The Principle of One Person, One Vote Under Fire

On October 30, 2024, Nephi Cole, Hans Von Spakovsky, Trent Loos, and Ramey Johnson joined the show. Nephi Cole exposes how Proposition KK’s excise tax burdens law-abiding gun owners while Proposition 127’s trophy hunting ban and Denver’s fur ordinance threaten hunting traditions and Western commerce Heritage Foundation legal expert Hans Von Spakovsky dismantles ranked choice voting as confusing, chaotic, and anti-democratic, tracing its funding to left-wing mega. Firearms Freedoms and Ballot Measure Deceptions Start listening at 16:00 – Hour 1 Nephi Cole, director of state affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, exposes the deceptive marketing behind Colorado’s Proposition KK, an excise tax on firearms and ammunition that burdens law-abiding citizens rather than criminals. Cole explains that such taxes disproportionately affect those who can least afford protection, including single mothers in dangerous neighborhoods. The conversation extends to Proposition 127, a trophy hunting ban that Cole describes as a stepping stone toward eliminating hunting entirely. He notes that Colorado requires beneficial use of all harvested wildlife, making claims of trophy hunting misleading. Denver’s proposed fur ban in Ordinance 308 would devastate vendors at the National Western Stock Show and affect products ranging from cowboy hats to fishing lures. “The people that they hurt the most anytime that you add cost are people who can’t afford, or they’re people who are less privileged, and so that’s exactly what this does. It makes it more difficult for people to exercise their right to keep and bear arms.” Nephi Cole, Director of State Affairs, National Shooting Sports Foundation Ranked Choice Voting Threatens Electoral Integrity Start listening at 30:19 – Hour 1 Hans Von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, delivers a comprehensive critique of Proposition 131’s ranked choice voting and jungle primary provisions. He describes the system as confusing, chaotic, and fundamentally anti-democratic, citing New York City’s mayoral race where eight rounds of tabulation were required and 140,000 ballots were discarded due to voter exhaustion. Von Spakovsky traces the money behind ranked choice voting initiatives to left-wing mega donors including George Soros and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. He highlights that Alaska voters, after experiencing ranked choice voting, now have a referendum on their ballot to repeal it. The system’s complexity has even caused election officials to certify wrong winners, discovered only through outside audits months after elections. “Who would want to put in a system that in fact says, you know what, we don’t want to elect the people that a majority of voters want and believe is their first choice? This is actually very much an anti-democratic system.” Hans Von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow, Heritage Foundation Property Rights Under Global Assault Start listening at 68:55 – Hour 2 Trent Loos, sixth-generation farmer and rancher from Nebraska, connects property rights threats from conservation easements to transmission line corridors and solar industrial complexes. He emphasizes that these installations should never be called farms, arguing that language shapes public perception and policy. Loos highlights how solar panels manufactured and assembled in China are being placed around U.S...