The Eric Metaxas Show - Michael Brown and Mark Meckler

Episode Date: March 16, 2022

Michael Brown has more to say about the Church today with "The Silencing of the Lambs"; then, Mark Meckler of the Convention of States talks Big Tech censorship.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m. Investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Taxis show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxis show. It was, oh, I don't know. It's got to be close to 30 years ago now. I was a Times Square church where I met my wife. And this big, Jewish guy came to the pulpit and told us about how he was a drug addict, a rock and roll drummer, and then Jesus came into his life. And we've been friends ever since. Michael Brown,

my friend, welcome. Great to be with you, Eric. Thanks for the memories. You've got a great story, which we're not going to get into today. We've talked about that many times on the program before. But you have a new book out, and unfortunately it's very important. The book is titled The Silencing of the Lambs, the ominous rise of cancel culture, and how we can overcome it. So what do you say in the book, roughly speaking? There really is an attempt to shut us up, to silence us, to cancel us, to marginalize us, and to put us in a place where we cannot speak up and get our message out. When I say us, I mean followers of Jesus with conservative,

biblically based values. I'm not paranoid about this. In fact, a large part of the book is strategies as to how we can overcome. But this is real. I mean, we're in a situation today where it's not just a matter if we disagree with you, but we have to cancel you out. You know, in China, we'll talk about someone was disappeared. They use it as a vow. They were disappeared. Suddenly, they're not there anymore. Or under a Soviet Union, someone just disappears. They're blanked out. They're blotted out. What's what's happening in a different way. Barry Weiss has spoken up about this. She was in New York Times journalist, a liberal feminist, quote, married to another woman. And she found the atmosphere in the New York Times for her to be so toxic that if you raised a narrative, you were not just criticized, but you were canceled. She called it social murder. And it's so extreme now that you have voices like the irreverent atheist, Bill Maher, or Reverend. Jewish comedian Sarah Silverman or actors like Alec Baldwin or sports personnelies like Dana White.

And they're all raising their voice against this. Nick Cave, singer-songwriter in Australia, said that cancel culture is Mercy's Antithesis. So you do one wrong thing. 15 years ago, something in your youthful days. It comes out today. You can lose your career. You can have all your movies removed from, if you're an act, or something like this, you know what's happened to you with YouTube.

We know what happened to the president with Twitter. We've never seen anything like this. And in particular, if you are a Bible-based conservative Christian, a follower of Jesus, there is a massive target on your back. We are the lambs that society is trying to silence. Well, it's interesting because we know this is demonic. I mean, we know that you look back, it's Marxism, it's very, Marxist atheism that is, as you mentioned, it's the antithesis of grace.

Grace says, God says, no matter what you have done, no matter what you have done, there is forgiveness, there is grace, there is mercy. This is the exact opposite. This says that if we can find the tiniest thing that you did, we can use that. And you know, and I know, theoretically, that's Satan, the voice of the accuser. to find something, something true, something true, and to use it as a bludgeon to curse you and to crush you, God says, yeah, I know you did that, but if you repent, I want to forgive you totally. It's the exact opposite of the biblical message that allows forgiveness.

And so it's kind of, it's interesting ideologically that it is, it's satanic, you know, sort of literally. Gary Greenwald, investigative journalist, said, Unleased this monster, and it will come for you. There's going to be this vicious cycle. And suddenly it's just going to be this little group of social elites controlling the narrative. And if you dare paint outside of those lines, that's it. You will be demonized.

And when you mention grace, what does God say in the New Covenant through the blood of Jesus? I will remember your sins no more. It says to the prophet Mike, I'll cast them into the depths of the sea. So when we truly come to God and say, Lord, I blew it, I was wrong. And there may be social consequences. There may be a prison sentence. But in the sight of God, we are forgiven as if the thing never happened. And you know what's interesting, Eric?

I think Americans tend to be forgiving people. You'll have some athlete that messes up in a serious way. And then there's an apology tour in the clearest way. look, I'm getting counseling and help for anger management. When that athlete appears again in the stadium or on the court, everyone's cheering from them to say, hey, we love restoration, we love forgiveness, but not this. This is ruthless.

And in particular, if we go against any of the prevailing narratives, if we say, you know, God made men for women and women for men, and hey, it would be best to have a kid raised by a mom and a dad. Now we are bigoted, homophobes, Nazis, etc. And the attempt is we are now disqualified. from saying anything or bringing anything to the table. And I document in The Silence of the Lambs how it's happening on our college campuses,

how it's happening in our elementary schools, how it's happening through social media, big tech, and even how there's a connection between the BLM movement, not the truth that every black life matters and should be important to us, but the BLM movement and a Jezebelic spirit which seeks to intimidate by fear. It is connected.

Well, it's interesting. I mean, if you know history, right, you know that in the French Revolution, this happened. This happened under Stalin. In other words, the people in power who are kind of like trying to preserve their power, eventually they got canceled and either guillotined or murdered or sent to the gulag. In other words, the rules keep changing because the whole thing is based on lies. In other words, if you're, if you base something on the truth, you know, you don't move the goalpost. These are the rules.

This is reality. But this is something that it's at the whim of, I mean, again, it's a spiritual thing. We know that. And if you want to play this game, everybody loses. Eventually they will come for you. It's the definition of, you know, giving your soul to the devil, right? Like, he'll give you some stuff, but then eventually he owns you and takes you to hell forever. It's never a good deal. He will use you until the moment when you're no longer helpful, and then he'll crumple you up.

I mean, it's an interesting thing to me that people fall for this over and over again. I'll get a little power right now. If I say this, if I don't say that, if I go along with the program, if I play the game, I will advance. And maybe you will for a little bit, but then eventually the game will come for you. And the bloodbath of the French Revolution, what happened under Stalin, it happened under the Nazis in a different way. But you see this over and over again. So this is a teaching moment, isn't it, to look and to say that, okay, it's happening now. Where do you stand?

Yeah, let me address the French Revolution. And then this whole idea of, well, okay, I'll capitulate. You know, the famous Winston Churchill saying that appeasement is like feeding a crocodile and hoping that it'll eat you last. But look, one of the cities, part of the city that was taken over by Antifa, they had the chop zone. So it was an abbreviation for something. But then they started off with your hedge chant.

They even had a guillotine set up. When some people in D.C. were not happy with Amazon policies, they set up the guillotine as a symbol for Jeff Bezos. So you see these kinds of things, and you've got irrational people on all sides. and now you start to provoke them with rhetoric like this, it's not surprising that things are as extreme as they are. But here's the key. Martin Luther King said a man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right and true and just. And Jesus said that if you save your life, you lose it.

If you lose your life for his sake in the gospel, you find it. So you make this temporary agreement with cancel culture, okay, I won't say this, okay, I won't post this, okay, I won't preach this, okay, I won't do this. and you temporarily save your life, but you lose your life in the process because now you become a slave to human opinion. You become a slave to your social media platform. You become a slave to your salary or to popularity or whatever it is. You've now lost your soul. As King said, you've now died in your spirit. So in the strategies part of the book, the first part of the book is they're trying to shut us up.

The second part of the book is how we overcome this. And this is one of the principles that we have to embrace, that we save our, laws by losing them. This is a huge point. When we come back, folks, it doesn't get bigger than this. Stick around. Hey, folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son, owners, Pete and Seth Talbot, have never made a big deal about, but I think it is a big deal. I really do. They sell the three-week quick start pack for just 1995 to anyone struggling from pain like neck, shoulder, back, hip, or knee pain, 1995, about a dollar a day. But what they haven't broadcasted much is that every time they sell a three-week quick start, they lose money. In fact,

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Folks, welcome back. I'm talking to my friend Michael Brown, the new book, The Silencing of the Lambs. Michael, you just said, I mean, you were really giving us the principle behind of what is happening now. So expand on that because this is to me at the very heart of what we're going through. Right. So basically, what we're being told is if you want to continue to have your platform, have your voice, have your salary, have your career, have your future, you must capitulate to our rules. A little compromise here, quiet here. No, don't raise this issue. And many people

make this deal. And what happens is they get more and more constricted, more and more tied up, and they end up losing their very freedoms, and ultimately they lose their very self because you're now not acting with integrity, with truth. You're not doing what's right because it's right. Basically, you are a slave to the opinions of others and to the system. And there's one of the chapters in the book. There are actually more chapters on strategies than there are on the problem. But it's a call from a professor in Australia to practice, quote, kamikaze academics. And what he watched, and observed as a conservative voice within a very anti-conservative system.

And I document it's not just liberal. It is anti-conservative on campus after campus in America and many campuses in other parts of the Western world. So here he is all the way over in Australia. And because he voices some things that differ. It could be differing with a narrative on climate change. And as a scientist, he has a different viewpoint. Well, all hell breaks loose against him, attempts break loose to fire him. And he said, you know, we have to practice kamikaze academics.

So in the way we have to say what we believe and say what the research says and suffer the consequences. Otherwise, here's what you do. You hide in the corner the whole time because you don't want to rattle the cage. You don't want to rustle things up. So you stay in the corner. You stay quiet. And then when you get your tenure, now you're going to speak up. No, now you've completely enslaved yourself.

And now people are going to think you've been deceiving them all those years. We have to be wise. We're not troublemakers. We're peacemakers. But when it comes to us to speak to truth, to stand up for what's right, we have to do it regardless of cost or consequences. The moment we do that, we're free. You can't fire me. You can't kill me because I've died to this world and I live to God.

And if I have his approval, I'm blessed. That's where we find freedom. Well, Mike, this is what's interesting. You know, obviously not everyone listening to this program would describe themselves as Christian. But if you do, folks, I just want to tell you, every day you have an opportunity to live out your faith and, in a sense, to act as though what God says is true. Or you can hedge your bets.

And if you hedge your bets, you are proving that you don't really believe anything. And this is a classic example. Somebody you said, you know, kamikaze, what did you call it? I'm sorry? Comacazi academics. It's an opportunity to trust God. You say, okay, is God in charge of my career? Is God in charge of my life path?

Now, this is not like looking for trouble, but there comes a time when you say, you know what, I believe these vaccines were made, you know, aborted babies were involved. And I have a moral issue. I'm not going to get the vaccine. Say, oh, you have to, otherwise you lose your job. You say, well, let me think this through.

I have a moral issue. you're telling me to compromise this. Can I compromise it? And I think logically you'd say, well, no, not if that's true, I can't. But isn't God in charge of where I work and where I live? Maybe doing the right thing in this case, I will lose my job, but maybe that's God's way of moving me someplace else. I really can't lose.

I'm going to trust God with my life. And I just think there are lots of people they've never been forced to actually trust God. They talk about it. But we have to ask ourselves, do you really believe Jesus defeated death on the cross? Is that just something you're not so sure about? Because if you believe that's true, you have the ability to live utterly freely. You can be free and nothing can threaten you. And it's interesting, Mike, that that's where we are now, that people are being forced in a sense to say,

do I really believe that? I don't have to think about what would I have done during Nazi times. what would I have done during slavery times in America? I can now see what I'm doing right now. I can show what it is that I believe by how I live now. I think for a lot of people, it's scary. And you and I both want to tell those people doing anything other than trusting God, that's what should scare you to death.

That's what scared. You know what? It reminds me of the story. Jonathan Goforth, one of the greatest missionaries in the history of China, and had incredible fruit, especially in the world. in Manchuria, then northern China in the early 1900s. And he and his wife Rosalind had lost some of their children to sickness, disease, just being in different climates and environments.

And now he was going to be traveling a lot. And she said, I can't risk this. I can't take the children out. So he went out by himself because one of the kids was sick. And then one died at home. And he said to her, the safest place for you and the children, is in the path of obedience to God. In other words, wherever he wants us is safe,

because here she or she stayed home and a child still die. These tragedies happen. And he wasn't saying that no bad things will happen. He was saying, look, the safest place for us to be is in the will of God. And that's what it comes down to. I would infinitely, infinitely rather have God for me and be in right relationship with him than have all the armies of the world behind me, have all the banks in the world behind me, have all the governments in the world behind me,

have all the fame in the world behind me, and God against me. There's no question. And look, let's be honest, Eric, right now no one's putting a gun to our head. Right now, we're talking freely and perhaps can reach millions of people with this message. No one's putting a gun to our heads right now. And yet, some of us are so concerned about me to lose a friend on Facebook. If I do, I'm going to get unfriended by this one. I'm going to get a dislike.

We've got to grow up. Our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are literally dying for their faith, and they are standing strong. I work with the persecuted church in different parts of the world. And Eric, some years ago, I was talking to pastors and church planters in India, several hundred men, and I said to them, how many of you have been physically attacked? I mean, beaten, physically hit for preaching the gospel.

And two-thirds to three-quarters raised their hands. I said, I don't mean verbally, I mean physically. But this was what was so amazing. They raised their hands like, did you have breakfast today? Yeah. No, this comes with the turf. This happens. And when one of them gets killed for the gospel,

they are all the more eager to send people into that area to reach those that tried to snuff out the gospel. And many times it's the killers. It's the violent ones that are the first ones to come to faith when they hear that message of forgiveness. So right now there is pressure on us. It's real. That's why I wrote The Solicing of the Lambs.

But when we have the mentality of overcomers, we realize in Jesus, there's always victory because he rose from the dead and we're risen in him. And that's the reality we live with. And therefore, we love people. We're not mean, spirited, nasty. We don't try to win by intimidation. We overcome hatred with love. We overcome evil with good.

I lay out all those principles in the book. We are forgiving people. We do better than the cancel culture. But we only fear God. We don't fear people or consequences. It's, I mean, it really is a beautiful opportunity for people to live your faith. I mean, I really do think that up until fairly recently, nothing really mattered that much. And we kind of thought, well, it matters in other parts of the world, what you believe.

It mattered at other times in history. But today, you have an actual opportunity to live out your faith, and this is the beauty of it, is to see God move. when you do, when you step out in faith, when you stick your neck out for something, whatever it is, it's a glorious moment because you put the ball in God's court. You say, okay, Lord, I just did what I believe you wanted me to do. I am free. I only fear what you think. And then we get to see what God does. And whatever it is, folks, it's the only way to live. It's an extraordinary opportunity. I think, you know, Mike, that there are a lot of, lot of people that are coming to faith. Their faith is being renewed during this season because of all these things that are happening. You mentioned before that there are lots of celebrities, lots of people that they wouldn't be on board with us on all kinds of stuff, but they say, this is madness. This is crazy. And God bless them. Some of them have the ability to speak and to say something. But I think a lot of them are noticing that the most outspoken people are the

Christians because real Christians don't fear death. We fear disappointing God, who is the source of life. He's the source of our careers. We just had a minute left, but the book is the silencing of the lambs. What else is in the book that we haven't touched on? Well, there's a whole lot. We've probably touched on about 5 or 10 percent. But as you go through the first part, you'll be saying, oh my, I had no idea it was this bad. I had no idea it was this. intense. As you go through the second part, which has the most chapters in it, you'll say, oh, here's something I can do. And I can't give the details now. But everybody, mark April 14th on your calendar. This is a day when every one of us can make a difference. And it's amazing how many of us there are. April 14th, mark it on your calendar. That's the last chapter of the book.

I talk about that. April 14th. That's the last chapter of the silencing of the lambs. Dr. Michael Brown, radio host, author, theologian. God bless you. Congratulations on the book. Thank you, Eric. God bless. Your touch has thrilled me like the rush of a win. And your heart had held me safe from a roll and sea.

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I'm sitting down with Mark Meckler. If you know of him, it's perhaps because you're familiar with something called the Convention of States. I've been talking to Rick Santorum about that. Mark Meckler, welcome. Thanks for having me. How did you come to this idea of, I want to talk about what the convention of states is,

but what is your story about how you came to be a proponent of this idea? Because this is very big stuff. There's no way around it. The idea of a convention states is in the Constitution. No one has ever done it in 200 and whatever 40 years. No one has ever done this. Nobody's even threatened to do it. And you're threatening to do it.

You and Rick Santorum and others. I approve of it dramatically, wholeheartedly. I'm excited. But how did you get you, Mark Meckler, to this point? I mean, in short version, 11 years ago, I was one of the people to start the Tea Party movement. So in 2010, we get this incredible wave election, the biggest swing Congress since 1938,

and they don't do anything. I mean, they literally don't do anything. Nothing changes. They do Jack. Right. And then we get the Senate, right? It's not that they didn't do anything. It's that they did do Jack.

Well, so then you get the Senate. They told us if we just had the Senate and then they don't do Jack or they do Jack again. Yeah. Right? And then I just thought, well, it doesn't work. Nothing's working. That's eighth grade civics, right? If you elect the right people, they'll do what you send them to do.

But it doesn't actually work that way. And I had a friend by the name of Mike Ferris came to me. He's really the founder of the homeschool movement in America. Asked me if I was happy with what I'd accomplished in politics. And you would think, having helped to elect the largest swing class in history, I'd be pretty excited. And my answer was, no, I'm frustrated. I'm wasting my life.

It's dismal. It seems to me like, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like, so you get these people elected, they go to Washington, but there is something inherently pernicious about Washington, D.C. It does something to people that is not good. And so you're thinking, okay, what is the way out of this mess? Well, and so what Ferris says to me is you're approaching the problem incorrectly. You think we have a personnel. problem, but we have a structure problem, which is what you're saying. We've built a pernicious

structure. So our system of governance has been perverted, especially over the last hundred years, to where it really doesn't matter how many good people, quote unquote, you send to Washington, D.C., you're going to get a bad result. And he said, unless we fix the structure, we're going to continue to get the same result. The only way to fix the structure, use Article 5, call a convention of states, and propose amendments to restrain federal power. That's how we fix the structure. So how did you, even before the Tea Party, like how did, what was your life leading up to the Tea Party? What were you doing? Because, you know, the Tea Party was pretty amazing movement. So I was a practicing attorney.

At a home practice, my specialty was Internet advertising law. Believe it or not, I was early on the Internet as a lawyer, had figured out what was legal and not legal. I had a very lucrative practice. I was raising my kids. For the most part, I was a stay-at-home dad. Yeah. And so I was teaching my kids to ride horses. I was coaching two soccer teams.

Tea Party movement breaks out, and God threw that in my path and gave me that opportunity. It wasn't something that I saw it out. What part of the world did you grow up in, and where did you raise your kids? I grew up in Los Angeles, California, went to school at San Diego State, law school in Northern California, at Jesuit College at McGeorge School of Law. So how does a California get the idea, you know, to think like a conservative? When did that happen for you? Was that growing up or was that later in life? No, I grew up that way.

both my parents still alive in their 80s, very conservative values, non-religious household, secular Jews, but very Judeo-Christian orientation in the household. So you were raised as a secular Jew. Right. And here we are at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, loaded with evangelical Christians and patriots. Life is interesting. Yeah, I'm a radical evangelical Christian at this point. I am a lover of Jesus Christ, and I was 50.

51 years old before I figured it out before God hit me hard enough across the head with a two by four. Well, I've got to tell you, the later you come to faith, the more dramatic it is. I was 25, and for me it was very dramatic. I mean, I've written about it. But it is interesting how now in America you're seeing so many patriots who maybe wouldn't think of themselves as big people of faith, but they're noticing that the most passionate spokespeople for freedom tend to be evangelical Christians. There's an interesting thing happening in the country. You know, this is the basis of our system of governance.

If you really understand it, it's been cleansed from our history, unfortunately. But if you go back, and I know you've written about this in a republic if we can keep it, These were, for the most part, devout Christian men who understood the theological foundations of freedom. So the nation is based on that. If you can keep it, my book If You Can Keep It was when I really discovered all of this. And I always say this, I was embarrassed that I didn't really see this until later in life. And then I had this passion, which I have today, to get this message out to people, that this idea of real self-government had never really been tried in the world.

It's never been tried in anything comparable to what we did 1776 going forward. It's so beautiful. It's so fragile. And if we don't understand that people gave their lives for this freedom, then we won't be inspired to give our lives for it now. And when I say give our lives, I don't mean literally give our lives, although many have. But it is worth it.

It's the most beautiful thing. But most of us growing up, they ceased to teach that. certainly in public schools, but it is beautiful. The Convention of States, convention of states.com has the information on it. We're going to hold you for another segment. I want to talk more about the Convention of States talking to Mark Meckler. Hey, folks, if you listen to this program, of course, you've heard me talk at infinitum about my pillow and my friend Mike Lindell. Well, Mike has just announced that you will receive one of his.

books and the book is next level insane. It is called What Are the Odds from Crack Addict to CEO? It's his story. You will receive it absolutely free with any purchase using the promo code Eric. Did you hear that? It would be a great time, by the way, to buy his warm and wonderful My Slippers. For a limited time, he's offering 50% off my slippers. We all wear them in my extended family. My slippers. Check it out. 50% off. Go to mypillar.com, click on the radio listener's square and use promo code Eric. You'll also get deep discounts on all my pillow products, including some overstock

products, such as individual towels, blankets, comforters, and much more. Or call 800-978, 3057. That's 800-978-3057. To use the promo code, Eric. Folks, I'm at the NRB in Nashville. It's the Eric Metaxus show. I'm talking to Mark Meckler, who is the president

of convention of states, really, it's such an exciting idea. Give us the nutshell version of, if somebody says, what's convention of states? Tell us what this is. This is an amazing idea. In Article 5 of the Constitution, there is the methodology for amending the United States Constitution. The first clause says that when two-thirds of both houses of Congress propose amendments, then they go out to the states for ratification. That's how we've gotten all 27 of our amendments. The second clause, which has never been used, says when two-thirds of states want to gather in convention, they pass resolutions, they call for a convention, and then they gather they do the same thing Congress can do any day,

which is they propose amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments then go out for ratification by the states. In our case, we're proposing a convention around three ideas. You can talk about anything that would impose term limits on federal officials. And by the way, it's not just Congress. When I say officials, we mean that more broadly. The deep state, as we know, staffers, bureaucrats, and also the federal judiciary. Second is anything that would impose fiscal restraints on the federal government. That would include a balanced budget amendment. It would include tax and spending caps,

imposing generally accepted accounting principles on the federal government. And then finally, anything that would impose scope and jurisdiction restraints on the federal government, the fundamental problem we have is the federal government has reached beyond the bounds of the enumerated powers. And we need to grab them by the neck and stuff them back in the box. Well, there you go. And so conventionofstates.com is where people can find it. And how can people get involved in this? In other words, I know that Senator Rick Santorum was telling me that 19 states already have approved this, and you need what, 34?

34 is the total needed. Yeah, that's correct. So what happens? The legislatures make the decision that we're in, and you are now trying to reach out to these legislators around the country to get them to do this? Yeah, that's correct. The technical process is that a legislature, both. Both houses have to introduce the resolution. They generally have to pass it by simple majority.

No governor's signature is required because it's not legislation. It's a resolution. And really the most important part is the grassroots. You ask how do people get involved? Well, they go to conventionistates.com. They sign up. That'll send a petition to their legislator. Right.

If they really want to get involved, which they should, they click on the take action tab and they volunteer. We've got all kinds of positions and training. And it's really learning how to be involved in your state legislature and influence your state legislators. Well, it is so beautiful to me that, first of all, the founders, the men who wrote this Constitution put in this genius idea that's been hiding in plain sight, Article 5, for all of these decades, centuries, and suddenly now you think, you know what, I'm glad that's there, because I don't see any way out of this mess.

We need the states to step up and to say to Washington, enough is enough. We the people via the states are going to do something about this. So it really is kind of amazing, and it's undeniably, as far as I'm concerned, historic. You know, as a student of history, you'll appreciate how that actually got in the Constitution. September 15, 1787, two days before the Constitution signed, two days before the end of convention, and Colonel George Mason from Virginia stands up. He says, we got a problem with the document. We have given the power to Congress to propose amendments,

but we didn't give the same power to the people acting through the states. Madison's notes reflect he asked a question. He said, are we so naive that we believe that anybody in a tyranny, Congress, the federal government, would ever propose amendments to restrain their own tyranny? And so he proposes that we need to give the states this right. Eldridge Gary actually proposes the language. amazingly, Madison's notes reflect two Latin abbreviations, nincom, no comment, there's no debate.

Is that where we get the phrase, nincompoop? I think that's the precursor. Actually, I think, no, I think there's a relation. But so Madison writes no comment, why? Because there's no debate. In other words, not one person says, oh, wait, Colonel Mason, that's a terrible idea. What are you thinking?

It's the only thing I'm aware of, no debate, and then it's unanimously adopted into the Constitution. So they kind of recognize this is important. Yesterday, I think I came up with the idea, but I heard Rick Santorum say it in his speech. This is kind of like the in-emergency, break glass, you know, pull this lever. That's kind of where we are, right? You're like, you look around and you're like, okay, it's time.

We've got to break the glass. We've got to pull the lever, and we have to enact this process, the Convention of States to gather and to undo some of the horrors that I've been done. Because anybody who's been paying attention understands that this nation has drifted so far from the founder's vision. And like you said, it's a lot of the people that we elected. We tried to get them elected. These are good people. But even they couldn't do anything about it.

You know, a great example of not being able to do something about. Ronald Reagan, the great conservative icon, goes to Washington, D.C., promises to shrink government, puts Bennett in us. secretary of education his job is to do away with the department of education and when he leaves it's bigger than when he went to washington and the beast is just too big to slay from within and that's under reagan who really got this i mean Reagan got this better than anybody way better than trump and i can't think of anybody who got this idea better than Reagan and even under him it was difficult so the convention of states uh has the ability how many states i mean you said we need 34 out of the 50. Right. That's two-thirds is what's specified in the Constitution.

To do this. And then once they, if this were to happen, which I pray that it will, how many states are necessary to make amendments to the Constitution? So the process is they gather in convention, they debate, they propose, and eventually if they can get 26 states to agree, those amendments then go out for ratification. They become suggestions only. So this is important. The convention itself has no power. All they can do is propose, make suggestions. It takes 38 states to ratify. So that's three quarters is the number specified in the Constitution. Once you get to that three quarters number, on average, that's about 18 months for our amendments. Once you get to the three quarters, then it becomes part of the

Constitution. Well, where were you, you know, a year ago with this two years ago? And other words, how does how, how does this move along? How quickly do you suppose you can get where you need to go? Yeah, COVID really slowed everything down. Obviously, like everything else, In 2020, the legislature's recessed. They just stopped working. The 21, they were catching up from COVID. This year, we've already passed three states, Nebraska, Wisconsin, West Virginia. And then as of the last week, we passed the Senate in South Carolina. I have to go back to the House for concurrence. That'll be state number 19. So that'll make it for states this session. There's a lot of momentum.

There's a lot of momentum. I like to hear that. Mark Meckler, congratulations. Folks, please go to Conventionofstates.com. This is one of those things. This is historic. Be a part of taking the country back, giving it back to We the People, Conventionofstates.com. Mark, thank you. Thanks for having me. Folks, welcome back.

Okay. Okay. We got the meaning for the aides of March. We went to the library, went through all kinds of books. And before I... I tell you the meaning of the aides of March, because today is March 15th. It's the aides of March. And so everybody, one of our staff members, unnamed, Albin, both said, oh, that's the day that Caesar was killed.

44 BC. Well, that's not the meaning of the aides of March. Like, if you're killed on Christmas, the meaning of Christmas isn't, that's the day the guy died on. No, the meaning of the aides of March. We're going to tell you the meaning of the aides of March. But first, I have to tell you two things. Number one, we need you to sign up for my newsletter at Eric Metaxus.com. There are things which we cannot share on this program, which we can share that way.

So sign up for the newsletter. Secondly, we're doing a campaign with Food for the Poor. The website, our radio website, not Ericmetaxis.com, but Metaxistalkis Talk.com, the radio website. At the top of that, you see a banner that says, give. life. If you click on that, it will show you how to give easily. You can call, if you like, but they're asking for $88 that feeds a kid for a year. Now, if you give monthly, you can give much less than that, and you'll still feed a kid for a year. This is an amazing thing. So we're asking you to go to metaxis talk.com, or we're asking you to call 844-863 hope. 844-8663 hope.

I should say that because of the war in Ukraine, the giving is down dramatically. And I think, you know, starving kids in Honduras shouldn't be suffering because of what's going on in the Ukraine. You know, we want to keep our giving up in this area. And every year, food for the poor comes to us, so we do need your help. To those of you who have already given, I want to say a hearty thank you. to those of you who haven't, just give what you can. Now, some folks can give a lot, and I want to encourage you if you can give a lot, please do because they need your help.

But every $88, astonishing, can feed a kid for a year. And by the way, do it now, because once the show is over, you get distracted, you forget. Just go there now and make a note of it and do it. Give something right now. Yeah. Thank you. It's just, it's very important. And as I say, giving is down.

So I just want to encourage you, please, folks. It doesn't really matter what you give. Whatever you give, you'll be entered in a drawing for grand prizes, many signed books, children's books, albums, mine, all kinds of stuff. It is important. The number is 844-863. Hope. 844-864-863. Hope. 844-863.

Hope. We do need you to. help us. And again, it really, it doesn't matter. You can give a little bit every month if that's easier for you. But I just think it's important that we recognize there are people in our own hemisphere who don't have enough food to give their kids. So let's think about that. Let's do what we can. Okay, before the end of hour one, I said I would tell you about the aides of March today, March 15th. We will remember that in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, someone says, beware the eyes. Iads of March. The Iads of March in Roman times was a holiday. It has all kinds of meanings,

as a lot of these holidays did. But it was the day that marked the settling of debts. So somebody said it was kind of like tax day or something like that. But it means more than that. It means the settling of debts in terms of, you know, your fate will be settled on that day. And the scapegoat was associated with that. So it had it had, it had, It has many meanings, and I encourage you to look it up, but they said beware the aides of March. It's kind of like the settling of debts. Bad things can happen. Those who've done bad things.

And on this day, of course, as we now know, Julius Caesar was stabbed in the back. At two, Brute. At two, Albin. Yeah. At two.