June 12, 2025 • 57 mins
Interview Description: In this episode, we sit down with Stacy Rogers — a lifelong Kansan, small business owner, advocate for constitutional freedoms, and Republican candidate for Governor of Kansas. If elected, Rogers would make history as the first female Republican Governor in the state's history.
Rogers shares her vision for Kansas, rooted in strong leadership, unity, and a commitment to addressing the pressing challenges facing the state. With deep ties to her community and firsthand experience as a mother of three and former homeschool parent, she brings a unique and personal perspective to the issues of education, local business support, and individual rights.
“I am running for Governor because I believe in the power of the people,” Rogers says. “As a lifelong Kansan, a mother, and a business owner, I’ve seen the challenges our state faces. We need leadership that not only listens, but takes action — to protect our rights, improve our schools, support local businesses, and restore the values that make Kansas great.”
A passionate advocate for education, especially for children with learning challenges, Rogers has long fought to ensure all students receive the resources and support they need to thrive.
Throughout our conversation, Rogers discusses her campaign platform, her dedication to civic engagement, and her belief that every Kansan has a role to play in shaping the state's future. She has pledged to use the next two years to inform and empower voters across the state.
Join us as we explore Stacy Rogers' candidacy, her plans for Kansas, and her perspective on the current political landscape.
For more information about Stacy Rogers' campaign, please visit: www.StacyRogersforKS.com or follow her on X @stacyrogersks https://x.com/stacyrogersks
You can follow Billy Dees on X for updates about the podcast @BillyDees https://x.com/BillyDees
00:02 - Introduction to Stacey Rogers
09:01 - Addressing drug and human trafficking
14:12 - Empowering vulnerable communities
22:29 - Challenges in foster care system
32:51 - Education system failures
47:41 - Term limits and judicial power
Rogers shares her vision for Kansas, rooted in strong leadership, unity, and a commitment to addressing the pressing challenges facing the state. With deep ties to her community and firsthand experience as a mother of three and former homeschool parent, she brings a unique and personal perspective to the issues of education, local business support, and individual rights.
“I am running for Governor because I believe in the power of the people,” Rogers says. “As a lifelong Kansan, a mother, and a business owner, I’ve seen the challenges our state faces. We need leadership that not only listens, but takes action — to protect our rights, improve our schools, support local businesses, and restore the values that make Kansas great.”
A passionate advocate for education, especially for children with learning challenges, Rogers has long fought to ensure all students receive the resources and support they need to thrive.
Throughout our conversation, Rogers discusses her campaign platform, her dedication to civic engagement, and her belief that every Kansan has a role to play in shaping the state's future. She has pledged to use the next two years to inform and empower voters across the state.
Join us as we explore Stacy Rogers' candidacy, her plans for Kansas, and her perspective on the current political landscape.
For more information about Stacy Rogers' campaign, please visit: www.StacyRogersforKS.com or follow her on X @stacyrogersks https://x.com/stacyrogersks
You can follow Billy Dees on X for updates about the podcast @BillyDees https://x.com/BillyDees
00:02 - Introduction to Stacey Rogers
09:01 - Addressing drug and human trafficking
14:12 - Empowering vulnerable communities
22:29 - Challenges in foster care system
32:51 - Education system failures
47:41 - Term limits and judicial power
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You are listening to the Billy D's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
All right, well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program
if you are new here. First of all, we are
primarily an interview and a commentary based podcast. Today my
name is Billy Dee's and all on the program, I
have Stacy Rogers. Stacey is running for governor of Kansas.
(00:31):
And I'm going to say you're a special guest and
I'll tell you why, because I don't do too often
say that. It's a very cliche thing to say I
have a special guest Onday. But I'll tell you why,
and that is we get a lot of pundits in
the program, I want myself and a lot of people
got something to say. A lot of them are very intelligent,
very well researched all that stuff. But it's not too
often that somebody straps on a helmet and goes onto
(00:53):
the muddy field. And you are doing that. Yeah, Now
you're from Kansas. You're a big business person. What business
were you in? Are you? Yes?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
So, I'm a business owner. I own a couple of
different businesses. I have a wedding and event venue that's
probably the most notable one, and it is the second
longest running event venue in probably most of the state,
but for sure around where I'm from, which is Which Talk.
(01:26):
And it's called Every Farm and it's been running since
the early sixties, and it was a working farm before
that that dates back to the eighteen hundreds. So I've
owned it for about three and a half years. I'm
the first person outside of the Everly family to own
it and since the eighteen hundreds. So yeah, very exciting,
(01:47):
and it's an iconic piece of Wichtalk. Most people know
it because of you know, they went out there with
a corporate event with their job, or they went out
there on a field trip with their you know, their school,
and so a lot of people know that from their childhood.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So the other one that I own is called.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Kids Closet Consignment Sales, and it is a local sale
that's been running for about sixteen years. It's a pop
up that happens three times a year, and it's very
community focused and I'm very much about keeping things local,
supporting local, and this supports our local community in a
(02:28):
multitude of ways.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And so.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I actually own that company. I run and operate that company,
but I own the entire company nationwide. It's a franchise
and so I have about twenty six franchises across the
United States as well.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Wow, that's awesome. Now, if you would happen to win,
of course, we're hoping for You're wishing you the best.
If you would happen to win, you would become the
first female Republican governor in Kansas history.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Cool with your business background and everything, Are you new
to politics? Is this something what drew you into this?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So I did serve as a council member. I served
until twenty twelve in a small town called Mount Hope,
and so a whole eight hundred and seventy five people
I believe lived there at the time. And I did
that for six years, and like I said, ended in
twenty twelve. So that's been my only political experience aside
(03:31):
from voting and following, you know, politics. And so when
I decided to run, I had kind of been away
from things for quite a while, and some people started
to come back into my sphere and I started to,
you know, really think about it and have some conversations.
(03:54):
So in September of twenty three was when I I
first ever thought about becoming governor. And it was the
day that Laura Kelly, our current governor decided that you
could change your gender on your driver's license. And you know,
I don't know how many times you get your driver's
(04:15):
license out a day and look at it, or how
many times you show it.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You know, you show it to someone else.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
But it's not something that I think it would even
occur on a weekly basis, sometimes not even a monthly basis.
And so for our governor to take taxpayer time and
money to put towards something like that, instead of paying
attention to issues and things that could really affect our
(04:41):
lives on a day to day basis, I just I
was standing in my living room. I threw my hands
up in the air and said, I can't take any
more of this.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I'm going to have to go be governor.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
And there was not one single moment prior to that
that I'd ever had that thought process. And since that
moment occurred, it's never left me. It was imprinted on
my heart, and I have went forward with it, and
I started having conversations and talking with people in politics
(05:10):
and not in politics, and found out very very quickly
my reason for running, which is the people of.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
This state really do not feel like they.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Have a voice anymore. They feel like they are discounted,
they feel like they don't matter, they're not important, that
nobody is working for them. We've had people, I will
call them career politicians who have been in our legislature
and working in our government for twenty plus years, and
(05:43):
they do not feel like those people are representing them
any longer. And that's unfortunate. There are some really good legislators,
really really good legislators, and then there's a few bad apples.
There's a few people that are bought and paid for
by our by by special interests, by the lobbyists, and
(06:05):
they and once that occurs, they're really not working for
the people of this state anymore. And so what I'm
seeing is and what I'm hearing is people are very frustrated.
That's where I am as well, and a frustrated Kansas
and I want to see better for our state.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So interesting, let's talk a little bit about Kansas. I'll
tell you a little bit about I'm in Ohio. Yeah,
and uh, you know, I talk to people from all
over the country and I always hear, well, well you know,
you guys got corn there, uh, and yeah, we do.
I mean, yeah, uh, not around me so much. But
(06:44):
you know, you've drive through Ohio and you I'm going
to see corn But I think one of the misconceptions
is that we're sort of, uh, you know, a flyover state,
when the fact matter is, I think we're like number
seven in terms of the size of the economy. Obviously California, Texas, Florida,
and New York it would be bigger than us. We
also have a very diversified economy. We have energy here,
(07:04):
we have technology here. We have medicine here at the
Cleveland Clinic and a couple of other really great hospitals,
so there's a lot happening here, and of course agriculture too.
What would be some of the things about Kansas that
people do not know.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Well? I think the most notable that we are known
for is the being the air capital, Whichita especially the
air capital of the world, and so of course there's
a lot of people in aerospace here. So we have
multiple companies sitting in Wichita that are directly influencing.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The majority of the state.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We have other things going on in this state, but
that's probably the biggest and the most recognizable is the
fact that we have so much you know, Sessa.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We have we have leer Jet, we have.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Uh, there's Boeing, there's you know, all all the companies.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
There's probably.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
One of every major almost every major company in the
United States or in the world is sitting in in
some way, shape or form in Kansas.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And so.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I think there's only a couple that that are not
involved in Kansas. So so I think that's a big one.
And of course our farming is We're definitely an agriculture state.
When especially when you go out west, I would say,
you know, eastern side is more aimed at the the
aerospace industry, and then the western side is more of
(08:47):
our agriculture and farming, and so those are probably the
two big ones. There's a lot of other things that
happen in our state, however, and and you know there's
but those those probably the biggest.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So yeah, you're a fellow Republican. The vag Rama Swami
is putting his hat in the ring for governor of Ohio.
So yeah. One of the things that I that I
often get is Ohio one of its big problems has
been the opiate problem, and Ohio has been one of
(09:22):
the hobbits for that. If you're interested, you can check
out some things online about some documentaries about why that
is what's one of the things that's really coming to
a head for you there in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
So I think for us, it's we do definitely have
a problem with fentanyl, a problem with some of those
those kind of drugs, and a lot of that links
back to unfortunately, human trafficking. And so we have we
are a hub for human trafficking. You know, we have
I seventy and thirty five that intersect in our state,
(09:57):
and so that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That's a huge.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Deal for their coming up through Texas and they're coming
across from from you know, in the Arizona area, Colorado area,
and so so we do have a lot of issues
with that, and you know, that's definitely something that is
a high priority for me. This past legislative session, they
(10:24):
had a trafficking bill that did not make it, I
believe out a committee, which was frustrating and should have
been top of the list. They passed the the you know,
protection of children, you know, the trans bill, they passed that,
but second on their list should have been trafficking.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And so the fact that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It didn't even make it anywhere close it was was
disheartening and frustrating and.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And just.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
You know, we need to protect people, protect life, and
we're just not doing a good job of that at all.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I can tell you I work for a nonprofit and
a lot of the things we deal with involve mental
health and addiction. And I've touched with a lot of people,
as I'm sure you do, and it seems like everything
these days, people want a simple solution. For example, the
homeless crisis. If you listen to the far left on
(11:22):
that people are homeless because you know, rich people are
just making the rent too high. And if you listen
to the far right, they will say, well, people just
need to go out and get a job. And I've
been in some of these homeless service centers and they've
come through by the hundreds, and I wouldn't. I mean,
(11:46):
addiction is a problem in that community, so is mental health.
But what what what what I what I What I
noticed the most is this is a population that, how
to put this, are just intellectually not capable of functioning
in a modern society. They can't manage their own affairs,
(12:07):
their doctor's appointments, A lot of them have been taken
advantage of by their family. What little money they had
has been taken from them. Whatever assistance they got has,
you know, whether it's their family or friends or somebody
has taken it from them. And this is a population
that just giving them affordable housing isn't going to work.
(12:28):
The talking points on both sides of this issue just
simply don't work. Does a nuanced approach these days? Do
people hear it? Do they have the patience for you?
Do let's say, talk about the nuance of this. How
do you get your message across?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, So, just.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
To give you a little bit of background on me,
I actually have a twenty seven year old autistic son
and he is, you know, one of my biggest fears
the entire time who was growing up is how do
I prepare for the inevitable time when I'm not here
anymore and he has to navigate or someone is navigating
(13:11):
for him the rest of his life, which could be
another forty to fifty years after I'm gone. And that
is truly terrifying in this day and age because of
the things that I have seen that happened to his friends,
that happened to other people who are in that disabled
(13:33):
or mental health community. And I'm able to stand in
the gap for my son. But there's so many You're right,
there's so many people that are being taken advantage of.
They're being harmed, they're being manipulated, they're being groomed, they're
being taken completely taken advantage of, and some are even trafficked.
(13:56):
And so I think that one of the things that
we need to do is to really focus on how
do we protect the most vulnerable members of our society
and help them. So, I know, addiction is an issue,
a mental health and issue. I personally, I will hire
(14:21):
people who are expellent, who are recovering drug addicts, who
are people really trying to get their life together and
need that, you know, hand up, not a handout, but
a hand up to where they feel that they are valuable,
where they feel that they are worth something.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And I think that that's truly what's lacking. It is.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Where people do not feel like they are their lives
matter at all. They don't feel like they are valuable
in any way because of and it could be because
of what somebody has told them, maybe their family told
them that, or maybe you know. I used to coach
women about their business and I one time I remember
(15:13):
sitting down with one of my people, and I said,
we The conversation was what holds you back, stops you,
or slows you down? And it always boiled down to fear.
It's always fear, And so I would, but I'd make
them go further, because fear comes from somewhere, right. We
don't just instinct. Oh, we're not just fearful. And one
(15:36):
lady that I sat down with her fear came from
you know. She said, well, I don't feel like i'm
good enough. I'm afraid to do this. And I said,
why do you not feel like you're good enough? She said, well,
I remember I had this manager when I was in
high school who told me I would amount to nothing
as a manager at Pizza Hut.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And this is a.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Thirty five year old woman, married with children, working a
great job. And I looked at her and I said,
so you're telling me that you let a guy who
may very well still be a manager at Pizza Hut
rule your life thirty years.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Later, you know, twenty years later.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And so we talked through that, and in that process
she went back to school and is now an executive
in her position. And because she broke down that wall
of allowing someone to tell her she wasn't worthy enough.
And so I think that we need to have a
(16:33):
conversation about how do we reach people to help them
understand that they are valuable. Every life is valuable, and
when you are given a purpose and a reason and
a job, then you do you do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Have more value.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You understand that value in yourself what you can contribute
to society. And I just think we've lost that a
lot in this country and in this world. We have
a handout mentality. I believe in smaller government. So I
believe in you know, working and and doing, you know,
(17:15):
putting things back into the hands of the people two
to give them back that power and that say so.
And so, you know, blanketing legislation from a state level
across the entire state doesn't make sense to me. A
lot of that stuff needs to go back to the
counties and the cities and the people themselves to make
(17:35):
those decisions about what is the best for their specific community.
And so as I'm traveling, that's one of the things
that I talk to people about is how are you involved?
What are you doing in your community to make it better?
And how can you how can you get involved and
so I think it's those kind of conversations, how do
(17:56):
we help someone. I think a lot of the mental
illnesses that we're experiencing today are they are they are
things that can be overcome, and it's really on a
value system. They don't feel like they are worth anything,
(18:16):
and that contributes greatly to depression and anxiety and and
a lot of a host of other mental health issues,
which leads to addiction, which leads to some of these
other things that cause great, great problems in our society.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So yes, and I'm so glad to hear compassion in
what you're saying, because so often, you know, being in
marketing around the mental health space is kind of tough because,
first of all, people think about marketing all Steve jobs,
you're selling something, and that's not It's a little different
when you're working for a nonprofit or for a medical institution.
(18:55):
It's about raising awareness and that can effect, for example,
your donations, it can affect how people vote on issues
that are going to impact these things. And one of
the things I will often hear is, well, that's a
choice that they made. And I'm not going to say
in a country of three hundred million people that people
don't party themselves into addiction. I'm sure it happens, but
(19:16):
that isn't the path to it here in Ohio, and
I'm sure it's not in Kansas. What you touched on
mental health is a big part of it. I had
the privilege of working with a judge here in Ohio
who is one of the first to notice a pattern.
And rather than fall into the typical judge thing, I'll
lock them up and throw the way the key. He said, No,
(19:40):
this is I want to preface this. This was not
people who had harmed anyone. This is not people who
have trafficked and the only person that they hurt was themselves.
He started to see a pattern and he started a
heroin group here in Ohio, and he told me that
up to eighty percent of the people in that they
treat have had some kind of child abuse, and a
(20:01):
lot of it is sexual child abuse. Yes, and I
and even on an everyday basis, it's easier to become
to fall into the pattern of addiction than than what
you may think I've I'll ask people, you've had a
bad day of work, okay, man, I could sure use
a glass of wine. Man, I could sure use a
(20:21):
beer man, I could sure use a cigarette, you know,
I could go on down the line or order myself
a great big pizza. You know, we all comfort ourselves.
And most of the time, I'm gonna say, it passes
without incident. But then you know, it's it's not like
a day where you just became addicted. You know, it's
just like getting fat. You know, it doesn't happen. Yeah,
(20:44):
and and and pretty soon you know that the weekend
rules run. Why that wine made me feel pretty good?
And then you know, I remember I have some leftover
prescriptions when I had that root canal maybe all that,
And the next thing, you know, you're in big trouble.
And sometimes it six months. Sometimes it can take years.
So I mean, that's something that that I'm going to say.
It's said that there's an awareness now in Ohio largely
(21:06):
because just about everybody has been touched by it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, and look, this this extends.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Of course, we have a lot of military here as well,
and this and so we have a lot of veterans
and and so this anytime you pull on a string
on one thing, you realize that it's connected to so
many other things. So you know, let's talk about the veterans.
Let's talk about the mental health of veterans there. They're
(21:34):
set up there the program. When they come home, whether
it be from a tour or whether it be from
just their their regular serving time, they're often not set
up or equipped to re enter normal civilian life. And
that and they have PTSD, and they have a host
(21:56):
of other issues that are that are not addressed well.
And and so we end up with they also end
up in addiction. They also end up homeless. They also
at an alarming rate and an alarming rate we have
that's homeless with mental health issues in drug addiction and
so that and and I've spoken with some that you know,
just really struggle day to day. They're they're functioning in society,
(22:20):
you probably wouldn't even know that they're struggling. But the
integration problem to feel normal, and that's a whole other thing.
And then they start medicating or they you know, like
I said, they have a glass of wine, they you know,
they take some prescriptions and the next thing you know,
they're in big trouble too. And they've lost their families,
(22:42):
they've lost their jobs, they've lost their homes, and they
end up in a lot of problems and so and
then you look at our foster care system. You look
at children who from the get go are put into
a system that is broken. And I know lots of
families that are really working really hard to love, truly
love on children and to give them their best chance,
(23:04):
but there's so so many that do not get that chance,
and they grow up in that system, and again it
leads to mental health problems and drug addiction, and some
of them turn to things like, uh, you know, they
turn to things like pornography, or they turn to you know,
unhealthy behaviors to find their worth that they weren't finding
(23:29):
other ways. And we just need to be aware of
those things. And there should be there should be I
don't want to say programs. There should be some way
to teach better than what we're doing in these situations,
(23:51):
whether it be for our veterans that are that are
reintegrating into society from from military to civilian life, whether
it's the children that are in foster care or then
aging out of foster care again having to learn how
to manage in as an adult in regular life. Let's
(24:11):
talk about the prison system. When we release prisoners back
into society, we are not setting them up for success,
We're setting them up to fail again. And so there's
a lot of a lot of places in our society
that I think are all tied to that mental health
issue and then drug which leads to drug addiction.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And then you know, we have people.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
That seemingly had an amazing life that make a couple
wrong decisions, end up an addiction and end up losing
everything as well. So it's you know, I'm not I'm
not bashing on any one group of people. This can
happen to almost anyone. And in the society we live
in today, and unfortunately, we don't have supports.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We don't we don't teach it in school, well we don't.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
We don't have places where they can go if they're struggling,
truly struggling, and get that mental health support that they
need before it becomes the major problem. What about you know,
children who are being abused in their homes and the
schools maybe aren't catching it. Some of these kids. I
know a family in particular that I did not find
(25:25):
out until they were adults that abuse had occurred repeatedly
in the home. I would have stepped in and done something.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I would have helped them, but I had no idea,
and they did not.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
The children covered it up because they felt like that's
what they were supposed to do, and they suffered in silence.
And we just we live in a place that you know,
does not offer those protections for those kids. To the
systems are broken, is basically what I'm saying. Sure that
(26:02):
those those systems are broken. So there's a lot of
things that I feel like we have lost our ability
to feel empathy towards people, to love people, to really
serve people and meet them where they're at and and
(26:24):
help them through things like this.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
You know, I don't I don't know that I have
all the answers to that as governor of Kansas, but
I definitely know that there needs to be some things
looked at. And one of the things I'll tell you
is I plan on creating a real Kansas doge when
entering office. And I do hesitate to use the word
(26:49):
doge because that's kind of been given a bad connotation
in a lot of ways because of you know, people
feel like, you know, they've went in there just locked
the top off of things and and and not really
taking a good hard look over what that was going
to affect, who that was going to affect, what was
(27:10):
what the ramifications for some of that that was going
to be. And so that's not what I'm really talking about.
I'm not talking about going into, uh, you know, every
every department in our state and just lopping the top
off of it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
That's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I'm talking about going in and taking a very critical
look at what is going on in each department and
you know, making sure that we are not you know,
misusing funds, that we are allocating them to the right
places where they will be the most benefit, the most beneficial.
(27:44):
We are looking at things auditing, auditing to make sure
that our we're not being wasteful in anyway. And and
then with without losing value to what the citizens of
this state need.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
So that's very important.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
We can we can go in there and and hack
away at departments, but if that harms in the process
citizens of this state by losing services or or you know,
much needed services and we're taking away value, then we're
not doing any good either. So there have to be
there are things that we can do to to make
(28:27):
things work better and save money at the same time.
So what's occurring right now is that our current legislature
created a Kansas doge. Well, we have and we have
a mostly Republican uh you know, we're Republican heavy in
our legislature, and so that's great, but we have a
(28:49):
Democrat governor and Democrat you know, department heads, and so
a lot of information is being withheld, concealed, redacted when
legislatures legislators requested, and it takes a very long time,
even under our Open Records Act to get information and
(29:11):
then it's it's not complete.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And so to create a.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Doge at this point is a little bit premature in
my opinion, because once we actually are able to see everything,
have it all laid out in front of us, we
may actually find that it's going to cost the taxpayers
more and cost more time because of what they're trying
(29:39):
to do right now working along the edges of what's
available for them to even see and work with. And
so that's so that's my biggest concern on that. I
think that we have to wait until we can actually
see the full information. And so my intention is, you know,
is to lay that open for the people of Kansas.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
See to be very transparent.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
One of the unique things about me is that I
don't have a political political baggage a mile long behind
me that I need to be concerned about, and I don't.
I'm not afraid of what might be exposed in that
process of deep diving into these departments. Like some of
the other candidates are going to have a lot of
(30:25):
the other people running our longtime career politicians with a
lot of political baggage behind them, and they do have
they could possibly have some concerns over things that would
be revealed in the process of really deep diving into
the departments and what's been going on for the last
twenty plus years. And so you don't get that with me,
(30:49):
I have nothing to hide, and in fact, I want
to make sure that people of the state see exactly
what's been going on for the last twenty plus years
in their government, so.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They just of that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Well. I can hear the passion in your voice, and
I know before you get too far along, and I
want to ask you about another passion that you have,
which is education. I noticed that you for a while
were into homeschooling and more things. There must have been
something that you felt was missing in the school system
to go that route. So where do you want to
(31:24):
start with that?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
So I've been a public school, private school, and homeschool parent.
So I have run the gamut on all the different
ways that you can educate in the state. And my
two youngest actually have learning challenges. And so I said earlier,
I have a son with autism. He's twenty seven, and
my youngest is twenty two, and he is profoundly dyslexic
(31:47):
and profoundly dysgraphic, and so lots of trouble reading and writing.
And let me tell you, I would have thought that
trying to teach someone with autism would be the toughest
job I ever had, But trying to teach someone who
is profoundly dyslexic and profoundly dysgraphic is way way more difficult.
(32:08):
It's like hitting a brick wall over and over, and
so we've really worked very hard. I pulled my kids out.
I had taken my middle son, my twenty seven year old,
out when he was at the end of his second
grade year, and because the school system was not serving
(32:30):
him well. I would go to parent teacher conferences and
they would say, well, he did okay over here, but
he totally failed with this and I'd say, oh, well, gosh,
that's a problem. Oh no, it's not a problem. He
doesn't need to know it yet. And I say, then,
why are we teaching it to him if he doesn't
need to know it yet then, and you already know
(32:52):
that he has challenges and struggles, and let's focus on
the things that he needs to know right now and
make sure that he has mastered that before we move
on to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
And they just the way.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
That they were handling his education. By the time that
I pulled him out at the end of his second
grade year, I realized very quickly I had to start
him over all the way back at the beginning of
first grade and educate him.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And he had already been held back a year.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
To kind of give him a better shot at education.
And so the great thing about it, though, is that
I graduated him on time, So at the normal time
he would have graduated had he not been held back
a year, he graduated on time. And that is a
testament to one on one education and making sure that
(33:48):
the child, the child's needs and their education style is
being met. And you know, did my autistic son make
it as far as as a normal functioning child, maybe not.
He made it to like pre algebra. He was at
a twelfth grade breeding level. But you know, he wasn't
(34:11):
into He wasn't like a master scholar by any means
at that age. He just he knew enough to go
into the workforce. And so my my youngest son, I
pulled him out after his kindergarten year and they had
missed that.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
He was dyslexic.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
And so it took me about a year of attempting
to work with him to realize there was something not
right in this in this scenario, and I had him
tested and in fact, that's that's what we figured out.
And so so I educated him homeschool until he was
(34:54):
eighth grade, and we that at that point we realized
that I was we were kind of at a crossroads
where we were kind of butting heads and his education
he needed more than I could provide. And we found
a private Christian school that met his needs perfectly. They
had a school in a school where they would pull
(35:17):
him out and teach him independently on the couple of
subjects that he needed more help in. And today he
has an associate's degree and he is a diesel mechanic
and so I don't believe that would have occurred had
he went through the.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Public school system at all.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
They totally did not serve him well, and so and
I don't believe that my autistic son would have been
as successful as he is today either. Now I have
an older son, he's thirty one, he's a CPA, he's
my smarty pants, and he really didn't need any of
my help at any point in time during his schooling.
(35:51):
And that's a testament to the different education styles of children.
So why I'm passionate about education. Let me give you
a little background on Kansas. Our entire state budget, over
sixty percent of it goes to education, and our children
(36:13):
are sailing. So I think it's like twenty three percent.
Don't quote me on this because I looked at this
a while back, but twenty three percent are not reading
at grade level and at fourth grade when they test them.
And eighty six percent, I think that's right, are not
(36:33):
at grade level in math in eighth grade when they
test for that. And so that is very concerning. Yet
we have rising graduation rates because there's no child left behind,
so they just keep pushing him forward, which is what
(36:55):
they were doing with my autistic son. He had not learned,
you know, was not learning a p really, but they
just kept pushing them forward. And so we have we
have rising graduation rates and children that are graduating with
without the ability to read at grade level, and so
we're setting them up for failure in society to go
(37:15):
out and get a job, you know, and we're not
encouraging we need to be encouraging more trade work, where
there can be apprenticeships and there can be things that
meet the needs of non traditional I don't want to
say non traditional students, because I don't think any student
is traditional in the sense of each one of us
(37:37):
is a unique human being that has a different way
to learn. And so we we we just need to
look at those things and and stop pushing kids into college,
which you know, we say a four year college, Well
there's no such thing anymore. A degree is six years
plus now, and we're saddling these kids with decades of
(38:01):
debt on top of that because we're requiring classes that
don't really have anything to do with their degree or
their ability to do a job in society. And then
we're sending them out of society and they're not even
able to get a job with the degree that they hold,
and so we've just we're really setting up lots of people,
(38:24):
lots of kids for failure. So education is a huge
thing for me because we are giving so much money
out of our state budget to that. If our kids
were not failing, I would not bat an eye at
over sixty percent of our state budget going to education.
But the truth is is that they are failing. And
(38:44):
in addition, forty percent of that budget is going to administration,
it is going to superintendence, and we are making millionaires
out of superintendents in this state. And it's that money
is not reaching our teachers much less are students. And
so a lot of times you'll hear you must be
against teachers. Oh no, I'm for teachers. Teachers are the
(39:08):
victims here too, and they are not given the tools,
they are not given what they need to to educate properly,
and in fact, right now, they're not even being educated
properly themselves to hold that teaching degree to teach these students,
and they're set up for failure. So we just have
(39:30):
a broken system that needs to be again looked at
with a and and looked at with a fine you know,
a magnifying glass and gone over with a fine tooth
comb to find where those things can be money can
be reallocated to better serve our students and their success.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yes, yeah, I'm I don't know much specifically about Kansas,
but I know a lot of other states. You know,
people they're they're spending a mountain on money on education,
and the teachers don't make anything and the kids aren't
learning anything. Where is it all going so interesting? I
will ask you this before we wrap things up, about autism,
(40:15):
and this is kind of was a national subject. A
couple of weeks ago, RFK Jr. He made a remark
about autism being an epidemic, and a lot of people
got really upset about that. He did clarify in his
remarks if you go back and look as far as
the critically ill ones, they're the twenty percent where they
need constant care. He didn't make a sweeping statement, say all. Nonetheless,
(40:43):
he was he was criticized on two fronts. Number one,
that the diagnosis of autism has become broader in recent years,
so therefore the numbers have gone up. That's the first
thing he was criticized on. The second thing, he was
criticized on and I didn't get this one at all.
(41:03):
I mean, if I say the flus the epidemic, I'm
not dehumanizing people who get the flu. But a lot
of people thought that the remarks were dehumanizing to people
who have autism. Okay, what is your reaction to that?
How do you take what is your take on that?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
So I don't know that I saw his remarks, So
I don't know that I can speak one hundred percent
on what he said and whether it was dehumanizing or not.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
But doubtful, doubtful.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I you know, when we're talking about autism rates, I
do believe they've went up, and I believe that it's environmental.
I believe that it's directly related to our food. I
believe that it's directly related to medications. I believe there's
a lot of factors that are genetically predisposing children to
(41:57):
end up on the spectrum. Okay, and when I look
at my child. So one of the things I'm very
much about functional medicine. Get to the root of the problem,
what's causing this issue, versus can we just medicate it?
And sometimes people are like, well, who do you think
you are to be speaking on that, well, I have
(42:18):
fifteen years of pharmacy background. I worked in hospitals for
hospitals and medical facilities another five years on that. I
don't carry any degrees, but I am the person that
whenever I have a job, I learn every single thing
that I can about it to ensure that I'm doing
the best possible job that I can. And so when
(42:40):
I work fifteen years in pharmacy, I asked questions. I
would sit and talk with pharmacists about the molecular structure
of these medications and how they affect the body. You know,
we could get into a very deep subject about what
crosses the blood brain barrier and what what affects different
(43:01):
medications have on your body versus your brain.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
The same thing with food.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
And what I figured out was, you know, my son
and I educated people on this throughout the state. I
was a parent match through a place called Families Together
for twenty years and I educated families on food and
how they could heal and help their children through food.
And so we were gluten free and casein free, which
(43:28):
are the wheat and milk proteins. Okay, and in some people,
these wheat and milk proteins actually metabolize into a drug
type substance. So it's like glutenum morphin I don't know
the whole word, like it's a really long one, but morphine, okay,
and casinum morphine is basically so it turns into a
(43:53):
drug in their system and it affects them and they
would you would see case case where children would seek
out products containing gluten that were non food products, so
makeup detergents things like that, and eat it because it
contained gluten specifically mostly gluten, and they would basically be
(44:17):
trying to search out that drug interaction. And once you
cleared that from their system, you saw clearer minds. And
I remember when we did when we started the gluten
free casein free diet with my son.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
I remember that we were sitting.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
And watching TV one night and he turned to me
and asked me about something that was on the TV. Now,
that may seem insignificant, but if you're a parent of
a child with autism, you're going to know exactly what
I'm talking about. That did not occur. Ever, you did
not have conversations about current things, things happening. You might
(45:01):
hear about it three weeks from now on repeat like
a broken record, but you did not have a conversation
about it in the moment, it did not occur. And
so I knew right away when that happened. That was
probably only about ten days after starting this diet. I
knew I was onto something that I could improve this
(45:28):
child's ability to function in the real world through food,
and so I applaud RFK is saying now what I've
been saying since two thousand and four, what other people
have been saying for decades, And it really is a
problem number one in our food system, in our medicine,
(45:51):
and you know, I'm going to have big pharma hate
in my guts now. But I have always been the
person who said, how do we look for the root
cause of this and approach it through through food and
through supplements, healing the body from within, behavior modification, exercise,
(46:14):
all of the things that we get told all the
time we should do, those, truly are the things that
will heal and cure your body. I'm a sufferer. I
had line disease and I contracted that well. It was
diagnosed back in twenty thirteen, and I healed myself through
(46:35):
things like essential oils and alternative medicines, red light therapy,
sauna therapy, massage therapy, and I took a very non
traditional route because the traditional route was to plying me
with IV medications and just very strong antibiotics that really
tear your system down after a while. And so again,
(46:59):
my child Will ended up being one of the very
few children of his time that was not on a
mood stabilizing drug, that was not on a on a
plethora of medications. In fact, he was on a couple
of very interesting things. One was minicycling for his acne then,
(47:23):
and minicycling crosses the blood brain barrier and it actually
had an effect on aggression with him. Now, they'd never
heard of that before, but I found a study that
linked it back to lime disease, which we knew that
he probably had as well. And so there was there's
some very interesting things where And I'm not saying that
(47:46):
all medicines are bad. I'm saying that there's a kind
of a place for those medications, but we use it
as the go to, and really all we're doing is
ban dating the symptom instead of addressing the cause. And
you know, there's plenty of people out there that have
addressed the causes of their issues and have seen dramatic
(48:10):
life changes because of it. So I think RFK while
while again much like Trump, maybe his method of speaking
his way he's going about it may feel more like
a bull in a china shop, but what he's attempting
to do is write on track.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
And so.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Parents in the autism community, I welcome that conversation because
I have a long history of healing my child from
within versus plying with medication from the outside. So that's
kind of where I'm at with that.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I enjoyed computers and what you know, the old phrase
there's an app for that. These days there's a pill
for that, and we pop a pill. There's an easy way,
and the best way sometimes is a little bit more,
you know, a little bit more involved than just popping
a pill, but you get better results. And it's been
(49:10):
great talking to you. We have been talking to Stacy Rogers,
who is a candidate for the governor of Kansas. Yeah,
that's a that's a that's a that you're shooting high.
That's a that's a high, you know, a big role.
Where can people find out more about you?
Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah, so the easiest thing to do is just google
Stacy Rogers for Kansas, and you're going to find every
social media platform that I'm on, and so whatever social
media platform you enjoy, you'll find me there. So even Snapchat,
I'm on, TikTok, I'm on Rumble, YouTube, Truth, Social, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
(49:50):
and I do have a website as well as Stacey
Rogers or ks dot com and so any any way
that you want to connect with me, I personally answer
every text message, every Facebook message, every email, and I
want to talk to people. I do want to say
(50:11):
one more thing before we go. One of the things
that I think, and this is this can be very controversial,
is Number one, I believe in term limits. I believe
that we need to have term limits for our legislature,
legislature not only at the state level, but at the
at the federal level. But also in addition to that,
(50:32):
I believe that there should be a cap on the
total dollar amount that you can spend on a campaign.
And the reason for that that would take big money
out of our politics in a hurry. And so the
reason that's number one reason, number two reason I believe
that should happen is that it will allow true servant
leaders to rise up and we have some amazing people
(50:54):
in Kansas that do not have the financial means, do
not believe that they could could get the financial means
to run a campaign, but they are incredibly wise, smart
individuals that could make amazing changes for this state. The
third reason why I believe we should have those limits
(51:15):
is because it would force the candidates to get out
in front of the people voting for them and answer
their questions directly. I won't say about who who doesn't
do that currently, but we have a pattern, and I'm
sure it's in every state.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
You can see this pattern. We have a pattern of.
Speaker 3 (51:36):
Hiding behind the commercials and hiding behind the campaign flyers
instead of answering the questions. And often you'll see politicians
that when the questioning gets too tough, they will cut
and run and not stay and answer those questions. And
that's a travesty. And I think if you have that
(51:59):
amount that you can spend on a campaign, you would
force those candidates out in front of their constituents and
people would find out in a hurry who really deserved their.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
Vote and who did not.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
And I think that that would be we'd see a
huge change in our politics today.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Yeah, Biden said one thing that kind of made me
go hmm. And he didn't do that very often, but
he talked about some kind of a limit for Supreme
Court justices, whether it be twenty years whatever. And I'll
tell you what, Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for example, she
was on the table being embalmed and she was still
(52:42):
sitting on the Supreme Court. I don't know that those
appointments have to be like the pope, where you're there
until you drop. I don't know that that's the best thing.
And regardless of what your political leanings may be, I
don't know that that should be a partisan discussion.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
Well, we have a unique situation here in Kansas, and
I'm glad you brought this up because we actually have
a vote coming up on the at our primary date
in August of twenty sixth. We are the only state
in the country that appoints are Kansas Supreme Court in
the manner that we do, and that is currently. It
was a knee jerk reaction to something that happened back
(53:24):
in the late fifties with it's called the Triple Play.
You can google that. I won't go into the whole
history of it. The Triple Play in Kansas, but basically
a blowout of thought processes and a change to our
constitution to.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Where no.
Speaker 3 (53:45):
Voter in this state has any say, well has any
say in the selection of our Supreme Court. They are
selected through a committee that's appointed by the Bar Association,
and then there are Canada's presented to our governor. Our
governor can only say yes or no, and if she
(54:08):
or he does not like the people presented, she can
say no, but they'll just bring.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
More bad choices to her.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
And it's ultimately after a while if she says no
enough times and refuses to appoint that committee. My understanding
is that committee has the power to appoint for her.
So a lot of people don't understand that this is
the way that functions in Kansas.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
And in fact, they thought.
Speaker 3 (54:33):
They had the voting right because they have the right
to vote for retention, and that is not the same
thing because if they vote them out, okay, and then
again they're they're basically lifetime appointments if they're voted to.
If they're not voted out, they say in forever. But
(54:54):
if they are voted out, then again we go back
to that process of where there's just several potentially really
bad candidates that are given to the governor to select from.
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I first, and so what the vote that is.
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Coming up in our primary election, it will be putting
that power back in the hands of the people. Now,
I think that there needs to be a huge education
process of who these judges are that want to be
on our Supreme Court prior to that, to that, you know,
(55:30):
the general public voting for them. But we had a
pull go out and seventy five percent of the people
of the state said that they would prefer to be
the ones voting for this Supreme Court. And so what
I'm doing now as I'm going out and talking is
again educating people about that particular issue, because most people
(55:53):
thought that they actually had to say in that voting process,
and they do not. And none of our elected officials,
which we have elected to do that kind of job,
has to say either. And so that's a big problem
in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
So interesting, fascinating conversation. Stacey. Thank you so much for
joining us. You're gonna have to join us again. We're
gonna have to come out and say hello again. Stacy Rogers.
Just google candidate for Governor of Kansas and all kinds
of good stuff comes up. Thank you so much for
talking to us.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
I appreciate it absolutely. Thank you for listening everyone. My
name is Billy D's The Ability's Podcast. You can find
it on any major podcast platform. We have a ten
year history, and I guess social media Billy D's on
x which was at one time Twitter. That's kind of
(56:49):
like my social media home, and we do have I
just started it. It's not very big. The Ability D's
Podcast Facebook page is available as well. Thank you very
much for listening, and we will talk to you again.
Very very similar. I'm Billy D's and host of the
self titled podcast, The Billy D's Podcast. We are primarily
(57:10):
an interview and a commentary based podcast featuring authors and
creators talking about their craft, advocates for community issues, and
myself in an array of co hosts discussing current events.
There's no partisan renting and raving going on here, just
great content. You can find The Billy D's Podcast on
your favorite platform and on Twitter at Billy D's. Thank
(57:32):
you and I hope you listen in
You are listening to the Billy D's podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
All right, well, hello everyone, and welcome to the program
if you are new here. First of all, we are
primarily an interview and a commentary based podcast. Today my
name is Billy Dee's and all on the program, I
have Stacy Rogers. Stacey is running for governor of Kansas.
(00:31):
And I'm going to say you're a special guest and
I'll tell you why, because I don't do too often
say that. It's a very cliche thing to say I
have a special guest Onday. But I'll tell you why,
and that is we get a lot of pundits in
the program, I want myself and a lot of people
got something to say. A lot of them are very intelligent,
very well researched all that stuff. But it's not too
often that somebody straps on a helmet and goes onto
(00:53):
the muddy field. And you are doing that. Yeah, Now
you're from Kansas. You're a big business person. What business
were you in? Are you? Yes?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
So, I'm a business owner. I own a couple of
different businesses. I have a wedding and event venue that's
probably the most notable one, and it is the second
longest running event venue in probably most of the state,
but for sure around where I'm from, which is Which Talk.
(01:26):
And it's called Every Farm and it's been running since
the early sixties, and it was a working farm before
that that dates back to the eighteen hundreds. So I've
owned it for about three and a half years. I'm
the first person outside of the Everly family to own
it and since the eighteen hundreds. So yeah, very exciting,
(01:47):
and it's an iconic piece of Wichtalk. Most people know
it because of you know, they went out there with
a corporate event with their job, or they went out
there on a field trip with their you know, their school,
and so a lot of people know that from their childhood.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So the other one that I own is called.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Kids Closet Consignment Sales, and it is a local sale
that's been running for about sixteen years. It's a pop
up that happens three times a year, and it's very
community focused and I'm very much about keeping things local,
supporting local, and this supports our local community in a
(02:28):
multitude of ways.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
And so.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I actually own that company. I run and operate that company,
but I own the entire company nationwide. It's a franchise
and so I have about twenty six franchises across the
United States as well.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Wow, that's awesome. Now, if you would happen to win,
of course, we're hoping for You're wishing you the best.
If you would happen to win, you would become the
first female Republican governor in Kansas history.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Cool with your business background and everything, Are you new
to politics? Is this something what drew you into this?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So I did serve as a council member. I served
until twenty twelve in a small town called Mount Hope,
and so a whole eight hundred and seventy five people
I believe lived there at the time. And I did
that for six years, and like I said, ended in
twenty twelve. So that's been my only political experience aside
(03:31):
from voting and following, you know, politics. And so when
I decided to run, I had kind of been away
from things for quite a while, and some people started
to come back into my sphere and I started to,
you know, really think about it and have some conversations.
(03:54):
So in September of twenty three was when I I
first ever thought about becoming governor. And it was the
day that Laura Kelly, our current governor decided that you
could change your gender on your driver's license. And you know,
I don't know how many times you get your driver's
(04:15):
license out a day and look at it, or how
many times you show it.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
You know, you show it to someone else.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
But it's not something that I think it would even
occur on a weekly basis, sometimes not even a monthly basis.
And so for our governor to take taxpayer time and
money to put towards something like that, instead of paying
attention to issues and things that could really affect our
(04:41):
lives on a day to day basis, I just I
was standing in my living room. I threw my hands
up in the air and said, I can't take any
more of this.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I'm going to have to go be governor.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
And there was not one single moment prior to that
that I'd ever had that thought process. And since that
moment occurred, it's never left me. It was imprinted on
my heart, and I have went forward with it, and
I started having conversations and talking with people in politics
(05:10):
and not in politics, and found out very very quickly
my reason for running, which is the people of.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
This state really do not feel like they.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Have a voice anymore. They feel like they are discounted,
they feel like they don't matter, they're not important, that
nobody is working for them. We've had people, I will
call them career politicians who have been in our legislature
and working in our government for twenty plus years, and
(05:43):
they do not feel like those people are representing them
any longer. And that's unfortunate. There are some really good legislators,
really really good legislators, and then there's a few bad apples.
There's a few people that are bought and paid for
by our by by special interests, by the lobbyists, and
(06:05):
they and once that occurs, they're really not working for
the people of this state anymore. And so what I'm
seeing is and what I'm hearing is people are very frustrated.
That's where I am as well, and a frustrated Kansas
and I want to see better for our state.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So interesting, let's talk a little bit about Kansas. I'll
tell you a little bit about I'm in Ohio. Yeah,
and uh, you know, I talk to people from all
over the country and I always hear, well, well you know,
you guys got corn there, uh, and yeah, we do.
I mean, yeah, uh, not around me so much. But
(06:44):
you know, you've drive through Ohio and you I'm going
to see corn But I think one of the misconceptions
is that we're sort of, uh, you know, a flyover state,
when the fact matter is, I think we're like number
seven in terms of the size of the economy. Obviously California, Texas, Florida,
and New York it would be bigger than us. We
also have a very diversified economy. We have energy here,
(07:04):
we have technology here. We have medicine here at the
Cleveland Clinic and a couple of other really great hospitals,
so there's a lot happening here, and of course agriculture too.
What would be some of the things about Kansas that
people do not know.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Well? I think the most notable that we are known
for is the being the air capital, Whichita especially the
air capital of the world, and so of course there's
a lot of people in aerospace here. So we have
multiple companies sitting in Wichita that are directly influencing.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
The majority of the state.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
We have other things going on in this state, but
that's probably the biggest and the most recognizable is the
fact that we have so much you know, Sessa.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We have we have leer Jet, we have.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Uh, there's Boeing, there's you know, all all the companies.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
There's probably.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
One of every major almost every major company in the
United States or in the world is sitting in in
some way, shape or form in Kansas.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
And so.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I think there's only a couple that that are not
involved in Kansas. So so I think that's a big one.
And of course our farming is We're definitely an agriculture state.
When especially when you go out west, I would say,
you know, eastern side is more aimed at the the
aerospace industry, and then the western side is more of
(08:47):
our agriculture and farming, and so those are probably the
two big ones. There's a lot of other things that
happen in our state, however, and and you know there's
but those those probably the biggest.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So yeah, you're a fellow Republican. The vag Rama Swami
is putting his hat in the ring for governor of Ohio.
So yeah. One of the things that I that I
often get is Ohio one of its big problems has
been the opiate problem, and Ohio has been one of
(09:22):
the hobbits for that. If you're interested, you can check
out some things online about some documentaries about why that
is what's one of the things that's really coming to
a head for you there in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
So I think for us, it's we do definitely have
a problem with fentanyl, a problem with some of those
those kind of drugs, and a lot of that links
back to unfortunately, human trafficking. And so we have we
are a hub for human trafficking. You know, we have
I seventy and thirty five that intersect in our state,
(09:57):
and so that's a huge.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
That's a huge.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Deal for their coming up through Texas and they're coming
across from from you know, in the Arizona area, Colorado area,
and so so we do have a lot of issues
with that, and you know, that's definitely something that is
a high priority for me. This past legislative session, they
(10:24):
had a trafficking bill that did not make it, I
believe out a committee, which was frustrating and should have
been top of the list. They passed the the you know,
protection of children, you know, the trans bill, they passed that,
but second on their list should have been trafficking.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And so the fact that.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
It didn't even make it anywhere close it was was
disheartening and frustrating and.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And just.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
You know, we need to protect people, protect life, and
we're just not doing a good job of that at all.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
I can tell you I work for a nonprofit and
a lot of the things we deal with involve mental
health and addiction. And I've touched with a lot of people,
as I'm sure you do, and it seems like everything
these days, people want a simple solution. For example, the
homeless crisis. If you listen to the far left on
(11:22):
that people are homeless because you know, rich people are
just making the rent too high. And if you listen
to the far right, they will say, well, people just
need to go out and get a job. And I've
been in some of these homeless service centers and they've
come through by the hundreds, and I wouldn't. I mean,
(11:46):
addiction is a problem in that community, so is mental health.
But what what what what I what I What I
noticed the most is this is a population that, how
to put this, are just intellectually not capable of functioning
in a modern society. They can't manage their own affairs,
(12:07):
their doctor's appointments, A lot of them have been taken
advantage of by their family. What little money they had
has been taken from them. Whatever assistance they got has,
you know, whether it's their family or friends or somebody
has taken it from them. And this is a population
that just giving them affordable housing isn't going to work.
(12:28):
The talking points on both sides of this issue just
simply don't work. Does a nuanced approach these days? Do
people hear it? Do they have the patience for you?
Do let's say, talk about the nuance of this. How
do you get your message across?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, So, just.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
To give you a little bit of background on me,
I actually have a twenty seven year old autistic son
and he is, you know, one of my biggest fears
the entire time who was growing up is how do
I prepare for the inevitable time when I'm not here
anymore and he has to navigate or someone is navigating
(13:11):
for him the rest of his life, which could be
another forty to fifty years after I'm gone. And that
is truly terrifying in this day and age because of
the things that I have seen that happened to his friends,
that happened to other people who are in that disabled
(13:33):
or mental health community. And I'm able to stand in
the gap for my son. But there's so many You're right,
there's so many people that are being taken advantage of.
They're being harmed, they're being manipulated, they're being groomed, they're
being taken completely taken advantage of, and some are even trafficked.
(13:56):
And so I think that one of the things that
we need to do is to really focus on how
do we protect the most vulnerable members of our society
and help them. So, I know, addiction is an issue,
a mental health and issue. I personally, I will hire
(14:21):
people who are expellent, who are recovering drug addicts, who
are people really trying to get their life together and
need that, you know, hand up, not a handout, but
a hand up to where they feel that they are valuable,
where they feel that they are worth something.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
And I think that that's truly what's lacking. It is.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Where people do not feel like they are their lives
matter at all. They don't feel like they are valuable
in any way because of and it could be because
of what somebody has told them, maybe their family told
them that, or maybe you know. I used to coach
women about their business and I one time I remember
(15:13):
sitting down with one of my people, and I said,
we The conversation was what holds you back, stops you,
or slows you down? And it always boiled down to fear.
It's always fear, And so I would, but I'd make
them go further, because fear comes from somewhere, right. We
don't just instinct. Oh, we're not just fearful. And one
(15:36):
lady that I sat down with her fear came from
you know. She said, well, I don't feel like i'm
good enough. I'm afraid to do this. And I said,
why do you not feel like you're good enough? She said, well,
I remember I had this manager when I was in
high school who told me I would amount to nothing
as a manager at Pizza Hut.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And this is a.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Thirty five year old woman, married with children, working a
great job. And I looked at her and I said,
so you're telling me that you let a guy who
may very well still be a manager at Pizza Hut
rule your life thirty years.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Later, you know, twenty years later.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And so we talked through that, and in that process
she went back to school and is now an executive
in her position. And because she broke down that wall
of allowing someone to tell her she wasn't worthy enough.
And so I think that we need to have a
(16:33):
conversation about how do we reach people to help them
understand that they are valuable. Every life is valuable, and
when you are given a purpose and a reason and
a job, then you do you do.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Have more value.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You understand that value in yourself what you can contribute
to society. And I just think we've lost that a
lot in this country and in this world. We have
a handout mentality. I believe in smaller government. So I
believe in you know, working and and doing, you know,
(17:15):
putting things back into the hands of the people two
to give them back that power and that say so.
And so, you know, blanketing legislation from a state level
across the entire state doesn't make sense to me. A
lot of that stuff needs to go back to the
counties and the cities and the people themselves to make
(17:35):
those decisions about what is the best for their specific community.
And so as I'm traveling, that's one of the things
that I talk to people about is how are you involved?
What are you doing in your community to make it better?
And how can you how can you get involved and
so I think it's those kind of conversations, how do
(17:56):
we help someone. I think a lot of the mental
illnesses that we're experiencing today are they are they are
things that can be overcome, and it's really on a
value system. They don't feel like they are worth anything,
(18:16):
and that contributes greatly to depression and anxiety and and
a lot of a host of other mental health issues,
which leads to addiction, which leads to some of these
other things that cause great, great problems in our society.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
So yes, and I'm so glad to hear compassion in
what you're saying, because so often, you know, being in
marketing around the mental health space is kind of tough because,
first of all, people think about marketing all Steve jobs,
you're selling something, and that's not It's a little different
when you're working for a nonprofit or for a medical institution.
(18:55):
It's about raising awareness and that can effect, for example,
your donations, it can affect how people vote on issues
that are going to impact these things. And one of
the things I will often hear is, well, that's a
choice that they made. And I'm not going to say
in a country of three hundred million people that people
don't party themselves into addiction. I'm sure it happens, but
(19:16):
that isn't the path to it here in Ohio, and
I'm sure it's not in Kansas. What you touched on
mental health is a big part of it. I had
the privilege of working with a judge here in Ohio
who is one of the first to notice a pattern.
And rather than fall into the typical judge thing, I'll
lock them up and throw the way the key. He said, No,
(19:40):
this is I want to preface this. This was not
people who had harmed anyone. This is not people who
have trafficked and the only person that they hurt was themselves.
He started to see a pattern and he started a
heroin group here in Ohio, and he told me that
up to eighty percent of the people in that they
treat have had some kind of child abuse, and a
(20:01):
lot of it is sexual child abuse. Yes, and I
and even on an everyday basis, it's easier to become
to fall into the pattern of addiction than than what
you may think I've I'll ask people, you've had a
bad day of work, okay, man, I could sure use
a glass of wine. Man, I could sure use a
(20:21):
beer man, I could sure use a cigarette, you know,
I could go on down the line or order myself
a great big pizza. You know, we all comfort ourselves.
And most of the time, I'm gonna say, it passes
without incident. But then you know, it's it's not like
a day where you just became addicted. You know, it's
just like getting fat. You know, it doesn't happen. Yeah,
(20:44):
and and and pretty soon you know that the weekend
rules run. Why that wine made me feel pretty good?
And then you know, I remember I have some leftover
prescriptions when I had that root canal maybe all that,
And the next thing, you know, you're in big trouble.
And sometimes it six months. Sometimes it can take years.
So I mean, that's something that that I'm going to say.
It's said that there's an awareness now in Ohio largely
(21:06):
because just about everybody has been touched by it.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, and look, this this extends.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Of course, we have a lot of military here as well,
and this and so we have a lot of veterans
and and so this anytime you pull on a string
on one thing, you realize that it's connected to so
many other things. So you know, let's talk about the veterans.
Let's talk about the mental health of veterans there. They're
(21:34):
set up there the program. When they come home, whether
it be from a tour or whether it be from
just their their regular serving time, they're often not set
up or equipped to re enter normal civilian life. And
that and they have PTSD, and they have a host
(21:56):
of other issues that are that are not addressed well.
And and so we end up with they also end
up in addiction. They also end up homeless. They also
at an alarming rate and an alarming rate we have
that's homeless with mental health issues in drug addiction and
so that and and I've spoken with some that you know,
just really struggle day to day. They're they're functioning in society,
(22:20):
you probably wouldn't even know that they're struggling. But the
integration problem to feel normal, and that's a whole other thing.
And then they start medicating or they you know, like
I said, they have a glass of wine, they you know,
they take some prescriptions and the next thing you know,
they're in big trouble too. And they've lost their families,
(22:42):
they've lost their jobs, they've lost their homes, and they
end up in a lot of problems and so and
then you look at our foster care system. You look
at children who from the get go are put into
a system that is broken. And I know lots of
families that are really working really hard to love, truly
love on children and to give them their best chance,
(23:04):
but there's so so many that do not get that chance,
and they grow up in that system, and again it
leads to mental health problems and drug addiction, and some
of them turn to things like, uh, you know, they
turn to things like pornography, or they turn to you know,
unhealthy behaviors to find their worth that they weren't finding
(23:29):
other ways. And we just need to be aware of
those things. And there should be there should be I
don't want to say programs. There should be some way
to teach better than what we're doing in these situations,
(23:51):
whether it be for our veterans that are that are
reintegrating into society from from military to civilian life, whether
it's the children that are in foster care or then
aging out of foster care again having to learn how
to manage in as an adult in regular life. Let's
(24:11):
talk about the prison system. When we release prisoners back
into society, we are not setting them up for success,
We're setting them up to fail again. And so there's
a lot of a lot of places in our society
that I think are all tied to that mental health
issue and then drug which leads to drug addiction.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And then you know, we have people.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
That seemingly had an amazing life that make a couple
wrong decisions, end up an addiction and end up losing
everything as well. So it's you know, I'm not I'm
not bashing on any one group of people. This can
happen to almost anyone. And in the society we live
in today, and unfortunately, we don't have supports.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
We don't we don't teach it in school, well we don't.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
We don't have places where they can go if they're struggling,
truly struggling, and get that mental health support that they
need before it becomes the major problem. What about you know,
children who are being abused in their homes and the
schools maybe aren't catching it. Some of these kids. I
know a family in particular that I did not find
(25:25):
out until they were adults that abuse had occurred repeatedly
in the home. I would have stepped in and done something.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I would have helped them, but I had no idea,
and they did not.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
The children covered it up because they felt like that's
what they were supposed to do, and they suffered in silence.
And we just we live in a place that you know,
does not offer those protections for those kids. To the
systems are broken, is basically what I'm saying. Sure that
(26:02):
those those systems are broken. So there's a lot of
things that I feel like we have lost our ability
to feel empathy towards people, to love people, to really
serve people and meet them where they're at and and
(26:24):
help them through things like this.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
You know, I don't I don't know that I have
all the answers to that as governor of Kansas, but
I definitely know that there needs to be some things
looked at. And one of the things I'll tell you
is I plan on creating a real Kansas doge when
entering office. And I do hesitate to use the word
(26:49):
doge because that's kind of been given a bad connotation
in a lot of ways because of you know, people
feel like, you know, they've went in there just locked
the top off of things and and and not really
taking a good hard look over what that was going
to affect, who that was going to affect, what was
(27:10):
what the ramifications for some of that that was going
to be. And so that's not what I'm really talking about.
I'm not talking about going into, uh, you know, every
every department in our state and just lopping the top
off of it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
That's not what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
I'm talking about going in and taking a very critical
look at what is going on in each department and
you know, making sure that we are not you know,
misusing funds, that we are allocating them to the right
places where they will be the most benefit, the most beneficial.
(27:44):
We are looking at things auditing, auditing to make sure
that our we're not being wasteful in anyway. And and
then with without losing value to what the citizens of
this state need.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
So that's very important.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
We can we can go in there and and hack
away at departments, but if that harms in the process
citizens of this state by losing services or or you know,
much needed services and we're taking away value, then we're
not doing any good either. So there have to be
there are things that we can do to to make
(28:27):
things work better and save money at the same time.
So what's occurring right now is that our current legislature
created a Kansas doge. Well, we have and we have
a mostly Republican uh you know, we're Republican heavy in
our legislature, and so that's great, but we have a
(28:49):
Democrat governor and Democrat you know, department heads, and so
a lot of information is being withheld, concealed, redacted when
legislatures legislators requested, and it takes a very long time,
even under our Open Records Act to get information and
(29:11):
then it's it's not complete.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And so to create a.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Doge at this point is a little bit premature in
my opinion, because once we actually are able to see everything,
have it all laid out in front of us, we
may actually find that it's going to cost the taxpayers
more and cost more time because of what they're trying
(29:39):
to do right now working along the edges of what's
available for them to even see and work with. And
so that's so that's my biggest concern on that. I
think that we have to wait until we can actually
see the full information. And so my intention is, you know,
is to lay that open for the people of Kansas.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
See to be very transparent.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
One of the unique things about me is that I
don't have a political political baggage a mile long behind
me that I need to be concerned about, and I don't.
I'm not afraid of what might be exposed in that
process of deep diving into these departments. Like some of
the other candidates are going to have a lot of
(30:25):
the other people running our longtime career politicians with a
lot of political baggage behind them, and they do have
they could possibly have some concerns over things that would
be revealed in the process of really deep diving into
the departments and what's been going on for the last
twenty plus years. And so you don't get that with me,
(30:49):
I have nothing to hide, and in fact, I want
to make sure that people of the state see exactly
what's been going on for the last twenty plus years
in their government, so.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They just of that.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Well. I can hear the passion in your voice, and
I know before you get too far along, and I
want to ask you about another passion that you have,
which is education. I noticed that you for a while
were into homeschooling and more things. There must have been
something that you felt was missing in the school system
to go that route. So where do you want to
(31:24):
start with that?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
So I've been a public school, private school, and homeschool parent.
So I have run the gamut on all the different
ways that you can educate in the state. And my
two youngest actually have learning challenges. And so I said earlier,
I have a son with autism. He's twenty seven, and
my youngest is twenty two, and he is profoundly dyslexic
(31:47):
and profoundly dysgraphic, and so lots of trouble reading and writing.
And let me tell you, I would have thought that
trying to teach someone with autism would be the toughest
job I ever had, But trying to teach someone who
is profoundly dyslexic and profoundly dysgraphic is way way more difficult.
(32:08):
It's like hitting a brick wall over and over, and
so we've really worked very hard. I pulled my kids out.
I had taken my middle son, my twenty seven year old,
out when he was at the end of his second
grade year, and because the school system was not serving
(32:30):
him well. I would go to parent teacher conferences and
they would say, well, he did okay over here, but
he totally failed with this and I'd say, oh, well, gosh,
that's a problem. Oh no, it's not a problem. He
doesn't need to know it yet. And I say, then,
why are we teaching it to him if he doesn't
need to know it yet then, and you already know
(32:52):
that he has challenges and struggles, and let's focus on
the things that he needs to know right now and
make sure that he has mastered that before we move
on to the next thing.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
And they just the way.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
That they were handling his education. By the time that
I pulled him out at the end of his second
grade year, I realized very quickly I had to start
him over all the way back at the beginning of
first grade and educate him.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
And he had already been held back a year.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
To kind of give him a better shot at education.
And so the great thing about it, though, is that
I graduated him on time, So at the normal time
he would have graduated had he not been held back
a year, he graduated on time. And that is a
testament to one on one education and making sure that
(33:48):
the child, the child's needs and their education style is
being met. And you know, did my autistic son make
it as far as as a normal functioning child, maybe not.
He made it to like pre algebra. He was at
a twelfth grade breeding level. But you know, he wasn't
(34:11):
into He wasn't like a master scholar by any means
at that age. He just he knew enough to go
into the workforce. And so my my youngest son, I
pulled him out after his kindergarten year and they had
missed that.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
He was dyslexic.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
And so it took me about a year of attempting
to work with him to realize there was something not
right in this in this scenario, and I had him
tested and in fact, that's that's what we figured out.
And so so I educated him homeschool until he was
(34:54):
eighth grade, and we that at that point we realized
that I was we were kind of at a crossroads
where we were kind of butting heads and his education
he needed more than I could provide. And we found
a private Christian school that met his needs perfectly. They
had a school in a school where they would pull
(35:17):
him out and teach him independently on the couple of
subjects that he needed more help in. And today he
has an associate's degree and he is a diesel mechanic
and so I don't believe that would have occurred had
he went through the.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Public school system at all.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
They totally did not serve him well, and so and
I don't believe that my autistic son would have been
as successful as he is today either. Now I have
an older son, he's thirty one, he's a CPA, he's
my smarty pants, and he really didn't need any of
my help at any point in time during his schooling.
(35:51):
And that's a testament to the different education styles of children.
So why I'm passionate about education. Let me give you
a little background on Kansas. Our entire state budget, over
sixty percent of it goes to education, and our children
(36:13):
are sailing. So I think it's like twenty three percent.
Don't quote me on this because I looked at this
a while back, but twenty three percent are not reading
at grade level and at fourth grade when they test them.
And eighty six percent, I think that's right, are not
(36:33):
at grade level in math in eighth grade when they
test for that. And so that is very concerning. Yet
we have rising graduation rates because there's no child left behind,
so they just keep pushing him forward, which is what
(36:55):
they were doing with my autistic son. He had not learned,
you know, was not learning a p really, but they
just kept pushing them forward. And so we have we
have rising graduation rates and children that are graduating with
without the ability to read at grade level, and so
we're setting them up for failure in society to go
(37:15):
out and get a job, you know, and we're not
encouraging we need to be encouraging more trade work, where
there can be apprenticeships and there can be things that
meet the needs of non traditional I don't want to
say non traditional students, because I don't think any student
is traditional in the sense of each one of us
(37:37):
is a unique human being that has a different way
to learn. And so we we we just need to
look at those things and and stop pushing kids into college,
which you know, we say a four year college, Well
there's no such thing anymore. A degree is six years
plus now, and we're saddling these kids with decades of
(38:01):
debt on top of that because we're requiring classes that
don't really have anything to do with their degree or
their ability to do a job in society. And then
we're sending them out of society and they're not even
able to get a job with the degree that they hold,
and so we've just we're really setting up lots of people,
(38:24):
lots of kids for failure. So education is a huge
thing for me because we are giving so much money
out of our state budget to that. If our kids
were not failing, I would not bat an eye at
over sixty percent of our state budget going to education.
But the truth is is that they are failing. And
(38:44):
in addition, forty percent of that budget is going to administration,
it is going to superintendence, and we are making millionaires
out of superintendents in this state. And it's that money
is not reaching our teachers much less are students. And
so a lot of times you'll hear you must be
against teachers. Oh no, I'm for teachers. Teachers are the
(39:08):
victims here too, and they are not given the tools,
they are not given what they need to to educate properly,
and in fact, right now, they're not even being educated
properly themselves to hold that teaching degree to teach these students,
and they're set up for failure. So we just have
(39:30):
a broken system that needs to be again looked at
with a and and looked at with a fine you know,
a magnifying glass and gone over with a fine tooth
comb to find where those things can be money can
be reallocated to better serve our students and their success.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yes, yeah, I'm I don't know much specifically about Kansas,
but I know a lot of other states. You know,
people they're they're spending a mountain on money on education,
and the teachers don't make anything and the kids aren't
learning anything. Where is it all going so interesting? I
will ask you this before we wrap things up, about autism,
(40:15):
and this is kind of was a national subject. A
couple of weeks ago, RFK Jr. He made a remark
about autism being an epidemic, and a lot of people
got really upset about that. He did clarify in his
remarks if you go back and look as far as
the critically ill ones, they're the twenty percent where they
need constant care. He didn't make a sweeping statement, say all. Nonetheless,
(40:43):
he was he was criticized on two fronts. Number one,
that the diagnosis of autism has become broader in recent years,
so therefore the numbers have gone up. That's the first
thing he was criticized on. The second thing, he was
criticized on and I didn't get this one at all.
(41:03):
I mean, if I say the flus the epidemic, I'm
not dehumanizing people who get the flu. But a lot
of people thought that the remarks were dehumanizing to people
who have autism. Okay, what is your reaction to that?
How do you take what is your take on that?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
So I don't know that I saw his remarks, So
I don't know that I can speak one hundred percent
on what he said and whether it was dehumanizing or not.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
But doubtful, doubtful.
Speaker 3 (41:32):
I you know, when we're talking about autism rates, I
do believe they've went up, and I believe that it's environmental.
I believe that it's directly related to our food. I
believe that it's directly related to medications. I believe there's
a lot of factors that are genetically predisposing children to
(41:57):
end up on the spectrum. Okay, and when I look
at my child. So one of the things I'm very
much about functional medicine. Get to the root of the problem,
what's causing this issue, versus can we just medicate it?
And sometimes people are like, well, who do you think
you are to be speaking on that, well, I have
(42:18):
fifteen years of pharmacy background. I worked in hospitals for
hospitals and medical facilities another five years on that. I
don't carry any degrees, but I am the person that
whenever I have a job, I learn every single thing
that I can about it to ensure that I'm doing
the best possible job that I can. And so when
(42:40):
I work fifteen years in pharmacy, I asked questions. I
would sit and talk with pharmacists about the molecular structure
of these medications and how they affect the body. You know,
we could get into a very deep subject about what
crosses the blood brain barrier and what what affects different
(43:01):
medications have on your body versus your brain.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
The same thing with food.
Speaker 3 (43:06):
And what I figured out was, you know, my son
and I educated people on this throughout the state. I
was a parent match through a place called Families Together
for twenty years and I educated families on food and
how they could heal and help their children through food.
And so we were gluten free and casein free, which
(43:28):
are the wheat and milk proteins. Okay, and in some people,
these wheat and milk proteins actually metabolize into a drug
type substance. So it's like glutenum morphin I don't know
the whole word, like it's a really long one, but morphine, okay,
and casinum morphine is basically so it turns into a
(43:53):
drug in their system and it affects them and they
would you would see case case where children would seek
out products containing gluten that were non food products, so
makeup detergents things like that, and eat it because it
contained gluten specifically mostly gluten, and they would basically be
(44:17):
trying to search out that drug interaction. And once you
cleared that from their system, you saw clearer minds. And
I remember when we did when we started the gluten
free casein free diet with my son.
Speaker 1 (44:38):
I remember that we were sitting.
Speaker 3 (44:40):
And watching TV one night and he turned to me
and asked me about something that was on the TV. Now,
that may seem insignificant, but if you're a parent of
a child with autism, you're going to know exactly what
I'm talking about. That did not occur. Ever, you did
not have conversations about current things, things happening. You might
(45:01):
hear about it three weeks from now on repeat like
a broken record, but you did not have a conversation
about it in the moment, it did not occur. And
so I knew right away when that happened. That was
probably only about ten days after starting this diet. I
knew I was onto something that I could improve this
(45:28):
child's ability to function in the real world through food,
and so I applaud RFK is saying now what I've
been saying since two thousand and four, what other people
have been saying for decades, And it really is a
problem number one in our food system, in our medicine,
(45:51):
and you know, I'm going to have big pharma hate
in my guts now. But I have always been the
person who said, how do we look for the root
cause of this and approach it through through food and
through supplements, healing the body from within, behavior modification, exercise,
(46:14):
all of the things that we get told all the
time we should do, those, truly are the things that
will heal and cure your body. I'm a sufferer. I
had line disease and I contracted that well. It was
diagnosed back in twenty thirteen, and I healed myself through
(46:35):
things like essential oils and alternative medicines, red light therapy,
sauna therapy, massage therapy, and I took a very non
traditional route because the traditional route was to plying me
with IV medications and just very strong antibiotics that really
tear your system down after a while. And so again,
(46:59):
my child Will ended up being one of the very
few children of his time that was not on a
mood stabilizing drug, that was not on a on a
plethora of medications. In fact, he was on a couple
of very interesting things. One was minicycling for his acne then,
(47:23):
and minicycling crosses the blood brain barrier and it actually
had an effect on aggression with him. Now, they'd never
heard of that before, but I found a study that
linked it back to lime disease, which we knew that
he probably had as well. And so there was there's
some very interesting things where And I'm not saying that
(47:46):
all medicines are bad. I'm saying that there's a kind
of a place for those medications, but we use it
as the go to, and really all we're doing is
ban dating the symptom instead of addressing the cause. And
you know, there's plenty of people out there that have
addressed the causes of their issues and have seen dramatic
(48:10):
life changes because of it. So I think RFK while
while again much like Trump, maybe his method of speaking
his way he's going about it may feel more like
a bull in a china shop, but what he's attempting
to do is write on track.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
And so.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
Parents in the autism community, I welcome that conversation because
I have a long history of healing my child from
within versus plying with medication from the outside. So that's
kind of where I'm at with that.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
I enjoyed computers and what you know, the old phrase
there's an app for that. These days there's a pill
for that, and we pop a pill. There's an easy way,
and the best way sometimes is a little bit more,
you know, a little bit more involved than just popping
a pill, but you get better results. And it's been
(49:10):
great talking to you. We have been talking to Stacy Rogers,
who is a candidate for the governor of Kansas. Yeah,
that's a that's a that's a that you're shooting high.
That's a that's a high, you know, a big role.
Where can people find out more about you?
Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah, so the easiest thing to do is just google
Stacy Rogers for Kansas, and you're going to find every
social media platform that I'm on, and so whatever social
media platform you enjoy, you'll find me there. So even Snapchat,
I'm on, TikTok, I'm on Rumble, YouTube, Truth, Social, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn,
(49:50):
and I do have a website as well as Stacey
Rogers or ks dot com and so any any way
that you want to connect with me, I personally answer
every text message, every Facebook message, every email, and I
want to talk to people. I do want to say
(50:11):
one more thing before we go. One of the things
that I think, and this is this can be very controversial,
is Number one, I believe in term limits. I believe
that we need to have term limits for our legislature,
legislature not only at the state level, but at the
at the federal level. But also in addition to that,
(50:32):
I believe that there should be a cap on the
total dollar amount that you can spend on a campaign.
And the reason for that that would take big money
out of our politics in a hurry. And so the
reason that's number one reason, number two reason I believe
that should happen is that it will allow true servant
leaders to rise up and we have some amazing people
(50:54):
in Kansas that do not have the financial means, do
not believe that they could could get the financial means
to run a campaign, but they are incredibly wise, smart
individuals that could make amazing changes for this state. The
third reason why I believe we should have those limits
(51:15):
is because it would force the candidates to get out
in front of the people voting for them and answer
their questions directly. I won't say about who who doesn't
do that currently, but we have a pattern, and I'm
sure it's in every state.
Speaker 1 (51:32):
You can see this pattern. We have a pattern of.
Speaker 3 (51:36):
Hiding behind the commercials and hiding behind the campaign flyers
instead of answering the questions. And often you'll see politicians
that when the questioning gets too tough, they will cut
and run and not stay and answer those questions. And
that's a travesty. And I think if you have that
(51:59):
amount that you can spend on a campaign, you would
force those candidates out in front of their constituents and
people would find out in a hurry who really deserved their.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
Vote and who did not.
Speaker 3 (52:13):
And I think that that would be we'd see a
huge change in our politics today.
Speaker 2 (52:18):
Yeah, Biden said one thing that kind of made me
go hmm. And he didn't do that very often, but
he talked about some kind of a limit for Supreme
Court justices, whether it be twenty years whatever. And I'll
tell you what, Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for example, she
was on the table being embalmed and she was still
(52:42):
sitting on the Supreme Court. I don't know that those
appointments have to be like the pope, where you're there
until you drop. I don't know that that's the best thing.
And regardless of what your political leanings may be, I
don't know that that should be a partisan discussion.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
Well, we have a unique situation here in Kansas, and
I'm glad you brought this up because we actually have
a vote coming up on the at our primary date
in August of twenty sixth. We are the only state
in the country that appoints are Kansas Supreme Court in
the manner that we do, and that is currently. It
was a knee jerk reaction to something that happened back
(53:24):
in the late fifties with it's called the Triple Play.
You can google that. I won't go into the whole
history of it. The Triple Play in Kansas, but basically
a blowout of thought processes and a change to our
constitution to.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
Where no.
Speaker 3 (53:45):
Voter in this state has any say, well has any
say in the selection of our Supreme Court. They are
selected through a committee that's appointed by the Bar Association,
and then there are Canada's presented to our governor. Our
governor can only say yes or no, and if she
(54:08):
or he does not like the people presented, she can
say no, but they'll just bring.
Speaker 1 (54:13):
More bad choices to her.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
And it's ultimately after a while if she says no
enough times and refuses to appoint that committee. My understanding
is that committee has the power to appoint for her.
So a lot of people don't understand that this is
the way that functions in Kansas.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
And in fact, they thought.
Speaker 3 (54:33):
They had the voting right because they have the right
to vote for retention, and that is not the same
thing because if they vote them out, okay, and then
again they're they're basically lifetime appointments if they're voted to.
If they're not voted out, they say in forever. But
(54:54):
if they are voted out, then again we go back
to that process of where there's just several potentially really
bad candidates that are given to the governor to select from.
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I first, and so what the vote that is.
Speaker 3 (55:09):
Coming up in our primary election, it will be putting
that power back in the hands of the people. Now,
I think that there needs to be a huge education
process of who these judges are that want to be
on our Supreme Court prior to that, to that, you know,
(55:30):
the general public voting for them. But we had a
pull go out and seventy five percent of the people
of the state said that they would prefer to be
the ones voting for this Supreme Court. And so what
I'm doing now as I'm going out and talking is
again educating people about that particular issue, because most people
(55:53):
thought that they actually had to say in that voting process,
and they do not. And none of our elected officials,
which we have elected to do that kind of job,
has to say either. And so that's a big problem
in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
So interesting, fascinating conversation. Stacey. Thank you so much for
joining us. You're gonna have to join us again. We're
gonna have to come out and say hello again. Stacy Rogers.
Just google candidate for Governor of Kansas and all kinds
of good stuff comes up. Thank you so much for
talking to us.
Speaker 1 (56:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
I appreciate it absolutely. Thank you for listening everyone. My
name is Billy D's The Ability's Podcast. You can find
it on any major podcast platform. We have a ten
year history, and I guess social media Billy D's on
x which was at one time Twitter. That's kind of
(56:49):
like my social media home, and we do have I
just started it. It's not very big. The Ability D's
Podcast Facebook page is available as well. Thank you very
much for listening, and we will talk to you again.
Very very similar. I'm Billy D's and host of the
self titled podcast, The Billy D's Podcast. We are primarily
(57:10):
an interview and a commentary based podcast featuring authors and
creators talking about their craft, advocates for community issues, and
myself in an array of co hosts discussing current events.
There's no partisan renting and raving going on here, just
great content. You can find The Billy D's Podcast on
your favorite platform and on Twitter at Billy D's. Thank
(57:32):
you and I hope you listen in
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