and marshall by the mid '70s, comes to the conclusion they're spending a lot more on defense than the cia thinks they are. and, you know, their economy isn't that efficient, you know they can't produce things as cheaply or efficiently as we can and so on and so forth. and then he starts going after the denominator problem. how big is their economy? is it really half the size of our economy? and he starts talking to economic emigres and so on. they say, no, you know, you've got all these issues in terms of productivity and production. and so by the middle '70s, marshall has the cia mystically says, well no, it's not 6%, it's 12%. ..

time was on their side over the long term they would just keep widening the gap between ourselves and themselves. when time is on our side, we didn't have to take risks. if we played smart way to win the long-term confrontation. is a fundamental strategic question and marshall got a right and the cia got it wrong. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> next, syndicated columnist shell malkin talks about contributions that american innovators have made to the country. and the backlash they face for being successful.

>> it's my privilege to introduce to you today our featured speaker competition just a couple of reflections on my expert with young america's foundation. again, welcome to those of you watching on c-span, to the reagan ranch center here in santa barbara, california. young america's foundation is committed to educating and inspiring increasing numbers of young americans across our nation with america's founding ideals of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional value. and for a student conferences like the one where all attempted a, inspiring the next generation of leaders with a bold message of america's founding principles and american exceptionalism. as mr. larson mentioned it was it was my first time at the reagan ranch just about four years ago when i attended my first reagan ridge high school conference. that was when my own passion for freedom was ignited.

i heard about the miracle of america, a proud and exceptional country, uniquely founded upon the recognition and the protection of humankind endowed liberties. and a counter offer for people the opportunity to pursue and achieve heroic dreams. i realize this president reagan told us in his first inaugural address, it is time for us to realize we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. we are not as some would have us believe doomed to an inevitable decline. i do not believe a defeat will fall upon us to matter what we do. i do believe in fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. president reagan's call to action inspired me to take responsibility and action in my own committee for the future of my country. i found that young americans for freedom chapter on the campus of my high school in california and am working closely with the foundation to about another chapter at smu in the fall of this coming school year. [applause]

i just wanted to share with you produce of the things i've learned as a young american that inspired me most about this great country. america stands proud upon the foundation of a rich western heritage stretching as far back as the athenian democracy in the roman republic of the second and third centuries b.c. to rome and athens a mini connector them were magnificent they lack the fundamental element that distinguishes the united states as the unique beacon of freedom and opportunity that she is. is critical puzzle piece is a freedom of opportunity afforded by the free market system of capitalism conceived in 18th century by the british philosopher adam smith in his work "the wealth of nations." no other economic arrangement in human history has been so capable of creating so much wealth and opportunity for so many people. president reagan understood this, the free market principles are a critical component of america's greatness. he reminded us, only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when

individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic progressive and free. our featured speaker this afternoon most surely understands this. she is living evidence that the american dream is alive and well. the daughter of filipino immigrants shell malkin is one of america's foremost conservative thinkers, and author, syndicated columnist, longer and entrepreneurs with 20 years of experience in the world of political journalism. and alonzo fulgham college she began her career in newspaper journalism with the los angeles daily news where she worked as an editorial writer and a weekly columnist. in 1995 she was named warren brookes fellow at the competitive enterprise institute in washington, d.c. as an entrepreneur she has built three successful conservative websites, our own personal website michelle malkin.com hot air and twitchy. you know her from her numerous media appearances from fox news

the msnbc and c-span. she's a frequent speaker for young america's foundation on college campuses having spoken to student audiences at syracuse, market the university of texas and just recently earlier this month on the campus of south dakota state university. she has authored five books one of which, the culture of corruption rate as in culture of corruption ranked as the number one "new york times" bestseller. or most recent book that all of us could have been privileged to receive a copy of "who built that: awe-inspiring stories of american tinkerpreneurs" was released just this month. in its pages she champions the proud history of entrepreneurs in this country. those tinkerers whose ideas and inventions conceived in the basement, garages and backyards became corporations come employed millions of americans and people around the world and improve the standard of living for the entire world. one of my favorite brief examples from the book of

miracle in america is the story of tony, a croatian immigrant from a port island in the adriatic sea he was born close to the end of world war ii. he came to america and ended up founding mag instrument and invented a mag light torch. her conviction and her belief in freedom raise out and all that she does and she's a shining example of patriotism americans ever. ladies and gentlemen, would you please join me in welcoming ms. michelle malkin. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you. all right let's get started.

this is amazing. i cannot tell you how at home i feel here and how perfect a setting business. i couldn't think of a better place. i owe so much to young america's foundation and the reagan ranch. these are two of the finest liberty promoting organizations we have in america come and have in america, and i want to thank everyone who works for the organization ron and michelle who have been friends for so long, andrew, and each and every one of you who has done your part to support the work that they do. thank you. give yourselves a hand to. [applause] i also doubt that want to give a shout out to c-span and booktv who are here. over the course of my almost quarter-century career now as an out of the closet conservative journalist, c-span has covered

many of of the events that i've been over the years. they welcomed me to "washington journal" last week, and it is always an incredible ride to get phone calls from c-span listeners, and to get that no holds barred fully transparent discussion that someone hacks and flacks in d.c. say that they support, right? this book "who built that," was a very special journey for me. and as i write in the introduction of the book, most people know me as that angry brown lady on the tv set was always yelling at liberals. and so i vowed when i launched this book is going to put on a happy smiley face right? [laughter] but then again inevitably of course and cable tv company against some meathead from the left and there i go again.

i'm sure some of you summit last week on some of the boxer shows. i think, you know when you're in this business and especially when you kids are under college campuses representing the voice of freedom, of free market capitalism the best founding constitutional principles that we all adhere to come you get to pick and choose your battles obviously, and it all depends on the time, manner and place how you present yourself, right? a full picture of who we are and that's what reagan did right? he was a happy warrior, and was both sides. we need to reprimand of those berkeley children, many of whom were 50 and 60 and 70 years old he knew how to turn it on. and yet he remained such a beacon for people across class lines, across color lines. he gave people a reason to

aspire and that overused words pashtun overused word these days, hope. hoe press in accounting principle of the promise of social mobility, that we are not all relegated to one wrong of the letter. and so when -- a rungs of the ladder pic when i heard, you didn't know that, come on it feels, it still feels so wrong, doesn't it? and i thought this is the. we won. we clinched it. kenji believe this guy getting out in the public square and openly denigrating america's makers and builders and achievers? how could he get away with it? and that's it's not just elected a stabbing stabbing you in the heart? what's going on? what's wrong here?

what have we failed to do? to connect the dots for people so that they can see that he wasn't merely saying that we have helped along the way. that's an innocuous statement and then it right there. of course, we all did. we all stand on the shoulders of our founding fathers are less thank them. but no that's not what he was saying. and introduction of the book i excerpted the full context of the passage of those remarks which, again, the context is very important why was he saying what he was saying? he was proceeding for ever more punitive taxes on business owners come on small business owners, on self-made independent entrepreneurs. and before he uttered that phrase, you didn't know that he had the dripping hostility for people who rightly believe that it was their own initiative.

that yes, they work harder and yes, they were smarter. and i was horrified not just when he said they think they so smart to the thinkers work harder. i was horrified when the rounding -- rousing applause that greeted his remarks. i completely top to the fact that when i started the book, oh, i was angry. but as i embarked on research for the book and i think this incredible journey through american history, i ended up with the biggest, goofy grin on my face. you should've seen my entire family. because every time i discovered some new fact, some new unsung entrepreneur him and i'll get to a couple of them momentarily they had your every last detail.

and so my kids got to see a very different side of me. not just angry cable tv lady but nerd mom. oh my gosh. there she goes again talking about a patent drawing up a bottle cap. stopper. but the fact is i've always been somewhat of a frustrated tinker myself began to talk about some things i try to make with my kids. this is why they're always when their eyes because they know it's never going to work a soda bottle submarine that sank to the bottom of the tub the marshmallow shooter we just marshmallows stuck wedged in the pvc piping, a weber grill i tried to modify that almost seems to my eyebrows off. so i thought really, who better to write about the successes over the course of american history from the industrial age to the internet age than someone

who is such a wannabe such a total failure? and, of course, failure? and abortion of as always, it's almost somewhat of a cliché now that when people talk about successful entrepreneurs, they always mention that of course failure is such a huge ingredient, and motivator for them to continue. they were so many statements, even just in the last couple of weeks that have emphasized and underscored some of the things that talk about in the introduction to the book which is really my sort of personal manifesto against this wealth of shaming agenda, the open denigration that we hear not only in statements like, you didn't know that but other statements of obama and his minions. at some point he said when he was lobbying for the dodd-frank financial monstrosity, at some

point he said you've earned enough money. because he's the decide or. how about biden who is said at every, every great idea of the 19th, 20th and 21st century is the result of government vision? how about mr. bernie sanders? he handed it to me on a silver platter this week. he's kicking off his campaign. he speaking to financial journalist john harwood, and he says one of the core problems with america is that the r. 23 types of the deodorants on our store shelves in 18 types of sneakers. and because consumers have so many choices it's these selfish people who are either a consuming all of these

innumerable products and all of the people who are employed manufacturing them that are the cause of childhood hunger in america. so next time you're doing this, hunger is your fault. [laughter] by the way i need somebody to go to the bathroom really quickly before i forget and give me a roll of toilet paper. can somebody do that? just grab will toilet paper. anyone, volunteers? thank you. audi back to that in a second. so this is perfect. because, and everything will be safe for work, so don't worry about that. so here we have bernie sanders who, by the way who are some of his biggest donors and friends? ben & jerry's from ben & jerry's ice cream. oh and how many flavors of ice cream do they sell? [laughter] i propose that bernie sanders

first act as theoretical president be that ben and jerry's only be allowed to someone flavor of ice cream. venezuela and vanilla, okay? [laughter] could this be more perfect? the idea that somehow we should be punished because we have choices, a myriad of choices. guess what, bernie sanders, you can buy my book at amazon, barnes & noble, bj's, sans wal-mart costco, and god bless america for it. [applause] there's my toilet paper. how many types of toilet paper are on the shelves at safeway and walgreens? thank you. we can get it quilted.

we can get it to clackamas buy, three ply, four ply, sin city, unscented. it's not thanks to the federal department of innovation that we have toilet paper and venezuela and the soviet union don't right? because there could be no government edict, no executive order that created a single roll of toilet paper. and many of you because you have parents and committed teachers and homeschoolers who understand that education is a failure if you do not inculcate an appreciation of basic free market economic values. many of you are very familiar with the iconic as a by leonard read called i pencil, right? yes, come on. raise your hand. i think i should be mandatory for if i had a common core curriculum, i pencil would be

taught in second grade or first grade. so this was his way of illustrating the miracle of millions of voluntary exchange is that go on obviously in our country every day and around the world where they can. of all the cooperation that goes on without any centralized top down hand coordinating it. and that the engine, the fuel for producing something as simple as a principal comes from allowing people to pursue yes your self-interest. and it's the same thing with toilet paper which is why one of the chapters i wrote is called i, toilet paper. and boy, was it fun writing in the voice of a roll of toilet paper. and what i found was commend this was this is what i talk

about when, when is it was such a joy to take a break from the daily wear and tear of the cable tv world where there's so much focus on the negatives just to be able to breathe in this incredible legacy. the history of toilet paper can be traced back to our founding fathers. many of them who were private venture capitalists in the paper mills across pennsylvania. benjamin franklin was one of them. by the paper mill owners who never ever thought that we would have them to thank for the comfort of this right backs they were just trying to put food on the table and make a living, and yes, make a profit. right? and they said it was a happy smile on our face were as a these days do you hear people say the word prophet? in the beltway swamp as if it's a profanity, as if it deserves a

bleep or pixelation like mohammad cartoon. you can't say profit, right? and, of course, there's a reeking hypocrisy of obama going after private venture capitalists. just a couple weeks ago at georgetown university. it was a poverty summit. i'm sure you all saw this. i wrote a piece about this in "usa today." he denigrated, he just picked at random of course the top 25 hedge fund hedge fund managers in america to denigrate. anticult in quote, societies lottery winners, as if their success, their achievements, the creative capital that they had that decisions successful decisions that they make you invest and other private businesses less about distributed like a powerball drawing, and some people get

lucky and a good else doesn't and they are stuck and relegated to those positions for life. nonsense. not only does this nonsense, not only is it cheating class warfare, it is anti-american. it is anti-american because it is anathema to everything this country has represented in the past, and why we have been such a success or so long. this man is ignorant at history. and people like him i capitalists bashing american progressives need to be called out, that is why i dedicated "who built that" the president barack obama. [applause] so this is going to be showing tell. but before i get to some of these really cool things, and by the way i have a whole bag of these bottle caps.

so kids, if you want to have a token, a souvenir before you leave them come up to me and i will give you some of them. but if you want to talk a second more about ronald reagan and and how he affected my life and what he meant to my family and me. so i have told a lot of students who i speak across the country that always come i didn't always have this big mouth. i know, you're so shocked. and it was always incredibly difficult for me as a child to get up in front of an audience believe it or not. i failed my seventh grade speech class. i will never forget it because it has already been tied to it. we were told by the britney thing we wanted to write about and speak for three minutes. i had always been a very adept writer, so if it was something that i could commit to paper i would get in a. but actually having to deliver

it? i wrote my speech in 1982 about a government official, a civil servant named lenny sledneck who had dived into the potomac. it was a plane crash. i can't remember the airline some the old stars. air florida. c., mark would know. like a geriatric memory bank. thank you. [laughter] >> anyway, this is was just an ordinary guy who did an extraordinary thing, and he saved several passengers lives in the icy potomac and a genuine 1982. i but a great speech about this because what president reagan did was launched the ongoing tradition of honoring an ordinary american who did extraordinary things by doing -- toduring the state of union and that tradition continues today.

i forgot my deeply written paper. i failed. i went home to my mom. i cried and thank god i had not just a tiger mauled by a mountain lion mom who was completely unsympathetic, and she said words that ring true today and so me context. and it showed many of you students have had moments like this. she said the if you don't speak for yourself, no one will. and that's how i felt on my college campus. grantmaking or was it marked the nation, i went to oberlin college. this is the bus or click of the midwest. i know there is a student from university of wisconsin is it they are like no my school is. close. close call. i went to a school where the

lack of intellectual diversity on campus is not ashamed. it is something you are proud of. and at some point you realize that these self-anointed of progressives who claim your mind because of your chromosomal makeup right gals? feminists just assume that you belong to them. and a lot of the racial grievance mongers, this is perfect, michelle obama spoke at oberlin commencement last week match made in heaven, that somehow leftists should clinch it for last minority on campus and in the inner city by virtue of your skin color or ethnicity. that sense of entitlement that they have needs to be pushed

back again -- against people with an alternative view of what constitutes hope and change. yes. [applause] so that's what i said it. it was a perfect setting to come to because when i wrote this book i just want to write it for folks who to be on tv agree with what i have to say, this is why i'm so glad booktv is here to reach out to a much wider audience. but i am in particular wanted to make sure that young people heard this message. because we've got a huge problem thanks to fedex. if only we have fulfilled reagan's vision of eliminating the federal department of education, we would have as many problems that we have at the elementary and secondary level. we've got a common core not

just in english, not just the math, oh and to get me started on common core math, or maybe he docome of it, that would be a second hour. it's also history. it's the progressive architect of things like common core and no child left behind and outpace education and whatever else there has been taking before it. these monstrosities are always more things like transformers. and the same architects of the common core regime are now revamping the ap u.s. history standards. and they have even more of an overt marxist, socialist, anti-capitalists bent to them. all the more reason to make sure that there are alternative curricula choices, that there are alternative voices, that we

have yaf representatives not only on college campuses but, of course, with high school programs here, too which is so vitally important. it's important to tell compelling stories and narratives. that's what the last insufferable to terms of this administration have taught us. because the fabuloust in the white house as an excellent storyteller of false tall tales become one of the tall tales he's always talking about is the idea, as you mentioned with this new you didn't know that refrain, that we the makers the builders, the creators, the wealth generators of america own him, right? that we owed them because we wouldn't be able to do what we

do without their roads, without their bridges without government investment. and this is why i picked, and one of the chapters to highlight who it was that build the brooklyn bridge. show and tell at a number one. this is a letter opener that i acquired that was forged from roebling wire rope. it's really cool. and i got a from tsa believe it or not. [laughter] the story of public infrastructure in america is not a story of how governments build these things for us to get historic about how countless numbers of private capital is

were able to pursue profits for themselves and their families build businesses that lasted for generations not because they cared more about the people. it if there's one thing that young conservatives can do to help educate your peers, it is to pierce this bubble, this idea that we selfish profit-seeking capitalists don't care. the people who proclaim to care the most in washington other people who have caused the most suffering in america. stop caring for me. get out of my life. bite out of my business. because and people are free to pursue profits and businesses like roebling wire rope and -- john roebling sons found in new jersey. another slogan, what trenton

makes, the world takes. there's this idea that the redistribution of wealth from the people who take other people's money are responsible for what wealth generation generators and capitalists make. government takes, capitalists make. and the start of john roebling i think is just so quintessentially one of the american dreams. because if you really dig deep if you look at what is responsible for a bridge being erected, it's not government bureaucrats. department of transportation whose the second of department? i don't know. some hack getting paid off. that's usually the case where there's an art or a d. by disney. that's just how government is.

and when you dig deep into the store you find a man who was dissatisfied with the layers and layers of government bureaucracy in his own country. john roebling was a civil engineer in the province of -- formally prussia. and he had this grand vision of building suspension bridges. but the bureaucrats who oversaw his work could not envision what he was designing. and i seized on that because we all hear about vision. obama who is the blindest man in washington, d.c. he always talks about vision i had a vision. what division? you can't envision yourself out of a paper bag, right? but i quoted rahm roebling's

diaries where he -- his son into the the washington rich because john roebling literally worked himself to death. he was on a pond overlooking part of the construction i believe the east side of the bridge and there was a fairy that ran over his foot and he died as a result of accident. washington roebling and his wife eventually oversaw the completion of the bridge which markets 132nd anniversary of the speech. i love the confluence and the serendipity of some interconnections that i made in this book. and one of the things it just naturally happen. i didn't plan it which is a good metaphor for how the free market works.

you never know when you embark on some journey some endeavor where it's going to end up. capitalists take risks. accept the responsibility for the failures and they deserve every last iota of credit for the success. [applause] >> a lot of people ask me, well how did you pick how did you decide who to highlight? and it was sort of touching on a string and realizing the connections between what seemed to me very random and disconnected entrepreneurs that i found most miraculous. and to talk about this idea of the miracle of the mundane. in an internet age of course, my 14 year old an 11 year old are not impressed by this.

they really think i'm so weird. look at this. isn't it amazing? do you understand what effort it took to come up with a design as simple as of this? do you realize the impact that william painter who founded and patented the crown cork, which is essentially the same design of a bottle cap today. do you realize the impact it had not only on soda bottles but on the entire beverage and packaging industry. that's freaking amazing. it is. and i know that i sound like a total block, nerd geek, whatever. but this is the joy the optimism we are trying to spread. you get so many political hacks independence to get up on the podium and about to launch another campaign for mayor on

tv, and somebody fed them in their mental teleprompter american exceptionalism. do they really feel it in their bones? can they really share with you how incredible this is? and one of the stories i write about in "who built that" sl william painter who spent his entire life. this dude did not rest. unlike the golfer in chief. these guys never take vacations. they don't want to. to do that want to waste a second they have on american soil because they have vision and they want to continue perfecting their ideas. they've always got new ideas. one of the incredible things about the tinkerpreneurs the talk about is it didn't just happen wonder two things over the course of their lifetime. hundreds and hundreds of things and then they inspired other people to do the same thing.

so william painter hired a gay -- hired a guy named king camp gillette. teen camp gillette was a salesperson for crown cork and seal at it to travel all up and down the east coast convincing people about the america of a bottle cap and other crown court the products. he was represented in england for them as well, came from a family of inventors but with a frustrated inventor himself. william painter took him under his wing, mentored him and said just keep thinking of you will come up with something. come up with something simple that people need to william painter died before he is able to see king camp gillette patent the gillette razor which and in both cases these two countries continue to exist today. the crown court conceal this part of a $9 billion cut and when a civilian i sit said with

a smile, unlike that guy millionaires and billionaires such a smear. that's amazing. that's the thing to celebrate the that is something not to be ashamed of. and so the incredible concentric circles of creativity and entrepreneurship overlapping. this is exactly what linda creed was talking about, a pencil or a roll of paper as i talked about. people don't need to proclaim themselves the doers of good to do good. and the progressives have it upside down about the american dream. because it's not the people who dedicate their lives to working in government to do good for other people that benefit us the most. it's people who are allowed to

pursue their own self-interest in their own way and make as much money as they decide to make comments not working when they decide to stop working and hire who they want to hire and pay them what they want to pay that are the engines of progress and innovation. in america. one of the things that i got to do, which was so amazing was visit -- i have to tell you this man is such an inspiration to me. his in ontario california, where his headquarters 4 instruments employs 800 american workers. this guy is 84 gets up every day at five 6:00 in the morning. the last one to clock out at the end of the day. continues to innovate, continues to file patents. and he came here penniless.

he taught himself english from a dictionary. he failed many times at other endeavors before he finally arrived in california in almonte which has a slogan the city of achievement, which is really cool. and he literally started out in a garage. people ask me, and also a lot of radio talk show host really resent the fact that make them say tinkerpreneurs. say that 10 times. the idea was to highlight people that most of you never heard of endless he's a hometown hero who makes things like this. a beautiful leaky decide utility. i can use this as a weapon. they have to be shorter for me. he inscribed to me which is

really cool. it's a really cool thing for me. literally started out in a garage, and which is one of those people come agenda sure there many of you who are like this. i don't mean to be gender discriminatory here but there's a dad uncle, brother grandfather, you know, always tinkering around in a garage taxing something. i was talking to someone earlier that one of the receptionist about how it kind of bugs me and it bugged me with my own kids because, sorry jesse i'm going to talk about my husband for a second. raised in berkeley, california okay? i had to make them go on an rv trip and learn how to give up the. he never really had gotten his hands dirty. they're sort of a mentality among my generation of well, i don't know how to change the windshield wiper. i which is have someone else do

it. that we are not to fix a generation. and the idea of restoring this, especially among young people, this was important. and actually there's a lot of promise in that now. we have a resurgence movement of makers. any of you read make magazine? cool. that's what i read on airplanes with "people" magazine too. but, you know, they are using little bits to do in electronic circuits and robots, and the last chapter of the book talks about many young people who are developing the next generation of aesthetics in this country powering them with legos and prototyping in which reminds me. so obama was at one of these

science fairs a couple of months ago, and there were a group of girl scouts from the heartland, girl scout troop who had come up with a lego powered page turning device. really cool. obama gets down there asking them about how they made this. and really smart little girl said well we prototyped it first. and i love watching this video. she says what have you ever not above? so, there is no teleprompter. so we get that -- you will not come all the companies are some of you in this room who know what he said, but okay. prepare yourself. he said, health care. he said that. and i really -- the only thing

that would have made this an even better killer viral video is it the girl scout had laughed in his face. now, if my daughter had been a girl scout asking the question, yes. he said now i hope that all the parents of those girl scouts went home and told the girls the rest of the story, right? he came up with health care. these people don't make things. they destroy things. the upshot of that though is that you've got these kids they're doing amazing things. that's where i derive some sense of optimism about the future of this country because there is to our parents and grandparents out there teaching the kids to make things with their hands.

i have been incredibly blessed and fortunate to be able to be a mere internet entrepreneur you know, to be able to make a profit and make a living and put food on the table with the words, with the bits and bytes with my big mouth. and, it is not some sort of imperialism, or whatever overland word they want to use to assert because we know from this journey through history that i've taken, and hopefully you are embarking on in your college career somalia to supplement outside the classroom or not that this is uniquely american. that only in america has this been allowed to flourish in the

way that it has. nowhere else on the planet. which leads me to something i want to talk about, which the founding fathers bequeathed to us which is under grave threat and that is our unique patent system. and we have any patent holders in the crowd? yes. awesome. what did you patent? [inaudible] spent actually. medical devices. which are of course attacks and obama. no, yes. [inaudible] >> awesome. how incredible is that? perfect. [applause] i love it. loved it. are you a plant? no. did not plant you do. couldn't pay you enough. that's perfect.

article 1, section 8 of the constitution that something incredible. it guarantees the right of inventors and authors to be able to profit from the fruits of the mind and the fruits of their labor. nowhere else on the planet had this idea been embodied in a founding document. because our founding fathers understood that the ability to profit benefited the public good, and this is a formulation that if you ordered it on msnbc every head would explode, right? private profit is a public good. it it in and of itself the ability to profit is a public good. and not because of the founding principles of protecting intellectual private property. and what happened was in the developed of the patent system

over the years has been shined this idea that it's the inventors who are the first to invent who should be able to benefit. under obama's radical transformation of america, that very founding principle has once again been turned on its head. i need dramamine when i talk about these people. everything is upside down. in 2011, and i have pangs of pain but i think about this, i wasn't paying attention because patent laws is just that one of those things you see on cable tv debated about, right? and this is what's so insidious about the progressives, because we are so busy putting out so many fires in fighting so many big battles. meanwhile, they are slipping under the table radical changes like this. and what they did was what they

adopted, unfortunately with some bipartisan support bipartisanship is such -- they turn our patent system to fall on their heads. so rather than the first to invent, those who are rewarded now are the first to file. know, where did they get this idea? it was harmonization with the rest of the world. because you know, the rest of the world is beating our butts on innovation for so long, right? so why is it, what is it that we have to now conform to international standards that have proven to be less successful than our unique system? it's because they think that's unique to america is anathema to progressivism. it gets worse. that wasn't enough to file a so

called american invent act. the orwellian titles of all these massive piece of legislation. it's opposite world. it's the american won't invent act. even this last week and the next couple of weeks there will be a debate in the senate over more pieces of legislation to further codify these ideas. and i have to tell you that i have already heard from so many independent tinkerpreneurs, small businesspeople who are filing patents, who are affirming what i have talked about, what i've written about and heard from from any patent law scholars who have their heads to great about this and understand what the constitution foundation for innovation and progress or.

i have to redo this quote. i think it says it best about the miracle of the mundane. this was de tocqueville who of course his famous observations about not only the american work ethic but in particular about innovation. he said quote, what most strikes me in the united states is not the extraordinary sight of the few projects. it is that countless numbers of small ones. anthony trollope, adequate us at the beginning of the book, said something similar the great lord of the americans face in their wondrous contrivances, and their patent remedy for the usually troubled operations of life. the small things. this, this is what i meant about the miracle of the mundane. because the there right now are so many millions of these

independent inventors and innovators, and they are making things that are small that get taken for granted things that we mock. andrew mentioned to me he lives a couple doors down from the guy who originated the selfie stick, which i had my first encounter with in the overflow room, hey. right? so in bernie sanders world who needs a selfie stick? right? mr. decider of need and wants. doesn't that aptly describes to me of these do-gooders and control freaks in washington? why'd you get to decide what i need? what i want what i deserve what i am entitled to. why is it that i'm a selfish one

and you you the liberty inhibitor are the doer of public good? it's opposite world. and to be able to not only expose this but to do with a happy smile on your face because we are the ones that are trying to allow people to the themselves up to achieve the american dream that they are all paying lipservice to. when i end up on cable tv a lot of times if i'm doing some raucous debate, at the end of it, a lot of people come up and they are very depressed. we look at the havoc that has been wrought across the american landscape, not just over the last several years but decades. and, and people are ready to give up, and i understand that.

it is hard to fight on a daily basis when you know where we've been, when you know what it is taken to get where we are, and when you see the road ahead. but i, like i said i the rights of its inspiration from the people that are highlighted from the next generation of inventors and businesses and makers. there was another girl scout troop that invented a lego powered the study can for a little girl who was born with a congenital defect. and these little girls some of understood the magic of patents and i quote one of the in in the book. they were so proud to face it this means we have made it. that's right. on many levels. you did make that you did build it, and making it in america means being able to profit off that patent. 84 year old anthony told me, we were in his son failed cafeteria at this guy, he looks like a sun

filled -- across between mark twain and albert einstein was a wild hair and he's got like this committee looked like a mechanics, a picture of in the book like a little mechanics jacket like fonzie tricky dick says tony on the. and this idea that these gaseous beings who are just ripping has been whipping the crackdown that employs the they are string by calling him by his first name, as it going, tony? hugging him on the factory floor floor. and despite all the setbacks he said the federal light bulb up and prevented him from going forward with some incandescent bulbs, inefficiency and planning. the outsourcing that's been going on that he had fought tooth and nail, the competition from china, $100 million he had to spend fighting off patent

infringement not at home and around the world. 84 years old and he's still going. and i'm thinking this guy doesn't want to stop. he understands what the value of the american dream is a he's not going to quit, so neither am i come and neither should you. they do so much -- thank you so much. [applause] >> booktv this on twitter and facebook and we want to hear from you. tweet us twitter.com/booktv, or post a comment on our facebook page facebook.com/booktv. >> here's a look at some books that are being published this week.

nobel prize-winning economist joseph stiglitz talks about rising economy in the united states. the subject of his latest book is discussed with heather mcgee. so i'm here with joseph stiglitz. >> it's nice to be here. >> i'm president of an organization called