[00:00:04] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West, you are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show. Happy to have you along, my fellow American Sam Bushman, live with a few pondering questions for you before we introduce our incredible guests. What are some of the biggest misconceptions that conservatives and liberals have about each other?
[00:00:32] What would George Washington think about our current political climate? How can ordinary citizens lower the political temperature in their own communities? What have you, ladies and gentlemen, personally learned about people that disagree with you politically? Have you learned anything from them, or do you just hate them? No hate, folks. De-rate the hate, as my good friend puts it. What gives you hope, ladies and gentlemen, that Americans can come together?
[00:01:01] Is America more divided today than a couple of years ago? We're going to talk about all those questions. We're going to tie it to basically hospice, health care, hardcore football coaching, sheriffs, and a redneck talk show host. What do you think of that? Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans. Sheriff Richard Mack's with me. Usually, he's there on Tuesdays, and he is no exception today. Welcome, sir. Thank you very much, Sam.
[00:01:31] It's great to be back with you this beautiful Tuesday morning. And it's get-out time in Arizona because it's too hot. It's only 107 today, Sam. Okay. Well, I'm telling you right now, when it breaks triple digits, I want to leave. I'm telling you that right now. Especially when it's in the east. Arizona's not too bad. At least it's dry heat. But, man, when you get that humidity on top of that, oh, boy. Oh, boy. All right. We've got so much to cover, so little time. Let's get right to it.
[00:02:00] We've got a guest with us. His name is Ron Sugar Bear McFarlane. He's a volunteer leader with the organization Braver Angels. He's also the co-chair of its ambassador program, helping to train people across the country, helping people to learn how to get along and work together. And he's going to be part of the incredible event coming up here just in a couple of days. I leave tomorrow to fly in to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the Braver Angels incredible conference.
[00:02:30] It's, what, 1776 to 2026? It's kind of the idea, celebrating America's 250, baby. And Braver Angels, just so everybody realizes, is the largest volunteer educational movement dedicated to bridging America's political divide, restoring civic trust, and helping people learn to disagree, but do so agreeably. Sugar Bear, welcome to the broadcast, sir. All right.
[00:02:59] Thank you very much. Good to be here. You're very welcome. How did you get the name Sugar Bear anyway? Well, I'll tell you what. Back in my day when I was a freshman and I thought I was the most, the greatest guy on the field, I came in, my roommate, he used to preach to me like a Baptist preacher all the time. At that point, I didn't have much faith and I would just look at him like he was crazy, but he loved me. He liked me.
[00:03:29] But I was a tough guy. I didn't say too many words. So one day, he said, I come in at two o'clock in the morning after drinking a bunch of root beer without the root, if you get my message. And he said, you're losing it, Sugar Bear. You're losing it. Well, he didn't say Sugar Bear yet. He said, you're losing it, Ron. And then we got in a fight, fell on the floor in this four by four dormitory room.
[00:03:55] And he looks up at me with those pretty brown eyes of his and he says, I don't care what you do to me. You're going to always be my Sugar Bear. And that's how I got the name. Sheriff Richard Mack, Sugar Bear, sir. Yeah. It's a pleasure, Sugar Bear. I really love the name. I thought maybe you played for the Chicago Bears or something, but no. Okay. Good. But you didn't play in for who?
[00:04:22] I played for Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, Iowa. And the thing about it is I got injured, ACLs, both knees. And they used to have the big peach here in Ames, well, Des Moines, in the sports page. And they had my face and my roommate, he had his arms around me. And at that time he said, remember, I told you I will always be, you will always be my Sugar Bear.
[00:04:52] And my career was over. I ended up being an All-American at Iowa State, but the next level was not in my story because of the injuries. Well, the next level turned into being a coaching stint, right? Yes. Yeah. I went on to Colorado, and I taught school for 30-plus years and ended up being a football, wrestling, and track coach. And I taught business classes and things of that nature.
[00:05:21] And, yeah, the coaching part, it got me out of my shell. The teaching part got me out of my shell, and I started talking. I had to talk then. But, yeah, it was wonderful. Well, tell me this story, because you mentioned that he would be preaching at your Baptist preacher style. I'm pretty good at that preaching style, too. But I'll tell you what, the reason I bring this up, though, is because you mentioned something that I believe to be the key. Yes. It wasn't the preaching at you that got you. No. No. It was that he loved you,
[00:05:51] that he actually cared, and you knew it, and you felt it, and you understood it. And that changes lives, Ron. Yeah, it does. He knew my story. See, I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. And in my quick story here, when I was about seven, I was in an orphanage for about a year and a half with my sister. And it was supposed to be a temporary place. It was called Allen House. And my father and mom were separated at the time. And so he wasn't in the picture right then and there.
[00:06:21] And then my mother, she ended up having cancer, and that's why we had to go into that temporary place. And it made me a mean son of a gun, you know, because my mom, she was a very religious woman. And she always said, pray, pray to God, and everything will be okay. But then at night, when I was in this place, and there was only three African Americans or people of color in that place, and every night I would hear the N word,
[00:06:51] we gonna get you, we gonna get you, all night long. And then every morning, I'd get up, and the first thing I would do was get in a fight. And, you know, it just went on and on and on. And so that was part of the story that my father got back into the picture. And then I started living with my grandmother. So, and she had a lot of old school wisdom. Yeah. All right. Well, how did he help you then kind of come to a different place? Well,
[00:07:21] my father or my Your sugar bear buddy and your father. Oh, yeah. One thing people need to realize is it's not usually just one person. it's not. It's a bunch of people that plant seeds and then at some point it decides to grow, right? Yeah. Yeah. My father, he did it by model. He wasn't, he wasn't the best person as far as some of the things in his life. But one thing he always had was a book in his hand. He had a book in his hand. He was a reader and he constantly
[00:07:50] and then I started taking some of that stuff up and he would always tell me about the five Ps of propaganda and about politics and on the left and the right and I don't trust none of those suckers, you know, and he would just go on and on and on and I said, Daddy, what's the five Ps? He said, the pundits, the preachers, the politicians, the professors and the performers. And he said, they all work in sync, you know, they just tell you lies
[00:08:19] on both sides of the aisle. He said, watch out for them and so anyway. And there's the Braver Angels prep ladies and gentlemen right there. Sheriff? Yeah. Well, I wish I could be there to that event. My wife and I are actually going to New York, to Hudson, New York where I'm speaking at an event there. But it sounds like your organization and what you're doing, Ron, is exactly what Sam and I have been promoting for a long time trying to bring people together.
[00:08:49] I have to admit to you, though, I just released a book called The Democrat Murder of America. And believe it or not, believe it or not, I'm actually using that title to get the attention of any would-be reader because I also want to use that to make some, everyone, Republicans and Democrats, Independents, I want everyone to be curious about that title enough to where they would read it and if everyone, I tell everyone,
[00:09:19] especially Democrats, read the epilogue first, read the last chapter first and then see how we believe that we still can miraculously come together and the left and the right meet in the middle and solve the problems facing America today. How about that title? Does that offend you or do you think we should change the title name? The Democrat Murder of America, Demagoguery in the First Degree? I like the title
[00:09:49] because what you're just saying is you're trying to bring the groups together and I often do that myself when I'm leading a discussion. I try to make a title that resonates with both sides. It's like, hmm, I'm curious. What is this? What is he talking about in this book? So I'm going to go out and get that book and I'm going to read it and see how it goes. But yeah. And the interesting thing about it, Ron, is it's really not an attack on Democrats like it sounds. What it really talks about is the principles that the founders had,
[00:10:19] the principles that made America great. And back in the day, we could disagree agreeably. We could treat each other even if we did get in a fight. You know, some of the founders ended up not being friends for a long time and at the end of their lives repenting and this kind of stuff. But it really has to do with the principles that the Democrats have adopted in modern times that are destroying the country. When we get back, we'll talk about that more, ladies and gentlemen. I've got myself and the good Sheriff Richard Mack, cspoy.org with me. But we've also got Ron Sugar Bear McFarlane. He's an ambassador
[00:10:49] for BraverAngels.org. Every day, Americans are told to hate each other while the people in power keep winning. But what if there's another path? What if Americans could come together and take this country back peacefully before it's too late? The Democrat murder of America, demagoguery in the first degree exposes the corruption, manipulation, government failures and political games
[00:11:18] pushing Americans further apart while our country slips deeper into crisis. Inside, you'll discover powerful insights into political hypocrisy, media bias, government overreach, the national debt crisis and the growing culture of division destroying trust in America. More importantly, this book offers a call for peaceful action, accountability, unity and restoring the values that once made this nation strong. If you're frustrated with the direction of this country and looking for answers
[00:11:47] outside the mainstream narrative, this book was written for you. Join fellow Americans who still believe this nation is worth fighting for. Available now at murderofamerica.com. Former Sheriff Richard Mack recounts in his book The Proper Role of Law Enforcement, how he came to realize while working as a beat cop how wrong the all-too-common orientation of police officers is when they think of their job as being to write tickets and arrest people. Richard Mack tells of his personal transformation from by-the-number cop
[00:12:16] to constitution-conscious defender of citizen safety and freedoms. Learn what it really means to serve and protect. Purchase your copy at cspoa.org. That's cspoa.org. Sheriff Mack, standing tall, still answering freedoms call, a badge, a promise, a constitutional track, history, won't forget Sheriff Mack. Ladies and gentlemen,
[00:12:45] the reason that we have that intro like that for Sheriff Mack is Sheriff Mack had somebody just out of the blue create a song and send it to him and say, hey man, we created a song for you. We thought it was so cool we decided to put it as the bumpers. The other thing that people need to know is on Tuesdays, Richard Mack has always been with us and the reason why is because there used to be a Tuesday TV show that was called The Sheriff Mack Show but now it's kind of merged into Liberty Roundtable Live due to circumstances but we always want to give kind of credit to the origins if you will. Now,
[00:13:15] The Democrat Murderer of America is a book available now but we're talking to Ron Sugar Bear McFarlane. He's a volunteer leader with the organization Braver Angels and Braver Angels is the nation's largest volunteer educational movement that really tries to bring people together. Now, this former football player, this former coach and educator and teacher has had a background in leadership and coaching. that's shaped his approach to bringing people together and I kind of have a couple of questions
[00:13:44] that I want to ask Ron that relate to all this and the Braver Angels and do you think America is more divided today than when you started this work? Well, that's an interesting question. Several years ago, I would have said yes but today I say no and yes, I say no and I put a, you know, a hesitation on it but I say no because the people
[00:14:14] that I run into don't listen to all the rhetoric and the goofiness that's going on and they try to lead with their logic than the emotion. See, a lot of people in America lead with emotions those 10 second sound bites they get from McDonald news stations and stuff and so I would say give America a little credit and I'm not going to say not all of them
[00:14:43] but when you listen to the news a lot of times you think that we're just totally divided and I see a different I see a different story. You know. And we'll get into that a little bit more about the media making everyone feel divided and you know when you take the media out of it and you have real you know hometown America and stuff people are holding doors for one another and people get along just fine for the most part with rare exception. Now Sheriff Mike you ask everybody a primary singular question that fits here
[00:15:12] right now perfectly sir. Yeah. Ron, what would you say right now facing America what's the worst problem? What's the worst thing that we all need to really deal with right now in America? what's the worst thing going on in our government our country? What's the number one thing we all need to start working together to solve? The worst thing. Well the first thing I can give you many topics
[00:15:41] but the first thing is trust. People don't trust each other. That would have been a better question if you say does America trust? Yeah, I would say 100% they don't trust people. and that's why our current president doesn't get the kudos that he should be getting and that's why some of these other people get more credit because they just don't trust. Now,
[00:16:11] is a lot of this stuff rhetoric and all this and that? Yeah. But it depends on what the conversation is and as you know people look at things in a different lens. I might see flowers and they see weeds. I might see And I don't see nothing. Yeah, exactly. And it depends. Well, you know, you do see but you got to Yeah, you do. I'm just saying it's a whole different perspective though, right?
[00:16:40] And that's really what kind of the genius of America is in my mind, Ron. That is true. And once you understand people's moral foundations and that's how they come to their conclusions and stuff like that, you can have a civil conversation. You know, once they open up their mouth and not look at the color of the skin and they say, well, Ron must be a Democrat. Look at him, you know, look at his skin color. And then they get surprised. And then they start
[00:17:09] to even go further with their manipulation and their gaslighting and they say, if he's really that color, he betrays himself if he's not, if he's not a Democrat, if he's not a, whatever they go on to say. And he can't have his own thoughts. He's got to be on the, what, the reservation? Yeah. The plantation? Now, I don't believe you need to be there. I'm saying that's kind of their inferences, though. And it's really nothing but gaslighting, isn't it? Yeah, it's gaslighting. And before I got to,
[00:17:39] it took me until about 30, 40 years old, I used to have that victimization type attitude, you know, because of that. And I would probably give you a Black Panther answer, you know, or something like that, or the Nation of Islam answer. And so, you know, but as we mature and we get out of our 100-foot circle of influence and we meet different people that don't look like us or sound like us or this and that, you change.
[00:18:09] And that's what happened to Sugar Bear. You grow, you change, you become what God wants us to become. Do you know C.L. Bryant? I've heard of him, yeah. I don't know him exactly, but I've heard of him. C.L. Bryant's a dear friend of ours. We work with him quite a bit on a lot of projects and he's a wonderful gentleman too that used to be one of the leaders of the NAACP and now he says they've lost their minds and he's worked for all kinds of other groups now since then. Sheriff, do you have a follow-up question on this one? Yeah,
[00:18:39] a little bit because why don't we trust? Why don't we trust, especially, maybe this is a trite question or too obvious, why don't we trust politicians? Well, we don't trust politicians because they say the ABCs backwards, forwards and whatever and never come to a solution. That's one reason. If they would just, in my estimation, get off their butts and do their job, people would trust them,
[00:19:09] you know? They're too busy fighting and arguing with each other and they, yeah, you're absolutely correct. You want to know why I don't trust Sheriff? Yeah. Because people lie and steal my money, that's why. That's true. Besides, besides that, Sam. There's so much to cover, Ron, in such little time. You've got hope that Americans can come together though. What gives you that hope though? When you see
[00:19:38] all the vitriol and the fighting and the, you know, what gives you the hope? Well, the hope is because I remember what my grandmother used to say to me. She's looking out the window of the projects in the West End and I said, Grandma, what are you looking at? And she says, freedom. I said, freedom? You're already free. She said, no, not yet. Well, I'm getting there, boy. And I was like,
[00:20:08] and as our discussion kept going on and on and on, she would give me all this old school logic and stuff like, you know, I see you, I see family members and X, Y, and Z being prosperous and this and that. I see this hope. And she would just sit out this window and just come up with all these, what I call PMA, positive mental attitude about life. And so that's what I just,
[00:20:37] I look at that. But Ron, she was almost a prophetess. You look at your life, she was a visionary, sir. Yeah, yeah, she was. And she was the first person to say to me with a third grade education, what the greatest invention of the world was, the greatest invention in the world. And I'll keep it short, compound interest. And she only had a third grade education. And it's like, it was just baffling to me how someone,
[00:21:07] I later on, I didn't know what the heck compound interest was. the greatest invention in the world is compound interest if you're on the correct side of it. Well, that's what people want to tell you. But she said just take 50 cents, a dollar a day, and, you know, it then it multiplies, just like planting an apple seed. Well, that's what I mean by being on the right side of it. You want to be on the earning side, not the getting charged side of the interest equation. That is true. What have you personally learned as you've
[00:21:37] debated all kinds of people across the country from different views, disagreements? What have you learned from them? Anything? Patience, patience, patience, because they have what I call F-E-A-R, fear. And I try to understand their story. Everybody has a story. Just like I try to give you a little bit of my story and how I evolved from a person that would knock you in the face first and then smile
[00:22:08] because that was my comfort zone. That doesn't mean it was going to be the rest of my life. I was lucky I had angels, like you said, a roommate, a wife, a pastor, a coach. Grandma, dad. Oh, man, goes on and on. When you miss those type of mentors, if you don't have them, man, you become lost. I was wearing a football
[00:22:38] uniform on the field and out the field. I would tell people often, my roommate, I don't hear the noise. I don't hear the noise. I don't want you hugging me. I don't want you telling me how much you like me. I'll give you this flipper, hit you in your face, and smile. That was a journey that I had to go through. I met some wonderful people that helped me out of that. A mentor
[00:23:07] that looked like a hippie to me. He's a professor at Iowa State. He introduced me to this book, The Prince Machiavelli. I could barely pronounce the word. I said, why do you want me to read this? He said, you act just like the prince in Machiavelli. Sarah? Well, I've got a sports question for you. Why is it that I don't care about watching
[00:23:37] the NBA finals now? It was an exciting championship for the NBA championship. First time in 53 years for the New York Knicks. I don't really care that much about watching NFL. Let's end that quick and we'll wrap it up. Ron? Oh, you don't want to watch it because your team wasn't in it. I'll tell you why you don't watch it because you done grown up, buddy. That might be a good
[00:24:07] point. You might have it right there. Ladies and gentlemen, listen, Braver Angels is an incredible organization. Ron Sugar Bear McFarlane is in the ambassador team. You want to learn how to get along and how to work in your community and lower the temperature and make a difference? Get a hold of Braver Angels.org. You can go to their convention if you have time. If not, you can watch it online. And I'm telling you, Ron Sugar Bear McFarlane doing a wonderful work. Spread the word. Share the love. I'm Sam Bushman. God save the republic of the United
[00:24:36] States of America.