Lincoln’s Lessons on Internal Threats, Second Amendment Under Attack, and the Subsidized Housing Industrial Complex

On this Monday, February 27, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson explores how lessons from Abraham Lincoln’s life and warnings apply to America’s current challenges. The show examines unconstitutional gun legislation in Colorado, Lincoln’s early life and his powerful rhetoric as a weapon against division, and how subsidized housing policies are reshaping neighborhoods against the will of residents.

Lincoln’s Early Life and the Father of Our Second Founding

Start listening at 18:35 – Hour 1

In this segment, Ben Martin, patriotic historian, West Point graduate, and former Army Ranger, begins the fifth year of his historical programming with a deep exploration of Abraham Lincoln’s early life. Martin calls Lincoln the father of our second founding, drawing parallels between Lincoln’s era and today’s divisive political climate. Like George Washington before him, Lincoln kept the nation together during its most trying crisis.

Martin traces Lincoln’s family history from the first Lincolns arriving in Massachusetts in 1635 through Abraham’s birth at Sinking Springs, Kentucky in 1809. He describes Lincoln’s difficult childhood, the death of his mother Nancy from milk sickness when Abraham was just nine years old, his strained relationship with his father Thomas, and his close bond with stepmother Sally. Lincoln’s characteristics emerged early: his love of reading, talking, and public speaking over farm work, often irritating his father who had little regard for education.

Martin introduces Lincoln’s sword, not a physical weapon but his extraordinary mastery of rhetoric and persuasion. He discusses the 1838 Lyceum Speech where a 29-year-old Lincoln warned that America’s greatest threat comes not from foreign invasion but from internal division. Lincoln urged Americans to treat the Constitution as their political religion.

“I respectfully call him the father of our second founding. He, like the father of our first founding, George Washington, kept our nation together in the most trying of crises. Both, in their own time, defeated the nefarious forces of that age old and successful strategy of divide and conquer.”

Ben Martin, Patriotic Historian and Former Army Ranger

Fighting Unconstitutional Gun Legislation in Colorado

Start listening at 9:45 – Hour 1

In this segment, Ty Winter, State Representative from House District 47, joins Kim to discuss four new gun control bills that recently dropped in the Colorado legislature. Winter explains that these bills represent a direct attack on Second Amendment rights while doing nothing to address actual crime. Denver ranks number one in crime in the United States, yet legislators focus on restricting law-abiding citizens rather than addressing criminal behavior.

The bills include Senate Bill 23-168 allowing lawsuits against firearm manufacturers, Senate Bill 23-169 raising the minimum age to purchase firearms, Senate Bill 23-170 expanding extreme risk protection orders, and House Bill 23-1219 imposing waiting periods for firearm delivery. Winter urges constituents to flood the Capitol with testimony, either in person or via Zoom, to defend constitutional rights.

“First of all, Kim, they’re unconstitutional. I mean, we see a direct attack on our God-given unalienable rights at the state capitol. Really don’t understand why they’re doing this. We have gun laws in place. Most of the shootings that they reference, the guns were purchased legally. This is a mental health thing. This is a we don’t have a God in our country anymore. We’re not afraid of a higher power.”

Ty Winter, Colorado State Representative, House District 47

Being Proactive with Insurance Claims

Start listening at 61:15 – Hour 2

In this segment, Roger Mangan, a State Farm agent with 47 years of experience, joins Kim in studio to discuss the importance of being proactive with insurance claims. With current supply chain problems, vehicle repairs that once took days now take months. Mangan shares a case where a client’s car sat for nearly two months before being declared a total loss.

Mangan emphasizes that policyholders must stay engaged throughout the claims process rather than assuming everything will be handled automatically. He recommends reviewing coverage annually, especially rental reimbursement coverage which costs only about $20-25 per six months but provides $50 per day in rental coverage. Without it, at-fault drivers have no rental coverage.

“By being involved, I’m talking about talking to your agent, saying how are things going, is there anything I should be doing, and would you check with a body shop for me? You have to be very proactive on the claim.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm Agent

The Subsidized Housing Industrial Complex

Start listening at 68:55 – Hour 2

In this segment, Randall O’Toole, urban planning and transportation expert from The Anti-Planner, joins Kim to discuss the explosion of subsidized apartment buildings across the Denver metro area. O’Toole explains that 80% of Americans want to live in single-family homes, but urban planners believe Americans should live in apartment buildings. To make this happen despite market demand, developers rely on two primary subsidies: tax increment financing and low-income housing subsidies.

Tax increment financing allows developers to recoup property taxes that would otherwise fund public services like fire departments. Low-income housing subsidies, totaling $10 billion annually from the federal government, could build affordable single-family homes but instead fund expensive five-story apartment buildings that nobody wants. O’Toole notes that between 1900 and 1990, almost no five-story buildings were built because without elevators people won’t walk up four flights, and elevators don’t pay off until at least six stories.

O’Toole warns against efforts to abolish single-family zoning, which he calls a property right protecting homeowners from having their neighborhoods transformed against their will. He connects these policies to central planning ideologies dating back decades and advises Coloradans to watch for legislation attempting to eliminate single-family zoning protections.

“Most Americans want to live in single-family homes. By most, I mean 80%. It’s overwhelmingly. People want to live in single-family homes, and they want those single-family homes to be in single-family neighborhoods. But most urban planners think that most urban Americans should live in apartment buildings.”

Randall O’Toole, Urban Planning Expert, The Anti-Planner