use to issue their prok lamations, usually toothless. take a look at them and see if the language is familiar to you. the language of the declaration of the constitution is what the echo is. they are the most imitated political documents on the face of the earth. the most imitated political documents on the face of the earth. my final comment, chief justice roberts, you should have stuck to it. thank you very much. i welcome your questions. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you. >> all right, bill bennett, you heard him say it. when he climbs a mountain summit, it knows it has been climbed, and now you have experienced when he rouses a political summit, it knows, we know, we have been roused. we have our marching orders. can we bring the lights up and there are the standing mikes on

each side of the hall. if you would please come to the mike to put your question so that our c-span audience and live stream audience that's watching us right now in many states and countries, can be in on the discussion. and please identify yourself so that dr. bennett knows whose question he is taking. i don't see the first question. we'll go immediately to the second question. all right. here we are. thank you. >> thank you, dr. bennett, for being with us today. state representative kathleen konty, my question for you is, we can overcome obama care by turning around the president of the united states and the senate. how can we overcome the precedent that was set for us by the court when they set the precedent saying that we have taxing authority over behavior?

>> that's a great question. you c hugh can deal with it better than i can. maybe you can ask him tonight. but i don't think people have questioned the taxation power. congress has the power to tax. we settled this when we got a constitutional amendment about takzation. i listened to rush the other day, and he was talking about, don't worry about necessary and proper, don't worry about interstate commerce, because all liberals need to do now is just use taxation. there's one good thing about using the taxation power over and over again. the people are remarkably sensitive to it. they don't like it. they didn't like it the time of the first tea party. they don't like it on the occasion of this tea party. if you think i'm wrong, then tell me why for how many years, john? two, two and a half, the obama

administration, and kathleen sabil yass and everybody else said, it's not a tax, it's not a tax, it's absolutely not a tax. if they had confidence that calling it a tax was a winning position, why didn't they do that? you know why? because if they'd called it a tax, it would not have passed. it would not have passed. so they backed off from calling it a tax, because they knew that wouldn't pass. the only guy who really did call it a tax that made a difference was a chief justice. and that is a crying shame. they didn't have the guts to do it. they didn't have the candor to do it. the chief justice didn't have the constitutional authority to do it, but he did it. but that is one power the congress has to which the people react, as you know, because they don't like taxes. >> i have a question. that is, am i next? >> you're too far along to stop.

>> the thing that upsets me the very most is that we as conservatives seem too willing to let the liberals have the moral high ground. for instance, someone will say, we as liberals, want to help the poornd that makes us more moral. and i would love to hear conservatives come back and say, well, now that depends on how you get the money to help the poor, through persuasion, or coercion. >> not even that. don't even go that far. i know where you're going. never yield the high ground to passion on the left. never, ever, ever. they don't deserve it. >> but how do you make that quick argument? >> you want a quick and dirty argument. if you're coming out of church or if you're in a bar. if you're coming out of church, make it longer. if you're in a bar, say how come conservatives give more of their time, money, blood, treasure to

the poor than liberals do? liberals are prepared to the last man to give other people's money to the poor. conservatives give their own money to the poor and their own time to the poor. never, never yield that. my wife runs a best friends foundation, 26 cities around the country, teaching abstinence from drug, sex and alcohol. how many liberals do you think are involved in this? not very many. it's all conservative people who give their hearts and time to mentor these kids and the like. what did liberal policy do for the poor? what did welfare policy do the black family in america? it took one big step toward destroying that family. as you heard this morning, the single most valuable predictor of whether a child will grow up in poverty is whether that child grows up in a family or not. by the way, the one statistic to

remember, if you are poor in america, but you graduate from high school, get a job, or if you're a girl, woman, marry a man who has a job, and don't have babies before you get married, you have a 2% chance of living in poverty and an 85% chance of living at twice the poverty level. it's amazing what america still makes possible for people if you can adhere to those conditions. liberalism has made it harder to adhere to those conditions because of what it teaches. we're talking about personal responsibility as opposed to government responsibility. we're talking about that being in the heart and that's what's going to save people. don't ever yield the high ground. i remember, john, you and i go way back on this. who wants school choice more than anybody else in the world? inner city minority parents. go see waiting for superman.

who wants to be delivered from bad schools? the people who suffer the most from bad schools. >> let's take one over here, please. >> hank shaver from steam boat springs. is it enough to just win the senate, to repeal this thing? or do we need 60 votes? >> can you give hueit extra time tonight for everything i'm not sure of. i think you can do this through reconciliation. isn't that right, john? >> they did it. >> they did it through reconciliation, the budget side, and you can undo it through reconciliation. you could also have president romney take a rage out of barack obama's book and say, i don't like this bill, i'm not going to enforce it. no, no, no, no, no. that's not what we do. but president obama did that with immigration. said, i don't like this, we

don't enforce it. so romney will get up and say, i don't believe in capital gains taxes, we're not collecting them anymore. but tom kerbern will have something to say about that. there is one thing to be learned from liberals, that earlier question. someone told me once, we go a great job in counterterrorism, maybe the only guys who do it better are the israelis. maybe we should sub contract them. maybe we should sub contract the vetting of the supreme court candidates. because they go left all the time. they fold. i'm sorry. i know what it is. i know what it is. it's washington. you ever see a man for all seasons? thomas moore said to rich. the bible said -- you got to tell me what the bible says.

i don't know. i'm catholic. to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of a soul -- glads you're up here, author fa andrews. >> i'm an evangelical. >> i know you are. i'm on my way. he said, i am a -- i said let's not do this. we were there before you were. and that's fine until a jew calls. [ laughter ] but, you know, you put liberals on the bench, they stay liberal. right? so maybe we should ask them to vet, say just get us people who -- george elliot has a great phrase -- keep shape. so i think you can do this through reconciliation, but i'd like to see it repealed and replaced. i'd like to see a really solid program in its stead. i've been a little hyperbolic today. i want to apologize to mrs.

suitor if i got that wrong. his mother. maybe there were reasons she kept him at home. [ laughter ] no, no, no. entirely appropriate. i just -- or that he chose -- i just -- i just -- i've been at this a long time. and there are people you get a sense who are conservative. there are some other people you get a sense on -- am i done? >> you know, i just want to show you folks, he had lunch with donna and me, didn't eat much lunch, but the beverages on our table are the same as yours. this is bill bennett cold sober. please thank bill bennett. we love you. [ cheers and applause ] >> washington journal wednesday,

we'll like look atd the tax provision of the affordable care act with donald marron and joseph henchman. and we'll be joined by peter mor, editor of men's health magazine to talk about the magazine's recent story on surveillance across the u.s., including which cities are the most watched. washington journal is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> coming up at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the house agrit culture committee holds a mark up on the farm bill upon the measure sets policies and programs for the m culture department through 2017. this version differs from the bill senators past last month, cuts to the food stamp program and consolidating more than a hundred agriculture programs. you can see live coverage of the mark-up starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span3.

this is c-span3 with politics and public affairs programming throughout the week and every weekend, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs at r websites. you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> now, more from the western conservative summit with oklahoma senator tom coburn. he says one of the biggest threats to the nation's existence is government overspending a topic he addresses in his new book. this is 45 minutes. >> he's one of the true fires in colorado really should be right here in this room. and those of you by the way watching on facebook and as the streaming here all afternoon, did you enjoy mr. bennett, bill bennett? great guy. wow. what a wealth of knowledge,

powerful, powerful man, and of course tonight 710 k hue hewitt will be joining us. i hope you'll be here. the reason i bring that up is because i'm steve kelly with 710 knus and it's good to be here. now you can see why i'm on the radio. okay? i have the face for radio. but i was thinking about this as i was coming here, the conservative camp. this is where we do to throw logs on the fire while our state is literally on fire and i'll talk about that in just a few moments and introduce our guests who will then introduce senator coburn who is here and his new book, the debt bomb. you're in for a treat here. think about what happened, though. are you exhausted or are you exhilarated, i wonder? are you? i mean, think about this. last week, ladies and gentlemen,

arizona had a border. and i'm not being facetious. all be it porous, arizona had a border last week. and this president, president barack obama not only won't defend arizona, and you heard governor jan brewer here yesterday, he not only won't defend it, but he's gone on the offensive with the department of justice, a hotline, if you have any trouble getting into the country, by the way illegally, call the hotline. that was last week. also last week, you heard the senator and bill bennett and everybody else talking about the supreme court. last week you saw the largest tax increase on free people in the history of humanity, the largest tax increase. okay? so the government now can penalize or tax us into forcing us into buying something that we don't want. that happened last week. on top of that, the sitting

united states attorney general found in con tempt of congress for lying, for stonewalling and not releasing all these documents. that happened just in one week. and on top of all that, we hear in colorado saw 346 homes burnt to the ground in colorado springs, 257 up north in the hyde park fire, while this president came in full campaign mode, by the way yesterday and i begged him on the radio yesterday, please don't land. just fly over. don't land. thank you. but he said he did land anyway. apparently he wasn't listening to me. but in full campaign mode, using this opportunity, i hate to say it, folks, as a photo op. and he said on top of that, i don't know if you caught this, he said, they're been doing an outstanding job -- and

truthfully those fighting the fires have been doing an outstanding job and they deserve our applause here right now. but on a federal level, an outstanding job while no less than five c130 tankers, ready to fight the fighters sat. it's not outstanding. they were out sitting on a tarmac, and this president and the governor didn't get them. how many homes could we have saved if we would have just acted? no, this is not an outstanding federal government. it's an wholing and oppressive federal government. i want to introduce a gentlemen for the last three years in a row, has the most conservative voting record. just gone through a primary competition, that he survived successfully, but in all soberness, in all somberness, it's his district, district five

right now, that people continue to lose their belongings, we're losing forest land. the fifth congressional district, this man i've had a chance to talk to and become friends with, you've heard him on the radio show a few times. he's going to talk about the fires and has the pleasure of introducing our keynote speaker this afternoon to kick this off. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium congressman doug lamborn. >> thank you, steve. and john andrews told me to say just a few words about what's happening in washington and down in the district steve alluded to that. il do that briefly and then proceed with the great introduction that i'm so honored to be able to give you today, senator tom coburn. but like steve was saying, this has been an overwhelming week in a lot of ways. back in washington, i voted along with many others to hold

eric holder in con tempt of congress. we also had the discouraging decision on the so-called patient protection and affordable care act. like someone said, under nancy pelosi, congress created this mess. so congress is going to have to fix this mess. we'll do that if we can take the senate in january. [ applause ] it'll also help if we have the white house so the bill won't get voteoed. but with a literal 51-50 vote margin, we can repeat obama care and that will be our first order of business. so that was going on and then these fires. there are now 1,300 firefighters from around the country working in colorado, the pike national forest, unfortunately when the 65 mile an hour winds started up

tuesday afternoon, it got beyond their lines of containment and came into the city limits. right on the edge of the forest where there are some beautiful neighborhoods and as steve said, 346 homes were destroyed. we know of two people who have died. so our hearts go out to the families of those who have suffered loss, both living -- the lives lost and the property lost. i was talking to a gentleman last night, a great friend who lost his house and a lifetime of memories went up in smoke. and dealing with everyday things now, how do you pick up the mail when you don't have a house? there's so many things that are now going to have to -- they're going to have to start all over. please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. and then as steve also mentioned, i had a primary election on tuesday night. i won it 61 to 38%.

[ applause ] against an opponent who claimed to be a conservative, but he was trying to remove the most conservative guy in congress. i don't know what that was about. he spent 7 to $800,000 of his own money. i think just trying to buy a seat in congress. but the people of colorado are not that easily swayed. they need to be persuaded that they're engaged. they're intelligent. colorado, and other states as well. so you just can't do that. so i'm really happy that that came out so well. but it's been an overwhelming week, and -- and so that's the latest, john, and john andrews is such a great guy. i served with him in the state senate back in the early 2000s. he was the senate president at the time, and we worked together on some good things. i was the president, not president, chairman of the state affairs committee, the so-called killer committee to either pass

bills or kill bills, as the case needed, and we had a lot of fun times doing that, didn't we, john? okay. anyway, it is now my real honor to introduce one of the real stalwarts in the u.s. senate. i'm honored to be here, senator tom coburn is the person i'm privileged to introduce now. he and his wife carolyn have a great history in oklahoma for all the accomplishments in their lives. of course, one of the greatest would be their three children and six grandchildren. outside of that, mr. coburn and his wife are both graduates of oklahoma state university, and i'm sure along with t. boone pickens they want to see a national championship come their way. senator coburn has a track record of a lot of wins in other areas. these wins would be found with his family, faith, business. formerly he was in the u.s.

house, then the senate, and as a medical doctor. he's a man of integrity. people know that he is a man of his word. when he says he's going to do something, he does it. when he pledged he was going to be in the house for six years, he lived up to that term limits pledge, and i think he was the only republican to ever hold the seat up until that time in the previously democratic second district of oklahoma, and then he was elected, as we know, to a term in the u.s. senate and was re-elected. currently he's on the senate judiciary committee, homeland security and government affairs committee, and the committee on finance. he is a leader in the fight to uphold the true meaning of marriage, the dignity of human life by protecting the unborn. second amendment rights and incorporating responsible fiscal policy. outside of standing up for these important values, he has a great business track record. when he was the manufacturing

manager for ophthalmic, correct me on that, senator, when you get up here, division of coburn optical industries, his company grew from 13 to 1,350 employees, and he's personally delivered 4,000 babies, so -- but most of all, senator coburn is known as a true conservative. last year "the national journal" ranked him as the most conservative senator. his opposition to excess spending and more debt is well known. his commitment to smaller government is well known. and his objections to those who propose government as the solution for any and all problems has earned him the title of dr. no. let's clap on that one.

he is a staunch conservative who wants to stand on principle while finding real solutions to the problems we face. i hope to hear proposals of how conservatives in congress and we here in the public can go forward in -- as we go forward now into the next years. ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege to present to you senator and dr. tom coburn. [ applause ] appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you. have a seat. well, first of all, it's a pleasure to be with you. i think it's entirely unfair. i'm going to get rid of this so somebody doesn't hit me with it. i think it's unfair to have to follow bill bennett, but i -- i do have a lesson for him, and it's a true story, and he closed thinking about how we select supreme court nominees versus how the liberals do, and i have a story for you that would relate to that.

it's a story about a father putting his daughter to bed, and he gives her a drink of water. tucks her in and says her prayers, and he goes back in to his bedroom, and about five minutes later she says, daddy, i need a drink of water. and he said, darling, you just had one. you're just trying to stay awake and don't want to go to sleep. about ten minutes passed. daddy, i need a drink of water. hon, now, we've had this discussion. if you don't go to sleep i'm going to have to discipline you. now, please go on and go to sleep. so about five minutes pass, and she says, daddy, when you come to spank me, would you bring me a glass of water. well, there's a moral to that story, and she was willing to sacrifice for what she believed in, even if it meant a spanking, and that's one of the rare qualities that america was built on, and yet we don't see

displayed too often today. i'm going to speak for a short period of time. i always get a big speech and always get off of it and don't stick with it, and my best forte is to go back and forth with you for questions so i'm going to allow most of the time to -- to be about questions, but it is a sincere honor to be with you. conservatism isn't just best. it's right. it's right for everything that ails us. it is a great solution in terms of how we combine what we know to be true by sacrificing some of ourselves as we interact with other people, and it couldn't be more important than in our elected leaders today, and that's why i'm an avid believer in term limits. it gives you the freedom to do what you know is right regardless of the political consequences.

and that's why you send us there, not to do what's good for us, but to do what is good for our country. the problem in washington isn't that washington can't agree. the problem in washington is they agree too well. otherwise we wouldn't have a $1.4 trillion deficit this year. otherwise we wouldn't spend -- out of every dollar we spend, we wouldn't be borrowing 33 cents from the chinese. the problem is counter to what you hear in the national media in terms of us not being able to get along, and going back to what bill bennett said, and what a hero of mine he is. what a stalwart. what a -- what an intellectual giant that he has been and mentor for many of us in terms of not only understanding what our founders believe but also giving us the courage to stand on it.

we have great threats to our existence today as a nation, and i would think in my opinion greater than any threat we've ever faced, whether it's been our civil war, our revolutionary war, whether it's been world war ii, whether it's been the depression, and that threat comes to us because we've spent the last 30 years in this country spending money that we did not have on things we did not absolutely need and the bill is due. if you look at generally accepted accounting principles, our government has liabilities in excess of $131 trillion, and nobody can put their hands around what $1 trillion, is and it's not just my word you should take for it.

as joint chief of staff chairman mullins said, the greatest threat to america is not china. it's not islamic radical fundamentalism. it's not russia. it is our debt. and the painful thing for me every week in washington is to know that and to know it's true and yet not see the political class in our country address the very real problems in front of us. and there's a great lesson for it. i write about it in a book called "the debt bomb" that was just issued this april, where we see the natural tension for career politicians to put their career and what's in the best interest of their career ahead of what is in the best interest of our nation.