>>Female Presenter: Welcome everybody. It's
great to see a big crowd here. We're excited
today to welcome Jesse Ventura to Authors
at Google in Santa Monica. Jesse's a former
Navy Seal and professional wrestler and, I
have to say, I was lucky enough to see him
wrestle live back in the day a few times.
[applause]
And I loved it and I especially used to love
watching him as a commentator on television,
cause he was always astute and funny. And
he used to say he was the only commentator
who told it like it is. And I have to say
he's still telling it like it is throughout
his career. He has gone on to become a well-known
actor and TV personality, governor of Minnesota,
visiting fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School
of Government and a bestselling author. His
bestselling books include Don't Start the
Revolution without Me and American Conspiracies.
He's the host and executive producer of the
TV series, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura.
And today he's gonna be talking about his
latest bestseller, 63 Documents the Government
Doesn’t Want You to Read. So please join
me in welcoming Governor Jesse Ventura.
[applause]
>>Jesse: Thank you. It's great to be here.
First, I'd like to state, just so you know
a little about me, well, beyond what the nice
introduction. I'm a throwback. I'm computer
illiterate. Not a good thing for you.
[laughter]
And I have never owned a cell phone in my
life, nor will I ever now. I've made it a
life's mission. I think that if I survive
maybe another 25, 20 years on this planet,
I can put it on my grave stone and I'll be
the only one who will be able to do that.
I've already instructed my wife, if I go first;
I want "he never owned a cell phone" put on
it because. And I'm a dinosaur, I guess, but
I enjoy it because, I'll tell a funny story
first when I bought my dream car back in 2003.
A twin turbo X50 Porsche, 450 horsepower,
6 speed that is so fast today I've never floored
it; that's how fast it is. When you order
a car like that you have to get a slot number
because they're made by hand in Germany. And
when you get your slot number, you have to
have ordered what you want. And my car salesman,
who I'd previously probably bought a half
a dozen cars from through the years, cause
my wife and I enjoy Porsche's and she like
Audi's and they're basically under the same
roof. Probably fifth or sixth car and my salesman,
Rob, is going through the list and didn't
even ask, he just looked at me and said, "And
where would you like your cell phone?" And
I looked at him and I said, "I don't want
a cell phone." You would've thought I was
ordering a car without tires. He gave me a
look unbelievable, but then I said, "But do
you see that six CD player; the thing you
can stack six CDs in?" I said, "That I want."
The reason I don't want a cell phone in my
car, my Porsche, is because first of all,
it's a manual transmission six-speed, which
requires you to use both feet and both hands
at the same time. So therefore, where's the
cell phone gonna fit in? And also, because
when I drive that car it's the enjoyment of
driving not the enjoyment of talking on a
phone when I drive and I wanna drive it. And
it's not California and it's not LA, either.
I can drive it and get it past 40, which I
always laugh when I come out here and see
all the exotic cars. Where the hell do they
drive them? You get past 40, you can't get
past 40, but I got a Ferrari.
[laughter]
I mean, anyway, that aside; to the book. The
last book I wrote was called American Conspiracies,
where we went down basically from Abraham
Lincoln and moved forward and talked about
conspiracies and wrote about conspiracies
from the conspiracy side, basically. Naturally,
I took a great deal of heat for it. It seems
today that if you at all question your government's
story, you're a conspiracy theorist, which
means you believe in anything, you're out
in left field and all this stuff and green
men are coming from Mars and everything like
that, which I think is highly unfair. So in
light of that book, which was a bestseller,
and by the way, I might add Conspiracy Theory
spent seven weeks on the New York Times top
ten bestselling list. And yet, was not reviewed
by one mainstream media in the United States
of America, including the Times itself. And
that it was on their top list; their top ten
for seven weeks. Why? Why, if not just to
say the books a piece of crap in the end.
Why was it ignored? You don't ignore a book
like that, so Dick Welsh, my co-writer and
I, we decided, "Well, let's take a different
approach with this next book. Let's do a book
that they can't put any blame on us for, for
theories or what I might think. And so we
chose, and this was before WikiLeaks, we started
this project up to a couple three months before
WikiLeaks even happened. And we said, "Let's
do government documents." That way, the government
documents speak for themselves and they're
real; they exist. So this book has nothing
to do with any type of theory, conspiracy
theory. Every document that is in this book
is reproduced. We wanted them to do that,
to where I just don't tell you about the documents
and give you my opinion, which I do do, but
the documents are all reproduced, in full,
so you yourself can read them and judge for
yourself what the document says. And we tried
to go basically through my lifetime and I'll
be 60 this summer, so we go back that far,
and we progress forward to the modern time
and we get documents all the way along the
way. All the documents are legal. We didn't
break any laws; they're out there. We didn't
break anything top secret or that hadn't been
unclassified. They're all in the public domain.
And I will tell you this; this book to me
is terrifying. This book was not easy to write.
I'm a six-year Navy veteran. I love my country.
I have the rare privilege, my brother is a
Vietnam veteran; I am a Vietnam veteran. And
I have the rare privilege that not too many
people can say, my father was a World War
II veteran and so was my mother. Not many
people can say their mom was a World War II
veteran. My father has, I think, six or seven
bronze battle stars in World War II over in
Europe. And my mother was a nurse in North
Africa during World War II. And not too many
people can say your mom is buried in a National
cemetery. So that's why the book was difficult,
because this book tried my patriotism and
it stretched it too thin to a string. Because
as I went through these documents and looked
at the behavior of my country, it was appalling.
It was shocking that we were involved in things
that we've been involved in over the last
50 years. In fact, I got chastised for bringing
up a word that I find ironic; I guess you're
not supposed to use. When you read this, what
bothered me, but I'll use it. I tell it like
it is. Where are we at?
[Jesse laughs]
I believe many instances in this book, you
can substitute the word Nazi and it works.
There's behavior in this book that is as you'd
expect it from the Nazi's. But it isn't the
Nazi's, it's us. It’s our country. Now,
people say, "Documents are secret. What right
to --who's got the damn cell phone, shut that
off. Consider this a green on a golf course,
that's a hardline. OK, I stand corrected.--
[laughter]
Anyway, these documents are appalling. Our
behavior has been appalling in reading these
documents of the things that my country has
done. And yet, in most cases, no one has ever
been prosecuted, no one has ever been tried
for any of this stuff in the book and that
troubles me. Now, let me move forward quickly
to WikiLeaks for a moment if I can. I think
WikiLeaks is a hero because of the fact that
last year, in one year, our country declared
top secret 16 million documents; 16 million
documents that you and I are not allowed to
see, in one year. I had to figure that must
be just about everything they do. Just about,
maybe, I don't know how many documents they
would have. But I find it interesting that
when I was in the military as a Navy Seal,
I had a top secret security clearance. It
was required. And I've been a mayor and I've
been a governor. Now I'm neither; I'm a citizen.
At what point do I lose my top secret security
clearance? How am I any different today than
I was before when it comes to security? And
yet, because I become a civilian, or a citizen,
now I'm not allowed to know things that I
could know as a governor, that I could know
as a Seal. Yet, I'm the same person. But I
guess being a civilian puts you at the bottom
of the food chain, or citizen of knowledge
and I think it’s wrong. Now, the thing that
you'll see in the book that I dedicated the
book to Congressman Ron Paul. And I did that
because he was the only person in our Congress
when WikiLeaks happened that stepped out on
the floor of Congress and gave, what I thought,
one of the greatest speeches I had heard when
he stated unequivocally that WikiLeaks has
killed no one. How many people have been killed
from the lies, the false intelligence and
the deception we got to put us into the Iraq
War? Also, the fact that I think what he said
that was extremely important was that in a
free country like ours, when telling the truth
people accuse you of being a traitor or treason.
When the truth equals treason in a free society
then we're hurting. When telling the truth
means people accuse you of being a traitor?
The truth is what it is. The truth is the
truth. When I ran for governor, I never used
a prepared speech for anything to win because
I ran under the premise of "if you tell the
truth, you don't have to have a good memory."
And that's true. I always remember, I was
in my first debate and I sat down and there
were like, seven candidates standing and a
black woman, civilian, sitting to my left
and they all walked in. They're carrying books,
bins, papers, all this stuff. They're all
loaded down and I come in with nothing; sat
down at the table. This woman had one of those
legal pads, you know with the yellow paper
and a pen. And she set it on the table and
she slid it over to me. And I looked at her
and I slid it back and she said, "Well, don't
you think you'll need that?" And that's when
I told her, I said, "Ma'am, when you tell
the truth you don't have to have a good memory."
And I'll never forget the smile she gave me,
and nodded. She got it, then, that I'll tell
the truth. And I made the biggest mistake
in the debates you could possibly make in
a political debate. I was asked a question
on TV in a debate and I simply said, "I don't
know." There was like this deadened pause
of two seconds and the crowd erupted into
cheering and applause. And then when that
was subsided, I said, "But if it's important,
I'll learn." Well, I think that people appreciated
honesty and I think the people appreciated
hearing someone running for office that didn't
claim to know everything. And I think that
they realized at that point that truly honesty
was more important to elect somebody now.
The state of our country today: We're in a
mess and who is to blame; the Democrats and
the Republicans. They have been in charge
for my entire life. I am an Independent; dyed
in the wool, true and true. I despise them
both equally. Not one over the other; I dislike
both. I'm an equal opportunity despiser of
both our political parties. I agree with what
Ralph Nader said, "We are a two-party dictatorship
in this country." Now, how can we break it?
How can we take our country back? See, I not
only talk about things; sometimes, I give
solutions. How can we take our country back
today? I believe it's as simple as the nose
on your face, if I can use that cliché or
another one. But unfortunately, we can't see
the forest from the trees. How can we do it?
It's simple. Stop voting for Democrats and
Republicans. Remember, voting is not a horse
race. You're not there to pick the winner.
You're there to vote your heart and conscious
for the candidate you believe fits your values
the most and who you believe in, and if you
do that, you have voted correctly. You have
not wasted your vote. Wasting your vote is
trying to pick a winner. And we all like to
be with winners so we can all brag and say,
"Yeah, I voted for this candidate and he won,
or she won." But to me, that's not doing your
civil duty, your civic duty. It's voting your
heart and conscious. And a way we can start,
a way we can immediately start to take our
country back, how about this? I'll back up
a second. I no longer believe in the third
party movement [pause] and I'll tell you why.
The Democrats and Republicans have corrupted
the system so badly that any third party in
which to survive will have to corrupt itself.
Where you've already got a two-headed monster,
why would you want a three-headed one? I now
advocate the abolishment of all political
parties in the United States of America. Turn
them into political action committees, which
is what they are anyway. Certainly they can
endorse, but end it there. And on every ballot
in the United States of America, here's a
simple thing we can do: Remove the party designation
and put down only the name. It's too simple
and the system's set up for it. If your conservative,
you don't need to know anybody's name. You
look for the party, Republican, Republican,
Republican. If you're Liberal, you don't need
to know a name, Democrat, Democrat, Democrat.
By only putting down the name, would then
require you, as a voter, to educate yourself.
What does John Smith stand for? 'Cause you
wouldn't have that crutch in there that would
tell you Conservative or Democrat. And then
there's one, and you in California can get
away with this stuff because you've got that
nonsense where you can put everything on the
ballot. The next thing would be simply this:
how about on every state, local, and national
ballot, we offer the final choice at the bottom
that you can vote for, "none of the above."
Now, people laugh at that, but what that truly
is is a vote of no confidence in government.
That could do volumes; huge. Cause imagine
for a moment, let's say I'm a Democrat and
I defeated my Republican opponent for Congress
but I lost to none of the above. More people
cast their vote for none of the above than
what I got. Wouldn't that make them go out
there with a change of attitude? You lost
to nobody. Yes, you're the Congressman, or
the Congresswoman, but you lost to none of
the above. And I'm willing to bet, right now,
there are elections in this country where
none of the above would prevail. And that's
what's wrong with that, a vote of no confidence?
That would send a huge message, huge, to every
elected official. Imagine these ideas coming
from a pro-wrestler. I didn't go to college.
I didn't, I'm not a political science major
and I'm certainly not a lawyer. Imagine that.
All these ideas that this pro-wrestler comes
up with. But anyway, those are a few of the
things that as you look into this book, and
I will open up here for questions in a minute,
because that's usually the best way. I don't
wanna just lecture, lecture, lecture. I'd
like to answer questions on what's on your
mind. But as you look through this book, I
hope it does frighten you. I hope that it's
a wake-up call. I hope that you will be engaged
citizens, stop being lemmings because right
now we're a country full of lemmings. We can
march right off the cliff and we don't even
look left or right. Why? It's the dumbing
down of America because of our media; our
media. Our media was supposed to be the fourth
branch of government. They were supposed to
be the watchdog of the other three to report
back to us. Well, they're not anymore. They're
in bed with the government. They're the government's
mouthpiece now. They're no longer a watchdog.
Cases in point, what's the top story these
last three, four weeks? Charlie Sheen. You
can't turn the news on now without hearing
a report on Charlie Sheen. Now, Charlie, he's
got some problems. I feel bad for him, but
he hardly deserves but maybe a mention at
the end of the news, not a lead story. And
what was it a year, year and a half ago? The
main story the death of Anna Nicole Smith.
I almost threw up. Every day they're doing
mobiles. They're sending down mobile reporters
outside the hotel. "Well, we're down here
in wherever she was, the Bahamas, or wherever
the hell it happened, and we're in front of
the hotel where Anna Nicole Smith died." Hey,
I was alive in '63 when John Kennedy was assassinated.
Anna Nicole Smith got way more press in the
end than the assassination of our President,
because her's went on. It's still got legs.
I just saw it the other day. Some judge made
a ruling to give her house to her boyfriend
or something. That's newsworthy? It's like
when I was supposed to have a television show
on MSNBC, but that's a whole other matter.
They tried to tell me what I was supposed
to cover every day and at the time, you'll
recall, you remember the murder you had here
where the guy killed his wife out in the boat
or whatever a couple years ago?
>>Unknown audience 1: Peterson.
>>Jesse: Pardon me?
>>Unknown audience 1: Peterson.
>>Jesse: Pet-, yeah. That murder. Well, they
were shoving that down my throat every day
to cover that and I go, "Wait a minute. There's
ten thousand murders a year." Now, that was
a tragic murder, but there are ten thousand
murders a year, every year. How is this one
so important? Now, it might be important to
all you Californians because you live here.
It's close to you. But go back to Minnesota
with me. We have our own murders. Why do we
need to know about yours? And yet, every night,
every night, day in and day out, that is the
dumbing down of America by our news media.
And we're at fault because we accept it because
we like this titillating journalism. And you
know what the downfall was to our news? The
show 60 Minutes. Now, let's hear me out. 60
Minute's a marvelous show, but here's when
it was the downfall. Up until that point in
time, pre-60 Minutes, the news departments
lost money so they would make it up in the
entertainment division cause they felt, "Well,
we'll lose money but it's our job to inform."
Right? Along comes 60 Minutes. Low and behold,
it goes to number one in the ratings. The
bean counters upstairs, the light goes off.
"You mean we can make money with the news?"
There was your downfall because from that
point on, the news became about making money,
not informing you. It became ratings rather
than information to smarten you up. Now, you
have, and here's the dangerous part because
of that, you now have the news; they're into
creating the news, not into reporting it and
that's very, very dangerous in my opinion,
very dangerous. So, it's up to us to be vigilant
citizens. Tom Jefferson said, "Dissention
is the greatest form of patriotism," and I
believe that and I endorse that completely.
There's nothing wrong with dissenting. There's
nothing wrong with holding elected officials
feet to the fire. If you don't, you will get
bad government. So, I hope you'll read this
book. I hope that you'll digest the documents
that are in it. I hope you're as shocked as
I am about what some of the documents are
and if there's any in particular that you
see and would like ask me about as you look
into the book, feel free to do so. I won't
go into them now, because reading is supposed
to be pleasure and it's supposed to be you
doing it. So I'm not going to, unless you
ask me specifically, I'm not going to go into
the things that are in the book, but I will
do this. I opened and closed the book, more
or less, with two quotations. The first quotation
comes from my particular favorite President
my whole life, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
And here's what President Kennedy said to
us, "There is little value in ensuring the
survival of our nation if our traditions do
not survive with it. And there's a very grave
danger that an announced need for increased
security will be seized upon by those anxious
to expand its meaning to the very limits of
official censorship and concealment." Sounds
familiar, doesn't it? We're gonna keep you
safe, right? Then, I like to finish off also,
just to show it runs through our entire country's
history. I'll quote Patrick Henry. Most of
us remember Patrick Henry as saying "give
me liberty or give me death." That was a great
quote, brave quote. But he also said this.
Patrick Henry, quote, "The liberties of a
people never were, nor ever will be secure
when the transactions of their rulers may
be concealed from them." And I think that
those are two real great Americans, and the
words they speak are, in my opinion, very
true. So on that note, I'd like to say thank
you, Google, for having me here. Lunch was
terrific. It's a remarkable company, I heard,
that feeds you. Geez, you're like the Navy.
[laughter]
Well, they used to feed me. Three hots and
a cot all the time and no, actually, I'll
will tell you this. I was the Naval Amphib
base, Coronado, California and we won Best
Chow Hall for like, eleven years in a row
in the 11th Naval District. Every Thursday,
we would have steak and lobster in the Navy.
And I was on what they call "COMRATS" because
community ration type thing, because our jobs
take us away from the base so often as a Seal
that they pay you money. And so, you have
to eat, paid to eat at the Chow Hall when
you're there. But I think lunch was 65 cents
and you'd get steak and lobster. So that's
not a bad price. Of course, then again, let's
remember this was way back in early 70s when
the economy was much different, but so was
my salary. Cause when I joined the Navy initially,
I made 122 bucks a month; 61 dollars a paycheck.
And I'd blow it that first weekend and then
be stuck on the base the rest of the time.
'Cause I wasn't very economically sound back
then, I guess. So thank you very much. It
was a pleasure for me to be here and now I'll
open up for questions.
[applause]
I'll tell you, excuse me, that's a first.
No one, other than the hand finally, I've
never done a speech where everybody froze
and didn't ask a question.
[laughter]
Go ahead, sir.
>>Male audience 1: This is kind of a two-part
question. First--
>>Jesse: OK, but give it to me one part at
a time. I've been on the road for two weeks
and I'm going on about four hours a night
every night. I'm dog tired. So, slow and easy.
>> Male audience 1: Sure, sure. What was your
motivation to run governor back when you did?
And the second part is simply, in being a
governor in the state, what was the one thing
you walked away with that you've learned the
most about how our government works?
>>Jesse: OK, my motivation and I'll give you
my first, my fun motivation. This is the joke.
There's a gentleman in Minnesota by the name
of, a great businessman, by the name of Wheelock
Whitney, and when I first won governor I was
speaking to a group of businessmen and Wheelock
was there. And they asked me the same question,
"What motivated you to become governor?" And
I looked right at Wheelock Whitney and I said,
"Well, I was a mayor and it didn't work, so
I figure if I get to be governor, it will
work." Well, Wheelock Whitney happens to be
a member of Augusta National where they play
the Masters. And I said, "I figured if I won
governor, Wheelock Whitney would then take
me to Augusta and let me play Augusta, Georgia",
which is the heaven of professional golf.
And then I looked at Wheelock and said, "Wheelock,
don't force me to have to become President."
[laughter]
And he was a man, he burst out laughing and
he said, "You're going to Augusta." And sure
enough, he was good enough to take me there
and I got to play Augusta National and if
you're a golfer, that's the same, I think,
as going to heaven. Now on a serious note,
what inspired me to become governor was something
really interesting. Let's move back if we
may, to 1998, when our economies were robust,
remember that? Interest was nothing. Everybody
was making huge money. Well, the State of
Minnesota was in such fiscal shape then, they
were getting budget surpluses. In other words,
they did their budget but because the economy
was so robust, they were bringing in more
than what they budgeted for. Well, the one
year, guess what they did? They spent it.
They thought they were kids in a candy store.
They thought, "Whoa. We brought in more money
than what we budgeted for. That means we can
go buy extra stuff." Well , I was outraged.
I was doing talk radio and I said, "Wait a
minute. If they brought in more money than
what their budget needed, then that money
should be returned to the tax payers." So
I basically ran on that. I said, I was doing
talk radio and I was so angry, I said, "Maybe
I should run for governor." Then you backed
yourself in a corner and of course, on talk
radio, if you lose your credibility you're
nothing. And so, I forced myself. I had to
run and I can honestly say, pre-9/11, we had
three more robust economy years and I gave
back tax rebates to every citizen of Minnesota.
They named them "Jesse checks." And I did
it even over the, you'd think the Republicans
would have gone with me all the way, but they
wanted it to be an income tax rebate. Well,
an income tax rebate means you gotta declare
it, which means then it's part of your income
which means the federal government's gonna
take a third of it. And I thought, "This isn't
the Feds money, it's ours." So I did it. It
was successful in a sales tax rebate because
you can't deduct a sales tax so therefore,
they can't take the money. So when you got
your check, you could spend it. Now there
is a true stimulus package, not the bullshit
you're getting today. The stimulus package,
if you wanna get, send the money to the people.
The people will spend it that will go spur
the economy. I met an old woman, elderly woman.
And she came up to me, she told me, "Governor,"
she said. "Thank you for that Jesse check."
I said, "You're welcome, ma'am." She said,
"You know what I did with it?" I said, "What?"
She said, "I needed a new lawn mower. And
I went down and bought it and I named my lawn
mower Jesse."
[laughter]
And I was very flattered over that, this elderly
woman who wanted a new powered lawn mower
for her backyard. 'Cause contrary to LA, we
in Minnesota do have backyards. They have
grass and trees, too. I gotta dig California
occasionally. So that was what really inspired
me to run was that budget where they didn't
give back the surplus money to the people.
It was our money and they were spending it
like kids in a candy store. So, next question.
Right here. Actually, we'll go closer to the
mic. I'll get to everyone, but we'll try to
keep it close to the mic. Yes, ma'am.
>>Female Audience 1: Have you ever considered
running for a Presidential election in 2012?
>>Jesse: President?
>> Female Audience 1: Yes, in 2012.
>>Jesse: I've considered it. I've thought
about it. And I'll be very honest. As an Independent,
the cards are against you because you'd think
it was a universal thing; if you're running
for President, every state to qualify should
be the same, correct? But it’s not; they
do that on purpose. Every state, you have
to jump through different hoops to get ballot
access and when you try to get it, the Democrats
and Republicans will bring lawsuits then to
tie you up in court so that by the time you
get through with court the election's already
passed you by. That's the system they've created
to keep anyone else out of the game. It's
like playing a football game and they get
to be the referees and they can also change
the rules at half time. That's what you're
up against.
>>Unknown audience 2: [inaudible]
>>Jesse: Right in, well other than that fiasco,
unbelievable in Alaska where it worked, I
have never, ever seen a write-in candidate
ever win. But Alaska did give me a slight
ray of hope cause it happened up there, but
let's remember, those are Alaskans and there's
not exactly as many of them as there are Californians
or the rest of the country. Smaller numbers,
you'd have a better chance. The bigger numbers
you're dealing with, the more difficult it
would be. Now, say now though the Libertarians,
which I am kind of Liber-, I like to think
of myself as libertarian--small L, not capital
because the true Libertarian believes there
isn't, there should be no government. That's
an anarchist. I understand that there should
be at least some government; that government
does have a role. The other part of that question
of will I run is this, being President is
an oxymoron. What I mean by that is that you
stand for freedom but you yourself have none.
When you hold those jobs you give up your
freedom. It's gone and I like my freedom.
I like living in Mexico now, because down
there I'm just a big gringo. Nobody pays,
other than being a big guy, they'll look at
me but they don't know who I am. And I enjoy
that right now after the career I've had.
So it would require me to have to want, as
I like to refer to it, it would require me
to want to go back to jail. Now, not saying
I won't do it and I'll tell you something
else honestly. Before I put my butt on the
line, this country better show me it’s worth
it. You better show me it’s worth it this
time. I've already done four years as a mayor,
four years as a governor and six years in
the Navy. That's 14 years of my life I've
given to the public. And to do that job, I
need to know it’s worth it. And right now,
the people of this country are not showing
me that. They're starting to. I like the protest
in Wisconsin and I like how things are stirring
up, but in order for me to win we gotta think
revolutionary. In order for me to win, you
gotta be ready to elect Che Guevara because
I will change things if I won. And what would
I do? I'll tell you what I would do. First
thing I would do, I would cut defense spending,
which is something, I don't know if you can
win off that because they use fear on you,
that, "Oh, if you cut defense spending we're
all gonna get killed. We're all gonna be."
Well, I would close every base we have throughout
the world and I would bring our young men
and women home and back to our own country
and we would defend our country from here.
We wouldn't be colonizing anymore, or creating
this empire. We're following the Roman Empire
right now. So that's why, and that would cut
spending. If you're truly gonna balance the
budget, you can't do it without cutting defense
spending because that's the biggest thing
out there. And how many times can we blow
up the world? We've got technology, you're
at Google here. We got technology now and
weapons we don't need. Why do we have 50 thousand
troops in Germany; fifty thousand troops in
Korea; fifty thousand troops in Japan? Seems
to me those wars were over 50 years ago. Why
do we still have troops there? So those are
a few of the things I would do. You call me
radical, I guess, because I would not be doing
what mainstream does. I'm so disappointed
in Barack Obama. I really thought he's a dynamic
speaker, but I really thought there's no change.
I can't tell the difference between him and
Bush, just that he can read a teleprompter.
[laughter]
But other than that, I don't see any change
and so, also it's difficult. He's an incumbent
and as an Independent that's tough. You're
better off when the incumbent leaves and the
election's open, which would be 2016. And
by then, I'll be that much older and I don't
know if I would have any energy at that point
to want to do the job. But it's hard to beat
an incumbent, people, very hard. When I ran
for governor it was because there was no incumbent
governor, which opened it up for me to do
that. So, next question.
[pause]
And you can go on any topic. I'm not, you
know.
>>Male audience 3: I've also got two questions
and I'll just give them both to you at once
'cause I'm pretty sure you can remember the
first one.
>>Jesse: All right.
>> Male audience 3: First one is what color
is your Porsche? And the second one is, so
you've got 63 documents in here.
>>Jesse: Yup.
>> Male audience 3: I'm sure there were many
more. Do you have any examples of what other
documents you would have liked to have included?
>>Jesse: Not really. It was tough enough doing
the 63. We chose 63 because that was the year
John Kennedy was assassinated and murdered.
So we thought that was a good number. I don't
want to go into any, these are enough. Digest
these and what color is my Porsche? It's like
a lapis blue metallic, which is that, I had
to think a minute because they got those names
for every color, which is a very deep, dark
blue. And then I got the beige interior with
it and I got the most wood that you could
get on the interior and that was sick, really.
I wasn't gonna get it at first till I came
home and I told my wife and she looked at
me and she says, "It's your dream car; don't
hold back. Get everything on it you want."
Well, the wood alone, because it’s all hand-carved,
it runs across the top, around all the speakers,
the wood alone was ten grand. And I thought,
"That's obscene in reality of the world That's
pretty bizarre, but what the hell. Money's
made to spend and also remember this, on that
note." The economy, when all you hear about
is cut spending, cut spending, cut spending,
I got news for you, people. If we don't spend,
there is no economy. The economy is based
upon spending. Spending creates jobs. You
have to buy things; you have to have money
moving. If we all cut everything, now don't
get me wrong there, our government does and
is in places it shouldn't be. But think of
that when you get brainwashed on cut spending,
cut spending. The economy is based upon spending.
That's what makes it work. You buy things.
The money, that's what creates jobs. Spending
creates jobs. Why do you think they always
renew unemployment? That's because unemployment,
when you're on unemployment, you spend every
cent of it. That spurs the economy and starts
to create jobs so then you're not on unemployment
anymore. Think of it. How other way can there
be jobs if there's not money being spent?
And besides, you can't take it with you, people.
That's what I always say. You come into the
world naked, you leave with it naked. You
can't take a dollar with you. Spend the damn
stuff. Enjoy it. You work hard for it. That's
the fruits of your labor. But then, make sure
that your kids and things like that are taken
care of. But buy stuff. What the hell, you
can't do nothing with that paper. Substitute
it in the bathroom, maybe. But other than
that, you spend it. It's what spurs the economy.
Next question.
>>Male audience 4: So what do you think the
government should do? What are the important
things that the government does in our lives?
What shouldn't they do?
>>Jesse: What should they do? Well, I'll put
it to you this way. Let's go to health care
for a minute. That's always a cantankerous,
but now they've labeled it Obama care. To
me, it's a human right. If you're sick, you
should be able to go to the doctor. If we
weren't spending all our money on these wars,
we'd have more money. We could have health
care three times over. You don't hear a word
about that. It's fine to spend money to kill
people, but health care? Oh, my goodness.
And for these hypocrites in Washington, now
I'm talking the Republicans who are blaming
Obama, Obama care, "oh, we're gonna repeal
it." Well, why don't they start repealing
it by giving up their government-run health
care? The Senate and the Congress has government-run
health care. It's provided by the government
for them. They want you not to have it, while
they go to the bank with it. You don't see
any of them saying, "You know, I'm a stand-up
type person. I'm gonna give up my health care
being a Congressman and Senator for me and
my family to set an example." Do you hear
that? Anybody know of one of them doing that?
Then what are they? They're hypocrites because
they're telling you, and then I'll flip it
a little farther. If government health care
is so terrible, then are we screwing over
the military again? Because the military's
had government-run health care since World
War I. So I guess we're sticking it to the
military again, giving them a substandard
thing. But all I know is my dad would go nowhere
else. I couldn't get him to a civilian place.
He went to the vet's hospital and there no
changing at all. I will say, in Minnesota,
not all the vet's hospitals are good, but
in Minnesota; they have an outstanding veteran's
hospital. And you couldn't get my dad to go,
he'd ride the bus all day long just to go
there and this and that. So, and what other
thing? Well, infrastructure. Those are things
the government should be paying for, so that
we can do our commerce. Fix our roads and
bridges. Let's do something constructive instead
of destructive. Wars are destructive. Let's
get out of the wars and put our money to workforce,
building up and making our country what it
ought to be. And those are just a couple.
I hope they helped a little, but you get where
I'm coming from. Next. I don't know what my,
hold on. Let me check my schedule so I can
make sure that. No, no, no, hold on. Let me,
let me. I like to answer all questions. I
feel good doing that. Let's see. OK, my pick
up was probably, I gotta go to Fox Sports,
which is over on Pico. How far, how many minutes?
It's LA, so you can't say miles; you gotta
say minutes.
>>Unknown audience 3: [inaudible].
>>Jesse: How long?
>> Unknown audience 3: [inaudible].
>>Jesse: Twenty minutes? OK, then. I should
be good then till probably about 2:30, I would
guess, or 2:50. What time is it now?
>>Female Presenter: Ten of two.
>>Jesse: OK, good. We got another 20 minutes
then, easy. Unless she's trying to get us
out of here. I don't know.
>>Female Presenter: I wanna make sure we have
time to sign books.
>>Jesse: Oh, yeah. That's right, too. OK,
I forgot about that, so we'll take a couple
more questions and, next question.
>>Male audience 5: So, staying on the same
theme of government and what it should do,
your Patrick Henry quote, what kind of openness
do you have a hope for in government? And
[inaudible] when?
>>Jesse: Well, I would hope, certainly, I
understand that certain things have to become
secret when they're timely. As a Navy Seal,
I don't want them opening up and saying what
operation I'm going on where the enemy can
set up and do me in. But when the Op's over
and maybe a year's gone by, then bring it
all above board. Let's get a little time element
and they could figure out a way to make things
time sensitive. And if they're not doing anything
illegal, dirty, murder and that, why would
they fear? Bring it above board to us so that
we can know. We have a right to know. We pay
taxes. Yes, sir?
>>Male audience 5: Outside of defense operations,
maybe.
>>Jesse: What's that?
>>Male audience 5: Outside of defense operations.
>>Jesse: Oh, then they should bring everything
forward. Why would you cover up anything?
I don't understand why you'd have to cover
up anything. If everything you're doing is,
and you believe in it, is good, there's no
reason to keep it secret. In fact, if it's
successful you'd want it out there. You can
brag, then. So, to me, only marginal things
that would be that you would keep secret.
But everything else, cause we have a right
to know. It's all done with our tax dollars,
people. You have every right to know what
they're being spent on. And that way you can
be a good voter and know that the people you're
electing, if you disagree, you can remove
them, or attempt to anyway. Next question.
>>Male audience 6: So I also believed in Obama
with the change and what I think we're witnessing
now is him completely squashed by the two
party system, or the Republicans in this case.
And you brought up the exciting and worthwhile
idea of getting rid of the two parties. I
can't see how that could even be possible
in today's world and it's something I'd love
to see. And it's something that's necessary.
I don't know, I mean, we all bought into the
belief of change and then saw him completely
stymied by that ability.
>>Jesse: OK.
>>Male audience 8: Our forefathers created
this country with the concept of the right
to bear arms, is actually the right to, if
a government become corrupt in and of itself,
we have a right to stand up and say no. That's
radical. But how can you see us get through
this two party system and really be able to
make a difference without the same thing happening
again?
>>Jesse: Let me tell you, I disagree. I don't
think it’s the parties that are stopping
Obama. Always remember, he who has the money
calls the shots and the US government has
no money. Where do they get their money? The
Federal Reserve, which is a small little group
of bankers in the private sector. You know
what I think they did to Barack Obama? I think
he got in office and then they showed him
the Zapruder film and they said, "See what
we can do? You sure? Do you wanna fulfill
all those promises you talked about?" Because
to me it clearly shows that President may
only be a figurehead and that there's people
behind the scenes that we don't even elect
who are truly calling the shots. That's the
only reasoning I can give to it, because as
governor, I was pretty powerful and no one
could influence me and I held true on most
of my campaign speeches and what I promised.
But it seems to me that how could he not be
doing anything that he campaigned on and why
all this massive compromise to accommodate
quote "the Republicans?" So I think that it
goes beyond the parties when it comes to who's
running the operation. That's just my opinion.
Next question.
>>Male audience 9: How can we get past it?
>>Jesse: Huh?
>>Male audience 9: [inaudible]
>>Jesse: Well, like I said, stop electing
them. That would be a good start because I
only raised 300 thousand dollars, people,
to become governor. I made more money at the
job than I spent to get it. But then again,
I didn't need name recognition. Everybody
in Minnesota knew who I am. I'll brag. I'm
one of four people in Minnesota where all
you have to do is say the first name and they
know who you are. There's Jesse, there's Prince,
there's Dylan, and there's, I forget. What's
the other one? And Sid. We have a columnist
named Sid Hartman, who's been writing for
like, 70 years, a sports column. And we're
the four people that all they have to is say
our first name and everybody knows who they
are. And I was written by a writer and I was
pretty proud of that to be in that type of
company. Yes, sir?
>>Male audience 10: [inaudible]
>>Jesse: I don't know. I'm just saying that's
my theory.
>>Male audience 10: So, hypothetically, if
they exist, then you wipe out the two parties.
What will stop that [inaudible]?
>>Jesse: Well, if you don't take the dirty
money, if you don't take the corporate money
like I didn't. I accepted no PAC money. The
only thing that I accepted were 50 and hundred
dollar donations from individuals and believe
me, in a job like that, a hundred bucks ain't
gonna buy you much influence. If you gave
me a hundred dollars and come back to me later
and say, "You know I gave you a hundred bucks."
I say, "So what?" That's not enough money
to buy the influence with me. And I can also
tell you, since I didn't take from one lobbyist
money, when I got into office I didn't even
see a lobbyist. I banned them. I told my staff,
"Tell all the lobbyists to go get new jobs."
Cause I said, "They're not getting in my door."
Why do you think they wanted me gone, outta
there? I got my own ideas. I don't need a
lobbyist to try to convince me what's right
and wrong. Now granted, I do use other people
and consult them. Certainly I don't know about
everything but I had a great commissioner,
too. Anyway, next question.
>>Male audience 11: Can you say something
about what effect you think the JFK assassination
had on this country? And specifically say
something about the Reagan Administration.
>>Jesse: The Reagan Administration? I think
the effect of JFK's assassination was simply,
really simple. If you can kill the President
and get away with it, what can't you do? What
can't you do? And like I said, we had a confession
on my TV show. Did I talk about that? Yeah.
My showed his fault. We had a confession to
the murder of John Kennedy and yet, there
wasn't one word in the mainstream media. E.
Howard Hunt from Watergate confessed to his
son, Saint John Hunt, on his deathbed. He
said the CIA did, and it wasn't a confession
of remorse, it was a confession of pride.
That's what was scary about it. It was a CIA
operation. It was called "The Big Event" and
I suppose if you're killing the President,
it is a big event. You wouldn't call it "The
Small Event." And he named the people: William
Harvey, who at that time headed the CIA's
assassination, teams when they were trying
to kill Castro, and a guy named David Sanchez
Morales and he was one of their main operatives
on the ground. And he's also famous for, four
years later, he was in Bolivia when they put
Che Guevara up against a wall and shot and
killed him. Morales was there and allegedly
took Che's Rolex watch and he wore it as a
trophy. And I believe what Howard Hunt said.
He would have no reason to lie. He did it
to his son's, and Saint John, his son, how
many of you remember the Three Tramps in Dealey
Plaza? They had these photos of three bums,
the tramps? Well, if you look close at the
old tramp, if that's not E. Howard Hunt then
he has a double. Cause even his son looked
at that photo and said, "Yes, I believe that's
my father." So, and who else for an eyewitness
is better than a son? I mean, come on. Think
of your father. You think you could recognize
him if you saw him in a photo? I think I could
recognize mine, father. Find a last question
and then we'll sign some books.
>>Male audience 11: I'd be interested if you
said something about American history.
>>Jesse: Oh, wait a minute. You wanted to
know about Reagan.
>> Male audience 11: Well, just American history
since JFK and how we got to where we are and
whether you think that the Reagan Administration
had anything to do with it.
>>Jesse: When they took out Jack Kennedy,
then they removed our leader without a vote.
They removed him with a bullet and from that
point on, who knows? But like I said, I think
there's a higher authority that's commanding
our government. And it's the old thing: follow
the money. He who's got the money has the
power and the best I can tell, that's the
Federal Reserve. They can't, Ron Paul asked
for an audit. We can't even audit these people
and their done illegally. Did you know that?
It came in at like, 1913, and our Constitution
said that there could be nobody that could
borrow the country money and charge interest.
They charge us interest. These people print
the money and give it to the US government
and then charge us interest on the money.
They're our lending institution. They're the
bank to the US government and the Constitution,
that's against the Constitution and they never,
it was never ratified because if you're going
to change the Constitution it requires two-
thirds of the states to ratify it on a vote.
It was never done. It was never done. And
now it's too late; they're entrenched. We
got the Federal Reserve now. And just so you
know, another example, quickly, of why it
doesn't matter electing a Democrat or a Republican
for, I think, it’s the last 40-, 50- some
years, we've had Democrat and Republican presidents
back and forth, yet every Secretary of the
Treasury, regardless of Democrat or Republican,
has come out of Goldman Sachs. None of the
other ones, nobody qualified in any of the
other ones to be Treasury secretary, just
Goldman Sachs. So again, it doesn't matter
if you're Democrat or Republican; your Treasury
secretary comes out of Goldman Sachs, or seems
to anyway. Any final questions? Wow, you guys
are good. You haven't asked me no stuff about
wrestling or--
[laughter]
I usually always get a question. Maybe you
got one for me. What about wrestling?
>>Male audience 12: Sorry, not about wrestling.
>>Jesse: OK.
>>audience 13: It's hard enough to imagine
one person having the integrity to effect
changes, but the government is not just one
person. While your governor, you have secretaries
and there's a huge bureaucracy underneath
you and is one person, one right person, at
the top really sufficient to change things,
or do you have any plans or any ideas how
that one person can bring changes to find
more right person?
>>Jesse: Yeah, you're absolutely correct.
You can't make major changes 'cause the bureaucracy's
so big. You usually can't. You can simply
nudge it over a little and get it going in
the right direction, hopefully. But we're
talking here revolution by not electing Democrats
and Republicans and making wholesale change.
That's revolution and if that happens then
wholesale changes can happen, but right now,
which is simply all Democrats and Republicans,
you're exactly correct. You might get minute,
little changes but nothing of any significance.
We've gotta cleanse ourselves of these two
parties before you do anything. And if that
doesn't happen, I agree. There won't be great
changes at all. There'll be just small ones.
Thank you very much and I'll sign some books
if you want me to.
[applause]
