are pushing against government support and a further stimulus and job creation. i think all we can do as citizens is talk about these issues and write and call our elected officials and make a stink about it. you know, i don't think that -- i don't think that happened as much, actually, on kind of the pro-government support side as it has on the anti. the other thing that we -- even if that doesn't push the government toward a wholesale change in strategy, there is a lot that we can be doing right now that is not actually cost money. we are just not doing it because, frankly, our elected officials are not really focused on job growth. i'll give you one small example.

there is a bill before congress now called the start of this act. it was supported by american venture capitalists. but it would do is more or less automatically grant a visa to any foreign entrepreneur who wanted to settle in the u.s. and could -- and had already secured the american venture-capital funding. there are a large number of highly skilled entrepreneurs who would love to move to the u.s. they could create jobs immediately. the bill is languishing. it would not cost money. we are not doing it. i describe that. there are a host of measures that we could be pursuing, you know, without any impact on the deficit. collectively they at least at up to something, and we are not doing them. >> one last quick question.

>> putting bad if government policies aside for the moment, a lot of people who talk about economics and write books and talk about this problem seemed to believe in something that i guess i could call the business cycle. the dips, troughs and pekes and stuff like that. i am wondering whether business cycles is really something that we are still dealing with. cheaper labor offshore is a phenomenon. if you want to get the job go to india or china. not a problem. that is certainly one solution. we have the internet as a phenomenon that has only existed for ten or 15 years which certainly makes a lot of brick and mortar jobs, computers, automation, artificial intelligence, robotics. they are all the future.

what business cycle -- i mean, what kind of solutions to we have for these things that i personally don't believe every business cycle has had these kinds of things thrown at at society. what kind of pope might there actually be for people given these ugly realities? >> two things going on in the economy, and one is essentially a business cycle, although an extended one. we spend years of overspending. consumers taking on debt more and more. what we are seeing is the hangover from that. the fallout from the financial crisis, the big ones is almost always a very slow. recovery usually takes a number of years. i mean, part of what is happening today is kind of cyclical, and the problems will mitigate and away once consumers

the leverage and can spend again, but that is a very long process and it will be all the wonder if government hinders, rather than helps to read you are right. the other thing that is going on, and that i have tried to describe in this talk is much more than business cycles. it is an acceleration of the hauling of the middle-class driven by technology and of shoring. that may slow down a little bit. it is certainly going to continue, and that is why i think that in addition to short-term measures to stimulate the economy we really need to think broadly as a nation about how for the next generation and for people who are currently falling out of middle-class, how we can build a broad and sustainable middle-class country again because the one we have is falling apart. [applause]

[applause] >> thank-you for a great talk and thank you all for being here. copies of "pinched" are in front of the store. come back and have one signed and as more questions. thank you for joining us. have a great evening. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> this event was hosted by politics and prose bookstore in washington d.c. you can visit them on the web at politics-pros dot com. >> you are watching 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books on c-span2 book tv. up next a panel discussion on conservative books from the 2011 young american foundation national conservative student conference. this is about an hour. >> hi, everyone. good afternoon. good to see you all. nice to have bright eyed and bushy tail students. i want to say quickly that young american foundation is an educational organization promoting conservatism and our ideas on the nation's college campuses through lectures,

publications, and conferences. during the last year the foundation sponsored more than 600 lectures including addresses from sarah palin, and coulter, karl rove, ben stein, steve forbes, and many others. in 1998 in american foundation save the ronald reagan ranch and in santa barbara the use it to educate young people about reagan's ideas and how they apply to today. to learn more, please visit our website. call 1-800-u.s. 8-1776. right now we will start a book panel. young people, we are used to youtube in the internet to be my big question is why i've read. i want to find out because honestly i have a hard time getting back into books and intellectualism. these guys will answer what we should read and why. we have some great panelists. we have roger ream, christopher malagisi, and kathryn jean

lopez. i will introduce them all individually, but generally i wanted to say before we get into the panel that this is important to build a base for intellectualism and conservatives and have the ideas and the true logic to defend your ideas and to have these on college campuses. your professor is first in intellectualism, and a lot of that comes from books and a long line of philosophy. what you should read so you can take down the logic of your college professors when they're up there pontificating. if you get the chance to question them you will have something good to say. our first speaker will be roger ream, the president of the fund for american studies. the founding staff member and vice president for the development of citizens for a sound economy, which is an economic policy organization in d.c. he served as a special assistant to two u.s. congressmen. he is one of the founding members of the frank myers

society. maybe he will recommend one of their books. he currently serves as a secretary. please welcome the president for the fund for american studies, roger ream. [applause] >> thank-you very much. it is great to see all of you here for the young america's foundation conference this summer. it really is a source of encouragement to people like me who came up 30-35 america -- years ago. the organizations were working on campus. those dark old days. i know it is just as dark at times for you guys. just great that you are spending a week this summer. i have the highest admiration. i have known ron robertson for 35 years. we worked on campus politics

together and have the greatest admiration for what they are doing with the reagan ranch and the programs like this that they are sponsoring the route the country. i hope you will all stay active with young america's foundation during the coming academic year. it is a pleasure to be here. i thought, since i'm first, i might begin by talking about why this panel is being held and why it is important to read books. they say that reading books is somewhat of a dying art with all the competing opportunities we have. i think young america's foundation certainly recognizes the importance of the canon of literature about america's founding ideas, let it -- limited government and free enterprise system by cheering this panel. by reading books we develop a philosophical framework, those first principles that enable us to evaluate public policy,

enable us to make judgments about the things we encounter, ideas that come along. if we familiarize ourselves with the ideas of jefferson and madison and great economists and others, when we come across proposals or ideas that challenge us we can think about what it is those authors might have thought about those ideas. it doesn't mean the conclusions will always be right, but we have that framework to defend our beliefs when challenged. a political science professor wrote an interesting paper just a few years ago. he made a distinction between think tanks and policy organizations and other organizations on the conservative side of the spectrum verses those on the

left. and there was an interesting distinction that is relevant here today because what caesar said, if you go into the heritage foundation, the cato institute, the american enterprise institute, any type of conservative or libertarian organization, you will see portraits or busts of the great thinkers who are ideas derived from, be it john locke, and edmund burke, jefferson, madison, friedman, high-tech, and others. we have this great intellectual tradition upon which we base the proposals that we support today. if you go into left-wing think tank don't find that. they don't have that intellectual tradition. they might have paul krugman or chris matthews or marine dowd they generally don't want to be honest. so it is very important for us to look back at those first

principles, those foundations, ideas, and it has been important in my own intellectual development. my first piece of advice to you is to become very familiar with our founding ideas. you can go to the original thinkers. certainly unlike unfortunately most americans read the declaration of independence, the constitution. they are important things. when jefferson writes, one of his complaints against england and george the third was that he had sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and he out their substance, sounds familiar. very relevant. in the constitution, you have to know the tenth amendment. congress is only given about 20 powers. the rest are left to the states or the people. so those are things it is important for conservatives to be aware of. the federalist papers is a great

source. how to protect minority rights in an majoritarian system. the anti federalist arguments are also very important for conservatives to know. the first principles that were drawn from john locke, adam smith, very important to go back to those original sources to get a firm grounding for our beliefs i also recommend the writings of people like david mccullough, david hackett fischer who write about the founding time. historians to know how to write and bring his real-life. those books have been bestsellers, thankfully, and our country. those i recommend. for me when i was in my formative student years i came across a book called the law by frederick bastille. at any of you read that? it looks like maybe 5 percent did you at most. i highly recommend the book.

.. >> it's been in print well over 50-60 years. he talks about how the language has become perverted. he writes about the ideas of legal plunder, of government using its means for things that are not appropriate. i'll just share a paragraph.

"see if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and takes and gives to other persons to whom it does not belong. at the expense of another citizen of doing what that citizen himself can want do without committing a crime. legal plunder can be committed in a number of ways, benefits, so sigh dis, minimum wages, relief, free credit, and so on. " it'll really grant your beliefs. "the law." another favorite is the conflict of visions. you can't go wrong reading thomas' books. they are all excellent. he continues to turn them out. he's a book about basic economics if you want to understand economics, but "a conflict of visions" is a book that really contrasts the left and the right. it contrasts our view of human nature versus the lefts' view of

human nature. he looks at concepts like freedom, equality, power, rights, and when we use them, when people who come into our tradition use the words, we mean one thing, and when the left uses them, they mean something very different. it's a powerful book for helping you get ammunition for defending your beliefs, helping you understand where people who you're intellectually engaged with might be coming from. he makes the case really for locke, burke, adam smith versus riseau, john rahls. it's an easy read and excellent book as are any books by tom soul. a classic in understanding free market economics, hazlett wrote a number of books demolishing the idea that government can

stimulate the economy by spending money, something that unfortunately the current administration didn't read and didn't learn. he shows how stimulus bills are counterproductive. they slow down economic growth. that it doesn't work. hazlett borrows an important lesson about the fallacy of the broken window which i won't share today, but the disasters, the destruction can actually prompt economic growth as -- is a terrible myth, and yet you see it with a natural disaster, some liberal economist says it's good for the economy because they have to rebuild houses there, but they ignore looking at the other side, the tradeoffs. someone who was in young americans for freedom with ron robinson and myself, david bowes compiled a book called "the libertarian reader" which starts

with a section of the bible and goes up to current readings, just a great survey of literature of writings about free markets, about limited governor, about justice. i recommend "a libertarian reader". there's another book published called "libertarianism" which he wrote that i also recommend. you may not agree with all of his points of view, but they provide great arguments for limited government. be remiss without mentioning a good friend of mine. i went to a fun for america's study program, the organization i work with now with mark levin, and we became great friends there. mark wrote a book -- [applause] yeah. [applause] two years ago, a run away best seller, "liberty and tyranny,"

another great introduction to the ideas we talk about here that i highly recommend. a few more, and i'll yield my time. i think it's important for us 20 -- to have good grounding with original sources. the theory of moral sentimentses, also a great book for you to be familiar with. "human action," i read that in my early 20s, and it just -- it's a dense book, but readable, and gives you just the whole a to z understanding of the austrian school of economics, of free market economics. he wrote other great books "socialism" a great rebuttal of socialist ideas. i love the book "give me a break," and it's a great introduction to free market ideas by john stosle. "the road

to surfdom" is a timely warning to us about how encroachment of government through regulation, through a larger and larger state, control of our lives puts us on a path towards the road of serfdom or fascism. what i'll do is pass out a reading list i prepared. it's on the website as well. it's www.tfas.org, and then backslash books. there's some lists of recommendations of books and films that i think are great as conveying our ideas. i have recommendations on there of books about the movement. you can read about the history of this. wayne thorburn wrote a book on

the young america's foundation board i believe, just a year ago, "generation awakes," the creation of the conservative movement. there's a book by al, "upstream" that's excellent. "radicals for capitalism," and excellent book about the history of the movement for freedom, particularly touching on various strains of the libertarian movement. biographies -- there's few better than "witness," clarence thomas' biography, "my grandfather's son." outstanding book. walter williams this past year published "up from the projects". there's laugh out loud lines in it as you'd expect. tom soul wrote "man of odyssey," and finally i want to touch on

books about communism that was informative to me, perhaps the most moving the of someone enduring life under communism is a book by chang, "life and death in shanghai". it's really a harrowing and sad account what happened to her during the cultural revolution in china. she just passed away here in washington about two years ago, and she spoke to our students while she was alive and she has an incredible account of communism in china at that time. "the back book of communism," another classic and depressing harrowing account of life in the former soviet union. there's some great books about history, the forgotten man and "new raw deal," both shattering the commonly taught myths about the great depression and showing how the policies of fdr didn't

get us out of the depression, but prolonged the depression. there's a great heritage foundation guide to the constitution that ed and matt spalding edited that i recommend. timely, i would say that probably the best book on communism is "animal farm" which hopefully a lot read. it describes what's happening in cuba today and north korea certainly. also his book "1984", "brave new world," lots of great novels with lessons for us. we talked about ayn rand. and i know more and more people in this movement for freedom that were introduced to these ideas by reading "atlas shrugged". they are not necessarily randans today, but those are great novels in terms of introducing people to the fear of the growth of government, and, you know,

certainly they are important books to me while i was in my twenties and was exposed to rand and her books as well, and "anthem" as well, a short book. i'll pass out the list this afternoon. maybe someone on the staff could do that. i will say this -- on the back page of the handouts, i put gold seals, and on about 25 of these, and 23 you get a gold seal, you can choose a book. i brought about 30 books to give away because they're duplicates on my shelves. if you have a gold seal, they are yours. i'll answer any questions. let me encourage you, there's a few more weeks before college. read, read, read. go to the beach, read. myrrh shell bachmann read on the beach. certainly you can read the law or mark levin or other great authors like that, riding the

bus, at the airport terminal, on an airplane or wherever, and you'll will better for. thank you. [applause] >> who here has been to cpac? who is planning to go this coming year? if anything goes wrong, blame this guy over here. [laughter] our next speaker is christopher malagisi. he's the director of cpac. he's also -- he was also adjunct professor at the university. he looks young, but he's a professor, and i think he's not liberal though -- i hope, like most professors? no. all right. great. christopher malagisi, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> good afternoon. let's try that again. good afternoon! i know we get the last afternoon panel, and we get to talk books. i love it. i love this stuff.

it's an honor to be here at the young america's foundation. i was sitting there not too long ago such as yourselves. i was at cpac and went to one of the young america's foundation lunchons they had, and i got to hear anne coulter and i was hook, line, and sinker. you are hard core of hard core coming out in summer, in august, 90-some odd degrees here. congrats to you all. yes, you can clap. it's all right. that's awesome. [applause] saying in the introduction, i do teach a class at american university called history of the con seshtive -- conservative movement 1945 to present, and, yes, they let me teach that there. when i start my class on the very first day, the very first class, the very first question that i ask everyone is what is conservatism? typically, i get the normal answers where students say they are for less taxes, pro-life,

they want to win the wars. i said, okay, but fundamentally though, what is conservatism? actually, perhaps the better question is what are conservatives inherently trying to conserve? i think you can sum it up in two words, "american exceptionalism," something that may been talked about this week. it's unique and exceptional in its place in history, time, and change in the world. and for american exceptionalism, there's five what we call first principles based on the heritage foundation, and their ideas what is -- what where first principles, and the first is a constitutionally limited government. the idea that government should do what it's just supposed to do; right? the second is individual liberty, that we should promote the max myization of freedom, but with the rights come responsibilities as well. the third is the idea of promoting a free market economy

where everybody has an opportunity at the american dream. the fourth is having a strong national defense and protecting america here at home and abroad, and the fifth, preserving our traditional values. now, why do i say these in the beginning here? the reason i structured this presentation was based on the books that i'm going to talk about, roger hit on a lot of good ones there, are based on these five first principles and what they mean. you know, conservatism itself has not and never has been an entity, ideology. it's a philosophy, but not an ideology. it's 5 coalition of three workable groups. these groups are the classical liberals, libertarians focusing on free market economy, limited government, individual liberty. you have traditionalists, social conservatives believing 234 a moral order that passes from one

generation to the next to better society, and the third is the anticommunist, what people call the national security or defense conservatives today that kind of tag under the whole strong american foreign policy in military presence, so keep that in mind as i go through this because i'll try to break down books based on that depending on interests. some of you may be more fiscal than social, others more social than fiscal, defense, or vice versa, but depending on interests, how i break down the class is through these books, and if not these books in particular, then aspects of the books. the first is what i consider the gospel of the conservative movement, and if you are taking notes, write this one down. it's 5 book by dr. george h. nash, wrote a book called the "conservative intelligent chiewm movement in america since 1945." you know how somebody asks you what one book changed your

life? well, you know, i hope you know, in america if you pay attention to politics more than seven minutes a week, you're not normal. you know that; right? the average person pays attention to politickings seven minutes 5 week. ave theres about that. i think people who watch -- trying 20 get to espn on the television pass through fox, cnn, and each station counts for a minute. it's probably four minutes. this is a book when you read the first six chapters in particular which i require for the class, talks about the foundation of conservative thought. have you ever wondered to yourselves why do i want a limited government? why low taxes good? why is having a strong national defense a good thing? this is a book to help answer that and kind of give you a background of where those ideas come from. a good book that complements it very well is a book by dr. lee

edwards who is heritage scholar at the heritage foundation for the center for american studies writing a book called "the conservative revolution." the movement that remade america. why this is a really good complement to nash's book is this book is more of the chronological history of the political movement since 1945. with nash you get the fill soft l call -- philosophical stuff, and lee edwards gives you the cronology. there's the first conservative from modern elected official in government from ohio. he talks about mr. conservative, barry goldwater running for president in 1964 for the republican nomination, and to some of the old-timers too, that's where they got their start working on the goldwater campaign, and then mr. president, ronald reagan, and his importance of the

movement personifying that, and the fourth, mr. speaker, talking about newt gingrich in the 1994 republican revolution where the republicans for the first time were -- which was a conservative revolution in many respects, took over congress for the first time in 40 years. the third book that i use for the history of the conservative movement, and i don't want to take captain's thunder away, but phil's history, autobiography called "miles gone by." he's the first gentleman to the right, william f. buckley jr.. if you don't know him, get to know him. he made conservatism cool and personified the movement and articulated it for an entire generation. he and his magazine, which many of you have read, "national review," the goal was to consolidate the conservative movement wings together, and he's credited for being the god

father of the movement if you will. if you get a chance, i consider him my personal hero, but go on youtube and look up bill buckley and firing line. there was a show for 33 years, over 15,000 episodes interviewing everyone talking about the issues of the day. you want to see a creepy hugh hefner, check him out there whether he was 30 years old. those are the books, lee edwards' book, the conservative revolution, and bill buckley's miles gone by, the ought biography talking about how he got the movement started. so, getting into the three legs of the conservative movement, roger hit on a lot, but there's other books that are pretty good. if you're more of the fiscal type, he hit on the "road the serfdom," which i couldn't agree more. that book probably kicked off the modern fiscal conservative

move. if you will. interesting story about that. that book came out in 1994, world -- 1934, and the war was stimgoing on. reader's digest decided to take that book, turn into -- digestive form about 100 pages, and readers digest at the time was the people's magazine if you will, but more intellectual. they were able to make it in a digestive form so people understood free market ideas and principles. it's on the internet. if you looked it up, you don't have to buy the book, but just read the reader's digest version if you. . "economics in run lesson," although it takes 26 chapters, but it's 5 great book, great book. third, most important is uncle milton [applause] [applause] yes, yes. [applause]

friedman wrote two books, "free to chutes," and "capitalism in freedom," and it's a precondition for political freedom. 23 you want to articulate modern economics, it's friedman. he gave more to the movement than most others i can think of in regards to free market economics. that's the fiscal part. the social part, the traditionalist, there's three or four individuals that wrote these amazing books that if you want to understand a little bit more about if you tend to be socially son servetive, pro-life and otherwise, where do the ideas come from? why do we value life, marriage, and all the other things that we hold dear? the first would be summon who i don't think gets enough credit, but probably jump started the social conservative wing in the movement. a man by the name of richard weaver who wrote a book called "ideas have consequences." it's about 150-160 page, and his

basic theory, thesis is that man started to drift morally, if you will flirting with the idea of something called nominalism, there's no such thing as universal truths. as conservatives, we base our philosophy on the idea of natural law and rights. when we flirt with the idea of everything is relative, there's no black and white and just shades of gray. this is where we get in trouble. it's a great book. the second book is called "the conservative mind." it was written by russell kirk. he provided heritage of conservatism in america. you can link it all the way back from ed burke, the original god father of the conservative movement to ts elliot, but talks about john adams being a modern day conservative in many republics and other americans who plays a big part in the conservative movement and links

it. it's hard to get through and long, but he provides a link. third is 5 book not often talked about, but it's my favorites. it's "the quest for community and identity. " and he talks about what richard weaver does with nominalism and the ideas of getting away from universal truths. that's for the social conservative wing. if that's not enough, the anticommunist defense wing, two individual books that i think are readable. someone who doesn't get enough credit is a man by james burnam. he wrote three books that supplied the movement in regards to foreign policy and pretty much defeating communism. "the struggle for the world" sticks out the best. why he's important is ronald reagan has said through those books and ideas that he used

when he became president. if you want to know where his ideas came from, a lot is traced 20 james. the other gentleman playing a huge role not only for reagan but buckley in the conservative movement is the book "witness." chambers is a fascinating story about a former communist who became the editor of "time" and actually was a spy for the communists, and turn of leaf then became an ex-communist and was one of the leaders of the conservative movement getting americans to understand the threat of communism. it's funny. i had a student in my class once ask me talking about communism, and she asked, "well, i get that communism was bad, but why was it bad again? i was like, how old are you? she said, 20. i said, i understand the cold

war ended before you were born, but just where in the public school education or anywhere did you lose the idea of joseph stalin, lennon, the five-year plan. it's amazing how important it is to learn why the cold war played an important role with the conservative movement. it's an 800-page book. you don't have to read it all, but just read the introduction called letters to my children. it's the first chapter, a forward, about 30-40 pages there, but he sums up why we kneeledded 20 win the cold -- needed to win the cold war and this is not a fight of man verse man, but god verse man in many ways. there was two ire reconcilable fates in the book. it's a great book. someone i talked about before is a man who doesn't get enough credit for fusing together the different stands of the movement, but that's frank meyer. he was a "national review"

editor, another former communist as well making it his mission to fuse together the three legs of the conservative stool, and it was personified in a book he wrote or helped write in 1964 called "what is conservatism?" it got a lot of authors to bang heads together and say, hey, how can we work together here? it also came out the year that barry goldwater ran for president and it was perfectly timed in trying to jump start the conservative movement. the law is another book i highly recommend, but last but not least, i'd be remiss if i didn't possession the great book about the conservative movement about funding called "the funding fathers," a great book on the funding of the movement. ever drink -- i don't know if we're over 21, but joseph cooers, one of the big financiers of the conservative move -- movement. please come out to cpac.

half the attentees are under 25. it's an exciting time to take part and see your favorite idols or leaders and activists, and it's february 9-11 in dc. i'm around after for question, and thank you very much, young america's foundation. [applause] >> well, the next panelist has a relation to three things mentioned, hefner, bill buckley, and the national review. the next speaker, cat cats, was -- kathryn lopez, was featured in "playboy." it was not a center fold piece, but they mocked her. i remember reading it. it was not a clean piece. it was very widespread. look that up. she's more known for is being the online editor of "national

review." she's an award winning journalist, and she says that she doesn't really work much with national review on dead tree, but more the online version actually, and that's what she brings to lie. i peered on cnn, fox news, msnbc, and the oxygen channel as well. please welcome to the stage kathryn lopez. [applause] >> i sort of forgot about the playboy thing, thank you for the reminder. [laughter] no, they actually spent an entire article mocking an article i had written which was pretty impressive i thought. or at least it was an interesting thing to put on a bio. i'll be up front here, but the time we finish the panel, you will have ordered "witness" on amazon i think because i do too also mention that. thank you very much for being

here. i was at this conference. i don't remember human years ago, but awhile ago. it was further back than cpac than you were at the young america's luncheon, but it's great to be back. i'm perfect to be on the panel because i worked hard not to write a book, and i'm in a comfortable role, so that's what nod to do. to give you a better picture of why i'm the perfect person to talk books, this is how i spent my weekend. last saturday i didn't read a good book, but tweeted. try over 150 tweets about the debt ceiling debate. i stopped counting at 150 because i couldn't face the truth. if you give me enough time, i, the author, of the tweets might remember something i produced at 140 characters or less dropping

vowels along the way, but not because anything i produced was memorable. don't get me wrong, i use twitter and facebook and i blog and i use my blackberry as an addict, so, of course, i see the value in all of these things, but while living in our modern moment, availing ourselves of technology, we ought to avoid letting the distractionses devour us, which is pretty kind of easy. over the past few years, i had an uncomfortable sense that someone or something was tinkering with my brain, reprogramming and remapping my memory. my mind is not going as far as i can tell, but it's changing. i'm not thinking how i used to, and i can feel it while i read. immersing myers in a book or length yi article was easy. my mind would be in the narratives and arguments, and i would spend hours rolling through long stretches of prose. that's rarely the case anymore.

now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. sound familiar? i get restless, lose the thread, look for something else to do. i feel as i'm dragging my brain back to the text, the deep reading that used to come so naturally is now a struggle. i didn't write that, but i could have. nicholas carr, the author of an article in the atlantic a few years ago called is google making me stupid, later the basis of a book on this cultural remapping, given the fact he wrote a book, it's believable to know the struggle is worth it. the fact that whereas i used to go into my brain to remember facts, i now google to find them. anyhow, as it happens, i've been to a number of funerals in the last few months. funerals, don't feel sorry for me because funerals can be great celebrations of one's life if it

was well lived, and it's probably no news to you that frequently sermons and eulogies are borrowed from writers who have gone before. the most recent was a national review funeral, bill buckley's research director died. i can't begin to relay the beautiful send off it was after a long struggle with cancer, so i won't, but she, who appreciated and helped craft good writing if you go back in national review, there's so much good writing there besides the ideas. she would have loved that during courses of his brother who happens to be a catholic priest coined family and friends to john henry gnuman and his beautiful body of writing. a few funerals before that was dr. bernard, a leading abortionist, one of the founders of the national association for the repeal of abortion laws, which is now pro-choice america.

he, in his 1996 awe to biography, the hand of god, he wrote, "ultra sounds opened up a new world for the first time we could see the human fetus, measure it, observe it, watch it, and indeed bond with it and love it. i began to do that." there was a little bit of a conversion. he continued, "having looked at the ultrasound, i could no longer go on as before." other than recalls the writings during the funeral sermon, father jerry murray actually said, "he reminds me of another great witness against evil and in favor of the truth in the 20th century. i read somewhere that betty, the feminist for mother thought the same thing, but i'm certain for different reasons. he renounced the membership in

the communism party and spoke out against those who wanted to harm our nation for espionage. he was a spy, vilified, suffered, stood firm, spoke the truth. the introduction to his book, "witness" is, as you've heard, a forward in the form of a letter to my children. this quotation from the forward captures the doctor's. "a man is not a witness against something. it's on the incidental to the fact he's a witness for something, a witness in the sense that i'm using the word is a man whose life and faith is so one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so disregarding all risks and accepting all consequences." i borrowed a quote from hand of god and offer you witness in this perhaps round about way because i think they are obviously worth reading, but my purpose here today is not

necessarily because i'm last on the panel, and how many books are left? but i want to aver you suggestions about guidelines, the heart of why i mentioned funerals in general. i am currently reading the copy of "an open air pulpit," would not be on the list of conservative books, but the sentiments that are there and it's important not just to read books that are on a conservative reading list. when i really wish -- what i wish i could get the opinion of bill buckley or john richard newhouse, a conservative intellectual, i read what that he left us. my father died over a decade ago, but he's still giving me gifts is what i like to think of it as.

among them are books. he loved them. when i read, there's a connection there. living ties to the past are in books, and there's a continued learning there. our bookshelves can be great, houses of great wealth, house great wealth, or kindles or ipads house great wealth, however you prefer to read books. great books give us a view beyond what everybody 1 tweeting right now. they give us history, creativity, they make us more creative. they are an essential part of the culture and traditions. they keep us from making mistakes. same mistakes people made before even though we will anyway. oftentimes. i also recommend making time in your reading diet for magazines. this is a shameless plug, and i'm not just saying that because i work for one and subscriptions to it pay my salary, however -- full disclosure -- however you

do it, digitally, paper and binding, i recommend it. it's a luxury anymore to let things settle anymore before diving in and commenting. i actually had an incident this afternoon where i just commented way too fast. magazines allow for a little more reflection, more digging, a little more context, and, yes, we do offer digital subscriptions to national review. just go to nationalreview.com. that commercial is a long way of relaying this. yesterday, i was reading a catholic magazine of sorts. it's really about reflections and assorted spiritual commentary. yesterday's reflection was a gospel reading of the day, and it was by a dead british dominican priest ending with, "i shall never become interested in religion until i've come to see that i make it personal to myself, chew it, digest it, form out of it my spiritual being."

i think that same could be said of the intellectual life, and an intellectual life is not just for those who subscribe as intellectuals. if you think yourself as conservative, don't just be an activist on campus, which is terrific, but i know a worth wife foe -- worthwhile focus, but take advantage of the classes you're taking that make you read books, especially good books. take classes where you can where you have the freedom to that make you read books. i frequently get asked -- i didn't do enough in that in college, which is why i say that. i frequently get asked if you have to be a journalism major to do whatever it is i do. absolutely not. be a literature major. a history major. i was a philosophy and politics major. the latter had more reading.

it helps, i think, with the thinking, which comes in handy as you will not be surprised 20 learn. if you're a senior leaving class time, create for yourself a retune for reading books that works for you. don't let the busyness of life keep you from it. read great books and reread the richest among them. chew them, digest them, great reading about true things influences how you think and reflect who you are and how you communicate. it will influence -- it'll make your writing better, and if you really read quality writing -- not that my tweets don't compete with the finest of literature. i brought up the magazine not because it was an opportunity to plug a magazine, but it's important to read things that challenge and nourish you not just politically. being a conservative is not only a political act.

the nature of politics and political conferences is such that we don't get enough time to reflect on this, i think, but religious faith has had a place in the conservative movement and not as a mere side bar. watch some of the old episodes of "firing line," as suggested, and you'll see that. not only hefner, but mother teresa and a famous convert to con thole schism about christianity and what it means and why anyone would believe it. i spoke a couple years ago -- if you read back issues of "national review" as well, reflected on the cover as times. read big buckley as everyone suggested. i was at a conference that focused just on bill buckley and how it conformed all the things for which we best know him. how they came up in his writing

and how it was just essential to who he he was. some of the forefathers, our conserve titch forefathers had deep faith as writers, activists, and leaders. i'll finish here, but not before offering this to get you started. national review has a long history of being established in 1955. tas good place to start and come back to. i'd say that if i didn't work for national review, and you can believe me because others suggested as much as well. you can read old articles with your iphone app i'm told. if you're like me and don't have an iphone, subscribe to the weekly e-mail news letter which gives you the actual text right in your e-mail box, getting a little taste of the old pieces every friday morning. that's not a book mind you, but it's a vast spot. pick a buckley book and read it. whenever it is, it might be miles gone by, but there's a vast collection. maybe start with a collection.

wind of bridges put together a collection after he died with the title, "a history full of diversions and ill line -- i lym nations. you might start with that collection, and i promise you the title does not do it justice. it's very, very easy to read one essay at a time, one interview at a time in some of the collections. read books i would recommend to you, read books about people you admire, people you think you admire. read books about people who are admirable and know nothing about. i'm grateful for me friend for writing a book about bonhoeffer. this would not come up on a

conservative reading list necessarily, but i knew close to nothing about the lutheran pastor killed by nazis until i read it, and now i recommend it to everyone. it's nourishment and inspiration. don't buy a self-help book, this is how you self-help, you read good books about good people. you take in good influences, don't just read books you know you'll agree with either. one of the favorites i read in the last month because i read a lot of books is juan williams books. i was interested in the sections i didn't agree with like what's keeping him from being conservative. read books that chang you and give you -- challenge you and gives you something to give to others in one way or another. i hope you were not looking for ten minutes of lists, but i know you will have lists, and i can e-mail you lists. goldberg who has been staring at

my this whole time wrote a great one years ago on national review, and i put a link up to it on our corner blog just yesterday afternoon, and i can tweet it out again this afternoon. i mention i tweet, i think. more than a few years ago now, compiled a list of the nonfiction books of the 20th century put together by terrific book authors themselves like john keegan, and other authors i recommend. we did walk throughs of bill buckley's, what was your favorite, with recommendations from some of his best students about what to read first and what to read if you're particularly interested in x, y, and z. happy to send that to anybody. if forced to, i will add to the pile of lists and have it, but to be honest, reading lists, after awhile, i just find them

stressful. it's a list of books i haven't read frequently, and if you saw the review copies in my office, you'd understand. i always get free copies of books coming out. most book i i have not read i feel most days, but i felt this book would give you more freedom and guidelines rather than other books to add to the list. i hope it was helpful, and i'd love to share more actual titles during the q&a. thanks so much. [applause] >> all right. i'll ask the starts question, but after that, opening it up for questions. i was wondering, for the panelists, if you could recommend, two books -- one, what one liberal book would you recommend to study the other side and how they think, and the other book i'd want to know if you are new to conservatism,

what's the one book you should start with, and then it's opened to questions after this. >> well, those are tough questions. i think the latter question on one book to start with on conservatism, i guess -- it's hard to say. i might say "a conflict of visions" from thomas soul, but that gives you the contrast of ideas with conservatisms and liberals. chris might be better on that. when i was listening to the others, i don't think we mentioned reagan in terms of his writings, and his reagan in my own words and the books that have been published after reagan died of his column, his radio commentaries, they give you an exansive view of so many topics as only reagan could write.

i was reading one the other day, and martin anderson and others edited these, and so i might recommend one of those to get a good survey of conservatism ideas. i'm not sure about a book on liberals. i read "the theory of justice," a hot book in academia making the case for redistribution, and so that's one that kind of makes the liberal argument for trying to redistribute the wealth. >> actually had ideas. for conservative starting out, if not nash or ed words, but the later to a wrong -- letter to a young conservative is a great book. talking about how he came to conservative. the gentleman in the back over there wrote the book. i love these posters. he was -- and laura and others started the dartmouth review, but the college version of it,

and was the forefront of conservative online newspapers on college campuses. a book about the left -- i don't know about a left author, but -- two, i forget the last name, but conservative history of the american left is a book i'm reading now, and i can't remember -- dan -- i forget the last name -- flynn. that's it. the book traces the utopians up to the modern day obamacrats and what their idea is for america. if you had to do a liberal -- i guess the vital center a book came out in 1940, and it was known to be a liberal, but conservative on certain things, especially when it came to defense and talking about communism and trying to find

ways in which both left and right can work together in winning the cold war. i suggest that, but letters to young conservative and dan -- congress servetive -- conservative history of the american left. >> i meant it use the joke earlier -- [laughter] probably the only person in this room who owns the book. if you walked into a liberal's office, it's in my office too. on a regular part of one's reading diet, i think it's a good idea to read contemporary liberal writers who have influence, and that would be one example. i think she gives a very good window in why are men necessary is the name of her book, and believe it or not, and i actually think it's insightful at moments or a little window

into both left thinking on some of these social issues, but also frankly the impact, the sexual revolution has had on the relationships between men and women and she doesn't have any solutions, but i think she sort of lays it there, and it's useful in thatceps. generally, when you look at the conservative -- the "new york times" best seller list, i would make sure you always had not just the sean hannity books covered, but make sure you read one of those liberal books, the thomas friedman books, books that influence the people running our white house right now. what's the other question? where would you start for conservatives; right.

nash1 the answer if you want a history as the professor says. i would -- i do -- i do think starting with a buckley book is not -- it's just not any -- and any buckley book that sort of -- maybe not his mystery novels, but that's not going to give you an overview, but it does give you a sense that our movement is not just about politics, and so, yeah, read one of buckley's books. >> opening up to student questions. we are running short on time, but we have a few minutes for the student questions. >> while the first person comes up, can someone sends the book lists around? >> and you get a free book. >> lucky gold stamps. [laughter] let's take the first question. >> okay. this question is for a friend, and he wants to know for a

conservative prelaw student, what book would you guys recommend for him? >> i would -- i would recommend probably a book by randy barnett whose -- what's that? >> [inaudible] >> he's a law professor at georgetown university, called "restoring our lost constitution." it's appropriate for law students. i think a layperson could read it and get a lot out of it. there's an older book called "economic liberties in the constitution." by bernard seegan, a great book as well going through supreme court cases and varies interpretations of the constitution. >> you know, conservatives believe in the idea of the constitution as originally conceived and that those ideas of strict constructionallism, and roger mentioned the book before, but i'll say it again, "the law" is the best one.

for my class when talking about the topic, it's difficult to find literature about the ideas of originalism. there's a lot of legal books out there talking about it, but for mass consumption, it's hard to find. i had asked ed, former attorney general under reagan at the heritage foundation, to talk, and he said without a doubt, "the law. " there's a line that sums up the book which i think hits to the core of it. he talks about how life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. on the contrary was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. it's a great quote if talking about the ideas of originalism and constructionallism. >> that might be the answer. mark levin, because i know you're all fans, but have you read "men in black," and it's

about judicial tyranny and the abuse and how the law has been abused, but being a lawyer, he lays out a lot of the framework that you're going to want, so i would recommend that. i also -- i meant to do a little plug for some contemporary national review author book, and it's not a book about the constitution per se, but my colleague wrote a book called "the party of death" about abortion politics -- wow, you're prepared. i thought he was going to reach for the book of the it's about abortion politics, but large sections of are about abortion in the constitution and how that's all played out. i would very much recommend that as well. >> perfect, thank you. >> i'm from thomas moore college

in new hampshire. my question is what book do you want to recommend to a stay tuned in 20 years written by a stay tuned -- student in here. >> oh, how we eliminated the deficit and got government back to the proper functions. how's that? [laughter] [applause] >> how we saved america. [laughter] >> i survived barack obama. [laughter] [cheers and applause] >> this is slightly off topic, but something that i think you could give a good insight too. regimely speaking, our education system -- generally speaking and our education in just the say the last 30 years, sat scores plummeted even though the tests have been dumbed down twice in the past 15 years and that especially includes literacy and

english ability. as a matter of fact, just check facebook or read youtube comments and you know literacy is not at its peak. what's your insights of how to kind of give our education system or just generally speaking literacy a good boost and maybe see if we can see a reversal of our decline of literacy? >> well, i guess i would say we need to reform our education system. we need choice and competition and education in our country. we need to promote alternatives like home schooling and tuition tax credits and things like that to encourage and enable parents to find places where they can get a better education for their children. >> just a side note on hollywood. i have been -- i get such a skewed view of hollywood when i go out there because i'll meet

people like -- all of andrew breitbart's friends, but i'm impressed by how many conservatives are in hollywood trying to influence the coalture, not by making a conservative documentary, but letting their conservative ideas because they've read so many of the books we've recommended today and admire so many the speakers you've heard. they let it influence their jobs which is a great thing. to your question -- i hope this isn't a simple way too simple answer, but i think it's an effective answer. i would just promote literacy in our lives; right? we're conservatives. we don't want the federal government to come up with a solution for this. we want to read good books, know what good books are, and give them to family and friends. you know, when it's christmas time, give a book you've read and make it mean something because i think that's a meaningful gift, but it also promotes literacy. i think we don't do enough of

that. we buy the perfect gift that's in macy's. give a book you read out of the conference or whatever it is. i think that's the way to do it. >> whenever i assign papers in my class, i'm scared to death what i'll get back. sometimes i wish it was 160 characters or less of some of these. you know, there's simple things we can do, just little things that we can strive for. we kind of lost this, but the idea of creative writing has taken a new meaning as to write as free thought opposed to structured abc paragraphs, outlines, basic grammar, reading something after it's done, spell check that's easy accessible on word documents these day, tweets, try to write out a word instead of using letters "u"

"r," "lol" "lmao." little things like that -- ha-ha! [laughter] seniley -- smiley face. any ways things like that. there's a focus. we've gone from the english creative writing, and we've forgotten the structure and order. you don't have to be the best writer in the world, but do the basic outline, paragraphs, grammar, you get the point across. sometimes, you know, the first paragraph scares me the most. if i can't understand your thesis in the first sentence or first paragraph, i'm like dreading, just dreading reading the next 30 pages. it's important whenever you write, no matter what you do, if you leave with anything from the q&a session, write your thoughts out in the first sentence what it is you're trying to accomplish so the reader can choose if they want to read it. look at drudge,ot