Latest / Brian Thomas / AFP - Get out and vote!

Transcript

AFP - Get out and vote! · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It is 7.30 at 55K RCED Talk Station. A very
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  Speaker 1: happy Wednesday to you. Always look forward to talking to
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  Speaker 1: Donovan O'Neill from Americans for Prosperity, getting an update on
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  Speaker 1: the work that they've been able to accomplish here in
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  Speaker 1: the state of Ohio, as well as opportunities for you
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  Speaker 1: and I to get involved and make it so easy,
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  Speaker 1: for example. And welcome back, Donovan O'Neill. Pleasure having you on. Congratulations.
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  Speaker 1: 800,000-plus doors knocked on so far. Man, that's almost, what, 10%
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  Speaker 1: of the state's population, isn't it, Donovan?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I hadn't thought about it like that, Brian, but yes,
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  Speaker 2: we've been, we were wearing out the shoe leather and, uh,
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  Speaker 2: the knuckles are getting pretty raw from all the door
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  Speaker 2: knocking we're doing, but we'll keep it up.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I hope it yields some success. Uh, the
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  Speaker 1: Republicans are behind in early voting in the state of
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  Speaker 1: Ohio and the Democrats have, uh, uh, they're way, way
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  Speaker 1: ahead of where they were in the last election cycle.
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  Speaker 1: And I know election cycles change, but, um, That's a
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  Speaker 1: little troubling to me. Republicans typically vote on Election Day, though.
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  Speaker 1: So and early voting numbers right now do not tell
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  Speaker 1: the ultimate tale. But I'm just trying to figure out
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  Speaker 1: ways to get people to get up and vote. You know,
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  Speaker 1: we're in this hold your nose. It's like a nationwide campaign.
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  Speaker 1: Hold your nose and vote Republicans. Hold your nose and
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  Speaker 1: ignore evil orange men and vote Republican, because the other
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  Speaker 1: side is bringing forth disaster to our country.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. You know, I think, yeah, we talk about
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  Speaker 2: the pendulum swinging and just dynamics in midterm elections and
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  Speaker 2: what that does to the party in power. There's all
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  Speaker 2: that for sure. And, you know, the challenge right now
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  Speaker 2: is overcoming that enthusiasm gap. And I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: my gosh, Brian, if socialism, the reality that socialism is
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  Speaker 2: on the ballot and taking over the Democrat Party, 50
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  Speaker 2: percent of our nation, if that doesn't motivate you to
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  Speaker 2: get out and vote and do the right thing and
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  Speaker 2: elect some good conservatives, you know, like the guy we're
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  Speaker 2: out stomping for, John Husted. I don't know what will, Brian.
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  Speaker 2: It's what we've got to do. You can't just vote.
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  Speaker 2: The other message I take to folks, and we hear
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  Speaker 2: this a lot of the doors, you know, unfortunately, and
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  Speaker 2: we're talking to, you know, infrequent voters right now, right?
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  Speaker 2: These are the folks we're trying to shake and wake up.
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  Speaker 2: And they say, well, I voted for the president. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I usually just get out in the presidential election, so
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  Speaker 2: I'm very sure that. I say, well, yes, but you,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're a democratic republic, right? You are represented
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  Speaker 2: in by legislators like your senator who actually go make
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  Speaker 2: the laws. We need good people doing that. In my opinion,
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  Speaker 2: oftentimes more so than we need the right guy or
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  Speaker 2: gal as president. We need the right people representing us
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  Speaker 2: in the halls of Congress because that's where the rubber
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  Speaker 2: meets the road and the laws get made.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. But it's a little disheartening
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  Speaker 1: when I saw that New York Times article about Republican
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  Speaker 1: super PACs pulling financial support from a variety of races.
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  Speaker 1: most notably hitting home. I can read this line from
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  Speaker 1: the New York Times article. Republican triage efforts include withdrawing
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  Speaker 1: all of the remaining funds that had been reserved for
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  Speaker 1: targeting two Democrats running for re-election, most notably one of them,
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  Speaker 1: Greg Lansman, here in Ohio, running against Eric Conroy. So
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  Speaker 1: he's not going to get money anymore? That's them throwing
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  Speaker 1: in the towel. That's not a good look, Donovan.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: frustrating.
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  Speaker 2: But, you know, these triage of efforts often happen just
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  Speaker 2: having gone through so many cycles. You know, you try
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  Speaker 2: to put the chips in the best places. You can
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  Speaker 2: do it because you've got a win on the board
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  Speaker 2: and you're feeling good about internals. You can also do
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  Speaker 2: it because, you know, things are getting a little dire. Well,
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  Speaker 2: let me give you some silver lining here. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there are more opportunities opening up. Congressional District 9, Marcy Kaptur, 43-year,
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  Speaker 2: you know, representative Democrat from Northwest Ohio is being taken
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  Speaker 2: on by Derek Marin. AFP Action has opened more fronts recently,
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  Speaker 2: including that one, getting in for Derek Marin. And so where,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in Southwest Ohio, you know, that might be
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  Speaker 2: disheartening news, certainly is disheartening news. There are places where
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  Speaker 2: I think fronts are opening up, opportunities are developing, and
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  Speaker 2: these triage efforts happen for a multitude of reasons over
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  Speaker 2: the final three weeks. So I think the mission here, right,
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  Speaker 2: and I tell our team this a lot, is keep
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  Speaker 2: the faith, stay focused, We've got.
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  Speaker 1: A job to do.
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  Speaker 2: Our job, the job of all your listeners as well, Brian.
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  Speaker 2: If you're concerned about the future of this country, it's
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  Speaker 2: get out the vote, knock doors, go to rallies, get people,
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  Speaker 2: shake them, wake them up and remind them what they
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  Speaker 2: need to go do, because that's how you overcome the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day. That's how you overcome the adversity
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  Speaker 2: and challenges that, you know, maybe you and some of
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  Speaker 2: your listeners are hearing out there right now, Brian.
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  Speaker 1: When you kind of engage in outreach beyond the traditional
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  Speaker 1: core Republican base, like, for example, Donald Trump was able
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  Speaker 1: to make some serious inroads into the Hispanic community as
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  Speaker 1: well as the black community. Traditionally, 100% lockstep Democrat voters.
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  Speaker 1: I know that's a broad brush, but you get the idea.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of them moved over and gravitated toward Trump
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  Speaker 1: because the other choice was apparently Kamala Harris, which nobody wanted.
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  Speaker 1: But I know Bernie Moreno had an outreach effort the
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  Speaker 1: other day with Libra.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Libra Initiative is our coalition through AFP with the
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  Speaker 2: Hispanic community. It's led by LaYear Marin-Markham. She's a phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: community organizer in the Hispanic community across the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: And she hosted a telephone town hall. We reached out
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  Speaker 2: to tens of thousands of Hispanic, Latino, Ohioans. I think
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  Speaker 2: the final number was about 20,000, 25,000 joined us for
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  Speaker 2: this hour-long conference, telephone town hall with Bernie Moreno. And
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  Speaker 2: it just really provided an opportunity to remind folks of
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  Speaker 2: what's at stake if, you know, when you elect someone
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  Speaker 2: like Bernie Moreno, right, someone who's voting for the working
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  Speaker 2: family tax cuts, someone who understands the perils of socialism,
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  Speaker 2: because his family fled that when he was a kid.
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  Speaker 2: You know the story well. And it provides us an opportunity, right,
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  Speaker 2: through La Year and the team there at Libre, to
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  Speaker 2: really go and make those inroads into that community and
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  Speaker 2: remind them that, hey, look, the first, second, third generation
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  Speaker 2: Hispanic Americans, you left, you know, many of your ancestors,
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  Speaker 2: family members fled socialist failed experiments in South and Central America.
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  Speaker 2: You came to America for freedom and liberty. They're the
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  Speaker 2: folks who best understand. Brian, my ancestors came here, you know,
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  Speaker 2: centuries ago, right? We've been here a long time. We
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  Speaker 2: forget maybe some of the things that are at risk
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  Speaker 2: and how fragile this nation is. Um, but Libre brings
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  Speaker 2: that message to the Hispanic and Latino communities across Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: And we're honored to have Bernie Moreno share his story
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  Speaker 2: and fire folks up and remind them of how important
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  Speaker 2: all that is.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as you mentioned, fleeing socialist countries, and there
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  Speaker 1: are so many stories from people who lived it and
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  Speaker 1: experienced it, you know, warning us, it's a cautionary tale.
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  Speaker 1: Look what I went through and had to run away from,
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  Speaker 1: you know, when, when Venezuela went awful on socialism, what happened?
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  Speaker 1: All of the best and brightest and those capable of
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  Speaker 1: leaving left. Why does that happen over and over again?
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  Speaker 1: Cuba has to keep its people within the borders. You
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  Speaker 1: can't take a boat out of Cuba. They'll stop you
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  Speaker 1: in your tracks. It's like trying to get out of
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  Speaker 1: East Berlin into West Berlin. Why do people flee oppression?
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  Speaker 1: Because it's oppression. I mean, look around you. This is
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  Speaker 1: just why it's so crazy that we're even having this conversation.
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  Speaker 1: And you need to launch a campaign on Americans for Prosperity. FightSocialism.com.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. So the other thing we've got going on,
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  Speaker 2: we're working on all the fronts, Brian, we're not going
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  Speaker 2: to leave anything on the field. We never do. But
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  Speaker 2: I just did a webinar yesterday with a handful with
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  Speaker 2: about 115 folks who signed up to learn how to
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  Speaker 2: fight socialism. And we talked about through this training, what
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  Speaker 2: you got to do to actually go and bring that
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  Speaker 2: message to the masses. And it's about right. Well, the
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  Speaker 2: big thing we focus on is equipping people to go
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  Speaker 2: out and evangelize on the messages of liberty and freedom.
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  Speaker 2: And it doesn't happen by fighting with people. It doesn't
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  Speaker 2: happen through the name-calling and mudslinging that so many people,
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  Speaker 2: I think, believe politics has to be. It happens acknowledging
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  Speaker 2: that the issues that folks are concerned about, right, housing costs,
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  Speaker 2: fuel costs, cost of living, grocery store, These are things
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  Speaker 2: that socialism claims to have the answers to. But we
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  Speaker 2: know all too well from those experiments that you just listed, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: that they don't work.
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  Speaker 1: And there are so many more.
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  Speaker 2: I just brought it up.
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  Speaker 1: First one that came to my mind, the Soviet Union. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: they wouldn't let their people out. You had to de-fact
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  Speaker 1: and you had to do it under a cloak of darkness.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, on and on and on. It's just like, ah,
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  Speaker 1: wake up.
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  Speaker 2: We've got the answers to these problems, right? From housing
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  Speaker 2: to education to cost of living, we have the answers
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  Speaker 2: to these problems. Our founding fathers knew them 250 years ago.
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  Speaker 2: And we get to go out and be happy warriors
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  Speaker 2: to evangelize and drive that message home and share why freedom, liberty,
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  Speaker 2: free enterprise are the solutions to these problems. And so
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  Speaker 2: from knocking doors to get people out to vote, engaging
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  Speaker 2: and opening new fronts with the Hispanic community, to our
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  Speaker 2: efforts to fight socialism and equip people across the state
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  Speaker 2: and region to go do that. We're fighting, and all
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  Speaker 2: your listeners are invited, Brian. I know you always give
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  Speaker 2: us a good plug here, but all your listeners are invited,
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  Speaker 2: and I think we have a few more folks in
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  Speaker 2: the fight. Good things are to come.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, fightsocialism.com. I'm staring at the page right now. You
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  Speaker 1: can get involved. You can take action. You can give
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  Speaker 1: AFP a little bit of money to help them continue
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  Speaker 1: their mission throughout the year, but there are lots of opportunities.
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  Speaker 1: and we can make some inroads with some people who
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  Speaker 1: might be sitting on their hands. Isn't that right, Donovan O'Neill?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's it, right? I say this a lot, right?
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  Speaker 2: You're watching the TV, something triggers you in the news,
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  Speaker 2: and you throw the remote at the TV, and you
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  Speaker 2: go stomp off and find something else to do. Well,
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  Speaker 2: instead of doing that, right, here's what I want your
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  Speaker 2: listeners to do. Turn the TV off. put your shoes on,
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  Speaker 2: grab your keys, get in the car, and join us
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  Speaker 2: at a county chapter, right? Get involved, get in the fight,
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  Speaker 2: help make a difference. 30 minutes, three hours, a weekend,
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  Speaker 2: whatever it is that you can give in terms of
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  Speaker 2: your time, talent, certainly treasure, that makes a difference. And
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  Speaker 2: we just need more. people involved in the civic process,
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  Speaker 2: involved with organizations like ours to help defend this great
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  Speaker 2: nation and its 250 years of history. Do that.
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  Speaker 1: Get involved. Americans for Prosperity is the place to do it. Donovan,
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  Speaker 1: we'll talk next week. Keep your fingers crossed and keep
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  Speaker 1: up the great work, my friend.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks as always, Brian.
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  Speaker 1: 7.40 here at 55KRC, the talk station, Sherry Poland, Board
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  Speaker 1: of Elections.