August 28, 2024 • 24 mins
How does one red pill themselves? That's the story and journey of Owen Girard, a young man who was an all-in Bernie Sanders supporter and now a fully embracing conservative. He visited with Preston and explained how it all, yes all, happened.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
All right, now, this is going to be a fun hour.
I've been looking forward to this since I threw out
the hail Mary, the Bolo, the apb. I read a
piece that was amazingly published in the local newspaper, the
Gannett outlet, the Tallahassee Democrat. It used to be a newspaper,
(00:39):
it's now a publicist wing for the party. But I digress.
And I was surprised because here's the headline, the Democratic
Party has failed young Floridians like me. And it's a
short op ed piece written by a young man named
Owen Gerard. And so I did what I do. I say,
(01:00):
somebody's got to know this guy. Someone has to know
him and can say, hey, Preston talked about your column
and wants to get you on the show to talk
with you. Lo and behold, not a half hour went
by and the connection was being made. And so sitting
(01:21):
here with me is one Owen Girard. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm doing great today? How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
First of all, thanks for coming in, Thanks for calling.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Out for me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, if you ever listened.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
To the show occasionally, yeah you're in there, yep occasionally. Huhh.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm gonna try not to have my feelings hurt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, you know, we all got busy lives.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
That's all right, that's all right. I thought young people
like you would know about something called a podcast, but
you know, never mind, us older people are all into
that technology. Okay, let's get to the meat of this.
You are described at the tail end of this piece,
Owen Girard is a lifelong Tallassi resident. Let's start there.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, yeah, lifelong Tallahassee resident or go to school. I
was homeschooled, actually raised in northeast Lyon, you know, with
my family, lived in the same neighborhood my whole life,
you know, really proud of my community, proud of the
you know how the city, you know, the people in
the city, seeing it change a lot over the years,
as I'm sure you have. And uh yeah, I just
(02:21):
care a lot about North Florida, care a lot about
the Panhandle, and really do everything I can to make
sure my values are represented even in these types of
you know, communities that are deep blue like Lyon.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It says right after that liberal turned conservative student activists.
Let's take the first half of that, all right, because
homeschooled and liberal don't usually go in the same sentence,
how did that end up being your situation? Get me
(02:53):
to that liberal thing?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
So I was raised at one point in you know,
exposed to a lot of different communities growing up that
you know, had a lot of progressive ideologies, especially with
social issues, spirituality.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I was taught to believe that all religions were totally
equal and valid and you know, all this stuff which is,
you know, it sounds nice and all, and then you
realize that they all fundamentally contradict each other and they
can't all be true, right, So it leads to a
lot of questions, a lot of issues, and I embraced
a lot of that you know, left wing you know
(03:28):
ideology really pushed by you know people I was told to,
you know, look up to mentors, you know, peers.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Do you mind checking off a list of some of
the names that we might recognize that we're listed to
you as people to look to.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Oh yeah, well nationally, I mean I was a big
Bernie Sanders fan, okay off until the twenty twenty election.
I was a Bernie bro I was. Yeah, absolutely, and.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm not going to make fun of any of that.
I'm and I hope you'll hear my heart and maybe
you've heard the show enough to know I'm just genuinely
interested to know your journey. So you started kind of
in this process from a political perspective, looking at and
embracing the philosophies of a guy like Bernie Sanders. What
(04:10):
appealed to you about that.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
The populist rhetoric, I mean the idea that you know,
you can stand up for the working class, stand up
for the common man, and fight against the establishment, the
political establishment, which is so corrupt and so evil and
you know, is working against the interests of the you know,
the American family and the American worker and all this stuff.
And a guy like Bernie can go up and he
(04:31):
can give his pitch. And of course I don't agree
with him on a lot of issues anymore, but I
respect him for the fact that he went up against
the Democratic establishment. And of course they ended up I believe,
you know, they they did everything they could to make
sure that he wasn't president. They're there nominee in twenty
sixteen and twenty twenty. They put you know, millions behind
Hillary and Joe Biden, and that's why we never had
(04:52):
a president nominee Bernie Sanders, because he was very popular,
especially amongst the youth, but really amongst common people on
both sides, again recognizing that populist, that rhetoric.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
It's the Morning Show with Preston Scott, oh and Gerard
with me.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We're talking about his journey, his life thus far, life
lived thus far as a young man. How old are you?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I am twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And so we're going back now to a time when
you were in favor of Bernie Sanders, but not old
enough to vote for Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That is correct, yep, twenty twenty election. I was very
invested in the Democratic primary and very proud of you know,
Bernie and everything that he represented. I really wanted him
to be that nominee and I wanted him to you know,
lead us into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What happened?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So as time went on, really through COVID, it started
to change a lot of my views on a lot
of different issues, and I started to realize that, you know,
the big government approach to a lot of issues is
is not the solution. Now, I know I talked about
the populist rhetoric. I still think, you know, something that
I like about someone like Trump now is also that
(06:10):
populist rhetoric. I think that fighting against the establishment, being
an anti establishment figure is very appealing, especially in today's
day and age, especially to young people. So I still
think that's that's very important. But I mean in the
bigger picture, I mean, you know, I started looking, I started,
you know, realizing, you know, what was going on the
world around me. You see the lockdowns, you see the mandates,
(06:32):
you see other states, you see the way people are
living during COVID, and then you compare it to the
a state like Florida, which was relatively free and open
and appealing, and then you see the results of that,
And of course I talked about that in the article
that I did. Is the fact that, you know, you
got hundreds of thousands of people moving to Florida ever
(06:52):
since COVID because they've realized how great of a state
it is, how affordable it is. You know, you get
your no income tax and everything, no state income tax.
You got, like I said, the affordability. You've got a
good climate, and you've got a government that actually, you know,
cares about the people. And you've got Democrats Republicans everywhere
coming from states like California, and New York primarily to
(07:13):
a state like here. So I think you seeing all
that kind of really shifted my views on a lot
of the economic issues and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I sometimes note in some people's journey because unlike you,
I came out of the box conservative thinking, even though
my family was all except for one brother, liberal, very liberal.
But I had a different philosophy from the get go.
But even in that, there are what I call Aha
(07:45):
moments where you look back and go ahh, and I'm wondering,
looking back now at what you were thinking when you
were in your formative teen years, and then looking at
Bernie Sanders and looking at the big govern and this
is the solution for all people? Were there such things
as aha moments where things just started to make sense
(08:07):
in a very different way for you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I think it was it was a gradual process. I
went from, you know, going so far to the left
at one point that, you know, once Biden became the
nominee in twenty twenty, I was like, well, time for
the Green Party, you know. But but after that, you know,
is when I started to you know, I started to
look at alternative perspectives on different issues, you know, using
(08:31):
the lockdowns and everything as an opportunity to just explore
different ideologies, different belief systems. Not that I was necessarily
going to you know, support them or get indoctrinated by
them or whatever. I just wanted to learn, you know,
I was curious about politics, and I learned about you know,
libertarianism and things like that, and you know, it's it
becomes very appealing to me over time.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And so what was feeding that? What was your source?
What were sources for you to learn those alternative perspectives.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I think it definitely stemmed from a change in my
faith life. You know, as I mentioned before, I was
raised with exposed to a lot of different belief systems,
Western and non Western religions. I ended up over time,
you know, picking up the Bible and becoming Catholic actually,
and that really opened me up. It opened up my
heart and my mind to the opportunity that you know,
(09:22):
there are alternative ways of thinking and that's okay. People
with alternative views, you know, that's okay, and exploring those
So I think that's when it started to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Owen Gerard with me described as a liberal turned activist,
do you agree with my supposition that liberalism is gone,
and it's been replaced by illiberalism. I don't think people
are I think there are liberals out there, and those
are kind of old school Democrats that are today considered
(09:52):
moderate and maybe leave the party because they believe fundamentally
in liberty. But that what's called liberalism today and progressivism
is actually illiberalism.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you know, the idea of liberalism
is liberty and freedom, you know, I mean, that's much
of what our country was founded on. Is you know,
classical liberalism obviously is a term that a lot of
libertarians and you know, people like Thomas Jefferson liked to
use and but no, I mean what you see today
is you see big government. You see you know, the
(10:23):
regulatory state. You see these people that are you know,
really just crushing the the the American dury, and people
that are making it impossible to own a home, raise
a family, get a decent job, have a decent career,
or even be proud of where you come from and
who you are. And I think that's that's really tragic
(10:44):
that that's the direction it has has led to.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You heard me talk in the last half hour about
Brandon Straka, the Walk away campaign, and his light bulb
was news media. He was recognizing that what the media
was saying about Donald Trump was not remotely accurate in
terms of what he said and what he did at
different rallies, different events.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
And so forth.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That was him for you during COVID. That lockdown proved
to be remarkably beneficial in the grand scheme of things.
And you were turning to Praguer You how'd you find
Prager you? I?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Honestly, I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I was probably going through YouTube and things and some
popped up, saw some of their videos or something like that,
and obviously, you know, at the beginning, I used to
I guess you could say like hate watch or hate
listen to people like Ben Shapiro or something, you know,
listen to them and try to debunk them or whatever
and be like, no, that's wrong obviously, and then you
listen to it after a while, you know, like, ey,
maybe that's actually kind of true, you know, but it'd
(11:47):
be things like that, and similar with Prager you. I.
Something I've just found with a lot of this conservative
media is that it wasn't actually like this evil, you know,
hate filled group of people who we're trying to like
push these you know, narratives and trying to indoctrinate the public.
I mean, really, at the end of the day, it's
you know, it's just it's about having a balanced perspective.
(12:08):
I mean, I listened to liberal media, I listened to
conservative media. I listen to what is supposed to be
considered you know, the moderate mainstream sources. And you know,
I think that is so important for you know, being
able to craft your narrative or sorry, craft your beliefs,
you know, based off of the different narratives, because that's
the only way you're actually going to be able to
understand you know, who you are, the world around you,
(12:29):
and your involvement, and it really regardless of what political
views you have. So I would say, you know, having
an understanding of media, of the media and how they
influence people, because you know, they are basically the source
of a lot of these problems with our culture. You
know that that that really is the center of it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm glad you said that, because I have ridiculed the
legacy mainstream media outlets for abandoning their core responsibility, which
is to hold elected officials accountable to the people. And
we rely on the media to expose us to what
(13:07):
is really going on, what's consistent with the record, with
the law, with whatever the case might be. We've lost that.
So what sources do people have? And I'll just say,
other than a place like this show where we try
to throw ideas out at people and talk about the
stories that are going on, where do young people turn
Because I mean, yeah, I have some young people that
(13:29):
listen to this show, but they're not going to find
this show unless someone points them there.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, exactly. I think really what it starts with is
just building that community. So you know, I'm involved with
organizations like Turning Point USA, and they do a great
job not just educating the youth on why we as
conservatives believe what we believe, but how they can actually
make an impact in their community. You know, after this show,
I'm going to go on campus at FSU and table
with our Turning Point chapter and you know we're going
(13:55):
to go and invite people have conversations with people just
walking through you know campus.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
How does that go?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Because Turning Points of it's it's a it's kind of
a fire starter, no doubt about it. Charlie Kirk does
an amazing job in rebutting that stuff that that gets
thrown at him, and I'm sure makes an impact that way.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
But what have you observed?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Well, I mean, honestly, FSU is A is a pretty
decent campus. Obviously, we have some some more you know,
radical people, some more radical organizations like Students for a
Democratic Society and things like that, so you know, you'll
you'll have some some you know, scuffles and confrontations every
so often, but I think we have an amazing group
of kids on campus. We have a ton of amazing
(14:36):
conservatives on campus who are passionate about their faith, passionate
about their political beliefs, and a lot of them came
from similar situations to me, where you know, they were
able to open up and actually experience alternative perspectives after
being raised in a specific you know, narrative and way.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
It's The Morning Show with Preston Scott.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
This conversation started with a piece amazingly published. Are you
shocked though when they published it?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Well, honestly, I got to give the Democrats some credit.
So this is actually the second piece that they've published
of mine. The first one was how I titled it,
I'm gen z and I'm voting no on Florida's ballot
amendment for and they liked it. And they actually, as
a matter of fact, said that they wanted me to
write some more pieces because they wanted more conservative opinions.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Hallelujah.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And they want more young conservatives.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
They must want to sell some more papers, right because
the circulation been dropping. I was shocked that they did,
to be honest with you, but I'm grateful that they
did because it led to our conversation. We've talked about
this journey and how you started with a way of
thinking that I would describe now as illiberal, and how
(15:49):
you are now considered a conservative activist and a central
component that we haven't talked a lot about, but you
mentioned that I want to zero in on because I
can see it in your face and I can hear
it in your voice, and I'm grateful to hear it. Owen,
is you believe a massive component in all of this
(16:10):
that is missing with some millennials, a bunch of millennials
and certainly the gen Z is the numbers show it
is faith?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, absolutely, faith in really honestly anything at this point,
because I mean, young people, we don't believe in anything.
We have no direction, We have no meaning, We have
no purpose, right Our entire life is the material pleasures
of the world around us. And it's it's awful because
you know that is everything that means anything to us.
(16:40):
Are the relationships in our lives, you know, mean nothing.
The obviously, our faith, our connection to God mean absolutely nothing.
It's it's disgusting what pop culture and the media and everything,
you know, all the narratives that have been pushed on
young people for really generations and all throughout history. Obviously
that's what sin is, but especially here, you know, especially
(17:01):
in the age of the Internet, it's so easy to
be influenced by these these opinions that frankly I believe
are satanic. Sure, and you know again it's like it's
they're elevating people. They're making people believe that they can
elevate themselves to a level of godlike status. I can
do whatever I want, there's no consequences, there's no whatever.
And I think that is the most basic thing we
(17:23):
need to do to get back. If we want to
have a decent society again, if we want to have
a society where we can agree to disagree on issues
like the corporate tax rate, we need to understand what
it means to be a human being. We need to
understand what it means to be an American.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I showed you the quote of John Adams that the
Constitution was meaningless for anything other than a moral and
religious people.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, you know, And that's another one of these narratives
that they push, is that the separation of church and
state argument, which I'm sure you know the whole history.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh, I know all of that.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I talked about it the other day. There you go,
there you go.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So, I mean that's really not in any of our
founding documents. And you know, all of the found the
fathers were very, very religious, and they believed that America
was I personally believe they they thought America was always
going to be a Christian nation.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
They just wanted the freedom for the colonies and the
states to you know, choose what church they wanted to
affiliate with. I mean, you look at I mean, Charlie
Kirk actually talked about this at one point. You look
at all of the founding charters for all of the
original thirteen colonies. I think every single one of them
mentioned that you have to be part of a specific
Christian denomination, you know, and it's like they all had
the intention that this was going to be a Christian nation.
(18:30):
And of course, as time goes on that got a
little bit more difficult. And now we have the modern
narratives that you know, government and church are supposed to
be totally separate. But my whole thing is, I mean,
what is a law. A law is a moral judgment
that there is a certain good thing and a certain
bad thing. And we as law legislates moralities exactly, and
(18:51):
that is a religion in itself, in the sense that
you are agreeing to these principles and values and beliefs.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Why is murder wrong? Right?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I mean, why do we have laws agains of murder?
And if everybody, if everybody's opinions and beliefs were totally
equal and valid and worthy of, you know, the same
amount of respect, then really nobody's right, right, and you
can do whatever you want and I can't say anything
about it. You could, you know, kick puppies in your
backyard and I could say, oh that whatever, it's not
my pa.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Hey, if it works for you, you do you, you know,
But that's the problem, and that's the world we live in.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So if we need to get to that first and
foremost before we get to anything else in politics.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Forty one minutes past the hour. I remember when I
left broadcasting Owen in the early mid nineteen eighties and
went into vocational ministry. My my family generally broadly felt
like it was a phase I was just gonna I
(19:51):
was going to grow out of it, and my commitment
to it ended up winning over a lot of members
of my family. That's God's grace.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
In your world.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
You've mentioned at the very beginning that it's sometimes a
little different when you gather with the extended family and
so forth. You've got close members immediate family that are supportive,
others maybe just sort of pat you on the head.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What's that look like.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, well, I just want to say that my mom
is extremely supportive, you know. Like I said, we don't
always see eye to eye on every single issue, but
we have a wonderful conversation. She's absolutely amazing. She's a
big role model to me. Single mother raised me and
my sister. Just absolutely amazing. She's a teacher here in Tallahassee,
and really, through some of the toughest times in my life,
(20:46):
I you know, I relied on her. So you know,
I feel like, you know, those relationships are totally possible.
You don't have to agree on everything, whether it's philosophical
issues or even economic or social issues or whatever, but
you can have that cannet because you do have those
core beliefs in those that core foundation you know, of
the family, which is a really beautiful thing. But yeah,
(21:08):
and you know, I mean in regards to other relationships,
there are people obviously who you know, wanted to, you know,
shut me out of of their lives after I you know,
I told them that I started attending church. You know,
I hadn't even changed my beliefs at one point. I
was still very much a progressive. I had just started
reading the Bible, and they didn't want anything to do
with me.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So, but that's scriptural. Yeah, now, you know, I mean
that Jesus talks about dividing families because that's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
What he does.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Some people believe in, some choose not to. How do
you think this will? What? What does your future look
like to you right now? What do you think you're supposed.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
To be doing well as of right now?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I really do feel a calling towards politics, you know,
not because of any of like the power or the
anything that anybody would really be you know, appealed to. Really,
it's because I want to spread my faith and one
of the best ways. There's a million ways you can
spread your faith, but one of the best ways is
to change the culture. And you know, if I can
make an impact on some place like Florida State's campus,
(22:10):
which is obviously extremely liberal and not open to conservative perspectives,
or other communities you know here in Leon County, you know,
I want to do that, And you know, I don't
care how difficult they say it may be. I don't
care how you know, I'm not in this to, you know,
win fifty one percent of the votes and compromise on
my values in the case of like running for an election.
(22:33):
I'm in this to actually, you know, change lives fundamentally
and you know, bring as many people to Heaven as
I possibly can. So whatever way I do that, whether
it's politics or not, that is my vision. And Michael,
do you feel as though a possible run for an
elected office.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Is in your future?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Obviously, it'd be something I'd have to pray over a
lot and talk to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's silly, old prayer.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I know, but you know, maybe in time if people
think that that's a that's a that's you know, a
good thing for me to do, and people want that,
you know, I would never want to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
You know, what do you think God's saying.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I think God's saying to you know, stay on the
course that I'm on right now, which is really just
making sure I'm exposed and aware to all of the
facets of politics, you know, campaigns, journalism.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Because there is a dirty underbelly to both of those
that you just mentioned. Politics and journalist.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Absolutely absolutely, yeah, but everything you know, working with like
nonprofit organizations like Turning Point, all that stuff, right, I mean,
there's so many facets of politics, and I think, you know,
we need good people, good Christians in every single aspect
of it. And it's it's a tough world. It's it's
good versus evil fundamentally, and you know, we need to
fight for for what's right.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I appreciate you making time to come in here. I
hope you enjoyed this.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I really appreciate the opportunity to talk and let me
know if we can help. Absolutely, I will
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Owen Girard, our guest and This will be in the
Conversations podcast as well as the Program podcast as always,
so hope you enjoyed that good visit forty six past
the hour
All right, now, this is going to be a fun hour.
I've been looking forward to this since I threw out
the hail Mary, the Bolo, the apb. I read a
piece that was amazingly published in the local newspaper, the
Gannett outlet, the Tallahassee Democrat. It used to be a newspaper,
(00:39):
it's now a publicist wing for the party. But I digress.
And I was surprised because here's the headline, the Democratic
Party has failed young Floridians like me. And it's a
short op ed piece written by a young man named
Owen Gerard. And so I did what I do. I say,
(01:00):
somebody's got to know this guy. Someone has to know
him and can say, hey, Preston talked about your column
and wants to get you on the show to talk
with you. Lo and behold, not a half hour went
by and the connection was being made. And so sitting
(01:21):
here with me is one Owen Girard. How are you.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm doing great today? How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
First of all, thanks for coming in, Thanks for calling.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Out for me.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Yeah, if you ever listened.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
To the show occasionally, yeah you're in there, yep occasionally. Huhh.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I'm gonna try not to have my feelings hurt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, you know, we all got busy lives.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
That's all right, that's all right. I thought young people
like you would know about something called a podcast, but
you know, never mind, us older people are all into
that technology. Okay, let's get to the meat of this.
You are described at the tail end of this piece,
Owen Girard is a lifelong Tallassi resident. Let's start there.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, yeah, lifelong Tallahassee resident or go to school. I
was homeschooled, actually raised in northeast Lyon, you know, with
my family, lived in the same neighborhood my whole life,
you know, really proud of my community, proud of the
you know how the city, you know, the people in
the city, seeing it change a lot over the years,
as I'm sure you have. And uh yeah, I just
(02:21):
care a lot about North Florida, care a lot about
the Panhandle, and really do everything I can to make
sure my values are represented even in these types of
you know, communities that are deep blue like Lyon.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It says right after that liberal turned conservative student activists.
Let's take the first half of that, all right, because
homeschooled and liberal don't usually go in the same sentence,
how did that end up being your situation? Get me
(02:53):
to that liberal thing?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
So I was raised at one point in you know,
exposed to a lot of different communities growing up that
you know, had a lot of progressive ideologies, especially with
social issues, spirituality.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I was taught to believe that all religions were totally
equal and valid and you know, all this stuff which is,
you know, it sounds nice and all, and then you
realize that they all fundamentally contradict each other and they
can't all be true, right, So it leads to a
lot of questions, a lot of issues, and I embraced
a lot of that you know, left wing you know
(03:28):
ideology really pushed by you know people I was told to,
you know, look up to mentors, you know, peers.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Do you mind checking off a list of some of
the names that we might recognize that we're listed to
you as people to look to.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Oh yeah, well nationally, I mean I was a big
Bernie Sanders fan, okay off until the twenty twenty election.
I was a Bernie bro I was. Yeah, absolutely, and.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm not going to make fun of any of that.
I'm and I hope you'll hear my heart and maybe
you've heard the show enough to know I'm just genuinely
interested to know your journey. So you started kind of
in this process from a political perspective, looking at and
embracing the philosophies of a guy like Bernie Sanders. What
(04:10):
appealed to you about that.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
The populist rhetoric, I mean the idea that you know,
you can stand up for the working class, stand up
for the common man, and fight against the establishment, the
political establishment, which is so corrupt and so evil and
you know, is working against the interests of the you know,
the American family and the American worker and all this stuff.
And a guy like Bernie can go up and he
(04:31):
can give his pitch. And of course I don't agree
with him on a lot of issues anymore, but I
respect him for the fact that he went up against
the Democratic establishment. And of course they ended up I believe,
you know, they they did everything they could to make
sure that he wasn't president. They're there nominee in twenty
sixteen and twenty twenty. They put you know, millions behind
Hillary and Joe Biden, and that's why we never had
(04:52):
a president nominee Bernie Sanders, because he was very popular,
especially amongst the youth, but really amongst common people on
both sides, again recognizing that populist, that rhetoric.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
It's the Morning Show with Preston Scott, oh and Gerard
with me.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
We're talking about his journey, his life thus far, life
lived thus far as a young man. How old are you?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I am twenty years old.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And so we're going back now to a time when
you were in favor of Bernie Sanders, but not old
enough to vote for Bernie Sanders.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That is correct, yep, twenty twenty election. I was very
invested in the Democratic primary and very proud of you know,
Bernie and everything that he represented. I really wanted him
to be that nominee and I wanted him to you know,
lead us into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
What happened?
Speaker 3 (05:47):
So as time went on, really through COVID, it started
to change a lot of my views on a lot
of different issues, and I started to realize that, you know,
the big government approach to a lot of issues is
is not the solution. Now, I know I talked about
the populist rhetoric. I still think, you know, something that
I like about someone like Trump now is also that
(06:10):
populist rhetoric. I think that fighting against the establishment, being
an anti establishment figure is very appealing, especially in today's
day and age, especially to young people. So I still
think that's that's very important. But I mean in the
bigger picture, I mean, you know, I started looking, I started,
you know, realizing, you know, what was going on the
world around me. You see the lockdowns, you see the mandates,
(06:32):
you see other states, you see the way people are
living during COVID, and then you compare it to the
a state like Florida, which was relatively free and open
and appealing, and then you see the results of that,
And of course I talked about that in the article
that I did. Is the fact that, you know, you
got hundreds of thousands of people moving to Florida ever
(06:52):
since COVID because they've realized how great of a state
it is, how affordable it is. You know, you get
your no income tax and everything, no state income tax.
You got, like I said, the affordability. You've got a
good climate, and you've got a government that actually, you know,
cares about the people. And you've got Democrats Republicans everywhere
coming from states like California, and New York primarily to
(07:13):
a state like here. So I think you seeing all
that kind of really shifted my views on a lot
of the economic issues and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I sometimes note in some people's journey because unlike you,
I came out of the box conservative thinking, even though
my family was all except for one brother, liberal, very liberal.
But I had a different philosophy from the get go.
But even in that, there are what I call Aha
(07:45):
moments where you look back and go ahh, and I'm wondering,
looking back now at what you were thinking when you
were in your formative teen years, and then looking at
Bernie Sanders and looking at the big govern and this
is the solution for all people? Were there such things
as aha moments where things just started to make sense
(08:07):
in a very different way for you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I think it was it was a gradual process. I
went from, you know, going so far to the left
at one point that, you know, once Biden became the
nominee in twenty twenty, I was like, well, time for
the Green Party, you know. But but after that, you know,
is when I started to you know, I started to
look at alternative perspectives on different issues, you know, using
(08:31):
the lockdowns and everything as an opportunity to just explore
different ideologies, different belief systems. Not that I was necessarily
going to you know, support them or get indoctrinated by
them or whatever. I just wanted to learn, you know,
I was curious about politics, and I learned about you know,
libertarianism and things like that, and you know, it's it
becomes very appealing to me over time.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
And so what was feeding that? What was your source?
What were sources for you to learn those alternative perspectives.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I think it definitely stemmed from a change in my
faith life. You know, as I mentioned before, I was
raised with exposed to a lot of different belief systems,
Western and non Western religions. I ended up over time,
you know, picking up the Bible and becoming Catholic actually,
and that really opened me up. It opened up my
heart and my mind to the opportunity that you know,
(09:22):
there are alternative ways of thinking and that's okay. People
with alternative views, you know, that's okay, and exploring those
So I think that's when it started to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Owen Gerard with me described as a liberal turned activist,
do you agree with my supposition that liberalism is gone,
and it's been replaced by illiberalism. I don't think people
are I think there are liberals out there, and those
are kind of old school Democrats that are today considered
(09:52):
moderate and maybe leave the party because they believe fundamentally
in liberty. But that what's called liberalism today and progressivism
is actually illiberalism.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you know, the idea of liberalism
is liberty and freedom, you know, I mean, that's much
of what our country was founded on. Is you know,
classical liberalism obviously is a term that a lot of
libertarians and you know, people like Thomas Jefferson liked to
use and but no, I mean what you see today
is you see big government. You see you know, the
(10:23):
regulatory state. You see these people that are you know,
really just crushing the the the American dury, and people
that are making it impossible to own a home, raise
a family, get a decent job, have a decent career,
or even be proud of where you come from and
who you are. And I think that's that's really tragic
(10:44):
that that's the direction it has has led to.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You heard me talk in the last half hour about
Brandon Straka, the Walk away campaign, and his light bulb
was news media. He was recognizing that what the media
was saying about Donald Trump was not remotely accurate in
terms of what he said and what he did at
different rallies, different events.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
And so forth.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
That was him for you during COVID. That lockdown proved
to be remarkably beneficial in the grand scheme of things.
And you were turning to Praguer You how'd you find
Prager you? I?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Honestly, I don't remember.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
I was probably going through YouTube and things and some
popped up, saw some of their videos or something like that,
and obviously, you know, at the beginning, I used to
I guess you could say like hate watch or hate
listen to people like Ben Shapiro or something, you know,
listen to them and try to debunk them or whatever
and be like, no, that's wrong obviously, and then you
listen to it after a while, you know, like, ey,
maybe that's actually kind of true, you know, but it'd
(11:47):
be things like that, and similar with Prager you. I.
Something I've just found with a lot of this conservative
media is that it wasn't actually like this evil, you know,
hate filled group of people who we're trying to like
push these you know, narratives and trying to indoctrinate the public.
I mean, really, at the end of the day, it's
you know, it's just it's about having a balanced perspective.
(12:08):
I mean, I listened to liberal media, I listened to
conservative media. I listen to what is supposed to be
considered you know, the moderate mainstream sources. And you know,
I think that is so important for you know, being
able to craft your narrative or sorry, craft your beliefs,
you know, based off of the different narratives, because that's
the only way you're actually going to be able to
understand you know, who you are, the world around you,
(12:29):
and your involvement, and it really regardless of what political
views you have. So I would say, you know, having
an understanding of media, of the media and how they
influence people, because you know, they are basically the source
of a lot of these problems with our culture. You
know that that that really is the center of it.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I'm glad you said that, because I have ridiculed the
legacy mainstream media outlets for abandoning their core responsibility, which
is to hold elected officials accountable to the people. And
we rely on the media to expose us to what
(13:07):
is really going on, what's consistent with the record, with
the law, with whatever the case might be. We've lost that.
So what sources do people have? And I'll just say,
other than a place like this show where we try
to throw ideas out at people and talk about the
stories that are going on, where do young people turn
Because I mean, yeah, I have some young people that
(13:29):
listen to this show, but they're not going to find
this show unless someone points them there.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Yeah, exactly. I think really what it starts with is
just building that community. So you know, I'm involved with
organizations like Turning Point USA, and they do a great
job not just educating the youth on why we as
conservatives believe what we believe, but how they can actually
make an impact in their community. You know, after this show,
I'm going to go on campus at FSU and table
with our Turning Point chapter and you know we're going
(13:55):
to go and invite people have conversations with people just
walking through you know campus.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
How does that go?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Because Turning Points of it's it's a it's kind of
a fire starter, no doubt about it. Charlie Kirk does
an amazing job in rebutting that stuff that that gets
thrown at him, and I'm sure makes an impact that way.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
But what have you observed?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Well, I mean, honestly, FSU is A is a pretty
decent campus. Obviously, we have some some more you know,
radical people, some more radical organizations like Students for a
Democratic Society and things like that, so you know, you'll
you'll have some some you know, scuffles and confrontations every
so often, but I think we have an amazing group
of kids on campus. We have a ton of amazing
(14:36):
conservatives on campus who are passionate about their faith, passionate
about their political beliefs, and a lot of them came
from similar situations to me, where you know, they were
able to open up and actually experience alternative perspectives after
being raised in a specific you know, narrative and way.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
It's The Morning Show with Preston Scott.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
This conversation started with a piece amazingly published. Are you
shocked though when they published it?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Well, honestly, I got to give the Democrats some credit.
So this is actually the second piece that they've published
of mine. The first one was how I titled it,
I'm gen z and I'm voting no on Florida's ballot
amendment for and they liked it. And they actually, as
a matter of fact, said that they wanted me to
write some more pieces because they wanted more conservative opinions.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Hallelujah.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And they want more young conservatives.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
They must want to sell some more papers, right because
the circulation been dropping. I was shocked that they did,
to be honest with you, but I'm grateful that they
did because it led to our conversation. We've talked about
this journey and how you started with a way of
thinking that I would describe now as illiberal, and how
(15:49):
you are now considered a conservative activist and a central
component that we haven't talked a lot about, but you
mentioned that I want to zero in on because I
can see it in your face and I can hear
it in your voice, and I'm grateful to hear it. Owen,
is you believe a massive component in all of this
(16:10):
that is missing with some millennials, a bunch of millennials
and certainly the gen Z is the numbers show it
is faith?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, absolutely, faith in really honestly anything at this point,
because I mean, young people, we don't believe in anything.
We have no direction, We have no meaning, We have
no purpose, right Our entire life is the material pleasures
of the world around us. And it's it's awful because
you know that is everything that means anything to us.
(16:40):
Are the relationships in our lives, you know, mean nothing.
The obviously, our faith, our connection to God mean absolutely nothing.
It's it's disgusting what pop culture and the media and everything,
you know, all the narratives that have been pushed on
young people for really generations and all throughout history. Obviously
that's what sin is, but especially here, you know, especially
(17:01):
in the age of the Internet, it's so easy to
be influenced by these these opinions that frankly I believe
are satanic. Sure, and you know again it's like it's
they're elevating people. They're making people believe that they can
elevate themselves to a level of godlike status. I can
do whatever I want, there's no consequences, there's no whatever.
And I think that is the most basic thing we
(17:23):
need to do to get back. If we want to
have a decent society again, if we want to have
a society where we can agree to disagree on issues
like the corporate tax rate, we need to understand what
it means to be a human being. We need to
understand what it means to be an American.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I showed you the quote of John Adams that the
Constitution was meaningless for anything other than a moral and
religious people.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, you know, And that's another one of these narratives
that they push, is that the separation of church and
state argument, which I'm sure you know the whole history.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Oh, I know all of that.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I talked about it the other day. There you go,
there you go.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So, I mean that's really not in any of our
founding documents. And you know, all of the found the
fathers were very, very religious, and they believed that America
was I personally believe they they thought America was always
going to be a Christian nation.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
They just wanted the freedom for the colonies and the
states to you know, choose what church they wanted to
affiliate with. I mean, you look at I mean, Charlie
Kirk actually talked about this at one point. You look
at all of the founding charters for all of the
original thirteen colonies. I think every single one of them
mentioned that you have to be part of a specific
Christian denomination, you know, and it's like they all had
the intention that this was going to be a Christian nation.
(18:30):
And of course, as time goes on that got a
little bit more difficult. And now we have the modern
narratives that you know, government and church are supposed to
be totally separate. But my whole thing is, I mean,
what is a law. A law is a moral judgment
that there is a certain good thing and a certain
bad thing. And we as law legislates moralities exactly, and
(18:51):
that is a religion in itself, in the sense that
you are agreeing to these principles and values and beliefs.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Why is murder wrong? Right?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I mean, why do we have laws agains of murder?
And if everybody, if everybody's opinions and beliefs were totally
equal and valid and worthy of, you know, the same
amount of respect, then really nobody's right, right, and you
can do whatever you want and I can't say anything
about it. You could, you know, kick puppies in your
backyard and I could say, oh that whatever, it's not
my pa.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Hey, if it works for you, you do you, you know,
But that's the problem, and that's the world we live in.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So if we need to get to that first and
foremost before we get to anything else in politics.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Forty one minutes past the hour. I remember when I
left broadcasting Owen in the early mid nineteen eighties and
went into vocational ministry. My my family generally broadly felt
like it was a phase I was just gonna I
(19:51):
was going to grow out of it, and my commitment
to it ended up winning over a lot of members
of my family. That's God's grace.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
In your world.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
You've mentioned at the very beginning that it's sometimes a
little different when you gather with the extended family and
so forth. You've got close members immediate family that are supportive,
others maybe just sort of pat you on the head.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
What's that look like.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, well, I just want to say that my mom
is extremely supportive, you know. Like I said, we don't
always see eye to eye on every single issue, but
we have a wonderful conversation. She's absolutely amazing. She's a
big role model to me. Single mother raised me and
my sister. Just absolutely amazing. She's a teacher here in Tallahassee,
and really, through some of the toughest times in my life,
(20:46):
I you know, I relied on her. So you know,
I feel like, you know, those relationships are totally possible.
You don't have to agree on everything, whether it's philosophical
issues or even economic or social issues or whatever, but
you can have that cannet because you do have those
core beliefs in those that core foundation you know, of
the family, which is a really beautiful thing. But yeah,
(21:08):
and you know, I mean in regards to other relationships,
there are people obviously who you know, wanted to, you know,
shut me out of of their lives after I you know,
I told them that I started attending church. You know,
I hadn't even changed my beliefs at one point. I
was still very much a progressive. I had just started
reading the Bible, and they didn't want anything to do
with me.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
So, but that's scriptural. Yeah, now, you know, I mean
that Jesus talks about dividing families because that's.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
What he does.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Some people believe in, some choose not to. How do
you think this will? What? What does your future look
like to you right now? What do you think you're supposed.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
To be doing well as of right now?
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I really do feel a calling towards politics, you know,
not because of any of like the power or the
anything that anybody would really be you know, appealed to. Really,
it's because I want to spread my faith and one
of the best ways. There's a million ways you can
spread your faith, but one of the best ways is
to change the culture. And you know, if I can
make an impact on some place like Florida State's campus,
(22:10):
which is obviously extremely liberal and not open to conservative perspectives,
or other communities you know here in Leon County, you know,
I want to do that, And you know, I don't
care how difficult they say it may be. I don't
care how you know, I'm not in this to, you know,
win fifty one percent of the votes and compromise on
my values in the case of like running for an election.
(22:33):
I'm in this to actually, you know, change lives fundamentally
and you know, bring as many people to Heaven as
I possibly can. So whatever way I do that, whether
it's politics or not, that is my vision. And Michael,
do you feel as though a possible run for an
elected office.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Is in your future?
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Obviously, it'd be something I'd have to pray over a
lot and talk to a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's silly, old prayer.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I know, but you know, maybe in time if people
think that that's a that's a that's you know, a
good thing for me to do, and people want that,
you know, I would never want to do it.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
You know, what do you think God's saying.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
I think God's saying to you know, stay on the
course that I'm on right now, which is really just
making sure I'm exposed and aware to all of the
facets of politics, you know, campaigns, journalism.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Because there is a dirty underbelly to both of those
that you just mentioned. Politics and journalist.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Absolutely absolutely, yeah, but everything you know, working with like
nonprofit organizations like Turning Point, all that stuff, right, I mean,
there's so many facets of politics, and I think, you know,
we need good people, good Christians in every single aspect
of it. And it's it's a tough world. It's it's
good versus evil fundamentally, and you know, we need to
fight for for what's right.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I appreciate you making time to come in here. I
hope you enjoyed this.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
I really appreciate the opportunity to talk and let me
know if we can help. Absolutely, I will
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Owen Girard, our guest and This will be in the
Conversations podcast as well as the Program podcast as always,
so hope you enjoyed that good visit forty six past
the hour
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