Surveillance cameras now watch nearly every street in America, and the man who tried to stop the first version of them says the country never had the debate. Jim Gilmore was Governor of Virginia when the legislature sent him a bill putting cameras on red lights. He vetoed it, and he wrote in the veto message that he did not want young Virginians growing up believing they were being watched all the time. The legislature overrode him. The cameras now read every plate that passes, artificial intelligence is being attached to them, and Gilmore says he would file a bill today to ban community camera surveillance outright. Jim Gilmore is the 68th Governor of Virginia. He was an elected chief prosecutor and Attorney General of Virginia, chaired the Republican National Committee, chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security for five years, and served as United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was governor on September 11, 2001, and he calls that day a watershed that turned America into a security society. He tells Jenny Beth Martin why you cannot be completely secure and be free at the same time, why he is not worried about socialism as a movement but is worried about the affordability frustration that socialist candidates are exploiting, what the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence meant to him at Monticello, and why he calls Europe the pivot of the twenty first century. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
Jim Gilmore is the 68th Governor of Virginia. Before that he was an elected chief prosecutor, serving six years as a Commonwealth's Attorney, and then Attorney General of Virginia. He went on to chair the Republican National Committee, to chair the National Commission on Homeland Security for five years, and to serve as United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a trial lawyer by training and served overseas as a soldier in Germany.
Jenny Beth Martin is co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. She hosts The Jenny Beth Show, which airs Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET.
Key topics:
The red light camera bill he vetoed as governor, and the sentence he put in the veto message
The override, and what he says it opened the door to
Flock cameras, artificial intelligence, and the police reaching for every technology available
The Fourth Amendment question behind constant monitoring, and innocent until proven guilty
September 11 as the watershed that made America a security society
Why he says you cannot be completely secure and be free at the same time
Why he is not worried about socialism as a movement, and why affordability is the frustration socialist candidates are exploiting
Monticello, a naturalization ceremony, and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
Why he calls Europe the pivot of the twenty first century
What Ukrainian cabinet ministers told him in 2022, and the book he says everyone should read
Timestamps:
00:00 — Cold open: a past governor of Virginia joins the show
00:31 — Entering politics at 17, and what made him a conservative
02:18 — What it means to be a Reagan conservative
03:16 — Flock cameras, artificial intelligence, and the state watching everyone
04:07 — Foreign policy, alliances, and why he rejects the neoconservative approach
05:30 — The three way tug of war between freedom, power, and security
06:40 — The red light camera bill he vetoed as governor
06:49 — How far the country has come since that veto
08:54 — Teaching a post September 11 generation about Marxism and communism
11:01 — History as a powerful teacher: Nazi Germany and Bolshevism
12:07 — Why he is not worried about socialism as a movement
12:40 — Affordability as the frustration socialist candidates are exploiting
13:49 — The lockdowns, fear, and how Americans came back to liberty
14:43 — A medical curfew in Vienna, and a note from the ambassador
15:23 — The National Commission on Homeland Security and weapons of mass destruction
16:18 — The watershed that made America a security society
18:26 — You cannot be completely secure and be free at the same time
18:52 — Saying goodbye at the airport gate, and officials drunk on their power
20:42 — A country of 340 million and the handful the whole system is built around
22:23 — Back to flock cameras: the police reach for every technology
23:30 — The red light law, the veto message, and the override
24:07 — The bill he would file today to ban community camera surveillance
24:20 — Innocent until proven guilty, and the Fourth Amendment
26:06 — The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
26:35 — Monticello, a naturalization ceremony, and a very hot day
28:20 — The individual against the power of the state, and China's cameras
29:36 — Why he calls the European war the pivot of the twenty first century
30:25 — Is Europe essential to the safety and security of the United States
35:50 — Isolationists in the conservative movement, and Reagan's alliances
37:19 — Putin's essay, the Tucker Carlson interview, and what he concluded
40:33 — 2014, 2022, and the end of his diplomatic posting
41:21 — A train to Mariupol and what Ukrainian cabinet ministers told him
41:43 — Stalin, the Holodomor, and the book Red Famine
42:29 — Where he says the fighting stands now
43:27 — Drones, exercises with Ukraine, and what America is learning
44:27 — Like, subscribe, and where to find the show
Links: jennybethshow.com and teapartypatriots.org