How Engaged Citizens Uphold Individual Rights and Limited Government

On June 18, 2026, Kim Monson hands the show to her fellow Liberty Toastmasters for a morning on engaged citizenship, individual rights, and limited government. Cathy Russell and Francis de Geus join her in studio, while Rick Rome, Marshall Dawson, Fred Clifford, Tim Cranston, and Dave Walden offer table topics. Karen Gordey reports on a Lakewood zoning fight, Priscilla Rahn makes the case for Excalibur Classical Academy, and Pat Miller lays out her State Senate run.

Cathy Russell on Happiness, Virtue, and the Story of Creation

Start listening at 4:01 – Hour 1

Cathy Russell, former president of Liberty Toastmasters North, opened the studio conversation by tying the founders’ pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of virtue, warning that the short-term pleasure of hedonism leads to long-term misery. She pointed listeners to her book Evolution’s Arc: The Story of Creation, an illustrated account of cosmic creativity, as a study of how understanding creation makes people better creators of value. Later in the show she drew a clear contrast between Christianity, which places the work of change on each individual, and communism, which waits for society itself to change.

“This pursuit of happiness is so important that it’s the pursuit of virtue and virtue that gives you long-lasting happiness.”

Cathy Russell, Former President, Liberty Toastmasters North

Francis de Geus on the Informal Rules of a Free Republic

Start listening at 4:14 – Hour 1

Francis de Geus, the incoming president of Liberty Toastmasters North, immigrated from Holland and became a citizen 24 years ago, an event he described as receiving an inheritance. He explained the heart of his book The Integrity Code, built on love, truth, and freedom, and argued that the formal rules written in the Constitution hold only when citizens live by the informal rules, the virtues a free republic depends on. He cited Frederick Douglass’s line that the life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.

“But there’s also the informal rules, which are part of what makes this country work, right? And what makes this republic work, and which keeps liberty alive. And to me, that is the virtues that we have to embody in ourselves.”

Francis de Geus, President, Liberty Toastmasters North

Table Topics on Service, Conversation, and the Ballot

Start listening at 29:09 – Hour 1

Rick Rome of Liberty Toastmasters in Denver argued that every person carries a God-given purpose and that the surest way to protect liberty is to tell the truth, become a fierce advocate, and serve others at every stage of life. What ties the causes together, he said, is service to one another.

“And if we’re actually serving one another, that is probably the best engagement that we can do to protect our liberty and protect our freedoms.”

Rick Rome, Liberty Toastmasters

Start listening at 32:18 – Hour 1

Marshall Dawson of Liberty Toastmasters North recounted how a patient, respectful friendship with a longtime Democrat shifted her toward libertarian ideas during his run for Congress. Listening and earning trust, he said, moves people in ways that argument never will.

“Changing somebody’s mind rarely happens quickly, and our only hope for directly convincing others is to invest in relationships and mastering the art of conversation.”

Marshall Dawson, Liberty Toastmasters North

Start listening at 36:34 – Hour 1

Fred Clifford, the new president of Liberty Toastmasters in Denver, made voting the foundation of citizenship, recalling a voter who skipped elections over integrity concerns. He urged listeners to research candidates themselves and even to run for office rather than wait for a perfect choice.

“When we’re voting, when we have a choice, we’re looking for the best choice of what’s available.”

Fred Clifford, President, Liberty Toastmasters

Start listening at 40:52 – Hour 1

Tim Cranston of Liberty Toastmasters in Denver used the image of a pebble dropped in water to show how small civic efforts spread outward, pointing to Penn Pfiffner’s early TABOR work, Kevin Lundberg’s Colorado Home Educators Association, and the 200,000-member Protect Kids Colorado as ripples that began small.

“And so you drop a little pebble in the water and just see how it can grow.”

Tim Cranston, Liberty Toastmasters

Start listening at 48:55 – Hour 1

Dave Walden said he has watched the country drift from its founding ideals over six decades. His advice to fellow citizens, drawn from his memoir Informed by Reason, is to lead by example rather than argument.

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an example is worth ten thousand.”

Dave Walden, Author, Informed by Reason

Lakewood Stalls a Citizen Zoning Petition

Start listening at 17:34 – Hour 1

Karen Gordey, owner of Radiant Painting and Lighting and leader of the Lakewood Citizens Alliance, reported that the city rejected a citizen zoning charter amendment on the grounds that an even-year special election would require roughly 15,000 signatures in six weeks. She said the council has since backed off a citywide rezoning in favor of eight incremental priority areas, and she remains cautiously optimistic that residents will be heard earlier in the process.

“They said it’s an even year, so this is a special election, and you have to collect over 12,000 signatures in six weeks with a buffer that’s 15,000 signatures if you want to have it on this year’s election.”

Karen Gordey, Owner, Radiant Painting and Lighting

A Classical Alternative as Colorado Math Scores Lag

Start listening at 63:28 – Hour 2

Priscilla Rahn, headmaster of Excalibur Classical Academy, said its kindergarten through third grade program will open this fall in Centennial with 100 percent scholarships available. She set that against Colorado’s results, citing Chalkbeat figures that 39 percent of fourth graders and 37.8 percent of eighth graders met state math standards, and described a screen-free classical curriculum rooted in phonics, Latin, and the great books, with parents treated as the first educators.

“You cannot wait for the public education system to get their act together.”

Priscilla Rahn, Headmaster, Excalibur Classical Academy

Reading The Communist Manifesto in Search of Definitions

Start listening at 75:07 – Hour 2

Producer Joe and Producer Luke continued their second-hour book review of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, following earlier installments on Machiavelli’s The Prince and Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson. Producer Joe said he wanted to understand what people mean when they throw around the word Marxist, and Producer Luke pressed the point that public debate often confuses the popular picture of communism with what Marx actually wrote about public versus state ownership. Kim Monson and her studio guests turned the discussion to human nature, with Francis de Geus and Cathy Russell arguing that a system requiring human nature to change first cannot hold, while the founders built a government of checks because they believed human nature is constant.

A Candidate for Colorado Senate District 17

Start listening at 105:31 – Hour 2

Pat Miller, a candidate for Colorado Senate District 17 covering Lafayette, Longmont, and Erie, said public service runs in her family and that she is stepping forward to defend families against a government she sees as increasingly intrusive. She called for voter identification, a single election day, and an end to most mail ballots, recalling that her own canvassing turned up seven voters registered at an empty lot.

“It’s been on my heart for all these 50 years that somebody should be defending the family because the government is more and more intrusive into our lives.”

Pat Miller, Candidate, Colorado Senate District 17