Vivek Ramaswamy is a presidential candidate worth listening to. He has the right ideas for America and is pushing for a dismantling of many agencies, including the FBI and CIA, and believes that America needs a common identity.

I agree. We do.

But, he is Hindu. While he has been open about being raised Hindu and still considers himself and his family Hindus, he was also raised with a good deal of knowledge and influence from Christianity.

The questions I pose in this episode are these:

• If an American President is 99% of what you want -- Conservative, Independent, beholden to the people, etc. -- does it matter if he is a Christian or not?
• What are the implications for a non-Christian President?
• Does the American identity need to be explicitly Christian or can it be more of a set of ideals and principles apart from a specific religion?

I give my answers at the end of the podcast, but these are great questions and ones we need to answer. Vivek isn't the first and he certainly won't be the last.

Eugen Sandow is a name most men ought to know. He also had a physique people believed could only be achieved in the imagination or sculpted in marble. He's known as the father of bodybuilding, but in this episode I don't want to focus on how jacked he was. Rather, I use his story to drive home a deeper point. One that we've been missing for most of our lives.

It's far too easy to get caught up in the latest scandal, political issue, hot topic, etc. It's also easy to go down the rabbit hole of self-improvement, learning more than we are actually doing. We can begin to feel that the path to success is too difficult because of all the nuances we've put into our heads instead of focusing on the practical...the basics.

As our other business, Rustic and Main, can attest people are still getting married. Nearly 2 million weddings happen in the US every year. However, the median age for marriage is now 30 and the divorce rate is still very high at nearly 40%. What people want from marriage and what they bring to a marriage have changed dramatically in the last 25+ years.

AI is here and to be honest, I'm both amazed and a bit terrified. It's astonishingly brilliant and at the same time deeply concerning. It's key that we, as men, don't bury our head in the sand on this and just assume the worse will happen. This is rapidly changing our world and we need to be up to speed on this and involved in the development.

Currently, the AI that we have access to doesn't have the reasoning capabilities that AI of the sci-fi movies displays. It mimics reason but it doesn't understand truth in the same way that we do. As AI moves in this direction, though, it will need some basis of truth -- how the world actually works -- and with truth comes the need for a necessary bias.

It's important for parents to realize two things: 1. Our kids are experiencing a different world and a higher degree of temptation than we did. 2. They think that it's normal.

Our job, as people who grew up in a different time, is to remind them of how things used to be and to let them know that the world they have been born into misses out on some very human experiences.

Although I still have a lot to learn, I've picked up a few helpful tips in writing and publishing 2 books. If you're getting started on your own book or you're just interested in the topic, you'll love this episode.

Plus, I have a special thank you for all of you who have purchased from the Wolf & Iron store AND something special to be watching for!

Check out both books here:

Tending the Fire: Ignite Your Heart and Live Life as a Man

The Guy's Guide to Pocket Knives

When you look around do you see the need for more rule followers or independent, free-thinking men and women with an ingrained rebellious nature?

I think we know the answer to that! Rebels are needed. They've always been needed but without training -- either by consequences or by parents -- they'll set fire to anything that burns. It's our job as fathers, uncles, etc. to help them to see the good in their fiery spirit and to use it to pursue justice.

Unless you've been under a rock you've probably heard about something called ChatGPT. And if you have heard of it, some of you would like to go back under the rock rather than see what the world is becoming. AI is here and it's going to change things. ChatGPT just happens to be the eye-opening tool that makes this undeniable. In truth, it's pretty incredible...and it's only getting started.

As the world progresses with technology we have seen so many of the blessings of living in a modern age. But we've also seen the pull towards laziness and ease. Men have a quiet desire to live their lives more fully and yet give in to the world of entertainment and abdication of responsibility so readily. AI will definitely present new challenges for men, but also incredible opportunities for those of us who can wield it.

Growing up both poor and middle class, I gained a mindset that actually limited me in many ways. I didn't realize how deeply inset certain thoughts patterns were and how they impacted so many areas of my life. In this episode, I talk about the ingrained beliefs we carry with us when we come from limited means.