Starting now.
Commonalities where guests find
common ground through uncommon
conversations, politics,
religion, finances,
all the topics your grandmother told
you not to discuss with friends.
And now your host, Matthew Dowling,
and today's guests on commonalities.
Well, good afternoon or good morning,
I guess I should say to everyone.
Um, my guest today is someone
that many of the wb, uh,
the Wmb s listeners are
familiar with Kendall Siler.
You normally hear her in the afternoon
on what's on your mind. But, uh,
we have Kendall on with us today, and
I'm gonna preface the show by, uh,
by apologizing to the listeners if I sound
a little hoarse or a little under the
weather. Um, I'm actually joining
the team via telephone, uh,
because just this morning I found out
that, uh, that I'm suffering from Covid,
so you won't see me out in
the public for the next, uh,
five to seven days or so. But, uh,
but we still wanted to be able to call
in via telephone and, and do the show.
So, Kendall, how are you today?
Good, thank you, Matt. I hope
that you, uh, feel better,
but I thought that you were gonna
preface it with something else.
Um, well, you know, I, I have to
explain to everyone, Kendall and i's,
uh, friendship and
relationship. We go back, uh,
all the way to high school and, uh,
and both of us were members of
the morning announcement crew.
Um, so we got our airtime
training <laugh>, uh,
in Pete O's office, uh, many years ago.
And then we had a lot of fun with
that. Isn't that right, Kendall? Yeah.
It was morning and afternoon
announcements, if you
recall me, you and Dave, me,
you and Dave. Shout out to Dave.
Yep. And, and unfortunately,
Dave's not with us today, but, uh,
but I think we'll be able to handle
this down this, uh, this today. Now,
the topic that we had said that
we're gonna discuss is, um,
is kind of, uh, one that people are,
are talking about a lot right now,
because corporations are
being forced to make calls
and to get involved with policy items.
And some people refer to
this as corporate wokeness.
And what I draw to mind is, uh,
is one of the items that
just happened this week. Um,
m and m decided that they were going to
permanently shelf their spokes candies,
and they were no longer going to use
those because they have become divisive.
And, uh, people have started,
uh, attributing different,
uh, different things to the
characteristic characteristics of those
spokes candies. Uh,
so instead they're opting to go with
a human being as their spokesperson
for a while. But we're seeing
this in a lot of different, uh,
corporate atmospheres. And, you know,
I kind of feel for the corporations
themselves because, you know,
I don't know that it's always by
choice that they get involved in these,
uh, items. It's more by force where
individuals are saying, listen,
if you don't weigh in on this, uh,
we're gonna boycott your
company and your product. And,
uh, and, and I think they puts them
in a very difficult position. So,
Kendall, I don't know if you had
any thoughts on that. I know we, uh,
we discussed this a little
bit before the show.
Um, yeah. And are we
taking calls today, Matt?
Yeah, we'd be happy to take calls.
So if you want to throw
that number out there,
I think that would be great as well.
Okay. That's (724) 438-4593.
Call in and weigh in only on the
topics, um, or the topic rather that,
that Matt is, um, has chosen for
the, for his show today. Yes.
So I guess I've been wanting to talk
to you about this, uh, since we,
earlier in the week, whenever I, we
decided that I was gonna be your guest.
Who are these, these quote
unquote people that are, you know,
putting the ideas into,
um, the head of, you know,
corporate figureheads to come
up with these decisions. Like,
are they boards of directors? Are
they letters from concerned consumers,
or what are, like,
where does this start from an and I feel
like you're experience in Harrisburg
would maybe give, uh,
me and the listeners a little more insight
into where is this starting? Because,
you know, fortunately for us, I think,
uh, we live in a, um, a small town,
um, in southwestern Pennsylvania where
we've been really fortunate to not be too
affected by the, the wokeness of,
of the world at this point in, in,
in a good way. I think, you know, um,
we all coexist peacefully and
we're respectful to one another,
and we don't nitpick at little
things that are so trivial. Um,
so where is this come?
Where does this start?
You know,
I think this is all kind of a movement
that's coming from consumers and
a thought that this social
justice is extremely important,
and I wanna kind of, you know,
put in there that it, these
are important issues. Okay?
So let's say that I'm a consumer
that's extremely concerned
with the way that, uh, with
these candies, for example, are,
uh, are portrayed.
And I am really concerned with rights for
all people regardless
of sexual orientation.
And that's really what it came down
to with the m and m, is that certain,
um, of the m and m characters were
kind of be being portrayed as,
um, maybe being homosexual or so forth.
So I'm concerned with equal rights
for all people regardless of sexual
orientation. Um, so I
start a campaign and,
and we have things like change.org where
I can get other individuals to sign
on. And we are,
we're now taking on m and m
and we're making this point.
The issue that I have is, you know,
regardless of where you sit
on this or other issues,
we are really kind of making
something that's trivial
into a big item, excuse me, when,
when other things that, um,
could be more productive
could take our time and focus.
And that's what really bothers
me about this. You know,
we're not gonna win a
social justice argument, uh,
about equality for, um,
the L G B T community
by taking on m and m.
There's more that these
people could be doing,
but they kind of get pigeonholed
into focusing just on this
one, uh, microcosm of an IS issue.
And they take that on by head.
And I, I guess for me,
a lot of times my mind doesn't
even shift to an issue until
some kind of ridiculous, uh,
marketing campaign is, is,
or advertising campaign
is switched over to,
we have to make this look more like that
or make this less like that. I mean,
they're m and ms, you know, I think that,
uh, and that's just a, a for example,
right? But I, I, to be honest, I
have to say, I'm kind of tired of,
of hearing about it because what do,
what do little chocolate
characters on a package
have anything to do with equal rights?
Because I'm pretty sure we are at a
place right now where there are equal
rights. You can be a girl than a boy,
then back to a girl, if you choose,
you can dress like a boy. If you're
a girl, you can dress like a girl.
If you're a boy, you can be married
to, to someone of the same sex.
You can have children, you can raise a
family, you know, uh, you can move up in,
in, in the world of, uh,
whatever your career is. Uh,
you can run for office and win.
Uh, I just, I'm not seeing where,
where there's a lack of equal rights
at this point. And I'm gladly,
I'm happy to say that, but I, I just
don't, here's the thing. For me,
I would rather see there be a, um,
a movement to getting these silly
little characters off of the,
the box cereal boxes. I mean, other,
other countries have done that, right?
Because they don't wanna appeal to little
kids because there's nothing but high
fructose corn syrup in there. We know
what that does to, to people. And so,
like,
why is the movement about something we've
already accomplished and not towards
something that we have a
long way to go, you know?
Yeah. And, and you know, we're
using the example of, um,
of the m and ms and the L G B T community,
but there are so many other
corporations that are kind of being, um,
held hostage at the same
time. And before the show,
I supplied Bill with an
edited down clip, um,
that I believe was from Fox Business,
that if he has ready, we could,
could go ahead and play.
And I think that will allow us
to expand and add to our, uh,
to our conversations a little bit.
Look, Ian, I want your reaction to
Kroger and another grocery store chain,
Harris Teeter. They're pulling, they're
pro-American items from store shelves.
What they're pulling includes, I think
I can show 'em on your screen, the,
the Cozies featuring guns and
American flags and items that read,
give me liberty or give me
death on the screen right now.
They pulled those items.
What is going on here?
You can't be pro-American
in the supermarket.
No. You know, you can't be pro-America,
but you can be propri mark, right?
So you go to any supermarket, you go to
any store, you're gonna see pride flags,
pride paraphernalia. But when it comes
to American paraphernalia, patriotism,
American flags, you know, uh, statements
from Patrick Henry, that's apparently,
you know, that's, that's over the line.
And stores can't do that. And, you know,
you know the saying, uh, go woke, get
broke. That's, uh, or get woke, go broke.
That's what we're seeing here. I mean,
we're seeing these big stores, um,
from the,
from corporate America that are injecting
wokeness into everything they do. And,
you know, ultimately they end
up paying for it when, you know,
customers stop shopping there and stock
prices start going down just like this
as Disney.
Well, I do you think that your
winning this battle against c r t.
You know, it's a long fight
and, uh, I think we're,
we're just at the start of it,
and, and we've really, you know,
over the past year and a half
have, have entered that fight.
And parents have have realized
what's going on in schools.
But this is not the kind of thing that's
gonna be solved in a year or two years.
It's gonna really take a generation to
get our educational system back to the
basics.
That sounds absolutely awful. Ian
Pryor, you're doing good work there.
Thanks very much for joining us today.
Appreciate it, sir. Thank very much.
You got me, you got.
So I think there was some good
information there in that clip. Um,
if nothing else, but hearing a
British man say the word cuis, um,
you know, I, I think that was,
uh, that was entertaining. But we,
we are seeing now where institutions
or organizations like grocery
stores are now removing, uh,
American items from their shelves
because they don't want to be seen
as, um,
as being pro-American or anti, um,
black Lives Matter, et cetera,
like that. Um, and, and so it,
it puts these organizations in a really
difficult position. Um, you know,
bill Kendall, what are your thoughts?
I, I, you know, and you're, you're, you're
much more tapped into the political,
the political sphere on a
much more official level. Um,
what I just don't know
where it's coming from.
And that's my biggest,
biggest question. You know,
where is this starting from? And it
has to be more than change.org, right?
I mean, and, and, and then you have to
wonder as well, I know that corporations,
they're, you know, they have to, they
have to generate revenue. They have to,
they have certain things
that they have to be,
they're held accountable
for on their level.
But aren't they concerned
that there's a number, uh, uh,
just as many people who will
turn their backs on that,
on that corporation if they
play along, play into this,
um, fiasco, if, if you will?
Well, I think that's a real and
serious issue that corporations face,
and this is why I, I kind of
feel for them because, you know,
there is a backlash that
happens when they do go to
the woke side, or let's,
let's look at this not only
for organizations that go,
um, with movements towards the left,
but let's look at Chick-fil-A
and, uh, hobby Lobby,
where, you know, your overhead music
at Hobby Lobby is all Christian music.
Chick-fil-A is not open on Sundays,
and both of those organizations
get pushed back from the left
because of the stance that
they take that's on the right.
And you almost wanna say,
you know, can't my chicken,
you know, fast food chicken
place stay out of politics?
But they do have, as a
private organization,
every right to make a
statement if they so wish. Um,
but there, there is backlash
that happens on both sides.
And I think the ultimate irony is
that Harris Teeter is based out of
North Carolina, where you just don't
do these kind of things. <laugh>,
if you want a majority of your, uh,
clientele to go shop at Lowe's
or at, uh, picky Wiggly,
we have to take a quick break
here, then we'll be back. Uh,
this is commonalities with Matt Doley.
Kendall Siler is our guest
on your local station, W n b.
You are listening to commonalities.
We're guests find common ground
through Uncommon Conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home, that's sense of belonging.
Those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing
spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider
softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first
comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet service to
our city residents. We've done a lot,
but there's still more to do. So, I Bill
Gerkey. I'm running for a second term.
We're Uniontown proud,
we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild
Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Bill Gerkey.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling At Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers,
freshly painted walls,
granite countertops, gleaming
hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might
be revealed when you hire a
home inspector. And when it
comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View Inspections,
is an architectural engineer with over
30 years of commercial construction
experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to
walk through the home and prepare
a report outlining the home's major
components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after you
move in your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
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You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon Conversations.
And this is commonalities with Matt
Doley on your local station W mbs.
The discussion now is corporate
wokeness with a companies
basically having woke policies,
and are they doing
themselves a favor or not?
If you'd like to get in on the discussion,
it's 7 2 4 4 3 8 4 5 9 3.
Now back to our host Matt Dowling
and his guest, Kendall Siler.
Hello. Thank you for having me, Matt.
Hey, uh, you know, thank you guys and, uh,
thanks for staying with us through
the commercial break. You know,
this is an important conversation,
I think because we are
seeing how these policies
ultimately are affecting the corporations,
and then in turn, they affect, uh,
employment for those who work for
the corporations. Um, you know,
not necessarily because of of
wokeness or a cancel culture,
but we saw Google this week lay off 25,000
employees. Um, you know,
so we know that these
large corporations at a
whim can take a turn that can
really hurt the job market.
And, uh, and that's something that,
uh, that I'm concerned with and,
and I think our viewers at home
would be concerned with as well. Um,
you know, we've been talking about
m and m and their policy, um,
but you know, Disney decided to, uh,
to weigh in on the Florida,
don't say gay bill, uh,
that was being pushed by
Governor Ron Des Santos. Um,
obviously a hard right, uh,
individual who's looking to run, uh,
potentially for president of the
United States in, in the next, uh,
campaign cycle. Um, but you know,
Disney made some fatal
flaws in weighing in on that
bill because they were
being hit from one side,
saying they didn't do it soon enough.
And from the other side saying
that they made changes at all,
uh, based on that legislation.
And, uh, Bob Cheick,
who was the, uh, CEO and president
of the Disney organization,
ultimately lost his job.
And a lot of people are, um,
attributing Mickey, firing him, uh,
to that decision that
was made. Um, so again,
Kendall and Bill, you carried a weigh
in. And again, if you're at home,
you can call us. Uh, and, uh,
and I'll get one of them to throw
the number out if you wanna join the
conversation.
7 2 4 4 3 8 4 5 9 3. I do
have some things to say, bill,
do you have anything about this? Don't,
but for one, I the don't say gay bill.
I'm not sure how it even
got to be called that,
because it doesn't say anywhere
in the bill. Don't say gay.
It's simply not to teach. Um, what
is it, sexual orientation, um,
discussion or instruction of sexual
orientation in elementary schools. I mean,
is since when did we ever learn
about that in the first place?
Whether I'm heterosexual or a homosexual?
Yeah, I've, I just, you know,
this is the same country where
we are feeling magnificently in
math.
In.
Science, in science, yeah, yeah.
And things like that. Uh, so, uh,
and you,
you developed good mathematicians
in the first and second. Great.
Yeah. And, and what,
does that have anything to do
with the elementary school?
I don't have children,
God-willing. I do someday,
but the last thing I care for them
to learn in school is don't say,
is to be taught about sexual
orientation or any discussion at all.
And I think that there was an article
that Matt had sent me. Um, it says,
the bill sponsors have e empathetically
stated the bill would not prohibit
students from talking about their b lgbtq
families or bar classroom discussion
about L lgbtq Q history,
including events like the 2016
deadly attack on the pulse nightclub,
a gay club in Orlando. Instead, they
argu argue that the bill would be,
excuse me, bar the instruction
of sexual gender and identity.
And when I say good, I do,
and, and listen, another thing,
why does that opinion of mine
that is shared by many others,
why does that turned into anti-gay
or anti L lgbtq? Because it is,
couldn't be any further
from from that. You know.
I think we, I think we're just say,
say nobody here really cares
whether anybody is gay or not.
At all. Yeah.
You know, I, everyone, and, and I
say this probably on all of my shows,
that, you know, I've taken votes
so people know how far right I am.
Um, but you know, that's a topic
that doesn't even bother me.
I I have friends that are gay. I, I
communicate with people that are gay. I,
I support their rights. You know,
my faith background wouldn't allow
them to get married in my church.
But I think as far as the government is
concerned, if two individuals of the,
of the same orientation or, or
the same sex one to get married,
they should be able to in the eyes
of the government. Um, you know,
so as a far right individual,
this isn't even an issue for me,
but I do have issue with
the rights of parents being
taken away and for this to be
educated within our classrooms.
And I also look at it from the perspective
of that teacher. Now, you know,
let's be honest, we have some far left
teachers that are there, but, you know,
Kendall, we went to school
together for many years.
Most of our teachers didn't
want to project their
political, uh, affiliation
or, or thoughts on any of us.
You know,
that teacher that's being mandated
to talk about sexual orientation,
does they really even wanna
be part that discussion?
Well, and let me ask you
this. I I, I agree. Um, and I,
I highly doubt it. However,
how much of this topic,
you know, because, because for me and,
uh, many others, like, and I, you know,
I talk to a lot of people being, um,
with, with what I do for a living.
And so how much of this is
being perpetuated by the media?
Like how much of this is actually an
issue when it really comes to schools and,
uh, what kind of education they're
being provided as far as, uh,
discussions of sexual orientation
or not? I mean, is it,
is that really as big of a thing?
Or is it because Fox News wants to
perpetuate that they, that they want to,
or CNN wants to say it, that they don't,
you know, beyond that? Is it a true,
I mean, is it a true issue?
I know your constituency was probably
not as hyped up about that topic,
um, maybe with concerns that it
would become a topic, but you know,
just talking to other representatives
and even other areas or paying attention,
which you probably do more
than I do on a national level,
do you really think it's
that big of an issue,
or do you think it just makes a headline
really good and it's an easy share?
Well, you know, I, I have to
jump back a couple episodes to,
to this program where we
had John Steigerwald on,
and many people in the Pittsburgh region
know John and his brother for being,
um, you know, epic
sportscasters over the years,
but John now has a
conservative talk radio show,
and he was a guest on my program,
and he talked a little bit about, um,
the sweeps that the media goes through
and the fact that they are being
forced for ratings, ratings, ratings.
And John was sympathizing
for the young guys and
gals that are in the media now, um,
who really want to do good
investigative reporting
and be good journalists,
but they are being forced to go out and,
and get the ratings. Now this, you know,
doesn't have to do with wokeness
or with a political agenda,
but think about the days when we
have bad weather and they have five
different journalists on
the same news program,
all reporting on the weather from
a gas station, um, you know, at,
at all points of the
Pittsburgh region. Um, these,
these people in the media are being
forced to just report what they know will
get ratings mm-hmm. <affirmative>
and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know,
blood guts, gore, and, uh, in bad weather,
bring in the ratings,
but also, um, you know,
when they can kind of stoke
the fire to be able to,
to cause controversy. That
brings in ratings too. And,
and so I I just go back to that
conversation with, with Steigerwald where,
you know, these, these young
journalists don't want to do it,
but the owners of these broadcasting
networks and newspapers are forcing
them, uh,
to go that direction because they need
the ratings and they need the ratings so
that they can get the sponsorship. Yep.
And they can bring in the dollars. Yep.
Yeah. And, uh, an old saying in the
newsrooms, if it bleeds, it leads,
you would know, bill. And with that, uh,
we have a caller waiting on the line.
We'll get to you right after we take
this break on commonalities on your local
station. Wm.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling
of home. That's sense of belonging.
Those fall Friday nights under the
lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing
spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider
softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and
hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those
memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future.
During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back
to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first
comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's
section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted
properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty
equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more
competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet
service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's
still more to do. So I Bill Gerkey,
I'm running for a second term. We're
Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild
Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid for by Mayor Ky.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media
management, video production,
and more for businesses, organizations,
and political campaigns
with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can
help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world. For a no
risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
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or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
When it comes to buying a home.
What you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling at Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers, freshly
painted walls, granite countertops,
gleaming hardwood floors,
and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might
be revealed when you hire a
home inspector. And when it
comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View
Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds
of inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after you
move in your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your invest is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You're listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
Commonalities with Matt Dowling.
And, uh, Matt, we are going to,
we are going to, uh, go
to the phones and say, hi,
you are on commonalities.
Who are we speaking with?
Well, maybe I can throw a
little light on this and, uh,
answer a question posed by Kendall.
She was asking where all this comes from.
If you trace back the
story of American Brands,
Reuters,
which is a British news service
similar to our Associated Press,
did a survey, this was a few months ago,
and I called in Russ
and told him about it,
did a survey of Southern grocery
stores and found three brands
that, uh, were politically
incorrect, notably Dixie Beer.
And those brands were all
hounded off the shelves.
Uh, Dixie Beer, of course, you know,
makes us all think we're slave
owners if you drink that.
So Reuters is one of those news
services, and this is what's interesting.
Um, Reuters is, uh, a new service.
They generally report news. They don't
go out and do investigative reporting.
So it's a lot of, it's coming
from this British news service,
which used to be very
objective. Now look at Kroger's,
chief director, chief
owner, Warren Buffet, uh,
the so-called Oracle of Omaha. He's
a brilliant, brilliant financier.
Uh, Warren Buffett, a former
owner of the Washington Post,
I'll let you guess his politics.
This is how this stuff goes on.
Certain people who own
companies, news services,
newspapers, uh, are proactive.
Jeff Bezos now is an owner
of the Washington Post.
Take a look at their politics. Take,
take a look at what we're
being told by those papers. Uh,
it's very simple. If you look
at the people behind this, uh,
bill Gates as well is very, uh, proactive.
So that's where this is coming from.
Kendall, to answer your question, mate,
does that help a little.
Yes. Thank you, Frank. Thank, thank
you, Frank, thank you for the call,
and I'm sure we'll be talking
with you again. Who knows,
maybe later this afternoon.
You never know. Do you.
<Laugh>?
Thank.
You, Frank. Thank you, Frank. So this
is, this is commonalities with Matt Doley
7 2 4 4 3 8 4 5 9 3. And,
uh, also are, are they, are they
playing a game of gotcha here too?
For instance, the whole thing
about the don't say gay bill,
was that more to maybe throw
a few arrows into Rhonda SANEs
than maybe really concerned about
the don't say gay bill, you know,
so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I, and it goes
to the, uh, we all say, you know,
we think it's people in, uh, Washington
that are running the show. It's not,
they're, they're puppets too,
right? And you know, Matt,
you can speak to the fact that you
were, um, in office and, you know,
while you, while you can say all you, all,
you want that you go to Harrisburg and
you vote exactly what you believe in and
what your constituents want, you also
know that you wanna get reelected, right?
So there's certain times and certain, uh,
groups of people that you have
to work for, quote unquote,
and sometimes that might not
align with your personal beliefs,
but you're not in there
for your personal beliefs.
You're there to represent the people.
And so it's no different, I mean,
it's no different on a, on a
local level, right? I mean,
we know there's certain people in this
town that run the show, or, you know,
you can make a call to this
person and get that changed or,
and it just trickles, it trickles
up and, uh, or down either way. Um,
what are your thoughts on that, Matt,
when it comes to just the politics, um,
corporate controlling the
poli the politics as well?
You know, I, I think that it puts, uh,
it puts people that are in
politics into a difficult position,
because you're completely right. You're
always looking at reelection and,
you know, we,
we could have a different conversation
at another time about term limits and
about, um, about the length
of, of time in office.
You know, I was serving a two year term,
so every other year I was constantly
running for reelection mm-hmm.
<affirmative>, mm-hmm.
<affirmative>, um, you know, and,
and that becomes bothersome.
But even when you're looking at this
from a corporation's point of view,
you know, their goal is to make money.
So they're hedging a bet on, you know,
do I get more points for weighing
in on this, not weighing in on this,
should I be on the left or the
right of this issue? Who are my, uh,
my consumers and how
am I pleasing them? Um,
so it puts them in a very
bad position as well. And it,
it's even worse with the corporation
because as an individual, you know,
Matt Dowling elected to the office,
I know right from wrong, and I'm gonna
make a decision based on that. Yeah.
Sometimes my decision
making skills are tainted by
what my constituency wants,
but a corporation doesn't have
the mindset to say this is
right or wrong. Their only mindset is,
does this make me money or lose me money?
That, that being said, if
Chick-fil-A was open on,
on Sundays that think how much extra
money they would make, you know,
so you also do sometimes stand
up, but, uh, to your point, Matt,
if a gay couple comes to you as
the state representative and says,
we're having a trouble with
the state licensing board,
we wanna open a hardware store and
we can't get things moving, then you,
you don't care whether
they're a gay couple.
You care that they're a business
trying to get something accomplished.
Sure. And.
That's totally different, right? Like,
those are the kind of people
I wanna represent, you know,
or those are the people I wanna fight
for, you know, people that have the, the,
the same rights as every other American,
regardless of their sexual orientation.
But that's far different than hurting
someone's feelings because an m and m
character doesn't look gay enough,
looks too gay, looks too much as who.
Cares, actually wears Gogo boots.
That's what the objection was.
That they were.
Or weren't. They, they were wearing
Go-Go boots and they put 'em in sneakers.
Anyway, that's insulting.
And we're gonna take our final
break and then wrap things up with a
commonalities with Matt Dowling.
You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon Conversations.
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You are listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
This is commonalities with Matt Delling.
Our, the guest is Kendall Siler,
and we'll get the final thoughts
as we have about two minutes left.
Yeah, so I'm, I'm, I'm not used to
being a guest, um, but it, and I was,
I told Matt earlier, I was nervous
and I told Bill as well, but Matt,
I really appreciate you having me on.
I think this is, um, a very, it is,
you know, not to plug, but a hot
topic. And I think that, you know,
like I said to you, um, I, I had said
to Bill off the air and I text you,
I think we should do an interview on our
show with you, um, because I do wonder,
and don't answer now,
but would this be a conversation you
would be having publicly if you were still
in office or running for office?
And, and how does that change, um,
once you're post, um,
service in office and you're able to
just be a part of the people like we are
all the time and, um, to have more open
conversations about things that are,
you know, they can, they
are hot button issues.
Sure. Well, I, you know, I think that's
a great final thought and, and, uh, and,
and something that we could do on a,
on another day, on on your program. Um,
you know, when you're in
your office, you are kind of,
your tongue is held a little bit because
you have to be careful what you say.
Um, and that's why I'm enjoying this
show so much, uh, now in my post,
uh, legislative service days,
because I can be, uh, open and,
and more free with, uh, with
my thoughts and opinions. Um,
but ultimately through the
show commonalities, uh,
I want to bring all of that
transparency to light, um,
with our current elected
officials as well. And, you know,
we go in and we vote for these people.
We should know what their thoughts and
opinions are. Um, you know, it's, it's,
uh, a glossy, uh, mail piece that
you get in the mail with, uh,
with a beautiful wife
and a dog and 2.5 kids.
<laugh> doesn't really tell you what
that person thinks or believes. And,
uh.
And with, and with that, Matt,
we've gotta wrap it up. Uh,
we'll see you again on Tuesday.
Thank you, Matt.
This has been commonalities,
a show where guests find common
ground through uncommon conversations.
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