Join Kim Monson as she delves into the pressing issues of our time such as government control over essential services like education, housing, and water. This episode features an in-depth discussion on China’s ghost cities and the lessons we can learn regarding unchecked real estate incentives and how they impact both economy and society. Plus, we’ll touch upon Turning Point USA’s alternative Super Bowl halftime show, keeping freedom in focus in an ever-regulatory world.
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It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water. What it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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Under this guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
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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 and thank you to the team that’s producer joe luke rachel zach echo charlie mike theresa and all the people here at crawford broadcasting happy wednesday producer joe happy wednesday kim And thank you to all of you who reminded me that Turning Point USA is going to have an alternative halftime show during the Super Bowl. And I signed up for that to get updates on that. You can do that by going to their website. And I think that’s tpusa.com. Let me just make sure. And hold on here. Yes, it’s tpusa.com, and you can sign up to get information on that. I would highly recommend that you do that. Check out our website. That is kimmonson.com. Make sure that you are signed up for our weekly email newsletter. That way you’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can email me at kim at kimmonson.com. The text line is 720-605-0647. Thank you to all of you who support us. Because of you and our sponsors, that is what keeps us going, and I so greatly appreciate it. And you can hear the show 6 to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday on all KLZ 560 platforms. That’s KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM, the KLZ website, the KLZ app. And we are under construction regarding the website, and so we don’t have our most recent shows there, but Stay tuned. We’ve got some very exciting stuff that’s going to be happening. But the shows can also be heard on the streaming services such as iTunes and Spotify. And as you know, we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to use force to implement it. And it’s never compassionate to take other people’s stuff, whether or not it’s their rights, property, freedom, livelihood, opportunity, childhood, or lives via force. Force can be a weapon, but it can obviously be policy, unpredictable in excess of taxation. Fees, fears, fear, coercion, government-induced inflation, the agenda of the World Economic Forum that is playing out all the way to local governments. And you can see that. I mentioned yesterday, and thank you to Mark. who mentioned to me… Hold on here. I need to get to it. I thought I had it all. Well, and that is all of the ghost cities in China. I had mentioned that I’d been going down Broadway, South Broadway, and in Centennial, near Dry Creek, if you look off, there is massive… industrial apartment complexes that look like Soviet block apartment complexes. They look like prisons to me. And it’s not unique to Centennial. It’s in many of our jurisdictions. This is one of the things that Governor Polis and company want to do is put these four and five story massive buildings into our communities and just think about the energy and the water that those buildings ultimately will take. And it’s an assault upon property rights, really. And Mark had said that check out China’s ghost cities, and it’s 65 million empty homes. And this was published by Interesting Engineering back in 2021. And because I said, who’s going to live in all of these apartment buildings? Who wants to live in all of these apartment buildings? But because there’s government subsidies and there’s government policy that’s pushing that wants those particular buildings, that is what you are seeing all over the metro area, not only here in the Denver metro area, but in other metropolitan areas as well. And so first thing, we have got to stop all of these subsidies. Colorado has a huge budget deficit, but has been offering money subsidies to developers for these apartment buildings. And we’ve got to get this stopped. But this article said there are about 687 cities in China, and the real estate sector accounts for a whopping 29% of the country’s total GDP. However, the Chinese real estate market has also been grabbing a lot of media attention lately due to the 300 billion Evergrande debt crisis. But this is not the only big problem the housing market in China is facing. And it goes on to say a recent report reveals that about 20% of the total urban housing properties in China, around 65 million properties, are vacant. This 20% includes large cities, sections of cities, and many others which span across hundreds of square kilometers, but have far more empty buildings than occupied ones. Such ghost cities in China have well-connected roads, infrastructure, skyscrapers, and a variety of public spaces, but are vastly underpopulated and have vast areas that are completely without residents. I wonder if the powers that be, and this would not be your city council and probably your city managers, although there are some that might be totally in the know on building all of these high-density apartment buildings, but the incentives are all out of whack. And so you’ve got the World Economic Forum that those policies are playing out in Colorado. And then the state is offering grants to build these high density apartment buildings. And I don’t know what’s going to happen with all of this, but it’s not sustainable. And with this kind of debt that Colorado has, this is not sustainable. So, as I mentioned, if something’s a good idea, you don’t have to use force to implement it, but force can also be incentives. But the only way that the government can offer incentives is if they take something from somebody to give to somebody else. There’s no free lunch. So on the show, we focus on the issues, stay out of the personality stuff, but we’ll mention the people pushing those issues. But we want to help you be informed on what is going on out there. So let’s get over here. Our word of the day is emeritus, and it’s spelled E-M-E-R-I-T-U-S. It could be retired or honorably discharged from active professional duty. but retaining the title of one’s office or position. And I chose that because we will be talking with Lawrence Reed, who is the president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, also known as FEE. He’s our featured guest in our number one. And we’re going to be talking about Thomas Paine and common sense. That pamphlet was published in January, I believe, of 1776. And really an interesting conversation. And I will also let you know, stay tuned starting next month. One of our listeners, Lisa, has a great idea about the month of February in George Washington. So stay tuned for that. That’s going to be exciting as well. So because we’re going to be talking about Thomas Paine, appropriate to go to him for our quote of the day. He was born in 1737. He died in 1809. He was an English-born American founding father, a French revolutionary, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense in 1776 and the American Crisis 1776 to 1783 frame the patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. Payne advanced Enlightenment era arguments for human rights that shaped revolutionary discourse on both sides of the Atlantic. And as I was going through these Quotes, this took my breath away. He said, we have it in our power to begin the world over again. And of course, that is through the power of the divine provider. I’ve been in a funk the last, oh gosh, probably a week or so with all of these images regarding in Minneapolis and ICE. And I read an article, I think it was at Daily Wire, that said the majority of Americans do not support illegal immigration. The majority of Americans do support deporting people that have come here illegally, that are committing crimes, that are here living off of the American taxpayer as we are all trying to make ends meet. and those that are defrauding us. And I would say even those that have come in legally through refugee resettlement through these NGOs, these non-governmental organizations, they need to go back to their country of origin as well, because they did not come here to be American. And so those, I think we can agree, I think most people can agree, What has happened, though, people do not like to see these images that have been coming out of Minneapolis. Now, I think many of them are provoked, but we need to do investigations and understand what really happened. The narratives from both sides of the aisle, they come out too quickly to know what has really happened. But the blue cities, these blue states, they have been poking the bear with this illegal immigration. If they would let ICE arrest these criminals at the prisons in… When our jails, when they are, I guess it would be jails, jails as they are released, we would not see, I don’t think we would see what’s happening in Minneapolis. But these agitators are wanting to get these photo ops and are really, I think many of them are pawns. Many of them may be well-meaning, misguided. but well-meaning, and then there’s those that I think are misguided and well-meaning. This is a bit of a religion for them. There are, I think, paid agitators that are really trying to powder keg the situation because ultimately, my friends, this is an insurgency against the United States of America. And one of our listeners that lives in Texas texted me last night that she got an alert in Texas regarding information where ICE would be. And so this is well-coordinated. I think it certainly has money behind it. This is an insurgency against the United States of America. It’s a political, or it’s a publicity channel.
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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.
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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 check out the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo on the beautiful Riverwalk, doing amazing work. We can take great inspiration from our Medal of Honor recipients and the Portraits of Valor and their quotes there, but also great educational programs for K-12 kids and educators focused on these foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. So I highly recommend that you add the Center for American Values into an organization to support. Your contribution is tax deductible. That website is AmericanValueCenter.org. Please have on the line with me Molly Lamar. And she was a candidate for Cherry Creek School District several years ago. And my, oh my, we could have really used her on the board because I remember when Cherry Creek was the school district to live in. And it’s got big problems now. Molly Lamar, welcome to the show.
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Good morning, Kim. Thanks for having me on. I just want to clarify real quick that I ran for the Colorado State Board of Education for CD6, but am heavily involved with Cherry Creek Schools. And I’m a K-12 graduate, have had four children all attend Cherry Creek Schools, three of whom have graduated. But, yeah, so, and, you know, just really care about the district and want to see it succeed, so…
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Thank you for that clarification. And you know what? I had texted you, and now as I look at it, it’s correct. Sorry, I looked at that and just had it in my mind. So, yes, I remember you were a candidate, and I really appreciate you stepping forward to run for the State Board of Education, which is really important as well. But Cherry Creek School District is in the news regarding a possible very toxic environment. So tell us what’s going on.
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Well, Denver 7 has aired the first in a series of an investigation done by Tony Kowalewski that he’s been working on for months, identifying this toxic work culture. And he has pointed out that our superintendent, Chris Smith, is married to the chief of human resources, which has been left folks feeling like they have no path to raise anything that isn’t right or any complaints in the workforce. The district has said, just following along, that Brenda was already in her position When Chris was hired as superintendent. Now, I’ve done a little digging of my own. And remember, you know, I remember when Chris Smith was hired, he was the former chief of staff for Scott Siegfried, who was our superintendent assistant. prior to Chris. Chris was hired in 2021 as superintendent. Brenda was in a human resources role, but she was not hired as the chief of HR until 2022. So she was promoted into this position under Chris Smith when he was superintendent. But in addition to that, Tony, you know, this investigative report, he’s called out the school board for their lack of leadership and oversight. Unfortunately, I think everything that’s being uncovered only scratches the surface of the lack of board leadership and transparency. And it’s just really concerning because This group oversees the education of 53,000 students. Cherry Creek is one of the largest employers in the state with 9,000 employees and It’s just really unfortunate to be in the news that being a K-12 graduate and having lived in the district nearly my entire life, this isn’t the Cherry Creek way. We try to stay under the radar because we’re typically overperforming and doing very well.
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Well, and so quick question. I’m trying to, as we’re looking here, I’m over at Open the Books to see if I can find, oh no, I haven’t, Cherry Creek School District salaries. It’s typically a really good source for salaries, and I’ll have to continue to manipulate. I hadn’t even thought about that until you were just explaining that. So the superintendent is hired in 2021, and then he promotes his wife to head of HR in 2022. Am I hearing that correctly? Yes.
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Now, the district might push back on that and say, well, we’ve made sure that Brenda is not overseen by Chris, what have you. Anytime the head guy… and then his wife that i there’s just a dynamic here that that isn’t working um and and the district has said there wasn’t a conflict of interest and and they addressed that last night finally um i went to the board meeting at uh the at the um educational learning center at um at cherry creek schools and the president of the board ann egan said we’ve heard the concerns we’re going to, um, investigate and they, um, froze all district travel for, um, the administration. I just, that’s the part about scratching the surface. I think there’s a lot that’s about to be uncovered and, um, it’s just, it’s really concerning because, um, cherry creek was the was the only large metro area district to not improve in their academic performance um this is a distraction from what our charge really is which is to educate children um you know and and it’s that’s really what it is it’s a distraction
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Well, it really is, and although I’ve also seen that there’s concerns regarding curricula and a variety of things that’s happening in a number of the Cherry Creek schools as well, which is, this is heartbreaking, Molly, because… Cherry Creek School District used to be really the top of the line. And it’s really unbelievable to me what has happened over there.
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Well, and just to build off of your point about declining enrollment and performance, we all know that enrollment and funding have been decreasing, especially here in Colorado. And this board has not held one public session to discuss cuts yet. Just last week, they cut 10% from all discretionary funds across the district with no conversation about how that affects students. And when we’re talking about a 10% cut from discretionary funds, it’s for the 2025, 2026 budget. So those budgets have already been planned and approved. That just trickles down to affect students. One example is that in an effort to save money, the district dropped the temperature in our high school swimming pools so that they could save money. parents and student swimmers who are showing up to school at the early morning hours to train and the swimming pools are freezing and then they get out of the pool, go into the locker room to shower before school starts and they don’t have hot water to even warm up. that’s just one example and you know there was an uprising and so of course the district responded and raised the temperature but our taxpayer dollars are not being used appropriately and our students should not be burdened with irresponsible spending
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Totally agree. So what is going to continue? This investigation you said has been going on for a while. What can people expect?
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Well, I think that he, what he’s mentioned is that budgets and the Lack of oversight and the spending problem are up next. They approved spending over $15 million in bond funds for a stadium, the Centennial Soccer Stadium that will be used by the women’s professional soccer team. But construction is so far behind that it won’t be ready for the spring as promised. And so the district is possibly going to have to spend more money on that. Our board doesn’t respond to emails. And so just unfortunately with all of this public discontent, not only is the superintendent hiding, but the board is also hiding. They had a meeting scheduled last week to discuss the superintendent’s review, and then they rescheduled that for last night. At the very last minute, they changed the location. We got there, we were invited in for the board meeting, and then we were told that after they said that they would address this, we were told we needed to leave so that they could conduct this executive session and superintendent evaluation. We all stayed around with, you know, and Tony Kovaleski was there. I think he was hoping to ask the superintendent some questions. You watched the superintendent literally sneak out the back door. It’s it. And Tony tried to catch him for an interview. He was already gone. It’s just it’s mind boggling that this is Cherry Creek. And it’s really shocking. So I would encourage people to continue to write letters if they have concerns. I hope that everyone is concerned. And write letters to the board. They can follow me on social media. I’m Molly for Co Kids on Instagram and Facebook. But just want people to be paying attention because We need to get this turned around. This is a very large school district and it’s historically been one of the best in the state and we’re not doing well.
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Well, and the other thing about it, Molly, and this is important for people to realize, is yes, getting this turned around is important. But you can’t get back first grade. You can’t get back third grade. You can’t get back fifth grade. And as we talk on the show, we strive for excellence. And I see school buses, maybe it’s even Cherry Creek, it says striving for excellence. It’s one thing to say it, it’s another thing to do it.
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Dedicated to excellence. Yes, dedicated to excellence is our… our motto and it’s just we’re we’re not hitting our marks um and you know we’ve dropped in our ratings um whether it’s academics or um financially it’s just to be honest with you kim it’s um it’s embarrassing
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Well, and it’s embarrassing and it’s also unfortunate, but it is letting kids down. And again, Cherry Creek had been the school district to be in. And so thank you to all of you who are working to… to reclaim education there for the children of Cherry Creek, and we need to be doing that across the state as well. So keep me in the loop, because this is super important. I’ll keep you in the loop. And I’m going to do the research. I’m going to find out the salaries of this couple as well. I would venture, I’m not even going to guess, but I’m going to say it’s probably a lot. But I will find that, and I will text you that when I get that information on that, Molly, because that might be helpful as well. Thank you, Kim. Okay, and that’s Molly Lamar, and she is keeping an eye out on what is happening with this investigation by Channel 7, I think it is. Is that right, Molly? Yes, it’s Channel 7. Channel 7, and that investigative reporter, again, which one is that? Tony Kowalewski. Well, thank you to him for doing that. Molly, we’ll stay in touch. Have a great day. Thanks, Kim. Bye. And these are really important discussions to have, and we have them because of our sponsors. For everything residential real estate, reach out to Karen Levine.
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empowered and prepared join the movement protect your rights support the second syndicate.com that’s the 2nd syndicate.com where the second is first 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 kim monson.com that’s kim monson m-o-n-s-o-n.com
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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 do you want more freedom and confidence with your money? Mint Financial Strategies can help. They’re an independent firm with over 25 years of experience. They are an accredited investment fiduciary, and they can put your best interests first always. With a strategy-first approach, they’ll help you build a plan that fits your life. Call Mint Financial Strategies today. That number is 303-285-3080. And pleased to have on the line with me, Lawrence Reed. He became president of the Foundation for Economic Education in 2008 after serving as chairman of its board of trustees in the 1990s and both writing and speaking for FEE since the late 1970s. He previously served for 21 years as president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan. and he also taught economics full-time from 1977 to 1984 at Northwood University in Michigan. Lawrence, welcome to the show. Hey, thank you, Kim. It’s a great pleasure to be back. Well, it is great to have you, and I am just intrigued with your… An article on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. So 250 years ago, things were pretty hot in America as we were marching towards the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. But Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had a lot to do with that, correct?
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Absolutely. It came out in mid-January of 1776. The declaration, as you point out, was still half a year away. But in the previous year, 1775, the first shots of the war were fired at Lexington and Concord. So this came at a critical moment when he published Common Sense, because the American people hadn’t yet decided where they would stand on the question of independence. But Thomas Paine made it very clear for them that they should act and that they should formally separate from Great Britain. Hello?
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SPEAKER 03 :
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. I want to say thank you to the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show and apologies. We have I many times will broadcast from my home studio. And that’s what we’re doing today. We have a new system, which will be great, but it’s not quite great. And so we were setting all this up with Lawrence Reed, who is the president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education, regarding Thomas Paine and his pamphlet that was published in mid-January 1776. And Lawrence, you may have mentioned this, and I got kicked off of the system, so I’m back on. You read it, and you wanted to see if it would be as electrifying to you now as it was then. So what did you determine?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, it certainly did electrify me. You have to read it, I think, in the context of the moment, if you realize that this came at such a critical juncture. halfway between when the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775 and the issuance of the Declaration of Independence in July of 76, you realize that this was such an important moment. Many Americans hadn’t yet made up their minds. Most were leaning against separation because it was such a big and treasonous step to take. But Thomas Paine, when he came out with Common Sense in January of. 1776, really crystallized the issues so clearly that it tipped the balance in favor of independence. And six months later, the founders declared it at the convention in Philadelphia.
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So what did he say that could change public opinion about
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, first of all, he was incredibly eloquent. I mean, somebody else could have said essentially the same thing, but not nearly had the same effect. He was a terrific writer and he was concise. He was powerful. He didn’t mince any words. He took on the very idea of monarchy and said that it was completely absurd. The hereditary aspect of it made it even more absurd because no one family has some divine right to rule monarchy. over people in perpetuity. I mean, these were concepts that were pretty widely accepted for a long time. But Thomas Paine said, all the troubles that you’re suffering here in the colonies stem directly from poor governments from Britain, and both a king and a parliament who ignore your rights. It’s time to act. declare your independence and get it over with. And for a lot of people, it was like, you know, a moment to slap your knee and say, darn right.
SPEAKER 03 :
So this was a big deal. I find I’ve said, Lawrence, that I really think that we are in the third founding of America right now. We are in quite a time. We’re seeing public opinion everywhere. That is this narrative that is really being pushed regarding what’s happening in Minneapolis. And as I step back, because I’ve been very troubled about it, I don’t like the images of federal government. law enforcement and citizens fighting. I don’t like that image. However, I was reading some articles last night and realized that this, I think, is bigger. I think that this really is an insurgency against the United States of America. And I think we really are in our third founding. We need a Thomas Paine right now, I think, to get through all of the The muck that I think that we’re seeing through social media and mainstream media to understand what’s really happening here all these 250 years later, Lawrence.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I think we would certainly benefit by the kind of clarity that Thomas Paine brought to the issues of the day. He was really one of the most powerful writers in American history. He did believe in government, by the way. Some people today mistakenly think that he was arguing for, you know, get rid of government altogether. But he was in favor of a small, limited government. constitutional government. He was opposed to either anarchy or monarchy, but he thought the people should govern themselves and not be ruled over by a corrupt monarch or parliament 3,000 miles away. So yeah, he said it so plainly that it made a lot of people’s minds up.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you mentioned this word that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately as well, and that is the word corrupt. And there was a lot of corruption in 1775, 1776, although the colonists had been very patient. There was a lot of stuff that was happening to get us to the point of Thomas Paine publishing Common Sense in 1776, though. And there were a lot of things that had happened for a number of years, correct?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, that’s right. If you go back a little bit further… there had been about a century of what historians call salutary neglect, which meant that the king and parliament in London sort of left the colonies alone. But that changed in 1760. So you can see from 1760 to just 16 years later how dramatically things have moved. It changed when George III became king of England. And in 1760, he started to take on the attitude that, hey, we’ve got to let these colonies know who’s in charge. And so they began imposing taxes from London. And, of course, the colonists would respond by saying, you can’t tax us directly because we’re not represented in your parliament. And there were a lot of things that kept building over those 16 years until finally the colonists said they’d had enough.
SPEAKER 03 :
So I’ve heard, though, that it was maybe 30% of the colonists that did support liberty. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, that’s conventional wisdom. It’s often cited in history texts that a third supported independence in the middle of 1776, a third were opposed, and a third perhaps hadn’t made up their minds yet. But we really don’t know. That’s a pure guess. The first public opinion polling wouldn’t even happen for another half century. So I don’t know how accurate that is, but I do know that it was likely that a majority of colonists in January of 76 weren’t yet there when it came to independence and that Thomas Paine with common sense really moved them dramatically. So whatever the polling was or the sentiments were, in January of 1776. They were dramatically shifted towards independence by six months later.
SPEAKER 03 :
And tell us about Paine, because he arrived pretty close to 1776 in America, right? He’s got a really interesting story.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, he really does. He had only been in America for 14 months when he wrote Common Sense. He was from Thetford, England, spent much of his time in London, however, but he had met Ben Franklin when Franklin was in Britain to represent the colonies before Parliament. And Franklin was sufficiently impressed by him. perhaps thinking that, hey, if I can open some doors for this young man, maybe in America he can be an eloquent supporter of our cause. That letter from Franklin opened all sorts of doors for Thomas Paine when he arrived. But, you know, on the day that he arrived in November of 1774, He had typhoid that he picked up on the boat. He had to be carried off. And before that, he’d gone through bankruptcy, the loss of a wife and child and childbirth. He’d been a failed corset maker. That’s what he did for his father’s business. But then he started his own. But it went bankrupt. So nobody really thought, other than perhaps Ben Franklin, that this guy had much of a potential.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Franklin’s a whole other subject. Do you think Franklin at that time, so that would have been, you said 1774, do you think Franklin was over to independence at that point? Do you think he had moved there yet, or was he still in that journey as well?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, he was, at least publicly, still working to bring about some reconciliation, some change in the policies of Parliament. But I think privately he may well have decided, and we don’t know for certain when that moment came, but my guess is he was at least thinking that this isn’t going to end well, they’re not listening, and we’re probably going to have to take a major step here. So I’m guessing he was close, if not already there, on the matter of independence.
SPEAKER 03 :
So how were the founders all – communicating this idea that the founders to have all of these, these, this knowledge, wisdom, discernment to get that all into the same room. It’s pretty remarkable to get to the point where we were Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence. How did that happen that we had all of these thinkers that had come together like that, Larry?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, the delegates to the convention in Philadelphia that drafted or sponsored the declaration that Jefferson largely wrote, they were all selected by their representative or the colonial governments and the representatives who were serving there. But these were men who were well known, with few exceptions. highly respected, very learned. They knew their history. They had been in frequent correspondence in many cases with each other and with people back in Britain. Some had been diplomats. Some had been served in high levels of their colonial governments. So this was a special group of people. You might say they In one sense, they weren’t really representative of America because they came mostly from towns and cities instead of the countryside. They were among the most educated and the most spirited people. So they were a different breed than maybe the average American, but still very well respected by Americans across the board.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so… Thomas Paine writes this in mid-January 1776, and it rolls off the printing presses. What happens then? How is it distributed? How do people find it? And could most people read back then?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there was a printer in Philadelphia who contributed to the cause by printing it initially, and others picked it up. But it was carried at least in part, if not in whole, over several issues in many newspapers from New Hampshire to Georgia. And it just sort of caught fire, went viral, I guess you’d say, in today’s terminology. Parts were widely read in public places like taverns because it just had that effect of crystallizing the issue. Here’s a guy who was saying in such bold language that, what some people were thinking, but few were willing to say out loud. And that mesmerized a lot of people. Wow, this is powerful, they thought. But they were reading it up and down the East Coast, and historians believe, in fact, that second only to the Bible, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was probably more widely read in those six months before the Declaration than anything else.
SPEAKER 03 :
So next question then. You mentioned these men were spirited. There are those that say that Paine was an atheist. What’s your response to that?
SPEAKER 14 :
He was critical of certain aspects of Christianity, especially in later life, not at this early stage so much. And that caused some people to write him off as an atheist, but he really never was. He was what he would call a deist. He believed there was a creator. He did not think that everything just came from nothing, that there was a creator. But he believed, as deists do, that that the Creator sort of wound everything up and then walked away, was not really involved in the daily affairs of humankind. That, of course, runs counter to Christian doctrine, and most people at that time were Christians, so they didn’t particularly care for that aspect of pain. But he doesn’t really harp on that until many years later.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, and what would you say is one of your favorite quotes from Common Sense?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there are so many. As I read it, almost on every page I found something remarkable. Here’s a passage that is among my favorites. He said, some writers have so confounded society with government, in other words, confused the two, as to leave little or no distinction between them. whereas they are not only different but have different origins society is produced by our wants what he’s saying here is that you know we choose to associate with people because we want to benefit by their friendship and trade with them and so forth society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections the latter negatively by restraining our vices. In other words, government, he says, we’ve got to have that because, you know, we have a lot of sin in the world. And government has to be the entity that comes in and says, okay, you can’t do that to another person. So we’re going to have a judicial system. We’re going to have police and that kind of thing to restrain our vices. But he looks upon that as kind of a necessary evil. But he’s no anarchist. He just says, hey, government by its very nature is coercion. And if it’s used properly, it’s limited and it’s confined to protecting our rights and punishing violence and fraud and deception. But we shouldn’t celebrate that. It’s a shame that we have to have one because we’re not angels. But we do need it.
SPEAKER 03 :
So in 2026 America… The government is way out of the lane of what I think Thomas Paine ever thought it would be. And that’s not only at the federal level, but I would say all the way to the local level as well. And taxation was the issue, I think, that put the colonists over the edge. And we have excess taxation. And as we’re seeing the amount of corruption, I think this corruption is going to be the the issue that I think is going to wake people up to the fact that government is way out of control. We’ve been so blessed in America and and I think a lot of people don’t realize. But I think that this American idea is at great risk. because of this, you know, not in a good way, tremendous taxation and spending. What do you think, Larry? And particularly being the president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I agree with what you’ve just said, Kim. And it’s important to note that the levels of taxation today, certainly at the federal level, are considerably higher than they were in colonial days. So our founders, if they could see the burden of taxation today, would say, hey, wait a minute, somewhere Americans have lost their way. We didn’t declare independence only to end up with a far higher tax rate, even if we are represented in our respective legislatures. So some would say, well, you know, they were protesting taxation without representation. But we do have representation, but we certainly ended up now with a lot of higher taxes. But they would be stunned at the level of corruption. But in another sense, they wouldn’t be surprised because they would say, look, we told you. that government should be kept small. The bigger it gets, the more it takes, and the more it dispenses favors and money, the more corrupt it’s inherently going to be. So let’s hope that all this corruption, especially in Minnesota, and probably more places yet to come, will teach Americans that the founders were right on that issue, that big government is inherently corrupt. And politicians are buying votes all the time and paying off their favored constituencies.
SPEAKER 03 :
And the founders knew that, Thomas Paine knew that, because they realized that human nature is the same generation to generation. And that’s why a limited government is important. Larry, we’re in quite a time right now. And you’ve always been an optimist. We’ve got about a minute left. What’s your thoughts about America moving forward?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, you’re right. I’ve always been an optimist. I never write off the future because after all, it hasn’t happened yet. And we still have the opportunity to influence and to change the bad courses that we may be on. So I’m still hopeful. And every now and then something comes out of the blue that we can latch on to and run with and make some good points and maybe turn things around. And this These latest corruption revelations in Minnesota may be just that. Every time I talk to somebody about it, it’s like, you know, they realize, wow, these politicians told us that all this stuff was for the people’s good. But now it looks like they’ve been lining their own pockets and buying off constituencies with it. And I nod my head and say, that’s right. The founders warned us about that 250 years ago.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so that’s why Common Sense, I think I’ll pull it out and read the whole thing. But if we don’t, how can people find your amazing articles?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, if they go to my website, they’ll have no difficulty. It’s Lawrence W. Reed, and Lawrence is spelled L-A-W-R-E-N-C-E. Middle initial W, last name Reed, R-E-E-D, LawrenceWReed.com. I put my articles mostly in the blog section. And if they go there and scroll down, they’ll see this one on Thomas Paine fairly quickly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Very good. And Lawrence Reed, thank you. I always learn so much, and I really appreciate the great work that you do.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you, Kim. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 03 :
And our quote for the end of the show is from Thomas Paine. He said, this reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and angels know of us. So today, 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. God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t want no one to cry, but tell them if I do.
SPEAKER 13 :
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 08 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 03 :
The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water, what it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
SPEAKER 08 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 03 :
Under this guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
SPEAKER 08 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 03 :
On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
SPEAKER 08 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Indeed. Let’s have a conversation. And welcome to our number two of the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for listening. You each are treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today’s drive 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 Wednesday, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 20 :
Happy Wednesday, Kim.
SPEAKER 03 :
And a great interview with Lawrence Reed regarding Thomas Paine and Common Sense. You can hear that if you missed that in the one to two hour this afternoon. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Make sure you’re signed up for our weekly email newsletter. That goes out on Sundays. You’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can email me at Kim at Kim Monson dot com. And 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. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And if you’ve not signed up yet. Be sure and buy your ticket for our Colorado Union of Taxpayers, which is also known as CUT, event tomorrow evening. It’s our legislative kickoff. It will be at CADA, which is the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. That is at 290 East Spear. There is parking available. Tickets are only $20. You’ll get to talk with many of our legislators. We will be giving our CUT… Let’s see. Champion, Guardians, and Warriors, their awards. And it’s going to be a great evening. And so only $20. You can buy your ticket by going to coloradotaxpayer.org. And make sure that you join us as well. And it’s only $25 per year. Also, we started something new called Cut Engaged, and you can easily have your voices heard. It will only take you probably a couple of minutes on three different bills, and one of those is that Second Amendment infringing our Second Amendment rights, and you can have your voices heard on that. We are a no on that particular piece of legislation. I know that Teddy Collins with Spartan Defense was down yesterday, at the Capitol testifying against that. I think that it I need to check on it. I think it moved out of committee. But again, you can make your voices heard by going to Cut Engaged. I want to say thank you to our sponsors, our gold sponsors. And one of those is the Harris family. And Susan Harris and her family have been great sponsors for many years. And it’s because of our sponsors and all of you and your support, your financial support, that we are this independent voice on an independent station searching for truth and clarity. Our word of the day is emeritus. It’s spelled E-M-E-R-I-T-U-S. And it could be retired or honorably discharged from active professional duty, but retaining the title of one’s office or position. And I chose it because Lawrence Reed, our featured guest in hour number one, is president emeritus of the Foundation of Economic Education, also known as FEE. And so that’s why I chose that word. And we talked about Thomas Paine and his pamphlet Common Sense, which really was very influential in America declaring our independence from Britain. And Thomas Paine was born in 1737 in England. He died in 17, excuse me, he died in 1809. And he was an American founding father, a French revolutionary, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. And his pamphlets Common Sense in 1776 and the American Crisis 1776 to 1783 framed the patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. And he said this, he said, we have it in our power to begin the world over again. And as we were, looking at what’s happening in our country right now of course the founders in fact in the declaration they in four different instances referred to God one of those I believe was the divine provider and in order to reclaim this America that we love in this third founding we certainly must be focused on on the divine provider and ask for his guidance and his hand upon us as we’re going through all of this. Let’s see, I did want to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation is one of the nonprofits that I feature on a regular basis. On the show, and how I got to know Paula Sarles and her team, she’s the president, is through the work that we’re doing with America’s Veterans Stories. And so the official Marine Memorial is right here in Denver, or in Golden, at 6th and Colfax, and support them. They’re going to have a great golf tournament in May, and they have early bird pricing right now. So check that out. That website is usmcmemoralfoundation.org. And as I mentioned, I really appreciate our sponsors, our partners. And it’s because of them and all of you that we are on the air. And Lorne Levy is our mortgage specialist. And he can help you in 49 of the 50 states with your mortgages or reverse mortgages. And he’s on the line. Lorne Levy, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 12 :
Good morning, Kim.
SPEAKER 03 :
So what’s going on with the Fed and mortgage rates and the 10-year Treasury? What’s happening?
SPEAKER 12 :
You know, quite frankly, I forgot to text you back yesterday because this is one of those days where we usually move things to tomorrow because there was a Fed announcement today. Okay. But it’s okay. We’re not expecting much. We’re not expecting them to move at all on anything today. Just with what’s been kind of what the market’s been seeing in the data, as far as unemployment numbers, not a lot of layoffs and things like that. The GDP numbers have been relatively in line. So there’s not much expectation for much to happen today. It’s just going to be a matter of what they say and when they release the results of their vote of the group. But, you know, we’ve kind of seen… The 10-year got all the way up close to 430 recently, and now it’s back down to about 421, 422. So things pulled back a little bit, which was nice. From my end, we’re seeing a little bit of a pickup in people going under contract to purchase homes because there’s more variety out there, more inventory for them to select from. And that’s always good. The more we can get transactions happening and things flowing, that’ll help everybody. And so it’s just a good time where rates are similarly, depending on down payment and credit, still hanging on that lower sixes range. So we haven’t seen it move up a whole lot or down, and stability sometimes is a good thing. People like to see stability. So things are moving, and not much has changed since last week when we spoke. Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, GDP numbers, the last quarter of last year, the GDP numbers were quite good. Does that seem like that’s going to continue?
SPEAKER 12 :
It seems like it is right now. And we talk about this all the time, is it’s rare for a Fed to cut rates into a strong economy because their dual mandate is employment and inflation, right, and price stability. And so, We don’t have – you hear about some companies here and there. Like, we just heard that UPS is laying off some people because their Amazon contract is changing. There are some companies that are doing layoffs, but we’re not seeing them on a mass scale. You know, it’s a mass scale to you when it’s your job that gets cut across the country. We’re not seeing it on a mass scale. And so the unemployment numbers are okay, and – it’s the prices that everyone’s still talking about that we don’t have the 2% inflation like the Fed wants. We have closer to three, quite frankly, which is getting everybody to feel it whenever they do anything, you know, except for really gas right now, the grocery store is still expensive and utilities and everything. And so when the Fed sees that, they’re like, we wouldn’t normally cut rates into this environment because we can cause more inflation by making money cheaper for people and having them make it easier to spend, which is, goes against their job, kind of. And so the expectations that they’ll continue to cut, I just don’t think are there. And, you know, that’s just how I think they’ll vote, you know.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, Lauren, as we were talking, this is the first time I’ve really thought about this because we’re talking with Lawrence Reed in Hour Number One. As you know, I think about taxes because taxes is taxing people on their productivity and taxing them on their property. And we all agree that there is a proper role of government. But when I look at the massive spending at the school district level, the local level, the county level, the state level, and the national level, and the taxes that are required to make that happen, it’s so significant. So when we talk about inflation and that 3% inflation, that’s a 3% plus. Because if people are paying 3%, but then they’re having to pay sales tax or whatever on addition to that. That’s a 3% plus. I never thought about it until you were just mentioning that.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and you’re also leaving out the other magic word that is taxes but doesn’t say it is fees, right? So we’re all paying additional fees for used things and for our license plates, and those aren’t called a tax. They’re called a fee. You’re 100% right. And then on top of that, Kim, is the whole part where, The governments at all these different levels will go out and secure bonds and things. And, yeah, at the federal level where, you know, at least the states have a mandated balanced budget that they have to do, which is what causes cuts and, you know, things like that at the state level. The federal government can just print. So, you know, we have the ballooning national debt that’s just going up. And, you know, that’s always a thing, you know. So, yeah, I mean, someone’s got to pay for all this. I just don’t know when it’ll have to be paid for.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and so we’ve really got to – we have to start to cut the government spending. I think – and we talked with Lawrence about this in the hour number one. I think this corruption – As we start to uncover this corruption, people have been said, OK, we’ll pay taxes to help, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When we’re realizing that actually this is significant corruption, I think this is going to be the wake up call for Americans to say, OK, we need to get government back in its proper role. So that’s why we continue to shed light on all these issues each and every day. People and the temperatures have been so mild generally here in Colorado that I think we’re in an early spring selling and buying season in real estate. If people are looking for a new home, new mortgage, what’s the best way for people to reach you, Lord Levy?
SPEAKER 12 :
The best way is to give us a call at 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, and that’s Lorne Levy for Everything Mortgages. That could be new mortgage, second mortgage. It could be a reverse mortgage, and he can help you in 49 of the 50 states, just not New York. And if, in fact, Lorne, something wild does happen with the Fed today, just text me, and we’ll get you on tomorrow. Otherwise, we’ll talk with you next week.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay, sounds like a good plan. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 03 :
And again, that’s Lauren Levy for Everything Mortgages, 303-880-8881. And as a State Farm agent for 50 years, the Roger Mangan team has been serving, or Roger’s been serving his customers, providing for his family, and giving back to the community. And so for help with all of your insurance needs, give Roger Mangan and his team a call. That number is 303-795-8855 if you bundle your insurance together. Many of you have reached out and said you’ve been able to save money. That’s real money in your pocket. So give them a call, 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan insurance team is there.
SPEAKER 21 :
costs to ensure your home apartment auto boat are increasing inflation high taxes grocery prices are squeezing coloradans budgets how can you save money when you bundle your insurance coverage with the roger mink and state farm insurance team you may save money on your insurance premiums The only way to find out is to reach out to the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team for a complimentary appointment. Call the Roger Mangan team now at 303-795-8855. That number again is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 10 :
For nearly 20 years, mortgage specialist Lorne Levy with Polygon Financial Group has helped individuals realize their hopes and dreams of home ownership, fund kids’ educations through second mortgages, and access capital by utilizing reverse mortgages. Lauren Levy works with many different lenders, and his goal is to provide home loans to his clients with the lowest interest rates and closing costs as possible. Lauren Levy pledges to help borrowers overcome roadblocks that can arise when securing a loan. Call Lauren Levy now at 303-880-8881 so that you are prepared for opportunity in the mortgage market. That’s 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 15 :
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 03 :
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 if you are craving real New York-style pizza and pasta, Little Richie’s and Parker & Golden have you covered. They have authentic New York flavor with Colorado roots, and they have daily specials, weekday lunch deals, and a happy hour worth planning around. They are your neighborhood favorite, and they’re always serving up something worth stopping for. Check out their calzones. They are delicious. Again, that is Little Richie’s in Parker & Golden. on the line. He is a sixth generation rancher from Nebraska. Trent Luce, welcome. Okay. Hopefully we’ve got Trent Luce, or I thought that we did.
SPEAKER 17 :
I’m with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. I got you now. I don’t know what happened, Trent. So welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 17 :
Oh, fabulous. Sun’s shining. It’s warmed up. It’s really good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, you had some real cold out in Nebraska. We had a few days. We always have to have a few cold days at the National Western. I remember there were times where I thought the whole National Western was really cold. I was out last Wednesday, I guess, out at the National Western, and it was balmy. And so you were there for a number of days. What’s your takeaway from the National Western this year?
SPEAKER 17 :
It was fantastic. The weather was the best National Western I’ve ever attended, to be honest. I mean, the first one was 1995. I missed a couple of years since 1995, but the weather’s just been fantastic. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of people throughout the rest of the country not experiencing great weather, but that could be a topic of discussion for later on. But the attitudes, the camaraderie, and the celebration of culture I thought was just on display at a whole new level at the National Western. You can’t prove by me you were there, though. You claim to have been there, but I did not see you, so I don’t know that you were there.
SPEAKER 03 :
we tried, we tried to get connected, but did not happen and ended up. So a friend of mine, her husband had given her a girl’s day at the national Western. So I think there were six of us and we ended up going to the rodeo as well. And of course the new facilities are beautiful, but the rodeo, I can’t lose. I can hardly watch the bull riding that. It, it, To get on a bull, and I don’t understand what kind of personality does that.
SPEAKER 17 :
I don’t either. Bulls are made for breeding, not riding, but it is the popular event. I’d rather watch the saddle broncs than the barebacks, to be honest, but bull riding is popular.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I have to kind of close my eyes. And I have another girlfriend who I never, ever realized this about her, but she loves bull riding so much so that when she would go to church, she would actually record the bull riding in Las Vegas on Sunday mornings so that she could watch it. So she’d asked me one year to go with her. And she had – our seats were like one row, like on the front row. And we were getting – either dirt or other stuff kicked up on us. And I looked at her and I’m like, I never would have dreamed that you loved full writing like you do. There’s so many things that we don’t know about people that we think we know, and we think we know those people well.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, you left out one important component. That friend who arranged for that group outing and tickets is like an icon in the entire National Westerns.
SPEAKER 03 :
That is true. And it was, I’m not quite sure how I made the guest list, but I certainly was happy to do that. And that was Ronnie Bell Sylvester. And it was really an amazing group of women to be with. And we were there. I did try to get connected with you, but there was a lot going on that day.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, that’s the way that it kind of unfolds. There’s a lot of people that want to get in touch with you and meet here and meet there. I don’t know how the days get to be so jumbled up, but it’s harder to get together with people than you think it should be.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, but that was the other thing that was interesting about the National Western. I ran into two people that I had not seen for years, and they Coming together, human beings and, of course, all the exhibitors, but people being together, that was one of the most beautiful things that I thought about the National Western. And so I congratulate them on really – and I looked at the coordination of how to try to make all of that happen, Trent. It’s a monumental job.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, I had a very interesting discussion. I believe I sent it to you with Doug Jones, who is the chairman of the board for the National Western. And I introduced him to Brett Spader. And Brett made a statement just kind of in passing. He said, man, you guys put this together so quick. And he’s talking about the renovations and the new facility and the legacy and the things you’re talking about. And Doug just looked at him and he said, do you think it was quick? It was nine years in the making. But, you know, from the time that the decision was made to finance this, and I got to give major kudos to the people of Denver. And this is a commitment. It’s an investment. And I got to tell you that there are so many people that have really expressed appreciation for that we can continue to come to Denver where we’ve been since 1908, obviously I wasn’t at the first couple, and celebrate the culture of resource providers. And I talked to so many people that were just strolling through the livestock barns with their kids, and some of them would not go on tape with me, but they all had to say that, They just love this experience. And it’s for them an opportunity to kind of get in touch with the real things of Colorado. And you and I talk plenty about the challenges that continue to come our way in terms of utilizing these resources to enable life. But the National Western is a celebration of what can be done.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it really is. And so congratulations to Chairman Doug Jones and the whole team there because It’s so important, and it was really a great event. And so we’re going to go ahead and go to break a little bit early on this so that we can get into these other subjects that I presented to you that we could start to talk about. But I did want to mention the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo on the beautiful Riverwalk. And as we are in this time right now in our country, It’s important that we sift through all this and get to our foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And the Center for American Values is focused on that. I’d highly recommend that you make sure that you put it on your bucket list to get down to the center. and see their portraits of valor of many of our Medal of Honor recipients. My understanding is the only other place that you could see such a collection is at the Pentagon. And we can’t get into the Pentagon, but you can get into the Center for American Values in Pueblo. And to find out their hours, that website is AmericanValuesCenter.org. That’s AmericanValuesCenter.org. And we have these discussions because of all of our great sponsors and really appreciate the second syndicate, for what they’re doing, particularly here in Colorado, where our right to keep and bear firearms, to protect ourselves against bad actors, is again under assault at the Colorado State Legislature.
SPEAKER 19 :
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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 03 :
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 talk about freedom all the time on the show. Financial freedom for you starts with the right guide, and that is Mint Financial Strategies. They’re an independent firm with over 25 years of experience, and their credentials have been accredited investment fiduciary. They offer advice that’s focused on you, not a sales quota. And it’s focused on helping you live life on your terms with clarity, confidence, and control. So give them a call. That number is 303-285-3080. Mint Financial Strategies is your path to independent financial confidence. Trent Luce, I had sent – actually, one of our listeners had sent this article over to me. And as I’m looking at it, I’m wondering if this is – a change from the biden administration rewilding the west to move back to food production this is from let’s see it was from oh gosh i had it here just a minute ago and um it’s so i’ll get that for you in a second i think it’s outdoor living or outdoorsman living or something says blm says american prairies bison can no longer graze on public lands So what’s going on with this Trent Luce?
SPEAKER 17 :
So this is very complex and a long story. And I lost a bet on this, by the way, because I had a rancher in Montana who joined me on the air that said the Bureau of Land Management was going to make this decision. I said, no, they’re not. And I lost. First of all, the most important part of this is that I’ve been working with the folks in against the American Prairie Reserve. It really was born out of Frank and Deborah Popper’s concept in the 80s that we turn the Great Plains of America back into the Buffalo Commons. They point blank said that we should have never inhabited this area. It should just be the American Serengeti. And nobody knows who actually owns the APR. It’s East Coast Financial Mutual Fund money. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to research. They point blank tell people and have told people for coming on 20 years now that they are going to buy every piece of land that comes up for sale contiguous to what they own. And they have. Every single piece of land that has come up for sale, they have purchased. It doesn’t matter what it brings. And so there’s a real angst in Montana, particularly with my fellow cattlemen, and bison producers, that this is just a sign of the times of what we see happening where individuals and entities are acquiring assets. And this is why we have a record low number of beef cattle in the United States. We literally don’t have enough land to graze the beef herd at what it once was. So the folks in Montana, and particularly Attorney General Knutson from Montana, have been very aggressive in trying to hold this APR, American Prairie Reserve, accountable for what it is that they’re doing. And there are many people, including my friends in Montana, who are celebrating the Bureau of Land Management’s decision that the APR cannot hold a permit for grazing bison. That on the surface sounds like a really good thing. Except if you actually read what the Bureau of Land Management said, they said that we are concerned that the grazing animals could cause damage to the Bureau of Land Management lands. That should be problematic to everyone.
SPEAKER 03 :
So the wording on that… I hear you on that. The article, and again, it was Outdoor Life that the listener sent over, said that the interior’s rationale for yanking the permits, according to its January 16th proposed decision, is that under the Taylor Grazing Act, the BLM can only issue grazing permits for livestock managed for production-orientated purposes. It claims that American prairie’s emphasis on conservation runs counter to those purposes. That seems to be focused where I want to be focused. Production-orientated would mean food production to me, Trent Luce.
SPEAKER 17 :
You’re going to tell anybody who owns land that they need to do it to what the common good thinks is important and ignore property rights?
SPEAKER 03 :
if i want to buy a piece of property and and use it the way i see fit then you’re going to have the federal government come and say no you can’t do that well you know i’m a property rights person but what is your choices regarding grazing it’s either production Or conservation, right? What else would it be? At least the article says that BLM can only issue grazing permits for livestock for production-orientated purposes. So the only other thing would be conservation, yes? No?
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, the other part that I didn’t read that particular article, I read the Bureau of Land Management issue itself. And so I don’t know if their interpretation was off. But what the APR has done, and this extends into the bigger picture of bison production across the entire country, is the APR wanted their bison to be classified by the USDA as wildlife products. That I am adamantly opposed to because if we start classifying a grazing animal that is domesticated and is a part of maintaining soil health and range health and then also feeding people, that cannot be classified as wildlife. And they wanted to do that because they’re going to get some exemptions and possibly even some tax credits for doing that. In the bigger picture of the bison world, When you have somebody attempting to classify their bison as wildlife, that spills over to everybody that there are certain things you can’t do with an animal that’s classified as wildlife. And so there’s a really big discussion that’s unfolding around this one that if the right steps are not taken, could be very dangerous for all of us in the Not only those of us that have animals and raise them for food, but those of us that appreciate the animals that are produced for food to improve human health. But again, I understand the Taylor Grazing Act. In fact, there’s a lot of interesting things about the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934. When that was signed, there were 70 million sheep in the United States. Today, there are 5 million sheep. There were 26 million dairy cows in the United States in 1934. Today, there are 9 million dairy cows. In 1934, there were 64 million head of beef cows and calves. And today, we have about 80 million. The bison numbers would be very significant because there was very few bison in 1934, and bison really weren’t even factored into the Taylor Grazing Act, to be honest. It was a real war between the open rangers. Did you ever see the movie Open Range?
SPEAKER 20 :
I did a long time ago.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, so the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act was a direct result of what that movie was based around, where you had people that would just go out and call them free grazers, where they would just take a band of sheep and they would start in South Dakota and they’d go to Wyoming and then they’d come back. And, you know, that’s a whole property rights issue as well. But that’s what 1934 Taylor Grazing Act was actually addressing. My concern is this. Number one, we can’t have bison classified as livestock. And number two, if we’re going to have federal government say that… We can’t have bison… As wildlife. Correct. Okay, got it. You passed. You were listening to me. I should have been listening to myself. And we can’t have a federal agency talking about an inherent danger of bison grazing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Can bison and cattle graze on the same land?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yes. It’s not very common. The grazing patterns are different, they tell me. I don’t have personal experience with bison. I have a ton of experience with cattle. But I have had this discussion with people because that’s where they’re going, is that the bison have a total different grazing pattern.
SPEAKER 03 :
Do bison and cattle mate?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, there are beefalo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, that’s right. I guess I’ve heard of a beefalo. Okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
Not common, but it occurs.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. So next question, this came in from Jenny on the text line. And text line is 720-605-0647. She asked, is Ted Turner’s name behind this anywhere? Because he already owns, she said, half of Montana beefalo. Is that true?
SPEAKER 17 :
He does not own half of Montana. He’s a very significant landowner in Montana, yes. He’s now the fourth largest landowner in the United States, and he is the largest bison owner. We do not know, nor do we believe, that Ted Turner has any money in the APR. It is separate from what Ted Turner is doing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Okay. And this APR would probably be classified as a NGO, a non-governmental organization. It’s probably got nonprofit status. Is that correct to surmise?
SPEAKER 17 :
I can’t answer that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
I don’t believe so. I believe it’s an LLC, which is why the owners are hidden.
SPEAKER 03 :
okay yes that’s true i think with a 501c3 if they were a non-profit that that would have to be public okay okay uh so wrap this up then uh trent uh what what do you think about this moving forward what’s your ear to the ground with your cattle producers in montana uh what do you think
SPEAKER 17 :
My cattle friends in Montana needed a leg up because the money was winning every single battle on this particular situation. The governor, Jim Forte, has been somewhat helpful. Austin Newsom, the attorney general, has been the true champion. And I’m going to give it as a small victory at this point in time, but I’m issuing a large word of caution that we have an agency that’s talking about dangers of grazing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, well, we will keep an eye on that because all of this goes directly. How we connect this dot is it goes to what happens for us regarding the grocery store, where we buy our meat, our eggs, our groceries here in the metro area. We have taken for granted an abundant food supply, an affordable food supply, and that’s why we have to talk about this on a regular basis. I do have one more thing I want to add. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
Hank Boogler, who is a dear friend of mine, he’s on my Roll Rock program every Monday. He runs on about 2 million acres of pure land management land in Nevada. He runs sheep and cattle. He and I did – let me back up. We can’t forget that one in three acres in the United States is owned by the federal government. Okay? Okay. So Hank and I did a calculation on what animal units per month could and should be on federal lands. And if that were the case, in other words, they weren’t limited because there’s been a tremendous rift between what the proper grazing numbers are. If the federal lands were grazed properly, there should be 110 million protein meals produced annually from that land. as it is currently sitting this decision factored in at some low level the bureau of land management land again representing by the way the barrel of management and a forest service combined on 33 so it’s still federally owned part of it’s in the bureau of land management part of it’s in the u.s forest service as it sits today instead of producing 110 million protein meals a year we’re producing less than 30 million protein meals a year. So the utilization of that land to feed the – I thought of it because you were walking through exactly, and here are the numbers to back that up. We’re producing less than a third of the protein meals that we should be producing on this land. And this decision will not help that, by the way.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, Trent, if we have 330 million people – and we’re only producing 110 million. Is that per day, per year? Because we’re producing a lot more than 100.
SPEAKER 17 :
110 million protein meals a year. And I did the equivalent on a six-ounce meal for proteins.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that would mean, okay, I’m going to have to think about this. Let’s go to break because I used to be really good at math, but I’m not sure that I am today. So let’s think about that. And then I’ve got another thing that I wanted to talk about regarding Colorado land here as well. We’re talking with Trent Luce. And the text line is 720-605-0647. And do check out the USMC Memorial Foundation. And you can sign up, do early bird pricing for their golf tournament that will be in May. These discussions happen because of our sponsors. If you’ve been injured, you’ll want to talk with John Bozen and Bozen Law.
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SPEAKER 03 :
Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. I want to say thank you to the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show. Trent Luce, thank you. I posited this question, and then Mark, one of our listeners, and producer Joe explained it to me. I’m thinking 110 protein meals off of federal land, and it What we’re producing is significantly less. I’m like, well, that doesn’t fit regarding protein meals. But then both producer Joe and Mark said, Kim, you’re forgetting about all the private production. So they buttoned that up for me as I was posing that question, Trent Luce.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, a couple things. Keep in mind that a lot of that land is very sparse. And in many cases, it will take 50 plus acres of land to produce an animal unit per month. And that’s how we figure what the stocking density is, is per animal unit month. And so you’re talking about a big geographical area. But the point of the whole story was that because of mismanagement of the Bureau of Land Management, we’re only producing a third of the protein meals that we should be producing. And I also want to clarify something on the ruling by the Bureau of Land Management. While APR has become a very large landowner, that rejection of the permit is only on the APR land that is leased from the Bureau of Land Management. It does not attribute to the land that they run their own bison on their own property.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. And from a property rights standpoint… They can do that, yes? Correct. Okay. Let’s move over to this next article. I sent it over to you last evening.
SPEAKER 17 :
One other thing, and this is a major angst with the folks in that area. They’re buying contiguous land so that they can remove all fences and then just run interspersed with what they call their checkerboard land. The checkerboard is there will be a chunk of Bureau of Land Management land in conjunction to a neighboring land, which is deeded property. So they want to just eliminate all the fences in the middle of that and just run these animals over the whole area. So even though it’s a rejection of the permit for the Bureau of Land Management land, it will also affect their private property because they don’t have fences for that either.
SPEAKER 03 :
Interesting. So then that is a property rights infringement upon the private land. Yes.
SPEAKER 17 :
Uh, I can’t go there because it was their choice to eliminate those fences because again, they want to create an American Serengeti. So in essence, yes, they’re being told they can’t run bison on their own property. But it’s because they don’t have fences. And most ranchers don’t anyway. Those ranches that they bought would be deeded property that has an assigned allotment of local Bureau of Land Management land as well. So the ranchers in that area, they maybe didn’t necessarily remove the fences. They just were never there. But they’re eliminating fences by expanding their operations. So, again, I come back to where we started. It is a very complex issue. My concern is that we have an agency saying that grazing can be dangerous to the landscapes, which is flawed.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. And that’s important to look at the language for sure. The article that I read said the intent was for productivity standards. So the devil is in the details, though. Words really do matter for sure, and it’s important to be watching that.
SPEAKER 17 :
But again, I don’t want government telling me what my productivity needs to be. True.
SPEAKER 03 :
True.
SPEAKER 17 :
true but it seems like the only choices though are either production on the land or conservation is there some other uh usage that i’m missing uh yeah i don’t know what you mean by conservation because we are conservationists by utilizing the land to produce food or energy and then also leaving it better that’s conservation i think you’re confusing that with preservation where, you know, Theodore Roosevelt was a conservationist. He never said that we should not utilize the land. He said we should utilize the land in an efficient manner. We have this whole new movement that wants to bring about what I call preservation, where it’s a wilderness area. It’s off limits to human beings, which has been the fastest growing segment. And that, in its essence, is what this law is trying to bring about, is that you cannot preserve this
SPEAKER 03 :
Good point. Okay, that’s good to make that distinction. So if I go to this question, we may have to move this to next week. Question on this was how does zoning fit into this discussion? Vacant land zoning pays much more taxes than agricultural land. What’s your thoughts on that? Is there a connection on that at all, Trent, do you think?
SPEAKER 17 :
Not really, because that land would be zoned agricultural land if it’s zoned at all. Many parts of that part of Montana don’t have zoning to begin with.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s a county by county basis.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay okay let’s see if we can bite this one off and maybe we’ll talk some more about this last week, I found this from a high country advocate. And it says state land boards January meeting reveals rose marinos direction and we hadn’t mentioned the appointment of Nicole rose marinos to the as chair of the state land board. And there was a meeting January 21, 22. And this article says it’s producing the clearest picture of her priorities seven months into her tenure. So what’s your comments on this? It looks to me like there’s some things I’m very concerned about. What’s your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER 17 :
Now, this actually just speaks to what we’re talking about in terms of preservation and trying to create this whole wilderness aspect where we cannot utilize this land. Because the other part about it, when you start preserving and you designate wilderness areas and you look at the parallel nationwide, not just in Colorado, but you look at the nationwide parallel to when we started saying, we’re just going to take this land out of production and look at what the fire hazard has been. There’s a direct correlation. Because if you don’t manage and conserve the land properly, Mother Nature will. And Mother Nature will be cruel in getting it done.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, that is really an excellent point. I think that we probably want to go through this next week because it’s pretty significant, many of the decisions that they made. But one of the first ones, I’ll just mention this. It says a 10-year Moffitt County leasee lost 9,600 acres despite superior stewardship scores. And what They were good stewards of the land, but it looks like that the Colorado State Land Board is, I guess, not renewing their lease. And this is of great concern. And so, again, we talk about good stewardship of the land, and that is so important. So let me see how much time we’ve got. We’ve got about a minute, Trent. So how would you like to button this up?
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, we could also have a great discussion about what I testified yesterday at the South Dakota state capitol on whether or not South Dakota should be the sixth state to ban the manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of fake lab-induced meat, which is not meat at all. But that can’t be done in one minute either.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, that can’t. So we will have two big discussions next week for sure. Who knows what’s going to happen between now and then. And how can people find you, Trent Luce? You are one of the busiest media guys that I know. How can people find you?
SPEAKER 17 :
LuceTalesMedia.com. I probably am best if you just go and subscribe free to my Substack, and that is TrentLuce.Substack.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Luce is spelled L-O-O-S. Trent, have a great week. We’ll talk with you next week.
SPEAKER 17 :
That was fast, Kim. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
And our quote for the end of the show is from Thomas Paine. He said, Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and angels know of us. So today, 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 05 :
rising fears through the rain and lightning wandering out into this great unknown I don’t want no one to cry but tell them if I don’t
SPEAKER 13 :
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.