likewise with tocqueville.trying to show that the great democracy in america is not a product of abstract reflection. he is listening to sam houston and john quincy adams and backwoods storekeepers. >> the producer of this program told me that this might be your first television interview. >> yes. >> you have never been interviewed on television before? >> if you write academic books, they have a readership of other academics, and many of them are your rivals. it is a very specialized game, indeed. americans are not interested in rousseau, so there was no likelihood of publicity. >> let me ask you, what is the biggest reason we should read rousseau now? >> we should read him because of his insight into society. "the discourse on the originals of inequality." it is an incredible kind of imaginative feat to say not "how does inequality work and did god intend it that way," but "what is it about america -- about a culture that always stratifies?" and then the social contract, which had a lot to do with the u.s. co

he had a huge row of tocqueville -- trove of tocqueville at yale. it is very dated, written in the 1930's. there have been so many wonderful historians and political scientists who ever did -- written on tocqueville since then that there is an enormous range of context that are writer today could bring that he was not able to. also, i was trying to identify who everyone was. a couple of hundred people get mentioned in the notebooks and letters. he traced them and found out who they were. it is not a very readable book. i did not think it brought jacksonian america to live. it is just following the journey. >> why is that a problem? >> i speak for myself as a history buff. i feel like we have overdosed on the founders, wonderful as they were. there were 18th-century british, colonial gentleman who lived in the world utterly unlike ours, although they helped create hours. -- ours. jackson was our first populist president. we had become a great commercial nation. we were expanding at an incredible rate into the hinterland. it was the beginning of the a

. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville and his 1831 tour of america.hat is tonight on cspan's "q &a." >> next up is "washington journal." journal." we will have brian fishman of

. >> taken to look at alexis they tocqueville and his discovery of america. now a debate between gresham barrett and nikki haley, who are running in the republican runoff election for south carolina governor. the winner of the runoff will face the democratic nominee in the general election. this is about 50 minutes. >> live from columbia, this is a special presentation -- the race for governor. >> good evening, and welcome to the gubernatorial runoff debate. >> we are glad to have you with us this evening. participating in this debate, gresham barrettand nikki haley. although this is co-sponsored by the league of women voters and the aarp, they have complete control over the questions asked. they will have one minute to answer each question, rebuttals, and follow-up questions. >> we are going to get right to the questions. we received an e-mail today from a registered republican of over 45 years and a retired army infantry officer. he is upset about one of your commercials that identified you as u.s. army retired and referred to you as a military man when you

. >> a new look at the alexis de tocqueville and his 1881 tour of america. sunday, on c-span's "q&a." >> this weekend on c-span2's "book tv," growing up between arabs and israelis. he chronicles -- and then chronicling one of the most vile places on earth. and a novel that took an author 30 years to polish, "matter turned -- matterhorn." >> it is campaign 2010 your way with the c-spannvideo library. it -- we make it easy to follow the prairie season, campaign trail, debates, victory and concession speeches, all free online anytime. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman joe wilson of south carolina serves as a member of the armed services committee in the house of representatives and he also has sons serving in the army and knows about the roles and responsibilities of america's military firsthand. you heard general petraeus' testimony urging patients. do you agree? guest: i do. i have the opportunity to visit the country nine times. i indeed have had -- i have fears sick -- i have four sonss in the military. and i have a nephew who just comple

. >> take a new look at the alexis de tocqueville and his 1881 tour of america. a new book "tookville's discovery of america." sunday on c-span's "q&a." >> this weekend on book tv, growing up between arabs and israelis. an autobiography. charles -- chronicles one of the most violent and corrupt places on earth, juarez, mexico. and on afterwards, a vietnam veteran on the novel that took in 30 years to publish, following the soldiers of bravo company through vietnam. find the entire weekend schedule at book tv.org, and join us on twitter. more than 30,000 already have. >> it is campaign 2010 your way, with the c-span video library. we make it easy to follow the primary season, from the campaign trail to the debates, to victory and concession speeches. all free online anytime. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we have about 40, 45 minutes left in this morning's program and it is open phones friday. what ever public policy topic you would like to discuss, we will put the numbers up on the screen and a second. they are divided by political affiliation. we talke

. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville. that is sunday on c-span.upreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice. >> to bring in a family member, it changes the family. it is different. it is different today than what it was when i first got here. i have to admit that you grew very fond of the court. you spend a long time here. >> the confirmation hearings for a landing can start june 28. -- the confirmation hearings for elena kagan the start june 28. these provide any insight about the court. they are available now in the hardcover and also as an e-book. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us is joan lowy. who are opening of u.s. airspace? guest: a permanent homeland security, department of defense, law enforcement agencies, the coast guard, customs and the border patrol, and manufacturers who want to sell these things to the government. they would like to have permission to do this so they can make a lot of profit. there are researchers come universities that have proposals to gather various types of information.

. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville and his 1831 tour of america. "q & a." c-span's >> a senate hearing on the costs associated with the gulf of mexico oil spill. testifying are the bp vice president in charge of the claims process, and officials from the coast guard and government accountability office. senator tom corporate shares this hour, 45 minute hearing -- senator tom carper chairs this hour, 45 minute hearing. >> we will come to order. i want to welcome my neighbor from across the delaware river, my colleague. before i call on him, i would like to give an opening statement. once we are joined by other colleagues, if senator mccain it joins us before i recognize senator lott and byrd, senator mccain will give his opening statement. if other members of our panel show up before, the panel will have an opportunity to give opening statements. welcome one and all. for 58 days, the american people have watched the tragedy unfold in slow motion before our eyes. it was two months ago when we first heard the news of an explosion on the oil rig in the gulf of

abroad -- alexis de tocqueville and his 1831 tour america. fcc commissioner robert mcdowell talks about the use of public airwaves for emergency airwaves sunday night on c-span 2. tonight, vietnam veteran on the novel that took in 30 years to publish. "matt terhorn" follows the veterans of bravo company. we will have the author of more than 20 books for children. get our entire weekend schedule at book-tv.org. >> "washington journal"continue this. host: we have a policy director for the judicial crisis director to talk about the election of l.a. neck taken to the supreme court. the hearings will start --elena kagan. the hearings will start july 8. talk about why you are opposing her. a clear opposed or in favor oft- position. the big problem here is that elena kagan is a blank slate. she has never been a federal judge or a state judge. she has very limited practical experience before she became solicitor general last year perry should never argued in cases in court. she had experience in the clinton administration doing policy work at most of

and there is a new book out about the toefl -- de tocqueville, he wrote that it is a strange place whenit comes to court. every major case in america ends up in a court room. the american legal system, the tort system is so ingrained in america, these alternatives, creative as they may be there at the margins. i think. one more. >> on american government, [unintelligible] what you think the american government will do next? i know that president obama is very angry about the disaster. you think that this will have a bad influence on the relationship between america and the operators? >> the american government will never contribute to this bp claims facility. bp has agreed to shoulder the cost of the facility. it is said that $20 billion is not enough, and i reserve on that question. the pieces that they will replenish the fund. this is a bp obligation, admitted by bp. we agree. what claims are eligible -- we agree to fund it. as for the relationship between the united states and great britain, to will have to ask them. i don't think there will be any short-term or long-term adverse imp

. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville and his tour of america. there's a new book about it. we will discuss it sunday on c- span's "q&a." >> admiral thad allen says there is a major push to acquire more ships for skimming and additional protective booms. admiral allen is the government coordinator for the bp oil spill cleanup. he briefed reporters in new orleans for about half an hour. >> good morning, folks. i will give you a couple of updates on what is going on at the wellhead. i will be happy to take any questions you might have for me. i am pleased to report that in the 24-hour period ending last night, we were able to cover 25,000 barrels of oil. this is our new system of boats. enterprise and our exploitation of the key line to bring additional oil out and be processed. there are additional vessels being brought into the area. we anticipate by the end of the increase to about 53,000 barrels a month. following that, there'll have to be a decision made when we reach max capacity with the recovery system we have on the scene with the containment cap. at that point, the o

. >> a new look at tocqueville. that is sunday. >> now the clare boothe luce policy institute holds their seminar. we will hear remarks from michelle bachmann and former virginia governor and senator george allen. at the clare boothe luce organization is a self-described conservative group that matures and trains women for leadership programs. -- that mentors and tradeswoman for leadership programs. >> hello, i am from mclean, va., and 2010 summer intern. i next speaker as former senator and governor of virginia george allen. he has served the commonwealth of virginia over 20 years. these years of public service are marked by the distinctive dedication to the common-sense conservative values of personal liberty, educational excellence, economic up kennedy, and freedom. freedom. he describes himself as a common sense conservative and that h under his leadership from 1994 to 2000, introduced fund the reform of state program, particularly welfare, the criminal justice system, and the education system. personal accounta

not for nothing did de tocqueville describe the jury as a mode of the sovereignty of the people. that is as true today as it was at our nation's founding. the tide of corporate money that influences politics stops at the hard, square corns of the jury box and that is why corporations fight so hard to attack the institution of the jury. you know this as well as anyone, mr. chairman, and i'm proud to co-sponsor the legislation you are introducing today. it will eliminate the strange quirks in american law that would result in the survivors of the 11 men killed on the deep water horizon rig being treated unfairly. i also urge my colleagues to support two bills i have introduced, one to raise penalties for worker safety violations under the outer continental shelf lands act. the other would overturn the supreme court's regrettable exxon v. baker decision that capped the level of damages at the level of compensatory damages. the exxon court believed predictability for corporations was more important than deterring corporate misconduct. i disagree. the people of my home state, rhode is

. >> taken to look at alexis de tocqueville and his 1831 tour of america. tonight on "q&a". >> this past thursday, officials from the minerals management service's testified before the house resources subcommittee on regulations concerning oil rigs. they are responsible for approving offshore oil rig construction. also appearing was a former bp contractor who alleged unsafe practices concerning the atlantis platform. this portion of the hearing is about three hours. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [gavel pounds] >> the subcommittee on energy and minerals will now reconvene. i want to apologize to the witness of the second panel and witnesses of the third panel, because obviously, i was off by 20 minutes. it is the intention of the chair now to go through this second panel and a third panel and conclude the hearing when that takes place. members that are here will be recognized under the same terms as we hold with the previous witnesses, previous panels. the subcommittee will no