Ever felt like politics is tearing apart your personal relationships? Join me, Walter Gatlin, on this episode of Rollin' 18 Podcast as I tackle the polarizing nature of politics and why I’ve chosen to steer clear of political discussions. As America faces a staggering $36 trillion debt, I question the impact this will have on our children and grandchildren. More importantly, I ponder why people are willing to sacrifice lifelong relationships for single-issue politics. My journey down the road offers a fresh perspective on why maintaining personal connections should take precedence over political affiliations.
In this episode, I explore the unfortunate reality of how politicians rarely reciprocate the support of their followers and the erosion of the middle class. I reflect on the ways America seems to have strayed from its foundational principles, and why the current political climate feels more divisive than ever. So grab your coffee, hop on board, and let's keep the conversation going, minus the politics.
Ever felt like politics is tearing apart your personal relationships? Join me, Walter Gatlin, on this episode of Rollin' 18 Podcast as I tackle the polarizing nature of politics and why I’ve chosen to steer clear of political discussions. As America faces a staggering $36 trillion debt, I question the impact this will have on our children and grandchildren. More importantly, I ponder why people are willing to sacrifice lifelong relationships for single-issue politics. My journey down the road offers a fresh perspective on why maintaining personal connections should take precedence over political affiliations.
In this episode, I explore the unfortunate reality of how politicians rarely reciprocate the support of their followers and the erosion of the middle class. I reflect on the ways America seems to have strayed from its foundational principles, and why the current political climate feels more divisive than ever. So grab your coffee, hop on board, and let's keep the conversation going, minus the politics.
Text me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at (641) 990-5641. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to Rollin' 18 Podcast. This 40-year veteran is here for anyone wanting to stay up to date with the trucking world. Grab your coffee, hop on board and let's get on down the road with Walter Gatlin.
Speaker 3:
Hello drivers, this is Walter Gatlin. I appreciate you folks downloading and or listening to my podcast. I have started putting the podcast on rumblecom. You can look up Roland 18 Podcast on Rumble. That way it gives you a view of me driving down the road while I'm speaking. You're listening to the same thing that's on Buzzsprout or 22 other platforms like Spotify, amazon, apple, itunes, whatever. It's all out there for you guys to listen to and it is good stuff.
Speaker 3:
Today I'm going to be talking about politics and why I don't talk about politics, and the only reason I'm bringing this up is there was a couple of comments sent to me and it said why don't you talk about politics? We're in a major election year. A lot of major things are happening. You know a lot of people are interested in that stuff. Well, to be honest with you, the number one reason I don't talk politics there are plenty of people out there that know more about it than I do. They are really really super good at trying to convince you one way or another who you should vote for, and that's not what I'm about. I don't care who you vote for. I do know that certain presidents make certain policies that spend a lot more money than others. Okay, I do know that I like to keep the spending down. We're $36 trillion in debt. What does that do to our children and grandchildren? Do we feel good about that? Are we happy that we are leaving trillions of dollars in debt to our children? That's just a question you can ask yourself.
Speaker 3:
People get into politics and the vast majority, I have noticed, do so because they want one or two issues. That's all they want. They come hell or high water, they don't care if you get run over by a semi-truck to get their policy passed, but that's what they want. They will destroy your life, they will get rid of a family member, they will destroy a friendship that's been going on since kindergarten just for that one policy. Now, how does that make any sense to love a politician so much that you're willing to give up somebody you love and trust and you've known your entire life? How does that work? Because I, for the life of me, can't figure it out. I know people who have been dumped by family members or who have dumped family members in order to get their way or to at least presume to be right, and that rather than talk about it, or even not talk about it? They just get rid of each other. Now, does that make any sense to you at all, to destroy a relationship that grounded? I can't believe a relationship can end up that way, even if I'm thinking maybe it wasn't a good relationship to begin with. If they're willing to get rid of each other over one issue or two issues, it makes no sense to me.
Speaker 3:
And another thing also that I realized is there's not one politician out there that would spend five seconds at my dinner table with me and my family Not one. They want my money, they want me to go to their rallies, they want me to go to their meetings, they want me to go to their you know web pages and communicate with them and things like that and their social media sites, but they're not coming by my house. They're not doing anything special for me or my family. They're not even doing anything special for me and my community, because most communities are either getting wiped out or they're doing better than average. But there's no in-between anymore. There's no middle class, there's no nothing. It's either take it or leave it.
Speaker 3:
I've seen what politicians have done to the American people, especially the last 10 years, 20 years, and it's horrible and why we're falling for it. I don't know. As far as I'm personally concerned, america as we know it is gone, it's over. It is no longer about the Constitution, it is no longer about the Declaration of Independence. It's about who can convince you that they are right, even if they're wrong Makes no difference to me whatsoever, and I'll be honest with you. I'm mostly a conservative, and simply because of the fact that I don't like doing things to hurt other people, conservative stands for low spending, stands for not spending my neighbor's money on other people's stuff. It stands for leaving my neighbor alone, being law-abiding, going to work every single day and keeping my mouth shut. That's what a conservative means to me, and you know, if you can hate a guy that thinks that way, then that's up to you. I don't care.
Speaker 3:
But I will never talk about politics on Roland 18 podcast because I don't want the headache and I don't want the hassle. First and foremost, I don't want the headache of trying to convince you something that I'm not too sure is right anyway. I do know the rock solid stuff, but all these lies that are being spewed around by all three parties is unimaginable, it's unthinkable, it's rude, it's without honor. And there's so many hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars being stolen. They just did an audit last 2022 and found out there was $101.5 billion that was spent inappropriately, and they can't find it. That means that money went into somebody's pockets. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not a thief. I try real hard not to lie unless it's for a good reason, and even then I don't really want to. So I'll just keep my mouth shut.
Speaker 3:
But the point I'm trying to get at is I'm not going to ruin the people's lives that I love with all my heart, that I've spent my entire lifetime getting to know, even the new people I've just met. That I really appreciate. I won't talk politics to, and if they start a conversation about politics I'm going to say see ya, have a great day. We'll chat at you next time. Let's talk about the weather. Let's talk about the coffee, the new coffee that the coffee shop got in. Let's talk about the new rims I want to put on my Jeep. How about we talk about the new truck that Bob just bought and how awesome it is and it's got so much? You know things like that. I'm done with that kind of stuff and I'm not going to cater to politicians.
Speaker 3:
Because even the few that are in there, let me say let me stress this really heavily Even the few that are in Washington that are honorable because most of them are not Most of them are thieves and liars and junkies. I know the truth about them. There are a few out there that will do the right thing, but they can't get anything done because the vast majority of them are crooks, and that's just the way I feel about it. Did you know that Congress's approval rating is less than Jeffrey Dahmer? Yeah, 8% is what Congress's approval rating is. Jeffrey Dahmer 13%.
Speaker 3:
I appreciate him and thought he got a bad deal. It's totally crazy to even think like that, but this is the way people defend murderers all the time. I don't know why they do it. There's people that have sexual fantasies about murderers in prison and they want to marry them. They go up there and bang on the door and I want to marry this guy. Excuse me, do you realize? He killed five people and ate three of them? I don't care, he was just mixed up. He needs a good friend. That's not how it works, ladies and gentlemen. So yeah, I'm leaving politics alone.
Speaker 3:
I appreciate those of you that like politics and believe me when I say my little 15 minute podcast, which is going to turn into a 30 minute podcast in the near future, it's not going to affect you one way or another. You can listen to the things that I talk about that are relevant to the trucking industry, which is why I called it Rollin' 18. My experience, the things that I know for a fact to be true, new laws that are coming up this is what this podcast is going to be about, and I'm not going to divide my people, my brothers and sisters out there on the road working their butts off every single day. We have a lot of work to do to bring us drivers back together in order to have one of the greatest industries in the world again, because right now we're so divided Just like America, we are so divided it literally hurt, and most of the people comment negatively on the CB because they're hurting, not because they're really pissed off.
Speaker 3:
They're actually hurting, you know, and the only way to get that hurt out is to scream and yell and call people names. Most of the conversations on the CB today are not even serious, and that is sad. Have you drivers ever wondered, of all the podcasts that you've listened to. Who was the first person to ever bring up a podcast. This is let's Talk to Lucy, starring Lucille Ball.
Speaker 2:
A very warm welcome to you all. I'm Gary Morton, and now let's talk to Lucy. Hi, this is Lucy. I'm talking to you today from Las Vegas, Nevada, the entertainment capital of the world, and my guest, believe it or not, is Red Skelton, America's greatest clown, who happens to bill himself as one of America's clowns.
Speaker 3:
Now Lucille Ball was approached to do a podcast. Back then they didn't call it a podcast. It was a 10-minute show that she did. She recorded different stars that she interviewed. There's quite a few of them on Spotify, if you want to go there, or Apple YouTube has a bunch of information on it. You can go to just about any place and listen to her podcast for free. But it wasn't until years and years and years later that they started calling her the very first podcaster, because that's what podcasting originally started off.
Speaker 3:
As Now, let me give you the definition, the true definition, of podcast 10 to 15 minutes long Audio only. None of this video stuff bringing up pertinent information, telling you stories that you probably didn't know, enlightening you with new information that could help you with whatever you're doing. It's amazing what a podcast is. It's supposed to be short, sweet, to the point and let's get her done. That's what a podcast is Got an intro, an outro, possibly a sponsor in the middle and that's it.
Speaker 3:
But Lucille Ball did this for CBS let's Talk to Lucy and she would go around and interview all of these different stars from one part of the country to the other. She would go as far as New York. She lived in Beverly Hills at the time. Her children were small, you know teenagers at the time. Lucy died in 1989, and it broke my heart because the one person that did the funny faces and the things just like Lucy did was my own mother, wanda. I miss my mother very, very much. She passed away in 2008. I miss her greatly.
Speaker 3:
But when Lucy died in 1989, years before my mother, it broke my heart and I thought of my mother even though my mother was still alive. My heart was broken like a child's would be, and it's hard to explain. But I grew up with I Love Lucy. I grew up with all those things. My grandmother had a foster home a few miles from the Desi Arnaz Studios that Lucy and Desi owned. It was amazing and it was just a beautiful thing and to be raised up in that type of era where you know I was one year old when she did these podcasts.
Speaker 3:
But I really highly recommend you guys go to Spotify if you've got some time. Drive down the road. Listen to it on your phone. It's legal. Just press a button, make sure your phone lights off. Listen to it through your headset. It's legal. Just press a button, make sure your phone lights off. Listen to it through your headset, where you're at no different than listening to a radio. You guys are going to be amazed. And there's one thing in one of her podcasts that she said and it meant a lot to me and I want to play it to you.
Speaker 2:
You know something I was just thinking. One of the reasons I enjoy doing let's Talk to Lucy so much is that it's like a new beginning, and I love new beginnings because with a new beginning, anything is possible. I look for new beginnings like some people look for bargains. I don't wait for New Year's Eve. Almost any morning can be a new beginning for me. I guess I'm a firm believer in the old maxim don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Believer in the old maxim don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. I use it all the time. All too often we hear the complaints oh, I wish I had the time, or I wish I had done that years ago, or well, no sense starting now. I wish, I wish, I wish. And that's not enough, because it's never too late to make a new beginning. Anyone can start right now doing all the things they've been putting off for years. With a new beginning, anything is possible.
Speaker 3:
Now, what is it about that new beginning that you didn't get? And what is it about my not doing politics did you not get? Because I'm pretty sure you understood both of them. I'm just a guy. I'm a truck driver, I've been driving a lot of years and I get emotional, just like you do. I get mad, just like you do. I eat, I poop, I go to bed, I get up, I drive 11, 15 hours a day. I do it every day. We're human beings, ladies and gentlemen, but we are the largest industry in the world and we need to start acting like it.
Speaker 3:
So go check out. Let's Talk to Lucy. I'm telling you some of the interviews are just amazing and you guys will have a blast with it. To Lucy, I'm telling you some of the interviews are just amazing and you guys will have a blast with it. Okay, I promise you. I appreciate you. Folks listening to and or downloading my podcast. Check me out at buzzsproutcom, look up Roland 18. You just Google Roland 18 podcast. I am all over the place. God bless you, be safe and, as always, keep it between the lines. Driver.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to Roland 18 Podcast. Please visit my website at mediaiowacom or the podcast page at roland18podcastcom.