WEBVTT - We'll Find Out the Hard Way:  George Will Talks To Armstrong & Getty

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<v Speaker 1>We're always excited to have another opportunity to speak with

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<v Speaker 1>the great George Willie has a new book out. It's

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<v Speaker 1>Armstrong and Getty extra Large because four hours simply usn't enough.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Armstrong and Getty extra Large. The new book

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<v Speaker 1>is American Happiness and Discontents, a collection of reflections on

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<v Speaker 1>American culture during the most mercurial period in recent American history.

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<v Speaker 1>Mr will our User, I'm very well, do you just

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<v Speaker 1>finding dandy. We're not big fans of hyperbole, and some

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<v Speaker 1>might think, well, the most mercurial period in recent American history,

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<v Speaker 1>but it does seem like if if a culture is

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<v Speaker 1>a plate spinning act, and that is a lost art

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, plate spinning, but if if a culture

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<v Speaker 1>is a plate spinning act, it feels like every single

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<v Speaker 1>plate is wobbling. It does. And we now have three

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<v Speaker 1>foreign policy crises coming to a boil over Taiwan, Ukraine,

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<v Speaker 1>and the Iranian nuclear program. And domestically we're spending money

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<v Speaker 1>as though we had it, which we don't, and we're

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<v Speaker 1>at daggers drawn over the most ridiculous I guess, sanitizing

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<v Speaker 1>of opinion on college campuses and all the rest. So yes,

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. That does not make for cheerfulness of

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<v Speaker 1>this holiday. So it's not just our imagination because my

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<v Speaker 1>whole adult life, they've always said each election is the

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<v Speaker 1>most important election in our nation's history, you know that

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing. But um, it definitely does seem whether the

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<v Speaker 1>universities or China on the scene, or you know how

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<v Speaker 1>many different defund the police, all the different things. We're

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<v Speaker 1>in some weird territory we are. You just express probably

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<v Speaker 1>the most destructive political slogan of modern times, defund the police.

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<v Speaker 1>Almost reelected Donald Trump clearly has cost uh number of

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<v Speaker 1>House seats and gubernatorial races and all the rest. And

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<v Speaker 1>you do wonder about the death urge of political parties

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<v Speaker 1>that adopt foolish slogans like that. Well, and it's gone

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<v Speaker 1>beyond that as long as we're talking about the Justice Department.

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<v Speaker 1>On the Today's Radio show, by coincidence, we we talked

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<v Speaker 1>about several of the radical left d a's whether in

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<v Speaker 1>l A, San Francisco, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago. The list

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<v Speaker 1>goes on and on who are instituting this very very

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<v Speaker 1>strange experiment decriminalizing crime and the results have been just awful. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean shoplifting in San Francisco is essentially a misdemeanor

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<v Speaker 1>if that as long as you shoplift only up to

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<v Speaker 1>n fifty dollars worths of merchandise from the very the

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<v Speaker 1>declining number of all Greens drug stores that are still

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<v Speaker 1>open because they keep closing them there because they can't

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<v Speaker 1>keep products on the shelves well, and it goes even

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<v Speaker 1>beyond that. Michael, I'm talking to our technical director here.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm trying to find the clip of George Gascone. There

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<v Speaker 1>it is clip number thirty four. Georgia. I think you're

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<v Speaker 1>going to be able to hear this. This is the

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<v Speaker 1>d A of l A County. I am proud of

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<v Speaker 1>our entire team in the l A County District Attorney's Office.

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<v Speaker 1>We cannot prosecute our weight out of social inequalities, income

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<v Speaker 1>in equalities, the Young House, the desperation that we have

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<v Speaker 1>since when is that what a d A is supposed

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<v Speaker 1>to do. That's amazing, isn't All kinds of institutions now

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<v Speaker 1>are branching out to do things they're just not supposed

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<v Speaker 1>to do. Universities don't educate the dcor nate newspapers like

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times decided it's their job to reframe

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<v Speaker 1>our understanding of American history. So they come up with

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<v Speaker 1>the sixteen nineteen project and the preposterous idea that the

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<v Speaker 1>American Revolution was fought simply to preserve slavery. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>it's lunacy. Now, you really don't expect a newspaper to

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<v Speaker 1>be good at American history, and you don't expect universities

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<v Speaker 1>to be good at uh indoctor nation, although they're doing

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<v Speaker 1>their best to acquire enough experience with that. But you

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<v Speaker 1>do what does wish people would stay in their lanes,

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<v Speaker 1>as it were, do what they're paid to do. Or

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<v Speaker 1>the c d C deciding how long a person can

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<v Speaker 1>go without paying their rents for instance, exactly housing policy

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<v Speaker 1>from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's amazing, Um,

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<v Speaker 1>what we got you on the line hit me with

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<v Speaker 1>a definition of conservatism or conservative. A conservative as someone

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<v Speaker 1>who wants to conserve the American founding, which has three

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<v Speaker 1>principal tenants. One, there is such a thing as human nature.

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<v Speaker 1>We're not just creatures that acquire the culture we're situated in.

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<v Speaker 1>Be Therefore, there are some natural rights. Thats rights essential

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<v Speaker 1>for the flourishing of creatures with our natures. See therefore,

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<v Speaker 1>right first come rights, and then comes government. So we

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<v Speaker 1>do not get what we rights from government. What we

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<v Speaker 1>get from government is the protection of our rights. And

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<v Speaker 1>so therefore we want a balanced government, separation of powers,

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<v Speaker 1>not too strong, a presidency, and a judiciary alert to

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<v Speaker 1>the government slipping its leash so that government will secure

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<v Speaker 1>our rights. What percentage of the electric do you guess

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<v Speaker 1>currently would accept that definition and when want to promote it? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I it's an excellent question because the American people often

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<v Speaker 1>are ideological conservatives but operational liberals. They talk like Jeffersonians

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<v Speaker 1>that government is best, that governs least and all that,

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<v Speaker 1>but they want to be governed by Hamiltonians that will

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<v Speaker 1>give them all the possible benefits. It turns out, surprise, surprise,

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<v Speaker 1>that free stuff polls well. Right now, you have the

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<v Speaker 1>Biden administration saying we're gonna give everybody free stuff, and

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<v Speaker 1>nint two percent of the American people aren't gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>to pay for it. That is, everyone under earning under

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred thousand dollars a year. The Biden administration says

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<v Speaker 1>we're gonna pay for all this by burdening too unpopular,

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<v Speaker 1>minorities too wealthy, and corporations. The Biden administration clings to

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<v Speaker 1>the fiction that corporations pay taxes. Everyone knows they don't.

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<v Speaker 1>Corporations collect taxes. They passed their tax burden onto a

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<v Speaker 1>customers and the cost of the goods or services be

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<v Speaker 1>they take it away from resources that otherwise would be

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<v Speaker 1>available to their employees as compensation, and see from shareholders dividends,

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<v Speaker 1>which include, by the way, vast numbers of Americans through

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<v Speaker 1>their pension plans, that have invested in American corporations. We

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<v Speaker 1>would love to see, and I have a feeling you

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<v Speaker 1>might agree, we would love to see the basics of business,

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<v Speaker 1>the basics of economics, and the basics of civics taught

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<v Speaker 1>in every middle school and high school in America. I

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<v Speaker 1>think it's it's utterly unwise that we don't do that,

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<v Speaker 1>And for seeing some of the effects of that absence,

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<v Speaker 1>I wish every school child in America primary secondary school

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<v Speaker 1>would be sit down and read a short essay called

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<v Speaker 1>I Pencil, written by Lawrence Read many years ago, the

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<v Speaker 1>theme of which is no one can make a pencil.

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<v Speaker 1>No one can make a pencil. Millions of people are

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<v Speaker 1>involved in producing that yellow pencil with the little rubber

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<v Speaker 1>eraser on top and the graphite in the middle, the

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<v Speaker 1>people who mind the graphite, and lumbermen who grow the

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<v Speaker 1>trees and and saw send them to the sawmills, etcetera, etcetera.

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<v Speaker 1>The sheer complexity of a modern economy is up against

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<v Speaker 1>the government's fatal conceit, the government's vanity and pride in

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<v Speaker 1>assuming that it knows enough that it can dispense with markets.

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<v Speaker 1>What markets are are information gathering devices. They send signals

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<v Speaker 1>of information to us as to what things cost and

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<v Speaker 1>what things ought to costs, supply demand, and all that

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<v Speaker 1>other stuff. Government steps in and says, no, no, we

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<v Speaker 1>don't know that we need that. We can handle all

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<v Speaker 1>this with all the clever people we have in our bureaucracies. No,

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<v Speaker 1>they can't, and they make a dreadful mess of it.

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<v Speaker 1>We have been talking a lot about the the various

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<v Speaker 1>trillion dollar spending packages that have come out of Congress

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<v Speaker 1>in the last year year and a half, and UH

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<v Speaker 1>compared it to like when you're on vacation. When you're

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<v Speaker 1>on vacation, you buy stuff that you would never normally buy.

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<v Speaker 1>You spend money in a way you never normally would.

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<v Speaker 1>We're kind of that way as a country now, where

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<v Speaker 1>it's like nobody remembers what a trillion dollars means or

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<v Speaker 1>anything like that. Do you have any concern that we're

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<v Speaker 1>crossing a point of no return that you just can't

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<v Speaker 1>get out of this kind of debt. Everybody knows that

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<v Speaker 1>there is some point at which the ratio of publicly

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<v Speaker 1>held debt to gross national product becomes suffocating in a

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<v Speaker 1>huge impediment economic growth. Now are publicly old debt is

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<v Speaker 1>now over. It's larger than our economy. So we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to find out where that is, and we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>find out the hard way. The simple axiom of life

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<v Speaker 1>is this, there are only two ways to fund the government,

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<v Speaker 1>current taxes and future taxes. So we are piling up

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<v Speaker 1>future taxes on the unconsenting, because unborn future generations from

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<v Speaker 1>which we're borrowing. Yeah, I know, and that's such a

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<v Speaker 1>moral thing to do. I just don't understand why more

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<v Speaker 1>people don't get that. So amidst all of the uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the gloom and perhaps doom, we're discussing, it's notable the

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<v Speaker 1>title of your new book is American Happiness and discontents.

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<v Speaker 1>Where does your optimism come from when you feel it?

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<v Speaker 1>What's positive on the scene these days? Well, the first

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<v Speaker 1>is that the American people have made wrong turns before,

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<v Speaker 1>but they've corrected. Winston Churchill, who loved our country as

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<v Speaker 1>much as he loved as American mother, once said, the

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<v Speaker 1>American people invariably do the right thing after they have

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<v Speaker 1>exhausted all the alternatives. We have a way of making

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<v Speaker 1>life difficult for ourselves, but no one ever got rich

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<v Speaker 1>betting against the United States. Second, our principles are sound.

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<v Speaker 1>Ronald Reagan once said, I don't want to go back

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<v Speaker 1>to the past. I want to go back to the

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<v Speaker 1>past way of facing the future. Uh, the belief in

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<v Speaker 1>an open market driven society rather than a government centered society.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think at the end of the day, the

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<v Speaker 1>Americans have have a national memory of the American founding principles.

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<v Speaker 1>George will the new book is American Happiness and Discontents.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't wait to curl up with it. Any glass

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<v Speaker 1>of fine California wine, George, always a pleasure. Thanks so

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<v Speaker 1>much for the time I was delighted to be with you.

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<v Speaker 1>Have a good day, terrific. Thanks. If you don't read

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<v Speaker 1>George Will's columns in the Washington Post. You're you're missing out.

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<v Speaker 1>You know. He often has the best take on whatever

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<v Speaker 1>the big political story is that's going on at the time. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>and if like us, you've felt your attention spanned shrinking

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<v Speaker 1>during the twenty one century, I love the collections of

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<v Speaker 1>columns because you sit down, you do, you read it,

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<v Speaker 1>you enjoy it, you contemplated then you know, I mean

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<v Speaker 1>maybe you put it down for a while. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know. You know that whole nobody's ever gotten rich

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<v Speaker 1>betting against the United States. Of course, that's true up

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<v Speaker 1>until the point it's not, which is actually a George

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<v Speaker 1>wilfrase um. It's true until the point it's not. Then

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<v Speaker 1>then then then we're in a different spot. And nobody's

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<v Speaker 1>ever tried this before, nobody has ever tried running this

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<v Speaker 1>kind of debt and uh and seeing how it's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>turn out. Yeah, sports franchises are like countries, except that

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<v Speaker 1>the timetable is is compressed mightily. Obviously you're talking about

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<v Speaker 1>a great sports Uh you know, what do you call it?

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<v Speaker 1>A dynasty? Maybe four years, maybe four or five six

0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.120
<v Speaker 1>years at the out at the outside and in the

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<v Speaker 1>midst of it, and it said it's height. You're thinking,

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<v Speaker 1>how could this possibly end? We have all the pieces,

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<v Speaker 1>and then it does. And you know, obviously a country

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<v Speaker 1>can exist over a few centuries. What was that reading

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<v Speaker 1>about the other day? It was um, Oh, gosh, it

0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:18.360
<v Speaker 1>had to do with um, with the ancient world, Oh

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<v Speaker 1>it was. It was the various periods of the Roman Empire.

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<v Speaker 1>And at one point they casually throw out this sentence

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<v Speaker 1>about and I can't remember what region it was, but

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't really matter. It said, uh, and and there

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<v Speaker 1>followed a piece a period of relative peace and prosperity

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<v Speaker 1>that lasted for two hundred and fifty or so years.

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<v Speaker 1>And I was like, wait a minute, you just YadA, YadA, YadA,

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred fifty years the entire length of our being

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<v Speaker 1>a country. Yeah, damn near so on, you know, in

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<v Speaker 1>the measuring stick of empires, it was a tiny little period. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>And and it just it reminds us and again not

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<v Speaker 1>to be gloomier or like crazy pessimistic and negative, but

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<v Speaker 1>it does remind you that if you screw up, you

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<v Speaker 1>can end your empire. It is not impossible, you know.

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<v Speaker 1>You you trade the Bill of Rights, for instance, from

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<v Speaker 1>the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and

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<v Speaker 1>all of a sudden America is losing again to you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I think you follow me. There you go. Extra large