opposition to government policy on high-speed where'll. -- rail. >> i prefer to focus on the fact that in one year as welsh secretary, she has secured something that 13 years that your wash secretaries have never achieved, which is the electrification of the line between paddington in cardiff. >> an agoraphobic man from one area received so much money from state funds that he set up his own illegal loans company. at the trial, the judge described him as receiving a staggering amount of money on benefits. this is not show that our welfare system is broken? and will the prime minister pledged to redouble his efforts to reform it? >> my right honorable friend is right that the people and send us your want us to sort out the welfare system. they genuinely need help, but also want to make sure that anyone who can work and is offered a job, you should not be

able to live a life on welfare. we voted for it. what a pity that the party opposite talked about it but did not have the guts to back it. >> thank you, mr. speaker. most people know that there is the home of cooperation, and next year is the united nations international year of cooperatives. will the prime minister consider a visit to show support for mutualism in the 21st century? >> i know to be excellent record of the prime minister is visiting there and what can happen to them when they get there, so i will certainly put it in the diary. i am a strong supporter of cooperatives and mutuals. i think they have a huge role to play, not only in our economy but also in the provision of public services. we may be there in the months to come. >> mr. speaker, earlier this year, the prime minister

demonstrated his strength of character in talking about multi-cultural listen. it is a fact that i have a christian first name and a sikh surname. i tried to combine the best of my traditional indian values with my core british values. does he agree that we can learn a lot from our indian partners? >> i absolutely pay tribute to my right honorable friend and the work he does on this issue. i think it is absolutely vital as a country that we build a stronger national identity, and people clearly feel that, of course, you can have all sorts of religious identities and cultural identities, but it is very important that we build strong british identity, and he is proof of that. >> the european parliament will decide whether to increase the e.u. carbon reduction target to 30% by 2020, a commitment made in the coalition agreement. according to reports, the vote is very close, but it will not

pass because of just one conservative out of 25 the will vote for the 30% target. will the prime minister guarantee that all of his mep's will honor the coalition agreement and vote for the 30% target tomorrow? >> let me be absolutely clear that we are committed to the 30% target, and nothing is going to change that. i will do a deal with the lady. i will work on mine, if she promises to work on hers, who in recent months have voted for a higher eu budget and new e.u. taxes and against the octet on the working time directive. >> with the national audit office estimated the cost to criminal we offending of the economy -- to the economy is 10 billion pounds per year, does my right honorable friend agree that the need to reduce korea

fending from the unacceptably high rates and the inherited from the previous government -- >> i completely agree with my honorable friend, who has considerable experience because of his career before coming to this place. we have inherited a system in which each prison place costs 45,000 pounds, or half of the prisoners offend again within one year of getting out, half of the prisoners are on drugs, and more than 10% of prisoners are foreigners who should not be in this country in any event. the key is that we reduce costs in the criminal-justice system by making prison work and reforming prison rather than by cutting sentences. >> each week the british house of commons is in sessions, we air "prime minister's questions" on wednesday and sunday. you can watch anytime at c- span.org, or you can find video of past "prime minister's

questions" and other british programs. >> next, an interview with republican presidential candidate texas man ron paul. then, president obama at a fundraiser in new york city. later, "q&a," with ross roberts and filmmaker john papola. this week, our series of interviews continues with texas congressman ron paul. he talks about the lessons learned from his two previous bids and his views on monetary policy, the federal reserve, abortion, and the state republican party. he also offers an assessment of the obama administration and his strategy for winning the gop nomination. this is 45 minutes. >> congressman ron paul, this is your third presidential bid. what did you learn from the

first two? >> the first one was in 1980 in the libertarian party, and i learned that our system of government is not very conducive for any competition with the two major parties, and if you come to the conclusion that both parties are pretty close in policy, that policies never change regardless of their rhetoric, then we do not have a real good system inviting new competition as demanded by people around the world, so too often, i do not think the democratic process is all that good in our country. last go around, i learned that we were much further along in the freedom movement, defending our constitutional personal liberties, sound money, all of the things that i have been talking about that i always assumed it would be a long time before we get grass roots america talking about what i have been talking about. it takes a long time to change people's attitudes and intellectual approaches to

government, but i think we have made tremendous progress because people do talk about this now. we are talking about bringing troops home and not expanding the war. i think that is delightful. finally, they are seriously talking about what are we going to do with this deficit? back in the 1970's, we were on track for getting ourselves in trouble, so i think the country has moved a lot in the direction of saying, "you know, maybe our country is not that bad? " our government would be much smaller, and we would not have the problems that we have now. >> from our viewers, whether your bid in 1988, ross perot, or a more recent bid, why is it's a difficult for third parties to break through, and what do you think our founding fathers would think of the system we have today? >> they would not be so pleased

with it because it cut out so many people. ross perot did well because he had a lot of money. the problem with someone who has an average amount of money, they are generally excluded. i got on enough ballots to theoretically win, you do not have credibility. it is a perception, and frequently, it is the media that helps, you know, keep the third party, the alternative party out of the discussion. the other thing is that big two parties run all of the state laws. the laws are very biased about getting on the ballot. in 1988, i had to spend almost half of my money just trying to get on the ballot. in some states, you can get 50 signatures and get on, and in another, you need 25,000 signatures. so those rules are really designed not to allow competition, you know, with the

major parties. new york, as a matter of fact, i think is a good state, because they encourage people to file on two parties, like you can file as a republican and a conservative or a democrat and a liberal, and then you can add one, and that gives credibility to that, so if you can do that in other states, i think that would be helpful and help get more attention for these alternative choices. >> are you in this race to win the nomination, or are you in it to send a message? >> no, i am in it to win it. when i first started in congress, even when i ran originally, i thought that i would have to convince a whole congressional district of the problems we face when they were less interested in the 1970's, so i would have been surprised that i did so well. 12 times winning the congressional seat, always saying the same thing and

arguing the case for strictly limited government, and that is the same way now, so the goal is to win the election. >> born and raised in pittsburgh, as she graduated from college, went to medical school, became an air force medical surgeon, and then ended up in texas. >> yes, i went to duke medical school, and then i started my residency in detroit, and it was there that i received a draft notice, and the draft notice said that i would be a buck private in the army unless i wanted to volunteer, and then i could be a doctor and pick the service i wanted to be in, so i always kid that i volunteered. i volunteered under the pressure of being drafted. the army. and then i got to practice medicine. i became a flight surgeon. i actually stay in longer than i had thought it is my obligation

was two years, and with my reserve duty, i served for five years, and i was in san antonio, texas, and i finished my training in pittsburgh, but i decided that texas was a nice place, and we'd like to the warmer climate. there was a medical practice available not too far from houston, so we took that opportunity and moved to a little town in texas. >> why did you decide to become a doctor? >> it is interesting. i think for many years, i wanted to be but would not admit it, because you do not like to fail. i am a high school and college, "i am going to be a doctor," i never said that because i wanted to make sure i could do it. i just have respect for physicians, and i thought it was really wonderful that you could do what i got to do for many years. it is fascinating, and also

being able to do surgery. the whole thing is there was one other element that influenced me, because i am old enough to remember world war ii and korea. one of our teachers was drafted and went to korea and was killed over there. war had a big impact on me, and i often thought, you know what, i do not think i could shoot anybody it. i will probably get drafted some day, so i would much rather take care of people and be in the medical corps then i would have to be in the infantry, because it just seemed so hard to me, so i think it was my nature that, you know, i became anti-war, wanted to be a physician, and it is not just a coincidence that i ended up delivering babies, which is a wonderful part of medicine. >> if you can explain the difference between being a doctor and being a politician.

>> i never thought of that much. i still figured myself as a physician who happens to be in washington. but the transition occurred with an interest i developed in the 1960's as i was finishing medical school in in my medical training, and that was a fascination with trying to understand economics from a viewpoint i discovered, which was an austrian school of economics, which is not keynesian or socialism. it is the extreme opposite. keynesian is and is somewhere in the middle. most of it was taught that you need the government to do this, you need to regulate corporate money, all of these things that we have done that i thought were so harmful, so i became totally convinced they were on the right track.

in the 1970's, there was the collapse of want. . i predict that would lead to a lot of trouble, so i started to talk about economics just to get it off of my chest, and, of course, you can end up getting elected if you do this, but i assured her that that was not possible because i was going to take this position, which was a strong façade position and stick with the constitution, but she had predicted that i would be very successful because people would want to hear the truth of the matters that we are dealing with, so that is how i got involved. it was more of a way to get things off of my chest and to talk about the policies we should have. i was not teaching economics, but it worked out because i could continue to practice medicine, which i did up until

coming into congress this last time. i was actually do some teaching. after the first couple of years, i came back in 1997. if i had a daughter who was studying ob/gyn at the university of texas in houston, so i was in a clinic there, but after that, i got too busy, and i still think i am basically a position that accidentally got into politics. >> let me ask you about the federal reserve, because you are a fierce critic of the fed. what is your argument against them, and what do you think should be changed? >> i ultimately think we should get rid of it, and i am the critic because it is economic planning. most people understand wage and price controls. this is all anathema to a conservative, and yet, that is what the central brae is, a central economic planner. their job is to maintain stable

prices and full employment. prices are not stable, and there is not full employment, so they have done a lousy job, because they are incapable of knowing what the best interest rate is, what the money supply should be, how to manipulate the economy so there is full employment, and everything they do involves creation of money which devalue the currency, so they create the bubbles, and therefore they create the recessions and depressions, and they are way too much involved. you do not have the authority in a central bank. hamilton and jefferson fought over that, and hamilton wanted a central bank, and they did have national banks in our history, and jefferson got rid of one, and jackson got rid of another, so we went most of the time up until 1913 without a central bank, but the devaluation of the currency should be considered a crime, but that is the policy. the fed came into business in 1913. an ounce of gold was $20 to 1

ounce. today, over $1,600. that means the currency has been devalued over 90%, and people lose on that. people were cheated. if you saved 10,000 dollars and it has devalued 50%, you get $10,000 back with only about $5,000, so it is a way to teach people. character illicitly, when you destroy currency, you transfer money from the middle class to be wealthy, and we are witnessing the all the time today when the bailouts, , the wealthy. yes, they have to pay higher prices for gasoline, but it does not hurt them. the personnel who has lost their job because of the depression, they did not get the bill of, and now they are getting hit with the higher cost of living, so it is a terrible system, it is built on a pier mystical belief that if you just print money, it is going to have value. it has never worked.

it works for a while, and our currency has been fiat's since 1961. it worked relatively well, but all it did was it taught us to borrow money, spend beyond our means, finance and empire we should not have, and we have pretended we could finance forever our entitlement system, with medicare, medicaid, and social security. but that is all a consequence of not understanding the monetary system. >> the bailout, hank paulson, who served in the bush administration, whom you know, said this saved us from the abyss of economic collapse. the obama administration argues that there bailout of chrysler and gm was saving jobs in detroit, but you argued against those bailouts. >> well, they are right, but at whose expense? the people who lost their houses and lost their jobs and who are suffering. saving depression and harm and suffering on wall street, but they needed to go bankrupt.

the companies that were broken, they should go into bankruptcy, their good assets bought up, instead of dumping them on the taxpayers, so these banks and all that were making money off of the derivatives, we ended up owning those because they were bought up by the federal reserve by a tune of trillions of dollars which, again, diluted the value of money, and they created the money out of thin air, so wall street, the big banks, some of these corporations that would have a tough time, but they never got hurt. they were saved. for instance, the car companies, you know, et -- you know, the people who invested in the company's lost everything, but because of the way the administration designed it, the bonds held by the labor unions, there are all of the special interests, even big labour and big corporations benefit at the expense of the average person

who is still suffering, and even today on the statistics and what we are hearing and reading about, the economy is getting weaker, and they act like they are surprised. we got into this trouble by spending too much and borrowing too much and printing too much. how can we get out of this by doing exactly the same? they said interest rates are held to a low for too long. what do they do? lowering them actually to minus, minus interest rates, because we are practically at zero inflation, negative interest rates, and they think that is a solution. this perpetuates the problem. this is why the predictions, three years ago, they said what you are doing is wrong. you are going to prolong the agony. now this is going on three years. economy economy is actually getting weaker. we're hanging on, trying to compete with the depression of the 1930's the way we are

operating right now. >> what is your assessment of ben bernanke? >> i guess from their viewpoint, you are a money manager. managing the money like all central bankers would. but for somebody who believes that nobody can do it, he is just an average central banker. he is a lot more determined than some. a determination to inflate regardless. they even a kid about it. if you need to, you will drop money of helicopters, just in flint, in flint, in flay, compared to paul volcker. paul volcker, in 1979, we have high interest rates, and he said, "we have to save the dollar, and we have to say the interest-rate." he was the one who was restrained, so his approach is different. criticizing the central banker is. they are trying to manage an unmanageable system, and the

flaw is that they trust the system, and they are not capable of doing it. they just do not have the information. only the market knows what the interest rate should be. if you have somebody who is the elderly and trying to save money, the market rate of a cd should be maybe 6% or 7%. they get 1% or 2%, so they get cheated, so it is a very unfair system, no matter how well- intentioned they are, they cannot manage it, because it is a deeply flawed system. >> so should we go back to the gold standard? >> i do not use those words, but the constitution says about the tender, and that has not been repealed. much of what i had written a white the fiat, but -- i had written, like the fiat, i think

it should be gradual, so i am not foreclosing the fed down as much of allow and competition, legalizing the competition and the currencies, and that is to allow people to use gold and silver and legalize the constitution, and if the fed fails, as i expect it will, there will be a currency in place, but there were flaws in the gold standard in the 19th century, et we can learn from it, so going forward to a commodity standard with competition, this is something that one of the austrian economist's taught. >> your latest book. how many have you written, by the way? >> well, it depends on how you count them. there were a lot of pamphlets. books, i would say maybe five. >> so you have talked about 60 essential freedoms. talk about two that you say are essential for the u.s. >> well, personal liberty, and i

talk about that a lot, not repealing the first amendment, not allowing the patriot act of a sense of insecurity to get rid of our personal privacy, so we talk a lot about that. to protect the liberties, you have to keep the government small. when the great incentives for the growth of government is a military operation. when we are at war, government gets bigger, and people are more likely to sacrifice their liberties, and also talk of the monetary issue, as an locomote and it is the rejection. i recognize our life and liberty come to was in a natural way and not from our government, but what we have to do in order to preserve that is we have to reject any person or governmental use of force, no, but the government cannot come in from our viewpoint in use force because we think we know

how to make you behave better, or we think we know how to teach you how to raise your children. individuals cannot use force. governments cannot use force. in our day and age, we still recognize people cannot hurt other people, and you cannot steal from other people, but we say the government can redistribute wealth, and that is perfectly ok. this invites this entitlement system, and this becomes what people believe is freedom. they have a right to entitlements, and that is completely wrong, because if you believe in a free society, it is the opposite, no coercion, et and we are always telling other countries what to do. that is the kind of thing that we would like to stop. >> you say you do not like labels, but you have been described as a libertarian, as a republican, as a conservative. how would you be? >> if someone brought up those

terms, i probably would not have an objection. i am a republican. i am a conservative in my belize, and i want to preserve conserve but constitution, but the founders were very libertarian. the way the constitution was written, the government does not of a lot of authority. it was written to vote restrict the government. the founders did not believe in interfering with the internal affairs of other nations. they believe in free trade. that is very libertarian. what would be the word to use, i think i would say constitutionalist. there are some things in the constitution i would write differently, and we have the right to amend the constitution, so does not mean you're absolutely rooted in anything,

but you do take a efforts to abated, which means that you take action. we allow the incident a branch to go to war improperly. if we do that, we should change the constitution. nobody ever said, "where did we get the authority in the constitution? " the department of education should get this in the constitution. i would be open to clarify some of the provisions because some of the people of overstepped their bounds, and the of misinterpreted much of what is written in the document. >> so let's take a couple of issues, like abortion. what is your view? >> i am pro-life. i think once the fetus is there, it is human and is alive and has human-rights that are in harrod. in summary injures a woman and

that fetus is aborted, it is homicide, so it is a life. biologically and legally it is a life. the government should protect life, and to deliberately take that light is an out of aggression, but i do not think it is the role of the federal government to be involved, because, you know, other things, there are all kinds of acts of violence that we do at the state level, and every state does it differently. you have first and second degree murder and homicide and there are four or five different categories, but the state's sort that out injuries, so i do not advocate a federal approach to dealing with a very tough problem, and that is the uniqueness and greatness of our country.

sometimes states will do differently. roe vs. wade, i object to that is they should not have even been doing that. how can the courts come in aunt strike one lot in rewrite laws for the entire country the founders would be very, very bewildered on how we allow our courts to do that. >> with your years as a doctor of an ob/gyn, did you ever have to cancel a woman who was thinking about abortion? >> many times. when i was in practice first, it the subject rarely came up. that was in the late 1970's, early 1980's, but when i went back, culturally, it had changed, and abortions were routine.

a woman would come in, and i would say, "i -- you are pregnant." they would ask for an abortion might they were asking for a penicillin shot. they did not know what was going on. i would do my best to counsel them. what happened is after i went back in 1984, the ultrasound became more prevalent, and i of the ultrasound, and it is a great medical instrument. the ultrasound serves a purpose to show a woman what is there in the first or seventh week even, and then a lot of them would have second thoughts. a man 1960's, there was who got the laws changed. he was doing abortions and hadt. obgynhough he was an

doctor, all of a sudden, he says he cannot do them any more. during that time, he was an atheist, and he converted to christianity and became part of a right to life and grew, and he is an interesting person, because he was such a strong supporter of abortion and ultrasound changes, is part of what was happening in my medical practice. i have second thoughts. >> is there a ron paul doctrine when it comes to foreign policy? >> i would call it an american doctrine that has been our tradition and wasn't biased by our founders and was granted by our constitution. -- that was designed by our founders and was granted by our constitution.

and we have no authority to get into international affairs of other nations, but i would say there has been nothing we have done militarily since 1945 that had anything to do with defending this country. it has made our defense zero lot worse and has they instructed our country, but i think about is what a lot of our traditions are. stay out of these entangling alliances. in 2000, george bush run on all humble policies. an obama was the peace candidate this last time around, so the first thing he did was send a lot of troops to afghanistan, and he is wondering, when is he going to bring them back? he will bring a couple this week and a couple next week. foreign policy i called pro- american constitutional policy of. >> finish the sentence.

the state of the country is -- >> in dire straits because there is a sore understanding and determination that people really want to be free and support themselves and they think too often government can take care of them, and we are in a transition were people realize government is failing. even those on the receiving end realize these entitlements may not come forever, so we are in the middle of this transition, and i think we are making progress. >> how do we jump-start the economy? >> we have to understand what caused its. we got in trouble by too much spending, so you have to have a

correction. you have to liquidate the debt. you have to eliminate bad investments, and that means i hands-on attitude. in 1921 it was not a depression except for 30 years. if you want jobs back, you have to get the spending down and she regulates. every time we get into crisis, we add more regulations. -- get the spending down and see regulates -- deregulate. every time we get into a crisis, we add more regulations. if you just except free market principles and provide freedom to the people, and who even if we lost everything when we had now in a year, we would be well see again. not all people see is financing this war.

how are we going to pay for these entitlements? understand how a free society works, because the more free of society is, the more successful. >> you have become in some circles a cult figure in american politics. the you view yourself as a bath? >> i would worry about using -- do you view yourself as that? and >> i would worry about that. what is important is ideas, and a tea party movement has to do with changing in washington. there are enough people saying they are tired of this, so i think it is ideas of move the world. i challenge the concept of keynesian economics and try to get people to study free market economics, but i do not think i

would want to use the word coltish. >> why did the tea party began? what are its roots, and what role did you play in? >> indirectly i played our role. we had a campaign going on in 2007 on the anniversary of the original tea party. i think it was september 16. the grass-roots supporters say, let's celebrate the boston tea party by having these events around the country. the campaign did it spontaneously, but it was done on a celebration of the boston tea party. it became much broader, and there were other people who did not have the same views, but

mostly they came together because they were worried about the deficit. >> what is it like to have a son in the u.s. senate? >> it is fascinating. i think it is pretty fascinating, and it makes my wife and i very proud. >> it is the first time in history the sun has been in the senate with a father in the house of representatives. >> they said, how do you feel now? i explained to him if he is in the senate and does a very good job, someday he may get to serve in the house of representatives. >> when did you start in politics? >> in high school. she was born on leap year.

i only have to give presents every four years, which i will not get away with. our first date when we were 16. >> of their somebody in history you would like to have a conversation with, who would that be? >> i guess it would be several. a lot of times i think in economic terms. i would like to pick the brain of a lot of these people who are very smart on economics. i think it would be neat to talk to jefferson, but i would also like to talk to grover cleveland, because he was sort of the last of the true constitutionalists and did not like foreign intervention. i think he would be fascinating.

i think we desperately need a belief that freedom is more important. most people want to be present, but i know what is best for you. i know how to run the economy very good -- the economy, but i do not want to do any of those things. i think you could do a great job by diminishing the authoritarian as some of the president and and getting rid of the idea of the president being moved in the direction of a dictator. i do not want to tell you how to live your life. is this one to protect you from people who -- i just want to

protect you from people who will hurt you. my desire to be president is to set the course of this country in a different direction. now we are the vegas bar or in the history of the world by three trillion dollars and -- the biggest borrower in the history of the world by three trillion dollars. it is not like i invented something new. it is like saying, why don't buy improve on what i had in the past? freedom has been tested just a few hundred years. the gold standard can be a better gold standard.

we need to improve it. we do not have enough confidence in ourselves. we believe you have to give of liberty to be safe and secure. that is why we are less free curiosa -- less free. i have been doing it so long talking about the issues. we have people who work very hard in getting people understanding the rules. the difference between a caucus state versus of primary state and which one comes first. that is very important, but usually there are other people interested in managing and working in a campaign and

getting the votes, and i am hoping i am the one who can get a policy to not only work hard. >> size of the field, beginning with mitt romney. >> i cannot do that individually, because i've been all in one lump. -- why a put them all in one lump. i see them as the status quo. i see mitt romney is going to be different from michelle bock man, of both a stone -- but they still want to promote in many ways the status quo. they are not calling for a new monetary system. they are not calling for the repeal of all laws the executive branch likes. i want a significant change and

restoration of these principles. they are really just a variation of the status quo, because they my supporters are seeking too much of one time, but they are moving in the direction. >> what does that tell you about the republican party? >> about the republican candidates? i think the republican party has not been very strong. i think richard nixon said this. we believe in a big government and all this. it has been very much the same over these years. republicans will talk about free markets, but they are big regulators. there are big government's overseas.

they wanted the bailouts, so that cannot go. this last decade republicans and when did a lot of debt, so that is why the status quo has to change if we really want to preserve our liberties and have our prosperity and once again. >> based on your comments, michelle bauman or mitt romney becomes the nominee. when you support them? >> i could not support me came last time because i thought the foreign policy was so bad. -- could not support john mccain because i thought the foreign policy was so bad. if a candidate endorses a foreign policy like that, i could not support them. >> would you run as a third party? >> i am not thinking about that.

>> if you do become a republican nominee, how you win the central election, and what is your message against barack obama? >> the general election may be easier than the primary. the republican primary voters tend to be more likely to endorse war, but that does not mean we are not making progress, but sometimes personal liberties and some of them consider this license and people should not be able to make up their own minds, so the independence is where we have strong support. a lot of liberal democrats are very unhappy with obama. they thought he was going to be more of of these candidates, so they are turned off.

new -- more of a peace candidate, so they turned off. he has not been good at civil liberties. he was anxious to make the patriot act permits, and he is not backing off on privacy issues of all. i want to restore the fourth amendment. i would like people not to be able to get into your computer, your telephone or any of your records without a search warrant. a lot of democrats are unhappy with that. i think in general it would be a lot easier than getting enough people converted in the republican party, of but right- to-life and conservative socially and arguing the state'' rights position and the concern about the spending overseas, i think that is why we are doing so well right now.

>> how would you personally assess his performance? what would you say about his leadership so far? >> he is plodding along, not changing anything. keep pursuing wars and flaunting the constitution. grover cleveland was a great president, but in recent decades, we have not had anybody shrink the size of government. i want to be the first person who ever made the federal

register smaller all of these regulations are locked you're a good -- are law. countries like china are more conducive for business. china is our banker. a loan us money, and they are investing in places like afghanistan, investing in minerals and other things. we are fighting and killing each other and spending money and a great thing our country, so we need to change that. -- and bankrupting our country, so we need to change that. >> are you optimistic about the future of america, or are you concerned? >> i i'm pretty optimistic in

the long run, up because i spend so much time with the current young and generation, and they are very concerned about what has happened, but they are optimistic that we have a answers about it. they are interested in looking at the federal reserve. the young people understand the need to assume responsibility for themselves, but the transition is what is rough. look at what is happening in greece. there is nothing that guarantees we will not have riots on the street when the dollar starts going down and prices go up, and there is no money in the bank. there are still a lot of people in this country that believes the government must take care of me, so that could be very dangerous. on the monetary issue, people understand the dollar will not be maintained as the world currency, but already the imf is trying to issue the world

currency, and that is exactly opposite of what i would like to do. but >> often when you run for office, you learn a lot about yourself. have you learned a lot about who you are during this process? >> hopefully so. what i work on is trying to make and what some people ar think ae difficult issues to understand, make it as simplistic as possible so people can understand it, but most importantly, making these views possible, because if i say, i am going to cut you off from all of the welfare program, if you realize what is coming, you are going to lose it anyway. i would say i have worked to explain why it is in their best

interest. we have had such great wealth. this is a wonderful opportunity for people to excepted. -- accept it. >> what did your wife and family think about your race to the white house? >> they encourage me more than i expected. >> thank you for being here. >> mr. romney was the top choice

for 23% of the voters. michelle bachman got 22%. ron paul and new tinkered are tied with 7%. -- news gingrich are tied with 7%. live coverage begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern. president obama says he believes gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in the u.s. these remarks came in a fund- raiser geared specifically for the gay community. this was held on thursday before new york lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriages.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> please welcome back to the stage neil patrick harris. >> sorry i am late. how is thinner, -- dinner? are you having fun? how about a round of applause

for the voice of god? the show will begin shortly. please remain in your seats. keept good posture. let's take a moment to acknowledge how hard he has worked to bring long-needed chains to america. president obama declared "don't ask, don't tell" to be unconstitutional.

he listed the hiv entry band and put into place the first comprehensive hiv aids strategy. he ensured equal legislation in american hospitals so if our partners get sick, we can be by their sides. he extended the family and medical leave act to guarantee when our kids or partners get

sick weekend take care of them just like any other family. he establish full partnership benefits to the same sex partners of government employees. he demonstrated global leadership by taking a stand of the united nations and speaking out against the anti-gay legislation in you gotta -- uganda and hiring and reporting a record number of qualified lgbt americans. that is a long list, but here is a quick version. we have made incredible progress over the past two

years. we are benefiting. there's no one who appreciates the progress obama has made more than army captain jonathan hopkins. i know jonathan is ecstatic to be here tonight, so join me in giving him a warm welcome.

>> two years ago this month and military began investigating "don't ask, don't tell". after spending so much of my life for 13 years, i felt my world was coming to an end, like i had become a complete failure. my colleagues did not care if i was gay. they did a really big thing. they reaffirmed the concept of a nation where all are created equal.

they made tangible progress for a group of people including people like made. -- like me. they truly fulfill the highest calling of their office. such opportunities are rare, but their impact are profound. now i am working with the pentagon to help ensure the rules they make are smart and wives -- wise, a world in which

it will be safer because they are not discharged because of sexual orientation. nothing represents its better than how much the pentagon has embraced the policy change. they are rapidly moving past zero law but was in force. i have seen their efforts. they understand, and they are getting this right. we understand that they march back for a spirited -- backwards. i got to say to president obama something i am happy to be able to say to you tonight publicly.

thank you so much, mr. president. we are also very proud of you very good -- of you. given all that he has done and we'll do in the future, i am very proud to introduce our commander in chief, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, barack obama. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you so much. thank you so much. thank you for continuing to fight for what this country stands for, even after you had to take off the uniform. i also want to recognize the extraordinary performance of audrey. i like hearing her saying. i want to thank our mc, neil patrick harris. everyone knows he is openly

terrific. a couple of other acknowledgements. the new york city council speaker, a great friend of mine who helped move the process forward to make sure the "don't ask, don't tell" gotkine done. --got done. the treasury is here. i think they like you. thank the cochairs of

the old d.c. council -- the lgbt council. i see a lot of new faces and a lot of friends i have known for a long term. many of you knew me before i had gray hair. malia anas also stated looks -- say it makes me look distinguished. it's also says it makes me look old. i cannot help but think those -- think of election night. then it was the culmination of an extraordinary journey, men

and women who believe the change is possible, who believe we did not have to except politics as usual, who believe we could once again be a country that lives of to our highest aspirations. it -- leave of to our highest aspirations. i said the journey was going to be long and difficult. there are going to be times when we stumble, but the climb was going to be steep, and we did not know how steep it was going to be, but we knew it was not alone in -- not going to be easy to rebuild the middle class in a

decade when a lot of americans felt the dream was slipping away. we knew it was not going to be easy to end two wars, to fix our legislation, to reform our health-care system, to transform energy, and to educate young people. we did not think it was going to be easy. i did not run for president to do easy things. i ran because i believed it was time to do the hard things. it was time to do the big things, even if it was going to be frustrating. i was not going to let a typical politics stand in our way, because it held us back for

toulon. that is what led to the mess we are dealing with in the first place. i had some tough calls to make as soon as i stood office. -- as i took office. we had to rescue the auto industry. i did not think i was going to be an auto ceo, even though there were a lot of people who said, let him go. allowed two iconic companies to be sold off for parts. we said we are going to deal with it. even as we took these emergency steps, we started tackling all the problems we talked about in the campaign, all the things

standing in the way of the american stream. that is what the campaign is about. -- the way of the american dream. that is what the campaign is about. we believe and an economy that works for everybody, where prosperity is shared, from the machine is on line to the manager on the floor. we work so hard because we believe we have to find our success cezanne whether ordinary folks confines of job -- our success on whether ordinary folks can find a job, save some money for child education or retirement or have some money left over for a movie or dinner

or even of play. that is why we cut taxes for middle-class families and ended subsidy for student loans. but as one of wanted to make sure women get paid -- that is why i wanted to make sure women get paid for equal work. that is why we are promoting manufacturing and homegrown energy, because that will lead to jobs and pay a decent salary. that is why we are looking around for ordinary folks to make sure they are not cheating. but as we passed health reform to make sure no one has to go bankrupt if somebody in their

family gets sick. but was the right thing to do. we waived the campaign because we believed it was time to end the war in iraq. we removed 100,000 troops already, and did, but now there. -- ended combat there. i ran for president because i believe we needed to focus on afghanistan. because of the sacrifices of our troops, we are not fulfilling the commitment i made to start

reducing our troops this month sort of dance and take responsibility -- nexon afghan can start to take responsibility. i also ran at the time of competition. for a long time we were told the best time was to undermine clean air and water laws and everything would work out just fine. it did not work out well. america was on the hard work of people.

we constructed railways the expand the country. a strong why we build middle class, and about is what we need to do today. it is essential we cut the deficit. the government has to live within its means. i am prepared to bring the deficit for trillions of dollars. sacrifice the education of our young people. we cannot stop medical research

done by scientists. we cannot stop f the infrastructure that made us great. that does not make sense. in other words, i will not sacrifice america of's future. what makes america great is not just the scale of our skyscraper where our military might. what makes us great is the character of our military people. we recognize the future is shared. the notion that i am my brother's keeper or my sister's keeper, our life is stronger when everyone has some security.

that is what makes those great. it is not a vision of a small america, a compassionate america, of boulder and optimistic america. nobody bears all the burden. no matter what, we are connected to one another. that is what led us to not gone so many doors. -- to knock on so many doors.

we live in a system where we are all created equal. i believe discriminating against people was wrong. i was born in hawaii, and i believe discrimination because of somebody's sexual orientation toward gender identity runs counter to who we are as of people. it is a violation of the tenants and by which this nation was

founded. i believe gay people as those -- deserve the same rights as anyone else in this country syria -- in this country. this bears repeating. this is why we gave a hospital visitation rights to gay people, because no one should be denied from the bedside of their partner in a moment of pain. nobody should have to produce a legal contract to hold the hand of the person they love.

that is why we launched the first comprehensive hiv aids strategy, providing a road map to providing treatment and who reducing infection but also embracing ground-breaking research that will help bring an end to this discrimination. but is why we will keep fighting. i anticipated this. that is why we are going to keep fighting until the lawn longer

-- the lawn along retreat and differently. i believe the defense of marriage act ought to be repealed. i believe it was wrong and unfair. i felt that section 3 of dome not violates the constitution -- doma violates the constitution, and we could no longer defend domaonstitutionality of in the court says. -- in the courts.

traditionally, marriage has been decided by the state's theory of -- by the states. i understand there is a debate going on about allowing civil unions. new york is doing exactly what democracies are supposed to do during your -- to do. there is a debate about what it means to treat people fairly in the eyes of the law. but as the power of our democratic nation. ith the dinner party

and who -- the dinner table and even in office, slowly but surely, we find a way forward. gov of is how we will achieve change that -- that is how we will achieve change that is lasting. let me say that we would be able to pass a hate crime law. we got it done. good it brings us closer to the day when nobody will be afraid to walk down the street because they are gay or transgendered. there are those who said we could not end "don't ask, don't tell."

we pass the repeal. we got its don regan -- we got it done. we are no longer going to demand brave and patriotic americans live a lie to serve their country. he was discharged only to receive e-mails of letters from of soldiers saying if they had known he was gay all along and still thought he was the best man they ever had. that is how progresses' been one. it is one by ordinary people who are fighting for change and five

men and women who are setting an example in their own lives, serving overseas, even as they are not granted the full rights of citizenship that they are here at home. he told maine he was a scene -- he told me he was a senior in high school and was proud to serve as a captain on his team but he was gay. he was worried about being bullied. he did not think it was safe to openly be himself.

he closed his letter by saying, everyone else is considered equal in this country. why shouldn't we? yes, we have more work to do. yes, i expect continued patience, but understand this. it reminds me there should be impatience when it comes to basic equality very good -- to basic equality. we have made enormous advances, but there are still young people looking to do more, to help build a world in which they never have to feel afraid to be

themselves, and we've know how important to do everything in our power to ensure they are met. i am confident the future is bright for the teenager and that he can have life he imagines. there will be times when it may not be moving as fast as he would like, but i know is part of what it took to reach the day when every single american, a gay or straight, lesbian, or

transgendered was free to live and love us face see -- free to live and love us they want. they are fighting for what is right. not just change on behalf of gay americans but for everybody looking to fulfill their version of the american dream, whether it is students heading for college or workers corner and energy entrepreneurs, the small- business owners and inventors and builders, all those americans who face hardship and said starks but who never stopped believing in the clinton -- but who never stopped believing in our ability to

change. that is the story of progress in america. that is what you represent. of the stubborn refusal to observe anything less than the .est this country can bee with your help, if you will devote more time and energy to this campaign, i promise we will write another chapter in the story, and we will leave office next generation with a more bright and hopeful future, and i will be standing right there with you. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you.

[applause] ♪ the sun coming up over new york city ♪ the school bus driver in a traffic jam ♪ rearview at her window, looking at the promised land ♪ dreams of fame and fortune -- one hid dreams of fame and fortune ♪ ♪ one kid helps pay the ♪ssient president ♪ht be

♪ only in america red, white, and loblue ♪ ♪ only in america we all get a chance ♪ only in america ♪ som going down on the freeway ♪in the back of a limousine of bankers daughter ♪ everything ♪nt is >> c-span has launched a new

website for politics on the presidential race with the latest on the campaign trail, information on the candidates, the winter feed, and links to seize the media partners -- and links to c-span media partners. >> next "q&a" with a filmmaker and david cameron of the house of commons. after that, an interview with texas congressman ron paul. >> to dave booktv and american history tv look at -- today, booktv and american history tv look at georgia, including the childhood home of novelist and short story writer flannery o'connor. o'connor.