Canceling Cancel Culture – Good News For Real Americans – with Ed Henry – [Ep. 172]

Linda J. Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101® Breakroom Economics Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101®- Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck, and the creator of the Breakroom Economics Online course, the book, the course and the entire podcast library can be found on Prosperity101.Com. I seek to connect boardroom to break room and policy to paycheck by empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful. I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement and retention, and an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit Prosperity 101.Com.

Thank you for joining with me today. I am doing this interview again from the national religious broadcaster’s convention in Orlando, Florida. And today my guest is my friend Ed Henry. Ed has been on the podcast before, but more importantly, he is the host of American Sunrise on Real America's Voice, that's right where you can find it every morning and you can get it on your app, you can stream it. It's a wonderful morning news show that you will not want to miss. So you'll hear more about that. But I would like to just bring Ed in. He has been in broadcasting for many, many years and he has such great experience and so I know you'll love hearing from him. Thank you for joining with us again. So great to see you.

Ed Henry: Yes, obviously we've known each other for years, especially when I was Deputy Chief of Staff for Herman Cain's campaign. And we'd be back in the green room together.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, we miss Herman Cain and you would bring him by to Fox for interviews in various campaigns when he ran for president. 9, 9, 9, Right. Simple campaign platform. And actually we miss him in spirit, but I think we miss the simplicity of actually getting this economy back on track. And I think cutting the taxes would be a big, giant step forward.

Ed Henry: I think it would too. And I think the 9, 9, 9, plan would still be a wonderful plan. There's people who disagree, but so many people, when they really look at it, they say, wow, this makes sense, and I can go almost anywhere. And if they know I had anything to do with Herman Cain, immediately I hear 9, 9, 9.

Linda J. Hansen: That's the problem though. The plan makes too much sense, so the swamp will never embrace it because it makes sense.

Ed Henry: It makes sense. And it would be good for the American people. But that brings us to what my first question was going to be. You've been in broadcasting for a long time. You've covered politics and so much in our culture for many years and your thoughts on the cancel culture and the rise of cancel culture. Are we potentially starting to win and turn this around, or are we continually losing our free speech? Right.

Linda J. Hansen: I'm hopeful that we're turning it around, and I think this convention of religious broadcasters is an example of it. I'm hearing from people here like yourself who are in podcasting, people who have streaming shows like we do at real America's Voice and just as big or bigger Christian filmmakers who are now on the big screen. There was one film that we interviewed, someone who had just brought his film out about Abraham. It came out the weekend of Palm Sunday. It was in 2000. Theaters had a nice run in America. Now it's in Australia and a bunch of other countries. Why is it significant? Well, when I first started in broadcasting, if you heard about a quote unquote Christian film, it was like something made in a basement. Pretty low rent, not a big budget. And I don't think the budgets have gone crazy. I think they're still relatively low budget compared to Hollywood. But with the technology now, the quality of these films are just going up. And with the streaming, the access to these Christian films, that's going up, up. And so that's but one example where, yeah, the mainstream media still has their megaphone and they still cancel people over various issues or try to, but we're seeing backlashes whether it's in the media or whether it's in corporate America.

Bud Light, I was reading a story I live in the Palm Beach area, and the Palm Beach post had a story, I think last Sunday that was saying, oh, don't listen to conservative. Literally, the story was like a quote unquote news story, not an opinion piece. And it was saying, don't believe the conservatives. Bud Light's doing great. And I was thinking, which PR person they hired that got to I think the Palm Beach Post took the story from USA Today and Gannett. They must be one of those papers that feeds them info. And it was all these talking points from Bud Light. And then I started searching and finding all kinds of stories around the country where Bud Light is being discounted or given away because the shelf date is expiring soon. You don't leave beer on the shelf for two years. There is a shelf life, quote unquote. And now we're saying with Target, they do these bathing suits for young girls, quote unquote. I say girls, quote unquote, because it's really aimed at boys who want to identify as girls. And I won't go into you can read about it for yourself, but there's a tuck.

Ed Henry: Yeah, and they have chest binders, too. For the girls who want to look like boys or monitor who want to look like girls, there's different bathing suit attachments and other things.

Linda J. Hansen: It's insane. But the point is, Target stock has been coming down. They had a quote unquote, emergency meeting recently to deal with the fallout and prevent themselves from becoming the next Bud Light. So I'm struggling to understand how the mainstream media can push this narrative that Bud Light is not doing so bad when Target is now having emergency meetings to not become the next Bud Light. So is there still cancel culture? To answer your question, yes. But is it blowing itself up in the sense that the left wants to tell us what to read, what we can see? They want to bombard us with this radical agenda on trans rights, which is such a small part of the country, and yet corporate America, the mainstream media, have embraced it with open arms to pander to a small group. I want to make clear, I'm all for human rights. If you're an adult and you make that decision, I can disagree with it. But do not ever impose this on children. And you've got teachers in some cases saying, don't tell your parents about this. And the puberty blockers we're just going to do, no way. This is about parents’ rights. It's about free speech. It's about us standing on principle and liberty, which this country was founded on. But I think, yes, the cancel culture is still out there, and it's frustrating. But I think it's dissipating because it's blowing itself up with this just total insanity that the American people are seeing.

Ed Henry: Well, the hypocrisy of it is amazing. We can see that these companies that have embraced ESG and the whole transgender model and messaging, they're really struggling financially. And we're finding that conservatives are starting to wake up and they're voting with their dollars, and that is money talks.

Linda J. Hansen: Here we are in Orlando, and when you drive by, there's a lot of cars still going into the Disney parking lots. But there have been a lot of stories about how they've taken a hit as well, where people are frustrated with the content they see on Disney Plus and other radical pieces of the agenda that Disney is pushing. You see some of their employees who get caught on grooming and other criminal charges. Child porno. There was just one Disney worker recently charged with child pornography. That can happen in various business. But Disney has a record of pushing this radical agenda. Senator Hawley from Missouri was here at the National Religious Broadcasters at a dinner and said, boy, I'm so old that the last time I was at Disney as a kid, sleeping Beauty was a woman. And it was a joke. But then it was like, well, wait, what are they saying about Sleeping Beauty these days? Who knows? Who knows how Sleeping Beauty identifies well.

Ed Henry: And the problem with what's happening in our culture is not only are they changing things like Sleeping Beauty, but they're changing things like history books and rewriting history and teaching our children to hate America. America is this land of oppression and victimization, and capitalism is bad, and we have an opportunity and a responsibility to basically reeducate. I would say reeducate. That's why I do Prosperity 101®, because I feel like employers it's kind of a last line of defense in a sense, that these people have come through these waves of public school and higher education, and they've been basically indoctrinated and not taught critical thinking skills. And they also have not been basically taught the core of what makes America free, like why we can have freedom, prosperity, human flourishing and opportunity. And then how do we protect that? And I think that's so important for the workplace. It's kind of the last frontier, I say, for conservatives, because we've so let that mountain of culture go to the left, and they have brought in all these liberal things, but we have that opportunity and responsibility. But can we imagine this is for the next generation, too? It's not even just for educating for, say, the next election, helping them be a more educated voter, not about a party or a candidate. This goes beyond that, but educating for the next generation.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah. And I was thinking about your book because I heard Tim Scott, there's a lot of candidates getting into the presidential race beyond just Donald Trump right now. The governor of Florida, where we are right now in Orlando, Ron DeSantis got in. Tim Scott got in as a black conservative. He said something I think applies to the principle of it anyway, to your book in this conversation, which is, Tim Scott said, as a black American, he thinks that black and brown children have to stop. Stop teaching them about grievance, teach them about greatness. If you think about prosperity, there's been this beautiful wave of black and brown entrepreneurs in recent years, but I think they were inspired by people like Herman Cain and Donald Trump, and not inspired by a Gavin Newsom or a Joe Biden nor a Kamala Harris, because it's not about the color of your skin. It's about the principles you espouse, the policies you push. And it was Donald Trump who had the lowest unemployment rate among black Americans of anyone. And so the man that the left was always attacking as someone who did not support black people. They were wrong about that, but also he was encouraging entrepreneurship. And I think we got to get back to those policies. And I think Tim Scott's point is really valid, which is that stop teaching everyone just black and brown kids, but white kids are taught this in school. So you're a victim. For some reason, you want to change your gender, and they won't let you. Or you're a victim. You're a victim. It's grievance. It's all anger. Whereas to me, greatness, as Tim Scott said, that's about prosperity. That's about positivity.

That's about a vision for the country that's much more beautiful. And to mention Josh Holly, who I said gave this speech, he also got up at this dinner at the National Religious Broadcasters and said he thinks it's like a new Marxism that you're talking about, whether it's on the social agenda, but also the economic agenda, and that we have to continue to stand strong to fight back. And I think he's right. And I noticed that the view when Tim Scott announced he was running for president, I think it was Joy Behar, a white woman, who was saying that he was wrong about the black experience in this country and that Scott was from the Clarence Thomas school of lifting yourself up by the bootstraps. I mean, number one, its offensive, almost racist, I would argue. But number two, what does a white woman what perspective does she have about what it's like to be a black man or woman in America? And so the left likes to say, oh, you're Donald Trump. You don't understand anything about black Americans. But Joy Behar, she knows all about what works for building prosperity among black Americans. As a white woman, explain to me how that works. That's the left's mentality is that they know better than you do. And here's a black American who's done a pretty darn good job as a senator. The economic opportunity zones and stuff, the prosperity zones that he's put together with Donald Trump in some of these hard hit neighborhoods around the country right. That's been really empowering for people of all races and backgrounds. But the left doesn't want to talk about Gosh.

Ed Henry: Well, exactly, and you talked about the low jobless rate among blacks, and really, it was all minorities under the Trump administration and women as well. Their home ownership was up. Just on a point about Donald Trump with the black community, he supported the HB, historically black college. Yeah. HBCUs more than any president. And it was amazing. And I know Herman Cain got that Uncle Tom label as well, but he was never a victim. I know a story that he told that he was passed over for a job once, and he went in to talk to the boss, and he said, Is it because of my race? And he said, no, it's because the guy that applied before you or that we chose has a master's degree.

Linda J. Hansen: Right.

Ed Henry: And so Herman Cain said, well, what did I do? I went and got me a master's degree. Yeah. He worked harder, and he realized that if he provided quality and excellence, he could get where he wanted to go. And that's the beauty of America. We have equal opportunity, or we've always had equal opportunity. Now they want it to be equity. Everybody is the same. Yeah. It's upside down. And so it's really crazy. But we've seen this whole upside down world really being used to divide us. You mentioned about the victim. The victimization. Everybody's a victim. But wherever there's a victim, there's always an oppressor. So the left and Marxist ideology is always about dividing, dividing, dividing, creating division among the society, because united we stand, divided we fall.

Linda J. Hansen: Absolutely.

Ed Henry: Yeah.

Linda J. Hansen: Abraham Lincoln knew that and brought this country back together. And I think the bottom line is these left doing policies. It's like what you asked about cancel culture. It's catching up to them. And I thought the American people were going to wake up in the last midterms. And, yeah, Republicans took back the House, which we can get into briefly, because I think there has been progress for conservatives, but they fell short of really taking back more power. I am hopeful that in 2024, the country will have woken up because things have gotten so bad under Joe Biden. It's hard to not see how we could turn the corner and how we need to turn the corner and how people's eyes are being opened up about all of that. And here at the NRB, so many people have been talking about God's hand in trying to move this country forward, that it's not really a fight anymore between Democrats and Republicans. It's a fight between good and evil. And quickly on the House, Republicans, they fell short in a bigger majority in November 2022, fell short in taking back the US Senate, which would have been big in terms of nominations from Biden and the rest of the agenda. But I look at James Comer and the investigations into the Biden family that are picking up steam. I look at what Jim Jordan is doing with the FBI whistleblowers, but I think McCarthy has to hold firm until we start cutting spending. We're over, what, $33 trillion in debt. This is a recipe for disaster, and we got to start turning the corner.

Ed Henry: Well, it definitely is a recipe for disaster. And if you are a business owner, you know that you can't keep running a deficit if you're a family, you can't keep living on debt. And that's basically what we're doing. And money doesn't grow on trees, and it just doesn't grow because people print it and distribute it, like our government. So we have to be wise about this and think about the future. And I always say a politician thinks about the next election, but a statesman thinks about the next generation. Not my original quote, but it is so true. And it's something that I try to do in everything I do, whether it's the projects I choose to be involved with or the campaigns I do. This is so much bigger than a candidate or an election cycle. It is about truly saving America for the next generation and the one after and the one after and the one after, but also freedom for the world. I can't tell you how many times I talk to people from all over the world, or especially immigrants who say, please, save America. Save America.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, Donald Trump talks about that. He's leading the polls now we'll see how all this plays out. But whether it's him or another nominee on the Republican side, this is maybe our last best shot at saving America. You're right and I applaud you for all you're doing in lending your voice to this effort, whether it's through the podcast or your book, because every voice is going to matter here and is going to make a difference.

Ed Henry: Well, absolutely. And for listeners, too, don't forget I have an online course. That is something employers you can just share this. You don't even have to get brave and bold and outspoken. You could just buy the course, share it with your employees. They can do it as an option, as something in your onboarding whatever. It's twelve lessons, really. Short videos, little transcript, just talking about the foundations of our prosperity, like why can we have this freedom in America? And then the policies of prosperity. I love to quote Dr. Art Laffer who said, if you tax something less, you get more of it. If you tax something more, you get less of it. And so it's just some basic principles like that. Why do you as a business owner, why do businesses need to make profits? Well, have you ever had a job from a poor person? Right.

So these are things that so many of our young people have never been taught to think about. So we go through basic introduction to our foundations, but then the policies of why we can have this flourishing or why we should be able to here in America, but then how do we protect it? So once people kind of wake up and say, oh, I want to stay free, how do I become an active citizen? How do I get involved? And employers, you may think that because you know this stuff, you may think that these young people you're hiring know this, but they do not. They've not been taught this in school. And then now too, I'm trying to get it all translated into Spanish as well because we have this influx at the border. I just interviewed Ben Berkwam too, and our tax dollars are paying for this crime and heartbreak and human rights abuses happening through our border. And people don't realize. And so we have to educate and we have to be able to help them wake up and understand even the basics if we're going to save our country. So please get engaged. Go to Prosperity 101. Com. Go to real America's Voice.

Linda J. Hansen: America's Voice News, you can go to the Apple Store as well and download the app under America's Voice. And you could stream our morning show, American Sunrise, every weekday, 08:00 a.m. To 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

Ed Henry: And it is a great show. They cover a lot of topics they have many guests on that you won't find elsewhere. And Ed has such Ed and Karen both have such a unique perspective because of their experiences. And it’s fun it's really a fun show, but you know that you're constantly learning, and I really respect what Real America's Voice is doing. As we've seen everything happening with Fox and all the hullabaloo there and things, real America's Voice has stayed true to the core. It's growing rapidly. And so, listeners, please do support Real America's Voice, get their app. I pull out their app all the time. I'll be out running, walking. I'll listen to Ed and Karen while I'm out running or something, and it's great. So you want to make sure you tune in.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned Ben Berquam. He has a series called Law and Border that is all about the crisis at the southern border that you just alluded to footage that you just won't see of what's really happening at the border with these smugglers, how they're abusing children. It's despicable. And Biden is doing very little or nothing about this crisis. And some people think that's by design, to have these open borders bring more potential Democrat voters across the border and it's a national security threat. It's not just something we're talking about here. Politically, you have terrorists coming across that border. And Donald Trump talked about this way before. Others were highlighting it. I find it amazing that Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer and all these Democrats in the Senate back in the day, before she went on to be Secretary of State, of course, were for building a wall, were for strengthening laws, holding accountable illegal immigrants. And now it's like Katie Bar, the door. No wall. Let's just let anybody in. And it's perverted the system. And they're selective about what laws they enforce.

Ed Henry: Well, follow the money. Follow the money. There's so many ties. You keep listening when you're a Real America's Voice and you're listening to American Sunrise, keep listening. You're listening to the war room, and you'll find a lot of the money trail when you listen there. And in terms of getting all of that exposed, ties to the CCP, all these things. So the crime, the fentanyl, the drugs coming in through Mexico and China into our border, the human trafficking, this is one of the biggest human slavery operations, in a sense, with the cartels and everything that we've ever, ever had.

Linda J. Hansen: That's what we say. It's not hyperbole about, this is our last best chance to save the country. It's not just about the economy. We're talking about we don't have a border. We don't have a country, as Donald Trump likes to say. And he's right.

Ed Henry: Right. Even the people like New York mayor Eric Adams saying New York is a sanctuary city. Now they're complaining and saying now they.

Linda J. Hansen: Want to send illegal immigrants to every city in America and say, you all share with us. It's not our problem. You don't have control of your city. You had a sanctuary city. You allowed these illegal immigrants for years. He's a relatively new mayor, but he had a chance to change the policies. And it's funny that when the Texas governor, who's a Republican in Abbott, sent a busload of illegal immigrants to Adams, and he's done that more than once, but when he first started doing it a few months ago, he's racist. This is outrageous. Why would you do it? Now Adams wants to take illegal immigrants and bust them to Texas and other states. How is it okay for him to do that? But when DeSantis sent illegal immigrants up to Martha's Vineyard, he was a horrible person. It's ridiculous.

Ed Henry: Again, it's a hypocrisy. We mentioned so well, we're out of time. But again, listeners, please go to Prosperity 101. Com if you like what you hear, if you want to help, support this. You want to help support getting it all into Spanish so that we can expand the impact, please go to the website. There's a Prosperity partner spot at the bottom of the website. Please go there, give us your support, but also please go to Americas Voice News.

Linda J. Hansen: That's right. Thanks for having me, Linda.

Ed Henry: Yes. Thank you, Ed. It's always a pleasure.

Linda J. Hansen: Fantastic.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity 101® Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave a great review. Don't forget to visit Prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity: The Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics online course. You can also receive the free e-book, 10 Tips for Helping Employees Understand How Public Policy Affects Their Paychecks. Freedom is never free. Understanding the foundations of prosperity and the policies of prosperity will help you to protect prosperity as you become informed, involved, and impactful. I give special thanks to our sponsors Matthews Archery, Inc. and Wisconsin Stamping & Manufacturing. Please contact us today at Prosperity101.com to let us know how we can serve you. Thank you.