A Powerhouse Conversation with Republican Candidate Lt. Col. Berney Flowers | Power Hour

[00:00:00] In conjunction with this talk today, TV and cross-check media, welcome to an episode of Power Hour.

[00:00:11] I am your host Todd Schoenberger and I have a very special guest with us today.

[00:00:15] He is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. He is going to represent District 3 in the State of Maryland.

[00:00:22] Welcome to the program Lieutenant Colonel Bernie Flowers.

[00:00:25] How are you today?

[00:00:27] Outstanding.

[00:00:28] I'm so happy you're with us today.

[00:00:29] I have so many things I want to cover.

[00:00:32] And I know that you have been working hard on this campaign.

[00:00:36] You have actually you're one of the first filers you were filing to run in District 3

[00:00:42] when the current incumbent was there, but he has stepped away and now

[00:00:45] you have over two dozen candidates on the Democrat and Republican side that are running

[00:00:51] here for this seat, but it looks like all systems go for you, Bernie.

[00:00:55] I have to ask you, what makes this moment right now that you're running?

[00:01:01] How are you going to win this campaign?

[00:01:03] Todd, thank you for asking and thank you for the opportunity.

[00:01:06] Bottom line is our country is in trouble.

[00:01:09] We have an open border with $34 trillion in debt.

[00:01:13] What people don't understand is that's $364,000 per tax paying citizen.

[00:01:20] Most people don't understand that they're carrying a mortgage on a house that they will never own.

[00:01:24] We've got to fix this. Our crime is out of control. Our education

[00:01:29] is failing us. And I have a very unique skill set. I've got 34 years behind the fence between

[00:01:35] 20 years in the Air Force and another 14 in the federal government at a very, very high

[00:01:40] level. And I just was working at DHS as their D.O.D. liaison to Secretary

[00:01:47] my orcas who just got impeached by the way. And I, I realized that I was on the wrong

[00:01:53] side of this. I was, I need to get on the side of the good guys. And I will fight. I

[00:01:58] will do what needs to be done. I have a commission that you that I picked up in 1987 from the

[00:02:04] United States Air Force. And that commission is for life and

[00:02:07] This country well, there's a lot to impact there first of all. Thank you for your service being ex-military

[00:02:12] I can't thank you enough for that and and securing securing our freedoms here in the United States

[00:02:19] But you and I work together at USA USAA is a Fortune 100 financial company.

[00:02:26] You know we cater to the military and their families.

[00:02:29] There were so many things that we had to cover at USAA.

[00:02:33] So it wasn't that you were one-dimensional,

[00:02:35] you're multi-dimensional.

[00:02:37] You knew many aspects of that sector.

[00:02:40] And I know fiscal responsibility,

[00:02:42] you brought it up at the start here,

[00:02:43] that it's very important to you.

[00:02:46] Let's break that down a little bit, because you have a number of concerns right now.

[00:02:51] You brought up some figures, clearly it's going to impact Marylanders, but also Americans,

[00:02:57] because there's so many things that we need to worry about.

[00:03:00] With you and the House of Representatives, What do you plan on doing to actually help

[00:03:06] curb this spending that's out of control right now? Well, first of all, as a military guy, as a

[00:03:12] guy who's got a financial background, you know, we're spending, we've, they won't admit this,

[00:03:18] but we're talking about $200 billion that we sent over to the Ukraine. I got a real problem with that.

[00:03:23] And here we are in Baltimore.

[00:03:26] I'm 20 minutes outside of Baltimore in Howard County, and we're spending $22,000 over $22,000

[00:03:33] per student in the education business. So kids are graduating or better yet socially promoted,

[00:03:38] and they're not able to join the economy. A lot of them can't read and write, but they're pushed

[00:03:43] through the system. So if you've ever driven through Baltimore, you'll find that, you know, you got squeegee kids out here

[00:03:49] costing people. Someone got shot last year. And the bottom line is that our government should be

[00:03:55] taking care of America first. I'm an America first candidate. And we've got a lot of things

[00:04:01] we need to fix. So with that said, let's throttle back

[00:04:05] on some of these foreign wars and all the money

[00:04:07] that we're sending over to Ukraine and Gaza

[00:04:10] and all that sort of stuff.

[00:04:11] I don't want to see anybody die,

[00:04:13] but we are not the world's police.

[00:04:15] And we can cut back on that.

[00:04:17] We can spend some money on our own infrastructure.

[00:04:19] For example, here in Maryland,

[00:04:21] we're talking about using electric cars.

[00:04:23] We had a mandate by 20,

[00:04:25] 2035, 2035, all cars sold in Maryland should be electric. Well, the problem is we produce

[00:04:32] 1% of the lithium in the world. We've got a lithium mine that we found just recently,

[00:04:37] and I believe Nevada, but it won't be online for another 10 years. And with that said,

[00:04:43] we don't have enough lithium that's required for electric cars

[00:04:47] in order to maintain our industries.

[00:04:49] So with that said, we put ourselves in the situation.

[00:04:52] We're right back in the business of making

[00:04:53] war on people for resources.

[00:04:56] Especially here we got a 200 year supply of oil

[00:05:00] in this country.

[00:05:00] We should be totally self-sufficient,

[00:05:03] not getting oil from, or lithium from other countries.

[00:05:06] We have the capability to not need to go to war at all.

[00:05:10] And I, having been to war,

[00:05:12] I wouldn't wish that on anyone's child.

[00:05:14] So I don't know what's going on, but I intend to fix it.

[00:05:16] All right, I like that a lot.

[00:05:18] Well, you are, you mentioned the money

[00:05:21] that we are sending to Ukraine for them

[00:05:23] in their fight against Russia. We just recently had Congress

[00:05:29] approved the 95 billion-hour package. It's actually split amongst Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, which is curious

[00:05:37] because they're not at war right now. So it does make you wonder what's happening there. With that said though, do you feel that we have a place in the world to do something?

[00:05:49] I mean, whether we get involved on the obviously on the combat side, which we do not want,

[00:05:55] or on the monetary side, should we be involved in other ways rather than us just sending

[00:06:00] money?

[00:06:01] What do you think?

[00:06:02] We are far too involved and engaged in other people's issues as far as I am concerned.

[00:06:08] No, I am not an isolationist. I spent a lot of time overseas. I lived in Europe for three years.

[00:06:15] I've been all over the Middle East. I've been all over Asia. And I understand that there is a need for

[00:06:22] America to participate, but we cannot be the

[00:06:25] world's global policeman.

[00:06:27] And bottom line is a lot of the things that are happening here are there wars that we

[00:06:33] actually maybe helped create.

[00:06:36] If we would stay out of other people's business, maybe we would be better off here at home.

[00:06:42] There's a book which is a favorite of mine.

[00:06:44] It's called

[00:06:45] War is a Rocket by General Schmeadley Butler. He retired in the first of

[00:06:50] right around 19, right around the first World War and he retired as America's

[00:06:57] most decorated soldier, a Marine. And his big deal was the wars down in Central

[00:07:04] America, the

[00:07:05] Banana Republics, what we and we created a lot of that for big

[00:07:08] business. So the bottom line is there's a lot going on. We

[00:07:12] can't fix everybody else's problems. We can't be strong

[00:07:16] unless we fix our own problems first. And we've got all the

[00:07:19] resources. We've got all the the the the the smarts and

[00:07:24] everything that we need to be self sufficient.

[00:07:26] And then we can help people, but we got to take care of our own people first. And that's

[00:07:30] what I'm all about America first. I like that a lot. So let's, let's pivot away from

[00:07:35] this and start talking brought up about crime, high crime, taking place coast to coast. Your,

[00:07:41] your rappers, your look in the represent parts of Maryland, which are close to

[00:07:47] really bumping to Baltimore, which is Howard County, parts of Anne Arundel County. And I believe it's

[00:07:54] some there's a third county Carol County. Carol County. Right. So and then you know, it's obvious

[00:08:01] that the overflow of the crime that's taken place in downtown Baltimore

[00:08:05] is spreading out to those counties.

[00:08:07] We have heard numerous news stories of just violent attacks that are taking place.

[00:08:13] How will you help curb the crime epidemic that's taking place in this country?

[00:08:19] Well, first of all, do you remember not long ago Black Lives Matter sponsored defund the police?

[00:08:25] Yes. So we have taken away a lot of resources that were available to our law enforcement officers

[00:08:33] and we have defunded them. We've taken away millions of dollars and we have basically made

[00:08:39] them out to be the bad guy. So morale is low. Recruiting for police officers is low and you're not

[00:08:46] getting the quality folks that you need. I'm not trying to put them down. They're doing

[00:08:49] the very, very best they can. But under the circumstances, these BLM people have demonized

[00:08:57] the police officers and the police force and that's got to stop. Another thing is, you

[00:09:02] know, we in Maryland seem to not be big advocates of self-defense.

[00:09:07] And then, you know, a lot of people like to carry weapons to be able to, and most, you'll find out

[00:09:13] that most gun crimes are carried out with people wearing unlicensed firearms. And I believe in,

[00:09:21] I'm a, I own a gun myself. I own several. I love shooting. And I'm very, very proficient in my ability to carry a weapon.

[00:09:29] I have a weapons carry license.

[00:09:32] But the issue of the day is that we don't need to demonize guns.

[00:09:36] Guns don't kill people.

[00:09:37] People kill people.

[00:09:38] And we need to understand that.

[00:09:39] And we have a moral problem here in this country,

[00:09:42] and it needs to change, especially here in Maryland.

[00:09:44] And there are people on the Democrat side We have a moral problem here in this country and it needs to change, especially here in Maryland.

[00:09:45] And there are people on the Democrat side to think that that we should take away guns.

[00:09:49] And I believe that when you take away guns, you don't give people the opportunity to defend

[00:09:53] themselves.

[00:09:54] So I am totally for funding police and helping people learn firearm safety so that they can

[00:10:00] protect themselves.

[00:10:01] I'm a big Second Amendment advocate, you might say.

[00:10:04] Okay. I have to agree with that. And completely, I understand with Black Lives Matter,

[00:10:10] then getting involved with the defund the police, we didn't see it right away. We didn't see the

[00:10:14] impact of that immediately. But now you are seeing that the police are just they're just not

[00:10:21] available. The morale is down. And then they have to go out and fight these crimes.

[00:10:25] Not to mention, in fact, when they do arrest someone,

[00:10:27] they go to court and the judge lets the defendant

[00:10:31] go out anyway.

[00:10:32] So I think it's like what's the point?

[00:10:34] Yeah, exactly.

[00:10:35] That's happened.

[00:10:35] And so I understand where you're going with this.

[00:10:39] I do need to ask you though,

[00:10:42] you're running as a Republican,

[00:10:43] you're gonna be, when you win this seat, you'll be highly influential, not

[00:10:49] just on the federal side, but at the state, local level.

[00:10:52] If I'm a constituent, I have a problem.

[00:10:55] How do I reach you?

[00:10:56] Will you be accessible?

[00:10:58] Are you going to be like sometimes we hear about candidates when they win?

[00:11:01] They go to Washington and we never see them unless they're running again. Will you be available and accessible to your voters?

[00:11:09] I will certainly be available and accessible to my voters. I mean, Washington not that far

[00:11:13] away. So I intend to drive every day for my home here in Elkridge. But the bottom line

[00:11:19] is that, you know, I believe in term limits. And I believe that I should be available to the people.

[00:11:25] And if they don't like what I'm doing, get rid of me. But right now, you know, John Sarbanes,

[00:11:30] the 18 year incumbent, as I said before, 18 years in the seat before that his father held a seat.

[00:11:36] It was hereditary, you might say. I don't believe in all that. I will be definitely available to

[00:11:43] the people. And you might call me a man of the people. But the issue of all that. I will be definitely available to the people. And you might call me

[00:11:45] a man of the people. But the issue of the day is I will be around, you can be assured of that.

[00:11:49] And I will be very, very vocal and very, very open to the people.

[00:11:55] Well, you're bringing up about Paul Sarbanes stepping down his father,

[00:12:01] or John Sarbanes, I'm sorry, who his father held that seat for 30 years, I believe.

[00:12:07] And then his son just took over.

[00:12:09] It was kind of interesting to see how all of them,

[00:12:11] I mean, for decades, think about that,

[00:12:13] almost half a century, you have a had a Sarbanes

[00:12:16] in that seat that's incredible.

[00:12:17] That's on set.

[00:12:19] Exactly.

[00:12:19] And you would think that that philosophy,

[00:12:21] I mean, it is a very blue area right now.

[00:12:25] And I know that it's difficult in the state of Maryland because most of Maryland is blue.

[00:12:29] So you do have a bit of an uphill battle, but things are looking good for you.

[00:12:33] You mentioned about the idea on just to circle back with this on the term limits.

[00:12:42] And so with that, I mean, what do you think is,

[00:12:46] because we're hearing, or should we impose age limits,

[00:12:50] you're hearing this with a current president right now

[00:12:52] with his age, now there are no term limits there,

[00:12:54] but there are there too.

[00:12:56] But should there be age verification

[00:12:58] or age qualifications, I should say,

[00:13:01] for someone to hold higher office?

[00:13:04] I don't necessarily know of age qualifications,

[00:13:07] but I do know there should be,

[00:13:09] um, if a person is in a position like that,

[00:13:12] we should know a little bit about their medical history

[00:13:15] and there should be an opportunity

[00:13:17] to let that person gracefully leave and be replaced

[00:13:20] because clearly our president is suffering from

[00:13:24] he's impaired.

[00:13:25] I'll put it to you that way.

[00:13:27] I don't see that he is the kind of guy that is in a position to lead us right now.

[00:13:31] And I think a lot of the problems that we have, especially foreign are because our enemies

[00:13:37] don't respect him.

[00:13:38] They don't believe that he's a man of action.

[00:13:41] And but as far as term limits, I would love to see, you know, three, three

[00:13:45] terms for a con-egrisment, like what I'm running for. I'm not going in there to stay like Nancy

[00:13:50] Pelosi for 30 years. No, no, no, no, no. I want to fix things and then make things right

[00:13:55] and move on. And as far as Senate, I think the, a Senator should stay maybe two turns.

[00:14:00] That would be 12 years. And that's it. But this concept of people going in and making themselves lifetime dictators

[00:14:06] and lifetime legislators, that is absolutely wrong

[00:14:11] and is not good for our country.

[00:14:13] And I'd like to see it stop.

[00:14:14] I like that a lot.

[00:14:15] Okay, well listen, we're gonna hold it there

[00:14:17] on this block because I am gonna ask Bernie

[00:14:20] when we come back in the next block about the border.

[00:14:23] And that is a clear issue running as a Republican Republicans are really really looking to to use this as

[00:14:30] one of those arguments that's going to be really front and center as you go

[00:14:34] into November. But with me today I have Lieutenant Colonel Bernie Flowers he is

[00:14:39] running for District 3 to House of Representatives for the State of Maryland

[00:14:43] and we'll be right back after the break.

[00:14:45] Please stay with us.

[00:14:46] ["The State of Maryland"]

[00:14:51] Ready to up your game and learn more

[00:14:53] about the thrilling world of sports betting?

[00:14:55] Introducing Double Down with Preslow,

[00:14:56] the ultimate podcast about this business of sports gambling.

[00:15:00] Join me, James Preslow, and a long list of expert guests

[00:15:03] as we dive into the art and science of the sports betting industry. Evolving regulations, technology enhancements,

[00:15:09] and the meteoric rise in the number of players makes this sector the fastest growing and

[00:15:14] most intriguing in the world. Unlocked the business secrets for many of the industry's

[00:15:17] most recognizable C-suite executives, including famous odds makers and influencers. Every

[00:15:22] episode of Double Down with Presylose packed with insider tips,

[00:15:25] deeply skilled analysis, and in-depth discussions.

[00:15:28] Don't miss out on the ultimate resource for mastering the business of sports betting.

[00:15:32] Listen to Double Down With Restylo on the Evergreen Podcast Network,

[00:15:35] or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:15:37] That's Double Down With Restylo, the business of sports betting podcast.

[00:15:42] sports fighting podcast. Welcome back to Power Hour.

[00:15:50] Well with me today I have Lieutenant Colonel Bernie Flowers who is running for the House

[00:15:55] of Representatives.

[00:15:56] He's doing the represent district greet in the state of Maryland which really covers

[00:16:01] the entire all-power county parts of Anne Arundel County, as well as Carroll County.

[00:16:06] And Bernie, when we left off in the last block,

[00:16:08] we were talking a lot about money and business and finance.

[00:16:12] Let's start talking about the border.

[00:16:14] This is a clear issue.

[00:16:16] And it just, over, I think the last 30 days,

[00:16:20] President Biden seems to be interested

[00:16:22] in taking care of the border.

[00:16:24] I think maybe somebody in his administration probably told him that there might be some issues there.

[00:16:29] You might want to cover.

[00:16:31] You're running as a Republican.

[00:16:32] Republicans are clearly, this is going to be a front and center topic

[00:16:37] as we go into November is even primary season.

[00:16:41] What are your thoughts?

[00:16:43] How do we secure the border?

[00:16:45] Todd, thank you. Let me give you a little more of my background and context before I

[00:16:49] start running my mouth. So my last job was as Secretary of my Orchus's DoD Northcom

[00:16:57] guy. I was on his senior staff, saw the man every day. I had access to everything in which meant that, you know, when we did the

[00:17:06] Afghan Afghan retrograde, we bought 85,000 Afghans here. Now, I'm not angry about that

[00:17:13] because most of those people would have been killed had they stayed where they were and

[00:17:18] they were allies of us. However, we did this in a way that was unorganized. We didn't

[00:17:23] plan for it. And it was a crazy chaotic mess.

[00:17:27] And I was right in the middle of it.

[00:17:28] I was the guy to make sure to hit my job was to make sure that DHS had everything they

[00:17:33] needed from DOD because they didn't have the budget and expertise to do this.

[00:17:37] And in the meantime, to bring all these people over, we're talking about $1,400 a day for

[00:17:43] 85,000 people.

[00:17:45] That's $119 million a day unbudgeted.

[00:17:48] And I found that to be just something

[00:17:51] that was unacceptable to me.

[00:17:53] Also understand that while this was going on,

[00:17:55] we were under COVID rules.

[00:17:57] So DHS was mostly working from home.

[00:18:00] So we had to call in a bunch of people from DoD

[00:18:04] to come and cover and do the expertise

[00:18:06] that was necessary to make this thing happen, to get all these people settled.

[00:18:10] Now we were talking about the idea that a lot of these people were vetted for medical

[00:18:14] issues, security issues, that sort of thing.

[00:18:18] Vetting 85,000 people over the course of a year, that's virtually impossible.

[00:18:22] We said that we did, but I got my doubts and I was there.

[00:18:27] So that was poor planning on our part. Another thing is people forget that 18,000

[00:18:34] Haitians showed up under a bridge at the border station in El Paso, Texas in 2021,

[00:18:40] right during the time that we were doing this Afghan thing. So why are we all these people coming across the border?

[00:18:46] I would venture to say that the DHS has no clue where most of these

[00:18:50] 18,000 Haitians went I could tell you some other stories, but a lot of that happened and in the meantime

[00:18:56] We were basically defunding customs and border patrol. We were defunding ice. So the at the time I left

[00:19:04] And that was 2022, January 2022,

[00:19:08] we had brought in about 3 million undocumented migrants.

[00:19:15] That's a better word.

[00:19:16] That's a lot of people.

[00:19:17] A lot of people that basically were unvetted.

[00:19:20] They could have had AIDS, they could have had COVID,

[00:19:23] they could have had all manner of diseases. A lot of these people were strictly unskilled. So,

[00:19:29] most of those people, we have no idea where they are. And we didn't have an opportunity to

[00:19:36] vet them. And, you know, so the Catch and Release program, I'm sure you've heard of.

[00:19:39] But the bottom line is we need to secure our border, a country with no border is no country. And I remember when President Trump asked for $5 billion to build his

[00:19:50] wall, why is it we can't give him $5 billion to build his wall? But we can

[00:19:54] send $200 billion over to the Ukraine to defend them. Why is it Joe Biden has a

[00:19:59] wall around his house? He says, walls don't work. So I saw it up close. And

[00:20:04] again, I found

[00:20:05] myself very, very upset. And I felt like I was on the wrong side of this. And I felt

[00:20:10] like personally as a military officer, I felt that I need to do something about this after

[00:20:15] my 21 years on active duty.

[00:20:17] Yeah, no, I definitely understand I could I could feel the passion, Bernie, about this

[00:20:22] subject because and and I think a lot of Americans are feeling it. I but it's like a feel the passion, Bernie, about this subject because and I think a lot

[00:20:25] of Americans are feeling it.

[00:20:28] But it's not that front page.

[00:20:30] It is a front page story, but it's under the fold only because Americans aren't impacted

[00:20:37] directly or maybe they are, but they're not feeling it as far as money being taken out

[00:20:42] of their wallets to really worry about this issue.

[00:20:46] And I guess the going forward though, you're right, building that wall, the disorganization,

[00:20:53] but we've always had immigrants. We've always had, this is a country of immigrants.

[00:20:58] We're all immigrants. Right, right. There seemed to be an organized approach.

[00:21:02] I guess going forward though, what exactly

[00:21:05] can the president do? I mean, other than sending in the National Guard to cover five every five

[00:21:11] feet of that border, what exactly can he do to help stop this epidemic of all these people coming

[00:21:18] into the country? You know, there's an old saying, how do you get out of a hole? Well, the first thing

[00:21:23] you do is stop digging.

[00:21:25] So we need to plug that border up right now, like yesterday.

[00:21:29] And there should be no unauthorized people coming through there.

[00:21:32] We should refund Customs and Border Patrol.

[00:21:35] We should refund ICE.

[00:21:36] We just hired 85,000 IRS agents and armed IRS agents.

[00:21:42] By the way, people don't realize we don't need 85,000 IRS agents, by the way, people don't realize. We don't need 85,000 IRS agents.

[00:21:46] We need 85,000 customs and border patrol agents.

[00:21:49] And we need to find these folks and make sure that they get properly vetted.

[00:21:53] If they deserve asylum, I have no problem with the immigration process

[00:21:58] and the laws that need to be followed.

[00:22:00] But when people come across that are not following the law

[00:22:03] and they're not going through our processes, they're breaking the law and they need to go back home.

[00:22:08] I don't have anything against anybody, but we cannot be the world's police and we cannot

[00:22:13] support the whole world.

[00:22:14] Otherwise, we don't have a country.

[00:22:17] And there are people in this world that are in this country that are trying to bring as

[00:22:21] many people here.

[00:22:23] And there's even a theory that they're trying to bring them in to become voters.

[00:22:28] There are efforts in some of the sanctuary cities to give illegal undocumented migrants

[00:22:35] the ability to vote.

[00:22:37] And if that happens, American citizens suffer.

[00:22:40] And I am not going to stand by and let that happen.

[00:22:43] And that's why I'm running.

[00:22:44] That makes a lot of sense.

[00:22:46] And you are right.

[00:22:47] I mean, looking back,

[00:22:48] even when President Obama was in office,

[00:22:50] the feeling was they would give out Obama phones.

[00:22:53] And then there was the fear

[00:22:55] that we would be able to vote via our phones.

[00:22:58] So here you're giving someone a free phone

[00:23:00] and you're telling them how to vote.

[00:23:02] And to quote Rush Limbaugh, you're always gonna vote for Santa Claus. So I mean, you're telling them how to vote and to quote Rush Limbaugh, you're always

[00:23:05] going to vote for Santa Claus.

[00:23:07] So you're giving something.

[00:23:09] Yeah, it's true.

[00:23:11] And so you're right.

[00:23:14] If you have illegal immigrants coming in and they have the ability to vote, who you're

[00:23:18] going to vote for if you're getting free money and free this and that.

[00:23:22] I mean, there's a variety of things. Let's pivot away from this

[00:23:26] discussion and talk directly about the election. Do you have the primary coming up on May 14th?

[00:23:33] You were, like I mentioned before, you're one of the early filers for this seat right now.

[00:23:39] What is going to separate you from the other Republican candidates just so you can get

[00:23:45] through that May 14 election?

[00:23:47] Well, Todd, first I was the first one to file as I remember.

[00:23:51] I think it was the first week in October 3rd or 4th or 5th and John Sarbanes was still

[00:23:56] the guy.

[00:23:57] He was the incumbent and, you know, I was looking at it was going to be a David and

[00:24:02] Goliath, Goliath situation, David and Goliath,

[00:24:05] and I wasn't scared, still ain't scared.

[00:24:08] But the bottom line, what makes me different is 34 years behind the fence.

[00:24:12] Everything America's asked me to do, I've done.

[00:24:15] I went to Iraq.

[00:24:16] I went to Afghanistan.

[00:24:18] I was in the Ukraine before it was cool in 2003, and I could tell you some stories about

[00:24:23] that as well. But the issue of the day is, you know, I am a member of the Howard County Republican Central Committee. I have very

[00:24:30] close ties with the Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee and also the Carroll County

[00:24:36] Republican Central Committee. These people are all friends of mine and the rest of the candidates

[00:24:40] are folks that basically aren't particularly conservatives or strong Republicans. So I don't

[00:24:46] know where they're coming from. Maybe they're just trying to get their name out there. But I

[00:24:49] was here from day one and I intend to win. That's great. Yeah. And you are right. I mean, the,

[00:24:54] the actually the environment in the state of Maryland could actually become a nationwide topic

[00:25:00] only because the balance of power is right there. You have so many people that are vacating their seats,

[00:25:06] Dutch Rupert's Burgers stepping down as well.

[00:25:08] You have obviously Sarbanes.

[00:25:10] So there are a number of key factors there.

[00:25:13] You are running it, like I said, as a Republican,

[00:25:15] very blue area.

[00:25:17] I believe it's only I'm out of the eight representatives,

[00:25:20] seven or democratic.

[00:25:21] So you do have a lot to go through,

[00:25:24] but I do understand that, I mean, you will be

[00:25:27] obviously you will be representing that district three very well and all the voters should be

[00:25:33] proud to have you represent them in Washington. But are you getting any national attention right

[00:25:39] now? Do you feel maybe companies that are nationwide are actually donating to your campaign to help put you

[00:25:47] onto the on top as far as representing that district?

[00:25:51] Well, we haven't really gotten that far yet.

[00:25:54] Everything's kind of local right now, but I will say that now that you're having me on, I'm getting my first national attention.

[00:26:00] I love that. Well, that's right. Well, I know that everybody can actually go to to it's

[00:26:05] Bernie and I'm sorry, it's flowers for Maryland calm flowers for Maryland calm. If you want to

[00:26:11] really take a look at everything that Bernie represents and and his issues and what he has

[00:26:17] that's out there and how he's going to really represent District three in the right way in the

[00:26:22] way that we need it to be because not just representing Marylanders but also all Americans.

[00:26:27] Let's talk about that just before we close out the show.

[00:26:30] You're running for the house of representatives.

[00:26:33] It's a huge, it's a huge responsibility.

[00:26:36] And with so many things that are taking place, you're running, you get past

[00:26:40] the May 14th primary.

[00:26:41] You have the general election coming up in November.

[00:26:44] You're going to get a lot of attention, Bernie. I mean, you get through May 14th primary, you have the general election coming up in November. You're going to get a lot

[00:26:45] of attention, Bernie. I mean, you get through May 14th, they're going to get a lot of attention,

[00:26:49] mainly because you have the former president, Donald Trump is, it looks like he's going to be

[00:26:55] representing the GOP this year or this election cycle. Do you work directly with the former president or maybe former members of the administration

[00:27:08] as far as helping get you over there?

[00:27:10] Are you just staying focused on the state itself and just trying to keep out of the

[00:27:15] national spotlight?

[00:27:17] I would like to have as much possible help as possible.

[00:27:21] I would love to have the national spotlight, but Mr. Trump's got his own fight and

[00:27:25] he's trying to win the entire country. So we're trying to hold our own here, but I would certainly

[00:27:30] love to have some help. If anybody has any concerns about who I am, check out my website. I've also

[00:27:36] got a book that I wrote called Black Values Matter. It talks about Baltimore and how to fix things

[00:27:42] in the inner city. You could apply it to any city, Atlanta, DC,

[00:27:45] North, New York, Detroit, whatever.

[00:27:48] The issue of the day is that we're just trying

[00:27:51] to fight the fight here and anybody that wants to help us,

[00:27:53] please jump on the website at flowers from Maryland.com.

[00:27:57] Again, flowers from Maryland.com.

[00:27:59] We will take all the help that we can get,

[00:28:01] but we're here, we're not gonna back down.

[00:28:03] We're just gonna keep going forward. And the bottom line is that, you know, we really got a chance to win this thing because there's a

[00:28:09] lot of independence. There's a lot of Democrats that are tired of the status quo and they want

[00:28:16] change. And with my background, 34 years behind the fence and all the things I've done in the

[00:28:20] military and the federal government, I'm probably their best bet. And a lot of people are starting to pay attention

[00:28:26] and I'm very, very proud of that.

[00:28:28] Absolutely. And I got to say, I mean, you have so you,

[00:28:32] everything you're representing is just fantastic, Bernie.

[00:28:36] And I know that we're pulling for you.

[00:28:38] And Marylanders should too.

[00:28:40] I mean, this is a, it's an important election.

[00:28:43] You could be there representing them and who knows

[00:28:47] where it goes from there, but there's so much at stake and it is critical. So yes, we do welcome

[00:28:52] the audience. Check out Flowers from Maryland. We will also have a link in our description that

[00:28:57] would take you directly to Bernie's website. You definitely want to check him out, see what he has

[00:29:02] to say and what he's going to be talking about once he does represent District 3. So so many good things to look forward to. So Bernie, I got to thank you

[00:29:10] so much for joining us today on Power Hour and I know we'll be following you as the campaign moves

[00:29:16] on. We would love to have you back after that primary victory. I'd love to come back to you guys

[00:29:21] are encouraging and I feel the power serving through the microphone. Absolutely, that's fantastic. So on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Bernie Flowers,

[00:29:31] I am Todd Schoenberger. Thank you once again for joining us today on Power Hour

[00:29:35] and we hope to catch you next time. Take care.

[00:29:56] The Jim Stroud podcast explores the discoveries and trends forming the future of our lives. Brain to brain communication, robot bosses, microchip implants for workers and artificial

[00:30:02] intelligence replacing human workers are all happening now.

[00:30:06] If you want to know what's happening next, subscribe now to the JimStroud podcast.