brian: james madison and the more you read about him and understand what a genius he was let alone as president what he did. >> federalist paper. all amazing the folks did. the media was different, too. brian: they were hostile. >> we have always had a robust first amendment and freedom of the press. brian: diplomat these days. robust. that's a good word. jefferson somewhat accomplished. secretary of state vice president. >> with west point and harvard. i know they slipped in some history and, of course, west living and breathing history. what do you think of this former secretary of state tirnd turned vice president? >> it's pretty remarkable. think back to these times i was reminded he had a staff of 7 or 8. i wonder what that government shutdown looked like when you 7 people. amazing leader and incredibly smart and left a

madam speaker, james madison believed that representative government did more than cater to individualnterests. he said one of its key advantages was that it refined and enlarged the public view about the common good. for the last 40 years, c-span has been an irreplaceable tool for accomplishing madison's vision. i know i speak for the whole house in congratulating c-span for four decades of coverage. i yield back. [applause] >> once, tv was simply three giant networks and a government-supported service called pbs. then an unusual service with a small name decided to roll out in america. let viewers decide, all on their own, what was important to them. brings you unfiltered coverage from congress and beyond. this was true people power. in the 40 years since, the landscape has clearly changed. there is no monolithic media, broadcasting has given way to narrowcasting, youtube stars are a thing. but c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports c-span. on television and online, c-span is your unfiltered view of government, so you can make up your own min

madam speaker, james madison believed that representative government did more than cater to individual interests. he said one of its key advantages was that it refined and enlarged the public view about the common good. for the last 40 years, c-span has been an irreplaceable tool for accomplishing madison's vision. i know i speak for the whole house in congratulating c-span for four decades of coverage. i yield back. >> 1979, a small network with an unusual name rolled out a big idea. let viewers decide on their own what was important to them. the doors to policymaking for all to see, bringing you unfiltered content from congress and beyond. in the age of power to the people, this was true power. media.s no monolithic c-span's big idea is more relevant today than ever. no government money supports it. a by television and online, c-span is your unfiltered view of government, so you can make up your own mind. here is some of our live coverage wednesday. the house returns to legislative work at noon eastern to debate the paycheck fairness act that aims to close the salary gap for women an

madam speaker, james madison believed that representative government did more than cater to individual interests. he said one of its key advantages was that it refined and enlarged the public view about the common good. for the last 40 years, c-span has been an irreplaceable tool for accomplishing madison's vision. i know i speak for the whole house in congratulating c-span for four decades of coverage. i yield back. >> no government money support c-span. its nonpartisan coverages sponsored by your cable or satellite provider. on television, online, c-span is your unfiltered view of government so you can make up your own mind. >> in a minute, we will watch house debate from today on overwriting president trump's veto. then, former california governor arnold schwarzenegger and former attorney general eric holder discuss their efforts to end political gerrymandering. then, law enforcement and mental health officials testify about proposed legislation that would allow a ban on certain people buying or owning guns. >> c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues

of the council of economic advisers, and since the late 1980's was professor at princeton, the james madisonlitical economy. alan krueger was 58. we are joined by peter coy and michael mckee, both of whom knew turface or kruger over minute -- new professor kruger over several decades. peter, he was obviously known as a labor economist, among other things, and it great work from terrorism related economics to the gig economy. what are your best memories of alan? peter: he had a stellar career. he was the chief economist in delivered apartment under president clinton, the head of the council of economic advisers under president obama. labor economics was his specialty, but i would say what he is probably most women but for is his work on the minimal wage, finding that contrary to what you will find in any economy 101 textbook up until his work, it is not true that raising minimum wage necessarily kills jobs. he looked across the border between new jersey and pennsylvania as the natural experiment. one raised minimum wage, and one didn't, invest food. he found they did not have -- in fast food.

james madison, not a fan 81 year after he wrote that john you'ins e quincy adams became president.1876 and 188, which make grover cleveland so mad he reclaimed the office reporters felt could be stolen from him. reform efforts continue. a senator came within a few votes to abolish the elect tractor-trailer college. in 1968, his effort committed 80% approval. one year later, the house of representatives voted overwhelmingly, even president nixon was on board, it was filibustered in the senate. all of this was more or less forgotten until 2000. by that time, we were all getting a little used to the depressing idea if you don't live in a hand. of swing states, your vote should be taken for granted. the national vote interstate exact. it's simple? states pass elections to vote for the popular vote. so for 12 states passed it. colorado last week. it has report from republicans as well as democrats. they won't kick in until they hit 270 votes. this will face a court challenge. it won't be based on allocating the elect tores. the big question is whether it's constitutional look, trump bot

james madison the main framer who was as much of the believer in democracy is anybody in the world that they nevertheless felt that the united states' system should be designed and indeed was his initiative was designed so that power should be in the hands of the wealthy . because the wealthier there are more responsible set of men and therefore the structure of the formal constitutional system placed most power in the hands of the senate or the senate was not elected in those days it was selected from the wealthy men as madison put it had sympathy for property owners in their right. to read the debates at the constitutional convention. madison the major concern of the society has to be to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. and here argument suppose everyone had to vote freely and say well the majority of the poor get together and they would organize to take away the property of the rich and he said that would obviously be unjust so you can't have that so therefore the constitutional system has to be set up to prevent democracy. which is of some interest that this

noah that as a young man at james madison high school i remember walking to class with a transistor radio to my ear. course i will have to explain to him what a transistor radio is. listening to the news reports that june about the six-day war. hem that israel wouldn't be washed into the sea. there is a great u.s. ambassador to israel who bravely came to lecture at my college well the sdf dlp was waging a campaign against zionist imperialist, saying israel had no right to exist. when they tried to shout him down, he said, you certainly cheer when anyone else gets a state but you do not cheer when the jewish people achieve their dream of the homeland. anti-zionist slinks out in shame. i will tell noah that as an adult i watched my grandfather, noah's great-grandfather, one of the few in his larger family to survive the holocaust because he was lucky enough to come to america become overwhelmed by emotion and break down in tears when he saw eric israel -- israel for the first time. noah just like many of you will tell your children and grandchildren over pesach that this is the bread of aff

young tell noah that as a man in james madison high school, i remember walking to class with a transistor radio to my ear -- of course, i will have to explain to him what a transistor radio is -- listening to the news report about the six-day war praying that israel would not be washed into the sea . i will tell noah that there was a great and articulate ambassador to the human -- the human -- the united nations who bravely came to lecture at my college while a campaign was being waged against "zionist imperialists," saying israel had no right to exist. how when they tried to shout said youspeaker, he and pointed to them in the balcony -- you certainly cheer when anyone else gets a say, but you do not cheer when the jewish people achieve their dream of a anti-zioniststhe slinked out in shame. i will tell you noah that as an adult, i watch my grandfather, one of the few in his larger family to survive the holocaust because he was lucky enough to come to america, become overwhelmed by emotion and when hen in tears sought israel for the first time. , just like many of you will tell your chil

we have proven james madison right again and again and again. but that's what the document was written for. it wasn't written for sunny days it was written for cloudy ones. randy, use your book. >> i just, can i just say quickly i know i'm in richmond because there's a guy with a bow tie and pocket square on saturday morning. okay. >> mitch, i would like to thank you for your writings and your words because i have found that personally they have given me hope. >> thank you. >> if there's one structural change you could implement in the american political system of restore some of the concept of common good what would that be. >> that is a great question, thank you for your kind words. i never thought i would get this geeky which i know is surprising to you. i honestly believe now that if you could go into each state and draw congressional districts that were driven and not politically driven. you all can take this word for it. the one thing that gary is known for is garimandering. and we call it gerrymandering. the poor son of. i asked president

he received the james madison freedom of information award for his coverage of the leaning millennium >> well deserved. he has some very good investigative pieces for us. we have a friday morning forecast before we go. >> it's going to start out chilly with some mid 40s. and then reach into the upper 60s and low 70s. we have a nice weekend ahead. more sunshine and highs in the 70s. >> and st. patrick's day weekend of the weather. thanks for joining us. >> bye-bye. >> announcer: and now a message from beto o'rourke >> jimmy: hi, i'm beto o'rourke. and i'm excited. [ cheers and applause that's it, i'm just excited. [ laughter ] oh, yeah i'm also running for pre

structure defined by checks and balances, the separation of powers, -- powers, from the mind of james madison. >>> article 1, the power to legislate, including appropriating funds. as every great -- grade school student, high school, college student, congress writes the laws, the president's job is to enforce them. the congress has the power of the purse, if the president wants to pay for something, he needs to get funding from the legislative branch, that is article 1, unfortunately, president trump has undermined the basic principles, after making a campaign pledge to build a wall along the southern border, 2000 miles long, and promising that mexico would pay for, which was simply a device that his campaign folks gave him to remember to bring up the issue, and later it morphed into a policy, he was met with a dose of reality, that mexico is not going to pay for, and neither was congress. polls show that the american people do not want to pay billions of dollars for a vanity project when immigration is at historic lows, it would do nothing to stop drugs being smuggled in through ports of ent

majorities and that's exactly what i think these democratic initiatives are about it's just as james madison said in the federal space that you noted even if every athenian citizen was a socrates the collection of all would still be a mob which is why we do put on checks because men are not angels and we need to make ambition counteract ambition and the democrats want to throw all that out the window in this quest for a limitless power and a government into a steamroller that crushes all minorities anybody who would be a non-conformist you know ok let's talk about conformity when do you mean ever since always see came in to play in other people like her and her freshman classes that were in congress and i see the the rhetoric moving further and further to the left i mean that makes bernie sanders look like a moderate ok and nancy pelosi like a you know a fossil i mean what is going on here because it seems to me that there's a level of rhetoric that is intimidating and is pulling your people way way to the left i mean i mean crazy left talking about some of these things and what i worry abou

partisan newspapers touted james madison and andrew jackson margo how does the volume and valar city of today's media imperil news consumers ability to separate the news from the noise well i think it's. really difficult for news consumers today to to do exactly that which is to separate what's news and what is just information or entertainment and let's remember news organizations are guilty of giving out a lot of click bait in order to generate revenue in order to get clicks and to get eyeballs on videos and online stories and still attract revenue from advertising so i think it's a tough time to be a news consumer especially when you have this constant bombardment from social media the twitter feed which updates literally every millisecond and then on your facebook feed what's real what's news what's a legitimate source what's a bot now we have to be concerned with so i think it's tough to be a news consumer but i still think that there are traditional outlets out there even are online only publications which news consumers can turn to to ensure they're getting objective independe

james madison says that was too vague. a president would cook up a scheme of speck haitiulati other words, what if the president were a crook? george mason of virginia came up with the phrase, high crimes and misdemeanors, that's article two, section four of the constitution. there was a moment in our history when it saved american democracy but in other times, it turned into a cheap political trick as a weapon. which is it today? to answer that question, we need to understand the past so we know whether impeachment will work when we really need it. >> people are seriously talking about impeachment. >> they'll immediately try to impeach the president. >> well on our way into impeachment. >> the word impeachment was used by our account at least 12,000 times in 2018. that's just on cable news. >> i say impeachment, impeachment. >> impeachment! >> thousands are in the street out here this evening. this was just one day after donald trump was elected president. the out cry is hardly surprising. donald trump is the most po pola

writings of the founding fathers, this is ultimately clear, i want to read to you something that james madison said regarding the state's authority, especially when it comes to elections. he said the power's delegated by the constitution to the federal government are few and defined. those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. the powers reserved to several states will extend to all objects which in the ordinary course of affairs concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people. and the internal order improvement and prosperity of the state. they can could not be clearer that the states should be the ones setting the laws regarding elections. this would totally undermine hat. at this time, mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to my good friend and colleague from georgia, mr. woodall. the chair: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. you, mr. l: thank chairman. i thank my friend from georgia for yielding the time. it's tough to get up and speak after the federalist papers have been referenced because they do go to the core of who we'r

i should point out james madison wrote the constitution, the father of the constitution.d things for our country. >> and the federalist papers too. >> absolutely. we could go on and on about the fourth president. mike viqueira there at the white house. our thanks to you. >>> joining me now is former new york democratic congresswoman elizabeth holtzman. she voted on impeachment proceedings against nixon. elizabeth is also the author of the great book, "the case for impeaching trump" and katie rogers and guy lewis. he served as the director of the executive office for united states attorney's in washington, d.c. providing guidance and oversight for all 93 u.s. attorneys. an all-star group right here with me on set. let's start with you, elizabeth, and house and ways -- the house intelligence committee, by the way, is going to have michael cohen back there behind closed door. they say they learned some new information in the last meeting that they had with him that said that they need to have him back. what could that possibly be? >> well, it probably has something to do wit

the comparison was james madison -- to having an outlet that basically is your point of view, full timelenging anything you say. >> it's amazing what's laid out about how fox news has changed along the way with donald trump and their standards. so they detail different moments with sean hannity. a perfect example, who is very close with the president, who in january of 2018 was at the border waiting for the president. the press corp. gets off the bus, he's there hugging secretary nielsen. he appeared at a campaign event in november of 2018. he was this close to being in an b event with the tea party in ohio when roger ales said no. there's a distinction between journalism and politic. that's gone. >> actual fox new, they're a news room then fox opinion, which is much, much bigger. >> and more powerful. >> frank tlily, the news part has been shrinking. the reason this matters is because the president has these reenforcements no matter how bad the scandals get. he has these supporters on fox and they help hold the wall for him in order to keep his support from eroding. >> he didn't have t

monarch would be because that's a human being, but beginning with plato running all the way through james madison, a republic is in fact the most human undertaking. our dispositions of yours and mine matter in the public square. the presidency has been most effective not when a president has come down like a marvel super hero, but when someone in power has reflected the voices of the powerless. when the president of the united states curses in front of x thousands of people, he is reflecting a broader degradation of the culture. it's up to us to make possible to incentivize leaders to try to return to a certain dignity and a certain kind of reason. do we really believe, does reason tell us that there are caravan coming to take away what we have. if it does, there is a rational political response. you can support the president. if that seems to you overheat and perhaps mighty convenient, it probably is. my argument is, one of the essential elements of citizenship is to take data, weigh it, and don't just reflex uppive ively follow one or the other, but make up your mind to make the broad broader e

and it is crucial with james madison to recognize an federalist 51 if you first enable the government to control the governed and then to fight a war on the soil and then to operate for decades under the confederation. the audit constitutional correction established for a new form of government then to agree on the constitution and with the executive and judicial branches to protect against the concentration of power to allow each branch to balance the others. as we see from time to time the founders recognize that. and with a constitutional convention and then what type of government was created? you have a republic if you can keep it. some people think politicians are responsible for keeping the republic but franklin spoke to an ordinary citizen. a woman who at the time did not even have the right to vote. but he said it was her responsibility, not hers to keep the republic. lesson is a constitutional republic depends on people or citizens conscientiously acquiring the rules. and not to enforce the rule of law we respect that because of the result of a fair process and the objective

people think that twitter will destroy james madison, and jefferson funneled money out of the public treasury to fund an opposition newspaper to his president. it sounds like something that would happen with the brother-in-law and the sons of trump. ask michael cohen, he will tell you, he probably wrote that check. [laughter] just because it happened before does not mean it has not happened now. i'm not being dismissive of the current problem but i think the beginning of an informed citizenship and the beginning of a lowered blood pressure which enables us to think, as opposed to react, begins with a historical understanding. ofbegins with the great gift proportion that history offers. i want to talk about three quick things that i think are some characteristics that come out of our historical consideration of how we can think. theame them in terms of leaders of the era, but in point right, and them republic is the sum of all of us, we need to apply this ourselves. era ofst is that any broader public achievement and leadership,nd great has been marked by a sense of curiosity. when yo

was fundamental to frame the w generation that they understood partisan gerrymandering firsthand james madison was intended target of gerrymandering by patrick henry he complained about it bitterly so to george washington. neither contemplated but hamilton actually suggested to john jay the federalist should gerrymander the electoral college for there 1800 presidential election john jay said it wasn't a good idea all three authors of the federalist papers knew about and did not think it was a judicial solution. >> the case is submitted . >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. . >>

in it of course he lashed out the media, democratics, going after james madison. james madison.he conservative conference in maryland. all this on the heels of a tough week. no deal with kim jong-un and a public betrayal by michael cohen. among the word jumbled by the way, language not normally associated with the commander in chief. >> we had the greatest of all time. now we have people that lost and unfortunate unfortunately you put people in the wrong positions and they leave people for a long time that shouldn't be there and all of a sudden they're trying to take you out with [ bleep ], okay? >> so what was that? so joining our panel is jonathan allen, national political reporter for nbc news digital. i'll get you off the hook for a second and start with noah here on all of this. what was that? that speech, two hours, two minutes, 35 seconds, 16,666 words, ironically. what was that? >> well, i mean, the fact that -- if you can speak and can monologue for two hours, it's a rare skill. so i guess use it, why not. there was some moments in there that were incredibly confusing a

>> well you just laid out three l headlines that a lot of us who have a feeling that james madison ise than twitter athat this will work out. you had in the yemen vote, t. you can't get the house of representatives to agree on when to go to lunch. to have 12 republicans cross the aisle for the border wall is an interesting data point in this idea that, in fact, when the chips are truly down, there are people of conscious who are going to go on record who will not worry so much about the much vaunted because and will do the right thing. i think you saw that in three cases this week. >> yet, john, think of this. today, the president of the united states said there should be no mueller report and the president of the united states refused to take a swing at white nationalism. in both cases, we have baked it into the system where people just said, it's the president. >> right. we don't want to ever be in a position again, though i suspect some day we will be where you have to reflexively try to take limb out of equation. that's the way history works. that's the way reality works. enough p

in fact, beginning with plato and running all the way through james madison a republic is in fact most. our disposition are harden minds, matter in the public's square. the presidency has been most effective, when someone in power has truly reflected the voices of the powerless. when the power of the united states curses in front of x number of thousands of people. he's reflecting a broader d culture. it is up to us to make possible to incentivize leaders to try to return to a certain kind of dignity and a certain kind of reason. do we really believe? does caravans come into take away what we really have? if it does, there is a rational political respond. do we support the president? if that seems to you over heated and perhaps may be convenient? it probably is. my argument is to take data and weigh it and don't follow one person or another but make up our own minds and figure out what's the best vessel to make that broader experience come to past. >> to our audience, both of these gentlemen have agreed to stay with us as we fit in a break. when we come back, we'll talk about something

kind of horny for it. ( laughter ) i was really -- >> stephen: like for the constitution or for james madisonth amendment and he -- >> stephen: why? >> so the ninth amendment says... wait a second. ( cheers and applause ) the ninth amendment says that just because a certain right is not listed in the constitution, it doesn't mean we don't have that right. it's like awe little escape hatch where they said, "we understand that we are-- we don't know everything, and that in the future there, might be things we cannot imagine, and we're going to put this amendment here that says' don't assume because it's not in the constitution you don't have that right. '. it's wonderful. so that amendment-- ( applause ) yes, right? >> stephen: is that-- is that-- can i just ask you for a second? >> sure. >> stephen: why-- why that's wonderful to you? >> well, it's wonderful to me because it's the amendment that made birth control legal. it's the amendment that-- ( applause ) yes. >> stephen: is it that-- is it-- when i hear it, i think oh, basically the framers of the constitution are saying, "look, we haven't

>> well, you just laid out three headlines that a lot of us who have a feeling that james madison is ultimately more durable than twitter, and a kind of proto-totalitarianism. that this will work out. and you had in the yemen vote, in the mueller vote, as you said, you can't agree the house of representatives to agree on when to go to lunch, so to get 420 of them to agree on anything in this era is truly historic. and to have the border wall, to have 12 republicans cross the aisle is an interesting data point in this idea that, in fact, when the chips are truly down there are people of conscience who are going to go on record who will not worry so much about the much-vaunted base and will do the right thing. and i think you saw that in three cases this week. >> and yet, jon, think of this. today the president of the united states said there should be no mueller report, and the president of the united states refused to take a swing at white nationalism. and in both cases, we've baked it into the system where people just said, oh, it's the president. >> right. and we don't want to ever

james madison was clear that if the people are going to govern, we have to arm ourselves with the truth, the evidence and data about everything going none government. >> look at this new poll on impeachment, a cnn poll. according to our poll, support for impeachment has declined from 47% in september to 43% in december, all the way down to 36% today. 36%, you sit on the judiciary committee, the committee that would have to initiate impeachment proceedings, hearings. are those poll numbers a warning sign to democrats? >> i think those poll numbers are a reflection of the wisdom of the american people. impeachment is an extraordinary remedy that's used in cases of high crimes and misdemeanors against the american people and against our form of government. at this point, we don't have all of the evidence in. we don't have a case that's been made for impeachment. everybody wants us to be focused on the issues that the new democratic majority was elected to confront. high prescription drug prices. we want to bring those down. election reform, we want to guarantee everybody's right to vote. w

because they're functioning like wholly owned subsidiaries and not like those consistent with james madison's vision of the constitution so that's unfortunate. he presented evidence or reason to believe that there was tax fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud and electoral fraud and a whole host of other things he's probably discussing with the prosecutors from the southern district of new york. >> why corey? >> he falls on a list of individuals and entities that have either been interviewed by the special prosecutor or has fallen within the span of individuals of interests that outside investigators want to see. so they indicated we're going to reach out to either talk to or get documents from individuals that have already produced documents. so it's not a fishing expedition but part of our own responsibilities. he obviously has something to say about what may have taken place between the trump campaign and russia. >> there's nothing specific to him. it's about getting a feel for what you're looking into as part of oversight? >> that is correct. >> listen, i make the pledge to you and on the ot

but, in fact, beginning with plato running all the way through machiavelli and james madison, a republicundertaking because our dispositions in heart and mind are in the public square. the presidency has been most effective when someone in power has truly reflected the voices of the powerless. and so when the president of the united states curses in front of x number of thousands of people, he's really reflecting a broader degradation of the culture. so it's up to us to make possible, to incentivize leaders to return to a certain kind of dignity and reason. do we really believe, does reason tell us that caravans to take away what we have? if it does, then there's a rational political response. you can support the president. if that seems to you overheated and perhaps mighty convenient, it probably is. my argument is one of those essential elements of citizenship is to take data, weigh it, and don't just reflex i havely follow one or another, but make up our own minds and what's the best vessel to make that come to pass. >> both of these gentlemen will stay with us. we'll talk about the t

george mason objected to the pardon power on the ground that it was too broad to which james madisonat's og, we'll impeach anybody who aputibuc ab power. when we think the president has overstepped the bounds of presidential authority in a way that transgresses the rule of law, destroys the checks and balances, attacks the free press, for example, that is, i think, a suitable ground for impeachment and actually a superior one in some ways. >> two questions quickly, paul. do you think we're there? >> think we're close. i certainly think that it would not be outrageous for the house of representatives to impeach. i certainly think that president trump has engaged in conduct that is comparable to if not more significant than clinton's onyx son's a or nixon's. and they were both impeached. >> do you think there's too much of a sigma attached to the notion of the impeachment process? not removal from office. because impeachment is different than the ultimate consequence of that. but do you think there's too stu much of a stigma around the process? >> i think it's exactly what the congress

something that was unknown previously the generation understood partisan gerrymandering firsthand james madison was the intended target by patrick henry he complained about it bitterly so did george washington neither contemplated that hamilton actually suggested to john jay the federalist should partisan gerrymander the electoral college for the 1800 presidential election >> tonight on afterwards, former tripadvisor george papadopoulos details his role in the 2016 presidential campaign and his book opens -- "come at the state target: how i got caught in the crosshairs of the plot to bring down president trump." i was actively trying to leverage what i thought were these man's connections to russia. because i believe there was an interest in the campaign for candidate trump to meet with cooking. you believe it was a prime for policy effectively came. >> by the time i turn the campaign, donald trump had been espousing for months the need to work with russia at a geopolitical, economic level, to combat isis. tonight "afterwards," on 9 p.m. eastern on book tv on c-span two. get to know the freshme

james madison was the target of a partisan gerrymandering by patrick henry. he complained about it. so did george washington. hamilton suggested to john jay the federalists ought to gerrymander the electoral college for the 1800s -- 1800 presidential election. all authors of the federalist papers new there was a judicial solution. >> the case is submitted. announcer: next, your calls and comments on washington journal. then, c-span interviews with new members of congress. live, beto o'rourke kicking off his campaign in el paso, texas. book tv has coverage of the virginia festival of the book from charlottesville with other discussions on music and social movement, race, politics and crime in america. book, mayoday with a we forever stand. biographers david blight on frederick douglass and raymond arsenault discussing -- does marsh with, can i get a witness? and jason reynolds with his book long way down. watch coverage of the virginia festival of the book today at 1:00 p.m. eastern on book tv on c-span2. allison klein talks about the trump administration budget cuts for 2020. carol

the enforcement mechanism is crucial as james madison recognized in federalist 51, because you must first enable the government to control the governed and in the next place oblige it to control itself. the founders of our nation well understood that challenge. first, they fought a war on their own soil to break foreign monarch. then they operated for a decade be under the articles of confederation with the weak central government that proved incapable of fulfilling its obligations. so in 1787, the constitutional convention met in philadelphia to establish the foundational rules for a new form of government. the founders agreed on a written constitution establishing a system that divides government power among the legislative, executive and judicial branches. the system protects against the concentration of power by allowing each branch to check and balance the others. sometimes it's a messy system, as we see played out time to time not too far away on capitol hill. the founders recognized that. when benjamin franklin was walking home from the constitutional convention a woman named eliza

but they are not exactly thomas jefferson and james madison. the problem with this is that the house had passed an amendment, 1982, the boland amendment, which reagan had signed. which said, which prevented the united states government, the executive branch, whatever words you want to use, from overthrowing the sandinista government. so, this news breaks --did anyone catch how it broke? how it came out? >> in a magazine in lebanon. prof. tudda: of all places, a random act of journalism in lebanon. and then it comes into the u.s. papers. in november of 1986. right around the time of the midterm elections. reagan, six years of his term, odds are that the democrats will take over. they do. this explodes onto the national scene. because, if the house passes something, you're not supposed to go around it, right? so, you have two controversial parts. dealing with terrorists and then diverting the money for something we are not really supposed to be doing. now, what is the loophole? the loophole that in reality prevents any serious, serious real talk