presidential candidate and carson was in virginia today to talk to students at liberty university. topics included his support of legislation to protect the religious freedom of those opposed to same-sex marriage and his flat tax proposal.

this is 40 minutes we are absolutely delighted to be here with you today. and that is candy right over there. can you stand up? [applause] now it's been a few years since i've been a at liberty that we talk about liberty all the time since that's what it represents, liberty and freedom from the

snares of the world and the right kind of teaching and the right kind of values for the young paper that -- people and viewers achieve vital part of the future of the nation. but you know, i do want to acknowledge today as veterans day because i feel that we don't do enough for our veterans when you consider what they did for us. i think about world war ii, and i think about those soldiers invading the beach at normandy being molded down by machine gun fire, 100 bodies laying in the sand, a thousand bodies laying in the sun. with a frightened? yes. but did they turn back quickly

stepped back over the bodies of the colleagues and overwhelmed the access. knowing in many cases they would never see their loved ones. why would they do such a thing? not for themselves but for you and me so that we can be free. so everybody that is a veteran can they stand up please. [applause]

it's a sacrifice and something we begin to think about in our lives because there is nothing that is free, and particularly the concept of freedom. we should be so delighted that we live in america. is there a better place to live than america. i've been to 57 countries and some of them are beautiful places that are always delighted to get back here because there's something special about the nation that we live in. have you ever noticed that there is an american way, there is an

american dream? there is no french dream. there is no canadian dream. [laughter] there really is only an american dream and what that means is that there is something special and something extremely unique about the nation that we live in and the values that went in to making this nation what it is and some people say there's nothing exceptional about america is just the same as everybody else. it's not true. even for hundreds of years people did things the same way. within 200 years of the advent of america men were walking on the moon it's most successful

the nation has ever known and we are delighted to be here. i wanted to be a doctor. but the problem was i wasn't that great of a student. everybody called me tommy. that was my nickname and i believe that i didn't think i was very smart. and i remembered once we were having an argument in the

schoolyard about who is the dumbest kid in the class. it wasn't a big argument because they all agreed it was me but then someone extended to who is the dumbest person in the world and i said wait a minute, there are billions of people in the world, and the upcoming q. are the dumbest one. but i did admire the smart kids and i couldn't even imagine how they could know so much that there was one person who didn't think that i was done and that was my mother. she always thought that there was something there. she would always say you were much too smart. and she just didn't know what to do and she prayed and asked god for wisdom to know what to do to get her sons to understand the importance of intellectual

development. and you know what, god gave her the wisdom at least in her opinion. my brother and i didn't think it was wise at all. turning off the tv, what kind of wisdom is that taking us read two books a piece for the public library and submits to the book report which she couldn't read that we didn't know that and she would put a checkmark in highlights and undermines and people always say to me why did you do it? your mother was always working. she wouldn't have known whether you read the books or not. and back in those days you have to do what your parents told you. there was no social psychologist saying let them express themselves. [laughter] and as i read those books,

incredible things began to happen. i began to realize particularly as i read about people of accomplishment but the person that has the most to do it is you. it's not somebody else. it's not the environment, and that was incredibly empowering to me. and i stopped listening to all the people around me who talked about what could be done. and i start thinking about what could be done and what a difference it made in my life, and fast forward to medical school i said wow i needed. i finally got their. my only dream was to be a doctor. i skipped right over firemen and policemen, and there was finally a medical school it was going to

be great. and i was sent to see my counselor and he looked at my record and said you seem like a very intelligent young man. i bet there's a lot of things you could do outside of medicine he says he were not cut out to be a doctor. i was devastated. i went back to my apartment and i said lord i always thought you wanted me to be a doctor but it's not looking very good here. >> and i started praying for wisdom and i started thinking about what was happening with me

and i was going to a lot of classes that i wasn't really learning anything from the classes and i thought the thing that really teaches you a lot is reading. so i'm not recommending this to anybody but maybe the executive decision to skip the lectures and spend the time reading and the rest of medical school bus easy after that and the point being that everybody learns in a different way. i personally don't learn anything from the lectures, but i learned a lot from reading. [applause] there are other people who learned a great deal and that's

how they learn. other people from discussions, some people learn from repetition, some people are very visual. one of the other things i discovered is that it's very visual semi-made flashcards. i had literally thousands of flash cards. always had a bunch in my pocket. in my second year in medical school i was living with my brother who was in the school of engineering. he even knew all the bacteria because i would have these cards are talking about it. so you find out what works for you and that is an incredibly important part of what you do and what we do as a society because god has endowed us with these amazing brains and we are made in the image of god.

and i get a lot of grief out there. people say how can you be a scientist and believe that god created the earth. obviously we developed from biochemicals. and people that don't know that you're a moron. i don't criticize them. i say can you tell me how something came from nothing and of course they can't. okay, no problem. i say i'm just going to give you something. and now you're going to tell me there's a big there is a big thing and it comes into perfect order so that we can predict several years when a comment is coming that kind of precision. and they say well yeah and i say

but don't you also believe that things move towards a state of disorganization? yes. how does that work and they say we don't understand everything. while i am not sure you understand anything. [laughter] but i say i'm not going to be critical of you, not the problem because you are entitled to believe what the bbc that it requires a lot more faith than what i believe. but everybody believe what you want to believe. isn't that part of the problem in the society today? people want to force their beliefs on everybody else. i tv that the constitution gives

everybody the same rights but it doesn't give anybody extra rights and that's where the problem comes in. [applause] and if we can begin to understand that the ideas we can make real progress because that would mean that people whether they believe the same or not could actually sit down and engage in the conversation and put the reasons that the belief on the table because when you you live in a pluralistic society it is absolutely crucial that we are now to do that and it's also very vital that we begin to think about each other and begin to think about those who come behind us.

when i look out there and i see all these young people and i think back to thomas jefferson who said that it is immoral to pass the data onto the next generation, and when i think about what my generation is passing on to you guys if you can bring thomas jefferson here today to let him see what's going on, he would immediately strike out. he wouldn't be able to believe the kind of death that we are moving with. 18 plus trillion dollars of national debt backs to beat coke. think about that if you try to pay that off with $10 million a day it would take you over 5,000 years and we are putting that on your back. but that's the good news because it's actually much worse than that. the gap, the fiscal gap which is

the enough of money the government does going forward with medicare, medicaid, social security, all the government agencies and programs we owe them for data versus the taxes and other revenue sources of course those numbers would be identical because you are not responsible to bringing it up to today's dollars if it's over $200 trillion. we can sustain that level of debt is because we can print money where there is a currency of the world. a position that generally goes with the number one economy which we have been in since the 1870s and we've been in competition with china but we still have the title.

with china like to be the reserve currency, would you like to be able to print money we bet they would with the international investment bank. we have a little time to get our house in order. that's not a lot of time because the financial situation is very precarious. what happened on wall wall street would be a walk in the park compared to what will happen. fiscal responsibility is our duty and we can fix these kinds of things. it is possible to get our economy rolling again. we have the most powerful economic engine the world has ever known in this country. nothing anywhere close to it.

we declared independence in 1766 in less and less than 100 years but the number one economic power. because we have the right kind of atmosphere that encouraged innovation and entrepreneurial risk-taking and capital investment and all the things that fuel the rapid rise. they will fuel a rapid recovery if we are willing to look at them and stop doing silly stuff. you think of -- [applause] you think of an employer mandate that here's the situation where people used to be so proud when they started the business.

that was the very backbone. we put something in there to stop the small business from growing and then we wonder why jobs aren't coming. and that's why this is so important for people to actually understand what's going on in this country if you listen to the news last week use a lot of people rejoicing that the unemployment rate is down to 5%. but if you know anything about economics you know that you can make that money anything you want it to be based on who you include and how you exclude and

that the numbers the labor force number is the labor force but a sufficient rate which is at its lowest level since 38 years and that's why the founders of the nation said that our freedom and our system is based upon a well-informed and educated populace and if they ever become anything other than that, the nature of the country will change. the people will not inform the other was politicians. and they go off in the completely wrong direction listening to all kinds of propaganda and inculcating that into their methods of thinking

independent becomes easy for them to swallow things. they don't really understand the financial situation of the country and somebody comes along and says free college for everybody. what a wonderful person. and they have no idea that it's the distraction of the nation. [applause] i could talk about the economy for a long time. but let me just say before we start the q-and-a, this nation is an incredibly special place because when you look at the founding document the declaration of independence, it talks about a certain inalienable rights given to us

by our creator also known as god. [applause] and anything that's rare for some kind of an idiot. the nations survival is the pinnacle nation in the world i believe is rooted in our value systems, values and principles that made us into a great nation and the question is are we going

to stand up for the values and principles or will we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the secular progressives. they don't care whether you agree with them or not as long as you sit down and keep your mouth shut. and i think that the secret to the prosperity of this nation is we must be willing to stand up for what we believe in. thank you. [applause]

if you would submit a few questions and just grateful for you giving us the time. the moral ground in this country has been shifting dramatically in the last few years. none more via standard issues like marriage. what about where tradition holds values like marriage seem to be the minority. you can use the bully both very effective ways to once again level the playing field. you know, the first amendment is incredibly important. it talks about freedom of religion, not freedom from religion that freedom of religion, and we have got to

encourage all the branches of the government to work effectively with checks and balances. what we have seen recently is the legislative branch which is the branch that represents the people as more or less acting like the peanut gallery which means that the executive branch and the judicial branch are overstepping their boundaries and we are going to have to have a president who's willing to work with the legislative branch to put things back. we need legislation to protect the religious freedoms of people who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. [applause] you've proposed the idea of a flat tax eveu've proposed the ia

flat tax even likening it to tithing as refers to proportional giving. could you elaborate a little bit more about the flat tax? >> the reason i liken it to tithing is i believe god is the fairest individual and if he thought it was fair i think it must be pretty fair. basically you make $10 billion, you pay a billion. you make $10 you pay one and get the same rights and privileges, hard to be more fair than that and get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes everybody has been proportionate now. my proposal takes into consideration poverty and at the poverty level you get a rebate but we don't change the system because the minute you change a system and allow just one crack at it everybody starts moving

towards that crack and then every geek pretty soon you have another and wind up with a 7500 page tax code and that's what we don't want. some people say that it's not fair because the guy that's putting a billion still got 9 billion left. we need to take more of his money. that's called socialism. [applause] and then the guy that guy that's putting 1 dollar only had ten some people say that's not fair because he can't afford to put in a dollar. of course he can't afford to put put in a dollar. he can afford to drive on public roads and sent his kids to public school and i can tell you having come from the bottom percentile, i can tell you that people down there also have have pride and they want to carry their own weight. they don't want somebody patting them on the head.

[applause] and then the people see the mortgage to action would have so much more money in their pocket they would be easily a particular mortgage and some say there would be charitable deductions and it will dry out. what they don't realize is there are lots of churches in america before 1913 when the federal income tax went in place and those people have more money in their pockets, they will actually put more money in when the tide comes by. [applause] >> this is one of the main things the students wanted to know and it's interesting that you asked the lord for wisdom and you were saying that in your time with us a few minutes ago obviously a lot of students believe you have a lot of wisdom to dispense. students want to know if you could get a college student one

piece of advice if you could go back to when you were in college and you could go back and say i wish somebody had come in front of me and had undressed me or said this one piece of wisdom to me, what advice would you give? my advice would be proverbs three, five and six. it says trusting the trust in the lord with all your heart, lead both to your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. [applause] i have clung to that for all kinds of adversity in my life. i cling to it now.

many want to bring me down because i represent something that they can't stand. but the fact of the matter is romans chapter eight if god is before you can be against you. [applause] if it's a nobel peace prize winner that comes our way it's always the same question. how can we specifically be praying for you and i want you to know it's not just a cliché spiritual thing we say out loud. our students really do commit to pray for you and your family.

we know this is an incredibly busy time and so how can we be specifically praying for you when we see you on tv and think there is the carson family and the team. why did i get involved in the world of politics? people say the successful -- why did you get involved in politics and i ask myself that, too. but when i got the call to be the keynote speaker. i said what are you up to.

i kept writing things down and i said no that's not it. right up until five for the prayer breakfast when i awakened that morning it was so clear i was supposed to say. and obviously resonated with millions of people and then people started clamoring for me to run for president which i thought was pretty absurd. and i said why would i even be thinking about something like that i'm going to retire and relax with my wife and have fun. but, i said just ignore this chatter out there that will tie down. but it didn't die down. it kept building and building. and all the political

professionals with the carson ran for president, are you kidding me, that's ridiculous. he's not connected to any of the money. he doesn't know anything. he's never been elected to public office. it's impossible. don't even think about it. and i said i'm glad to hear that but it kept going. and i finally said you know this was not on my bucket list but if you truly want me to do this, old bins say it's impossible but nothing is impossible for use with you open the door i will walk through them. [applause] and he began opening the doors and we were able to put together an incredible team including one

is yours alone, dean parker. and in terms of the money they said that's impossible. can't raise that much money. well, interestingly enough, we now have over 900,000 donations from average americans which they never anticipated that we, the people to fund the campaign. they always thought they had to be the billionaires and special interest groups. but the way that it was actually designed is that it should be be the people coming into this designed for citizens, statesman and not career politicians trade and itv that people are beginning to understand that. [applause] so i am hopeful that the people

will pray for courage, stamina, protection for me and my family and for the eyes of the nation to be open to what's going on because the problems that we have in this nation are not republican problems were democrat problems. they are problems that affect all of us and we have to recognize that one of the goals of those that want to fundamentally change the nation is to pull the nation apart. and they've created the perceptions that there is a war on women that every time there is any conflict between people with two races there is a race

for. but there's income or the age for, religious war that the democrats hit republicans republicans, the republicans hate democrats and you keep people at each other's throats. and then we forget what's truly important. what's truly important is our unity. and we have a lot more that unites us than the things that divide us and we must remember this is the united states of america. [applause] >> my wife and i got to be at the prayer breakfast this morning. you are leading were leading worship at that breakfast and i remember the one thing that

everyone at our table continued to agree upon was that you were a man of courage speaking some hard truth even if people in the room that don't necessarily agree with you with the president sitting right next to you at the same time there seemed to be more of a spirit of unity and really the one thing i think we all really about eight about you is your humility and the way you carry yourself so thank you for that. let's all just stand together and pray for doctor carson and his wife and his team and his family. father, thank you lord for a man who understands that leadership begins at the feet of jesus. thank you, father, for this person that you've called out for such a time as this to be a voice of reason.

we pray for stamina for him and his family we pray for margin this season and for courage. we thank you for all of those things bring the very things he wants to see in this country. they bring unity. thank you that we are the united states of america and even though we might not agree on secondary issues that we can come together and recognize the nation if you've been called to do together what we could never do alone and we do look for a leader. if this is the leader that he was called for us we pray that it would be clear to people and we pray against in the pray against confusion and division and we pray that they would be crystal clarity on how to serve your kingdom% of the great citizens of the nation, whoever that leader is. i think you for the team that

you've assembled to meet with doctor carson and we pray for them and give them wisdom and discernment. it's a very busy season. allow him to also be a witness and testimony with the very peers he has running alongside of him. we are grateful for this time that you have given us. we sit under your authority and we pray this in your name. amen. can we put our hands together for doctor carson? [applause] >> there will be a football game to watch in the white house. [laughter]

's we have a justice system that is until according to what we consider to be daughter-in-law. it's perfectly acceptable and until proven guilty wasn't yet

in place and there were no lawyers by the way i should say at the time. but the courtroom was an extremely unruly place. author stacy schiff talks about her book sale in 1692 and the scope and effect of the accusations on the massachusetts community. >> the interesting part of the accusations especially when we think of salem is that they were see captains accused and little girls were accused to be witches. this isn't an incident several female. we didn't burn them, we hang them so in addition there was just so much interested in the myth and misunderstanding that i

thought it was important. >> sunday at eight eastern and pacific on c-span q-and-a. >> all persons having business before the honorable supreme court of the united states get their attention. >> we are faced with the possibility of the night tonight the industry will be shut down. taking two actions tonight for some directing the secretary to take possession of the steam mills and keep them operating. >> in 1952 the united states was involved in a military conflict with north korea and at home and dispute between the spiel to beat the steel industry and the union had come to a head. >> the korean war was a hot war

and they needed to steal from the mission tanks, for jeeps, for all those things are needed in the second world war as also the steel industry went on an industrywide strike that would be a problem because it was basic to the things the army and the navy and air force need to fight a war. >> to avoid a disruption, the crucial for the military president truman seized control of the bill and as a result a pending strike was called off into production continued. however the companies led company is led by the youngstown company in ohio disagreed with the action and took the lawsuit to the supreme court. we will examine how the court ruled in the case of youngstown versus sawyer and the impact on presidential powers. joining the discussion, professor at the university of north carolina law school and author of power of a the

president and the forgotten presidents and william howell political science professor at the university of chicago and author of the wartime wartime presidents power without persuasion and co-author while dangers gather congressional checks on presidential war power that's coming up on the next wind park cases monday at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span radio. for background on each case workers were copy of the landmark case companion book for 895 plus shipping. >> presidential candidate jeb bush told a town hall holds a town hall meeting today at a coca-cola bottling plant in atlantic iowa. he discussed healthcare, immigration and foreign policy. this is an hour and 20 minutes.

>> thanks everybody for coming out on this veterans day 2015. welcome to atlantic bottling company. i'm president of atlantic bottling company honored to host everybody here. we are a small family owned company starting to get the business down. we've been in the business for about 106 years now. it's a lot of fun. we are glad to be in atlantic. it's my pleasure to introduce a couple veterans today and and play with the premise that i didn't recognize my father a pilot in world war ii. [applause] and it's also my honor to welcome the middle of one of their is going to introduce governor bush. so thank you.

>> he is a minnesota farm kid and then a year in the course and i went to jail. six year as a prisoner of war and later came home got involved in politics and ran against george mcgovern for the senate and campaign harder than anybody else for me was bush number one could he was the chairman of the time and was very gracious. when asked if i would support and i said that i will because there is a loyalty but also he's so close we lived in saint augustine florida. how was governor bush when you were here it goes from he's pretty good to use the best one you've ever had is that he has a record of fixing things and doing things. his father was a fighter pilot

and he is evidence of his more more and for the more veteran basis, 33 i think it is and he's the only governor i know of that anytime a person was killed in the current war he would personally contact the family. i'm proud to be here supporting him. [applause] thank you, colonel. he said he believes and nepotism. [laughter] this is a great backdrop for the townhall meeting i appreciate you coming out on a national holiday first and foremost i want to ask all of us to show our appreciation not just for mr. tyler and the kernel the medal of honor recipient, pretty phenomenal but for all the veterans are here today i think we need to give them a round of

applause. [applause] i appreciate all of you. i'm running for president because i believe contrary to some that we are on the verge of greatness again. in fact i think in america today there are two competing sets of pessimism. one on the left suggests that we need to manage the liabilities and get in line and accept the fact we can't grow the economy at a rate any more than we used to release to accept the fact month you were going to live in poverty. life isn't fair. we have to accept the fact the declining income for the middle class and on our side we have a similar pessimism that the end is near and i think for our country to succeed and for the party to win when we have to offer a compelling alternative

which suggests is a vision of how we could improve things and fix our tax code and shift power away from washington and fix the mindnumbing regulations that make it harder and harder for people to rise up, recognize we are all getting older together and our demography is changing because of it. that's a blessing but the fact is we have to change the social contract to preserve and protect for those who have it now and assure that it exists going forward. all of these require leadership, the kind of leadership i got to show when i was governor and the state in florida. of florida. i believe we are on the verge of greatness but it's time to start fixing problems and covers the message i try to get last night in that debate and that's the message i wake up each and every day thinking about. it's possible that we fix these things it's not the most difficult thing our country has gone through and 56 washington, d.c..

i believe we should have a balanced budget amendment to force the conversation of government living within its means. please clap. [applause] i think we need to make sure that when elected officials finished their service they don't bother back and start walking. there should be a six-year ban. there should be full to school sure it's not that they do bad things but because people don't see it because there's no transparency they think the worst and they don't have confidence in elected officials are serving they think that they are the masters and in many cases sadly that's the case. i think that people when they show up off to work. i don't understand why that is such a complex thing. [applause] we had an interview today with a detroit talk show host and he said why the heck did you not be considered for the nfl job cuts what they think is the best in the world and i said i loved

being considered for this is the third -- it was my eighth year on the job but i have nine more months to go. it didn't even cross my mind i would leave early. i put my hand on the bible when i was governor in the state of florida to uphold the law and the anatomy that meant to me that it was from the beginning to the end. i had a countdown clock. ever see one of those clicks it starts backwards by seconds. anytime i watch for the officer walked through the officer was like i better get going so the last four years of my time from the beginning all the way back to zero dot 12:00 on the first tuesday in january of 2007 it always reminded me that this was about service. people in government should serve rather than dictate and so i did each and every day and it was the greatest experience of my life and to remind you you can move the needle.

it's a sign of strength not weakness to be able to serve people. i just published a book called reply all and it's a book about my e-mails and i described my service through the e-mails. people who don't let me have it. some people were not too happy about the governor but i gave up my e-mail out my e-mail address and probably have half a million e-mails between receiving and giving. e-mails like a lady that sent me an e-mail from delray beach she said they have a raccoon in my attic were you going to do about it. [laughter] i didn't know that was the job description of the governors of the next morning i called up the city manager of the town and i sent mrs. jones, whatever her name was on just sent send me an e-mail. she said she has a raccoon in raccoon interact. what are you going to do about it. and by noon, the raccoon was out. [laughter] but on a serious note i also learned there is a lot of hardship going on.

i will never forget an e-mail i got from a woman that was upset that the child support arrangements but the court had made for her to receive support for her child because her former husband had left the very first month he was supposed to pay you to do it and i got another one and another one and another one and the result was i created inside the department of revenue a service if you will. a woman whose job it was to fight to make sure children got the support that they deserved and then i realized the whole system didn't work and the net result was we apply technology and change how changed how we went about things and changed the law and increased child support payments by 90%. that is my servant does. they may say i'm the big dog in the room just to get out of the way i will talk you into talk but i think you have to first listened to people and then learn from their challenges and when you learn from their challenges, you apply the things that you know how to do to fix

things and i do not that related to education in the child welfare across the board. florida is better off. don't you want a president with a servants heart pics veterans administration? [applause] think about it. this is an organization of 330,000 employees. it's the largest healthcare system in the world. a bonus management. thousands of people about bonuses for taking people off waiting lists. the assumption was by getting off the waiting list is meant that they got care. the simple fact was they got off the waiting list and they didn't get care and better inside. and millions of dollars went out in the form of bonuses. up until now. three people have been fired.

should i be a president i can promise you this. you fiercely support veterans that are supportive of a far better set of services than they are getting now. you challenge the orthodoxy inside an organization that is protecting their own interests. you make sure that you fight as hard as you can and you can change things i promised you. no promise you. no more building apostles in the va system that started out as 300 million not as $1.9 billion without the appropriations to finish the building. it was the right to choose. if they want to see his or her private doctor why shouldn't they have that right? i talked to veterans all across

the country, and sometimes it works. it's so convoluted only in washington does it create all these big readers that cost a lot more and make it harder to get the care that they've earned through service to country. one of the ways we can provide support for the veterans right away is to not degrade the military anymore. we are not funding the government and the training and the ability to keep them safe. we need the greatest force fighting down to man. if you want to keep the peace and make sure you don't go to war to make then make sure you have military superiority in today is that risk. i pledge to you that i will fix that. [applause]

we need a foreign-policy that suggests our friends should know we have their backs at around the world the united states has pulled back. our enemies no longer fear us and the net result is that we have an uncertain world. could you have ever imagined a caliphate? i didn't know what the term meant literally a year ago. a caliphate the size of indiana garnering energy each and every day because of our inaction. recruiting americans to go fight their fight in the caphate that is in iraq also recruiting americans to do harm to us here. thousands and thousands of internet exchanges trying to recruit people that had a have a delusional view of the great country of ours. if we are serious about creating

growth for people to be looked at in the middle class to get away for the first time we also have to recognize that we need a secure road and safe world. american leadership is not a force for bad things have been. american leadership done the right way creates peace and security into the next president is going to have to rebuild the alliances that have been tattered at the seams. name a country where the relationship is better today than the day that barack obama was sworn into office. as usual, iowa shows once again they have lots of confirming voters. cuba and iran effectively. ..

>> >> and allow the $2 trillion of cash to come back to our country that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country that we see rising and tom. it is possible to do this. there is the ability to

forge consensus across party lines that benefits everybody. and jonathan love to is serving they told us if they get the tax cut the combined income totals x amount in receive a $2,300 tax break. the middle class on average received it thousand dollars. that doesn't sound like much for the big thinkers of washington d.c. you can do a lot. you can provide bills you would do what you want to do but doo-doos your decision to use the term reagan loved. i love this.

they would set up a business there are more businesses closing than starting. in a never before fact that it exists but to simplify the code where washington is not the place where you get your special deal to higher a lobbyist to simplify the code people set up businesses to restore the entrepreneurial spirit. i know we can do this because i did in florida leading the nation in job growth seven out of 80 years to cut taxes very major to take on the special interest holding people back. 1.3 million jobs were created during those eight years. disposable income away debris $1,300 but hillary

clinton gives that the letter and a. she said that openly. he deserves an a for the economic policy. really? one out of five children is on food stamps in this country today. businesses are closing at a faster rate than they are starting. that may we is the best she can do she is greeted of the curve but that it is an effort. -- is an f. rather than thinking it is a horrible thing to lower energy cost to have lower utility bills betted

washington did is it deep disappointment high sustained economic growth requires leadership and a totally different approach to make things happen. those that it with -- the things you're the most extraordinary country on the face of europe because you're think back bader history on this veterans day. the sacrifice our families have made in the greatest generation and what they did to protect our freedoms with the era of abundance. that's america. in this country needs leaders across the board that love this country with their heart and soul and fight to restore the things that will allow everybody to believe in the american dream and just with the spirit and the joy in the energy to draw people toward

the cause. i know for sure america is not that again in line type of country do we were told touched a country get mine in real take care of your type of country we do extraordinary things and you're free to decide how we want to pursue our own dreams. leading our allies -- the bigger lives of purpose to inspire others mir the bottom up country that is a little chaotic from time to time. we don't like to get in line. i want to restore that america. that has a spirit and a dynamic belief will be brighter than what we have today. if you believe that is the america we can recreate that i hope you'll join my cause. a whole you are involved in the caucus is. i hear it is a beautiful

time to go out at night on figure refers. [laughter] i promise i will not let you down. thank you very much. [applause] >> the country is where it is when you take office. we are where we are. with syria, iran, issues with illegals that we actually have to make a plan for. how do do this by yourself

hoodie bring in to get this accomplished? >> whenever we have i looked at it as an opportunity because if you start with the promise -- with the promise it is hard to imagine how you fix it. looking at secretary clinton when she was asked who her enemies are like all my fantasy the ball team is doing, she said the nra was an enemy then she said i guess the republicans are really my enemy. half of the country. have you solve problems of that type of mentality? person foremost don't assume people disagree have bad motives they might just be wrong if you have to persuade them but you do that respectfully and civility. that is not a sign of

weakness. great things happen when you restore trust. the president needs to lead to change the culture in washington focusing on solutions rather a been pushing people down. i am so sick and tired of hearing about how great our president is and how stupid the people that disagree with him are. that they are in cahoots with death to america crowd. that type of culture of both sides has to stop. second common men and women that have talent and life experience, diversity because that is important. my experience as governor we have a diverse set of principles with great background. ben and women of different backgrounds you have a

better answer to a challenge with different views and perspectives for crowhop where political hacks and academics put people that have a subject matter expertise and then tell them the strategy and the vision to give them the power to have their back there is a problem then it is somebody else's fault office of personnel management is packed their of the dog ate my homework nobody except responsibility lois lerner does herself with the irs nobody still has said that is wrong. my dad i will fix that. we have problems i was governor of california -- florida a child is lost it was heartbreaking my first

impulse was on to say that is the investigative workers problem but to say when a child is lost it is my responsibility i am governor. i did not personally lose this child is under my watch so we major that never happened again. is a much broader question the other thing i would say is you are president you are in the white house it is a pretty good to live you want to bring people together so the story i tell is of republican senator invited by the white house to have dinner with the president said he goes up the elevator to the second floor and that aid says senator you are the first republican he has had dinner with in the residence

since he has had present when dash and he's been president of this is the fifth year. think about that first woman president congratulations and you try to get something done you don't thank you could convince that person how do we forge consensus? what can i do to make it easier in the lincoln memorial the washington monument you're in this incredible place you don't think people of goodwill could find common ground? to do for years this country has been an existence we have had dysfunction than? with get back to where it worked. we were designed to be

efficient or orderly but there was always a belief you could forge consensus. first and foremost,. >> i have to question. >> make it a two-part one question. [laughter] >> social security is always a dip into and health care for the country i believe everybody should have insurance moneys to be gone about a different way. it's been a great questions. those are two questions. if you're interested in the full details jab 2016 is the place to go. we have comprehensive plans i am a policy wonk or a

murderer but even the power of ideas you have to be courageous to express your views to defend them even if they are controversial and the subjects are controversial remember paul ryan proposing medicare reform he had some real looked like him pushing gramm off the cliff? but to your point is already bankrupt we have already borrowed the money. it will be a bankrupt in every way in short order and when that happens it will be double digits for everybody so doing nothing which is the proposal will create major cutbacks i have laid out a reform we raise the

retirement age to 70 in the early at 65 then to get progressively one month for every year just as ronald reagan did with tip o'neill but if we raise that benefit level for social security beneficiaries then right now the minimum benefit level so we create a safety net that is higher for everybody then suppress the benefits for those others than changing the calculation on the beginning benefits for those in the next generation that will make social security solvent. >> a lot of people today are

over the retirement age and working. people like to work to keep them active and a lot of people have to work. they have to. the plan i have suggested says if you are about the retirement age you are working you have to pay the employee portion of the payroll tax which is 6% so instead of continuing to pay into the trust fund that is a group you keep in your own pocket social security was never designed is the system it was supplemental which means we need to get back to private savings as part of this as well. i was in new hampshire last week the gentleman asked about social security he was about 86 or 87 and the sweetest guy in the world

and i said when did you retire? he said i don't remember. that about three a month -- three minutes later he said i remember now. 62. [laughter] then he describes something that is important i was a bad boy witches say regional high the supermarket chain. they had had great 401k he worked there 13 or 40 more years of we need to provide incentives for private savings as well if you ask a small-business person to set up the 401k you have to hire a lawyer and accountant allow secure committing a crime. you cannot prove that they're together so the cost is extraordinary if you are

a small business that wants to provide assistance to you cannot afford that contribution than why not provide direct support to those who are working for you? but they could give you a savings of for that is tax deductible obamacare is a job killer and it is way too complicated giving way to much power to washington d.c. other than that it is great. [laughter] the pre-existing condition could be restored a loving human adults to be under a plan was popular but otherwise it should be you replace with no premium mandates catastrophic coverage where the states decide the editions my plan

would save for obamacare subsidies there would be brought back in a defined contribution type of way because of inflation not the growth that we're having now so the federal government would save hundreds of billions of dollars to allow states to have low-cost alternatives with the focus on catastrophic coverage it is the unlikely event it is not going to your monthly doctor visit or dentist that is prepay to interact with your hair up health care professional insurance needs to be insurance and consumer is being more engaged allowing for health savings

accounts with the insurance to make healthy lifestyle decisions the premium dollars you save go into an account to be saved when you do get sick. because the new economy may be shared you would be surprised to is driving these days they could have three jobs totally customized the insurance system is not designed for them and technology should be a cost drive down not up drugs and medical devices across the board in most places without government involvement think of all the

things we have that now cost one-tenth of that with a better quality technology harnessed the right way rollout was to live healthier with wireless technology to tell us when the blood sugar is too high or the means by which would never the problem is is that the queue to level to send a text message to your doctor or nurse or a spouse but the government makes them harder for that to be harnessed in a way to create dramatic improvement of health care outcomes. >> isf this generation far murkier in cass county. i visited before regarding

trade with china. in 2005 congress created the birth of the ethanol industry which is rfs and the weak dollar meant good strong trade with china. iowa is agriculture and the number one corn soybean states would is critically important to counties and communities and the economy we continue things on a good strong course. whole industry has responded the last 10 years to that demand fell whole infrastructure is built upon that demand whether land value or equipment or land rentals or business is expanding in tallis like atlantic and now we are very worried because the rfs is under scrutiny in under

criticism and with the strong dollar our trade is diminishing and we have been hit on both fronts in the whole infrastructure is built into this to rand. i of this generation could weather a few storms but my son is a sixth generation. >> he is bigger than you by the way. [laughter] >> adoptive for about three minutes. he is a pretty a good kid he actually shaved after harvest this morning. what is george vice to him? he is on the cusp of investing in agriculture he just joined the business so when assured vice envision for iowa agriculture because that affects almost everyone

in this river other business or racial restorer downtown iowa is agriculture. >> i appreciate the comment and question. >> vs hopi support me that is my first advice with corn or soybeans is seeded number one and number two in a united states if prices are up we are third if they are down right now we're second. that is the scale of florida agriculture and i dealt with their risk-taking elements with the hurricanes and tropical storms that greening issue that is wiping out the citrus industry and i think i have an appreciation for the business side is in the heritage cited is a way to protect your culture i know

this because i saw firsthand as governor. second to one way to sustain any sector but in particular is ready -- agriculture change the regulatory system able in search of a problem brinkley there is no problem. this is a rule decided never probably have a huge impact on your business but it defines the federal government's involvement of any federal bader body they could read their drainage ditch that it was never intended. those kinds of rules whether department of labour or epa or the clean power act will have a devastating effect on

anybody that needs to produce power we need to be peeled or revamp and shift those back to communities that understand old or agriculture or manufacturing washington is not designed to do this so re-elect someone that has the skills to dramatically change how we create rules around society go to jeb 26t the proposals on regulation of the most comprehensive and complex that they think would of these the animal spirit of our country but third you need a president that fights for free trade and fair trade for sure but this on the debate states that somehow we will battle the physical walls but

protectionist walls you know, the first group to get hurt is agriculture that is the easiest thing to counter. one month ago governor branstad told the dutch ideas had come to the country in an incredible way to save their by the equivalent of one year's production of soybeans in iowa. that we will have that volume in a 15% premium over the price of one month ago is extraordinary. despite the currency flows as they grow into the middle class will be a market that will create enormous opportunities so you need a president that tears down the barrier to fight for sure to make sure the trade

agreements are enforced but not in a way that jeopardize is the economy the very first part of what you said is the part that i am sympathetic with that rules were established that created billions of dollars of investment and it takes time for that to be fully amortized. a long way the elevators have or the cost but ultimately we have a sugar industry in florida is a huge i never believed in the sugar subsidy per quart of believe it is appropriate to pick winners and losers me to have food security for sure with a minimum

commitment but picking winners and losers by protecting one group because they have more clout is not the way america works so ultimately the subsidies are versions of protections that should be phased out with the recognition you have made commitments as relates to millions of dollars with market access just as it has gone up over the state you can get to the point that ethanol can be competitive as long issue have market access. i do believe these things have to be phased out over a period of time.

>>. >> to stop something happening like in a denver hospital? >> congress came up with a good idea. just to think this is america how can this happen? this is what you expect in argentina. not our country. the solution the best solution is what the army corps of engineers to the construction to get the veterans administration act of the business you clearly don't know what they're doing. with a procurement reform information technology reform to have the army corps to have the subject expertise to give veterans choices to give them a card to broadened powers to see their own doctors and focus

on centers of excellence because given the challenges that exist a generation has a different challenge there are two big challenges one is that there are women veterans. and ptsd that is a lot of challenges and the long-term disabled but then have centers of excellence to allow veterans to have more choices you kill lower cost to really improve outcome. >> on immigration if you advocated with other candidates you have to learn

and -- english for pay a fine that is a general statement nobody goes into details. how much money do we talk about? who pays for these people to learn english? what happens if there is the time limit? >> if i actually wrote a book about this called the immigration and wars. you to probably get at $1.99 on amazon. [laughter] it is not a best seller sold even at that. we detail a full plan to pay a fine something that needs to be collected in the hundreds, not thousands of dollars.

most immigrants want to learn english to a band's themselves. they would pay for it. not commit crimes is a deportable offense. and to pay taxes no federal government assistance. over the extended period of time you earn legal status l.i. she to stay in the country but not gain citizenship with the pragmatic approach if we do nothing we perpetuate it he could have done in the first and second year and nancy pelosi was speaker to use it

as a political issue in our guys are reluctant because he cannot be trusted on border security so now the courts have held that it is constitutional and the law allows the president to have discretion which doesn't allow to say it doesn't come close to that so the courts will overrule him but we need to you get to the point where we solve this problem to make it a positive right now would is a drain on the resources we could create an economic strategy saudia arabia's of doing nothing

and of think that works is just as a practical you will violate civil liberties it overwhelms the accords is sounds good on one level. but i've been the problem solving business i am not talking about how bad things are but i say let's fix these complex things and get on with life. right now we're totally stuck as a nation and i think i can fix it. thanks for the question and for being here. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

♪ [inaudible conversations] ♪ >> i do know is can he was a police officer then became of lawyer then worked for the county. >> thank-you. >> i will fly back to be

here. >> where? >> we are in the southern part. i have some friends that live in florida. >> i was a great admirers of kerry morris. he passed away but what's a genius. >> more homes are built there. >> thank you. thank you. >> i have my ticket to come back. a week before. we will be working for you.

>> and also to shake your brother's hand. so that is great. >> don't worry. i am fighting. >> hanging -- taking their. >> we're putting this together for you. [inaudible conversations] >> the most efficient way to come down is by rail. if it doesn't come to the united states will go to china. so what's the point?

if reintegrate north american energy we lower gasoline prices so the car bin footprint issue will be heavier because it will be used in the heavier car bin economy and we will miss the job opportunities and the problem is to create jobs we have 40 percent of all the economic growth in the energy sector. 40% of all the growth. we should be celebrating there rather than suppress that. what do shoreview?

>> going to school and nebraska. >> also energy processing and with heavy equipment and truck drivers and wilder's. and manufacturers. it is such a value added sector to the economy. >> how long did it take you to get here? >> two hours. >> i am a veteran. i have a house 5 miles from the airport. i have too hard questions for you.

[laughter] >> i am a kings fan. >> i loved all the teams that were national champions i remember watching fsu play miami and the game was on a tallahassee and brett russ. at halftime of course, you have to be neutral in the game begins your governor in the minute i said that you could hear the stadium erupted because everybody listens or watches i thought that i just stepped into it. but did not like each other. >> i went to florida state twice.

>> edits the real indicator of putting your team together. >>. >> the one thing i've heard them say since 2011. >> my bigger concern of national energy policy so we ought to be focused on national security. >> i think a policy needs to be forward leaning so the

role of the government is innovation then you need reliability to protect the power grid i am very worried about cybersecurity read the diversity of feedstock the moment you over rely on one therein there is of a premium for reliability and diversity you cannot over depend on natural gas. >> we should make it as easy as possible because that is how you reindustrialize the country. >> and was that the army war college for cybersecurity.

>> but the inspector general of the 0:00 p.m. has a scathing report it turns out the chinese have already have been but we did not know that's but you don't want to let the world though the you have penetrated so there was a lag time that 23 million? all the security clearance i have been told a couple of people with the 100 page form to get clearance for

the three favored friends are we should be aggressive with mutually assured destruction there is a clarity about our possibilities from them doing harm to us. >> so all that agencies have a file you have the guy named believe outside shanghai. >> if you think about that is a violation of the

sovereignty to sign an agreement i held think it is serious we have to show our resolve and there are some our privacy a and liability issues. so the islamic terrorist threat are the two new threats we have to get serious about. >> today and let's you in any year even though there are cyclone finance? [laughter]

>> so hutch you fight that perception? >> i have to have ideas that i am serious about washington and i will tell my story is direct the private sector part is not out there. >> i worked in government eight years. the rest of it is being in business and education reform foundation and that is the largest of its kind of record of accomplishment. you are right if i knew how

to do it i would take uber. i don't know my way around washington because i never lived there. i lived overseas and worked overseas i build a business with my partner and grew to be the largest. >> and the establishment party that is what i see they tout your success. >> that gives good advice. i didn't know we had those people. >> these are people that work with me in florida. >> some of them did down like we were right they said

he never agreed with me. >> at some point we will actually haveome point we will actually have a conversation >>. >> good to be your. >> do i hear the rain coming down? >> thanks for being here we appreciated.

>> did you ever notice people that are extraordinarily heroic never talk about it? >> my dad never talked about his world war ii experience. never. then finally he opened up. and they picked him up and made him a prisoner of war he was executed for war crimes. >> he did but it was 3 miles apart.

>> we have all seen a pitcher. >> he lost two of the crewmembers that is why he doesn't talk about a. >>. >> some stories are different or worth sharing because the benefit of valor and courage it is beautiful but thank you for coming. >> they give for being here what an honor. thank you for your service. >> where do you surf?

what branch? >> maybe. >> like my dad. >> household are you? >> 95 1/2. >> what is an honor to have you here. >> see you were on leave when pearl harbor happened? >>. >> bed you survived the attack that is amazing.

>> you saw them laughing as they did it? they were fierce fighters. but not as pure salazar's. it is such an honor to have you here.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> i appreciate your service. you should tell those stories to high school kids. >> i did for two years. >> i am glad that you did. thank you. we were just talking about my dad did not tell his stories.

[inaudible conversations] >> you have someone taking care of you? you don't drive to you? >> i can see that. how is everybody? is a liability. >> i don't know his views but we need to secure the border to come by a economic before the country all of

this needs to be done in a comprehensive way. i think they have the skills to do it. this president has led us down by not being serious about border enforcement and not engaging and using it as a wedge issue if we don't win politically weak abuse policy lies. >> i have heard his views the you could round up half a million people per month but just assume for a moment there is it to process i have not heard his view but making people would think that to be worthy of consideration by the fear would double the number of people processed through the

traditional system i think there is a better and practical and conservative approach that doesn't cost an arm and lh respect american values. >> what about the backers? what about now and other than rob? >> it is a long-haul process and honestly think i will win i liked the question is a brass band the ability to give people a sense of their views i like the fact i was given the chance our views

and now i have the skills and the life experience to take her on. we'll be nominate someone who as a proven conservative record but not a proven record and deep that was someone with a track record it is about me and my in leadership skills and i can win. >> a few others of the traditional republican military national security that was a little more

isolationist how does the party sort this out? >> we have debates. >> that was an important part and i respect the consistency of rand paul p. you but i just think the notion somehow you are not a conservative of less you get the military and i don't think that is the right to view the there is a third way we don't have to provoke war every step along the way. to rebuild the military force up i think this serious issue is one with

the new feature of i wrote -- iran in even the russian involvement. . .

>> it is based on the ideas that i have about the future. and i have been vetted and tested and i am an open book. you compare releasing 34 years of tax returns and all the e-mails we released hillary clinton where you have to get an fbi subpoenaed to give her information is, and it's always this lack of trust and i think that you need someone who has a proven record. i'm not being critical of anybody, just for the record, no reading into this.

and except for her. [laughter] and so yes, i will give myself a penalty for that. [laughter] [inaudible question] >> do you mean abortion? >> ef. >> look, i don't think anyone should be critical of someone who is pro-life. and this is the difference again. if you name someone who got rid of partial-birth abortions, hillary clinton supports partial-birth abortions, the most horrific procedure that i can't even describe to you. and we got rid of it. we got rid of fragile consensus and that was ruled unconstitutional. we got parental notification. we regulate abortion clinics and we were the first state to do

the choose life license plates and we dramatically expanded adoptions, we we're the only state that had state funding for a crisis pregnancy center. i am the guy from i'm not going to be critical of someone who has a pro-life view. i think that life is a gift from god that should be protected from beginning to end. >> and republicans -- if they are running in the general election? >> i will win the nomination and my views will be the ones that prevail. and i don't think anyone should attack someone who is pro-life. >> do you think that you are becoming a better debater? >> you know, i don't know, i'm going to do the composite of the class and find out how i'm doing.

[laughter] >> he brought some logic to being able to say what you think. and so just don't get tripped up with the questions. >> you have a been a verse to that kind of stuff. that kind of advice. >> i'm not adverse to advice, i have had 62 years of life that has been jammed into my dna that when someone asks you a question you're supposed to answer it. and so in my time as governor, we had a lively conversation with people and the press and i didn't do a little kabuki dance around it. even our friends from the other teams, they come and i don't care, bring it on, that is the way that i have been trained to do it. and i'm learning the new art of

being respectful of the questioner and answering what is on my mind. >> and that is a change? >> yes, that is a change from 1953. >> i heard there was a rumor that if i was going to go nine and zero that there was going to be an investigation. [laughter] that there was a low probability that anyone could go nine and zero in fantasy football. the good news is that i'm eight and one and i lost my first game. [laughter] it's manning and ryan tannehill. [laughter] >> all campaign long, c-span takes you on the road to the

white house with unfiltered access to the candidates i townhall meetings, news conferences and the rallies and speeches. we are taking your comments on twitter, facebook, and by phone. every campaign event we cover is available on our website. >> all persons should give their attention. >> my fellow americans, tonight our country faces a great danger, faced by the possibility that at midnight tonight, the steel industry is going to be shut down. i'm taking two actions tonight. first, i'm directing the secretary of commerce to take possession and to keep things operating. >> in 1952, the united states was involved in a military conflict with north korea. and the union and the steel

industry had come to ahead a head at. >> the korean war was a hot water and they needed these tanks for jeeps and for all of those things that you needed in the second world war as well. so if they went on an industry wide strike, it was a real problem because it's basic to the things that an air force needs to fight for war. >> to avoid a disruption crucial to the military, president harry truman seize control of the mouse. and as a result a pending strike was called off. however the company is disagreed with the action and took the lawsuit all the weight of the spring quarter. we will examine how the court ruled in the case and the impact on presidential powers. join in the discussion with michael gerhardt at the

university of chicago and author of the wartime president, power without persuasion and co-author of one danger gathers, congressional checks on presidential war powers are you that's coming up on the next landmark cases live at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. c-span3 and c-span radio. for background on each case, order your copy of the landmark cases companion book for $8.95 plus shipping at c-span.org/landmark cases. >> jon meacham has written a biography of the 41st president of the george h. w. bush. he recently talked to the 43rd president at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas. they discussed the elder bush's

political career and the council he gave to his son at key moments in his son's presidency. this is just under one hour. >> please welcome margaret spellings, president of the george w. bush presidential center. >> hello, and good evening, everybody. they do so much for joining us here at the bush center on the beautiful center. welcome back, we are so thrilled to be here and i want to first recognize laura bush and gerald turner and gayle turner and this mighty university that we are partnering with. this year, absolutely. [applause] >> we have been keeping a busy calendar this year with our engage at the bush center series and we are host to the former chairman of the federal reserve

and bernanke on november 16, be on the lookout for that as well as karl rove on december 14. he has a new and fascinating book on mckinley, even though it might not sound that way. so please plan on joining us for both of those. we would also like to call your attention to the holiday season special exhibit called a season of stories, christmas at the white house 2003, opening on november 19. just-in-time for all of your holiday visitors. the exhibit is going to feature a number of handcrafted decorations depict king beloved storybook characters that were displayed at the white house for christmas in 2003. and we certainly hope you will come and experience that. it's terrific for families, of course as well. tonight we are excited to talk about the conversation between president bush and author jon meacham who will discuss the new book, destiny and power, the american odyssey of george h. w.

bush. john was granted exclusive access to president bush xli, as we call him, to write the book and he delivers an unprecedented and comprehensive pictorial of a great man who has long held a special place in history and heart. please join me in welcoming to the stage my boss, the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush and author jon meacham. [applause] >> thank you all. they already love you and have not even read the book. >> it is all downhill. >> welcome to dallas. i welcome john's wife, sam, merry and maggie.

and thank you all for being here with us and we are thrilled that you are here. and it's really the first serious biography of my dad. and before we talk about the book i think that people might be interested in your background. we're re-raised, college. >> i grew up in chattanooga, tennessee, on a civil war battlefield. so for me history was always a very real thing and a tactile thing. i could still see things from our yard.

i went to the mcauley school, which managed to produce pat robertson and ted turner and then i went to the university of the south which is best understood as a combination of down abbey and deliverance. i'll put together. but growing up i read biographies of great man. william manchester was a hugely important book for me. and i love politics. my grandfather was a judge in tennessee and he used to have coffee with all the local political guys every morning downtown and so i would go down there at a very young age which could explain why am is strange as i am. the district attorney would be there, the senators would come by, it was kind of a courthouse group in chattanooga. so for me, politicians were always real people and as i went

into journalism with my grandfather, i went into print journalism which is kind of like being the last rats aboard a sinking ship which i thought was unkind but after it, ultimately, what i always wanted to do was write about these great events that were shaped by people. what impresses me most about politicians and one of my many character flaws is that i like politician and that we all know that the folks in your line of work are fallible, we make mistakes ima but you do great things and you have been a part of history. when i always try to find a book about someone is what it is that moment of transcendence when all of the human frailties are still there but you manage to rise above them to put the country in the world on a better course.

that fundamental human, is why do what i do. >> so you have written books about jefferson, jackson, rose of all, all of them dead. >> that is true. >> many decide to write one about someone who is still alive. >> that is true. >> what is the difference? >> you cannot call to check things out. [laughter] the other three also didn't have sons that also had nuclear authority. [laughter] 's we can talk about that in a second if you want. but the difference was that i always feared that because your dad was so generous with access, and her mother was generous because you are generous, i worry that i would have a hard time throwing a punch if i had to. but because of what your family created around this project which is you call them like you see them, we are not looking for a biography order, you know,

this is a portion of history and not journalism and because of that and it emanated from your father the problem became that i never met jackson, which is a good thing, you might have shot me. and i never met jefferson were churchville and so when your writing and you know this and you have done to great books, if you're writing about someone you don't know, you don't know what you're missing. and i try to describe what it's like to have dinner with your dad were sitting around with your father and i wrote the section and i thought, you know, did i quite get it exactly right? because as you know, your father has what i call a quiet and persistent charisma but he's no jfk and he's no ronald reagan and yet he became president of the united states because person after person at every stage in his life, almost anyone who met

him with some exceptions we can count on one hand, believe that he was someone whose hands the affairs of the nation and the world would be safe. and that is a particular kind of gift, a particular kind of charisma that does not fit into the usual categories. and so your dad created a much more difficult literary task in writing about him, which you did it. >> mine was a little bit different perspective. >> it was? >> yes, it was. >> and the world is a lot better off because of it. [laughter] >> margaret mentioned this and that is something i didn't realize is that he had kept a lot of diaries and he spoke up to his tape recorder for years

and give you full access. >> unconditional. >> how did that happen? [laughter] and that his sons had no idea. [laughter] >> mr. president, we both come from a common gene pool. [laughter] >> direct conversations are never like this. there is a technical term. and he kept diaries of a u.n. ambassador as an rnc chairman and the campaign diary in 1980 sporadically as vice president,, he got even number years that he

was out campaigning and then starting on november 4, 1986, he said that i am beginning a diary about the biggest challenge of my life, the biggest mission of my life, i'm going to run for president. but it was the day that they lost the senate. but he did this throughout the campaign in 1988 and then as president he missed a week or two and then to do it early in the morning. he would carry it around in his briefcase, he would do it on marine one, you can hear the blades of the helicopter, you can hear the engines, he would sometimes delay late at night when the sounds are just a step away from the grave, just eaten down by the day. what's revealing about them is that reading them alone is

fascinating because it's a unique historical document and i told him at the time that they are as important as john quincy adams diaries, because it is as close as anyone except for the gentlemen to my right is ever going to get to being president. because he's talking. he's not writing. the act of writing, you step back from it. this is a man turn on the recorder and told the truth and so even when he was having the worst possible day or if he had read the newspaper -- >> "newsweek", that is an inside joke. >> it is gracious of you. [laughter] >> welcome to dallas.

[laughter] and even when he was having the worst possible day, he would talk himself back into the game. so the night that he lost, which is when i believe that this ended, he is sitting in suite 271. he can't sleep, it's a quarter after midnight, he goes into the living room and turned on the tape recorder and he basically says that they always said i didn't get it. and i didn't leave the pundit and i understand what the country is going through. but what i do not get is how this generation on as a country way that my generation did. and i am paraphrasing slightly. and those are tough words for were sitting president of the united states to say about his

country. but then what does he do? he says to be strong, be gracious, finish strong and don't show them that it hurts. and so what stunned me the most is listening to these diaries is that this is one of the most emotional man who could ever have held that office. he won my heart in this diaries in 1986 early on when there's a scene where he is in poland and he is shown into a children's leukemia ward. and of course, her sister died of leukemia in 1953. he is standing there and the press is behind him, all of the cameras and microphones. and he realizes where he is. and he starts to cry. and so he won't turn around

because if he turns around with tears in his eyes, the story becomes about him and not about them. okay, so i know a lot of politicians and there are not a lot of them who would not have turned around and tried to create some kind of moment. and he says, this poor little kid has this old man crying over him, i just hope he knows that i love him. that is george h. w. bush and that is the george h. w. bush, there is a biographer that i believe was a sweet and noble man that it was nobler and more so than the country appreciated at that time and i think it's changing and i hope this book helps to change that. >> thank you. >> if word gets to houston, he

said it. [laughter] >> the reason i mention that is that you read her diaries to yes, i did. >> i knew that she was a diary keeper. and so what did you learn in not? >> i learned that this is an amazing historical document that starts in 1948 it was the wrong odessa but it wasn't that far off. and literally she sent boxes of the soap and detergent to her son-in-law and daughter figuring that they can have that in texas. [laughter] and the first time and he drove through he stops at a local diner in abilene and orders

chicken fried steak not going if it was steak fried like a chicken or chicken fried like this date, we went to lone star so it didn't matter. [laughter] and so there is one moment in the diary in 1948, maybe 1949, where you were listening to mother goose record and she had just gotten it. [laughter] takeback, vladimir putin. [laughter] >> and you jabbed her in the leg with a knitting needle. take that, mother. [laughter] so what these diaries give you,

if you put an incredibly intelligent and observant woman at the highest level of american politics for a half-century, this is what you get, her first impressions of texas politics. she said in 1963 in dallas and houston that the nuts will never love him, she saw that in 1963. we have her account of president kennedy's assassination which was incredibly moving. we have the first time she met the reagans and she points out how immensely attractive they both were. and she saw that. now she wasn't always quite as complement three about everybody. i don't know if you've had any experience with that, mr. president. but what it is is an honest account of the events that shape the way we live now.

dude had as a two year congressman was in the running for vice president and you read this. if you want to understand what it was like at the republican national committee during watergate, you read this. and so what i learned is that she was the one who really kept the family going and as always in that generation he was building in the international business. what was your first memory of your dad? >> baseball. >> okay, otherwise he was out there, he was in kuwait, trinidad, london, to get that oil business going. and one of the several times that he cried in interviews with

me, sometimes our interviews were like the worlds worst. he would cry, i would cry, you know, the queen asked would run out. poor jean back would say i cannot leave you two alone. [laughter] and that's what i said, did you have any idea on january 6, 1945, on a cold saturday in the first presbyterian church viewer marrying a woman that could move 37 times and ignore what she endured in public life by raising a loving stable family and he burst into tears and said no, i did not know that. but i could not have done anything i did without it. >> that's interesting. >> one of the things that amaze me in the book and i'm trying to

help you sell at. >> i appreciate that. [laughter] >> it's an economic stimulus package. [laughter] >> tell them the story about losing the senate race and going up to see nixon and the job that nixon initially offered, that really surprised me. >> okay, so he runs for the second time in the senate and it was supposed to be george h. w. bush against his opponent which was going to be a parallel race i would hope happened in tennessee with the young guy was a handsome young republican against an aging liberal and that's what was going on in my home state. over here was going to be george w. bush and i think that we can

safely say that governor comley was not high on the christmas card list. [laughter] there only a few people that he had not forgiven there is one in particular that we don't have to talk about. but what happened is that john comley realized what was going on. he realizes what is going on and so he puts lloyd bentsen in the race. so if you read the dallas morning news, all of eclipse from that area, two things jump out, one thing is that george dubya bush was one sexy guy, every story he talks about how he had kennedy's glamour, the country club matrons would swoon over him and just again and again it has this thing about

the appeal. the papers were also writing the now we have two tall war veterans were very good-looking who served in the house and in texas in 1970 i don't have to tell the former governor that the advantage was for the democrats so he loses the race. benson and bush did not work because bentsen was more conservative than yarborough and calmly moved in there we go. so bush, president bush goes to meet with nixon and someone had suggested the u.n. to him ,-com,-com ma charlie bartlett, a washington guy. and so he started thinking about this. but when he goes to see nixon, nixon decided that he wants to make him an assistant to the president working for bob. again second prize, what's second prize at this point. so president bush make the case and says, you know, i think i could do more good for you at

the u.n. nobody's out there making the case for you, nobody is supporting you. it was a brilliant, brilliant tactical argument. because nixon is looking at the sun of president bush with whom he had served in the senate when he was vice president. the ivy league son of a senator in thinking that what bush is saying is right. if he goes up there ,-com,-com ma he can make the case for me and i am the grocer's son from yorba linda, having this more patrician figure is going to work for me in new york. but all of that thought process happens after he sent them out to find him in office right as watergate is breaking up and the stories are beginning at that point. there was another element and so he called him back and he says i thought about this, i think you're right, we will send you to the u.n. so he had the shortest white

house staff career of anyone. it was about 40 minutes by my count. that helped him. there was another wrinkle, which is that nixon said here is another thing. do not live commute in, establish residency and then run against a bush opponent in connecticut for the senate. nixon thought that he couldn't make it down here and what is so wonderful and would speak so much about his devotion to texas and the fact that he raised his family here and build his business here is that at that point he thoroughly calls himself a texan and he never bet

on that. you know better than i do that the president of the united states suggest a pathway to the senate, you tend to listen and think about that. there is very little evidence and this is all to show that he really took that seriously. >> you made an interesting point about comparing his position on the u.n. in 1964 race and actually taking the position. >> there were three examples where i believe that, and you and i have talked about this, from very really on george h. w. bush was the star of the family. when he was shot down on september 2, 1944, rescued after four hours, if the wind in the tide had been going toward him

as opposed to a way, it was a horrible place of japanese war crimes including capitalism which led your dataset you know, i was almost an order. [laughter] and if the wind would've been going another way he might've been an entrée. he's 6-foot 2 inches. [laughter] and fill it out and your aunt said that he was meant to be saved. your father introduced him to the french ambassador in the 1950s saying this is my son who is going to be president of the united states one day. and in 1965 when the seventh district of houston is coming into being, he has this fellow

named ross baker who is thinking about challenging him in the primaries. >> no relation to jim? >> no none of that. and so he goes to him and baker says that i want to be a congressman, i think you're just using this as a stepping down to the senate and george bush says no, i'm not using this as a stepping stone, i want to be president. and this is 1965, he has yet to be winning the race except to be the harris county chairman but he had a sense of destiny and the word he doesn't particularly like. and there was a sense that he was meant to do great things. what is so striking to me is finding all these examples. your brother wrote a letter to someone at yale saying it

wouldn't surprise me at all if this was the case. so they were talking about it as a possibility long before it became probable. which was a revelation to me which led me to sort of see his career and a slightly different light. if you believe you're the best man for the job and your dad unquestionably believe that, then what you say and what you do on the campaign trail, and he told me once sitting on the porch of the house in maine that politics is not a pure undertaking, you have to say and do certain things that you might ingest badly to get where you want to be, the test becomes the business of politics. that has been true since the athenians. but what do you do once you have that power? one of the examples is as the president says, in 1964 at george h. w. bush was not exactly the biggest fan of the

united nations. but he gets that job in power and he works like a dog to make the u.n. matter as much as it can to help this president which was his duty. at that time. this example after example and always at that point putting the country ahead of his own political interest which is a rare political story. >> when you write the book on me you're not going to fight anyone on predicting a the president. [applause] >> we will have to find another angle. [laughter] >> let me ask you this.

>> the difference between history and journalism, we mention that earlier. >> i think it's 20 to 25 years where you let the dust settle. our friend has a 25 year rule. and particularly people do not save your dad had much of this, but walk into a public restroom or try to enter a public holding anywhere and you will find that disabled americans can get into buildings of a couldn't get into before he was president of the united states. [applause] and he compared it to the fall

of the berlin wall that barriers were coming down. his interest in that was rooted in fairplay. another example of where he said one thing and did another once he had the power was he opposed the civil rights act in texas. and what did he do in april 1968 when he was actually in congress with the vote, he votes for fair housing so that the african-american soldiers who were fighting in vietnam, when they come home, we'll have every right to buy a house where they want to buy it. and he came down here to memorial high school when he faced in the men's amount of hate with a lot of words used that were thrown at him and he told me a guy came up to him and said we did not send you out there up there to do this. but he said there and he took the heat because he thought it was the right thing to do.

so he might've done one thing ,-com,-com ma but when he had the power and the responsibility, the authority, what do you do? he put the ultimate interest of the country directly ahead of his political interests. his district did not want it. there's a story about getting on the airplane to fly back to washington and a woman is coming at him. when people are coming at you with a look in their eyes, you basically want to be as far away as possible. so he's sitting in the airline share and he's just been through all of this and he's thinking oh, here it comes again. and he said i'm always going to vote for you now and he sat back and he flew on and i am convinced that because he thought that was right ,-com,-com ma i know he did it because he thought was right and

i think that it taught him that if you put the country first then ultimately politics takes care of itself. >> and this casey ran unopposed 18 months later. >> yes. >> one of the things when i wrote my book that most people in this audience have not bought yet. [laughter] >> i don't think that's true. [laughter] >> otherwise the royalty checks would be a little heavier. but one of the things that surprised me and i didn't realize that is how much this campaign stunned. you alluded to that on the dictation of election night. but he never showed any of that. so did he have any impression when he greeted bill clinton, anything in the diaries there?

>> on that very night, classic george bush, he is saying that i can't believe we just elected someone who duplicitous avoided service to his country and another was i like him. so when they met it was right when, it was the day before your grandmother died, the third week of november in 1992. and he talked about it and we have footage from the videographers that a long conversation could have imagined. he showed them the sauna, what he called a little world with the study and the dining room. and he said clinton's reaction was wow.

and so he personifies this and i actually think that culturally and temperamentally your father has more in common with franklin roosevelt, theodore roosevelt and even the founding fathers. and he does with many people in his own time. i really do. we're public service is an extension of yourself and expected of you. if you could get to the very top it was fabulous, but at any level, i mean, we all know the story but it's worth telling again. december 7, 1941, he's walking across the campus at andover, he finds out the news of pearl harbor broke about 2:20 p.m. in the afternoon on december 7, that sunday, he immediately decided that he wants to serve

and immediately knows that he wants to be an aviator. and he told me, this was the first time that i have ever heard it, that he even considered at that point joining the royal canadian air force because he didn't have to be 18 years old and they were already mobilized because of the existing situation with the war in europe. so he gets to june 12, 1942, he has already written letters to the navy to get signed up. henry stenson gives an impromptu speech saying that i think that many of you should go on and get a couple of years of college. it's a long war, you will be more useful, your grandfather says, well, did the secretary change her mind and he said no. breaking away from what his

father wanted, which is also a pattern here in his life as he wanted to strike out on his own. so on june 12, he graduates from high school, turns 18 years old, he goes up to boston and takes an oath as a naval enlistee on saturday, september 2, 1944 and he flew 58 combat missions, i think. when we talked about his military career, we talked about the two men that died and i said, was there ever a day that goes by that you don't think about them and he said no. and i said, well what do you wonder. and he said he wanted one of two things, did i do enough to save them and the answer is yes, all records he followed every procedure, but then he said that the other thing i wonder is why was i spared. and i'm convinced that that

experience as well as the loss of your sister imbued in him a code that every minute counted. and i said what did you learn from the loss and he said that life is unpredictable and fragile. and he knew that he had been given so much in life, loving parents, what seems to be one of the greatest mother's in the history of the world, loving brothers and sisters and that he was given as much as expected. >> one of the interesting points of the book is talking about his

view of nixon. >> his view is that he was a tragic figure. her father was everywhere, this is one of the reasons that it took 17 years to do this. >> and only 800 pages. [laughter] >> 41 is very short. >> thank you, mr. president. >> he was in the east room when nixon gave his famous speech and he did a diary entry that night saying what kind of a man is this really. he only showed us who he really

was at the very end. he appreciated his patronage, nixon made it possible for him. he made his life hard, but he did in the u.n. and now, nixon's view of your father is one that is important because it endured in the political culture under father told me to us. that nixon did not think -- he doubted your fathers toughness consistently. he thought that he was a loyal appointee and that nixon once said that bush takes this line beautifully. but that was his job. you know, he served in these non-executive jobs in one of the reasons i think he might've had trouble articulating this vision thing later is that he was never in an executive job where he he had to do it and so your dad

said in diaries, he said it to me, that he felt that some of the beginning of the sense that he was a wimp or didn't quite have the guts to do it began with nixon. but the other critical element is that one of the reasons he thought that is because as chairman of the national republican committee he saw his duty as a protection of the party and not the protection of the president. so chuck colson and the other guys said go out there and tell everybody, you know, that they bitterly attacked his opponents and he would do it because he believed that the party's interests and nixon's interest was growing further apart as the scandal broke out. >> what is interesting as well is the resignation and a cabinet meeting which i thought was

fascinating the chairman was one of only three people who actually have the guts to say to them to his face that he thought he should go. nixon walks in on august 7, august 6, 1974, and he says i think it's time for us to discuss the most important issue facing the country, inflation. a big issue, but perhaps the fact you're about you are about to be impeached is a little bit greater. so the attorney general says something to him than bush says whatever is going to have to happen about the president's future has to happen soon because of august of an even numbered year and her dad is looking at congressional members which are a total might merit and other also said because

nixon was saying that i have all the support in the senate, he said no, you do not. someone is not giving you the truth and you know as president how eager are people to give you bad news. so what he does as he leaves the cabinet meeting and he writes a letter urging the president to resign. so the chairman has now written a letter to richard nixon telling him that his patron, that it's better for the country for him to go. >> when people read the book, what would you like them to take away? that he viewed politics is a noble undertaking. that he was someone uniquely that put the country before his own narrowed political interests. one of the great examples was the 1990 budget deal.

he thought that the country, that facing the deficit acquired it. he had rebellion brewing on the right with newt gingrich. a member of president bush goes out to announce the deal and newt gingrich says he can't do it and then president bush goes out to the rose garden to announce the deal. he says in his diary that new just wants to criticize and he has no plan of his own. i can't be off in the corner falling on my ideological sword. at that point as well and you write about it, it is october and june 27, 1990 is when the pledge was token in a statement released. and then august 2, 1990 saddam hussein invades kuwait. the last thing that george w.

bush is going to do is put the troops in the field at risk with a possible market dip when he has americans in harms way. and gingrich went to him and said just don't do it now. take the pledge back him up onto the midterms midterms and say if you want a tax increase will for the democrats, if you want lower taxes over the republicans. and i honestly don't think that that was in your father's imaginative capacity with these building an army to reverse aggression to do that kind of thing. >> and reading his diaries, what was his attitude in my pregnancy? was he worried about things, concerned about me? >> there were no diaries, this was just interviews.

he actually stops on january 20, 1993 he met when did you start interviewing him? >> 2006. >> oh, really. >> yes. >> of course he was worried. he was worried about you and about mrs. bush and your daughters and you know all the stories. he read "the new york times", that was a big mistake. [laughter] >> no, i agree. >> there is another difference, i did not read "the new york times." [laughter] >> he did worry about it, of course, i think one of the great fascinating questions, obviously, which i asked you at length and i should parenthetically say that this, insofar as this book is as true as i hope that it is, as close as i thought i could get, a great deal i owe a debt to

president bush 43 giving me an immense amount of his time and insight and wisdom,. >> wait a minute. [laughter] >> because i knew that john would be fair. i was concerned when he approached me about the book and a little skeptical, frankly, but i was able to read his intentions and it's a very good book and a fair book. >> thank you, sir, thank you. >> even though we are out of time, go ahead. [laughter] >> i do want to ask one thing because the central legend is

that bush 41 didn't think that you should go into iraq and 2003. amasses all the time and when asked did read something. >> okay. >> is called a role reversal. [laughter] ♪ [laughter] [inaudible] >> he admitted that iraq cannot. >> let me put it into context. a lot of times how much did he ask him for advice, president bush 43 said send your briefers,

i did a line by line read, a decision point of the best-selling presidential point, if we want to make this then that would be fine. but what i also found is that actually there was a lot in questions that you did talk a little bit more about and i said to president bush, i think that you have downplayed how much you talk to dad about some things because he didn't want people thinking that you are overly dependent on the previous generation president bush said that that's not a bad observation, i took that as a yes. and this is 2002. >> he admitted, however, that's me, that's me. were i wanted to know what he thought. at the presidential retreat where his father had spent so many hours in times of peace and that war, george explained where

things stood. i told dad that i was praying that we could deal with him peacefully but preparing for the alternative. bush 43 recalled walking into the diplomatic strategy and the efforts in the middle east. ..

>> >> here is the reply the 41st president to the 43rd. dear george, your handwritten note just received touched my heart. you we're doing the right thing. your decision just made is the toughest decision you have had to make up until now. but you made with strength and with compassion.

it is right to worry about the loss of innocent life iraqi or american but it is what you had to do. as you face the toughest problems any president since abraham lincoln has based. you kerry burden with strength and grace. remember rabin's words of love you more than time can tell. devotedly, dad. [applause]

[inaudible conversations]

>> ladies and gentlemen,. welcome to johns hopkins school for advanced international studies. we are here today to discuss the great - - a joint project of the policy center as turkey transformed a the origins and the is solmization of the akp party. publishing this report shortly before the november 1st election and it is available on-line.

the studies are available on-line there also copies outside her gore want to mention the institute has been publishing also another statement said is dedicated to environmental issues but i will start with the brief introduction by saying there is no need to talk to mention of bay critical

region between central asia and the maturity and. it is important for political and other prospective so it is important of what is happening for turkey itself and also for its neighbors and the united states having interests in that area as well. we all know the results of the election the president regained parliamentary majority and the results even surprised a seasoned analyst. and the akp is mandated to govern.

in favor of stability after the elections it is the oldest on the meeting of the election and what it means for actors all around. we have a distinguished panel of our first speaker is ideally suited because he holds positions at the policy center. and a distinguished scholar for studies. as well as state undersecretary of defense for 2005 and 2009.

one is for the institute. and holds his b.a. degree from university. there is director for foreign policy at the bipartisan policy center. we are fortunate to have to commentators who are members of the bipartisan policy center task force. a long time turkey observer finally the last but not least senior counsel also

the state department of national security advisor to vice president cheney. >> thank-you and let me say at the outset i have to leave a little bit after 6:00. because i have another commitment but i would feel worse about that if not for the fact i am sitting on a panel with a group of people with whom i have worked on with this for many years. i know the audience will be well served or better served in my absence. monday star with a couple of comments of the report that caused us to write the

report and then make a few comments about turkey's prospects post-election. a couple of years ago we did a report that looked at the ideological origins of turkish foreign policy and this is in the context of a form policy that had begun to enter the prime minister to have no problems and that policy over time had more to into a policy where turkey seem to have problems with all the neighbors and has developed a form policy that was marked by the allegiances of the neighboring region and the initial in junction of

problems with neighbors and to prepare that report it occurred to several of us it might be useful to look into the ideological origins of what appears to be driving a greater trent toward authoritarian behavior of the akp in turkey because because of turkish and foreign policy behavior could not be explained without reference domestically in turkish society so we undertook to write this report it is quite to eliminating a week

ago before the election with some of distinguished commentators who i think both agree this as a lot to tell people including those who know a lot about turkey what we see of the current political circumstance the changes we see going on in the media and in education policy. the paper serves as a useful backdrop to the election and as was mentioned a minute ago i don't think very many observers saw this coming between the june election in the november election to gain about 5 million votes.

it went to 40% of the share to about 49 .4%. turkey has a tradition of free and fair elections and it is hard to imagine although there were some votes it was more significant than usual is hard to imagine 5 million votes were stolen but that being said it is hard to characterize this election as spare. because of the atmosphere of violence and intimidation under which the election campaign took place. i have in mind to the burning of over 200 offices of the kurdish party and the

demonstrations by those thuggish elements from the mainstream media outlets and days before the election the media offices use of tear gas. is hard the the environment that a fair election can take place. not to mention that high a level of violence from what we would see in the 1980's that makes it very difficult to imagine a fair election being held in the southeast. where a large number reside. is in light of that where to find ourselves facing?

although this victory was not perceived by others there must have been 30-year 40 polls taken between june and in november and not one predicted this outcome. the highest of any poll was 47% that was an allied air among the poll's. it tells you even without large victory the prime minister and the president had received 49 percent of the vote and that indicates turkey is a deeply divided society. and what that requires to roof turkey for word to be the society of that democratic pluralistic partner that we need to be

in vendee of the spirit of reconciliation of differences with the emphasis of peaceful reconciliation and a concern for pluralism and tolerance rather than the overheated rhetoric over the last couple of years. that is what the prime minister by qc but i am fearful that is not the result very likely to see. those papers to which i have referred have been won the election and his opponents

lost he could govern in any way he sees fit. edits likely to carry turkey further of greater polarization or perhaps worse unless the trend is arrested. i'm afraid it is hard to see him approaching this in any other way. that makes it incumbent to make clear publicly and privately to attach freedom of expression to the rule of law for a fair regard of turkish opinions to be a

guiding force of the turkish government's policies rather than the efforts to eliminate criticism and paints opponents with a broad brush as supporters of terrorists and that is what i hope to see all though i am not sanguine about that either. >> the queue ambassador for your comments i take the starting point than the of retrospect that the akp stood for when they came out on the political scene. of course, that had broken

from the islamist movement and embraced membership in the e.u. and democracy and promised to break the system that existed in turkey to produce a true liberal democracy. in the post of 11 period what could be better than what the akp promised to be? and did what they have developed is the new turkey project with the western observers or the liberals believe in maybe entering for this election period

with the capital of the city to shoot water cannons to hindering the first responders from coming to the scene. so space the with the new turnkey project is go into some detail chronological the to deepen the authoritarianism in the process of exhilarated islam as asian. my colleagues will speak of the authoritarian elements but and it is a fair point.

is not that level of authoritarian as of but that old system isn't on the individual persons but it was rather predictable into a considerable degree you can disagree with those laws and most did but it was in china with the national security council and everything that existed but now a is a different type of system centered around one individual. that makes it much more unstable because even with 317 seats in the parliament he is not the position to achieve the system he has said is defacto to change the constitution and to reflect. he is governing in a way that is completely different

from the one turkey is mandating. so the institution was asian -- institutional was asian but with that is solmization that most secularists are calling but that did not seem to have been but after the 2011 elections we see clear change acceleration of the process. there has ben a massive reversal of the secular reforms of the system in the late 90's with a great assertion into the regular school system but with the rebuilding of a school run

under the supervision of the foundation. and in this process we see the transformation of regular schools against the wishes of the people and greasy and education system that pushes people into the system from the regular school system in turkey. the second element is the state directorate for religious affairs.

end you can ask if there are many things are planning to do is an accordance with the islamic laws. whether lotteries are legal or celebrating the new year or read a paper is in conformity are issues. that does not carry any legal weight but that is noteworthy. there is also a massive expansion of forces under the akp route they used to be available only for children under -- over the

age of 12 but for those facilities the training of teachers to change the situation. but now we very clearly see how that was supportive of the policies of the government. there is also an increasing stock of the organization to the role of women and the increasing role of cry me capitalism in and of course, as the ambassador has mentioned the policy

like libya aware turkey is supportive of jihadi groups. to understand why this is happening very often alienated turkey to see them focused the basically it is more and more unstable than somebody else from the akp but then rebut that have this problem.

not that if the nature was wrong but something else was wrong all along the way. but the ideological bolick -- it is what it is consistent with your seeing played out consistent a. that movement from which it came is much more radical and it is true and it is an important point the tradition in turkey refrains from being violent. but we see those ideas that are propagated very quickly the three routes to put this

movement to bring alien inspiration with that turkish islam into the turkish mainstream without the in words but being spiritual order but it is very extremely political. so that is first ideologically but the turkish the interest in the 1920's and '30's if you look at what they believe there were highly inspired by the european ideologies in the '30's particularly those first ideologies passionate opponents of the west.

that third element of the tradition that was very influential from the sixties onward in the turkish islamic movement. . .

and that they needed the ottoman empire and in principle you come away with the understanding that not only is everything jewish bad that everything bad in the world is jewish. it deeply colors the entire movement now course the akp was born out of a breach of this islamic movement and we found the study the akp never did leave islamism behind intellectually. the real changes or rebranding as we call it that took place among islamic intellectuals and politicians about a big akp didn't occur when the akp was

created. it started with a creation of the party which preceded the akp created after 1997. where the akp gehman was derivative fair can in the old guard which was a block in the process of their political ambition and occurred after the party was closed down by the court. we discussed in great detail how this process of rebranding was very technical in nature and is important to note he was actually after the coup of 1997 embrace the e.u. and embrace the issue of applying to the european court for redress against the closure of the party magically in this book published in 2014 there is nothing about the e.u. and nothing about democracy. as if it had never happened to the hard-core islamist

ideologies of the 1960s and 70s. and in principle i think what you are left with, the conclusion is that the rebranding of the akp never went to the core issue. that is it never went to the core issue that the islamic movement in turkey and the people who very much are today remain the decision-makers in the akp had a worldview that remained based on a delusional conspiratorial worldview. and therefore i think there is a linear link actually between the consolidation of the akp and a return to the hard-core islamist ideas and values that were part of the islamist movement in turkey in the 1960s and 1970s. looking at the june election we found that erdogan was everywhere in rallies, on posters and the defeat of the akp in june was in fact people saying no to the idea of a

presidential system and off author -- authoritarian system but what you find in the november election you don't find erdogan at rallies. you don't find erdogan on posters. the akp try to present itself as a party and not as a vehicle for one single individual ambition and i think that's one of the reasons why the akp exists and was successful in this election. people voted for the party and for civility but not for erdogan. that of course doesn't change the fact that erdogan will push the presidential system but i think with the conclusion to our study more importantly whether or not he succeeds in having constitutional backing for a system that in practice is lardy existing he will have at least four more years impact on turkey and make it irreversibly more middle eastern country but a more polarized an unstable country that it -- then it was when on egypt took power. >> thank you svante.

>> thank you. alfred whitehead said the tradition of western philosophy consisted of footnotes to plato which is one of the reasons i decided to study philosophy. i could do plato and be done with it but in the same way what i have to say looking at footnotes to the presentations it's hard to read about turkey today without seeing the word authoritarian pop pop up and it's hard to ignore what's been happening in turkey for the last an app years without coming to the conclusion that there is a departure from democracy beginning with the gassy park protest in may of 2013 that were met with a brutal police response followed by the december 17 investigations into corruption and the prosecutors who brought the charges and the police forces responsible were dismissed. it became clear that then prime

minister and now president erdogan called the shots in turkey but the purpose of this paper was to examine the nature of authoritarianism more deeply and ask where does it come from what is its nature was a structure, how is being implemented and why it matters. i think on the first the argument we make in the paper is all of the trends we are seeing in turkey today are not the more result of something that mark is what happened in 2013 and not the result of the break the erdogan had and also purely personal ambitions and not party wide objectives as svante laid out. the really trace the akp's ideology back to erdogan which

is an authoritarian ideology. if you look at the structure of the various parties said erdogan lead over his political tenure they were authoritarian and structured with erdogan being the leader and therefore it's not surprising that is what we are seeing manifesting and as the party that is the inheritor of that tradition. there is a question of how has this, out and the argument that we put forward is that the democratic movement that you see in 2002 and 2003 when the akp is first elected which actually earns auditions from western leaders that this is a democratic party that will maybe solve the democratic deficit is really actually the entrée in some ways to the authoritarianism that we see today. in order for the akp to stay in power to avoid a state that the predecessors had met and the

coup that forced everyone from power attempts the predecessors predecessors -- though still being fresh in people's minds and the akp's mind they could stay in power without being meddle with. the first step towards that was clearing the underbrush and clearing the threads to the rule which is primarily the military which is what we see in 2006, 2007 in 2008 with a sledgehammer case. the allegations of coup plotting terrorism with the military journalists. and you see basically the akp completely swing the pendulum and the other way and become a mirror image. first they were the outsiders trying to clear away the established institutions of the state that might oppose them and suddenly they become institutions of the state and they try to clear away the social and economic institutions

that might oppose them so what you really see in turkey is this authoritarianism on two levels. one is the institutional -- the institutionalized -- deinstitutionalization that svante mention in the concentration of power and erdogan's hands and doing away with the checks and balances and separation of power, rule of law that is meant to shield the use of power so you see a tinkering in the 2010 constitutional referendum and the last two years with the laws that govern the body that controls how it judges and prosecutors are pointed so suddenly you start stacking the courts essentially allowing erdogan to dig tape who the judges are and how decisions are made to abc rule of law separation of powers. the media regulatory body which leads to some of the invasions

of media freedom that ambassador adelman mentioned in the second level of authoritarianism i see is really the elimination of possible sources of opposition and a closing and up civil society both in terms of media freedoms as we saw dramatically in the lead-up to the election and the imprisonment of journalists in and the targeting of journalists. some of this being done through the government means through legal means but a lot of it being done extra legally with mob showing up in opposition, newspapers sometimes led by government entities and party mps but not in any sort of official capacity and ransacking those offices of mobs showing up and ransacking political parties offices. and you also see this in economics which svante briefly mentioned where you see a crony capitalism emerged where

contracts are a means both of enriching supporters of the government as well as the parties enriching itself but also pushing up from the economy and access to wealth to being able to own media companies and mount opposition. anyone who doesn't agree so you really see a systematic authoritarianism on those levels of the government but also within civil society, the media and the economy. the question of why this matters as svante said it's about stability. turkey has multiple crosscut cleavages. often we tend to talk about the akp as sort of the socially conservative for the pious or secularist or kamala's versus the pious but it's much more than that. you have the sunnis versus the dash and the turks versus the

kurds. worse than that i think what you have seen between june and the november election is that they really hardened in a way that appears difficult to reverse at this point. going into the june election there's a lot of optimism specifically around the possibility that the akp in the kurdish card he might cross the threshold for the first time and also always moderate making each power. the possibility of a sense of change and the democratic process. a lot of the members of the opposition that sense of hope evaporated by the time the november election came around. it seemed apparent that president erdogan were willing to take the country to the brink of war and destabilize the country to make the argument

that they could wring stability back and it would be the right choice. the other reason this matters in washington erdogan's antics are seen as a electoral strategies. turkey has had four elections and last two years so it's often very easy to say they are just shutting down youtube and twitter because they need to do this before the election but after the election don't worry everything will come back. he's just cracking down on the currency before the election but after the election don't worry everything will change. first of all we haven't seen that in the multiple times we have heard this would happen it hasn't but secondly there's a circular logic here where we say we shouldn't worry about erdogan's authoritarian smc gets what he wants but for the elections he won't resort to that. as svante said it's to create

this authoritarian system that he's not shy talking about it more effectively trying to persuade ourselves that it torit. some is displaying now once -- will go away once he has the opportunity to display or authoritarianism which seems a little circular so paying attention to the ideology and objectives that are driving erdogan in the party understand where the country will be going in the future. thanks. >> thanks. i guess much of what there is to say about the election and the outlook has been said so i will do my best to make it interesting. you know for me, i should say

erdogan was on somewhat of a losing streak even though he was always coming in first in the elections. i think akp did worse than expected in the local elections in 2014 in the presidential election he got just under 52%. to essentially nobody's. he emerges a significant political heavyweight in many ways but he was essentially unknown at the time of the presidential election. akp lost its majority in june. and i guess to me this election showed erdogan so much for the midas touch in politics that he had had previously.

it took some guts to roll the dice. maybe he didn't have much choice because he was frightened of not having a majority, but nobody expected a success and he did succeed. i think also and i'm not sure if it was svante or blaise that alluded to this i guess he showed a little bit more flexibility than i expected and survey show after the last election that both his presence, his very shrill campaigning for akp and his emphasis on a presidential system which remains not very popular. the overwhelming majority of turks oppose it. those two elements actually

heard akp so what did he do? and you know for somebody we tend to think of them as such a test that he wouldn't be able to do this but it largely kept himself out of the campaign in november and you didn't hear much about the presidential system. so he showed actually to me surprising tactical flexibility. i want to say one thing. a lot of negative things have been said about the polls in turkey for good reason. there was actually a great cartoon that somebody sent me. i have to share with you. i think it will mean something to those of you who are familiar with turkish politics anyway. it shows the leaders of the three losing parties sitting around and grumbling about how terrible the polls were and how they missed it entirely and they are all saying yeah how can those pollsters stayed there? they all ought to resign.

alluding to the fact that turkish party leaders virtually never resign. there is one poll that i think, i think something positive has to be said about it. i think they primarily do market research. they are the only ones who have done something close to exit polling in turkey which are the polls right after, the day after the elections. they are the june 8 pole. it had over 20% of mh p. voters saying that if they had known how the election would turn out that they would have voted for it akp. and i think i don't know how good the poll list. i can't vouch for it. i'm not here to advertise for it at either erdogan -- erdogan

pulls most of them showing something similar because on day one after june 7 the pro-government papers were all saying the solution is a new election. likely a new election. i was before any of and if the politicians had said anything so he obviously believes the kind of results that came out of that i think that already created the base of voters for akp, which he built on to his victory in november. he knows there was already significant chunk of voters who were unhappy with a hung parliament and were going to vote for him for the sake of a majority. now, i do see it like i do many commentators have said this is was a vote for stability and if those polls which by the way is only in turkish at this point but for those of you who have

forward and mentoring knowledge of turkey -- turkish it's pretty easy to read. even i could read it. i had some very interesting bings in it but look i think although the boat was for stability i think what the turks are going to reap is a great deal of instability and here i will just kick off a lot of things that have already been said. it's clear that erdogan sees this vote as an affirmation of his policy so i think we can expect that he will continue to push the presidential system. there are party ben indications from his advisers that they intend to push along those lines in the now he is 13 votes short in parliament of having enough

votes to pass a constitutional amendment that could be brought up for referendum but given some of the past cooperation between akp and the nationalist mhp i wouldn't be shocked to see him call those extra votes from mhp. and even though should take it to a referendum right now roughly 70% of turks say, and this is again from this recent poll after the november election say they favor a parliamentary system but once the campaign for a referendum were involved, i mean who knows what would happen because akp has many levers and erdogan is very influential. i think we'll see the

presidential system. we are going to see a continuation of the war on the pkk. at any rate the pkk has what i think as a plunder the kurdish cause. it says that it's temporary cease-fire is over. we are likely to see a crackdown on universities. there are new regulations passed early before the election that gives the higher education council the right to take over universities. media, it's the worst era really that i can remember and my memory goes back a long way. and just some of the recent things. just to highlight and now they have been said already because the police storming the building and just taking the tv stations off the air and the newspapers

were taking over and the next day they flipped 180 degrees editorially. >> were 360 degrees as the prime minister would say. i think one of the most disturbing things and maybe there are some in the audience who can provide some context, i don't remember anything like this. there are been nearly three of the cases of journalists and others who have been indicted, arrested find for insulting the president. the laws on the books. i don't remember it ever being invoked quite so often. i do remember senior officials in turkey filing libel suits including president o. zell many years ago but it's an almost

foolproof way of getting people to shut up. the cracked down will obviously continue and i just want to emphasize one point with this election. as many of you know in advance a corruption case was opened against many akp associated people followed by a series of leaks of recordings which would implicate erdogan himself. much of subsequent turkish political history i think we can say until november 1 has probably been about the president trying to avoid those charges coming to him. some people would argue that's actually why he insisted on becoming president because it's

much harder to get to a president. it takes three-quarters vote for impeachment, otherwise he is basically beyond the law. some would argue that's why he wanted to, why he needed a majority government because even a coalition government might have been difficult for any non-akp party not to vote in favor of pursuing these corruption charges. now he's insulated from most charges and i think that story is pretty much over. so i think there is going to be some tough times ahead. not to mention the economy has been struggling. i will say a couple of things about the united states. is there some silver lining? well, you know i'm trying to be objective. perhaps from the u.s. point of view the fact that we have been

using an agreement with what was an interim government that wasn't akp dominated government since late july. i guess this likely assures we will continue to use it in the fight against isis. perhaps if chp had been part of the government there would have been any interruption but chp has its elements and chp has its own cut about syria in the united states. maybe there would have been some complications another walmart. when we fight a war winning that war tends to dominate all aspects of our policy and that's understandable. i think it's going to be the dominant element. in our turkey policy in the days

ahead but i would echo what ambassador edelman said it's extremely important to continue to focus on the freedom deficit in particular and the repression of freedom of expression. in turkey. i say continue because i would say despite her sticky jeepneys in turkey we have made some important statements. we are going to have to keep that out front and i think the first test of how we are going to balance that are important test will come this weekend. president obama will be in turkey for the g20 summit and i will tell you at the previous g20 summit he seemed to try to evade prime minister erdogan with whom he once had a close relationship since 2013 has not. it's very difficult to evade your host and i think it will be

very interesting to see how the president balances. appreciation for the fact that we are able to use turkish bases in the fight against isil with a very deep concern about the lack of freedom and the declining freedom in turkey and i will leave it there. >> thank you. >> okay, thank you. i will try and be quick because i know we want to leave time. maybe ambassador edelman will be here for a few minutes and maybe people can ask them some questions. i would just underscore what allen said. as much as i don't like it i think this really, this election really did highlight erdogan's erdogan's -- turkish politics.

whatever people thought about june 7, that was going to be the dagger to the heart to put an end to the erdogan reign over turkish politics and the aftermath of what happened november 1 to think we have to say was at most a stumbled and he remains a giant in his ability to manipulate, to intimidate, to threaten, to persuade, to inspire and demagogue the turkish public to serve his own political ends. i think it's without parallel in the turkish system and that certainly was the case with the amazing five-month period to have gone from that stinging rebuke in june to as everybody has said to the stunning victory on november 1. none of the experts and certainly not the pollsters

predicted this resounding overwhelming victory by the akp and its return to majority rule. although more of an earthquake because it was so unexpected and unpredicted. except perhaps for president erdogan himself. as allen said he was the one that from the start said we are going to scuttle these coalition talks. we are going to go to new elections. if he took advantage of the assassination of the two policemen in july, seized on a provocation and basically handed the peace park riot -- peace process and we launched full-scale -- against pkk and as my colleagues have said it was he who decided that he was going to double down on crushing all forms of dissent inside of

turkey particularly in the media and i mean really astounding cases of repression of the media as well as political opponents, particularly within the kurdish dominated h. e. p. -- hdp so this was a systematic strategy as blaise has preferred to buy erdogan of manufactured chaos, manufactured instability, violence and intimidation to essentially to scare the turkish people into revisiting the results of june 7, and returning the akp tube monopoly power because if they didn't basically it was as much a threat as a promise that things could get very -- much much worse and