but i still think that -- mcgovern can pull on the party is not over in the title and mcgovern can draw presumably on this pool of democrats. where did they go? >> you know what, i think we tend, very understandably because the way the nixon presidency ended, we tend to overlook, and in fact to minimize, nixon's achievement in forging, in effect, a new political consensus. by 1972 r for a whole host of reasons, including a counterreaction to the civil rig rights revolution, to the antiwar movement, i mean the silent majority was real whatever you think about it. and knicnixon, very skillfully, played to their fears, but also their notions of american exceptionalism. and mcgovern rather haplessly was sent over from central casting in some ways. he was a kwauz si academic. he was a war hero and -- >> but there was another war going on. and there's a moment in that campaign where mcgovern is asked on "meet the press" or one of these shows, you say you'll get us out of vietnam. what about our p.o.w.s and he sneers and rolls his eyes and he said i'll go there on my knees if necessary. he doe

ever. >> reporter: mcgovern fell into a one month coma.is entire family flew out from ireland to be next to his bedside. it took months for mcgovern to learn how to walk and talk again. meanwhile the association suspended power for playing from 96 weeks. police arrested him last september on suspicion of felony battery but he was later released and no charges have been filed since. san francisco district attorney george gascon says the case is still pending and he has two more years to decide whether or not to prosecute. the d.a. released a statement to ktvu says we encourage anyone with information to please come forward and contact the san francisco police department. meanwhile mcgovern struggles with his speech and has been forced to give up his dream job in environment seautys. >> i've had to put aside my education. >> reporter: he has dizzy spells, is prone to anger and has trouble concentrating. doctors told mcgovern that he will never be able to play futbol again because the risk for injury is too high. he does remain dedicated to t

december the 2nd will be george mcgovern. what pops out. >> the media says george mcgovern and his commission rewrote the rules by which the democratic parties nominated its candidates. >> 1972. >> 1972, he was the immediate beneficiary of that. but in a broader sense, mcgovern is in this tradition that you can take back to steven son, back to william jennings bryan.k to william jennings bryan.steve to william jennings bryan. anti-war strain. oversimplified to say the left wing of 9 democrthe democrat i . >> they began to look at the race so tactically. mcgovern gave his speech at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. he picked twrong vice president. he's the campaign when we start to pay very close attention to the mechanics. and the fact that he loses in a land slide doesn't change that. we're hooked on process. and that's one unlikely legacy of mcgovern. >> i think of getting only 38% of the vote. that was a catastrophe. that's probably the lowest percentage in a two party race in a century. and here is this guy that did not run a go

he believes the nixon folks realized there was this plan to stop mcgovern, was going to stop mcgoverne state of texas and lo and behold, what spencer oliver believes to this day is that nixon, getting this information, didn't tell former governor john conley at the time, still a democrat, who eventually, of course, switches parties. says, hey, you've got to guarantee that mcgovern gets some delegates at the texas state democratic convention. so quite the -- >> there was a wild, unknown part of this larger story. >> exactly. tomorrow i'm going to have a longer -- i'm going to have a longer conversation with woodstein and it's a fascinating talk that i think folks will enjoy. >> well, class will be in session tomorrow with professor chuck todd on the watergate scandal. i as a student of history really appreciate it. i know our views do too. enjoe mix mexico while you're working. >>> our political panel will be here next to kick off the week. what is romney's next step in the immigration debate, and who is on top? plus, the looming health care ruling from the supreme court. could today b

so we got the mcgovern fraser. george mcgovern, south dakota senator, and minnesota rep donald fraser. together, they worked to come up with a set of reforms and rules where women, young voters and minorities would be represented in proportion to the population to the 1970s -- 72, just four years later, 40% of the delegates in miami at the convention were women. that was my first convention. i was a telex operator for "newsweek." i worked in our suite in the fountain blue hotel, and i was really starry eyed. it was wonderful to watch the politicians, and politicians to me were stars and celebs. in a way they still are. in 1968, 13% of the delegates were women, so that gives you an idea of how much reform occurred in that four years. so, george mcgovern, i live in a little vacuum myself. i thought everybody i knew supported george mcgovern, and i was rather shocked when he didn't win. but he got the nomination based on the rules he had devised and written, much like dick cheney getting the vice presidential nod afte

mcgovern: mr. speaker, before i begin, i'd just like to point out to my colleagues that i don't want them to get -- be under the misimpression that somehow this republican leadership is somehow conducting an open and transparent process. last count they have given us 41 completely closed rules and that's not even getting into the number of structured rules we've had. i would be a little bit more humble before i would brag about the open process in this house. i rise in opposition to this rule which combines two unrelated appropriations bills, transportation, housing and urban development and the agriculture appropriations bills. and this rule also concedes that the house republicans will not finish all of their appropriations bills on time. under the house rules, the house cannot adjourn for more than three days in a row in july unless all the appropriation bills are finished. section 4 in this rule is an omission that the republican leadership hasn't met this threshold. mr. speaker, i oppose this

mcgovern: i will not. the fact that democrats have been locked out of having any of their witnesses come forward, this is not about gun walking. this is not about finding the terrible truth about what happened to agent terry. this is about politics plain and simple. and it diminishes this house. i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. holmes norton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. any doubt that today's contempt resolution is political was put to rest when the n.r.a. joined in to blow torch vulnerable democrats to vote for contempt today. the gun lobby is directly responsible for the gap in federal law that allowed purchases of guns here that were sold in mexico and ultimately for the tragic death of a border agent. yet our committee spent no time on the root cause of the tragedy because of a political mandate from the gun lobby. instead, after the majority failed to get dumont

because if this had come out he felt like maybe he could prevail against mcgovern so it would probably beat him musky it was quite what it was it was simply more of an appealing candidate to middle america you know i personally voted for mcgovern my first presidential vote but i mean must he have broader appeal that's why the howard hunt had three teams there were two other dirty tricks teams criminal activities against musky so but they had to get this dossier to see what it said i mean if they knew what it said then if the democrats have. it they could possibly spin it a certain way or put out something nixon had to try to fake cables showing that j.f.k. had ordered the assassination of the prime minister of south vietnam in november of sixty three i mean just the fake cables and see that never made sense to people before now it does so there was nixon was worried it would come out that he was trying to assassinate a foreign leader so one way to knock yourself out of j.f.k. was trying to assassinate a foreign leader too and he actually had tried to fake tables that would show that ni

george mcgovern, i lived in a little vacuum myself. i thought everybody i knew supported george mcgovern and i was rather shocked when he didn't win. he got the nomination based on the rules, he had devised and written a little bit like dick chaney getting the president issue nod after leading the search committee. he lost in the rather major way. he only carried massachusetts and the district of columbia. so what came out of that? 1976 jimmy carter saw what george mcgovern did. he saw the opening in iowa. he spent the better part of the year, probably, sleeping on couches and peoples' bedrooms and getting known by the people of iowa. joy i did powell's memorial service a couple of years ago president caterer told the story of how difficult it was to get any press in iowa, as the former governor from georgia and he said finally joe i did scored a television spot early in the morning. they're drive together tv studio and she says, by the way, jimmy. do you have any favorite recipes? well they get there. it's a cooking show. and the host

in 1972 clinton is passed by george mcgovern to run texas for mcgovern, which adds loss causes go, is one of the great loss causes. [laughter] texas from a government, hopeless. who was the only alley they thought they had? lyndon johnson except he wasn't sure he'd could form a government either. the day comes when mcgovern and then tom eagleton go to the ranch right after the convention but before they realized eagleton might not be the best vice president of candidate. bill clinton and the co-chairman of texas for mcgovern and tailor branch who eventually would be clinton's direst kind of, sort of, had to flip a coin about which one of them accompanies mcgovern and eagleton to the ranch to see johnson. clinton does the coin toss so tailor brings back from the meeting, which did not go well by the way, a signed picture for clinton of lbj so that's as close as clinton got to meeting lbj but what's great about the american presidency as we all remember if we saw the motorcade, ronald reagan remembers he saw fdr on the back of the train somewhere in iowa. i think was des moines. i would

in 1972, clinton is tapped by george mcgovern to rent texas for mcgovern, which has the north causeso is one of the great lost causes, texans for mcgovern. who was the only ally they thought they had running texas click. so the day comes when the governor when the governor and then tom eagleton goes to the ranch, right after the convention before they realize it may not be the best vice presidential candidate. bill clinton, cochairman for mcgovern and taylor branch, who would eventually be the direst kind of sort of has to flip a coin about which one of them accompanies mcgovern and people tend to the ranch to see john's been. clinton loses the coin toss. and so taylor brings back from the meeting, which did not go well, by the way, a signed picture for clinton and lbj. so that is as close as clinton got to meeting a bj. but is great about the american presidency as we all remember, even if it's a motorcade going by her first president. ron reagan remembers he saw fdr in the back of the train somewhere in iowa. i think it was des moines. he said a german event as i mentioned before.

nixon's men used information from the tap to sabotage the democratic primary and ensure george mcgovern's nomination. >> it was a major coup by nixon within the democratic party to destroy it and divide it and to nominate the weakest candidate. >> reporter: at the time the white house tried to dismiss the break-in as a third-rate burglary but "the washington post" reporters bob woodward and carl bernstein began to tie top nixon aides to a massive coverup that had begun before the burglary. as senate hearings began in 1973 white house counsel john dean said nixon knew about the coverup. then another bombshell the revelation of a secret white house taping system. after a long battle the supreme court ordered nixon to turn over the tapes. one crucial tape had an 18 1/2-minute audio gap. what nixon actually said on that tape is the last remaining secret of watergate following the 2005 revelation of deep throat's real identity. four decades later watergate still casts a cultural shadow. a scandal is nothing until the word "gate" is attached to it even in the world of sports. the reporters who

but i support congressmen jim mcgovern. i had wished, in fact, that we had scraped up the host of issues at the top. people who have been killed with no examination with clear sense that there's been government involvement. and i think that that concerns me. could i say two other things at the outset which will not be for any of us happy news, but i think it is important that we put them on the record now as we take a look at what we are facing ahead. one of those is us. i couldn't agree more with the job that dan has taken and taken the burden off everybody else's shoulders. but we should not forget that we have people permanently in detention in the united states. it is not in my view in accordance with the constitution or with our rights and it is something we ought to face up to. my feeling is that they deserve trials. i don't like military commissions, but i think that the administration has made a serious effort to make military commissions as much like district courts as they can. i disagree why we aren't using our d

operative told to look for evidence tying fidel castro to democratic presidential candidate george mcgovern at age 90 martinez regrets what he did. >> the whole thing was one stupid thing after the other. how could i feel proud of it? >> reporter: martinez and his fellow burglars were being supervised from this command post in room 73 all to make sure nobody was coming on the sixth floor of the watergate where the dnc had its headquarters. democratic operative r. spencer oliver's phone was the only one the burglars successfully tapped. oliver says nixon then used information from the tap to sabotage the democratic primary and ensure george mcgovern's nomination. >> it was a major coup by them within the democratic party to weaken it. >> reporter: at the time the white house tried to dismiss it as a third-rate burglary but "the washington post" reporters began to tie top nixon aides to a massive coverup. white house counsel john dean said nixon told about the coverup. then another bombshell. the revelation of a secret white house taping system. after a long battle the supreme court ordered n

i support congressman jim mcgovern.wish, in fact, that we had scraped up a host of issues that meant misty represented the top. people have been killed with no examination, with clear sense that there has been government involvement. i think that that concerns me. can i say to other things at the outset, which will not, i think, for be any of us happiness. i think it is important that we put them on the record now as we take a look at what we are facing ahead. one of those is us. i could not agree more with the job that dan has undertaken and taking the burden off everybody else's shoulders. but we should not forget that we have people permanently in detention in the united states. it is not in my view and in accordance with the constitution or with rights, and it is something that we ought to face up to. my feeling is that they deserve trials. i don't like military commissions, but i think that the administration has made a serious effort to make military commissions as much like district courts as they can. i disagree

texans for mcgovern. hopeless. who was the only ally they felt they had? lyndon johnson except he wasn't sure eager. that they comes when the government and tom eagleton go to the ranch and he might not be the best vice-presidential candidate. bill clinton, co-chairman of texans for mcgovern and taylor branch eventually be clinton's direst talk about which one accompany the government and eagleton to the ranch? clinton loses the coin toss the taylor brings back from the meeting which did not go well a signed picture of lbj. that is as close as clinton got to meeting lbj. was great about the american presidency is we all remember when or if we saw even a motorcade going by so ronald reagan remembered he saw fdr on the back of a train in iowa. i think it was doubling and truman as i mentioned before so everyone has their creations story but clinton never met lbj. he said history will be kinder to him. that is what they all hope for. right over here. >> the implication that "the president's club" is unique to american democracy. are there similar models in eu

well for more on the developing story around the sun let's talk to ray mcgovern he's a former cia analyst and one of the thousands of people who signed a petition for him to be granted asylum well the statement from spoke about a grand jury already assembled in the u.s. despite no charge having been brought is this legally possible and a real threat to a sound. it is a real threat and it's not only legally possible it's a done deal your only real remaining question is whether we need to call a sealed indictment a probable sealed indictment as his lawyers say but it's pretty clear that there's also an indictment ready for him to be tried under the very draconian espionage check of nineteen seventeen because as you may know in our country there is no law against publishing secrets so is this is a gesture that u.s. law enforcement officials are really willing and able to in effect bend the rules to get assange. well they don't have to bend any rules all they have to do is lean really hard on the swedes and make sure that the swedes do what they did in two thousand and one and that was to han

and i probably should tell you that my father isn't george mcgovern it's walter mcgovern who owns a liquor store in worcester, massachusetts. and if you meant walter, please keep supporting him. i also want to say that on occasion congress does some things right. and kind of the insistence that human rights be a major part of our foreign policy is the insistence that we create an office and then a bureau is something to be commended. and mark mentioned there were a lot of people involved in it. john who worked for don frazier is here. played an integral role. frazier held 150 hearings on human rights. a lot of the n.g.o.'s here. they were very important in pushing this. but i think members of congress realized this was important in part because they had constituents that visited some of these countries, that had relatives in some these countries, that had great human rights abuses, they became parts of church groups and sanctuary groups and sister city groups. and they saw firsthand some terrible things going on and they wanted to know why our government wasn't saying more about it and why

. >> witnesses saw patrick power of half-moon bay standing over mcgovern after the attack but nobody saw the actual attack. the district attorney has two more years to decide whether to prosecute power. >>> the jeopardy host was admitted to a hospital yesterday and his producers say it was a mild heart attack and is expected to recover for the new tapings next month. the host has been hosting that show for 28 years. >>> and there will be 11 measures on the ballot. it had range from taxing to genetically under neared foods. who is behind this, well the money campaign is trying to clean it up. >> people need to know who is paying for campaign so they can do more with the ads. >> and they are asking them to be clearly identified and it will apply to ads on television and mass mailers and the website. >>> the winding sonoma county raceway lab favorite of clint from now on. he earned his first victory at the safe mart and pour had to hold off kurt busch clipping second and kurt busch would you up third. >>> and thousands came out for race weekend and they came to see them go through the t

. >> what was that like when he ran with mcgovern against nixon after watergate had been exposed buta ton of secret service agents descending upon the house. it was a short-lived campaign. after the campaign, he bought a small boat and called it the lucky seven, which was pretty ironic because he was mcgovern's seventh pick. and it was a disaster. but he always claimed we were the lucky seven, the five of us and my mom and dad. he found joy in the fact he got to run for president of the united states but also had a wonderful family who supported him. >> bobby kennedy was the most political, jack kennedy, the old man. >> he wrote a book on jack kennedy. >> yes, but sarge shriver was probably the least political guy in the sense of hardball, if it weren't for him and louis wofford bringing robert kennedy into the arms of mrs. king and hooking up with martin luther king, that one phone call brought the african-american community in with the kennedys. >> and my father knew all of them, and he worked to desegregate the catholic schools and the catholic hospitals in chicago in the '40s and

mcgovern: mr. speaker, the last time congress dealt with a contempt resolution was in the case of john bolton and harriet myers. the period of time between when the committee voted out the resolution and before there was floor action was six months. the reason why there was time taken was to make sure that we got it right. this is less than a week. and i'm going to say to my friends on the other side of the aisle that the minority staff has compiled a list of 100 inaccuracies, 100 inaccuracies in the report that was the basis for this contempt resolution, 100. they rush it to the floor. don't tell me this is not about politics. don't tell me this is not a witch-hunt. it is exactly what it is. mr. speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for two minutes. mr. butterfield: thank you. the gentleman from massachusetts is absolutely correct. this is a sad and troubling day. what w

but then they gained the ascendancy with george mcgovern and gary hart. he was the infantile left. after him well whole generation assume it of democratic party. you know, who they are. al gore john kerry and the last of the breed senator john edwards. and anthony wiener who sent pictures of himself holding his best friend in his hand to win then he barely knew. the infantile leftist was famous for running around in public jogging around for what was in their underwear. hillary even down shots of whiskey in public and announced seen drinking beer from a bottle in cartagena apropos she is the first secretary of state told ever filmed in cartagena and drinking beer from a bottle but anything for the phone a lot. all would have been improbable in any other period except not for the historic turning point* the chappaquiddick sensation. this summer of 1969 when mary jo to pick me was left to drown in the back seat of his submerged oldsmobile. the tragedy with the deadly other politician to retire from public life or would have been bounced that 10 the weighted it out as he became the li

mark mcgovern suffered a brain injuries last june 25th. he was playing football when police say he was hit. he had to learn to talk and walk -- walk and talk. witnesses saw a man named patrick power of half moon bay standing over mcborn everyone book -- mcgover. -- of half moon bay was seen standing near mcgovern during this time. >>> police in fairfield are warning drivers of fake tickets that have been showing up on cars. the notices that that the -- notices state that the -- the notices state there are from the city's code enforcement division. they are printed in the inner left-hand corner. some tickets state that the car's owner is in -- is in violation and there is a nine of $280. >> all right. they've been warned. >>> hey, sal, anything to warn us about? >> well, it's getting busier. you can see some more slow traffic right. it's becoming slower. so is 238. also this morning we're looking at the bay bridge, it's still very slow from the macarthur maze to the metering brits. this morning westbound it's go. some go -- to the metering

if you look he side here, this is an ad from mcgovern's campaign. >> this is about the government. this is about credibility. this is about elections. this is about bugging. this is about spying. this is about they'very. this is about espionage. this is about lying. this is about payoffs. this is about contradictions. this is about special deals. this is about false fiction. this is about testimony. this is about wheat fields. this is about hiding. this is about dishonesty. this is about sabotage. this is about secrecy. this is about hidden funds. this is about stealing. this is about deception. this is about the white house. this is how you spell it. with your vote. >> and then can you go to the next tab? this is the map of the election. it was a landslide for nixon. it wasn't going to be the voters who got nixon out of office. we needed checks and balances. we needed a congress investigating. we needed a judiciary who would say even the president is not above the law. one of the details that came out of the watergate investigation was the selling of ambassadorships. president nix

we couldn't get across this morning's mcgovern was a six flags minutes left in the midafternoon and allowed to three hours of travel time by 4:00 in through the normal rush hour there was in no way for extra buses crossing the day. >>> i normally work around for 38 told my boss i wanted to try to get the 3:00 but the line is super long already. some say it is another option is faster. the extra buses took more than 100 trips across the day those buses were no longer needed after 6:00 tonight. the police i'm glad today's over thank you very much sharon. later newscast while thousands of people saw how one man in the bay area saw the dollar signs coming up. unease bay neighborhoods also look to a traffic nightmare of a very different kinds cbs five reporter liz of couples in the castro where a run away garbage truck left her home absolutely trashed elizabeth. the nasdaq can see behind me the front porch of this house is completely destroyed power was just restored to the neighborhood a little over an hour ago but the folks who live here is still recovering from the morning that began with a v

mcgovern's running that year, and he doesn't have coattails. he's wearing a bikini, which was true.o he kind of came and said, you know, just do it. we'll tell the kids what you did when you get older. yeah. well, the rest is history. we ended up winning, as you well know. but it was a wonderful movement, and many of you are in it. i can't thank you enough. i remember we phonied the whole thing. people would say, who is your media team? we would say it's kitchen table media because literally we had friends like chak bartholomew and arnie grossman sitting around our kitchen table trying to figure out what to say or do. it really was put together with chewing gum. the democratic congressional campaign and they said, you're her? but they voted it all through. so i got over the office one day. and there was an invitation from

well, he is at it and many of our facebookers have sound off and mcgovern road saying the bono pet. >s looks like bono glasses. >> reporter: do they meck my eyes look droopy. mi help said don't laugh i am doing what the doctor told me and another wrote call me bono keep them coming a if you have acaption this photo i did e- mail them to us. >> thanks. we love it. >>> mothers and father's day must be quite a memorial event for one iowa couple. it probably takes them days to read all the cards. you see dan john and his wife, they have been foster parents for more for the past 25 years. you see the johns have three kids of their own and back in 1987 they took in a daughter's trend and have not -- friend and have not stop caring for them as young as 18 months and as old as 17. it hasn't been easy but they have then given up. >> we have had our times talk about times, we have had kids come in punch, kick, scream, holler, and it hasn't always been rosy. >> they say they are not sure how much longer they can do it but they are so great for doing it. >> that's wonderful story. that may be the

mcgovern's running that year, he doesn't have coattails, he's wearing a bikini! which was true. so he kind of came and said, you know, just do it, we'll tell the kids what you did when you get old be -- you know. the rest is history, we ended up winning as you well know. but it was a wonderful movement and many of you were in it. i can't thank you enough. i remember we phoneyed the whole thing. people would say, who is your media team? we'd say, it's kitchen table media. literally we had friends like chuck bartholomew sitting around our kitchen table trying to figure out what to say or do. it was put together with chewing gum and rubber bands and our average campaign contribution was $7.50. we had gone back to see the democratic congressional campaign and they said, you're it? you won the primary? we said, yes. they said, we're not putting anything in there. so yeah, we were very pure. we were total colorado. it was marvelous. but also on the ballot was the olympics. and that no one could believe. there had never been any place before or since that turned down the olympics. and

will get its hands on him once he is there fears that a retired cia officer ray mcgovern says are quite justified. in our country there is no law against publishing secrets it's pretty clear that there's a lot of die print ready for him to be tried under the very draconian s.b. and i check it was used to identify german spies and that kind of thing one of the penalties is killing all they have to do is lean really hard on the swedes and make sure that the swedes do what they did in two thousand and one and that was to hand over to applicants for asylum to the tender mercies of the police to be tortured in our rendition program so the swedes are anything but neutral they can be depended to do whatever the us wants them to do and that's precisely why julian is free that were he to be extradited to sweden it would be very very quick that he would be brought to the united states and face the same kind of treatment that bradley manning treated was treated too and that as you know the u.n. route through a cold. conditions equivalent to torture watching r.t. live from moscow still have for you

mcgovern is wearing a bikini, not wearing coattails, which was true. he kind of came and said, just do it. we'll tell the kids what you did when you get older -- well, the rest is history, we ended up winning but it was a wonderful movement and many of you were in. i can't thank you enough. i remember we -- who is your media team, we would say it's kitchen table media because literally we had friends like chuck and earny grossman trying to figure out what to say or do. and it really was put together with chewing gum and rubber bands and our average campaign contribution was $7.50. we had gone back to see the democratic national campaign and they are saying, you're it, you won the primary? i said yes. i said, we're not putting anything in there. this is over. so we were very pure. we were total colorado, it was marvelous. also on the ballot was the olympics. and that no one could believe, there had never been any place before or since that turned down the olympics. and we didn't turn them down. we absolutely smashed them down, 59.4% we smashed them down

they were off the human rights map. >> congressman mcgovern? >> i think it is the right thing to do. maybe it is realism or idealism. i think it is important for the u.s. to acknowledge when we have supported governments that have been sent -- oppressive, it is important to say that we made a mistake. we are now engaged in a war on terror. there have been excesses' which would constitute human rights abuses. i think it enhances our credibility on the issue. i spent a lot of time in el salvador in the 80's. i had strong disagreement with their policy. i thought all too often, we'll let ideology get in the way of doing the right thing on human rights. too many people died. the war went on too long. currently, what i regret is that we do not have a policy to deal with the issue of human rights abuses in sudan. i think the whole world to be appalled by what is going on. it ought to be more of a priority worldwide. a few years ago, i tried to get into sedan. they would not will give me a reason to go in. i remember visiting a refugee camp in chad an

of -- at the expense of religions whose doctrines have become undifferentiatable from the george mcgovern platform in the 1972 presidential election. second way that we've remained an exceptional nation is we are as we were at tocqueville's time arguably we're not a century a ago in the progressive era, but we're a property owner's democracy. most persons in the course of their working lives accumulate significant amounts. hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property in the form of real estate and financial estimates. we're in an economic downturn period now. by no means the most severe in our history. but the fact that most americans, i believe, continue to look forward to and with good reason to accumulating property means they're less likely to sign up to be a member of herd of timid industrial animals. finally, i believe a case can be made that american voters have not supinely ratified the creation of soft despotism. they've tended to resist it. when parties in power have tried to expand the size and scope of government, they've been sharply rebuked by the voters. woodrow wilso