Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / America at 250—Still the Greatest Show on Earth

Transcript

America at 250—Still the Greatest Show on Earth · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It is Verdic with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's so nice to have you with us on the
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: radio wherever you are around the country as we get
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of this
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: country center. What a fun show to get to do together.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Well, let me just start by saying happy Birthday, Happy
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: birthday to America. This weekend, we are celebrating the two
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States of America,
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I believe, the greatest country in the history of the world.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: And you look back to July fourth, seventeen seventy six,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: when the signers of the Declaration of Independence gathered in
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Philadelphia and they signed that declaration. When they signed it,
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: they were pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: And what is extraordinaries that virtually all of them gave
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: their lives, gave their fortunes, but not a single one
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: of them abandoned their sacred honor. Fifty six men put
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: their signatures on that piece of paper. And understand, when
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: they did so, they were committing treason. They were at
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: the time British citizens. They were subject to the British crown,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: and by declaring independence, they were declaring war on the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: mightiest military on the face of the planet. John Hancock,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: of course signed it with a signature large enough that
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: King George could read it without a spectacles on. And
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: if you look at that declaration, it was the beginning.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: It was the birth of this nation. We're going to
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: talk today about what is unique, what is extraordinary, What
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: makes the United States of America different, different from France,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: different from England, different from Germany, different from Japan, different
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: from China, different from from Russia, different from every country
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: on the face of the earth. Two hundred and fifty
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: years of our extraordinary nation. We're celebrating it right now.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is incredible. And just to be excited
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: about what's happening right now in this country and be
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: proud of it is another part of the conversation we're
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: going to have today. All Right, I want to take
• 2:20
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• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So, Senator, I.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Really think that just celebrating America is something that everybody
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: listening right now should be excited about. There's a lot
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: of people that try to make it into this Parson fight.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I think it's absurd. I love this country. You love
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: this country. And if you look at what our founding
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: fathers is, going back to your point a moment ago,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: they were committing treason, they were risking it all and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: new that if it didn't work out, they were all
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: dead men.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Well, and let me say I don't care about the
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: people engaged in partisan bickering right now. I got to
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: say the Democrat governors, the Democrat mayors who are like,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: we hate Donald Trump. So no, we're not celebrating the
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: fourth of July.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I don't care. Stop it.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: It's not about Donald Trump in two hundred and fifty years. Look,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: look our nation. I'm a huge fan of President Trump.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I'm the strongest supporter in the Senate. But at the
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: end of the day, our nation's two hundred and fiftieth
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: birthday is bigger than whoever happens to be in the
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Oval Office right now. And we're in such a partisan, angry,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: divided times that you see Democrats like, damn it, I'm
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: not celebrating the fourth of July because I don't like Trump,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: And that's just dumb. I don't want to engage in
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: those partisan bickers.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: You see obviously their festivities in DC, their fireworks, there's
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: the big festival, and you see Democrats saying they're boycotting it.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: I want us to pause and reflect. All right, Number one,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: this is fourth of July. Ben, You and I are
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: both dads. I hope every listener here this fourth of July.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: You spend time with your kids, you spend time with
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: your spouse. You go out, you have a burger, you
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: have a hot dog, You.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: Forget the marsh.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: You gotta you gotta, you gotta make that brisket or
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: shoulder ribs like you if it's you're going all out
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: fourth of July, so you should.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: You know me well enough.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: And by the way, we have California listeners, so if
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: you want your tofu and sprouts, you can do that too.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: But and listen.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: To be clear, I am married to a California vegetarian,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: so I make fun. But but but we are a big, beautiful,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: diverse country. So that's eat what you want. But but
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I want to encourage you to spend time with your kids.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: If you don't spend this Fourth of July hugging your kids,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: loving on your kids, stopping working for a minute.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: And and when I want to.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Encourage everyone, yes, go out and throw a frisbee with
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: your kids. Go out and and throw a football, throw
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: a baseball. Uh laugh, Go to the beach to do whatever,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: Go to the lake, swim whatever you're doing.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: But I also want.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: To encourage you. Look, two point fifty is not two
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: forty nine. It's not two fifty one. We're only gonna
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: have on two hundred and fiftieth birthday of this country.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Everyone who listens to this podcast, you care about America,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: you love America. You're not a passive citizen. You're an
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: active citizen. You care about what is unique and extraordinary
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: in this country. So I want to charge everyone listening
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: to this, take a minute to talk to your kids
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: about what's different about America. What does it mean to
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: be an American. That's different from being a Frenchman, or
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: a Chinaman, or a Venezuelan or like. Look, their country's
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: all over the planet. What is unique? Have that conversation
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: with your kids. And by the way, if your kids
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: are anything like my kids, they'll resist it, they won't
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: want to have that conversation, but have it. Anyway, take
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: this moment to reflect. And I'm going to say one
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: of the things I've learned having two teenage daughters, talk less,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: listen more, ask questions, try to elicit from them. And
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: you know, certainly for every parent of teenagers, you may
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: not love every answer they give. But use this moment
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: to have the conversation about what would it mean, son, daughter,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: if you had been born in another country, if you
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: were not an American, what are the blessings of liberty
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: you've inherited and why does that give you a unique
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: place in the world. That's a conversation you had to
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: have with your kids this weekend.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. And I tell
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: you what, just having basic conversations about how grateful we
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: should be that we live in the United States of America,
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: how many people that want to come here, how many
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: people wish they were born in America. Just having basic
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: pride and like you mentioned, a moment ago has nothing
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: to do with politics, Like it is okay to celebrate
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: this country and be proud of it. I want my
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: kids to have pride in being Americans. I think the
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: World Cup is a great example of this. If you're
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: born in another country, let.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Me just stop and say, Usa, Usa, USA. I gotta
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: say I watched that game. I watched that game sitting
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: there with my family. Look, when we were up one goal,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: that was great. And then the red card came and
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: that was heartbreaking. And to play with just ten men,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: to play a man down and score another goal, it
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: was awesome. I was out of a sports bar with
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: my family. We were cheering, we were chanting. It was
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: a great moment to come together. And by the way,
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: that red card was utter nonsense, it was garbage, it
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: was bs. I'm frustrated by that, but I'm inspired by
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: the win. It's a great way to celebrate two fifty.
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  Speaker 2: So I want to go back to the World Cup
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: just for a second. I'm not a big soccer guy,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: but in college almost all of my roommates were actually
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: were in students that were on the on the tennis
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  Speaker 2: team with me, so they're obsessed with it. My best
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: friend from England actually came through Houston on their family
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: vacation and we got to watch a game together, the
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: US game together. They were freaking out as kids because
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: they're obsessed with soccer aka they call it football. But
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  Speaker 2: I love watching so many different people get together, so
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: much excitement, uh and and people celebrating this country and
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: our team.
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  Speaker 1: It's really awesome.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: It is.
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  Speaker 3: Now I gotta ask you're you're a Memphis boy. Did
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: you grow up that there are some jocks you're you're
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: a tennis guy, so that's not exactly football. But then again,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: then again, I'm a debater, so I don't actually have
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: room to cast shade. But but but are you one
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: of the guys who grew up sort of sort of
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: turning your nose up to soccer and and and making aspersions?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Oh I remember we called it tornado ball. My parents
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: sign me up for church soccer just because you know,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: everybody did it.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: When you're I don't.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Know, kids, you play soccer, yeah, kindergarten, first grade, and
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: then that was the end of that.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Then you moved on to as I say, real sports
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: after that.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: See, in high school, I played basketball, soccer, and football.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I actually like soccer, you know. I I was a midfielder,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: and it look I wasn't terribly good, but midfielder you
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: just had to be able to run, and I could
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: run quite a bit, and so you just kind of
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: you were on offense, you were on defense.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: You got blamed for everything. I will say our.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: Team at the time we did a lot of slide tackles.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: I was actually talking with with like a buddy of
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: bunkoing what happened to slide tackles in soccer, because when
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: we were in high school, particularly on defense, you just
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: slide tackled. There was a guy who was a full
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: back on our team who would slide tackle with his
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: cleats up and just rip the living daylights out of
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: the shins of the other guy.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: He ended up becoming a marine. He was a tough guy.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: They don't do I actually googled this week wondering what
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: happened to slide tackles in soccer, and they said, well,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: the rest now give so many red cards for it,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: so they don't do it very much. Look, I played,
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: but I'm not a big soccer fan. You know there
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: are people that are obsessive about it. I'm enjoying it
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: because World Cup is like, we're hosting it and it's
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: a great time to be patriotic. I will say my
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: cousin Marina, who loves soccer. I did manage to get
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: him a ticket to one of the games in Dallas
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: where Messi was playing, and Marino, God bless him.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: It was.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: It was like I'd given him a chance to meet
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Pele and George Washington and William Shakespeare and I don't
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: know Charles Lindbergh all combined. He was so ecstatic.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're a soccer fan, get to see Messi
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: play in a World Cup is literally now based on age,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: a once in a lifetime event.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I do want some props.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: I am like over Christmas and Thanksgiving and acclaim like,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: excuse me, who got you to see Messy light light?
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Like? Do I do I get something for that?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah? You get a really good Christmas gift. I agree.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I agree with that one, but I.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Will say, look soccer. There are people who adore soccer.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: There are people who are not into soccer. That being said,
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: the World Cup is really cool. Save the country, root
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: for America. Look like that's an amazing thing. It's like
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: the Olympics. And one of my favorite tweets that I
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: saw recently online was someone said, Okay, new rule, every
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: country that America beats in the World Cup for the
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: next four years has to call it soccer.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: I thought that was really.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: That's like my favorite.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I laughed because I put one of those out
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: there that was like, if if America beats you in
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: the World Cup, until you beat us, you've got to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: call it, refer to it in your country as soccer.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Like it's so good and the drash talking is great.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Like I also, I don't know were you in Houston
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: the night that Mexico played in won the other night?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Were you were you in Houston then or not?
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: So you could actually hear the horns honking by our
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: house outside after the game. One of people on the
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: street honking horns, which was just awesome to see people
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: that excited about a big victory.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: Look, rooting for America is great, and so the World
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Cup hosting it is awesome. But I also want to
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: say we're at a time, you know, it used to
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: be for decades, probably for centuries, both parties rooted for America.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Both parties were happy, were proud to be Americans. You know,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: one of the depressing things right now is you look
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: at the stats of the percentage of Democrats that are
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: proud to be Americans, and it is incredibly low compared
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: to the percentage of Republicans. And that's unfortunate. That didn't
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: used to be the case. You know what, John F. Kennedy,
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: I'm convinced was proud to be an American. FDR, I'm
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: convinced proud to be an American. I mean, for most
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: of the history of the country, both parties were proud
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: of our nation. And there's something right now on the
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: hard left, and listen it is.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: We're going to break this down a little bit more.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: We're going to talk before we break it down, We're
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: going to talk about what's extraordinary about America because I
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: want I want to take a time look. Often Verdict
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: is focused on current events, it's focused on news it's
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: focused on what's happening now.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: I figure once.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Every two hundred and fifty years we had to stop
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: and reflect. And by the way, I don't know about you, Ben,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I don't intend to be doing this at the five
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: hundred anniversary of America. So you know, the next verdict toasts.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And fifty years, I doubt you and I are going
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: to be here.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: We've done something profoundly wrong. If we're here at the
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: three hundredth anniversary, we've done something profoundly wrong. I intend
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: to be an old coat yelling at the hologram, and
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: I don't expect to be doing this podcast fifty years
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: from now, much less two hundred and fifty years from now.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: But one of the virtues of doing this is look
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: a you know my wife, Heidi, Well, Heidi listens to
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: the podcast often. And look, she and I have been
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: married twenty five years. Anyone that's been married a long time.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: You and I have been married how many years? Look,
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: My guess is she doesn't listen to the podcast all
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: that often. Heidi doesn't necessarily listen to it all that often. Look,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: it is hard to get your wife to listen to
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: what you're saying. And I get that and Heidi. But
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: here's the point I want to make. Heidi listens to
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: it because she says she learns things like she'll run
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: on the treadmill and put the podcast on because she says, Gosh,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: I get things that are useful that when I go
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: to work, I'm talking to co workers, I'm talking to
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: clients and they'll ask about something and I'll be like, hey,
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: I know what to say on that because I heard
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: it on the podcast. I hope that this podcast does
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: that for our listeners. It gives something that you can't
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: get just by turning on Fox News. It gives you
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: understanding knowledge that you can't get anywhere else.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Center Let's talk about what makes America what it is,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: how incredible this experiment was. And if you know, I
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: hear a lot people say if the founding fathers saw
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: this now, they'd be rolling over in their grave. I
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: also think if they saw America what has become after
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty years, they'd be incredibly proud of
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: what it had become as well.
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: I think that's absolutely right.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: And I think back last year, I was in a
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing and there was a witness
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: testifying who President Trump and nominated to be in the
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: State Department. And he had filed written testimony, as every
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: witness does. And I walked into the hearing kind of
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: midway through, and Tim Kaine, my colleague, Democrat Senator from Virginia,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: was questioning. And one of the things this nominee had
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: said is he said that our rights in America they
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: come from God and they don't come from government.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: And Tim Kane.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Began unloading on this nominee. He said, I read this
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: statement in your written statement, and he said that is
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: a radical concept.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: That is an.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Extreme concept, that is dangerous. It is fundamentally dangerous. And
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: he said that's what theocratic regimes like Iran believe. And
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: he said, we're not like Iran. We don't believe our
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: rights come from God. We believe our rights come from government.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: He unloaded on him. And I gotta admit, like most
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: hearings I come in, my staff is prepared a series
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: of questions of comments I had for this hearing, a
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: series of questions. I don't remember what they were on,
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: but they were on a different topic. As I walked in,
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: I saw Tim Kine unloading on this nominee and I
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: got ticked and I ended up just kind of freewheeling,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: and I was questioning shortly thereafter, and I said, you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: just a minute ago, Senator Kane said, the idea that
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: our rights come from God, not government is a dangerous idea.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: It is a radical idea. It's an extreme idea. And
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: I said, you know what, He's right. It is dangerous,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: it is radical, and it is extreme. And it is
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: also the founding principle upon which the United States of
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: America was created. And I went on to say, look,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: maybe you're listening to this. You're not inclined to believe me.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: That's okay.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: If you're not inclined to believe me, maybe you would
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: be inclined to believe another Virginian like Senator King, by
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: the name of Thomas Jefferson, who two hundred and fifty
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: years ago penned the words in the Declaration, we hold
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: these truths to be self evident, that all men are
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator. Notice
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: he didn't say by government. He didn't say by the
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: DNC said by God Almighty, with certain unalienable rights, that
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: That idea was transformation off you look throughout the history
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: of mankind. For millennia, the conventional wisdom was that sovereignty
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: emanates from the top. It emanates from God, and that
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: God designates kings or queens, emperors or rulers, and that
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: those kings and queens rule because God has given them authority.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: And if there are such a thing as rights, they're
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: given by grace. They're given like crumbs from the table
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: of the ruler. And by the way, anything given by
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: grace can be taken away by whim. That for most
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: of the history of the world has been the way
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: the world is been ordered. What America did is inverted
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: the concept of sovereignty. It said, you know what, sovereignty
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: does not emanate from the top. It emanates from the bottom.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: It emanates from the people. We the people. The Constitution
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: begins with we the people. And the idea was, the
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: people have sovereignty, and they give the authority to govern
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: to elected officials for a temporary period. Nobody has an
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: entitlement to this and that temporary period, the sovereignty comes
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: from below. Supreme Court has described what the Constitution did
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: as splitting the atom of sovereignty, taking what used to
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: be uniform government control, and number one splitting it horizontally,
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: splitting it between the executive branch, the legislative branch, of
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: the judicial branch, separation of powers between three branches, and
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: number two splitting it vertically between the federal government, the states,
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: and the local government.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: And all of that was designed.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: As Jefferson also put it, the Constitution was chained to
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: bind the mischief of government. That was radical, the idea
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: that sovereignty rested with we the people. If you look
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: through the history of humanity, what America did here was
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: extraordinary and unprecedented. And likewise the point that our rights,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: what does come from God, is not the authority of
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: kings to rule us. Instead, what comes from God is,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: as the Declaration put it, certain unalienable rights that God
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: has created us. Look, you and I and everyone listening
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: to this podcast, we are created in God's image. He
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: formed us to reflect his mind, his spirit, his character,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: and by virtue of being a human being. Whether you
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: are brilliant or stupid, whether you are strong or weak,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: whether you are incredibly able or profoundly disabled. If you
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: are a human being, those inalienable rights life liberty in
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: the pursuit of happiness, what it means to be a
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: child of God is profound, and that concept that our
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: government is created to protect those rights is unique and
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: powerful and worthy of celebration on this birthday.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: And I do think you look at where this country
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: is and how great it is, and it's also I
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: think a point where as you mentioned in the first segment,
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: we've got to do a better job of being proud
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: of this country and defending this country to this next
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: generation because if you look at the data in the
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: polling number, there are a lot of younger people in
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: this country that have been indoctrinated to believe that somehow
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: America is a bad country, that America is not a
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: country to be proud of, that America is so flawed
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: that there has to be massive changes to move into
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: something that looks like communism or socialism or Marxism. And
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: so I think this is like a really important birthday
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: historically on two front center one, because it is two
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty years. The fact that we survive this
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: experiment and thrive to this point is amazing. But you
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: also have to realize how fragile it is at the
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: same time, yes, there are people that want to destroy
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: this so that we don't have a three hundred perth
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: day and look like what we look like right now.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: Well, and let me focus.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: Like most of us know, the most famous sense of
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: the declaration, we hold these truths to be self evident.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: I want to point out the sentence that follows that
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: is every bit as important. Right after it says life, liberty,
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: in the pursuit of happiness, the Declaration says the following
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: deriving their just powers from the consent of the government.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: So understand, it's not government that gives us those rights. Instead,
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: it says that to secure these rights, So your right
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: to life, it's not the federal government, it's not the
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: state government. It's not in any elected official that gives
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: that to you. It's God that gives that to you.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: But why do we have a government. We have a
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: government to secure these rights, to protect them. That concept
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: is extraordinary, It is unique, It is powerful, and in
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: most of the world that's not the law. In most
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: of the world, that's not the understanding. In most of
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: the world, the government has the power to take your
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: rights to take them. Certainly, in dictatorships, whether you're talking
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: in Russia or China, or North Korea or Iran, in dictatorships,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: the government has the power to throw you in the gulag,
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: to torture you, to murder you, to do whatever they
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: wish with you, because the government has all power. America
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: was built on the principle that the entire purpose of
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: the government is to protect our rights. And I want
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: to say something else about America. Look, the critics on
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: the left criticize our nation as being arrogant, as being imperial,
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: and listen, we are the strongest superpower on the face
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: of the earth. We're certainly not immune from arrogance. But
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I want to say, you want to look at a
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: unique moment in history. Look at nineteen forty five, at
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: the end of World War Two, America was the only
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: country in the planet that had new clear weapons for millennium.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: If any country had the ability to destroy any other nation,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: they would to conquer the world. You know what America did.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: We exercised restraint. We said we're not interested in conquest.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: We're not interested in using an asymmetric power we had
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: over everyone else. Instead, we are going to protect America
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: and promote freedom and prosperity across the globe. There is
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: a nobility to that which every American ought to be
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: proud of.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Senator, I want to spend a moment and talk about
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: how there are two ways that we can go as
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: a country moving forward. We can either continue to be
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: proud of this country, continue to grow, continue to learn
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: by the way from mistakes that we've made, to become
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: even better country than we are right now. Or we
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: can take the other road. And that other road actually
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: seems to be pretty darn clear.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: It is the.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Democratic model to be ashamed of this country and to
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: fundamentally want to destroy it from within. We are witnessing
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: and watching candidates across the country running and winning on
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: this platform that is obviously very very concerning. I want
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: to get your reaction to where we are now, two
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty years in well.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: I want to do something that may surprise you. I
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: want to speak directly to Democrats. Now, I recognize they're
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: probably not a ton of Democrats that are listeners to
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: this podcast.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: I hope there's some.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: And actually, when I talk to young people, when I
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: talk to college kids, when I talk to high school kids.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: I encourage them. Wherever you are in the political spectrum,
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: try to listen to both sides and pick a podcast
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: or two on the left, a podcast or two on
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: the right. Obviously, I suggest this one on the right
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: is one to listen to. But assess so. And by
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: the way, there are also a ton of reporters that
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: listen to this podcast. It's one of the interesting and
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: really powerful things this pod does is we drive news.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: So there are a ton of reporters, and almost all
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: reporters are politically left. So if you're left of center Democrat,
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: I want to give a message to you on our
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: nation's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Do not let the
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: Democrat Party be conquered and colonized by socialists and communists.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: And I say that with all sincerity.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: Listen.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: I disagree with Democrats. I disagree with Democrats on a
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: lot of issues. I spent fourteen years in the Senate
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: battling Now by the way, I don't treat my Democrat
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: colleagues with contempt. I don't treat them meanly. I don't
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: insult them personally. Where we find common ground, we work together.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Where we disagree, I try to engage on substance. But
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: I treat them with respect and I want every Democrat
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: within the sound of my voice to listen. You are
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: facing a hostile takeover of your party. The socialists who
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: are winning primaries in New York, they're winning primaries in Colorado.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: They are not Democrats. They are and understand, Socialist is
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: the sort of nice, suite, homogenized term for what they
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: in fact are, which is America hating communists. Listen, communism,
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: the economic system of communism is socialism. Anyone who calls
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: themselves a democrat Democratic Socialist today is in fact a communist.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: And many of the DSA leaders you can find lots
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: of videos of them saying, look, our goal is communism, communism.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: I speak from personal experience. My family was imprisoned and
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: tortured and nearly killed by communists in Cuba. Communism has
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: brought misery across the globe. It has brought misery, It
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: has killed over one hundred million people between Russia, between China,
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: between Vietnam, but between Cambodia, between Venezuela and between North
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Korea between Cuba. Communism has been and it's not an accident.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: Every nation that has imposed communism has resulted in massive
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: human rights violation, murder and torture and oppression. When the
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: government has all power, your rights go away. Because communism
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: is based on the inverse of the premis America was
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: based on. Communism is based on the premise that government
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: has the power, ostensibly in an egalitarian purpose to empower
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: the proletariat. But every single instance, not most, not a lot,
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: all of them, communism results in massive oppression and suffering, misery,
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: and poverty and death. And so I want to say
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: to Democrats, look, I look at my Democrat colleagues.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: In the Senate.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Most of them are not in fact socialist or communists.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: They're just scared. They're looking at their party. And by
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: the way, if you're not a socialist or communist and
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: you're a Democrat, you're getting primaried right now and beaten.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: And they're like, Okay, I don't want to get beaten.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: So I'm just going to stay quiet, and I'm going
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: to give the radical left what they want, and I'm
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: going to make a plea fight to take your party back.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: I don't want you to become Republicans. Well, yes I do,
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: but I'd settle for just a rational Democrat Party, Like,
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: if you think the top marginal tax rate ought to
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: be ten percent higher than it is, I disagree with
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: you on that, but we can have a conversation. If
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: you want more government regulation, I want less. Okay, we
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: can have a rational conversation about that. But if you
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: look at the communists who are winning primaries right now,
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: they're openly calling for abolishing the police. They're openly calling
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: for abolishing borders, they're openly calling for abolishing prisons. Let
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: me ask you something. If you shut down man Dommie
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: said this week he's going to shut down Rikers Island,
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: what do you think happens to this country if we
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: release all the murderers, all the rapist, all the child molesters.
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: For the Democrat Party, I think you're facing an existential
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: challenge in your party, and if your party becomes a
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: socialist and communist party, it will hurt America.
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: I want to say two other things, and then I
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: want you to comment on it.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Number one, there's some Republicans who are sort of quietly celebrating, saying, Okay,
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: Democrats have gone crazy.
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: That means Republicans are gonna win. And that may be right.
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: It may be that we can go campaign and say
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: these people are really out there and don't vote for them.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: I don't want that outcome. As much as I'd like
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: Republicans to win, if one of our two major parties
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: becomes absolutely insane.
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: That's bad for America.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: I'd rather we debate within the forty yard line instead
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: of going crazy one way.
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: And so there is a real fight.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: And secondly, there may be some Democrats listening, or even
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: some reporters listening, who say, look, that's easy for you
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: to say you want us to take on these people,
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: but if we do that, we'll be thrying out all office,
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: we'll lose a primary. And I want to point out
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: I'm engaged in this same fight in the Republican side
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: right now, the woke right that is trying to destroy
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: the Republican Party, that is trying to turn us into
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: a big government, left wing party, that is trying to
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: turn us into an isolationist party, an Israel hating party,
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: an America hating party. I am fighting the Tucker Carlson's
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: and all of his acolytes in my party and a
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: not inconsiderable personal and political risk. And so I want
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: to call out to Democrats on this nation's two hundred
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: and fiftieth anniversary. Is there anyone who will stand up
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: and say, damn it, I will lose.
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: I will be.
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: Voted out of office rather than lose my party and
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: lose my country. This may surprise you. Look for those
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: of y'all that are regular Verdict listeners, you probably did
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: not anticipate my making a flead Democrats, particularly on our
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: nation's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. But I pray that
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: there are some Democrats who like JFK and FDR, love
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: American and are willing to say I'm not going to
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: roll over and see our nation destroyed.
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: I want us to have a three hundredth and a
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: four hundredth and a five hundredth anniversary.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, aim into that. I could not agree with you more.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: I love celebrating this country. I love that we've got kids,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: both of us, that are going to get to grow
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: up in the great sport. Celebrate it each and every
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: single day, but especially on the two hundred and fifth anniversary.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: God bless our men and women protect and defend this country.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: The CENTA and I will see you back here next week,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: and don't forget on the podcast all week long, God
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: bless a miracle.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: We'll see back here soon.