Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / Celebrating Independence Day Week With Richard V. Battle and OneLegUpAlex! 7-2-25

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Celebrating Independence Day Week With Richard V. Battle and OneLegUpAlex! 7-2-25 · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:00
Speaker 1: I see firewords, I see the Toadsam's an offai.
0:07
Speaker 2: That is from the musical seventeen seventy six, because on
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Speaker 2: July second, seventeen seventy six, John Adams proclaimed that this date,
0:18
Speaker 2: the second of July seventeen seventy six, would be the
0:22
Speaker 2: most memorable for America. It's the day the Declaration of
0:25
Speaker 2: Independence was approved. Now, the fireworks do come after the
0:29
Speaker 2: signing of the declaration on July fourth, but boy, oh boy,
0:33
Speaker 2: to kick off this Independence Week, I have Richard v.
0:36
Speaker 2: Battle to celebrate with us as we do mark two
0:40
Speaker 2: hundred and forty nine years of American independence. Richard, thanks
0:45
Speaker 2: for rejoining me on the One Leg Up Network.
0:47
Speaker 1: It's my pleasure, Alex. And yes, we're following up the
0:51
Speaker 1: Maiden America by Americans not America Cants book that we
0:55
Speaker 1: talked about last with some specific individuals that we pro
1:00
Speaker 1: file in the Americans who made America series.
1:03
Speaker 2: And I mean that was quite a perfect series. And
1:07
Speaker 2: I'd say of those that you highlighted, to any of
1:11
Speaker 2: them that are living, like, talk to you about Yeah,
1:13
Speaker 2: we were glad we were in the book. To anybody
1:15
Speaker 2: reacted to like, what was the reaction to that? Book.
1:17
Speaker 1: Well, what's interesting, the people that I write about in
1:20
Speaker 1: these series are all people that have passed on. Yes,
1:23
Speaker 1: we did the eighteenth century book published last year, in
1:26
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century this year, but I'm working on the
1:29
Speaker 1: twentieth century. And I learned from some previous books that
1:33
Speaker 1: when you write about people that are still living, sometimes
1:36
Speaker 1: they may do something that you may wish you'd reconsider.
1:40
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure one of the Americans that you think
1:42
Speaker 2: of a lot in this writing is John Adams, and
1:44
Speaker 2: as you know, on July thirty he wrote that famous
1:47
Speaker 2: letter basically saying there will be fireworks, there will pump
1:50
Speaker 2: circumstances for celebrating July the second. Of course, we celebrate
1:53
Speaker 2: July the fourth, but let's start with John Adams because
1:57
Speaker 2: he seems to have been such a pivotal role in
1:59
Speaker 2: the Declaration Rate Well, he is.
2:02
Speaker 1: In one of my peeds is when people say happy
2:05
Speaker 1: July fourth, because I think our citizens are forgetting what
2:09
Speaker 1: it's about, and so I like to say happy Independence
2:12
Speaker 1: Day so they remember it's not about picnics and hot dogs.
2:16
Speaker 1: It's about our freedom that we ought to be celebrating
2:19
Speaker 1: every day. And yes, John Adams is one of the
2:22
Speaker 1: Founders that I highlight, and yes, he wrote his letter
2:27
Speaker 1: to Abigail and communicated with her quite a lot. He
2:31
Speaker 1: was in Dutch to use an old phrase, with some
2:34
Speaker 1: of the other founders, because he defended the British soldiers
2:38
Speaker 1: from the Boston massacre in their trial. So that was
2:43
Speaker 1: one thing that the Founders didn't like him about. But
2:45
Speaker 1: he was a true patriot and worthy of our emulation.
2:50
Speaker 1: And what I try to do in this series of
2:52
Speaker 1: books is reveal and highlight their American do spirit because
2:57
Speaker 1: to me, that's what's made our country succeed for the
3:00
Speaker 1: last two hundred and fifty years.
3:02
Speaker 2: And another podcast I've said this, I'm going to ask
3:05
Speaker 2: you this. I feel like they were the first veterans
3:08
Speaker 2: of the country. I mean, we honored our veterans today,
3:10
Speaker 2: but they were veterans because they fought for our freedom.
3:14
Speaker 1: Well, that's true. And what a lot of people forget
3:18
Speaker 1: is we remember the Declaration of Independence seventeen seventy six,
3:22
Speaker 1: but really the independence movement started in seventeen sixty five
3:27
Speaker 1: after the Stamp Act. And we see the first person
3:31
Speaker 1: who I highlight, who you can say was the fatality
3:34
Speaker 1: of the Revolutionary War, was an eleven year old boy
3:38
Speaker 1: in Boston, Joseph Sider. He was there at a protest
3:43
Speaker 1: and the British guy was holding a gun trying to
3:46
Speaker 1: fire a warning shot and hit him and killed him.
3:49
Speaker 1: And so he was the first casualty. That was about
3:52
Speaker 1: two weeks before the Boston massacre. So this was in
3:55
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy, six years before the Declaration of Dance he
4:01
Speaker 1: will do.
4:02
Speaker 2: Forget it spans even before him, in seven seventy five,
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Speaker 2: is what I'm hearing so well.
4:06
Speaker 1: Yes, and you think about from seventeen sixty five until
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Speaker 1: the Treaty of Paris in seventeen eighty three, that's an
4:14
Speaker 1: eighteen year spam that our fore bears lived and sacrificed
4:20
Speaker 1: and gave to us this great country. And we're not perfect.
4:23
Speaker 1: They weren't perfect. Our children won't be perfect. But we're
4:28
Speaker 1: better off and we're better people than most of the
4:30
Speaker 1: people around the world.
4:31
Speaker 2: All Right, I'm sure you have this figure because he's
4:34
Speaker 2: on the cover of your book, and he is the
4:35
Speaker 2: first president of the United States. But again people forget.
4:39
Speaker 2: Before being president, he led the Continental Congress, he led
4:43
Speaker 2: the inter Continental Army. I mean, he was at the
4:46
Speaker 2: forefront of everything. And I think of George Washington a
4:49
Speaker 2: lot around this time. Why not, right, because he's a
4:52
Speaker 2: pivotal part of all of this.
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Speaker 1: Well, the reason I put the picture of crossing the
4:56
Speaker 1: Delaware on there is I think that was the pivotal moment,
5:00
Speaker 1: the make or break moment and the whole movement, and
5:04
Speaker 1: George Washington, in my opinion, was the goat. He makes
5:08
Speaker 1: Tom Brady look like a rookie because he carried the
5:13
Speaker 1: Revolutionary movement on his back when everyone else was ready
5:17
Speaker 1: to throw in the towel and quit. His perseverance, in
5:21
Speaker 1: persistence and efforts he carried every one in the back.
5:26
Speaker 1: And that Battle of trenton the day after Christmas in
5:29
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six was the turning point because after that
5:34
Speaker 1: no one thought about quitting anymore. Everyone thought that victory
5:37
Speaker 1: was possible.
5:39
Speaker 2: And you know, it's funny mentioned Battle Dreddon. I've had
5:41
Speaker 2: on a couple of people that have written about the
5:43
Speaker 2: Revolutionary War after seventeens deciding decoration. I mean the war
5:47
Speaker 2: was still continuing on afterward, wasn't it.
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Speaker 1: Well, yes, I mean the you had Lexington and Concord
5:55
Speaker 1: April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five, more than a year before
5:59
Speaker 1: the deck delaration, the Battle of Bunker Hill in June
6:04
Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy five, the Battle of Saratoga, all kinds
6:08
Speaker 1: of military conflicts before the declaration. Then after the declaration,
6:12
Speaker 1: it was almost seven years of fighting to win independence.
6:19
Speaker 2: All right. Now, let's talk about another guy that I'm
6:22
Speaker 2: thinking of during this whole week, Thomas Jefferson, the man
6:24
Speaker 2: who wrote the Declaration of Independence. So what is there
6:27
Speaker 2: some nuggets, some facts that we may not know about
6:29
Speaker 2: Thomas Jefferson.
6:31
Speaker 1: Well, what's interesting to me and so many of the
6:34
Speaker 1: founders were very young here he was born in seventeen
6:38
Speaker 1: forty three, so he was thirty three years old, and
6:41
Speaker 1: you think about that. Uh. And what I think about,
6:44
Speaker 1: not only about him, but the other founders in my studies,
6:49
Speaker 1: was they put aside their personal ambitions and agendas to
6:53
Speaker 1: do what was right for the country with the Declaration,
6:56
Speaker 1: the war, and the constitution. After that, they all reverted
7:01
Speaker 1: back to their personal agendas like most politicians. But Jefferson
7:05
Speaker 1: was brilliant. He was selected to write the declaration because
7:09
Speaker 1: of his skills. And if you go back and look,
7:13
Speaker 1: they realized that our human nature's imperfect. They put in
7:18
Speaker 1: there the imperfections of human nature, realizing that they couldn't
7:23
Speaker 1: get a perfect country. There never could be one. But
7:27
Speaker 1: I love the phrase we pledge our lives, fortunes and
7:32
Speaker 1: sacred honor, because those fifty six guys that signed the declaration,
7:37
Speaker 1: none of them gave up or turned on the other
7:43
Speaker 1: signers they had. Nine of them were killed, and five
7:50
Speaker 1: of them had been tortured and then died that way.
7:54
Speaker 1: Several had their houses burned down, their wives killed, one
7:57
Speaker 1: had two sons killed, another had two sons and captured.
8:01
Speaker 1: They suffered mightily because once they put their name on
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Speaker 1: the declaration, the king put a death worn out to
8:08
Speaker 1: them on them because of treason.
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Speaker 2: So the king basically didn't take it seriously, is what
8:15
Speaker 2: I'm hearing.
8:16
Speaker 1: Right Well, no, he took it very seriously because he's
8:20
Speaker 1: about that they were his subjects even after they declared independence.
8:23
Speaker 1: Right well, he yes, he thought he could say that
8:28
Speaker 1: they were treasonous, would be one way you could look
8:32
Speaker 1: at that. But they were under death warrant, so for
8:37
Speaker 1: them it was victory or death, which was the password.
8:40
Speaker 1: On the night that they crossed the Delaware River and
8:43
Speaker 1: fought in Trenton, Victory or death was the password.
8:46
Speaker 2: Well, then let's get to the man who actually said
8:48
Speaker 2: the words, give me liberty or give me death. What
8:50
Speaker 2: do you got to talk about with him?
8:53
Speaker 1: Patrick Henry, first Governor of Virginia, a very good orator,
8:59
Speaker 1: and here he in a speech there in the Virginia House,
9:04
Speaker 1: stood up and gave an impassioned speech about the benefits
9:09
Speaker 1: and the needs to get into the independence movement. And
9:13
Speaker 1: that was the way he exclaimed his commitment. And what
9:17
Speaker 1: was interesting was the response of the audience. They bought
9:21
Speaker 1: into what he said and realized that we need to act.
9:24
Speaker 1: It's the time for talking is over.
9:28
Speaker 2: And I feel like and I would say a lot
9:31
Speaker 2: of these Founding Fathers were inspiration to those who served
9:34
Speaker 2: in World War One fought World War Two because they
9:36
Speaker 2: saw what the Founding Fathers and said, hey, if they
9:38
Speaker 2: built America, we can keep it going. That's why they fought.
9:41
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe I'm all off base saying that the
9:43
Speaker 2: Founding Fathers inspired not even today's veterans, but the World
9:47
Speaker 2: War One veterans, the World War II veterans to keep
9:49
Speaker 2: fighting to keep the country safe.
9:51
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, and they should inspire us today and our
9:54
Speaker 1: our children and grandchildren going forward, which is a big
9:58
Speaker 1: reason why I'm working on on this, because I think
10:01
Speaker 1: our schools have failed us in teaching the history and
10:04
Speaker 1: the love of the country. They don't teach the civics,
10:07
Speaker 1: and so I think it's up to we citizens, as
10:10
Speaker 1: parents and grandparents to teach our children to be patriotic
10:15
Speaker 1: and to appreciate the country. Let them know that we're
10:18
Speaker 1: not perfect, and we've made some huge mistakes, but we're
10:22
Speaker 1: better than other countries. Because that's why millions of people
10:26
Speaker 1: try to come here all the time. They want what
10:29
Speaker 1: we have, and our founders gave that to us and
10:34
Speaker 1: set the stage and the example for that. It took
10:37
Speaker 1: every citizen then to win independence. It takes every citizen
10:42
Speaker 1: today to maintain and preserve it and perpetuate.
10:45
Speaker 2: It and to keep us going to four hundred, two
10:47
Speaker 2: hundred fifty years later and beyond all right, because we
10:50
Speaker 2: want to continue the country. I think it's pretty impressive
10:53
Speaker 2: that for a very young country, we've had forty seven presents.
10:57
Speaker 2: I know multiple have service to your terms, but the
10:59
Speaker 2: fact is there's always been this transfer of power to
11:02
Speaker 2: keep us going. And so in that regard, the presidents
11:07
Speaker 2: that have led this country in the eighteen ninety entry,
11:09
Speaker 2: where do they figure in your books? Richard?
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Speaker 1: Well, again, I mean George Washington is the goat, obviously,
11:16
Speaker 1: But I have a great respect for President Lincoln because
11:20
Speaker 1: of his holding the Union together, the challenges he faced
11:26
Speaker 1: even to become elected. He lost several elections before he
11:31
Speaker 1: was ever elected to Congress or finally was elected president.
11:35
Speaker 1: So his persistence as well and his priority on keeping
11:39
Speaker 1: the Union together under threats from within and without his
11:43
Speaker 1: administration were unbelievable today as we record this, on July
11:49
Speaker 1: second was the second day of Gettysburg, and Gettysburg was
11:54
Speaker 1: the greatest threat to the Union during the Civil War.
11:58
Speaker 1: And that was the date that Joshua with Chamberlain, who
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Speaker 1: our profile in the latest vault in about eighteenth century,
12:05
Speaker 1: saved the little round Top when the Confederates tried to
12:08
Speaker 1: flank the Union army. And if they would have done that,
12:12
Speaker 1: the Confederacy probably would have won the Civil War and
12:15
Speaker 1: we'd have two countries today instead of one. And Joshua
12:19
Speaker 1: Chamberlain's leadership that day saved the Union, saved Lincoln's election
12:25
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty four. In my opinion, all right.
12:28
Speaker 2: We all are happy the Union beat the Confederates, right. However,
12:34
Speaker 2: I do want to say the tearing down of all
12:35
Speaker 2: these statues that had come into play here, that we
12:38
Speaker 2: can't raise history, we can't tear down history like they're
12:40
Speaker 2: trying to do.
12:43
Speaker 1: Well, that's exactly correct, and people have to go back
12:46
Speaker 1: and look at the situation after the Civil War. I mean,
12:50
Speaker 1: six hundred thousand plus soldiers died on both sides. There
12:54
Speaker 1: was a lot of animosity, and what made it worse
12:57
Speaker 1: was Lincoln was going to have a very good reconstruction
13:01
Speaker 1: period bringing the South back in, but when he was shot,
13:06
Speaker 1: reconstruction was much harder on the South than it would
13:09
Speaker 1: have been otherwise. So that created some animosity in the
13:13
Speaker 1: South that wasn't necessary. And so to try to bring
13:18
Speaker 1: the South back in, that's when they allowed some honoring
13:22
Speaker 1: of the Civil War generals because they fought on principle,
13:25
Speaker 1: even if the principle was disagreeable, and some other things.
13:30
Speaker 1: The city of Vicksburg, which was forced to surrender on
13:33
Speaker 1: July third, did not celebrate Independence Day for eighty one
13:39
Speaker 1: years until the middle of World War two. That's how
13:42
Speaker 1: much they resented the Union. And so we look back
13:48
Speaker 1: and our forefathers brought the country back together and overcame
13:52
Speaker 1: that bitterness of that war. And people today asked me,
13:56
Speaker 1: do you think we can bring the country back together?
13:59
Speaker 1: And my answer is yes, but it will require great
14:03
Speaker 1: leadership just like they had back in those days, and
14:06
Speaker 1: an understanding and a respect to bring people back together.
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Speaker 2: So let me ask you about the idea that this
14:19
Speaker 2: county did not honor fourth of July or independence. Say,
14:22
Speaker 2: did you find that in your research a lot of
14:24
Speaker 2: other counties did not honor independence? Ay for quite a while.
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Speaker 1: Well, that's probably the pre eminent one because of the
14:32
Speaker 1: bitterness of that siege at Vicksburg that lasted several weeks,
14:37
Speaker 1: and I mean people were living in dirt caves and
14:39
Speaker 1: eating rats. It was a very bitter situation, and so
14:44
Speaker 1: they had a grudge, if you will, against against the
14:48
Speaker 1: North that they exercised until World War two. And so individually,
14:54
Speaker 1: I think you could find people that held hard feelings
14:57
Speaker 1: if they had relatives that died and suffered or are
15:00
Speaker 1: they and they felt were abused, just like you would
15:03
Speaker 1: in any other situation.
15:07
Speaker 2: Richard, I find it interesting the twohund and fifty years
15:09
Speaker 2: after we're honoring Paul Revere's ride. You know that, really,
15:13
Speaker 2: Lord of the British were coming two hundred thirty years
15:15
Speaker 2: ago around this time, we're fighting to be free. I mean,
15:18
Speaker 2: the fight was continuing on. Yet there were kids out there.
15:22
Speaker 2: And I say kids because a lot of were very young.
15:25
Speaker 2: Say no, kings. I don't think they understand that we
15:28
Speaker 2: already beat a king and we declared emptant from them.
15:31
Speaker 2: And I don't believe the president is a king. But
15:35
Speaker 2: don't you find in ironic that was the name of
15:37
Speaker 2: their protest when really we had that fight forty nine
15:40
Speaker 2: years ago.
15:41
Speaker 1: Well it is very ironic. They're trying to hang a
15:45
Speaker 1: reputation on him for political advantage, and I can understand
15:50
Speaker 1: doing that, but if you stand back and look at it,
15:53
Speaker 1: it is kind of humorous in a way, because we've
15:56
Speaker 1: already beaten the king. And if you'll remember, in eighteen twelve,
16:01
Speaker 1: we went to war against Britain again and again had
16:05
Speaker 1: to preserve the country. And in eighteen fourteen in Baltimore Harbor,
16:11
Speaker 1: the British attacked Fort McHenry. And if they would have
16:16
Speaker 1: won that fight, if those soldiers in that fort would
16:19
Speaker 1: have surrendered and taken the flag down, the night of
16:22
Speaker 1: eighteen fourteen in September, the British would have won the
16:27
Speaker 1: war and we would have reverted back to being British again.
16:31
Speaker 1: But those soldiers held all through the night. Francis scott Key,
16:36
Speaker 1: who I profile in the nineteenth century volume, Francis scott Key,
16:41
Speaker 1: who was against the war. He was on a prison
16:44
Speaker 1: ship that night because he'd tried to help a prisoner
16:48
Speaker 1: be let loose, and he witnessed and they got up
16:52
Speaker 1: the next morning to see the flag was still there,
16:56
Speaker 1: and he was so emotional because he realized that the
16:58
Speaker 1: flag was down, the country was lost, and he wrote
17:03
Speaker 1: our national anthem, which was a star spangled banners the
17:06
Speaker 1: name of it, two days after that siege, because he
17:11
Speaker 1: was so emotional and so patriotic for the country.
17:16
Speaker 2: Did I get a release from the prisonship? I have
17:18
Speaker 2: to ask now that I did not know he was
17:19
Speaker 2: a prisoner in that moment.
17:20
Speaker 1: Well, he wasn't a prisoner. He was an attorney who
17:24
Speaker 1: was hired to go on the prison ship and help
17:26
Speaker 1: a prisoner, help them release a prisoner. And when he
17:29
Speaker 1: went on the ship, they released the prisoner, but they
17:33
Speaker 1: held him because they knew they were going to attack
17:36
Speaker 1: Fort McHenry, and they didn't want him leaving and going
17:40
Speaker 1: back and telling the US Army what was going to
17:43
Speaker 1: happen and help them defend against the British attack. And
17:47
Speaker 1: so once the attack was over, the British ships withdrew
17:51
Speaker 1: and basically that was their high water mark of where
17:55
Speaker 1: they knew they weren't going to win that war.
17:58
Speaker 2: It's a little different, but it kind of reminded me
17:59
Speaker 2: of the journalists are in these signal chats now knowing
18:02
Speaker 2: all the war plans. They don't want to let them
18:03
Speaker 2: go because they don't want it to be leaked out.
18:05
Speaker 1: But well, that's exactly right, and so we overlook those things.
18:09
Speaker 1: And so when I hear the star Spangled banner, now
18:12
Speaker 1: it means more to me once I've studied his story
18:16
Speaker 1: a little bit. And these stories I write about are
18:19
Speaker 1: where people from upper middle school and up can read them,
18:23
Speaker 1: parents can read them to children. I try to They're
18:26
Speaker 1: very easy. Have two hundred and fifty eight quotations in
18:30
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century book three hundred and fifty eight in
18:34
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, because I want these people to have
18:37
Speaker 1: their own voices. And when we read those quotes, it's
18:42
Speaker 1: so inspirational, how much love they had for their country
18:46
Speaker 1: and for we the citizens.
18:48
Speaker 2: Have you worked with historical societies to get all these
18:51
Speaker 2: writings in the book, like because I saw Master's Historical
18:54
Speaker 2: Society preserved Adams's letter from seventeen seventy six? Do you
18:58
Speaker 2: work with those kinds of society as well?
19:01
Speaker 1: Well? I speak and present to the Daughters of the
19:04
Speaker 1: American Revolution, the Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of
19:08
Speaker 1: the Republic of Texas, and so I'll do things like
19:12
Speaker 1: that and do research. Their missions a little bit different.
19:15
Speaker 1: Although we like to speak to groups like that. What
19:19
Speaker 1: I'm trying to do is not have a definitive history.
19:21
Speaker 1: I'm trying to highlight. It's almost like to use a
19:25
Speaker 1: sports axiom. It's almost like a profile or a scouting report,
19:31
Speaker 1: if you will, on that person. And so I don't
19:34
Speaker 1: report their entire biography. I just look for that internal
19:38
Speaker 1: spirit in their heart that gave them the American do attitude,
19:43
Speaker 1: because they went out and did things that they wanted
19:47
Speaker 1: to do or needed to be done. They didn't wait
19:49
Speaker 1: for government to show up to help them or ask
19:51
Speaker 1: anybody's permission. They went out and made things happen.
19:55
Speaker 2: All right, in this two centuries that you cover. Obviously
19:59
Speaker 2: your state became as state. So do you cover how
20:01
Speaker 2: Texas became a state? And after the war, that war
20:05
Speaker 2: and all that.
20:06
Speaker 1: Well, I highlight two Texans, so people couldn't call me
20:09
Speaker 1: to prejudice. But Sam Houston is one of my favorite leaders.
20:14
Speaker 1: And for Texas, he was our George Washington. He was
20:18
Speaker 1: the commander in chief of the army that won independence.
20:21
Speaker 1: He was the first and third president of our Republic.
20:24
Speaker 1: He became a governor. He was the only Southern governor
20:28
Speaker 1: to vote against succession in the Civil War, and got
20:32
Speaker 1: kicked out of office for it. But I also added
20:35
Speaker 1: something else I didn't learn, and to me, it's the
20:38
Speaker 1: greatest inspirational story, and that is his mother. When he
20:43
Speaker 1: was nineteen, he was going to leave to go off
20:46
Speaker 1: with Andrew Jackson to fight in the War of eighteen twelve,
20:49
Speaker 1: and his mother took him out on the back porch
20:52
Speaker 1: to bidding goodbye and said, if you're courageous, you'll always
20:55
Speaker 1: be welcome here. If you're a coward, never darkened my
21:00
Speaker 1: door again. And then she gave him a small gold ring,
21:04
Speaker 1: and on the inside of it so only he could see,
21:07
Speaker 1: was the one word honor, and I can envision him
21:12
Speaker 1: during He wore that ring every day the rest of
21:14
Speaker 1: his life over fifty years. He died with that ring on.
21:18
Speaker 1: It's at the museum outside of Houston for San Jacinto
21:21
Speaker 1: where the battle that won the war is and I
21:25
Speaker 1: can just see him when he had difficult decisions to make,
21:28
Speaker 1: sitting there twisting that ring and that word honor coming
21:32
Speaker 1: up to him, what's the honorable thing to do? And
21:35
Speaker 1: so what I'm saying is his mother influenced his leadership
21:40
Speaker 1: and his actions. She indirectly influenced Texas and America in
21:47
Speaker 1: the past president and will in the future because of
21:50
Speaker 1: what he did. And she died thirty years before Texas
21:55
Speaker 1: was a republic, so she never got to see any
21:57
Speaker 1: of that. And I tell people when I speak, I
22:00
Speaker 1: wish my parents would have given me an honor ring,
22:03
Speaker 1: and I encourage them to consider to give their kids
22:06
Speaker 1: honor rings as well. We never know what influence we
22:09
Speaker 1: may have in the future and beyond our lifetimes.
22:13
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, because I'm sure every governor of Texas sort
22:16
Speaker 2: of has Sam Houston in the back of their mind
22:17
Speaker 2: because of what he did for Texas.
22:19
Speaker 1: So absolutely, as well as many other people.
22:23
Speaker 2: And by the way, Richard has served alongside the governor,
22:26
Speaker 2: I believe in the one of the the Energy Council,
22:28
Speaker 2: which council was that.
22:29
Speaker 1: Well, Governor Perry a few years back appointed me to
22:33
Speaker 1: the Texas Judicial Council and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund
22:37
Speaker 1: to serve as a citizen representative.
22:40
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about judicial because I want to go
22:42
Speaker 2: back to this no kings thing, and it drives me
22:44
Speaker 2: nuts that they're not seeing that the king really seems
22:47
Speaker 2: to be the federal judges, that I have a power
22:49
Speaker 2: over the whole land. Is that what the founding fathers wanted, Richard,
22:53
Speaker 2: for one judge to make a land for the whole land?
22:56
Speaker 1: Well, we don't think so. In the Supreme Court certainly
22:59
Speaker 1: rule last week making that more difficult as well. And
23:04
Speaker 1: so that's one of the things about having a republic
23:07
Speaker 1: with our balance of powers and checks and balances, is
23:12
Speaker 1: you'll have different branches of government that will try to
23:16
Speaker 1: become more powerful, and trying to keep the three of
23:19
Speaker 1: them balanced is an ongoing process. And so that's why
23:24
Speaker 1: each branch kind of restrains so that two of them
23:28
Speaker 1: don't gang up on the other one. If you will.
23:30
Speaker 1: All three of them are working independently against the other two.
23:34
Speaker 1: And so to me, this is a great example of
23:38
Speaker 1: the judicial branch getting a little bit out of their realm,
23:42
Speaker 1: if you will, and getting too powerful, and the Supreme Court,
23:45
Speaker 1: I think, will reign it.
23:45
Speaker 2: In imagine, say, gang up, because I remember before Joe
23:49
Speaker 2: Biden's term was done, everybody was pushing Alana Kegan out
23:51
Speaker 2: because she wasn't there is something or was it some
23:54
Speaker 2: of my own one of them was not having there
23:56
Speaker 2: was a health issue there. They wanted them out. So
23:58
Speaker 2: Biden cann to point another. There's a blood thirst there
24:02
Speaker 2: in some sense on the left that I don't like.
24:04
Speaker 2: But that's another subject for another day. But I will
24:07
Speaker 2: tell you this, speaking of judging on that, I don't
24:10
Speaker 2: think our founding fathers wanted political judges because I feel
24:13
Speaker 2: like a lot of this is based on politics not
24:15
Speaker 2: actual law.
24:17
Speaker 1: Well that's one unfortunate thing. Our institutions have become politicized
24:22
Speaker 1: more and more and more over the last several years,
24:25
Speaker 1: and the last one to do so, but it is
24:28
Speaker 1: now is the Supreme Court. And I think evidence to
24:32
Speaker 1: what you say is in our constitution. The judicial branch,
24:37
Speaker 1: the Supreme courts the only branch that's written about in
24:41
Speaker 1: the Constitution. All of the other courts have been constructed
24:46
Speaker 1: through Congress and the other branches of government, and so
24:50
Speaker 1: they're all subsidiary to the Supreme Court, and of course
24:54
Speaker 1: they can be changed by Congress as well.
24:57
Speaker 2: You know, as I'm about the expansion of America in
25:00
Speaker 2: this eighteen nineteen century, where do Lewis and Clark fit in?
25:03
Speaker 2: Because I feel like they were major players in all
25:05
Speaker 2: of this.
25:07
Speaker 1: How did you know I wrote about them also? So
25:10
Speaker 1: the first book has forty profiles. The second one actually
25:13
Speaker 1: has forty two because two of the chapters have two
25:17
Speaker 1: people in it, and one's the Lewis and Clark expedition.
25:21
Speaker 1: We have to remember they left just outside of Saint
25:25
Speaker 1: Louis in eighteen oh four, traveled all the way to
25:28
Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean and back over two years. They lost
25:32
Speaker 1: one man to appendicitis. It's amazing at that time, it
25:37
Speaker 1: would have been like us going to the moon today.
25:40
Speaker 1: Once they left, they had no support, no friends whatsoever.
25:45
Speaker 1: They had to find their own food, navigate, overcome any adversity.
25:51
Speaker 1: They had Native Americans to worry about all kinds of issues.
25:54
Speaker 1: Yet they went out looked at the trail. They didn't
26:00
Speaker 1: find a over the mountain path or river to the
26:04
Speaker 1: ocean that went all the way and then came back.
26:08
Speaker 1: Their mission was an incredible story, and there's a great
26:13
Speaker 1: book called Undawnted Courage by Steven Ambrose that talks about it,
26:18
Speaker 1: and I wish they'd make a movie or a series
26:21
Speaker 1: about it because it's an incredible story of what they did.
26:24
Speaker 2: Oh unbelieve, I mean it's I believe hel Louisiana and
26:28
Speaker 2: all these states became now the manifest destiny where we
26:32
Speaker 2: did expand to the west, was there an I feel
26:35
Speaker 2: like all this goes back to the vending followers? Was
26:37
Speaker 2: that inspired by what the vending bothers did to begin with? Like, okay,
26:40
Speaker 2: now let's take this a little further out, let's take
26:42
Speaker 2: it further west.
26:44
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's part of it, and just in
26:46
Speaker 1: a simplified manner. I think part of it was wanting
26:50
Speaker 1: to grow the country, because if we grew the country,
26:53
Speaker 1: we could defend ourselves better. Part of it was we
26:57
Speaker 1: had other colonial powers that still had land holdings on
27:01
Speaker 1: our continent, so that was a threat to our national security.
27:06
Speaker 1: So if we expanded, they would be reduced and eventually eliminated,
27:11
Speaker 1: which would help us protect ourselves. And then if you
27:14
Speaker 1: go back and look at Monroe and the Monroe Doctrine,
27:17
Speaker 1: basically it said to the European country, stay out of
27:20
Speaker 1: the western hemisphere and we won't try to colonize in
27:24
Speaker 1: your hemisphere again to help us protect and so there
27:27
Speaker 1: was a lot of different factors on that that I
27:30
Speaker 1: think helped us as a country to grow.
27:34
Speaker 2: You know, I'm thinking about the military because there are
27:36
Speaker 2: also a reason why we grew. And in the eighteen
27:38
Speaker 2: nineteen century, you had unless Pattam was twentieth, but you
27:41
Speaker 2: had Patent, you had Custer, you had I know, it
27:44
Speaker 2: was like a better But robberty Lee is part of
27:46
Speaker 2: all this. Let's as Grant, so let's go to that
27:49
Speaker 2: years of the military. Where did the general's rank in
27:52
Speaker 2: your book on these legends here?
27:56
Speaker 1: Well, I think Washington has to rank number one in Washington,
27:59
Speaker 1: yes calls. Without him, we wouldn't be here. We'd still
28:03
Speaker 1: be wearing redcoats like that. I think that Ulysses S. Grant,
28:08
Speaker 1: who later became a two term president, is another one.
28:13
Speaker 1: Because Lincoln had such a hard time finding generals who
28:17
Speaker 1: would fight and lead, and once he discovered Grant, and
28:21
Speaker 1: Grant started out very humbly. He'd been in the military
28:24
Speaker 1: and went to the Mexican American War, left the military war,
28:28
Speaker 1: failed at all of his private industry ventures. But once
28:33
Speaker 1: he came back into the military into the Civil War,
28:37
Speaker 1: his leadership was so good that he kept becoming it
28:41
Speaker 1: promoted until Lincoln had him lead the entire Union army.
28:45
Speaker 1: And they call us Grant, They called him unconditional surrender.
28:50
Speaker 1: But he realized that they needed to be aggressive and
28:53
Speaker 1: prosecute the war as rapidly as possible for victory as
28:58
Speaker 1: well as to minimize the casualties and the suffering of
29:02
Speaker 1: the people.
29:03
Speaker 2: And of course he navigated the whole surrender really of
29:08
Speaker 2: the Confederates, which is pretty remarkable as well. And of course,
29:11
Speaker 2: if you ever got the New York Grants tomb is
29:13
Speaker 2: up here in New York City, you got to check
29:15
Speaker 2: that out if you haven't already. So we honor him
29:17
Speaker 2: up here.
29:18
Speaker 1: For sure, well, he deserves it very much so.
29:21
Speaker 2: And then the other generals, because Paton obviously is another
29:25
Speaker 2: legend of that whole era. And then I want to
29:27
Speaker 2: ask you why military generals are not as revered as
29:30
Speaker 2: they were back then.
29:32
Speaker 1: Well, that's interesting because up until Dwight Eisenhower, it used
29:38
Speaker 1: to be that some of our greatest military generals ended
29:43
Speaker 1: up becoming president in the nineteenth century. I mean, there
29:46
Speaker 1: were more than a half a dozen of them that did,
29:49
Speaker 1: and it was because of that leadership. Well, since World
29:52
Speaker 1: War Two, that's left us quite a bit from the
29:56
Speaker 1: standpoint of trying to separate military from civilian I think
30:00
Speaker 1: at are lost because some of those top generals, like Eisenhower,
30:05
Speaker 1: Patton wasn't president, but he was a great general, MacArthur
30:09
Speaker 1: unbelievable leaders. Some of those people had to lead us
30:13
Speaker 1: in the most trying of times, and so Eisenhower's ability
30:20
Speaker 1: to change from a military general to a civilian president
30:24
Speaker 1: was amazing in the nineteen fifties when he was president.
30:29
Speaker 1: People laugh about it when they talk about those times,
30:33
Speaker 1: at least part of the people do. But they were
30:35
Speaker 1: peace and prosperity, single income households that were middle class
30:40
Speaker 1: and above, and so they were some really great days
30:43
Speaker 1: in our country.
30:45
Speaker 2: All Right, we both know that we're sort of on
30:47
Speaker 2: the conservative leaning. We honor America, not to say all
30:50
Speaker 2: Democrats hate America. Okay, I'm not saying that, but did
30:53
Speaker 2: you find in your research some Democrats that were worth
30:56
Speaker 2: noting in the eighteen nineteenth century.
30:59
Speaker 1: Well, I think the main thing I would say is,
31:01
Speaker 1: even in my lifetime, I can remember when both parties
31:05
Speaker 1: were patriotic, both parties loved the country, Both parties wanted
31:10
Speaker 1: what's best for the country versus other countries. And I
31:13
Speaker 1: think part of that has been a movement toward where
31:17
Speaker 1: people want a single world government and they think there's
31:20
Speaker 1: no borders. Were all the same, they differentiate our sovereignty
31:25
Speaker 1: type situation. John F. Kennedy, I mean, was a Democrat
31:31
Speaker 1: worthy of our reverence as well. Harry S. Truman, I
31:37
Speaker 1: mean unbelievable here. He was a failed guy in business,
31:41
Speaker 1: a habitasher, and when he became president, he didn't even
31:47
Speaker 1: know about the atomic bomb that was being developed because
31:50
Speaker 1: he had only been in office about forty or fifty
31:52
Speaker 1: days and he hadn't even learned about that yet. But
31:56
Speaker 1: he was a very humble leader. And when he left office,
32:00
Speaker 1: there was no secret service. He drove himself and his
32:03
Speaker 1: wife home to Missouri. There was no pretense. He was
32:07
Speaker 1: just a normal citizen at that time. And so yes,
32:11
Speaker 1: there are people from both parties that I believe have
32:14
Speaker 1: that American do spirit. And I don't think parties should preclude.
32:18
Speaker 2: It all right on the topic because obviously, look, I
32:23
Speaker 2: think the founding fathers created this country because they wanted
32:26
Speaker 2: people to flee where they're in trouble, you know, and
32:30
Speaker 2: these wars are in countries. And it's amazing to me
32:33
Speaker 2: that we look back and see Clinton, Obama and all
32:35
Speaker 2: these guys did the advocate for deporting the violent ilegals.
32:38
Speaker 2: I don't know where all this changed. The point is
32:42
Speaker 2: the Democrats and Republicans were in lockstep with that for
32:44
Speaker 2: a long time, that they didn't need to get rid
32:46
Speaker 2: of those who were not contributing here.
32:49
Speaker 1: Well, that's exactly correct. And remember Congress creates immigration laws.
32:53
Speaker 1: Most of our immigration laws were created, especially the last
32:57
Speaker 1: major legislation in nineteen sixty five was aid by Democrat Congress.
33:02
Speaker 1: Congress can change those laws. The correct term in the
33:06
Speaker 1: congressional bills is illegal alien. Some people won't even say
33:11
Speaker 1: that now. So they talked today about farm workers. Well,
33:15
Speaker 1: we have a visa program now that it miss over
33:19
Speaker 1: three hundred thousand farm workers every year. So if that's
33:23
Speaker 1: not enough, Congress can change that number so we can
33:27
Speaker 1: have more visas issued each year. The thing that's really
33:31
Speaker 1: kind of holding all that up is one side insist
33:35
Speaker 1: on amnesty for all of the illegals that are in today,
33:39
Speaker 1: when amnesty will just encourage more illegals, as we found
33:43
Speaker 1: out in the eighties when Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to
33:47
Speaker 1: three million of them.
33:50
Speaker 2: I gotta ask you this, Richard. The Congress, and I
33:53
Speaker 2: believe Washington created the Congress as well back in the
33:56
Speaker 2: seventeen seventy five. Would that Congress be happy with today's Congress.
34:02
Speaker 1: Well, in the Constitutional Convention in seventeen eighty seven wrote
34:06
Speaker 1: the Constitution. They created the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
34:12
Speaker 1: But I don't think they would be happy with what
34:15
Speaker 1: they see today because while they created these checks and
34:19
Speaker 1: balances and tried to minim have the division of power
34:23
Speaker 1: so no one our institution could have too much power,
34:27
Speaker 1: I think they would be appalled to see how people
34:31
Speaker 1: have gone to just putting party over country and where
34:36
Speaker 1: people vote in lockstep for or against items based on
34:41
Speaker 1: just it being their party situation. I think that they
34:45
Speaker 1: didn't put term limits in because they never dreamed anyone
34:50
Speaker 1: would stay in office very long because back in those days,
34:55
Speaker 1: ulysses As Grant went broke kid to write his memoirs
34:58
Speaker 1: to try to pay his bills, for example, before he
35:01
Speaker 1: died of cancer. Nobody got rich off government until really,
35:06
Speaker 1: if you start looking at it, after World War Two,
35:09
Speaker 1: and once politicians started getting rich off government, then they stayed.
35:13
Speaker 1: And this is both parties oftentimes until they were drug
35:17
Speaker 1: out their bodies feet first. And so I'm a big
35:20
Speaker 1: believer in term limits because I think it's better if
35:23
Speaker 1: more citizens have a chance to serve, put fresh ideas
35:27
Speaker 1: in and people are less beholden to lobbyists and other
35:31
Speaker 1: interest Well.
35:33
Speaker 2: It's interesting because I did a little lobbying for my
35:35
Speaker 2: disabled community in March. It felt like a very good
35:39
Speaker 2: experience though, because I was able to get in their
35:41
Speaker 2: ear and sure enough, sure votes from the budget a
35:43
Speaker 2: year after, a week after the meeting. I don't know
35:45
Speaker 2: we had it saying it, but you know there's some
35:47
Speaker 2: good lobbying that goes on as well.
35:49
Speaker 1: I will absolutely, But what I'm trying to convey is,
35:52
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the longer that a single politician stays
35:56
Speaker 1: in office, the more opportunity there is for corrupt in them.
36:00
Speaker 1: To get further away from the people, forgetting who they
36:04
Speaker 1: serve in thinking that they're ruling over those people. William I.
36:08
Speaker 1: Thatt Jr. Said I'd rather be governed by the first
36:12
Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty five people in the New York
36:14
Speaker 1: City phone Book than Congress because of things like that.
36:18
Speaker 2: On that note, would the seventeen eighty seven Congress consider
36:22
Speaker 2: a treason that these politicians are making money on insider trades.
36:27
Speaker 2: It's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, but it
36:29
Speaker 2: does happen, and I feel like there should be some
36:31
Speaker 2: punishment for it.
36:33
Speaker 1: Well. Absolutely in Congress unfortunately, creates its own ethics or
36:37
Speaker 1: lack thereof, and we've seen that over the last several
36:41
Speaker 1: years when you see people serving up there's net worth
36:45
Speaker 1: increasing exponentially compared to others in the country, and I
36:49
Speaker 1: think it creates an atmosphere which is not healthy. And again,
36:56
Speaker 1: the only solution to me is term limits, which the
36:58
Speaker 1: Congress will never vote on. You have to have a
37:00
Speaker 1: constitutional convention to do that because they cannot restrain themselves.
37:06
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, you know, I don't think he's going to do it.
37:10
Speaker 2: But when Trump flirts with a third term, does that
37:12
Speaker 2: bother you I have to ask you out on tournaments.
37:15
Speaker 1: Well, I don't take that real seriously. I think that's
37:18
Speaker 1: just a way to try to get people who don't
37:21
Speaker 1: like him upset.
37:23
Speaker 2: Well we get on the home because that would certainly
37:27
Speaker 2: upend a lot of things. But I don't think it's
37:29
Speaker 2: going to happen.
37:31
Speaker 1: Richard.
37:31
Speaker 2: I've asked you this before about Americans and Americans I
37:34
Speaker 2: want to ask you about this here as well. Schools.
37:36
Speaker 2: Are schools buying this book? Are they putting it on
37:39
Speaker 2: their kid's desks?
37:40
Speaker 1: Like?
37:41
Speaker 2: What's going on there with the schools?
37:43
Speaker 1: Well, we hope so. And we're trying to get the
37:45
Speaker 1: word out and anything you or your listeners can do
37:48
Speaker 1: to get the word out. I've had a lot of people,
37:51
Speaker 1: especially when I speak, who will buy a copy for
37:53
Speaker 1: each of their kids or grandkids. I've had people buy
37:56
Speaker 1: copies to give to their town or school libraries. And
38:00
Speaker 1: so we're looking for people to get the word out
38:03
Speaker 1: so young people can learn about these people and be
38:07
Speaker 1: introduced to our great country unlike they may be in school.
38:12
Speaker 1: And so I'm open and would love to hear from
38:15
Speaker 1: your audience any way we can help or be helped
38:19
Speaker 1: by them to get the word out as much as possible.
38:22
Speaker 2: All Right, I got to ask you about one guy
38:24
Speaker 2: that's actually been so portrayed on Off Broadway right now
38:29
Speaker 2: at the AMT Theater, doctor Joseph Warren. Do you cover
38:33
Speaker 2: him in the book as well?
38:34
Speaker 1: Yes. Absolutely. Joseph Warren is a big hero in the
38:38
Speaker 1: eighteenth century volume, and he's a founder that's not as
38:42
Speaker 1: well known but deserves it because he was killed before
38:47
Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence. So he was a leader in
38:50
Speaker 1: the independence movement in Boston. Since he was a medical doctor,
38:54
Speaker 1: he can move around the city, so he gained a
38:57
Speaker 1: lot of intelligence of what the British were doing. But
39:00
Speaker 1: he was a leader to the other founders. He was
39:03
Speaker 1: the one that gave Paul Revere and William Dawes their
39:07
Speaker 1: direction to ride their midnight rides, if you will, before
39:11
Speaker 1: Lexington and Concord, And when the Battle of Bunker Hill
39:14
Speaker 1: was getting ready to be fought, he could have stayed
39:17
Speaker 1: behind the lines and treated the wounded, but he stood
39:21
Speaker 1: up and said, Hey, there's nothing special about me. If
39:25
Speaker 1: I'm going to advocate to go out and fight for freedom,
39:28
Speaker 1: I should be willing to go out there just like
39:30
Speaker 1: anyone else. In a speech just before that, when he
39:35
Speaker 1: was exhorting the patriots, he talked to them about freedom
39:40
Speaker 1: and he said, act worthy of yourselves. He was inspiring them,
39:45
Speaker 1: and unfortunately he was killed at Bunker Hill there in
39:49
Speaker 1: June of seventeen seventy five, and so he doesn't get
39:52
Speaker 1: the credit that he deserves. Because of that.
39:58
Speaker 2: We could, I swear we get to historical figures all day,
40:01
Speaker 2: because I feel like we have that in excitement when
40:05
Speaker 2: it comes to this history and historical talk. Of course,
40:08
Speaker 2: you mentioned the flag was still there, and we all
40:10
Speaker 2: know about Betsy Ross. Where does she figure in your
40:14
Speaker 2: you know your books?
40:16
Speaker 1: Well, Betsy Ross is included, and she's a very important
40:19
Speaker 1: person because Washington had her make early flag. She made
40:24
Speaker 1: more flags than just that one, which is very important
40:28
Speaker 1: as well. She's not the only woman that I highlight.
40:31
Speaker 1: Some that you other ones you know, some you wouldn't,
40:34
Speaker 1: but a very important person. And again you may look
40:39
Speaker 1: at the ones I highlight and you may know some
40:42
Speaker 1: of them. Hopefully you won't know everything I write about.
40:45
Speaker 1: But you kids and grandkids that come behind us will
40:48
Speaker 1: know fewer of these people than we do. And that's
40:51
Speaker 1: the sad thing. They should know as many if not
40:54
Speaker 1: more than we know. And that's part of my project.
40:58
Speaker 2: And of course Pennsylvania. I got the Philadelphia fireworks behind
41:01
Speaker 2: me in that shot. Here Ben Franklin, the actual representative
41:05
Speaker 2: from Pennsylvania. He didn't just discover electricity, you know, it
41:10
Speaker 2: wasn't the key thing, right, There was more than that.
41:12
Speaker 1: Oh. He was incredible. He was an inventor, a scientist,
41:18
Speaker 1: a leader, he was a diplomat. All these things he did,
41:21
Speaker 1: and he was the oldest of the founders. And what
41:24
Speaker 1: was interesting was in the Constitutional Convention, once they finished
41:28
Speaker 1: and they went outside, a woman asked him, and this
41:31
Speaker 1: is a very famous phrase and quote, she asked him,
41:35
Speaker 1: doctor Franklin, what kind of government did you give us?
41:38
Speaker 1: And he said, a republic if you can keep it.
41:42
Speaker 1: And that's what's important today our politicians talk about democracy.
41:47
Speaker 1: Democracy is different than a republic. A democracy's only one
41:52
Speaker 1: step above mob rule because it's the majority rules well.
41:57
Speaker 1: A republic gives us individual rights. A republic protects the
42:02
Speaker 1: political minority from being abused by the majority. Aristotle said
42:08
Speaker 1: almost twenty five hundred years ago, republics decline into democracies.
42:14
Speaker 1: Democracies degenerate into despotism, and it illustrates that that republic
42:20
Speaker 1: is very precarious and so we need to push elected officials.
42:24
Speaker 1: Uh uh, it's not a democracy. We are a republic.
42:28
Speaker 1: We have individual rights that were guaranteed based on our constitution.
42:35
Speaker 2: Well, Richard, year two forty nine is upon us. I
42:38
Speaker 2: look at it as now. Now the Countdoug begins. On
42:41
Speaker 2: July second, three and six, a fave days from now,
42:44
Speaker 2: we will honor two hundred fifty years since we approved
42:47
Speaker 2: the declaration of independence. That's going to be a big moment,
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Speaker 2: and I know we're going to catch up before then.
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Speaker 2: But Richard, enjoy all of this and enjoy your Independence Day.
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Speaker 2: And I would say before the July, but happy in
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Speaker 2: the and then say, because that's what it really is.
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Speaker 1: Well, happy Independence Day to you and your listeners. We
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Speaker 1: hope that we're with you multiple times before then.
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Speaker 2: People can find me at you have one leg up
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Speaker 2: on history. That's what it is.
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Speaker 1: Well, thank you. We our websites Richard Battle dot com.
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Speaker 1: I can be contacted Richard at Richard Battle dot com.
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Speaker 1: We love to hear from people. Anything we can do
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Speaker 1: to spread the word, we'd love to do. And if
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Speaker 1: we always finish our conversations with God bless America.
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Speaker 2: God bless America. Thanks so much, Richard,