Rick Green [00:00:07] Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the WallBuilders Show on a Thursday, which means we've got Foundations of Freedom Thursday today. So please send in your questions, radio@wallbuilders.com, radio@wallbuilders.com. We got a lot of those to get to today. And of course you can ask about the Declaration, the Constitution, it's the 250th. It's a great time to look back at those documents, of course, but it might be about what's going on right now in the world or how to apply biblical wisdom to the issues of the day. Whatever you got, send it in to us, radio@wallbuilders.com. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton. And fellas, our first question is coming from Sue. My question is, if it is actually more influential to write and mail a letter to a congressman expressing your opinion about a present issue that is on the table, then to send the same opinion via email. So just basically, how do you deliver it is what she's asking. Some years ago, at a WallBuilders' Conference on the Hill, one of the senators said that if as few as 20 letters stating your opinion against an issue were received, that the issue would be taken off the table. I don't know if that is true today or if people would know the best way to make a difference. Perhaps if you know it, it would be profitable to put that information out. I'm asking this because USJF is asking support of their cease-and-desist order and any and all efforts to make Washington DC the 51st state. We are being asked to notify Senate Majority Leader John Thune to stop this. Okay guys, so basically what's the best strategy? Do you send an email? Do you call? Do you do you write a handwritten letter? And does it actually take it off the table or influence senators when you do that and then specifically to this issue of the Democrats trying to make D.C. The 51st state? A lot there, guys. 

Tim Barton [00:01:41] Now, Dad, I'm gonna toss this to you in just a second. I'm hoping that, because I didn't see this question until just now when Rick read it. Otherwise, I would have texted some of our friends in Congress. I'm super curious if you've talked to someone more recently about this. We were up in DC just a week or two ago with a lot of our friend. In fact, actually, earlier this week, I was in California with Congressman Barry Loudermilk. So, we have been around a lot of these people, but it used to be that... If somebody wrote a letter that carried a lot of influence, but now I feel like if a congressperson saw a letter, they would think that's probably somebody that's older. Maybe somebody that is not quite in touch with technology. But then I, in my brain think, but you got to caveat it because now you know that there's so many of these computer spoof programs that AI can generate and create and send emails and do an email campaign. And so how do they, How do they validate that? Is this where maybe now it's more impactful to call the switchboard to get to their congressional office to talk to someone in person and let them know? I am super curious, Dad, if you've talked to one of our friends about this or maybe you've already just heard some things recently because I could see this could be a dilemma in the current age we live in. And again, had I seen this question a little bit sooner, we might've texted or called somebody and actually I probably will later just because I do want to know that answer from some of our friends. Cause it is, it's a different world than it used to be just a couple of years ago. And I think AI has changed some of that as well. 

David Barton [00:03:14] Yeah, a great set up, Tim. The answer is whatever requires the most personal effort gets their attention. You just mentioned about emails. It used to be 20 emails, 20 letters would get something. Now the programs are such that you can have 5,000 emails sent to a congressman, each one with a different body. So, it's not like you're cloning the same email and having people sign it. And that's something that was done seven, eight, nine years ago where you could sign on and your organization would send an email to every congressman. And so, you know, here I am in Texas, I'd be sending emails or the organization send emails to people in California from a guy in Texas. Well, number one, if you're outside their district, they're not gonna pay much attention to you. Number two, if it appears to be a replicated effort that is cloned, if every letter has the same content, even if it's handwritten, if every email has the Same content. And so that's where lobbyists have learned to, well, we need to alter the content of every email. So if you're with whatever organization, ABC, and you want to lobby your congressman, if you'll just let us know and we'll send a note for you, all that kind of stuff, if it doesn't appear to take much individual effort, it does not get near as much attention. If you were to, for example, walk into your congressmen's office and say, hey, I came up from the district, want to talk to you about something, you got a lot of attention on that one, because not many people do that. If you are to write a handwritten letter, it gets a lot attention because that's not an AI possible feat. Well, I mean, there are to some degree, but not generally. Anything that shows that you have interest in that, that represents a larger body of people. They know that generally people are uninvolved and don't reach out to their congressmen. So when they see somebody actually take the time to do something, they think, you know, that person is vicarious for a bunch of other people in my district who probably believe exactly the same thing. So whether it be a phone call, Tim, as you mentioned, a phone is good, because that's not generated by AI. I mean, it's a real person talking. Now there are things now where that they will say, if you want to call your congressman, click and then they'll make the calls for you. And that's a semi AI generated, but generally individual content. 

Tim Barton [00:05:20] Well, and let me add one more caveat to this, because there are actual AI bots out there now that can do calls. And like, hey, for every listener, you ought to have a conversation with your family and say, hey if I ever call and I say something's wrong, send money, bail money, I've been in a wreck, I need help with the hospital, send whatever, you need to have some kind of question or code that's if it is in fact your spouse or your son or daughter, your mom or dad, you need to ask a question that they know that it would not be easily discoverable for AI over the internet because they are now able to replicate and spoof people's voices as well. So, this is really guys, it's a brave new world in lots of ways. And you know, there have been a lot of stories online about some of these people that have been caught in these scams. Uh, where they gave credit card information or money or things to some of these bots and all this is the different from the conversation we're really having other than to say is, Dad, to your point, the thing that's the most personal is what stands out the most. It is becoming increasingly challenging in, in some of these conversations for knowing what the best answer is giving this new AI world we are living in. But certainly, I absolutely agree that the thing that shows the most personal connection seems to be the thing that has the most impact when you are expressing your voice and concern on these issues. 

David Barton [00:06:47] And I would add the other thing that is a way to express personal concern is go to town hall meetings. When your congressman comes home and does a town hall meeting, look, there's 760,000 people in his district and a town Hall meeting may have 50, may have 40, may have 30, may up 200. But if you will go to a townhall meeting when your congressmen is home and you take the time to talk to them, that is attention. And wherever there's a personal contact, personal feel that takes effort, that's gonna be significant. And Sue, let me just tell you. I don't know what organization you're talking about, but on making D.C. The 51st state, if they're saying give us a hundred dollars and we'll make a contact, don't do it. Because D.C. becoming the 51 state is not an eminent thing that's going to happen. Democrats want that just like they're talking about making extra states elsewhere, breaking off some parts of really blue areas to make new states. All that is talk. It's almost impossible to get done. Especially right now where you have to have 60 votes in the Senate to do something like make DC a state. So that is a concern, it's something to keep your eyes on, but don't give money to that initiative as much as we don't want DC to become a state because the other thing about it is they can't make it a state, the Constitution requires that the district be a non-state. So they would have to change the Constitution to make that happen. So, I'm just saying, if they're asking for money to get that done, to contact Thune, don’t waste your money on it because it's not going anywhere. It's something to be aware of, but don't put any money into it. So, my recommendation. 

Rick Green [00:08:22] Yeah, so much wisdom in that. I mean, we got to use our discernment and, and marshal our resources in the right direction where it's going to have the most impact. And then of course, everybody's got to think about, you know, what they have the time to do. So, if you just absolutely don't have the time to do a handwritten letter or a personal one or whatever, but you can do a few clicks and join a group that's sending a mass number of say postcards or whatever, okay, it's not as effective, but go ahead and do it. If that's all you can. And only thing I'll say is I do, I remember, and I don't know if this still happens, but I, I'm sure it does, but I remember way back in the day when I was in the house in, in Texas, sometimes I would get these mass ones, like y'all are talking about where they're all form, you know, postcards or whatever. And, and there was, there was a psychological impact of me thinking, okay, wow, there there's a lot of them and they're organized. So even though it didn't take much effort for that voter to do that, it means they're part of a group that would be able to mobilize on this issue in the district or at the legislature, whatever. So don't, don't stay away from it completely because it's like that, cause it still has some effect, but absolutely better to do the personal thing. And man, I couldn't agree more David on the town halls. When you go do those, those personal events and you actually get to stand up and ask a question or say something and get face to face with that legislator, state or federal, that is very, very effective. And don't be afraid of calling and asking for a meeting specifically with the local guy, you know, the state reps, the state senators. You could get those you'd be surprised how often you get those congressmen much harder, senator virtually impossible. But yeah, it's all kind of you just measure it and see where you can have the most impact. Great question though! Love those kind of questions on what we can do to be effective. So next up, let's see this this from Kenneth. He said; Hi David Rick and Tim! I am listening on YouTube to the channel Brandon Layman. The video titled What Democrats Just Did is Highly Illegal. The video goes on to explain there is a compact among Democrats, states that their vote will automatically go toward the popular vote. The governor of Virginia signed onto this compact, amongst other states have signed onto this compact which bring the total vote to 207 to overrule the Electoral College. My question is if this compact goes forward, will this compact overrule the Electoral College given enough votes? Thank you and I look forward to your response. Kenneth from Washington State, Kenneth, thanks for sending that in and before you guys even answer, I want to give a little bit of a commercial. Go to wallbuilders.com, get Constitution Alive or get Biblical Citizenship in Modern America and we go really in depth on this very specific issue. Now at the time we filmed that, I think David, if I remember right, they were at like 180 or 190 electoral votes that had signed on to Compact the states that had that many votes. I think it's even higher than the 207 he mentioned. I can't remember what Virginia bumped it up to, but anyway, go ahead, fellas. 

David Barton [00:11:08] Yeah, it was a movement among Democrats that essentially does not abolish the electoral college, but it redirects it and it thwarts its purpose. Rather than having a Republic, it moves into a democracy. We, if Texas, for example, votes Republican, but they're part of this compact and a Democrat wins the election, then all of Texas's electoral college votes go to the Democrat, not the Republican. And so there's, there's some problems with that. In the sense that each state represents, each state elects a group of electors to represent it when the Electoral College meets. And so it would be the state telling Republican electors, you have to cast your vote for Democrats, which is a hard thing. It does not abolish the Electoral College, but it negates the Electoral College and makes it really of no use. It turns it into a democracy which founding fathers absolutely hated. Article 4, Section 4, we have to have a Republican form of government. This would still maintain a Republican form of Government because it's the representatives that are still making the decisions and not the people themselves. But overall, it's going to be really hard to get those 270 votes that they need with all the states. This thing really flattened out. It was gaining steam for a while. It's been flat for several years. You have Virginia trying to do it again. But states fall on and fall off this I think it's gonna be really hard for them to get to that threshold of getting that many states to do it and then it's going to be really Hard to survive all the legal challenge that will happen afterwards. I don't think it is blatantly unconstitutional I just think it thwarts the will of the Constitution and you're supposed to do things not by the spirit of the law but by the letter of the law which is why we have the Declaration at the basis of the Constitution to give you the interpretation what the spirit of the laws supposed to be. So, all of that to say, I don't think it's unconstitutional, but I think it is trying to find a way to get around the Constitution and around the Republican mandate. And I say that not as a partisan thing, but a Republican form of government mandate in Article IV. I think they're trying to make it a democracy which Democrats love. They hate republics, they love democracies, which the Founding Fathers were exactly the opposite. 

Tim Barton [00:13:20] And Dad, I would point out they love democracies when they think they can get the votes for it. 

David Barton [00:13:25] That's true. 

Tim Barton [00:13:25] They probably wouldn't love it. They would find another reason to complain or have a problem with it if it wasn't advancing their cause and agenda. But yeah, one of the things I think big picture, the easy thing to look at in this conversation with what Virginia has done and what the national popular vote is, is really doing with these states saying we're giving our all our electoral votes to everyone's a national popular. Vote, ultimately what they are saying is we don't care what our state chooses. We care what the majority of the big cities of our nation chooses. And so, this is something that literally disenfranchises the people of that state. When you are saying, right, if our state votes 85% Republican for president, literally whoever that might be, right? If let's say in the future, sometime Marco Rubio runs and he gets 85% of the vote and for whatever reason, right. Whoever this crazy other person might be running against Marco Rubio, or maybe like, let's just say miracle of miracles they were, like, another conservative. There's two like in California, right? Maybe there's two Republicans that end up getting the top spots of this race. And so whoever it might be, if Marco Rubio won 85% of the votes and his political opponent ends up getting all of the electoral votes from Virginia because the political opponent won the majority of the national popular vote, which again we've identified before you can take like the 20 largest cities and if all of the people in those 20 largest cities vote for a person, there's more population in those 20 cities than in the rest of the nation when it comes to voting populations. But it is to disenfranchise the voters of Virginia to say, we don't care if 85% of you voted for a specific candidate, we're going to take ultimately the choice of our state and give it to somebody else. It is disenfranchising all of people of that state. So that's one of the major flaws I see with this national popular vote movement. 

David Barton [00:15:18] And Tim, just building on that, to throw this all apart, let's back up to the last election where Trump won fairly easily compared to what has been in recent elections. And let's say that he won and that Virginia had passed this compact and that Virgina voted for Kamala, but now they're going to have their electoral votes for Trump. They would instantly repeal this law. They don't expect it to work that way. Democrats are inventor optimists and it never works out in reality the way they hope it will. That's why they keep just making the same mistakes but always keep coming back with new ideas that never work, is that they don't use proven things. And I think it would have been hilarious to see Virginia backing away from what they just passed in the very next election if it happened to be particularly Trump, which they have such a hatred for. If he had won that election over Kamala, this would have been out the door and the whole movement would have been stopped if it doesn't go the way they think. They're always optimistic because they don't know history, they don't study history, they think everything they come up with is going to work and it just doesn't work that way. 

Rick Green [00:16:22] Alright guys, that was a great explanation and a good treatise on why the national popular vote is a terrible idea, but it is still catching on in some of these states, so everybody needs to share this program with your friends and family, and then go take Constitution Alive and Biblical Citizenship and get them really educated on these things as well. Quick break guys, we got more questions coming from the audience when we return. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:18:49] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show. Thanks for staying with us next up. I love this question. Y'all are gonna get a kick out of this one. So Violet said, hello WallBuilders. My question is, what are some steps I can take as a young high schooler to work with you guys in the future? So, there's lots of ways to get connected with us. Number one, you need to come to Patriot Academy's leadership Congress in a state near you somewhere around the nation. You can see those dates at PatriotAcademy.com. And then we've got a summer internship opportunity for you with WallBuilders. You get to come literally hold documents. You get go to the studio with these guys. It's an incredible opportunity. You can learn more about that one at wallbuilders.com. What else would you guys recommend if somebody wanted to be thinking about a career with WallBuilders and Patriot Academy?

Tim Barton [00:19:31] Yeah, I think you just identified the two things that we would encourage as some basic prerequisites. Because when you come to Leadership Congress you get a lot of foundation of the biblical foundation, of our nation of how civics and government really works, you get to know people and frankly we get to know some of the students that come. And then as you mentioned, Rick, we have our Summer Institute program which is a different spin on the Leadership Congress because you guys spend so much time walking people through the process. Where you actually will be assigned a committee. You have to have a bill and you have to learn how to present the bill and how it goes through committee and how goes through markup and it's gotta get on calendar. So, you are literally teaching, showing and walking people though the process. We do a little bit more on the Summer Institute side of the kind of document side going through a lot more original documents. But I'm saying this only to distinguish the two, but I would point out that we do want people to do both of those. So, the people that we have hired right now, whether it be at our sister organization, American Journey Experience Summit, WallBuilders, obviously many at Patriot Academy, these are students that have gone through these programs, and it gives us a chance to get to know them, but also it gives them a chance to get know us. Because the other thing guys, all of us can speak to, there are times that we can look at ideal jobs in our mind, and then sometimes you get around some of those environments and you're like, you know what, this, this was more attractive before I got this close to it. And I'm not sure I still feel the same way. And so, we want people to be able to have a better idea of, of some of the nature of, what we do and how it works, in the midst of us also getting to know them. But also, one of the things that really in the midst of us getting connected and wanting to get to know people. Is we wanna equip people and send them out so that they don't just work for us, but we become partners in working to advance God's kingdom all over the nation and restore biblical foundation, promote biblical ideas in wherever they are. So, whether it's city council or school board, whether it in their family and their church, whether they're a state legislator or they're just working on somebody's campaign, we can go down the long list. What we would encourage is for people not just to think I want to work for them, although we love that. And we would definitely love to meet you and come hang out. And there's a chance that we might have a spot available by the time you get here. But also, we want to help teach and train people so that we have a bit of a army that is spreading out throughout the nation that is fighting for that biblical truth and foundation. So, a lot of thoughts in there, but I would say coming to both is very significant so that you get a little bit of a taste and flavor from both organizations. Ultimately, we do so much work together. We support each other in lots of ways, but both of them will add to the repertoire of knowledge of training and information that we would want all people to have that we work with going forward. 

Rick Green [00:22:33] Man, you raise such a good point there too, Tim. There's so many great organizations out there. And if they come to leadership Congress, they come do the internship, if they get, go through that type of training, they're gonna meet a lot of these other organizations. So, it's not just, you know, like WallBuilders and Patriot Academy where they would get those environments. There's a lot great groups that we work with that we network with it, that they would have the opportunity to apply with as well. Last one I'll throw in there is the Patriot Institute. That's a bigger commitment. It's a whole year or roughly it's nine months at the campus of Patriot academy. That's 17 up to 25. A lot more training, a lot more in depth, but again, a bigger commitment. We do have scholarships for that, so check that out at PatriotAcademy.com as well. 

Tim Barton [00:23:11] And Rick, let me put a plug for that because this is this is one of those opportunities for parents that are recognizing, you know, there's a lot of woke ideas at universities. There's a lot things out there that you know maybe my son or daughter is not totally sure what they want to do or maybe right you're listening right now and you're 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 whatever. And you're going man, I'm not totally sure what I want to do. This is a place where you can come you can be mentored by some incredibly brilliant godly men and women that'll pour into you, you get an opportunity to be connected with lots of organizations and ministries. You get lots of fun trips and training opportunities with these different organizations. And so, you get to see a lot of things that people are doing, especially on some of the nonprofit educational side, but there's a lot of groups we partner with that it will give you some really great exposure along the way too. And so for those parents, and In this case, even students, if you're looking for maybe something to do where you can connect with, with other people around your age that, that love God, that love people that love America, that want to grow in their faith, that want to go in their understanding of, of anything government, political, relational, I'm going to go down the long list of all the things you guys cover in this, this closer to a year long program. But I would highly encourage these are the things that we ought to be sending our kids to. More so in many cases than we are to universities because this is going to give them such good practical training and a foundation for the future that in many cases God is going lead them into. We know right now that the kids that graduate from college 43% of people that get a college degree, they end up having to get a job that they would have been qualified for coming out of high school. They didn't need a degree for. Just the nature of a lot of times what the degree fields are, what they don't teach, what they don't train and then what the job market is. And so instead of spending 50, 80, 120 plus thousand dollars to go into debt for a degree that many times won't even be used, this is an opportunity to come spend way less money. Get better real life training and make some really good friends in connections. So highly recommend this program. 

Rick Green [00:25:29] Thank you, man. I love that and yeah way, way less I mean, it's you know 15 grand is tuition and lodging and all that good stuff for the for the nine months and then you get to you know, right now we're in doing the end-of-year trip for the scholars in DC. Getting to do all kinds of amazing things They're gonna get Independence Hall all to themselves tomorrow night and get to sign the Declaration in the room. So, last year we took the scholars to Lexington and they got to be there for the 250th for the shot heard around the world and all the all the reenactments. And then you know, on the on the job side of it, look, we got a half a dozen of our graduates that are at the White House right now, three of those in really high positions at the, at the White House, tons of graduates that are working in legislatures and Congress and other places around the country. Graduates, Patriot Academy graduates running the, the Mercury One's, you know, American Journey Experience and working with, with you, Tim on an almost daily basis. And, and so lots of great opportunities, folks, check all that out of PatriotAcademy.com and wallbuilders.com, and get your young people involved. Violet, great question. We'd love to have you apply for one of those programs this summer. All right, out of time for today, folks. We got more questions headed your way for next Thursday's Foundations of Freedom Thursday. And then tomorrow, Good News Friday. You don't wanna miss that. David and Tim have a lot of good news to share with you tomorrow. Thanks so much for listening to The WallBuilders Show.