Corporate Cowardice and Historical Revisionism Threaten American Values

On October 9, 2019, Kim Monson explored the troubling intersection of corporate cowardice and ideological revisionism threatening American founding principles. The broadcast examined the NBA’s craven response to China’s censorship demands, the flood of out-of-state money targeting Colorado taxpayers through Proposition CC, and the New York Times’ 1619 Project that seeks to reframe American history around slavery rather than liberty.

Following the Money Behind Prop CC

Start listening at 18:00 – Hour 1

Sherry Pife of Complete Colorado exposes the massive out-of-state funding pouring into Colorado to convince voters to surrender their TABOR tax refunds forever. The National Education Association has already contributed $250,000, while Education Reform Now, a New York City-based advocacy group, has sent over $450,000 to the Yes on CC campaign. Pife reveals that the Yes on CC side has amassed over $2 million compared to just $17,000 for opponents.

The journalist highlights the hypocrisy of union spending, noting that if the National Education Association and Colorado Education Association had directed their political campaign spending toward classrooms instead, teachers would have the supplies they claim to lack. Republican Senator Owen Hill’s bill last year would have given teachers a tax credit for the $250 to $750 they spend out of pocket on classroom supplies, but Democrats killed it.

“If you add up the money spent that the National Education Association and the Colorado Education Association have spent on political campaigns in the last just four years, it’s well, I would venture to bet that it’s close to $2 million that they have spent on political ballot initiatives or electing certain candidates.”

Sherry Pife, Complete Colorado

The NBA’s Craven Surrender to Beijing

Start listening at 6:00 – Hour 1

Kim Monson dissects the NBA’s shameful response to China after Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong protesters. China Central Television suspended broadcast of NBA games, and the league initially issued an apology that critics called a capitulation to Beijing’s authoritarian demands. Commissioner Adam Silver later attempted damage control, claiming the NBA values free expression, but the incident reveals the price American corporations pay when they prioritize Chinese markets over American values.

Kim poses the central question: Are we exporting freedom or importing tyranny? When American businesses silence their own people to appease communist regimes, the answer becomes disturbingly clear. The $1.5 billion broadcast deal between CCTV and the NBA demonstrates how economic entanglement with authoritarian states threatens the free speech Americans take for granted.

Debunking the 1619 Project’s False Narrative

Start listening at 45:00 – Hour 1

Tom Krannawitter of Speakeasy Ideas systematically dismantles the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which attempts to reframe American history around slavery rather than the principles of the Declaration of Independence. The project aims to discredit the Constitution as irredeemably racist and equate capitalism with slavery, ultimately suggesting that freedom itself causes terrible institutions like slavery.

Krannawitter explains that the Americans did more to eliminate slavery more quickly than any people in human history, a fact the 1619 Project deliberately ignores. The Declaration of Independence’s assertion that all men are created equal created the moral framework that made slavery untenable. Within generations of the founding, Americans recognized that slavery contradicted their own principles and began the difficult work of ending it.

The constitutional scholar warns that we now live in a post-constitutional regulatory state where federal agencies control citizens’ lives with little connection to elected representatives. The 1619 Project drives another nail into the Constitution’s coffin by suggesting anyone defending constitutional authority must be racist.

“The Americans did more, and they acted more quickly to get rid of this horrific, old, ancient institution of human slavery than any group of people in all of human history. It’s actually astounding. It’s remarkable. It’s beautiful what the Americans did.”

Tom Krannawitter, Speakeasy Ideas