#1303 Can We Talk?
Listening to America
Listening to America
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2018
⏱️ 56 minutes
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Summary
"He saw a nation that collapsed right in front of him and he thought, 'well, I wonder why nations collapse,' and I think that really led to some great thinking."
— Clay S. Jenkinson
We respond to listener mail this week, including questions related to the principle of one-person one-vote, and we discuss replies to Clay's request for some thoughtful conservative perspectives from listeners who support the Trump administration.
We love questions, comments, and small essays from our listeners from all over the country — even all over the world. We take them all seriously and we try to address as many as we can. Sometimes it's easier to address them out of character, and that's this week's program. We talk about a whole range of subjects, all of them generated by our listeners who are fascinated by the connection between Jefferson's era and the current chaos, whatever it is, in our national political arena. We read a letter from our new political friend down south, Tim Clemmons, who wonders whether we are really fair about certain questions of the give and take of our Justice Department. Plus, David gets a chance to brag about his two pound tomato, an Amana Orange.
Find this episode, along with recommended reading, on the blog.
Support the show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc.
You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at jeffersonhour.com/tours.
Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello podcasters. Gee I hope we did I hope we did Tim Clemens justice on this show. I you know it kind of got rushed. I said I said I'm looking for thoughtful |
| 0:09.3 | Conservatives who want to make the case for Trump and so we're getting some of that right you've gotten |
| 0:14.7 | a number of letters and people say all right I'll I'll I'll step up and try to address these questions |
| 0:20.8 | I think that's really important. |
| 0:22.4 | The thing that still rings in my ear, in your final essay you talked about checks and balances. |
| 0:29.0 | How did you put that? |
| 0:30.0 | You remember? |
| 0:31.0 | I said instead of all this crazy talk about impeachment and it may come to that who |
| 0:34.9 | knows but what we really need is accountability oversight transparency supervision and checks and balances. |
| 0:44.5 | Remember John Adams said to Jefferson, |
| 0:46.2 | checks and balances, Mr. Jefferson, checks and balances. |
| 0:48.5 | That's what we need. |
| 0:49.5 | That's what we need. |
| 0:50.5 | That's his voice. |
| 0:51.5 | But my point is that, so my evolution and thinking is that all right now Trump's had well more than a year |
| 0:57.6 | It looks to me like his administration is coming apart at the seams I believe that the Mueller probe is going to lead to a lot more |
| 1:06.0 | indictments and it's going to lead to whole chaos and a constitutional crisis. I just hope |
| 1:11.8 | that we don't have to go through this because my larger point is that great |
| 1:17.6 | nations address great issues, education, immigration, industrial policy, the coming of robotics and AI |
| 1:23.8 | our place in the world we're not addressing those questions because we keep |
| 1:28.2 | getting tripped up and he's tripping us up frankly I mean I think that's fair |
| 1:32.2 | but we need to focus on what America |
... |
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