In this episode of the Kim Monson Show, dive into the intricacies of freedom versus force as Kim is joined by liberty advocate Marshall Dawson. The pair explore pressing political topics and the profound notion of God-given rights amidst the backdrop of current legislative issues at the statehouse. With postmodernism on the rise, the need to reclaim foundational principles of liberty becomes ever more critical.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 05 :
I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas, and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
SPEAKER 01 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
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With what is happening down at the Statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation, and it’s not.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 05 :
I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation. And welcome to the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Thursday, Producer Joe. Happy Thursday, Kim. And in studio with me is my good friend, Marshall Dawson. He is a fellow Liberty Toastmaster. He is the president of Liberty Toastmaster Denver. Great to have you here.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, happy Thursday, Kim. I’m really looking forward to this. I always think it’s a great experience.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and I’m going to be traveling here in a couple of weeks. And you’re going to be, well, actually, I’m going to be traveling today and then again in a couple of weeks. And you are going to, you’re going to handle this microphone for me. Okay.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s going to be fun. I haven’t actually hosted a radio show in quite some time. A couple of decades now.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, dust it off. And so you’re going to be ready. So we’re working on preparing all that. So it’s great to have you here. We will talk with our fellow Liberty Toastmasters in segments three and four to get their perspective on the profound concept of God-given rights. And I’m excited about that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, I think it’ll be good. You know, one of the things that we do in Toastmasters is learn how to communicate, and we do that with oral communication, right? This is an opportunity for us to explore, right, and pursue what truths are. So I think that having our fellow Toastmasters call in and give us their thoughts, we’re going to get a little bit closer to the truth.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think so, and we’re in such a time in America right now where postmodernism, relativism, we’re seeing that that is playing out right now, and it plays out into chaos and destruction. And I think that… There are those that realize that there is evil things that happen in this world. And so these foundational principles, there are foundational principles, and we need to reclaim them. We need to articulate them to other people. And so this is going to be a really great conversation.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, and you mentioned the post-modernism thinking. Some of us have been kind of in touch with that and what’s been going on, but boy, it has really become obvious to, I think, so many more people here just lately.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, with the Charlie Kirk murder. That has really stopped a lot of people in their tracks. And so I’m excited where we are positioned. We have been searching, as you know, we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through this lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Socialism is not about free stuff. The free stuff is just to get people to vote for it. We’re going to be looking at something on this particular ballot in November, and that is free lunches or healthy lunches for kids. Who defines healthy lunches? But it’s also going to be funded, and it has been funded by a progressive income tax, which is not fair because that means people are taxed differently. And that is a basis of Marxism. It’s a human nature ploy. To say, oh, somebody can get something for free by taxing somebody else. And it’s a real character issue regarding this Proposition MM that’s going to be on the ballot.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, and I think one of the challenges that we have is that there are people who think that we are doing good. You know, people who have money that say, you know what, I’m more than happy to give up some of my money in order to help out those who are less fortunate. But they’re coming at it from the wrong direction. Not to mention the fact that, you know, somebody that would be the government is having to kind of point a gun at the face of other people and take their money for that cause. And as you say, it’s just not fair.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and that’s force. And government, that’s not their proper role to be in charity, to take things via force. And bear in mind, if government is putting in a government program, there is a lot of people that have their hands in the pot before the money gets to the place where You better believe it. Yeah, where they say that it’s going to help. So instead, charity should be not forced. In fact, it should be if you are paying lower taxes, you’ll have more money in your pocket, and then you can make your choice which charities that you give to. If those charities are not doing the job that you are giving them money to do so, then you don’t give them money and they go out of business. Mm-hmm. But government charities, that’s not the way to do it. And I want to mention to all of you, I’m going to be working on our voter’s guide. And for sure, we will be addressing the two statewide issues, Proposition LL and Proposition MM. And we’ll be… I don’t mean to laugh. The vibrant Denver, $950 million. They didn’t even know what they were going to spend it on. They had to do work studies to figure out what they’re going to spend the money on. So we’ll definitely take positions on that. But if you want me to take a look at something in your community, and I need your help, Call your local jurisdictions, your city or your town, also your county, your school districts, to see if they’re going to have issues on your ballot. And if you will text me at 720-605-0647, we will include that in our voter’s guide because it’s a monumental task to figure out what’s going to be on each of these local jurisdictions. Marshall Dawson.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, I’m looking forward to the voter’s guide. I always do. You put out one of the best that I’ve seen. And quite frankly, I don’t even know what we have going on up in Longmont or in the greater Boulder County. I’ve been kind of out of touch with that here lately.
SPEAKER 05 :
So you have some homework.
SPEAKER 17 :
Dang it, Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s no free lunch, Marshall. So let’s get into a couple of things here. Our word of the day is emulate. And thank you, Charisse, for submitting that. And again, you can text me 720-605-0647 if you have a word of the day or a quote of the day that you would like. Emulate is E-M-U-L-A-T-E. And it could be to imitate in an effort to equal or surpass. Number two, to rival with some degree of success. Number three, to imitate the functions of another computer system by means of software. And, Marshall, I have a bunch of old dictionaries. And when a time will allow, I’m always trying to go to that written dictionary to get the definition. So that’s what I did. It was, I think, the Random House College Edition from, like, the 1990s. But I would really recommend that you have some old dictionaries around the house because things can change on the Internet.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, certainly. And change without you really seeing what just happened. You know, my brain kind of went off the rails there as soon as you started talking about computer systems. I’ve been using emulators in my job for decades. a long, long time. Now we have computers that are powerful enough we can do simulations in addition to emulating.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. I never knew that, and I’ve never heard the word emulator. But to imitate an effort, I think many of us would like to emulate many of the things that Charlie Kirk was doing. He was having a conversation. But the other thing was, it’s not just conversation. He was so steeped in these principles of our country. And so we need to make sure that we can emulate that as well.
SPEAKER 17 :
You know, I was having a conversation about Charlie Kirk just the other day. It might have been with Brad. I can’t remember. Hey, Brad, how you doing? And I mentioned that The important thing about what Charlie was doing when he was having the conversations, you know, when he’d go on the campus and he would invite people up who disagreed with him, his target audience wasn’t necessarily that person at the microphone because they’re going to be extremely hard to convince of something. The target audience, when you’re speaking like that, are all the other people who are around, who are being silent and who are kind of listening and, you know, the gears are working inside of their head. Those are really the people that you can reach when you’re having those conversations. So we’re not trying to slam dunk on the people that we’re having a discussion with. We’re trying to talk about principles from a foundational point of view and speak to that wider audience who isn’t necessarily making any noise.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that is an excellent point. And I think that’s a good segue to our quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in 1803, died in 1882. He was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet. And he was seen as the champion of individualism and critical thinking. And he said this, when the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first. when they are doing something different than what they’re saying. And that’s a great segue into our next guest, who is Karen Gorday. She is an entrepreneur. She is the owner of Radiant Painting and Lighting. She is running for Lakewood City Council. And I think one of the reasons is because what she was seeing and what they were saying were two different things. Karen Gorday, welcome to the show. Thank you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good morning, Kim. Thank you. And that’s absolutely correct.
SPEAKER 05 :
And what is amazing is you decided to do something about it. First of all is you familiarized yourself with what they were proposing. And I think it was Madison said that when the laws become so voluminous, That we can’t read them, can’t understand them. It doesn’t matter if we have actually elected those people. We need to understand what’s going on. So you dove into it to understand what’s going on in Lakewood regarding zoning and also let’s talk about that first, Karen, and your run for Lakewood City Council. And then I want to talk a little bit about your business as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. Yes, so you’re right. I dove in, understood it. The proposed zoning prior to Lakewood split it up over four meetings with a whopping 398 pages. So, yes, so the average citizen is not going to look at a 400-page document and try to even understand a topic like zoning, right? But You know, it was just taking it, looking at it, and realizing this is not good for the existing residents. And as you know, we talked last week, there’s going to be a citizen’s referendum. The referendum, there’s so… It’s interesting, Tim, because there was a bill passed last year that changed the citizen initiative process. And I think the way they said it is just to make it easier on citizens and to petition the government. But let me just tell you, in talking to the two co-petitioners, Nothing made it easier. It is absolutely more complicated than it was previously.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I think that’s by design, Karen. By design.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 09 :
And the co-petitioners have been going back and forth with the city of Lakewood for over a week. That is by design as well, because they need to have 3,500 signatures by October 1st. 27th i believe 27th or 28th and they don’t have an approved petition and until that petition is approved it cannot be circulated so that that’s another strategy is to compress the time for people for citizens to get signatures exactly exactly and the problem is when they split the zoning into four ordinances um The first one is 278 pages plus the petition. And the city came back and said, well, it has to be stapled. Well, that is absolutely impossible because it’s almost 300 pages when you add the petition to it. And the co-petitioners are super smart people and said, well, what if we spiral bound it? Well, it took them two days to get approval on spiral bounding the petition. It’s just absolutely unbelievable what they’ve gone through. As of late yesterday, there was one minor change that has been submitted. So hopefully they will have approval today and they can get those petitions out before this weekend.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, thank you for, first of all, doing your civic duty and stepping up to run for Lakewood City Council. How can people get information about your campaign? What’s your website?
SPEAKER 09 :
You can go to www.karen4lakewood.com for It’s Felt Out. And to your listeners, because most people that want to get involved in Lakewood have stepped up to help with the Citizens Initiative. What I really, really need for my campaign, besides money, because I’m running against the Dems, is people to put flyers on doors the weekend of October 4th and October 11th. Because I don’t know that the folks I had lined up in Lakewood could help because they need to get these petitions signed. So that’s my ask for my campaign.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Then over here on your business, I can’t believe that we’re just about to October. And so we’re probably getting near the end of exterior painting, correct? Correct.
SPEAKER 09 :
yes sorry a coffee um i saw him at that point with the cold when you start talking you start coughing yeah so this morning when i woke up it was 42 degrees so we’re getting close to the end of exterior season we probably have four or five more weeks so now is the time to get that exterior paint in um prior to winter And if you just can’t get it done before winter, the one thing I would suggest is walk around your house, look for any bare wood, move things away from near your foundation so you can see, you know, do you have bare wood on your side, on your trim? and at least get some primer on there to cover the bare wood prior to winter so that if we get a lot of snow, your wood’s not rotting over the winter and then get your house painted in the spring.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. And how can people reach you regarding radiant painting and lighting?
SPEAKER 09 :
www.paintwithradiant.com or give us a call at 720-940-3887.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, Karen Gorday, thank you so much. We’ll talk next week. Great. Thank you. And another great sponsor of the show is the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And they know life can be challenging, and it’s their team’s mission to maximize your financial security as you manage the risks of everyday life. So call Roger Mangan at 303-795-8855 for more information. Like a good neighbor, Roger Mangan’s team is there.
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SPEAKER 19 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out the website for the USMC Memorial Foundation and support them. It is a great way to say thank you, to honor those that have given their lives or been willing to give their lives for our freedom. That website is usmcmemorialfoundation.org, usmcmemorialfoundation.org. On the line with me is my fellow board member at CUT, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, Steve Dorman. Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, good morning, Kim Monson. How are you today?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m good. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 14 :
Very well. Thank you, Mike. Good to be with you and your vast audience.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it’s good to have you as well. And first of all, we want to say thank you. We’ve got an amazing board, Steve Dorman, and I always like to say thank you. And thank you to you, Greg Golianski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Wendy Warner. Marty Nielsen, Ramey Johnson, Mary Jansen, Dave Evans, Corey Onizorg, Paula Beard, and Ray Beard. They remind me, when we’re together at our board meetings, it reminds me of what I think the founders were conversing about, is these important ideas about freedom and force and taxes. And it’s an amazing group of people, Steve Dorman.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, it is, and I’ve been fortunate to have been with CUT for several years now. We’ve grown our numbers, and we’re always looking to add people who maybe cannot join us at board meetings but are able to help with a small financial contribution each year, $25 a year, and you become a civic-minded, engaged person, and you can emulate Kim Monson in civic activism.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well done on word of the day, Steve Gorman. And our ratings report is at the printers, and we’re working through the proofing on that. It is a monumental effort. And again, all volunteers. But we watch out for the taxpayers, first of all. That’s everybody. Protecting Tabor, Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights, property rights, and parental rights school choice. Those are the things that we look at. And we took positions on over… 273 pieces of legislation this last legislative session. So join us, support us, become a civic-minded individual and know what’s going on. Let’s talk a little bit about the two statewide propositions that are going to be on the ballot, Proposition LL and Proposition MM. And they’re both related to, and I have this in air quotes, healthy school meals for children. They’ve got a title in there. Everybody wants our children to have healthy meals. Right, Steve?
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly right. The one thing that if you look at the state of Colorado and where we are today financially, it’s not good. And how did we get there? We got there because our families. Legislature has an insatiable desire for more and more money. I have an anecdote that goes back several years. I was at a breakfast meeting and our speaker was the chief operating officer of the Jeffco Public Schools. And so after breakfast, I had the opportunity to just engage this gentleman for a few minutes and I asked him, how much money do you need? And he thought he was being clever. he smiled back at me and said more that was his answer how much do you need more and it’s always more and here we are with proposition ll and mm for more of your tax money that’s where we are so Go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I was going to say, though, what they have done, though, is they have couched it to soak the rich. So anybody making more than $300,000 is who’s going to be taxed for that. And they do that by design because people say, well, yeah, let’s go ahead and let the rich people pay for that. But ultimately what happens is when they need more is then they’re going to be coming back to everybody else at some point. to put their hands into your pocket. And so we just can’t fall for this, Steve.
SPEAKER 14 :
No, we can’t. It’s an expansion of government. And every time you expand government, you add more government employees, which is a voting block in and of itself. The more government employees there are, Those are people who are always going to vote for more and more government. So if you’d like, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of LL and MM. Okay. Yeah, let’s do it. The background goes back a couple of years when voters approved FF, which FF, we had always provided school lunches for students. parents whose kids uh for kids whose parents may have had financial difficulty meeting that obligation so ff just expanded it and said hey let’s just buy free lunch for everybody and it cost a hundred million seven hundred thousand dollars that was what we approved in ff well lo and behold we collected 12 million dollars over that and ll says Can we just keep that? We’d kind of like to have that. And so the voters are being asked, can we keep $12 million of your money that we overcollected? Just a side note, since Tabor was enacted in 92, the voters have been presented 40 opportunities to increase taxes. We rejected it 65% of the time. We are just fed up with taxes. The legislators, they don’t want to live within our means.
SPEAKER 05 :
They just want more.
SPEAKER 14 :
More. How much do you need?
SPEAKER 05 :
More.
SPEAKER 14 :
And more and more. So in addition to keeping that money, they want to expand. FF, from two years ago, created four new bureaucracies. one of which distributes grant money to selected and chosen NGOs, and it also authorizes the state to solicit gifts, grants, and donations. Who could be opposed to gifts? Who’s opposed to donations? Well, they go into a fund that nobody is accountable to. It’s just…
SPEAKER 05 :
So an interested parties that are wanting to push an agenda can now have the force of government and they can put their money into it. And if it’s an NGO, they may be getting a tax write-off over there. So it is a web, if you will, Steve Dorman.
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly right, Kim. gifts, grants, and donations, it’s like a lot of euphemisms that they come up with that just really sound great. You mentioned a moment ago how great it sounds, healthy lunches. Who’s opposed to healthy lunches? There is no limit. They just want more. They’ll couch it in any terms they have to. to trick voters into thinking they’re doing something good, when in fact they’re just… Really funding government. Yeah, you know, death by a thousand pinpricks.
SPEAKER 05 :
And then MM is just expanding the program.
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly right. Right. So the two are companion bills. They were both hoisted upon us by House Bill… 1274 from this past year’s session.
SPEAKER 05 :
So Steve Dorman, our board, several people have stepped up to the plate. And if you have an organization out there that you would like one of the Text me. You can text through the – there’s a text number on our website at coloradotaxpayer.org. Or you can text me at my text line, 720-605-0647. But text me, and we will get a speaker scheduled for you, for your organization. And it’s hard to believe, Steve, but the election is just right around the corner.
SPEAKER 14 :
Our campus does fugit. Time flies.
SPEAKER 05 :
It does. So, Steve Dorman, as always, thank you. It’s an honor to get to serve on the board with you. You are such a valued member of the board, and your perspective is so important. Thank you.
SPEAKER 14 :
Kim, we’re very lucky to have you as our leader. Thank you for what you do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, that’s Steve Dorman with CUT, Colorado Union of Taxpayers. Join us at coloradotaxpayer.org. We have these discussions because of our sponsors. And if you’re going to buy a home or sell a home or look at a new build, reach out to Karen Levine.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 24 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. I wanted to say thank you to the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show. They’ve been sponsors for a long time. We had Susan Harris on the other day. Love getting her perspective on everything. And also, are you ready for financial freedom? Well, call our friends at Mint Financial Strategies. As an independent firm and an accredited investment fiduciary, they always put your interests first. Mint means more than money. It stands for meaningful relationship, information sharing, a network of smart strategies, and a thoughtful advisor who puts you in control. No cookie cutter plans. Everything is tailored for you. So call them today. That number is 303-285-3080. 303-285-3080. And Marshall Dawson, fasten our seatbelts. It’s good to have you here. You are the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver, and we’ve got Table Topics today.
SPEAKER 17 :
I am present. It’s really an honor to do that. Why don’t we explain what Table Topics is just very briefly. In any Toastmasters meeting, any club that you go to, you’ll find three distinct parts of that meeting. The first are prepared speeches. These are where people come in. They’ve been at home working on those speeches, and they’re going to communicate that. There’s an evaluation portion of the meeting. But there’s also what we call table topics. This is where you have one to two minutes to receive a topic. Maybe it’s a question. And it’s practice speaking extemporaneously, practice speaking off the cuff. That’s essentially what we’re doing here. And each of our colleagues here are going to be speaking for about two to three minutes. on a topic. Okay. And that topic today, as you mentioned earlier, is the profound concept of God-given rights. And first up, right out of the gate, is one of our Liberty Toastmasters in Denver, one of the members there, and that’s Rick Rome. Good morning, Rick.
SPEAKER 16 :
Good morning, Marshall, and thank you for that generous introduction. I don’t know how generous I should be in terms of my speaking skills. But, you know, we’re talking about this notion of the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, those God-given rights. And in my mind, it’s really evolved as I’ve developed my thoughts through this process of speaking that that’s almost like a public policy holy trinity. Every good policy that comes out of government is focused on this notion of protecting life, promoting liberty, and that pursuit of happiness. If it’s doing all three, it’s good policy. We see a lot of examples where it’s only focused on one. Gun laws is a great example where the argument is, hey, if it saves one life, it’s worth doing everything. And they consistently forget about the fact that these gun-free zones make people targets. It takes away the capacity for people to make decisions about protecting themselves. And honestly, it becomes almost like a one-legged stool. I mean, you don’t see people assaulting a gun show. You see people assaulting churches. You see people assaulting schools going after soft targets. The problem with sitting on a one-legged stool, invariably you end up with a stick in that place that you would normally use to sit. Planned Parenthood’s another great example. The whole argument is predicated on this notion that a woman’s right to choose. It’s my personal liberty. It’s my body, my choice. It ignores the fact that it involves the taking of another life. And I have to be honest with you. Every woman I’ve ever talked to who’s gone through that process, they never speak about it in a happy tone. It is always with remorse. It is always with regret. It is always in the context of I did what I felt like I had to do at the time. Another example of a one-legged stool. And let’s also keep in mind that Planned Parenthood was hailed and revered by Adolf Hitler at its founding as one of those great programs in eugenics that would help to control less desirable populations. On a final note, when I was looking for the pursuit of happiness, I struggled, and I am still struggling, with an example where the left has promoted the pursuit of happiness as a primary objective in legislation that they’re pushing. It’s actually a little bit disturbing when I stop to think about it that you cannot find this culture of death that’s coming from the Democrat Party as it’s evolved to promote happiness amongst its citizenry. It’s all about domination. You know, when we talk about great policy, though, We’re talking about equal justice under the law. We’re talking about truly that idea where life is valued at every stage of life and it should be protected, preserved. It should involve accountability, which is that liberty where we are obligated to take on that responsibility for our own self-preservation and our own happiness and take on that happiness role and truly find joy in a society that lets us be free.
SPEAKER 05 :
Rick, well done. Thank you. That’s Rick Rome, Liberty Toastmasters Denver.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thanks, Rick. Thanks, Bill. Yep, and next up, Kim, is another one of our members in Denver, and that’s Fred Clifford. I’ve been missing Fred for a while. I’ve been away from a couple of meetings. Hey, good morning, Fred.
SPEAKER 15 :
Good morning, Marshall, and good morning, Kim. I’m glad to be with you. I’m really glad that we have God-given rights, and I’m really glad that we have a Constitution that recognizes those rights. And my main point today is that if you lived in a country like Cambodia or Australia where they didn’t recognize those rights, you would still have them. So one of those rights mentioned in the Declaration of Independence is liberty. And I want to talk about the three levels of freedom in the Gospel of John, Chapter 8. jesus told told the the people that believed on him he said if you continue my word you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free the first level of freedom i see here is the idea of being a disciple there’s different types of disciples There’s different types of discipline. You could have a discipline in math or history or losing weight or an exercise program or sticking to a budget. I think many people know that self-discipline is a big key to freedom. Self-discipline is the first level. The next verse, he says, if you continue in my word, you’re my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This is a higher level of freedom. My dietary discipline or my financial discipline are profitable in some categories, but in Timothy it says that godliness is profitable unto all things. Wow, that’s much better than excelling in a particular sport or having a doctorate level of expertise. The discipline of continuing in his word is important. is a key to godliness, which is profitable in every way. And then a little bit further down it says, if the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you should be free indeed. Now, no amount of self-discipline will make me free indeed the way Jesus Christ makes me free indeed. No matter how much I try to be self-disciplined, I just don’t get there. And I know without a doubt that I needed a Savior. So that’s a higher level of freedom. If you don’t think you need a savior, you haven’t figured it out yet. And this also reminds me of Benjamin Franklin. He listed the virtues he wanted, and he tried to keep track of his progress, and he knew he improved in some areas, but in other areas he just simply concluded that he was incorrigible. No matter what I feel like or what it looks like, I know that I’m not incorrigible because Philippians says that I can’t do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So that’s a third level of freedom there, and that’s the best level. And that we have no matter what government we’re under.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well done, Fred. Thank you so much. That’s Fred Clifford with Liberty Toastmasters Denver.
SPEAKER 17 :
That was Fred. And next up on our list is Greg Morrissey. Greg is one of our members in Longmont. Hey, good morning, Greg.
SPEAKER 12 :
Good morning, Marshall. How are you doing this morning?
SPEAKER 17 :
I’m doing well. It’s going to be a beautiful morning.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yes, it is. It’s always a beautiful morning. This is a great topic to talk about. And the person who was just speaking before me covered a lot of stuff I wanted to say. the reason they came over to this country was to have that god-given right and for you to grow and be the best that you can be and not be under some some kind of weird control system where they think you should be this you think you should be doing that here you have the freedom to get up get out be an example for jesus christ and god’s kingdom and do the best you can be people look around you they want to see They have, unfortunately, gone through the press and everything. They have this, how the press is turning their view away from it. People like to turn their view back to it, back to what the Constitution, the Bill of Rights was all about, was that the reason America got so big as it did. And you look at the, there’s a book I just finished reading about this lady who was in China and what she went through and what she came to the U.S. and what she achieved. I think that should be a great read for everyone. and understand why this should be kept one nation under God. Keep that freedom. Don’t sit back and do anything. Get off your butt and do your best. Preserve it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Greg Morrissey, I love your commentary. Awesome. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 12 :
You’re welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER 17 :
An American by choice, as you like to say, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, Greg’s great. All right, another member out of Longmont. Actually, the president of our club in Longmont is Kathy Russell. Hi, Kathy.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, Marshall. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 17 :
I’m doing well.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good morning. Good morning. Hey, Kim. Yeah, I love this topic because it relates to the pursuit of happiness and happiness As some of the Toastmasters know, I am a scientist, and so I see everything through science. And one idea is this idea of dopamine that you’ve probably heard in the popular media that the pursuit of happiness in some ways is the pursuit of dopamine. And dopamine is what makes us feel good when we achieve a goal. But dopamine has another thing, and this relates back to the pursuit of happiness and why it’s so important for our country, in that it creates knowledge. When you get something that’s better than you expected, it creates a new neural pathway. And what it’s really doing is helping you learn. And it’s helping you. And then as people learn, they become better creators. And this, to me, is an unexpected, unintended consequence of the pursuit of happiness in that it has helped make our country one of the smartest, wisest, and, importantly, most creative countries. And I think it’s so interesting that, you know, we are created in the image of the creator and our invitation is to be fruitful. In other words, to create value for our fellow, for our neighbors, for our fellow humans. And so that’s my take on why the pursuit of happiness is just so absolutely essential. It doesn’t just feel good, but it helps us do good. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, Kathy Russell, I so appreciate your perspective on this. And you send something over regarding some of the things that you’re writing. And where can people find where you’re writing all these different articles?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, okay. Thank you. Yeah, I’m working on a book called Evolution’s Arc. And it’s about the story of creativity. So it’s just looking at using the latest science to look at how we evolved over time. And so you can find that at www.evolutionsarch.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
And then also your website for your essays and things that you’re writing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, then I have another… That’s a website related to all things freedom in Boulder, and that’s freeboulder.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
People need to check that out, freeboulder.com. Kathy Russell, thank you so much.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, thank you so much, Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we’re going to go to break. And when we come back, we’ll continue the discussions. We’ve got Christy Whaley on deck here. And all these discussions happen because of our sponsors. For Everything Mortgages, make sure you reach out to Lorne Levy.
SPEAKER 20 :
Hi, everyone. If you’d like to explore what a reverse mortgage can do for you, call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881. That’s 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 02 :
Call now. Haraldston Valley Coalition is hosting a candidate forum for the Arvada City Council candidates on September 29th at 6 p.m. at the Depot in the Village of Five Parks. Land use, traffic, density, and zoning have become a very important set of issues, and we will be asking the candidates about how they envision the future of Arvada’s growth and development. Please join us either in person or online by visiting RalstonValleyCoalition.org where you can reserve your free ticket or find the live stream link. Statewide, the City Council elections are on November 4th of 2025. Local elections matter and ordinary citizens can make a difference.
SPEAKER 22 :
All of 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 kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 21 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And a couple of things. I wanted to mention the Center for American Values located in Pueblo. And they are doing such amazing work regarding the foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And they’re doing that through their honoring of our Medal of Honor recipients with their… Portraits of Valor, which is really inspiring. But also they have educational programs, K-12. And then on values presentations, there will be another one in October. So check all that out by going to AmericanValuesCenter.org. That’s AmericanValuesCenter.org. And as you know, I’m an independent voice on an independent station. And because of all of your support, all of our sponsors, that’s how we get to have these conversations. And a great sponsor of the show is Hooters Restaurants. They have locations in Loveland, Westminster, and in Aurora. And great specials Monday through Friday for lunch and happy hour. And just really appreciate their sponsorship of the show. How I Got to Know Them is a classic regarding freedom and free markets and capitalism and those pesky PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties that are all about control. And you can find that story at my website. at kimmonson.com. Marshall Dawson is in studio. He is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver, and we’re doing table topics with our colleagues.
SPEAKER 17 :
We are doing table topics, and today’s topic is the profound concept of God-given rights. And to bring us home on this is going to be Christy Whaley. Christy is one of our Denver members. Good morning, Christy. What are your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Good morning. Well, my thoughts are And it’s hard coming after all those great people. I just read a book called Dopamine Nation, which would be fun to talk to Kathy about. But at any rate, I’ve come to think about our unalienable rights from God as blessings from God. Of course, the first one is life, and from that flows, with God’s blessing, the liberty to pursue our happiness. And if you have any questions about how you should go about that, he’s also provided the acronym as BIBLE. It stands for Basic Construction Before Leaving Earth. I’ve never heard that, Christy. You have or haven’t? Well, anyway, so this brings me to Charlie Kirk. I’m so glad we’re still talking about him and hope we’ll be talking about him for a long time. And one of the freedoms that he exercised brilliantly, eloquently, with clarity, and he was so effective, and that’s why he was such a threat, was the freedom of speech. And, of course, somebody had to decide that rather than converse with him they would risk the consequences of possibly the death penalty by taking him out. And if only I could emulate Charlie Kirk. If I could even become his equal, that would be something. He’s quite a role model for us all. And I know, you know, everyone knows he was a devout Christian. And I like to think that one of his favorite verses, which has to do with speaking, is my favorite verse. One of my favorite verses. And it’s Psalm 1914. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. Wow. And I think that’s about it. Christy, it’s so good to have you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a good day. Bye-bye. Thank you. So Marshall, this is a profound concept of God-given rights. What’s your thoughts about it?
SPEAKER 17 :
It is a profound concept. I wanted to reflect on some of the things that various members called in about. You know, Christy brought up inalienable rights. That’s a really special word that I like to kind of help define. You have to look at what that definition was back in the day when they wrote that. Alienable was considered anything that can be separated. It’s separable or it can be transferred. So an alienable right is something that can be separated from the human, from the person. Therefore, an unalienable right is something that cannot be separated. Think of alienable as, you know, I can delegate it, I can give you something. Unalienable, it doesn’t matter what you try to do, can’t be separated by the individual. It doesn’t matter what you try to do. That right is still going to be attached to that person. And Fred brought up a great point. He said it doesn’t matter what country you go in. It doesn’t matter what laws they have. You still have those rights. A government has the ability to deny rights, to usurp rights, to violate those rights. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have them, though. It is attached to your person. It is unalienable. And I also want to say this, you know, By recognizing these rights which come from God, this is a very new thing in history. It’s not something that governments have done across time. In fact, many governments have had long histories of violating rights. This is something, it’s a new concept that we brought in with our founding of recognizing individual rights, God-given rights, whatever you want to call it. By doing this, I think that it gives Americans a different mentality. It gives us a different ethos. And it allows us then to believe that we have the freedom to go and be successful and to be creators. Kathy mentioned the pursuit of happiness and being creators. I think it really makes us a more vibrant society by recognizing that we do have these God-given rights.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and these rights are really under attack at this particular point in time by these PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties that want to control our lives and take our money.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s right. And, by the way, can I take a risk at making some people’s ears bleed here? Okay. I know that we’re saying that today’s topic is about God-given rights. I heard a replay of Charlie Kirk being interviewed by Glenn Beck from 2020. And Charlie Kirk was talking about atheists at the time. And he had the term evangelical atheists, right? So this is somebody who wants you to know just how much that they don’t believe in God. As soon as I heard that, I thought, gosh, that kind of makes me a laissez-faire Christian. you know, to me it doesn’t matter what you believe, why you believe it. Just don’t put your beliefs on me. Don’t tell me that I’m not a good Christian because I don’t believe a certain thing. And so if we’re having these conversations with somebody else about God-given rights, What if we’re speaking with an atheist? Do I first have to beat them over the head and say, no, there is a God, and that’s why we have these rights? Or is it fine to say that our rights come from the mere fact that we are human? They come from our humanity. You know, Dr. Kranwitter has many good lectures. I’m sure you’ve heard a few about where our natural rights come from. And so, you know, in all candor, I don’t get wrapped around the axle. If somebody says, well, they’re natural rights because we are human or they come from God.
SPEAKER 05 :
Their life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER 17 :
Absolutely. And, you know, the thing here is they do not come from government.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s a key point. And there is a reason, though, here in the Declaration, it says that we are endowed by our Creator with certain and inalienable rights. And among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. That is the place that we can come to agree upon. Those are foundational principles. Marshall, are you going to be able to stay for the next hour?
SPEAKER 17 :
I’m sticking around.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Our quote for the end of the show is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said, Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams. 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. You are not alone, my friends. God bless you. God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two.
SPEAKER 25 :
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 01 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show. Analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 05 :
I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas, and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
SPEAKER 01 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 05 :
With what is happening down at the Statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation, and it’s not.
SPEAKER 01 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 05 :
I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
SPEAKER 01 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Indeed. Let’s have a conversation. Welcome to our number two of the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That’s producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda. and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Producer Joe, I know it’s always you need an extra hand when we have Liberty Toastmasters Table Topics Day, but you did well. Thank you. Thank you, Kim. It’s my pleasure. It’s fun to do sometimes. It is. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of moving parts. And speaking of Liberty Toastmasters, in studio with me is my friend Marshall Dawson. He is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. Great to have you, and thanks for staying for hour number two.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thanks, Kim. I’m looking forward to this and appreciate the opportunity of being here. In the first hour, we sort of ran out of time, but I did want to say where to find Toastmasters. You can go to toastmasters.org, and if you want to find a club, there’s a link for it. It’s called Find a Club.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s pretty convenient.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah. And, you know, you can search by geography. Look for Liberty Toastmasters. There’s one in Longmont and there’s one in Denver. The one in Longmont meets on the second and the fourth Saturday. So that will be this Saturday. We’d love to see you there. In Denver, we meet on the first and the third Saturdays. Both clubs meet at 10 a.m. And you can also send messages to the club and give us a heads up if you’re going to be there. But we’d love to have visitors.
SPEAKER 05 :
Liberty Toastmasters, co-founded by Brad Beck, and I’ve said to Brad that he really helped me, well, the founders of Liberty Toastmasters, to get my voice back. I had crashed and burned in front of about a thousand people, and I’d lost all my confidence. And Liberty Toastmasters has been monumental in helping me get my voice back. And It’s good for everyday life in just communicating with your friends and your family and your colleagues. But as we are engaged in this battle of ideas, we have a responsibility to be communicators in the spirit of Charlie Kirk and every person. really should add in Liberty Toastmasters into their repertoire. And what’s astonishing to me sometimes is people, good people, they want to run for office, but they haven’t really taken the time to hone their communication skills. And Liberty Toastmasters is very affordable, and it’s something that I would highly recommend.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, you raise a couple of good points. Toastmasters has a reputation for being known for helping you with oral communication, public speaking. And we get so many people who will say, well, you know, I don’t want to be a public speaker, so I have no need for Toastmasters. But it does help with so much more. It helps you with listening. It helps you with crafting your arguments that you’re going to make in a conversation. It can help you with leadership. So if you’re in a role where you’re a leader, maybe it’s in your church, in your job, it could be something in your community, you’re going to gain skills at Toastmasters that will help you excel in that arena.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And again, how can people find it?
SPEAKER 17 :
Toastmasters.org is the easiest way. And look for Find a Club. And it doesn’t matter where you’re listening to this from. I have family listening to this in Kentucky right now. We have Toastmasters Clubs in Kentucky, believe it or not. We actually know how to talk in Kentucky. Some people would say that we don’t. But punch in there, your location, Find a Club. Again, we have one in Denver, one in Longmont. So find one that’s close to you.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we’d love to have you. And we’d love to have guests as well. In the spirit of Toastmasters, always trying to grow, we always have a word of the day. So I thought, I’m going to incorporate that into the show. The word of the day today is emulate. And Christy did a great job. And if you didn’t hear our number one, that’ll rebroadcast today, 1 to 2 in the afternoon. But emulate is E-M-U-L-A-T-E. Thank you, Charisse, for your suggestion. And it could be to imitate in an effort to equal or surpass. Number two, to rival with some degree of success. Or number three, to imitate the functions of another computer system by means of software. And you are a computer engineer, right? Yes. Okay. And you said you’ve been working with emulators.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, that’s right. I guess I should clarify. The people now who work for me are the people who do the real work. Okay. Yeah, that’s right. We’ve been using emulators for a long, long time in the computer business.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, and I never realized that, so we learn something every day, which is important. Our quote of the day was from Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in 1803, died in 1882. He was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet. He said this, “‘When the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, “‘a practiced man relies on the language of the first.'” And that’s really important. Actions speak louder than words.
SPEAKER 17 :
I think we can relate that to Toastmasters as well, and I’ll drop it after this. But we also practice body language in Toastmasters. You can always sense something is just a little bit off if what the words that somebody is saying is different than what their body is conveying or what their eyes are conveying. We pick up so many cues from those subtle movements, more so than you would think, more than just the words that are coming out of somebody’s mouth. I love this quote for today, Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I thought it was a great one, and particularly when we’re talking about politics. Many times people say one thing, but they’re doing something different. On the line with us is Karen Levine. She is a wonderful friend. We’ve known each other for a long time. And she’s also an award-winning realtor with Remax Alliance. Karen Levine, welcome. Thank you. Good morning, Kim. And there is opportunity. Lauren Levy talked about the fall buying season in the market right now. So what’s going on?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I thought I would share that I have some great opportunities on the market right now and wanted to let your listeners know if they’re looking to invest in real estate or make a move up or a move down. I have a ranch… style home in anthem ranch, which is a 55 plus community up in broomfield and. It has a walkout basement and a three car garage and the anthem ranch community it’s just lovely for those who are looking to empty nest and. Take in the lovely fall weather. They have parks and a lodge, and it’s just a great community. And so I just wanted to let listeners know about that great property. And then I have what I would deem in Arvada an affordable single-family home. It’s four beds, two baths, with a one-car garage in Arvada. Sits on a large corner lot, and it’s priced at $530,000. So there’s a couple of fun things out there to consider. And then I think we talked about the affordable condominium I have in Aurora, which is a one bedroom, one bath, and it’s priced under 100. Really? I didn’t even think that was possible. Yeah. Well, it is. And it’s priced at ninety seven five and makes a great entry level investment property or a first time home buyer property for a single person or a couple. It’s really centrally located. So there’s some great opportunities out there and. it’s been a week of negotiations in my world. And I would tell the listeners that, yes, you can do real estate transactions on your own. But the journey we’ve been on this week, I would say without my professionalism and my experience, we wouldn’t have got the problem resolved. There were just a lot of idiosyncrasies and intricacies in this transaction and it was working out the things that were important for the seller and the things that were important for the buyer and bringing those together and when you get to that point that successful transaction for both parties i know that that’s really what your goal is karen levine how can people reach you They can reach me at 303-877-7516. Again, that’s Karen Levine, 303-877-7516. Karen, we will talk next week.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sounds great. Thank you. And she’s a great sponsor of both the Kim Monson Show and America’s Veterans Stories. Also wanted to say thank you to the Harris family for their sponsorship of the show. And then, Roger Mangin, if you missed it, go to my website and check out Monday’s broadcast. And it’ll be probably at about 5. Ten minutes into the first hour, Roger talked about some foundational principles of being successful in your business. And he is very successful. He’s been in business for 50 years, helping his clients and taking care of his family, giving back to the community. And so for anything with your insurance needs, give them a call. And if you’re not working with State Farm and Roger right now, they’ll have a complimentary appointment with you. That number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 13 :
It seems like we are getting squeezed everywhere. Inflation, high taxes, at the gas pump. Where can you save money? Well, when you bundle your insurance coverage with the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team, you may save money on your insurance premiums. The Roger Mangan Team will help you with a personalized plan to cover all your insurance needs. for your home, auto, boat, and renter’s coverage. 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 20 :
The current level of interest rates is causing challenges and creating opportunities. For nearly 20 years, mortgage specialist with Polygon Financial Group, Lorne Levy, has helped individuals realize their hopes and dreams of homeownership, fund kids’ educations through second mortgages, and access capital by utilizing reverse mortgages. Lorne’s not constrained to work with just one lender. Because he works with many different lenders, Lorne offers you choices for your individual mortgage needs. Knowledge is power and preparation leads to success. Call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881 so that you are prepared for the opportunities in the mortgage market. That’s Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 02 :
is hosting a candidate forum for the arvada city council candidates on september 29th at 6 p.m at the depot in the village of five parks land use traffic density and zoning have become a very important set of issues and we will be asking the candidates about how they envision the future of arvada’s growth and development Please join us either in person or online by visiting RalstonValleyCoalition.org where you can reserve your free ticket or find the live stream link. Statewide, the City Council elections are on November 4th of 2025. Local elections matter and ordinary citizens can make a difference.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thank you so much for having me. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. And are you craving some real New York-style pizza and pasta? Well, Little Richie’s in Parker and Golden has you covered. Authentic New York flavor with Colorado roots. From daily specials and weekday lunch deals to a happy hour worth planning around, they are your neighborhood favorite, and they’re always serving up something worth stopping for. And again, that’s Little Richie’s in Golden and in Parker. In studio with me is my friend Marshall Dawson. He’s president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. And a great first hour with our colleagues regarding the profound concept of God-given rights.
SPEAKER 17 :
It was a fun first hour, and I encourage people to go and listen to the replay if they happen to miss it. We talked about some good things.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And someone that understands this profound concept of God-given rights and writes extensively, he’s a senior fellow at Discovery Institute, is Scott Powell. He’s on the line. Scott, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Kim. Great to be with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
And you just published on Constitution Day, September 17th, a piece that people can find at American Thinker. And it’s Constitution Day. If its light goes out, darkness and oppression are sure to follow. And you’re spot on. The Constitution was put in place so that we would have order in our society. And it’s really been under attack, Scott Powell.
SPEAKER 04 :
uh… most certainly has been uh… a lot of and but a lot of people don’t the under appreciate how fortunate uh… we are as americans uh… you know prior to the constant declaration of independence in the constitution basically new world lived in what we could call political darkness that is to say that government always were in control of the people that people really didn’t have true freedom uh… because that’s the way that’s the way history shows us a government’s ruled and people uh… were subordinate to the government now seventeen seventy six uh… the declaration of independence basically asserted uh… that the people are to be free to free to pursue their lives and that government is government should protect those rights. In other words, the people would be sovereign and the government would be subordinate, if you will, because its main job was to protect the rights of the people. And these were unalienable rights. And that was also unique in all of human history, that no other people asserted that they had unalienable rights that came from God. There’s no higher authority than God, so God’s authority puts everything else below. So when the people say that they have unalienable rights, then they are placing themselves above the government. That the government has to protect the unalienable rights of the people, and that was… The spirit and the language of the Declaration of Independence, and of course the Constitution, which came later, you know, just to refresh people’s memory of time and history, it was 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was written and proclaimed to the world, really. That was already one year into the War of Independence. The War of Independence really started in 1775 in Boston. And in 1776… Washington had marched his troops from Boston down to defend New York. And it was at that time that the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia, and they established a committee to write the Declaration. It was headed by Jefferson, of course. And so… And so it was that the Declaration came in 1776. The War of Independence lasted six full years. And finally, in Yorktown in 1781, the continental army under Washington combined with the French forces under Rochambeau and the French Navy, which was off Yorktown, had a decisive defeat of the British. It was at that point that the British decided to surrender, that is to say, not to proceed to fight the independence of the colonies, that they would be free. And that was established a couple of years later in the Treaty of Paris. So But after 1781, the United States was still living under the Articles of Confederation, which was a very weak governing document. And all kinds of problems developed with the colonies. And though they were free, they had all kinds of problems. They had no army, so they couldn’t protect their borders from the French and the Spanish. And so it was that it was decided we need to establish a new government. And it was Madison who had the vision for doing that. And so in 1787, the Constitutional Convention was called and convened in Philadelphia in May of 1787. Yes, I think that is correct. Yep. A lot of dates there. So it was six full years after… after the British surrendered, that we finally got the Constitution established. But we look at these two documents kind of together because the Constitution really codified, formed a government around the ideas that were established by the Declaration of Independence, which was that the people were sovereign and that the government should serve the people and protect the people’s unalienable rights. That’s so powerful. That never existed in all of human history. Think about that. It makes our country truly the city on a hill, if you will. And Americans forget that. They don’t realize how blessed we are to have, to be born in a country that was really providential in all of human history and establishing a godly government that would put the people’s rights first and protect those rights. And we strayed so far from that that, of course, that’s why we’re all in all this trouble now, really, because we’re not honoring really the fundamentals of the Constitution.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the founders had no idea what would happen if everyday individuals had these rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Well, what happened was America happened. There’s resources on other continents in other countries, but it was this profound concept of of unalienable rights that created what we have now, which is everyday people thriving and flourishing. But Scott, I am concerned if we do not reclaim these foundational principles, we are living on the fumes of freedom. And it was so powerful because it was, well, next year will be 250 years of the Declaration of Independence. If we don’t, in our day, in our time right now, stand up like the founders did and reclaim these foundational principles, we will tell our children that we were living on the fumes of freedom and we did not protect that to pass that on to them. Scott Powell.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re absolutely right. Very well said, Kim. I couldn’t say it better. And so all the listeners out there, keep listening to Kim Monson. But on this theme alone, this is the most important thing for Americans to understand, that we have to take our government back. And so it is that we actually are very fortunate in that I’ll just simply say it. God raised up a man, Donald Trump, for a time such as this. He’s not a perfect man. No one is. But he has the courage. He has the conviction. He’s a great believer in our Constitution and in our Declaration. He really believes in the people. That’s why he’s very popular. That’s why he’s really flipped the whole political culture of America before Trump came. You know, the Republicans were thought to be the party of the… Country club. Yeah, the country club, the wealthier people. And the Democrats were the party of the working class. Well, guess what? Donald Trump is now the man of the people, and the Democrat Party is really the party of the elites, particularly the technology elites, the media elites, the medical, pharmaceutical, industrial complex elites. Right. So it’s fascinating to see this, and that’s why we have to recognize that God is at work in a way that we never could have foreseen 10 years, 15 years ago. We were in trouble then. We’ve really been in trouble since the turn of the century, and that is the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century with Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who followed. The country really changed because We turned to creating new government agencies that would take power away from Congress. I mean, Congress was actually probably glad to get work off their desk and put it in the hands of these agencies. But these agencies have grown and grown. They multiplied very rapidly under FDR. And then there was no stopping them in modern times. You know, in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was created. In 1977, the Department of Education was created. And look at what has happened. I mean, let’s just look at education alone.
SPEAKER 05 :
Our kids, well over half, sometimes different school districts here in Colorado, it might be 75% of the kids cannot read and write and do arithmetic at grade level.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that’s unthinkable. I mean, before the Department of Education was established. Education was actually really fairly good in America. We ranked probably in the top half dozen of countries in the world, and now we rank at the very bottom. And that is because of this transformation and corruption of our system. I mean, the Department of Education and the unions that run our public school education are utterly corrupt. And unfortunately, it’s very hard once these agencies have power and it’s, you know, it’s it’s. There’s no accountability to that power. You would think it would be accountable to Congress, but Congress sort of vested, gave the authority to these agencies to run things as they saw fit.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, they abdicated their responsibility. They did. Because they didn’t want to have to go back to the voters and face the voters and be responsible for those decisions. And so they offloaded that to these bureaucracies, and now we’re where we are at today. Scott Powell, let’s keep that as a cliffhanger. We have Scott Powell, senior fellow at Discovery Institute on the line with us. And these important discussions happen because of our sponsors. And there is a reason why the Second Amendment is in the Bill of Rights. And the second syndicate, Lisa Garcia. Oops. Oh. Never mind. Thank you, Joe. He switched things up on me. And it is Radiant Painting and Lighting. We had Karen Gorday on the show in hour number one. And she is actually stepping up and running for Lakewood City Council.
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SPEAKER 19 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. the KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Remember that financial freedom starts with the right guide, and Mint Financial Strategies is here to help. As an independent firm with over 25 years of experience and the credentials of an accredited investment fiduciary, they offer advice that’s focused on you, not a sales quota. Their strategy-first approach is all about helping you live life on your terms with clarity, confidence, and control. Call Mint Financial Strategies today. That number is 303-285-3080 today. 303-285-3080. They are your path to independent financial confidence. And in studio with me is my friend Marshall Dawson. He is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. And really thought-provoking here with Scott Powell.
SPEAKER 17 :
Sure is. And I tried to make a point in the first hour about this grand experiment and being one of the first opportunities that humankind had where we recognized individual rights and based our government around that. And a lot of the flourishing that we have as a result of that. I was glad to hear Scott Powell prove me right in what he was saying and elaborate on that. You know, it’s kind of old news at this point, but several weeks ago, in case you missed it, Tim Kaine, who was very nearly our vice president and was almost elected in 2016,
SPEAKER 05 :
And he’s a senator.
SPEAKER 17 :
Still a sitting senator. You know, said something in a committee meeting that was just jarring. I mean, it was abhorrent. And he compared people who believe that our rights come from our creator. He compared that to the Iranian regime. And he said, you know, people like that, they believe that they understand that natural rights come from the creator. And he also said, so the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our government is extremely troubling. So the point that occurs to me is there are not simply people who don’t get it, but there are people trying to deny it and want to use that as a power grab to take over aspects of our government and rule our lives as opposed to being a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and Scott Powell, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, it was jarring when Senator Tim Kaine, who had been a candidate for vice president, said that our rights come from government. What’s your thoughts?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, I fully agree. I mean, we are in a struggle between good and evil. And goodness lies on God’s side. And it was God who really… inspired and shaped the founding of this country. The founding fathers were 95% Christians, and they had a vision for freedom. And that is the world in which God wants us to live. God created us uniquely. Each one of us is unique and different than all other people. No one is like any one of us. And that means that each person has… A different orientation and the person’s creativity and what they will do with their lives is unique and different. And that’s very, very powerful, and it’s the reason why America flourished so much, because the people were free to pursue their dreams, to be creative. And ultimately, creativity in the marketplace means that we have to serve other people’s needs. So really, our whole system is oriented around Christian principles without people even knowing it. You can’t be selfish and really be successful as a business person. You’ve got to cater to the people you’re serving because they’re the ones who are your customers. So in any case… We’ve sort of, you know, we’ve driven God out of our culture, and we’re reaping the consequences. You know, if we had a spiritually enlightened constitutional America, think, government would be a good steward of taxpayer resources today. and avoid debt burden on future generations. Unelected government agencies would all be downsized and be stripped of their ability to make regulatory law, which is the sole responsibility of the legislature, as you stated, Kim. Agencies that could not be reformed and deliver for the American people, like the Department of Education, Homeland Security, the FBI, The CIA, you know, would be entirely restructured and refocused.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and that’s what Trump is trying to do. Right, Scott? Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And Pete Hicks has done a wonderful job in reshaping the military, you know, making the militaries into an armed services with a spree to core military. and an unmatched excellence in training to fight and win wars. And I believe, is it official now that it’s no longer the Department of Defense, it’s the Department of War?
SPEAKER 05 :
Is that true? I’m not sure yet, but I know that they’re working on that. It is, we’re in remarkable times. We are.
SPEAKER 04 :
We are. It’s very exciting. And I think that we’re seeing things breaking our way in more and more ways. We all want it to happen more rapidly. But, you know, we also know that law, you know, justice under law can take time. I think these grand juries are making progress. Their proceeds are secret, so we don’t know. But I really do think we’re going to see indictments and we’re going to see trials and we’re going to see jail time for people who betrayed the United States. Treason is a tough thing to prove. So I think they’re smart to go under, you know, with charges such as seditious conspiracy, because that’s easier to prove in court. And it really has the same weight, if you will. seditious conspiracy is pretty ominous. And it also implies that there’s a cabal of people doing it. Conspiracy involves more than one person. And we know that under Obama, there was a cabal that conspired to undermine Donald Trump. First of all, they didn’t want him elected. So they had this crossfire hurricane campaign. But when he did get elected in 2016, they set about undermining his administration. And that’s just a fundamental violation of our Constitution, period.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it really is. And regarding Trump and his policies, I really want to have him stay within the confines of the Constitution as well. Because we may like what he’s doing, but we want to make sure that it’s constitutional because at some point in time, there will be somebody in office that we may be frustrated with, and we want to make sure that always they would be confined by the Constitution. So it has to be the same for everybody, Scott Powell.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, I agree. And I think… I mean, if the violence in cities continues, I think, you know, a declaration of martial law in cities would be constitutional and might be necessary. Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but it’s already come to that in some ways in various cities. And it is really the strategy of the left. I mean, that’s why that’s why it’s so important to, you know, to follow the money and find out who is funding, you know, the Antifa and the other operations that are that have a concerted. They’re making concerted effort to basically bring America down.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. And as you mentioned this, right at the beginning of the Constitution, it says, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility. So I think it – I don’t want to have martial law either.
SPEAKER 04 :
I don’t either, but – If it means saving our cities, we can’t have destruction of our cities happen again like we did. you know, after the George Floyd riots in Minneapolis.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the thing about that, though, is they were equal in the fact that they destroyed businesses, whether or not you were black, white, gay, whatever. They destroyed everybody’s businesses. Scott Powell, we’ve got a minute left. It always goes so quickly when you’re on. First of all, people can find you at American Thinker, and you’re published at a variety of places, right? Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I write a lot for American Thinker, Town Hall, The Federalist. I’m not very good at promoting myself.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, and we have to mention your book, and that is Rediscovering America. What the national holidays tell us about who we are. I normally have that in my mind. So what’s the exact title on that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yeah, it’s Rediscovering America. Just remember that, Scott S. Powell. But it is really… Probably. It’s a very succinct book. It’s easy to read. You know, you can read a chapter by chapter because each chapter is a standalone chapter. But it describes all the key transitional periods in America. And, you know, what… What happened with God’s hand in America? And God’s hand in America was really there right up through the Civil Rights Movement, which, of course, would be celebrated by Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Day, because God was really very much part of our culture. But from the 60s on, we’ve really driven God out of our culture, and we’ve reaped the whirlwind. We’ve reaped the consequences of So I see, you know, clearly with the tragic death of Charlie Kirk, there has been, you know, he’s now become a martyr. And there’s a spiritual revival going on in America that is really quite amazing. It really is. There’s a lot to, you know, we never want to second guess how God is working. But I believe that God is at work in our country in ways that we haven’t seen in years. And we all should want to be part of that and bring other people into the light.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And that book is Rediscovering America, How the National Holidays Tell an Amazing Story About Who We Are. Scott Powell, as always, thank you. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 22 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. A couple of things. I wanted to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation. Support them. We have the official Marine Memorial right here in Golden, Colorado. That website is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And then the other nonprofit that I highlight on a regular basis is the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo on the beautiful Riverwalk. And then the other nonprofit is the Center for American Values, And they’re nonpartisan and they’re nonpolitical. They’re focused on these foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. In studio with me is my friend Marshall Dawson. He is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver.
SPEAKER 17 :
Good morning, Kim. It’s a beautiful day in Colorado and such a pleasure to be here with you.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s always great to have you. And on the line with us is two women who are running for Cherry Creek School Board. And Gammy had just texted me and said that action is so important. And these school board races, Marshall, are so, so important. And Cherry Creek, I remember people used to want to buy a house in the Cherry Creek School District because it was so well respected. They’re going to be 75 years old this year. But things are going in the wrong direction. Their academic achievement scores, less than 50% of the students are meeting grade level standards. And only 44% of third graders are reading at grade level. And that’s really important to be able to read by third grade. It’s an indicator of success in life. And enrollment is down 4,500 students. And at the per pupil reimbursement of $10,000 per student, that’s $45 million to the district. And they’ve increased spending from 2023 to 2024. I don’t know if this is possible by over $100 million. We’re going to have to ask them about that. So on the line with us is Amanda Thayer. Amanda, welcome to the show. Hi, Kim. Thank you so much for having me today. And also running for Cherry Creek School Board is Tatiana Sturm. Tatiana, welcome to the show. Good morning, Kim. Thanks for having me on. So, Amanda, I’m going to go to you first. These things that I just mentioned are very troubling, Amanda, and they need to be turned around. And you want to be focused on doing so, yes? Yes.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, as a teacher and a mother and having two children go through the Cherry Creek school system, improving our student achievement is one of my top priorities. And you touched on it. Right now, less than 50% of Cherry Creek students are reading at grade level, according to the latest CMAS scores. And, you know, you also mentioned, you know, research shows that students who struggle with reading often lose confidence. They face higher risks of anxiety and depression. And, you know, they’re not wanting to go to school, which we’re seeing, you know, Cherry Creek has a… chronic absenteeism of about 25%. So when that happens, our kids are less likely to engage and keep up. Those gaps get wider and wider in their literacy as they go on in their education career.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and Amanda, I saw a headline when we’re talking about student achievement that Cherry Creek School District is getting rid of the valedictorian designation.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes. In fact, they’ve already gotten rid of it. So we’ve we’ve lowered that standard of excellence and children, students don’t have the opportunity to, you know, hit that that excellence bar, you know, work really hard, have that that merit that they can work towards. It’s really sad.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. Tatiana Sturm, tell us a little bit about you and why you are running for Cherry Creek School Board.
SPEAKER 10 :
So I’ve been living in the district since 2004. I have two boys myself. One graduated in 23 and I have a freshman in high school. And I am a real estate agent. And over the years, I have helped families, hundreds of families move into this district for the exact same reasons that I did, which was for the schools. And in the last five years or so, I’ve seen many families pull their kids out of the district, homeschooling, going to private schools. And we’ve seen we’ve had families that had moved here originally for the schools moving out of the district. And so in enrollments. is a huge problem in the district. As you mentioned, we’re losing funding at a tune of $45 million a year. So enrollment’s down about 5%. And one of the things that we really need to look at as well in the district is along with that declining excuse me, enrollment, we’ve seen administration grow in our district over 16% in the last five years. So we really need to focus on where our money is going in the district, which should be the classrooms.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and this is the result of policies that are implemented by the teachers union. And so the candidates that you’re running against, there’s a big difference between you and them, correct, Amanda?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, those candidates are backed by the Teachers Union, the Colorado Education Association, and have already received, you know, their financial support and financial backing. In fact, they received that backing before the ballot was even secured of who is running. So we know that their candidates are primed and That’s who they want to continue to, you know, push out these policies that are not benefiting our children.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Tatiana Sturm, as a real estate agent, you realize and I realize that People may say, oh, I don’t have kids in the school district, so what does it matter? It matters from a property home value perspective. And so everybody should be stepping forward and looking at this particular district. And so the other side has a lot of money. And I know that it would be very helpful for you and Amanda – to receive some contributions. Anybody in the Cherry Creek School District that lives there should come out and support you guys.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. We are 100% a grassroots campaign. We are out there meeting with parents, meeting with teachers, discussing the issues with them in terms of what’s happening in our school district. And it does affect every single taxpayer involved here in the district, whether you have kids or not, because it is tied to our property values. And if we want to ensure that our property values are staying strong, strong schools is definitely an indicator of that. And anybody can donate. Colorado has been in a decline when it comes to our education. And I think as a state, we need to all look at this and get this turned around. So whether or not you’re in the district or if you’re out of the district, Any donation that you can make to our campaign so we can start making a change here in our schools and across the state would be greatly appreciated. You can go to my site or Amanda’s site. My website is Tatiana with the number four at CCSD.com. And Amanda’s is Amanda number four, the number four. So it’s Amanda4CCSD.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, and then there’s also one that you’re both on, and that is Experience for Cherry Creek. And I guess I see there that there’s a donate button for each of you because people have to contribute to each of you, correct? So we’re just about out of time. Amanda Thayer, what’s your final thought? And then Tariana Sturm will ask you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, you know, the bottom line is we can win and we can do it with people helping and stepping up. So like Tatiana said, go to our website or you can go to experienceforcherrycreek.com and see both of us there. But we would love your support. We appreciate your support, Kim. And thank you for having us on this morning.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, absolutely. And Tatiana Sturm, your final thought.
SPEAKER 10 :
um cherry creek has a lot of money in our district we just had that bond that passed for 950 million dollars we had 51 million dollars from our taxpayers and 17 million dollars from our state our students are declining in their math and reading proficiencies and we really need to get to the bottom of where all of our tax dollars are going so that we can be transparent in our budget and get this district turned around
SPEAKER 05 :
And again, people can get more information regarding that at experienceforcherrycreek.com. That is experienceforcherrycreek.com, and the number four is spelled out. So Amanda Thayer, Tatiana Sturm, I wish you all kinds of good luck. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a great day. And Marshall Dawson, your final thought.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, I was just wondering as we were listening to those two ladies, they’re not competitors. They’re in different parts of the district. But I think the voters should probably know that they are not competing against each other. But I don’t know if they’re still on the line, or Kim, maybe you know. Is Cherry Creek School District, is that voted on with at-large? In other words, will one voter be voting for all the different districts within the district, or do they only vote within the district? Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
Quickly, Amanda, that’s a good question.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, so I’m running for the District D position, and Tatiana is running for the District E position. And we have to live in those districts in order to run in the position, but Cherry Creek is considered an at-large. So anybody that lives in the Cherry Creek School District can vote for both Tatiana and myself. So when you get on to the ballot, you’ll see our names in the middle of the ballot. So vote for Amanda and vote for Tatiana. Vote for the moms.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s how it works. Okay, great. Well, thank you so much. And our quote for the end of the show is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said, Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams. And so, my friends, 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’re not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 25 :
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.
