i think we have been going for well over an hour now. without any other questions, thank you offer coming. have a happy thanksgiving. back [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> coming up on c-span, campaign appearances in iowa from republican presidential candidates mitt romney and congressman ron paul. later, the political career and legacy of reverend jesse jackson. >> south dakota republican senator, john thune, endorsed mitt romney today at nationwide insurance in des moines, iowa. the candid it took questions. he was introduced by the

assistant vice president of a nationwide insurance. this is one hour. [applause] >> look at this crowd. this is amazing. good morning, everybody, and ross yes for being here. we have a packed house at are honored to have two distinguished guests. on behalf of nationwide, it is our honor to welcome mitt romney to the des moines offices. this is our headquarters. we are extremely proud to employ 4500 associates in iowa and recognize the big part they play. today's program is sponsored by the nationwide civic action program.

we are sponsoring since 1978. it is our goal to have all of the 2012 candidates visit us. today, we welcome governor mitt romney, who served as the 70th governor of massachusetts from 2003-dublin romney served as a ceo and co-founder of bane capital. he served as the president and ceo of the 2002 salt lake city olympic games organizing committee. he received his undergraduate degree from brigham young university and earned his master's from harvard law at harvard business school. he is the son of michigan governor, george romney, is married to his lovely wife and, and has five sons. please welcome governor mitt romney to a nationwide. -- to nationwide.

[applause] >> this is actually tom brady of the new england patriots. [laughter] you are going to hear from senator thune in just a moment. i wanted to say good morning to you and the governor. it is good to have you. [applause] bob, you indicated you are trying to get all of the provincial candidates here. i thought you were on my side. [laughter] i have some ties to this great organization. a good friend of mine who lived in boston for many years -- and i have lived in boston for many years -- was chief executive of this great company for a number of years and helped build nationwide into a nationally prominent and powerful insurer. he has told me about this great

organization and the people who work here. i am have been to be here with you today. a couple of things -- i know that this is. skimming and we should be talking about the things we are grateful for -- this is thanksgiving and we should be thankful -- talking about the things we are grateful for. i am proud of the innovative experience -- innovative spirit that makes us the envy of the world. i amatbefore my -- thankful for my family, my friends, and my faith. when i was a boy, my parents put me in a car and we drove a round to national parks. between the parts, my mother would read us -- read to us from a book called "man to match my mountain." she wanted us not only to fall in love with the landscape -- the mountains, canyons, rivers, trees -- she wanted us to fall in love with the whole concept

of america. the book talked about the men and women who crafted this country. the spirit of innovation and risk-taking. the name of the book was taken from a poem. i do not often quote points, but this was a good one written by a poet in the 1800's. he was describing the people who formed this country. he said "bring me men to match my mountains, give me men's to match my planes. men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brain. this will be the land where people from all over the world will want to come with empires in their purpose, empires of discovery, adoration, construction, building. pioneers. and we would change the world by virtue of the people of america who would be pursuing their own dreams not bound by the circumstances of their burden.

i am painful for america as we get ready to celebrate that special day. i am great -- i am grateful for america as we get ready to celebrate a special day. i am also aware of the challenges that we face. about three years ago we had a person campaigning for president who now is president. we did not know him terribly well. he did not have a record to look at, but he spoke eloquently about america and we gave them a chance. we have been disappointed. the president has not been able to bring the country together and on some of the most important issues we face in the world, he has simply withdrawn. most recently, the example would be what happened with the super committee in washington. we had in the balance two very important features and

consequences. on one side, we have the recognition that unless america finally learns how to rein in its excessive spending and borrowing, we are going to find ourselves facing a circumstance like italy or greece. there is no question that you cannot keep on spending an extra $1 trillion a year more than you take in without investors of the world saying they will stop lulling money to america at low interest -- stop will make money to america at low interest rates. when the interest rates skyrocket, america prize to a halt. people are out of work for a decade or longer. the consequence of us not learned to live within our means is severe. the consequence of not being able to solve that problem was exacerbated by the penalty for not solving it immediately. that penalty was a $600 billion cut to the department of defense. i do not think there is any

department of government that does not have waived in it, but i also did not believe that taking $600 billion out of our defense budget is a responsible thing to do in a world as the interest at our world is today. we have already taken out some $350 billion with the president's own cuts. leon panetta said taking out a total of $1 trillion would be a doomsday scenario. we would not be able to fulfil our military missions. with those two things at stake looking down the road at 8 grees tight situation or a gutting of our military, -- a greece-type situation or a gutting of our military, the president went on vacation. in my view, this is a time for america to get serious about our challenges. i will not go through all of them, but the big one as our

budget and our spending. people wonder how in the world -- if you are lucky enough to be elected president, would you be able to balance this budget? the answer is it is not impossible. if you do those things which are done in business every day. i spent my life and the public sector in business. you do not have the option of not balancing your budget. if you do not balance your budget, you go out of business, lose your job, lose your investments. you have to balance your budget. i took that scale from my business experience, which was 25 years of work, and went to the olympics in salt lake. we're able to turn them around and get their budget balanced. then i went to my state. we had a $3 billion budget gap. we were able to turn that around. how did we do it? number one, stopped doing some things you cannot afford.

stop some programs. eliminate them. cut them. stop them. some things you like and you cannot afford. some pains to do not like. those are the easy ones. number one on my list, obamacare. i will get rid of that on day one. [applause] but there are other things i like. i like the national endowment for the arts. it is a wonderful program. i like amtrak. i think it is great we have amtrak and the government subsidizes it. but you know what? every program i've looked at, i apply this test. is this program so critical and the subsidy so important that it is worth borrowing money from china to pay for it knowing that i will never pay it back, my generation will never pay it back, it will get passed on to my kids and theirs. programs like those i just described, i will eliminate them and expect them to stand on their own feet. that is one way of cutting back

the budget. there is another. there is a lot the federal government does that can be done better by private industry or bite states. programs like medicaid. that is the health care program for the poor in this country. i would take that program and the dollars in it and send it back to iowa for the people of iowa and let the people of the legislature here craft your own medicaid program to care for your own part report in the way you think is best. the poor in iowa is different from being poor in new york, mississippi, or montana. by the way, if we do that, if we give iowans their medicaid dollars and grow them every year, the savings that accrues to the federal budget is $100 billion a year. that is real money. [applause] now there is one more way that i

am going to mention to rein in excessive spending in washington. that is to make government itself more efficient. you might think, how do you do that? again, here you do that. you find ways to do better and better work servicing your customer in better and better ways for less and less cost. either you do that or you will be gone in 10 years as an enterprise. government goes the opposite way. i have to tell you a story you may find interesting. this is in the department of defense, which is one of our better run agencies. i was told this by secretary john lehman, secretary of the navy. he said that in the second world war, which commissioned 1000 chips a year and navy purchasing -- it was called the bureau of ships back then -- had 1000 personnel. by the time i became secretary of the navy under the reagan administration, we commissioned

as 17 ships a year, but may be purchasing had grown to 4000 people. he said today, we commissioned nine ships a year and may be purchasing -- 24,000 people. this is what happens with government. i will cut federal employment by 10% right off the bat. i will do that through attrition. something else -- i will link the compensation of federal employees to that which exists in the private sector, meaning the taxpayer should not have to pay more for the people they are supporting, the public servants, than they are getting paid themselves in their own wages and benefits. [applause] i will get $500 billion a year out of the federal budget and take the federal apatite from 25% of our economy -- appetite from 25% to accompany -- of our

economy, to 20% of our economy. we will have a balanced budget amendment. it is essential for america to have the kind of economic strength that allows us to preserve the freedoms that make america america. i love this country. i love what this country stands for. i love the freedoms we enjoy. i see this as a critical time. i am in this race not because it is the next up on my political career -- i do not have a political career. i was only governor four years. i am still a business guy. i am of this country. i am in this race to make america stronger and make sure the next generation a joyous thanksgiving after thanksgiving in the nation that is free, that sees the world becoming more free and more poppers -- more prosperous. our combination of freedoms is the only solution for poverty in

the world and the answer for peace in the world. american strength is the greatest ally pea's has ever known. i am proud to be with you today. i salute you and what you do. what you are doing allow our economy to grow. that allows us to care for one another with the revenues and taxes that you pay. i love the private sector. some people do not like the private sector. i do. i want to encourage you to recognize our days in the future will be even brighter than the past. this is a great nation with great prospects as long as we have leaders that will tell the truth, live with integrity, and know how to make our economy work. i do and i will with your help. thank you so much. [applause] one more thing, about a year and

a half ago, i was sitting down with a number of my political friends who were giving me advice. i said who do you think will be the toughest competitor i will face if i run for the dead? the number one answer came about some senator from south dakota that i had never met. he is here with me today. i am lucky it did not run and i am glad he was willing to be with me today. please welcome the senator just to your north, a great friend of iowa and our nation, senator john thune. [applause] >> it is great to be here with you today in the heartland of america to endorse your candidacy for presidency of the united states. by the way, i am happy that you would accept my endorsement with congressional approval ratings at 9% in some polls. i thought that you might decide

-- i had this conversation with him about whether or not to endorse me. i guess i should guess said i will come out for you or against you, whatever helps the most. i am glad you accept my endorsement and i appreciate the chance to be in iowa. we share not obey a border, but we share a lot of the same ethics, values, a common heritage. my grandmother was born in iowa back in 1893 and moved to south dakota when she was 12-years old. in this part of the country, we understand important things like you cannot spend money you do not have, you have to live within your means. those are the sorts of ways that characterize the heartland. i also appreciate the important role you play in our political process. we have observed from south dakota the iowa caucuses. i know how seriously you take the responsibility that you have

as the first in the nation to start this political process to make sure you do this job well. i want to thank you for the important role you play and i hope this year you will recognize it is critically important that we nominate the right person to be on the ballot next year. less than one year away, the people of this country are going to have a major election. it is an election with huge stakes and historic consequences. three years ago, we had an election. the people of this country voted for hope and change. i can think now that we have had an assessment of the past three years, it is pretty clear that has not worked out so well. to be fair, president obama inherited a difficult set of economic circumstances, but the fact of the matter is is policies have made those

circumstances much much worse. today there are more than 2 million more unemployed people in this country. we have seen the debt skyrocket. it is up over 40% over what it was when he came to office. fuel prices are up 85%. health care costs, contrary to the assertions about -- contrary to the assertions of obamacare, are up. the number of people on food stamps as up 43%. the only thing that's gone down is the value of your house. that is an economic record. the obama economy is one that has been really harmful to jobs in this country and as a result of that, we have chronic unemployment and massive debt. we are in a deep hole and it will take the right kind of leader to get us out of that hole. that is why it is so important that we nominate somebody that can go into that campaign toe-

to-toe, face-off with the spread of that, and talk about a different vision for the future of this country. what impresses me about mitt romney -- he is a guy who has turned failing things around. in business, he turned failing companies around. he turned the olympics around. he turned the state of massachusetts around. we need somebody to turn this country around and put it on a more sustainable path that will build a brighter future for more generations of america. [applause] you think about what has to be done. this current administration sat on a course of growing government of more spending, higher taxes, more debt, job- killing regulations, and as a consequence, it has become more expensive and more difficult to do business in this country. we need a business -- need a president who will reverse that course, who understands we need to cut the size of government,

to make the federal economy smaller and the private economy larger. who will do what it takes to reform our tax code to make it more simple, more clear, more fair, to do away with loopholes. somebody who will develop a domestic energy resources to get us away from that dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy. somebody who will and job killing regulations and will get the economy growing again and put people back to work. the person, in my view, who is best qualified to do this, who has the skill-set and experience to get the job done for the american people is mitt romney. that is why i am here today on the day before thanksgiving to lend my support, for whatever at its worst -- what is worth. what really matters is what the people of i would think. the people who will go out to both caucuses in -- in a few

weeks and make a decision about the person we want to top the ballot. we have a very clear choice, ladies and gentlemen. we are at a historic crossroads. we will either choose a path which is the one we are on right now -- more government, or spending, higher taxes, more debt, and a slippery slope on the pathway to european socialism -- or what we know well -- or we will adhere to what i think has been the historic vote of the country -- more economic freedom, strong national security -- the types of things that mitt romney will take to office as our next president. i am delighted to be in iowa today to a bank you again for the important role you play in this process -- to cross again bore the important role to play in this process. -- to thank you again for the

important role you play in this process. thank you very much for the chance to be with you today. [applause] >> thank you, senator. now we get a chance to let you ask some questions either to me or the senator. think about what you might like to ask. i would like you to produce a play in the caucasus. my guess is that less than half of you have participated in a caucus, maybe yes. wrong. i will not do a show of hands. i do not want to embarrass anybody. not everybody participates in caucuses, but it would be great if everybody in this corporation said, you know what? i am board to take some time out and go to the caucuses and vote

for the person of my choice. because of the significance of the selection of our nominee this year. we know the democratic nominee. we have a pretty good idea where he is leading the country or where he is not leading the country, depending on how you want to frame it. we have among republicans a pretty wide array of backgrounds, experience, and visions for the country. iowa has the first and, in some respects, the most powerful voice. whether that is me or someone else, you all could decide who it is. to be. by virtue of the scale of this process, there are not a lot of people who make this determination. i would like you to think about that and, hopefully, take the occasion to go to the caucuses because the country counts on you. it is a responsibility that has been given to iowa for some decades and now. we need you to think about it

with some seriousness. with that in mind, you can ask me some questions that may help you make up your mind whether i am the guy to support or whether it is someone else. i can give you some other names of people on the ballot if you would like to throw your vote to them. [applause] just kidding. yes, sir? here comes the microphone. >> what is the biggest obstacle you are facing in order to get rid of existing precedent? it has been difficult in u.s. history to take care of an incumbent president and when election. i want to say what magic tricks you have in your hat. >> a good question. i liked your euphemisms about how you would replace the incumbent and so forth.

how we will beat president obama is by speaking day in and day out by -- about one topic he does not want to talk about, and that is the economy. he does not want to discuss what has happened to the economy under his watch. excuse me. people talk about every other topic he can pick up. if i am the nominee, he will try to take me apart. one of his advisers said that their objective is to kill mitt romney. that was not very exciting at my house. it would be to try to demonize who ever our nominee is. what republicans of done in the past, george bush, what ever they can come up with. if we allow ourselves to go down that sinkhole, who knows what will happen? but if, instead, we say, mr. president, you have been the and, for four years.

by the way, you had a democratic house and democratic senate -- a super majority in each house. you pretty much had full grade. for the first two years, you had your way with the economy. you pass the stimulus. borrowed $787 billion. with that money you could hold unemployment below 8%. it has not been below 8% since. that message -- it is no secret. if i had a secret plan, i would not tell you, but the secret is my plan is out in the open -- talk about the economy day in and day out. the recent i am the guy to take the republican banner because i understand the economy. it is in my will house. this is not something i need to get briefed on by timothy geithner. i have spent my life in the economy. i worked as a consultant to

different companies, helping them do better jobs, and then began a business of my own and lard from that experience. i helped run the olympics. we invested in about 100 different businesses, a wide array, from high-tech to low- tech, manufacturing. we even started a steel rail. i understand the economy. when i am posting up against barack obama in those debates and we are talking about the economy, i will speak with credibility. i would describe why what it is he did make it hard for this economy to get free booted. i actually think he is a nice guy. i did think he is out of this league and does not understand what it takes to lead and get the economy going again. there is the secret. pass it along to the dnc 7 know it is coming. -- so they know it is coming.

>> thank you for being here, governor. with the economic uncertainty, and to give any assurances that your administration would not change the rules and taxation on what people save for retirement and their families? >> i would change one very important role for families and that is for 98% of americans, for people earning $200,000 or so a year and last, i would say you should be able to save your money tax-free. no tax on interest, dividends, or capital gains. [applause] the reason for that is middle income americans are the ones who been most hurt by the obama economy and i want to help middle-income americans. i like more capital be available in our system in start-ups, expansions, and so forth. i also liked the idea of

families saving and looking at the enterprise is they have invested in and thinking about their success so they pull together. one of the most disappointing aspect of the presidency -- of this president's presidency is that he has resorted to divisiveness, trying to divide america, with a populist message to make himself "we verses' them." that approach has been an old standby in places around the world, but not in this country. in this country we come together in times of crisis. this divisiveness is wrong. by all of us coming together and building the enterprises do our savings, that is something that will make a big difference for us. i would like to see, as senator thune said, i would like to see us have a simpler tax code that is not as complex.

by the way, getting rid of the capital gains, dividends, and interest tax simplifies it a lot. in view of mutual funds and try to sell them, you know how complicated the taxing can be. i want to find a way to simplify our tax code. there are a lot of ideas out there. there are pros and cons associated with each. senator? >> thanks, governor. i wish the super committee would have been able to do something in the area of tax reform. absent that, it will have to be done. governor romney has talked about things he would like to see in a tax code or tax reform effort. my own view is that we could unleash so much economic growth of this country by reforming our tax code, by lowering rates, and making it more simple, clear, and fair for the american people.

we cannot solve all of our fiscal problems simply by cutting spending. we also have to get the economy growing. in my view, there is nothing that would help the economy grow more than getting rid of a lot of the embedded cost we have in our tax code today that are a huge burden on job creators around the country. i look forward to working with you, governor, as the next president in the congress to pass a tax reform that will unleash economic reform in this country and get people back to work. >> thank you. next question. yes? it will probably turn automatically if you start to speak. >> thank you for making your plan available on kindle for free. you plan to eliminate the estate tax, were the corporate tax -- lower the corporate tax.

you want to keep the marginal rates at the current level. that sounds to me like it is not helping the middle class. it is not putting any money in my pocket. and you want to keep the bush tax cuts. how is that helping the middle class? >> i am not looking to put money in people's pockets. that is the other party. i do not want you to have to pay more to government. i am not looking to try to reduce the tax burden, the share of the tax burden paid by the top 1%. my intent and my passion is not saying how can i it bore the burden paid by the wealthiest. -- how can i lower the burden paid by the wealthiest. instead, how can i get relief to middle income americans? one way is to lower the rates, as the senator just indicated, but also come out for me, it is saying this zero-tax on

dividends and capital gains only apply to upper income -- middle income americans. it is for those making two with a thousand dollars a year or less. -- two of the thousand dollars a year or less. i would like to -- $200,000 a year or less. i will make sure the top one percent side do not get a huge tax break while the middle and come get a huge tax increase. that is the problem i saw with the flat tax and fair tax. they have principles that sound good. but in calculating the numbers, what they did was bring a big tax break to the highest and come people at a little increase for middle income families and i am not willing to do that. i want to have a tax policy that makes the load lighter on middle income americans, those were

hurt -- those most hurt by the policies of the last three years. thank you. i thought you were raising your hand. this is water. water helps my voice, but not my brain. hands back there. go ahead. >> what single thing sets you apart from your republican competition? >> the most extraordinary wife in the world. [applause] the people who are applauding know anne. i was a senior in high school when i went to a party at stu white's house. i look across the room and a certain sophomore caught my eye. she had come with another guy. i went up to him and said i live closer than you do, can i give

her a ride home for you? [laughter] his mistake. i gave her a ride home and actually kissed her goodnight. we have been going steady ever since. she is a person that i am in love with and who keeps me on the rails. she is a fighter. she was diagnosed about 12 years ago or so with ms. she has no physical impairment from it by virtue of many things -- great medicine, faith, prayer, exercise, and all the things she does to say -- to stay healthy. she was diagnosed with breast cancer. she had a lump removed and has battled back from that. she is a fighter and mike he wrote. if there is any one thing that distinguishes me from everyone else is that person i share my what -- i share my life with. in terms of background, the item

i mentioned in my response to the first question was that having spent my life in business and being a conservative businessman gives me an understanding of how the economy works in the sense of how you create jobs and have you compete around the world. i get a lot of grief in some circles for being as tough as i am on china, but i competed in businesses with companies around the world and understand that if people did not play by the rules, they can and up winning despite the fact that they are not the superior competitor. i understand the impact of rules and trade policies. it is not an academic issue for me. i will not surround myself with academic and political people as the credit has. i want some business people there who have experience working in the real economy.

that is what is most unusual about me as a candidate. i have applied my business experience in government for four years. you can see a record. balanced the budget every year for four years. but away a ready date fund. help of our schools in massachusetts. -- help our schools in massachusetts. it used to be iowa's honor, but now massachusetts is number-one in the nation. you can book that might record as a governor, but also can see 25 years in business and the olympics. i mention something else -- by the way, different candidates have different backgrounds. that still is combined with a deep and abiding passion for this country and a recognition

that we have to have someone go to washington who does not care about getting reelected, who instead cares very deeply about getting american right again. and i do. thank you. [applause] i will take one more question. anything else? yes? >> hello. i am tired of name calling and i am tired of people blaming everybody. [applause] i just want to know what actions are you going to take to actually get stuff done. you have lots of ideas. what are you going to do to get it done? >> i have great experience and i consider it an enormous disadvantage. i complained about this to my family and a few friends that might legislature was not of my party. i was elected to a state where

might legislature was 85% democrat. i thought my life would have been a lot better if it would have been 85% republican. it was a good thing that i had an opposition party like that. it taught me something about leadership in a setting where you have to work on the basis of consensus, respect, conviction, and looking for common ground. i came into office and recognize i would get nothing done unless the speaker of the house and the senate president and their colleagues respect me, work with me, and can work collaboratively. shortly after becoming elected, i went to the state house and went to the office of the senate president and said i what to what -- i want to work with you. i sat down and met with the chair people of the committees and ask them what they wanted to accomplish. i said i look forward to working together. every monday we spent at least

an hour and typically more meeting in offices. we rotated. we have the leadership, republican and democrat, talk about the challenges of the state faced. this was not partisan. i remember on one occasion we were talking about a piece of legislation we all agreed was not very good, but it was very important to the political base of the democratic party. one of the leaders said, "we do not want to pass that, but you have to give us more cover not to do it. you have to make more noise on this." we were behind the scenes. there was one occasion when the city of springfield was on the verge of bankruptcy. i went to them and said, look. i would like you guys to give me, the governor, power to take over the city of springfield and

put in place a control board to put it back on the rails. they give me that our. in the first month i was in office, we found out we were in financial distress. we might not be able to meet our bills, so i went to the legislature and said i would like you to give me unilateral power to cut the budget. there were some things i could do, but i wanted more power to cut parts of the budget by myself without the legislature's approval. we had enough personal report and respect for each other that they passed a bill like that. i went through and cut spending. we have to return to a time in washington where republicans and democrats are able to work with each other. i will respect people across the aisle. democrats love america, too. even though we have differing views on issues, we can find common ground. i was very touched. yet today i had the chance to

meet with senator bob dole, a true american hero. he said that when he was in the hospital in battle creek, mich., there were two other people with him that became well known in government. one was senator phil hart, a big democrat. he had been injured -- injured in the arm. the other was senator daniel in a woye. they did not have as serious an injury as bob dole had. he would go round to do the chores for help people -- change the bedpans. you had in the senate people who had been in the hospital together and had served this country, injured, and were caring for one another. the respect that engenders.

i hope that i will be able to build in my relationships in washington the kind of personal respect across the aisle that will draw good democrats and good republicans to recognize that it is the country we are dealing with. this is not a question of which party gets its way, it is can we fix america before we get into severe distress? can we make sure that our kids and have confidence that the future is brighter than the past? are we going to pass on trillions of dollars of our debt to our kids? this is what is at stake. there are good democrats and good republicans who, if they are led by someone who will tell them the truth and work with respect and draw on the american people and their patriotism, that we can finally deal with this thing. i did not think the super committee had much of a shot. i hoped it did.

you heard about herding cats? they put all the cats in the room and could not herd them. the president chose not to participate. i will participate. you'll see legislators in my office like ronald reagan with tip o'neill having lunch together. i will be actively involved. i cannot guarantee that i will be able to accomplish all i want to do, but i will guarantee that i will do everything in my power to keep america strong and great. right. -- thank you. [applause] >> we have 535 members of congress, but only one private. one person who consign something into law, one person who can provide the leadership to step the vision and tone for this country. what is missing in america today when it comes to solving

these problems. the reason i believe mitt romney is the right guy for the job is because he has proven he can solve problems. we need somebody who can fix things, the king get us back on the right track. the super committee was a good example. we had an opportunity to solve some big problems, but there was no presidential leadership. the president was missing in action at the most critical time. nowhere to be found. several weeks ago he said he would veto any bill but did not have tax increases in it. he laid down the marker for the democrats on the super committee to go for lots of tax increases. but when it came to the end stages when the negotiations should have been under way to solve this budget and that problem, the president was not there. we need leadership. the 535 members of congress -- a

lot of people run this country are hungry for it and looking for it. that is what i think mitt romney will provide for this country. [applause] >> thank you, senator. i am going to let you go back to work. i have been telling a number of people and experience i had a few weeks ago i was in great britain and had the chance to meet some pretty impressive people. former prime minister tony clare -- tony blair, current prime minister david cameron, the head of mi5 and mi6 -- i now know the difference -- very impressive people and very thoughtful observations about global affairs and america's role. one of them said this -- if you are lucky enough to be elected

president of the united states, you will undoubtedly travel to foreign capitals and you will hear a rehearsal of, perhaps, things america has done wrong in the minds of the people you are speaking with, but do not ever forget this. what we all fear the most is a week america. -- weak america. the world needs a strong america with strong values, with a strong economy that can provide for a strong military, a nation that can assert its convictions that freedom is indeed a gift of god. we need a strong america. a strong america is the best out like these as ever known. this is not a time for us to be wobbly about the principles that make america america. our principles work.

i believe our effort has to be focused on ensuring that our leadership of this critical time is able to keep america strong in our values, our homes, our economy, and our military. i want to thank you for the participation you will have a in this process, the attention you have paid today, and the attention you are going to pay in the coming weeks. it is coming soon. we need you to get out there and vote. in massachusetts we would say vote early and often, but this is not massachusetts. your boat makes a real difference and i appreciate your commitment. -- your vote makes a real difference and i appreciate your commitment. thank you so much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> thank you so much. right here would be great. >> old friends. thank you so much. it is great to see you again. your grandson. what is your name? nathan. are you a freshman? that is great. how are you? >> thank you for coming. "thank you for being here today. i appreciate it very much.

how are you? thank you for coming. how are you today? it is good to be here in iowa. are you together? thanks for being here. hi. how are you? agribusiness, huh? "you should make a strong statement about farmers. i think the would help out. >> good to see you.

how are you? are you brothers, really? good to see you. how are you today? thanks for coming today. thank you. i may need some of that, you know that? appreciate your being here today. is this an optional day, or is it a normal work day? do you get out at noon, or is it a full day to day? >> at the fateful day. we may get out early. what do you have friday off as well, or just a third day? thursday and friday. how are you. it is nice to meet you.

i want to make this the best place. thank you. nice to see you. how are you? nice to meet you. thanks for being here. thank you. good to see you. take you for being here. what may decide that? -- want me to sign that? >> thank you so much for coming

here. >> how are you? it is good to see you. terrific. thank you. do you have a camera? come on in here. 1, 2, 3. tell all your friends to come to the caucus. thank you. got your camera? that one will work. thank you. you, too. >> thank you for coming. >> if it is good to be here today. how are you doing? quite good. we are working hard. i am from farmington, utah. my daughter lives here. what you came here for thanksgiving?

wonderful. tell her,hi. nice to see you. you are very kind. appreciate it. thank you. >> following this campaign event, mitt romney took questions from reporters about immigration and a recent campaign ad. >> we have had the opportunity to watch the caucus process here over a lot of years and even for dissipated on behalf of various -- even participated on behalf of various candidates.

i wanted to get out and support governor romney prior to the time the caucus. i think he is the right person at the right time for this country. he is uniquely qualified to deal with the challenges the country faces today. his experience and skills that will enable him to come into this job and take of the big challenges we face. they are many. the number one issue of the minds of most americans is the economy and jobs. the elder romney as a proven record of creating jobs, doing it in the private sector. turning around the state of massachusetts, is turning around failing companies, turning around the olympics. we need to turn the country arrau get its on a path that belize -- turn the country around and give its on a path.

supporting someone who will go in and reduce the size of government, reform government, keep taxes low on job creators, and all of these job-killing regulations that have become so prolific from this administration -- those are qualities i believe he brings a as a candidate for this job and the reason i believe he will not only be the republican nominee for president, but the next president of the united states. >> thank you. with that introduction, we will take any questions you might have. >> on meet the press, you said people who come to the country illegally may be able to stay. that seems different from what you would -- from what you had said. >> i said that those people who come to the country illegally should not have a special pathway that is preferable to those who stand in line in their

home countries. they should not have a special preference with regard to becoming a permanent resident or citizen. that is my view. by the time this campaign is all finished, we will have an extensive immigration reform plan. people who come here illegally should not have a special pathway to become permanent residents or citizens of this country. they should be in line or at the back of the line with other people who want to come here legally. >> speaker gingrich said "last by rigid >> i know there will be great interest in finding out how hard we can apply amnesty. i think we make a mistake at the republican party to try to describe which people should be given amnesty. my view is that those people

who of waited in line patiently to come to this country legally should be ahead in line. those who come illegally should not be given daschle, accelerated right to become a permanent resident or sit -- not be given an accelerated right to become a permanent resident or citizen. how about 10 years of? 12 years? how many children do you have to have to apply this principle? the gingrich did not describe that. are we going to spend our time talking about amnesty? speaker gingrich voted for amnesty in the past and said it was a mistake. i believe he said that was a mistake and the past. i do not know if that is in the case. he voted for it in the past and offered a new door way to end of the lot by. last night i said it with the wrong course for republican debate. we should be talking about enforcing the laws in making

sure those who come here legally and apply legally are the ones at the front of the line. >> did you take the press that out of context with the new hampshire ad? >> if describe what the president had said about john mccain. >> there was no hidden effort on the part of our campaign. it was instead to point out that the goose is now the gander. he spoke about the economy being a huge burden for john mccain. guess what, it is now your turn. the same lines will be used on you, that this economy will be your albatross. the president's campaign, we got under their skin. the last thing that they want to be doing is talking about the economy. we will take it to them day and day out.

>> especially religious conservatives are thinking that you are to average to be the candidate. what is your tactic to get more support from those kinds of people? >> of the great thing about having the chance to write a book as a did a couple of years ago is that it lays out by positions on the issues i feel very deeply about. if they think i am the right person to lead their party, i will get the vote. if they don't, i will not get their vote. and people can choose whoever they want, and my position on issues is pretty well known at this stage. >> what is your next time back in iowa? >> i don't know, i go where i am told to go.

>> presidential candidate ron paul was also an iowa recently to talk to the staff of the demo and register. the newspaper has invited each of the presidential candidates to meet with the editorial board and reporters covering the campaign. this is an hour. gotten good morning, i am editor and vice president of news for the demo and register. here with us is ron paul, representatives from the fourteenth district of texas. the congressman is a candidate for the republican party nomination for the presidency of the united states. it is a pleasure to have you with us today. we want to give you a couple moments, where you are with the campaign. we will start asking you questions right after that.

>> my campaign has been going on for a long time. campaigning in the early 70's for liberty. i want the rule of law and the constitution. i got involved in politics inadvertently because it was a place where i could express myself. the on those issues have been very important to me and there has been a tremendous change in the country, and in the interests of what i have been doing since the 1970's. the financial crisis we're suffering from now, it is very appropriate that i continue this effort, and especially in this campaign because the whole country is looking for a new direction. not only is it different from the 1970's, it is a difference -- is different from 1994. the big change in attitude that reflects upon how our campaign

has been the financial crisis which has been recognized now by just about everybody from 2008, the collapse of the financial system that we are in the middle of. it is very serious. i think the people in washington that i know, whether is the administration and congress are just frown -- the floundering. the views i expressed aren't actually the most popular in washington, but the last four years, the interest has just exploded. take, for instance, the subject of monetary policy. we who have fallen -- and follow the austrian school of economics, as far back as 1912, writing about this and why you have booms and busts, it has

been totally ignored for another school of thought. we believe that is what is happening right now. that has been around, and now a lot of people are looking because the usual answer is, you have a little recession, you spend more money, you print more money, you borrow that more money, congress spends a little bit more money and you can snap back to a degree not realizing all you have done is passed the leak in the bubble. and delayed the inevitable. the inevitable is now here. there is no patching up the bubble. the so-called success of those that believe differently than we do allow the bubble to get bigger than ever. we have a worldwide bubble better than the history of the world, and now we are facing in. this has allowed the popularity of the views i have been working on to be much more acceptable

because of the failure. when i leave washington, when i come to iowa and go to the university campuses and talk to young people, and the last couple visits, and they have been slightly different. in the middle of the day, rightly so, we have a lot of people at retirement age. when they are very open to what i am talking about. it is sort of the condition of the country, the need for change and the open message that people have now from different viewpoints. with our foreign policy, civil liberties, and economic problems. in that sense, i am very encouraged and it reflects on our campaign. it is easy to raise money and get supporters.

our advertisements have been fantastic. we are getting a lot of attention, and the volunteers are there. what we have done is something that i don't watch from day to day. and to get people, give them a little incentive and a little explanation of what our goals are. for that reason, i have become very optimistic in the political sense of what we are doing. i also know that if we continue to do what we do in washington and we don't change our ways, i am very much a pessimist. long term, i think we will turn this around the country will be better off for it. >> we will talk about the economy and getting the economic house back in order. you introduced a bill in 1973 -- in 2001 to repeal the 1973

war powers resolution to president clinton for some of his contacts during because of a war. you voted against the iraqi war resolution. he supported the withdrawal of the united nations and nato, are u.s. isolationist? >> note. >> talk a bit about your foreign policy. gosh people that tend to be a more isolationist and me are the people that criticize me for being isolationist. they tend to think more internationalist deck. if you are involved in nato and the un and we need a presence in 150 countries and 900 bases, they are the ones that of the most anxious to put on tariffs and restrict trade and do what isolationists to do. they become mercantile lists. they're the ones that promotes trade barriers on cuba. how long do we have to have

trade barriers on cuba? i want to make use of our 12,000 and diplomats, talk to people, try to work out problems, and be more engaged in the world. and use military force and violence as a last resort, and do it properly under the constitution and not allow a president to do it on his own or to do it under authority from the united nations or nato. i see myself as the phrase trader in the congress, and i am an internationalist in the sense that it will be voluntary. you have much more diplomacy with people. it follows the constitution, it follows the strong advice of our founding fathers, that we shouldn't be engaged in nation building. as a matter of fact, it was really george bush's policy of

the year 2000 when he said that we should not be arrogant, they will not like us if we are air again. he was criticizing the democrats. too often, both sides say that they are for less war. and yet, they end up doing more. as far as being isolationist, i think an isolationist is somebody that wants to wove themselves off. you can hear it in the own -- in our own campaigns on this side. blame china for everything, punish china. i don't want to do that. i am not the isolationist. they are the isolationists. i think they are making a lot of mistakes. >> you support wars with clear missions. the wars that we have been engaged in, what about --

>> world war two. the japanese bombed us and it is a good example of how it works. the president didn't go to war without coming to congress, the people knew about it, we made the declaration of war and everybody got behind it. in four years, we won. today, because it is nebulous and we don't know who the enemy is, we go to war not against the government's, but we go to war against a group of people that are causing trouble, and we go into nation-building, and we go to war with false information, some people call lies. in iraq, no al qaeda there or weapons of mass destruction. if you add men lost, we lost

8500 people during these wars. we have not had any real victories. 40,000 people come back seriously wounded the filling of the veterans' hospitals. we have hundreds of thousands begging for help, there is an epidemic of suicide from people who have returned. a young veteran told me that he was so upset because he was upset to see his buddies killed over there and he figured out, what am i doing over here. i see some of my friends committing suicide because their mind is all twisted up. to me, this makes no sense whatsoever and is completely different from declaring war when someone attacks us. >> have there been any examples since world war two?

>> absolutely not. it was botched, it was wrong, we are still suffering the consequences. $4 trillion was added to the national debt for this. no, they were off zero unconstitutional, which is why address at the war powers resolution. it was a reaction to vietnam and was meant, the intention was to restrain the president from doing this. so often what happens in washington, when you see an opportunity, there is a problem. what they do make things worse. it legalized war for 90 days, and once you are in war for 90 days, it is pretty hard to come back out of it. get permission before you go win. the president's dislike it because they think they are restrained too much.

but we object to it because we think they get too much license and we believe the constitution is quite adequate on going to war. >> roosevelt had to do some fudging early in world war two before congress -- >> that type of maneuvering. >> would you have opposed what he did? >> absolutely. if the policies are not well informed and they cause trouble, it is difficult. i mentioned that the foreign policy stimulates the hatred toward us. once 9/11 occurs, you can say, people in the past messed up so we don't care about this. you can't do that. but if you don't learn a lesson from it and change the policy -- as a matter of fact, to great

examples of where ronald wyden as well as robin -- robert mcnamara. it was sort of the confession about mistakes and he wasn't feeling good. he was getting pretty old and he was asked by a reporter, does that mean you want to apologize for vietnam? he said, what good as an apology? if you don't learn something from this and change your policy, it means nothing. ronald reagan did something very similar when he sent the marines to lebanon on. i was in congress and spoke out strongly against that. reagan said, i will never turn tail and leave, tough. he goes in there, we occupy, it stimulates the incentive to use a suicide terrorism. the israelis were there, the french were there, and three

others. suicide terrorism was going on. he lost 241 marines, and the marines came home. he did exactly what he said he wouldn't do. is that i know i said that, but i changed my mind because i didn't realize our rational the politics was of that region. we should have been more neutral. if we have followed a position of neutrality, those marines would be alive today. those are powerful messages that we should pay attention to. these are people that pushed these policies. we have to learn our lessons from this. so, yes, some of the things that we did prior to world war two, history shows it wasn't the best thing for us. if we were motivated and gave incentive for people to attack us, it is probably more true with japan than with germany,

but once you are at war, you have to win. and then, it is a lot harder. have an descent during world war two like you had that vietnam. today it is not so bad, but does a lot of anti-war sentiment. people want to get home from afghanistan. we are not winning the war, and there is no end in sight. we are expanding these wars. that is really a strong issue going on. when i talk to the elderly people, i have a plan where i can take care of the elderly that have become dependent by cutting spending massively elsewhere. if we do nothing, you will get nothing because you'll get printed money and it won't be worth anything. i say cut this money overseas

and they are with me on that. the military is with me, the young people are with me, the majority of americans are with me. the policies are one party, it is the same thing over and over again and no matter what they talk about. presence around the world continues and expands. it is done in a moralistic way. we have the imperative to spread goodness around the world, and we have this obligation to do it. i consider that a very serious mistake. if you want to be an exceptional nation, i think what we should do is set a good standard, have peace and prosperity, of the that everybody around the world. and what failed for more than 10 years, killing between a million vietnamese, and we have peace

and they are westernize. we didn't have to fight the soviets or the chinese. we worked out a deal at the height of the cold war when they had missiles in cuba. the month i was drafted, i remember it well. this idea that we can't talk to people, think of the ridicule heaped on an individual like myself for saying, maybe we ought to talk to people before we start bombing them. and that is what we should do. and people say no, you can't talk to them. if you can talk, we as a country can talk to the murdering communists of china and the soviets that killed hundreds of millions of people at work out a deal, can't we talk to somebody who doesn't even have a nuclear weapon? and try to work it out? why should we be so anxious to resort to war and the secret

prisons and torture and assassinations? it makes me rather sad to see this being accepted as a good american and patriotic. i have a strong disagreement with those sentiments. >> and bring the troops home will not be enough to solve the financial problems, what do we need to do beyond what the super committee is deadlocked over? >> of the cold war and did -- and then the military more streamlined.

you want to cut spending -- almost everything goes back to 2006 budget. there are a lot of cuts, overseas spending, we call of foreign expenditures. foreign-aid itself as a small part of that. it is a different attitude. foreign expenditures is a couple hundred billion, and that -- >> does it include military spending? >> there is a lot in the military. that is where the dilemma is in washington. republicans are known, they would be hysterical if you cut a nickel. but the democrats and not willing to cut it either.

obama once more money. the secretary wants more money for this stuff. who did that? [laughter] i am wanting to bring the troops home. the president is putting troops in australia because he is afraid china is going to attack us. it doesn't make any sense. we don't have any money. if we want to preserve enough funding to take care of the children that are dependent and the elderly dependent on medicare and social security, a narrow group of people i want to protect, because we condition them to be so dependent, everything is up for grabs. a budget sometimes can be thousands of pages long. ours is more generalized. >> if you preserved those programs to protect those

groups, the elderly, then you haven't got $1 trillion out of the budget. >> i do. we do cut enough. it wasn't easy. i wanted to balance the budget in one year, and i think your concerns or your point is that this was really tough. it was tough for me to do it, and we have some transition accounts for educational programs and some of these medical programs, something like if you get rid of the department of energy and the controlled nuclear power. we do, with $1 trillion. there is the reduction back to the 2006 budget. >> what about projected deficits? >> of the only thing that counts is the first year. we go three years, because by our projections, we would be at a balanced budget that would

take care of the other 600. we don't push this, but the truth is, if we gave reassurance and did everything right, business would boom. we would have low taxes, less regulations, we bring capital back into this country. we wouldn't be putting money into bonds, there wouldn't be an increase in the standard of living. it would be very encouraging because there be a lot of the regulations, and the businessman might decide to come back here and spend money here. there is no incentive right now. business people can do it easier in china than they can hear. i have one businessmen tell me that it took him three weeks in china and would have taken him three years here to get the permits taken care of. >> and do you want to turn the

united states and to china where you read about the quality of the era and this of the urban areas there, the pollution? part of the lack of regulatory involvement in china is that we don't care. >> it is true, is not getting worse. they are doing some, but it is still a big problem. you don't want to, but if you have a free-market economy, it is not going happen. nobody has the right to pollute. they will have the right to pollute and they would have to not to pollute the air. i would say that we can do it, we can be competitive, but if we

don't do it and we allow all the jobs to overseas, it will be devastating. that is what has happened. somebody makes money overseas and we charge them 35% corporate tax and. their job is to be productive. that is what they are and business for. to make money. it is what markets are for. if we change the conditions, you don't have to give up on environmental controls and it will be done differently. the understanding of property rights ha, again, it was the partnership of big government and big business. i lived in pittsburgh. the sooners were put into rivers and the air was permitted -- polluted by permission of the court. to divert to clean up without the epa.

it is not like any 10,000 bureaucrats from washington to come out of pittsburgh and tell them what to do. they decided it was filthy and they cleaned up their act. >> to an earlier point, if you support diplomacy, why do you oppose membership in the united nations? >> because it is a loss of sovereignty. the first thing that the united nations did was put us into a war that was undeclared. it went in under un resolution, congress didn't vote for it and the people didn't care about it. we went in and 40,000 americans were killed. declare that war. >> it was a un resolution. they gave us the authority to go there and the truman accepted it. it didn't come from congress. i would say it is the loss of

sovereignty. the president of wanted it and did not come to congress. he said that we are going, made of give us the resolution. we went to afghanistan under nato. it is giving up national sovereignty. we need to pay more and arrests and it is not a good investment. the money should be spending here at home. and >> the model of an international peace organization that you would support? >> the organization is this there for somebody to get control over it and they fight over control. to be controlling the organization? so far, we have a lot of control because we have a lot of the money. but orchestrating it doesn't give us more peace, it just means that they become tools of the foreign policy. if you don't have another

government player, it doesn't mean that you don't want to use diplomacy and talked to people. it wasn't the un that saved us from the nuclear clash in october 1962. it had to do with common sense between two leaders that did not want to blow up the world, and fortunately, it worked out. >> you criticize using moral imperative as a rationale for going to war. is there any reason whatsoever that you would, and the condition under which he would use a moral imperative for going to war, or would you go to war only if the united states were attacked. >> of the constitution is very clear. the moral responsibility of defending people of this country and to obey the law. the moral imperative is not that somebody needs us and you can draft somebody else's kids, take your money, and say that we are

going to make it a better place. that was the motivation -- they had this moral imperative that was well-intentioned, but it ended badly. world war one was a moral imperative, making the world safe for democracy. but the world is not a greater democracy. the moral imperative is to give them a democratic government. at the same time, we're the best of friends with the dictators of saudi arabia and the other dictators we supported, like we used to support saddam hussein. our children die and we go broke on that. what about democracy in this country? if you ever came to the conclusion that the parties are similar, which they are, above and doors of the federal reserve and that both endorsed the

ownership system. so where does somebody go? where do they go? you can't go into a third party. it is not available. the laws are written by the republicans and the democrats. who controls the debates with next november. even if you had, it is not likely used to be when the league of women voters did it. the party's control it. what right do we have to assume that we can have the moral imperative that we can impose goodness on them. >> the equivalent of a holocaust? >> it depends on what the status is. we were involved in world war two. the people that committed the holocaust and declared war against us, to see the issue.

>> if germany were not at war. >> our government doesn't have it. if there was a compulsion and public sentiment for it, believing it was a threat to our national security, i wouldn't be the decision maker, that is the u.s. congress. i don't think that is necessary. i don't think -- people have the right to do whatever they want, but i don't have the moral authority to compel you to go over and settle a dispute. think of many other episodes, how many times has that happened in africa? they are killing millions of people. nobody pays any attention to those. there has to be a moral imperative there. you would have to get involved in to every single thing.

it is endless, and that is more or less where we are. in is inconsistent and hypocritical, because at the same time, we prop up the dictators. we brought of the kings that practice their own lot in saudi arabia. and we pretend that we are going to get rid of the dictator that he did the iranians and he the al qaeda. we throw him out and when we take over iraq, we get rid of the christians and the al qaeda comes in. i don't believe i will persuade the majority of american people from the moral argument. the majority of the american people are with me right now because half of them understand exactly what i am saying and the other half know we are broke and can't afford it.

and the other group that does exactly what i am doing other military people. they want to come home, they see no future in this, and that is why they give me support overwhelmingly. >> are you ruling out a third- party run? why? >> i don't want to. >> why shouldn't there be a third party? >> because it is a losing venture. you probably wouldn't have me in here. you wouldn't be talking to me. >> a lot of republicans say that you don't uphold a lot of republican viewpoints. >> it is the funniest thing in the world. take a look at the republican platform, personal liberty, a strong local government, free markets. i have the best of all of those. i voted against all the

spending. i care about personal liberty and all the things they talk about and they say i am not a republican? anybody bison to that, they are not listening. i am closer to the republican platform that any of the others. >> there are republicans in name only? >> they don't follow the platform or what republicans profess to believe in as i do, and they should be called on its. >> you will be participating in a debate later today, which is basically a test of the christian social conservatives. where do you say you fall in the spectrum of candidates on that issue, social conservatism? >> i am very conservative on social issues. i strongly believe that life is precious and a gift from our creator, and if you don't believe that protect life, you can't protect the liberty.

if you don't understand the essence of life, you cannot protect liberty. >> women should not have the right to choose abortion? >> somebody has to speak for the fetus. i have seen babies eight and nine months of pregnancy has pretty much a human being. who speaks for them? who speaks for a one-minute old baby? how does a 1 minute old baby have that right? what if there is no mother. do you throw it in the garbage and kill it? nobody speaks for the 1-minute old baby. who speaks for the fetus before birth? why does the fetus get excluded? is this not a human being? what is it? who speaks for it? >> we have no moral imperative of for a holocaust, but we have a moral imperative for a fetus. is that what you're saying? >> i'd see the connection at

all. we're not going on the china to say that you shouldn't abort female fetuses. that would be a description of a moral imperative. does the state of viyella have the right to protect a fetus and that before birth because it deserves protection and has freedom of choice to live? under our constitution, it permits i was to have a law that prevents that? it is not alive, it is not human, it is not an act of violence to destroy the unborn? the federal government has no authority whatsoever to tell i was to decide what they should do with what they construe as violent acts. the be like saying that you are allowed to prosecute people for first-degree murder, but not for

manslaughter. these are difficult subjects. the founders were geniuses, not having one monolithic solution for the whole country because different states will do it in different ways. there is a very strong argument. i am very much aware of it. if the mother comes to my office and i give the wrong drug, what if i damage or hurt or kill the fetus? i am in big trouble. if you are in a car accident and the mother doesn't get hurt, but the fetus dies, you are in big trouble because you have committed an act of violence. if you want to deal with the legality of when it gets legal rights, it is at conception. the inheritance rights are determined by the date of conception. it would be determined by the father. there is every president in the

world that there is a legal being there that has qualified for protection, but you can't just say that is of pay, it is illegal here. if a mother makes her argument, it becomes difficult. believe me, i have been in the business for a long time. i of the difficult situations and that is why i don't want one answer for all. i don't want amendments to the constitution. i don't think it is the prerogative of the federal government to be involved. >> would you select the supreme court justices opposed to abortion? >> i would select the supreme court justices on their understanding of the constitution. if they describe what i just described, their personal position would not be quite as important. but i want to know what they think about the first

amendment, how they reflect on all the bill of rights, property rights, the general welfare clause. i want them to know about this, i know what they think about the necessary and proper clause. their whole issue of abortion would be less important because their proper position would have been on roe vs wade and the states can make their own decisions. >> [inaudible] you have read the document and it doesn't specify very much. would you agree that most laws on the bugs don't have a constitutional basis? >> it is true, and all the regulations and the legislation done by executive order. we do not have the rule of law. we have the government now that

is known that we have endorsed torture, we have rejected defense of habeas corpus, we have endorsed assassination by our president, one person deciding which americans can be assassinated. however. even when they kill a 16-year- old boy that happens to be the son of a guy that wasn't very nice and was never tried, no charges made. we should be outraged over this. if we accept this without saying anything, we are in big trouble. that is why the rule of law is so important. to me, that is very discouraging. but i can go out and i talk like this to older groups, and i talked to them about bringing

our troops home, and the reception is very good. >> if you were in the white house during the past three years, would you have had a different strategy has related to saddam hussein. >> no, i voted for that. we voted for the authority of going after the individuals responsible for 9/11. we had him more or less traffic. i have an image in my mind, but they have essentially trapped, forgot about them and we have to go after a raft. iraq had nothing to do with it. it is just horrible. i lament the fact that it took 10 years. we will try to prevent them from going into this war.

you can literally hire people to go out. it wasn't the government that was attacking us on the high seas. they were pirates. we would hire people. this was legally recognized internationally. and even though that you have this authority, the authority was very limited to go after certain people. i wanted them to do that, and remember how ross perot and killed with as hostages. he hired her ex military special forces and he went over there. he got his people out. when we attempted to do it, it ended in disaster. a letter of reprisal, just think of what $500 million would

have meant in saving the lives of how many americans? how many that are casualties now, and how many innocent iraqis. close to 1 million iraqis died. that is when you live within the confines of the constitution, always trying to hold back on the military rather than saying that we are powerful, we are going to do it. weapons themselves do not bring peace unless you know how to use them. that is what i think the letter was a great idea. if we are arrested and gave trials of people, it could have been above -- [unintelligible]

you know, we give trials of people -- israel gave them a trial. we gave trials to all the nasty war criminals. with the war criminals that participated in the holocaust, we gave them trials. >> if it was declared -- >> you supported the authorization, you're talking about after 9/11. >> it does not give authority for the drum strikes? docile they are not bombing everybody -- >> we declared war on terrorism.

>> where? i would like to see the document. kerr -- at terrorism as a tactic. they want you to understand that you're out or out of fear, they can violate your civil liberties. when war is going on, they can undermine your liberties at home. i think it is dangerous. that is just returned to generate enough fear to get the people at the congress to capitulate. if you don't agree with it, you are american. your week one, national defense because you want to defend the constitution. i think it is wrong. theow do you reconcile interests in a marriage with the liberty, pursuit of happiness.

what is the role of government there? >> not at all? >> that is my idea, just to but out. a lot of the importance of marriage, a lot of the dictionary, too. i don't want this -- i didn't vote for the marriage amendments. to me, the finding a word, if you want to define it one way and it be another way, that sounds like a first amendment issue. why should i try to convince you of my definition? why what someone oppose their ideas on me? i want the government out. if you are going to have government under the constitution. the states have a lot more authority than the federal government has.

i would rather see a the outside of government. and then we would not be arguing about this. >> of the state of marriage under tax laws, etc., conveys certain privileges that don't go to those that are unmarried. >> probably change the tax cut and get rid of it, that would be a solution. dodge get government out of the business of authorizing marriage? >> i would. if you go back in history and find that tradition of going to the bible and following it back, people married and their churches, to me it seems like such a wonderful solution. you can have your definition, i'll have mine, i want to tell you what to believe, you don't

tell me, i don't force my views on you. i think it is wonderful. >> isn't that what the iowa supreme court did? in >> and not familiar enough to know exactly what they did. >> mistakes can grasp the rights under this definition -- >> in the states won't necessarily agree. i am giving my personal opinion of what i think should be done. under the constitution, the government should not have saiy. the states will still have the authority. >> is there a federal role in sort of -- kind of bringing a sense of equality across the country? so a person that lives in texas andt left with fewer rights

liberties that the person who lives in iowa? there are some staettes where there would be a sense of -- we don't think blacks are the same as whites. it was the government that did it. >> the government was at fault with the slave issue and discrimination. national laws, the fourteenth amendment applied. we can't take a group of people and deny them certain rights. the biggest discrimination occurs now in the judicial system. have you looked at the people that end up getting the death penalty? it doesn't seem to be fair and balanced. but the number of people in

prison for drug usage. 12% or so or black, 37% are arrested. 50% are arrested. the people that don't get the death penalty for rest of our people that are wealthy and tend to be whites. that is still where there is a lot of discrimination or the federal government would have helped. they could have an influence on that because you're not allowed to discriminate. you can't have a discriminatory laws and treat black people a certain way. >> you define yourself as a free market person, why shouldn't that apply to emigration as well? >> there is a pretty good idea for that. that is the ideal. and away, that is what the founders argued and that is why they give us the interstate

commerce clause. it is mostly distorted and is used now to regulate rather than the regulate. i would argue in the sense and that's conditions today are really tough. for economic reasons, because we have people that come over the borders, and i deliver a newborn baby, the baby becomes an automatic citizen and the next day the hospital needs money so they signed him up for a welfare program and they get charged a lot of money in the process continues. the welfare state interferes with it. if you had a free market healthy economy, i believe we should have a much more generous approach to immigration on the work force. i would not say that just walking in and out under today's circumstances would be a good idea. >> if the market calls for a certain number of workers --

>> that is what that we should really work for. even with the problems today, i have people come to my office looking for workers. there are jobs out there, they just have to be trained. but the system of education coming out of college, all they have to show for it is that. that can't take these technological jobs. they say, get me somebody from japan or india. we have messed up our economy so badly, just bringing more people in that will bring their families over compounds the problem. but as the problem that hit california and texas, literally because there is no control at all, the hospitals have had the clothes and school districts going bankrupt. a free and prosperous economy would be very generous for

emigration. even though we were very generous in our early history, we never had a free emigration. everybody came man and what to do some ritual. back then, it was health reasons. >> what about decisions where this -- what about the states where the decisions to regulate beyond constitutional restrictions might be the result of national consensus, a democratic process, people choose not to contest it because it is so important that it can be a national standard for something. would you make allowances for that? >> yes, if you did it properly. you can say the consensus of the country is that we love the federal government controlling our education. i was doesn't know how to do it. if you want national laws, you have to change the constitution. if you do it without change the

constitution, you diminish the importance of the rule of law. that is why you write the regulations, make them national, who once national regulation the most? the corporate industries. and consumers never asked for it. never is too strong, but the left in the congress mocked the republicans because they are opposed to some of the state rights issues, republicans tend to support nationalizing regulations. they want more regulations because of big businesses want this and they don't want more stringent regulations by the state. you should modify it in the constitution. otherwise, there is not much left to its. everything is going to be so out of control. privacy is gone, the patriot and

controls, the gsa malls us and we don't care. it will go on and on. if you want federal regulations, you have to change the constitution. >> how you desire the balance for tree -- balance the desire for free trade against american business interests? >> a free trade is good for american businesses. i don't think it is a cliche or a method that if you don't have free trade, if you have free trade it hurts us. and we have to manipulate interest rates. if you don't have free trade, you go to protectionism. that is why currencies worldwide is a detriment. we scream at them, it leaves to trade wars, and there are these tariffs. right now, that is the argument.

china is unfair. one candidate wants to go to the wto and its sanctions put on. it is a myth. it might help for a couple weeks or months, but the prices adjust and the prices go up. business people say that you don't improve the free markets, but somebody can produce something cheaper than us, that is good. we are getting a better deal. we have to take those resources and improve the productivity the that we compete. we were the great producers. if we can produce the steel, cars, everything else. but we can't compete because we have undermined the whole concept of a market economy. >> what is the government does a responsibility supporting people in poverty? >> and the government house

irresponsibility? the responsibility to the poor is to provide the maximum of prosperity and the maximum and jobs for people so that there are very few poor. but if you are indicating that maybe this would invite the force of government to come and extract funds from one group and give to another, that is very bad. it ends up like the housing program did. that was the principal based on the housing program. print money, have affirmative- action programs, and everybody gets a house. it gets out of control. the mortgage companies run us off, the banks make billions, and they get into derivatives and the housing bubble bursts. they got the bailout, what happens to the people that you wanted to help? it doesn't work. >> there are an estimated 15% of americans living in poverty

right now. should they not be entitled to welfare? >> all my cuts are cut from the big industry, the corporate welfare, the overseas spending, and what i'd do is the only way you can protect these people is doing what i am talking about. it doesn't mean i endorse this forever. if we continue to do this, everybody will suffer because there will be less wealth, more poverty, and i preserve taking care of those that are indigent and the need of medical care. the elderly and the medical care, social security. but it won't happen if people don't endorsed a change in foreign policy. but the president to send 15,000 troops to australia and never asked any question and stir up a fight with china. you can't do it. the poor people will become more numerous.

coming from overseas, you can help save and work. you have to change the monetary system, the tax cut, to get production back. you can't borrow forever. we have been led to believe that we can get away with this guy just printing more money because the world has accepted our money because it is the reserve currency of the world. and now we interest rates are go up, and prices are going up. urt.s who gets he poor people. they are the ones who suffer the most, so if anyone cares,

i think it is important to see how important monetary policy is. >> talk to me about the ramifications. >> i am against the committee. they will not admit we are now bankrupt. even if they fail and there is an automatic cut, there is no actual cut. there is a coalition of democrats and republicans that will exempt military expenditures and make sure nothing

gets caught. -- cut. i do not think it is going to work. it depends on how productive and we are. productivity is unpredictable, but if it was favorable, it might not be five or 10 years before you have to change a page and benefits, but the problem is the benefits are going down

automatically because the value of the dollar is going down. it depends on how well the economy recovers. >> you have got about six weeks before our caucus. i wonder if you have any final comments about whether a iowa caucus goers should support yoou. >> if they care about freedom and prosperity and peace, they will be their common and and there is a large number that will be there. he said, one thing we know is he has a lot of supporters. one thing we know is that if on january 3 it is 10 below zero and 10 inches of snow, and ron paul supporters will be there, so that made me feel good.

>> thank you. good to chat with you. >> thanks for coming in. >> thanks for your time. >> see more videos of the candidates on c-span's website. read the latest comments from reporters on social media side and links to partners in the caucus states. tonight on c-span, prof. michael dyson hosts a symposium on jesse jackson and then mitt

romney and ron paul. y on the, robert big cixb federal debt. jason campbell with a report on afghanistan and historian richard norton smith compares occupier protesters with past movements. that begins live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> there was a flood. people were filling sandbags, desperately train and now to keep the river. so he took off his jacket. my memory is he filled three sandbags. he got back on the plane. what was on the airwaves was reagan filling sandbags with his

shirt off. >> sam donaldson, andrea mitchell, and chris dodd talk about the legacy of ronald reagan. new york city mayor bloomberg end of auriana huffington discuss the american dream and opportunities. astronauts are awarded the congressional gold medal. for the entire thanksgiving phase schedules, go to c- span.org. >> us symposium look at jesse jackson. reverend jackson, who gave a brief remarks of the end of the conference, turned 70 this year. from georgetown university in washington, this is three hours. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> please welcome him to the stage. [applause] >> thank you for coming to this celebration of one of the most extraordinary man in history, reverend jesse jackson. this event is to celebrate the 70th year of one of the most extraordinary freedom fighters in the history of our nation, a man born poor and black in south carolina, a man who made his

way as a student activist, as an athlete, and as a social activist who joined arms with martin luther king jr. and emerged as the preeminent leader of african-american people. from there he became an unrivaled now public moralist, a man whose integrity, sharp insight, social justice commitments and extreme desire to bring a profound transformation to america change this nation. this is a concern of his because he was engaged with young people in regards to their education. he told parents to turn off the television and turn up the volume of their educational sensitivity.

he dealt with black on black crime. he talked about white backlash. he were to make sure ideals of democracy would not been obscured, and he ran for the presidency of the united states of america of. he shook up the world. he's done the americans by the breadth of his understanding. he made arguments but were compelling. he won millions of votes, and he literally change the rules of

the democratic committee, the democratic party that ended up allowing for a rock hussain obama region -- for barack hussein obama to become president. without jesse jackson, there would be no barack obama. in forging connections with progressive grass-roots leaders here and abroad, he has led the rainbow coalition. he is an extraordinary genius. that name is overused, but it is not misused when it is applied to him. we stand in on at the sheer a depth of his extraordinary achievements.

there has never been a guy is good for this long. how do you celebrate a genius? you get another genius to come along, and we have that genius in the rev. al sharpton. [applause] reverend sharpton is one of the most renowned civil rights leaders. he is an extraordinary man of sharp mind and on the cutting edge of social protest. he was inspired by jesse jackson. he shows the one genius stands in concert with the other to receive not only marching orders and not to create a new by joining and fusing the

world of media, social activism, social rebellion, and social protest with the most up-to- date problems. he has been noted for being a trusted adviser to president barack obama. he does this higher teaching values important to many americans. he has paid his price. he has suffered the indignity of brutal resistance, and being stabbed for his principles.

he fought racism in every nook and cranny of this culture, and now his emergence as a man who is able to take the outside to understand the inside. we have the amplification of justice that allows him to maintain his integrity and his authenticity while doing what he does the way he does. he is the head of the national output. he is a radio host and a television host. we love him. he was ordained as a minister as

a child. by nine years old, he was giving sermons regularly. he has been preaching for a long time. that genius is brought here to celebrate another ingenious. i welcome the rev. al sharpton. >> welcome to those. i am proud to be part of this occasion. 1968 was the year martin luther king jr. was assassinated. i was 13. i was going to be 14 that october. , ands killed in april commo

there was a great amount of social activism. it was the end of the 1960's. it was dominated by the black power advocates and various black national groups. because i was in the church, i was in an organization which was the economic arm of the organization. in the climate of that time, half to be in a church-based -- violent movement -- non-violent movement was considered

conservative. all of my peers were revolutionaries. they considered what we were doing moderate. we were doing things like getting things done. as you can see, i am still in the middle of that argument, but we were boycotting stores. we were making corporations adjust explicative ways. we were registering voters. when dr. king was killed, the one that became the preeminent person in the position was

reverend jackson, but reverend jackson was out for me before that. martin luther king started in the south. he was born and raised in a plant the, and went to school there, then went -- raise in , went to school there, and then went to montgomery. they decided to go back south. when they went south, not long after, rosa parks refused to give up her seat in the buzz, and the phase started. that was the phase. they have already done brown vs. board of education. they met in new orleans and formed a southern christian leadership council.

the battle for civil rights were all southern-based metals. the name of dr. king's cross organization was the southern christian leadership council. after being imprisoned and going through all kinds of scandals to dislodge him, he became applauded by the northern establishment, because he won the nobel prize and all. he decided he had to deal with of a broader kind of national fight, and he came out of the south, went into chicago and cleveland. chicago's economic fights and cleveland's political fights. this was the first time he ventured out of the south.

in cleveland they did voter registration and a drive to make carl stokes the first black mayor the year before dr. king died, showing the politics of that time. dr. king was not even invited to a hotel after carl stokes and won the primary. if you are going to play a certain kind of politics, you do not want to be seen with a certain kind of controversial people, even if there is controversy 11 you to get voted for in the first place. carl stokes would not have gotten voters immobilize had dr. king not brought his entire staff to cleveland to help generate that. in 1966, he went to chicago. they were so humiliated, and the

fights there, most of the senior staff wanted to go back south. they wanted to get out of chicago. they did not understand institutional racism. second, it was not their home, and they said it was the southern christian leadership conference. the one that was in chicago who stayed was reverend jackson. in many ways, what a lot of commentators and this is that jesse jackson brought kicking movement nationally -- the king movement national. had he not succeeded in chicago that eventually spread around faceountry, dr. king's

would have been a regional southern base. dr. king was a southern hero with local reputation, but he had a southern organization. when he died, when he was killed, doctor abernathy to over and could not deal with the national days because -- took over but could not deal with a national base because they could not understand the southern prototype in the north or the west, so we did not relate to that not autocratic old preachers style, because we were dealing with a contemporary urban context. i come from brooklyn. i never sat in the back of the bus. we dealt with a different level of racism, and the people we were going to school with work

panthers, nationalists, who are white kids fighting a war in vietnam, so i go across the bridge to greenwich village, and we were dealing with smoking reefer and free love. in the middle of this, the abernathy model did not appeal to us, because i am 13 years old. reverend jackson, who was about 26 or 27, would come to new york. he was much more urban, even though he was born in the south. he was much more identified with what was going on. i never saw reverend jackson wear a necktie. he might have had some, but he did not wear them. he would wear a buckskin vest, but he would preach the king tradition and economic

rearrangements. he had a theory called the kingdom theory, how we would rearrange economic order. this was 45 years before you ever heard of economoccupy wall street. i became youth director in 1916 nine of new york breadbasket under his leadership. -- 19609 of new york breadbasket under his leadership. one of the ways you judge the strength of the tree is buy fruits that id paris -- who buy fruits that it bears. a strong tree bears strong friesfruits. another tree that does not see

anyone will either become a tourist attraction because it has no other function. after dr. king came mayor gong and jose williams. people like bernard la fayette, and organizing genius who did the voting rights, and jesse jackson. others like the man here today -- others like those here today. out of his ministry, he developed a generation of activism that have to negotiate

es and thee sextrem models. you will not be able to read any of this. the reason i am talking is because i lived it. we have to deal with extreme nationalist revolutionaries or go back to africa and the extremes in the white left to wanted to overthrow the government, and we ended up with nixon as a result of all of that, and the moderates. roy wilkins was still alive, so we had to negotiate all that, because we lived it. i was not suited to be with them, because they were too

moderate, and i was not suited to be a nationalist. if they helped who gibson run. there was a famous activist poet, in english leroy jones, and reverend jackson sent us over. they have the nationalist headquarters named spirit house, and we went to get our orders on how to get the votes out. i went and knocked on the door. were maybe 14 then, and they

open the door with a daishiki, and the guy opened the door, and they beat their chests, and he was waiting for me to return to salute. he said zero words. i said hello luria. that was all i knew. not ---follow leon -- i said ha llelujah. that was all i knew. we try to leapfrog from dr. king to the president of the united states, barack obama.

that is not only untrue, but it is unfair, because if you do not understand all but is in between, you will lose who you are. we did not have a lot of out of its, so we had to get what we called an expansion -- a lot of , so we had to get what we called an extension cord. if you do not have a good extension cord, you will not have electricity, and the reason a lot of people lost their power now is because they are not connected. they try to go from 68 to 88 like we were asleep 40 years and we woke up and everything was good. that is not what happened. one critical point was there was a meeting in indiana called the national black convention.

the containers was one of the founders of the congressional black caucus and leroy jones and the mayor of gary, elected largely by the mobilization of reverend jackson, so reverend jackson was critical. he helped get gary electives and mayor. the battle was between the nationals and the moderates, who want to argue about how we deal with voting. the first year i was going to be able to vote, i could not vote until november.

the nationalists did not even want him to speak superior -- to speak. he was able to mobilize and into a political force and was so acute that daly was on seated because reverend jackson formed a coalition -- was unseated because reverend jackson form a coalition, and it was the first time we believed we could penetrate the power. give all of these were steps toward empowerment, so you cannot start at 84 with reverend jackson, because to not deal with how he changed the economic arrangements with operation

breadbasket and then to deal with political arrangements while shipping at these black mayors and black caucus, and they have taken the mythologies, which led to our moving forward. it culminated with the 1984 race, but the groundwork had already been done, because the bible says, as the man thinks, so is he. you have to change your mind to move your behind. nd,you do not change your min you will not be able to change your behind. most of black america and white america were still on about any of them says -- on the balcony

of memphis. there were other players, but they did not set the tone. dr. king was not the only one in .he 60's 0 goos you had all of them, but king had the front, and it set the tone. you have the nationalists and all of that, but reverend jackson set the tone going into and he said with this kind of mobilization, knocking down barriers, for rejecting -- protecting, people will say why haven't we seen the legislation

we sought during the 60's? that is like asking why didn't joshua crossed the red sea. because it had already been crossed. what had to have been in the aftermath of dr. king was to protect the legislation -- what had to happen in the aftermath was to protect the legislation. otherwise, it would not mean anything, so they all had to protect the voting rights act. if any one of those have expired, it would not have mattered, because it would no longer be an act superiot. part of the after king generation was to maintain

victories won, so people talk about that generation, it was a 30-year battle to not see the right wing continued to revoke or reverse the civil rights act, the things that king did. there was a real move from nixon to reagan to revoke. that did not happen, because there was a sustained national movement of stop-. good -- the stop that. they would back down, and that was just as hard and in many

ways more complex because you're dealing with the institution, because you needed now more than drama. you needed the ability to deal with drama and strategy. andr we get into the 90's the first part of the century when you deal with racial profiling. all of that was protected under the civil rights act. we could not have done that had. we take that for granted now. the results came who -- became something people of your generation looked up to.

people look up to the results rather than those that made it possible. there would not have been anyone had there not been a movement led by jackson who say you cannot put a glass ceiling on how far we can go. it was not that blacks were not qualified to be chairman of major corporations. part of the price you pay is the guys you pull through do not invite you to the party. the misnomer is the students watching think said you had nothing to do with the achievement. do not get confused by the

invitation which is for the party -- the invitation list for the party. in the political arena, and people said let's run for president. he will not agree when he speaks. that is why i am talking before he speaks. even colleagues of his and the movement were in elected office and could have run. i am talking about andrew young, who are run for governor of georgia and had been ambassador to the un under jimmy carter. you have to remember when carter was defeated,hand

carter was close to the atlanta civil rights establishment. i used to call them the catalan the aristocracy, but i have grown. -- called them the atlanta aristocracy, but i have grown. king made entry of the ambassador to the un -- made andrew young ambassador to the un. that is a different lecture. reverend jackson tried to get andy young to run.

andrew would not run. coleman young, who is the mayor of detroit, would not run. all of them would not run. for 12 years we have been talking about a black person running. no one had run since the system, and that run was not based in our community. reverend jackson said they are undermining the voting right side. -- voting rights act. they went through the south. they got reynolds -- even though it was an oxymoron to have a

civil rights movement under reagan, we did. reynolds was holding hands saying, we shall overcome. imagine how that played out at the white house. i think that was the last thing he did, but in the movement of that drive we have people saying, why do we have to have an establishment? he did not enter with the idea of running. and many of the established leaders did not support him and ended of resenting the fact that he ran. they got mad that he did what

they who would not deao. he broke all records and set the democratic rules in the primary but the state had to be renewed again because every four years they would try to change the jackson rules, and people who came out of his movement, everybody had to fight to maintain those rules. have the rules not been maintained, you would have had a different trade-in 2008 -- deferred run in 2008. you would have had a breakdown, and we would have lost some of those states. all of this started from his run for president reaga.

out of his run, he used it to make issues public. one was stopping apartheid in south africa. nelson mandela was considered by much of the american public a terrorist. ronald reagan considered him a terrorist. for jesse jackson to come into the mainstream presidential debates talking about representing and recognizing when national congress which was considered terrorist who is on thinkable. the mainstream of anti-apartheid movement came from reverend jackson. they could not mainstream because they were not in the

mainstream. i know smart people are going to say, what about -- i know about all the month, but they made it mainstream -- i know about that, but they made it mainstream. you can write about it in your blog, but the mainstream came from reverend jackson, the caves -- because it became an issue of majority rule, and it became something the other candidates had to respond to. they never had to respond to that before. he even had gone to south africa, and there was a debate

on whether to even let him in the country. here we were boycotting athletes for going to south africa of. they did not want to let him in, chico's they considered his capacity to organize a threat to his regime, and they were right, so the mainstream of the apartheid question was part of his campaign. the other part that is significant, that you cannot underestimate is he broke the barriers in the progressive side of the american body politic with the concept of a rainbow coalition. he said the only way we can win for the average american and is we must not have a black movement or a brown movement or all white progress of movement or a latino movement or asian

movement. we must have a rainbow where everyone can keep their identity but slow to gather -- but flow together. i am not asking you not to be who you are. we all should be part of the one rainbow. that sounds easy in 2011. in 1988, it was heresy to like creatures that we would have a coalition which gays and lesbians, because they were preaching that was a sin. it was unthinkable to white progressives that blacks would sit at the table and decide what the left strategies are,

because we had as many people biased on the left as we did on the right, because the left wanted to call the shots. we were supposed to do who pass out fliers, go to jail, and make decisions. jesse jackson said, we are looking for freedom. he will deny it, but i spoke first today. the idea of the rainbow got more votes than any other runner in the history of this country, and they maintain their progressive movement going forward. the roots of startek of progress

of revival started with 1988. that is where it started. we never were all in the room together until then. in many ways i would say, what he started in the 1970 cost to the political empowerment and resulted in the first black attorney general and the first black president, he has the find who the last part of the 20th- century and the first part of the 21st -- defined the last part of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century, and he has brought about new leadership. i was telling some of the staff it is appropriate that i am here

today, because i am a position where i am paid twice -- i am agewise between jay-z and jackson. it would not have taken me as long. but let me leave you with this. if you want to understand the relevance and historic significance of jesse jackson, look at where we are today and know it was rooted in his work innovating on his own, because another misnomer is dr. king did not bring jesse jackson into the

movement. he had already led movements and had integrated a library in his home town. he was already an active as. he just combined with dr. king. look at a rainbow. a rainbow comes after the storm before the sunshine. we could not have gotten to the sun shine of obama without the rainbow of jackson. [applause] after the storm of the king era, when a house in bombings, shootings, and jackson led us out of the storm, and looked out. there is a rainbow. if we do this together, we can

stay out of the storm, and out of the rainbow, we saw sunshine. we had to see the rainbow furs, because the rainbow showed us the storm was over and sunshine was possible reason we had to see the rain bofors, up because -- we have to see the rainbow first, because the rainbow showed us the storm was over and sunshine was possible. thank you. [applause]

>> this is what they call a photo op. >> let's give rev. al sharpton and other hand. -- another hand.

a brilliant analysis and summary of the legacy of of reverend jackson, and as a brilliant and insightful as reverend sharpton engaged that legacy, there are still more dimensions that remain, so we want to invite to the stage now a panel of discussions that will talk about the legacy of reverend jackson, speak about his extraordinary contribution to the american college football landscape, talk about his push for civil rights, his stress on social liberty and civil liberty and his ability to engage people across the racial and sexual and gender dynamics to speak about

the rainbow coalition. i invite and introduce the moderator of our panel. she is a renowned social activist and an author, and author of "don't call me angel" and other books that talk about the gender divide in religion. she was the first chief of staff for the international trade bureau of operation push, so she worked with reverend jackson in the early days of that movement in chicago and contributed and since then has become renowned author,

activist, and social engineer of graceful movements and of events that helped bring together various people across many divides. she is a resident now presently of washington, d.c., and she runs a bunch of stuff, and we are grateful for her for serving as moderator. i am sure reverend jackson said something smart. i know he did. furun dmc. she is the rap group, so the author who, the rev. garcia. [applause] >> this is the emotional for me,

because as a young woman who did not come into operation push as a civil rights they become mine coming from a family that was a political in many ways, but having been a rebellious child in the home of six siblings, you allow me to take this out of some -- who is activism -- this activism, you allow me to see myself as an international citizen. i remember asking what would be your legacy. will it be just the man reverend jackson? will it be your son or your daughters? will it be operation push?

i hope it is the legacy it you see you have for yourself into, where you can go from not carrying the baton but from carrying the vision of where america should be. rev. al sharpton said because of the rainbow you instituted for us to follow, it has allowed the light to shine on the white house, so we have to take time to talk about the history of african-americans. in order to do that, we must exhume the living body of the man who tells us always keep hope alive, and in order to do that, i am going to welcome to the stage people who have known you for decades, some for a few years and some you have just met

but you have impacted in just a few months, and i will start with one who was part of the rainbow now. dr. grace king is a professor of theology and a director of vogue program -- director of the program. her research is on a comparative global theology. she is author of "fell holy spirit -- the holy spirit." kim is serving her second year on the american academy of religion and is a steering committee member of the comparative theology group and women of color scholarship. she sits on the editorial board for the journal of religion and

popular culture and is a rough range for the journal of race, ethnicity, and religion and the journal of popular culture. tim is working on the first and second chronicles schieda. kim will be ordained in the presbyterian church come next sunday morning. we welcome you and congratulate you, dr. kim. next we have the young professor, dr. peterson. he is the newly appointed director of african studies and english. he is also the founder of the hip hop scholars, an association of hip-hop generational scholars dedicated to researching and developing who the potential of hip-hop.

petersen has appeared on fox news, cbs, msnbc, and various local television networks as an expert on race, politics, and popular culture. thank you, dr. peterson. next we have gary flowers. gary flowers is the executive director and ceo of the leadership forum, an alliance of civil rights and service organizations in the united states of america founded in 1977. as leadership forum links members together, forming a leadership model of legislation affecting african americans. flowers served on the front line of american civil rights formation of public policy

since 1989 and has been trained in richmond va.. prior to the black leadership forum, mr. flowers served as vice president and national director for reverend jackson's rainbow coalition in chicago. he was also one of the people who work >> on education, legal rights, and the civil social activists. thank you for joining us, mr. flowers. we also have with us and jeff johnson. jeff johnson is a commentator from msn b.c., he is a commentator on the morning show and he is the director for the naacp youth division. he he is a youth activist, and

like what reverend sharpton said earlier, without the youth movement that dr. michael who class illustrates, the intellectualism has activism among students who are also engaged in a political campaign for president obama. it we thank you for your use activism. joining us surely will be laura murphy who also has a history with reverend jackson. she is known for her advocacy on civil rights and civil liberties. she is in her tenth year as the washington legislative office, and from 1993 to 2005. and because of coming back to the aclu, she is responsible for the passage of the fair sentencing act signed into law

by president obama on august 3, 2010 that reduces the sentencing disparity -- a disparity between crack and powder cocaine. thank you, panelists. i would like to start off with the newest member of the circle of reverend jackson's band. dr. kim. you may simply -- recently met reverend jackson. many people see him as an american icon, but they talk about his influence around the world. meeting him, you being a korean, and maybe you want to speak of his universality. we try to have him as our own,

but how did you meet him, how did you see him not on american soil? >> it was fascinating because i grew up in canada, i am a canadian citizen. i came down in 2004 to teach at the seminary. growing up in canada, i wasn't close to many politicians except for reverend jackson. he is known internationally. i experienced that, many people all over the world representative of the conference. the overwhelming response from everyone was that he is such a hero. he has given hope for many people fighting against an justice, against racism and sexism, and it was wonderful to be part of that experience and to meet him there.

>> and gary flowers, we will be joined release some of by laura murphy. and even though we are on this panel, one thing that was a mess and was the activity in which reverend jackson himself participated. a visual persona and the inclusion of women. can you tell us something about his movement and the importance that women played in his life and in his social justice outbreak? >> thank you for inviting us and the gathering to pay tribute to a man that transformed last 25 years of american society. not just politics. the structure of america, reverend jackson is to take credit for that. but much like the egyptian

pharaohs, we know him not as a pharaoh, but we don't know that there is a duality of leadership in making them at that time between he and his wife. out of the duality of leadership, reverend jackson -- i served from 1997 to 2007. we always said a distribution of leadership between men and women. so that is not the old male dominated theocracy of the south in the 1950's and '60's. it was the rev. jackson was looking ahead. particularly in putting women in positions of leadership. and recognizing competence. out of that, those that studied under him have kept the flame alive. we give out awards every year.

there is a male component in the female component for each award, symbolizing the duality of leadership. >> can you name some of those women? >> yolanda caraway is here. missed more. virginia thomas, lesley baskerville. who else? over the years, there have been doing that -- i forgot her last name. kim marcus just left rainbow push. if you look at alexis herman and a who's who of black politics, they have come from

reverend jackson. >> thank you for that. dr. peterson. your newly installed as the director of african studies at lehigh university. we cannot pretend that today, while we talk about the rainbow and the sunshine that there was a dark cloud over rev. jackson. there is a misconception or maybe it is not, that he has been ostracized from the political climate of today. can you address that issue or the possibility of how that could happen? >> i should say that i also want to thank you for inviting me to thank you, doctor, for having me here. it is an extraordinary moment to be part of the proceedings today. reverend sharpton did a great job of extricating a very front row of close-up view of reverend

jackson and his emergence and his impact. because of my age and my generation, i just didn't have that kind of political access, my vision of reverend jackson is a bit from afar. from my perspective, i don't see that authorization in the same way. from my view, he has always had a direct impact on me, my life, my father and mother and brothers and sisters. let me break out a few of those things to you can understand how i see it. 1984 was a really important time. the slogan of run, jesse, run was a powerful slogan in my household. my parents planted the seed in my brain that could be president of the united states. the proof of that was reverend jackson's first presidential campaign.

it is important to capture the ways in which and how it goes out into the world. to have in my mind, the way that i brought lever and -- rev. jackson's life into my setting. they say you can be an astronaut, you don't necessarily believe it, but he may unbelievable for me at a very young age. i remember at a young age, i was an overachiever in high school and i went during the summer of the 1988 democratic national convention. it was difficult to be a white institution and trying to figure out my politics and understand my trajectory. i remember watching his speech. it still gives me chills to think about it. when he articulated the metaphor for not just rainbow, but the

ways that we can come together, and that moment, his impact was seared into my consciousness in such a way that i could never think of him as outside of the political process. i can't even explain to you that speech -- it moved me to tears. i can't explain how it empowered me in a very challenging -- a leap white institutions, that speech had an extraordinary effect on the and it really challenged me from that moment on to think about the way that i can become a leader. if we fast-forward to 2008, there were a lot of things going on in my mind and my heart with respect to the emergence of president obama. i still don't separate the legacy of our reverend jackson from that of barack obama.

as a young kid, thinking about being president, i could not have the thought without rev. jackson. the ways in which those things coalesce in my life are completely inseparable. i remember when president obama was inaugurated. it is a very homogenous area of pennsylvania, with burger, kentucky, alabama, in between. on the evening of the inauguration or on the evening of the election, i was sitting in bed with my wife and my children, and we were watching this happen. i remember as president obama came to the stage, an extraordinarily emotional moment. my son at the time was 10 years old, and he was aware are

reverend jackson and aware of reverend sharpton and aware of dr. king. and when the first family comes onto the stage, his first response was fear. he felt like they were so exposed. he was concerned, and what is going to happen, the going to be shot? it was such a tragic moment that his connection to the first black president was, are they going to assassinate him? the tears were pouring down rev. jackson's eyes. they tried to cherry pick different things and make it seem as if he were anti-the first black president. when the show that clip of those tears rolling down her eyes, everyone in my family started to cry. the power of that moment is difficult to reproduce on the stage, but excuse me.

[applause] i can tell you from that moment, my son understood the power of that moment and his fear went away. and we just of store it and lived in that moment. it is difficult for me to extract reverend jackson from my sense of politics. i would not be here as the director of studies, as someone who has been to georgetown and lectured in these halls multiple times without the legacy of reverend jesse jackson. [applause] >> thank you, dr. peterson. i'll give you an opportunity to catch your breath. i want to ask you a question about the youth movement and the

advocacy to get youth involved and pertaining to the lives and the issues. we heard dr. peterson talk about his son and his own life, how emotional he was over the possibility of having reverend jackson erased from our history. what of the utility of reverend jackson for the youth, beyond the fact that he was the man who was the first black man to want to run for president. but utility is the method that happens inside the political arena? >> a utility is complicated of what i think dr. peterson went into in a very eloquent way, that i would like to go into an ls eloquent way. i want to say this, and i think it is very important for you to hear me out because the initial statement is going to be problematic.

i think that the most challenging thing that jesse jackson sr. ever had to deal with was not being assassinated. the reality is, when you look at those that created a similar models, and their own generation, most of their lives were cut short. when you look at king being portrayed on broadway and his weakness is being manipulated through a fictitious opportunity of the stage play or malcolm's " and " the issues being laid out , peopleacademic text were able to watch a jesse jackson become human. that is an incredibly difficult thing to do when you have been deified. here was this master communicator, master leader, celebrity in many cases who had

done what no one else had done before, mobilize people the others weren't able to mobilize, created inspiration in young and old alike now became human before a 24-hour news cycle that had little integrity to history and only concerned about ratings. and never had a leader in the community had to deal with what reverend jackson had to deal with, transitioning to the 24- hour news cycle and becoming human. whether it was his own personal issues, the thing that got me was that people are becoming angry that reverend jackson for being reverend jackson. i am confused. he has challenged every president since his birth. he has been critical about what he believed to be right and wrong, even in his own support. i was somewhat confused about the notion that now we want

reverend jackson to be a robot. does the things that we don't talk about very often. one is the humanity of an individual that has to live to be critiqued verses those that critique them during their death. for young people, the challenge is, how do they see beyond their parent's critique of reverend jackson when so much of the media doesn't want to give you the opportunity to see who rev. jackson is in 2011. when i am in cleveland, he did not have to come to it, he is there and the only one on stage dealing with the substantive of voter protection issues before everybody else from the congressional black caucus can talk about it. even in the myth of no media coverage, he continues to be consistent in addressing the

social justice issues that he has been addressing. that is what i think people need to be reminded of, those of us that were bridges in another generation. that individual the continues to be addressing the issues that affect you, i can point to reverend jackson in cleveland and he is talking about the issues of 194 in the senate bill 5 before people in your community are talking about it because they are still trying to decide what side of the fence they're going to be on based on who is giving them a check. his utility in 2011 is not connected to the legacy of all that he has done. it is connected to the fact that he continues to address the substantive and pragmatic issues even though when does it should not be listening are listening.

look, there is a balanced diet and a comprehensive community of activists. young and old alike. reverend jackson is as much a part of the voice as he ever was during the 1960's, 70's and 80's. >> thank you so far that he is not prince charming more than prince charming. laura, since you work on a lot of efficacy is for disparities on issues pertaining to our civil rights at the aclu, how important as reverend jackson been in your life, and powering your decision as director? and >> where do i begin? i'm that reverend jackson when i was a teenager and he came to baltimore during the riots. calm when cities were on

fire after the assassination of dr. king. billy ran for mayor, unsuccessfully, from baltimore. i remember i am somebody, and i am somebody was not a trite phrase. i am somebody was reverend jackson's message that we don't have to burn our own cities to declare ourselves as equal human beings. and i remember feeling, as a young black woman that grew up with very complex man. my father, my great-grandfather , the chronicle of black men in our family and black women. newhall i remember being deeply touched. i had a connection to this person because i felt empowered by his words and i saw him

embrace my brother. but then, when i worked for willie brown when he was speaker of the california assembly, he became chairman of jesse jackson's campaign committee. he dispatched me from los angeles to chicago to work for reverend jackson. briefly, i became his finance director for the 1988 presidential campaign. the thing that touched me so was how his boundless charisma and energy have blinded us together. so the finance committee that i reported to was made up of earl grey, atlas, the founder of essence magazine, creating one of the first black advertising firms, and people that have gotten auto dealerships are mcdonald's because reverend jackson had taken the case to a

fortune 500 companies that they had to do business with black men. and here are all these empower black men and women who would not have come together and understood the importance of raising money for candidates had jesse jackson not connected the trajectory of running for public office to the outcomes of policy decisions that would affect their business decisions and their lives. the thing that i love about rev. jackson in is the community that he created a around him. his legacy cannot be erased because there by the grace of god go the rest of us. we were given titles and opportunities. we were told to go out and ask people for meaning. we were told to rally people and register to vote.

he had tremendous respect for the black women in his midst. i am respected and embraced on an intellectual level, on an emotional level, on the political level. there was a big operation, rainbow pusher based in the sea. i had to appear as head of the aclu washington office to black leaders about the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine. when we told the mothers of the community that their kids were the only kids who were going to jail for crack, the white kids use crack as much as black kids, they said help to the nile -- hell to the no, that's not right.

he was the first drum major for justice for the rights of black people not to be suggested to these inhumane mandatory minimum sentences. we walked the halls of congress together, we lobby to senator biden that basically customers out that we were working on a crime bill in 1994. carol moseley-braun wanted to argue with us why young african americans needed to be incarcerated at greater rates. i have seen his perseverance and his ability to see and to feel into the future about how we could be. clearly, if he had not done what he had done, we would not have as many black businesspeople, i don't think we would have as many black elected officials, and i know for sure we would not have had a black president.

i worked for shirley who ran for president before jesse jackson. reverend jackson took the presidential campaign and the delegate selection process, and the engineering of the democratic national committee to such a level that we had ron brown, the first head of the democratic national committee. i think any to be a master class, and we need to come up with a chorus that teaches about rev. jackson that we can dispense to several colleges and universities. [applause] i don't know anybody else that can go to another country and free american soldier. idon't know anybody else couldn't go unless white farmers and union workers to be on his presidential campaign. i don't know anybody else, and

there are lessons here about courage, about daring to, perseverance, heart, giving the punch and taking a punch. he has been hit so hard, i remember in 1984, is that what is going to happen to jesse now? then the wall street project occurred, and they need to get over this. we are complex people, capable of rebounding have much as bill clinton or anybody else. we need a course to teach the elements of his development to other people so that he can be inspired. there should be a lesson plan that we can contribute to it. i find him to be remarkable, engaging, exciting human being that i have been so honored to work with throughout my career.

[applause] >> there's a scripture that while we were praying, got answered. the reason why we're able to come here today, maybe they can package is. >> i did not mean any disrespect. but i want it packaged and reproduced. and i want chapters in a book that we can analyze the different aspects of his whole life, because his whole life is an inspiration. >> in other words, this is something that we definitely need to read about. the jackson international network, you mentioned it briefly about him going over to rescue soldiers, it was right

after desert storm. i had a conversation with reverend jackson. another you can call him or he calls us, i am taking the phone bill from switzerland, sweden, latin america, the caribbean. reverend jackson and i both agree that our international policy is understood by the national predicament. this is tied to the international community underwriting american citizens and possibly the world. let me go back and ask you that , in the as roebuck, it talks about redeeming the faithful. it is talking about the hope and purity of the profit. given what you have heard today, it relates to the work

you do also. >> that is a loaded question. i deal with a lot of asian american history and asian- american theology. united states is a land of immigrants, so we have emigrants coming from europe that went through ellis island. we have the asian americans that came in through angel island. those that came the state a few minutes, they were documented and were sent into the country. the asian americans, it was like a prison. they were there for days, sometimes months, sometimes years. when people left asia, they

tried to send a the most educated and the healthiest. when they got to enjoy island, they were stopped. this is the beginning of racism, sexism, the women were sent into a farm worker doing hard labor all day long. they were used as cheap labor. let's think about asian-american history in the united states of america, it is with a lot of pain that i studied this. what i think about pain, i can't think about any real strong asian american leader that can speak to the pain, address the racism and address those that have the happenings throughout the asian american history in the united states. so what i think i about -- i can't think about any political leader or any social activist,

any religious leader that rarely spoke and addressed these issues, it really saddens me. i think with his movement, with the rainbow push coalition, he wasn't just addressing the african-american community, but all communities. i think the person of the asian american racial ethnic background that we can embrace them as our leader, someone who breaks down barriers and works for social justice, not just for the african-american community, but for the asian community, the latino community, the hispanic community, and so forth. when i study ezra, it is talking about purity. the israelites were exiled and brought back into the land, they were striving for purity.

the foreign women that were married to the israelites, they were sent out. they were exiled and taken out of the community. what i think about purity, i wonder as a society, we strive for purity, but i don't know if there is any kind of purity. what i do my own archaeological study, i am grateful that together, people that can come together of all races, people can get married together and form friendships together. and even within the religious dialogue, we are able to embrace people of other faiths. hybrid tea is something that we as american society should strive for and not so much. the. there is no pure asian-american, there is no pure anybody. as an american society, we need to embrace hybrid tea.

and that is a new form to build the society up. >> i want to ask you this as director of the black leadership forum. i remember when i worked at operation push and he would have the conventions or conferences, there was a swelling of black leadership that included women, they were very instrumental in campaigning for reverend jackson in iowa and her mother being part of the civil rights movement that spawned the activities of dr. king. you know, it seems to me that we have the black leadership meeting today, everyone is not as cohesive on the same drumbeat. it is every man for himself out, a linear formation of black

leadership of the cohesive bonding, am i wrong? >> i don't think it is anymore now that in the past. the genius of rev. jackson is that he is the amalgam of dr. king's articulation and elevators organization. he trained us as staffers to have a methodology about social justice and direct action. for instance, we would move in first with research. then we would educate. then we would negotiate. then demonstrate, and if necessary, reconciliate. you have to learn how rhyme? no. no, but reverend jackson was able to take dr. king's

methodology which is to take a complex issue, reducing to seven seconds, because in the '60s, you will be on television for seven seconds. you have to make sense to people in their living rooms in seven seconds. he can make a simple alliteration, the poor pay more , i don't think there is any more dissension or balkanization now from before. he has trained us to be able to look at people and what we call coalition politics. and take people and organizations that have a role to play. one of the things we have done is shift from the model of a black leader and everyone following from their to a circle, a sense of leadership where we are all leaders on a circle with a radiant toward progressive public policy.

if i am the leader in transportation, i am the leader of the group for that issue. in such, we can take reverend jackson pose a lesson and go forward. >> i remember during the 2008 presidential campaign, everyone was talking about how we had this great youth movement, that particular campaign spot of the youth to become more electrified about senator obama and now president obama. you can tell us, surely helped started to rock the vote, he is activism came long before with reverend jackson, for sure. even when we go to rock the vote, how could we today, given the complacency that young people are finding themselves when hope hasn't changed and

what faith is failing, not because of the president, but because of the government as a whole. who could have the charisma to rock the vote and yemen -- among young people? >> and the charisma as the focus is part of the problem. when rev. sharpton was speaking, he spoke about james. and if you look air reverend jackson model, the rev. jackson model comes out of a tradition of methodology of training, not just moving. and i think what we transition to, when you start looking at about the hip-hop some action network and a voter guide, those in the movements were young people were trained. they were movements where young people were moved. the problem that culminated with president obama is that you had

young people invested in the process of the election, but not the process of a movement. because they were not instituted it -- inserted into institutional infrastructure, it was not about getting president obama elected, it is about supporting and ideologies which part of that is seeing somebody in office that will support the policy agenda that you have, not the sum total of it being this person in office. everybody then look for someone else to be the change is that of them being in the institutional infrastructure. the only talk about what we need in 2012, and this is a macro and micro conversation, we need to see institutions doing a better job of training progressive young people to be part of local movements or they are. it is about supporting local

organizations that are already doing good work and adding capacity to what they are doing through data, research, and training. we need to see more institution. reverend jackson, i think there needs to be reverend jesse jackson sr. institute that begins to address to the substantive training and development of young people to ensure that even when the personality is gone, i think that -- there was the fact that she could not identify an asian- american later that spoke to these issues. the asian-american community is what black folks continue to deal with. the question is, were we looking too much as one individual to be the person that was going to lead us to the by and by as opposed to looking at a communal infrastructure process that says, yes, we have individuals that are charismatic and motivate people, but if there are not institutions, make sure that people are plugged into our

process. now i am a piece on a chessboard not looking for somebody to do all the work, that is how you begin to change. and people are not looking for someone to roll in from b.c. or new york or from the national organization to change their community. they're looking for people to believe in the work that they are already doing, to plug them into local apparatuses. it is individuals like reverend jackson and others that now have the ability as a result of the work they have done to be able to provide a support, infrastructure support, capacity building and training at a local level so that 30 years from now, when 50 years from now, when reverend jackson sr. is not here, there is a methodology of training that is more than a curriculum being taught through someone like dr. dyson, but is a

hard-core institute that is producing more and more young soldiers prepared in their own way at the local level to do the very thing that reverend jackson did before anybody knew the name rev. jesse jackson. >> of the citizenship education was part of the '60s. it was training every saturday. how do you mobilize people to vote? how do you register them to vote? i agree with the jacksonian institute. the 50 years of experience on the ground, absorbing his methodology. coming out of the kennedy school at harvard. the seminary graduate, as he

said, zealousness in 2008, they were not trained. therefore, they just dissipated after the election. >> in other words, there was activism. >> we need to return to a jacksonian institute. >> we have talked about the political social activism, but what they're saying is having reverend jackson be an instant -- intellectual property. do you see the a vantage of something like that? that they are calling for? >> absolutely, i definitely see his curriculum, i think it is brilliant. i don't know if i have the wherewithal to teach it because

i think it requires a working knowledge of history that i don't have, by more than willing to work at it to do it. let me back up a little bit and say that i do think that you are not being this topic. i think there are distinct things to consider with young people today verses folks from 20 or 30 years ago. there are young folks organizing and doing interesting things, but they are doing them in different ways. they do it alone nearly or logistically or cyclically. the ways in which we have organized going forward will be quite different as well. we have to understand our history and meet some of those young folks where they are. i would love to have an opportunity to work with whatever steering committee will establish the rev. jesse jackson institute. i will put all my resources at

the disposal to make that come to fruition. but there are other things that have to happen for it to become a reality. we have to understand that activism and organization in the twenty first century will still be hand-to-hand and also involves a social media. it is involved in understanding the way as the young people understand the world. we need for young people to understand the ways in which information is directed at them, on various different platforms. the to understand the ways in which young people communicate now through text and different forms of communication. it should be part of the mission for establishing this. i wouldn't want a jesse jackson institute that is just looking back. i want one that continues to be regressive and looking forward. it would be key to it. i was jesse jackson on the balcony when king got shot.

people probably take that as some rapper passing off an allusion to an important historical figure, but listen to what he is saying. it is not about charisma, but think about it as trying to represent the eve of a large body. -- ethos of a large body. other heroes of this new generation, those possibilities being shut down for them, it means that those who spoke our loss and they don't know the direction to go. i will be honest with you, i have gotten tired of the hate amongst young people. i talk about this all the time, because you have seen this in a new way. he used to be realized i come

and now he is angry. this is what i mean about young people thinking when nearly. i am frustrated in the way that young people are much more apt to hate other folks that look like themselves when they ought to either be self critical or to critique the infrastructure and the systems out to challenge the ways of life. to me, that is one of the more disheartening components of even young activists and young scholars. for me, the institute has to be able to capture all those things. it has to capture the ways in which the new media will be going forward. it has to capture the way in which young people identify with cultural movements like hip-hop. it doesn't demean or diminish young folks experience with it. there is a sense of empowerment that are pragmatic. we have to -- i am committed to

the cause, i think you already know that, reverend jackson. whatever resources at my disposal, intellectually or monetarily, i am down to ride with you. >> you have that on the record. he will publicize it. you will get sponsors for it. barbara, you will have to legalize this and get the papers together. laura, i hope you kept your point. >> and i want to make sure that there is a stronger role for women, people like maxine waters who have also been very enduring. i do have a concern. when of the things i saw happen with reverend jackson, with al sharpton, a lot of us felt that our key to equality and justice

would be our ability to ascend into electoral office. i have a grave concern about the stability of a black justice institutions whether it is the naacp, the legal defense fund, the foundation funding is shrinking. this't want us to not have institute for jesse jackson, but i don't want to get caught up in a cult of personality. i want to talk about how rainbow push carries on in the action network, and the national negro college fund carrying on. one of the things that kids got upset about, they worked for barack obama but they did not get jobs in the obama administration. but they should have jobs in the black leadership forums. have the interest in giving and sustaining those

organizations. i think we need to focus on our need to build institutions while we talk about our leaders, too. >> is this mike live, open, hot? i would like to have an opportunity for panelists to take questions from the audience. anyone have any comments or statements? come to the microphone while he makes his -- >> a couple of points. dr. peterson talked about young people thinking in a linear fashion. the genius of the rev. jesse jackson sr. is that he thought as to think circumstantially. if you look at star trek, he plays chess on three different levels at the same time. he may give you an assignment, and you think, that doesn't make sense. he has already permeated 16

moves down. is a circle of friendship way of thinking. the young people that are disenchanted with the obama administration, and son, i had students from harvard and i gave them the assignment of books to read so that we could discuss. he said, you're always talking about reading. we have opinions, we can have blog. no. to believe in something you don't understand is to be superstitious. if you have not read francis for non, if he of the red the african origin of civilization, you can't talk to me about advancing the theory because you don't -- you always say -- even though that we can't idolize and

make this a cult worship, you have to have a certain body of training and a certain body of information before you can discuss. want toays she doesn't come to the microphone, but will you speak loudly? >> i want to make sure that you are aware -- she spoke about what happens between coke and crack. in 1999, here in washington, d.c., at that time, and they ship to 15,000 -- 11,000 young men between the ages of 15 and 24 to oklahoma. a majority of them were caught carrying crack. if you had to ounces of crack,

you left the jail mandatory for five years. you could have 2 pounds of cocaine before you went to jail. smokeso. crack and who cocaine? when the gunmen went to prison for five years, bad things happened to them. these were young men that had not had a full, but your life. they were introduced to a different lifestyle. >> do you have a question? >> we need to be aware of our history, period. there are a lot of people, a lot of young people that want to do something, but they don't know how. many of us, there is a big gap. i was concerned about what i could do.

he told me not to worry about being a woman and to be concerned about developing my intellectual property. so i would have something worth sharing. >> thank you so much, young lady. >> of like to thank dr. dyson for putting this together. i want to speak on an area of his legacy that i have not heard and may not be that well known. back in 1993, when the trust corporation was established to essentially read divide all of the assets that had been poured into the u.s. treasury as a result of the record number of savings and loan closures, a

small group of us approached reverend jackson and asked him to work with us to pass mandatory legislation to require any contracts given by that agency to go to minority contractors. if you had $200,000 or more, you had to give the contract to a minority subcontractor. i just want to say that during that time, reverend jackson worked with us tirelessly for 18 months straight. we went on capitol hill. i dunno if you remember this, but we testified on capitol hill before the senate banking committee, we went around the country and organize and minorities that were in asset recovery. we held a trade conference, the first of its kind. at the time, i had a trade organization of minority

contractors. this was before anybody had new of the fdic. they had -- and they did not have black people of the secretary level in these positions. as a result of those efforts, that legislation did pass. and now even though the resolution trust corp. was out of existence, those rules remain with the fdic, the office of the currency comptroller, and of whole lot of agencies that are still unknown. that was 18 years ago, and it was an incredible effort. it was groundbreaking in an area that had never been -- a lot of people weren't even visible on.

i think that part of his legacy should also be recognized because it wasn't publicized. >> i think that part of his legacy is encapsulated with his vision of the wall street project. his last statement was the next phase of the civil rights movement is economic justice. on april 3, the night before he was assassinated, he talked about a redistribution of pain. a sanitation workers are getting heat, he said, coca-cola, selective patronage, out of the model with dr. king, structure and a methodology, reverend jackson creates and lodges with a host of business leaders across the country, the wall street project to talk about and to shift to economic justice. we did a study with the the wall street project six years ago where we look at asset

management across the country. of 20 states, 19 states were below one-half of 1%. minority management of assets. the state that had 11%, illinois. why? where is operation rainbow push located? there is no coincidence that because of political heat and organizational skills, and all that he learned, he was able to forward that to economic justice. so others in chicago or asset managers at a 11%. >> i think there is the economic development that reverend jackson, the reason why go to the clinton global initiative, he is one of the not the only black leader at those kind of reforms as well as the world economic forum because i know he follows it across the water. given the international acuity

about the global economic situation, we are running out of time. is this a question? we will take it. >> it was just another area of legacy. nothing wrong with your testimony, we thank you for your contribution. if you can make a quick question, please. >> i can turn it into a .uestion i have a president of stand up for democracy, the d.c. coalition. i want to point out another major part of his history, very appointed d.c. residents because he was our first state budget. -- statehood senator.

after that, very little happened. he brought his prominence, his fame, his power and organization and a show of light on the fact that d.c. residents are on the last plantation. we're on the last colony, and i like to ask him, now that this has been revived and the mayor has been arrested, we're having some civil disobedience, i'm going to trial on the fifteenth of november because of protesting, would he like to come back and run for senator? that might get me in trouble with some people. [applause] i would like him to think about that. this is councilmember brown, rolling out on tuesday tomorrow. the steps of the wells and building, we will have a rollout

of a further statement initiatives. everybody is invited at 10:30 tomorrow. >> i am glad that she brought that up and got the chance to speak. he has always been about the concern of representation. i am hot on that issue, thank you very much. i will ask for a brief closing statements. i will give you a minute to summarize or say your last words regarding the legacy and the life of rev. jesse jackson sr.. >> it is a pleasure to bei am vr all the different communities in united states and what you will continue to do. i hope we will continue to live in this in situ. thank you for all of your work.

>> i just like to tell people to remember that he has affected so many people across the economic spectrum. he fought for food stamps. that has become an institution. i mean people whose fathers are auto dealers. teapot for those people to get access. he put the bright -- rights of gays and lesbians in his committee speech. i do not want this to be about black people. i want this legacy to be remembered as an advocate for humanity and for justice and for international respect and touching the lives of millions of americans and untold ways.

that story needs to be told. >> we would not have been able to capture his legacy. i want to make that clear. hopefully we will continue these conversations. there is a lot of people and private pain that goes, public mentor ship. if the go back to anyone who has been mormentor, that is what we need. we need a good leadership succession plan. coach thompson is here with us today. we need great coaches to help this information. this is really the way i see it going forward. to have to have good relationships. an institute can have this. we are building great

relationships and mentoring out to the kindness of their heart and love for making progress in the community. >> thank you. mr. johnson? >> the first time i met you and a more intimate level was in the back room before you were to speak for the people for an american way. i introduce myself. you ignored me. "damn, you won't even speak." you come from the school where there is work yet to put in before iconology. -- i and the knowleknowledge yo.

you said that i have proven that i was not there for any other reason than to do the work. as thank you for that response ability. yet never been afraid to be unwavering. i am not going to acknowledge tyou because you show that. we need more of that. their summit he will that get on television twice. the have never been in the trenches. thank you for your accountability. thank you so much. >> no. cannot give off heat if you're not on fire. people are picking up for it from trees.

he knocked it out of the box. those of us who actually worked, thank you. thank you for investing tenets. we will continue to carry your legacy. to the students at large, reverend jackson trained us. we are all precious in god's sight. do not look at this as a black thing but as a progressive thing. >> thank you very much.

i guess what we're saying is that you are the man for every season. he are the mammoth rhyme and reason. thank you for your legate -- you are the man with a rhyme and reason. thank you for your legacy. [applause] >> do not leave. please, do not leave or you will lose one of the great treats of your life. we want to thank the panel for all of the great work they did. thank you for the extraordinary work that they did and the insight that they gave us. we can stand up here a long time and try to deconstructs the

legacy we have the opportunity. we have to mention both of the great coaches that are here. let's just give him some love. i know he appreciates the presence and critical role not only as a coach but as a human being and a man who made a tremendous contribution to

reverend jackson's campaigns and his struggles and his crusades but also in mentoring young men and women to become extraordinary members of our sight. it is my pleasure to introduce to you the rev. dr. frederick haynes the third. he is one of the most extraordinary creatures. when you have such talents in the house, you have to with knowledge what a is. to say that he is a historical genius is not go as far as we can go. it has been termed a maggot church -- mega church, the

french ship west baptist church. he ticket from a relatively small group of people to the multiple thousands that are represented her there. did they do such extraordinary community. they fight for social and economic parity. he is devoted himself to transforming the lives of those facts are against it. he has been there for 30 years. he is a radio show host.

he has revived the fusion of political insight and analysis, spiritual of cumin and a prophetic model of ministry that is needed when the gospel has absorbed all of the theological space. when he is preaching throughout the country, he is like a rock star. i got to buy a ticket to get into the church. he is just back hot. he is that popular. thousands of people flocked to hear him. you are about to understand why. his profound commitment to the principles of humility have made him one of the great geniuses

not only of the african-american pulpit but up american sacred rhetoric. at present to you none other than the doctor, when a date certain members of our community. >> thank you. this is such an of inspiring experience. i want to express my a preseason. i want to put in parenthesis my plans. i want to thank him for the amazing way he models for me in so many.

he is one of the amazing voices about retirement. he is an intellectual. our world is a better place because he has made it sexy to be an intellectual. he has got it like that. he is the brother that i appreciate. i think we are friends because for me to be up now, it is before the panel. we do it in front of the rev. who is without question perilous

when it comes to outstanding oratory. this just ain't fair. i just ask that you will pray for our relationship. maybe i have done something to him that caused him to put me on the spot like that. if i have, i will never do it again. i have men love for you anyway. i cannot stand them. summers is a protege of years. i tested him. i am sitting in front of coach

thompson. he blew my phone up. i have a lot to tell you. i want to, in light of the spot i am in, recognize that so many of you could do a much better job than me. i want to share a thank-you note. i want to phrase this as a thank you message. when someone does for you what you do not deserve, it is to have the sense to write a thank you note. what i have done is basically down loaded all of that. i have been able to say what you have done for me in so many. i would like to or torelli print

a -- orally presented a copy to you. thank you. in recent days, i have heard you say using your amazing ability to suggest an idea that all of us can capture. you utilize a teaspoon of terms to convey a ton of truth. you talked about how it is important to recognize if you have a size 10 foot and you are wearing a size 8 shoe, and eventually there will be pain. acorn will come out of that structure. you have a structural issue that

is going on if you are to have that healing. our world has a lot of pain. you taught us it is a structural issue. i thank you for that. we spent a lot of time talking about the pain in recent days. how our hearts were broken how seven out and nine eyewitnesses were camped there because they were pressured by the police to make that testimony. there was doubt about troy davis having done the crime. we talk about the pain. he lost his life. thank you for letting us know that this is a structural issue by where we allow eyewitness

testimony to weigh so heavily when comes to individuals who are convicted of crimes. we have to take a look at the structure of the injustice. richard pryor said he went down to the courthouse looking for just this. all he saw was us. there is something with the structure. the issue does not fit. i would call this message "if the shoe fits. there is a structural issue. we focus on the pain. we do not deal with the structure. when we but that was jz talks about what happened about these statistics.

he says it is because the system is working. he is saying that we have got pain. the reality is instead of focusing in on the pain, we have to deal with the shared that does not fit. we have a structural issue. thank you for not focusing in just on the pain but making sure we take a look at the structure. i want to share things that have changed my life for ever. my memory will never be the same. we have to make sure that the shoe is changed. thank you for showing us that you can overcome odds that are

absolutely horrendous. jesse jackson was not born with a spoon in his mouth. he did not come from a silver platter. he blessed us with a 1988 book. he lifted us all with his brilliant run. jesse jackson concluded that campaign but that phenomenal speech in atlanta georgia. it is enough to bring tears to your eyes. it is the birthplace of the drum major for justice. it was in atlanta georgia. jesse jackson stood in the all

-- the old cradle. he went in as the democratic party. that ought to bring chills to your body as you think of the inspiration. can you hear him now? he would say i understand what it means to be looked down upon. i understand what that means to be held back because of something over which i have no control. i understand he came from a

broken background. he has brought healing to this nation and healing to so many lives. since i'm a preacher, i might as well " the bible. it said he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised from our iniquities. he said we are healed. jesse jackson comes from a background where he has been bruised. the brilliance of it is the nation has experienced a healing that we would not have experience had jesse jackson not become huge taxi -- jesse jackson has become. i want to thank you because of their backgrounds. it has lifted all of us in the process.

i was in the barber shop. pena how we kick it in the barber shop. some brothers were talking about it. they were disrespecting him like that. i said do you know him? the brothers said no. i do not know jesse. i know he knows me. you understand he was saying i can relate to him because he feels my pain. he feels me and my pain. though i do not know him myself, i know he knows me. momma taught me to say thank you. i want to thank you for your background though it was broken. you have brought healing to this nation and healing to my life. to thank you.

god has blessed you to articulate a powerful vision of what we ought to be in spite of what has incarcerated as. a vision of what we ought to be. what a powerful vision. he is there to articulate at how he does is so brilliantly. before there is had pop there was jesse jackson. check the brilliance of it. he would use a teaspoon of terms to convey a town of truth. listen to him as he index steam into the veins of a people who have been broken by oppression and makes us repeat after him i am somebody.

i may be poor but i am somebody. i may come from the slums, but the slums are not in me. i am somebody. let us he would slip into that crime -- rhyme. he has the split -- poetics skills. he has an alternative vision that this nation can find a live up to this. this is what he has dared to do. to that poetry that you had utilize can be more than what we were and seeing the on where we are. he has done its in a context of darkness. what else is a vision but a preview of coming attractions.

you will catch that in a minute. we go to the movies a lot. it what gets us is we'd get there in time for the preview. you do not see the previews until the theater goes dark. before you can see the preview, the previous says this is not the movie your are about to see. to the previous says if you hang around long enough, this is what coming. when it gets dark, of the dark let's let's see you know that the previous are coming. it is a vision of what is on the way. what has jesse jackson done for us in the darkness of oppression and white supremacy? jesse jackson has given us a

preview of coming attractions and has said that we have to bring ourselves together. this nation will live up to its promise. it is tough to say. a lot of people have missed out on the genius of him. god has blessed him to hang around so long. we honor people based on their lives taken cut. their youthful vitality is frozen in time.

his wisdom and forms his brilliance. it informs his brilliance. as a consequence, we should thank god that we have them for as long as we do. because of that, we are in a better place. jesse jackson hung around just long enough to inform them. you have a bill a gram if the go

between the scripture and the sanctuary, he is informed by a white wing impression. he will stand up. even though you have a liberation face, you will have an oppressive disparate. that will continue to feed the oppression that our community suffers from. thank you jesse jackson jesse jackson said in not take it out of context. you cannot read the text without understanding the oppressive

context out of which they came. every single section of scripture except for briefly a time during the reign of king david occurred in a context of oppression. how dare you stand up and individualize the gospel that does not address the social and political context. i will do with the political context. i am here to stay thank you to jesse jackson. momma taught me the best thing to do when somebody does something for you is to say thank you. i have a good home training. thank you for overcoming your broken this. thank you for articulating a

powerful vision of what we ought to be in spite of the and concentrated business of our situation. i thank you for making sure you use what god bless you with to open the door to a brand new era of possibilities that all of us enjoy. it has been said that you do not have obama without 88 and jesse jackson. to the rules were changed in 1988 because of the brilliance of this man standing tall and standing firm. it opened up an air of new possibilities. it did not start with president obama.

they have offices because jesse jackson open up an era to possibility. i have to stop there. this is what i have come to say. we have heard about him as a humanitarian, a social activist. he is a preacher of the gospel. i like the gospel he preaches. he had to speak over and hawaii. he had flung from philadelphia over to honolulu. the long flight was jacking with his body.

and he ends of going to a dive. he goes into the dive about 3:30. in what some sisters to work at that time. you will catch this later on. one of them walking in says tamara is my birthday. she said i'm just letting them know it is my birthday. they noticed it. when the accident -- t hey exited it, they ask do they come every night at that time? they said yes. they come in from their work hours.

tomorrow we're want to throw a party for them. the people who were in their got excited about the possibility of throwing a party for the sisters who were walking the street. some said i will hinder the cake. they were about to throw a party the next day. it was like clockwork. here they come in. those who were and shout it out happy birthday. they threw a birthday party for this sister you have never had a birthday party thrown for her. tears streamed down her face. someone said, what is wrong? sheet abandoned me.

i never had a birthday party. i just found out when my actual birthday was a few years ago. i've never had a birthday party. no one has ever done anything this nice for me. do you mind if i take this birthday cake? i've never had a birthday cake. at that moment, she ran out there. there was a deafening silence. the least they can get is a party. we have to say grace period i am

the kind of preacher who was concerned enough to throw a birthday party at 3:00 in the morning. i'm trying to say thank you they have never about people who have been left behind to be forgotten. the have not forgotten about the role -- you have not forgotten about the war on poverty. they are saying do it, and jesse, i do it. our world is a better place because of what you have done. my mama taught me well. all i tried to do is articulate

for all of you a thank you note. >> you write about your mother writing that lovely think you know.

it put a fire in me to go places where never thought i would go. it is shaken by earthquakes. many women who did you train also came in rallied around her. she wants to sing a song to you about revolution and promise. i give you my sister. i know you are brilliant and you will shine more. you will sing for reverend jackson. thank you.

♪ [singing] ♪ ♪ [singing in french]

>> it is about love. you go into the hearts of the people. you never go out. thank you pirie . >> thank you so much. thank you for that great rendition. to give the rev. some love. that is just a preview in the light. imagine in the darkness what you

will see from that. i told you he was a genius. he is a freak in the sense of freeish precocity that courses through his very speech. thqanank you. i want you to hear his sermon. do not take part of it. take the whole. -- he wasrying talking about a faith that can overcome circumstances and situations that seem both oppressive and improper. that kind of genius has

delivered the meaning of rev. jesse jackson. i will bring him to this podium now, the man who we have been celebrating. i stood with him in the south of this country and in london when mandela was released from prison. we were in a small room with nelson mandela and reverend jackson. i have stood by him as he has fought for the labor rights of white workers in san antonio texas. i have seen him preach around this country. he will not get up earlier than him. you will not go to bed later than him. when he calls you on the telephone, "this is your brother." he ain't got no small talk. he announces to eat is. he tells you he loves you and it is two hours a social

engagement. when he is down, "alright. click." i have been met him in parties in los angeles. we went to a christmas party. i wanted to get my party on. i wanted to dance a little bit. he talked to me for four hours in the party. i did not drink. i didn't eat no food. i couldn't dance. i had an education. i have been inspired by this man. in my mind, martin luther king, a frederick douglass, and jesse jackson. that is my order. that is my list. we have been benefited by his genius. we covered a few areas today. we cannot cover them all. what he did with sports alone in challenging this country to deal

seriously with athletics broadly and african-american athletes in particular is monumental. what he did with the film industry in hollywood and the legacies of inequality. he has resisted them ending gauge them. what he has done on wall street to make sure the flow of capital would be redirected toward poor communities. i bring him to the stage. i want to thank joseph and eric all of the people who are here. and nobody being paid. we did this out of the love of our heart. they were gracious enough to host us and then sponsor a lunch. now i bring to you the man whom wholove, who we admire, fo

for so long has taught us to be better human beings and to make us understand that we are somebody. stand on your feet and received the rev. jesse louis jackson. [applause] [laughter] >> thank you for my friend and brother for extending his class activity to have the

celebration. i want to thank you so much for our kinship across the years. allow me to know that he is in my debt. he met he threw me. he is doing all that without trying to pay me back. i want to thank all of you who participate in share today. you have shown us how and we thank you for your presence. i watched him grow and develop a voice.

it is not yet appear what he will become to all of us. it speaks for itself. he is rare among us. we have great plans for him for the future. we need him. it is not recognized. he is not short. the whole is just deep. he looks like a giant. he really ain't. the platform is just type. we have among this these geniuses issue stand.

i was frightened. i said to some members that i see no worse things could happen if uses showed up one sunday. you can relax. i speak for myself today. he would make it past the ushers. of stinted do want to speak for

myself. and never stop trying to serve. i stopped trying to have continuity. i saw to remain current. we were disorganized. we have row organized patches.

do you have no idea. in the end, and is not really matter to me where in the blossoms. they keep telling it. he was there. we are talking about what was happening in katrina. i just come back from venezuela.

really getting ready to have a meeting on the water. the meeting was a good idea. people are drowning. there is a chance of a black man can be a governor of mississippi. tomorrow.

a black person can be governor mississippi tomorrow night. it is good if you have relatives in it. [applause] it is not this moment that a black man can be the governor of mississippi. we can win mississippi governorship. we can become governor of mississippi on the grass.

the difficulty is getting them out to vote. they are being locked up. that is not difficult. that is inconvenience. here we are. it is worse than an inconvenience. in ohio, they change the rules.

that is not difficult. he came sunday and monday. you have to occupied the space in front of the voter registration office. all day and there night. every state where they do not allow more than one weekend, they spend that going to jail. they tried to knock on the door. i say we've got to remain current. we've got to keep sowing seeds. i am anxious.

i saw lsu and alabama played the other night. sometimes the numerator changes but the denominator is the same. we have gone from cotton balls to football. it was illegal. it was illegal to make money picking cotton when you were in slavery. if you got caught selling cotton you could be whiplashed and punished. if you got caught selling cotton that you picked and planted you could be punished. now if you get caught selling your own jersey -- [applause] i mean, they make more money picking football then they made

chopping sugar cane and picking cotton. somebody has to raise questions about the injustice of this. this is not what the n.c.a.a. once was. the cotton pickers, those who pick the cotton and made the game possible are the only ones in eligible to sell their own jerseys. we have gone from picking cotton balls to basketballs. we can choose your own uniform color but not skin color. we can choose direction but not complexion.

the reason people are so caught up and i am a tiger or i am a tightening, why do we do so well on the football field? it is hard to be in first class. so we want to be a starter on the top team? we are the best. it is hard to do. it requires the best of our cognitive and motor skills. you have four allies and two referees. you hide the ball in some direction. that is real genius. what allows us to be the best at what is so hard to do? you can't inherit no points.

[applause] second, the playing field is even. rules are public. goals are clear. the referee is fair. he is not lobbying for the owner of the team. the school is transparent. whenever you play by rules, you inherit them. the plainfield is even. roles are public. goals are clear. the score is transparent. we can make it. that is really what we're trying to do, keep it simple. the rules are not public.

the score is not transparent. we are free but not equal. that becomes my struggle to try to keep our struggle continuous and keep sowing seeds. some seeds might take off and germinate. you have to wonder which seed is going to grow. do your best. today we do have a structural crisis. this puts us and an awful dilemma of of having to deal with a nation's crisis. when you speak truth to power, power fight back. power fight back.