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Constitution 101 | Lecture 1 — Transcript

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0:02we
0:03the people of the united states in order
0:06to form a more
0:07perfect union
0:16[Music]
0:28um
0:35welcome to this hillsdale college online
0:36course called constitution
0:38101 by constitution we of course mean
0:41the greatest and longest living of all
0:43the constitutions in history the
0:44constitution the united states
0:47we study that here because we're mindful
0:49of the fact and always have been at
0:51hillsdale
0:52that we are citizens and we need our
0:54freedom
0:55in order to live well and do our work
0:57especially the work of a college which
0:59radically depends upon
1:01freedom of every kind we teach the
1:04constitution to every student here at
1:06the college
1:06and now we're going to help you learn
1:08something about it
1:10the other people who are teaching in
1:11this are members of our politics faculty
1:13i'm a member of that
1:14faculty myself and among them all
1:18they may have the most knowledge of the
1:21meaning of the constitution
1:23and the significance of the changes that
1:25have gone on
1:26around it and so it should be a
1:28privilege for you to watch this and i
1:30hope you enjoy it
1:31and i hope you uh read
1:35and continue learning about this for as
1:37long as you live
1:38and teach others too so much i'll
1:41explain depends on that
1:43there are a lot of details in this
1:45course
1:47details of how exactly things work and
1:50why they work
1:51details of different understandings than
1:54the one that prevails here about those
1:56things
1:57and so that will involve us in some
1:58complications
2:00and it'll be helpful i think if we can
2:01keep the kind of general points in mind
2:03and i'm going to name some of those
2:05today in my lecture
2:06my first uh question i'll ask myself and
2:09you
2:10is what kind of thing are the declines
2:13of independence in the constitution
2:16turns out the answer to that is very
2:18enriching
2:20they're different documents uh there's
2:22an argument
2:23that they're opposed there's a powerful
2:26argument
2:27in the historical scholarship that the
2:30declaration was meant to be a radical
2:32document and the constitution was meant
2:35to be
2:36conservative and that
2:39those people argue that the declaration
2:42is about the rights of us all
2:44and the constitution is really about
2:46protecting the privileged
2:49we we think that's nonsense around here
2:51and even on its face it's nonsense for
2:53one reason
2:55uh at the time exact time the
2:57declarative independence is from 1776
2:59and the constitution's from 1787
3:01so they're close together but never mind
3:05there were all kinds of state
3:06constitutions written
3:08at the same time as the declaration of
3:10independence
3:11some of them signed by people who also
3:14signed the declaration of independence
3:15and they're all like the constitution
3:17united states in
3:18in their structure which i'm going to
3:20talk about some that's important
3:23so another thing about it is that
3:25strikes me as particularly silly i've
3:27written a book about this
3:28is if you read the dictionaries of
3:30independence you will find that it comes
3:32in three parts
3:33and in the first part it states some
3:35universal principles very beautiful
3:38and in the second part it contains a
3:40bill of particulars in 17 paragraphs
3:43about
3:43bad stuff the king of england did which
3:46bad stuff
3:47justifies the making of america throwing
3:50off the old government and
3:52adopting a new one and those things are
3:56remarkably like the constitution united
3:58states what did the king do wrong
4:00well he interfered with the legislature
4:04which is a violation of the first step
4:06in all government the making of laws but
4:08also a violation of separation of powers
4:11which is crucial to how the constitution
4:13united states worked
4:15so separation of powers is important and
4:17then
4:18he interfered with the people's ability
4:20to
4:21elect legislators in other words
4:24representation
4:25a key feature of the constitution of the
4:27united states
4:29and then he interfered with the judges
4:32he would ship people
4:35arrest them for crimes and ship them off
4:36to england where they couldn't be tried
4:38by a jury of their peers
4:40nor before judges who are independent of
4:43the executive branch which more or less
4:45the king was
4:46so you see they're writing the
4:48constitution right there
4:50if you have a government that does these
4:53things
4:54then you are justified to rebel against
4:56that government
4:57and to kill anybody who resists you
5:01so it implies the constitution
5:04now what kind of thing that they are
5:06different to that critical independence
5:08and the constitution they serve
5:09different functions
5:11they also sound different in a very
5:13interesting way
5:14the declaration independence is really
5:16beautiful um
5:19you know when in the course of human
5:21events it becomes necessary for one
5:23people to
5:24dissolve the political bands that have
5:25connected them with another
5:27and to assume among the powers of the
5:28earth to separate an equal station
5:31which the laws of nature and nature's
5:33god entitle them isn't that a grand
5:35expression the laws of nature and of
5:37nature's god
5:39it's written like that also it's not
5:42time bound when in the course of human
5:45events
5:46that means any time in the course of
5:47human events it becomes necessary for
5:50one people that means any people
5:52anywhere anytime the claim is
5:55what's going to follow in this document
5:57is right
5:58at all times and so one way to think
6:02about the difference between the
6:03dichroism and the constitution is
6:06it's a document about ultimate purposes
6:10what they call in classic philosophy
6:12final causes
6:14vital causes are the things that we seek
6:17above all others the things we would die
6:19for
6:20uh and so the next independence states
6:23those and of course those words echo
6:25around the world still today even when
6:26they're distorted you're going to learn
6:28something about that in this course
6:31well the constitution is not quite like
6:33that uh
6:34the constitution is uh it provides a
6:38form of government and when you read it
6:42you know i've regarded it as beautiful
6:43and think i understand why it's
6:44beautiful
6:45it has to do with its structure which
6:47madison says is the most important thing
6:48about it
6:50but you know on any given passage
6:55right um it's full of details
6:59like there's a list in article 1 section
7:018 things the congress can do
7:04well post offices and post roads is
7:07among them
7:08it's hard to write a beautiful sentence
7:09about that
7:11no this is a document about how the
7:13government is going to work
7:15even how it's going to look
7:18it looks like a thing that operates in
7:21three branches
7:23if the if if there's a interviews going
7:25on in front of the white house which
7:27there are every day on the nightly news
7:29there's a picture of the white house in
7:30the background because that's where the
7:31president works and that's where
7:33executive things are done
7:35and if there's a if there's something
7:38big in the congress then there's
7:40uh cameras looking up at the capitol
7:42dome because that's where the congress
7:44operates and where the legislation is
7:45made and the same for the supreme court
7:48building
7:49in operation the government
7:52looks like the constitution and sure
7:55enough the first three articles in the
7:56constitution
7:57one of them the first one sets up the
7:59legislative branch
8:00beginning with the words all legislative
8:03power herein granted
8:05and one thing you're going to learn in
8:06this course is that we don't make our
8:08laws through the congress
8:10anymore that's why there can be so many
8:12of them
8:14and that's why it's impossible to hold
8:17to account
8:18those who make them except very
8:20indirectly indeed it's even hard to find
8:23out who makes them
8:25i think there are 150 law making
8:27agencies in the federal government now
8:29so each of those clauses
8:32establish one two three the way the
8:35government of the united states
8:37looks uh and so
8:41if you think about it you couldn't have
8:43any serious
8:44activity that did not have a final cause
8:49a whole bunch of people cooperating
8:51sometimes at risk to their lives
8:55suffering and trouble and sacrifice
8:59that started right at the beginning
9:00because the first thing that happened
9:02after the detroit's independence was we
9:04well actually it already happened a bit
9:05before
9:06we're having a war with england the
9:08greatest power on earth
9:09and to undertake that you need a big
9:11reason you need some
9:13ultimate reason and anytime people think
9:16of their deaths
9:18they always think of what they live
9:20their lives for
9:22that's what the declaration of
9:23independence is but then on the other
9:24hand
9:25if you're actually going to have a great
9:27government
9:29then there's going to have to be ways
9:30for it to operate because think what it
9:32has to achieve
9:33it has to grant power the doctrine of
9:37the doctor's independence is that all
9:39legitimate power stems from those who
9:42are governed
9:43no other source but then somehow
9:47you've got to get some way to get
9:49legitimacy
9:50into the things that the government does
9:53and have that
9:54operate on a routine basis so if you're
9:56going to have a
9:58legitimate government you're going to
10:00have to have a form a recognized way by
10:02which it operates
10:04and so the constitution provides that
10:06one you could say is the final cause and
10:07the other is the formal cost
10:11now i'm going to back up a step and ask
10:13a question that's prevalent today and
10:14that is
10:15why should you have any government at
10:17all what do you need it for
10:20and then we were just over in england uh
10:23as we're making this course and we were
10:26celebrating the completion of the
10:27official biography of winston churchill
10:28and there was a couple of young
10:30english guys who are working and helping
10:32us get around
10:33and they were delightful people and i
10:35got into long talks with them and they
10:36just made the point
10:39because you know they're having the big
10:40debate about whether they separate from
10:41the european union over there or not and
10:43young as a rule don't favor the
10:45separation and they said well we're not
10:48english we're european
10:52and i said what if you don't like
10:56something the european
10:57union does oh there's a lot we don't
10:59like we want to see it reformed
11:01and i said good what means do you have
11:04to achieve that reform
11:07because it's kind of difficult isn't it
11:10it's 29 countries i think aren't they
11:12they don't all speak the same language
11:15how would you have a conversation with a
11:17wide body of fellow citizens
11:19to establish a thing like major reforms
11:22to the government
11:25and that's a point isn't it because in
11:28the constitution
11:31well in the place in the federalist
11:33papers which are assigned to read along
11:35with this course and i
11:36urge you to read them and reread them
11:38because they're a great achievement in
11:40political thought one of the greatest
11:43and one of the greatest
11:44american such achievements
11:47and in the 51st federalist madison
11:51explaining why you have to build a
11:54constitution
11:56that uh that has precautions in it
12:00it has to grant power you have to have
12:03that
12:04but also it has to constrain
12:07power you have to have that and the way
12:10he puts the point
12:11is uh what is government but the
12:13profoundest of all reflections on human
12:15nature
12:17if men were angels no government would
12:18be necessary
12:20if angels were to govern men neither
12:22internal or external
12:24controls on the government would be
12:25needed
12:27see what that means he's locating us
12:30in the hierarchy of nature down at the
12:33bottom of the beast
12:35of the rocks and up at the top are
12:37angels
12:38and god and if angels were being
12:41being governed although there's a record
12:44in the bible that their behavior is not
12:46perfect
12:47uh still it's true that is a common run
12:49it's probably a lot better than ours and
12:52they don't
12:52they're imagined as as a disembodied
12:56intellect
12:57and so they don't have all the needs and
12:59pressures we have
13:01and the beast they just always obey
13:04instinct
13:05whereas we're moral beings
13:09which means we're called to do right and
13:11we don't always
13:13and that is actually the reason why we
13:15need laws
13:16but madison just makes the common sense
13:18points the people who make the laws
13:21are people too how do we know they won't
13:24make them in their own
13:25interest well you need a constitution
13:30and it needs to be in control of the
13:32governed
13:33and so the reason nations and that word
13:36nation it comes from the latin word
13:38natura which means nature
13:42and that means that uh the making of
13:44laws
13:45is written in human nature and it
13:48actually precedes
13:49aristotle says from our ability to talk
13:52because the that's a pregnant thing
13:54about us that's the big thing about us
13:57and so this uh need for government
14:01is fundamental and on the other hand
14:04we need to be able to control it and
14:08nations therefore are conceived as
14:09natural things
14:11where people can understand each other
14:14they say
14:14they share a common final cause as in
14:17the declaration of independence
14:19which tells us what our nation is for
14:22and then they can cooperate with each
14:24other
14:25to appoint and manage a government that
14:28responds to their will
14:30so it's actually true then isn't it that
14:33in this age where
14:35we're asking nationalism for
14:38internationalism
14:40the dexterous independence uh
14:44talks about that and mark the point i've
14:46already made it
14:48the doctor's independence begins
14:50universally
14:52it says that everybody has rights
14:56every human being the same in every age
14:59no matter where
15:01and then it says that to secure
15:04these rights governments are instituted
15:07among men
15:08deriving their just powers from the
15:10consent of the governed
15:12in other words this universal rights
15:14that we have
15:16they call for government to protect
15:18those rights
15:19and they call for a kind of government
15:22that will be responsive to us
15:26it's a remarkable thing i think
15:30it's hard to quarrel with the assertion
15:32which i make all the time
15:34that the greatest of the modern
15:36countries is the united states of
15:38america
15:40well its story is tremendous right
15:42because
15:44it begins with a new world nobody knew
15:47where it was nobody knew what it was
15:49uh until about 1806 i think it was
15:54nobody really knew how big it was
15:57nobody gone across the new world and all
16:00the way back
16:01until about then lewis and clark
16:05so something happened on this new land
16:10and what was it they picked up a
16:12civilization
16:14it's like in the western movies you know
16:16they're often a contest between somebody
16:18who's got a law book and somebody who's
16:19got a gun
16:21and in the towns where the westerns take
16:23place there's no capacity at all to
16:26produce
16:26either a law book or a gun but they know
16:29about them because they've come
16:30from a well-developed civilization and
16:33brought it out to the frontier
16:34that's what the whole western movies are
16:37just recreations of american history
16:39because the civilization mostly of
16:42europe
16:43with its understanding of god and its
16:45understanding of right
16:47and its learning and its understanding
16:49of nature
16:52that comes over here and those people
16:53brought all that in their minds
16:55and hearts what they didn't bring
16:58was aristocracy they didn't bring
17:01an established elite to run everything
17:06what they brought instead was ideas
17:09of freedom and equality and so there was
17:12this new world
17:14and a bunch of people got to take it
17:16over and they had because you know
17:18the first settlements are about 150
17:21years
17:22before the declaration of independence
17:25and that 150 years was a time of great
17:27learning
17:29uh one of the most remarkable things
17:32that was learned
17:34was that most of the early settlers came
17:37because of religious persecution
17:40and they thought the solution to that
17:41was to set up communities
17:43where their religion was installed by
17:47law
17:48and protected and everybody had to
17:50practice it
17:51and they thought it's a big old country
17:54if somebody
17:55doesn't like it they can go somewhere
17:56else so religious conformity was
18:00more or less the rule early on though
18:03the idea
18:04came to be we don't really have to fight
18:07about that
18:08because first of all we do fight a lot
18:10about it uh
18:12they were they used to in massachusetts
18:14bay colony
18:15they used to hang quakers for coming to
18:18town to try to convert people to
18:20quakerism
18:21and quakers are christians you know
18:22different brand
18:24and so they thought that through
18:28and in the course of that 150 years they
18:30adopted the idea
18:32of civil and religious freedom and
18:35that's in the declaration of
18:36independence right because
18:38life liberty and the pursuit of
18:40happiness
18:42that has to do including with our duty
18:44to god
18:46and so that religion should be
18:49respected but also free
18:52that's born that's reaches its
18:54perfection
18:55in the declaration of independence god i
18:58should say
18:59uh occurs four times in the declaration
19:01of independence
19:02and it's an interesting thing because it
19:04uh it
19:06demonstrates the way they talk of him
19:08how important god is
19:11and it demonstrates also how important
19:13limited government is
19:15because god appears first as the maker
19:18of the laws of nature
19:19nature's god the legislator then he
19:22appears
19:23as the supreme judge of the world
19:26the judge and then he appears as
19:30divine providence the executive branch
19:34and then he appears up higher up in as
19:36the creator the founder
19:38of all things right and the lesson of
19:40the choice of independence is one god is
19:43a standard greatly to be respected
19:46and worshiped and understood
19:50but two you wouldn't combine all those
19:53powers
19:55in the hand of any any being except god
19:58not for men so you see
20:01this uh tremendous opportunity which
20:05i i can't see myself how it would ever
20:07be repeated in history
20:09because there isn't a new world anymore
20:11maybe space
20:13um but uh
20:16there's nowhere to go like that anymore
20:19and so they went there and they got 150
20:22years to work on it
20:24and then they proclaimed a regime
20:27defined by these two documents
20:30that's one of the most important events
20:32in human history in my opinion
20:35say a thing or two about the
20:36constitution because that's important
20:39um first of all i mentioned that it's
20:43divided into groups and there are seven
20:46articles in the constitution united
20:48states and the first three set up the
20:49three branches of government
20:52but then a second thing about it's
20:53interesting and that is that
20:55it's not an unlimited government
20:58there's something called the police
21:00power which comes from english common
21:02law very old
21:04and it's the general authority to
21:06legislate for the health safety and
21:07welfare of the people
21:09state governments in america have that
21:12and that means that if the state if a
21:14state government
21:14tries to do something you know there are
21:17provisions in state constitutions and in
21:19the federal
21:20constitution that forbid them to do many
21:22things but the presumption is
21:25they have the power to do it if it fits
21:27within that common law
21:29definition which is very wide whereas
21:32the constitution the united states
21:33delegates certain powers to the federal
21:36government
21:37and just think what a different thing in
21:39kind that is
21:41like hillsdale college has articles of
21:43incorporation
21:45and they're very beautiful by the way
21:46and we follow them here closely
21:48but when it comes to the operation of
21:50the colleges it basically grants us the
21:52board and me and
21:54the staff here power to do anything a
21:56college needs to do
21:59well the federal government's not like
22:00that the federal government has
22:03article 1 section 8 and uh and that's a
22:06limit
22:06on the government you see
22:10the the clauses are it's not hard to
22:13state what they're about
22:15is about national defense the big job of
22:17the federal government
22:19the second biggest group is provisions
22:22to guarantee a system of national
22:24commerce
22:25all over the nation one nation as
22:28regards
22:28economics contracts are to be respected
22:32um uh bankruptcies there should be a
22:35provision
22:36for them so that
22:39you have to be a legal process before
22:40you can get out of your debts but there
22:42should be such a process
22:44money weights and measures
22:48it's going to be a great nation trading
22:50freely
22:51inside its borders and that will make
22:53the nation
22:54strong and nations need to be strong
22:57in order to defend themselves and the
23:00only other things that are powers given
23:02to the federal government are basically
23:03to
23:04operate in the states on the ground
23:08where the federal government has
23:09installations
23:11so the post office is federal territory
23:15and the federal building they're way too
23:16many of those now but uh
23:18there's a provision for them right from
23:19the beginning so it's a
23:22limited government and whatever it does
23:26it has to justify by a specific
23:29provision in the constitution
23:31that permits it and that's not the
23:33strictest rule in the world
23:36you know there's leeway
23:39but but it's a different kind of thing
23:44than to begin on the basis you can do
23:45whatever you please
23:49the last thing i'll say about the
23:50constitution is uh
23:53what's it trying to do um
23:57we we like to say today if we're
23:59conservative-minded people which i
24:00happen to be
24:02that uh the constitution is to limit the
24:05government
24:06but of course that's obviously not true
24:09the first thing it does is empower the
24:11government
24:12and it's uh it's uh all over the
24:15constitution and the documents
24:16surrounding it
24:18that everybody understood they need a
24:19strong government in fact the
24:21constitution itself which replaced the
24:22articles of confederation
24:25was written in part because the articles
24:28were failing
24:29and the reason they were failing was the
24:31government wasn't strong enough to
24:33protect our rights
24:35there were foreign troops on our soil
24:37and we couldn't do anything about it
24:38couldn't pay our debts there were riots
24:42in the states and they couldn't be put
24:43down
24:44madison writes all this up in a really
24:45great essay before the constitutional
24:47convention
24:48called vices of the political system of
24:50the united states it's in our
24:51constitution reader
24:54and so they need a stronger government
24:58but they divide it now what is the
25:01purpose of the
25:02division and you have to think about how
25:05profound the division is although it's
25:07been much
25:07overcome by the growth of the
25:09administrative state and the bureaucracy
25:11which you're going to hear a lot about
25:12in this course
25:13it's still true that it's a it's a
25:16tremendous
25:17achievement because in dividing the
25:20powers
25:22they arranged for different methods of
25:25election
25:26of the different parts so the president
25:29serves for four years
25:31uh the house representative serves for
25:33two
25:34the senate serves for six the judges are
25:38appointed by the president
25:39on advice of the senate
25:43the constituencies are different
25:46the constituency for a senator is a
25:49state
25:51the constituency for the president is an
25:54electoral college made up
25:56of the which you win by majority that's
25:58under pressure these days
26:00which you win by majority uh of
26:04the electors in in the states and the
26:06electors are calculated according to the
26:08number of senators and representatives
26:10each state has so you see
26:13what it does it spreads
26:16authority across space and you remember
26:20this is the greatest and most extensive
26:23republic in human history
26:25and they were trying to unite a
26:27continent the full size of which they
26:29did not quite know yet
26:31although george washington did name his
26:33army the continental army
26:36so they wanted spread and so the senate
26:39spreads
26:40political authority and that means
26:41people who live in the very different
26:43and widely separated parts of the
26:45country
26:46all get a say even if they're not very
26:48numerous
26:50and then on the other hand it spreads
26:52authority across
26:53time because if you want to change
26:56something in the american government
26:59the fastest you can possibly turn the
27:01whole government over
27:02is six years because it takes three
27:05elections
27:06to elect a whole senate and the
27:08president two-thirds of that amount of
27:10time
27:11so that means that uh it places a
27:14premium
27:15on opinions that we hold firmly
27:18and for a long time and madison makes
27:21this point
27:22beautifully in the federalist papers and
27:24more than once
27:25uh in the 49th i think it is he says
27:29it is our reason alone that must be
27:32placed in control of the government
27:35our passions must be controlled by it so
27:38we're supposed to think
27:39before we act here's another feature of
27:42the constitution
27:43in the 63rd federalist madison says that
27:46this is the first
27:48purely representative government in
27:50history he's claiming a uniqueness
27:53and what does he mean by purely
27:54representative he means that
27:56the sovereign sovereign in england was
27:59the king and he was the executive branch
28:01the song sovereign in athens was the
28:04free citizens and they were the
28:05legislative branch
28:08the sovereignty the sovereign in america
28:10is the constitutional majority
28:13but they don't occupy a branch of
28:16government
28:17we don't control i mean they've
28:19introduced the referendum
28:20things like that in later years but
28:23there's no federal
28:24referendum process why madison thought
28:27it would be good for us
28:29because you know just like you can't
28:31trust the government fully because
28:32they're people
28:34you can't trust us fully either because
28:35we're people too
28:37and so we can only act
28:40through elections that makes
28:44elections important in america and it
28:46also means
28:48we can't do anything by the spur of the
28:50moment
28:51the best decision is not being made on
28:53the spur of the moment
28:54and i'll state a telling exception to
28:57that too
28:59the president is specifically empowered
29:02to
29:02act alone and that's in matters of
29:06execution think of the different
29:10meanings of that term
29:11execution when you've got a war
29:14you have to act suddenly but
29:17laws prevail because of course
29:20if the president starts a war and the
29:22congress doesn't like it or if he sends
29:24a bunch of troops somewhere
29:25they don't have to supply any money for
29:27that and the money will run
29:29out if they will put a stop to it and
29:31they have often in american history and
29:33threatened other times
29:35so you see the idea is that
29:38we have all the power but we can't
29:42act except through our representatives
29:45and that adds
29:46patience and and deliberation to the
29:49process
29:51and then a last thing the size of the
29:54of the united states the fact that it's
29:57spread so far
29:59the fact that it includes so many people
30:01in so many jurisdictions you know the
30:02states are supposed to have a lot more
30:04authority than they have these days and
30:06one of my wishes is to see it restored
30:10a lot of other things like that too but
30:13when it's spread all over the place
30:16let's say
30:16uh you've got 10 little conspiratorial
30:20friends
30:21you know you can if you got 10 little
30:22conspiratorial friends you can
30:25meet in dark rooms and whisper to each
30:27other nobody need find out
30:29but what's 10 going to do in a country
30:31this size
30:32in fact to influence the country you
30:35have to cr you have to talk
30:37across millions of people hundreds of
30:40thousands in the
30:41founding millions now tens of millions
30:43now
30:44and you have to you have to speak across
30:47vast
30:48spaces and madison writes
30:51that will teach us to be more candid
30:53with each other
30:55we you know we we love to say that
30:58uh all politicians are liars and i think
31:01that's not quite true
31:03but it's a rough truth but on the other
31:06hand think how much worse it would be
31:08if they didn't have to talk in front of
31:10us and if they weren't free to
31:11contradict each other
31:14and i i want to close with this point
31:16because it's fundamentally important
31:19there are just two ways of governing
31:21human beings
31:23and one is by talking and the others by
31:25force
31:26because we are the speaking beings
31:30this rationality that we have that lets
31:32us use common nouns
31:35that's what makes us political and so
31:38legitimate political
31:39systems are always built on talking
31:42not on violence they may take violence
31:45to install
31:47they may require violence to persist
31:50and to defend but they must not proceed
31:54in their ordinary workings by violence
31:56of one citizen upon another
31:58and so we we have a political system
32:01that first of all is meant
32:03to protect our rights which are written
32:05in our nature the decisive part of which
32:08is our ability to reason
32:09and and talk
32:13but also we have a nation where we're
32:15supposed to discuss
32:16things and teach each other and learn
32:19from each other
32:20and i'll go back to the european union
32:23the polls and the checks and the english
32:27and the french don't really have a good
32:30way to talk to each other
32:31except through the agencies of the
32:33european union
32:35and that means it's very difficult for
32:38there to be a culture
32:40in which public opinion is formed freely
32:44among all of the people who are affected
32:46they can't speak with each other
32:48routinely there's translation programs
32:50and lots of people speak more than one
32:52language in europe
32:53and yet to talk in your native tongue
32:57the tongue in which you've been educated
33:00and by which you
33:01articulate your best thoughts that's
33:04what you do especially with fellow
33:06citizens
33:09it's become a very great country in the
33:11course of its history
33:15beyond the imaginings even of the people
33:18who founded it who were
33:19extremely ambitious people they had the
33:22highest
33:23possible hopes all right well if that's
33:26true
33:27there must have been some cause of it
33:30but also it's in that final purpose
33:33we serve that we have adopted it's a
33:35purpose available to all human beings
33:38we have adopted it for our own
33:41and then finally in this form of
33:43government we have
33:44under the constitution which is itself a
33:47reflection of human nature
33:49and that is why it has worked so well
33:54so i'll close with the editorial point
33:56well known
33:58i think we ought to restore the
34:00authority of the constitution
34:02and the declaration of independence
34:05thank you
34:08[Music]

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