Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the executive director of 2nd Vote, Amy Wilhite, in studio to discuss her experience trying out for the Olympics, patriotism, and 2nd Vote’s new subscription option.
Leahy: We are joined in studio by our very good friend, the executive director of 2nd Vote at 2ndvote.com, Amy Wilhite. Amy, just before we get to the story about all the good things that are happening at 2nd Vote –
And we’ve got some new information – You were telling in the break that when you were playing basketball at Alabama, you went and tried out for the Pan American Games, which is kind of the precursor to the Olympics. You wanted to share with us a little bit the contrast between what it was like then and what it is like now.
Wilhite: Yes. Just looking back, gosh, that was probably 30 years ago. I’ll never forget getting the invitation to come to try out for the Pan Am Team, which was the precursor for the Olympic team.
And it was at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. And it was an honor to be able to get invited to that. But to just be there at the Olympic Training Center, you pull up and the United States flags are everywhere.
And you get the practice jersey with the big USA on your jersey and on your shorts. And you’re just so proud to be there and to be able to just try out alone.
I didn’t make it. But just the whole week there, just being at the U.S. Olympic Center and the honor I felt to be there and the opportunity to represent the United States of America, that was obviously a dream for me to be on the Olympic team.
And just to get there was incredible. But to see now how some of the athletes act and turn their backs to our anthem, or they take a knee because they don’t believe in our country, it’s just – it’s very, very sad to me.
Leahy: It really is.
Wilhite: Our country is the very best country to live in. And it’s not perfect. But it is why everyone wants to come here. Our country is a great country, and there’s a lot of great people in it, and there’s no reason to ever kneel.
Leahy: Our listening audience agrees with you. And I think that’s one of the reasons why I think when the ratings from the Olympics come out, they’re not going to be so hot.
Wilhite: Exactly.
Leahy: That’s what I think. Speaking of other news, the main activity that you’re involved in as executive director of 2ndvote.com, the great ratings that you provide for companies of all consumer products that are out there.
You can see if they’re left-wing woke or if they’re neutral or if they’re conservative. Almost all of the companies are some degree of left these days, it seems like. Not all that encouraging.
But you’re doing something about it, and tell us about your new subscription model, which is very interesting – what you’re offering to people there.
Wilhite: Yes. We have moved from a membership model to a subscription model, so more people can actually look at our research and look at the scores and what we’re doing.
We used to have different membership levels, but now it’s just one. You subscribe for $50 a year. You can see the whole score of a company.
You can see the individual scores where we rate them on the issues, which are life, education, environment, basic freedoms, Second Amendment, and those kinds of things. You can see actually where they score on those issues.
You can get our monthly newsletter and our weekly digest. There’ll be blogs. There’ll be financial information that 2nd Vote Advisers will send our way.
So it’s just a lot more bang for your buck. And we’ll hopefully allow more people to use our research and information. You can still see our research behind the wall if you want to join as an Investor Council. So that’s kind of like a separate thing.
Leahy: That’s if you’re really serious about supporting the effort and it’s $1,000. a year. If you’re very, very serious. Look, I’ll tell you a story.
We have a little nonprofit called the Star News Education Foundation. It’s a 501 (c) (3) and is primarily, we do the Constitution Bee.
I was on a radio program, Steve Bannon’s War Room, and somebody watching it liked what we were doing, and liked the Constitution Bee. I go to our mailbox three weeks later, and we got a check for $3,000. because they liked what we were doing.
Wilhite: That’s great.
Leahy: I think there are a lot of people out there who like what 2nd Vote is doing. And my guess is you probably see a lot who want to be in the Investors Council. We’ll talk more about the details of what you get for this when we get back.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
