General Jim Mattis

And I think what it really has brought home is that we're going to have to get together.

Really what we have is one great big dispute resolution process is what a democracy is.

You think one thing, Ryan, you've got another, I've got another.

And somehow, in the interest of our children and generations to come, we've got to figure out how to deal with it right now.

And I think that that is a fundamental requirement that we then meet the demands with all of us pitching in and working on.

And that is the fundamental idea of a democracy.

No one's going to get everything they want their way.

At times, we're going to be compromising, and we're going to be working and making certain that we can deal with those fundamental problems.

So what we turn over to the next generation

is something just a little bit better on our goal for a more perfect union.

There's a word I never say if I've had two glasses of wine.

It's usufruct, and you understand why.

It was first used in presidential papers.

I found it in Thomas Jefferson's, but basically it means that

He was an agrarian guy, and he said, you know, when you take over your parents' farm, you, a guy or gal, you can change the water course, chop the trees down, plant things, move the rocks, do whatever you want, but you are obligated to turn it over to your son or daughter in as good a condition or better than you got it.

Well, we hold this nation in usufruct.

And we are obligated to do this.

You cannot, as a Congress, surrender your constitutional duties.

You do not have the right to do that.

The Constitution is our guide.