Rick Green: Welcome to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. Rick is the Constitution Coach. It's good to be with you live. It's been a little while, and I miss taking your calls. Rick Green: Let's get to some calls today. Please call in with your comments, questions, or insults. I'd love to hear from you. The phone number is 888-589-8840. Rick Green: We're down to 14 days, folks, 14 days until the midterm elections. It is critical that you pay attention to this. I was just last night with Debbie and Don Stroud from iVoterGuide, an incredible part of the American Family Association ministry and a very important part of what we do here. I think it is one of the most effective tools for helping people vote in an informed way. Rick Green: What we typically do is start feeling guilty or getting convicted. Everybody keeps saying, "I need to go vote." So you say, "I've got an hour this afternoon. I'll run by there." You rustle up your voter ID card, if you can find it, stand in line, and get in there. You remember some ads about the Senate race, or maybe the governor's race. Then you get in there and find 15 other races on the ballot. You don't know any of them, but you recognize a name from an ad, maybe saw a sign for somebody running for state representative, or heard one of us here on AFR talking about a candidate. So you basically throw a dart blindly at a dartboard and hope you're voting for somebody who is going to make good decisions about your life, your kids, your community, and our country. Rick Green: We're so busy. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty about it. I'm telling you, I've been there. Even though I live, breathe, and eat this stuff, I've had times when I haven't had time to do the homework before I go vote. I can do pretty well at the top of the ballot with the bigger races, but then you get to the judges and you're really guessing at that point. Rick Green: It doesn't have to be like that. You can be a good steward of this incredible talent God has given you. The Master has given us the talent of freedom. Just imagine that you're handed this coin by the Master, and you're going to cash that coin by going in and casting your vote. Let's say you were only voting in one race. The Master has given you this coin, unique to you, and you get to pick your candidate and cast that vote. By doing so, you put in motion years, maybe decades, of policies that will affect your life. Rick Green: It will determine how much of your money you get to spend on your family versus how much the government takes away from you. It will determine what you can do with your property and whether local government officials think they own your property and get to tell you what you can do with it, or whether you get to decide what to do with your property. Rick Green: That vote, casting that coin into the right bucket or the wrong bucket, will determine whether your children can walk down the street in your town and community without being exposed to drag queen story hour or whatever else it might be. It will determine what your children, or your neighbors' children in public schools, are exposed to in their textbooks. Will those textbooks be pro-America, or will they tear down America? Will neighborhood children be raised to hate their nation, hate each other, and hate themselves, or will they be raised to be good citizens? Will they be taught not only reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also how to be good citizens and live out their liberty in a way that preserves it for other people? Rick Green: All of these things may sound like a lot. You may think, "How does my one little vote affect all of that?" But it does. I can't tell you how many people have been elected who make decisions about all those things that affect you, your kids, and your church, by the way. I didn't even get into that. How many people have been elected by a handful of votes, maybe the number of votes in your house? Rick Green: If you have two or three grown children, you and your spouse have four or five votes for sure. I could not list in this entire program the number of races where the outcome was determined by the membership of one church. I'm not talking about a megachurch. I'm talking about a local church with 200, 300, or 400 members. Rick Green: The system isn't so broken that we should sit it out and say, "My vote isn't going to count or make a difference." This system works if we work it. I have some bad news for you: the enemy is working. Rick Green: The people who hate this country and want to turn it into Sharia law, or into a communist socialist utopia that becomes a communist tyranny, are working this system. They are not sitting at home saying, "I don't like what that guy did, so I'm not going to vote." They're not saying, "I'm just not sure, so I'm not going to go." They're not saying, "My vote doesn't count." They're showing up in droves, with their friends and family, getting all their people out. If they work the system, we better be working the system. Rick Green: The good news is that we still outnumber them. There are more people in this country who still love America, still love God, and still want to have a neighborhood where people think murder is wrong and there is no $900 exception to the Eighth Commandment. They think it is good to raise kids to salute the flag, say the Pledge of Allegiance, study the Founding Fathers, and know the cost. Rick Green: There are more people on that side than on the other side. We're not as loud or obnoxious. We don't march in the streets as often, and we certainly don't break windows, but we're here. You're not alone. Rick Green: I know we have stations all over the country, including people in blue states who are listening and saying, "Rick, you don't know. I'm in Seattle, Portland, or Los Angeles, and there is no way we're going to win." Even if you think that is true, and even if it is true in some areas, your duty does not change. Even if you're guaranteed to lose, your duty does not change. Rick Green: There is nothing in the Bible that says, "If you think you're going to lose, stay home." There is nothing in the Bible that says, "Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, unless you live in Seattle." There is nothing that says, "Occupy until I return, unless you're in California." You do not have an excuse. Rick Green: Wherever you're listening to the sound of my voice, your duty, responsibility, and gift is this incredible freedom. We get to choose our leaders in a constitutional republic with representative government. The only power government has is the power that comes from the consent of the governed. This freedom and ability to work the system is a gift, and you have a duty and responsibility to use it. Rick Green: It is not just a right or something you do if you feel like it. I want to be blunt with you. If you're the servant who took that coin, took that talent, and buried it, and then decided not to vote, not to exercise your freedom, and not to fulfill your responsibility and duty, the Master has a very simple description for you: "You wicked and slothful servant." Rick Green: I'm talking to you if you're even thinking about sitting this one out. "I meant to go vote, but I couldn't find the time." No. "I was going to answer to God for my vote, so I couldn't vote for that guy because he's a scoundrel. The other guy is a communist connected to Sharia law, and I know he's going to put my children into tyranny." If the other guy gets elected because you stayed home, you are the wicked and slothful servant. There are no sugary words for you. Get off the couch and get into this fight. Rick Green: It is so easy. Do you know what people did for us to have this right? If you haven't watched Band of Brothers or The Pacific, or sat down with a veteran who was willing to put his life on the line, you need to understand what they did. Even those who did not endure the worst of war set aside four, six, eight, ten, or twelve of the youthful years of their lives to serve in the military. They did that for us so we would have the right to do what we're doing over the next couple of weeks. Rick Green: You're going to sit at home and spit on their service by not voting? You're going to spit on the graves of those who died for us at Iwo Jima, Saipan, Normandy, and all the other places throughout history? You're going to do it again to those who were already mistreated when they came home from Vietnam and Korea? Come on. Rick Green: I have no sympathy for people who are whining that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, or that they can't vote for a candidate because he cheated on his wife or taxes. You say, "The other guy is a communist who is going to subject our nation to 50 years of darkness, but I just can't." Grow up. Be spiritually mature. Rick Green: There is no perfect candidate. The greatest heroes in the Bible committed murder, adultery, and all kinds of things. We're all sinners, yet God is willing to use us and forgive us. Sometimes we vote for someone because the other guy is a communist or simply very bad. Rick Green: We may vote for somebody who has not asked for forgiveness, or who says, "I can't think of anything I need to ask forgiveness for." Does that ring a bell? Do you remember when President Trump said that? When he said it, I thought, "How can I vote for this guy? How can I vote for a man who thinks he has nothing to be forgiven for and does not share my faith? How is he going to know right from wrong? How will he have the moral clarity to make good decisions?" Rick Green: God loves to confound my wisdom. He loves to take my logic, throw it out the window, and say, "Look what I can do." Do you know why I decided to vote for Donald Trump in 2016? I looked at the other candidate and said, "Donald Trump might give me 50 percent of the judges he appoints, and maybe 50 percent of them will be good. But 100 percent of Hillary Clinton's judges are going to be anti-constitution and destroy the country." So I voted for him. In fact, I spent the final couple of months of the 2016 campaign going all in for him. Rick Green: It was hard for me because of all the other things about him. But the man has turned out to be, I really think, by the time he is finished, the best president in the history of the United States. Rick Green: He may be better than Ronald Reagan, and even better than Lincoln. It is difficult for me to rate anybody above Lincoln after he held the country together and did what he did. My friends from the South will call and email to tell me what a traitor I am. Washington was the greatest man and greatest American to ever live, but not necessarily the greatest president. Reagan was my number one for a long time, and Lincoln was my number two. But in terms of what they accomplished as president, I do not think you can stack up those accomplishments and fail to put Donald Trump at number one. Rick Green: I know he is not on the ballot, but he kind of is because his agenda is on the ballot. The reason I mention that is because he is a flawed man, an openly flawed man, and an admitted flawed man. Now he says he does not even think he is good enough to get into heaven. Of course, many people have shared the salvation message with him since then. Rick Green: My point is that you have no excuse to stay home. I do not care where you live or who is on the ballot. Someone is worse than the other candidate, and you need to vote for the least bad. Vote for the one who has the best chance of doing something good while in office. Do not stay home. iVoterGuide.com is where I was going with all of that. Go find out who the candidates are and what they stand for, and make informed decisions when you vote. Rick Green: We are going to take a break. The number is 888-589-8840. I'm Rick Green, and you're listening to At the Core. Rick Green: Welcome back to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach. The number is 888-589-8840. Call in with your comments, questions, or insults. We're talking about voting since we are in the final 14 days. Rick Green: Last night, I was doing what we call a national class with Debbie and Don. We take our Biblical Citizenship class, watch the videos together on Zoom, and meet once a week. It is live, so we take questions. This time, I have partners from across the country joining us each week. Rick Green: The first week, FlashPoint joined us with Gene Bailey and Bishop Wendell Hutchinson. They had a great conversation about what they are doing and went through the Biblical Citizenship class. Last night, we did week two, and Debbie and Don joined us to talk about how to use iVoterGuide to cast an informed vote instead of guessing. You actually have information about each candidate. Rick Green: It is easy and quick. There is a dial or gauge that tells you whether a candidate leans conservative or liberal, and then you can compare that with where you stand. If you want to go into more detail, you can see where the rating came from, who the candidate gave money to, who gave money to the candidate, what the candidate fought for and stood for, and the candidate's voting record. Rick Green: It is a phenomenal tool. Debbie also writes an excellent email from time to time. The headline I was reading as we came back from the break was "Revival or Regret." That is essentially the choice we have right now. We have a phenomenal opportunity. Rick Green: I was giving a speech last night in the Dallas-Fort Worth area at an event for my friend Mike Olcott, who is in the state house. I was talking about the 250th anniversary and the incredible opportunity we have as people are paying attention for the first time in a long time. We can educate them to vote based on the Declaration of Independence. What are the principles of the Declaration, and which candidates stand for those principles? Rick Green: I think she is right. We have a chance for revival or regret. If you stay home and bury that talent, you are the wicked and slothful servant, and you are going to have a lot of regret. There is going to be rain on the just and unjust because you did not vote and put the just in office. Rick Green: Check out iVoterGuide.com. You can sign up for the emails as well. Now let's head to the phones. We will start with Allison in Texas. Allison: Hi, Rick. I love your show, and I hope to make it down there to learn how to shoot one day. Rick Green: I would love to have you. Allison: I love Brian Harrison, but he has been bashing iVoterGuide. I wanted to know why he specifically mentioned that at the A.T.H.I.E.R. I cannot remember what race it was. What do you think of Brian Harrison? I was starting to wonder whether I can trust iVoterGuide. Rick Green: First of all, there is no perfect person out there. I love Brian. Brian is a great voice for exposing a lot of the corruption in the Texas House. He has been a critical part of waking up a lot of Texans and Americans. Rick Green: I know Brian, and I think highly of him. I do not know why he would be against iVoterGuide. I do not know what specific race he might disagree with, but out of the thousands and thousands of races they cover, I could probably find one rating I disagree with. Maybe they did not rate him or somebody he is campaigning for the way he hoped. Rick Green: I will check with him and find out what his objection is. If he is saying something negative about iVoterGuide, I would disagree with him. If there is something we can improve, then great, but I stand by it. I think it is absolutely the best system out there. It is easy to use, and many people help make it happen. Rick Green: I say that as somebody who has been part of iVoterGuide since before it was called iVoterGuide, all the way back to 2000 or 2001. In the early stages, Richard Ford was starting it just for Texas and mainly for high-level races. Debbie, Don, and the team have taken it to the next level, both technologically and in terms of depth. Rick Green: I never would have thought they could reach so many communities across the nation, cover all 50 states and statewide races, and get into school board races. I dreamed that we could do that. I used to tell people they would have to make their own voter guide for local races, investigate the candidates, and put the information on Facebook. Now iVoterGuide is covering school board races in Florida and across the country. Rick Green: Do you know what Brian disliked about the system? Allison: He said that iVoterGuide was saying that it was conservative and endorsing Talarico. Rick Green: iVoterGuide does not endorse anybody. It takes the information and gives you a rating showing whether a person leans conservative, is very conservative, leans liberal, or is very liberal. Rick Green: I do not know what race he is talking about, but there are Republican sellouts in Texas who have endorsed Talarico. It is shocking to me. I am going into a community tonight near the Patriot Academy campus where, from what I understand, Republicans have been debating whether to vote for Talorico or not vote at all because they do not want to vote for Ken Paxton. Rick Green: I understand people's objections to Paxton because of the affair and because they think the impeachment was legitimate. It was not. He was absolutely exonerated after the impeachment. I understand that people have objections based on some of the things Paxton has done. He is a sinner just like I am and just like everybody listening. Rick Green: But this man has been the best attorney general in my lifetime from any state. He would be a phenomenal United States senator, especially compared with Talarico. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. To refuse to vote for somebody who has sinned means you can never vote for anybody. To choose someone who wants to promote sin and codify sin into our laws, who is on the wrong side of every issue, or not vote at all, makes no sense to me. Rick Green: I could understand why Brian would be upset if the system gave a good rating to someone supporting Talarico. Maybe the person he was discussing was better on every other issue except that one. I do not know the details, but I would be surprised if he were opposed to iVoterGuide because of that. Rick Green: I may get Brian to call in and talk about it. I will see if I can get hold of him, maybe Thursday. The most important thing for people to remember is that this tool is amazing. I use it, and I encourage you to use it. Rick Green: You cannot just be a solo vote this time. You have to help get people out. In midterm elections, many people who voted in a presidential election stay home. Even in a presidential election, about half of Christians stay home because they are not registered or do not go vote. Imagine it being even worse when the fate of the free world is on the ballot. Rick Green: Whoever controls Congress will determine what happens in the Middle East, what happens with our tax dollars, and whether the border gets opened again. I know the president makes that decision, but Congress can undermine everything he does. They can impeach him over and over and make the next two years ridiculous. They could set up a voting system that allows them to cheat and steal the presidential election in 2028. Then we are back to open borders and setting ourselves up to be like France. Rick Green: The fate of the free world is literally on the line. This is no time to stay home, and it is not even time just to show up and vote for yourself. The Bible says you have a voice. Let your friends listen and speak. Rick Green: Take your voter guide and put it on Facebook, X, Instagram, or whatever social media you use. Share it with your friends and family. Let them know you are going to vote and that they need to vote. If you give them the link to iVoterGuide.com, they can enter their address and pull up their ballot, even if they live across the country. Rick Green: Even if you are not in an area where the race is close, and you are afraid the bad guys will win every race where you live, that is not an excuse to stay home. You still have a duty to vote. I have seen this happen, so maybe you can help make it happen. Courage is contagious. Rick Green: When you see an increase in good voters, even in a blue area, and the extreme candidates are not winning by massive margins, people begin to realize they are not alone. Maybe there are other people in their community, state, and nation who care about the right things. That causes more people to show up the next time. Rick Green: None of this is an overnight solution. We are not going to turn around some blue states, or even the whole nation, in one election or one night. Some races this year will lay the groundwork for future victories. Rick Green: I define victory using the words of a friend of mine, Nicole Tiesau, in Delaware, a very blue state. Nicole lives, breathes, and eats this stuff. She fights for good in the Delaware legislature day in and day out and loses most of the time if you define winning or losing by whether legislation passes or an election is won. Rick Green: She has a great definition for winning: advancing truth. If you are running for office and advancing truth every time you knock on a door, run an ad, or give a speech, then you are winning. If your candidate is advancing truth and the right position on issues, you are winning. You may not win that particular election, but you are advancing truth and getting people involved. Rick Green: I have a good friend running for governor in Colorado, Victor Marx. Victor and Eileen are phenomenal people doing great ministry. They have an incredible book called Dangerous Gentlemen. They decided to put their names on the line and dedicate a year and a half of their lives to running for governor in a state where nobody thinks a Republican can win. Rick Green: Victor is a Donald Trump type of candidate, not a typical politician or like the other Republicans who were running. He has brought thousands of people into the process who used to believe it would not make a difference or who avoided politics because it was dirty. He has awakened them and gotten them involved. Rick Green: I told him, "You may win the election, or you may not, but you are winning because you are advancing truth and getting all these people involved." They have tried to destroy this man. Once you put your name in the hat, people will try to destroy you, and unfortunately even fellow Republicans will lie about you. They have done that to him, but he and Eileen have taken it with grace and been a great example throughout the race. Rick Green: I do not know what will happen in Victor's race. I think he could shock people. Even if Colorado remains very blue and he does not win this time, he will have laid the groundwork for turning that state around if Christians get involved and vote. Rick Green: If you are in an area where you think you will not win, that is no excuse. You need to vote and do your duty. You do not know how God will use that for a future election or a policy in your area during the next legislative session. Rick Green: Often, even Democrats will see that a race has become tighter instead of being a blue landslide. They are politicians, and they want to be reelected. They will look at those numbers and think, "Maybe we need to moderate a little bit this session and not be so extreme." You may cause some Democrats to come back toward the middle. That is good for the country and good for the policies in your state. It is less bad, which is good. Rick Green: I do not agree with people like John Cornyn who say we should teach Republicans a lesson. Do you really want a communist to get into the United States Senate to teach us a lesson? That is absurd. In blue areas, do not burn everything to the ground and think that will teach somebody. Do the best you can with what you have where you are. Make even the bad things less bad and move toward the good. Rick Green: It takes time. Just as God gave the children of Israel the Promised Land incrementally, we need incremental victories. I think we may have some big victories in the next two weeks. We have more calls waiting, and we will get to them after the break. Rick Green: Welcome back to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach. Thanks for staying with me. The number is 888-589-8840. Rick Green: Next up is Deanna, also in Texas. Deanna: Hey, Rick. I am moving up to your part of the country pretty quickly. I hope I can read to you someday. I know you could talk for hours. Rick Green: Where are you moving? Deanna: Godley. Rick Green: Godley, Texas? Deanna: Yes. I will be close to your WallBuilders museum. Rick Green: Oh, I got you. I thought you were moving down near the Patriot Academy campus. You are talking about where WallBuilders is over in Aledo. Deanna: Yes. Rick Green: Where are you now? Deanna: I am driving to Odessa, which is where I live. Rick Green: You are in Odessa? Deanna: Yes. I went to school in Sidney. I love West Texas. I know people say it is flat, but I love West Texas. Rick Green: I love it too. Deanna: We would not be moving except that my daughter is up there and had a baby. It is my first grandchild. Rick Green: That is the best. I love being a dad, but being a grandpa is the best. I have five grandkids, and we love having them close by. You are smart. Deanna: My comment is that I think this race between Talarico and Ken Paxton is showing us how much false and anti-biblical teaching has filtered into the church. We are seeing it because people do not know what the Bible says. They think the man on the left is a Christian, and they are clueless. As you said, John Cornyn is showing his true colors by not supporting the Republican and supporting a Democrat. He did that when he was in Congress, and we finally got him out with Ken Paxton because Paxton has been such a great attorney general. I believe he is one of the best ever. Deanna: We need to encourage everybody to get off the couch and vote. I would say study the issues because apparently, here in Texas, we have several things to read about and vote on. We should read them beforehand so we do not have to sit there so long going through everything on the ballot. Rick Green: You said so many things that are right on. First, you are absolutely right about Cornyn. He used to cut us off at the knees behind the scenes in Washington, D.C., when good candidates were running across the country. When he was running the Senate committee, he would fund the bad ones. It was horrible. Rick Green: You are also right about this exposing the immaturity and ignorance in the church, and the willingness of people to fall for these things. When Talorico quotes Scripture, adds to it, and gives it the opposite meaning, people fall for it because the church is not educated. We do not know the truth, so we fall for the lie. Rick Green: If you know the truth, you have a plumb line. You can measure things and realize when something is out of whack. My pastor was talking Sunday about being out of tune, and it was a perfect illustration. Rick Green: We have to think beyond this election. Because this has exposed the fault line of our ignorance, we need to think more about apologetics, education, and discipling. We need to disciple Christians to know how to live according to God's Word and how that includes voting. It includes how we treat our neighbors. It includes everything. Rick Green: Deanna, I think you nailed it. There is so much there. God bless you. I am glad you are going to be close to your grandbaby. I wish you the best. Deanna: I am excited about it. Continue the good work. Rick Green: You bet. Thank you for calling in. Deanna: Have a good one. Rick Green: Let's go out to West Virginia. Mike is up next. Mike: Thank you for taking my call. I need to point out that the national debt will not stop increasing as long as politicians can increase spending wherever they want while bragging about what they are keeping NASA from getting. Rick Green: That is a broad statement. Let me see if I can break it down. I absolutely agree that we will not get spending under control as long as politicians can spend wherever they want. I would argue that this is part of the constitutional education problem. The same ignorance we have about the Bible is also present in our understanding of the constitutional limitations on what Congress should spend money on. Rick Green: I define limited government not by how much is being spent, but by what it is being spent on. We obviously need to spend a lot of money to keep a nation of 350 million people safe, so military expenditures will be huge. But we should not be spending money at the federal level on education, agriculture, or other things that are not constitutional. I agree with that part of your statement. Rick Green: I am not familiar with what you mean by what NASA is not getting. What specifically are you talking about? Mike: Mitt Romney promised to keep America from getting the moon base that we should already have and still do not have. Basically, he was saying, "If I brag about what I am keeping NASA from getting, people will not notice how much I am increasing spending on something else." Rick Green: I understand your point. At the state and local level, politicians are always bragging about what they stopped while spending money like crazy on something else. You are right. Rick Green: That is why I was disappointed that all of Elon Musk's DOGE efforts did not happen. If they had followed through on everything Elon Musk suggested with the DOGE investigations and cuts, I do not think these midterms would be close. There would be excitement about renewing and resetting the table, getting rid of fraud, shrinking the federal government, and limiting it to what it is supposed to do under the Constitution. Rick Green: I think the DOGE cuts would have been around $2 trillion. It would have been amazing. By not doing that, they deflated a lot of people. Some people will stay home in the next couple of weeks because they say, "We voted these people in. They said they were going to do this, and they did not." Rick Green: That ignores the fact that they have done many great things. I have Patriot Academy graduates who are neck-deep in this work. They are uncovering fraud and helping bring a lot of it forward. There is a lot of good being done, and a lot of evil is being stopped. Rick Green: But I wish they had gone in like a bull in a China shop. I hoped for that. I said back in 2024 that Trump was so angry that they had gone after him, tried to destroy his life, tried to kill him, and piled all of these things on him that he would be a bull in a china shop. He has shaken things up in many ways, but I am afraid they put the brakes on some of the things I wish they had continued to pursue. Rick Green: I do not think these races would be close if they had done that. I do think that if the Republicans maintain the majority, even if it is very slim, they will hold the Senate. My prediction is that they will not have a net loss in the Senate. Maybe I am too optimistic, but I think they will hold the House as well, probably with a three- or four-vote majority. Rick Green: Everybody can play this back if something else happens. I do not think anybody knows for sure because the polling is all over the map. The pollsters are underrepresenting Republicans, and many people are showing up in early voting and surprising people. Rick Green: If Republicans hold the majority, I think the bull is back in the China shop. After November 3, I think President Trump will take care of Iran and that situation will come to a head quickly. I think there will be far more fraud uncovered and released to the public. I think prosecutions will dramatically increase. Rick Green: The Department of Justice is going after many of the people we said it needed to go after. We said this a year ago, or actually about 15 months ago, that if they were not prosecuting people by the following spring, then we had failed. We have to restore faith in our institutions by putting people in prison who committed these crimes. Rick Green: It has happened later than I hoped. I expected some of it in January, February, or March. But there is a lot of positive movement, and the DOJ is doing more than I thought it would. Those are good signs. Rick Green: After November 3, I think it will be wide open. I think of the Kenny Rogers song "The Coward of the County," where the character locks the door and then turns around and fights. I think November 4 is going to feel like that. There will be a locking of the door, and then a lot of things will be unleashed that have already begun. Rick Green: Back to the caller's point: politicians do brag about one thing they did while ignoring the things they should have done. But that is politics. You are never going to get everything you want. Rick Green: Actually, you could get everything you wanted if you made me dictator of America. The people around the Patriot Academy campus jokingly call me the dictator. If you made me dictator, I would be benevolent and take care of all the problems. I have such a good heart. I am kidding, of course. Rick Green: You know what would happen. Power would go to my mind, and power would corrupt me. It would become the same tyranny that has happened every time you make somebody a dictator. There is no way to have everything we want because, Lord willing, there will not be a dictatorship in our country. Rick Green: You have to compromise and work with all the people who are elected. You have to find a way to get the deal done and get the best you can with what you have where you are. That is why incrementalism is the biblical way to get things done. We do not get everything overnight. Rick Green: I believe we have had some of the best incremental victories of my lifetime in the last two years. There have been victories on the faith front, in uncovering fraud, rolling back regulations, and getting rid of insanity. We are finally turning the corner on the climate hoax that has gripped the imagination of Americans for decades and that children have made into a religion. We have been worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. I think we are turning the corner and getting some common sense back. Rick Green: I want to come back to something I said earlier about President Trump. I wondered how he would have moral clarity and know right from wrong, but he proved me wrong. If we went back nearly ten years, to March or April of the first year of his first term, he immediately refused to pretend that Israel and the Palestinian Authority were morally equivalent. Rick Green: Instead of playing the geopolitical game that everybody plays, he asked why America was funding people in the Palestinian Authority who were taking our money and using it to kill people and commit terrorist acts in Israel. He could immediately tell the good players from the bad players. Rick Green: If you cannot look at the Israeli situation and see who the good guys and bad guys are, your moral compass is off. If you think Israel is committing genocide, you do not know what genocide means. Israel is doing everything it can to save lives while prosecuting the people who committed mass murder against them. Rick Green: If October 7 had happened to us, there would be 40,000 people dead in America, and we would turn the place to glass. Israel's response has actually been restrained compared with what America would have done. If you cannot see that, you are buying the lies of social media feeds. Rick Green: Some people are simply America first and think that means America only. It does not, and it cannot work that way. I did not mean to get off on that in the final minute of the program without enough time to discuss it in depth. Rick Green: My point is that President Trump quickly figured out that he had moral clarity and made decisions that were not popular. The same thing happened with transgender policies in the military. Very early in his first term, he said no to transgender policies in the military. That was unpopular at the time, and he was going against the grain. Rick Green: All of that brings us back to where we started today. You have to vote. You cannot use the excuse, "I do not like that guy. Even though the other guy is a communist and is going to destroy the country, I just do not like the other one." Rick Green: You go in and do the best you can with what you have where you are. You vote for the sinner over the one who is promoting sin and trying to codify sin. Every one of us can do that. iVoterGuide.com. Let your voice be heard, and get your friends and family out to vote as well. Rick Green: Go to iVoterGuide.com to get the information you need to cast an informed vote. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Rick Green, and you've been listening to At the Core.
Rick Green: Welcome to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. Rick is the Constitution Coach. It's good to be with you live. It's been a little while, and I miss taking your calls. Rick Green: Let's get to some calls today. Please call in with your comments, questions, or insults. I'd love to hear from you. The phone number is 888-589-8840. Rick Green: We're down to 14 days, folks, 14 days until the midterm elections. It is critical that you pay attention to this. I was just last night with Debbie and Don Stroud from iVoterGuide, an incredible part of the American Family Association ministry and a very important part of what we do here. I think it is one of the most effective tools for helping people vote in an informed way. Rick Green: What we typically do is start feeling guilty or getting convicted. Everybody keeps saying, "I need to go vote." So you say, "I've got an hour this afternoon. I'll run by there." You rustle up your voter ID card, if you can find it, stand in line, and get in there. You remember some ads about the Senate race, or maybe the governor's race. Then you get in there and find 15 other races on the ballot. You don't know any of them, but you recognize a name from an ad, maybe saw a sign for somebody running for state representative, or heard one of us here on AFR talking about a candidate. So you basically throw a dart blindly at a dartboard and hope you're voting for somebody who is going to make good decisions about your life, your kids, your community, and our country. Rick Green: We're so busy. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty about it. I'm telling you, I've been there. Even though I live, breathe, and eat this stuff, I've had times when I haven't had time to do the homework before I go vote. I can do pretty well at the top of the ballot with the bigger races, but then you get to the judges and you're really guessing at that point. Rick Green: It doesn't have to be like that. You can be a good steward of this incredible talent God has given you. The Master has given us the talent of freedom. Just imagine that you're handed this coin by the Master, and you're going to cash that coin by going in and casting your vote. Let's say you were only voting in one race. The Master has given you this coin, unique to you, and you get to pick your candidate and cast that vote. By doing so, you put in motion years, maybe decades, of policies that will affect your life. Rick Green: It will determine how much of your money you get to spend on your family versus how much the government takes away from you. It will determine what you can do with your property and whether local government officials think they own your property and get to tell you what you can do with it, or whether you get to decide what to do with your property. Rick Green: That vote, casting that coin into the right bucket or the wrong bucket, will determine whether your children can walk down the street in your town and community without being exposed to drag queen story hour or whatever else it might be. It will determine what your children, or your neighbors' children in public schools, are exposed to in their textbooks. Will those textbooks be pro-America, or will they tear down America? Will neighborhood children be raised to hate their nation, hate each other, and hate themselves, or will they be raised to be good citizens? Will they be taught not only reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also how to be good citizens and live out their liberty in a way that preserves it for other people? Rick Green: All of these things may sound like a lot. You may think, "How does my one little vote affect all of that?" But it does. I can't tell you how many people have been elected who make decisions about all those things that affect you, your kids, and your church, by the way. I didn't even get into that. How many people have been elected by a handful of votes, maybe the number of votes in your house? Rick Green: If you have two or three grown children, you and your spouse have four or five votes for sure. I could not list in this entire program the number of races where the outcome was determined by the membership of one church. I'm not talking about a megachurch. I'm talking about a local church with 200, 300, or 400 members. Rick Green: The system isn't so broken that we should sit it out and say, "My vote isn't going to count or make a difference." This system works if we work it. I have some bad news for you: the enemy is working. Rick Green: The people who hate this country and want to turn it into Sharia law, or into a communist socialist utopia that becomes a communist tyranny, are working this system. They are not sitting at home saying, "I don't like what that guy did, so I'm not going to vote." They're not saying, "I'm just not sure, so I'm not going to go." They're not saying, "My vote doesn't count." They're showing up in droves, with their friends and family, getting all their people out. If they work the system, we better be working the system. Rick Green: The good news is that we still outnumber them. There are more people in this country who still love America, still love God, and still want to have a neighborhood where people think murder is wrong and there is no $900 exception to the Eighth Commandment. They think it is good to raise kids to salute the flag, say the Pledge of Allegiance, study the Founding Fathers, and know the cost. Rick Green: There are more people on that side than on the other side. We're not as loud or obnoxious. We don't march in the streets as often, and we certainly don't break windows, but we're here. You're not alone. Rick Green: I know we have stations all over the country, including people in blue states who are listening and saying, "Rick, you don't know. I'm in Seattle, Portland, or Los Angeles, and there is no way we're going to win." Even if you think that is true, and even if it is true in some areas, your duty does not change. Even if you're guaranteed to lose, your duty does not change. Rick Green: There is nothing in the Bible that says, "If you think you're going to lose, stay home." There is nothing in the Bible that says, "Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, unless you live in Seattle." There is nothing that says, "Occupy until I return, unless you're in California." You do not have an excuse. Rick Green: Wherever you're listening to the sound of my voice, your duty, responsibility, and gift is this incredible freedom. We get to choose our leaders in a constitutional republic with representative government. The only power government has is the power that comes from the consent of the governed. This freedom and ability to work the system is a gift, and you have a duty and responsibility to use it. Rick Green: It is not just a right or something you do if you feel like it. I want to be blunt with you. If you're the servant who took that coin, took that talent, and buried it, and then decided not to vote, not to exercise your freedom, and not to fulfill your responsibility and duty, the Master has a very simple description for you: "You wicked and slothful servant." Rick Green: I'm talking to you if you're even thinking about sitting this one out. "I meant to go vote, but I couldn't find the time." No. "I was going to answer to God for my vote, so I couldn't vote for that guy because he's a scoundrel. The other guy is a communist connected to Sharia law, and I know he's going to put my children into tyranny." If the other guy gets elected because you stayed home, you are the wicked and slothful servant. There are no sugary words for you. Get off the couch and get into this fight. Rick Green: It is so easy. Do you know what people did for us to have this right? If you haven't watched Band of Brothers or The Pacific, or sat down with a veteran who was willing to put his life on the line, you need to understand what they did. Even those who did not endure the worst of war set aside four, six, eight, ten, or twelve of the youthful years of their lives to serve in the military. They did that for us so we would have the right to do what we're doing over the next couple of weeks. Rick Green: You're going to sit at home and spit on their service by not voting? You're going to spit on the graves of those who died for us at Iwo Jima, Saipan, Normandy, and all the other places throughout history? You're going to do it again to those who were already mistreated when they came home from Vietnam and Korea? Come on. Rick Green: I have no sympathy for people who are whining that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, or that they can't vote for a candidate because he cheated on his wife or taxes. You say, "The other guy is a communist who is going to subject our nation to 50 years of darkness, but I just can't." Grow up. Be spiritually mature. Rick Green: There is no perfect candidate. The greatest heroes in the Bible committed murder, adultery, and all kinds of things. We're all sinners, yet God is willing to use us and forgive us. Sometimes we vote for someone because the other guy is a communist or simply very bad. Rick Green: We may vote for somebody who has not asked for forgiveness, or who says, "I can't think of anything I need to ask forgiveness for." Does that ring a bell? Do you remember when President Trump said that? When he said it, I thought, "How can I vote for this guy? How can I vote for a man who thinks he has nothing to be forgiven for and does not share my faith? How is he going to know right from wrong? How will he have the moral clarity to make good decisions?" Rick Green: God loves to confound my wisdom. He loves to take my logic, throw it out the window, and say, "Look what I can do." Do you know why I decided to vote for Donald Trump in 2016? I looked at the other candidate and said, "Donald Trump might give me 50 percent of the judges he appoints, and maybe 50 percent of them will be good. But 100 percent of Hillary Clinton's judges are going to be anti-constitution and destroy the country." So I voted for him. In fact, I spent the final couple of months of the 2016 campaign going all in for him. Rick Green: It was hard for me because of all the other things about him. But the man has turned out to be, I really think, by the time he is finished, the best president in the history of the United States. Rick Green: He may be better than Ronald Reagan, and even better than Lincoln. It is difficult for me to rate anybody above Lincoln after he held the country together and did what he did. My friends from the South will call and email to tell me what a traitor I am. Washington was the greatest man and greatest American to ever live, but not necessarily the greatest president. Reagan was my number one for a long time, and Lincoln was my number two. But in terms of what they accomplished as president, I do not think you can stack up those accomplishments and fail to put Donald Trump at number one. Rick Green: I know he is not on the ballot, but he kind of is because his agenda is on the ballot. The reason I mention that is because he is a flawed man, an openly flawed man, and an admitted flawed man. Now he says he does not even think he is good enough to get into heaven. Of course, many people have shared the salvation message with him since then. Rick Green: My point is that you have no excuse to stay home. I do not care where you live or who is on the ballot. Someone is worse than the other candidate, and you need to vote for the least bad. Vote for the one who has the best chance of doing something good while in office. Do not stay home. iVoterGuide.com is where I was going with all of that. Go find out who the candidates are and what they stand for, and make informed decisions when you vote. Rick Green: We are going to take a break. The number is 888-589-8840. I'm Rick Green, and you're listening to At the Core. Rick Green: Welcome back to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach. The number is 888-589-8840. Call in with your comments, questions, or insults. We're talking about voting since we are in the final 14 days. Rick Green: Last night, I was doing what we call a national class with Debbie and Don. We take our Biblical Citizenship class, watch the videos together on Zoom, and meet once a week. It is live, so we take questions. This time, I have partners from across the country joining us each week. Rick Green: The first week, FlashPoint joined us with Gene Bailey and Bishop Wendell Hutchinson. They had a great conversation about what they are doing and went through the Biblical Citizenship class. Last night, we did week two, and Debbie and Don joined us to talk about how to use iVoterGuide to cast an informed vote instead of guessing. You actually have information about each candidate. Rick Green: It is easy and quick. There is a dial or gauge that tells you whether a candidate leans conservative or liberal, and then you can compare that with where you stand. If you want to go into more detail, you can see where the rating came from, who the candidate gave money to, who gave money to the candidate, what the candidate fought for and stood for, and the candidate's voting record. Rick Green: It is a phenomenal tool. Debbie also writes an excellent email from time to time. The headline I was reading as we came back from the break was "Revival or Regret." That is essentially the choice we have right now. We have a phenomenal opportunity. Rick Green: I was giving a speech last night in the Dallas-Fort Worth area at an event for my friend Mike Olcott, who is in the state house. I was talking about the 250th anniversary and the incredible opportunity we have as people are paying attention for the first time in a long time. We can educate them to vote based on the Declaration of Independence. What are the principles of the Declaration, and which candidates stand for those principles? Rick Green: I think she is right. We have a chance for revival or regret. If you stay home and bury that talent, you are the wicked and slothful servant, and you are going to have a lot of regret. There is going to be rain on the just and unjust because you did not vote and put the just in office. Rick Green: Check out iVoterGuide.com. You can sign up for the emails as well. Now let's head to the phones. We will start with Allison in Texas. Allison: Hi, Rick. I love your show, and I hope to make it down there to learn how to shoot one day. Rick Green: I would love to have you. Allison: I love Brian Harrison, but he has been bashing iVoterGuide. I wanted to know why he specifically mentioned that at the A.T.H.I.E.R. I cannot remember what race it was. What do you think of Brian Harrison? I was starting to wonder whether I can trust iVoterGuide. Rick Green: First of all, there is no perfect person out there. I love Brian. Brian is a great voice for exposing a lot of the corruption in the Texas House. He has been a critical part of waking up a lot of Texans and Americans. Rick Green: I know Brian, and I think highly of him. I do not know why he would be against iVoterGuide. I do not know what specific race he might disagree with, but out of the thousands and thousands of races they cover, I could probably find one rating I disagree with. Maybe they did not rate him or somebody he is campaigning for the way he hoped. Rick Green: I will check with him and find out what his objection is. If he is saying something negative about iVoterGuide, I would disagree with him. If there is something we can improve, then great, but I stand by it. I think it is absolutely the best system out there. It is easy to use, and many people help make it happen. Rick Green: I say that as somebody who has been part of iVoterGuide since before it was called iVoterGuide, all the way back to 2000 or 2001. In the early stages, Richard Ford was starting it just for Texas and mainly for high-level races. Debbie, Don, and the team have taken it to the next level, both technologically and in terms of depth. Rick Green: I never would have thought they could reach so many communities across the nation, cover all 50 states and statewide races, and get into school board races. I dreamed that we could do that. I used to tell people they would have to make their own voter guide for local races, investigate the candidates, and put the information on Facebook. Now iVoterGuide is covering school board races in Florida and across the country. Rick Green: Do you know what Brian disliked about the system? Allison: He said that iVoterGuide was saying that it was conservative and endorsing Talarico. Rick Green: iVoterGuide does not endorse anybody. It takes the information and gives you a rating showing whether a person leans conservative, is very conservative, leans liberal, or is very liberal. Rick Green: I do not know what race he is talking about, but there are Republican sellouts in Texas who have endorsed Talarico. It is shocking to me. I am going into a community tonight near the Patriot Academy campus where, from what I understand, Republicans have been debating whether to vote for Talorico or not vote at all because they do not want to vote for Ken Paxton. Rick Green: I understand people's objections to Paxton because of the affair and because they think the impeachment was legitimate. It was not. He was absolutely exonerated after the impeachment. I understand that people have objections based on some of the things Paxton has done. He is a sinner just like I am and just like everybody listening. Rick Green: But this man has been the best attorney general in my lifetime from any state. He would be a phenomenal United States senator, especially compared with Talarico. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. To refuse to vote for somebody who has sinned means you can never vote for anybody. To choose someone who wants to promote sin and codify sin into our laws, who is on the wrong side of every issue, or not vote at all, makes no sense to me. Rick Green: I could understand why Brian would be upset if the system gave a good rating to someone supporting Talarico. Maybe the person he was discussing was better on every other issue except that one. I do not know the details, but I would be surprised if he were opposed to iVoterGuide because of that. Rick Green: I may get Brian to call in and talk about it. I will see if I can get hold of him, maybe Thursday. The most important thing for people to remember is that this tool is amazing. I use it, and I encourage you to use it. Rick Green: You cannot just be a solo vote this time. You have to help get people out. In midterm elections, many people who voted in a presidential election stay home. Even in a presidential election, about half of Christians stay home because they are not registered or do not go vote. Imagine it being even worse when the fate of the free world is on the ballot. Rick Green: Whoever controls Congress will determine what happens in the Middle East, what happens with our tax dollars, and whether the border gets opened again. I know the president makes that decision, but Congress can undermine everything he does. They can impeach him over and over and make the next two years ridiculous. They could set up a voting system that allows them to cheat and steal the presidential election in 2028. Then we are back to open borders and setting ourselves up to be like France. Rick Green: The fate of the free world is literally on the line. This is no time to stay home, and it is not even time just to show up and vote for yourself. The Bible says you have a voice. Let your friends listen and speak. Rick Green: Take your voter guide and put it on Facebook, X, Instagram, or whatever social media you use. Share it with your friends and family. Let them know you are going to vote and that they need to vote. If you give them the link to iVoterGuide.com, they can enter their address and pull up their ballot, even if they live across the country. Rick Green: Even if you are not in an area where the race is close, and you are afraid the bad guys will win every race where you live, that is not an excuse to stay home. You still have a duty to vote. I have seen this happen, so maybe you can help make it happen. Courage is contagious. Rick Green: When you see an increase in good voters, even in a blue area, and the extreme candidates are not winning by massive margins, people begin to realize they are not alone. Maybe there are other people in their community, state, and nation who care about the right things. That causes more people to show up the next time. Rick Green: None of this is an overnight solution. We are not going to turn around some blue states, or even the whole nation, in one election or one night. Some races this year will lay the groundwork for future victories. Rick Green: I define victory using the words of a friend of mine, Nicole Tiesau, in Delaware, a very blue state. Nicole lives, breathes, and eats this stuff. She fights for good in the Delaware legislature day in and day out and loses most of the time if you define winning or losing by whether legislation passes or an election is won. Rick Green: She has a great definition for winning: advancing truth. If you are running for office and advancing truth every time you knock on a door, run an ad, or give a speech, then you are winning. If your candidate is advancing truth and the right position on issues, you are winning. You may not win that particular election, but you are advancing truth and getting people involved. Rick Green: I have a good friend running for governor in Colorado, Victor Marx. Victor and Eileen are phenomenal people doing great ministry. They have an incredible book called Dangerous Gentlemen. They decided to put their names on the line and dedicate a year and a half of their lives to running for governor in a state where nobody thinks a Republican can win. Rick Green: Victor is a Donald Trump type of candidate, not a typical politician or like the other Republicans who were running. He has brought thousands of people into the process who used to believe it would not make a difference or who avoided politics because it was dirty. He has awakened them and gotten them involved. Rick Green: I told him, "You may win the election, or you may not, but you are winning because you are advancing truth and getting all these people involved." They have tried to destroy this man. Once you put your name in the hat, people will try to destroy you, and unfortunately even fellow Republicans will lie about you. They have done that to him, but he and Eileen have taken it with grace and been a great example throughout the race. Rick Green: I do not know what will happen in Victor's race. I think he could shock people. Even if Colorado remains very blue and he does not win this time, he will have laid the groundwork for turning that state around if Christians get involved and vote. Rick Green: If you are in an area where you think you will not win, that is no excuse. You need to vote and do your duty. You do not know how God will use that for a future election or a policy in your area during the next legislative session. Rick Green: Often, even Democrats will see that a race has become tighter instead of being a blue landslide. They are politicians, and they want to be reelected. They will look at those numbers and think, "Maybe we need to moderate a little bit this session and not be so extreme." You may cause some Democrats to come back toward the middle. That is good for the country and good for the policies in your state. It is less bad, which is good. Rick Green: I do not agree with people like John Cornyn who say we should teach Republicans a lesson. Do you really want a communist to get into the United States Senate to teach us a lesson? That is absurd. In blue areas, do not burn everything to the ground and think that will teach somebody. Do the best you can with what you have where you are. Make even the bad things less bad and move toward the good. Rick Green: It takes time. Just as God gave the children of Israel the Promised Land incrementally, we need incremental victories. I think we may have some big victories in the next two weeks. We have more calls waiting, and we will get to them after the break. Rick Green: Welcome back to At the Core with Walker Wildmon and Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach. Thanks for staying with me. The number is 888-589-8840. Rick Green: Next up is Deanna, also in Texas. Deanna: Hey, Rick. I am moving up to your part of the country pretty quickly. I hope I can read to you someday. I know you could talk for hours. Rick Green: Where are you moving? Deanna: Godley. Rick Green: Godley, Texas? Deanna: Yes. I will be close to your WallBuilders museum. Rick Green: Oh, I got you. I thought you were moving down near the Patriot Academy campus. You are talking about where WallBuilders is over in Aledo. Deanna: Yes. Rick Green: Where are you now? Deanna: I am driving to Odessa, which is where I live. Rick Green: You are in Odessa? Deanna: Yes. I went to school in Sidney. I love West Texas. I know people say it is flat, but I love West Texas. Rick Green: I love it too. Deanna: We would not be moving except that my daughter is up there and had a baby. It is my first grandchild. Rick Green: That is the best. I love being a dad, but being a grandpa is the best. I have five grandkids, and we love having them close by. You are smart. Deanna: My comment is that I think this race between Talarico and Ken Paxton is showing us how much false and anti-biblical teaching has filtered into the church. We are seeing it because people do not know what the Bible says. They think the man on the left is a Christian, and they are clueless. As you said, John Cornyn is showing his true colors by not supporting the Republican and supporting a Democrat. He did that when he was in Congress, and we finally got him out with Ken Paxton because Paxton has been such a great attorney general. I believe he is one of the best ever. Deanna: We need to encourage everybody to get off the couch and vote. I would say study the issues because apparently, here in Texas, we have several things to read about and vote on. We should read them beforehand so we do not have to sit there so long going through everything on the ballot. Rick Green: You said so many things that are right on. First, you are absolutely right about Cornyn. He used to cut us off at the knees behind the scenes in Washington, D.C., when good candidates were running across the country. When he was running the Senate committee, he would fund the bad ones. It was horrible. Rick Green: You are also right about this exposing the immaturity and ignorance in the church, and the willingness of people to fall for these things. When Talorico quotes Scripture, adds to it, and gives it the opposite meaning, people fall for it because the church is not educated. We do not know the truth, so we fall for the lie. Rick Green: If you know the truth, you have a plumb line. You can measure things and realize when something is out of whack. My pastor was talking Sunday about being out of tune, and it was a perfect illustration. Rick Green: We have to think beyond this election. Because this has exposed the fault line of our ignorance, we need to think more about apologetics, education, and discipling. We need to disciple Christians to know how to live according to God's Word and how that includes voting. It includes how we treat our neighbors. It includes everything. Rick Green: Deanna, I think you nailed it. There is so much there. God bless you. I am glad you are going to be close to your grandbaby. I wish you the best. Deanna: I am excited about it. Continue the good work. Rick Green: You bet. Thank you for calling in. Deanna: Have a good one. Rick Green: Let's go out to West Virginia. Mike is up next. Mike: Thank you for taking my call. I need to point out that the national debt will not stop increasing as long as politicians can increase spending wherever they want while bragging about what they are keeping NASA from getting. Rick Green: That is a broad statement. Let me see if I can break it down. I absolutely agree that we will not get spending under control as long as politicians can spend wherever they want. I would argue that this is part of the constitutional education problem. The same ignorance we have about the Bible is also present in our understanding of the constitutional limitations on what Congress should spend money on. Rick Green: I define limited government not by how much is being spent, but by what it is being spent on. We obviously need to spend a lot of money to keep a nation of 350 million people safe, so military expenditures will be huge. But we should not be spending money at the federal level on education, agriculture, or other things that are not constitutional. I agree with that part of your statement. Rick Green: I am not familiar with what you mean by what NASA is not getting. What specifically are you talking about? Mike: Mitt Romney promised to keep America from getting the moon base that we should already have and still do not have. Basically, he was saying, "If I brag about what I am keeping NASA from getting, people will not notice how much I am increasing spending on something else." Rick Green: I understand your point. At the state and local level, politicians are always bragging about what they stopped while spending money like crazy on something else. You are right. Rick Green: That is why I was disappointed that all of Elon Musk's DOGE efforts did not happen. If they had followed through on everything Elon Musk suggested with the DOGE investigations and cuts, I do not think these midterms would be close. There would be excitement about renewing and resetting the table, getting rid of fraud, shrinking the federal government, and limiting it to what it is supposed to do under the Constitution. Rick Green: I think the DOGE cuts would have been around $2 trillion. It would have been amazing. By not doing that, they deflated a lot of people. Some people will stay home in the next couple of weeks because they say, "We voted these people in. They said they were going to do this, and they did not." Rick Green: That ignores the fact that they have done many great things. I have Patriot Academy graduates who are neck-deep in this work. They are uncovering fraud and helping bring a lot of it forward. There is a lot of good being done, and a lot of evil is being stopped. Rick Green: But I wish they had gone in like a bull in a China shop. I hoped for that. I said back in 2024 that Trump was so angry that they had gone after him, tried to destroy his life, tried to kill him, and piled all of these things on him that he would be a bull in a china shop. He has shaken things up in many ways, but I am afraid they put the brakes on some of the things I wish they had continued to pursue. Rick Green: I do not think these races would be close if they had done that. I do think that if the Republicans maintain the majority, even if it is very slim, they will hold the Senate. My prediction is that they will not have a net loss in the Senate. Maybe I am too optimistic, but I think they will hold the House as well, probably with a three- or four-vote majority. Rick Green: Everybody can play this back if something else happens. I do not think anybody knows for sure because the polling is all over the map. The pollsters are underrepresenting Republicans, and many people are showing up in early voting and surprising people. Rick Green: If Republicans hold the majority, I think the bull is back in the China shop. After November 3, I think President Trump will take care of Iran and that situation will come to a head quickly. I think there will be far more fraud uncovered and released to the public. I think prosecutions will dramatically increase. Rick Green: The Department of Justice is going after many of the people we said it needed to go after. We said this a year ago, or actually about 15 months ago, that if they were not prosecuting people by the following spring, then we had failed. We have to restore faith in our institutions by putting people in prison who committed these crimes. Rick Green: It has happened later than I hoped. I expected some of it in January, February, or March. But there is a lot of positive movement, and the DOJ is doing more than I thought it would. Those are good signs. Rick Green: After November 3, I think it will be wide open. I think of the Kenny Rogers song "The Coward of the County," where the character locks the door and then turns around and fights. I think November 4 is going to feel like that. There will be a locking of the door, and then a lot of things will be unleashed that have already begun. Rick Green: Back to the caller's point: politicians do brag about one thing they did while ignoring the things they should have done. But that is politics. You are never going to get everything you want. Rick Green: Actually, you could get everything you wanted if you made me dictator of America. The people around the Patriot Academy campus jokingly call me the dictator. If you made me dictator, I would be benevolent and take care of all the problems. I have such a good heart. I am kidding, of course. Rick Green: You know what would happen. Power would go to my mind, and power would corrupt me. It would become the same tyranny that has happened every time you make somebody a dictator. There is no way to have everything we want because, Lord willing, there will not be a dictatorship in our country. Rick Green: You have to compromise and work with all the people who are elected. You have to find a way to get the deal done and get the best you can with what you have where you are. That is why incrementalism is the biblical way to get things done. We do not get everything overnight. Rick Green: I believe we have had some of the best incremental victories of my lifetime in the last two years. There have been victories on the faith front, in uncovering fraud, rolling back regulations, and getting rid of insanity. We are finally turning the corner on the climate hoax that has gripped the imagination of Americans for decades and that children have made into a religion. We have been worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. I think we are turning the corner and getting some common sense back. Rick Green: I want to come back to something I said earlier about President Trump. I wondered how he would have moral clarity and know right from wrong, but he proved me wrong. If we went back nearly ten years, to March or April of the first year of his first term, he immediately refused to pretend that Israel and the Palestinian Authority were morally equivalent. Rick Green: Instead of playing the geopolitical game that everybody plays, he asked why America was funding people in the Palestinian Authority who were taking our money and using it to kill people and commit terrorist acts in Israel. He could immediately tell the good players from the bad players. Rick Green: If you cannot look at the Israeli situation and see who the good guys and bad guys are, your moral compass is off. If you think Israel is committing genocide, you do not know what genocide means. Israel is doing everything it can to save lives while prosecuting the people who committed mass murder against them. Rick Green: If October 7 had happened to us, there would be 40,000 people dead in America, and we would turn the place to glass. Israel's response has actually been restrained compared with what America would have done. If you cannot see that, you are buying the lies of social media feeds. Rick Green: Some people are simply America first and think that means America only. It does not, and it cannot work that way. I did not mean to get off on that in the final minute of the program without enough time to discuss it in depth. Rick Green: My point is that President Trump quickly figured out that he had moral clarity and made decisions that were not popular. The same thing happened with transgender policies in the military. Very early in his first term, he said no to transgender policies in the military. That was unpopular at the time, and he was going against the grain. Rick Green: All of that brings us back to where we started today. You have to vote. You cannot use the excuse, "I do not like that guy. Even though the other guy is a communist and is going to destroy the country, I just do not like the other one." Rick Green: You go in and do the best you can with what you have where you are. You vote for the sinner over the one who is promoting sin and trying to codify sin. Every one of us can do that. iVoterGuide.com. Let your voice be heard, and get your friends and family out to vote as well. Rick Green: Go to iVoterGuide.com to get the information you need to cast an informed vote. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Rick Green, and you've been listening to At the Core.
Rick Green makes the case that Christians cannot treat voting as optional, especially with the midterm elections just two weeks away. He urges listeners to study every race, including local and judicial contests, and use iVoterGuide to cast an informed ballot rather than staying home because no candidate is perfect. He also explains why even a losing campaign can advance truth, awaken voters, and lay groundwork for future victories.
The program includes calls about iVoterGuide, the Texas Senate contest involving Ken Paxton, church discipleship and biblical literacy, federal spending, and the future of the Republican majority. Green also offers his predictions for the midterms and argues that President Donald Trump has demonstrated moral clarity on Israel and transgender policy.
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