It really goes back to the founding documents about free speech, you know, and that's what cancelling is an affront to, you know, the fact that when people are canceled because they say they speak their mind and then they're canceled, you know, that that's so un-American. And I see how that's that could be a real fear for anyone. I mean, you're just showing up because you're a really awesome football player. And then you happen to say something that's on your mind and then people want to shut you down. It just isn't America. But I saw something on my Instagram. What does cancel mean though? Who cancels you? What does that mean? What does it mean? The media, the social media, who cares? I'm not trying to impress those people. Anyway, if you don't like me and don't want to listen to me or talk to me or follow me, I don't care. You know, I don't think it's that big of a, yeah, I thought it was great. He goes, what does cancel mean? Are you going to disappear me? No, it's just you don't, a certain group of people doesn't like you. So what? That's just the way it is these days. Yeah. I think it's, I think you're right. It's actually sometimes we allow ourselves to, to be subject to it. To be scared. Yeah. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential. Welcome to the American Potential Podcast. I'm your host, David Fromm. We're down here in Springfield, Illinois celebrating America's 250th birthday and Abraham Lincoln's birthday. So it's just a great time to celebration. We're having a great event with hundreds of folks to listen to some great speakers talk about defending our freedoms, the freedoms that were guaranteed by the declaration. And when we're talking about defending our freedoms, we have a really special guest that we're really excited to talk to. He played for 13 years with the Chicago Bears as a linebacker, was on the all decade team for the 2000s, was the 2005 defensive player of the year. And recently it was elected to the Hall of Fame. You'd all know him. It's a Brian Erlacher, one of the great Bears of all time, one of the great defenders. So who better to talk about defending our freedoms and defending the constitutionally guaranteed rights enshrined for our nation. So Brian, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. Good segue there. Thank you. Appreciate you having me on. That was pretty good. I'm going to say defending a lot, I think. Yeah, I like that. Yes. Well, unfortunately in our society, a lot of stuff needs to be subending. I mean, there's, there's a, you know, the direction that, that some of the society has been going and what parts of our society are doing is of concern. There's a lot of things of concern right now. I mean, when we read our founding documents and what our founders talked about, it's pretty, there's wonderful things in there. And I think they've, they've been eroded from, unfortunately. So we're, you know, we've launched this campaign called the one small step campaign asking people to step up and stand up for our rights to get involved because when we all get involved and get off the couch, it makes a difference. But the problem is now everyone wants to cancel you. If you do, if you do speak up from one side or what I presume, assume to be the right side, then you're, you know, people call you out. They, they want to drag you down. But if you speak the other way, there's no, there's no consequences. You know, it's just, it's very one sided with media, stuff like that. I really don't care what people think when I say what I think. It's not an issue to me, but a lot of people are scared to say what they think or defend what they think is right. So you, so you grew up in New Mexico, right? I did grow up in New Mexico. Yes. I grew up in New Mexico a lot and it's a beautiful state. You're right. It is in parts where I grew up is not beautiful. Oh, what part was it? Well, if you like dirt, tumbleweeds, wind and oil rigs, you're going to love where I grew up. What part was it? The Southeast? Yeah, right by Texas down there. It's not very beautiful down there. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. That's true. Yeah. It is true. I know. You'll hear my feelings. Yeah. And that's where that's where also population comes from in our state where I live is very conservative where I grew up, but not a lot of population. Yeah. Well, so how did you know, obviously football is a huge part of your life. But how did you like growing up, you know, when did you start to kind of think like, hey, I want to make my voice heard. I want to get involved a little bit more. Honestly, when I played none of the stuff that is being talked about right now really mattered, you know, that the things that have become so to the forefront, the last what, eight years, maybe for some reason, 2016 after somebody was elected, things got really a lot more stressful. So maybe 2019, 2020's when I really thought that maybe you should start saying something or voice in your opinion because everyone else seems to have an opinion. So why not voice yours? It was opposite of most of people's opinion, but I wasn't too worried about that. So on an NFL team, like you're in a locker room. I mean, I was kind of envy the, what's talked about like a brotherhood, kind of a family atmosphere, a bunch of brothers together. But I mean, there's got to be a lot of personal conversation and, you know, you get to know each other's friends. And, but obviously politics, we all know if you go to, you go to like, you know, Thanksgiving dinner and you're talking about politics and no one wants to hear these days. Yeah. So I imagine a locker room is kind of a similar dynamic. Like, how did that play out for you? So I would assume it is now, but when I played none of that mattered, I didn't like my wife and I never talked about politics for a guy. I didn't know what she was in the camera. I didn't care. And then back in, you know, when I played, it was never an issue. No one cared. And then it wasn't an issue until like I said, 2016. And then, you know, a lot of things started taking place. People were doing things on the field before the game, kneeling or whatever for the anthem. I would have a hard time dealing with that if people didn't stand for the anthem. So I've definitely played at the right time because I would have a really hard time probably getting, putting up with some of the things that are accepted today. But yeah, luckily I played in a time where it didn't, it wasn't, it wasn't the fourth or fourth like it is now. Do you ever hear from folks who are like minded, you know, who might, might have a little more conservative worldview who are currently in the league or just were recently and like, is there, are there pressures? I think there's a pressure is to be quiet. You know, I think if you're on one side, it's okay because you see the NFL pushing certain things, you see the media pushing certain things. And then if you're against those things, you're not, you're maybe not as popular as they want. I mean, they're not going to cover you as much. I know some guys are conservative that just be quiet. They're quiet about it. I think there's more, it's like the silent majority. We always talk about the silent majority or not we, but I hear that a lot. And I think that's a lot more at the forefront of the NFL and silence and anything else. So I find it interesting. I know your, your brother Casey held was a mayor here. He is the mayor of Metallo. I'm going to say like 14 years now. He's still mayor. Cause I remember running for the state legislature also. So, so he's obviously active in politics still, you know, doing it. And then, you know, now you've, you've kind of been a, you know, started to speak out a little bit and how was there something in your family that made you guys kind of pushed you in that direction? Or did he just get a bug or no, you know, I think what happened with him, one of the residents, there's 550 people live in Metallo. It's a beautiful little community. It's why I used to live when I lived here. It's a great place to live. But one of the residents was kind of asked him what he thought about maybe jumping in the race. He was like, I'll try it. And then I went in, you know, the residents love him. He just kept every year he wins, you know, or every two years, I think they run for it. I don't know what push him to do it. I think he's a people person. He's very interactive with the residents, which is good. You know, our opposite in that aspect. He likes to hang out and do things with people who doesn't know, I guess I'm the opposite. But he, he enjoys it. He does a good job. They've done a lot of good things since he's been the mayor. So as you look at the country right now, you know, we talked about like the freedoms that we've enjoyed that made America the greatest nation in the world, really in history. Are there things that you're excited about? And there are also things that should, that concerns you because I think that that's one of the reasons certainly got involved. There's a lot of things to concern me about. There's more things to excite me. There's the way that things are going right now. I think the immigration number one, the borders being secured. That was a big deal. We were getting overran, you know, for four years there are borders just got overran. So to see some security with the negative deportation now you have, you know, we have more people going out than coming in now, which I think is a great thing for it. It's going to have to be that way or we won't get back to where we were before. Am I correct that you've been to the border a number of times? I have been to the border twice. I live in Arizona. The border is three hours from my house. So I went down there a couple of times. This is when they were the overflow was happening. So I haven't been back since it's been secure. I would love to go back now and talk to some of those same guys. Did you go to Yuma? Yeah, exactly. Yep. So we did a show with Chief Clem. That's my guy. I know. We did it a few months ago in Yuma. Oh, how to be so different. So we talked to the mayor. We talked to, you know, a county official. We talked to a farmer, big farmer who has, you know, the fields go right up against it. The agriculture was really affected by the big time. Yeah. Big time. And it was, it was shocking to me and you'll know this, how the ripple effect of that, that impact, it was, it was terrible. It was bad. It's a very welcoming community. They're dependent upon immigrant, like legal immigration for their business. Yes. But they, you know, so it's night and day. They are like, oh, you know, the fact that President Trump just stood up and said, Hey, we're going to force our laws and had practically done it has made an enormous difference. Well, the other guy said you couldn't do it, but just him, he couldn't do it by himself. Remember? Right. He said, we have to have a, you know, that's what they're saying. That was wrong, obviously, because President Trump did it one day. His first day at office, he signed the executive order to close it or do whatever he did to shut it down. And we've been negative since ever since. So that's exciting for me. A lot of things he's done excite me. There's a lot of things that still concern me with the way, you know, the, the, some of the cities are ran with just my kids are older now. Thank goodness. So they understand. Yeah. They're my youngest is 20. So they're older. They got through college without being too brainwashed, which is just a good thing. Same here. It is an accomplishment. It really is. I got my youngest in college, but I feel like he's made it through the hard years where they're trying to brainwash him a little bit. But he's, I've managed to get three of them through without getting too brainwashed. But there are some things that concern me. I just don't understand how you can want, how you think it's fair for a male to play against women in women's sports. And they're still pushing that really hard that it's okay. I'm sure I'm going to have grandkids one day to, you know, I don't, I don't want that to be an issue when I'm watching my, my, my grandkids play against guys. It shouldn't be allowed. And there's other things they're doing that still bother me, but we're getting, we're getting in the right direction right now that we're finally getting to fix a little bit. It's going to take time. Well, I think one of the things that I heard you say a little earlier, you know, really goes back to the, our founding documents about free speech, you know, and that, that, that's what cancelling is an affront to, you know, the fact that when people are canceled because they say they speak their mind and then they're canceled, you know, that, that's so un-American. And I, I, I see how that's, that could be a real fear for anyone. I mean, you're just showing up because you're a really awesome football player. And then you happen to say something that's on your mind and then people want to shut you down. It just isn't America. But I saw, I saw something on my Instagram. But what, what does cancel mean though? Who cancels you? What does that mean? What does it mean? I don't know. The, the media, the social media, who cares? I'm not trying to impress those people. If you don't like me and don't want to listen to me or talk to me or follow me, I don't care. You know, I don't think it's that big of a, yeah, I thought it was great. He goes, what does cancel mean? Are you going to disappear me? No, it's just, you don't, a certain group of people doesn't like you. So what? That's just the way it is these days. Yeah. I think it's, I think you're right. It's actually sometimes we allow ourselves to, to be subject to it. To be scared. There's no reason to be scared. I think, like I said earlier, it's okay to feel one way and express it publicly, but if you feel another way, it's not okay. It's not as popular to express, it's getting easier to express it. Now more people are doing it, but other being, I'm sorry, less scared to be public about it. Well, I think that President Trump's election again was a real blow to that movement of canceling folks and all. And then, I mean, Elon Musk buying X is a huge development that there's a really, a truly free avenue for people to, yeah, that, that isn't going to cancel people. Well, everyone wants free speech until they say something that's going to get them in trouble or they're going to, you know, that it's just, but what is free speech anymore? There's so many ways that they, they, um, they dumb it down. They, they, you know, like the Don Lemon thing. Yeah. That's not free speech. You're interrupting a church service. That's illegal. You can't do that. Uh, there's just something that, well, I'm the protected by the First Amendment. You are at some point, but you can't, you can't go in there and interrupt the church gathering. Yeah. I mean, I think one of the things that we always talk about with freedom of speech is it's not freedom to hear the speech that you like. Yes. It's for people to say what they want. And, you know, free speech is about, uh, you know, having to listen to things you don't like to hear, you know, and that, that's true for conservatives. Like I get very concerned. Very true. That's what I do. I mean, I get very concerned when even conservatives are like, well, we need to stop that speech. It's like, no. We need more speech. And you know, let's win the arguments because we make better arguments. There you go. Charlie Kirk's view, right? Let them talk. Let them basically prove themselves wrong. Cause if they talk, if they keep talking, their arguments are just, they go, they fall on no one's ear. They just, they're deaf arguments because they don't have to make any sense. Most arguments that the left side is trying to make do not make any sense because they have no ground to stand on. The boys versus women, um, is never a good argument. The transgender stuff, it's just, they have no arguments. Right. In my opinion. When I can say that, cause it's free speech. I can say what I want. I can say it, but you don't even agree with it. But I can say it. So we're celebrating Americans 250th birthday today. Uh, it happens to be Abraham Lincoln's 217th birthday today. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Pretty old. Yeah. He's actually back here. He's going to be on the show. He looked great. He's, we're going to interview him. 2017. My man looks good. You thought you were in shape. I thought he was taller though. We're disappointed about that. It was all relative. You shrink when you get older, I guess. Right. Yeah. So we're, you know, we're going to talk about, you're one of our featured speakers. I can tell you, people are super excited for you to come and talk to him. So give us a little taste of like, what, what do you want, what do you want to talk to folks about? Well, just to give my story, you know, I, like I said, I grew up in New Mexico. There was a lot of things. I mean, if you watch my Halloween speech, you probably know all about this stuff, but I'm going to give a little bit of that, um, growing up, um, where I grew up, uh, and just, you know, a little bit about my process and the NFL going through college, uh, by about my kids and just boring stuff. But hopefully just seeing somebody else. I always found, cause I have a lot of kids. I have a bunch of kids and, uh, someone in college and then younger, but they, I always think, you know, we talk about the American dream and my view of the American dream has evolved because it, it has become like wanting my kids to achieve their dreams. American dream. And that before wasn't a thing. You know what I mean? I mean, it was me. And so it's really evolved. I think the older you get, your dreams do change for you. Cause you know, you've accomplished some things or you've, you've been successful in your life. And then there's a point where, okay, now I want to see my kids do, do well and my grandkids, if I have grandkids, I want to see them do well. So I guess it kind of changes over the course of your life. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it adds a richness, but, and then the responsibility is hard, but then you're actually really more worried. I think because you're like, Hey, I see this going in this direction and this, this is really consequential. It really is the, the worry factors high right now. It's gone down a little bit. You know, um, my oldest will be graduating law school in May. So she'll be out in the, in the world. Yeah. She'll be out in the world, um, lawyering, um, in a couple of years. So, so it's a, it's stressful, but you know, I think, like I said, we're going in the right direction. So it's a little bit more easing now because you know, we've taken a turn for the better finally. That's good. Yes. So all right. I want to turn because I love football and I want to turn a little bit to football. Yes. Um, and I do, I am interested, uh, well, all right. First let's talk some, some bears football. Yes. What a turnaround for the bears this year. I mean, do you still talk to people in the organization? I do. There's a couple of people that they're still there when I, from when I played, but yeah, as a fan, I'm just a fan now. Um, unbelievable. Ben Johnson did the 180 they did and Caleb, I thought Caleb was good last year. Honestly, uh, for a rookie to have as few as pics as he had as a, I mean, they didn't protect him very well in the last year. He got hit a lot, a lot of stacks, but he didn't turn the ball over. So that was something to build on for the sure. Then Ben came in and, and, you know, Dennis Allen did a good job. I got takeaways on defense and they just, they were the game. You never thought they were going to lose a game. I didn't, they came back every time. It was amazing. Even the playoff game I left. I was sitting in Kevin Warren's box for the green Bay game. Um, and they were down 21 to three when I last said Kevin, don't worry, they're going to win as I walked out of his box and they go down 21. So they ended up winning the game and I'll, I'll not over time throw it from Caleb to DJ. It was unreal. So you predicted it to Kevin Warren. I didn't know that was going to happen in that fashion, but you, I never believed they were going to lose every game. They just, they always found a way to stay in it or come back and make a play to win the game. It was totally uncanny. It really was. You can't rely on that longterm. I don't think, but it worked a lot this year. There's going to get better and better learning, learning to how to win and what not to do. I think is a big key to it as well. So are you predicting the next year? I'm not making that prediction, but I think they're going to be, they're going to be a foot runner. I think you look at maybe one of the top 10 teams to possibly get up there because they're going to get better. They're going to make some key, the good thing for the bears right now is they have a, a quarterback on a rookie contract so they can pay some other player. They're not going 65 million bucks a year to their quarterback. They can pay some other positions. I saw a power ranking yesterday that had them for, oh, I don't disagree with it. You look at, I mean, it'd be Green Bay twice. Green Bay has been in the powerhouse division for a long time. Did you feel like that was extra special? I was so happy. You know, I just get tired of their fans. You want to just talk about how much you hate Green Bay right now? I don't hate them. I just towards the end of my career, their fans are just, I mean, not their fans. I'm sorry. It was so one sided Aaron was unbelievable. And in the last couple of years has been very one sided as well. And then Ben comes in, wins two out of three. I love the handshake that he gave to the floor after they beat him the first time or second time and their fans got so mad. That's what made me happy is how mad their fans are so spoiled because they've been beaten a bus for 10 years. So when we beat them, they don't like it and they get mad. They start talking crap in the media. I thought it was great. I did too. So take me back when you were playing and you know, I just, I appreciate the opportunity to ask you about like what the locker room, what the experience is with like your teammates, you know, one, I mean, are there any, like who were your teammates that like you were closest to? And then we had a great locker room. I'll say this. The 13 years I was there with coached Iran, my first four years was a great head coach. And I mean, I love him. My last nine, they didn't draft bad guys and they didn't sign bad free agents. That makes sense. Everyone who was in our locker room fit. And if you didn't, they didn't culture was in. You got that culture was a big deal. And that started with our play, oh, and Cruz, one of my favorite teammates ever, Oh, and set the standard in our locker room, like the way we behave, the way we talk to people, the way we did things. And then, you know, we just all got along. We had fun. I think it was like pictures, picture 60 girl men going to basically screw around all day. You know, we were playing baseball in the locker room. We're playing dodgeball. We're playing kickball. And then the barriers built a little game room for us. There's ping pong. I mean, between meetings, we had a good time. It was good camaraderie. Just a fun group of guys, man. Lance was a great teammate. Charles Julius Pepper is Hunter Hillemeyer. Greg Olsum. I mean, Dusty Dvorak. I mean, there's a hundred guys I can play great players. You just say some great players. Yeah. We had, we had some great players on team. It's a good guys. That's awesome. So if, uh, what could, so if Congress, this kind of out of their question, if Congress were to be able to observe that locker room, what might they learn and how might they act differently? Congress. Well, we were trying to accomplish one goal as a team. So we got along. We didn't have issues. Of course we had, you know, our fights in practice, blah, blah, blah, but like personally we didn't, we did, we did things together off the field, but we're in there to accomplish one goal. We want to win football games. I'm not sure what Congress's goal is or what they're trying to do, but maybe they should help America win. Help America make America better. Right. Um, I don't, I don't feel like that's at the top of their mind. Sometimes they're what they're trying to get accomplished there. It's so personal and divided in there. Um, they just come, they're going to vote on the party lines no matter what. If it's good for America or not. So we often talk about people sitting on the sidelines, you know, watching, just watching TV, telling, you know, y'all, their spouse about what they're seeing complaining to television stuff. But what we're talking about here a little bit and what you're talking about is like people getting involved, taking that one small step. Yes. How, you know, if you're going to tell somebody, you know, how to get off the sideline and onto the field and playing, what any, any advice you give them? Whatever side you're on. I think I would do some research to what, to what, what, what you're going to stand up for, do some research to know exactly what you're talking about, what you want to get on board with, to know that what you're actually getting on board with is what you're getting on board with. Because sometimes you support these things that they're not really what you're supporting. There's hidden things behind these agendas that you may not know about. So be, I guess, educated on what you want to support and know, know some, some history about it and, uh, be educated, I guess, and be vocal. I think that's the number one thing to use our voice, use our first amendment right to say what we believe or what we, we think to be right. And just get out there and support it. Yeah. That's great. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Appreciate it for this event. I'm really appreciate it. Thanks. Hey folks, if you liked this episode, please subscribe and like, uh, to our channels or follow us on social media on YouTube, Instagram, uh, and, uh, Facebook. Always remember freedom and liberty are easily taken for granted. Don't take them for granted. Go out there and defend liberty and freedom. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you on the next episode.
