she was suffering and didn't like it yet she knew that this was a good thing for her. the experience of delivering cows is messy. it became a silo event in nebraska and if i traveled the next couple of months even in the midst of a strong presidential campaign, the main thing they want to talk about is how their kids could suffer. there is a movement for people in america that want to have a shared conversation with their neighbors about how we do righte and build perseverance and toughness into them that it's not chiefly a political conversation is a neighborly conversation.

>> i wish we had more time to talk. i will make sure they get the manual labor on the cattle ran ranch. the book is called the vanishing american adult. the first guest of the morning, the senator of oklahoma served as the republican the author of the book.

it's an interesting story. we have to make sure that because nowhere in history havef the powerful governments ceded government back to the people we have to make sure that is available to the american people. so they put us in article number five that allows the states by two thirds of the states to call on amendment conviction. it is an amendment conviction where the states can offer amendments that are nothing but recommendations that go back to the states and then three quarters of the states would have to approve that.itth so what it does is it is the relief valve for the states when they see this imbalance and what has happened is there is nour

longer a balanced power between the branches here and in the federal government, but also no longer a balance of power betweenba the states. when they raise the money in state they have a federal bureaucrat tell them how they havhave to stand back. so essentially they've really lost almost all their power. this is about rebalancing those here in washington and rebalancing the relationship between the states and thee government. >> host: as far as the mechanics, here's what the article says on the article of the waterthe little switcher, ts of the state shall call the convention of the proposing amendment which shall be valid to all intensive purposes part of the constitution. it goes on from there how many states are currently signed on with this effort? >> we have to have 34. once you have 34 they don't have a choice they have to call the amendments convention, which is a convention of the state, which means each state gets one vote on anything that happens and then whatever comes out of that

has to coincide with what the application is. if you apply outside of the three areas then you can't offer those amendments.or? >> they are all similar. limit the scope and jurisdiction of the federal government. force financial responsibility in the balanced budget amendment in the accounting principles anh limit the terms of the elected officials. so if you think about it, why is the congress not consideringom economic and fiscal restraint right now and where is the move for the balanced budgetnt of amendment? no one is doing that in washington, so it isn't going to happen unless we make it happen. >> if you want to talk about the

proposal in article number five in the constitution, 2,027,488,000 for democrats and 8001 for republicans and independents, (202)848-8002. post on c-span wj, the twitter page. is this bipartisan? >> guest: it is. we have democrats and republicans and some supporting and sponsoring it. more progressive states are interested i'm the one standpoint and that is get rid of the, i'm trying to remembert the court case that allowed at the open spending we have a lot of opposition because people like the power concentrated here in washington. we have 2.8 million volunteers

and a volunteer in everya district in the country. it depends on leadership and what happens in washington. it's how it happens and how it works and the fact that not much is happening. where is the work to solve the problems and that is what i'm interested in. >> host: the president was elected with that kind ofnd manner. >> guest: this supersedes politics.nation? how do we fix them and repair as the founders knew we would need to otherwise they would never have put this in their.

they don't have much power any more. they argue this with push back and say they provide some guidance for the convention this leads to wide-open political considerations such as how the delegates would be chosen and how many each state would have ended would be required for the amendment.ority. >> guest: it is totally left up to the states. but they don't understand is before constitution, everything we had in the convention, all our history is about convention. the bill of rights when medicine and johmadisonand john j. startg

the article five convention. tell me, here is my position asa a retired u.s. senator and someone that cares about the future of the country what is your idea to fix it because it certainly isn't getting fixed fr here. how do we guarantee a good future for our kids. we have $144 trillion in unfunded liabilities that is going to be coming due in theouk next 50 years. if you take the 85 million millennialist, they will be the wage earner is how is it fair that they lose 30,000 a year that they have to pay off when we were responsible for its? to not do anything is an injustice to the people that follow us and i know people don't want to pay attention to

that but the fact is we have ano obligation for those that come to us and to start acting responsible because we haven't the last 20 years. >> host: the book is called smashing the dc monopoly. thank you for c-span. hello, tom. there is too much stuff that is broken right now so here is my idea or suggestion. is it possible, would it be possible for congress to mustera the courage to create the independent commission and toce

totally divorce money that is paid to congressmen, senators,ua whoever because it is always ais perpetual election. very little gets done while they are there. it's about taking money and staying in power. it's about staying in power. >> guest: it is about treating the symptom rather than the disease. it's a long-term raise money and get reelected and enhance my ability for this position. i supplemented my own terms, but the term limits for the answer to that and that is one of the things we are proposing in this application as we limit the terms of the members of congre

congress. l it limits the exposure andsolve thought patterns on how you solve problems. so i am with you. i think somebody is a symptom of the lack of turmoil. everybody that was at the and convention was for term limitsok with the exception of the representative that started wits the banking business and he persuaded them not to put the states aside. the states did decide and they put the term limits in and they turned them down. the way that we do this is aro constitutional amendment that the states approved and that the supreme court can't have any control over. that is why you believe that people have to solve this problem. we are the ones that ought to be deciding because it is us that are being effective.

>> host: from george on the independent line, good morning. >> caller: this is nothing but the state right argument that tm they keep bringing u up over ti. all the time. the reason they want to go back to the states rights which iss pretty much governed by up. republicans from the dog catcher and up, anyway, there was a thing that happened back in thee china century. they were given money from the state to dole out to all of the other farmers for whatevere reason. they gave money to their farms and friends excluded black farmers which essentially render business anrantheir business any people try to fight that the states like mentality when it comes to going back to the wayo we do things because they always

hate the federal government for making things right and making things better for all people.e >> guest: i couldn't disagree more. on the highway bill with federal money it costs 50% more to build this same exact highway. of all of the regulations required this doesn't have anything to do with race. it's everything to do with freedom and that is freedom for everybody in every race in the country. >> host: on the democratic line, go ahead. >> caller:.

false advertisement is sort of like the right to work state. this is bad news when they open this up and you said it's not about race. it's everything to do with race. this is what the country is about. don't be fooled, america. this is another unique in america great ploy. >> host: what is wrong with the amendment proposal? she's gone but you can respond. >> guest: i understand why they might. we started this movement while i was in the u.s. senate. it's everything to do with freedom.

do you actually reach out and fix the problem? this isn't about limiting freedom come it's about expanding everybody and restoring the freedom that we were intended to have. i mean, did we really need a big brother from washington on everything that goes on in theif states? if they've been discriminated against coming might feel that way. i understand that. that ibut that isn't the way toa establish freedom. this is a solution that is as big as the problem in front of us as a nation. and the question is who decides them is that somebody leaked person that is going to decide the future and how you can do things or some unelected bureaucrat that has never run for office at all where do you get to decide? and here's the other important point. as a u.s. senator i represent almost 4 million people. how many do you think really got to talk to me.

i can go in and actually speak to a legislator and all i have to do this drive 95 miles and i can make my voice heard and so can everybody else. but that doesn't happen up here. when you send a letter most of g the time you get a letter thanking you but no specific response to what your question was. >> host: the states that have signed on, can they govern and do they legislate? >> guest: alaska, indiana, missouri, tennessee, louisiana, i think that is true. we will make this appeal large largely. i think the reason it is going first in the red states is there's more movement for the control back to the states. >> host: as far as beingse consistent, how do you make that happen for the same principles?i >> guest: let's take theble.

fiscal responsibility. within the convention where every state gets one vote. you have to pass at recommendation. we move forward to the states, so what would that be. we have a balanced budget amendment that says over theced next ten years you have to move towards a balanced budget, here is one that is important. most of the time, the members of congress and senators will not make the hard choice because if they make the hard choice they mayey not get reelected. the hard part is maintaining power versus losing power. instead of continuing to borrow

off the backs of people that are not even poor -- that are not even born now. it's putting the limit on wages and decreasing the wages as it has done in puerto rico. how did you make the connection between this effort with senator colburn? >> guest: that is what the states were present. they represent wade controls at $7.50 per hour they won't let people unionize.

it's democracy with a difference in america that we used to have6 in the 50s and 60s.s it's very informative to see the response that we are seeing. you're not thinking you can't care for people. we just heard an explanation that if you are a red state, from two different individuals, but you don't have what is needed for the country and thatt isn't true. it's red states and blue states and the right to work is elevated more in oklahoma. i understand this polarization that we are seeing is difficult. but if in fact we have a convention in the states thatme first affordable government.

you don't think you ought to pay for your medicare. we can say that isn't what we are trying to do, but that is: what we are trying to do. >> host: the constitution allows for the argument this is around the representational government. >> guest: this is exactly what the founders intended. they knew that at some point in time, the ineffectiveness and government collecting power to itself would have to be neutralized and this is just about restoring what was in our constitution in terms of the state having the ability to make the decision.i have

i can document that in a written book. who is working on that right now? nobody. we are going to continue to waste money. $145 billion, that is enough to run the state of oklahoma 20ow years. >> host: smashing the dc monopoly to stop runaway government is the book by senator tom coburn and joining us to talk about the concept there.

people in california, illinois, massachusetts. hitler and the nazis aided federalism. but i always hear the left. there's only one political entity that opposed slavery and was the northern states.nt the federal government in the state comes about as a fallacy. this will restore freedom and people have more choices.

it is really about who decides. that is what freedom is about. it isn't undermining civil rights. this isn't about taking away, it is about being responsible for what is. one of the reasons we do this is look at how much fear we have had this morning. we expect them to do what is best in the long term for theen country when in fact the conflict is doing what is best for the political career? how in the world if last for $484 billion deficit published by the omb except the debt went

up $1.6 trillion as an accounting major and a degree in accounting that doesn't work. it grew $6 trillion. a the average millennialist when delivered a 30% standard of living than we are living right now. i think that is a moral imperative that we fix that. it might have a reaction on a couple of things to release the budget to be according to information found in newspapers, there is a spending involved when it comes to things that public-private partnerships but when it comes to spending cuts a potential of 600 billion from the children's health insurance program on its face do you think that is the right approach?t: >> guest: if you look what they found in pennsylvania and ohio they found over a million people but for illegally signed

up for medicaid to rely on the applications and compare them to the auto applications and then compared to what they told the state they were not eligible. to survive, you have to have a virtuous and informed public. the same thing for social security disability. i don't overreact. the goal ought to be if somebody

needs help, we need to help them, but also help them maintain to be personally responsible. one dependency is tierneyit because one thing is you lose the ability to flower and grow into what you can become that the earned success is happiness. and it's true. if we create programs that help the people that need it and we don't allow for fraud and abuse, and we know that there is $120 billion of fraud in the medicare and medicaid, think about that.s enou that is enough to build everyed bridge that we need.

that's because we will vote money from the public treasury and that is how they died. every republic dies. we are the longest standing republic and they all stand on the same thing, fiscal impropriety. >> host: kathryn in ohio cathero ahead. >> caller: good morning. you are a true politician because you speak out of both sides of your mouth. you were the elite in washington. if it were so bad why didn't you try to do something at the time. you have a good student that donated or decided where the money would go and then you spend it and now you act like i'm the guilty one because i ame at social security age and

because the money isn't there i've done something wrong. you are supposed to be the good steward. you are the one that is responsible. not us. now it's time to pay the piper. we worked our entire life. i started working when i was 16. i was the oldest of five and to have a coat i had to go to work. when i was 18 i got a job at the kroger co., and there i stayed until the day i retired. i worked, got married, have children, bought a home and did all the things required of me. but you did not. now you spend my tax dollars and you are crying because the money isn't there for you to spend again. it needs to be put back into these places where we paid.

now you are the one holding the money back and you want to tell me how bad i am because i want to have somewhat of a decent life. i'm not asking to live in luxury like you are but i would like to pay my gas and electric bill and mortgage in the same month. >> host: we will let our guests respond. >> guest: she obviously doesn't know my voting record and didn't vot vote or one buile entire time i was in the senate because i thought it was a moral. number two i am the guy that did the oversight trying to strengthen things out and outlined the waist and couldn't get people to vote for it so i understand your opinion but i think if you check my voting record you can find the statements are. >> host: what is the convention of the state project? >> guest: we are expanding the grassroots base and should be at around 10 million people at the end of the next year which gives

a grassroots army to actually go and lobby the legislature sentt about changing things. we will pick up probably eight to ten states next year which will put us somewhere between 2e to 22 states. using article five to restore freedom stop runaway government also a former senator from oklahoma, thank you. >> guest: it is a pleasure to be with you.