February 21, 2024 • 27 mins
Join me in this enlightening episode as I navigate my transformative political journey, moving away from firm conservatism towards a more diversified political stance. As a once staunch believer in right-wing ideologs, I was decisively influenced by renowned figures such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. An avid interest in American history, the Constitution, the separation of powers, and Ronald Reagan's influence propelled me into the conservative sphere. Yet, as time passed, my perspectives began to morph.
In this intriguing narration, I explore how an enlightening college course taught by a secular humanist initiated my intellectual pivot. My beliefs now lean towards minimal federal control with more power devolved to individual states. This shift doesn't signify a capricious fluctuation in political leaning but indicates an evolved understanding of optimal governance. I emphasize local governance as a more effective tool for representative democracy and potent change.
Plunge into this absorbing discourse where the pros and cons of federalizing programs, such as Obamacare and Social Security, are dissected. Gain a deeper understanding of the Constitution and its clauses to comprehend better how a nation's power should be divided. Witness our deep dive into the heart of my evolving political ideology and its impact on my governance perspectives.
This episode commentary further outlines the transformation from conservative absolutism to a balanced political perspective. I firmly assert that the extreme polarization of contemporary politics is doing far more harm than good. Political exchange has devolved into antagonistic rivalry where disagreement with popular consensus often labels one "evil."
In this podcast, I articulate how my disillusionment with strict conservatism led me on a journey of political self-discovery, exploring my place on the broad political spectrum. Inviting like-minded listeners to join me in this intellectual expedition, I leave no stone unturned in fostering a holistic and fair understanding of the political landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And then there's this video, which is going to be how I stopped being a conservative.
Now, please know that my belief system hasn't changed.
I've been on the radio for 25 years and you can go back.
The podcasts, the recordings are still there that reveal my conservatism.
(00:26):
But i i got into conservatism because of well a couple of things first of all is a set of values.
And the second is ronald reagan who had a huge impact on my life and i know
a lot of people are going to say well ronald reagan this and ronald reagan that
look there's no politician out there where i believe in everything that they
(00:50):
say and if there is a politician out there that you believe in everything they say,
you're in a bad place because that means they control you and they control your thoughts.
It's a bad, bad place to be.
So I would suggest that you try and be critical, use critical thinking with
(01:10):
everybody, even the people, well, actually even more with the people who you prop up.
And this is kind of what happened to me.
I got into conservatism, and you'll hear this a little bit more in the other
video, but I got into it because of people like Sean Hannity,
(01:34):
because of people like Rush Limbaugh.
Now, I didn't agree with everything thing they said, but I didn't have a political
thought until I started listening to them.
I didn't grow up with one particular religious, not religious,
but political viewpoint in my house.
(01:57):
In fact, the only conversation, it's kind of funny, the only conversation that
I ever remember about politics,
we were sitting around the table and my stepdad says to me, he says,
So do you think that you're a liberal or a conservative?
I had never heard this terminology before, and I thought, well,
(02:18):
liberal sounds like, you know, you get away with stuff, like it's accepting. I don't know.
So I said liberal, and he said, what?
And it was like he almost got mad at me because I said liberal. I had no idea.
I had no clue, no concept whatsoever what this was.
(02:39):
Well, in my 20s, I started listening to these talk show hosts,
local hosts and national hosts, and they started making me think.
And, you know, say what you will about Rush Limbaugh, he would turn my gears. He would twist my gears.
(03:03):
He would make me think about things that I had never thought before.
And that's a difficult skill.
You had Rush, who would make me think, and then you had Hannity,
who would have the guests on, who Rush always talked about but never had on his show.
So it was kind of this nice combination. combination.
(03:25):
And then as the internet rolled around, I would start researching the things
that they were talking about.
And I would start reading about the presidents of this country.
I became fascinated, fixated, if you will, about the Constitution,
(03:48):
about the Revolution, revolution, about the Civil War, about World War II, World War I.
I still probably watch something about World War II every day of my life.
My kids are like, what is your fixation? And I'm like, I don't know.
(04:09):
But I started to write down notes
and quotes from these people who who
led our country and i i just started
to eat it up i mean it started to consume me
and sometimes it wasn't in a good way there's uh some people become so consumed
(04:30):
that they get depressed and dark because they believe that everything is so
bad and and the world is against them.
And I had friends and family who were in this deep pit.
And one of them one day realized, I can't listen to this stuff anymore because
every single day I'm angry.
(04:53):
I'm gloom and doom because of what these people are saying.
And I met a lot of people like that. But over time, I started to form my opinion
of what the best way that this country should be run.
(05:15):
And then I took a class at college.
I didn't finish college. I barely started college.
I think I started several college classes, but I don't think I ever finished a college class.
I just got my GED like five years ago.
But I took a class and the teacher was a secular humanist. This is somebody
(05:40):
who doesn't believe religion should be in government at all.
And this class was fascinating because this person taught me some important
things about our government.
Number one, that God is never mentioned in the Constitution.
In fact, the two times religion is mentioned in the Constitution,
(06:03):
the first is that there There should be no litmus test for anybody for religion,
for anybody running for office.
And the second is that Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion.
And this started to make me think, OK, there's there should be a division here between the two.
(06:25):
And so my type of conservatism began to change a little bit. it.
And that's OK. But primarily, my view was that the government should be as small as possible,
especially the federal government, that it's very hard to have the pursuit of
(06:48):
life, liberty and happiness when the government is taking all your money and
they're mandating everything that you you should do.
And I became a huge, and it was actually in this secular humanist class,
I became a huge, a staunch supporter.
Of the difference and the separation, not of church and state,
(07:12):
but of the federal government and state.
And I think this is something that is missed so often in our society,
that we tend to believe that there's this big government that really the federal
government governs all the the land and that it's the big bad boss and it gets
(07:35):
to tell the states what to do.
And that's just not the way it is. That's not the way this government was set up.
And that's not the way it is today. But so many people just kind of see it that way.
And what was so important to me is that we had this kind of really cool system
(07:58):
where where you had the individual states,
and they were sovereign. They had their own authority.
But then they got together and they said, we're going to give up a certain amount
of our authority, just a small piece,
and we're going to give that to the federal government so that they can do things
(08:20):
that only the federal government can do.
And then we're going to have a Supreme Court who can decide whether or not that
federal government or states are overreaching this agreement.
And what is the agreement?
It's the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
(08:42):
And a lot of people think that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights define our rights.
They define my rights and your rights. Not true.
There's a couple parts of the Constitution where you can say,
OK, that's specific to the people.
But the Constitution is a restriction on the federal government's power.
(09:06):
Think about it. Congress shall pass no law.
Think about it. Shall not be abridged. Everything in there is about the power
of the federal government.
And everything else shall be left to the states.
The document says it. If it's not mentioned in the Constitution,
(09:29):
then every power is reserved to the states.
So the federal government is supposed to be small.
It's not supposed to grow outside of this constitutional construct.
And in fact, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution defines the authority of Congress.
(09:54):
And so every time a law is passed or every time a member of Congress says,
I think we should do this or I think we should do that, we should all get out
Article 1, Section 8 to go, hmm,
let me see. Hmm. Is that it? Is that? Hmm.
Hmm. No, it's not in there. And that, by the way, is what the Supreme Court should be doing. Hmm.
(10:19):
Is that it? Hmm. You know what? Hmm.
That's not in there. And so the federal government is supposed to be confined.
Now, what is the beauty of that. The beauty of that is that states then have
their sovereign authority.
(10:42):
And what I love about that is in a state, I feel like I can make a difference.
I don't feel like I can impact the federal government. That's way too big.
But I do feel like in a state, I can have some say. I can actually have some representation.
(11:04):
I believe that the United States part of our government is the part that actually
allows me to participate.
Because when you take out the state part, if it was all federal,
how am I going to have any impact?
(11:25):
I'm not. I mean, there's just no possible way. But here in the state,
I know who my state legislator is.
I can reach out to them. I can actually speak to my state congressman,
to my federal congressman.
It's possible. I've done it.
And so I can have an impact. that means I can have representation.
(11:50):
And then hopefully that representation will trickle upward to the federal government.
This is one of the reasons why when somebody says we ought to federalize something,
I say that's madness. It is absolute madness.
Because once something becomes a federal program, you'll never change it.
(12:11):
And not only that, how many federal programs do you see that are running effectively?
Why on earth would you look at the way the federal government is run and say,
oh, I think they should do this as well. We should run from that idea.
We should just say no, no, no, and no.
(12:33):
We're not going to do that. And I mean, I'll give you an example.
Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. Try and fix that. Try and change it. Go ahead. head.
See how that's going to work for you. Social security can't even mention it.
We are in a place where social security is going to run out of money.
(12:53):
People are living too long. And we have a couple of choices.
Either kill them off early or figure out how we're going to pay for it.
But every time it comes up, it's like, oh my gosh, they mentioned social security
and that's Once something is federalized, forget it. Your representation is gone.
(13:15):
Your ability to change it is gone.
But the more local something becomes, the more representation you have in that
thing and the more ability you have to change that thing.
And even more important, the more ability you have to participate in an election.
(13:39):
To run yourself and to
become one of those decision makers i mean
that's pretty cool do you think you'd have that opportunity in a in a federal
where it was all federal absolutely not so my conservatism really became about
(13:59):
how the government is formed and how it should be run on.
And part of my conservatism was, uh, that we're supposed to be better than the other side.
Now I've come to believe that the differences are not as extreme as I used to
believe, but I used to believe that the left was totally evil,
(14:23):
that they, you know, that they, uh, wanted to destroy this country.
You know, they want all these socialist programs.
Um, and you know, So some of that is true about about more social type programs.
But, you know, I've come to believe that part of conservatism is a love for
the Constitution and a belief that those people on the left have every right
(14:48):
to fight for what they want.
That's that's what it means. A country of the people, by the people and for
the people. And how can you say I'm a conservative, but I don't want a government
of the people, for the people and by the people?
I only want it for conservatives, by conservatives and of conservatives.
Those people have every right to fight for what they believe. leave.
(15:12):
They even have a right to fight for things that don't fit into the Constitution.
But they should amend the Constitution. And a lot of times they don't want to do that.
But we see this battle with every single president.
It's happened, I think, all the way back to Washington, where presidents get
in, they campaign on a lot of things, and then they get into office and they
(15:37):
They want to do those things.
And oh, my goodness, the Constitution gets in the way. And oh,
my goodness, the Supreme Court gets in the way.
And then the legislature gets in the way.
I mean, this is something we see all presidents go through.
And so both sides fight for what they believe.
(16:00):
And you know what? That should make us better, not worse.
But now.
Now it's become a point where those who disagree with us are evil,
It's not just that they disagree. They want to destroy our country.
(16:21):
They want to destroy what has been made.
And I just got to tell you, it's nonsense.
It's just absolute nonsense.
And that people, my conservatism says people have a right to fight for what they believe.
So now let maybe i've given
(16:44):
you an idea of what my conservatism is
it would be hard to describe
all of it um but maybe
this gives you an idea and you can you can ask me questions and i'll do i'll
do more videos and more podcasts about it but here's how i stopped being a conservative
(17:07):
And it's very simple. My beliefs haven't changed.
My positions haven't changed.
But all the people who I used to agree with, hang out with, have left.
They're no longer in the conservative building that I grew up in.
(17:30):
They've left there's only a few of us now all the other ones are gone and where did they go,
they went to the extreme right and i believe they left conservatism behind,
but unfortunately conservatives are still
(17:51):
judged by what they're doing doing and
that means i'm judged by what
quote conservatives are doing and
that's why i'm stuck in this quandary i you know most of you if you look at
my tiktok and my youtube shorts and all those things you most people think i'm
(18:13):
a democrat and they think i'm a democrat because i go after to Trump 10 times a day.
And so naturally, people believe, oh, Jay must be a Democrat.
I've been a conservative my whole life.
But now the group of people that used to be in this room with me,
they've all followed this guy to somewhere else, some other land.
(18:39):
It's not even in the same building.
It's not in the room next door. Or it's in this other land where the primary
motivator is fear, hatred, and anger.
And where there's only one acceptable language, there's only one acceptable
emotion, there's only one acceptable way to be.
(19:02):
And everybody outside of that is evil. And they've co-opted this word patriot.
And what they mean is if you disagree with me, you're not a patriot.
There's a belief that their beliefs should be forced upon the rest of the country.
Country I mean think about if they had the opportunity
(19:25):
they would take away the voice of the
left completely and yes there are people on the
left who would do the same thing but I have never
seen it so voracious so vicious so
toxic so ugly and these are
people who I've known for a long time
I know a lot of people personally who
(19:46):
used to be in this room of conservatives with me
they're not anymore and they're
they're following somebody who they seem to believe is flawless like i've asked
the question what what could possibly get you off of trump what could he say
(20:09):
or do where you would finally say,
no i my support for him was wrong or it's changed i'm not going to do it anymore.
And people can't answer that.
And Trump knows it. He said he could shoot somebody and he would still have
the same level of support.
Well, when somebody is infallible, when somebody is all-knowing,
(20:32):
they're the only fountain of information, that makes them all-powerful.
And that means that you've put yourself in a position where you can be controlled.
You can be deceived.
You can be forced to do things.
(20:56):
There should never be anybody in your life who is held to that level of esteem
unless they come out of the sky in a fiery chariot but coming down an escalator,
and proclaiming to the world that you are the chosen one that you are potentially
(21:21):
better than Washington and Lincoln,
that you know everything about everything and what you primarily have to offer
is fear, hatred, and anger.
I'm staying in this room, and I don't know what to call this room anymore. What are we?
(21:46):
Again, my beliefs haven't changed.
Here I am. Hi.
There's a few of us that think we should hold our own to a higher standard.
There's a few of us who don't think that we should justify
bad behavior on our side with the bad behavior on the other side you know every
(22:12):
time i say something you know critical of our side what what do i hear well
the other side does it what what is that crap that's crap that is is crap.
You don't say I can do bad because the other side does bad. Think about that.
(22:33):
Think about your manner of justification.
There's certainly nothing religious about that. Well, God, I was bad because
I looked across the aisle and they were bad.
And so I said, well I can be bad too in fact I'm going to be worse what kind of mentality is this,
(22:59):
it's frightening it's frightening,
that every time you call into question the behavior of somebody in our group
who I believe we should hold to a higher standard we are told to accept it it's
okay because the other side does it too.
(23:19):
There is only one place where that ends.
Because one side does something bad, the other side does something worse.
And then the other side does something worse, and then the other side does something
worse. And you're digging a hole.
(23:41):
Or you're flushing the entire nation down the toilet.
I mean, we've seen it. I said it with with the impeachments of Trump.
I said the minute that you that you do this, the minute that you forego the
requirement of high crimes and misdemeanors, the minute that you lower the standard for impeachment,
(24:04):
you are going to guarantee that every president for the rest of time is going
to be impeached because nobody in government says we complained about that.
We didn't like it. So we're not going to do it.
What they say is, we complained about it, we didn't like it, so I guess we'll do it.
(24:26):
This is madness. You wouldn't accept this with your children.
When you walk in and your kids are fighting and they say, he started it,
you wouldn't accept that with your children.
If you were at work and two co-workers were having a problem and one said,
he started it, or I'm being bad.
Hey, your performance is really bad.
(24:46):
Well, I looked over there and that guy's performance sucks.
So I thought I could be worse than he is.
We would not accept this ridiculous anywhere else.
So here I am in this room.
(25:07):
I'd like to know if you're in the room. I know there's some of us,
You know, when I ran for Congress, there there was a number and many of you
still listen and participate with me.
But it feels like our numbers are dwindling and there's not a lot of hope.
(25:28):
And by the way, I mean, you know, a lot of what I've said can equally be applied
to the left. Please don't misinterpret this as the left is doing great because
they're doing the exact same thing.
But part of my conservatism said we're supposed to be better.
(25:49):
And if we're not better, even worse.
What's the difference between you and your enemy if you become your enemy?
And you embrace the actions of your enemy. What's the difference between you and them?
(26:10):
You certainly don't have some higher ground.
So that's my story. That's how I used to be a conservative.
I don't know what I am now. I really don't.
Just kind of out here in the wilderness. Let me know in the comments if you're out here with me.
(26:35):
Maybe we can get together and have a little campfire and sit back and talk about the old days.
Uh sorry to uh bring
you down if that was my intent i have
a hope for brighter days and i
(26:56):
believe that small groups of people can do very very big things especially in
this great country in which we live so i'm not giving up i just don't know where
i'm at on the spectrum of of all these things,
but I know I'm not with the left and I know I'm not with all those people to the right.
(27:23):
So there you go, my friends. Thank you for listening.
Uh, I will put together the other video about how I became a conservative kind
of described it here in this video.
Um, but I'll get the other one out as well. I know I did him in reverse order,
but But this was what I was feeling today.
So thank you for listening and watching. And let me know, what room are you in?
And then there's this video, which is going to be how I stopped being a conservative.
Now, please know that my belief system hasn't changed.
I've been on the radio for 25 years and you can go back.
The podcasts, the recordings are still there that reveal my conservatism.
(00:26):
But i i got into conservatism because of well a couple of things first of all is a set of values.
And the second is ronald reagan who had a huge impact on my life and i know
a lot of people are going to say well ronald reagan this and ronald reagan that
look there's no politician out there where i believe in everything that they
(00:50):
say and if there is a politician out there that you believe in everything they say,
you're in a bad place because that means they control you and they control your thoughts.
It's a bad, bad place to be.
So I would suggest that you try and be critical, use critical thinking with
(01:10):
everybody, even the people, well, actually even more with the people who you prop up.
And this is kind of what happened to me.
I got into conservatism, and you'll hear this a little bit more in the other
video, but I got into it because of people like Sean Hannity,
(01:34):
because of people like Rush Limbaugh.
Now, I didn't agree with everything thing they said, but I didn't have a political
thought until I started listening to them.
I didn't grow up with one particular religious, not religious,
but political viewpoint in my house.
(01:57):
In fact, the only conversation, it's kind of funny, the only conversation that
I ever remember about politics,
we were sitting around the table and my stepdad says to me, he says,
So do you think that you're a liberal or a conservative?
I had never heard this terminology before, and I thought, well,
(02:18):
liberal sounds like, you know, you get away with stuff, like it's accepting. I don't know.
So I said liberal, and he said, what?
And it was like he almost got mad at me because I said liberal. I had no idea.
I had no clue, no concept whatsoever what this was.
(02:39):
Well, in my 20s, I started listening to these talk show hosts,
local hosts and national hosts, and they started making me think.
And, you know, say what you will about Rush Limbaugh, he would turn my gears. He would twist my gears.
(03:03):
He would make me think about things that I had never thought before.
And that's a difficult skill.
You had Rush, who would make me think, and then you had Hannity,
who would have the guests on, who Rush always talked about but never had on his show.
So it was kind of this nice combination. combination.
(03:25):
And then as the internet rolled around, I would start researching the things
that they were talking about.
And I would start reading about the presidents of this country.
I became fascinated, fixated, if you will, about the Constitution,
(03:48):
about the Revolution, revolution, about the Civil War, about World War II, World War I.
I still probably watch something about World War II every day of my life.
My kids are like, what is your fixation? And I'm like, I don't know.
(04:09):
But I started to write down notes
and quotes from these people who who
led our country and i i just started
to eat it up i mean it started to consume me
and sometimes it wasn't in a good way there's uh some people become so consumed
(04:30):
that they get depressed and dark because they believe that everything is so
bad and and the world is against them.
And I had friends and family who were in this deep pit.
And one of them one day realized, I can't listen to this stuff anymore because
every single day I'm angry.
(04:53):
I'm gloom and doom because of what these people are saying.
And I met a lot of people like that. But over time, I started to form my opinion
of what the best way that this country should be run.
(05:15):
And then I took a class at college.
I didn't finish college. I barely started college.
I think I started several college classes, but I don't think I ever finished a college class.
I just got my GED like five years ago.
But I took a class and the teacher was a secular humanist. This is somebody
(05:40):
who doesn't believe religion should be in government at all.
And this class was fascinating because this person taught me some important
things about our government.
Number one, that God is never mentioned in the Constitution.
In fact, the two times religion is mentioned in the Constitution,
(06:03):
the first is that there There should be no litmus test for anybody for religion,
for anybody running for office.
And the second is that Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion.
And this started to make me think, OK, there's there should be a division here between the two.
(06:25):
And so my type of conservatism began to change a little bit. it.
And that's OK. But primarily, my view was that the government should be as small as possible,
especially the federal government, that it's very hard to have the pursuit of
(06:48):
life, liberty and happiness when the government is taking all your money and
they're mandating everything that you you should do.
And I became a huge, and it was actually in this secular humanist class,
I became a huge, a staunch supporter.
Of the difference and the separation, not of church and state,
(07:12):
but of the federal government and state.
And I think this is something that is missed so often in our society,
that we tend to believe that there's this big government that really the federal
government governs all the the land and that it's the big bad boss and it gets
(07:35):
to tell the states what to do.
And that's just not the way it is. That's not the way this government was set up.
And that's not the way it is today. But so many people just kind of see it that way.
And what was so important to me is that we had this kind of really cool system
(07:58):
where where you had the individual states,
and they were sovereign. They had their own authority.
But then they got together and they said, we're going to give up a certain amount
of our authority, just a small piece,
and we're going to give that to the federal government so that they can do things
(08:20):
that only the federal government can do.
And then we're going to have a Supreme Court who can decide whether or not that
federal government or states are overreaching this agreement.
And what is the agreement?
It's the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
(08:42):
And a lot of people think that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights define our rights.
They define my rights and your rights. Not true.
There's a couple parts of the Constitution where you can say,
OK, that's specific to the people.
But the Constitution is a restriction on the federal government's power.
(09:06):
Think about it. Congress shall pass no law.
Think about it. Shall not be abridged. Everything in there is about the power
of the federal government.
And everything else shall be left to the states.
The document says it. If it's not mentioned in the Constitution,
(09:29):
then every power is reserved to the states.
So the federal government is supposed to be small.
It's not supposed to grow outside of this constitutional construct.
And in fact, Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution defines the authority of Congress.
(09:54):
And so every time a law is passed or every time a member of Congress says,
I think we should do this or I think we should do that, we should all get out
Article 1, Section 8 to go, hmm,
let me see. Hmm. Is that it? Is that? Hmm.
Hmm. No, it's not in there. And that, by the way, is what the Supreme Court should be doing. Hmm.
(10:19):
Is that it? Hmm. You know what? Hmm.
That's not in there. And so the federal government is supposed to be confined.
Now, what is the beauty of that. The beauty of that is that states then have
their sovereign authority.
(10:42):
And what I love about that is in a state, I feel like I can make a difference.
I don't feel like I can impact the federal government. That's way too big.
But I do feel like in a state, I can have some say. I can actually have some representation.
(11:04):
I believe that the United States part of our government is the part that actually
allows me to participate.
Because when you take out the state part, if it was all federal,
how am I going to have any impact?
(11:25):
I'm not. I mean, there's just no possible way. But here in the state,
I know who my state legislator is.
I can reach out to them. I can actually speak to my state congressman,
to my federal congressman.
It's possible. I've done it.
And so I can have an impact. that means I can have representation.
(11:50):
And then hopefully that representation will trickle upward to the federal government.
This is one of the reasons why when somebody says we ought to federalize something,
I say that's madness. It is absolute madness.
Because once something becomes a federal program, you'll never change it.
(12:11):
And not only that, how many federal programs do you see that are running effectively?
Why on earth would you look at the way the federal government is run and say,
oh, I think they should do this as well. We should run from that idea.
We should just say no, no, no, and no.
(12:33):
We're not going to do that. And I mean, I'll give you an example.
Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. Try and fix that. Try and change it. Go ahead. head.
See how that's going to work for you. Social security can't even mention it.
We are in a place where social security is going to run out of money.
(12:53):
People are living too long. And we have a couple of choices.
Either kill them off early or figure out how we're going to pay for it.
But every time it comes up, it's like, oh my gosh, they mentioned social security
and that's Once something is federalized, forget it. Your representation is gone.
(13:15):
Your ability to change it is gone.
But the more local something becomes, the more representation you have in that
thing and the more ability you have to change that thing.
And even more important, the more ability you have to participate in an election.
(13:39):
To run yourself and to
become one of those decision makers i mean
that's pretty cool do you think you'd have that opportunity in a in a federal
where it was all federal absolutely not so my conservatism really became about
(13:59):
how the government is formed and how it should be run on.
And part of my conservatism was, uh, that we're supposed to be better than the other side.
Now I've come to believe that the differences are not as extreme as I used to
believe, but I used to believe that the left was totally evil,
(14:23):
that they, you know, that they, uh, wanted to destroy this country.
You know, they want all these socialist programs.
Um, and you know, So some of that is true about about more social type programs.
But, you know, I've come to believe that part of conservatism is a love for
the Constitution and a belief that those people on the left have every right
(14:48):
to fight for what they want.
That's that's what it means. A country of the people, by the people and for
the people. And how can you say I'm a conservative, but I don't want a government
of the people, for the people and by the people?
I only want it for conservatives, by conservatives and of conservatives.
Those people have every right to fight for what they believe. leave.
(15:12):
They even have a right to fight for things that don't fit into the Constitution.
But they should amend the Constitution. And a lot of times they don't want to do that.
But we see this battle with every single president.
It's happened, I think, all the way back to Washington, where presidents get
in, they campaign on a lot of things, and then they get into office and they
(15:37):
They want to do those things.
And oh, my goodness, the Constitution gets in the way. And oh,
my goodness, the Supreme Court gets in the way.
And then the legislature gets in the way.
I mean, this is something we see all presidents go through.
And so both sides fight for what they believe.
(16:00):
And you know what? That should make us better, not worse.
But now.
Now it's become a point where those who disagree with us are evil,
It's not just that they disagree. They want to destroy our country.
(16:21):
They want to destroy what has been made.
And I just got to tell you, it's nonsense.
It's just absolute nonsense.
And that people, my conservatism says people have a right to fight for what they believe.
So now let maybe i've given
(16:44):
you an idea of what my conservatism is
it would be hard to describe
all of it um but maybe
this gives you an idea and you can you can ask me questions and i'll do i'll
do more videos and more podcasts about it but here's how i stopped being a conservative
(17:07):
And it's very simple. My beliefs haven't changed.
My positions haven't changed.
But all the people who I used to agree with, hang out with, have left.
They're no longer in the conservative building that I grew up in.
(17:30):
They've left there's only a few of us now all the other ones are gone and where did they go,
they went to the extreme right and i believe they left conservatism behind,
but unfortunately conservatives are still
(17:51):
judged by what they're doing doing and
that means i'm judged by what
quote conservatives are doing and
that's why i'm stuck in this quandary i you know most of you if you look at
my tiktok and my youtube shorts and all those things you most people think i'm
(18:13):
a democrat and they think i'm a democrat because i go after to Trump 10 times a day.
And so naturally, people believe, oh, Jay must be a Democrat.
I've been a conservative my whole life.
But now the group of people that used to be in this room with me,
they've all followed this guy to somewhere else, some other land.
(18:39):
It's not even in the same building.
It's not in the room next door. Or it's in this other land where the primary
motivator is fear, hatred, and anger.
And where there's only one acceptable language, there's only one acceptable
emotion, there's only one acceptable way to be.
(19:02):
And everybody outside of that is evil. And they've co-opted this word patriot.
And what they mean is if you disagree with me, you're not a patriot.
There's a belief that their beliefs should be forced upon the rest of the country.
Country I mean think about if they had the opportunity
(19:25):
they would take away the voice of the
left completely and yes there are people on the
left who would do the same thing but I have never
seen it so voracious so vicious so
toxic so ugly and these are
people who I've known for a long time
I know a lot of people personally who
(19:46):
used to be in this room of conservatives with me
they're not anymore and they're
they're following somebody who they seem to believe is flawless like i've asked
the question what what could possibly get you off of trump what could he say
(20:09):
or do where you would finally say,
no i my support for him was wrong or it's changed i'm not going to do it anymore.
And people can't answer that.
And Trump knows it. He said he could shoot somebody and he would still have
the same level of support.
Well, when somebody is infallible, when somebody is all-knowing,
(20:32):
they're the only fountain of information, that makes them all-powerful.
And that means that you've put yourself in a position where you can be controlled.
You can be deceived.
You can be forced to do things.
(20:56):
There should never be anybody in your life who is held to that level of esteem
unless they come out of the sky in a fiery chariot but coming down an escalator,
and proclaiming to the world that you are the chosen one that you are potentially
(21:21):
better than Washington and Lincoln,
that you know everything about everything and what you primarily have to offer
is fear, hatred, and anger.
I'm staying in this room, and I don't know what to call this room anymore. What are we?
(21:46):
Again, my beliefs haven't changed.
Here I am. Hi.
There's a few of us that think we should hold our own to a higher standard.
There's a few of us who don't think that we should justify
bad behavior on our side with the bad behavior on the other side you know every
(22:12):
time i say something you know critical of our side what what do i hear well
the other side does it what what is that crap that's crap that is is crap.
You don't say I can do bad because the other side does bad. Think about that.
(22:33):
Think about your manner of justification.
There's certainly nothing religious about that. Well, God, I was bad because
I looked across the aisle and they were bad.
And so I said, well I can be bad too in fact I'm going to be worse what kind of mentality is this,
(22:59):
it's frightening it's frightening,
that every time you call into question the behavior of somebody in our group
who I believe we should hold to a higher standard we are told to accept it it's
okay because the other side does it too.
(23:19):
There is only one place where that ends.
Because one side does something bad, the other side does something worse.
And then the other side does something worse, and then the other side does something
worse. And you're digging a hole.
(23:41):
Or you're flushing the entire nation down the toilet.
I mean, we've seen it. I said it with with the impeachments of Trump.
I said the minute that you that you do this, the minute that you forego the
requirement of high crimes and misdemeanors, the minute that you lower the standard for impeachment,
(24:04):
you are going to guarantee that every president for the rest of time is going
to be impeached because nobody in government says we complained about that.
We didn't like it. So we're not going to do it.
What they say is, we complained about it, we didn't like it, so I guess we'll do it.
(24:26):
This is madness. You wouldn't accept this with your children.
When you walk in and your kids are fighting and they say, he started it,
you wouldn't accept that with your children.
If you were at work and two co-workers were having a problem and one said,
he started it, or I'm being bad.
Hey, your performance is really bad.
(24:46):
Well, I looked over there and that guy's performance sucks.
So I thought I could be worse than he is.
We would not accept this ridiculous anywhere else.
So here I am in this room.
(25:07):
I'd like to know if you're in the room. I know there's some of us,
You know, when I ran for Congress, there there was a number and many of you
still listen and participate with me.
But it feels like our numbers are dwindling and there's not a lot of hope.
(25:28):
And by the way, I mean, you know, a lot of what I've said can equally be applied
to the left. Please don't misinterpret this as the left is doing great because
they're doing the exact same thing.
But part of my conservatism said we're supposed to be better.
(25:49):
And if we're not better, even worse.
What's the difference between you and your enemy if you become your enemy?
And you embrace the actions of your enemy. What's the difference between you and them?
(26:10):
You certainly don't have some higher ground.
So that's my story. That's how I used to be a conservative.
I don't know what I am now. I really don't.
Just kind of out here in the wilderness. Let me know in the comments if you're out here with me.
(26:35):
Maybe we can get together and have a little campfire and sit back and talk about the old days.
Uh sorry to uh bring
you down if that was my intent i have
a hope for brighter days and i
(26:56):
believe that small groups of people can do very very big things especially in
this great country in which we live so i'm not giving up i just don't know where
i'm at on the spectrum of of all these things,
but I know I'm not with the left and I know I'm not with all those people to the right.
(27:23):
So there you go, my friends. Thank you for listening.
Uh, I will put together the other video about how I became a conservative kind
of described it here in this video.
Um, but I'll get the other one out as well. I know I did him in reverse order,
but But this was what I was feeling today.
So thank you for listening and watching. And let me know, what room are you in?
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