(((My Fellow Americans))) #43: Free People and Free Markets with Charity Nicole

(((My Fellow Americans))) #43: Free People and Free Markets with Charity Nicole This may be an unexpectedly triggering episode for some of Spike's followers. Let's find out together. Spike is joined tonight by Charity Nicole of Americans for Prosperity to talk about her journey into libertarianism. We're also going to look at some subjects that many in libertarian circles don't like talking about like climate change and income inequality, and we're going to apply free market solutions to deal with these issues.


About This Episode


This may be an unexpectedly triggering episode for some of Spike’s followers. Let’s find out together. Spike is joined tonight by Charity Nicole of Americans for Prosperity to talk about her journey into libertarianism. We’re also going to look at some subjects that many in libertarian circles don’t like talking about like climate change and income inequality, and we’re going to apply free market solutions to deal with these issues.

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Intro & Outro Music by JoDavi.


Episode Transcript

DISCLOSURE
This episode transcript is auto-generated and a provided as a service to the hearing impaired. We apologize for any errors or inaccuracies.
FULL TRANSCRIPT TEXT
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Oh
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and not from beautiful Carolina you’re
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watching my fellow Americans with your
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welcome to my fellow Americans I am
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boy oh boy we got a show for you it’s
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03:40
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shout out the Tama on Turks his mom and
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him as always guys before I introduce my
04:17
guest tonight I’d like to tell you about
04:18
a really cool event happening
04:19
let me pull up the graphic happening in
04:21
a couple days called
04:23
Anika Vegas it is the first anarchists
04:25
conference in Las Vegas surprisingly
04:27
enough in Turco Vegas is a jam-packed
04:30
event with some of the coolest speakers
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out there literally packed like Jam
04:34
they’re people like Larkin rose bow of
04:36
the fifth column Ford Fisher with news
04:39
to share
04:39
even’s O’Brien Jeff Berwyn berwick of an
04:43
Urkel poco and many many more they’ll
04:45
also be having a benefit at a private
04:47
Vegas penthouse to raise proceeds to
04:51
free Ross Ulbricht
04:52
who was the creator of Silk Road whose
04:54
federal trial and conviction was an
04:56
absolute travesty but this is gonna be a
04:58
really cool event and you should
05:00
definitely go it’s like an Urkel poco
05:02
except you don’t need a passport which
05:03
for a few of you criminals is a pretty
05:05
big deal now you’re probably thinking
05:07
spike I cannot even begin to fathom the
05:10
very possibility that this deal could
05:12
get any better well cute better damn
05:14
well believe it’s getting better because
05:15
if you use this link that is in our show
05:18
notes you’ll get 10% off the already
05:21
very affordable admission pricing the
05:22
inner covetous so if you’re anywhere
05:24
near Vegas and that includes being able
05:27
to get there by plane be sure to check
05:29
out an Turco Vegas be sure to tell him
05:32
that spike sent yet and use the link cuz
05:34
I make money too
05:35
you get a discount and I make money also
05:37
uh we here at muddy waters media our
05:40
thoughts and prayers are with Jason Lyon
05:42
and his wife Kelsey as they prepare to
05:44
welcome their baby daughter Chiara to
05:46
their family at this point she may
05:47
already be here I haven’t talked to them
05:48
in a bit so she may already be here but
05:50
we are really excited Lee waiting for
05:53
that Jason of course is the host of mr.
05:54
America the bearded truth which airs on
05:56
Mondays and Fridays here on muddy waters
05:58
media Jason Kelsey we love you all and
06:01
we can’t wait to meet your your little
06:03
baby their little Liberty the first
06:05
muddied waters baby we’re really excited
06:07
about that
06:08
so guys without further ado my guest
06:10
tonight is a really cool lady and I’m
06:12
super excited to have her on she is with
06:13
Americans for Prosperity which is one of
06:15
the largest Pro Liberty organizations in
06:17
the country she is a tireless advocate
06:19
for Liberty and by that I mean that she
06:21
hasn’t slept in four days when we were
06:24
getting ready to go live she was just
06:26
pounding Red Bulls and
06:27
screaming at we which which I hope
06:29
really helps to set the tone for this
06:31
episode she here she’s here to talk
06:33
about free market solutions to some of
06:35
the largest problems facing us today
06:36
ladies and gentlemen my fellow Americans
06:39
please welcome the lovely and talented
06:41
MS charity Nicole charity thanks so much
06:43
for coming on yeah thanks so much Mike
06:46
for having me on her show I’m really
06:48
excited about this I have to admit your
06:50
your resume usually when I give an intro
06:52
I’ll say what their resume is and say
06:54
the things they’ve done and yours was
06:56
several paragraphs of not even sentences
06:59
several paragraphs of just like that’s
07:01
like bullet list of stuff you’ve done
07:03
and it was so extensive that I didn’t
07:06
even know where to start
07:07
so um I’d still be saying it now if I
07:09
had listed it all out so instead I made
07:11
a caffeine joke and I feel terrible
07:12
about that
07:13
hey I mean I’m actually I’m drinking
07:16
off-brand red bull or I know is it what
07:20
does that cause that like red thunder or
07:22
something like that yeah yeah it’s from
07:24
all these and it’s definitely worth it
07:27
so so I knew deep down yeah that’s
07:29
intuitive
07:30
I have ESP you guys be sure to comment
07:33
with your questions and thoughts and
07:35
charity and I will tell you if you are
07:37
right or wrong never know it probably
07:41
rephrase that be sure to comment with
07:44
your questions and thoughts and charity
07:45
I charity and I will tell you that you
07:47
are wrong that’s essentially what this
07:49
show boils down to if we’re not telling
07:52
each other that each other is wrong then
07:55
we’re aiming that at you and telling you
07:57
that you’re not a real libertarian this
07:58
is kind of a standard thing for the show
08:00
so this is your first time as a guest
08:03
and I’m like I said so happy to have you
08:04
on first question I asked new guests to
08:06
my show is how did you get to your
08:09
current political beliefs would you say
08:11
that that was like an aha moment or a
08:13
gradual evolution and honestly even
08:16
further back admittedly I’ve only known
08:17
you very briefly so I don’t know a heck
08:19
of a lot about you other than your your
08:21
op-eds and stuff that I’ve read so tell
08:23
us a little about yourself tell us about
08:24
tell us about charity okay so actually
08:30
the answer to your question like my like
08:32
hot like how did I get to like where I
08:34
am like politically or like my Liberty
08:36
like moments or whatever I think it’s
08:38
actually a combination over like an aha
08:40
moment
08:41
and a gradual so so basically I kind of
08:44
feel like I’ve always been Liberty
08:47
leaning um but I definitely like I had
08:50
an I had like an aha moment and so I’m
08:54
gonna tell you a little bit about that
08:55
so sure my parents are very conservative
08:59
people they’re very very conservative
09:01
they’re they’re one issue voters that’s
09:03
abortion and that’s like the only issue
09:04
they vote for but they’re also like the
09:06
kind of people that only vote in general
09:07
elections and when I turned 18 for some
09:11
like weird reason I was just like you
09:13
know what I really I just really want to
09:16
like go caucus and like it was a very
09:18
strange that so in Minnesota I’m from
09:20
Minnesota you’ll you’ll notice that when
09:22
I said they were bag yeah we know but ya
09:28
know so I so we used to be a caucus
09:30
state and because we were a caucus state
09:33
it’s like a very involved process I
09:34
don’t know if you’ve ever done a caucus
09:36
before it’s it’s very different than a
09:37
primary some reason had done one but
09:40
I’ve read descriptions and talk to
09:43
people have done it and it is it is an
09:45
intense process yeah yeah and especially
09:49
for for me at 18 like watch I was 17
09:51
when I did it because I was I was gonna
09:53
be eligible to vote during the next
09:56
election or whatever like we were like
09:58
caucusing for okay and so I basically I
10:01
went to this I went to this caucus and
10:03
like I just like want to set like the
10:05
picture okay so like I was a goth kid in
10:06
high school and so like I’m a cop can I
10:09
show up to like a Republican caucus is
10:12
all these like older white people that
10:15
are like super conservative right right
10:17
and they’re just gonna like looking at
10:18
me like okay like what does she do I was
10:22
like so excited and I like drag my dad
10:23
with me and my dad definitely like went
10:26
because I think it he thought of it as
10:27
like a like a bonding moment like oh
10:29
like my daughter like there’s like hope
10:31
she’s a Republican right little did he
10:35
know I’m not okay whatever but yeah so
10:40
uh I went to this caucus and and I
10:43
caucused I believe for for Newt Gingrich
10:47
and I stayed through the whole caucus
10:49
process and all these people like all
10:50
these Ron Paul people came and did their
10:53
whole speeches and then ever
10:54
but he basically laughed but I’d like
10:55
begged my dad like stay through the
10:57
whole thing right and at the very end
10:59
they have this whole thing where they
11:00
like do like amendments to the state
11:02
party platform okay and this guy got up
11:05
he was a Ron Paul supporter and I would
11:08
describe him probably as a creeper
11:09
karien now although I didn’t like have
11:10
those words at the time um definitely
11:13
like I’m taller like bearded like like
11:16
like you know like burly man and he his
11:21
amendment was to strip the the party
11:26
platform with the the language that was
11:28
in there to protect traditional marriage
11:31
and what he said was you know we’re the
11:34
party of small limited government we’re
11:36
always talking about how we want
11:37
government out of our bedrooms and out
11:38
of our homes and here we are trying to
11:41
you know literally be in people’s
11:43
bedrooms and in people’s homes right and
11:46
like he totally got shot down like he’s
11:49
a madman could go anywhere but um I just
11:51
remember being very like awestruck at
11:52
like 17 like that guy’s right right
11:56
right right we are the party of small
11:59
limited government you know that’s like
12:02
what we stand for and here we are
12:04
you know trying to do yeah it’s
12:07
legislating like how a family’s gonna
12:09
look right right right yeah and and it
12:12
really just it really really has stuck
12:14
with me and then I’ve had a few
12:16
different other aha moments throughout
12:18
my through my life just I have like
12:20
brought me closer and closer to Liberty
12:22
and you know flirting with anarchy
12:25
occasionally I love your show this is so
12:30
you know they talk about the libertarian
12:31
– all right pipeline I am the
12:33
conservative – straight to Anarchy
12:35
pipeline like you skip libertarianism or
12:39
orally or Minoru ISM you skip that you
12:41
just go straight to like cuz it’s like
12:43
well if you want to limit government why
12:44
because it’s evil okay well why do you
12:47
want it at all well we need it for some
12:49
things it’s so evil that we want to
12:50
limit it to the most basic functions of
12:52
a society so um so I won’t I’ll let you
12:56
talk first before I do that anyway oh no
12:58
I
12:58
you know you yet actually I’ve had a
13:00
couple different like aha moments just
13:02
from listening to your podcast so I’ll
13:04
be honest um this is the first time I’ve
13:06
actually seen the
13:08
like live which is weird because I’m on
13:10
this and I’m watching myself live
13:13
usually I listen to it on my my Cass
13:18
Cass baka Box app I listen to it in the
13:20
mornings already cool so yeah it’s yeah
13:23
I mean so this is a I mean I get this is
13:27
an investment to watch this like and I
13:31
say that is in to watch like the entire
13:33
like if you really want to watch the
13:34
entire thing a short episodes an hour
13:37
I’ve had one episode with like a black
13:40
nationalist that lasted four and a half
13:42
hours know it to watch listening is a
13:45
totally different thing you can do other
13:46
stuff you can drive you can do all that
13:48
that I get so I know that’s that’s
13:50
finite hey we love our listeners too we
13:52
actually have more listeners and
13:53
Watchers so so so that happened with the
13:57
with the the neckbeard Tyrion and and
14:00
that was kind of I guess your first dear
14:02
first where you were kind of having your
14:05
narrative of the Republican Party
14:06
challenge right I’m guessing yeah and so
14:09
then so how it tell us more about that
14:11
how did once that got seed got planted
14:14
then then what happened um well then
14:17
okay so basically I I always kind of
14:21
knew that I was I was like different
14:23
than other Republicans I was knew that I
14:25
like had stronger convictions that maybe
14:27
the you know rhinos didn’t don’t
14:31
necessarily hold night and I always kind
14:33
of knew that but then I got an
14:36
opportunity to go volunteer and Rand
14:39
Paul’s campaign oh wow okay and so so
14:42
basically what happened is a friend of
14:44
mine spontaneously invited me to go
14:46
watch Rand Paul I think University of
14:48
Minnesota so I went and then I got on a
14:51
mailing list and then actually actually
14:53
even before that I I was doing like a
14:56
political project for a class I was
14:58
doing I think I was doing like political
15:01
PR was like one of my classes I was
15:03
taking oh cool yeah and so my mom
15:05
basically knew my mom had a friend I had
15:08
a friend that knew somebody that was
15:11
going to be running the Rand Paul booth
15:14
at the Minnesota State Fair and that guy
15:16
his name is Xavier shoutout to save your
15:19
picket he
15:21
is a huge part of like why I’m like
15:23
where I am right now he’s the chair of
15:25
the Republican liberty caucus in
15:26
Minnesota and he basically chatted with
15:30
me a little bit
15:30
I gave him my resume and then I ran into
15:33
him again at the the Rand Paul saying at
15:37
the university Minnesota he recognizes
15:40
me and then he two weeks later just
15:42
randomly calls me I so I had this this
15:44
call from this unknown number and I
15:46
don’t always pick up unknown numbers but
15:48
sometimes I do and this time I did and I
15:51
was like hello he’s like hey super
15:53
random this is Xavier and all of you
15:54
remember me but I’m driving down to Iowa
15:57
right now I might lose connection sorry
16:00
but I just really want to invite you to
16:02
come out for a weekend and just check it
16:04
out and it’s like this is super weird
16:07
like I all right I don’t know anything
16:10
about like you know being politically
16:14
active like I just like I went to
16:15
caucuses and like I thought it was like
16:16
fun and stuff but like I didn’t I never
16:18
like made a phone call you know what I
16:21
mean or like I’d never make knock on a
16:23
door before and so I was like okay you
16:26
know I’m sure so like I went down there
16:28
um and I just fell in love I just fell
16:31
in love I fell in love with with Rand
16:33
Paul at the time I really loved what he
16:35
had to say but more than that I got
16:38
really jazzed about the people that I
16:40
met poverty minded people and like for
16:43
me I was like where have these people
16:47
been I a wife like I felt so isolated I
16:50
felt so like oh you know I’m just like
16:52
the weird like girl that like you know
16:56
has these like Liberty beliefs and you
16:59
know I just but I thought all these
17:01
people that were just like me and it was
17:02
really really cool so when I left I
17:05
didn’t think I was that guy I didn’t
17:07
think I was gonna go back because I had
17:10
to work and I had school and stuff but I
17:13
I left and like I cried on my way home I
17:17
literally cried on my way home the
17:19
six-hour Drive I was like these people
17:21
so much already
17:23
it’s really funny to me because every
17:26
person that was on that campaign that I
17:28
really really liked and was like really
17:30
sad to leave I’ve worked with in some
17:34
capacity since
17:35
right right yeah and that’s it that’s
17:37
the thing with like that I hear from a
17:39
lot of people is that like when they
17:41
discover it’s one thing to have like
17:43
libertarian friends on Facebook or
17:45
whatever you know it’s another thing to
17:48
like actually meet with these people and
17:49
like have this kind of experience I’m
17:51
someone that I think I’m wired
17:53
differently because I revel in like
17:55
telling people my fringe opinions and
17:58
you know you know like like telling my
18:01
you know uncle that I you know think
18:03
that nuclear weapons should be you know
18:05
legal for everyone and stuff like that
18:07
and and it just looks and I’m like yeah
18:09
and like and be willing to argue it to
18:12
for normal people most people if you’re
18:16
the only one in your social circles that
18:17
even and I’m not I’m not saying you want
18:19
to rate legalized nuclear weapons I’m
18:22
just saying whatever your you’re out of
18:24
the mainstream opinions are if you’re
18:26
the only person in that circle and
18:28
everyone’s giving you pushback on both
18:30
sides about how crazy that sounds for a
18:33
lot of people it starts to get like well
18:35
maybe I am crazy like maybe there’s
18:36
something wrong like maybe maybe I
18:38
should be so to be around people that
18:40
are like that and advocating for and
18:43
pushing for it it’s a lot of you know it
18:46
helps kind of jazz you up right like I
18:48
mean it’s an exciting thing now we have
18:50
a very important question from from one
18:53
of our regulars Jacob LaBelle um he said
18:57
that he was gonna critique you for being
18:59
a Republican convert until you came out
19:01
as a Minnesota and so he’s good with you
19:03
now but he he asked if you can please
19:06
say oofta and explain why it’s hot dish
19:09
I know oh man oh man
19:13
gusta is definitely like I’ve said that
19:16
in conversation before and I like moved
19:19
to Virginia maybe about a year ago and
19:21
people are like what did you just say um
19:26
ya know so so hot dish is definitely in
19:28
the way to go because what is a
19:32
casserole you know like it’s if you’re
19:35
not eating a hot dish like are even
19:36
living your life I don’t know as opposed
19:38
I’ve never as this as opposed a cold
19:40
dish yeah why would you have a cold dish
19:44
when you could have a hot dish actually
19:46
though I’m in Minnesota there
19:49
there are dairy queens that are open 25
19:51
like year round okay um and I love going
19:55
and getting I can ice cream on like a
19:56
negative degree weather day it’s just
19:58
there’s something just really refreshing
19:59
about eating a blizzard outside you know
20:03
I don’t know I just can’t explain it I
20:05
also cannot explain it this is a very
20:08
like when I talked to Wisconsin and
20:09
Minnesota people and they craved the ice
20:11
and and I’m the opposite I’m I grew up
20:15
in the south so like even being up here
20:17
during the during the summer when it
20:19
gets into the 50s some nights I’m like
20:21
man it’s kind of cold and people look at
20:22
me like no it’s great yeah I prefer to
20:25
bake in the Sun until I’m actually brown
20:28
so I that’s it that’s definitely a
20:30
cannot rely I can relate on the hot dish
20:33
though because if you’re gonna have a
20:34
dish like a casserole it needs to be hot
20:37
now that’s now Lieut lutefisk which
20:40
sounds like a nightmare is that cold or
20:43
hot I’ve actually never had lutefisk it
20:49
is a hot dish well it’s it’s a hot dish
20:53
right so it’s a dish that’s hot
20:55
it’s basically fish that’s like I think
20:57
you bury it in life or like your days
20:58
know you cook it yep until until the
21:03
bones liquefy I’m told the bones liquefy
21:06
from that fermentation and lye breakdown
21:08
of the of yeah never no no I’ll just
21:13
I’ll just eat my wall I am I tear tots
21:16
you know I just ya know I’ve had hog
21:19
snouts I’m not gonna have lutefisk like
21:22
it’s not a hog snacks are actually good
21:23
oh the snout of the hog it’s all it’s
21:26
just like fat and cartilage oh okay I
21:29
mean I’ve eaten a dog before so I mean
21:32
really really I spent some time in China
21:36
and when I was in a I think we were in
21:41
Queen win um it’s like basically on the
21:44
very southern and it’s hip
21:45
I’d like the peninsula on the East Coast
21:48
we we went during a certain season when
21:50
they’re having a dog festival and
21:52
basically they they put your bunch of
21:54
dogs and then sell them in the
21:55
marketplace so we wouldn’t we picked out
21:56
the dog from the marketplace and you
21:58
cooked it it was really good I mean
22:00
here’s her my cognitive dissonance
22:02
comes in that offends me and there’s no
22:05
I don’t have right and I’m not a person
22:08
who gets offended but I’m a big dog
22:10
person
22:10
I’m eyed snoot poops every day I was
22:12
just at a friend’s house sniffing but or
22:15
pooping sniffs whichever that goes um
22:17
and yet it’s an animal a sentient animal
22:22
that’s being killed with roughly the
22:25
intelligence of a pig but because we’re
22:27
used to them being pets we associate
22:29
them as like little hairy people and
22:32
it’s like you can’t kill Jimmy um so
22:36
it’s it’s funny to me but uh so like I
22:38
said that’s Mike that’s my like I’m like
22:40
how dare you like just say that so
22:43
casually but yet if someone said I speak
22:46
so be honest I don’t really I didn’t
22:48
grow up with pets some a little I’m a
22:50
little bit different so like I totally
22:53
get that like if you have like this like
22:54
emotional attachment so like an animal
22:55
but like I I didn’t grow up with pets I
22:57
don’t have an emotional I’m actually
22:59
kind of scared of dogs I think they’re
23:00
usually big dogs
23:02
so my not so you know because you’re
23:04
scared of him my wife’s scared of
23:05
chicken she loves chicken because it’s
23:09
if it’s your enemy what better way can
23:11
you take out your enemy than to kill it
23:13
and eat it or have someone else kill it
23:14
and then and then you don’t even have to
23:16
touch it you just eat it so speaking of
23:18
that of eating dogs and chickens um tell
23:23
us about Americans for Prosperity what
23:25
are you doing over there that’s the best
23:28
segue I had for that what kind of stuff
23:30
do you do there um yeah so I just
23:33
recently started at Americans for
23:36
Prosperity I am a state Operations
23:38
Coordinator so basically what that means
23:40
is that I help coordinate internal and
23:43
external communications throughout the
23:44
state operations department okay so I
23:47
get a really cool job I work in the
23:49
headquarters and I get to like basically
23:52
talk to people that are on the ground in
23:54
this in the state’s actually doing like
23:56
the the day-to-day grind and and I get
23:58
to talk to them and if I know what
23:59
they’re doing and give them you know
24:01
ideas and make sure that they they have
24:04
the training that they that they need to
24:05
be able to do what they what they love
24:07
and what they what they need to get done
24:09
and and then I also facilitate external
24:12
communication within the greater
24:14
stand together community that’s really
24:16
cool yeah we one of my I forget which
24:20
episode but I had doing Lester on who is
24:22
with the grassroots Leadership Academy
24:26
which is part of AFP they’re the ones
24:30
that go you may have talked to him at
24:31
some point they’re the ones that go
24:33
around he travels the country teaching
24:35
activists so people sign up and say I
24:37
want to become an activist with the
24:39
Leadership Academy and he basically
24:41
teaches them how to become activist
24:43
leaders in their community and how to
24:44
agitate for change and things like that
24:46
so it’s really cool stuff that that AFP
24:49
does so so you just so that that’s why
24:53
you moved to DC yeah well so um I I
24:59
moved to DC because I wanted to work for
25:01
the network um I actually moved without
25:03
a job
25:05
I define it I just knew yeah DC yeah so
25:11
so it’s kind of crazy um so basically I
25:12
did Kipp the Koch internship program um
25:15
and I was with the American Legislative
25:17
Exchange Council hmm and what happened
25:20
is I so immediately prior to that I was
25:23
on a six-month mission strip like
25:25
immediately prior to that so I literally
25:27
flew from Nepal to Hawaii had like three
25:30
days in Hawaii to graduate the program
25:31
flew back to Minneapolis for one day to
25:33
swap out my suitcase I’ve been living on
25:35
it for six months into a different
25:36
suitcase well that could fly back to DC
25:39
but I couldn’t find housing when I was
25:42
in Nepal because you know it’s a 13 hour
25:45
time difference and it’s really
25:47
difficult to like find people and like
25:49
connect with them for housing so I moved
25:52
out to DC a year ago didn’t have a house
25:55
I lived in a hostel for six weeks five
25:57
weeks long as a Kip in DC yeah there’s a
26:03
there’s three different hostels that’s
26:08
very nice that’s pretty cool but yeah so
26:11
I lived in a hostel and then my mom kept
26:13
basically telling me like all right well
26:15
like when you do find your housing like
26:17
make sure you only sign like a
26:18
summerlee’s like don’t do anything crazy
26:20
like I sign a year lease or anything
26:22
right and I literally like I like I just
26:26
had this like moment of like
26:28
I like looked at my life and I was like
26:29
you know I could I could listen my mom
26:32
and I could just find a place where it’s
26:34
just the summer but then I’m gonna go
26:37
back home and do and do what like do
26:41
partisan politics again I’d worked as a
26:43
legislative assistant for a state
26:44
senator in Minnesota so the I had been
26:48
offered positions backward it within
26:50
partisan politics and I just I just
26:55
found my passion working within the
26:57
cocoanut work I found people that would
27:00
pay me to talk about liberty like that’s
27:03
listen if you can do it I mean you’re
27:07
you’ve described the high flying life of
27:09
a of a Koch brothers Schill of course
27:11
but no I I love both the Koch brothers
27:17
and the organization they’re doing
27:18
they’re not anarchists or whatever but
27:20
they are they’re doing some incredible
27:22
work where most other billionaires are
27:24
out there pushing for a more centrally
27:27
planned command economy so that they can
27:29
control the levers of it and prevent
27:31
competition here is a group of
27:33
billionaires that are they’re not the
27:34
only ones but they’re definitely the
27:36
most most prominent one saying no no we
27:38
need more competition we need more
27:40
innovation we need more market solutions
27:43
to to ideas and you know for them to
27:47
work I mean I recently read one of the
27:50
Koch brothers it’s working with George
27:51
Soros of all people to start an anti-war
27:54
thing because yeah if he’s anti-war and
27:57
I’m anti-war and we’re both anti-war on
28:00
the same terms and we’re gonna agree to
28:03
disagree on this other stuff that we’re
28:04
usually our activists are fighting
28:05
against each other on or lobbying
28:08
against each other or whatever on let’s
28:10
work on this and and do that so no I I
28:12
have nothing but but good things to say
28:14
but I always loved when I when I talked
28:15
to an AFP person I’m like coke shell and
28:18
you know that’s your your only your
28:19
clearly you know you only did this for
28:22
you know for that for the money you
28:23
didn’t do it cuz it’s your passion or
28:25
anything like that oh man yeah so well I
28:30
wanted to just say really quick so like
28:32
after I did the the coke internship
28:35
program I flew back to Minnesota I had
28:38
signed a year lease I was I was paying
28:40
to lit to live out here but I
28:41
Minnesota thing I was just gonna be like
28:43
a couple weeks fix my car we’re gonna
28:45
drive out here and then just like figure
28:48
it out
28:49
and then I just never fixed my car
28:52
enough to drive cross-country so I
28:55
literally just I sold my car on Facebook
28:58
marketplace old it within about thirteen
29:00
hours of it being on their lot plane
29:01
tickets and my mom was like what are you
29:03
doing I don’t have a job like and I was
29:06
like mom I love you I’m gonna go at this
29:11
at this point you had a lease right yeah
29:13
yes I did
29:15
I sold three more you’ve sold your car
29:18
you’ve signed a lease you have no job
29:20
you’re moving to one of the most
29:21
expensive places on earth to live and
29:23
your mom is sitting there just like
29:24
aghast that like you’re just like yeah
29:27
I’m gonna do this that is funny
29:29
it’s working but you know what I figured
29:31
out I worked at Target and then I got a
29:33
part-time job at the Leadership
29:35
Institute
29:35
I’m opening mail and I made it happen
29:39
cuz I just you know if I if I want
29:42
something like I’m I’m gonna make it
29:44
happen so and then I and then I landed
29:48
my job at AFP and I couldn’t be happier
29:50
so ya know you’re making it you’re
29:52
making it work for you I’m happy for you
29:54
um so we’re so one of the as you know
29:59
Liberty has been a hard sell for
30:03
American voters whether it’s through
30:06
you’ve done work with or working with
30:08
the Republican leadership caucus of
30:10
Minnesota you’re with AFP you’re doing
30:14
your own you know I guess off shelf
30:16
advocacy you know your own op eds and
30:18
things like that which I want to get
30:19
into later but you’re you’re seeing that
30:24
no matter what Avenue it comes from
30:26
there’s this sort of resistance to it on
30:28
all fronts how much personal
30:32
responsibility do you take for that do I
30:35
personally take you personally yeah oh
30:37
man well I mean I can’t necessarily I
30:42
can’t change everybody’s mind but I do I
30:46
do think that there is a personal
30:47
responsibility on my end – at least
30:49
advocate for the things that I believe
30:51
really strongly about and and to make
30:53
sure that people at least are educated
30:55
about why Liberty is so important and so
30:59
so when that respect like I I do take
31:02
personal responsibility to like make
31:04
sure the people know like I is I
31:07
appreciate that you have taken my joke
31:10
to heart and are explaining how personal
31:12
responsible you are for this but but no
31:15
so I guess now that I’m not joking what
31:19
would you say are the biggest reasons
31:22
why there is this like pushback on
31:25
Liberty ideas people thinking it’s nuts
31:27
the idea that you can do stuff without
31:29
someone pointing a gun at you and
31:30
forcing you to do it I just think people
31:33
are uneducated about what a law really
31:36
does honestly I just think that people
31:38
they just think oh you know we’re gonna
31:41
implement a law because that person’s
31:42
doing something I don’t like but they
31:43
don’t like think about the fact that
31:45
like a law is literally violence yeah
31:49
and and because people don’t like think
31:51
about it that way they they don’t it
31:55
doesn’t resonate with them the way that
31:57
it resonates with me because I came back
31:58
I came to that realization you know and
32:00
I can’t it’s it’s very difficult for me
32:04
to advocate for the violence against
32:07
another person just simply because
32:08
they’re doing something I like yeah
32:10
exactly so this is actually the one year
32:13
art for one year the five year
32:15
anniversary of Aaron Eric Garner’s death
32:18
and for those who do I would imagine
32:21
most people listening or watching know
32:22
who this is but just in case Eric garner
32:24
was a man in in New York I think it on
32:26
say in Brooklyn who would he was a
32:30
father and grandfather and he would go
32:32
to stores
32:33
he’d buy cigarettes and then he’d sell
32:36
the loose cigarettes he’d walk around
32:37
and sell them for like 75 cents apiece
32:39
because the price of cigarettes in New
32:43
York is ridiculously high um so if he’s
32:46
like 15 bucks it back yeah it’s an
32:48
absurd price so if you if you want a
32:52
cigarette
32:53
most people just can’t afford a pack of
32:55
cigarettes so they’ll get a cigarette
32:57
and so it’s it’s I guess a fairly
32:59
profitable thing so shortly before he
33:02
died the chief of police put out a
33:05
basically a notice to the police
33:07
officers to start cracking down
33:09
hard on and to start forming units to go
33:13
after people that you know routinely
33:14
sell loose cigarettes so before where
33:16
they might warn you now they’re like
33:18
they’re gonna arrest you and put you in
33:19
jail and make an example out of you and
33:21
so in the course of arresting him they
33:23
end up toppling him it’s a disagreement
33:26
as to whether they choked him or just
33:28
had him in a headlock
33:29
whatever he died um and when you tell
33:33
this to the average person you’ll get
33:34
one of two reactions from the left
33:36
they’ll start talking about and these
33:37
are valid points they’ll start talking
33:39
about institutional racism they’ll start
33:41
talking about excessive police a use of
33:44
police force they’ll start talking about
33:45
these things which is great but then if
33:48
you say well it all happened because of
33:51
the tax it all happened because there
33:53
was a ridiculously high tax on
33:56
cigarettes and then a law that you
33:57
couldn’t sell them loose to get around
34:00
the retail taxes and that none of this
34:02
would have even happened and they shut
34:04
down and go well we need those taxes
34:06
because they use that to educate people
34:07
as to why smokings bad so we need those
34:09
taxes and it’s like yeah no but but this
34:13
is he would have never they would have
34:15
never come up to him like there would
34:17
have never been a police force
34:18
excessiveness to be had in the first
34:21
place they have that disconnect on the
34:23
right their disk and I’m speaking
34:25
generally there’s you know many people
34:28
on the right that are that see this as
34:30
the travesty it was but there are many
34:31
people on the right who go well you know
34:33
he had a criminal history and he was
34:34
resisting arrest and it’s like okay but
34:37
look at his criminal history
34:38
it was mostly selling stuff that people
34:41
wanted but it was against the law
34:43
including the loose cigarettes and yes
34:47
his resisting arrest was saying help I
34:51
can’t breathe
34:52
and trying to get a arm off of his neck
34:54
because he felt like he couldn’t breathe
34:56
and it sounds like maybe he was onto
34:58
something because then he died so I I
35:02
agree with you that it’s very often that
35:04
they don’t understand that a law equal
35:07
is going to equal violence if someone
35:09
doesn’t comply but there’s an I
35:11
personally think there’s another layer
35:12
to that where when the violence is used
35:15
they say well they should have complied
35:18
or well it’s because they’re racist or
35:21
whatever
35:22
whatever thing they’ve been taught to go
35:25
to they either they either defend the
35:28
violence like with war or whatever else
35:29
they either defend the violence or they
35:32
go well yeah that violence is bad
35:34
without making the connection of about
35:36
what that violence actually is is that
35:38
what you’re seeing out there when you’re
35:39
when you’re doing your advocacy and
35:40
talking to people yeah I mean that’s
35:42
that’s exactly what it is and I think
35:44
there’s an even bigger issue
35:46
specifically on the right that’s that’s
35:48
very concerning to me um and it’s this
35:51
it’s this attitude of sorry this is a
35:55
little bit of a segue but one of the
35:58
really frustrating things for me
36:00
when I talk to people on the write about
36:03
things that I think are really important
36:05
issues like police brutality for
36:07
instance yeah or immigration right or
36:10
even climate change right so when you
36:12
talk to when you talk to people on the
36:14
right and they hear some of these things
36:15
and they’re immediately
36:17
reaction to some of these hot-button
36:19
issues is like how is big government
36:21
going to be used in these areas and
36:25
whenever we Republican talking points
36:28
they have and they use that almost as
36:31
like a mask to to to block out other
36:35
information yep and they basically go no
36:38
no the only narrative the only narrative
36:41
that I can believe is the narrative of
36:43
my party the only narrative I can
36:45
believe is the narrative of Trump
36:48
you know big government is using climate
36:50
change as an excuse to have more big
36:53
government you know what there are valid
36:56
examples of where climate change has
36:59
been a talking point used by Democrats
37:02
to expand government I totally get that
37:04
but just because that has happened in
37:07
the past doesn’t mean that climate
37:08
change doesn’t exist yeah absolutely in
37:11
fact I have a whole I even made graphics
37:13
for this segment
37:15
which I guarantee Nicole I called the
37:18
charity Nicole climate change hour of
37:19
power um but the first before we get
37:22
started I have to do my uncomfortable
37:24
segue hey guys are you thinking of
37:25
making a podcast
37:26
well anchor is the easiest way to make a
37:28
podcast anchor gives you everything you
37:30
need in one place for free which you can
37:33
use right from your phone or computer
37:34
they give you creation tools that allow
37:36
you to
37:36
and edit your podcast so it sounds great
37:39
they they’ll distribute your podcast for
37:41
you so it can be heard everywhere
37:42
Spotify Apple podcast Google podcast and
37:45
many more you can even make money from
37:48
your podcast which is rare in podcasting
37:51
but you can actually make money with no
37:54
minimum listenership it doesn’t matter
37:56
if there’s one people one person
37:58
listening 1 million you’re making money
38:01
and hopefully it’s a million but so if
38:04
you’re thinking of starting a podcast
38:05
download the anchor app on iPhone iTunes
38:09
or Android Google Play whatever it’s
38:11
called or go to anchor dot FM to get
38:15
started now speaking of I have no segue
38:20
I have no segue for that but my plugs
38:23
over so now begins the charity Nicole
38:27
climate change our power so I am a
38:31
recent before we get it cuz I’m very
38:33
interested in talking about this the
38:35
opioid crisis income inequality
38:37
basically all the things that
38:39
conservatives like put their fingers in
38:41
their ears and pretend either it doesn’t
38:42
exist or that just everyone needs to get
38:44
arrested or something like that so that
38:47
that’s why I when you said you wanted to
38:49
talk about that I’m like yes finally um
38:51
so full disclosure I am up until
38:55
recently a I guess a climate change
38:58
skeptic and I’m still not I think some
39:00
of the more alarming narratives I’m not
39:03
seeing the evidence for but I just for
39:06
the people who are watching this who are
39:08
like me literally a few months ago I
39:10
just need to be we need to go over some
39:14
basics here on on on climate data
39:17
because there’s been a lot of
39:18
misinformation the first one is that
39:20
we’ve heard that the globe is cooling
39:24
that is year over year simply not true
39:28
you might have one year that’s cooler
39:30
than another but the trend line is is up
39:34
and has been for quite some time in fact
39:36
this goes back and I used to do this I’d
39:38
say well yeah that’s 200 years you know
39:41
of data and and and proxy data but you
39:44
know what about you know way back in the
39:46
day and it’s yeah it’s it’s still it’s
39:47
it’s going up and
39:50
and it’s going outside of the there is a
39:52
natural range of climate inversion and
39:57
Sun activity is the dry main driver of
40:00
that’s like 97% of it human activity
40:02
makes up roughly it depends on who you
40:04
ask anywhere between two and four
40:06
percent so let’s say three percent of it
40:07
is is is coming from human activity the
40:10
problem is that because it’s not
40:11
happening as part of a natural cycle it
40:13
doesn’t when it goes when the when the
40:16
carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere
40:18
it doesn’t naturally come back it’s not
40:21
recaptured so that three percent would
40:23
be like if you had a full bathtub and
40:25
you added a tiny drip drips of water
40:28
over the course of decades or centuries
40:31
and what happens is eventually it starts
40:34
to overflow and so using that same
40:36
analogy here that little of contribution
40:38
from human activity is off slowly
40:41
offsetting that balance and that’s what
40:43
we’re seeing play out in in the actual
40:45
data unfortunately like charity said
40:49
there are many people that like it like
40:53
an Alexandria occasional Cortes or
40:54
before her the the granddaddy of climate
40:57
change alarmism Al Gore who will say in
41:00
ten years the oceans are gonna rise
41:03
twenty meters and they’ll say all of
41:04
these things and they’ll make movies
41:06
about where the tides stop moving those
41:09
are things that if they happen it would
41:10
be several generations out more than
41:13
likely again depends on who you ask but
41:16
this is an actual thing it’s a thing
41:19
that needs a solution and because most
41:23
of the climate change activity is coming
41:25
from India China Brazil and then to a
41:31
lesser extent the US and the US has
41:33
actually been reducing climate emissions
41:35
for the past several years this has to
41:37
be a solution that still creates
41:40
profitability because if you if it’s a
41:42
if it’s a if it’s a solution that
41:44
reduces economic activity China’s not
41:47
going to sign on India’s not going to
41:48
sign on Brazil is not going to sign on
41:50
none of these developing countries are
41:52
going to sign on so with that said I
41:55
hope I gave you enough of an intro intro
41:58
there what are the kinds of things that
42:00
you believe about climate change and
42:02
what
42:03
some of the the things you you you
42:05
believe might help with it
42:07
to bend that curve at least yeah um so
42:10
thanks for putting that graph together
42:11
that’s awesome that’s way cooler than me
42:15
shouting about how everybody else is
42:18
wrong no it’s no it’s it’s more
42:21
informative
42:22
it is not cooler actually screaming is
42:24
cooler but I’m sorry good I mean I like
42:29
to be informed I don’t know it’s
42:30
whatever
42:32
so okay sorry just a really quick
42:35
tangent they always say like
42:36
libertarians are like a little off
42:38
because they like the graphs and charts
42:40
but it’s not the things that resonate
42:41
with people right and I’m like yeah but
42:44
graphs and charts man like exactly don’t
42:50
exactly okay no I agree I agree yeah so
42:55
so here’s the thing regardless of
42:58
whether or not the the earth is cooling
43:03
and we’re all gonna die in 12 years or
43:04
not right right we should we should
43:06
protect the environment because it’s the
43:10
only thing that we have going on right
43:12
it’s like it if we if we pollute the the
43:15
world around us like we’re gonna be
43:17
living in in that pollution like this
43:20
that is that really the world that we
43:21
want to live in do we want to and I say
43:23
that you know having lit having lived
43:26
for for three months in Nepal having
43:28
lived for three months in China and it’s
43:32
disgusting it’s it’s absolutely
43:34
disgusting and it’s an education issue
43:36
out there it really is it’s an education
43:39
issue they don’t realize that you know
43:41
if you eat a bag of chips and you just
43:42
throw it on the side of the road but
43:43
it’s not gonna decompose in three days
43:45
it’s gonna sit there for months and
43:48
years and and it’s gonna harm the
43:52
environment I mean you can’t drink the
43:54
water you can’t drink the water in in
43:56
India and Nepal and China and it’s
43:58
really sad because it’s really harming
44:01
the people that live there but you know
44:05
we don’t it’s people that live in in
44:08
America and in Canada right we don’t
44:11
necessarily see that perspective because
44:13
we’ve always had clean water we’ve
44:15
always had
44:16
the ability to recycle and we’ve always
44:18
been educated and in you know yes you
44:21
should recycle and this is how you
44:22
recycle and maybe you know think about
44:25
not using as many plastic water bottles
44:27
and bring your own water bottle and and
44:29
we have all these education programs so
44:31
it’s it’s different for us because we
44:34
don’t we don’t see how bad it can get
44:36
right so I just not I’m getting my water
44:40
bottles out of the way no more water
44:44
bottles we here at muddy waters me
44:46
Tierra anti water bottle no III agree I
44:49
don’t think the average American
44:51
Canadian developed world or who hasn’t
44:55
spent much side much time outside of the
44:57
developed world I don’t think we
44:58
realized how filthy and I’m not saying
45:03
this as an insult to those people the
45:05
level of standard of cleanliness for
45:08
like ever in India is a joke like people
45:13
religiously bathe in the Ganges and are
45:15
getting diseases from it because it’s so
45:17
filthy
45:18
something like seven I I wish I had a
45:22
graph for this but it’s not related to
45:23
climate change these these big plastic
45:25
patches that are happening in the ocean
45:28
I’m about to rant now by the way I’m
45:30
sorry
45:32
I did I I know you’re the guest but just
45:34
bear with me because I have to do this
45:35
I’m in Canada right now where businesses
45:40
are required to it may just be an
45:41
Ontario but businesses are required to
45:44
charge you for the little cellophane
45:46
plastic bags they’re required to charge
45:48
you five cents and for a while the
45:50
businesses would just be like oh we’re
45:51
charging you but they would just eat the
45:53
five cents well now they can’t and so
45:55
now everyone either has to pay five
45:57
cents for a bag or they’ve come in with
45:58
their own bags which I do I before we
46:00
cross the border I Jack a bunch of bags
46:03
from the Buffalo Walmart and and so I
46:06
just use those when I’m here most people
46:08
they’re just carrying their groceries
46:10
around like they just raided the place
46:12
and I get the the where that comes from
46:16
that mindset of where that comes from
46:18
but yet the reality of the Garbage Patch
46:20
is that 50% of it comes from plastic
46:24
fishing nets and then of the other 50%
46:26
something like 80 percent of that 50%
46:29
comes from
46:30
seven rivers in China and India that go
46:33
out into the ocean we have zero concept
46:36
of how filthy that the the the the level
46:40
of pollution in the developing world
46:42
makes the worst years of the u.s. look
46:45
like the cleanest time ever it makes the
46:48
60s and 70s in the u.s. look like the
46:50
absolute cleanest time in human history
46:52
there’s no comparison which is why we
46:55
need actual solutions that they can make
46:58
money from and and and generate as
47:02
opposed to losing light because they
47:03
won’t do it they can’t afford to do it
47:04
so I’m sorry that’s my right well so on
47:08
that note one of the things that really
47:14
bothers me and about about the United
47:17
States’s approach to climate change
47:21
specifically is recycling right so if
47:24
you think about it 10 15 years ago you
47:27
could go on pick up camp my dad told me
47:30
stories about how he used to as a kid
47:31
you know he didn’t have a job he was
47:33
kind of poor and he would go and he’d
47:35
pick up cans off the side of the road
47:36
and and he’d go into people’s houses and
47:38
be like hey you know gee are you done
47:40
with that and then my dad’s not too
47:45
priori oh no that is very
47:47
entrepreneurial did knock on behavior
47:49
are you done with that over there that’s
47:52
and the thing is that we used to get
47:57
paid to recycle and actually it did it
48:00
helped people that were lower income in
48:04
the sense that they had they had that
48:06
ability to go to go recycle I had 10 15
48:09
years ago I had a friend that was a
48:11
little bit lower income and they they
48:15
worked in a grocery store the whole
48:16
family did the mom dad grandpa grandma
48:18
they all work the same grocery store so
48:21
they got a discount on soda and then
48:23
they would recycle the soda cans and
48:24
with the money that they would recycle
48:26
their sort of kenseth actually paid for
48:28
the cost of getting more soda with their
48:31
their discount right um and I thought
48:34
that was really cool I was like sweet
48:35
you know like that’s a really great way
48:37
to like you know be able to afford your
48:39
vices and the thing is is that now you
48:43
have
48:44
to pay other people to recycle and not
48:46
only do you have to pay to recycle
48:48
you’re mandated by law in most places to
48:50
now recycle right yeah and so and and
48:53
here’s an even crazier thing so there’s
48:55
a city in minnesota bloomington they
48:59
about two three years ago in the name of
49:02
climate change right in the name of
49:04
protecting the environment and making
49:06
sure that there was less pollution from
49:08
garbage trucks on the road they
49:10
basically institutionalize a monopoly so
49:13
that certain districts could own only
49:15
certain districts could have certain
49:16
garbage companies that there was an
49:18
excessive pollution from the garbage
49:19
trucks going in and out and then
49:21
everybody’s recycling garbage costs
49:23
tripled yeah like this isn’t helping
49:27
what you’re what you’re actually doing
49:29
is is you’re enforcing people that maybe
49:31
are poorer to get the lowest cheapest
49:36
cost options for for recycling or for
49:40
for garbage maybe it’s not enough to
49:43
hold the garbage for their entire
49:44
household and then they just throw it on
49:46
the ground and they throw it in other
49:48
places it’s it’s not actually helping
49:51
the environment it’s it’s really sad
49:52
because you know that’s what happens
49:54
when government gets involved you know
49:55
they they actually ruin whatever it is
49:58
they’re trying to do Oh
49:59
government either creates a problem or
50:01
exacerbates it oh that daddy’s there
50:05
that those are their two functions
50:06
create problems and/or exacerbate them
50:08
here’s it gets even worse with the
50:10
plastic recycling there is now so much
50:12
recycled plastic because the whole model
50:14
wood for government was we’re gonna get
50:16
all this recycle plastic and then
50:18
they’re gonna they’re gonna send it off
50:19
to be recycled into new stuff and and
50:22
then that’s gonna generate income well
50:24
that makes sense
50:25
unless you’ve mandated it and now
50:27
there’s a glut of recycled plastic
50:28
there’s so much recycled plastic that
50:31
most of the of the places that we’re
50:33
doing it will no longer accept it
50:35
anymore because they can’t sell it to
50:36
anyone no one wants it so now they’re
50:38
burning it they’re burning it and yeah
50:42
I’m sure so when you think of all of the
50:47
diesel fuel that was burned having these
50:49
extra trucks just for recycling instead
50:52
of just taking and now instead of just
50:54
taking it to the local dump or or taking
50:57
it somewhere to be in sin
50:57
and generate methane or whatever now
51:00
it’s being put in in barges and and sent
51:03
across the the world because you can’t
51:05
afford to have it done here to be done
51:06
in China of course and now they’re
51:09
literate so they bring it over in these
51:10
gigantic barges and God knows how for
51:12
the you know people give a hard time for
51:14
someone having an SUV think about the
51:16
amount of greenhouse gas pollution is
51:20
done by a barge you know doing its
51:22
regular rounds and just to send this
51:24
plot the raw plastics to or I guess the
51:27
recycle the recycled plastics they’re to
51:29
be remade and when they get it there
51:32
after a while they hold it it’s it’s
51:34
below cost that they can even sell it
51:36
for they can’t sell it for enough to
51:38
cover the cost of transporting it yet
51:40
again to somewhere else and so they just
51:41
burn it and and they’re not even burning
51:44
it in like these safe you know methane
51:46
recapture things where they can but so
51:48
the people who 10 15 20 years ago we’re
51:52
saying why don’t we just take this stuff
51:54
and put them in uh in in in in in
51:58
methane plants and and burn them and
52:00
have you know filters charcoal filters
52:02
that hold all the the carb carbon that
52:04
comes from it so that it’s relatively
52:06
clean why don’t we do that it would save
52:08
you know all the all the transportation
52:11
emissions and and everything and the
52:13
cost but it didn’t sound virtual virtual
52:17
virtuous enough right you couldn’t
52:19
signal virtue by burning trash you can
52:22
signal virtue by telling everyone they
52:23
got to sort their plastics and glass
52:25
then do you know it’s like it’s like
52:28
when you give someone a you know like a
52:31
it’s almost like a fidget spinner like
52:32
you give them something to make them
52:34
feel like they’re doing something when
52:35
in reality you’re just a lot of the time
52:38
wasting their time voluntary recycling
52:43
would have generated or would generate
52:45
enough recyclable materials to make an
52:49
it to make a profit from it
52:51
mandating that everyone does it has
52:53
created a massive glut and they could
52:55
actually and doing less damage to the
52:58
climate and air pollution and everything
53:00
else just by burning it but there’s a
53:02
that would have been a market solution a
53:04
government solution where they’re more
53:05
concerned with how it looks so they can
53:07
get reelected gave us what we have now
53:11
well okay so in Arlington County which
53:15
is where I live right now in Virginia we
53:18
just we just got a letter in the mail
53:20
it’s basically saying that sorry we no
53:24
longer accept glass you no longer accept
53:26
glass to process because it’s too
53:28
expensive basically and we don’t have
53:30
the resources to be able to to in the
53:34
excess of the capacity which we have
53:36
glass to recycle we are no longer
53:38
accepting glass to recycle and it’s
53:41
actually crazy to me because since I
53:42
moved out here so in Minnesota you can
53:45
literally recycle anything I mean it’s
53:48
crazy like you can you I think it
53:50
there’s like charts they like have like
53:53
that they like hand out to people and
53:54
then like like my friends like I go over
53:56
to their houses it’s like in the in
53:58
their garage it’s like all the things
54:00
you can recycle and other things you
54:01
can’t and it’s like very minimal what
54:04
you can’t recycle basically right right
54:06
that’s nice that’s how it is up here
54:08
pretty much like yeah it’s like used
54:12
paper towels and stuff are pretty much
54:14
the only thing that can’t be recycled
54:15
the food goes into a composting thing
54:17
plastics and glass go into one thing
54:19
metals go into another so it’s like
54:21
there’s a very small list of stuff
54:23
that’s like you said that’s not
54:24
recyclable yeah
54:26
well then but then here in Virginia like
54:28
I’m getting like like shout out to my
54:31
roommates you’re great but like they
54:33
were like you know saying things like
54:34
hey you know you can’t recycle that and
54:35
I was like please you can’t recycle that
54:37
what and it’s because okay oh here they
54:41
there is such a like you said such a
54:44
surplus of recycling things and and the
54:47
government doesn’t have the capacity to
54:49
be able to process it and so they’ve
54:50
limited what they can and what they
54:52
can’t recycle yeah and I don’t I just
54:54
don’t think that would happen if if it
54:56
wasn’t a mandated thing if it was just
54:58
people that wanted to recycle it because
55:01
they were in you know had innovations
55:04
that would better suit the particular
55:08
area that they’re in and and actually
55:10
made things recyclable in their area
55:13
based on like what people were consuming
55:15
you know and actually were able to make
55:17
a profit off of it we wouldn’t have this
55:19
problem no no and and in and now that it
55:22
they can’t actually make any money from
55:25
it
55:25
they have these contracts they’re
55:28
required to take it in
55:29
they can’t dump it or burn it so they
55:33
have to ship it to another country yeah
55:38
burn it and everyone else this is what’s
55:41
happening
55:42
there’s elekid’s top-secret they’re like
55:44
hey look I mean they’re actually
55:45
lobbying in some places they’re lobbying
55:46
state governments to say like get rid of
55:49
these rules and let us like deal with
55:51
this in a much more efficient way you’re
55:53
making you’re forcing us to uh to
55:58
transfer to now even more greenhouse
56:00
emissions to transport it to China for
56:03
them to burn it because now it’s out of
56:05
our hands and it’s not illegal anymore
56:07
it’s like it’s extraordinary renditions
56:08
for plastic and and they uh and and and
56:12
that state governments are like no
56:14
you’re just being you know a greedy
56:15
polluter or whatever and it’s like no
56:18
this is a terrible terrible idea now let
56:20
me ask you this because when I what got
56:23
me into the whole climate change thing
56:24
was I’m very interested in reading and
56:27
watching stuff about science and the
56:29
future and advancements in innovation
56:32
and the more I watched and read about
56:34
the data the more I was like yeah it’s
56:37
cool and fun to say it’s a Chinese hoax
56:39
but um the there are a lot of
56:42
uninterested parties who are like just
56:44
flat-out saying that this is happening
56:46
and they’re not the alarmist they’re not
56:48
saying we have 12 years and we’re all
56:50
gonna die they’re not saying that
56:51
they’re saying this is something that
56:52
needs to be addressed especially as
56:55
China and India become world economic
56:58
powers their their pollution is going to
57:02
continue to grow exponentially and it’s
57:04
gonna reach a point where now we’re
57:06
making drastic cuts let’s do it now
57:08
before it gets to that so but one of the
57:10
things that I kept going back to and I
57:12
don’t know what you think about this is
57:14
nuclear energy
57:17
I watched there’s a forget his name
57:19
right now but he’s one of the main
57:21
advocate former advocates for renewables
57:25
and things like that and he said any
57:28
person and you can correct me if you
57:31
think I’m wrong because that’s what we
57:32
do on the show but any person who is
57:35
talking to you about effective climate
57:38
change
57:39
change solutions that isn’t talking
57:41
about nuclear energy is not serious
57:44
about this it like they’re not taking it
57:46
seriously do you what are your thoughts
57:48
on that yeah I mean nuclear energy is
57:52
definitely the way to go I think that we
57:53
need a lot more research for sure
57:56
but we’re not gonna get the research
57:57
that we need unless we prioritize it and
58:01
I do I do think that way to prioritize
58:02
it it’s a lot more sustainable it’s a
58:05
lot more viable than wind energy and
58:07
solar energy although I do think that
58:09
wind and solar would be a lot more
58:11
viable if we didn’t you know subsidize
58:13
them and if we don’t have tariffs of
58:15
course yeah but what we’re regardless I
58:21
mean the fact of the matter is is that
58:23
nuclear energy is actually very safe
58:25
when you I mean now we have this this
58:27
Netflix show chair no chair no share
58:30
ennoble Chernobyl yeah um and I I
58:34
haven’t watched it I’m gonna lie to you
58:36
uh but I mean it’s just fear-mongering
58:40
really if you’re if you’re watching that
58:43
and your takeaway is like let’s not have
58:45
new kill energy I like I said I haven’t
58:47
watched it so I can’t really say too
58:48
much but like from what I’ve heard about
58:50
it your takeaway should probably be like
58:52
don’t trust government my takeaway from
58:57
the trailers is communism is bad and
59:00
that and we shouldn’t do that great job
59:03
guys I know that’s not what they were
59:04
trying to portray which is and also for
59:08
some reason Russian people have British
59:10
accents that was the other takeaway I
59:13
got from the trailer they took all the
59:14
games Game of Thrones was ending so they
59:17
took all the Brits from Game of Thrones
59:18
and said now you’re Russian communists
59:20
in the Ukraine I also heard that Russia
59:24
is coming out with their own version of
59:26
it to combat the lies so that’s just
59:30
very funny to me but that is plenty that
59:34
I will watch that every watch I will
59:38
watch that solely because I love
59:41
watching how Americans are portrayed in
59:43
foreign film we are not it is not we are
59:47
not portrayed glowingly put it that way
59:50
and I can’t especially in in Russia
59:52
imagine not definitely not so so just a
59:56
really quick aside okay so when I so
59:59
when I went to China my parents were
60:01
very very is scared to let me go to
60:03
China they really fought me on it um and
60:06
they’re perfect for like why I shouldn’t
60:09
go or whatever is because well charities
60:12
they’re gonna they’re gonna eat you
60:14
because you’re free and because you’re
60:15
an American and like I kind of like
60:18
believed that narrative like a little
60:20
bit cuz like I never been like that was
60:21
like my first time going out the country
60:22
and then I like we talked to people
60:24
about like Americans and like I like in
60:27
my head I was like had this like
60:28
inflated ego about like oh we’re so much
60:29
better than everybody else and like
60:31
everybody like hates us because we’re
60:32
free and then they’re like no you guys
60:34
are dumb and you don’t know anything
60:35
about foreign policy and I was like oh
60:39
your butt but you’re right cuz I don’t
60:41
know anything about foreign policy yeah
60:42
that’s yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s first of
60:48
all your poor parents you’re like I’m
60:50
going to China and then when I get back
60:53
I’m signing a lease in DC and that car’s
60:56
gone out of here and I’ll see you when I
60:58
see you so I and I mean while I was like
61:01
you as I know you’re not why you’re a
61:04
kid I’m old and you’re not but when I
61:07
was young I was very much and then I
61:10
also added and I’m gonna do a bunch of
61:11
drugs too
61:12
so it was like it was like I’m gonna do
61:14
all that stuff plus I’m like a druggie
61:16
so III empathize with both of our sets
61:20
of parents but especially wanted I want
61:22
to give a shout out to your your yours
61:24
and my long-suffering parents but yeah
61:27
so ya know it’s it’s very interesting
61:30
thing this whole we’re like yeah people
61:33
hate us cuz we’re number one and and
61:36
we’re and we’re so free and like we and
61:39
we believe this and we go other places
61:41
believing this yeah so like to be clear
61:45
China is a police state
61:49
like yeah you have far less social and
61:53
personal freedoms in China than you do
61:56
in most places in the US there are some
62:00
of the major metro areas that might give
62:02
it a run for its money on bad days but
62:03
but now some would argue that
62:06
they actually have more economic
62:07
freedoms if you’re an entrepreneur your
62:10
net freedom is less in China that it is
62:13
in the u.s. yes right the daylight
62:16
between those the gap between that
62:19
freedom it’s nowhere near what you think
62:21
it is mostly because the average
62:24
American doesn’t realize how not free
62:27
they are they are so conditioned that
62:31
regular everyday things are bad that
62:35
they’re like well I’m free well yeah but
62:36
you can’t do this well I’d never do that
62:38
that’s bad and it’s like hey it’s not
62:41
bad and B you can’t do it like you’re
62:44
not free you’re free to consume and obey
62:48
and do all the stuff they taught you in
62:51
school with the bells where you were
62:52
institutionalized but you’re not
62:54
actually free you’re you’re in a gilded
62:57
cage and and my eyes get wider as I do
62:59
this so I definitely definitely is a
63:01
good look when I do it but but yeah I
63:04
mean we go to these other countries and
63:05
and their their main from my experience
63:08
in Canada in the West Indies in other
63:10
countries their their main things with
63:13
us are twofold one we come in arrogant
63:15
as hell and act that way all the time
63:19
despite ourselves even if we’re not
63:21
trying to even the more woke amongst us
63:24
don’t even realise how arrogant we are
63:27
an arrogant combined with a lack of
63:30
self-awareness and knowledge about
63:32
things in general so we kind of come in
63:34
dumb and cocky generally speaking but
63:37
then the other thing is that our
63:39
government routinely terrorizes entire
63:43
sections of the planet making those
63:46
people their hate everyone else too so
63:50
they get blowback from the fact that you
63:55
know we’re not bombing them basically
63:57
it’s like well you’re an ally of the US
63:59
and now you’re our enemy too and we
64:01
create enemies that hate everyone now so
64:04
those are the two I mean do I leave
64:07
anything out those are seams that seem
64:08
to be the two main things that people
64:09
come to me and they’re like why do you
64:11
guys bomb everyone and why do you think
64:13
you’re like the best is that that’s sort
64:16
of what I get hit with a lot
64:18
yeah no that’s that’s real um I don’t I
64:23
just I don’t know I think it’s just a
64:24
weird cultural thing and I think it it
64:26
has a lot to do with this like weird
64:29
sense of like pride and patriotism
64:31
especially on the right that I like
64:32
still in you about like okay so so just
64:36
like even just a slight little change of
64:38
subject for a second um when my so
64:42
there’s a City Council or is this is
64:44
City Council Minnesota I just recently
64:45
made national news because Trump tweeted
64:47
about it this this City Council is based
64:50
basically like said that they want to
64:52
make it optional to say the Pledge of
64:56
Allegiance and literally people are
65:00
freaking out like for wreaking out and
65:03
it’s like okay guys do you do you know
65:06
like have you what was the last time
65:07
like what was last have you thought
65:09
about love words that you’re saying when
65:11
you say the Pledge of Allegiance right
65:12
because I’m sorry but like when you what
65:14
do you say I pledge allegiance to the
65:17
flag a flag right the flag and for which
65:21
it’s the the government for which it
65:23
stands right right look I just I don’t
65:27
see how you how people Republicans who
65:31
claim to be so like anti-big government
65:33
are so prone like probably Pledge of
65:38
Allegiance like I don’t get it like
65:39
you’re literally pledging allegiance to
65:41
government and an overwhelmingly
65:43
Christian and and standing up looking at
65:48
a flag putting your hand on your heart
65:52
and reciting this you know droll thing
65:55
that you probably don’t even know what
65:56
you’re saying what you’re saying is I
65:58
pledge allegiance to this cloth and the
66:01
government it stands for because I’m so
66:05
small government and I and open also I
66:09
we need the Second Amendment to rebel
66:12
against the government that I just that
66:14
I just pledge to but also the police are
66:18
never wrong like I mean it’s it’s
66:19
cognitive dissonance on top of
66:20
dissonance yeah I know it really is and
66:23
the the patriotism of the left the
66:25
jingle would I should call it the
66:26
jingoism because patriotism you know
66:28
mark I like Mark Twain’s definition of
66:29
patriotism I think it was Mark Twain
66:30
that patriotism is loving your
66:32
country and really distrusting your
66:34
government dad I’m good with that kind
66:37
of patriotism the G knowest patriotism
66:39
the the left has their very interesting
66:42
version so the right will say we are
66:45
fine with bombing every country on Earth
66:48
if they so much as cross us and the left
66:52
says we need more trans women of color
66:54
operating those bombs and it’s like as
66:58
long as you put enough faces that they
67:01
like if you put darker and more gay face
67:06
and I have nothing I mean no offense to
67:09
people of color LGBT this is an LGBT
67:12
friendly people of color friendly we’re
67:16
as close to intersectional as it gets
67:17
without actually being not white and and
67:21
but but if that’s all it takes for you
67:25
to be fine with endless bombing endless
67:27
drones endless destabilization of
67:30
government all of which happened under
67:31
the Obama administration then you’re
67:33
every bit as nationalistic and and and
67:37
jingoistic and and essentially violent
67:40
and ignorant as the right is except you
67:42
just not being you’re also a hypocrite
67:44
you’re also not being honest with
67:46
yourself about it well I mean give some
67:48
credit to Bush come on now I say it
67:51
wasn’t just oh oh oh no no no I wasn’t
67:53
no when it wasn’t just bush I mean it’s
67:55
been this has been going on my entire
67:57
life right so I mean this this began in
68:00
this newest round of perpetual war
68:02
started before I was born shortly before
68:05
I was born and has been going on for
68:07
it’s quite some time and I want it I
68:09
want it there recently was like there’s
68:11
only been like 13 years or 23 years and
68:17
hold on in in US history that the u.s.
68:21
hasn’t been yeah the US has been at war
68:24
222 out of 239 years that is an
68:30
impressive stat impressive is a word you
68:35
could use and yes it is a word like like
68:37
if you looked at a mass grave and what
68:39
that is impressive that’s like I mean it
68:41
it’s and we’re taught so anyway I I just
68:46
so in the left how much of that was
68:48
Democrats like the left is every bit as
68:50
complicit in this right well that’s
68:53
that’s kind of part of my like the so I
68:58
don’t I don’t want to say I’m having I’m
69:02
having I’m having what I’m calling like
69:05
my quarter life contemplation I don’t
69:07
want to come with crisis I’m having a
69:09
contemplation just about like party
69:12
politics and like what that all means
69:14
and things like that mean I’ve actually
69:16
been having this contemplation for for a
69:21
few years right right um and the fact of
69:23
the matter is is that as much as I want
69:25
to go oh yeah Democrats they’re the ones
69:27
that are that are ruining our world
69:29
they’re the ones that are earning well
69:30
right right
69:31
matters is that Republicans have been
69:34
just as complicit and our endless wars
69:38
they’ve been just as complicit in our
69:41
the war on poverty the drug war now we
69:45
have immigration which is just it’s
69:48
crazy to me that we are literally
69:50
locking children in cages and you say
69:52
that too we’re locking brown kids in
69:55
cages it’s true and you say that to a
69:58
Republican and they go oh well Obama did
70:00
it too yeah so it’s happening and it’s
70:06
wrong and it’s wrong and you know what I
70:08
think it’s wrong that that’s happening
70:10
with people that are in jail too and you
70:12
know how you stop it from from happening
70:13
and how you you solve this problem you
70:15
stop creating laws that are put that are
70:18
separating children from families that’s
70:21
how you solve it it’s not just let more
70:23
immigrants in that that’s not the
70:24
solution it’s stop laws in general that
70:28
are creating family separation and it’s
70:30
like the competitive justice down the
70:32
left and the right yeah exactly and it
70:36
they’re correct so the left and the
70:39
right are never more correct than they
70:41
are when they’re pointing out the
70:42
hypocrisy of the other side because
70:44
they’re absolutely correct they’re
70:45
absolutely correct I have two family
70:47
members that I love very deeply and they
70:49
both call me and complain about the
70:51
other about what how terrible they are
70:52
and they’re not terrible but they just
70:54
complain but the stuff they say about
70:55
the other one is absolutely true it’s
70:57
equally true about them and that’s what
70:59
I see when I see Republic
71:00
well yeah you know the left I didn’t
71:02
hear the left whining about this when
71:04
Obama was doing it that’s correct that
71:06
is correct but we’re also we’re against
71:08
Obama policies right like I mean we’re
71:09
we’re against those and/or the or
71:12
they’ll say you know the right the right
71:14
doesn’t have a problem with deficit
71:15
spending
71:15
we know Republicans in charge that’s
71:17
absolutely correct but uh it’s still
71:19
like let’s not do it though like that’s
71:22
not a reason to continue it that’s a
71:23
reason to stop it and and check our our
71:26
our hypocrisy on the subject but you
71:29
know the immigration issue is similar to
71:34
the drug issue and that the government
71:35
has created a problem they’ve set all
71:38
the parameters to create a problem they
71:40
have continued to make actions to
71:42
exacerbate it on all fronts and then
71:44
they use that as a reason for more power
71:47
so you have the US government that has
71:50
created for the first hundred years of
71:53
the US as existence it was open to
71:55
unlimited unregulated migration there
71:57
was no welfare state and the US
71:59
government was not going around
72:00
destabilizing other governments in other
72:02
countries and and killing people and
72:04
making where they live a hellhole a
72:06
place to stay for political reasons so
72:09
the people that came here and there were
72:11
a lot of them a lot of people came here
72:13
including most of our ancestors that
72:15
most Minnesotans are the descendants of
72:17
Scandinavians that came during like the
72:19
1800s right so probably including your
72:22
you’re actually Minneapolis but um so
72:26
fun fact I don’t know most people don’t
72:27
know this Minneapolis is actually the
72:29
most diverse city per capita okay oh
72:32
well yeah so you per capita in the US
72:33
and it’s because we take in the most
72:35
refugees out of all the other cities in
72:37
the in the US yes so there’s 120
72:41
languages that are spoken our school
72:43
system I’m in the Minneapolis school
72:45
district Wow
72:46
yeah it’s actually exactly I’m very
72:49
fascinated personally I love other
72:52
cultures I love learning about it about
72:54
other people and just where they come
72:56
from I really pride myself in like
72:57
knowing where other people like come
73:00
from in their mindsets and like things
73:01
like that’s why I’m very fascinated by
73:03
that yeah um but there are a lot of
73:05
people that are like very like put off
73:06
by it and they’re like oh my gosh
73:08
Muslims Muslims take over mostly okay
73:13
yeah
73:14
don’t like him yeah are they big or they
73:18
just try to live their lives peacefully
73:19
like you are I don’t know
73:21
every wave of migration when my family
73:24
came it was the Jews are coming with
73:27
their foreign religion and they don’t
73:29
speak it and this was true they had a
73:31
foreign religion they did not speak
73:32
English they had no money and what did
73:35
they do they came here and made
73:37
businesses and worked and did stuff and
73:40
built their way up the American Dream
73:42
yep
73:43
the main problems with immigration now
73:47
are that you have you’ve done you’ve
73:51
done many things here one not you but
73:53
the government has done many things here
73:54
one is they’ve destabilized countries so
73:57
now people are coming in desperation you
73:59
know like it’s not just they’re coming
74:01
for economic reasons they’re coming as
74:02
refugees they’re coming in horrific
74:04
conditions and they’re not terribly
74:06
happy with the US government to begin
74:07
with because they know the US government
74:09
helped had a part in it but it’s also
74:11
the only place they can get countries
74:15
are just stabilized in the first place
74:16
that’s what gets me that’s what makes me
74:18
so angry about the fact that we’re not
74:20
taking in refugees and that we’re
74:21
capping it so that if you’re if you’re
74:23
crossing from another country into
74:25
another country and there’s this new I
74:27
don’t know if you saw this then the new
74:29
refugee policy that’s being put in place
74:32
by the Trump administration so basically
74:33
if you come from Guatemala or if you
74:36
come from Venezuela and you cross into
74:38
Mexico
74:39
so now you’ve crossed into another
74:40
country before getting to the United
74:43
States you are no longer eligible for
74:45
refugee status right right that’s
74:47
appalling to me because a majority of
74:50
these people that are coming from these
74:51
countries are actually coming from
74:52
countries that are destabilized because
74:55
of the United States government like
74:59
what and then we create a welfare state
75:02
a fairly lavish welfare state which any
75:05
person here cuz I get it
75:08
you let everyone in and they get on
75:09
welfare it’s not sustained I get that if
75:13
you were in that situation if any of us
75:15
were in a situation where it was gross
75:17
starvation and we go somewhere where
75:20
it’s illegal for us to work and then we
75:23
find out that there are some cities that
75:25
go well yeah technically can’t work
75:28
uh but we’ll put you on programs where
75:31
you’ll live what to you is an incredibly
75:34
incredibly comfortable existence
75:36
you will want for nothing all of your
75:38
major needs will be met and even some of
75:40
your your more base wants will be met
75:42
you’ll live what we considered a lower
75:44
middle class life and what in your
75:46
country is a wealthy lavish lifestyle
75:49
that the vast majority of people will
75:51
never get of course they’re going to do
75:53
yeah if it’s available to them if
75:56
instead you said we’re not going to
75:58
destabilize your country we also don’t
76:00
have welfare not just for the several
76:02
hundred thousand uh uh migrants that
76:05
come here every year but for the four
76:06
million Americans that are born every
76:08
year we don’t have we don’t have welfare
76:11
we don’t have welfare we have charities
76:13
we have what we it was charity right
76:15
here we have I’m sure I’m the first
76:17
person to make that joke um to you but
76:21
you know we’ve got I haven’t ever role
76:23
I’m just gonna throw this out there okay
76:24
so I I do I do have I just have to lay
76:26
some ground rules now um so you can you
76:30
get one joke I’ll let you always make
76:31
another joke you get one joke okay after
76:33
that you have to venmo be five bucks
76:36
forever joke
76:37
I’m sorry thanks Pierre I just I just
76:39
don’t do this for free you know yeah no
76:41
no you can’t you can’t listen I mean
76:43
you’re with the Koch brothers you just
76:47
do stuff for free but no I know that was
76:53
the one joke but I I’ll even I’ll even
76:56
not do the second one even though I can
76:57
you can drop my venmo actually in the
76:59
comments I’ll get it for you later
77:01
so if anybody just really like jokes
77:05
then they can just videos if you’ve got
77:08
jokes here’s the joke fun yeah but so I
77:11
mean so you know the if you just let
77:15
them work and said there’s no welfare
77:17
but you can come and work here they’re
77:20
just gonna come here and work and a lot
77:22
and if you stop destabilizing their
77:23
countries most people even if they’re
77:25
told it’s way better somewhere else most
77:27
people if they have a comfortable what
77:30
they consider a comfortable lifestyle
77:31
they’re doing sustenance farming they’re
77:33
working in a factory whatever their kids
77:36
aren’t starving they aren’t at risk of
77:38
some kind of political upheaval or
77:40
uprising and they
77:42
can just live a comfortable like there
77:43
to go to stay there anyway 7 billion
77:45
people aren’t trying to come to the u.s.
77:47
people in certain countries that have
77:51
been destabilized who are able to walk
77:53
here within a few weeks what else is
77:55
left for them to do so the immigration
77:58
problem solves itself by just not
78:00
creating problems anymore the I did and
78:02
I’m with you on on different cultures
78:05
and religions and and and and and
78:08
languages and stuff people are under
78:11
this erroneous belief especially on the
78:13
right that having different cultures
78:15
creates conflict and that’s simply false
78:17
um that exactly false the countries with
78:21
the highest amount of conflict are
78:22
almost 100% a specific race or color or
78:26
culture on the end the countries with
78:30
the least amount now it’s also true that
78:32
there are countries like Japan that are
78:34
very homogeneous that have very you know
78:38
low levels of conflict and violence and
78:40
whatever but then there are also very
78:42
diverse countries in Europe and other
78:44
places that have little violence Canada
78:47
is an incredibly diverse country very
78:49
very little violence and so what it all
78:52
means is that that’s not the problem
78:54
there are many external problems outside
78:56
of culture that can create violence the
78:58
biggest one is and this is me being an
79:00
anarchist forced Association when you
79:02
force people into association with each
79:04
other
79:04
you force them to be subject to each
79:06
other’s votes and wills and whims
79:08
instead of letting them voluntarily
79:10
associate as they wish that’s what
79:12
creates conflict or do you disagree with
79:16
that no sorry actually the AC went out
79:20
my house all’s I needs a store to be
79:22
open so I hopefully no it’s all good
79:25
yeah but ya know I totally agree with
79:28
you and actually I think there’s another
79:29
element though to and that’s that’s some
79:31
value systems um I mean this goes with
79:35
with forced Association but I really do
79:39
think that if you if you have a society
79:42
that has differing value systems along
79:47
with the the differing cultures and
79:49
backgrounds and whatever then you’re
79:50
also going to have you’re gonna have
79:52
issues oh and and that’s that’s
79:55
thing that that I think a lot of people
79:56
on the right really resonate with is
79:58
that different value system but I think
80:00
that they they know that and I I do
80:02
believe that’s true but I think that
80:04
they take that to the next level and
80:06
they say every person that is different
80:09
than me looks different than these makes
80:11
a different language than me
80:13
has a different background than me has a
80:15
different value system therefore were
80:16
incompatible and we can’t coexist yeah
80:19
yeah I will have people who swear up and
80:21
down that they’re not racist and they’ll
80:23
say stuff like well white people just
80:25
have different values or different cult
80:27
and I’m like that’s not that is not in
80:29
any way how it works or they’ll say like
80:31
only Christians or only I’m sure Muslims
80:35
say this in their countries too but
80:36
they’ll say you know only Christians can
80:37
truly value life and property and things
80:40
like that and I’m like that’s factually
80:42
inaccurate like that’s it
80:43
that is that is simply not true like the
80:45
some of the some of the original what
80:49
you could call today libertarian and
80:51
proper Terry and Philosopher’s existed
80:54
centuries before a Christianity or
80:59
Christ even and and and some you know in
81:03
Babylonian times and things like that it
81:05
even came before Judaism so I mean this
81:07
is not that’s simply not that’s actually
81:09
not correct and that’s yeah nothing be
81:13
too controversial here but I’m gonna I’m
81:15
gonna talk about awesome Peterson for a
81:17
second okay so awesome Peterson is is
81:21
pro-life but he’s also an atheist right
81:25
yeah and for a lot of people that’s like
81:28
wait where’s your value system like how
81:33
do you how do you really value life if
81:35
you can’t you know whatever and it’s
81:36
like okay dude like value comes and
81:39
different comes from different places
81:41
and for me personally I am religious
81:44
right so for me I actually take a lot of
81:46
my my value system from my religious
81:49
beliefs and I really do value those
81:52
things but at this at the end of the day
81:54
you can you can be pro-life and you can
81:57
be an atheist and I don’t think that
81:58
those are mutually exclusive or or you
82:02
know I don’t think that those are things
82:03
that can’t coexist
82:04
ya know exactly and that’s and that’s
82:07
that is a perfect example I mean you you
82:09
can believe in what sorry my roommate
82:14
just commented on this pose about how
82:16
awesome Peter’s in the douche I’ve heard
82:20
I’ve been told that as well I’ve been
82:23
told I’ve been told that as well I uh
82:25
I’ve never actually met him or really
82:27
spent much time with him I know he made
82:30
some kind of statement about pyramids
82:31
and that’s that’s that’s stuck with him
82:34
yeah anyway but yeah no I mean you can
82:40
believe in the personhood of someone you
82:42
can believe that someone’s personhood
82:44
happens before birth without believing
82:46
that God created the earth in seven days
82:49
and that you know that the it’s the the
82:53
God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is is the
82:56
creator of the universe and then all I’m
82:58
nipa and I’m not knocking people that
82:59
believe that I’m saying that you don’t
83:02
have to believe that in order to believe
83:05
that personhood happens at some point
83:09
before the moment of birth and and and
83:12
you know now that faith comes with it I
83:16
I believe that inherent belief where it
83:18
talks about how you know it was Nitin
83:21
you know you knit me in my mother’s womb
83:23
and I was you know fearfully made and
83:24
made in your image and all that stuff so
83:26
I get why someone who is you know
83:28
religiously Christian or religiously
83:30
Jewish or Muslim would have that kind of
83:32
a belief but you don’t have to have that
83:35
belief to have it and and there’s
83:37
there’s many examples of this but I
83:38
wanted to get on to talk to you about
83:42
some of your thoughts on you you wrote
83:45
an op-ed about the opioid crisis and I
83:48
was gonna try to cliff note it and then
83:50
get your thoughts but honestly I think
83:52
that what you had to say I think it’s
83:55
better to just like let you let you go
83:57
unleash you and say you know what are
83:59
your thoughts about the opioid crisis
84:02
and some of the some of the problems
84:04
that have caused it and some of the
84:05
solutions that are that are helping with
84:07
it oh man this is a this is a segue I’m
84:12
actually curious to hear your or your
84:14
summary that’ll be good entertain me
84:17
but what remind me what I would I uh
84:20
what you wearing
84:22
I can go into so many different
84:24
directions I don’t know necessarily
84:25
where to so the two things the thing the
84:28
main thing you were talking about and I
84:29
didn’t do the notes so I don’t have a
84:31
photographic memory but basically you
84:32
were contrasting the you know law and
84:36
order approach you know zero-tolerance
84:38
approach to dealing with the opioid
84:40
crisis and why that has miserably failed
84:43
and contrasting that with places that
84:46
have adapted more education and
84:49
healthcare based solutions to actually
84:53
treating not just treating the person as
84:55
a as a patient instead of a criminal but
84:58
also treating them as like acknowledging
85:01
that there are usually mental health
85:02
issues involved and things like that but
85:05
and allowing for things like safe
85:07
injection sites allowing there was one
85:10
that where if you are and what was it if
85:15
you’re involved in maybe this will help
85:16
jumpstart but it was it was a law that
85:18
used to be basically that if you were
85:20
part if you were you know hi and
85:24
reported something or you know were hi
85:27
and ended up in the hospital in law’s
85:30
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh man I am a
85:35
huge advocate for Good Samaritan laws um
85:37
actually yeah police’s that don’t have
85:41
Good Samaritan laws it’s that’s just
85:43
disturbing to me it’s disturbing to me
85:46
that you would have somebody like let’s
85:48
say that your friend it comes to your
85:49
house they’re they’re really just really
85:52
really messed up on drugs right they
85:55
come to your house to your safe place
85:56
and then they and then they close their
85:58
eyes and you’re like oh Shh you know
86:00
they’re they’re od’d um I’m gonna call
86:03
the police
86:04
well now you’re gonna get charged with a
86:06
crime for for being at for being an
86:10
advocate for potentially giving them the
86:11
drugs like whatever whatever the police
86:12
won’t say right um and and that’s just
86:15
that’s wrong to me cuz that that it goes
86:17
against anything that I believe in as
86:19
far as harm reduction um and so it’s
86:22
that’s yeah I I think that every every
86:24
state should implement good to mention
86:27
laws actually that’s one of the things
86:28
AFP advocates for is Good Samaritan laws
86:30
Wisconsin last legislative session
86:34
expanded their there
86:36
and it’s it’s amazing I think I think
86:39
every state should should implement them
86:41
yeah I you know I’m not a fan obviously
86:44
of you know state health care services
86:47
and things like things like that I think
86:49
they’re poorly managed I think they’re
86:50
inefficient I think they create barriers
86:52
to entry for entrepreneurs and all the
86:53
various reasons that you and I could
86:55
agree all day long as to why you should
86:57
not you know get involved in state
87:00
health care if the guy the state has
87:02
decided that they want to spend money to
87:05
deal with opioid addicts and overdose
87:08
cases it costs less money to treat him
87:14
medically than it does to cage them
87:19
investigate prosecute and engage them
87:23
for the sometimes often the rest of
87:25
their lives if they have multiple
87:26
strikes against them and and then and
87:29
then all the times you have to do it
87:30
again when they get back out if instead
87:32
you treat it it might cost a little bit
87:34
more initially or in many cases you
87:37
could just make it legal to help them
87:39
stop criminal like you were saying you
87:41
can if you if I set up a place that’s a
87:44
safe injection center and a safe space
87:46
for overdoses where I voluntarily with
87:49
my money and money I’ve raised help
87:50
people without calling the police and
87:52
you know having them arrested and just
87:54
opening an investigation I’m a criminal
87:56
in many states South Carolina is one of
87:58
those states I can’t do it you’re not
88:00
letting me let me say without government
88:02
who would help people without government
88:04
who would criminalize helping people and
88:06
and and that’s a perfect example of that
88:07
um a certificate of need laws we have
88:11
certificate of need laws for addiction
88:14
centers like are you serious
88:17
you’re the oh boy oh how the government
88:19
how many beds I need I need to make my
88:22
case I need to advocate why I think that
88:24
we need to open an addiction clinic when
88:29
if we could just open these addiction
88:31
clinics out of the goodness of our
88:32
hearts anywhere we want in my own
88:34
basement if I ever were homeless people
88:38
and I was like hey you know what dude I
88:39
I’m gonna I’m gonna go get some some
88:41
narcan I’m gonna I’m gonna take you in
88:44
I’m gonna give you a good place to sleep
88:46
and while you’re sleeping my basement
88:47
oh the good
88:48
my heart I should be able to let you do
88:50
that but unfortunately but a lot of
88:52
state governments actually won’t let you
88:55
do that because it’s a it’s considered
88:57
an addiction clinic and you have to go
88:58
through the certificate of need process
89:00
and they only allow so many beds per
89:02
county or per city or however however
89:05
that state does it and it’s it’s wrong
89:07
to me because robot because god forbid
89:10
there be more beds than are needed like
89:13
well I mean III especially where it’s a
89:16
voluntary it’s not like I’m asking for
89:18
state money or whatever I’m just saying
89:19
like you know III full disclosure I was
89:22
a drug addict for the better part of
89:24
just over a decade I’ve been clean for
89:26
thirteen years now I thankfully I only
89:29
dabbled in the harder stuff I was mostly
89:31
whedon pills and stuff like that and so
89:33
but I’ve been clean for a very long time
89:35
I I have seen I never got that bad but
89:39
I’ve been adjacent to people that got
89:41
that bad and if I were a
89:43
multi-millionaire I said you know what I
89:45
want to give back I see these people on
89:46
the streets and I know that I was just
89:48
maybe a few times of smoking crack or
89:50
doing you know putting heroin in my
89:53
blunt or whatever away from ending up
89:55
just like that person you know
89:57
thankfully I didn’t do those things and
89:58
I had a very supportive home and patient
90:01
home network that you know loved me and
90:04
supported me through these things I
90:05
could be very well where that person is
90:06
and so I’m gonna help that person
90:08
what the hell’s business of anyone
90:10
else’s is that other than anyone who
90:11
wants to voluntarily help me well yeah
90:15
okay so I have to a little confession
90:17
time okay okay so I used to listen to
90:20
Ben Shapiro daily okay I was a big fan
90:24
I’m 2015 to probably 20 the end of 2017
90:28
I own this and debentures here every
90:30
single day um and recently I actually I
90:34
took up listening to his podcast again
90:36
cuz I was like you know I’m curious like
90:37
what what it’s what it’s like again and
90:40
I was just disgusted I’ve grown so much
90:42
since oh yes but there were I listened
90:48
to I listened to Ben Shapiro talk about
90:51
Seattle and I listened to him talk about
90:54
how people are literally pooping in the
90:57
streets and and doing drugs and there’s
91:00
needles all over Los
91:01
as long as different stuff that’s going
91:03
on right and solution to the problem
91:06
okay his solution to the problem was to
91:10
call the cops on people that’ll fix it
91:15
for doing drugs
91:16
no one’s yeah no one thought of that so
91:19
that that so that the police could could
91:21
round these people up and put them into
91:25
rehab centers and he even said on his
91:28
podcast you know that if if need be if
91:30
need be he would advocate for um you
91:34
know spending money he goes hey look I’m
91:37
I’m a libertarian I I don’t you don’t
91:39
want to spend more money but but
91:42
honestly like I’d be willing to spend
91:44
more money government wise for for rehab
91:47
centers and it’s like okay private
91:50
charities if you let them will take
91:52
better care of people and you know what
91:54
will not help escalating police
91:57
brutality yes because ultimately
91:59
ultimately police are the monopoly on
92:01
force right and if you allow police to
92:04
go into areas and say and like so like
92:06
let’s say that you have out you have a
92:08
homeless person who is passed out they
92:10
did a lot on your own and they’ve od’d
92:12
they’re they’re passing on the on the
92:14
sidewalk it’s a hazard people have to
92:17
walk over at people ya know it’s a
92:19
public safety hazard yeah yeah and and
92:22
the police come and they say hey you
92:24
know we want you to with us and they say
92:25
no and the police say well no no you you
92:28
got it you gotta come with us like we’re
92:30
taking you and and the guy says no
92:33
you’re not what’s gonna happen it’s
92:36
going to escalate they’re going to use
92:38
force and violence against this person
92:41
to take them to take them where she way
92:43
to a government sanctioned place where
92:46
they will go and look at their meals
92:47
whatever fine but it doesn’t actually
92:50
help them better their lives what would
92:52
actually help them but earlier lives is
92:53
if we had injection sites um that were
92:58
funded by private charities where people
93:00
could go there they you know hey look I
93:03
have a problem I’m addicted sweet we’re
93:06
gonna help you wean off of this we’re
93:08
gonna we’re gonna help you get through
93:09
this and in and you know what on top of
93:12
that we’re gonna give you we’re gonna
93:12
provide you resources we’re going to
93:14
we’re gonna we’re gonna tell you you
93:16
educational classes if we need to maybe
93:18
they’ll provide jobs support they’ll
93:21
provide you know whatever whatever it is
93:23
because it’s a private charity and they
93:24
can do what they want and they know best
93:26
how to how to deal with with these
93:28
problems because through trial and error
93:31
they can you know best assess the market
93:34
needs and that’s that’s the solution not
93:37
more police presence if police presence
93:43
was the solution it would have gotten
93:45
better not right Matthew Walden said
93:50
charity your voice was too low to do
93:52
that Ben chaperone or Shapiro impression
93:55
yet you need to plug your nose and use
93:57
your upper register so anyways I’m a
94:00
libertarian but uh so he’s still calling
94:05
himself a libertarian yeah yeah is sort
94:09
of frightening to me because fat people
94:11
believe that people leave that he’s
94:14
actually I have I’ve had conversations
94:16
with people like oh well I mean I listen
94:18
to ben shapiro so I’m basically a
94:19
libertarian no that’s that’s always
94:23
works like that’s not how any of this
94:24
works that is a scary version of
94:28
libertarian so I actually my last guess
94:30
Yaakov Markel he actually was a couple
94:33
grades above ben shapiro in in school
94:36
and he said he said you know you don’t
94:39
get it
94:40
ben shapiro coming out of that society
94:43
that that structure of you know the new
94:50
york orthodox jewish community he is
94:53
about as libertarian as it gets
94:56
without basically being shunned by your
94:58
family it’s a very like it’s their
95:01
neo-cons they are they are they are
95:03
neo-cons and it’s not just a religious
95:05
thing there’s many layers on it
95:07
but he’s actually it’s not it is it’s
95:10
surprising to me that he still has the
95:12
hot spot to say he’s a libertarian but
95:14
at the same time in his mind with what
95:18
he’s come from yeah yeah he would
95:22
probably be pretty close to a
95:23
libertarian in them in those circles if
95:25
that just give you idea how scary that
95:27
circle is
95:28
well so I’m curious to hear your
95:30
perspective on this because you you are
95:32
Jewish so like I mean it is that is that
95:35
pretty typical I mean is that it so like
95:38
is that right so here is the we actually
95:41
so the last episode I had wood with
95:44
Jakob Marco we talked about this
95:48
extensively because we’re both
95:49
anarchists Jews and it’s like why are
95:52
Jews Jews Jews are are unique in that
95:59
our entire history is that of why
96:04
government is bad the Old Testament the
96:08
Torah that the that’s a knock what would
96:12
what Jews call the Bible which is the
96:14
Tanakh the Torah and then the additional
96:15
basically the Old Testament is basically
96:19
a series of stories about government
96:23
being bad the biggest one being and this
96:26
is in the Christian Bible as well
96:27
obviously all the Tanakh sin the
96:29
Christian Bible or most of the talks in
96:31
the Christian revival and it’s you know
96:33
the Jews had what could buy many be
96:36
called an anarchist society they had
96:37
we’re a by who told them what God’s laws
96:42
were and and you basically you could
96:45
follow them or you could suffer the
96:47
consequences both in in in in your daily
96:51
life and in the afterlife of not
96:53
following those rules but you could
96:56
follow or not follow them they were also
96:58
incredibly welcoming to foreigners and
96:59
they were not gonna call him an
97:02
anarchist Society because there was a
97:04
structure but they were not a kingdom
97:07
and then one day they said no we want a
97:09
kingdom and the rabbi said no no that’s
97:12
not what God wants for you God wants
97:13
this thing go no no we want a king and
97:15
they cried out for a king and they got a
97:16
king and they got a little even mini
97:18
Empire and then they got the last
97:21
several thousand years of Jewish history
97:23
which is of one government after the
97:26
next bashing the crap out of them doing
97:30
unimaginable things to them and by their
97:33
own and so the way that they’ve survived
97:37
in places like medieval Europe and and
97:40
in far-flung place
97:42
in Asia and in Russia is by creating
97:45
their own extra governmental societies
97:49
that are outside of government pretty
97:51
close to anarchist societies with their
97:53
own laws doing the best they can to just
97:55
coexist with the people outside of it
97:57
but recognizing this is not for us these
97:59
rules are to hurt us and we’re gonna do
98:01
the best that we can to avoid it as much
98:03
as possible and yet now people in
98:08
general the majority of any demographic
98:09
group votes for statism like it is what
98:12
it is white people black people Hispanic
98:14
people the vet there isn’t like a group
98:15
or the majority of them vote for you
98:17
know libertarian ideals
98:18
that’s about Somalia oh yeah that’s see
98:23
boy it’s wide Somalia well you know real
98:27
Somalia has never been try but that’s
98:32
what I tell people it’s never that’s not
98:34
real Somalia anyway so you’ve got these
98:37
people that now are some of the bigot
98:41
Bernie Sanders like some of the biggest
98:43
advocates for big government Karl Marx
98:46
like now on the other side you’ve got
98:48
Murray Rothbard and Milton Friedman like
98:50
I mean Jews just in general tend to
98:52
become thought leaders for whatever
98:54
reason you want to give but in general
98:56
they are disproportionately status
99:00
despite the fact that our shared
99:02
experience is one of governments beating
99:05
the crap out of us and killing most of
99:07
us in some cases and we stand and and us
99:10
resisting that and and beating it by
99:13
being as far outside of that system as
99:16
we possibly could be so I the short
99:19
answer is I don’t know why I don’t know
99:22
why I maybe hurt people hurt people I I
99:25
don’t know there’s one theory that
99:27
there’s one theory that communism and
99:30
socialism come out of the kibbutz is the
99:33
religious kibbutz –is in in in ancient
99:36
Israel and now in in in in in modern
99:38
Israel the difference is that a kibbutz
99:40
which is a voluntary commune yes when
99:44
you enter the kibbutz well there’s
99:46
different degrees I mean some if they go
99:47
so far that they actually take your
99:49
children from you and say they’re not
99:50
your children anymore they belong to the
99:51
kibbutz some have some level of private
99:54
ownership but it all
99:56
operates on the assumption that you’re
99:57
choosing to voluntarily be a part of
99:59
that and can leave whenever you want and
100:01
and and that they will respect the
100:04
property rights of people outside of
100:06
their kibbutz that doesn’t want to be a
100:07
part of it
100:08
communism says no the whole world has to
100:09
be a kibbutz oh and also we don’t
100:11
believe in God so it takes the only two
100:13
redeemable parts of kibbutz ISM which is
100:15
the voluntary nature of it and the fact
100:17
that it’s based on a faith-based belief
100:20
that you know we should be sharing as
100:22
one and coming together as one
100:23
tight-knit group which comes from a
100:26
faith-based thing they take the only two
100:28
redeemable parts out of it and there’s
100:30
your communism that’s the answer to that
100:35
so it’s interesting so when I when I
100:38
went to a little bit of a jump in
100:41
conversation but speaking of communism
100:42
so when I spend some time in China I
100:45
came across I’m just like a little
100:47
knick-knack shop and I and I bought the
100:52
little red book oh yeah
100:56
cuz I was like very curious and and it
100:59
was very interesting because people
101:00
would like quote that and they’d be like
101:02
and I’d be like I kind of like look at
101:04
them like oh that’s a cool like comment
101:07
like whatever I go it’s from its from
101:09
the little red book and I was like what
101:11
and like look literally like everybody
101:13
they just like memorize it right like
101:14
it’s pre pretty common um no I’m saying
101:21
it’s like their Bible oh yeah yeah yeah
101:25
no okay so um I actually I thought it
101:27
was it was very fascinating me
101:29
I decided on several occasions like
101:32
three or four eight times I ran into
101:35
different people at bars or on the
101:38
streets or whatever and I I was just
101:39
curious and I asked them like hey like
101:41
you know are are you religious
101:43
just just straight-up like ask people
101:46
that and every single time you know when
101:51
I would when I would kind of push it and
101:52
say like you know are you religious what
101:55
is your religion they would tell me
101:57
communism communism is their religion
102:02
yeah and I was like government like okay
102:07
all right we know ever but but
102:10
I read the I read the little red book
102:11
right um and it’s a buncha it’s a bunch
102:13
of like really cute like quotes about
102:16
you know family and making sure that
102:19
your family you know
102:20
Baba’s is taken care of and and you know
102:23
don’t you know don’t upset your mother
102:26
and always make sure you say face all
102:28
these different things but you actually
102:29
look at what it’s saying it’s it’s very
102:31
collectivist yeah it’s very like do
102:35
these things so that the broader a
102:38
greater community you know can benefit
102:41
and there’s there’s no element of
102:44
individualism and and that really struck
102:48
me when I when I read that I should have
102:50
known that right boy for some reason I I
102:53
read that that book and I and I was very
102:56
like taking it back by like how strong
102:58
the the collectivism element of of their
103:02
culture really was down to the down to
103:03
the book that they all memorize yeah
103:05
yeah they don’t actually so in the u.s.
103:08
we have an interesting thing where we
103:10
talk about how free we are we talk about
103:11
liberty and independence and
103:13
individualism individual grit American
103:15
grit value we you know discovered this
103:18
you know we you know did all the stuff
103:20
that we’ve done because of freedom and
103:22
and and private enterprise about but yet
103:25
we’re total hypocrites about it because
103:27
the reality is we live in an incredibly
103:29
now at least incredibly statist
103:31
centrally planned society and we just
103:33
essentially pretend that we don’t like
103:36
just to like it’s like pure cognitive
103:38
dissonance we just pretend that we do
103:40
not a communist as a Chinese communist
103:44
and North Korean communists they’re
103:46
never even exposed to the idea of
103:50
individualism except this sort of this
103:53
have evil abstract thing that they are
103:55
only in it for themselves or whatever so
103:57
the first time they even hear it they
103:59
immediately like it’s almost like you’re
104:02
saying it in a foreign language that
104:04
they can’t translate because it’s such a
104:07
foreign concept they’re not individual
104:10
people they’re the Chinese so when
104:13
you’re talking to one of them you are
104:15
often talking to all of them because
104:19
they’ve all been told the exact same
104:21
thing which is that world and
104:23
my understanding that I’ve not read the
104:25
little red book but my understanding is
104:26
it’s basically some almost like Chicken
104:29
Soup for the Soul combined with some
104:32
Confucianism with heavy heavy everything
104:36
comes to a Marxist conclusion so it’s
104:38
not it doesn’t even really try to impose
104:40
itself heavily to talk about the
104:42
proletariat and the petty bourgeoisie
104:44
and the the dictatorship of the working
104:47
people in any of that it’s just it’s
104:48
almost like sort of like a like like a
104:50
quota day calendar that’s so heavily
104:53
infused with communism that you don’t
104:54
even realize what you’re getting until
104:56
you’re out there killing your neighbor
104:58
because they didn’t like collectivise
104:59
their farm or whatever like you’re so
105:01
far into it that by the time you’re
105:03
actually like committing these
105:04
atrocities it’s just like you know we
105:06
gotta honor your mother like I mean it’s
105:08
it’s it’s it’s a very interesting thing
105:10
but I know go ahead something that I
105:15
find really just fascinating so when I
105:20
said when I was in China I just and so
105:24
before that I didn’t I didn’t realize
105:25
that I could girls banned in China I
105:27
don’t know if you knew that Google you
105:28
can’t you can’t get access Google you
105:30
can’t access like Chrome you can access
105:33
your Gmail you can’t access like the
105:34
Google Play Store if you have an Android
105:36
like I do cuz you know androids are
105:39
better or whatever no I have a say I
105:41
have a galaxy no I’m Way too sweet okay
105:44
watch I just recently converted to the
105:46
Google pixel 3 it definitely like took a
105:49
lot out of me I was very like is this is
105:52
this real like I do I do and I really
105:54
like writing but like it’s a good phone
105:57
I like it it was that the sense of point
105:59
that I’m making um so so uh so Google
106:01
Google’s band out there however their
106:04
headquarters are in Beijing they’re
106:08
Asian headquarters are in Beijing so
106:10
they’re still there yeah um and so when
106:13
when I started kind of asking questions
106:14
about like why why is Google banned like
106:16
that’s kind of a random weird thing
106:18
right
106:19
the reason Google is banned in China is
106:22
because people were beginning to Google
106:25
Tiananmen Square and they were googling
106:28
Tiananmen Square and they were finding
106:30
things that the Chinese government
106:32
didn’t want them to find and the Chinese
106:34
government basically said hey Google we
106:36
need you to
106:37
adjust your search results for our
106:40
country so that only these things pop up
106:44
and Google basically said no we believe
106:49
in the the free its dissemination of
106:53
information and we actually we really we
106:56
don’t want to do that engine and it’s
106:59
functionally impossible to do that on
107:01
that massive of a scale but they also
107:03
don’t want to do it to begin with
107:05
so but that was 15 years ago right and
107:09
and now and now here we are right where
107:13
Google is literally filtering the search
107:16
results for epstein to basically to not
107:21
show case photos of Bill Clinton and him
107:25
together like they’ve literally changed
107:28
the algorithm so that you can’t see that
107:30
yeah I’m that’s that’s not that’s crazy
107:34
because 15 years ago they they were
107:36
willing to make that sacrifice and got
107:37
banned from from China and now it’s
107:39
crazy because Google is still banned in
107:42
China however they are actually using
107:45
the their satellites to contribute to
107:51
the social monitoring program that saw
107:54
that China the Chinese government has
107:56
they’re the ones they’re the ones
107:58
providing that that satellite and I
108:00
don’t I don’t know what happened I don’t
108:03
know what happened to bring them to this
108:05
point but something shifted and they
108:07
used they used to really care about
108:09
individual rights and freedoms and and
108:11
privacy and something happened and
108:13
that’s I don’t know they became the they
108:16
became the dominant player of the game
108:18
the the thing that you do and this is
108:20
why I respect the cokes because they’re
108:21
so about competition and innovation and
108:25
and and creative destruction when you
108:28
get to a certain point as a monopoly or
108:30
as a dominant company there’s only so
108:33
much energy you can put into further
108:34
innovation it starts to have I don’t
108:37
it’s an economic term called diminishing
108:39
returns you start to have diminishing
108:40
returns so then you put more and more
108:43
and more into innovating this to
108:45
maintain your balance your to maintain
108:47
your share and you get less and less and
108:49
less out of it at this point you’re just
108:51
treading
108:51
water your your your doing all this
108:53
stuff just to maintain treading water
108:55
well that’s not good for your stock so
108:57
now what you got to do is you got a rent
108:59
seat you got to go to government and say
109:02
well you know for the good of mankind
109:05
well you know we need to do this in this
109:07
and this and this than that and really
109:08
what they’re doing is pushing for more
109:10
regulations that make it more expensive
109:12
to do what they do so even though it
109:14
makes their costs go up it also makes
109:16
the cost of smaller upstart competitors
109:19
go up and and prices them out of barrier
109:21
to entry which is part of what creates
109:23
income inequality you keep removing
109:25
rungs to the bottom rungs of the ladder
109:27
and then you’re shocked that the people
109:29
at the bottom can’t work their way up
109:30
the ladder well they can’t that’s
109:31
exactly why I’m against net neutrality
109:33
yes exactly exactly when it when you
109:37
have companies saying yes please control
109:40
us censor us and regulate us there’s a
109:43
reason for that they know that only they
109:46
can can withstand that only they have
109:48
the the chops and the and the resources
109:51
in place to withstand that you have
109:52
Walmart and Amazon two of the biggest
109:56
low-wage employers out there pushing for
110:00
a $15 minimum wage it isn’t because of
110:03
altruism it’s because they know it will
110:06
kill their competitors they’re fine not
110:08
competing with each other because
110:09
they’re already both majorly established
110:11
and they’ll fight against each other all
110:13
day long but they know that they’re too
110:14
big to crush the other one so they
110:17
they’ve you know they’ve made sort of an
110:19
uneasy pact where it’s like all right
110:20
we’ll just crush all these people cuz
110:22
even some of like I don’t know what
110:23
Publix could afford $15 an hour I don’t
110:26
know if Kroger could afford $15 an hour
110:28
like even some of the larger chains
110:29
forget the bodegas and the you know the
110:32
really small you know mom-and-pop shops
110:35
and they definitely can’t afford that
110:36
but yet they’re pushing it and they’re
110:38
using virtue signaling which is what I
110:40
hate with the left if you say to the
110:42
left how would you like I’d like to talk
110:44
about a policy that disproportionately
110:47
helps the poor at the expense of the
110:49
very rich and gives the poor an
110:51
opportunity to rise up and to and to you
110:56
know to be able to to build their self
110:57
and it’s fully intersectional it
110:59
completely is is is a irrespective of
111:03
race religion faith whatever
111:05
they go yeah that sounds great and I go
111:06
it’s called deregulation and they hang
111:08
up on me and then block me on Facebook
111:09
um because that’s what it deregulation
111:12
yeah why don’t we start with why don’t
111:14
we start with eliminating occupational
111:15
licensing like really if in equality
111:19
lucious stop stop backing up stop look
111:21
stop looking at my notes so you whoa ah
111:25
you’ve written some stuff hey by the way
111:28
speaking of whatever it was you were
111:29
talking about you’ve written some stuff
111:31
about occupational licensing do you have
111:34
some yeah yeah what are your thoughts on
111:36
occupational licensing um well okay so
111:39
first of all I’m actually I’m actually a
111:41
licensed cosmetologist okay I got a lot
111:44
of flack from some of my my libertarian
111:46
friends who say well why are you why
111:49
since like what are you doing justjust
111:51
don’t have a license but like oh I’d
111:53
like to you you know I’m a law-abiding
111:56
citizen you know I you know don’t want
112:01
to don’t want to you know get arrested
112:04
that’s the thing they’ll take everything
112:06
from you if you don’t I would of course
112:07
you get license you don’t want to lose
112:09
everything
112:09
some people train so so innocent so I’m
112:13
gonna talk a lil man I want up I love I
112:15
love talking about occupational
112:16
licensing I’m really kind about it how
112:18
about it um I honestly if we want to
112:21
talk about free market solutions to
112:23
income inequality the first step the
112:26
first step is to eliminate occupational
112:30
licensing like seriously like
112:32
eliminating like it’s ridiculous so so
112:35
in Minnesota if you want to be a if you
112:37
want to be a licensed cosmetologist so
112:38
so first of all um the people that are
112:41
that are harmed by occupational
112:43
licensing tend to be people that are
112:46
lower income oh yeah yeah yeah because
112:48
because the jobs that they’re requiring
112:50
occupational licensing for are typically
112:53
you’re a lower middle class like maybe
112:55
your maybe middle class yeah yeah I’m
112:57
jobs
112:58
yeah um they’re not they’re not jobs
113:00
that are there are six figures you know
113:01
no no yeah so okay so in Minnesota in
113:08
order to be a licensed cosmetologist
113:09
it’s one thousand five hundred and fifty
113:13
hours a PT school so they also have a
113:18
rule and
113:19
you can only go to beauty school for 40
113:20
hours a week and you’re required to have
113:23
an hour lunch break each and every day
113:24
you can only go for five days a week
113:26
there’s all these there’s always extra
113:27
like regulations right right I’d love to
113:30
spend years doing this in addition to
113:33
that so okay okay so so 1550 hours um a
113:37
kiss that’s just a weird number and you
113:39
don’t like really like put that in a
113:40
place of like oh it’s 40 hours a week
113:42
what what is that really equate to so if
113:44
you’re going full-time which most people
113:46
that that are that are going to beauty
113:48
school are not they’re not going
113:50
full-time because they don’t have the
113:52
means to go full-time it’s very it’s
113:54
time-consuming and it’s literally a
113:58
full-time job so most people don’t go
114:01
full-time but if you do go full-time
114:02
it’s nine and a half months a beautiful
114:05
most people go part-time and it’s to two
114:09
to three years in school and it ain’t
114:11
cheap easy no no it’s not um I so I I
114:16
was very lucky I did this program called
114:19
PSEO post-secondary education basically
114:23
the my high school helps subsidize me to
114:28
go to beauty school so I actually went
114:30
to beauty school in my junior and senior
114:31
year of high school
114:32
Oh as an elective yeah so it was really
114:35
cool and then I and then I graduated
114:36
went straight into beauty school and
114:38
then graduated within six months and
114:42
worked full-time and I so I did
114:44
full-time beauty school and I and and
114:45
and I worked about 20 hours a week at
114:48
like a fast-food restaurant so I’m a
114:50
little different than most people I I do
114:53
you know I’m ambitious and I kind of go
114:55
for things when it when I want them but
114:58
that that’s aside from the point that
115:00
that most people don’t have those the
115:04
resources that I had most people don’t
115:05
have the ability to say you know I did
115:07
two years of school when it was
115:08
invisible yeah and when I went to beauty
115:12
school I actually took out a bunch of
115:14
under grants to get there but at the end
115:18
of the day after all of it was said and
115:20
done if I if I didn’t if I didn’t take
115:21
out grants if I would have just gotten
115:22
the full the full course the full
115:25
nine-month course yeah it would have
115:27
cost me $23,000
115:32
yep you make $15 an hour as a
115:35
hairdresser yep
115:37
yeah no I love I love being a
115:40
hairdresser I love it I love I love
115:42
talking to clients
115:44
I love coloring hair I love cutting hair
115:47
actually men’s cuts are my favorites for
115:50
some reason just chatting with with do I
115:53
I don’t know I’m a little weird like I
115:55
really like to like have like a guy I
115:57
might in my chair and and doing a buzz
115:59
cut and just chatting chatting them up
116:01
and whatever and I like it but the thing
116:03
of the fact that matter is is that if I
116:05
were to go and do YouTube to the school
116:10
of YouTube and I did 20 hours 20 hours
116:13
of YouTube videos and I learned how to
116:16
perfect the perfect high and tight and
116:19
all of the military dudes they came to
116:22
me and I could do a really really really
116:24
nice high-end type I should be able to
116:27
do that from my basement yeah yeah but
116:30
instead and said I can’t and so I didn’t
116:33
so I you know occupational licensing
116:35
didn’t used to really really really
116:37
bother me until I moved to Virginia
116:39
right um so like I just like I told you
116:42
earlier when I moved here I moved here
116:44
without a job and I have a skill I I
116:49
have a skill I can cut people’s hair I
116:52
can color people’s hair and I’ve really
116:54
excellent customer service I like to
116:56
think and so I I have that skill set I
117:00
didn’t have the money to be able to
117:03
transfer my cosmetology license to
117:06
Virginia and therefore could not legally
117:09
practice it and was then forced to go
117:12
find a job at Target instead of cutting
117:14
here which is an action ensue
117:16
yeah right yeah right and now and now so
117:20
I can’t be license in Virginia um I
117:22
recently transferred my license if do
117:23
you see so the process for the process
117:28
for mastering your your cosmetology
117:31
license from Minnesota to Virginia okay
117:35
is is is a very complicated process
117:38
basically you have to you have to go you
117:40
have to you have to you have to pay the
117:41
licensing fee which is like 160 bucks
117:43
just to transfer
117:44
you have to pay 100 or I don’t actually
117:48
don’t remember it’s about a hundred
117:51
bucks for the for the written test okay
117:53
I’m just to prove that you know you know
117:55
the bylaws whatever and then you also
117:57
have to pay for the the actual physical
118:00
exam which I said why do I have to do
118:04
that I’ve been licensed for seven years
118:07
like I know how to cut hair I don’t need
118:09
to go prove it to you out a man again
118:10
you know but they basically told me when
118:13
I called the Board of Cosmetology in
118:14
Virginia that you know you’re the hours
118:17
and the licensing and the requirements
118:19
are different in Virginia versus
118:21
Minnesota so we actually require you to
118:23
do it fine so what goes into that what
118:26
number one I don’t have a car cuz I sold
118:28
my car okay I’ve to the licensing place
118:32
which there’s no boss to get me there I
118:34
look then on top of it it’s an
118:37
eight-hour exam and then on top of that
118:39
you have to provide all of your own
118:41
supplies so to give you an idea of the
118:45
scope of what it what all you have to
118:46
supply you have to supply totes and bins
118:49
that watch a certain way and they have
118:52
to be a certain diameter with and all
118:54
this different like regulations right
118:55
and then you have to have you have to
118:57
have a long-haired man Ken you have to
118:59
know short hair a mannequin and you have
119:00
to have perm rods and you have to have
119:01
roller sets and you have to have the the
119:04
one prong clips and you have to have the
119:06
two prong clips and then you have to
119:07
have your your combs and your brushes
119:09
your wide tooth comb and all of the
119:11
things that were in my kids and my kit
119:13
itself cost me a thousand dollars when I
119:15
was in beauty school
119:16
so really so really it’s gonna cost me
119:19
over a thousand dollars plus plus the
119:20
fact that I have no transportation to
119:22
get there um just just just so be able
119:26
to make money just to be able to make
119:29
money and you’ve already been and you’ve
119:30
already been licensed somewhere else so
119:32
it’s not like you’re just coming in
119:33
fresh they’re they’re making you redo a
119:35
bunch of crap that you’ve already long
119:37
since done now here’s the best part
119:39
about this okay even if let’s say that I
119:43
came from a rich family that’s okay
119:44
let’s say that I came from a rich family
119:45
and they they were like you know what
119:48
charity like we we really believe in you
119:50
and we want you to succeed
119:52
you’re moving across the country were
119:53
really supportive and happy for you and
119:55
we’re gonna be always the money to like
119:56
get your license you also have to get
120:00
recommended by the board from where you
120:05
came which which would be fine which was
120:07
pretty fine except for the fact that I’m
120:09
politically active and I actually tried
120:11
to run for the board of Cosmetology to
120:13
bring this soda and made some people
120:14
uncomfortable and not so happy with me
120:17
and I have a feeling that if I actually
120:21
put the the time and the effort into
120:23
trying to transfer in my license to
120:25
Virginia the the the board of college in
120:28
Minnesota would get my license and they
120:31
would they would get like the paperwork
120:32
to recommend me and they would say she
120:41
she was opposed to this policy she tried
120:44
to run her boy like and like it’s the
120:48
price you pay as an activist right but
120:50
literally it’s just funny to me because
120:52
I never thought I never I never first of
120:56
all I never thought I’d live in DC or
120:58
the the DMV area it was second of all
121:01
like I never thought that it would catch
121:03
up with me in this sort of collateral
121:06
consequences yeah weird Kafka Eska way
121:09
so I have and that’s I mean this is what
121:12
I hear many times about licensing I have
121:14
two competing license and non licensed
121:17
story here’s my non licensed story at 16
121:19
at 16 years old I’m a pothead I’m
121:22
looking for something to do I my parents
121:24
used to make me work summer jobs at like
121:27
oyster bars and stuff blessing tables so
121:29
I knew what work was and I’m glad they
121:31
did it because I learned the exact
121:32
opposite of what they wanted me to learn
121:35
which was I was like I never want to
121:37
work for anyone ever again like if I
121:39
have clients or something but like I
121:41
would go in and and do stuff and I’m
121:44
making you know five bucks an hour under
121:45
the table back then you know I’m 14
121:48
years old I’m like I’m freaking man I
121:49
got more money than all my friends
121:50
combined I’ve got a $5 an air but but I
121:54
would then see someone my age doing
121:58
essentially the same thing as me and I’m
122:01
like yeah no no no I’m not doing this 20
122:05
now my back’s already sore I can’t even
122:07
imagine and so right then I was like
122:11
well I got to figure out something I can
122:12
do and at the time again I was pothead
122:15
I’m like I need to find something I can
122:17
do at home smoking weed and so and so
122:22
I’m like okay well I’m going to look for
122:25
I start reading like well what are
122:27
things you can do from home and
122:29
something came up website design now
122:32
like oh okay and I found out you can
122:35
actually edit websites using text
122:37
editors there are these like Morcom
122:39
programs that you can use that make it
122:42
easier but at the end of the day all you
122:44
need is a free text editor and a free
122:46
FTP program which is what loads the
122:49
files up this is before database driven
122:51
websites and all this stuff now this was
122:52
in the late 90s and so I thought okay so
122:56
I started I went to my mom who’s a real
122:58
estate agent that worked with a lot of
122:59
other contractors and stuff and I’m like
123:01
okay well I’d like to start making
123:02
websites for free to build up a resume
123:05
and you know first however many websites
123:09
are free I think it’s five or six
123:11
websites I made were free and then after
123:12
that I’m like okay now I’ve got decent
123:14
websites I’m gonna start charging very
123:16
little because again I’m showing up in
123:18
my 86 LeBaron a hotshot seventeen year
123:21
old at this point and people are looking
123:22
at me like what are you like what is it
123:26
and I’m like I’m spike and and so I mean
123:28
it was you know whatever like so I got
123:30
it like you know people aren’t gonna
123:32
take me as seriously as they would you
123:33
know now as an adult um especially since
123:36
I look like I was 12 and so I just I
123:38
kept working my way up the cost like
123:40
until eventually after a couple years to
123:42
three years I was charging I always
123:45
tried to stay on the bottom end of the
123:46
pricing just to be competitive but I was
123:48
charging a market rate and I was able to
123:52
build a business that allowed me to
123:53
retire two years ago
123:55
um when I was diagnosed with MS I’m like
123:58
okay well I don’t need to become a multi
124:00
billionaire like I wanted to I can just
124:01
live a comfortable life and and focus on
124:04
my health because I don’t really need to
124:05
because my immune system hates me and so
124:08
if licensing if I had been required to
124:12
go to web slick design school and get a
124:14
website divine license and spend tens of
124:18
thousands of dog
124:19
I would have said maybe not I’ll do
124:23
something else and who knows what that
124:24
else would have been it might have just
124:26
been some easy job to do or I may have
124:28
wasted all that spent all of that money
124:30
to do the exact same thing I ended up
124:33
doing in my house whatever so there’s
124:36
there’s my free market a story here’s my
124:41
non free-market story I am cheap for a
124:45
lot of things one of them is my hair I
124:47
will either get it done at Walmart and
124:50
and you know find someone that does a
124:51
good job with fades and stuff like that
124:53
but I get it done at Walmart or I’ll get
124:55
it done where I often go and they do the
124:57
best is go to the cosmic that we have
124:59
two cosmic schools of cosmetology hgtc
125:02
and Miller Mont Technical College that
125:04
both do cosmetology programs and you can
125:07
go there and get haircuts for like lower
125:10
than market pricing like I think it’s
125:12
like $8 for a men’s haircut or something
125:14
like that
125:14
mhm and I would I go there and I was
125:19
under the misapprehension that they got
125:20
some of that money and so I’d go and
125:22
there here are women that were already
125:24
cutting hair before they even went to
125:25
school they do the best they get fades
125:28
every bit as good as anyone in a salon
125:31
and the reason they’re not already in a
125:34
salon is because they come from poor
125:36
backgrounds and couldn’t afford to get
125:38
the licensing when they were younger
125:40
like like you they didn’t have that kind
125:42
of program available a lot of times they
125:44
were in bad family situations they’re
125:45
single mothers they’re already in their
125:47
20s 30s but they’ve been cutting here
125:49
for years and they’re given these like
125:50
giving me amazing lineups and fades and
125:53
everything else and I’ll say like well
125:56
how much do you get of this and they’re
125:57
like we don’t get anything we’re
125:59
spending you know I’m taking out a loan
126:00
for like 30 grand 20 grand whatever it
126:03
is and hoping that I can get a good
126:06
cosmetology job in another year or so
126:08
and they were also having to do it
126:09
part-time and I said well what are you
126:11
learning here and they said not a damn
126:12
thing we’re just sitting here and we
126:16
have to listen to what they have to say
126:17
and then we do our time and we do our
126:19
stuff and so I’m like well this is
126:21
terrible you’re doing what I was doing
126:23
giving free product but you’re paying to
126:27
have to give free product and I and so I
126:30
will try to tip them and
126:32
of them or you know the rules you can’t
126:35
tip them so I’ll be like listen let me
126:37
give you ten like I’m already paying
126:38
next to nothing for this haircut let me
126:40
slip you ten bucks and some of them are
126:41
like scared that I’m you know shopping
126:44
them to see if they’re if they’re cool
126:45
you know some of them don’t trust me
126:46
some of them are like yeah you know what
126:48
I just don’t wanna get in trouble some
126:50
of them will take it because they have
126:51
to and there’s been a couple times where
126:53
like I tried to give someone some money
126:54
and so like one time the woman was like
126:57
I won’t I can’t take it and I said
126:59
listen this is one of the best haircuts
127:01
I’ve ever had it didn’t look like this I
127:03
mean at my haircut in a while it looked
127:04
good just imagine if I had a haircut
127:05
that looked good my hair wasn’t unkempt
127:08
looking and I said I wasn’t gonna say
127:10
anything yeah yeah no I need a haircut
127:13
I know it’s it’s I’m like a month
127:15
overdue for America and but so I said
127:17
and you know that of NEP of any person
127:19
you can look at my head and be like yeah
127:20
you need Erika but I said you know and
127:23
so I said listen let me give you a $20
127:25
bill or $10 whatever I give and I said
127:27
I’m just gonna put it here and it’s not
127:30
a tip I dropped my money and you found
127:34
it and don’t even know who it belongs to
127:37
and she just kind of rolled her eyes
127:37
like fine whatever so I did it as I’m
127:39
leaving and you know paying check out at
127:42
the paying at the checkout then the
127:43
teacher comes up one of the instructors
127:46
comes up and says yes I was told that
127:47
you dropped this money and I went oh
127:50
yeah that money I dropped man that’s got
127:53
a good thing you found the money I
127:55
dropped and then I think I was able to
127:56
find someone who was coming back from
127:58
lunch and I’m like listen please give
127:59
this money to whatever and and there
128:00
were like real good friends and so she
128:02
gave it to her what the hell business is
128:05
it of them because it’s the reason that
128:08
their policy is you can’t take a tip
128:10
it’s cuz it’s against the law for them
128:12
yeah I thought the schools be jerks it’s
128:15
against the law they would lose their
128:17
license to teach if they if they allowed
128:21
them to get tips what the hell business
128:24
is it of anyone much less the government
128:26
if I got a good haircut to give someone
128:29
$10 even while they’re complying with
128:32
all your crap those are two competing
128:34
stories if those girls and then they’re
128:37
guys there too but it’s overwhelmingly
128:38
female if those people those persons who
128:41
I won’t gender if those people were
128:44
allowed to just
128:45
get haircuts sorry I didn’t put my phone
128:48
on vibrate
128:49
we’re just allowed to get to give
128:51
haircuts for free until they’ve really
128:52
crafted their skill and like you said go
128:54
on YouTube and and learn whatever or
128:57
even if there were some kind of minimal
128:59
safety class you had to take that was a
129:01
few hours you know don’t don’t slash
129:04
them in the ear with the scissor
129:05
whatever if there was some kind of
129:07
safety thing that you had to take how
129:10
much better off would millions of single
129:13
mostly single parents be in this country
129:16
if they weren’t required to do that not
129:17
to mention all the other jobs that
129:19
require licensing for no good reason
129:21
okay so I actually I have to tell you a
129:24
story so I I didn’t used to be I didn’t
129:30
used to have the position that I have on
129:31
occupational licensing right and when I
129:34
think it was like yell con 2015-2016
129:37
okay okay
129:39
I was I was chatting with some people
129:41
and I I mentioned that I was a licensed
129:45
cosmetologist I think I was like making
129:47
like an offhand comment like oh you’re
129:49
here cause I can help you you went into
129:55
a libertarian meeting and started
129:58
telling the neckbeards there that they
130:00
needed like to get a shape up right yes
130:05
yes um okay so let’s just talk about the
130:10
one in ten women to Liberty no I don’t
130:13
actually want to talk that no so yeah no
130:17
I did I did I did I told them that I
130:19
told this guy and I know the guy but I
130:21
want to I don’t wanna call him out okay
130:23
let’s go back to him basically he he
130:27
said something to me that really really
130:30
shook me and when he said was like wait
130:33
but your your license I was like yeah
130:36
and he’s like well but like licenses are
130:38
like bad like that’s government telling
130:41
you and telling people oh that they can
130:43
and cannot you know do do this work and
130:45
and for me in that moment the way that I
130:47
was I had preconceived notions in the
130:50
way that I viewed my work and and just
130:55
come to ology in general I was very like
130:57
and well well
130:59
yeah like you have to know how to cut
131:02
hair in order to cut hair like what like
131:05
like Joe Schmo like go cut your hair
131:08
like really like yeah you’re just gonna
131:10
you’re just gonna do that um and then it
131:13
was through that conversation and then
131:16
actually just like several months of
131:19
just thinking through like what a
131:23
cosmetology license really is and what
131:25
it does right that I actually I came to
131:29
this conclusion and I what I really want
131:31
to say to people that maybe are like me
131:33
that are libertarian minded but they’re
131:35
they’re working in an industry that’s
131:37
that requires an occupational license
131:39
which is actually one in five people by
131:41
the way one a one in five jobs I should
131:43
say one in five jobs require an
131:45
occupational license which is appalling
131:48
to me um but what I would say to
131:50
somebody that works in a in a enough
131:52
field that requires that that his
131:54
libertarian minded or Liberty minded as
131:56
I would say look here’s the thing um you
132:00
actually will make more money with
132:05
having gone to school and having a
132:09
marketable skill and saying that you
132:11
have the education and the specialty
132:12
right in that area rather than saying
132:16
that everybody in the marketplace
132:20
everybody that’s providing that service
132:22
has the same level of education as you
132:23
if you’re able to go into it and say
132:26
like hey look I did one thousand five
132:28
hundred and fifty hours and I specialize
132:30
in hair color and I actually knows that
132:33
that’s what I would I would I have under
132:37
my belt and I know that that’s my value
132:39
my worth and and so I’m gonna i’m
132:41
actually gonna charge more for this
132:43
haircut in color because i can because i
132:45
went to beauty school yeah and i have
132:48
that formal education training yeah so
132:50
you’re gonna not only not only gonna
132:51
make more money as a cosmetologist not
132:54
less cuz like in my mind I was like oh
132:55
I’m gonna make less money like the you
132:57
know the balance of people flooding into
133:01
my marketplace they’re gonna take our
133:06
jobs yeah well that was exactly that was
133:09
exactly my mind hella D I was like
133:10
they’re gonna take my job they’re gonna
133:12
they’re gonna make they’re gonna
133:13
basically
133:13
Fulton marketplace I’m gonna make less
133:14
money that’s not worth it to me and at
133:17
the end of the day like the more than I
133:18
think about it the more the more I
133:20
realized like I want you to make more
133:21
money I make more money because I’m more
133:24
marketable because I have a I have more
133:25
education under me and in addition to
133:27
that in addition to that you’re going to
133:30
actually see the price of beauty school
133:33
plummet yep because you’re going to see
133:36
people that actually want to go to
133:38
school being the people that go to
133:39
school and then there’s actually going
133:41
there you’re going to be able to balance
133:43
that out instead of having everybody go
133:44
to school where they can just have I got
133:46
well we’re gonna charge everybody this
133:48
like high amount of this high price
133:50
because this is the price to get in well
133:53
you don’t have to go to school if you
133:54
don’t want to I could just I could
133:56
literally just do what you did with web
133:58
design and work my way up to making
134:00
market value based on YouTube videos if
134:03
I wanted to but I don’t have to do and
134:05
then send I’m choosing to go to beauty
134:06
school and because I’m choosing to go to
134:08
beauty school it’s a service to me that
134:10
needs to be competitive and
134:11
competitively priced yeah and and that’s
134:15
that’s the thing that like really irks
134:17
me about occupational licensing is that
134:18
people don’t realize like if we took
134:20
away occupational licensing you’re not
134:22
going to make less money you’re actually
134:23
gonna make more and you’re gonna save
134:25
money on your schooling the powerful
134:28
price equalisation of making something
134:31
optional cannot be underestimated and
134:36
conversely the price escalation that
134:39
comes from making something manned
134:41
especially something stupid mandatory
134:43
and I’m not calling schooling stupid but
134:45
the idea of having to go to school for
134:47
months or years to cut someone’s hair is
134:51
stupid that’s not that’s not smart and
134:55
well here’s yeah the other thing is is
134:57
that my um in Montana it’s 400 hours you
135:03
know 400 hours converted my 1,550 and so
135:07
it’s like whoa but it’s not like I just
135:10
crossed the border and like somehow like
135:12
forgot how to cut hair right right like
135:16
the border isn’t just like this magical
135:18
like line or like I just like everything
135:21
changes and I become a different person
135:22
next one who I am
135:24
right here right hairs not easier in men
135:27
in it what was it what was it you just
135:30
said and I think it’s Montana I’m pretty
135:31
sure it’s not like hair’s not better in
135:33
Montana like it’s not he’s more easily
135:35
manageable to cut hair in Montana that
135:37
it justifies that difference in in in in
135:40
the gaps there but yeah I know I
135:42
licensing is a regressive tax for
135:47
licenses and I mean if we had another
135:50
two and a half hours we could get into
135:52
building codes and all that like all of
135:54
this stuff that is sold on us that it’s
135:56
protecting the public what it’s actually
135:58
doing is creating massive barriers to
136:01
entry and regret and massively
136:04
regressive taxes on the poor who are
136:09
trying to get ahead in life and it’s
136:12
just it’s it’s people who started their
136:15
careers with no licensing who then get
136:18
up to a level that they go uh I think
136:20
everyone needs a license to do what I do
136:22
because what I do is on on a super high
136:24
level and they’re just they’re there
136:25
they got in so they’re shutting the door
136:27
behind them and it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s
136:30
it’s it’s it’s terrible and and I I when
136:35
you think of the innovation that could
136:37
happen if you didn’t have to get
136:38
government permission III fear that you
136:41
know government licensing for for web
136:43
design is coming they’ll find some
136:45
cockamamie you know example of some guys
136:47
screwing people out of money and that’s
136:49
why your noodle license God knows you
136:51
can’t screw people out of money if you
136:52
have a license and and then and that but
136:55
I mean thank God it works because that’s
136:57
how that works and now conversely like
136:59
so when I had my my business I reached a
137:02
point where I had started outsourcing to
137:04
other people a because I it was better a
137:09
division of labor I could spend more
137:11
money it spend more time selling which
137:13
was my strong point and B it allowed me
137:16
to not have to learn some of the so I I
137:20
had a cursory understanding of a lot of
137:22
the the technologies related to web
137:24
design but I wasn’t like I couldn’t
137:27
build the code from scratch
137:28
I couldn’t build all codes from scratch
137:30
and so but I could hire someone who went
137:33
to school for several thousand hours and
137:35
it has a student debt and Here I am bear
137:38
we made it out of high school and and I
137:40
would hire them and have them do the
137:43
work and I’m making you know not
137:46
actually they were made my outsource
137:48
people were making most of money but I
137:49
was essentially just selling the project
137:51
giving it off to someone else and then
137:53
and then bringing the finished product
137:54
to them and it was because I
137:57
I saw the higher education and licensing
138:02
gap trap for what it was which was just
138:04
like people with their hand out saying
138:06
oh no if you want to do something you
138:08
got to do it you know go through the
138:10
process it was like no III I’m
138:13
definitely not gonna do that now
138:14
thankfully a lot of it was just that I
138:16
was I just wanted to stay home and smoke
138:18
weed but it worked for me so
138:21
Minoo drugs are bad but that that
138:24
particular well let’s get this is
138:26
actually go ahead this is a good segue
138:28
this is a good segue because actually I
138:30
wanted to go back to the opioid crisis
138:32
for it for a bit sure um so something
138:36
that I just I love I love telling this
138:39
this story just speaking about free
138:41
market solutions to our opioid epidemic
138:45
right so there’s there’s this this is
138:47
really cool
138:49
non-profit in Chicago Detroit I’m sorry
138:54
it’s it’s it’s true and basically it’s a
138:57
nonprofit that it takes inner-city kids
139:00
and teaches them how to code no yes so
139:03
that’s that’s that was the initial the
139:06
initial nonprofit the initial the
139:08
initial project
139:09
well what these inner-city kids did is
139:11
they actually took their their coding
139:13
and they said you know what would be
139:14
really great is if we created a system
139:17
and we created an app that we could tell
139:21
just local users local drug users about
139:24
and what that what this app would do is
139:26
is alert them when there’s a bad batch
139:29
of heroin in the area and they did and
139:32
they didn’t and so what they did is they
139:33
took they took they input all the data
139:35
from police reports for overdoses in
139:38
particular blocks and like certain sects
139:41
of of Detroit and they they alerted
139:45
people for about 24 to 48 hours around
139:49
excessive
139:51
of overdoses in an area saying that
139:52
there’s probably a bad batches all right
139:54
fentanyl or something like that yeah
139:56
yeah and it I mean there’s not like
139:58
necessarily a way to track I mean maybe
140:01
there is but but nothing I know of a way
140:03
to track how many people lives it saved
140:05
but I’m sure it’s countless oh and
140:08
that’s that’s amazing to me because that
140:10
right there is free-market innovation
140:12
for for harm reduction yeah it is people
140:18
who were helped by people who are
140:21
helping people it is it is people that
140:24
are subjected to all the stuff we’ve
140:26
been talking about from the stadium from
140:27
bad private actors as well it’s not the
140:29
government’s not the only bad actor out
140:30
there but they’ve been subjected to
140:32
these things that have put them in in
140:33
terrible situations that were not their
140:35
fault because I’m poor inner-city kids
140:36
it’s not their fault where they are or
140:38
anything else who were helped by others
140:41
and now they have a skill set and their
140:43
immediate thing that they think is yeah
140:46
I want to help more people because I was
140:47
helped that is mutual aid when people
140:50
say without government who will do X
140:54
whatever good thing and the answer is we
140:58
will like yeah you and I will and it may
141:02
not be that specific thing I I I’m I’m I
141:05
I’m not the right person to teach them
141:07
went out of code cuz my coding is is as
141:09
rudimentary as it can be done on a
141:12
website design company I was I was heavy
141:14
on sales
141:14
I knew the coding enough to make it work
141:17
and when it got more advanced out
141:18
sourced it but I but I and I had enough
141:20
knowledge about it to be able to speak
141:23
intelligently between the the client and
141:25
the and the actual coder but there are
141:29
so many things that we can do for each
141:30
other completely voluntarily if
141:33
government would just legal or
141:35
decriminalize it make it legal or or or
141:38
stop arresting people for it so those
141:41
are the two things I say when someone
141:42
says what would go without government
141:44
who will do X I say two things
141:45
we will and without government who would
141:47
stop us and yeah
141:50
that’s really the the end of it with me
141:52
I mean I have I do have one final
141:55
question before I give you your chance
141:56
to give your final thoughts by the way
141:58
this has been an absolutely insanely
142:00
amazing interview and I’m so happy that
142:02
you chose to come on
142:05
so thanks so my question to you is and I
142:13
want to put I want to put 30 seconds on
142:15
the clock to give you sufficient time
142:17
that’s really not sufficient time but I
142:18
want to give you 30 seconds to answer it
142:20
is why do you want America to be like
142:27
Somalia good luck I write what no I’m
142:44
not answering this question okay okay
142:48
that was actually the correct answer the
142:51
so the the follow-up question would be
142:55
how often are you encouraged lovingly
142:57
and otherwise to move to other countries
142:59
when you start talking about the man um
143:03
literally more than I would like to
143:07
admit to be honest it’s it’s yeah but
143:09
you should I mean the thing is is that
143:11
people people that say that they’re just
143:14
uneducated honestly they just they just
143:15
don’t know what what it is that is going
143:19
is going on in other countries and and
143:21
also they don’t they don’t understand
143:22
how our foreign policy is has really
143:24
negatively impacted our current
143:27
immigration system yeah yeah yeah well
143:31
and Somalia specifically I’ll say what
143:35
do you know about Somalia and they’ll go
143:37
it’s anarchy and I’ll go is it really
143:39
and they’ll say yeah and I’ll say ok let
143:41
me tell you what Somalia really is it’s
143:43
a failed communist state that was then
143:46
taken over by foreign communists failed
143:49
again so then it was taken over by I
143:51
mean I extremists are also status they
143:57
just want a religious dictatorship
143:59
instead of a communist one that failed
144:01
and then now it’s run essentially by the
144:04
UN a UN provisional government that
144:07
continues to fail
144:08
so Somalia is the logical conclusion of
144:12
statism applied absolutely in every
144:15
aspect because they tried to create
144:16
their version of a North
144:18
riah first they had a king than they
144:20
were and that didn’t go they had a they
144:24
were French I believe French occupied
144:25
that obviously didn’t go well then they
144:27
became a fail fully communist state that
144:30
immediately failed any of the times you
144:32
see pictures of starving there’s this
144:34
picture of a starving Somali and and
144:38
there’s like a well-dressed businessman
144:39
who’s handing them a dollar and they go
144:41
this is what calm this is what
144:43
capitalism looks like that’s actually a
144:45
communist business person that was there
144:48
to to look at how they could exploit
144:51
Somalia so that was actually a russian
144:53
communist who was using US dollars
144:55
because they knew their money was
144:56
worthless
144:57
so Somalia is actually a textbook
145:01
example of every way that the state can
145:04
fail all at once and and in in
145:07
perpetuity so that’s obviously and my
145:10
quicker answer is I actually don’t have
145:12
a I liked your answer I don’t have it
145:13
I’m not gonna answer that
145:15
that’s my new answer to that know I’m
145:19
moved to Somalia or you could say well
145:23
I’m a libertarian and I hate roads there
145:25
are no roads there so what am I going to
145:27
destroy so anyway so charity again it
145:33
was an absolute blast to have you on I’m
145:35
so happy
145:35
hopefully I can have you on again before
145:38
I let you go I just want to give you a
145:40
chance to give any final thoughts
145:41
anything that you didn’t thought that we
145:42
didn’t get a chance to discuss anything
145:45
that you want to plug or promote any
145:47
final message you want to leave with
145:48
anyone you have as much time as you want
145:50
charity Nicole the floor is yours okay
145:55
so two things first first I want to just
145:58
say if there are any like women I just
146:03
like I just want to play this like there
146:04
are any women that are in the Liberty
146:06
movement there may be watching this are
146:07
your liberty minded or your Liberty
146:09
leaning and you’re kind of like looking
146:11
at it and you’re going well you know
146:12
this is a politics it’s dominated by men
146:15
and there are a lot of people that are
146:17
way smarter than I am and and you know
146:20
you’re kind of maybe feeling intimidated
146:21
I just want you to know that you are not
146:23
alone and there are really awesome or
146:26
musicians that are out there look like
146:29
ladies of Liberty alignment Alliance
146:31
Lola is an excellent resource shout out
146:34
to them and and I just want like I just
146:37
I personally like my heart goes out to
146:39
like women that that are that are
146:41
libertarians um that just really like
146:44
want to like throw themselves out there
146:47
and like be part of the Liberty movement
146:48
like be my friend add me on Facebook
146:51
like seriously like I would love to be
146:52
like be your friend and the second thing
146:54
is say sorry but like a little bit there
146:57
no absolutely
147:00
the second thing I just want to say is
147:02
like when whenever it comes to like
147:05
conversations about climate like
147:08
specifically I just want to talk about
147:09
climate change for just like a hot
147:10
second when it comes a sitcom
147:12
conversations about like climate change
147:14
or a really any conversation and you
147:19
know you get pushback about you know oh
147:21
well it’s just a big government
147:23
conspiracy or whatever right like here
147:25
here’s the thing you there the free
147:28
market is the best solution to any of
147:32
our problems yeah and I truly truly
147:35
believe that especially for climate
147:38
change pollution reduction calm things
147:41
like that like people call me a hippie
147:42
which is which is really funny to me
147:44
some anti-war and I you know I want to
147:48
you know help our environment and I’m
147:51
free I’m Pro free market so I guess
147:53
whatever I guess I’m a unique hippie
147:54
yeah it’s very unique hippie yeah yeah
147:57
but the thing is is that like the free
148:01
market really truly is the best solution
148:03
to to all of our all of all of the
148:05
problems that we have and yeah if you
148:07
really do your research if you really
148:09
think through issues that are that are
148:11
plaguing not just the United States with
148:13
the world as a whole
148:15
oftentimes you know when you do your
148:17
research you know you’re gonna you’re
148:20
gonna find that government has has
148:23
actually made the problem worse and the
148:24
best solution is the free market well
148:28
yeah yeah less coercion put it this way
148:33
to anyone out there which do you think
148:36
works better forcing someone to do
148:39
something
148:40
or giving them an opportunity to figure
148:41
out the best way for themselves to do it
148:45
and even more and and and and the way
148:49
the really edgy if you really want to
148:50
make friends as you go well which do you
148:52
like better slavery or voluntary labor
148:56
and I don’t like use it even though I
148:58
don’t like using that comparison because
149:01
it’s it is a very white guy who has zero
149:04
perspective on things like slavery or
149:07
oppression to say but from a from a
149:10
philosophical standpoint you’ve got
149:13
something being forced and something
149:15
that’s voluntary and whether it’s
149:16
slavery versus voluntary labor or the
149:19
state versus free market or whatever
149:21
it’s just don’t say it but don’t say it
149:23
don’t say it um so again charity thank
149:26
you so much for coming on stick around I
149:27
want to talk with you for a second what
149:29
during the intro but guys thank you
149:31
again for tuning in for this episode of
149:33
my fellow Americans join us oh you got a
149:36
shout out AB Abby Abby sook Raj said hi
149:40
charity so oh hi so guys thank you again
149:47
for tuning in
149:48
be sure to tune in tomorrow for the
149:52
writer’s block with my co-host Matt
149:55
Wright he will be interviewing Aaron
149:57
Nakamoto to talk about an Turco Vegas
150:00
let me pull that up again an Turco Vegas
150:03
be sure to tune into that so they’ll be
150:06
talking about that and many other things
150:08
on tomorrow night Friday night I believe
150:11
we are not going to have an episode of
150:13
mr. America the bearded truth because
150:14
Jason and his wife are preparing for the
150:17
arrival of their of their baby which
150:19
apparently is more important than you
150:21
know whatever priorities and then have a
150:25
great weekend Monday I again I don’t
150:28
know Jason might put his family before
150:30
muddy waters media I don’t know what to
150:32
tell you I don’t know I think you can
150:33
ask him you can ask him what he’s doing
150:35
Monday he may not know yet and then next
150:37
Tuesday be sure to tune in to the muddy
150:41
waters of freedom with me and Matt right
150:43
where we parse through the week’s news
150:45
with all of the irreverence and joy of a
150:50
small child and then
150:53
tune in next Wednesday next week right
150:56
here at my fellow Americans I will be
151:00
interviewing at least one of the admins
151:02
of fake Rotarians I think there’s
151:04
actually going to be a few of them and
151:05
we’re gonna be talking about how
151:08
literally everyone but who’s on the show
151:12
is not a real libertarian which we
151:15
touched on briefly during this episode
151:16
but we’re really gonna delve into how
151:18
everyone else including probably you are
151:22
not a real libertarian but so tune in
151:24
fake Rotarians next week and guys thank
151:26
you again for tuning in so much have a
151:29
great rest of your evening and god bless
151:32
you
151:32
[Music]


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