Hey everybody, welcome to the Michael Still podcast of Michael Still. It is always a pleasure

when you drop by the neighborhood to hang out and listen in on a conversation or two.

And very excited when you do, you know, I love it when you, when you pause for a moment

to sort of absorb what's going on. And I think you'll be very, very pleased with today's

conversation because we have a gentleman who has been a part of making history and has

made history himself and is now sharing some of the, some of the insights and the thoughts

around how all of this kind of comes together.

The Senator Ben Nelson, a native of McCook Nebraska, a politician, businessman, lawyer,

don't, you know, we're both probably covering lawyers at this point, right? Senator, that's

how that works. He served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999. And as I got

to know him as United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013, he is the author

of death of the Senate, my front row seat to the demise of the world's greatest deliberative

body. It's out now. If you want to get an understanding of how the, how the sausage is

made and why it's made the way it's made and why it tastes the way it tastes sometimes.

This is the book you want to read. Senator, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, Governor. It's great to be a part of it.

Absolutely. So before we get into really kind of the nuts and bolts of what you draw out

in your book, which again, it is just, you know, for someone like me who grew up in DC

and has sort of watched from a front row seat, the evolution of our democratic processes

and so forth. It really is an intriguing insight. But share with us so we sort of set the

stage, if you will. What is the Senate like? What the rules and the relationships, this

idea that it is the most deliberative body, which a lot of people are there, we go, really?

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