Should someone on food stamps be allowed to buy soda? HHS might ban people on SNAP from buying soda. There is also a bill in TX that bans people on SNAP from buying soda, candy, cookies and chips. It seems obvious to me, but more importantly, what does the Bible say about it?

Hello, welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. The last couple of days on the radio we talked about food stamps and soda. Three different things happening. In the federal level, there is a move by Health and Human Services to not allow people on SNAP, that's the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to be able to buy soda. SNAP, by the way, if you go to the website, it says, SNAP provides food benefits, so it is not food, to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget. Real groceries, like food is what we're looking for here. So they can afford the nutritious food, so it is not nutritious, essential to health and well-being. So HHS is probably going to come out and say you can't use food stamps to buy soda. Apparently WIC, women, infant, and children, that type of food stamp you're already not allowed to do, but they're going to expand that restriction to SNAP. Now we talked to a Texas state representative about a Texas bill that expands that to, you can't buy soda, cookies, candy, or chips. So they're expanding it out to junk food. I would like to propose, and we have not done this yet, I'll do it on Monday show, I think, see how things go this weekend, but I'd like to expand that to all fast food. That's my nature, that's my instinct. But maybe that'll change based off this conversation here on this podcast, we'll see. Let's just start, let's just stick with junk food. We'll stick with junk food for now. To me, this is so obvious. And on the radio, I had trouble making a steel man for it. It's so obvious that you should not be able to spend my money on junk food when the premise of it is nutrition. So we took some calls. I called for people to only call in if you're against the ban. And there were a couple good arguments. No one changed my mind, but there's some good arguments and then after the show I went down I talked to my wife and so wife what do you think should people on food stamps be allowed to buy soda and She said yes now

My wife is as conservative as they come she's from small town East, Tennessee, right? It's in her bones. She will say things that are so conservative. I'm like you should do the show you should Do a segment or there's like the whole three hours. She's like, oh, I couldn't. I was like, no, you did better than me. So I was like, okay, so don't question her conservatism here in this point. So I said, why? Why should people on food stamps be able to buy soda with the food stamps? And by the way, they could still spend, it's not like if you're on welfare, you're not allowed to buy soda. You can just buy it with your own money. And it's not like you're not allowed to drink soda. Like if you go to a birthday party and you drink a soda you're getting Arrested like you could still drink it. Just can't buy it with the food stamp money I said why should people be allowed to and she said because they're people too And she felt bad for them not being able to buy soda And I said, but it's our money. She said it doesn't matter. They're people too and I made the joke on the radio that this is why women should not be allowed to vote. Now, listen, I'm not going to make that joke here.

Okay? I'm not going to make that joke. It's not appropriate. It's not an appropriate joke to make. So, we then got into a conversation on this chart. The chart here that Mike Lee sent out, Senator Mike Lee from Utah. And he said, how does one explain this? And it's a chart that has voters' opinions of, in a bunch of different groups of people, or people or groups. Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, Doge, Republican Party, Zelensky, DEI, and the Democratic Party. Voters' opinions of. And it breaks it up into four different groups. White men with no college degree, white men with a college degree, white women with no college degree, and white women with a college degree. The difference between white men with no college degree and white women with a college degree is so enormous on every single one of these things. It's insane. These people are in totally different planets. A white man with no degree and a white woman with a college degree live on different planets. Their opinion of Donald Trump, white men with no degree plus 41. White women with a college degree, negative 38. I would love to see 10 white men with no degree and 10 white women with a college degree in the same room together. I don't know what happens there. How does that politically function? It can't, yet we all live in the same country. White women, excuse me, let's do DEI. White men with no degree, negative 40, view on DEI. White women with a college degree, plus 31. And it's like that with every single one of these. So what explains this? I've heard analyses like this before and I think this one is well-worded so let me share it here. The person says the answer to this is very simple.

Now let me just say if you heard me make this analysis on SiriusXM, I did like a like a bit with it. I made it like a bit more dramatic. Yeah I'm just gonna read it straight here. We're serious business here. No goofing off like we do on the radio. We're serious business. The answer to this is very simple. Women are a standard deviation higher in trait agreeableness and trait neuroticism than men. And the bit I did here was, Whoa, women, listen, you're upset because I called you neurotic. I didn't call you neurotic. I did, but I called you agreeable too, and you weren't happy about that now you're upset about being called neurotic let me explain it that was it but no more bits no more bit neuroticism is a personality trait that gives one the tendency to experience emotions such as anxiety worry fear anger frustration envy jealousy guilt and loneliness now it's for know about this is these are not insults these can be channeled for good and can be used, these can be tools that can be used properly or when used properly are good. People with high neuroticism can have a higher risk awareness, they can have higher self-awareness and a neuroticism has like a really bad connotation, you're neurotic, it's like, okay, well, this can actually be good. People higher in this characteristic can be more creative, they can have a higher drive for achievement and more relevant here though, they can have more compassion. Due to their heightened sensitivity to emotions, neurotic individuals may develop a strong capacity for understanding and caring for others.

This is biological, mostly immutable. Both of these traits, agreeableness and neuroticism, when channeled properly in the right direction, are very useful. Back to this person. He said their compassion like a woman's compassion and politeness directed towards their in-group kids family friends and their neuroticism Channeled into hyper vigilance into making this group happy and cooperative. This is a wonderful thing It's an amazing thing. It's a society building thing. It's a family building thing a society bill. It's essential and wonderful and God-given Here's here's what breaks down. College convinces women to redirect these traits away from their tribe, family, kids, and friends, into higher order, the higher order tribe of society. I would also argue that women today are not having kids or families at the age that they used to. Back in the day, you're a 26 year old woman, you have three kids by now. And today, you're a 26 year old woman and you just graduated college. And you have nowhere to channel that innate, God-given, biological impulse inside of you. So instead of channeling it to your kids, you don't have any, or your husband, you don't have one yet, like other women in the past would have at that age, you then channel it to Ukraine and all minorities everywhere with Black Lives Matter and Zelensky and DEI and your hatred of Trump because he hates whatever, Mexicans.

So you take this agreeableness and these other characteristics that women have a higher standard deviation of and you channel it in the wrong direction. This is why, I don't know if you saw this, but the other day Tommy Lahren, who's a very activist conservative, I think it was Danica Patrick, they were talking about how you shouldn't misgender trans people because it's mean. Okay, so it's like, well, right, but we gotta be nice, right, we gotta be nice, avoid conflict, and we gotta protect, right? These are wonderful things when focused in your group, right, we want everyone to be nice to each other in our group, we wanna avoid conflict in our group. We want to help each other in our groups. But it can be very easily hijacked. Those tendencies can be hijacked and turned into a very leftist political ideology. And when you send your young daughter into a pit of vipers that is our university system, that often is the end result. Does that make sense? I think that analysis, that secular cultural analysis, I believe is right. So when I ask should people on food stamps be able to buy soda, I say, no, of course not. But a college-educated woman will say yes, because there are people too. Now, the final joke I made on the radio is that this is why some people say women shouldn't be allowed to vote. And I say that's wrong. It's wrong, and it's way too far. Women should only be counted as 3 5ths of a person when it comes to voting. And it would be a compromise. We'll call it the 3 5ths compromise But again, that's not a funny joke. I'm not gonna make that here. We're very serious Now the question is and this is the point of this podcast What does the Bible say? Don't care what I think Don't care what white college-educated women think Okay, what their feelings are. I don't care what my instinct is. What does the Bible say? Let's first start with a curveball. Let me quote this from John Calvin. I have this little book here called A Guide to Christian Living. Chapter 6, actually this is section 6 of chapter called, chapter 2, Denying Self, the Key to Christian Living. We are not our own, we are the Lord's.

Okay, let me skip over to number six. Love to the unlovely. So that we do not grow weary in well-doing, as might otherwise happen at any time, we should also remember that what Paul goes on to say, love is patient and is not easily irritated. The Lord requires us to do good to all. He makes no exception, even though most people are unworthy if we judge them on their merits. Like, if I may, someone on food stamps. Scripture, however, forestalls us, warning us to pay no attention to human worth in itself, but rather to consider the image of God which is in all of us, and which deserves all our respect and affection, especially should we acknowledge it among God's servants in the faith, because it is being renewed and restored in them by the Spirit of Christ. If someone then turns up who needs our help, we have no reason to refuse our aid. What if we claim that he is a stranger? Well, we're reminded that the Lord has stamped him with a mark which should be familiar to us. We are thus urged not to despise our own flesh. Calvin then quotes Isaiah 58 7. It's a very interesting moment in Scripture. God's people are asking, why do our prayers go unanswered? Why are you not answering our prayers, God? And God exposes the shallow worship of His people. And verse 6 says, Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness? To undo the heavy burdens? To let the oppressed go free in that you break every yoke? So you're saying, stop oppressing each other. What are you doing? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry? And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out, when you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Your own flesh here means your fellow man. Let me go back to John Calvin. What if we maintain that the man is worthless and beneath contempt? The Lord replies that he has honored him by causing his own image to shine within him. What if we say we owe him nothing? The Lord tells us that he has put him as a substitute in his own place. We are to think of him as the one for whose sake God has bestowed his blessings on us.

Whoa. We are to think of this person as the one for whose sake God has bestowed his blessings on us. Wow.

What if we think he is not worth lifting a finger for? We should hazard our lives and goods on account of God's image, which we are meant to see in him. Even supposing the man deserved nothing from us, that's no reason to stop loving Him or offering assistance and support. For if we argue that He deserves only ill of us, God might well ask what ill He Himself has done us, He to whom we owe every good thing. For when He commands us to forgive men their sins against us, God lays those sins to His own charge. John Calvin says this is the only way we can attain what is not only difficult for human nature but totally abhorrent to us. That is namely loving those who hate us, repaying good with evil, and praying for those who slander us. This I repeat we can attain if we are careful not to dwell on the evil which men do, but rather to look upon the image of God which they bear, and whose worth and dignity can and should move us to love them and to bury their faults, which might otherwise repel us."

Wow. So does that mean we should give soda to every poor person?

What I'm now, I'm gonna put it. Now, how do you, how can you maintain that and the sections of the Bible that talk about responsibility and personal responsibility? Interesting. Galatians 6, 2 and 5. Galatians 6, 2 says, Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. I love that line. You think you're something? You're not. Stop thinking so much of yourself. Go and seek to carry the burdens of others. Now, this is very different. This does not say that people should expect others to carry their burdens. That's self-focus. It doesn't mean, I have a burden, you carry it. That's self-focus. But we instead should go seek to carry other people's burdens. That's other focus. That's the point. This is John 13. This is a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I've loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all will know that you are my disciples if you've loved for one another. So that's Galatians 6, 2. Go seek out other people's burdens. Galatians 6, 5 says, For each one shall bear his own load. Hold on. But we're carrying other people. Now we're own. There's no contradiction here. Bearing your own load means everyone will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14.10 says, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we all will stand before God's judgment seat. So that is about your final accountability to God. Okay, great Slater, now I feel even more convicted. I guess we'll just let everyone eat junk food all the time. Here, take my money, buy some snicker bars with it. Hold on.

The Bible also speaks about responsibility. 2 Thessalonians 3 10 For even when we were with you, Paul says, we gave you this command, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. For such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Plenty of Proverbs on this. Proverbs 10, 4 says, A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Many, many scriptures and Proverbs in particular about working hard. I would also say it feels natural that if you, on a personal level, if you feel called to help someone, you give them money to pay for their rent, but then they go around and they spend it on junk food. Or let's say you give money for healthy food for their kids and they go and they spend it on candy. I think you would feel betrayed at that. We're also called to be wise stewards of our money. And giving is wonderful, but if you know that the money is not used for a noble purpose or a wise purpose, are you still called to give aimlessly? Are you still called to give something that will cause harm? What is the balance? Hopefully I shared some convicting things here as well, but what is the balance between giving and being a wise steward of your money to help someone else in a way that they can then help themselves? I'll end with this. Leviticus, there's a couple sections about reaping your field, right? You harvest your field, but you leave the edges alone so that the poor and the foreigner can gather for themselves. Now the idea though is they have to go gather. The Bible doesn't say, hey, harvest your entire field and then give 10% of it away to the poor and the foreigner. The Bible says, harvest everything except the edges. It's very generous to leave this for other people. Leave it for others. But then there's also a call from the other side of the equation to provide something for this arrangement as well. You have to also engage in the harvesting for your own good.

I feel like I didn't give as much of a convicting answer on this topic like maybe I do on other ones. Help me with it. Slaterradio at gmail.com is my personal email. Slaterradio at gmail.com. How do you think through this? And now having worked through some of these scriptures here, how would you answer this question? Should someone on food stamps be allowed to buy soda? Really curious your take now. Slaterradio at gmail.com. Also Slaterradio on Instagram and Twitter to give me your answer on this one. We'll talk more about it on Monday's SiriusXM show as well. Slater Radio on Twitter and Instagram. And we also post all this on my website MikeSlater.Locals.com and you can leave a comment down there as well. and you can leave a comment down there as well. MikeSlater.Locals.com

The left is lying to scare our veterans. Do they really think Trump is going to take healthcare away from our veterans? We can't unify on wanting to fix the VA? One symptom of TDS is a hatred of unity. We need to focus on the most important thing to unify around.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Nice to be here. Something's, uh, my mind a little angry right now. I just saw this article in the San Diego newspaper. Its purpose is to scare veterans. The headline is, I didn't think it would be this bad.

San Diego veterans worry that VA cuts will hurt their care. And it's a whole article about the 80,000 people at the VA who Trump, the Trump administration plans to fire. Now nowhere in the article does it give proper context that if we cut 80,000 people from the VA that leaves us with 400,000 VA employees which is the same amount of employees that the VA had in 2019. So we have to go way back to 2019 to get the same number of jobs. But of course it also assumes that more people in the VA means better care. And there's nothing in this article that

talks about what those 80,000 people do at the VA. Because the point here isn't to inform or enlighten, it is to scare. And it's to scare our veterans. And I think it's shameful and it's it's sick. Let me go ahead it starts off with this guy who has a traumatic brain injury. And let me quote this guy now. The article now, Concord and other veterans in San Diego are worried about how their benefits could be impacted by the staffing scale back and how far

the cuts will go for some. The agency has already targeted specific cuts to health care. Oh, no, specific cuts to VA health care. That's terrible. Announcing last week that it will no longer provide gender-affirming care to transgender veterans. Quote, I didn't think it would be this bad. I

didn't think Trump would brutalize the government like he is. These efforts have surpassed my darkest images. What a bunch of, what just such shameful, shameful work local paper. TDS will cause people to do terrible things. Let's just look at it logically. Do you really think that Trump the populist who got 65% of the veterans vote in the last election, I'm surprised it was only 65%, 65% okay. Do you think that guy right out of the gate, Donald Trump. Do you think he's gonna go out and hurt our veterans?

It's a top priority for Trump. So you go out and take away their care, take away their benefits, take away their treatment. You think that's Donald Trump's goal? Really, lefties? Like, that's what you think?

That's the attack you're going to Donald Trump hates our veterans? We don't have time to go into it in this show, but did you see what happened this weekend at the NCAA Wrestling Championships? It was incredible. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life.

We have the heavyweight battle, the Olympic champion who wrestles for Minnesota. Olympic champion, he won the gold medal. He's from Minnesota, Apple Valley, Minnesota. You don't think you can out America the Olympic champion, Olympic gold medals. But then there's this guy from Kansas, wrestles for Oklahoma State, who's a second lieutenant in the Air Force went to the Air Force Academy and is doing his fifth year at Oklahoma State?

and it was this ridiculous upset victory in the final seconds, and he gets up and he has an American flag and Salutes his commander-in-chief standing right there And then goes over and gives him a big hug and the president says I'm so proud of you What in the world is happening here the only thing it like there's somebody that's like ridiculous images from the Trump administration and just like last seven weeks like last week a pod a capsule a capsule from space with

Abandoned stranded astronauts on it landed in the Gulf of America only to be greeted by a pod of dolphins What? What's happening? What's going on? Anyway back to the back to Trump at the wrestling championships. You think that guy? You think that Donald Trump guy is going to cut care for our veterans? Really? Come on, of course not. Stop being ridiculous activists. Trump of course only wants to improve health care for our veterans. So I'm just angry at that sick attempt to make veterans scared.

There's no need for that. A real journalist would ask questions. Is it true that Donald Trump will hurt health care? They just ask a bunch of question marks in their article. They don't actually report on anything true. They don't actually report on news. They don't actually report on anything, just fear. Those 80,000 that Trump wants to cut,

who are they? What do they do? What kind of jobs? What means is the administration taking to improve health care? The money that's saved through greater VA efficiency, how will that be used to actually increase the number of benefits and the amount of benefits for our veterans. For example, DOGE told us that the VA had a $56,000 contract to water eight plants for five years. That's $1,400 a plant per year. DOGE says the contract has been canceled and DOGE will water the plants free of charge. Okay, it's $56,000 a year. Where's that money going now?

Where will it go instead? I should say. That'd be a nice article. That'd be interesting. It wouldn't be fear-mongering. So they're not interested in it.

Anyway, I just got very angry at that. I want to get to a place in our country, and I think the only way to do it is to keep winning, honestly. Make it so obvious that you just can't deny it. But I want to get to a place of unity. But we can't even have unity on taking care of our veterans.

On the fact that obviously Trump and Doug Collins, head of the VA, want to do that. No, no unity on anything. Nothing. What a shame. I want to give a shout out to my church. I've been a member of this church for about a year.

The church has been around for a long time, coming up in 100 years. 1927 is when they were founded, coming up on a 100-year anniversary. Four people got baptized this Sunday. Isn't that wonderful? Four people. Our church is a diverse church in every way that a group of people can be diverse. It has mostly been a white congregation, black preacher, but lots of different skin colors in the pews. Something I found of great value when we first visited is all the different age ranges.

I sit next to a wonderful couple. They're about to celebrate next year their 75th wedding anniversary. 75 years. They've been married for 75 years. Lots of older people, all the way down to babies. I'm holding my two-year-old during church sitting right next to the 92 year old at every age in between. Diverse with money.

Some people have a lot of it, some people don't have as much. A lot of different cars in the parking lot. So all the different metrics that you can use and look at that show diversity, we have it. None of it matters. The only thing that matters is what we're united in. Jesus is Lord. And four more people said that on Sunday. And I get teared up every time someone gets baptized. I don't get teared up, I cry. I cry every time. Teared up is like a little thing. I cry. First of all, I think

of my kids getting baptized one day because that's all that matters in life. So I have visions of that. But I think what moves me is the unity of it. I think that's, I mean there's a couple things going on surely, but I think it's like that like me and this person, maybe we have very little less in common on the surface, but we have the most important thing in common. And we're both going to heaven now. The sermon was about Ephesians 1 and this one line in Ephesians says, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself. Adoption. You know, every Monday on my 66M show we do a gratitude Monday. People call

them what they're grateful for. It's always great. And someone called me today and said he was grateful that he was adopted. How about that? You gotta be kidding me. What are the chances? Just talked about adoption in church on Sunday, and then you call it a Monday, grateful you're adopted. He was born in Canada, but adopted here in America. If you're a Christian, you're adopted. There's no biological connection. If you're adopted to a family, you have no biological connection to them. You have no right to anything they have or own. There's no natural connection.

And same thing with God. We were enemies to Him. Colossians 1, and you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. In Romans, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He was our enemy. But still, we have been adopted in Jesus and now you are a child of God and everything

that means here's a commentary from from Barclay in Roman law when the adoption was complete it was complete indeed the person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family and completely lost all rights in his old family in the eyes of the law he was a new person. So new was he that even all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were abolished as if they had never existed. That's unity.

And it's a beautiful thing. Brings me to tears. A lot more unity in our country. Unity on things like, hey, let's make the VA better. Let's make the VA more efficient. Of all the things, can we make the VA more efficient? Can we all agree on this? Can we have unity on this? Can we not be ridiculous? Can

we not have these scare tactics about the VA? Can we all get on board with this? That's good unity. But my biggest prayer, the most important, is unity on what matters, the absolute most. The absolute Lord. Jesus is Lord. Mike Slater, dot, Locals, dot com. Transcript, commercial free on the website, Mike Slater, dot, Locals, dot com.

A word came up a few times on the show today that we must bring back: Rectitude. This was front of mind in our founders and is an essential part of the American Golden Age.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thank you for being here. One hesitation I often have is I don't know what else you listen to of mine that I've or content that I put out. So I have a show on SiriusXM Patreon and a show on San Diego. So I don't know if you're coming from either of those two places and I do different things on each show,

so some things I may repeat on one show, but maybe you don't listen to either of those shows. This is the first time, so I don't want to skip over stuff or rush through something, thinking that you listened to it on SiriusXM. This point I made when you didn't listen,

so I never know what to do. I'm going to err on the side of assuming there's nothing else you listened to. So I want to make sure we're all on the same page so we can get to the unique finale that we have on this show,

which is to look at it always through a biblical lens. So let's do a little catch up here so we're all on the same page, talking about the ending of the Department of Education. And we talked with Linda McMahon on the SiriusXM show today about all that.

It's a wonderful thing. And it's just the very beginning. It actually gets us no step closer to a true revival in education in America, which we need, it doesn't get us any closer itself. It eliminates a major roadblock of the revolution.

But we still have to do it. We still have to do the work now that the department's gone. We played a clip earlier of a young girl, I don't know if she's in college or high school, outside of the Department of Education,

protesting to keep the Department of Education because Trump is abandoning education or some such nonsense and I made the point ask that girl a math question not to be mean but like here she is saying we need to keep the Department of Education because education is so important all right what's 12 times 12 what's a square root what year do we fight the Revolutionary War who was it against like the most

how many states are there I saw a video the other day where they do one of the man on the streets and they asked a kid that's 18 years old, 17, how many states are there? And he got it right. And then they asked him, what is the capital of the country? And he got it right. And then they said, name two countries in Europe.

And he did it. And the people who were doing the interview and his friends were amazed well we got a genius here he knew how many states there were it's a genius these days this is the system we're defending if you ask that girl to do a math problem in her head

i guarantee you how she would react i know exactly how she would react. She would laugh and giggle. This is a tick that a lot of people use. I do too. Slater, what is a hundred times a thousand? Oh yeah I'm just I'm not good at math. You know I don't I don't know. They do like this nervous laugh to try to laugh it away, it's not funny. Our education standards are abysmally low. It is abysmal. And I'm no better. I'm a product of the public education system. Thomas Jefferson, I think of this often, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to his nephew

about what books he should read and what he should study in his school. And he said, for the president, I advise you to begin a course of ancient history reading everything in the original and not in translations of course of course you got to read these in Latin and Greek 16 year old you got you got to read these in Latin and Greek first read Goldsmith's history of Greece this will give you a digested view on that field it's 300 pages do you know in school

today no kids have to read books there's no expectation that books need to be read and teachers I gave up on that forever go there like here's a little printout we printed out a chapter or here's a couple paragraphs of this book let's talk about it. Even then, it gets known to them. But like reading a whole book, that's this is just the beginning. Then take up ancient history in the detail. Reading the following books in the following

order. Herodotus, Thucydides, by the way following order. Yesterday we talked about the type of education system we used to have and one of the points was sequential. And here's Thomas Jefferson. Following order. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophontus Hellenica, Xenophontus Anabasis, Quintus Curtius, Justin. I don't know I've never heard a half of this shall I don't know I'm pronouncing them right. This shall form the first, I was just trying to be confident. This shall form the first stage of your historical reading and it's

all I need to mention to you now. So finish those and then get back to me. The next will be Roman history. From that we'll come down to modern history. In Greek and Latin poetry you will read Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anachron, Theocritus, Homer. Read also Milton's Paradise Lost, Ocean, Pope's works, Swift's works in order to form your style in your own language. In morality read Epictetus, Xenophontus memorabilia, Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero's philosophies. That

That used to be the standard. People focus on the fact that 70% of kids can't read grade level. That's bad. But this used to be the standard for everyone else. This is, this is, so think of even the kids who can read, hooray!

What are they reading?

What are we expecting out of them? It's really like the visual is something like a couple hundred years ago our kids could deadlift 400 pounds or 800 pounds and now they can't be expected to bend over and pick up a pencil off the ground.

It's too heavy.

Can't do it.

We expect so little and it's really sad

That's enough education Actually, not what I wanted to talk about. So yesterday right before Donald Trump signed the executive order ending the Department of Education he signed a proclamation honoring the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry give me liberty or give me death that speech took place this Sunday 250 years ago. Let me read this proclamation.

Patrick Henry rose to the pulpit of St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, to speak these immortal words that remain etched upon every heart. I hope they do. We need to re-etch them. If they're not, give me liberty or give me death. By the way, make sure your kids know this story. Share the story with them today. Some members cautioned against such decisive action,

insisting that peaceful reconciliation was still possible. But as Henry listened, he grew more impatient. A Baptist minister who observed the proceedings later recalled that he had an unearthly fire burning in his eye. An unearthly fire! Overcome with righteous indignation, Henry rose from his seat with no notes in hand, boldly beseeching his fellow Virginians, if we wish to be free, we must fight. At a moment when America's fate hung in the balance, Henry's words sparked daring action in the souls of patriots, fortified the cause of

freedom and set America on the path to ultimate triumph over forces of tyranny and oppression. By a narrow margin. I love that part of the story. If it were a movie, made up movie, it would be everyone jumps to their feet, throws their wigs in the air and votes for independence or in this case for a militia. But no, it was still a narrow margin.

The second Virginia Convention passed the resolution to form a militia, the first critical step to independence. Thomas Jefferson said, it is not now easy to say what we should have done without Patrick Henry. He was before us all in maintaining the spirit of the revolution. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the nation's independence on the 4th of July, 2026, we look to Patrick Henry, a son of the frontier, the first and sixth, the governor of Virginia, an unflinching advocate for American independence and a true man of his moment.

Today we invoke his courage, we honor his legacy, and we fearlessly summon the spirit of 1776 to build a future that we will be proud to impart to our children. Like Patrick Henry and the giants of American liberty who came before us, now is our time to ring that great bell of American freedom and to propel our nation into a new and radiant golden age. Beautiful. All right, remember Patrick Henry. I want to tell one more story. Whenever I think of Patrick Henry,

I always think of Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale was a soldier and a spy for the Continental Army in New York City, and he was captured by the British, and he was hung. He was a student at Yale at the time.

There's a statue of Nathan Hale on Yale's campus. It's a very humble, beautiful statue.

And he was a student at the time,

and he got a letter from a friend, and it said, was I in your condition? I think the more extensive service would be my choice. Right, meaning go join the military now, do more. Our holy religion, the honor of our God, a glorious country, and a happy constitution

is what we have to defend. The word constitution wasn't, it was a lowercase c. Let me look up the original dictionary. Constitution the state of being. So a happy state of being. This is why you have to fight.

You have to go fight because of our holy religion, the honor of God, a glorious country, and to be a man.

And he did.

He volunteered. George Washington asked him. Volunteered to go behind enemy lines and he was captured. And the British general officer who was in charge of hanging him wrote in his journal that Nathan Hale behaved with great composure and resolution. And he desired the spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape

it might appear. He said that Hale was calm and bore himself with great dignity in the consciousness of rectitude and high intentions. Rectitude. That's the word we're going to talk about more in a moment. Rectitude.

He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him. He wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to his brother officer. He was shortly after summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around him, yet his characteristic dying words were remembered he said remember what he said I was a tour guide in college I had to work on thank you very much I know I was super cool in college so this is one of the stops on

the tour and I was always asked people what did he say it's written around the base of the statue but no one could see what did he say and most people said give me liberty or give me death. Most people thought it was Patrick Henry. Some people said, don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes.

It's a great quote too. Great Revolutionary War quote. Colonel Prescott, love it. Not the one. What we're looking for is, I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

Wonderful line. It was inspired by the play Cato, which was super popular at the time. And the line in that play is, how beautiful is death when earned by virtue? Haven't we just been talking about it?

Isn't that amazing? I know it is true that when you talk about principles and you talk about important things, it all comes together. All week we've been talking about death and dying and how we should view it. And then here comes this quote about Nathan Hale and we were talking about Nathan Hale because we were talking about Patrick Henry. It all comes together.

How beautiful is death when earned by virtue. Who would not want to be that youth? What pity is it that we can die but once to serve our country? And I'll end the historical background with this. This is a poem that was written by one of Nathan Hale's friends. I'll start halfway through. these I wish to draw my breath," he bravely cried, or dare encounter death.

And when a cruel wretch pronounced his doom, he replied, "'Tis well, for all is peace to come."

I love that.

Don't worry, I'm going to die. Don't worry.

I'm going to heaven.

"'The sacred cause for which I drew my sword shall yet prevail, and peace shall be restored. I've served with zeal the land that gave me birth, fulfilled my course, and done my work on earth. Have ever aimed to tread that shining road that leads a mortal to the blessed God. I die resigned, and quit life's empty stage, for brighter worlds my every wish engage. And while my body slumbers in the dust, my soul shall join the assemblies of the just."

Jim in Virginia called in, and he quoted Patrick Henry. He said, I've read 26 Patrick Henry speeches. And he quoted this one.

Patrick Henry said,

Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings, give us that precious jewel and you may take everything else. And then at the end of the speech he said, Guard with jealous intention the public liberty, suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.

I made a point, a quick sidebar,

I made a point on the radio,

speaking back to my elitist days, that if Jim from Virginia, who sounds as yokel as they come on the radio, just a southern hee-haw yokel. By the way, I saw this video the other day of an episode of Hee-Haw called Rendercela.

If you haven't seen it, go look at Rendercela, it's great. But Jim is just as hee-haw as they come, a total country bumpkin in every way. And I just imagine him walking into a Yale University classroom and just how all those students would look at him and they would have no idea that Jim was smarter than all of them.

Wisdom certainly, no question about that. But even in knowledge, just straight knowledge. Because if nothing else, Jim read 26 Patrick Henry speeches. And most young people today don't even know who he is. But Jim mentioned, Jim actually didn't make the quote. Jim, he knew it so deeply he just spoke of it generally.

Like oh, you know, Patrick Henry spoke of liberty as a jewel. And actually went and found the quote. And in that speech that Patrick Henry gave, where he defined liberty as a jewel. He also said this, this was in 1788, so this is after the Revolution, he said, 23 years ago I was supposed a traitor to my country. I was then said to be the bane of sedition because I supported the rights of my country. I may be thought suspicious when I say our privileges and rights are in

danger, but sir, a number of the people of this country are weak enough to think that these are true. Should those accusations fall on me I am contented conscious rectitude is a powerful consolation so they are a hold on I've went have you ever heard the word rectitude maybe I've heard it before I've never thought about it I've used it rectitude what an amazing word and here it is coming up twice in the same day come on Patrick Henry ends that speech with when I thus profess myself

an advocate for the liberty of people I shall be told I'm a designing man like I'm ambitious that I am to be a great man that I'm that I am that I aim to be a demagogue and many similar illiberal insinuations will be thrown out but sir conscious rectitude outweighs those things with me so it's worth saying listen no matter what I'm saying here I'm gonna get criticized but it doesn't bother me. I know I'm right.

I know that what I'm standing for is righteous. I can be falsely accused of all sorts of things and all sorts of motivations by all sorts of people, but I know my motives are pure and I have a conscious rectitude.

Rectitude, what a great word.

Let's chat about it. Webster's Original Dictionary says, "'In morality, rightness of principle or practice. Uprightness of mind. Exact conformity to truth, or to the rules prescribed for moral conduct, either by divine or human laws.

I love this word. We've got to get this word back. Let's bring it back. We're all bringing it back. Rectitude. Rectitude of mind is the disposition to act in conformity to any known standard of right,

truth, or justice. Rectitude of conduct is the actual conformity to such standard. Perfect rectitude belongs only to the Supreme Being. The more nearly the rectitude of men approaches to the standard of the Divine Law, the more exalted and dignified is their character. Want of rectitude is not only sinful but debasing.

There is a sublimity in conscious rectitude, in comparison with which the treasures of earth are not worth naming." Wow that's so good. A sublimity, like a sublimeness, a sublime, a joy, a peace, that's a good one, a peace. There's a piece of sublimity and conscious rectitude that Patrick Henry spoke of. In comparison with which the treasures of earth are not worth naming. Don't even pretend that any other treasure possible could hold a candle at all to rectitude. It's great. I could not find the word rectitude in the Bible or any Bible translations,

but the closest of course is righteousness. Righteousness, moral uprightness, virtue, honor, goodness, integrity, honesty, principle, wholesomeness. I like this scripture from 1st Timothy 5. The Bible says, The aim of our charge is love, that issues from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and a sincere faith. This translation has, of a faith unfamed. If I may read here, and this is convicting, this is very convicting. This is a commentary from W.M. Statham from

mid-1800s. This is about the words here, a good conscience. He said, there may be a worldly conscience. He said, it's a wonderful interesting study this relation of society to sin for there are fashionable vices and respectable sins which are heinous in the sight of God but the conscience if informed by the world is at ease because the spirit of the age the world our current culture does not them. You can think of Pride Month or whatever. There's many many examples.

How important then is it to keep conscience enlightened not by the world but by the Word of God and invigorated by the Holy Ghost. How beautiful is this? Our conscience, our good conscience, our rectitude needs to be enlightened by the Word of God and defined by and invigorated by the Holy Spirit. Statham concludes, it is important to have the Bible in our heads,

but it is most important to have Christ enthroned in the tribunal of conscience within. Wonderful.

I'll end here. Getting rid of the Department of Education is a wonderful thing, been fighting for it for 20 years. But now the true revival begins. Now the true revolution begins. Now it's time to really change our systems. May I recommend the classical Christian model of education. It is a movement that is growing, not rapidly

enough, but it is growing more and more opening up across the country. If there's one near you, I could not recommend it higher because it's the ancient path. It's what's always been done. There's nothing new. There's no new funny business or new theories being explored. It's the way that we used to educate our children for a thousand years, right? It's a classical Christian model of education.

It is informed by God and invigorated by the Holy Spirit, as Statham said. It is about not only knowledge and wisdom, but rectitude. We all must bring back rectitude as a word in our families and our homes and hopefully a word in our nation.

A goal. Moral, rightness in principle and practice, uprightness of mind and exact conformity to truth. That is what we are all about.

Mike Slater dot Locals dot com is the website, transcript and commercial free over on the website Mike Slater dot Locals dot com. website Mike Slater dot Locals dot com.