1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: On this episode of News World, I'm going to share 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:11,400 Speaker 1: with you a recent experience I had that really kind 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: of got me thinking about what are the fundamentals and 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: what do we really have to do and how much 5 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 1: trouble are we in as a country. And it was 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: an odd moment, and I really want to share with 7 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: you both how I got to this thinking and then 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:30,479 Speaker 1: what I think we need to do in order for 9 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,959 Speaker 1: us to survive as a country. So bear with me 10 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: as we go from the House Republican Party to the 11 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: floor of the House to America at a moment of 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: historic crossroads. Last week, I had the opportunity to talk 13 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: with House Republican members both at the Conservative Opportunity Society 14 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: and lunchtime with the Republican Study Committee, which was the 15 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: largest group of Conservatives in the House. There were about 16 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: twenty members at the Conservative Opportunity Society and another sixty 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: members at the Republican Study Committee, including Congressman Steve Scalise, 18 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: who was the number two Republican the Republican whip, and 19 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: I was very surprised at the end of the Republican 20 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: Study Committee had a very lively discussion, and I was 21 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: approached by Congressman Scalise, who asked me if I would 22 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: go to the House floor, which I had not been 23 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: on since I left the house. I had been up 24 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: in the gallery with other guests watching some key speeches, 25 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: including the one by Pope Francis, but I had not 26 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: gone on the House floor in this entire time. I 27 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: had felt like I wasn't appropriate for me, given my background, 28 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: to get involved in the whole process of being on 29 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: the floor, pretending that I was still an active member. 30 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: But Scalise said, you know, it'll scare the Democrats if 31 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: you show up, which I thought was kind of an 32 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: interesting way to think about it. And I figured, if 33 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: the senior leader asked me to go, what the heck? 34 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: So I want to go on the House floor. And 35 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: it was really strange, verging on weird. Members of Congress now, 36 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: these are elected members chosen by the people of their 37 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: district to go to Washington to speak for them and 38 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: fight for them. Members of Congress today in the House 39 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: have to go through the kind of metal detector you 40 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: go through a TSA at an airport. Now, I was 41 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: frankly startled because first of all, it shows a level 42 00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: of paranoia that is just bizarre, and it undermines the 43 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: dignity and the power of being a member of the House. 44 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: I mean, to subordinate yourself to some cop who hasn't 45 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: won election, is a paid staff member of the House. Frankly, 46 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: this is part of the Nancy Pelosi dictatorship, and it's 47 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: really profoundly wrong. And let me explain why I feel 48 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: so deeply about this. Back a long time ago, when 49 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: I was the Republican whip myself the job, as Steve 50 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: Sali says now, I was given the opportunity to host 51 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: a group of Soviet reporters. This was in the last 52 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: days of the Soviet Empire, and we had about a 53 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: dozen reporters, and I took him on the House floor 54 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: when we were not in session. It wasn't a big deal. 55 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: The house was very open, and you could take twelve 56 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: people out of the Soviet Union a walk on the 57 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: house floor, and nobody thought it was a big deal 58 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: as long as they'd a member with him, and they 59 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: didn't go through any kind of metal detector, and it 60 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: wasn't some kind of huge process, and the paranoia down 61 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: at a normal rational level. And so I talked to 62 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: him about how the house worked, why the House was important, 63 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: how it goes all the way back to the Magna 64 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: Carta in twelve fifteen, the Great Charter, in which the 65 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: barons insisted that the king had to submit to their 66 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: voting to give him tax money, which was a profound 67 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: break with the idea that the king reported only to God, 68 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: because now it was reducing the king to having to 69 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 1: actually work with the barons, which King John, who signed 70 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: the Magna Carta hated, only agreed to it to get 71 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: the money and promptly broke his word. But it was 72 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: seen as the break point in English history in actually 73 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: putting the king under the law, which is really a 74 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: central point from which all of our freedom comes. And 75 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 1: we have in the Capital a copy which I think 76 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: Margaret Thatcher brought over of the Magna Carta. So there's 77 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: a real tie here that goes back over eight hundred 78 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:03,599 Speaker 1: years of the evolution of the notion that you have rights, 79 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: that your rights come from God, and that no king 80 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: has the ability to violate the law, and of course 81 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: presidents are just elected kings. So I was explaining all 82 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: this to the Soviet reporters and I thought, you know, 83 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: I think I'll give him a feel for the place. 84 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: So I took one of the reporters and I had 85 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: him stand where the president stands when he delivers the 86 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: State of the Union. And then I took another reporter, 87 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: a Lithuanian, and I had him sit in the Speaker's chair, which, 88 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: by the way, if you ever notice the State of 89 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: the Union, the Speaker's chair and the Vice President's chair. 90 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: The vice President is there as the president of the Senate. 91 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: So the two of them are the host for the 92 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: President and they are deliberately symbolically above him because he 93 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: has come to their chamber at their request and is 94 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: their guests. So his power, which is great in the 95 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: White House, is limited in the Capitol. And so I 96 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: walked him through all this, and the Lithuanian was sitting 97 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: in the chair, and he came down afterwards, and he 98 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: was physically trembling, and he said to me, you know, 99 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: all the years we've been under the Soviets, we never 100 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: thought America was our enemy. Factor as Lithuanians, we think 101 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 1: the Russians are a lot greater danger than the Americans. 102 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: But he said, you've allowed me to sit at the 103 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: center of freedom on the planet. And I thought how 104 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: much he had captured the essence the center of freedom 105 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: is the US House, not the White House. It's the 106 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: place where people have to go home every two years 107 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: to get permission to represent the people of their district. 108 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: If a Senator dies, an officer leaves office, the governor 109 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: can appoint a replacement until the next election. You don't 110 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,239 Speaker 1: do that in the House. If a House member dies 111 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: or resigns, you have to have an election, because the 112 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: House's tie is directly to the American people. And I 113 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: thought that this guy, he was so excited, so deeply 114 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: committed to the idea of freedom and to the role 115 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: of America as the center of freedom, in the role 116 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: of the US House as the center of freedom in America. 117 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: And as you could tell, I've never forgotten it. And 118 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: I found myself with Steve's Kalise looking at this metal 119 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: detector and the Pelosi dictatorship, thinking what a profound, deep 120 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: violation of the American system that we now have decayed 121 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,560 Speaker 1: to a point where the Speaker of the House behaves 122 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: with totally arbitrary power, where none of the normal legislative 123 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: process works. And I want to take a minute to 124 00:07:54,960 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: explain why that's a big deal in an effective, functioning, 125 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: healthy legislative body. Somebody has an idea, you send it 126 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: to a committee, because you can't deal with everything in 127 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: what's called the body of the whole, which is all 128 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: the members. And so there are different committees, and the 129 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: committees have members who serve on them for a number 130 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: of years and really in many cases become remarkably expert. 131 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: And so the members take this new idea and they 132 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 1: research it, and then they hold hearings, and in the 133 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: hearings both sides get to come in place. You're going 134 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: to get folks who love the idea and folks who 135 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: hate the idea, and they're going to be out in 136 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,199 Speaker 1: the open and they're going to talk. Nowadays, because of technology, 137 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: we can stream either through c Span or just by 138 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,320 Speaker 1: going to the House Internet System, which, by the way, 139 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: we launched the day after I became Speaker, and I'm 140 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: very proud of that fact. All of the initial bills 141 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: that were put online for people to see were put 142 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: online by the House Republicans in nineteen ninety five, and 143 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: it was revolutionary. Meant you didn't need a lobbyist, you 144 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: didn't need a newspaper, you didn't have to align somebody else. 145 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: You could go personally and read the bill. But there's 146 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: a catch here. In a healthy functioning legislative process, you 147 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: end up in a situation where you know what's in 148 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: the bill. You have to know what's in the bill 149 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: in order to hold a hearing. At the hearing, really 150 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: smart people who are for the bill debate really smart 151 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 1: people who are against the bill, and you flush out 152 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: whatever mistakes there are, whatever weaknesses there are, whatever needs 153 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: to get fixed, and then you start at the sub 154 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,320 Speaker 1: committee level. Then you go to the full committee level. 155 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: Then you go to the House floor, where you have 156 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: to go through the Rules committee to get what's called 157 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: a rule in order to debate the bill. Then you 158 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: vote on it. Then it has to go through the 159 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: same process in the Senate. Then you meet in a 160 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: conference committee between the House and the Senate and you 161 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: hammer out the differences. And there often are significant differences 162 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: because the two bodies are very different. The Senators represent states, 163 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: two per state. The House represents people, and so you 164 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: have real collisions. And that's healthy, it's good. It's what 165 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: the system ought to be. Like. All of that began 166 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: to collapse because of two things. I think the rise 167 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,959 Speaker 1: of the computer. The laptop allows staff members to sit 168 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: around at three in the morning and write an extra 169 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: couple hundred words so quickly that they get the arrogance 170 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 1: of believing that if they wrote it, it must be good. 171 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: And the staff arrogance is a major problem on Capitol 172 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: Hill because many of these are people who actually had 173 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: never had another job. They came out of college, they 174 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: were interns, they got a job at the bottom of 175 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: the heap as a legislative correspondent. They worked their way up. 176 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,679 Speaker 1: Their entire career has been sitting around Washington, DC, going 177 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: to nice restaurants, having nice dinners, and pompously talking to 178 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: each other about all these things that they know a 179 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: great deal about because they read the Wall Street Journal 180 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: in the New York Times. But they don't know about 181 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: the real world because they're not out there. They're in 182 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: their real world, and their real world is the world 183 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: of enormous power, and so they can screw up the 184 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: other real world, the one most people live in, because 185 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: the structure of power is such that it can reach 186 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: in even if it's totally stupid. I have to confess 187 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: that the more I have thought about the principle that 188 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: somebody can come to America illegally file a lawsuit get 189 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: a half million dollars or four hundred and fifty thousand 190 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,680 Speaker 1: dollars out of the taxpayers in the United States for 191 00:11:50,840 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: having broken the law is so astounding that clearly whoever 192 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: thought up the idea, why don't we agree to a 193 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: settlement where the American taxpayers spend The Wall Street Journal 194 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: estimates well over a billion dollars paying people who are 195 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: here illegally, and the idea that that's not going to 196 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: bring many more people here. Can you imagine across the planet, 197 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: as people say, you know, if you get to America illegally, 198 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: they'll take you in. They'll put you on a plane 199 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: or a train or a bus. They'll send you somewhere 200 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: in America. The various social services will take care of you. 201 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 1: And by the way, you might be able to get 202 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: a half million dollars settlement out of them because you 203 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:39,240 Speaker 1: can tell them you feel bad about having been in America. 204 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: In all honesty, As a historian and a guy who's 205 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: written novels, I can't figure out what the people in 206 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: the Biden administration sitting around the table saying I've got it. 207 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: Why don't we pay them off? At a half million 208 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: dollars apiece, and nobody at the table said to them, 209 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: have you lost your mind? How are you going to 210 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: explain that, first of all, to people who came here legally, 211 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: who spent years becoming an honest American citizen, and who 212 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:10,959 Speaker 1: are now being told they're going to be taxed so 213 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: that their cousin who came here illegally, can be given 214 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: a check for a half million dollars. And second, how 215 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: are you going to explain it to the average hard 216 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: working American? Everybody I know personally, if you've said to them, 217 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: would you like the federal government to give you a 218 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: half million dollars? Most of them would say yes, talk 219 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: about taking care of the student loan program, Just write 220 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: a half million dollars check to every student. But the 221 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: principle of the US government, in the middle of an 222 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: age of inflation with a big deficit, deciding, oh, why 223 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: do we run the depths of even higher, because look, 224 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: we can give all this money to illegal immigrants so 225 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: that they'll be happy. We want a happy illegal immigrants, well, 226 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: happy prosperous illegal immigrants. Guarantees another hundred million people are 227 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: going to show up at the southern border, which is 228 00:13:56,480 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: actually less than the gallip estimate. The Gallop's inestiment is 229 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,559 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty eight million would like to come 230 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: to the US now. One hundred and fifty eight million 231 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: times four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At some point 232 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 1: you will be talking about real money. And I just 233 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: have to confess. One of the purposes of having a 234 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:18,440 Speaker 1: Congress is to bring reality from the country to the capital. 235 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: And one of the purposes of having hearings is to 236 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 1: surface ideas which are truly crazy. And this is clearly 237 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 1: going to be one of them. But if you don't 238 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: have hearings, if you don't have an opportunity for people 239 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: to object, if you just ram it through, as Pelosi 240 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: has gotten in a sad habit, starting with Obamacare, when 241 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: she first said, you have to pass the bill to 242 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: find out what's in it, which, if you think about it, 243 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: is a statement of such arrogance and such destructiveness in 244 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: a free society. How can you put a gun to 245 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: my head and tell me I have to vote yes 246 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: on a multi thousand page bill involving the lives of 247 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: million of people with no knowledge. And yet that's what 248 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: they did, That's how they passed Obamacare, and they got 249 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: in this habit, and now they're totally messed up because 250 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: they can't figure out a way to write a bill 251 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,960 Speaker 1: which both the hard line big government socialists, the so 252 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: called progressives, and the soft line big government socialists called moderates, 253 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,280 Speaker 1: can agree on, and they have to find a way 254 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 1: to get to them to agree on it in the 255 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: House and the Senate. And so they've had this embarrassing 256 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: period where the Pelosi dictatorship is gradually decaying in public. 257 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: But it is a crazy way to run a free society, 258 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: because it means that society is not free. And by 259 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: the way, the founding fathers really understood this. People tend 260 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: to forget that the folks who wrote the Constitution, the 261 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: folks who wrote the Declaration of Independence, many of them 262 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 1: the same people the folks who fought an eight year 263 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: war against Great Britain. Those people had all been practicing politicians. 264 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: They'd served in the state legislature Washington, Jefferson others had 265 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: been down in Williamsburg, serving in the House of Burgesses, 266 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: and they all understood the political process, and they all, 267 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: by the way, feared centralized dictatorship because they'd seen it 268 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: in Great Britain. It was the king, and it was 269 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: the king's use of judges to impose the state on 270 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: citizens that led them to a very, very deep feeling 271 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: that the purpose of the Constitution was to protect the 272 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: citizen from the government. The Constitution does not grant power 273 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: to the government. It limits the government. It says, these 274 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: are the things you can't do. And what we've seen 275 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: under cover of COVID is the most fundamental violation of 276 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: the Constitution of suspending the right of free speech, suspending 277 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: the right of assembly. I mean, sometimes read the Bill 278 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: of Rights, which Jefferson insisted on in order to support 279 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: the Constitution, and then watch what governors haven and cities 280 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: have done and presidents have done, and you'll realize, for example, 281 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: that a mandate on vaccinations is a profound violation of 282 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: your right as an American. I, by the way, I've 283 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,439 Speaker 1: been vaccinated twice. I've had a booster shot. It's not 284 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: an argument about whether or not vaccinations are good. It's 285 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 1: an arguab about whether anyone in America has the right 286 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: to say to three hundred and thirty five million people, 287 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: I will invade your body, I will control your body. 288 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you're going to put in your body, 289 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: and if you don't, I'm going to fire you. I'm 290 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: going to take away your pension benefits, and I'm going 291 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: to make sure you can't get a job now that 292 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: by any reasonable standards called a dictatorship. We were coming 293 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: in through the Speaker's gallery where the press comes, which 294 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,680 Speaker 1: also I will point out if they ever again open 295 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: the house up for tourists and go back to the healthy, rational, 296 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: open society, it's not that it can't be dangerous. I 297 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: remember a particular data I think it was in nineteen 298 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: eighty three when Jack Kemp and Bob Walker and I 299 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: were at the back of the house chamber talking and 300 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: this young man suddenly jumped up in the visitor's gallery 301 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: above us and began yelling in Hebrew, and the police 302 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: wrestled him down. Kemp, as usual, although he had been 303 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: a pro quarterback for Buffalo, who was saying, be careful 304 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: with him, don't hurt him. So they wrestled this guy down. 305 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: It turns out he has a body bomb, and it 306 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 1: turns out that he is an Israeli graduate student protesting 307 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: poverty in Bangladesh, and he thought he was in the 308 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: US Senate because he couldn't read English. Now I have 309 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: to tell you, as a member of the House who 310 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: cherishes the House, the idea that I might have been 311 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,120 Speaker 1: blown up by somebody who thought I was a senator 312 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: lacks a certain dignity. But he was apparently a liberal 313 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: arts student because he had put in the detonator upside 314 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: down and so it didn't go off. They took it 315 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: down to Fort Belvoir and on Friday they came to 316 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: see us and said, you know, well we did set 317 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: it off. It would have taken out one third of 318 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: the House Chamber. Now that was a little sobering, but 319 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 1: the truth is, none of the three of us thought, 320 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: oh gee, why don't we go to a maximum security 321 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,840 Speaker 1: no visitors protect ourselves from risk, because we knew the 322 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 1: price of freedom is risk. If you're going to go 323 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: out and meet the people, if you're going to have 324 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,679 Speaker 1: town home meetings and listen to people, if you're going 325 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: to allow people to come and petition the government, a 326 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: right which is guaranteed in the Constitution, if you're going 327 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: to accept the notion that power comes from God to 328 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: you as an individual and you loan power to the government. 329 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: I always felt that when I was a member of 330 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: the Congress, and then when I was a speaker, it 331 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: was being loaned to me. It wasn't my power. One 332 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: of the great tragedies of Nancy's career is she was 333 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,359 Speaker 1: there so long, and she had power so long. You know, 334 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: Lord Acton had warned in the nineteenth century that power 335 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:53,240 Speaker 1: tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Notice the 336 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: difference in the way he said it power tends to corrupt. 337 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: He takes tends away and says absolutely, power corrupts. Absolutely. Well, Nancy, unfortunately, 338 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 1: has had absolute power. Her caucus gave it to her 339 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: combination of how smart she is, how hard she works, 340 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: how much money she raises, and how mean and ruthless 341 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: she is. The result is, over time she came to 342 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: believe in herself, which is very dangerous. The Greeks had 343 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: a term for it, was called hubris, and somebody who 344 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 1: has hubris ultimately suffers what the Greeks called nemesis, which 345 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: is destruction. To some extent, this week, Nancy's had a 346 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: taste of that, because in fact, she couldn't convince the 347 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: left wing of her party to vote for something that 348 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 1: the right wing of her party wants. And though they 349 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: remember these are all big government socialists. So the left 350 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: and right is of relative term here. And the President 351 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: came up and was apparently, once again stunningly incompetent at 352 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,439 Speaker 1: being able to get them to do anything, and then 353 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: cheerfully went off to Europe. Biden and Pelosi both went 354 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: up and said to their own caucus number, this is 355 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: Democrats talking to Democrats. We really need this, and the 356 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: Democrats a large block, I'm said, and not that badly. 357 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 1: If you don't give me what I want, I'm not 358 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: going to vote for it. And of course the other 359 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: side of the coin was Senator's mansion and Cinema, who said, 360 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,959 Speaker 1: I'm not voting for what those left wing cooks won, 361 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 1: and so it all kind of melted down. The one 362 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: great thing about Biden not remembering anything is by the 363 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,479 Speaker 1: time I got to Europe had forgotten that they had 364 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 1: turned him down. But what I was struck with as 365 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: I'm walking in and if you do get to someday 366 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 1: once again, have a house that's free, the house that 367 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:40,400 Speaker 1: has no middle detectors, a house that allows tourists to 368 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: actually come through and see the house. In the speaker's gallery, 369 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,040 Speaker 1: which is where the press corps comes, they have paintings 370 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: of former speakers, and I am very PLoud to tell 371 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: you that my painting is the only one that's in color. 372 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: And I am standing on the balcony looking down the mall, 373 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,640 Speaker 1: holding the contract with America. So from my standpoint, it 374 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: made perfect sense because it's an outdoor, happy, positive painting. 375 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: Most of them are old men in dark outfits from 376 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, looking very due and very serious, and 377 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,919 Speaker 1: as usual, I'm smiling. I lost the whole training program 378 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 1: on how to be a really pompous somber speaker. Was 379 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: one of the great failures of my speakership, was the 380 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: inadequate somberness. So anyway, so I'm in this room, which 381 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: I've been in off and on for thirty years, which 382 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,399 Speaker 1: is where the reporters are supposed to come and gather, 383 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: and you realize this whole thing is a police state. Now. 384 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: I'd had a similar taste a few weeks ago because 385 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: I'd gone over to a meeting in the Cannon Building, 386 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: and not only did I have to check in and 387 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 1: go through a metal detector, but I had to explain 388 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: where I was going. I had to have a staff 389 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: member from the Congress escort me. I had to wear 390 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: a little sticker that said I was Newt Gingrich, so 391 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: people would know that I was an accepted guest. And 392 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: I learned something very sobering, which is, at the present time, 393 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: everybody who comes in for meetings is recorded. And what 394 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: that means is you can't have a whistleblower come to 395 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,440 Speaker 1: a meeting in the Capitol because potentially the people they're 396 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: blowing a whistle on are going to find out who 397 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: they are because you have to report them. And so 398 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: the congressional staff, we're telling me they now go to 399 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: meetings off Capitol Hill to meet with whistleblowers simply to 400 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: keep them away from Pelosi and her secret police, who 401 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: are out there literally keeping records on every person who 402 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: comes in and what's their purpose of being there and 403 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,720 Speaker 1: where are they going. Now, this is a level of 404 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: control that is staggering and is counterproductive. Undermines freedom, but 405 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: it also undermines the ability to get anything done. One 406 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: of the great virtues of a free society is that 407 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: problems gets surfaced, and you have hearings, and over time 408 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,959 Speaker 1: you learn stuff and eventually you find a solution. In 409 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,440 Speaker 1: a sense. Churchill captured that when he once said that 410 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: America eventually finds the right way to do things. They 411 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: try everything else that doesn't work first, but then they 412 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: get around to doing the right thing. And I think 413 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,400 Speaker 1: that we have to recognize that this process of exploring 414 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: for what's right, which helped us in opening up the West, 415 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: helped us in building the Transcontinental Railroad, helped us in 416 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: responding to Sputnik, helped us in responding to the Japanese 417 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,960 Speaker 1: attack at Pearl Harbor. All of that has been closed 418 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: down into the narrowest and dumbest kinds of partisanship and 419 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: into a world that has no consequence. So Adam Schiff, 420 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:49,120 Speaker 1: the head of the Intelligence Committee, can blatantly openly lie 421 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: for several years and there's no question he's just playing 422 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: light about the Russian connection. He lied about Ukraine. You 423 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 1: go back and find very specific quotes where he said 424 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: I have proof, and then turned out no, it didn't 425 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: any proof because it didn't exist, because it wasn't true. 426 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: But he stole the chairman the Intelligence Committee. And when 427 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: you have a chairman of the Intelligence Committee who's that dishonest, 428 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: you don't get any effective oversight. So there's now a 429 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: report which came out yesterday that four major intelligence committees 430 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 1: all misinformed the President about how rapidly the Taliban would 431 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: take over Afghanistan. We spend eighty one billion dollars a 432 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: year right now, there are eighteen members the intelligence community, 433 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: and they failed. We also learned that the Chinese may 434 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,400 Speaker 1: have had a high personic missile test this summer, which 435 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: we only learned about through a Chinese press release because 436 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,440 Speaker 1: our intelligence systems failed to find it. They did not detect, 437 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,960 Speaker 1: apparently of a rocket that went all the way around 438 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: the world and then launched a hypersonic missile designed to 439 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: evade all of our anti missile defenses, to make all 440 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: of them obsolete, and they didn't know it until the 441 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: Chinese hold Now that's the kind of stuff we're up against. 442 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: And so if you have a Congress which can't have hearings, 443 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:11,360 Speaker 1: can't learn, it's literally the opposite of what happened under 444 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,520 Speaker 1: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. You go back and 445 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: you look, for example, as Sam Rayburn, before he was Speaker, 446 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: he was chairman of what was then the Commerce Committee, 447 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: which was very central. You look at the weeks and 448 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: weeks of hearings that he held, You look at the 449 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: legislation they drafted, the way they introduced it, the way 450 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: people fought over it and had hearings about it, the 451 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: compromises that were necessary, the arguments on the floor of 452 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,439 Speaker 1: the house. That was a free society, coming to grips 453 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: with a very difficult reality in the middle of a 454 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 1: depression and having a lot of different people make a 455 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,240 Speaker 1: difference when you centralize things down. So it's Nancy Pelosi 456 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,480 Speaker 1: in her top three or four staff. You have eliminated 457 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: all of the great advantages of a free society, and 458 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: that eliminates your ability to come to grips with reality. So, 459 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: having gotten through the metal detector and apparently I was acceptable, 460 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,959 Speaker 1: we then went on the house floor wearing mask of course, 461 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: because in the Pelosi world, unless you're going to a 462 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: really expensive dinner for fundraisers or you're going to a 463 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: football game with eighty five thousand people, if you're on 464 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: the house floor, you have to have a mask on, 465 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: even if you have had as I had two vaccinations 466 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: and a booster shot, and it just tells you again, 467 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: it's a dictatorship. It's a method of control. It says 468 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: you do not control your own face, You do not 469 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: control the decision to put on a mask, you must 470 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:42,120 Speaker 1: be obedient. And I was reminded of Animal Farm, which 471 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,959 Speaker 1: begins with a revolt of the animals and has as 472 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: one of its principles all animals are equal, and ends 473 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: with the pigs taking over and adopting a new rule, 474 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: which is four legs are good, but two legs are better, 475 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,879 Speaker 1: and the pigs actually begin selling off some of the 476 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: animals for food to make money. And the point of 477 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,199 Speaker 1: Orwell's Animal Farm, which he wrote after he wrote nineteen 478 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: eighty four, was watching away revolutions decay and how they 479 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: go from an inspiring conversation about freedom to a dictatorship 480 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: in which the few dominate the many. I think the 481 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: Pelosi dictatorship may be decaying. If Glenn Yuncan wins next 482 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: week and the Republicans take the governorship of Virginia, and 483 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 1: I think Glenn probably will win, I think you're going 484 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: to see panic and the Democratic Party, and I think 485 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: that will accelerate the decay. But the problem is we 486 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: shouldn't look for a new, younger, better dictator. We should 487 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: fight for a reversion, and the Republicans, if they take over, 488 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: have to be very careful not to accept the instruments 489 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: of power and secrecy that the Democrats have invented. They 490 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: need to go back to the kind of house that 491 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 1: that Lithuanian reporter was so proud of, that is genuinely 492 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: truly the center of freedom. And in that context, they're 493 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: going to have a great deal of work to do. 494 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: They're going to find that, in fact, it's very difficult 495 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: for America to solve all the great problems were faced with, 496 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: and that we are, in fact, I think, in a 497 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,680 Speaker 1: tremendous period of challenge. And as I sat on the house, 498 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: Florida was kind of fun. I have to confess, being 499 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: back in a place I'd spent twenty years working in, 500 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: talking to my many friends. I don't know that I 501 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: met Scalissa's goal of actually scaring the Democrats, because frankly, 502 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: when you wear masks, they don't know who you are anyway, 503 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: so they may not even known I was there, but 504 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: our side did. I chattled the lot of them, and 505 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: I was reminded of how the place used to work, 506 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: and I was reminded of how important it is in 507 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: a free society. Our greatest single advantage over dictators is 508 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: the ability to go home, listen to the people we represent, 509 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,239 Speaker 1: find out what it is that they're concerned about, what 510 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: their ideas are, what they think the solutions would be, 511 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 1: and come back together. Four hundred and thirty five people 512 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: representing three hundred and thirty five million free citizens, talk 513 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: with each other, learn from each other, understand that all 514 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: of our districts are very different. That you don't govern 515 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: downtown New York the same way you govern Idaho, and 516 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: that that's healthy, and that you've got to find a 517 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: way to bring it all together in order for a 518 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:40,640 Speaker 1: free society to solve its problems and to be healthy. 519 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: And as I sat there, I thought, you know, we 520 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,959 Speaker 1: need to get back to the basics. We need to 521 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: find a way to confront how big the challenges are, 522 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 1: and we need to do it out in the open 523 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: in a way that encourages every American of every background, 524 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: with your Democrat, Republican, independent. We need to somehow have 525 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: a national conversation which once again returns us to being 526 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: the center of freedom and once again recognizes that in 527 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: order to be free, you have to respect the right 528 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: of others to be free, and you have to militantly 529 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,080 Speaker 1: be opposed to a handful of people running a dictatorship. 530 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,120 Speaker 1: And it was a remarkable day for me. I'll always 531 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: be grateful for the invitation to go back to the 532 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: house floor, and I think in my case, at least, 533 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 1: it got me to really think in very fundamental ways 534 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 1: about what we have to do and what the challenges 535 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: are to all of us if in fact we intend 536 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 1: to continue and to have the kind of future that 537 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 1: we want for our children and for our country. Thank 538 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 1: you for listening. You can visit our show page at 539 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: newtsworld dot com to read more about the different topics 540 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: I discussed today, and you can also order Beyond Biden, 541 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: which is now available, in which captures what I think 542 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: we're going to have to do to rebuild America once 543 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: these people are no longer in charge. News World is 544 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: produced by Gingwish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer 545 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:15,480 Speaker 1: is Debbie Myers, our producer is Garnsey Sloan, and our 546 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 1: researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show was 547 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at 548 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: Gingwich three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope 549 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with 550 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can 551 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of newts 552 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: World can sign up from my three free weekly columns 553 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: at Gingwich three sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Gingwich. 554 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 1: This is Newtsworld.