March 22, 2026 • 52 mins
Join us for expert honest analysis and commentary about today's politics, news, economy, healthcare and current events.
(00:00) The details about the SAVE America Act and how it's a part of the threat to the right to vote is explained.
(10:43) Steve Swedberg, Finance & Monetary Policy Analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, discusses the reasons for higher food prices, whether price controls are a solution and what lies ahead for the U.S. economy.
(22:27) Alleigh Marre, Founder and Executive Director of the American Parents Coalition, tells how a lack of price transparency by hospitals and healthcare providers results in financial debt for families and how the Parents Need Prices campaign is responding and empowering families.
(33:02) Former ABC News Science Editor Dr. Michael Guillen shares how he went from being an atheist to understanding how science proves the existence of God which is the focus of his upcoming documentary The Invisible Everywhere being released on April 8.
(47:49) Chris DeBello looks at how the Bible teaches the importance of proper focus in Faith.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas.
I'm Chris Tobello.
As we get closer and closer towhat may be one of the most
important midterm electionswe've ever had, two things which
are very related to electionsprogressed this past week.
First, let's start with thenomination of Senator Mark Wayne
Mullen to become the head of theDepartment of Homeland Security.
He was appearing before a Senatecommittee this past week for his
(00:23):
initial stamp of approval, whichhe did get despite Republican
Rand Paul voting no, becauseDemocrat Senator John Fetterman
voted yes to advance thenomination.
So Mullen's nomination will nowgo to the full Senate where it's
pretty much likely he'll it'llpass and he'll get the DHS job.
What's this have to do with themidterms?
(00:44):
Well, one of the roles of theDepartment of Homeland Security
is to ensure that our electionprocess is protected and
preserved rather than threatenedand influenced.
That makes this exchange betweenMullen and Senator Elise Slotkin
from this past week veryinteresting.
Check this out.
SPEAKER_00 (01:02):
Let me turn to elections.
The Department of HomelandSecurity has the mandate since
the Obama era for securing ourelections of infrastructure.
That's an important job, and youwill be Secretary.
(01:30):
He has said he wants tofederalize the elections.
He has said name check cities,including Detroit.
He has said voting machines areinaccurate.
He has said in the State of theUnion, I was on the Senate
floor, paraphrase that if hedoesn't, if his side doesn't win
in November, then the electionswere rigged, which is exactly
what he said eight months beforethe 2020 election.
(01:53):
You have your own history.
You did not certify the 2020election.
There are people at theDepartment of Homeland Security,
three people individually whoare well-known election deniers
now running election securityfunctions.
Who won the 2020 election?
SPEAKER_02 (02:11):
Ma'am, we know that President Joe Biden was torn
into office.
He was the President for thelast four years.
But I do believe I believe myjob as Department of Homeland
Security Secretary will be tomake sure that we assure that
the elections are fair andpeople can trust them.
SPEAKER_00 (02:27):
Does the Federal Government run the elections
process or do states?
SPEAKER_02 (02:31):
It's very clear in the Constitution that the states
control state elections and thenthere is some federal oversight
that's on it, but the federalgovernment can set some
standards.
So if you're talking about theSave American Act uh requiring
you, which is within theConstitution, by the way,
requiring individuals to becitizens of the United States, I
don't think it's too much to asksomebody to prove they're a
(02:52):
citizen of the United States tobe able to do that.
That's not what we're talkingabout.
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
I am talking about administering the elections.
If you are Secretary of HomelandSecurity, do you feel you have
the authority to put uniformedofficers at polling locations in
2026?
SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
Ma'am, we we said this in your office.
The only reason why my officerswould be there if there was a
specific threat for them to bethere not for intimidation, and
I said no feeling.
(03:26):
No, ma'am, I said I can't sitthere and guarantee
hypothetically of what threatwould be not.
I'm not putting military, that'snot within my own.
SPEAKER_00 (03:33):
Uniformed, sorry, uniformed officers.
SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
But if there is a threat, a specific threat, say
it's in a Jewish community, andthere is a threat that's
specific to that to that pollingarea, then we will work with
local law enforcement.
There'll be there'll be a reasonfor us to be there and it'll be
known why we're there.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
I think the reason you're here and not Christy Ohm
is because Americans trust theirlocal law enforcement now way
more than they trust ICE.
So I would just say if we everget to the point where you are
being asked to put armed ICEofficers at polling locations,
we have lost the plot as acountry.
We have fundamentally lost it.
And until I hear someone tell methat that this man, President
(04:13):
Trump, will actually allow us tohave a free and fair election,
there is zero trust here, and Icannot trust that he won't try
and steal it again.
SPEAKER_01 (04:22):
Sounded like a simple question to me, which
Mullen obviously had achallenging time answering.
Maybe that's because up to thatpoint at least, Mullen had been
a 2020 election denier.
So has the leopard changed hisspots?
Combine that with what we'rewatching on full in the Senate
with what's being called theSave America Act.
(04:44):
Senate Republicans have taken tothe Senate floor to try in every
way possible to sell thislegislation to you so that you
will call your senator ifthey're not in favor of it and
demand that they support andvote for the Save America Act.
Oh no, they won't.
Thankfully, they won't.
Well I'll explain.
The Republicans in Donald Trumpare proclaiming how the Save
(05:06):
America Act will eliminatepeople who shouldn't be voting
from voting.
Voter ID enforcement.
Now an overwhelming majority ofpeople, Republican, Democrat,
independent, all support thisidea.
But the path to it via the SaveAmerica Act will in fact limit
(05:28):
access to voting.
Let's look a little deeper intothat.
We have one in ten voting ageAmerican citizens, that's about
twenty-one point three millionpeople, who either don't have a
proof of citizenship document orcertificate of passport,
naturalization certificate, orthey don't have easy access to
(05:48):
get one.
That's according to a 2023survey.
That same survey found thatpeople of color are more likely
not to have a document provingcitizenship.
Only about 43% of Americans havepassports.
That's according to a survey bythe Voting Rights Lab.
Now the bill says voters canshow an ID that indicates
(06:10):
citizenship, but as of now, onlyfive states Michigan, Minnesota,
New York, Vermont, andWashington, offer IDs that meet
that criteria.
The Safe America Act says that aform of identification issued
consistent with the requirementsof the Real ID Act of 2005 that
indicates the applicant is acitizen of the United States can
(06:33):
be used.
No state real ID indicatescitizenship status.
Voters who don't have acitizenship document with a
photo like a passport, thenthey'd have to show two
documents.
Government issue photo ID alongwith a document proving
(06:54):
citizenship like a birthcertificate.
As many as sixty-nine millionAmerican women changed their
names after they got married, sothey don't have a birth
certificate that matches theircurrent name.
(07:16):
That was according to uhanalysis by the Center for
American Progress.
So these women would likely needadditional documentation, a name
change document, a marriagecertificate, in order to
register to vote.
Now speaking of registering tovote, the Safe America Act
specifies that if someoneregisters by mail, they must
(07:36):
present their documents inperson to the office of the
appropriate election officialbefore the voter registration
deadline passes, or if they'rein a state where voters can
register at a polling place,they could show their documents
there.
That requirement would alsocompletely upend any third party
(07:56):
voter registration drives thatgo on.
Those rely on on mail forms.
Between the twenty twenty andtwenty twenty two elections,
according to the ElectionAssistance Commission, that's
the EAC, most common way peopleregistered was through
(08:20):
Department of Motor Eagleoffices, but nine percent of
voters registered to vote bymail, fax or email, and fourteen
percent register online,twenty-two, according to the
EAC.
Even small changes like movinginto an apartment, moving down
the block, changing partyaffiliation, that's considered
voter registration update time.
(08:40):
So under the Save Act, you'dhave to go in person to your
election office, presentoriginal or a certified
documentation to make any kindof voter registration change,
including what seems to be justminor details.
It's important to note thatDonald Trump and others claim
that our elections are underattack from the outside.
(09:01):
After looking at these facts, isit more accurate to say that the
security and stability of ourelections are actually under
attack from within?
So what happens when the SaveAmerica Act fails to pass the
Senate?
Will local election officialsbecome even more of a target
than they already have become?
(09:21):
How about poll workers?
Will they be discouraged or evenfearful to take part and oversee
the election process like likethey've done in some cases for
for many years?
How about this?
Will MAGA declare themselves tobe poll watchers?
I know in most states that's nothow how becoming a poll watcher
works, but will they care?
(09:45):
Will there be armed lawenforcement, even troops at
highly selected pollinglocations?
The election clause, of course,gives states the duty of running
and overseeing elections, butwell, Donald Trump is either
carved out or by the House ofRepublicans has been awarded
chunks of Article One of the USConstitution.
(10:06):
So what's one more piece?
Are you asking right now?
Well, what can I do?
How how much how much weight doI carry?
What what kind of difference canI make?
Well, there is this thing calledthe No Kings movement.
There are going to be rallies.
There's coming Saturday overthree thousand locations
nationwide.
(10:27):
So there are two things youcould do.
First, find the rally near you.
You could do that atNoKings.org.
Then once you find the rallynear you, go to it.
Be a part of the answer to thethreats that our elections are
facing at an increasingly higherlevel.
You certainly do not even tellyou the cost of everything has
gotten higher.
This cost increase has affectedeverything from the
(10:50):
non-essential to the veryessential, like food, for
example.
I mean, yeah, you can look foroptions, lessen the financial
hit, but how much food shoppingcan you do with the dollar store
and still hope to maintain anormal lifespan?
Now there are some who say thatan idea called price controls
would be a quick solution to theaffordability issue.
(11:10):
Remember that saying, those whofail to learn from history are
doomed to repeat it.
My first guest today joins us togive a history lesson.
Let's call it on price controlsand whether they succeeded in
the goals that were set forthem.
He's finance and monetary policyanalyst with the Competitive
Enterprise Institute.
Steve Swedberg, thanks for beinghere today, Steve.
SPEAKER_05 (11:30):
Pleasure to pleasure to be here, Chris.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
CEI.org, the website, learn more about
Steve's work and the otherexperts and analysts with the
Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
For the listeners, Steve, let'slet's establish a definition.
What are price controls?
SPEAKER_05 (11:48):
Uh price controls are um they are limits that the
government imposes on how highor low, sometimes they're a
price lower, uh, uh how low uh aprice can go.
Um and in this case, uhpoliticians uh are proposing
them in in various forms torespond to high grocery bills
(12:09):
and and this this persistentinflation we've been seeing
since around uh 2021-22.
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
If you look throughout history, are price
controls established throughexecutive orders?
Does a law have to be passed?
What's the what are themechanics behind establishing
price controls?
SPEAKER_05 (12:25):
Um yeah, oftentimes it can be uh it can come from
the federal government, it cancome from the state government,
uh in in Argentina it came itcame f it came federal.
Uh so it it it it really itreally depends.
I mean, we're we're more f wehave a more federalized system,
so it that would more like thereare price gouging laws, um,
which price gouging laws aresometimes they're price ceilings
(12:47):
um during emergencies, like ahurricane or a storm, where the
government says on the statelevel you can only charge this
much um during uh uh a naturaldisaster.
SPEAKER_01 (13:00):
Now, obviously not looking to protect the grocery
industry.
They're they're in effectvictims too, because when you
look at the the price of food,it's from uh cost of energy for
the farmers, the cost of tariffsthat the importers have to pay
to pass on to the consumers.
But as it is for grocery stores,by and large, they're not
working with a lot of wiggleroom to begin with as far as
(13:21):
trying to make a profit and keepthe lights on the doors open,
are they?
SPEAKER_05 (13:25):
Oh, you're you're absolutely right on that point.
Uh normally a business, uh, forto be a healthy business usually
runs with a five, ten percentprofit margin.
Uh grocery stores, uh, theythey're usually around the one,
two percent mark.
So yeah, you're right.
They really don't have a lot ofwiggle room.
And if you take away that wiggleroom, what what happens as a
(13:49):
result, um, both in theory andin practice?
What happens?
You have fewer items on the shyou have fewer items on the
shelf, they have less incentiveto invest in better services.
Uh, and in worst case scenario,they there can be closures of
grocery stores.
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
Or at the very least, reduction in staff.
SPEAKER_05 (14:07):
That too, uh, which will make which will make it
even more complicated and thenand make it even harder for
people or more expensive forpeople to get groceries in the
long run.
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
Now, obviously the layperson thinks, okay, if
prices are out of control, putsome kind of control on them,
even even if it's temporary,until everything rebalances and
reshifts and we can get back tosome realm of normalcy.
But if you look through history,that hasn't always worked out uh
according to plan or hope, hasit?
SPEAKER_05 (14:35):
Um oh, I mean uh that I mean I would say that's
an understatement.
Uh uh price controls have areare one of the oldest and most
tried uh policy interventions inhistory.
Particularly with interest ratecontrol uh cap.
Uh and yeah, it's been it's beentried and failed because rather
(14:58):
than trying to help out theproblem, it creates more
problems.
Because uh Chris, a lot ofpeople think of the economy like
it's a machine.
Like you fix the gear here or ortighten the screw there, you fix
everything.
But in fact, the economyfunctions more like an
ecosystem.
So when you try to fix somethingin one place, you have a bunch
(15:18):
of other unintended consequenceslike grocery store closures and
empty shelves that happeninstead.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Well, that's the thing.
Looking through some of thehistory that you write about and
did some digging on my own too,more often than not, price
controls actually wind upcreating product shortages,
which wind up creating higherprices.
SPEAKER_05 (15:37):
Exactly.
And that and that defeats thatdefeats the purpose of uh price
control.
So you're you're just creatingmore problems uh along the way.
SPEAKER_01 (15:46):
So why why are people going, I mean, is it just
as simple as look as uh asenator or house member or
president saying, well, I haveto look like I'm doing
something, so this will be anice, quick, easy, superficial
fix, where in fact it's likeputting a tourniquet a band-aid
on an amputation.
SPEAKER_05 (16:03):
Yeah, well, there's that there's definitely a
political um it's like I thinkwith a lot of public policy, it
it sounds good on paper, itsounds good from a political
standpoint, but when implementedit it creates it creates more
problems.
Yeah, yeah.
Both sides are are are are doingit and have done it.
And this is again, this is notoriginal, like we've done it if
(16:25):
we did it in World War II, wedid it during the Nixon era.
Uh it just yeah, it createsshortages and and quality and
the quality of food gets like inWor World War II.
They they were they were theywere replacing like tea tea with
grass.
Like they were they were reallycutting back on on quality.
And I mean those were moreextreme advanced I mean World
(16:47):
War II was a wartime, um, butthe Nixon era uh was not
wartime.
That was that was relativelypeacetime and and we still had
shortages and and qualityissues.
Um and people were lessincentivized to produce more and
to invest in in food production.
So that's that's the kind ofthing we don't want to have uh
uh happen in in an attempt toquote unquote try to do
(17:08):
something.
SPEAKER_01 (17:09):
As you're right too in the article, which you can
find at CEI.org, and we'll put adirect link to it too.
It it just has the outreachingeffect.
I mean, you always think that anaction coming in is going to
solve a problem, but with pricecontrols, it just and we've
talked about uh some of themalready, from farmers to retail
to businesses to the consumer,it just has a negative impact as
(17:30):
as the ripple effect goes on.
We're talking with SteveSwedberg, who is finance and
monetary policy analyst with theCompetitive Enterprise
Institute, CEI.org, theirwebsite, and you are listening
to issues and ideas.
It's safe to say, too, thatSteve, with the recent economic
statistical news, the thepicture is not going to get
(17:50):
better anytime soon, is it?
So even price controls mightseem like a superficial fix, but
if the numbers keep go if thecost and inflation keeps going
up, would you write about havinglittle effect as it is, if none,
is just not going to make adifference one way or another
because it doesn't address theroot cause of high prices, and
(18:12):
that is inflation.
SPEAKER_05 (18:14):
No, it's absolutely and and that that is a whole
other conversation.
I'm gonna try to throw uh reallyquickly just some some
suggestions.
Uh, rather than just complainabout prices being high.
I mean, one one way we can gowith it is uh removing tariffs
on food imports.
Another one is uh for the U.S.
government to stop subsidizingsugar and and corn, uh, because
(18:38):
corn's used to feed cows and andboosting that for demand for
that and biofuel.
Uh yeah, and that and that hashealth implications with uh
fructose, corn, syrup, and allthat.
Another one we can do is uh uhreform occupational licensing,
because why why do truckers orbutchers need hundreds of hours
of training before they canstart working?
(18:58):
It really is an impediment forsomeone to try to get a job,
especially on on the lowerincome end of uh of things.
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
Certainly giving better policies and better
fairness of of regulations andrules to to the farmers, that
would be a big help.
SPEAKER_05 (19:15):
Oh, for helping out the f I mean that I mean they
are getting help.
There there are certainsubsidies, and and that's
another dis that's anotherdistortion.
Um and that also affects uh Ilike with with sugar, especially
with the sugar and corn, thatthat really uh uh affects prices
uh a as well.
So yeah, I I mean generally thethe the more we can cut back on
(19:37):
those regulations that help thatthat that that are holding the
hamstring in holding the marketback.
Uh the better the better themarkets can work out and and the
and the prices can signal ratherthan than artificial uh ceilings
and and floors that that createmore problems than solutions.
SPEAKER_01 (19:56):
Last question, only because we have a change in the
guard coming up with the Fed,and a lot of this begins and
ends with the Fed and what theydo or don't do.
Are there concerns that theincoming head of the Fed, Kevin
Walsh, is not going to want tomaintain the independence and
take action based on economicstats and instead work for the
(20:18):
White House instead of for theeconomy?
SPEAKER_05 (20:20):
Um that is a concern.
CEI has uh written about that,uh, because for a number of
years, uh Kevin Walsh was aninflation hawk, and then right
around when he was beingconsidered for Fed share, um,
did he change his tune?
Um I think especially now withthe uh energy price volatility
with the war in the Middle East,um, there's even less reason to
(20:43):
lower the interest rate now umthan there was just even a few
weeks ago.
And if he ends up uh doing that,um and this is the and the Fed
once again is trying to playthis balancing gap between
making sure the labor market'sstable and prices are stable.
Whole other conversation aboutthe dual mandate there.
But essentially, yeah, thatwould I I think that would uh
(21:05):
create some issues, and I thinkthose are some good questions to
ask as his confirmation hearingis approaching.
SPEAKER_01 (21:10):
Check out Steve's article over at CEI.org.
No free lunch price controlswon't make groceries more
affordable.
Steve Sweidburg, thanks so muchfor the bringing us a better
understanding of reality versusimagery, and thanks for being
here today.
SPEAKER_06 (21:24):
Thank you, Chris.
Have a great day.
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
And now for an opposing viewpoint.
SPEAKER_06 (21:29):
Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make
America affordable again.
But the word affordability is ademocratic scam.
One of my top priorities will beto quickly defeat inflation and
make America affordable again.
I don't want to hear about theaffordability.
We will make America affordableagain.
(21:55):
Affordability, affordability, wewill target everything from car.
SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
As a parent, you always hope that you're on top
of everything that's importantand you're prepared when it
comes to the well-being of yourchild.
Nevertheless, when a medicalevent happens, your first
priority, as it should be, is toget the best treatment possible
for your child so they can becared for as quickly and
successfully as possible.
The aftermath.
As my next guest is with us todiscuss often results and
(22:50):
medical bills that aren't evenclose to being imaginable.
This is caused in great part bya lack of price transparency
within our health care system.
When you think about it, it'skind of disturbing, or more than
disturbing.
Realize the retail businesssector provides greater price
transparency than our healthcare system does.
(23:10):
Anyway, joining us to examinethis issue and how the American
Parents Coalition is takingaction is their founder and
executive director.
Allah Moray, how are you today,Ally?
SPEAKER_03 (23:22):
I'm well, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (23:23):
I appreciate you taking the time to talk about
this.
American ParentsCoalition.org isa website.
You find out more about this andother vital issues for parents
of no matter how many kids youhave, because it's still the
same responsibilities and youhave uh hopefully the same high
bar expectations of everyone,everything that's supposed to
serve your child.
(23:45):
Transparency with health care.
Now, back in 2021, it was uh arule that went to effect that
basically mandated hospitals, uhhealth care providers are
transparent in their pricingsystem.
But a recent report says that tothis day, up to 75 percent of
(24:06):
those medical care givers andhospitals are not complying.
What's happening here, Allie?
SPEAKER_03 (24:13):
That's right.
So uh because it's uh a quoterule, um, there is more
flexibility, I guess you couldcall it, on the enforcement side
of things.
It has not yet been codifiedinto law.
So um during the previous umadministration, President Biden
did not do a whole lot um andhis team to enforce the
(24:34):
healthcare organizations thatwere not complying with this
rule.
So what our organization,American Parents Coalition, is
really advocating for right nowis that the healthcare price
transparency component getsreally truly codified into law
so that there are consequencesand legal ramifications should
(24:55):
healthcare providers, hospitalsystems, et cetera, not provide
that transparency to patientsand and their families.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
Do you think, and especially since that law was th
that rule rather was put intoplace in 2021, do you think the
transparency issue has grown inseriousness because of the way
that so many hospitals havebecome part of hospital networks
and they just fall into the samethe same policies or lack of
(25:23):
transparency that the hospitalsthat absorb them have been long
practicing?
SPEAKER_03 (25:29):
Yeah, I I mean I think the biggest problem is
just that like you you have noidea what to expect when you go
anywhere.
Um I unfortunately had a reallife example of this over the
weekend.
My five-year-old uh missed thebed jumping into his brother's
bed and cracked his head open.
We went to the emergency roomfor five stitches.
It was six hundred and fiftydollars out the door, and
(25:50):
unfortunately, since I have fivekids, we frequently need medical
attention.
And a very similar procedure ata different hospital a few
months ago was significantlyless expensive.
And you know, we're just talkinglike co-pays from system to
system and like you know whatwe're paying out of pocket.
It's just it's wild.
Um, and I know that I'm notalone in that experience.
(26:11):
We see that in talking tofamilies all across the all
across the US.
Um and the biggest problem hereis that it really affects the
care that we're able to providefor our kids.
Um, parents and families are notable to budget effectively.
We're not able to shop andcompare options, we're not able
to plan for emergencies.
And some families may need to toprioritize and pick and choose,
(26:35):
okay, can I leave room in mybudget for an emergency?
And if I'm doing that, does thatmean that I'm foregoing some of
the preventive care throughoutthe year so that God forbid s
should something happen, I canpay for that out of pocket.
Um, and it's just it'sinconsistent, and parents have
no idea what to expect, and theinability to compare one
provider to the next, um, it itreally makes things difficult.
SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
And a lot of times, and this is a story going back a
few years, we're based in NewJersey.
Uh, mother had her son in asmall, let's call a rural
hospital, and they said, Look,you can get better care for your
child at this hospital over atlocation B, and we'll provide
the ambulance transport, themedical transport.
You know, for the moment, andmom's still worried about her
(27:20):
son, obviously.
So you probably the assumptionis, well, it's gonna cost, but
how much could this possiblycost and it's for my son?
Yeah.
It was a five-figure cost, tenthousand dollars to go from one
hospital to another, which isabsolutely ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03 (27:36):
Yeah, that's right.
Um, and then every every monitorthey they hook your child up to
in transit is you know anotherthousand dollars.
Um, and and you you raise a goodpoint, you know, when we're
talking about what is requiredand needed for your children,
it's really hard to askquestions in that scenario
because as a parent, it is yourinstinct to say whatever is
(28:00):
necessary.
You're not, especially in anemergent situation, you're not
sitting there questioning, doesmy kid really need this?
Um, and that's where I think alot of families really get taken
advantage of.
But but just by and large, youknow, even if it's a if it's a
routine procedure, if you askDr.
A and Dr.
B, oftentimes they'll give you,you know, a generic price sheet
(28:24):
that's not necessarily specificto the the treatment that your
child needs or is receiving, ifthey're even willing to provide
that.
Um and it just makes it reallyimpossible to to um you know
shop.
You would never do that whenyou're buying a car, when you're
buying groceries, um, you know,get in the car and drive it off
the lot and then find out thatyou know it's it's six thousand
dollars more expensive than youthought it was.
(28:46):
So I don't understand why one ofthe most important factors of
our life, our our health careand the health care that we
provide to our children, we haveto guess um and and can really
throw the family budget rightout the window when we're
talking about people's health.
SPEAKER_01 (29:02):
And wind up with medical debt, which it's gotten
to the point now where creditcard companies or credit uh
bureau companies, when they takeinto your credit score
situation, they are excludingmedical debt just because of how
how rampant that's becoming.
We're talking with Ali Moray,who is the founder, executive
director of American ParentsCoalition, American
ParentsCoalition.org, theirwebsite, and you're listening to
(29:24):
issues and ideas.
Now we know that in the Senate,well, we know some of the things
going on in the Senate, andoften they they tend to spin
their wheels depending on uhwho's in charge or who's the who
the leadership is.
But uh the uh exploration ofimproving health care at least
is on the horizon, if not withinaction.
(29:45):
And you have your Parents NeedPrices campaign going on.
So talk about how your campaignis looking to let those in the
Senate and all of Congressreally know that this isn't
working out, this isn't what theparents deserve, this isn't what
the children deserve.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
That's right.
So just this week we sent aletter um to the Senate
encouraging them again to umtake up legislation that would
codify price transparency intolaw.
Um this has been something thathas a been a priority of
President Trump'sadministration.
That rule that we talked aboutat the top was something that
his first administration um puton the books and then just was
(30:22):
poorly enforced by the the Bidenadministration.
And so he has has brought thatback into the fold as a priority
for this term and asked theSenate um to include that in any
legislation.
So we sent a letter this weekechoing that.
Um we've also run some uh paidadvertising and also sent a
(30:43):
letter to um the presidentmaking aware that that we're on
board with this.
Um but we also have a lot on ourwebsite.
Um, our campaign specific tothis is parentsneadprices.com.
And um on that page, there's alot that that listeners can do
if they're interested inadvocating for this.
We have um little how-to's onsubmitting a public comment for
(31:06):
a proposed rule, um, and how youcan talk to your own senators
and representatives to supportthis price transparency um
initiative.
We have a sample letter that youcan send and how you can find
your member.
So there's a lot of great stuffon our website.
Um, we would really encouragepeople to get engaged and help
us push this over the finishline.
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
And that's important too, because the politicians and
certainly the leadership inhospitals, if they don't hear
voices pushing against thestatus quo, then the status quo
is just going to receive moremore life to it, and nothing is
going to change.
So it really is the voice of theparents and the respect for
children that is really the onlything that they changed this
(31:45):
alley.
SPEAKER_03 (31:47):
That's right.
Um and I did just want to touchon on one thing that you
mentioned as we transitionedinto into this.
Um you had mentioned that thethe cost rising.
So we know that employersponsored, like the annual
family plan premiums, are upfifty percent more than a decade
ago.
Oh yeah.
And a hundred a hundred millionAmericans are in medical debt.
(32:09):
So when you're referencing thatit's you know being taken out of
what's evaluated in creditchecks, I mean that's why.
It's this is not a one-offthing.
The healthcare system and whatit's costing American families
is is just really out ofcontrol.
So to your point, the morepeople that what we can get
engaged um and advocating forthat policy change, I think has
an opportunity to really make adifference.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
All right, now more at Parentsneed Prices dot com
and to learn more about theentire work of the American
Parents Coalition, become a partof it as well in that aspect,
American Parents Coalition.org.
She is their founder, executivedirector.
Allie Maury.
Allie, thanks for helpingparents understand they do have
empowerment, they do have a say,they do have a voice, and they
(32:51):
have to use it.
That's the only way change comesabout.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_03 (32:55):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
If you're listening via your favorite podcast
platform, don't forget to uhfollow or subscribe.
How many times have you saidthat you won't believe it unless
you see it?
That's what someone else isdelivered, doesn't it?
Well, what if it's you who needsto see it differently?
Not with what you look with.
When it comes to the spiritual,we've been told that's as far
(33:18):
away from science as you couldpossibly get.
In his book, Believing is being,and now in a documentary being
released April 8th called TheInvisible Everywhere.
(33:40):
He holds a PhD from Cornell inPhysics, Astronomy, and
Mathematics.
He was also science editor forABC News.
Dr.
Michael Gillen, how are youtoday, Doctor?
SPEAKER_04 (33:52):
Chris, I'm feeling really good and I'm looking
forward to our conversation.
Thank you for that generousintroduction.
SPEAKER_01 (33:57):
Well, I'm eager to have as many as possible dive
into this because uh I am I am acontrarian, self-confessed, and
proud of it, and certainly youuh you're feeding many cont
contrarians with your thesharing of your journey.
We have a tr uh triple playwebsite for the good doctor too,
we have on our homepage too, forthe documentary The Invisible,
(34:19):
everywhere.com,MichaelGillen.com, and for his
uh substack and podcast,MoreTheMeetheiq.com.
Well, like I said, we have thoseuh as well for you to hopefully
make use of at our homepage.
Uh talk about your journey,Doctor.
As far as starting off as anatheist and arriving to the
(34:41):
understanding where you are now,is there an aha moment or is a
is it a transitional in beliefsand gaining an understanding
that brings you to where you aretoday?
SPEAKER_04 (34:53):
It's actually both of the above.
You know, my journey started inEast Los Angeles.
Uh grew up in a poorneighborhood, uh Mexican bario,
um Mexican, Spanish, and Cubanuh in heritage.
Uh I fell madly in love withscience in the second grade.
And I figured at that pointthat, you know, any
self-respecting scientist to beshould be very skeptical.
(35:15):
And so I adopted this motto,seeing is believing.
I figured, well, what we see isall there is, and yeah, it's
like the show me state.
Show me, uh, show me, prove itto me, all that sort of thing.
And the other thing I Ideveloped as as I grew up as a
young man in high school and soforth was the idea that logic
was the gold standard of how oneshould look at the world, that
(35:39):
logic was certainly superior tofaith.
Faith was somehow a mentalweakness.
So the idea of believing in Godjust never occurred to me.
Science was, frankly, my God.
I know that sounds blasphemousfor many people, but for me that
was just the reality.
Science was my God.
I loved it, and I I just wantedto spend my whole life being a
scientist.
And then I got to grad school atCornell and I began learning a
(36:03):
really uh I I had in-depthlearning of the universe.
And that really for me was whenI realized that I was wrong on
both counts.
I mean, Chris, I mean, I didwrong.
First of all, I learned uh Ilearned there was something
called back then the missingmass problem.
I won't get into the details.
I deal with it in I I deal withit in my movie, but I won't get
(36:24):
into it here.
It was called the missing massproblem.
We now call it the dark matterproblem.
But um it it you know, myprofessors explained to me that
we now believe, uh, and all theevidence indicates, that 95% of
the universe, I'm gonna repeatthat, 95% of the observable
universe is invisible to us.
(36:46):
We can't see it.
And more than that, we don'teven know what it is.
We have no idea what dark matteris, dark energy is.
And so I thought, man, I have toditch that old scene is
believing model because if Istuck with it, I'd have to admit
that I couldn't believe in 95%of the universe I can't see.
So I uh, you know, that was thatwas a that was an aha moment for
(37:07):
me.
And then the other aha momentwas uh I realized, you know,
Chris, that you need I neededfaith in the scientific method
if I was to be a self-respectingscientist.
How in the world could I be ascientist without having uh
faith in the scientific method?
And so I realized that faith isnot a mental weakness, it's
actually a uh necessaryprerequisite to living a healthy
(37:29):
life.
So those were two, I think, ahamoments for me and and which
look which have led me to whereI am today.
SPEAKER_01 (37:36):
And of course, it certainly didn't hurt that a
woman who became your wife gaveyou a guided tour of the Bible,
especially with the NewTestament.
SPEAKER_04 (37:46):
Well, you know, I tell that story in the book.
Uh it happened on a Valentine'sDay, but you you know, I had to
set the stage very briefly.
I would work about 20, 21 hoursa day, seriously, 20 to 21 hours
a day, seven days a week.
I had a basement lap, so Ididn't know if it was day or
night.
I didn't really care.
I was just living out my dream,man.
I was being a scientist.
(38:07):
And one morning, um, you know,uh typically three in the
morning, I traced to my littleteeny dorm room at Cornell, and
uh heard a scraping soundunderneath the door, and lo and
behold, it was a Valentine's Daycard from some girl named
Laurel.
And I thought back, oh yeah, Itaught Laurel, uh, a woman named
Laurel Physics a couple yearsback, and that sparked romance.
(38:29):
And at some point in ourromance, because she was a laps
Catholic and she was alsoseeking for answers, and she
said to me, Well, have you everread I mean you've done
Hinduism, Buddhism, you'retelling me you've done all this
stuff, but have you ever readthe Bible?
I said, No.
And then she said something thatchanged my life forever, Chris.
She said, Well, I haven'teither, but if you read it, I'll
read it with you.
(38:49):
And I thought, okay, I'm not asdumb as I look.
She's this pretty sorority girloffering to spend time with me
reading the Bible.
I didn't give two hoots aboutthe Bible, but I sure cared
about Laurel.
And so I think that's how Godkind of wrote me in.
Anyway, it's a great story.
So every Valentine's Day wecelebrate that incredible day.
SPEAKER_01 (39:14):
Releasing April 8th, the InvisibleEverywhere.com,
MichaelGillen.com.
He's also on Substack and hispodcast, and you're listening to
Issues and Ideas.
With your documentary, TheInvisible Everywhere, are you
looking to reaffirm what is orconvert the non-believers?
SPEAKER_04 (39:36):
You know, it's a good question.
I I joke uh that it's like uh afour quad movie.
You know, in Hollywood, when wesay a four-quad movie, and I and
I've made a movie before, it'scalled Little Red Wagon, it's on
Amazon Prime, it's uhdistributed by Lionsgate.
So, you know, this is not myfirst rodeo.
But uh when we say about a fourquad movie, it means that you
(39:57):
know we we appeal to uheverybody every demographic,
young, old, female, male, right?
I call the invisible everywherea four-quad movie, but uh with a
slightly different definition offour-quads.
I I say it's for believers, it'sfor seekers, it's for doubters,
and it's for haters.
Okay, so you know, in otherwords, uh look, I have a lot of
(40:21):
people who follow me who areatheists, who are Muslim, who
are Jews.
I mean, I get the whole spectrumall over the world, honestly,
Chris.
And I really made it with themin mind.
I'm not trying to convertanybody to any uh I'm not trying
to convert anybody to anything.
Okay, let's get that reallyclear.
All I'm doing with this movie isI am documenting the journey I
(40:44):
took from being a young man towhere I am now, from atheism to
believing in God.
And who who convinced me of theexistence of God?
It really was my science.
I mean, Laurel, my wife whoforced me to read the Bible, or
who kind of uh seduced me intoreading the Bible, so to speak.
I mean, that was eye-opening.
(41:04):
That really was, and I talkabout it in the book.
We can't get into it here.
But really, what brought me tomy knees, so to speak, Chris,
was science.
And what keeps me on my kneesnow is both science and the
Bible.
And so this documentary, thismovie, which I'm I made with
with the help of AI, because notonly is it documenting my
(41:24):
journey from atheism tobelieving a scene, but the bonus
is I wanted to show viewers theuniverse they've never seen
before.
Because listen carefully.
We not only inhabit a universethat is mostly invisible, 95%
invisible, but we have aninvisible universe that inhabits
us.
(41:44):
So this documentary not onlytakes you to the great beyond,
the cosmos beyond us, but ittakes us, it takes a deep dive
into the cosmos within us, ourbodies, our brains, our minds,
our spirit.
And so I I I I needed to think,okay, well, I don't have a
hundred million dollars to usestate-of-the-art CGI, which you
(42:05):
know, to bring this theseinvisible universes to life, to
the screen.
So I used AI.
And I'm telling you, um the fewpeople who have seen the movie
uh within you know our innercircle, just blown away by the
visuals.
And I have to say, yeah, the thethe visuals are stunning.
And so you have this doublething, my journey, but then then
(42:27):
you're introduced to theuniverse that is invisible
within us and beyond us.
SPEAKER_01 (42:31):
Which so many times we dismiss as instinct, a gut
feeling, uh coincidence, chancehappening.
But if you I always tell someonewho says that, grab a piece of
paper or tap it on your notepadon your phone, how many steps
had to happen, how many thingshad to happen to get you from
there to here, and you want tocall that chance?
(42:52):
I don't think so.
SPEAKER_04 (42:53):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, I had friends likeyou know, Dr.
James Tour, who is uh eminentchemist at Rice University, and
he has spent his whole careertrying to create life in a test
tube.
I mean, and and he can't do it.
And a lot of other people havetried all over the world for
decades that we've tried tocreate life sort of from scratch
(43:14):
in a test tube, and we haven'teven come close.
So what makes you think, eveneven if you buy into the idea
that the universe is uh billionsof years old, what makes you
think that you know lifehappened by accident from
scratch?
And so this was part of myawakening, and I and I detail in
the movie, for example, I talkabout the three theories, the
three scientific theories of howlife began on Earth.
(43:37):
So I I I take people literally,I recreate my awakening, so to
speak, Chris, from atheism tobelieving in God.
And again, what compelled me tobelieve in God was the science.
When I started the studyingwhere did the universe come
from?
How is it made?
Where did life come from?
How is it made?
Are we alone?
Do we have a spirit?
(43:58):
Is there life These are hugequestions that I asked myself as
a young man.
And it was science that reallypointed to that was ultimately
the undeniable reality of it.
That it wasn't an accident.
It happened within or without isan accident.
(44:20):
It was intentionally made.
It wasn't just the discoveries Imade is that never mind that I'm
a Christian, never mind that Ibelieve in the set that aside
for a moment.
I'm talking just as a personwho's going to teach you
physics, math, and astronomy,right?
What we have found in cosmology,which is one of my specialties,
(44:40):
the study of the origins of theuniverse.
What we have discovered is thatthe universe, and listen
carefully, because this is gamechanger for me.
It's made for life.
If you look at the naturalconsciousness or what I call the
vital statistics of theuniverse, they are perfect, they
(45:03):
have the perfect numericalvalues for life to exist.
If they were smitten up orsmitten down, life wouldn't
exist.
The universe would be onegigantic coast.
And you have to ask yourself, behonest with yourself.
Is that just a coincidence?
It's like going to Las Vegas andbeing on Lucky Street for like
100 times in a row.
(45:24):
That just didn't happen byaccident.
And so this is what this is whatI talk about.
This is what changed my life,which converted me from atheism
to ultimately Christianity.
And I document that in themovie, and I almost show it with
visuals.
It's really, I'm so proud of it.
I poured my heart and soul intothis thing, Chris, for a more
than a year.
(45:44):
And I can't wait for people tosee it on April 8th.
It's going to be amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (45:49):
I think it is going to be changing, and it'll bring
people who are fence-sitters inparticular to a better
understanding.
Your story makes me think uhthis is going back more years
than I care to, admit we have towrap up here.
But Rabbi Erwin Katzell wrote abook about faith with Larry
King, who was a devout atheist,and Rabbi's goal was to convert
Larry.
(46:09):
And I at during the interviewwhen he when the book came out,
I said, How'd you do, Rabbi?
Well, I got close.
I got him from being an atheistto an agnostic with questions,
but I'm not done yet with him.
And that's true.
That I think is what Dr.
Gillen's documentary, TheInvisible Everywhere, is going.
It will help you along inunderstanding because one law of
(46:31):
science, and I've I've spentthis past week looking for any
possible clue to an alternative,but the only conclusion is you
cannot create something wherethere is nothing.
So as far as evolution versuscreation, uh, I'm sorry, the
science, again, and you'll learna lot more of a Dr.
Gillen's documentary, sciencegives you only one path to take.
(46:56):
The InvisibleEverywhere.com,Michael Gillen.com.
He's also on Substack hispodcast.
More than MeetsTheIQ.com.
We have all three of those linksat our homepage.
The Invisible EverywhereBelieving is Seeing.
And Dr.
Gillen, you are, I think, theone of the greatest you found
(47:17):
the greatest way to help teachpeople truth about themselves
within themselves, which so manypeople have trouble trouble
finding.
SPEAKER_04 (47:37):
Thank you, Chris.
God bless you.
I always said ask toughquestions, demand honest
answers.
I think what you said is saidbeautifully.
God bless you and yourlisteners.
Have a wonderful day.
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
When?
If you've dealt with uh lessthan spectacular customer
service, there's you wantedwhen?
Yeah we've all been there,right?
Considering the times that we'rein today and certainly where
they're unfoldinggeographically, there's another
(48:09):
when people are asking.
Is this when Jesus is returning?
God has certainly given us amplewarnings about what to be
watching for.
This is what we're told inMalachi chapter four verse one
for behold the day is coming,burning like an oven, and all
the proud, yes, all who dowickedly will be stubble, and
the day which is coming shallburn them up, says the Lord of
(48:31):
hosts, that will leave themneither root nor branch.
These words of Jesus in Lukechapter twenty one verses ten
through twelve, then he said tothem nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom againstkingdom, and there will be great
earthquakes in various places,and famines and pestilences, and
there will be fearful sights andgreat signs from heaven.
(48:54):
But before all these things theywill lay their hands on you and
persecute you, delivering you upto the synagogues and prisons,
you will be brought before kingsand rulers for my name's sake.
So are we to be spending ourtime and giving our focus to
determine if this is when?
No, that's not what our priorityshould be.
(49:15):
If it was, then why was Danieltold so much about what was to
come?
This is found in chapters elevenand twelve in the book of
Daniel, only to be instructed inDaniel chapter twelve, verse
four with this But you, Daniel,shut up the words and seal the
book until the time of the end,many shall run to and fro, and
(49:36):
knowledge shall increase.
And later in verse nine,Daniel's told by a man clothed
in white linen who was above thewater of a river, and he said,
Go your way, Daniel, for thewords are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end.
It's Jesus, who in Matthewchapter twenty four, verse
thirty six, tells us not to beconcerned about this when, but
(49:58):
of that day and hour no oneknows, not even the angels of
heaven, but my Father only.
The lesson is not to spend yourtime wondering whether this is
when, instead, spend your timemaking absolutely positively
sure that you're prepared forthat when that we're waiting
for.
(50:18):
Galatians chapter two versetwenty provides us a very strong
foundation for understandingthis.
I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me, and the life
which I now live in the flesh, Ilive by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himselffor me.
We also have these words fromPaul in Romans chapter twelve,
(50:41):
verses one and two.
I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice, wholly
acceptable to God, which is yourreasonable service, and do not
be conformed to this world, butbe transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may provewhat is that good and acceptable
(51:01):
and perfect will of God.
You should take the steps toknow God more, since when you
think about it, he certainlyknows all about you.
We read this in Second Peterchapter three, verse eighteen,
but grow in the grace andknowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
Commit yourself to God and hisword as we're instructed in
first Corinthians chapterfifteen, verse fifty eight.
(51:22):
Therefore, my beloved brethren,be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of theLord, knowing that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord.
We are to give praise to God forall that He's blessed us with
and brought us through.
Let's read from Psalm chapterone hundred fifty, verses one
through six.
(51:43):
Praise the Lord, praise God inhis sanctuary, praise him in his
mighty firmament, praise him forhis mighty acts, praise him
according to his excellentgreatness, praise him with the
sound of the trumpet, praise himwith the lute and the harp,
praise him with the timbrel anddance, praise him with stringed
instruments and flutes, praisehim with loud cymbals, praise
him with clashing cymbals, leteverything that has breath
(52:06):
praise the Lord, praise theLord.
Doesn't leave much to question,does it?
Finally, we're instructednumerous times to stay awake,
including these words of Jesusfrom Luke chapter twenty one,
verse thirty-six.
Watch therefore and pray alwaysthat you may be counted worthy
to escape all these things thatwill come to pass and to stand
(52:28):
before the Son of Man.
I want to invite you to visitour website, Issues and Ideas,
radio.com.
That's where we have moreinformation about the guests who
joined us here on the showtoday.
And if you are listening viayour favorite podcast platform,
be sure to subscribe and followus so you never miss a minute of
everything that we do here.
(52:48):
Always grateful and thankful foryour time and attention.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas.
I'm Chris Tobello.
As we get closer and closer towhat may be one of the most
important midterm electionswe've ever had, two things which
are very related to electionsprogressed this past week.
First, let's start with thenomination of Senator Mark Wayne
Mullen to become the head of theDepartment of Homeland Security.
He was appearing before a Senatecommittee this past week for his
(00:23):
initial stamp of approval, whichhe did get despite Republican
Rand Paul voting no, becauseDemocrat Senator John Fetterman
voted yes to advance thenomination.
So Mullen's nomination will nowgo to the full Senate where it's
pretty much likely he'll it'llpass and he'll get the DHS job.
What's this have to do with themidterms?
(00:44):
Well, one of the roles of theDepartment of Homeland Security
is to ensure that our electionprocess is protected and
preserved rather than threatenedand influenced.
That makes this exchange betweenMullen and Senator Elise Slotkin
from this past week veryinteresting.
Check this out.
SPEAKER_00 (01:02):
Let me turn to elections.
The Department of HomelandSecurity has the mandate since
the Obama era for securing ourelections of infrastructure.
That's an important job, and youwill be Secretary.
(01:30):
He has said he wants tofederalize the elections.
He has said name check cities,including Detroit.
He has said voting machines areinaccurate.
He has said in the State of theUnion, I was on the Senate
floor, paraphrase that if hedoesn't, if his side doesn't win
in November, then the electionswere rigged, which is exactly
what he said eight months beforethe 2020 election.
(01:53):
You have your own history.
You did not certify the 2020election.
There are people at theDepartment of Homeland Security,
three people individually whoare well-known election deniers
now running election securityfunctions.
Who won the 2020 election?
SPEAKER_02 (02:11):
Ma'am, we know that President Joe Biden was torn
into office.
He was the President for thelast four years.
But I do believe I believe myjob as Department of Homeland
Security Secretary will be tomake sure that we assure that
the elections are fair andpeople can trust them.
SPEAKER_00 (02:27):
Does the Federal Government run the elections
process or do states?
SPEAKER_02 (02:31):
It's very clear in the Constitution that the states
control state elections and thenthere is some federal oversight
that's on it, but the federalgovernment can set some
standards.
So if you're talking about theSave American Act uh requiring
you, which is within theConstitution, by the way,
requiring individuals to becitizens of the United States, I
don't think it's too much to asksomebody to prove they're a
(02:52):
citizen of the United States tobe able to do that.
That's not what we're talkingabout.
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
I am talking about administering the elections.
If you are Secretary of HomelandSecurity, do you feel you have
the authority to put uniformedofficers at polling locations in
2026?
SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
Ma'am, we we said this in your office.
The only reason why my officerswould be there if there was a
specific threat for them to bethere not for intimidation, and
I said no feeling.
(03:26):
No, ma'am, I said I can't sitthere and guarantee
hypothetically of what threatwould be not.
I'm not putting military, that'snot within my own.
SPEAKER_00 (03:33):
Uniformed, sorry, uniformed officers.
SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
But if there is a threat, a specific threat, say
it's in a Jewish community, andthere is a threat that's
specific to that to that pollingarea, then we will work with
local law enforcement.
There'll be there'll be a reasonfor us to be there and it'll be
known why we're there.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
I think the reason you're here and not Christy Ohm
is because Americans trust theirlocal law enforcement now way
more than they trust ICE.
So I would just say if we everget to the point where you are
being asked to put armed ICEofficers at polling locations,
we have lost the plot as acountry.
We have fundamentally lost it.
And until I hear someone tell methat that this man, President
(04:13):
Trump, will actually allow us tohave a free and fair election,
there is zero trust here, and Icannot trust that he won't try
and steal it again.
SPEAKER_01 (04:22):
Sounded like a simple question to me, which
Mullen obviously had achallenging time answering.
Maybe that's because up to thatpoint at least, Mullen had been
a 2020 election denier.
So has the leopard changed hisspots?
Combine that with what we'rewatching on full in the Senate
with what's being called theSave America Act.
(04:44):
Senate Republicans have taken tothe Senate floor to try in every
way possible to sell thislegislation to you so that you
will call your senator ifthey're not in favor of it and
demand that they support andvote for the Save America Act.
Oh no, they won't.
Thankfully, they won't.
Well I'll explain.
The Republicans in Donald Trumpare proclaiming how the Save
(05:06):
America Act will eliminatepeople who shouldn't be voting
from voting.
Voter ID enforcement.
Now an overwhelming majority ofpeople, Republican, Democrat,
independent, all support thisidea.
But the path to it via the SaveAmerica Act will in fact limit
(05:28):
access to voting.
Let's look a little deeper intothat.
We have one in ten voting ageAmerican citizens, that's about
twenty-one point three millionpeople, who either don't have a
proof of citizenship document orcertificate of passport,
naturalization certificate, orthey don't have easy access to
(05:48):
get one.
That's according to a 2023survey.
That same survey found thatpeople of color are more likely
not to have a document provingcitizenship.
Only about 43% of Americans havepassports.
That's according to a survey bythe Voting Rights Lab.
Now the bill says voters canshow an ID that indicates
(06:10):
citizenship, but as of now, onlyfive states Michigan, Minnesota,
New York, Vermont, andWashington, offer IDs that meet
that criteria.
The Safe America Act says that aform of identification issued
consistent with the requirementsof the Real ID Act of 2005 that
indicates the applicant is acitizen of the United States can
(06:33):
be used.
No state real ID indicatescitizenship status.
Voters who don't have acitizenship document with a
photo like a passport, thenthey'd have to show two
documents.
Government issue photo ID alongwith a document proving
(06:54):
citizenship like a birthcertificate.
As many as sixty-nine millionAmerican women changed their
names after they got married, sothey don't have a birth
certificate that matches theircurrent name.
(07:16):
That was according to uhanalysis by the Center for
American Progress.
So these women would likely needadditional documentation, a name
change document, a marriagecertificate, in order to
register to vote.
Now speaking of registering tovote, the Safe America Act
specifies that if someoneregisters by mail, they must
(07:36):
present their documents inperson to the office of the
appropriate election officialbefore the voter registration
deadline passes, or if they'rein a state where voters can
register at a polling place,they could show their documents
there.
That requirement would alsocompletely upend any third party
(07:56):
voter registration drives thatgo on.
Those rely on on mail forms.
Between the twenty twenty andtwenty twenty two elections,
according to the ElectionAssistance Commission, that's
the EAC, most common way peopleregistered was through
(08:20):
Department of Motor Eagleoffices, but nine percent of
voters registered to vote bymail, fax or email, and fourteen
percent register online,twenty-two, according to the
EAC.
Even small changes like movinginto an apartment, moving down
the block, changing partyaffiliation, that's considered
voter registration update time.
(08:40):
So under the Save Act, you'dhave to go in person to your
election office, presentoriginal or a certified
documentation to make any kindof voter registration change,
including what seems to be justminor details.
It's important to note thatDonald Trump and others claim
that our elections are underattack from the outside.
(09:01):
After looking at these facts, isit more accurate to say that the
security and stability of ourelections are actually under
attack from within?
So what happens when the SaveAmerica Act fails to pass the
Senate?
Will local election officialsbecome even more of a target
than they already have become?
(09:21):
How about poll workers?
Will they be discouraged or evenfearful to take part and oversee
the election process like likethey've done in some cases for
for many years?
How about this?
Will MAGA declare themselves tobe poll watchers?
I know in most states that's nothow how becoming a poll watcher
works, but will they care?
(09:45):
Will there be armed lawenforcement, even troops at
highly selected pollinglocations?
The election clause, of course,gives states the duty of running
and overseeing elections, butwell, Donald Trump is either
carved out or by the House ofRepublicans has been awarded
chunks of Article One of the USConstitution.
(10:06):
So what's one more piece?
Are you asking right now?
Well, what can I do?
How how much how much weight doI carry?
What what kind of difference canI make?
Well, there is this thing calledthe No Kings movement.
There are going to be rallies.
There's coming Saturday overthree thousand locations
nationwide.
(10:27):
So there are two things youcould do.
First, find the rally near you.
You could do that atNoKings.org.
Then once you find the rallynear you, go to it.
Be a part of the answer to thethreats that our elections are
facing at an increasingly higherlevel.
You certainly do not even tellyou the cost of everything has
gotten higher.
This cost increase has affectedeverything from the
(10:50):
non-essential to the veryessential, like food, for
example.
I mean, yeah, you can look foroptions, lessen the financial
hit, but how much food shoppingcan you do with the dollar store
and still hope to maintain anormal lifespan?
Now there are some who say thatan idea called price controls
would be a quick solution to theaffordability issue.
(11:10):
Remember that saying, those whofail to learn from history are
doomed to repeat it.
My first guest today joins us togive a history lesson.
Let's call it on price controlsand whether they succeeded in
the goals that were set forthem.
He's finance and monetary policyanalyst with the Competitive
Enterprise Institute.
Steve Swedberg, thanks for beinghere today, Steve.
SPEAKER_05 (11:30):
Pleasure to pleasure to be here, Chris.
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
CEI.org, the website, learn more about
Steve's work and the otherexperts and analysts with the
Competitive EnterpriseInstitute.
For the listeners, Steve, let'slet's establish a definition.
What are price controls?
SPEAKER_05 (11:48):
Uh price controls are um they are limits that the
government imposes on how highor low, sometimes they're a
price lower, uh, uh how low uh aprice can go.
Um and in this case, uhpoliticians uh are proposing
them in in various forms torespond to high grocery bills
(12:09):
and and this this persistentinflation we've been seeing
since around uh 2021-22.
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
If you look throughout history, are price
controls established throughexecutive orders?
Does a law have to be passed?
What's the what are themechanics behind establishing
price controls?
SPEAKER_05 (12:25):
Um yeah, oftentimes it can be uh it can come from
the federal government, it cancome from the state government,
uh in in Argentina it came itcame f it came federal.
Uh so it it it it really itreally depends.
I mean, we're we're more f wehave a more federalized system,
so it that would more like thereare price gouging laws, um,
which price gouging laws aresometimes they're price ceilings
(12:47):
um during emergencies, like ahurricane or a storm, where the
government says on the statelevel you can only charge this
much um during uh uh a naturaldisaster.
SPEAKER_01 (13:00):
Now, obviously not looking to protect the grocery
industry.
They're they're in effectvictims too, because when you
look at the the price of food,it's from uh cost of energy for
the farmers, the cost of tariffsthat the importers have to pay
to pass on to the consumers.
But as it is for grocery stores,by and large, they're not
working with a lot of wiggleroom to begin with as far as
(13:21):
trying to make a profit and keepthe lights on the doors open,
are they?
SPEAKER_05 (13:25):
Oh, you're you're absolutely right on that point.
Uh normally a business, uh, forto be a healthy business usually
runs with a five, ten percentprofit margin.
Uh grocery stores, uh, theythey're usually around the one,
two percent mark.
So yeah, you're right.
They really don't have a lot ofwiggle room.
And if you take away that wiggleroom, what what happens as a
(13:49):
result, um, both in theory andin practice?
What happens?
You have fewer items on the shyou have fewer items on the
shelf, they have less incentiveto invest in better services.
Uh, and in worst case scenario,they there can be closures of
grocery stores.
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
Or at the very least, reduction in staff.
SPEAKER_05 (14:07):
That too, uh, which will make which will make it
even more complicated and thenand make it even harder for
people or more expensive forpeople to get groceries in the
long run.
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
Now, obviously the layperson thinks, okay, if
prices are out of control, putsome kind of control on them,
even even if it's temporary,until everything rebalances and
reshifts and we can get back tosome realm of normalcy.
But if you look through history,that hasn't always worked out uh
according to plan or hope, hasit?
SPEAKER_05 (14:35):
Um oh, I mean uh that I mean I would say that's
an understatement.
Uh uh price controls have areare one of the oldest and most
tried uh policy interventions inhistory.
Particularly with interest ratecontrol uh cap.
Uh and yeah, it's been it's beentried and failed because rather
(14:58):
than trying to help out theproblem, it creates more
problems.
Because uh Chris, a lot ofpeople think of the economy like
it's a machine.
Like you fix the gear here or ortighten the screw there, you fix
everything.
But in fact, the economyfunctions more like an
ecosystem.
So when you try to fix somethingin one place, you have a bunch
(15:18):
of other unintended consequenceslike grocery store closures and
empty shelves that happeninstead.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Well, that's the thing.
Looking through some of thehistory that you write about and
did some digging on my own too,more often than not, price
controls actually wind upcreating product shortages,
which wind up creating higherprices.
SPEAKER_05 (15:37):
Exactly.
And that and that defeats thatdefeats the purpose of uh price
control.
So you're you're just creatingmore problems uh along the way.
SPEAKER_01 (15:46):
So why why are people going, I mean, is it just
as simple as look as uh asenator or house member or
president saying, well, I haveto look like I'm doing
something, so this will be anice, quick, easy, superficial
fix, where in fact it's likeputting a tourniquet a band-aid
on an amputation.
SPEAKER_05 (16:03):
Yeah, well, there's that there's definitely a
political um it's like I thinkwith a lot of public policy, it
it sounds good on paper, itsounds good from a political
standpoint, but when implementedit it creates it creates more
problems.
Yeah, yeah.
Both sides are are are are doingit and have done it.
And this is again, this is notoriginal, like we've done it if
(16:25):
we did it in World War II, wedid it during the Nixon era.
Uh it just yeah, it createsshortages and and quality and
the quality of food gets like inWor World War II.
They they were they were theywere replacing like tea tea with
grass.
Like they were they were reallycutting back on on quality.
And I mean those were moreextreme advanced I mean World
(16:47):
War II was a wartime, um, butthe Nixon era uh was not
wartime.
That was that was relativelypeacetime and and we still had
shortages and and qualityissues.
Um and people were lessincentivized to produce more and
to invest in in food production.
So that's that's the kind ofthing we don't want to have uh
uh happen in in an attempt toquote unquote try to do
(17:08):
something.
SPEAKER_01 (17:09):
As you're right too in the article, which you can
find at CEI.org, and we'll put adirect link to it too.
It it just has the outreachingeffect.
I mean, you always think that anaction coming in is going to
solve a problem, but with pricecontrols, it just and we've
talked about uh some of themalready, from farmers to retail
to businesses to the consumer,it just has a negative impact as
(17:30):
as the ripple effect goes on.
We're talking with SteveSwedberg, who is finance and
monetary policy analyst with theCompetitive Enterprise
Institute, CEI.org, theirwebsite, and you are listening
to issues and ideas.
It's safe to say, too, thatSteve, with the recent economic
statistical news, the thepicture is not going to get
(17:50):
better anytime soon, is it?
So even price controls mightseem like a superficial fix, but
if the numbers keep go if thecost and inflation keeps going
up, would you write about havinglittle effect as it is, if none,
is just not going to make adifference one way or another
because it doesn't address theroot cause of high prices, and
(18:12):
that is inflation.
SPEAKER_05 (18:14):
No, it's absolutely and and that that is a whole
other conversation.
I'm gonna try to throw uh reallyquickly just some some
suggestions.
Uh, rather than just complainabout prices being high.
I mean, one one way we can gowith it is uh removing tariffs
on food imports.
Another one is uh for the U.S.
government to stop subsidizingsugar and and corn, uh, because
(18:38):
corn's used to feed cows and andboosting that for demand for
that and biofuel.
Uh yeah, and that and that hashealth implications with uh
fructose, corn, syrup, and allthat.
Another one we can do is uh uhreform occupational licensing,
because why why do truckers orbutchers need hundreds of hours
of training before they canstart working?
(18:58):
It really is an impediment forsomeone to try to get a job,
especially on on the lowerincome end of uh of things.
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
Certainly giving better policies and better
fairness of of regulations andrules to to the farmers, that
would be a big help.
SPEAKER_05 (19:15):
Oh, for helping out the f I mean that I mean they
are getting help.
There there are certainsubsidies, and and that's
another dis that's anotherdistortion.
Um and that also affects uh Ilike with with sugar, especially
with the sugar and corn, thatthat really uh uh affects prices
uh a as well.
So yeah, I I mean generally thethe the more we can cut back on
(19:37):
those regulations that help thatthat that that are holding the
hamstring in holding the marketback.
Uh the better the better themarkets can work out and and the
and the prices can signal ratherthan than artificial uh ceilings
and and floors that that createmore problems than solutions.
SPEAKER_01 (19:56):
Last question, only because we have a change in the
guard coming up with the Fed,and a lot of this begins and
ends with the Fed and what theydo or don't do.
Are there concerns that theincoming head of the Fed, Kevin
Walsh, is not going to want tomaintain the independence and
take action based on economicstats and instead work for the
(20:18):
White House instead of for theeconomy?
SPEAKER_05 (20:20):
Um that is a concern.
CEI has uh written about that,uh, because for a number of
years, uh Kevin Walsh was aninflation hawk, and then right
around when he was beingconsidered for Fed share, um,
did he change his tune?
Um I think especially now withthe uh energy price volatility
with the war in the Middle East,um, there's even less reason to
(20:43):
lower the interest rate now umthan there was just even a few
weeks ago.
And if he ends up uh doing that,um and this is the and the Fed
once again is trying to playthis balancing gap between
making sure the labor market'sstable and prices are stable.
Whole other conversation aboutthe dual mandate there.
But essentially, yeah, thatwould I I think that would uh
(21:05):
create some issues, and I thinkthose are some good questions to
ask as his confirmation hearingis approaching.
SPEAKER_01 (21:10):
Check out Steve's article over at CEI.org.
No free lunch price controlswon't make groceries more
affordable.
Steve Sweidburg, thanks so muchfor the bringing us a better
understanding of reality versusimagery, and thanks for being
here today.
SPEAKER_06 (21:24):
Thank you, Chris.
Have a great day.
SPEAKER_01 (21:26):
And now for an opposing viewpoint.
SPEAKER_06 (21:29):
Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make
America affordable again.
But the word affordability is ademocratic scam.
One of my top priorities will beto quickly defeat inflation and
make America affordable again.
I don't want to hear about theaffordability.
We will make America affordableagain.
(21:55):
Affordability, affordability, wewill target everything from car.
SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
As a parent, you always hope that you're on top
of everything that's importantand you're prepared when it
comes to the well-being of yourchild.
Nevertheless, when a medicalevent happens, your first
priority, as it should be, is toget the best treatment possible
for your child so they can becared for as quickly and
successfully as possible.
The aftermath.
As my next guest is with us todiscuss often results and
(22:50):
medical bills that aren't evenclose to being imaginable.
This is caused in great part bya lack of price transparency
within our health care system.
When you think about it, it'skind of disturbing, or more than
disturbing.
Realize the retail businesssector provides greater price
transparency than our healthcare system does.
(23:10):
Anyway, joining us to examinethis issue and how the American
Parents Coalition is takingaction is their founder and
executive director.
Allah Moray, how are you today,Ally?
SPEAKER_03 (23:22):
I'm well, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (23:23):
I appreciate you taking the time to talk about
this.
American ParentsCoalition.org isa website.
You find out more about this andother vital issues for parents
of no matter how many kids youhave, because it's still the
same responsibilities and youhave uh hopefully the same high
bar expectations of everyone,everything that's supposed to
serve your child.
(23:45):
Transparency with health care.
Now, back in 2021, it was uh arule that went to effect that
basically mandated hospitals, uhhealth care providers are
transparent in their pricingsystem.
But a recent report says that tothis day, up to 75 percent of
(24:06):
those medical care givers andhospitals are not complying.
What's happening here, Allie?
SPEAKER_03 (24:13):
That's right.
So uh because it's uh a quoterule, um, there is more
flexibility, I guess you couldcall it, on the enforcement side
of things.
It has not yet been codifiedinto law.
So um during the previous umadministration, President Biden
did not do a whole lot um andhis team to enforce the
(24:34):
healthcare organizations thatwere not complying with this
rule.
So what our organization,American Parents Coalition, is
really advocating for right nowis that the healthcare price
transparency component getsreally truly codified into law
so that there are consequencesand legal ramifications should
(24:55):
healthcare providers, hospitalsystems, et cetera, not provide
that transparency to patientsand and their families.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
Do you think, and especially since that law was th
that rule rather was put intoplace in 2021, do you think the
transparency issue has grown inseriousness because of the way
that so many hospitals havebecome part of hospital networks
and they just fall into the samethe same policies or lack of
(25:23):
transparency that the hospitalsthat absorb them have been long
practicing?
SPEAKER_03 (25:29):
Yeah, I I mean I think the biggest problem is
just that like you you have noidea what to expect when you go
anywhere.
Um I unfortunately had a reallife example of this over the
weekend.
My five-year-old uh missed thebed jumping into his brother's
bed and cracked his head open.
We went to the emergency roomfor five stitches.
It was six hundred and fiftydollars out the door, and
(25:50):
unfortunately, since I have fivekids, we frequently need medical
attention.
And a very similar procedure ata different hospital a few
months ago was significantlyless expensive.
And you know, we're just talkinglike co-pays from system to
system and like you know whatwe're paying out of pocket.
It's just it's wild.
Um, and I know that I'm notalone in that experience.
(26:11):
We see that in talking tofamilies all across the all
across the US.
Um and the biggest problem hereis that it really affects the
care that we're able to providefor our kids.
Um, parents and families are notable to budget effectively.
We're not able to shop andcompare options, we're not able
to plan for emergencies.
And some families may need to toprioritize and pick and choose,
(26:35):
okay, can I leave room in mybudget for an emergency?
And if I'm doing that, does thatmean that I'm foregoing some of
the preventive care throughoutthe year so that God forbid s
should something happen, I canpay for that out of pocket.
Um, and it's just it'sinconsistent, and parents have
no idea what to expect, and theinability to compare one
provider to the next, um, it itreally makes things difficult.
SPEAKER_01 (26:59):
And a lot of times, and this is a story going back a
few years, we're based in NewJersey.
Uh, mother had her son in asmall, let's call a rural
hospital, and they said, Look,you can get better care for your
child at this hospital over atlocation B, and we'll provide
the ambulance transport, themedical transport.
You know, for the moment, andmom's still worried about her
(27:20):
son, obviously.
So you probably the assumptionis, well, it's gonna cost, but
how much could this possiblycost and it's for my son?
Yeah.
It was a five-figure cost, tenthousand dollars to go from one
hospital to another, which isabsolutely ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03 (27:36):
Yeah, that's right.
Um, and then every every monitorthey they hook your child up to
in transit is you know anotherthousand dollars.
Um, and and you you raise a goodpoint, you know, when we're
talking about what is requiredand needed for your children,
it's really hard to askquestions in that scenario
because as a parent, it is yourinstinct to say whatever is
(28:00):
necessary.
You're not, especially in anemergent situation, you're not
sitting there questioning, doesmy kid really need this?
Um, and that's where I think alot of families really get taken
advantage of.
But but just by and large, youknow, even if it's a if it's a
routine procedure, if you askDr.
A and Dr.
B, oftentimes they'll give you,you know, a generic price sheet
(28:24):
that's not necessarily specificto the the treatment that your
child needs or is receiving, ifthey're even willing to provide
that.
Um and it just makes it reallyimpossible to to um you know
shop.
You would never do that whenyou're buying a car, when you're
buying groceries, um, you know,get in the car and drive it off
the lot and then find out thatyou know it's it's six thousand
dollars more expensive than youthought it was.
(28:46):
So I don't understand why one ofthe most important factors of
our life, our our health careand the health care that we
provide to our children, we haveto guess um and and can really
throw the family budget rightout the window when we're
talking about people's health.
SPEAKER_01 (29:02):
And wind up with medical debt, which it's gotten
to the point now where creditcard companies or credit uh
bureau companies, when they takeinto your credit score
situation, they are excludingmedical debt just because of how
how rampant that's becoming.
We're talking with Ali Moray,who is the founder, executive
director of American ParentsCoalition, American
ParentsCoalition.org, theirwebsite, and you're listening to
(29:24):
issues and ideas.
Now we know that in the Senate,well, we know some of the things
going on in the Senate, andoften they they tend to spin
their wheels depending on uhwho's in charge or who's the who
the leadership is.
But uh the uh exploration ofimproving health care at least
is on the horizon, if not withinaction.
(29:45):
And you have your Parents NeedPrices campaign going on.
So talk about how your campaignis looking to let those in the
Senate and all of Congressreally know that this isn't
working out, this isn't what theparents deserve, this isn't what
the children deserve.
SPEAKER_03 (30:01):
That's right.
So just this week we sent aletter um to the Senate
encouraging them again to umtake up legislation that would
codify price transparency intolaw.
Um this has been something thathas a been a priority of
President Trump'sadministration.
That rule that we talked aboutat the top was something that
his first administration um puton the books and then just was
(30:22):
poorly enforced by the the Bidenadministration.
And so he has has brought thatback into the fold as a priority
for this term and asked theSenate um to include that in any
legislation.
So we sent a letter this weekechoing that.
Um we've also run some uh paidadvertising and also sent a
(30:43):
letter to um the presidentmaking aware that that we're on
board with this.
Um but we also have a lot on ourwebsite.
Um, our campaign specific tothis is parentsneadprices.com.
And um on that page, there's alot that that listeners can do
if they're interested inadvocating for this.
We have um little how-to's onsubmitting a public comment for
(31:06):
a proposed rule, um, and how youcan talk to your own senators
and representatives to supportthis price transparency um
initiative.
We have a sample letter that youcan send and how you can find
your member.
So there's a lot of great stuffon our website.
Um, we would really encouragepeople to get engaged and help
us push this over the finishline.
SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
And that's important too, because the politicians and
certainly the leadership inhospitals, if they don't hear
voices pushing against thestatus quo, then the status quo
is just going to receive moremore life to it, and nothing is
going to change.
So it really is the voice of theparents and the respect for
children that is really the onlything that they changed this
(31:45):
alley.
SPEAKER_03 (31:47):
That's right.
Um and I did just want to touchon on one thing that you
mentioned as we transitionedinto into this.
Um you had mentioned that thethe cost rising.
So we know that employersponsored, like the annual
family plan premiums, are upfifty percent more than a decade
ago.
Oh yeah.
And a hundred a hundred millionAmericans are in medical debt.
(32:09):
So when you're referencing thatit's you know being taken out of
what's evaluated in creditchecks, I mean that's why.
It's this is not a one-offthing.
The healthcare system and whatit's costing American families
is is just really out ofcontrol.
So to your point, the morepeople that what we can get
engaged um and advocating forthat policy change, I think has
an opportunity to really make adifference.
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
All right, now more at Parentsneed Prices dot com
and to learn more about theentire work of the American
Parents Coalition, become a partof it as well in that aspect,
American Parents Coalition.org.
She is their founder, executivedirector.
Allie Maury.
Allie, thanks for helpingparents understand they do have
empowerment, they do have a say,they do have a voice, and they
(32:51):
have to use it.
That's the only way change comesabout.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_03 (32:55):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
If you're listening via your favorite podcast
platform, don't forget to uhfollow or subscribe.
How many times have you saidthat you won't believe it unless
you see it?
That's what someone else isdelivered, doesn't it?
Well, what if it's you who needsto see it differently?
Not with what you look with.
When it comes to the spiritual,we've been told that's as far
(33:18):
away from science as you couldpossibly get.
In his book, Believing is being,and now in a documentary being
released April 8th called TheInvisible Everywhere.
(33:40):
He holds a PhD from Cornell inPhysics, Astronomy, and
Mathematics.
He was also science editor forABC News.
Dr.
Michael Gillen, how are youtoday, Doctor?
SPEAKER_04 (33:52):
Chris, I'm feeling really good and I'm looking
forward to our conversation.
Thank you for that generousintroduction.
SPEAKER_01 (33:57):
Well, I'm eager to have as many as possible dive
into this because uh I am I am acontrarian, self-confessed, and
proud of it, and certainly youuh you're feeding many cont
contrarians with your thesharing of your journey.
We have a tr uh triple playwebsite for the good doctor too,
we have on our homepage too, forthe documentary The Invisible,
(34:19):
everywhere.com,MichaelGillen.com, and for his
uh substack and podcast,MoreTheMeetheiq.com.
Well, like I said, we have thoseuh as well for you to hopefully
make use of at our homepage.
Uh talk about your journey,Doctor.
As far as starting off as anatheist and arriving to the
(34:41):
understanding where you are now,is there an aha moment or is a
is it a transitional in beliefsand gaining an understanding
that brings you to where you aretoday?
SPEAKER_04 (34:53):
It's actually both of the above.
You know, my journey started inEast Los Angeles.
Uh grew up in a poorneighborhood, uh Mexican bario,
um Mexican, Spanish, and Cubanuh in heritage.
Uh I fell madly in love withscience in the second grade.
And I figured at that pointthat, you know, any
self-respecting scientist to beshould be very skeptical.
(35:15):
And so I adopted this motto,seeing is believing.
I figured, well, what we see isall there is, and yeah, it's
like the show me state.
Show me, uh, show me, prove itto me, all that sort of thing.
And the other thing I Ideveloped as as I grew up as a
young man in high school and soforth was the idea that logic
was the gold standard of how oneshould look at the world, that
(35:39):
logic was certainly superior tofaith.
Faith was somehow a mentalweakness.
So the idea of believing in Godjust never occurred to me.
Science was, frankly, my God.
I know that sounds blasphemousfor many people, but for me that
was just the reality.
Science was my God.
I loved it, and I I just wantedto spend my whole life being a
scientist.
And then I got to grad school atCornell and I began learning a
(36:03):
really uh I I had in-depthlearning of the universe.
And that really for me was whenI realized that I was wrong on
both counts.
I mean, Chris, I mean, I didwrong.
First of all, I learned uh Ilearned there was something
called back then the missingmass problem.
I won't get into the details.
I deal with it in I I deal withit in my movie, but I won't get
(36:24):
into it here.
It was called the missing massproblem.
We now call it the dark matterproblem.
But um it it you know, myprofessors explained to me that
we now believe, uh, and all theevidence indicates, that 95% of
the universe, I'm gonna repeatthat, 95% of the observable
universe is invisible to us.
(36:46):
We can't see it.
And more than that, we don'teven know what it is.
We have no idea what dark matteris, dark energy is.
And so I thought, man, I have toditch that old scene is
believing model because if Istuck with it, I'd have to admit
that I couldn't believe in 95%of the universe I can't see.
So I uh, you know, that was thatwas a that was an aha moment for
(37:07):
me.
And then the other aha momentwas uh I realized, you know,
Chris, that you need I neededfaith in the scientific method
if I was to be a self-respectingscientist.
How in the world could I be ascientist without having uh
faith in the scientific method?
And so I realized that faith isnot a mental weakness, it's
actually a uh necessaryprerequisite to living a healthy
(37:29):
life.
So those were two, I think, ahamoments for me and and which
look which have led me to whereI am today.
SPEAKER_01 (37:36):
And of course, it certainly didn't hurt that a
woman who became your wife gaveyou a guided tour of the Bible,
especially with the NewTestament.
SPEAKER_04 (37:46):
Well, you know, I tell that story in the book.
Uh it happened on a Valentine'sDay, but you you know, I had to
set the stage very briefly.
I would work about 20, 21 hoursa day, seriously, 20 to 21 hours
a day, seven days a week.
I had a basement lap, so Ididn't know if it was day or
night.
I didn't really care.
I was just living out my dream,man.
I was being a scientist.
(38:07):
And one morning, um, you know,uh typically three in the
morning, I traced to my littleteeny dorm room at Cornell, and
uh heard a scraping soundunderneath the door, and lo and
behold, it was a Valentine's Daycard from some girl named
Laurel.
And I thought back, oh yeah, Itaught Laurel, uh, a woman named
Laurel Physics a couple yearsback, and that sparked romance.
(38:29):
And at some point in ourromance, because she was a laps
Catholic and she was alsoseeking for answers, and she
said to me, Well, have you everread I mean you've done
Hinduism, Buddhism, you'retelling me you've done all this
stuff, but have you ever readthe Bible?
I said, No.
And then she said something thatchanged my life forever, Chris.
She said, Well, I haven'teither, but if you read it, I'll
read it with you.
(38:49):
And I thought, okay, I'm not asdumb as I look.
She's this pretty sorority girloffering to spend time with me
reading the Bible.
I didn't give two hoots aboutthe Bible, but I sure cared
about Laurel.
And so I think that's how Godkind of wrote me in.
Anyway, it's a great story.
So every Valentine's Day wecelebrate that incredible day.
SPEAKER_01 (39:14):
Releasing April 8th, the InvisibleEverywhere.com,
MichaelGillen.com.
He's also on Substack and hispodcast, and you're listening to
Issues and Ideas.
With your documentary, TheInvisible Everywhere, are you
looking to reaffirm what is orconvert the non-believers?
SPEAKER_04 (39:36):
You know, it's a good question.
I I joke uh that it's like uh afour quad movie.
You know, in Hollywood, when wesay a four-quad movie, and I and
I've made a movie before, it'scalled Little Red Wagon, it's on
Amazon Prime, it's uhdistributed by Lionsgate.
So, you know, this is not myfirst rodeo.
But uh when we say about a fourquad movie, it means that you
(39:57):
know we we appeal to uheverybody every demographic,
young, old, female, male, right?
I call the invisible everywherea four-quad movie, but uh with a
slightly different definition offour-quads.
I I say it's for believers, it'sfor seekers, it's for doubters,
and it's for haters.
Okay, so you know, in otherwords, uh look, I have a lot of
(40:21):
people who follow me who areatheists, who are Muslim, who
are Jews.
I mean, I get the whole spectrumall over the world, honestly,
Chris.
And I really made it with themin mind.
I'm not trying to convertanybody to any uh I'm not trying
to convert anybody to anything.
Okay, let's get that reallyclear.
All I'm doing with this movie isI am documenting the journey I
(40:44):
took from being a young man towhere I am now, from atheism to
believing in God.
And who who convinced me of theexistence of God?
It really was my science.
I mean, Laurel, my wife whoforced me to read the Bible, or
who kind of uh seduced me intoreading the Bible, so to speak.
I mean, that was eye-opening.
(41:04):
That really was, and I talkabout it in the book.
We can't get into it here.
But really, what brought me tomy knees, so to speak, Chris,
was science.
And what keeps me on my kneesnow is both science and the
Bible.
And so this documentary, thismovie, which I'm I made with
with the help of AI, because notonly is it documenting my
(41:24):
journey from atheism tobelieving a scene, but the bonus
is I wanted to show viewers theuniverse they've never seen
before.
Because listen carefully.
We not only inhabit a universethat is mostly invisible, 95%
invisible, but we have aninvisible universe that inhabits
us.
(41:44):
So this documentary not onlytakes you to the great beyond,
the cosmos beyond us, but ittakes us, it takes a deep dive
into the cosmos within us, ourbodies, our brains, our minds,
our spirit.
And so I I I I needed to think,okay, well, I don't have a
hundred million dollars to usestate-of-the-art CGI, which you
(42:05):
know, to bring this theseinvisible universes to life, to
the screen.
So I used AI.
And I'm telling you, um the fewpeople who have seen the movie
uh within you know our innercircle, just blown away by the
visuals.
And I have to say, yeah, the thethe visuals are stunning.
And so you have this doublething, my journey, but then then
(42:27):
you're introduced to theuniverse that is invisible
within us and beyond us.
SPEAKER_01 (42:31):
Which so many times we dismiss as instinct, a gut
feeling, uh coincidence, chancehappening.
But if you I always tell someonewho says that, grab a piece of
paper or tap it on your notepadon your phone, how many steps
had to happen, how many thingshad to happen to get you from
there to here, and you want tocall that chance?
(42:52):
I don't think so.
SPEAKER_04 (42:53):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, I had friends likeyou know, Dr.
James Tour, who is uh eminentchemist at Rice University, and
he has spent his whole careertrying to create life in a test
tube.
I mean, and and he can't do it.
And a lot of other people havetried all over the world for
decades that we've tried tocreate life sort of from scratch
(43:14):
in a test tube, and we haven'teven come close.
So what makes you think, eveneven if you buy into the idea
that the universe is uh billionsof years old, what makes you
think that you know lifehappened by accident from
scratch?
And so this was part of myawakening, and I and I detail in
the movie, for example, I talkabout the three theories, the
three scientific theories of howlife began on Earth.
(43:37):
So I I I take people literally,I recreate my awakening, so to
speak, Chris, from atheism tobelieving in God.
And again, what compelled me tobelieve in God was the science.
When I started the studyingwhere did the universe come
from?
How is it made?
Where did life come from?
How is it made?
Are we alone?
Do we have a spirit?
(43:58):
Is there life These are hugequestions that I asked myself as
a young man.
And it was science that reallypointed to that was ultimately
the undeniable reality of it.
That it wasn't an accident.
It happened within or without isan accident.
(44:20):
It was intentionally made.
It wasn't just the discoveries Imade is that never mind that I'm
a Christian, never mind that Ibelieve in the set that aside
for a moment.
I'm talking just as a personwho's going to teach you
physics, math, and astronomy,right?
What we have found in cosmology,which is one of my specialties,
(44:40):
the study of the origins of theuniverse.
What we have discovered is thatthe universe, and listen
carefully, because this is gamechanger for me.
It's made for life.
If you look at the naturalconsciousness or what I call the
vital statistics of theuniverse, they are perfect, they
(45:03):
have the perfect numericalvalues for life to exist.
If they were smitten up orsmitten down, life wouldn't
exist.
The universe would be onegigantic coast.
And you have to ask yourself, behonest with yourself.
Is that just a coincidence?
It's like going to Las Vegas andbeing on Lucky Street for like
100 times in a row.
(45:24):
That just didn't happen byaccident.
And so this is what this is whatI talk about.
This is what changed my life,which converted me from atheism
to ultimately Christianity.
And I document that in themovie, and I almost show it with
visuals.
It's really, I'm so proud of it.
I poured my heart and soul intothis thing, Chris, for a more
than a year.
(45:44):
And I can't wait for people tosee it on April 8th.
It's going to be amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (45:49):
I think it is going to be changing, and it'll bring
people who are fence-sitters inparticular to a better
understanding.
Your story makes me think uhthis is going back more years
than I care to, admit we have towrap up here.
But Rabbi Erwin Katzell wrote abook about faith with Larry
King, who was a devout atheist,and Rabbi's goal was to convert
Larry.
(46:09):
And I at during the interviewwhen he when the book came out,
I said, How'd you do, Rabbi?
Well, I got close.
I got him from being an atheistto an agnostic with questions,
but I'm not done yet with him.
And that's true.
That I think is what Dr.
Gillen's documentary, TheInvisible Everywhere, is going.
It will help you along inunderstanding because one law of
(46:31):
science, and I've I've spentthis past week looking for any
possible clue to an alternative,but the only conclusion is you
cannot create something wherethere is nothing.
So as far as evolution versuscreation, uh, I'm sorry, the
science, again, and you'll learna lot more of a Dr.
Gillen's documentary, sciencegives you only one path to take.
(46:56):
The InvisibleEverywhere.com,Michael Gillen.com.
He's also on Substack hispodcast.
More than MeetsTheIQ.com.
We have all three of those linksat our homepage.
The Invisible EverywhereBelieving is Seeing.
And Dr.
Gillen, you are, I think, theone of the greatest you found
(47:17):
the greatest way to help teachpeople truth about themselves
within themselves, which so manypeople have trouble trouble
finding.
SPEAKER_04 (47:37):
Thank you, Chris.
God bless you.
I always said ask toughquestions, demand honest
answers.
I think what you said is saidbeautifully.
God bless you and yourlisteners.
Have a wonderful day.
SPEAKER_01 (47:48):
When?
If you've dealt with uh lessthan spectacular customer
service, there's you wantedwhen?
Yeah we've all been there,right?
Considering the times that we'rein today and certainly where
they're unfoldinggeographically, there's another
(48:09):
when people are asking.
Is this when Jesus is returning?
God has certainly given us amplewarnings about what to be
watching for.
This is what we're told inMalachi chapter four verse one
for behold the day is coming,burning like an oven, and all
the proud, yes, all who dowickedly will be stubble, and
the day which is coming shallburn them up, says the Lord of
(48:31):
hosts, that will leave themneither root nor branch.
These words of Jesus in Lukechapter twenty one verses ten
through twelve, then he said tothem nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom againstkingdom, and there will be great
earthquakes in various places,and famines and pestilences, and
there will be fearful sights andgreat signs from heaven.
(48:54):
But before all these things theywill lay their hands on you and
persecute you, delivering you upto the synagogues and prisons,
you will be brought before kingsand rulers for my name's sake.
So are we to be spending ourtime and giving our focus to
determine if this is when?
No, that's not what our priorityshould be.
(49:15):
If it was, then why was Danieltold so much about what was to
come?
This is found in chapters elevenand twelve in the book of
Daniel, only to be instructed inDaniel chapter twelve, verse
four with this But you, Daniel,shut up the words and seal the
book until the time of the end,many shall run to and fro, and
(49:36):
knowledge shall increase.
And later in verse nine,Daniel's told by a man clothed
in white linen who was above thewater of a river, and he said,
Go your way, Daniel, for thewords are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end.
It's Jesus, who in Matthewchapter twenty four, verse
thirty six, tells us not to beconcerned about this when, but
(49:58):
of that day and hour no oneknows, not even the angels of
heaven, but my Father only.
The lesson is not to spend yourtime wondering whether this is
when, instead, spend your timemaking absolutely positively
sure that you're prepared forthat when that we're waiting
for.
(50:18):
Galatians chapter two versetwenty provides us a very strong
foundation for understandingthis.
I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me, and the life
which I now live in the flesh, Ilive by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himselffor me.
We also have these words fromPaul in Romans chapter twelve,
(50:41):
verses one and two.
I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice, wholly
acceptable to God, which is yourreasonable service, and do not
be conformed to this world, butbe transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may provewhat is that good and acceptable
(51:01):
and perfect will of God.
You should take the steps toknow God more, since when you
think about it, he certainlyknows all about you.
We read this in Second Peterchapter three, verse eighteen,
but grow in the grace andknowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
Commit yourself to God and hisword as we're instructed in
first Corinthians chapterfifteen, verse fifty eight.
(51:22):
Therefore, my beloved brethren,be steadfast, immovable, always
abounding in the work of theLord, knowing that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord.
We are to give praise to God forall that He's blessed us with
and brought us through.
Let's read from Psalm chapterone hundred fifty, verses one
through six.
(51:43):
Praise the Lord, praise God inhis sanctuary, praise him in his
mighty firmament, praise him forhis mighty acts, praise him
according to his excellentgreatness, praise him with the
sound of the trumpet, praise himwith the lute and the harp,
praise him with the timbrel anddance, praise him with stringed
instruments and flutes, praisehim with loud cymbals, praise
him with clashing cymbals, leteverything that has breath
(52:06):
praise the Lord, praise theLord.
Doesn't leave much to question,does it?
Finally, we're instructednumerous times to stay awake,
including these words of Jesusfrom Luke chapter twenty one,
verse thirty-six.
Watch therefore and pray alwaysthat you may be counted worthy
to escape all these things thatwill come to pass and to stand
(52:28):
before the Son of Man.
I want to invite you to visitour website, Issues and Ideas,
radio.com.
That's where we have moreinformation about the guests who
joined us here on the showtoday.
And if you are listening viayour favorite podcast platform,
be sure to subscribe and followus so you never miss a minute of
everything that we do here.
(52:48):
Always grateful and thankful foryour time and attention.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
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