LIBERALISM - UTOPIA - GOVERNMENT - DENNIS PRAGER - CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER - JOHN EASTMAN - WILLIAM VOEGELI

LIBERALISM, UTOPIA, & GOVERNMENT: DENNIS PRAGER, CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, JOHN EASTMAN, & WILLIAM VOEGELI ON THE AMERICAN MIND

Presented by the Claremont Institute and Charles R. Kesler

Charles R. Kesler

Professor

 

Charles R. Kesler is professor of Government/Political Science at Claremont McKenna College and Claremont Graduate University. He holds a Ph.D in Government from Harvard University, from which he received his AB degree in 1978. Wikipedia

 

Born: 1956

 

Education: Harvard University

 

 

William Voegeli is a senior editor of the Claremont Review of Books, a visiting scholar at Claremont McKenna College's Henry Salvatori Center, and the author of two books: Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State (Encounter Books, 2010); and The Pity Party: A Mean-Spirited Diatribe Against Liberal Compassion (Broadside Books, 2014).

 

John C. Eastman Law professor John C. Eastman is a conservative American law professor and constitutional law scholar. He is the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service, and former Dean at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. Wikipedia Born: April 21, 1960 (age 55), Lincoln, NE Party: Republican Party Education: University of Chicago, University of Dallas, University of Chicago Law School Charles Krauthammer Columnist Charles Krauthammer is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist, author, political commentator, and physician. His weekly column is syndicated to more than 400 newspapers worldwide.

 

Dennis Prager Radio host

 

Dennis Prager is an American politically conservative nationally syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, author, and public speaker. Wikipedia

 

Born: August 2, 1948 (age 67), Brooklyn, New York City, NY

 

Organizations founded: Prager University

 

Books: Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph, More

 

Spouse: Susan Reed (m. 2008), Francine Stone (m. 1988–2005), Janice Prager (m. 1981–1986)

 

Education: Brooklyn College, Columbia University   0:00 the very nature and purpose of government has changed we no longer have 0:04 consensus 0:05 about that and that means we no longer have a consensus the government ought to 0:08 be limited 0:09 some people think that government only does good and therefore we need more of 0:13 it and in fact if we can have it all encompassing 0:15 to take care of us from cradle to grave that would be so much more good that 0:19 that would be 0:20 utopia on earth 0:40 leftism his feelings based 0:42 much more than reason based there is a veneer of intellectually 0:48 very thick veneer if you will what it is 0:52 overwhelmingly feelings based that's why compassion 0:56 is is such an operative word in leftism 1:00 we feel for the poor we feel for 1:03 and the the downtrodden we feel for the underdog 1:06 underpinnings why are the palestinians preferred 1:10 bach to the israelis on the left everything you've got the left 1:14 poor proclaims is upheld for more in israel separation of judiciary freedom 1:21 of the press 1:22 gay Gay Pride days women's rights 1:25 no love that exists amongst israel's enemies 1:28 numb it so why do they why did they prefer the palestinians 1:33 it's the motional there the underdog 1:36 not because they're right they're the underdog 1:41 %uh the downtrodden that's all you need to hear 1:44 is you know the disenfranchised they're all its it 1:47 a world the feelings of pablo that is why I you know how I learned this 1:52 and took the is you don't learn this from text books on the left 1:55 you learned from real life the one of the first time much 1:59 I've been lecturing since I was 21 years old and I gave a lecture about 24 25 at 2:05 a synagogue 2:06 in in New Jersey and I grew up in New York 2:09 why I moved to California rose 27 and 2:13 a a woman got up after why talk she said I'm offended 2:17 by what you said I remember what it was but and I remember thinking 2:22 cuz I i'm really I'm a very open guy 2:25 in very you buy may be wrong but I don't have gone I'll 2:29 II I for lacy 2:32 could've offender and so I looked at her and said 2:35 what I see that offended you and then she said what I said I said 2:40 so wat so you disagree with what I said but why do you offended 2:45 I think I actually asked it honestly 2:48 why would you be offended by something 2:51 differ with and I didn't know the answer for years until I realized of course 2:56 because it's all feelings based so 3:00 if you differ with me all I am 3:03 heart is liberal compassion more about 3:07 superiority that it is about 3:11 fellow feeling its 3:16 tricky there's and undeniable element 3:19 nobler solution there on this 3:23 disorder lady bountiful social work 3:28 kinda attending to the to the suffering 3:32 I'll those who do not or cannot 3:36 a help themselves the 3:39 there there's a certain a.m. narrow sense in which 3:42 you might say that that equality is promoted by 3:46 compassion on that would be 3:49 a.m. and I think 3:52 liberal rhetoric in emphasizes is a great deal 3:56 and to the get people to understand a certain 4:01 equality of susceptibility a.m. 4:04 so what does that mean well a.m. 4:08 to 4:11 it garner support for the 4:15 liberal agenda by saying to people who 4:18 are not poor are not sick are not homeless 4:22 a you much closer to this than you realize 4:26 a.m. the for example the this could be you 4:29 mir's was there but for the grace of God yes through it 4:33 this is a i mean that's that sort of the 4:38 the entire thesis 4:41 the excruciatingly long book John Rawls a theory of justice in one sentence that 4:45 there 4:46 there but for fortune Goa a and so 4:49 people are asked to a match in themselves 4:53 and into reckon with the possibility that they could be 4:57 a the poorest person in society the least advantaged is 5:01 roles we've now got a fight between the very purpose a government is a gonna 5:05 become 5:06 comprehensive all omnipotent government or limited 5:10 and increasingly the levers of government are being used 5:13 to weigh in on the fight for big government there they become their own 5:16 faction 5:17 their own interest group and we see the IRS can I think most clearly in that 5:21 light that they are protecting 5:23 the Pearl Harbor does have government to treat all the rest services subjects 5:27 not as in fact their sovereign authority and 5:30 and what recourse do citizens happen well 5:33 the the first three courses and the IRS things there are 5:37 statutory causes a vaction 5:40 that one can find out in the courts if the courts 5:43 and up siding with government on that I I fear that the 5:47 the recourse is going to be more revolutionary in nature people are 5:51 I think get their limit a 5:54 of tolerating government in positions in his way 5:58 when i testified in Congress on desire a scandal there was a 6:01 a woman who a and founded a small tea party group down in texas 6:05 and and she gave a wonderful line she says I am NOT here 6:08 as a server bagging my lords and masters for permission 6:11 that you have lost your understanding if your proper role in our constitutional 6:15 system and I think that says it really well 6:18 let's pursue the fate of modern liberalism into 6:21 axe so to speak the first is the new republic what do you think about what 6:25 has happened 6:26 to The New Republic its longtime editors and many bus riders have resigned 6:32 in protest against its new Silicon Valley publisher Chris Hughes 6:36 is this does this tell us something about the modern-day liberalism 6:41 has it lost faith in progress no I would natural world historical implications 6:47 from a magazine that never made money but by a young rich guy 6:51 who thinks in different terms an erection 6:55 live have any sentimental 6:58 attachment to the new republic left to you share in the lamentations have 7:03 leon wieseltier tear or others on that again price of 7:07 back at a I admire did in the nineteen eighties when I was there was a 7:13 fantastic 7:14 magazine as you remember great contention that was 7:17 in the arena we argued in the pages fred barnes was there 7:22 for their origin and mickey cat house and a 7:25 I am initially consumers and ensure there for a year 7:29 a know he was great I remember reading the editorials supporting the contras 7:32 in the same issue I was attacked but michael kinsley who was against the 7:37 country so that's kinda place at work 7:39 so I have nice Tasha for a great I magazine that is open to debate 7:43 the larger issue of liberalism it's totally exhausted 7:46 but it has made so many gain philosophically 7:50 no idea is as bad mine and wrote I think in 1979 7:55 but it is made so many gains on the ground in the expansion 0 7:59 thing entitlement state that in some ways it has succeeded 8:03 in real life where nice or even electorally 8:06 bankrupt which is not a good place to where where does it 8:09 finally where does it go after Obama modern liberalism 8:13 back to sanity don't backslide that's a joke 8:16 a here's the cliches in american politics is a far between the 40 yard 8:22 line 8:23 which is who center-right party center-left party I'm like what 8:27 Europe is go Lite go Obama 8:31 try to push the ball into the red zone no pun intended 8:34 and that's not going to happen again cuz ur he is wrecked to the party look it 8:39 it's the lowest ebb it 8:40 in the house in the statehouses in the governorships 8:44 since the twenties he said personal success 8:48 the party's been wrecked doesn't have a bench in only a single presidential 8:52 candidate 8:53 there's nobody around so I think the party will tack by 8:57 and if you show a clinton-era a clinton restoration it would be the nineties 9:01 again 9:02 I think me hard to tell whether Kors who knows what she thinks or believes 9:06 a but I think that's where the party go liberalism I don't know where it goes 9:12 but the party will fight 9:13 some refuge in in 9:16 in the current entitlement state may not want to expand it but will hold on to it 9:20 tooth-and-nail 9:21 as churchill said the future though imminent is obscure 9:25 the LC yo view Berra once it 9:29 extremely hard to predict the future me 9:33 and he's right the only true is that 9:36 is for her herb stein the great economist who was 9:40 it that I love this is something cannot go on 9:44 it won't in to that's where liberalism 9:48 pro thank you Charles Krauthammer thank you 9:52 ladies and gentleman