Governor Scott Walker: Be Resilient

Join us for an incredible journey with Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin and president of Young America's Foundation. This episode will guide you through his inspiring trajectory from a history-loving child to a steadfast governor, revealing how a deep respect for American history and admiration for Ronald Reagan shaped his political career. We'll also explore how Walker is utilizing his current role at the Young America's Foundation to inspire and educate the next generation about the importance of individual freedom, national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values.

What does it take to stand for your beliefs in the face of adversity and opposition? Walker shares his own experiences of dealing with hardcore challenges as the governor of Wisconsin, including grappling with protests, a recall attempt, and his struggle to foster conservative values. With stories of resilience and faith, he unveils how prayer and support from family and friends played a pivotal role. Also, the episode touches on how social media is instrumental in spreading leftist ideologies and the need for conservatives to counter those messages effectively.

Moving into the future, Walker talks about the importance of relating to young voters through personal narratives and shared experiences. We'll examine how to counteract the push for socialism by appealing to the concept of fairness. Walker emphasizes freedom, opportunity, and unity as the cornerstone of a promising future. Hear firsthand how sharing personal experiences can spotlight the greatness of America.

This episode is sure to inspire you with Gov. Scott Walker's unwavering dedication to standing firm in his beliefs, his knack for problem-solving, and his commitment to instilling love for our great nation in the hearts of future generations. Tune in and gear up for a captivating conversation about resilience, conservative values, and hope for the future.

Subscribe to never miss an episode of STAND:
YouTube
Apple Podcasts
Spotify

STAND's website: • StandShow.org
Follow Kelly Tshibaka on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KellyForAlaska
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KellyForAlaska
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyforalaska/

Transcript

Kelly Tshibaka: 0:08

Welcome to Stand where cowardice comes to die. Buckle up for another exciting episode where we explore fresh perspectives on current events. We're going to offer meaningful solutions to the challenges we experience in our careers, our families and our communities. I'm your host, kelly Tshibaka. I'm joined by my husband and fantastic co-host, Niki Tshibaka, and you can follow us on at the Stand Show on YouTube and under Kelly for Alaska on social media. Please subscribe to our show. You don't want to miss a single episode, and if uncensored media matters to you, you can support our show by donating online on our website, standshow. org.

Kelly Tshibaka: 0:49

Today we are super excited to have with us Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin. As governor, he took a bold and courageous stand for fiscal responsibility, constitutional and civil rights, traditional values and education reform. I'm sure you all remember that he was in the news every day. As a result, he was the first governor in American history to defeat an attempted recall. That's the political way of trying to cancel someone. That recall failed. Governor Walker was reelected to a second term, but today Governor Walker is the president of Young America's Foundation, which is committed to ensuring that young Americans understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise and traditional values. I think that's what we define as a conservative. So if you want to support the great work of Young America's Foundation, please go to yaforg. That's yaforg. Governor Walker, thank you so much for being with us today on stand. We are honored to have you here.

Gov. Scott Walker: 1:54

Thank you, kelly, good to be with you, and Niki and all those tuning in, and I'm glad you sing it out up front that it's Scott Walker, because if I'm going to be a former governor, I want to make sure I'm not the former governor of Alaska, but rather the former governor of Wisconsin. My politics are definitely different.

Kelly Tshibaka: 2:10

Hey, hey, fair and given our audience, we probably do need to clarify that because they might not know we have a lot of Alaska listening. That's a good point. So our audience knows and respects your impressive careers. A public servant that goes beyond just being governor of Wisconsin. But what inspired you to pursue a life of public service? You weren't always in this life.

Gov. Scott Walker: 2:34

No, although as a kid I always loved, I was a bit of a geek in the sense that I thought of our founders as superheroes. I loved history. I ate it up. I think as a young kid, right after Disney opened, my parents took me down to Disney World in Florida and the hall of the presence was the place I was most intrigued with. That should have been a dead giveaway, because I loved history. I loved thinking about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. It wasn't until years later my dad, in a small town, was a minister. My mom was a part-time bookkeeper. We didn't have any money to travel around the country, so it wasn't until I was an adult that I got to go to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, but it was late. That was like the Justice League for me. Those are my superheroes.

Gov. Scott Walker: 3:17

And so growing up, I remember as a little kid seven, eight years old watching with my dad Ronald Reagan speak at the 1976 GOP convention where he conceded that everyone watching, and my father at home as well, said that should have been the nominee. And as a young man, I was 12 and Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980. And I was just transformed by him, not just because of his values as a conservative, even as a Republican, but as an optimist as well. This guy was shining sitting on the hill and then, a few years later, I had the honor to go to Washington DC as part of a program the American Legion puts on called Boys Nation. I've done this. Boys State. Boys Nation was bummed out because we weren't able to meet Ronald Reagan on that trip. He was actually it's the one week he was in that summer and for something to do with his colon surgery but was completely mesmerized by history and in particular by Ronald Reagan. He was my president and he restored faith in the American dream during my time as a child.

Kelly Tshibaka: 4:18

Well, that's really cool. We've got a book on Reagan right here behind us in the studio. I think he's transformed a lot of people's lives.

Niki Tshibaka: 4:25

Yeah, we sure miss his voice, but his wisdom lives on and you know, along those lines, governor Walker, you. Your story there, in terms of how Reagan influenced you, illustrates the power of, even if it's inadvertent or indirect, meaningful mentorship, and what you're doing now with Young America's Foundation is inspiring youth the same way that Reagan President Reagan inspired you. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what are some of the ways that Young America's Foundation is helping to build a better future for our country, and what are you seeing and hearing from the youth of this generation right now?

Gov. Scott Walker: 5:15

Yeah, great point. In fact, Ronald Reagan said it well many times in the past, and that was he said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. You don't get it passed on to you in the bloodstream. You have to stand up and fight for it and defend it and then pass it on to the next generation to do exactly the same thing. And so he forewarned about this. You know, his farewell address in 1989 talked about restoring our sense of a pride in America but that we hadn't re-institutionalized. He made a plea to parents going into the 1990s to focus more American history and shared culture, civic rituals like saying the pledge and standing for the national anthem. We've seen the ill effect of people not following that years and decades later. The good news is there's hope.

Gov. Scott Walker: 6:01

That's what I learned from Ronald Reagan, and even though we oftentimes look particularly at Generation Z and say, oh you know, all is destroyed, the fact of the matter is the work that we do at Young America's Foundation, yaf. org if people are interested with college, high school and now middle school kids, is to really train them to be leaders in that fight for freedom. The left tries to intimidate them, just like they tried to intimidate me years ago, sending 100,000 protesters to take a bar of state capital. That's why they as you, kelly, mentioned the recall. They did all those things to try and intimidate us. They're doing exactly the same thing to young people on campus, at school, in the classroom, in their dorms and, frankly, even on social media. The good news is there's a lot of brave students. The number one thing we hear at conferences from students is not just how cool the speakers are, the breakout sessions, it's realizing they're not alone, and so that's the good news. We've seen it even in a number of polls that we've done recently that show some reasons for optimism.

Kelly Tshibaka: 7:01

Yeah, share with us what you're seeing in those polls. What are the young people of America telling you?

Gov. Scott Walker: 7:07

Yeah, you know, despite what you hear from the corporate media out there, the elitist in New York and Washington, there's some good news on the horizon. Number one issue we did a nationwide poll a few weeks ago of college and high school age students across the country so not just kids we work with, but we found the economy was top on the list of their concerns, despite what Biden says, despite what others say. They're concerned about the cost of gas and housing and food. They're concerned about all sorts of other things out there, and they can see it just like the rest of us can. It also is interesting there's a fundamental sense of fairness.

Gov. Scott Walker: 7:41

So when you ask about things like should racial quotas be used for hiring and for college admissions, amazingly students overwhelmingly think that's not fair, including if you break it out by race.

Gov. Scott Walker: 7:53

Remember, this is a sample, nationwide, a random sample, and so even when you do the crosstabs, it's not just white students, black students, hispanic students all think that that's fundamentally not fair. Similarly, when we talk about women's sports, overwhelmingly young people believe it's not fair for someone who was born biologically as a boy to be competing in varsity sports against people who were born biologically as a young woman, and so that gives us hope that we just got to get better at articulating our conservative views, not just from a point of logic, which we should never concede, but tell it from emotional and fairness terms. Appeal to the moral superiority that our ideas have over those on the left, and I think we can make end rounds with young people, and that's what we're doing, not only at conferences. We have the, for example, the largest lecture series in the country when it comes to right of center speakers, and the cool news is, in fact, if people are watching on, YouTube, they'll know ya f. org is the website, but yaftv y-a-f-t-v.

Gov. Scott Walker: 8:53

We now have a billion views of our programming of lectures and nearly a million and a half subscribers, so we are making inroads. I think young people are hungry to hear the truth.

Kelly Tshibaka: 9:03

Yeah, that's definitely the communication mechanism for these next generations, right? These video shorts and anything digital that's on their hands. That's how you reach them. I think that's really fantastic. Going back to those values of yaf free enterprise, individual freedom it's good to know that the next generation's coming up, they feel that intrinsically. Like you said, it's not in their blood, but somehow it's getting passed down. I think that's really great. I'd like you to tell us about your first attempt to enter public service. It came at a fairly young age, because you're dealing with young people now, but you weren't immediately successful. I think that's really important for people to know, because it seems like we're in this everything should just come easy. Happiness is right at my fingertips and if I have to struggle for anything, then it must be going bad or wrong, and we don't often hear the stories of people really having to persevere at things. Could you share with us that story?

Gov. Scott Walker: 10:00

No, you're exactly right, that's an American story, right there. Right, it's resilience, that's right. Sadly, we've seen the last few years with COVID and the shutdowns. Some of the people hurt the most were kids, who not only physically weren't in school hanging out with their friends oftentimes having to be at home or the parents had to work but also just didn't learn about the truth about American and world history, to see that we persevered and that brought us back, whether it was simple things like overcoming the Spanish flu a century ago, or just the trials and tribulations two world wars, a civil war, all the way back to the Revolutionary War. So in our case, it really is about helping these students understand. First and foremost, like I said, when they come to conferences they're not alone. There's other young people like them.

Gov. Scott Walker: 10:47

The whole goal of the left is intimidation. What you can and you know this setting been in the political field. What people do, and now particularly in the social media world that we live in, is, if they disagree with you, they call you racist, sexist, transphobic and so on. It doesn't matter what the topic is. They just throw those out there and sadly, too many people who profess to be conservatives tend to back down.

Gov. Scott Walker: 11:12

What we found is and one of the cool things, why I mentioned the social media numbers are so high is one of our great speakers has been Shapiro. As an example, he and others now have followed his lead. They spend more than half of their time taking questions from the audience at these campus lectures. They let anyone who's opposed to them raise their hand and go to the front of the line. What's super about that one? It's interesting. But more specifically, people on campus have heard these leftist ideas that the questioners bring up. What they haven't heard is a reasonable, rational counter to that. And so being a happy warrior, saying with a smile, not just attacking the questioner, but just saying okay, I understand why you're getting at. You've been spoon fed this by people on the left in your classroom or in social media, but here's the truth and you deserve to hear the truth. It's amazing. It's like people stranded on a desert island. They want more, they want to hear the truth, and that's our opportunity.

Kelly Tshibaka: 12:09

Yeah, that's a really great point. It's. The marketplace of ideas has an amazing ability to change people's minds around. You might be surprised at this. Recently we had Ben Carson come to town in Anchorage and he was set up to go speak to one of the schools that was similarly located in a place like one of the schools he grew up in, and the superintendent of the Anchorage School District canceled his visit. No exposure to new ideas in Anchorage, and I thought kind of similar to what you're thought. I wonder what they're afraid of. I wonder what ideas could be offered by the top neurosurgeon in America that could be so threatening. Yeah, super fantastic. So I'm super excited to have you share with us some of the big challenges you faced, the attempted recall that you got into what happened, as in your role as governor, and I think we're coming up on a break time and so we'll cut for a short break and we'll come back with you after that.

Gov. Scott Walker: 13:14

That's good.

Kelly Tshibaka: 13:15

Yeah, stay tuned, everyone for a short break with stand. Welcome back to stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka. Today we're excited to have Governor Scott Walker with us. He serves as the president of Young America's Foundation. You can learn more about them at yaf. org and support their important work. So, as governor of Wisconsin, you faced huge challenges that were all over television and included an attempted recall. You're the first governor in America history to defeat an attempted recall. You didn't stand down and you're still standing today. I would love for you to share this a little bit about how you made it through those difficult times. It must have been extremely challenging and there was no precedent at that time for making it through a recall, for all you knew you were going to be bounced out of there. Tell us a little bit about that story and how you made it through.

Gov. Scott Walker: 14:19

Yeah, you're right. In fact, after the early wave of protests, time Magazine had a headline that said Dead man Walker. They thought I were toast, I was done. Once they got the signatures for the recall ballot they thought it was all over. And even before that we had death threats against me, against my family, against my kids.

Gov. Scott Walker: 14:37

There was one that said they were going to gut my wife like a deer. They had another one to my wife that I was going to be the first governor assassinated in Wisconsin. It's just horrible, horrible thing. But it was all part of that intimidation process and more than politics or ideological beliefs, for us it boiled down to prayer. We relied on our faith, our family and our friends during those really trying times, first with the protests and then throughout the recall process, and I got to tell you it was just so powerful.

Gov. Scott Walker: 15:07

I remember after the first week or so, wisely, we took another page out of Ronald Reagan's playbook and we got out of the Capitol, literally went out around the state. We just said, okay, enough of dealing with the protesters. We had protesters out around the state too, but we went out to people. We went to factories, went to schools, went to hospitals. And I remember the first time I was touring a factory about a week after protests started and I'd been praying extra hard and asked friends and members of our congregation to pray with us as well. I went to this factory and I was touring and this gigantic guy all covered and he had grease on from the equipment he was working on all over his clothes. And he came up to me and he put his finger right in my chest. I said, oh man, he's going to, let me have it. And he said I just want you to know.

Gov. Scott Walker: 15:53

Every night my wife and I and our kids, we get on our knees and we pray for you, so powerful. So from that point on I remember particularly something that has stuck with me over the years. In the Bible one of the stories I'm drawn to is the woman who had been unclean for a dozen years, who heard Christ was going to come through a courtyard and she went and just tried to touch the very end of his cloak and he turned. He could feel that someone had reached out and reached for him. And I said, from that point forward, when someone would tell me they were praying for me, I literally just might touch their hand, might touch their elbow, might touch their shoulder. But you could feel the power of that and I've just realized if you're doing the right thing and you're asking for God's help and assistance, the rest of work itself out.

Kelly Tshibaka: 16:39

That was really powerful. Thank you for sharing that.

Niki Tshibaka: 16:42

Yeah, we were. We were all just mesmerized. I remember that you know watching from afar and rooting for you. I think it's important to highlight, though, governor Walker, that you you haven't won every battle. You fought, but you also haven't given up. So, for example, just recently you fought hard for a candidate that you supported for in this election in Wisconsin's Supreme Court earlier this year, but it didn't go the way that you hoped, and there is some belief that the person who got elected could play a role in trying to reverse some of the things that you accomplished as governor. How do you keep standing after experiencing a disappointment like that? How do you keep going?

Gov. Scott Walker: 17:35

Well, it's a combination of things when I think about. When I was first a young man in college, I ran for the state assembly, as was referenced before, and I lost. I was wise enough to know that in a district that was overwhelmingly Democrat, I couldn't win. In fact, the woman who beat me is now the Congresswoman from the larger area in Milwaukee. But I went out and worked hard. I felt like there should at least be a choice for voters.

Gov. Scott Walker: 18:00

I went into some pretty tough areas in the city of Milwaukee and that actually helped me later, not only because a few years later, when I was 25, I was elected in a nearby suburb of Milwaukee to the state legislature, but a few years after that there was a big scandal in Milwaukee County, the largest county, a very Democrat but not radical like Madison, where our state's capitals at, but the traditional Democrat area and I said somebody's got to run for this spot and try and clean this up. Well, they'd never elected a Republican before. But I think in some ways that earlier quest that was a failed attempt in terms of a loss actually had opened my eyes to not being afraid to go to neighborhoods to talk to voters who didn't always look or sound like me, but who I knew shared some of the same concerns that I had, and I ended up winning that election, and not only one, but was reelected in a county that went two thirds for Barack Obama by about 60% of the vote. We wanted our reelection. Why? Because we did the things that we said we were going to we kept property taxes down, we restored public safety, we took on the corruption.

Gov. Scott Walker: 19:04

To me, that's a great lesson going forward that sometimes you lose things, but sometimes losing if you have a long term goal it's not just about you, but it's about pushing. A larger. A larger, better plan really goes a long way, and that same thing's true now with the Supreme Court race. Yeah, I just think that's a great motivator going into 2024 in Wisconsin, across the country, that we can't just look back and be upset about failures or supposed losses in the past, but rather say, okay, what do we need to do going forward to make sure we mitigate those things, that we get better and we learn from that and we do a better job of articulating our values in a way that people respond to.

Niki Tshibaka: 19:45

That's powerful. That reminds me of what Kelly and I often talk about how sometimes the victory is simply in the standing.

Kelly Tshibaka: 19:54

Yeah, hold the line.

Niki Tshibaka: 19:55

Yeah, hold the line, and along those lines. We've all heard the old adage. You know, pick your battles. Not every fight is worth fighting. How do you decide whether to take a stand or to take a seat?

Gov. Scott Walker: 20:12

Well, some great lessons from the past. Not surprising. I go back and I think of something involving Ronald Reagan. 1964, very goldwater ran and what everybody thought was just very uphill battle. Now I did heat a stand, but in the last week people forget about this.

Gov. Scott Walker: 20:31

Literally a week out from the November 1964 election, ronald Reagan, who wasn't even elected official at the time, gave a speech we now call a time for choosing, and a lot of politicians, a lot of political figures who maybe think I'd add to the future, it's oh, I don't want to be associated with a candidate I know is going to lose. Ronald Reagan instead embraced that. He not only supported very goldwater in that speech. Equally, if not more importantly, he laid out what it meant to be conservative. He laid out, in fact we share that with a lot of our students at Young America's Foundation, because if you go back and I would tell people, go and Google, go, either read or watch it. It's on YouTube, you can find it Listen to or read that speech at time for choosing, from October of 1964.

Gov. Scott Walker: 21:17

You'll hear comments that could just as easily be told today. In particular, one of the stories he mentions is he tells the story of two businessmen, friends of his who were talking to a businessman who had immigrated from Cuba to the United States and they talked about kind of laughing and saying, oh, how lucky they were. And this guy from Cuba said back to them how lucky you are. He said are you kidding me? I'm the lucky one, I had somewhere to go. If you don't stand and fight for freedom here in America, there's nowhere else to go to. That's in 1964. Those are Ronald Reagan's words. You could give that speech today and be just as impactful.

Kelly Tshibaka: 21:53

Wow, that's a good point.

Niki Tshibaka: 21:55

It reminds me that every generation has a battle that it has to engage in to protect freedom, to protect our civil liberties, whatever the landscape looks like. We all have that responsibility and a lot of what you're doing with YAF is preparing this next generation to do precisely that. We're coming up at a break in about two minutes, but I was going to pass it on to Kelly to ask the next question I want to touch on the.

Kelly Tshibaka: 22:29

you were talking about the battle. I want to touch on that battle. Back when you were governor and you were talking about the death threats and the threats, those horrific threats against your wife. You know the people listening would hear that and go oh my gosh, I don't have anything to do with anything like that.

Kelly Tshibaka: 22:45

We've had similar things happen to us and I've learned in that is I'll pull back and go. You know what? They're just doing this to intimidate me, the 100,000 protesters which the liberals would call something else if that was at the DC Capitol, right, but they're just doing that to intimidate you with the goal of discouraging you and getting you to sit down and be silent, to not take a stand and to stop doing what you're doing. So I realized, well, I can't give them what they want, and so it has just motivated me to continue to press forward. I was wondering how do you? You know, when you're sitting there in the dead of night and those threats come in and you're not surrounded by your support group and stuff, how did you think through it? What would you tell all those people listening who are like well, I don't want that to happen to me.

Kelly Tshibaka: 23:35

And so then they do get intimidated and silence. How did you press through that to say no, I'm actually going to step forward.

Gov. Scott Walker: 23:41

Well, in addition, again, it began and ended every day with my knees and then I slept like a baby after that because I knew you just gave it all up to God. But in addition to that, I would tell you that you know, bullies only win if we're intimidated by them, and so not only for leaders. You know people who run like you and I and others out there, but I'd say this might sound like a, for a moment, an odd correlation, but you know we think of things years ago, like the civil rights movement. Yeah, martin Luther King obviously was a major leader in that. But but you don't have Martin Luther King unless you had Rosa Parks.

Gov. Scott Walker: 24:17

Rosa Park didn't get big speeches. She had the tenacity, in her own quiet way, to move from the back of the bus to the front of the bus, and that moment inspired literally millions of other people, many of whom would be scared to death to speak or run for office, but to do their own part in that. The same is true today in the fight for freedom. Yeah, some of us are called to lead by standing up and running for office or giving me speeches. A lot of other people are called to help defend freedom by supporting those who do that, by praying for them, by helping their campaigns, by supporting young people and sharing their messes. There are many ways to be involved in this battle.

Kelly Tshibaka: 24:55

I think that's really good. I like your Rosa Parks analogy. Yeah, it's really good. All right, coming up on a break.

Niki Tshibaka: 25:02

Yeah, so thank you, governor Walker. We're going to be right back with some more wisdom and stories from the former governor of Wisconsin Standouts. You can support the important work of Scott Walker and Young America's Foundation again by donating online at yaf. org. Yaf. org, we'll be right back, don't go away, stand by.

Africa New Day: 25:30

Africa New Day. Which mission is actually? To create leaders, change a culture and transform a nation. We believe that this is an area where God wants us to make a difference. You know he has called us the light of the world. Well, where does the light shine? Where there is darkness. As you pray with us, as you contribute to our efforts, we believe that together we can make a difference.

Kelly Tshibaka: 26:01

Welcome back to Stand. We're excited to have with us on the show today Governor Scott Walker, the former governor of Wisconsin, the leader of Young America's Foundation. So, governor, you've got a totally unique perspective on where the country is because you are working with young Americans and with that focus on the next generation of our leaders through Young America's Foundation, which is at yaf. org. What are the next great conflicts that you see on the horizon, the most important issues that we're going to need to take a stand on?

Gov. Scott Walker: 26:31

Well, I think you know there's twofold. There's the cultural issues, and politics is down, as Andrew Riper said, downstream from culture. And so, again, I would say we've got to apply this fairness issue and use it to our advantage. The left thinks and talks with their head. We think and talk with our heart. Excuse me. The left thinks and talks with their heart. We think and talk with our head. We need to do both. We need to think with our head but talk more from our heart, Share stories, share perspectives, both on our beliefs when it comes to culture, where I think we've got a winning stand when it comes to fairness, as I mentioned, on things like quotas or things like women's sports. But we also need to apply that to more complicated issues, often like the economy, talking about why free market driven capitalism is far better than government driven socialism. You know a lot of people hear this. They hear socialism and Marxism, communism, and we had a kid a visitor actually to the Ronald Reagan boy at home in Dixon Illinois.

Gov. Scott Walker: 27:32

Just a fifth grader that came with a school group and one of our staff there was talking about Ronald Reagan and talked about how he brought about the fall of communism. We're just so used to talking about that in really positive terms. And this fifth grader said well, why would he do that? Our staff member was like don't found it. He said well, what do you think communism is? He said, well, our teacher told us it's a way to help people and we just have to get to the heart of that and do a better job of telling stories.

Gov. Scott Walker: 27:59

I think on the economy we can't just talk in numbers, dollar signs, but tell things. I'll give you a quick example. If I'm talking to fifth graders, I might say well, have you ever gone over your grandparents and done some chores? They say grandma gives you $10 after your rake leaves on a weekend. You come home and your parents take $7 of the $10 away. Well, a fifth grader would say, well, that's not fair. Another kid might say, well, why would I even work? I said well, that's what the federal government's been talking about before Reagan came in in the past and we're itching up to that again. They top rate took $7 of $10 out of people's pockets. For the top earners in America that takes away the incentive not only to work but to invest. We start telling stories, more than just numbers. That really can resonate with young people and counters the push for socialism in this country.

Kelly Tshibaka: 28:48

Yeah, they start to understand it better. They intuitively understand fairness.

Gov. Scott Walker: 28:52

Exactly, get to the heart of fairness. That's why I tell people all the time you're talking to your kids, your grandkids, other young people, don't talk at them. Talk with them. Share things that are important to you. Share if you started a company, talk about that. Share in ways that they can relate and they'll be drawn to that.

Niki Tshibaka: 29:12

Following up on that point. We're going to have a lot of young voters in this next presidential election, which is shaping up to perhaps be the most contentious election in modern American history. It's going to be intense. A lot of young people are going to be voting for the first time for a presidential candidate. What do you believe should be the message of the folks running for president for to the younger generation, based on what you're seeing in the polls, based on your experience with the young people you work with at YAF?

Gov. Scott Walker: 29:55

Yeah Well, I think there's a couple key elements to that One. I think, not only substantively but overall, we've got to talk with passion and conviction about freedom and opportunity and what that means. Because actually, at the core, whether it's economic freedom, whether it's religious freedom, whether it's political freedom talking about why that's infectious when you think about this idea, it drives me crazy when I look at the Marxist strategies going on in America today, particularly in our college campuses. I've joked about this before, but if we close colleges down again, it would do more to stop the spread of communism than it would stop the spread of COVID out there. But there's this we don't take on that false narrative. Out there they're trying to pit one group of Americans versus another. Historically, decades ago, it was based on class or income. Today, because that failed, they're circling back on race and sex and gender. In all those cases, in each of them, it's about pitting one group versus another to orchestrate power.

Gov. Scott Walker: 30:54

I mean, the three people who set up BLM, the organization, are Marxist-trained organizers. They've said it themselves. You can watch it on YouTube. It's not you or anybody else saying it. They say it themselves. To counter that, we just say if you really want unity in this country. They're the ones that want to divide us. Conservatives, we believe I don't care whether you're young or old, I don't care whether you're black or white, I don't care if you're rich or poor, I don't care whether you're born here and stayed here in life or you immigrated here legally here a couple weeks ago. Everyone in this country should have access to the same freedoms and the same opportunities that our ancestors blessed us with, passing on to us as well. We tell it with that kind of passion and clarity. I believe young people will gravitate to that.

Niki Tshibaka: 31:39

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense when I think of our discussions with our own teenagers. Those are some of the concerns that they bring up is just freedom I don't feel free to speak my mind or what I believe without experiencing retaliation. And fortunately they have a strong mom and they take after her and so they don't mind speaking their mind. But it can often be discouraging, and so I think hearing leaders who are vying for the highest office in the land say I'm going to fight for your freedom, to fight for your ability to speak freely, to think freely and to work freely in this country, I think that is a powerful message. So, yeah, thank you.

Gov. Scott Walker: 32:33

Right and a minimum. I mean think about it at the basic core minimum in our colleges and universities and our schools across America. You should be able to think for yourself. We should be teaching people not what to think but how to think critically. I think that's a fundamental truth that people across the spectrum historically have been behind, but those who want power have tried to push that out of the way. We can make that say at a bare minimum. We should have that.

Gov. Scott Walker: 33:00

I think beyond that, I'd love to hear candidates at all levels, not just the presidential candidates, talking about hey, if you're a young person, you want to start your own business. You want to start your own career. You want to pursue your own life, go do it. We're the ones that want to let you do it. As long as you don't hurt the health and safety of your neighbor, go do your own thing. Those on the left, those who embrace liberal ideas, those who are telling you all these things they think they're standing up for you on. No, they want to tell you what to do and when to do and how to do it, so putting all these restrictions on your dreams. We're the ones that say live free. We want you to experience your own life again. As long as you don't hurt the health and safety of your neighbor, do your thing.

Kelly Tshibaka: 33:40

Yeah, for those people who might be feeling fearful or cynical about saying something or taking a stand, what would you say to them? What are some meaningful ways that they can start taking a stand and getting involved?

Gov. Scott Walker: 33:55

Yeah, a couple different things. You know, one of the things we teach students although I think it applies not only in the classroom on campus, but even for adults and retirees and others on social media get some of the same intimidation and alienation issues from friends who push away from them. A couple of tips we give students, which is ask questions. Don't just come right out when you're wrong, but it's really effective to say excuse me, where did you get that from? Because what I've heard is this more often than not I think you guys have seen this as well they really don't. It's hearsay. They've made things up or they get spoon fed things on social media that fit their beliefs but really are not fact-based, and so the extent of asking them to explain things where did this come from? That's really not what I've heard really is quite effective. The other part that I think helps it ties together with that is, I see, being an optimist.

Gov. Scott Walker: 34:51

Don't just talk about why they're wrong. Talk about why we love America. We're the ones that are talking about the shining city on the hill. We're the ones that understand that America is this beacon. It's why more than a million people legally immigrate to this country every year. It's why no other country is even remotely close when it comes to foreign born citizens. We have four times more to the next closest country in the world. Tell people what do they see that we don't? Well, they see the truth, and so, to me, the best teacher I'm aware of in the history of the world told parables. So to the extent that we can tell stories and make those relatable, particularly the young people, I just think they really it's a lot easier to tell your story, a lot easier to tell something maybe your grandma told you, like mine did, about don't spend money you don't have.

Gov. Scott Walker: 35:39

or it's a lot easier to tell about your grandfather who started that business and for years, had it in the back of the garage and worked their way up to where they're at today. Telling those sorts of stories I think are really powerful. It's why our best speakers at YF are those who've come from communist countries like Cuba or Venezuela and North Korea, and now they're here in America singing our praises.

Kelly Tshibaka: 36:03

I think those are really good practical steps. I took notes on that to share with my kids. One of the things I tell them is embrace the awkward. I said life is just a series of awkward moments separated by snacks, and the sooner you can accept that, the easier this whole adventure will be. And on that note, one of our kids is in high school and came home and said they're not saying the pledge at school and I said what do?

Gov. Scott Walker: 36:32

you mean.

Kelly Tshibaka: 36:33

And I said well, they say it over the intercom but nobody actually says it. And I said well, what are you doing about that? Cause I emphasize, this whole talk is cheap actions matter. And our kids said, well, I stand up and I put my hand on my chest and I boldly and loudly say the pledge for everybody in class. Nobody else wants to say it, so I say it for all 20 of us. And I'm like, well, that feels awkward. And the kids said, yeah, life's just a series of awkward moments separated by snacks, meaning that they care less about their reputation than they do about standing for their values.

Kelly Tshibaka: 37:06

I was really excited when, about two months later, a kid comes home and says Mom, I did it, did what? Well, today, another kid stood up in class and said the pledge. And I was like that's amazing, right, that influence is amazing. So we're super, super excited that you were with us today, governor Walker, because you don't just say it, you've actually lived it, you walk the walk and you've taken a stand and the whole nation's watched you do it. So thank you for continuing to do that for the youth of America, yaf. org, and you're welcome on our show anytime.

Gov. Scott Walker: 37:38

Thanks, great to be with you.

Kelly Tshibaka: 37:40

Good to have you here and have a wonderful rest of your week.

Niki Tshibaka: 37:43

Scott Walker. He fight for freedom.

Kelly Tshibaka: 37:45

Thank you, Former governor of Wisconsin and the leader of youth young America Foundation, YAF. org. You can support them there and we are Kelly and Niki Tshibaka on stand. You can find us at standshow. org. Welcome back to stand with Kelly and Niki Tshibaka. Today we are talking with Governor Scott Walker, former governor of Wisconsin. That was an amazing interview.

Niki Tshibaka: 38:20

What an incredible guy.

Kelly Tshibaka: 38:21

Yeah, I mean he's, he has walked the walk, I mean somebody who's taken a stand and paid the price and live for it. Yeah, but super impressed with his life and his career. I thought some of the things he said that were really interesting. Like you know, bullies only win if you're intimidated.

Kelly Tshibaka: 38:40

I think the hostility and the death threats that he's had what we would think of as like acts of violence, could all be summed up in sort of kind of like a hyper level of bullying. But I think he is absolutely right, it only works if you respond and if you actually stand down. But if you continue to hold your position and stand up and continue to speak out, advocate for what you believe, then it doesn't work, it isn't effective. And ultimately, in all these battles he was taking on as governor, he won everything from overcoming that recall to passing really significant legislation through the legislature. His super effective governor. His record was, you know, nationally reported on and known, is known in government as one of the few people who can actually get things done in government. But it was because he refused to be intimidated by all the threats and all of the aggression. I think it's really interesting. Yeah, it is.

Niki Tshibaka: 39:50

And I think I really appreciate the fact that he's now investing his life in the next generation of Americans. And I mean, I remember when I was interning in DC back in college, going to the Young America Foundation event myself, and it was the first time I think I'd seen Dinesh D'Souza speak in public and to hear his ideas and be able to ask questions.

Niki Tshibaka: 40:14

It was a really inspiring moment for me and I can only imagine what these youth are experiencing getting to go to conferences and conventions and hear from all these thinkers across, across ethnicities and backgrounds, but who have shared values and beliefs and convictions that aren't really being promoted or celebrated and I know it is celebrated in our mainstream culture today and yet are the foundation for how we came to be the country that we are. To your point about the standing up to bullies, I think all of us, at some point in our lives, have had to deal with a bully or multiple bullies, and the lesson that you learn is the more you cower to a bully, the more you strain to bully you. And even if you stand up to the bully and they end up really hurting you in the process, there is something that's done to you on the inside in terms of that, an inner strength that you realize you have, that you didn't know before you took that stand. I'm thinking of just moments in my own childhood being bullied for my race and how important it was to take a stand for my own dignity right, but also not to come to a point where I was hating the person who was bullying me, instead trying to build a bridge with them, which is what my parents taught me, and that's the other way to deal with bullies, too. I was surprised that, with a number of bullies in my life, I was able to build those bridges. I wish we could find a way to do that now.

Kelly Tshibaka: 42:07

I think there are some people who are doing that. That goes back, you know a lot of leaders will reference Lincoln and he did that intentionally in his cabinet.

Kelly Tshibaka: 42:15

That team of rivals that he brought together, and so there is still some of that that's happening. But that has to be a two way street. I thought that the Governor Walker's prescription for how to stand I thought was really interesting. The ask questions and be optimistic, those are two things I think are a little bit more rare in our modern culture. There's sort of a presumption of knowledge, like I already know everything, so I don't need to inquire, ask, or the other person already knows everything, so I don't have a right to ask. And asking questions I think is important as well as not assuming the worst or thinking it's all hopeless or despairing but you still can make a difference or do something.

Kelly Tshibaka: 43:02

Reminds me of that story from my dad getting called into a parent teacher conference. When I was in elementary school my parents were summoned. This did happen here in Anchorage. I'm apparently I wasn't the best student in class and the reason that the teacher wanted to talk to my parents was because I was challenging authority a lot. I was just asking a lot of questions and she didn't appreciate it and I guess that really made my dad mad. And so you know my dad, and he pounded the table really hard and said in his super gruff Alaska dad voice. Good that she's doing what I told her to do. She's supposed to challenge authority and he walked out of the parent teacher conference.

Niki Tshibaka: 43:45

Well, that's consistent with the history of our country, right? These are people, are founders, are people who challenged the story.

Kelly Tshibaka: 43:50

Right when they got home and I said I was a little nervous, you know, I thought I was doing it at school. Hey, how did the parent, teacher, comrades go? I went great kid, keep it up. Okay. So I was always encouraged at home to ask a lot of questions and poke holes in the arguments of the people over me and also to if I can't get into the front door, don't get through the side doors, don't get into the back door.

Kelly Tshibaka: 44:16

You know, as governor Walker was saying, be optimistic. Well, if you can't get it done this way, then you can get it done another way. You and I've talked about this. It's kind of like the practice of law. There's a million red light attorneys out there. No, no, no, no, no. I don't even understand why those people get paid. That's so easy to say, but it's rare to find a green light attorney, an attorney who will stay optimistic and find a way to work around an obstacle to get something done. And that's what I see governor Walker saying is how can we find solutions? How can we find a workable path? What are the other facts or data that I need to know? What are the questions I need to ask? What do I not understand already. From the other side, or another perspective, I thought those were really good practical solutions for how to take a stand for someone who's not used to it. To your point, ask a bully, a question is kind of a form of resistance, and when you start to resist you'll be surprised how quickly they flee. Yeah.

Niki Tshibaka: 45:18

I think, not just being willing to ask questions, but also willing to answer questions, and he highlighted that with when he was talking about folks like Ben Shapiro and others who are going to college campuses and spending at least half the time just answering questions, right, Not being afraid of that Exactly.

Niki Tshibaka: 45:38

We have to be willing to. I think it's part of what's necessary for a dialogue you have to be willing to engage. You have to be willing to engage, you have to be willing to answer for yourself, your convictions, your views, your beliefs, in a way that's respectful and honoring, and if the other side doesn't respond in kind, that's where we take our stand. We continue to stand for what we believe, optimistically, like he said, but firmly and not backing down. I think a lot of people become bystanders instead of standouts, so to speak, because of the kind of intimidation that we're seeing these days, and it's really unfortunate. Our founders refused to be intimidated by tyrannical monarch and we have a consistent history in this country of the biggest developments that we've seen. The most positive changes were by people who were willing, like Governor Wauker just said, to be positive, to paint a positive vision of the future and to go relentlessly for it, whether it was Reagan, communism, martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights Movement, abraham Lincoln and the Civil War I mean you could go on and on.

Kelly Tshibaka: 46:56

Something he mentioned sort of indirectly, but I think it's important to draw out, is he would have had a hard time doing what he did had he not had a community of supporters around him, the people who encouraged him, the people who prayed for him, their friends and community. And I think that's another important way to stand. If you're not the person at the podium or the person on TV or the guy in the Governor's Mansion, just that person who came up and told him I'm praying for you and your wife every day. He said that got them through a really pivotal time. I think that that's an important part for us to take away. That standing means doing so in community.

Kelly Tshibaka: 47:42

It's really hard to stand out there alone, but to do that together, I think, is really important. It's like you've been saying stand as a community of people, and that's one of the things we're trying to create together online, through social media and on the YouTube pages. Who do you know who else is out there going through stuff that you're not having to go through this alone, because we're not actually in this alone. There's a lot of people going through the same battles, the same questions, etc. But when you are together and running these ideas past each other. It's a lot easier.

Niki Tshibaka: 48:16

And he also made the great point that not everybody has to stand in the same way. I thought that was important. Some of us are called to be political leaders. Others are called to be the people who support those political leaders or who pray for them and whatnot. So very great like practical advice, positive counsel and inspiring wisdom from Governor Scott Walker and his role at Young America Foundation.

Kelly Tshibaka: 48:41

Well, I need total forerunner. So he took on these battles like a decade ago as governor that we're now seeing sweep the nation Like. He passed a landmark voting rights law just simple, bring your voter ID when you come vote. And that got challenged as unconstitutional. But it actually was upheld by the state Supreme Court, upheld in federal court. The US Supreme Court denied search. So ultimately his law was upheld. But now this has become an issue across the United States Are you allowed to bring voter ID or not? And this is something that Scott Walker pioneered as governor. So pioneering standing, pioneering voting rights or election integrity, pioneering, overcoming governor recalls. I think that it was a great conversation with somebody who's pioneered how to stand. So you can find us at standshow. org, follow us on YouTube at the stand show and, of course, we're on social media. Under Kelly for Alaska, this has been another episode of the stand show. This is where cowardice comes to die, and you can catch another great episode of the stand show next week.

Niki Tshibaka: 49:54

Stand firm and stand strong everyone.

Kelly Tshibaka: 49:57

We'll catch you next week.