>> coming up on "washington journal" this morning, your calls and comments live. then libertarian presidential nominee chase oliver talks about issues of his -- of importance to his party. then jill stein discusses her presidential bid and her party's top concerns this election cycle. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. it is tuesday, august 20 seven. a wall street journal opinion piece is calling civility the sleeper issue of campaign 2024. we would like to get your

thoughts on how much you are paying for housing. are you having a hard time affording the home you are in? are you looking for a place to rent or buy? our phone lines are slit this way. if you are paying a mortgage, call us on (202) 748-8000. if you are paying rent, (202) 748-8001. for everybody else, call (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003. send us your first name and your city and state. we are also on social media, facebook.com/cspan and x at @cspanwj. welcome to today's "washington journal." we are glad you are with us. let's start with that wall street journal piece. it says vice president kamala harris casts tie-breaking votes that ensure passage of the

american rescue act and the biden budget. in doing so, she unleashed a wave of inflationary spending hitting all americans but none harder than potential homebuyers . this has pushed the housing affordability index to 30 years low -- 30 year lows. the consequence of shoving three years of federal spending into only two years. that is on the opinion page. this is reuters with this headline that says harris putting housing at center of economic pitch to u.s. voters. it says that democratic presidential nominee kamala harris is promising to build more housing is the centerpiece of an effort to tackle rising costs that have stressed u.s. households and left homeownership beyond the reach of many americans. while harris has liberally steered clear of some policies and her months old presidential bid, she has laid out detailed plans to spur new construction

and reduce costs for renters and homebuyers, largely through tax incentives. let's look at a portion of what she said early this month about her goals to improve homeownership. >> during the foreclosure crisis, i took on the big banks for predatory lending with many of my colleagues and won $20 billion for california families when i was attorney general. so i know how to fight for people who are being exploited in the housing market. i know what homeownership means. it is more than a financial transaction. it is so much more than that. it is more than a house. homeownership and what that means is a symbol of the pride

that comes with hard work. it is financial security. it represents what you will be able to do for your children. and right now it is out of reach for far too many american families. there is a serious housing shortage in many places it is too difficult to build and driving prices up. as president, i will work in partnership with industry to build the housing we need to rent and to buy. we will take down barriers and cut red tape, including at the state and local level.

by the end of my first term, we will end america's housing shortage by building 3 million new homes that are affordable for the middle class. host: we are asking about your housing costs for this first portion of our program this morning. the numbers are on your screen. for those paying a mortgage, it is (202) 748-8000. for those paying rent, it is (202) 748-8001. everybody else, if you are may be in assisted living, if you have already paid off your home, you can call us on our line for others, (202) 748-8002. here is time magazine with this headline. millions of americans spend half their paycheck on rent. here are the median rental prices by state.

you can find your state there. let's take a look at some of the highest, so median rental prices by state in united states, here are the highest five, hawaii, california, washington, d.c., maryland, massachusetts, and as far as the lowest, lowest median rental prices by state in the u.s., those five are kentucky, mississippi, south dakota, arkansas, and west virginia. we will go to the phones now, today been in georgia. -- to david in georgia. caller: it is a struggle for affordable housing these days. as much as i hear it is lack of supply driving prices, i do not seem to hear a lot of talk about the financial is asian -- financialization of

homeownership and how we have hedge funds and companies like black that have portfolios that are whole subdivisions of multifamily homes, not to mention foreign investment. china, saudi arabia buying up a lot of stock. unless i have missed it, i do not hear a lot of emphasis on that. host: what do you think might be the solution as far as government policy goes? caller: i am no fan of charlie kirk, but i have heard him put out if you have over a billion dollars in assets we can bring that down, limiting your ability to buy any kind of multifamily housing. i would say just trying to reemphasize housing not as a vehicle for investment portfolios but as a good, as a public need. i think there needs to be more public investment in housing.

host: let's take a look at this from dr. ben carson. he spoke at the end of june about what could be done in a second trump administration. [video clip] >> first, we have to recognize homeownership is an important part of the american dream. it is a major mechanism for wealth accumulation. so it is a high priority. during the last trump administration, we worked hard to decrease some of the regulatory burden to make homes more available and increase the cost and look at alternative factors of determining who is eligible for loans. that resulted in the largest number of homeowners -- black homeowners in history, so those are the kinds of things we need to do. then recognizing the real cost is regulation.

you heard about the 600,000 dollar units in los angeles last week. to build a unit only costs 100 $50,000, but by the time you add regulations you are way up there. this is what we have to deal with. host: that was dr. ben carson. our caller mentioned private equity firms buying up houses. this is the washington times from june. it says 44% of flipped single-family home purchases whereby private investors in 2023. it says private equity firms have been carving out a substantial share of single-family home purchases, raising concern about potential consequences for housing affordability and market competitiveness. recent data reveals in the third quarter of 2023 these financial entities accounted for 44% of

purchases of flipped single-family houses. citing a business insider study. the surge in activity marks a departure from traditional early-stage dynamics and ushers in a new era of institutional investment. we are taking your calls about that topic of homeownership and rental prices and we will talk to george in ohio. >> i want to commend you. you do such a professional job. you are a real asset to c-span. i am retired and we have our house paid off. my daughter is a teacher and professional. they struggle just to make ends meet. you have to factor in not only housing prices but property taxes went up. some property packets are --

taxes are $1500 more than last year. look at the car prices now and the sales tax on a car. you factor all that in, not just the clip you played on kamala when she is talking about the housing shortage but when you let 20 million illegals into the country you have a supply and demand shortage. prices go up. everything that we buy goes up. that is just a simple economics. i am a high school graduate. i think i have to debate her. host: you mentioned your daughter is looking for a house to buy right now. caller: they own a house, but when you look at the property taxes you have to pay now, they

just had a school levy for a new school building so the schools are financed by property taxes and our property taxes went up a thousand dollars last year. we are on social security. we do not have a pension. and another thing about social security, this may be off-topic but really not, is the base that on the inflation rate. if anybody believes the inflation rate is 2.9 -- i go to kroger's here in ohio. i just saw a $.50 increase on something that was three dollars. host: we are getting a little off topic. let's stay on housing and talk to james in maryland. caller: good morning. host: what do you think about housing costs? what is happening for you? caller: what do you mean, what

do i thing about housing costs? i have no control over housing costs. host: you're on the line for all others. what does that mean? caller: i don't know. somebody gave me that title, all others. i own my own house. i bought it. i did not have a mortgage for very long. i had to get a mortgage to buy it, but i quickly paid off the mortgage because i do not want to pay interest to a bank and i own my own house, but in owning my house i am now providing income to a whole infrastructure of people but this is very american. i'm supporting an incredibly expensive police department and local government, a fire department which did not come on time when my house was on fire. police that do not come when my neighbors' cars are being

stolen. what we have in america is a network of people who want to get into some type of public service or government so they can live off other people. but that is the form of government we have now evolved. we have a democracy. we all feel like we are electing people and we are given budgets and have to pay taxes to meet those budget costs. host: have you ever thought about getting involved in your local government? it sounds like you are unhappy. caller: how would i get involved in my local government? would i run for office? host: why would you not run for office? caller: what office? we have a small city council. over the years, i have been to a couple city council meetings. it is quite obvious that you are not welcome at that. government in america is a way

for a certain group or class of people to make money. that is their income. some people are in service where they risk their lives like firefighters and police and people in the military. i have served in conflict. but the whole history of human behavior in a way -- host: we cannot get into the history of human behavior, but let's talk to tori in california. caller: i wanted to complement the former callers because they are right. the rental price in california -- i live in san diego and you cannot even afford -- for less than $2500 a month. that is crazy, to have to come up with first and last rent at $2500 and on top of that the costs they keep pushing up on us, the water costs and food

costs. and all of our money in california -- like the former caller just said. i live in a rural part of san diego county and they just built brand-new homes about four years ago. they were selling at about $400,000. now a person of my age and my income bracket cannot purchase that. who can purchase something like that? you cannot. those homes four years ago were for $400,000 or over $900,000. you cannot afford anything in san diego county just about. who can afford that? like the first caller said -- host: we are losing the signal.

>> blackwell came in and bought a property and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast. senior citizens could not afford housing. veterans cannot afford housing. that is why there are so many homeless people on the street. we cannot afford housing. we cannot afford the water costs. we cannot afford fire and police and school taxes. the school system in san diego county, they are taking their property they purchased with taxpayer dollars and they are going to build homes where they should be building schools. host: tell us what your situation is. are you living by yourself? are you able to pay your rent? caller: i live in a small studio, 600 square feet. i pay $1800 a month and that does not include my water bill

or my electricity bill. and i am a senior citizen. and i am working part-time. host: let's talk to mary in columbus, ohio. caller: i am a homeowner. i bought a house 6, 7 years ago. i paid $80,000 for a little ranch. and i paid $80,000 for it. it is now worth 150,000 dollars, which today i would no longer be able to purchase that house. it would be out of my price range. my son-in-law is a realtor. for the most part, if you purchase a house now the listing price, if you can get it for that, you will have to bid up and investors are just buying all these properties with cash

so if you try to buy a house you are not going to get it because the prices are so inflated. and other people are just going to pay cash for it. i will take your comments off-line. host: this is nerd wallet about airbnb. a previous caller talked about turning properties into bed-and-breakfast's. this says how the airbnb goldrush impacted the home buying market and could result in a glut of properties in some areas but make room for homebuyers in others. that is at nerd wallet if you would like to read more about that. here is cliff in texas. caller: i'm calling in on the line for the others. and i am fortunate and blessed.

i am 77 years old and i own my home outright. i had a divorce and bought the house that my sister had moved out of. it was pretty convenient. but what i am calling about, and i own my house outright, i do not have to fight the interest rates that people are and the home prices that have shot up through the roof. and i am blessed that i do not have to. i live in house that is about 1100 square feet. it is just me and what i think and what i think people should change their minds on, particularly in this climate of extensive housing, is to revert back to what the mentality in america was in the 1940's,

1950's, 1960's. there was a different mentality than on owning a house and that is today if you are a family of four the mentality i think is you have to have 1800 square feet minimum or 1500 square feet minimum, three bedrooms, two bath. in some cases, people think they need more than that. if you live in california, florida, places that are expensive -- before it got expensive, that is a different story. i live in a small town in texas. but there are millions and probably the majority of people live in smaller towns in the nation. if you look at towns that are smaller, under 50,000 people,

you will see these houses that are only about 800 or 900 square feet. when i was growing up, that was considered the norm. so -- host: do you think developers are building those small houses? these days? or do they just want to build as big a house as they can and get as much profit as they can? >> i think you have the extremes happening now. that is a good question. let's just say you want a thousand square feet. i do not think they are building those, but they built tiny 400 square-foot homes or on the other end 1500 square feet plus and most families, if they are

making a decent dollar, they think they need in my opinion, much more room than they really do. then we complain about the property taxes, the high interest rates, the price of the home itself. in the old days, so to speak, and i'm 77, my parents raised me in a 600 square-foot house with one bedroom. you do not need as much as what people think they do in my opinion. host: going from texas now to massachusetts and new bedford. scott, you are paying rent. caller: i am paying rent. i wanted to mention i'm a long time listener, first time caller. i think you guys do a fantastic job at c-span writing fair -- providing fair and balanced views from far-right to far left

and everything in between. i am paying rent. i started off paying a really low amount of money, $400 for a studio apartment. i knew the landlords -- landlord's brother-in-law, so i got a good deal 15 years ago. then i moved to florida, still very low. but then eventually my brother-in-law -- my friend's brother-in-law. now i pay 625. host: has that kept up with your income? is that still doable? caller: it has.

may be cut back a little bit on my spending, but i am managing. at first when the landlord took over it only went up to $450. then about a year and a half later, due to the insurance and property taxes, and went up again $50. host: let's listen to more farm -- from vice president kamala harris talking about homeownership. [video clip] >> and we will make sure those homes actually go to working and middle-class americans. not just investors.

because some corporate landlords , some of them buy dozens, if not hundreds of houses and apartments, then they turn them around and rent them out at high prices and it can make it impossible for regular people to be able to buy or rent a home. some corporate landlords collude with each other to set artificially high rental prices. often using algorithms and price-fixing software to do it. it is anticompetitive and drives up costs. i will fight for a law that cracks down on these practices. [applause] we also know as the price of housing has gone up the size of

downpayments has gone up as well. even if aspiring homeowners saved for years, it often still is not enough. in addition, while we work on the housing shortage, my administration will provide first-time homebuyers $25,000 to help with the down payment on a new home. host: going to kc in silver spring, maryland. caller: i agree with everything vice president kamala harris just said. i'm calling because i own a house. my fiance and i bought one in silver spring, maryland about two years ago. i would say the reason we were able to even get that house, and i would say my monthly mortgage is about $5,000, and the reason it is high is because we were

one of those unlucky few in the time, although fortune to have a house, when the interest rates were having those hikes while we were actively looking, so we were fortunate enough to finally at one but there were two reasons we were able to afford that house. number one, before we lived in silver spring we lived in baltimore, maryland and renting in baltimore, prices were going up but also through my life i have always paid for something no more than what i think it is worth. and i think americans sometimes have this cultural issue with spending. i am an american, but i feel that something like a house is worth only what somebody else is willing to pay for it. so that also combined with the second reason we were able to afford the house.

living in baltimore, which the houses are old, it was a rental nightmare for the things that somebody experiences. in addition to paying money for it, you have to live within your means, meaning you have to have roommates. you have to be comfortable depend on where you live with cockroaches or mice. i did that and it helped my rent to never exceed $800 through the entirety of my 20 years of being an adult, no matter what state or city i lived in. i realize those are personal choices but i feel like it is hard to crack that barrier. by doing it on the long haul, you can do it. anybody who is renting, i know your pain. i know it sucks.

but it is worth it in the end. once you crack that barrier and start paying property taxes, it is like a bank account you cannot touch. you look at money in a different way. at the same time, you know you're not throwing your money down the toilet. host: here is chrissy in utah. >> i bought a fifth wheel and i'm living in that now to save money as a first-time homebuyer. host: you're living in what? caller: i purchased a fifth wheel trailer. a fifth wheel. a fifth wheel trailer. host: an rv? caller: yes. i have that parked at my job. i am able to do that in this area. right now, i'm still saving up.

i tried to buy a property before covid and i was unable to. now, everything has gone up more so i feel like i'm chasing the prices. trying to earn more income, enough to buy a house, but it is right they out of reach. host: what do you do for showers and heat, cooking fuel, things like that? caller: i am hooked up to the power here and the water system. i also ordered a big propane tank and i have that outside the rv, too. host: kevin in alexandria, virginia, renting, good morning. caller: i feel like the studio apartments in alexandria, virginia are way too high. i am paying $1464 for a studio. i feel like 1000 would be a fair price. host: you also have to pay your

utilities? caller: that 1464 does include utilities. host: how about your income? caller: i am on a fixed income. i am retired and i get social security and the pension. host: has your rent been going up? caller: it has been going up. at least $40 or so every time it is time for the lease to be renewed. host: steve in louisville, kentucky, good morning. caller: good morning. host: what is your situation, steve? caller: i am retired. i live in an assisted living house. my house is paid off. i was able to pay that off through hard work. listening to this guy named dave ramsey. we pinched our pennies and every time that the rates went down we

cut our payments in half. we re-done the loans and finally got it paid off. a little history on this whole housing thing. back in 2008 when the recession hit because of the debacle from the republican administration, 4 million people were kicked out of their houses because of the loans that they had. wall street bought all that stuff up. they went out and made them rentals were a b&b's -- or a b in b's. i would say a million houses got lost. now they are paying out the wazoo for rentals. it is something that has been created. there needs to be some housing for people who -- the rental is ridiculous. i can't imagine how you could

rent. one guy is charging $ $1700 for rent. i hope they can build some $200,000 houses that people can afford. what i see is so expensive. i am lucky that i was able to pay mine off. i feel good about that and i'm hoping that they can fix that. rent, there is no control on rents. they can raise your rent by double if they want to. host: this is cbs news saying rents are rising faster than wages across the country, especially in these cities. it says that wages for the typical u.s. worker have surged since the pandemic but for many americans the gains are being gobbled by rising rent. rents jumped 30.4% nationwide between 2019 and 2023 while wages rose 20.2% according to a

recent analysis from zillow and street easy. the gap between wage growth and ren increases were the largest in large cities including atlanta, charlotte, miami, phoenix, and tampa. george is paying a mortgage. caller: how are y'all today? host: good. caller: i have a cold, so if i cough, bear with me. i will say a couple of things. we are owning our house. we have a mortgage and are on the way to buying our house. i see this as a market issue. i don't know what you can do with that. i know that you played the snippet from harris a minute ago saying that she wanted to make sure that these people didn't come in and buy houses and rent them. i can tell you, i am in mobile,

alabama. i don't want to make people cry with the small mortgage i have under $600, but i live in a three bedroom, two bathroom house at 1400 square feet. we have had this mortgage for about 10 years now. we have about five more years until we totally pay it off. you know, we got in at a good time. i live in a neighborhood. i am the hoa president so i am well aware of what the houses go for sale. most of the houses in my neighborhood don't go up for sale because the person can sell it, but they have a better time renting it because they can get $1500 or $1600 a month. on a personal level i have a really good friend of mine who is a single mom with a couple of kids and all she has done for the last three to four years is rent houses at $1500 to $1700 a

month. here i am paying $600 a month, under $600 a month, for my mortgage. it's a cycle. she can't get out of it. it is a market issue. the only thing that i see down here -- and they are building houses all around me. in fact, i live in the west part of mobile, which is the most desired part because we have the better schools, so houses are popping up further and further towards mississippi. host: how much are those houses, george? caller: they are the three bedroom, three to four bedroom, two bath house. three bedrooms are being built at about $190,000 to $200,000, and two bedrooms 200

$70,000 for new construction. i do agree with what was said on the last call, where the snippet. the higher wages that people are going out and making more money, and then they feel like i have been renting this $1100 per month place. now i am making $12 an hour, $15 an hour, and maybe there are two people in the household making $15 per hour and their income has in some cases gone up 30% or whatever, and now they feel like we can afford the 1500 dollar place. you have all of these people who are now moving into these other locations. it is a supply and demand issue. it's a market issue. host: let's hear from the

montana republican governor who was at an event at the bipartisan policy center and discussed recommendations made by estate bipartisan task force to increase housing. [video clip] >> the first thing is we changed our land-use planning regime to streamline permitting so that builders can get permits faster. we want to make sure the public has input into how communities grow. what the new law allows his local communities to adopt a growth plan. they go through all of the public hearings. everyone gets their input. when a builder says i want a permit, if it matches the growth plan they hand them the permit. you don't have to go through public hearings. the overall growth plan has gone through the public hearing process. that was reform number one. also we require local jurisdiction to adopt a whole

bunch of changes in their zoning rules. the second major problem that we found is there is all kind of infrastructure programs. low interest loans for municipalities. but they are all focused on urban renewal. they will pay for the replacement of water and sewer. we did not have any infrastructure funds for new water and sewer in new subdivisions. that was our problem. we were growing. we had a surplus. we put over 100 million dollars into something that we called the homes loan program that provides low interest loans to communities to do water and sewer for new subdivisions. but we require that they have at least 10 units per acre. it was more workforce housing oriented. before we did that, a builder would have to put in the water and sewer infrastructure and add it to the price of the homes

which made the prices less affordable. this way, the ongoing tax obligation of the homes paid back the bond over time. host: to key west, florida to diane on the line for all others. caller: i am fortunate that i own my house, but i have been following housing because in key west it is a two mile by four mile island. for years the developers have been getting favors. they get permits to build. the little guy who buys a plot of land wants to build a one-family house has to jump through hoops and hurdles, you know? it is gouging at this point. i think that the government definitely has to intervene. we need housing for the health of the family. you need a place to eat, sleep, jobs in key west.

we don't have enough workers because most of the housing, 65% of the housing is rented. so, we don't have enough workers. it devastates the community and the functioning. we have it down to a science. we know exactly what we need to have a healthy community. other countries have already tackled this. norway went through the same crisis. if you are going to buy a house you have to live there full time, period. then you don't have huge corporations taking over and charging whatever rent they want. it should be for the families. host: you are in key west. there are a lot of vacation homes in key west? caller: yes. host: would you be in favor of implementing that kind of regulation, saying if you buy a home in key west you have to live in it full time?

wouldn't that impact your tourism industry? caller: you have hotels. hotels houston to serve that purpose. -- used to serve that purpose. it started in the 2007-2008 crisis when people lost their houses. i see what is happening to people who have to pay here $3000, $4000 a month rent. it's florida. it's not a northern state. the earnings might be $17, $20. if you clean rooms in a hotel. plus, our governor just issued the florida keys 8000 rogos. we are an environmentally sensitive area. we aren't supposed to have overdevelopment, yet our governor desantis wants to give us 8000 rogos to build more

housing. our infrastructure cannot support the sewer, the water. we cannot support already what exists. with the money being made, it's great. it's gouging. we need the government to come in and use common sense. years ago they had a percentage that could be transient licenses for rentals. they exceeded it. we had a group that went to sue the city of key west because they allowed a developer to sell rogos, that gives you a permit to build. yet, they gave permission for the developer anyway to sell those even though it went over the threshold. it was 25% at one time. now it is not controlled.

i know that people are looking to sell their homes when they retire, but we have to keep the communities safe. host: let's go to a renter in new orleans, valencia, good morning. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i was calling because we don't talk about the tourist rental properties in different cities like new orleans. host: can you turn down your tv because we are hearing the feedback? caller: so sorry. like i was saying, they don't talk about tourist cities, the rent for the people who live locally. 900 square feet apartment, $1500 to $1800. that is totally ridiculous. the cost of living here, wages are seven dollars 50 cents. our homeless population is off the chain. we have people who have jobs who are living in homeless shelters

because the rent is so high. trying to buy a home in new orleans is impossible because all of the landlords are from out-of-state. most of the properties are not owned by local people. they are owned by corporations and people who live out of state. they have done so much gentrification in different neighborhoods, they are remodeling these homes. houses are no more than 700 square feet are running $15,000 because in the city, the business district, the warehouse district of new orleans. that's crazy. host: michael and freehold, new jersey paying mortgage. caller: i just wanted to share a little bit about my experience. i am 46 years old and i own a house that i bought in 2011 for $350,350. i watched the government make

certain policy decisions that greatly increased housing costs then. when i was first getting out of college, trying to get money together to buy a home, i watched the government cut interest rates drastically in response to the 9/11 attacks. suddenly in new jersey $150,000 home became a $300,000 home. right away it greatly increases the burden you have to put for a down payment for mortgages. as in my young adulthood throughout the early 2000, i watched the artificially low interest rates persist, 2004-2005. the $300,000 house was a $500,000 house. i told my wife, don't worry, it will correct. this is too expensive. people can't afford this. what did the government do during this time? they encouraged easy money, easy loans, no down payment.

this is equity so that people can get into a home and it will build wealth. in 2007, 2008 when we started have weaknesses in the housing market, instead of allowing things to correct like they should, the government did whatever they could to keep the prices propped up. they gave people loans. they gave people free money. they cut the interest rates. host: now that interest rates are much higher, so your mortgage payment would be higher if you bought a house now than in the past, do you believe prices are coming back down? caller: once again, i think what we are seeing, we see more policies trying not to let the prices come down. yes, interest rates are higher now but you do have the supply and demand issue. you played the clip by vice president harris, what is her solution? more money into the system.

that is inflationary. that will support artificially high prices. some of your prior callers talked about market forces. yeah, you have to allow the market forces to work on the downend as well. is there a lack of supply in some places? absolutely. you heard the caller from earlier talk about them building new houses for $150,000. in new jersey, new construction -- all you get for houses is about four bedrooms five bathrooms for $900,000. land is more expensive, you have more demand in new jersey, and less supply of land. at the same time, you have to allow prices to correct. as long as americans view houses as their piggy bank, where they can refinance, they can pull money out of their principal to support their lifestyle, really it is a popular thing for the

government to keep those prices constantly increasing and keep those prices artificially high. host: david in north carolina on the line for all others. caller: hi, good morning to you. i am a retired cpa and i have been following what is going on. if you take inflation, the high interest cost, and housing being allocated to illegal immigrants, that is chewing up the market and causing some of the problem. i hear democrats constantly listening to presidential candidate harris with her solutions now trying to give away money to people to get them into houses, which will drive inflation like the prior caller said. where has she been for 3.5 years? all of a sudden you have all these crises. the presidential candidate is going to solve now?

3.5 years they had time to address this. the democrats think that republicans drink the kool-aid. they are the kool-aid drinkers here. host: you are on the line for all others. tell us about your situation. caller: i have been very successful in life and very thing for for that. i work hard, we bought a house, we paid it off, we are now retired. unfortunately, it seems the opportunities that i have had maybe our passing, but i still think it's a country that offers people opportunities to do what i did. i think that we have to have an administration that takes a realistic look at what is going on and not just throwing out this helicopter money at people. there are going to be hard times for this to correct, but the market, as the previous caller said, will have to self-correct. that is going to be dealing with discipline by the federal government.

host: staying in north carolina, winston-salem, the line for renters, mike. caller: hello, thank you for taking my call. i have a dual situation. in 2012 i divorced and agreed to take care of my wife's rent at the time in the raleigh area that was $900 a month. she was receiving medicare. two years ago that same place went to $1400 a month. so, it tightened my budget and her budget. then, it went up last year to $1650 per month. she had to go back to work so they did away with her medicare. now she has to buy insurance $350 a month. now it is 300 something dollars

a month to have insurance. i am fortunate. i bought my house in 2012. i still pay on it, but it is very cheap. $600 a month. right now, i'm semiretired but i'm working part time so that i can help her. i've tried to buy property in that area, and every time i try to buy one that is a decent price i bid on the house because i thought that i could get a house for her instead of paying rent, but every time that i try they advertise it and you bid on it, and then the realtor say it is going to the highest bidder. i have done that three times. host: you keep getting out bid? caller: yes, every time by a substantial amount, like a $30,000, $50,000 more than they were asking for the property.

i don't understand why they advertise the property and say, we are just going to take the highest bidder, which is up to the realtors to decide who gets the property. you bid what they asked for the house but then you get out bid. i think it is these big corporations buying properties in the raleigh area. i thought about buying a condominium. they don't build small condominiums. they are either two-bedrooms, most of them are three bedrooms, two-bath. by the time it comes out it comes to $3000 a month, which is out of range. host: let's go to florence, south carolina on the line for paying mortgage. samuel, good morning. caller: my name is samuel montgomery. i bought a home in 2014. well, it was a 2800 square-foot

at the time. i converted it into a 3000 square-foot. the mortgage went up. the equity in the house went up at the mortgage stayed the same. i was expecting to be able to pay the equity and pay down my mortgage. for some reason, there is no money for that. we should have money for that. other than that, i can tell you that the square footage is what these homes should be based on. these homes should be based on square footage because that is all you are managing to have to pay for, besides the material

and labor and things of that nature. square footage is what you are supposed to be basing the price of the home on. i'm just saying that i'm happy with the way things are going, but as far as equity is concerned you are able to apply for loans and get loans as long as you have equity in your home. you know what i'm saying? host: yep. michael in florida on the line for all others, good morning. are you there? caller: yes, good morning. well, i have been listening to all of the various callers dealing with the politics, politicians, and renters. i thought that i would call in and identified that a lot of the banks that originally sells

the paper to collection companies, and these collection companies increase the mortgage. i've gone from $1600 a month for a two-bedroom two-bath house. there is no way to negotiate with these collection companies. host: what do you mean by collection companies? has your interest rate changed? caller: they continue to increase the interest. currently, they are at 7.6. interest increased by the collection company to address your question. it is a debt collection company that buys the paper from the bank.

host: that bought your mortgage? caller: they bought the mortgage because the banks liquefy and they sell paper. they will sell paper to these types of companies that are really debt collection companies that have also gotten into the business of buying mortgages and profiting by buying mortgages and making money. host: are you able to get a fixed-rate interest rate? or -- caller: they will not give it. they stick with an arm, a adjustable-rate, and there is no negotiating. the only way to get out is to pay them off if you can find a bank that will refinance you. the fear is, a bank again will go ahead and sell the paper to these companies that really have expanded themselves from just

being debt collection companies to also being mortgage holders. that is what they do. interest goes up, rent goes up, mortgages go up. it is a very difficult situation to deal with. as i said, when we were with the bank mine went from $1600 a month mortgage to $2545. host: diane in baldwin, missouri. caller: i bought a house in 1993. i was in a car accident and went on disability. my house payment was in the lower for -- the lower 400's.

in 2020 when biden and harris came into office my interest rate went up and i am paying over 600 something. i went from disability to social security. these rates are killing me. it isn't the banks raising the rates. the interest rate is controlled by the government. these people blaming other people and realtors are not correct. it is an interest rate based upon the government. host: all right, diane. that will be the last call for the segment but there is much more opportunity to call in and weigh in on your thoughts on that. coming up next, we have got the libertarian party's chase oliver. we will have two third presidential nominees.

the first is libertarians, chase oliver, and later we will talk green party nominee jill stein. stay with us. ♪ >> hi. camping 2024 has involved -- evolved in unexpected ways. from now until election day c-span promises your unfiltered coverage of the candidates as they battle to win the white house and congress. you may not know that c-span is a private company. like many media organizations, we have been impacted by court-cutting. this summer we are asking for you to help support our unbiased lyrical coverage with a donation. he was the good news. 100% of your concrete -- of your contribution directly supports c-span operations. best of all, an anonymous donor has pledged to match your donations dollar for dollar up to $25,000.

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washington, live and on-demand payment keep up with the day's biggest events with live streams of force proceedings and white house events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling information for tv networks and c-span radio, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. can the qr code to download it for free today or visit our website, c-span.org/c-spannow. c-span now. your front row seat to washon>> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we are joined now by chase oliver, the libertarian presidential nominee. welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me. i look forward to speaking with you and the c-span audience.

host: tell us about the libertarian party and what the main tenets of your platform are. guest: the libertarian party is the party of returning power back to the individual, or the most local government as possible. broadly speaking we want to cut taxes and keep your civil liberties protected is the main thrust of it. and it all involves our idea around the idea of non-aggression. if we are not aggressing against somebody there is no need for the government to involve itself in our private affairs. generally speaking keep government limited to size. host: what was your first introduction to the libertarian party? guest: yeah, so, my political background started in antiwar activism during the bush years. i reflexively became a democrat because george bush was a republican. up until 2008 when barack obama made a lot of promises and felt to deliver on those promises,

that pushed me out of the democratic party. i was an independent for a little while and then i finally found libertarian party in 2010. i started voting libertarian and become a party member in 2014 because they spoke to the antiwar sentiment that i held and that many did. and i found out that later on much of the philosophy really fits in with my personal philosophy. i was really a libertarian all along. host: we will have jill stein on later in the program, but i wanted to get your take on the differences between the libertarian party and the green party. guest: the biggest difference would be the apparatus of government being used to solve problems. you know, i think the green party, or green party members, and many libertarians, identify the same problems that exist within our politics and country. but the solutions are going to be rooted in the free market, in private. whereas you are going to see a much heavier hand coming from

government coming from the green party. he's like huge amounts of government subsidy and climate change and things like that. so, it is really about the philosophy of where government should belong. i don't think government needs to be used to solve the problems of today and i think any times government is inefficient at solving the problems we face. and that can be much better done around individual cooperation with other people, voluntary exchange, and organizations outside the structure of government monopoly of force, which it enjoys. host: if you would like to call in and ask a question, make a comment for our guest, chase oliver, the presidential candidate for the libertarian party, you can do so. our lines are spit -- split up by party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002 if you are a member of the libertarian party you can call us on (202) 748-8003.

that is the same number you can use to text us. your party's nominating convention in may you secure the nomination after seven rounds of voting, winning 60.6%. i did it take seven rounds of voting? is the libertarian party split at this point? >> there is always going -- guest: there is always going to be different factions. why it took a seven rounds is because we had a lot of quality candidates running for president. the first round was quite split. the way we vote in the libertarian party is we eliminate the lowest vote-getter and continue voting in subsequent rounds until someone gets over 50%. in round six, with myself and other candidates, and none of the above, i got 49 .5%. i was just under the threshold and we had to go through that last round of voting. it speaks to me about the fact that we had a really good slate

of candidates this year that were splitting the party up. not along ideological lines or spite, but because people were having trouble making up their minds. i think that can be a signal of strength. host: what do you think the decision by president biden to withdraw from the race? what kind of impact has that had on your candidacy? i know initially you were saying that the american people deserve a better choice than trump and biden. they need something new and fresh, and the argument now is camino, vice president harris is new and fresh. what do you think of that? guest: first off, i think joe biden probably recognized he was probably not going to win the election if he stayed in, and that is why he dropped out. as far as new and fresh, kamala harris is 20 years younger than joe biden, she still backs much of the proposals he did during

his time as president. i don't think it is new and refreshing if we are throwing a fresh coat of paint on the same ideas. and to me that is, you know, i understand there might be some excitement around changing the ticket, but for me i do not see anything majorly different coming out of kamala harris that we were not going to be seeing coming out of joe biden. other than the fact that she is 20 years younger and can articulate those ideas better on a debate stage with donald trump, which is what led to so many in his own party wanting him to leave. host: obviously rfk junior has all -- has suspended his campaign. and endorsed former president trump. what impact do you think that is going to have on your campaign, and are you making a pitch for those rfk junior voters? and what are you saying to them? guest: we are making a pitch for those voters and we have already seen good response from folks about that. the main pitch i have is, if you

were voting for robert kennedy out of frustration, i joined you, and i think many of the policy areas robert kennedy was highlighting are things that can be attractive to a voter if they look at the libertarian party. so, i welcome the robert kennedy voters. if you are feeling frustrated with the two-party system, will come home to the libertarian party. grow into your libertarianism. we want you to vote for us so we can build an apparatus that can actually challenged -- challenge the two-party system. if you vote for me, you are voting for ballot access in states all over the country to get your party status. that can help build a vehicle that will challenge the two-party system in the long haul. this is not about one election. it is about challenging a two-party system that continues to fail the american public. if you are frustrated robert kennedy voter that thinks i cannot vote for donald trump or

kamala harris, give us a look, check us out. check out our cap -- check out our platform. i think you will like what you see. host: can you talk about your view on abortion and what your policy would be? guest: find somebody that believes your body is your body. i am a pro-choice candidate. i think we should have protections for women to choose to have an abortion up to the point of viability. post-viability there should be a doctor intervening if the life of a mother is at risk. overall i think it is something that should be available to people who need it. and i don't want to restrict people's health care choices. that being said, the pro life community, i think there are things we can team up on to reduce the number of abortions. first of all, make abortion over the counter so there is not an unwanted pregnancy to begin with. you want to reduce the redtape

around becoming an adopted parent some more people choose to become an adoptive parent. these are steps we can take that will concretely lower the number of abortions without taking away a woman's right to choose. without taking away her medical freedom and privacy. of course i will continue to always support the hyde amendment, and i think that should be something that is continued to be supported, which is no federal funding going to abortion, because this is a contentious topic. host: and what about gun control? guest: i am a two-way all day guy. i'm somebody who believes in the right to defend yourself and i think the gun restrictions we have, or government removing our sovereignty, the constitution is clear. shall not be infringed is the wording. i push back against any infringement on someone's right to own a firearm, including the bump stock ban that was

recently thrown out in the supreme court. i do not support hands-on crystal braces or any of those things. that should be in the realm of, if you are not harming anybody, it doesn't matter what firearm you have. the only crime is if you use that in an offensive manner. we have millions of guns that are not used in violence every single day. host: a final point on gun control. are you in favor of universal background checks, any red flag laws, things like that? guest: i am in favor of basic background check to make sure someone is not a violent felon or something like that, but on the whole minot, i think you should be able to own a gun. you should be able to sell a gun if you want to. red flag laws are saying, let's remove due process. there are processes to take guns away from dangerous people. going through a court system involves due process and red flag laws fly in the way of that. i do not support those.

i do not support trump's assumption of, take the guns first. i think you should have the presumption of innocence, and that includes when you are having to decide whether a gun is being taken away because someone is dangerous. you should not be able to arbitrarily take those guns away from people. host: let's talk to college. richard is first in baltimore. caller: good morning. i'm old enough to remember how things were before we had an epa , before we had osha. the cuyahoga river in downtown cleveland caught on fire because it was so badly polluted. the air in pittsburgh was so corrosive that the u.s. steel steel headquarters building was rusting away and discoloring nearby buildings. without an epa, a federal agency, we could not have solved those problems. in the same with our food supply. the same with our water supply.

without a strong federal government we cannot protect those and protect people from those resources and environments being polluted. would you be in favor of removing the epa? guest: yes, eventually i would be. i believe there are ways we can attack polluters and protect our air and water. the common, so to speak. without having a heavy-handed epa making those determinations. my biggest policy there is to actually move this to the rome of the judicial realm, which is where you should be suing these polluters into group c by removing tort caps. much of the ability that we see people to pollute is they know even if they get sued they are going to have a limit to what they can be punished under. they already built that into their cost, many of these companies.

remove tort caps, that way if you are poisoning water or air you can take you to court and bankruptcy four. this will create pause for these companies to be harming the air or water. it will give them incentive to clean up their act. we don't have to do that through the heavy-handed executive branch. we can do that through the power of a citizen jury. you know, citizens want clean air and clean water. consumers want these things. he would be incumbent on the market to provide these options, which is what we are saying. some of that might be due to standards changing, but i think most of that is due to people wanting cars that go further with less amounts of gas. we had a huge want for electric vehicles in this country and the federal government killed the electric car. if you look in much of the regulation rounded. i think get the government out of the way, let consumers decide what technologies they want.

host: let's talk to a libertarian party member in auburn, maine. good morning. michael, are you there? caller: yes i am. good morning. yes. i want to ask a question about the housing market. we are seeing rental prices that i never thought were possible. many millennials, and i'm also thinking about gen z, they are going to work and so much of the money is simply going to rent and basic set cities. no, we are not in a situation where we are able to put money aside and afford a home, put down a down payment, etc. what is your plan to help with the housing crisis, to lower some of these costs so new families, young families can finally get that opportunity to

own their own home? guest: well, i think there are two things we need to look at. first on the federal policy, the way we lower the cost of living across the board is we stop pulling trillions of dollars a year out of thin air by deficit spending. that is the highest driver of inflation. both trump and biden have contributed to this, as well as every president of my lifetime with the exception of a couple years of the clinton administration. housing in particular, much of this is a supply problem and it is created because we have zoning regulations that prevent low income housing and high density housing being built in this country. it is the knot in my backyard attitude we see in localities across america. we need to remove barriers to building these homes. it is better to have low-cost housing. much of what is getting in the way is the regulation and zoning

happening across the country. you cannot fix that as president of the united states. all you can do is use the bully pulpit. i want to see lower housing in atlanta, which is seen -- which has seen an explosion of housing costs. i have been renting most of the time. for me, i feel that stress. i feel the stress people of my generation are feeling. i'm not somebody who was born into privilege or who has existed within the federal government structure and living off the government. somebody who has had to get up and work 40 hours a week and see that cost of living going up and up. i feel that stress. the best way to reduce that is at the federal level to stop reducing what is -- producing what is the highest drive of inflation. that means we have to have a balanced budget. during the clinton years that was a rational idea. now it seems to be a radical idea. but it should not be radical. it should be normal for a

government to be taking in as much as it is spending and not having a huge deficit. for me that is what the highest driver of all of the costs, everything going up, including housing. remove the regulations to build new homes. host: this is in detroit. alexis. you are next. >> i have always wanted to ask a libertarian a couple of these things. i hope you give me a moment. i look at historical examples even prior to my birth of where the government was needed. i think of the situation where kennedy sent in the national guard to enforce school integration down in all little rock. that sort of thing. i think the recent examples, such as sam brownback's libertarian paradise that he tried to create in kansas, and now they have a female democratic governor because that worked out so well. the final example i will bring

up, although there are many, is the portland experiment with, hey, everybody use every jug you want to use, it is your body, no problem. and they have rescinded that. i wanted to know, in a case where somebody has a child that was born profoundly ill and will have lifetime expenses, let's say they have, you know, a cognitive problem, or in another case, somebody is working their whole life and all of a sudden at 55 they have a tragic accident, become a paraplegic, and are unable to work again, tell me, or is the government's role in those situations? -- where is the government's role in those situations? guest: sam brownback is a republican, so i do not want to claim him. the government's role in much of this is inefficient and it does not do very well. we can better allocate resources

to help members of our community outside the federal government, which is bloated, which is full of red tape. it is full of bureaucracies that water down your dollar. they will tax you a dollar and you will get back in time in service. that is because it has to go through that washington, d.c. mission. libertarians, one of the biggest things i think i can get out there is, just because i don't want government doing it doesn't mean i don't think there is a need for something with the ability to get it done. i happen to think trying to run a welfare program through the federal government is inefficient in terms of the way it allocates the dollars and provides help. when there is much more mutual and direct aid programs we can set up outside the room of government. that individuals can actually help those in their community in a more impactful way than saying, let the government tax me and they will take care of it. because often times the government does not take take -- does not take care of it. they are inefficient and that is not helping the maximum number

of people. me, i think the greatest role is, as we transition ourselves away from the state government program, this does not happen overnight. it is not like flicking a light switch. you reduce piece by piece, bit by bit so you produce the least harm possible. as you remove these programs from the federal docket you are going to end up seeing mutual and programs across the country coming online. host: alexis did mention portland. can you clarify what your drug policy would be? guest: i am for full decriminalization. the way portland handled it has been a bit haphazard, but the truth is that you should own your body. should put what you want into your body. and i think the biggest problem we see in terms of drugs is overdose. much of that is the opiate crisis. the reason why is because fentanyl gets brought here and they press it into a pill to look like a xanax.

people don't know what they're taking in they end up overdosing on it. the nation of portugal, which decriminalized the drugs, if you have a drug you can take it to a pharmacist and tested to know if there is fentanyl or anything else in it. or mutual aid programs like share the stigma in oklahoma, that passed out free narcan and fentanyl testing strips and can help gain the trust to find their way into a rehab. these are steps we can do to reduce drug addiction across the country, but also say, if you are not harming anybody you should be able to do what you want with your body and we should not have a hundreds of billions of dollars going to a federal war on drugs which, let's be real, people are using more drugs than they used to. drugs are cheaper and more potent than they used to be. in the war on drugs, drugs won. host: this past sunday talked about being in touch with you. i'm going to play a short portion and get your input.

>> there were reports citing an official from your camp, and also a democratic official saying there has been outreach to the harris campaign to possibly discuss you working within the harris administration in exchange for an endorsement of her. is that true? and what happened with that? >> i reached out to them on the same basis i reached out to president trump. i actually talked to other presidential candidates, including chase oliver and the libertarian party, about figuring out ways we could in the polarization and hatred and vitriol and start talking about issues. host: chase oliver, can you elaborate on that outreach from rfk junior? guest: we had a brief meeting in washington, d.c.. we were both in town for freedom fast. it was the day that trump got shot. i will always remember that is the day i met him. he was on the tv as we were having our meeting. but really it was mostly a get to know each other kind of a thing to discuss the tone and

temperament of the campaign. i have tried to run a very positive campaign. i've not in -- been in the weeds with attack ads. much of it was nice to meet with him. he was a pleasant meeting, but not a lot of substance got discussed. but camino, hopefully folks can say, i can talk to anybody. i have no fear of talking to anyone in any room, what i don't think it was, like, it did not really lead to a whole lot camino, now in the subsequent weeks he has dropped out and endorsed trump. i do not anticipate me doing anything like that. in fact, that door is completely closed. i'm not sure what would be discussed. host: dan, a republican in indiana. you are next. caller: yeah, you talked about the housing market, and you never mentioned the interest rate went from 1.4% to 8.5%. i mean, that is where all the

money went. my son bought a house last weekend he is paying outrageous money under the harris-biden administration. i did not hear you mention that. i'm wondering why. guest: interest rates are huge concern. i think it is ridiculous that we have 12 men who get in a room that decide basically the interest rates of this country via the fed. i am an audit and in the fed kind of guy. i don't think we need central bankers. that is what is leading to the stress in the interest rates. have for a long time made the american dream that, he must own a home. this is the great signifier whether or not you are doing well or not. that has led to us pushing more and more people into homes they cannot afford and this leads to a crisis where interest rates go up. to me much of this has to do with the fact that we cannot build enough homes quickly enough. the homes that are being built

are being taught wholesale by giant corporate interests and then they rented out a full. to me much of this has to do with the government having way more of a heavy hand in the free market does. this is over decades and decades and it is leading us to having this housing crisis. there is no easy one-step solution other than starting to push the government back out of this process and actually starting to see more market forces push their way in. and stop letting the government-subsidized people and give them loans that they are not ready to be paying off because that leads to the housing bubble and burst that we saw in 2008 and 2009. we are still recovering from that. it is a series of years and years. i do not necessarily think it is one administration or the other. every administration has been blowing up the housing bubble because they want to raise the rates of phone number -- of homeownership. host: we have a text from greg

in dallas. he is a libertarian. he says it is nice to be antiwar, but if -- but are you one of those antiwar people that make an exception for israel? it is imperialism and genocide. guest: i am antiwar to the core. i want to remove the united states footprint from everywhere, including in israel and gaza. what happened on october 7 was horrible and if it happened in the united states we would be demanding some kind of response. but the response has been so heavy-handed that it has killed tens of thousands of people. the rebuilding process is going to take forever to bring this back from the brink and so many innocent people have suffered because of this. that is not the right way to respond to an attack. that inflames tensions. it makes it more difficult and less safe to be the average is rarely because you are radicalizing more people and in

the neighboring arab countries. you are creating tension with iran. the united states should not have a heavy hand in this. we should be removing ourselves from the war zone and everywhere else across the world. it is not our job to police the world. the purpose of the military is to protect us from sovereign invasion. it is not the job of the united states military to engage in ores around the world, and certainly not the job of our u.s. taxpayers to be funding wars around the world via funding weapons programs and military aid to israel, as well as nations around the world. we are funding israel right now but it was during the trump administration that he sold hundreds of billions of dollars of weapons to the saudi's, use that to kill you many people in their civil war. i would like to stop seeing the united states being in the business of exporting death around the world. i think there is far better ways we could export our values and far better things are industries could build than bombs and tanks and planes.

boeing can find some other product that would be useful to the united states. host: virginia, independent line. good morning. caller: my first question you kind of already answered. it was going to be about the rfk interview on fox news. my follow-up question is going to be, how do you differ from past libertarian candidates like gary johnson? guest: in terms of policy and platform there might not be a huge amount of difference because i always joke that, you know, if you ask the question should the government do this, the likely libertarian answer is, probably not. i think the difference might be lived experience. i am a 30 nine-year-old, so i, from the millennial generation. i am somebody who has a professional background in the service industry. i spent 13 years working at restaurants, working my way up from being a dishwasher. i was a consultant to help new people open the restaurant, then

i moved into the world of logistics, where i helped move goods. i have been in the private marketplace for a long time. jo jorgensen was a college professor. then gary johnson was somebody who had worked in the realm of government, was a handyman. so, there might be a difference in personal background and in times of temperament i am someone who is running a positive campaign. and recognizing that this election is not just about me. it is about building up the libertarian party, the libertarian message. in terms of policy, there might be differences here and there on the margin, but in the large realm of things the libertarian party has been consistent because our platform is quite consistent. i think maybe some of the things i stressed might be different, you know, from piece to piece. but just off of the top of my head i know i was proud to vote

for gary johnson. i was honored to vote for jo jorgensen. and him happy to be carrying the flag for them in this party in 2024. host: paul in connecticut. morning. caller: good morning. how far are you going to go with this libertarian cabin? i understand the philosophy. i understand the philosophy. eileen libertarian. however, the 1.6 million recipients of dollars in housing, are you going to throw them out? and second, what about unfettered capitalism and the role of government in regulating that exportation? and then i will correct you. there will be no rebuilding of gaza with a military occupation. and that is what we are supporting.

there is an escalating war in lebanon and israel. your words ring hollow. your voice in the wind, wavering. so, housing, and your view that gaza will be rebuilt. guest: well, on federal housing, you don't throw people out. i say that any move away from government is not flipping the lightswitch. it is gradual. we did not get to the scope of government we have overnight. it took many steps to get there. it will take many steps for us to refuse this. eventually we are going to have to remove the federal housing programs. these things can be better functioned without the state level if the states decide that is what they want to do, or we can facilitate private organizations that can facilitate transitional housing for those who need it. but with regards to gaza, i understand. gaza is not going to be understand -- rebuilt law --

until israel leaves gaza. it is under military occupation. it is the raising tensions that has been happening as a result of israel's assault in gaza. now we are seeing lebanon being involved and we are seeing hezbollah being involved. if we continue this escalation it is only a matter of time before iran involves itself. once iran involves itself we are in a world war. we need to be disengaging from this, speaking out for the innocent people of gaza who have been murdered by these airstrikes. but you are right, no rebuilding will happen in gaza until the occupation ends. until the occupation and we are going to be seeing massive suffering in gaza at the hands of the netanyahu government. much of this is because netanyahu wants to continue this war, because as soon as the war and the questions start getting asked. mainly number one, how did you allow october 7 to happen to begin with? and number two, netanyahu was

facing questions of corruption before october 7, and those will start eating asked again. i think much of this is happening because netanyahu wants to keep the war going as long as possible. host: let's talk to craig in rockford, illinois. independent good morning. guest: good morning. i think -- caller: good morning. i think ronald reagan said it best. government is not the answer, it is the problem. i believe that he needs to be talking more about housing as part of the low cost housing solution, because the actual framed houses, the building materials have more than tripled since the last house i built was in 2011. and a sheet of plywood was $17,

and now it is almost $70. two by fours are six dollars. there is just no way to have low cost housing when the building materials themselves are going to make the price over $200,000. host: all right, craig. go ahead, chase oliver. guest: much of that had to do with costs rising when we had inflation rising year after year. everything from the food you eat, the plywood you put on a home. it tripled in cost. there are two drivers at that. much of that is inflation, and the other is the supply chain crunch we had during the covid years that we are still trying to recover from. but the primary driver is the inflation. the government putting -- printing more and more out of thin air, which devalues every dollar you have.

that is going to make the cost of goods rise. it's going to make the cost of everything rise much faster, and then unfettered capitalism, the last person, the best way to handle it free-market is quit letting the government protect those who fail in the marketplace. we say, this firm is too big to fail, we have to protect them by bailing them out using taxpayer money. no, let those firms fail. they will fall apart, they will liquidate, and those assets will be reallocated. this is the problem we have with our system. it is not unfettered capitalism. it is capitalism that protects those at the top and pushes those to the bottom even further down. we need to actually have a true free market that is not rewarding those at the top via subsidies and tax breaks and giveaways that make it far more expensive to compete as a small business in the marketplace because we are giving giveaways to these large firms that have the carveouts, and it lowers the

cost for them to do business and makes it more difficult for the mom-and-pop sthat is why we havn hollowed out downtowns. large corporate firms are able to prosper while the average business is suffering the consequences. host: chase oliver, regarding your education policy, i know the plan is to close the department of education. would you put that function back to the states, as former president trump has advocated? or would it be completely private so every family would pay for their own child's education? guest: ideally i would like to get government out of it altogether, but what you do is get rid of the department of education, and you allow for 50 laboratories of innovation to take place. 50 different methods of doing things. those that work the best will be adopted by the other states. i argue for a system where you are funding students and not systems. if you are going to find it via

taxpayer money, fund student directly so parents and students can find the best school for their child. have great public schools where you live. you're probably going to keep going there because you have the infrastructure. if you are from a place like atlanta where administrators were colluding and got rico charges to raise test scores, maybe want better options for your kid than a school that has to cheat to get test scores up. so, there is a realm there for that. i want to see more frequent -- free-market practices in out -- in education. fund the student, not the system, and do that directly. we will start seeing a lot of schools popping up that are higher quality than many of their failing public schools we have now and also allows for specialization of schools. let's say your kid is likely to be a great engineer or is involved in science and math. let's say your kid is going to be at julliard, they are going

to be the next dancer on broadway. a performance artist or sculptor or whatever it is. send them to an art school that is going to allow them to flourish. if your child has educational challenges there could be schools that are specifically set up to help those who were suffering from things like dyslexia or other education challenges. i think there is just a better possibility to have more places of education when we break it away from that funding system, that individual county system, and send money directly to the students. this also helps educators. so many educators feel stuck in the public school system. they get thousands of dollars of debt in student loans, they get a job and go, oh my goodness, the way this is set up is so restrictive. i could teach better if i could do this. a free market education allows educators to do that, to be the best teacher they can be, to

create a generation of lifelong critical thinkers. i think it is best-facilitated by bringing the market forces to bear and letting the best schools of survive and worst schools fall by the wayside. host: elizabeth in las vegas, democrat. you are next. caller: hi. good morning, chase. i was thinking about how to ask you this or say this without sounding angry. but camino, being half-jewish, the father was jewish, i get angry. and israel got up to 6 million a few years ago again. they have this little speck, that is all they live on. is a little speck. and they have done more with that land than anybody around them. and you are putting 6 million jews in harm's way. they have to compete with, like, a big manson family like hamas. people don't understand with more, i guess, that if you kill

1200, we don't just kill 1200, we punish you for hurting our people. all you have to do is give the hostages back why is all of this pressure on israel? chase, why? and why don't you want to protect people, good people? you want us to isolate ourselves and not get involved in any wars? ok, let england get taken. let germany get taken by these people because they do believe in the caliphate. they live for it. and that little nazi in hamas? how can you defend a man like that? host: all right, elizabeth. guest: i don't defend hamas. i think maas is an illegitimate government. anytime -- the last time there was an election in gaza was before most gazans were alive. i think it is wrongheaded to say because 1200 killed you have to kill more. a former congressman from the state of michigan, he is palestinian, he has family that

lives in gaza. one of his cousins was killed in an airstrike. did he deserve to be punished? did the other children who remained deserve to be punished? no. the death of a palestinian child is just as horrific as the death of an israeli child. i want the hostages free. i also think it is wrong for us to be seeing airstrikes blowing up buildings hostages may be in. we should have a much more reasonable response. i will not say that israel does not have a right to respond. it is the manner in which they respond. it has killed so many innocent people. there are lots of interesting people in palestine. everyone in palestine supports hamas. many of them are held under the thumb of hamas out of fear. much of this has been facilitated because, when you lock in that population you create desperation. these people are desperate. i want the people of israel to

be free and happy, but i want the same for the palestinians. we are going to have to figure out some sort of peaceful solution that does not involve killing each other. that involves regular palestinians and regular israelis coming together. because the people that represent those populations are more interested in war and death. they are both more interested in perpetuating this more. that is where my criticism of both sides comes in. they are not serving the needs of their people. they are perpetuating death and we need to stand for peace and oppose it. host: a quick question from steve. he wants to know what your plan to cut military spending is? close the bases? which one? if you are going to lower taxes, we have to cut somewhere. he has a question about privatizing social security. i know that is kind of a big question, but sticking with the military question. guest: yeah, so, you start out by finding the bases you can most quickly close with the least amount of change to our

military readiness. but you are going to start closing all of the bases eventually. you're going to start removing yourself from these places. that doesn't mean they disappear and it doesn't mean they cannot be used to help our international neighbors defend themselves. if we took ourselves out we can give that to the germans, we can give that to the european union to use as they see fit. they are still our allies. i'm not worried about that. there would still be lots of drawing exercises and things we do. but overall we need to reduce the military footprint in every continent that is not north america. that is a review process that you would go and work with your staff, your secretary to identify what bases you can close first, what areas of combat you can ask your -- extricate yourself from the quickest. in an orderly fashion, not like what we saw with afghanistan we had people falling off of airplanes that were desperate to get out of the country. we need to do this in a gradual manner.

we are not the military police of the world. to start balancing the budget you have to cut some things. one of those is social security. i am under the age of 40. i am not likely to get any benefit from that system because the social security trust is completely bankrupt. a lot of younger workers like myself, they keep their employee contribution long enough for those who are on a fixed income like my parents, like many people's parents and grandparents, to live. the last generation that needs to be on social security is this generation at or near retirement. for younger workers we need to transition ourselves into a more private system where we can say for retirement in the private market. if you just prayers -- put your money in the s&p 500 you are going to get a better return than what the social security trust has provided for us. host: chase oliver, libertarian presidential nominee. thanks so much for joining us today. guest: thank you so much.

host: later we will talk with green party presidential nominee jill stein. but first it is up and form. you can start calling in now. anything on your mind. whatever you want to talk about. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. >> saturday, american history tv features historic convention speeches. watch notable remarks by presidential nominees and other political figures from the past several decades. this saturday texas governor george w. bush accepts the republican presidential nomination in 2000, and addresses leadership in america. >> are opportunities are too great, our lives too short to waste this moment. so tonight we bow to our nation. we will see this -- seize this moment of american promise.

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discover new authors and ideas. each week we are making it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with authors discussing history, biographies, current events, and culture, from our signature programs about books, book notes plus, and q&a. listen to c-span's bookshelf podcast feed today. you can find it on our podcast feed on the free c-span now mobile video app or wherever you get your podcasts. and on our website, c-span.org/podcasts. >> we will welcome them into a great national crusade to make america great again. >> has been earned for progress and defeat. >> taxes will go up, and anyone who says they want is not telling the truth. >> and our beloved nation we are in the midst of a springtime hope for america. >> because we are the party that

believes in the american dream. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> here is the question for the american people. who do you trust in this election? >> the real choice is whether we will drill -- build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past. >> i am confident in the wisdom of our people in the future of our company. -- country. i stand here is my own man. i want you to know for who i truly am. >> they had their chance. they have not led. we well. >> i'm john kerry, and i am reporting for duty. >> these four years have brought moments that i could not foresee and will not forget. >> it is time for us to change america. >> i was not my own man anymore. i was my country's.

>> i don't believe that rolling back regulations will help the small business woman explained -- expand. we have been there. we have tried that and we are not going back. we are moving forward, america. >> under my administration our friends will see more loyalty and mr. putin will see less flexibility and more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again? well, he can start by actually making things in america again. >> we will make america safe again. and we will make america great again. >> here and now i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency i will draw on the best of us, not the worst. >> this towering american spirit has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us to the summit of human endeavor. >> c-span.

your unfiltered view of the conventions. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. it is open form. a couple of things to note for your schedule today. afl-cio president liz schuller talks about the state of the unions and the labor movement in the united dates. we will have live coverage of that at 11:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. also on c-span now and c-span.org. then 2024 vice presidential nominee senator jd vance will talk about the economy, inflation, and manufacturing job losses to supporters in big rapids, michigan today. we will have live coverage of that at 1:30 p.m. eastern. also here on c-span and on our app and online. and then it 3:00 we will have averill. the director of national

intelligence, talking about the current threat landscape, election security, and rollout of new technologies to intelligence agencies. the national security summit. we will have live coverage of that at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, on c-span now, and to basil in washington vote, new york. good morning. caller: yeah, good morning. host: go right ahead. caller: yes, my concern is that what i want to say about those people in michigan that is against the war with hamas and israel. i totally agree with them to have that concern because it is their people. but the other concern i have is that those folks have to realize that if donald trump wins the election there will not be in a negotiation for cease fire and any peace.

so i'm urging those folks in michigan, give kamala harris a chance if she wins. and now with what is going on with the peace with joe biden. i think he was wrong with the way he supported israel, because all human life matters. yes, hamas is wrong, but killing 40,000 people is like what they did in oklahoma, dropping bombs on the back -- black community. so, i think they should use their voices to support kamala harris. and not allow donald trump to become president. host: and on the line for republicans, in new york, frank. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to add, i'm a very conservative republican when it comes to spending. i want to know why nobody speaks up when donald trump increased the national debt by a trillion dollars in only four years?

that is a record for any non-war president. a trillion dollars is a lot of money. that causes the inflation. somebody has got to speak up about that. i mean, where is the tea party? i don't know how to express myself, but i'm worried about this country. that is all i have to say for now. host: right, frank. let's talk to mike in pennsylvania. independent. hi, mike. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i appreciated. i wanted to comment about the war, you know, against hamas and israel. what i want to say is, yes, it is tragic that there is death on both sides of these countries. but what i have heard on fox news -- i think it was either

fox news or newsmax, israel told hamas when they were going to attack, and they ordered, you know, the independence, to get out from that area. the leaders of hamas stopped that, told them to stay. now, after that israel attacked anyway. so, i'm thinking that the death toll of the innocents is high. have you heard anything about that? that hamas -- i'm sorry, that israel was giving hamas, like, have you heard about that? host: mean, there is the -- the idf does try to clear areas, but sometimes they either don't do that to have the element of surprise or there is really no place else for people to go. so, that has been a problem, mike. caller: mean, the thing is, if

your life depends on it, you are going to find somewhere to go. you are going to go somewhere in that area. so, i mean, like, like, what country in history, or wartime, has gave warnings to, you know, to, you know, you understand, so they won't get hurt. host: andrea is a democrat in sanford, maine. morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling in response, really, to oliver chase talking about the libertarian party and talking to him. i just wanted to say that i am a democrat, strongly leaning independent. that if they just go along with the fact that kennedy got on all

of the ballots that he had to fight the democratic party all the way against lawsuit after lawsuit but succeeded, you know, that we know that we have one independent candidate that can possibly accumulate 5% of the vote, which would then allow for in the following election the independent party not having to collect a million -- i guess he didn't have to do a million, but however many thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of votes just to get on the ballot should -- ballot when the major parties did not have to get any signatures at all. so, the idea, i now is hoping that an independent candidate, in this case kennedy,

would be the only one who would have a chance i think at this point to collect 5% of the vote and then allow for an independent candidate -- party in the future to have more easy access. host: let's talk to john in ohio, republican. caller: good morning. i was thinking of trump being endorsed by kennedy. kennedy is a great guy and everybody is talking about he is not -- he should not have done that with republicans back in

the day when his uncle and his dad were trying to get things going and both of them got assassinated and either of the republican -- mostly i think the democrats had a hand in all of that and did not want to go forward. that is why over the years they did not want kennedy to try to get into high office. host: here's another john in new haven, connecticut. caller: good morning. some advice to the harris campaign.

give one to maxwell. go on the lawrence o'donnell show and then enjoy read. that is it. get those for interviews. they will work out well. do not forget about going into florida. democrats have a gate -- great chance of wing florida. all democrats cannot use the 32nd ad of the young lady raped by her stepfather. use that to win the election in kentucky. use that add. if white americans and black americans do not vote, go after that vote. host: here's eddie in ohio. caller: i want to let people know that one thing -- i am not a republican and i dislike

ronald reagan because he took away all my taxed inductions. but the man said one thing that is absolutely right. he said, in regards to who is leading in the poll, the people vote. we have got to get out there and vote for somebody. if you do not vote, you are voting for the person who wins. go out there and vote. it counts for everybody because everybody -- if you are a politician, you lie because you cannot get up there and do nothing by yourself. you need all of them other congressmen and senators and all of them tell lies to get up there. they do not think they are lion, but you cannot do nothing by yourself. host: bobby in arkansas, republican, good morning.

caller: i want to go back to the budapest memorandum and clinton signed off on it and they thing was in 2014 when obama was in russia went in and drew part of ukraine away. i think the fact that we have sort of weak people in washington right now and the fact that obama did not react when he should have, we are wondering why all these billions of dollars went to support the ukraine. the problem was the original agreement was that ukraine gave up all of its nuclear weapons and they went back to russia to be destroyed. at that time, the ukraine would

add one third of the nuclear weapons in the world and they gave it up to be a nonnuclear state nation. the problem is that all of that money that we are spending could have been avoided if obama had reacted the way he should have. then later on putin, when he saw that the u.s. was weak, they reacted. the way i feel is right now we are at the weakest point we have ever been at. we have the russians and the chinese and the north koreans and there is russian aircraft in cuba. there are russian aircraft in venezuela and recently we had two chinese aircraft and two

russian aircraft flying into the airspace by alaska. if anybody has a computer, look up the aircraft and the weapons that china and russia have. russia has hypersonic missiles and aircraft and they also -- the chinese are developing that too. another thing, north korea and iran are in bed together. north korea has nuclear weapons and they have strategic missiles. what kind of deal they have made with iran, i do not know. i'm supporting israel because i will tell you a story about it.

i used to do a lawyer's office. i took care of his interior plants. the thing was he had a girl from palestine that worked for him and he was j he was a very nice person. she was going to school and he was supporting her. when 9/11 went off, i had talked to her about that and i said the people in palestine celebrated in the streets when 9/11 went off. the thing was i told her about that and she said that is a lie but she hated jewish people but she worked for a jewish person. host: let's move onto wilbert, democrat good morning. caller: maybe c-span can put an automatic timer on people when they first start calling in and

after that minute just cut off. the reason i am calling, maybe you can help me out. it is the fraternal order of police. it is a union. i would like to know who are they endorsing this year? i know they are not endorsing an eight count felony. can you tell the american people who they are endorsing this year for the president election? host: there is an article here from reuters with this headline. zuckerberg says biden administration pressured meta to censor covid-19 content. it says zuckerberg said senior officials in the biden administration pressured his social media company to censor covid-19 content ring the pandemic, adding that he would push back if this were to happen again. he told the judiciary committee

of the house of representatives that he regretted not speaking up about this pressure earlier, as well as decisions the owner of facebook and instagram had about removing certain content. you can read that at reuters if you would like to see the rest of the article. caller: i am not sure if you can help me with this, but i am concerned with the health insurance. right now, i am a 31-year-old female. i'm actually in the hospital. i had lost my job. i am in the hospital right now with no insurance. i have a job lined up starting september 17. i am in the hospital because i

have liver cirrhosis. so i take special medicine. because i lost my insurance with my job that i previously had, the ammonia levels in my brain went high and i am concerned about how that is going to work for people in the future. it is a major concern of mine because i feel like at my age i should not be this sick but i am. and those medicines are taking care of me and i am curious to see who is going to show face when it comes to something like that because it is really important to me. host: were you able to get on the affordable care act health plans? did you look at that?

caller: i did not have the money because i had lost my job and paid all my bills. then with the aca, the affordable care act, where would i get that? host: jerry, illinois, republican line. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. if harris's president, this country is gone. nobody understands what she is for. she does not give interviews and she did not get any votes when she ran before and all of a sudden now they are rerunning her. she supports destroying women's sports in schools and gender mutilation. she is for national price controls and national health

care. giving illegal immigrants the right to vote and get social security and medicare and medicaid. she wants to eliminate the oil industry and the filibuster and pack the supreme court. and eliminate the electoral college. and people that hate trump -- he did more for the black community than any democratic president with the second step act and helping them open small businesses and everything. people do not like and because of his character but he has done well for this country. and the main stream media never fact-checks what she says or what biden said but as soon trump is giving a speech somewhere cnn is fact checking

him after the first three minutes. and all this stuff they are charging him with, that is all political. all these democrats that have civil servant jobs, how did they get to be millionaires? because they are all in with the lobbyists and all of that. that is where they made their millions and why they do not want them in. he does not need their money. he is not in cahoots with them. people want to destroy this country. host: this is richard in evergreen, colorado, democrat. caller: i have something simple to say. all harris has to do -- i know she is not doing many interviews, but when she debates drum and starts doing interviews all she has to do is allow the american people to see how much of a fool trump is and they will start to go on her side. host: here is john,

massachusetts, independent. caller: john had a guest and she said she is really good at organizing her thoughts and conveying them with enthusiasm. really? she goes anywhere out of nowhere. everybody says crime is down. not the big cities of san francisco and chicago that say they cannot figure out how to do it. i thought they were all college educated people but they cannot figure out how to make people safer. nobody ever points that out. and another one.

you guys say inflation is going down. obviously it is not but also inflation does not include food, housing, and gas. you know, the things you need to live. food, housing, and gas. they do not include that. nobody ever points that out. i do not know why you never get pushback to any democrats. host: that is all the time we have for open forum. comi up, our final guest this morning, the green party presidential nominee on her race for the white house and how the campaign has changed since the entry of vice president kamala harris. stay with us. >> we will welcome them to make america great again. >> taxes will go up.

anyone who says they will not is not telling the truth. >> we are in the midst of a springtime of hope for americans. >> because we are the party that believes in the american dream. >> no taxes. >> i still believe in a place called hope. >> here's the question for the american people. who do you trust in this election? >> the choice is whether we will bridge -- build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past. >> i have confidence in the future of our country. >> i stand here tonight as my own man and i want you to know me for who i am. >> they had their chance. they have not led. we will. >> i am john kerry and i am reporting for duty. >> these four years brought

moments i could not foresee and will not forget. >> it is time for us to change america. >> i was not my own man anymore. i was my country's. >> i do not believe rolling back regulations on wall street will help a construction worker keep his home. we have been there. we have tried that. under my administration, mr. putin will see more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again. he can start by actually making things in america. >> we will make america safe again. we will make america great again. >> here and now, i give you my word. if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the best of us. >> this towering american spirit

has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us to the summit of human endeavor. >> c-span, your unfiltered view of the conventions, powered by cable. host: welcome back. we are joined now from boston, massachusetts by joel stein, the green party presidential nominee. welcome to the program. can you delineate for us the major differences between your party and the other option facing voters this november? >> our party is different from the other options. we are a people powered party. we do not take money from corporations and billionaires. we do not use the big loophole that biden, harris, trump, rfk,

all the candidates use them at the big loopholes. a single donor can write a check for $1 million. it gets laundered into the campaign, which means that powerful people can exert a lot influence from the inside. we are the one party which is not taking legalized bribes so we can stand up for what it is people want, for health care for everyone as a human right which is through a system that is more efficient and cuts out the red tape and saves a ton of money while it covers everybody. we can bring down the cost of housing and billed to the housing we actually need, so called social housing. we can make public higher education free and cut the military, the bloated military that is eating up half of our congressional dollars and

spending money overseas like in a genocide in palestine. likewise in ukraine, we keep pouring billions and billions into ukraine as well. we are creating these incredible and explosive situations around the world which are impoverishing us as they gobble up our budget and endangering the whole world. you're the one party that can do the right thing for everyday people because we do not have strings being pulled from inside by bankers and billionaires and all that. host: i am showing a map of the united states with your ballot access. the green is where you will be on the ballot. the lavender caller is awaiting certification, actively petitioning in kentucky and not on the ballot in just a few states. can you review what is going on

with your ballot access and what is happening with wisconsin? guest: good news first is we won in wisconsin, so we will be on the ballot. the democrats do not like competition. it should be called the anti-democratic party because what they try to do is throw their competitors off the ballot because they do not want to face us in the court of public opinion. they are scared because we are offering what their base once. working people are tired of being thrown under the bus, so since we have the agenda that answers the needs of everyday families and communities they try to get us off the ballot and they announced back in the spring they had hired an army of lawyers to throw us off the ballot. that is what they try to do in state after state. so far, we have been winning to be on the ballot because we are

the one antiwar, anti-genocide, pro-worker campaign that is on the ballot pretty much across the country with a pathway to the white house. where we stand right now, we are on the ballot for about 80% of voters and we hope that will be 90% at the end of the day. we are complete in the process. they make it as complicated as possible. they have a system that basically grandfathers in democrats and republicans. if people are hungry for other choices, the democrats especially try to make those other choices impossible. that is the battle going on, but we are fighting because voters want choices, so we are fighting to give a critical choice for

the people to every voter across the country. host: an article says third parties were having a moment and then kamala harris showed up. here's a portion of what the article says. the biggest factor was both candidates onethe door to elevated third-party voting, even at a time rord polarization. too harris -- kamala harris's ascension seems to have change this dynamic. can you tell us about the impact of vice president kamala harris during the race on your popularity and your strategy for november? guest: our strategy remains the same. kamala harris, it is like obama mania. obama promised a lot of hope and change and that is the pr campaign that surrounds harris

right now. there is a full-court press going on, a propaganda campaign that she is going to meet everybody's needs, but what is there? who knows? she is not putting her foot down to give away what her policies are. she has more billionaire donors than ever on record. she raised money faster than any candidate on record. if you saw the convention, that ring of corporate suites at the top of the convention tells you where the money is behind the campaign and behind the party. there is money pouring in in bigger quantities than ever so there is every reason to expect that harris will continue in the tradition of joe biden and barack obama, which is they talk the talk like they are going to be for the people but they have a lot of policies similar to republicans when it comes to wall street and the war machine

and we are going to see our dollars consumed in endless wars, in profits for health insurance, in big real estate. there is every reason to expect barack obama talks the talk but when he got into office he throughout homeowners. 8 million people lost their homes while he bailed out wall street with public dollars. so there is every indicator that it is going to be the same. she has not done a single interview, has not been in a single debate, has not won a single vote. she did poorly when she ran as a candidate over many years. we really encourage people do not drink the kool-aid here. do not listen to the talk. you have to look at what the walk has been. they walk by the democratic party has shipped millions of jobs overseas.

30 million american workers have lost jobs over the last several decades. some of that is republican policy, but a lot of it is the democrats. the wall street bailouts and the disaster around the mortgage failing of the banks and throwing out homeowners. host: if you would like to join the conversation with joel stein, you can do so. our lines are republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we have a line for green party members. call us on (202) 748-8003. that is the same line you can use for texting us as well. what was your reaction to the news that rfk junior has suspended his campaign and endorsed former president trump?

guest: i think it is a shame that democrats basically drove him out, using the same legal tactics against him that they have used against us. i think it is a sad commentary on the anti-democratic party, that they have thrown candidates off the ballot. i do not see myself in the same camp at all as rfk. he was new and independent politics. i do not think he knew what he was getting into. he is new to politics altogether. he comes from a family of political aristocracy. he has no idea what it means to get in and fight the system for deep change. my problem was while he talked about change and peace he was actually as rabid and violent a pro-war candidate as any, especially in the area of israel and palestine and he supported

the genocide and explosive war growing in the middle east now. i saw him as not honest and forthcoming. likewise, he talked about reforming the swamp but he was gobbling up big money. he had a super pac supported by millionaires and billionaires, so the money was coming from the swamp and you cannot fix the swamp when you are part of it. host: we have a question for you ults and children.a about trans i will vote democrat as they do t seem to take away rights, but i want a party that will actually fight to expand rights and freedoms, not just pander to us for votes. >> the green party and my

campaign have always supported trans rights as basic human rights and we stand for ensuring those rights are protected in schools and jobs and housing, that whatever one's sexual preference or identity people deserve full opportunities, economic, housing, education, and so on. it should have nothing to do with race, religion, gender identity, or sexual preference. host: let's go to en -- ian in maryland, green party. caller: i wanted to say at the outset thank you for making sure that voters have an option beyond the parties of war and wall street in this election.

i was proud to vote for you in 2016 and i feel even prouder to support you this year because of the way you have centered palestinian humanity in -- and opposition to genocide in your campaign and i think the contrast with the democratic party when you look at the convention and their refusal to allow even a palestinian-american democrat to speak at their convention could not be more stark and i wanted to say in closing come out to voters who might be listening, who feel they are sympathetic to what you are supportive from a policy standpoint but worry about so-called throwing their vote away or having their vote be spoiled, i think i would say you will never spoil your vote by voting your values. the only way you will throw your vote away is by making it

unconditional in terms of supporting those who reject what you stand for. so thank you, jill. i am with you. host: your response, dr. stein? guest: i really want to thank ian. i agree completely. i think the democratic convention was shocking, in many ways, to be declaring joy in a genocide and to be holding their ears when the palestinian or anti-genocide members of the democratic delegation were not allowed to speak and they were simply reading the names of some of those who had been murdered. they were reading those names outside. the other delegates were walking around with her hands over their ears. i think it is just shameful and it gets to the core of what is wrong with the democratic party,

that it is a party of the war machine and wall street, squandering our dollars and basically knocking out human rights and international law in this genocide. and the fact that they would not allow people to be heard from, let alone agree to a weapons embargo -- the u.s. has complete autonomy here and can shut down the genocide in a moment because it is u.s. dollars and u.s. military support enabling the whole thing, so it was outrageous for the democrats to just circle their wagons around that, same as republicans. i do not hold him innocent to this process, but democrats used to be an antiwar party. they are not now. you do not want to be talked into voting for genocide and against your own interests. if we do not stand our ground, no one else will. it is not only to stop the

genocide but also to ensure those resources from this genocidal war machine are used at home instead for what we need for health care and housing and education and the climate emergency. host: this is on x. i would like tonow why dr. cornell west left the green party and you have to replace him. guest: sometimes in a campaign you take a leap of faith and hope things will work out. it is a very difficult thing, to run with a new party when you have never run with a party before, when you have never run before. to do that, gets to know the party but work with the party at the same time you're running a presidential election and to learn how to do that. it does not always work out and i know the number of debates that dr. west was going to need to do he was not comfortable with.

when you are a party, people make demands of you. it is always complicated being on a team. he was more comfortable doing it on his own, but do not take my word for it. it is important to hear dr. west out on this, but we are on good terms, running on basically the same agenda. i wish we were running on the same ticket and i try to offer that to him. he was not interested. he has a strong and compelling voice and it is important that he be heard in this election. but i knew, having done this before, it is not easy to get on the ballot. the green party had ballot status already and continues to have ballot status across most of the country for the majority of voters so i did not want our issues, namely our opposition to genocide endless war and our support for health care as a human right, i did not want to see that go by the wayside.

i wanted every voter to have that choice so we could use the green party to lift up this antiwar agenda. host: let's go to ann, a democrat in new york. caller: i love your cameo. i am a lifelong cat lady and democrat. while i really resonate with some of your points, i think we have to be realistic. our first priority has to be from -- to keep trump from getting back in. i cannot help but thinking we were a spoiler in 2016 in part brought us trump, which place people on the supreme court that took by the overturn of roe. this could happen again because every vote counts.

what do you say to that? guest: first, about the spoiler, that is part of democrat propaganda. polls showed completely as well as talking to people that people who voted green would otherwise not have voted. what my campaign does is allow people to vote who otherwise do not have a voice in the election. don't they deserve a voice as well? one out of every three voters in 2020 did not vote because they did not like the two parties being rammed down their throat. that is a third of the american electorate. don't they deserve a voice? i think they do. candidates have to earn your vote. they do not own your vote. democrats act like they own votes and every vote for me was taken from them. they did not own those votes. those were largely people who otherwise would not have voted and studies showed if i was not on the ballot the outcome would

not have been any different because largely my voters would not have been there at all in the election. they were not taken from hillary. that is the myth of the democrats. the most spoiled election ever for the democrats was 2010. what happened in 2010? democrats lost a thousand seats in state legislatures, 12 in the senate 12 governorships. were third artist to blame? no. what happened was this was following the wall street bailout where homeowners got thrown out and wall street got trillions. people were angry and what happened was democrats got payback. because people are tired of being thrown under the bus. that is the fundamental problem with the democratic party. it got sold to big donors and

has been abandoning working people ever sense. on the question of roe, democrats had decades to codify roe and refused to do that that should not be blamed on green. that was the democrats' own doing. barack obama and joe biden said that will be the first thing they would do in office and they never did it. basically, democrats -- voters deserve a right to vote. one last point is that if you do not have a right to vote we will never be able to drive the system in the direction we want. if you vote for a lesser people, you're are basically disappearing everything you stand for. support becomes invisible. that is why democrats and republicans keep marching to the

right and democrats -- they lifted trump up. that was part of the hillary clinton dnc strategy, the so-called pied piper strategy to lift up the most extremist republican candidate in the hopes that it would be easier to beat him in the general and turned out it was not but they had elevated him largely through their media connections and continue to do that. democrats continue to fund the most extremist republicans, $50 million in the 2020 election funding candidates for congress and senate who were the most extremist republicans so they win primaries but the democrats are launching the careers of extremist republicans and moving the whole culture to the right. the system is screwed up. democrats do not fix it. their neoliberal agenda of austerity, privatization,

endless war, and big tax breaks for the wealthy, that is part of what is driving the rise of the right across the world. in france, we saw what the real solution is. it was the small parties that got together and offered a true left agenda. that is how they beat right wing extremism. the democratic party will not do that because they are in the hands of their big donors, of billionaires and bankers and big pharma and all that. host: christine in michigan, good morning. caller: i did not hear you except once before, so i did not hear where you stood on vaccines. and the public school.

guest: on the question about vaccines is a requirement for school, is that what you are saying? ok. so as a medical doctor i have followed these issues for a while and my feeling is they change. it depends on what vaccine you are talking about. and what illness you are talking about. i think we have seen where kids can be at risk and schools can be a mode of transition -- of transmission. where schools can be a major mode of transmission, so i think it is legitimate. for there to be a vaccine requirement in schools to prevent spread of diseases that are truly harmful. then again, it is a question of which vaccines. all vaccines are not the same.

all of them need to be scrutinized. let me say what i think the biggest issue is, having regulatory agencies which are not owned by big pharma, which do not have the revolving door between industry, between monsanto between big pharma and the regulatory industries. that applies not only to the fda , it also applies to the faa, the aeronautics administration, the way that boeing bought influence so you have all these unsafe airplanes now related to boeing. the sackler family bought influence around the licensing of opioid drugs, which led to this horrific epidemic now so my solution -- it is hard if you are going to try to follow the

science and stay up-to-date on the science. even as a medical doctor, you have to put everything else aside. you have to be a specialist on this one issue and do nothing but follow the science. we want our policies to be consistent with science but we need to get influence peddling and the culture of influence out from our regulatory agencies and that means we need to shut the revolving door between industry and the fda and so on. and it means we need to get money out of politics because we all pay a huge price now when it is big pharma and health insurance companies calling the shots on policy. so i think we can have an overarching solution that allows us to use the best science and puts it to work for our community's and everyday people. right now, people do not trust

government because it has been sold out and because our agencies and politicians have all been sold out. they are basically owned by the highest bidder. that does not make a society that works were a society that we can trust. that is why we have to get big money out and close the revolving door. those are policies the american people support. host: independent in new jersey. caller: i was listening to dr. stein and i can see she is completely convinced about the third-party dilemma. i will tell you as a citizen that third parties do siphon from one side or the other and that you did help to elect trump, who now overturned roe v. wade and now women all over the country are suffering.

how do you feel about that? to say that you are not an asset of the republicans as a third party is crazy because trump just -- rfk junior just conceded from the campaign and endorsed trump. people should follow the money. he was bought and sold by the republicans. that is why he endorsed trump. from the beginning, he was there to help trump and it turned out he was hurting trump. so this is why he is with trump now. i want you to answer that question about how you feel -- how you can sleep at night knowing that you helped elect donald trump. i hear you talk about gaza and i think i counted about 50 times that you said the word genocide but not one time have you said the word hostage. as a jewish-american, i

understand the views, but the jewish people are peaceful people. they withdrew from gaza and that should be an example of what the palestinians would do with their own land. just like my father said, they are going to make it a launch to attack israel, which they did. guest: maybe you were not on a few minutes ago when we already addressed the issues about spoiling because actually data, if you look at the data and the studies and exit polls show clearly people who voted green in 2016 otherwise would not have voted at all. they would have stayed home and studies show that, had greene's not been in the race, the outcome would have been the same .

as i mentioned, the biggest loss for the democrats was in 2010 after barack obama and the democratic house and senate bailed out wall street to the tune of trillions and throughout millions of homeowners. that, following nafta, made the democratic base angry and that is when you saw people move over to the republican party. to blame this on greene's and third parties is a propaganda campaign because democrats have been sold out and are serving wall street and the war machine. on rfk, he was really not an independent. he was a newcomer to the political process running on a different set of values than our campaign. he had nothing to do with us. i do not know where his money comes from but the money is where it is at and that is why the democratic and republican

parties have both been so corrupt. they both run billion-dollar campaigns. if you saw the d&c on tv, you could see this ring of corporate suites at the top who were paying millions of dollars each to sponsor that convention. this is who the sponsors of the democratic party are. there are more billionaires behind kamala harris' campaign than ever before and they have been raising money hand over fist. that is why we have to get big money out of our political system and get people back in. on gaza, it is not my idea that this is a genocide. this is the opinion of actually just about all countries around the world except the u.s. and israel. this is a genocide and the hostages are a terrible shame.

the hostages must be returned. they were returned with there was a cease-fire appearing who is blocking the cease-fire? netanyahu. netanyahu is blocking the cease-fire. netanyahu just assassinated the moderate negotiator on the side of hamas to undermine the possibility of a cease-fire. he is in the process of try to drag us into a water war now which -- a much wider war now which threatens all of us. not only does israel have nuclear weapons in violation of the nonproliferation treaty but iran is tied to russia, who has nuclear weapons. this could be an explosive situation and nuclear war never stays over there. nuclear war is always global because the explosions, when you see that mushroom cloud, that is basically a conveyor belt for debris going into the upper atmosphere. whenever you have significant

nuclear detonations, you get debris in the upper atmosphere, which reduces agricultural production. that is what is called nuclear winter and it can kill us all. our leaders are sponsoring this. it is not just the fault of israel. the u.s. is providing the weapons and money. i am of jewish background myself. i grew up right after the holocaust, very mindful that genocide should never happen again and responsibility for genocide is not just the perpetrator. it is also the bystander. we cannot allow ourselves to be bystanders. if we want to save israel, which is at risk -- people are leaving israel now. its economy is in tatters. israel is at risk of alienating all his neighbors. all israel and the u.s. have to

do is stop the genocide. gaza is fully occupied. it is an open air prison. you do not have to have soldiers to be in control. they allow no water and no food, no medication. they have destroyed hospitals and housing. it is a disaster zone. it is a nightmare. listen to the health care providers coming back from there. it is hell on earth. it makes any genocide pale by comparison. it needs to be stopped if we want peace in that area of the world and if we want to present -- prevent an explosive war that could consume us all. host: jill from columbus, ohio, democrat. caller: i am not jewish. gaza is a mess. i do not understand why hamas is not surrendering. if hamas would surrender, we

would have a cease-fire and get hostages returned. just like in germany, we do not sit there and say, look at the germans being killed. we kept fighting until the nazis surrendered. do you believe in israel's right to exist? guest: all countries have a right to exist, but not to murder and massacre women and children. hamas has agreed to the cease-fire. joe biden basically had the plan hamas agreed to. the problem is netanyahu and israel has been on a campaign of ethnic cleansing from the get go. that is the problem. if you actually look at the national archive of israel, they are clear there has been a plan for ethnic cleansing and for a

zionist take over of the land of palestine, so this is the problem that has to be addressed. hamas has effectively said we are on for the cease-fire and israel has undermined that, so you may want to actually check out the actual news developments asked one has been happening. democracy now is one good source of information about day by day developments that clarify what is going on in cease-fire negotiations. every time they move forward, israel basically blows them up. netanyahu is a war crinal. host: frederick and colorado asks you this untaxed. what would day one of a stein administration look like? guest: there is a lot of executive authority that could be implement and -- implemented

on day one. i would pick up the phone like ronald reagan did when israel had gone into lebanon and was massacring thousands of people in lebanon. ronald reagan picked up the phone and told israel that is over, that the u.s. was not going to supply weapons if that continued. and it stopped immediately. dwight eisenhower did the same thing in the 1950's. that is what the commander-in-chief needs to do for the u.s.. so the genocidal war is over and the very dangerous war in the middle east is over in the blink of an eye on day one. also on day one, i would declare a climate emergency because we do have a climate emergency, as we see from the growing heat

waves and drought. the colorado river is close to shutting down and that supplies half the fruits and vegetables for the country. by declaring a climate emergency , it unleashes over half $1 trillion a year to create jobs. it should not be jobs versus the environment. we need to make sure every worker involved in fossil fuels has job training and job security while they are transitioning to renewable energy, building public transit, a sustainable agriculture system, and building housing stock that we need, which is environmentally sound. that revives our economy because it will create an actually productive economy. also on day one, we will

undertake an antitrust lawsuit against the big corporate media to break it up so we have actually independent media again that is answering to the american people, not to big corporations. and we begin to work for a medicare for all system that provides health care to everyone . your dental care, mental health care, reproductive health care, which is between you and your physician. we began to do that on day one. that saves us half $1 trillion every year just from eliminating all the bureaucracy and red tape and paper pushing. those are some of the urgent things we would begin. one other thing, we would bring back town hall meetings. your elected officials used to

have to meet with you. they do not do that anymore. they are too busy meeting with big donors. they need to be meeting with you so they are representing you, so that is another thing. we will bring back town hall meetings. basically by shaming any congresspeople not meeting with their elected -- with their communities. we will also bring back congressional hearings as a way to clarify the issues that are critical for the american people that are not covered by the press. host: alex in new york, republican. caller: just a real quick sentence about israel. israel was granted nationhood in 1948. if you are talking peaceful, let's look at 1967. there is a reason they called it the occupied territories.

let's get back to dr. stein. i am a third party voter here and i vote for ross perot. i voted for ron paul. while i do not align with dr. stein's views, i will be voting for jesus christ for president because there are no candidates now that align with my views. the viability of third parties is crazy because the rnc and dnc control everything. we have to get back to a thing where -- how many interviews has mainstream media given to her? rfk was given two tightly controlled -- tightly controlled interviews while running for president and the viability of a

third-party is just not profitable because of the control the rnc and dnc have on the process, including primaries. host: you have one minute. guest: we have a tightly controlled media. that is why i will undertake an antitrust lawsuit to break up the media and to basically adopt a policy. we need a policy whereby candidates who are candidates in good standing are on the ballot in enough states that they could win it, they need to be covered by media. we need to hold debates which are inclusive so the public not only has a right to vote, they have a right to know who they can vote for and where those candidates stand. the public airways need to serve the public, like c-span does, but c-span should not be the only exception. we need to have many venues

where people hear about the critical issues and the candidates and their views. host: jill stein, green presidential nominee. she is on the web. thanks so much for joining us today. guest: great talking with you. host: that is our chauffeur today. thanks for watching. we are back again tomorrow morning. we will see you then. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> here's a ok in live coverage today here on c-span. at 11:00 eastern, afl-ci president liz schuller gives her state of the uni address.

she will also outline her organizations plan to elect kamala harris in the democratic election. then at 1:30 p.m. eastern, vice presidential nominee jd vance will speako supporters at a campaign evident in big rapids, michigan. also at 3:00 p.m., intelligence experts talk about national security and innovation at a conference here in washington, d. >> all this week we are showing major rulings from this year supreme court term and also talking to experts aut the cases and the impact of the desions. tonight, whighlight the 6-3 decision which struck down a trunk-era dan on bump stock devices that could turn a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic assault style weapon. tune into this and other supreme court rulings, all this week at 9:00 eastern on c-span. you can al find our supreme

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