Unalienable Populism Podcast

Fighting for healthy Americans has been around for quite a while. I remember my aunt protesting against fluoride in our drinking water back in the 1970s. Over the next few decades obesity, autism, and childhood vaccines became important issues to various people – although there was little national consensus.

Then the COVID lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates seared the issue of medical freedom into the psyche of America. People were hit in the face by outright authoritarianism with what had been an undercurrent of bureaucrats, insurance companies, and the medical professionals trying to add more and more requirements to our lives behind the scenes.

Now, the idea of medical freedom is much more national. While many people associate the idea of medical freedom with MAHA or Make America Healthy Again which Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ran on in 2024, there have been many groups across the country which were active in the fight prior to this.

Informed Choice Iowa was founded in 2017 as a volunteer-driven organization united around parental rights and medical choice.

Joining me to talk about medical freedom in general and some Iowa specific efforts is Gabby Fistler. She is the Vice President of Informed Choice Iowa – or ICI. Her passion began in in 2017 after researching vaccines following her daughter’s birth. She attended her first ICI conference in 2019 and served on many committees before becoming its current Vice President. She serves as a volunteer while holding a full-time position as a banking software specialist.

Links:

* Informed Choice Iowa

* 1776 Law Center - Medical Freedom

* Stand for Health Freedom

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Elections are all about votes and who gets the most votes. But the act of voting is only part of the process.

There’s the verification of the person who is voting before they vote, the gathering of the votes at each voting location, the tabulation of the votes, the posting of the votes and then the final count.

Then there is the question of who or what is doing the counting? You see, most votes are tabulated by a machine and most places “trust” what the machine’s software tells them without question.

It’s only when the machine cannot read a scanned ballot for any number of reasons that actual people look at the ballots.

When you include mass absentee or mail in voting to the process, then it becomes even more complex.

* How do you validate a person by mail? Were signatures really matched?

* How do you ensure that person is the person who actually filled out the ballot?

* Are the mailed in ballots folded? Many were received unfolded but still counted.

* Are the ballots printed on the same paper (all ballots are sourced from the same location so there should not be different types of paper used for the ballots)?

Then you add the additional issues of WHEN you count a mail in ballot. Does a ballot that arrives after the date of the election count? If so, how many days are allowed?

All these questions were never truly answered during the 2020 election. We had irregularities galore. When someone started asking questions they were told to shut up and trust the system – and if you didn’t then you suffered consequences no citizen of the United States should suffer.

My guest, Kerry Soat, was an election adjudicator for Maricopa County in Arizona. He experienced most of these issues and has quite a story to tell including the retaliation he received after questioning the process - and that retaliation came from Republicans, not Democrats.

His story is a warning for what can happen in the future if we are not vigilant.

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Far too often we get fixated on near term issues and we do not take a breath to look at the larger picture.

* Where are we heading?

* Why are we heading there?

* What opportunities do we have to get help us get there?

* What constraints on us do we have in getting there?

* What threats do we have from outside people, groups, nations, and other forces?

These are just some of the questions that should be asked. The outlook is not just this November’s election, but the next 5-10 years and beyond.

Since this is like sailing into deep waters, what do we use as our rudder to make sure we stay on course and, most importantly, what do we use to help us set the course?

Joining me to talk about the vision we need for America is Brad Sherman. Brad is a pastor, businessman, husband, father, grandfather, former Republican Iowa State Representative, and former Republican candidate for Iowa Governor. Brad advocates for quality of life and natural resource issues, and liberty in Iowa and beyond.

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Iowa is at the center of the political fight in America this year. Will a state that Donald Trump won by double digits send a majority of its delegation to DC next year as Democrats? Will the governorship go blue after years of red?

People forget that Iowa has a long independent streak and has not always been a solid Republican state. The mood of the voters can change.

Even though Trump is still well liked by the Republican primary voter, those who only vote in the general election and lots of independents seem to be in a foul mood toward Republicans.

Or is that merely the braying of the Democrat leaning media?

To discuss this from an on the ground perspective, I’m joined by Austin Hayak who is a County Supervisor in Webster County, Iowa whose main city is Fort Dodge. It’s a fairly rural county near the center of the state with a population of 37,000.

Austin is a Millennial and lifelong resident of the county, lives on his family farm, is a safety coordinator and has a background in law enforcement along with a degree in Environmental Studies.

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In the last 10-20 years we have gone through a tremendous upheaval in our culture. With technology available to nearly every person exploding at a rate never before seen in human history.

That is not hyperbole. In the past when technology changed considerably, it took a while for that technology to get to general use. The railroad, telegraph, and the steamship were true game changers in the 1800s. For all of human history before those inventions, people and information could only go as far and as fast as a sailing ship or a horse could go. The leap forward was huge!

However, as big a leap as they were, everyday people were not affected by those changes for many years – perhaps decades – after the invention. Railroads and telegraph lines had to be built between cities and the initial cost for utilizing them was very high. Steamships also had to be built and proven before people trusted them to go across oceans.

Now, nearly every person in the developed world – and many in the undeveloped world – have access to the internet through their phones. The cost is very affordable and when a big change in that cell phone or internet technology takes place – everyone immediately has access to it if they choose.

The people who choose to access the new technology the quickest are the young people who have grown up with this technology. People who are over 45, as a whole, do not adjust as quickly because the technology is still relatively new to them with many people over 60 doing very little with the new technology beyond simple communication.

But those under 45 – and particularly under 30 – use their phones and access to the internet as if it is part of their being. Social media use is drastically different in this age group than it is in the older ages which has created cultures within our current culture based on numerous variables – algorithms, content manipulation, anonymity, etc.

In addition, the progressive onslaught in academia against the founding and ideals of America along with the feminization of our culture since the 1970s has made younger people think differently about our American culture more so than any generation in history.

This has created a cultural divide in America. Younger people, for the most part, think differently than previous generations since they were taught differently. Then have had those differences reinforced by social media and the internet in a way older generations don’t really understand and don’t appreciate.

That’s not to say all young people have the same opinions. In fact, there is a wide range of opinions, but they are generated from starting points which are alien to older generations.

To explore this issue, I am joined by my friend – The Chungster. He is in his early 20s and has demonstrated a great ability to bridge the generational divide with his insights. He has his own podcast on Rumble and YouTube - @TheChungster.

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The events of January 6, 2021 when the U.S. Capital was occupied for a short time by American citizens has become etched in the minds of most everyone. Many look at it as a deliberate act of insurrection. Others feel it was an entrapment perpetrated by the government against a group of citizens they were at odds with. Then there are a large group of people who know something not good happened but really are not sure where to point the finger.

What is far less talked about are the travesties of justice that occurred after the incident. Americans with no criminal history were hunted down and thrown in jail without any trial for months as if they were serial felons. The judges deciding the cases not only ignored the Constitutional guarantees we all have – they boldly proclaimed they were doing so.

The result was a political persecution which has not been seen in the history of America.

Some people hearing this either might not believe it or think it is overstated. That is why it’s good to hear from people who endured the persecution in order to put a face and a voice to the account.

Joining me is Leo Kelly who entered the Capital on that fateful day. He was subsequently arrested and spent 11 months in Federal prison before being pardoned by President Trump in 2025. His story epitomizes what so many went through with some experiencing things far worse.

Leo has written his experiences in a book entitled “Hope from the Ashes of Jan 6”. You can get a copy of the book at his website - IowaLeo.com

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People bear tremendous responsibility in America. We the People are responsible to keep government accountable. If we don’t, then our government or any government becomes tyrannical.

Jim Carlin is a lawyer in Sioux City, Iowa. He has fought the good fight to keep government accountable for many years.

Jim served in the Iowa House of Representatives and then in the Iowa Senate from 2017-2023 where he was not the most popular person in the legislature because he kept reminding them of their responsibility to the people of Iowa.

Jim feels it is important that people use the only leverage they have - their vote - to not reward the Republican Establishment for their continued failures.

See related article - Let the Establishment Lose

Few would argue against the idea that the Department of Defense is bloated. However, very few are asking the question about changing our military’s mission from being the world’s policeman and protecting the so-called American Empire to a more traditional mission of simply defending the United States of America.

As a veteran of 38 years (17 years active and 21 years National Guard/Army Reserve) I have seen the military from multiple vantage points. I believe we have allowed the military-industrial complex to become the nightmare President Eisenhower warned of of back in 1961.

The advent of drones and hypersonic missiles has made huge aspects of our military obsolete. This makes it the perfect time to radically transform our military back to its original mission.

If the war in Iran is so good, why do so many oppose it? Especially those under 50.

The reality is President Trump is not listening. The people are not in favor of this action and we have painted ourselves in a corner where we only have one viable alternative.

Unalienable Populism is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.