Transcript

Every day, unborn babies very lives are under attack at PreBorn

>> Jeff Chamblee: This July we celebrate the birth of our nation and remember the heroes who fought for our freedoms. But did you know there are Americans today who don't have the freedom of life and liberty. Every day, unborn babies very lives are under attack. But because of preborn, we can rescue them. I got to hear and see my baby for the first time. Hearing the heartbeat made me cry and it was certain that I was going to keep my baby forever.

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>> Rick Green: We inform Religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions no matter where they are. We quit. Sacred honor is the courage to speak.

>> Rick Green: Truth to live out your free speech.

>> Brother Don Wildmon: We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character.

>> Jeff Chamblee: This is At the Core on American Family Radio.

Rick Green is America's Constitution coach and founder of Patriot Academy

>> Rick Green: Welcome back to CORE with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green.

>> Rick Green: I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution coach.

>> Rick Green: Thanks for joining me. On this Thursday, we've got some more.

>> Rick Green: Patriot Academy live recordings to share with you. What a great week, man. I am having the time of my life. I am definitely in that zone where I get to feel God's pleasure because.

>> Rick Green: I'm doing what God called me to do. I get to do radio here on American Family Radio.

>> Rick Green: And I also get to work with these young people at Patriot Academy. It's just so exciting to see what God's doing, the remnant that he's raising up.

>> Rick Green: For those of you that may not.

>> Rick Green: Be familiar with what we do at.

>> Rick Green: Patriot Academy, this is our flagship, program.

>> Rick Green: It's called the Leadership Congress. We do it in state capitals all over the nation. Been doing that for almost 25 years. And now we also do it at our Patriot Academy campus. So we didn't have a physical location for the first 23 years of Patriot Academy's existence. And in just the last couple years, we acquired a beautiful piece of land in Fredericksburg, Texas, soon to be Constitution C City, Texas. We are incorporating our own city here at the campus called Constitution City, Texas. That's a real thing. It'd be an official Municipality and the place you go to study the constitution. But right now, the campus is, actually in an unincorporated area of the county, and it's just the Patriot Academy campus. But it's a beautiful place. 177.6 acres. Yes, that's really what it is. Isn't that amazing? and it's being built as a place to restore patriotism, to restore biblical citizenship, to teach people the principles of liberty so that we can reproduce that in culture and we can pass it intact to our children. We want the torch of freedom to.

>> Rick Green: Burn bright while we're alive, but we.

>> Rick Green: Want to also pass the baton. We want to teach the next generation how to preserve and protect that torch and then how to pass it to their posterity. And so that's what we do at Patriot Academy. We essentially inspire patriotism by teaching people the truth about the country, the truth about the principles of liberty, teaching the.

>> Rick Green: Good, the bad, and the ugly, all.

>> Rick Green: Of it, but doing it in a fun and entertaining way. And one of the best ways to learn these things is to be immersed into a legislative simulation. Now, what I mean by a legislative simulation, it literally simulates the legislature for citizens of all ages. Now, we do this. We call it the Patriot experience. And it's where people of all ages can come experience an actual legislative session, where they're the legislator, they're on the floor, they're debating the bills, they're in committee working through that legislation. They're learning speaking skills, they're learning how to testify in committee, they're learning how to debate on the House floor, They're learning the rules and the process, and it makes you a better citizen, because then when you talk to your legislator or you perhaps even help someone run for office, you know the process so much better than 99.9% of people. And so that's essentially the, laboratory of learning, where we've done this for 25 years at Patriot Academy, and by having our own house chamber. Now, not only do we go do this in legislative halls around the country, in house and senate chambers, in actual state capitals, now we have our own legislative hall with our own house chamber and committee rooms, and we can do it year round.

>> Rick Green: We don't.

>> Rick Green: You know, used to be we only did it in the summer. Now we can do it year round. But we still have our big event, our big National Leadership Congress only once a year. And that's where we have students that have been through our regional leadership congresses across the country, but they all come in together for the National Leadership Congress. So we got about 150 students here in Texas at the Patriot Academy campus on the House floor that we built, that's a replica of the Texas House floor in the committee rooms. The Ronald Reagan committee, the Dietrich Bonhoeffer committee, the John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg committee, the Abraham Lincoln committee, the George Whitfield committee, and of course the William Wilberforce committee. Those are the committees. we name them that because those are heroes. Those are the examples of how to be salt and light and influence the culture in a positive way. And so anyway, I am super, super excited about what I'm seeing with these young people.

>> Rick Green: This one, the one we're doing this.

>> Rick Green: Week, this big one, this National Leadership Congress, this is actually, only young people. So it's 16 to 25 year olds, high school, college, law students, sometimes those that went right into the military and did four or six years and got out, and now they're looking for what their next miss is. So this is all young people, 16 to 25. And it is, amazing what these kids are thinking about. It's amazing how well they articulate the issues. It's amazing how biblically grounded they are. And now we're equipping them with the speaking skills and the process and all these things to make them effective at going out in the community and standing for these truths, for these principles. So this is my favorite week of the year. I absolutely love seeing all these young people working like this and learning these things and frankly, taking me on, man.

>> Rick Green: They, they love to debate me, to.

>> Rick Green: Debate me, and a lot of times they run circles around me. They're just, they're just fantastic. This is cream of the crop we're working with here. Now, some of them have never done anything like this before. They've never done debate competitions or any of that. And they're also having the time of their lives. They're learning the process. A lot of, a lot of kids will come to us and never done any kind of public speaking. They're literally shaking in their boots, man. And, and they get through the first year and then they come back second year and they're much more comfortable. They do it again. And then by the third or fourth year, they're running the show. Not everybody comes back three or four years, but a lot of our students do, and it gives them a chance to really get this down. And now we're actually doing what we call the Patriot Institute, which is a full year with us, not a full year. It's basically like a college year, really. Nine Months September through May. And so a lot of these students will be with us and go a lot more in depth than what they're doing just this week. But this week, again, our main, our biggest event of the year, most important flagship program for Patriot Academy. And the kids are doing an amazing job. So Tim Barton is here with us as well, and he and I are doing some live Q and A during the meals and, airing that on Wall Builders Radio and also here on American Family Radio on At the Core

Rick Green: Patriot Academy students are learning about legislative process

So I'm gonna jump back into our. We just did our meal with the, with the kiddos and had a chance for them to ask questions and for Tim and I to talk about some of the things that we're teaching them. And I thought I'd share more of that with you today on At the Core So here's Tim Barton with me in the, what we call the coffee shop at Patriot Academy, where all of the students are eating and they're gonna finish, the last part of their meal with us and ask a lot of great questions.

>> Rick Green: We're still coming to you live from the Patriot Academy campus. And we've got one, hundred and fifty students here from all over the nation. Thank you, Patriots, for joining us here. Yes, they've been out on the House floor, our legislative hall here at the Patriot Academy campus, in committees. I actually made my way through the committees today, watching the great debate that was taking place. And so they're learning the legislative process, they're learning biblical worldview, they're learning how to apply these things and get the skills they need to go back home and lead. Rick Green here with Tim Barton.

Tim Barton spent a couple of days with students at Patriot Academy

Tim, so a couple of days here at the Patriot Academy campus, watching these young people. What have you seen so far and maybe a little bit about what you've shared with them?

>> Tim Barton: Yeah, well, I have seen a lot. most of it really impressive. there was a couple other speakers. I thought, you know, I probably am better than that guy. But other than the Greens, I felt really good. No, I'm kidding. really, really great stuff to see people learning the process. We've had a lot of conversations, about sometimes the messiness of it, the frustrations of it, the bills that.

>> Rick Green: Drag on and on and on and.

>> Tim Barton: On, the process that abates. And you're like, please make that person stop talking. I don't need more questions from that person. But the reality of how the process works so beneficial. we talked about the reality that for so many of the students that are here, God Might lead them in a direction very different from what this process is training them for. But there are so many lessons that are applicable across the board. And then, of course, knowing the process, as a good American citizen, knowing how the process works, is so beneficial. And there's nowhere that does a better job of training that process. In your Patriot Academy, I had the opportunity to talk about a little bit about some of the foundation of early America. The idea there's a movement even among conservatives, where there are conservative students, the rising generation, who is suggesting that maybe the Constitution is old and outdated, we don't need it. in fact, President Trump is being hindered by the Constitution. We should get rid of the Constitution, let President Trump do his thing. And so we. We walk through why that's not a great thought or strategy.

>> Rick Green: I mean, even a benevolent dictator, still not good to have a dictator.

>> Tim Barton: yeah. it's still bad. Very, very bad. socialism, Marxism.

>> Rick Green: Wait, did you say socialism? Okay, just making sure.

>> Tim Barton: Making sure they still got it. but walking through why, why the Constitution matters, why has it been successful, and what has been lacking in some of the thought and operation that is not. That has not allowed America to enjoy some of the same blessings that previous generations have. When we look at where we are today and what we can do to restore, some of those checks and balances, some of that foundational moral aspect, and super excited to see what else unfolds with these conversations.

Wall Builders asks students questions from biblical, historical and constitutional perspectives

>> Rick Green: All right, well, let's see where the students want to go with this. Students that have questions, y' all come on up here and ask your questions. This is not the stump Tim Barton, segment of the program. It's what are you genuinely curious about? And what can we, talk about here on the Wall Builder show, where we take on all of the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. Nathan, you're up first. Tell us your name, where you're from, and then ask your question.

>> Speaker F: My name is Nathan Van Foken. I am from Eudora, Kansas. And my question is, do you think that the syntax, is, upholds the lift principles, and do you think that there's a biblical basis for it?

>> Rick Green: And I'm going to assume when you say the syntax, you mean any tax that's on things like drinking, smoking, whatever? that's generally what we refer to when we say the syntax, right?

>> Speaker F: Yes, that's right.

>> Rick Green: All right, Tim M. You're up first, man.

>> Tim Barton: Well, wait a second. So it's not a syntax, like part of the. The English vocabulary explanation. A syntax also. Wait a second.

>> Rick Green: Not S, Y, N, T, A.

>> Tim Barton: Right. Just clarifying. Okay, so. So, Nathan, first of all, you're asking about a sin tax and. Oh, the wrong way.

>> Rick Green: That's my bad. Yeah, you've only got, like, four of these.

>> Tim Barton: It's true. we're learning the microphone here on the spot. you talked about the syntax, and I am curious, when you said, does it uphold the lift principle? A lot of our audience doesn't know. What do you mean by the lift principles? Nathan, tell us the lift principles, and the guy who taught you is here to judge you if you get it wrong. But what are the lift principles?

>> Speaker F: Yes. So the lift, is an acronym. L is for limited government. I is for, on the spot.

>> Rick Green: It's only a national radio program, Nathan. We didn't put you on the spot. That much. Individual.

>> Speaker F: Individual liberties.

>> Rick Green: Here we go.

>> Speaker F: F is for free enterprise, and T is for timeless truths.

>> Rick Green: Okay, there we go.

>> Tim Barton: Yeah. so the question is, does a sin tax violate the lift principles? Does it violate limited government? Does it violate individual liberty, the free market economic system, or. What's the last one?

>> Speaker F: The T is timeless principles.

>> Tim Barton: Oh, the timeless principles. The moral foundation. Well, the timeless principles were actually legally embedded in most of the moral code of America. In fact, if you go to the early colonies, all ten commandments were part of every legal code for every early original colony. So part of the moral foundation or the timeless truths of the nation certainly would be supportive of things like the syntax. Now, does it violate someone's individual liberty? It doesn't violate necessarily their ability to do that, but we are disincentivizing the practicality of it. So, Rick, as your expertise as a former legislator, as America's constitution coach, is penalizing somebody for participating in something the same thing as hindering their individual liberty to do that thing?

>> Rick Green: Well, I would argue I'm just not a fan of it. I don't know if I could say that you should never allow it or that it's unconstitutional to do it. I think you do have the constitutional authority, to choose what you're going to tax. I'm not a fan of it because I just don't like using government's power to manipulate the behavior of people. and so I think it's a tough one because it's within the constitutional power. There are things that, you know, frankly, as a culture, you want to discourage, but if it's so bad that you want to discourage it, I would actually be for not even allowing it in the first place, if it's that bad. Because I do think there are things that are bad enough that, society has the right to say no to it. We talked about some of those examples the other day. Fentanyl kills, you know, on the spot for some people. crack cocaine can kill you the first time you use it. Child marriage is obviously bad for. So there's a lot of things we could say that thing is so bad, we wouldn't just want to tax it. We would want to say it can't be allowed at all. And when we do send taxes and we tax things differently. To me, now you're getting government in the business of, of choosing winners and losers.

>> Tim Barton: I think you're also the challenge of defining what is sin and what would fall in that category of a syntax, because the general thought of alcohol, tobacco, et cetera. But now you get into maybe even more of a subjective realm, which is at that point, I think, a challenge for the government to determine when you don't have the same common moral foundation for people to look at and go, is it biblical? Is it not biblical? And when the government begins picking winners and losers, you always have to worry if the next leaders are going to have a different value system. And you've now created a rule book that they can utilize in ways that are more crippling of our inalienable rights. And so, not that we should be afraid to use the government system the way it was set up, but I do think now there's more vagueness in some of. Even the moral components of what people understand or think or believe would fall in that category, which is a little different than is it constitutional or is it permissible? is it the most beneficial? Again, all different thoughts. but, Rick, I would lean a little bit more in your category. I see more challenges than benefit in some of it. because some things, I think flatly we should just say we're not going.

>> Rick Green: To do that in America, which would violate individual. Your individual liberty. But society sometimes has to do that because it's not just natural liberty, it's civil liberty. You're living in a society, and sometimes you do have to give up certain things.

>> Tim Barton: Right? And one of the things the Founding Fathers even agreed on is if your individual liberty comes to a place where it conflicts with someone else's individual liberty, those were areas where it was okay to put limits on it and to go even further.

American Family Radio podcast features interviews with Patriot Academy students

>> Rick Green: All right, stay with me, folks. We'll be back in just a second.

>> Rick Green: With more of our conversation.

>> Rick Green: With the Patriot Academy students.

>> Rick Green: You're listening to at the Corps with.

>> Rick Green: Walker Wildmon and Rick Green.

>> Tim Barton: At the.

>> Jeff Chamblee: Corps Podcast are [email protected] now back to At the Core on American Family Radio.

Rick Green: Some people argue that the Second Amendment restricts local gun laws

>> Rick Green: Welcome back to at the Corps with Walker Waldman and Rick Green.

>> Rick Green: I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution coach, at the Patriot Academy campus with some fantastic students and Tim Barton. And just an amazing, amazing time of young people learning how to win the culture war, learning how to go out there and stand for what they believe in and just be good stewards, just be good citizens to serve well in whatever area God has called them to. And as we were going to the break, we were talking, answering one of the questions from a student. And it has to do with, you know, when does government have authority to say something so bad? We don't want that in our culture at all. And anyway, Tim was in the middle of answering that. We'll jump right back into that part of our time with the students,

>> Tim Barton: Because some things, I think flatly we should just say we're not going to.

>> Rick Green: Do that in America, which would violate your individual liberty. But society sometimes has to do that because it's not just natural liberty, it's civil liberty. You're living in a society, and sometimes you do have to give up certain things, right?

>> Tim Barton: And one of the things the Founding Fathers even agreed on is if your individual liberty comes to a place where it conflicts with someone else's individual liberty, those were areas where it was okay to put limits on it, and to go even further. And in the Founding Father's time, there were literally states that had different laws relating to firearms. There were some towns that required you, by law, you could not live in town if you didn't own a firearm. And then there were some towns that said no firearms allowed in town. So you have a pretty big contradiction there. But it's because they also believed in the autonomy of the state. The 10th Amendment kind of thought that, states and local municipalities could also pass different laws. There wasn't a uniformity of this across the board. but some people would argue, well, if you're saying, I can't have a gun in town, you're violating my Second Amendment right. Again, I think we're confusing the fact that the Second Amendment was telling the federal government what they could not touch, not the local jurisprudence, how it was.

>> Rick Green: Going to operate, and left those states up to be, what they call them, laboratories of liberty, basically, where they tried different things.

How can Christians engage in persuasive dialogue with non Christians without causing offense

Nathan, excellent question. Got us started really well. Appreciate that. Who's up next? Give us your name, where you're from, and what your question is.

>> Speaker B: Thank you.

>> Rick Green: I'm gonna turn it around. There you go. Hello, my name is Carter Fernando and I'm from Ardmore, Oklahoma. My question today is how can Christians engage in persuasive dialogue with non Christians in a way that is respectful and avoids causing offense?

>> Tim Barton: That's a great question.

>> Rick Green: I like causing offense, John. What do you. Why would I not want to cause offense? No, no, go ahead, Tim M. You're good at this one, man. Knock it out of heart.

>> Tim Barton: Let's go. Well, I think. I think ultimately coming into it with the right heart and attitude makes a difference. That when we are having conversations as believers with non believers, our goal is not to win the conversation, it's to win the person. And because we're trying to win the person, when that is our heart and our mind, there are times that we have to be willing to momentarily lose the argument for the sake of winning the person. Right. If they have a position, and I know their position is dumb, and I'm like, you're an idiot for believing that position. Well, that's not gonna help win the person. And there are times I have to table my own thoughts of the argument and not quote, unquote, win the argument in order to win the person.

One of my favorite questions is, "How do you determine right and wrong"?

But I think strategically, one of my favorite questions to ask, and this is kind of true across the board, it's not just with non believers, but I think it's a really good segue with non believers, is how do you determine right and wrong? Because in life, we often navigate. Right. How are we going to determine this? And as I talked about in one of my presentations, there's only three options. It's subjective, collective, or objective. It's the only option. Right for right and wrong. Either it's up to the individual to decide which doesn't work very well, or it is collective so society determines as a whole, or there's an objective, something beyond us. And if you look at objective standards, the greatest objective standard is the Bible. And we could say that by comparing who are the heroes of those objective standards and religions, there's no greater hero than Jesus. If you compare Jesus to Muhammad or to Moses or anybody else. Now, Jesus, his moral values and teachings were far superior. But the reason I bring all this up is because if I'm trying to help lead someone somewhere, and especially a non believer, ultimately I'm not just trying to win a political conversation or topic. I am trying to guide them to ultimate truth. And part of how we help them find truth. I think this is a really good question to help navigate where to go. And the reason, again, I like this question or the sequence, this kind of series is because if I wanted to ask directions and I called you up on the phone, I'm like, hey, I want to come up to Ardmore. How do I get there? What is the logical question you're going to ask me? If I've just called you on the phone and asked how to get to Ardimore, what are you going to ask me?

>> Rick Green: Do you have a phone where you can access a navigation system?

>> Tim Barton: Okay, that is a really, really great thought. But if I say no, no, I want you to give me directions. You tell me how to get to Ardmore. Probably your first question is, well, where are you? Right? Because I have to know where you're coming from to know how to get you to where you want to be at Ardmore. If I'm going to try to help guide someone to truth, I need to know, where are you starting from? And this idea, this question of how do you determine right and wrong? Your answer reveals to me where you are coming from. Well, once I know, oh, you're coming from over there, okay, well, let me guide you this direction to help you land in truth. Ultimately, truth being that there is God, right, that he sent his son, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. There's a truth I'm trying to ultimately lead a nonbeliever to, but I need to know where they start from to know how to guide in the truth. And my favorite starting point question to identify that is, how do you determine right and wrong? And also, it's very easy to walk through that sequence of why subjective morality or truth doesn't work, collective morality or truth doesn't work. There has to be an objective standard beyond us. The greatest objective standard is from the Bible. Jesus was the greatest moral teacher there was. And so even helping people see something beyond themselves, guiding them in that direction, that's my favorite sequence to ask.

Tim Barton: Ask questions instead of just spewing whatever you believe

I know there's a lot more thoughts to this. Rick, what do you think?

>> Rick Green: Well, and I think, you know, part of what I learned from you a long time ago, Tim, is, is to ask questions, right? So instead of just spewing whatever we believe and trying to, you know, convince everybody just. Just by making a good argument, actually being genuinely curious about where they're coming from, so you can find that starting point of where they are. And like we talked about the other day out out on the, house chamber, you know, when you're genuinely curious, then you have better civil discourse if you're actually asking them where they're coming from. And I think when I jokingly said I like to offend people, I think part of that is a reaction to for so long the church just trying to play nice and being afraid to speak truth out of fear of giving offense instead of recognizing that the truth is offensive. And that if you're causing conviction, if you're being salt and it's actually having that chemical reaction within the meat, that chemical reaction burns, there's a little bit of heat that's created by that. So finding that balance of just not operating out of fear, but speaking truth, not just speaking truth in love, but speaking truth because of love, will cause us to be curious about them. Want to know where they're starting from and ask those questions in a way that can lead them to truth. That was a whole lot of a big answer for you. I hope it helped. John, we got more questions, but we got to take a break, so thank you for a very good question. Stay with us, folks. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

Christian Baer asks, "What are the biggest challenges facing high school teachers today"?

Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Christian Baer has the next question. We're at the Patriot Academy campus, and we're enjoying some of these patriots curious about what Tim, Barton thinks about some of these things, and honestly seeking truth. Like we were saying before the break, I think what I love about the atmosphere at Patriot Academy is people are genuinely curious about what the other person thinks and curious about what Tim thinks today on the radio program. So, Christian, go ahead.

>> Speaker F: Hello, my name is Christian Baer, and I'm from Virginia. and my question to you is education is obviously vastly different from what it was like 200 years ago. So how do you recommend we get.

>> Tim Barton: Back to those roots?

>> Rick Green: Good question.

>> Tim Barton: That's a great question. early America, the foundation was religion, then morality, then knowledge. it was a sequence of building blocks. There were eight levels. There wasn't grades. And in those levels, the first two levels were almost exclusively Bible, which was religion. It was Christianity. And it was from that they then built onto a lot of moral thought. And it wasn't really until about level five that they were doing, intense knowledge. And it was intense, very high level. But it was after they'd already built the religious moral foundation. The reason that matters is when you look at most public school teachers today, if you ask them the biggest challenges for high school teachers. An example, what Are the biggest challenges you face as a high school teacher. The majority would tell you classroom management, classroom discipline, trying to teach kids who don't want to be here, who don't pay attention, who are on their phones, who are super distracted. And the reality is that teachers having a hard time navigating, imparting knowledge because the students don't have a foundation of religion and morality. The reason religion and morality were the foundation is it laid. It built something as the foundation that you could build on and build something very high and significant. And that's why even if you go back to those eight levels, they weren't grades, it was levels which levels were based on content mastery. You had to beat level one to go to level two, beat level two to go to level three. It didn't matter how long you were in a level. You have to stay there until you master the content. But some kids will master the content two or three levels in a year, four levels in a year. Some kids, they might be on the same level for two or three years. It was based on the students content mastery, not based on how old they were. That was, a progressive introduction in the early 1900s that every year you go to the next grade. They actually decided grades, not levels. They said we need to make sure high school is mandatory. So high schools were added all over the nation. universities, then were expanded in a lot of ways as well. The PhD program was introduced. There was a lot of things that fundamentally changed. But I would say going back if, if we looked back, the reason public school started in the first place, the first educational law in America was 1647. It's called the old Luder Satan law or old Luther Satan Act. And it said the chief purpose of that old Deluder Satan is to keep men from the knowledge of scriptures, as in former times when the Bible was in an unknown tongue. And, they go through some of the history of the Bible. But what they point out is the devil's main objective is to keep our kids from knowing the Bible. And if our kids can't read, they'll never know the Bible. So they passed a law, and this is literally the law that they had to make sure that if you had 50 people in town, you had to have a teacher. If you have 100 people in town, you have to build a school. And it was to make sure that kids were learning to read so they would always know what the Bible says. The reason school started was to make sure there was a Bible knowledge, which is again is why there's the foundation was religion, morality, knowledge. So if we were going to go back and restore something, the biggest thing we've lost is the religious foundation which, which reveals the moral foundation that allows knowledge to increase. At this point, Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the declaration, said, if, if we remove the Bible from schools, all we would be doing is educating ministers to society. If you remove Christianity, well, that's what we're seeing around us. So the biggest thing I would say we should return and implement is that religious and moral foundation. And it's certainly Rick and I, we, have both been in the homeschool journey for a lot of years. I was homeschooled. Rick homeschooled his kids. I'm homeschooling my kids now. And the thing that I really appreciate about the homeschool journey is we can make sure we emphasize the things that really matter that have been lost in a lot of the public education. And even, unfortunately, some of the Christian schools don't emphasize as much as they should this religious and moral foundation. But I would say that is probably the top thing we have lost that should be returned. And there's a lot more we can add to it. But I would say the religious and moral foundation would be the most significant.

>> Rick Green: I'll take a little bit different tact.

>> Rick Green: Where Tim's saying what we need to restore. And I'll say part of how we need to restore it, part of what we talk about on wall builders a lot and we've talked a little bit about at Patriot Academy here is the competition in the education market that will force some of those changes to take place. And I think you have to, you have to fire all the bullets in the gun here. So in other words, you increase the homeschooling market. Parents make the decision to get their kid in the environment where you can teach all the things Tim was just talking about. Those parents that can't afford that, you need to fight for that in each of those states to have competition where they can take those. Those dollars and choose a private school or homeschooling or whatever it might be, and then at the same time be fighting for getting the good stuff Tim was just talking about into the public school. So getting people to run for school board or getting them to get a 10 commitments bill passed in their state and then get that into the school. So I think you have to do all of those activities in terms of the. How we get to what you're asking about Christian. And then what, Tim was saying is the what that we're trying to get. Very good question, Christian. Thank you.

Wall Builders is an association of churches which is recognized as a church

All right, next up, where you from? Name where you're from and your question. Awesome. My name is Wriley Huyn from Cypress, Texas. And my question is, I know we have a big Senate election coming up next year in our state. What are Yalls thoughts on Attorney General Paxton, Senator Cornyn, other potential candidates and their Democratic front runner? Well, we don't, we don't do endorsements on our non profit program. we can definitely, if we were pastors now. Yeah, that's right. We could honor. That's right. To our congregation.

>> Tim Barton: And let me, let me clarify.

>> Rick Green: So.

>> Tim Barton: So Wall Builders is an association of churches, which is recognized as a church. I am an ordained minister. So not that I'm. Not that I'm going to make an official endorsement. That's not what I'm about to do. But we certainly can analyze from a historic, from a biblical, a constitutional perspective.

>> Rick Green: Personal experience behind the scenes. John Cornyn undercutting the conservative movement everywhere we turn.

>> Tim Barton: Now, Rick, I don't know why you would say that. Just because when he's in some of these Senate committees, he's supporting some of the Democrat positions and saying, well, I only voted for Democrat positions to get it out of committee so we could vote on the floor and lose on the floor. I don't know why you would think that's not a good conservative strategic position.

>> Rick Green: Working against candidates that are really good conservatives in primary for the Senate or Congress.

>> Tim Barton: Now, just because he was in charge of funding. Funding for the Republican National Committee. Yeah. And he actually took money and gave it to candidates that weren't conservative. I don't know why you would think he's not supporting conservatives just because he didn't fund conservatives and funded. I don't know why you would say that.

>> Rick Green: I'll say something else that will be very unpopular with Tim. Okay, I just got to tell you this. I think if anybody should be the US Senator from Texas, it's David Barton. I think he would be a phenomenal U.S. senator. I think it would be like. It'd be like having Daniel Webster in the Senate again. He'd be schooling all the other senators. And in full disclosure, I actually created a draft David Barton for the U.S. senate campaign back in 2014. So I've been on this kick for a long time. The problem is I can't talk the Bartons into it.

>> Tim Barton: Well, also, it's easier to have this conversation because my dad's not with us today.

>> Rick Green: That's right. We can Pick on him when he's not here.

>> Tim Barton: Right. We can officially nominate him now. He's not here. but as far as, Cornyn and Paxton, there's going to be definitely other names that come in. Paxton, it's been known for a lot of years that there was some personal drama, some, personal issues in his life. And I'm saying that, you know, not disclosing anything, that people can't look up online and find out that he's in the midst of going through a divorce. And there's a lot of reasons surrounding why that's going on. We, we've known a lot of people, both from, Team Cornyn and Team Paxton, and we've heard a lot of stories, firsthand accounts, experiences. we understand there's a lot of baggage on both of them. Ken Paxton has proven to be a fighter in some areas, but has some, obviously, major challenges in other areas as well. We also are, experienced enough to recognize and biblical scholars enough to know that there's never going to be a perfect candidate. There's always going to be flawed candidates. The question is, are these our best two options? I mean, ultimately, no. In the state of Texas, these are not our best two options. However, because John Cornyn has such a huge war chest, financially speaking, you have to have someone with incredible name recognition who also has a lot of money. That's a Ken Paxton. So there's not a lot of people that probably have the financial resources, the name recognition, a challenge in this position. So it's. It's probably more realistic, going to be one of those two candidates. and I don't say that. hopefully I say that more realistically, although not prayerfully.

>> Rick Green: But if anybody in the room has a $10 million check, I bet I could draft David Barton to run for our U.S. all right, got to take another break, folks.

American Family Radio is talking to Patriot Academy students at National Leadership Congress

By the way, if you just tuned in, in the middle of the program, we're actually talking to Patriot Academy students.

>> Rick Green: At the Patriot Academy campus at our National Leadership Congress. This is the largest event of our of the year. We've got an amazing group of young.

>> Rick Green: People here with us, learning the legislative process, learning, public speaking.

>> Rick Green: They're learning policy, biblical worldview, how to.

>> Rick Green: Be a good biblical citizen, how to work a room, even.

>> Rick Green: You know, just all of these different things that they need to be successful in whatever area God's called them to. We're not training them all up to be, you know, somewhere in the political realm. Some of them will go into that realm, but Most of them are going to go somewhere different.

>> Rick Green: They're going to do business or politics.

>> Rick Green: Or entertainment or our journalism, our ministry.

>> Rick Green: Whatever God's called them to. We're having a great time with them. We're taking a quick break. We'll come back.

>> Rick Green: We've got time for, I think, at least one more question from the students.

>> Rick Green: Stay with us. You're listening to At the Core with Walker Watman, Henry Queen.

>> Jeff Chamblee: At the Core podcasts are [email protected] now back to At the Core on American Family Radio.

Would it ever be a possibility for Canadian provinces to secede

>> Rick Green: Welcome back to Corps with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. Thank you. Thanks for staying with us. Today we're at the Patriot Academy campus.

>> Rick Green: We're talking to some of the students during their meal break and getting questions from them and just having a good time. So let's jump right back in where we left off. and, student was just about to ask a question.

>> Rick Green: Your question is.

>> Tim Barton: Thank you.

>> Speaker F: My name is Ella.

>> Speaker B: I'm from Washington State.

>> Speaker F: My question is, would it ever be a possibility for Canadian provinces to secede.

>> Rick Green: From Canada and join the U.S. a possibility, yes. Whether or not it would ever happen? Not likely. However, every time I've said that about any joke Donald Trump ever made, he then made it come about. So, with Trump saying some of the things that he said, I really started thinking about this and thinking, you know, actually, some of this could work. There's a whole lot of Canada. I would not want to be a part of the US because they're so liberal, but then there's big chunks of Canada. I would love to be a part of the US Because Tim and I want to go hunting up there.

>> Tim Barton: Correct.

>> Rick Green: And because it's just, you know, good people in there, and they are a lot like Americans. And let's not forget the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is based on our Declaration of Independence and our Bill of Rights. There's a lot of common foundations there. They've just veered really far left in the last couple of decades, which our nation's tried to do that, but. But we fortunately had a lot more freedom fighters that have kept it from going off the cliff, where they did in some cases. But they can absolutely be brought back to a good place in Canada. So, anyway, that's a really dancing answer to your question. It's a great question because Donald Trump has raised that and made people really think about it. And I thought it was a joke. I'm not so sure it's a joke. By the end of the three years, he may be like the, you know, Thomas Jefferson, LA purchase type and get us part of Canada.

>> Tim Barton: That'd be awesome. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if Greenland or Canada comes first.

>> Rick Green: Right.

>> Tim Barton: But at this point. Right. Trump has shocked us enough that it would not be shocking anymore going forward. Unlikely, but possible.

>> Rick Green: That's right. And that's how I asked the question was, is it possible? So thank you for your question.

Should government, especially local government, have any place in charity or rehabilitation?

Elijah, what's your question for Tim Barton?

>> Elijah: Hello, y'.

>> Rick Green: All.

>> Elijah: You were just standing in front of the candy tray. That's why I was ready.

>> Rick Green: Oh, you're just coming over here to get candy. Oh, we're in the.

>> Elijah: Elijah, I do have a question for you. So my question is, how should. Should government, especially local government, have any place in charity or rehabilitation organizations?

>> Rick Green: Okay, so proper role of government. Tim, we've been talking about this a lot. and of course, we give them the talk on timeless principles of liberty, limited government jurisdiction. So, really, Elijah's question is to that jurisdictional question, and he was very careful with how he worded it because it's so easy for us to always say, no, the federal government should not. But he said local government, and specifically to you said charity. And what was the other?

>> Elijah: Rehabilitation.

>> Rick Green: Rehabilitation. All right, what are your thoughts, Tim? Well, notice I punted to Tim and didn't give an opinion. I was.

>> Tim Barton: I was quickly going to say, Rick, this is a topic that you have covered many times. and so you get a back cleaned up. I'm the leadoff batter on this one. So the founding fathers are pretty clear on this position that one of the things the quote was attributed to Jefferson, repeated by Abraham Lincoln, that the government should only do for us, we cannot do for ourselves. And one of the unfortunate things in kind of modern American culture is we rely on the government to do so much more, that people are capable of doing themselves. And this is not to say that there is not a need for some of these areas, but this is what used to be recognized as the role of the church. I actually heard a pastor, just in the last week or two maybe, and he was talking about. It's interesting, before the 1900s, there was no counseling or psychology profession and industry.

>> Rick Green: Right.

>> Tim Barton: Like, this is a new idea. And it's interesting that the more that counseling psychology has grown, it's actually changed people's view, even of the church, because it used to be we didn't have some of these institutions. Why? Because you went to the church, the pastor is the one you got the counseling from. The pastor is the one that helped you in these situations. And the more we've shifted it to the government, the more secular we've made our nation. The founding fathers were super clear that our nation only works with a moral and religious people. So the more secular we become, the worse it is for our nation. And even if you go to the Bible answering this, even as a Christian perspective, there's over 200 verses in the Bible that talk about the poor and the needy. And the only thing the Bible ever tells the government about the poor and needy is do not show favoritism on their behalf or against them. Give them justice in your courts. That's it. That's all the Bible says. So according to the Bible, the role of government is to give blind justice and not show favoritism. And according to the Constitution, the only role of the federal government is what the enumerated powers are, which does not go down to helping individuals. And even the idea from the Declaration that the role of government, their primary purpose is to protect our inalienable rights. Well, if that's the primary role of government, I don't see the connection where protecting our inalienable rights means the government providing something on a monetary level for us.

>> Rick Green: Yeah. And, now you channeled Reagan earlier. I thought for sure in your answer you were going to say Ronald Reagan's favorite book other than the Bible was that printer of Udell. It had this huge influence on him when he was young. And it was all about exactly what Tim just said, how when the church receded and was not taking care of people, government moved into that space and did a terrible job at it, has never been good at it, can only write a check, cannot actually meet the need or help and actually be a helping hand. And so, we actually did a book at Wall Builders. I don't know what was it 15 years ago that talked about the study where when you do things through government about to help the poor, for instance, when you talk about charity like that, or even rehabilitation, it's about 30% that gets to the person in need. But when you do it through the church or through a private organization, it's 60%. So it's twice as effective to do it God's way through the individual or private organization. And man, we used to talk about the prison ministries and all of the different church run organizations that took care of that rehabilitation and how much more effective it was. So, so really long answer to your question, but absolutely the local government does not do it as well, but the church has to step in. You need a Safety net. I'm not against a safety net in the culture, in the society, but it's the church's fault for stepping away and not doing those things. That's the reason government ended up getting so involved. I forgot to tell everybody. Tell, us your name and where you're from. So, Elijah, where you're from.

>> Elijah: My name is Elijah Penn. I am from Tampa in the great state of Florida.

>> Rick Green: We have way too many Floridians here, Tim. I, think we should require them not to, to be able to answer any more questions. All right.

>> Tim Barton: If we would do a better job in Texas, we wouldn't be insecure about Florida. Right.

>> Rick Green: It's so true. I know the Floridians in the river are gonna like that. Yes, yes. All right. Same thing, Wyatt, where you're from, and then ask your question.

>> Speaker F: Absolutely. My name is Wyatt Jeffries. I'm from the greatest state in the union. Texas.

>> Tim Barton: Yes.

>> Rick Green: There we go.

>> Speaker F: And it's going to be. It's a great thing to be able to speak, speak with the two of y'.

>> Rick Green: All.

Y'alls opinion on income taxes versus tariffs, excisements

>> Speaker F: I do have a question, with a lot of the economic, situation that's going on in the media and the younger generation having trouble being able to buy us, and some of the things that have come up is the idea of changing how we're getting our taxes. Tariffs have come up a lot lately, so I'd like to get Yalls opinion on income taxes versus tariffs, excisements, and the more, old school way of, gaining income.

>> Rick Green: Good question, man. Don't you love, Tim that we've got. How old are you, Wyatt? So he's 24 years old. And I love the fact that they're thinking about, look, I want to provide for my family. I want to be able to do well. And I know government's taking this chunk. We're big fans of the transaction tax. Rather than being taxed for what you own, you know, property tax punishes you for you're owning your own piece of Texas. And if you improve your piece of Texas, they're going to punish you for improving and make you pay more, whereas a tariff or a sales tax is at that transaction. And I will say we, you know, Tim and David and I had a lot of questions on Trump's tariffs, and we even said, you know, we're going to have to see what this ultimately does. But certainly the founding fathers weren't opposed to tariffs, and they were more for a transaction tax or an excise tax than for a property tax as well. And I actually said, you know, when he first started doing the tariffs, I was like, okay, probably gonna take a year before we really know whether or not they're gonna work. I had no idea I'd be telling you two months after he did it, wow, look at how many countries have capitulated and given in and stopped doing the tariffs against us or reduce them. Look at how. How well it's working to bring in money and how it has not ended up hurting our economy like everybody thought that it would. So it's been really interesting just to look at the results specifically on Trump's tariffs. But in a short answer to your question, I'm always in favor of a transaction tax rather than taxing your ownership of property, because then you only pay it when you choose to buy, right? So you can factor it into your buying decision.

>> Rick Green: in that case, Tim, just one.

>> Tim Barton: Thought to add to it. the story where Jesus is asked about taxes, and he ultimately tells Peter, right, go down, catch a fish, pull the corn out of its mouth, pay our taxes. But it's interesting the way it's phrased in Matthew 17, just, verse 25, easy example. he said, yes. And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, what do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes? From their sons or from strangers? And Peter answered and replied, from strangers. Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. He said, nevertheless, lest we offend them, go catch a coin fish out of its mouth, or go catch a fish. Not catch a coin, catch a fish, take the coin out of his mouth. But it's interesting. Jesus raises this rhetorical question as if the answer is obvious, but he says, well, who do the kings tax? Their sons are the foreigners. But the reason it matters is because so many of us were like, well, that's a crazy concept that we're going to tax goods coming in. No, it's literally the question Jesus asked rhetorically because it was so obvious, well, what do kings do? We don't tax our own. We tax the people that are bringing in goods to sell to us. And I'm not saying this to give a blanket for all tariffs. And maybe there's not some strategy or some wisdom in different versions of tariffs and how that goes, goes. But it's things like this, I think, a lot of times, too, as we even navigate our economic positions, the Bible gives far more insight in a lot of areas than we give it credit for. And even the Bible doesn't seem to indicate a negative view of tariffs. And we've talked about a lot, too, on our program before, Rick, where it depends on what Trump does with the tariffs. if this is going to be a forever tariff, that might be a problem, big picture, long term. But what he's done far more is use them as a negotiating tactic and strategy to help bring prices. Prices down. And why, with all this being said, it is a very real, valid concern. What we've seen with inflation, what we've seen with housing markets and interest rates, when I bought a house 15 years ago, I sold it for three times what I bought it for 10 years later. Like, it's stupid. And I get how ridiculous it is, but I do think what President Trump is doing will have positive effect in long term. I think part of what his strategy is, is also limited by what he can get through Congress because he. He can do some things, but he's very, very limited without having a congressional, legislative action done. But I do think what he is doing now is definitely benefiting America.

Were you speaker of, uh, Florida? How'd you pull that off

>> Rick Green: All right, we're gonna take a quick break. Our next question. I can already tell it's, like a Texas versus Florida thing the whole time because the next person in line is a Floridian. So we'll see what the. We'll do what?

>> Speaker B: I'm a Missourian.

>> Rick Green: Oh, wait. Were you speaker of, Florida? How'd you pull that off?

>> Speaker B: Well, because my boyfriend.

>> Rick Green: Oh, via the boyfriend. She was speaker of Florida. I didn't. How did I miss that? Okay, so good. No more Florida, though. She was Governor of Florida the year before. No, Governor. Yeah, two years ago. And speaker this year. Okay, quick break. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.

Wallbuilder Shekinah Lentz is from southwest Missouri

Welcome back to the Wallbuilder Show. Thanks for staying with us. We are at the Patriot Academy campus for the biggest national leadership Congress ever. And the students are right here in the room with us. Hey, guys. Thank y' all for joining us. And Governor slash Speaker, I am so sorry for insulting you by saying you're from Florida, because you're actually from Missouri, so. I know I knew I'd get a boo out of that from the Floridians. Okay, so show me state. What's your question?

>> Speaker B: Hi. So my name is Shekinah Lentz, and I am from, southwest Missouri. I wish I was from Florida. And so, anyways, first of all, I'm so grateful to you both and wall builders. I remember my dad showing me wall builders when I was, like, 13 or 14, and I was so inspired that I read two treatises of government. And I remember I didn't understand half of it, but I just. I remember, like, we had these in depth conversations, and it was amazing. And you guys are so inspiring. So anyways, by the way, before.

>> Rick Green: You ask your question, ask your question. Remind me when we get back out on the house floor. Tim and David gave me a 1764 version of two trees of government, and I actually have it here with me, so I'll show it to you.

>> Speaker B: Okay. That's so cool.

>> Rick Green: my goal is to find students that are excited about seeing a book. That's 300.

>> Speaker B: Okay.

My question is Locke versus Burke. Who wins? What do you think?

And my question to you is Locke versus Burke. Who wins?

>> Rick Green: Oh, my goodness. Well, I don't know if you can both. Great influence.

>> Rick Green: I don't know.

>> Rick Green: What do you think? I mean, Locke's probably more biblical, and, you know, Burke would maybe be more libertarian, so. Yeah, probably Locke.

>> Tim Barton: And, you know, when the study was done by the professors from, University of Houston. Donald, let's love that study. back in the 1980s, you're measuring.

>> Rick Green: It in terms of who had more influence, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead.

>> Tim Barton: Yeah. So the book Origins of American Constitutionalism, there's a group of professors that went, back to review who had the greatest influence. John Locke was the most cited individual in the American Revolution period. some of the ideas of inalienable rights. Locke is the one, really, that gets a lot of credit. Now, Blackstone did, too, because the laws of nature. Nature is God, and he talked about inable rights as well in his commentaries on the laws of England. But, John Locke, I would say, is probably more foundational for America than Burke just by that influence on the Founding Fathers.

>> Rick Green: Yeah, yeah. Good answer, and great question, Shekinah. Thank you.

Sam Barnett: How much involvement should the government have in the economy?

All right, who's up next? We got five minutes, so we'll try to get in two more questions if we can.

>> Tim Barton: So my name is Sam Barnett. I'm from the Panhandle of Texas, and I have another economic question for you. So how much involvement should the government have in the economy and. Or the free market, with a specific emphasis on the use of federal subsidies for businesses?

>> Rick Green: Oh, boy. Well, we're kind of laissez faire around here. I mean, we want the government out of the way. You know, Tim's family. So the Bartons and the Greens are both entrepreneurial families, have had a lot of businesses in our background. We want government out of the way and let the market decide. At least that would be my answer, especially the federal government. Get them out of the way. And Jefferson, of course, said, you're going to be the most thriving when you're left the most free to make your own decisions. Leave the free market to make those decisions, Tim.

>> Tim Barton: Yeah, and I would say the only, the only addition. And Rick, obviously, if you disagree or have different thoughts, I, would add to that is I am not opposed to tax incentives, but tax incentives based on what you have produced. because if you are producing more, you're bringing more into the state, you're creating more jobs, and so then giving a tax incentive. But it's very different from the current tax structure we have today. So I would say if we reverse some of the tax structure, it would make more sense from a government standpoint, but that would be legislative action, more than anything else. And so that would be leaders representing the people. But certainly, I would think, changing some of the tax code, where biblically speaking, whether you look at the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the parable of the minus in Luke 19, Right. The ones who are the most productive were rewarded with more. Why? Because you're doing the most. And anybody that's productive and is creating, they're not like doing a Scrooge McDuck, having this big, you know, pile of gold coins they're swimming in. No, they're reinvesting that in the market. They're doing startups. And so they're doing things that make sense, that they should have some tax incentives based on what they are producing and how they are helping individuals. and so I think even from a biblical standpoint, there's a lot of support for changing that tax structure, for sure. But other than changing the tax structure, Rick, I'm with you. The laissez faire makes sense. Yeah.

>> Rick Green: And I'll, always think of something else when Tim starts talking. Two things real quick. One would be because you mentioned the mine is part of the problem with doing the subsidies or any involvement for the federal government is they start picking winners and losers and then they start micromanaging the relationship. I love the parable where, I mean, Jesus is basically saying, it's my money, and if I want to pay this person this amount and this other person this amount, and they agree to that, that everybody else should just get out of the way. It bugs me to know in that the Department of Labor at the federal level or our state departments of labor get, get involved in, in the relationship. If you, if you want to hire me and I'm willing to come for $100 an hour or $10 an hour that's between us and government should not be involved in that. And then the other thing is just a Milton Friedman quote. He talks about those subsidies as being friction in the market because then it, it basically manipulates or you know, confuses what the market really wants because now you got some politicians saying and you know, instead of the free market what he would say is instead of the free market telling us what people want, this is the government telling us what people should want and that's never a better outcome.

Walker Wildman and Rick Green discuss Patriot academy at the Core

Patriots, thank you all so much for being here. All right, folks, we are out of time for today. Thanks so much for listening to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. If you want to learn more about the Leadership Congresses and Patriot academy, go.

>> Jeff Chamblee: To patriotacademy.com the views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.