Judicial Accountability and the Battle of Rhetoric in Modern America

On December 1, 2022, Kim Monson welcomes veteran Mike Gibson and York College professor Erec Smith to examine two powerful forces shaping American society: the need for judicial accountability in family courts and the rhetorical strategies defining our political discourse.

Family Court Reform and Veterans’ Struggles

Start listening at 32:36 – Hour 1

Mike Gibson, a combat veteran who returned from his third deployment in Afghanistan, found himself battling a different enemy in Colorado’s family court system. Representing himself for seven years through family, civil, and federal courts, Gibson exposes the systemic failures that leave pro se litigants at a severe disadvantage. The Colorado Supreme Court has recognized that 75% of family court participants lack legal representation, creating a disparity in justice that depends more on financial resources than the merits of a case.

Gibson argues that judicial discipline remains shrouded in secrecy, making it nearly impossible for voters to make informed decisions when retaining judges. Working with the Equal Justice Foundation, he advocates for transparency in judicial performance reviews, noting that in the last decade of reviews, only four judges have been voted off the bench, a number he considers far too low given the systemic problems he witnessed firsthand.

“I don’t have PTSD from Afghanistan, okay? I have PTSD from the courts.”

Mike Gibson, Veteran and Equal Justice Foundation Representative

Rhetoric, Language, and Cultural Marxism in Education

Start listening at 70:22 – Hour 2

Erec Smith, a tenured professor at York College of Pennsylvania, explains how language has become weaponized in American political discourse. Drawing on Aristotle’s classical definition of rhetoric as finding the available means of persuasion in any situation, Smith traces how progressive movements have systematically redefined common terms to advance ideological goals without public awareness.

Smith illuminates the concept of ideographs in rhetorical theory, explaining how symbols like the rainbow carry universally positive associations that different groups interpret in contradictory ways. This linguistic manipulation, rooted in the Frankfurt School and Gramsci’s cultural Marxism, seeks to transform culture by changing language itself. Words like diversity, equity, and inclusion no longer carry their traditional meanings, Smith argues, creating a form of rhetorical deception that advances critical theory through familiar, trusted terminology.

The professor expresses particular concern about critical race theory’s influence on K-12 education, noting that while CRT may not appear as explicit subject matter, its pedagogical framework permeates curriculum design. Mathematics classes now question whether showing work or seeking correct answers reflects white colonialism, an approach adopted by education systems in Washington, Oregon, and California.

“A civil society like ours, a democratic, pluralistic civil society, cannot survive if we can’t talk. Free speech is imperative. Therefore, rhetoric is imperative.”

Erec Smith, Professor at York College of Pennsylvania