Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI190441B
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00:04 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider.
00:05 Before the break with the guest, 00:07 Dennis Seaton, 00:10 we were getting into some heavy stuff, 00:12 social responsibility 00:13 and how you've been encouraging 00:16 just regular citizens, regular people of faith 00:20 with a concern for the community 00:22 and as well as general civil liberties, 00:24 to make contact with government officials 00:27 and network with other organizations 00:29 and make a difference, right? 00:31 Yes. 00:32 And I think that as we move forward 00:36 in the work that we're doing, 00:37 that we need to be more responsible 00:39 in engaging our elected officials 00:41 and their staff members 00:43 because it's only with those partnerships, 00:45 and we need to do it in a way 00:47 that they understand 00:48 that we're there to work with them 00:49 as opposed to being opposed to them. 00:52 You know, I made a little joke about, 00:56 it's a Revelation perhaps that to some people 00:59 that public officials are civically minded 01:02 and wanting to help them rather than help themselves. 01:04 But you discovered that's true. 01:07 But I remember one story, 01:09 Richard Nixon was my hero of sorts. 01:12 But he embarrassed himself greatly 01:14 by betraying the public trust. 01:15 And I remember him leaving Washington in tears 01:18 and sobbing, you know, my mother was the same. 01:23 So it is moment of reflection of betraying that public trust, 01:27 you remembered what his mother had told him, 01:29 obviously, at variants of what he did. 01:32 What do you think of the role of mothers? 01:34 Well, if I think, that's a very complicated thing, 01:36 mothers and sons. 01:37 I'm trying to give you an angle... 01:38 Yeah, I know you gave me a good one, 01:40 I'm gonna give it to you. 01:42 We had a person, 01:44 the person I've been talking about, 01:45 she came to one of our afternoon meetings, 01:48 and she heard one of the speakers 01:51 and then had to leave. 01:53 And then she got really 01:55 and feeling that she needed to be involved 01:58 with religious liberty in some way. 02:00 And so she called back 02:02 to where that person worked, 02:05 and got in touch with him, 02:08 he got in touch with my boss, 02:10 and my boss sent her to me. 02:13 And so she, her first question is, how can I get involved? 02:17 What can I do? 02:18 And so that was the first time 02:20 that anybody really asked that question. 02:22 And I had no really good answer. 02:24 So then I told her about my mother. 02:27 And my mother never knew a stranger. 02:31 Much to my chagrin 02:32 because I'm a much more cautious person than her, 02:35 she would stop along the road and she would help people, 02:38 she would see people that she'd never met before, 02:40 and she would talk to them. 02:42 She would go up to anybody, she didn't care who they were, 02:44 and she would talk to them. 02:46 When other people would shun them, she wouldn't. 02:48 So I told her about that. 02:49 And I said, that's really what we want you to do 02:52 with elected officials. 02:53 And so she is going out now. 02:56 And she is not being stranger. 02:59 She's getting to know people. 03:00 She's getting to have them know her. 03:04 She goes and talks to them about saying, 03:06 "This is what the Seventh-day Adventist Church can do. 03:10 How can we help you?" 03:11 And so, now they're inviting her 03:13 to their public meetings, 03:15 when she goes, she stands out, 03:18 she raises her hand, and they asked her to talk 03:21 and the first thing out of her mouth is that, 03:23 "Hi, my name is. 03:25 And I just want to thank you for your public service." 03:29 And not only is that making a difference 03:31 with the elected officials, 03:33 but it's also making a difference to the people 03:36 that are working in the communities 03:38 that are there that are doing human trafficking, 03:40 or they're involved in homelessness issues, 03:44 or in food insecurities. 03:47 And so now people are coming to her 03:48 and wanting to build partnerships and relationships. 03:51 So when that begins to happen, 03:53 then the one person becomes many. 03:55 And if you don't know a stranger, 03:57 or you just want to help them out, 03:59 or you wanna just find out who they are, 04:02 then what happens, 04:03 God opens a variety of different doors for us 04:05 to be able to make a difference in our community. 04:06 And not everyone has the same personality, 04:08 but we can all learn. 04:10 And I've seen this with, 04:13 you know, I don't do the same job as you directly, 04:15 but I'm dealing with a lot of the same type of people. 04:18 And if you would approach it right and honestly 04:22 rather than sort of as a salesperson 04:23 trying to hit a mark, 04:25 if you try to connect with these people 04:27 as human beings, they generally respond. 04:29 My father, he's long dead, 04:32 used to lead out in intemperance 04:34 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 04:36 which meant that he was meeting a lot of world leaders 04:38 and government ministers and so on. 04:41 And he was very successful at it. 04:43 And I think he saw himself as privileged to get, 04:47 give them something that they needed. 04:49 So he wasn't abusing them. 04:50 He was helping them, right? 04:52 And he told me once, good advice, 04:54 he says, just remember they're regular people like you and I. 04:57 He says, if you talk to them, 04:58 honestly, and naturally, they'll respond, 05:00 he says, but if you come, you know, 05:02 you say, well, you don't talk to me that thing he says, 05:06 especially top rule as they sort of condition them 05:09 to treat you as just one of the plebes. 05:12 So and this woman that you mentioning, 05:14 you know, I met her 05:16 and I think that she's coming just on a personal human level. 05:20 Yes. 05:21 And they recognize, you know, that she's genuine, no problem. 05:25 Anybody can do that. I think anybody. 05:28 Yes, and that's what's happening. 05:31 She's encouraging other people, 05:32 there's at least one other person 05:33 that's had similar experiences now as she's had. 05:37 But the main issue, I think, 05:39 when we're talking about this is that 05:43 if we as Christians, or we as religious people. 05:47 People of faith concerned. 05:48 And no matter who you are, 05:51 whatever higher power 05:52 or whatever God that you believe in, 05:54 if we do believe that, 05:56 then we have a responsibility to share that. 05:59 And we can't share that 06:00 unless we're willing to talk to people. 06:02 It's true. No matter who they are. 06:03 Good point. 06:05 And so I think that as we begin to go down through that, 06:06 and when you're talking about legislative issues, 06:09 or you're talking about social issues. 06:11 Social issues are much more difficult for us to handle 06:14 because there's a variety of different things, 06:16 of different ways that people look at them. 06:19 So some people, 06:22 we tend to look at them from our perspective, 06:25 and then we forget 06:26 that there are other people out there 06:28 that are of faith, 06:30 that have a different perspective. 06:32 So whose faith should win? 06:35 Well, that's the worst situation to get into 06:38 is one faith against another. 06:41 We should be supporting everyone on religious liberty. 06:45 We're in favor of conscience. 06:48 And be sensitive to the sensibilities of other people. 06:52 By the way, something that I meant to say earlier, 06:55 you're on the state level, almost totally. 06:59 And, you know, I'm not a contact person, 07:03 primarily, you know, at Liberty Magazine, 07:05 but I'm constantly going down to Washington. 07:07 And it's amazing to me that in the post 9/11 world, 07:11 where there's concrete barriers all over the place, 07:14 and you go into local courthouses 07:17 and maybe the Social Security Officer, 07:20 and very often you're treated as sort of a threat, 07:23 and even sometimes sort of unwelcome. 07:26 The amazing thing to me is, 07:28 you go to the congressional offices to the Senate 07:31 or the Congress people 07:33 go through a fairly rudimentary 07:38 metal detection, and, you know, 07:39 you put stuff through the conveyor belt, 07:41 but once you're in, 07:42 you can go visit these people in their offices, 07:44 you won't always talk to the senator 07:46 or the congressmen, 07:47 but you go into their suite, 07:48 you can always talk to some of the lead staffers 07:53 who are very happy to talk to you, right? 07:55 Yeah. 07:56 Especially if you're from their constituent area, 07:59 which is what you're particularly dealing with. 08:03 It's in their interest, 08:04 that's their fulfillment 08:07 to talk to someone from their area. 08:09 So there's no imposition there. 08:11 And it could be as simple as, Hi, I'm just in Washington, 08:14 in this case, where I'm from, you know, 08:16 I'm from your state or whatever, 08:18 one of your constituency doing a great job. 08:20 Thank you. 08:22 You know, I'm a person of faith. 08:23 And thank you for protecting religious liberty 08:26 and, you know, in the workplace, 08:28 particularly or whatever. 08:29 Good reminder that's at that level, 08:31 if a lot of people 08:32 that are listening to this program in the US, 08:34 we're doing that would make a palpable difference 08:37 to the legislators support for religious liberty, 08:40 I'm certain of it. 08:41 Absolutely. 08:43 I agree with you 100%, that the, 08:46 probably the most important. 08:49 And since this is on television, 08:52 I probably shouldn't say it, 08:53 but you've encouraged me to be open and honest, right? 08:55 Yes. 08:57 The most important people in any office 09:01 are not necessarily... 09:02 I know what you're going to say. 09:04 Is not necessarily the elected official, 09:05 it is the staff members. 09:07 If you wanna have an effect, 09:08 or if you wanna have the access 09:11 to the elected official, 09:12 you have to be able to break past the initial gatekeeper 09:18 or the person that's there. 09:20 And so that the idea of saying thank you to that person, 09:26 if you want to stand out, 09:28 if you want to be remembered, 09:30 then you tell them thank you 09:31 because everybody else is telling them 09:33 how bad they are. 09:34 But they're not just a gatekeeper. 09:36 They're the people that do the research, 09:37 read the bills, and brief the legislator, 09:41 and I often laugh of it when I'm bemused. 09:46 When I watch C-SPAN often at different hearings in that, 09:49 you'll see the top legislators sitting there that behind them, 09:53 like two or three lined up, 09:54 look like high school students, 09:56 they're their aides, they'll whisper in their ear. 09:59 To give them the right answer. Right. 10:01 I'm not demeaning the legislature, 10:03 but they're very influential some of these aids, 10:07 as they meant to be in the structure, 10:09 they coordinate and inform and so on. 10:13 When you look at the very first person, 10:17 you see that, and I'm glad that you brought up 10:19 the other staffers or all of the staffers, 10:21 but that very first person is the person 10:24 that grant you access. 10:26 And if that person is your friend, 10:29 then access to all of the rest of the staff members 10:32 gonna be really important. 10:33 So in your work, 10:37 what's the takeaway that you see, 10:40 in not just what you do, 10:41 how you can encourage other people 10:43 to make those contacts? 10:47 There's no way to be able to encourage, 10:49 we could just call you to make a friend 10:53 and find that it's easy when we're out and visiting 10:56 and you start talking to your neighbor over the fence. 10:59 That's just actually what it's like 11:00 when you go into elected official's office. 11:03 You're creating that relationship 11:04 so that you can build a relationship 11:06 so you can work together. 11:10 Reading in the Bible is certainly 11:11 some good examples of activists who made a difference. 11:14 And one of the most improbable was Saul of Tarsus. 11:18 Remember, the basic beginning of his career was very passive, 11:23 holding the courts for those that were doing a bad deed, 11:27 throwing stones at Stephen. 11:30 But once he got the message, 11:33 nothing could hold that man back. 11:36 Witnessing before kings and princes. 11:39 At one point 11:41 when he was witnessing and saying, you know, 11:42 I was not disobedient to that heavenly vision. 11:45 The King Agrippa I think it was, you're mad. 11:48 You know, you're mad. 11:50 He's doesn't mind being called mad 11:51 because he wanted to communicate. 11:53 And I think if more of us had a burning desire 11:58 to tell what's important to us, and in this regard, 12:01 religious liberty, 12:03 the sensibilities that make us Christians, 12:06 there would be no inhibition about talking to someone, 12:08 whether it's a legislator, or our neighbor, 12:11 or anybody in the community 12:13 because we're not forcing ourselves on them. 12:15 We're sharing the good news, 12:18 things that will make a positive difference 12:21 in this world. 12:23 For Liberty Insider, this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2019-06-28