Why Not Let Taxpayers Keep Their Money Instead Of More Federal Stimulus Bills? – With Bob McEwen: Why Not Let Taxpayers Keep Their Money Instead of More Federal Stimulus Bills? – With Bob McEwen: The true danger to America is not the Coronavirus, but the spirit of fear. What is truly on the table this November? Tune in to hear this important discussion with former Congressman Bob McEwen.

Air Date: 06/23/2020

Guest: Bob McEwen

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

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Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

Faith and the Culture

Rick:

You find your way to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live where we’re talking about today’s hottest topics, policy, faith, all these areas in the culture, but looking at them from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. 

We’re here with David Barton, America’s premier historian and the founder of WallBuilders, Tim Barton is with us national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders and I’m Rick Green, I’m a former Texas legislator and America’s Constitution coach. Check us out at wallbuilderslive.com and that’s where you can get archives of the program for the last few weeks and months. It’s also the place to make an investment in freedom. When you make a donation at wallbuilderslive.com, it helps us to get the truth out there in the culture right now that is just desperate for truth. 

So, much going on in our nation right now and we desperately need to know what are these truths we hold self-evident as the Declaration talks about and that’s what WallBuilders is all about: teaching those foundations, bringing it back. getting people educated and equipped and inspired and getting them out there and engaged in the culture. So, when you make that donation at wallbuilderslive.com, that’s an investment in freedom, you’re literally coming alongside us and you’re becoming part of the solution as well. 

While you’re there on the website, make sure you also look at those archives’ sections, you can get programs like today. We’ve got a special guest today, we typically do that Monday through Wednesday and you can get some of those great interviews on our website.

Send In Your Questions

But also, check out the Foundations of Freedom Thursday programs, that’s a chance for you to ask a question, send it into [email protected]. And it’s also a chance for you to learn about foundational principles. What we do is we take questions from the audience and we dive into the biblical, historical and constitutional perspective on that question. And it gives you a chance to apply that worldview, biblical worldview to the hot issues of the day in the culture. 

Also, check out Good News Friday, it’s a great way to realize it’s not all bad out there. We realize there’s a lot of bad news going on out there and that’s what everybody’s talking about. But there’s also a lot of good happening and we highlight that on the Friday program. So, check all that out at wallbuilderslive.com. Make that donation, check out that archive section and share these programs with your friends and family. 

Alright, David, Tim, later in the program, former Congressman Bob McEwen is going to be with us as our special guest today and we got a question from an audience member to throw his way. But people are asking a lot of questions right now about how, you know, this is very unprecedented in terms of the level of money that’s being spent at the federal level, well, frankly, in the states as well on the whole COVID crisis.

And, whether it’s the programs and the contact tracing or it’s the Cares Act and the trillions of dollars that’s being spent. So, people are starting to ask, okay, as we come out of this, that’s going to be a lot of money to pay off and if we’re going to get more money, because they’re already talking about more rounds of funding being sent to individuals and to businesses, you know, how do we dig out of that hole? And what’s the best way to prepare for this? So, people are really starting to think past the crisis itself to how do we make sure we don’t destroy the economy forever? 

And in fact, one of our listeners sent in a really good question and might even be a good idea, I mean, hadn’t even thought about doing it this way. Here’s the question. “I had thought of an interesting way the federal government could help the US economy this year.

An Interesting Way to Help the US Economy

Federal revenue for 2019, says last year was 3.5 trillion rather than spending every tax…” and I haven’t checked these numbers, guys, this just what came in on the email, “rather than sending every taxpayer a pile of cash from a $2.2 trillion tax and spin bill, how about instead, we just set the personal and business taxes including social insecurity…” I like how they included that, “including social insecurity and Medicare to zero across the board for tax year 2020? Objections about deficit spending, I understand, but they’re going to do that no matter what we say, so it’s a moot point.

With this approach, the money won’t flow to the federal government, so 100% of it will go to the people instead of whatever percentage 50%, 60% whatever it is the feds managed to apply and keep themselves when it passes through D.C. Big international businesses with money sitting offshore would want to bring it home, because of the taxes that every dollar earned by individuals and businesses would directly help those who are earning it and this approach would most benefit the people who do the work and help our country, thereby incentivizing positive behavior in the populace rather than encouraging people to suck our nation dry.” 

I bet Bob McEwen would have something interesting to say about such an approach. You’re right. Thanks for all you do is how they signed off. And so that’s why we’re going to have Bob on a little later. But guys, basically, I know, I read probably a little too long there. Bottom line, what happens and it’s not just 2.2 trillion, now we’re getting close to what, 6-7 trillion. If we instead of the federal government taxing us to get that money and then you know, sending it out to people, what if we just let people keep their own money and keep their businesses open by not having to pay those taxes?

David:

I got to say right up front, Rick, I love it when people are thinking solution-oriented ways and they’re thinking outside the box, but not in silly ways. I mean, this really is a possibility of doing something that would have a great impact and I love the idea of not running the government and there’s so many good examples of what happens or bad examples.

I guess of what happens when you run it through the government. But we know that even for the tax money collected on social welfare, only $0.30 out of every dollar actually reaches the poor. 70% stays in the government itself, just it keeps the bureaucracy bloated and keeps it growing. 

Inefficient Processes

I remember talking to Governor Rick Perry one time. Back when he was governor, he said, you know, I just kept looking at the money that the federal government takes from Texas for transportation. And he said they take it out of the State and then they give it back to the State, but we only get 60% of it back. He said, I was thinking, why are we sending our money to the federal government for transportation when we keep it here in the State and keep 100% of it?

Exactly right. And so, that really is a problem you get into when you let things run through the government, it diminishes the value of it and it drives the value down. And so, I think that’s a really good creative idea. I don’t think It’s never going to happen, because I think the guys in D.C. do not want to lose control of any money ever for any reason. But it makes a lot of sense.

Tim:

When I think some people in D.C. would certainly be in favor of it.

David:

Well, you’re right. There are some good Congressmen there. You’re right

Tim:

Just they’re outnumbered by people who would rather have the money in control, they’re in DC, the people we would kind of refer to as the bureaucrats, the lifelong politicians, the people who are part of the swamp, etc. And we could list a whole bunch of them and probably we don’t have enough time on the program to list them all. But there are a lot of good people up there who would support these kind of decisions.

Dad, as you mentioned, you know, avoiding the government for these, the problem with an idea like this, is that the government has to approve of you avoiding the government and so this is not that you get to choose to not submit your money to the government. If this was something that was on the ballot, I think it would be a very interesting vote, because there would be a lot of lobbying government entities saying, no, the government need your money, look at X, Y and Z they fund.

So Many Entities Are Supported by the Government

Except the reason that those entities would be lobbying, like you pointed out is that so many of those entities are supported by the government, because the government takes an incredible excess of what it takes to complete the project, because they pay all the people along the way who aren’t actually helping complete the project when only 30% of every dollar reaches the intended target when it comes to social welfare programs. 

Well, if you gave 100% of the money that is intended for social welfare to churches and nonprofits, you’re talking now at least 70-90%, maybe 95% of that money would reach the intended target, which would double if not triple the amount that goes to the social welfare programs. But anytime you involve the government in something that the government was not created or intended to do, the government is going to be ineffective and not efficient in what they do. 

Now, this is our opinion. There is a guy who has done a lot with economics, who was part of all kinds of congressional committees related to some of this kind of stuff related to intelligence stuff, one of the most brilliant economic minds that we know and that’s Bob McEwen and he’s a good guy to ask this question to.

Rick:

Well, stay with us, folks, Bob McEwen with us when we return on WallBuilders Live.

Constitutional Defense of Your Family and Freedom

Hey friends, Rick Green here, I know there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in America right now, chaos in the streets. But we know God is sovereign and we know that He’s in charge. We also know that duty is ours, results are God’s. And that means we do our duty and part of that duty is being prepared to protect our families. You know, Proverbs 22:3 says a prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions, the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. 

Friends, if you are not prepared to defend your family, can I just challenge you to come spend a few days with us for a training we call ‘Constitutional Defense of your Family and Freedom’. During the day on the range, you’re going to get the best handgun defense training in the world. And in the evening, I’m going to teach you on the Constitution. So, you’re going to get intellectual training as well as physical training on how to defend your family.

It’s a great time of fellowship. We have a wonderful time every time we do one of these trainings. We have taken several thousand people through this constitutional defense training, handgun defense by day, constitutional knowledge by night. Sign up today at rickgreen.com. 

We’re going to take you out there for 1/10th that’s only 10% of the normal price of going out to these very good trainings and no more important time than to do it right now. Rickgreen.com, sign up today doesn’t matter if you’ve had a lifetime of gun experience or you’ve never touched a gun ever in your life. We’ve had all types with us. Every single one of them are so glad that they went and you need to be with us on the next trip. Check it out at rickgreen.com, we’ve got multiple dates coming up and we want you to be with us for constitutional defense.

Rick:

Welcome back to WallBuilders Live, thanks for staying with us. Former Congressman Bob McEwen back with us. Always good to have you, sir. Thanks for a few minutes.

Bob:

The pleasure is mine. 

Welcome Bob McEwen

Rick:

Hey, so we had an interesting question from one of our listeners. Basically saying, okay, look, federal government’s bailing everybody out this year, sending all this money out, this basically damages for the decisions that State governments have made. But what about the fact that it’s roughly the same amount of money as the federal revenue in taxes, so why not just tell everybody don’t pay taxes this year, keep that money and keep your businesses going and keep your families going instead of, you know, kind of the money laundering, we send it to them and then they’re sending it right back?

Bob:

Wherever… I can’t help, but feel that that would be an absolutely brilliant move. A lot of people have complained about the bailout in the 2009, in which they took all the money and gave it to the banks and instead if they just would have left it with the people that were paying the taxes, that would have stimulated the economy and it wouldn’t have gone to a handful of people. 

And this is another approach that rather than going out and borrowing it with compound interest and taxpayers having to pay it back later on, what if we just allowed them to use it right today? Ostensibly, the purpose is to help the families anyway and just nothing would help families more. Now, the protests will be well, not everybody pays taxes.

Well, that’s correct. And the people who don’t pay taxes have had a lot of benefits for a long time. But those that do pay taxes, have no benefits, they’re the ones that makes this thing work. And it’s time that if we’re going to help them, we don’t need to run it through Washington, we could just leave in their pocket.

Rick:

Do you think the excuse of the Coronavirus for these trillion dollar bills, are we done with that, now that the protests have happened and everybody is kind of seeing the Coronavirus is not what we thought it was or will Washington not get that message for another year and possibly keep spending extra trillions?

Bob:

Well, Rick, it’s a real frightening situation, the spirit of fear that these guys can get on there and say, well, there’s an outbreak here or an outbreak there and that will stimulate, it’ll spook the market. And just in order to proceed, you have to have confidence. And the reason people invest in America is because America, they have confidence in America. That’s why they don’t want to invest in Latin America or the Middle East or Africa or someplace. 

The Effects of Fear

And so, recognizing that the strong economy was strong with the President, we’re going to continue to see these constant efforts to strike fear in the hearts of the people. You know, Scripture says that He has not fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. Now, the scripture also says that perfect love casts out all fear. So, when you have fear, it’s the opposite of love. Sound mind, you don’t have a sound mind, you don’t make logical decisions when you’re fearful. 

And that’s why when they excited, the shepherds were told about on a Christmas, the first words were fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people, that first, 365 times were told in the Scriptures that fear not. Fear is debilitating influence on an economy, on a relationship, on a family and that’s what we need to fight here.

And hopefully, they can begin to see how unjustified that there are more people will die from Alzheimer’s. Now, Alzheimer’s is just one disease. That’s not cancer. That’s not accidents. And that’s all these others. That’s just one disease. More people will die from this than would die from this virus. 

And they’re broadening the definition of the virus, that anybody who dies at all, they’re crediting it and yet, we recognize the numbers are so insignificant. They can’t feel the hospital beds. They can’t fill the entire stadium in Seattle, where they put, their whole stadium were filled with beds, they didn’t use a single one of them. And so now, like you said, we’re beginning to see how unnecessary this is and hopefully, with proper leadership, we can pull our way out of it, but it is a battle, because everything is on the line this November.

Rick:

Yeah, it is. And speaking of that proper leadership, I mean, you talked with a ton of members of Congress and legislators around the country. Is there enough, you know, political will and backbone among those that do realize what a farce this turned out to be, to pivot now or do you think it’ll just keep slow rolling out?

Bob:

Well, I’m working on a column that has a picture of the head of the CDC, Center for Disease Control, said, is one man who can keep Donald Trump. And if this man continues to say that, you can go buy your marijuana and you can buy all your booze, but you can’t sit next to a person in your church.

If he’s allowed to make those kinds of regulations, if he’s allowed to say that a restaurant that has its overhead for the cooks and the insurance and all the rest, but you can’t have enough people in the restaurant in order to fill it to make a profit, if he’s able to do that to America, that’s what can defeat Donald Trump. That’s the one person that can do it and hopefully, there will be some backbone in the Congress and elsewhere to override this that we’re waiting to be seen.

The Effects of Investment Around the World

Rick:

If I could switch gears and get your thoughts on something you said, dig a little deeper on something you said earlier, because I hadn’t thought about. I’ve been thinking about all these riots and cities burning and what that says to our enemies around the world in terms of making us weak and subject to an attack. But I hadn’t thought about the longer effect of just investment around the world, do we no longer have that image if this stuff keeps up of being the safe place and the best place for a return on your investment? And then that affects us even further down the road in terms of the economy.

Bob:

That’s what is on the line in November. The Chinese are, every other embassies are putting out messages and press conferences and reports in the newspaper around the globe that next year, China will become the premier nation on Earth. Its economy will be the strongest economy in the world, they’ll be the stronger militarily. America in a state of collapse, that is the propaganda that they’re sending all day, every day. 

Truth of the matter is they were about to be there four years ago, but because of the leadership of this President, the stock market in China has gone down by 40%, stock Market in America has gone up by 50%. Instead of them overtaking us, we’ve gotten further and further apart. Only this virus in the spirit of fear can cause America to stumble and hopefully, they think they can come back.

I don’t think that they can. I think the President has done permanent harm to their overtaking our freedom. But nevertheless, if we choose to put the people who allow them to get so close, well, we took money out of Main Street America, send it to New York, who then financed new buildings, airports, highways and development in China, rather than doing it in America, only one person, Donald Trump said stop it. And as a result, America has been prospering and China’s been in trouble. That is what is on the table this November. 

So, if he gets reelected, I’m telling you, America will be stronger and better than it’s ever been. But if we lose it and we go back to having, as I call them the “Bedwetter Caucus” in Washington that’s constantly scared about this, that, and the thing again, we can have the chaos that we’re seeing in major Democrat cities across the country. 

Leftist Propaganda

Rick:

Man, we always say, you know, most important election ever and all that. I feel like the American way of life is on the ballot. I mean, it’s literally come down to that. The leftist propaganda as we’re seeing the fruit of the seeds that have been planted for 40 years and now we really are debating what America is going to be and this election could very well determine that for the next decade.

Bob:

Yeah, anything that the Democrats have ever stood for in the past is, you know, many of the Catholics in America voted Democrat and they were prolife, they’ve been written out of the party. They’ve said that the Hyde Amendment that always protected government taxes going to abortions, that if the Democrats take control, they’re going to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Everything that people ever trust the Democrats for, they’ve now turned their back on and It is really up in the air.

This election, I will say that 2016 could have been the end. But because it wasn’t, and America was able to come back strong and China was able to put on its heels, now this next one will determine whether or not that continues or where it was all for not. Nothing has been more important in our lifetime.

Rick:

Congressman Bob McEwen. Appreciate you, brother. Thanks for some time today. 

Bob:

Rick, it’s nice to be with you. All the best.

Rick:

Stay with us, folks, well be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Constitution Alive!

Have you ever wanted to learn more about the United States Constitution, but just felt like, man, the classes are boring or it’s just that old language from 200 years ago or I don’t know where to start? People want to know but it gets frustrating because you don’t know where to look for truth about the Constitution either. 

Well, we’ve got a special program for you available now called Constitution Alive with David Barton and Rick Green. And it’s actually a teaching done on the Constitution at Independence Hall in the very room where the Constitution was framed. We take you both to Philadelphia, the cradle of liberty and Independence Hall and to the WallBuilders library, where David Barton brings the history to life to teach the original intent of our founding fathers. 

We call it the Quickstart Guide to the Constitution, because in just a few hours through these videos, you will learn the citizens guide to America’s Constitution, you’ll learn what you need to do to help save our constitutional republic. It’s fun, it’s entertaining and it’s going to inspire you to do your part to preserve freedom for future generations. It’s called Constitution Alive with David Barton and Rick Green. You can find out more information on our website now at wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back to WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us. Thanks to congressman Bob McEwen and always a pleasure to have him. We’re back here with David and Tim. And guys, okay, so he didn’t really say whether he thought this could actually get done. But, you know, obviously, as you guys said at the beginning, there’s not a political will to get something like this done. But the philosophy is, stop having government do what it shouldn’t be doing.

A Debilitating Influence

David:

I thought what he said was really substantial. I hadn’t thought about the impact of fear on the economy and how that fear… I love the fact that he pointed out the fears and debilitating influence, not only in the economy, but on relationships and family and whatever else.

I mean, I hadn’t thought of fear in terms of what that does to a national economy. But I was struck and I don’t think I’ve ever realized before, but Bob pointed out that fear or not, that appears 365 times in the scriptures. Oh my gosh! God must say that a lot because we must fear a lot. And so even just the aspect of getting past the fear and getting the confidence will change the economy.

Tim:

Well, I find it interesting too. When you think about some of the parables Jesus gave on economics, you know, when you look at the parable of the miner, the parable of the talents, which you find in Luke 19 and Matthew 25, both of those are similar accounts, but there are some unique variances between them.

But in both of them, there is one servant who does not take the talent or the mine of the Master gives and he doesn’t go do something productive with it, he buries it in the ground. And in both occasions, when the Master calls to account, the servant says, Master, I knew you were hard and you reap what you haven’t scattered, you gather what you haven’t sown, so I buried it. But here, I brought it back to you. 

But it’s interesting, what Bob pointed out is that fear motivates people in a negative sense in a lot of regards when it comes to economics. And that’s actually part of what got this person in trouble in these parables, was he was scared. Master, I was scared, because I knew the expectation.

The Motivating Factor

I knew the responsibility. I knew the judgment. And fear in this situation, I mean, Jesus taught the parable, right? This guy got in trouble. He lost what he had. He was cast into outer darkness: there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

But just to that point that it’s very interesting as Bob highlighted, that fear has been a motivating factor in a lot of situations and in some cases, even the fear of the unknown, because we don’t know what Coronavirus might do. You’re afraid of something that hasn’t even happened that you don’t know what’s going to happen. And fear is now being a very destructive force in our culture, specifically in our economy, which is impacting so much of the lives of every individual, not only in America, but around the world.

David:

You know, I thought the other thing he said that was really super interesting was the active Chinese propaganda that’s going with this thing. That in the midst of COVID, the Chinese are saying, hey, because of America’s economy, whatever, they’re falling and we’re rising. We’re going to be the big guys on the block and as Bob pointed out, actually, the other way around.

But I hadn’t really thought about how that the Chinese are actually using COVID and fear and economy as part of a strategic military goal. I mean, this has military implications, not just fear implications, not just economic stuff, but we’re talking for barely military propaganda use. And I hadn’t even thought about that aspect of it.

Tim:

You know, it’s interesting too, thinking about our media, how oftentimes there are certain outlets in the American media that espouse what they see in some of these international markets or what they hear from some of these other governments and say, well, we know American is in trouble because of China, because of North Korea, because of Russia. And they repeat the very propaganda that is being stated over in these other nations as if that was factual. As Bob pointed out, that’s not accurate at all. 

Propaganda to Gain an Advantage

But we have Americans that are believing something that other nations that are saying that are inaccurate that is part of a propaganda, part of a warfare, to help give them the advantage, to help try to bring in into the prosperity, the stability America has enjoyed for literal generations. And Americans are buying into this, because they’re just not paying attention to the fact that this is a disinformation campaign coming from other nations.

And, we have a media that at times is so dishonest, that they’re perpetuating these falsehoods as if they are accurate. It really does make you think, okay, we need to start waking up, be a lot more attentive. 

And Dad, you mentioned at the beginning, you love that one of the outgrowths of some of the problems we’ve seen is that people are starting to think outside the box and look for creative answers. Well, part of thinking outside the box based on what even Bob said about some of this kind of conspiracy theory that’s being communicated is, we need to be thinking outside the box of what we believe from the news media, from social media.

And I know a lot of people listening are saying, you know what, I haven’t listened to them in years. Well, good. The problem is, too many people are believing what they see from a news outlet, what they see online, not recognizing there might be more to the story, there might be misinformation. It could be that this is a news individual, news anchor who thinks they’re saying something very honest, because they don’t have the information to realize that what they’re saying is not actually accurate. But that’s why we want to make sure that we don’t just believe whatever somebody says, we want to pursue what is true and look a little deeper than what’s just on the surface. 

David:

Well, that was what got the World Health Organization in trouble. They were simply repeating what the Chinese were telling them about Corona and they weren’t doing their own independent research and so now, they’re defunded by hundreds of millions.

Tim:

Well, yeah. I mean, China said there’s not humans. to human transmission, now, that’s not a thing. You don’t need to wear masks. Well, now you do need to wear a mask. Well, the mask don’t really help, well, they do help a lot. They’ve gone back and forth so much.

China’s Talking Points

And you’re right, they’ve repeated China’s talking points consistently for months, which is one of the things President Trump pointed out, was the reason that he thought we’re not going to fund them until you become an independent agency, who is going to report what is true and what is accurate, instead of just some nation’s talking points. It doesn’t make sense that we’re giving you all this money and America is the primary funder. And America was someone that certainly has been hurt and devastated by the lies that they perpetuated. 

David:

And that’s where we, as individual citizens need to be real careful to what we hear in the media. Because there could be media, just as you said, Tim, repeating the talking points of China, just like the World Health Organization did. Doesn’t matter how big your company is or how much you have in the way of name ID, are you telling something that’s accurate? And that’s every one of us need checked out with the media sources.

Rick:

Yeah, in fact, that’s one of the reasons listening to WallBuilders Live is so important and sharing WallBuilders Live with other people and donating at wallbuilderslive.com so that we can get the truth out there and counter those lies that are too often told by the left in our culture. 

 Let Taxpayers Keep Their Money Instead Of Federal Stimulus Bills – With Bob McEwen

One of the things we want to recommend today is, Politics: Easy as PIE, so, Bob McEwen that you just heard earlier in the program. Great program that we’ve got available right there at wallbuilders.com. Just go in there and I guess, search for “PIE”, that’s the easiest way to get it. But there’s an mp4 that you can download or you can get the DVD and it’s just a fantastic way to get a very simple outline of how politics works and how you can make a difference and have an impact and bring truth to this equation. 

Thanks for listening today. You’ve been listening to WallBuilders Live!