constitution party

48. Meeting People Where They Are with Justin Cornett of For All Tennessee

In this episode, we take the podcast in a bit of a different direction. We are anarchists, but we've brought in someone who works within the state to improve citizens’ lives through the legislature. Justin Cornett started For All Tennessee so he can act as a go-between from citizens to their representatives.

For All TN listens to citizens’ needs and works to get them taken care of them by passing bills. This organization is different because its members vote on which issues to pursue, and the company is not controlled by money. For more information, visit For All Tennessee or email info@foralltn.org. Follow Justin on Facebook and Twitter

At The Bad Roman Project, we wish the state didn't exist. But the fact is, it does. I (Craig) have been learning that people won’t immediately jump to anarchy from their brainwashed state. We have to meet them where they're at. We have to find ways to make them see that they don't want to be controlled by an authority, especially one who only cares about them as long as they're contributing financially to the government.

Part of the work Justin is doing is spreading knowledge to average citizens about the unfair and unconstitutional laws they are abiding by. He opens their eyes to what the government is doing and encourages them to join him in pushing their local representatives in a different direction. This is a step towards freedom, a step towards taking control of what's ruling their lives and realizing how harmful the government is to their community. 

Timestamps:

2:43 Biden’s “Proclamation” about vaccine mandates

  • It was just a press release

  • Good ideas don’t require force

    • It’s a bad idea to criminalize bad decision making

  • They never pushed the flu shot quite like this 

  • “If they would have just let people decide on their own, more people probably would have taken this shot.” -Craig

  • So much overreaction at the beginning by people on both sides of the aisle that people are now almost underactive and unwilling to put an experiment in their arms

  • Biden and governors (like Texas and Florida) are making “mandates” about the vaccine – either that it can or cannot be required of specific people

    • But in Tennessee, it is a law that companies cannot require their employees to be vaccinated

      • Craig hasn’t had to choose between his livelihood and his life like so many others

      • Justin helped him talk to his politicians about it

8:30 We still live under our government

  • Reality is, we live with a governmental system

    • If we want anything to happen, we have to work within that system

    •  most of the followers of the bad Roman are not ready to declare total anarchy, so we have to ease them into it a bit

    • “The world exists as it exists… If you try to operate contrary to the way the world actually works, it's not going to work out well for you.” -Justin

  • Sometimes, people think they’re opposed to you

    • Until you take the time to understand them and explain more

      • And you both find they’ve said the same thing you said before, just differently

    • No one will listen to a headstrong bully

    • Jesus used love, hope, and patience to guide people to His path

      • If we don't use those tools, we will not succeed 

  • Someone’s gotta work through the state; just not Craig ;)

13:44 For All Tennessee

  • Takes policy ideas to the hill

  • Members pay $5+/month

    • They get to vote on which issues are focused on

    • Also, people can designate their money for specific issues

  • Utilizes different tactics such as pamphlets, door to door information sharing, and ads

  • They do not campaign for or endorse certain politicians. They simply inform people about where all the politicians stand on important issues

  • No party affiliation; just what's best for Tennessee

  • “You don't fix what the government broke with more government. You can't really fix what the parties have broken with more parties, because the problem is inherent in the parties.” -Justin

  • America was supposed to be self-governed through Representatives 

    • But right now there are two organizations who tell us what our options are, and we have to choose which of the 2 is less terrible

      • The only way to change that is for citizens to lean on their representatives

  • Working to 

    • Find out what the citizens want 

    • Create policies

    • Lobby for representatives to vote for what do people in their district have asked 

      • If they don’t, they’ll lose votes

    • Find out what representatives think about policies and inform citizens

    • Guide people into a different mindset where they

      • Have influence over public policy

      • Don’t blindly follow government

        • They have the gift of free will 

      • Are aware of and ask for what's best for their community

    • Guide people to take a step towards freedom

  • Run by this principle: get policy done that empowers people and limits government

28:23 How the founding fathers might feel about how things work now

  • Rollin over in their graves

  • If they were here, they’d go to war with our government

    • The federal government was never supposed to have as much power as it does

      • States were supposed to have more control

      • The federal budget is significantly higher than all the states’ budgets combined

      • The States created the federal government

        • And should therefore have more power 

      • The federal government does not constitutionally have the authority to pass a law 

        • But they've been doing it anyway for 100 years 

        • Everyone just behaves like the acts they have passed are law

33:04 Hypocrisy

  • Saying we have to follow something because it's the law

    • While also dismissing laws that don't make sense

    • Or even disobeying align yourself while demanding that others get punished for it

  •  Saying we should love our neighbor

    •  While also delighting in locking him up for nonviolent crimes

      •  Making his education, career, and family life a massive struggle

      •  Keeping him dependent on the state for sustenance

34:58 A new definition of politics

  • Politics happens any time people interact with other people

  • If you have a society full of garbage people, it is going to fail regardless of what government it has

  • If you have a society full of people who truly care about others, the government won't be needed to control them

  • We need a combination of 

    • A kind attitude towards each other and

    • A lack of governmental control

  • We've got to focus on the goal

  • We need to fix our eyes on Jesus, not what's going on in the world around us

    • Our treasure is not here on Earth 

    • But let's make the most out of what we have here

      •  While recognizing that this isn't the end for us

38:00 Working to limit police power

  • Qualified immunity

    • Hasn't been voted on within the organization yet

    • They may or may not work on it, depending on the votes

  • No-knock Raids

    • Worked to get 123 out of 132 votes to abolish them in TN

    • Written with police chiefs and the governor's office 

    • Tennessee already had a good record and policies in place to prevent no-knocks

      • This was just the final step

    • Police now have to report any excessive force used

    • Deescalation training is now required

40:52 Low-hanging fruit 

  • Going for the policies that are already widely agreed upon

    • They are agreed upon by citizens, not necessarily representatives

    • Civil asset forfeiture

      • The government can see that you have assets and simply take them even when you have done nothing wrong

      • Many representatives see this as a necessary income stream for the government

      • Most average citizens have no idea this is a thing

        • So part of the work is to educate them and ask them to join against it

44:17 Effectiveness Analysis

  • We check on the issues we worked on

  • We got a bill passed on civil asset forfeiture that made the state more financially responsible when proven to be in the wrong

    • But they have a loophole

    • People are not being reimbursed for their legal fees

    • Now, we have another angle to focus on to help people

48:12 “We are nothing more than a revenue source for the government.” -Craig

  • How do people not see this?

    • When a lie becomes commonplace, people just accept it

48:48 COVID migration

  • People are moving to different states to escape COVID laws

    • Hopefully, those from the most extreme states don’t bring the lies they lived under with them

      • Conservatives are bad, but liberals are worse

      • Californians moving to Texas

    • In one county of TN, restaurants demanded people’s addresses in order to track their travel

  • The government wants to divide and conquer us

    • We should be focusing on the similarities between groups

  • Both sides want us to get vaccinated right now

    • Liberals get there by mandating what they think is good for us

    • Both are seeking gain and change culture

      • The way they want the culture to change to is different

      • Both prescribe laws for the purpose of culture shift

55:31 Plans for the new year

  • Members can vote on what issues we focus on in 2022

    • Join before the deadline and get your vote in 

  • If someone comes to us with $100,000 to work on a particular issue in a certain direction, we still need the approval of our members before moving forward

  • As far as we know, no one else operates this way

    • If someone knows of an organization that does, please let us know so we can learn from them and be allies

  • Currently, we only work in Tennessee but would love to have chapters in other states and then federally

    • Have incorporated for this reason

    • Everybody wants somebody to be doing this work 

Contact For All TN at info@foralltn.org

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25. Romans 13 & Stateless Civil Governance with Gregory Baus

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Is an elected official’s authority automatically ordained by God? What is Jesus referring to when he says “render unto Caesar what is Caesar's”? In the episode, Gregory Baus delves into Romans 13 and stateless civil governance. 

Are Christians required by God to submit to the governing authorities, even when they are tyrannical or immoral? Are all elected officials ordained by God? Is “render to Caesar” referring to a Biblical requirement for Christians to pay taxes? All of the questions and more are answered in this episode. Craig and Gregory also discuss their transition into anarchism and Gregory’s nomadic lifestyle, along with touching on reformed theology and how that affects an anarchist interpretation of Romans 13. 

Timestamps & starting points for further exploration:

1:50 Gregory’s background 

  • Baltimore

  • Munich

  • Covenant College

  • Redeemer University

  • teaching English overseas

7:30 Christian Philosophy 

11:15 Transition to anarchism

28:45 Proper understanding of individualism within anarchism

31:45 Romans 13  and Stateless Civil Governance: A Reformed View by Gregory’s Baus

45:25 Nomadic Lifestyle 

  • overseas during middle school 

  • Japan

  • California 

  • Canada

  • Netherlands

  • Cambodia 

  • Beijing 

  • Budapest 

49:00 Dave Ramsey

49:45 Gregory’s plugs