748: Grassroots Efforts & Local Elections - Establishing Trust with Voters

Brian Nichols  
You? Can this libertarian win his city council seat in Ohio? Let's talk about that. Instead of focusing on winning arguments, we're teaching the basic fundamentals of sales and marketing and how we can use them to win in the world of politics, teaching you how to meet people where they're at on the issues they care about. Welcome to The Brian Nichols Show. Well, hey there, Ryan Adams here on The Brian Nichols Show for joining us. For another fun filled episode. I am as always your host, brought to you live from our B and C Studios here in lovely Eastern Indiana and just a hop, skip and jump over to the estate to my east over in Ohio. Today, we are joined by libertarian City Council candidate Joshua Toms welcome The Brian Nichols Show.

Joshua Toms  
What's up, brother? What's up? Good to be here.

Brian Nichols  
Good to have you on. Josh, thank you for joining us here on the program. Do us a favor, give us a quick introduction. And why are you why are you running for city council as a big L libertarian?

Joshua Toms  
Wow, quick introduction, I don't really know that I can do that very well. But I'll try. So when I was younger, I was kind of your default liberal. Eventually, I ended up going overseas, seeing a lot of real communism, real socialism, something that I was for at one point. And when I came back, I could see that my country was in shambles. And I vastly changed my my political beliefs. And then I got I got involved. That's what I wanted to do was get involved. And when I did, I realized that my local local politics were actually under fire as well. And that is why I'm running.

Brian Nichols  
And let's talk about that local politics. But first, I want to go back to something you touched on. And that is kind of going from this default liberal mentality to now Yes, running for office as a big L. Libertarian. Let's talk a little bit more about your evolution in terms of your your politics, and frankly, your philosophy right when you're approaching the way. Obviously you you change as a person when you become a libertarian. I changed when I became a libertarian talk to us a little bit about what that journey was like coming from the left, because a lot of folks here on the program, especially in our audience, they come from things from more on the right side of the aisle. So I think it's very interesting to hear your context coming from as someone from the left.

Joshua Toms  
So it is every bit as drastic and intense as it seems. When I was when I was young. I was exposed to things like Marx, by the time I was 14 years old. I started reading Marx. I had a particular friend who even his parents were very much encouraging this sort of thing. And I was on board man, it sounds it sounds it all sounds fantastic. Right? What Why is there such disparity? Why? Why is wealth disparity, social disparity, that kind of thing, class disparity? Why does it exist? And all of it sounds very good in a topical way, but it it isn't. But either way, I bought into it for a long time. And eventually, I decided I wanted to go abroad, and I went to teach English. And I live mostly in China, but I was also in Vietnam and Cambodia. And then I was in South America and Ecuador in Colombia. And these have to say the least some very left leaning governments. And it it was very obvious that this this kind of thing was a con. Right. I was I was looking at the complete lack of participation of the people in their government, right. They had no say at all these public borrows and you know, it's all it's they circle the wagons and that's that right? But everything is supposed to be equal, right, which would mean everyone would have some sort of say, and that sort of thing, and they don't. And it was scary. And it's the scariest, I guess, because the standard of living between America and let's say, a second world country, like China and Shin Jin, which is where I was at, right, which is considered China's Silicon Valley, it is still this kind of like, whoa, you know, I mean, their sanitation is is subpar. Their, their building codes are subpar. And I'm not trying to be nasty towards other other peoples and their governments, but it's just true. It was just true. And I was like, What's going on here? You know, these people are supposed to be the, you know, the beacon of how these kinds of socialistic or Marxist communist governments work. And I was very underwhelmed at their effectiveness. So yeah, please go ahead, then. Well, and just simply that, I, you know, I mean, I love Chinese culture. It's something I've been enamored with since I was a child. So I have no hate at all towards these people. But the way their government's running was scary. And then I came back. And I started seeing what was going on. And I had been gone during most of the Trump years. Right. So I didn't see any of this. I come back, I see the absolute insanity that is going on. And I was like, Wait, so honestly, I am not what it was, I thought I was because I don't agree with anything I saw. And where am I? Where do I fit into all of this? And so I was like, Well, I know, I'm no longer left leaning. What does that mean? Right. And eventually, I said, Well, you know, I seem to be understanding better how, how property rights and democratization of government is appealing, why it's appealing. Right. And that was how I started making my foray into libertarianism.

Brian Nichols  
And that kind of goes into I was curious if there was maybe a light bulb that sparked in you as well, because you're running for city council, obviously, right. And we talked about this many times during the show that the best way for us to actually have some real impact in our in our communities is to be involved. And the best way to be involved is to run for local office, because more often than not, either those races are run unopposed or in many cases, nobody runs on All right. So it's actually a very easy area for us to to have really some easy wins on the board with low barrier to entry. And it really gives you a chance to make some direct impact in the area, frankly, that matters most your direct community. So I was curious, kind of Josh, as you're going through, what are the main issues that you've identified in Lebanon, Ohio, that you want to focus on from a city council perspective? And why a libertarian perspective for your solutions?

Joshua Toms  
Well, just to slide in from one city to the other was that I realized that those countries had no participation even at their local levels. And so I was like, Well, you know, what's going on in mind? Right, that's the most important thing. And what I could see, I literally have, this is all of just 2020 twos minutes in Lebanon, Ohio. When I started going through it, they were passing everything by emergency order, right? They, they, they bought cop cars, by an emergency order. They, they bought a lawnmower $100,000 lawn mower by emergency order. They changed the right of way in a street that yeah, it is right, I better be. But they changed the right of way of a street by emergency order. And this is all very suspicious, right? It's just weird. And you're like, you know, what the process is the process? Why are they subverting it? Why are they trying to somehow move around it? And the answer? The answer, I'm sure is complex. You know, maybe they can explain some of them but but some of them are rather stupid. And so it's like, okay, well, well, why are you doing this because you're casting suspicion on yourself. And that was why, ultimately, I got involved. I was like, You know what I'm done with this. We need transparency and They're not doing it

Brian Nichols  
COVID Got a lot of people involved in politics, gala parents involved, frankly, in their school boards. It's where, you know, Tiffany justice, and moms for Liberty has really blown up and they've been having a lot of success. It's really changed the conversations that people have been having, because I think COVID was the thing that we all experienced, in some way, shape or form. And it really made us test our our limits, right? And frankly, how does that go forward? Right, when everybody's being pushed to do something in some certain way? It creates some some friction and division. So yeah, no, COVID though for the people who to actually get involved. It was really kind of the the big domino that the fall the first one to get more and more people to have these conversations. But let's go ahead and talk about repealing tax credit ordinance. 2016 Dash 078. Josh, what's that?

Joshua Toms  
Well, that is one that's more personal to Lebanon, it's essentially if you work within the city, but you live just outside the city, which is easy in a town of 20,000. You in 2017, they amended this tax credit, which was a 1% tax credit. Well, now it's point five. And that doesn't sound like a lot. But it is definitely something that hurts local citizens. And worse than that, actually, is that our current mayor, Mark Messer, who no I, I have no qualms with him as a person. I don't I actually quite agree with many of his beliefs, political beliefs. But he has ran on ridding us of this, and yet has never brought it up. Right. So the people are electing him and hoping that he will introduce something in session and say, you know, what we're doing away with this amendment, we're going back to the 1% tax credit, and yet he has never done that.

Brian Nichols  
Interesting stuff. All right, Josh, I want to talk about another thing. That's very, I think it's been hitting a lot more people personally, more recently, especially as we've seen more and more states become sanctuary states as it pertains to the Second Amendment. Here we are in Indiana. I think we are a sanctuary state in that regards. Open carry on you saw there was a would be shooter I think was in Greenwood Mall. And a guy who just gotten his his handgun two days earlier ends up taking out that guy before he could cause a lot of damage. So you're seeing a lot of people now trying to take this to the local level. And that's something you proposed in Lebanon, Ohio, give some context between making Lebanon, Ohio a to a sanctuary state?

Joshua Toms  
Where city first? Oh, no, yes, that's, and I didn't know that about the shooter. there that is, and I'm pretty plugged in, but I hadn't heard that. That's awesome. So Lebanon actually became nationally famous for this abortion sanctuary or anti abortion sanctuary. And for whatever, whatever people think about it, it didn't really do much. Right. It wasn't something that like was preventing anything, because we don't have any abortion clinics within the city. So it got me to thinking well, I mean, we're seeing we're seeing some wins in to a across across the nation. But we are still hearing the rhetoric nationally, that they're coming for, we're coming for our guns, they don't think they don't want to hate to be a thing. And it's like, Wait, why? Because that is what this country is. So I was I basically said to myself, What is something that we could do in that sense, that would make that we would actually do something, we want to use nullification. We want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to make sure that these kinds of rights are protected. And so that is exactly why I said you know what, this needs to be a second amendment sanctuary city period.

Brian Nichols  
And it just like you're you're going back to the Second Amendment, right. Like I don't know why that's even controversial to have that as kind of the starting off line. But um, let's talk about going to second amendment to the Fourth Amendment. We'll go to two minutes up in this case, talk to me about shotput or triangulate triangulation microphones and Stingray devices as impacts your average Lebanon Ohio citizen.

Joshua Toms  
Wow. It's you know, government overreach is something that is out of control. So these kinds of technologies like, like shot putter was the one that Shot

Brian Nichols  
Spotter triangulate job

Joshua Toms  
spotter. And I'm sorry, I never remember the name of it I sometimes I call it shot caller, because because that's hilarious. But it's a triangulation, right? It's they basically they put them up on, like, telephone poles or whatever. And they're intended to if a gunshot goes off in the distance, they're saying, Oh, well, we know where we know where it happened. And almost always, this, these, these technologies are funded by the federal government, the local governments apply for them, grants and that sort of thing. And then federal government says, Sure, we'll give that to you for free, right? Here's this, we do know, and at least in one instance, that they were basically just recording everything, not just gunshots, they recording conversations, and then they turned around, and they used it in a court case. So you could be standing next to a light post or wherever, in your hometown. And suddenly, you know, you're talking about something, you know, God knows what, and who cares, because government doesn't have the right to tell you what you can say, right? And then you're being charged. And this is this is evidence in a court case. And further than that, is like the passive license plate readers, where a cop car could just roll down the street. And they can be scanning Beep, beep, beep each one of your license plates, and Oh, whoops, this guy's got a warrant. But have you ever drove if you ever driven a car that you didn't own? Right? I know I have, right. So I could be in the store, getting groceries or god knows what. And then I come out and the COP is throw me face first in the pavement, because the person that's associated with this car has a warrant. And it's just violations all around man. Right.

Brian Nichols  
I don't think people realize the technology and how advanced it's getting not only in the private sector, but also how government is then using that technology against us, right, the average citizen now they can't go ahead and launch a state website or anything to save their lives. But they want to go ahead and figure out ways to you know, whether it's get the hard earned tax dollars from average John Doe citizen, you know, X don't go they'll go out of their way to make sure they spent oodles of money there. But that's a conversation for a different day. Josh, do us a favor to the voters who are listening to today's conversation, specifically from Lebanon, Ohio, what's the case? Why should the average voter make the switch from Republican or from Democrat and vote for the big L Libertarian candidate in Joshua toms?

Joshua Toms  
Oh, my gosh. So Democrats don't do what they say, you know, they they claim bodily autonomy and that sort of thing, but we know what they do. They everything is bad to them, everything is racist, everything is bigoted, and all this. But then the Republicans are supposed to be the kind of liberty small government minded people and they don't do what they say either. Right. And here we are. I'm in a town that is very conservative, very red dominated, and yet we have this happening. We have my local government literally abusing their ability to skip over the legislative process to keep people from coming in and saying, You know what? I don't have you know, I don't like what it is you're saying. And so the libertarian, the big L here is saying, You know what? We've had enough of this. It's transparency. I'm coming in, I'm saying I'm gonna say no to this kind of crap. The unanimous consent to these emergency orders, I will not consent to it will be a vote no. It will be a vote no to taxes, any sort of tax levy any sort of increase in taxes. That's why

Brian Nichols  
Joshua Tom's running for Lebanon, Ohio city council, Big L. Libertarian, really appreciate you joining us here on today's episode for final thoughts. I'll kick things off. Yes, this is the way to those of you who are party players here with the big L next year name as libertarians, this is the way to actually have a path to success. I've talked about this many a time I wrote an e book back in January how to win your local election because it doesn't matter like how great your ideas are relative to candy, you know red teamer K In a blue team, if you're trying to run for a state office or for a federal office without having some wins already on the board, we have to build up that the bench first because that's how we establish trust with the average voter. And if you are, you know, a successful business owner, or if you're a noted personality in your community, and you have that big L next to your name, run for office, run for office, and actually show it can be done and then helps establish that trust by building great libertarian policy for your community and make your community better and then all sudden, the idea is less become ideas and become reality to the average voter and then that can help propel your campaign or other libertarians campaign to the next level. That's my final thoughts. Joshua, what do you have for us in urine?

Joshua Toms  
Wow, man, totally agree. Right? We cannot get ballot access in this state or that state. You know, and we've worked so hard for it. And I appreciate all the materials that work for that kind of thing. But when then the time to vote comes for the gubernatorial or whatever, there's no bottom. There's no grassroots. We have to lift up through grassroots. That is the way guys I really need mailers. I really need signs. I need door knockers, right? If you could go to vote Josh toms.com. Right and donate. Seriously, this is real, we're going to do something right. And every single community is important. It makes your community important. My community is important. Please help us out. Man. We are we are trying to make this real.

Brian Nichols  
It's vote Josh Tom's dot com. I will make sure we include those links in the show notes, folks, thanks for joining us. If you got some value from today's episode, you know the drill. Go ahead and give it a share. When you do please tag yours truly at B Nico, Liberty Josh, where can folks go ahead and follow you and continue the conversation?

Joshua Toms  
Oh, on Twitter, it's at Toms for Lebanon. I think the same for Instagram and Facebook. So guys, please follow and follow by awesome host, Brian, this has been great. Thank you.

Brian Nichols  
Absolutely. Josh, thank you for joining us. And folks, if you again got some value. From today's conversation beyond giving a share, I'm gonna go ahead and give you an ask. And that is to please if you're watching today's episode on YouTube, hit that like button and also hit the subscribe button. And when you're here also hit that little notification bell so you don't miss a single time we go live or if you're watching us over on independent media like rumble or Ben saw swans, sovereign s o v e r e n o thank you for supporting independent media. But also if you're joining us here on sovereign wealth, congratulations. You're seeing today's episode before anybody else. It's your sovereign exclusive. So if you want go ahead and see today's episode before anybody else in the future, we'll make sure you go ahead and support sovereign and support independent media like Ben Swann sovereign. So other than that, by the way, today's episode is a podcast. If you head over to your favorite podcast catcher search The Brian Nichols Show, whether it's Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, music or elsewhere, just find the show hit download all unplayed episodes, they'll start you off at episode one. And fast forward 745 episodes, we have some amazing guests that will leave you educated, enlightened and informed and it would also help the show out as well. So that's all I really have for you guys today. With that being said, thank you for joining us. On today's episode, Brian Nichols signing off. You're on The Brian Nichols Show for Joshua times. We'll see you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai