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 Tennessee Stands Gary Humble to the newsmakers line to talk about the mission of his new 501 (c)(4), pending lawsuits, and bringing power back to the people.
Leahy: Our guest now was going to be in studio Gary Humble with Tennessee Stands. Gary, welcome to the Tennessee Star Report.
Humble: Good morning.
Leahy: Well, you were supposed to come in this morning. (Humble chuckles) We’ve not met in person yet, and it would have been great to have you in studio. Both Squeegee and I, our producer we came in last night and stayed in a hotel here nearby. And we thought the discretion was the better part of valor to have you come in. And this morning would have not been very wise for anybody. You’re out in Williamson County so we called you up and said hey, just give us a phone. What’s the weather like out there for you today, Gary?
Humble: Yeah, pretty icy I believe. And I can guarantee you my wife was feeling the same way.
Leahy: I can imagine that conversation. What! You’re going to risk your life and they’re not even paying you anything. (Laughter) Have you heard that conversation before?
Humble: Oh, yeah, we’ve had that one a few times. (Laughter)
Leahy: Gary, tell us about Tennessee Stands. you have burst on the scenes of conservative activism here in Tennessee over the past several months. And I’m delighted to see the growth of Tennessee Stands. You’re a 501 (c)(4).
Humble: We are.
Leahy: Which is a public advocacy group. And tell us a little bit about what your agenda is.
Humble: We started right in the middle of the COVID response last summer, especially right whenever schools were coming out with their reopening plans. I think for me as a dad as well, that was when the light switch really really went on. And I realized that everything that’s going on around us is not just going to go away.
And we are going to have to fight for it and we’re going to have to take it back. So we started Tennessee Stands. And the first thing we did was file a lawsuit against the state over what we believed to be unconstitutional mandates stemming from our emergency power statutes and that went to a couple of more lawsuits. And since then, we’ve written three pieces of legislation that are currently going to the General Assembly.
And then we’re gearing up for 2022 as we see a huge need to focus on local races on county commissions and school boards. I will tell you for me here in Williamson County some different local leadership and I bet you can say the same thing and Davidson and you’d be living a very very different life right now.
No matter what’s going on around you across the state or federally. So that’s our focus. That’s what we do. We look to defend our individual liberties guaranteed and secured by our Constitution and to see that elected officials do not exceed the authority which they’re given by our constitution. So that’s what we do.
Leahy: I’m looking at your website. I love your guiding principles. Our rights come from God, not from government. All government authority is constitutionally limited. personal liberty is necessary to promote the common good. One nation under God indivisible. And citizens are responsible for self-government. Boy, that sounds fantastic. Sounds like you’ve read the Constitution.
Humble: Yeah a few times. The Tennessee Constitution is only 26 Pages. It’s written in English. Not a big deal. I think everybody should pick it up and check it out and read both.
Leahy: Yes. So you’re familiar with both the U.S. Constitution and the Tennessee Constitution. Yet 26 pages isn’t that much. People know the U.S. Constitution but not so much the Tennessee Constitution. Gary when we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about your lawsuits and about the legislation you have before the Tennessee General Assembly. We’re talking with Gary Humble, the Executive Director of Tennessee Stands.
Listen to the full second 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.Â
