and the drumbeat as you look at them. The world has been turned upside down. They are filled with drama. And yet, there is a third painting. And it is ridiculously humble and boring. It is a hand with a scroll. And that hand with the scroll is to shout out to the American People<\/a> that it is not about this city. It isnt about the power pole. The powerful. It is about the fact that we believe in a republic of law and of limited government where those who serve in power want to embrace restraint. They want to embrace judicial restraint. They need and want to embrace executive restraint. Because the laying down of that scroll is another way of saying the center of the world is not here. And it cannot be fixed here. It will be fixed in the communities where our people come from and where the meaning of america is passed on to the next generation and if all of , you who will soon have the chance to go back into government and those of us who will be cheering you on the outside as you take on that important executive branch calling, your jobs are not chiefly about the policy outcomes when you serve your new president. Your job is about the administration of justice because the checks and balances that you believed in two weeks ago and that fedsoc was founded about 35 years ago are not just your new callings when you take the oath, but you have a special new opportunity. When people stand up against power and they disagreed with that power, no one is surprised. They all expected that. What is glorious is when people believe in limited government and restraint, when we are the ones in power. And we now have the opportunity [applause] to model that restraint. Quickly will take a look at some of the challenges facing the with the White House Bureau<\/a> chief. He will look at the president elects key selections for his team. And richard pager joins us from minneapolis to talk about the various conflicts of interest. Journal life beginning at 7 00 eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. Donald trump has announced his choice for several more National Security<\/a> positions. He says Jeff Sessions<\/a> is his choice for attorney general. Michael flynn will serve as his National Security<\/a> advisor. Mike pompeo has been selected to become the next cia director. The attorney general and cia director must be confirmed by the senate. New york city officials outline security and Traffic Management<\/a> plans around trump tower in midtown manhattan. Speakers included the mayor, chief of police, and new York City Department<\/a> of transportation. This is 20 minutes. We are good . Good afternoon, everyone. We have had many productive ongoing discussions with the secret service. This tobeen planning minimize disruptions to all other new yorkers and public transpiration and those who need to make commercial deliveries in the area surrounding fifth avenue. We are striving for the proper balance. Understand, we are not going to detail the secret Services Plan<\/a> to protect the president elect. We want to talk about than ny pds plan to protect traffic flow. Many people who live and work in the area have a lot of questions about this. Our country will have a new york City Resident<\/a> as president of the United States<\/a>. The transition will be ongoing through january and most of this work will occur in midtown manhattan. The plan we are discussing today covers that transition period, the next 65 days. We are not closing fifth avenue for any type of permanent basis. No wholesale closures of fifth avenue are planned. Trump tower is located at east 5 of one one block south of the biggest busiest intersections in new york city and possibly the nation. This is no different than the many major events the nypd secures each and every day. There will be many in terms of security, there will be many things the public will see an many things the public will not see. None of this is new for us. As we always do, we will reassess this plan to make any adjustments we deem necessary to ensure we maintain the proper balance of security and everyday life in our great city. I would like to introduce mayor bill de blasio. Mayor deblasio thank you very much, commissioner. I want to thank commissioner oneill, all the men and women of the nypd who are doing an extra neri job extraordinary job. A securitygether plan that has been operating very well. Thank you, commissioner, and all of the people who have been doing this work. When president elect trump and i he said,of the things he expressed his appreciation of the men and women of the nypd. The details you were here from in a moment youll hear from david beach and you will hear from our chief of Department Carlos Gomez<\/a> on specifics. I want to thank our first uppity commissioner ben tucker, first Deputy Commissioner<\/a> been tucker, john miller, and are commissioner of transportation has been deeply involved. Devoted to making sure the city will keep moving. This is a big challenge and an unprecedented challenge. We are committed to making it work and we need the city to keep moving at all times and we are entering the Holiday Season<\/a> which as a player layer of complication. We will continue to refine the approach to make sure it allows for people to move freely through the area. We understand the number one imperative to safety and security. We owe that to the president elect, his family, and his team, and that is important to all new yorkers. We believe we can balance that with the number of measures to keep traffic, both vestry and and be a killer traffic moving as well vestry and vestry pedestrian and vehicular traffic moving as well. We had francis and World Leaders<\/a> all in town. Nypd did a great job of working with our federal partners. No strangerent is to these challenges and it is a known fact that president s of the United States<\/a> have come into new york city on a regular basis throughout their presidencies. There are refined approaches to handling those visits. The nypd is wellsuited to take on this challenge. In the modern world with the Security Dynamics<\/a> we face today, we have never had a situation where president of the United States<\/a> would be here on such a regular basis. We know over these next 65 days, he will be here regularly. We have never had the situation before. The nypd is up to the challenge and the city of new york is up to the challenge. We have an excellent working relationship with the secret service. There have been a clear set of shared goals and clear coordination throughout this time and we believe that is going to be one of the number one reasons we can keep people safe and secure. We will listen carefully to the needs of new yorkers and the concerns of new yorkers throughout this process. For people who work in this area, for businesses, for people who drive through, there are real concerns right now. We will do our best to address those concerns and make the adjustments we can. Emphasize, only get toward the holidays, there is constant messages given. We constantly remind our fellow you new yorkers to not bring cars into midtown manhattan. Transitely on mass options. That would be true during any Holiday Season<\/a>, even more true now, of course. It was one of the things people need to recognize this to the extent you can avoid the immediate area around trump tower, that will make your life easier and everybody elses life easier. From 53rd street 250 seven st and from madison avenue to 6th avenue. Area. S a pretty small if people were to specifically avoid that area to the maximum extent possible, that will help us to manage the situation. We will continue to refine the approach to Traffic Management<\/a> and addressing the needs of the people who live and work in the area. We will add fustanella as needed. We will add personnel as needed. The nypd has already put on each shift during daytime hours, almost 50 officers to manage the flow of traffic in that immediate area. An additional 50 personnel put in place on the daytime shifts. We will add personnel to address the situation further, if needed. Enforcement will be more aggressive on fifth avenue. Enforcement of truck traffic, you will see a clear uptick on enforcement of truck traffic. There are already very clear rules. That will be enforced more vigorously than ever. That this is a very substantial undertaking and it will take substantial resources and we will begin the conversation with the federal government shortly on reimbursement for the nypd for some of the cost we are incurring. We are concerned about overtime costs and we think it is a valid situation to turn to the federal government for the maximum possible reimbursement. A situation this city has never been faced with before and we believe the federal government will understand that situation and those conversations will begin in earnest soon. A few words in spanish. [speaking spanish] i want to bring forward a man who has been a great partner and i want to thank him and all of , david beach. Mayor. K you, i would like to begin by thanking the mayor and commissioner oneill and the men and women of the new York City Police<\/a> department. Not for their efforts on election night, not on their efforts in the last week and a half, but their efforts last majorrotecting two president ial nominees. On behalf of the secret service, i would like to thank you both for opening the resources of the city and thank you for your partnership. President elects residence, and security planning, in general, the planning and execution of at secret service protected venues is a collaborative effort. Plan isrity collectively developed by the partners based on factors unique to each and every venue. The secret service and its Law Enforcement<\/a> partners monitor, review, and adjust the plan as needed based on information and operational needs. One element in determining any onurity plan is its impact the local residents and merchants as well as its impact on the daily operations at the community at large. In order to fully consider this element and make the best decisions possible, the secret Service Works<\/a> with its law toorcement partners communicate with the community, to better understand their needs and concerns. Thevery instance possible, secret service wants to minimize any adverse or unnecessary impact on the community. Notwithstanding, the secret withce, and conjunction the new York City Police<\/a> department, is committed to providing the highest level of security and fulfillment of our mission of National Security<\/a> and public safety. As a matter of practice, security plans will evolve in order to address emerging threats and to improve efficiencies and its operations. Ever possible, secret service will. He gave changes to Committee Members<\/a> without compromising operational security. Specific security measures, activities, timing, are not discussed outside of the Law Enforcement<\/a> community. The longterm success is likely attributable to the longstanding Strong Partnership<\/a> tween the secret service and the new York City Police<\/a> department. Throughoute to add my career, i have traveled all over the world and i can think of no city better equipped, better prepared to deal with this challenge than new york. Partly because of the strength of the Police Department<\/a> and because of the strength and resiliency of the citizens of new york city. I would like to thank everybody for their patients. Ce. Patient we look forward to the continued partnership. Got the order out of place. I would like to introduce carlos gomez. But afternoon. The nypd has worked very closely with the u. S. Secret service in developing this plan and i would like to thank dave and his agency for their collaboration with us. We look to strive a proper balance between , providingl security as much security as possible around the president elect, his family, other residents of trump tower, and businesses in the area. While not having an adverse impact on traffic, deliveries, and the lives of other new yorkers that walk by the areas and live nearby. This is the plan that is presently and limited whether the president elect is in his residence or not. Our plan Going Forward<\/a> for when the president elect is out of residents is being discussed and appropriate to the level of resources and staffing levels. We have committed a substantial amount of resources to trump tower. Uniform officers will be assigned to security posts around the perimeter of the property. Officers will be assigned to assist secret Service Personnel<\/a> at screening and checkpoint locations along fifth avenue, in front of the interest to trump tower. Mances officers will be the delta barriers that have been placed on 50 six st between fifth avenue and madison to control vehicular access. We will have officers at elevated positions on our rooftops. We will have a good number of personnel available to address any demonstrations that pop up. Over the last nine or 10 days, we have six such demonstrations occur in front of trump tower. In addition to those resources, we will have resources from our Counterterrorism Bureau<\/a> in the form of heavy weapons team. We will have dogs, explosive detecting canines, as well as other officers from the Counterterrorism Bureau<\/a>. Enforcing the truck restrictions already in place. We took a strong look at that and we really mean it. We will start enforcing this right away. I would like to announce the following restrictions. Those truck restrictions are southbound on fifth avenue between 60th street 2 55th street and eastbound on 50 six st from 6th avenue to fifth avenue. Truck traffic will be diverted away from the streets. One of the toughest jobs in his department is the job of a Traffic Enforcement<\/a> officer and we have a substantial number of those resources also assigned to this area to assist with congestion as well as 56th street will be closed for all vehicular traffic between fifth avenue and madison avenue. This is where we placed those delta barriers to control access to vehicles. However, pedestrians that reside in the area, that work on the street, want to shop on the street, or want to cross 56th street down to madison or up to fifth, they will be allowed to do so on the south side of 56th street, but after being screened by us and the secret service. Buses, passenger vehicles, will continue to utilize fifth avenue. But understand that presently two of the five traffic lanes","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600506.us.archive.org\/32\/items\/CSPAN_20161119_020000_Politics_and_Public_Policy_Today\/CSPAN_20161119_020000_Politics_and_Public_Policy_Today.thumbs\/CSPAN_20161119_020000_Politics_and_Public_Policy_Today_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240626T12:35:10+00:00"}