Join Kim Monson and her insightful guests as they tackle important topics such as the erosion of property rights and the complexities of liberal policies in America. In this episode, the discussion expands to cover both historical and contemporary messages, detailing the story of Effola Bakery’s struggle with local regulations. Be inspired by tales of personal history and find common ground in our shared experiences and aspirations for a better future.
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It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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That seems to me like government is establishing a religion.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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If you give people rights, women’s rights, gay rights, whatever, there can’t be equal rights if there are special rights.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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Surveys show that people still really prefer freedom over government force.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
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Indeed. Let’s have a conversation. And welcome to the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Tuesday, Producer Joe. Happy Tuesday, Kim. And it is Epiphany. So in the Christian calendar, that is the day that celebrated that the Magi visited the Christ child. And so it also means in 2026 that it’s time to take the Christmas decorations down. Yeah. Brad Beck, it’s great to have you in the studio, my good friend. How are you?
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m doing unbelievable. Happy New Year to you and all the listeners, and isn’t it great to be in Colorado, be alive, and it’s a great country. It’s a great country, that’s for sure. It’s changing, but you know what? Hopefully, if we have our friends and patriots out there, we’re going to make a difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, we need to reclaim this state, this beautiful state that we live in. We need to reclaim the foundational principles of our country. And we are in historic times for sure, Brad Beck.
SPEAKER 09 :
We really are. And what’s amazing about it to me is We don’t realize it in the moment. But if you study history and you study what has happened to mankind, human nature doesn’t change. And one of the things that is wonderful to look at is how freedom is breaking out around the world. And even though there’s a lot of strife, there are people who are yearning for what we have in this country. People aren’t running to Russia or China to break in.
SPEAKER 05 :
They’re not. But our problem is, and I went to Charles Krauthammer for our quotes today, and he said that basically communism and socialism was dead, except in Cuba, North Korea. And the American University English departments.
SPEAKER 09 :
And New York City.
SPEAKER 05 :
And New York City. This is wild is what’s happening.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and you’ve read about the news are for renters. They’re commandeering apartments or want to for white people. Isn’t that interesting? What? Yeah, I just read that yesterday where Mondami’s new czar of housing is going to make it very difficult for white people to own property or rent in New York City. And if that’s not a racist position, I don’t know what is. But she’s basically targeting anybody who’s white. It shouldn’t matter what color you are. You should rent to people who can pay and have merit or want to buy property. And I’ve been reading that when somebody wants to sell their property in New York City, they are going to have to go to an NGO first. And if they don’t get a bid within a certain amount of time, then it stays off the market. Well, they have no rights to do that. So there’s going to be a lot of lawsuits coming out into New York City.
SPEAKER 05 :
We have an iteration of that here in our state. And now I can’t remember if it passed or not because there was so much last year and the year before. But that was that the government would have the right of first refusal for apartment buildings of, I think, either four or eight units or more. That’s not that different, Brad Beck. Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, no. And the government has no right owning property, period, in my mind, maybe at the White House and the Capitol. But I would make a case for national parks and land in the West in particular that’s owned by the federal government. They have no right to it. It’s the people’s land, not the government’s land. I agree. And we need to get that out as well because property rights, both physical property, things you own, but intellectual property, you’re a sovereign. You own that. We all own that. And so whether they take physical property or intellectual property, it’s a problem.
SPEAKER 05 :
So speaking of property, I never know where our conversation is going to go exactly. But we have, and I know that if Jenny’s listening, she has really brought this to my attention, is we are funding our own demise. We are funding our limiting on property. And the dot that she’s connected and I connected as well is, remember when we started to tax ourselves for open space? And then we had government that then now is owning land. And, of course, now we’re seeing the different things that they’re using, want to use for land, connecting the dots from when it first started. Yeah, we’d like to have a view. Right. And so we have been taxing ourselves to let government buy land, that then they are changing things that they might do with that land. And that means that land is also being taken off the tax rolls, which means all of the rest of us are having, because government’s not reducing its spending, we’re being taxed more, which that means they’re taking more of our property. And it’s… It’s somewhat diabolical in a way, and we’re voting ourselves into it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I’ve often learned that, especially where I’m from, Boulder County, the greatest open space is between the ears of elected representatives because they are not listening to the will of the people. Plus, they think they have all the answers, and they know better than the people that they’re supposed to be representing rather than ruling. Mm-hmm. And we have to constantly remind them that they work for us, not the other way around. So when I talk to an elected representative trying to find out what their thoughts are, when they say they want to help, I say, thank you, but I don’t need it. And most people don’t. Leave them alone. Leave us all alone. And make sure you protect our rights, property, intellectual, any type of property that you have put merit into, that you’ve worked for.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that is the foundation of the American Idea. And I think, Brad, that with what we’re seeing in Minnesota with this fraud, which is beyond belief, that is taking money from the hopes and dreams of everyday Americans. And we have done that through – they’ve taken advantage of our goodwill, saying that we want to have lunches for children or we want to have daycare for children. And the American people have a good heart. And they said, okay. And I think that this is going to be a really good conversation about the proper role of government. So let’s get over here, because that ends up with our quote of the day, which it all started with your piece that we’re going to talk about in the third and fourth segment, an engraved mark. But there’s a story that you share about you as a kid, and you used the word obstinate.
SPEAKER 09 :
I was, and some people still think I am a little bit.
SPEAKER 05 :
But I thought, well, that’s going to be a great word of the day. So it’s obstinate. It’s O-B-S-T-I-N-A-T-E, an adjective. It could be stubbornly holding to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion. That should be quite easy to use obstinate in a sentence today.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think that should have been my family’s real surname is obstinate because everybody in my family is until you’re proven otherwise, right? Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would say probably I was – I can be that as well. But I’m really trying to listen to reason, argument, and persuasion. And I know that that’s where you’ve moved to as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and being obstinate is oftentimes a good measure of protecting yourself if you have opinions from experience. But you have to be open to some new ideas. Otherwise, you’re not going to grow. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I think that you and I both learned that. I think we probably were on a similar journey as kids. And speaking of that, Holly, one of our listeners reached out when we did the show. Was that during Thanksgiving about when you were growing up? On the Dirk Claude fight? Yeah, the Dirk Claude. Yeah, right. She said she was just laughing about that whole interview. And so great. You and I, we grew up a lot. I grew up in western Kansas. You grew up in L.A., basically. But in a way, our childhoods were very similar.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, when kids could be free range and nobody was worried about whether you’re going to get kidnapped or whatever. something bad was going to happen or you know nefarious it was go out and play and we did and until the street lights came on and then you came home yeah and it was all kinds of fun and you got dirty and you scraped your knee and you got bandaged up and you went back out and you know Your mom may have licked a little bit of your forehead with her thumb and you went out. Off you went.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we need to reclaim that for our kids as well. Absolutely. So we’re in a historical time. But I then went from – I was thinking about what your father said to you. I don’t owe you anything. We’ll talk about that. And I thought, I’m going to look for some free lunch quotes. So I ended up with Charles Krauthammer, who you and I both had the great honor of meeting, great economist. Of course, he’s passed on. But he said, the free lunch is the essence of modern liberalism. And I remember we had that ballot question on our ballot this, well, what, two years ago? And then again this last year about healthy lunches for all children.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. It’s always for the children, isn’t it? Yeah. You know, that’s how they get the emotion. And that’s what we have to do better. If getting the message out is to hit the emotion first. And if you can if you can think about what emotion you want to transfer to somebody and they do it every time. And the opposition always hits the emotion about the children feelings and the heart message. And we don’t do that well.
SPEAKER 05 :
So they hit us with the heart message in Minnesota. Yeah. It’s for the children.
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And they can’t even spell the name of the centers correctly.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Learning is spelled leaning, I think. And so we have to get smarter, though, too. Granted, they go for the emotion, but we also have to talk about reason. And so this was one of the headlines that… I pulled this Nick Shirley, the young guy that broke the story on this. He said that basically, I want to get into this here. Whoops. I’m in this new system, and new system is.
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Computers are wonderful when they work.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it is. Okay. Nick Shirley says that the leftists are coming after him for exposing the Minnesota fraud. This is a great example instead of holding him up for saying this is great. And where was all the mainstream media?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it’s been out there. They’ve known about this for a while. And yet he exposed it in the mainstream, picked it up finally. But this has been going on for a long time, and it was a local issue, and people talked about it locally, but nothing happened. It never does until it gets that light that goes national. And that spotlight that Nick Shirley put on, you know, he was at the White House with a lot of the new media folks talking about opportunities out there and how to go after some of these stories. And there was people talking about Portland, talking about the various areas where these leftist organizations are the same people. You notice all the Palestinian flags got traded in for the Venezuelan flags that used to be part of the George Floyd flags. Now Somali flags. Yeah, I mean, it’s the same people that are getting paid. I often thought we need an emergency group of people. Every time that leftist group gets out there and the media shines a light on them, why don’t we have a thousand patriots showing up with American flags everywhere? Every city should have a group. I know, but it’s because they’re at work. Well, we are, but, you know, there’s retired people, too. Right, right, right. Give them some money and let them go out there and have American flags.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. We’ve got to come up with some new strategies. Yeah. And we’ll talk about it here in a little bit, but I just want to mention, well, new strategies. Now they’re calling it the Donro strategy.
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Yeah, extraction.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and so I did some research on the Monroe Doctrine, and that was basically James Monroe, 1823, said that Europe had to stay out of our hemisphere. And I guess this is an iteration of this as well with what happened with Maduro. And the left is now just – you know, poo-pooing the whole thing. But yet they forget that Biden put a $25 million bounty on Maduro’s head. The difference is, is Trump did something about it. And they also forget that Obama, when they took out bin Laden, he They killed him. Here, this is remarkable that this guy was captured, extracted with his wife and no loss of American life. This is remarkable.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the American military is, bar none, the best in the world, probably the best in history. Just quickly going back to James Monroe. I went to James Monroe High School in Los Angeles.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is it still James Monroe?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s still James Monroe. Well, we wanted to change it back when I was going there to Maryland Monroe, but the administration wouldn’t let us do it. But I’m glad they didn’t because James Monroe, being the fifth president of the United States and the Monroe Doctrine, which we know him by, but he was the last of the founders. I know. who was an American president, and he was an amazing president that most people don’t know. I know. So I’m glad that we’re invoking the memory of James Monroe and Monroe Doctrine.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you know that portrait of Washington crossing the Delaware? Right behind him there is a young American with a, I guess he wore, they called it a cockney hat, I think it is. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And that was James Monroe. Well, and Henry Knox, most people don’t know Henry Knox, who was the person who created the noble train of artillery. He was the one who got the artillery across with George Washington. Right. And that’s an amazing story. And more people should know about Henry Knox.
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Yes. We’ll talk about it in a little bit. Let’s go to break because we’ve got a very important guest on the line that is waiting. And that is Rachel Dufour with Effola Bakery. And we have been shedding light on them being able to keep their business open, which is a property right. And we have these important discussions because of our sponsors. And one of those great sponsors is the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team. And Roger’s been in business for over 50 years helping people. And I’m hearing from many of you that you’ve given them a call and they’ve been able to save you some money. So make that call because it’s real money in your real pocket. And again, give them a call at 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
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SPEAKER 13 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And in studio with me is my good friend and co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters, an author here at The Kim Monson Show, a regular guest and guest host, and that’s Brad Beck. It’s a great day, Kim. Good to see you. Good to have you here. On the line with me is Rachel Dufour, and she is the co-owner of Effola Bakery that is located on Lookout Mountain. And we have had her on before, whereas Jefferson County has basically – there’s been a problem with them being able to live where they work, which that’s one of the things you see so many of these cities say. You want to live where you work. Well, they are making it difficult for people. the dufours with effola bakery because they have these very good looking tiny homes right there on the property and jefferson county said that’s a zoning problem so anyway we’re hopefully going to get this line around so they can continue their business rachel welcome to the show Thank you. Good morning. How are you? I’m well. And did I set that up, what’s going on well enough? Or is there anything you want to add to that?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, it’s been going on since September 2024. Before we left and opened the bakery, we asked a question, we did our due diligence to make sure we could leave on site because we work at night to provide really good French bakery baked goods and since September 2024 Jefferson County has been going after us. But hopefully we are coming to a resolution and a solution that works for them and for us. Because thanks to you as well, we got a public hearing coming up on Wednesday. So that’s a huge victory to be able to explain our story in front of the Board of Adjustment. And we are hoping, praying that they will hear our heart and understand what we are doing up there on the Cotswold Road.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, so Rachel, let’s back this up. If people don’t know you and Eric and your sister, you grew up in France. So when you say you’re a French bakery, you are a French bakery. And your sister is… It gets up very early in the morning to get everything started, and you need to be on site so that that can occur. Otherwise, part of Lookout Mountain Road, I think, can be closed during the winter or at night, and so it only makes sense for you to be on property, right? Right. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER 20 :
We are working two jobs. We have a non-profit that we run with my husband, Eric. So we do counseling with people overseas, 4 a.m., 5 a.m., 6 a.m. Then we go to the bakery. While we are doing counseling, my sister starts baking. And then at 1 a.m., every day, since we opened on April 4th, she has not had a full day off because the way we bake… Real, authentic French bakery takes three, five, six days to make one project. So for one croissant, it takes more than three days to make. So she has to be at night and work when everybody’s sleeping to have the goods ready at 7 a.m. And the mountain is beautiful, but sometimes it’s not very friendly. And we have winds, storms. Small hurricanes, snow, the roads are closed sometimes. So there is no way we add to our workload the transportation. And we’ve had, you know, incident with our machinery. We’ve had to spend the night running the generators to keep things alive in the fridges. And there is no way to develop the business if we are not on site. That’s what we’ve been trying to explain to Jefferson County.
SPEAKER 05 :
So you think that this is positive to get to this point, Rachel, that you will be in front of the Board of Adjustments on Wednesday morning, correct?
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s a positive news because it’s a place where for the first time since September 2024, they will listen to our side of the story because they’ve been denying every attempt to find something that works for both of us to be compliant. and they’ve been denied listening to our story. So it’s the first time we will be able to explain why we need to be on site to develop the business, why it makes sense for us to be here, and why we provide something that is good for the community. In only nine months, we’ve been able to create something here on Lookout Mountain Road where there is no other business. So it’s the first time we will be able to say it. So I’m very hopeful. that they will hear our heart and understand the business side of what we are doing. It’s not just a feel-good story. It’s real business, and we are providing really good goods and communities up there.
SPEAKER 05 :
And, Rachel, I was up at the bakery, and there is residential people living right nearby as well. So it seems like some flexibility on this is important. Brad Beck, you look pensive. Do you have a—
SPEAKER 09 :
Good morning, Rachel. And I’m so happy that you’re an entrepreneur, that you’re bringing business, that you’re taking the risk of an entrepreneur and providing a community service. And one of the things I see happening in places like in Boulder County, where I’m from, is that they’re trying to get people in these 15 minute cities where everything’s close and together. And yet here, it seems like they’re trying to make it even more difficult for the local people to take advantage of the wonderful products that you’re providing for the community and those who visit. And it’s just amazing to me that they talk out of both sides of their mouth. And so I just wanted to say I’m grateful for entrepreneurs like you who take risk.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thank you. Yeah, and you’re right, there is a community on the mountain. And it’s interesting because we’ve had many customers come and say, oh, we bought the house on Lookout Mountain Roots because there is a French bakery. And someone came on Sunday and said, well, we want to buy the house, but we will wait for Wednesday results if they don’t. give you the right to stay with the trailers and the fact that you are on site we are not going to buy the house so it has a positive impact on the market for houses on the mountain road we’ve had several people coming and saying like we bought because you are here when the roads are closed people cannot go to work so they come to work online at the bakery and have their meetings at the bakery. It is really bringing a positive impact on the community.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and the product is really good too, Rachel.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, you know what? We have people flying now from other states to come and try the croissant and the pain au chocolat. It is authentic. It is healthy. And I’m going to share this story tomorrow with the Board of Adjustment. But we had a little boy coming with his family. And he started crying looking at the pastry because he said, like always, I will not be able to eat it. There is always eggs in it. And my sister is celiac and she’s very allergic to so many things that she was very careful to not use eggs on the wash for croissant. And she came out of the kitchen and explained that to these eight-year-old little boys. And he started crying and saying, wow, I can eat the croissant here. And so it’s been coming regularly. And it’s a pure joy to see these little kids running and, you know, picking their favorite products. Yes, it’s really good.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s for the children. That’s great. Yeah, I love that, Rachel.
SPEAKER 05 :
So is it helpful if people will be there to support you? I know that Ben Williams, one of our sponsors with Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, is planning on being there for support. Would it be helpful if people are there?
SPEAKER 20 :
Very helpful. One of our big arguments is like we are bringing something good for the community. Let us produce those really good baked French food on the mountain by being there. And the community is here to prove it. Everything started by one anonymous complaint back in September 2024. So the petition and public opinion. People coming up, real people coming up and saying, hey, we want to support this French bakery is going to be very powerful and speak volume. So, yes, we are really looking forward to seeing people and meeting new people over there. OK, where is this at then? What time, Rachel? It’s at the Jefferson County building on 100 Jefferson County Highway in Golden at 9 a.m. Wednesday, January 7th. We call this building the Taj Mahal, so it’s this government building, Room 1.
SPEAKER 05 :
Room 1. And so that’s, I think that building’s also called the Taj Mahal, if I remember right, right? Exactly, yes. It’s that building at 9 a.m. at that building in Room 1, and that will be tomorrow, Wednesday, January 8th, correct? 7th, January 7th. January 7th. Yeah, today’s the 6th.
SPEAKER 20 :
And send a comment. There is a way to send a comment for the Board of Adjustment hearing on Wednesday. So they have open an email for that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Excellent. Excellent. So that will take a little bit of work, but you’ll have to be able to find it. We’ll work on seeing if we can get that for everybody by the end of the show then, what actually that is. So Rachel Dufour, good luck tomorrow. And our prayers are with you.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on the show and for your support. It means the world to us. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. That’s Rachel Dufour with Afola Bakery on Lookout Mountain Road. And this is exciting. This is property rights. And so if you can’t get out there at 9 o’clock tomorrow, the 7th, write an email and we’ll get that email address for you here in a little bit as well. And these important discussions happen because we have amazing sponsors. Another one of those great sponsors is Little Richie’s Pizza and Pasta, and they are located in Parker and Golden. And they have some of the best calzones that I’ve ever had. They have authentic New York flavor with Colorado roots, from daily specials and weekday lunch deals to a happy hour worth planning around. They are your neighborhood favorite, and they’re always serving something worth stopping for, and that’s Little Richie’s in Golden and in Parker. Another great sponsor of the show is Karen Levine, and if you are thinking about changing your address in 2026, give her a call.
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SPEAKER 02 :
720-940-3887. All Kim’s sponsors are in inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. So for that email to support Rachel and Eric DeFore and the Evola Bakery, that is awatson, A-W-A-T-S-O-N, at jeffco.us. And then, Brad, you said you found that the location is a hybrid, the Faye Griffin Conference Room, Hearing Room 1. So that’s what that is. So we’ll hit that. But if you can’t make it out there to support them tomorrow morning at 9, send an email to awatson at jeffco.us. This came in from Jenny. She said this is an example of centralized planning, which is also known as communism. Government doesn’t want landowners to be able to use our property. They want us to go rent a space in a zoned commercial site. America is a land of ownership, not tenants. In a way, that was the battle 250 years ago, was excess taxation, excess fees, excess by the British government. We’re here again 250 years later. in our third founding of our country, asking the same question. It looks different, but it’s much the same.
SPEAKER 09 :
Mom and pops used to be on Main Street, and people lived above their businesses forever. But not by force. Not by force, by choice, because it made sense. They didn’t have traffic. We’re trying to get people out of their cars. We didn’t have this, you have to go five miles to the grocery store. People shopped where they lived. All the things that we grew up with that were traditional Main Street USA, we’ve gotten away from. And here is a business taking a risk using their own source of wealth, their mind and their creativity in a situation where they’re doing that again. Isn’t that what we want? Isn’t that what these overseers have been trying to force us into? And here’s somebody, a perfect example of coming up with a solution to their own business and making sense. And yet they can’t do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the thing is, though, is it’s because there’s inconsistencies, which you pointed out in these arguments. When I was on city council, they talked about TODs, transit-orientated developments, where people could live above where they worked. and be in these 15-minute communities. And so they’ve taken this narrative of what you’ve just said, but they’re using it to use centralized planning. And the centralized planning is the real problem on that. And then you’re seeing government being used, our money, tax money, or money being borrowed from our kids used to subsidize these, I think they look like communist block apartments.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, they do. Yeah. Well, and the other side of this whole argument is, as you mentioned earlier, Americans for so long were left alone. And so they created these communities on their own without planning. How’d they do that? I mean, there was no bureaucrat to tell them, put a house here and a business there and a farm there. They used what was common sense. And we’re short of that these days. But the other side of that is if you go to Houston, which is an incredible city, it’s dynamic. They don’t have this kind of planning. I mean, you have a rich neighborhood next to a poor neighborhood. And in the middle, you may have a commercial district. And guess what? People mingle there. There’s coffee shops. And then you go down another couple miles and the same thing happens. And it’s a patchwork of wonderful neighborhoods there. ethnic neighborhoods, rich, poor, black, white, doesn’t matter. But people mingle, and they get to know each other. And they have these experiences of building a community. And it’s not broken up by this group’s here and that group’s there, although people naturally tend to go where other people are like them. But there’s a mingling. There’s a sense of cross-community. And that’s what is beautiful about America, is we did that naturally. We didn’t need the government to tell us what to do.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the centralized planning in Colorado is… Oh, it’s over the top. Over the top. And so this whole density thing that Polis and company are pushing, and you’re seeing this play out in these local communities. It’s been so interesting in Littleton and in Lakewood, the… Politicians that are in office and the bureaucrats, because many times the electeds look to the staff, the bureaucrats, for guidance. And we have seen in both those communities that the residents are saying, wait a minute, we’d like to have a voice on this. And you’re seeing the politicians and bureaucrats and interested parties say, no, we don’t want you to have a voice. They’ve been trying to put up all kinds of roadblocks on that. But people are waking up, and this is really exciting. So I’m going to mention a sponsor. I think you know the story of Hooters Restaurants. And as we’re talking about this, I realized it really was a question of property rights. And Hooters Restaurants was coming into Lone Tree. There had been a TGIF Fridays that had been in that location that had a liquor license. One of our jobs as city council was to approve liquor licenses. That’s a whole different discussion. But anyway, they came forward. But it was like, And the city council held the power on whether or not they would have the license to be able to open their business. And what happened was interested parties came in, and it was primarily leftist women that did not like the uniforms of the Hooters members. They said they did not want that liquor license to be issued because they didn’t like the business. And I’m listening to – and it was standing room only. And you don’t get standing room only meetings, city council meetings, very often. And I’m looking at this. I’m thinking, let them compete in the free market. Let them – Let them, if you don’t want to go there, don’t go there, but let them compete in the free market, but don’t take away their opportunity to do so.
SPEAKER 09 :
My obstinate mind goes right to, we’ve been talking about bakery and chicken wings and Little Richie’s Italian food, along with property rights. We should open up a bar that says property rights and y’all come and you just have good music and good food and your place to meet and mingle and be free.
SPEAKER 05 :
And talk about free ideas.
SPEAKER 09 :
Free ideas. I think it’s a great entrepreneur idea. If I had more time, I’d open it up.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was just thinking, well, you did Liberty Toastmasters where we talk about freedom. But anyway, waited until ultimately the city attorney said, you guys have to approve this liquor license. And I waited until I was off city council and the owners are really great patriots and And we became friends through all this. And so that’s how they became sponsors of the show. I waited to talk with them until it didn’t look like there was any special interest or anything. But that’s why I really have valued them as sponsors. They have locations in Loveland, Westminster, in Aurora. And they have great wings. They’ve got great… and really wonderful nachos. So that’s that great plug for Hooters restaurants. Brad, let’s get over here and start with your piece that you’ve written, an engraved mark. And we’ve got a few minutes, and so let’s tease it, and then we’ll talk more about it in the next segment.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, you know, engraved mark is another name in Latin for character. And one of the defining character moments of my life was when I was younger. And, you know, I had always worked as a kid from junior high to high school doing all kinds. Actually, even earlier, paper boy. I worked as a sales associate. I worked with a guy who delivered dairy products and didn’t want to get out of the truck. So I was the guy who carried the little truck. You know, metal holder for the milk and the butter and everything else we delivered and run back to the truck. So I’ve always worked. And, you know, one of the things I wanted to focus on when I could, when I was graduating high school, was to go to college and spend my time working on getting smarter. And. I said to my father one day, you know, we had this discussion about college and it became heated and we just ratcheted up. You know, we were going back and forth with barbs and I blurted out as a young obstinate young man would do. I said, you owe me a college education. Well, if you’ve ever looked down the snout of a bull who was ready to charge, that was the look my father gave me. Wow. And he grabbed me by the collar and he lifted me up and we went against the kitchen wall where there was a clock and I brushed against the clock and it fell down. And there I am being held up by my father on this nail, which I didn’t know I was on. And he says, I don’t know you. I won’t say the word. He walked away. And there I am hanging on a nail trying to figure out how to first get off this thing because I’m off the ground. My collar’s caught on it. Finally, I slid out of that thing. And I just was dumbfounded. What did I say? And then it dawned on me. And those words of nobody owes you anything. And I combine that with a letter I get yearly from a friend of mine, Dave Walden. And it’s from Harry Brown, who was the libertarian candidate for president. And he wrote a wonderful letter. And I love it, receiving it every year. He wrote it to his daughter, who was then nine years old. And it was the greatest gift. You know, he could have given her toys or games or candy or whatever. But he wrote this letter that became a lasting legacy in his family. And all of a sudden it dawned on me when I was writing this that nobody owes you anything, especially when you’re 18 years old. You’re supposedly free to go off to college. And it became very clear that that was a gift my father gave me. I think back, you know, the clock didn’t break. I didn’t break. Nobody was harmed. But I learned a very, very important lesson. And I think we talked a little bit about the Somali community in Minnesota where all this money is coming from. We don’t owe them anything. They came here. Work. Do what you need to do to prosper. to find your happiness. You do that through work. You do it through self-reliance. You do it through the ability to have fulfillment, not from other people, but to find it within yourself. And it was a great lesson. There was a key there that many people would read and go, well, your father was angry at you. No, he was angry at me only because I I was relying on him as a young adult to give me something I didn’t earn. How is that fair to him? We need to learn these lessons and sometimes being an obstinate young man, not knowing any better and saying things that just come out of your mouth rather than sitting back and go, whoa, how did this situation come about? I said he owed me something. He didn’t. He gave me life. He gave me a home. He gave me food. I’m a young man, 18. I’m going off to college. Nobody owes me anything. And I think more people need to learn that lesson. And so when you think about it, when Harry Brown gave that letter to his daughter, he said the following. A great burden was lifted off my shoulders the day that I realized that no one owes me anything. What a beautiful quote.
SPEAKER 05 :
What a beautiful quote, and that’s a great segue into one of our sponsors, and that is Jody Henze with Mint Financial Strategies, because nobody owes you anything on this. And she says, do you want more freedom and confidence with your money? Then they can help. They’re an independent firm, love that, with over 25 years of experience, and they’re an accredited investment fiduciary, and they can put your best interests first. And with a strategy-first approach, they’ll help you build a plan that fits your life because nobody owes you anything. And that number for Mint Financial Strategies is 303-285-3080, 303-285-3080. Another great sponsor of the show is John Bozen with Bozen Law.
SPEAKER 18 :
John Bozen and the attorneys at Bozen Law know how overwhelmingly life can feel after an accident or injury. That’s why Bozen Law can help guide you, support you, and fight for the full compensation you’re owed. Whether you were hurt on the road, at work, or in a hospital, the Bozen Law team is ready to stand by your side and help you move forward. Backed by decades of combined legal experience, Bozen Law can help you pursue justice and compensation after serious accidents. Call Bozen Law at 303-999-9999 for a complimentary consultation. That number is 303-999-9999. Call Bozen Law now.
SPEAKER 07 :
April 26, 1777. Colonel, the British are raiding Danbury and burning the town. I’ll go tell them. Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington mounted her horse and rode 40 miles through night and pouring rain. That’s twice the distance of Paul Revere to sound the alarm.
SPEAKER 02 :
Quickly. Assemble at my father’s house.
SPEAKER 07 :
The Kim Monson Show is our modern-day Sybil Ludington, bringing us the latest breaking news in the battle for truth and freedom. Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling is proud to stand with Kim. Will you stand with us? Get engaged with the issue that keeps you up at night so that you can influence your school and community with truth and justice. And for quality craftsmanship at a fair price, call or text Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling at 303-995-1636. That number again is 303-995-1636.
SPEAKER 01 :
Do you strive for excellence as you work with your clients and customers? Does it make sense for you to add a unique and focused branding opportunity to your marketing portfolio? Would you like to access a broad customer base that loves our country and wants to make life better for ourselves, our neighbors, our colleagues, our children, and our grandchildren? Then you may be a perfect fit as a sponsor slash partner of The Kim Monson Show. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. And Brad Beck is in studio with me. He is a co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters. We need to talk just a little bit about that before we get into my next thing. But I do want to mention… We, I do say we owe a debt of gratitude to the USMC Memorial Foundation for the great work that they’re doing, remembering and honoring those that put their lives on the line or gave their lives for our liberty, our responsible exercise of freedom. And so you can support them by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org and the Center for American Values down in Pueblo is doing beautiful work honoring our Medal of Honor recipients, telling their stories. And If we owe anybody anything, I would say we owe our founders. We owe those that have put their lives on the lines for us.
SPEAKER 09 :
I would say I’m grateful. I have gratitude for those who put their lives on the line. But I think if you talk to them, I just read a book on a Medal of Honor recipient, and You know, they would say, you know, I was doing what I needed to do. Right. You don’t owe me anything. You don’t owe me anything. That’s my job. And the American founders would say, that was my job. I saw a wrong and I was there and I could do something. That’s what they would say. They were required to do it, but they knew it was the right thing to do. Freedom versus force. It was gain freedom. Right. Their own freedom. And they could live with themselves. They could have honor and dignity. Right. So that’s where I would look.
SPEAKER 05 :
I like that. I like that a lot. So we are engaged in this grand battle of ideas. And it’s been attributed to Stalin that we would not let our enemies have guns. Why would we let them have ideas? What you and your co-founders of Liberty Toastmasters have done, helping people be able to formulate their ideas and be able to communicate those, is so important. And I would highly recommend people that are engaging in this battle of ideas to join us at Liberty Toastmasters. So give us a little rundown.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we had a great meeting on Saturday at Liberty Toastmasters in Denver. Liberty Toastmasters North meets this Saturday. But it was interesting because we had a young man join us, and he wanted to get better at communication. He was listening there, and I think he’s just overwhelmed. He was just, this is awesome. And he’s going to probably join us. We had a recent new member who is going to be, she’s going to school, back to school. She’s from the Caribbean and she just wants to get better at articulating and being able to speak English in a way that people can understand her. I mean, people come from all different reasons, but we are really a listening organization that learns speaking. And if you learn to speak based on principles and get those important American ideas out there, that’s even stronger because it makes a point. Telling stories, having opinions, wonderful. But you’ve got to base it on something. And whether it’s a lesson like my little article, my essay, or it’s on a principle that you can defend, you have a stronger argument. And so how can people get more information? They go to Liberty Toastmasters or toastmastersinternational.org and look up either Denver or Longmont and come and join us. Hang out. See what we do. We laugh a lot. We have a good time. Great people. And you’ll learn how to articulate the principles of America’s founding.
SPEAKER 05 :
And this is the time to do it because we are in this battle of ideas. 250 years ago at this time in 1776, things were hot, very hot. And the question really was about property because overtaxation, people being charged enormous fees, is taking their property. And we are, I think, at a point now as well, as Producer Joe said, what we were talking about, debt as well, is our young people were encouraged to take on enormous debt after the government got involved in the student loan program. And Now, many of them are feeling disheartened because of that. And then how expensive it is to try to buy a home and a car and all these things. And government is what is making all of this more expensive. It’s important that people understand that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, Americans need to get involved in their local communities with, I’ll say, service organizations, the Optimist Club, the Rotary, the Kiwanis, the Lions, because that, number one, will force out government if they’re very effective in their local communities doing those activities that Americans have always done. And when you have government come in like the school loan program, when I went to school, as I was mentioning earlier, it was— Or the school lunch program. The school lunch program. You know, I took my lunch to school. My mom made me a PBJ, and if I didn’t want it that day because it was either PBJs or salami and cheese, you know, you could have the free market on the lunch yard and exchange with your friends. It was an amazing opportunity. Kids naturally do that anyways. Yeah. When I went to college, it wasn’t that expensive. Why? Because there wasn’t all these administrators. There weren’t bureaucrats. And so you’re not paying for an executive vice president, an assistant of, and another assistant, and another assistant. It took me some time to pay that loan off. And it was real money back then. It was $3,000 when I went per year at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. But I paid it back. I don’t know how a young person can pay back what they owe nowadays, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it makes no sense. I would encourage anybody who has a young person looking to do something with their life, go to a trade school, work with your hands. You could be making… you know, six-figure salary right out of a trade school because we need tradespeople. And this is something Mike Rowe has been working on for years, getting people into HVAC, electrical, plumbing. There are so many jobs out there for people to work with their minds and their hands rather than going to college and being indoctrinated in who knows what.
SPEAKER 05 :
But it’s all been connected. I remember when I was on city council that they wanted to put in place, in order to work for the city, you had to have a college degree. Didn’t say what it was in. It could have been basket weaving. So then there’s this perception the kids need that degree so that they can get that job. You get Obama coming in with the student loan program. That inflates… That tuition is being paid to, many times, professors that are indoctrinating kids to hate the American idea. Before we go to break, I did want to mention, this is from the Center Square, and it was talking about affordability in Colorado. It says, since 2016, housing prices have increased 46%, while total state, local, and federal tax liabilities rose 48%. That means the average household in Denver is now spending $51,001 on taxes and fees. If we want to make life more affordable, that’s what we go after, I think, Brad Beck.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, affordability is the big buzzword these days, but we’ve always addressed that as a conservative or a Republican or a libertarian. We’ve always been concerned with our own affordability and being self-reliant and not having all these programs that put us in debt. And we are now… Putting on our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren such debt, trillions and trillions of dollars, it’s unconscionable. So first live within your own means, but the government needs to do that as well. We have a spending problem.
SPEAKER 05 :
Which is clear, and a lot of that’s been going to fraud. So we’ll continue the discussion. Great to have you here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thanks for having me. And remember, nobody owes you anything.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. And you’re going to stay for the second hour.
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m very happy to do so.
SPEAKER 05 :
And our quote for the end of the show is from Charles Krauthammer. He said this, you can have the most advanced and effervescent of cultures. But you get your politics wrong, and everything stands to be swept away. This is not ancient history. This is Germany 1933. Politics is the moat, the walls, beyond which lie the barbarians. Fail to keep them at bay, and everything burns. So today, my friends, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 04 :
That seems to me like government is establishing a religion. If you give people rights, women’s rights, gay rights, whatever, there can’t be equal rights if there are special rights.
SPEAKER 05 :
Surveys show that people still really prefer freedom over government force.
SPEAKER 06 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 05 :
indeed let’s have a conversation and welcome to our number two of the kim monson show thank you so much for joining us you’re each treasured and valued you have purpose today strive for excellence take care of your heart your soul your mind and your body my friends we were made for this moment in history thank you to the team that’s producer joe luke rachel zach echo charlie mike theresa amanda and all the people here at crawford broadcasting happy tuesday producer joe happy tuesday kim And it’s in the Christian calendar. It’s Epiphany. And that is when it’s celebrated that the Magi visited the Christ child. It also means tomorrow I will take down my Christmas decorations. So I hope. I can always use it a few more hours in the day. Check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Make sure you’re signed up for our weekly email newsletter that you’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. The text line is 720-605-0647. I’m behind on email, so I’m not going to give that out right now. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Something’s a good idea. You should not have to force people to do it. And on the show, we focus on the issues, and we’ll talk about the people around those issues, but we really try to stay out of all of the personality issues. fighting that can happen in politics in studio with me is brad beck my good friend author at the kim monson show frequent guest and guest host and co-founder of liberty toastmasters helping people get their brains around their ideas and be able to communicate them and that is so important right now well
SPEAKER 09 :
Good morning, Kim, and it’s always great. It’s a pleasure to be here. Can I just say happy birthday to my sister in Southern California? I won’t give her age away because I’ll hear about it, but January 6th is her birthday, so I always like to wish her that.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s awesome. And, yeah, you’re a California boy, Colorado boy. Colorado man, how’s that?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I probably was a Colorado guy all the time, but I had to move here to figure that out. Yeah, for sure. But California used to be a lot like California when I grew up there. Or Colorado. Colorado, yeah. I mean, it was just a wonderful place.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now Colorado’s a lot like California, too, and that’s not a good thing.
SPEAKER 09 :
I left the crumbs and they found me.
SPEAKER 05 :
They did. And also in studio with me is Greg Lopez, former congressman. Great to have you here.
SPEAKER 14 :
Good morning, Kim. Good morning.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you did something very interesting in the political realm this last week or so, correct?
SPEAKER 14 :
Mm-hmm. Yes, I did. You know what? I decided after a lot of thought and a lot of insight as to what is the best path to be the next governor of Colorado, I decided that I was not going to participate in the Republican primary process. I decided to have my message be heard directly at the November election. And so I will no longer be a Republican. I’m an affiliated voter and I will be petitioning on to the general election.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, we’ll talk about what that means in the next segments because there are those – we’ll use our word of the day. How’s that? The word of the day is obstinate, and it’s spelled O-B-S-T-I-N-A-T-E. It could be stubbornly, holding to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion. So there are those that have said that you’re brilliant and others that have said that you’re obstinate. Okay. So we can use that as our word of the day. Okay. Actually, I did not give the history on Charles Krauthammer, and I should have, who is our quote of the day. And I chose that because the quote of the day is related because of your conversation with your father, which if people did not hear that in the first hour, why don’t you share that, and I’m going to quickly get Charles Krauthammer’s.
SPEAKER 09 :
telling my father that he owed me a college education, I found myself hanging on a nail where a clock used to be. Greg can relate to this when you have an obstinate family. And I’m hanging there, and I said to my dad, you owe me an education. And he said, I don’t owe you expletive. And I had to figure out one, get off the nail. But it was one of the greatest gifts that I ever received because I learned real quick that nobody owes us anything.
SPEAKER 14 :
Isn’t that so true?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. And you’ve worked very hard as somebody who’s worked your way up from business to being an entrepreneur and then running for, you know, city council mayor in your community and doing so much and then eventually getting to Congress.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
Which was huge. And thank you for that service. You bet. But now you’ve got something going on that, you know, probably you look at the people who supported you and they’re saying, Greg, really? Yeah. You know, how are we going to square this peg? Because there’s so much that comes with that. There’s a lot of baggage from the people that brought you to the dance, so to speak. So I want to ask you about that. Of course. But I’ll go back to Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, thank you. I found this. And Brad, you and I both met Charles Krauthammer probably the same year. And it was at an event, a leadership program in the Rockies. And I actually have my picture with him. And he was born in 1950, died in 2018. He was an American political columnist. He was a moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in the Washington Post. And when he was studying medicine in the first year at Harvard Medical School, he became permanently paralyzed from the waist down after a diving board accident that severed his spinal cord. But he never gave up.
SPEAKER 09 :
And he was a great baseball fan. That’s right. He loved the Washington teams, and he was at them all the time. Drive himself on his van there. That’s right. With George Will, of all people. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
So our quote of the day is from Charles Krauthammer. He said, the free lunch is the essence of modern liberalism. And there’s so much in that. And so that is our quote of the day. Let’s see, a couple of other headlines that I wanted to hit. And no, I don’t. I want to talk with John Bozen, with Bozen Law, who’s on the line with us for a weekly update. Happy New Year, John Bozen.
SPEAKER 08 :
Happy New Year, Kim. Good to hear Greg’s voice also. Good morning, John. Good morning, Greg.
SPEAKER 05 :
So, 2026, John Bozen, what should people be thinking about?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, it’s a new year, and I’ve brought this up before, but it’s a frustrating one for me, and that’s meeting with folks after they’ve been involved in an accident, usually a motor vehicle collision, and asking them, what kind of coverage do you have? And folks give me that wide-eyed stare. They have no idea. Not everybody. Some people are right on top of it, but too many don’t know. whether they have certain types of coverage that can make a difference in my and my firm’s representation of them. And so I encourage folks with this new year, know what kind of auto insurance coverage you have. It’s important, super really important when you get in an accident. But I want folks to know what they have. And they need to get with their agent. They need to review their policy. They need to ask questions. And I encourage everybody out there, to make sure, again, given how many uninsured drivers are on our roads, to make at a bare minimum they’ve got that UM, uninsured motorists, UIM, underinsured motorists, coverage.
SPEAKER 05 :
It sounds to me, John, like there’s a little bit of frustration in your voice. There’s a lot of frustration. And that is, I think, and we talk about it on a regular basis. Roger Mangan and his State Farm Insurance team is a sponsor of the show. And I really, until I started to work with you and work with him, hadn’t really thought about doing these insurance reviews every year. with your agent. And if your agent is an 800 number, you might want to rethink that. But I’m now doing that review. I’ll just ask, Brad, do you do a review?
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, yeah. I love my insurance agent. And I think more people need to think about these big life issues because when the stuff hits the fan, you don’t want to be digging through things or trying to figure out what to do. And John does a great job, I’m sure, of reminding his clients of let’s keep up to date with things. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Greg, how about you?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I don’t do it every year, but I do try to look at it every two to three years. But yeah, it’s very important to know what coverage you have.
SPEAKER 05 :
And so this yearly thing, I think I’m going to try to do this yearly.
SPEAKER 08 :
John Bozen, I think that’s… And that goes for auto, home, everything. And if you’ve got a good agent… A good agent is not going to let you go out there and not have the coverage that you need. The problem is you hit it on the head, Kim. People go online. People call these 1-800 numbers. They’ll give you low insurance coverage, but they don’t tell you what you’re not getting way too often.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and the other thing, John, I’ve learned with Roger is that we as individuals, and you’re going to love this, Brad, is we have to be proactive. We have to pick up the phone and talk to our agent and say, hey, let’s go over this. We need to be proactive, not only in our auto insurance, but in our health, all of these different things, John, we have to be proactive. If something does happen, though, and somebody is injured, whether it’s on the job, an accident, they should give you a call and your firm for a complimentary appointment. What’s that number, John Bozen?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, that number to call for a conversation with me or one of the other senior lawyers is 303-999-9999.
SPEAKER 05 :
Again, that is John Bozen, Bozen Law, great sponsor of the show. 303-999-9999. John Bozen, we’ll talk next week.
SPEAKER 08 :
Happy New Year, Brad, Greg, and Kim. I’ll look forward to next week.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. And I mentioned the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team. Give them a call. Go over your coverage for a complimentary appointment. Doesn’t cost you anything and it might gain you a lot. That number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to The Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m., with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And we are blessed to work with amazing sponsors here at The Kim Monson Show. And another one of those great sponsors is Mint Financial Strategies. And they can certainly help you with your… personal success and finances, and you really need to have a professional on your side of the table. They’re an independent firm, and they are an accredited investment fiduciary. They always put your interests first. Mint means more than money. It stands for meaningful relationship, information sharing, a network of smart strategies and a thoughtful advisor who puts you in control. Everything is tailored to you. So give them a call. That number is 303-285-3080, 303-285-3080. In studio with me is my good friend Brad Beck. He is an author at The Kim Monson Show as well as a frequent guest and guest host. And Joe and I were reminiscing about the first time that I gave the microphone up to my trusted friend, Brad Beck. We had everything organized, and this had never happened, and the phone lines went down. That was fun. You had two hours to just – Talk into the microphone. That is hard to do.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, you just imagine being in a closet with the lights out and talking to yourself. It’s pretty easy, actually. Anybody can do it. I was loquacious when I grew up. That was the word that I was called. We survived.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we’ve come up with workarounds if that ever happens again. But, oh, my gosh. But it’s great to have you here. And, again, co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters, which meets Liberty Toastmasters Denver, 1st and 3rd. Saturdays at the Independence Institute, and North meets the 2nd and 4th at the Boulder Republican Office in Longmont.
SPEAKER 09 :
And our friend Greg has even joined us and come and had some fun with us before. That’s right. Thank you for doing that. You betcha.
SPEAKER 05 :
So, Greg Lopez, you and your wife, Lisa, did something very interesting from a political standpoint.
SPEAKER 09 :
What? They did a thing to quote somebody from Minnesota. Yeah. So tell us.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, you know what? Let me first say to all my Republican friends, you know, I’ve been a Republican for over 30 years. I haven’t changed my values. I haven’t changed who I am. You know, I’m just changing who I’m answering to. And I don’t have to answer to a political boss or any political policies. It’s more about focusing on the needs of the state, what the people are needing, really looking at problem solving issues. And so as I looked at where we’re going for a state, when you have 50 percent of the voters here in the state of Colorado and they’re unaffiliated, they look at, you know, they’re politically homeless. They want to have somebody that will resonate with their voices, their concerns. And my goal is to be the governor of this great state. My goal is to represent everyone to the best of my ability and be a problem solver. And so we decided that it’d be best for us to go ahead and to go to the general election in November. And the other thing that this prevents is, if you recall, in 2022, the Democratic Party spent $2 million against me in the primary. So now they won’t be able to do that. You know, they’ll have to deal with me at the general election. So I’m looking forward to having a lot of good debates, a lot of good conversations. And to your quote, you know, freedom versus force, you know, now people have freedom and they’re not forced to look at only two party candidates. There will be a third option for them to review.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s been a lot of emotion. There’s been those that have said that this is brilliant. And then there are those in the Republican Party that are very frustrated with you. So, Brad, maybe move that over to some of the questions you might have.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, Greg, one of the things, you know, people in this state think unaffiliated is a party and it’s not. That’s right. So how do we get that message across? How do you get that message across? And you have a lot of positions that you’ve had in the past and your values haven’t changed. So how do you sway those people who on certain issues would say, well, that’s a game stopper?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, you know, I just have to remind them, like you just said, right? I can work with anyone. I can work with both sides without having anybody give me a label and look at focusing on what are the solutions. You know, really what the people of Colorado just want to have a better quality of life. They want to have affordable housing. They want safe streets. They want good small businesses that are thriving, not have government, you know, kind of bring them down. So I’m just going to have to have conversations one on one. And you’re right. A lot of people think an unaffiliated is a party and it’s not. You know, I was even asked on the radio station the other morning and said, well, Greg, so what party are you going to? It’s like, I don’t belong to a party. I’m not on a minor party. I’m not a part of a major party. I’m like everyone else now. I’m just unaffiliated.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, how does that impact your long-term relationship with the Colorado Hispanic Republican group? You were very active in that. I’m sure you’re still supportive, but you’re no longer a Republican. So how does that square?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, you know what? From my perspective, it hasn’t changed anything. My relationship with them hasn’t changed because I understand the mission. I understand what they’re trying to do. Whether it’s a Republican message or not, it really doesn’t matter to me because we’re trying to engage the community, right? We’re trying to educate the voters and we’re trying to make sure that people are participating. Too many times people are not voting because they believe they’re Vote doesn’t count, or they believe that, you know, in rural Colorado, well, why should I vote when the urban corridor votes me all the time? And it’s more of an educational campaign. You know what? This is an opportunity for me to compete in November and not have to perform in June.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, to that point, you have to get a certain amount of petitions per each county, 64 counties, to get on the ballot, as I understand. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 14 :
Actually, I have to get by congressional district. So 1,000 signatures per congressional district.
SPEAKER 09 :
And so there’s seven. And there’s eight. Eight. That’s right. I’m thinking the past. So a thousand per eight. And that costs some money, some investment to do that. Are you going to do that on a ground game with volunteers? It’s going to be a combination.
SPEAKER 14 :
You can do a hybrid. The thing that a lot of people don’t understand is because now that I’m an affiliated candidate, I am not allowed to get signatures until May. I have to wait until May 14th before I can even start gathering signatures. And I will go through July 9th. And so we will be out there just like candidates are doing right now. There’s candidates on the Republican side and Democrat side that are out there gathering signatures. So we will do the same thing that they’re doing. You know, gathering signatures, it is… but you know what, it can be done. When I, along with Lisa, started the original Protect Kids Colorado, and we were out there gathering signatures. So it’s not something that I’m not familiar with, it’s something I feel very confident. We will get those signatures, and we’re actually, our goal is to get 12,000.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, Protect Kids Colorado, it was you, Lisa, and others as well, all of you worked together, right, on that. So you’re saying just 1,000 per congressional district?
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s correct.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we have eight. Well, I’ve heard, for example, Protect Kids Colorado for the ballot question, they’re trying to get well over, they have to get 125,000. That’s correct. So what about the Republican candidates that are trying to petition onto the ballot? How many signatures do they need to get?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, that’s an interesting question, and this is all new to me. And as I talk to a lot of people like Greg, I was not aware of that. So right now, any major party candidate has to get 1,500 signatures per congressional district. They can only get signatures from registered members of their own party. However, I can get signatures from anyone, a Democrat, a Republican, or an affiliated voter. But those are the laws, those are the rules of the Secretary of State on how a candidate, an unaffiliated candidate, can get onto the general election ballot. And I think it’s due to because I don’t have a political machine behind me anymore. I don’t have an infrastructure anymore.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m not sure that you had the political – anyway, but I digress.
SPEAKER 14 :
So, yes, I think they take that into account, right, and say, okay, you still have to get signatures, but it’s less, but we still have a timeline. We still have only a certain number of days to do it. We still have to get them certified by the Secretary of State’s office. and have her authorize it, yes, you’ve gathered enough signatures onto the ballot or enough to get onto the general ballot in November. The other interesting thing, Kim, that I was not aware of until I started looking at this, there’ll be two names on my petition. There’ll be my name as the governor, and then there’ll be a name for the lieutenant governor because this is a full ticket that is going to the general election. Oh, so you have to make that determination who that person’s going to be. I do, before we start circulating petitions in May.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s interesting. It is. So as you look at this path, one of the biggest things that has always drove me nuts about any elected representative is they try to help people, try to get things done, but they never say the simple words, I’m wanting to run and be elected to protect your rights. Mm-hmm. And people go down to the Golden Dome and they do three bills or five bills. And we don’t need more bills. We need less bills. We need to pull things away. How can you do that? How can you get that message across?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, first of all, right, I agree with you, Brad. When every legislature has the authority to do five, five bills, there’s 100 of them. They can’t read all these bills that they’re passing, 500 to 600 every session. I want to educate the people that, you know what, they should only be allowed two. only two bills. This is an internal policy of the House. This is not a law. This is not anything more than their rules on how many bills they can present. And I think it’s important for people to understand that every single year, the General Assembly has averaged over 500 laws. And again, we didn’t send them there to make laws. We sent them there to protect our rights and our freedoms. But somehow or another, they’ve lost that goal and that objective and so it’s educating and i will have the ability in the podium and the stage to be able to share and answer any and all questions that people ask
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and Greg, we really need to get government back into its proper role. And at this particular point in time, Colorado is being controlled by radical activist Democrats. This Democrat Party is not the Democrat Party of JFK or your grandpa or your grandma. This is radical activists. And it would be great if, in fact, we could take that House or the Senate here in Colorado, I think that would be a tall order at this particular point in time. But a governor that understands the proper role of government, that stands for the people, is going to contract government and stand for people’s rights, could do a lot of good by vetoing bills, yes?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, yes. You know, when I was mayor in Parker, I had veto power. And I exercised my veto one time in the four years that I was there. And it was an annexation. It was a property issue. And after I looked at it and it passed the council, I had one council member that had a conflict, so he couldn’t vote anymore. But that’s probably one of the proudest moments, Kim, that I had when I was elected official is that I vetoed an annexation and the applicant took it to the vote of the people because they believed I made the wrong decision. And it came back two to one in my favor. And the people said, no, the mayor decided correctly for us. But to your point, look. I’ve been a Democrat. I grew up a Democrat. I became a Republican. I will be able to go into the urban corridor, into Denver, into Adams, into Jefferson. And I’ll tell you, I will take more votes away from the Democrat Party than I will from the Republicans because I’m Hispanic. And a lot of people think I’m already a Democrat. And so I will be going in there, and I’m telling you right now, all my assets in the urban corridor, they’re saying, Greg, the Democrat Party is unsure on how they’re going to deal with you now because you are going to take the Hispanic vote, the black vote, the small business vote because you used to be the director of the United States Small Business Administration. Right. And you’ve been out here in our communities. You’re not a new guy that’s coming out asking for a vote. You’ve been out here. We know who you are. We respect who you are. And we’re going to make sure that people get to know you even more.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. Did your time in Congress have anything to influence this decision when you were there?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I think it did, Brad. You know what I mean? I was there for six months. I got to see, you know, how— The sausage?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, and I tell people, everything you believe about Congress is true. Multiply it 10 times, and you’re probably getting a better understanding of how much happens. But I was very fortunate because, you know, when I was there, the speaker asked me, after about a month, he goes, where is Congressman Lopez? And we were in a big meeting in caucus. He goes, so, Congressman, what do you think? And I said, you know what, to be honest with you, Mr. Speaker, I feel like the foreign exchange student. He’s like, what do you mean? I said, well, think about it. I came in in the middle of the year. I missed all the school year pictures. Everybody likes me because they don’t know who I am. And I’m not going to be here next year. And he’s like, you know, you are kind of like the Ford XC student. So I got to meet a lot of good Democrats and talk to them because I didn’t know who they were in the hallways. Right. I hadn’t been there long enough. But I did sit down with Congresswoman Diana DeGette. We had a great conversation. I met with Congressman Joe Neguse. I met with Senator Michael Bennett. So, again, when I was there, I was working on the state of Colorado and working with all my colleagues to the best of my ability.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, let’s go to break. We’re talking with Greg Lopez, a former congressman who has changed his party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated, and he’s running for governor. My good friend Brad Beck is in studio as well. These important discussions happen because of all of you great people that support us. We’re an independent voice on an independent station, but also our great sponsors. And Teddy Collins and Alicia Garcia with the Second Syndicate will be very busy standing up for our Second Amendment rights down at this next legislative session so that we can keep and bear firearms to protect ourselves against bad actors.
SPEAKER 19 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
All Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. And be sure and visit the Center for American Values. There are over 160 portraits of valor with the quotes from those Medal of Honor recipients. It’s totally inspiring. And as we are moving into our 250th birthday for America, it’s important that we take that inspiration seriously. from all of those that have put their lives on the lines to protect those around them. And so these portraits of valor, the only other place that you can see these portraits of valor like this would be the Pentagon. And we all have a little trouble getting into the Pentagon. So… Just head down to Pueblo, Colorado on the beautiful Riverwalk and visit the Center for American Values. That website is AmericanValuesCenter.org. In studio with me is Brad Beck, who is a co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters, frequent guest on the show, guest host, author. Great to have you here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Always an unbelievable opportunity.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. It’s a lot of fun. And Greg Lopez, former Congressman Greg Lopez is in studio. You and your wife changed your party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated at the end of the year, and you’re running for governor as an unaffiliated. This is uncharted. I say it’s uncharted territory. There are those that have mentioned many years ago Tom Tancredo and Dan Mays. And there are those that are concerned. And I want to, first of all, say there are some really amazing Republican candidates for governor. And that’s a problem because there are so many great candidates for that. But there are some that are saying you’re going to be a spoiler on this. So how would you address that?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, I would tell people, look, if a party loses because the voters make a different decision, that’s not splitting votes. That’s democracy. And so the entire environment is different from 2008 when Tamten Credo and Dan Mays ran. And remember, Tom ran as an American constitutionalist. He ran in a party ticket. I’m not running as a party. I’m running as an individual, independent, unaffiliated. And so it is going to be different. The tapestry of the entire state has changed. Our growth patterns have changed. The electoral now here in Colorado is not a two-party election. electoral. It’s at three blocks. And everyone knows the unaffiliated voter makes the final decision on who is going to get elected. No longer is it the Democrats that decide. It’s no longer the Republicans that decide. It is the unaffiliated voter.
SPEAKER 09 :
Greg, what’s one question that hasn’t been asked of you yet that you wish that there would be? Somebody would say, hey, Greg, I’m thinking about X. And what is something you want to – a message you want to get out there?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, I guess the question is – Greg, why are you still running for governor when you know you’ve turned away from any type of established system, any type of established groups throughout the 64 counties? And I think my answer would be is, look, it’s not about the political system. It’s about the people. I’ve always wanted and I’ve always represented the people. And we need to put people over politics. We need to do no harm when we pass legislation. And that’s going to be my governing philosophy. I will always put people over politics. This is a prime example. And I will always make sure we do no harm when it comes to legislation. And that’s why I got involved with the wolf. I’m the individual that stopped the wolf, more reintroductions of the wolf into Colorado. And so how did you do that? Well, I was able. Well, to your point, I got a call. My dear friend said, Greg, you’ve got to come to one of these meetings of CPW. You won’t believe what happens.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that’s Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Parks and Wildlife, okay.
SPEAKER 14 :
And so I went. It just happened. It was in Glenwood Springs. I was traveling the state. I sat there for two days and just listened and watched. It was unbelievable how they were behaving, how they were doing things. And I listened to some ranchers and producers, and I realized – After doing some research, the decision comes from not the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. It comes from the Department of Interior of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service because it is an endangered species. And then when I found out that they had translocated wolves from Canada, not from the northern Rockies, the states that were in the permit, It was evident they had violated the United States Endangered Species Act, and that was the first thing that you could not do is import or export an endangered species. So I sent a letter to then Brian Nesvitt, the director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. I sent it also to the regional director, Matt Hogan, here, explaining what was going on, and I said – You need to issue a cis and desist letter to them. I’m going to give you 20 days before I take it up to Shane some more. This was on September 9th. The government shut down on September 30th, if you recall. By October 10th, Brian Nesvik had sent the letter to the governor and to CPW saying you will not resign. bring wolves in from Canada or Alaska. And so they tried to go to Washington. Washington said, nope, we’re not going to give you any wolves. So they don’t have any donor population right now. They don’t know where to get additional wolves. And just recently, the United States Fish and Wildlife, Brian Nesvick, sent a letter to to them on December 19th saying, we need all this information on how you handled the wolf, where you got these wolves from. And they just translocated a depredating wolf back into Grand County. And they’ve been given 60 days notice that if they don’t get this correct, they will be removed, that Colorado will be removed from managing the wolf and it’ll go back to the federal government.
SPEAKER 09 :
So they brought illegal alien wolves from another country and smuggled them. Our government smuggled them into Colorado. Isn’t that amazing?
SPEAKER 05 :
Using the taxpayer dollar, which this has been very expensive. I saw a headline that the depredation to livestock and the money that’s being needed to pay to ranchers. And I’ve got to think the amount as much the losses are much greater than that.
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s coming, Kim. It’s coming. Look, I formed an alliance with the Colorado Outfitters. I formed an alliance with the Colorado Wool Growers, a lot of the cattle associations in the Western Slope. CPW, the state of Colorado, is about to get a request for depredation cost of over a million dollars from a number of producers up in the Western Slope. And it’s all due to the Copper Creek Pack, which CPW captured and then re-released. After they knew that they were killing cattle and sheep, and that was one of the main criterias of the management plan for the state, is that once a wolf had been declared a chronic depredator, they would never be released again. And they did it.
SPEAKER 09 :
So you have all these relationships that you’ve been building for years, different communities, different organizations. Your time in Congress, you have that relationship. But the average man and woman on the street who’s just trying to make it by and, you know, as President Trump has tried to make things more affordable. And yet our state is pushing back on things. How do you help the mom and pop who’s sitting at the kitchen table trying to make ends meet? And electric costs keep coming up because we’re doing Green New Deal stuff still. How do you relate that to the average person who’s not political?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I would tell them and remind them that the governor of the state of Colorado not only has the executive power, which he oversees 16 different departments, but he also has the power of influence. A lot of people don’t understand that it’s the governor that he appoints. the individuals to the PUC, the Public Utilities Commission. And they’re the ones that are either approving or denying any like Xcel Energy when they want to reduce the rates or increase the rates. PUC allows them to do that, right? When they look at, are we going to do a line, a major power line through Elbert County all the way down from Pueblo going all the way up to Adams? All those decisions are made by appointed individuals that the governor appoints. The governor appoints over 3,000 individuals into boards and commissions. And that is how agendas get set to make sure that we protect the liberties. And we can question, why are you doing this? And I’m going to roll back all of these things that are hurting the poor, are hurting seniors, are hurting small business owners, because we are the heart and soul of any community. The small business owners are really the engine of Main Street. It’s not corporate America. It’s not the big boxes. It is the small moms and pops. And you were talking about it earlier. That’s the history of America. America was built on the shoulders of entrepreneurs, and we must support them, removing a lot of the rules from the Department of Regulatory Agencies, DORA. The bureaucrats, like you and I agree, the most powerful people in government are not the elected officials. It’s the bureaucrats. And the bureaucrats are the ones that are setting the rules and the conditions. But the governor can give them a clear alignment on when they’re crossing the line and when they’re not crossing the line.
SPEAKER 09 :
Can we bring a doge to Colorado?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, we can. As a matter of fact, I sat on the first doge committee. So I sat down with Elon Musk. I sat down with Vivek Ramaswamy. We talked about what’s going on because I sat on the budget committee. When the federal government is $38 trillion in debt, We are spending money that we don’t have. And we’re putting all that on the backs of the next generation. And people need to understand that. And when you look at the next legislative session that’s about to come in January 15th, there are $1.2 billion in the hole the state of Colorado is. So the next discussion at the Capitol is where do we find this money? And they’re going to go after it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, it should be. How about we cut government? Exactly.
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly. Right? We know what they’re going to do. They’re going to try to go after the taxpayer bill of rights.
SPEAKER 09 :
I was just going to ask, how do we protect Tabor? Because that’s the only thing from this state being California.
SPEAKER 14 :
You know what’s really exciting about that question, Brad, is that the unaffiliated voters. They support the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. They do not want it to go away because they understand if we do that away with that, we will become California and our property taxes will continue to go up and all the small business and all medium sized businesses will start leaving Colorado and we will see more struggles and more issues. that we’ve never seen before. So as a governor, my goal is to make sure that everybody understands there’s a brighter day in the horizon for us. We just have to change the direction that we’re going. And we need to roll back all these things that have been hurting the small businesses, mama’s pops, the poor, the seniors, and really the young families that are trying to establish.
SPEAKER 09 :
Young people.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. Our young people. Yeah. The American dream.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, affordability, the left keeps bringing that up. I knew it was on the platform when Christy Burton Brown was there. I’ve got the sheet still. The question comes up, there’s all these regulations around building. I know in my community, there are so many LEED requirements, these green requirements, open space requirements. How do we roll that back so a builder can build a good quality product that’s affordable without all these accommodations that bureaucrats put into the mix?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, Brad, and that’s another quality that the Lord has brought to me. Remember, I was a mayor and the city manager. Nothing happened in the town of Parker unless I was aware of it because I oversaw all the departments, building, zoning, public works. And so I can tell you that one of the biggest challenges I believe that we need to work on is metro districts. First of all, the metro districts is something that people need to understand. But when you have to buy or pay as a builder $30,000 for a water tap, $40,000 for a sewer tap, this is stuff that’s in the ground, and they’re just connecting to the main line that’s running down the middle of the street. There’s a problem with that. The other thing is setbacks, the zoning, right? Do we really need detached sidewalks? Can we do… unattached sidewalks. Do we even need sidewalks at all? What about the side yard setbacks? Do we really need 10? Can we do eight? The whole idea for me is starter homes. We need to talk about building starter homes. These are, in my mind, these are homes that are 11,000 square feet. These are two bedroom, one bath, a kitchen, a small living room with a little yard. This is where the small families can start building. And you can build this house for less than $230,000. You can buy it for about that price. So we need to start building starter homes, not homes that cost $485,000 just to get into it. And no one needs it. So there’s a lot that’s going on in the land use and the zoning that I can have conversation with the builders and developers as it pertains to how do we build a product that really is needed. But no government subsidies? No, not at all.
SPEAKER 05 :
Get rid of all those. We need to go to break, gentlemen. And so we’ll do that quickly. In studio with me is Brad Beck and former Congressman Greg Lopez. These discussions happen because of all of our sponsors. And for everything mortgages, talk to Lauren Levy.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And we were talking about Tabor. It’s a great time to say thank you to my fellow board members and the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. We’re ramping up for this next legislative session. And we will join us at ColoradoTaxpayer.org. Only 25 bucks. But I want to say thank you to Steve Dorman, Greg Golanski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Wendy Warner, Marty Nielsen, Rami Johnson, Mary Jansen, Dave Evans, Corey Onizorg, Paula Beard, and Ray Beard. We are out there protecting the taxpayer, Tabor, Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights, property rights, and parental rights. Brad Beck is in studio with me, former Congressman Greg Lopez, candidate for governor, and you’ve changed your affiliation to unaffiliated. But a quick note before we get to Brad’s question, and I learned when I went out to Testify in front of the PUC in Elbert County that there’s three commissioners that are making these decisions and they’re appointed by the governor. So when you look at your electric bill and it’s been going up and you’re thinking, gosh, life is not as affordable, it’s because of that right there. Or if you’re saying, there’s new regulations on water heaters and furnaces. Yep. Making it more expensive. It’s because of those commissioners that are appointed by the governor. That’s correct. So you could make a difference.
SPEAKER 14 :
I could. I will make a difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 14 :
And getting back to the whole thing about affordability, I want to make sure that people understand when I’m talking about starter homes, these are not 1,800 square foot homes. These are 1,100 square foot homes, a little over 900,000. I mean, 900.
SPEAKER 05 :
Which is kind of after World War II. Yeah, exactly. These are the kind of homes that were built. Yeah, exactly. We grew up in those homes.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. So they’re smaller homes, again, right? They’re not big homes. You know, talking about a lot of people forget, and someone reminded me, I never saw it, but in the Sears catalog, remember the big Sears?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
You could buy kits to build. Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it was nothing compared to today.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. You know, so we’ve got to go back to common sense, right? We’ve got to go back to making sure that we’re providing a product that allows people to live that American dream.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and that dovetails into what I mentioned just before we went into the break is we have this growth in Colorado, although there’s more out migration now than in. But we need water. Yes. That’s a huge issue.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
And, you know, how are we going to convince people not only to conserve, but do gray water rethink about how we use it in our systems, in our homes? Yeah. What are your thoughts on water?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, Brad, I’m so glad you brought that up because I want people to fully understand that, look, it’s nice that we have this great weather here. But what concerns me as a governor candidate is we need snow. We need moisture because 83 percent of the water that we use comes from the snow melt. And if we don’t have snow melting in the spring, we will have drought. The reservoirs will come down. And this is going to be a huge problem. There’s only three ways anybody can use water. It’s either residential, agricultural, or industrial. And we must protect the agricultural concept of water because they’re creating the food. So we must all understand that we need to be careful on our water, how we use it. Predominantly, most of the car washes are using potable water. You can drink the water that you’re using to wash your car. We need to reevaluate all that stuff. But again, this is an educational process, and because of our growth patterns, and it’s starting to slow down a little bit because people are leaving Colorado. They’re not moving to Colorado anymore. But these are really the details that a governor needs to understand is the totality of what’s happening in the state and how do we address them.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, education, a lot of people say, especially at the national level, get rid of the Department of Education. Well, in Colorado, it’s in our Constitution, education. How do we make a difference in having good quality schools? We’ve got great teachers. We’ve got great opportunity for young people. But how do we do things differently to make education a priority without more costs?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, one of the things that I used to be, I was the first executive director of the ACE Scholarship Program. So this is about scholarships for individual children that either want to go to private or parochial schools because the public school is not educating them. And so when you do the comparison of charter schools and private schools and the public schools, the record shows, the test scores show, those that are not going to the public schools are doing better in reading and writing. It’s not that the teachers aren’t capable of teaching. I think it’s more that there’s a lot of social issues that are being brought into the classroom, and they need to go back to the basics. And we need to encourage people to understand reading and writing and math is important. That is the basic foundation. And if we want America to continue to be great, we must educate our children, not just pass them and give them a certificate at 12 years to say you graduated. They need to be educated. That’s the difference. And that’s not happening right now.
SPEAKER 09 :
So many more questions, but I’ll throw it back to Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, yeah, we’re just about out of time. So thank you, Brad, as always, thank you. It’s my pleasure. Great to have you here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Always an honor to be here.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that’s Brad Beck, co-founder of Liberty Toastmasters and former congressman and unaffiliated candidate for Governor Greg Lopez. Thank you for being here.
SPEAKER 14 :
You bet. And I’d like to close and say, if anybody wants me to come out to talk to your group or talk anywhere, reach out to my campaign, greglopez.co, greglopez.co. You invite me, I’ll come out.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. And our quote for the end of the show is from Charles Krauthammer. He said, you can have the most advanced and ever fluorescent of cultures. Get your politics wrong, however, and everything stands to be swept away. This is not ancient history. This is Germany, 1933. Politics is the moat and the walls beyond which lie the barbarians. Fail to keep them at bay and everything burns. My friends, I forgot the last part here. Be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
