713: How Does Your Personal Story Influence Your Political Beliefs?

Brian Nichols  0:19  
How do personal experiences impact the politics we bring forward to the voting booth? Let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, happy Friday for folks, Brian Nichols here on The Brian Nichols Show. And thank you for joining us on of course, another fun filled episode. I am as always your humble host, Jordan, you might from our BNC studios. Yes, shout out to today's sponsor, me, Brian Nichols consulting folks, a recession is right around the corner. And if you've not revamped your sales and outreach strategies, well guess what you're gonna be left behind your competitors are already doing it. And if you don't go ahead and address it. Well, somebody else is going to do so make sure you're ahead of the game. Email me at Brian at Brian Nichols. consulting.com. Or learn more at Brian Nichols. consulting.com. All right, folks. We're gonna do one more of our q&a episodes here on The Brian Nichols Show. I goofed. I ended up I didn't schedule A guests here for this week of April, which actually is my birthday week. I know. Thank you for all the birthday wishes. My birthday is here on Saturday, a tax day of all days, April 15. So thank you to all the birthday wishes. And if you want to go ahead and wish me happy birthday. Well, here's what you can do. Go ahead. First of all, give me a five star rating and review wherever it is that you're getting your your podcast from Apple podcast Stitcher, SoundCloud, or you can go right to Brian Nichols, show.com and leave a review on our website. Or number two, this is another thing you could do join our Patreon support the show you can do so as an audience insider, a superfan or if you want to be a part of our good people network that's over on Facebook is a private group, you have to go ahead and submit a request to join but is a great group nonetheless, where we have some amazing people sharing some awesome stories and successes that they're bringing to the table to help better their communities, but also just a group of good people with good head on their shoulders, focusing on good things. And we're going to talk more about that later. But yeah, that's a different ways you can support us here as we're talking about my birthday. Well, we're not really talking about my birthday today. But that is a thing. I want to start off. Thank you for the birthday wishes. But with that being said, I want to go ahead and address more questions that I've gotten from you guys, as we are wrapping up are not having guests here on the program, though, I will confess I did have that one episode with Brian Fitzpatrick that was pre recorded before my daughter was born. So with that, if you did not get a chance to check that episode out, go ahead. on Monday's episode, that was a great conversation we talked about, do you really know what's in your CBD or cannabis products? And if not, well, how do you go ahead and figure that out? We addressed that conversation, and all that detail and more. So I'll make sure I include that link in our show notes today. But for kicking things off for some q&a, I'm gonna go into our email here. First one I got. And this is I teased this as we kick the show off, Brian, how is your personal background and experiences influence your perspectives on politics, economics and culture? I thought that was a great question to start things off, because this is how every single one of us likely entered into the world of liberty based politics. It's through our own personal experiences. You listen to some of the older episodes of The Brian Nichols Show, I'm saying go back 2345 years, one of the things I would always ask my guests if they were in the Liberty based politics world was how did you get here? How did your story end up where it is today? And where did it start? So going through learning how other people found their way towards libertarianism or just the greater liberty movement, I thought was super important because I think a lot of us hear ourselves in those stories. Because let's be real, that's how a lot of us found our way to the world of liberty. So talking about the politics, economics and culture, How has my lived experiences, my personal experiences impacted that well, it's pretty much across the board from I guess from when I was a kid to where I am today. So go back to when I was a wee little lad up in Northern New York, and I saw my dad was a legislator in our home county for 15 years. And with that, I got so many opportunities to meet elected officials, whether they were local officials, state officials, or heck, even some of our federal officials I got to shake the hands of the the amazing HRC Hillary Rodham Clinton because remember, folks, she was our US senator in New York State. I obviously mean saying all the praise tongue in cheek, she could not care less that she shook my hand. As a matter of fact, you could tell she did not want to be In our little home county up there in Northern New York, she was like, why are we here ever watched Super Troopers, and they're doing the the big drug busts drug bust scene where they have like the governor come in. And she's like, What are we doing here? Like that's a drug bust, cocaine, marijuana, then why are we here? That's how Hillary felt it was a carp tournament. She's like, why am I here. And my dad was part of the legislature at the time, and he was the chair of the board. So, you know, he was trying to represent our county and Hillary Clinton wanted nothing to do with it. That's neither here nor there. But looking at my childhood, I was involved in this world of politics, pretty much. From the start, I was dealing with having a dad who was going off to name the meeting every other night, it seemed talking about these local issues, but many a time now, for folks who are not familiar with Northern New York to go anywhere, you got to drive at least 2030 miles. So being in the car with Dad hearing the conversations as he's on his old, you know, the old car bad phone, right and hearing the the context of what you're not seeing in the newspapers, the behind the scenes, how, yes, the sausage is made. But to get some more context, that it's not just the, you know, wave a magic wand. And the good thing happens to solve a problem. But there's a lot of stuff that goes into making the solutions, we see whether they be good or bad, actually come to fruition. So growing up in that world, it was very enlightening for me, and also very formative, I just grew into loving politics. That's why, frankly, I've gotten to where I am today doing this show, it's just I just love this stuff. I love talking about this stuff, but also breaking this stuff down to make it so it's easier to understand for people, which that kind of goes into the next phase of my life when I went to college. And I Yes, I was the old GOP chair for our College Republicans party. And you know, with that I, I really tried, didn't really did try to bring the ideas that I thought were right that I thought were winning, to your average person. And in that case, it was the average person at school. And I didn't really know my market, I didn't understand the differences between what I saw as being successful in helping local politics at home, not translating into the world of talking to my peers in college and trying to figure out what where am I missing something? Is it that I'm not speaking right about these issues? Or is there something else there that I didn't understand? And that kind of goes to this cultural aspect that goes to this question? Yeah, I look at the culture of my generation, and I'm an older millennial, I look at where we are as a group. And I know I'm, I guess I'm not really unique in this case. But there's a lot of folks like me out there, I'm sure you listen to the show, feel this as well. But you just don't feel like you fit in you feel like sometimes you're speaking a different language. And I realized that maybe there was something I was missing in terms of being able to communicate my ideas, but also was I on the right path was I you know, actually figuring out my ideas or when I just on a team. And here's the dirty rotten secret. I think all of us can nod in agreement at some point where we felt we were a part of just a team versus understanding why we were a part of that team. And there was it was really 2014 I think it was where I kind of had this come to Jesus moment. And I was like, you know, maybe I'm not just rah, rah, GOP guy. Maybe there's more to this, I need to look into from a philosophy standpoint, from a principles standpoint. And you know, who I ended up hearing was Rand Paul, Rand Paul talking about I think, at the time, it was the droning of American citizens. And you're all lucky, I think that says the guy's name. I just butchered that guy's last name, but when they drone his son in Pakistan, Yemen, Yemen, yeah, they drone them in Yemen, and just hearing Rand Paul go and stand up in front of the US Senate, saying, No, you can't do this to an American citizen that kind of woke me up. And then I also realized, hey, Rand Paul, I know that name, Paul. Oh, that's Ron Paul son. Now me being little, little Brian. I didn't put two and two together until after the fact. But I remembered in 2008, watching Ron Paul, on the debate stage, take on the GOP establishment just seven years after September 11. And saying, hey, maybe we should consider the idea that our CIA, our CIA at the United States brought up and then this blowback, that the folks that attacked us on 911 Maybe there's a reason for them attacking us, and we should at the very least understand it, know why they did it. And that for me as a kid hearing a different way of presenting this idea on the debate stage. Yeah, kind of sparked a little bit of you know, huh, that was interesting, because it wasn't what you heard from your traditional Republican whether it was who was on debate stage then it was Rudy Giuliani it was was a newt Gingrich. I think it was Newt Gingrich, John McCain, all those other old GOP establishment neocon Fuddy duddies that really have made up the party for generations at this point, but

Ron Paul and his son On Rand Paul helped plant that seed of questioning is this the way we should be doing things? And for me, from a cultural standpoint, it allowed me to start to think about things in a different way getting out of that team mentality and trying to approach issues as they were issues. And would that take a principled approach to addressing those issues? Versus just saying, what's our team say today? Got it. That's my talking point. That doesn't work. And we see this right now, especially in the way that our social media world is that having just the team talking points, it doesn't do it anymore. There's enough people who are at least aware that the team mentality doesn't work that as soon as you start talking team politics, they turn you off, they want to hear what you're talking about, from a principled standpoint, but also, to know that you're you're authentic in that position that you're not just going with wherever the winds are blowing just based on the tenor of the populace that day. So from that standpoint, you know, obviously, that changed a lot of how I was approaching politics, but then moving to Philadelphia, that was a big switch. So moved to Philadelphia in 2015. And 2015. Yeah, 2015. Man, time is the son of a gun. And with that, living in Philadelphia for seven plus years, yeah, definitely changed my context of you. Well, you can change a lot of people's minds, no hive mentality. Groupthink is real. And it also spoke to the importance back of something I had learned back when I was younger, in living in a smaller rural area, importance of being involved in your community and fostering this sense of good principled solutions that are based more on shared values and versus simply living in the same area. And for that seven year period of living in Philadelphia, I got my libertarian chops built up, I was able to learn more about these principles, but also identify more of the problems that I saw in the greater city of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas and realize I'm having a trouble or rather a a difficult time having trouble in actually helping impact change in the community. Because 80% I think it is a Philadelphia are registered Democrats. And as soon as they see your team different than their team, they're gonna go ahead and write you off. So how do we address that? Do we address that, and I came to the conclusion back in this January of 2022, actually is prior to that, and 2021, especially during the COVID Insanity, to get out of Philadelphia to get out of these big cities, specifically big cities where the people that you surround yourself with not only do not agree with you on principles, on policy, on values on morals, but they actively do not like you. I remember I was sitting with my wife we were eating, we were eating lunch at one of our favorite, favorite burger joints in Philadelphia. It was right after the 2020 election. And they had just at that point certified the election for Joe Biden and sitting there. All of a sudden, you see all these people driving down the street honking their horns cheering celebrating Joe Biden, he won. And you could feel at that point, that if you weren't on board with this, you're the enemy. And it really hit me hard. Like that moment. I was like, we gotta get out of here because this is insane. Not only driving down the Ben Franklin Parkway, which you folks out there maybe who aren't familiar with Philadelphia, the Ben Franklin Parkway shows that big open area that leads up to the Philadelphia Art Museum. And seeing folks granted a year and a half, two years removed from the COVID pandemic starting still wearing their masks as they're walking down the open air sidewalk and realizing also I had some friends who lived with me in Philadelphia and seeing them from back when they were in college to where they were in 2020 2021. They have lost any sense what I thought at least of rationality, critical thinking consistency, and really had just dove headfirst into this hive mind. And you're walking down the street with them, seeing them wear a mask, and we'd be like yo fam, you know, you can take off your masks, we are outside or sitting down at a beer garden and having to as soon as you stand up, put your mask on, because even though you're outdoors, you're a threat, because what, and that's the thing, there was no logic there was no rationality. So that really helped spark the advent of me moving away from Philadelphia, and getting into an area to where I am now Eastern Indiana, surrounded by people not who only share like minds in terms of goals and values, but also morals and principles. That is so important. Because not only is it easier to feel like you are part of a community and actually make an impact in that community. But you can change the community you can help for the better bring better solutions to the table. So across the board. I know that's a very long winded answer for that question. I spent like, what 1012 minutes on that? Yeah, I think that right there. That speaks to for me, why I've changed as a person right and I think I don't know if it's real or not, but like the whole idea that your your body shed Is it self of cells every seven years. So basically, every seven years, you are a different person literally, like from your composition. And that's so true, though, at least from who I was seven years ago to who I am today. And then going back to who I was seven years ago, that person was a very different person than the person I was seven years before that. So I guess it goes hand in hand in terms of the politics, the economics. Oh, yeah, the economics too, by the way, living in Philadelphia, that really hit home in terms of wow, I'm having how much money taken out of my paycheck? And where's this money going towards? And am I seeing any return on this? Oh, you mean, during COVID? When we had to go for weeks without garbage picking up our garbage in the city in the city becoming a cesspool? Yeah, that definitely raised some red flags, and also spoke to why this idea of socialism, communism, Donald does it not work, it's just It's nonsensical, and even argue with folks who bring that as a solution to the table, complete complete waste of time. So that was a I guess the answer to that question. Um, Brian, what are some of the most significant cultural shifts that you have observed over the years? And how do you think they've impacted society at large? I mean, guys, COVID pandemic that was like that, that was the biggest switch I've ever seen, I don't think I think any of us have ever seen, because we all felt it impacted. Everybody, regardless of where you lived, everyone is aware of it. And especially if you were in these blue areas, these blue states blue cities, you got hit hard, like being told your essential, your non essential. So if you're non essential, sorry, you can't go to work to provide for your families. What are we gonna do about it? Oh, we'll go ahead and print you couple bajillion dollars that we're going to hand out to every single US citizen, what are we doing here? Oh, by the way, behind the scenes, billions of dollars to our corporate friends here in the quote unquote, private sector, that we all know, it's the corporate environment we live in. But that right there, I mean, that impacted not just a huge economic shift, it hit culturally, across the board. I mean, people that I looked at, I mentioned them here earlier, people I looked at as sane, rational, logical people who could make your decisions based on you know, critical thinking, all of a sudden, just being completely out to lunch in terms of being able to rationalize what they were promoting as our solutions to the COVID pandemic, we need to lock down and mask up indefinitely until the vaccine arrives. Oh, wait until no, not till the vaccine arrives until everybody gets the vaccine. And yeah, rah, rah, we're gonna support you not having a job unless you get the shot. Until we learn that the shot doesn't actually stop the transmission. Am I gonna get banned on YouTube? Probably, but you hear this conversation. And by the way, if I do get banned on YouTube, that's why you go and follow us on sovereign because this episode is gonna air earlier, be beyond our actual podcast dropping in the YouTube version at a sovereign exclusive, you get that a day early. So make sure you go to sovereign and sign up there s o v r e n link in the show notes. But that right there spoke to exactly why I said I said this many times in the show, you need to surround yourself with people who not only share your values, your your goals, your morals, but it's not enough to surround yourself with people who you had shared experiences with, which I thought was good people that I went to college with, and I grew up with in my early mid 20s, that it is not enough. You have to have some underlying principles, some morals, some values that actually matter. And they do matter, right? And how do we make sure that we're promoting those on a consistent basis well, by surrounding yourself with people who also promote them. Now that is very different from being in an echo chamber from being in this groupthink environment. I want you to challenge people in your communities, I want you to go out and push the envelope towards a pro Liberty approach. But it's so much easier to go after a market that is in our niche that's already open to our way of doing things and trying to get 80% of Philadelphia to switch their perspectives or to get your friends who they buy this stuff, hook, line and sinker and there is no underlying principles to get them to change their mind. It's important for us to spend time on going after folks who actually share our values, share our goals, share our morals, so I hope that answers that question across the board. Brian, Papa, where two guys lost it. Um, Brian, there we go. In the realm of politics. Are there any individuals or organizations that you are particularly fond of admire or find inspiring? What specifically do you like about them? Go? Okay, so for this one, I mean, it's easy, but I talked about him earlier, Ron Paul,

Ron Paul is one of the top people that I think we anybody in the liberty movement can point to as kind of like the dad of this entire movement. namely Because Ron Paul has been saying the same darn thing. Right now as he has been saying since the 1960s and 70s. That right there the the consistency, the authenticity, that speaks more to any specific politician who's right on a certain issue. People are looking for not just somebody who's saying the right things, but consistently saying the right things, even when it's not popular. Another person, Thomas Massie, Thomas Massie back in 2020. When the COVID pandemic was hitting the the fan the proverbial crap in the fan, he was willing to stand up not only against his party, but against the head of his party in President Trump and saying, No, we should not be signing this COVID Relief bill, we should not be arbitrarily printing trillions of dollars, that we're just gonna hand out to the American public and hand out to our corporate crony buddies. No, this doesn't make sense. Actually, this is going to exacerbate the issue that we're trying to, quote unquote, fix with this solution. Not only was that a ballsy move for him to stand up and fight against it, but he stood firm when Trump went after him specifically, when Republicans like Liz Cheney endorsed his primary opponents. You see right there that that was something that he didn't have to do, but he did because it was the right thing to do. And he did it based on principle, even when it was not the most popular thing. And guess what, fast forward three years and who was the one proven right, Thomas Massie here we are facing record inflation we're seeing right now are our worlds still on fire from the aftermath of the COVID Insanity and the subsequent government policies, lockdowns, forced vaccinations, you're still seeing it, you're still feeling it. It's why states like New York and California have been hemorrhaging people left and right leaving their state in mass towards areas like Florida, Texas, Indiana State that said, You know what, we're not going to go ahead and be insane. In our response to the COVID pandemic. We trust you as Mr. And Mrs. American to make the right decision, the right choices for not just yourself, but for your family and your community. And guess what those states that took that approach, not only did they not suffer your more death and devastation compared to their blue state counterparts, but from an economic standpoint, they are miles ahead. And that speaks to why it's so important for us to focus on these shared values and goals. Because when this stuff hits the fan, you need to make sure that the people are in control of that big red button that says do not push don't have the temptation to pull the lever down and push the button. So Oh, yeah, we're already getting hard pressed for time. So I guess the final question we will address, Brian, what advice or recommendations do you have for listeners who are looking to become more informed, engaged and effective in their efforts for creating positive change in their communities? And beyond? What a great question because that speaks to our brand new group we have over on Facebook, which I know I've heard the lamenting, Brian on Facebook, listen, whether you love it, or you hate it, Facebook is still one of the best group environments to have a group type environment. So if you want to network with people, man, I'm sorry, unless I get told something else where there's more people that is more accessible. Facebook was the place to go. So with that, we have our good people network over on Facebook. And what are we doing over the good people network? I talked about this last episode, we are talking to folks who are bringing great solutions to the table in terms of public policy in terms of solutions to the problems they see in their communities, you see a problem in society at large, what are you doing to help fix it and with that brings good people together? This goes back to something we've talked about many a time here on the show, Good People bring out the good in people. So I challenge you to surround yourself not with people who you have your shared experiences with. Maybe it's your old buddies from high school, your old buddies from college, your old work, friends. That's great. That's all well and good. But you need to focus on bringing people into your life who share your same values, who share your same goals, and making sure that those people you're holding them near and dear. Because if you're not, then we're just going to be like a group of herding cats. We have all these different ideas and values that we have that are right, and that will win. But we're not doing anything to coalesce and work together. And this is where our friends in the left do a really good job whether we like it or not. They are good at mobilizing and working together. Look up in Wisconsin we just watched was it 50% of the electorate I think it was was Gen Z and they just put a I think as a far left individual judge into their Supreme Court. So yeah, it matters. It's important for us to network and I want to stop us just you're sitting here and complaining is one thing. It's been so exhausting in the greater libertarian movement, liberty movement, Republican GOP whatever you conservative you want to label yourself as we have to stop just arguing about when we see things wrong, and well, the Democrats are doing just terrible or the progressives and the leftist they're doing XYZ. Yeah, they're gonna keep doing that, too. So instead of just bitching and moaning about it, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do outside of policy to actually help bring change. And with a good people network, that's what we're talking about, I'm gonna be having, I'm not trying to spoil anything, but I'm also having some folks in that group, we're gonna be on the show, talking about the solutions they're bringing to the table, like our buddy Michael Pickens who's going out and helping solve the cancer epidemic, which we're going to leave it at that but you're gonna have to tune in to hear how he's doing that. And that's something I want to raise up in good people, network people who are bringing these solutions to the table, like Michael, like Jacob Begley, from the Beckley foundation, you go through the list of folks we've had here on the show who brought great solutions to the table. I want more of that. I want us to build a network, a community where we can both work together, promote each other's work, but also work in terms of helping build an economy before for those good people doing our good things. We have to stop being a little islands right? We have to start doing more at working together because only when we work together when we effectuate change, whether you have a strong opinion or not on the whole Bud Light Dylan Mulvaney controversy, you can look at what's happening right now with Bud Light as I'm recording here today losing 6.3 billion billion with a B dollars in their their market share the fact that that was directly as a result of anyone who thought that having Dylan Mulvaney as the spokesperson for Bud Light, being the spokesperson for Bud Light, the fact that they could effectuate change that quickly speaks to how important it is for us to do this more consistently, not just when we're pissed off, but rather when we're trying to promote goodness. So I'll leave it at that if you want to be part of this awesome group, I have eliminated the barriers, you don't have to be a supporter of our Patreon, it's over on Facebook, it's a private group. So go ahead, put your your your request in to join the group. Now if you want support the group and you know, just the greater Brian Nichols show audience, please consider joining our Patreon $1.99 a month, literally folks less than a cup of coffee as an audience insider or you can be a super fan $5 a month. And also we still have our candidate school 999 a month. If you're running for local office, right brand new ebook that came out here back in the beginning of the year, how to win your local election. Go ahead, grab your copy. today. I will include that link in our show notes. But also, it's over on the Brian Nichols show.com. And I guess you know, that's really all I had for us today as we kind of wrap things up. What are your guys's thoughts? I want to hear about it? Do you think it's important for us to to focus on building a network of good people? Do you find it important to surround yourself with people who share your values, your morals, your goals? And I guess do you find it important for us to share our stories how we came to be in this greater liberty movement? I think so I want to hear your thoughts. So if you want to go ahead in the comments, start down below your your your thoughts there or email your comments Brian at Brian Nichols show.com. And with that being said, we're gonna go ahead and wrap things up by giving a special shout out to one of our sponsors during the show. And that is the amazing site that is proud libertarian. If you're looking for any Liberty based swag, especially anything here from The Brian Nichols Show like we have our good ideas don't require for snapback I'm rocking our stop trusting government bureaucrats looking at you, Tony Fauci, and all those other people who destroyed America and the world back in 2020.

So if you want to go ahead and get any of the Liberty based cut our liberty based swag that you want to go ahead and rock and roll, as you're trying to promote the ideas that we're bringing here to The Brian Nichols Show into the greater liberty movement. Brian Nichols show.com forward slash shop, they'll bring it to proud libertarian, and do yourself a favorite us code TBNS at checkout 10% off your order and a little bit goes back here to support the show to leave us having amazing guests and having awesome conversations that will do what leave y'all Edma where am I over here educated, enlightened, and informed. So with that, that's all I have for you guys today. Thank you for sticking with me over the past month or so as things have been up in the air with my life with the birth of my little girl, but also just that's a big transition. So thank you for still supporting the show. And also, you know, as we went from five episodes a week down to three, I'm hoping that you're getting content or the value from the longer form content which I know this is a longer form episode than we usually do that around 20 minutes or so. And starting as we have our guests picking you back up here in the next couple of days, we will be putting some of the the longer form episodes half of those behind a paywall. So if you want to go ahead and see all that that's gonna be coming from behind the scenes head over to our Patreon become a supporter as an audience insider dollar 99 A month or if you just go ahead make a one time PayPal donation you can do that as well. So otherwise, it's all I have for you guys today. With that being said Brian O'Neill signing off, you're on The Brian Nichols Show. I'll see you on Monday

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