Excellent question, actually..

..Here's the thing, and I've said this before and it's worth repeating: I have a tragic view of life, which is that everything that lives must die; everything that man makes must fall. Everything passes away, ok?

So I've never seen conservatism or anything else as the salvation of the world. Jesus Christ is the salvation of the world; the rest is politics.

You're like a doctor. You fight every day for every little thing you can get, you know. If you can keep the patient.. the patient is freedom, and freedom is a living thing. And.. it dies. It goes away. Every free society has fallen: they all collapse. This one will not be any different. This free society will also collapse. It is in danger of collapsing - you know, probably not as fast as we think. But it's in trouble. It's weakened..

Every day you win: you win. Just like a doctor, just like a doctor with a patient. I sometimes tease pessimists and tell them: you know, a patient comes into you, and he's 40 years old, and you say: "I have bad news for you - you're dying." And he says "How long have I got?" You say "Well, about forty five years." You know that's actually not a good diagnosis, because it's not a tragic view of life.

The thing is: how long - how long can we keep this freedom alive? And when that's no longer possible, what do we do then?

My son Spencer wrote a beautiful piece in the LA Times about Cicero. And Cicero of course was there at the fall of the Roman Republic. And before they murdered him (did they kill him or did he commit suicide? but if he committed suicide it was 'cause they were about to kill him..) After the fall of the Roman Republic he retired and wrote about free societies and how a republic should be formed. 1700 years later that inspired our founders in the building of America. And they were frequently quoting Cicero. So when the battle was lost in his time, he fought the battle for eternity - he fought the battle for the rest of us.

And that's what all of us have to do every day. And that powers me because I believe that freedom is an absolute good. I believe that liberty is an absolute good, and I will fight to save it today.

I'm only a guy - I don't have any overblown ideas of who I am or what I can accomplish, but for what I can do with my voice, with my vote, I will do it to preserve freedom today. When that is no longer possible - and even now, in the troubles we're in - I write about what these ideas are, and what ideas should be retained. I read about them so I know what I'm talking about. And that's what powers me.

I think that liberty is an absolute good. I think we were made by God to be free. I think when they say we were endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights: they mean it. I mean it. I think it is absolutely true. And so you're not.. you know, if politics makes you crazy, if it makes you depressed, if it makes you anxious - ignore it. Don't pay any attention to it - really - because your life is not supposed to be that way. That is not what your life is supposed to be. Your life is supposed to be joyful, creative, as much as possible as you can make it.. courageous... all those things. If politics sap that out of you, if it makes you bitter, if it makes you angry, if you're just constantly yelling at the TV - turn the TV off. I don't feel that way at all, because I know the things I'm fighting for never die. The things I'm fighting for never die. They kill 'em, they bury 'em, they put 'em in the tomb, they roll the stone over them: you come in the morning - the stone is rolled back, the tomb is empty. The things, the truth, the truth of Liberty, the truth of what's good, the truth of good and evil, they just don't die, and so they're worth fighting for. And they're worth standing for because you're hooking yourself to something eternal. And that is what powers me. And I'm not in any way depressed by what's going on. I really am not.

I think that, you know: good things are coming, good things will happen, in the culture, in the world. And bad things.. but it'll always be worth it. It'll always be worth standing up for the things that make life worth living.