The constitution first. [laughter] [applause] that was my answer. Pick up that softball. What did you want to read . First, they need to learn how to read. [laughter] yeah. That would help. Well, theres a guy a fellow new yorker who just recently elected president and a friend of mine wrote a book about him and told me that all of the books in his house are actually spines of books, leather bound spines with nothing behind them. The first start would be reading almost anything. Mine wasnt that they read anything, when they get questions, they are supposed to swear upholding the constitution and when they get questions about it all right, i think we have time for one more question. No more questions. No more questions. All right. We will end on that. T. Thank you so much to all of the authors. [applause] as i mentioned earlier, we will have autographing right on the other side of the elevators and you may leave and proceed to that area. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] and youve been listening to pamela paul id tor of the editor of the new york timesng review. Coming up in an hour from miami, you will hear from actress and author jean alexander. She will be talking about her book, wild things, wild places, in the meantime we are pleased to be joined at the Miami Book Fair by former Florida Governor senator bob graham, america the Owners Manual. A, governor graham you write in your book that you thought donald trump was a fad that would ultimately pass. Obviously that part of the book needs to be revisited, i think the rest of the book holds up pretty well. In a sense that hes not a fad makes the fundamental point of the book which is that there are a lot of americans who are extremely concerned about whats happened to them. They feel like theyve been left behind, theyve been discountede and they used the 2016 electionh as an opportunity to, yes, cast a ballot for a candidate but also to make a statement of protest of their condition and what we are saying is as a citizen of the United States, you dont have to depend upon who gets elected president , mayor, governor, whatever position, you have the capability of making a difference if you are passionate, if you are skilled and if youre persistent. And we give multiple case studies of americans who actually have made a difference by applying those principles. Do you think in 2016 the dissatisfaction with the political system is legitimate. I think there are yes, in the sense that i believe there has been a disconnect between persons in elected office and the general public. Its interesting to me that there were 20 people who ran for president , only two, donald trump and bernie sanders, seemed to have heard what the people were saying and based their message around what they understood the peoples concerns to be. That is a serious comment air on the rest of the political classf it was easier to do as governor because youre in the state all of the time, youre dealing with issues that put you in direct contact with the people. S i defined being governor as like being the quarterback on the Football Team as a u. S. Senator youre removed, your workplace is a thousand miles from where your constituents live, you dont have as many opportunities to be with them, i described that as being like the Athletic Director of the college or high school, but one of the things that i did in both positions, governor and senator was to do workdays. I spent over 400 days during a 30year period working directly with the people of florida. That was not only a way to learn something about what people did to earn a living but you earned a lot on what was on peoples mind and you could take that information directly back to your office in tallahassee or washington and put it to work. Youve been out of office a little over ten years now. Has the political level of vitiriol or bipartisan change in those years . Yes, it was on a downward spiral during my last year in the senate and thats one of the reasons why i decided to retire in 2005 but that spiral has tightened in the last ten years and, i think, maybe this president ial election, i hope, is the bottom of that spiral and we will start to come out of it. Its going to be tough. Its going to require people to be less ideological, more willing to get to know and listen to the views of others including their colleagues in the congress or in the state legislature or wherever it might be. In your book america the Owners Manual you quote the former president of the university of chicago who says the death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush, it would be a slow extinct from apathy, indifference and he spok undernourishment. What america the Owners Manual is all about is telling people you can make a difference, you can fight city hall and win. Like the mothers in sacramento, california, they were passionate about the issue of getting the drunk driver off the streets. They were skilled, they understood what it was going to take to do that. They knew who had the leverage of power and how to influence t those levers of powers and they were persistent but now some 40 years later, the number of deaths attributable to drunk driving in the United States is half of what it was at the end of the 1970. So those were women who were passionate, skilled, persistent and made an enormous difference. Youve worked with president s since president carter. Youve been elected office since president carter. How important is it who is in that office and how do you have to tailor your message to him . I think you can expect the rhetoric of public speak of america to be on the high level of volume. Also the things the president talks about, if the president talks about, for instance, Race Relations in america, it will tend to put that and keep that on the agenda of individuals, institutions, churches, businesses, governments at all level. Io if the topic is ignored, then it is likely to be off the public agenda. So the executive leader whether its the mayor of a city, governor of a state, president of the United States, sets the tone. Back to the america the Owners Manual, theres no reason to treat opponents with anything but respect. The reality is in our system the only way that youre going to eventually achieve your objective is to convince other people that its a wise course of action and if youve consistently disrespected those other people, ignored their views, youre not very likely to be successful in convincing them as to the wisdom of the position that you wish to take and also in politics there are no permanent victories or defeats. The last chapter of america, the Owners Manual is you won, you lost, what do you do next. There are no permanent victorie or defeats, and so the person that was your adversary a week ago may be your strongest supporter on the issue of today. Besides mrs. Graham why do you think you had great longevity and serving as senator and why did you not get beat . Im glad you mentioned the first reason. I was very fortunate to have this beautiful lady accept my offer as marriage and we are going to be celebrating our 57th anniversary shortly and its been a wonderful experience. We have four daughters, one of whom is in congress and shes been influenced by her mother and not too distracted by her father and shes going to be running, i think, for governor of florida in 2018 have she announced that for her or she announced it . I said i think shes going to be running. Whats her name . Lynn graham. Second Congressional District of florida and just done a fabulous job and i think is looking to what her next area of Public Service will be. Bob graham is our guest and our first call comes from joseph in new york. C youre on book tv. Hello, cspan, hi, mr. Graham, how are you today . Where is your town in new york . Its on the eastern tip, middle of long island. Okay. All right. C thank you. How is florida . How is the weather . It is fabulous. I dont know the temperature is in the low 80s, its blue sky with little puffy white clouds. I know your town is a wonderful place to live but if you need ta take a break, come to florida. Joseph did you have a policy question for senator graham . Those are policy questions. Its a twopart question. Is your followup book based on donald trump and are there any chance meet that is you may have with donald trump in the future . Well, no it is not based on donald trump. We started writing this book over a year ago before all of the activities through which we have just been engaged. We were talking about what we thought were some of the fundamental challenges facing america, one of which being that there were so many people dissatisfied, 86 of republicane according to a pew poll of about six months ago had said theyic were dissatisfied with their relationship with government and the vast majority of those ended up voting for donald trump. On so he had tapped in to that feeling. Our book is designed to get people who feel that way an alternative. You dont have to depend upon who is elected, you, citizen, can make a difference if youre passionate, skilled and persistent. I hope i will have a chance to have that conversation with president elect trump. He calls florida his second home and i look forward to having him in our state on a regular basis during his presidency and hope on one of those occasions i will have a chance to have that conversation with the new president. With him a few times. He has some Significant Interest in florida. You can digest that but my question is when i know you delta lot with of nine Living Conditions and ultimately i would get to that issue by hillary clinton, a lot of heat over the of benghazi disaster but the way that i looked at that issue is perhaps she had four hours to deal with something that took placeal wit halfway across the world. On 9 11 it came now there was a president ial debriefing. We will hear from senator graham from the 9 11 commission and the things that you said. But the general support to let the people know should be to the of release of the information of the hijackers from san diego where they lived. We know very little with those streams of Financial Support and that information that this available one will be made open to the American People as early as possible with the new president s administration. When you hear the term rightwing conspiracy . I think that is a little over the top that people have gotten to gather i think there is a lot of people in america who havei come to a similar conclusion that the government is not paying attention but i dont think that is the result of people colluding together. Maybe with some genuine experience. As the party gotten more conservative and the democrats have gotten more liberal quick. Both parties have gotten less pragmatic. And and what has spent disrupting is not the trade agreements because of of globalization and neither of the candidates did inadequate job to say if those are what is causing and the of loss of jobs in terms of quality what can we do about the issues of globalization. The next call comes from albuquerque. Caller thanks for taking my call. R my question concerns this last election. But the question of voters ppression. What seems to have been according to the accounts that i have read their word basically two kinds. With the intimidation at the polls or the confusion created before they got tool the polls. But voters suppression made legal to create at reasonable requirements for voter identification in the states with republican majority legislatures. There doesnt seem to be any doubt but as they turn away from the of polls it is harder to get that majority. Host so lets hear from governor gramm. I hate to say this but it is not just one partys burden to carry. For a long time in the south for the access to the polls while my father was in the state senate sponsor the bill to repeal the tax in florida which was one of the of restates restraints on the background but what democracy requires. If were going to be of and by and for the people theyll need to have access to the vote. So the federal courts in the last few months they have overturned the efforts to achieve suppression of voting. So that additional spotlight on the president s responsibilities that is the recommendation not only for the Supreme Court and i hope the public is asking the question of the nominees what is their commitment to see all americans have an opportunity to participate to use their Citizenship Rights with the great democracy. Host robert fromhi philadelphia america at the Owners Manual is the newest book. Caller senator gramm gramm, the previous callers told my thunder but i have another question but the level of discourse was corrupted by a commercial media remember a time ofic nonstop policy debate now there is mudslinging. What can we do to get policy back to the forefront . Fix it seems were discourse is going. With the government auction not be the sensor of network or cables or other media but rather to encourage and support to the alternative voice and frkly that you are watching cspan this morning i say congratulations. This is the kind of media in which again discussion of policy to see that you stay on track and are communicating at the gullible that cspan expects with you as the audience expect. If you get quality media will get quality discussion. You have always been willing to come on cspan2 talk with the audience and we appreciate that. In your book the worst possible way is the backward fryer already Team Approach before you think about the reporters decide how the media should benefit your cause to be used as a partner. Guest i dont mean that in a corruptive cents to get the of media to an appropriately support your cause, but if you know, for inst with your local newspaper there is a reporter who was consistently writing about the topics youre interested in flight health care, and you have seen an issue in in your community that you believe serves the Public Awareness and attention that is a reporter you want to talk to. What we are suggesting is how do you relate to the media is to be smart. The m with the specific person within the media would most likely understand the cause that you are advancing to have that Public Confidence coni to have their opinion respected. Host calling from idaho will come miami. Caller where is post falls . Caller i am way north. Ight be of i may be off kilter i just joined the program but trump was elected because of hisd stance on immigration somebody finally paid attention to what has usually been a doordie got politician but it doesnt scare them because they live better in our prisons and their third world country. Ro so to think maybe we should build prisons to send the criminals. Host i heard somebody say sterdays that miami is the outburst of what is wrong with america and the best of why America Works at the same time. T know guest i don know without worst that they talk about by a very proud of this community. I just celebrated my 80th birthday i was born in a hospital here in miami literally have lived here my entire life. I grew up in miami which was not diverse heavily southern that is what i have a little bit of a southern accent and it has become a Great International city and i am proud the model that miami represents how you can except people from around the world and in a relatively short period of time to maintain those things that they admire about their previous culture but also become a fully 100 percent functioning participating in our democracy that is of lessonmi that miami can teach to other cities that will be undergoing that transition. It was close but florida went for president elect trump. What do you say to people that our concerned aboute immigration . We should be proud how well the up process has worked here in miami. It would not be the vibrant it International City it is today but for the large number of immigrants to over the last 50 or 60 years but some of the lessons we have learned is people that our proud of their culture and dont want to complete the jump into the melting pot to keep some of their individuality that adds to the attractiveness of the community. Within 100 yards their selling books from peru peru, argentina, all over asia and europe because they have an audience here in miami. Host Rockaway Beach or again good morning you are on the air. Goahead. Caller thanks for taking my call. Senator graham please address what are the most effective ways that citizens can use our time to make a difference . Fiftyone to have european to se eyes and ears open tuesday the of problems to see the problems in your community that go unattended when you identify the issue that you really care about not just to punch the resonate with this degree of Community Service but what you really care about then thats is where you need to consult with america and the Owners Manual to lay out the course of action, starting with stating theit problem to minutes ago i talked about sacramento. They defined the problem asns mothers against drunk driving very powerful way to communicate what their goal would be. Then be sure that you do Good Research they found out what of the drunk drivers were young driver so one of the first priorities was to raise the age of drinking from 18 up that 21. They convince them that was the proper step to takepl because they had the factshe fau to base it. That is the steps of a process that led them to enormous success if you apply those issues to have a similar outcome. Host right here from miami. , caller hello. What advice do you have for young people that want to get more involved in their government to serve . X befo host have you ever participated in politics . Have you volunteered or do do yvote . Speefifteen. Caller i am 19 nih volunteered for my congresswoman in my county. Guest alex congratulations. You thought developed some Political Awareness under the umella of two outstanding public servan