host: good morning come it is friday, april 5. for this first segment of the program we will talk about

housing affordability. maybe you are trying to buy a home or look for a rental or maybe you stop trying together. how concern are you about rising housing prices? own your home, call us on (202) 748-8000. for renters, call u on (202) 748-8001. if you are looking for a place to buy, it is (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003 up send your first name and your city and state. we are on social media on facebook and x at @cspanwj. i want to update you on what is happening with israel. israel to add gaza eight routes

as biden hinges report on protection. israel agreed to increase eight deliveries. the article said this as president biden threatened on thursday to condition future support for israel on how it addresses concerns about civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in gaza, prompting israel to commit to sending more food and other supplies into the enclave in hopes of placating him. during a tense 30 minute call with the prime minister, mr. biden leveraged u.s. aid to influence the conduct of the war against hamas. the announcement of additional aid routes met some but not all of mr. biden's demand. regarding the humanitarian

workers that were killed, we have an article to show you on that issue because israel has completed their assessment of at and it says this. "israel dismisses two officers over deay drone strikes on aid workers in gaza." it says the israeli military has dismissed two officers and reprimanded others for their roles in drone strikes that killed aid workers on a food delivery mission saying they had violated the army's rules of investigate -- the army's rules of engagement. it marks an embarrassing and mission by israel which faces growing accusations from key allies of not doing enough to protect gaza civilians from its war with hamas. it says the findings are likely to renew skepticism over the israeli military decision-making.

human rights organizations have repeatedly accused israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict, a charge israel denies. back to our conversation about housing affordability. this is in politico th this headline, "political leaders are finally responding to the housing crisis." they need to move faer the fear has finally gotten policymakers attention. that article is by reporter victoria guida and she joins us. good morning. guest: thanks for having me on. you call it a housing crisis. how did it get to the point of crisis? host: it has gotten a lot worse in the last couple of years. particularly coastal cities that have been experiencing affordability crisis is for a

while, california or new york. now it is a problem across the country and it has to do with, in particular, zoning, which is what the piece is about. you think about how cities have built out where they have built up their city centers and they have filled out their suburbs. because of the pandemic people are shifting where they want to work, so you have smaller cities that are seeing influxes of people from larger cities. there is not room to build more housing because so much of the city is only reserved for single-family homes and a lot of single-family homes are large and detached. you cannot have row houses and small cottages on the same property. you cannot have duplexes. we have seen a lot of states and cities looking at this problem and trying to figure out if

there is a way you can build housing in a way that works for your communities. host: let's talk about some of those solutions. you talk about what governors are doing. republicans and democrats. can you share the successes they have had? guest: one of the states i highlight is montana. they passed reforms last year. you saw a correlation in rent going down where they basically made it easier. they call them accessory dwelling units. think of them is a cottage on the same property. they made it easier to build mixed-use developments and use all rent go down, and you saw vacancy rates increase. vacancy rates are low. montana is a place they are seeing an influx of people. host: would you say there is a

political will in washington on the national level to do something about this, particularly in congress? guest: not yet. there is a lot of talk about it. it is one of those things where it is easy to say that is a local cities problem or the states problem. one of the things that is striking in one of the reasons i wrote this piece is this is not a partisan issue. the thought that we do not have enough housing is a pretty uncontroversial thing. the question is how do we build it. it will be different depending on where you live and how that works. it is pretty clear that is a huge part of the problem and we need to fix it. host: what has president biden said about what he would like to do? guest: he talked about this as an issue.

housing affordability is a particular part of the economy. we see a lot of positive economic data and housing affordability is hammering people. he talked about wanting to do it incentive's for states and localities to come up with plans to lead to more housing. he has done some stuff around the edges, administration stuff, that will add some units. most of what would happen we need to happen through congress and the question is what kind of package can get through. host: has former president trump said anything about this topic? guest: he has been in a couple places on this topic. when he was president he signed an executive order that talked about wanting to find ways to reduce overly restrictive land use laws at the state and local level, basically highlighting

the supply issue. starting in 2020 and through today he has talked about how the democrats -- he called it a war on suburbs where he is saying that getting rid of single-family zoning is an attack on the american dream. he is appealing to people who are scared about what kind of demographics more affordable housing would bring. trying to stir fears in the suburbs about what types of changes development might bring. host: how big of an election issue do you see this topic being? guest: it is a top concern among voters. there was a recent survey that found more than half of voters -- they surveyed homeowners and renters -- 3000 people they

surveyed -- more than half thought it would determine their vote later this year. this is a top economic concern for americans. they are telling their politicians. this is definitely something that is going to be talked about. how much action is actually going to happen? host: 50 or you guida, economics -- victoria guida, economics correspondent for politico. thanks for joining us. we will go to the phone calls. how concerned are you about housing prices? owners can call (202) 748-8000. if you're a renter, (202) 748-8001. if you're looking to buy it is (202) 748-8002. on our line for owners is don in virginia. caller: i won the lottery.

i saw that number come up on tv and i just dialed it in here i am. i think to a degree what we have in this country is not so much a housing crisis per se. i think we have a sharing crisis . i allowed two people to come into my house, my wife passed away about a year and a half ago. it is a house with three or four or five bedrooms. it can be a real lonely place with just a dog and a cat. with that in mind i found two people. it is such a joy to have other people in the house. if we could do more of this i they could could go a long way towards -- supply and demand is what it comes down to. with that in mind, so many of the houses have been bought pre-pandemic or at the time interest rates were rising. so many are going on the auction block because of high interest rates. it is easier for people to walk

away from a house and do something different. what i see -- i am mostly a gardener so i'm not very attuned to everything. i see where a lot of people are saying this is crazy at these rates and these inflated prices. i think we are seeing a reversal of what has occurred. host: how did you find those people? did you just advertise you had rooms available? caller: i'm a regular at church. i have talked with people who were new students in college and needed a place that were commuting to and from downtown and just trying to find somebody that would be reasonably compatible. they would live upstairs, they have their own bathroom upstairs, laundry room. we share meals occasionally. it is people that had a need. one was in the hospital and

medicaid was running out and they were going to put her into someplace that i knew -- based on what i heard about the lady he had been physically attacked and had a couple of broken vertebrae or something like this . i do not know the exact details but i said i have a place you can stay, there is a bedroom upstairs and that is where she is at. the other lady had been with the family for years and a person was moving back into where she was living that had dementia and the people felt they cannot have the additional body in the house and trying to take care of the aging parents. host: appreciate you sharing that with us. jack is in hawaii. caller: how are you this morning?

host: good. caller: i think there is plenty of supply. it is handled wrong. i would like to see it all channeled to the small claims court with the high amount of settlement. the judge having an inspector to go out and rate the renter, rate the landlord. after three months of not paying you are a squatter and you should be treated like a criminal. you should be punished. three months if you have not paid, you should be out of there. i think you have a show on weird things that happen with landlords. i have had tenants all the lock on the inside while the sheriff was trying to get the lock unlocked outside. host: you own rental properties?

caller: i do. i have property also in california. people are out there trying to buy up all the vacancies. i get an average of two or three inquiries a week of people trying to buy them. supposedly people are moving out of california. these corporations are buying up the rentals. the judges are all running the landlords away and i think that is a mistake. the more supply you have the lower rent you will have. when they add on service onto the property tax and say the rent will not go up, the government needs to step in.

the working poor -- let the homeowners live in them pay for rentals and service. they put the garbage on the tax bill. when you pay your tax bill you have to pay the renters garbage bill. host: we are going to talk to stephen next who is a renter in lexington, kentucky. good morning. caller: thanks for allowing me on. happy friday. i am a renter. i wish i was calling on the homeowner line. i am a millennial. i am one of those that has student loans. i work hard and pay my taxes and have a wife and daughter. according to the experts i should've bought a house when i was in middle school. it is rough trying to find a house. percentages are so high.

down payments are so high. when you look for a rental, there are so many slumlords that do not invest back into their property. you go into a house and they still have appliances from the 80's and 70's. almost 50 years old. it is a problem. it is not just quantity, it is the quality is poor. nobody wants to spend money on their investment and it lowers the quality for everybody else. we've been trying to find a house every year and we say maybe this is the year. nope, we have to pay more on taxes. nope, the government is raising the percentage rates. there is always something going on and it seems like all of these older folks that bought their house with two chickens and a donkey do not get the reality of things. it is tough. prices are not the same. you have to have two incomes. maybe have your child start

working, you have to have three incomes. people are feeling the pressure. it is like a noose around your neck and it gets worse and worse. it is a problem. my wife and i work from home so we have time to look, but some people do not even have that. thanks for listening. host: let's talk to helen in long beach, california. also a renter. caller: i was a homeowner until about 2008 in the great recession and i had a house fire in that house fire took me down, ended up in bankruptcy, i lost my house. i made a six figure salary back then as i do now. the bank would not loan anybody anything. host: i want to ask before you go on, didn't you have insurance for the fire? caller: yes i did. it did not cover anything it

took eight months for them to restore it. i had to pay for a place to live out of my own pocket plus the mortgage so i ended up having to pay. insurance companies you not pay for everything. they did not pay for the flooring, for the heating and air conditioning. i had a $5,000 deductible. i was living in a condo so there was a $5,000 deductible for my personal insurance and the condo insurance. i was not making it because i had put things on credit. all of a sudden credit rates went up to 25%. i rolled right into debt. i could have been saved if the banks had just loaned me or gave me home equity loans which i still had in my house. long story short, they did not want to go on a loan plan. they wanted a quick infusion of cash and they sold my house out

after i had to move out to an asian corporation. i was displaced. now i have been a renter for quite a while. here is my point. i am at the whims of somebody else's greed. if you happen to live in an area that is becoming gentrified, which i am living in, what is happening is they are buying up -- these companies are buying up all of these places around here. they even it everybody out. they do cosmetic repairs and then they double the rent. there is a thing called opportunity zones. it is on the border of a low income area they buy up the land at cheap because this is something that was passed by congress. what they do is they take advantage of that and buy the

land for cheap and what you get are human storage units. we call them human storage units. you get a 35 story apartment building. if you want to bedroom you are looking at 4000 in this area. this is not just a typical for this area. it is typical in southern california. my point is what is frustrating is because everybody is shifting away from retail we have huge swaths of land where malls used to sit, huge parking lots. retail buildings are empty. we cannot build affordable housing. we cannot build anything because it is zoned. host: a lot of people are looking at changing zoning laws. you think that would be helpful in your area? caller: they are trying to change the zoning laws but there

are so much resistance from the homeowners because they are worried about the equity of their house going down, so they are fighting it. here we are having a two front battle. we are fighting rising rents in a community that does not want to lose the value of their home, which is ridiculous. it would not bring it down. i am not a disreputable person. host: we will let people know we are talking about the question how concerned are you about rising housing prices? we have our lines set up right if you are a owner you can call us (202) 748-8000, if you're are renting your home it is (202) 748-8001, and if you are looking to buy it is (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003. we are on social media so you can post to facebook at facebook.com/c-span or on x at

@cspanwj. let's look at what president biden said on this topic at a campaign stop in nevada. >> i will provide a mandatory tax credit that will give americans $400 a month to put towards their mortgage when they buy their first home or trade up for a little more space if they come from a middle-class background, they come from a family that is earning $200,000 or less. we are also making it more affordable to refinance your homes. that will save folks as much as $1500. the federal government can afford to do that. last week the association of realtors agreed that americans can negotiate lower commissions when they buy or sell their homes. [applause] on a typical home purchase, that alone could save folks $10,000

under sale or purchase. i am calling on realtors to follow through on lowering their commissions to protect homebuyers. we are also working to end the legacy of discrimination on home valuations that has exacerbated the racial wealth gap and held back black and brown families and is simply wrong. if the developer built 20 homes on one side of the highway and 20 homes on the other and the one-sided people black and brown backgrounds in the same home was built in a white neighborhood, guess what, the black home was worth 20% less than the white home. or the hispanic home was worth 20% less. it is wrong. my plan goes to work so we can bring the rents down. might ministration is cracking down on big corporations that break antitrust laws by price-fixing to keep the rents

up. landlord should be competing to give folks the best deals, not conspiring to charge more. [applause] we are also going after unfair rental and junk fees, like the ones you are charged when you move into an apartment, one of the surprise convenience fees that are not convenient and can add up to hundreds of dollars. some of you have been stuck with that. folks are tired of being played for suckers and i'm tired of letting them be played for suckers. we are also expanding rental assistant over 1000 more low income family since i took office, the biggest increase in 20 years. host: we will go back to the calls. jim is looking for a place in annapolis, maryland. caller: how is it going. i was not sure what line to call on.

i am not looking for a house, i live in my car, i have given up looking for a place. my sister and my brother-in-law are doing really well financially but they cannot find anything. they make about $120,000 a year, they have good savings. they are so priced out -- there is no competition. there are a lot of problems that i see with the policy in this country. we do not have a policy where it is one house for one family, where young family can start out and grow a family. we favor the corporations. we let people -- companies like airbnb buy up the politicians and change the housing laws so people can create vertical hotels across neighborhoods. one man owns 200 homes.

there are people there with children living in their cars. i live in my car. i see the hidden homeless. host: if you can tell me a little bit more about your situation. how did you end up in your car? do you have a job? what is happening? caller: i lost my house after the crash. it was a delayed reaction. i lost my house in 2011 after the housing crash. i did not get a house loan or anything. i bought near the top of the market. i was well underwater. it created a domino effect in my life. i have not been able to catch up. that is my story. it is not important. i want to point out that the political system in this country

favors hyper capitalism and predatory behavior and it is wrong. i see it everywhere. i see corporations buying up housing and i see companies like airbnb they are people that will get as much loans as they can. playing on the margin -- they have commodified housing and leveraged it to the hilt with debt. people are buying up the houses if they can get the credit, and then they exploit the poor. they make their mistakes by paying too much to the bank and then they pass that on to the poor. you have examples like jared kushner's company in baltimore. retaliating against renters. it is a war. it is a war against the people.

the politicians are not listening. they have been bought and sold and they are paid for by the big corporations. that is all i have to say. host: we wish you well. thiss from kendra, who sent as a text from richmond, virginia. she says "years ago people used to move to the south for a more reasonable cost of l it is no lthe case. in the central virginia area a one-bedroom apartment is over 15 depth hundred dollars a month -- is over $1500 a month. a single-family house is $250,000. how's a person supposed to survive?" and this -- "home pricing has gone through the roof." mary is calling us from michigan. caller: i did not know what line to call. i am currently renting.

my situation -- i had bought a home with my common-law husband in the city of flint and two years later he suddenly passed away. the house was supposed to be written up the one who did not pass away. it was not written that way. i had his children. long story. it took 10 years in probate court to finally finish it. i lost a lot of money. i went to davidson to live and i thought it would have a roommate so i got a two bedroom. it pushed me to the limit of my budget. i had to retire because of my health early. i worked hard, i have been education. i put money into my pension,

also my 401(k). i am ok. it keeps me out of the poverty range. it prevents me from getting into a home. i am looking to buy a condo without having to have a lot of money down. because of the amount of time i had to move, i did not look for a home, a condo. i had to get into an apartment right away. i had counted on somebody else to live with me. that is why i got the two bedroom and that fell through. it is hard to trust. who are you going to have as a roommate? i am squeaking by. people like me -- we have worked hard all of our lives and now we are coming into a situation, we still want to be homeowners but

we cannot afford to be. host: do you think this issue is going to affect who you vote for in the presidential election? caller: i already know that. as far as political, i will not vote for trump no matter what. host: got it. let's take a look at what the fed chair jerome powell said about interest rate policies regarding this issue of the housing crisis. caller: there are -- >> there are things in the housing sector we do not fully anticipate. that people in very low-interest rate homes are not selling, so the quantity of homes available is incredibly low and that is why there is very little in the way of existing home sales, and

that drives up existing home sale prices and also new home sale prices. there are two sets of factors. it is a longer run issue and then the factors associated with the pandemic and inflation and our response. as inflation continues to go down and rates go down you will see the housing market start to heal and get better and housing affordability should go up. you will still be left with a longer-term problem of supply. there are two big things going on. one is we have an underlying shortage of housing and it is due to things like difficulties with zoning. a lot of places that were already built. more difficult to get zoning, more difficult to get people and materials. that is not going away. there are a ton of things happening because of the pandemic and inflation and higher rates and in the short term they are weighing on the housing market.

as rates come down and that goes through the economy -- host: that was the fed chair from last month. we are taking your calls about how concerned are you about rising housing prices and we will talk to neil in philadelphia. what is going on with you? caller: how are you doing? i am in the market to buy a new home with my partner because we want to merge our families. seeing the insanity of the housing market and the prices, the houses i am looking at, 1500 square feet, 1600 square feet, more than a half $1 million. look at the same house in 2016, they were $250,000. that is something a family could actually afford a mortgage. a half $1 million house?

i am college educated with two degrees. i worked in a relatively high-paying industry and that is still in saying. how are normal folks supposed to a ford -- supposed to afford and start a family? host: are you going to be able to afford something? are there houses you feel like you can buy? caller: there does not seem to be any houses with the amount of space we need to merge our families and actually be able to spend 60% or 70% of our total income together. isn't the rule 30% of your income should go to housing to be safe? i do not understand how these prices can be so inflated. these homes are not worth the amount of money that they are being sold for. it seems like everybody is

trying to get as much as they can out of this market and it screws over the younger families. i hear a lot of the older generation telling us why don't you have kids and start a family. that is the american dream we are all told. it is out of reach entirely. host: melissa on facebook agree . she says "our home is paid for buyoung people are priced out of the market. along with higher property insurance premiums, homeownership is out of reach for them." susie is next in north carolina. good morning. caller: i am a homeowner and i also have rental properties. the thing is, my rental properties, i try to keep the rent low enough to keep the

people i have because they are wonderful young couples with small children. they cannot afford anything. they cannot afford anything at all. in my neighborhood they are taking all of the apple orchards and gardens spots, swamp areas, and their building them full of $500,000 homes up nobody i know can afford that kind of money. it is ridiculous. the interest rate -- i don't know how a young couple will make it today. host: you are seeing new housing going up. or using single-family homes?

multi family dwellings? what are you seeing? caller: i am seeing both. on one side of the road you have $600,000 homes, on the others you have $400,000 condos. host: let's talk to david next. david in auburn, new york. caller: good morning. nice to get on. a quick reveal. i am on the zoning board in my locality in auburn and i see a lot of the problem with housing. let me put it this way. it is the law of supply and demand. housing costs are high because there is a shortage of housing. now we go to the question, why? why is it not affordable. property taxes here are so high

that there is almost as the mortgage in some cases, in some cases more. that is the wealth tax they are talking about all the time. as far as subsidies go, kathy hochul, our governor, who is always trying to subsidize a smattering of houses, 400 houses , it is a drop in the bucket. another thing i noticed in my locality in new york state has built a high number of houses that are not on the tax rolls. you are trying to carry municipal government budgets on top of 40 or 50% of the buildings that are taxed. you're running into a lot of problems. host: you said you are on the zoning board.

are you changing zoning to allow more housing to come in to address the supply issue? caller: that is a tough issue. there are so may regulations right now that when you have a homeowner that wants to put up a fence or put up a shed or do his driveway or anything like that, it becomes a governmental process. there is so much regulation now that it is intimidating. i read article from oakland, california, where i read that their property taxes did not even cover the police and the fire department budget. you have these big budgets. i attend city council meetings. i've been going eight or nine years to those. there is so much spending.

the law of supply and demand, you do not have enough supply, you do not have enough people. host: are you renting or do you own your home? caller: both. i pay the property tax. i pay a 4% property tax every year for the rest of my life. it is like a sales tax on your property. that continues to go up. the assessment goes up and the rent goes up. you are renting, you are not owning. property taxes probably one of the biggest problems. the government footprint, every time they build a building, whether it is a police department or fire department house, whatever. none of those buildings go on the tax rolls get the taxpayers are constantly paying for the maintenance and the upkeep. expensive local government also driving up the cost of housing. host: let's talk to cheryl in

california. good morning. caller: i feel that the affordability issue has a lot of different actors. i think people are unable to afford to own or to rent, and a lot of it has to do with a lot of housing is being bought up by large investment firms. a lot of people since the pandemic have become on housed. in california there are large encampments, not just in the large cities but also camps in smaller towns and cities. so many people lost their jobs. they lost their housing from the pandemic. all of the businesses that were

closed and jobs that were lost. at the same time, when you think about homelessness, you think that must mean there is a shortage of housing. speaking to someone who was explaining to me, she did a study on the internet and how many people were homeless. the study said -- it was approximately half a million people. she looked at how many unoccupied housing units there were. the answer came up and there were 16 million unoccupied housing units. i think the problem with affordability and the idea whether the solution is to build more or to look at the housing

there is and why there is that so much of it is not available for people. there is another factor which is that so many american citizens are precariously housed or are spending so much of their budget on housing. at the same time there are so many people that are refugees or immigrants that are coming in and are adding to the homeless population and also being put into housing, whether it is temporary housing like hotels that were designated for people who have become displaced because of the pandemic and other factors. host: speaking of supply, let's hear more from president biden from that campaign stop in nevada about increasing the supply of housing. >> affordable housing has been a

challenge for a long time. to solve it we have to increase supply. when supply is down, demand is up, the costs rise. the bottom line to lower housing costs for good is to build, build, build. [applause] that is why i have cut red tape so more buildings could get federal financing for the new project. a record 1.7 million new housing construction nationwide because of it. today my administration reported that single-family housing starts are the highest level in nearly two years. my new plan would create 2 million affordable homes, including tens of thousands in nevada. [applause] >> we are doing the neighbor at home tax credit to build or renovate affordable housing.

we do it by expanding the bipartisan low income start. the low income housing tax credit, to build affordable rental units which are supported by lenders, builders alike. my plan will also establish an innovative program to help communities build and renovate housing or convert housing from empty office spaces into housing , empty hotels into housing. my plan would provide $8 billion to fight homelessness and move people into homes and off the street. i will say it again. [applause] in the united states no one should have to live in the street. no one. host: we have about 15 minutes left in this segment to talk about how concerned you are about rising housing prices. this is from elvin in san francisco on facebook.

"because of gentrification e price of housing has skyrocketed to $1 million for a median home here in the san francisco bay area." this is beth in columbus, ohio. " i am concerned abouhousing prices because these affect on property taxes and policies should take into account the difficulties of single people with a single income." and john in washington. what do you think? caller: i think part of the reason we got into this situation was because of 2008, when the market crashed. prior to that, banking was made a lot more liberal and encouraged to loan. after 2008, i am older. i bought my home in 1980. i remember my nephew, who lived in the bay area calling me up and saying i think i should walk

away from my mortgage. i am upside down. he says everybody around here is doing it. i told him, what has changed in your life? he says what you mean. i said can you not afford your mortgage. he says i can afford it but i can afford a way better home because of the situation. the value of his home had depreciated 50% or more because of the situation we were in. i talked him into keeping it and not walking away from it, just going like it did not exist. now he is glad he did. that was going on everywhere. you could see foreclosure signs everywhere in 2008. then things change. people did buy homes or walk

away from homes. it was a major mistake. it was a major mistake to try to do things the way they ended up doing them. what happened after that was banks got real restrictive and that is what -- they were not loaning money out because some banks went under. a lot of things went sour right after 2008. had to bail some of the big banks out while some of the smaller banks went under. then interest rates, they are back up again. people can afford it -- people cannot afford it. i have younger kids that are struggling with buying housing. host: let's go to ursula in

north carolina. caller: good morning. good to see you. i have been listening to you all for quite a while over the years. this is interesting. i am in my 80's. i own my home. i get inundated by phone calls every day. would you please sell your house? my daughter and i talk about it all the time. you want to sell your house? yes what? you cannot turn around and buy a new home for the price they are giving you for your old home. the other thing is there is one neighbor and myself, we are on the street for over 50 years. we are proud of our old homes. we are both military widows. the only thing both of us are worried about is the high

insurance policies, the taxes, the upkeep of the yard, everything has doubled and tripled. that is more our thought about trying to keep our homes. does that make sense? host: it absolutely does. we wish you the best. richard in minneapolis. go ahead. caller: i think the one person that was just on about the banks getting more restrictive. then president biden said what i am going to say at one of our local organizations and the minnesota multi-housing organization says is billed, build, build. i think they ought to have a restriction on the square feet of housing that can be built.

another thing is the property taxes. the democrats are running these cities and they are not satisfied with the 2% increase in property taxes. they have to have 6% 7% every year. in the 1970's, when i bought in, the property tax was somewhat reasonable. now, if you pay off your mortgage and you still have to pay your property tax, the property tax payment per month is way over the mortgage payment. host: let me ask you a question about the property taxes. do you feel like you are getting what you are paying into it from services from your locality? (202) 748-8000 -- caller: no,

not really. the local governments here like city council, they want to do everything for everybody. we just cannot afford it. they could build more, build, build. they could stand up to the unions a little more. the unions keep wanting 6% or 7% increase. it is just out of control. they want to do everything for everybody and it costs a lot of money and they are not satisfied with the 2% increase in property taxes. they keep wanting more, more, more out of your mortgage payment and the property taxes.

host: ivanka in chula vista, cap -- yvonne in chula vista, california. caller: i bought my home in 1995. when i moved out there there was nothing but cows and one store. over the years they have built up so incredibly. beyond comprehension. i bought my house at $226,000 in 1925 -- in 1995. i sold my house a year ago for $1.2 million. i cannot ever afford to live there again. the home i was looking to buy in florida, they are ridiculous.

the prices. if i spent over $700,000 or $800,000 for a house i would have nothing to live on for the rest of my life? host: what did you end up doing? caller: i am living in a manufactured home until my price -- until the prices go down. i bought a double wide in the property and that is where i am at. no rental fee. my sister lives up the street from my old house. her hov and property taxes are $13,000 a year. her house has been appraised at $9.6 million. she pays over $3000 a month in mortgages. almost half of that is her property taxes. host: ernest in wisconsin. caller: hello. host: how are you doing?

caller: i am doing pretty good. i am a renter. the problem i see where i live is business it self, businesses, here. i live in the middle of milwaukee and chicago. there are more more buildings, more and more factories. it is like we are a warehousing hub and it is spreading further from here to green bay, from here all the way to chicago. it is just more and more. in those warehousing businesses, when they put in their business, the minister of pali's are giving up tax breaks. you do not have to pay taxes -- the municipalities are giving up tax breaks. i hear the things about jobs and unions. there are more jobs, there are more people coming here. i do not see the homes built.

i see apartments being built. a lot of what is being built our fire stations, police stations. they are not even building schools. schools are being closed because they cannot afford it. they keep making all of these deals for these big warehousing companies or factories that come here to not pay taxes. that burden is pushed off onto these localities. i do not understand how they can continue to do that. we all have to pay taxes. they are just constantly causing the crisis to grow. i am in my 60's. my brother and my sister that are older than me, they own homes. they came from the generation just before i did. as they moved up they were able to buy a home. as i came into that market it got too difficult. the crisis that started happening now, it is all over.

what i see is business coming here in a boom. i do not see an immigrant problem. there are a lot of immigrants that work and some of these businesses. that is not a problem. the other thing is i see homelessness into the area where i live. things i never saw before in my life. there are people walking down the streets or wherever. these are things that are starting to happen. there are big wide areas open in the middle of the city of kenosha where there is no building going on, no one is trying to develop the land. i see more factories being built on the outskirts. host: let's try to get another call in. francisco in virginia. owner. caller: good morning. as far as land goes i live in the biggest city in virginia on the border with north carolina.

our house has tripled in price -- in value since we bought it in the early 1990's. it was an existing home from the 1970's. this neighborhood is about 1500 square feet is what the houses are. all the new houses being built in suffolk are much larger. there are not any starter homes being built anymore. host: why do you think that is? caller: that is a good question. here in suffolk they are building massive apartment complexes. four or five stories high, and warehouses. we are getting inundated with warehouses. i do not know how to explain it. in 2008, after that, the developers were building single-family homes -- none of the developers were building single-family homes because no

one could buy them and there's is a shortage because of that now. the biggest problem is supply. now the supplies being sold with these giant apartment complexes. the only other houses that will get built are the big $500,000 per $600,000 houses. property taxes are not that high here but it is a growing concern. the values increase so the property taxes go up, even if they do not raisebecause the vae increased. we, we own our house and we have paid it off. we are retired and we are fortunate. i have a son who lives in georgia and he is also fortunate that he is a war veteran and able to buy a property with a buddy of his. single guy is. and that is about the only way, as people get together as

friends or if you have a spouse. if you are single, forget about it. host: we can talk about this more during open forum let up next, libertarian national committee chair angela mcardle discusses the history, philosophy and their role in this campaign cycle. later, we are joined by the two time green party presidential nominee jill stein. she will talk about her bid for the white house and the challenges of running on a third party ticket. we will be right back. ♪ >> today, watch c-span's 2020 for camping -- campaign trail, providing a one stop shop to discover what the candidates are saying to voters along with first-hand accounts from political reporters, updated poll numbers, fundraising data and campaign ads.

watch the 2024 campaign trail today at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org or download as a podcast on c-span now, our free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7:00 p.m. eastern congress investigates looks at historic congressional investigations that led to changes in policy and law. this weekend the truman committee examined the national defense program during world war ii and whether there was waste and corruption. 8:00 p.m. eastern, and lectures of history, brandon erby on the legacy of mamie till mobly and

her efforts to bring focus to the death of her son emmett till. and then at 9:00 on the presidency president ulysses s grant. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span two and find a full schedule on our program guide or watch at c-span.org/history. >> next week is the opening of the impeachment trial of homeland security second hoary -- secretary callahan drove -- aleha -- callahan drove mayorkas -- refusing to comply with immigration laws and beach of public trust. patty murray presides over the trial and the senate will be sworn in. senate minority leader mitch

mcconnell said that the chamber is expected to vote whether to dismiss or kill the charges. coverage wednesday on c-span2,, c-span now and online at c-span.org. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back, we are joined by angela mcardle, the chair of the libertarian national committee. welcome to the program. so start by telling us about the libertarian party and what you stand for. guest: absolutely it is the third-largest party in the united states and we stand for your personal and economic liberty. we all love foreign policy, we like you to keep your money and we do not like taxes and we want government to stay out of your personal life. we believe individuals are the best people to govern their own lives. host: how many members are there and how does one join the

libertarian party? guest: nationally i believe we have 14,000 current dues paying members but we have many more thousands who joined in the past , who contribute nominally and who are active and participating in our political party across the country. you can join at lp.org, it is a $25 a year annual membership. what i think is interesting is that we have a nonaggression pledge which means that when you join the party you agree to not pursue political violence. host: the history of the libertarian party, when was it established and why? guest: the libertarian party was established in 1971. really as a reaction to the united states going off of the gold standard. you had an interesting mix of individuals, politically left-leaning hippie types who got together with some

libertarians who were more culturally on the right who were outraged at richard nixon's policies and politically dissatisfied. they agreed that there has to be a better way and a way forward with sound monetary policy and peaceful foreign policy. no wars overseas and say no to the vietnam war. all of that good stuff. they got together and formed in colorado in 1971 and we saw state parties pop up around the country after that. host: you mentioned there is a pledge against political violence. i want to ask you if the libertarian party has an official position on the 2020 elections and the events around january 6? guest: we do not have an official position. certainly we do not support violent action to the extent that there was any violence that

took place in the capital. we do believe in people's right to peacefully assemble and protest. host: i wanted to ask you about a couple of policy issues and where you stand on it. you have your platform online about 10 pages long about anybody who wants to read it. can you tell us where you stand about abortion? guest: we do not take a stance. in 2022 at our national convention we removed it from our platform. a majority of the members believe that it was too divisive and something that we should not take a formal position on. our candidates and members are free to take their own positions on that topic. host: and the topic of taxes, so i understand that the goal is to eventually phase out all taxes. could you tell us how that would work as far as the services that we expect from the government such as free k-12 education, the

military, how does that work in funding the government? guest: our party is split between minimal government and people who want zero government. and we definitely want to get rid of taxes although there are some members who are comfortable with a very small amount of tax revenue to support things like military and other services that they deem essential that should be provided by the government. generally we want things to be privatized and voluntary. there are a lot of private schools across the world including in places like india where people pay very little to fund their children's education and they do better than public government schools. you know, for example, government public schools are one of the most violent places a child can ever encounter. there one of the most violent places a child will attend. it is places where they

encounter bullying, they encounter difficult situations, school shootings are definitely something that we do not like seeing in the news. and so we encourage people to take their children's education into their own hands. homeschooling in my opinion is the best way. host: as far as foreign policy, where do you stand on support for the war in ukraine and israel-gaza war. guest: we do not support any of it, you should -- we believe that the united states should end foreign aid to all foreign countries. we do not want to see troops put through the meatgrinder of war in ukraine and we do not want our money going to fund overseas conflicts. we do not believe that the united states should be meddling in other country's foreign policies. host: we would go to the phones if you would like to ask a question for our guest, the chair of the libertarian national committee. the lines are by party.

republicans are 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents. 202-748-8002. we also have a line set aside for libertarian party members. you can call us on 202-748-8003. that is also the same line that you can use for texting. let us talk about the 2024 election cycle. you have 14 possible candidates, can you tell us about the process of selecting the nominee that will be on the ballot? guest: absolutely, the majority have been attending state conventions and getting to know the delegates and members for several months. some of them started campaigning a year ago. you have to earn your nomination through delegate votes at a national convention. the candidates try to get to know people and get votes pledged in advance so when they

show up everybody has counted heads and understands what will happen. you have to become a delegate at your state convention in order to go and participate at the national convention and have a say in who our next presidential candidate will be. host: i do not need to tell you that it is difficult for third-party candidates in this country. so, what are your thoughts on what you are really trying to accomplish by running a candidate? guest: there are different ideas about what we are trying to accomplish. some of these members want to win the presidency. my perspective and the perspective of many other libertarian national committee members is that the presidential race is a platform for our message. we want to get the word out there about libertarianism and the party, grow the party at the local grassroots level, get people elected locally and help down ticket candidates because

ballot access is essential. and, use the libertarian presidential race as a platform to accomplish those things. we want to be excellent messengers for the message of liberty and wake people up to the evils of a large federal government. host: you mentioned getting on the ballot you are on 37, do you expect to get on all 50 states? guest: i believe 48 and 50 states. illinois and new york are tricky we are working plans to make it happen. new york requires 45,000 signatures in six weeks. unfortunately the state of new york kicked us off the ballot after larry sharp, a past gubernatorial candidate got us ballot access. it is definitely a challenge. it is expensive and takes a lot of logistical networking. it all has to happen quickly. illinois also requires 35,000 signatures, although thankfully

it is not as short a period of time. other than those two we feel comfortable about where we are at. host: finally before calls i want to ask you about your nominating convention, it is happening the end of may in d.c.. the theme is becoming ungovernable. what does that mean? guest: we want people to take their lives into their own hands. we do not like what we are seeing coming out of washington, d.c. especially over the last administration. president biden made such disparaging comments about american citizens telling us that if he did not abide by the medical edicts we would experience a severe winter of illnesses and he had such divisive language. it seems that the federal government wants more control over our personal lives. we are interested in taking our power back for ourselves and so we encourage people to become ungovernable. host: and angela, we will go to

our phones. the first caller is from the libertarian party in nebraska. mercy. that morning. caller: hello angela, how are you doing? guest: grade. caller: good. it is good to talk to you again. you are at the convention as a keynote -- to a keynote speaker. thank you for coming to that for the state and i appreciate everything you are doing for the liberty movement. that being said, what is your plan to increase our libertarian numbers in the 50 or 49 days leading up to the convention? i am looking for -- i am working for lars mapstead, and that is one of our candidates. what is the national party doing to onboard new members? guest: we have put together some new marketing funnels. we have been sending out mailers and trying to network through

different outlets. we have been working with potential with zero hedge and doing more social media marketing to boost the numbers. host: as far as state and local level, can you tell us about your efforts there? guest: i'm sorry what we are doing on the state and local level to build membership? host: or are you feeling any candidates for state or local offices? guest: multiple, but those are usually done through the state parties directly. the national party does not usually endorse candidates or do all of the local outreach. we let the state affiliates handle that. host: david, independent. st. paul, minnesota. caller: good morning. i have questions. i see that you are running for president and last year about one year ago that week you wrote an opinion piece in "the

affirmative" that we need a national divorce citing differences in covid and vaccination mandates, black lives matter, abortion, school curriculum and child health care. can you explain why you would be a good president when you do not believe the country can go on sustaining itself? as it is. guest: i am so sorry to break it to you i am not running for president, i am the chair of the libertarian national committee. but i do believe that localization, whether that is succession, strict federalism or multi-country break would be healthy for us. i do not like of federal government. and i would like people to be able to choose how they live their own lives and i do not believe that the federal government does a good job of that for us right now. host: let us talk to charles in south portland, maine.

independent. caller: i am interested in seeing about your guest today. i have been noticing that she has been saying the phrase become ungovernable. and i just wanted to know what happens when a bear walks into town and no one is there to stop it? host: i am not quite sure what that means but you are welcome to respond if you like. guest: sure. i am sure that a bear walked into town someone could respond. i mean, usually what happens in the case of school shootings is that you have some heroic individual who steps in and sometimes they might literally step into the line of fire which is awful or they just usher as many children to safety as possible. whenever there is any tragic situation usually rely on individuals who are already there to take spontaneous action and do the best thing possible. i am sure that would be the same with a bear.

or a lion or tiger, whatever it is you are referencing. host: chris in birmingham, alabama sent us a text. do you believe that the united states should maintain a military at all? guest: do i believe that the united states should maintain a military at all? for defensive purposes, certainly. i do not believe we should maintain our military overseas. host: hank from washington, d.c., a libertarian member. good morning. caller: yes. this is hank riordan and i have john on the other line and we were just wondering why don't you guys just rip -- retreat to the kingdom in colorado and remove yourself from society since you do not want to be part of it? in all seriousness, this is a serious time with serious problems and you spend all of it every day talking about this. libertarians are not serious.

we need serious people with serious ideas. you cannot even describe what you would do about a bear. host: what do you think about you are just not serious? guest: i think i am extremely serious. i think the country was founded based on a lot of the same grievances that i have right now. i think that it is really disappointing that people have become so complacent with tyrannical federal authority and my heart goes out to them, people who feel powerless or ambivalent about our level of taxes, what our military is doing overseas. just the state of the country. but i know it is a difficult task to stand up and speak your mind and i am here to do it for you. host: derek on the line for democrats from lansing, illinois. good morning. caller: good morning usa. i am listening to your guest, and i think they should combine

themselves with the republican party. because, just what would you do without federal government? someone said what would happen if hebert comes into the -- if a bear comes into the street or neighborhood and she is saying that some individual is gonna take it upon themselves to do something about the bear. she opened up about school shootings. what did the liberty air -- what will the libertarian do to prevent school shootings? the shooting down in texas? the name of the town escapes me. host: uvalde. caller: all of the officers that stood out there while the kids lives were being taken. but you're telling somebody getting rid of government that is wrong with the country now. we have too many powerful

individuals that is behind the curtains. host: let us get a response. what do you think and you said you might as well just merge with the republicans? guest: we do not share the same views on a lot of the issues. for one we are opposed to the drug war. and we want peaceful port -- foreign policy. nikki haley, for example who supported the war in ukraine. mitch mcconnell. they want to send all of our taxpayer money to another country and they want to see other people propped up against each other in foreign conflicts and we do not agree. we are very different. with respect to uvalde, we want teachers to be armed. we do not like that gun free zones seem to be areas where victimization happens. we want children to be defended and we want people to feel safe and secure. host: adam from annapolis, maryland. republican. good morning. caller: unfortunately i do not

have any questions about a bear. i just wanted to make a comment about the reflections at the beginning of the session by the interviewer who did a great job. but a lot of the answers that you have provided, angela, is we do not have a position. i am kind of interested to see what your position is on the national debt. you made a comment about minimalists and anarchists. what would be the stance on solving the $34 trillion that is continuing to grow if we greatly limit our ability to fund that through taxes? thank you. guest: we have to cut federal programs. there is no reason that the department of education cannot be abolished. you have to cut as many federal programs as possible. we should not be running things like that. we should not be taxing ourselves to death, it is wrong. we should also not be putting

out policies and programs we cannot afford. it is painful, the debt burden. but taxing people into oblivion is not the answer because it is wrong. host: aside from the department of education what else would a libertarian candidate abolished? guest: the federal reserve right away. all of the unconstitutional alphabet agencies, the fbi, seed -- ca -- cia, atf especially i.c.e. cut them all. host: let us talk about the border. what is the position on the southern border? guest: the libertarian party platform leaves open borders. what open borders is is open to interpretation and not everybody is 100% in agreement on that. host: a question from jesse in albuquerque, new mexico. does she think the priority's present -- the party's

presidential candidate would take more votes from republicans and trump for democrats and biden? guest: everyone has a different opinion on this. right now the polls are saying we will pull more from democrats. i think it will depend on who the presidential nominee. host: john is calling from mechanicsburg, pennsylvania. republican. caller: good morning. by the way, a little joke and if i am married and if i was not, i would ask you to marry me. i am a republican and i am 65 years old. there is no republican or democrat party. that big bear they are joking to you about saying that you do not know what you are talking about. it is called the federal government that is completely out of control and on main street. that is what the callers are talking about. keep doing what you're doing. you need to voice your opinions

talking about the evils of the overbearing federal government. it is not the republicans or the democrats, it is a one party system that is crushing american liberties. you are doing a great job. host: i have a question, you sound like a libertarian. are you thinking about joining the party? caller: i am not going to think about joining the libertarian because i believe in almost everything they stand for but this is a uniparty system. we are in a republican-democrat bear trap by those two systems. i believe what the libertarians are saying, 99% of what they are saying is the original united states of america. the problem is that they have crushed the libertarians and greens and everyone else. it is sad. again i will say the giant there that they are laughing about -- bear that they are laughing about is washington, d.c. and all of the administrative state

agencies crushing the american people. host: we got that. any response? guest: absolutely and thank you for your support. i agree that the bear is the federal government. host: another john, this time in norfolk, virginia. independent. good morning. caller: i am totally agreeing with you about the big bear, it is the federal government. but it is also the media who supports the federal government and helps block out third parties like yourself. before they cut me off, could -- not her lack of -- but c-span's lack of exposure about third parties? host: what do you think? guest: that is an interesting question because here i am on c-span and c-span has historically been a sponsor of our national convention. i agreed that there are some issues with corporate media, but i do not really have that

complaint about c-span that i do about cnn. host: good move. i wanted to ask you on this article from the hill. this was a bit ago in march, the end of march which says the chair says libertarians are confused by rfk jr.'s vice president peg. they are quoting you on your reaction to rfk jr. picking nicole shanahan. could you expand on that? guest: certainly. there are libertarians who support robert f. kennedy, jr. as our potential presidential nominee and he has not announced that yet. there is some support for him. i think there is not nearly as much support for nicole shanahan. it is not personal but a big question mark of what does she stand for? we have not seen a lot of political statements and we are not sure that she believes in

personal economic liberty. there are some questions about some -- about people that she has supported in the past like pete buttigieg and gascon in l.a. who is the da who does not believe in property rights, essentially. everyone is wondering how she had some sort of libertarian come to jesus moment or a political awakening. a lot of people have since 2020. she is the kind that she is just silent so we are unsure. host: let us talk to a democrat in fancy farm, kentucky. caller: i was just curious, we are supposed to collect tariffs, so who would do that. host: the constitution says that we should collect tariffs. caller: it says it somewhere that one way to fund the government is to collect tariffs, i think it does. if i'm wrong, you can correct me. guest: i am not in favor of tariffs. i like free-trade.

i think when goods do not cross borders is better and the last tariffs that we have the better. host: we have about 15 minutes left with our guests, the chair of the national libertarian committee. we are taking calls on the line by party and a line for libertarian members, 202-748-8003, which is also our line for texting. republicans, 202-748-8001. s democrat, 202-748-8000 -- democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, 202-748-8002. let us go to roger. republican line. raleigh, north carolina. caller: early in the program you talked about the problem with public schools with a dangerous and so forth said shooting and all of that. but if i think about that comment, i think in our

constitution we are to provide for the common good of the people. so i understand if you have money you can put children in a private school how about the other people? guest: i do not believe that public schools are providing for the common good. education has gone down the toilet. do not produce children who can read and do arithmetic at the same level. test scores are an all-time low and there is too much testing. they are violent, dangerous, demoralizing and full of bullying. it is not a good system. it is a loaded bureaucracy where we have way more administrators and teachers. if we are providing for the common good let us get rid of failing public schools so that children can have a better chance of educating themselves and having a prosperous future. host: richard is next in sparta, new jersey. democrat. caller: good morning.

i think what jill and other third-party party should be fighting tooth and nail for is ranked choice voting. i could vote for you without also voting for the guy that i really do not want. this would cure so many problems in the country, rank-choice voting. we would have people who were voted in and over 51% of the people in the district would be for them and then we could vote for third parties as much as we wanted because we are not throwing away our vote. you would have a chance. some really good leader in a third party could win because people would not think they are throwing away their vote. you should get together with the other parties and get ranked choice voting. host: angela? guest: you know, i am not opposed to rank-choice voting and that would be wonderful if it works that way but the data is not in.

i remain unconvinced. a lot of people disagree with me and there are a lot of proponents in rank -- of ranked choice voting. and maybe my position would change when i see some data that it does more than what it suspect it might do which is continue to get uniparty candidates get elected and have us come into second place. host: deborah. democrat in mural obama, cal -- mira loba in california. caller: i am so upset to see this lady on and i cannot believe c-span is doing this. you had jill stein on the other day and you will have her on again. and all these people are doing is trying to get from be elected. we have too many problems and we do not have time for people like this lady on. this is a joke. your party is a joke. you are not going to win anything. we have serious issues. i am really upset this morning

with c-span. i watch you guys every morning and all i see is that you are trying to get trump elected. this country really will go to hell if trump is elected. that is all i have to say. host: what do you think your role as a spoiler and as you said if you take votes away in key swing states from biden than the results are going to be trump gets elected. guest: i think it is wild how people say you have to kick everyone else off the ballot to save democracy. i cannot wrap my head around it how people think you have to have one choice on the ballot to save the ability to vote for whoever you want. my heart really goes out to anyone who is so emotionally got wrenched over president trump that we need to install biden as some kind of dictator. it must be rough so i will remain sympathetic. host: ike, crescent city florida.

independent. good morning. caller: you just answer that question on how are people supposed to pay for private schools when they of -- when they cannot afford it. private schools are taking taxpayer money to support them. how do you justify that? guest: private schools would be much more affordable if every taxpayer dollars were not sucked up into bloated administrative public schools. private schools are very affordable in other parts of the world like india where people live in poverty. they can still afford to put their children into really great private schools. host: you really cannot compare the cost of living in the united states to the cost of living in india. guest: let us get rid of as many taxes as possible and stop devaluing the dollar with the federal reserve. host: going back to the question of private schools and paying for private schools, you are saying once we do not have to

take -- to pay taxes even the very poor would be able to educate their children in private schools? guest: absolutely, there are all sorts of private charities and institutions that want children to be educated. do you think that people would stop caring about kids once we got rid of taxes? i do not think so. i think communities would come together and provide a much better school and schooling alternatives. it should be voluntary. host: do you think there should be any standards as far as educational levels. once everything is privatized in the educational system k-12 that they would be essentially policing themselves and making their own standards for what they think is a good education. guest: and doing a much better job than the federal government. the department of education has tanked the state of education and you can see that since the creation. schools have gone down the toilet, test scores have gone down the toilet.

people's educations are inferior. we do not produce the same students or have the same graduation rates and it is a disaster. host: let us talk to robert in ohio. independent. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for letting me come on the air. i am talking about schools. i feel that she is a private school or a public school. i know back around 1985 or 1986i switched high school and the only a i got was a space science class. they talked about satellites and i got an a-in that class. and i will talk to you later. host: cj, in niagara falls, new york. caller: good morning. would the libertarians be open to the idea that say the five richest americans could form

their own army and have a private army and pretty much do whatever they wanted because you know, it is their money, they earned it? and if you want to buy all of the arms and weaponry from around the world and domestically made what business would a libertarian have as far as curtailing those kind of efforts? and i would assume you would be against any of the ada requirements, american with disabilities act because it is a money loser to help people who need a hand up. like all of these accommodations that we make for people with infirmary's -- infirmary,

because that is a money loser and maybe we should do it without that. because if you cannot afford ramps for curbs, then you just kind of flail around on the public streets. and that is your problem because you were created poorly? host: let us get a response. guest: ada regulations hurt a lot of small businesses and it is better to allow businesses to choose and have pressure, organically and naturally. plenty of businesses will become ada compliant when they are able to. there are also a lot of small business owners who cannot afford to have things that are perfectly ada compliant even though they want to and even though they might install a ramp it might not be perfectly compliant. with regards to wealthy people forming militias and turning it on the rest of the country, i am not sure that is a reasonable concern. people do have to face consequences for their actions and i am not sure someone who

became fabulously wealthy would decide to create an army and then turn it on the rest of the world? there is no a lot of questions like that. what if some strange and mega penalty -- mega wealthy person decided to get nukes. one has that happened? human beings does not -- do not behave that way which is why generally people are better of earning themselves that the federal government. host: vicki is a libertarian. west point, mississippi. caller: hello. i ran for office in mississippi two times and i am very active in the party and i am the chair of the state party. what my concern here is is the focus on the department of education and the willingness to abolish that. in the face of the libertarian

party, it hurts me that there is a focus on axing a department that so many people depend upon and instead of saying why can't we just phase it out. like the last caller talked about there are some of the people who cannot afford it. the really problem because the department of education runs on a less than $100 billion -- $100 billion budget it is a drop in the bucket. we should be focusing on the rigged system. we need to take care of and be very vocal and very methodically unraveling the system that we are entangled in so that people can prop themselves up. so what do you say as the chairwoman of the national party. should we be focusing on these little tiny when you consider

the large budget departments or focus on the big things like you mentioned, the war machine? host: go ahead. guest: i think we can focus on both. i spent a tremendous amount of time talking about foreign policy. but the department of education should not exist. we need to tell the truth to people. i mean, i have also spent quite a bit of time talking about why it is bad and how it does not help students. test scores are low, and it sucks up lots of money. students should -- parents and at least at the state level, though should be the people deciding how children's education is run. there is just no role for the federal government, they do not do a good job of it. i appreciate your concern but i do not think that they are well-placed right now. there are a lot of other

departments that need to go. and that is one of them and in my opinion it is at the top and does so much damage to our children and really hurts their future. i think if you are pro-child and you like children and i want them -- and you want them to succeed you want them to get rid of the department of education. host: sean on the independent line. saint augustine, florida. caller: i have a comment and about three quick questions. the comment. first, you mentioned -- angela mentioned earlier on about she called it the former president president. and it is interesting how some of these folks who still want to call him president trump no matter how much you call him president trump, he is not. he is the former president. it has been proven that the election was not stolen so let us start with the truth before

you try to continue to call a former president president. it makes no sense whatsoever. my first question, you said that human beings don't usually behave that way. that was your comment. so explain slavery, the brutality, explain the inequalities that are still in place. if human beings do not behave that way, why did that even occur? second question. you mentioned something about getting rid of the federal government. if you get rid of the federal government please explain to me who is going to pay for the military, who is going to defend the country in a libertarian kind of world that you live in? and are you saying that each state should be responsible for itself and if each state should be responsible and governed by itself and who will support or financially support those states?

are we going to have a bunch of militia? that will open us up to be unveiled -- invaded and how will we defend ourselves if we want to get rid of the federal government? the third question is what are your thoughts on equality? what will the libertarian party do for equality? host: we got it. go ahead. guest: that is quite a bit to unpack. generally referring to people who had been president as president biden and president trump, president nixon and president clinton, that is a title that you give them. just like we refer to people as mr,mrs, dr. and so forth. what would we do inequality, we believe in the intrinsic value of the individual and we believe that all individuals have that same unique value as human beings.

and then as far as slavery goes, people act generally according to their own self-interest. and slavery is a horrible thing that existed for millennia. but i do not think that that is an appropriate comparison for wealthy people -- a small group of wealthy people creating an army, i just do not see that. host: in less it was in their own self-interest like you said like slavery was. guest: that would be weird. can you imagine. that would be a very strange thing. host: amy, democrat. good morning. caller: i want to go to the education bit. we all agree that the school systems are failing because it is not funded properly. schools are funded by property taxes and in some counties property values are low or they

have large government agencies taking up acreage that they cannot tax. i went to the university of georgia and they have 30,000 acres throughout the state that local counties cannot tax. i worked next door to a military base that is not taxable. and that is our issue in georgia. also i want to talk about the fact that you are thinking a third party is the best way. madison warned us about faction coalitions in a third party is not the way to go. you are going to have to change the entire system. instead of advocating for a third party, how about advocating for a no party system? host: what do you think? guest: the reason -- i am trying to recall it all. well, we can advocate for whatever system we want, no political parties would be great. i am trying to operate within the framework that exists.

regarding property taxes and public schools, the reason is not because there are not enough taxes it is not because not enough tax -- it is because they go into a bloated administration. they go to giant bureaucracy is within the public school system and to the kickbacks to people who provide different testing apparatuses, which is also a giant waste of time in my opinion. host: angela mcardle is the chair of the libertarian national committee. they are online at lp.org. thank you for joining us. coming up, green presidential candidate jill stein discusses her bid for the white house and the challenges of running a third-party ticket. first, it is open for them. your chance to weigh in on any political or public policy issue on your mind. the numbers are on your screen.

you can start calling now. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrat 202-748-8000, and 202-748-8002 for independents. ♪ >> american history tv saturdays on c-span two exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 7:00 p.m. eastern are series congress investigates look set historical congressional investigations that led to changes. this weekend the truman committee examines the national defense program during world war ii and whether there was waste and corruption in defense contracting. on lectures in history, university of kentucky writing and rhetoric professor erby on the efforts to bring awareness

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companies. c-span, 45 years and counting powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are taking your calls this morning on whatever is on your mind until 9:15. real quick jobs numbers have been released by the labor department and the first friday of the month so i wanted to show you that. employers added 330 -- 303,000 jobs in the 39th straight month of job growth. the new york times says it is another burst of strong job gains and it is also the unemployment rate felling -- falling to 3.8% from 3.9% the month before. and let's talk to al, detroit, michigan. democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i have a comment about your no

last -- her last guest the libertarian party. i believe that they are trumpers and sheep's clothing. they are soft or kinder arm of the nationalist party and everything else that trump stands for. it seems like they do not really have an idea, they just have a line, a party line. i just hope that americans are smarter than that. and that they can speak to these things and if -- and joe biden is doing a great job. he came in in the middle of a pandemic and his experience paid off because it got us back to where we were. the only thing they can do is to scare the voters, what if joe biden dies who will be the president and to come up with a narrative that he is too old. if it wasn't for that they would

have no arguments. that is just my comment. america is smarter than this. let us vote and save america. thank you. host: larry in rapid city, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. look, i was watching the gal from the libertarian party and i am sure that she had a very -- he was a very caring person. but one of the things that i see with a lot of these people is they are so small minded. this world is not a little state. it is not a little county. it is not little. the world is huge and there are all kinds of problems in it. and we want to back out of the whole thing. that is being quite ridiculous. you know back in 1840's, they had little schoolhouses and kids

went to school and they learned. were they dummies? what is this lady talking about. how did the smart kids get so smart? when did it change? administration does something but you still teach kids and the kids have to learn. that is that situation. as far as the federal government goes, they try to keep the wheels on that thing. like i said before. this is a big country. and it is a big world. and you have to keep your eyes open everywhere you go. and for us to back away, i do not know what trump is thinking make america great. when was that? when was american great? and we were killing the indians or enslaving people? when was america great? the 1950's? host: democratic line on natalie in myrtle beach, south carolina. caller: good morning.

good morning, thank you for having me. i just want to say that i am a democrat and i have always been one and no matter who is running , i will probably be with them or independent. i just want to say i am concerned about our country. i see it is very divided and i see the hatefulness and that is the part that hurts my heart. i see trump being a cult leader and cult followers. i think about the jim jones era and manson and i see people following this man and following him straight to hell. and so god bless america and thank you so much for having me. host: as you know president biden and prime minister netanyahu had a 30 minute call to talk about the protection of aid workers and getting humanitarian aid into gaza. here is secretary of state

blinken spoke about the call at a nieto anniversary event in -- nato anniversary event in brussels. [video clip] >> this week's horrific attack on world central kitchen was not the first incident but it must be the last. president biden spoke a short while ago with prime minister netanyahu. they discussed the situation in gaza. the president emphasized that the constraints on they committed terry workers and the unitarian situation is unacceptable. he made clear the need for israel to announce a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers. he made clear that u.s. policy with respect to gaza will be determined by our assessment of israel's immediate action on the steps. he underscored that an immediate cease oil -- cease fire is

essential to stabilize the situation and protect innocent civilians and urged prime minister netanyahu to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home. they also discussed public iranian threats against israel and the israeli people. president biden reaffirmed the strong support for israel in the face of the threats and our commitment to israeli security. right now there is no higher priority in gaza than protecting civilians, serving him unitarian existence -- humanitarian efforts and security. israel must meet this moment. [end video clip] host: that was secretary blinken from yesterday and here is rich on the republican line. nutley, new jersey. caller: i tell you, blinken has a lot of kahunas because if you

remember, august 29 in 2021, ok they evolved innocent children, seven innocent children, and three adults in cabal. august -- kabul, and that was accident. it was a five-minute story, and now because there was a mistake made by israel it is the end of the world, ok? we have made mistakes and they covered it up, they had to get a freedom of information act to get the film. the media tried to cover it up. so i do not understand how everybody is so upset, ok. in war, sometimes people die because of mistakes. and nobody wants to see that. but the way they are going because the accident happened. i mean, show the people, bring it up on your computer. show it on august 29.

show them killing seven children and three adults. for these other people calling in about democracy but they want to keep people off the ballot, that is democracy? i do not think so. thank you. host: caller: i was just calling about your earlier program on the real estate and housing crisis and affordability. i know you covered the tax drop cuts that disallowed interest in your property tax reduction for most americans and that we can the affordability of homes. also, with all of these corporation buying homes they should increase the tax on these corporate homes and real estate

holders and double or triple the tax if you have multiple properties and that would help homeowners. just a couple of things i wanted to cover in dear libertarian party. i think history shows if you have an effective, organized government you are more likely to succeed than a week or less organized government. i want to pass those things along. host: we are going to take a quick break to take you over to the house where they work gavel in and then we will come back to open forum where you can continue to hold the line for us.

our whole being. open our hearts to receive your grace and rejoice in your mercy. for it is only by your unconditional acceptance of who we are do we come to appreciate truly whose we are. we, o lord, are yours. you have created us, formed us and called us by name. in light of your redemption, may

we live lives that reflect the change your love has had on us. may we show our devotion to one another, mutual affection for all who receive their breath from you. may we show eagerness in esteeming each other and take deep delight in honoring one another. and on the days where our intentions are more aspiration than actualization, reach deep again into our souls and remind us of the transformation we have received by your love. in your saving name we pray. amen.

pursuant to section 3-z of house resolution 5, the house stands adjourned until noon on tuesday, april 9, 2024, for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business.

host: the numbers are for republicans (202) 748-8001, for democrats (202) 748-8000, for independents (202) 748-8002 text at (202) 748-8003, facebook facebook.com/cspan. in just under an hour it will be looked at how ukraine and gaza are affecting international law and competition in the western hemisphere with the keynote speaker at a brookings institution we will carry that

live here at 10:00 a.m. and c-span now are free video app and c-span.org and then later at 1:30 european versus u.s. support for ukraine live from the atlantic council. that is also on our ops and online. we go to tanya in harrisburg, kentucky, and democrat. caller: i just wanted to say a republican state legislature here in kentucky has passed a law that if you have a hybrid vehicle or electronic vehicle that you are surcharged anywhere from $60-100 dollars just because you own one of those

type of vehicles. host: bill also in paducah, kentucky. caller: donald trump's property rights. that is all i need to say. host: speaking of the former president we havesmith suggestis unprecedented and unjust. eileen canada rejected trump's bid to have his charges of mishandling of documents and defended her handling of her issue saying that the presidential records act took priority over the espionage act when it came to confidential

documents that went to florida after his presidency. cannon shot down the argument saying it does not provide a pretrial basis to dismiss. either with handling charges by diffusing a looming confrontation this ruling may clear a path to help her resolve pretrial issues including when it will be held over the possible rival events -- relevance. jim is calling from cairo, missouri, democrat. caller: an ancestor of mine was an abortionist born about 1900. she would've grown up with little or no contraception.

six kids on a farm was different than six kids on the ghetto. the wealthy would fly here in because of one time teenage pregnancy was a disgrace and if you can imagine a biracial pregnancy in certain times and places it would be a problem. host: what year was this? caller: around 1900. she lived to see the pill. she lived to see roe. i looked her up near the end of her life and within moments she was talking to my girlfriend about lady stuff. her whole life was dedicated to women's health, children's issues. she raised a special needs person well past life

expectancy. she was instrumental in adoptions including my own. i wish there was a line she could call in because i think there'd be something to say. host: darrell in houston, texas, a republican. caller: i do not think we have a uni-party. we have a government that is way out of their spending. we need a smaller government. the federal government should to take care of military but not involved in foreign wars. i can't understand why a mother would kill her child. i am just appalled at the idea

that it is legal in this country. i think we should have a different government. i am going to vote for president trump because i believe he has the best solution for all the problems our country has. host: let's talk to james in detroit. caller: i would like to answer the question that the guy who called in about when was america great. 1491. that is all. host: sarah in coal city, indiana, a republican. caller: who is the head of c-span? is it still brian lamb? host: we have two copresidents and brian lamb is the chairman.

the executive chairman. caller: my point is i watched the show every day for months and years and am considering not watching anymore but you especially. if you guys go back in your archives go back and look how many republicans you call versus democrats and independents. i am asking brian lamb have a talk with all of your host and tell them to be fair. host: do you mean to the callers or guests? caller: yes versus democrat or independent. i used to mark down and a lot of

times the minute they start talking you know. please, be fair. put it in alphabetical number. it would be democrat, independent and then republic and still start be more fair. host: we have to take the calls that come in. you could talk to other republicans and tell them they should call more and we are happy to take the calls that come in. caller: that's not right at all. look at how many they call and you will know. host: don't give up on us. rick and west hope, north dakota. caller: good morning. a couple of things. the jewish, the israeli/hamas

conflict. the israelis are stopping any aid. people are starving. has anyone thought to ask why the egyptians are not helping them? they are right next-door and they shared the border but the egyptians are restricting travel. it goes back to the assassination of ann marceau.. -- anwar saddat. the plo tried to overthrow jordan when the jordanians were giving them all kinds of help and welcome them into their country and they got kicked in the teeth. hamas was instrumental in

assassinating anwar saddat said the egyptians to what a help them out either. the immigration question, clinton was willing to implement solutions and then due to post product from people in the asian community, they were going to eliminate or stop giving the dnc political contributions and bill let that slide. he was signed on to let it go

and then he got pushed from johnny-- host: we are going to california. caller: i'm here to push back against the privatization and that would be like privatization of the health care system. we could see what is going on with that with our health care. you go to a primary doctor and pay your co-pay and she refers you to the next doctor and pay a co-pay again. privatizing education if the government you given ada from the government which will pay for you to go to a private school.

westlake is astronomical about $1000 will not pay for me to go to westlake and i would have to go to a lesser private school. you need to maintain public education. some private schools don't offer special education. it's not just walking into a classroom and teaching students. there is more to it than that. host: that's it for open for a bit after the break, we will have two time green party nominee jill stein who will talk about the challenges of running on a third party ticket. we will be right back. >> today watch c-span 2024 campaign trail a weekly roundup of campaign coverage providing a

one-stop shop of what candidates are saying to voters and first-hand accounts from political reporters, fundraising data campaign ads. watch c-span's campaign trail online at c-span.org or download the podcast at c-span. now. c-span your unfiltered view of politics. book tv every sunday on c-span two features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. at 9:00 a.m. john o'connorith his book the secret history of bigfoot. and then on afterwards jenny jacobson talks about the launch

of a nuclear missile sheet is interviewed by john cinsensoroni. on wednesday president biden and first lady jill biden hosted dinner with the japanese prime minister. you could watch those arrival live. later at 11:00 p.m. we will feature highlights including the white house arrival and toast given at the dinner. watch the white house dinner live on c-span. >> this year c-span celebrates

45 years of congress like no other. we have been your primary source for capitol hill. taking you to where policy is debated and decided. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. "washington journal," continues. host: we are joined by jill stein the green party presidential candidate welcome to the program. guest: good morning it's great to be here thank you so much mimi. host: why are you seeking this third-party bidder what differentiates you from other candidates? guest: americans are hurting and they're hurting for something different. they are tired of being thrown under the bus by elites.

half of people who rent are financially stressed keeping the roof over their heads. you have 4 million was student debt. will banks be different as we are not bought and paid for. we don't accept corporate pack money. we don't sanction super pac's which is how billionaires can pour money into the routine political parties and campaigns from establishment parties and basically call the shots from the inside because as billionaires of baker's funding those campaigns of political parties. i have a unique ability to meet urgent needs with solutions that are proven, the work, that stop

waste, fraud and abuse. host: how are you funding your campaign a party in general? guest: everyday people. the big parties, they function with super pac's. they work to support the campaigns that we disavow such things. they have all these loopholes including victory funds whereby a single donor can break one check for 600,000 or more and exert huge influence in the party and campaign. we have the best democracy money can buy and that is no democracy at all. we should be about everyday people and not the ones calling

the shots of driving american people over the clip. host: can you tell us so much you prays for the campaign cycle? guest: since the beginning of november i want to say 300,000. we are raising money from small donors but we are a volunteer in small donor party. for us to get on the ballot because we are a grassroots network we have parties that participate in we have ballot access already. that will cost us 1, 2 one million to get on the ballot. for a candidate like robert of

he was not a grassroots campaign , for him to get on the ballot it will cost 15-18,000,000. we do things in a people powered way which is much more cost-effective. host: you mentioned rfk junior so i will show you the sideline which shows our senior campaign turndowns debate request. why do you want to debate him and why do you think he turned you down? guest: i think the american people want to know who their candidates are and their policies and unfortunately, is par for the course for candidates to mislead the public and their supporters. rfp claims to be a peace candidate but he is the most aggressive candidate and

supporting genocide in gaza and the israeli massacre going on in palestine which is terrific and the majority of american people want to see a cease-fire and negotiate a solution. he is offer weaponizing in militarizing support for israel. we think it is important for the public to hold people accountable. it is the job of the precedence of the credit of c-span you will about all voices to be heard in the public to ask questions and demand transparency. we badly need debate but the major parties abandoned those debates. mother donald trump or joe participate in debates and now rfk is following in that tradition to refuse to clarify its war policy. he says i'll debate the big

candidates. he wants to be in the category of trump and bided but they agree on way too much, especially about war. in the middle east it is not a negligible piece of the pie. we are sending huge amounts of money for the overall endless war machine. the middle east has been exhibited for in the sport and the consumption of our tax dollars. it is an explosive situation. it badly needs to be debated in front of the american people. this cannot be of peaceful candidate and support one of the most disastrous wars.

why did he refuse? he doesn't want to be held accountable. there is an alternative debate format called free and equal which is bringing many candidates across many parties and holding debates between libertarians, greens, socialist. that is a novel conversation we don't usually get to hear and rfk has refused to participate in any of those debates. but that's what democracy is about. host: we will open our phone shortly to anybody who wants to ask a question or make a comment for jill stein the green party presidential candidate. our phone lines are republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, independents (202)

748-8002, if you are a member of the green you could call us at (202) 748-8003 or use the same line to texas. can you give us an idea of the major tenets of the green party. there is the green new deal and where you stand on the big issues of the day? guest: sure. let me mention health care. this is a crisis across the board. there is a solution which is also supportive which is to expand the medicare system which is the most efficient way to ensure health care. it allows you to choose your doctor. there are holes of medicare and it needs to be approved. we are supporting medicare for

all which the majority of american people support the type of plan and this is across the political spectrum and it will not cost us money. it covers you from head to toe, cradle-to-grave, your eyeglasses, hearing aids, mental health care, home care all things excluded the you urgently need and it saves us money. it doesn't cost us is saves us half a trillion because our current private insurance is so wasteful that one out of every three health care dollars is being spent -- is basically being wasted. medicare for all drastically reduces wasteful overhead. that's an example of one of our policies which is most popular

with the winning majority in poll after poll. that's something the american people to serve? the reason we don't have a right now is because we have a corrupted business that's in the business of serving pharmaceutical business. it would be paid for in the tax base by a progressive tax. if you are middle income or lower your total cost goes way down if you consider the tax base he would be paying versus what you pay right now through premium said co-pays and all sorts of ways you can lead to pay for health care. host: you did mention student debt a medical debt and abolishing those two. how would you pay for that? guest: let's start with student

debt. let me preface this by saying, when you want to spend 100 billion on another war nobody blinks at night. we now have the military budget which is mostly getting us in trouble finding catastrophic war after war which we lose and costing us well over a trillion a year over 21 chilean since 9/11. -- 21 trillion since 9/11. we would enact efficiency by cutting that very wasteful and dangerous military budget by taking waste out of health care and saving half a trillion and

other efficiencies and improvements that would enrich our budget and a very big way so we could do things that actually help the american people that create true security instead of squandering half of our budget is spent on these endless war machines. where does the money come from? the same place it always comes from but the difference is used on behalf of everyday people here and we know for every dollar we spend on higher education we know this from the g.i. bill. every dollar we put into higher education comes back to us in the form of economic benefits. an economy that is seven times greater. student debt is almost entirely money the government only owes to itself. it's not like there is some kind

of payer. this would be an economic boost that would enable young people to start engaging the economies in order to have a secure financial future. host: with any third-party candidate i have to ask your role as a possible spoiler. in 2016 there were accusations that you drew votes away from hillary clinton. you got about 1.4 one million in total. how did he respond to being a spoiler in this selection? guest: this is the propaganda of the elite nervous about losing their base. people who voted for green were

people who would otherwise stop vote. we know that from poles and to people. it is also extremely undemocratic to say a certain party on the vote that democratic candidates are entitled to their votes. thus the abuse built into their system. democrats have not served their base in quite some time which is why they have moved over from democratic to trump because they are really angry at the democrats and the proof of it is, the election that was the most spoiled for democrats in 2010 when the democrats lost 1000 seats in their state legislatures. they lost 13 seats in the senate and 14 governorship.

there was no third party they could blame it on. this was because the democrats holding the white house and both houses of congress had just built out wall street and throughout millions of homeowners. people were very angry and punishing the democrats and then is the underlying dynamic. it is not because the greens are stealing votes but there were huge buckets of people that would not otherwise follow. there are oodles of people who don't vote because they don't like these choices being ramped at our throat. the primary in michigan we had a substantial number like 14% of people who work abandoned biden

saying we will not support biden , half of the democrats are half the people who came out and voted democrat in 2020 did not come out for the recent 2024 primary in michigan? people are fighting angry at these two choices being ramped of our throats who do not have a track record of supporting everyday people. host: i that in new britain, connecticut, democrat. caller: i turned off my tv so i would not disturb anything. i would like to know how do you think you could possibly manage a country as large as this without quite a bit more money

then you're able to get from people like me. and i do spend money on the democratic party. would you feel badly about taking the votes away from biden and giving them to trump? with this particular voting time without choice, and is so dangerous to have somebody like donald in that you would take away, i don't care how small of a number. guest: i get your point. i would like to speak to that. this is what the ruling parties want you to think. they want you to think that

everybody out there belongs to either the democratic or republican parties. polls show us the opposite. the number of people who no longer identify as republican or democrat is 50%. doesn't 50% of americans deserve other choices? polls also show it is 63% who want other choices. i would say it is undemocratic. this is the propaganda of the ruling parties and they want us to be the little boys or girls to do what they say which is to keep voting parties who are throwing aside of the bus. i find donald trump very worrisome but i also find joe biden very worrisome. to look at his policies that are driving us towards desperate war

situations that are spending half of our budget, half of our tax dollars are being spent on endless wars like iraq, afghanistan, libya. these words are not making us safer or the world a more secure place they are doing the opposite and impoverishing us here at home leading to tens upon millions of people who don't have health care, housing, trapped in debt. we can fix these problems but we have to start spending our dollars for the american people not for the military complex and work contractors making out like a bandits and giving campaign contributions to those in congress and candidates in the mainstream party. military contractors are

exerting enormous influence. we call these the parties of war in wall street and we need a party for the american people. host: edward in michigan, democrat. caller: i have to ask about an extremely favorite photograph with jill stein with vladimir putin and michael flynn. it is the moscow gala in flint was giving the keynote speech. my question i guess would be, how did you end up at the table with vladimir putin and mike flynn? and if you recall what was he talking about? what would general flynn have to sayto

about to the russians in moscow? guest: this was an international media conference where i went to share the agenda of myself and the green party. we were calling for a piece offensive in the middle east and russia to stop bombing syria and not follow in the footsteps of

the u.s.. we were calling for a global pre-new deal so we can address the climate crisis and like what is going on right now where the climate is an all-out collapse. we were calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. i was on a tour of capitals in europe and spoke to leaders including jeremy corbyn. i did not get to speak to vladimir putin but at the table where he was out for 10 minutes before he gave the keynote speech which was all in russian. he and his companions were all speaking russian and i was speaking english so there was no conversation between us. i met michael flynn who by the time had been a part of the

obama administration. not part of the trump administration at that time. he was a recent democrat official. and i told him why i was there to promote agree new deal, the end of nuclear weapons a piece in the middle east. that is where our conversation ended and i have no idea why he was there and i didn't hear his speech. there were many keynote speakers. i was at the conference which is why i was there. i thought it was important for the world to know we are not all on this track of being a global bully which is what democrats and republicans have record of endless wars. in my view we need to be part of a multi-polar world.

no longer a world dominated by the u.s. empire because that is costing us. just one quick thing, because of the propaganda promoted by the dnc which tried to smear me with that photograph. that misrepresentative photograph that was used to suggest i was in some kind of collusion. that was used to generate a rumor mill that led to an investigation by the senate intelligence committee. the results of that investigation, thank you so much for your cooperation. there is nothing to see here. it is not as though there was a malevolent reason for the visit. we should be talking to our

adversaries as well as allies to address the crises that are drastically impacting us all. host: let's try to get more calls in. let's talk to mike in washington dc. caller: i want to thank c-span for bringing in three party candidates. one thing she said i was right there are a lot of independents like it's and tired of the two corporate party system, the democrats and republicans more in control of lobbying groups and the american people and they do whatever the lobby groups tell him to do because they are high-priced prostitutes being paid by these lobbies. i think it's a good idea to bring in third-party candidates. for the public that keeps

calling in and feel like they have the right to tell people who say they should or should not vote for. shame on you you have no business telling any american citizen who they should be voting for. the black communities should understand this the most because we had to fight the hardest for the right to vote. host: any response there? guest: i would just say i think mike is speaking on the half of the majority of americans in so many americans are staying home because they object to these corporate candidates and really creating havoc in our lives. things are not getting better, there are actually getting worse. three billionaires have the

wealth of half of the american population. three billionaires that are funding the two political parties which is why they keep serving them. a big shout out for c-span that you are doing with the press should be doing which is educating the elect. and empowering us to understand our choices. host: on the republican line, frank. caller: hello mimi. i have been a c-span washer for 30 years and a quick note. i would love your hair it is incredible. i marvel at the ability of c-span moderators to tolerate some of these absolutely insane, extremists right wingers. i am a republican and i am and

never trumper republican. for dr. stein what i've been hearing over and over again is isolationism. it sounds just like donald trump. that bothers me because we need allies. we must have them. if that means we jump in for our allies is sometimes we have to do that. the problem i have with the third-party candidate and i am glad there are third party candidates. i welcome another voice. i like that except for one thing. unfortunately, they are and none of the above candidate. if i may never trump candidate i

am stuck with taking someone who is not my candidate. i am no longer voting for a person i am voting for the other person because i don't want trump and thus a problem and that's what i am stuck with. the party has shoved trump down my throat and voting for you, you guys get very little of the vote. even libertarians get hardly anything. it does seem that i am not giving the vote for someone i would like to have his side of trump but you are not viable and you have run before a new record of winning is very dismal. guest: i just want to respond that when you are locked out of media coverage most people don't know who you are. people do not understand who the

green party candidates are and what their agenda is about. i find what i'm able to be a part of mainstream debates. the first debate i was a part of when i first ran for office in massachusetts, we fought our way into a televised debate and i gave voice to people like cutting our military budget, getting us into endless wars abroad. free higher education like it used to be because people deserve a jump start with the skills they need to survive in this economy. why should you go into lifelong that? i gave voice to those ideas which went over like a lead balloon inside the debate studio and when we walked out i was mobbed by the press and told i

won the debate. the idea that greens have originated including medicare for all, a single-payer system. ralph nader was the first to bring attention to that. we were the first to launch a green new deal. higher education, the abolition of student debt. affordable housing and so on. we launched ideas that have now been adopted by progressive democrats. it is also unfair to say the only reason the vote or run is because you are going to win. you have to start and build from there. the idea that people are taking votes away that certain politicians are entitled to votes. anyone who tells you you are entitled to your vote and you

are doing wrong by democracy devote your values, anyone who says that by definition disqualifies themselves from your vote. politicians have to earn your vote they don't own your vote in the idea that people are taking votes away is false and not supported by pulse of facts. host: lauren in washington. caller: hi, good morning and thank you for the work you do. i have seen a variety people speak and present ideas. i was hoping to ask a follow-up on the mention of an alternative debate. i was wondering how can i see that and know when it is coming up and how to watch it?

guest: wonderful. one way you can find out is by signing up on our website because we will keep people informed about that and that is jill stein 2024.com so you will find out about all of these independent options. end of the way you could find out is by googling free and equal. they are an independent, nonprofit that tries to help elevate political debate and dialogue and help of four people in this political system in the mainstream media climate that tries to shut down people's hunger for other options and our hunger to be empowered to know what our choices are and guide her future forward based on what

we understand. free and equal or jill stein 2024.com. host: stacy in seattle on the independent line. caller: thank you for talking to me until think is so much for being at c-span. i was just wondering about everything that is happened since 2016. a lot of your supporters have had a lot of hostility and i wonder what your life is been like on the campaign trail and if any hillary supporters who were staunchly against you if they have come across the aisle and started supporting you? i was also curious about what you think about joe biden and the genocide in gaza and are his fees now sincere or he is simply trying to improve his poll numbers?

guest: let me start with the climate for running. there is this voter shaming thing that goes on. voter shaming and blaming which is all part of the propaganda system to keep power where it is. in the hands of a very few insecure political elite trying to keep it stranglehold on power through their big donors when the american people are struggling to keep their heads above water. this is not a stable political situation whatsoever. we get a huge claim of blame and shame for so many people are in that category of struggling that can afford to keep their rent. homelessness is a record high and evictions are off the

charts. 100 million are in medical debt. the system is not serving us is serving the big donors and people desperately want change. the old propagandist does not have the traction it used to have and we are experiencing enthusiastic support on the campaign trail and so much of it has to do with this genocide. we have heard biden adopt the position that the israelis have to take into consideration the civilians and the targets that are falling like flies. 33 million nearly half of them that have basically been murdered it is absolutely

horrific. we have joe biden shed alligator tears while he continues to send billions of dollars worth of bonds and f-35 fighter jets and f-15s. listen to what i say but don't look at what i do. that is what he is saying right now. he is adding layers to hypocrisy to his murderous behavior. we are seeing lots of americans say that is a redline for them and a lot of people, half of the democrats did not come out to vote in the primary in michigan and that's what we're seeing across the nation that every day american people are in rebellion against the party and not buying the lipservice joe biden is giving. he is in the business of

dismantling international law and committing genocide and it is not enough to simply have a temporary cease-fire which is the most they have even talked about. you have to address the underlying human rights violation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing going on for decades that has led to this increasingly violent and explosive situation we are seeing every day the blood trenching and computer screens. all the propaganda in the world will not cover it up. host: on cook, michigan, laura, a democrat. caller: i'm one of those uncommitted michigan primary voters and i was thinking of staying home when i heard uncommitted that leaves my voice

registered in my one little voice saying i am done voting for the lesser of two evils. i agree with everything that you say dr. stein. keep doing what you are doing. medicare for all is so important for everybody. host: laura, do you plan on voting for jill stein in michigan? caller: yes, if she is the green party democrat and on the ballot i will vote for her. i just want to say one other thing that maybe she could speak to. money in politics when the supreme court said money is speech i feel like that was the beginning of the end for any kind of true representation of

the working class in this country. maybe you want to say something about that, thank you. guest: thank you so much for everything you have said there. i really appreciate where you are coming from and this is what we are hearing on the campaign trail. so many people who used to be democrats and republicans as well who field these big parties swimming in corporate money have abandoned working americans, abandoned young people, students, seniors whose medicare is being privatized and people are not even aware and done without their knowledge. people are being hurt by this system. they are standing up and rejecting that and what the previous caller had to say is what i am seeing all over the place down and i want to encourage people to let me know there will be three candidates

on the ballot you are all pro-war, per genocide and don't stand up for working people. joe biden gives the lipservice but he doesn't actually do it. remember the railroad workers who were going to strike and joe biden and congress prohibited them from using their power as workers to go on strike against intolerable conditions. they were shot down and what happens? you had that horrific spell and east palestine. this is not a pro-worker president. we are going to have these three choices on the ballot. if you look at what they do, they are terrible. it's the three of them dividing up the pro-war vote.

we don't know how it will go but there is the potential to break up the pro-war, pro-genocide vote. ours is the only pro-worker, campaign. we have about 75% of the work already done and if you want to help get the rest of it done good jill stein 2024.com and sign up to volunteer to ensure we are on the ballot for the remaining bit of work that still needs to be done. if you have a four way race that can be one with this little as 60% of the vote. you don't need a majority, you need a plurality. it's entirely possible for people like our last caller, who

want to see in america working for working people to end with so many being thrown under the bus, there is a real possibility, a pathway going forward, and however far we get, that's the jumping off part -- .4 in america that works for all of us. host: we will try to get one more caller in from terry in massachusetts. caller: i'm not a republican, i'm a bill clinton lover. as much as i like this woman's ideas and policies, she doesn't live in the real world. she should look up words she doesn't understand, like genocide. it makes me wonder if she is going to have some holiday bob rick you parties -- holiday

barbecue parties every october 7 going forward. guest: as a person of jewish background, i came to this view very reluctantly. i was reading what the experts in genocide had to say. the israeli experts in genocide sang this was a textbook case. i suggest the gentleman actually look at the ruling of the world court, for example, which reached a near unanimous decision that this is genocide. they called it a plausible genocide, as much of a label as you can give it until years after the fact. this is genocide if there ever was and it is unfortunate, as a jew growing up after the holocaust -- my grandfather's name was israel. my parent's families fled persecution in eastern europe. so, i grew up understanding that

genocide is a horrible thing and it must never happen again, not to anyone. host: that will be our last word. jill stein, green party presidential candidate. thank you so much for joining us today. guest: thank you. host: tt'