113： Ted Nugent ｜ Freedom, Liberty, and Rugged Individualism
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Summary
Ted Nugent has been a rock and roll singer, songwriter, musician, and rock n' roll rock godfather for more than 50 years. He is also an advocate for personal liberty and individualism. Ted is a member of the board of directors of the National Rifle Association and is gearing up for his Rockin' America Again tour later this year. In this episode, we talk about the dangers of political correctness, how to improve your life and happiness through discipline, and the importance of freedom and liberty.
Transcript
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There is no doubt in my mind that more and more individualism and personal liberty are frowned upon.
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It's as if somehow individuality is a threat to the system as a whole, and that could not be further from the truth.
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The truth is that men who express their own individuality and personal liberty and responsibility
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are the men responsible for building their families, innovating new ideas in technology and medicine,
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every area of life, and they're stepping up in their neighborhoods and communities.
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Today, I have the honor of sharing with you my conversation with the one and only Ted Nugent.
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We talk about the dangers of political correctness, how to improve your life and happiness through discipline,
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the deterioration of excellence, and the importance of freedom, liberty, and rugged individualism.
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest.
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Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.
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When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong.
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This is who you will become at the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
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My name is Ryan Michler, and I am the host and the founder of this podcast, The Order of Man.
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We have been going now for two years solid, and I've got to say that this has been an amazing ride so far,
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What we're doing for millions of men all over the planet could not happen without you tuning in each and every week
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This is the most important part, actually applying the lessons and the strategies that me and my guests talk about,
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so I want to thank you first and foremost for that.
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I'm going to shoot straight with you on this episode, guys.
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You are either going to absolutely love my conversation with Ted Nugent or you are absolutely going to hate it.
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At some point, you're probably going to be offended, but either way, taking a look at opposing views is critical
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if we are to become the men that we are meant to be.
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But before I get into the madness, the energy, the excitement, the enthusiasm that is Ted Nugent,
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I do want to give you a couple of quick resources.
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First, if you are looking for the links that Ted and I talk about, the resources mentioned in the show,
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And second, I mention this every single week, we are growing over on Facebook.
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We have, I think, roughly 29,000 men in that Facebook group.
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If you're interested in some of those conversations, it's at facebook.com slash groups slash orderofman.
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And third, if you are looking for more than just talk, you're looking for the tools and the skills,
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the accountability, the brotherhood, you're going to need to take your life up a notch.
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You are going to be interested in our exclusive brotherhood, the Iron Council.
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But for now, if you are interested, you can get the details at orderofman.com slash Iron Council.
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Now, guys, with that said, I, again, am so excited to introduce you to a man that probably for most of you
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needs no introduction, the Detroit madman, Uncle Ted, Motor City madman, the Nuge, Mr. Ted Nugent.
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And based on my conversation, this interview, you're going to hear that he has no plans of
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In addition to that, he has become a huge, huge advocate for personal liberty and individual
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He's gearing up for his Rockin' America Again tour later this year.
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But today, he's here to talk about a topic he is all too familiar with, freedom, liberty,
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You know, I just got introduced to morel mushrooms just maybe two or three months ago.
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I'm telling you, if you're going to be a real down-to-earth shit kicker, you've got to hunt
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and fish and trap and pick mushrooms and leeks and scallions and fiddlehead ferns and then
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dandelion salads and, what am I missing here, wild asparagus.
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And, of course, in the Nugent family, we have a springtime and summer ritual called Burial
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Alert, Burial Alert, where we take all the kids and grandkids into the woods and the swamps
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and we identify the delicious Mother Nature pantry.
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I'm telling you, you want to have a thing called Order of Man, you're on the phone with
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Well, that's why I wanted to have you on the call, so I'm anxious to get into this conversation.
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I'm going to have to take notes because, yeah, you wrote a lot down right there for me that
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I'm going to have to make sure our audience knows about.
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Well, I tell you, Ryan, I would welcome the audience.
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I mean, if anybody's listening to a Navy SEAL who is a rugged individual who identifies
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and exemplifies independence and individuality and self-sufficiency, hello, by the way, all
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that's still legal in America if you dare to be the best that you can be.
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But I'm honored to be on the phone and celebrate, especially with a hero of the U.S. Navy SEAL,
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Commando Warrior Network, a get-down called Order of Man.
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But if you go to my Facebook, you'll see, Ryan, that we are not alone.
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I have tens of millions of Facebookers from around the world that know that rugged individualism,
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standing up for what you believe in, fighting for good over bad and ugly, believe me, it's
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You just don't see it in the media, from government or academia, but you see it from
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the real down-to-earth families of this country, and they are tens of millions of them on my
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So go there and witness what it is that I do in a communication outrage every day.
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It's a we-the-people thing where people have the balls and the brains to admit it.
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Well, I've got to be very clear, because I am not a Navy SEAL.
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If you were alluding to that, I just want to make sure I'm very clear on that.
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I thought you were your Army, you're an Army Ranger, or what are you?
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Well, I'm kind of like an Army artillery red leg, too.
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In fact, just by the content of my belt, I think I qualify for artillery.
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Hey, you know, you talk about the media, for example, and you talk about how common this
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is that men are out there, and they want to serve, and they want to be members of the
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community, and they want to serve their families, and they want to do the things you're
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Is there something at play here that we need to know about?
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Well, you're asking the right guy, and I know you respect your elders, right?
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I'm 68.6 years clean and sober, celebrating with mucho gusto the American dream.
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And again, I have to be redundant in a counterpunch to the self-inflicted bend-over rover scourge
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I mean, I'm just a stupid guitar player, but I was raised to take care of myself so that
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I am in my best shape to take care of my family and my neighbors.
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But what I'm articulating here, Ryan, and what you obviously stand for, and certainly the
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heroes of the United States military, I mean, talking about a lucky son of a bitch, for years
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since the 60s, I've been training with the U.S. Marine Corps and the Navy SEALs and the
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Army Ranger Special Forces, Delta Force, are you kidding me?
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The Green Berets, all the special ops out there, they just kind of made their way to communicate
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with me because they hear my radio interviews and they realize that, no, I never served officially
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in the U.S. military, but I've served officially as a militant we the people demanding the freedoms
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and the constitutional rights that the heroes of the military have sacrificed so dearly for.
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So you don't have to be a member of the U.S. Army to be a we the people Army guy, and that's
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So again, what you and I, and I'm telling you, it is alive and well out there.
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My band, my crew, my management, my sons, my daughters, my wife, Shemaine, Linda Peterson,
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everybody in my life, our Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild team here at our Spirit Wild Ranch
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in Texas and our Sunrise Safaris Ranches in Michigan, everybody I know, Ryan, everybody
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is an honest-to-God, all-American shit-kicker who will always be there in the asset column.
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It's an aboriginal term that means you are basically cocked, locked, and ready to rock the
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block dock, and you've got the wherewithal, the attentiveness, the clean and sober radar
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so that you can pick up on maximum good and the dangers and the ubiquitous bad and ugly
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so that you're prepared to stand up for the good while crushing and trampling the weak, hurtling
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So, again, I'm just a guitar player, but all this stuff is so basic, and it's so good that
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only the Democrats find fault with someone being capable of taking care of their family
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and neighbors, and so I'm proud to be on a get-down again.
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I bust my ass so that I can benefit everybody in my life, and I've done it for 68 years.
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You know, what's really interesting is just in knowing a little bit about you and following
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your story and what you've done, you even alluded to this, just having a clear mind,
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I mean, you've abstained from those in an industry and an environment where it's run
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I mean, tell me about the philosophy behind that.
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I think it's pretty important to note that if somebody doesn't know, I will help them.
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I'm here to spotlight the self-evident truth and the common sense and the logic.
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I'm often asked, how did I avoid the temptations to, you know, the drooling and puking drug
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and alcohol dirtbags in the world of entertainment?
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And I always respond, well, I avoided that temptation the same way I avoid the temptation
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of stabbing myself in the eyeball with an ice pick.
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I mean, I gotta tell you, Ryan, how many hippies do you have to witness drooling and puking
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and stumbling and dying to figure out you might want to avoid the system of life that
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So, again, my dad was a—in fact, you'll love this.
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I know you already love me, but you're about to love me even more.
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My dad, Warren Henry Nugent, was a U.S. Army drill sergeant in World War II and Korea, and
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he brought that drill sergeant emphatic quality of life—here it comes—discipline.
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The discipline, if you met my brother Jeff, Ryan, if you met my brother John, my sister
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Kathy, if you met my son Toby and Fleetwood and Rocco and my daughters Louisa and Star
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and Chantel and then Heather and Sasha, I mean, if you met the whole—if you met my wife,
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Well, there's an order of mankind where clean and sober is the only way that you can be an
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asset to yourself, your family, and your fellow man, and the good earth as a conservationist.
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So I avoided that insanity because my—number one, I didn't know that drugs and alcohol were
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bad because I was, you know, I wasn't even a teenager yet when I started playing rock and
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row. I brought it frat parties and sorority parties and pool parties and sock hops and
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bar mitzvahs, but there was always drugs and alcohol because it was pre-hippie. It was
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beatnik time, you know, Maynard G. Krebs. I don't know if you want to Google that, but
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there were beatniks before the hippies, and they were already into the big drooling, puking
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insanity. And I just figured out, number one, if I'd have smoked a joint, or I didn't even
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know there was a joint. I just knew the guy was smoking a cigarette. I don't know what
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kind of cigarette it was, but if I'd have been caught doing that by my dad, he would
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have ripped my head off and shit down my neck. I mean, can we all say thank you, Warren
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Henry Nugent? Because that discipline is the foundation for happiness, quality of life.
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So I was fortified in a wonderful, loving, disciplinary upbringing, so that when I was
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exposed to clearly aberrant, stupid, suicidal, stinky behavior, I just avoided it. Number
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one, because my dad disciplined me, and I was fearful of the paternal retribution. I mean,
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he really would have kicked my ass. But also, that my fellow musicians, that I was so dedicated
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to make this killer, grooving, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Motown
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Funk Brother, Black Soulful Little Richard Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry Music, that I saw the
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drugs and the alcohol ruining people who could play their instrument really well a minute
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ago, but as soon as they got drunk or stolen, they couldn't do anything right. So it was a
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pragmatic, utilitarian lesson of good over stupid. So that's how I avoided it, and that's
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how I continued to avoid it. How has your role or your idea or notion of parenting
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evolved from your father, who is the drill instructor, and did that carry over, or has
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that completely changed? What does that look like for you and your children?
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Well, I bet you, and you know, the real good interview you should have, I'm a really good
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interviewer. I've been doing this for over 50 years, and I love to talk about quality of
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life in America. You told me you invented it before we got started here, so...
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Yeah, I think I might have invented the better interview system. In other words, you've got to be
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clean and sober to have a good interview, believe me. Try to have one with Ozzie and see how far
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you get. You'll need an interpreter for the impediment. My point being is I'm a really good
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interviewer, but the better interview about Ted Nugent wouldn't be with me. It would be with my
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wife, Shemaine, my incredible sons and daughters, even Linda Peterson, my personal assistant for all
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these years. The poor woman. She's a warrior unto herself, or my manager, Doug Banker, or my bandmates,
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or my crew, or Chris Helms, my Spirit Wild Ranch manager, or anybody that I work with, because
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they will tell you that my dad's drill sergeant regimen is alive and well in my life. I'm a drill
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sergeant when it comes to getting chores done at the ranch. I'm a drill sergeant when it comes to my
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guides and outfitters on our sunrise safaris taking care of hunters from around the world. I'm a drill
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sergeant making sure that they are absolutely caught, locked, and ready to rock, and that they
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take care of every detail. And this will resonate with you as a U.S. Army warrior. It's all about
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situational awareness. And guess what? 24-7, 365 demands situational awareness. You have to have
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situational awareness when you're sleeping. You've got to be prepared for when you wake up,
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and you have to take care of business, whether it's a fire or flood or a bad guy. So I'm expressing
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to you, Ryan, it's not a Ted Nugent or a Ryan Mickler thing. It is really alive and well out there
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with everybody I know. The media hates individualism. They hate welders and farmers and ranchers and
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guitar. They hate good people who are attentive and caring and generous and giving with a great work
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ethic in the asset column. For some strange, crazy reason, the media and academia and so many punks
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in the government hate the good people. So we just keep kicking ass anyway.
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Why that hate? I mean, why that hostility and that hate? Because I agree with you with the
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individualism and the ability to just be a good and decent human being, to work hard, provide for
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your family, provide for those people who you have an obligation for. Why that hate and hostility?
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You know, I've witnessed it. I was born at a great time. I mean, Chuck Berry just began to show us
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what to do with Les Paul's new electric instrument. And Fred Bear was bringing back the mystical flight
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of the arrow and that consummate reasoning predator level of awareness that is the demands of bow
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hunting. So in a disciplined, great parenting environment that I was raised in, in the woods and
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swamps of Michigan, it has served me well to pay attention. But what I'm about to share with you,
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Ryan, is an eyewitness, boots on the ground, hands-on experience of what happened after the globe
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rejoiced the definitive good of America after we crushed the Japs and the Nazi evils. Everybody celebrated
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this experiment in self-government because capitalism is behind technical advances and
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warrior advances because you know that you're fighting for your freedom, your life, liberty,
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pursuit of happiness is defined in the Constitution. That's what gave us that warrior supremacy. It
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wasn't just the great technology and the invention of the mighty A-10 Warthog and the Garand and the
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Madus and the M60. I mean, it wasn't just all that battlefield advances. It was about spirit. And that
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spirit is unique to a free man who's ultimately fighting for freedom. So now I've set the stage how when I
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was born in 48, right after the war, that we were universally celebrating the undeniable greatness of
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America. And then the punks started with this New Deal nonsense and the great society lie and the
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rewarding for pimps and whores and welfare brats and bloodsuckers and lazy punks who wouldn't earn
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their own way, who didn't believe in excellence, the union bosses that would teach the union workers
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that they don't have to produce excellent products. They can be lazy and they can schlep off so that
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they can hire 20 guys to do what one really dedicated guy could accomplish. And so I saw the
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deterioration of this absolute demand of excellence, which is personified in my birth city of Detroit,
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which was the work ethic and productive epicenter of earth. And then the liberal Democrats started
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scamming and saying, yeah, you're working too hard. Hey, you need this benefit. Hey,
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we can get more out of it. Meanwhile, so there goes the steel jobs. There goes the manufacturing jobs
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and the lazy guys won. So now you've got a bunch of dope smokers that have weaseled their way into
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academia. The professors are all left-wing. They're all semi-communist, if not full-blown communists
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and the propaganda ministry in the media and the lie, just like my fellow musicians who,
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you know, like a David Crosby who attacked me recently because I support Trump. Here's a guy
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that doesn't, he doesn't believe he has the right to keep them bare arms, but he's been caught with
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an illegal pistol four times. So when you smoke enough dope, all of a sudden good is bad, bad is
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good, up is down, down is up, black is white, white is black. It's bizarro world, cuckoo's nest,
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planet of the apes, you know, mad magazine, twilight zone stuff. And it all goes back to substance abuse.
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And every one of them leftists, I am convinced, have smoked so much dope, they don't know left
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from right. One of the things you talk about, and you've mentioned this a couple of times just in
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our brief conversation at this point, is the term and the word asset. And when you're talking about
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this, you're talking about being an asset to your family, your community, your business,
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the country. Talk to me about how a man becomes more of an asset as opposed to a liability, right?
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Well, and again, I apologize to you and most of the listeners who already know,
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but it's important to ask that question because when you look at the insanity of these
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feeble, you know, soulless punks in the colleges and universities across the country who become
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maniacally violent if someone dares to say something that is a self-evident truth or common sense or
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logic. And not Ted Nugent's self-evident truth, common sense or logic, but I mean, come on,
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let's just take the second amendment issue. Everybody knows, everybody knows that the most
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innocent lives are always lost in gun-free zones. And these brain dead freaks want more. They know
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that that'll cause more innocent death and they actually fight to increase the arena for bad guys
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to do what they want with us. So, so the ultimate answer to how you are in the asset column,
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number one, clean and sober. You gotta be clean and sober to be the best that you can be. Who do you
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want stoned? Your pilot? Your fireman? Your babysitter? Your landscape? Who do you want stoned? Your dentist?
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Who I would love to hear from these idiots? Who they want stoned. And I, you know who I want stoned?
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Nobody. Then I don't have to pick up after them or dodge them on the highway. It's really simple.
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You're either in the asset column or the liability column. And it comes down to individual choice.
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To be an asset, just to give you a quick overview, you gotta be clean and sober. You gotta support
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yourself and earn your own way. No matter what it takes. You have to take risk and you've got to
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make sacrifices and you've got to do without so that you save for a rainy day and live within your
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means and don't be indulgent and irresponsible. Dear God, it's almost like I'm saying, Ryan,
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oh, by the way, after you poop, you have to wipe yourself. Did I mention that, Michael Moore?
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So this is, to me, is so glaringly obvious. And then if you earn your own way and you save for a rainy day
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and you can raise your family properly and you can house and clothe and medicate and provide and
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protect them, hello? I mean, it's so simple. Even the author of Wango Tango figured out by the time
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I was about 11. And you've got to kick ass or you're going to get your ass kicked.
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I want to ask about this idea and this notion of political correctness because you obviously are
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anything but politically correct. And you just do a quick search on the internet and you can see,
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you know, somebody's attacking you or coming after you for something that you said that in a lot of
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cases, you know, like you said, blatantly obvious and what you would think would be common sense.
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How do we overcome this culture of political correctness?
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And if you really Google my name and thank God we have a term that has now surfaced that identifies
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what I've had to deal with my whole life and that is fake news.
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And that the left just about kills themselves. Create fake news about it. You can tell I'm
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laughing. I can hardly talk. I'm so constantly laughing at the anguish and suffering I bring
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into the leftist life. It's just the great bonus of life. I think God might love me more than he
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loves you because I piss off the idiots more than anybody that has ever lived. And I don't even try.
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I just do the right thing. I mean, I follow instinct, logic, goodwill, decency, the Ten
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Commandments, the Golden Rule, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of
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Rights. I mean, that'll make our quality of life that's not available anyplace else in the world.
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That being said, the way to trample and destroy political correctness, number one,
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be an NRA member. You have to be a member of the National Rifle Association. Anybody listening
00:23:43.220
right now? I don't want to hear the squawks about how the NRA isn't perfect. All I'm telling you is
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that the NRA fights every minute of every day to crush the onslaught, the indefatigable onslaught
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of anti-gunners and anti-freedom pricks out there. So number one, to crush political correctness is to
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be a member of the NRA and to constantly communicate with your elected employees. And in this day and age,
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to demand that Donald Trump's campaign promises come to fruition, and my mayor and my governor
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and my senator and my congressman and my state rep, they owe that to me, and they know it. I hope
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everyone listening communicates and raises hell with their elected employees demanding constitutional
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accountability. I gotta tell you, Ryan, I'm convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt nobody could
00:24:38.620
possibly change my mind. I am exactly what the founding fathers wanted. They wanted a hellraiser,
00:24:45.920
a person who's constantly suspicious of anything government or authority, and we reference the
00:24:52.240
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, as a litmus test whether they are legal or not. Because I know the
00:24:58.780
oath. I take an oath every year since 1984 as a sheriff deputy in Lake County, Michigan, and I know what
00:25:04.940
that oath is. And I get teary-eyed when I give it. And I know you did. And I know all the military
00:25:10.100
heroes do, and law enforcement heroes do, and all our elected employees do. And they're breaking it
00:25:15.280
every damn day. And we need to put pressure on them. That's what our founding fathers wanted
00:25:21.640
to experiment and self-government, we the people, to do. If you're not pissing off the idiots, you're an idiot.
00:25:28.840
Guys, just a quick break to tell you about our exclusive brotherhood. I mentioned it before, the
00:25:35.120
Iron Council. If you are looking to take your life to the next level, this is something you're going to be
00:25:40.320
interested in. The 280, roughly, members of the Iron Council, they're paying off debt, connecting with their wives
00:25:45.900
for the first time in years. They're connecting again with their kids. They're starting businesses they've always
00:25:50.960
wanted to start. They're getting the promotion, having the confidence to ask for raises and promotions in the first
00:25:55.600
place. These guys are losing weight, getting in health, just about anything that they're setting
00:26:00.700
out to do. It's not easy. I will not tell you that it's a magic pill. These guys are doing the work
00:26:06.900
that is required. So I make no promises to you as to your results. That is all on you. But I can tell you
00:26:13.000
that you will get the tools. You will get the guidance, the direction, again, the brotherhood,
00:26:18.340
and the accountability that you need to do big things in your life, as are the brothers inside the Iron
00:26:23.400
Council. So if you're ready to get going, if you want to reserve your seat, if you want to learn
00:26:27.160
more about what we're all about, you can do so at orderofman.com slash Iron Council. Again,
00:26:32.560
orderofman.com slash Iron Council. Now let's jump back to our conversation with Ted.
00:26:39.180
I know you talk a lot about accountability, especially with the political system. And I
00:26:42.540
know you just recently had a trip to the White House. I'd like to hear your perspective on Mr. Trump
00:26:47.880
and the conversation that you had. And is this a man who does want to uphold his campaign
00:26:53.060
promises and be accountable to the things that he said? I can summarize it in one word and then
00:26:58.280
I'll go into detail. But the number one summary term would be, hallelujah. Finally, we got a status
00:27:06.680
quo crushing elected employee as a commander in chief. And I know as a military guy, and I hang with
00:27:14.420
them every day, all my buddies in the military talking about a sigh of relief that we got the
00:27:20.580
anti-constitution, anti-warrior punk out of the White House from the last eight years.
00:27:25.840
And we actually have a man who respects the Constitution, the great warriors who make an
00:27:31.440
oath and are willing to die for that Constitution. So the prognosis in my lifetime has never been
00:27:39.000
better. I felt that instinctively from monitoring and making sure I watched closely everything Donald
00:27:46.220
Trump did and said. And I helped him get elected in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and my efforts
00:27:51.260
worked. And my visit to the White House, invited by the president, was a hallelujah moment that I was
00:27:58.640
so fearful I would not have. But I did have it because here's an overview synopsis for everybody
00:28:07.400
listening, Ryan. President Donald J. Trump is the real McCoy. Is he going to be able to perform
00:28:14.200
miracles? No. But he's already performed many upgrades that approach miraculous conditions.
00:28:21.820
And I believe that we are finally on the right track. We have turned the corner from the communist
00:28:27.760
community organizer who weaseled his way in to the White House, not based on content of character,
00:28:34.820
but based on color of skin. And this is a great time. But now is the time for we, the people,
00:28:40.580
to demand that those campaign promises that got Mr. Trump elected president of the United States,
00:28:47.760
that he follows through, and that our state and local representatives are in line with what we,
00:28:54.860
the people, have voted for in the president of the United States. So he was so down to earth.
00:29:01.360
He genuinely cared. And, you know, talking about situational awareness and level of awareness
00:29:07.620
determining quality of life. You know, I fancy myself a pretty energetic guy for 68.6 years old,
00:29:14.340
and I think the jury is not still out. I'm mighty energetic. Ryan, I met my match. This guy is a
00:29:23.720
ball of fire. And you stop and think what he's got to deal with every day with North Korea and the
00:29:29.240
Democrats and Russia and the border and taxes and then the SCOTUS. I mean, this guy has got an agenda
00:29:38.540
that might even dwarf mine on occasion. But man, he came into that White House and he was so down to
00:29:45.440
earth. And he spent four plus hours with us. And he listened to every word. You could tell he's
00:29:53.020
looking you in the eye. He's listening. I could tell by his handshake and his focus, his eye focus on
00:30:00.060
those of us that were speaking. He would ask us some, you know, general life questions and then
00:30:05.540
some serious ass political questions. And he would squint and furrow his brow. And he, when he didn't
00:30:11.760
agree, he would tell us. And when he did agree and we brought maybe a new angle to him, his eyes got
00:30:17.740
big and he went and he talked to Stephen Miller, his policy director. And he went, I hadn't thought
00:30:23.260
of that angle. Let's make a note of that. So he cared. He knows he works for we, the people.
00:30:29.280
That's better than anything I can say. Yeah, that's an interesting perspective. I'm glad that
00:30:33.380
you shared that with us. You touched on this for a minute and coming from a guy who's very energetic
00:30:37.340
and always busy. How do you maintain personally for yourself the level of energy, the level of fire?
00:30:43.480
Is this even something that you have to focus on or is this just you yourself and just
00:30:46.780
the schedule and everything that you're dealing with in your life?
00:30:50.640
I think I can quote, I think we can all admit that the greatest philosopher of all times was
00:30:56.320
Dirty Harry. Absolutely. Without a doubt. And one of his greatest factual guide posts for a quality
00:31:04.800
of life was when he said a good man has to know his limitations. I know my limitations. And I said
00:31:10.800
this in an interview yesterday, that if Elvis Presley and John Belushi and Jimi Hendrix and Janice
00:31:16.720
Joplin and Jim Morrison and Bon Scott and Keith Moon, if they would have just had a bow and arrow or if
00:31:24.300
they just could discipline themselves to aim small, miss small with marksmanship routines and or something
00:31:32.320
outside, plant trees like I do. I'm listing all the things that cleanse my soul. I know that the energy
00:31:39.600
I unleash on stage every night for the last 50 plus years. You have to counterbalance that with some
00:31:47.380
spiritual battery charging. And that's what my hunting outdoor ranching farming life represents.
00:31:53.640
I mean, I hunt fish, trap year round. I was out with the dogs this morning. We got a nice limb wreck and
00:31:58.580
I have some fricassee this afternoon. I train with my carry gun every day. And boy, when you're about to
00:32:04.600
train, even though it's just steel plates and steel silhouettes, there is no world. It's only it's
00:32:10.040
that tacky psyche, which is only distance, cover accuracy, timing, distance, cover accuracy,
00:32:18.060
accuracy, distance, cover timing. I mean, I train and you know, when you do that, there is no Taliban.
00:32:24.880
There is no cancer. There is no Kim Jong-un. There's no Michael Moore. There's no Hillary Clinton.
00:32:31.120
When you're training and qualifying, even if not in a professional law enforcement scenario or military
00:32:38.120
scenario, like I've, I'm so privileged and honored to, I have it in my life, but just, you know,
00:32:44.440
going to the range and trying to put consecutive 22 rounds in the same hole from an offhand position.
00:32:51.840
I mean, this is soul cleansing stuff, but to answer your question, how I maintain this energy,
00:32:56.540
number one, I was blessed with it. I just have it. I've had it forever. My mom constantly looked to
00:33:02.660
the heavens and asked for help. I can imagine. I've got four kids of my own. I can imagine what
00:33:08.980
that's like. Yeah, I was a scrambler. And even at 68.6 years before Mrs. New York, my poor queen,
00:33:16.860
the poorest wife, she often looks to the heavens much like my mother and goes, geez, what is with this
00:33:22.660
guy? That's funny. Because at 68, I'll, I'll dive on my Labradors and wrestle them to the ground and
00:33:29.720
get them to bite me. I just love life to the fullest. And I have to admit, I'm a lucky, lucky
00:33:35.520
man because my, I have a song called working hard, playing hard. And the first one verse summarizes
00:33:41.100
my gift of life. And it goes, now it's my turn to show my stuff. It's sometimes fun. It's sometimes
00:33:48.420
rough. I'm working hard to earn my way, but lucky me, my work is play. Ryan, my career is rock and
00:33:56.800
roll and hunting. Are you kidding me? Yeah. But is there, is there anything, could there possibly be
00:34:03.600
anything that I've off-road raced with Parnelli Jones and Mickey Thompson? I have bowhunted with
00:34:08.580
Fred Barrett, played bass for Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, got the greatest band. My wife is the goddess
00:34:14.380
of sensuality of sexuality. My kids are awesome. We all take good care of ourselves. My brothers and
00:34:21.640
my sister and I, we come and communicate all the time. It's about caring, intelligent, responsible
00:34:29.320
choices in life. And I, I haven't made them exclusively for 68.6 years, but damn close.
00:34:37.120
How did you get into hunting? Obviously this is, of course, it goes without saying a huge component
00:34:41.620
of your life. How did you even, is this something your dad taught you? Did you do this as a child?
00:34:45.340
What did that look like? Yeah, I was born in 1948. My dad was already a follower of the great
00:34:51.460
legendary Fred Bear, and he had already picked up the mystical flight of the arrow, bowhunting
00:34:57.100
outrage, because it really is outrageous to try to kill a deer with a bow and arrow.
00:35:01.900
I've never done it, but I can imagine. Oh, it's as close to impossible as anything you'll attempt
00:35:06.720
in life. And that's why it's so rewarding. And it tunes you in to such a higher level of awareness
00:35:13.420
and accountability of where each footfall will either benefit you or compromise you. And that
00:35:20.720
bowhunting discipline will make you a better everything. It'll make you tuned in better than
00:35:27.740
anything in life. I'm convinced of that. Now, maybe the ultimate training of those Delta Force
00:35:33.780
guys and the special ops and Army Rangers and SEALs, maybe, you know, I've never gone the full
00:35:39.900
gamut with them. I've competed with them and lost. So I know that there is a higher sense of discipline
00:35:47.680
than just my little goofy guitar playing bowhunting. But for a civilian, it's damn demanding. And so my
00:35:55.300
dad, we'd go north hunting every October from 1950, 1949. I was 10 months old in October of 1949,
00:36:05.560
and I was already in deer camp. I was born in Detroit, right across the street from the Rouge
00:36:10.660
River Wildlife Paradise. So when all the other kids were playing hockey and football and basketball and
00:36:17.100
baseball, I was down in Skunk Hollow making bows and arrows and shooting muskrats and squirrels and
00:36:25.520
coons and possums and skunks and quail and robins and starlings. Blue jays was a big trophy. So I was
00:36:33.680
always fascinated by wildlife and how I could get really, really close to them and then ultimately kill
00:36:40.060
them and eat them. So it was once again, a real instinctual pragmatism drove that passion. And I
00:36:47.360
got to tell you, I love it now more than I ever have. And that's really saying something.
00:36:52.540
I'd like you to set the record straight as well when it comes to hunting, because I think there's
00:36:56.280
a big misconception and maybe not so much as maybe we think just because the media portrays it this way
00:37:01.460
about the conservation efforts of hunters and what's portrayed in the media.
00:37:06.760
Boy, that's important because it really is just the most vulgar fake news in the history of the
00:37:12.740
world. And we're still having to deal with the anti-wildlife, anti-nature, insulting ramifications
00:37:20.200
due to that political correct denial animal rights criminality that exists out there. Let me just tell
00:37:26.440
you this. Case closed. There are more deer, more bear, more cougar, more turkey, more geese than ever
00:37:33.760
in recorded history. Everybody write that down. Because hunters demand the science of sustained
00:37:42.480
yield, how much will this species produce? What habitat is necessary to optimize that production?
00:37:49.820
And let's take a little side note here. Where the hell does anybody think that quality air,
00:37:55.540
soil, and water comes from? Well, the guitar player will help you. Quality air, soil, and water can only
00:38:01.500
come from healthy, thriving wildlife habitat. And wherever you find healthy, thriving wildlife
00:38:10.080
habitat and the protein production therefrom, you will find Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfall,
00:38:17.360
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pheasants Forever, White Tail Unlimited,
00:38:22.640
the Federation of North American Sheep, Quail Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Grouse Society. I'm telling you,
00:38:28.760
the hunters, fishermen, and trappers have 98% of the monies generated to hire scientists and game
00:38:38.260
wardens to enforce the laws we wrote. We, the hunting, fishing, trapping community, we wrote the laws.
00:38:47.380
We wrote sustained yield productivity population dynamic laws to maximize wildlife production,
00:38:55.140
not just the deer we eat, but the songbirds and the endangered species. They all benefit from the
00:39:01.840
wildlife habitat that the hunting, fishing, trapping gazillions of dollars have created. So anybody that
00:39:10.180
thinks hunting hurts wildlife is on acid or crack, or they're still trying to interpret Ozzy Osbourne's
00:39:18.340
last sentence. I'm telling you, if it weren't for hunters, fishermen, and trappers, the market slaughter
00:39:25.000
would have continued and there'd be nothing. But we policed it. We wrote the scientific-based laws for
00:39:31.900
sustained yield. And that's why there's more, and again, stop and think, Ryan, 2017, there's more black
00:39:38.900
bears and cougars in North America than ever in recorded history because we wrote the laws to manage
00:39:46.260
them, not to protect them, to manage them. And so I'm very, very proud of that. So anybody that has
00:39:52.340
a problem with hunting is an idiot. Now, I'm not saying you have to hunt, but if you're so stupid,
00:40:00.100
there's a difference between ignorance and stupid. Everybody knows the slaughter on the highways of
00:40:05.640
deer and bear and elk and pronghorn getting slaughtered on the highways every year. Can you
00:40:11.460
imagine if we stopped hunting one year, what would happen? Yeah, yeah, I bet. I mean,
00:40:16.260
come on, there's no vacancy. Every chunk of wild ground is full to the brim with all life forms.
00:40:24.220
You have to harvest the surplus, i.e., Thanksgiving. You harvest the surplus to feed, clothe, medicate,
00:40:31.600
and create balance for next year's fawn, cub, and calf production. Hello! But isn't it amazing that
00:40:40.680
everything I said is so easy to understand, but if you smoke enough dope, you can pretend that
00:40:47.280
wildlife is a cartoon character. And you can say, Nugent is a bad man, and he's a coward because he
00:40:54.280
shoots indefensible Bambis. Bambis. So they claim I murder Bambis. So now, instead of living, breathing,
00:41:01.280
flesh-and-blood creatures that we revere, they're reducing wildlife to a cartoon character.
00:41:09.240
Thank you very much. Drive safely, and why don't you put a little sugar on your LSD next time, goofball?
00:41:16.200
Well, Ted, hey, we're winding down on time. I want to ask you a couple additional questions as we close
00:41:20.060
things out here. And I think you've alluded to this, but I want to wrap things up with this
00:41:23.760
question. And that question that I ask all of my guests that join me is, what does it mean to be a
00:41:28.500
man? I'd love to hear your perspective. It means to be the absolute best that you can be so that
00:41:34.060
you are tuned into your surroundings so that no matter who needs you, you can be an asset. You can
00:41:40.380
help put out a fire. You can help evacuate a building. You can help neutralize a bad guy. You
00:41:45.980
can help pay for the medicine for a sick child when the government doesn't come through. You're ready
00:41:52.680
to take care of your family, your neighbors, your fellow man, and nature. The pragmatism of it all
00:42:01.080
is pretty easy to identify. I'm sitting here with you right now. I see we're some store
00:42:05.160
channel. Nordstrom is now selling dirty jeans. I saw that. Yeah, I saw that the other day.
00:42:13.540
Well, I just got in from checking my trap line and my fence and doing chores and killing a squirrel.
00:42:18.300
So my Wranglers right now are covered in blood. They're covered in blood and muck.
00:42:26.800
It's real. I didn't pay for this. And on my belt is a Glock Model 20 10 millimeter and four magazines.
00:42:35.220
I got a Gerber tool with all the important tools I need. I got an old 1960s Victorian ox knife.
00:42:42.600
I got a lighter. I got a small tape measure. I got my reading glasses and some chapstick. I got
00:42:50.720
a handkerchief and I got some guitar picks and I got a Ted Nugent coin. What do you call them? Not a
00:42:56.440
sharing coin, but a challenge coin that I'm always meeting military guys and sharing coins with them.
00:43:01.960
I got my wallet with my ID and some money and some credit cards. I got my sheriff credentials and
00:43:07.500
my shield. I have a pen and a marker, my sunglasses and my phone. So when I say cocked, locked and
00:43:15.760
ready to rock the Glock dock, this is how I get up every morning since I was about 18. I have tools
00:43:22.340
on me. I'm going to need them. I will whip out this gun and this knife and this lighter. I will whip
00:43:27.260
this stuff out. And everywhere I go, somebody's always going, anybody got a pen? I got a pen.
00:43:32.540
Yep. Yep. Anybody got a lighter? I got a lighter. I don't even smoke, but I carry a lighter with me.
00:43:37.680
I got lost in the Michigan woods back in 68 and I had nothing on me at the time. So everything I
00:43:43.360
just mentioned is a direct result of getting lost in the Manistee National Forest during a snowstorm.
00:43:48.860
And I bowed never again would I ever get up in the morning without carrying the stuff on me. You
00:43:52.520
could drop me in a jungle of Brazil and I would be just fine. So all these things about being ready.
00:43:58.680
Being a man is about being ready and to be the best that you can be. And you'd never want to be
00:44:06.820
let out of a building during a tragedy. You want to help lead people out of the building
00:44:11.520
in a tragedy. And best to have a gun on you in case part of that tragedy is the ever-increasing
00:44:17.080
threat of insanity and a la puke terrorism, where you need to neutralize dangerous forces more often
00:44:24.600
than ever before. So it's about being ready to take care of your fellow man. To me, it's so simple.
00:44:30.800
It's stupid. And remember, I'm just a dumb guitar player. I'm ready to go.
00:44:36.740
Powerful stuff. Powerful stuff for sure. Well, I know you've got the Rockin' America Again tour.
00:44:41.080
You've got some other things going on. Do you want to make a mention of that so we can find out
00:44:45.560
I really do. I mean, number one, thanks everybody for making Ted Nugent's Spirit of the Wild TV,
00:44:51.240
the number one hunting show in the history of hunting shows on Outdoor Channel. We've been doing
00:44:55.440
this for 27 years, and people just love this show. And I, Shemaine, and I thank you for making it
00:45:01.740
number one. I have over 30 million, 36 million I had Facebookers. Right now, it's about 15 million.
00:45:10.060
And thanks for all the positive, wonderful energy and piss and vinegar on my Facebook.
00:45:15.700
I love the communication. I thank everybody for supporting all the articles I rate for all the
00:45:22.220
different publications and blogs and websites. And certainly, more than anything, for supporting
00:45:28.140
this insane rhythm and blues rock and roll orgy that I've had for the last 55 years. We're going
00:45:33.700
on the road with the greatest musicians in the world. Greg Smith on bass and Jason Hartless on drums
00:45:39.120
is beyond any guitar player's dream. These are the baddest mofos you'll ever want to rock with.
00:45:45.340
The killer songs of all times. Every year we go out there, and it is over-the-top, outrage,
00:45:52.860
ferocious, kick-ass, fun, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. We're going out all summer. You go to
00:45:59.740
my website. We do six nights a week. Here's another indication that maybe I'm a real man. Because most
00:46:06.380
bands go out and they do two gigs, and then you do two or three days off. You're poor little babies.
00:46:10.560
I don't want them to hurt themselves. I do six in a row, sometimes 28 in a row. But because I have
00:46:16.800
Jason and Greg, they throttle these songs, these incredible songs. Stranglehold, and just with the
00:46:23.100
doctor order, and Free For All, and Dog Eat Dog, and Gonzo, and Fred Bear, and Stranglehold, and Cat
00:46:29.040
Scratch Fever, and Wang Dang Sweet Poontang, and Wango Tang, and Paralyzed. Are you kidding me?
00:46:32.940
So we'll be out all summer. We're playing six nights a week, June, July, and August in the first
00:46:38.560
part of September. And I just thank everybody for all these years of unbelievable celebration of the
00:46:45.200
best American rhythm and blues rock and roll you could ever, ever hope for. And we're the last of
00:46:51.000
them. Ryan, nobody plays music like we do anymore. I love this stuff. It's stupid.
00:46:56.300
Right on. We'll make sure we link all of that up so the guys know where to go. I do have to ask you,
00:46:59.620
and this is probably the most important question, because my wife would probably kill me if I didn't
00:47:03.800
at least ask this question. She says, when you talk with him, ask him if she can get a signed
00:47:08.720
autographed picture of you in your loincloth. I imagine I could find one of them someplace,
00:47:13.640
but I ate the damn loincloth, so it would have to be an old picture.
00:47:16.720
That's right. All right. We'll see what we can do. Go ahead.
00:47:19.140
That's an indicator. That's an important indicator, Ryan, that your soulmate is interested in young
00:47:29.620
That's right. That's right. Well, Ted, I got to tell you, I appreciate you. I appreciate the way
00:47:33.720
that you show up and your conversation and imparting some of your wisdom and sharing your
00:47:37.380
time. I know you're a busy guy. Obviously, you've got a ton going on, so I want to thank you for
00:47:41.280
sharing with me and our audience today. Thanks again.
00:47:43.940
You bet. God bless you, and God bless the U.S. military and law enforcement out there. And Ryan,
00:47:48.000
if I could, I'd like to enlighten everybody to one of the greatest military charities out there,
00:47:53.300
operationfinallyhome.org. Operationfinallyhome.org, where we use every dime that is donated to build
00:48:03.080
gorgeous custom homes for the U.S. military heroes and their families at zero cost, turnkey,
00:48:10.180
ready for quality of life upgrade. Operationfinallyhome.org, a great military charity trying to make up for the
00:48:18.480
travesty of what the government has failed to give back to the veterans of the U.S. military.
00:48:24.020
All right. We're going to link that one up, too, so the guys know exactly where to go for that.
00:48:33.160
There it is, guys. My conversation with the one and only Ted Nugent. It was a wild conversation,
00:48:39.200
a wild interview for sure. But there's so much truth to what he said about the
00:48:42.600
individuality and responsibility that we as men have to excel and to show up the way that we are
00:48:49.680
meant to show up for our families and our communities. So if you are looking for the links
00:48:54.660
that he mentioned, including some of the best quotes from this show, and there were a lot of
00:48:57.940
them, there were a lot of great quotes that I pulled out. You can get those at orderofman.com
00:49:02.140
slash one one three. And in the meantime, guys, make sure you check out our exclusive brotherhood,
00:49:07.420
the Iron Council. You're going to get the tools, the resources, the guidance, the brotherhood,
00:49:11.200
everything that you might need to set the framework for the effort and the work that it is going to
00:49:17.760
take to enhance every element of your life. So if you're interested in learning more and you're
00:49:22.700
interested in joining us, you can do that at orderofman.com slash Iron Council. I will look
00:49:28.200
forward to talk with you on Friday for our Friday Field Notes. But until then, take action and become
00:49:33.140
the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast. You're ready to take
00:49:39.440
charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the Order