 Get him out here so you can spend as much time as possible hearing from your Ron Brooke the kind introduction and for all of you guys so Showing up and being here You know steamboat is one of the few places that have the courage to keep inviting me back so You know one of the great mysteries that all of us face and I think that everybody in the world faces Particularly people like me who are advocates of capitalism and many of you who are believers in capitalism one of the great mysteries is Why we're losing Because we're losing We're losing, you know, we're losing socialism today is more popular among American young people than ever before social democracy Social democracy Which is just a code word for socialism Couched in friendly terms is gaining popularity Across college campuses and really across the American people But and I know this won't be too popular even on the right We don't know what capitalism is or how to defend it anymore. I'm sorry But tariffs are not capitalism I'm sorry But limiting immigration legal immigration is not capitalism the government decided which kind of workers Industry needs in which they don't and how many they need is not capitalism. It's not freedom Freedom means capitalism means government staying out of our lives Freedom means not telling me what to buy at what price to buy it from what country I should buy it But leaving me free to make my own decision about what to buy where to buy it from and at what price to buy it my decision not Washington's decision not any bureaucrats decision not any president's decision my decision That's what this country is founded on individuals Individualism individuals standing and pursuing their own values We've lost the sense of what capitalism really is about There's no accident that this is the first really capitalist country in history Because America was founded on very specific clear principles. It was founded a moral principles It was founded on the principle of individualism The Declaration of Independence does not declare Does not declare your responsibility to take care of your brother It does not declare that we have a responsibility to our community and certainly not that we have a responsibility to our State to our nation to our country it declares That you have an inalienable right an inalienable right nobody can take it away from you, right? That's what the inalienable means to do what to your life to live your life as you see fit To follow the values that you believe will lead to your success to your prosperity and that the government's job is to do what? To protect you To protect you from people would stop you from that pursuit You have a right to liberty you have a right to think for yourself You have a right to follow those thoughts to act to speak to write the debate as You see fit and to make choices for yourself Not anybody telling you and commanding you on how to act and finally It says that you have a right to pursue your own happiness and They establish a political system that basically protects those rights, and that's it Unfortunately Thomas Jefferson crossed out an important right which would be serving us well today if it stayed in the Declaration of Independence And that is appears in it in the Constitution of Virginia, and that is the right to property that would have completed that nicely life Liberty property and pursuit of happiness would have been a slight improvement on the declaration But who are any of us to critique the geniuses the genius of our founders? Property it's your property you get to decide what to do with it You get to decide what to do with it means by the way You get to decide who to employ you can decide how much to pay them you get the site went to fire them tell that to California And you also get to decide where you're gonna put your plant And if it makes sense for you to put your plant in Mexico, it's none of the government's business We might want to ask ourselves why American businesses are moving to Mexico and Maybe fix our regulatory environment and the cost of labor in this country and all the massive regulations and making it possible to do business in America But the government doesn't tell me what to do with my property. That's not capitalism. That's not America it is that idea of defending individual rights of leaving individuals free to pursue their happiness to pursue their life That made America capitalist economy that made America the first capitalist country in the world because what is capitalism? capitalism is the social economic system Where individuals are left free to pursue their life liberty and happiness It is the political system in which the government protects rights Primarily property rights, but otherwise leaves us free leaves us alone That's what capitalism is and the amazing thing and this is why it troubles me so much that we're losing The amazing thing is everywhere. It is tried and to the extent that it is tried It is a massive success What was the percentage of the world population? There was poor and I mean poor I mean two dollars a day poor. I mean poor like nobody in the United States of America is poor What percentage of the world population was two dollars a day or less of income poor 300 years ago? 95 95 is a good number. Nobody knows exactly, but it's in the high 90 percentage 95% indeed since the beginning of time since the beginning of human beings trading and What percentage of the human population has been below two dollars a day? of income equivalent of 95% it goes up a little bit sometimes like under Rome Things are improving and they did clients during the dark ages and then improves a little bit in renaissance But generally income has been flat for 10,000 years at two dollars or less a day And then what happens something miraculous happened something the most important thing in all of human history Happens there's nothing more important than this fact suddenly Income and wealth go like that and I can't get up on my tiptoes to go high enough that And what's the date when does that happen like when is that to any point? 1800s Yeah, I mean I like I like a particular date. There's a particular date. I like Yeah, 1776 that's a great date for when that happens. I mean no dates is accurate But but that's a good day three important things happen in 1776. You obviously know one of them but one of them is The first commercialization of the steam engine in England the beginning of the industrial revolution were commercializing power To fuel the industrial revolution second thing happens a famous book is published the most important book of its time on the value of free trade Somebody somebody in the White House should go back and find this book and read it Called the wealth of nations by Adam Smith Why milk untilism is bad and free trade is in is is the only system that enhances human well-being and The third thing of course we declare to the world that Individuals have ineligible rights and we are free as individuals to pursue a life liberty and happiness and The world takes off in terms of wealth and it's true Some of the world doesn't and it takes a long time to catch up and some of the world stays flat At about two dollars or less a day, but at what percentage of the world today the world We live in right now lives on two dollars or less a day Somebody said 40 that is a that is a common common answer anybody else want to suggest another number 70 $2 a day or less 70 anybody else 5% okay 5% is the closest number. It's actually eight. So you're a little bit more optimistic only 8% of the world lives today on two dollars a day or less. Why I mean the 70% the 40% That's what everybody thinks because the biggest story the biggest story That should have been covered by the media that should be celebrated in the streets in all over the world is the fact that over the last 30 years Close to two billion people have come out of extreme poverty all over the world Why because of foreign aid Because of welfare programs No because of what? Because countries have adopted a little bit of capitalism not even the full-fledged capitalism that I would like to see that some of you Would like to see but just a little bit of it and bam They are no longer poor 8% of the world which is too much and if more countries adopt capitalism Guess what that number is going to drop to zero very quickly Very good Africa is on the road to eradicating extreme poverty because some of the countries in Africa Adopting private property the rule of law and the idea of individualism to some extent and They're getting the same result we got in 1776 so yes the graph stayed flat for all those countries But it started going like this in Asia anybody know the date When does start going like this in Asia? Yeah, 1980s a good date. It's probably a little earlier. It starts 1978 Mao Zedong Thank God it dies and Yeah, bad evil bastard. They should die and Don't chop paying who's much more of a pragmatist starts implementing kind of free market policies in India It happens a little later in 1991 as they adopt free market policies But it doesn't matter every one of them has the same result as soon as they add up free market policies wham wealth disparity human well-being increase and yet The intellectual battle for capitalism We're losing particularly here. It's easier today to talk about capitalism in Asia It's easier to talk about capitalism in Latin America than it is in America today the birthplace of capitalism both place of the ideas that were institutionalized Into politics that made capitalism possible ideas that came from the enlightenment came from Europe came from John Locke and the Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century and We have to ask our question ask ourselves. Why? Why is it so difficult to make the argument for freedom? for individual rights for capitalism when we'd be so successful So successful. I mean think how rich we are today. We take it for granted Our kids certainly take it for granted As long as the next iPhone comes out, they're happy Where it comes from? Nobody knows by the way, anybody know where iPhones are made. There's so big part of our life where iPhones made No, they're not made in China. Anybody know where they're made? They're actually assembled in China, but that's just assembling. That's easy where they made I Think the number I saw was something like 58 different countries You want to block international trade? 58 different countries make stuff that goes into the iPhone You know this stuff from Taiwan and this stuff from Korea and there's actually raw materials from Africa and it all comes to China and they put it together, but where's the idea for the iPhone made? here here Right, so we we're producing the whole idea that America doesn't produce anything is You know, I don't have a nice word for this nonsense You know how much actual industrial production happens in the United States everybody's talking about with the end of you know At the end of manufacturing in the United States Do we make more met do we produce more manufactured good in the United States today than we did in 1979 or less? Double more than double We've never manufactured more stuff in America than we do right now today in the United States But we do it with less than half the people why? Because we're much more productive why we more productive because we have robots and we have computers and we have beautiful things How many people worked in agriculture a hundred years ago? like I Mean 200 years ago. It was 90 something percent of the population a hundred years ago Maybe it was 50 percent of the population. How many people work in agriculture today? Less than 1% is that a good thing or bad thing? That's a great thing. It's wonderful. And by the way, do we produce more food or less food? More food should be celebrate more food Even though it means less jobs Yeah, because all of those people are working Not in the old jobs those horrible jobs those back-breaking jobs those nasty jobs now. They've got much better paying jobs much better jobs So what are we complaining about why is manufacturing jobs a measure of anything again? That's not capitalism talk about manufacturing jobs the jobs at Apple are Not manufacturing jobs even though the end result is manufacturing. What are the jobs at Apple? Ideas jobs we're good at ideas we Thanks to Relatively loose immigration laws in the past we are brought to this country some of the smartest people from the world and they brought ideas 50% of startups in Silicon Valley. They go up to be successful are started by immigrants I know it's uncomfortable to talk about it, but it's fact We're supposed to be the ones for free speech Talk about anything We up we are the people of ideas we created the ideas of 1776 that liberated the world from poverty No country no system in human history has done more to eradicate poverty Then capitalism indeed I would flip that around and say the only system in human history To eliminate poverty even a little bit is capitalism, but we're not willing to defend it Our kids are enamored of socialism. What's a good example right now of socialism? Yeah, Venezuela is a great example Great example. What's happening in Venezuela? They were a little poor. They're going down towards that $2 a day They can't have they don't have food. I Know people who are from Venezuela and who visit Caracas and they tell me that there are no pets in Caracas Because they've eaten them. We know that they've broken into the zoos and eaten the zoo animals Middle-class kids are dumpster diving, you know to collect food and dumpsters because there's no food Why is there no food? Why is there no food? Why are farmers Venezuela's on the richest soil in all of Latin America 30 years ago? Venezuela was the richest country richest country in all of Latin America. They have more oil reserves in Venezuela Then it's Saudi Arabia. So why is Venezuela so poor? They should be rich They nationalized the farms get guess what happens when you nationalize farms Guess what happens when you make farming collective? Nobody produces food Guess what happens when you nationalize oil industry? You can't keep up with technology and you can't get the oil the oil in Venezuela is hard to how to get it's in the ocean Whereas the oil in Saudi Arabia is easy to get it's on the surface. That's why the Saudis can do it But the Venezuelans can't The Saudis are so smart They allow lots of foreign investment in the Venezuelas don't because they're committed socialists and they don't want those capitalists benefiting from their oil So Venezuela's poor because of socialism nothing else and they say no no They just had a bad leader. How come every single country in history that socialist has a bad leader? How come the so that the Stalin's always show up in socialist countries and in the capitalist countries get the good leaders? I mean really is that the problem? Maybe there's something wrong with the system that encourages bad leaders to loot and to steal and to take everything away from people The system is corrupt and therefore corrupt leaders are attracted to it. It's not the corrupt leaders corrupt the system It's the other way around and yet What do people tell us about socialism? What do you say when when you tell people well look at Venezuela, what do they say if they stick around to talk to you? It wasn't real socialism next time next time. We'll get it right and When you say and when you give them another example, I see the cause we're getting lots of cards I'll leave plenty of time for Q&A When you give them the next example that wasn't right Stalin wasn't good and Lenin wasn't good and China wasn't good And Mao wasn't good and this wasn't good and that wasn't good. They've always got an excuse and They won't face the fact that socialism is evil It's an evil ideology So here we've got one Political social economic system, and I consider capitalism much more than economics. It's social. It's political. It's about freedom That's it being an incredible success story and you've got one economic system political system. That's been a disaster And yeah, what does everybody want? They want the disaster Now until we understand why that is until we figure out what is actually going on. We will continue to lose Because there's something we are doing that's wrong There's something We are messing up because the knowledge is out there. It's not like anybody thinks Venezuela's rich You can't say they're ignorant. They know Venezuela's poor. They know they used to be rich, but they're not attributing to socialism Why they know we were poor and now we're rich and they're not attributing that to capitalism? Why? So I don't think the problem is ignorant although Granted People are really ignorant Really ignorant particularly if they've come out of the public school system. They're unbelievably ignorant particularly of history Particularly of economics. They have no clue And you know some of you it a little ignorant to 70% we're gonna have to talk afterwards So granted there's a lot of ignorance out there, but it can't just be ignorance I mean anybody here being to Hong Kong. I think I've said this at Steamboat before right? You got to go to Hong Kong at least once in life. You got to see it It's magnificent. It is beautiful Skyscrapers more skyscrapers than New York City on a smaller footprint Seven and a half million people living on this small little place and They're producing and they're creating and they're building and there's energy and everybody's moving everybody's moving and Hundred years ago less than a hundred years ago. Hong Kong was a little fishing village. There was nothing there and Today the GDP per capita is higher than the United States of America America what it took us to produce 250 years It's taken them less than a hundred and they've done it They're richer than we are It's pretty amazing. Why why how did Hong Kong do it? Capitalism freedom no safety net there is one a little bit now But they never used to be people used to swim there needs to get on little boats from Asia and row there They used to do everything. There's that struggle risk their lives to get to Hong Kong and And they were dirt poor when they arrived that they just like all our ancestors were dirt poor when they arrived here and they worked And they struggled and they built and they created and they made and they're rich now just like we are Because of the hard work of our ancestors and our own hard work Because we were free to do so and because in Hong Kong they're free to do so they're rich So why doesn't everybody look at Hong Kong say we want that instead they look at Venezuela and they go We don't really want that but we want that It's weird The people really want poverty and misery and and and most people don't I mean some a few intellectuals do granted There's some professors at universities who do and they say so they don't like human beings They don't want us to be around But most people don't want that they want to be successful. They want the kids to be successful Why aren't we all capitalists? It works So I don't have a lot of time to give you the answer to the why but I want I'm gonna give you some hints I want you to think about it because it's the most important question. I think we face Again, I don't care who's in the White House. I anymore that much because it doesn't matter Congress just passed up Spending bill that's bigger than anything Obama did They're spending more money than the Obama administration did Republican House Republican Senate and Republican president and we can't keep spending under control Yeah, we cut taxes. It doesn't matter. I'm an economist It doesn't matter if you cut taxes if you keep on spending like there's no tomorrow. It does not matter You want to reform health care? Well, what Dan Mitchell didn't tell you is that 90% of those health care costs are Medicare and He got it dramatically Reform Medicare, I'd like to see phased out. I don't like Medicare. I think it's a really, you know socialist medicine anybody here for social Socialized medicine anybody Good is anybody here for Medicare? Because Medicare is just socialized medicine for anybody over 65 So why is it good for people over 65 and not good for people under 65 if we hate socialized medicine? We have to hate Medicare and I know some of you receive Medicare So, you know, I'm sensitive to that fact. But again, you it's you you come out as a hypocrite We all come out as a big and this is part of the problem of us advocating for capitalism if we advocate for free market health care But force Medicare Then we are contradicting ourselves and we're hypocrites You have to be consistent. That's one of the lessons. We have to learn in defending capitalism. We have to be consistent So as long as government spending is going like this as long as you know regulations are better But I haven't seen Congress pass one bill that significantly Deregulate an industry. I've seen it the regulatory agencies They are tinkering with stuff and lower regulations and as soon as the Democrats come back to White House They'll increase the regulations and we'll play this ping-pong, right? But if Congress actually passed a bill getting rid of regulations, that's hard to overturn. That's hard to undo We have the House or you have the House the Senate and the White House and they haven't done it They haven't even proposed it. Never mind done it This isn't Ronald Reagan This isn't the 80s when real deregulation happened at the at the legislative level not just at the administrative level So I'm I'm kind of giving up on politics because this is education at the end of the day. What do we do? Why does nobody buy it? And I think that the fundamental thing is This idea on which America was founded which nobody really wants to talk about and it's the idea of individualism America was founded on the idea of the sanctity of the individual not of the group not of the collective and not of the nation The idea of the sanctity of your life You are the measure of all things The government's job is to protect you as an individual and Yet we live in a world of tribes and collectives and groups and the individual has been lost It's all about which group and which tribe and and and which collective you happen to belong to and again The left has been very good at this game Identity politics is there, you know is they currency and what they pitched to us all the time But the right is catching up In this collectivistic tribalistic game That's anti-american It goes against everything that the founders believed in It's not what this country is really founded on it. It's not cannot be the basis on which we build a capitalist society Capitalism is about individualism individuals pursuing their happiness individuals pursuing their lives individuals making the most of the one life we have on this planet It's not about the group however you want to define that group and if you believe in groups if you believe fundamentally morally that The central purpose of the individual is to live for the group to sacrifice for the group to benefit the group Then they're left as one they've won the battle because what is socialism about What's the essential characteristic of socialism? What's that? In what but what does it manifest itself? How does this collectivism manifest itself? What the socialists want? They want to sacrifice individuals to the group and The more individuals they can sacrifice to the group the more worthy they are the more marble they are the more virtuous They are you know if you have to kill what did what did Lenin I think say or Stalin You know you have to break a few eggs to bake to make an omelet Well a few eggs is 40 million people in the case of Stalin in the case of Mao Zedong It's 60 million people but nobody cares Right you walk into a room you walk into a room and you say I'm a Nazi everybody goes Oh my god get out of here. We don't have anything to do with you and justifiably so Nazis are subhuman anybody who identifies himself as Associate with that ideology doesn't deserve respect doesn't deserve to be I mean they They're gonna be heard because we have a First Amendment, but you don't have to stay around and listen But somebody walks into a room and says I'm a communist. Oh, really? That's kind of interesting quaint not so quaint these days. I guess there's too many of them Nobody shudders with fear. Nobody resents what it is. Why? Because supposedly socialism is moral. It's ethical. It's virtuous. It's about helping the poor It's about Helping the group and we have to sacrifice a few individuals on the side. So what they were rich or privileged or whatever term you want to use at the time if we don't value the individual quiet a vigil if we're willing to sacrifice the individual for The sake of the group then socialism is right around the corner that moral question About whether individuals should be sacrificed or not is the key question It doesn't mean you don't fight for your values It doesn't mean soldiers don't fight for their values It means they fight for the right values the values that are important to them as individuals They don't want to live in a world without freedom But if we start saying oh we can sacrifice this industry to that industry or this group to that group Or we're gonna favor these interests instead of those interests right now farmers poor farmers tariffs are really hurting them So we'll give them 20 billion Make them happy. I mean what wait wait wait. That's my money. It's your money that I did I agree to that? I thought it was my money property rights. You remember those So this question of collectivism versus individualism which crosses party lines is the key fundamental question that we have to debate discuss what is the unit that's important is it America Like I would like to see a presidential campaign run on the slogan. I want to make individuals great again Well, how about How about as president? I'll defend the rights of individuals like our founders did I You know, I love America. I came to this country. I'm an immigrant. I you know, I know America I'd fight for America. I fought from my country. I kind of was forced to but you know, I did that But I would fight for America. I love this country. This is the greatest country in human history Why because it's the only country in human history built created on a moral premise That your life is yours Delivers you see fit and then me as a politician have no right to it have no right to your time I have no right to anything about you. My job is simple as a politician protect you. That's it Military police force judiciary other than that. Nothing else is my business Thomas Jefferson said if my neighbor doesn't have his hand in my pocket, he can do whatever the hell he wants He didn't say hell, but whatever the hell he wants in his home That's That's what we if we do believe in capitalism need to defend the right of the individual to live as he sees fit and until we're willing to really defend that and Until we're willing to put aside the collectivism the tribalism the nationalism in the negative sense not in the patriotic sense Then we cannot win because the left has their more consistent. You want sacrifice. They know how to do it Your nationalism they know how to do it You want any of these things they know how to do it is that time Yeah, I'm almost done So what we need last sentence promise What we need is to resurrect what's truly American Is to go back to our foundations to go back to our roots My favorite document in all of human history is the Declaration of Independence what we need What we need is to resurrect those woods That each one of us has an inalienable right then no democracy no group no collective can take away from us We have an inalienable right to our own life our own liberty and In the most individualistic thing ever that any political entity ever othered we have a right to pursue our own Happiness when we get that right We will win. Thank you What's that? All right, we have good questions Where is John Gault? Is it he's not here. Is it better for capitalism to go For capitalists to go somewhere else and start over or stay here and fight for freedom Um, so I've always I'd always say that that it's better to stay here and fight for freedom And I still think that but less so than I used to I guess Because I think that there's something about America because of where it comes from Because of its founding documents because of its heritage that they still that spark a personal responsibility Of taking your life seriously of that individualism that just doesn't exist in other places around the world But I have to say that over the last few years as I travel around the world speaking I'm seeing more and more of that on the rise in other countries and more and more of that in decline in America And that saddens me to no end I'm seeing particularly in places like eastern europe Latin america some places in asia where people are discovering the power of freedom and they want more They don't want less They've done socialism. It didn't work. They've done fascism. It didn't work It seems like we have not learned from other people's experience. We want to do it ourselves right So It's hard to tell these days where now again starting over is tough because uh, where do you go? I mean, we're still one of the first country though. You know an economic freedom index the united states is now 15 to 19 depending on the on the thing I mean countries like like those wonderful socialist countries supposedly socialist like sweden and danmark Above us in economic freedom. You know, canada is more economically free according to these indexes than america And what a travesty is that and it's not because they became freer It's because we became less free yb All right. I'm not sure what that says conservative libertarian. Oh Conservatives and libertarians often scoff at iron ran when she has more influence than all of them combined I didn't say that. Why do beltway conservatives? Why do beltway conservatives? Um I mean iron rands controversial, right? I mean and and this is why people scoff at her Yes, she's had more influence than than almost anybody in the 20th century in in in many parts of the world um The positive influence has been plenty plenty of people providing negative influence But they very very few and milton freedman basically resurrected the term capitalism capitalism was a dirty word in the 50s Nobody talked about capitalism in the 50s and milton freedman and iron ran resurrected that word and created it I don't know that ronald reagan would have been elected in 1980 if not for iron rand Even though she refused to vote for him For a variety of reasons but iron rand Conservatives don't like her and and there's good reason for you guys not to like iron rand, right? She was an atheist. You heard what our previous speaker said about atheist um me included I guess Uh, she's an atheist. She was uh on social issues You many of you would be opposed to her views. She really believed in capitalism all the way no No compromise conservatives often compromise on capitalism. They don't want purely free markets There's often a compromise. She believed in individualism all the way She proposed a moral system based on individualism That placed your well-being as an individual long term rationally determined as the primary moral focus of your life So yeah, she overturned Much of the philosophical foundation that we've been living with for 2000 years So yeah, it's gonna take a while until people start taking us more seriously than they have been but it it's coming it is coming um What's your best explanation why capitalism emerged and where did in where it did is it Protestantism? No, it's not Protestantism capitalism emerged Where it did in the really in the 18th century into the 19th century because of the enlightenment um now i'm gonna be controversial so You know, you knew what you were getting I don't believe capitalism and the founding of america based on the judo-christian tradition. I do not I believe that indeed they are based on The the the partial rejection of the judo-christian tradition. It is the thinkers of the enlightenment It is the thinkers the enlightenment that are basically saying religion Keep that at home But here the principles by which we build countries. This is the principles by which we build societies These are the principles by which you should for the most part live your life And what's another age for the age of enlightenment from which from which America is the pinnacle the the massive achievement. What's the age for that era? It's not the age of faith. It's the age of reason It's the age of reason It's the elevation of reason during the 18th century that made america possible when time if you look at thomas jefferson's memorial What it says on the top and i'm paraphrasing because i should know this by heart it says before everything bring Before reason bring everything even the existence of god reason is the pinnacle reason is everything reason is the way in which we know about the world It's a scientific revolution And the enlightenment the age of reason revolution that happens in the 18th century that made this country possible There is no right to life liberty pursuit of happiness There is no freedom of speech in the old testament I know the old testament, you know given my background from israel not the new one, but there's no free speech in the old testament Now you you disagree You're done Ask moses ask someone and moses comes down from the from alzina He's got the 10 commandments and some jews are worshiping a golden calf. He doesn't go up to them It says hey freedom of religion. Do you do your thing? We'll do our thing We're gonna part ways here by no he picks up a sword and kills I think it was 30 000 people that day and gets rewarded for it That's the old testament So no the idea freedom of thought comes from the idea of reason if every one of you is capable of reason If every human being on the planet is capable of using their mind Then if we can do that if we can understand the laws of physics If we understand as it is newton has shown us if we understand all this scientific stuff about what's going on in the world Then surely we should be able to choose our own profession Surely we should be able to choose who we marry surely we should be able to choose who leads us politically So if we have reason if we discover as the greeks did an enlightenment that reason is what makes us human Then we want freedom to allow that reason to flourish to manifest itself in the world And that leads to political freedom because again if you have the capacity to think for yourself You want to choose your political leaders. That's where democracy comes in. I mean, I'm not a big fan of Big d democracy, but the elections there are no elections before that There are a few republics here and there they all fail But only when we discover this do we get freedom The freedom of the individual freedom of thought freedom of speech all those wonderful Rights in the bill of rights are products of the thinkers of the enlightenment. Who is the most cited thinker in the federalist papers? Most important documents leading up to the to the to the to the really creation of this country Who's the most who's the most? Cited thinker anybody know Yeah, you think John Locke. That's what I would have thought when I when I first was asked this question, but no, it's monoskew From the French Enlightenment Which was super secular A super secular enlightenment. You cite monoskew. They said Voltaire. They cite Locke. They cite cum. They cite, you know, they cite the thinkers That's what they're talking about. They're not citing passages from the bible. They're not It's not what the founders were doing. They were engaged in intellectual pursuit of figuring out what was true Not what was written in a book Now maybe the same the two are the same some of you would argue fine, but their focus is on reality. They discover truth That's what they were focused on said came about because of those great thinkers and it's all uh, if you look at history, it's all uh I think we're a we're a Greek We're very much a Greek culture if you think about the ideas of Greece a rediscovered in the renaissance That's what's called the renaissance, you know renaissance of what? Of greek culture they discover the scar statues and the thinkers and Aristotle and Plato And the renaissance leads directly to the enlightenment and that's where we are. We have very much children of avastar We're children of greek philosophers What should our national policy on? Immigration be okay. What's our national policy immigration be? All right, you ask the easy ones, huh? I say I would make it very simple So we have a welfare state today. I mean generally if we had a lazific capitalist In america if it was really capitalist in america today If we were truly had a free market if there was no welfare state If there's no redistribution of wealth if if there was real freedom in america Then the only immigration policy consistent with american principle is that the founding is the immigration principles of the 19th century You're welcome We do a background check. You're not a terrorist You don't belong to some islamist group You don't have you're not a criminal and you don't carry an infectious disease. Welcome Welcome to the land of the free Where we are welcoming of anybody who's willing to work for a living and since there's no welfare state either work for a living or starve That would be my policy under freedom. Now. We're not in a free market. We have a welfare state I would say I would make it very simple. This is actually, you know, helen kreber helen kreber who's From denver uh or was I think she lives in connectica now. I don't know how you do that move, but anyway, um helen proposed what I think is a very rational immigration policy Her proposal is this get rid Of all the visas get rid of the state department issuing people visas get rid of all of that and give the ability to give visas To employment agencies Have them employment agencies open offices all over the world And give them the ability to run fbi background checks And give them employment visas anybody who can get a job in the united states, please come Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of openings in construction, which we and americans are not filling There are hundreds of thousands of jobs picking apples and strawberries all that farming by the way in california Is moving to mexico because the workers can't come here. So we're moving the farms over there Is that better for us or worse for us, right? If you are if you if you have an idea on how to start a business, please come if you are high tech engineer, please come Let me say something again. There's no such thing as an american job. There's no such thing as gdp These are collectivistic Aggregation terms who cares what the gdp is what you should care is about your job You don't have a right to a job. So what should you do if you care about your job? work hard learn new skills Keep making yourself better so that nobody can take your job Challenge yourself. You know who's going to take your job? It's not going to be an immigrant. I can tell you who's going to take most of your jobs Now a lot of you are retired, but most of you are still working. Who's going to take your job? A robot So you better figure it out because no matter what your immigration policy is Robots are coming and we're not going to ban them. I hope I mean we could But I don't think there'll be fewer jobs when their robots are here There'll be more jobs when the robots come because they always are technology always creates more jobs than it destroys But you but they're going to be different jobs. So be flexible. I hope in business schools That's what we're teaching. You got to be flexible You got to think about your career over decades and therefore think about career in terms of change How do I constantly keep up? How do I change? That's reality So, yeah, bring them in being anybody who's willing to work in this country Bring them here because you know what they'll make they'll produce they'll build as I said half of silicon valley successful companies were started by by immigrants the ceo's of microsoft of google One or two others are immigrants. We want those people But we also want the apple pickers because you know what americans don't do it But even if they did If the mexicans can do it a little cheaper and I can spend less on my grocery bill and apple good Why is that a bad thing? That's the american way of doing it. I'm done. I know So look, I think this is how you measure. Uh, this is how you measure any political policy any proposal Does it increase freedom or does it decrease freedom? That's it. Does it increase A movement towards protecting individual rights or does it violate individual rights? Obamacare violate individual rights. That's easy medicare violates individual rights. That's easy How do we reverse those those you got to have plans for that But the way to judge a policy any policy is does it increase freedom or decrease freedom? I don't know about you guys. I'm for freedom all the way every time. Thank you all