674. Why Congressman Thomas Massie Matters Now More Than Ever

Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of The Way the World Works. Today I want to continue a discussion we've been having on just strong moral character. I talked about, you know, the founders and how they viewed character and how character was an important part of being, you know, a civic leader, having the courage to stand up for what you know is right when everybody else disagrees with you, to stand on principle, to admit when you're wrong, if you are wrong, to try to be better.

And I want to talk about a real world example of that. And that is Congressman Thomas Massey. So for starters, I want to go back a few more years earlier to him getting elected and talk about Ron Paul.

As you guys know, both Connor, you know, and I have talked about Ron Paul. We've had him. He's one of the first guests we had on this show years and years ago.

Love Ron Paul. For me, Ron Paul is the reason I started really loving the constitution and loving individualism and loving free market economics, because I saw that if we were allowed to do those things, it would make our world better. But the reason he had such an impact on me as a teenager or not teenager, young adult, the reason this old man who was just standing up talking about economic policy, the reason that that resonated, that that struck my heart as a young adult was because he spoke truth and he didn't care who didn't like it.

He did it anyway. And most people don't. Most politicians don't want to do that because most politicians rely on people liking them to get elected.

So they tell people what they want to hear. They don't keep their promises and they don't stand on anything or they pretend to stand on things and just don't ever, you know, actually live up to those things. And so watching Ron Paul was so inspirational because it was the only time that we saw a politician, you know, willing to say no to wars, willing to say no to giving the Federal Reserve more power, saying no to printing more money, saying no to expanding the administrative state.

Ron Paul, you could always guess what he was going to say and how he was going to vote because he was so consistent and he was so principled, you know, lobbyists, the people that try to convince congressmen and senators to vote for their laws that, you know, line their pockets and benefit them. They used to call Ron Paul Dr. No, and they wouldn't even show up at his door in Congress because they knew he would say no and he wouldn't listen because he stood on principle and he didn't care what they had to offer him. He didn't need to worry about reelection because if people were going to reelect him, they were going to do it because they appreciated what he did for them.

And it worked out because he had 40 years in politics. So was a was a winning strategy, but it's not one you see often. And because of Ron Paul, because of the the inspiration he was to so many of us, it created another generation of people.

And even though there were big movements, even the Tea Party for the good parts of it in the 2009 2010 era era, you know, I think that's largely a big can be attributed the good stuff, at least to Ron Paul, because there was that push for constitutionalism. And you had a lot of really good people get elected. You had a Utah Senator Mike Lee.

I got to work on that campaign. I got to intern for that campaign was my first political experience. You had Rand Paul, Ron Paul's son.

You had Justin Amash. He's not in Congress anymore, but you had him. And then you had Thomas Massey, who came around in 2012, was elected to Congress in Kentucky.

So Kentucky, you guys are a lucky state if you're listening to us from Kentucky because you have Rand Paul and you have Thomas Massey. But Thomas Massey and obviously the other people I mentioned are great, too. But Thomas Massey has been particularly just awesome, a rock star.

And so I wanted to make sure we had an episode where we celebrated Massey and we thanked him for being such a great politician. You will never hear the words a great politician come out of my mouth often. But man, has this guy been such an inspiration.

So let's start with some cool facts about Thomas Massey. So he is from rural Kentucky. He lives on like a self-sustaining farm with his family, meaning he lives on a farm where everything is self-sufficient.

He was he's an engineer by training, and so he was able to do these things on his farm where you could, you know, make sure you're utilizing water and multiple things. So, I mean, to put this into perspective, you know, his farm is fully solar powered, so he doesn't have to rely on outside energy. It's just really cool to see that because you don't see a lot of that stuff going on today.

So he lives on this really cool farm. Honestly, he's kind of a nerd. Like I said, he's an engineer like Thomas Massey is a little bit of a nerd, and that's why we love him.

We've talked about how individual liberty is so reliant on the ability to be self-sufficient, to be able to make our own lives, our own households as orderly and as as free as possible. And Thomas Massey lives so free for a while, actually. Recently, he didn't want to buy like an apartment, spend extra money on an apartment in D.C. because remember, congressmen live wherever they're from, but then they have to spend all this time in D.C. So he was just like living in a trailer and he'd hook it up to power.

And he's just he's just so cool. He's unlike these other politicians who are lining their pockets and who are just, you know, making money from who knows what and buying big apartments. And here you have a real man of the people living in a trailer, going back home to his self-sufficient farm.

OK, but having chickens and solar power is one thing. Why does this matter to us politically? Well, because like Ron Paul, Thomas Massey is not afraid to stand alone. And oh, my goodness, has he been standing alone often? Listen, whether you agree or disagree with President Trump or agree with him sometimes and not agree with him on other times, you can admire somebody who's willing to say, my personal values are not your values and I don't believe it's constitutional and I'm going to stand up.

And even though Thomas Massey ran as a Republican, he votes with his conscience. He votes against, you know, Republicans a lot of the time if he feels like what they are doing is immoral and not constitutional, which has meant he's had to stand up to to President Trump. And, you know, President Trump is very unfiltered.

He says what he thinks. And honestly, a lot of time that's great. Sometimes if you're the target of that, it's not so great.

But he has insulted Thomas Massey a lot, but he insults everybody. But Thomas Massey's responses have been not only just I'm doing what I think is right, but so witty. He's so witty with it that you can't help but smile.

He votes no. If he's the only person voting no, he will stand up and say, no, this is wrong. You know, I not all of you are nerds who watch C-SPAN or watch, you know, live coverage of congressional hearings.

But seeing him stand up to people who who are name calling him when he knows that he's doing something right. It is the first time I've almost felt like it was watching Ron Paul again. As nerdy as I am, the only time I watched C-SPAN, that's the that's the boring channel on your TV where it's just like a video camera in Congress a lot of the time.

But that's where back in the day, I used to watch Federal Reserve hearings and hear Ron Paul yell at the Federal Reserve chairman for doing all these terrible things and, you know, not adhering to Austrian economics. And now I watch it and I see Thomas Massey continuing that, that, you know, continuing to carry the torch of liberty and sitting there and telling people, even of his own party, you're wrong. We shouldn't be doing this.

This isn't constitutional. And it's crazy because a lot of people have turned against him and a lot of people are saying, you know, we need to really worry about hating the Democrats because they're the bad guys. So you need to get on board with the Republicans and we need to, you know, be unified as a party so we can fight back against this.

And Thomas Massey, like Ron Paul, is saying, no, I'm not here to play party politics. I'm not here to make, you know, my side win or lose because I don't really have a side. My side is the Constitution.

My side is individual liberty. And if what you're asking me to do is not aligned with that, then I'm not going to do it because that's not what I was elected to do. And man, you just don't see that anymore.

You don't see it anymore. And you rarely saw it ever. Right.

It was really just Ron Paul. And so watching Thomas Massey in these congressional hearings lately has been so inspirational. And it's been just a reminder of the good old Ron Paul days.

I say good old Ron Paul days. I just did an episode a little bit ago, if you've been listening to the myth of the good old days. So it's funny.

I just caught myself romanticizing the past, just like I was saying that we do. And to be to be cognizant of, you know, it's great to know that we have someone like Massey who's questioning federal spending. He's not just going to vote for a budget because the Republicans say we should vote for it.

No, he's going to say this is ridiculous. Let's cut spending, opposing any bill that's going to make the government any bigger. That's going to be unconstitutional.

And not only that. And here's another thing I love. Career politicians think of like Nancy Pelosi, the people who have been in there for like 100 years.

I know it's not quite 100 years, but she's almost I feel like she is probably 100 years. She'll been in for forever. But these people never feel like they have to justify their vote to their constituents, the people who voted them in office, because a lot of politicians get into office and have this like, I'm better than you and I know better than you mentality.

Thomas Massey always explains why he voted for something. Wow. Like, that is so huge.

He's sitting there saying, no, I voted for it because of this. Here's what you can expect. And he keeps getting elected because people love that.

They respect that. They admire that. And gosh, we haven't had that in so long.

And credit to again, when Justin Amash was in Congress, he was equally very, very good. And, you know, we have again, Rand Paul and Mike Lee, who also do play their part and do great. But when I think of somebody who I would put on Ron Paul's level, when I think of somebody who I don't ever have to wonder how they're going to vote, because I know where I know that sometimes in politics, you have you do have to work together, you have to compromise and all that.

But I love when there are people like Ron Paul, like Thomas Massey, who say, no, I'm not here to play games. I'm here to protect the people, the Constitution, and I'm here to speak for the people I represent. So I could go on and on and on and on.

As a family, I would love for you to maybe find some videos of Thomas Massey in Congress and testifying, make sure they're fit for families that the topic is good. But it's just really fun watching him because, you know, he means what he says. And if for parents, you're not following him on social media, I highly recommend you do because it's great seeing him talk about why he voted for a bill.

It's great seeing him, you know, clap back at the critics. But I think Thomas Massey is someone we need to be watching right now if you're not already. And you know, on the off chance that Thomas Massey is watching this.

Thank you, Thomas Massey. We need you. We appreciate you.

You are carrying the torch of liberty. And I just can't help but think that, you know, Ron Paul is so proud to see you continuing his movement in a way that is so exciting. So thank you, Thomas Massey.

We will leave it there. As always, don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast. And until next time, I will talk to you later.