everything is self referential. and we can even come to the point where we could say that the solution which has been obvious for 2000 years, love is patient, love is kind is the problem because i don't like it. i will do fine things in my own image like narcissus gazing at his image in the pool, we slip, we fall in and infatuated with ourselves, we drowned and all that's left is the echo. pining after the loss of such wasted beauty. that's where we are coming from as a culture today, we are on the precipice of the pool ready to slip and fall in. we might be wise to recognize that that thing we see in the mirror is not as grand and glorious as we think, that might be something actually better. bigger, more permanent than that that's worthy of conservation. and it is only that that will give us liberty and liberation and freedom. thank you. [applause] >> every weekend, but td offers programming focused on nonfiction authors and books . keep watching for more you're on c-span2 and watch any of our past programs online

this constitution self-referential he says it's a supreme law of the land. notwithstanding anything in any state. what part do you not get, south carolina? i have's kids and my wife and i say what part of noted you not understand here? ,f you don't like it individually, you can leave, you can't take the land with you and that's what the founders understood. let me give you one historical factor. lincoln channel the framers in powerful ways and from a midwestern point of view. you had a whole year in which the constitution was deliberated on up and down. we the people of the united states did ordain and establish this constitution. put it to a vote. ordinary farmers read the thing up and down the continent. they had to decide whether they were for it or against it. we -- it barely squeaked through a bunch of places. in new york, the vote was 30 to 27. in massachusetts and new hampshire, virginia, it was very close. and yet nowhere ever in this did any supporters say why don't you give it a try, if you don't like it, you can leave. powerful argument it would'v

this constitution, self-referentially, it says, is the supreme law of the land. of the land. notwithstanding anything and any state constitution to the contrary, notwithstanding. what part of that do you not get, south carolina? i have kids, and sometimes i look at them, and my wife and i say what part of no did you not understand here? [laughter] so if you don't like it, individually you can leave. you can't take the land with you. and that's what the founders understood. that is the text. let me give you just one historical fact, and i'll give you more about lincoln because lincoln, i think, channeled the framers in powerful ways and from a midwestern point of view. we had a whole year in which the constitution was deliberated on up and down the continent. we, the people of the united states, did ordain and establish this constitution. we put it to a vote. ordinary farmers read the thing, because it was short enough for them to read it, up and down the continent. they had to decide whether they were fer or agin it. it just barely squeaked through in a bunch of places. in ne