that regard and really sort of speak to the subconscious mission of creating a particular kind of leadership. west point is really remarkable in that regard. and those institutions come up in the debate. i mean, thomas jefferson who helped bring west point into being also was a supportive and ashley university. although, he thought we needed a constitutional amendment to establish a national university and he speaks of west point in much the same way. although, west point port jefferson's most important scientific terms at the time and in times of the scientific developed that will come out of it. >> host: is their dissent allowed at military academies? >> guest: yes, i think. in a place like west point encouraged is maybe too strong a word, but it's a genuine liberal arts education and a genuine

liberal arts education means that while we want to cultivate certain understandings of politics and certain habits of mind that will be essential for leadership, part of those habits in a liberal democratic country are going to be very open-ended and subject to serious questioning and that's something that's those who think about the national university are acutely aware of early on. they want to really sort of teach the range of ideas about politics and government even while tried to cultivate a particular understanding and i think you see some of that west point and we actually see that beyond west point in many ways. we are very open when we teach in terms of liberal arts about the be right-- fridays of the whole experience and we really want to be critical of political institutions including our own and get most of us and most of the institutions themselves think of themselves as

self-consciously committed to some form of democracy. it's not like we are sane and we don't mind if we don't produce a bunch of students-- i mean, we would think that was somehow have been-- we would have done something wrong along the way. >> host: professor thomas with the decline in the liberal arts education overall as a country, are we losing civics? >> guest: that's a great question and it should be a serious concern to us. in fact, at the end of the book i pose a great challenge in our day really is the potential commercialization and the careerist turn in liberal arts education that threads to equip more of a robust liberal arts elements and when you think of how in the fatty generation the biggest threat in some sense might have been from religion,

in our day the biggest threat seems to be the more commercial nature which is in interesting ways i think probably because of the success of american constitutionalism. the forward looking version of it is too great a thriving looking society and we have done that, but now do we need to correct about the other other way and attend a four to public life and civic obligations and have our institutional institutions ask if they have civil obligations and commitment and whether they went to nurture those in their students. >> host: george thomas, government professor, the founders and the idea of a national university constituting the american mind. this is book tv on c-span. >> when i tune into it on the weekend usually its authors sharing their new releases.

>> watching nonfiction authors on book tv is the best television for serious readers. >> you could have a longer conversation delve into the subjects. >> book tv weekends, they bring you offer after author after author with the work of fascinating people. >> i love the tv and i am a c-span fan. >> book tv tapes around the country all year long. 's look at some of the events we are covering this week. tuesday at politics and prose bookstore in washington, former state department official on america's role in the world since 911. least in the nation's capital wednesday with the former administrator of the white house office of information and regulatory affairs examining what "star wars" movies can teach us about presidential politics, economics and the lot. thursday, founder and editor of national affairs with his plan

for a more united and prosperous america from the manhattan institute in new york city. also, that day we are in baltimore, or actress diane carreiro's talk about undocumented immigrants in the us. her parents and brother were deported when she was 14 years old. she has been named an ambassador for citizenship and naturalization by the white house. next sunday we are alive with author and publisher steve forbes on in-depth and we will take your questions and comments about his many books. that's a look at some of the programs book tv is covering this week and many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on book tv on c-span 2. >> the fact is that we have latinos from big numbers to power for the first time and that's a huge change and i think it is incredibly important that we realize that new power is here and that we can talk about

things that in the past we really had no chance to talk about. therefore, when we had a candidate who says, donald trump, that mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals and drug traffickers i think there is-- we can respond to that and was brought-- responded to that. was so interesting is that-- let me just put it in a question. where were all of the candidates by months ago? where was the press by months ago? where was the us government and the mexican government nine months ago when donald trump said mexican immigrants were criminals and drug traffickers and rapists? nowhere to be found and then we responded. we latinos responded and said, no, you are wrong. when you are saying, mr. trump, is not right and absolutely

wrong and we responded. we did not wait for the latino candidate and we did not wait for the hispanic congressmen to respond. we responded. it was all of our artists and each one of you on social media who were saying what you're saying, mr. trump, is absolutely wrong. the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals are rapists. he was a wall between mexico and the united states. good luck. you know why? almost 40% of immigrants undocumented immigrants come by plane or with a visa, so he wants a big wall. well, i mean, it's going to have to be a really big wall for that ended and he wants to change the constitution and deny each citizenship to the children.

he would have to change the constitution for that. in other words, he is wrong and i think we have the right to start changing the conversation and i think we are changing the conversation. talking about latino power. let's suppose he wants-- he is saying he will win the hispanic vote and let me tell you some news, mr. trump, you will not win the hispanic vote. [applause]. >> these are the numbers i got from the "washington post" poll a few days ago. 81% of latinos have a negative opinion of donald trump. so, how would-- what would that mean in terms of if he were to run against hillary clinton or bernie sanders. only 16% of latinos, 16%-- i know you are asking who is that 60%, but 16% of latinos would

vote for donald trump against hillary clinton or bernie sanders. can he win the white house was 16%? no, he can't because remember that romney got 20% of the hispanic vote one-- did not win the election. with 16% of the hispanic vote, donald trump cannot win the white house and that is where our power resides. we have 27 million latinos who are eligible to vote. unfortunately, not all of latinos go to vote. i think donald trump is helping us because many latinos who are thinking i won't go to vote and they see donald trump and they say yes, i'm going to vote. ..

>> who turned the company around or during the height of the financial crisis. in the coming weeks on "after words," senate majority leader mitch mccardiology will discuss -- mcconnell will discuss how his political philosophy has informed his time in the senate. senator barbara boxer will look a