08-27-24 Interview - Deborah Flora is Talking About Kids

Dip Flora.

You remember from her race in the fourth Congressional District that did not go the way we wanted it to go.

But she is back and back doing what.

Really I'm not going to say put you on the map, Deborah, because that's not giving you enough do. But you have long been at the forefront of fighting for our children in a variety of ways, and now you're going to be on a big stage and Saturday in Washington, d C.

First of all, welcome back to the show. Great to be here, Mandy, as always, thank you. Good to be here.

So tell me a little bit about what's happening Saturday in Washington, d C.

I'm so excited about this. You and I've talked about how movements in history, the vast majority of them, never.

Make a lasting change.

Most of them get to a certain point plateau, then taper off. When we think of movements that have made a difference, there's a suffrage move it's a civil rights movement. Something happened to bring it to critical mass with lasting change. The movement I've been a part of that you're talking about, is the parental rights, educational freedom of protecting children, girls' sports. I've been fighting for that for a long time, first.

Of all as a mom, someone who just cares.

And by the way, that's why most of us will never stop fighting for this because we care. Having started Parents United America introduced curriculum, transparency, legislation, done the documentary, etc.

And what I've always had a.

Vision for I spoke with someone who Tina Dskovich, and with the same vision, it's time to have a march for kids. And what we're doing on Saturday in Washington, DC is the first ever March for Kids. And the wonderful thing about this, Amandy, is it transcends all.

The rest of the polarization.

We've got people who are coming from every political spectrum, from every ethnic group, from every religious group, and that is what it's about. So we're coming together. I'll be speaking at the first ever March for Kids Saturday this coming Saturday, August thirty first, along with people like doctor Alvita King, Tulca Gabbard, and many others who've been at the front of this movement.

Because I believe.

That after COVID, everybody woke up and that was a moment in history. But if parents don't stay engaged, this movement will go by the wayside of many others. We've got to get to critical mass because just because kids are back in school does not mean the things that are happening there that may be antithetical to a family's values are not still happening.

Case in point, if I do, if I may today from X, I have to give a lot of a big shout out for Aaron for parental rights. She has a wonderful Twitter feed that always has great information. She dug into the first grade social study standards. And in case you were thinking to yourself, you know what, first greed needs more talk about sex work.

Good news.

Good news.

Now in Colorado, our six year olds are going to have the opportunity to learn about sex work.

Is this all going to come about?

They're going to teach them about the Stonewall riots. They're going to teach them about the two people who kind of kicked off the Stonewall riots, who, in addition to being drag queens not necessarily trans women, but drag queens also sex traffic young boys that they picked up off the streets. And that is the context which your six

And I found myself laughing when you said that, not out of amusement, just how to just share absurdities. And that is the problem.

I mean.

One of the things that I love about this March for Kids that we're having on Saturday is because when I talk to people from any different spectrum, I mean, you know, you got the Muslim dads in Detroit who are standing up against the sexualize of the children. I've let a rally down at our Capitol building and it was bilingual because half of the folks who showed up were Hispanic standing against the sexualization of their children. This transcends everything, because why this is happening is.

Most people don't know.

Most people really just believe they're going to send their child off to school, they're going to learn how to read and write.

And the reality is right here in Colorado.

I haven't seen the latest statistics, but I think was last year less than forty percent read a grade level less than thirty percent do math.

At grade level.

And by the way, this burden's teachers. Can you imagine your first grade teacher. Really, that's when children begin to learn to read and No, instead you're supposed to be teaching them about all of these adult topics. And when we look at really this mental health issue we have with kids today, we're creating the.

Problem and trying to fix the problem.

So how are these kids going to be able to count their money from the sex work if they can't do math.

Strategy we need to use.

That's a truck question because I would I would bug against the premise they shouldn't be counting money from that kind.

Of work period.

But Aaron does great work on that. And the reality is my concern has always been we've got to get.

This to critical mass.

We have got to remind parents that these things are still going on. But there's a lot of great news of what's happening, Mandy and I want to.

Share that too.

For instance, you have the stand that's happening across the country to protect girls sports and safe spaces. Yes, everybody understands this is not a matter of treating every child with dignity. We all believe in that, but everybody understands it's fundamentally unfair.

For a girl to either be forced to shower next to.

An anatomical mail or to compete against him.

You are literally the agency taking away her agency to say this is not okay. Because if you say it's not okay, well you're transphobic. They call you a name and send you out of the sports world.

With one percent.

And the reality is I spoke to her mom the other day, whose daughter had always dreamt of being an Olympic runner, and at the age of twelve, she decided to quit because she looked at her mother and said, what does it even matter? What does it matter? Because she was watching the Olympics, she was watching some of the stories there, and she no longer believes in the United States of America she can pursue her dream and

That's just wrong. But the positive.

Part is across the country you see people waking up and saying, okay, wait a second, you can't just call somebody a name and silence, a real conversation about what is right.

Another bright spot.

Another thing I'm working with is a scholarships. I'm on the board of ASE Scholarships, which has a long standing twenty five year history of supporting low income students so they're not trapped by their zip code and they can succeed. They're also now and I'm working with them on the ESA movement that's taking over in red states across the country. That literally is an education savings account. What that does it gives the money back to the parents. The money

So there are bright spots.

Well, we've got to make sure we keep this at the forefront of the conversation and show nationally. I invite everybody to go to March four Kids, that's four Kids dot com join us on Saturday. Like I said, doctor Elvita King will be there, tying this in with the civil rights movement of.

Her uncle, Talsey Gabbard, Glenn Beck.

A lot of great people, and I'm going to be honored to be speaking there as well.

Well, there's quite a few heavy hitters on this list, and are they do you know if this is going to be streamed on c Span or any of that stuff, because traditionally they'll they'll try to pick something up.

But this is the first year for this march.

This is the very first one and so so anyone who comes can be a part of the inaugural situation. We hope for this to be the newest ongoing march. We know the March for Life has been going on ever since nineteen seventy three, the longest lasting march, which has made very large changes.

We hope that this is the next.

Longest march until we achieve complete parental rights, educational freedom, getting education back to just a place where kids learn and flourish from opening their minds, not being told what to think, but how to think critically, how to have the skills to succeed.

That's what this is really about.

And it's not just education, it's medical freedom as well.

Right, you know, you're a mom. I'm a mom. I remember the moment.

Our our children turned twelve and they were asked if they wanted to go back by themselves without us who decided that?

I mean That's what happened in our family.

I was like, oh, I'm sorry, is she paying the copaye?

Because if she's not bringing it to.

Pay, then I'm coming in here. And my daughter was like, I don't care. I mean sure, it's fine. The the inter the intervention between the parental child relationship has never been under attack like it is right now. I mean in history now, there were times when children were seen not heard. There were times when children were raised by someone else. There were times when people had ten or twelve children because only five would survive, right, and they

If you're in.

Jef Co, you need to know that they are actively working to separate you from.

Your child when it comes to school. And you're right, this is a fundamental shift.

The reason why we called our documentary Whose Children Are They? Is because there's two world's views. Amer Can experiment, which has produced the greatest prosperity and happiness in many ways in human history, is based on the Western civilization idea that the family is the building block, that is the number one source of strength in a culture. That's where governance starts within the family unit and.

It goes out from there.

There's an exact opposite view, I called the statist view. I saw it in the Soviet Union, in East Germany other places where I've been, and they truly believe it is the state's right responsibility to educate the child on everything worldview, morality, political view. The first allegiance is to the state, not to the family unit. All you have to do is read nineteen eighty four and you see it first hand. So we're at that crossroads, and it is this is why I think this march is so important.

So there's politicization in the classroom.

There is a goal to separate the nuclear family and divide and who has ultimate authority over decision making for the child. You know, I'm not saying every parent is perfect by any means, and we have laws to take care of that. But you know, Mandy, you know better than any bureaucrat what makes your child happy or sad, what food they like, what food they don't like, how they work best.

How they don't work best.

The parents truly do know, but there has been something in our culture that's been working to discredit parents as the problem.

Yep, not actually the ultimate authority.

And you just have to look at the way the media took comments by jd Vance talking about I think that people with kids their their you know, votes should have more weight. The man didn't propose legislation. He was making a bigger point about your view point when you

It was the most intense in our brain. And yet JD Vance saying.

Look, people with children have a different worldview of the world they're leaving behind, which I agree with.

But you would have thought he would have said.

If you don't have kids, you should go jump off a cliff, And you would have thought that he had said, if you're a single parent, you should go jump off

It's interesting too, because it's only coming from one side. I don't see parents going around and telling those who are single or don't have kids how they need to live their lives, what they need to do. This needs to get back to a situation where we honor and we respect one another's rights, one another's rights to live free.

When I started parents United in America.

One of the things that I spoke very deeply and thought about when we formed it.

This is for every parent's right.

It doesn't mean I tell another parent how they need to raise their children. I mean, obviously there are laws to protect children, et cetera. But this is really about the fact that I honor respect that they know their children better than anyone else.

I know my kids better than anyone else. We have two children.

In the minute you have too, you suddenly realize how different every child is.

On top of it.

Oh, yes, and they're not little miniature us. That's the most They're not the parent parenting. You're like, wait a minute, yes, this person and they're nothing like me.

Yes.

And I think it's very important the future of our country because if this building block gets broken down, then we have something where suddenly everything has been institutionalized. Everything is now no longer that human touch and interaction. And by the way, I've always said that, you know, if our founding fathers had ever thought we would get to this day where the most fundamental basic right of the parents would be questioned, printer rights would have been in the Bill of Rights.

But to me, I believe was unthinkable to them.

It's the cornerstone of Western civilization and we've got to protect it and let everybody live freely.

Well, you can find out more information. I linked to this on the blog so you can see the speakers. They have a lot of I'm trying to find out if they have a stream it button, but we'll find out. I'll see if I can find out where they are going to be where you can see this. So it's interesting that you've got all these speakers coming forward. And I'm wondering how much much like the March for Life, which brings hundreds of thousands of people to DC.

Every year for fifty years. Yes, it's like.

It never happens every year. It's like, oh, some people showed up and did a thing.

You know.

It's amazing to me how carefully the news media will avoid this.

Absolutely.

We were actually at the March for Life but a couple of times, and what we were overwhelmed by was that out of hundreds of thousands of people, over half of them were young people, and the spirit was absolutely so uplifting and joyful. It's not an angry crowd. And by the way they cleaned up after themselves. I would talk to the people you know that were over the parks and the entire situation the moll and they're like,

Picking things up. That's the thing. This is the first inaugural one, so we are, you.

Know, moderating our anticipation, but this is to launch it, to get it off the ground, and to say, let's keep this going until we achieve either a parental rights.

Amendment or we.

Have enough laws in place in states around the country so that we never on this precipice again. This is the best thing for every child to have those who know them best, whatever that family looks like, the people who know them best making the decisions, partnering with good teachers, partnering with good medical professionals, but not being shut out. And that is something where I think we're going to

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you just said, and I hope this march is wildly successful.

For two reasons.

One, I want to rattle the cages of parents who might be getting complacent and let them know that nothing has changed in the schools, and if anything, some school districts have gotten even more shady and more certain to

And I think it's a wonderful opportunity what I see that's so exciting.

I was just at the.

State Policy Network caring about all these other things. There are micro schools, there are homeschool co ops, there are all kinds of revolutionary new ideas that are coming in because, honestly, as we all know, even if you just judge our government run schools by an academic standpoint, they are going in the absolute wrong direction. America is no longer leading the industrialized nations.

On most of the markers.

I mean, we're down lower and lower and lower every time. So it's time for us to unleash his ability to innovate in education. For people to take a hold of that, and there is basically, in many ways, is a public school exit.

Now.

I also hope public schools don't get turned around, because that is the option for many people. But it's about making sure that it's responsive to the stakeholders, which at the end of the day are the academic achievement of the students, which is really what schools are about. The parents and the community members. And it's time for grandparents to get involved. It's for you know, not just moms, but dads and people from every walk of life.

I see this happening, all right.

Debraah Flora, thank you for your time. You want to play out the day?

Oh well, okay, I'm not sure what it is. It's really easy.

I did make you play when you were running for office, but now you have to play because now it's time for the most exciting segment all the radio.

It's time.

I'm gonna do it.

I can't do it in a work to perform that of the day.

Okay, here's how it works as a dad joke of the day, and the only requirement is you can laugh or grown or nothing, depending on how bad it is.

Laugh the day.

You have to listen to me. It's a five minute walk from my house to the bar, but a forty five minute walk from the bar to my house.

The difference is staggering.

Oh jeez, so that was a sympathy aff I just know what I go.

A right now, we have word of the day where we guess the meaning.

Of this word.

Okay, yeah, it's a noun and it is propinquity.

I'm sorry what propinquity?

No?

Can I look it up on my phone?

Is that op op I n q u I.

T y Okay, So it's for some propinquity is that you have a tendency to drink too much at a cocktail party propinkity? Pin No, it is the level to which your etiquette is at a tea party.

Nice, there you go.

Yes, it is essentially a synonym of proximity, a formal word that typically refers to nearness in place or time.

I'll just go thank you to a trivia question.

Earth is not the only planet in our solar system not named for an ancient Greek or Roman deity?

In what language did the word earth originate? Earth?

Okay, so it's not named for a Greek or Roman deity, I'm gonna say Latin, would Latin earth?

Let's say, oh geez, not right? What incorrect? It was not Latin? Okay, not Latin.

It's not Greek, no German, German where it means the ground.

Now we play Jeopardy de floor.

Oh okay, it's zero, so you know it's okay.

We're all saud at this game.

If you want to answer a question, you shout out Deborah, okay, and then I'll come.

To you and you answer in the form of a question. I'm getting rikay.

You don't have to wait till the end of the question. If you know it, go ahead and ring in.

All right? What is our category?

Today's category is shall we dance every word as dance in it?

You probably take this at the start of every class.

Start of every class of every class.

Take this at the start of every class.

I don't know it has the word dance in it? I got nothing.

What is it?

Attendance?

Here we go, we're in good blank to that. We don't need that good blank wriddance.

Correct.

Let's go with essentially someone out of school that you need to go to if you ever need help with something and has.

The word dance.

Someone at a school, an employee to help you with stuff.

I don't know, Deborah, what is attendance?

Attendance? What is a guy dance.

Counselor? But they're more than when they get you in trouble.

It's an overflowing amount of something.

What is an abundant? Is an abundant? Said? One to zero?

You have one?

Yes, I have why away you're one? When you got one wrong week of tie one, give you one.

Tie her the whole rules. Okay, this is a tie breaker.

Yes, two things that are in agreements are also in this with each other.

Oh, oh no, I don't know.

Oh wait, no, no, don't don't say anything if she I have.

No idea to say the question.

One more time you.

Read two things that are in agreements are also in this with each other.

Oh I know, I know. I mean she didn't say anything, so you still you know?

You wrong?

According according

I just wanted because you did worse than me, though I'm not sure that it works