The Jason Stapleton Program

I am too, all this "red-tape" all the time! Today many of the stories coming out, as have been in the past, are about government's continual involvement in your life; telling you what you "can" and "cannot" do. As if they have some control over how you live your life or anyone elses. And frankly, I'm getting really tired of it! As we say, don't hurt people and don't take their stuff. We should all be allowed to pursue our own self-interests as long as we don't hurt anyone and keep them from doing the same. This is a great episode to share with others, so they can see how much the government is 'busy' telling everyone how to live. Live for liberty and be free, Jason

That's right, according to a new report, obesity is a bigger problem around the world that starvation. The reason? As people come out of poverty, their new wealth gives them access to more food and less strenuous work. What's the answer? Well if free market capitalism creates wealth, an abundance of food and a less demanding lifestyle then the need to look for some system that reduces wealth, empties store shelves and get's people breaking their back in the hot sun again. We need socialism! I'm just kidding but you get my point. I also want to take some time and talk about the comments presidential hopeful Austin Petersen said about me yesterday in his live stream. Here's the link to the entire discussion. He wasn't very happy with my comments, and I can understand why but if you listen to this show I think you know I did my best not to be too hard on any of the candidates while at the same time expressing my reservations with each one. Sometimes telling the truth can lead to hurt feelings but that was not my intention. Finally, we'll look at new app the TSA just purchased for 1.4 million dollars. You won't believe what it does. Lots to talk about today! Enjoy!

Well, we finally got our day, and I have to tell you I thought it went well. Huge thanks to John Stossel for taking two full hours of his show to bring light to the libertarian message. He did a terrific job moderating the event and for the most part I think the candidates did a good job of promoting the message of liberty. But there were mistakes, and it became apparent to me after this debate that we are going to have an uphill battle bringing people into the third party camp with our current pool of candidates. Johnson is awkward and always looks uncomfortable; McAfee is a current fugitive and Petersen comes off sounding like a street preacher on a soapbox. It doesn't matter which way we go the population as a whole are going to struggle with the messenger as much as the message. Then it's on to women's soccer (WAIT DON'T LEAVE!) where we'll discuss the recent lawsuit four players filed against the sport for wage discrimination. Finally, we'll look at the coming doctor shortage and see how a little free market choice could bring a more equitable distribution of physicians to the field. There's lots to cover today. Listen now. Jason

I remember when I first warned about the FCC's talks about regulating the internet. I took more heat for my position on that issue than any other issue we've discussed. I, of course, warned everyone that this was not, as the FCC suggested, an effort to "keep the internet free" but rather was a massive power grab by the government to regulate an industry it had no business overseeing. Immediately they set about writing over 400 pages of new regulation, and they have now decided that if you're poor, you deserve to have your neighbor pay for a portion of your internet. Government is so predictable and man so gullible. I will never understand how my neighbors can so easily delegate their power as free people to an organization that has shown so often to act against the interest of those it claims to serve. From there we'll talk about the recent minimum wage hike in California and discuss some of the math small businesses will be forced to deal with over the next six years. This is a great episode chalked full of great tidbits you can use in your discussions with friends and family. Don't forget to Subscribe!

Yesterday MSNBC was taping their Republican town hall when Donald Trump suggested that IF abortion was illegal and a woman has one, she should be punished for it. This, of course, has the progressives in a tizzy. What about that statement is offensive or controversial? I don't see the controversy in suggesting that someone guilty of a crime should be punished for the offense. So, today I'm going to share some thoughts on the Trump comments and give some insight into what's really going on.

If you listened to last night's town hall, you likely heard Trump giving his list of the top three responsibilities of government. If you missed it, here they are in order of importance. 1. Security 2. Healthcare 3. Education There's just one problem with that list. Two of them are not constitutional government functions. Now to be fair Trump did say that his top three were security, security, security but let's not kid ourselves, that was a cop out, and he went on to say that healthcare and education were very important. I wonder if he can show me where in the list of enumerated powers he finds healthcare and education listed. Moving on... Then we've got the CBO, who now says Obama's 2017 budget would SAVE us trillions over the next ten years. And since it came from the "nonpartisan" CBO we naturally have to take it a face value. Not so, the CBO rarely gets it right mainly because it's junk in junk out. Finally, do you have trouble getting up in the morning? Do you struggle to get to work on time? If so I've got great news! It's not your fault. I'll explain everything in today's episode. Listen now. Jason Visit the Website: http://www.jasonstapleton.com

Yesterday I had a story in the stack talking about how underfunded the military is and how the budget needed to protect our nation was simply too small. This immediately peaked my interest because of the discussions we've had on this very topic in recent weeks. During those talks, I pointed out the massive amount of waste in the Pentagon. So to read a story about Pentagon underfunding made me chuckle a little bit. But with all the other news of the day, I never got around to talking about the story. Then last night I was listening to the radio, and one of the hosts was screaming into the microphone about how unacceptable it was that our military was so unfit to defend us. It was utterly ridiculous. So today I'm going to talk about the military "defense" budget and give you some insights into just how much money is being frittered away while operational readiness suffers. Then it's on to other news. We're going to hit on North Korea and the recent Georgia bill to protect religious liberty. It's a full show. Listen now. Jason

Imagine taking your kids out for a nice Sunday afternoon Easter egg hunt. You load up your two young sprouts (2 & 4) and drive over to the PEZ headquarters where 9,000 eggs have been hidden for your children's enjoyment. As you pull up what you see shocks you. The Easter egg field has been transformed into a battlefield with small children, bloodied and bruised, cry out in terror as parents run from one concealed location to another like it's a black Friday sale. Such was the scene at the recent PEZ Easter celebration. What was supposed to be a fun event for the kids was turned on its head not by greedy, entitled children but by their parents. You wonder why we have college kids crying about "safe space" violations after someone writes "Trump 2016" in chalk. Look no further than the fields of PEZ and the parents that raised them. From there we turn to politics. Bernie swept the west and now lays his sights on New York in the hope that he can mount a defense against Hillary and sway some superdelegates over to his camp. I'll also spend some time talking minimum wage. It's been a while since we had a discussion on the subject and I think it's worth bringing back into the stack. Jason

Yeah, that's a crazy title although probably not that scary a headline for most of the listeners of this show. I've spent time in the past talking about discrimination and liberty, but we've been growing so fast I know a lot of people haven't heard the libertarian perspective on it. So I thought today would be a good time to discuss it in more detail. The idea was sparked by a series of articles written about Georgia and what some are calling the passage of a "hate bill" design to give Christians the right to discriminate based on religious beliefs. In Kansas Sam Brownback recently signed into law another bill aimed at preventing public universities from requiring students to accept people with fundamentally different beliefs into their groups. Discrimination is a very dirty word. It brings up memories of "Separate but Equal" or even slavery. But the issue of discrimination comes down to a simple understanding of liberty and the right to free association. These fights, while being framed as religious liberty issues are really about free association. It's a really interesting discussion today and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to subscribe!

As we look onto the political landscape so many voters are disguested with the political discourse in America today. The Cruz campaign blasted Trump's former wife with a smear ad and of course Trump will return the favor. This is what the potential leaders of the free world are doing?! Are you frustrated by this? Paul Ryan comes out and is ready to sympathize with you, as if he's above it all. This is what I'm talking about folks, "holding your nose and voting towing the party line" when it comes time to vote is no way to have your voice heard, nor is not voting at all. You can send a message to those in power that you will not vote them if they do not align with principles of liberty and as we have it now our Constitution. You can be heard, voting this election cycle on principle is what I urge you to do. Later on in the show we talk about a common theme we have, government will almost always tell you that it is taking a certain action to "protect you". As you well know from listneing to this show, they always use this guise to further strip of your liberty and put you in jail for say, texting while crossing a street - like a NJ legislator has acted into a bill. Who's country is this - The government and elected officials or yours? Take back your country, vote on principles and for liberty and we can see a change for the better. Don't miss this lighthearted yet, powerful show! -Jason

It's a call to arms again from leaders on capital hill. Today a terrorist attack in Brussels killed 34 and had injured almost 200. Those numbers are likely to climb as the full extent of the carnage is truly understood. What now? Leaders in America are calling for an escalation of the war in Syria and Iraq. They are dying to put more men in harms way under the banner of protecting America. But I ask you, "What will change?" We've already been fighting a war on terror for more than a decade. We've beaten back the enemy time and time again only to see them reconstitute themselves in another part of the middle east under a new banner. If what we've done for the past decade has only made the situation worse, how will our strategy change now? The answer is it won't. And if nothing about or approach will change can we expect the outcome to be different? From the subject of Brussels, we'll switch gears and look again to Finland. A recent article posted by a Fin, currently living in the US, attempts to explain why their model is superior to Americas form of capitalism. This article tries to take apart some of the common objections to European socialism, so naturally I felt the need to step in. Great show today. Listen now!

It's easy to sit around and opine about how much better the world would be if government would just get out of the way. The problem is we have very few case studies to draw from. Today I'd like to look at one of those cases, this one from India. From there we'll move over to Finland where they've decided to abandon their century-old welfare state for a "Universal Basic Income." If that sounds a lot like a negative income tax, that's because it's basically the same thing. Every man and woman in Finland would get a check every month from the government (about $900) and would be allowed to spend that money however they prefer. In return, the entire bureaucratic labyrinth of agencies and oversight would be abolished. Now I am no fan of a guaranteed income, but I will admit that if I have to choose between that and what we have now, I think I'd have to side with something similar to a UBI. Today is an episode of grey lines. Rarely is the world of choices as clear as some would make it. What I hope is that you'll finish today's with a better understanding of the pro's and con's of the choices you make and consider the idea of moving closer to liberty even if it means accepting a lesser form of tyranny. Jason

Obama is planning the first presidential trip to Cuba in 9 decades. He's been on a mission to reignite diplomatic relations with the country after nearly a lifetime if division. It's something I hope will continue and ultimately lead to trade between our two nations. It's odd to find myself siding with Obama. It's rare but as I've always said, if you stand with liberty, I'll stand with you. Decades of sanctions on Cuba have produced nothing but poverty and tension. Would those things still exist if we had free trade with Cuba? Perhaps. But I think it's important to assess what our goals are and evaluate if we're meeting them. If you want to bend the will of the Castro's the easiest way to do it is to spread capitalism to Cuba. All it will take is a taste of the freedom and opportunity it brings, and the people of Cuba will do the work for us. There is no reason to build walls or restrict trade. Just show them how the other half lives. Jason

Well, Obama announced his supreme court nominee today and just as I suspected it's a middle of the road choice that puts pressure on the Republicans to nominate him rather than waiting for the next president to take office. Judge Nap had some interesting things to say about Merrick and seemed to take the position that he is far from an Obama ideolog. He is a Washington insider who's spent more than 20 years in public service. Here's how I think this might play out. Republicans will hold their ground as long as they think their nominee stands the best chance of winning. If they find that they might face another far left appointment next year, they'll rush to approve Garland rather than risk leaving the seat unfilled. Next, it's on to the GOP who dropped a truth bomb on the CNBC morning show yesterday. If you Republicans thought your party cared about you and what you wanted you've got anther thing coming. It's like I always say, nobody is looking out for you. You've got to watch your elected leaders like a hawk and don't buy into the notion that they're in Washington to fight for you. They're there to advance their own policial agenda and we as Americans need to make sure that they remember their future is directly tied to their willingness to do what they're told.

If I had to pick a core theme of today's show, I'd say it's focused on the desire of some who want so badly to be considered anti-establishment that they sacrifice principle to get there. This subject came up in the private Facebook group just this morning and given the mountain of stories I have relating to Super Tuesday I thought it wise to speak on it. Last night was a big night for Rubio, but not in a good way. His crushing defeat by Donald Trump in his home state of Florida put the final nail in the coffin of his campaign. It's been over for Rubio for a while, but I think he thought if he could squeeze out a win in Florida he could hope to limp along to the convention hoping Trump didn't have the delegates to secure the nomination. That certainly appears to be the strategy for Kasich, who doesn't stand a prayer of being elected president. The real battle now is not between Trump and Cruz but rather between Trump and the GOP, who are likely to mount a fight at the convention to prevent him from being the parties nominee. Today Darren and I talk about how this might play itself out. I'll admit we run off the rails a bit into fantasy, but that 's what makes it fun. Give it a listen and hear for yourself. Jason