this is of james madison. tell us what your viewers will see here in a minute. >> this came up for auction five years ago. this check. the auctioneer had misread the name of the person it was made out to. they wrote -- i knew it was roger chew wightman, dragged into the white house by the admiral as they were preparing to burn the white house, and the check was made out by james madison to wightman 23 days -- to white man 23 days before burning the white house. it's probably for books, because wightman was a book seller and he was dragged in to represent the humiliation of the americans. he was the only american in the white house, the british bandit, and so i knew knowing more about the providence of this check that it was going to be very valuable. one day donated to the white house, but i'm fearful it might end up in a drawer or something where the public can't see it. but it really is a remarkable find, because of the fact that wightman was the only person in the white house who was an american. he later b

james madison might have wished in that summer in 1787. and perhaps anthony scalia would still advise today. should they recall the stamp and continue living in the past. that is what the youngest delegate to the constitutional convention did. he never once updated even has manner of dress. the last of the top acts. a walking example of arrested development. we shouldn't represent a whole and bold makeover. i am your humble servant, kevin bleyer, which are shown in these pages. the postal service insisted that the stamp was a perfect spam. it still secures the blessings of liberty as we know her. life-size and unfold. it interprets the life of thomas jefferson, with testimony ended deeming them like the ark of the covenant. and james madison, too. that we not suffer for antiquity. they interpreted it in some different ways. that we should just get over ourselves, stick with the program and meet up at the craps table, baby needs a new pair of shoes. the light shines bright and is unmistakable. sometimes in order to honor an icon that define

james madison might have wished. and perhaps original an -- should it recall the stamp and continue living in the past. that was the unfortunate choice johnathan dayton made when the youngest delegation at the stayed so fixuation on the -- james madison ii we not suffer. they interpreted it as something different. we should get over other and stick with the program. meet at craps table. the lesson as the name this lady liberties outstretched hand. sometimes in order to honor an icon that defines us as a nation whether it be a woman holding a torch or a constitution of the united states of america we shomed roll with what we have. it's dambisa dambisa awesome. that's how it ends. the butler didn't do it here. it might with an accomplice. i come out after the rewritten preamble seven rewritten articles and 27 rewritten amendments thinking we should keep what we have. one of the chief accomplices was james madison. you seem to have a -- we had a visit with james madison this afternoon. >> we did a photoopen. >> i love f

. >> you have been playing james madison on stage. you should see that. the first four presidents disagree about a lot. washington and jefferson and madison disagreed about a lot of things. the founders were not unanimous and a lot of them didn't even like each other. what were the things they agreed on. don't create political parties. they said it over and over in writing and speeches. do not create political parties. i don't know if there is political scientists in the room, but political scientists like to come back and say there were parties created the even during that time and madison was part of a party. they were not anything like the parties we had today. they might have a few issues. maybe it was the expansion and whether you favored britain or france. it's not like you have today with the parties marching in lot step on almost everything. doesn't matter whether it's a stimulus or a supreme court nomination. all the democrats are on one side and the republicans on the other. if you could bottle this, it's an amazing thing. by some magic, you can

microphone and identify yourself and direct your question at a member of the panel. >> i want to put james madison back in the spotlight in terms of foreign affairs and i would like the panel to respond to what madison wrote about the power of the president in the constitution. he wrote in no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found than in the clause that confines the question of peace or war to the legislature. he goes on to explain why one man should not have so much power to take the country into war. i want to know if anyone agrees with madison. and if any of the members of the panel disagree with him as to whether that is a wise clause of the constitution? >> you're looking at me, i don't know why. i think this is a great question. i assume you're reading from madison's participation in the specific debates which take place after the ratification of the constitution. this is something people debate about, whether historians and jack raykof here at -- whether madison was consistent when he was acts as -- opposition to the washington administration, which is the context within which

is for this is an issue that they should be championing because this gets to the core of what james madison and many of the other founding fathers were really all about they were about public service they were back when the country was founded they weren't expecting congressman to serve eighteen twenty twenty two years and develop personal wealth off of the issues that they legislate this was of that's why. members of congress are for two years that's why senator served for her for sixteen why do you think there is this double standard then with i mean when they're allowed to kind of get away with doing things that the average american isn't because those who pay the piper call the tune so those now who are in legislative positions have been writing law for their own benefit and they have been benefiting many of them have been benefiting financially at incredible rates well above what the average american citizen is making and and many of them aren't paying the. a fair share of taxes so this is clearly a case of many in congress who are looking at their personal best interest and legislatin

documents of this country if you go back to fit the federalist papers in federalist number ten james madison was concerned about factions he was concerned about interest groups. that were going to have a greater personal interest in legislation than what was in the best interest of the american people and this is really what we're we're getting to the crux too so for those conservatives who want to be strict constructionists and read the constitution for this for this is an issue that they should be championing because this gets to the core of what james madison and many of the other founding fathers were really all about they were about public service they were back when the country was founded they weren't expecting congressman to serve eighteen twenty twenty two years and develop. personal wealth off of the issues that they legislate this was that that's why. members of congress are for two years that's why senators are there for sixteen why do you think there is this double standard then with i mean when they're allowed to kind of get away with doing things that the average american isn'

in fact it was james madison himself roaufy ventbuapog to a farce or tragedy or perhaps both.knowledge will forever evan and friends in the people who need to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives arstin i d james madison was not noam chomsky's teaching assistant. he was the fourth resident of the united states in the prime -- primary author of the u.s. constitution. now i know i' probably making anreinices les bu'sor to note that there is really nothing utopian or particularly high-minded about what bradley manning is alleged to have done. bry ins tedh rt aem mnti os tea of pretrial detention and the first nine months which of which were in harsh and punitive can -- solitary confinement. i certainly agree tt this treatment has been abominable and 's been unjust andtk -tsoryfint hisroply viewed as a form of torture. in 1890 our supreme court came within a whisker of declaring solitary coninemtasrue unlpsh, h buopee kf reference points in this treatment. manning's father has compad such treatment to the prison in guantÁnamo and one libe

james madison himself was surprised near the end of his life it hasn't been amended more often.ld have been made more perfect. benjamin franklin said he could stomach it only with its faults. the last day he stood up and begged fellow delegates to sign the instrument by doubting their infalability he said. and he said, i consent to the constitution, because i expect no better, and because i am not sure that it is not the best. which to some ears does sound like a republican endorsing mitt romney. damning with faint praise. i tried to phrase with faint damnation. abraham lincoln vampire would get that and even justice scalia got that. >> well, speaking of, and very quickly, we have to run, you were threatened with a fork by justice scalia. what did you do to offend him and how did this give you insight into his dissent on health care? >> yes. i had the temerity to suggest that the constitution doesn't actually say that supreme court justices get lifetime teen our. it merely says they should serve during "good behavior." he said don't you dare change lifetime tenure for supreme co

. >> alexander hamilton, james madison, kevin, what inspired you to rewrite the constitution?> your point is well taken. come rick reverence is different from being disrespectful. the founders themselves were a bit irreverent themselves. they were sent to do a few nicks and tucks and thomas jefferson told me i had to rewrite this constitution. he said that every constitution naturally expires after 19 years. by his math, not mine, our constitution has been in his words expired for over 200 years. i feel bad i'm just getting to it now. it should have been rewritten 11 times by now. i've been slacking for far too long. >> it is extraordinary. thomas jefferson said every 19 years it should be rewritten. if canniongress can't agree on tackling the debt, a new constitution, how is that going to go? >> again, i think that the framers would have been surprised that it hasn't been rewritten or even amended more often. james madison himself was surprised near the end of his life it hasn't been amended more often. george washington, famously said near the end i wish it would have been m

last but certainly not least the professor who is the james madison distinguished professor of law at the university of virginia. that's a virginia thing. i guess they are not well-represented here today. professor harrison said teaching stuff that is included in constitutional history and federal courts. he served as deputy assistant in the office of legal council and clerk for judge robert bourque on the d.c. circuit. he was on leave from the law school to serve as counsellor on international law and the office of the legal adviser at the u.s. department of state in 2008. today's panel is titled czars, libya, and recent developments perspectives on executive power. we settled on a slightly more narrow theme of the relationship between the constitutional design. we broke down the issue into three questions. first, how does the constitution distribute power that is executive in nature. second, what are the benefits and problems of such a constitutional design, and third, what might an ideal constitutional design look like? to give each panelist sufficient time, i will vigorously monit

but others, thomas jefferson and james madison and of course george mason all felt the constitution had quite aggressively protected slavery and protected it too much. so there was all this controversy that went on through the '30s and '40s about whether the constitution was pro slavery and the famous words of soldier truth, it has a little weasel in it. why the emotional impact of the compromise of 1850 which seems to have set people off in the ways that you're describing. why is it that in fact it has so much of an impact? >> well, you asked me to give you tomorrow night's lecture tonight. but let me see if i could -- let me see if i could address it in very briefly. look, the 1850 fugitive slave law was seen as the last attempt to deal with this problem of compromise. or as some said, to keep the union together, to stop it drifting apart. and it is so draconian, i get my students to read it and ask them questions about it after. and they can't believe -- this is the most morally indefensible law that was ever passed in the united states, i am convinceded. in which every person was no

. >>> some flooding happened earlier this month on the campus of james madison university. this is in harrisonburg, virginia. >> whoa, check that out. >> is that a dorm? >> this is the festival conference and student center. it's like a river inside the building, and there are people still in there. >> i'm surprised these people are allowed to be in there at this point. >> this is called duke dog alley. >> this is duke dog alley. >> it's not taking students anywhere this day unless they have a kayak. >> unless a white water raft. >> what about the cheap mattresses from the dorm? >> you should not do that, students. >> the tree right there. >>> here is another video. this is actually the football stadium at jmu. it is called bridge forth. >> they should rename it the punch bowl. the grounds crew is watching this video like oh, boy. good thing football doesn't start for a while. >> that's pretty interesting that you say that because these floodwaters receded within a matter of hours and they were able to hold a football camp. it's pretty remarkable. this happened because of a

and jackie plays james madison in the production in her theoretical debut. [ applause ] >> nicky asked me if i was going to sing tonight, but i am not. >> i tried. >> come see the show and i will. >> you understand there's going to be more to come. >> i hope so. the play is wonderful. the music is totally engrossing. it's very thought provoking. jackie is dynamite. we have tickets on sale as we leave this evening you can check in at the registration table. i hope you'll come join us. my next invitation is to join me in taking politics to the people national. i gab politics for the the people over a decade ago to bring these kind of dialogues to independent minded new yorkers. in january of this year, i took the enterprise national. i launched a blog and an online book club and discussion group so that independents across the country could be part of creating these cutting edge conversations. very important project. i want to invite all of you who are listening in the c-span audience to join our book club and politics for the people online. and all of our audience here in new york to si

from michigan, vince vaise, reminds us that monday marks the 200th anniversary of the signing by james madison of the declaration of war and that's why we're here with american history tv remembering the war of 1812 today and the festivities going on at ft. mchenry in baltimore. let's go to port st. lucie in florida. john, go ahead with your comments. >> caller: two quick questions. i heard that "the spar spangled banner" was not waving all night long. i guess they had raised it during it the morning hours, is that true, if that's correct. >> that's right. okay. let me -- >> go ahead with your second question, john, and then we'll get you the response from vince vaise. >> caller: quick question, armistead, that you mentioned, was he related to the armistead general who helped lee pick the charge at gettysburg? >> two questions on the waving of the flag. >> i'll answer the first question first. >> okay. >> sure. right. there was an american flag the whole time. however, there was a smaller one during the night of the bombardment on the pole. and it was probably just sopping wet on the mast. tha

let me just end by quoting james madison in trying to get credit for madison and myself, my favorite passage in the 14th federalists where he emphasizes that we should learn the lessons of experience and praises the revolution aers for not being bound up by what he calls names or tradition and instead forging new understandings for a new world and i don't spend much or any of my time as bashing and i think they did the best they can, the people i want to bash are us today who don't learn an important lesson from the generation of the founders which is to look at the lessons of experience, do what mr. jefferson -- and i believe in the revolution every 19 years, but he did leave in conventions and actually scrutinizing the extent to which the constitution is working well and it's not. >> it was a lot of fun and i appreciate sandy's comments about lincoln. so i thought -- i wrote this last book of mine which is not on sale today, unfortunately, which is about what makes for great bad presidents and we do tend to focus on the great ones, particularly lincoln, fdr and washington, and what

federal level to only white men who own property although progress was like thomas jefferson and james madison blocked those efforts so conservatives at the state level picked up that cause it was conservatives who wanted to keep the traditional american value of slavery and fought progressive abraham lincoln so fiercely it led to an incredibly bloody and horrific civil war. in the aftermath of that civil war conservatives supported jim crow laws to keep freed slaves as second class citizens conservatives oppose woman's women's suffrage all the way up until the nineteenth amendment was ratified in one nine hundred twenty and some still to this day oppose it when women got the right votes when it all went downhill because that would involve started being cast with emotion and maternal instincts that government ought to reflect. wealthy conservative elites opposed every advancement made by average working people from the forty hour work week to child labor laws to workplace safety laws during the one nine hundred fifty s. conservatives embrace mccarthyism and the witch hunts that ruined the live

constitution the early version didn't include a protection from standing armies as jefferson wrote to james madison in seventeen eighty seven i do not like in the new federal constitution the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly protection against standing armies and as jefferson wrote an eight hundred fourteen the greeks and romans had no standing armies yet they defended themselves their says their system was to make every man a soldier and oblige him to repair to the standard of his country whenever that was reared it's made them invincible of the same remedy will make us so to. and that's why they formulated the second amendment which would provide for a well armed militia that should be called on should the nation be under attack and well trained as well again the second amendment is there to protect our nation and in part to protect our nation from a standing army during times of peace in fact it was modeled on the constitution of pennsylvania the state where the framers met in philadelphia and seven hundred eighty seven to write our constitution article thirteen of the pennsylvania

. >> you've been playing james madison on stage. you should really see that. the first four presidents disagreed about a lot. washington, jefferson, disagreed about a lot of things. the founders were not unanimous on almost anything and a lot of them didn't like each other. what was the one thing all four of those first four presidents agreed on, don't create political parties? they all said it. they said it in writing. they said it in speeches do not create political parties. now i don't know if there's any political scientist in the room. political scientists say yes there were parties created during that time. they weren't anything like political parties that we have today. they might have a few issues. maybe it was tariffs. maybe it was westward expansion. but it was if you favor britain or france. they had a few things that they had in common. it wasn't like you have today with the parties marching in lock step on almost everything. doesn't matter whether it's a stimulus package or a supreme court nomination. all the democrats are on one side, all republi

from fires to flood, a flash flood is to blame for damage at james madison university. take a look at the pictures we get in. the football field under water because of flooding. it has since receded. other nearby areas were affected by heavy rain. these images have been shared 100 times. >> federal and best the gators arrived in montgomery county to figure out what caused a deadly crash. -- federal a investigators arrived in montgomery county. we learn more about the pilot who died. >> the plain that frank schmidt was flying and is in a hangar behind me. it was this time last night he was preparing for what would ultimately be his final flight. the wreckage of the plane shows the scars of a fatal plane crash. the 1964 aircraft was dragged from the woods where it went down last night. jack peter saw his friend of minutes before he was killed. clocked>> i wave to buy and went on my way. i later got a call. >> schmidt was with rothenberg as the two dig takeoffs and landings. they are investigating the crash. >> we have one witness that we talk to their reported that the ai

james madison agreed noting, quote, in republics the great t fitlreect ri of the minority. the founding fathers recognized that an independent judiciary was a critical importance in safeguarding the rights of all parts osociety. hamionerd s ir upoion of fortitude in the judges to do their duty as faithful guardians of the constitution. the fortitud of many judges will be tested in the coming e ps wsusfl t ite removal of three justices from the iowa supreme court. moreover groups interested in social issues are not the only ones that pose a threat to a fair and impartial judiciary. sine andomme c a hlsoel politicized judiciary. just consider the fact culminating in the united states supreme court decision in caperton versus msey coal co.. ntte mon ese brmi to the supreme court. after his election justice benjamin refused to recuse himself from an appeal that had been filed by the coal an inupou t participated in the appeal and a reverse the $60 million judgment against the coal company on a vote of 3:2 with justice benjamin casting the deciding mpte in favor of t c relef mot

of government and this country abroad and from that experience, they deduced, they applied what james madison. i think call we are engaged in new sign of government. nobody tried that before and people ought to appreciate that. it had never happened before and it will probably never happen again that a system of government will be devised by a seminar. three months long seminar compost of the political leaders of the entire country. that won't happen again. you can't appreciate that unless you seep yourself in the times and including reading the federalist papers. >> in this book at the beginning, you list a whole bunch of people that you thank. we've counted -- >> i probably missed soon too. >> we counted 23 of your former clerk. we had former clerk of yours here. several months ago i want to run this thing and get your reaction to it. >> he and i had a very intense argument about some statutory interpretation case. he took me out and said you need to talk to my clerks now and i did. the clerks were all very conservative clerks and marked me as a liberal and they were basically saying i'm a

from that experience, they deduced, or they applied, what james madison called, at the convention -- he said, "gentlemen, we are engaged in the new signs of government. nobody had ever tried that before. we should appreciate that. it had never happened before, and it will probably never happen again that a system of government will be devised by a seminar. i mean, a three month long seminar, composed of the political leaders of the entire country. it will not happen again. you can appreciate that, unless you see yourself in the times, including rebuilding -- reading the federalist papers. >> in this book, at the beginning, you list a whole bunch of people that you think. >> i probably missed some. >> we counted 23 former clerks. we had a former clerk that was here. this was several months ago. i want to run this and get your reaction to it. >> he and i had a very intense argument about some statutory interpretation case, and he took me out and said, "you need to talk to my clerks now." i did. the clerks were all conservative clerks who had marked me as a liberal. i was the christian,

both george washington and james madison used the word urkel to describe the outcome. it is a surprise in the american people take a view of their presidential office to an appropriate degree of dignity and success. it is difficult for us today with 225 years of constitutional history to conceive what a remarkably innovative and novel idea of the presidential idea was. the great ideas l'enfant but in the 18th century, they were in their heyday and it wasn't clear in their president could rival the world's royalty and

they say certainly not something james madison or ben franklin was thinking about, it's a frightening weapon that could take on a whole regiment of british soldiers or continentals. unimaginable. all these old guys, we've got to go by original intent. does anybody think ben franklin was thinking get people the right to carry any kind of firepower they can put on their shoulder? of course he wasn't thinking that. because he had no imagination for something that existing, i don't think. i think it's reasonable. what do you think? >> that's right. that's why in this political environment here in colorado, we're going to have to ask those people who are running for office, are you okay with 100 bullet clip? is that reasonable to you? do you support that? we're going to hear all the excuses but we have to put that question to them. because i think most reasonable people will say this is insanity. when are we going to start looking at how other nations don't allow this. >> no, they don't. mark, let's look at this and react to this, mark halperin. how they have changed in the last 20 years o

it was not until james madison finally began to craft this idea of the independent presidency he could go to the american people independently now. i believe the four year term offers tremendous to build the because the art and people can feel very comfortable about assessing a president after four years. you have to be uncomfortable about whether he has had an adequate opportunity to show us what he can do. secondly, in this referendum presidential politics that i talk about, we don't have to worry too much about the guy in the wings because we only have four years. how much damage can he do? suppose there were six years as suppose that after one year you realize that this guy was incompetence or worse. you got five years. that's going to generate a lot of civic anxiety which can be destabilizing. i think a four year term, i equate it to come apart me for going into this analogy, it's in the book. i got slammed by the reviewer on amazon on this. i kind of compare it to 90 feet between the faces -- bases in baseball. that gives equilibrium to the game because it just, of the talent you

. >> alexander hamilton, james madison, kevin bleyer, what inspired you to rewrite the constitution?s well taken. a little comic irreverence is different from being disrespectful. i'll tell you what inspired me to rewrite the constitution, the founders themselves. let's not forget, they were a bit irrev rent themselves. they were sent to do a few nicks and tucks and thomas jefferson told me i had to rewrite this constitution. why did he say that? he said that every constitution naturally expires after 19 years. by his math, not mine, our constitution has been in his words expired for over 200 years. i feel bad i'm just getting to it now. it should have been rewritten 11 times by now. i've been slacking for far too long. >> you have. and we were going to mention that. it is extraordinary. thomas jefferson said every 19 years it should be rewritten. if congress can't agree on how to reduce the deficit and the debt, really, tackling a new constitution? how is that going to go? >> you're right, a unilateral >> you're right, a unilateral page one rewrite by a citizen [ bell ringing ] ♪ in

all of a suddewere in this race beten two future presidents, james madison, james monroe debatg twot pot ct t die lde. l a sudden you're in the next page and there in the first congress. i said we should bury the lead. i decided iwould read everything i could abt the election. i thought no one had ever written anythingbout t e sugvl t inoculation of george washington. but many people don't know is when he tookthe th of office, two of the 13 states were outside the union. north carolina and rhode island bee hecnti tonut in the bill of rights. i guarantee of fundamenlism. this is common for the anti-federalist. the common denominator of which james monroe was born was that th oose thcostutio nye ofdfent gl some of them generally believe he could not havsome of them gee he could not have u angles. some of them generally believe he could not have union that covered the different states. they believe they may be independent states or perhaps we shall conferates,jm on aniert iond his objective to the constitution was centered around this in the bill of rights. while washington to the oath

but certaly john adams, james madison i think represent the center of that. but i would include jefferson. m a very strong jever zonian in many ways. aspects of hamilton and jefferson and hamilton were supposed to be opposed but in many ways they were not pposed. washington, patrick henry, sam adams, james otis, roger sherman. that group, and i refer to all of them as you know, many times in the book, represented this consensus of ideas i was jus discussing. >> you have a footnote in here and i'm trying to find it because i underlined it, that a breakdown on all the religions that the founding fathers belonged to. were they all religious people? >> no. not all of them. and, of course, being religious means different things to different people. the footnote to which you refer is a calculation by a man named w.w. sweet, who was a scholar of these matter, who looked at the formal religious affiliations of the foundingfathers. and this goes, again, to the question of the way we are taught our history, and maybe it would be useful if i might, just to mention what

one way, then you have to doith the faht hn tharf e tmof constitution, alexander hamilton and james madison, the to leading interpreters of the constitution in the federalist, where at each other's throats over whether the federal governme had the right to establish a bank of thunited stat. haltongt. tt dn.out of that fight came out party system. the chapter in the book is called one nation conceived in argent. and i couldn't resist quoti my friend, the legal schoarh idtsi n heigis seem to rid their jurisprudence any idea that i knew the founders, the founders wee friends of mine, i know how they think. [laughter] and i arguthat this approach adttis nnty i even challenge the originalists on originalists grounds, for those of you who are interested in these matters. hamilton and calais were visionaries. they were advocates of what heclalhiouldca al program the american system. why did he call it the american system? he called that because you want to distinguish it from the british syem, and the british system was based on laissez-faire. and he sa the meric y omngfe,us adsall our republican

both george washington and james madison you in is the word merkel to decide the outcome. it isn't surprising the american people to get proprietary view of the office and demand inappropriate degree of dignity and success. it's difficult for us today with to enter the 25 years of constitutional history at our backs to conceive a remarkably innovative novel idea of the presidency was. the great kings of the world are long gone now but in the 18th century of the time of the nation's birth they were in their heyday and it wasn'tclear the world's rivalry and dignity. but americans, having been handed a gift of the presidency never doubted it that's because the president isa product of themselves in a way no keen loroupe minister could ever be. that is one reason why the american presidency stirs so much interest for the broad populist and why perhaps so many americans have always been captivated by the white house reading game. plus the game is more to be the diversion and actually can tell something about how the president might succeed or fail and how they get crushed by hi

done looking up at a sky filled with fireworks, take a moment to look back down and pity poor james madisonhe delegates at the constitutional convention in philadelphia took a recess to celebrate independence day with illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, madison didn't go. he didn't feel he had earned them. because the real fireworks that summer, they were inside the pennsylvania state house. the delegates had been stuck in the humid, unventilated assembly room for six weeks trying to write a new constitution to save our beleaguered country. yet they had nothing to show for it. well, nothing except back stabbing, flared tempers and dramatic fits thrown by a bunch of overheated oxygen-deprived men in tight britches and powdered wigs. it's now known as the miracle at philadelphia. but honestly the miracle was that they didn't strangle each other by august. and come september, the miracle constitution they signed, well, benjamin franklin himself said, "i expect no better and because i am not sure that it is not the best." not exactly a rousing endorsement. and a sentiment

and it has its highest point currently with this demonstration, but one time in the past james madisonaid the charity of the executive would come in the future. interesting observation. so, taking along this idea of a movement among what is going to be the mechanism for the architecture of this movement? .. and we have to use that ability. we have to recognize that we can mobilize in the streets. we can use civil disobedience. we can do sit-ins and we certainly have done them and our congressional offices. there are a lot of things we can do and we have to do more of them. and i do think that the occupy movement gives us a lot of new energy and thank goodness for the occupy movement giving up a lot of younger people. [applause] way too many people in the peace movement happened from the vietnam generation, including myself, and it is so important that we get this just energized by the younger generation and that that is happening now. and i tried to put us in the context of the larger war economy, because that is what it is and i think what the occupy movement is focusing on is the pro

whitehouse: madam president, 1822, the founding father james madison wrote a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. a vote for disclose is a vote to arm the people with the power that knowledge gives. to arm them with the popular information about elections, information necessary to prevent this great popular government of ours from becoming a special interest farce. information necessary to protect this democracy from the tragedy, as john mccain predicted, the scandal that will result. give the american people the information they need to be their own governors. vote for disclose. i yield back the remainder of our time. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: 40 straight months of unemployment above 8%, a debt the size of our economy, and our friends in the majority want to get us to pass a bill that ever