Wayne Liebhard, MD is a physician, author, musician who sits down with me to discuss issues in medicine, particularly around telehealth, politics, and his career in music. I enjoyed our conversation about the invasion of ideology into medicine, the destruction of the medical profession and how we get out of this woke mess we're in so we can get back to caring for patients.

You can check out Wayne's books and writings here: https://wayneliebhardsite.wordpress.com/author/

Check out Wayne's band here including upcoming shows:

https://thesolidgoldband.wordpress.com/

Mike Sharp, PA-C, a physician assistant and candidate for House District 39B joins me today to talk about what got him interested in running for office, the changing face of medical care, overcoming tribal partisanship, legislative priorities for Minnesota and the joys of trying to work/run a campaign/raise a family at the same time.

Please support Mike: https://sharpforhouse.com/

I sat down with Ric Olson to discuss eldercare, his experience improving care for our seniors, the impact of COVID lockdowns on this group and future directions to ensure a strong, safe and person-focused eldercare system.

Questions or comments? Reach us: https://savesota.com/about-us

About Ric Olson:

https://lessonslearnedsol.com/

About Ric Olson

Ric Olson was raised as a preacher’s kid. His Dad pastored churches in Minnesota, Nebraska and Washington through Ric’s college days. His Grandfathers were Christian businessmen – one located on the south side of Chicago, Illinois and one who lived in St. Paul, Minnesota.

After work experiences in retail management and sales as well as working for the Internal Revenue Service, God led Ric into a budget manager position at Swedish Covenant Hospital.

His duties also included working with the provision of accounting and financial services to a loose network of Covenant retirement communities around the country. Ric eventually left Swedish Covenant Hospital to focus full-time on the establishment of a central office for Covenant Retirement Communities

Ric has dedicated the vast majority of his working life to serving elders within the senior living arena. The focus on serving elders within long-term care settings has resulted in work in numerous settings including but not limited to: health care, management, leadership development and training, accounting and finance, budget and planning, cash management, project development, strategic planning, operational assessments, Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care and other payer sources, ethics and values initiatives, wellness, information technology and day to day operations.

Ric is a graduate of Bethel University with a double major in Business/Economics and Political Science. He holds a Master’s Degree in Communications from Wheaton College and a Master’s Degree in Christian Thought and Bioethics from Trinity International University. He is a Certified Public Accountant registered with the State of Illinois.

Ric met Jesus Christ as a young boy. His favorite verse of scripture is John 10:10b – “I am come that you might have life and have it abundantly – a full and meaningful life in Christ.”

He has spent his work career living in Lake County, Illinois and as of September 1, 2017 in Andover, Minnesota.

Ric Olson Mission and Purpose

To experience a full and meaningful life in Christ.

To live out servant steward principles focused on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

To willingly share from my heart to yours lessons learned from climbing and experiencing the mountain tops, navigating day to day routines and walking through the deepest valleys.

Erik van Mechelen, a prior candidate for MN Secretary of State and voting transparency advocate, sits down with me to discuss the issues with the voting systems used here in Minnesota. We build the case from the ground up that we should return to reliable, hand-tallies of paper ballots. In a world where Stacy Abrams still thinks she’s the governor of Georgia, Hillary Clinton still erroneously believes she won in 2016 and massive voting errors like the New York democratic mayoral primary (where 150k votes were accidentally placed in the wrong category), there is a growing bipartisan concern over the integrity of our voting systems. How did it arise? How can we address it going forward? How are our votes counted presently in Minnesota - and what can we do to bring transparency to that process?

Follow Erik:

https://erikformn.us/

https://www.amazon.com/Selections-Minnesota-Introduction-Machines-Controlled/dp/B0B5C3LW4B/

I had a chance to sit down with Ryan Wilson to discuss his campaign to be the next MN State Auditor. We talked a bit about his background running clinical trials and practicing law, issues with media coverage, the auditor race, his Save our Schools Plan and the benefits of having an auditor who actually - wait for it - audits state and local governments.

https://wilson4mn.com/

From his website:

Ryan Wilson is the Republican Party of Minnesota candidate for State Auditor. He’s a medical device industry entrepreneur, attorney specializing in defending constitutional rights and lifelong Minnesotan. But he’s most proud to be called a married father of five and a Little League baseball coach.

Ryan is the founder and former CEO of a Minnesota-based auditing firm that he grew into a global leader in auditing and conducting clinical trials. As an attorney, Ryan has worked on behalf of many clients across Minnesota to help them get answers that government is too often reluctant to provide to the public. Ryan’s professional accomplishments are rooted in his desire to seek and provide data that provides answers to the people who need them most. Those character traits and professional skillsets have prepared Ryan Wilson to serve as Minnesota’s next State Auditor.

In Ryan Wilson’s own words:

I decided to run for State Auditor after recent reports of significant fraud in Minnesota’s safety-net programs and the gross mismanagement of large infrastructure projects, and a disturbing regression in government transparency and accountability that Minnesotans have witnessed in recent years.

Minnesotans are fed up with a lack of transparency about how their tax dollars are spent. They demand good stewardship of the resources they provide to government. Sometimes government officials forget who they serve. I won’t.

As your next State Auditor I will ask the tough questions and bring accountability and transparency back into the equation of how the government spends your tax dollars.

Minnesotans recognize their hard earned money is invested in their local communities, but they need to know their tax dollars are producing results. The State Auditor oversees the spending of more than 4,500 local units of government (e.g. school districts, counties, cities) that spend a combined more than $60 billion annually.

Recent scandals are raising questions about who is watching how our cities, schools and other local governments spend their money, and Minnesotans are rightfully upset. As an attorney and business leader, I’m not shy about asking tough questions and getting answers.

Schools and local governments are essential, but they will do better with a State Auditor who shuns cronyism and political favors. Partisan politics has no place in the auditor’s office—transparency is not partisan, accountability is not partisan, math is not partisan. As your next State Auditor I will shine a light on our government so Minnesotans can decide for themselves whether their government is serving them well.

We know voters are tired of massive scandals of waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars in Minnesota. This office has never been more relevant than it is right now. There’s no room for extreme political partisanship or turning a blind eye by our State Auditor. I look forward to restoring a culture of accountability and transparency in government finance that’s been sorely missed in recent years. 

Voters across this great state want and deserve a real TAXPAYER WATCHDOG. I’m ready to win and I’m ready to serve.

Author, educator and long-time Minnesota political activist Dave Racer joins me to discuss educating our kids in American Government, healthcare policy, modern politics and a way forward.

https://daveracer.com/

Dave's biography:

Family

Rosanne Jung and I met in high school choir at St. Paul Johnson in 1965. We were married in 1967 at Amarillo Air Force Base, but moved back to St. Paul after I completed four years of military service. We moved to one of the Twin Cities’ wonderful suburbs in 2020. We have five children, Deb, Deanna, Dave, Dan, and Dawn – four are married. We have 10 grandchildren.

Professional

In 1986 I wrote my first book, Smokie’s Last Job. In 2021, I completed my 54th book. So, I write books. Biographical and true crime. Public policy. Health Care. Some fiction. I help others with their books, too, as an editor, co-author, and publisher – See Alethos Press. Twenty-one of those books focused on health care.

In 2020, I revived my blog – “America’s Civics Teacher.”

As a main stage and seminar speaker across the country my talks are about health care, American Government, and a variety of contemporary issues. 

Teacher & Tutor

For more than 22 years I taught American Government–For Real!!, a survey course for high school, home schooled students, presently at Mid-Metro Academy in St. Paul. The 2021 Session of Student Senate is the 20th year I have led this student practicum in making laws – I love it. Contemporary Issues gives me a chance to share critical learning about the issues with which today’s young people contend. 

During the Fall of 2021, I will be teaching Introduction to American Government as an Adjunct Professor at North Central University in Minneapolis.

I’ve written and conducted more than a dozen continuing education courses about the U.S. Health Care system for professional insurance brokers and consultants.

Education

In 2009, I received my Master of Letters Degree from Oxford Graduate School. Prior to that, i completed (and wrote) scores of industry and professional courses. I started as a music education major at Macalaster College in St. Paul, then the University of Minnesota. Later, I majored in Educational Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. I graduated from St. Paul’s John A. Johnson High School in 1965.

Employment & Military Service

After serving four years in the United States Air Force (1967-1971) I worked for a time in retail and wholesale furniture sales. Since 1974, I’ve been self-employed in several different capacities – ServiceMaster, public policy groups, publisher of Dave Racer’s Minnesota Report, host of The Dave Racer Show (talk radio), today as a free lance author, writer, publisher, and speaker.

Political and other Affiliations

Presently I am a member of the Minnesota and National Association of Health Underwriters. In 2020, I became the President of Freedom’s Dream Foundation. In 2020, I joined the Board of Human Life Alliance. I am a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Trustees. I am the...

I sat down with Dr. Lee Beecher to discuss healthcare, psychiatry, politics and the problems with modern medicine. Our conversation was lengthy and expansive. I believe you will enjoy it immensely. You can follow Dr. Beecher's work at:

https://leebeecher.com/

" ABOUT LEE BEECHER, MD (EMERITUS)

 Lee Beecher, MD, as a board certified psychiatrist had an active practice that spanned more than four decades. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School, Dr. Beecher did his residency at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

After a stint in the Navy, Dr. Beecher returned to Minnesota and began his clinical practice, culminating in his retirement in 2014.

He served as a delegate to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and on the Board of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, where he also served as President. During this time, he lobbied Congress and the Minnesota Legislature as an advocate for his profession, psychiatric patients and their families.

Dr. Beecher served as an associate medical director at PreferredOne, a managed care company in Minnesota, for a period of years. Always, however, he maintained a private independent practice.

About half of his practice dealt with addiction. He was certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and had special qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He also continued to practice general psychiatry treating the wide range of mental disorders.

During his 42 years of practice, Dr. Beecher maintained his strong conviction that the focus of medical care must always be the patient. Upon entering retirement, his commitment to the physician-patient relationship increased.

In 2005, and until his retirement in 2014, he changed his business model from one of previous dependency on government and insurance company third party payments to a Direct Pay Independent Practice model. For ten years he received payments for all of his professional services directly from his patients.

Dr. Beecher began working with Dave Racer on medical and mental health care reform concepts and ideas the the Fall of 2015. The two men talked regularly, gathering an immense amount of data which eventually resulted in this book."

Erik Mortensen is a Minnesota State Representative elected in 2020 and currently running for reelection.

In his own words:

We discuss the joys of MNDOR, getting elected, running for reelection, what happens once you're 'part of the club,' the motivations of elected officials and how we #savesota and defend our Republic.

https://www.mortforhouse.com/

On a personal note, Mort is a personal inspiration to me. He's a rare breed: an elected official who's serving the people he represents and the ideals believes in regardless of the 'political' cost. Thanks for truly serving your state and your nation, Mort.