Latest / Conversations With the Hoff / The Hoff Knows Prosperity (w Brady Bowyer of AFP)

Transcript

The Hoff Knows Prosperity (w Brady Bowyer of AFP) · Conversations With the Hoff

• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: Pull up a chair.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Lean in close.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Got a question.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to Conversations with the Hoff.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Steve Hoffman, your host, and with me in the studio today is the executive director of Liberty Crack Media, Trip Detmering.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_05: Hey everybody.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: And also we have a repeat call-in guest today, Brady Boyer, and he's the director of grassroots operations for Americans for Prosperity, South Carolina.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yay! Yeah, Brady was on.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: How's it going?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_05: How are you doing there, Brady?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_05: Doing well.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_05: Seems like I just talked to you last April.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_05: We you were on the show in April, and we talked about how it's very difficult for small businesses in the South Carolina to be competitive with our neighboring states.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_05: Lots of issues there.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_05: But uh today we're going to talk about uh other activities that that are going on within the uh American for Prosperity as well as the small business situation.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_05: So welcome to the show, Brady, and uh what have you been doing since we last talked?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, um I've got a a good update for y'all, and I apologize if I'm getting ahead of myself here, but um, yeah, if you for anybody who listened to to our show uh several months ago, the Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act, uh, House Bill 3021 actually did end up getting passed through the state legislature signed by the governor, right?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, late well, actually, I was gonna say late last session.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually after session ended.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of those um bills that that had to go through the um overtime.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: They call it concurrency process or whatnot, where yeah, it was actually getting passed around between the chambers after the official end of session, and um, I believe ended up getting signed by the governor.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think we were probably actually into July by that point.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, huge huge victory.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_05: Huge victory.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: So was it a a real um reform act, or did the special interest get in there and kind of water it down as they normally do?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we were able to get, I would say that the bill had kind of four major reforms, and we got the two that that we at AFP thought were most impactful, um remained untouched.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, we're coming back for another bite at the apple.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what we actually got passed uh in the final form of the bill was we got um legislative review modeled after the the the RAINS Act at the federal level.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So any new regulations with an economic impact of a million dollars or more are going to have to be voted on by the state legislature.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: That was the the big reform that that we really wanted because so often, you know, you show up to complain to a politician about you know a regulation that's stifling you or your business, your your freedom, um, and they say, like, well, you know, listen, that's uh I hear you, and I wish I could do something about that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not something we did.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's those pesky bureaucrats.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're actually we're actually gonna be able to hold these folks accountable because these new costly regulations aren't going to be able to just be passed willy-nilly with the snap of a bureaucrat's fingers.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the legislature's actually gonna have to give it an up or down vote.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that was one thing.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number two was uh we got rid of um judicial deference, sha chevron deference, essentially, yeah, um, at the state level.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: But we're coming back for another bite at the apple, hopefully on um sunsets.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that ended up getting stripped out of the bill, as well as the the two for one provision where it's you know they've got to propose two regulations to remove for every new one they want to add.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it sounds like a success, definitely.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_05: But as I always say, the fight for limited government, individual, and economic freedom is never over.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta keep pushing, pushing, pushing.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_05: And uh AFP is just a kind of organization that will do just that.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_05: So, Brady, tell us a little bit about the history of Americans for Prosperity.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um AFP, we've been around for um over 20 years.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um we are active in really we're we're to some extent active in all 50 states, but we actually uh are staffed up um and and have you know folks like myself on the ground um in between 30 to 40 states.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um there are some places where legally it's just kind of hard for us to operate where they put in you know these um donor disclosure rules, which is one thing that we're actually trying to fight here in South Carolina.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um there was uh a bill that got introduced last session um that would have really just messed with people's privacy rights um and and the privacy rights of organizations like ours, uh essentially making it so that, you know, let's say you had a local, let's say you you belonged to a church and you had a chili cook-off and you had uh, you know, your local state representative or somebody come judge your chili cook-off.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they would have actually had to um expose all of their donors if they were to take an ad out in the paper and say, you know, first Baptist chili cook-off, you know, judged by state representative John Doe.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're trying to fight that kind of stuff um here in South Carolina because we know that while folks like you and I will go out, you know, do radio shows like this and be very, you know, loud and bold about our our opinions and our beliefs.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: There are some folks who, you know, they're just trying to get by, work a corporate job or something like that, where maybe you know their employer doesn't necessarily align with their values, and they don't want for it to be exposed when they were to donate to an organization like Americans for the government.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the the establishment uniparty is trying to stifle all opposition.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_05: And one of the things they try to do in our legislature was if you're a vocal uh uh person who's an activist, they try to uh make you a lobbyist.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_05: And now you're a lobbyist, you have to file all this paperwork with the state.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_05: So it's their way of trying to stifle opposition, definitely.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: And you're a 501c4 nonprofit organization.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_05: Correct.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_05: And legally you should not have to identify who your donors are.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_05: That's part of the 501c4.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a a big issue for us.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um one of the things that we're trying to tackle um next session is currently there is no law um saying that you know we have to disclose our our donors or anything like that.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we're trying to get it enshrined into state law um actually saying that the the government can't come after us and uh you know seek this kind of information.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_05: Are you getting any support from the uh legislative freedom caucus?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we are.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Jordan Pace, uh chair of the State Freedom Caucus.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um he actually used to work for Americans for Prosperity South.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: I I I was uh I got him the we were gonna volunteer to uh do door knocking for a particular campaign up here in Ory County.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I I I know Jordan.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we um uh largely in in the state house um our kind of side of things on this issue has great support.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um unfortunately, like most things, um it's the the state senate that's kind of our our problem child here in South Carolina on that issue.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um unfortunately my my senator Sean Bennett um here in Dorchester County actually was the one who filed the bill um that would have had really strict, significant um, you know, disclosure of of donors, like I said, even down to a potentially a church if they were to you know have a um a state representative or someone speak at their church and they they advertise the event or something like that.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then everybody who tithes to that church would would be um you know exposed out for whoever to to look up and and dox or whatever.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, it was it was him, it was Sean Bennett, my senator, um, who filed that bill.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um but two of y'all's up there in in Ori County, um Luke Rank and and Greg Hembry uh co-sponsored that piece of legislation.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_05: So they're the epitome of the progressive Republican that we have in the state legislature right now.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Progressive Democrats running as Republicans.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, here in South Carolina, um, to a large extent, I think that's just kind of the culture that we have.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is um, you know, we had these kind of old school Democrats like uh Luke Rankin and in in office when they realized that the the state was going red.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so they switched parties, but they never actually switched their beliefs and what what it is that they stand for the way it is that they vote.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we've we've got people like to talk about Republicans in name only.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there you go.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_05: But a lot of them.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_05: So so you when you were founded, you were founded by uh some uh libertarian type of guys.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Charles and his late and late uh David Koch Koch brothers.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's um that that's true, and and Charles at least, you know, David, of course, um as folks know, you know, passed several years ago.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, Charles is still um around.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't, you know, hold a uh, you know, it's it's not like when I go get on my computer and I I look up uh you know the the the org org chart and everything.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, Charles Koch up there at the top.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um largely he just kind of acts as a donor um these days.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say it is a common misconception that people think that he's our only donor.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um definitely not.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um Americans for Prosperity has thousands of donors, um, big and small, all throughout the country.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And uh you honestly could go and donate yourself if you were to go to the AFP website.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_05: So and your your current CEO is Emily Seidel, and the board chairman is now Mark Holden.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: So so you're right.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: You can't just say, well, that's the Koch brother organization, and you know, they're a bunch of crazies.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: So one good thing.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's anything wrong.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we love Charles, and um obviously, you know, you you speaking to a libertarian audience here.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you go back even further uh from you know through Americans for prosperity's here uh history, we actually our organization um first came out of a uh split of a organization called Citizens for a Sound Economy, uh way back in you know the early 2000s, um, I believe it was late 90s, early 2000s.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the chair of that organization uh was former Congressman Ron Paul.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_05: Ah, there you go.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh going back to 1980, also, uh David Koch was the vice presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Under um Ed Ed Clark was the presidential nominee at that time.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_05: So you definitely have a limited government, individual and economic freedom uh routes to your organization.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that to this day um is what we're fighting for on pretty much every issue, you know, whether it comes to regulatory reform, um, tax reform, we were also able to get passed last year um a cut to the state income tax, uh, and and built into that bill as well, actually, was the mechanisms that we need to eventually be able to get our state income tax um down to uh 1.99% flat tax and then eventually to complete elimination.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's our goal to make sure that that happens in the next five years, 10 years tops.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're gonna be working to hold the state legislature accountable for conservative budgets so that we're able to uh move towards that goal of elimination.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_05: The last budget is not very uh telling, is not very uh encouraging as far as uh limiting the state budget.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_05: It's been growing exponentially.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_05: And a lot a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse, a lot of what do they call it, uh, earmarks and stuff like that.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_05: They're like drunken sailors, they just spend, spend, spend.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and again, it c that it kind of goes back to like I was saying, that that old South mentality of um, you know, we've we've got to get ours.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for for so long, South Carolina wasn't the kind of state that was, you know, booming economically and and growing in prosperity and and everything.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And people, even people who you know might fancy themselves, you know, conservatives, or at least not big government folks, you know, certainly not socialists.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, for for their small town and struggling backwater South Carolina, um, you know, the only way that they were going to, you know, build the new community center or whatever was to get an earmark from the state budget.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so that kind of mentality still unfortunately exists in a lot of South Carolina today.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um where it's you know, you got these people.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, they they don't consider themselves socialists, they don't consider themselves big government folks.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a politician's worth uh is kind of in in in many ways based upon their ability to bring home the bacon, you know, back to their district or whatever.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we're just trying to get away from that sort of mentality and and show that every community um with the right set of policy in place is going to be able to thrive, to bring in new business, bring in new revenue, and um you know, grow and and be the kind of place where kids don't want to leave and and move to to Charleston or Greenville or something.
• 16:57
  unknown: Right.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you talked about socialism.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_05: I talk about the progressive agenda all the time.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_05: And AF AFC now, AFP is also um starting to fight the uh the new um love affair with socialism that that Americans seem to be having right these days.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and it's definitely a threat.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's definitely an existential threat to our American way of life.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_05: Can you go ahead and tell us a few things about what AFP is doing to fight socialism?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um if anybody wants to learn uh more about what AFP is doing to fight socialism, you can actually go to fight socialism.org.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um that is the uh the website that we've created um to kind of talk about our efforts on that front.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, we're taking on the socialists head on in the in the arena of the narrative.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's unfortunately we have reached such a a bad place economically in this country where especially young folks, um you know, folks maybe my age and and younger, I'm you know, a millennial, a few years off of being Gen Z.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like my wife's younger brother is is Gen Z, I think he's 29.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, younger millennials, Gen Z especially, we're it's tough to be able to get ahead in in today's economy with you know like housing prices the way they are and everything.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when, you know, history, it's it's been this way all throughout history.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: When the economy gets tough, people seek radical solutions.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are out there trying to make the the case to people, especially young people, um, as you'll see in polling that you know they especially have a a bent towards socialism.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um that hey, yes, we understand that um things aren't great right now for you.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well what they don't understand.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: We do need radical solutions, but socialism is not the answer.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and the way the reason we're we have such high inflation and things are so expensive is because of the progressive nature of both the Republicans and the Democrats in Congress.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_05: They can't keep spending, spending, spending and expect your dollar to be worth more.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_05: When you do that, you have inflation and your dollar is worth less, and everything gets it gets more expensive.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_05: So it's government.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_05: Government spending is probably the primary reason that things are more expensive today.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_05: Also, the the uh other uh area is the uh Federal Reserve.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_05: The fact that Congress can go ahead and spend as much as they want, they don't have to worry about it because the Federal Reserve would just go ahead and print the money.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_05: Print, print, print.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah exactly.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: If we if we had a a currency that was actually backed by anything, you know, we we wouldn't be able to um have the the spending disease that this country has.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and yes, unfortunately, um politicians and in both parties, um you know, whenever we talk about a compromise, the compromise seems to be well, we'll give you more money for the welfare state if we get more money for the warfare state, or vice versa.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the kind of compromise that they make, and and the American people suffer as a result.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I know a little bit, the Hoff knows a little bit about socialism.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_05: My last two episodes, uh, I did a deep dive into the Democratic Socialists of America platform, and uh I tell you, it's nothing but bad news for the American way of life.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_05: Matter of fact, they want to totally rewrite our Constitution and do away with our current constitutional republic.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_05: Isn't that wonderful?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yesterday um for for Constitution Day, um, we we held an event in um in in Manning in Clarendon County.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_04: Ooh.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that was part of the you know message that we were trying to discuss there was at this point, we sorry, my other phone's ringing in the background.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it at this point, you know, these people are openly hostile to our our constitution.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you look at our constitution, the um the document that our our founders devised, what it lays out is separation of powers.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the whole purpose behind that was so that we didn't didn't have too much power concentrated in any one individual or any one body of government.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they they wanted to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial powers separate.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: The democratic socialists or or any kind of socialists, because let's be real, the democratic socialists are um just socialists who claim that they want to arrive there by nonviolence.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um but ultimately that's what they want, is they do want a centralization of government power.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want checks and balances, they they don't want limits on state power.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: They want for these politicians, these you know, oligarchs to be able to just wave a magic wand and willy-nilly be able to uh implement some kind of law or regulation or what have you, um, without anybody able to say, hold up a minute, no, that doesn't fit within the framework of what this country was designed to be.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the history of socialism, it eventually it evolves to a dictatorship.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_05: I mean Stalin and and the and the USSR, um uh Mugabe and um the Zimbabwe and Cuba with Castro, it eventually just becomes a yes, you have a legislature or a Congress, but all of the decisions are made by uh the dictator.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: You look like North Korea where everybody claps in unison when the glorious leader speaks.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, glorious leader.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: You you've also got in that uh website, you've got a uh actual download where people can read it and actually learn how to fight socialism.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's called the Fight Socialism Playbook.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_05: And uh it it talks about what the socialists are proposing, uh why it's failed in the past, and what free market alternatives are available to give us the same things that they want.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you know better housing, right?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_05: Well, free market alternatives are better than the uh than the housing complexes that the government controls, you know, that that quickly turn into rat rat-infested uh crime-ridden uh housing complexes.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and housing, you know, I touched on this a little bit earlier um when talking about how housing is one of several ways, probably the most significant way in in which government has made life tougher for you know the younger generations.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um and is here in South Carolina that issue is pretty prominent and and becoming more so, unfortunately, yeah, as more folks move to the state.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we're not really meeting the demand for housing.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: We've got people coming from you know New York and and uh other other places where they're coming with uh a fair amount more money than maybe the average South Carolinian has, and people are getting pushed out of their communities um through the housing market because the the housing supply is not keeping up with um demand, and thus you see these rising prices and you know historic neighborhoods in places like Charleston, um where people have lived for generations, you know, now going into the hands of transplants from New York or whoever, people getting pushed out of their own neighborhoods, not being able to live in the place where they want to live, or or even their family has historically.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we're working on um permitting reform, several other uh avenues, free market avenues, to ensure that housing is um more accessible to South Carolinians, especially young South Carolinians.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_05: What I also like about your fight is that you've formed some alliances, you've aligned with the Libra Initiative, which is kind of the uh Hispanic community conservative movement, uh headed by Daniel Garza.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_05: And I've actually met Daniel Garza one in my days when I was when I was with the Republican Liberty Caucus.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_05: We we met at one of the conventions, and you gotta watch his YouTube videos.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_05: They're fantastic.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_05: You know, first person of accounts of people who have lived under communism and tell you how it really sucks.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_05: He he he brings it home, he brings the message home.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you've also uh aligned yourself with conservative veterans of America, and hopefully I'll have uh one of those individuals on my show in a couple of weeks.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's conservative veterans of America is actually uh not just aligned, they're they're part of uh the same organization.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, right.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, the the Libre Initiative and and Concerned Veterans for America, um, they do kind of exist in the same um ecosystem under the same umbrella as Americans for Prosperity.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: For for example, um here in South Carolina, uh we're we don't have a large enough Hispanic population to have a uh a Libre chapter here in South Carolina.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um but we do have a couple staff here in South Carolina uh with concerned veterans for America.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, when we have our our weekly team call and everything, um Adam Yankee and Jen DePew, shout out Jen, uh lives there and based there in the Myrtle Beach area, um, you know, get plugged in with her, they're on the same um, you know, team meetings and everything as us.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we are working together, planning together, and a lot of folks, um, speaking, you know, just very quickly about CVA, um, concerned Veterans for America, a lot of people aren't necessarily familiar with that brand because they haven't really focused much on state issues in the past.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they their mission has been pretty federally focused, but um, they're taking a big leap into uh the the arena at the state level.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I know um their uh strategic director here in South Carolina, Adam Yankee, he wants to take a big push against this flock camera invasion that we have going on throughout the country, but here in South Carolina right now, we've seen some you know, municipalities push back, um, you know, O'Coney County and um some other places like that.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, that's a place where we're um excited to see our our our brothers in arms that concern veterans for America take a big step into the arena um to help ensure that you know we're not living in some kind of police state where your every move is uh watched and recorded by the government.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: Well, very good.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, let's move on a little bit here.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um you you talked about your successes in the state legislature.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_05: What are your upcoming priorities for the next legislative session?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um it's a long list, right?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I touched on some of them already.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, going back to to finish the job on uh regulatory reform, um, you know, deflocking South Carolina.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_05: Um yeah, they can learn more about that on my one of my episodes with a defrock conversation uh for South Carolina.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_05: One of the conversations about it.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, about two months ago.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we're also trying to go back, finish the job on um school choice uh to help ensure that you know we take the cap off of school choice as far as how many kids can uh you know benefit from that and um you know ensure that we have a universal school choice for for so that every child in South Carolina, rather than having to um, you know, join a lottery system uh to decide whether or not they get to attend the school that works for them.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_05: I know there's been a lot of controversy about this the school choice initiatives where it's really not school choice, it's more government-directed school choice.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_05: Have you heard that too?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um in in a lot of places, yes.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um here in South Carolina, uh the the law that we have written has very strict you know guardrails in place to ensure that um the fed or sorry, the the state government is not allowed to um go and meddle in the affairs of some of these private schools.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll shout out um uh I live in Dorchester County and I'll shout out a member of our uh Dorchester County legislative delegation, um, Tom Fernandez.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yes, he's a new newly elected senator.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and he actually um when the the bill that we have here in South Carolina today for school choice, um, you know, there was some kind of weird backdoor stuff when it was introduced.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: And Tom got in there, found and exposed um like a provision that had these um like wellness checks, I think they called them, where you know, some kind of state bureaucrat um come into into the schools um and you know check on like the the children who were um you know in these private schools or or whatever through the use of um our uh through the use of the uh education scholarship fund.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Tom found that and exposed that and that got ripped out real quick.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there definitely are ways in which, you know, um, yeah, and another thing we gotta keep written laws.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_05: Gotta keep her eye on one other thing, too, and that's to make sure that government has no say whatsoever in homeschooling.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_05: Because once they get their foot in the door in homeschooling, uh all these kids that have been getting a great education, independent education from their parents or from other online curriculum, pretty soon the government's gonna get in there and it's gonna turn from education to a little bit of indoctrination.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's yeah, um, you know, just just like our public schools, right?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and I will say AFP is a hundred and ten percent committed to um not just passing the policies we support for the sake of, you know, claiming that we got a win or something.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, yes, when it comes to school choice, being vigilant to ensure that nothing, you know, no poison pills are written into these laws that give big government uh, you know, backdoor access into private schools or the lives of homeschoolers.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Same goes with our um, you know, initiative to eliminate the state income tax.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the most common objection that I hear from folks is well, why would we want to eliminate the state income tax?
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're just they're just gonna get it from somewhere, right?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna raise our property taxes, they're gonna raise our sales tax or what have you.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: We are 110% committed as an organization to eliminating South Carolina's state income tax without making up for it, quote unquote, anywhere else.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't want to trade one tax for another.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: We want to eliminate the state income tax and help families be able to prosper here in South Carolina.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_05: Well, who would build the roads?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because government's doing such a great job of that here in South Carolina.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Especially in South Carolina.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so the uh obviously uh AFP in South Carolina is definitely one of the primary um activists that you know sh try for a limited government, individual, and economic freedom.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_05: So in your role, what what can folks do to get involved and help the uh AFP out in their activities?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um that's one of the great things about our organization is there's a lot of organizations out there who believe what we believe.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they may do some of the things that that we do.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: They may lobby in the legislature, they may endorse candidates and support them, things like that.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what the real difference maker is for Americans for Prosperity is we are a grassroots army.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know when it comes to our decision to say endorse a candidate or something, um we won't go in and endorse a candidate unless we have a grassroots network in that area of folks who would be able to knock doors, make phone calls, so on and so forth for that endorsed candidate.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we also during legislative session, um while we do have, you know, a member of our staff who kind of serves as like a paid lobbyist there under the dome, what we pride ourselves most of all on is we will actually bring folks to the Capitol for some organized legislative days where we go and connect citizens with their legislators.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we set up meetings so that we can discuss, you know, whatever the issue that we're working on is.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that grassroots identity really lends a lot of legitimacy to our organization that um a lot of folks just don't have.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because anybody can, you know, have money, right?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, run some ads and have some paid lobbyists under the dome.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: But when you bring actual everyday folks, the the grassroots of South Carolina to the Capitol, um, that's where the difference is made.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to be part of that grassroots army, if anybody listening wants to be part of that grassroots army, um, that's ensuring that we elect um pro-freedom, limited government folks, and then hold them accountable there at the state legislature, uh, you know, between January and May when they're in session, um, shoot me an email.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say um my email address is B Boyer, that's B B O W Y E R at AFP HQ.org.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if any of your listeners want to get involved, um just shoot me an email and tell me what it is that you're interested in.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: I only uh scratch the surface of our legislative agenda um for the upcoming year.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be taking on um taking on the big power companies and and their monopolies, uh trying to inject some free market solutions into that and lower our energy bills.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um the list goes on.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, judicial reform, getting rid of the judicial merit selection committee, and uh not having lawyer legislators decide uh who our judges are.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a lot that we intend to dive into this session.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: So shoot me an email and tell me what you're interested in.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's great, because the only way our politicians are going to change if there's massive grassroots support for change, and it's it's organizations like AFP that will or that are the future for making changes in South Carolina for more limited government and for freedom of choice.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_05: That's the AFP.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_05: So we definitely need more volunteers.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_05: Um but the thing is the fight for limited government, individual and economic freedom, as I said before, is never open.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh AFP, you're you got future priorities for defracking South Carolina, for protecting persons' right to work, continuing to reduce small business regulatory burdens, and expanding universal school choice.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_05: So you're definitely working hard, and I hope our listeners will uh take your advice and uh call up and volunteer for for your activities.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_05: And uh I also uh wrote down the website here where they can go to sc.americansfority.org and can they volunteer from that that website?
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there is a uh a contact us form on that website.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um same as if you were to email me.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: I get notified anytime that somebody fills out that contact us form.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so if you want to go that route as well, um, yeah, fill fill out that form and I will be in touch.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, Brady.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_05: Uh next week I have a person on my show who's running for the first congressional district in South Carolina named Bill Reeside.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_05: And Bill Reeside wanted me to relay a personal message to you.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: He says it sounds like Bill.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_05: Brady, it's okay to vote libertarian.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_05: So, Brady, thanks for being on my show.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_05: And uh thanks for everybody for listening to this episode of Conversations with the Hoff.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_05: And now a word from our glorious leader and executive producer, Tripp Detmering.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and thanks, Brady, again uh, for joining us at Conversations with the Hoff.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Just to let people know, um, you don't have to worry about political parties.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: Just join the party people.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um Brady and I love to party at the uh at the local cigar uh shops and cigar lounges.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: We always uh hang out when he's up in the area and and light up a stick and have wonderful conversations.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um just go out, be active, get humanly active.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: And this has been another wonderful, wonderful episode of Conversations with the Hawk.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: Pull up a chair, leaning close.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Got a question in black coffee glow from campus quads to the capital steps, we're talking who we are.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_02: What comes next?
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: Conversation with the hall, with the big ideas kick the shoes off.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: Liberty tradition, side by side, argue laugh, and let it ride.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: Conversations with a hog.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_02: Turn it up and turn it over in your mind Text to the hill or left alone.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: How much are long?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right on paper, right, and where do we draw the line?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_02: Conversation with a big idea.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: Are you having a red conversation with the off?
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: Turn it up and turn it over in your mind.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is it either all or in between?
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Old school roots and a freedom dream.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: Pull a thread, see what you find.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: One more question, we're out of time.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: Conversations with the hall, where the big ideas kick the shoes off.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Liberty, tradition, side by side.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: Argue, laugh, and let it ride.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: Conversations with the hall.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's subscribe and take a little time to think it through.