host: giving full credit to your daughter who gave you the idea for the title. guest: she writes various publications -- she writes various articles for various publications. host: the book is titled "insanity defense"podcasts. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from iowa is terry schilling, the president of the american principles project. we want to talk about the american family. what is your organization, and

why was it founded? guest: thanks so much for having me, steve i've always been a big c-span fan since i was a kid. it was founded in 2009, and we were a lot different back then. we were almost like an orphanage for these super important issues that politicians and conservatives were not really caring about it we had a gold standard project, immigration project. a few years ago we reassessed what the real threats were in the country, and we found that there was a major gap when it came to filling the political gap for family policy. there is a lot of great family groups out there who do a lot of good research and legislative work, and even ministerial work. but there is no one that was going into campaigns and elections running campaign ads against the bad guys and for the good guys and making politicians pay a price when they heard families with public-- hurt families with public policy. we revamped app -- there was a

mini revolution, i would say -- and we wanted to fill the political gap for families. eric schneiderman -- our chairman says we are the nra for families. we are not organizing gunowners in politics. we are organizing families in politics to protect family. that is simple as i can put it. there is lots of groups out there that do that for their own special interest was -- big pharma, big oil -- but there is no big family until now. we just launched our big family membership program -- like the nra membership organization that is going to be organizing families directly in politics from the local level all the way to the present. we care about families and strengthening the american family with public health people policy. host: you mentioned the nra and that is the headline from

fox news, wanting to create the nra for families. what you mean by that? guest: when a politician, for example, is supporting gun confiscation efforts or gun control efforts, the nra alerts its members and engages them and organizes them in politics to make the politician pay a price and unelected the politician. that's in the message to the other politicians that when you do something to hurt gunowners or take away second amendment rights, you're going to pay a price electorally. steve, you and i have both been in politics for a long time, and is cynical as i can be at one times, politicians care about one thing, there reelection. all we are doing is playing by the rules, and we want politicians to take into account reelection efforts when they vote for bills that have an impact on the family. if it is going to hurt the family, we don't want them to

vote for it and we want them to know they will pay a price for it. if it helps families, we want them to vote for it and we want them to know they will be a price if they vote against it. this is very small, but we are off to a great start. 3500 members signed up in the first two weeks. there is a lot that we still have to do, but i think it is going to change family policy and politics for a long time. host: let's talk about policy. give us one specific example of a policy you want to see either changed or enforced. guest: well, first of all, the big we have been focused on is stopping the equality act. across the country, states of the local level all the way up have been passing what is called sexual-orientation and gender identity law, nondiscrimination law. these laws are having an adverse effect on other roots of american citizens. you take our daughters and our girls in our women.

you passed a gender identity nondiscrimination bill at the local level, and what happens is males who were born male who identify as women are able to not only compete in women's sports against girls, they are also able to enter women's private facilities. this is a drastic change from where america has always been. when we started passing these laws to segregate bathrooms on the base of sex, it was feminist -- women didn't have their own hybrid facilities--private facilities. feminists wanted their own facilities. this is a big change. we want to fight those laws, we want to change those laws and keep the federal government from passing those laws because it is going to have an adverse effect on our women and daughters. host: the website is

americanprinciplesproject.org. one example of the work you are doing is this. [video clip] >> victory comes with sacrifice, struggle, determination,, sours, training every day---countless hours, training every day, waking up at 4:00 a.m., developing skills. nothing is handed to you. everything earned. driven by the desire to win, to overcome the agony of defeat, to achieve, to succeed. it is one of the strongest human emotions. i just want a fair shot. i want justice. but joe biden and the administration would make me compete against biological boys in sports. the american principles project is working to stop it. they want to protect girls' t sports. be an mvp for girl athletes everywhere. go to protectgirlsports.us to

make a contribution. host: elaborate on this debate that is becoming front and center in the country right now. guest: what this ultimately comes down to is there is a political movement in this country that seeks to erase all differences between the two sexes. and that has formalized itself into this gender ideology, gender non-binary movement in the lgbt movement. what they are seeking to do is pass these laws which basically eliminate the legal distinctions and protections that we have carved out for women. it is absolutely disaster -- it is a self-evident truth that we all know to be do that women and men are equal, but they complement each other because they are different. you can be different and still be equal. these laws are going on all over the country, they are very

harmful. we were trying to figure out how to stop them, and there's a lot of really bad things that go along with these bills. i mentioned the private facilities and sports. you look at women's prisons. you pass this bill and what happens is males, even if they are convicted sex offenders, if they claim to be women in prison, they get to be moved to the women's prison facility. that is not only wrong, that is dangerous. that is harmful. some would say that is evil. we need to do a better job of acknowledging reality. there are certain things you can't change, regardless of how hard you try. we have to do it because it is about protecting our kids, protecting our daughters, protecting our women, making sure they have equal opportunities, they are safe. there are a lot of biological differences at the genetic level between men and women, including men. men are taller on average, stronger on average, they have

more muscle mass, they have more bone density. they are totally different, that is ok. you can still be equal and be different. these laws erase the legal distinctions that women and men had to work so hard to achieve over the last 260-some years. that is what we are dealing with, and that is why we are so motivated to fight against it because it is actually hard for. host: i -- absolutely harmful. host: i want to remind our viewers they can join the conversation. we have a line for independents. you can send us a text message. we are on twitter, @cspanwj. do you want to follow-up? guest: we tested a lot of the stuff in the harm that comes with this including the religious freedom aspect, and we found that the messages that voters responded most to that would actually change how they vote was the issue of fairness, safety, protecting children.

that is what we have based all of our campaigns against these laws on. you will see us running ads on protecting women's privacy, protecting women's safety, also protecting women's opportunities when it comes to athletics and academics. host: i want to get your reaction to the transportation secretary pete buttigieg, who is openly gay, and he spoke at a gay pride event talking about transgender issues. [video clip] >> and especially dangerous political strategy in some states right now where some politicians try to gain advantage by picking on transgender kids. some of the most vulnerable people in this country. there are consequences when politicians and other leaders responded to transgender people's search for equality and belonging by basically denying that someone can be transgender at all. telling america the transgender people do not exist amounts to telling very real transgender people that they should not

exist. and if you are a person in a position of responsibility, you need to understand the weight of your words. you need to understand that if you go around signaling to people that transgender youth shouldn't exist, transgender youth will hear you, and some of them will believe you. so this is a matter of life and death. host: that from white house event, the transportation secretary. terry schilling, your reaction? guest: first of all, i think he built a strawman. that is an unfair argument for . no one denies that there are people who suffer from gender dysphoria, where they feel uncomfortable in the body they are born in. frankly, i'm not motivated by anything besides wanting to give the appropriate and best care to people who identify as transgender or people who suffer from gender dysphoria. if you look at the two sides of this debate, you have pete

buttigieg's side, which is actually causing the harm here. they are telling young children that they were born in the wrong body. for a little situation is the fact that they were a mistake from the beginning, that there was something wrong from the beginning, is incredible harmful itself. but it goes further -- this agenda from the transgender lobby, they want to get these little kids on puberty blockers which cause permanent sterilization. that is something kids can't even come for a -you can't even comprehend-. they can't consent to that. we always say that children cannot consent to sex and sexuality. by allowing them to opt into these treatments like hormone blockers, they are permanently sterilized, giving of their ability to ever have their own kids, it is so evil and harmful. that is what i want to stop.

how i would put it employees democrats and the left one---- put it simply is democrats and the left want to -- you have kids who are uncomfortable in the body so let's change the body. make alterations so you don't feel uncomfortable. my solution is simpler and much more scientifically based -- i want to change your mind. i want your mind to accept your body as it is. you are perfect in every way. need to talk you through some of the confusion that is going on. we shouldn't make any permanent alterations to your body. you are perfect in every way. if my child -- i have five kids -- if my child was suffering from other type of body dysmorphia where they felt like they were too fat or uncomfortable in their body -- by the way, feeling uncomfortable in your own body is something every teenager goes through. it's a very natural thing, is normal part of puberty. my solution for my child that

feels uncomfortable in the body would not be to change the body, it would be to change their mind, to get them to accept himself, to get them to love themselves, not make permanent alterations. i think pete buttigieg is being extremely disingenuous, and his movement is going to cause a lot of harm. i tell people that in five to 10 years when all of these little kids who have been rushed into these surgeries -- and they are being rushed into these treatments -- when they start to regret that and feel like they were taken advantage of, they will be coming to people like me who will be their best ally. i want to make sure that they get paid for the damages done to their body with permanent alterations and sterilizations. i want to make sure there is justice done. this is a temporary thing where the left and the democrats appear to be the allies of people who have gender dysphoria but they are really the worst nightmare and worst enemy. host: without background, let's bring in-- with that background can let's bring in our viewers.

terry schilling of the american principles project. he has worked for members of congress in the house and senate and his own father served as a member of congress. he is joining us from iowa. tim is on the phone from toledo, ohio. caller: i just wanted tell you i think you're doing an excellent job. i couldn't do your job. i just have one question, and i'm not pro- or anti-gun, i'm indifferent. but i want to know, when there was a time about 150 years ago in this country that an armed man shot an unarmed man, he might be tried for murder, and if not, at least considered a coward. when did that change? when it is become a right for an armed man to shoot an unarmed man in the country? the old gun culture

where men were men, i like that better. today, i don't know. if an armed man shoots an unarmed man, he is not a man for me. host: bring that into context for our subject. caller: he said we should have an nra for families and talking about guns, and that is my thing right there. i work in construction and i know a couple people, three of them to be exact, but they are all big-time right-wing supporters and they all believe in guns and they all will not go anywhere without a gun. i work in construction and there are certain things you can't do, certain jobs you can't be armed at. you can't have a gun in a parking lot. "oh, i going go anywhere without a gun--i can't go anywhere without a gun." when did we become such a

coward society? guest: i have to explain my comparison year -- used the nra -- not the only person confused by that. it is not just the nra -- we are like the aarp for families as well. i want to reiterate, every group in a d.c. has a special interest group. seniors have the aarp, gun owners have the nra, teachers have the national education association. everyone has their own group. i am trying to create one separately for the american family to advance family policy and be a reliable ally to our friends and formidable foe to our enemies. host: bob in arlington, texas, independent line. caller: good morning, steve. first thing, i appreciate your 30 years of service to c-span. susan and brian did a great job

bringing this to us, and i really hate to see you go. hope you have a wonderful career. host: thank you, bob. appreciate it. caller: i think terry has a perfect example in that we now -- his family is the most dysfunctional family that ever existed in the white house. it is unbelievable that the press lets him get by with saying "it's a personal matter." he has a three-year-old granddaughter, will be three in august, and he will not acknowledge, joe and jill believe in and test, it doesn't have to be-- in incest, it doesn't have to be blood, hunter took his dead brother's wife. it is so dysfunctional, i can't

imagine. we are going to be so messed up at the end of joe's term. it is frightening to me. i thank you for what you have done. pages you go. --hate to see you go. host: thanks for the call. terry schilling, the reference to the president and his family. your response? guest: i tend to stay away from the personal problems our president has full and much more concerned about the actions that president biden has taken that are going to her the american family. on day one he signed an executive order into law that would allow for boys to compete in girls in girls sports and basically threatening every school in the country, and if they didn't allow that to happen he would pull federal funding. i am more concerned about that type of thing. i understand there's a lot of problems with the biden family. i will say that families across the country have these types of problems. hunter biden is an extreme

example of this, i would say, but families across the country deal with these problems every day, and the only reason they are able to solve them is they have a strong family situation. all the dysfunctional families, they actually reinforce the idea that we need strong families, because of strong families -- i got my girlfriend pregnant in high school, and it was my family and my girlfriend's family that helped us through all of that. if we didn't have a strong family, it would have been a total nightmare and disaster. strong families help you solve problems. we are all human beings and make mistakes and do bad things. it is the family structure that helps you work out those problems, and you just have a lot of problems and dysfunction when you have dysfunctional families, or even as we are experiencing out, no family formation, which leads to loneliness and lack of health

and lack of ability to get resources to help you get through these problems. those are the issues i'm concerned about. host: pennsylvania, republican line. ann, thank you for waiting . caller: hi, good morning. i'm glad there is a group that is forming to take care of -- watching which each politician does and reporting out on it. i agree with mr. schilling that children should be protected. i'm not saying that we should not treat them with love and kindness, but i think it is a very confusing issue for children. and i really don't think that they are capable of making lifetime decisions prior to being adults. this really concerns me that we

are allowing children to make these decisions, and it doesn't seem like they are getting both sides of the information. for example, i think transgenders have a more suicidal ideology. this came out from the american psychiatric association. host: thanks for the call on the republican line. let's add a democratic voice and we will get your reaction. will from wilson, north carolina. caller: good morning. i want to know if you just concentrate on social issues that affect the family, or do you concentrate on other issues? affording health care, getting a living wage for people? thank you. i would like to hear your

answer. host: william from north carolina. guest: that is my favorite question so far. on, we are-- no, we are not just social issues. we go into education and economic issues such as health care. we want to make it easier to get married, have babies, and protect our kids -- that is how i put it six simply.--one succinctly. one of the biggest problems in the country, and i would say the republican party is at fault here, is how we treat corporations versus how we treat families. at a bare minimum you look at how corporations are taxed. corporations are taxed on their net revenues. families are taxed on their gross income. that is not a fair system. if i'm a corporation and i provide a company card to my employees, i don't pay any taxes on that. i get to write the cost off of the taxes i get to pay.

when i am a family and i have my third child, or my fourth or fifth, and i have to upgrade to that minivan, i don't get you right the cost off of that-- to write the cost off of that. i want to make every part of this country prioritized towards families and focus on helping families. the family is the basic building block of society. once you go beyond that, you will have a lot more division. we need to make sure that families are supported economically, public policy reflects that. we do need affordable health care, we do need good paying jobs. on these issues we are going head-to-head with corporate america. corporate america is killing the family not just on economic issues, but on social issues as well. you turn on tv and pride m onth, nickelodeon, for example, drag queens and all the stuff that is offensive to people that

they don't want their children to be exposed to.. we also focus on education. you look at what is going on and out kids' schools and you have the critical race theory going on, the 1619 history problem. kids are learning that their parents are racist based on the color of their skin come that was founded on slavery, not on the declaration of independence on the fourth of july in a couple of days. we are focused on every issue that affects the family economically, socially, or through education. host: let me follow-up on two points. this headline from "the washington post" -- you mentioned children's television. a family with two dads on "has misread" -- "sesame street" during pride week.

guest: when it comes to kids, i think they should be free from all of these sexual ideas. we don't want our country that is hostile to gay americans. it is a lie, because we just went through pride month where every corporation and organization was out with a rainbow flag waving it proudly and supporting the gay community. there is not a need to go after the gay community, but there is really not a need to go after children when it comes to these kinds of sexual ideas. on top of that, i have an inherent issue with the whole kids being raised in gay households -- it is not i think they are abusive or evil. it is not that. i think kids need the complementarity of a mother and a father. this goes back to the issue we were talking about earlier -- there is a group of people in this country that don't think there is any difference between men and women. they think men and women are exactly the same and the only difference is we treat them

different socially. that is not the case. mothers nurture their children -- teach them how to care, how to be compassionate. it is important. fathers teach their kids hard work, sacrifice, how to play. i am not saying mothers can't teach that as well, but it is just a more natural fit for both of the sexes, and in the same-sex households, there is no diversity. i think kids should be exposed to diverse marriages, where you have a mother and a father giving the kids what they need, the experience of dealing with a mother and a woman, and a father, and a man. you can say i am old school, to traditional, but i think they are self-evident truths, men and women are different and offer different things to the world. what we are doing is not religious-based. we are factual based, focused on

the family. i think kids need a mom and a dad. host: our guest is terry schilling joining us from leclair, iowa. you brought up critical race theory. i want to go back to that. but first we go to karen, who has been patient. connecticut. what is on your mind? guest: i feel like other -- caller: i feel like other countries take care of their people so much better and that is why the u.s. is number six and canada is number one. they put everything into education. i would rather see everything public rather than the voucher system if you want to go to a religious school or whatnot, and they all have something in common, which is universal health care. i think that would help us, and at least let people have a

choice, do you want to be group insurance, universal health care for you by private. i think making profits off of human being all the time is where america is going wrong. host: thank you for the point could i want to go back to an earlier point unless you have a response to what you have --she had to say? guest: one thing i would say, in terms of economics and systems, especially with schools, number one, we spend a lot of money with kids in our school system. fairfax county, virginia, where i live, they spend over $17,000 per year per pupil and our kids are not doing that great. for $17,000 a year, my kid should know latin, but they barely know english and math. i think the whole thing has monopolized -- i don't think the whole thing is to monopolize everything in the public sector pit we should have diversity. parents should be empowered over

the public sector. host: this headline from national public radio, a top general defending the teaching of critical race theory in the military. i hearing we covered is available in the c-span video library. you brought up the issue. here is what general milley had to saying we look at your reaction. [video clip] general milley: on the issue of critical race theory, etc., i have to get much smarter on what the theory is, but i do think it is important, actually, for those of us in uniform to be open minded and widely read. the united states military academy is a university and it is important that we train and we understand -- i want to understand white rage, and i am white. i want to understand it. so, what is it that caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to

overturn the constitution of the united states? what caused that? i want to find that out and i want to maintain an open mind. i want to analyze that because our sailors, soldiers, marines, guardians, come from the american people, and it is important that leaders now and into the future do understand it. i have read karl marx, i have read london -- that does not make me a communist. what is wrong with having some situational understanding for which the country we are here to defend, and i personally find it defensive that we are accusing the united states military of being quote "woke" because we are stuttering some -- studying some theory studied at harvard law school and propose there were laws in the united states that led to a power differential with african-americans that were three quarters of a human being when this country was formed pit we had a civil war and

emancipation proclamation to change it. we brought it out to the civil rights law. i want to nope your dye respect your service. you and i are both green berets, but it matters to the cohesion of this military. host: the issue of critical race theory taught in the military at the u.s. military academy, west point, also the naval academy and among the ranks. you brought up the issue earlier. terry schilling, your thoughts, your concerns. guest: my concern number one is the military has made a series of moves and decisions recently that start to suggest that they have become woke, that they have adopted a lot of left-wing ideology. his comments about wanting to understand "white rage," and how a group of people could storm the capital and try to overtake the democracy. let's rewind because he said a lot of things. i reject the entire notion that was an insurrection.

there were no guns. we were not the ones with the guns. there were no bombs. it was a bunch of hooligans and ne'er-do-wells. they stayed in the white line at the capital. they weren't trying to destroy it. they were outraged. it is not white rage that drove what happened on january 6. it is a feeling that the system is rigged against the american people. if you really want to understand how people can go and stormy capitol building -- storm a capitol building, go to the founding of the country when people stormed the british, took over tea ships and had 18 party in boston -- had a tea party in boston pit our foundries -- founders were righteous, and they were freaking out taxes on stamps, taxes on tea, taxation without representation.

they were upset about a lot of different things and i think those types of things motivate people to take action. let's look at black rage, then? what has caused thousands and millions of people to go burn down cities, burned down washington, d.c., in the summer just before that? this is not about race. we need to stop treating every issue as if it is a racial issue. it is not. i grew up in the midwest. it is pretty white out here, but my heroes will all black -- were all black pair my hero was michael jordan growing up -- the greatest basketball player of all time. i would have done anything to meet with impaired i worked hard to save up money to go to his basketball camp. we are not a racist country. and that was 30 years ago pit we are not a racist country. you stop trying to force this on our kids. i will say that the military doing this, studying critical race theory and pushing it on a grown adult is completely different than pushing critical

race theory on young children who don't have the ability to comprehend and debate this fully. the critical race theory in school is a totally separate issue from critical race theory in our military. there are problems with that being in our military, by the way, but that is my initial reaction pit i don't think it was fair. host: stephanie in brooklyn, new york. thank you for waiting period -- waiting. caller: good morning pit i am calling to comment about transgender -- good morning. i am calling to comment about transgender in schools. i think anyone has a choice to be what they want to be. i don't get has to do with the family, it has to do with a individual as a child growing up and you keep using this family dynamics, family, yes, is very important, but it is the parents, the mother, the father, it could be both, it can be men and man, woman or woman -- it is

the teaching that you teach that child. i also want to get into the race theory. they do not teach critical race theory in schools -- public schools, private schools, or any schools. they don't teach that. they barely teach black history in schools. so, i don't know why the republicans keep coming up with this concept of critical race theory when they do not teach it in schools. we have to -- as a black american woman i have to teach my kids about my history, which is not taught in schools, so you all keep going on about this, and it is not happening, so stop saying that. host: stephanie, thank you for the call. terry schilling we are short on time. your quick response. guest: on the transgender issue and individuals versus famished -- number one, when it comes to kids, parents are in charge

until they reach the age of 18 or whatever the age is in their state, so parents should be firmly in charge of their kid's well-being and their education. secondly, i don't know where to begin. beasley, critical race theory is being taught, which is why it is being opposed by these parents. school boards are voting on it, and that is what is driving these parents across the country to show up. i wish the republican party was trying to tackle these issues, but it is a slog. i am trying to convince a lot of republicans to fight this and they don't want to because i don't want to get involved in controversial issues, as important as they are. third, black history -- i don't know where you grew up, maybe it is broken, maybe you have really terrible schools, but where i grew up, i knew all about slavery, the founding, civil rights, how important the fight was, how evil it was pit i learned about emmett till, and how horrific --it was.

i learned about emmett till and how horrific that was pit i don't know where you went to school, where your kids went to school, but you should go to a school board meeting and start taking that over we would love to have you join. we would train you to get involved in school board races and hold them accountable. host: our last call, alan. good morning. you are on with terry schilling. caller: i wanted to bring up the student loan issue. this country is $1.8 trillion in debt, mostly to the federal government, and i can tell you firsthand this is ruining families, not only are families not able to be formed, but the largest growing of -- segment of these loans are made to parents. these loans are unconstitutional. don't have bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitation, and the federal government is profiting on defaulted loans. i have not heard the american family guy say anything about

this very important family ruining debt instrument. i think they should be canceled. the government can cancel these without needing one penalty from the treasury. what does he say about that? guest: i totally agree. i'm sorry, it is a limited timeframe issue, they need to be brought up. we need to address that. i don't know how i feel about canceling everything. i think we need to stop pushing college on kids. we are pushing kids into college when they should be pushed into trade and they are not graduating college so you have

these young kids with $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 worth of student loan debt, and they are not graduating, and now they are stuck and have to work a dead-end job. we need to tie the student loans to the universities. universities have been profiting. there has been so much money in the university system. they need to be held accountable and have skin in the game, to pit i want to hold everyone accountable, but i also like we should stop pushing college on kids since it is not that great of an investment. you can make more money going into plumbing, electrical work, trade unions. i love trade unions. they are great. they will be rebuilding this country and saving our kids and families a lot of debt. host: terry schilling is president of an organization called the american principles project, giving us

>> c-span's "washington journal." we discussed policy issues that impact you. coming up this morning, the latest on the biden administration's east policy and the military strikes with the wilson center's chair. we will look at the debate surrounding the new ncaa rules on student athlete compensation with michael mccann. and wired on section 230 of the communications decency act. watch c-span's "washington journal" and join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. >> anita dunn, senior advisor to president biden discusses the june jobs report, if a structure negotiations in