and 2010. here are the four: "understanding the palestinian-israeli conflict," "ending the iraq war," quality and ending -- ending the u.s. war in afghanistan." if you go to ips-dc.org, you can find access to all of those books. thank you for being on "in depth." >> guest: thank you, peter, it's been a pleasure. >> host: and happy new year, everyone. our three-day weekend of booktv continues throughout the day. this program will reate mid fight -- reair at midnight tonight. .. p.m. fliesh

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [applauding] >> thank you very much. that was a very generous introduction. after to you, what a privilege to be here. just to give you an idea of how much president reagan did to me : not only as a young student, a year of income and later as a congressman, the fourth floor of the capital. the famous building at three long built, there is exactly one painting, one portrait, one declaration in my office. in this office that used to be the of the supreme court of

louisiana, beautiful historical building, there is the original painting of president ronald reagan sitting upright on his horse as a constant reminder that every day why we are here and what we are here to accomplish as we try to turn our state of round. it is a great honor to be here in affiliation with the reagan ranch and the young america's foundation. two weeks ago our country had a tremendous collection. a lot of people have remarked about what this meant. last week i released my book "leadership and crisis." there's been a lot of media attention about the opening anecdote. at describing the book about how president obama came down to louisiana for his first visit after the oil spill. about two weeks after the explosion her force one landed on the tarmac. he came down the steps, and clearly this was not going to be your usual interaction. he briefly talk to him at the foot of the steps and then you

get to the meeting. this would not the normal interaction. since he got off the steps he grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. they have clearly tapped of some washington reporters. the had told them, watch. a president is calling to be angry. this was clearly the press stunt. they had told some reporters. i could see he was angry. maybe he is angry at pp. maybe he is angry at the oil. maybe he is angry about the bureaucracy and the red tape. i was stunned. he was angry because of a routine bureaucratic letter we have sent the day before about food stamps. he says to me, careful, governor. this is point to get bad for all of us. the same time he was mad at me his chief of staff was chewing out my chief of staff who is here with me today, several feet away on the tarmac except used words i will repeat.

later as we got in the car and said, with all due respect, we did not criticize you about food stamps. we are angry about the lack of resources and planning and bureaucracy to fight as well. and i got in the car with my chief of staff and said it is amazing to me they have been disconnected from the facts on the ground. they're mad about the wrong thing. the one hand to be mad about the right things. i think that was the message of the election two weeks ago. replace gracing, you guys have been focused on the wrong things. people of america have wanted the private-sector economy to be growing into a good paying jobs, and they want their children to inherit more opportunities than we inherited. like what has been calling on in washington the last two years the government bailout of car companies, the expansion of obama care so that now the

government william morrow vault. the federal government debate issues like happened trade in car check. it seems like they have been focused on everything but the priorities and the issues that voters care the most about. back in louisiana when i was running for governor of made a promise to the people of our state. for 25 years we have exported our greatest asset. louisiana's greatest export is not our crawfish, shrimp, not even murder,. for 25 years of greatest export has been our children. the only state in the south where for 25 years more people have been moving out of our states. a promise our people we would create a new louisiana. i'm going to tell you a little bit about what we have done and how we have accomplished that. to start an january 14th 2008 on inauguration day. a promise to our people we would start by waging war on corruption and incompetence to

our first special session was the session on ethics. what was that so important? i know you are polite and your friendly people. but i also know you may not be renewed to actually say this. everyone of you has probably got your own favorite story or joke about louisiana politicians. the former congressman used to go up to washington dc. back home in louisiana at any given moment in time he would say half, people are under water and the other half are under indictment. people laugh and say that is just a louisiana way of doing business. here's the problem. those jokes aren't funny anymore. over 900 business leaders across the country tied for first place. but we could do to attract investment and jobs was to crack down on corruption. business leaders told us, as long as you know is more important than what you know we don't want to invest in your

state. a special session on ethics. i said during the campaign when you push the hogs away from the trough they're going to squeal. we pass some of the toughest bills. go through all the bills sang the legislators and elected officials, you have to disclose your income asset i've -- liabilities. well, when we said they have to choose, if you are going to be elected you can't do business with the government. he have to either serve us or yourself. bp of the different bills. senufo republican integrity used to rank louisiana as fourth worst. they ranked number one. better government association used to rank as in the bottom five. now we are in the top five. it was never just about rankings. the conditions of the private

sector to grow and create a good paying jobs. a special session. we get rid of taxes on deck, new equipment and utilities. did your we enacted the largest income tax cut in our state history. why was that so important? neighboring states did not have those taxes. here is something. it's pretty easy to understand. if you want to discourage inactivity, texas. if you want to encourage inactivity don't tax it peabody could summarize my economic philosophy right there. why in the world would we want to tax businesses that borrow, and vest, and modernize. the newest equipment was older than their oldest equipment anywhere else. get rid of those taxes. as a candid and give her i have made it very clear. and not raising any taxes in the state of louisiana. there are no loopholes. no, we have done more than talk -- cut taxes to every have cut spending.

we have eliminated douses of government positions, so often% of the state fleet of cars, done things like privatizing services. now, the third thing, and the reason that was so important. the cadel institute graded all the governors. our credit ratings have gone up, not down. the reason that is so important, we want businesses to know that we want them to invest and grow in our state him. there is a predictable environment. the third thing, we have improved workforce training purists of the% of the companies want to move or expand. one of the top two concerns is finding a skilled worker. for people will be ready to work. we will retrain them for free. we have the top rank work force training program in the entire country. we have continued to improve education. i could talk to you about having a higher percentage of students in charge of schools and any other city, the value added assessment act.

the red tape reduction act. i could talk to you about the scholarship program to help students in new orleans if they want to go to private parochial and other schools, i could talk to you about the rising scores, especially in new orleans. but one of the most important things, we passed a teacher's bill of rights. try to put discipline back into the classrooms. we have made strides to improve our teacher pay at or above the average noosphere years. the number one reason, the number one reason teachers tell us they leave the classroom is the environment in the classroom. that me tell you something, it's not like when you and i were growing up. if you haven't been to a classroom recently of won't describe your childhood. that will tell you about mine. if i got in trouble when i get in trouble my teachers, to whatever you want. don't tell my parents.

i don't know about your dad. go to talk about my dad. my dad had a funny sense of justice. but, and say, ted, i didn't do this. the teacher was wrong. he say, sun, and there you better than that. he may not have done with the teacher said, but i know you got away with something. think you for that and will call even. what was the ever take my side of the teacher's side. and telling our parents. aren't doing our kids any favors. we go yell at those teachers. no need to make excuses. they try to get a job and go into the real world. every year. you can look at the dropout rates. you can look at our incarceration rates. there is almost a direct correlation. we relieve thousand people on the prison every year and rearrest over half of them within five years. the only way to break this cycle is with education.

we invest in infrastructure. more than the last three a ministrations combined. it is not about process of results. in louisiana we have the second-best performance during the economic recession. this past year we were the third best state in creating jobs. polling inside the elections to do with the most improved state in the country. you look at our unemployment rate. below the national average every single month. the best job performance, and business development as the been the best in the south per capita the last two years. announced tens of thousand new jobs. i a to say it, but we have seen companies move their headquarters into louisiana, expanding and growing. new fortune 500 companies moving their headquarters. i can tell you more statistics.

after 25 years of losing our people for three years in a row we have had more people move into the louisiana were quickly than they are leaving. what i stuck with all that? i think this election two weeks ago was about one very simple profound message. with people across america teleour president and congress that we don't want to become the first generation of americans that leaves cure opportunities for our children and grandchildren that we inherited from our parents. if our kids work hard and play by the rules they should be able to have more opportunities than we inherited. i don't need to go through the litany of numbers. $14 trillion of debt. you don't need to look at the government's spending. it is now up to 24 percent of the gdp projected growth. the chinese will buy our debt forever. we know interest rates will go

up. the value of the dollar will go down. a modest first step that this and republicans are saying it will go along with. we have to do much more. this let us set to the president, he was focused on the want things. the voters as saying the president obama, leaders in congress, we have been focused on the wrong issues, the wrong priorities for the last two years. here's the scary as a. elected speaker policy, president obama, speaker read, there are doubling down. the president went on tv and said it was a communications problem. apparently you just have to give a few more speeches and we will understand all the great things they're trying to do. i give them credit for one thing. you believe in your convictions, but there are republicans that are taking comfort in the fact

that they have not changed direction. that may be good for the republican party, but not our country. we are at an inflection point. we have to decide if we will return to the limited government our founding fathers intended or continue this larger, more expensive government? the more that government taxes and spends the less liberty and freedom have. a better start talking about this book, publisher will be upset. in crisis. i want to talk to you about some of the things i've read about in this book to be one of the things is the red tape, and competence of our government. don't get me wrong. i am a conservative. don't want government to be doing too many tanks, but the things the government does of wanted to do well. we shouldn't be able to say that's enough for government work. our government is done so big. our government has lost its core focus incompetency spirited did

not start. a describing the book our frustration, even going back to her can katrina. calling the federal government for help. the response was, sheriff, we aren't taking phone calls right now. could you send us an e-mail telling us what you need. he said send you an e-mail? the water is rising. i don't have electricity. , going to send your name and? put all those details in in the mill and will get help to you as soon as recant. and the reality is it doesn't matter whether it is a republican president or a democratic president, the bottom line is we should be able to command excellence from our government. i give you a couple of examples. it fully hit me the first time when i was down in passel the trip. those of you that are out forssmann, this is some of the best fishing along the coast.

the mississippi hits the gulf. just amazing fishing. wetlands. just amazing what you can catch. before i could see the auto you could actually smell it. and then as you get closer to it you hear what i call the deafening silence. what i mean by that is this timing year if you're outside you would be hearing critters and bugs and marine life, all kinds of things. the new kid into the wetlands. you see it for the first time, this thick, heavy stuff cutting everything. biologists said the grass was already turning brown. 5-7 days later it would be dead. its stock to everything. and what was so frustrating was it was a sitting there day after day, week after week. now, on national tv the federal conference said it, don't worry. we have absorbent booms down there. doesn't that sound could connect

sounds high tech. they have absorbent been. as a fancy way of saying they're throwing, balls and paper towels into the water. the oil is still there and nothing has really changed. so lawrie, we have of the plans. really? we might have to of burned the wetlands to save the wetlands. that sounds like a great plan. an official limp and local residents. we may not be like the smartest people. not a nobel prize among the espirito p 80's, but the most practical people you have ever met. one of them says to me, what a week of backing the orlop. i said that's a great idea. wadley packing nut oil. they acted like i was an idiot. and i know most of there.

but the truck on the back of a boat. i hate this answer. at ordered the national guard. they didn't want to do it. the first was the fun is looking thing you've ever seen. it was a literally a trucks trapped on the back of a pontoon bridge. this thing did not look like it would float. it works. that put it out there in the water and picked up thousands of gallons of oil. there was a reporter covering this. aren't those the same trucks used to clean up the port of bodies after football games? whatever you do, do not put that in your story. they are doing what? is called a vacuum barges.

that sounds better than porter bodies. abbey honest with you, the technology was not all that different. here's what i love about the private sector. this had to use trucks, we have industrial pumps. his bridges, we have barges. the have dozens of these along the coast. a week later i got the call from the federal government. they called me up and said governor, we are shutting down the barges. this is the one thing that is working. we have not done our inspections at. what are you worried about? we need to check devolves because if you are using the right fouls there is a danger that you might drops of oil back into the water. but we are picking up thousand gallons of will and you a word about some drops. this estimate of rip, those are the rules. we will give you 24 hours.

you have to get this done. a federal official came to my command center. can't find phone numbers. it turns out they didn't realize they had approved every one of them. the right-handed know what the left hand was doing. it came back and said we don't need to check the vaults, but they have to stay in port. we want to count the number of lifejackets and fire extinguishers. a said you can't do this while the pick up the oil? no, those are the rules. look, eventually along the way we got a call saying great news, we are calling to do the inspections. they can go back to work be for 24 hours that will sat and a surly, again, because of the bureaucracy and red tape. i give you a last example. the oil was coming in. we cannot get the federal

government. it was coming out of the bay. the workboats, skimmers, people, equipment just waiting to be used. that they kept telling us the pro-government, there's no well, no oil. fishermen kept seeing it. attack the federal official up in the blackhawks helicopter so he could go see for himself it was friday morning. he saw that of the oral. you're right. there is oil. that's great. you do we need to radio to tell those people to get the boats in the water and get that camera out there to back he said no, no. it will take me at least 24-24 hours to go through the bureaucracy to get this done. this was the man in charge of the federal response for our state. he saw the oil, the resources were there and he told me it would take an 24-48 hours. he then told a reporter, i guess i'm just slow and dump.

with the system. time and time again we found out about boom. regulations required it to be kept there. it would be like fighting a war and running at an ammunition and keeping blitz in warehouses because the rules said you have to keep him there just in case. we can go on and on about the stiffer stories. for us in louisiana, it's like fighting all were. want to see a greater sense of urgency. too many times they got in the way of the idea. the reason i stopped there, both in the book in my remarks today is when the government gets so big it tried to run car companies and health care, it loses its core competency to secure the border, fight enemies abroad and domestically, loses its core competencies. a government big enough to give

you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you have as well. at the that is all we are seeing and the lesson we learned. that is the lesson about the country lines about what happened. the second chapter in the book "leadership and crisis" concerns crescent -- health care. there are a lot of reasons to be scared. over a trillion dollars. over $500 billion in tax increases. 500 billion in cuts to medicare. experts say it is not really pinned down the cost curve. we get the government more involved. 16 million new americans are being put into an unreformed medicaid health care system. my background is in health care policy. i worked in health care at the state, federal, private sector. with tears me the most is not as a policymaker or governor, but as the father of three young

children. i want to a show you a couple of examples of experiences we have at. we have an 8-year-old girl. they're staying with their grandparents. that same old grandfather a total of about ethics timeout is cruel punishment. i try to punish my kids and he said, we never spank you. he just forgot my entire childhood. he has amnesia. i think that is what they're supposed to do. we have a six year-old and four year old boy as well. italian about our children. boarded this in hospital her father was. the foyer of boy had a sunny different idea. our first child to a 36 hours of labor. the second to 24. our third child to 30 minutes.

our four year old boy was born at home. the two of us alone on the bathroom floor delivering this child. she did all the work, don't get me wrong. people can live to be afterwards . i want to share with you a few thoughts. first my message. i don't care a tough you are. there is a reason god allowed women, not men, to have babies a man came up to me at church and said, you know, if the same thing happened to me i had me a kidney stone. is the exact same thing. i said, sir, i wouldn't comment to my wife out. the lesson was in a pound kidney stone it is not the same thing. among beautiful wife is a very accomplished is near in her own right. she has a very interesting view

of the world of medication. if god had intended me to do this without and is easy and drugs he would not have invented these great trucks. , the drugs in the parking lot. so we had not practiced. they had these coaches. we had done none of that. sitting there on the floor. she is in pain. the baby is coming out. a second device. baby still come out the way they do on tv. your baby's are pink, wrapped in a pitiful blanket. pitiful, angelic. my poor wife is screaming in pain asking me, what does our boy looked like? i don't have a hard to tell the truth. he is a beautiful baby boy. tinting years, to and toys. he is covered in q parity does not look right. but i'm really thinking is the

need to put him back in there. he's not happened yet. a final piece of advice, if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, not an appropriate time to make jokes. i was trying to lighten the mood. she was in such pain. i said, you know, if they want to stop teenage girl from getting pregnant they should show them a video of this. she said your making jokes now? by great father a lock arrived during the childbirth. there are more like screaming. they looked at each other and said i'm not going in the. in the old days father stayed outside the delivery room. i knew a little bit about what to expect. i will say this, the moment i handed our child to love life she forgot all of her pain. she forgot about herself completely in the moment. she was so focused on the little

beautiful baby boy. we have been married 13 years. she is my best friend and an amazing partner. that has got to be the most incredible experience of our married life. just being a part of the miracle. i don't know about you, but i don't want the government interfere with the delivery of health care because it is one of the most personal and important things in the experiences we do. our second child was born in the hospital, a look perfectly healthy. the bill for that regular checkup. the doctor said he looks fine, but i hear something will funny. we need you to get a see a specialist. after hours of tests and all kinds of refuse the doctor comes and says there is something wrong. it said we are going to put him on prescription drugs. at some point that is calling to stop working. regard to have to put him in the intensive care unit. at some point that is, to stop

working. your going to try to keep him alive for at least three months. then we're going to have to do open-heart surgery. he will be able to breed or eat properly. he looked perfectly healthy. when you hear that about your child thoughts raced through your head to be always read about one in a million to be never think of it being your child. i would give anything to trade places. but even in that moment we were reassured. we know. why do you worry to back them, we were blessed. but before returned three months, he had his open heart surgery and is doing great. he sees a cardiologist regularly. he's telling great. the doctor, but not sure if sean should play football when he gets older. a left. elected the doctor.

likably. but the odds in the son of mine will be taken up to play football and louisiana? the rays debate. but in that moment i don't want the government, some bureaucrat in baltimore on a washington telling me which dr. arkin gussie, which procedure i could go get or telling the doctor or nurse how to do their jobs. one of the hardest moments is handing over our little boy less than three months old to an anesthesiologist as he walked away with our son to go do surgery. sometimes this adult but the technique. a of a boy was not old enough to know what was going on. i don't know if we could've stopped ourselves. in that moment of what the doctors and nurses to do what

they need to do. that is laboriously. i talk about the status quo. we -- there are things we need to do to improve it. let's be serious about cracking down on frivolous lawsuits. people have the scale that individuals working for large employees to. let's focus on the outcomes. this to a better job keeping folks out of emergency rooms. treat diabetics and those with asthma and others. there are things we can do to improve the quality of our health care that don't involve putting 16 million people on medicaid court. right now in medicare today there are 130,000 pages of rules and regulations.

the american hospital association says nurses spend an hour filling out paperwork for every hour that provide care. does not just medicare, but regulations from private and public sector as well. anybody here that things that the government will do a better job with health care, just room for the bureaucracy and red tape of the oil spills and ask yourself if you want the same bureaucracy and red tape run into our health care system. another example is immigration. and, to talk to you about my parents' experience. they came to bat ridge, louisiana. my mom was pregnant. the consumer market study at lsu. in know, when i take about a story, is so much more interesting. my dad, just the idea of where he came from, one of nine children who grew up in the house without electricity or running water. literally of remember calling

and asking one day for an allowance for the jurors used to make is to. said of giving and the lilac site of a lecture. he said, son, you know how lucky you are? when he was crawling up the hat to walk of built school, as 3 miles. apparently when school was done he have to walk uphill coming back. they did not invent down hill until paltrow was born. how much to you pay me for that reflect and your head? i was going to owe him more money. i never did get an allowance. the come to this country, they turn down the offer. the mom says, i'm pregnant. it is not the right time to move the family. we will give you an entire month of once the baby comes. it was such a good offer this said okay. it will come. they don't know anybody. they have never been.

they just moved. my father and his pregnant wife come to that larouche. here is what i love about this story. my dad does that tell anybody. he opens up the phone book and just such calling companies looking for a job. finally finds one that hire some he goes, that's great. i don't have a car. the company says will come getty. the amazing thing is that my parents to me have lived the american dream. they have the competence, optimism, knowledge that if you were card, apply yourself you can create a better quality of life for your children. let me tell you something, don't try try to criticize america in front of my death. my parents chose to come here. in know what it is like crawling up in a society where we don't have freedom, were the

don't take these opportunities for granted. if we tried to complain we would get another lecture. the reason i know, i have heard the stories every single day of my life. we learned pretty quickly not to come home and complain. you better not come home and said the teacher does of left me. my friends get a lower tusker then i got. none of that matter it. i heard the story. one day bobby kennedy come some. in of jocund.-- dad, i want to c priest instead of running for office to his father reportedly said that is great. we have never had a pulp and the family. well, that was my dad as well. whenever you did, you were going to be the best comedy were never

going to complain. you were already better off and everybody else. you had the privilege and blessing to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. i am going to talk about american exceptional as some, but i learned it from my parents. here is the important thing. they came here to be americans. at the whole chapter of assimilation. some people say it is not politically correct to impose values of those coming year. ll that's nonsense. excuse me. if somebody chooses to come here it is a "in depth" expect him to want to embrace american values. what makes america some great. what makes america so great is there are people here that can trace their lineage of the lead back to plymouth rock. the contrast that lineage back to hundreds of years, hundreds of hours. we are not here because of a common and a city or attachment

to a particular history, but because of a shared commitment to certain values and ideals. my parents did not come to america to change it. they came to chase the american dream and the citizens of the land of the free and the home of the brave. a great deal of our strength is our shared commitment, hard work, respect for the rule of law, a commitment to freedom, rugged individualism, belief in god. i am all for diversity. you can look it me and see that certainly i am an example of diversity. talking about things like skin color or ethnicity, that's great. we are all precious in this side. we've been we need more people believing in collectivism, socialism, one-party rule, tierney, terrorism, suicide bombing, treating women like second-class citizens or some of the of the negatives that this will allow us to offer, the thinking. many people that want to come here and be part of the american

experiment. this and let it because they wanted two. they love this country. they appreciate it more than some of us to. sometimes i think immigrants can love this country even more than we do because we are tempted to take for granted. we don't realize the alternatives. and of a chapter talks about the reaction people have when they find out i'm a cultural conservative. i am a fiscal conservative, cultural conservative. i can't tell you how many times, whether it is on the college campus somebody will come to me and say and how could somebody like you , how could you be educated in conservative? well, it must be justin activity must not really believe in these things. i tell them i hate to disappoint you. i really am a conservative.

alitalia a couple of stories about my experiences. i remember when i was working in washington d.c. beating with a from the "washington post" reporter. before we aid of a sane prayers'. she was startled her chest if ever there was okay. the said alison grace. she was startled. tow people say grace? it was so foreign. she was startled. i was startled by the fact that she was startled is not the only experience. i was at oxford university. i ran into an intelligent young woman who had been to harvard, one of the smartest people i had met. late one night she was asking me.

i'm just curious what is the difference between the old in the new testament to back i always hear people talking, and i really don't understand the difference to be to is this st. paul guy? a rethinking harvard like so many of our universities was founded as a seminary. everybody graduates as to be a believer. but how can one consider oneself educated in today's borrow without understanding the basics of western civilization? a have to answer questions about islam and muhammed and chiron. it is amazing to me that it almost appears that when you send your children to school, go and interact with reporters and folks along the coast more and more often it almost feels like we're talking past each other and don't have the same common experiences and vocabulary. i'm here to tell you, i am a proud son of the south.

i've just one of those poor souls. at back. [applauding] the next example, this is chapter 16 of the book. it's called it's the culture. we have a very famous political consultant out of louisiana, james carville. he actually did a blurb for the book. he said he came up with the great thing, it's the economy, stupid. i am here to tell you, america is great. america is not protest because of our economic system. don't get me wrong. i am a strong believer in the free-market system. i have written for the "wall street journal," spoken at the heritage foundation. the gets better than any alternative. america is of great simply because of of our governors. i am a strong believer in democracy.

america is certainly not great because of our military strength. don't give me wrong. i am a strong supporter of our military. i prefer a strong american military. a stronger we are, this is for the world as. but what i write the book is what makes this so great, america is much more than the strongest military, the most pitiful piece of property. the real beauty ingenious is our culture. our culture is the glue that holds us together, the engine that makes the american dream possible. culture is many things. our shared set of values chemicals, and attitudes, defining what we strive for, value, and how we conduct ourselves. the argument the book is not capitalism, military might, with the beauty of our country to read it is our culture. the experts want to pull us together, apart, everything gets dissected. there are tax issues, spending issues, moral issues, foreign policy issues to a defense

issues. the separations are artificial. the founding fathers got it right when they said this american experiment was designed for a moral people. they understood it is the culture that binds us together. there is a famous saying. the "is america is great because it is good. if america ceases to be good america will cease to be correct. it is not a popular notion, but we fail and our own peril. of a chapter to set up, i have a chapter in the book about congress. what are we going to do about congress? i spent all of three years there. based on what i said in the book and may not want me ever back, and that's okay with me. harry truman famously complained about the do nothing congress. would love to have a do nothing congress. when you are of little boys grow taking civics class in high school little school 11 the the

best and brightest go to washington to serve in congress. that is not true. when you get there you find a real cross-section. pfft a have a friend who says tm people need representation to. well, they have got it. a provide specific recommendations of how we can fix congress. it is not enough to let another group of good people. there are some hon. and great leaders debated is not enough to send another cast of characters. the need to structurally change our nation's capitol. we need to go back to the founding fathers original intent. some of the structural reforms. there is a balanced budget requirement in our constitution. what a novel idea. don't spend more money than you taken to really a requirement, supermajority vote before they

can raise taxes. what a novel idea. take a supermajority vote. why not a line-item veto so the president can take away these in marks. the vote appeared down. otherwise the bud bowl it all together. they go home and say, i voted for the puppies and reign of legislation. they think that we don't understand the tricks their plane. the need to have pay-as-you-go budgeting. this is going to sound off. we used to pay farmers not to grow crops. i suggest we pay members of congress not to pass bills. [applauding] it is a relatively recent invention. i am serious. make them part time, given time limits, to let them become lobbyists baby would be a little

more common sense and washington d.c. your wallet and your liberties are safest and there are outside of washington. us pay them to stay home. they should lose money every day they meet. would give them a-per diem. the eighth day of what a share, and i talked about the spending problem. we need to stop the madness. and it was running for governor of new york. he got up there, said he was a kid did for the red is too darned high. all over you to prove it was amazing. every first turn kendis and watch this guy. we start our own political party. that is too high. and gone from $4 trillion to 14 trillion. it is projected to double to up almost 26 trillion. the voters they pulled a fire

alarm. they'll pull the lever. they said we need to stop this. here is what happens. somebody will propose a program. young people, poor people, disadvantaged and a single moms, the unemployed. if you care about these people you will vote. here is what the republicans to. well, we are not like the democrats. we only want to spend half of what they spend. become a democrat light. the reality is the competition about who could spend the most. going to lose the battle. we are off to the races. before you know if you vote against any of these programs of a sudden your labels and uncaring friend of the rich, wall street, even fox news. the bottom line is we need to put our country on a different direction. the federal government is not the answer to all problems. every dollar they spend is not

free. $0.37 of every dollar they spend right now is borrowed. is there taking that money from our children and grandchildren. the ninth and final example, have a chapter entitled to be really want to be like you? i talked to you earlier about american exceptional as an. the president remarked and responded that he was sure people in other countries felt the same way. when asked about american exception list and he did not take the opportunity to say, of course. relief in the greatest country in the history of the world. with overseas and called himself a of a citizen of the united states but a citizen of the world. and not even sure what that means a believe in america's place. and make the case for american exceptional some. in sophisticated circles it is considered an enlightened to say we live in the a greatest country in the world.

let me warn you, they will get you kicked out of the faculty lounge. you will be kicked off the guest list. they might even bring you up on charges in the hague. be careful saying things like this. i am here to defend the statements and take on all comers. america is the greatest country in the world. there is no place on earth to put our combination of freedom, often to kill and commitment to do the right thing. the world is safest when america is strongest. that seems available to me. it seems to me for an leaders understand the importance. foreign leaders of a democratic free-market countries understand the important role that america has to play and must play for the entire world to be a safer place. america uses our power for the preservation of peace and the pursuit of liberty and freedom.

that is a very unique thing. think about it. we're not about building empires, leaving our troops abroad permanently, except to protect our allies. we should be proud of it and should not have to apologize. ticking or see that the family of nations, misguided. america is not just in the country to be i'm not saying we are better people were more intrinsic to be the founding fathers of america got it right. as long as we don't screw up with the start, and we could come as long as we don't, this country will remain the greatest in the world. the want to close on the final story. people ask me. i outlined in "leadership and crisis" all these challenges facing our country. to the policy and education policy. i am not a cynic. i am not a pessimist. naturally believe our best days as a country are ahead of us.

if you don't believe me or if you ever want to recharge your patriotism or your sense of will and faith, if this ceremony with the troops return home. as governor of try to get every departure and return ceremony. these are amazing ceremonies. we have 3,000 natural guardsmen. almost a thousand. they activated for hurricanes, will spills, he in afghanistan n all over. we have given medals the truth to thank them for service. until you the story of just one of the thousands of the louisiana national guardsmen. i met him for the first time back in 2008. he was coming back from iraq. he had been gone for almost an entire year. we were waiting for the planes to come. i was on the tarmac.

i ended up visiting with all the families. but when you're a moment who was holding her baby. she said governor, i'm not complaining. when he listed i didn't sign up to be a single mom. i'm proud he served his country. he has only been home for the birth of our child purity has been down the entire time. i'm excited he's coming home. that in a man was excited to be coming back. get a picture of her child by internet camino, a letter. stop the same. watch him grow. eventually the plane landed. as they landed in the chips for getting off the worst warmed by the families, spouses, the kids for waving the flags. everybody had excitement. i got lost in the confusion. after several minutes i heard a familiar voice. this woman called up monday.

i go over there. she says, what you to meet my husband. this is the davits telling you about. medieval depiction made with us to back the friend was trying to figure out the camera. every cameras different. lessened by visiting. asked about his unit. asked about the progress. i made a mistake. asked this young soldier a question and never should have asked him. before i tell you the rest of the story of will remind you that i was a brandt and governor. it is not like to give you a book telling you how to be governor. nobody told me what you are supposed to and not supposed to say. i was just curious. i said, son, you have been done for almost the entire year. when you get home tonight what is the first thing you want to do?

now, i thought maybe he want to eat some shrimp or crawfish, take a hot shower. his wife interrupted in. she would not let him speak. i don't know what she thought he was calling to say. she said to lack of a commercial tell you what he's calling to the. he's calling to change a year's worth of diapers. i said, well, son, i can't say he from that. good luck. the second time i saw and several months later he came up to see me. remember me? they excellent. i've been doing nothing but changing diapers ever since i get home. the third time i saw him a list of donors island. a thousand guardsmen had been activated. it moved 46 billion pounds of sand, rock, and dirt to fill in dozens of paths of wicked for

appeal. they fill in half a dozen. they build land bridges using everything from blackhawks and other helicopters to graters and everything that they could. they were using graders. they worked 24 hours a day on the big lights in the heat during the day, night. they built these wind bridges. thank god they did. east to be open water. the oil would get passed. it would be trapped by the land bridges. it that flintridge had not been there it would have gone straight into the wetlands. that was one of our last lines of defense. i was out there in the military humvee to a try to help set fires the work. the linemen driving said governor, to your ability to back the same demand as a comeback from iraq 2008.

they run toward danger, not away from it. and still could not help myself. the society. you just had one child. if he had any more? kubota, you guys keep the play me. i don't have time. our kids get it. we live in a culture that celebrates celebrities for being famous. the understand the importance of honoring real heroes. i came home to the mansion. when the boy comes running up yelling, that is home. getting some. screen pretty this unhappy. he comes and crabs my legs. left him up he still yelling. a secondary. and no. in this me and gives commercial me your badge. i don't have a badge.

you're not a state trooper? would get this house. of a governor of the great state of louisiana. he thought about this. a disappointed look. he thinks he might become the stay to run date smack a set of work done. we are blessed to live in the greatest country. call for a minute forget that our best days are ahead of us. garmin and women willing to run toward dangers of that beacon be safe as long as our young boys and girls and of the folks that are famous for being famous. my publisher would be mad if i did the set "leadership and crisis" to more times. pick up a copy. i will be happy to take your questions. [applauding]

>> take you very much. thank you. [applauding] [applauding] >> thank you all very much. they kill. until we have a few minutes for a few questions. yes, ma'am. [inaudible question] >> the current status of the moratorium impact. [inaudible question] thank you for not using the telephone. i think a person to the country i can read teleprompter. on the moratorium let's remember how we got this moratorium. the department, and he saw the inspector general's report. the secretary of the department

of interior inspected 15 of their own experts. those experts made specific recommendations about how drilling could be done more safely in the gulf. with the department did was they added the six month moratorium to those recommendations and make it appear like it was pure reviewed. it ..

>> somebody has to tell me how sending our jobs over seas makes our country better. another from thing conversation i had, i remember talking to the president about this. his attitude was look, people get a check from bp. i said, look, mr. president, i don't think bp is giving these laid off workers checks. he said, don't worry, they can get an unemployment check. our people don't want that, our people want to work. that is good and important for not only the gulf coast, but our entire country. on paper, they lefted the moratorium, but the reality is they have not issued a permit yet. there was a de facto moratorium. they have begun to issue more shower water permits. it's not at a normal pace even though that's a different environment in cr incident.

the secretary of interior is coming to my state tomorrow and monday, i'm hopeful they can provide a regulatory environment because the exeanls tell you they can file the rules, by the rules are changing and there's uncertainty. it goes back to the beginning. this administration discount understand the uncertainty about cap rates, and the moratorium. there's a story about this. the largest steel companiments to invest $3.4 billion in my state building five faces. most modern steel facility in this country, average pay of $75,000. they spent tens of millions of dollars paying for the land. i've been talking about this project for two years. based on our conversations and what you are doing in the state, he said, if we build in america, we'll build in louisiana. he also told me this. based on the uncertainty coming from washington, especially the

cap-and-trade bill from the house, they are also looking at brazil. aglad they decided to proceed with louisiana. think of the jobs they lost while waiting for congress. someone has to explain to me how sending jobs helps our environment and economy. the greatest impact of the moratorium is the uncertainty. what they didn't understand -- look, the multibillion companies will be fine. they will go to africa, make their money. it's the fabrication shops, the restaurants, small-med yiewm sized businesses, the mom and pop owned businesses, the louisiana workers who can't leave, they are so happy they bragged. they said they were only going to cost 8-12,000 jobs in the gulf coast, well, the estimates are higher. tell that to the families who have to pay the bills. these are proud people. these are hard working people that work along the coast.

they want to go back fishes and producing for the country. the moratorium on paper is no longer there, but in effect, it still is. i think the federal judge called it arbitrary and capricious saying it's not related to the facts. we just want them to listen to their own expert and be connected to the facts on the ground, and the moratorium is a great example where they didn't do that unfortunately to the debt triment of the state and country. >> i'm a senator usb, and professors and students are always apologizing for america and trying to look at europe as the greatest continent in the world. we were taught that sweden is the greatest, but not america. how do we -- why do you think college professors do this, and how do we combat this and teach the young people why america is the

greatest country? >> well, thank you for being here first of all. thank you to the other students for being here as well. i'll share my experiences from college. i 4 a great -- i had a great experience at brown and got a great education there. it is something about metal sharpening metal. i heard some the most aggressive philosophy you'll here. it's good to hear them, i don't stand up here to tell you affirmative action for conservatives on our college campuses. [laughter] i talked to the president, and i asked him the question you asked me. i asked then president larry summers at harvard. we were talking about diversity, and you look at it in different ways. i said, you know, we were having a conversation with jessi ventura, a editor from the

"washington post," and it's an interesting group. [laughter] they add milt in a survey they voted for a democratic candidate. college faculty is a decisively more liberal tilt. i asked, why is it at harvard? where are the conservatives? they are not here on your campus like the rest of the country. he said, well, the reason that is, he says, you know, evangelical christians don't send their children to harvard, and he said, that's good for them, and it's probably good for us. now, a couple things. i think he was being honest, not ugly, but i think he was trying to be honest in what others may think and just don't say. i'm not here to criticize larry summers. he was honest. he said, a percentage of the student population, they are not what you expect in the rest of the country. i did think it was interesting.

if he said that about any other group, there would have been boycotts and outrage. i remember as a student, you know, you talked about your experiences, but i remember being in a class where we had to write essays. everybody in the class was trying to be a victim than the person next to them. brown has a wide array of students from different bbds, but there's lots of middle class students with great life experiences. i look around the campus and think they are fortunate people on a beautiful campus getting a great education. every paper talked about how awful they childhoods was, but a wrote about how great my family was. my professor sent the paper back saying you just thought you were happy -- [laughter] i don't know what that means, i thought? i was happy. [laughter] when i went to brown, it was 1998, a presidential election year. i went there wanting to join the

republicans and get involved in the campaign. they said they don't exist. the democrats are the conservatives. if we have a republican, it's by mistake. i eventually headed up the state chapter as well, and we were the biggest club on campus. we had 300 students enrolled with 100% penetration. that was every single republican on campus. [laughter] every other student disagreed with us, and i can't say how many times i was in classes where people said you believe a, b, or c. a couple pieces of advice. one, i think you'll have a much richer educational experience than your fellow students who go to classes where everybody agrees with them. as long as you stand up and speak up for what you believe, and you have to defend it with articulate, well thought out, well-reasoned policies and explanations for your conclusions, and that's a great educational experience, and you

may have professors who assume if you are compassionate of course you believe in conservative pollty sighs. it's a great obligation to force yourself and be forced to respond to arguments. in terms why the professors are that way, i think it's a self-selected group, and i write in the book, why are most the folks in civil 1-6s is conservatives don't say our highest aspiration is not to work in government and do those things. that's not to belittle any professors and accomplished government leaders, but conservatives, you know, peggy wrote this when i was describing her book when character was king tucking about ronald reagan before he ran for president, having to stop and think about whether this was an appropriate use of his talent and time, and

conservatives toant apyre to that. if you work hard, one day, you too could work for the federal government. that's not the dream in a conservative family. [laughter] maybe you will become a professor, i think the conservatives also do -- and we need to look at work in our college campuses and government. i think we as conservatives should spend time doing that and consider it missionary work. go back into the private sector and real world. conservatives are paying the bills, running businesses, creating jobs, making this country grow and survive. you ask the professors when they solicit donations, i guarantee, they are more conservative than the professors teaching in the classrooms, but i'll close with this. you know, in terms -- i applaud you for being here, and the best thing is to stand

up for your beliefs. the worst thing is to go along to get along, bend to their beliefs. the professor believes that 90% of the student believe it, and i need to believe it to. no, stanltd up and tell people why america is the greatest country. if it wasn't for america, you go back, america has now saved the world. think about it. we're in the third just in the last 100 years, the third time america worked to save the world from the forces of evil. go back to world war i it was america between the terrorism and freedom and democracy loving countries. cold war, thanks to president reagan and his leadership, it was america that stood between communism and the free world, and now the war on terrorism. it is america that has taken the lead. we have allies, but it's america taking the lead. you go back and say where would this world be? where would your beloved european countries be if not for

america three different times. no offense to europe, but many are now trading liberty for security. we are a young, dynamic growing country, we must not make that tradeoff. i had a professor at brown who told me this. he was a professor and he said, bobby, you're too smart not to be a socialist. [laughter] he encouraged us to call him by his first name, and i said you're too smart not to be a republican. he said fair enough. [laughter] thank you very much for hosting me today with leadership in crisis. [applause] >> for more information on governor bobby jindal, vote bobbyjindal.com. >> wilson is a natural list and

prize wins biologist. we're talking about ant hill. welcome to the program, sir. how did you get the title? >> because there's a lot of ant hills of it. it's really a coming of age novel about a young boy who grows up in the deep south and becomes enamored and in love with a rare patch of old growth forest near his home, and begins to develop such a liking and understanding of it that he decides that he would do anything when he grows up to save it from developers and down in that part of the south, and so things like that were always under the threat of developers. in the course of his studies of natural history, he focuses on ants. not a surprise because ants make up two-thirds of the weight of all insects. they own the earth. that's where the ants come in

and the little boy learns of them when he gets to college. >> after writing books about nature and boiling, why did you write this as a novel? >> well, here's one reason. there's several, but i really wanted to continue to push awareness to the public as possible of nature and how fast it's disappearing in the country and around the world, and i found something i think you know well too. i found people respect nonfiction which is what i wrote all my life, but they read novels. this was one reason why i decided to write a novel. >> tell us more about the main character, ray cody, and is there a by graphical element to his character? >> i have to admit that his childhood up to his early teens,

closely parallels that of your faith holsaertful author who grew up in that part of the country, but then they diverge as cody, his mother named him for prestige reasons after admiral ray faye yal, and after that, he proceeds on to law school, and finds a solution that he sought to be an effective conservationist to save his lands and others like them as what he learns from the law. >> what do you think the readers take away from this book because it's a novel rather than a nonfiction book? >> three things. first, for my fellow southerners, that's my heritage, the preciousness of the natural environment and the rapidity of which we are losing it.

second, the importance of knowing in detail for purposes of fiction and not just nonfiction. the rich environment around all of us, the natural environment that tends to be overlooked or skimmed over by novelists, and it's not here. nature becomes a virtual character. then, third, and it takes up a quarter of the whole book. in the account of the ant wars, colony against colony until one extirm nates another, and another comes in and exterminates the second one, well, all of that is in correct scientific detail, so when you follow the life cycle of the colony, there are wars. there are tournaments in which like military groups on parade, they demonstrate their strengths to other colonies, all true, and

award themselves and how they communicate is all based on fact. >> you're going to be presenting later on here at the national book festival, what would you like to -- what kind of information do you want to impart on the audience? >> i think the most important is that pretty much of the themes we touched on. first, the enormous importance of america's environment, and then for my fell -- fellow southerners the critical importance of it in the south and nature in its relevance to fiction and nonfiction to future creative work. >> you mentioned your relationship to the south, do you feel there's an awareness between man and his environment in the south than other parts of the united states? >> not particularly. i think certainly more than the mid atlantic states and new

england or even the midwest, but not with the far west, but the close attention that many southerners give to the outdoors tends to be a little much on fishing and hunting which is okay, but now i want to help encourage a brorder interest in the wonderful environment they inherited. >> we are here with eo wilson and his book, "ant hill". >> host: michael phoner has a new book coming up, and mike call joins us to pry view his book. one of the things you write in your book is something i'd like you to expand on. bin laden is not the character

we made of him. if i had a bigraphical sketch of him, they would be pies, brave, intelligent, patient, visionary, stubborn, egalitarian, and most of all, realistic. on the phone: yes, sir, i think he's an enemy who we need to respect because of his capabilities much like the allies felt about ram l during world war ii. they had to kill him, but had to be respectful his his ability to fight them. i'm afraid what we have gotten from most arthurs and politician is a picture of bin laden as a criminal or a thug or a madman, and i don't think that's true, and i think it retards our ability to understand the enemy we face. >> host: what's the danger of

that character in your view? on the phone: well, the danger is we underestimate the eighties of the man. bin laden runs an organization that is absolutely unique in the muslim world for example because it's multiethnic, multilinguistic, and there is no other organization like it. it's more like a multinational organization than it is certainly a terrorist group. we also -- the danger is we underestimate the motivation of bin laden. he's truly within the parameters of islam. he is not a renegade or someone outside of islam or hijacking the religion. he is a sol muslim and it comes

from the fact he is believably defending the faith holsaert against what is -- faith against what is deemed as an attack from the west. >> host: knowing that because he is from the muslim faith and tradition, what should the strategy be? on the phone: i don't know what it should be, but you need to have the american people on board in terms of understanding what the enemy is about. we have spent now 15 years as of this coming august and we have spent all of those years telling the american people that we're being attacked because we have liberty and freedom and women in the workplace and because we have elections or one or more of us have beer after work, and

that really has nothing to do with the enemy's motivation. if we were fighting an enemy who simply hated us for how we lived our lifestyle and how we thought, the threat would not even rise to a lethal nuisance because there wouldn't be enough manpower to make it more than that. we are really fighting an enemy who is opposed to what we do, what the u.s. government does, and until we really understand that, i don't think it's possible to form a strategy. >> host: you have a subchapter in the book called luring america. you talked about how bin laden wanted to lure the u.s. to fighting in afghanistan. on the phone: yes, sir, he worked very hard from 1996 when he declared war on us until 2001, and i think we frustrated him on several occasions. he wanted us on the ground in afghanistan so they could apply,

they, the al-qaeda people, taliban people, they could apply the same military force against us that they applied against the red army in the 1980s believes that we were a much weaker opponent than the soviets, and that a fairly limited number of deaths would persuade us to leave eventually, and so the attacks on us in saudi arabia in 1996 and 1995, in east africa in 1998, on the uss coal in 1999 failed, but 9/11 did the trick for them. >> host: in your upcoming book, you talk about some of the other books that have come out on bin laden and his family. what do you think of those? steve calls book, lawrence wright, ect.?

on the phone: i think those books are very worthwhile. i tried to take a different path than those books as to not repeat what was written already. steve's book is excellent, i think. jason burke wrote one, a british journalist, and the problem i had with those books is they were primarily books that were based on what other people had said about bin laden, not what he had said or done himself, and i have found over the past decade whenever bin laden speaks, he's described as ranting or rifing or issuing another di tribe, so i thought i'd take sources based on speeches and interviews he made and write a book on what he said and see how it turned out, and i

think frankly when you take the primary sources which number in my archive, and i'm certainly don't have every one that's available, and i have over 800 pages, when you take that information, the man that emerges is not like the bin laden that emerges is lawrence wright's book or steve cole's book as sort of someone who is mentally disturbed or hateful of our lifestyle, but rather a man who is very clear about what he believes, what he intends to do, and most especially matches words with deeds, with which is very unusual for any politician in this day and age. >> host: because of your background with the cia, did this these to be cleared? on the phone: yes, sir, everything i write whether it's a book or an article or a poetry

writer, which i'm not, for the rest of my life it has to be cleared by the cia. this book was reviewed twice. once before i sent it to the publisher, and once after it was reviewed and we had made chances that the editor wanted, so the agency -- i'm very careful to try to respect my obligation to have that reviewed before its published. >> host: was anything taken out? on the phone: no, nothing, sir. in fact, i worked with the agency now for six years since i retired probably have published -- well, two books and probably 200 articles, and i've really only had four or five things taken out by the agency over that amount of time, and i have to say that at least on four of the five occasions, they were correct, and i was wrong. they are simply looking to protect the classified information and sources and

methods, and they've been very good to work with. i found them very, very accommodating and very helpful. >> host: three different presidents have chased bin laden. are you surprised we haven't found him? on the phone: well, i think we have found him, certainly between 1998 and 2001 mr. clinton had 13 opportunities to capture or kill him, and certainly mr. bush's general had a chance to capture or kill him in december of 2001. i think now, especially in the last five years, sir, it's not surprising that we haven't gotten him. first, like any other thing in life, if you have an opportunity to do something and you don't do it, sometimes the opportunity doesn't come around again, but second, we have so massively

undermanned our operations in afghanistan that there's simply not enough american soldiers and intelligence officers to go around. they have so many tasks and so few people to do them that i don't think it's a surprise that we haven't got him at this point. >> host: well, that said, what would you like to see the u.s. do in afghanistan? beef up or pull out or what? on the phone: i think, sir, we've been there too long. i don't think we have enough soldiers in the u.s. military if we committed every ground troop available to rectify the situation, and america as a society no longer knows how to fight a war, no longer has the stomach for it. we have lost, you know, less than 2,000 people in afghanistan from a population of 310 million, and we are rapidly wanting to leave. my own view is we should have

fought and won there, but i am a hawk only if we intend to win, and i'm afraid mr. bush and mr. obama have never been able to define a winning strategy b and so my own view is that it's not worth another american marine or another american soldier's life to stay there. the one thing i would add though is when we leave, it will be a tremendous defeat for the united states. however we dress it up, if we say the afghans had their chance and couldn't do it, if we say that we have somehow satisfied what we went there to do, we may fool the american people, but we will not fool the muslim world. when we leave afghanistan without accomplishing what we said we were going to, it will be viewed as the tribes