c-span: i mean, norman thomas was a socialist. >> guest: he voted for the socialist candidate norman thomas, and then he became more conservative in later years. so it was not a matter so much of my parents sitting down and saying, "you must believe all these things politically." they never did that. but it was a matter, i think, of maybe some fundamental attitudes that they had imparted to me that when i went out into the world, made me look at things in a certain way. i think maybe that's the way it worked. c-span: back to the book and all the references to the john stuart mills and the edmund burkes and all that, take yourself as a conservative and you're on one side of the room and you have a liberal on the other side of the room, and you pick your five books that most represent what you believe. name those and pick the five in history that you write about that the liberal might sit there and believe in. >> guest: wow. that's a little bit tough. certainly, in my bibliography, i name the good guys. i would certainly start with burke. c-span: edmund burke. i... >> guest: edmund burk

and in the american tradition, we're talking about people from eugene debs to norman thomas to michael harrington to people today like barbara aaronwright. this is a lively american tradition that has influenced policy in our country in a great many ways. and so it is refreshing to see to have a senator who doesn't run away from a particular part of our american tradition. senator sanders is the junior united states senator from vermont. he's spent 16 years in the house of representatives, the longest-serving independent member of congress in american history. he's devoted his career to public service. addressing the growing income gap and shrinking american middle class. he's also been a strong advocate for rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and protecting our environment. he was also the mayor of burlington, and he is the ranking member of the senate budget committee and former chair of the senate committee on veterans affairs. and i just want to note that we sort of worry a lot these days about congress being able to do nothing. and i think it's worth noting that when two sides

and that in the american tradition we are talking about people from eugene debs to norman thomas to michaelon to people that they like barbara ehrenreich. this is a lively american tradition that has influenced policy in our country in a great many ways. and so it is refreshing to have a senator who doesn't run away from a particular part of our american tradition. senator sanders is june united states senator from vermont. he spent 16 years in the house of representatives, the longest-serving independent member of congress in american history. is devoted his career to public service addressing the growing income gap and the shrinking american middle class. is also been a strong advocate for rebuilding our nation's infrastructure and protecting our environment. is also the mayor of burlington and he is the ranking member of the senate budget committee and former chair of the senate committee on veterans affairs. i just want to note that we sort of worry about these days about congress being able to do nothing. and i think it's worth noting that when two sides are willing to seek agreement a