Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Happy Birthday America: Celebrating What is Extraordinary about our Great Nation

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Happy Birthday America: Celebrating What is Extraordinary about our Great Nation · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

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