Why George Washington Warned Us About Partisanship

Education has to do with learning two sides of an issue. Indoctrination is one side of an issue. So, I need to get myself educated and start to understand, am I a Republican or am I a Democrat? And I’ll tell you today, Frank, I’m neither one. I’m an American. That’s what I am. Yeah. George Washington warned us we should never take on partisanship. He he knew it would it would just rip our country into pieces, and that’s exactly what it’s done. Welcome to the Know Your Ship podcast. In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, we sit down with Lex Howard, founder of Liberty Village. Living in St. Petersburg, Russia, really made me think about America a lot.

Gotcha. Yeah. I remember seeing a man hit by a car and after his lifeless body laid on the ground, the the man driving the car got out, moved this lifeless body to the gutter, got back in his car, and drove away. And the craziness of Russia just continues forward, right, of of St. Petersburg. I mean, there’s 7 million people that live in St. Petersburg, Russia. I was eight, so you just see it and then you get to process it later. I saw a man I watched my dad save a man’s life in the metro system in the subway system. Mhm. A guy in his early 30s, maybe late 20s went into cardiac arrest. Long story

short, my dad saves his life. It’s keeping him alive. The emergency services come. My dad backs off and they just stand there and wait for him to die. So then I later in life go serve a mission, an LDS mission in Chicago. I’m sitting with this man teaching him about God. He’s Russian. Mhm. And I remember going home and going, “Is this a bad man?” And it was just back connected to those those experiences as as a kid. And I processed it and I went, “No, no, no. He’s not a bad man. We are the subjects of our environment. That was such an important thing for me to learn. How lucky I was as an

American, not only as an American, but to grow up in a small town in America and to be the subject of that environment was just luck, right? Mhm. I think it was from God, but we’ll just call it luck, right? Then I then I went to uh business school in Los Angeles and got more of that was like man these are these guys these people are the subject of their environment and then I started building balance of nature in New York City and what happened when I went to New York was I would sit on these airplanes out of out of out of uh Vegas to Manhattan and I’d sit next to the bad guy

right I grew up in St. George, Utah, super conservative, ultra- Republican, and I realized really quickly that I was culturally Republican. I I wasn’t who knew what a As soon as I sit next to the bad guy, I got this Democrat, this bad person next to me, right? And I start asking them questions, I started to realize I didn’t know Jack. I I didn’t know anything about our country. This guy was a lot smarter than me. And not only that, he was a lot better than me. He was a good he or she were good people, right? And I we had a we had an apartment in Manhattan, so I was there all the time,

taking that flight all the time. So, I learned really quickly that I needed to just ask questions rather than being a know-it-all. Right? So, th these series of events caused me to go, okay, I I’m the subject of my environment. Education has to do with learning two sides of an issue. Indoctrination is one side of an issue. So, I need to get myself educated and start to understand, am I a Republican or am I a Democrat? And I’ll tell you today, Frank, I’m neither one. I’m an American. That’s what I am. Yeah. George Washington warned us we should never take on partisanship. He he knew it would it would just rip our country into pieces.

And that’s exactly what it’s done. It is. It’s a very divisive time and that there’s always a controversy between between the two parties. It feels like each party wants to stay in power and they do these crazy things to to maintain it. And so, but it’s but it’s human nature. Absolutely. That that’s why I you know, you just told me I didn’t even have to ask you. You just told me the why of Liberty Village. And and right up front when you read about Liberty Village, it says this is not partisanship. This is about America and American values and the founding fathers and all of the blessings that we’ve been able to participate in because

of that. And and you you you also talked about the story with with your kids and and this concept of a product of your environment. So for people who aren’t familiar with what Liberty Village is, I think you because it attacks all of those issues, what is it? What can people expect from a Liberty Village experience? So we’ve taken 21 of the most iconic buildings from the 18th century only 18. We don’t go into 19th. It just gets too controversial, right? So we don’t need to talk about the Civil War and Lincoln in my socks. I’m wearing Lincoln socks today. But we so we focus on the 18th century because we can all agree that

we were saving America, right? We were creating America at that point and we are building these buildings in full scale in in the most beautiful perfect I I believe I believe in in um in architecture and art. I believe it creates an emotion. There’s a spirit that is in those buildings. So, we’re building all 21 of these on one 40 acre parcel. So, you don’t have to go out east. I hope it inspires you to go out east, honestly. But you don’t have to go out east to learn the lessons. You can go to the stage. That’s how I look at it. The stage of Liberty Village and have kind of a Williamsburg experience. So,

you go out there and you have Montichello, which is where where uh Jefferson lived. Then you have uh Mount Vernon, which is where Washington lived, right? You have the old uh h we’re not building the old north church, but is one of my favorite buildings, but we’re we’re building uh St. John’s Church um where the give me liberty or give me death speech was given. Um and and if you even if you go out east to go and see those, you’re going to have to drive for hours and try to sit down with your kid and tell them, “Okay, now we’re about to go here and we’re about to go.” you have to drive all

these distances and take, you know, it’s just not something that’s very feasible. Can be difficult for sure. It’s amazing. We we we had that experience. We got to go to Philadelphia for an amazing event and walk those streets and it’s unbelievable. Yeah, it is. You can feel it, right? But to get the density of experience back east in one day, two days, you can. And what’s fun is as we continue to build out this project, it depends on what day you show up. So, right, we can tell the story of that day on our property. Like, oh, this was what was happening in this house and this is what was happening in this house. These

are the letters that, you know, John Adams and Abigail were writing to each other while John was sitting in and and trying to figure out our Constitution or figure out our our our, you know, whatever documents it was that they were dealing with at that time. Here are the letters that Abigail sent him. Like, you know, Frank, there are letters. Sorry, I could like jump out of this seat. I get so excited about this stuff. It is. So we there are stories to tell about women. Like people get all weirded out about Americans and how we believe that it’s only men who did. No, no, no. If you read the stories about Abigail, I mean,

you read the letters between Abigail and John Adams, you will see that Abigail was helping John write documents, right? She was she was saying, “Hey, if you’re dealing with this in the in the group, then you know, here’s another viewpoint. I love this viewpoint and blah blah blah.” like man they they yeah I I want to go off on a million different tangents. We actually went to one of the houses of a very influential woman uh Powell Elizabeth Powell house who who often hosted who George Washington and all of them. In fact in that house there’s still a lock of George Washington’s hair which was fascinating which was fascinating to see which we’re building that

building. We’re building her home. Yeah. Yeah. and and one one fun connection between her. So Abigail Adams is the lady that just after the constitutional convention, Benjamin Franklin is being carried out cuz he’s old, right? He’s being carried out of the constitutional convention and we learn in in in normal school history that he’s he’s coming out and there’s a woman standing there and she says, “What have you given us? A monarchy or a republic?” And he says, “A republic. Republic if you can keep it. if you if you can keep it right. And he’s speaking to a woman that has no voting power. Mhm. And then we find out that there are letters between Abigail

uh excuse me, between Elizabeth Powell and George Washington. And George Washington tells Elizabeth that if it weren’t for her, he would not have been running a second term. This woman had no power. Right? So, we’re going to be able to learn the power of citizenship in this on this property, too. Yeah. One thing I’m extremely passionate about is the office of citizenship. I believe that citizenship in America is you hold an office. And I I’m married to a German that was raised in Germany and she will agree citizenship is not an office in Germany. Even though they are a republic, just like we’re a republic, we have different boundaries in our republic and those boundaries

have created a situation for us as citizens to be able to control something. One thing I love about Liberty Village and and as as um one of the principles at e-hub, we have had the opportunity to be supportive of Liberty Village. We love that relationship. We love what it means. the the it it really is an education platform and and I know Liberty Village is out in the community and taking tours and especially with fifth graders and and eighth graders, 12th graders, people can come onto campus and learn these lessons. I unfortunately it’s something missing currently from our academic curriculum for our youth. That’s right. And so the values that you’re talking about, which are

unbelievable values, are being lost. Yeah. And and I think that’s why we’re so engaged and passionate about it, is because those great American values built this country and can’t we can’t let them go away. So Liberty Village plays a critical role in that. And and Frank, you you bring up a really good point. It’s values. It’s not dates and times that teach us those things, right? So, I think those buildings are really important. Not just I think those buildings are extremely important on the East Coast. Mhm. The difference between them and the buildings that will be on Liberty Village’s property is we don’t have historic buildings. They’re the image of a of a historic building.

So, it makes it so these kids can walk inside of what looks like a building that was built in the 1700s and they can have this immersive experience where it’s more technologydriven, right? Which E-Hub is, I know, is really excited about that, too. Absolutely. It’s not How many kids I I don’t know about your kids, but my kids when we walk out of a museum, they don’t go, “Oh my gosh, when can we do that again?” Right. That’s just not a thing for kids. Well, look, we all have that one weird kid. Yeah. I mean, that kid is like, “Can we go back?” The rest of them are like, “No, let’s get out of here.”

Including dad. It’s like, “No, let’s go. I’ve had enough.” But so, we’re we’re making it, we call it edutainment. Mhm. Because it, like I said, it’s a stage where we can teach values, not dates and times. Will they be mentioned? Of course. This is what happened at this point in time. But we also have a dosent that that travels with you through your experience. So hey kids like let’s gather together. Let’s listen to Abigail. Abigail will be there. John Adams will be there. Elizabeth Powell will be there. Right? You can shake their hands. They will talk to you from the journals of those men and women. Mh. And it’s so much fun. They don’t only

do that. If you ask them something that has to do with today, they’re going to look at you blank face like I have no idea what you’re talking about. So they do they do they stay in character but then when you walk away the dosent is is trained to ask the children what did you learn what are the values that can be applied to today’s world right that is the key to liberty village I had this experience recently uh in with my own kids and within younger people who are working at e-hub and we had this we we were in a meeting and somebody said something that was not aligned with what the group decided

was the right thing to do. Someone else, you know, had a different idea. And by the way, it wasn’t like an important thing. It was kind of like half the most of the group wanted to do this. Someone else said, “No, I want to do this.” And I said, you know, well, there’s our Benedict Arnold. Yeah. And unfortunately, somebody didn’t know who he was. Not somebody. Several people in the room had no idea who Benedict Arnold was. I was like, “You have to be kidding me. It was this, no offense to anybody, it was just this younger generation.” I went home and I asked my kids the same thing who are in their early 20s.

I said, “If I said Benedict Arnold to you, what would you say?” And they were like, blank face. I don’t know. So then we, you know, we’re Well, I was going to say we’re opening the history book. No, they’re, you know, we’re all on our phones and now we’re reading all about. But, but those are the those are stories that that’s the history. They’re crazy that they’re being lost. Absolutely. Crazy. Absolutely. It’s crazy. What, you know, we we sit on the board together. Yeah. I I have a proposal. I I think that we’ll be the only ones that agree that this should be done, but I think we should put a sticker on the bottom

of every urinal. That’s just the Benedict Darnolds. It’d be so much fun. I actually thought of that a couple years ago. Why not? I think we should do it. Why not? That would be You know what? If the board doesn’t want it, we just hand those stickers to the kids as they walk. Absolutely. I mean, that’s got to be There’s got to be some unique feature about Liberty Village. Hey, Dad, did you see what I saw? Yeah. Well, in in history, I don’t know if there’s ever been a collection of such immense talent in one time and place. Like, that doesn’t happen by chance. And u and we just need to figure out how to

continue to celebrate that. I’ve had many experiences. I know that you you you know, your your wife is from from Europe. Your a lot of your family is from overseas. Mine as well. We have a lot of friends who have arrived in America. My family is the same. Great. Great. You know, three generations ago, we we arrive in America. And this the overwhelming story that we hear is there’s one is there’s a reason people want to come to America. It is the land of opportunity still today. And people think that’s changed and it has not. Absolutely the truth. And people who come here from difficult circumstances can’t believe that we take all of this for

granted. The lack of gratitude for what we have. So so we I just want you to know how much I appreciate how much we appreciate how much as a society we should enjoy and get engaged in what you’re doing with Liberty Village. So how can people become involved? Well, let me let me first tell me what Yeah. I I’ve I’ve never done this. We’re going to do this with these things on our ears and whatever. But I I also have to say EUB was one of the first like I I believe in founders. I talked about that in one of these other shows that I’ve done with you. I I believe in them with all

of my heart so much that we’re creating Liberty Village because we’re losing the stories of our founders and someone else is going to step in. In fact, we’re seeing them step in and take that position. Mhm. You can’t replace a founder. And Frank, the same can be said with anything within Liberty Village. The fact that I may have founded the original concept, but man, it is so hard to sell dirt and a concept to a group of people and have them say, “Sure, here’s money.” Those guys that come in first, there’s something to be said about that group of people, and you’re one of them. your group is one of them and and I don’t

I don’t know your whole group. I I’ll just say Frank is one of them. It it is there were only four or five people. Glenn Beck was one of them. Right. And I I love Glenn Beck. He’s one of my good friends. We don’t always agree on everything. Sure. Right. But Glenn knows that we need something like this for our kids. Frank and EUB know that we need this stuff for our kids because of exactly what you said. the public system’s not doing anything about it anymore. The private sector better start doing something about it because otherwise we’re going to lose it. And it’s it’s people like you that are founded founder-minded and can believe

in something. And to say that you got that through not just yourself, but you had to go take it back to a board. I know how that goes, too. For real. Yeah. And finance. That’s hard to do. Don’t forget finance. You know how those guys are. Yeah, for sure. But anyways, I So, how can other people um you know, libertyvillage do or.org, I’m sure. Libertyvillage.org is is where you can go. Um but just come to St. George. Come walk onto the property. You’ll feel like like we’re about to. We’re going to go over there in just a couple minutes and and um it’s become hollow ground. God sets God set this country apart and he

finds special projects that he loves and he sets them apart, too. And I know that and and he’s done that for Liberty. Well, we we also had a chance to I had a chance to go to the American Village and um there’s a couple buildings on there. I can’t remember which church is is that’s the Old North Church. Okay. So, now that’s a replica. That’s not the building, but it looks identical. And I’ll tell you what, when you walk into that building, it’s different. Church service. There’s something that you sense in that building. And I think that’s what people are going to experience at Liberty Village as well. And if people can sense what it

means and and all that we have to be grateful for to be living in this country, I mean, look out. That that place is going to be Disneyland in Utah. Yeah. That’s what it’s all about. If we can just inspire, then it’s game over because 99.9% of man is good. M we can feel when other things are good. Mhm. And so can children. And if we can liberate them and teach them and open their minds and then let them choose, they’re really sick of this partisan junk, too. Oh, absolutely. They can feel it. If we just open them up to those ideas, um I believe in our future. I I I believe in it with

all my heart. I I believe we have some of the strongest leaders on the planet that are growing up right now. And it will be through America and through our own children and just teaching them and letting them be liberated and make choices that every everything will be just fine in this country as long as we keep working on that. Yeah. Well, you’re a big part of what what is going to be an amazing future and Liberty Village is a big part of that. We appreciate your vision and your leadership and and not only that, I mean, I know for a fact that you put your money where your mouth is. And so, in terms

of we we don’t have to publicize it, but we know the significant force behind uh behind the organization, behind the vice versa, Frank. Well, we appreciate you. It’s a great story and and come and visit come and visit St. George. Are there other educational opportunities for people to get involved with Liberty Village? Yeah, so United We Pledge was created first. United We Pledge talks about the maybe some of the harder conversations uh in American history because it doesn’t just stop at the 18th century. Um and United We Pledge has actually created a curriculum that people can do at home. Mhm. So, uh we’ve have a lot of fun successes with families that have that have

done that. Um, also start asking your schools if if Liberty Village can start coming in and teaching in your school systems because um, like Washington County, we I think we’re in three states now. Um, we have the Give Give Me Liberty program. Um, yeah, just just jump on our website and see all the fun things that are happening on libertyvillage.org. And there’s events all the time. Yes. I know we’re we’re short on time, but Lex Howard, founder, chairman of the board, and it’s just an amazing it’s it’s amazing to be a part of it. We’re so grateful to be part of it, and and Liberty Village is helping to create a bright future for our

for our America. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Know Your Ship podcast presented by EHUB. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.