30 years ago, when america struggled in the decade-long malaise of the 1970's, ronald reagan rejected the notion that the sun had set on a once great country. he said, "is morning in america." 30 years later, with america once again facing challenges to our identity at home and abroad, to reexamine the character of american culture. can a traditional view of american culture successfully compete against postmodernism? what are the sources of cultural renewal in a divided pluralistic society? is the promotion of traditional american culture values and antiquated relic of the past? to those questions, president

reagan responded vigorously, boldly declaring that the greatness of america is her people and churches, families, neighborhoods, communities, the institutions that nurture and foster values and respect the rule of law under god. . of faith, family, and freedom. here to address the volatile subject of the future of american culture are seven of our nation's foremost authorities. authorities. hadley arkes, ken myers and wilfred mccloy. once our speakers conclude their remarks, we will have a 10 minute break and then return for a robust question and answer

session. to allow for ample opportunity for you to answer questions, i have asked our speakers to limit their formal presentations to approximately 20-25 minutes. upon your return, please line now behind one of the two microphones ahead of the child. during our first four symposia, we have had 20 people standing down each file waiting to answer questions -- ask questions. so let's get in line early. [laughter] and now, let's begin. first on stage, hadley arkes, the edward ney professor of american institutions at amherst college, who also serves as the senior fellow of the ethics and public policy center in

washington, d.c. cambridge university press have published all his books, including the most recent, "natural rights and the rights to choose." his writings appear in such publications as the "washington post," "weekly standard," and "national review." here is the rest of the story. [laughter] when i asked a friend to describe hadley arkes, he said that he is that groucho marx of american professors. he always manages to leave the wake of funny stories. and would you believe, he drove here from amherst listening on his mp3 player to jack benny, the shadow, captain midnight,

mr. district attorney, and orson welles' mercury theater. let's welcome to the regent university stage, reagan and the recovery. [applause] >> lovely to be back. i'm looking around to see who walked in the room. ladies and gentlemen, and the 1980's, in the days of president reagan, there was a article called "reaganism of the week." he offered a case an interview and how the president talk about

the legal office of the government supporting the necker what once the overthrow the legitimate government. the president said, "it is true it is not good to take power at the point and the good. but the sandinistas' hold power at the point of the government. i'm not sure what you would call the legitimate government of nicaragua." he probably cannot explain the difference between an international appositive law and one influenced by the axioms of natural law. 's of law remains something that

is positive, now and acted by the people whose needs are given the force of law. when the positives ask who formed the government of nicaragua, it was the legitimate government with effective control of the territory. is not necessarily the government -- it could be a hitlerite regime, but whoever firmly controlled the territory is reckoned as the legitimate government. the alternative view, drawing on the moral tradition, [unintelligible] that perspective affected international law because it reflected the standing between

morality and law. he famously hope that every word of significance can be banished from the law altogether, and replaced with a legal terms nicely purged of any moral shape. the connection between that and the logic of law is inescapable. it cannot be removed. when we move from moral judgment, we move away from merely personal taste and to things that are just and unjust , for others as well as ourselves. if we come to the judgment that is wrong for people to torture infants, it is not there for to

give them tax incentives. if we think that the torture is wrong, we do not make contracts with people [unintelligible] we forbid it with the force of law. that i think was the classic connection. in spite of the best efforts of understanding of what held by ordinary people, ronald reagan anger the world and talk about the politics of law and not wait without knowing that he was speaking then language of natural law after people had stopped taking natural law seriously.

[unintelligible] as one commentator observed, the accomplishments maybe even more impressive when they know that lincoln was not familiar with the writings of aristotle and aquinas, but move naturally along the paths of these greater mines. i think that something similar happened with reagan. he read widely [unintelligible] the striking thing about him was that in his own curiosity, he moved along the paths of reflection followed by writers

more accomplished than he. one of the most notable examples here occurred earlier in the ministration. it seemed to be losing traction and the winter of 1982, and the political predicament [unintelligible] reagan's future would depend on where interest rates would be in the fall. that led me to write a critical piece in 1982, "oh lovers lament for the reagan administration." how could be that the standards a prospect for the administration with could hinge on something as the level of interest rates? [unintelligible]

abortion, suffocating taxes, regulation, i am voting for people were trying to protect unborn people from the killing of abortion. for people who are intensely concerned over abortion or anything else, the ups and downs will not be the size it anymore than ford democrat if interest rates are at 10%. in any case, this was my lament , i had worked in a minor way with the speechwriting shop during that campaign in 1980,

and i said that i wrote some of the best things of ronald reagan never said. still i could stay in touch. tony invited me and for lunch to press my case, and i cited a passage that the president said in the stated the union. giving subsidies to people who lose their jobs as a result of competition with international firms, but we do not give it to them who lose their jobs as a result of competition with domestic firms. we should do both if we do one. but we cannot do both and so we should repeal it. tunney said that it was perfectly reagan s. it is a question of where

interest rates will be next fall. who did write that "? >> the president through that again when he was working out the speech. let reagan be himself. leave it with questions of principle. he will find a way that is universally susceptible. in 1980 [unintelligible] people were heating up the economy and generating inflation. reagan insisted that we have lived too well. then he turned to that modem -- when we spend our money, it is inflationary.

with a jolt, he delivers us from the haze and smoke and leads is more closely to the real cause of inflation. in that famous speech dealing with the passion of environmentalism, determined to block the extraction of oil here at home, he said he would not permit the safety of our heritage to be jeopardized, but we're going to reaffirmed that the economic prosperity of our people is a fundamental part of our environment. what is curious in striking about this is that it anticipated the argument that could be made more fully 30 years later nature was a major purge of human beings th.

it may take a genius to make sure it detached from the existence of those creatures who alone bear a moral purpose and can put a moral -- and can impart a moral purpose. who's present marks the existence of a moral purpose in nature. we are doing to save the planet as the human beings were not as much as part of that natures as trees and flowers. it is a slick could call dick is a cyclical thing that has eluded them. -- it is a cyclical thing that has eluded them. it is the character of the human person that moral beings is every much a part of nature.

that may be done by inducing people to believe they have a license to manufacture and discard humans live to suit their own interests. -- to suit your own interests. as it human life had no importance. we seek to extend the span of human life while we purge from marshall any sense of reverence for those lives. ronald reagan was nowhere near a world-class philosopher, recognized by a french academy, deeply versed in latin and german and french, but what is notable here is that reagan grasp the essential truth of the matter, at the root of it. he understood that people with

intellectual pretensions have not manage to grasp even yet. plato recognized what the philosopher understands in deliberating about things that are just and unjust, but they had to be acceptable to the multitudes of people who were not philosophers. the task was to speak in a mode that was accessible. to impart the central idea give it the most human examples. mr. reagan had something close to that, and was combined with his common understanding, the personal touch, the primary truth. one of my own disappointments was that i couldn't get my friends in the campaign

[unintelligible] is it because you may be likely on slave question are is because he is darker than you? you may be a slave by the next door candidate comes along. the upshot is that there is nothing that justifies the and slavery of black people that does not apply to white people as well. this was simply a model of reasoning. it was successful to people across divisions. he could be understood by catholics and protestants, even 80 as.

it was some speaking in a manner that could be understood. while that child is in the one, it does not speak and does not have arms or legs the people lose arms and legs and the course of their lives without losing the protections of balal. to disqualify the unborn child in the womb would disqualify people walking outside the womb. he could deliver it with considerable effect, but mr. reagan decided not to make abortion central, but to his credit, he sought to teach people about this question by

raising questions. in those radio talk seagate, the first time it faced the question of abortion, he was strong but is curiosity. the same legislature in california trying to seek the right for abortion, made it murder to kill unborn child. he also noted that the child in the womb had standing to inherit property. he put this question to a staff. let's say a woman became aware that through her pregnancy, and had left the estate to the child in the womb. could she ordered the killing of the child in order to keep the state for herself? would that not the murder? was reagan not leading us back

to the central question in the most engaging way? many dismiss reagan as simplistic, but the problem recognize that many may be tempted to absorber themselves in details while avoiding the moral questions. we often find ourselves hinging on certain rules of proof and technical issues. ronald reagan would produce one part of the conflict with conjecture. and regime of our control, who could peace for more accessible

and closing off the leaks? and then the advantage tills to decide what the history of innovation. reagan did it out of moral convention to be built to run the notion of protecting the lives of our own people, not the people bogle to nuclear to his critics, reagan was grounded, and he knew that this could put the soviet leadership under pressure. ronald reagan was famous for his knack of telling jokes.

but the jokes were part of his teaching. the playoff principles we hope people will understand. but printed on it for a long while, know that i make the argument that comedians and philosophers are often in the same business. they play around with the logic tucked away in our language. twice a week my wife and i have an intimate candlelight dinner. [unintelligible] [laughter] people have not seen the real reach that philosophy can be conveyed with jokes. laughter rising from an audience is a sure sign that people

understood the point. people see through the lab what cannot be seen in the form of argument. ñiwhen i drive, i am listening r radio shows that chuck and i listened to when we were growing up. and i find that listening to the old, the show is -- those old comedy shows, they offer an anthropological matrix. you get in remarkably -- you get a remarkably accurate picture of what people understood of natural law in 1940. jack benny was a bow and arrow that was lethal. someone offers some of that the

chair cannot hit the apple off the top of the head. jack said that he would take that bet. and then jack said, what you getting upset about? it is our money. we cannot risk human life as a sporting event. the premise is in place for something cutting closed to foreign policy. [unintelligible] this does not offer a sensibility overly refined. people in the audience would get the joke.

human life is not a plaything, all for recreation. i submit that people laugh at that joke and and are essentially put in place every critical premise with the moral judgment running this way. the young man tells his girlfriend is all right. we can do this for fun. and if anything happens, we can throw it away. that this house something once regarded as serious as suddenly reduced to a matter so trivial that someone could separate not the least hesitation and throw it away. red skelton said, they had a military wedding well, guns were there. [laughter] that joke is purely -- this is

the reflection of a culture vanish. it is when the rest of us realize that we did not our franchise for getting rid of a child in the world. they don't do shotgun weddings and a more because marriage is not the necessary framework of sex and no reason to force a marriage. it's a clear sign of a culture that has shifted from the 1940's or even the 1960's. and now recovering that culture -- it has been dramatically eroded. but just as we have seen conversions in the past, conversions and balding persons. .

people will still understand something as dramatically and comically out of scale in destroying human life as a sport if i am right, it means that the tactic and those recognitions that cannot be extinguished, because they involve things that are to the primary. things that human beings are

constituted to understand. certain thingsñr were constant o know. they may face from our awareness but though lincoln offered his thoughts on slavery, we recognize there is no principled ground in which to remove black people from the domain of rights but their when ronald reagan argued in the same way, the reaction was often, "of course. he was learning about the things we should have known. it only had some have posed the question in the right way." this is a center-right contributed the democrats but it was 1965 all over again. they could re-enacted the search

of the great society. that followed the last victory of barry goldwater in 1964. but does recall. when ronald wakened -- reagan gave the speech in 1964, the speech that launched his political career, he is not standing up in a country. -- understood to be center right. it is quite the opposite. here is thought to be a voice of the politics. -- he was thought to be the voice of the politics. if we have a center-right country is because ronald reagan talked in a manner that was acceptable and peeving. he taught us to understand that as a political people in a different way, any way we used to be, could never be recovered.

that whole political culture and was never irrecoverable. the case for it was always there. it was always to be made in new or did always to be made in new -- it was always to be made anew. it reminded them that the permanent things will not always be seen. it is the function of teaching or statesmanship to bring them back to us. we find ourselves of backing into the lessons apply to. n the lessons plato taught us, that soñi much of our knowledges already passed away with an usç, and we drown out the things we come to feel we have known all along. ñiit reminds us of the things we used to know, and it also serves

the recognitionçóp, that thesee things we have never ceased to know. thank you. [applause] ñrçóçóñrñrñjr>> steve carlson if the howard center for family, religion, and society. hisçzixdñujjj)qxdñiñi amerif w, family, community, and th shaping of the american identity, and continue america, the public purposes of marriage. he has appeared on the pbs knew

our -- news hour, voice of and eight special pbs çóbut nowñi, allen lives on a m in illinois where he and his a m wife attend a 1 acre vegetable garden. perhaps reflecting his swedish peasant roots, the favorite crop as the potato. his fellow swedish americans think he is a very funny guy, which places a low bar on the humor scale.

swedes are notoriously humor- challenged. but because of their high desire for his low levels british humor, he served as master of ceremonies at the scandinavian christmas party. he modestly reports knocking them dead. let's welcome him to address us. [applause] >> thank you, and it is a pleasure to be with you today. oddly enough, i want talk about choice. a mythical swedish american couple, probably residing in

minnesota, with a remarkably dysfunctional marriage, and the story goes like this. they were growing old, and one day, the husband became sick. he was confined to an upstairs bedroom, barely conscious and that britain. after several weeks of this, the doctor visits and tells of the white, he is just about a gardener -- he tells the white he is just about a goner, he will not survive the night. so as a practical woman, she decides she had better start preparing for the guests who will come to the funeral. she started baking loves of sweet ride right. the smell of baking bread is wafting for the house soon. so upstairs, his nose twitches. his eyes open.

he goes to a sitting position and strings his legs around. it is like a miracle. half walking, have stocking, he worked his way down the stairs. he reaches the ground floor. stumbles across the kitchen, pulled himself into a chair to get a look of freshly sliced bread. he reaches over to take a slice. stop that, but shoves his wife and she grabs his hand. that loaf of bread is for after the funeral. [laughter] we can still laugh, because they are now out of time. characters from a much earlier era of swedish immigration into

america, a tight that no longer exists. more importantly, and this is a point made in the paris conference, their marriage also belongs to another era. several generations ago, when there were people like them, they would have been rare in their community. persons state in unhappy or troubled marriages for the sake of the children, perhaps for other cultural reasons. making fun of institutions that are strong were stableñ"i. the marriage joke, a staple of 1960's, seems to be fading in our timeñi. symbolically, rodney dangerfield, perhaps the last master of the marriage joke, is

a recently deceased. a recently deceased. it is battered and bruised. such is marriage of a family in america marriage rates are now at record lows in this country. the average age of first marriage is at a record high for both men and women. the proportion of adults will never marry is also at a record level. at the same time, the fertility rate in america is at a near- record low. meanwhile, 40% of all births are outside of marriage. it is a figure steadily declining again. cohabitation, living together without benefit of clergy, grows ever more popular as an alternative to marriage. while the american divorce rate has been fairly stable for a decade or two, it remains at a high level.

one of every two marriages still ins in divorce. finally, gay rights activists are clamoring for the right to marry. with some, it is an uneven success. there are those who argue that these changes simply represent the inevitable evolution of marriage and family. in natural adaptation of a plastic institution to new conditions. industrialization, modernization, and the quest for equality concludes -- has freed marriages from the shackles of the pass, allowing it to evolve into a higher form. there is no doubt that the vast process called the "industrial revolution" brought it to bear. at the most basic level, this

process separate the workplace and the home. for all of human history before, the great majority of humans has lived in worked in the same place. humans lived and worked in the same place, albeit a small farm or a tent. and did the -- under the industrial regime, adults would be pulled out of their homes. however, in most of europe and north america, families recovered significant autonomy. these systems hold only one

person each household, a husband or father, and that person in terms should return a sustaining wage. for working-class women, a liberation came to me as freedom meant not having to work and the factories. this allows them to focus on maintaining autonomous homes for children. in this way, the family roots on marriage and accommodated itself. it is also true that such regime is largely vanished during the last three decades, and now is mostly forgotten. business is important, one of the most important steps.

a more accurate interpretation is that it is because of the deterioration seen since 1965. systems out flaws. nothing compensates with a loss of those strengthsñrñr. and aspects of social evolution, j juáttion of private lightñiñi >> this unique ideological, political project had both folk -- feminist ruth. in the expression came in sweden. the project began in the early 1930's. a declining marriage rate and sharply falling fertility rate fled to calls for radical changes in the swedish home.

in 1932, a young socialist intellectual myrdal generated a fuehrer by advocating collectivize phones for swedish families. again mothers would join the men in the full-time labor force with infants and mothers cared for and commoners trees and with mills prepared in collectivize pitches. together with husbands, she co bothered the best-selling 1934 book "crisis and the population in question they argue that raising the low swedish birthrate required other changes. father should be freed from their distinctive breadwinner role. mother should be freed from homemaking. all adults must work outside the home. massive welfare benefits and the day care subsidies, universal

healthcare, mills said school -- these should pay for the on the surface, it appeared to elevate the public's importance of marriage. at a deeper level, they saw the shrinkage. the home resting on marriage with large this is to be an economic situation. she adopted a successful trojan horse tactic. they would smuggle socialists into a capitalist societies at the home. emily of population policies with said the stage for the politicization of private life. it would radically alter everyday life. çóhow successful were they in

impressing the scheme on swedish society? they actually went into retreat in the 1940's. remarkably, mothers and homemakers of sweetened both from the middle class and among a remarkable group that could be fairly faithful, the desperate socialist house web. to be a great television mode. they mounted a successful counterattack. they defended family wages for their husbands and ensure the welfare was reinforced. during the late 1960's, they pushed again for change. they successfully replace the taxation which use the technique

of income splitting on these joint returns for the it had mandatory taxation given sweden's progressive tax system, the single change had the immediate effect of sharply raising the tactics. the government ramped up day care subsidies. in 1965, 3% of all swedish preschool children had been in some form of parental day care. by the early 1980's, all four year olds were there. one-four year olds were with the state. that was good for young women, allowing them to move to challenging positions of power and authority. in fact, something much more peculiar had occurred.

to this day, for example, female corporate ceo's in sweden are almost unknown, and the number of women working in agriculture and industry has changed little. however, female employment rose by over three under% -- 300% in social service, day care, education, and health. ñiñiin the words of two israeli sociologists, they actually challenged women in disproportionate numbers into spending occupational riches, such as child care, elder care, such as child care, elder care, swedish women still do women's work. they now do so for the government read it in for their own families. put another way, sweden successfully socialize women's work.

in the labor of women. the goal of socialism had always been to eliminate the family as a meaningful economic and social unit. a has been one no longer be dependent on any way on the wife. a wife on her husband or young children on parents. or elderly parents on grown children. all would be equally dependent on the comprehensive welfare state. the bond -- yvonne hurtman described this as the triumph. she ed, "new ideas and gender replace old-fashioned ideas about the couple. we witness the birth of the androgynous. the androgynous individual. i seek the ideal and the death of the provider and his housewife.

we witnessed old ideas popping up, ideas that have been buried for decades. i did that founder advocates and became developed. men and women eager to speak the new tongue of ginger. -- gender,. has the same culture made any progress in america? have we americans also learned how to speak the new town of gender and accommodate ourselves to the vast expansion of government. we have but in more private ways. we debated these issues more or less in the open. our debate temporarily been as clear and focused. all the same, there have been a

few changes. the u.s. house of representatives voted to add the word "sx" to the civil rights act. the amendment was actually offered by a serious coalition of segregationists and republican feminists. they hope to use the amendment to kill the whole measure. the latter group saw an opportunity to tear down the american family wage system. a few voices warns of dire consequences. in 1969, commission moved aggressively and successfully to eliminate the american family wage. predictably, the real wages of men fell by over 20%.

that push more women into the labor market. also in 1969, the u.s. congress approved a major tax reform. the house ways and means chairman responded to criticism from some persons that the tax code would pay for marriage and ended the practice of income splitting in america. the tax burden carried by married couples rose. the marriage tax penalty, which is still there today, emerge. in 1973, it came within a hair's breadth of creating development. president richard nixon vetoed the measure. in a statement drafted by his aide, nixon said the bill would have committed the vast majority of the federal

government. congress turned around and quickly approve several other measures providing day care grant to the core and child-care tax credits to the middle and upper classes. the broad results in america have also been in the same direction as in sweden. it is true that our welfare states still remains somewhat limited. president obama is trying to change that are charitable sectors remain relatively vital. the accelerated flow of american women in today's labor force has been more complex and pluralistic. government transfer to individuals. it is a measure of welfare activity.

these have grown to one $0.50 trillion. even after taking a place and into account, it has tripled. much like in sweden, the great influx of womenxd has been channeled heavily into the government sector. they are in nonprint a day care. all are federally subsidized. inçó short, tasks that have are the been performed by the family is like after still care comedies have been substantially turned over to the state in the state funded entities. public patriarchy, some of them.

-taxes, which have fallen with particular force on remaking one income homes helped pay the cost. it might be called the swedish post family model, the american plan. all the same, there are important pockets of resistance. all of them are growing. mr. medically, home school families have mobilized the integrity of their home economies but focus on the biggest responsibilities, and education. emerging in the face of state hostility, they want legal -- across the country could do >> they are special embarrassment to public schools. they have long operated on the

socialist industrial model. there are ever more discouraging results. some american religious group said in a solid job in building new affirmations of thing family. under the leadership of figures such as paige patterson, the southern baptist convention is developing a powerful new profamily apologetic. another group, the latter-day saints and mormons, provide a contemporary example of how in the face of cultural turmoil a denomination can foster and maintain its own culture of a marriage. i also find reason of optimism in the growing number of home businesses in america. taking advantage of new technologies such as the home for teachers, at the economic democracy of the internet, they are powering a new family of

entrepreneurship. more importantly, they are beginning to heal a breach. the/the advocates. ronald reagan understood what was at stake. the speech given in chicago in 1988, he said, "the family is the bedrock of our nation. it is also the engine that gives our country life. it is for our families that we work so that we can join around the dinner table, bring our children up the right way, care for our parents, and reach out to those less fortunate. it is the power of the family that holds the nation to get their and get america her conscious and serves as the cradle of our nation's sole." it is so true.

and they are better moments, they would agree. [applause] >> population 185. she began a community paper at the age of tamp10. she is risen to international prominence, editing over 20 books and 500 scholarly essays but the she presented several hundred lectures around the world. , earning nine on a very decrease, holding positions of

princeton, harvard, overland, a georgetown, and chicago. to receive two words and the guggenheim and rockefeller foundations. sitting on the boards of the institute for advanced a the at princeton and the national humanities center and delivering the guilford lectures at the university of edinburgh. today she holds the spellman rockefeller professorship at the university of chicago. tis the chair in the foundation for america's freedom. she is all of that and much more. she is a woman for all seasons. welcome her to address the critic in the culture.

[applause] >> good morning. i am delighted to be here. i am afraid that, unlike our first two splendid speakers, i'm going to be toklas. i am sorry. you will have to bear with me. everybody is a critic. it seems to be a natural right among americans to write about pretty much everything, but politics above all. how many times have you heard they are all a bunch of crooks? trust in politicians and the political process appears to be at a -- it has plummeted. for many decades, cultural elite anointed themselves as a

designated critics of the culture. today's elite criticism climbs in the outpourings of ordinary citizens about the state of our union, a little but ignorant fanaticism. in turn, some of those attacked suggest that criticizing the country is tantamount to a lack of patriotism. in return, others reply that the only real patriot is the harsh critic because america is so obviously guilty of so many terrible things. it is not my intent to make my way through all of this noise. instead, i want to start getting other place. place. when we think about the huber profits of old, we are reminded they were part of and loved the

people there were criticizing. they did not see themselves as above it all or somehow on the outside. i recall the very wise comment by cardinal francis george of chicago, who said you cannot criticize effectively what you do not love. we had in mind criticism of the church that frequently enough comes from a stance. similarly, we see animals at work, too many critics of contemporary america. it is the flip side of the old notion of american exceptional listen. you have some idea of what that entails.

american exceptional some. claiming that america was an exceptional nation that was ordained and anointed to carry on a particular notion in the world, one that lifted up at all times and carried forward the message of freedom. disposition of american exception alyssum gets a very bad press and now days. but there were and are several versions of it. one lent itself to a breath of nationalism. the other to request patriotism -- robust patriotism. for the patriot, america is exceptional in a number of ways. that is simply a fact. but that does not at all demand to treat the love others have

for their country slightly. instead, we recognize it and work within. abraham lincoln's idea put forward in the agony of this country at the time is that america is the last, best hope on earth, is an expression of the gentler form of american exceptional loss of. still, there are critics who make no distinction whatsoever between belligerence and other versions of american exceptions at right. but to do so and in a particularly noxious form of exceptional is some, with america as the exemplar of classism, imperialism, capitalism, globalism, you name it, if it is bad, america

embodies it somehow. put forward as criticism, it is in fact a type of conspiracy theory. if anything bad is happening anywhere, america's hands are bound to be involved. we want to exonerate it we have a great deal of criticism, but it takes us nowhere. it is by now so much black grout splashing. it does not affect the ordinary citizen thinking about how we might love our country and

criticizing it at the same time. but you can't win them all, as they say. so let me step back and think about a framework set forth many years ago now by h. richardçó neighbor, himself an extinguished theologan. an oldy but goody called "christ in culture" identified five different possible position taken by christians historically and their relationship to the wider cultural surrounds in which they found themselves and

price and culture. now can we take our bearings as we thicket criticism more generally whether it comes from a stance of christian beliefs or not nabors category. does the critic seek to transform this society from within? is there a paradox cal relationship between critics and culture? how do we sort this out? why is it important? he was insistant that they were not air-tight categories. they blend into one another at many points thus christ against culture and christ against transformer of culture may not be seen as opposites but as part and parcel of an overall stance.

but the advanced part cannot be be one that is stand-alone. a e r superiority. when i hear contemporary radical critics that appear too low of the american the criticize, i am reminded of the nazi germany assessment of radicals. we argued that the radical has his creation. the radical takes a self solvency in compatible with our indebtedness to others and the past as well as the present, and our in deadness and the first instance to our creator.

every goal is an open it -- ultimate goal in history. all good is located at some future point we have contempt for the present, but if we destroy this and that, we can get to the point where we have good. we can raise ourselves for any and all means. trampling above, ignoring cries for understanding, so be it. now, donovan concludes that this is not a stand christians can abate, because we are taught creation is good. that does not mean everything

happening at the present is good, but it does mean there must be some good, that there are, after all, losses of around us, even in the most dire circumstances, and those are dire boy on anything we can imagine. if you believe the critics, they are in danger of eight gestapo entity hauling them off of political advocacy at any moment. i'm not exaggerating. a few years ago, in berlin, there were prominent intellectuals, both american and german, who claimed that guantanamo bay was really set up to become a prison camp for american citizens critical of the bush administration.

at this was so preposterous, we did not know to set -- what to say. you are either a suspicious sympathizer of that administration or you have your head in the stand and do not want to face what is coming down the pike. of course, there is an exact mirror image to be found in what we called equally vulnerable radicalization. this would call on the price to difficulties side. critical distance, if you will. we equate all that is good with culture, if you note our

historic shortcomings on display from time to time. as radicals are in league with the enemy, as we do not agree with them, the defender of all things america is a religious project, perhaps on patriotic. -- unpatriotic. the other rejects the abandonment of birthrights by endorsing what is going on. surely this cannot be ok if you are a christian and hold that

human beings are fine and christian. christians are assigned to both love the world and be against the world. similarly, if a country is a minimally decent place, they need to go beyond it to account and chastise. they love her, and water to rise closer to the blessed community. but may offer an example -- let me offer an example of what political fears are called the connected critic. the person who speaks of deep immersion in that which she and she criticizes does not exist in

some lofty world apart, does not send it down lightning bolt of condemnation on any and all that disagree with them. here, there are many examples to choose from. frederick douglass, the great abolitionist, in a speech delivered in rochester july 4, 1862, independence day, much of it is better. you cannot recommend in fetters and chains of fort the altar of liberty, and expect him to celebrate. çóxdby comparison, the conditiof the slaves against the declaration of independence and the preamble to the constitution. he then goes on to say, i am not condemning these principles.

i do not think they are false and nothing but hypocrites. he says no, i share those principles and aspire to them. we want to be part of the country, not apart from it. so you see the dynamic here. you are against culture position, so you see the would- be citizens with and against culture. çóso the critical patriot, he or she is a believer or not. the critic in america is both fortunate, because our civic ames can always be measured

against our founding documents. we do not haveñr to invent new every day some principle to @@@ @ @ @ , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serve as a basis for criticism, not if we are deeply connected to american policy, it

acknowledged our love for her, and are indebted to her. i have thought about that indebtedness a lot recently. perhaps as one grows older, one reflects in better detail on one's past. my immigrant grandparents came here as children, impoverished, bulger germans. a distinct label in northern colorado, living at first in huts, finding themselves covered with layers of dirt as they awaken every morning.

eventually, once my grandparents married, they slowly acquired a bit of land that expanded to a bit more, but the dawn to dusk work did not light and very much. that is the image with which i associate them, working hard, loving family, insisting that grandchildren got an uninterrupted education. how quickly it went two grandchildren and great grandchildren for lawyers, said a -- civic benefactors, mothers and fathers, and great grandparents before them, beating and legacy of decency,

hard work, loving families. how could i possibly condemn a country that made all of this possible for me and so many others? we all know loathing and resentment and so much contemporary criticism is coming from people living lives america made possible is simply beyond me. so i will remain a connected critic, a critical patriot, one who understands what an astonishing proposition america is and how you must never be an object of idolatry, but neither should she be an object of scorn. thank you very much.

[applause] >> i feel the need for a 30- second stand up. just a bit. 30 seconds.

>> all right. you may now be seated. the house will be in order. thank you.

this is such a large crowd. good to see so many young people in the audience. [applause] our age range here is from mid- teens up to -- well. [laughter] my age. [laughter] a varsity athlete at harvard college.

yes, our renowned shakespearean scholar was on the fencing team , and two years of competition, a perfect record. eight bouts, eight losses, no wins. [laughter] paul may not have been an athlete, but the anti- shakespeare crowd attacked him in the next issue. he came with a brilliant scholarly rebuttal from none other than trout and heston. -- charlton heston.

english romanticism, shakespeare. "gilligan on bound," pop culture in globalization. he writes for the "weekly standard," "reason," "the claremont review of books." he served on the council to amenities from -- of humanities from 1992 to 1999. the unpredictability of culture. [applause]

>> i should have told him that i should have just waited for my lecture. humiliating fact. [laughter] i am taken very seriously with the topic, and i will speak on the top of culture. as an english professor, i think of culture as the arts, and i have recently become regarded as one of the foremost authorities on "of the simpsons." so i will talk about television and movies here. in the presence of ronald reagan and groucho marx, i feel i can

talk about the movies with some respectability here, even still. so focusing on the topic of culture, i make predictions about the future of america. american production over the next decade will increase at an average rate of 3.7% each year, topping out at 7.6% on an annualized basis. [applause] this will match the time and percentage of motion pictures relative to that of television. motion picture production will peak in 2014 and thereafter suffered. with production of the release

of "grand theft auto 7," which will be purchased by everybody on the planet. america's share of production depends on how closely the chinese are able to develop video games. on a more optimistic note, it has long since been taken over by the federal government for reasons of national security. there you have it. eight timesñi -- a time set of predictions complete with figures. americans like to believe that the future is predictable and precise mathematical terms. we assume that it must be predictable, and listened

eagerly when people tell us what will happen tomorrow, the next day, or one year from now. the world is awash with predictions at any given moment, and we think we have discovered the new notre thomas -- mr. thomas. if we look at history, we see an unending suppression of predictions that turned out to be wrong. there is skepticism about the ability to tell the future. this is especially true even in the short run. movies that are supposed to be short tank at the box office. movies that can barely get financing but go on to find huge audience at the academy awards. the result of long-term prediction is even more dismal. just think of all that was ruined with people dismissing the talking picture as a passing

fad. culture is the realm of the unpredictable. çóstudying the history of cultural prophesies should be required for anyone who wants to predict progression of culture. if anybody had the faintest idea what the world look like in the year 2000 -- in the literary example, by the middle of the 20th-century, some of the best literature was coming out of latin america, africa, and asia. .

perhaps we can learn something and i want to insist that the cultural future is unpredictable. this is not a matter of my individual confidence, although i am ready to conceede that point. we fundamentally go wrong when we invoked scientific methods and criteria and trying to understand cultural phenomenon. we need to drop in the middle distinction between the for the physical nature and the world of human culture, the study of

people like me. the plants and or bids are not astronomers. jupiter and neptune are blind and deaf about any claims that we may make about where they will be in 10 years. in the cultural realm, human beings are making predictions about other human beings, and to predictee might have something to say about the predictors. in short, culture is a realm of free well where participants may change their mind at any moment and often well. in studying the history of cultural production carefully, i come to the conclusion that cultural prophets will be wrong

because the people creating the culture are more creative than the people predicting it. they may well be the least likely to predict accurately because they have established pattern of culture, basing it on the model of the cultural past. this is just another way of saying that that these are usually academics, and here we are. academics have perfect 20/20 vision in hindsight. they can be very good at analyzing artistic quality, but they are not good at discovering it or recognizing that when it comes along especially in unexpected places. they are often among the last to a knowledge developments and culture precisely because of their role as custodian and

conservators of the cultural past. this is particularly true when it comes to develops with the cultural media. they established media and judge the new media at the efficient. motion pictures for a long time look like bad stage plays. but ordinary people realized it was the great new art form of the 20th century as early as the second decade. as the director academics, it does not inspire my faith in them. academics often seems to be fighting the last cultural war. expect films to be like novels and plays and complained when they did not develop the interior of their characters. when television came along, they did them substandard movies. the history of culture since the

19th century has become increasingly bound up with the history of new media. academics have had a hard time keeping up with new cultural developments, let alone getting out in front of it. it may be painful to give up our faith in the predictability of culture, but that the price of uncertainty we should in fact welcome the unpredictability of culture because it means that culture remains a realm of human freedom. having totally undermined any credibility i might have as a cultural prophet, i will pursue my assigned task of protecting the cultural future in america. i will do with the truly remarkable example of prophecy, a book published in 1915 called "the art of the moving picture." this was a prime your american poet, and moving pictures were

generally unknown to the general public. he was the first to deal seriously with the cinema, if not the very first. and this book offers a good lesson and cultural prophecy, that can restore people's faith in foreseeing cultural future but it can serve as a warning against the pitfalls of outlast the creative forces in a new medium. we can begin with the simple fact that he was writing a book on the art of moving picture at all, in 1915, and a time when virtually all cultural authorities dismissed it. this was the earliest possible moment that a book could be written with any degree of plausibility. evidence was at hand for the first time that motion pictures could be a genuine art form. "cabiria"had come out in 1914,

and of course "the birth of the nation" had created probably the greatest sensation that any film ever has, even bigger than "avatar." don't critics would say that these were the first two great films in movie history. they both pushed the existing limits of the cinematic art, introducing new camera techniques. and he managed to proclaim these films at artistic masterpieces at the point that they came out. this immediate recognition is very rare in the history of art criticism. to draw an analogy, if someone in 1588 had viewed "tamburlaine " and instantly proclaimed a golden age.

he pulls out all the steps in his place. griffith is the on -- is the bayh run of the films. i for one am willing to name him marlowe. he was the first to reveal the first artistic potential of the medium and with an unprecedented commercial success. the way that lindsey, writing when the films are being released, singled out master places in the price is words that film critics this day holed up as the triumph of the early silent cinema. to be sure, he talks about many works that do not appear on anybody's list today. sometimes he talks about movies that simply no longer exist.

"the island of lost wheels," such a little treat. neptune's daughter. oil and water. and two of the more provocative titles -- the wild girl of the sierras, and my principal favorite, the land of the headhunters. those films that he values highly have disappeared entirely. he backs is particularly eloquent about another film that has been lost, calling it one of the two most significant photoplays' -- motion pictures were called photoplays' then -- the other is "judith." every student of american art

beach to see these films, he said. he says that this film should be studied his to the canons of art for which it stands are established in america. most people thought of them as something to give audience of moments pleasure and then be seen no more. by contrast, lindsay actually predicted that these films would be archived, available at certain sites collections, and in the encyclopedia britannica. without exactly for seeing the video cassette, he looked forward to the availability of movies in people's homes. he thought photoplay libraries inevitable. admittedly, he failed to perceive -- to force the blockbuster or net fliflix.

at least that is true of the birth of the nation. but not of "the land of the headhunters." and here we come to the pitfalls -- we're doing a press by his ability to identify cinematic classics, but we must be troubled by his tendency to get carried away by what was in retrospect a momentary enthusiasm. he ranks "the birth of a nation was "below the now forgotten of the "battle hymn of the republic." that is why the test of time is crucial to the process of can information. it may take years to sort out

the week from the chaff. it is better as a science. we need the future to find out what really is important and long lasting significance in our own day. lindsay is very impressive. he had a general grasp of the big picture, and wrote about one of the big apple's ships in media history. -- epochal shift and media history. he said, the state that realizes this may lead the soul of america that day after america. he introduces a new issue that shows his understanding of the large context. the art of the moving picture has a california chapter. lindsay was quick to grasp the

the significance of the fact that by 1915, the movie industry had migrated from new york to los angeles. he understood that this movement was made because of the outdoor filming. but the sense that something deeper was happening. a shift in american cultural geography at the time when the dodgers were still in brooklyn and the giants and new york, he intuited that the balance of power between the east coast and the west was finally tilting toward the pacific. "california stands a chance to achieve through bill an audience of her own. will this land furthest west be the first to capture the spirit of this newest and most curious of the arts?" he realizes how much is at stake. he talked about the longstanding place of boston and american culture.

they have discussed with mingled irony, boston cultural control of the english text book and dominates our high school. he saw -- he wants to see the cultural domination of boston broken. the prospect that loss angeles may become the most of the photoplay. we can see that we -- we can see that he was right. but now we do that with a peculiar car. he described this in terms that ring true to this day. this is that the state is magnificent but then. the citizens of the state's lack of richness of religious tradition. and then he makes perhaps his most astonishing and provocative

production. this apparent than this california has in common with the photoplay which is at times as shallow in its spot as the shadows it throws upon a screen. this newest california has in common with all photoplays' unless it acquires a spiritual tradition. hollywood has about as much debt as a flat screen tv. his doubts about california have been shared by many cultural critics. lindsay hope that the state in the movie industry might grow together into a mature culture for spirit by standing for friend is an open, calif. epitomizes much of what is best in america. but lindsey recognizes that california stands for something else in america, a lack of

cultural traditions. california is the last outpost of the wild west. he writes, "the captains of industry like the gold rush of 1849 made colossal portions and have the same responsibility an occasional need of the sheriff amazing claim. we cannot fault him for leaving unresolved of whether this cultural leadership is better bad for america. we're still struggling with this issue a century later. what is impressive is that he was able to formulate this problem as early as 1915. this is the sort of development that usually flies right under the radar of most cultural critic. he was "enough to spot of cultural tsunami where people saw just a ripple on the water. be on the lookout for seemingly

insignificant developments that may have unintended and widespread consequences. on the basis of all we have learned, i will venture a few modest predictions of my own. the future of american culture will be very different from what we expect, are what is currently predicted. some of the things we value to date will survive into the date will survive into the future and be valued then. place, but unfortunately i am not up to the task.

i will say this much -- it is likely happening in the last place most of us expected it. that generally means is not happening in the media realms that we've gotten used to and we think are all important, namely motion picture and television. whatever new media teaches us, is that it has ways of sneaking up on us and ambushing us culturally. this may sound ominous, and it is making people nervous thinking that only bad things will happen. so let me end on an optimistic note. let me take back what i have been saying and questioned whether cultural has been culturally transformed. if you look at the develops in the media, we cannot but be struck by it. a victorian would be amazed by television and confronted by a new medium, we are always struck precisely by its novelty and

usually feel unnerved by it. what it petreaus may not be all that new and different. that would be shocked by the simpsons, but it could settle down to the show, he might overcome his initial dismay and see something familiar in it. the fact that it comes in weekly installments, the way it combines humor and sentimentality, the huge cast of characters, the creation of an entire imaginary community, a topical references and political satire, i hope you can hear my eminent victorians saying that it is like charles dickens. we can get so wrapped up in distinctions among the media, we forget that by and large they are used to do the same thing, to tell stories. and all the mediums change, the stories remain the same.

but the stories that keep circulating in movies and on television. i will end with a quotation from a true classic american popular culture, in which our hero ronald reagan did not get the girl. i am talking to course about "casablanca." it is still the same old story, a fight for love and glory, even as time goes by birkie -- even as time goes by. and that is the prediction that i'm going to make. [applause] >> if you and i are alike, we need to catch our breath after four outstanding lectures. is there hope for america?

we say, yes, there is hope. by the size of the audience here that would come and studiously sit and listen to the fall collectors -- the thoughtful lectures, and the quality of the electors that we have heard, there is hope in america. now when the hebrew, the no. 10 is the divine number for completion. and we are scheduled have a complete 10-minute break. but also in the hebrew, the no. 7 is the divine number for perfection. [laughter] we need to perfect our break, reducing it from 10 minutes to 7 minutes so that we can get into our question and answer session more quickly. so let's take a short break,

return, please line up here at the head of by the rile. bernanke. -- thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] ♪ >> we have quite a lineup on this isle. only a couple on the other. we need a few more folks down here. we've already had to pull some day -- a fulsome day.

let's proceed to our question and answer session. we have three other excellent speakers, so a lot to look forward to. i want the banking for coming and your excellent attention. this is our fifth symposium and they seem to get better every year, if that is indeed possible. thank you all for making this such a productive in event. all right, we will begin with our question and answer is, and because there are more of you then of view, we're going to start on this side. >> this is a question for mr. kantor. and cultural prophets redeem

themselves with accurate insights? >> i am not sure that i understand the question. >> you are talking about cultural prophesied and you believe that they cannot predict accurately. but can the kid rick -- redeem themselves? >> i am not sure what you mean by that. i do not believe that that cultural future is predictable. again, because i think that people created -- creative people are so much more imaginative. they cannot be redeemed in the sense -- i think lindsay doesn't awfully good job. someone writing in 1915 as much as he did about movies, but he makes so many mistakes in that book. he predicted sound would never

work, that it would make movies worse. it was ridiculous to us now, but he had so much reason for that. he was used to silent movies, and the earliest sound movies were bad technically. so that was the problem. i don't think that there is anything that a cultural prophet could do that was better, unless you study the record of failure. when i set out with this task in mind, i said i thought i should take a look at how people have done this in the past, predicting the future. and it is a lesson in humility if you study how wrong -- even at someone as intelligent and successful as lindsay, there are so many messages, the way i came to see ed is what looked like a limitation turns out to be a

challenge to the artist. when you go back even the 1925 or after sound movies have been introduced, the vast majority of critics are saying sound will not work and motion pictures are better off silent. the actual people making motion pictures were taking up that challenge, making sound work and incorporating it into motion pictures. they were actually looking to the past and not to the future, the prophets. i would be hesitant to make culture predictions. >> i'm glad that he touched on the same thing. if i may, i would like to extend that invitation to humility to people in political science and

the social sciences. [laughter] [applause] because they're too they have these models with great certainty about the future of american politics and how things will all turn out, and they are consistently wrong. i think that humility is a lesson that needs to be learned more generally, perhaps. and not just by people here. >> it that, my model of thinking was the notion of spontaneous order. culture works the same way that the economy does, and it is such a common phenomenon about so many different factors that they fail.

culture and the economy is not a linear phenomenon. >> but to put the accent on the permanent things, it becomes the framework for culture. we will still not be signing labor contracts with dogs and horses. but we continued to think that those people deserve to be ruled with the bid of reasoning. we can expect that the things that we find good will be praised, the things we find that will be repulsed and penalized. but there will always be a moral framework and culture, and i was thinking of this new thing by madonna, where a youngster is trying to download things from the net he should not be downloading, and madonna comes

on and say, what the heck are you doing? as much as c is in the vanguard of the culture, she still wants her royalties and property rights. those things -- property rights will endure and we will find any other -- many other things in the arts and during. >> as we turn to the next question, we invite our afternoon speakers to participate in the discussion. >> this is for dr. carlson. my home state of oklahoma has the dubious distinction of leading the nation and the percentage of 4-year-old government in the preschool. there are encouraging places of resistance. we have a thriving home school sector, and the only state that

has a child tax credit on the state income returns. that is something anything -- that is something. what from a public policy standpoint at the state level can be done to encourage and embolden these pockets of resistance and to promote the natural family? >> i'm a great believer and tax policy to shift the incentives. in oklahoma, if you have all the tax break that helps. oddly enough, we have a nice tax credit against a flat tax, 3%, but a nice tax credit for all kinds of educational expenses. it has been a real help to home school families. it adds constitutional -- passed constitutional muster, and it is a way to help people and

christian schools and private schools, private academies. alan bond whatever possible way to put a credit and for families. i think that is a great help. i've been pondering ways to do with with sales taxes, or property taxes, but a look for tax breaks. and non intrusive way of expanding what i call liberty for families to function. >> other comments on the platform? next question, then. >> this is to the entire panel. how much influence did the reagan doctrine have on the fall of the soviet union? >> is, the reagan doctrine.

if you look at the fall of the soviet union, i think you will find as we've insisted up here, a complex pattern where there is not just one factor. but certainly if you put together the policies of the reagan and ministration, if you put together the economic troubles of the soviet economy, and then one has to baadd the powerful witness of pope john paul ii. you cannot leave that out. so many limit the role of john paul ii, and his first pilgrimage to his homeland after ascending to the papacy in 1978, his first trip home in 1979. spontaneous, many millions turned out peacefully, these

enormous crowds. the regime at that point realize they have lost control. once people are brave enough and hopeful enough to take certain risks, then the as authoritarian apparatuses are in real trouble. i was in poland in 1983 on his second pilgrimage. i thought that would be something not to be missed. and there was a moment when we were in warsaw, heading across the bridge to see the pope. they ripped up the central square in warsaw so that it could be held there. the crowd paused, there were flowers embroidered signs, and they were in front of the party

building, which were shuttered and completely shut down. the crowd started shouting the solidarity slogan, singing hymns and so forth, and it was such a powerful moment, and it shows you the moral voice collectively speaking, and what that could do to help bring down in the empire that i was taught when i was an undergraduate with last -- would last as far as the eye could see. we would have a bipolar world, two empires, if you will, the u.s.a. versus the soviet union, and that was it. and it was something quite extraordinary that happened. you cannot leave out the moral witness of people. they had it all wrong. the soviets supporters were absolutely stunned.

>> there is credit to go around. john paul was very foreign, and a united front against the soviets, but also reagan said early on in his view of the cold war, they would lose and we would win. the denial of the assumption of having the ability, that was one of the great breakthroughs of reagan and thatcher and others. it was the mystique of the lesson -- the mystique of the left and communism was that history was on their side. reagan at home and abroad showed us that that was not case. history is up for grabs, as it were. >> next question here. >> should presidencedent be parf

the conservative jurisprudence? >> given that the condition of natural law, a place has to be made for positive norm, you may see signs on the road saying 55 m.p.h., but behind that sign -- there's no difference between 45 or 55, but the positive law is under way by natural law. there is a principle that tells us why we are being justified in restraining the liberty of people to drive. it hazardous for innocent life, including your own. but it needs a regulation to convert that principle into a measure that applies the principle to the circumstances and terrain before us.

we've always had a place for positive law. it at times reflects the move of statesmanship, where people recognize aquinas, they don't impose on the perfect man, those who are already burch was. it may not apply the principle -- i do not doubt that the principle bars racial discrimination, as applied to the choice of a spouse, but they cannot be drawn that far and deposit a flop. the maine buys comes when people say that -- the main vice comes when people say they take their principles from what the possible loss says.

-- the positive law says. some people say that there are no natural light-- there are no natural rights. we don't care what they say, as long as they do it in a democratic way, what is right or wrong has the support of the majority. if that is the measure of right and wrong, then we cut the ground out from under the constitutional rights and the rights of the majority, because as soon as the majority has spoken, it is given is the definition of right and wrong. we have no other source to which to appeal. james wilson said that america begins with a revolutionary principle, because america begins with the possibility that you can have an unjust law.

things that pass with all the trappings of legality that are still against justice. but against the positive law, we can appeal to another body of principles to measure what the law has done. [applause] >> next question. >> mr. arkes, this question is for you. >> i just came in to read the meter. >> when you said that robert waiting to take philosophical principles and make them understandable to the majority of people, what is the secret behind taking today a-christian principles and philosophical abstract thought and helping the

modern average individual understand them? >> i don't know anyone i have seen at any age who on hearing lincoln's lined, that fragment he wrote, imagining a conversation -- who does not get it? it is a sensible. they get this. this is what a political person should be able to do. scott browed caught trouble when he said we should tax the american taxpayers to buy guns to fight enemies, not by lawyers for our enemies. he caught something. [applause] how did he do it? reagan said that line i quoted. he did this so often.

for subsidizing people still lose their job -- not domestic. he just pointed this out and send it points out, it's so we always understood it. i don't think there's anyçó way that we can train people, just give the examples of the way it is done. the best things done in the past, like the federalist papers, that is the best thing we can do to teach it. >> i mayñi regret that i am undr command of the person who controls my life at work, my assistant, that we have to take a recess now for lunch. that leaves two of you wanting to ask questions. i guarantee that this afternoon you can ask questions first.

>> we will be back. >> that is right. we will be back. i have carefully prepared introductions of our three guests this afternoon, the point out certain things about their checkered pasts. [laughter] and they do not know what it is i am going to say, but anyway. let's come back this afternoon after lunch employees enjoy all -- a good lunch. thank you. ♪

>> thank you, very, very much. mr. speaker, mr. president, lieutenant governor brown, treasurer and controlp troller

and attorney general, attorney general curran. colleagues and city and county government, men and women of the maryland general assembly, former governors, members of the cabinet, congressman, katie o'malley,. [applause] my fellow citizens... i would like to ask at all of us observe a moment in silence in honor of the brave marylanders who we've lost over the course of this last year fighting for our country abroad in iraq and in afghanistan. and also for the people of haiti who are recovering from that devastating earthquake. thank you. we have said good-bye to a number of great marylanders over the course of this last year.

just last week, we said good-bye to former lady pat hughes. a woman of grace and class and strength. and earlier this morning i attended the funeral of great mac mathias who 30 years of noble service epitomized not only what it means to be a united states senator but also what it means to be a citizen. it is a true honor to join you here once again in this historic building, the oldest state capitol in the united states of america. where marylanders have come together, year after year to renew our democracy and to move our state forward. in this place of the people's will, we express our differences of opinion mindful of the fact that all of us gathered here to serve act on behalf of maryland. and there is only one maryland.

we are here because we care about people. all people. and to safeguard our children's future we are committed to the work of justice, security, job creation, environmental sustainability, and fiscal responsibility, understanding that progress for one requires progress for all. in times of great adversity, we don't make excuses, we make progress. we set aside partisanship. and embrace the power of citizenship, guided by the values that unite us. our belief in the dig active every individual. -- dignity in every individual. and our responsibility to advance the common good and our understanding that there is a unity to spirit and to matter. that one person can make a difference. that each of us must try and god

loves even the partial victories. today i would like to talk with you about how we can help our businesses, large and small, to create jobs, to save jobs and expand opportunity. i would like to talk with you about the tough but right choices that we must continue to make together and about the importance of being fiscally responsible so that we can protect homeownership and defend the hard won progress of the hard-working maryland families we serve. the choices we've made together the choices we've made together as one maryland over these past three years, have allowed us to weather the severe economic storm better than most states. we have used the pressure of shrinking revenues to create higher performance, stronger connections, smarter interventions and more i will tell gent standards of care. the ongoing financial crisis has called upon us to reimagine what

a government can do well and to redesign better ways to serve and protect the people of maryland as we move forward. but just as families and businesses have seen their incomes decline, so too have state revenues. in fact it's been the steepest decline across the 50 states in modern history. every year this administration is submitted and you have passed a state budget that is not only balanced, but a budget that has been introduced at the outset as within the limits of spending affordability guidelines. for the first time in more than 40 years, the budget i propose to you this year, calls for lower general fund spending, than four years ago and it will bring total spending cuts and reductions this term to $5.6 billion. yes, we have chosen to be fiscally responsible. indeed, fiscal -- progress is only possible with fiscal responsibility.

that's why maryland is one of only seven states in america that continues to retain a triple a bond rating a seal of fiscal responsibility certified by all three major rating agencies. [applause] as a result of the choices that we've made, the choices that we've made together in the face of adversity, the state of our state is stronger than most and in areas like public education, it is stronger than every state in the union. [applause] but this national economic downturn, the worst since the great depression has dealt crush and blows to joblessness, home foreclose and displacement to

tens of thousands of maryland families. and although fourth quarter economic growth has been the strongest our country has seen in six years, the storm is not over. wall street has been stablized and main street still suffers. every maryland family has been hit in some way. neighbors who still cannot find work. fellow citizens tossing and turning all night worried about how they will afford this month's heating bill. or last month's mortgage or rent. family owned businesses and family farms struggling just to survive. children go to bed hungry who wake up hungry. who go to school hungry. i want to share with you a brief excerpt from a letter not unlike the letters that all of you are receiving yourselves. this is from a woman named martha who writes: times are hard and things are tight. i'm living on the edge. my rent for my apartment is one month behind.

my phone and internet service is scheduled to be cutoff. i've been trying to find employment and i am 53 years old. i never thought that i would be going through this at this point in my life. and every part of our state i meet good people who have worked hard all their lives to watch their piece of the american dream slip away due to forces seemingly beyond their control. who want only the opportunity to work and the freedom to build a better life for themselves and for their children. it's been said that the most powerful place in the world is the family home. well, over these last difficult years, far too much of that power has been taken from us. when just one marylander has to look their child in the eyes and tell them that the mortgage company told us we have to move, it affects all of us. when a house is boarded up and

left vacant it impacts entire neighborhoods entire communities entire towns, entire counties, entire states. because of your work, and also because of the perseverance of housing councils, non-profit counselors and lawyers many homes in maryland have been saved but many more have been lost. they have been lost in the relentless grinding home destroying machinery of national mortgage companies. if they can pick up the phone to put a family into a home, shouldn't they be able to pick up the phone before throwing a family out of the home? [applause] i need your help. the hard-working people of maryland need your help. families of maryland need your help. i need you to stand up for homeowners in maryland and put them on an equal footing with

these faceless giants. i need you to pass legislation this year that forces mortgage companies to come to the settlement table before they can throw another family out on the street. [applause] but of course it's not enough to defend. we must also advance. there is no government program that is as important or as empowering as a job. therefore, progress requires that we focus the energies of this session on three primary actions: creating jobs, saving jobs and protecting jobs. [applause] last week, president obama rightly said the true engine of job creation in this country

will always be america's businesses. but government can create the conditions necessary for businesses to expand and to hire more workers. to rebuild and restore our economy we must help our businesses create and save jobs. jobs from innovation, science, security, and discovery. jobs of noble and valuable service. jobs that create and rebuild our vital connections of travel and trade and business. jobs that revitalize and restore our environment. jobs in teaching. jobs in manufacturing. jobs in healing. they all matter. this month, we concluded a nation leading public private partnership at the port of baltimore that will create 5700 new jobs in construction and port operations. [applause]

and just last week, general motors announced it will build the new generation of electric hybrid engines here in maryland in baltimore county, creating new manufacturing jobs. [applause] now these new green manufacturing jobs and new opportunities were only possible because of the investments of the much maligned but critically important american recovery and reinvestment act along with strong actions of your state and the strong actions of baltimore county and the leadership of jim smith and business and labor all working together. and together --. [applause] -- and together, we can and we must do more.

and that's why this year i'm asking for your help to create a $3,000 tax credit for every person hired off of maryland's unemployment rolls. and because small businesses create 2-3 jobs in maryland, i'm also asking you to pass emergency legislation to provide $83 million of relief from rapidly escalating unemployment insurance premiums. and what is more, because small business lending has virtually dried up in the course of this national economic downturn, i'm asking for your support to create a new loan small business loan guarantee program as we simplify the application process so that we can create and improve the conditions necessary to allow small businesses to actually borrow the dollars they need for expansion to create and save jobs. here in maryland, thanks to president obama's leadership and maryland's effectiveness, the american recovery and

reinvestment act has helped us not only to protect public safety, public education, and public health, but it's also allowed us to create or save 19,000 jobs here in maryland. [applause] and in the year ahead, recovery act reinvest. projects will continue to create and save thousands of greatly needed construction jobs here in our state. rebuilding our state. now, working with private businesses in our construction trades, i'm asking you to create jobs through the major investments that we can make this year because of our triple a bond rating in our proposed capital budget. rebuilding schools. rebuilding roads. water infrastructure, rebuilding community colleges, science labs important work. work that will support over 20,000 construction jobs in

maryland next year. and i'm also asking you to advance smarter growth through better mass transit with important long-term investments like the purple line and the red line which also will create jobs. [applause] and working with the imaginative redevelopers and green developers, i'm asking you to revitalize our historic downtowns and main streets along with new green neighborhoods. by passing a new sustainable communities tax credit building on the success of the heritage tax credits we know that we can leverage tens of millions of dollars in private investment to create hundreds of jobs now and thousands moving forward. thanks to lieutenant governor brown's leadership, from the very first days i might add of this administration, and the advocacy of senator mccallsky

and our entire congressional delegation, 60,000, 60,000 additional jobs are coming to our state through the brac, the base realignment and closure process. [applause] now, we need to leverage the enormous job creating potential of more than 50 federal facilities in maryland which along with our business institutions and the institutions of science, discovery and higher learning and healing are the backbone, the backbone of maryland's innovation economy. life sciences, biotech, high-tech, clean tech, green tech, cyber security, our work is to leverage these innovation assets to create more jobs and

more opportunities for more maryland families. with the enormous potential of maryland's innovation comi economy we are also seeking to reinvigorate science, technology and engineering and math education in every part of our state. to reengage our students with environmental and financial literacy. and to create in our workforce the skills to compete the coordinated state-wide strategy of promoting skills training, apprenticeships and post-secondary education. and because maryland's greatest economic asset is our highly educated and highly skilled workforce, i am asking you to invest once again in the children of maryland with the record level of funding for k-12 education. [applause]

progress does not happen by itself. progress does not happen by itself. it is the product of choices. think about it. it's not by chance but by choice that we now do more than most every other state in the union to support our maryland veterans upon their return home from service in iraq or afghanistan. it's not by chance but by choice that for the second year in a row, we have created the number one best ranked public school system in the united states of america. [applause] it is not by chance but by choice that alone among the 50 states we together have made college more affordable for more maryland families by going four years in a row without a penny's

increase in college tuition for maryland residents. [applause] it is not by chance but by choice that together with police officers, throughout law enforcement we have been able to drive violent crime in maryland down to its lowest levels since 1987, including, including, the steepest three-year reduction in homicides since the 1970's and a 46% reduction in juvenille homicides over the same period of time. [applause] it is not by chance but by choice that the port of baltimore once a laughingstock of failed homeland security efforts now receives near

perfect security reviews from the united states coast guard. it's not by chance but by choice that 146,000 more marylanders today have health insurance and 65,000 of them are children. [applause] it is not by chance but by choice that we have increased opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses to record levels in our state. it is not by chance but by choice that four rivers of the chesapeake bay are getting healthier instead of getting sicker every year that we've preserved five-and-a-half times the amount of open space than we did before or that the blue crab population is rebounding or that we've finally are embracing the power of the new aqua culture industry to bring back the native oyster. and as we move maryland forward,

out of this recession and into better times, we are going to need to continue to make the sometimes tough, but critically important choices necessary to expand opportunity and to strengthen families. the choices that grow our middle class and allow us to make progress together. the choices that give all of our children the education that they need in order to compete and to win in the global economy. the choices that make us safer and more secure everyday. the choices that strengthen our laws against child predators. the choices that make it possible for maryland to irradicate childhood hunger. the choices that make us a leader in energy conservation and renewable energy the choices that rebuild our cities our towns our inner beltway neighborhoods. and a maryland that is smart, green and growing. the choices that restore the american dream and allow us to make genuine progress.

the choices that protect maryland. the choices that make maryland. maryland. for our children, and our children's children. but in order to move forward, and to move forward as one maryland, there's another kind of work which we must do as a people. it is not the work of our hands or of our heads. but of our hearts. for there is a dark thing that has penetrated deep into our collective soul. a thing that has to be recognized, seen for what it is, and rejected by all of us. it is the debilitating and unamerican idea that our children will not enjoy a better quality of life than we have. that somehow we are now destined to decline. to backslide. to fail. with every fiber of my being, i

reject this notion, i find it utterly unacceptable and so do the generations ahead of ours. this recession will end. our journey is not over. and our best days are still in front of us if we make it so. [applause] ironically, ironically, it's the very immensity of the problems that we face with respect to climate change orator record, resource scarcity, energy security and health that is actually driving innovation in

every sphere of education, technology, and life sciences endeavors that all of us are able to rightly count among maryland's greatest competitive, economic job generating strengths from the schools the laboratories and the companies in maryland are emerging the discoveries and technologies that will remake our world. we are not at the edge of some cliff. we are at the threshold of brillant science, innovative technology and remarkable discoveries that will transform for the better the way we feed, fuel and heal this world of ours. we have 100 years of creative work ahead of us. brillant sustaining innovative service. a profound act of citizenship and participation that can actually bring us closer to each other ton this extraordinary place that we call home. connecting maryland's journey then to its resources creativity

and dreams, is our great work. to the cynical who say that government is not the answer, i ask, what then is the question? for if the question is how to create jobs, how do get our economy going again how to reimagine what it means to be a marylanders in these challenging times, and how to create greater freedom, opportunity and justice for all, then a working and effective government is an incidence penceable and essential part of the answer. -- indispensable and essential part of the answer. but only a part. government cannot be a substitute tore citizenship. it can never replace the power of individual creativity. the power of the individual, the power of individual choices, responseably and courage rage justly made. each of us is needed. all of us must act. the truth is every person has an

important story to tell. an important story to live. together over time, the people of maryland have written a narrative that endures and grows. it's not a story of failure. or of fear. it is a story of genius, it is a story of courage. threads of our being stitched to an uncertain future where in we act with courage, respect and conscience to make a better life for our children. for maryland is not simply an isolated political entitity or label out there somewhere. it is something we share with one another. and with the generations that will follow ours. the children born in our city centers are just as much our heritage and gift as are the tide waters of the eastern shore or the mountains of western maryland. there is no resting point where we finally know that we have

secured a safe and prosperous future. the principles that form our deeds and actions demand constant work, reaffirmation and reawakening. we are blessed. blessed to have inherited the backbone and medal of generations past. the rivers forest, shores and waters of this extraordinary state are ever our allies. and with us always are the quiet prayers of gratitude and encouragement of future generations watching. and the eyes of every child, as a shining message that we are born to be good and that we experience our goodness by being kind and generous to each other. may we embody this wisdom in our dreams and in the actions that we take as one maryland, moving forward together. thank you very, very much. [applause]

>> thank you. mr. speaker, madam president, members of the general assembly, my fellow general officers, members of the jew dis judiciar, distinguished guests and my fellow rhode islanders, before i begin i would like to take a moment to acknowledge the source of my inspiration, my strength, my motivation and my comfort and that's my wife, the first lady, sue carcieri and our four children that are up here, not all of them but their who spouses and 14 grandchildren,

they are filling up the gallery, thank you all, thank you for your love. (applause) let us begin tonight by being mindful of the catastrophic earthquake that has ravaged haiti we are all in shock and disbelief and our hearts break as we see the nightly images of the horrific devastation and loss of life. those of us who have visited haiti are aware of the extreme poverty and hardship that so many haitians endure on a daily basis. i know that rhode island is home to several thousand haitians and many other rhode islanders both

young and old travel there to be of service to the people of haiti. just a few days ago, members of the 143rd, rhode island air national guard flew two of our transport planes to deploy to assist haiti. tonight we express our prayers and condolences, to all of those people who have been so profoundly affected. please join me for a moment of silence in honor of those who have los their lives so tragically, in haiti. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, as i stand before you tonight, our state is facing the most severe economic turmoil of the last 30 years, perhaps longer.

this challenge cannot be overstated. we have over 73,000 rhode islanders out of work with little signs that employment will improve significantly, any time soon. we all have neighbors who have seen their work hours reduced and their income diminished. they are scrambling to pay their bills while they watch their home values decline dramatically, they are subassistantly reducing their -- substanley reducing their spending. every business large and small is reducing costs as they adjust to lower demand for their products and services. they are siting for survival in some cases and trying desperately to keep as many worker as employed as possible. layoffs are a last resort for businesses because qualified, trained and high-performing

employees is what makes a business successful. in this climate, at this time, they expect their government at every level, federal, state and local, a government that they pay for with their hard earned tax dollars to reduce and control spending as well. as elected leaders it is our job to deliver on that expectation. i intend to do so. ( applause). we are not alone, we are not alone in facing these challenges, virtually every state in the country is facing the same crisis. last month as we did 43 states, saw their unemployment rates rise. many to new highs. clearly, the national economic recovery is sill very fragile and the message from massachusetts last tuesday is pretty clear, americans wants

congress, the president and all elected officials to concentrate on the things that are most important to them that they are worried about. get the economy on track, put people back to work and protect us from terrorists. the key to weathering this storm is to face the challenges squarely. make the difficult choices to get through it, while at the same time building the proper foundation and privileges to the 21st century economy. it is obvious, tonight that we have two immediate challenges that we face in our state. one financial, the other economic. first, how do we produce a balanced budget with less revenue? and second, how do we put more people to work as soon as possible? both of these are enormous challenges. the first, however, we can

control entirely ourselves. right here within this chamber. for the second, we need some help from the national economy, but we have to do our part, too. a week from today, i will submit my budget for fiscal year 2011, it will be balanced without raising taxes. (applause). >> but it will require significant changes at both the state and local level. make no mistake about it, we are going to have to find more structural ways to reduce spending at the municipal level. we cannot sustain the president level of spending, we simply do not have the revenues. the budget will also contain a major focus on jobs with a

package that includes small business tax relief, a tax credit for job creation and programs for enhancing access to capital. these are all going to be discussed in more detail in the coming weeks after that budget is submitted. for inspiration and guidance on building the foundation for and the bridges to the new 21st century economy, it is helpful to reach back to the shared values and a andaspirations to e sentiment of our great state. rhode island was chartered to promote liberty of conscience. individualism, autonomy, self reliance and decent. it is no accident that the independent man sits atop this building with those values. these core values guide our

current ambitious and goals and will set the agenda for my last year in office. first the economy, more so than most our economy is . .ñiçó we must nature and unleash that independent drive and allow it to succeed as an urgent priority. our new executive director of the economic development corporation, keith stokes and the board will be doing just that. to thrive in the long-term we need to reclaim our birth right as a hotbed for business revolution. from the industrial revolution in the 19th century to the bioscience and green energy

revolutions today, rhode island has always been a place for incubating new ideas and approaches. just as it did over a century ago, when rhode island, rhode island had the highest percapita wealth of any state. our economy, once again, will rise on the tide of an entrepreneurial revolution. at the turn of the last century, this magnificent building was constructed by our ancestors as a symbol of bride in th -- pridn the state that they had built. all of the textile mills that we've seen that populate, the paw kblackstone river, many wenn to build big businesses and employ thousands of rhode islanders. to enable that to happen again we need to recreate the same

fertile conditions that encouraged businesses to flourish. the most important and positive actions state and local government can take right now are regulatory reform and tax reform. my regulatory review task force has given me their final report. in the coming weeks i'll enveil a series of -- unveil a series of proposals to streamline and shorten the regulatory process. while it is difficult to see the sun through the dense economic clouds, there's much underway. one of the more visible bridges that we've been building to the 21st century economy is a new eye-way. not only has it dramatically improved the traffic flow, but the demolition of the old highway, which has begun, will unlock over 20 acres of prime

land in the capital city. the opening of this site will excite the development of the new life sciences economy here in rhode island. it will link together and harness the research capacity of our higher education institutions with a commentary and research and clinical capacities at our major medical centers. we are home to educational and medical centers of national and international prominence that will be unleashing -- will be unleashed in new and exciting ways. these will provide high-paying jobs and opportunities for many rhode islanders. a keystone to this strategy is brown university's warren alpert's school of medicine. as we know it as the old jewelry district is being reborn as a life sciences, center. this type of public/private

partnership is a model for economic success. just as our mighty rivers powered the industrial revolution that brought to many jobs and prosperity in the last century our mighty ocean will power the energy revolution of this century. rhode island is leading the nation in the development of offshore wind power. the u.s. department of interior has said that the east coast of the united states is the "saudi arabia arashia of wind." wind farms have been. across the united states. the beauty of having offshore winds, farms on the east coast is that's where the population is. importantly, deep water, wind has recently completed a power purchase agreement with national

grid. which we are hopeful will be approved by the public utilities commission. simultaneously, and this is a great story, a team of scientists from uri is working with the coastal resources management council to complete a management plan sort of an ocean-zoning map. the first in the country. and this plan will be the guide post for siting offshore wind farms with puc approval in march, we'll be on track to issue a permanent this summer for the block island project phase 1 roast of the overall wind plant. once the project is underway, an estimated 800 new jobs will be created at quonset point. equally important we have have created and established rhode island as the center of east ko*efrs offshore wind form

-- coast offshore wind farms. (applause) over time, this project, could lead to thousands of additional jobs as turbine, blade and other manufactures locate facilities at quonset to supply this new and growing industry. later this year, we'll open another bridge to support our economy, the intermodal station at green airport. this project will not only enhance the airport and surrounding community but expand communitieex--commuter rail serr state. by the way, it is on budget and on schedule. as important as these bridges are, our state's greatest asset,

the reason we all love it here is its natural beauty and quality of life. i'm proud that we, together, have greatly improved the waters of our rivers in narragansett bay, have cleaned up our beaches and have set aside over 12,000 acres of our farms and woodlands for the enjoyment of all of us and future generations. those are real preservation steps. the second area of intense focus, which is critical to our state's success is education and workforce development. because our state values liberty of conscience and free ideas it is no surprise that higher education has proposerred in rhode island. we have more top universities per capita than just about anywhere in the country and they are one of our greatest assets.

in fact, the colleges and universities in our state employ almost 16,000 people. one of our largest employment sectors. they bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in out-of-state tuition and research and have a total economic impact in our state of several billions of dollars a year. higher education, is, in fact, an economic engine in its own right. more importantly, we are harnnessing that capacity to fuel the entrepreneurial activity on many fronts. we are aggressively integrating our college and universities into our economic plan. through the work of science and technology advisory council, the research appliance and the workforce board and the center for entrepreneurship at brown, we are connecting the talent and

brain-power to our growth plan. in our state's public institutions, uri, ric and ccri, we all, altogether, with the voters out there have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in important new facilities to support that plan. at uri, we opened the new center for biotechnology and life sciences, the new ocean science and exploration center. we call it the "inner space center" and broke ground on a new school of pharmacy. at ric we opened a new science and technology and math maths center and built a new performing arts center. at ccri we opened a new campus on aquidneck island and expanded the nursing program. all important investments to help build the brain-power bridge to our new economy. however, to fulfill the true

potential of our state, we are lifting the rest of the educational system. the elementary and secondary schools to this same level of achievement. once again, this effort is grounded in our past in the ideas of our founders, the race to the top, reforming being led by our new commissioner deborah gist emphasize individual accountment foment foraccountabd teachers. we've been implementing our terms of success with vermont, new hampshire and maine. nowhere else in the country have four states collaborated to development common standard and assessments. for the last four years, every single student grades 3-8 in vermont, rhode island, new hampshire has taken the same

test in math, reading and writing, maine joined this year. i'm happy to report, that in each year our students have improved their proficiency scores in every single subject. (applause). >> our teachers, are responding to the challenges and of special note, the gap between our urban and suburban schools is narrowing. this is all good news. if we are successful in our race to the top grant, we'll have tens of millions of dollars in new resources to increase the momentum, we have built to improve our students' outcomes. we also need to embrace our heritage of independence and enlightenmentment by fostering

more charter schools. i've been a strong advocate of charter schools. we've added new ones and expanded existing ones. these are public schools utilizing a different model and are achieving excellent results. this is another revolution that rhode island can and should lead. in order to build the 21st century economy successfully, we'll produce, high school graduates with 21st century skills. let me say that for the first time in more than a decade, our state is right now executing a comcomprehensive and unified workforce development plan to prepare our citizens for employment and our adult literacy program has become a national model. the third area of focus for me in this last year will continue to be government.

just like most rhode island ires today, -- rhode islands today, our independent-minded founders were not too found of an overly controlling government. we were the first of the original 13 colonies to declare our inden pendens but the last to ratified the constitution. they valued individual autonomy, suspicious of the coast of government. imagine how they would view government today with so much power and cost. we need to restore their outlook in all aspects of civic life. we need to reduce our reliance on government, for those of us who work as public servants, the most important thing we can do is uphold our own individual liberty of conscience. for my seven year view as an

outsider, turned insider, the biggest blocks to progress are the political blocks. we need less party and union group thinking and more independent free thinking men and women like the one that crowns this capitol. my team has spent seven years reshaping state government. streamlining and it making sure that it did not become a greater burden on our citizens, in seven years we've balanced our budgets without raising the sales or income tax. (applause) in fact, seven years ago, rhode island had the fourth highest tax burden in the country. by last year, we had dropped to

tenth, but we need to be lower. new hampshire, for example, is 50th, consequencely, its unemployment rate is only 7 percent. today we are operating state government with the lowest number of employees in years, down over 2,000 since the start of my administration. every department is providing critical and essential services with fewer resources. this is a tribute to my excellent department directors, their teams and thousands of dedicated state employees. they have creatively reached outside of government to find ways to leverage limited resources and maintain the services to our citizens. let me share with you tonight in their own words how some of my directors view their efforts from out there in the trenches.

corrine russo, department of elderly affairs "even as we've reduced staff, we've shared resources, created easier program enrollment and reached out to partner with community providers, it has been a win/win for everyone" craig stenning director of the department of mental retard apes and hospitals "with an unprecedented increase in caseloads we've been able to reassure our citizens that services will be there when they need them by transforming the delivery system to provide better outcomes in the end we'll sustain the basic services for our most vulnerable citizens" from patricia martinez for the department of youth and families. i'm pleased to report that last march we successfully moved the youth of the training school to the new state-of-the-art

buildings. we've expanded community-based networks and services and night tonight placements have virtually disappeared. >> secretary of the health and human services. "we've undertaken bold reform transforming the way we do business, the global medicaid waiver will allow to us provide people the right services, at the right place's right time. we are now free to give your family members more options ." lastly from dr. tkpweufd gifford, director of the department of health. "our wellness efforts are changing the dialogue from how we take care of the sick, a sick-care system, to how we keep people healthy, which is a health care system. rhode island was the first state in the nation for designated as a well state with so many employers led by the state of rhode island itself, now having

wellness programs to keep their employees healthy and to lower costs. several employees have reported that this program saved their lives by detecting disease early. by the way, i would like to take a moment to commend dr. gifford and his team at the department of health, supported by hundreds of volunteers who did such a great job leading our state through the swine-flu epidemic. (applause) our vaccination

program has become a national model as an aside i got a letter today from the american pediatric society nominating dr. give in order and the department of health for an award for what they did uniquely in the country in responding to that terrible scare. i wish i could take the time tonight to have you hear from all of the directors who along with their teams have accomplished so many changes for our citizens, since i can't, let me ask them all along with my staff to please stand and be recognized for their tremendous leeredship at such a tough, tough, time, please. (applause) tonight i would also

like to recognize a special guest, a proud rhode islander, sergeant first class eric blue who was awarded the bronze star medal of valor earned in afghanistan, rhode island national guard. sergeant blue distinguished himself by his heroic actions during a complex ambush. despite being under heavy fire he maneuvered to find and evacuate a wounded soldiers his actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military traditions. we owe the deepest gratitude for defending our freedoms and protecting our country. please join me in welcoming and thanking, sergeant blue and his wife, danielle.

(applause) thank you, often in the halls of government, we are overly distracted by our differences and disagreements. it is more productive, however, to first identify the things we can agree upon. tonight, we can agree that we all love rhode island and want to see it prosper. we can agree that our most immediate need is jobs.

we can agree that businesses, not government, will create jobs and put our citizens back to work. we can agree that every household in rhode island is hurting right now and parents and grandparents alike are worrying about making end meet. we can agree that rhode islanders don't need more burdens from government, we can agree that cities and towns are under considerable financial stress where some of us in this chamber may disagree is weather property tax increases are inevitable. i know that it can be avoided. for example, if every city and town employee through the entire state, including all school department personnel were to

agree to a salary-reduction plan this year and next just as state workers have done, tens of millions of dollars could be saved. this legislature, in my opinion, has the ability to prevent property tax increases by enacting sweeping authorizations that will allow our local leaders to reduce their spending. for example, it is long past the time to allow the city and town councils of every municipality to have control over their sole school budgets. school expenses represent 70 percent of nearly all budgets. those elected officials who set the tax rates and are accountable to the citizens should and must have the authority to approve all school contracts and expenditures.

(applause) property tax increases are not indefendantable. they will not happen if this legislature enacts the changes that will allow cities and towns to control their spending. it is within your power to do this. i, as governor, do not have the authority to make these changes, but you do. fit as i have said repeatedly, cities and towns must urgently find ways to share, police, fire and school facilities. we are a small state, 48x37. there are counties across america larger than our entire state. we must break down the long standing parochial barriers that we've become accustom to and adopt more efficient models that will be more financial stable

over the longer term. by example, all of us, each member of this legislature, must rise above these barriers. it is up to you, to step away from purely local interests and embrace a statewide vision that can be sustained by our children and our grandchildren. to do these things, it is time to put our differences aside. it is time for all of us in this chamber to come together and do the people's business, to make the common sense choices to steer our state through the storm. the time is urgent. it is now. i know that rhode island cannot control the national economy, but there are many things we can control. we can control our spending, we

can control the burden of taxation we place on our citizens and i've's been working hard to improve the climate here in our state for business. yes, i realize that businesses, i lived in that world, both large and small, need more customers demanding products and services before they feel confident enough to begin hiring once again. we need to do everything we can to make it easier for them. in summary, we need more taxpayers, not more taxes. to seek guidance at this difficult time in our state and nation, i went back to some words attributed to president abraham lincoln, arguably he was our country's greatest president because he held us to together

at great human cost in the darkest time of civil war. his insightful understanding of human nature and the principles necessary to understand strong nation are embodied in these words. it reads "you cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong, you cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage pair payeu cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hat rid. you cannot help the poor by destroying the rich, can you not keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn, you cannot help men and women permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves "these principles and

values are directly linked to those of our founders and they are pretty straightforward. we need more than ever to go back to those shared values and aspirations and reaform them this the state we all love. yes, these are very difficult times for our state and the entire nation, but we'll endure, we always have after our all state motto is hope. we need faith if we navigate through this turbulence well we'll emmerge stronger. we can lead the way as those before us did, the choice is ours, tonight i ask all of us in this chamber as well as all of you watching tonight to search your hearts and souls, think of the sacrifices made by our parents and our grandparents,

think about the legacy we want to leave our children and grandchildren and summon the courage and determination to do right by them. may god bless you and may god bless the state of rhode island and may god bless ou >> in a few moments, a hearing on the research and development that's going into the passenger development research.ñiñiñr

>> the roll of the u.s. and the world. afterwards reairs sunday at night 9:00. all day monday, books on american presidents. for the complete schedule, go to book tv .org. >> the only collection of american collection portraits painting by one artist. now on display at purdue university in indiana. looking at the lives of the 43 men that held the office. sponsored by c-span. if you can't get to west laugh yacht, see the entire collection on line.

american presidents .org. >> now, a hearing on airline passenger screening. this is a little more than an hour and a half >> we are grateful this attack

was unsuccessful. at the same time, this has brought forth screenings that need to be addressed. moving forward, we have to make sure the department of research actively closes the gaps reducing the methods the public affects. in response to the failed crigs mass day attempt, president obama called on homeland security to develop and deploy the next depen operation of airport screening technologies. the purpose of the hearing is to report on how dhs will develop and improve on the screening technologies. i am deeply troubled to the lack of attention dhs hasñr pai attention in the past to the i

am importance issues. >> the national academy of science discussed the need to pay more attention. 10 years later, in 2007 -- i note that this is on either side of september 11, the national academy has concluded that this is important and concluded that nothing had changed. it is little wonder that the body scanning proptses has developed to be a failure. two reports, n ten years apart, both ignored.

the agencies before us today still do not have a planñr for affective public research. i want to ensure to everyone in this room that the concerns are add yetly addressed. the screening process must protect the publicñrñiçó withou

these things in place, i want to thank our witnesses for being hereiw3 >> thank you.

>> one particular technology which has received popular coverage is whole body scanners while the desire ability of this technology isñr advanel. otherñr protectionsñiçó will mi the need >8ju scanners.

+ejr+ári yield back the balance of my time. >> if there are members who wish to schmidt additional openingñr statements. now it is my pleasureñiñi to introduceñi more. the science and director of technology the program manager of the national security program at the national institute of stance ards and technology. >> for now right, we are going to skip your introduction until the governor can come by, for

each of your witnesses, your testimony in your entirety, we will begin with questions and each member will have 5:00s to question the panel. >> thank you it's my pleasure to be here. i commend you on the assembly of this panel i'm honored to discuss with you this critical issue charged with providing the mechanisms and the tools.

dhssnt funds basic research and supports major developments and standards. the lead roll installed at airports asçó a part of securit measures ensuring that the department is developing in technologies that meet the operational needs to affect the traveling public the customers and the stake holders may a lead rollñi in decision making . the customers chair established the desire of their assessment.

tsa leads and based on their desires. they have been and continue to be first to improve the capability and in theçó longer term develop in the new equipment and procedures to approve in the air travel. the basic research in the process. droifing the transition of the near term needs that arise from this process form the selection in the basic research port polio. the process is affective in identifying the needs looking

for better ways to meet those needs.çó since its inception, we are supporting the operational needs of the department. this will allow us to focus on the national laboratories in technologies and knowledge. as you mentioned. we must meet legal and regular requirements. these constraints could

introduce the physical constraint. we work closely with the chief justice office to make sure the research we are doing has a clear path to deployment. using the community perception panels that include informed public interest to identify potential issues. i'd be delighted to discuss is that more if you want to go into that furnler. we play a role in the test and acquisitions. this testing is led by the transformation and security method.çó

>> representing this year, he also happens to work on the same floor i do in science and technology he's been working with us for a number of years. he's got more understanding of standards than i'll ever know. we work chosely and help with the standards and security. aviation security is a response of national importance. been a number of other things as well. within the government, we are working with the technology support working group. we are engaged through university centers. we are engaged with industry

and we are engaged with our international departments. thank you for your dedicated efforts. i appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and look forward to your questions wouldñi you care to introduceçó dr.ñr albri >> i don't know that i have the sense of timing but good for opportunity that i finished at the floor and was able to make it here. >> every time i delv into that lab, i find things going on and thing that's are important.çó

responsibly for applying the lab's multiçósituational comple solutions for national security challenges. he's going to make sure we are prepared in the private sector group, an organization that put these pieces together on the private side also the assistant secretary we now move onto the

testimony and the work being done. i look forward to hearing that. welcome. >> thank you. i want to commend the gentleman this is a good piece of work. >> thank you.ñi please proceed. >> mr. chairman, mr. smith. thank you for that wonderful introduction. thank you for the hearing today aimed atçó improvingñr research security. one quick comment. heziju know i became a constituent only two months

ago. >> i'm a native of this area but gotñr luredçóñiñi out toçóç and i'm preyed for to you be my representative.ñi theñr high performance computin and other resources to protect aviation and combat terrorist threats it wasçó the particular capabilities of the national

laboratories that the specific lack wadgeñi is concerning for the department to permit a special relationship to exist between the national laboratories. i wrote that language. . this is actuallyñr a very, very hard problem.çóó choice for terrorists worldwide. the internet has provided information using readyly available chemicals. they are also difficult to detect. tsa officers only have a short time to assess the situation before they allow the passage of people

>> continue yuse and concentrated research to continue the threat and create the ability to decrease ourñr vullner ability. very importantly. the status which brings with it unquestioned objectivity andñr unfettered access to theñr data and information. for example, air planeñi structural issue is crucial to >> most of you don't need to be educated on the role highçó scommosives play in theçor desi of weapons. we have applied that expert he's to the needs of the department of energy.

the justice department and most recently the de(a9q5q of homeland security. cutting edge computer simlation codes. in an environment where scientists can work together to provide a detailed understanding of the materials. their impact on existing detection systems and how systems might be improved to enhance security. as part of that effort, securities brought together, the three labs in 2006 to create a programñiñr of the national explosives in security program. utilizing the expert he's of those labs to develop the cutting edge depeering designed

that effort has designed the explosiveçó formulations. rapid assessment of the detective systems. future efforts include moreñi focused effort we are also taking on the effortñr to inclu the people and the harm that they are trying to exploit near term improvements will be scam be vetted and tested doctor,

please proceed.ñi 5:00. >> good afternoon members of the subcommittee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss in this workñr relevant to passenger screening in the relationship of the compounds of homeland security including the science and technology and transportation security laboratory, tsl. since 2003, unique abilities have been leveraged to help

address criticalñi challenges relevant to homeland security. today, i will focus my remarks this the efforts relevant. let me quickly highlight the work. additional information about each of these is contained in my written statement. this is involved in theçó standards. trace explosive detection. use of k-9s. standoff imaging or millimeter wave. metal detectors. boy owe metrics and confirmity assessment support for passenger screening.ñrñi

being provided directly to dhs and other federal partners for immediate use.

>> this has recently facilitated the x ray performance and safety standards these american national standards are finding increasing use in national and international settings through close settings of our industrial and foreign partners. >> this is a world class resource through the properties of materials through the science and engineering communities. there are serious doubts in the reference for explosives. this is several processes of new physical and measurement data. critically evaluated data. they have developed a world class administration of metal

detectors. using this facility, they have used the performance detectors for the national institute of justice as the standards organization. these are used as the basis of procurement by other federal agencies including federal bureau of prisons.

>> we'll discuss the role of standards in strengthening passenger screening. i look forward to your questions. thank you. dr. hyland, please proceed. >> my name is sand rue -- sandra hyland. as well as vice chair for the 2007 studies for detection identification. technology more commonlyñi know as full body scanners.

the national academy of sciences and engineerings chartered to advice the government on matters of science and technology. i am here to discuss work i have done as an employee and volunteer with the nrc over the past 16 years. the faa has studied aspects.ñiñi

it is our committee's message that we report the action to the screening remains relevant. by holding a work shot of groups, they will beñr effected by airport changes. this includes a complete list of airport attendees. >> the level of inconvenience and privacy is associated with their perception and the effectiveness of the screening and averting that threat. the 1996 committee identified four issóe$9ñ$-+a!1q!1ñ privacy

and comfort. aside from considering the reactions, tsa will have to determine the level of option. specifically, there are public concerns related to the potential con quenses to expose your used in the screening technologies. it's important to convey thisçó information so that it is accessible to a wide audience.

the images have enough detail to reveal embarrassing information. it acknowledges the public u((v and balances them against the benefits. t(q(ted with the technology was high.ñr in my opinion, uiten the reaction to theñr attempted bombing, this may be the time to revisit the question of theç effectiveness and whether giving the threats theñi floyin public would accept it.çó

when this topic was revisited, that had not changed. the committee identified a pub of intangibles. i provided a number of those descriptions in my testimony.

the committee strongly encouraged, information be collected. people find it difficult to find reactions to abstract hypothetical situations. the reading will be conducted by conducting testing as close a possible to the proposed compilation. several representatives were concerned that the faa would impose new screening technology. air carriers were acutely a ware pushing those away from air travel. other industry representatives in the assessment and deployment will help ensure the successful implementation. >> thank you for the

opportunity to testify today. i want to ask the panel of the flesh hold question about whether our concern of public accept answer is real or have you actually determined that the traveling public, that is passengers at airports are actually concerned about the thing that's we think they are concerned about. the reason why i'm saying this is because i spent four hours knocking on doors in oregon

this past saturday i think that the earful i got in that neighborhood is very different from the earful that i would get in another neighborhood in my congressional district. sample and what you ask is absolutely crucial. are we speculating about passenger concern? do we have direct evidence that these are actual concerns of the flying public? whoever wants to go first. >> that's a question that the 1996 panel struggled with. we had experts in how people make decisions to do things

they know are risky like smoking jo in that case, we recommended that the traveling public been asked. have they been asked. this town is filled with polsters. i'm not necessarily recommending that. you don't go and sell cookies in the market without doing a focus group. we are deploying millions of equipment and betting lives on air planes. have we poled and asked the question? >> i don't know. >> i don't know either. >> doctor? >> i don't know either. >> so we are sitting in this hearing roomen depaging in rank speculation about a problem

which may not exist. you read about it but they are not siting their statistic cal evidence. i asked this question of staff several days ago. they were shocked. i am even more shocked you don't have an answer because you are in charge of the national research center. how do you know that we have a problem without asking the question. >> when it comes to public accept answer to these kind of technologies. we have to assume

>> what makes it safe for that a sums? it's a simple thing to ask the question. all you have to do is throw it in a battery of questions. ask the question, have you flown in the last 12 months. the follow up question is how many times have you flown. do a simple read and realize you have easy data of crossing the number of times flown versus attitudes about screening technology. >> sure. >> why hasn't it been done? >> as far as i know, i'm the only person to ask that question so far. the staff was surprised and didn't have an answer. you all don't have an answer.

if this were a campaign. i would ask my polster to ask that question and i would have dath data tomorrow. they'd run it by telephone tonight. so the follow up question is when are you going to get it done? >> i'll take that for action, sir. >> give me a date. >> let me go to tsa and find out data. they may have data i'm not aware of. you all are engaged in an important enter prize. the public safety is at stake, the whole transportation sector is at stake. the trust of the public in what

their own government does is at stake. you are telling me to me, one of the most fundamental questions has knots been asked. i'm encouraging you in the strongest way possible to find the data >> it shouldn't take very long we know we can get the answers.

interacting with the radiation system. i was wandering if you could address the expose your to give you some numbers there. doctor, you can pipe in too. i know there are standards on the radiation expose your from things like screening technologies. to the extent that he wants to comment on that, he can. let me put some things in perspective with regard to radiation doses to start