Latest / The Junto Podcast / E75: Be a Good Homie - Friendship, Faith, and Politics

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E75: Be a Good Homie - Friendship, Faith, and Politics · The Junto Podcast

• 0:10
  Hello, America. Welcome to the Junto podcast, where we promote the practical
• 0:14
  applications of critical thinking and bold creativity.
• 0:18
  I'm your host, Edgar Mills. Thank you for joining us.
• 0:30
  Welcome back. I appreciate you guys sticking with me. Today's a special episode, a unique episode.
• 0:35
  I got my friend Will on and me and Will met through shooting.
• 0:41
  You just came out here to shoot and we became buddies and we got a lot of common
• 0:46
  interests. So I'm going to introduce you to Will Stevens.
• 0:50
  Give it a go, Will. Yeah. My name is Will Stevens and I.
• 0:56
  I don't know, been shooting for a minute and I don't know, Bought my first gun
• 1:00
  probably around early 20s, as soon as I could, and been trying to get better.
• 1:05
  So eventually you meet more cool people and found my way out here.
• 1:11
  So I've been shooting with Edgar for the last couple years off and on and having
• 1:15
  a good time. And, yeah, so we've become friends and, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Blessed.
• 1:23
  So, yeah, so I want to have Will on. Everybody, we were just talking about this.
• 1:27
  Everybody's got a story. Everybody's got, well, some value to add to the conversation,
• 1:33
  whatever that conversation is.
• 1:35
  So I think today, broadly, we're going to talk about friendship,
• 1:41
  talk about faith a little bit, and we're going to talk about a little bit of
• 1:45
  business, entrepreneurship, and all sort of small business type stuff. I like that.
• 1:50
  Yeah. So, well, let's start off with friendship. Okay. What's your broad, broad philosophy on it?
• 1:58
  I have a couple strong opinions about it because today you hear so much about brotherhood.
• 2:03
  Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I can't help but think about that meme,
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  you know, brother, brother.
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  And I do love brotherhood. And especially if you get into the faith aspect,
• 2:13
  you know, that that is a brotherhood as well. Right. For sure.
• 2:16
  But I do think that there is a rarity today, unfortunately, of good friends, dear friends.
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  And I think it's something that we need to work on.
• 2:29
  And all of us, I think we need to work on becoming a good friend.
• 2:34
  If you're going to have good friends, first you need to be a good friend.
• 2:39
  Yeah, I agree with that 100%.
• 2:42
  I say loosely that you can't expect, well, specifically I was talking about
• 2:47
  respect, but you can't expect respect without giving respect. Yes.
• 2:51
  You can't expect loyal friendship without giving loyal friendship, I think.
• 2:57
  So my take on that as a, as a grown man, there's, there's a handful of dudes
• 3:02
  in my life that I've known for 40 years or so. And we're friends. Yep.
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  But we live in different places and we're grown and we've got grandkids.
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  And so, you know, friendship doesn't, doesn't necessarily mean you guys hang
• 3:20
  out every single weekend or something like that. You know what I mean?
• 3:23
  I think it's more about kind of being there if, As needed. Yes.
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  As a sounding board or. Yeah.
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  To me, friendship is intentional. Intentional, yes. Yeah, that's the thing I
• 3:36
  think that kind of separates friendship from brotherhood.
• 3:40
  So if you think about a brotherhood, these are people that whatever group you're in, right? Yeah.
• 3:46
  I don't want to even steal the term band of brothers, but whatever you guys
• 3:50
  labor in, you got it. Well, there's a common pool. 100%.
• 3:56
  You got a bunch of buddies at the gym, right? Yeah. Buddies and brothers at the gym, you know.
• 4:00
  And then you might have a group you go out and shoot with, right? Yeah.
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  To me, the friendship thing requires intentionality and also,
• 4:10
  too, a level of care and empathy because there's also you're going to get into, hey,
• 4:17
  you know, I care enough to ask, how are you doing? How's the family doing?
• 4:22
  You might not get into that with, you know, certain circles of buddies and brothers. There's levels.
• 4:30
  And also, too, I also think when I think of, yeah, like you said,
• 4:36
  concentric circles, right?
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  You get out of that tight friendship thing and there are brothers that are not
• 4:45
  by choice, that are just part of that circle because you guys share the same circle.
• 4:52
  I think about this in the faith.
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  There's a lot of, you know, the circle of faith, right? People at your church
• 5:00
  or people in your faith community, right?
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  Most of them are not there by your choosing. They are in that circle by their
• 5:11
  choosing, right? And you have common interest, obviously. You're united around
• 5:17
  a common cause, faith, right? You're united around that.
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  Whether it be the gym, let's just say the gym. You're united around a common
• 5:23
  thing, right? We all live together.
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  You don't take the extra step of the intentionality, which would be that,
• 5:31
  you know, the circles begin to get smaller. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:36
  Yeah. So you got things that bring people together. Yeah. And then I mentioned
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  some of the guys in my life that I know.
• 5:44
  Well, I mean, it was literally high school brought us together.
• 5:47
  Yeah. But that was not a common interest. That was a common requirement.
• 5:52
  But when we just stayed in touch over the years.
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  And I can still consider some of these guys like best friends. Yeah.
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  Even though we rarely see each other. Right. You know, every six months or so,
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  one of us will pop in on the other.
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  Now, let me say this though. I got a good question for you. Yeah.
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  If you found out that that buddy, that friend, close friend,
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  the one that might be, you know, distance is a problem, right?
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  If you found out that person came in town and didn't hit you up or didn't let you know, that would be.
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  I don't. So that happens plenty. Sure. Absolutely.
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  And I'll give you, for instance, on the occasion, I go to Fort Bragg for a job. Okay.
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  And I'll be up there for a couple of days and not hit up buddies because I'm
• 6:45
  there for a specific purpose. Okay. And. I get that.
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  And if I got time, I mean, so yeah.
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  How good a friend are you? Will you make time? That's what people will say.
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  You make time. Yeah. Maybe.
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  Is it, do I make time and go out and have dinner and a couple of beers or do
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  I get back home to my grandkids? Right. Absolutely.
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  Do you know what I mean? No priorities. And the same has happened here.
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  There's been, hell, my cousin's been through without stopping in and me and
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  him are the best buddies, you know? Yeah.
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  And I don't expect that. 100%. Yeah.
• 7:23
  I have a cousin who lives in Florida and every time he goes to Tennessee,
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  he drives right past my exit. Right past.
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  And I'll just be honest with you. I'm the type of extrovert where.
• 7:38
  It kind of rubs me a little bit. And he might even, you know, listen to this.
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  But I understand where he's going. I understand he's going to Tennessee to a cabin.
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  But, you know, I'm always like, you drive right past my house.
• 7:53
  But I know he means nothing by it.
• 7:56
  Right. Yeah. So, and my wife and I talk about it. way we're cousins and friends.
• 8:01
  Yeah. You also have those family members. Well, that's, yeah, that's my cousin.
• 8:05
  That's absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We're, we're probably more friends than we are
• 8:08
  cousins. And I mean, but yes, we are definitely cousins, but yes,
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  we're almost exactly the same age and we grew up together and neither one of us had a brother.
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  Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.
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  So my wife.
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  That transcends to where you don't have to do the obligatory things. Yep.
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  And my wife talks, we talk about this a lot, about sitting in silence.
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  Yeah, I'm not good at that. Man.
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  We can drive for two hours without ever speaking a word. Just holding hands.
• 8:47
  You and your wife. Yeah. Oh, yeah, me and my wife can do that,
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  too. I'll document with other, with, like...
• 8:51
  But there's a time, and I have friends like this, where you can just be without having the...
• 9:01
  Keep a conversation going. That's a small group for me. It's a small,
• 9:05
  small group. It's a small group, yeah. But that's where. It's a good one.
• 9:09
  You got me thinking about people right now as they're saying that.
• 9:12
  So, yeah, friendship, it's complex. It's complex.
• 9:16
  I would say that's a really interesting test of comfort when you can be on a road trip.
• 9:24
  I think about that because sometimes I work over in Athens.
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  And me and my buddy, we won't talk the whole time for an hour,
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  an hour and a half, all the way over there in Athens, all the way over there to Athens and back.
• 9:37
  So we just have that level of comfort.
• 9:39
  Well, good. Is it comfort or is it discomfort?
• 9:43
  For most of the time, I would say it's comfort. For most of the time,
• 9:46
  I would say it's comfort. Yeah.
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  But I'm an extrovert. So it is hard for me.
• 9:52
  Why? Yeah. Because I never stop. Non-stop. Always stop. Non-stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:00
  Nah, they're, yeah, different levels of friendship, man. You know,
• 10:03
  everybody's got the whole spectrum in their life, I'm sure.
• 10:07
  Yeah. I do think it is concentric circles, though. So, yeah,
• 10:10
  sort of. I think they kind of, yeah, they close in.
• 10:13
  Yeah, there's levels, but.
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  And there are, I guess there are circles inside of that that do kind of have overlap. Yeah.
• 10:22
  You can't order everything. So, I'll give you, for instance,
• 10:25
  there's a guy that he was, well, we were in the same company.
• 10:29
  When I was an op sergeant, a B-team op sergeant, he was on my B-team, and we weren't buddies.
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  We were colleagues and all that, and friendly and told jokes at work, but we didn't.
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  Years had gone past, and he put out a sort of a little distress signal.
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  We were both already long out of the military, and he needed a dude.
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  He happened to have been in Georgia at the time, and you're familiar,
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  I'm sure. He was in Noonan, like down south of Noonan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  But he put out a little need and I said, yeah, I'll be there. That's great.
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  We weren't best homies. Sure.
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  But he needed a thing and I was able to help with it.
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  Would you say that was out of obligation or out of genuine empathy and care?
• 11:22
  No, not obligation. I was in no way obligated. And he was even surprised that, oh man, thanks.
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  I can't help but think about that verse that says, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
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  Yeah, I mean, yeah. That's good. And so I consider him a friend.
• 11:40
  Yeah. But neither one of us would, if we were reading our list of best homies,
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  neither one of us are on that for each other.
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  So friendships, you know, I don't know. It's weird.
• 11:51
  It's weird. Oh, it is. Yeah, there's a lot of. Especially when you overlap it
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  with sort of not obligation from faith, but.
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  Yeah. Just being what you know to be a good dude. Mm-hmm.
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  Yeah. Help people when you can, I think. If you can. If you can. When you can.
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  Yeah. And sometimes it ain't easy. Sometimes it ain't convenient.
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  But if it is easy and convenient, by all means, do it. Yeah,
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  absolutely. There are some people that will skip right over it.
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  Another thing is, too, is why are you doing it? Are you doing it to be seen
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  or is it one of those things where it requires that?
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  You know, because intentional friendships, one of the things for me I've noticed is it does take time.
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  So I've got a long-distance friend from Texas. He came out here and shot with us.
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  And I know that when we sit down and we're going to have a phone conversation,
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  it's going to be a minute.
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  I mean, we're going to have, and I try to, I try to plan them out.
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  I'm like, I can't always do it when I'm driving. I'll, you know,
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  I'll tell him if he calls me, I'll be like, you know, I'm driving.
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  I've only got a few minutes and he'll be like, oh, well, we can catch up later.
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  Cause when we do catch up, it's a long conversation and it's going to be,
• 13:04
  we're going to hit on a little bit of everything in life. So, yeah.
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  That's hard to juggle, by the way, in a certain aspect of my life,
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  because he's in a different place. Yeah.
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  So he doesn't have kids. He's not married.
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  He's pretty independent. And I'm independent, too, but I have a decent amount of time management.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Anytime there's kids and just other things like that, for sure.
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  The guy I would consider my very best friend, Timmy. We don't talk as much.
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  He lives in North Carolina. Thank you.
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  And we, our conversations are like short, brief, you know, Hey man,
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  did you see this thing? What about this?
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  You know, and that's, and we'll do that. All right. I love you, buddy.
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  I got one for you. Yeah. This is good. So the man who was my best friend and,
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  and, and best friend in high school and best man at my wedding,
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  we have just with our lives, we have kind of drifted apart.
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  And there'll be times where we catch up.
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  But in the last, I would say two, three years out of adversity,
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  I would say I have a, this sounds so weird, but I have what I would,
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  who I would consider someone who has taken that role.
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  And just in a, I'm in a different place in my life. Right.
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  And this is someone that I see a lot and we have become best friends and our
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  wives, we go out and I would consider him one of my best friends.
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  He would definitely be, you know, carrying my casket.
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  And this friendship is one I'm trying to think.
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  It's like, if you have that best friend that you've had since high school,
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  Well, you know, that thing can kind of be on cruise control.
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  Like you mentioned your buddy, Timmy, right?
• 15:03
  I know me and my buddy, Jay, we'll pick it up in a little bit. Yeah, yeah.
• 15:07
  Right. But right now, you know, like, let's say you're only going to have so
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  many people carry your casket, right? I think my brother will.
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  And I hope I'm not planning on dying, but we all do, right? So I think about
• 15:21
  things like this, you know, and I probably have five or six,
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  but I hate to say this. If you think about it, though, sometimes people rotate out.
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  If you have that group of five, right? I always tell my kids,
• 15:34
  hey, you're going to have three really good friends, right?
• 15:37
  As you get older, people are going to rotate out. Yeah, maybe.
• 15:42
  I don't know about out necessarily, but I think it's possible to have more than one best friend.
• 15:47
  Me too. There's not a best friend. I don't think, I think that's a childhood
• 15:50
  thing. I agree with that. I agree with that. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 15:52
  I think it's just how good a friend. Yeah.
• 15:56
  Hopefully we have people fighting for a place to carry our casket.
• 16:01
  Yeah. Because we have so many good friends. Well, one of the unfortunate side
• 16:04
  effects of being in the Army is you get to choose that every time you deploy.
• 16:08
  Man, I can't even wrap my brain around that. I've had the same six for a long time. Wow, man, yeah.
• 16:16
  So, yeah. Anyway, yeah, friends. So, all right, that leads us into faith.
• 16:23
  So what if you got heathen friends from childhood or the military or whatever,
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  godless, whore-chasing, boozing,
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  and you used to whore-chase some booze with them. Yep.
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  And then you found some Jesus and whatever and some stability in life and they
• 16:45
  are still doing their thing.
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  Can you still be friends? Yeah, absolutely. You can. But the most important
• 16:53
  thing is who is encouraging who. Right.
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  Are you able to toe the line when you're out with your friend? Absolutely.
• 17:03
  And I'm at a place in my life, and you might be as well, where, you know.
• 17:09
  The chasing women thing, you're not going to go participate in that activity.
• 17:13
  No, that's long gone. That's long gone. But go have a cigar?
• 17:18
  Yeah. Heck yeah.
• 17:21
  Yeah. So in that situation…,
• 17:25
  Because I still have that situation for sure, but you just don't,
• 17:30
  I'm smart enough now to look three steps down the evening and not put myself
• 17:36
  in a situation where I'm blacked out, drunk, chasing women.
• 17:42
  So yeah, maturity and stuff like that takes over, but you can still have the,
• 17:47
  they didn't, their character didn't fundamentally change. They're still your
• 17:51
  friends that they're your friends because of whatever.
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  Even if it was just adversity and military stuff or whatever.
• 17:59
  So, yeah, I don't think—I think a lot of the secular types—I.
• 18:06
  Say that like I'm not. I love Jesus, but it wouldn't be described as a religious
• 18:12
  pillar of—you know what I mean? Yeah.
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  But a lot of the secular dudes are nonbelievers or professed nonbelievers.
• 18:23
  I happen to think most atheists are full of shit. Me too, I think most of them are.
• 18:28
  They like to cast upon you or Christians in general, well, you're judging me.
• 18:37
  You're judgmental and this and that and the other. And as if...
• 18:45
  I think Christian men need to be a lot stronger. So that way we can,
• 18:49
  instead of saying, I can't be around that.
• 18:52
  If you have a. Just have some self-discipline. If you have.
• 18:56
  Well, yeah, self-discipline, absolutely. And also strongly held convictions. Yeah.
• 19:02
  Your strongly held convictions should not have a problem. Yeah, yeah, right.
• 19:09
  Like, and, you know, and there are obviously exceptions. You know,
• 19:14
  we all probably have friends that like, I don't need to be around alcohol. Right.
• 19:18
  And be like, okay, well, we, when I'm around this person, I won't have a beer,
• 19:23
  or whatever, that kind of thing.
• 19:24
  But we need to be, we need to have strong enough convictions of our own where
• 19:29
  we're not easily swayed. Yeah. Otherwise, are we even a man?
• 19:33
  No, that's right. That's right. You got to be able to stand on your convictions, whatever they are.
• 19:38
  And yeah. That's, that's maturity too. That, that is an age thing.
• 19:41
  No, that's right. That is something that you don't have, unfortunately, usually in your 20s.
• 19:45
  I didn't have it in my 20s. No, I certainly didn't. You don't even really know if I had it in my 30s.
• 19:51
  In fact, in my 20s, I was probably the instigator of most of that action.
• 19:56
  But I would say now that I'm stepping into my mid-40s, I am definitely,
• 20:02
  I have more strong conviction.
• 20:05
  And that my strong convictions, I would say, lead and guide me more than anything
• 20:11
  else. So let me ask you this, because you're much deeper into the church stuff,
• 20:19
  lifestyle things. Yeah.
• 20:22
  Would you say that there are pastors out there or deacons or whoever the leadership
• 20:27
  of whatever denomination who would stress that you should cut away from your.
• 20:37
  Non-religious friends or your heathenistic friends?
• 20:45
  That's a good question. Because I've encountered this before. Yeah.
• 20:51
  So never mind, I've been buddies with a dude for 40 years. Right.
• 20:54
  And he's a godless heathen. Yeah.
• 20:58
  You think your preacher would sway you to like, if you can't show him the light, you should cut away?
• 21:06
  I have never, except for minus one exception, most of the pastors in my life.
• 21:12
  And I have a lot of good pastors because I have over the span of 25 years or
• 21:17
  since I was 15, coming up on 30 years.
• 21:20
  I have played guitar and sang in churches and just helped with music in churches.
• 21:25
  And I have the pleasure of doing that now at the local church where I'm plugged in at.
• 21:30
  So over the years, I have literally been, you know, shepherded by really great
• 21:34
  pastors and they've seen the good and the bad of me. Yeah.
• 21:38
  And I would say mostly no, mostly no, I have not been encouraged to cut off those tithes.
• 21:49
  I think if a pastor is really shepherding you well, I think he wants to come
• 21:57
  alongside and say, hey, what can I do?
• 22:04
  Don't you think it's bad if someone is saying you have to cut all these tithes? No, I think it's bad.
• 22:09
  I do too. I think it's bad. I think that sounds the wrong way.
• 22:12
  And I also think that a good pastor or a good shepherd of your soul,
• 22:15
  right, is going to say, hey, how can we make you stronger so that way?
• 22:21
  Yeah. But I don't know if cutting – now, if you are literally out there chasing
• 22:27
  women with these people, a pastor is, I believe, obligated to say,
• 22:32
  hey, man, you need to probably change your ways.
• 22:34
  Yeah, but that's you changing your ways. Yeah.
• 22:37
  Also too, it's actually, I think if it's just the pastor doing that,
• 22:41
  you've got a problem because we have a couple of really good Bible studies.
• 22:46
  I do this thing called sheepdog Bible study and we do a sheepdog Bible study
• 22:49
  in Cartersville and we have people from all different walks of life.
• 22:54
  And some of them have been out here shooting before.
• 22:56
  We have people from all different walks of life and we'll go afterwards and
• 23:00
  get a cigar and we'll go do different things. It's a Reformed Bible study,
• 23:04
  so, you know, we can go have a beer afterwards. Yeah, yeah. But.
• 23:10
  It is not super judgmental. I mean, it's pretty— And also, too, it's not led by pastor.
• 23:17
  Yeah. It's not led by—it's peer-led. Yeah. So it's challenging each man to step up and be stronger.
• 23:23
  By the way, not stronger and be, like, legalistic, but stronger,
• 23:28
  like, if this is going to cause you to stumble, we need to make sure you're
• 23:32
  a little stronger. Yeah.
• 23:33
  No, and that's good. I like that. And I think,
• 23:36
  Without getting away from the genuine teachings of the Gospels and whatnot,
• 23:40
  I think that kind of, almost like friend group, kind of, I guess,
• 23:46
  if it's peer-led, right? Why did Jesus go eat with sinners? No,
• 23:48
  that's right. Absolutely.
• 23:53
  But I think most of the non-believers, or not believers, just the poo-pooed,
• 24:02
  people. Just use the word heathens. You're a crazy heathen friend.
• 24:04
  Godless heathens. Yeah, yeah.
• 24:08
  I don't think they see all the nuance like that. They do.
• 24:11
  I think they see everything as it's being judgmental. They do.
• 24:14
  And a part of that is you being a little secret guilt in there or whatever you want to call it. Yes.
• 24:22
  But they always throw the judgment. It's all judgment, judgment, judgment.
• 24:28
  And at some point, yeah, we got to be judgmental on people at some point.
• 24:32
  But that's a different. Has to be done in love. That's a different lesson,
• 24:35
  though. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:36
  It has to be done. Which, by the way, it has to be done through friendship because
• 24:39
  friendship is literally based upon love. Yeah.
• 24:42
  So if the key to friendship is love and empathy, empathy is a non-negotiable.
• 24:51
  So if it's out of love and empathy, then that's going to— And that's right. And I think a lot of.
• 25:02
  The heathens, they don't see it, for some reason, don't see it as being genuine.
• 25:07
  Maybe from historic whatever, or maybe just from the way the media builds it up or whatever.
• 25:15
  But that's love and empathy. You just said it, love and empathy. That's it.
• 25:20
  And if I disagree with somebody's bizarre philosophy on life...
• 25:25
  It's not because I'm being judgmental. Yeah. It's because I disagree and I can
• 25:30
  disagree because I'm a grown up. Yeah.
• 25:32
  If we can't show grace to someone in their walk, right?
• 25:39
  How were we not any different? Exactly. We've all been immature.
• 25:43
  So, yeah, I think the Christianity gets a bad rap from people who write everything
• 25:51
  off as you're just being judgmental and condemning my way of life.
• 25:55
  Whatever that way of life is.
• 25:57
  Yeah. As opposed to seeing- It also shuts down the conversation.
• 26:00
  That's right. And I think that
• 26:01
  might be a tactic more than it is a genuine concern. I think it is. Yeah.
• 26:05
  But they won't ever admit that, a lot of them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 26:10
  Because I get ripped on because people who know me a long time,
• 26:14
  they know I was a savage. I was a savage.
• 26:17
  Man. Before you were a grandpa.
• 26:20
  Before I was a grandpa, yeah, for sure. Absolute savage.
• 26:26
  And they, I don't know. I don't know if they think it's disingenuous or what.
• 26:31
  I don't know. I don't know, man. Well, you still have the savage inside of you,
• 26:35
  right? Oh, I'm savage. All right. Yeah. That's for sure. Just in a different way.
• 26:40
  That's called maturity. Yeah, maybe. Well, aging, whatever you want to call it, it's good.
• 26:47
  It's not a bad thing. Yeah. It's not a bad thing. Isn't it a good thing to realize
• 26:53
  your weaknesses? Oh, absolutely.
• 26:55
  The older we get, I mean, like I said, I'm just barely in my 40s.
• 27:00
  So the older I get, the most important thing I need to realize is like,
• 27:06
  I don't need to try to load up three plates and try to come over here and show off with these boys.
• 27:12
  That's going to hurt me for the whole week. And it's going to hurt me making
• 27:14
  money. And it's going to hurt me just with my job. That's stupid.
• 27:17
  But 20-year-old Will would do that all day.
• 27:20
  That's maturity. It's to be able to say, no, that's dumb. Like, I'm not doing that.
• 27:25
  It's not dumb for those guys, but it's dumb for this guy. I was probably done
• 27:29
  for those guys too. Well.
• 27:32
  Yeah, man. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. I think.
• 27:38
  Especially if you choose to keep contact with all your old, old homies. Yeah.
• 27:45
  Because you love them. And also too, I will say, I think the brotherhood that
• 27:49
  you're talking about and I'm talking about, it's different in service.
• 27:53
  So you, there is, there is definitely more of a, I don't know,
• 28:00
  there's a different kind of connection.
• 28:02
  Well, you're talking about military service? Yes. Yeah, maybe a little bit.
• 28:05
  I mean, I can't understand. I do agree that that type of hardship creates probably
• 28:10
  a little bit stronger, stronger bonds, different bonds. I don't know if it's
• 28:14
  stronger, but different.
• 28:15
  Different for sure. Yeah.
• 28:18
  Well, if you think about my buddy is suffering, right? Well,
• 28:21
  we've suffered together. I need to suffer with him.
• 28:24
  Yeah. How many people actually go out and suffer together today?
• 28:28
  Yeah, that's true. How many people go out and intentionally suffer?
• 28:30
  Right. But that's the military. Whether it's, I mean, it is intentional.
• 28:34
  You intentionally do it. You don't have to be there.
• 28:37
  You didn't have to go do all that. That's true. I mean, you were there for your
• 28:40
  brother, but I mean, there is that bond that, I don't want to call it trauma,
• 28:44
  but that bond of suffering that you have together.
• 28:46
  Yes. So then when you see your brother suffering, you're like,
• 28:49
  man, I'm going to help my brother out. I'm going to help a homie.
• 28:53
  Help a homie. That's it. Yeah.
• 28:56
  Yeah. So, yeah, you love them anyway. Yes. And hopefully they love you anyway. They do.
• 29:01
  I know they do, but the ball busting was still, you know, that's a prominent
• 29:06
  feature around the OSS camp. It is.
• 29:10
  I was actually just talking to my buddy yesterday after church,
• 29:15
  and he had been out here and shot.
• 29:17
  And he goes, oh, Edgar, man, there's a lot of ball busting. He does it. And I said, I like that.
• 29:25
  And he was a, he was a, he was a police guy.
• 29:28
  Oh, he gets an extra. Well, and, and, and I don't think he necessarily liked
• 29:35
  that. And he's like, yeah, he's like, he's, he's, he's, I said, I like that. I like that.
• 29:41
  But the thing, the thing I love about you, and a lot of people don't do this, is you are the same.
• 29:48
  And whether you're sitting down with headset on or you see you out or you're
• 29:55
  on the range, you are the same.
• 29:57
  You don't have different masks.
• 30:00
  And you don't have a pose. And I'll make a shameless plug.
• 30:05
  There's this thing called Wild at Heart. It's a great book by John Eldridge.
• 30:08
  And there's this thing that we do on once a month, Friday night,
• 30:13
  there's these awesome things called Wild at Heart Fires.
• 30:16
  And you go and you bury your soul to other men, right?
• 30:18
  And what's set at the fire stays at the fire. And at that Wild Heart Fire,
• 30:22
  we talk about the pose, the mask.
• 30:24
  And what most people do when they stand up and they introduce themselves,
• 30:27
  they say, hi, my name is Will Stevens and I do this, right?
• 30:32
  So their identity, their pose, what they hide behind is their accolades,
• 30:37
  what they've done, right? Or their job, which is really just part of their mask.
• 30:42
  And that is one thing that.
• 30:46
  It's very, very common, especially in, I think, the tactical world.
• 30:51
  Dude, you're rolling your eyes right now because you know it's so true.
• 30:54
  Yes. And it drives me crazy.
• 30:58
  And I think when people see genuine, the good and the bad, like not built up
• 31:03
  layers of the onion, but they just see who you really are, you might rub some people the wrong way.
• 31:09
  You've done it a few times, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:13
  But, you know, I tried to explain why I tried to explain, of course,
• 31:17
  with with my buddy that I was having a conversation with yesterday after church about you.
• 31:21
  And I said, he doesn't like this for that way. That's the reason why,
• 31:24
  because he's he's he wants people to be faster like that.
• 31:30
  And specifically for cops, it's dosed in with a lot of ball busting humor.
• 31:36
  But cops have to be better. That is all there is to it. And if he don't believe that, he's wrong.
• 31:43
  And that's it. Well, I think a lot of people get stuck and probably law enforcement.
• 31:48
  They get stuck and they get ingrained. And I'm not saying that this is wrong, by the way.
• 31:53
  There's a lawsuit attached to every bullet. It's a fact. It's a fact. So be better.
• 31:58
  Yeah. And some of them actually. So some of them might actually be having ongoing
• 32:03
  lawsuits right now. Yeah.
• 32:05
  Like things like that. You hear about this. And I do think fear is fear.
• 32:09
  That lawsuit is never a result of skill.
• 32:13
  That lawsuit is never a result of skill if anything it's a result of lack of
• 32:18
  skill there's no excuse not to come out and be a better technical shooter yeah,
• 32:25
  decision making and all that that's different stuff,
• 32:28
  and there's there's training for that right a technical shooter,
• 32:33
  a cop should be the best technical shooter on the block yeah yeah,
• 32:40
  No lawsuit is as a result of poor skill. But also be able to manage that sliding
• 32:44
  scale, which we talk about, of speed and accuracy. Yeah. Discernment on the
• 32:49
  fly. Judicious use of lethal force. Yeah.
• 32:53
  There's the clean shoot and there's the dirty shoot. But it ain't a result of
• 32:58
  skill. That's decision making. It's different.
• 33:01
  Yep. I agree. Yeah, man.
• 33:03
  And yeah, yeah. Yeah. Don't, that's a problem. I think in the cop training world
• 33:08
  is they always conflate all the stuff.
• 33:12
  So, well, shooting is just, we, I could go a whole career without ever shooting.
• 33:17
  Maybe. Right. Until you have to shoot someone. Right.
• 33:22
  And you don't choose that time. That time presents itself and you act accordingly. Yeah. So, yeah.
• 33:29
  Skill. There's no excuse for a lack of skill.
• 33:35
  And decision-making is very subjective. Yeah. Yeah.
• 33:39
  Mechanical shooting is not. Yeah. And there's also a ton of evidence now.
• 33:45
  Tons. Because we have so many body cam footage and everything.
• 33:49
  So you can actually dial it down and you can actually even say,
• 33:52
  hey, most of these encounters are up close.
• 33:55
  So that's going to be a speed thing. Well, yeah. That's right. Whatever the data says.
• 33:59
  But just like pro sports, right? You can watch the video later and instead of
• 34:03
  going, well, see, we were good because, go, okay, I fumbled my reload. Yeah.
• 34:10
  I had my magazine in my hand backwards and I slammed it.
• 34:17
  You can break it down for different reasons. I don't think a lot of them do that. Yeah.
• 34:22
  Or when you watch a cop unload a 17-round mag and his pistol's flopping around
• 34:27
  like a fish out of water. The amount of videos out there right now, which is just data.
• 34:33
  That's data. That's it. The amount of data out there right now of people mag
• 34:37
  dumping into people, and you see the bullets going everywhere,
• 34:40
  but the person, it's insane.
• 34:42
  There was one video down in Florida, man, like a cop dumped literal 17 rounds.
• 34:51
  Three rounds hit the dude, and the dude was sitting static in a car.
• 34:55
  And three rounds hit the dude and none of them were lethal.
• 35:00
  But you saw the body cam and you saw the gun just flopping away. Bow, bow, bow, bow.
• 35:07
  And it was dark and he had his white light on and all the smoke from the gun.
• 35:11
  All you saw was smoke and a gun flopping. That's horrible. And the light just...
• 35:17
  He had zero control of his gun. That's a technical issue. Yeah.
• 35:23
  It can be fixed with technical remedies.
• 35:27
  That's not decision-making. Now, the decision to draw and shoot the guy,
• 35:30
  that's decision-making. Yeah.
• 35:32
  But once that decision's made, it's all just the technical. Yeah.
• 35:36
  He was definitely reacting, not responding. A hundred percent,
• 35:39
  yeah. That was a bad reaction. And that's the way, I mean, that's the way it
• 35:42
  is for cops. You have to react to, you can't just walk up to everybody on the
• 35:46
  street with your gun drawn.
• 35:48
  And the bad news is that that guy's going to, that footage is going to be in
• 35:51
  every classroom for a long time of what not to do yeah yeah,
• 35:56
  and it maybe even court you know when man because you know bad guys man there's
• 36:00
  greasy lawyers out there these days it'll well not they've always been i'm gonna
• 36:05
  retract that statement there's always been greasy lawyers out there,
• 36:09
  but they'll try to spin that around. And if I was a greasy lawyer,
• 36:13
  I say it all the time. First thing I want to do is see training records.
• 36:16
  What qualifies you to be out on the street with a loaded firearm enforcing law? Right.
• 36:23
  And then they show you some bullshit Georgia Post thing, and you're like.
• 36:32
  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man. Skill.
• 36:36
  Those videos blow my mind when you start watching. There's a million of them.
• 36:40
  And there's some great ones.
• 36:41
  I mean, there's some where you were like, wow. Self-protection on YouTube has
• 36:43
  got just a treasure trove. There's some where you look at and you're like, man, incredible skill.
• 36:49
  Yeah, there's a few. There's a few, but it seems like there's more videos that
• 36:53
  are coming out of lack of skill.
• 36:54
  I like that one recent, made the rounds, man, where the cop,
• 36:59
  he's drinking coffee and he pulls up, takes a sip, puts his coffee up,
• 37:02
  gets out, goes to the trunk, pulls out his AR, jacks it.
• 37:07
  Pow! Yeah. So it's fake down. It was a bit of a distance too.
• 37:11
  Yeah. I don't know what the distance was. It was more than 50, I think. Yeah.
• 37:15
  The guy was calm as a cucumber, man. That one in the interstate one where the
• 37:19
  guy shoots, the guy takes the rifle and he's chasing after him.
• 37:22
  And he shoots across the interstate. And there's cars and he times it.
• 37:25
  Yeah, no, that was a good one, yeah. That was mind-blowing. Yeah,
• 37:28
  man. You can tell guys who have some skill or some training or some experience. Yeah.
• 37:34
  And then you can tell the ones who go into a homosexual panic immediately. laughs.
• 37:42
  That's true. And that's not what you want, man. Yeah.
• 37:46
  From me getting pulled over. Now, let me tell you what. When I get pulled over,
• 37:50
  I drive like a race car driver.
• 37:52
  I don't. I don't like driving anymore, so I just want to be where I'm going.
• 37:56
  When I get pulled over, man, I'm both hands not only on the steering wheel,
• 38:01
  but on the left side so they can clearly see both hands. Roll the windows down
• 38:05
  a little bit. And I'm calm.
• 38:07
  Hey, man. You know, yep. Right on.
• 38:10
  Can I see your driver? Yes, I'm reaching my right hand to my dash.
• 38:14
  I don't mess around because I don't want some 23-year-old nervous,
• 38:20
  you know, frigging Serpico, whatever type, blasting me. Yeah.
• 38:27
  Because he saw a gun. Because he may see a gun.
• 38:31
  It's likely. 99% of the, which I can't think of the last time I've been pulled
• 38:37
  over. I'm sure it was within a year.
• 38:39
  But they're great. Smooth.
• 38:41
  Yeah, mostly, mostly. But then there's always the one very arrogant.
• 38:48
  He's always out there. Man, knock on wood. It's been a minute since I've had
• 38:51
  him. I get that guy, usually. Man.
• 38:54
  I don't know why. Maybe it's because I look like an asshole.
• 38:57
  Yeah, maybe you just drive way too fast. Maybe I just drive way too fast. Yeah.
• 39:01
  I do. I've been trying to ease that off, too, since I got a grandkids.
• 39:07
  You know, I do think it's important, what we were talking about.
• 39:13
  To be a good friend with empathy, intentional.
• 39:18
  And I also think even in business, I think that will gravitate the right type
• 39:24
  of customers, the right type of people.
• 39:27
  You treat people right. That's the most important thing. I agree with that.
• 39:30
  Because word of mouth is still the key for business. My dad.
• 39:33
  So I'm third or fourth generation, you know, independent business owner.
• 39:39
  And, you know, my dad, my dad is just his little, he's a mobile welder kind
• 39:45
  of thing. And he, you know, does, you know, just welding. He's anonymous,
• 39:50
  you know, redneck with a welding setup, right?
• 39:54
  And he always told me, always pounded into me growing up, word of mouth,
• 39:59
  word of mouth, word of mouth. I've tried different things, son,
• 40:01
  but word of mouth is the best.
• 40:03
  And I've tried different advertisements too. Two, I don't think you can beat
• 40:07
  a good reputation and word of mouth.
• 40:10
  Well, I think you need the good reputation and word of mouth. Yeah.
• 40:14
  I mean, if I was to get on Grok, Grok would, you know, type me up some,
• 40:18
  you know, beautiful plan on how to expand my business.
• 40:22
  But I'm not trying to get five employees. I just want to be able to provide
• 40:26
  for me and mine. Yeah, yeah.
• 40:27
  Like, that's it. So, I 100% agree.
• 40:31
  And that's a philosophy I use.
• 40:34
  Now, again, I'm not overtly friendly. Yeah. But. And by the way,
• 40:38
  you cannot please everyone. I am as advertised. Yeah, absolutely.
• 40:43
  I think the skill is what matters. It is. And knowledge too.
• 40:46
  Skill and knowledge. And knowledge and experience. All that. Yeah.
• 40:49
  And I am relatable, even though I bust balls. I just.
• 40:54
  And I talk about this sometimes on the podcast, you know, when I'm talking about
• 40:58
  leadership or business stuff.
• 41:00
  And then I think to myself, well, I'm not exactly the template for success. So maybe I'm wrong.
• 41:08
  Yeah, but you say that. But you are a very joyful guy.
• 41:12
  Once you get to know you, I mean, I could see someone saying,
• 41:17
  well, Edgar's a little gruff. But I actually think when you,
• 41:20
  when you get under, when you look underneath the gruff, I think no one's ever
• 41:24
  got a lot of, no one's ever discovered. It's joyful. Man.
• 41:27
  I agree though. You got a good smile, a good laugh. I love life,
• 41:29
  man. Yeah. I love life. Yeah.
• 41:32
  Even, even through all the bull crap. I got, nevermind when you become a parent,
• 41:38
  right? And life changes.
• 41:39
  Yeah. But when you become a grandparent, it's a whole nother level.
• 41:43
  Of joy. I imagine that. And the joy bubbles out of you. Yeah, wait.
• 41:46
  My wife busts my chops all the time because she'll catch me on a little picture
• 41:50
  looking at my grandkids, looking all stupid.
• 41:56
  Yeah. I got joy. Of course I do. Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy.
• 42:00
  I would like to grow, but not, not crazy. You know what I'm trying to do with
• 42:05
  the range and all, but yeah.
• 42:07
  That's more legacy. So I wonder, that's 100% what I want. Yeah.
• 42:12
  I don't even want to grow beyond that. That's right. I want to grow enough that
• 42:16
  my kids and grandkids have a business to fall onto if they choose. Yeah.
• 42:21
  And take it wherever they choose to take it when it's their time.
• 42:25
  If America makes it. Yeah. Well, if not, it becomes a compound.
• 42:30
  It could happen. Right. Yeah. You just finish out the berms all the way around. That's right.
• 42:37
  Man, the country That's crazy Oh yeah, so speaking of that, yeah Politics So
• 42:44
  you mentioned something that was super fascinating You texted me something and said You believed,
• 42:52
  that libertarian.
• 42:56
  Was the most faith Libertarianism Is the only political party that truly supports,
• 43:04
  Christianity Not that it exclusively supports Christianity. Right, right, right.
• 43:08
  That it's the only one that offers the same level of free will that we were
• 43:14
  bestowed with. Right, we'll be hearing free will.
• 43:17
  That's it. All the rest of them, there's some dogma. You have to toe a line.
• 43:22
  And if that violates your Christian faith, then well, but here's the political line.
• 43:27
  I think a lot of people are probably interested in this because there are so
• 43:30
  many people that are just— kind of done with the two wings.
• 43:38
  I don't think enough people are done with it, but yeah, I agree.
• 43:41
  Well, I think there is a turning because we were out here on,
• 43:45
  we were out here on Saturday and, uh, you know, you're going to have a couple,
• 43:51
  you're going to have a couple diehard right wingers, right?
• 43:54
  And man, I'm the best of dudes, the best, right?
• 43:59
  But you are seeing people that That are kind of starting to say,
• 44:05
  and they're saying it because they believe in it, two wings of the same bird.
• 44:09
  And that is something that happened to me probably around 40, I would say.
• 44:15
  And it doesn't always happen for people like that. But I would say around 40,
• 44:17
  I had a couple epiphanies.
• 44:22
  Politics was one of them. And I'm not, you know, me and you both,
• 44:26
  I think we probably voted the same way.
• 44:28
  But the thing that you keep hearing, and I've heard for 20 plus years, is a third party system.
• 44:36
  It can't work. You can't, you know, it would just ruin everything. And I'm like, ruin what?
• 44:41
  Well, that's what I'm saying. The people who are saying this,
• 44:43
  a third party can never work.
• 44:45
  Are they saying this because it's a fear thing?
• 44:50
  Well, it is that because the Republicans swear to you that the libertarians pull from their vote.
• 44:55
  But then the liberals swear that the libertarians pull from their vote.
• 44:58
  Right. But check it out. They're both right.
• 45:00
  Because in the libertarian party, there's more liberal and more conservative people intermingled.
• 45:07
  Right. All agreeing to respect each other's rights, believe it or not. But is it organized?
• 45:13
  No. Okay. It is. The Libertarian Party has existed since I want to say 1972
• 45:19
  or 73. But it's not organized like the big parties. It is.
• 45:23
  There's a Libertarian Party convention every year.
• 45:26
  There's state parties, which I'm a member of.
• 45:31
  We go and vote in. I'm a voting delegate in our state.
• 45:36
  Elections for the party leadership and that kind of thing.
• 45:41
  So yeah, it's set up like that. But, but the problem is libertarianism is the
• 45:45
  antithesis of that organization. Like.
• 45:48
  Right. The highly structured. The ideal. Highly rigid organization.
• 45:55
  Yeah. And,
• 45:59
  look. So traditionally libertarians get about 3% of it. Yeah.
• 46:03
  Every, every time. Yeah. When there's a libertarian on a ticket. Right.
• 46:09
  But here's the thing, is ballot access.
• 46:12
  Ballot access is a problem because the two parties somehow managed to have say
• 46:20
  on what other parties, what metrics they got to meet in order to be on the ballot.
• 46:25
  Yeah, you're right. And that's wrong.
• 46:28
  That's a failure. Yeah. It already costs enough money for a politician to try
• 46:33
  to- RFK was a good example of that, right?
• 46:35
  Yeah, because that's right. RFK was the most recent example.
• 46:39
  Yeah, that's right. R.K. Jr.
• 46:41
  And so at the national level, I don't think it's a very realistic endeavor.
• 46:45
  But by the way, he had so much support, R.K. Jr., that he ended up having a
• 46:51
  decent amount of sway in the election.
• 46:54
  He did, in fact. He did. And I'm probably making— Now, but let's look at that
• 46:58
  level of sway and that level. That dude is a Kennedy.
• 47:02
  You've got to be at that level of influence. Or Tucker Carlson,
• 47:06
  who's going to probably go third party. Maybe.
• 47:08
  Maybe, but whatever he's brewing up is that's, I mean, I don't know if it'll
• 47:13
  be, I don't know if he'll be libertarians.
• 47:15
  Yeah, I don't either. I don't, I don't, I don't follow Tucker Carlson,
• 47:18
  so I don't know what his latest and greatest sort of philosophy, I guess is. I don't know.
• 47:26
  I know that he thinks that the system is broken, and I don't think he is coming
• 47:32
  up with an idea to use the current two-party system.
• 47:37
  I think he's talking about— Well, I think he's already, like,
• 47:41
  been excommunicated from the conservatives, right?
• 47:45
  Or Republicans. As soon as you—yeah. There's a chasm of difference between a
• 47:51
  Republican and a conservative. That's right.
• 47:53
  Absolutely. So people, people make that reduction, you know,
• 47:57
  everybody's narrowed down to the easiest label.
• 48:01
  I wouldn't be surprised if it's called, if it's some kind of anti-war party,
• 48:04
  because it does seem like the. Well, libertarians are anti-war.
• 48:08
  Absolutely. Yeah, I am too. T-shirts out there. I'm already against the next war. Yeah.
• 48:14
  I want that shirt. That's a great shirt. I love that. I've never seen it.
• 48:18
  I would have already. Yeah, it exists. Yeah, that's great.
• 48:20
  And I agree with it. Not because I'm a pacifist, but because I don't think our
• 48:27
  current, not current, I don't think the system in general has the wisdom to wage just war.
• 48:35
  And there is such a thing as just war. I believe that. Absolutely.
• 48:38
  I agree with it. Yeah. But I don't think they have the wisdom and the patience
• 48:42
  and the, what's the opposite of corruption? I don't think they're. Integrity.
• 48:47
  I don't think they have the integrity. Yeah, they don't. To wage just war. Yeah.
• 48:52
  And I point you to Dick Cheney and Kellogg Brown and Root and all that stuff.
• 48:55
  Typically, it's wag the dog. Typically, the military industrial complex wants
• 48:58
  a war. And guess what? Ding dong. Time for profits. Military industrial.
• 49:03
  But it's true, though. It is. It runs. Yeah.
• 49:06
  If you just stop, if you're a Republican and you just stop for a minute and go, okay.
• 49:10
  They keep saying military industrial. Well, we need a strong military.
• 49:13
  Yeah, we do need a strong military.
• 49:16
  But look at the way that the contracts happen.
• 49:19
  Look at the way the wars are waged versus the way,
• 49:24
  just billions and billions and billions of dollars. I went to AIPAC 12 years ago.
• 49:30
  My church was sending us up to AIPAC.
• 49:36
  Can we talk about this? Sure. Okay. American-Israeli. American-Israeli.
• 49:41
  Wait a minute. We're not getting murdered. No, no, no, no, no.
• 49:44
  Policy Affairs Conference. I went up there, and this was one of the things that blew my mind away.
• 49:50
  Then, this was years ago, So 90% of the money,
• 49:55
  that we gave on foreign aid, which the two biggest at the time were Israel and
• 50:01
  Egypt, 90% of it came back here in military.
• 50:06
  And I was like, I was literally at this thing. I was like, do people know this?
• 50:11
  And when you say in military, though, you mean in military industrial?
• 50:15
  You mean defense industry, not just military. That's right. The defense industry.
• 50:19
  So I was like, so 90%, I was like, wow. I was thinking, I was like, it comes back.
• 50:25
  And within that defense industry, you have all the lobbyists who are putting
• 50:30
  money back into the politician pocket. It's a gigantic. It's a vicious,
• 50:34
  vicious cycle. Oh, horrible.
• 50:36
  But I don't think most Americans even know that.
• 50:39
  Well, the information's out there now. And there's enough.
• 50:42
  So if we talk about it, somebody's going to say they're a conspiracy theorist. No, that's fact.
• 50:48
  That was 12 years ago when I went. It was 90%. And I was told this by officials. Yeah, it's fact.
• 50:56
  And I don't know. The machine has to keep going. Are conservatives okay with that?
• 51:01
  I don't think a lot of conservatives actually know it.
• 51:05
  I think a lot of conservatives, unfortunately, just watch the conservative right
• 51:11
  wing talking. So it's a case of casually disregarding facts or just not looking into them.
• 51:17
  Yeah. Just accepting on the surface level so that you don't have to face that.
• 51:21
  There are some better voices coming about. And you know this because of social
• 51:25
  media and stuff. You're starting to see some more voices actually get traction.
• 51:30
  Yeah, they're out there. So there is some kind of.
• 51:33
  But then when they get traction, some other major outlet tries to drag them,
• 51:38
  tries to discredit them. That's right.
• 51:41
  And bring up just all any number of old things or just spin what they say.
• 51:46
  And everybody becomes an anti-Semite or a racist or something.
• 51:52
  Or they go work for the administration.
• 51:55
  And the comeback, and it's like,
• 51:57
  man, what happened to you? You actually have to have some guts. Yeah.
• 52:01
  You're totally, yeah. Politics is so gross and nasty. It's bad.
• 52:06
  And the money is astronomical. You can buy elections. You can buy elections.
• 52:10
  Thomas Massey, that is a bought election. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.
• 52:15
  Yet somehow Mitch McConnell, that guy can stay up there, but they get rid of
• 52:20
  Thomas Massey. But Mitch McConnell, who we don't even, I don't even think the guy's alive.
• 52:26
  Who knows? And he's still up there, and they might even vote for him again without a proof of law.
• 52:32
  With some aid dude doing all this. Oh, man.
• 52:36
  It's so gross. But it could be happening here. Look, it could happen in Georgia.
• 52:43
  What do you mean? It doesn't. It does happen. I'm saying the same thing that
• 52:45
  happened in Kentucky by elections.
• 52:48
  Yeah, yeah, no. The fraud, I've said this 8 million times, as long as there's
• 52:51
  been elections, there's been fraud. As long as there's been government, there's been fraud.
• 52:57
  It's just a part of a beast. Unfortunately, it's now an accepted part.
• 53:03
  Literally back in the day, they would snatch a politician up,
• 53:06
  tar and feather them, or straight up hang them.
• 53:11
  It's become all this stuff's become accepted that's right because for a lot
• 53:17
  of people well there's nothing we can do about it it's just the way it is,
• 53:20
  And a lot of libertarian, like the anarchy types. So within the libertarian
• 53:25
  sphere, there's the whole spectrum.
• 53:28
  Yeah. And a lot of them voting is for chumps.
• 53:34
  Your vote doesn't do anything. Reject the system. Don't participate.
• 53:39
  Well, I don't know. Who was it? Epictetus, somebody said that you may not take
• 53:44
  interest in politics, but politics takes an interest in you.
• 53:48
  So you can call yourself not participating in a system. You're participating
• 53:53
  in a system. By not participating.
• 53:56
  Yeah. There's still a system that you're in. That's right.
• 53:59
  You can do whatever you think your rebellion is. So I do vote,
• 54:04
  and I think it's much like every other constitutional right.
• 54:08
  If you don't use it, you lose it. Yeah, absolutely. So I vote.
• 54:13
  I think voter confidence. I think
• 54:14
  just in general, just confidence in the system is at an all-time level.
• 54:19
  Yeah, I agree. And I think you're going to see in this next election,
• 54:22
  you're going to see the data that proves that, that literally less people voting
• 54:26
  because they think it's just totally, you know, throw away. Yeah.
• 54:31
  So let's couple that with voter fraud, and that's how you get a one-party rule.
• 54:37
  Well, isn't that what we have now?
• 54:40
  I mean, we kind of have. I mean, it's a uniparty. In function, yeah.
• 54:45
  Yeah. In name, no, there's, but in function, yeah, essentially it's the same.
• 54:50
  Yeah. The government. That's what it is. The debt keeps going up,
• 54:54
  and when it's ding-dong time for war, it happens. Yep. Yep. Bad. It's madness.
• 55:02
  And then all the noble young men who go and fight and then get smoked.
• 55:07
  Yeah. Yeah, that's all noble. And then there's parades and then there's memorials,
• 55:13
  when all of it could have been avoided. Yes. Could have been avoided.
• 55:17
  Yeah. Yep. It's gross.
• 55:20
  Yeah. Libertarian is the only rational party.
• 55:25
  And that's not hyperbole. It's the only rational. Look at the party platform.
• 55:29
  Go to the website and look at the party platform.
• 55:32
  It's the only rational party.
• 55:35
  Do you think it would help if some of the candidates appeared to be more legitimate?
• 55:44
  Well, yeah, it would help a little bit. But I think, I'm going to go ahead and
• 55:48
  tell you, I voted for Gary Johnson back in the day in the 2016 election. Yeah.
• 55:55
  I have friends that voted for Joe Jorgensen.
• 55:58
  I think she's as legit as it comes.
• 56:01
  Now, I always make jokes that nobody busts balls on libertarians harder than libertarians.
• 56:07
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because like I said, there's the spectrum.
• 56:10
  So you got purists and they hammer on the people who are moderate. Right.
• 56:16
  People who want to like, okay, we can work within the system.
• 56:18
  We can try to maneuver and make some changes. And there's these people that's
• 56:23
  radical. No, we got to destroy the whole thing.
• 56:27
  So, but I think Jo Jorgensen's, I hope she runs again. I'm going to vote again.
• 56:32
  Is she going to get elected? Hell no. Yeah.
• 56:35
  Is there ever going to be a libertarian at the national level?
• 56:39
  Not for, is it possible, I guess, but since 1972.
• 56:49
  Or three, that hasn't happened. But the best way in would be local.
• 56:52
  That's the way I see it. Yeah. Yeah.
• 56:55
  That's the way I see it. Reasonable people at the local levels,
• 57:00
  because that's the Democrat strategy. Yeah.
• 57:03
  Except what they do is they take big money billionaire donors and they go to select.
• 57:10
  They buy influence, right? They buy influence. So let me ask you a question of this.
• 57:13
  In this current world we have where you have lots of influencers and some of
• 57:18
  them are amazing, incredible.
• 57:21
  And you see this massive awakening that's happened. And I follow a couple people
• 57:27
  on, you know, just on Instagram, which are on all the platforms,
• 57:30
  right? I mean, they're not just on this. They're on all the platforms.
• 57:34
  And it does seem like because of information getting out there right now,
• 57:40
  which is just information's everywhere.
• 57:42
  I mean, we're not at the information age. I mean, we are at the peak of information.
• 57:48
  If you want any information. We've surpassed information. We're at the misinformation. Unbelievable.
• 57:52
  Yeah. All the information is out there.
• 57:55
  Now we're at the point where it's all being manipulated. But now there are some voices.
• 57:59
  Now there are some voices that are out there that are really,
• 58:04
  really, really powerful. Yes, they are powerful.
• 58:08
  Let's look at Rogan, for instance. Yep. Good example. Do you think Trump would
• 58:13
  have been elected without Rogan? No.
• 58:14
  I don't think so either. Yeah, I don't think so. So yeah, the influences are
• 58:17
  out there, but that's rare. The Rogan's a rarity. Yeah.
• 58:21
  There's only a couple of dudes up in that sphere.
• 58:23
  That's right. But I don't think that they are playing the left-right game.
• 58:28
  Well, I don't think Rogan is. Well, I don't think any of them are anymore.
• 58:32
  Sean Ryan's over it. I mean, you look at the three or four biggest voices,
• 58:36
  they are really fed up with the left-right system.
• 58:40
  Yeah, I concur with that to a degree.
• 58:43
  Now, by the way, talk is cheap because, I mean, once the election comes around. No, that's right.
• 58:47
  Yeah, we might find out. And then one of the social media things,
• 58:51
  the double-edged sword as well. Yes.
• 58:53
  Because once you put yourself out there and you've expressed all your opinions,
• 58:58
  then they start to get used against you later on. Yep.
• 59:02
  And I'm not at that point yet. In,
• 59:06
  2028, maybe. All 28 people that follow me. Yeah, yeah.
• 59:11
  The influencers. Yeah. If they truly had it, so it's the platform too,
• 59:16
  I think. It is platform, yeah.
• 59:19
  Because if they truly had that influence, truly, why wouldn't they run for office and do the same?
• 59:27
  I think that's the next thing, I think. I think the next thing you're going
• 59:30
  to see is some of these influencers actually go ahead and lay it all on the line.
• 59:36
  And I think that's what Tucker's getting ready to do.
• 59:39
  Maybe not him, but I think he's getting ready to go all in on,
• 59:44
  I want to change the system. Yeah.
• 59:46
  Do you think Tucker Carlson has been consistent enough over his public life?
• 59:51
  Probably not. To avoid all that scrutiny? But the thing is, though,
• 59:55
  is if you listen to Tucker, and I don't listen to him religiously,
• 59:58
  but if you listen to him, he's the hardest on himself.
• 1:00:03
  He doesn't claim to be, you know, he just claims to be a guy.
• 1:00:06
  He doesn't want – I mean, his biggest thing you've heard probably from him is,
• 1:00:13
  this war cycle has to stop. He's very anti-war.
• 1:00:18
  Well, I'm going to tell you my thing about Tucker Carlson for me.
• 1:00:22
  And it's shallow. Oh, okay.
• 1:00:25
  But when he was, I think, wasn't he on Fox News for a while?
• 1:00:28
  Yeah, he was on all of them, yeah. And every time he came on.
• 1:00:35
  He comes off like such a cunt that I want to punch him in his face.
• 1:00:39
  Whatever he's saying, it doesn't matter what he's saying.
• 1:00:42
  Yeah. He's a snarky man about him. Yeah, he does.
• 1:00:46
  And I go blank. And all I want to do is punch him in his face. Yeah.
• 1:00:51
  That's what I think about Turkle Crossing. So I never followed Turkle Crossing.
• 1:00:54
  I know a lot of people that think that same thing.
• 1:00:56
  And so there's that. And I used to think the same about Glenn Beck. Yeah.
• 1:01:01
  I would agree with some of the things that Glenn Beck had to say.
• 1:01:04
  Absolutely snarky as can be. Punch him in his face. I'll tell you the only person
• 1:01:08
  I think in the last, and I hope you agree with me on this, but if you don't, you don't.
• 1:01:14
  But the last person I think who has just been brilliant and who had zero snarkiness,
• 1:01:21
  in my opinion, was Charlie Kirk.
• 1:01:24
  So, yes, I think Charlie Kirk was legit. I don't think he was snarky.
• 1:01:28
  I think he just laid facts out and was just demonized because of the- Yeah.
• 1:01:34
  I think he was just demonized by the big machine, the left machine.
• 1:01:37
  That's right. Now, some of these people have already peaked.
• 1:01:40
  Like, I think Tucker has peaked.
• 1:01:42
  I mean, obviously, sorry, Glenn Beck fans. Glenn Beck has peaked.
• 1:01:46
  Yeah, he's- But Charlie Kirk hadn't peaked.
• 1:01:50
  He was- No, I think, yeah. Yeah. I think the reason he's dead is because he
• 1:01:55
  was like- Becoming more influential. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:57
  Because he was not all the negative things that they say. He was not those things
• 1:02:01
  if you actually listen to what he said. That's right. Yeah.
• 1:02:03
  And oh, he's so cringe, oh, this and that and the other. Oh,
• 1:02:05
  he wasn't. He just put it out there for debate, not just- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:10
  So he was more legit. He was kind and gracious. And the fact that he delivered
• 1:02:13
  it to crowds that he knew would oppose what he had to say.
• 1:02:18
  That's right. And then he made proper arguments without belittling anyone. Yeah.
• 1:02:25
  We need more good voices like that. Yeah, we need good voices like that.
• 1:02:29
  And that's just it. How do you have a good voice and not be polarizing these days?
• 1:02:35
  How do you bring the left and right? So there's the left and right. Yeah.
• 1:02:40
  I don't believe there's much of a center as far as all the media and everything goes.
• 1:02:48
  I think the reality is there's an enormous center of regular people. Yeah.
• 1:02:55
  And they just don't participate in this, the theater. I agree.
• 1:03:00
  But the optics are major left, major right. Because when those regular people
• 1:03:04
  pull up Instagram to look at motorcycles and titties and they got some hyperbole,
• 1:03:10
  check out, boom, done. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:03:13
  That's it. So how do you have a rational...
• 1:03:20
  Influential, if not charming voice to bring to the people that where you can pull in.
• 1:03:28
  I mean, that guy would be a president, right? You would have to get a guy like that. It ain't Trump.
• 1:03:34
  That's the most divisive human being on the planet.
• 1:03:37
  Well, if you think about it too, even in the beginning, right,
• 1:03:42
  with Trump, I mean, he did come across as a- He was disingenuous.
• 1:03:48
  I know. This last election, what did they do? 100%. Libertarian,
• 1:03:51
  libertarian, libertarian. Yeah.
• 1:03:54
  They lean hard into libertarian anti-establishment. They got personalities.
• 1:03:58
  Don't you think that's the system? Don't you think like the system just corrupts?
• 1:04:02
  That's the reason why it has to be more than just a people.
• 1:04:06
  The system doesn't corrupt. The system attracts corrupt people.
• 1:04:09
  Absolutely. But it cannot be a person. The hope is not in a person.
• 1:04:15
  It has to be a syndicate of people with integrity.
• 1:04:20
  Well, yeah, throw a rock out there and see how many, you know,
• 1:04:24
  see how many you hit. Right.
• 1:04:28
  We're probably going to have some kind of reset before that.
• 1:04:31
  Yeah, there's got to be some kind.
• 1:04:32
  And that's what you're saying is, yeah, it's got to be a synagogue. So that's a party. Yeah.
• 1:04:38
  So, but even in that, there's got to be somebody to bring them together.
• 1:04:43
  Hell, it took Jesus to bring people together.
• 1:04:47
  Well, okay, so let's take it to Jesus. Jesus, if you think about the coalition he had, right?
• 1:04:55
  Completely self-sacrificing. So that's what you don't have today at all.
• 1:05:00
  And won't. And you won't. Nope. You won't.
• 1:05:03
  And, you know, I have the philosophy, you know, the belief, not philosophy.
• 1:05:08
  I have the belief that it's not going to get better until Jesus returns, until the grand finale.
• 1:05:15
  Because— What gives you that belief? Well, I'll tell you the reason why.
• 1:05:18
  Why? Well, it says it in the Bible pretty much, right? No, no,
• 1:05:20
  no. I'll tell you the reason why. I think entropy.
• 1:05:23
  Everything is in an eventual state of just scientifically, and I'm not even Mr. Science Guy.
• 1:05:27
  But if you look at entropy, everything is losing energy. Everything is in a state of breaking down.
• 1:05:33
  And I think, unfortunately, I think we're just trying to control the breaking
• 1:05:38
  down of what's happening. Now, by the way, a reset probably isn't a bad thing.
• 1:05:43
  And a reset of built around ideas. If it was built around, you know,
• 1:05:47
  libertarian ideas and like, it would be great.
• 1:05:51
  But, you know, like this is a 250 year experiment that has gone good so far
• 1:05:57
  for 250 years, what we have America. And comparatively speaking,
• 1:06:01
  it's still going pretty damn good. Absolutely, it's going good.
• 1:06:03
  So we need another type of, you know, we need some bold people to be willing
• 1:06:09
  to experiment. Well, that's what I'm saying. But we're not finding any more
• 1:06:12
  continents. It takes a charismatic...
• 1:06:15
  Intelligent, charming person to do that. And who is that? Where is that person?
• 1:06:24
  There ain't one. It ain't Tucker Carlson. No, it's not. It ain't Joe Rogan.
• 1:06:29
  It sure as hell ain't Donald Trump. No.
• 1:06:32
  And I would love to say that, you know, Barron Trump could come up and become,
• 1:06:39
  but the name is already tainted. It is. The name is already tainted.
• 1:06:44
  Just like in my mind the bush name is tainted I think if I had to if I had to
• 1:06:49
  take a guess about what's going to happen and this is worth zero by the way
• 1:06:52
  this is worth less than pennies but my opinion is the pendulum's going to swing back.
• 1:07:00
  This conservative, they've, you know, they have shot themselves in the foot.
• 1:07:04
  And I think it's getting ready to swing back to someone really slick,
• 1:07:09
  who really, really, and I think it's going to be Gavin Newsom.
• 1:07:13
  No, it ain't going to be. Well.
• 1:07:15
  I think the pendulum's going to swing. I don't think that's a future clairvoyance.
• 1:07:20
  I think if you just look at the ebb and flow. Absolutely. In politics. Yeah.
• 1:07:24
  But Gavin Newsom's, speaking of tainted, if that guy ever becomes, that's it. We're done.
• 1:07:32
  We're lost as a nation. Yeah. When we've got the, people talk about Trump being
• 1:07:37
  a used car salesman. Right.
• 1:07:39
  Gavin Newsom is Trump tenfold. Let me tell you the reason, let me,
• 1:07:44
  let me make my one case for why Gavin Newsom and, and by the way,
• 1:07:49
  I'm not making a case. No, I know why.
• 1:07:51
  Yeah, go ahead. I'm making a case for why this guy is, should,
• 1:07:54
  everyone should literally be worried about him.
• 1:07:57
  Charlie Kirk, before he passed, he did a sit-down interview with Gavin Newsom.
• 1:08:02
  You can find it. It's out there. I'm familiar.
• 1:08:05
  Man, he sold him. Charlie was completely defenseless.
• 1:08:09
  He even said afterwards, he goes, I was going to get him on this.
• 1:08:12
  I was going to get him on this.
• 1:08:13
  And he was just unbelievably relatable, almost as if he puts people under a spell.
• 1:08:22
  That is scary. And there are people out there who are so good at manipulating
• 1:08:28
  that they can win over almost anyone. And I think every once in a while you
• 1:08:32
  find people like that. And I think Gavin Newsom has that ability.
• 1:08:36
  I agree. I mean, the fact after what he did in California, the guys even around
• 1:08:41
  is unbelievable. I mean, he destroyed that state. I agree.
• 1:08:45
  Man, I hope I'm wrong. I hope you're wrong, too. I think...
• 1:08:51
  I still got just an iota of faith in the American human population. Yeah.
• 1:08:57
  I don't, I think even, because in order for him to do what he does,
• 1:09:02
  it's got to be this right here. His...
• 1:09:06
  I don't think on a mass scale, everybody just as the masses watching him,
• 1:09:12
  he presents the used car.
• 1:09:15
  That guy looks, if you remember in the 80s on all the TV shows when they would
• 1:09:19
  show the caricature of the greasy car salesman. Yes. That's the guy.
• 1:09:25
  Yeah, absolutely. You're right. Yeah.
• 1:09:27
  That's the guy. Yeah. But somehow he's still around.
• 1:09:31
  Now, I tell you what I think is important. The people who have the platforms
• 1:09:34
  like the Rogans, I think they should not even platform people like,
• 1:09:40
  and this is, man, I'm like, this sounds bad because this is opposite of libertarian.
• 1:09:44
  And Joe Rogan could do whatever he wants.
• 1:09:46
  But when you know that someone is so slick like that, I think even Rogan has
• 1:09:51
  come back out and said, now, I'm not sure if I would interview Trump again because of what it did.
• 1:09:56
  It made him peer, right? And he's like, you know, I feel bad that I,
• 1:10:00
  you know, if I even helped a little bit, you know.
• 1:10:03
  Well, he did help a lot. He did. I mean, Trump was going to like MMA, UFC stuff.
• 1:10:09
  Yeah. Yeah. He didn't just interview. And he didn't give like,
• 1:10:13
  it ain't like a sort of interview where there was some challenge. Right.
• 1:10:17
  It was a homie interview. Yeah.
• 1:10:20
  Now, I don't see anything wrong with interviewing Gavin Newsom.
• 1:10:23
  If I had Gavin Newsom sitting right here, right now. You'd bust them, though.
• 1:10:28
  It'd be nonstop. I was going to say, you wouldn't let them get out of it.
• 1:10:33
  It would be nonstop. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:10:37
  It's going to be interesting to ride the next couple of years.
• 1:10:39
  Nah, it's going to be crazy. That's why local is so important.
• 1:10:42
  Yes. That's why taking care of your homestead, your people. Yeah.
• 1:10:46
  That's why your reach is so important. That's why I do these things. Yeah.
• 1:10:51
  My reach is what I care about. I care about national level stuff.
• 1:10:55
  I care about the future for my grandkids, but...
• 1:11:00
  Your impact is only so small. Yeah, right. I'm not a national level player.
• 1:11:05
  I don't have that influence.
• 1:11:07
  I can make people around me a little better.
• 1:11:11
  I can help a little bit. I can make my grandkids have a little bit of.
• 1:11:19
  What's the word I'm looking for? Manly sort of integrity and focus on- Not false humility.
• 1:11:27
  Not false bravado. So, yeah. They know their role.
• 1:11:32
  And not just because it's a traditional Christian role, but because that's nature.
• 1:11:38
  Yeah. If you reject Christianity, nature still made men, men. That's right.
• 1:11:43
  Absolutely. And men still do what men do. They protect. You had Stoics that
• 1:11:47
  were not faith-based. That's right. They were good men.
• 1:11:53
  So, yeah, I think if we operate within our influence, genuine,
• 1:11:58
  you know, without trying to manipulate for any other, like I,
• 1:12:04
  I'm always about libertarian stuff, right? With people. Right.
• 1:12:08
  But if I ever told, you know, if I ever busted your balls on politics,
• 1:12:12
  right? Like I'm throwing it out there for you. Yep.
• 1:12:16
  You can do with it what you will. Right. I do the same with Christianity. Yeah.
• 1:12:20
  And that, I don't know, you know, like I said. I've only seen you ever get preachy
• 1:12:24
  about shooting stuff. Oh, yeah.
• 1:12:27
  But the reason why is because, by the way, just to let you know,
• 1:12:30
  I do the same exact thing in my business. Yeah.
• 1:12:33
  Like, the reason I'm good at what I do is because there's a few things I'm very
• 1:12:38
  passionate about. Yeah.
• 1:12:39
  So, I think you should be strong opinion about certain things that you're opinionated about.
• 1:12:44
  Well, for me, and I know it's.
• 1:12:51
  Antithetical to say,
• 1:12:54
  I have some humility and then say, right.
• 1:12:58
  But the only thing I feel like I'm really qualified on is shooting guns,
• 1:13:03
  defense stuff, security stuff.
• 1:13:05
  Right. Everything that's on my website, I feel I'm an authoritarian. Right.
• 1:13:09
  That's why it's on my website. That's right. Because all these things I have a command of. Right.
• 1:13:15
  So I don't get preachy when it comes to libertarianism. I know a lot about it.
• 1:13:18
  Right. But knowledge is different than experience. Yeah, right.
• 1:13:21
  Right. I have 20-something years of experience in my field. Right,
• 1:13:25
  exactly. So that's the reason why I have a very strong opinion. Yeah.
• 1:13:29
  You can be passionate based upon opinion, but don't forget that whole index.
• 1:13:33
  You might be up here on Mount Stupid. You might need to come back down here. That's right.
• 1:13:37
  So that's why I avoid getting preachy about Christianity.
• 1:13:43
  Now, I have a lot of strong feelings about people who reject Christianity.
• 1:13:46
  Yeah. Not that I'm judging them, but I think why.
• 1:13:49
  I think they're confused about why they reject it.
• 1:13:52
  And I have a lot of strong feelings about libertarian politics.
• 1:13:55
  And then the things I do for a living, yeah, I feel like I'm an authority.
• 1:13:59
  I will have a conversation with anybody at any time to defend everything I do.
• 1:14:06
  And I know you don't go away from a debate on it either. You'll say,
• 1:14:09
  hey. Absolutely, 100%. Yeah, I've seen you do it.
• 1:14:12
  So, yeah, so who do we trust?
• 1:14:18
  We need somebody, right, to pull the. the less hell i don't even know man i'd,
• 1:14:24
  80 of the population's probably in the middle,
• 1:14:28
  that's a guess but yeah i think you got the fringes on either side that are
• 1:14:31
  the most vocal and i think the rest of america probably in the middle somewhere yeah,
• 1:14:38
  i think i think the big thing is economics so if you had someone come in because
• 1:14:43
  the thing that everyone feels the pressure of right now is the economy.
• 1:14:47
  And I think that by the next time the election comes around,
• 1:14:51
  economy probably won't be doing much better.
• 1:14:53
  So when you look at polls, people say economy.
• 1:14:57
  Then people vote on shit like abortion and like, you know what I'm saying?
• 1:15:01
  Yeah, but that's because those, that's how they use, that's how they manage
• 1:15:06
  people. That's how they herd people. No, I know. They herd people in the groups.
• 1:15:09
  But that's what I'm saying. Oh, I think the economy is most important.
• 1:15:13
  But then when it comes time to vote, well, I can't vote for the guy who has
• 1:15:16
  the best economic plan if he's pro-abortion.
• 1:15:19
  Or anti-abortion. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:15:23
  I'm that way where I tell people literally the thing, and by the way,
• 1:15:27
  Now that I'm becoming more mature and I'm, you know, stepping,
• 1:15:31
  you know, in the middle of my 40s,
• 1:15:33
  I don't know if I'll be using this philosophy, but for a long time,
• 1:15:37
  my philosophy was I vote on guns.
• 1:15:39
  Mine too. Yeah, but I don't know if that's the best. Well, libertarians are pro-gun.
• 1:15:48
  Absolutely. No, libertarians are pro-liberty. I have voted libertarian before
• 1:15:53
  on local level. Libertarians are pro-liberty.
• 1:15:55
  I'm not saying I'm going to vote for Joe Jorgensen, but yeah.
• 1:15:58
  Now, look, I just got finished writing up a.
• 1:16:02
  A podcast on abortion. I was going to refrain from that because I got a lot
• 1:16:07
  of lefty friends and I got a lot of Christian friends and I got my kids.
• 1:16:11
  This is going to be a long conversation. It's going to be long.
• 1:16:13
  Yeah, it's going to be long.
• 1:16:15
  And I'm, I'm going to lay it out in all the ways, but you're violating,
• 1:16:20
  you're violating a human's libertarian free will.
• 1:16:24
  Or are you violating a human by murdering them? That's what I'm saying.
• 1:16:27
  You're, you are, you are, if you're a true libertarian, The question all comes
• 1:16:30
  down to what you choose to acknowledge when life starts. Yeah, 100%.
• 1:16:36
  And. But even looking at potential, even if you were to look at,
• 1:16:40
  hey, that is going to be a person. Yeah.
• 1:16:44
  You can, that's easy. You can make stuff up.
• 1:16:49
  Yeah, but you know what that's going to be. You know. Oh, yeah,
• 1:16:51
  yeah. It's like the Bill Burge. To me.
• 1:16:53
  Like you pull the cake out of the oven. No, to me. That was going to be a cake.
• 1:16:57
  To me, it's an obvious answer.
• 1:16:58
  Yeah. But anyway, we'll get into it. Yeah, it's a heavy one.
• 1:17:02
  It's a long ass. Oh, gosh. Oh, my God. Yeah.
• 1:17:07
  Go pull in an expert for that one. Here's the thing. Well, I wish I had somebody
• 1:17:11
  I could, but here's the thing is I've got lefty friends and I've got righty
• 1:17:16
  friends. I've got trans friends. I've got all kind of weird friends.
• 1:17:19
  Yeah, you do have some weird friends. And the thing is, once I throw my opinion out to the world...
• 1:17:25
  They're still going to be my friends because that's the type of friends I have.
• 1:17:28
  Yeah, that's real friends. Right? That's good.
• 1:17:31
  I don't have a friend. Well, if you, one guy on my Facebook,
• 1:17:35
  who's the brother of a friend of mine.
• 1:17:38
  So me and him follow each other too. We talked about that. If you support the
• 1:17:42
  cops in any way, shape, form, or fashion, unfollow me, you fucking piece of shit.
• 1:17:48
  I don't want to hear it. I don't care. If you support the cops,
• 1:17:50
  you're a part of the problem. Unfriend me. Yeah.
• 1:17:54
  That's, well, me and him weren't homies anyway, but I'm just saying that's a
• 1:17:59
  childish way to look at things. Yeah.
• 1:18:01
  You know, childish way to look at things. A true friend is loyal.
• 1:18:05
  That is. Right. And by the way, he can also, that loyal friend can say,
• 1:18:09
  dude, you're in the wrong.
• 1:18:11
  But that true friend is not going to drop you. I have two people that come to mind right now.
• 1:18:15
  One of them, like I said, he has probably stepped into the role of my close three, right?
• 1:18:21
  Two of them come to mind right now. two or three of them come to mind.
• 1:18:24
  And the reason why I would say they're in my top three is literally because of loyalty.
• 1:18:30
  Now, by the way, not loyalty to Will's right.
• 1:18:34
  Heck no. They know Will is not right. They know I make mistakes all the time.
• 1:18:39
  And a lot of times I get a lot of things wrong, but loyalty to being there for
• 1:18:46
  me and caring and not cutting you off.
• 1:18:49
  A good friend won't cut you all that's right so i got a story on that.
• 1:18:54
  I used to be a bike messenger a long time ago and i was a partner of mine who
• 1:19:00
  was a messenger we were both he was a former ranger he jumped into panama and
• 1:19:04
  all that he got out of the army,
• 1:19:08
  he had a negative experience i mean he did the thing and he was,
• 1:19:12
  jumped into panama killed panamanians.
• 1:19:16
  I think that scarred him a little bit, but anyway, he got out of the army,
• 1:19:20
  started going to college to be a journalist.
• 1:19:22
  That's great. And while he was going to college to be a journalist,
• 1:19:24
  he was a bike messenger. I was a bike messenger and me and him became homies.
• 1:19:29
  And we'd go to Stein Club, drink beers almost every night after work. His wife hated me.
• 1:19:36
  Me and my wife weren't married yet and we lived separately. She hated me too.
• 1:19:43
  But anyway, Drew is his name. I won't say his last name, but Drew.
• 1:19:48
  Me and Drew were good homies.
• 1:19:50
  We drank and fight with other people.
• 1:19:53
  Ride bikes in the wee hours of the morning. That's awesome. Wake up in weird
• 1:19:57
  spots. Well, you know, all the things.
• 1:20:01
  And over the years, I went back in the army. I tried to talk him into going back in the army with me.
• 1:20:08
  Anyway, I went back in. And then multiple years later, I was in Germany, Green Beret already.
• 1:20:15
  And he happened to be in Germany writing a story.
• 1:20:19
  He worked for like Knights Ritter. He worked for like Stars and Stripe.
• 1:20:22
  He worked for different outlets.
• 1:20:26
  And he was in Germany doing something. So we got together, hung out.
• 1:20:29
  Well, years later, we were in Atlanta, you know, went and hung out at the Claremont
• 1:20:34
  Lounge and had beers and reminisced.
• 1:20:37
  And we were good buddies, man. And then on the social medias,
• 1:20:41
  man, over time, you know, he started drifting like hard left on politics. Yeah.
• 1:20:48
  And I would bust his, like I do. Yeah. I'd just bust his boss.
• 1:20:52
  Yeah. Or I'd make jokes. He'd say something, blah, blah, blah.
• 1:20:55
  I'd make a joke on it. Yeah. Be done with it.
• 1:20:58
  So that went on for a while, and one day, man, he hit me up,
• 1:21:05
  and he's like, you know, just don't.
• 1:21:08
  Delete my number. Yeah, that's it. Oh, I hate that.
• 1:21:12
  And I was like, over politics? Like, it's just, you're rude about it.
• 1:21:17
  You know, every time I put something on, you do a clown emoji or something.
• 1:21:22
  Like, Drew, you're eliminating a decades-long friendship over politics. Yeah.
• 1:21:28
  He went so hard left. And that's what hard left does. Yeah.
• 1:21:31
  Yeah. Hard right, too. Well, hard right, too. They put you—you have to toe the line. That's right.
• 1:21:36
  You have to toe—you have to be pure dogma. Yeah.
• 1:21:42
  No crossover, heaven forbid. Conversation stops on the far extremes. Yeah, man. Yeah.
• 1:21:49
  And he cut me off, and it hurt me deep. Yeah. It hurt me deep.
• 1:21:54
  And I was like, man, good friendships can get past a disagreement.
• 1:21:58
  Yeah. And I thought we were that. Yeah, absolutely. By the way,
• 1:22:02
  you probably were until he got pulled so far to the polarizing level.
• 1:22:06
  He just got pulled so hard. Absolutely.
• 1:22:07
  My mom lives in Germany and she is a pretty, I mean, she's maybe the most anti-Trump
• 1:22:13
  I've ever met a human, ever.
• 1:22:16
  And so, of course, you know, over the years, I have, you know.
• 1:22:21
  I don't know where I land right now, right? Like you said, I'm probably somewhere
• 1:22:27
  in the middle right now where I believe that we need to continue having the conversation.
• 1:22:31
  But my mom is over here on the far left.
• 1:22:34
  She's my mom. I mean, the Bible says, honor your father and your mother.
• 1:22:38
  That's a non-negotiable, right? Right.
• 1:22:41
  Like, there is not anything in the world that can cut off that conversation between me and her.
• 1:22:47
  Now, there's some things we don't talk about, but our love for each other,
• 1:22:52
  which, by the way, that's really what friendship is. It's based upon mutual
• 1:22:55
  love and respect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I have mutual love and respect,
• 1:22:58
  and also, too, she's my mom. Yeah. There's deep, deep-seated love.
• 1:23:02
  But how many times do people get petty and do that?
• 1:23:06
  Like, how many people cut off? That is not, that is not, there is no hope for that.
• 1:23:13
  So every American who's listening to this that is cutting off people because
• 1:23:17
  of their views, you were part of the problem. No, that is a problem.
• 1:23:21
  You cannot have, you cannot even, you can't have the conversation anymore.
• 1:23:25
  And not only the views, but especially when it's centered around just a personality. Oh, absolutely.
• 1:23:31
  Yeah, Trump's a divisive person. Absolutely.
• 1:23:34
  Like him or hate him. Yeah. He's going to be gone soon. Yeah.
• 1:23:37
  Yeah, he is. And now you've lost a friend. That's great. That's so true.
• 1:23:42
  But we don't look past that. Oh, dude, there's so much wisdom in what you just
• 1:23:45
  said. It's horrible. Yeah, you're right. And a mystery.
• 1:23:51
  Same thing with the freaking football team. People do the same thing over team.
• 1:23:54
  Oh, don't you, you know, you got this jersey on. We do the same exact thing.
• 1:23:58
  You know, don't you even talk about that team around me.
• 1:24:01
  We do the same thing. But you're right. Like that's these these bonds and friendships
• 1:24:06
  have to be way. I mean, you have to have the long game in the picture.
• 1:24:10
  I got I got a funny little anecdote to what you just said was was wisdom.
• 1:24:16
  A friend of mine, well, his name was Clint. Anyway, we went through the Q course together.
• 1:24:20
  We went through training together up to, he went to the Q course before.
• 1:24:24
  Anyway, we were sitting at the brew house. What was the name of the place in
• 1:24:29
  Fayetteville? Anyway, it was like a brew pub thing.
• 1:24:32
  And he was meeting a girl. He was single.
• 1:24:36
  And he was kind of hipster. And at this time, this was way back.
• 1:24:39
  He had his pants rolled up, cuffed a little bit.
• 1:24:42
  And the girl comes in, you know, smoke show, hot, sits down.
• 1:24:45
  And she giggles and says something about his pants.
• 1:24:50
  And he was like.
• 1:24:53
  And I say, Clint, if you roll those pants down, I'll bust your balls.
• 1:24:59
  Don't let a woman dictate your fashion. She's going to be gone soon.
• 1:25:03
  I'm going to be here forever.
• 1:25:05
  He was like, you know what? You're right. That's good. And she'd look at me
• 1:25:09
  all pissy. That's good. She lasted a couple of weeks.
• 1:25:12
  Yeah, that's good. That's good.
• 1:25:15
  Yeah, what's permanent in your life? Right. You're willing to cut that loose?
• 1:25:19
  Absolutely. Over because Trump's an asshole?
• 1:25:22
  Yeah, so true. Golly, man.
• 1:25:25
  Well, I'll even throw the faith thing in there too.
• 1:25:27
  Mama, even though she's a raging anti-Trump or whatever, she's a Christian.
• 1:25:32
  She loves the Lord. So if I was to throw the eternal aspect on it,
• 1:25:34
  talking about permanent.
• 1:25:36
  So the faith aspect makes things go from pretty permanent, what looks like lifespan, right?
• 1:25:42
  But when you throw the faith thing in there, it throws a whole other thing of
• 1:25:46
  true permanence because, you know, we believe in being with the Lord after life.
• 1:25:51
  Well, that's just it. It's all so much deeper than just politics.
• 1:25:54
  Absolutely. Politics is the thing that divides people so much.
• 1:25:57
  So we got to learn to take it for what it is.
• 1:26:02
  Yeah, I think two-party system sucks. It's not going to ruin my life.
• 1:26:07
  Do you know what I mean? You're not going to separate from a friend based on
• 1:26:08
  that. It may attempt to curtail my rights here and there or whatever,
• 1:26:13
  but ultimately it's not going to ruin my life.
• 1:26:16
  Yeah. Two-party politics is not going to ruin my life. No.
• 1:26:19
  Losing a friend, that chips away at my life a little bit. Yeah,
• 1:26:22
  yeah, you're right. Absolutely. So, yeah, there's that.
• 1:26:26
  That's good. All right, buddy. Final word. We're in about an hour and a half.
• 1:26:29
  That's crazy. That's good. Been an easy conversation.
• 1:26:32
  The way it should be. Oh, man. What are you going on?
• 1:26:35
  What you got? Final wisdoms for the world. Oh, like I said, the 28 people that listen.
• 1:26:40
  Final wisdoms. Man, I would just say, just be a good friend.
• 1:26:43
  Just simple. Just be a good friend. You know, if you're looking for good friends,
• 1:26:47
  just be a good friend. That's it. I think this world, I think we just need to
• 1:26:51
  find some good homies to do life with.
• 1:26:54
  Just be a good friend. You know, find things that unite.
• 1:26:57
  You know, you're going to find things, I think, unite around common beliefs. Yeah.
• 1:27:01
  And they can't be just interest. Interests are one thing, but beliefs are rooted in conviction.
• 1:27:07
  So even talking about libertarianism, that's more than an idea,
• 1:27:13
  right? Those are some deep-held beliefs.
• 1:27:16
  So I think when you—interest are important, by the way, but there will be a
• 1:27:20
  time where you don't go to the gym.
• 1:27:22
  That's an interest. Fitness is a little more. There are some ideas behind it.
• 1:27:26
  So if you can meet with people and have your, you guys have common held beliefs,
• 1:27:32
  that's going to make true, good, long lasting friendships.
• 1:27:36
  Yeah, and it transcends the hot topics. Yeah, mutual respect for each other.
• 1:27:40
  And man, don't cut a friend off.
• 1:27:42
  I mean, we can all think about people and we can probably also think about ways
• 1:27:46
  that we have been, you know, man, I just can't talk to that person anymore.
• 1:27:50
  Well, come on, put a little effort into it. Okay. Yeah.
• 1:27:56
  Just be a good homie. Yeah. Be a good homie. All right, man.
• 1:28:00
  That's a good takeaway. That's good. Be a good homie. Yeah.
• 1:28:03
  All right. Well, thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.
• 1:28:06
  Yeah, man. It's been a pretty good one.
• 1:28:09
  Good people. Thank you so much for listening. As always, go to all the websites,
• 1:28:15
  OspreyShoeSolutions.com.
• 1:28:17
  That is now the central hub for firearms training, security consulting,
• 1:28:23
  and leadership and teamwork development.
• 1:28:26
  And then, of course, there's thejutoepodcast.com. And then if you feel so charitable,
• 1:28:31
  please consider giving to givesingo.com backslash helpahomeyfund,
• 1:28:39
  so that we can help those in immediate need around in our reach.
• 1:28:45
  All right, good people. Thanks so much for listening. I love you.