The Rod and Greg Show: Performance Reviews for Senators; Nations Economy; Why I love America

Hey guys, it's Ryan. I want to tell you about my new pastime, Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has been around for over a decade delivering the most fun you can have online. Play social casino style games for free, anytime, anywhere. So sign up at chumbacino.com. No purchase necessary. PGW. Boy, prohibited by law. See terms and conditions, 21 plus. It's the Rod and Greg show on Utah's talk radio, 1059, K&RS, and everywhere on the Iheart radio app. I'm Citizen Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquette. Don't forget coming up at the bottom of the hour, economist Steve Moore will join us. We'll talk to Steve this afternoon about gasoline, about to hit its highest price ever for the month of August. They just aren't coming down, Greg, and it's just frustrating. It is. It really is. And we'll get into that with Steve. But it is. You see the commodity price for a barrel of crude oil was higher when prices were lower. So it's hard to put it together. Yeah, yeah. Now, we were talking right before the break about performance reviews. Yes. Oh, we all love them, right? Well, our next guest, I saw this article written by our next guest, talking about a modest proposal. How about performance reviews? for senators. His name is Frank Meeley and he's a columnist and at Real Clear Politics. Always great having Frank on the show. Frank, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Hey, Rod. I'm doing great. Thanks. Frank, I love this idea of a performance reviews for senators. What's the idea behind it? Well, I don't know about you, but I've been getting a little bit cynical about Congress. Oh, really? Yes. Yeah. I'm with you. I remember the big, beautiful bill, but it's kind of becoming a distant memory. And I keep wondering whether or not the Democratic Socialists of America have a point when they say we should abolish the Senate because they don't seem to be doing much of anything. But. I'm a believer in the Constitution. I'm a believer in our system of government. I thought, well, how can I help to salvage the Senate and Congress so that they actually can accomplish things? And I came up with the unique insight that senators and congressmen seem to respond when there's an election. They seem to actually start taking their job seriously and want to get things done. And so we can't. You know, we can't change the Constitution. Senators are elected every six years, which is intended to, you know, so that they don't have to respond directly to every whim of the public. But it also allows them to avoid, you know, being responsible to the public, to the public. And so my idea was, you know, let's make. a monthly review so that the people, the constituents can say whether they think the senators are doing a good job or not. And I have a feeling that based on what we see in polling, that they might very well not be impressed by the productivity of the Senate. Now, Frank, I would actually, I love the whole concept, but I think you've got some other things that would compel the Senate to act. It seems like they really love recess.

Recess time is their favorite time. And any time they could risk missing recess, boy, there's a little bit of a pep in their step or they want to adjourn the middle of the night when no one's watching. I would love to see a performance review that's even attendance record. Like how many days are you actually on the job? How many days have you actually put in for it on behalf of the people? I mean, you've got Mitch McConnell and the Senate. You've got Maxine Waters. I think she hasn't shown up in months and months and she's getting paid every, you know, every. two weeks or whenever they do it, would even just knowing what they do or what they don't do, just being on the job, do you think that would maybe? And if you don't get a, if you're not attending and your attendance is poor, then you don't get to have recess. Would that work? I love that idea. I mean, the fact of the matter is that the, you know, Congress is basically out of service as often as they are in service. And I think the public knows that, but. they don't really have any ability to respond to it in any meaningful way. So that's why this monthly program, you know, is going to incentivize the senators to actually be more responsible and maybe not take six-week vacations and two-month vacations and go off on junkets and, you know, see the world at our expense. Maybe if the people were, you know, during that six-week recess, maybe if they got to vote. one time saying, gee, I don't really think my senator's doing a very good job. Maybe that would encourage the senators to take a less extensive recess next year. Frank, do you think there's a one senator out there who would be willing to take on your challenge where every month, you know, electronically, the citizens in his district or his state could vote on the job that he's doing? Maybe a number of questions, issues. There are senators who has the guts to do that, do you think, Frank? Well, there are some safe senators who might. I think the odd thing is that Senator John Fetterman might be the most likely. That's true. He's probably one of the most popular right now in his state. So you just basically need a backbone, you know, to actually say, we work for the people. And the whole idea here is, you know, that. The fact of the matter is that the senators know when there's an election that they have to do what people want or they're not going to come back. And so if we could find a way to incentivize them, and again, that monthly performance review. Every time a senator comes up with a 25 or a 30% approval rating, the people who support him in the way of donors and the Democratic Party itself or the Republican Party itself would start to say, you know, maybe we should start looking elsewhere. And that hopefully would encourage. you know, more responsibility. You know, it's an interesting dynamic this six-year term because in the U.S. House, it's every two years for all of them. So every other year, they're all running. They all have to face an electorate. And that even doesn't maybe become the prime motivator that you'd hope it'd be. But in the Senate over six years, the staggered nature of those re-election, how many senators are facing re-election every two years, it's a smaller number. But you're tapping into something that's real. Texas did not want their incumbent.

Republican John Cornyn, and they voted them out. Same with Louisiana with Bill Cassidy. Are they going to get the message? I don't feel that they are. The majority John Thune doesn't, he seemed to be happy to go into recess without getting a whole lot done. What is it going to take? Is it just changing people before they start paying attention and seeing that the people aren't happy that they're not getting anything done? Do we have to change the people or will they finally catch on if they see enough of their incumbent colleagues lose their races? You know, I started the interview by saying I was extremely cynical. Yeah. That continued. And, you know, it actually occurs, you know, I'm a big supporter of Donald Trump in the abstract. But Donald Trump has a really bad habit of... pretending that he's really popular and he isn't really popular now and even he would benefit by having to look you know those numbers in the face and you know without calling them rigged say gee i have a 34% popularity rating what am i doing wrong and that's really what it comes do. Can these congresspeople, you know, actually, I mean, first of all, they don't do anything. So the first thing is they need to actually legislate. We need regular order. We don't need continuing resolutions. We need, there has not been one appropriations bill passed this year. And that's the way it has been for years and years. And it's, you know, that's what just frustrates me so much. Yeah, way to run a government. Frank, as always great having you on the show. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you, Rod and Greg. Hey, thank you. All right, that's Frank Mealy. He is a columnist at Real Clear Politics talking about performance reviews for U.S. senators. Like the idea. More coming up on the Rodden Greg show. You're getting on your way home on this Thursday afternoon with the Rodden Greg show. Here on Talk Radio, 1059, K&RS, live everywhere, of course, on the IHeart Radio up. Make sure you download it today. I'm Rod Arquette. I'm citizen Greg Hughes. All right. Shall we talk about the economy for a few minutes? Let's. Shall we? Yes. Yeah. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line is our good friends, Steve Moore, Steve, of course, one-time top economists for President Trump during his first term, and now puts out a daily newsletter that all of you should sign up for called Unleashed Prosperity. He still finds himself in that White House, too. He's quite a bit in the second term. He comes with his charts and everything else. He's kind of a big deal, but, you know, he remembers who brung him. He danced with us who brung him, which is us. He's been on the show for years. It's always great to have them. Steve, thanks for joining us. Steve, help us figure out these gas prices. Saw story today that gas prices are as highest as they've ever been for this time of year. Exactly what is going on, Steve. Well, they are coming down a little bit. But, you know, it's interesting that that report came out today in the media because...

Do you know what the inflation rate was exactly four years ago this month? No. What was it? 9%. Wow. Wow. The report that I brought, wow, is right. That completely destroyed the economy under the Biden years, and then we had the runaway inflation and the runaway debt, as you recall under Biden. And so now the latest report. shows that just came out. The two reports came out this week on consumer prices and producer prices. And they also showed that in the month of July, there was almost no growth, no increase in prices, which is very good news. Now, over the past year, inflation are up about 3.2%, but even that number has come down. So I'm not too, you know, nobody likes paying high gas prices. I understand that. I hate paying high gas prices. But we're starting to see the overall inflation rate of the economy come back down. I think by the election day, we're going to be well below the 2% target that the Fed has established as their... as their goal. And so I do think the days of the high inflation from the high oil prices are behind us. You know, Steve, It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumba casino.com. It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba Casino has over 100 online casino style games all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free. Welcome bonus now at chumbacasino.com. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.

I've heard grocery prices continue to accelerate, and they accelerate post-COVID at a much higher rate than pre-COVID by percentage. But it's like gaining weight. And we talk about this almost every week when we talk about inflation. It's not that when you see a lower number, it didn't mean anyone lost weight. It just meant you gained weight at a slower rate. But as far as this core CPI inflation, where they're saying it really hasn't moved. It's a 2.5% or something. They say... On Fox Business this morning, it said they said it was basically back to where it was prior to the start of the Iran conflict. What would you attribute that to? I would think that the Iran conflict was adding to or maybe a drag on our economy, what would make the core CPI inflation index maybe normalize or come back to where it was prior to Iran? Well, because what do you think that the core CPI index excludes? Fuel. Fuel. And fuel and what else? Energy. I have no idea. Energy and food. Oh, energy and food. There you go. I never understand. I got to say, I don't understand this core inflation idea. It's like, oh, we're going to take inflation out that includes food and energy. And that's what we buy. I know. It's the only thing that people feel is inflation. I don't like that whole definition. So I like looking at the overall inflation rate. And that is, as I said, over the last 12 months. Picer up about 3.2%. But you compare that with what it was under Biden, which was like 9%. And, you know, that's why I brought that up. But listen, I still am going to stick with my story that I think this is a very strong economy. Even the jobs report we got last week, which was really lousy, that was really mostly a result of a shortage of workers, not a shortage of jobs. I mean, I talk to employers all the time. You probably see this in Utah because you're a high-growth state. Employers are having a hard time finding the workers to fill the jobs. Yeah, and the good part about that report last week, the loss of government jobs, which we're all hoping for, isn't it, Steve? You nailed it, my friend. Isn't that true? You know, we want... fewer federal government employees and fewer, you know, snoops in our life, et cetera. So we lost 50,000 government jobs. So if you take that out, there was a slight increase. And then, by the way, wasn't that the opposite of Biden? Oh, we created 200,000 jobs and half of them were government jobs. That's not what we want. We don't want you to create jobs by having more IRS agents. Steve, you wrote a great op-ed piece today in the journal talking about you can take it with you. If you move to Florida. Talk about that a little bit and you break down some amazing numbers. Well, first of all, it's these red states, you know, like Florida, Texas, Tennessee. And by the year, Utah is not a zero income tax state, but you have, you know, pretty low flat rate income tax rate, you know, in part because of the present company. And so congratulations on that. So it makes a big difference. So what we found is that if you move, let's say you're a millionaire and, you know, let's say you, you know, you're like one of you two guys and you have a $5 million or annual salary, you know, you could move. And if you lived in New York or.

California where the highest income tax rate is already for this 14.5%. If you were to move to Texas or Florida or Tennessee or New Hampshire where there's a zero income tax, you're going to have, ready for this, you get a 30% increase in your after tax pay. So in other words, you would only have to work four days a week in a state like Florida and Texas. to get the same amount of money as you have when you work five days a week in California, New York. And that's one of the reasons people are leaving those states. And I know you guys complain because there are too many Californians coming to Utah, right? People come because they want freedom. And then they, the problem is then they vote for the same policies they left behind them sometimes. But it is amazing how fast the states with good policy like Utah. are really growing. And, you know, the only solution for these states like New York, California is to cut their taxes. But California is talking about a 5% wealth tax next year, which was going to be on the ballot, which would make California their deficit disadvantage even worse. You know, I remember in the Biden years, inflation was going up so high, so fast that they said, look, if you were making $100,000 when Biden was getting sworn and you need to make $120 even more just to keep things steady. So yesterday it was mentioned, I think it was floated by the Trump administration, that your capital gains should not penalize you in terms of your earnings for the amount that's impacted by inflation. Maybe walk through our listeners. What that, because that's significant. That is a significant tax policy that I think makes all the sense in the world. Yeah, well, you probably read about that in our ally yesterday because we talked a lot about that. So the, you know, when you, you know, I'll take somebody like my parents, you know, who bought their home in suburban Chicago back in the late 1960s and it bought it for like $60,000. And then, you know, then like, kind of 35 years later, they sold the house for like $800,000 or something. Well, guess what? Over half of that gain that they had to make capital gains tax was just due to inflation. Wow. No, that's not fair. You're, you know, in other words, you're, you know, half of the tax you're paying is just because the government, you know, has high inflation rates. So what we want to do is say when you sell your house or sell up stock or sell a property, it's you get to index that for inflation like we do index everything else in a tax code for inflation. And that would be a very powerful stimulus for. You know, we have a shortage of housing. A lot of people can't afford, literally people can't afford to move out of their house because the tax would kill them. Yeah, taxes.

Yes. You know, he mentioned we have a very low income tax right in this state. Yes. Why just just get rid of it. And I know you say we can't, but I think we could. Well, yeah. If you could cut everything that you're spending in state government and so you didn't need the income tax anymore, that's fine. But what I worry is you would just find your property tax or sales tax would grow, commensurate with what you were cutting. Because. They don't do that in other states, do they? I don't know. Florida and Texas doesn't do that. Well, Florida is like if your house is $200,000 or less, you don't have to pay a property tax. Yeah. But I think if you look at something like that here. I don't know if you've looked at your property. I'm not saying our property taxes are cheap, but look at some states in terms of how high it is. They have much higher. Hours keep going up and up and up. Yes, it does. I worry that if you take the three-legged stool off, where you're spreading the taxes over income tax, sales tax, and property tax, and you take one of those legs off, one of the other legs or both those other legs will grow. Tell me, show me a government that's shrinking at the moment. I haven't spotted it, especially in a growing population. I'm not justifying the growth. I'm just. I'm just telling you what I see. If you got rid of the attacks entirely, I think what were at, three something right now, three percent. I'm just going to start calling you a high tax. No, I'm not a high tax guy. I'm just saying, you know, I'm worried that they'll just put it on something else. I don't want property tax to go up in there. No, no, no, no, no, no. All right, more coming up. Rod and Greg with you on this Thursday afternoon right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105.9K. Welcome back, third hour, the Rod and Greg show with you, right here on Utah's Talk Radio, 105-9, K-N-R-S. Live everywhere, of course, on the IHeart Radio app. I'm Rod Arquette. I'm Citizen Greg Hughes. Well, now that we know you suffer from time blindness and what's it called orthosomnia? Yes, smart listener. Cody, I think, orthosomnia. Orthosomnia. And you've been very callous about this condition that I've been living through. I've been very callous. I mean, I am shocked. I've just been speaking truth. We've been close. We're good friends. And you just, you've just. We've been speaking truth to you. Orthosomnias, don't mock it. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. Just like that ring is a real thing. And you enjoy it. And I think that's rude. But anyway, that was, I do appreciate. Honestly, I thought it was a great conversation. And I thought it did. It got into. Did it help you? Well, yes, it did a lot because I think a lot of people put things in perspective. Like, We weren't able to get to all the calls, actually. And there was one that was from a medical professional that said they don't use these rings and things because they're not accurate in any way. They don't tell you the truth. They're messing with me. And that's what I'm trying to tell you. It's not going to tell you the truth. You're saying that now, but you're calling me nothing but a quitter before. Well, you are a quitter. No, that's different. All right. See, folks, you see how his narrative changes on me? I mean, you may as well be CNN across this station for me. Wow. That's a blow. He just, he just, he just, he just, he just, he's pivots to different, different positions. That's a blow. Oh, thank you. Yes.

All right, shall we move on? Yes, we have very important things. I'm super excited about this because this is a big, big event coming up. Yeah, big event coming up Monday night. I've been asked to emcee the event. It's called America 250, a family night at the Capitol, and it's all about patriotism. It is, and what a great time to be in America. It is our 250-year anniversary, and at the State Capitol on August 17th, it's... It's going to be a fun time. Big celebration. Big celebration. Well, joining us on our Any Hour Newsmaker line to tell us all about it is Melanie Mortensen. Melanie, of course, is with the group, Why I Love America. You and I well aware of that group. They're a wonderful group, and she's joining us to tell us all about this event. Melanie, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. Hi, Rod. Hey, Greg. I'm so excited to be with you guys. I brought my co-chair, Allison Smart, and we are excited to tell you about this. Well, tell us about it. Allison, welcome. Melanie, why don't you start off telling us about what's going on and what's going to happen on Monday night? Oh, we have so much going on. So we have our food trucks that are going to be there from 5.30 to 7.30. We have the Cody Robbins band that's going to perform for the first hour. The New Utah Museum is going to be open late for us that night. We just got word that we have the Liberty Bus coming, so we are so excited to have them participate. We have a historical flag display that includes all of the American flags ever flown, including the very first one that didn't even have any stars on it. Kind of fun. Wow. We have an enormous replica, the Declaration of Independence. An exclusive Minuteman statue is one of 20 in the world. So we get to see that. We have a vintage Americana truck for photo ops. And we have the Y-I-11 America mini museum that has been hugely popular with our younger generation. Is this Allison Smart? Is that who? Allison, you need to clarify. Who? Hey, it's Bubba Wallace from 2311 racing. You know what feels like forever? Getting on a plane waiting for takeoff. Good thing, I've got Jumba Casino. With daily boost and social casino games on tap, this is a kind of fun that makes time fly. Why not turbocharge your downtime? Play now at Jumbacasino.com. Let's Jumba. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Voidware prohibited by law. 21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. That was Melanie. I didn't give you Allison. Oh, so I didn't. I'm sorry, Allison. But Melanie, somebody clarified for me. Rod has been bragging that Thomas Jefferson himself is miraculously going to be at the Capitol. I mean, he's very serious about this. He says that he expects Thomas Jefferson to come and he's got a few words to share. Maybe you could clarify for our listeners. Who's actually attending? Is it Thomas Jefferson? Yeah, he's going to show up. He's going to be there. We've heard he'll be there. And we're just really excited. We hope that everybody will come and John Hancock will be there and several others. We're really excited. Well, Alison, why put this event on? Why is it so important to stage this big event? Because you've got a lot going on Monday night up there. Why is it so important to do this?

This is the 250th year of celebrating America's birthday. This is a huge event. And our founding fathers and the Declaration of Independence and patriotism and celebrating our country is worth celebrating. So it's at the state capital on Monday. What time did the festivities kick off? What time should people be prepared to be there? So we have the food trucks and the live band, Cody Robbins band, are going to start at 5.30. The Patriotic program will start at 6.30. And at the end of the patriotic program, this is the do not miss. We need all hands on deck to hold the largest American flag manufactured. It's called the Major. We're going to spread it out across that South Lawn and we're going to take a professional drone picture of it. And that photo is going to be placed in the new Utah Museum to show one of the ways that Utah celebrated 250. Wow. I'm looking at my co-host, his mouth has just dropped open. He's just, he can't believe it. I mean, he really is. This is going to be amazing. He's never speechless, you know, you never get this side of rod. I've never seen this. And by the way, with the attendance of Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock, this goes from exciting to miraculous. This is a miraculous event. You'll be amazed at all the founding fathers we have there. It's going to be cool. See, I told you I wasn't lying to you about this. It's been confirmed. I thought I was ready to bust you, and apparently it's it's on. It's very exciting. These ladies can do some amazing things. Never doubt these people on why I love America. I shouldn't have. Because they can pull this off. Let me tell you that. I should have slowed my role on this. We have special skills, guys. That's right. I can tell. Allison, what the coordination of this and this program, because I've looked at the program, I'll be emceeing it again, but all the coordination that has gone into this, what a task this has been, Allison. It's been amazing to watch. You know, we started this last spring and we meet often and have talked to so many members of the community. I mean, the Davis High School Band is coming. The Youth Freedom Festival Speech Contest Winters. We've just got so many great things coming and it's taken a lot of coordination and we're so excited to have everybody join us on Monday. You know, I think one of the things that you're doing that's I think sorely missed, we get into these months and these different causes and it just seems to people have different opinions, but it's a 250 year anniversary of our country. And we want to see the patriotism. We want to feel it because we love this country or most of us do. Do you feel like this, are you feeling a surge of patriotism and all the work that you're doing? Because this is a hard work to put this together. Do you think that you're increasing these feelings or giving opportunities to feel more patriotic by putting this big event on on Monday?

I do. This is Melanie. I do. And I feel like it's been fun to see how many people are so excited. Oh, I want to come. Oh, I want to be involved. And to have our program grow and grow and grow. We have Steve and Lisa James. We have the Utah Pipe Band. And people say, I want to be involved. And to me, Greg, that really shows a level of patriotism and resurgence that I feel like we haven't really had since. September 12th of 2001, where I just feel like we really came together then and we really, it didn't matter what color your skin was. It doesn't matter what demographic you were. We were all Americans and we stood together. And it wasn't even standing together against someone. It was just uniting together. And I feel like this year has seen a resurgence of that, which has been really heartwarming and hopeful. And I feel like that's something that we need now to remember our roots and to remember that. you know, divine hand of providence in creating this country and our Constitution and how incredible it is that it has not only lasted 250 years, but that it is as strong as it is and what we need to do to preserve that. Well, and they give us the details again. The time it starts, where it will be. Is it free? Our family's encouraged to come. Give us some of those final very important details. And the time it starts. Okay. Right, this is Allison again. So it starts at 5.30. The Cody Robbins band will perform and there will be food trucks. Please bring pictures or a picnic blanket to sit on. And so there's the live music. And then at 6.30, the program will start. And we've mentioned several. We just learned today that there will be a flyover by soldiers and aviators of the Utah Army National Guard during the singing of the national anthem. It's going to be an amazing event. It's on the south front lawn of the capital. It's free. Everyone's invited, and we hope you can come. Sounds great. You ladies are so excited. a lot of work on this. And why I love America, that organization is great. A lot of people put time and effort in this, and it's really, you know, that's what Utah is all about. We love this country. And what I love, and thank you so much for all that you're doing, it is the patriotism that we want to feel and we are feeling right now. But you're also educating. I mean, you're going to walk away, especially our young ones, are going to walk away with some understanding of the founding of this country, which I think the education portion is so critical. Thank you so much for what you're doing here. Yeah, Melanie and Allison. Well, thank you both. You're welcome. You've got a lot of work to do before we get to Monday. We'll let you go. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your busy schedule right now with us. Thank you, and we'll see you on Monday. Thank you. Thank you so much. Bring everybody with you. All right. That's Melanie Mortensen and Allison Smart. They're behind this. This is a big event. So you did it last year? We didn't have it last year. Oh, I thought you said you did this before. No, no, no, no. I haven't done this before. Oh, I thought you said you've done it before. I think that ring is affecting you. Yeah, I know. I said that you, this is your second time. No, no, no, I've never. This is a big event. This is a lot of fun. In all seriousness, it is to educate. It's to rekindle patriotism. All these, you know, all the goals that they've worked so hard to see achieved, I think that is coming to fruition. The hype is big. I know our listeners, this is right up our alley. Collectively, we.

This is, these are the things we feel already. But I just think that young people, I'd like, I was just a young kid in, in 1976. I remember the bicentennial. Oh, it was great. It's, I think it's very important that young people that were, you know, will remember this 250 year anniversary. You're decades from now. And these are the moments that we'll make sure that happens. And by the way, I was not there in 1776. You may think I was, but I was not there. I was going to say it, but it was assumed. I love what Allison said. If you're looking for something to do Monday evening, the weather looks fantastic. By the way, I've been checking it. Just bring a blanket, bring a chair, sit in the south lawn of the state capital, which, by the way, is a really cool building. You've spent a lot of time. It's a cool building. It's a, that is, there's a lot of people that enjoy the grounds around the Capitol. It's, it's a place where people do like to congregate and be, it is. It's a beautiful atmosphere up there. Starts, starts music at 530. The program gets underway at 6.30. Come and join us. It's called America 250, a family night at the Capitol. Come join us. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg Show and Utah's talk radio, 1059, KNRS. Let's get a news update now. Here's Chase. So I think it was a close race. I think it was certainly closer than the polls showed. But I can't get over the number of thumb drives that had nothing on it. Yeah, that's right. The anomalies after midnight just seem to be comical at this point. But it's just, I think it's a parade of mistakes and miserables and everything else. Well, a lot of people are concerned about the impact that the socialist may have on Washington as they're elected to either Congress or to the U.S. Senate. Case in point is the race in Michigan. But the most dangerous socialist, our next guest rights, are not in D.C. So where are they? Joining us on our any hour newsmaker line to talk more about that is Brooke Medina. Brooke, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Brooke is Vice President of Communications at the State Policy Network. Brooke, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. So where does the danger lie if it's not in D.C., Brooke? It lies in your own backyard or are collectively. The American people, we're starting to see this rise of the Democratic Socialists pop up across the country in areas that we didn't expect it in. Wisconsin, certainly Madison area, is a liberal bastion. But by and large, we're just seeing this emergence and more of a widespread acceptance. of socialism, of the democratic, air quotes, variety, spreading across the country. And that's concerning. It's not just constrained to or confined to New York City with Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Seattle, although it is there too. But it's spreading. And that's especially concerning. Is there, you know, our state legislatures, because, you know,

The states, whether it's an assembly or a state house or their state senate, they can't print money. So there's a little bit more of a legislative branch that works like a legislative branch in states versus what you see in Congress. Is that a safeguard against a governor who may get elected? Maybe the media calls them a progressive, but they're actually a socialist and they have a very aggressive agenda. Do you imagine that state legislatures could be a firewall to something that extreme? They certainly can, provided that they ensure that they are reigning in executive authority. I think where this becomes more problematic is when you have a blue state legislature that's willing to go along with what the governor's office is doing. In the case of Wisconsin, for example, which I'd say Wisconsin has dodged a bullet in that Democratic primary, Pong was very, very close. to winning that. But if she had, and if she had succeeded in November against the Republican candidate, she would have held enormous power, what's called a partial veto power as governor in Wisconsin, which means she could have struck even just mere words or numbers out of their state budget. So she, as a socialist, which we all know, socialists typically don't have the best sense when it comes to the laws of economics. And she would have held that pin in a lot of the power of the purse. That's, I think, where this is really concerning, because that affects almost 5.9 million Americans in Wisconsin. And so that just goes to show that we were a lot closer than I think we have historically been to mainstreaming a socialist governor. That's really concerning to me. Brooke, I have said for quite some time, I think the two most important elections voters can cast a ballot in is their city council meeting and their state and their school board, their local school board. Are you starting to see socialism or progressives infiltrating even those races? Because I think races like that have more impact on the daily lives of Americans than some of the other higher positions. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think that's a really important point. And I think it's good advice that you're giving listeners is to engage at that more local level because it does have an outsized impact. And we are seeing just more of a normalization of increasingly. radical ideas that are atypical of the American concept of freedom just become more mainstream. I mean, even the Democratic Socialist of America's membership has grown exponentially over these past several years. I mean, by by orders of magnitude. And so there's this younger... American citizen in the Gen Z millennial age bracket who is just so frustrated with their inability to afford things that they felt like their parents and grandparents could at their age. And so they're looking for alternatives. They're so disenchanted. What's our way of politics? And I think for a lot of them, the first stepping stone is running for school board, running for town council.

And if they've been radicalized in colleges by these ideas and they're engaging with the DSA at the local level, their natural first choice is going to be to engage through local elections and local offices. And so I think we need to be very active and alert there. So many times people get so distracted by what's happening in D.C. I'm actually in D.C. right now. And I just think about how focused everyone gets on this. But really, where the heart of American democracy rests and is defended is at the local and state level. So I think the media for whatever, I was going to say for whatever reason, but I think it's because they agree. They're using different names. So if you're a socialist, they don't want to really say socialist on the air. So they call them progressives or populists. And then they'll take the what was the progressive and they'll call them moderates. And so sometimes I think there are candidates that are running that are socialist, but you might not know because there's not as many people that are at least covering them that are going to call them what they are as a socialist. I think it makes me think of Abigail Spanberger. She ran in Virginia as I'm a moderate. I'm kind of just common sense. But when she got elected, she went pretty far left. Is she? More cut from the cloth of a socialist, or is she today's moderate, given how radical socialism is and it's how much it's taking over the base of the Democrat Party? Oh, that's a good question. And I do think the Overton window has shifted when it comes to the Democrats' tolerance of socialist ideology within their party. And so what... you know, a decade ago would have seemed to be on the pale and very illiberal for quote unquote liberals is now tolerated, celebrated, or the more moderate Democrats are beginning to quickly realize how outnumbered they are, that someone like a Abigail Spanberger can fly. Her ultra-left ideas can fly under the radar until she's actually in office. And I think that's concerning. It also gets at this failure of party structures. to actually police and maintain the integrity of their party. I mean, I don't think the Democratic Party of 60 years ago would have recognized this. And so it's concerning. And to your point about the media, they aren't holding them to account. They're not behaving like the fourth estate like they were supposed to. And so they get, you know, they give these politicians a free pass and don't ask the hard questions. And meanwhile, their policy proposals. make lives worse for Americans. It's terrible. Yeah. It really, I mean, it really is incumbent upon voters to really get to know these candidates, isn't, Brooke? I mean, you can't trust them saying, we'll do this. You've really got to hold their feet to the fire and ask them these tough, tough questions, even at the local level. And that's the only way we're going to protect this great country of ours. Would you agree? Yeah, absolutely.

It's worth protecting. And I think, you know, your listeners would agree with this. We live in a wonderful country. And I'm just so grateful as we reflect on 250 years of this beautiful republic that it's ours to keep now. It's ours to defend and to fight for. And, I mean, I come from a military family. I, for many, many years in my childhood and young adulthood, just... recognized every day as I walked around for Bragg what it meant to actually defend this. And here at home, we have a moral duty to make sure that we're engaging and protecting the next generation and educating them and showing them a better way forward and also holding politicians on both sides of the aisle accountable because we got in this mess, I think in part because we kind of fell asleep at the wheel. Yeah, I would agree.

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