Combating the Move Towards Digital Programmable Currency – with Audrea Decker: Audrea Decker, Executive director of the ProFamily Legislative Network is on the program today to discuss the Biden Administration’s move towards digital programmable currency. What can we do about it? What legislation is in place to stop this overreach by the Biden Administration? Audrea fills us in with critical information as well as action steps for your legislator.

Air Date: 5/17/2023

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green and Tim Barton

Guest: Audrea Decker from the ProFamily Legislative Network

Transcript:

Rick Green
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture, it’s WallBuilders. We’re taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I’m Rick Green, America’s constitution coach and a former Texas legislator along with David and Tim Barton. Bringing you these truths David, of course, America’s premier historian, and our founder at WallBuilders. Tim Barton’s is a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. You can learn more about all three of us at our website WallBuilders.com . And also at our radio site, WallBuildersLive.com . Links there for archives as well. So if you missed some programs, last couple of weeks, you want to catch up. All of those links are available at the website. Certainly encourage you to listen to those good news Fridays, get a good encouragement pick me up going into the weekend. Thursdays you can get into those foundational questions we get from the audience. You can send those into [email protected] . And on Thursdays we answer as many of those as we can. And then Monday through Wednesday, of course, we interview as many people as we can on hot topics of the day, get their perspective, and give you a chance to get that biblical, historical, constitutional perspective from them, but then for you to apply it in your family and your community. A couple of quick reminders before we jump into today’s program- number one, don’t forget what we’re always saying here. If we’re going to save the country, save liberty, if we’re going to restore these things, we got to be in God’s word. That is the number one thing. We’ve got to bring back a biblical worldview, biblical perspective on every issue of the day. So just want to encourage you to do that. Make sure you’re diving in every day, getting into God’s word. And then secondly, when encourage you to be a part of the solution in your community, become a constitution coach, host a biblical citizenship class, be a leader there in your community. All you got to do is get people in the room, in your living room or at your church, wherever it might be, and then play the videos and we give those away for free. So check that out today at ConstitutionCoach.com . Alright, David and Tim, we got Audrea Decker coming on in a little while from the ProFamily Legislators Network. We’re going to be talking about digital currency again. We’ve done several programs on this in the last few weeks. It is a very hot topic. And so having a good biblical, historical, constitutional perspective on this one is vitally important. And today, I think we’ll be a little bit surprised that this is not just at the federal level. It’s a fight going on right now at the state level, as well. And our ProFamily Legislators Network is leading the way to try to defeat this and prevent some of this controlled tracted currency from seeping into our culture and our banking system.

Tim Barton
Yeah, it’s something that we get a lot of questions on as we travel and speak, guys. It is related to some of this ESG central bank digital currency and the great reset. These are not uncommon thoughts and questions. And one of the things that is very common for us, I know Dad, you and I as we’re on the road, somebody will say, hey do you know where my state isn’t this issue? Did you know what’s going on? And sometimes we have that information off the top of our head, we’re ready to go. Here’s what we know, here’s where your say stand, they just voted this. But generally what happens is we say, hey, hang on a second, we’re going to text somebody and we text Adria, who is our legislative director for the ProFamily Legislative Network. And she’s the one tracking this. She’s the one who is in direct contact with legislators in all 50 states. And she is helping lead the way on this. Rick, you mentioned that WallBuilders is really one of the leaders in this. Genuinely we are. It’s something that as certainly a nonprofit, we are trying to educate people on what’s going on. Well, a lot of times it’s educating legislators, because there is some very dangerous things in this year’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code, the UCC, and most legislators did not know it was there. And so we just wanted to educate them like, hey guys, did you know, this was here? And if you pass this, here’s what it could mean. And so we have this really big educational initiative, and then we were able to help show them here’s some things that if you did something in this direction, it could make a difference, defending constitution, liberty, Bill of Rights, individual freedoms, etc. And so we have been at the forefront of helping educate legislators on this issue, even at times testifying of what some of the code is right now, what it can mean, what could happen. And Adria again, has been the one of the forefront of this. And so we thought we probably ought to have her come on. And she can catch people up on some what’s been happening in the states on some of what’s happening with some of these policies, things that really are dangerous. We’ve talked before about a digital currency and really the central bank digital currency, the federal government saying we’re going to come in and be in charge of this. This is a really, really dangerous thing. And it’s far closer to happening than most people realize.

David Barton
Yeah, and you know what goes with this? It’s something that is so foreign to our thinking. It’s hard for most common citizens to get a hold of. Now we’re starting to see examples of how the government is not always as good as we intend it to be. I mean, 20 years ago, one thing we could say about the Justice Department was they were still pretty even handed on what they did. They weren’t particularly political, but in the last five years, we’ve seen the weaponization, the Justice Department, selected prosecutions, they ignore all sorts of stuff going on with firebombing of pro life clinics. But if you happen to be pro life outside of an abortion clinic, you’re going to get arrested. And so we’ve seen them target philosophies, instead of following the law. And so people are starting to understand, hey, you know, the something that I didn’t think would be a big deal has become a very big deal. And having digital currency, oh my, when you hear the president explain it, this is so much more convenient, it’ll process so much faster. This will also help the economy because it takes all the fake money out the counterfeit money out, all the drug money comes out, we can control the bad guys, and we can keep the mafia out. And this can be so healthy for America. Yeah, that’s the really bad side. But the problem is it allows the government to track you, monitor you, find out what you’re spending your money on, and decide whether they want you to spend it or not, because they have the capability to turn off your digital currency, because they’re headed for what’s called programmable currency. And they’re telling us that, you know, this is really to customize it for you, to individualize it. Everybody likes something individualized, whether it’s a car, or computer, or phone or anything else. We can do that with your currency, except once they individualize it, with what they’re doing out of Davos, and the World Economic Forum, or what’s going on with ESG, the environmental social governance kind of stuff, they say, you know, we just don’t think you need any more of this particular product. And by the way, we’re trying to move to electric cars, rather than gas cars. So we don’t think we’re going to let you have a loan for a gas powered… And it gives them control over all sorts of things for their agenda, not for your choice and freedom. So this really is a debate over things such as freedom, your individual freedom, and a right to privacy. Because if with a digital currency, the government knows what you spend your money on, know where you spend it, know what your spending habits are. And they say, well, this will help them control inflation because it controls supply and demand. I don’t want the government having more information about me. As if they don’t have enough already. And I don’t want them tracking everything I spend my currency on. I don’t want them deciding what I can and can’t do. So privacy, and freedom are really a stake here. And you know, I think 8-10 years ago people would have dismissed what we’re saying now as Chicken Little, the old fable of Chicken Little saying that sky is going to fall. I don’t think people really believe that so much anymore. They think well, it might be possible. And that’s exactly what’s going on here. So Adrea Decker, who definitely is one of the national experts on this, who is dealing with governors and senators and legislators and attorneys across the nation, helping them understand and we’re seeing lots of great success in states. This is something we all need to understand, so that we can get this in our state so that our state can stand up for our freedom and stand up for our privacy so that we don’t get intruded into by federal government that has become not the friend it used to be for the people.

Rick Green
David when you first said Chicken Little there all I could think of was Chicken Express.

David Barton
Oh good stuff.

Rick Green
And the first five times I came to see you, you know, up there we went to Chicken Express and you got sweet tea half and half and all that good stuff. I’ll never forget. That was 20 years ago, man, you got me hooked on Chicken Express. Anyway Chicken Little though is right, I mean conspiracy theory whatever example we want to use, people would have heard this. Yeah, even I would have heard it three or four years ago and said, ah you guys are, you know, you’re afraid of something that’s never going to happen. And wow, here we are. And you said a critical thing there. And it is, you know we’re going to… don’t worry this will allow us to keep the bad people from getting… You know, that’s what they always do, right? They make you think, oh this is for, you know, law enforcement. This is for stopping crime. This is for all of that. And then it becomes a control tactic on the rest of us. So really important topic, folks. Stay with us, Audrey Decker, our special guest. You’re listening to WallBuilders.

Tim Barton
This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson originally worked closely together, but later became ardent opponents. This troubled Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration who knew both of them very well. In the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us that God has given each of us the ministry of reconciliation. Dr. Rush believed this and set out to bring the two back together. It took a while, but Adams and Jefferson once again became close friends. And looking back on his role and helping bring about this reconciliation Dr. Rush stated, “It will give me pleasure as long as I live to reflect that I have been in any degree instrumental and affecting this reunion of two souls destined to be dear to each other and motivated with the same dispositions to serve their country though in different ways.” For more information about Dr. Benjamin Rush and his other remarkable achievements, go to wallbuilders.com.

Rick Green
Welcome back to WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us today. Audrea Decker with us. Of course, she is an amazing executive director for the ProFanity Legislative Network and puts on our legislators conference every year, works with hundreds and hundreds of legislators across the country. Always good to have you. Thanks for coming on.

Audrea Decker
Thanks for having me, Rick. Great to be with you.

Rick Green
Well, you’ve been busy as always, but specifically, on this whole currency issue with Joe Biden’s executive orders and his effort to move to a digital currency that’s trackable, something we do not want. And so you’ve been working with legislators across the country, you’ve been rallying support against this. And tell us a little bit about this. Because when we say UCC, that means nothing to most people. I hated it in law school anyway. But most people have no idea what that is. And what you’ve been working on is trying to keep the states from just adopting this general language and try to prevent this from happening. So just kind of backup for us, and tell us how this plays into the UCC and why state legislators have a voice in what the administration is trying to do with turning us into a digital currency that’s trackable?

Audrea Decker
Sure, absolutely. So this really started with President Biden. He issued an executive order back at the beginning of March, it was Executive Order 14067, called ensuring responsible development of digital assets. And it really was establishing a broad interagency effort to develop and study a potential US central bank digital currency. And they’ve actually even started testing it with some money center banks in the fourth quarter of 2022. And so that sort of kick started this whole discussion around a digital currency. And I should say, it’s not just digital, but it’s a traceable trackable programmable currency that could be turned on and off. You could have access to it at one point, you could not on another. Biden’s even said that he wants it to push environmental goals and objectives. And so we think that it can be tied into even some of the ESG agenda that we’re seeing across the country. So that’s sort of the background. And then in February, about the same time, February and March, the UCC, which is short for the Uniform Commercial Code, and as you know, that governs commercial transactions in states across the country. And so they try to have some uniformity in those states laws. And when we saw those amendments come down… now the Uniform Law Commission gets together every handful of years, they update that state code, and then states across the country can choose to adopt those amendments so that there’s uniformity with the code. And we saw some alarming things. We had legislators start reaching out to us from South Dakota and other states, saying, hey, something looks fishy in this code. And they were right. And the UCC code had really taken some serious liberty in implementing framework for the adoption and implementation of a central bank digital currency, despite the fact that that doesn’t exist yet. You know, Biden’s talking about it on the federal level, but for states to start codifying it in their state code, before it even exists, is pretty unprecedented. And so we were really thankful Governor Noem, South Dakota was the first state to pass that new UCC code before legislators really knew what was in it. And we were thankful Governor Noem actually vetoed that bill. And then we saw Governor DeSantis in Florida come out and speak out against that UCC proposed bill, encourage other states not to adopt and implement that. And that really gave us some great momentum across the country, about a dozen states so far have either tabled or killed that bill. So far, this session. And only 24 states out of the 50 states have introduced that UCC language. So about half the countries considered it this session, and about half of those have already tabled it. And we’ve only seen it pass and a handful of states and many of those are already working to amend it. So that’s sort of where we are right now on this whole issue. It’s encouraging. I will say, you know, a central bank, digital currency is a federal issue. But one of the few levers that states have is their uniform commercial code, is their state code. And so they have the ability to hinder a CBDC and the rollout of that in their state code. And so we’re encouraged by many The states that are working on that front.

Rick Green
Yeah, exactly right. I mean, even though you know, no question it’s a proper role of federal government to deal with currency in this way. States have a huge voice here. And there’s lots of ways to push back on the negative side of it. It’s not the digital currency itself as bad. It’s this trackable, replacing paper complete all of those things that they’re trying to do. And Audrea I’ve been behind the eight ball on this, I thought, I genuinely thought, that this was just in the, you know, study group kind of side of things that there was literally just… they were starting to have meetings, which, of course, was enough to be a huge warning and all that. But man, I mean, you’ve got things at play here, way beyond just a couple of folks getting together in a boardroom and talking about it in DC in a study group. They’re moving fast on these things, like super fast. In fact, somebody was telling me the other night… and I didn’t know what you just mentioned about, you know, a rollout of literally tests that were already taking place. So I mean, this had to have been something that people have been working on for years and years, not just recently.

Audrea Decker
Yeah, that’s exactly right. We think that it has been something that at the national level they’ve been looking at for a really long time. And we think the timing is coincidental, right? That as soon as Biden’s executive order comes out, the Uniform Law Commission who develops the Uniform Commercial Code, that same month has amendments that are being pushed in the states that create the framework for a central bank digital currency to be used within the states. And that’s really interesting, because usually the UCC code they’re… they take the world as it is, is how they like to say it. And so for them to be codifying things that don’t even exist yet is really unprecedented. And many legislators wonder if that’s because the federal government is trying to push a central bank digital currency faster than anticipated. And maybe that’s one of the reasons why they wanted to start rolling it out into state code. But I have to say, I’ve been encouraged by many states. North Dakota has passed a bill, great bill, that would limit and hinder the use of a central bank digital currency. Alabama, Louisiana, are working on similar bills, Florida. So we are seeing states not just reject the UCC bill, but actually work on implementing things into the code to hinder a central bank digital currency. And that’s really encouraging.

Rick Green
Well, I can’t, cannot emphasize enough how important the work is that you’re doing at the ProFamily Legislators Network. I mean, this is how these things get defeated is because of rallying these legislators, educating them. I mean, they’re, you know, the state reps and state senators are faced with thousands and thousands of issues. They can’t foresee all of these things ahead of time. And so the work that you’re doing there is critical, critical, critical for these victories and pushing back on a lot of these things. So we’re so appreciative of you, and thank you for coming on and informing us about it. I guess, before we go, is there a quick and easy way for people to call their state rep and senator who may be completely unaware of this? If they’re not in our network, you know, or haven’t, you know, don’t realize, like you said the UCC thing surprised a lot of those legislators in North Dakota even, they didn’t know that that was… had been put in… I’m sorry, South Dakota, had been put in there. You know, what would be… what would you say is kind of the elevator pitch, if you’re going to talk to your legislator about this?

Audrea Decker
Thanks, Rick, for that question. Because you hit the nail on the head. We want to make clear that while the UCC amendments are problematic, a central bank digital currency could be rolled out under current state code under the current Uniform Commercial Code that people already have in their states right now. So it is really important that state legislators act on this right now, and implement an exclusion in the deposit account definition of the code to exclude a United States Central Bank digital currency in their state code. So we would encourage people to reach out to their legislators, you can encourage your legislators to look at what Louisiana is doing. Look at what North Dakota has done. Those are two really good states to copy. And then of course, if your legislators need help, that’s what we’re here for at the WallBuilders ProFamilyLegislative network. And they can go to ProFamily.com and reach out to us and we will follow up with them and can get them bill language and help them through that process.

Rick Green
ProFamily is it .org or .com, I always forget?

Audrea Decker
Yes .com, ProFamily.com

Rick Green
ProFamily.com . And while I got you, I know I said that was last question, but while I got you, the conference in the fall, for our listeners that would like to encourage their legislator to attend or sponsor their legislators to attend or any of that, how do they go about that? Same thing, go to the website, send their legislator to the website?

Audrea Decker
That’s right. We would love that. In November, November 2nd through the 5th, in Dallas, Texas. We have legislators and policy leaders that come in from all across the country. We will brief them on more than a dozen policy issues to help prepare them for their upcoming session. And they can register for the conference, you can tell your legislator about the conference by going to ProFamily.com . Thanks, Rick, for that.

Rick Green
All right. Well, folks, great action items for you today and can have a huge impact on the future of our country. So make sure that you check that website out today, and share it with your legislators. Audrea, thanks for all the great work. Keep it up. We’ll get you back soon.

Audrea Decker
Likewise, thanks so much, Rick, for everything you do.

Rick Green
Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Tim Barton
Hey, guys, we want to let you know about a new resource we have at WallBuilders called The American Story. For so many years, people have asked us to do a history book to help tell more of the story that’s just not known or not told today. And we would say very providentially in the midst of all of the new attacks coming out against America, whether it be from things like the 1619 project that say America is evil, and everything in America was built off slavery, which is certainly not true or things, like even the Black Lives Matter movement, the organization itself, not out the statement Black Lives Matter, but the organization that says we’re against everything that America was built on, and this is part of the Marxist ideology. There’s so many things attacking America. Well, is America worth defending? What is the true story of America? We actually have written and told that story starting with Christopher Columbus, going roughly through Abraham Lincoln, we tell the story of America not as the story of a perfect nation of a perfect people. But the story of how God used these imperfect people and did great things through this nation. It’s a story you want to check out, wallbuilders.com, The American Story.

Rick Green
We’re back here on WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to Audrea for joining us as well. And as we talked about, make sure you encourage your legislators to attend the legislators conference, fantastic few days with other legislators from across the country. And they realize they’re not alone and they get some great speakers and just good encouragement and gets take ideas back to their district. This time guys, it wasn’t at the conference. It was well before the conference, circulating the letter and being able to connect with those legislators. And so I do want to just give a shout out to how important that that ProFamily Legislators Network is. And anybody out there that wants to help and support that please consider going to WallBuilders.com today and making a contribution, because it allows us to be quick and when these things come up, and quickly rally the troops across the country. Okay, guys, so Audrea was talking about things people can do, specifically legislators, and one of the UCC was already doing this. That shocked me. I mean, that told me, like you’re saying David, it’s like, okay, this thing is planned. This is not just happening by accident.

David Barton
Yeah, it is not happening by accident. And by the way, let me define something. She talks about CBDC. So CBDC was mentioned several times, let me define it, that’s central bank digital currency. It’s digital currency that comes from the central bank. What would the Central Bank be? Oh, that’s the feds! Anytime you have the word central associated with federal government, right now, that’s not a good deal at all. That’s centralizing and giving them more power. And so the central bank digital currency gives the federal government control over your currency that is digital currency. And at this point, we as consumers, when we have cash and coin, we have control over our currency. We can decide where we want to redeem it, where we want to spend it, what we want to spend it on. But when it goes to a digital currency, that is programmable, that is controllable, they can turn it on and off. And so CBDC, she mentioned that several times. And we’re so used to saying that to legislators and governors and others, so CBDC is central bank digital currency. That’s what’s coming at all 50 states. She mentioned, half the states had it introduced this year. And, you know, bless her heart, we’ve had several states reject it, several states table it. It’s passed in some of the blue states, but the other states are going to get it next year. And the states that tabled it this year are going to have to bring it back next year. So this is a big deal for the next few years trying to get this thing completely killed and stopped in as many states as possible.

Tim Barton
Well, and one of the things too, that she’s pointed out, we have pointed out, is we’re not against a Uniform Commercial Code. Rather, we are against this portion that is saying we’re going to do a central bank digital currency. And as she mentioned, there’s not even in the states, there is no digital currency. So for them to codify, which means pass a law, put into law something that doesn’t even exist yet. Why would they do that? Well, is it just a coincidence, as she pointed out, is it just coincidence that Biden calls for this and all of a sudden this piece of change to the Uniform Commercial Code rolls out that most legislators didn’t even know was in the legislation and they’re just told, hey, it’s no big deal. It’s the same stuff we always pass, just go ahead and pass it. This is a concerted effort to do a takeover in many respects. And this is again, this is not… Dad you mentioned Chicken Little, The sky is falling. This is not calling a sky is falling kind of moment. This is not conspiracy, this is something we’re literally seeing. And the good news is as she pointed out, you can contact your legislators. Tell them that we need to remove from our state a digital currency. We’re not going to do that. That’s not how we operate. That’s not what kind of exchange we want. There are things states can do right now. And she mentioned to find out more than go to ProFamily.com

Audrea Decker
So by the way, cryptocurrency, don’t think this is a bill to stop cryptocurrency. That’s not what this does. This stops a federal digital currency. Cryptocurrency is an asset that’s out there for private individuals. This is got nothing to do with that. This has to do with the federal government taking over and by the way, they would probably eliminate cryptocurrency because cryptocurrency would not be part of their medium of exchange. So don’t confuse this with saying hey, we don’t want to stop cryptocurrency. That’s not what this is. This is the central bank digital currency. This is not cryptocurrency. So we’re not going after, and this law does not prevent what so many people are involved with right now.

Rick Green
Alright, folks we’re out of time for today. Thanks again for tuning in, for being a part of the solution, for taking the things that we’re teaching here and sharing it with as many people as you can. That’s easy to do on your social media feeds. It’s something you can do with just a few clicks of a button. Or you might even just get people together and do one of our classes like we’re talking about all the time, Biblical Citizenship or Constitution Alive, getting people together that community is so important. Check that out of PatriotAcademy.com . Thanks for listening to WallBuilders.