WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Today we look at a street and safety in America's desperate need for renewal. That is next. 2 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.880 Hey, welcome back to the Barry Farrar Show. I hope your summer is just going great. 3 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.120 There is a lot to be concerned about with the economy, and we've discussed that before, 4 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:35.520 and we're going to do that again. But today we discuss a deeper, more perilous issue. 5 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:40.800 It goes to the very source of whether or not we will keep our republic. In a republic, 6 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:46.640 the ultimate power is held by the citizens and their elected representatives. The president 7 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.600 is elected by the whole nation through an electoral college. A republic is a little 8 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.640 different than a pure democracy. In a pure democracy, the way you win is just through 9 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:02.480 absolute majority, and they always win. In a constitutional republic, the elected representatives 10 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:10.640 make laws under the authority of the Constitution. So a republic has a safeguard of preventing an 11 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:16.960 angry or wrong majority from changing things on a whim. We can still do things wrong, 12 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:24.400 but it's just harder. A republic respects the rule of law over mob rule, but it still has a lot 13 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.320 of vulnerabilities. And one of those vulnerabilities was amplified by Benjamin Franklin, and we'll get 14 00:01:30.320 --> 00:01:33.760 back to that in just a minute. But first, I wanted to take you to a street. 15 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:39.040 There's this wholesome, family-friendly, respectful, and safe America, 16 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:42.480 and there's this decadent, violent, angry, dangerous, anti-God America. 17 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:48.480 And they're embodied on a street called Colfax over a period of less than a decade. 18 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:54.960 This is the longest continuous commercial street in the whole United States. It's about an hour 19 00:01:54.960 --> 00:01:59.920 north of where we raised our kids, and it cuts right across the center of Denver, Colorado's 20 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:05.360 metropolitan area. It stretches from Aurora through Denver and Lakewood all the way to Golden. 21 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:13.040 It actually extends for 53 miles. Now, in downtown Denver, near the Colorado State Capitol, 22 00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:18.880 the designation changes from West Colfax Avenue to East Colfax Avenue, and that's right there 23 00:02:18.880 --> 00:02:22.720 at the intersection of Broadway. But I'm just going to call the street Colfax. 24 00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:30.080 This street really informs us. It says a lot about America's need to be good again. There's a bus 25 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:36.640 route that goes on Colfax. It's called number 15. It goes from one end of Colfax all the way to the 26 00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:43.040 other, and it has the highest bus ridership in the regional transportation district. Not that long 27 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:47.520 ago, the bus on this route would include a mix of businessmen, even in their suits, and women in 28 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.960 their dresses, and waitresses in their uniforms, and construction workers with their hard hats 29 00:02:52.960 --> 00:03:00.240 in their laps, traveling safely from their homes to and from work. Now, Denver's had its bumps and 30 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:06.080 its bruises with crime, no doubt, but until just a decade or so ago, families along with workers 31 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:12.000 could get on this bus and safely travel at low cost from near their homes all the way in Golden 32 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:18.240 in the west or out in Aurora in the east to visit or work in Denver. For the most part, the bus was 33 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:24.160 clean and the ride could be even a safe family adventure to the city's downtown. And regardless of 34 00:03:24.160 --> 00:03:31.280 how that family got downtown, when they got there, they could walk hand in hand up and down 16th Street 35 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:38.560 Mall and the surrounding area and enjoy a Saturday or a Sunday together. I know, we did that. It was a 36 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:46.000 picture of Norman Rockwell's safe, wholesome, family-friendly America. Unfortunately, that's not 37 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:54.240 the case now. As detailed by Eli Saslow in his article published just last week, Colfax represents 38 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:00.880 a really much different picture today. What Eli did is he followed Suna Karabay, a bus driver on 39 00:04:00.880 --> 00:04:07.680 the Colfax bus 15 route, and Suna keeps the bus clean. She makes sure the handrails are disinfected. 40 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:13.120 She faithfully carries out her 10-hour shift. She tries to put a smile on everything she does. 41 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:18.000 She greets her first passengers with an enthusiastic, good morning. And the first 42 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:26.560 passenger is a guy. He's barefoot. He's carrying a blanket and a pillow. He drops 29 cents into the 43 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:33.600 fare machine for the $3 ride. He says it's all he's got. So Suna waves him on board. She welcomes 44 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:41.440 the next people in line. Happy Friday, she says. This couple is lugging three plastic garbage bags 45 00:04:41.440 --> 00:04:48.320 of belongings and a large unleashed dog. Seriously, a dog? Big one with no leash? 46 00:04:48.960 --> 00:04:56.480 The guy says, service pet. He's trying to find his bus pass. And while he's trying to do that, 47 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.760 the big dog jumps onto the dashboard, grabs 48 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.800 Suna's box of Kleenex and shreds the tissues on the floor. 49 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.760 Suna's a really courageous woman. 50 00:05:06.760 --> 00:05:07.640 She's strong. 51 00:05:07.640 --> 00:05:09.620 She looks at the guy and says, are you 52 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:13.000 sure that this is a service dog? 53 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:14.200 And he's gruff. 54 00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:16.000 What did I tell you already? 55 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:19.280 This is the passenger with garbage bags of stuff. 56 00:05:19.280 --> 00:05:23.160 He says, just drive the damn bus. 57 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:25.240 Treating anyone, especially a service provider 58 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:27.160 on a public transportation vehicle 59 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:29.240 with this level of disrespect was just 60 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.080 really rare a few years ago. 61 00:05:31.080 --> 00:05:33.160 I mean, you might find it in Philly or Chicago, 62 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:34.880 but not Denver. 63 00:05:34.880 --> 00:05:38.160 Unfortunately, it's now part of Suna's everyday life. 64 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:41.920 Sazlo goes on to report that as Suna, the bus driver, 65 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.840 stops every few blocks, she picks up more passengers 66 00:05:44.840 --> 00:05:48.440 in front of extended stay motels, budget restaurants, 67 00:05:48.440 --> 00:05:51.360 and she's just constantly on edge. 68 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.800 And in the past two years, there's a good reason for that. 69 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:55.720 Denver area bus drivers have reported 70 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.080 being assaulted by their passengers 71 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:00.880 more than 145 times. 72 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:04.000 And in spite of Suna's great customer service skills, 73 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:05.400 she's no exception. 74 00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:08.880 She's been spit on, hit with a toolbox, 75 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:12.840 threatened with a knife, pushed in the back while driving, 76 00:06:12.840 --> 00:06:14.980 and she was chased into a restroom 77 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:17.120 during her six-minute break. 78 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.520 In fact, her windshield has been shattered 79 00:06:19.520 --> 00:06:24.720 with rocks or glass bottles, and not just once, but three times. 80 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.280 So Suna picks up this high school girl who's smoking. 81 00:06:27.280 --> 00:06:29.640 Suna says, sorry, you can't do that. 82 00:06:29.640 --> 00:06:32.280 The girl says, it's just weed. 83 00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:34.040 Not on here, Suna says. 84 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.400 So the girl tosses the joint onto the sidewalk, 85 00:06:36.400 --> 00:06:39.720 and she bangs her fist on the first row of seats. 86 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:41.880 But Suna tries to just do her job. 87 00:06:41.880 --> 00:06:45.560 She drives the bus, and she tries to pick people up 88 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.440 and drop off the passengers just as graciously as she can. 89 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:53.400 At the end of Colfax, Suna will take this six-minute break 90 00:06:53.440 --> 00:06:56.560 before turning around and going back the other way. 91 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.440 But first, she has to do, as graciously as possible, 92 00:07:00.440 --> 00:07:02.960 this job that's hard, and that is kick off 93 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:04.840 the people that are sleeping on the bus. 94 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:06.920 And in this case, there are seven. 95 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:09.580 About a quarter of her riders are homeless, 96 00:07:09.580 --> 00:07:13.920 and they use the bus as sort of a mobile day motel. 97 00:07:14.760 --> 00:07:17.040 But she still has to move them out at the end of the line, 98 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.960 and that's the rule for all kinds of good reasons, 99 00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:20.700 the least of which is to sanitize the bus 100 00:07:20.700 --> 00:07:24.820 between shifts or between extensions of that run. 101 00:07:24.820 --> 00:07:26.620 But this is not a job for the faint of heart. 102 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:29.380 I mean, Suna has just one passenger on this shift 103 00:07:29.380 --> 00:07:30.980 who just won't get off. 104 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:33.260 So she goes back to his seat. 105 00:07:33.260 --> 00:07:36.220 Sir, she says, tapping on his shoulder. 106 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:38.540 He had this open wound on his ankle. 107 00:07:38.540 --> 00:07:41.220 It's really yucky, ooze coming out. 108 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:43.100 His leg is shaking. 109 00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:44.860 She says, sir, are you okay? 110 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:46.020 He opens his eyes. 111 00:07:46.020 --> 00:07:46.860 He coughs. 112 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:48.500 He spits on the floor. 113 00:07:48.500 --> 00:07:52.120 He looks around, and he says, are we in Tulsa? 114 00:07:53.060 --> 00:07:54.860 Suna says, no, this is Denver. 115 00:07:54.860 --> 00:07:56.300 This is the 15 line. 116 00:07:57.260 --> 00:07:59.940 The passenger stumbles to his feet. 117 00:07:59.940 --> 00:08:03.500 Suna says, do you want me to call an ambulance for you? 118 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:04.440 He shook his head. 119 00:08:04.440 --> 00:08:07.140 He started limping toward the doors. 120 00:08:07.140 --> 00:08:08.780 Suna does the best she can. 121 00:08:08.780 --> 00:08:11.760 She says, okay, have a good day. 122 00:08:11.760 --> 00:08:14.420 On his way out, walking off the bus, 123 00:08:14.420 --> 00:08:16.260 he gives her the finger. 124 00:08:16.260 --> 00:08:19.820 So Suna gets this treatment all day, every day. 125 00:08:19.820 --> 00:08:21.380 She normally just tries to drive the bus 126 00:08:21.380 --> 00:08:22.900 with as little fanfare as possible, 127 00:08:22.900 --> 00:08:25.440 but there's just some things she can't ignore. 128 00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:27.500 For example, a construction worker sat down 129 00:08:27.500 --> 00:08:29.540 in the first row next to a teenage girl 130 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:32.980 who scooted away from him just as much as she could 131 00:08:32.980 --> 00:08:34.539 and toward the window. 132 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:37.620 He was openly hitting on her, disgusting. 133 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:39.980 Well, the girl was anxious about it. 134 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:42.900 She goes, look, I'm 15, the girl said. 135 00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:44.600 I'm in high school. 136 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:45.960 Well, the creep kept at it, 137 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:49.160 trying to hit on her and say things he shouldn't be saying. 138 00:08:49.160 --> 00:08:50.120 And that was it. 139 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:51.480 So Suna stepped in. 140 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:53.040 She leaned out from her seat, 141 00:08:53.040 --> 00:08:56.220 looked back at him and said, leave her alone. 142 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:58.760 So the creep feigns compliance, 143 00:08:58.760 --> 00:09:02.000 but he continues to hover right on the border of indecency. 144 00:09:02.880 --> 00:09:05.420 So Suna's day job shows us a world 145 00:09:05.420 --> 00:09:07.620 that has just lost all form of civility. 146 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:10.880 There's no concept of restraint for the public good. 147 00:09:10.880 --> 00:09:13.500 Whether one has a personal relationship with God or not, 148 00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:17.260 in times past, most people believed that God is righteous 149 00:09:17.260 --> 00:09:18.500 and that his guidance, 150 00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:22.820 at least on matters of civil decorum, is worthy of respect. 151 00:09:22.820 --> 00:09:24.000 Or if they didn't believe in God, 152 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:29.000 they at least acknowledged this general notion of respect, 153 00:09:29.060 --> 00:09:30.620 but not anymore. 154 00:09:30.620 --> 00:09:34.580 For example, a passenger, a man in a red bikini, 155 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:35.960 was smoking fentanyl. 156 00:09:37.020 --> 00:09:39.180 Suna told him to stop. 157 00:09:39.180 --> 00:09:42.500 He spit on her and he yelled at her saying, 158 00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:44.860 here, I'm giving you COVID, bitch. 159 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:47.620 This is constant. 160 00:09:47.620 --> 00:09:50.060 Another man swallowed this handful of pills 161 00:09:50.060 --> 00:09:51.380 right in front of her. 162 00:09:51.380 --> 00:09:53.220 And he explained that he poisoned himself 163 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.860 so she would have to call an ambulance 164 00:09:55.860 --> 00:09:58.060 so that he could spend some time in the hospital 165 00:09:58.060 --> 00:10:00.180 with some warm meals and a bed. 166 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.160 It's really this bad. 167 00:10:04.160 --> 00:10:06.220 Passengers yell at her for no good reason. 168 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:08.800 They get on the bus and they continue to badger her. 169 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:09.800 They call her stupid. 170 00:10:09.800 --> 00:10:12.280 They call her dumbass and much worse. 171 00:10:12.280 --> 00:10:15.400 They insult her because they're late for work or just mad at everyone. 172 00:10:15.400 --> 00:10:18.640 They've got to take it out on someone so they take it out on her. 173 00:10:18.640 --> 00:10:22.040 They are out of control. 174 00:10:22.040 --> 00:10:27.840 For example, passengers shout at her to hurry up when Colfax is wall-to-wall vehicles. 175 00:10:28.400 --> 00:10:32.560 It's a busy street, especially in the Central Business District area. 176 00:10:32.560 --> 00:10:34.200 There's little she can do. 177 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:39.120 So she'll even try to oblige them and creep up right to the brake lights of the car in 178 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.040 front of her to try and settle people down. 179 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:43.080 I am doing the best I can. 180 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:44.080 But they don't relent. 181 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:45.080 It's so illogical. 182 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:46.080 It's crazy. 183 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.580 They'll say, hey, do you speak English? 184 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:51.240 Get your ass moving or get back to Mexico. 185 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:53.080 By the way, Suna's from Turkey. 186 00:10:53.520 --> 00:11:01.080 Anyway, her job on America's street is constantly revealing the underbelly of the anti-God political 187 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:02.400 left. 188 00:11:02.400 --> 00:11:04.360 It's just not good for anyone. 189 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:08.920 Recently, an intoxicated woman jumped in front of a number 15 bus. 190 00:11:08.920 --> 00:11:10.240 Not at a bus stop. 191 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:11.960 The bus driver stopped. 192 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:15.680 The intoxicated woman shoved her way on board. 193 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:19.280 She cursed at other passengers as she paced up and down the aisle. 194 00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:21.320 She was angry and yelling. 195 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:26.240 There was this man, twice her size, punched her hard. 196 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:30.160 She slammed to the floor and she's unconscious. 197 00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:32.960 The other passengers didn't do a thing. 198 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:34.600 Not a thing. 199 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:36.360 She just lay there, knocked out. 200 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:42.880 Then he stomped on her chest while he was yelling on the bus about his right to do so. 201 00:11:43.880 --> 00:11:51.640 Then at the next stop, he grabbed her unconscious by the ankles and threw her off. 202 00:11:51.640 --> 00:11:57.380 She smacked into the curb and later died of blunt force. 203 00:11:57.380 --> 00:12:03.360 This absurd violence is not just among the mentally ill. 204 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:10.280 This man just believed he had societal permission to shut the lady up. 205 00:12:10.280 --> 00:12:14.360 She was out of control, so he could be out of control. 206 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:18.200 In his mind, there would be no consequence. 207 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:23.480 Violence has become common and trauma has become part of the normal day. 208 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:29.480 Not even an open murder phases people, literally. 209 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:32.880 Just seconds right after this murder. 210 00:12:32.880 --> 00:12:39.100 One of the other passengers on the bus said to the bus driver, we can keep riding though. 211 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:42.500 We got to go to work, man. 212 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:47.860 Each time Suna comes to that stop, she braces herself and you can certainly understand why. 213 00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:53.820 On this particular day, a big burly man who was a belligerent passenger for no valid purpose 214 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:57.500 gets out of his seat while the bus is still moving and comes to the front of the bus at 215 00:12:57.500 --> 00:12:59.180 the same stop where the murder happened. 216 00:12:59.180 --> 00:13:03.940 Suna's just kind of bracing herself and she's just trying to keep some order, but he takes 217 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:05.520 offense. 218 00:13:05.520 --> 00:13:11.560 He bangs his fist into the windshield as he cursed and exited the bus. 219 00:13:11.560 --> 00:13:16.200 She takes a minute to collect herself and then welcomes the next passengers aboard. 220 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.880 She does this five days a week. 221 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:21.040 The bus retires for the night at Union Station. 222 00:13:21.040 --> 00:13:25.520 This is a beautifully newly renovated place in downtown Denver, a half a billion dollars 223 00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:29.360 worth of renovation, but that didn't make the people good. 224 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:30.360 It's lawless. 225 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.000 A lot of her passengers sleep here at night. 226 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:38.640 The long indoor corridor is home to a massive opioid epidemic. 227 00:13:38.640 --> 00:13:40.820 There's a few hundred people that sleep on benches. 228 00:13:40.820 --> 00:13:45.080 The city at one time removed the benches, but then the people just slept on the floor. 229 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:49.760 When they closed the bathrooms, people just did their business out in the open. 230 00:13:49.760 --> 00:13:52.240 You know, Denver's just not what it used to be. 231 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:56.360 It's not this mostly good place where you could safely take your young children on a 232 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:58.600 family outing. 233 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:03.400 Officers pay the price for belittling the police and for lax prosecution. 234 00:14:03.400 --> 00:14:07.520 A number of crimes have just been loosened outright, so much so that the criminals back 235 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:10.560 out on the street within hours of being booked. 236 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:15.720 Homelessness is up over 50% since 2020. 237 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.440 Violent crime is up by 17%. 238 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:20.960 Murders are up by 47%. 239 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:27.560 Property crime has nearly doubled and seizures of fentanyl and meth quadrupled in the past 240 00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:28.560 year. 241 00:14:28.560 --> 00:14:31.240 Denver isn't the only troubled city. 242 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:36.080 All the cities run by bad policy, all by far left Democrats whose governors and mayors 243 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:42.480 have openly denigrated traditional moral values, whose policies overtly disregard the traditional 244 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:47.200 nuclear family, whose personal views are known to be anti-God. 245 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.880 All those cities are in visible decline. 246 00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:52.880 The statistics show it. 247 00:14:52.880 --> 00:14:59.880 Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, New York. 248 00:14:59.880 --> 00:15:00.880 They have 249 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.160 as much as an 80% increase in rape, sexual assault, and murder. 250 00:15:00.880 --> 00:15:00.880 251 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:11.840 You know, the sad story on Colfax is that it's a picture of an America that desperately needs help. 252 00:15:12.880 --> 00:15:18.240 Freedom is not secured by giving the most dangerous people unfettered reign to inflict 253 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:24.960 terror on everyone else. Let's circle back to Benjamin Franklin. He was actually an optimist, 254 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.800 but he'd traveled the world and he'd seen lots of different government forums and he'd studied it 255 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:34.000 all his life. And at 81 years of age, in his final speech before the Constitutional Convention, 256 00:15:34.800 --> 00:15:40.160 he said the following, when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint 257 00:15:40.160 --> 00:15:46.400 wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, 258 00:15:46.400 --> 00:15:52.480 their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. And he was talking about 259 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:57.840 men he respected, whom he thought were basically noble, basically honorable. They still needed 260 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.760 checks and balances. And he thought the Constitution was about as good as you can get. 261 00:16:02.640 --> 00:16:07.760 He had this friend, her name was Elizabeth Powell. She was a prominent woman in Philadelphia and she 262 00:16:07.760 --> 00:16:11.760 was the wife of the mayor. She often hosted convention delegates and their wives in their 263 00:16:11.760 --> 00:16:16.240 home. She also later became close friends with George and Martha Washington. That's because 264 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:20.880 George spent most of his presidency in the temporary capital of Philadelphia while D.C. was 265 00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:27.600 getting built. Anyway, right after the Constitutional Convention, Mrs. Powell asks Ben Franklin whether 266 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:34.640 the new Constitution was a monarch or a republic. And he famously answered saying, a republic, 267 00:16:35.520 --> 00:16:43.520 if you can keep it. So Elizabeth immediately shot back, and why not keep it? Ben Franklin responds, 268 00:16:43.520 --> 00:16:49.520 because the people on testing the dish are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good. 269 00:16:50.400 --> 00:16:54.480 In other words, if you're getting a benefit from the government, it's just too hard to turn it 270 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:59.280 down. So as more and more constituents get more and more benefits from the government over time, 271 00:16:59.280 --> 00:17:03.920 the republic will denigrate to a democracy and the majority will vote in for themselves more 272 00:17:03.920 --> 00:17:10.960 and more benefits and the limited government aspiration of a republic will be lost. He also 273 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:15.680 spoke to the presidency itself. He said the executive office will always be increasing here 274 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:21.520 as elsewhere till it ends in a monarchy. The first man put at the helm will be a good one. 275 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:26.800 Nobody knows what sort may come after. You know, he was speaking of our first president. 276 00:17:26.800 --> 00:17:31.440 George Washington could have demanded anything he wanted. He certainly could have run for four terms. 277 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:37.840 Yet he voluntarily limited himself to two terms. He did that to set a precedent. Government should 278 00:17:37.840 --> 00:17:45.440 be limited and the leaders should not manipulate the system to increase their power. The precedent 279 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:51.280 would be honored until the power-hungry left-wing Democrat FDR came along. We had to ratify the 22nd 280 00:17:51.280 --> 00:17:56.240 amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prevent another debacle like that. But the idea was 281 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:02.480 straightforward and it was magnanimous. To George Washington, he would have to model some form of 282 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:09.200 limitation, some self-limitation, paraphrasing his own musings. We're not setting up a dictatorship, 283 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:14.560 not even a benevolent dictatorship. We're making the decision as a government to muddle through 284 00:18:14.560 --> 00:18:22.160 with checks and balances of a republic. At the end of the day, a republic is sort of fragile. 285 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:27.680 You have elected representatives. They need accountability. I mean, they should be basically 286 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.920 respectful of law out the gate. They should be courteous toward one another and honorable in 287 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.640 their dealings. But that requires the people who elect them to have some of those same internal 288 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:43.920 moral navigation systems. If the people lose their moral bearing, America's system won't survive. 289 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:49.840 There are presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan to Clinton who attempted to discuss this, to unify and 290 00:18:49.840 --> 00:18:56.400 rally Americans back to their wholesome place by using the following quote, America is great because 291 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:04.480 America is good. If America ever stops being good, it will stop being great. Now they attributed that 292 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:10.640 quote to Alexis de Tocqueville. He was America's most famous tourist from France, wrote about 293 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:15.680 his travels here. But there's actually no written record of this quote in Alexis' own 294 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:20.640 writings. Yet others have given him credit for this quote. The most recent known written source 295 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:27.600 is Sherwood Eddy. He's an evangelist who lived from 1871 to 1963. And in his 1941 book, he provides 296 00:19:27.600 --> 00:19:32.160 an expanded version that he attributes to Tocqueville. And a whole bunch of politicians 297 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.080 have taken from this and lifted it. And political thinkers have as well. Here it is. 298 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:42.320 I sought for the greatness and the genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample 299 00:19:42.320 --> 00:19:48.160 rivers, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and the genius of America in her fertile 300 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:55.520 fields and boundless forests, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius 301 00:19:55.520 --> 00:19:59.600 of America in her rich mines and her vast world continent. 302 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.680 Amherst, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and the genius of America in 303 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:11.280 her public school system, in her institutions of learning, and it was not there. I sought 304 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:15.920 for the greatness and genius of America in her Democratic Congress, in her matchless 305 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:22.400 Constitution, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard 306 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:29.600 her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. 307 00:20:29.600 --> 00:20:35.600 America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she 308 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:37.760 will cease to be great. 309 00:20:37.760 --> 00:20:43.880 Well, that's what Eddie said Tocqueville said, and it's pretty powerful. We just can't find 310 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:47.680 source proof that Tocqueville actually wrote that, but he might have said something like 311 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:52.520 that. He might have said exactly that. In 1908, the Methodist Review quotes Tocqueville 312 00:20:52.520 --> 00:20:56.300 as saying that he searched in vain for the sources of America's distinction until he 313 00:20:56.300 --> 00:20:59.580 entered a church, and they have it a little bit differently. They say that he said, 314 00:20:59.580 --> 00:21:05.620 It was there, as I listened to the soul-equalizing and soul-elevating principles of the gospel 315 00:21:05.620 --> 00:21:11.060 of Christ, as they fell from Sabbath to Sabbath upon the masses of the people, that I learned 316 00:21:11.060 --> 00:21:16.660 why America is great and free and why France is a slave. 317 00:21:16.660 --> 00:21:21.140 There are other variants of those quotes. One was published in 1886, but as best as 318 00:21:21.140 --> 00:21:28.380 I can uncover, the original source comes from a book published in 1835 by Andrew Reid 319 00:21:28.380 --> 00:21:34.060 and James Matheson, two British ministers. They came to the United States in 1834 to 320 00:21:34.060 --> 00:21:39.080 promote unity and friendship among their sister churches. They weren't as famous as Alexis 321 00:21:39.080 --> 00:21:43.380 to Tocqueville, but they traveled the country like he did, and they wrote about it, and 322 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:46.660 when they wrote about their travels, they essentially said the same thing that you saw 323 00:21:46.660 --> 00:21:51.500 above in that quote, and they concluded with a slightly different conclusion. 324 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:57.140 America will be great if America is good. If not, her greatness will vanish away like 325 00:21:57.140 --> 00:21:59.040 a morning cloud. 326 00:21:59.040 --> 00:22:04.100 Now regardless of who you attribute the quote to, the words themselves have truth and they're 327 00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:08.700 powerful. America is based on a solid system of checks and balances, but no system is strong 328 00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:16.140 enough to endure if the people running the show are evil. Our elected officials should 329 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:21.380 have some decency. They should have some semblance of respect for goodness, and that 330 00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:27.660 means the people putting them in office should also have some respect. Without some moral 331 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:34.900 bearing, the theme that we see on Colfax is going to continue to spread, and what Ben 332 00:22:34.900 --> 00:22:38.340 Franklin feared will be realized. 333 00:22:38.340 --> 00:22:43.220 So what should government do? Well, I mean, it can clean up streets like Colfax by simply 334 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:48.140 reestablishing tested policies that allow you to prosper by creating a path for your 335 00:22:48.140 --> 00:22:53.540 two basic needs to be met. It can protect your physical existence. For example, government 336 00:22:53.540 --> 00:22:58.860 should not employ destructive policies that interfere with your food supply or your access 337 00:22:58.860 --> 00:23:04.380 to cheap fuel or your access to the products that come from cheap fuel. It should not print 338 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:09.020 money and just give it away. Those things lower the value of your purchasing power and 339 00:23:09.020 --> 00:23:14.340 make you less prosperous, yet the Fed has done all this and more to interfere with your 340 00:23:14.340 --> 00:23:17.020 freedom and your prosperity. 341 00:23:17.020 --> 00:23:21.900 Number two, state and local governments can protect your physical safety. For example, 342 00:23:21.900 --> 00:23:25.900 government should not violate private property rights by abdicating its responsibility. You 343 00:23:25.900 --> 00:23:29.820 can't just sit there and watch the criminal do his dastardly deed. It should never let 344 00:23:29.820 --> 00:23:33.300 the bad guys threaten your safety without a credible threat of punishment. The police 345 00:23:33.300 --> 00:23:39.100 should step in. It should swiftly prosecute all violations of property rights. It should 346 00:23:39.100 --> 00:23:44.700 certainly strongly prosecute all violent crimes. It should be equipped to police neighborhoods 347 00:23:44.700 --> 00:23:51.700 and all the public spaces. It should make it delightful to be a tourist and frightening 348 00:23:51.820 --> 00:23:54.260 to be a criminal. 349 00:23:54.260 --> 00:24:00.100 We don't want, we don't need the government to decide on our friendships or our family 350 00:24:00.100 --> 00:24:06.020 relationships. We don't need the government to promote perversion upon our children. We 351 00:24:06.020 --> 00:24:11.060 don't need the government to promote delusional concepts like a man can't be pregnant. We 352 00:24:11.060 --> 00:24:15.780 just need the government to do its job, to keep us safe. And a good place to start would 353 00:24:15.780 --> 00:24:19.220 be to clean up streets like Colfax. 354 00:24:19.220 --> 00:24:23.900 It's time for those who believe in mutual respect and equal treatment and goodness to 355 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:29.860 outvote the leftists who don't. But this problem is bigger than a vote. To sustain 356 00:24:29.860 --> 00:24:36.860 a positive change toward kindness, we need a massive return to God and to his created 357 00:24:37.340 --> 00:24:43.180 order, to a healthy nuclear family, a return to a place where we celebrate the miracle 358 00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:50.180 of each man and each woman, each boy and each girl being created in his image. 359 00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:52.700 To your freedom. 360 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.440 Culture Shift. Click subscribe now to be sure you don't miss an episode. Share 361 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.200 this podcast with your friends on social media and give The Barry Ferris Show 362 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:14.040 your five-star rating. See you next time.