The Eric Metaxas Show - The Enduring Influence of John Locke on American Liberty

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Joe Loconte discusses how John Locke’s ideas on natural rights—life, liberty, and property—and government by consent deeply influenced the American Revolution. He connects Locke’s philosophy to earlier thinkers like Cicero and highlights the religious and moral foundations of these concepts. Loconte also shares his work on American history and related documentary projects, emphasizing the enduring legacy of these ideas.

Folks, floodwaters in Texas have devastated entire communities, but we can help. I'm Eric Metaxus. Please join us and our partner at Food for the Poor to send relief kits to families who have lost everything. You can call 844-863-4673 or text Metaxus to 51555 or click on the banner at metaxis.commetaxis talk.com. Mataxis talk.com. Thank you. Welcome to the Eric Mataxis show. It's a nutritious smoothie of creamy, fresh yogurt, vanilla, protein powder, and a mushy banana. For your mind, drink it all down.

It's numby. I wop, vanilla. Here comes Eric Metaxus. Hey there, folks. It's Wednesday, July 16th. We got a lot today. Later on today, I'm flying to Salt Lake City. No kidding. But right now, I'm going to talk to in hour one, man, it has been forever since I've had my dear friend. I love this guy. Joe LaCont. He has written so many great books. He's C.S. Lewis, J.R. Tolkien expert. He's just an amazing human being. And I am glad to get him on the program. He's got so much going to. on. We'll start talking to him in a couple of seconds. In hour two, we're doing a weekly

segment now. It's a supercentennial segment where I talk about, you know, what happened 250 years ago. So we're doing that every week. So that signal will be an hour two. And following that, I'm talking to my friend Ken Fish. You know Ken Fish. I don't need to tell you about Ken Fish, but he's he's always a joy as well to speak to. So we got Jolaconte coming up in a few minutes. We got Supercentennial coming up in hour two. And then we got Ken Fish in our two. Yes, after Supercentennial.

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We have an emergency. Our friends at Food for the Poor came to us to tell us about what's going on in Texas. Because of the flooding in Texas, they've come to us to ask for your help. We know the nightmare of what happened, but I guess if there's any good news, it's that we can help. We can help. There are tons of families that have been displaced. Their homes have been destroyed by the floods. We think about the deaths, but of course, as bad as that is, as incomprehensible as that is,

there are many people who've survived and who are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. They've lost their homes. Their homes have been destroyed through the flood. They've lost businesses that have been destroyed through these floods. And they need emergency help. So if you go to our website, metaxis talk.com, you'll see a banner. It says, help. Texas, help Texas is the banner, metaxis talk.com.

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All right. Let's go to Joe LaCante. Folks, it is my joy today to have on my very dear old friend, Joe LaCante, to talk about a million things. Joe, great to see you. Eric, it's terrific to see you. It's been too many decades that have elapsed since our last meeting. It feels like decades. It feels like decades.

But you're working on so much, and a lot of people who know me, they know you and your books. You, like me, you love C.S. Lewis. Yes, of course. You have a book coming out this year about Tolkien and Lewis, correct? Yes, the War for Middle Earth. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis confront the gathering storm, 1933 to 1945, coming out, I believe, in November of this year. And did you not, aren't you doing a YouTube series about Tolkien and Lewis?

Yes, that's part of what we're doing here. I've launched a YouTube history channel, history and the human story, and we've got different films under production as we speak. One of them is about Tolkien and Lewis and the impact of war on their friendship and on their literary imagination. That's one series. The other series, I think you're also going to love, given your Greek background, the healthy rivalry between the Greeks and the Italians.

This is called The Gift of the Italians, a traveler's guide to Western civilization from Cicero to Sophia Loren. I mean, come on. Wow. That's pretty good. Yeah. That's pretty good, Joe. Yeah, episode one is out.

Venice and the American Republic, but just 10 minutes, 10 minutes long, Laconte in Venice in a gondola, what could go wrong? Are you serious? Of course I'm serious. That's so great. That's out there now. Yes, a lot could go wrong, actually, with me in a gondola, but that's another story. Well, it's kind of funny that you start with Cicero because I'm working right now on a book on the American Revolution.

You are, excellent. And it is amazing to me how the founders looked to Cicero, to the Roman Republic. Yes. It's just so beautiful to learn about this. Yes. And if you don't mind, tell my audience here, just to, you know, so they can wet their beak. By the way, folks, that's a godfather reference.

By the way, the godfather, that's about Italians. Not as noble as Cicero. But tell my audience just a little bit about Cicero. Yeah. Because I have to say, you know, we're living in a time. I've been thinking about this lately. In the last few decades, we've really lost touch with the past very dramatically. There was no educated.

American, none who didn't know about Cicero until, I don't know, the last 30 or 40 years, let's say. Something has happened. So folks like you and me were trying to correct this. So go ahead, Cicero. Yes. Cicero is considered probably Rome's greatest statesman. He was an incredible orator, and he was fighting for the Republic. He's living during a time in the century before Christ. He's living at a time when Rome has It's losing its Republican institutions, its Republican virtue, its commitment to some idea of government by consent, you know, the Roman Senate. And it's becoming a brutal empire. And Cicero was the guy giving these impassioned speeches on the floor of the Senate saying, come back.

Come back to your founding principles and ideals. So he's a noble and yet also tragic figure, isn't he? Eric. You know how the story ends with Cicero. Tell us. Well, the Roman leadership, the canceled culture of ancient Rome has had enough of his speechifying and calling him to account and trying to hold them to a high moral standard, a transcendent moral standard, and they send soldiers out to assassinate them. They come to a seaside villa in Formia in Italy. I've been to Formia because you have to take the boat from Formia to go to my grandfather's island and Ventodden.

It's the only place you can get the boat. I've been to Formia. He had a seaside villa in Formia. They come to execute him. And before they kill him, he says to the Roman centurion, what you're doing is improper, but at least try to kill me properly. And they cut his throat. And I would argue that when Cicero fell, the Roman Republic, for all practical purposes, fell with him. So it's... And what year was Cicero killed? 42 BC, I believe. And what year did Julius Cesar? Caesar take over? Well, he's there he's there on the scene.

Caesar and the crowd 45 before the assassination, 45 BC, yeah. Right. And what year did they kill Caesar? I believe that's 45 BC, but I'm a little, I'm a little rusty on my Caesar pyrotechnics, but yeah. At two, Joe.

All right, well, listen, I just love this. I love this. this. And I'm so happy to see your face and to have you back on the program. There's so much for us to talk about. And we're going to keep going when we come back. Folks, this is the Eric Metaxus show. And we'll be right back. Mike Lindell and my pillow employees want to thank you, my listeners, for all your continued support. Mike has a passion to help everyone get the best sleep of their life. He didn't stop by creating the best pillow. He created the best pillow. He created the bed sheets ever. Yes, Mike is offering the best deal on his percale bedsheets. You can get a set now

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It's the Eric Metaxis show and I'm talking to my dear friend Joe Locante. Joe LaCante, you, you're a wonderful writer. I don't say that lightly, Joe. You know that. Because there's a lot of people that they're good with ideas, but they don't write those ideas in a way that's readable or particularly readable. You do. So I recommend all your books because they're very readable.

And that's just such a joy to read a book that's readable. But you're working on a lot right now. What is your most recent book? I mean, that's already out. Well, let's see. I would have to say the most recent book, and it also relates to the book that you're working on in the American Revolution. One of my more recent books was on John Locke,

God, Locke and Liberty, the struggle for religious freedom in the West. And as you know, Eric, I mean, Locke was a hugely important thinker to the American founders because he's making the argument for government by consent and the right to revolt. And they've got Locke's second treatise. in their hands the American founders, more or less, as they're drafting the Declaration of Independence, right? Well, no, that's exactly right. And part of what I'm trying to figure out as I write my book on the American Revolution

is how much do you need to say to, or let me put it this way, what I'm trying to do in the book, because it's really to tell the story of the revolution. But you can't tell the story of the revolution without explaining how they got there. And to explain how they got there, it's not so simple. I mean, I've devoted so much time to the Stamp Act, this moment in 1765, where everything explodes like it's insane. Yes. And then you have to say, well, why would all of these Americans lose their minds and say, we refuse to pay the Stamp Act? We are offended.

We're going to demonstrations in the streets. We're going to mobs are going to destroy the homes. Why would they do this? It is because of the lead up in the decades and decades into the previous century, beginning in no small part with John Locke. I mean, you've got the Puritan thinkers and you've got John Locke. And it all is kind of percolating along through the decades. And then it explodes.

Yes. Talk about John Locke because I want my audience to hear. I want to talk about Locke, but I also want to talk about a project that also connected to this project you're doing, this book project. My film team and I, we just came back from Philadelphia shooting a documentary film about the most important American founder that most Americans have never heard of. His name Benjamin Rush. Dr. Benjamin Rush signs the Declaration of Independence, Chief Surgeon in Washington's Army, an abolitionist. and a man of faith. And in telling Russia's story, just like you're doing with the revolution, Eric,

we're going to tell the story of the revolution and a little bit of what came before. And that's where Locke does play in. What are these guys so angry about with the Stamp Act and all the rest of it? Taxation without representation. Their rights as Englishmen. You cannot, because when you're taxing someone, you're taking his property. That's what you're doing. Taking a person's property without their consent.

And that is a locking in concept. government by consent of the governed. And that is ingrained in the American colonists in the 18th century. By the time you get to the revolution, that is a mantra. No taxation without representation. Well, but I mean, I think the issue, at least as I see it, is it's an issue of honor. In other words, these men, they were men of honor. And it would be like, you know, it's not. It's not You spit in my face on the street. I'm not going to let that go. They saw this as that.

They saw this as the crown and parliament really disrespecting them. And they said, no, no, no, no. This is a principle. We will die over this. This is unacceptable. We will not allow this. Now, here's my question to you, because you're the lock expert. You know, as I study this period, it seems that, you know, you see this a lot.

I mean, you see this before Locke. You see this, it's in the war that, you know, the British, the English Civil War. And this is all being worked out over time. That's right. The glorious revolution. Yeah. The glorious revolution 1688. And even, I mean, these issues are even at play, of course, with King James, the first on the throne.

and the Puritans saying, you know, we want our freedom. We want our religious liberty. So this is percolating through. I mean, it comes up through because of the Reformation. So it goes back and back and back. And I'm just fascinated at how these ideas develop over the decades, basically. I'm sure what you'll do in your book, and hopefully what we'll do in my film as well is remind Americans of the debt, the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual debt that we owe to Great Britain.

because you're right. These debates were being hammered out in the 17th century, a century before in England's glorious revolution. They reaffirm constitutional government, government by consent. They limit the power of the monarchy. So you're absolutely right. So what are the American colonists doing? They're claiming their rights as Englishmen.

Matt's right. No, that's exactly right. And I'm so dumb that literally yesterday, I always like to advertise my stupidity. on this program, just in case people think, oh, Eric's a smart guy, he writes books. No, no, no, no, no, literally yesterday, I realized this is, this is so embarrassing, but I'm saying this. Oh, go ahead.

Magna Carta, I finally realized yesterday, folks, Magna Carta is Latin for Great Charter. It had never occurred to be divorced. What does Magna Carta mean? Oh, it means Magna, Great Charter. So you're in good company. You're in good company because the former prime minister, David Cameron, did not know what Magna Carta referred to. It was quite a gaff. And I think it may have led to his dissolution as the...

No, that's not a gaffe. That's not a gaffe. That's a bullet in the head. That is suicide to be that dumb. I know. If you're the head of the... Well, but I guess the point is... I certainly know what the Magna Carta is, but I never realized, never thought, oh, it's Latin for great charter.

Because none of us learn Latin. None of us learn Latin, right? Well, I don't think you don't need a lot of Latin to know magna, card, charter, charts, you know. But, okay, look, but tell, what was it about John Locke? Because your book, John Locke and Liberty lays it out. And I hope people in my audience will buy the book, because we need to understand this, ladies and gentlemen. We especially come into the 250th anniversary of the nation. But what is it about John,

Locke that makes him so important. In other words, had nobody codified these ideas or put these ideas out before Locke in the, because it seems like they're working this stuff out. What is it about John Locke that is so special? It's a great question. He was able to communicate these ideas in probably the most persuasive, powerful, and accessible way of any English philosopher. And when I say these ideas, Eric, we're talking about the concept of universal natural rights.

that's a lock didn't invent that idea but he's able to synthesize it and to explain it and he named those rights basically life liberty and property right unalienable rights and the whole purpose of government as locke writes in the second treatises is the purpose of government is to protect those rights with equal justice life liberty and property and this is locke's language but if after a long train of abuses and usurpations if the government violates those rights consistently, we can overthrow it. Does that phrase sound familiar to you? A long train of abuse. Yes, I believe Jefferson stole that. I believe he did, uncredited, but you and I know the problem with plagiarism, but back then it was not a problem. Yes, that's correct. They had no

copyright loss. Well, it is interesting how, you know, Jefferson gets, I think, way too much credit, frankly, because so many others have said these things long before Jefferson. Jefferson was kind of codifying it in the document that we have. But John Locke, I mean, when we talk about the idea of our rights come from God, who first said that? Wow, that's a fabulous question. You know what I mean? Like a lot of people are saying it, but I mean, it's a,

It's interesting. Yeah. I couldn't tell you what person first said it, but I will say this. And again, my lock is so important. In the second treatise, he gives a religious basis, a biblical basis for human rights when he says, we are his workmanship, he says. God's workmanship sent into the world on his authority, on his power. I mean, he's quoting from Ephesians chapter two.

We are God's workmanship created in Christ. He's making a biblical allusion to Ephesians 2 in the second in the second traitors. Well, see, this is what's so fascinating to me also is that, and you get this because you're a man of faith. These ideas, nobody invented these ideas. John Lockton invented these ideas. All he's doing is explicating truth, truth. And truth is always truth. A billion years ago, these things were true, but they have to work their way through.

history so that we can get it. And that's that's the great story of the run-up to the American Revolution, the Creation of America. We'll be right back, folks, talking to Joe Laconte. Don't go away. You're okay. I'll take you on a trip beside the ocean and drop the top of chest to pay. Welcome back, folks, talking to Joe LaCante. And Joe, you just told me on the break that you are today, today launching a website. It's about time because you've got so much going on and people need to know of you, ladies and gentlemen. The website is Joseph Laconte.com and my producer misspelled your name. So it's easy. It's like my name. More than half the time it's misspelled. It's Laconte L-O-C-O-M-T-E-E-L-O-Joseph

L-C-O-C-O-C-O-C-O-C-O-C-C-O-C-C-L-C-C-C-L-C-C-C-L-C-C-C-L-C-C-C-E. Yes. If you say LeC-C-C-C-C-C-C-T-E. Yes. You don't want to do that. You understand? Capish. Capish. I don't want to do that. I wouldn't want to do that. Yes, okay. Good. Yeah, it would be a pity if I did a thing like that. So Joseph Lacete. So we're talking about John Locke. Yes. What's the title of your book again? God Locke and Liberty, the struggle for religious freedom in the West. And Eric, one more point on Locke, that's what I think your audience will care about. What does Locke do that's, that's, that's, that's, really an innovation. And it takes us back to Cicero. He combines the idea of natural law. That's very a Cicero thing. One of the reasons the founders love Cicero, universal moral law. That's in Cicero.

That's in Cicero's Republic. He gets that idea, okay, universal moral law, natural law, that's great, but that implies natural rights. If there's a moral law, if there are things we cannot do and things we must do because there's a god at the center of the universe, that means we have protections. We have rights, natural rights. That's a Lockheon kind of insight. He's bringing in a Cicero, natural law and natural rights. So now you're one of the people, this is the joy of talking to you because I can get into this stuff, because you get this. Cicero is decades before the birth of Jesus.

Yes. So Cicero is coming up with what we would call Christian ideas before Christ. It's kind of like Socrates. It's kind of like, you know, so there are a lot of people, they don't get that, right? Everything's very on the nose. But ladies and gentlemen, truth is truth. So, but my question is, how is it in your mind, or maybe there's no answer, how is it that Cicero can have come up with these ideas? You could understand Locke coming up with it, you know, 1700 years. years later, how is it that Cicero, where do you suppose he got this from? I mean, all truth is of God, but Cicero did not have an explicit relationship with the God that we call God. How do you suppose Cicero came up with this? It's a fabulous question, which I can't answer, but let me take a stab at it by making a reference to two authors that you and I both love C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien. Here's how I think

might connect. When C.S. Lewis was still an agnostic, he wasn't a Christian yet, he's having a famous conversation with Tolkien on Addison's walk. You've been there. I've been there. And Tolkien's talking about myths and myths being, yes, intimations of the true light, splintered fragments of the true light, the great myth Christianity, the myth that became fact. God becomes a man in Jesus. The myth that became fact. matters Lewis's prejudices against Christian. He finally understands these other myths, pagan myths that he loved. They were intimations of the Christian myth, the myth that became fact. I think maybe with Cicero something like that is going on, he has an intimation of the moral law,

the transcendent moral law that God gives to all of us, right? I think, listen, you know, this again, this is why you and I have been friends for such a long time. I mean, we love Lewis and Tolkien, and we understand that they had a particular appreciation for the best of, you know, paganism, right? Yes. It's not anti-God paganism. It's paganism that is shot through with the divine. It hasn't yet come to that point in history where we say Jesus is Lord. But it's so fascinating because I see this in the Greek.

right? I mean, Socrates, obviously, you know we do Socrates in the city. Socrates, I'm amazed that that here's somebody centuries before Christ is searching for truth, is speaking of things that he's in some ways like Cicero sounds like a Christian, but he's way before Christianity. Well, we know all truth comes from the God of the Bible. There's just no doubt about it. And sometimes that truth reveals itself to people who don't know the God of the Bible. They don't know his name. They don't read the Bible. But truth is truth. And it's so fascinating to me to think that through Socrates, through Cicero, you see this clearly. And again, it's why I love C.S. Lewis so much, he gets that. And he talks about that. And you talk about him talking about that. Yes. And my friend,

if I can supplement what you just said, which was beautiful, there was a generosity of faith that both Lewis and Tolkien had, a generous, inclusive faith that they could appreciate that truth could be found in many places. They were committed to the scriptures as the highest authority, a special direct revelation of God to his people, but they also could discern truth, moral truth, spiritual truth in other places. That's a generous Christian faith, and I'm just not sure enough of us in our Christian communities if we emphasize that idea. I don't know, you tell me, how good we're doing as a community in emphasizing that. Well, no, that's why I keep saying this.

This is why you and I are friends, because we understand how important this is and how we can go wrong when we, I mean, look, there are truths. You can even say there are truths in every religion, right? The religion might be wrong, but there may be something in it. Anything that is true, you know,

you can get an atheist mathematician who says one plus one equals two, that truth is of God. That truth is of the God of the Bible. The atheist might not know that, but all truth comes from God. And we've got to hold these things in tension that, yeah, there's only one God, but all truth comes from him. And even if the source of that truth is coming out of the mouth of somebody who doesn't acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, it doesn't matter. Truth is truth. We'll be right back talking to Joe LaConte.

Folks, welcome back talking to Joe LaConte. L-O-C-O-C-O-N-T-E, Joe LaCante, L-O. All right, Joe, we're talking about a lot of stuff here, and it's exciting. This is why I always enjoy talking to you. And you have so many projects going on. I just want to tell people, again, you've got a YouTube series called History and the Human Story. How do people find that? Do they just go to YouTube and go history?

Yeah, go to Joe and YouTube at Joe LaConte. Conte, J-O-E-L-O-C-O-N-T-E on YouTube. You'll find it there, and we've got the gift of the Italians, one of our series we're working on, a Traveler's Guide to Western Civilization from Cicero to Sophia Loren. We are soon going to be releasing a documentary series on Benjamin Rush, the most important founding father most Americans have never heard of, and we're working on a documentary series on J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the impact of war, particularly the Second World War, on their lives and their literary imagination.

It's fun stuff. I'm working with a great film team. Noble Story Company is the name of my film team. Great guys. Yeah. Well, you, again, you're working a lot, and it excites me that this is happening. So what are the ones that are completed? The one on Benjamin Rush is not out yet. Not out yet, but we've shot everything. We're just in Philadelphia before the garbage strike, Philadelphia. shooting over there for a week just before it started. We got that done. So that's in post-production right now. And we're releasing these Italy series as we go. You can go and see the first episode one in the gift of the Italians. It's called Venice and the American Republic. Venice had a Republican government, Eric, you may not be aware of this for close to a thousand

years. They had a Republican form of government. And the American founders, especially Adams, they paid attention to that as they were hammering out the Constitution in 1787. So we talked about that in that 10-minute episode, Episode 1, La Conte in Venice in a gondola. I mean, come on. If that doesn't get you excited, then I got nothing to say to you. The idea of it, I love it. I absolutely love it. Where did the Venetians, and I know if people watched the video, they'll get this,

but where did the Venetians get the idea? How is it possible that they had a republic long? before we had a republic here in America. Yeah. It's a bit murky. You don't have the best records, but they figured out, in a way did the Greeks also figured out,

tipping a hat to your Greek heritage here. They didn't want to live under tyrants. They're looking around, and they're looking at how different kingdoms are being run, taken over, and think about they've built this, they've built this little community on a marsh, you know?

It just shouldn't even exist, Venice itself, right? so they were naturally more insulated from invasion. And that gave them a kind of breathing space. It was tough to come in and take over Venice because of just the whole location of the place. So they're starting to figure out how are we going to govern ourselves

and not be run by a couple of powerful families and they have the breathing space to do it? That's a partial answer. Well, that's interesting because really that's the story of America, right? I mean, if we weren't 3,000 miles away from England, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off. So it is kind of interesting also as I'm, you know, doing the research on my book, you know, you ask the question, hey, how did this happen? Yeah.

And a big part of how it happened is that, you know, you have settlers coming over in the early 17th century and they're basically left alone. Yeah. While England is, you know, they're having their own problems over there. That's right. Geography matters. Yeah. We're left alone to govern ourselves. And you learn to govern yourself.

And it just suddenly, because you have to do it, you do it. Exactly. And then when somebody says, excuse me, we'd like to govern you a little bit, you say, I don't think so. Excuse me, no. How about no, no? But it's interesting that that's the story of Venice as well. Yeah.

Their strange geographical location insulates them enough so that they're able to develop these ideas. Excellent point, Eric. Geography really does matter. Really affects, you know, how people think of themselves, define themselves. And if we can go back to the Italians just for a minute, you look at these other city states, Florence, for example, it's just taken over back and forth between powerful families, invaders. And the Venetians are saying, we're not going down that road. We're going to have a kind of a monarch, a doge. They call them the doge, not our contemporary doge, DOGE, but his power is constrained.

They have a Senate and made up of aristocrats. And then they have a council, a great council. they've got this checks and balances built into the system, and it lasts for centuries. It's amazing story. Were they looking back to Republican Rome or not? Yes, they were looking back to Republican Rome. Some of the early writers in the 1500s who are kind of recording what Venice has achieved, they will say, hey, we've outlasted the Greeks and the Romans,

and there's a real pride, a Venetian pride, that the Venetian Republic lasted much longer than the Roman Republic. So yeah, they're aware what went wrong. When roughly, when you refer to the thousand years, what are the centuries roughly we're talking about? You're talking about, let's see, it lasts until about the 18th century when Napoleon comes in and it all goes to rot. So count back about a thousand years from the 18th century, right? Yeah. That's amazing. That's amazing. I mean, I know that the Venetian Empire, it was a maritime empire folks, no surprise there. But all roads lead to Rome, but all water leads to Venice.

And it's interesting to think that they really were an empire. And I know that they were over the island where my family are from, Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea, that the Venetians were over. Philonia for quite a long time now. I'm not remembering exactly, but for for quite a while. So it is, it's so fascinating. The more we learn, the more I learn, the more ignorant I feel. Like, how did I not know that? How did I not know that? It's unbelievable. But so if people want to watch this episode, again, what is the easiest way for them to find it, Joe? Yes, YouTube at Joe LaConte, J-O-E-L-O-C-O-N-T-E, YouTube. Okay, Joe LaConte at YouTube. I got to

sent out a link of that. This is, I'm just excited you're working on all these great projects that you've got these books coming up. We need to get you back ASAP to continue the conversation because we've only really scratched the surface, honestly,

on so many things. But Joe, thanks for all you do. And we got to get you, we got to get you back as soon as possible. So stay tuned on that. Folks. Go to joe, Josephlacante.com. Lecante.com. Just a ton of great stuff. Joe, thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Great to be with you.

Hey, folks. Before we continue, I just want to remind you, we have an emergency request from our friends at food for the poor because of the horrible flooding that has happened in Texas. I'm sure you know all about it. Food for the Poor has come to us. Again, this is an emergency request. Obviously, this was not planned. But asking us to go to you, my radio audience, to ask you to help us out, to help them out, because they are on the ground in central Texas.

I think we don't normally think of this because of the horror of what happened. We just think, oh, lives were lost. And that's so horrible that we can't even comprehend it. But we forget that, unfortunately, there's a lot more that has happened. This kind of flooding has wiped out many, many, many homes. There are many, many people displaced. They're not going back to these homes. You can imagine the damage.

Businesses have been wiped out. Whole communities have been wiped out. As I mentioned, flooded out homes, closed businesses, and people simply displaced. So they need help. So Food for the Poor asks us to reach out to you. The easiest way to help is to go to metaxistalkystalk.com. There's a banner at the top.

It says help Texas. Metaxistalk.com. There's a help. Texas banner right there. And I want to say, you know, this is, I'm not trying to, If you can't afford to give, don't even just skip it. But I know that there are people like me who've thought, gosh, I wish I could do something. Well, this is something you can do.

So we just make this available to you. The need is very real. Food for the poor would not come to us unless the need were very real. So they are there. They're working with one of their partner organizations in San Antonio. and specifically they're delivering shipments of emergency relief supplies to help these families that have been displaced and that are in a very bad place right now. So the emergency relief kits contain hygiene items, tarps, that tells you something, tarps, women's care kits, liquid IV, diapers, children's activity, materials, and other essentials needed to ease the crisis that is facing these flooded out residents.

And of course, this is going to go on for some time. The devastation is incomprehensible. So food for the poor is there. They asked us, it's an emergency, would you reach out to your audience? So I'm doing that right now. The website I mentioned, it's always our radio website, metaxis talk.com. And the banner is Help Texas at the top of the page. and if you click through that, everything is there.

If you prefer to call and just to give that way, there's no specific ask, whatever you'd like to do. The phone number is 844-8-6-3-4673. Again, if you'd like to call, you can call right now, 8-44-863-4673. I'm always wondering, are people writing this down? It's always a challenge. 844-863-4673.

That's the phone number. If you prefer to do it via text to get the link, you can just text my last name, Metaxus, M-E-T-A-X-A-S. Text Metaxus to 5-1-55-5-5-5-5. Again, text Metaxus to 5-1-5-5-5-5-5. text Metaxus to 51555. The number again, 844, 863, 4673. They really need your help, whatever you can do,

or you can go to Metaxistalkystalk.com. You'll see the banner at the top. Help Texas, Metaxistalk.com. God bless you.