The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Guest: Mike ter Maat, US Presidential Candidate

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: UVA Protest: Will Faculty Hold Grades Hostage? What’s Role Of Faculty With Student Protests? CVille City Economic Development Strategic Plan Guest: Mike ter Maat, US Presidential Candidate What Separates You From D Trump & J Biden? How Would You Characterize America Today? Most Pressing Issues For American Voters Today Upcoming Guests: John Schoeb, Kurt Johnson Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Libertarian Presidential Candidate Mike ter Maat joined Jerry Miller live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Monday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. Today's program is busy. In the one o'clock hour, we have a presidential candidate in the studio. He is running as the potential libertarian candidate. His name is Mike Termott. He will be in studio in approximately 24 minutes. We're being told that he is currently in route right now to the studio. So we're excited to catch up with him. Frankly speaking, our country is in a state of trouble and concern. It's in a state of trouble when it comes to potentially who our choices are for president.

We're left with Joe Biden and Donald Trump as our choices. It's in a state of turmoil and trouble when it comes to the escalating cost of just living our lives. Grocery prices, gasoline prices, credit card debt, the cost of housing. It's a state of trouble and turmoil when it comes to protests on grounds

and on campuses at colleges and universities across the nation. Our newest generation, those that are about to enter the workforce or soon will enter the workforce, are jaded, are angry, have missed graduations, could potentially miss their college graduation. I've seen protests and geopolitical warfare and terroristic attacks impact their collegiate experiences. We have a generation that's rising that is confused and looking to influence society in ways that could change the country as we know it. A generation that is entering the workforce or one that just entered the workforce that can't pursue the American dream of home

ownership. So much to unpack when it comes to our country. You check various levels of happiness, and there's a number of professional and legitimate barometers that try to gauge happiness levels when it comes to Americans across the country, 50 states. And those levels in some barometers and some reads are at all-time lows. We want to unpack this today on the program with the presidential candidate that likely has no chance of winning, but a presidential candidate that could utilize his platform to change the narrative. And that's Mike Termott. He will be in the House in about 22 minutes today. I want to talk on the program, what separates him from Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And I want to specifically ask about the revolt and the

violence and the protests that have troubled so many campuses and grounds and colleges and universities across the country, including the one here in Charlottesville. On today's program, I want to discuss the role of faculty when it comes to students who protest on grounds. What is considered support and what is considered fueling the protests to levels that impact the dynamic of the college experience and can set the student back? For example, some faculty at the University of Virginia are considering, and by considering I mean we're heading down this road, a faculty holding second semester grades hostages. And they're going to basically say we're not going to issue grades to students because we don't feel Jim Ryan and his cabinet and administration, Chief Longo, handled the protest disbursement the right way.

Teargas and a militant police force were the wrong paths to break up a protest. And as a result, we're not going to give grades to kids. You know, I am of the mindset that tear gassing kids and using the state police as a militant force was dead wrong. But I also think it's appalling that faculty would hold great hostages as we broke news for you on Friday's program. I want to talk about that. Judah Wickhauer, I'm in the process of finishing Kurt Johnson's book called Schooled, The Miseducation of an American Teacher. Kurt Johnson will be a guest on the I Love Seville show this Wednesday in studio. This man, Kurt Johnson, the author of this book,

talks about a year in the hallways and in the classroom of Charlottesville High School. And we've heard of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. We're at Charlottesville High School. It was sex, drugs, and big-time brawling. He, in black and white, in print, in his book, talks about how drug use was rampant at Charlottesville High School. He talks about, in his book, how students were caught having sex at school. He talks about, in his book,

how students would routinely run free, rampant, unchecked, looking to create fights, troubles, and brawls. How students would utilize the N-word in profanities issued at teachers, threaten teachers, routinely stay on their cell phones, not show up for class, chronic absenteeism. He talked about shortage of staff. He talked about staff and teachers not having the back of administration, administration not having their back. He talked about the mid-season resignation of Principal Pitt.

This book, a compelling read by Kurt Johnson. Nice, I look forward to it. I'll give you the copy. I should finish it tonight. It'll be in your hands tomorrow. By Wednesday, you should be able to clear this book. I'm going to read this in two settings. Yeah.

It was a damning reflection of Charlottesville High School with his time as a teacher in the school. Also on the show tomorrow, Kurt Johnson, guys, the author on the show Wednesday. On tomorrow's show, we have Dr. John Shabe, the owner of Pro Renata, and one of his team members, Brian Combs. They will be in studio to talk about Pro Renata's expansion

into the Shenandoah Valley. They're doing so with a business acquisition. The purchase of a business to expand the Pro Renata brand, the Disneyland of Crozet. That will be a compelling show. The I Love Seville program has been red hot in 2024. And we thank Otto Turkish Street Food for being a fantastic partner of the show. Judah, if you've got any compelling photos of Otto you can put on screen, please do. Turkish Street Food that is fresh, made the day of, located on Water Street in downtown Charlottesville. The type of food that you eat once and you have

the hankering for more and more of it. Otto Turkish Street Food in downtown Charlottesville locally owned and operated. Judah Wittkower, the first lower third on screen. UVA protests, will faculty hold graduates hostage with you on a two-shot? Will faculty hold grades hostage? I have been thinking about this since it was first brought to our attention by a viewer and listener that is a key member of the family that asked for anonymity. And she said, Jerry, this is what's happening at UVA. We've seen this happen at the University of North Carolina already. but faculty are considering and deliberating and seriously contemplating taking the grades from the second semester and not issuing them to students.

Basically putting the grades from the second semester in a purgatory or escrow of some sorts and saying they will not be released to the pearly gates or they will not be released to the depths of hell. They will not come out of purgatory unless we get clear communication from the administration and potentially changes atop the administration. And it starts with Jim Ryan. On Saturday, I was in a meeting of heavy hitters. It was a little bit of athletic activity and a little bit of communication and a little bit of information that is of tremendous merit. And one of the heavy hitters that I was with said, Jim Ryan may possibly be packing his bags for Yale as we speak. Wow. president job at that university where he is very qualified for where mr ryan potentially has seen that his stay and his welcome and his grace and his hospitality has eroded very quickly in the

last 10 11 or 12 days if not across this school year yeah this particular individual who will remain nameless a heavy hitter, talked about what John Blair said in previous shows, the governor, Glenn Youngkin, making numerous appointments to the Board of Visitors this summer, and how those appointments will change the tenor, the dynamic of the folks that boss or govern Jim Ryan. So much is unpacking in real time at the most influential brand and the top driver of the economy and the ideology and the dynamic of a 300,000 person market

we call Central Virginia. And this show airs less than two miles removed in the shadows of Thomas Jefferson's university, less than two miles removed in the shadows of thomas jefferson's university less than two miles from where the protest took place two saturdays ago 30 yards from the police department and a block remove where students faced a judge in alamaro county last week. And assumedly others as well. Bingo. So I've got a lot I want to unpack with you. Faculty holding grades hostage

and the role of faculty with student protests. Where do you want to begin? Because as Vanessa Parkhill has just said, and if you want to put her photo on screen and you can find the power rankings, ladies and gentlemen, at iloveseville.com forward slash viewer rankings, holding grades hostage, Vanessa Parkhill has said, is not okay. It is not an okay form of protest. And I agree a thousand percent. Faculty can protest. Faculty can support. But holding grades hostage is...

That's how universities crumble. Yeah, I... I'm sure that most of the students at UVA are just want to be students at UVA, and the ones that are about to graduate just want to graduate. I kind of wonder how protesting students feel when their protests meet the protests of professors and they end up with a conundrum like this, would a protesting student approve of a protesting professor

if it negatively impacted their graduation? Well, Seth, I want to also offer this perspective for the viewers and listeners. Think about the parallels between Charlottesville High School and the University of Virginia right now. Charlottesville High School, over the calendar year that we're in right now, the calendar year that we're about to conclude, there was a small group of students at Charlottesville High School that held the high school hostage. They held the high school hostage through brawling. They held the high school hostage

through having sex at school and on grounds, through disrespecting teachers, through chronic and rampant drug use on grounds. A small group determined the outcome of the majority. Think about that in comparison to the University of Virginia. A small group at UVA, a small group of pro-Palestine supporters. Look at what they've done to the university and what they potentially could do to graduation.

Duke University this past weekend, Jerry Seinfeld, the keynote speaker, Duke graduates walked out on Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah. Walked out on him. Virginia Commonwealth University walking out on the keynote speaker at VCU. I saw a sign up in, I think it was a stadium at a graduation that said,

if you are asked to put down your signs or leave and you refuse, you will be arrested. How's that for a sign at your college graduation? Think about the parallels between Charlottesville, the only high school, Charlottesville High School, the only high school in the city, and the University of Virginia. A handful of people dictating the quality of life and determining the outcomes of the large majority. The parallels are present. And this is the society we were in Judah and I were preparing for the show

in our pre-production meeting and we said how are we going to have a conversation with a presidential candidate when this is the I Love Seville show and this is what we came to the conclusion well, we make it about

Charlottesville like we do everything else in Central Virginia. Our groceries are out of control. Our gasoline prices are out of control. Credit card debt is at an all-time high in America. The cost of housing is at an all-time high. I want people to understand this. In Central Virginia, in Charlottesville and Alamaro County, right now, this is what we're experiencing. The highest levels of credit card debt in Central Virginia history. The highest levels of housing costs in Central Virginia history. I would say in history anywhere, pretty much. I mean, all across America. Gasoline almost at all-time high. Groceries at all-time high groceries at all-time high turmoil trouble at our number one employer and the brand that dictates the outcome and the quality of life

of the region the university of virginia yeah and this is what i'll ask the presidential candidate what do we do about this? How do we fix it? How do we make it better? And now we got the folks that are shaping the next generation, whether tenured, whether assistant, whether associate, whether teaching assistant, and they're not only supporting in protests, but in a lot of ways, they are fueling the fire of the protests. If you're a parent and you're covering the cost of tuition in full or in

part, would you think twice about saying, I'm going to agree to pay for four years there when your offspring, your scion, your son or your daughter, may not even get grades for the work they did, whether involved in the protest or not? Yeah. Who's going to pay for that? And if folks are not careful, if this needle's not threaded the right way,

you have a concept, a concept called a university or college is one that is very nebulous. It is one that is very malleable. It is one that is very troubled, potentially. No doubt. Grades not being issued causes the house of cards to collapse.

Yeah. yeah all right um yeah i mean I mean, it's definitely an issue that somebody's going to have to deal with. Charlottesville is, I'm not sure what UVA would do without Jim Ryan. I mean, Charlottesville has had its fair share of internal troubles and now UVA has had its share as well. It's crazy. What happens if students don't get their final grades? How does the school deal with...

Let me ask you a straightforward question. If you're the parents of a student who does not get his grades for second semester, are you in your legal right to ask for a refund of tuition for second semester. If I send my kids to UVA and my sons do not get a grade for the second semester of 2024, you bet your bottom dollar I would be on the phone with our attorney, and I would be on the phone of the dean of admissions, and I would be on the phone of anyone associated with the

department that did not issue grades demanding a refund for tuition for that semester. Furthermore, those that donate money to the University of Virginia, if their sons or daughters are not given grades because faculty are choosing to hold A, B, Cs, Ds, and Fs as leverage to drive their protest pursuits, what should you do with your donation dollars? Should you also hold them in hostage? Hold them in limbo? Utilize them as leverage?

Even if you don't have kids in school, your offspring in school right now, and you're a big-time donor to the University of Virginia, should you hold your donation dollars in purgatory or as leverage, just like faculty are doing now? Do we think faculty are going to hold them indefinitely? Should they hold them at all? Well, of course we don't think they should hold them at all. My question is, do we think they're going to hold them at all? Well, of course we don't think they should hold them at all.

My question is, do we think they're going to hold them indefinitely? I mean, eventually, you have to imagine that those kids will get their grades, whether by the teacher giving it up or somebody at the university saying, look, we're just going to fire all these professors. Take the grades that we have up to the last grade and make an estimate a guesstimate i doubt the school is just going to sit by and not allow however many students are affected by this to not get grades

or not get a final grade for that semester. And what did you make? John Blair, I'll get to your comments. Deep Throat, I'm going to get to your comments as well. What did you make of UVA viewers and listeners? Did you see this? UVA law school faculty, many of them, friends of mine on this list,

writing support of Jim Ryan and how his administration handled the breaking up of the protest two Saturdays ago. UVA faculty with their name sign on the paper said Jim Ryan and Tim Lago did it the right way. Really? Law school faculty. Law school faculty. Roughly two dozen faculty members, if not more, signing this letter. You can find it anywhere online. I was floored. I was flabbergasted. I was dismayed.

Well, they were not in charge of the Virginia State Police. police. So while we may throw shade at them for while we may throw shade at Jim Ryan for not being there present anywhere and in whatever this bunker is that we've talked about we can throw shade at them for the decisions they've made, but they were not in charge of the mess that the Virginia State Police caused. And we certainly can't argue that they could have

or should have known that the Virginia State Police were going to break out the pepper spray and whatever else. I'm not arguing that... Dude, I'm not of that mindset. You come equipped to a fight and you come equipped to a fight with pepper spray and riot gear. The likelihood of you using said pepper spray and said riot gear is greater than if you come equipped to a fight without pepper spray and riot gear okay but that's completely ignoring everything i just said john blair has this comment nothing to do with with the president and and uh chief longo john blair says this if i were were Jim Ryan, I would make the following statement.

If a grad student withholds a student's grade, I will personally see that every communication that comes from the University of Virginia will state this candidate would not be eligible for rehire at the University of Virginia. Deep Throat says this. The United States of America, this is one and two in our family with their photos on screen. The United States of America is down to 22nd on the World Happiness Index.

22nd, the United States of America. It's not surprising. He says, faculty holding grades hostage is like saying, stop, or I will shoot myself in the foot. Admin can give everybody pass or A, and the professor a pink slip. And it's not like these classes are generally very rigorous, or that giving everybody an A or pass for one or two classes out of a whole academic career is a meaningful distortion. Furthermore, he says, my parents were at the Duke graduation. My cousin is graduating.

They said that maybe 2% of the students walked out and everything proceeded to be normal. That's good to hear. Graduation at the University of Virginia is this weekend. Perhaps the most anticipated graduation at the University of Virginia in generations, and for all the wrong reasons. All the wrong reasons, the anticipation.

Janice Boyce Trevelyan, her photo on screen, key member of the family, JBT, as we have fondly monikered and nicknamed her. 20 in the family. She says the administration should hold the faculty's salaries hostage. There you go. Do we understand how precarious this house of cards that we call a university, the precarious position this house of cards is in right now, if faculty hold students' grades hostage, some could not graduate, that would potentially

lead the parents of students to call the school demanding a refund or what the hell's going on. If a refund is needed, where is that going to come from? If other important or prestigious or affluent alumni say, I don't like where this university is right now, they could hold their donation dollars hostage. All this is happening at the same time that Glenn Youngkin is changing the makeup of the board of visitors, which is going to impact Jim Ryan's job status potentially, all while the Yale University president's job is up for grabs, where Jim Ryan is arguably the most qualified to assume said Yale University president position.

We are living a soap opera right now in Charlottesville when it comes to the brand that is the region's moniker or name. It's not the city of Seville. It's the city of UVA. You got a president that's in limbo. You got grades that are held in purgatory. You got donation dollars that's in limbo. You've got grades that are held in purgatory. You've got donation dollars that are being leveraged. You've got faculty that are trying to utilize grades, weaponize grades. They're weaponizing grades, faculty, right now. You've got a police chief

that's a fall guy. You've got a president that might be a fall guy. You've got a governor in the background that might be working the strings of the puppets in front of the screen behind the scenes. You got pepper sprayed students. You got 27 arrests. You got riot gear state police. You got a media firestorm. And you got a University of Virginia that no one recognizes anymore. You got the Jefferson Council and Razorblade Bert Ellis working behind the scenes with his clout and influence. You've got a small portion of a population dictating or controlling or influencing the outcome or the quality of life for the very large majority. This snapshot, this microcosm is America today.

It's the city of Charlottesville today. It's Charlottesville High School today. Where a small pocket of people can organize, galvanize, and strategize and determine the outcome of the large majority. That is America today. And that's in part why we're 22nd in the World Happiness Index. Think about that. And then you've got the Economic Development Office.

Bill McChesney, welcome to the program. Tom Powell says it's not right to hold grades hostage. Bill McChesney says the professors need to come up with a reasonable protest. Holding grades is ridiculous. He says if faculty aren't tenured, they shouldn't let the door hit them in the backside on their way out. Amen. How they manage the protest,

pepper-spraying students and using a militant police force, that was effed up. And I'm vehemently opposed to it. But the cause and effect is not holding grades hostage. That's not the right thing. Right. Now you've got the Charlottesville Economic Development Office trying to come up with a strategy for economic development. 2024 to 2028 economic development strategy. Sean Tubbs has got good reporting on this.

You can find the economic development strategy packet online. Judah, you've got some of the key points. Yeah, I've got the seven strategies that they're planning in their packet. We've got executing a business retention program to help existing businesses be successful. I think that's great. I'd like to know more of the details about how they plan on doing that. I think there were a lot of businesses during COVID that could have used a plan like that. The second strategy is to activate in partnership with Commonwealth and regional partners,

a private investment strategy to reach decision makers. Third strategy, focus in partnership with industry associations on expansion efforts for scalable businesses in Charlottesville's traded sectors. Fourth strategy, align policy, planning, and future redevelopment to support innovative industries. Fifth strategy, expand the Seville Match Program. Sixth strategy, strengthen partnerships with Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and others to advance the city's development interests. And the seventh strategy, utilizing public-owned land and public-private partnerships to support quality jobs, investment, and housing options. I mean, all these sound great. But without

a concrete plan, they'd just sound great. You know what the first strategy should be to drive economic development in the city of Charlottesville? What's that? Clean up the city of Charlottesville. Clean it up. Make it family-friendly. Clean it up.

Give the houseless population a hand up not a handout but a hand up and that hand up doesn't need to be in downtown Charlottesville and the downtown mall the most important eight blocks of the city of Charlottesville we want to create an economic development strategy for Charlottesville make the most important eight blocks in a 10.2 square mile city

family friendly again. Make it okay or make elicit a feeling of safety or comfort when it comes to women visiting downtown Charlottesville at any time of day. Or parents bringing their young kids to the city of Charlottesville any time of day.

Improve pedestrian and bikeability and walkability. Natalie Olshan's game plan. That needs to happen. Get the sidewalks fixed. Get the bike lanes more consistent and safer. There's your start. You make the city safer. There's your start. You make the city safer. You clean up downtown Seville and return it to what it was before COVID.

Lloyd Snook said on this program, downtown hasn't rebounded since COVID. That'll go a long way into improving economic development in the city. And you know when that happens, it has a trickle-over effect to Alamaro County. There's a boatload of people that boycott the downtown mall right now.

And whether it's justified or unjustified, it's today's reality. And perception management is a very critically important skill set in 2024 when perception is reality. And whether you want to admit this or not, the perception of the most important eight blocks in downtown, the most important eight blocks in the city of Charlottesville is a perception of concern. It's a perception of safety issue.

It's a perception of not clean. It's a perception of chronic houselessness. It's a perception of storefronts that are not all full. Your first step with economic development should be cleaning up the downtown mall and returning it to what it was pre-COVID. Your second steps for economic development in Charlottesville City should be making pedestrian and bikeability safer, more reliable, more consistent, more ubiquitous, more approachable, more consistent. You make those two things a reality, economic development will follow suit.

They can do word salad, and they can talk about joint ventures and public-private partnerships, and they can talk about all this other stuff, mumbo-jumbo. But until these eight blocks that we're surrounded around and they can talk about all this other stuff, mumbo-jumbo. But until these eight blocks that we're surrounded around return to what they were pre-COVID, the impact of that strategy is not going to be its full effect or its full potential or its full possibility.

And people say, oh, what are you going to do? You've got a commonwealth where it's freedom of speech to panhandle, and we're handcuffed and limited with what we can provide. Obviously, the solution is a hand up elsewhere. And maybe the JV, the joint venture, is a partnership with the county and the city where you build the campus that we talked about, Judah, a campus that offers housing, a campus that offers showers, and internet, and laundry, and resume building, and addiction council, and alcohol council, and drug council, and short-term housing.

I hand up infrastructure to improve, but when you allow said infrastructure and free internet and panhandling opportunities and breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals, the presidential candidate is about to walk in. When you allow that to be in downtown Charlottesville, you're going to get an ecosystem like we have right now that is incredibly concerning. That's

the first step. We'll go to the studio camera here in a matter of moments. We'll introduce you to a name that I think could become a household name. We're live across all social platforms on a show that is the top watch platform in the 300,000-person region. Judah, studio camera if we could. And we'll welcome a gentleman that I'm very excited to get to know. You are live on air.

You have quite a few people watching you right now. Introduce yourself to everybody that's watching the program. Hi, Mom. I'm Mike Chabot, and I am running for president to represent the Libertarian Party because I think our government has gone off the rails, and we need a new relationship between us and our government. I think the government is undoubtedly off the rails. We have turmoil on college campuses all over the country, including here in Charlottesville.

We have credit card debt at an all-time high. We have groceries that have become so costly that the average family is choosing, do I buy milk? Do I buy fruit? Do I get proteins? Gasoline prices at an all-time high. The cost of housing is astronomical. And the United States and the World's Happiness Index, 22 in its rankings,

one of the lowest it's been in a long time. How would you characterize the state of the union right now and why? In the crapper, because our government has intruded on our lives and because our government has made profoundly stupid decisions in our name, starting with a crappy foreign policy about which everyone is upset. You're exactly right. Not just on college campuses, but all over the United States.

The administration seems to have been able to piss off everyone who is anti-Israel and everyone who is pro-Israel and everybody else in the United States, whether you're paying attention or not. Our government has managed to impose on us a level of inflation that we should not be in the business of tolerating.

You're exactly right with your list of things that are now ridiculously expensive, and everything else as well. And the reason for that is not because of the individuals in power, but because the systems that we have set up are set up to bias us toward a rampant inflation. This is not a problem the last couple of years, right? We've had inflation and fits and starts, and in big ways, for 100 years. So we need a profoundly different system to get control over our currency

and stop the government from issuing too much money. And we need the government to stop spending so much money and intruding on our lives. And we need a system that imposes a new way in terms of our criminal justice system, I believe. I don't think Americans should be putting up with what we've been putting up with for so long. You talk about foreign policy. The United States, you utilize the word imposed, has imposed itself in a geopolitical mess with Israel, with Palestine, Gaza, Hamas. It's imposed itself in a geopolitical

mess with Ukraine, with Russia, with Putin. When is enough enough? Enough is enough about 75 years ago. And for reasons beyond our control, our government has kept up a crappy policy over the years, the decades, the generations, that does not align with your values, that does not align with American principles in the long run or the short run. And I think Americans are now ready for a true, clean, clear, crisp anti-war message in a way that Americans have not been ready for up until now. And the reason I feel that way is because our government has pursued a foreign policy which is unethical, that does not align with your values and mine,

but also because as a practical matter, more down to earth, the government has imposed itself in these variety of military interventions, as you point out, and by the way, foreign aid as well, particularly in the form of military aid, that does not achieve things in our strategic interests. So even if you were to not care about the ethics of the matter, right, there are just not examples out there of military interventions by the Defense Department of the U.S. government that Americans would point to and say, yeah, that was a good idea. That worked out well, right? Sure, it cost us some billions of dollars and a few thousand lives, but it was worth it. Those examples just don't exist. So as a practical matter, objectively speaking, Americans are sick of it and they should be. We have professors at the University of

Virginia who are contemplating holding grades hostage when it comes to their students. And they're holding grades hostage because of their stance on a Palestine and Israeli war that has consumed the world, consumed this country. And here's where I want to go with this. We have some protesters, faculty protesters, telling students that what you are doing here at the University of Virginia is shaping Joe Biden's policy and his decision-making in the White House. I found these statements absolutely outlandish and absurd. I find it to be virtue signaling at its worst. What I'm seeing right here, I'm going to throw all this to you here, the impact of faculty on students shaping the next generation, the impact of foreign policy decisions on domestic soil, and how foreign policy decisions on domestic soil are potentially

corrupting the character of the next generation that hit American workforces. There's a lot to unpack there. First of all, the whole idea of withholding grades for any reason whatsoever I find completely stupid. If you're a professor, as I have been at three different universities, by the way, if you're a professor, your job, a big piece of your job, in addition to teaching kids, is to pass out grades. If you're not willing to do your job, I don't care what the reason is, if you're not willing to do your job, then you need to be dismissed and you need to be replaced by someone who is willing to do your job. Now, the idea that you would withhold grades because of someone's political opinion, that's not just problematic from a job point of view, doing your appointed job for which you're being paid.

That's an ethical problem. The whole idea that you would coerce someone into agreeing with you or from standing down from your, I don't care how dumb you think someone's opinion is, right? You and I might think each other's opinions are stupid. That doesn't mean we get to coerce each other into agreement or disagreement or just shutting up or anything else. And so that's a real problem. And so I would call on the university to politely, perhaps, but dismiss faculty that think it's okay to engage in that sort of thing. Having said that, yes, peaceful protests can influence politics in the United States. That's why we have peaceful protests in so many cases. It's okay for people to have strong opinions, even when they don't agree with mine, right? You and I have been out there protesting in the past. I'm looking right at you. I know you

have been. I know you will again, and so will I. And sometimes you and I will be out there together, and sometimes maybe we're on opposite sides, and that's okay. Now, having said that, no, I don't believe that protests ought to be allowed to get violent, right? If you're going to hurt someone or trash their property or something, you need to be held accountable. That's not what we're talking about. That's not something that's protected by the First Amendment, and I don't believe that it should be. So there is a lot to unpack there. But if you're out there peacefully, you're not hurting anybody, and you're expressing your opinion,

I don't really care what your opinion is for purposes of this discussion. You have a right to express it, and it should be free of coercion from your university, your government, or anybody else. Mike, I am as disenchanted right now as an American voter as I've been in a very long time. I am left with two options on a traditional two-party ticket or two-party option with the Republican and the Democrats, with Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I got one guy who does not seem to have the mental capabilities to hold the office for another four years. I got another guy who I'm literally watching on CNBC and our studio television here that's on trial for credibility and character issues. And I am left as a voter just absolutely dispirited with the choices I have. I'm a huge proponent of the three-party system. I identify often with libertarian ideologies. I identify with options are power. I'm a businessman, and as a businessman who's in real estate or in media,

I understand having choices means the consumer has more power, more influence over markets. Talk to us about what Americans have before them with Biden and Trump and what separates you from the choices we have. Well, I agree with you. On one hand, you've got a goofy old man who doesn't have the capacity to hold office, and then you've got Joe Biden. You have a couple of choices that I don't think Americans are too excited about, and that's for a variety of reasons that go beyond them as individuals, by the way. Even if you thought these two as individuals were full of great character and they were on top of their game, I would argue that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party no longer represent the ideals that they

used to espouse. I'm old enough, take it from my gray hair, I'm old enough to remember when the Republican Party would stand up for fiscal conservatism and free markets and a deregulated environment. The Democratic Party would stand up for your First Amendment rights and social liberalism. I'll go you one further. You'll have to ask your parents about this. The Democratic Party used to stand up for your Second Amendment rights. Wrap your brain around that. These parties have gone in weird directions. And for that alone, we need further choices. I agree with you. There is a market in ideas. And I liked what you said about being a proponent of the three-market system. But I think that we need to say out loud, even though I do represent the third

party, not just a third party, I'm a proponent of a 13-party system. Same. Why stop there? I do believe that the foot in the door will be the Libertarian Party. And then people will see that we provide a choice that's very, very different from the Libertarian Party. And then people will see that we provide a choice that's very, very different from the Republicans and the Democrats. I think people are going to like what they see. And I think that they'll be therefore more open to other ideas in the future. Why have we become, why have these two parties become caricatures of their former selves? How have they become? Well, we could do a five-hour show on just that, but of course it started with each leaning into their respective bases

and not care about reaching out to people in the middle or much less across the aisle because they were both leaning into media that was dedicated specifically to them. It started with cable news and so forth. We all recognize that this has happened. And we recognize also that this is where authoritarianism comes from. It comes from parties giving up what used to be their agenda and adopting as their number one priority

the idea that what you really have to fear is not the loss of your civil liberties, what you really have to fear is that other schmuck coming to power, right? And that's the number one platform of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, is that they need to be elected because the other side is a threat to democracy. This is authoritarianism 101, and that is a problem. However you feel about the way those parties used to be, they no longer operate in

your interest. They operate in the interest of elected politicians and unelected bureaucrats who are all about control, who are all about garnering power for themselves, expanding the state. They don't operate with a set of values that align with yours or mine or most Americans. They operate with a set of values that you know are or mine or most Americans. They operate with a set of values that you know are different from yours because they make decisions that you wouldn't make. If you were in charge, you wouldn't rack up $100,000 of debt at the federal level for every man, woman, and child in the United States. That's not something you would do. So that's how you know that these people operate with different values than you do. Would you invade Iraq and Afghanistan, stay there for 20 years,

and accept the responsibility for the deaths of over 1 million people? That's not something you would do. These people make decisions that you wouldn't make. And this is why they cover up those decisions so often, and they march ahead as though you don't matter. You are offering commentary that is straightforward and backed with common sense. I'll throw a pointed question to you. How do we take a party, the Libertarian Party, that for the most part has been an afterthought and make it a reality, a true player on the national scene and in November. Some would say this, and I am of the mindset there is no wasted vote. I truly believe that. There is no wasted vote mindset, but that mindset is not shared by many.

How do we change that mindset? I agree with you. The first step is you need to go on an important program like I Love Charlottesville. There we go. That's the number one step, and I think that most politicians are starting to recognize that, that all roads to success go through this program. If there is a politician who doesn't come on your show, he's a loser, okay? And I really should say that with a Trump accent. Big, fat loser. And I think the message that needs to be sent is that if you're not voting for your values and your principles,

you are wasting your vote. If you vote for the Republican Party, you're sending the signal that you think what they're doing is a good idea, they're on the right track, they represent your interests and your values. Same thing for the Democratic Party. Is that really the signal that you want to send? Or do you want to send a signal for change? I believe that our values and principles as Americans better align with the Libertarian Party, which is to say fiscal conservatism, social liberal, you do you, right? We're not going to tell you you have to have a vaccine. We're not going to tell you you have to wear a mask. We're not going to shut down your business the next time that there is a virus. We're going to stand up for the government spending less of your money and not taxing you so hard. We're going to stand up for less inflation and we're going to stand up for peace. I think that those values

represent Americans better than the Republican Party does or the Democratic Party does. I a thousand percent agree with that. And I think today's voter, the American in 2024, is way more centered than what national parties want to give them credit for. But national parties are spooking the centered voter of today into picking one line, one side in the sand. That there's this proverbial line right down the middle. You either have to be on this side or that side. And that's not the voter of today. The voter of today is way more neutral and way more backed by common sense and way more comfortable being centered-aisled. But

we're being spooked either by media or by party tactics to get on one side and then pound our chest and let the world know we're on that side. And that is one of the key problems, I think, with our country today. I want to throw a rampant inflation to you here. I want to throw the Fed and Jerome Powell cutting rates. I want to throw credit card debt to you, housing, groceries, and gas, because these are the type of decisions that I think are really going to be the influencers and the turnstile. Show us yours on those topics. What we believe is necessary is to stop the government from engaging in the type of monetary policy that we've had. I don't think most Americans realize that the way

that monetary policy is made in the United States is that every six weeks, we lock a dozen people up in a room and we ask them what mood they're in. That is not a metaphor. That's actually how it's done. The most important price in the world, which is to say short-term interest rates on the U.S. dollar, is set by asking people's opinions, only 12 of them, once every six weeks. And then we wonder why we get such a stupid result, right? No matter how you feel about the Federal Reserve System, some people love it and some people hate it, you have to admit that after 100 years of experience, objectively speaking, it hasn't worked. We have too much inflation.

We have too much boom-bust cycle. My hand is going up and down, right? We have too much boom, too much bust, too much cycle. And research shows we'd be better off if we just told the federal government, no, you're not allowed to issue as much money as you want. This is where this inflation comes from. The government just issuing money willy-nilly to finance its own interest in spending too much of our resources.

If we just tell the government to cut it out, we would have a better result. We'd have less inflation. We'd be better able to make ends meet. The government would stop undermining our lifestyle. And Republicans and Democrats, as politicians, would be forced to adhere more to our values. Highlight for the viewers and listeners your background. You mentioned earlier in the interview a professor at three different universities or colleges. Humanize, localize, and personalize yourself for those that are watching. Well, I appreciate that. I have taught economics at three different universities. I was a professional economist for more than a couple of decades. I worked for the White House for a couple of years.

I had my own business along with a partner in strategic consulting for financial institutions and non-profits. I spent about a decade in Washington consulting for financial institutions and nonprofits. I spent about a decade in Washington as an advocate for free markets and deregulation and greater competition. I've worked for some international agencies. And, oddly perhaps to some of your viewers and listeners, my second career in public policy and public service was as a police officer. I was on the road for 11 1⁄2 years as a patrol officer in Florida from the age of 49 to 60, which is to say until a couple of years ago, all as a patrol officer.

I was able to find an agency that had a separate vice unit, so I didn't have to get involved with the stuff that I personally consider stupid, like the war on drugs, like prostitution stings, and things like that. So I had a really good experience, and that's why I spend so much time talking about criminal justice reform. What are some of the key reasons viewers and listeners and voters should vote you into office, and how do you get the message out to the masses even more? Because I think that my parties and my platforms' principles align with yours. If you believe in what it is that we believe, if you believe that it is your values that should

be imposed on Washington and not the other way around, then you need to support a party and a candidate that has values like yours, right? That you don't believe that the government should be able to spend as much of your money as it wants, right? That it should not be governed by whatever mood the government is in. I think that most Americans would agree that our foreign policy does not align with our values. And this is why the Libertarian Party is interested in representing your interests. And I believe that if we vote our values, we'll be able to force other politicians to move in our direction, to force other politicians to take into consideration how we feel about these things.

What is the agenda like for you? The tour, you're obviously doing as much media as possible, which I completely understand. It is Monday, May 13th, and the window is closing quickly. It is closing quickly. We are convening as a libertarian party in about 10 days, and after that, it'll be on like Donkey Kong. That's when we start raising money in a serious way. Will we raise as much money as the Republican Party, the Democratic Party? No. But to be fair, neither will most governments around the world raise that much money either. Will we raise enough money to make a ruckus? Absolutely. We're going to be spending money hard and fast in June and July to get the message out, to let people know that there is a new sheriff in town,

there is a new option in town, that we're here not to seek common ground with other politicians, but to cleave hard edges against them and to give Americans a real choice that is different from the parties that you're looking at already. We promoted your interview last week on the show. We had a number of questions come in. One of the questions that came in for you was the political nature of local races, in particular school board races. We had one school board race here in Alamaro County between Dr. Meg Bryce and Allison Spillman that captivated the country. A school board race that had $600,000 to $700,000 in collective campaign financing raised. I mean, it's just mind-boggling that folks are raising $350,000 to $400,000 per candidate to run for the school board. I want your take, and I'll give you an

open-ended question on how national politics are infiltrating local politics, and in particular, how national politics are infiltrating schools. We saw that as a key determiner of Glenn Youngkin's victory over Terry McAuliffe in the last governor's race, where McAuliffe not once but not twice, three times stuck his foot in his mouth when he said parents should not be the one influencer or determiner of kids, their kids, in schools, which pissed off a lot of us. I think that that sums it up right there. That is everything that you need to know about the interaction of national politics with state politics with local politics. The reason so much money was spent on your school board race down here is because people do care and because people consider it a charge of every aspect of your child's life. And if that means sending your kid to a different school, if that means sending your kid to a private school, if that means bringing your kid home for homeschooling, it should not be the government's business. The government should not be collecting money in order to funnel it only to public schools.

I believe someday, I don't know if it's 30 years from now or 300 years from now, the government won't be in this business of collecting money from us to control our kids' education. In the meantime, I'm a big advocate for the idea that we ought to have a choice of what type of school we send our kids to using that money that the government is taking away from us for the purposes of primary and secondary school education. I've got a follow-up on vouchers for you. This is a hot topic locally here. You've already given a take here.

Take a deeper dive on school vouchers and why you think it's the right path for parents. It's the right path because it gives parents more control. Not only does it hold the public schools accountable. You do a crappy job. I'm out of here, I'm going to take my money and my kid, I'm going to go to a private sector school, or I'm going to go into homeschooling. It holds them accountable and gives a sense of influence over what's going on in the public schools. And if the public schools are impervious to that influence, then they're going to lose population,

they're going to lose money. And as you and I know, in any market, that's just fine, right? The other thing that needs to be said is that educating your kid, schooling your kid, is not just about ABCs. We want it to be just about ABCs all too often. And we don't get what we want. Many times, it's also about the values that we surround our children with. And that means that you need a full panoply of choices, the types of schools.

Do you want your kid going to a Catholic school or a Lutheran school or a non-sectarian school or a school that's not religious at all? One that's focused on sports, one that's focused on arts, one that's focused on something that I can't even think of today. That should be up to you. This is why we need choice. And whether that's manifested in the form of vouchers or manifested in any other way, I'm all for it. And I believe that as a result of school choice programs, eventually we will get the government out of this business altogether. That's the holy grail of education. Second to last question for the candidate here.

Then I'd love to get a photo with the candidate live on air. I agree with a large portion of what this man is saying on the program here. Here's the second to last question. Let's say you get the nod from the party. And let's say you are on a short list of potential presidential candidates, maybe, you know, short list to be the president. Okay. What is considered a victory for you this fall? If we're realistic, the likelihood of being in the White House, history would say, is not great. It's not great, but before I answer your question,

let me say it ain't zero either. That's fair. That is fair. Okay. It's not zero. Okay. I will not be the candidate who holds up his hand and says, I can't win. If I say I can't win, I'm lying to you, by the way. Not only am I pursuing a bad strategy, but I'm not being completely honest. You're right, it is a long shot, and therefore there are other things that we want to accomplish, not just recover the White House. And that's what I want unpacked. What do you want to accomplish here? We want to accomplish a disruption of the system.

We want to end the status quo, and the status quo includes having politicians that completely disregard our values. We want politicians to be disrupted in their ability to pay no attention to our fill-in-the-blank values, principles, ethics, the types of policies that we want, our party, to be able to completely disregard libertarianism. And let me point out that libertarianism is the philosophical descendant of the people that put together the Constitution, that wrote the Declaration of Independence, that created our federal government, and did so for the sole legitimate purpose of protecting our individual liberty.

That's why our country was put together. That's why we have a federal government. This is an American concept that we are standing up for. And the idea that our politicians today completely disregard that, that has to end. Last question. Tell the viewers and listeners on a show that's going to live in perpetuity online and watched for days if not months to come why folks should vote for you. They should vote for me because it's the right thing to do, not for me, not for days, if not months to come, why folks should vote for you? They should vote for me because it's the right thing to do, not for me, not for you, but for them and for their fellow

Americans. People out there listening to us have values that they recognize do not align with the politicians who represent them. Stop wasting your vote. Vote for your principles and force the politicians who purport to represent you to actually move in your direction. Don't any longer send the signal that the Republican Party is on the right track or the Democratic Party is on the right track. No matter how you may have felt about them in the past, they are no longer representing your interests. All right, why don't we go to the studio camera. And Mike, if you could come over here, I would love to get a picture of you. And then we'll go back to a one-shot. You were fantastic. You're fantastic. I can certainly mean that. He's going to grab our picture if you want to stand right here.

And thank you. Appreciate you. One more. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Good to see you. Have a good rest of your show. You too. Thank you, Mike.

We appreciate you. Good luck. Viewers and listeners, we hope you appreciated that. We see the newspaper in Richmond watching the program here. That was inspiring. He is doing a media tour as we speak. A lot of what he said I could relate to. The first step is for the system to change, where the third party or the fourth party becomes viable and it's opportunity or it's upside

of victory. That's the first step. And we won't get to the first step of having a third or fourth party becoming a viable option until we have guys like Mike bridge that gap. And we've seen some candidates try to bridge the gap in the past. Gary Johnson comes to mind in 2016. Robert Sarvis comes to mind. Hell, you could even throw a Ross Perot in the mix as someone that tried to bridge the gap. And may have come the closest.

Certainly attention-wise, I would say. No doubt. The Texan with the big ears. Yeah. Time will tell. I appreciated a lot of his straightforwardness. Today, and we'll highlight a couple of other topics on the program before going off air. Today, we are left with the choices in front of us are that of a senile old man

and that of a man who is on trial right now before the world. Those are our choices. On trial for paying off a porno star, a pornography star, for a boomshakalaka he had on the side. Right? He had something along those lines. Think about that and all

a reflection of why this country is 22nd in the happiness index when compared to others worldwide I'll close on this before highlighting what's coming up on the show you jump in with anything you found compelling

on the talk show what you're excited about in the week. I'll close on this, though. Think about where we are right now. Our colleges and universities in our country are in turmoil. Our kids at these colleges and universities are being influenced, are jaded, are angry, are dispirited, are going into the workforce with experiences that were completely different from ours during our four years at colleges and universities. Completely different. The generation entering the workforce had their high school graduation canceled, their college graduations impacted. High school graduations canceled by a virus that was mismanaged tremendously

by the federal government. College graduations impacted by geopolitical turmoil that was mismanaged horribly by the federal government. They're entering an ecosystem or an economy that has credit card debt at an all-time high, student loan debt at an all-time high, gasoline prices at an all-time high, housing at an all-time high, groceries at an all-time high. And a divided country like we've not seen before. Yeah. And locally here in Charlottesville, we have a university that is being held hostage by a small, small, small population.

Very similar to the small population that held Charlottesville High School hostage over the last academic year. The few are determining the outcome of the majority. And that's wrong. We'll continue this theme and discussion on Wednesday's program when we have a Charlottesville High School teacher, Kurt R. Johnson, in the studio.

He is the author of Schooled, The Miseducation of an American Teacher. Kurt R. Johnson will be in the studio to talk about his book and what his experience was like as a teacher in the hallways and classrooms at Charlottesville High School. Yeah. Closing thoughts from you. We've just passed, the last week was uh i believe national teacher week um and we've got a great lineup of of guests this week including a uh including the author of this book the

miseducation of an american teacher and uh I'd been thinking about some of my former teachers, and maybe later this week we can have a segment where we reminisce about some of our favorite teachers and how they affected our growth. Great idea. We should do that. Mark that down. Please. It's a fantastic idea. We should do that. Mark that down. Please. It's a fantastic idea. I'd like to reflect on some of the teachers that had the greatest impact on me personally and one teacher that has had a fantastic impact on our oldest son who's six. Dr. John Shabe on the program tomorrow, the owner of Pro Renata Brewery,

the Disneyland of Crozet, to talk about how his brand and business is expanding into the Shenandoah Valley through a business acquisition. He's also expanding into downtown Stanton. Pro Renata is on fire. It's the Monday edition of the I Love Seville show. We have now gone 75 straight minutes without a commercial break or without stopping. There's no other platform or outlet that is doing this. Thank you.