Congressman Burgess Owens on the American Dream
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Welcome, dear listeners, to Broken Potholes. I'm here today, this is Chuck Warren with my co-host Kylie Kipper. We're just going to call her Kip today. She is replacing Sam Stone, who has had a miserable red-eye back from Boston, attending a family anniversary. So we wish Sam well as he naps currently. Welcome today. Today we are honored to have with us online Congressman Burgess Owens from Utah CD4. Hello, Congressman.

Chuck, I'm doing great. Looking forward to chatting with you and Kip for sure. Thanks, my friend. So let's start this off right away with one question. What has surprised you first when you were a candidate for Congress? Is there something that happened on that path that surprised you? And two, now that you're an elected congressman, what has surprised you about being in Congress?

You know, that's a good question. And I think because it's all new, I'm just taking it all in, to be honest with you. This is something that up until two years ago, I said I would never, ever do as one for Congress or any type of politician. So it's all new to me in a sense. What...

I will say that I'm excited about being on the field of action at this time versus the sideline. And I would say also some of the things that once I'm there, it surprised me, is really how different we look at certain things.

certain basic fundamental policies that I'm now working with the Democrats. We have, for instance, the $15 per hour that the Democrats are trying to put across our country. And here in Utah, we're right to work state number one, and we're a state that truly has a lot of entrepreneurs, over 27,000, 93% are small business owners. So we know what it

what it is to to put a fork here about go to town but the employees and also what it takes to to build a business and so what the competition we're having a look at it this process that they they want to put a fifty dollar per hour uh... minimum on every state across the country in my comment to my california friends work

listen up we don't we know we're doing here in utah we were excited about growth with with a fast growing got to to bounce back but we know what it takes we don't want what you guys have in utah matter of fact many of your california for uh... uh... folks are national to utah because of this and the response to that from one of my friends uh... on the other side i was well if you go ahead and and you make it

fifty dollars across the country that people stay in california and and i mean what do you think of that uh... and so it that's the kind of that's kind of conversation were trying to make a wake away through and uh... try to help the other side of our recognize we need to support our businesses a lot of come back grow you can't do it by by doing things that only work and and and watch d_c_ well that that would have been that's a real interesting point i mean there's a book you you and i are all that remember uh... kit is not that

There was a book years ago, Men Are From Venus, Women From Mars, or vice versa, talking about how men and women just look at things differently, communicate differently. And you brought up a very good point, which I don't hear people talk about enough. There is one side in Congress, Democrats, that look at the world a completely different way than you and I and other conservatives or even moderates look at it, right? Right.

you know, moderates often, I'm not sure where, I'm interested in what the definition of a moderate is. No one's explained it to me yet, you know, but I think what moderates generally are people who like a certain tone, right? You got to be trying. I mean, I think that's where a moderate usually is, but,

We have a group on the other side, and we're both polar opposite on how we view the world. I think the COVID was a perfect example. We had one side that realized there are some chances people have to take, and you had another side and their followers who said, I need 100% guaranteed I'm going to live. Yeah. So how do you work around that in Congress and try to get things actually done that benefit society? Sure.

Well, to that point, I think COVID has been a blessing in one way. Obviously, there's a lot of stuff we're going through, but there's a contrast we now see that I think as a nation we've never really seen before. And I want to kind of, when I say this, I want to reach out to my Democratic friends and liberal friends, because they are good people on both sides of the aisle who really care about our country. They want the best for our country.

what we're seeing though if something is totally different than what we the people want but there is another side of this but this could be a good conversation if if mark is a bit social but i think it's time to really uh... take out understand that israel that if uh... it's been real for for forever it is the total total opposite of what what we believe in this country of god country family respect for women authority there's another side of this process that destroys it's all about kia

What I recognize about Marxism is that they love to hide behind good hearts. So we have people in the Democratic Party on the far, far left that does not care about our country but are willing to hide behind good people in the Democratic Party. And meanwhile, they bring misery to all of us. So what we've seen this last year is for the first time, think about this, who has ever understood our nation?

ever thought they would come to a point where somebody could tell us we cannot open our business, we can't go to school, and we can't open our church to go to church. Never have those kind of freedoms that we ever thought was at risk, but it has been at risk, and it's been a process of aggression that has been coming at us for a long time. I think what's coming out of this last year is the best thing for Americans, which we do best, and anybody else, is we communicate. We the people, once we start talking to each other across the aisle and realize we have those

whatever we have in common is what we work toward, then we just win. And I think we're going to come out of this

After the next two years, as we're seeing the contrast of dark, divisive, angry, hateful, shutting down our economy, that's what the Democratic Party now offers to American people. And we're not going to go for that. We love the light. We love opportunity. We love the dreams. We love to take risks. And the American people will automatically drift back in that direction. And we're going to see that happen in 2022. I'm very confident about that.

Congressman, this is Kip, and I have just a question to play off of that. How has the communication between the Democrat House leadership and the Biden administration been with Republican members of Congress? There's really not been a lot of communication. I think we're all seeing as a nation a divisiveness that we have not experienced before now. I think what happens

is that you now have those that are running the Democratic Party that's seeing they're literally inches away from power. And one thing about the far left, power means everything to them. And I'm speaking now from a perspective of a young man that grew up in a community that was very, very successful, even though it was a segregated community in Tallahassee in the 60s,

we we still believe that god-cultured family respective women are in a political with what our parents taught us we we are we understood that process so with with that big fit uh... uh...

What we're seeing now is the transition that went into my community in which power of the left took over and destroyed the family, destroyed the free market. We're now seeing that in our country. So unfortunately, it's going to come down to we the people. We're going to make a decision on which direction we're going to go. I would say this. The upside is that...

that Americans did something that we just have a tendency of doing the right things at the right time. We flipped 15 seats, we

We kept every single other incumbent seat so we have the closest margin ever since World War II, which basically means that those who, quote, are moderate, those who want to keep their seat on the Democratic side, they're going to have to start, they have to come back to the middle. They have to come back to working with those who want our country moving forward, having safety, having business open. If they don't do that, they're going to lose their positions. And I'll say this about my friends on the other side. They do not want to lose their seats.

So because that we came together, even though we lost the House, the Senate, and the presidency, we will have more conversations as we get closer to 2022 because of survival of Democrats who just want to make sure they're around and they have to leave that hard left to get that done. Congressman, you brought up earlier, I think one problem for politics today is

We're really not viewing people as people anymore, right? And tell us a little bit about your background. You grew up in Tallahassee. I think you went to Florida State. Tell us a little bit about that. Then also, I like you when you're done with that. Tell us, what is the difference today between just the attitude, what you see today with our current cultural versus what was happening in the 60s and 70s?

and the civil rights movements, anti-war protests. Do you see the same type of anger both times? But first, tell us a little bit about you and your family. Where did Burgess Owens come from? Okay. Chuck, I appreciate that because one of the things that I love to talk about is this great generation that came before us. That would be very, very disappointed at this point, be disheartened to see what's happened to this legacy they left us.

Because I grew up in the 60s, the days of KKK, Jim Crow, segregation, Tallahassee, Florida. My first interactions with white Americans didn't happen until I was 16 years old when I was integrating this high school. So 16 years old, 16 years old was the first time you were meeting and talking with white people. Exactly.

Exactly. And then it wasn't a very positive experience, because we were trying to figure out how these cultures could come together. And here's my point about our great country. First of all, we are a nation, because of our Judeo-Christian values, that do the best that anyone in the history of mankind have looked at each other and thought out,

Not that we've done it perfectly, but we've continued to progress and continue to grow. And the one thing about that time that I was growing up in the Deep South is even though we were not assimilating as a country, not only the blacks, but Italians, Jews, we all had our separate cultures and communities because we were not assimilating. But here's the one thing we had in common.

We loved our country. We believed in meritocracy. We had parents and dads who came back from World War II, and we just loved seeing that flag flow, and we loved, again, the concept of what America is all about. And the other thing is even though it wasn't perfect, it never will be, we had belief that if we follow the tenets that make our country great, that we can succeed. And my community was just like the other ones. We did not demand.

demand respect or ask for it, we commanded it by winning. It's meritocracy. And so we were very, very competitive. As a matter of fact, the most competitive race in our nation at that time. I would compare it to the way, the respect we have for Asian communities today, the Nigerian community. We see people who come here and they just work hard and they make things happen. That's who we were. In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, the black community led our country to growth in the middle class, then matriculated for college,

men committed to marriage in a percentage of entrepreneurs. And that 40% of entrepreneurs in our communities across our country equated to 50% to 60% of black Americans being part of the middle class. And if you can see the fact that the money stayed in that community, the leadership stayed there, the dreams, the commitment, the expectation for our kids stayed in that community. That's why we had so much success. And that's why I could leave.

I could leave Tallahassee, go to University of Miami. I was the third black to get a scholarship there. I left there wanting to be a marine biologist. Why? Because I was raised in a community that education was everything. And not only did my parents expect me to succeed in that arena, but my expectation was I didn't want to let my community down. I didn't want to let my family down. I didn't want to let my race down. That was the way we saw ourselves in those years. Sadly, we've lost that.

And we've lost that not because of white supremacists. We've lost it because of black elitists, people among us. Congressman, we're going to take a quick break here. Then I want to get back to that and talk about a little bit about your siblings. And do you still want to be a marine biologist when you grow up? So we'll be right back. This is Broken Potholes with Kip and Chuck. Thanks a million. It's the new year and time for a new you. You've thought about running for political office, but don't know where to start.

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Welcome back to Broken Potholes. We're with the irrepressible Kip, and I am Chuck Warren, and today we're with an honor to have with us a Congressman Burgess Owens, a member of Congress from Utah's Congressional District 4, one of the members of Congress this past cycle that defeated an incumbent Democrat. It was a nail-biter. It took a

Congressman, how many days did it take until they finally declared you the winner? Gosh, it took about two and a half weeks. I remember I kept talking to your staff, what's the news today? And they go, what do you know? I said, I don't know anything. What do you know? So, yeah, so let's go back a little bit more and talk about growing up in Tallahassee. I'm actually heading out to Tallahassee later this week for some meetings. But tell people a little bit more about Tallahassee, growing up there, about your family, about your mom, your family.

And do you still long to... Do you like the ocean still? I mean, that's an interesting decision by a boy in Tallahassee saying, I want to become a marine biologist. So let's talk about it a little bit. Well, first of all, I do want to share some thoughts about my parents, because they were a remarkable generation. But one of the things that we were taught...

uh... is that what the white horse couldn't be that's when you you really hunkered down in nation to the wrong and i want things that uh... became out of my decision to come with all just coming out of school is that that in those days and that this is this is how far we've come to know state black people thought to be very intelligent and it was something that

that it was a thought process that we could not accomplish those kind of things. And I remember getting the word from someone that didn't believe I could do this, someone that had just been going to Florida State. And I made a decision that I was going to prove them wrong. So even though I decided my third year at the University of Miami that I didn't want to be a marine biologist anymore,

I was determined to get that degree. So I lived in the library to prove that guy wrong. And that actually, Chuck, is the way that community, that generation saw things. If you told them they could not succeed, they were going to double down to prove you wrong. And I'm just so thankful I've experienced that. A little quick background about my mom and dad. Dad went to World War II. He volunteered at 19 years old and

He always said to the end of his days that one of the most proud moments was he volunteered because that changed his life in terms of opportunities later on. He came back from the war, could not get his postgraduate degree down south in Texas because of Jim Crow laws. I ran across a box of letters after he passed away, rejection letters from colleges across the country, and he was rejected because of his color. And again, that generation looked at it as motivation.

And he ended up continuing moving forward until he got accepted to Ohio State, where he got his Ph.D. in agronomy. He had an older brother who got his Ph.D. at Ohio State in economics. They both were college professors for 40 years, business owners. They traveled the world. Remarkable success stories because, again, it really is not about the color.

This is what I realized growing up in this family. It's not about the color. It's your attitude. It's your work ethic. And it's your understanding that if you highlight four basic things, faith, education, the family unit, and take some risks in the free market, those four tenets will allow anyone to get to the middle class. And my race showed how that looked like. So that was a college professor. My mom was a teacher, junior high school teacher. And we...

So we traveled. We had a chance and went out before going into Zinnia Greater School.

We took an entire summer from Tallahassee with five kids, a little pop-up tent, traveling from Tallahassee to California to Canada, back to North and South Dakota, Vicki Loop. Took an entire summer. And we stopped at every national park there was because education, exposure to those kind of things were important to that generation. And I'm so thankful for them opening up our eyes to what's available and what's out there and the idea of critical thinking.

Well, you had to do that, Dan, without an iPhone, so that means you had to talk to each other, too, the whole summer. I mean, that's a remarkable feat. How about this? Going to the desert without air conditioner. I mean, I tell you, it's old school. Hey, that builds true love. And, you know, back then, probably, too, they had those wood panel station wagons, which no one knows about anymore. They were just horrible. And they had the bench seats, and no one had seatbelts, so it was pretty big. How big of a role did Faith play?

in your family growing up? How much, I'm sorry. Faith, faith, religion. Did it play a role? You know, faith was everything to our community and to us individually. And again, I'm thankful to have had that foundation because obviously along the way you have to find your own faith.

But it's so nice to grow up in a family that at least has that as my priority, so you can at least get an idea of where to start looking when your time comes where you have to start looking. And it was very important. And I'm just so thankful, again, at some point in my young days,

when you realize that you really are here for a purpose, and that's because you have a family that not only talks about it but shows you, but also shows how the world looks in the real world. I want to share one thing with my dad, for instance. Talk about faith and the idea of what I understood men were supposed to do. We had...

In those days, it was integrated bathrooms. You go to service stations, you have a white women only, white men only, and in the back colored. We would travel from Tallahassee to Texas every summer. That's where my extended family is. Dad would always start up very early in the morning. By the time we got to Texas, we had been sleeping most of the night. I remember having a time when we went to the service station and mom went into the white women's restroom.

and these two guys tried to knock down the door, and I watched my dad, I must have been maybe 10 years old, watched my dad get out of the car and go deal with both of them. He did what men are supposed to do to protect and provide for their wife, their family, and it showed me, first of all,

what courage looked like from a man's point of view. And as my mom came out when she was done, I'm sure she had pride in him doing what he was supposed to do to stand up for him. So that was the first step of that process. When I got back home, they never brought it up again, but I remember walking past their room, just fortunate to walk past their bedroom when dad was talking to mom about cutting up the card, the credit card for that service chain. And

fifty years later we've talked about this experience and uh... and i was a little after about a decade after dedicated that really happened when i thought if they have no doubt that i happen but i've never dropped uh... never bought a tropical gas master station chain again that what that showed me was what principle look like that would be courage my dad uh... at that moment

I saw a principal 50 years later of something he stood by, he kept his word, and no one ever knew about it. And I believe that that gas chain never lost any sleep about him not buying from there. He felt good about it himself, and he was able to 50 years later tell his son, this is how a principal looks like. So it's just a remarkable generation, and it's something that I feel extremely proud

have an obligation to make sure that America does not look at my past generations as hopeless and helpless, waiting for another generation, another race to take care of them. We were competing, and we need to get back to that with the right policies.

If you were to talk to a young college student today explaining your past and they say, well, you deserve reparations, I know you've been opposed to it. Why should they not support that?

Well, it's demeaning. It's a demeaning way of looking at people when you see, first of all, this whole idea that because of our skin color we've been oppressed, we've been hapless, we've been waiting for people to give us a break.

It's a big lie. That's why my history is so important. You look at the lifestyle that that generation just talked about gave many of us. We were living a better lifestyle than many whites at that time. I don't know how many other white Americans during the 1950s had gone to Africa because my dad was doing some research in Africa, Liberia, Africa.

So if we look at the success of the black community along with the Asian community, the Italian community, all of us... Congressman, we're going to quickly take a quick break, and I'll be back. Please don't lose that thought. This is Broken Potholes. We'll be right back. It's the new year, and time for the new you. You've thought about running for political office, but don't know where to start. Before you start any planning, you need to secure your name online with a yourname.vote web domain.

This means your constituents will know they are learning about the real you when they surf the web. Secure your domain from GoDaddy.com today. The political field is all about reputation, so don't let someone squash yours online. Secure your name and political future with a yourname.vote web address from GoDaddy.com. Your political career depends on it.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes. We are sans Sam Stone today. He missed a connection for a red-eye back to the studio. I'm here with our irrepressible Kylie Kipper. We call her Kip. And I am Chuck Warren. And today we are honored to have with us Congressman Burgess Owens from CD4. We were talking before the break about reparations and why Congressman Owens, who lived in a segregated community, did not interact with his first white congressman.

person until he was 16, why he's opposed to it. Congressman, continue that line of thought. I'm sorry for the same break. No problem. The idea of reparation only works if you don't know our history. If we know a history and we're proud of it, and we see success along the way, as we see the overcoming of all obstacles, then there's no way we're asking other people to apologize for where we are today. The other part of reparation, it takes the pressure off people today to live up

to the potential that they do truly have. And what it comes down to, anyone in this country can succeed if they're willing to work, if they're willing to not feel sorry for themselves, get back up when they fall down, have faith in something bigger than themselves so they're not selfish, and focus on commitment to God, country, family, and respect of women and authority. Those are things that anybody can do.

if in case you want to go the route of reparation, you don't have to do any of that stuff. Just wait until they pay you for something you never went through, never had any part of, and for people who didn't do anything against you. So it is a very divisive concept. It's, again, I cannot speak strongly enough. It is done on purpose to divide people for their color, their race, their gender. And there's an ideology we have to fight up against. So, no, I don't apologize for...

first of all for uh... what my parents what my parents were to could be succeeded i apologize for nation has become better and better and single duration it's given up the opportunity to live the dreams that we live today congressman that's that's great to hear and i uh... you put in n_f_l_ for ten seasons and we haven't yet touched on that but i

Can you talk a little bit more about your experience there and then as well as your post-NFL experiences? Sure. Well, again, my experience in NFL was an American dream. I played a lot of losing teams. I got to the Raiders when they used to win football games, Kip. I don't know how old you are, but you might not remember those days if you're young at all. But there was a time when the Raiders used to win football games. And then I left NFL to start a business, and I left very cocky.

very much believing that all I could do, I had to do was work real hard and throw a lot of money at whatever I did, and I would succeed. And that's kind of what happens when you go the route of athletics. And I had a humbling experience nine years later when everything I was working for went under. I lost everything. I moved from my beautiful home on Long Island to a one-bedroom basement apartment for a few months with four kids. And this is where the training of my youth came through because I was taught that a man does anything he has to do that's honest and hard.

to take care of his family. And so I was for a few months on the chimney sweep on a day and a security guard at night. Very humbling. And believe me, I had some long nights wondering how in the world did this happen? But because of my training, because of my faith,

I knew that this was temporary and I knew I had to just do what I could, work as hard as I could, and it would turn around. And the next year, I began my career that lasted 25 years as a corporate account executive. I worked perfect initially, Motorola, my last one as a national account rep. But this is the message.

that all of us are going to have tough times. It's how we deal with those times. Do we stay positive? Do we believe in ourselves, our country, the American way, and meritocracy? If we do, we come out of it. If you go the other way of thinking somebody has fought, somebody owes me something, believe me, you will stay miserable because you're

you're going to be the one, the person that's in that situation individually that has to bring themselves out with the help of others. So that's the way I look at it. It was a great experience, and I'm so glad I went through it. We'll never go through that again, but it really does give me contrast about what this country's about. Congressman, we have two minutes left in this short little segment here.

When that happened, you're in this beautiful home on Long Island. The next thing you know, you're in a basement apartment with four kids and you're a chimney suite. You're like for Mary Poppins, right? You're doing this thing here. How long – I mean when that happens, were you just angry or how long did it take you to just be humble and just say, you know what? My parents taught me these principles. My faith taught me these principles. I'm pulling up my –

"Chinstrap, I'm going to make the most out of this and get out of this." What was the process for you? The process is, first of all, accepting responsibility, knowing that you've made mistakes, but this country gives you a chance to start up again. I'm glad that we didn't have social media. I'm glad we didn't have cell phones. No one knew about it. My dad didn't know about it until I had come out of it.

But it's all about the attitude. This country gives us a second chance. That's what's good about America. And I knew that then, and I can say that anybody out there who's listening to this conversation, yes, I was an NFL player, but after that I was a chimney sweep. And if I can do it, you can do it. The most powerful nine words anybody in America can give to another.

We have 30 seconds left. How'd you like being a chimney sweep? How long did you do that? About four months, but it was humbling to have somebody come out and recognize me as a former football player cleaning this chimney sweep. It was a humbling experience. Can you imagine that being in social media today? Oh, my gosh. Oh, forget it. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. This is Broken Potholes with Congressman Burgess Owens and the irrepressible Kylie Kipper. We will be back with you after this short commercial break to pay the bills. Thanks, gang.

The 2020 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2021. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.vote domain from GoDaddy. Get yours now.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes. I'm Chuck Warren with Kylie Kipper, and today we are honored to have with us former Congressman Burgess Owen, also a two-time Super Bowl champion. Burgess, a question for you. You know, 80% of the voters, the New York Times did a survey a couple years ago that 80% of voters don't really follow politics, right? And you go and you read two-thirds of people who see a newspaper article only read the headline.

Yeah. Okay. What is something you wish these voters would know? Because I don't think they're all left. I don't think they're all woke. I think they're hardworking people. They've got family and kids. What do you wish they would know, those who don't really follow it? And look, politics could be aggravating. I have a friend that's dealing with some medical conditions. The doctor gave her a prescription, and one was don't watch cable news. Literally, that was his prescription. But what do you wish these voters would know?

well i think i thought there was something that comices at uh... even free can never be uh... and as our nation uh... wakes up in a cage is an educated felt we have a much for your nation i think i'm really going to give up live this this freedom bubble where we wake up with a mistake but i think the thing from happen week plan of vacations uh... retirement uh... memories of kids and i mean we need to have a shocker would you have contract and that's what happened you'll go back to nine eleven to

Pearl Harbor in 2020, I think that the things that come out of this is that we will be more engaged than we have in the past because we now know so much relies on it. As we go to our pump, you see what used to be $37 to fill this kind of tank now costs $67. At that point, it's a personal impact.

When we can't put our kids in school, no matter what side of the aisle we're on, we can't go to church, our business goes under because we can't run our business, that's when we become engaged with politics because we realize that policies are driving decisions that impact us individually. And that's why I believe we're going to have, coming out of this, probably the best opportunity for our nation as a whole to see contrast. And we need that at times. We need it in our lives.

I mentioned my experiences of chimney sweep. I have more appreciation for what I'm doing now than ever before because I went through that process. And what's happening now is our country

are seeing that we came out of this environment in which for four years, the lowest unemployment of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, you go through the litany of good things that are happening, energy independent. We're beginning to control the border, which might allow the increase of income for those here in the country. And all of a sudden, we're starting to see a difference in that.

So yes, we will have more conversations about policies, politicians and their stance now coming out this year than ever before. And I think it's a good thing for us. So I see the positive in that regard. The more educated we are, the more we talk, the more we expect information to come through that's true and real, the freer we're going to be as a nation.

What book or books has changed your life? You know, everybody says, it's not a favorite book. What is a book that motivated you to change? The first one was Think and Grow Rich, and it was by Napoleon Hill back in the 30s. It just dealt with the power of the thought process and attitude. I'm one of the guys that got into reading because I was a very, very shy introvert, and I didn't want to be there.

so I started reading more positive books that allowed me to feel more confident in myself. The one I'm reading now is a really pertinent and timely book to me. It's A Naked Communist, written back in 1958. It is a...

is evergreen. It explains what we're up against in terms of ideology that we're fighting against right now that's trying to keep us divided. At the same time, you mentioned the men from Mars and women from Venus. I read that one.

So I think based on where we are, sometimes it's based on our self-esteem. I read a lot of positive thinking books, Magic of Thinking Big, Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, because I was just so tired of being so shy. And then now I'm reading books that deal with the Constitution, deal with our country, deal with ideology, because I need to understand what our enemy is so I can explain and articulate that so we can come out of this and get our country back.

At the same time, there are times when it's about relationships. It's The Five Love Languages, a great book to help you know what your partner, your spouse is all about. So that language. It's also a good one probably dealing with members of Congress. I mean, there may be some members who just frankly just need a hug, right? I mean, they're grumpy. They need a hug.

Well, and that's going to be up to us. As we the people, we need to put people in place that have hope, that are positive. And what we see in Congress is really a kind of reflection of us because they represent us. And I think the next two years, because we are a country that leans

interest or delight we're starting more republican at the republican i think we have hope we would look at opportunity to look at but the building to have a business and have your children have choices that they could look at what what what that because about see what it looks like that they have it it would be a good chance for we the people to really bob paper we are and we are people that have always been the trip toward the light congressman with so much uh...

and non-facts and the news telling us one thing, TV commercials telling us others. How do you communicate with someone and tell someone that what their fact and what they're saying isn't true? So, for example, the Georgia election law, there's so many things

things that are being said about it that just aren't true? How do you communicate that? Well, we have to, first of all, be patient with those that we're talking with. You know, what made our country so good and the community I grew up in is I was taught in those days you can respectfully agree to disagree.

We need to get back to that. That only happens when we have the confidence in ourselves to have conversations. So part of this is short term. We need to have the confidence and the boldness to be honest and be truthful. And for those who say that black people cannot have the ability to get up and get an ID like everybody else, that's pure racism.

do not put down a race this way of saying we don't have the intelligence to go out and do what every other race does, which is to get an ID so you can get on a plane, get in a car, go to college, get a savings account. And if those who are not doing that right now, and by the way, this has been for 20 years, been hearing this mess, if

If people don't have ID, help them get one because you cannot get to the middle class without having that basic tool of identifying who you are. Yeah, I mean, frankly, it's just something – frankly, Republicans and conservatives just need to say, look, the state will provide you an ID if you can't afford one. I mean, you're absolutely right. It's just you don't think that way, but you can't really do much in life without a –

State-issued picture ID, and I know that drives our libertarian friends nuts, but that is just the world we live in, and it's disappointing. On a funny note, what is the strangest question you were asked on the campaign trail, that you just got it and you're just like, really? That's what you're coming up with today. What is the strangest question you were asked? Oh, boy, that's a good question. Oh, my goodness. You know, I guess the strangest...

was when somebody literally called me a white supremacist, and I had to deal with that. I had to kind of explain how do I even start answering this question. And here's my message to all of us out there. As humans, we all think...

We all have a feeling of thinking, and our thoughts should never be tied to our skin color. The idea of meritocracy, of achieving, should never be tied to our skin color. It's all attitude. It's all upbringing. It's what we see in ourselves and how big we're willing to dream.

If we're able to dream big and realize we deserve those dreams, we'll overcome any obstacle, any downside, anything negative people talk about us. And that's who we've always been as a nation. And we have to make sure we raise our kids to believe that in themselves. Don't worry about the downside. We all have them. But we come out of it much stronger if we recognize it was for our good, number one, and that we're here to do much, much bigger, better things as we move forward. Let me...

Let me ask you this question. So let's say your football career was now in this decade with the, you know, I love the minimum NFL, the minimum contract now for a veteran player of seven years is like $1.3 million, right? I mean, that's just the minimum if you have seven years playing. But imagine if you played then two times Super Bowl winner, starting free safety on the most popular team and most hated team in the nation. It's not the Cowboys. I hate to break it to everybody back then. Yeah.

You would have made substantially more money. Would you still had faced the same financial reckoning you had then just because of how you treated it?

What a good question, Chuck. First of all, I'm so thankful that I played during that time because in those days you can make big mistakes and it hits you quickly. You have a lot of flux. So it took me nine years to lose everything. Today, with the kind of money people make, you can stay pretty much insulated, an elitist, clueless for a lot longer before you lose it all. And at some point, you have to – I see it this way –

Life is about being humble, either we're humble or humbled with ED. And the goal, very simply, is to decide to lean in being humble as soon as you can. And I'll tell you what, the greatest thing that happened to me was losing that business because I had a chance to reflect on everything in my life, recognize that success is not guaranteed, and that if you fall flat...

you can truly get back up in the message of that issue with other people to do the same thing i'm glad i went to that era that we came to a state of the flag that the national anthem was a big thing i could tell get period listening to watch what black bloke and uh... i'm thankful for that time i grew up in give the a message messenger for those living today that did that it doesn't have to be this way for a friend

We are much better than we are today, and we can overcome by recognizing where our enemy is. And we can do good things together, for sure. We've got two minutes left with you. What is, if life ends tomorrow and you've had all your successes and you take everything with you, what are two or three lessons or bits of advice you want to make sure that your children, your friends, your neighbors know?

your constituents know that you know through experience and hard work will just make life better and more meaningful? I would say the first thing to do is wake up every morning and think, think,

think that Lord in heaven that you're here as an American, that you have an opportunity to get up with dreams and opportunity to achieve your goals and put things in perspective. I mentioned before, I was raised very simply with a knowledge of respect for God, country, with love for God, country, family, and respect for women authority. If I could say how to summarize being a good American...

what it looks like, how to be a happy American, how to be a happy person, and leave with a legacy, just start off with that. Love of God, country, family, respect for women, authority. And believe me, you do that, at the end of the day, life goes by so fast. But boy, you look back on it and say, man, it was a really good trip. It was a nice way to go. And I have friends around me, I have family that love me because I did it the right way. And I have a God in heaven who's blessed me because I did my best to be the best I could be.

Well, my friend, we appreciate you coming on and taking the time for your busy schedule today. And we wish you the best of luck, and we hope that you keep going doing good things. And God bless you and your family. Chuck, you and Kip, thank you so much for the opportunity. Let's do it again, my friend. Thanks, my friend. Look forward to it. Thank you very much. Take care. All right. Bye-bye. That was Congressman Burgess Owens, who gave us a little extra time today. And I'll tell you, Kip, I was really surprised at the first time

He talked to a white person with 16 years of age. And so I imagine when he hears some moron say you're a white supremacist, he must have just – I mean I'm sure he almost has flashbacks. Absolutely. That's – I mean that's insane. That was not – that's not anything that I can even comprehend because how I grew up, I'm 26 years old. That was not even a thing. Yeah.

No. You didn't experience that. No, you didn't. You didn't. And, you know, what's funny is the inner cities are the most segregated part of our country now because people base it upon neighborhoods. If you really, studies have shown, if you really want to be in a non-segregated community, go live in the suburbs. So it's really amazing. But, yeah, that was an interesting take around. And I'm glad we had the opportunity to talk about his background. And his parents just seem to be real pillars of,

of their community, probably the church. We didn't talk enough about that and his family. Boy, I can't imagine driving my kids across the United States without an iPad or iPhone. I, you know, I'm not a drinker, but boy, it makes me want to really, you know, take it up there. I know. Well, a quick little sunshine moment, really quick. I wanted to talk that he, Burgess Owens is the CEO of Second Chance for Youth. And I think this comes from his background and

We didn't get a chance to talk about it today, but they are dedicated to helping incarcerated youth during their post-release phase. So he has, even after his NFL career, his post-NFL experiences, he's still figuring out a way because he knows through his experiences that he's able to help these men and women post their incarceration. It's very important. So we appreciate everybody being with us today.

And we hope you learned something new about Congressman Owens. And we are broken potholes. Kip, do you have any final comments for our listeners before they leave? It was great being your co-host today, Chuck.

as she says meekly and humbly here on the high towers of the Patriot in Phoenix, Arizona. This is Broken Potholes. Next week, are we having, did we contact Debbie Lesko? We'll try it. Yep, we contacted her. We'll see. We'll see. We're waiting. But we'll be back with you next week. Thank you for joining us today at Broken Potholes. Have a great weekend, folks. I want them to turn black. I dress in this. You turn my head. I thought this gold.