Build Something Media Podcast
The Build Something Media Podcast is an insightful show hosted by Justin Bethune, with Chris Moreland at the helm as the producer. This podcast is full of stories of innovation, creativity, and the entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in unexpected places. Justin and Chris take listeners on a journey through engaging conversations with guests who are building something extraordinary out of their passions and the efforts necessary to sustain them.
From in-depth discussions with creative minds in the worlds of real estate, technology, design, and beyond, to explorations of the challenges and triumphs encountered when forging one’s path, the Build Something Media Podcast is all about the art of creation and transformation.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned industry professional, or simply someone fascinated by the stories of people making a significant impact in their communities and industries, this podcast offers a blend of inspiration, practical advice, and entertainment.
With a focus on authenticity and storytelling, Justin and Chris create a welcoming space for their guests to share personal anecdotes, professional insights, and valuable lessons learned along the way.
Each episode is designed to motivate, educate, and perhaps most importantly, remind us all of the power of building something meaningful. Join the Build Something Media Podcast for a refreshing take on what it means to chase your dreams and make a tangible impact in the world.
Build Something Media Podcast
Jack Allen: From Community Banker to Congressional Candidate
Join us in this episode of the Build Something Media Podcast as we sit down with Jack Allen, a Congressional candidate with a compelling background in finance and a fervent desire to change the political landscape. Jack opens up about his journey from a modest upbringing to becoming the president of a community bank, the personal tragedies that led him to retire, and the frustrations with the political status quo that inspired him to enter the political arena. His story is one of resilience, adaptability, and a commitment to proactive problem-solving.
Our conversation delves into the complexities of budget adjustments, the importance of intergenerational dialogue, and the need for long-term solutions over short-term fixes. Drawing from Jack’s decades of experience in accounting and banking, we explore the value of involving both younger and older generations in decision-making. Real-world examples, such as the historical inflation during the Carter administration, provide a lens through which we discuss current economic hardships. We then transition to the intricate topic of immigration, exploring the recent border shutdown announcement and its implications on the workforce and job availability.
The discussion doesn't stop there. We tackle the critical issue of healthcare reform, highlighting the pressing need for bipartisan cooperation. Jack and I share personal experiences with the healthcare system, discussing the impact of the Affordable Care Act and the specific challenges faced in Tennessee due to the failure to expand Medicare. Ending on a hopeful note, we underscore the necessity of open communication, collaboration, and unity in political and social campaigns. Join us for an episode filled with insightful conversations, real-world examples, and a shared vision for a better future.
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www.buildsomethingmedia.com/podcast
So here's to the dreamers, the builders, the fighters, the leaders, the people in the trenches. Y'all are tired. I promise I am too. Your words have been more true. Nice to be at all that time. Welcome to the Build Something Media Podcast. Your host is Justin Bethune. Welcome to the Build Something Media Podcast. My name is Chris and today I am joined by Congressional Candidate Jack Allen. Hello, jack.
Speaker 2:Hey, thanks for letting me be here. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:Thanks, man. It was a couple of days ago. I got a phone call, cold call.
Speaker 2:Cold call I do 100 a day.
Speaker 1:That's right, and I just happened to pick it up. It was kind of a random thing. I said, oh, it's a local number. It up congressional candidate on the phone and I have to say I probably grilled you a little bit you grilled me a lot and then we became best friends.
Speaker 1:That's right. And then I invited you on the podcast and and figured uh, you know, take the opportunity to ask some questions and help, help people get to know who you are. Yes, yeah, so, uh, let's, let's jump into it. Uh, obviously, um, you know I've looked at your resume that you have a background in finance. Is that correct? I was president of a bank yep and um, and so you've been retired for a few years, a few years and three or four years um, and so now don't have to do this.
Speaker 1:Like we were saying before you came here, you don't have to do this, but you've decided to throw your hat into the political arena. Uh, you want to give us kind of an overview of how that decision came?
Speaker 2:let me make it as quick as I can because it's a long story. But I left banking and let me tell you, I lived the Cinderella life. I really did. I grew up 20 miles down the road in a two bedroom house with six of us and I was fortunate enough to go to Berry College when I could work my way through school and I majored in accounting. I thought I was going to be an accountant and I fell into the banking business. But along the way I was a chicken catcher, I was a hay hauler, I worked in the Carp Mills of Dalton, I worked in the chemical plants in Kensington, I was an automobile mechanic for two years. I've worked construction. I can lay tile, I can hang sheetrock. I've done it all along the way and, fortunate enough, to wind up being president of a great community bank in Athens, Tennessee, Married a young lady from Appleton, Tennessee, had a great life and at some point the board decided it was time to do something different.
Speaker 2:So we actually sold the bank and I retired. Sadly, my wife had ovarian cancer at the same time and she passed away. So I wake up one day and everything I thought I was going to do is gone my banking career and my family. I still have a daughter, but she's raised, she's grown, she's on her own. And so I started doing those things. I went back. I worked construction for a while because I like construction. I did a little bank consulting.
Speaker 2:But every day I would wake up and I would look at Washington and I would look at Congress and listen, I'm like you. I got up every day for 40 years and went to work and worked on problems and they're not doing it. They're just kind of doing distractions let's impeach somebody but the real problems of the country are not being addressed. And I kept complaining about it. And I complained and I talked to my friends and this very close friend of mine looked at me one day and they said you know, you're talking a lot but you're not doing anything about it. Why don't you do something? Why don't you do something? And then I said, well, what should I do? And so I started talking to some friends. I said, well, what should I do? And so I started talking to some friends.
Speaker 2:We determined that this congressional race was wide open 730,000 people in this district and nobody's running other than Mr Fleshman. And so the more I looked at it, I thought, you know, this would be a great time to step out there and give a little different perspective of what's going on. And in a democracy this is a democracy it needs to have other people should be involved. It should be at least a two-party race, or at least two people in it, shouldn't it? But anyway, did I tell you too much? I'm okay now. Oh, no, you're good, You're good, I'm listening to what you have to say.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, there's a million different ways we could, we could, we can branch off of there, you know, and, and so it was there. Was there a point, uh, at which you said, uh, or a point or a policy or or an event or something, that kind of that, where you said, okay, I have to kind of take this step now?
Speaker 2:You really want to know the truth? Yeah, all right, I hate to even tell you, but I'm at the point in my life I don't have a job and I'm not married and I'm trying to figure out where to go with my life. And a friend of mine lives down in Florida. A bunch of old guys down there and he said why don't you come down here? You ought to move down here. So I said, well, I'll go down there and I'll look at some houses.
Speaker 2:And I went down to Florida and I talked to a lot of people and sit around and there were so many people down there and I hate to say it this way, but they were, they were complaining about things, but they really weren't doing anything about it. And I said I, I don't think I'm this guy, I don't think I can go down there and play golf every day. So I came back to Chattanooga and uh, and it was at that point I thought what could I do to make the country a better place At my point in my life? And I told you I don't need a job, but I worry about you, I worry about grandchildren If we don't take control of the situation. People, I mean. Listen, it's been almost 30 years since anybody's really done anything productive. In 2001, we balanced the budget. Hadn't happened since. I mean $34 trillion in debt and nobody talks about it. Does that not bother you?
Speaker 1:Oh, it definitely bothers me.
Speaker 2:It bothers me every day.
Speaker 1:The question is I guess you know what is it now 30% of the total GDP that we have to spend like deficits?
Speaker 2:spending every year yes, yes and that's insanity.
Speaker 1:How is that sustainable?
Speaker 2:long term it's not. I mean, we are close to where it's not. And you know, I majored in accounting and so I'm a numbers guy and that's really how this got started was because I kept looking at it and saying this isn't going to work. But do you ever hear me up there talking about it?
Speaker 1:I know it's political taboo to talk about it.
Speaker 2:It's political taboo. So you need somebody like me who has I mean, if I don't get reelected, because I tell the truth, well, there it is, and that's another thing is one of the reasons these guys don't do what, and I'm going to defend them just a little bit. You know congressional two years, so as soon as you get elected or reelected, you're running again, yep. So what are you going to do? You're going to not do anything controversial. You don't want to do anything. That's going to make people mad and you're going to try to raise money, and that's what you do. And so that's why Congress does things like you know, like last year, I think, almost half of their legislation was naming post offices. I'm serious.
Speaker 1:I know, I believe you.
Speaker 2:And, like I said, I'm kind of halfway defending them, because they're sitting there saying well, if I tackle this debt or if I tackle gun safety, or if I tackle border, somebody's not going to like it, like it right, and it might cost me my job and it's, it's, you know well, and now what we're seeing, with um kind of runaway inflation, right when what people don't realize is, when you start spending more than you can afford, um the and you have to print money, you have to double, double the quantity of money in the money supply.
Speaker 1:You're essentially adding a tax on the dollar after the fact Exactly. Who was it? Milton Friedman.
Speaker 2:Too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. Right Economy 101. That's it, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, I think that we're kind of at a point where we're going to have to reckon with that in a real way, and doing that takes courage.
Speaker 2:And that's why I'm doing this and listen if I don't get elected, but I make people think I would have done my job. We need to know we've got to make tough calls here and it's not going to feel good, it's going to be painful. We're going to have to adjust taxes. Don't ever say raise no, but seriously, we're going to have to adjust the tax. But before we do that, we're going to have to curtail spending, because if you're going to tell people they might have to pay a little bit more taxes, you're going to have to look them in the eye and say but you know what? Every dollar that we're using, we're using.
Speaker 1:Tell them why. You know, newt Gingrich, there's going to have to be value behind those dollars. Newt Gingrich, bill.
Speaker 2:Clinton. Those guys didn't even like each other, but they got in a room together. They figured it out. That's what's going to happen. We got to find people who are bold enough to figure it out.
Speaker 1:Well, I think an even better example and I don't know if Justin would like this example very much, but it's Jimmy Carter. I think Jimmy Carter made some courageous decisions that kind of saved the American economy that he doesn't get any credit for, no, but they were necessary and they were bold and they ultimately saved a lot of people, a lot of grief in the long term. Now I think I disagree with the taxation part. In terms of raising taxes, I don't necessarily, I didn't say raise.
Speaker 2:You didn't say raise. I did not say raise taxes, I said slight adjustments, semantics. Well, you don't adjust until you work. You've got to work this side first. You've got to work this side first and then, when you work this side and you've done all you can, then you might listen so.
Speaker 1:so then let's look at the. I guess the next question is where did those adjustments get made on on the front end? Where are the column cuts or adjustments or whatever? But ultimately there are things that get money that you have to take money away from, and so what does that look like? Where would you start trying to start those conversations?
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's, it's now you're asking me the hard questions. Yeah, so I got to. I got to get my head into it, but I'm going to. But I'm an accountant, right, that's what I did for a living. I balanced budgets for 40 years and so I got it. You know, do I know the answers now? No, but would I know them? Yeah, I mean, but I got to get my head into it. I mean, for instance, we keep talking about Social Security. We talk about does anybody want to talk about that?
Speaker 1:No, I do. You do, I do because yeah, I do, but I'm a very strange person sometimes.
Speaker 2:But you know and listen, we have a lot of smart people in this country that we got to get their head into it and help us. You know, my job is really and I told you in the beginning I said I majored in accounting, I was a banker, but I'm a salesperson. That's really what I am. So you're going to have the smartest people and this is what I did in my banking history. I surrounded myself with the smartest people I could find and I let them figure out how we needed to do it, and then I sold it.
Speaker 1:Now, so I guess my next question is a little bit of an oddball. Okay, a lot of politicians say that that's true. A lot of politicians say that They'll surround themselves with the smartest people. I guess what defines a smart person? Well, you know I know that's a real difficult question.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. Let me give you an example. I met this morning, had coffee with an attorney, and he looked me in the eye and he said and when I go and I tell people all the time this is my, this is my campaign, first off, you've got to be there, you've got to show up. I go to the folks, you have to listen and you have to be respectful. Now I sat down with an attorney this morning who I cold called, just like you, and he didn't like everything I had to say and I said, well, hey, let's have a cup of coffee.
Speaker 2:And we spent an hour and a half today and he gave me four or five things that he said are you thinking about these things? I said well, I'm kind of thinking about it. He said you need to think more of them because he's a 30-something. These are the things that matter to him. It's guys like him that I would pull into our group. I've got three people working for me now that none of them are 30 years old. The way they see the world is a lot different than the way I see it, but I have to listen to them because this is their world now. It's not mine, you know. I would have.
Speaker 1:Well, let me back up. I'm going to disagree with that. Okay, I have a teenager. Okay, and I love him, and he's a brilliant person for a teenager, right? Okay, somebody under 30, I know what it's like to be under 30. Right, I was not as capable or as knowledgeable as I am now at 38. And that's just a matter of fact.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I did grow up with technology and so I do have there. There was a transition point that I think that that maybe you missed as as as part of your generation, but the the transition point like when I, since I was a kid, I've been in this, so it's, I'm gonna. I'm gonna disagree because I understand a lot of the consequences of the decisions of technology. Use better than a 20 something would at any day of the week and I would argue that with anyone and probably do it successfully. So I think that removing other voices like yours, people from your generation, who are?
Speaker 1:still very much voters and who still very much have opinions and who still very much don't necessarily respect or agree with the opinions of a 20-something. That I think that's disrespectful, almost.
Speaker 2:Well, and look, we're not removing them. I'm just saying we're listening to them, but you still got to have granddad out there who's lived through it. And let me give you an example. Sure, this inflation thing is horrible. It's horrible. But you know what? I had a house one time at 18%.
Speaker 2:Remember, you're not old enough to remember the crazy interest rates I was with Carter. Yeah, yeah, I had a house at 18% it took me almost 10, and we had inflation through the roof. I mean, this inflation was nothing like what we had. It took me 10 years to recover from that, to finally get myself back on.
Speaker 2:We're in a similar situation now, but what young people need is people who've lived through it before, and the reason you know, I grew up listening to the World War II generation and those folks and all the hardships. You know we're in a hardship time now and so you need some people with some maturity to say look, but we've got to stay focused and we've got to fix it one piece at a time, and that's everything I look at is a long-term fix, it's not a short-term fix. And I think the problem we have now is I call it the microwave world. You want to fix the border? Hey, build a wall. You want to fix guns? Take them all away. I mean, none of it's a quick fix, it's a 10-year fix, but it's not going to be fixed unless you recognize it, you talk about it and you work together to fix it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've mentioned the border a couple of times. Let's talk about, kind of your position on that. You know, and it's just a complex situation. There's a lot happening and moving pieces and you have the issues with folks coming from South America, from Mexico, from Central America. Now there's a growing concern that there's a lot of immigrants who are coming from China as well. What are your thoughts on that? Well, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:I was sitting in the car. I was almost late because I was listening to the president. He just announced that he's shutting the border down after all this time. But here's the thing we're all immigrants, every one of us, everybody's sitting here. We're all immigrants, every one of us, everybody sitting here. We're all immigrants. Our birth rate in this country is 1.6%. We're not replacing ourselves. We need probably at least a couple million people to come into this a year in this country to keep the lights on. I mean, it's important that we get people in this country. It's important that we get people in this country.
Speaker 2:The problem is is in the last 30 years, it's become political and nobody has addressed an immigration system that works. And so I'm hoping you know President Biden was bold enough to you know he's slowing it down. You've got to slow it down. You know, I had a guy who owns a construction company. He came to me and he said would you do me a favor? I said what he said go down to the border, sort people out, give them a Social Security card and a work visa and tell them come back in five years and you could be a citizen. He said I can't find people to work, and so it's a double-edged sword. You know you like to say, oh, immigration's bad and all these people flooding across the border, but didn't this construction guy over here? He can't find people to work.
Speaker 1:I'd ask him what his pay rate is.
Speaker 2:No, he's no.
Speaker 1:No, no, I mean, that's an honest question. What are you paying people? And is the reason that you're hiring the folks who are coming over the border because you can pay them a lot less?
Speaker 2:I think he's hiring them because it's the only people In fact. I had a roof put on my house. I knew the contractor and everybody that was working on my roof you could tell wasn't born here and I looked at him and I said what's the story? And he said these are the best workers I've ever found. And I went out and talked to them, fed them some lunch. You know they were as happy as they could be, but they're happy to work. You know, and this is, let me say this, and this is go ahead.
Speaker 1:Well, my next question would be if we have laws, should we enforce them? Then yes, okay, so if someone enters the country illegally, that's what's happening, right now, that's my question. If they're already here illegally as well, what happens then? I'm not suggesting any sort of fix. I'm just asking you because you're running for Congress, don't you expect a?
Speaker 2:fix. Nobody had one in 30 years, but I should have it. No, no, no, hang on.
Speaker 1:There was one under President Obama. President Obama did have the in-place I don't remember exactly what it's called in Mexico, where people stayed in Mexico while they were seeking their visa. All right, and that worked, and the number of people crossing over the border was significant, like 30x less, but do you know why? Why? Because it was more difficult to get into the country.
Speaker 2:No, I'll tell you exactly why. And go back and look at the numbers. You got Obama and Biden right. Sure, lowest number of crossings. Now you got Biden biggest number of crossings Same guy. What's going on If you go back to the Obama years, do you remember the big, big, big depression we went through for five years In 08.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you remember that, yes.
Speaker 2:No jobs, they're not coming. Guess what's happening now? Jobs everywhere. So it has nothing to do with it, it's all supply and demand. Everything is supply and demand. It has nothing to do with it, it's all supply and demand. Everything is supply and demand. There is demand and if there's demand, they're coming. And I mean you just look at the numbers.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, at that point in time, there was also border enforcement.
Speaker 2:But if there had been jobs, they'd have flooded over it.
Speaker 1:But also there was border enforcement, and that hasn't been happening until now. I'm not giving the president his—I'm not anti-Joe Biden. I'm not anti—I'm as independent as anybody can be. I'm just telling you, if there are jobs and I'm over here saying get over here, we got you a job people are coming, and so my question I guess next would be if you have American citizens who are saying, hey, now I get paid less because we're letting those folks come in, what do you say to those people?
Speaker 2:Well, I hadn't even said it to me. I mean, there are jobs out there.
Speaker 1:If you talk to blue-collar workers, I bet you could get a few. Yeah, what do you think, justin, as a person who employs blue-collar workers?
Speaker 3:Do you all really want my opinion on this? Yeah, tell us what you think. No, listen the person who employs blue collar workers.
Speaker 2:Do y'all really want my opinion on this? Okay, tell us what you think. No, listen, this is a 30-year problem. Yeah, I don't know the answer, but I do listen and I want an answer.
Speaker 3:I think a lot, a lot of, and a lot of people don't want to address it or hear it is, uh, lack of work ethic in american society. It really is, because I'm a contractor and I have several crews and my roofing crews that I sub out to are all Hispanic. You are not going to find very many crews of American born roofers and those guys make more money than my guys that make $25 an hour because they get paid by the job. They want to get paid by the job and they get it done. They will roof this house. They did. They roofed this house in a day.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm so glad, I'm just playing the contrarian.
Speaker 2:No, I'm so glad you told that story because I was going to tell it but I didn't. But when they roofed my house, let me tell you. They showed up at 6 o'clock in the morning. They ate lunch on the roof. Exactly, they ate lunch on the roof. One of the guys had a bad cut on his hand from cutting things and I looked at him and I said we need to get you to the hospital to get some stitches. You know what he did? He put duct tape on his hand and his supervisor said he's not leaving because he's not going to lose an hour's work. And at 6 o'clock in the evening they were done. Now, thank you for saying that, because there is a work ethic.
Speaker 1:Oh, there's no doubt. There's no doubt about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because when you go back to talking about you know, Chris, you were saying like how much are you paying? It doesn't matter, You're paying people hourly Just.
Speaker 1:You were saying like, how much are you paying, it doesn't matter, Um, you're paying people hourly just because, you're paying more hourly, it doesn't mean they're going to get more done in that hour, but you're more likely but you are more likely to find someone who, if you're paying a higher wage, you are more likely to find someone who will do that work at that higher level for that.
Speaker 3:But in construction, nine times out of 10, you're going to get the best labor by paying by the job and letting those guys run themselves independently. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 3:I've I've had more success with Hispanic crews than I have with American. Quote unquote.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, they understand and and and understand that I'm saying I'm not saying I'm not disagreeing with any of that. I'm not disagreeing with any of that. Um, I'm looking at it through the political periscope, which is 10,000 miles high. Yeah 10,000 feet high, and so when you're looking at it that way, it's very different than when you hear this story here.
Speaker 2:Right, you know.
Speaker 1:Right. But also you hear the story about your guy who, when you had to hire a second crew, who's worried that he's going to lose his job because maybe he's not as fast as the other guy. Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah and that's, and so you try to take care of everybody so he needs to pick up the pace yeah
Speaker 3:that's right that's the idea, but then my taxes on everything are so high I've got to go with the shooting.
Speaker 2:I'm just kidding let me tell you what I think the the biggest challenge we have as a country is sure, let's hear it and I talk to people all the time you think about this.
Speaker 2:Everybody, or not everybody, almost everybody, including my ancestors, your ancestors, we all came here for a better life and we all knew that we're going to have to work for it. Yes, I don't care whether it's my crowd from your crowd, the guys coming across the board, the Chinese that built a railroad 100% Everybody. Now, what is the genetic makeup of somebody who will cross the ocean to come work? Not everybody does it, so we're a pretty aggressive bunch of folks. I mean, you look at us and then you look at Europe. They're over there drinking. Well, I shouldn't say that, but it's a different lifestyle. It is Not here. Look at it.
Speaker 2:You guys probably got you're probably going to work until 8 o'clock tonight. I mean you guys going to do this. Oh, I wish you guys going to do that? Oh, I wish no no, no no, I mean, it's like. It's like me. I'm at the point in my life where I ought to be out on the golf course. I don't want to play golf, I want to keep going. It's our genetic makeup, so so that's the beauty of it, but the problem is is herding everybody together.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's the issue. Oh for sure. I mean, when you, when you start, um, when cultures converge, especially in mass, then you tend to end up with some turbulence as a result of it. And don't take this as me being anti-immigration I am not. Some of the hardest working people I know in the world are immigrants and they deserve everything that they have. No doubt I just have to play the devil's advocate because that's who I am.
Speaker 2:I was speaking to a group of people who are US citizens, but they all immigrated. I was chatting with them and I said here's the deal, guys I can go to China, but I can never be Chinese. I can go to Japan, but I can never be Japanese. But I can come to America and I can be un-American. And those folks out there smiled. I said you are Americans, that. And those folks out there smile. I said you are Americans, that's the most important thing you are. That's your first label.
Speaker 1:Now, what does it mean to be American?
Speaker 2:Well, it means you get up and you go to work every day and you pay your taxes and you obey the laws and you have the right, just like I did. See now, I worked two jobs for 13 years when I was younger. I've worked two jobs for 13 years. You have the right to make it. You have that opportunity to make it. And you talk about those Chinese guys, all these people crossing the border.
Speaker 2:I was listening to a podcast and they tracked a Chinese guy down and his daughter who crossed the border, and they tracked him down. He was in San Francisco and I said okay, tell us the story. He said my family owns some apartments in China. He said we were pretty well-to-do people and he said one day the government came in and they said we need this land because we're going to build a factory. And he says well, what do we get out of? It? Said nothing, you're gone. And he said we were well enough off that we had passports. He said my daughter and I took our passports and we flew to central america and we paid to come up. That horrible trip to come across the border went to San Francisco and he's delivering packages in San Francisco, living in a small little whatever. But he said I would rather be in this country delivering packages, knowing that if I deliver enough packages I can keep it back in China where I may work myself my entire life, and the government come along, take it away from me.
Speaker 1:Hey, justin, I think Jack may have just made the argument for your Airbnb thing that we were talking about earlier. Um, where so?
Speaker 3:that it could be worse.
Speaker 1:Yes, that it, that it could be worse than that, that there is a slippery slope that you kind of that, you always kind of ride when you you start dealing with any form of government.
Speaker 2:But yeah, no, we won't go into that. But we're sitting here talking about immigrants. We're all immigrants, we're all immigrants, sort of Sort of Sort of Most of me.
Speaker 1:I understand that argument from at least the level of a story. Everybody has an origin, sure, and they're not. All the same, I think there is a security piece that we run into when you don't have the necessary checks in place. Well, that's why we have the systems in place, and I'm not disagreeing that maybe the systems should be expedited or maybe we should give more resources to those systems, but I'm saying that they're in place to protect the people already here from potential threats.
Speaker 2:We're in total agreement on that. I mean, that's 30 years of neglect, really.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, because you know, like I said, for every 10 people that there are that are really great human beings coming across that that border. Maybe there's one that's bad, but if you have 10 million, you know that's a lot of people who are bad. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Small number times a big number is a big number. That's right, that's right, and so it's. It's again, it's. How do you, how do you necessarily measure the between the compassionate, the, between the the compassionate part, which is important, and the and the security part, which is equally?
Speaker 2:important. That's what I hope is happening today.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, me too. Before you go, let's go into a five minutes. Justin said he had five minutes to talk about healthcare before he has to leave and he does. He does switch. We'll have to do this again sometime before before, before, before you get back to uh, before the election uh is over, um, but um, let's talk about healthcare. Uh, just kind of an overview of where you stand, what you're trying to accomplish, and no, we talked about, uh, the financial portion of it and and the uh national debt. Um, healthcare, you know, adding things to that would make that difficult. Um, healthcare, adding things to that would make that difficult. Taking things away from that would be difficult in the current state.
Speaker 2:And so that's a really big can of worms there that we have to look at. It is, and I don't even know where to start. I spent six years on the hospital board of a small hospital, so I understand the challenges in a hospital. I spent four and a half years as a caregiver for my wife who had cancer. I understand the challenges of a patient. The system does not work really well. That's why we have two doctors who are on our campaign that are working on healthcare issues.
Speaker 2:Healthcare reform I mean nobody wants to talk about it and I'm sure not going to talk about it. But long term there probably has to be some sort of a national safety net, like every other country, every other civilized country in the world. But, like I said, our situation is we're so far gone now with the system that we've got. It's got to be fine-tuned. I don't know the answers. I know that the president has tried to limit prices on certain drugs. I don't know if I told you, but I'm the caregiver for my mother-in-law. My wife was an only child. The reason I'm in Chattanooga is because I'm taking care of my mother-in-law. I've been keeping up with her, or taking care of her for 10 years. I got a call yesterday about a new drug that she might need. Now she's 91 years old and the co-pay was $350. And I said I need to know more about this drug Now. They hadn't called me back yet. But I don't understand it. Healthcare is a problem and the answers?
Speaker 1:I got a book for you. I think you might like that, particularly with the current policy that we we have in place with um, the affordable care act, how it was kind of built and structured and the legislation itself was formed. Um, it was written by one of the I think it was a was Washington Post columnist who was there in all of the committee meetings and all that stuff as the legislation was formed and kind of walks through how much influence all these independent pieces had on structuring that legislation. So it's kind of a Frankenstein, oh yeah, in terms of how it works, because it didn't actually do anything to help people like you when you're dealing with your wife. I'm sure you had to deal with the insurances and be on phone calls with people trying to get things paid for. Well, it did.
Speaker 2:It did because she couldn't be canceled, right.
Speaker 1:I mean that was big.
Speaker 2:I mean, I probably wouldn't be sitting here today had I been canceled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I was that's big.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, she was in a an individual plan like that, so that was huge.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I'm not saying that the Affordable Care Act was entirely bad. I'm saying that the way that it was piecemealed made it functionally and structurally difficult to navigate. And that was by design, because if they were getting the individual mandate they would— I imagine the, not imagine if you read the read the legislation the insurance companies made it difficult.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:To make the claims, yeah, and so, as a result, they have fewer claims, and so it kind of made up some of them.
Speaker 2:It's clever is what it is. Listen, I understand it all. I mean, like I said, I understand from both sides. Yeah, back to healthcare, though, and this is something that the state should do. We're only one of 10 states that did not expand Medicare. Now, listen, we've had either 16 or 17 hospitals close in Tennessee. We're the largest or the second largest, and this district that I'm in goes all the way almost to Kentucky. A lot of it is rural, and we have healthcare deserts up there, because the healthcare is the ER or the amulets or they're 45 minutes from a trauma center, and so if we had done anything right, it would have been that the state of Tennessee and everybody's looking at oh Jack, that's a liberal thing. Well, it may be, but we're only one of 10 states that didn't do it, and we got closed hospitals right and left and communities that don't have health care. I think we made a mistake there. It's not too late to correct, but that's not national, that's a state issue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the problem this is the problem that I have mostly with and, and that the state, I don't know what the, the strings that were attached to the money are, um, but I can almost guarantee you there were strings that were attached to her um, and unfortunately, there is political posturing that occurs on both sides of the aisle and, um, you know, just like for a while I believe it was california that banned certain, uh, certain things from other states that they disagreed with too, and so I mean, there's a lot of silliness like that that happens, um, when you start getting uh politics involved. And is it wrong? Yeah, it's wrong, um, it doesn't matter who's doing it, uh, so it's. We're going to end real quick here.
Speaker 1:In the last few minutes We'll talk about, uh, partisanship, uh kind of the divide. There's a large number of people in the country who are concerned about civil war. I mean, who thought that in 2024 we'd be sitting here talking about this? But you're talking. 40-something percent of people in the country think that that's a real possibility, and there's a desperate need for healing that divide and trying to build trust with the government again.
Speaker 2:I'm that guy.
Speaker 1:Tell us how that's going to happen?
Speaker 2:No, I hear you Listen. I spent my life pulling people together. When you run a community bank, you run a community. Now I was in a community that was probably 70% Republican. I live on the D side. These were all my friends. We all worked together. Listen, somebody asked me. They said if you went to Washington, would you cross the aisle? I said I would live on the other side of the aisle. My goal would be best friends with everybody, because that's how it starts, and we lost that. We lost that, those friendships.
Speaker 2:Somebody talked to me the other day and they said the more I talk to you, the more you seem like an old line Republican. Seriously, you know who? One of my models is Howard Baker. I went to Huntsville last week to pay homage to Howard. It's in our district and I went there last week and I talked to people in Huntsville and we talked about Howard. You know Howard Baker would say the other guy might be right. That was his famous thing and you may have listened to the podcast that they do, but but his deal was always listen to other people because they might just be right.
Speaker 2:We need more Howard Bakers. We need more Jack Allens, because I'm not going to listen, you're not going to make me mad. You're not going to hurt my feelings. You're going to tell me what. The guy I had breakfast with this morning. He started telling me about things. I said you know, tell me what you think. You're not going to hurt my feelings. I need to know, and so I think the most most important thing we can do is circle the wagons and quit Just quit fighting. In our campaign, you cannot use the word fight. You know how all these people say I'll fight for you, I'll fight for you. That's been outlawed. You can't use it. You can say we will work with you, we will work together, we will work as a team, but we're not fighting. The time for fighting is over.
Speaker 1:Jack Allen.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on the Build Something Media Podcast.
Speaker 2:Let's build something.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, this has been a nice conversation. We should do it again here in a little bit, after you've talked to another 18,000 people.
Speaker 3:Thank, you, Chris. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Bye. Well, I thought that went well, thank you.
