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One Leg Up Commemorates 2 years of the Ukraine-Russia War With America's Future Series · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:02
Here's your host, Alex Garrett. All right, well, welcome inside to
0:08
One Leg Up with Alex Garrett. You know, we had a big Terminila's
0:12
take this week. You can find that in the description below with Greg Picker,
0:16
Islanders color commentator and all around great guy. And then a really insight
0:21
you know, he's got the insight with the Islanders, and we talked about
0:24
that. But here on the main vein, I want to discuss something that
0:28
I talked about two years ago, this very same time, about how a
0:33
small incursion turned into a war. Take a listen to what I said back
0:37
in twenty twenty two, as we commemorate two years since the beginning of the
0:44
Ukraine Russia War. We were watching on our television shells and bombs and air
0:52
bombs being launched into Ukraine, and I said, I said that the minute
0:58
we knew there was a small incursion about to happen, we had to act.
1:03
We did not. I don't think sanctions are going to stop President Putin.
1:07
And I wanted to welcome the man behind America's Future series, David Hamilton,
1:14
back. Where are we first of all two years later? And do
1:17
you think a lot of what you said, you know, when our first
1:19
podcast has come true. Well, let's great to be back with you.
1:23
I'm sorry that it's on this occasion that it has been two the years since
1:26
this war started. And you know, when it started, you know,
1:30
you know I both agreed that it was a calamity, it was a crisis
1:34
and a tragedy. We all thought, of course, that it would go
1:38
much quicker that you know, all the pundits thought it would be six day,
1:42
six weeks or something. I think I was saying something like six months
1:45
that I thought the Russians would be able to take control of Ukraine. They
1:49
haven't been able to. And that's in part of testament, of course,
1:51
to the toughness and the resilience of the Ukrainian people. People try to occupy
1:56
them forever and they don't like it very much, so they do a good
1:59
job of repelling that sort of thing. Secondly, I wasn't sure that America
2:05
and our NATO allies would for this much money, time, effort, et
2:09
cetera resources into it. I was surprised by that, and then I was
2:15
also surprised by a group of Red Dawn type kids who got on their ATVs
2:21
and with a few Special Forces people and some snipers took out a column of
2:27
heavily armored vehicles and stalled the Russian advance early in the war. I don't
2:32
think people pay them enough attention to how brave and important and critical that was,
2:38
and that it bought time for people like Elon Musk and others to bring
2:42
in telecommunications and things that have been jammed, but that that really bogged down
2:46
the Budhism. I'm sorry the Russian military offensive. It bought some time,
2:52
and then people like Elon Musk and others came in and helped the Ukrainians out,
2:57
and they were Ukrainians have proved to be resilient. So I think a
3:00
lot of people were wrong about it, a lot of things, and unfortunately
3:05
this thing is continued, and unfortunately I think it's continuing for a lot of
3:07
the wrong reasons. I feel like though this war is changing our future.
3:13
You know, I want to get back to what you're serious, is America's
3:15
future, because we've I just said, put a lot of money into this
3:19
and really invested in supporting Ukraine, which is right, but it's changed our
3:23
future in that now we're debating whether even border security should be part of the
3:28
packages to Ukraine. How did we get to that point? Well, you
3:31
know Bill Maher said that we're a silly nation, and you know he used
3:35
the speech that lawrens Lowreds of Arabia gave et cetera about being a silly and
3:42
barbarous and cruel of people that you know, Patty, we we tend to
3:46
argue amongst ourselves because we're so blessed, we're so wealthy, and we're still
3:50
protected. We have the luxury of arguing amongst ourselves and sort of carry ourselves
3:55
apart, which is unfortunate, and we end up in some pretty bizarre to
4:00
discussions around things that used to be we would consider them just to be matters
4:03
of fact and pretty straightforward. I think it's really really clear, of course
4:08
that Russia has never been in front of the United States. That doesn't mean
4:12
we have it acted poorly sometimes in our own and our own and the truth
4:16
is that we have been winning since the nineties. We've added forty sorry fourteen
4:21
countries to NATO, which means we've put enemies of Russia right on their border,
4:28
of Putin's border. We've added bases and material missiles, et cetera,
4:32
which is a clear threat to Russia, and in many ways, I mean,
4:36
people are finally coming around to agree that, you know, there was
4:40
some provocation, even though we know Putin would like to make Russia great again
4:45
and he would like to expand Russia if he could. I think a lot
4:47
of people are coming to the understanding that if two things happened. One,
4:51
we looked weak because of what we did in Afghanistan and how poorly we watched
4:55
that qu quote unquote withdrawal, and we looked weak. And secondly, we
5:00
kept talking about adding Ukraine to NATO, which has always been a non starter
5:03
for Russia. And if we you know, if they tried to add Cuba
5:09
or Canada or any other country on our borders as a member of the Soviet
5:13
Union in its pact, we would have we tried to start World War three,
5:17
or that we right really didn't want that. There's been a group of
5:20
people in our country and around the world that have ignored the credible national security
5:26
threat that adding one more nation to Russia's border post, and I think in
5:31
part Putin used that as an excuse to do something he kind of wanted to
5:35
do anyway, which was in vain. Secondly, we haven't done a very
5:40
good job of trying to figure out a negotiated peace, a settlement. And
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most people say, well, if you even talk with Putin, that you're
5:46
appeasing him if you negotiate. But I think we'd all agree that if we
5:50
could go back to the pre war status where there was no Russia in Ukraine
5:57
and there was no Ukraine in NATO, and Russia continued to occupy the Premea,
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which it took several years ago, if that was the if we were
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able to revert to that state, the pre Russian and Ukrainian war status at
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this point, given all the lives that have been lost, all of the
6:15
destruction that's happened, all of the billions upon billions more than the Russian total
6:21
military budget we've given Ukraine, more than the entire Russian military budget, I
6:29
think we all agreed that that would probably be a good starting point, if
6:30
we could go back to that state. And the only way you can do
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that is to go shape a peace agreement and see if it pans out.
6:40
We don't know if we could trust Putin to keep his word or not,
6:43
but I think he would take and we would take an arrangement where they leave
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Ukraine is not member of NATO. He's going to keep PRIMEA because he currently
6:53
occupies that it has for many years. He's got to give up the don
6:57
Boss and the Dunesquea regions, and we start from there. But you know,
7:02
we all want to cease fire in Israel. I don't understand why we
7:08
don't want to cease fire in Ukraine. Interesting take. And you know,
7:15
I do know though these missile strikes are continuing, right that that's what the
7:18
news is this week. Anyway, Well, we hear very little about what's
7:23
going on in Ukraine, and it does seem to be somewhat signed. There
7:27
was the belief that I think just a few months ago that we thought,
7:29
oh Russia's about the fall, Ukraine's going to win, They're going to push
7:32
back, et cetera. Right, Well, you know, we're admired in
7:36
this morass, this blood bath that is this war, and there's no clear
7:42
winner, et cetera. And we're getting some genealistic reporting around it saying,
7:46
you know, hey, gosh, you know, we're doing really good.
7:48
You know, just a few more billion, we'll solve this. It's not
7:53
in our best interest or anyone else's best interest. For this war to continue.
7:57
And as I said the first time we talked, that this is not
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the most important strategic region of the world for US. It's possibly third or
8:05
fourth. First, and foremost China Ethega in the South Fantasee, that's number
8:09
one. The threat of China is the permanentive threat. And of course China
8:13
is helping fund this war, this proxy room. We're funding it, they're
8:18
funding it, and this is really a fight between US and China. Secondly,
8:22
the second most important strategic region in the world for US is the Middle
8:26
East because of its oil resources. And as much as people don't want to
8:30
use oil and we'd like to be free of fossil fuels, the reality is
8:35
that is power. Energy is power, and the Middle East is incredibly important
8:39
to us, and we're locking the rass there as well. So since you
8:43
and I talked last things have not gotten better. We are now involved in
8:48
more conflicts, we have more enemies, we're fighting on more fronts, et
8:52
cetera. And there doesn't and we seem to be doubling down on it.
8:56
There doesn't seem to be much of a discussion about how we extract ourselves from
9:01
these situations or how we deal with them, and there doesn't seem to be
9:07
much of a realization that some actors can't be argued with that. I'm sorry
9:11
that you can't negotiate with terrorists, hardcore ze A Slycamas and their backers Iran.
9:18
They have a mission which is to push Israel into the sea, to
9:24
kill every Jew and then after that bill or convert every other Infidel. And
9:30
they're never going to change their mindset. That's never going to change. We
9:35
got to listen to people when they tell us what they're going to do and
9:37
what they believe, that's what we're told by them. So that's the case
9:41
of where you are. You're locked in Immortal Kombat and all you can do
9:45
is fight. However, in Ukraine and Russia, I believe the negotiated settlement
9:50
could be reached and we can be free of at least one bloody conflict that
9:54
we're funding. That would be good heading into twenty twenty four of the rest
9:58
of the year. Now we were all there and you were talking to me,
10:01
David Hamilton, that you have you're supporting military families for the America Future
10:07
series. So what are our military officials, what are those in the military
10:11
telling you so yeah, we have quite a few national security experts. We
10:16
host events, thought leadership events, et cetera. On national security. We
10:20
do one on dual use technologies, trying to put capabilities in the hands of
10:24
the word fighter faster. We have a space Innovation Summit in DC coming up
10:28
in July, the one on duly uses at south By Southwest in Austin.
10:33
Here in March, we have one in Dallas. It's called Our Class Our
10:37
cyber Land Air Scene Space Summit. So we host a lot of those things,
10:41
and we have a lot of national security leaders speak at these jennial.
10:45
Petraeus is one good friend of ours and someone that I listened to very hard
10:50
Jack Keane, General Keene on the Ukraine and Russia. And I think people
10:54
would be well served to listen to those people who are who have experienced war,
10:58
who are strategic in their thinking and are unbiased, they don't have a
11:03
political motivation. Too often we hear news that is signed. The military will
11:09
tell us that Russia has some capabilities, they're not They're not a toothless bear,
11:15
and that if we don't provide them, as you and I talked about
11:18
the very first time we spoke, if we don't provide them an exit strategy.
11:20
They're going to have to continue to fight. And if you push the
11:24
bear too far into a corner and it looked like Putin was actually going to
11:26
lose, then what's his next option. His next option is to use the
11:30
weapons available to him, and he does have nuclear weapons. So if if
11:35
Putin felt that he was going to be toppled, the Olive arch got tired
11:39
of him, they want to get rid of him, et cetera, then
11:43
that becomes a threat to all of us. So it's in our best interest
11:46
to listen to people who are the experts who say that this war can't continue
11:50
forever. And America needs to take a leadership position and say to both sides,
11:56
this war has to end, and here's how it can. A negotiated
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settlement, a withdrawal by the Russians is required, and Ukraine may not get
12:07
everything at once. And one of the things that Ukraine wants is they want
12:11
Putin's head. Zelenski wants revenge, He wants Putin dead. He will never
12:16
be happy until Putin is dead. I can't blame him. I would want
12:18
that too. That is America. We have to say that's not going to
12:22
happen. The best you can get is a withdrawal. Remember when we all
12:28
thought the internals of Russia at the oligarchy, we're going to try and assassinate
12:31
him. That that never really ended up panning out. But to your point,
12:35
was Zelenski, you know, he was a hero, He was time
12:37
person in the year that year. How did especially the right get to hate
12:43
him and personally where I hate to ask the question where the money went,
12:48
but I do think it's a feasible one because we have given them billions and
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that's a value, very valid question, I feel. Yeah, the bluff,
12:56
the rose is the blush would is off the roads a bit with with
13:01
Zolensky for a number of reasons. One, we have spent billions coming up
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on a kind of trillion dollars with them. We don't know where all of
13:07
it went. And Ukraine has never been considered, you know, beyond approach
13:11
in terms of its ethics, and it's uh and it is it is a
13:13
corrupt society. Uh. We have to admit that that its main exports have
13:18
been cyber terrorism, cyber cyber crime and things like that. It has oil,
13:22
it has gas, it has wheat, but it is not a UH.
13:28
I don't know a polypure UH country. And a lot of money has
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gone missing. We don't know where it all went, Okay, so that
13:35
is an issue. Secondly, Zolensky has acted as a dictator. He's not
13:39
allowing any kind of elections, et cetera on this wartime footing. Uh,
13:43
there's you know, his press is the only press, and so this is
13:46
a dictatorial regime. It is not a democracy any longer. And and just
13:52
for some reasons, you know, you could understand that they're they're at war,
13:56
but he's not allowing to scent and he's not willing to talk about a
14:01
negotiated withdrawal. And at some point you lose patience. You know your friend
14:05
that you back and you try to help them out, and hey, they
14:09
were attacked first, and you get that. You have to say, at
14:11
some point, we have to end this and we can't keep funding this war
14:16
and you can't keep letting your people die. Yeah, that's tough now speaking
14:22
of more funding and on the battlefield, I understand Americans did eventually join even
14:31
though they weren't supposed to. Is that correct? And is that still going
14:33
on that there are Americans fighting for Ukraine right now. Well, that's certainly
14:37
not sanctioned by the United States. There are groups like the Mozart group,
14:41
which is a counterbalance to the Vogger group, is a sort of a thumb
14:43
in the eye to the hardcore militia or mercenaries called the Vogler group. They
14:52
don't physically fight. Colonel Andy Melbourne is someone I know, friend of mine,
14:58
had him speak, had him speak for the front. They provide an
15:03
advice and council and training, and they buy humanitarian aid, but they don't
15:07
physically fight for the Ukrainians. So I don't know how many Americans are actually
15:11
fighting over there. If they are, they're fighting as mercenaries and they're not
15:15
fighting in any way, shape or form associated with the United States. So
15:20
technically, if American blooder is shedding this war, there's nothing we can do
15:22
about it. In other words, right, well, yeah, we are
15:26
not sending any of our troops over there. We're not putting our sons and
15:30
daughters in harm's way. If someone I only asked that because I know that
15:35
there was a question or concern that Russia's missiles were starting to end up in
15:39
our allies territory, And how's that. Is there any more updates on that?
15:46
Has that continued? Did that die down? What I exactly happened with
15:48
that? Yeah? I think the threat of Russia going into other countries is
15:52
overblown. This as much as they can handle right now themselves. They have
15:56
to win this war first, right and and take over and ultimately subdue Ukraine,
16:03
which would not be easy. It would be it's going to you know,
16:06
it is hand to hand, door to door fighting. They have a
16:10
lot on their plate, and the idea of going into Poland or any other
16:12
country, uh, suicide for them if if nothing else. Putin, while
16:18
maybe not a nice guy, is not insane, and I think there was
16:22
a lot of rhetoric about Putin being crazy, et cetera. No, he's
16:27
eminently practical. X KGB wants to make Russia grade again, doesn't want to
16:33
see his country destroyed, et cetera. He miscalculated, I mean, he's
16:37
straight up got it wrong. I did too, A lot of people got
16:41
it wrong. He thought it was going to be easier than it's been.
16:45
It's been so hard. If there was any thought of steamrolling into another NATO
16:48
country and causing World War III, which was crazy talk, No, he's
16:56
not going to do that. He doesn't want to do that, and no
16:59
sane person would, but there was a deep seated desire to believe that,
17:03
to demonize him and to make him out actually crazy. I mean, they
17:07
are crazy people in North Korea. That kind of guy might do that kind
17:11
of stuff if he could, but not putin all right. Well, the
17:17
other factor to this is of course the Israel Hamas War, and there was
17:22
another question of whether Russia was aiding, you know, Iran during that.
17:27
Is that something that that could play into the Ukraine War is at a separate
17:30
issue. No, Ano, they're all time. The enemy of my enemy
17:33
is my friend, right and the Iranians hate us probably more than any group
17:38
man. Right now, I've probably put China and Russia neck and neck.
17:42
They they are strange bedfellows. They don't like each other either, but they
17:47
hate America more. And so the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
17:52
When we would when there was a time when during the Iraq War and there
17:57
was some question of weapons of matt destruction being there, those weapons were probably
18:02
chemical weapons and they were mustard gas, et cetera. We know that the
18:06
Russians now helped take mustard gas through Syria uh and dispose of those weapons,
18:14
et cetera. At that time there were no news et cetera. But there
18:18
were weapons. And we know the Russians have been there uh and then aiding
18:22
the Syrians and others of the jordan Adians, et cetera. They they want
18:26
to exert power and they would like to keep us as busy as possible.
18:32
And if we're fighting a multi uh uh, we're fighting multiple wars that are
18:37
all proxy rooms. Right, We're fighting one with in his region, one
18:41
in the Middle East. If we can be fighting the Houthis et cetera.
18:45
There that plays right into their strategy. And anything they can do to film
18:49
at discoorse and to arm and aid, whether it's intelligence or drones or any
18:55
other kind of technology, Yeah, they're going to do them because ultimately they're
19:00
we're with us, and we're with Russia and China. We're just fighting through
19:03
proximate. The other complication to all this is the fact that we have a
19:08
very unhealthy it seems like Department of Defense Secretary, which is Lloyd Austin.
19:15
Is that going to impact the future of this war. So each of things
19:19
gets factored into it. Let's put ourselves in the shoes of a putin,
19:23
a g or anyone else. They look at their adversary, and they look
19:26
at their adversaries for a long from the long term perspective, right one is
19:32
they don't change every four years their leader. They don't change their leaders in
19:37
Congress and the Senate over and over again. So they just have to buy
19:41
their time and find the right time to move forward and incrementally take ground.
19:45
Okay, if they see that our president is infirmed, if they see that
19:49
he has he falls, if they see that he seems to lose track,
19:52
et cetera, that's going to be part of their calculus. If they see
19:56
that the our Secretary of Defense is infirmed, that factors into it. But
20:03
they also know that we have very capable leaders that support them, that are
20:07
capable of making decisions and executing what needs to be done, and that we're
20:11
not going to fall apart because one person is out of the picture. Right.
20:15
But they do look at these things and they say, at what time
20:18
is When is it the right time to make a move, When is the
20:21
right time to push et cetera. When is the wrong time to do that?
20:25
Right? And it seems pretty clear that in the past couple of years,
20:29
our enemies have been in bolden to take action, to push against us,
20:33
to strike out, to be aggressive in ways that they hadn't been before.
20:38
And I think the Afghanistan withdrawal, which I like to like in is
20:42
similar to a family deciding to get up in the middle of the night and
20:47
leave their children with Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees had a whole bunch of machakes.
20:52
No country has ever done anything like that in the history of the world.
20:59
People call say that Bill Mars said that they didn't stick to landing.
21:03
Really, Bill, No, we left, didn't give our people time,
21:06
didn't give our army a chance to protect those people, and people died because
21:10
of it. And I've got a lot of military friends, veterans, etc.
21:12
Who committed suicide because they felt that their sacrifice, their comrade sacrifice,
21:19
was in vain. I've tried mightily to tell them no, for twenty years,
21:23
you made Afghanistan a safer place. For twenty years, you made the
21:26
lives of the people that lived there better. For twenty years, Afghanistan did
21:30
not export terrorism. And for twenty years we were able to put forward our
21:37
presence and power and made the world a safer place. And we only had
21:45
five thousand people there at the time, with support of about eight or nine
21:48
thousand others, and no one had died in eighteen months. And I have
21:53
to say, I don't care why administration, you back or whatever. One
21:57
has to face the truth and admit that that was an incredibly horrifically botched mistake,
22:06
unlike anything I've ever seen, and it was a signal, I think
22:10
to our enemies that we may not have our act together, and therefore that
22:14
it's time for them to act. We have to portray power and capability and
22:19
have to be competent to dissuade them from doing that. But any one of
22:25
these things, no, But I think in totality all of those things factor
22:29
into the calculus that our enemies used. The thing I would say is that
22:33
there's an election coming up, and David Hamilton, obviously the men who called
22:38
the shots in Afghanistan, is still responsible for how we handle the war in
22:45
Ukraine. And do you think America wants another leader at the helm this year?
22:48
I mean, I don't know if you want to go there, but
22:51
it is an election year and that's also been to impact the future of America,
22:53
Ukraine, and even Israel. Right, So personally I don't vote,
22:59
and of military leaders is very senior ones that follow that that guy, and
23:03
I don't vote because I don't want to be seeing this partisan. I run
23:07
a non partisan organization that is rapidly nonpartisan, and I've decided to not vote
23:14
any longer because I want to be held with a long approach. Now I'm
23:18
sad for that, because I think one of the hallmarks, one of the
23:21
foundations is our nation of democracy is the ability for every one man, one
23:26
vote, everyone should vote. I'll say this, I don't think anyone is
23:30
happy with the current political situation on either side. They're not happy with their
23:34
own guy. It is sad that we're This is the stake that we're at,
23:40
and these are the choices that we have to make from that that we
23:44
have to choose from. But more importantly, what's worse than the candidates that
23:49
we're dealing with that we're choosing from, is the level of animosity, hatred,
23:56
distrust that we as a very tribal nation, have gotten to. Partisanship
24:02
is destroying our country in a way that our enemies can't rome and none of
24:07
the other civilizations that ever collapsed collapsed from the outside. They collapse from within,
24:11
and they collapse because they had the ability of the affluence and the ability
24:17
to sort of stare at their navel and the fot amongst themselves. We are
24:21
tearing our country apart through partisanship and tribalism. That is the single existential threat
24:25
I think we face. None of the existential threats we face are impossible to
24:30
solve if we can work together. But if we are tearing each other apart,
24:36
and we're attacking each other and we believe the other half is either buck
24:40
naked, crazy or evil, we're duped. So we have to heal as
24:45
a nation and believe that our fellow American is not an evil, ridiculously stupid
24:51
person. We have to understand that these people have good motivations, that have
24:56
good hearts, et cetera. That we're all Americans. And then we have
24:59
pulled together. And you may remember after nine to eleven that there was a
25:03
shining moment after that catastrophe where it seemed like everybody was an American and everybody
25:07
forgot about their various positions or ideologies, et cetera. And for one shining
25:14
moment, and it didn't last very long, and I thought of it myself
25:15
at the time. We seem to have all pulled together because this is gonna
25:18
last six weeks or six months, and it didn't seem to last more than
25:22
six months. So we have to fight the natural tendency to be partisan and
25:26
travel and figure out that we are a country and that there are really bad
25:30
actors and bad forces out there that pose existential threats to us, and that
25:33
we have to come together otherwise those bad actors will make well. One last
25:40
thing, people are tired of their television sets and politics in general. So
25:44
how does America Futures series give an alternative kind of viewing? Because I know
25:49
you actually have a series going on the next few months here. So we
25:55
tried to be We try to talk about what could be done, what's positive.
25:59
We try to avoid what's people called innovation theater, where people sort of
26:02
stare at the problem and go, gosh, we have to innovate faster,
26:03
we have to do more using technology, et cetera. We want to focus
26:07
on the how we want to come across with positive examples of what's working and
26:11
and and be honest about what's not working and what we need to change.
26:15
But if you don't have a recommendation, you don't have an idea on how
26:18
to change things, and all you do is wring your hands and say about
26:19
how awful it is, then you're then you're not helping it, and we're
26:22
not interested in that. We're looking for people who have solutions to problems that
26:27
we're facing on all kinds of issues that impact US global competitiveness and national security,
26:33
and our job is provide a forum for those people to come forward and
26:37
share those ideas and come together as a community as a part of an ecosystem
26:44
that is focused on how how America can in terms of policy and not politics,
26:48
can focus on policies that America make us, make America stronger. We
26:52
think our mission is to make America a stronger, more noble, and more
26:56
generous country, generous and spirit as well as in our wealth. We have
27:00
to figure out a way to come together, and that's what we're trying to
27:03
do with our series. We try to bring like minded people together who care
27:07
about this country on all sides, on both aisles and all spectrums. Politically,
27:11
if they have the one single common thread, which is that America has
27:15
been it could be the greatest force for good in the world, and they
27:22
would like to make ensure America remains the strongest military, political, and economic
27:25
power along with its allies. Then we have a home for them and we
27:29
want them to speak. One other topic we failed to mention is the migrant
27:36
crisis, also taking our eye off the ball, would you say of Ukraine
27:40
two years later, how important is it that we and you and America Future
27:44
series continue to keep your eye on all of these conflicts as our homeland also
27:48
is under size right now. It feels like so some people like to say
27:52
that some of these issues are very complex, and they're really not. Can
27:56
we can boil them down? We can forest some them? Okay? It
28:00
is universally true that every country in the world has a border and protects those
28:07
borders. They manage who comes in and who doesn't. And every single one
28:10
of these countries has an immigration policy. And immigration policy isn't something we talk
28:14
about a lot, but let's be clear, every country has a process an
28:19
approach that says this, many people from these countries for these reasons get to
28:25
come into our country for these reasons, and through this process. When we
28:30
talk about immigration reform et cetera. All we're talking about is those elements who
28:34
comes in, how many from where? Why? And hat? Okay,
28:40
you want to change any of those elements, great, But ultimately we don't
28:45
need to talk about immigration reform and changing the laws, et cetera. The
28:48
truth is we've allowed ten million or so illegal immigrants to come into our country
28:55
and that has had both positive and negative effects. I am the folks that
29:00
are with American's future series value immigration. Our country was based on immigration immigrants
29:06
for energy and a work ethic and a drive that our country needs and we
29:15
have. Our birth rate is shrinking and we are below replacement rate. Every
29:19
developed country in the world other than the really poorest of the Third world are
29:23
below replacement rates. The world's population is shrinking, America's is, and there
29:29
is some benefit to importing workers. The question is too, how many,
29:33
what skills? And that is not the discussion. This is not what we
29:37
talk about. We talk about race, we talk about being racist, we
29:41
talk about identity, etc. Every country in the world has a policy that
29:48
says this many from where, etc. And they enforce them. So if
29:52
you're not going to enforce the laws, if you have on the books,
29:56
why have a discussion. I mean, you just need to decide how many
29:59
you want to allow it. And I think most people, especially those who
30:02
have now seen many of the migrants being coming to their area further north and
30:07
I'm in Texas, if you're in California, Florida, et cetera, then
30:11
you know the impact of immigration, both good and bad. But a lot
30:15
of people in the past six to nine months have just become aware of it
30:18
because they have had an influx of migrants into their illegal aliens into their areas
30:25
and they're seeing the impact of that. I think we could all agree that
30:29
the numbers to be whatever the number is, it's too many. But there
30:33
are some people who say no to that. They say no more of the
30:38
merrier, and they'll cype to bring us your tired, your warrior, huddled
30:41
masses. You're native Bree three. That is a great philosophy and value system
30:48
that we have. Very few countries share that. They certainly don't have that
30:52
emboldened on the on their nation's symbols, like the Statute of Liberty. But
30:56
there is an upper limit to how many people can come to this country,
31:00
and you have to decide what that limit is. And most countries try to
31:03
use immigration as a source of competitive advantage. They look for people with certain
31:07
skills nurses, engineers, et cetera. Right, you cannot get into Australia
31:12
if you cannot prove that you will not be you won't be a benefit to
31:15
the society. If you try to speak in, they'll put you on an
31:18
island and they'll keep you there free. Okay, Now we're not going to
31:22
go asconain as that, but we have chosen not to import our immigration policies,
31:30
and therefore we have ten million plus in our country who are not asylum
31:34
seekers. They're not seeking a refuge from political or religious persecution, which is
31:41
the definition of asylum seekers. They're people looking for a better life, and
31:48
we applaud them. And I got to tell you, if I grew up
31:51
and lived in one of those areas, I'd be first. I'd be crossing
31:52
the border too. The question is how many, and until we're willing to
31:57
until certain factions willing to wrestle with that and come up with an agreement a
32:01
number and actually enforce that, then then we're going to continue to have two
32:08
many. I believe that a certain number or value. If the question is
32:14
can we can we handle ten million on a population of three hundred and thirty
32:17
million? Can we handle twenty Let's pick a number and let's stick with it.
32:23
Well, speaking of sticking with it, you stick with it the whole
32:28
year. So my listeners where can they can they find your series upcoming?
32:34
So they can go to www. America's Future Series dot com. It's long,
32:37
Sorry, it's got an accident, America's Future Series. You type in
32:42
America's Future Series on the on the on the Google, it'll come up.
32:45
We have a YouTube channel, we have our own web page with all the
32:49
events on it, et cetera. I'm looking for speakers, I'm looking for
32:52
sponsors, I'm looking for people to host discussions, et cetera. But if
32:55
they go to www dot America's Future Series dot com, they'll find our website.
33:01
I'm so thankful that we have this time, David, and I will
33:05
link you up on my description of the podcast description and come back as we
33:09
a little certainly than two years from now. I'd love to have another chat
33:13
with you in the summer as we hit you know, well, we figure
33:16
out where we are, you know, hopefully, hopefully in two years we
33:21
can say, hey, you know there aren't any worse going on right now.
33:23
Hey, that's the goal right there, all right. David Hamilton,
33:27
America Future Series founder leader, Thanks for joining the Alex Scatt Podcast Network.
33:31
Thanks for having me