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June 7, 2024 13 mins

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Ever felt like politics is tearing apart your personal relationships? Join me, Walter Gatlin, on this episode of Rollin' 18 Podcast as I tackle the polarizing nature of politics and why I’ve chosen to steer clear of political discussions. As America faces a staggering $36 trillion debt, I question the impact this will have on our children and grandchildren. More importantly, I ponder why people are willing to sacrifice lifelong relationships for single-issue politics. My journey down the road offers a fresh perspective on why maintaining personal connections should take precedence over political affiliations.

In this episode, I explore the unfortunate reality of how politicians rarely reciprocate the support of their followers and the erosion of the middle class. I reflect on the ways America seems to have strayed from its foundational principles, and why the current political climate feels more divisive than ever. So grab your coffee, hop on board, and let's keep the conversation going, minus the politics.


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Email me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at rollin18podcast@gmail.com. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Rollin' 18 Podcast.
This 40-year veteran is herefor anyone wanting to stay up to
date with the trucking world.
Grab your coffee, hop on boardand let's get on down the road
with Walter Gatlin.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello drivers, this is Walter Gatlin.
I appreciate you folksdownloading and or listening to
my podcast.
I have started putting thepodcast on rumblecom.
You can look up Roland 18Podcast on Rumble.
That way it gives you a view ofme driving down the road while
I'm speaking.
You're listening to the samething that's on Buzzsprout or 22
other platforms like Spotify,amazon, apple, itunes, whatever.

(00:45):
It's all out there for you guysto listen to and it is good
stuff.
Today I'm going to be talkingabout politics and why I don't
talk about politics, and theonly reason I'm bringing this up
is there was a couple ofcomments sent to me and it said
why don't you talk aboutpolitics?
We're in a major election year.
A lot of major things arehappening.
You know a lot of people areinterested in that stuff.

(01:07):
Well, to be honest with you,the number one reason I don't
talk politics there are plentyof people out there that know
more about it than I do.
They are really really supergood at trying to convince you
one way or another who youshould vote for, and that's not
what I'm about.
I don't care who you vote for.
I do know that certainpresidents make certain policies
that spend a lot more moneythan others.

(01:28):
Okay, I do know that I like tokeep the spending down.
We're $36 trillion in debt.
What does that do to ourchildren and grandchildren?
Do we feel good about that?
Are we happy that we areleaving trillions of dollars in
debt to our children?
That's just a question you canask yourself.
People get into politics and thevast majority, I have noticed,
do so because they want one ortwo issues.

(01:50):
That's all they want.
They come hell or high water,they don't care if you get run
over by a semi-truck to gettheir policy passed, but that's
what they want.
They will destroy your life,they will get rid of a family
member, they will destroy afriendship that's been going on
since kindergarten just for thatone policy.
Now, how does that make anysense to love a politician so

(02:10):
much that you're willing to giveup somebody you love and trust
and you've known your entirelife?
How does that work?
Because I, for the life of me,can't figure it out.
I know people who have beendumped by family members or who
have dumped family members inorder to get their way or to at
least presume to be right, andthat rather than talk about it,
or even not talk about it?

(02:31):
They just get rid of each other.
Now, does that make any senseto you at all, to destroy a
relationship that grounded?
I can't believe a relationshipcan end up that way, even if I'm
thinking maybe it wasn't a goodrelationship to begin with.
If they're willing to get ridof each other over one issue or
two issues, it makes no sense tome.

(02:51):
And another thing also that Irealized is there's not one
politician out there that wouldspend five seconds at my dinner
table with me and my family Notone.
They want my money, they wantme to go to their rallies, they
want me to go to their meetings,they want me to go to their you
know web pages and communicatewith them and things like that
and their social media sites,but they're not coming by my

(03:12):
house.
They're not doing anythingspecial for me or my family.
They're not even doing anythingspecial for me and my community
, because most communities areeither getting wiped out or
they're doing better thanaverage.
But there's no in-betweenanymore.
There's no middle class,there's no nothing.
It's either take it or leave it.
I've seen what politicians havedone to the American people,

(03:33):
especially the last 10 years, 20years, and it's horrible and
why we're falling for it.
I don't know.
As far as I'm personallyconcerned, america as we know it
is gone, it's over.
It is no longer about theConstitution, it is no longer
about the Declaration ofIndependence.
It's about who can convince youthat they are right, even if
they're wrong Makes nodifference to me whatsoever, and

(03:57):
I'll be honest with you.
I'm mostly a conservative, andsimply because of the fact that
I don't like doing things tohurt other people, conservative
stands for low spending, standsfor not spending my neighbor's
money on other people's stuff.
It stands for leaving myneighbor alone, being
law-abiding, going to work everysingle day and keeping my mouth

(04:19):
shut.
That's what a conservativemeans to me, and you know, if
you can hate a guy that thinksthat way, then that's up to you.
I don't care.
But I will never talk aboutpolitics on Roland 18 podcast
because I don't want theheadache and I don't want the
hassle.
First and foremost, I don'twant the headache of trying to
convince you something that I'mnot too sure is right anyway.

(04:41):
I do know the rock solid stuff,but all these lies that are
being spewed around by all threeparties is unimaginable, it's
unthinkable, it's rude, it'swithout honor.
And there's so many hundreds ofmillions, if not billions of
dollars being stolen.
They just did an audit last2022 and found out there was

(05:01):
$101.5 billion that was spentinappropriately, and they can't
find it.
That means that money went intosomebody's pockets.
I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not a thief.
I try real hard not to lieunless it's for a good reason,
and even then I don't reallywant to.
So I'll just keep my mouth shut.
But the point I'm trying to getat is I'm not going to ruin the

(05:23):
people's lives that I love withall my heart, that I've spent my
entire lifetime getting to know, even the new people I've just
met.
That I really appreciate.
I won't talk politics to, andif they start a conversation
about politics I'm going to saysee ya, have a great day.
We'll chat at you next time.
Let's talk about the weather.
Let's talk about the coffee,the new coffee that the coffee

(05:43):
shop got in.
Let's talk about the new rims Iwant to put on my Jeep.
How about we talk about the newtruck that Bob just bought and
how awesome it is and it's gotso much?
You know things like that.
I'm done with that kind ofstuff and I'm not going to cater
to politicians.
Because even the few that are inthere, let me say let me stress
this really heavily Even thefew that are in Washington that

(06:06):
are honorable because most ofthem are not Most of them are
thieves and liars and junkies.
I know the truth about them.
There are a few out there thatwill do the right thing, but
they can't get anything donebecause the vast majority of
them are crooks, and that's justthe way I feel about it.
Did you know that Congress'sapproval rating is less than
Jeffrey Dahmer?

(06:26):
Yeah, 8% is what Congress'sapproval rating is.
Jeffrey Dahmer 13%.
I appreciate him and thought hegot a bad deal.
It's totally crazy to eventhink like that, but this is the
way people defend murderers allthe time.
I don't know why they do it.
There's people that have sexualfantasies about murderers in

(06:47):
prison and they want to marrythem.
They go up there and bang onthe door and I want to marry
this guy.
Excuse me, do you realize?
He killed five people and atethree of them?
I don't care, he was just mixedup.
He needs a good friend.
That's not how it works, ladiesand gentlemen.
So yeah, I'm leaving politicsalone.
I appreciate those of you thatlike politics and believe me

(07:08):
when I say my little 15 minutepodcast, which is going to turn
into a 30 minute podcast in thenear future, it's not going to
affect you one way or another.
You can listen to the thingsthat I talk about that are
relevant to the truckingindustry, which is why I called
it Rollin' 18.
My experience, the things thatI know for a fact to be true,
new laws that are coming up thisis what this podcast is going

(07:28):
to be about, and I'm not goingto divide my people, my brothers
and sisters out there on theroad working their butts off
every single day.
We have a lot of work to do tobring us drivers back together
in order to have one of thegreatest industries in the world
again, because right now we'reso divided Just like America, we
are so divided it literallyhurt, and most of the people

(07:49):
comment negatively on the CBbecause they're hurting, not
because they're really pissedoff.
They're actually hurting, youknow, and the only way to get
that hurt out is to scream andyell and call people names.
Most of the conversations onthe CB today are not even
serious, and that is sad.
Have you drivers ever wondered,of all the podcasts that you've
listened to.
Who was the first person toever bring up a podcast.

(08:11):
This is let's Talk to Lucy,starring Lucille Ball.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
A very warm welcome to you all.
I'm Gary Morton, and now let'stalk to Lucy.
Hi, this is Lucy.
I'm talking to you today fromLas Vegas, Nevada, the
entertainment capital of theworld, and my guest, believe it
or not, is Red Skelton,America's greatest clown, who
happens to bill himself as oneof America's clowns.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
Now Lucille Ball was approached to do a podcast.
Back then they didn't call it apodcast.
It was a 10-minute show thatshe did.
She recorded different starsthat she interviewed.
There's quite a few of them onSpotify, if you want to go there
, or Apple YouTube has a bunchof information on it.
You can go to just about anyplace and listen to her podcast
for free.
But it wasn't until years andyears and years later that they

(09:03):
started calling her the veryfirst podcaster, because that's
what podcasting originallystarted off.
As Now, let me give you thedefinition, the true definition,
of podcast 10 to 15 minuteslong Audio only.
None of this video stuffbringing up pertinent
information, telling you storiesthat you probably didn't know,

(09:23):
enlightening you with newinformation that could help you
with whatever you're doing.
It's amazing what a podcast is.
It's supposed to be short,sweet, to the point and let's
get her done.
That's what a podcast is Got anintro, an outro, possibly a
sponsor in the middle and that'sit.
But Lucille Ball did this forCBS let's Talk to Lucy and she

(09:44):
would go around and interviewall of these different stars
from one part of the country tothe other.
She would go as far as New York.
She lived in Beverly Hills atthe time.
Her children were small, youknow teenagers at the time.
Lucy died in 1989, and it brokemy heart because the one person
that did the funny faces andthe things just like Lucy did

(10:05):
was my own mother, wanda.
I miss my mother very, verymuch.
She passed away in 2008.
I miss her greatly.
But when Lucy died in 1989,years before my mother, it broke
my heart and I thought of mymother even though my mother was
still alive.
My heart was broken like achild's would be, and it's hard

(10:26):
to explain.
But I grew up with I Love Lucy.
I grew up with all those things.
My grandmother had a fosterhome a few miles from the Desi
Arnaz Studios that Lucy and Desiowned.
It was amazing and it was justa beautiful thing and to be
raised up in that type of erawhere you know I was one year
old when she did these podcasts.

(10:47):
But I really highly recommendyou guys go to Spotify if you've
got some time.
Drive down the road.
Listen to it on your phone.
It's legal.
Just press a button, make sureyour phone lights off.
Listen to it through yourheadset.
It's legal.
Just press a button, make sureyour phone lights off.
Listen to it through yourheadset, where you're at no
different than listening to aradio.
You guys are going to be amazed.
And there's one thing in one ofher podcasts that she said and
it meant a lot to me and I wantto play it to you.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
You know something I was just thinking.
One of the reasons I enjoydoing let's Talk to Lucy so much
is that it's like a newbeginning, and I love new
beginnings because with a newbeginning, anything is possible.
I look for new beginnings likesome people look for bargains.
I don't wait for New Year's Eve.
Almost any morning can be a newbeginning for me.

(11:31):
I guess I'm a firm believer inthe old maxim don't put off till
tomorrow what you can do today.
Believer in the old maxim don'tput off till tomorrow what you
can do today.
I use it all the time.
All too often we hear thecomplaints oh, I wish I had the
time, or I wish I had done thatyears ago, or well, no sense
starting now.
I wish, I wish, I wish.
And that's not enough, becauseit's never too late to make a

(11:54):
new beginning.
Anyone can start right nowdoing all the things they've
been putting off for years.
With a new beginning, anythingis possible.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Now, what is it about that new beginning that you
didn't get?
And what is it about my notdoing politics did you not get?
Because I'm pretty sure youunderstood both of them.
I'm just a guy.
I'm a truck driver, I've beendriving a lot of years and I get
emotional, just like you do.
I get mad, just like you do.
I eat, I poop, I go to bed, Iget up, I drive 11, 15 hours a

(12:42):
day.
I do it every day.
We're human beings, ladies andgentlemen, but we are the
largest industry in the worldand we need to start acting like
it.
So go check out.
Let's Talk to Lucy.
I'm telling you some of theinterviews are just amazing and
you guys will have a blast withit.
To Lucy, I'm telling you someof the interviews are just
amazing and you guys will have ablast with it.
Okay, I promise you.

(13:02):
I appreciate you.
Folks listening to and ordownloading my podcast.
Check me out at buzzsproutcom,look up Roland 18.
You just Google Roland 18podcast.
I am all over the place.
God bless you, be safe and, asalways, keep it between the
lines.
Driver.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Thank you for listening to Roland 18 Podcast.
Please visit my website atmediaiowacom or the podcast page
at roland18podcastcom.
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