Ep 278 | Bring Our Troops Home | Guest: Derek Proulx

In the debate about cancel culture, it’s become cliché to claim that the powers that be won’t permit certain types of entertainment anymore. Matt Kibbe and Matt Battaglia challenge this conception in a conversation with comics writer Joseph Keatinge, co-founder and chief creative officer at Vast Vision Publishing. Keatinge talks about the freedom and flexibility that comes from cutting loose the corporate bureaucracy and taking control of your own art. Through independent publishing, creators don’t have to answer to moral guardians or timid HR departments. This means that they can focus on telling compelling stories, not checking boxes or enforcing quotas.

At the New Hampshire Liberty Forum, Matt Kibbe sits down with Maine state Senator Eric Brakey, who talks about his legislative accomplishments and his transition into the role of executive director of the Free State Project. Brakey explains that state governments are in the best position to be leaders on building mainstream support for new and seemingly radical ideas. Just as Democrat-led states have shifted the Overton window on certain progressive policies, states like New Hampshire and Maine are positioned to demonstrate that liberty-oriented laws can not only pass but can work to improve the lives of American citizens.

At this year’s New Hampshire Liberty Forum, Matt Kibbe sat down with Derek Proulx, the New Hampshire state chair of Bring Our Troops Home, to talk about his involvement in the Defend the Guard movement. Defend the Guard is an initiative to prevent the federal government from misusing the National Guard for military adventurism abroad without a proper declaration of war by Congress, as the Constitution requires. As a former member of the National Guard, Proulx and his fellow veterans have a unique and valuable perspective on military involvement, which could teach a lot to war-hungry politicians who have lived lives sheltered from military conflict.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s job is in trouble, as many Republicans in Congress are dissatisfied with his lack of leadership and willingness to cozy up to the Democratic opposition. Matt Kibbe is joined by Rep. Thomas Massie, who explains why he’s calling for the speaker to be replaced and outlines what he calls “the three betrayals of Mike Johnson.” First, Johnson abandoned the regular order budgeting process in favor of a massive omnibus bill. Second, he reauthorized warrantless surveillance of Americans by the FISA courts, and third, he is ushering through a military spending package that would send American taxpayer dollars to fund the wars in Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine. To top it all off, Democratic leaders in the House are openly admitting that they want to keep Johnson in power, which speaks volumes about how firm his conservative bona fides really are.

Sprouting from a graduate student’s thought experiment in 2001, over the last 20 years, the Free State Project has made a significant impact on the state of New Hampshire by gathering like-minded, liberty-loving folk who share a passion for freedom and independence. At this year’s New Hampshire Liberty Forum, Matt Kibbe sits down with Carla Gericke, president emeritus of the Free State Project, to discuss the history of the project, where it is today, and where it’s going in the future. In addition to making substantial legislative changes in the state, the Free Staters are also attracting the attention of major figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, indicating that the real gains for liberty are yet to come.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a whole host of European countries were faced with a unique opportunity: the chance to free their economy and clean up a corrupt legal system. Of all the ex-Soviet states, few have been as successful as Estonia. Matt Kibbe speaks to Matthew Mitchell, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, about the peaceful and musical revolution that helped lift Estonia out of poverty and oppression as the country’s people embraced the concepts of free markets and personal liberty. Today, this tiny Baltic nation serves as a model for how to get things right, both in terms of casting off the chains of the past and create a free society that empowers citizens to thrive.

The question of whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports has sparked controversy as elite female athletes have seen their accomplishment erased by bigger, stronger, and faster trans women who went through male puberty. Matt Kibbe talks with Jennifer Sey, a champion gymnast and the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, about the abuse she has received for having the courage to speak obvious truths about human anatomy out loud and her launch of a new line of athletic wear designed to explicitly support female athletes in the midst of a culture that seeks to silence them.

In the information age, it’s ironic that the government is becoming more secretive than ever, with an increase in classified documents and a growing reluctance to engage in any sort of transparency. Today's guest is James Bovard, author of "Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty," which is about the massive amount of illegal activity the government routinely engages in and the ways in which whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are punished for attempting to reveal the truth. In this atmosphere of lies and deception, is there any hope for the preservation of American liberty? All I know is, my gut says “maybe.”

At New Hampshire’s Liberty Forum, Matt Kibbe talks to Glenn Jacobs, Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, about a wide variety of liberty issues, from the dishonesty of lockdowns and the unsustainability of the national debt, to the way in which the invocation of ‘democracy’ has become a code word for the raw accumulation of political power. Jacobs explains what it’s like to try to govern from a principled position, and how his efforts to do so got him demonized as a ‘grandma killer’.

As Hollywood continues to prioritize ideology over quality entertainment, filmmakers who just want to tell compelling stories are finding alternative avenues for production and distribution. Angel Studios is one such alternative, breaking out in a big way with the film “Sound of Freedom.” Matt Kibbe talks to Angel Studios co-founder and president Jordan Harmon about the company’s latest release, “Cabrini,” which is proving to be both a critical and financial success. Part of the reason for that is Angel Studios’ passion for the art, which is about amplifying light in the world rather than simply making a quick buck or pushing a particular narrative onto the public. Visit https://angel.com/kibbe to find showtimes in your area and purchase tickets.