S1: Every week. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn joins Hugh Hewitt
S1: to discuss great books, great men, and great ideas. This
S1: is Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network.
S1: More episodes@podcast.hillsdale.edu or wherever you find your audio.
S2: Morning glory and evening Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. That
S2: music means it's the last broadcast hour of the week.
S2: Welcome to the Hillsdale Dialogue. I'm joined by Doctor Larry Arnn,
S2: president of Hillsdale College. All things Hillsdale can be found@hillsdale.edu.
S2: All of our prior dialogues@hughforhillsdale.com. Doctor Hillsdale movie did pretty well.
S2: I was very pleased to hear that.
S3: Yeah, it's rolling it. Uh, it's pretty good. I think it, uh, yeah, it, uh,
S3: I was thrilled when I watched it, you know? I
S3: mean it, but I didn't watch it until about 3
S3: or 4 days before it came out. And, uh, it
S3: captures two things that I think are most important. How
S3: hard it was and how they were reduced to risking
S3: their lives for matters of principle. And they didn't know
S3: how I was going to come out. And, uh, so it's,
S3: it's lovely.
S2: When we come back to talk before the fourth about
S2: the founding, we'll talk more about that. But your premiere
S2: was at the Detroit Central Station, which I don't think
S2: was a go zone when I was in law school
S2: in Michigan in the 80s. What's it like now?
S3: Well, they apparently they spent $2 billion. It's a glorious
S3: old central city railway station. And it was a ruin,
S3: a complete ruin. And they spent a lot of money
S3: on it and they restored it to pristine glory. It's
S3: just a lovely place. And, uh, so we're one of
S3: the first big events in it. There was a story
S3: about the restoration. You know, there's some pride in Detroit.
S3: Detroit has been a great city, and there's some comeback
S3: going on in Detroit right now. But there's a in
S3: the porte cochere entryway. On one side of it, there
S3: was a great gold clock and it was missing. And
S3: so the people restored it, advertised for it. And a
S3: man came forward who was born in the neighborhood and
S3: still lived in it. And he had always loved that clock,
S3: and he had rescued it and put it in his garage.
S3: And it was in there for 30 years, and they
S3: advertised for it to come back. He brought it back.
S3: So it's really great. It's a great story. A lot
S3: of things like that there.
S2: One last question about the Premier. Tom Selleck narrates the
S2: Hillsdale movie on the founding, which may or may not
S2: still be in theaters. I'm not sure. But the the
S2: fact is that two.
S3: More nights, the fifth and the eighth, to the fifth
S3: and 8th of June.
S2: Fifth and 8th of June. Great. That is terrific. And
S2: so but was Cilic at the opening.
S3: He was. Yeah. And and um he's a he I
S3: just you know I know him a little bit. And uh,
S3: he is a marvelous man. He's an excellent human being.
S3: You know, he's world famous and he's not ruined by
S3: that at all. Uh, he's a listener to your show.
S3: He wants you to talk about the fact that he
S3: did a really great movie about Eisenhower, and that you
S3: should mention it when you mention this new one. Oh,
S3: I will, uh, I will.
S2: And you just did.
S3: A quick little thing, and his movie is very good.
S3: I have a quick little story about him. You know,
S3: it's got to be 35 years ago, our youngest child
S3: was a babe in arms. And we went to an
S3: event where Tom Selleck was, and we ended up having
S3: a drink with him. And then he drove us back
S3: to our hotel in his limo, and we talked for
S3: an hour and a half. He didn't remember it, but
S3: I remember it distinctly. And what my wife remembers is
S3: that as we were leaving, we had dropped our Alice's
S3: blankie and he saw it and rescued it and gave
S3: it to us. And so I was able to tell
S3: the story that while this event was going on at
S3: the Michigan Central Station, our Alice was having her first child. Oh.
S2: Oh. That is connecting a big circle of light there.
S2: But it's good that he rescued the blankie. That's, uh,
S2: that's Magnum P.I. work right there. So that's it?
S3: Yeah.
S2: Oh, yeah. Tom Selleck. I will watch the movie because
S2: I think you'd make a good Ike. I'm not. I
S2: don't know how Brendan Fraser did in the new pressure movie,
S2: but I will watch it. Let's move then on, and
S2: we'll come back and remind people about the Hillsdale film on, uh,
S2: the week after as well. And hopefully it will come
S2: back because people want to see it again. Dwayne really
S2: loved it. I want your thoughts on what is exactly
S2: going on between the United States and Iran, Israel and Hezbollah, UAE, Kuwait.
S2: Last Tuesday night, Iran attacked again. We're taping on Wednesday
S2: for playing on Friday. We don't know what's going to happen,
S2: but this does not look like a cease fire to me.
S2: Does it look like a cease fire to you?
S3: No. It's easier to talk about the broad strategic implications
S3: of all this than what's going on right now, because
S3: we don't know, and we don't know how this particular
S3: thing is going to come out. There are two arguments
S3: that I am attracted to. One of them is supportive
S3: of Trump's general strategy, and one is critical in one
S3: way of how we're going about it in Iraq. Iran, sorry,
S3: the supportive one says that what Trump is interested in
S3: is restraining our enemies. He doesn't think he can eliminate them.
S3: He doesn't think he can turn them into democracy and friends.
S3: He wants to punish their behavior that harms us. And
S3: Venezuela is an episode in that. And Midnight Hammer, the
S3: earlier strike on Iran is an episode of that. And
S3: this is an episode of that. And it's, uh, you know, been,
S3: you know, Greenland. We have more access to Greenland than
S3: we have and China had, and China has less. And
S3: he's talking about Cuba. And so that's a strategy that
S3: looks to America's interest and is forward looking and doesn't
S3: want us surrounded and cut off. And China gets huge
S3: amount of its oil from Venezuela and Iran, and that's
S3: in jeopardy for them. Now. Both are, uh, so that's
S3: one thing. And that looks to me like that's if
S3: that's what he's thinking, that's sound thinking. We have to
S3: think like that. The negative thing is a comparison of
S3: our strategy and tactics in Iran in this war and Israel's.
S3: And the claim is that they're better at strategic interdiction.
S3: That is to say, go hurt them in their fundamentals
S3: as fast as you can. And we. And the claim
S3: of this article, and I don't really know for sure,
S3: but the claim of this article is that we need
S3: to do that harder. We need to take them down
S3: in their key elements of power. And that air power
S3: can do that. You know, air power has been growing
S3: in importance since the Second World War that we're talking
S3: about in in our Churchill studies. And so there's that.
S3: And I'm attracted to that argument. I don't know that
S3: I know that Trump is failing in that regard or
S3: succeeding in that regard, but I'm attracted to it because
S3: in one way, time is very much on our side
S3: and in another way, not at all. Uh, we've got
S3: an election coming. This is going to affect that. It
S3: will affect it. How much? Nobody knows. The election will
S3: probably be close. Whichever way. Whoever controls the Congress after
S3: it's over. But we know you like there's a very
S3: powerful impulse to get it done. And if you're a
S3: free country. Fighting wars, when you get all geared up,
S3: you can fight them really well, but you can't fight
S3: them forever or continuously. So my thoughts are mostly long,
S3: and I read the news every morning trying to peer
S3: into the future and see what's coming.
S2: Now the blockade makes sense.
S3: I'll add something.
S2: Go ahead.
S3: I think the decisive difference between this and the previous
S3: Middle East wars we've been in is that we're not
S3: proceeding on the principles of liberal imperialism. Correct. That is
S3: to say, we're not we're not saying that we can't
S3: be safe until they become democratic, because it's not really
S3: in our power to make that happen or anybody's power
S3: outside them if they have the power. So that that
S3: I salute very much and, uh, keep my fingers crossed.
S3: And as I am always saying, I don't know how
S3: the war is going to come out, I just know
S3: I'm on our side.
S2: Well, I am agreed with that. But I like the blockade. And,
S2: and we have had success with blockades in Cuba, with
S2: breaking them vis a vis Berlin. We know about blockades
S2: from England and French wars of long ago. Do you.
S2: We had a minute to the break. Do you like
S2: the idea of the blockade as opposed to the active
S2: combat operations?
S3: I think that was very innovative. And, uh. And see,
S3: I don't, uh. Yeah, and I, and I do think it's,
S3: you know, long term. Very good. Apparently, I checked this morning.
S3: There's a trickle of ships coming through the right straits.
S3: A few of them, uh, of the few a preponderance
S3: are friends of Iran, China and such. Um, but we're,
S3: you know, we're, we, we've shut them down and it
S3: hurts them and how fast it hurts them and how
S3: much it hurts them. It's, you know, that's to be
S3: revealed because I don't know. And I don't think, you know,
S3: it's very possible. Like, I think, uh, the Secretary of
S3: war is very capable and did a good job, uh,
S3: going to talk in Singapore about America's strategic interest and
S3: how we'll pursue them. And he's not looking for domination
S3: of Asia. He's looking for a balance of power.
S2: And that was a good speech. We'll be right back
S2: with doctor on the Singapore Security Conference, which is a
S2: big deal if you missed it. Obviously Doctor Oren Denton.
S2: Stay tuned. I'll be right back. Welcome back America. The
S2: Hillsdale dialogue is underway. I'm Hugh Hewitt. My guest is
S2: Doctor Larry Arnn. We're doing a look at some of
S2: the events of the week this week, as I occasionally
S2: do with doctor on all things Hillsdale, including all their
S2: online courses are collected@hillsdale.edu. You can sign up there for
S2: Imprimis as well, the free monthly speech digest that comes
S2: from Hillsdale and all of our dialogues on all sorts
S2: of subjects dating back ten years, are collected at hue
S2: for hillsdale.com. Doctor Aaron, I was trying to remember, and
S2: I can't remember whether or not you and I were
S2: introduced by our late friend Tom Fuentes in 1978 or 1989.
S2: It was one or the other and it was at
S2: the Coco's at the intersection of El Toro. But the
S2: point doesn't really matter about which year. It's just that
S2: we've known each other from California for a long time,
S2: and we both have very strong opinions on California. I
S2: lived there from 1989 to 2016. You had gone to
S2: run Hillsdale before that, but you lived there a long
S2: time and concern yourself about it. So we both kind
S2: of root for the state, and we kind of want
S2: Pete Wilson back. And what do you make of the
S2: fact that Steve Hilton? We won't know for sure for
S2: a while, but looks like he made the run off.
S2: And Spencer Pratt looks like we won't know for a while.
S2: Made the run off in LA.
S3: Well, isn't that something? You know, I mean, um, uh,
S3: there's a lot to be said for plain talk. And, uh,
S3: especially Spencer Pratt. He's, uh, so plain that he's almost Trumpian.
S3: Trumpian in his candor. And, uh, he has arrested the country, and,
S3: you know, who is that guy, anyway? Somebody's house burned down,
S3: and he's articulate. And, uh, I was asked by my friend, uh, Tunku,
S3: who writes for the Wall Street Journal. He said he
S3: was going to interview him. I haven't seen the interview yet.
S3: He said, what should I ask him? And I said,
S3: I don't know what to ask him. He's just going
S3: to talk. I said, but find out if he knows anything. Well,
S3: since then he's been in a couple of debates and
S3: he's learned a lot. He's been impressive. Right? So and
S3: you know, the situation is terrible, right? And it's in California. Uh,
S3: he describes the Spencer Pratt describes a Los Angeles. Like,
S3: you know, I, I went to Southern California from Arkansas
S3: to go to graduate school in 1974, and it looked
S3: like a big old Disneyland to me. And it was
S3: pretty and it was clean for the most part. There
S3: were pockets that were not so, but most of it
S3: was the freeways worked, you know, and, and it was competently,
S3: relatively speaking, managed. And it's decay now all over the place. Right.
S3: It's and it's visible and, and it's not just you're
S3: showing the houses that burn down, right? They didn't have
S3: water in the reservoirs to fight the fires. And that's
S3: just incompetence and ideology that caused that to happen. So
S3: if there's a rebellion underway there about that, God bless them.
S3: You know.
S2: Uh, what I, what I raise is the reality check.
S2: They were around when we were there, which was the service, the,
S2: the public sector unions. But the California Teachers Association was big,
S2: but it was joined by the prison guards by the tribes.
S2: And now they are joined at the hip with the
S2: Service Employees International Union, and they basically run the state.
S2: And they do not run it in the interest of
S2: the people of California. It would take quite a remarkable
S2: uprising of voters to say, enough with the homelessness and
S2: the drugs. That's what's driving Pratt. Hilton is driven by
S2: a lot of things, like in the Central Valley. They've
S2: they've hated Democrats forever, But along the coast, if you
S2: can get into one of the coastal enclaves, you're kind
S2: of removed from it, but no longer. Now, the chaos
S2: that is California has invaded, uh, Marina Del Rey and
S2: Newport Beach and, and San Diego. And so as a result,
S2: I think that it's possible one or both of them,
S2: if they get through the counting process, which is suspect
S2: in my mind, because it takes ten ballots will be
S2: counted if they arrive within seven days of the close
S2: of voting on Election Day. That's a bad thing. And
S2: therefore there's much mischief to be done or thought is
S2: being done. Are you an optimist after Tuesday night?
S3: And I mean, my mental weather remains relatively consistent. I
S3: think we're in a great battle for the soul of
S3: our country, and it's going to go on for quite
S3: a while, and ultimately we're going to win it. But
S3: I don't wake up in the morning thinking today is
S3: the day.
S2: Uh, so in California, it would require breaking these deeply
S2: embedded political institutions that are funded by public employees. That is,
S2: to me, the greatest impediment. And I'll be seeing Pete
S2: Wilson in in July. And Pete Wilson knew how to
S2: be a governor. If Hilton gets through to being the
S2: governor and needs to use his powers, do you think
S2: he will do that? California Constitution gives the governor great power.
S2: I mean, an enormous amount of power to act as governor.
S3: Yeah. See, the reason for optimism is, you know, one
S3: of the things you look around in your country is
S3: there's plenty of things to worry about, but this is
S3: still a vigorous country, right? It's productive. There's a lot
S3: of entrepreneurship. There's a lot of fight left in it.
S3: And and, you know, you look at Europe and see
S3: that we enjoy some advantages here. And so and now
S3: think about the administrative state and its control of everything
S3: and the vast, complicated system it has formed that's so
S3: expensive and consumes, you know, more than half the economy
S3: if you include the entitlement programs and the regulatory costs. Well,
S3: public choice theory, that economic principle, right. In the end,
S3: the subsidies of the few in California are very heavy,
S3: and the cost on the many is great. And, you know,
S3: a lot of people are leaving. That's one reason the
S3: elections run the way they do. A lot of people
S3: who are independent, people who raise families and have jobs
S3: and do businesses have left California, but the remaining ones
S3: are still in a large majority who have no real
S3: interest in this mess. And so in potential, there's an
S3: electoral revolution possible.
S2: All right. We will hope that much. Stay tuned. America.
S2: I'll be right back with more of the Hillsdale dialogue.
S2: I hope that much, but I'm not at all certain
S2: that that much is going to happen. They're cheating. Not cheating.
S2: Shouldn't say cheating. The red shift meaning towards the blue
S2: is underway right now. Welcome back America, I'm Hugh Hewitt.
S2: Turning now with Doctor Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College,
S2: to a broader electoral map. The Democrats have nominated some
S2: interesting people. A congressman who was a character witness for
S2: the blind sheik in the first World Trade Center bombing
S2: tower in Michigan. A couple of DSA congressional candidates in Pennsylvania.
S2: It appears that Graham Plattner, the very troubled man in Maine,
S2: will be the Democratic nominee in Maine. Up in Maine,
S2: although the governor, Janet Mills, remains on the ballot, they
S2: could still. He could still drop out. I mean, he could.
S2: We'll see. And then Mr. El-Sayed in Michigan, which is
S2: the home of Hillsdale College and about whom I expect
S2: Doctor Aaron will know more than me. And then Peggy
S2: Flanagan in Minnesota appears to be leading in that. These
S2: are all radicals, doctor. These are not your mother and
S2: father's Democrats or my grandfather who was a Roosevelt Democrat. Democrat, FDR,
S2: you know, firemen during the depression. These are different. And
S2: do you think they have staying power?
S3: Well, if they do, the country is finished. I mean,
S3: they're so you can look at it in three ways.
S3: First of all, that kind of politics, in my opinion,
S3: cannot be sustained nationally or the or the nation cannot
S3: be sustained. So I guess I'll say two ways. The
S3: other way is there's always been a few extremists present
S3: in American politics, a few. Right. We've had a Communist
S3: Party in America forever. We still haven't. We've had Socialist
S3: Party in America. You know, the labor leader, Eugene Debs,
S3: you know, all that has been around. And it's a
S3: big country and there's a lot of people in it.
S3: And so there's support in pockets for people like that.
S3: So that's not going to go away. Is it? You know,
S3: the extremes are growing in America. I have the sense
S3: and I think it has something to do with social media. Uh,
S3: the fact that, uh, you can just reach a lot
S3: of people now and then we get respect if we
S3: get our numbers up on YouTube or something. And that's
S3: very different from the quality or truth of the arguments
S3: that you're making. So that exaggerates some of this stuff
S3: on both the left and the right and worse on
S3: the left, I think, but on both.
S2: I also heard Karl Rove, who is a very, very
S2: brilliant man on Tuesday night, articulate that one of the
S2: worst things to happen to American politics is the rise
S2: of a consulting class that will rake in 30 to 40%
S2: of dollars given over the internet, and that therefore, they
S2: they tend to want to nominate radicals because radicals attract
S2: the ten and the $15 contributions with which they buy
S2: second and third homes. I think there's a lot to that.
S2: What do you think?
S3: Well, you know, sure. There's, um got to move them.
S3: You know, I've taken up, uh, woodworking a little bit and.
S3: Oh no, I've actually cut my finger.
S2: I was going to ask. Let's see your fingers.
S3: So I'm a real I'm a real live woodworker now. And, uh,
S3: you know, it's not that I'm good, but I bled
S3: on the wood. That's a badge of honor. Anyway, if
S3: you watch what I. What I watch on YouTube is
S3: almost exclusively woodworking stuff, but you can just see how
S3: it's laid out. First of all, people who are good
S3: on woodworking on YouTube tend to be very decent people.
S3: You learn about them. If you watch them, they tell
S3: you how to do things, you know, and they tend
S3: to be really decent people. Uh, there's a guy named
S3: the Wood Whisperer. I like him a lot. He's very serious, man. And, uh, anyway,
S3: there's also crazies and on the headlines on YouTube to
S3: get you to watch. They. There's always words like game
S3: over and everything is. This is the end or everything
S3: is different now. The best of them are not so extreme,
S3: but some of them are. And then they have all
S3: these little tricks. If you stay to the end, you know,
S3: they started out saying, because YouTube apparently tracks all that stuff.
S3: Oh yeah. And they get rewarded. And so there's, it's, uh, it's,
S3: you know, it's a, you know, rhetoric has always been interested,
S3: just read Aristotle in keeping the attention of the audience.
S3: But the techniques here are quick and they lend themselves
S3: in many cases to extremes. And, uh, so that's sort
S3: of how you do it, right? And, uh, so that's bad.
S2: And that will produce the kind of woodworking. Maybe we
S2: should run a whisperer.
S3: Here's a tip.
S2: We'll run the wood whisperer.
S3: Table saws are very dangerous. Uh, cut me and and
S3: and apparently, every minute somebody cut with his table saw. Uh,
S3: but so be careful if you do it. But it's fun,
S3: and I I'm not going to show you.
S2: But in the next segment.
S3: Kevin and my wife approves.
S2: We'll take a break. You can grab that. Don't go anywhere, America.
S2: The Hillsdale Dialogue and the Wood Whisperer 2.0 continues right
S2: after this. Welcome back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt with the
S2: president of Hillsdale College. And now he'll be teaching woodworking
S2: 101 to the freshmen. I think, uh, you know, both
S2: of my brothers took that up. Doctor, I am not
S2: going to do that. I like my fingers. I don't
S2: want to cut them. And most of my friends would
S2: tell me it's too dangerous. Have you got any exhibits
S2: of your work there handy that you can show us?
S3: No, not that I can show you, but they're right here.
S3: I mean, well, let's say this in a in a
S3: future episode, I will show you my cabinets that I
S3: built and.
S2: You built cabinets.
S3: And, uh, they're not quite finished yet, but, um, uh,
S3: but one, one bank of them is and my wife
S3: walked in and see, like when you start, when you
S3: start this crazy thing. And by the way, we're teaching
S3: carpentry course, I'm not going to teach it, but, uh,
S3: next term at Hillsdale, we're going to start shop class
S3: at Hillsdale College. But, uh, and there's huge interest in
S3: students with it. But when you start woodworking, you build
S3: things for your shop because that's how you learn how
S3: to do it. And also it doesn't annoy the people
S3: in your family who have tastes like my wife in
S3: that case. And so then eventually, if you get semi good,
S3: you can invade the house. And in my case, the part,
S3: the part of the house that is more or less
S3: my domain is this study where I'm sitting right now,
S3: and the rest of it is a big industrial place.
S3: This is a nice house, but college stuff happens here
S3: and my wife runs it and her stuff is all
S3: over the place. Right? So now I've encroached into the study,
S3: and then we'll see if I get good enough to
S3: go out into the public areas.
S2: It's the harmony of your woodworking. You've got to get
S2: off the beach, Larry. You got to get off the beach.
S3: Right?
S2: Let me move to the last segment for this next segment,
S2: the redistricting wars. I've had lots of conversations over the
S2: last few weeks with many senior and not so senior people,
S2: and I think it'll all work out. It doesn't bother me.
S2: There's nothing unconstitutional with drawing lines to win partisan races.
S2: In fact, in the earlier Republic, they would redraw the
S2: lines every time a different party took control of the state.
S2: So redistricting does not bother me. But the court ruled finally, conclusively.
S2: You may not use race to award benefits or inflict
S2: penalties in the course of redistricting. It's that simple. That's
S2: the decision. I am not bothered by this, but I
S2: thought I would ask you, a student of political theory
S2: as well as American politics, whether rampant redistricting bothers you?
S3: Well, uh, yes and no. What's important is, uh, it's
S3: in the 63rd Federalist now. It's in the 51st Federalist.
S3: Madison says that the government has to, uh, represent the
S3: great body of the people. And so if we got
S3: an oligarchy, I mean, we talked about California earlier, uh,
S3: that they they got the election system cooked and, and
S3: it can't move with public opinion. That's very bad. Right.
S3: And right now we're in a divided country and elections
S3: are narrow and the Congress is narrow, which is one sign.
S3: It's a gross big general sign that it's not completely
S3: out of hand. The second thing I'll say about it
S3: is it is hallowed. It's called gerrymandering. Elbridge Gerry, that's
S3: how he said his name. Massachusetts politician. Correct. Delegate to
S3: the Constitutional Convention. Agreed to sign it only after the
S3: Bill of rights was introduced. Important man. He did it
S3: first in 1812 in Massachusetts. And he drew this district
S3: and it looked like a salamander. And so they renamed
S3: it a Gerry or gerrymander. And it's been going on
S3: in America ever since then. And and it could become
S3: an evil that would present prevent representation and you know, it.
S3: I read that it's carried so far to its farthest
S3: extreme in the blue states, but there's no statewide official
S3: or member of Congress from the Republican Party in Massachusetts. Correct.
S3: I think that's true. And, and so it's, uh, so yeah, it's, it, uh,
S3: and then there are these attempts to neutralize it, right?
S3: To make it nonpartisan and that those ones, what they,
S3: what I've always suspected there was a great guy who's
S3: an expert on this and sort of made his life
S3: around it. Alan Hislop was his name in Claremont, and
S3: he favored either a rules based system where you start
S3: up in one corner of the state, and all the
S3: districts have to be continuous and contiguous and compact, and
S3: you just draw across the state and see what you get.
S3: And the other is nonpartisan commissions, the nonpartisan commission way, way.
S3: It's very difficult to actually achieve that because it's partisan effort. Right?
S3: And so one of their techniques is to prevent is
S3: to pick judges to be on the commission and like
S3: they're all nonpartisan or to pick academics to be on
S3: the commissions, like they're all nonpartisan. So it's A and C,
S3: you don't you know, I think one abiding idea I
S3: have is that I'm against a overall centralized nationalized system.
S3: In other words, spread it around and let the political
S3: system move with movements of public opinion. And that's harder
S3: now because we have to remember, if you're in 1812
S3: or any time up until 1930, the government is consuming
S3: and regulating no more than 12% of the gross domestic product.
S3: And now it's more than half. And so the stakes
S3: are enormous now. See, and that's why so much effort
S3: and energy is poured into it. And why the party
S3: that that increases partisan strife.
S2: Well, it does increase, but the great sort of red
S2: people moving to red states and blue people moving to
S2: blue states has been ongoing and does not show to
S2: me to be any signs of decelerating. Michigan remains one
S2: of the genuine swing states. Has it tilted one way
S2: or the other decisively? And then we'll go to a break.
S2: One minute Larry.
S3: It's still a swing state. We don't know how you know.
S3: There's some good candidates for statewide office this year, and
S3: we don't know how that's going to go. But they're competitive. Yeah.
S3: It's and, you know, one of my friends who's the
S3: gloomiest friend and you know, he's a very good guy.
S3: He's very experienced in politics. And he said, Donald Trump
S3: brings 5 million votes into electoral politics and he's not
S3: on the ballot ever again. And so he that's sort
S3: of a dispositive fact for him. I choose not to know.
S2: I choose not to know as well. I'll be right
S2: back with Doctor Ryan for the final segment of this
S2: week's Hillsdale dialogue. Stay tuned. Welcome back America. I wanted
S2: to finish today's Hillsdale dialogue by talking about Revolutionary America,
S2: which is the documentary that's in theaters again on June 5th.
S2: And I think on June 8th. You said doctor answer.
S2: That will be tonight and and on Tuesday night. And
S2: give us just a minute on why people ought to
S2: go and see this movie, Revolutionary America. It's a fathom event.
S2: So you got to find the theater, which it is showing,
S2: but it's across the United States.
S3: Uh, well, it's probably the best representation of revolutionary America
S3: ever made on film. And, you know, I, you know,
S3: I made it indirectly. Uh, people working for me made
S3: it and I'm in it. But I mean that for
S3: this reason, it shows two things about it. First of all,
S3: it encapsulates the history from 1763 until the passage of
S3: the Constitution beautifully in two hours. And its pace is awesome. And, uh,
S3: that's one thing. The second thing is you can't miss
S3: the sense because it's told in chronological order. You can't
S3: miss the sense that they thought they were going to
S3: be killed, let alone fail. And they were driven to it,
S3: and they just had adopted some principles, and they couldn't
S3: put up with the claim by the parliament and the
S3: king that we may govern you without being elected by
S3: you in all cases whatsoever. Right. That's just despotism, right?
S3: Never mind. What they did is mild compared to 20th
S3: century despotism, which is unfair. 21st century, which is, you know, totalitarian.
S3: The principle is there, isn't it? We can tax you
S3: and we can regulate your trade, and we can put
S3: our troops in your houses and we can arrest you
S3: and put you on a ship taking months to get
S3: to England, to be tried, not before a jury of
S3: your peers and our delegate, our designate, the governor's general.
S3: They can interfere with the legislature and the operation of
S3: the courts. So that's complete, right? That's what. And they were.
S3: And then how are we going to fight these guys?
S3: One of the points that I personally make in the
S3: film is there is no American who had ever moved
S3: a large body of troops under his command from one
S3: place to another, let alone deployed them in a battle.
S3: And the British were good at that, right? They were
S3: very experienced and very capable. Right. And then they had
S3: complete domination of the seas for most of the revolution.
S3: And so it looked hopeless. There's a great quote in it.
S3: One guy in and I remember which, who was a
S3: heavy man, said to a skinny man who was a delegate,
S3: who signed both signed the declaration. I had the advantage
S3: of you. When we are home. I will go quickly.
S3: You may dangle for hours. That's on the morning they
S3: went and signed the document.
S2: Anyway. Well, that is revolutionary America. It is in theaters tonight,
S2: near you. Go and find out where it is on
S2: on Fathom Events and again, I believe on Tuesday night.
S2: And we'll be back with the Hillsdale Dialogues next week.
S2: Doctor thank you doctor Larry Arnn.
S1: Thanks for listening to the Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the
S1: Hillsdale College Podcast Network. More episodes@podcast.hillsdale.edu or wherever you find
S1: your audio. For more information about Hillsdale College, head to hillsdale.edu.