Transcript for my conversation with Valerie Durham 4/30/2024

Speaker 1: Valerie Durham

Speaker 2: Mark Puls

[Speaker 2] (0:00 - 0:38)

Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of knocked conscious today had the pleasure of speaking with Valerie Durham She's the president and CEO of freedom fest Was a great conversation FreedomFest July 10th through the 13th 2024 Come to Las Vegas at Caesar's it's going to be a great time Such a great conversation here. It is. I hope you enjoy it Hi everybody and welcome to knocked conscious.

We are on take two I have the honor and privilege of having the president and CEO of FreedomFest with me today Her name is Valerie Durham Valerie. Welcome so much to knocked conscious.

[Speaker 1] (0:38 - 0:39)

Thank you so much.

[Speaker 2] (0:39 - 2:42)

I'm excited about this conversation And i'm i'm getting all the tingly feels that are that are supposed to be happening here So if I may share my freedom fest story, I have the craziest It's covet july 2022 It's the mirage my girlfriend and I live in phoenix. So we drive up five to six times a year We just happen to be up there And we're going to heritage. We're going to colicchio's heritage for a phenomenal prime rib, by the way best prime rib in the world.

Yes They're all they're uh, they're whatever it is. The horseradish is ridiculous Anyway, so we're there and I bump into a gentleman named kelly at the bar and find out that Freedom fest is going on and all of a sudden I see the names popping up and I started looking around and seeing that and i'm starting getting excited My girlfriend's looking at me like i'm having a conniption or something and I've had an awakening over the last probably handful of years, but it was just really intense for me because I was just like I it's about the liberty.

It's about the freedom, right? So I just got very excited spoke with this gentleman for hours at the bar My girlfriend's playing video poker right next to us. So we're still together, which is good.

Yeah But I looked at her and I swear I swear I looked at her I said I'm gonna be at this thing the next time it's in vegas so It comes up. I just happen to come across and see it And I immediately picked the first two days I'm, like i'll just go down for the first two days and then I saw there was this media credential application and I said I've done media So I applied and lo and behold Your grace is enough to accept my media application and i'm very excited to actually do Exactly what I said. I was going to do two years ago and without real Even real effort and we still have that ability to do that here and it's like amazing that that's like that's the freedom I was able to say two years ago I'm going to do something and actually have that opportunity to do

[Speaker 1] (2:43 - 3:30)

That really is a beautiful thing and I think that you know, I I think a lot about freedom and the intentionality around freedom and how So often it really is the focus the drive the action You know, there's steps you take you took to make that happen, too but that intention setting and I think a little too often we're we're too ready to A woe is me and we can't get along and libertarians are herding cats and all this kind of stuff But really there is so much that's possible for creating freedom in our lives and Congratulations to you to making it happen.

I guarantee you're going to love freedom fest you're going to get so many opportunities to talk to people and interview people and Hear from people you care about i'm really excited for you to have i'm beyond excited.

[Speaker 2] (3:30 - 4:06)

I'm i've started making a list i'm actually going to reach out to your teams to see how else I can contribute with equipment and everything because Like I said, i've got my car i'm going to drive up and we're i've got all four days booked So is your is your girlfriend ready for this though? Well, she it's a funny story. She's actually coming up the first two days Okay, and she has a conference I think the next day that she has to fly out for for her teaching Thing which is a rare thing that never happens So what we're actually planning is i'm going to drop her off at the airport in vegas.

She's going to fly to phoenix And then fly out of phoenix Hey, we're gonna make it work.

[Speaker 1] (4:06 - 4:09)

I don't care because you know, that's that can't just like dude.

[Speaker 2] (4:09 - 4:16)

I love it Just like freedom is intentionality. So is love. Okay.

Love it. It takes just as much effort and accountability, right?

[Speaker 1] (4:17 - 4:50)

In all honesty everyone who comes to freedom fest has that kind of can do like they make it happen You know, they figure out work. They figure out kids. They figure out all of that stuff because they recognize the value of Talking about freedom doing something about freedom.

It really makes a difference To come together and have these conversations and then see what generates out of that. That's what's also super exciting. It's not just Talking and for no, you know for no progress things come out of it, which is really awesome Such a beautiful thing.

[Speaker 2] (4:50 - 5:06)

So you've been recently promoted to president and ceo. So you've come up through the ranks of freedom fast So to speak That was a simple question What is freedom fest? How did you get to wear this position where this came?

[Speaker 1] (5:07 - 8:04)

Yeah. No, that's a great question and um Freedom fest is actually a fantastic story. So freedom fest is actually a family business um, my mom and dad started freedom fest in 2002 When my dad was the president of the foundation for economic education And for the or it's also known as fee And fee is the oldest free market think tank in the united states started in 1946 by leonard reed And people like ronald reagan and barry goldwater and others were really involved at fee and then my dad became president in the early 2000s And we noticed at that time That all of these groups were doing good work But nobody was really talking to each other.

It was a really siloed experience You had businesses working towards freedom and coin dealers with hard money doing good things and then you had Cato and heritage manhattan and all these different groups, but it wasn't an opportunity to get together So he created the fee national convention or it became known as fee fest in vegas in 2002 And a few years later after he had resigned from being the president he took it back over and renamed it freedom fest And continued to have it in vegas So i've been around it my whole life. It's a family business I used to come to freedom fest, but it was awesome because I could just enjoy it You know, I could just show up and you know, enjoy some sessions and hang out in vegas kind of thing super super fun um And then in 2014 the previous conference director Retired and so I came on board And it really changed my experience of freedom fest in every single possible way except that uh now I get to be so involved in the love of Creating an experience and a platform where so many different voices can come together And represent I think in a real life Kind of Tempest in a teapot almost what um What freedom is supposed to be all over the place people voluntarily coming together collaborating learning from each other? That's how it's supposed to be Um, i'll note that I didn't really know anything about i'd been to conferences Of course i've been to freedom fest i've been to investment conferences things like that, but i'm actually a dancer uh in my passion training And so I really drew on that um My experience of self-producing shows and if you think about it, it's really kind of the same You have a program you have, you know people that you hire to be in the dances like speakers You have to advertise and market you have maybe a little reception after so you've got your food and beverage So I had What the problem was I didn't know anything about union contracts hotel attrition

[Speaker 2] (8:05 - 8:21)

There oh, it's a fire hose for a bit. That was like a big learning the labor stuff is beyond which is really interesting because like let's be honest the freedom stuff kind of simplifies labor a little bit, you know with all those contracts it makes it just You know, the handshake doesn't work like it used to no.

[Speaker 1] (8:21 - 8:35)

No, I and and vegas is a big Business town so you got to be on your game You have to be in with the family they're there there's Up and down the sheriff to the drudge to the everything.

[Speaker 2] (8:35 - 8:47)

Yeah, it's pretty amazing Yeah, so I was in a cover band same thing. We did we were in cover, you know in charge of all that stuff, right? the The scheduling and you know the email list back in the day, right?

[Speaker 1] (8:47 - 9:36)

As an artist you have in this country in particular You have to do it all you have to be your and I think it's it's interesting just to you know a little Because reconciling my libertarian side my free market side with my artist side I think it's a shame that so many artists don't a lot of them Think oh free, you know capitalism it gets a bad name and business But really it's great to be your own business person and that Making your art its own business and in all of our lives. We have to kind of treat our lives as a business and find a A good way to make progress and to make money and to find success and to find an audience and customers and all that stuff So it is well, it's true freedom It is it really is I mean debt debt is the slavery is of the of the newest millennium, right?

[Speaker 2] (9:36 - 9:59)

So we know that when you owe someone something you owe your life to them at this point It's just how it is And unfortunately, this is a good way with parallel economies and just you know different things to expand and grow Become self-sufficient a little bit outside of that And very nice a lot of that being discussed at freedom fest, which is Really cool.

[Speaker 1] (9:59 - 10:17)

So yeah into all that there are so many mechanisms Uh being discussed and shared at freedom fest So you can you're interested in learning more or learning that in particular that's really present at the conference Such a beautiful thing Well, thank you for sharing that.

[Speaker 2] (10:17 - 10:49)

So tell us a little bit about How did the pleasure Transition to that purpose for you because there must have been that growing pain where you like said Oh i'm i'm hanging out with all the cool people and this is fun and it becomes Once again, it kind of speaks to the freedom part There's a responsibility that you either thrust upon you or that you take you lift you pick up the gauntlet, right? It's your time to carry it How did you how did you just naturally take that upon yourself? I mean, was it just because of the family pride or was it something internally you really felt?

[Speaker 1] (10:50 - 14:05)

For well, you know, luckily I I I hear what you're yeah um I think there yeah, there's a family work ethic, uh going on. Um But also I really believe in this mission and and it's we're Believe it or not. We we're a for-profit corporation, um, we're not a non-profit But we're like a mission driven For-profit organization, which is I actually think a great thing.

It's kind of that conscious capitalism john mackey approach to things And so we deeply care about what we're doing and we really feel like we're in service to the larger liberty movement so what I found is that yes, my role dramatically shifted from Engaging in a more fun light-hearted easygoing kind of way But I became deeply involved And that had its own satisfaction and what I love is that number one my job is incredibly varied, you know, i'm Flying for a site visit one day two days later.

I'm doing a union contract The next day i'm in negotiations with some big keynote speaker a day after that I'm looking at emails and social media and new video and I have a great team that I work with Most of them are family the ones who aren't family. We kind of have to unofficially adopt So there's deep respect and rapport What I find with the family business is that rather than it being like petty and acrimonious and political it's more like we deeply appreciate each other and we support each other through life challenges and things like that and Um, so that part is really great, but I get to engage With all of these major think tanks organizations grassroots organizations campaigns Businesses that are doing incredibly cool things.

I'm on the phone with them. I'm in zoom calls with them multiple times a week And i'm having all these different conversations and that is incredibly rich And rewarding and i'm getting to learn about them and put them in front of a freedom fest audience You know and then seeing where the magic happens. In fact, uh back in 2018 a man named jeremy corden came to freedom fest at the paris in las vegas And he was exposed to a company called velorum and velorum is this really cool nanotechnology That embeds gold real gold into paper And so jeremy loved this idea.

He came up with the idea of creating A more official currency. He calls them goldbacks And he launched a business which is now doing hundreds of millions of dollars And you can actually in places in utah nevada and elsewhere Actually pay with goldback and actually in the exhibit hall this year People will be able to buy things and pay with goldbacks in our exhibit hall. So it's real hard money Uh in currency that you can go to an ace hardware in utah And pay with your goldback to pay with your gold and that started and happened at freedom fest And there are lots of other stories like that.

[Speaker 2] (14:05 - 14:57)

So I feel super grateful that I get to be part of those people coming together Watching you light up talk about it That's why I wanted to ask because I I want I want to see that passion because I think sharing that Part of it. It's it's hard because like once your eyes open to things Uh, what's going on behind the scenes once you see it it like you get a cognitive dissonance that breaks your brain And then it breaks your heart because you got betrayed and then you kind of almost get dark pilled But then you kind of got to get it back. You got a real back.

You know what I mean? Like We're teetering with all with the current status of things. It's a very unique time Uh freedom seems to be the way to go and I love that goldback idea So basically the concept is there's a gold amount in the paper that's equivalent to the paper's value, correct?

[Speaker 1] (14:59 - 15:25)

And you can just carry it around with you and it's yeah, it's incredible technology and The and velorum is still working. They're still uh negotiating Big contracts, uh all over the world actually to try to bring this So so in a day we were also talking about bitcoin back in you know, 2012 We started talking about bitcoin and I remember when it was three hundred dollars At a bitcoin atm machine in phoenix, arizona at a circle k.

[Speaker 2] (15:25 - 15:58)

There was one of them and I drove by it every day going Do I have three hundred dollars to buy one of these things? I didn't I I absolutely did have the money because we all Have the means we just had to make it happen, right? We talk about that We all have the means we just had to figure out how to make it happen correctly but I didn't And many many tens of thousands of dollars later, right per well, please please continue about the bitcoin So we were like what is this and should we even talk about it?

[Speaker 1] (15:58 - 16:49)

Yes, we should and I remember a couple years later We were selling things with and this guy showed up and was like I just was able to buy this coke for 12 bitcoin And we think about that now like he was so proud well bitcoin or a coca-cola 840 000 dollars I don't even know if that guy is still alive like inflation I mean, yeah, so So yeah, it's it's really cool. We were talking about uh drug legalization You know And again, right as I was coming on board it was still Like and now that's so completely shifted the thing about Not at all, not even a little bit you're not sad about that No, I know nothing about it.

[Speaker 2] (16:49 - 17:08)

Nothing about nothing How yes, it pretty much helped pretty much every bone in my body. Sure. Let's not talk about that And so now One of the yes, so this legalization I uh apologies Uh there there you have a mock trial that talked about legalization Do you have a mock trial this year and is it about drug legalization?

Is it a different?

[Speaker 1] (17:08 - 17:41)

It's different every single year and um, okay this year we we're we're discussing it because One of the things we're doing this year. That's really different. I'm super excited about is that we are bringing all of the Major independent third party presidential candidates To freedom fest for a big debate that we are pushing out um, we're partnering with I hope yes I hope to I hope he I hope he's there.

[Speaker 2] (17:41 - 17:42)

I hope he's there.

[Speaker 1] (17:42 - 19:46)

He will be we're working on it We're negotiating with everybody right now and what's so exciting about that is You know, I think we've seen this broken duopoly for and there are so many people who Identify as independent. You don't have to identify as libertarian or green party or what? There are just so many people out there who don't feel Like their their needs and their philosophy and their life Is being addressed by the democrats or the republicans and also don't appreciate This power play that's going on that really squashes all of our lives But who is speaking to the independent voter?

You know, there is not enough of a robust news outlet, um there are attempts at it, but Really it's a lot of people like you who have these realizations And they're kind of talking in that space Um, so we want to make sure that that is presented in a really robust way So it's going to be a full two-hour presidential debate broadcast out on multiple platforms media services And it's going to be strong and powerful and I and I what I hope is that people get the message That There are other ideas out there. It is not just a republican or a democrat philosophy And that we have things to learn that there are other ways of looking at governance And that we should be listening to those other ways And that voting for the lesser of two evils Is not the way to gain freedom success or anything else It's not a wasted vote to vote for Someone you actually align with and act and if enough people start doing that and give up on that tired rhetoric We can make actual major change and affect people's lives in positive ways And that makes me also really excited now if we still do a mock trial because that's taking up a lot of our mainstay time I think we're gonna I think we're gonna have it on ai

[Speaker 2] (19:47 - 20:00)

Oh shocking, I thought you're gonna do border because the border we've done border just Okay, because border on x is just blown up over the it's all it's the one that puts libertarians in some kind of you talk about

[Speaker 1] (20:00 - 20:16)

We also have tons of debates so even things that we don't put into the mock trial like putting Religion on trial or putting the republican party on trial or for us foreign policy on trial Um, we've done all of those things public school system unions

[Speaker 2] (20:16 - 20:20)

you know, you need all that good music and the

[Speaker 1] (20:20 - 21:19)

part of me wants to put the midi's peace process on trial because My gosh, like how many years are we going to be failing at this thing? And how many different parties can be involved and just have this chaos and conflict?

It's like really people like I understand there's generations and deep you know differences, but Really as human beings we cannot come to some sort of resolution so that people aren't being bombed and killed and starved and It's horrible horrible. So that's another one. We were so we'll definitely have a debate on that In fact, emily austin is coming and she's been really delving into this.

Um topic and so she's bringing a lot of experts uh on both sides to really have a And you know the debates are interesting at freedom fest because we do it in a civil open debate forum we If you want yet people screaming at each other go somewhere else That's not what freedom fest is about.

[Speaker 2] (21:19 - 21:23)

It's just about an exchange of ideas for sure from what exactly what i've understood exactly, right?

[Speaker 1] (21:24 - 22:11)

So we want reasonable people who can listen and respond rather than yell and scream And uh, and then we let leave it open to the audience to the attendees to hear something new absorb it Maybe you're confirmed in what you already believe, but maybe you learn something new and you shift and uh You know, we're trying to move towards truth and we're trying to move towards more freedom And we want multiple voices coming in because sometimes hearing what you don't agree with helps you move towards freedom and truth And sometimes hearing something new you didn't know Or never thought about before helps you move towards freedom and truth.

So We're pretty big tent at freedom fest. We bring in a lot of diverse ideas and people and that's that's pretty cool, too That's a beautiful thing.

[Speaker 2] (22:11 - 23:30)

Well, you're a dancer. So you're an artist. Yeah, you speak with I mean, I saw ice tea on the list For example, but I also saw pinker for example, right?

So I grew up listening to ice tea So that's my wheelhouse. I mean, it's love it. I don't I ain't no joke.

Uh But uh about that about that so when you speak to all these different ways because Genius comes in many different forms. There can be the intel like a rationalist like a pinker is not the genius of an iced tea Correct. It's just it's a there's a creative.

It's like you convert It's like, uh, was it thomas always talked about there's no there's only trade-offs, right? There's no solutions, right? So you trade off a little maybe intellect here for creativity here or a little openness for a little this So we all have a little bit of that in our personality.

So you come across all these Which people your father was an economist? So you as an artist your father an economist which types of thinkers come across your desk when you see it that like Really just think is it an artist? Uh an economist.

Is it a physicist? Like what what's your Hobby like when you see and when you associate with like a subject of some sort I ask the deep questions I I don't mess around here Val

[Speaker 1] (23:31 - 25:23)

That's great, that's awesome So um When I when i've done different brain tests I always come out As right brained as I am left brained and as visual as I am auditory You're so i'm like my brain is always like right in the center like where where are you when you're at, you know so I respond like I adore neil degrasse tyson carl sagan I Really love physics My but i'm also a total artist and Really respond to a robert heinlein or a banksy or like I and i'm pretty diverse in that area My favorite book that i've ever read. Um Well, I have to so of course I love Ayn Rand's the fountainhead Which is about an artist but an architect Because he has all his engineering too So it's kind of both and then my other favorite book is um art and physics by leonard schlain Okay, and what I love about that book is that uh, professor schlain goes through and analyzes all human art And his hypothesis or he postulates that Every art movement precedes a major development in physics And that you can see by the development and particularly he analyzes visual art uh painting drawing and sculpture that in those art forms it was pre uh

[Speaker 2] (25:24 - 25:27)

Cognition I actually get that right now.

[Speaker 1] (25:27 - 25:51)

I can I could probably draw up that thesis right now It's amazing and it what I loved about it is it helped me understand different movements And it helped me understand different physics concepts By bringing those two things together and so that like both of those light me up In yeah, because the art well the art would be an expression of some kind of pattern recognition in life, right?

[Speaker 2] (25:51 - 26:05)

So you're now expressing that and the scientist does use patterns and probably sees the emotion of the art, right? Who's the person who was moved when he saw the three streams coming down who like invented? Was it like in vitro fertilization or something?

[Speaker 1] (26:05 - 26:23)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I know. Yeah, right and he's like became instantly spiritual Um, I think his name he's got a really cool name, but he saw he was out in the farm and he saw these rows Out in the field and that's what made him think of the rows that are in the television Yes.

[Speaker 2] (26:23 - 26:29)

Yeah the ip the in-plane switching. Yeah, exactly and you mentioned Heinlein I happen to have Heinlein on my libby right now.

[Speaker 1] (26:29 - 26:29)

There you go.

[Speaker 2] (26:29 - 26:58)

All right, sweet So and i'm i do audiobooks because the reading doesn't work jive so good with my brain But uh, yeah, so so the physics thing that you and I align then very much So because like I have conversations like I had brendan Uh brown of weedus on the guy from teenage dirtbag a couple months ago, right? Such a night just a nice friendly conversation just opened up a conversation So it's like beautiful and then you have a scientist like I had jeff hester on Who was the person who took the first picture of the hubble telescope?

[Speaker 1] (26:59 - 26:59)

Oh my god.

[Speaker 2] (27:00 - 27:47)

So That's like I i'll happily connect you with he's in arizona so it's like what are those things where it's funny how this works because How it's weird because freedom fest is really or just that idea of freedom has opened up You just ask someone for a conversation and someone Rants it like Okay And like when you know, it's I it's a crazy thing and it Completely shrinks the world. Yes But there's so much more about the world that we need to figure out and expose using our expression of speech So that we can fix those things that are going behind the scene And that's one reason I I really believe in listening to other people and Uh, so I was in graduate school for dance.

[Speaker 1] (27:47 - 28:00)

Um, a few years ago got my mfa and um, congratulations Thank you Okay, so i'm an mf an artist uh Sailor you're good.

[Speaker 2] (28:00 - 28:01)

You're good. No worries.

[Speaker 1] (28:01 - 29:05)

So, um But what was so interesting that you know, i'm a libertarian and Probably everyone else was liberal progressive democrat but of course as a libertarian, I actually agree on several, you know, some social aspects and things like that and what What I really came to appreciate was how? You know listening to people and their concerns And rather than just rejecting their concerns, you know, you know, I think being concerned about homelessness is quite a Important thing question is how do you solve it? And the reality is that using freedom and collaboration and free market is such a better way to solve our healthcare Problems to the extent that climate change is or isn't happening Is to me less relevant than the question of Uh, well, are we good stewards of our resources and our earth?

Do we have this?

[Speaker 2] (29:06 - 29:37)

And and can we be smart enough to adapt as a species to the changes that are upcoming? Yes, and because i'm gonna tell you Smart enough to get our dna and ourselves off of this Planet and not even just off of the planet off the out of the solar system because remember the sun's gonna eventually go too, right so Turtles all the way up right not just all the way down turtles all the way up. So to your point It's it's a beautiful thing.

Yeah, it's a philosophy of how we get to the problems that we solve That's right.

[Speaker 1] (29:37 - 29:55)

It was I like to listen to what other people are concerned about and rather I feel it you know and and also this either or kind of thing like Either we have to care about the spotted owl or we have to help farmers irrigate their you know farms I just don't understand.

[Speaker 2] (29:55 - 30:21)

I'm a yes and Okay, it's the binary thinking has gotten just absolutely horrible. I mean my my desire to say Killing innocent children isn't good Doesn't make me anti or pro anything other than children not getting killed like I can't Express that nuance any clearer than that yet Both sides of that you're getting torn apart.

[Speaker 1] (30:21 - 31:04)

I mean, it's it's unbelievable Yeah, and and the the default to If you disagree with me, you're horrible. You're rotten. You're evil.

You want someone to die? And I I just feel like we have lost the art of being able to disagree agreeably and also Really be willing to listen to listen to something else and not that you have to agree But even in the listening and the understanding Like I said, it can help you refine your own position more Or grow in your it's just it's just way better and I just wish more people would like do it Absolutely.

[Speaker 2] (31:04 - 32:27)

And to that point there is an interesting conversation Uh, which one is that modern not the one modern wisdom with chris williamson, but it's another podcast the uh diary of a ceo I love that He had an hostage negotiator on And it when you listen to him he goes it's about empathy And people conflate empathy with compassion. Yeah, I know they're very different things And he goes like this. He goes what made me a great negotiator is I can walk into a situation And tell that person what they're feeling about this situation That is empathy Compassion would be agreeing with him in how to get out of it and that doesn't Those two things do not And we can use that in in a very woke Certain cult thing that we talk about is If you come to me as a human being and you want to be called x y or z I as a human being and as a loving person to someone who I care about who wants that from me I will offer that to that person But there is no way that you're going to tell me that you are something that you're not for example, right so These are both exist and they both They both are part of the non-aggression They're not neither those things can both exist. That's right Without there being a without there being a need for a solution

[Speaker 1] (32:27 - 32:46)

Right, so that's another great example of the yes, and you know It's like yes, I can be respectful and I can disagree about something really fundamental and I and I don't have to buy into everything I can Keep you know a sense of reality this kind of stuff try

[Speaker 2] (32:48 - 32:51)

At least our own at least our own right it's good in our own vacuum

[Speaker 1] (32:52 - 34:18)

That's it's interesting what we're talking about here. That's one of the reasons we do themes every year at freedom fest And we've had a lot of really fun themes. We've had healthy wealthy and wise Um, are we roam?

Exploring new front frontiers. We had william shatner come that year. That was really fun Um, but this year our theme is brave new world And for those who don't know that's a 1932 book by aldous huxley That's very one of these dystopian kind of future in the vein a little bit of like a 1984 um You know kind or fahrenheit 451 kind of thing but You know, it just feels like there are so many things happening happening technologically and socially Where there's a question, you know, are we entering kind of a brave new world kind of mentality? and in some cases that brave new worldness Like there's something I wish we were entering Not his version of a brave new.

No, no for sure Right the idea of having like something new and bold that's positive And helpful would be great like and that's why we want to have this ai debate. Is ai going to lead us? Like let me tell you basically no science fiction book movie anything ever Positive about ai Like it's never been good.

[Speaker 2] (34:18 - 34:40)

I'm, sorry. Dave. I just cautionary tale I just can't do that.

Dave Yeah, i'm very familiar it is a I have not look I grew up in the 80s watching every sci-fi 70s and 80s growing watching every sci-fi movie Not a single one ended. Well, I mean even luke Not good. They won.

Okay Come on, that wasn't that great yet.

[Speaker 1] (34:40 - 34:54)

Here it is. It is with us It is in I am getting messages every day from google. Gemini Let me write your emails.

Let me write your everything, you know and Yeah, it's and changing the photos.

[Speaker 2] (34:54 - 35:21)

Oh my gosh, it's like And as different as we are as a species we all Have similar triggers and they are patterns and that's all ai is just an enhanced pattern churner And it knows what buttons to push and it already is doing it. It already is Like it's gotta be it's weird. I'm a i'm a future.

I love the future. I love technology, but that kind of thing is not It's dangerous for sure.

[Speaker 1] (35:21 - 36:02)

Yeah And it's also with the biohacking. I mean everything going on with the vaccines with reproduction With you can talk about all that if you like. Yeah, please It's an interesting topic and and I and and that's why these kinds of nuanced conversations that's another thing we really try to have at freedom fest like How do you talk about?

You know transgenderism the rights of people The rights of people who are transgendered and the rights of people who are not And when is that right? And that transition Correct and proper who do we protect who do we you know?

[Speaker 2] (36:02 - 36:08)

It's when when is the pursuit of happiness infringed on the 5149 side, right?

[Speaker 1] (36:08 - 37:11)

I mean, that's really the the balance that we constantly fight We it's it also reminds me of um the question around freedom of expression And this the cancel culture thing and I have to say, you know as much as Like on the one hand very much against cancel culture and This attitude of like I can't hear something and therefore it should not exist. And I think we got away from understanding what Cancel culture actually means and that there's a difference between Saying I don't like something and therefore it should not exist And using power to make sure it doesn't exist Versus As a user being able to decide what I do and do not want even as a company even as a corporation And that's why that whole social media conversation is really important. Is that a private company? That has rights in that way.

Are they providing so much of a social?

[Speaker 2] (37:12 - 37:31)

platform public platform that they lose It's such an interesting but it doesn't become a utility like in electricity or that's right a water work or But but as libertarian, I would assume you'd want to privatize that eventually, right? So we've kind of moved we we kind of can and look what we have we have Right coming up.

[Speaker 1] (37:31 - 37:32)

We had parlor.

[Speaker 2] (37:32 - 37:32)

Absolutely.

[Speaker 1] (37:33 - 38:10)

Yeah, for sure So so we have as long as the technology is available and you don't have someone coming in and shutting that down Um, and I think that triggered a lot of people to say this is not right, even if I don't agree um But at the same time, you know, there's a there are a lot of channels on television and they're all Out there able to but I don't have to watch What's on that station? I'm not just because it exists just because rachel maddow was talking Didn't mean I had to turn to that station and listen Mine was jerry springer.

[Speaker 2] (38:10 - 40:01)

Come on. That was the one because I Before cancel culture. I grew up in the day.

It was called vote with your dollar Bud light is how cancel culture happens Bud light is how cancel culture happened. They just said I just won't buy your pb or anymore or Whatever, whatever they said i'm not going to speak again you know, I can't speak right because I drink it in the first place, but Regardless of that, but that was it was you voted with your dollar and I remember people about jerry springer. It's like change The channel it won't get commercial sponsorship.

It will go off the air, right? It's very simple everybody and And I just watched and I'm gonna go out of my mind because I just watched a very short bit of howard stern of all people licking the boots Of joe biden Are you kidding me? I grew up in the whole era of his brazen Anti-authority thumbing his nose Going extreme.

Yeah, he did it like raunchily. It's the way you could do it back Then it was a way it was the way to fight back because they were even going against like billy joel somethings back then Oh, yeah I mean, come on so I look at that time and and and I get so frustrated when I watch a man who Many people admire to become who they are Watch this mask wearing Hypochondriac Lock himself in a room like almost howard hughesian type figure. Yeah, who can speak?

Kindly of joe biden Who was in the clan with tipper gore and james baker's wife trying to censor music in the 80s? Are you really this these are the really come are we are we really there? We don't have a memory Wow, yeah, it's true.

[Speaker 1] (40:01 - 40:33)

And um, and it becomes intentional to your point Yeah intention I get off That's okay. I love it because I think what's in now not that people can't grow and evolve but hopefully they grow and evolve towards like we appreciate greater consciousness you know kindness and truth and freedom and openness to people but um, it kind of reminds me a little bit of like rage against the machine and when the pandemic was happening and they're like Everybody's got to have their vax cards

[Speaker 2] (40:33 - 40:55)

I was in philadelphia when they just stood naked for a half hour with this with the noise playing for a half hour Yeah, thanks a lot rage. Yeah, it's funny how they broke up just to just a funny story about that I think zach whatever is like, oh, yeah, I actually believe in this stuff or whatever like something like really radical something They're like, oh you do and they all kind of just took a step to the right and he just stayed there Yeah, they kind of broke off.

Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (40:56 - 41:57)

Yeah, it's true. Um last year we had um Winston Marshall from uh mumford and sons at freedom fest and You know, he was basically kicked out of the band for speaking out And kind of agreeing with something online and then it was like not okay and it was like this whole big explosion and the way that his bandmates and Fans and everything came down on him for expressing an opinion Um, you know he talks about that now, but it is interesting like just heading back to the arts the one we are trying to bring creativity and the arts back into the libertarian and liberty movement because I really do feel like so much of what people understand and where they create their meaning and their belief system comes from education and from Media and like not journalism media, but like media meaning films and art to take a broader

[Speaker 2] (41:58 - 47:25)

To take a broader step. It's actually story. It's just story.

That's a great great thing whether it's poem Music is just story brought to the song, right? So it just attacks two senses, right? Yes, you know, you've got your your word spoken word also attacks two senses the way you inflect and things like that So these things very much touch the touch the human in the emotion through story, right?

You can I mean the if I may share a quick story about how I how this even how i'm even here. I mean, this is just absolutely amazing My I was born in philadelphia. My parents were both german.

They were both born in germany. Okay My father was born in 1940 in hamburg Yeah, not a great place at that time. My mom was born in 1944 But her father was a soldier in the german army You know, you know that group of people that we Who we don't voldemort their names.

Yes, but uh, so he was an anti-aircraft gunner and um They were in what actually so they served my my whole family served under hitler. I mean my my parent My parents were born under hitler's rule That's just a fact in germany not in america like in germany under hitler so After the war they broke up, uh germany, right? Yeah, guess who's lucky enough to be under stalin next my grandma my grandfather and my mother, right?

My father's in hamburg, but okay, you know and he lost a child from now nutrition He lost a sibling now nutrition obviously from the war, you know, obviously surprising only one they had five of them, you know It's like surprising only one passed, you know But so now we go from hitler to stalin Hmm Okay, so you want to talk about ideology? They're the same ideology just used differently, right? If we can't realize that it's all just authoritative Nature, that's all it is.

So then they escape east germany in 1953 They actually come over before the wall gets up the crazy story about that. I did a podcast with my mom about it They come and some person completely unknown to my grandfather. He writes my grandfather writes this guy in philadelphia He's a german barber And my grandfather asked to be sponsored.

Oh my god, his wife and two children. Wow um The guy agrees. This is this is america, right?

This is 19 It's a german-american who saw value in this family knowing that this person and trusting that he would be A trustworthy person to do it. However, he sold it back then Comes across and you know how it works a sponsorship if this person has debt if my grandfather has debt or a crime This other person's accountable for basically everything So so I have a very specific border thought I don't know if it's complete but it's definitely has You know what we're seeing is not what it is. So my parents go from you know from hitler to stalin To I guess eisenhower just post eisenhower.

I mean And and then we go and then he talks warns about the military industrial complex and then we start And we start with korea Vietnam Down the road, right? I grow up. I grew up knowing that hitler's bad.

Sure But I definitely know that communism's bad because my mom Did not like that. So that was definitely something I was going to fight it every bit. I grew up.

I enlisted at 17 I was 9 11. I was I was in bed. I had 102 fever when 9 11 happened.

I remember that And I remember 1992 This is obviously I didn't enlist because of 9 11. This is after but i'm 92 before college I enlisted And I was going to be a good american do the gi bill pay for college do the whole thing I was in I took the azvap did the thing I get through the physical I get through the three-hour physical I get to the last guy and I had a bad car accident When I was younger, so he's like, oh you had this heart accident Your legs shorter you fail and i'm like I was devastated Devastated that I couldn't be part of this and then this stuff happens with iraq and i'm all in 16 I was kuwait was 16 for me. So iraq and all that. Oh my gosh, man I had saddam the scuds for you t-shirt.

I remember we were boy scouts eagle scouts or something When you're in and you don't know anything else and that's all you know Everything you know when it's a hammer everything's a nail so It's not even an ideology. It's your culture, right? It literally is how you live every minute of your life That's right and then you hear about the wmds and the yellow cake uranium and all this stuff and the colon pal and watching that guy just And then you watch like john stewart go about the vaccine on on steven colbert Totally let the cat out of the bag.

Then he gets brand, you know Hit and gets like nicked for it then he does and bootlicking thing with condoleezza rice and hillary clinton to make up for it. It's like There's no integrity. It's like I learned information that changed my mind because i'm principled And what this was was wrong We got lied to People didn't need we didn't need to do it, right?

So it's just that right It's a simple principle thing versus this back and forth. So this is why I love that you have this type of Convention available every year. So thank you for providing that for us

[Speaker 1] (47:25 - 49:29)

It is a great honor and you know, one of the things that I love about it is that We approach freedom as a 360 life experience So political freedom is very important and we talk about political freedom a lot But it's not everything You need economic freedom financial freedom health freedom educational and intellectual freedom Expressive and creative freedom spiritual freedom psychological freedom Let me tell you that the the first place everyone needs to experience freedom is to do self analysis and figure out where your own limiting beliefs are And figure out how to propel your life You know harry brown wrote a book back in the day called how to live free in an unfree world And gandhi and jesus and many others in the buddha all figured out That the first place you have to get free is in your own mind and in your own spirit and your own soul And so that's part of what we're also trying to address there by having these different conversations Meeting with different people engaging on this It helps get you out of this concept That one way of looking at things is the only way to look, you know And that there are so many different elements that that we have access to so it that broadening of your thinking and your understanding of freedom is Hugely important in your personal life, which is where I think we all need to start in your family your business Those are the places we can have the most influence You know you start a great business that helps people achieve financial freedom helps them achieve then health freedom Help their children go to maybe get schooling for the first time That breaks as long as they don't go to the wrong school and get a bunch of student loans But then of course we don't have to pay our student loans back anymore Anyway, so that we won't have to in a couple years

[Speaker 2] (49:29 - 49:30)

We're buying votes now.

[Speaker 1] (49:30 - 50:12)

So never mind about that But you know like i'm just saying, you know, that's Uh, they they feed us the hype man, you know, and the hype is there and the problems are there and all that but Uh in addition to addressing the big problems You gotta address your own life issues first and foremost And so if we keep doing that, I think that's where we kind of meet and and grow freedom from both ends Uh, you can't stay totally myopic, but you also can't always be like, oh my gosh The sky is falling and doom and gloom and you know, everything's horrible Um, right, you know

[Speaker 2] (50:12 - 52:08)

I mean the first person that comes to mind is like a jordan peterson right now when you're talking about the you know The balance right we talk about the chaos and the order Yeah, there is you You need chaos and that's the art that is to your point That is when you talk about that art revolution preceding some intellectual there is there is that There is some synchronicity that lines that and when you when you get that chaos to grow it's great But you do need to order to be anchored because if you float away you you can't get back to the tether and and We're at that kind of borderline area and camilla pagley has talked about this about Gender changes and whatnot and it's interesting. I hate i'll say it douglas mary's name, but he's been recently not A i've not been a great fan of his but you know what? This is the other thing to your point.

Not. Everybody's great. Not.

Everybody's evil. We got to be very careful to have Because they're gonna let you down in some way right and I don't mean that in a bore bad way I just mean everybody's human. No one's a god.

Everyone's human, right? So like a douglas mary who can share that type of great thing does his other thing about this other stuff, right? so but camille pagley is one of those ones that As I and and I only came into this whole just thing maybe five ten years ago And it's just now it's drinking from the fire hose, you know I have three podcasts on at all times and if I hear something one of them I'll pause the other two and just listen to that little portion.

Wow You have like a thomas jefferson brain or something i'm trying to catch up I've got a lot of catching up to do because i'm very much and I know conceptually the things i'm just not good with the verbiage So you talk about a hind line or a spoon or or you know It's about it. I mean, I know obviously ron paul and I love you know I see I know brand and obviously massey and all that but yeah, so So in that Back to freedom fest. Let's talk about some of these great guests are going to have so you have you love science And you have some scientists tell us about some of the guests.

I'd love to hear you share about that.

[Speaker 1] (52:09 - 53:40)

Oh goodness. Yeah. No, we We get about I would say 250 to 300 guests at freedom fest, honestly, so Guest speakers and then I honestly consider our exhibitors um a huge part of the Experience and the lineup and the content as well.

Let's give them a shout out Let's go with speakers, let's go with speakers So this year our headliners as you mentioned ice tea And steven pinker we have both of them coming and along the same lines as steven pinker We also have lord matt ridley who is coming um And of course he has written amazing things on innovation and progress. He's got a new book out. I believe it's called virus So he's addressing the issues around the pandemic Tom woods is also going to be there and he's written a book about the pandemic as well So we're gonna have a really interesting session with some pretty deep conversation about um lessons learned On many levels, uh coming out of that many many levels uh, we're super super super excited that uh, president javier malay has uh, Was like i'm coming to freedom fest. I want to come to freedom fest So he's coming and that is just super exciting because he is an absolute rock star like literally and metaphorically um So and a third and a third party choice, right?

[Speaker 2] (53:40 - 54:05)

What a shock well, I mean Oh in argentina, you mean right in argentina, of course, right? Yeah, that's what I mean Like and and and he was the third party choice to to the first point you're making about having a third choice Yeah, i'm looping it back around. So that's how the brain works.

I go a to j to b to z to four to q to Sigma to whatever other greek alphabet letter you can find.

[Speaker 1] (54:05 - 54:37)

Oh gosh, that's awesome. So, uh, Justin amash is coming this year. He's running for senate in michigan Uh sean nelson is coming.

He is the ceo of lovesack the furniture company and it actually started like really cool um beanbags back in the day, but he has a prominent entrepreneur Really cool guy and he's going to share a lot of super super interesting things. Um Emily campagno from fox news is coming and be talking about classic cars with her.

[Speaker 2] (54:38 - 54:42)

Yeah Good got the mustang, right? I think she's got a 72 mustang if i'm not mistaken.

[Speaker 1] (54:42 - 54:45)

What a great one That's a really good year for the mustang.

[Speaker 2] (54:45 - 54:53)

Um, I got a 67 bonneville wow Gore, it's gorgeously. So it's like a blue car.

[Speaker 1] (54:53 - 56:03)

I'll share i'll send a picture to you, but it's i'm working on it Still i'm still working and uh Great friend of ours one of our ambassadors spike cohen who always gives an amazing speech. Um On our stage just super impassioned. He's a great advocate for freedom And we love hearing from him john mackie the former ceo and founder of whole foods will be with us We actually have governor joe lombardo from nevada coming to freedom fest this year to welcome us and What's really cool about that is you mentioned?

You know 2022 well back in 2020. We were planning the event Um, this is kind of funny. So we always plan our our themes And that year in 2019 We had come up with this great idea catch the vision You know catch the vision of freedom catch the vision of liberty catch the vision of independence, you know Catch the vision and we have this cute like image of a little girl reaching for a firefly in a forest It was beautiful and amazing and then 2020 comes along and we have the pandemic and all of a sudden catch the vision makes you feel like, you know, kind of catch the pirates

[Speaker 2] (56:07 - 56:10)

It's like catching the ick That's not a good one

[Speaker 1] (56:10 - 57:40)

Not a good one, but we were pushing ahead. We were determined to have freedom fest And actually caesar's was working. We were supposed to be at caesar at paris Then we moved to caesar's palace.

They were just letting this spread out and they're like, okay You have to have 200 people 250 people per room. And so we're like, okay how do we have a general session with a couple thousand people like we're satelliting and Finally, you know governor sisselak of nevada at the time was one of these really restrictive governors and He pulled it back to like 50 people per room something like that and we had you know, a few thousand people signed up It's like how can you how you can even have an exhibit hall with 50 people or whatever?

and so um They were supposed to expand it They didn't and he just really shut it down and we ended up not being able to have the event that year um And so we really appreciate that governor lombardo has such a completely different View and he's so much more, you know, pro business and pro openness and anti Shutdowns and mandates and all that so we're excited to have him there just as kind of like a take that governor sisselak Former governor sisselak for shutting us down um michael schirmer of skeptic magazine is one of our he comes back almost every year and he's amazing and uh Really is able to he'll be having actually a conversation with stephen pinker that I think is going to be

[Speaker 2] (57:41 - 57:42)

Oh my gosh, really?

[Speaker 1] (57:42 - 57:43)

Yeah, like amazing.

[Speaker 2] (57:43 - 57:44)

Wow. That's gonna be awesome.

[Speaker 1] (57:45 - 58:00)

It will be Majd teray is another one of our ambassadors. Um with guns matter Love him larry sharp with the sharp way. I follow him on x he's so cool and The thing I love about larry is he's from philadelphia, I think right?

[Speaker 2] (58:01 - 58:01)

I think he is.

[Speaker 1] (58:01 - 58:53)

Uh, he might be from there, but he's in new york now and he's run for always in new york um and just somebody who Gets it like gets the idea of outreach and bringing people together so that we can make progress together So we really love larry steve forbes is coming robert kiyosaki Baron baptiste who is the founder of power yoga? In fact his parents Opened the first major yoga studio on the west coast back in the 1950s And were responsible for really introducing mainstream yoga in the united states Uh in the 20th century, so he's coming very nice and i'll just give a little hint. Um, So don't don't shoot me if it it's we're like on the verge of confirming rob schneider Uh to be here as part of our comedy festival.

[Speaker 2] (58:53 - 59:49)

He can do it If you need a rob schneider impersonator, I can do all of the rob schneiders. It's very It's I grew up Yeah, you know That's a gentleman. I can be honestly I can honestly say I did probably two 360s on in my life, you know you want to talk about finding out where that person sits on the scale because like You think about the comedy and you're like now he's a supporter so how much comedy do you really contribute and then you're like he did contribute but then he had this thing and then he goes Here and he goes there and it's like was he this way and then he shifts and then he has something happen And then he changes his mind and then they all attack him and you're like, wait a minute.

Everybody's attacking him Why is everybody attacking him now? This doesn't sound right. So this is how everything happens in my head So I see you that's why you could listen to three podcasts at once I can see I apologize in advance for my scatterbrained nature, but I there is pattern recognition in there somewhere.

I swear.

[Speaker 1] (59:49 - 59:53)

I figure out I figure out stuff You're bringing it together. I love it.

[Speaker 2] (59:53 - 1:00:21)

So if anybody well, you mentioned spike cohen if I may I just Just because that's what we're on this podcast I don't want to share spike cohen's and uh stuff as I follow him as well And he had a phenomenal gun debate with hog david hog. I think a couple Did yeah, oh my gosh Anyway, I don't want to get into that how that but spike did quite well and is very well spoken So when I saw him on there, I was really is a great spokesperson for liberty Probably one of our best right now.

[Speaker 1] (1:00:21 - 1:01:30)

He he is and one of the nicest people to deal with and uh, just a just a really strong and phenomenal guy So that is just the tip of the iceberg of people coming to freedom fest, right? And um If you we are adding probably through june, we'll continue to add speakers. So go to freedomfest.com Look at the speaker list and you'll just see Tons of people that you know and tons of people you don't know and should know and are going to be excited about so And we'll keep adding more keynote level speakers as well. So It's going to be it's going to be pretty awesome in terms of exhibitors. Oh my gosh what I love about our exhibitor space is that It's pretty equally divided amongst the best uh You know think tanks grassroots organizations non-profits but also a lot of businesses and uh that are doing good things to bring more freedom to your life whether it's through financial things or Sustainability like living off the grid stuff bitcoin things

[Speaker 2] (1:01:30 - 1:01:39)

Um, so like practical things, yeah, really practical things you can take out of the vacuum of this perfect world utopia and actually Apply it to your life.

[Speaker 1] (1:01:39 - 1:03:03)

We've got you know medical uh innovations that are You know clearing up multiple sclerosis and parkinson's and all kinds of things and they're having to do all of that Outside of the fda and so they're you know Working in other countries and they're putting together these great treatments and showing In amazing results for people we've got artwork we've got, you know just like uh Ed choice is coming Um, we have the libertarian party. Of course.

We have perk which is the protection of the educational rights of children goldback as I mentioned um with the aurum universal coin um So they'll have like all of these beautiful gold coins We have several coin dealers who are coming and that's really amazing young americans for liberty the big student organization That really promotes libertarian thought Will be there american institute for economic research conservatives concerned about the death penalty crime prevention resort research center Uh decriminalizing sex work will be there along with woodhull Foundation, which is also dedicated to sexual freedom And sexual sexual rights. Oh my gosh. What else home tribe, which is a like a homeschooling resource system um Trying to think what else?

[Speaker 2] (1:03:03 - 1:03:05)

Uh, I just I love the excitement.

[Speaker 1] (1:03:05 - 1:04:49)

I love the excitement I'm just hanging on i'm like You know injected which is a really cool social media platform for people who refuse the vaccine who want to find each other in love And in social things so that's injected which is really cool strive is coming young voices Oh gosh fire. Um the foundation for individual rights and education frontiers of freedom the future of freedom foundation The libertarian christian institute mises institute turning point usa um voices for consumer choice and Um, gosh like Again, the list is huge epic cash learn to invest roblox rogue and white blue clothing And then we have a bunch of media that's going to be there too, you know, we'll have Uh groups like yours the sam sorbo show the bart show podcast Uh epic times reason tv will be there living and aging with pride And that will keep growing More and more over the next little while as well real estate guys will be there So yeah, it's and we're our major sponsor is um An amazing group called iron light and they partner with us. They do incredible mission-driven marketing so they're really helping to foster a great sense of Um Passion and success for really good organizations that are doing good work and good businesses that are doing good work So we're really excited to be working with iron light, too That's amazing.

[Speaker 2] (1:04:49 - 1:04:53)

It just sounds like a full breadth height width and depth of everything

[Speaker 1] (1:04:53 - 1:05:57)

You go into that exhibit hall and you just feel the buzz and everybody's it's like all the like There are people, you know, and you're like, oh I always wanted to meet people from that organization and you can go actually meet them and go have coffee together and go get a Drink and sit down and talk and then there's another group next time you've maybe never heard of and you're like That is so freaking cool that you're doing xyz like tell me more and then you get involved and that's another thing I love about our attendees is that not only are they passionate about freedom, but they come to freedom fest to really learn really engage Figure out how they can make money make their lives better, you know meet like-minded people Meet speakers and that's another cool thing is that so many of our speakers like are there as part they're attending the conference Like steve forbes comes and he comes the entire time. He goes you'll like sit next to him in a breakout session On something you're like, hey He's like, oh i'm doing very well again. It's totally nice guy and he'll be like, what do you think of this presentation?

You can have a little conversation with him.

[Speaker 2] (1:05:57 - 1:06:05)

He's so nice Great i'm i'm so excited to go. I'm like i'm just dead.

[Speaker 1] (1:06:05 - 1:07:00)

So yeah Plan not to sleep too much I'm Sessions during the day, but then in the evenings First of all, you're in vegas. Second of all, you're going to meet a ton of people third of all we have receptions We have jam sessions. We have karaoke.

We have yoga in the morning We have parties. It's like You know We have a comedy show we have the anthem film festival So there's a whole film festival that goes throughout the entire conference where you see all the latest movies that are devoted to principles around liberty shorts Long form narratives and documentaries with panels the filmmakers are there uh, that's like if you Care about movies that is and it comes with your freedom fest pass so, um, you can just You know decide what you want to go see it And check it out first before that's amazing

[Speaker 2] (1:07:01 - 1:07:34)

I'm actually gonna have to schedule because i'm a one-man operation. I got to figure this out somehow Yeah, like i'm gonna have to either multiplicity myself or yeah or something You know a copy of a copy is not quite as sharp as the original You don't want you don't want a copy of a copy of me. Trust me.

You don't want that That's all we're already off a couple first generation That's amazing. Well, thank you so much. I remember actually the last time we were there at mirage in the evening We're at rumbar and that place started packing up.

Uh, pretty good that one night. So Yeah, well if there's anything else you'd love to share once again freedom fest

[Speaker 1] (1:07:34 - 1:09:45)

We actually have a code for you for your listeners It's excellent 50 I think conscious 50 conscious 50 Okay, so if you go to freedomfest.com Check out all the stuff and then click the register now button up at the top Go through the process You're gonna pick regular attendee and Do any of the add-ons you want to do put in your name and address and what's up? And on the final page, it'll have a promo code and just put in conscious 50 And that will take 50 off of your registration Get you can bring a guest for a cheaper rate We have a student rate. We have a young professionals rate.

So if you have Younger person if you're under 30 if you're a student right now Uh, there are rates for you on that clearly we've talked enough Uh, yeah, we have well That's a great point It's july 10th through the 13th in las vegas We have hotel rooms at the harrahs and the link which are directly connected to the caesar's forum We also have a few rooms over in the caesar's palace if you want to kind of be fancy and be over there um But I I really hope that your listeners will come I guarantee you will have a phenomenal time a life-changing experience.

You will meet people that make you That take your life to a new place that leave you inspired and if you're if you feel like there's no rhyme or reason to this society and you feel devastated by this election process You will feel better coming to freedom fest. You will feel like there is hope for us all There is the people who are there you are not alone And there are people doing good work. And if we keep coming together and bringing the people that we know get it Or can get it Then that's how we can revolutionize and we can all live freer and happier lives Which is the goal for this whole planet.

We all need to be living freer and happier lives That is our goal and freedom fest is one of the best ways to come together and then launch launch all these things Free happy i'll take it i'll take freedom and happiness all day.

[Speaker 2] (1:09:46 - 1:10:21)

Thank you for letting me be a part of the voice of that Uh in july, I am so excited. I'm i'm hoping to reach out to your team and hopefully I can Be as contributive as possible. Like I said Uh, thank you again president and ceo of freedom fest Congratulations again, and we will see you in july conscious 50 50 off any of the packages i'll reach it out I hope I have enough a voice i'm still working on it.

I'm still building but But I will happily be there and I will be absolutely expressing your voice for freedom. Thank you again so much Valerie, I hope you had a great day.

[Speaker 1] (1:10:21 - 1:10:24)

It was so nice meeting you Yeah, I can't wait to meet you in person in vegas.

[Speaker 2] (1:10:24 - 1:10:55)

I'm looking forward to meeting you in person as well Thank you so much. Take care