Speaker 1: It's the sun they are pushing.
Speaker 2: People aren't talking about a violent.
Speaker 1: Rhetoric against us, but if we dare to fight back,
Speaker 1: we are the violent one.
Speaker 2: Fifty five KRS the talk station.
Speaker 1: ATO five, the.
Speaker 2: Fifty five KRCD talk station. Brian Thomas wishing everyone a
Speaker 2: very happy Wednesday and welcoming to the fifty five KRC
Speaker 2: Morning showman X guest Bernie Mullen. Bernie is the author
Speaker 2: of the book We're going to be talking about Reimagining
Speaker 2: the American Dream, among other books. A founder and chairman
Speaker 2: of something called the Aspire Group, which works with partners
Speaker 2: and to maximize organizational effectiveness, grow revenues and attendance along
Speaker 2: the sports line. Under his guidance, they have grown into
Speaker 2: a massive company generating over two hundred million dollars annually
Speaker 2: revenue and has served two hundred plus brands and properties
Speaker 2: across eleven countries and three continents in seventeen different sports.
Speaker 2: Which is his forte internationally acclaim management, marketing consultant and author.
Speaker 2: He is a chief executive and senior director at multiple organizations.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Morning Show. Go on with your resume.
Speaker 2: We'd spend a whole time doing that Bernie Mullen, author
Speaker 2: of Realigning America's Dream.
Speaker 1: Thank you Brian for having me on. And yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's enough background.
Speaker 2: Well the subtitle making it attainable for all, and you
Speaker 2: talk about the erosion of the American dream and how
Speaker 2: a lot of people believe the American dream is increasingly unattainable,
Speaker 2: a lot of division in our country and a lot
Speaker 2: of problems. Generally, the pot's being stirred by multiple forces,
Speaker 2: both within and outside of our country. But let's start
Speaker 2: with the concept of the American dream. How do you
Speaker 2: How does Bernie Mullen define the American dream? Because I
Speaker 2: imagine some people perceive the concept differently.
Speaker 1: Very much. So, yeah, well I define it as you know,
Speaker 1: I grew up in England, so I'm an immigrant, and
Speaker 1: I had an uncle from Canada an uncle from New
Speaker 1: York who both spent extensive time in England. When I
Speaker 1: was a little boy, told me the dream, the dream
Speaker 1: was a better life, you know. So everybody thinks it's
Speaker 1: you know, own your own home and those other kind
Speaker 1: of things, which I think is very much part of it.
Speaker 1: But it's a better life. And so I've been here
Speaker 1: fifty one years and in those fifty one years, I
Speaker 1: have been able to have a better life for me
Speaker 1: than I believe it would have gotten in England, and
Speaker 1: for my kids and my grandkids. So I think, in
Speaker 1: simplicity that's what it is. But I think in today's context, Brian,
Speaker 1: it is a uniting force that brings people together, particularly immigrants,
Speaker 1: but not just immigrants, every American well in a common
Speaker 1: theme and.
Speaker 2: A better life. You know, when I was growing up,
Speaker 2: you know, one of my days and it's the old adage.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not the only family that grew up
Speaker 2: in an environment where you know, Dad, mom would say
Speaker 2: you are going to grow up and do better than
Speaker 2: I have done. And I always perceived it as a
Speaker 2: young person that that was always from an economic standpoint.
Speaker 2: You know, you're gonna end up making more money than me,
Speaker 2: You're going to be better off than me. And I
Speaker 2: grew up in a very nice lifestyle. I'll be the
Speaker 2: first person to admit, and honestly, Bernie, my drive and
Speaker 2: my initiative to get a college degree, go to law school,
Speaker 2: practice law, and then for the last eighteen years do
Speaker 2: this was always you know, no one's going to be
Speaker 2: there to take care of me. I didn't grow up
Speaker 2: in a world where I was going to inherit my
Speaker 2: father's job. As odd as it is that I ultimately
Speaker 2: did that. I practiced law for sixteen years. But my
Speaker 2: drive came from the lifestyle that I was accustomed to,
Speaker 2: and I didn't want to lose it, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Exactly, Yeah, you know, I grew up in very much
Speaker 1: a blue collar income, subsidized house council houses he called
Speaker 1: it in England. My dad worked in a local grocery
Speaker 1: store and had a terrible job. You know, he carried
Speaker 1: the meat in an out he cut up all the
Speaker 1: bones and ground up all the fat and couldn't cut
Speaker 1: up meat. I mean, eventually he went to sell life
Speaker 1: insurance and so about the time I was eleven, we
Speaker 1: moved to nice, middle class But to me, it was
Speaker 1: it was always about maximizing your opportunity. I think one
Speaker 1: of the arguments we get hung up on is everybody's equal, Well,
Speaker 1: everybody's nutty. No, yeah, We're all entitled to equality, an
Speaker 1: equal opportunity because we all have our differences. So, you know,
Speaker 1: in the lives of the law and the state and
Speaker 1: the eyes of God, you know, I believe in or
Speaker 1: created the universe for anybody to believe that. Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: all in titled equal opportunity to prove our differences, to
Speaker 1: maximize what we've got. And my dad taught me two things.
Speaker 1: Number one, hard work, elbow grief was the phrase you
Speaker 1: never hear today. Yeah, you know, it was a hard worker.
Speaker 1: And number two was values and integrity. Your word is
Speaker 1: your bond.
Speaker 2: Honestly, well, that's exactly the environment I was brought up in,
Speaker 2: different economically speaking, but those, of course were the core
Speaker 2: values of the family, you know, honesty, integrity, treating people,
Speaker 2: you know, with dignity and respect. But you know, in
Speaker 2: modern society, it's like the participation trophy. You're going to
Speaker 2: get something just by showing up. And this is really
Speaker 2: watered down that drive and an issue to the young
Speaker 2: people used to have, you know, that sort of feeling
Speaker 2: that I had. Listen, if I don't fend for myself,
Speaker 2: ain't nobody going to be there to fend for me.
Speaker 2: You have to use the tools that you have at
Speaker 2: your disposal to your advantage. And that just seems to
Speaker 2: be washed out the window on this whole idea that
Speaker 2: merit no longer matters and equity must be applied to
Speaker 2: everything across the board.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the participation trophy yorks me more than anything else.
Speaker 1: It's not American, you know. I came to America in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three. In nineteen eighty six, I was CENIVP
Speaker 1: oft the Pittsburgh Pirates, back in our battles with the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds and then with the Braves, and never went
Speaker 1: in the National League. And to me, I grew up
Speaker 1: with as one winner and the second place is first loser.
Speaker 1: And you know that drives you. And we've dumbed everything
Speaker 1: down in schools. With dumbing things down, We've got rid
Speaker 1: of standardized tests because they're perceived to be racially biased,
Speaker 1: and they may well be. And I understand that. And
Speaker 1: my book, you know, is the journey of all the
Speaker 1: different places I've lived in America. I've worked in three times,
Speaker 1: I've worked in all four time zone, lived in three
Speaker 1: or four time zones, and come to see the beauty
Speaker 1: of American American values and American values is competition is
Speaker 1: what made us different, what made us the greatest country
Speaker 1: on Earth. I grew up in Europe. I've worked in
Speaker 1: eleven countries around the world for my business, and I
Speaker 1: know that we are the greatest country on earth, and yeah,
Speaker 1: we've got some wartz, but then why are people dying
Speaker 1: to get in here? You know, if we're that bad?
Speaker 1: And we've got to stop this nasty division at the
Speaker 1: political level, with the extreme right pulling in one direction,
Speaker 1: extreme left pulling in the opposite direction. According to Pew Research,
Speaker 1: sixty five percent of Americans are in the middle. Like me,
Speaker 1: I'm fiscally conservative with a warm heart and a social conscience,
Speaker 1: and I think the way they solve it and recommendations
Speaker 1: in the book is to push from the bottom up
Speaker 1: by making the American dream truly attainable for everybody, which
Speaker 1: is all about education. I believe, hmm, an opportunity.
Speaker 2: Well, and that's where I wrote the word nefarious down
Speaker 2: because I do believe the dumbing down of America is
Speaker 2: nefarious in intent. Children are not thought critical, skinking thinking,
Speaker 2: logic and reason have been thrown out the window. And
Speaker 2: whether or not you think standardized tests are right or not,
Speaker 2: at least testing is being done some places, when they
Speaker 2: throw out testing, they end up I don't know what
Speaker 2: they even use this criteria to see if you're qualified.
Speaker 2: I mean, last thing I want is a doctor that
Speaker 2: is an equity higher. You know, someone who hasn't shown
Speaker 2: the ability in college to actually master the subject matter. No,
Speaker 2: that person shouldn't be advanced in a grade level. This
Speaker 2: person should be held back until they can achieve that
Speaker 2: level and then move on with the skills they need
Speaker 2: for the next level. This is crazy what we're doing
Speaker 2: in America. It's nefarious.
Speaker 1: Well it is. It is briant. When I got to
Speaker 1: the Pirates, we had a fully integrated team on the field,
Speaker 1: and we had two minorities. One was a clerk and
Speaker 1: another one was a secretary in the entire front office.
Speaker 1: And we diversified, but we diversified based upon quality, based
Speaker 1: upon qualification. And you know, political correctness has its place,
Speaker 1: but political correctness tends to cover up a lot of
Speaker 1: people's feelings. And I think a lot of the frustration
Speaker 1: and anger is COVID being stuck in a home all
Speaker 1: of that length over it. And also it is the
Speaker 1: political correctness that we can say what we really feel.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the problems in the election.
Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons why people like Trump
Speaker 1: is that he says what he feels. One of the people,
Speaker 1: one of the groups that don't like him is because
Speaker 1: he says what he feels. And I'm not a Trump supporter.
Speaker 1: I am right in the middle politically, and I can
Speaker 1: see the craziness of the wokeness of the left. And
Speaker 1: you know, the book talks about starting with preschool, free
Speaker 1: preschool for everybody. It's not entitlement, it's not just minorities,
Speaker 1: it's for everybody. So a kid goes into into kindergarten
Speaker 1: able to read, right to basic math, be socialized the
Speaker 1: success by third grade. Anybody who cannot read at third
Speaker 1: grade level is five times more likely to go to jail,
Speaker 1: get involved in crime, teenage, pregnancy, and all the other
Speaker 1: you know, substance abuse, all the other antisocial programs. So
Speaker 1: it's one hundred one hundred billion a year. It's what
Speaker 1: we'll pay for, you know, the storms that are heading
Speaker 1: in Florida right now. It's what we've given to Ukraine,
Speaker 1: It's what we've given to Gaza in Israel. And I'm
Speaker 1: saying invest that in all of our youth, every one
Speaker 1: of them, and do it well. And I'm not number one.
Speaker 2: I get that point, Bernie. But the problem is is
Speaker 2: that the vehicle through which they're supposed to learn to
Speaker 2: read has become just a mere indoctrination camp. They're not
Speaker 2: being taught to read, they're not being taught mathematics. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you look at the statistics in the testing scores
Speaker 2: across this great land bards, I mean notably like Baltimore
Speaker 2: and Chicago, they're like the low double digits of eighth
Speaker 2: graders who are capable of reading at grade level. They
Speaker 2: are not doing the service to our kids. So you
Speaker 2: end up getting they get indoctrinated in political correctness, gender terminology,
Speaker 2: then in global warming propaganda. They're not learning the critical skills.
Speaker 2: So in an ideal world, I agree with you, kids
Speaker 2: should be able to read by third grade. They will
Speaker 2: benefit the American economy and help us be better. But
Speaker 2: we're putting them in schools that don't do that.
Speaker 1: Couldn't agree with you more. And the unions, you know,
Speaker 1: the union position all the way through COVID. Given the
Speaker 1: kids at home obviously massive it pay increases. You know,
Speaker 1: what we've got to do is we've got to go
Speaker 1: back to the basics. You know, I grew up in Liverpool,
Speaker 1: England and get a Catholic education and they always used
Speaker 1: to joke, but the nuns will teach you the three odds, yeating, writing,
Speaker 1: and arithmetic. And that's what I got, and we have
Speaker 1: to go back to incentive. I do that, and I
Speaker 1: have many members of my family who are teachers, and
Speaker 1: they say, it's not about teaching to the test. It
Speaker 1: is teaching the fundamentals and the basics, which is what
Speaker 1: we've got to do. And then if those kids came
Speaker 1: into school being able to read and write, into basic maths,
Speaker 1: then the teachers could spend more time on what we
Speaker 1: want them to educate them on, unless on all the
Speaker 1: other crap that is. I agree with you, that is
Speaker 1: being taught in so many schools. But then the other
Speaker 1: part I'm recommending in the book, Brian, is that before
Speaker 1: going into high school, every kid in America goes to
Speaker 1: an eight week boot camp, and that we have a
Speaker 1: four year program in high school where they get paid
Speaker 1: and they get paid minimum wage. So a kid can
Speaker 1: come out of high school at age eighteen or twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand bucks. This is a kid in the hood,
Speaker 1: you know, this is everybody. If they work those four
Speaker 1: years eight week boot camp on how to be an adult,
Speaker 1: teaching them what it means to be an adult and
Speaker 1: have responsibility. Then one summer working in a business, one
Speaker 1: in a non for profit, and one in a government agency.
Speaker 1: So at eighteen they decided they want to go to
Speaker 1: college or not, and if they do go to college,
Speaker 1: what their major would be, or get a professional degree,
Speaker 1: which I think is more and more important. We need
Speaker 1: plumbers and electricians as much as we need doctors, and
Speaker 1: we don't need lawyers, the plenty of them, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's my little bias. My middle daughter is a
Speaker 1: district attorney, by the way, in Denver. That's okay, very careful.
Speaker 2: I refer to myself as a recovering lawyer since I
Speaker 2: no longer practice, although I do keep my license up.
Speaker 2: But it's interesting you say we need to teach them
Speaker 2: what it means to be an adult. And I know you, Bernie,
Speaker 2: and it's family I grew up in. As I mentioned
Speaker 2: earlier before, that's something my parents taught me, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's the erosion and disappearance of the nuclear family.
Speaker 2: I think is at a core of so much of
Speaker 2: what you've written about in your book, Reading America's Dream.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree with you more. Brian single biggest problem
Speaker 1: we've got is minorities Black families. Seventy percent of them
Speaker 1: after year high sixties at birth, seventy percent after one
Speaker 1: year are in a fatherless home with single parent moms.
Speaker 1: And that's why all the proceeds from the book and
Speaker 1: my consulting that I do goes to the Aspire Difference Foundation.
Speaker 1: We focus on single parents with preschool kids designed, and
Speaker 1: the test is can they read and write and do
Speaker 1: basic math when they go to grade school and start
Speaker 1: kindergarten so that they've got a chance of success. And
Speaker 1: that's the single biggest issue. And then what I'm recommending
Speaker 1: is that if these kids do this full year program
Speaker 1: so that they would have that nest egg, they would
Speaker 1: have generational wealth, which is the single biggest problem in
Speaker 1: so many of these poor families in America. You know,
Speaker 1: my dad's soul life insurance. I got four thousand pounds
Speaker 1: when he died. I put it down in a house,
Speaker 1: sold a house and no mortgage, four thousand pounds house,
Speaker 1: you know, in the early seventies, and sold it for
Speaker 1: ten thousand pounds, brought that money, bought a house, designed,
Speaker 1: and bought a house in Lawrence, Kansas. When I was
Speaker 1: in grad school, and that is now I own two properties,
Speaker 1: each of with her are multimillion dollar properties.
Speaker 2: That's the way.
Speaker 1: That's the way America works. And so I'm willing too,
Speaker 1: you know, recommending free college for anybody that does the
Speaker 1: four year program through high school. I've you know, I
Speaker 1: learned that you earn everything if there is no free lunch.
Speaker 1: We've got to stop giving them the free lunch. The
Speaker 1: all of these grants that we give to people, all
Speaker 1: of these welfare programs and give to people, don't teach
Speaker 1: them how to work hard. They don't teach them how
Speaker 1: to fish, they don't teach them how to be sustainable.
Speaker 1: They are bad programs.
Speaker 2: Bad programs. Read all about a reimagining America, his dream
Speaker 2: making it attainable for all by my guest today, Bernie Mullen. Bernie,
Speaker 2: it's been a real pleasure talking with you, and I
Speaker 2: appreciate your writing the book and sharing your time with us.
Speaker 2: This morning, we'll have a copy of that available at
Speaker 2: link on my blog page at fifty five KRC dot com,
Speaker 2: so my listeners can easily get a copy of the book.
Speaker 2: Keep up the great work, Bernie, It's been a real
Speaker 2: pleasure eight, twenty fifty five KRC DE Talk station Get
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