Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20140127

2013, people were arrested during their moral mondays protest. Now they are planning their biggest protest yet, the moral march on raleigh. Today we are joined by bill moyers and will air excerpts of his new record on the political crisis in the tar heel state. Years, first time in 150 republicans controlled the governorship and both houses of the legislature, where they have a vetoproof majority, and they are enacting laws that will touch every north carolinians pocketbook, every student classroom, and every voters experience at the pole. Bill moyers and state of conflict North Carolina. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Over 60 people were killed in egypt is weakened in clashes around the third anniversary of the uprising that ousted hosni mubarak. Thousands turned out in her rear square, the epicenter of the revolution, but fighting broke out between members of the Muslim Brotherhood and state backers. Over 1000 people were detained by sunday night. In a sign of growing activity by militants and aged russian Army Helicopter was shot down in the desert killing all five soldiers aboard. Group Ansar Beit Almaqdis has claimed responsibility. The military government said it would hold president ial elections earlier than its political roadmap had called for before the races to select a new parliament. Egyptian military leader general abdelfattah elsissi who led the coup to overthrow morsi, is expected to run. The Syrian Government and opposition leaders are holding facetoface talks for the first time in geneva. The weekends session is focused on humanitarian gestures after initially facing potential collapse. Haver brahimi says they agreed to let women and children to leave the city of homs. Starting tomorrow, women and children will be able to leave in homs. The old city i hope the rest of the civilians will be in the to leave soon after. Homs has been under government siege for the past months and civilians are in need of aid. Todays negotiations focus on a ticking point between this year opposition and world powers, demanding the departure of Bashar Alassad. Ahead of todays talks, a spoke person for the Opposition Syrian National Coalition says we opposition regime has sought to stonewall discussions on a political transition. President Bashar Alassad is the president of the syrian republic. Until the people Say Something think every syrian has the right to be nominated to be elected or not to be elected. Say,is why we are here to the only solution is to go to elections. The Syrian Deputy Foreign minister says their future will be decided by elections in which a side would presumably run. We can Start Talking about transition. Clearly, the regime is not enthusiastic to talk about that and they are stalling, trying to , going intoctics ,etails about information asking about names of people, where they are located, rather than providing humanitarian co rridors. Dozens were wounded in a weekend of violence in iraq. 65,000 people have fled the fighting in the cities of falluja and ramadi. Over 140,000 have been displaced since clashes broke out between Government Forces and sunni militants in an bar province last month. Afghan government have released a group of 37 prisoners from the u. S. Prison of bob graham. The Obama Administration had lobbied intensely against their release, accusing them of attacks on afghan civilians and u. S. Troops. But the Afghan Government said there was insufficient evidence to justify their continued imprisonment. On sunday, hamid karzai called bagram a taliban insurgent making factory. The administration recently deployed a new contingent of u. S. Troops to somalia to work as advisors to the somali military. The political opposition in ukraine has rejected a sweeping powersharing offer from president Viktor Yanukovych in a bid to stop the protests against his rule. Proposedweekend, he the installation of top opposition leaders in key government positions. Of prisoners, and the reevaluation of antiprotest laws. Addressing the massive crowds in independence square, opposition willrs said protests continue until elections are called for later this year. More than a dozen antigovernment rallies have taken place nationwide. Three people are dead after a gunman opened fire in a maryland Shopping Mall before taking his own life. Oldgun man was 19 years while the victims were 21 and 25yearold employees of a skateboard store. A witness described the scene. Was looking around and i heard a bang, and i said, that sounded like a gunshot. Then i heard people running and screaming. Screaming. Started it was complete madness. I got out as quick as i could. I definitely heard four or five gunshots. Incident of gun violence, a student was killed friday in a campus shooting on South Carolina state university, at least the fifth School Shooting this month. An adviser to Edward Snowden has ruled that plea talks with the u. S. Government unless he is offered amnesty. Eric holder says he is open to meeting with lawyers but without the prospect of amnesty or clemency. Calls or clemency have grown in recent weeks after disclosures have let president obama to announce a series of nsa reforms and an independent payment to operations of information gathering as illegal. Said thatadack snowden should be him of to return home a free man. Amnesty and clemency have been negotiating points but none of us have been contacted about restarting negotiations. I think no harm no foul is not at. Has beeneen suffering on the part of Edward Snowden. While we are glad to negotiate, he will not come back to face and espionage prosecution. West virginia has ordered the removal of storage tanks from the site deadly chemicals into the water supply earlier this month. 300,000 people were left without makeater after a Company Chemicals into the elk river. The order, Freedom Industries will be forced to remove all 17 of its tanks. Handed ceoase has jamie diamond a massive compensation package despite a year that saw them pay off a record amount in criminal fines. Mons jump to 20 million for 2013, most of it in bonuses. To 1 millionunts for each billion that they paid last year to resolve government probes into illegal activity. Recently, they paid 2. 6 billion for failing to disclose suspicions of fraud in what turned out to be a massive ponzi doff. E by bernie made of a texas woman has been taken off lifesupport. Inleys munoz collapsed december when she was 14 weeks pregnant despite please to keep her on life support because of her pregnancy. On friday, a judge ruled the hospital had to disconnect her because she was legally dead. Family attorney say her relatives one now proceed with the somber task of laying her body to rest and grieving over the great loss that has been suffered. Those are some of the headlines. Democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In 2013, over 1000 people were arrested in North Carolina taking part in a series of protests called moral mondays. For 13 weeks, protesters rallied in the state capital of rally to moves byoves oppose republican lawmakers to protect Voting Rights, education, the environment, and womens rights. Now organizers are planning the largest posttest yet, called the moral march on raleigh. State of conflict North Carolina. Broadcast, bill moyers will join us in the broadcast, but first, an excerpt from his report. A monday in july. Raleigh, North Carolina. A position moves towards the statehouse. When it comes to health care, what do we do . Police. The chief of you have five minutes to disperse and leave the property. Once inside, they block doors and passageways, knowing it will get them arrested. They are part of a movement known as moral mondays. Thousands protesting at the North Carolina statehouse. The moral mondays protest here in North Carolina. We are in the south. This is not wisconsin. This is the south. Where justice was hammered out. Where freedom was hammered out. This is the south. More than a dozen protesters are in police custody. The protest began with a small gathering on a monday in april. Then there are number started growing monday after monday. Each week there are more arrests than the week before. Tonight, there were 49. The 13th wave of the moral monday protest. Police had to shut down a portion of lane street in downtown raleigh. By august, citizens were turning up across the state. 5000 or more gathered here in downtown asheville. And the nation took notice. Organizers say the Media Attention they are generating outside of the General Assembly makes up for much of the political power they lack on the inside. The protesters are challenging a rightwing crusade to remake the state. They are cutting off on implement benefits. North carolina passed one of the most restrictive Voter Suppression bills. Voted to prohibit the expansion of medicaid. Will soon resume in the state of North Carolina. In 150the first time years, republicans controlled the governorship in both houses of the legislature, where they have a vetoproof majority, and they are enacting laws that the Charlotte Observer says will touch every voter and person. They have overstepped so far. They seem to be targeting those who can least afford to pay for these changes. We just kicked 71 of our neighbors off of the roles. Lower Legislature Want to the age that we can be tried as adults to 13. We are here to save the soul of our state. At the age of 92, i am fed up. Up fired fed up fired up thank you so very much. Has, in somelina ways, a bipolar political culture. Heartburn teaches at the university of North Carolina, chapel hill. When you say North Carolina, the first thing that many think of is jesse helms, our senator for more than 20 years. Disgusting people marching, demanding all sorts of things, including the right to marry each other. At the same time, it is the home to many progressive politicians. Terry sanford is known as one of the best republican liberals. We have to remind ourselves that protest is the fundamental ingredient of a free people. States, the progressive leader is William Barber. Before the rightwing takeover, his coalition had pushed for a string of successful reforms, including raising the minimum wage and measures including voting for dissipation. Is not just political, it is personal. Reverend William Barber is the head of the North Carolina naacp, a man that you will always know is in the room. We have come to serve notice we will release every political and moral strategist we can to create the new south but we will not go back. Fundamentally, america finds itself with a moral question. How are we going to live out our deepest moral principles of doing justice, loving your neighbor, and what does that mean in terms of our laws and Public Policy . He declared he was protesting an avalanche of extremist policies. They are threatening health care, education, the poor. One of the things that upset are cuts to longterm unemployment assistance. A journalist for the Progressive Institute for studies. One of the things we have seen as part of the agenda that is being played out in raleigh is constant cuts to the social safety net. It is no longer a priority for the people that control the state. The vote to block the expansion of medicare. The republican appraisal to expand medicaid meant the denial of insurance to have a million people. How can you say this is the moral thing to do . They were not going to expand medicaid. Tothis would do great damage my patients, so i take that personally. I am not a person that just takes care of hearts and livers, but i need to take care of the whole body and. And Infectious Disease specialist at university of North Carolina. April 29, reverend William Barber had had a rally against these policies, so i thought, i should check this out. On monday, may 6, i went along and ended up doing civil disobedience, and got arrested. I deliberately made some ,ecisions in subsequent rallies and i stood next to him. I wanted there to be an old one guy in a white coat with a stethoscope, standing next to him. Going to walk together and go forward, until love is lifted. Until justice is realized. He is trying to build a multiissue, Multiracial Coalition in North Carolina. Feeling that social justice is under attack and that people have to get into the streets to make people care, to dramatize what is happening in the states. An excerpt of the documentary state of conflict North Carolina. Its narrator is the legendary broadcaster bill moyers. When we come back, we will air more of the documentary and then speak to bill himself. [music break] we are not for sale by django haskins. State of conflict North Carolina. That is the name of a new documentary from bill moyers. We returned to report on the political crisis in North Carolina. Pope, thelooks at art man described as the mastermind of the rightwing takeover. The moral monday protesters, what they are fighting is not new. What is new is just about everything on the right wing wish list is at last becoming reality. Just as our hope planned. What happened to North Carolina . His name is art pope. And i ame is art pope a job creator. Man presents himself as a lucky member of the governors running the numbers like an earnest accountant. Are you the rainmaker of the North Carolina Republican Party . Know, the voters are the rainmakers. He has been called everything from kingmaker to king. He is very rich and have shelled out so many millions of dollars for conservative causes and republican candidates that his adversaries accuse him of buying state government. He claims that is not what the money is for. Is an impact,here but the impact is educating voters on issues. There are wealthy individuals that have pain influence in many states. He really dominates the landscape in North Carolina in a way that nobody else does. That is because he practices the golden rule of the politics. Art pope has money. His companys money, money from the John William Pope foundation, named for his wealthy businessman father. That foundation has spent 46 million on a network of advocacy groups and think tanks bent on steering North Carolina far to the right. Sound familiar . When people talk about art pope, someone who is often invoked is the Koch Brothers, david and charles coke, koch, who spent a great deal of money expanding their idea of libertarian politics. With art same thing pope. Is a some ways, art pope junior sized version of the Koch Brothers. He has what some might call a Factory Production line for his ideology. The people that work for his think tanks are on the radio, they have websites, they have publications that are statewide. They get their message out all the time. Message aimed at the moral monday protesters. Have been arrested for disrupting the state legislature. Ofit accuses protest leaders marching to protect access to government handouts. These organizations are fighting to keep their spot at the public trough. Welcome to money mondays. He is now at head of the pope civitas institute. Having worked here for seven years and running it for six years, art popes control is very little. I always like to describe him as a holocene want. Among his different groups, you will see that they do not always agree. The group that he funds do not always agree on policy. Not always, but certainly enough. By 2015, the highest earning north carolinians will pay almost 26 less in income tax than in 2013. Corporations will pay over 27 less. There has also been a repeal of the estate tax which applied only to people so wealthy that just 23 families have paid it in 2011. When corporate and wealthy interests are at stake, art pope is right at home. Get the moneypope and ideas that have reshaped the politics of North Carolina . The story begins when he was a young man. Kid, was an intellectual went to a Summer Program early on run by the cato institute. He was quite swept up with libertarian ideology and the ideas of ayn rand. Once he went to duke law school, he eventually became the general counsel in the family firm and then rose in the firm. The top,e way to becoming the ceo. It is a privately held company. Is called variety wholesalers. It is a Discount Retail chain. These are lower and discount stores. They go by a variety of different names. One of the largest chains he owns is called roses. He has great personal wealth and family wealth. Served in the legislature for several terms in the 1980s and into the 1990s. State budget and the numbers inside and out, but he is not what you would call the stereotypical political candidate. The smiling, telegenic politician. After a couple of years, he ran for Lieutenant Governor, and lost badly. He realized he was not going to influence North Carolina politics by being Lieutenant Governor or governor. It turns out he did not need to get elected to win elections, he just needed to put his money where it counted. He first set out to purge moderate republicans in the state assembly by supporting candidates in gop primaries. He took on themin, democrats. The democrats had been in disarray, a series of corruption scandals. A democratic governor pled guilty to Campaign Finance charge, and that was not all. We had a democratic speaker of the house go to prison on a bribery scheme. There was a lot of sleaze in the Democratic Party. We saw a backlash against president obama and obamacare, as we saw nationally, restoration over a lousy economy. Also, that election was right Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which opened the door to the outside money. The handiwork of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court enabled individuals and corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money, but is now called dark money. He provided a Perfect Landscape of how things would be after the Supreme Court ruling. He saw the opportunities and he had the cash, because of his family fortune. Manpope is a very small that thinks about the world as an engineer. As if somebody had looked at the map in every district and figure it out what it would take to get republican control. So he, along with some of the people he was working with, targeted legislative races to pour money into. One of their vessels was a nc,p called real jobs bankrolled by pope. In 2010, it went on the attack. Their high taxes and wasteful spending cost us jobs. Year, he and his family, and outside spending groups he is associated with, spent 2. 2 million on state legislative races. In the National Scheme of things is not a tremendous amount of money, but in the context of the state legislative races, where there is not that much money spent, it was decisive. Tonights shift in power is historic. He republicans have taken control of both chambers. Now inblicans are control of both chambers for the first time in more than a century. I supported 19 republican legislative candidates and 17 of them one won. That is a pretty good track record. Republicans get control of both houses of the state legislature for the First Time Since after the civil war. Republicans realize there was an opportunity. Whoever controlled the legislature would control the states political future. Controlwinners would the future because 2010 was a census year, the first in a decade. That means they get to control the redistricting process. That is an opportunity for legislatures to do a pretty selfserving thing. With computers nowadays, you can get specific about every house that is included in the district. You can know what is a republican neighborhood, what is a democratic neighborhood, so you can look up an individual house and you can say the man is a republican, the lady is a democrat, they have one adult son at home who is also a republican. You can do it to that level and draw districts in a way that really much for which party will control the district. And what the republicans did was draw districts as best they could to elect republicans. They had help according to the Investigative Group propu blica, thanks to outside money and republican operatives coming then to figure out boundaries most favorable to their party. Another person was there, art pope. The next election came around in 2012, the gerrymandering worked like a charm. The 2012 elections occurred and it is the best elections for republicans in modern history. They take not just control of both houses of the state legislature, which had not been done in a century, but they take a vetoproof majority control of both houses of the legislature. They also get the Governors Mansion back for the first time in 20 years. Lets forget about politics and think about us. That is what we tried in charlotte when i was mayor. Known as a fiscal conservative, pat mccrory was fairly moderate for a republican. Governor markell ray, in one of the debate before the election, was asked by someone on the panel, would you sign any measures to further restrict abortion in North Carolina . He said no. What further restrictions on abortion would you agree to sign . None. All right. [laughter] he swungce in office, hard to the right, beginning with the casual announcement of a key appointment. Art pope has agreed to serve deputyudget director. An innocuous title, masking a startling reality. The man who for years had poured money into those right wing think tanks, the Republican Party, and into republican campaigns, including pat mccrorys, would be the governors man overseeing the state budget. His power is tremendous and frightening to me that people can buy their way into that kind of power in what is supposed to be a peoples democracy. She sings in a group called the raging grannies. Several years ago, she moved from new york to North Carolina. Husband and i retired, we were looking for a place to live that would be supportive of our values. The triangle region of North Carolina seemed to be a good fit for us. Shocked by howen fromly things have turned a very progressive atmosphere, to one of extraordinary regression. Conservatives were getting the results they were praying for. The tax cuts went to the top five percent of taxpayers. Anyone making more than 250,000 a year would now pay a state income tax rate at the same level as those making 25,000. Earned income tax credit for the poor were cut. At riskwere cut for kids and prek, even as doctors were given to privates cools. Unemployment insurance was cut with a bill drafted by the North Carolina chamber of commerce. Budget, theopes state Higher Education system and took a hit of 64 million. You have traditionally had a lot of support for education. That is something that a lot of north carolinians take pride in, pointyheaded liberal intellectuals, but a lot of people in the business community. I do not think you will find among republican Business Leaders this attitude of marginalizing Higher Education, which you have seen from the state capital. One of the first things that governor mccoury did, one of the first controversies he got involved with was going on a National Conservative radio show and took some swipes at the university and said there are too many degrees in liberal arts. He said if you want to get a degree in gender studies, go to private school. That is a subsidized course. If you want to take gender studies, that is fine, go to a private school and take it. I do not want to subsidize it if it is not going to get somebody a job. That is an excerpt from bill moyers state of conflict North Carolina. When we come back, bill moyers will join us in the studio. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. To bill moyers, the legendary broadcaster and host of moyers company. Earlier this month, they air the documentary state of conflict North Carolina. He has won over 30 emmy awards and is a founding organizer of , press secretary for lyndon johnson, his most recent book is bill moyers journal the conversation continues. Welcome back to democracy now great to have you with us. Quite the report and it is not even the whole thing. You go on to talk about the whole issue of Voting Rights. Yes, because of this new far right government and these are not your fathers republicans. They are really right wing republicans. They went after Voting Rights, one of their first objectives they fulfilled when they took power. They now have the most restrictive Voting Rights in the country. A very complicated process of , they reduced it did redistricted in a way that packs africanamericans into three districts. The Justice Department has challenged the North Carolina state voting laws, but they are designed to perpetuate the rule and to make it harder for the elderly and young and minorities. Theye of the things realized was a lot of the voters who are voting early were voting democrat, so they are cracking down on the number of days that you can vote. For a while it looked like 2012,omney had one, in but when the early votes were finally counted, the victory went to obama. They did not like that. Now they are doing away with early voting. Why did you focus on North Carolina of all states, is it so singular and unique . , to as is happening considerable extent, in wisconsin, battleground states, where the business and wealthy communities are collaborating to make sure they do not lose again. North carolina is interesting in and of itself. It is a blue state, red state, purple state. Obama won the state in 2008, romney in 2012. Simultaneously in office with a progressive. It is a purple state really. So the right wing republicans are focusing on it, the democrats ought to be, but they had their problems with corruption and scandals that played into art popes hands. It is very clear what is happening in North Carolina. It is a harbinger of what can happen in other states. Importantly, it reveals when dark money is doing to american politics. Money is coming in from untraceable and unaccountable sources. They do not know who is funding the redistricting. They do not know who is funding these campaigns against their opponents. It is coming from National Republican sources in washington, wealthy people from around the country, and that flies in the face of the fundamental tenets of democracy, that we should know who is buying our government. There is a north carolinians a friend of pope, the Koch Brothers. , veryis a smart man shrewd, intelligent, and very ruthless. As the reporter noted, this is more than North Carolina. This shows what a wealthy individual can do in any state where he or she is willing to put their money into politics in this way. Ours a harbinger of how democracy organized money is the greatest threat to democracy because it unbalances the equilibrium. Democracy is supposed to check the excesses of private power and private grade. Disestablishment is that equilibrium, we are in trouble. We have answer that seen to organized money is organized people. That is what first drew me to North Carolina. I was on the board of week for four years. On the board of wake forest for years. When i saw what was happening on these moral mondays i knew nothing about them until the press story started to come out. Reverend barber himself is a shrewd, cool cat, and i knew what he was doing in organizing. The first arrest came in in the summer and then the news media started to pay attention. It was obvious people were becoming agitated and organized to the response of the buyout of North Carolina. Whether you are progressive or liberal, you or have to know that the only way we will preserve our democracy is to fight organized money. That is what the protesters are doing. They are trying to plan the largest road test ever, february 8. Sometimes distinction between the progressives who are out there on the streets, getting arrested more than 1000 in 2013 and the Democratic Party of North Carolina. Playing intos the hands of republicans. There is resentment in North Carolina among some traditional , to reverend barber, who has emerged as the progressive leader. Not a democratic leader because he is not partisan in this respect. But there is conflict between progressives and democrats who are not progressive. This is an old story. The right wing solved it by bringing this enormous movement, the tea party. It was enough to take over the Republican Party. Progressives are not together enough to take over debt by step, precinct by precinct, the democratic hardy. That is a source of conflict. And democrats had corruption and candles a few years ago, as i said. Several went to jail. That played right into the righ ts hands, and that has created a further rift between progressives and democrats. Fascinating to see the governor saying, a simple answer when he said he would not be supporting more restrictions against abortion. Very clearly stated, but that was not the case. He was elected with the help of these conservatives. Appeasee, he needs to them if he wants to be reelected. One of the first changes in his agenda was to go against what he said earlier and sign the most restrictive abortion anti reproductive bill in the country. As you show in the documentary, aasif mandvi spoke to a republican chair about North Carolina passing one of the most restrictive Voter Suppression bills in the nation. The bottom line is the law is not racist. And you are not racist. Well i have been called a bigot before. You do not look like me but i think i have treated you like anyone else. As a matter of fact, one of my best friends is black. One of your best friends is black . And there is more. You did nots a kid, call a black gay black, you called him a negro. I had a picture of president doctor, and ich posted it on facebook. I said that i was making fun of my white half. You know that we can hear you, right . Yeah. Then i found that the real reason for the law. The law will kick the democrats in the but. And executive Gop Committee member admitted this law is not designed to hurt people, it is designed to hurt democrats. If it hurts a bunch of college kids who are too lazy to get off of their butts and get a photo id, so be it. It hurts the whites, so be it. If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks, so be it. It just so happens, a lot of those people vote democrat. Gee. That was from the daily show. Almost immediately after that interview aired, donyell bb10 was forced to resign his on wason don yelt forced to resign his position in the Republican Party. It is so sad that there are so many people that cannot escape the prism of the past. Race is at the heart of so many states. Conservative there are two that speak as openly and honestly as don yel ton. He is telling the interviewer, this is why i did what i did. If you track the voting patterns, if you track what is happening in the country, you see unspoken racism is still driving a large segment of our politics, unfortunately. Reminded usself and that the Republican Party in the south is the party that took over after the signing of the civil rights Voting Rights and president johnson said, i think we just handed this out to the republicans for my lifetime and yours. The racists who had been democrats all those years until this transformation in american politics through the civil rights legislation, civil rights they wereuntil brought over, the democrats were in the south. I wear is the south and i remember a lot of them being racist. Don yelton was speaking a truth that may not be heard, but we know it. Sundancet came from film festival. Stanley nelson had a wonderful movie about the 50th anniversary of the summer of 1964 when the three Civil Rights Activists, james chaney, making shorter, others were killed. It was the summer of organizing in mississippi. It was the summer of the mississippi freedom Democratic Party. You were the press secretary of lyndon johnson. T was elected be there what was it like to be there . Voice, thewant that voice that wanted to integrate, to be heard. What a dramatic and traumatic moment it was, a riveting moment. By the way, i did not become secretary press secretary for two years. That year i was the domestic policy advisor, working on politics. It was a dramatic and unfortunate moment because, i wish in retrospect, we had hamer,d fannie lou realized that that was where the future of the Democratic Party lay. Could it be like North Carolina democrat today . Yes. His predicament was he wanted to carry as many Southern States as he could. He wanted to bring progressive moderate democrats along with him in his campaign. Had he embraced fannie lou hemmer, a moral thing to do, he thought would be politically costly. So he hammered out this compromise which was not satisfactory to either side, in order to preserve his political prowess and political opportunity to carry the south. And we did carry several states in the south that i think he would have lost it he had not made this compromise. Time, the moral embraced would have been the right thing to do, and that would have been the democratic and civil rights leaders into the democratic arty. He almost resigned then, the pressure so enormous, at least that is what comes out in freedom summer. He was wondering if he would throw in the towel. He was torn between winning and doing the right thing. Lyndon johnson was never an outstanding proponent of civil rights in the texas legislature, but his heart was always in the right lace. He had just signed the Civil Rights Act earlier that summer. That is right. Suddenly he was faced with a moral versus political choice. It created great tension. He was torn by what he had done. He was not sure that winning reelection was worth the moral price he had paid for it. But he got over that and ran a hearty campaign. Before we end the show, i wanted to ask what your plans are. This year you turn 80. You announced in october that you will be ending moyers company. You got an avalanche of response. The people spoke and said you cannot end the show. When you have been at it for 40 something years, you do have a loyal constituents. Many of them are aging, dying off. Young journalists have no idea of what has happened in broadcast in the last 40 years. But there were enough loyal fans around the country who wrote thousands of letters, emails. I had to face myself in the morning, asking, are you going to abandon these people . So we decided to come back for one more year. It is great to see documentaries like these. What is next . Ayn randsooking at influence, the famous libertarian writer of atlas fountainhead. It is very popular in american politics today. Her philosophy is being taught in universities funded by Koch Brothers organizations and others. Paul ooking at rand is he named after her . He is not but there is some sort of convergence there. 17, his father gave him a set of ayn rand novels. Thank you so much for joining us, bill moyers. Host of moyers company. Earlier, they came out with the documentary state of conflict North Carolina [captioning made possible by California Farm Bureau federation] coming up on california country, learn how one woman is soaring with a sour fruit. They make everything taste a meyer lemon in tastes better because it has a meyer lem