>> guest: we get into this in the introduction, dave doherty and i. there are four factors that we argue make america an exceptional nation. first is common law. and the germans started common law, but it kind of fell out in germany sometime around 1100 a.d.. it was absorbed by the british who have a common law system, and we absorbed it from them. the british are rapidly losing their common law system through the e.u.. that means we are pretty much the only nation on earth who follows common law. everybody else follows french civil law. common law is the notion that god plants the law in the hearts of the people, that they know what's right and wrong and that they elect leaders as the germans did to enforce the law that everybody else already knows is right. civil law kind of stems from divine right of kings which says that god plants the law in the heart of the ruler, and he dispenses it as he sees fit. and that's really where most of these states are. see, in common law a christian, mostly protestant religious tradition, i don't think too many peop