Latest / World Ablaze with George Fontes / How the American Lean Act Can Fix Congressional Gridlock (Keith Barton)

Transcript

How the American Lean Act Can Fix Congressional Gridlock (Keith Barton) · World Ablaze with George Fontes

0:00
welcome back to another world of blaze uh today i have special guest keith barton um let me read
0:27
my notes over here. Keith Barton, 20-year Marine Corps veteran, former military aviator, author,
0:34
congressional candidate for Texas District 23, and an advocate for family court reform.
0:40
Today, Keith develops legislative proposals focused on government efficiency, veterans,
0:46
workforce development, stronger families. Reforming how Congress itself operates at
0:50
the center of that work is the American LEAN Act, a proposal for a new operating system for
0:56
Congress built around measurable results, fiscal discipline, government efficiency,
1:02
and continuous improvement rather than simply creating more programs and spending more money.
1:08
Outside politics and policy, Keith is a prolific author whose work ranges from children's books
1:13
to military thrillers, science fiction, and other fiction inspired by his experiences and interests.
1:19
So with all of that, let's bring Keith in. Let's have a conversation, Keith.
1:25
great george i can't wait thanks for having me on no thanks for uh making the time and as we
1:31
discussed offline uh you were running for texas district 23 looks like brandon herrera got that
1:38
vote for the general election coming up in november but you're still going to run so right
1:42
now you're working on 2028 already which is very good of you man stay consistent and persistent on
1:48
this and uh with that being said you know i actually do want to ask you uh what was it like
1:54
running for Congress this year so far,
1:57
even though you didn't get the vote,
1:59
it doesn't matter.
1:59
How was it?
2:00
And what are you going to do for 2028 coming up?
2:04
Well, it was a whirlwind.
2:05
So I joined late.
2:07
I only ran 85 days
2:09
and I still got 8.5% of the vote.
2:11
So zero name recognition to that.
2:14
So I think I did really well,
2:16
including beating a former congressman of the district.
2:20
I also, when you look at the numbers
2:22
and how the voting kind of worked out.
2:24
If I didn't run, Tony Gonzalez might have actually gotten over 50%.
2:28
Most of my votes most likely came from him.
2:30
So, yeah, it was a good thing.
2:33
Brandon Herrera and I, we talk all the time still.
2:37
So that's fine.
2:38
I'm just kind of staying out of his way so he can get the ticket.
2:41
Right.
2:42
But he knew next day that I was already running.
2:46
As you should.
2:48
Yes, sir.
2:49
So what did you learn that you're going to take with you into 2028?
2:52
Well, because of my short time frame, I needed to concentrate on the district first.
2:58
So I developed all my plans for the district, but I didn't really have a full national platform.
3:03
It was only in its infancy at that point.
3:06
And that's what became the American Lean Act like you talked about.
3:10
So it's not just a list of bills.
3:13
I wanted to go to actually fix things.
3:17
And so really what it is, when you look at what Doge did, they were an advisory board.
3:22
They really couldn't do anything, right?
3:25
They needed Congress to pass it.
3:26
Well, there's your root cause right there.
3:28
You have to change how Congress does business or it's never going to change.
3:32
And that's what the American Lean Act is.
3:33
It's an operating system to literally get them to start doing things right.
3:39
When did you introduce that?
3:41
So the main crown jewel of it I introduced before the election.
3:46
And then I started the operating system, maybe April-ish timeframe.
3:52
And then it just continues to build as I find more and more things to go after.
3:57
So my set of bills that are in there right now are basically a proof of concept.
4:02
And then starting year two, the way it works is every legislator can submit a bill as part of the American Annual Lien Act.
4:11
But it has certain what I call guardrails.
4:14
And I call those bills modules on purpose because I want them to change their mindset.
4:19
Those guardrails include things like it's got to be written short.
4:23
It attacks the root cause in plain language so everybody can read it.
4:27
It can't spend any money or increase taxes, and it can't cut any services.
4:32
And that's like every politician's game plan right there, right?
4:37
That's the complete opposite of what they do.
4:38
And so they think it's impossible.
4:40
And I'm like, no, it's not.
4:41
And here's my proof of concept.
4:42
So right now there's 16 modules in it.
4:46
But then starting year two, I would have the same restrictions as everybody else, one module a year.
4:52
And the purpose of that is to make sure that people actually attack a single root cause and really put the work in to actually figure it out.
4:59
Because the bills might be short, but all the work comes on the front side figuring it out and actually dive it in.
5:07
And so it's actually much harder to write something simple than it is a 2000 page bill.
5:14
I think it's great when people push for simple, clean language that people can understand.
5:23
Lawyers get their hands evolved and become so convoluted.
5:26
Too many big words.
5:27
Nothing against big words.
5:29
I mean, I'm all for playing with words.
5:31
It's great to challenge your intellect and learning these words and jumping through the hoops of lawyer speak to understand language.
5:42
It's fun.
5:43
It's fun.
5:44
But at the same time, the average American doesn't have time for that BS.
5:46
They just want to know what it is you're introducing, what it's about, and is it worth the vote?
5:51
That's what it's about.
5:53
And many times we don't get the vote.
5:55
We leave it in the hands of the legislature to make those decisions because you are the elected representative.
6:00
So the other thing I find interesting, Keith, is this.
6:04
When I talk to someone like you running for Congress who wants to reform Congress.
6:10
And that in and of itself is very interesting to me because most people don't want to shoot themselves in the foot before they get in.
6:16
And some of those reforms usually, and I think you might be on the same page, you would include like term limits, etc.
6:22
and then there's also the other thing in congress don't know if you're for this but
6:27
the fact that they are the ones that can vote on their own salary increases their own benefits
6:33
etc without any outside oversight which is a little crazy to me so in in in your attempt to
6:40
reform congress what else are you including or advocating for well so first off to battle that
6:47
pushback on the American Lean Act. That's why it's a parallel system.
6:51
I'm not trying to change everything at once. All those rules are within
6:55
the American Lean Act. That'd be quite a battle. Right, exactly.
6:59
But then as soon as the American public sees how well it works,
7:04
then they're going to wonder, why aren't we doing everything else like this?
7:07
Yes, on term limits, I'm absolutely for it. But my thought process on term limits is
7:11
Congress will never vote themselves out. No, they won't. So the only way
7:15
to do that is to, for the voters to elect in people like me that are going in with a self-imposed
7:22
term limit. And once you get enough of those, then we could actually vote in term limits.
7:26
And in my thought process, I think I'm only going to do three, but I think Congress should be limited
7:32
to four terms and Senate to two terms. And I say that even though the founding fathers didn't
7:38
technically say that.
7:41
They still wanted citizen legislators.
7:45
And so
7:46
they never expected. I mean, look how long
7:49
it was before the amendment was
7:51
passed to have term limits on the president.
7:53
Everybody before that, before
7:55
FDR, it was just...
7:56
We only do two.
7:59
It was not enforced.
8:01
It was kind of like a
8:02
suggestion more than anything.
8:05
But there wasn't in the beginning
8:07
any term limits on the presidency.
8:08
Nope. And then FDR changed all that. And then everybody's like, okay, now we need term limits.
8:14
So, and then I'm sorry, what was the last topic?
8:20
And the question, well, no, it was, it was basically you're answering it. It was,
8:23
it was really, what else did you think that you'd be able to include in the reform? And then,
8:27
you know, since, since you kind of brought it up also, I mean, the battles you're going to perceive
8:31
trying to do this once you're in Congress, because I mean, how, what kind of support
8:38
you're thinking to get from the people as someone that's stepping into such a system that is so
8:43
entrenched and used to getting what they get and having the power they have almost unchecked.
8:49
I mean, what does that battle you think it'll look like for you?
8:52
Well, I'll give you a story because it's already working.
8:54
Let's go.
8:55
And I haven't said this publicly yet.
8:58
So you get the first time.
8:59
So on August 26th, I was at Carlos Dela Cruz's veteran event.
9:04
And in one of the back rooms, we had a veteran roundtable.
9:08
And I was briefing him because I didn't get in and I've gotten closer with Carlos.
9:12
I'm like, hey, man, you can do this the moment you get in this to fix the VA without legislation.
9:18
Well, the speaker was coming.
9:20
So Mike Johnson came.
9:22
I was in the middle of my brief.
9:23
Carlos had me start over.
9:25
And the speaker said, told me, get him some information that he was going to do it.
9:32
And I wrote a two page white paper.
9:34
It went up through Carlos and another guy up to him.
9:37
But eight days later, after that roundtable, Congress repeated Larry Ellison.
9:45
So my proposal to him was we have to fix the VA.
9:49
It's really the only move, the major move we have to do is hold Oracle to their contract to install the universal health care system that is 10 years and billions of dollars behind.
10:00
And it's not so much the cost of putting it in.
10:02
it's the savings to the VA,
10:05
which I calculate could be up to 75 billion a year.
10:08
So that's that required no legislation.
10:11
It's just simply holding them the contract.
10:13
And if you know anything about Larry Ellison,
10:15
he will straight up tell you,
10:16
he will take advantage of a contract to you hold them accountable.
10:18
And he'll actually expect you more because you do hold them accountable.
10:23
Boom.
10:23
Now he's being subpoenaed.
10:25
So it's that kind of mindset that when I go fight these people on Capitol
10:30
Hill,
10:30
they're,
10:31
where are they going to go?
10:32
because it's not ideological battles.
10:35
It's all the stuff we want to do.
10:37
And that's exactly like every module in the American Lean Act.
10:40
It's, dude, this is data.
10:42
This is root cause.
10:44
And this is actually fixing things.
10:46
And you can take all the emotion out of it.
10:49
And I even attack some very emotional things within it.
10:52
But I do it through data and Lean Six Sigma.
10:54
And I truly believe that it's going to be very hard for people to fight me on it.
11:00
Um, also with the speaker though, he kind of already knew who I was thanks to a friend of mine named Walter West.
11:06
And he told him about my child court reform, which if you know anything about the speaker, he is all about that.
11:11
He just, there's nobody's been able to have the right plan to actually fix it.
11:16
So we'll get into your child court reform advocacy.
11:21
Cause I was interested in, in, uh, what led you there.
11:23
But I, before we hit that, um, tell me what motivated you to get involved because most people sit on the sidelines.
11:30
or they want to get involved
11:34
but have no idea how to start
11:35
or where to go to make things happen.
11:38
So what was your story
11:39
leading to you running for Congress?
11:41
It was the two things.
11:42
So first off, it was the child court reform
11:45
and then it was seeing the horrific job
11:48
Tony Gonzalez was doing.
11:49
And I'm not even talking about
11:51
all his personal issues,
11:52
which were already terrible.
11:54
But he's just a terrible congressman.
11:57
When we talk about open borders,
11:59
he only cared about it
12:00
at election time right here and you know and i went to some of these towns and you know with
12:06
people still taking their garbage out armed or helicopters still flying over and telling them
12:11
there's cartel members in town and he just ignored it um water issues everything anything and
12:17
everything he was just more about power and money and saving face so um those two things kind of
12:24
spurred me. And I said, fine.
12:27
It just nudged you to just step up and say, I'm going to take care of my backyard.
12:32
Yep. And that's what, and exactly, once I actually did the
12:36
plan, I realized that I only need three terms to do the plan. It's really only
12:40
two terms to get it in, and it's a third term to make sure it sticks. Then I'm done.
12:45
That's, you know, again, citizen legislator.
12:48
I didn't want to do, no, no career politicians for me.
12:52
I think 26 years of federal service is enough Yeah exactly So and we will talk about the family court reform here but before then
13:05
I was going to ask you,
13:07
so
13:08
what's the political
13:11
pulse in Texas right now?
13:14
And also,
13:15
what are the issues you guys are facing
13:17
in Texas that are relevant to the rest
13:19
of the nation? Because if you're looking at
13:21
social media, you don't even know what to believe.
13:23
Right? Yeah.
13:25
But as someone on the ground in Texas, what are the real issues that you guys are facing that you yourself want to handle and take care of on day one?
13:38
Yeah.
13:38
So it's actually a laundry list.
13:40
So first off, it starts with a border.
13:43
My idea is a defensive depth, just like the military.
13:47
If that's ever-changing, not a full wall, actually a smart border wall that it doesn't cost nearly as much.
13:54
And I've done all the math.
13:55
My plan is roughly 20% cost of what is actually planned.
14:00
So that's key.
14:01
That's where the other part is Texas is growing so fast.
14:07
We need to increase its energy output.
14:11
So we have to work on its energy grid or it's not going to keep up because it's the fastest growing state, not only in population, but in even the numbers of headquarters that are moving here, mostly from New York and California.
14:23
So that need is crazy.
14:25
And it's going to become very soon the financial hub of the country.
14:29
So we like to joke here in Texas, as Texas goes, the country goes.
14:34
And I don't think there's any other way to put it.
14:38
So that's very key for the rest of the country, including all the AI.
14:44
I'm not totally against AI data centers.
14:51
I am in my district.
14:52
But that's because of a resource shortfall. And then the other thing that's really important to me for the rest of the country is we have to unlock the rest of the natural gas in West Texas. And we also need to use the expertise of those drillers and eventually develop geothermal.
15:11
and it's the best place in the world to actually do that because we'll have the technology and the
15:16
time and whatnot so if i can unlock natural gas if we can use smr so small modular nuclear
15:23
power plants to kind of get everything going and going down that road if texas can unlock
15:28
geothermal it would be a game changer for everybody we just right now we can't
15:34
get deep enough in enough places to actually use it and uh and i think that would be a huge boost
15:41
to the rest of the country.
15:42
You know, when it comes to the power grid,
15:44
I was literally going to bring that up.
15:45
It should beat me to it.
15:45
It's like, why not consider
15:47
small nuclear power plants?
15:49
I'm all about it.
15:50
Why not?
15:50
I mean, the technology is advanced.
15:53
It's clean.
15:53
It's safe.
15:53
You could use spent rods
15:54
that still have about 300 years left on them.
15:57
I mean, it doesn't make any sense
15:58
not to put that technology out there into use,
16:02
especially in Texas.
16:04
I mean, you guys have, unfortunately,
16:06
it's shown that your grid is not reliable,
16:08
especially when you had those storms
16:09
not too long ago
16:10
with all the freezing couldn't even keep up.
16:13
And you had people living in the cold.
16:14
It makes no sense not to tap into those technologies of nuclear today.
16:21
Right.
16:21
It's not what it used to be.
16:22
It is much safer, much more efficient in how it's used, how they design it.
16:28
And again, we could take advantage of spent rods instead of just leaving them buried in
16:32
the dirt somewhere.
16:33
Exactly.
16:34
And we spend more on our big power lines.
16:36
And that's actually one of the big fights in my district.
16:38
It's just they're doing all these transfer power lines that aren't even going to be used for the residents.
16:42
They're going to be used for commercial usage.
16:44
It's like, well, you could spend a fourth of the cost and have SMRs and power it anyway.
16:51
And then we're not doing imminent domain or...
16:55
It's just terrible.
16:57
It's like a damn spiderweb everywhere.
17:00
Right.
17:01
You could absolutely do it smarter.
17:02
Well, be careful, though.
17:03
You're going to be taking union jobs, right?
17:05
You're going to get that put in your neck.
17:07
I am not a fan of unions, okay?
17:10
My idea of unions.
17:11
Oh, you brought it up.
17:12
So I got to tell you.
17:12
All right.
17:13
If a company takes care of its people,
17:15
there's no need for a union.
17:18
If.
17:19
Yes.
17:20
If.
17:20
Yeah.
17:20
And you're probably mostly going to get that
17:23
from small mom and pops
17:23
rather than large corporations, unfortunately.
17:27
So let's back up a bit to the border security.
17:31
I want you to expand on that proposal
17:33
of using a smart border wall.
17:35
and also if you can elaborate on if you think we do have an illegal or undocumented,
17:42
I don't care what word you want to use, but basically a border situation with people crossing here
17:47
without valid reason or any permission. Let's just say that.
17:53
So we've seen obviously a drastic decline in illegal aliens crossing.
17:58
I think at this point our biggest threat is the cartels.
18:01
and so there's several things that go into that and um so it's kind of twofold so first we'll look
18:08
at big bend right one of the most beautiful natural parks in the in the country um they're
18:14
putting up in the rio grande they're you they're spending five and a half million dollars a mile
18:19
to put these floating barriers that people just boat out and crawl over and then swim across
18:25
That's ridiculous.
18:27
Ridiculous.
18:28
And when the Big Bend area only gives us less than 1% of our crossings.
18:33
And again, it's mostly cartels.
18:35
There's no roads.
18:36
And then, and I've been trying to fight this too, but it's been hard, no power.
18:40
They want to do 17 miles of the, I can't remember, 100 and something miles of border for Big Bend with vehicle barriers, which is great.
18:48
I'm actually okay with that instead of a big wall.
18:51
The problem is I looked at the contract instead of going two foot deeper with these poles so they could just stay vertical.
18:59
Yeah.
18:59
They're using horizontal lines too, which means big game can't get to the river.
19:04
Epically stupid.
19:05
Right.
19:06
I mean, it's just, again, the difference between an operator like me versus a politician.
19:10
Right.
19:11
Just look at the damn contract, man.
19:13
Think through this.
19:14
And then as far as the cartels.
19:16
So, and this is actually another issue I had with Tony Gonzalez.
19:19
I'm also a drone guy, big time. And he got money to University of Texas in El Paso to develop an anti-signal to disrupt the signal between the drones coming across the border and the controller.
19:40
Okay. Yeah.
19:40
Again, well, you're not an operator, idiot. We're trying to expand our drone network and you're going to throw this weapon out there that's going to disrupt ours and could hurt our aircraft too.
19:49
Instead of just saying, and DHS has already told him exactly what he needed.
19:55
They needed high rate rubber bullets.
19:56
They needed the shoulder mounted nets and the anti-lasers.
20:02
And all of those are man portable and they can still fly our offensive drones.
20:07
And it's cheaper.
20:08
No, Tony's been in millions for something instead of actually listening to guys on the ground going, this is all we need, guys.
20:15
That's it.
20:15
Just give me what I need.
20:17
We already know.
20:17
We already figured this all out.
20:18
So I would absolutely want to, in the areas that we can substitute actually having a big wall with drones and solar powered camera stations, things like that.
20:34
And you do your interdiction timing.
20:38
Once something's detected, how fast can we get there?
20:42
There's no need for a wall.
20:43
And it's a lot cheaper.
20:45
So we're talking my plan for those portions would be 1.2 million a mile.
20:50
So let me interject here.
20:53
So the drone thing makes a lot of sense for us to actually use it.
20:59
The weapon that Gonzalez wants to put in to disrupt the signal is kind of asinine unless you can absolutely avoid a dedicated proprietary signal that the U.S. military uses.
21:09
But if you do that, you're still opening up the cartels to being able to find that signal and use it as well.
21:14
So it makes no sense.
21:15
I get it.
21:16
Now, as far as the walls, I got to ask you, why are you opposed to a wall?
21:19
Is it because of the wildlife or is it just the cost?
21:22
I'm not opposed to the wall everywhere.
21:25
I'm opposed to the cost and applying it to places that aren't crossed a lot.
21:31
Gotcha.
21:32
Right?
21:33
Where it makes sense and where it doesn't, you're going to need the drones and actual physical people to manage those areas.
21:39
Exactly. Because when you just look at it from a cost aspect, it's $22 to $24 million a mile.
21:45
It is a lot.
21:46
Right? Versus 1.2 a mile for the areas that we can use it.
21:50
And then, again, even the floating ones down the Del Rio that actually do all sorts of stuff to the environment is $5.5 million a mile.
21:58
So there's a huge cost savings in here also.
22:00
And then, obviously, within those areas, technology improves.
22:05
You can adjust. You can't really adjust the wall once it's in.
22:09
So, yeah, I think every mile should be customized, essentially.
22:16
I want you to expand on something.
22:17
Sure.
22:18
Because every time the border is brought up, all people think about are illegal immigrants, right?
22:24
But the thing in Texas that I know from talking to other journalists is that the cartel element is a real thing and a real threat there.
22:33
So can you expand on what the threats from the cartel are on the borders of Texas over there?
22:38
obviously the biggest one is drugs
22:40
and they're getting it crossed
22:42
and I love the fact
22:45
that we have battled the
22:47
fentanyl issue
22:49
and all that but that's really where
22:51
it is and it's the money laundering
22:52
and then the other one that's really really
22:54
horrible is the moral
22:56
aspect of human trafficking
22:58
so between drugs and human
23:01
trafficking we have to stop it
23:03
period and so yeah again
23:05
that's why when I'm thinking about
23:07
the wall. That's what I'm thinking about. Defensive depth
23:09
just like in the Marine Corps. I'm trying to...
23:11
Because the cartel is...
23:13
I mean, they're a smart business. These guys
23:15
are not stupid. They just have a legal
23:17
commodity. They're not going to lose their money.
23:19
Nope.
23:21
You're right. So you've got to
23:23
fight them smart.
23:25
Stopping people is a lot easier than stopping the
23:27
cartels. But if you stop the cartels,
23:29
you stop the people.
23:30
I talked to... I don't even know if you know
23:33
him. Journalist John Carlos
23:35
Frey, who actually
23:37
spent time down there and put a documentary together about all that and he he kind of like
23:42
he's the one who drove home or pioneered the uh opening up people's eyes to the human trafficking
23:47
side out there i mean the drugs were always going to be a thing yeah but but the amount of human
23:52
human trafficking and how that they take advantage of people uh for various things from slavery to
23:57
sex is is ridiculous and something that's not talked about enough no all they want to hear is
24:03
the headline of how many drugs they seized but they're not talking about how many people they
24:06
saved if they did, which is also another issue.
24:10
And the kids, even worse, the trafficking of those kids and all those kids we lost.
24:14
And it primarily is kids that are targeted. Absolutely. It's crazy.
24:19
So what is not being done at the borders right now
24:22
as far as our services
24:25
like using our National Guard or our border protection
24:29
agencies, etc. Is there anything not happening that should be happening
24:33
with those are they being used efficiently and effectively um the wall is going in too slow
24:39
okay right in the areas they already designated and then the areas that they're not putting the
24:44
wall they're going too fast i know that sounds crazy but because they're not doing things like
24:50
you know and i'm a republican but man when you're not doing your environmental impact surveys and
24:55
like you know just like those water those floating barriers they're gonna mess with all the wildlife
25:01
that rely on that river and that's not okay.
25:03
Hey, Republicans, they care about the environment.
25:05
I love the outdoors.
25:07
I mean, I don't even know where it came from
25:08
that we don't like the outdoors.
25:11
It makes no sense.
25:12
Hey, deer taste good, man.
25:14
We got to take care of them.
25:16
But Keith, outside of the wall though,
25:18
I'm talking about like agents, you know what I mean?
25:21
Actual people, like are they getting the resources they need?
25:23
Are they being used effectively and efficiently?
25:26
No.
25:26
And part of that is logistics procurement.
25:29
and so I've actually part of my American Lean Act I worked on that too there's a lot of red tape
25:36
instead of standardizing the equipment that you can use on the wall and using GSA Advantage to
25:42
let them easily order it without going through all the red tape to do it so that's one thing I
25:47
worked on and I've talked to numerous border agents and I've even talked to an Adam Bauman
25:52
now a good friend of mine he running in CD16 in El Paso and he was border control agent forever And then the other thing with with them is again back to holding companies their damn government contracts is the technology at the
26:06
ports of entry right it's it's well behind and they're not um they're not living up to their
26:13
contracts once we can get that those in we're going to get better fedding on people we're going
26:18
to get faster throughput on the product that needs to cross the border that's an economic
26:24
boost, right? I mean, there's a bunch. I mean, especially in the southern states of America,
26:30
we're getting a ton of our product from Mexico. And a lot of times it spoils because it can't
26:36
go through the border fast enough. It's unreal. And again-
26:39
Yeah, wasted food and product, yeah.
26:40
Right? But these congressmen don't use all these other powers at their disposal,
26:45
like oversight and contract enforcement.
26:54
So that's how I looked at my district of,
26:57
when I made my plan,
26:59
can I do this without legislation?
27:03
Because the freshmen,
27:05
they're not going to listen to me.
27:07
It's going to be an uphill battle,
27:09
but it doesn't mean you stay silent, right?
27:10
No, you're right.
27:12
And that's why,
27:12
but for my district,
27:13
because I've already figured out a plan
27:14
where I don't need legislation.
27:17
I'm really literally moving money around.
27:19
I'm doing these contracts.
27:20
I'm talking about permitting speeds.
27:22
I'm talking about working with local politicians.
27:25
There's nothing stopping from state and federal politicians
27:31
coming together on the same plan for the district.
27:36
And who has what tasks?
27:37
Because I talked to some of these guys.
27:40
I'm like, if everybody's told to feed the dog,
27:43
the dog's going to starve.
27:44
We got to be on the same plan.
27:46
We got to know whose task is what, because we all have the same goal, but certain responsibilities, certain places, but they all affect each other.
27:55
So the cartels are a big issue that isn't dealt with enough or at least heavy handedly enough.
28:03
But, you know, there's also the other problem we have at the borders.
28:06
And that's why I'm like trying to find out where the balance is, you know, but you're explaining it.
28:11
but between the wall and using actual like physical people to patrol and
28:16
using drones,
28:16
et cetera,
28:17
because we're also,
28:17
a lot of people aren't aware of that Southern border is we have a lot of
28:22
terrorist encounters too,
28:23
like actual known real terrorists.
28:25
Yes.
28:25
And I always say this,
28:26
my wife says I'm a broken record,
28:27
but I'm not going to stop talking about it because we,
28:30
in May,
28:30
we encountered enough terrorists,
28:32
known terrorists come to the Southern border to put 15 terrorists in every
28:35
state of the United States of America.
28:36
That doesn't even count for the other borders we have,
28:39
no,
28:39
the Canadian border,
28:40
et cetera.
28:41
just the southern border.
28:43
Okay?
28:43
And doesn't count the gotaways.
28:45
So border security is much bigger than just,
28:48
I think, podium politics and talking points.
28:52
It's not like,
28:53
and unfortunately,
28:54
I think that's what it's being treated as,
28:55
just podium politics,
28:56
just talking points and narratives
28:58
that they're using to try to sway the people
28:59
and get them to argue with each other
29:01
and stay divided
29:01
because they want to make it more about the immigrant
29:04
and what they're going through
29:05
and ignoring actual security
29:07
for the United States of America.
29:09
It's not hating people.
29:09
It's trying to keep the bad people out.
29:12
And that's the conversation people aren't having.
29:15
So these are real threats, real threats that need to be addressed.
29:18
And I would look forward to seeing you get elected in 2028 and addressing these things because it needs to happen.
29:25
I also tell people I am 100% against illegal immigration, but I'm 100% for legal immigration.
29:32
We need to vet better.
29:34
There's nothing wrong with legal immigration.
29:35
Shoot, my dad came from the Azores.
29:38
You know, all of my dad's family side is all Azorian Portuguese.
29:42
He came here when he was seven.
29:44
It's like, I have no problem with it.
29:46
I have close friends that are all, you know, from Mexico.
29:49
One of the guys that actually worked with me, he's a young guy.
29:51
He's got a computer science degree.
29:53
He has a great freaking job.
29:54
Smart as hell.
29:55
He himself was brought here to, I'm not going to tell you his name, but basically to get
29:59
away from those elements we were talking about because of, you know, whatever.
30:03
But anyway, he's here.
30:04
He's doing well.
30:05
He's just got a citizenship not long ago.
30:07
He brought his wife over just like literally a few weeks ago.
30:10
So like,
30:10
I have no problem with people that are going to contribute,
30:13
love the country.
30:14
And none of us have a problem with that.
30:15
Why would we?
30:16
It makes no sense to have a problem with that.
30:18
But people who take advantage,
30:19
that's,
30:20
that's something like I would expect it for me too,
30:21
Keith.
30:21
If I was going to go to another country,
30:23
I'm moving because I have an intent to start my life over somewhere else.
30:28
And there's something about that culture that just attracts me.
30:30
I'm like,
30:30
I'm going to move to Italy or Ireland or whatever it is.
30:33
It doesn't matter,
30:33
but you're going to integrate where I would expect the same for me.
30:36
that I would expect from someone who wants to come to the US.
30:39
And that's been my perspective moving forward.
30:41
You're damn right.
30:41
You're moving there because of that culture.
30:43
So why would you not want to embrace that culture?
30:47
You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger was awesome when he talked to...
30:49
Did you hear him on The View talking about that?
30:52
I did not.
30:53
Well, let's go look that up
30:55
because he puts those ladies in their place exactly like that.
30:59
Anyone with a hamster, one hamster and one band on the wheel
31:03
and the brain could literally put those ladies in their place.
31:06
Some of them were being honest.
31:07
We are.
31:08
I just, I was thoroughly impressed.
31:11
No, I'll definitely look that up, man.
31:12
Schwarzenegger doesn't hold back when he talks.
31:14
No.
31:15
If you can understand him.
31:17
Hey, let me ask this, Keith.
31:18
So with Texas being primarily still Republican or conservative,
31:22
with the influx of companies and tech bros and all that moving into Austin,
31:27
are you afraid that it'll eventually bleed out and become another California?
31:31
Well, Texas cities are already very much blue, especially San Antonio and Austin.
31:37
You'll see up in Fort Worth, Dallas, it's a little bit more mixed.
31:41
But that's what happens when you got twin cities.
31:45
So it's already there.
31:47
Yes, we're going to see that.
31:49
But if we can fill those jobs with conservatives, does it really matter?
31:54
And so I like what the jobs that are bringing.
31:57
And let's face it, we're not seeing a lot of crazy left companies coming.
32:03
We're seeing normal financial companies.
32:05
Look at J.P. Morgan, right?
32:07
That's all they're coming here for.
32:08
So they now have more people employed in Texas than they do in New York.
32:12
So I'm okay with it.
32:14
I think what we need is if we can do some more common sense in the political market,
32:23
the extreme left and the extreme right will come back towards center.
32:29
The country always goes more extreme when people aren't happy.
32:35
And the way we're doing things is just, frankly, it's stupid.
32:40
If we can bring us back to...
32:42
I like to say, I think for the most part, both sides want the same things.
32:50
We just have different ways of going about getting it.
32:53
When it comes to our basic needs. And so we need to have that process down better where everybody can kind of understand and life starts getting better.
33:05
yeah i think there i think the approach is um literally talking about things that affect people
33:13
in everyday life not not pushing the um i hate trump policy that most people on the left have
33:21
because that's not a policy that that's it doesn't help anybody on the right or left it doesn't matter
33:27
um and i've i've said this before i think i think between democrats and i'm and listen i'm an
33:32
I used to be a Democrat.
33:34
I was an old school Democrat.
33:35
And I miss the old school Democrats because I think that for the most part, as people, we agree on 80%.
33:40
Maybe 20% would disagree.
33:42
I might even venture into saying maybe we only disagree on 10%.
33:46
So if between 80% and 90%, we're all humans going through the same bullshit, how is it that we can't come together and just elect people based on their merit and what they exactly want to do for the American people as an elected official?
33:59
I don't understand why it has to become my team versus your team, party politic BS, because it's just, it's not benefiting anybody.
34:06
It's not benefiting anybody.
34:09
A lot of politicians go because they want to be famous.
34:12
That's also a problem.
34:14
Well, blame podcasting and everything else because that's what really puts all this shit.
34:20
Jeez, man.
34:22
Once that pandemic came and COVID and everybody was suddenly a podcaster out of the garage, you saw even, and that was crazy for me.
34:28
seeing politicians with their own shows like Ted Cruz,
34:30
et cetera.
34:30
I'm like,
34:31
what,
34:32
don't you have a job to do?
34:34
Yes.
34:35
It's crazy.
34:36
Well,
34:37
but I think part of it from the political aspect is actually why I'm doing
34:40
it too,
34:41
is the media is a bunch of gatekeepers.
34:44
No,
34:44
let me stop there.
34:46
I want to hear each other say,
34:47
but what I meant by that Keith is you're,
34:49
you're a guest,
34:49
like being a guest and using a platform to spread your message.
34:52
One thing I'm talking about people have their own show.
34:54
Oh yeah.
34:54
I know.
34:55
I was like,
34:55
I get it.
34:56
If you're no longer a representative,
34:58
because I know how much time it takes me to do all this.
35:01
But if you're not a representative, great.
35:04
Power to you.
35:05
But if you're a representative of the United States of America
35:07
to some capacity, your job should be full.
35:10
Your place should be full.
35:11
I don't see a reason for you to also be
35:13
some kind of a media personality.
35:15
You should be using the media to get your message across
35:18
and try to reach those who you want to represent.
35:22
Totally makes sense.
35:23
I mean, if there wasn't podcasting,
35:24
you'd be on some other show in the news or something.
35:26
I mean, that's just what it is.
35:27
you have to use whatever's available to you to get your message out.
35:31
So that's where I was coming from.
35:33
I was talking about those people who are like,
35:35
I'm a podcaster and I'm a media guy.
35:37
I completely agree with you.
35:39
I was just saying that the gatekeeping has gotten even more unreal
35:44
in the last five years.
35:46
And so unless you got Brandon Herrera,
35:50
4.7 million YouTube followers,
35:54
yeah, it's kind of hard to kind of break out.
35:57
So it is.
35:58
Yeah.
36:00
It's hard for everybody on all sides, believe me.
36:02
Yeah.
36:03
But I mean, it starts here, regardless of how big the show is or whatever.
36:07
It starts here.
36:08
It starts with these conversations.
36:09
And all it takes is that one person to listen.
36:12
That message clicks in their mind.
36:14
They share it with a friend.
36:15
I mean, this is all about organic growth.
36:16
This is what this is.
36:17
It's just spreading.
36:18
This is grassroots, man.
36:19
It's not going to get any more grassroots than this.
36:21
If you don't have the big budget and the $50 million a month advertising,
36:26
coffers, whatever.
36:29
You have to get out there by any means
36:31
and that's what you're doing.
36:33
Look, don't feel bad for any
36:35
of this shit. Oh, no. I love it.
36:37
Absolutely.
36:38
Yeah, I absolutely love it though too because we get to have a regular
36:41
conversation. When I get interviewed
36:43
by the news, it's like...
36:45
Oh, I bet. I was going to ask you,
36:47
how are you able to even get your
36:49
point across when they give you literally, here's 15
36:51
minutes, here's the talking points and go?
36:54
Yeah, and it gets down
36:55
to 30 to 45 seconds most of the time.
36:58
Right?
36:59
Or they just, hey, we interviewed him
37:01
and here's a paragraph of notes from the interview.
37:04
And it doesn't, especially with what I run on
37:06
because it's not everyday language.
37:09
It's operational things
37:11
and it's hard for people to understand sometimes.
37:14
Sometimes you gotta be able to explain it
37:16
because I'm not just, I'm for gun rights, vote for me.
37:20
Or I'm for people.
37:22
No, dude, that doesn't tell me anything.
37:24
you know or these other yeah and i i think that that's that's um i think that's something that
37:31
most americans need to start realizing that the uh 42nd you know um the the 42nd talking points
37:39
that are curated and taken out of a three-hour conversation for example should not be the way
37:44
that you judge your candidate i mean there's so much more nuance like america is not a talking
37:49
point. It's not a soundbiter or a video clip. There's so much more to it. And we all have these
37:56
supercomputers. So if you hear something that you like, look the candidate up because I guarantee
38:03
you there's plenty on him or her. And then you can read it and see if they actually, instead of,
38:10
well, if this bill comes up, I'm not going to vote for it. That doesn't tell me anything, man.
38:13
right what are you gonna do so what so speaking of that um what else in your district needs to
38:20
be addressed what else in your district outside we already talked about border security which
38:25
absolutely is a thing um i know you want to reform congress but your district itself what
38:31
in your district do you do you see needs to be addressed for your constituents so i have a fully
38:37
integrated 24 point plan um and it all i'm i'm treating it like i like to tell the voters i don't
38:43
want to represent you. I want to be your chief operating officer. I'm going to come in here and
38:48
I'm going to change some things. One of the big things that I need to go after is water. So I love
38:54
talking about this because Tony spent billions to shove more water into our system So West Texas doesn have a water shortage problem People look at me like I have something growing out of my forehead
39:06
It has a water leakage problem.
39:09
It's the highest in the nation at 30%.
39:12
Can you explain that?
39:13
Yeah, we got old broken pipes all over the place.
39:16
And anywhere where the ground is not flat and it changes in elevation, those pipes have started.
39:20
Got it. So it's an infrastructure problem.
39:23
Correct.
39:23
So why aren't we fixing the major leaks?
39:26
And that's what you always do in logistics.
39:28
Why are we going to shove?
39:29
You don't shove more water into it.
39:31
You don't shove more money into it.
39:32
You go fix this current system.
39:34
Because West Texas isn't exactly heavily populated.
39:39
So we need to fix that first before we go looking for more water.
39:43
And that's number one.
39:45
I already talked about increasing the throughput through the border.
39:48
That kind of gets everything going.
39:50
I'm a big proponent of the Port to Plains project.
39:53
So if I can actually unlock the natural gas, well, we're not going to have pipelines for a long time to move that natural gas. So we're going to need that highway infrastructure to move it. Because let's face it, the north is screaming for more natural gas. But right now we're just burning it off because of permitting speeds and red tape. It's stupid.
40:14
And that would start that energy explosion, right? Because that's so simple to do to start
40:23
bringing all this in. And then I also tell people when you do that, when you enable these private
40:28
companies to make more money, well, guess what? They're going to pay for those specialized training.
40:34
They need the people, right? So we're going to get all these high paying blue collar jobs
40:40
paid for not by somebody from Austin or DC throwing millions at it. No, the companies are
40:47
going to pay for it because they need it. So it's all a big logistics mindset. Another one for El
40:52
Paso, they need another distribution center. They're at this very perfect logistics network
41:03
comes from multiple places right there. And if I can help with that and get them another...
41:09
And I foresee, being a logistics guy, I actually foresee a Walmart grocery coming in.
41:16
Distribution center.
41:17
And if you know anything about Walmart grocery, the guys who just pick cases will make $130 a year.
41:25
Unreal.
41:27
So a kid out of high school can be going in there as long as he works hard because he gets paid by the case.
41:32
That's crazy.
41:33
Right?
41:34
Exactly.
41:34
Can you imagine?
41:35
And then, so that DC might only employ 900 people.
41:39
but it creates 6,000 jobs and economic around it.
41:43
So are jobs,
41:45
are jobs a real issue out there in West Texas?
41:48
Yeah.
41:48
Especially in El Paso,
41:49
people are moving out of El Paso because of the conditions.
41:54
And so,
41:55
and let's face it,
41:56
it's been being Democrat ran forever.
41:58
Nobody thinks of like this.
41:59
So we need to,
42:01
and I mean,
42:02
Amazon's already there.
42:04
I want to help get them H-E-B.
42:06
So I don't know if you know about H-E-B here in Texas,
42:08
but that's like,
42:09
it's a grocery chain,
42:12
but it's like,
42:12
you know,
42:13
when I first moved here,
42:13
I called it Heb and my wife was like,
42:16
it's H-E-B,
42:16
don't do that.
42:18
But they only go out to the Permian Basin.
42:21
And it's like,
42:22
I mean,
42:23
it's H-E-B is Texas.
42:25
It's like Bucky's is Texas.
42:27
I get you.
42:28
Yeah.
42:28
It's that kind of,
42:30
yeah.
42:30
But they can't get out to El Paso because they don't have a distribution network.
42:34
But guess what?
42:35
There are third party logistics carriers and warehouses already.
42:38
They can get them started.
42:39
So the low-hanging fruit is getting these companies, getting them help.
42:45
Basically, it sounds like what you want to do is fix the infrastructure that's currently in place and dilapidated so that you can get these distribution centers that will actually bring jobs, like actual real jobs.
42:55
Real jobs.
42:56
Are you also advocating for maybe any tech jobs in El Paso?
43:01
Or is that a little bit too hard trying to compete with like Austin and whatnot?
43:04
Yeah, so I mean, the closest tech jobs we're going to get are really going to be either energy or it's going to be AI. And again, I don't want AI distribution centers in West Texas.
43:14
And that's because of resources, you said.
43:16
Yeah, because of water and electricity.
43:18
Right.
43:19
And they promise to create a bunch of jobs, but most of the time they actually bring in workers that have already worked on these before from other states, and then they don't have a large workforce to keep them going.
43:31
There's no...
43:32
Right?
43:34
So they don't actually create a lot.
43:36
They do that or they literally fire them and bring in H1B candidates just like Microsoft did this year.
43:42
You're saying it.
43:43
It is.
43:46
Anyone could...
43:47
Which is ridiculous.
43:51
But getting back to the data centers, I mean, if it could provide jobs locally for people, and it will provide some.
43:57
I think it goes back to what you said, like using these small nuclear substations or plants would definitely help alleviate the tax on the electrical grid.
44:08
And when it comes to the water, I'm sure there's other cooling systems they could use or closed loop cooling systems that can cool everything down that doesn't really need water, possibly trucking in water, desalination plants, whatever.
44:19
I mean, there's a bunch of other ways to go about it.
44:21
but I mean,
44:22
I,
44:23
I heard that Microsoft,
44:24
I forgot where in Texas they're building,
44:25
but I think they signed like a 50 year agreement with Chevron for,
44:29
for,
44:29
for natural gas and other resources,
44:31
just so they can get their own energy direct from the supplier to help
44:35
alleviate taxing the resources of everyone else living around it.
44:39
But yeah,
44:40
look,
44:41
data centers are a thing,
44:42
either love them or you hate them.
44:44
You know,
44:45
and everybody's situation,
44:46
like where you are in West Texas,
44:48
I get it.
44:48
Everything's different depending on resources,
44:50
infrastructure.
44:50
It's not like you could just drop one in.
44:53
But even with that, dude, I'd hate to see the urbanization of the U.S.
44:58
I don't want to be seeing towns built around data centers rather than data centers built for our benefit.
45:04
You know what I'm saying?
45:05
Right.
45:05
I still want trees and grass and whatnot.
45:08
Well, even think about those SMRs.
45:10
Think about the jobs those would create.
45:12
Yes, they would.
45:13
Crazy.
45:14
And high paying again.
45:15
Tech jobs right there.
45:16
Blue collar tech jobs.
45:17
Exactly.
45:17
Yeah, that would be awesome.
45:22
So you have a plan.
45:23
You're running in 2028 because Brandon Herrera, who knows, if he gets reelected.
45:29
And even if he wins the general election, we're not even there yet.
45:31
But still, regardless, you're going to run again.
45:34
So let's move on from your aspirations, your congressional aspirations, because I wanted to talk about your family law advocacy.
45:44
Like basically you want to revamp the structure of the family courts or how it's being handled.
45:50
What led you there?
45:51
What was that journey?
45:52
And why did you become an advocate?
45:54
So I've spent six years so far in the family court system fighting for my kids.
46:00
And it is unbelievably biased.
46:03
It is unreal.
46:04
And once I did the root cause analysis, it comes down to money.
46:07
So every state has gender neutral laws and they have shared custody laws, but they don't follow them. And that's because of Title IV defunding. So every time for the federal government to really work on this, they have to figure out how to do it without affecting the 10th Amendment. And that's what makes it so hard.
46:32
So most of the time from the federal seat, it's lawyers that are trying to do it.
46:36
And frankly, they always just want to change state law.
46:39
Well, you can't do that.
46:40
That's 10th Amendment non-compliant.
46:43
So I wrote a five-page bill.
46:46
And because I, and frankly, I guess we'll go a little bit back, fighting the family court system, paying lawyers over half a million dollars.
46:53
I finally started winning when I started representing myself.
46:56
Interesting.
46:57
Yeah.
46:58
Once I learned, right?
46:59
Because I could file more.
47:01
I could say the things that needed to actually be said and not picking and choosing.
47:06
And so, and I even just won an appeal in Florida.
47:10
And it was so, frankly, the DCA was so harsh on the judge.
47:16
There's, it's already on seven different legal sites with professional lawyers quoting it.
47:23
That's how bad it was for them.
47:25
And so, yeah, so I thought through the process of how to do it.
47:32
So what I want to do is get, so what happens with Title IV defunding is the amount of child support that a state collects, the federal government matches at 66%.
47:42
Huh.
47:44
So it incentivizes judges to break up families and maximize time sharing for one parent over another because the state gets more money in opposition to their laws.
47:59
And lawyers will come back and say, well, it's best for the child.
48:03
I'm a data guy.
48:04
If the whole country is at 90-10 split, you aren't following that.
48:09
It's physically impossible.
48:12
And then when you look at all the science, there's no difference.
48:14
In fact, there's several key areas where fathers as a single parent are actually better than
48:19
mothers.
48:20
For instance, mothers abuse their children at a higher rate.
48:25
Children that are raised solely by their father have a higher income level and higher education
48:30
level.
48:31
So there's several things that actually benefits the other direction.
48:34
But I'm not going into this with like, it's anti-mom, pro-father.
48:38
I'm going into it with pro-child.
48:41
The whole focus is not the parents.
48:44
For the parents, it's stop freaking fighting.
48:46
We're going to come together.
48:47
We're going to share our children.
48:49
And we're going to focus on the child.
48:50
So what I did was repealing Title IV defunding and using those same exact funds to literally reward the states for following their own laws that they have on their books already.
49:02
That's the basic premise of it.
49:04
you culture you to get to gender neutral rulings as a state average and
49:08
shared custody as a state average,
49:11
the more money you get.
49:13
So we're not,
49:14
I get you.
49:15
You don't want to make it a mother versus father issue.
49:20
But you know,
49:21
there is bias as I mean,
49:22
you alluded to earlier before you gave that explanation of why you got into
49:26
doing this,
49:27
but it does seem it is tilted always more towards the mother.
49:32
And I don't know if it's a societal thing or if it's just exactly what you said.
49:36
They're looking at the child support and what the government will match to the state.
49:40
And they're like, well, we'll hit the father because statistically they make more money usually.
49:45
And they think that the dad could take the hit.
49:49
And always seems to go in favor of the mother in most cases.
49:52
Not all, but in most cases.
49:54
Yeah.
49:54
And it's all those things.
49:57
It's not a single one.
49:58
It's all those things.
49:59
They all add up.
50:00
but the states have already recognized that that's not the right way because
50:04
they've already written their laws in opposition to that.
50:07
They're just not following them per the data.
50:10
They're not following them.
50:11
Right.
50:11
That's crazy.
50:12
So how easy is it?
50:16
Well,
50:16
it's not going to be easy.
50:17
I mean,
50:17
so what are the steps you're going to take to try to get that repealed or
50:23
get changed?
50:25
It's the country is actually right.
50:27
I'm getting into this at the right time because there are lots of states that are already going
50:32
down this road. And our proof of concept is actually Kentucky. In 2018, they said,
50:38
we're going to bypass taking all the federal funds. We are going to go with a true 50-50.
50:44
And they saw a 25% drop in divorce rate. Amazing.
50:50
You take away the incentive, right?
50:52
Exactly. So there's your proof of concept. And suddenly, so there's a guy here in Texas named Matt Garza. What he does is he fights by the states. He's helping legislators pass very short law change bills to help with this from that.
51:09
but he's always going to struggle doing and he's changing laws all over the
51:13
country doing this,
51:14
but he's always going to struggle until that financial incentive is gone.
51:18
And that's exactly.
51:20
Yeah.
51:20
Actually the lot,
51:21
when I met,
51:22
when I met the speaker,
51:23
that was the last thing I said to him,
51:24
like,
51:24
sir,
51:25
when we get there,
51:26
I'm like,
51:26
we're going to fix family court.
51:27
He just snapped his fingers and he said,
51:29
yes,
51:29
we are.
51:30
Yeah.
51:30
Well,
51:31
hold them to it.
51:31
Yeah.
51:32
When you get there,
51:33
man,
51:33
definitely.
51:34
So now I'm going to blow your mind.
51:36
So it's more than just that.
51:40
So what this would actually do, and this is how you sell it and it becomes unattackable.
51:47
When you have shared parenting like that, you see lower mental health issues in children.
51:52
You see higher income levels their whole life.
51:54
You see higher education levels, lower domestic violence, lower child abuse, lower divorce rates.
52:01
lower reliance on SNAP, lower crime.
52:05
And when you do the math every 10 years,
52:07
it's a minimum savings for the country
52:09
of $2 trillion every 10 years.
52:12
That is really hard to say no to,
52:15
especially when you're not affecting the state's laws.
52:19
And if you're not even by doing it this way,
52:21
you're not even going to affect their pocketbooks.
52:23
There's literally nothing for them to argue about
52:26
on the camera against it.
52:28
No, I mean, from a policy and legal standpoint,
52:30
it makes sense.
52:31
But it's also going to be reprogramming the population to not try to take advantage of these things also.
52:37
Because let's face it, I mean, you're not going to say it, but I will.
52:40
There are some women who would definitely take advantage of these situations just to get paid for doing nothing and using the kid against the father as leverage.
52:50
And that's something that needs to go away soon, like yesterday, honestly.
52:56
So that needs to be addressed as well.
52:59
So hopefully, like you said, it starts with the policies and the laws in place.
53:04
Get that done.
53:05
But also, we're going to need messaging to retrain the population to look at divorce differently and child custody differently.
53:13
I mean, the child's not a tool.
53:14
It's not a pawn.
53:15
And unfortunately, we see that being used too often, using a child as literal leverage or a pawn in a fight between two adults, which is ridiculous.
53:25
So your approach is child first, and that's what we're supposed to see.
53:29
it. We don't see it. Even in school systems, it doesn't matter
53:31
what it is. It's not really child
53:33
first. It's more like, how are we going to use a child to get
53:35
to them? And that needs
53:37
a change. Right. But then
53:39
when the baseline is 50-50,
53:41
then you got to get away from that.
53:42
And I helped with that too, because
53:45
there's another provision in there.
53:48
If
53:49
the courts get
53:51
the parents to come to a
53:53
mutual agreement
53:54
that matches the state's laws
53:57
for the near 50-50,
53:59
We still pay the state 75% of their funds for that case for 10% of the work.
54:07
Think about that, right?
54:08
Yeah.
54:09
And incentivize them to do the right thing versus the wrong.
54:13
Correct.
54:13
Instead of litigating for three, four or five, whatever.
54:16
I'm a whole life of the child.
54:18
Hey, this is the standard.
54:20
You want me to rule or you guys want to come to this agreement?
54:22
We can be out of here in an hour.
54:24
Cool.
54:24
that's sounds like you got a lot of stuff on your plate that you want to change in america buddy
54:30
and i got six years to do it man oh you're gonna do it um i i think if you stay the course and
54:40
you literally stick to everything that you're saying here you're going to get there i i don't
54:44
i don't think that it's going to be an issue for you really and again who knows what 2020s could
54:48
look like that race but i think you already starting off with the right foot and you have the right attitude You not doing it for fame or money You literally just saying this is why we need to change policy
54:59
We need to change laws.
55:01
We need to change the way things are done.
55:03
You need to care about your own community, which if I'm going to be honest, many people that run for Congress run for the paycheck and the connections.
55:10
They don't really care about their own community.
55:13
So that's the right approach.
55:15
and the fact that you want to reform Congress
55:17
to work against yourself.
55:20
That's cool.
55:21
I want to install that in system and go home.
55:24
And you know what, man?
55:24
I'll tell you the selfish part.
55:27
Sure.
55:27
I would love this name record
55:29
because again, I don't want to be famous,
55:30
but I need to be known to get elected.
55:32
But I would love for to be elected
55:34
to spur my book sales to where I am retired
55:38
and some of my books are being made into movies
55:41
and that's my job.
55:42
and I am volunteering and helping and just writing and yeah.
55:48
And that's a convenient segue there,
55:50
Keith.
55:50
Cause I was literally going to ask you that next was not on purpose,
55:54
but caught me.
55:55
I think we're just vibing here,
55:57
man.
55:57
I don't know what it is,
55:57
but no,
55:58
please.
55:59
I was going to ask you about what led you to be an author.
56:01
I was,
56:02
I was,
56:02
I saw that and I was like,
56:04
Hmm.
56:04
Okay.
56:04
Congress and an author.
56:05
And you know,
56:06
you have a lot of ambition.
56:07
So explain your journey there and what led you to write books.
56:10
so um i just released it but i actually started with this series called proximal war and it took
56:17
me almost 10 or almost two years almost at 10 years that's ridiculous um but i'm people i know
56:25
but i'm such a nerd so the series it's a planned five book series and it literally is to answer
56:32
the question us as humanity we are type zero civilization what happens if we actually meet
56:39
a type 2 civilization.
56:42
And so for people that don't know,
56:44
technically we're like 0.7 type.
56:47
So a type 1 civilization
56:48
can actually harness
56:50
all the power of their planet.
56:53
A type 2 can harness
56:55
all the power of their star.
56:57
And a type 3 is their galaxy.
56:59
Type 4 is the universe.
57:01
And this comes from the 70s
57:03
from a Russian scientist.
57:06
So anyway, that's the idea.
57:08
What happens if
57:09
There's an alias species that literally can harness the power of their star and we meet them.
57:15
And I'll just tell you, we are bugs.
57:18
We are straight up bugs.
57:19
And so I went into this with zero hand waving and I wanted full military and marine tactics.
57:28
so i pull and it is it might be 4 000 plus years in the future but it is straight up current
57:35
magtaf rain air ground task force tactics within it and it makes makes the deaths brutal it is definitely not a kid book i can tell you yeah it is not because fighting in that environment would be unreal so there no faster than light speed and
57:54
all this other stuff everything is based in as much as i could find to have zero hand waving
58:00
those that have read it they're like this is crazy when's book two so i haven't even started
58:08
book too but we're almost there and that's what got me on the road and then the other two series
58:14
literally came from fighting writer's block okay yeah and it started with the kids series
58:23
and it's joey america and i wanted well let's just face it i wanted a kid a cool patriotic
58:30
kid that wanted to learn some cool shit i didn't want you know just an animal and it makes this
58:37
noise. No, I wanted to show them things they don't get to see. So I started with how a helicopter
58:43
flies. And I don't hold back on the vocabulary because kids are smart. And we shouldn't be
58:49
teaching them basic costs. You can show them. And so I learned a lot about STEM learning before I did
58:55
it. And you actually learn more in STEM learning at this age group with the pictures than you do
59:02
with the words. So every one of the books has aircraft in it. And they're as accurate as I can
59:07
possibly be i show them the actual gauges and everything um then book two i took him to alaska
59:13
where i grew up and i joey builds a snow cave and sleeps in it and i show them the proper way to do
59:19
it and they get to see cool stuff like flying towards denali and seeing a moose and seeing the
59:23
aurora borealis you know so joey just gets to see all these cool things that nobody else even gets
59:29
to see i even have him go train with recon marines for a day dang so he's doing halo jumps and
59:36
fast roping and all this cool stuff.
59:39
And yeah. What's your
59:40
age demographic for that?
59:42
So there's no weapons in that book.
59:44
It's all just training. But
59:45
each book has its own age range. So
59:48
the youngest one is Fly a Helicopter and
59:50
then America 250. So I actually
59:52
took kids through a bunch of the major
59:54
milestones in America. But I don't
59:56
focus on all just the basic
59:58
ones. I actually pulled some cool ones in there like
1:00:00
When the Right Flyer, Breaking the Sound
1:00:02
Barrier, When Our Three Major Sports
1:00:04
Leagues Were Created, things like that.
1:00:06
And so that one's a little older, but mostly because the language is a little bit more in depth.
1:00:12
Okay.
1:00:13
So it's kind of all over the place because I'm all over the place.
1:00:17
Fair enough.
1:00:19
Did you have a website or anything?
1:00:22
Because I was trying to look up where people could get your books, but I couldn't find it for some reason.
1:00:28
Yeah, that's right.
1:00:28
I made it easy for people, so I put it right on my campaign site.
1:00:32
And it's not connected.
1:00:33
Yeah I didn connect it to my campaign but there a page as a author uh the author page And I put all the books right there and people can link it straight in Hold on I going to pull that up then so people can see that
1:00:47
So here's your web.
1:00:48
This is the one you're talking about.
1:00:49
Yeah.
1:00:50
See, it says Keith, the author right there.
1:00:51
Oh, I missed that.
1:00:52
There it is.
1:00:53
Gotcha.
1:00:53
Boom.
1:00:54
And there's all the books.
1:00:56
Okay.
1:00:56
So there's your Joey America, your Proxima War, Dark Horizon.
1:01:01
What's that about?
1:01:02
that is a uh so that's one of the only characters in in um my travel read series that actually
1:01:10
repeats so he's a former marine aviator uh that flies drones in del rio and he catches cartels
1:01:17
using drones to smoke the trucks so that one those two right there are actually kind of
1:01:22
attached to my political political policies devil hog uh inbound is about uh military aircraft
1:01:30
procurement and how much better we could do it without spending as much money.
1:01:35
Awesome. And then these are available everywhere?
1:01:39
Yep. They're all over the place. So they go on Amazon first, then IngramSpark second,
1:01:44
and then they just spread out from there. Very cool, man. Very cool.
1:01:49
There's a few. Yeah, I see that. So author to congressional candidate,
1:01:55
Marine.
1:01:57
I mean, you got the full package, it sounds like.
1:02:00
I'm doing my best.
1:02:02
Yeah.
1:02:03
And trying to...
1:02:05
And it harms the family.
1:02:06
It really does.
1:02:08
It takes a lot of time from them.
1:02:10
But most of the time, it's very supportive because they see what I'm trying to do.
1:02:14
They see that it's not for fame.
1:02:16
It's to...
1:02:17
Yeah, you want to affect real change.
1:02:20
So if anyone...
1:02:21
For those of you who can't see the web address, I'll just say it here.
1:02:24
It's bartonfortexas.com, B-A-R-T-O-N-fortexas.com.
1:02:31
Keith, you want to add anything else before we sign off here, sir?
1:02:35
Yeah, thank you.
1:02:36
I appreciate it.
1:02:37
It was a great conversation, and I'm glad you didn't hold back.
1:02:41
And yeah, I'm very appreciative of your time.
1:02:45
No, we can have more conversations for sure down the road, especially because you're running
1:02:49
for 2028, so we can reconnect for sure, man.
1:02:52
Okay, so if there's nothing else
1:02:55
I'm going to end it here
1:02:56
Everybody support Keith Barton
1:02:58
Run for Congress for 2028
1:03:01
Buy his books, support this man
1:03:03
He wants to do some really good things for America
1:03:05
And while you're at it, support this damn show
1:03:07
Share it, subscribe it, do all those things
1:03:09
You know you're supposed to do
1:03:10
And we will see you later
1:03:22
Outro Music