Thursday 3/20/25 | Headlines, Rantings & Ramblings, Phone Calls

Welcome to the party pal. Michael Duke show. The greed and the entitlement is astounding to me. What more could you want from a low budget radio program? This is a dumpster fire. That was just BS. It is time to get a new perspective. We know just what you need, and we've got just the cure. Open wide and prepare for a steaming hot cup of freedom. I just don't. The Michael Dukes Show, streaming live across the world. Live around the world, on the internet, at michaeldukeshow.com.

And live around the state of Alaska on this, your favorite radio station and or FM translator. Good morning and welcome to the program. It is the Michael Duke show. And we are ready to. go for today. Um, I, uh, uh, uh, today's brace yourself, Gertrude. Today's going to be a weird one. Um, I have been thinking about this, uh, a lot. Since our conversations yesterday that we had specifically discussing things with with Rob Myers.

And just kind of overall this discussion that's been going on the last couple of days, looking at where we're going here in the state of Alaska. And I... I was in the car yesterday for a couple, three hours, drove up to Sildatna and was working with some clients up there. But it gave me a lot of window time to think. And I have some thoughts that I'm just going to unfold with you today.

And I don't have anything scripted or screened out. I don't even have any notes, but I have some thoughts today over the state of the state and where we're going in what we're doing. Yeah, Brian is like in the car and crying. Yeah, I was in the car and crying, Brian. That's where I was at. But anyway, we'll see if I can articulate today. Kind of what I'm thinking about here in the state of Alaska overall and what we need to do. Also, yesterday had a great interview with.

uh, Colonel William Dunn. Uh, that was a, that was a really, I thought a really good, uh, discussion, uh, kind of a high level discussion on, um, national defense, and some other things. And I'm going to try and do a few more things like that. I know we don't normally focus on national politics, and there's a reason for that, but it's interesting to dabble and dive into it occasionally.

And so we're going to be working on getting some other guests on for maybe some topics and outside discussions on some of these things. So it should be a real, we'll be working on that moving forward here. on the program as well. We're not going to stop talking about, we're not going to stop talking about the state stuff. But I don't know, maybe we'll have a shift in perspective on it. I would also, I'm hoping today that I can get my thoughts in order enough to...

To bring you to bring you something else to to maybe do my own little uplift. My own little Chris story type segment. because I've been thinking about some other stuff as well. So we're going to gun to this. Also, tomorrow is Firearms Friday, and we're going to... be talking to a brand new, uh, firearms guest. Um, his name is Darwin Narcissian. Uh, Darwin is, uh, he's a writer for the firearms blog. He's the,

He's the news field editor for Firearms News Magazine. He writes for The Truth About Guns and for Gunmade. He actually was introduced. He actually said he discovered the show. by watching David Kodria on the program. And he caught the show that David was on here most recently. And reached out to me. And so we're going to have Darwin Narcesian on the show tomorrow. And just talk about, we're going to just riff.

Tomorrow morning, we'll have him for the full hour in hour one before we get into some headlines in hour two. And then, of course, Willie Waffle. So it should be. It should be good. I'm looking forward to it. It's a new, it's a new, it's always good to add new blood. And we're working on that for tomorrow on the program. You know. Ever since I took over and, you know, we took possession of the radio stations here in Homer.

And ever since then, I have been listening to, I mean, I have a confession to make. I was not listening to talk radio. very much at all in fact i had over the last 10 years or so i had really for the most part stopped listening to talk radio in general for a couple of reasons uh one Being a talk radio show myself, I did not want to unconsciously mimic...

Some of the things or I mean, there's always we're all going to cover probably a lot of the same stories. I definitely didn't listen to local talk radio because I didn't want to. I wanted to have my own opinions.

about what I thought was important. And so I was doing a lot of that. But since we had started focusing primarily on local issues, I thought that, you know, listening to talk radio at the national level would... be a split of my focus and my energy because i was trying to practice what i preach which is you know get the information you can about what's happening nationally but

At the same time, don't expend a bunch of energy on stuff that you can't control and that does you no good to get spun up about. And so that was kind of my mindset as I went on to do it. Of course, as part of the job around here, getting the station set up and getting, you know, things running and rolling the way that I wanted them and the way that I envisioned them.

One of the things that, just from a technical aspect for a little peek behind the scenes in actual radio, one of the most technically challenging stations to program and put together is a talk radio station because there's a lot of moving parts. You know, different shows from different sources and different, you know, you've got your station has to know when to go to commercial break and when to play different features and weathers and local news and all this kind of stuff. So technically.

When you're looking at those kind of things, a news talk station is the most complex. uh technically complex and difficult station to put on the air and keep on the air so therefore i had a uh so therefore i was monitoring uh my local talk station kgtl very closely to make sure that things because i mean it was a train wreck for a few days right

uh, as things as we discovered little problems or whatever else. And we kept, you know, tweaking it and tweaking it and tweaking it. And we finally got it to where it's up and running. Um, but I have been listening a lot to, uh, talk radio, national talk radio. uh over the last you know 12 13 weeks um and it's it's made me think about a few things that i want to reiterate today so It would...

it's going to be part of my, it's going to be part of my jam today. Part of my, my, I said I, I, today I had, I, I titled the show today because for those of you who aren't on the radio, you, you know, I, I simulcast the radio show.

on facebook and youtube and rumble uh and of course on the local live stream which did i turn the live stream on i did the live streams on okay uh it's just only me sometimes i forget things But I had to title I title the show every day for Facebook and YouTube, etc. So today I called it headlines, rantings and ramblings and some phone calls because the phone lines.

are open for today. So we are going to take some phone calls and get, you know, your take on some of the things that I'm going to talk about today. So phone lines are open at 319-527-3864. Sorry, I'm just I got distracted by the chat room. The chat room is distracting and it's fun at the same time. So I apologize if I.

pull out some of these comments sometimes from the chat room, but sometimes they're just they're, uh, uh, they're, they're super good. Um, and, uh, and I, I do get a chuckle out of them. But we're going to, you know, I'm going to be doing rantings and ramblings. And I just kind of want to bring some of my, I want to talk through with you. I'm using this as my daily therapy session. I want to talk through with you what I'm feeling about as far as it comes to.

the state and where we're going and what we're, what we need to be doing and, and what I think is important on this show. Rick in the chat room said, it sounds like we're going to do a Bible study. Well, no, but. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'll talk a little bit about my faith and where things are going.

I seriously, I was I was talking about I was thinking about it. I was talking. I was talking to myself. I was thinking about it yesterday. You know, how do we keep going in in the direction that things are going? How do we, as I have often said, and this is a. This is a phrase that is from my youth that I can't even remember where I picked it up, but it's something that I've often repeated in this program. And you listeners have repeated it back to me that, you know, we can't.

grow weary in well-doing we can't grow weary in well-doing doing something because it's right doesn't mean it's easy You know, fighting for something that's right doesn't mean that it's going to be a breeze. And just because it's right, everybody's going to align with you. But, you know, we have to stay the course.

And part of that is the fact that I articulated it yesterday, but after the show, I'm in the car and I'm driving, which is one of my favorite things to do. I don't know if I've ever said this on the show or not. There is just something very Zen for me about climbing in a car and driving through Alaska. And it's one of the reasons why even when I was in Wasilla and I had to travel into Anchorage.

people would be like, I don't know how you do it every day. All that hours of driving. And to me, it was just, it was a very Zen time because. If I wasn't listening to something on a podcast or a, or a audio book or on a radio show, um, I was, I was thinking, right. I mean, it was the, it was where it was my quiet solitude time.

where I could think and dissect my thoughts and try and organize my, you know, my life and everything else. I find that to be a very Zen exercise. So I got done with the show yesterday. you know got everything together did what i needed to do for the podcast and everything and uh within you know the 40 or 40 minutes or so 45 minutes i climbed into my car and i started driving towards

you know, for the hour and 15 minute drive to sold out or whatever. And that's where I really started to think about what we had discussed on the program. And specifically my comment about. feeling like i was bill murray in groundhog day you know to the the you know that that every day and and there were several comments in the chat room when i mentioned that when i said i'm talking today about the same things that I was talking about in 1999 when the show first started in February of 1999.

I was talking, I am talking about some of the same things. or permutations of essentially of the same things that I was talking about then. And when I mentioned that during the show, there were two or three people who said, yeah, when I started listening to you.

In 2017, you were talking when I started, I've been listening to you for 15 years and you've been talking about the same thing. I mean, but these people are obviously still here. So we're obviously still, we still obviously have a battle to fight. But I question the methodology of what we're doing. If we have been talking about this stuff for so many years, things that to me... are so blatantly obvious. I feel like either one, my perception is horribly skewed and wrong.

Or B, did I just say one and B? I did, didn't I? So one. And B, maybe the methodology we're using is... You know, maybe the methodology we're using is wrong and flawed. Maybe that's part of the problem. Because we talk about it all the time. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. Now, we have had some success through the program. I have felt I have counted some successes.

in, you know, maybe changing out some of the legislature, maybe getting some of the priorities that we've talked about on the program addressed. There have been some successes. I won't say that there's not that we I felt like we've made a difference. in some people's lives and in the way we do things. But at some point, when you are facing the same challenges and you can see... that things are not changing enough, you have to really pull back and go,

We have to do some self-analysis. That's it. I guess you have to do some self-analysis. And I had a couple hours of that yesterday. And that has led me to some thoughts. that I want to share with you and maybe get your feedback on, which is one of the reasons why I've opened up the phone so early this morning. And we'll be talking about that. Now, I guess we'll go through some of the headlines first.

to get that out of the way and um and then we'll come back to my internal ramblings and uh and more so we'll uh we'll get started there all right uh all right that brings us up to the break we we got to go here so we're going to be back in a moment don't go anywhere The Michael Duke Show. Common Sense, Liberty-based, free-thinking radio. We'll return right after this with more headlines and discussions. Don't go anywhere.

If you missed the show, you can listen to it on your time with Duke's On Demand. Oh, and it's free. Like America used to be. Streaming live every weekday morning on Facebook Live and MichaelDukesShow.com. Okay. Hello, my friends. How are you guys doing today? Are you ready? Are you ready already for everything that we've got going on? Sorry, let me get this thing going here. All right. So, I'm scrolling backwards.

Bill says, here it comes, the Michael Duke show, and I'll be cooking with firearm show. You know, I mean, I'm always up for a little bit of a different take on things. Rick says, yeah, honestly, I don't know how you keep your head straight. I mean, sometimes it's a deal. It's a hard thing to do. Terry says, it's an uphill battle. We march on. You know, it's an uphill battle to keep doing good.

Rick said, I was thinking about that several weeks ago, the direction of the show. You need a change in venue. I just had a change in venue. Maybe that's contributing to what's going on here. I'm going through here. I don't know what good point I made, but Rick said I made a good point. Or somebody else did, apparently.

Have you thought about putting Ben on the show? Says Jeannie Ben Carpenter. Well, Ben Carpenter is now doing the must read podcast and he and I have had some discussions and yeah, we're going to bring him on the show. and talk about it. I'm going to be probably doing some helping some work on that. It should be good. Rob said, Oh, Did I break Michael? No, no, you didn't break me. But I think it was this epiphany that I had during our conversation, Rob.

Where I realized that, you know, we're looking at this and it's a bit of that frustration of looking at something and understanding that something is... fundamentally flawed and broken in the system. And we've been trying to fix that for so many years, and we have not had very... We haven't had very much. We haven't had much success. And and here we are, you know, it's, you know.

What if you turn your show into a podcast? Do you bypass the FCC that way? I don't know. I mean, the FCC has nothing to do with podcasts, and this show is already a podcast. There have been over a million downloads of this show in the last... Three years? Three and a half years? We get something like 250,000, 300,000 downloads a year of this show on podcast. So there's a lot of people listening later on, but I mean, I wonder how could we do this differently?

How could we do this differently? Fat Ray says, because conservatives fundamentally want to maintain and not change our worldview doesn't lend it to the action that the loon world does. Yeah, I mean, there's a bit of that, the holding the line versus, you know, abrupt and unequivocal change. There's definitely some things there. There you go. Ben and I and Doze are coming up on the Must Read Alaska show, says Kevin. So that should be a fun three-way discussion.

What is fundamentally broken in the electorate, says Fat Ray. Well, that's a good question. I mean, it's a viable question. I think a lot of times... Man, I think a lot of times what we're seeing is a slow erosion of self-reliance, and I think we've seen that through the education system.

And we've talked about that what's broken in the electorate. More and more people are looking to the government to solve their problems instead of themselves. And that's how they're voting as well. And that's a that's because they're basically. That's their product of the school system. Public enema number one. Oh, wait, sorry. enemy, public enemy number one, which makes more sense. On the other hand, he's a little bit of a pain in the Michael Duke show. Okay. Welcome back to the program.

The Michael Duke Show, Common Sense, Liberty Based, Free Thinking Radio. We're talking. We're trying to solve problems here in the chat room. Lots of good conversations going on there. You can always join us in the chat room if you'd like by going to facebook.com slash michaeldukeshow slash live if you want to participate there and talk with us.

I guess we'll get to the headlines here. We'll see where this takes me. Because quite honestly, again, I'm still trying to pull together the fullness, the... of my thoughts that that's not real i mean it's it is a word but it's not the proper application the entirety of my thoughts is what i was looking for and so i uh So I want to come back to that. So let's let's talk a little bit here about some of the stories that are going on around the country and around or excuse me, around the state.

and in the legislature and everything else. The Alaska legislature has now rejected. The governor's call to create a Department of Agriculture. And I got to be honest with you. I have I have mixed feelings on this. I have, I have, I'm not mixed. I'm almost ambivalent at some point. I believe in the mission of what they were trying to do and what the what the reasoning was behind this. They were trying to, you know, basically.

increase food security in the state that's been the whole justification behind what the governor was trying to do right the food security task force was meeting if you remember we had a conversation with Who was it? The name just escapes me. He was one of the politicos in the governor's, you know, in the administration somewhere.

It was one of the most unsatisfying conversations I've ever had because I had reached out to the to the group, to the food security working group. And I had reached out to some of the folks and said, I'd like to have somebody come on and talk to me about this. And instead of getting somebody from the actual group, I got a PR guy from the governor's office who came on and. It was unsatisfying, which is a perfect that's a perfect reminiscence for today.

Because that is almost like a snapshot of the frustration that I feel a lot of times in dealing with government and in trying to change the direction that the state's going in. I mean, I want somebody who's actually on the ground and has answers, and we've got a lot of platitudes and ambivalence and, you know, broad words that said nothing and everything else.

But initially, the governor wanted to put the create this Department of Agriculture. Now, first and foremost, I love it how they always say, well, I mean, Alaska is only one of two states. It doesn't have a State Department of Agriculture. To which I said, so? Do we have to be mimicking everyone else? Are these departments of ag and division of ags across the country, are they helping or are they hindering? Now, I'm not a farmer, nor do I play one on TV.

I have had my own little hobby farm-type stuff. We've kept goats. We've kept chickens. We've kept bunnies. We've done a lot of that stuff. But... I I'm not a farmer farmer, right? I'm not a I'm not a big time commercial make my living, you know, supply food to the rest of the state farmer.

So my biggest question is, because obviously I am suspicious of government at every level. It's just who I am. It's who I've always been. It's something that, I mean, call it a character flaw if you want, whatever. I've always been suspicious. And so when we've gotten along for so many years and so many decades without a division of ag, a full on Department of Agriculture. I ask myself, is this something that we entirely need? Now, I've heard a lot of...

lip service about how well it would ensure that Alaska produces more food and it would do this and it would do that. And to my question, of course, to that would be how, right? I mean, to quote Ronald Reagan, government is not the solution to the problem. Is the problem? Do we need to create another bureaucracy? Or in this case, there's already like a division of agriculture inside the Department of Revenue or excuse me, inside the Department of Natural Resources. There is a...

There's a department that's a, you know, I mean, they're already there. Government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. Is creating and standing up a larger agency or one that is out, you know, it's all new focus. It's a whole new department. Is it really useful? And this is I think this is a this is a question that writ large is what.

Kind of the Doge team is asking at a national level. I mean, there's nice to haves and then there's must haves. But we're finding out that there are so many things in our lives where government is a part of it. What we really need to do in many ways is to get government out of the way. That we are, you know, Americans are very, I mean, innovative. I think Glenn Beck yesterday said Americans are disruptors. In a marketplace that Americans historically are disruptors.

Except for the fact when we're restricted by government at every level that we have to go beg the king for permission to do something different than the rest of the crowd. And that's where that disruption ends. Initially, this department was supposed to cost. 2.7 million dollars. That was what that was the thing. And I had to laugh when it's it says in one of the articles, one of the one of the. I don't remember if it was KT or.

Anyway, they said they were objected, some lawmakers objected to the proposal to create, it's an executive order, to create the Department of Ag. They objected to the cost. They said it would add $2.7 million per year. They just added $290 million onto the school systems, and they're talking about adding millions more to all these other things. I mean, not that $2.7 million is chump change to you and me, but overall, the $2.7 was chump change. And then later estimates, they said that...

The later estimates they suggested with some shuffling and everything else, it basically could be at no additional cost. So was it really about the money or was it about? I think Mike Schauer is quoted at the end of the yeah, he's quoted here at the end of this ADN article where they said, you know, he said he was suspicious about lawmakers opposition to the department based on process or cost. He said.

that he would say the quiet part out loud. He said, I think this is really about not giving Dunleavy a win. This isn't about doing the right thing. And he may be right. Maybe this is about, because again, The majorities in both sides of the aisle here, they do not want to give Dunleavy a win in any way, shape, or form. This whole thing is shaping up to be a...

another one of those interesting sessions. We'll talk about that here in a little bit, but this is going to turn out to be one of the more interesting sessions here. But I think you're right. Maybe it's about not giving Mike a win. But at the same time, I'm kind of... relieved about this because...

If I'm going to hold true to my beliefs and my beliefs are that the government of the state of Alaska is too large and it's doing too many things and it's trying to be too many things to too many people that we've gotten along for so many years. with what we have right now is standing up or bringing to the forefront or giving more, you know, imbuing more power into a specific agency.

How is that going to help the farmers? Now, again, I'm not a farmer. And so if you're a farmer and you want to see this Department of Ag come up, maybe you can call us this morning and tell us why.

You know, that would be a great thing. 319-527-3864 is the phone number. Now, the question, maybe it's because, oh, they can help us with the... you know some kind of revolving loan fund and all these things are already in place there are things in there in place there are state agencies that can allow farmers and others to utilize a revolving loan fund to do certain things and all this other kind of stuff. I just don't know if you need a specific department to do it.

And yes, it's only $2.7 million, or maybe it's less, maybe it's not, maybe it's cost neutral, because that was what they decided in the end. Although Kathy Giesel was then quoted as saying that it was going to cost... Nine million bucks a year is the estimated. Yeah. She said prior fiscal estimates show that going forward, the department would cost nine million dollars.

And she said the legislature should continue debating the proposal. I mean, here's my proposal. Instead of standing up more governmental departments to oversee various sectors of the economy. How about we start cutting back on some of that and cutting back on the size and scope of government? I know it's an unpopular opinion. I mean, I have talked to people. Although I talk to a lot of people that agree with me, too.

I mean, from clients and strangers to, you know, people I know. It's not just my sphere of influence. It's people that I meet. I mean, one guy that I we had a 45 minute conversation yesterday and it was the first time, second time that I'd ever. met him. And we had a conversation that's, you know, it's circled all around this. Why are we doing some of the things that we're doing in this state? Because as a business owner, he's like, I would go to jail if I did some of these things.

Why is it okay for them to do that and lead us down this path? We're not alone, folks. We're not alone in the way that we're feeling. Maybe it's the way, again, going back to what we were talking about earlier, maybe it's the way that we're putting it across. Maybe it's the way that we're, you know, or maybe it's going to take everybody getting... mad. It's going to take everybody having their ox getting gored. Again, maybe if you can't motivate, maybe you agitate.

Which led me to my commentary yesterday about maybe you just, you know, maybe you don't try and slow the train down. Maybe you knock the engineer over the head and open the throttles wide open and start shoveling coal in and say, we've got to get this thing over now before we expend everything that we have left trying to keep it afloat. Maybe that's the question.

Maybe that's the direction that we need to go. I don't know. We're going to continue to talk about this, but the governor's proposal is... now officially dead. We'll see what that brings here in the future. But again, I don't know how standing up a separate Department of Agriculture is going to make food security any more secure in this state. I don't think it has anything to do with that. I think it has to do with...

the costs. I think it has to do with the regulation and the costs involved. I mean, I still remember the fight that we had with DEC and Fairbanks. Over people wanting to sell their own private goat's milk and maybe goat's cheese or something like that. And the regulatory hurdles that. were being stood in the way. And the conversations I had for hours with people who were being hassled by the state over trying to sell some raw milk or maybe some homemade cheese.

Government is not the solution. Government is not the answer. Government is the problem 99.9% of the times, in my humble opinion. All right, we're going to continue the Michael Duke Show. COVID Sense, Liberty Base, Free Thicket Radio. Back with more after this. our light, our guide, and our trusted friend. I'm scrolling backwards. Wow. Yeah, that's why. Gordon says that is why me and my wife homeschooled our children, because I was saying that a lot of that had to do with the indoctrination.

When Frank said, or who was it that said, Fat Ray said, what in the electorate's fundamentally broken? And I said, it's a change in mindset. Right. Where you've got whole generations of kids who are coming out now who are saying the answer to any problem is the government. And that's how they're voting. And Gordon says, that's why me and my wife homeschooled our children. Yes, that's exactly it.

Let's see. Giesel is going to reject anything Dunleavy suggests. Yeah, she doesn't want him to have a win at all. And Rick says they want a bunch of people to step up and work their butts off just so they can justify Department of Ag. They have done that. I mean, Rick, he's a farmer. You're a farmer, right? You know, you do a component of what you're doing is farming. I mean, would, you know, would the Department of Agriculture help you or are they hindering you right now? I don't know.

Um, Anthony pithy is always department of agriculture for Alaska, man. The only thing Alaska grows good is crippling federal debt and cost of living. I'm sorry. A farmer once told me. A farmer once told me, you know how to make a small fortune farming? Start with a big farm. That's funny. That's funny. And Frank says, so Alaska farmers are asking to be regulated? Yeah, I mean, that's...

That's, again, it makes no sense to me. Again, I'm not a farmer, but in Wisconsin, the Department of Ag stopped the farmers there from making round bales of hay. Brings in mind the Point Mac project. None of them are actual farmers. Ag is buried in DNR. DNR is gas mining, gas oil and mining right now, and farmers felt like they had no advocate directly to the governor.

I mean, the advocacy should not be to ask the governor to do more things. It should be to get them out of the way. Now maybe that's, you know. You know, if they feel like their focus is not on farming and they need more of an advocate directly to the governor, that's a simple fix.

Tap on somebody in the DNR to be your whole job is to go do the ag stuff and to bring that information to the governor, to bring it from the farmers to the governor. Why do you need to stand up a whole department? Why do you need to? And here's the problem. Jericho says, literally every organization in Alaska agriculture relies on federal or state money, literally all of them. That is the problem. That is the problem. We don't need more government. We need less government.

We need them to get out of the way. We need to be able to be innovative. We need to be able to stop having to go and ask daddy if we can have a cookie. I mean. That's it right there. I'm just I'm sorry, I'm reading through all the comments and you can go back and watch this video on Facebook to read all the comments yourself. But. Jeannie. sums up some of my thoughts. She says it's another layer of government that's as temperamental as the authoritarian bureaucrat running it. That's exactly it.

I'm sorry. I'm still I'm still getting caught up here. OK, now director of natural resources could care less about the Alaska farmer says. The director of natural resources could care less about farmers. Well, then that's your problem. Do you feel, I'll ask a farmer,

Do you feel like it's going to solve the problem to set up a whole new division and a whole new department? Or should somebody get somebody directed to start paying attention to the farmers themselves and getting that information straight to the government? Do you think that setting up a whole new bureaucracy is going to help you? I'm you know, again, I'm not a farmer.

But to me, anytime they want to set up a new bureaucracy, all I can see is an ever-expanding scope of government continuing. Because pretty soon... Maybe not now, but pretty soon, they'll be asking for control. The Michael Duke Show. Not your daddy. Wait, sorry. Not your daddy? Ooh, not your daddy's talk radio. Whew. I was scared for a second. Thought we were going down. Here's Michael Dukes and the show.

Okay, welcome back to the program. I see, I see, wow, this whole, this whole topic really blew up. And I mean, I can see some of the legitimate complaints here in the chat room. The Alaska farmer, that's the handle off the YouTube channel, says, you know.

The director of natural resources could care less about farmers. That was one of the arguments. In fact, Kevin McCabe said it earlier. He said that one of the reasons why that they've been talking about this is because the farmers felt like they did not have. an advocate when the agricultural thing is buried inside of DNR, and DNR is about gas and oil and mining, and that's pretty much their main focus.

that farmers were an afterthought and they had no direct advocacy, no direct line to the governor over agricultural issues, which I could see, which I could see. But to me, that doesn't require setting up a whole department. Maybe it requires hiring one person whose sole job is to find ways to encourage agriculture and to get, you know.

And I would say if I was governor for a day and that was the thing, I would hire one person to do that job and tap them. And I would say your job is to go out there and look at our regulations and statutes and everything else. And find all the ones that are standing in the way, that are speed bumps to farmers and agriculture in the state. Find those and cut those out. And then, yes, be the voice.

For those people, be the direct line that farmers can reach out to and say, we have a problem here, here and here. And then that is your sole job. It doesn't require a whole department. I mean, in my humble opinion. Again, I'm not a farmer. But I just, I can hear it in Reagan's voice. You know, government is not the solution to the problem. Government is the problem. That is a challenge and it has been for me. We do need government. Don't get me wrong.

public safety, national defense, court systems to arbitrate mediation and contracts. We do need government. But what we need is the smallest government possible. to be able to operate and do what we need to do. What we have today is a government that is involved at almost every level of our life in one form or another.

and off you know affects every level of business and everything else some more than others and when you look at that You have to start asking questions like, but I mean, how much stifle, how much stifling, how much innovation has being stifled by bureaucracy and by this, you know, all this government? The Alaska farmer says it's all about policy issues that are not being addressed. And there is that's that's it in a nutshell. Policy issues not being addressed, which means.

governmental, and I'm reading policy issues as being governmental mandates, governmental restrictions or regulations. things that the government is saying, government policies that impact what the farmers can do. Which leads me right back to what I was saying. They need to get out of the way. You don't need a whole new department.

Because with a whole new department, you'll then have people who are in there trying to justify what they do, which means as bureaucrats, they'll create more regulations or more make work. I mean, it's just it's the nature of government. Right. We've talked about it. It doesn't make them evil. I know a lot of people are like the evil government. It's human nature. People are working in bureaucracies and the only way that they can show that they're doing their job is by.

Basically expanding, ever expanding their footprint and justifying the funding that they're getting is by doing something. And what does government do? Well, government regulates. That's one of its biggest functions. And the easiest way to show that you're doing your job is to bolster or create new regulations. See, I did it. Look what I did. Now we're overseeing this and we're overseeing that.

The Alaska farmer says it's about policy issues that are not being addressed. Yes. My question is, why is there policy? I don't even know what the policies are. I don't know what he's talking about, but the question is the policy. is obviously a stumbling block to farmers. See my previous comment about government being not the solution to the problem, but the problem.

You know, hire a farmer. That's what the governor should do. Find a retired farmer who threw his hands up in the air and said, this is madness and I'm done. Hire a guy who got ousted from the system because of all the problems and the policies and everything else. And put that guy in charge of being an advocate. For farmers. Right? I mean, it's, it's, this is the problem. Well, we just, you know.

Policies are not being addressed. Why are there policies? If the policies are a stumbling block for farmers, that ding, ding, ding. There's your sign. Regulating ag right now, said Kevin McCabe, is in four different places. DNR, DEC, DCCED, and ag. The idea was to streamline for farmers, not add layers. Well... The governor has the ability to pull all those different regulating bodies for ag and just take them out. You could just put them into one part of.

that you could have, he could have just directed, he didn't have to stand up a whole different division. He could have scooped everything out of DNR, DEC, DCCED, and put it just into that ag department inside of DNR. But the most important thing, again, that he could have done, and I would have been 100% behind if he stood up and said, look, I've hired Farmer Brown here.

who has umpteen years of experience farming in Alaska, who's now retired or sold off his farm or thrown in the towel because of the regulations, and his job is to go in there and find the stumbling blocks that cause them to fail. To look at these... policy issues and ask is this a policy that we need? Should we be involved in this? Is government helping or hurting? That's something that I could get behind. That's something that I could get behind. But, you know, it's a whole thing here.

All right. That was one story. That's one story. All right. We got more coming up. The Michael Duke show continues. Common sense, liberty based. Free Thinking Radio. Back with more Hour 2 Dead Ahead. Here's the problem in my mind with agriculture. And Frank keeps asking about what is food security. Look, food security, when 85% of your food is coming from outside, or 90% of your food is coming from outside,

That's what they're talking about with food security. Meaning if for some reason the outside flow stopped, there's not enough food to feed everybody. That's what they're talking about with food security, right? How do we make it more even? Right. So that's what that's what the discussion is. But here's the problem, because Jerrica, who is been a huge advocate, Jay, in the chat room, has been a huge advocate. Talking about, you know.

food security and agriculture and everything else and she's she's mentioned it here talking about infrastructure i'm not going to scroll all the way back and find her comment about the infrastructure but she made a comment about how well we need more infrastructure in alaska too The thing is, we have the infrastructure. The problem is, is that the infrastructure is not cost effective for the local farmer to compete against food that's being imported. And that's market forces.

You can't change market forces. That's what happened. Alaska used to grow a lot of its own food, but then it became more affordable and cheaper to ship it in. And this is true in various parts of the country and various good as we became more of a worldwide market. And the just in time delivery system kind of got put together and built up. This is happening everywhere.

Melissa says, as far as I know, food security in Alaska was about personal responsibility. A sourdough once told me to make sure I have enough food for my family. If the rail goes out, an earthquake hit, the barges go down. The grocery stores only have maybe a three-day supply of food. That is true. Grocery stores only have a three-day supply of food, generally speaking, at normal consumption levels. If there's a crisis...

They have about three hours worth of food, not three days. Like if there was a crisis and it was publicized. No barges for the next three months. I mean, there would be a food riot down at the Walmart to get all the food off the shelves. But the problem here is... is a larger problem. It's about markets. And it's about people being willing to pay more for the local food and things like that. I buy food from local farmers when I can.

I buy produce. If I can buy produce, if it's at the store and it's advertised as local produce, I'll buy that over something else. If I go to a farmer's market, I'll buy food and produce and things from them there. That's important to me. Do I pay a little more? Yes, I do. I have no problem doing that. But not everybody's going to do that. That's part of the problem.

food is being shipped in for the same reason as it is for gas. It's cheaper. That's exactly it. That's part of the problem, is that we're dealing with... A market-driven force of this just-in-time delivery thing. It's a great system until it's not. That's the thing. Jericho says we don't have storage or processing, though. But see, the root of all, and Jericho, I understand what you're saying, but again, the root of all these problems that you're talking about.

The root of all these problems is the fact is that it is not economically viable for private industry to create storage or processing for those because it's still cheaper to bring it in from outside. Do you want to have government go in and build those things for you and then rent them to you? Do you want government to run the storage? I mean.

Delta barley farm, anyone? I mean, do we want to talk about how well government does on these big projects? I would love to see a bunch of farmers come together, form their own co-op. of some kind and say we're going to create storage and processing and go to the state for the agricultural revolving loan fund and say here's what we need here's what we're going to do and make sure that it all works out on paper ahead of time

The only thing the government should be there for, in my opinion, I believe that the revolving loan fund is a good thing. I truly do. But that is the smallest part of what happens in the ag. part of this. You don't have the storage or the processing because it's not economically viable for private industry to put it together. Period. because of the fact that it's cheaper to bring it in from outside.

Brian says, but according to the Department of Homeland Security, if you have stored foods, you're probably part of a right wing militia. That's true. That's true. Yeah. So, I mean, I, you know, I, it's not economical says Jerica because of regulations and corporate oligarchs controlling the market again. Is the Department of Agriculture in the state of Alaska going to fix that problem? That's my question. Right? That's my question.

And Jerrica just said when I was talking about creating a co-op and going to the revolving loan fund, she goes, I agree with that, but farmers in Alaska don't want to do that. Well, there's your problem. If there's not a market demand for it. And there's no interest by the entrepreneurs to do it. Why do we need government? We just need to. All right. Here we go.

Put that thing back in its holster. We haven't gone anywhere. I don't understand. Check out themichaeldukesshow.com for information on how to get access to the podcast. Welcome to the party pal. The Michael Duke Show. The greed and the entitlement is astounding to me. What more could you want from a low-budget radio program? This is a dumpster fire. That was just BS.

It is time to get a new perspective. We know just what you need and we've got just the cure. Open wide and prepare for a steaming hot cup of freedom. I just don't. Fathom it. The Michael Dukes Show, streaming live across the world. Live around the world on the internet, michaeldukeshow.com. That's where you go to find the audio-only live stream. Also broadcasting live across the state of Alaska.

On this, your favorite radio station and or FM translator and live on YouTube, live on Facebook, live on Rumble. And there you go. It's it's how you find us everywhere, every way. Phone lines are open this morning at 319-527-3864. I want to talk a little bit here in just a bit about yesterday and kind of a little bit of the epiphany that I had. And my question to you in regards to that, we're going to discuss that later on in this hour. But we've stumbled across something here.

that I thought was just going to be a short story that I was able to say and then have my piece, say my piece on it. But it has triggered a real discussion in the chat room. And what I'm talking about is the legislature submarining the governor's plan to create a cabinet-level agricultural department, the Department of Ag. This is this is the and here's the problem. Here's the problem with this whole idea. Again, I'm I'm fine with them not funding a new Department of Agriculture.

I'm okay with that because, again, My fundamental belief at this point in talking to farmers and over the years and seeing some of the battles that small hobby farms and everything have had with organizations like the DEC, Department of Environmental Conservation. other things, just trying to sell their products to market and more. It has led me to the firm belief that government is the problem, not the solution.

and that proposing a government solution to a problem created by government is the height of lunacy. And I know Kevin in the chat room and some other people have said, well, but, you know, they didn't have an advocate. That was a big thing. The farmers didn't have an advocate or a voice. Their voice was not being heard. The Alaska farmer in the channel, that's the name of the person who's watching on YouTube. The Alaska farmer said it's about policy issues that are not being addressed.

And I said that's it in a nutshell. Policy issues. The farmers wanted these policy issues being addressed, right? That's what they wanted. The problem is the policy issues. That's a governmental policy. So that's the admission that government is the problem. Just like when I had friends, they were trying to sell their raw milk from their cows and their goats. They made farm cheese and they wanted to do farm cheese. And DEC came down like a ton of bricks and said, no soup for you.

You don't have the proper sink or drainage or things or whatever. And I was like, do you think that people walk in and go, You know, who knew who know somebody that has a hobby farm and is like, I know you have a DEC certified kitchen in there. Right. Or are they just like, you know, we know it's unpasteurized milk. We know that there's always risks in everything, but we want the milk anyway. Or we want to try your cheese because we, again, the policy issue is not being addressed.

That is the problem. The policies. The government. regulations. The government being involved is the key to this whole, what he just said, the Alaska farmer. It's about policy issues that are not being addressed. I.E., we need... to change this part of government and they're not listening to us. That's because government is involved first and foremost. And again, I'm not saying we don't need government. Don't hear what I'm not saying.

But there are specific areas that there need to be. And what we find is that especially in innovative scenarios. where that innovation and that creativity and that disruption is being stifled by government, the answer to it is not more government. And if you're a farmer and you're listening to this, and if you're the Alaskan farmer watching on YouTube, that's the name of the guy here watching on YouTube, call me up and let's talk about this. 319-527-3864.

I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. But here's what they said. This is the KTUU article. Establishing a cabinet-level agriculture department, Dunleavy officials said, wouldn't directly aid agriculture. But it would create the framework for future improvements and bring greater attention to the sector of the state economy that's currently overshadowed by oil and gas. OK, wait a second. Wait, let me.

Can we break this down for a second? Just break this down. Creating this cabinet-level department wouldn't directly aid agriculture. Well, there's your problem. Okay, number one. But it would create the framework for future improvements. That's bureaucracy, my friends. Creating a framework for future improvements is bureaucracy and regulation. Because that's what you need for a framework is you need rules and regs and people to administer them. That is the framework for future improvements.

and bring greater attention to the sector of the state economy that's currently being overshadowed by... It's not going to bring attention to agriculture. I mean, it will in the short period where they're talking about the stories and talking about the bill or the creation of it. But agriculture is a pale shadow to the revenue that's being developed by oil and gas. And by the way, why would you want the Department of Agriculture?

Well, I mean, again, this is part of Dunleavy's justification. Why would you want any kind of agricultural department inside a department of revenue? Are you making money off of it? Farming is not a money-making deal at this point. I mean, that's why we that's why we've lost all our farms in the state, because it's cheaper to ship it in. It's not like they're becoming millionaires by becoming farmers. Right.

Why was it in the Department of Revenue to begin with? And as is if the and as the Alaskan farmer said, if this is about policy issues not being addressed, creating more bureaucracy. Creating a framework for future improvements. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me what I just laid out is not government speak for. more bureaucracy and regulation. No, seriously, I honestly want you to tell me that I'm misreading that.

That when Dunleavy's official people, their spokespeople, said it wouldn't directly aid agriculture, but it would create the framework for future improvements. That's bureaucracy and regulation. Again, saying the government is the answer to this. They couldn't possibly do it by themselves. I made this suggestion during the break that if farmers really wanted to, there is one thing that I really believe in and I think is a good thing, and that's the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund.

That's actually a component in there where they have a revolving loan fund that helps fund farming projects and things like that in the short term and allows them to pay it back, right? I mean, this is a good thing. Because Jericho, who's been talking to this program for years about agriculture in the chat room, said we don't have any storage or processing capabilities in the state to store or process these foods year round.

And I said, you're right. That's a market driven thing. That's a market demand thing. What you should do is find a bunch of farmers that would go together, create a co-op. The co-op goes to the revolving loan fund. They borrow enough money from the revolving loan fund to build their own processing and storage where they can all utilize it and make money and make it more affordable and do it that way. This has to be a private enterprise.

This has to be a free market solution. The private enterprise has to solve this problem. And her comment was, the farmers won't want to do that. Well, then there's your problem. Are they all looking to the government to solve this? Because the state of Alaska government has such a great track record with agricultural projects being run by the state. I mean, you know, come on. Right? This is the answer you're looking for? Dunleavy officials said it wouldn't directly aid agriculture.

but would create the framework for future improvements. More government. Come on. That's what it is about. Oh, God. Food regulation. Sorry. Kevin and I are about to get into an argument. Food regulation is an issue because the combined health of the populace is an issue. If every single farmer or rancher could be trusted to be clean...

and animals or food be disease-free, just like we have regulations for air taxis and airlines and the stoplights and everything else. The idea was to have regulations or policies closer to the farmer, and yes, have someone in a job that understands how farming is involved. Okay, here's my argument.

about that there's a whole food regulation thing dec and all that kind of stuff people can make their own decisions If a farmer, and this was one of the arguments that I made 15 years ago, if you have a small farmer's market, let's say, and somebody has goat cheese or whatever.

on their table that they made and they have a sign that says these products were made at a you know at a home kitchen not a dec approved and inspected facility big sign and you look at it and it looks good smells good everything else looks good and you make the decision to buy it that's on you If somebody goes to buy from somebody and the food makes them sick, it won't be long before that person's out of business. Putting regulations on a whole industry because of the behavior of a few.

I mean, the market will weed that out. Right? Oh, no, we need government to oversee it. My anarchy card is showing. I think is what you're finding today. My anarchy card is showing because I believe we need the smallest, most limited government we can have. And we don't need government to look out for our every move. That's what I think needs to happen.

It's just, again, the market will weed out a lot of those things. And I know you're like, well, yeah, but what if somebody drinks it or eats it and gets sick? Well. That's a problem. But one of the functions of government is the court's system. There is a way to, if somebody wants to get compensated for something like that.

That's what the court systems are about. I mean, government is about public, is about national defense, public safety in the form of police, and the courts. That is the core function of government. the courts to arbitrate binding contracts and do all this other, because everything that we're doing in our daily lives is contractual. And one thing, you know, I give you a dollar, you give me a piece of candy or whatever. That's a, that's a, it's a contract, right? I mean, in its basic sense.

And if somebody is selling something that's not good, one, the market will respond by people will know. I mean, the word will be out. Don't buy from Joe because Joe, you know. picks his nose when he's making his cheese, and it makes people sick, and two, somebody will sue Joe into oblivion.

That's ideally what would happen. You wouldn't have to have it would self-regulate in a way. And maybe they get a cheese makers, you know, goat cheese makers association or something where they help each other out to do it the right way.

And they all ostracize Joe because he's a booger picker. And they tell everybody, don't shop at Joe's. Do we need government involved in all that? Again, this... is a result of five, four generations, maybe three, four generations of us sending our kids to Rome and being surprised when they come back as Romans. Because all they hear in school is how the government is the solution to every and any problem.

So nice that I have all the answers today, right? I mean, this is so great that I just know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it. King for a day. That's what you need. Yeah. All right, we got to go. The Michael Duke Show. Common Sense. Liberty-based. Free thinking radio. Running on 100% pure beard power. Oh, also some coffee. We dip our beard in coffee. Ha, nice beard. The Michael Duke Show.

And yes, I know Kevin's going to make this argument. Yes, the market will weed it out, just like no speed limits will weed out the speeders on KGB, but at what cost? Again, I understand. And I'm not talking about speed limits. OK, which is kind of an apples and oranges comparison, quite honestly. I mean, it is a government regulation and a government law.

But generally speaking, it doesn't impede you from being able to expand or do business or do these other things. You could still get there, right? It doesn't cost gazillions of dollars to drive and obey the speed limit. If you're a farmer or a hobby farmer, it could cost you a gazillion dollars to try and abide by all the ridiculous rules and regulations. That's the problem. You know, if you really wanted to do it, what you do is you create a bond program or something.

so that a lot of these farmers were bonded and insured so if they did something wrong, they would be held liable and the people would be able to, you know, again, sue them and have some compensation back. Yeah, the farmers are not alone. The farmers and every other citizen without a net worth in the millions don't have a voice for their concerns. 100%. 100%. Uh-oh. The Alaska study industry just texted me. Wait, let's see what they say.

He says, we here at the Alaska Study Industry stand ready to perform a study of the future advantages of the agricultural industry. We are heavily involved in the studies of the Delta Barley Project and the grain silo in Valdez. And at this point, we propose to do this study. for $3.54 million and have it finished before the end of this legislative session. Thank you, ASI. Thank you. I appreciate that. It's my buddy, John.

We here at the Alaska Study Industry propose to study the study that studied the previous study before we study the other study. Gary says, buying from a local farmer at a farm stand or a yard sale is very different than from a commercial source like a grocery store. Buying raw milk should be allowed directly from the farmer, but not from a commercial reseller. Again, I'm with you on that.

Look, we got a phone call here. We got a call. We're going to, you know. Joe the Booker Picker. Jeremy says, Joe's an ass. I don't shop there. Um, I'm sorry. I'm just, uh, Jerrica says, Brian, what was Brian's con? What was Brian's question? I'm I gotta go. Is there an avenue? Brian asks, is there an avenue for private inspection and certification?

And Jerrica says, it's so expensive in Alaska, though, we have no inspectors that live in the state. So any farmer that wants certification for literally anything has to pay a small fortune for them to travel here. Again, the regulations are the problem. I know I'm an anarchist. Kevin is like shaking his head because, well, you just don't want any. I'm sure he's thinking you don't want any. Look, there's got to be some rules and regulations for life, right?

I mean, I understand what you're I understand Kevin's argument as to why it's why this is important. It's for the people. Right. But it's about damn time that people stood up and took some responsibility for their own actions. If there's a sign that says this was not made in a DEC, a certified kitchen, I made it on my back porch. It pays your money, it takes your chances. You know, caveat emptor, right? I mean, that...

There's a component of that. I mean, I understand the argument that he's making. What I'm saying is that this is just indicative of a larger problem with governmental regulation and everything. And the answer is, I need more government. We need more government. They admit that it's not going to help agriculture, but it's going to create a framework for future.

All right. We're going to go. We got a phone call. I don't know who it is yet. I haven't looked at the screen, but we'll figure it out here. Like, share, subscribe, ring the bell. Let's do this thing. I was not expecting to get on this today. I really wasn't. Here we go. Public enema number one. Oh, wait, sorry. Enemy. Public enemy number one, which makes more sense. On the other hand, he's a little bit of a pain in the Michael Duke show. All right.

Welcome back to the program, The Michael Duke Show. This show has just totally gone off the rails today. I mean, I want to get to what I was talking about earlier in the program, which is kind of my overall. I don't know. Maybe this will be a Monday thing. I don't know. Maybe I just teased you guys mercilessly and we won't talk about it at all today. I don't know. We'll see where it leads us here. But we have a phone call. We've been talking about this Department of Ag thing.

which I did not expect to bleed into three segments, but here we are. Let's go over to the phones and see what you guys have to say. We'll start over here. Good morning. Who's this? Where are you calling from? I'm sorry. Bubba from North Pole. Hey, Bubba, what's on your mind? I listen to you every day from 7 o'clock now. I miss your 6 o'clock hour with the hours I'm working. However, I have a question.

education people on there from the Board of Education, and they talk about funding and what have you. One thing I'm curious about, I went to school a long time ago. There's over 600 in my graduating class, and we had a principal, and we had an assistant principal, one each, for a school as large as it was, okay? Now, whenever they talk about cutting funding, we've got to cut teachers in that. I understand that there's some schools have six, seven...

assistant principals, the higher end, high paid. How come they're never threatened to be cut? That's all. Yeah, no, I mean, this is a question that we've been asking on this program because we've seen the administrative overhead in schools increase over the last 25 or 30 years to the point to where a lot of times there's now two or three administrators for every school room. Teacher.

And it's a viable question. When I went to high school, I went to high school at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, and there was about 40 teachers, maybe 35, 40 teachers. And there was a principal, there was a vice or assistant principal, there was a... The two ladies in the office, there was a nurse and a guidance counselor. And that was it for 45 teachers and all those kids. So you're right. I have the same question, Bubba.

What what when we talk about this, the first thing they do is talking about cutting back on teachers or cutting back on music or cutting back on all these other things. And Melissa did say they've cut some administrative overhead, but I see no real discussion. on the size and scope of the administrator. I mean, I want to see a chart. Show me a chart that shows me the growth in the number of actual in-classroom teachers.

And this is deceptive because a lot of these people who are now working on the administrative side that aren't working with the kids in the classroom, a lot of them are teachers as well. So it gets kind of muddled when they say, well, we've got teachers here, teacher. I want to know how many. Teachers in the seat in the classroom with the students versus how many.

administrators whether they have a teaching certificate or not how many administrators and show me that growth over the last 30 years i want to see the numbers and i want to see how you're going to reverse the trend to where there's fewer administrators than there are teachers. That's what I want to see in that regard. Well, you were spoiled, Michael, if you had, or I was spoiled, rather, if you had one.

a guidance counselor for the school for Lathrop. We had one per grade year. We had one for 10, a man and a woman for 10, a man and a woman for 11, a man and a woman for 12. So I guess I was spoiled there. One assistant principal, and that was all we needed. Right, right. He took care of the discipline and so forth when there was discipline in school. Right, right. I've always been curious on that. Anyhow, brother, love your show.

Appreciate it. Thanks, Bubba. Thanks for calling in. 319-527-3864. That was not, I was expecting it to be about the farming thing and the agriculture thing. And so, I mean, I'm surprised. I'm surprised that more, that somebody who's a farmer who's involved in this hasn't called in to chastise me for not supporting it. Because I know a lot of the farmers support it. But again...

that feels a little bit like Stockholm syndrome, right? What the Alaskan farmer said, again, that's his handle on YouTube, said in the chat room was, you know, We are, you know, we want policy issues to be addressed. We want to hear, you know, we want to talk about these policy issues. Again, it's Stockholm syndrome. You're already a hostage to the government regulation.

And your answer is to go to the government to create another department so that we can actually talk about the regulation. And again, Kevin McCabe is making a very. valid, sound argument about how, well, we need rules and regulations. We need to protect the public. We need to do, but we've gone too far. That's the problem. We're trying to protect everyone from everything.

And, you know, sometimes. Stupidity needs a Darwin award every now and then. Right. We need to weed out the sometimes we need to weed out the people who are just. It happens. What we need is a robust system in place for protections of a contractual nature so that if somebody does something like that. They can be, you know, they can be held accountable for those kind of things in a in a in a court of law.

where they penalize you know where you would penalize people in those there's a lot of writing on this when it comes to uh i mean libertarian thought and again i know i'm speaking to a lot of you on an in a in a in a way in an area that is probably foreign to you both left and right. Because even the right loves government regulations over certain things. What you do in your bedroom.

you know what you know government should be enforcing this and that it's the law and order and the police and all this kind of stuff and in my mind a lot of these things yes we do need police yes we do need national defense yes we do need basic infrastructure roads bridges those kind of things. And we need a robust court system to be able to enforce contractual law in the free market, especially. But everything else should be fair game for private industry, private enterprise, privatization.

We've gone too far. People need to be able to take chances and be able to grow. And if I want to eat some goat cheese... from some skeezy guy with... you know, dirt under his fingernails and boogers in his beard and everything else. And I'm going to, you know, go buy his goat cheese that he has laid out on a yard sale table or at a farmer's market or wherever.

That's on me to make that decision, whether I think that's a viable option. The market will, well, somebody might get hurt. Yes, you're right. Somebody might get hurt. That is life. You can't you can't because the because the because the opposite side of that is, is the government puts us in a little barrel and feeds us through the knothole.

Until we die. That's the opposite side of this scale. Government regulates absolutely everything. And quite honestly, if you understood the regulations and the costs. For example, on a single loaf of bread. of what it costs through for the regulatory process and the taxes and the inspections and everything else. And you realize that the regulatory process and all that stuff accounts for almost half of the cost of that bread. Just that one item. Think about that.

Whereas if you were like, I bought a loaf of bread and I opened it up and it was nasty and it was moldy or it made me sick, you know, maybe it gave me the runs or the trots or, you know, whatever. And then you'd be like, would I ever buy that loaf of bread again from that brand? No. Guess what? The market will... It will happen. You're so heartless, Dukes. People could die. It's...

Yes, yes, I could step out of the house today and get hit by a bunny rabbit and die. It could happen. It really could. Kevin says, how do you know if he's skeezy if you have not met him? You buy it from the retailer. Well, again, this goes back to the retailer. Because there are people involved somewhere in there, Kevin. There's a buyer.

A buyer who goes to the farm and says, we'd like to buy your product. And the buyer inspects the facilities. Again, has he got a whole line of booger pickers making cheese? Maybe we don't buy cheese from this farmer. Then the buyer is responsible. The buyer being the store buyer is responsible. And then if they pass it off at a retail location, they're responsible for that for making people sick in that case.

I mean, there is responsibility here. It's like we're trying to avoid responsibility for all these actions by by having the government regulation. And now we can always go back to the government inspected. It's fine. Right. I mean. That's always worked out well. How many times have people died from Listeria or something from a government inspected facility? It's happened.

Anyway, I just, I just, I just, you know, yeah. And how many, how many things that we're discovering now are in these supermarkets that are loaded with. red dye number three and tryptitanium or some other kind of exotic particle stuff that makes it taste great but slowly rot your brain or whatever i mean how many things are in there that we know are bad because the fda has been you know bamboozled or bought and sold or it's the revolving door of the industry for

chemicals and pharmaceuticals and all these. I mean, again, folks, stop looking to the government to save you from everything. And you farmers, stop looking to government. to create a new department so that then you could talk about the policies that they already had in place. I will repeat. I will repeat. Dunleavy officials said that establishing a cabinet level agricultural department wouldn't directly aid agriculture, but would create a framework.

for future improvements anybody wants to argue with me that that means more bureaucracy and more regulation does anybody want to argue with me on that Call me up right now. 319-527-3864. Tell me I'm reading that wrong. And explain to me what they mean by creating a framework for future improvements. Because that's what it would be. Now, the funny part about this whole discussion is now it's not going to happen because they've submarine the whole deal. But again, the fact.

that these people were looking to government to solve a problem created by government is the problem. Okay. I got a phone call. Do I have enough time to take the call before we go to break? I don't. Hollis, hold the line. I'm up against it. See, look, we're not going to get to my musings. That gives me my whole weekend to kind of formulate my thoughts on the whole Groundhog Day effect of what we're talking about here with state government in general.

I'm kind of glad we didn't get into it because I felt like I might burst a blood vessel or become suicidally depressed one or the other. All right, we're going to be back. We're going to take this phone call on the other side. Hold the line. Back with more of The Michael Duke Show. Broadcasting live through a series of tubes. Allowing all of these entities to provide streaming stuff going on the internet. Well, it's kind of hard to explain. Sorry.

Streaming live every weekday morning on Facebook Live and MichaelDukesShow.com. Okay, we're in the break right now. Caller, hold the line for a second. I know you can hear me there. Just give me a minute here. Let me get through the commercial break, and we will be back to you right away as soon as we get back on the air, okay? I'm going to go through the chat room now and take a look at all the comments.

comments of people who are screaming at me because I don't believe in the common good, collective good, you know, and everything else that it's, I think the collective good idea. for most things is a cop-out. But again, let me just, I'm going, I'm, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going back. Melissa said, for Bubba's sake, 43 teachers to one administrator. Really? Boy, your numbers are way low compared to many others. Okay, good for you, Melissa.

She said, and we just cut another 500,000 in administration last night. She said, I can send you the info if you want to see it. Okay, good. All right, thanks. Yeah. Anthony says, oh, Lord, Bubba, MD's about to blow a head gasket on agriculture and you're adding too much pressure to the system, bringing up education. He's going to go blow everybody out. Kevin and I. That is the crux of the problem, maybe to all of our problems. Where did personal responsibility go?

Where did parental responsibility for children grow? Where's a man's responsibility for his family go? His responsibility to keep his family safe, maybe visit the farmer, buy directly from the farmer. A hundred percent, Kevin, you and I directly. You and me, we're directly in alignment on that. That's the thing. That's the problem.

Mark says the idea that politicians have that government was created to protect us is the problem. People need to learn to take personal responsibility for their own security, for their own safety, for their own health, for their own wealth, for their own welfare. They need to. Personal responsibility. Um...

One of the biggest problems for ag in Alaska was the shutting down of the fertilizer plant in Nikiski, forcing farmers to go outside for fertilizer. Then when Biden shut down the export of natural gas, it caused the shutdown of the fertilizer plants nationwide, forcing farmers to rely on overseas sources for fertilizer. It's just one more chink in the chain, David. One more chink in the chain. I'm actually working backwards here.

see my follow-on response, MD. Okay, I'm sorry. Damn, I hate the fact that I can't see the comments in their tree, you know, in their reply trees. OK, so Jerrica said it's so expensive. He asked about private. He asked about private inspectors. She said it's expensive in Alaska because nobody wants to have them travel here. And.

jr brian says we are paying anyway not directly but through taxes um Brian also said when I suggested maybe there should be a state bonding agency for these kind of endeavors, the state bonding agency would do the due diligence, which I would be fine with.

If it was a bonding agency for any small business that had to go through those inspections just to be, you know, I mean, if that's what it was. As long as it wasn't a bazillion dollars to set up a small business and be able to be bonded, I guess is my. is my response to that okay um anthony says no man i'm with big government we need regulations on these regulations to make sure that they're regulated yes

And I think before we set them up, we should study the study that regulated the study on regulations. Okay. Rick says, man, I can't get nothing done this morning. This is a deep conversation. I was not expecting this conversation. When I got up this morning, this was not the conversation I was expecting. Absolutely. Absolutely, Rick.

Kevin says that is one of the functions of government, cops, fire departments, defense. At its core, government exists to balance individual freedoms with a collective good. Ensuring people can pursue their own goals without infringing on others or the stability of the community. Agreed. Agreed. The problem, and I think you even agreed with this earlier, Kevin, is that we have gone too far. When I have to beg the government's permission.

to change the way that i do business or to make a change or do something else that is i mean that's part of the problem um Bradley says, I agree 100 percent with your libertarian viewpoint. The government's already too big. Making it bigger does more harm than good. Yes. The answer to more government is the answer to bad government is not more government. I mean, it should be self-evident, but God dang it. I mean.

25 years of me saying things that should be self-evident that nobody seems to be saying but seeing but me and you guys. I'm sorry. I'm not going to make it through all the comments here. I've only got 15 seconds. All right. We got to, man, we got to go. Let's get to it. The Michael Duke show. Common Sense, Liberty Base, Free Thinking Radio. We're going to talk to Hollis here in just a second. Let's do this thing.

The Michael Duke Show. Seriously humorous with a pinch of intellect. Pinch of intellect. Sorry. That is humorous. Here's Michael Dukes. Okay. All right, we're going to jump right into it. We got one call on hold. We're going to see what they have to say about today's topic, which, again, surprises me. Let's go over here. Good morning. Who's this? Where are you calling from?

This is Hollis, and I'm calling from Fairbanks. Good morning, Hollis. What's on your mind, my friend? Well, let me tell you that I was born 90 years ago on a ranch in South Dakota. I spent 41 years of my career, 42 years, I guess, working at three different universities and the federal government in agriculture. You are spot on.

If we have a Department of Agriculture, they're going to be out looking for problems to solve. Let's address the problems that we have here in sub-Arctic agriculture and address those. And there ought to be someone in government or hire some old fool like me to address those and get out of the way and let people grow food.

I mean, I agree. Look, we had Al Poindexter on the program here not too long ago, Hollis. And I don't know if you know Al. He owns Anchor Point Greenhouse down here. And he worked in ag for many years. He was also a teacher. And he talked about a program where we could teach.

the children agriculture and then give them the opportunity to either be granted or to buy cheaply on a on a revolving loan type thing a chunk of farmland and start farming i mean if we want to encourage you know as far as governmental encouragement goes That makes sense. But you're right. I mean, am I wrong? Yes, it does. Am I wrong? In fact, the start of 4-H. No, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm sorry, Hollis. Was, oh, wait.

The start of 4-H was to work as a demonstration for kids to demonstrate to their parents what could be done in agriculture. Yeah, I mean, and that's the Future Farmers of America, too, right? FFA, it's the same kind of thing. And Future Farmers, same thing. Yeah, yeah. Same thing. And so let me ask you a question. I mean, am I wrong in saying that, look, somebody who farms...

Somebody who's creating a product, and again, I keep using this small hobby farm thing because I did that for a little bit. I never sold my products, but we used them and we ate them and we did everything else. But if some small hobby farmer wants to create a deal where they have some raw...

milk from a cow or a goat or they want to make some cheese or do something like that. Shouldn't they have the ability to do that? And don't you think that most of them would have the pride? They're not going through all this hard work. just to sell a bad product, shouldn't they have the ability to put a sign up that says, hey, I make my cheese on my kitchen table, and it's not in a DEC-approved kitchen? I think they should. Yeah, you buy at your own risk kind of thing.

Let the people know that are buying it just where this comes from, that it's not pasteurized and whatnot. You buy at your own risk. Right. I mean, to me, that makes total sense. But the government is here to protect us from ourselves. I mean, that's essentially what it has become at every level. And the thing is, we've got whole generations now that say.

I made a decision that turned out to be a bad decision and I got hurt. And now I want the government to protect me and everybody else from making that same bad decision. That's not the government's job to protect people from making bad decisions. That's not what it's about. And yes, people will get hurt in those kind of situations sometimes. They may get sick. Some people may die. We understand. But again, people are dying right now.

from foodborne illnesses from fda and dec and epa approved facilities all the time it it it happens it is you know part of the the human condition So, again, creating more regulations that bar innovation in the marketplace is the biggest problem here, Hollis. I'll give you the final thought there. Well, yes, I think that there are ways for agriculture to be developed here.

in subarctic and i think there's a great opportunity but don't let government be in the way don't let them make a bunch of silly decisions that only so and so can be a farmer Farming is a very competitive business. Some will fail. Some will be a success. And they all, you have that opportunity if that's what you want to do. I don't think it's the government's responsibility to make everyone a success.

Yeah, well, because, again, the government can't pick winners and losers. What they try to do is equal the playing field and make everybody equally adequate instead of anybody standing out or anybody failing. That's the problem when government tries to pick winners and losers.

in government you said for 45 am i wrong yeah no you're not the market will do that yeah absolutely market will pick the winners and you losers hollis i appreciate you calling in thank you for sounding off today appreciate it Thank you for calling in and being part of it. Okay. So I didn't get to what I was really wanted to talk about. So let me give you the tease and this will be for Monday.

Because that's going to give me the weekend to pull my thoughts together even more. Because again, I started off this morning saying it was going to be a little rambling because I was still trying to talk out what I'm thinking about on this. Yesterday on the program, we had a conversation with Rob Myers.

um it involved me coming to the realization i mean we've kind of talked about it but yesterday i really kind of crystallized it when i when i um compared it to the movie Groundhog Day, where we're doing the same thing over and over, that we've been talking about the same things on this program for 25 years and things that are readily apparent to us, but apparently to nobody else.

I mean, apparently people in the program understand it. They get it. I mean, I obviously understand it. To me, it's, you know, but it's a problem. It's a problem. And the question is, if we've been trying to fix all these problems for all these years, if we're trying to solve these problems all these years and nothing is being fixed, then...

We need to change the way we're trying to change things. We need to change our approach, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So we're going to get into that on Monday. We're going to dive into that on Monday. We'll have a conversation about it. I might carve out a whole hour for it. So it'll give me a chance to kind of outline what I'm talking about and thinking about it.

You know, it is what it is. Kevin says, Michael, you might have missed it. OK, great. The Ag Department will likely happen anyways. Everyone in the legislature said they'd agree that getting out from under DNR. At issue is how it's going to happen. The governor's executive order was the fastest, cheapest way. Now the AK leg wants to do it with huge expensive bills. So there's that. Maybe it is good as it will give you all more time to publicly comment.

The idea of streamlining the department will be able to quickly reduce regulations is attractive. But yes, there is a, he runs out, there's got to be a possibility that they will, again, the governor's own people. The governor's own people, his own officials commenting on this, saying the Department of Agriculture, as the governor envisioned, wouldn't directly aid agriculture. but would create a framework for future improvements. A framework. Which means, again...

More regulations, more rules, more oversight, more bureaucrats and employees to handle all of those things. That is the framework. That that I mean, and it could be one employee, could be more, could be one regulation, could be a dozen, but it's going to be more. And again, if this is about policy problems. The answer to problems you're having with government is not more government. I mean, I just, I don't know how to say it any more plainly. That's it right there in a nutshell. And again...

The bigger part of this problem, and I agree with Kevin on this, is the lack of responsibility. People have stopped taking personal responsibility for a lot of what's going on in their actions, in everything. That's not just about agriculture. It's about everything. And we have a whole...

This group of generational people, I mean, even back when I was in high school and a kid, that you could see some of this stuff starting to pop up. But ever since, I mean, you know, ever since then, the last 30, 40 years. The answer to every problem in our lives is government, according to the public education system. I mean, it's just gotten worse over the last 20 or 30 years of teaching that.

And so you have people who have been graduating for the last 30 years whose answer to every problem is government. I think they made a mistake there. The problem is government. Not the answer to every problem. The problem is government in a lot of ways. Again, I'm not saying we don't need government.

I'm saying it should be limited, and that's where we've fallen apart. We've allowed it to get into every part of our lives. All right, I got to go. Be kind, love one another, live well. The Michael Duke Show. We'll see you tomorrow. Firearms Friday. I did not see that coming. I did not see that coming. A whole hour and 10 minutes on that topic. I just did not see that. But I think it was a good discussion. And I think it...

I think it brings me back to my libertarian roots to understand that government is only viable and necessary in its most limited form. And we have gone so far beyond that. These days. That I just I think people have a hard time. I think people have a hard time wrapping their brains around the concept of the most limited government available of the government that I'm describing.

You know, national defense, infrastructure, public safety, and the courts. And you notice I didn't put education in there. Because education should be a personal responsibility, in my opinion, or a community responsibility. The community should maybe make some rules and do that kind of stuff. That's where it should be. Anyway. Yeah.

I'm sitting here laughing, wondering what's going through your head. Are you wondering how the heck did we get so deep into this conversation? Yeah, it was. I mean, I was not. I thought this was going to be a throwaway story where I could rant for a second about how, you know. Government is the problem and it became a whole hour show, you know, but it's, it is indicative of the problem.

I mean, farmers are supposed to be like some of the most, you know, independent minded. But again, farmers have been co-opted across this nation by the government. how many farm subsidies are going on how many people are being paid not to grow a certain crop or being paid to grow a crop and then plow it under or grow a crop and give it away or you know what it yeah It's crazy. This is some crazy, crazy stuff. All right, my friends. Well...

I guess I'm out of gas on this one. I'm so surprised at where we're at. But we're going to come back on Monday. And hopefully I have my thoughts in order because it's so chaotic. Again, driving yesterday. And I'm just sitting there thinking, do I need to write an outline of this? Because I never script the show, right? I have some things I want to talk about, but it's not like I've got a script that I work off of that said talking points or anything. And I'm thinking, do I?

Because it feels so chaotic that maybe I should write an outline of start and finish of where I, you know, this is where I'm at. This is, you know, I don't know. Maybe I need to do that through the. uh, you know, throughout, through the weekend. And so that on Monday I can come back in here and wow you with my wisdom and insight because I have it all laid out. I don't know. We'll, we'll see. We'll see where it goes. okay um that's it yeah i'm i'm i'm ready to go all right my friends

Be kind. Love one another. Live well. Be ungovernable. Be self-reliant. And don't let the bastards grind you down. How about that? How about that one? We'll see you guys tomorrow with Darwin Neserian. Nesessian. Should be an interesting conversation. All right. We'll see you then. Have a great day. And now we are slimy lizard internet people. It's the Michael Duke Show.