EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,153 words- 0:00 – 2:44
Sharpe’s pitch: mobilizing non-voters with hope (and making voting easier)
- JRJoe Rogan
Ready, five, four, three, two, one. (claps) Larry Sharp. How are you, sir?
- LSLarry Sharpe
I am doing great. Thanks for having me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, before we get started, I like you.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Oh, that's good.
- JRJoe Rogan
I like you a lot. I like what you're saying, man.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I'm winning already.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm, I'm just telling you right now, up front, I've been listening to a lot of your interviews, watching a lot of your interviews.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
You make sense. You, you-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Oh my God.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's almost like you know you can't win, so you're talking so logically, it's, you might win.
- LSLarry Sharpe
The-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah. The, the, the, the hope is-
- JRJoe Rogan
I believe you. (laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
... the, the people who actually have given up-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
... who think it's so stupid, they don't bother voting, right? So, the, the hope is I say something that makes sense and they go, "Oh, maybe I should vote. Oh my God, maybe I should vote." If those people vote-
- JRJoe Rogan
You win.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... I win.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, there's an untapped resource-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... of unmotivated people who are too fu-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Absolutely.
- JRJoe Rogan
But how do we fix that? Is it, is it a matter of getting people... I, I believe firmly that if we could get people to register and vote online-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... especially with their phones, it changes the world.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
I really, really, really believe that, and I think that this is also a concern of the people that are in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
- LSLarry Sharpe
100%.
- 2:44 – 4:05
Mass shootings: loneliness, relationships, psychotropic drugs—and incentives to avoid root causes
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you say some really logical things. One of the things that you've said that nobody wants to touch, you, you were talking about gun violence.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yup.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you were talking about these mass shootings.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yup.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you said there's two things that they have in common.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yup.
- JRJoe Rogan
One of them, they don't have relationships, they're not, they don't have girlfriends.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't have boyfriends. Well, it's almost always girl, uh, uh, guy that does it.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah. Usually it's-
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't, uh, and usually-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Boys tend to be more violent and they tend, males tend to, people gonna get mad at me being sexist, but I'm just doing stats.
- JRJoe Rogan
Let's just stop.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Statistically, males tend to outwardly strike. Women tend to inwardly strike, as a general, statistically.
- JRJoe Rogan
And-
- LSLarry Sharpe
There's exceptions, obviously.
- JRJoe Rogan
... the only other, th- the other, uh, factor is psychotropic drugs.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yup.
- JRJoe Rogan
And these are two things that no one wants to talk about.
- LSLarry Sharpe
That's correct.
- JRJoe Rogan
And they're both real.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
And they're both facts. And why is it that you think that these are, they're, they're obvious facts that people wanna ignore?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Because you, they don't actually wanna fix the problem. Right? If you fix the problem, then you don't have controversy. If you don't have controversy, you don't have a left versus right paradigm. You have to have it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you really think that's what it is?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes, th- the, first off, they don't wanna touch the c- they, they don't wanna fix the problem. If you wanna fix the problem of school shootings, right, there's two things to remember, as I'm, as you've heard me say before. The school shooting, while it is a murder, at its core, it's actually a public suicide. And for people to understand that, at, at its core, most mass shootings are public suicides. If they would understand that, it's true, it's like death by cop. Right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- 4:05 – 6:55
School security proposal: concealed carry for willing staff to remove ‘soft target’ planning
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's, it's public suicide. So, you have to make sure you have happier people. Right? But then why do they school, uh, why do they choose schools? Several reasons. One, because that's where their, their assumed enemies are. Right? The incels think that the guys, the bad guys and the bad girls are there. But something else, they're soft targets. The other thing to remember from all of these school shootings is, they're planned. And that's a critical aspect. You wanna stop school shooting? In New York State, you don't have to pass one extra law at all. Have to do one minor thing and one thing only, and that is say, if you are a licensed, uh, if you're licensed and you have a permit to carry a firearm, if you want to in school, you may. If you are a teacher or an administrator. If you want to, you may. That's it. You don't have to force a teacher to carry, you don't need a resource officer. Why? Because if you have a resource officer, which is what most Republicans will say, "Put, put an officer there," they'll just shoot him first. If you have Democrats, no guns, they'll shoot everybody. So, if you instead say, well, I don't know who's armed. Is it an administrator? Is it a teacher? Is it everybody? Is it nobody? The planning goes away. Once there's no planning available, the school is no longer a soft target. They stop choosing the school.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay. Let me back, s- let's unback this. So, you're saying that if you have an officer on the school that carries a gun-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and this person knows that officer has a gun, they will shoot him first?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Correct.
- JRJoe Rogan
And that if just teachers are carrying guns, there's no way this person knows, and so they're less likely to shoot people?
- LSLarry Sharpe
They're less... There's two things. If, if you... Here's the core of it. What's killing our children? It's not firearms. The, the, one of the, uh, I think it was the Texas shooting, I think it was, before he stole the guns, he had put together and set up pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs in case he couldn't steal the guns. So, if he couldn't get guns, he was gonna kill people anyway. The, the, the key thing here is what's killing p- these kids? Lack of community-... lack of purpose, and loneliness. That's what's killing our kids, those three things. Take those three things away, kids don't do that. You give a kid who's 16, 17, 18 purpose, he can't go off and kill people. He has something to do. He has a reason to live. Remember, this is a public suicide. If you have a reason to live and you think the right answer is to go do something, you don't kill yourself. If you don't kill yourself, there's no public suicide, mass shootings all of a sudden are tremendously reduced. It's just how it works. It's human nature, you have to understand that. But if you do that, then there's no extra law, then there's no one to point a finger at, you can't-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... restrict guns.
- JRJoe Rogan
See, this is where you and I-
- LSLarry Sharpe
What I'm saying just makes actual sense.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is where you and I break company, because I don't agree with that. I don't think that anyone is trying to keep these school shootings in the same state they are now. I think that there's two things. One, no one wants to demonize psychotropic drugs, and especially politicians. They have a really hard time with that.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
Because they don't want to tell people who are on psychotropic drugs that they're either suspects-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... or suspicious or potential mass shooters.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I d- New York State's showing you it's incorrect.
- JRJoe Rogan
And I, I know you're not.
- 6:55 – 10:22
New York gun policy: SAFE Act, red-flag laws, and medical reporting concerns
- LSLarry Sharpe
I'm, I'm, we made the SAFE Act. And the SAFE Act literally says if you go on these drugs, you lose your firearms.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
So that's absolutely not true in New York State. It may be true in California, I don't know your laws here. But in New York State, the opposite is true. We've, we've already done that. We have made our medical personnel part of our secret state police. Which means if you go in and say, um, you know, "I'm feeling depressed. I need some drugs. I'm thinking about suicide." The state police might come by and take your firearms. That's already happening in New York State.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
And they now wanna create red flag laws, which means a teacher can now do it. So now a teacher says, "Oh, there's a student who I see drew a firearm, he drew a gun, cops and robbers, (sharp inhale) may be a red flag. Let me go to a judge and see if I can have the cops go and take his father's firearms."
- JRJoe Rogan
I definitely wanna talk about this-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... but I wanna bring it back to what you said earlier, that you don't think they wanna fix the problem.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah, it's not-
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't, I don't think that's true. I just don't think they have a viable solution that they think is politically viable.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Perhaps, but I think my solution seems politically viable. People, I, I say, everyone I say this to, they go, "Oh, wow, you're right."
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you are definitely right that they're lonely, sad people that are-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... lashing out, and I think you're definitely right that in many instances it's a public suicide.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
And I think you're definitely right that the vast majority of them are on psychotropic drugs-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... which do have a disassociative, uh, aspect to them where they're not even sure they're aware of what they're doing. This is, if you talk to people-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Well, I'm not sure that's true though.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that have been on those-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, uh, people that have been on these things, things don't mean anything anymore.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like a car accident in front of them doesn't mean anything.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
People have various reactions to various SSRIs and antidepressants-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
... but one thing that happens is you lose the highs and lows-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and everything is just flat.
- 10:22 – 15:29
Why New York’s governor race matters: five-way path, Cuomo, and ballot mechanics
- LSLarry Sharpe
But other things too. You're totally correct, this is a problem. But what I'm saying is, this is what I, I talk about often. People say, "Larry, you know, why should I vote for you? Why should I support you?" Here's the reason why. Whether you believe I can win or not is actually irrelevant. If you think I can win, awesome, I can win, and to be forward with you, if I win in New York as a Libertarian, the entire nation changes overnight. And that's not exaggeration. The entire nation changes overnight. This is the most impactful election, hands down, the entire nation, 2018. Why?
- JRJoe Rogan
Because it's New York-
- LSLarry Sharpe
That is correct.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and it's not New Mexico-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Exactly right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... like when Gary Johnson won.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes, if, if... I would've... New York State was ranked 50th by Cato, uh, when it comes to freedom. It is, we have the most people leaving, over 100,000 people leaving every single year, more than any other state. We also, on top of that, we are ranked the least friendly to retirees. All of a sudden Larry Sharpe Libertarian becomes governor? I mean, it's insane. The, the advantage is it's a five-way race. In a five-way race, 30% could win. This is actually a winnable race.
- JRJoe Rogan
How is it a five-way race?
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's gonna be His Majesty, who our current king, he will run. Um, there'll be a Republican-
- JRJoe Rogan
Cuomo?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes, correct. There'll be a Republican-
- JRJoe Rogan
Why did he call him His Majesty?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Because he thinks he's a king and he is a king.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
That's the reason. When I'm in front of him I'll call him Your Grace. But to you-
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you, have you met him?
- LSLarry Sharpe
... I'll just say Your Majesty. I met him one time in 2014.
- JRJoe Rogan
Was he a dick?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Um, yes he was.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes he was. He was. He was very dismissive. Yes he was.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I was, I was actually with the Libertarian candidate then in 2014.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Um, so yes he was dismissive. So His Majesty will run. Uh, there'll be a Republican sacrificial lamb placeholder, who knows he'll come in second, probably third to me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Because New York has basically, uh, always been a left-wing state.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Not always, no. Uh, the last 16 years. In the last 16 years in New York State, the same thing happens in a statewide election, blue team comes in first-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... red team comes in second, nothing changes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... nothing changes.
- 15:29 – 16:05
Fusion voting and party lines: Working Families Party and New York’s unique structure
- JRJoe Rogan
The Working Families Party?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's, that's another party?
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's another party in New York State, yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- LSLarry Sharpe
How New York state runs, New York state's has a, is a fusion state, which means you can run as multiple parties if you want to. You can have three or four or five lines if you want to. So what often happens is the big two parties, they use it as a way to have issue-based voters. So they'll, they'll literally create parties.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
So they'll create a party that says, "I'm the Working Families Party," and then people go, "Oh, well if not Democrat, I'm a Working Family," and they'll click that. And it's the same guy. Cuomo will be on four or five lines. Happens often. The Republicans on three lines and the Democrat, I think, will be on probably four lines.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's a very complicated process.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It is.
- 16:05 – 17:39
Online voting skepticism + New York’s hostility to innovation (Uber, vaping, blockchain)
- JRJoe Rogan
Now, is, is there any effort made or is there any discussion whatsoever about potentially moving voting to online? Is that something-
- LSLarry Sharpe
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that you would be in favor of?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Not in New York, not in New York State right now. No, I'm, I'm unsure. Um-
- JRJoe Rogan
You're unsure of it?
- LSLarry Sharpe
I love the concept completely, I do. The only thing I don't know is I don't know the technology behind it. I don't know how safe it is. I just don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
But what about banking? If you can bank online-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and that's where all your money goes.
- LSLarry Sharpe
No, I love the idea. I'm just, I don't wanna commit without knowing the technology.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
If, if we ... New York State is a problem because New York State throws out everything that is new. We've thrown out blockchain, we, we don't wanna do any open source. Um, we threw out, uh, hemp and marijuana. Um, we, we're, we, we, we're trying to destroy the vaping industry. I mean, anything that's new in New York State, we try to get rid of it. We hit with a stick. We're beating up Uber now, we're taxing Uber to pay for the MTA, I mean, which is horrible.
- JRJoe Rogan
And is that because of corruption by established bodies that are-
- LSLarry Sharpe
100%.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- LSLarry Sharpe
New York State likes old money. We're really happy with old money, we do not like new money at all.
- JRJoe Rogan
We had, uh-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Which is another reason why the youth is leaving.
- JRJoe Rogan
We had the hardest time getting the UFC into New York because of corruption.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes. Absolutely.
- JRJoe Rogan
We had to wait until that one politician was arrested. What was that one guy that went to jail?
- LSLarry Sharpe
New York State, there's so many I'd use-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, yeah.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I forget who it was, but he was corrupt.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
And he was one of the main reasons that it was, mm, they were trying to make it illegal.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Absolutely.
- JRJoe Rogan
Um-
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's new-
- 17:39 – 19:51
Systemic decline: retirees leaving, pensions, budget pressure, and ‘rebuild from scratch’ framing
- LSLarry Sharpe
And the worst part is with the old New York, speaking of, of the people who are older, people who are retiring, they can't stay in New York State.
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause it's too expensive?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Too expensive. They pack up and go to, uh, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida.
- JRJoe Rogan
Is it taxes? Is it real estate? What is it?
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's both, it's taxes and it's no opportunity. It's both of those two things, right? So it's so, so they decide to head on down to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee. They actually have a name for us in the Carolinas, they call us halfbacks. We went to Florida and halfway back.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's true. They call us halfbacks. That's how many New Yorkers go there. But here's the worst part-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, most people who go to Florida go, "Uh, this is a mistake."
- LSLarry Sharpe
(laughs) There we go. See? Well, the s- the sad part here is though Florida actually has more people than we have and half of our budget.And- and the- Scott, actually, the Governor Scott actually thanked Cuomo for sending all the people down there because 15% of New York State's budget is actually pensions and so many people who have pensions are actually leaving New York State and going someplace else. So New York State people are paying for the pensions and then they're being spent in other states.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's a terrible idea. We- we- the state is broken. It is so broken and people are talking about if you're a Democrat you're saying, "Everything's still great." If you're a Republican you're saying, "Well, tweak this or tweak that." I'm saying rebuild from scratch. There are things you have to change.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
You have to change the root so you can make the branches actually die. We keep clipping branches, the weeds keep growing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Now, we got way off track with this, um, school shooting thing and I- I wanted to get back to it because I- I think it's a very complex issue and I- I-
- LSLarry Sharpe
It is.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I don't know what the answer would be. I think you've- you've found-
- LSLarry Sharpe
There is no one answer.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right. I think you've found problems.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
And these problems that you're willing to discuss and very few people are-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... are that these people are lonely and sad-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that it's public suicide and that they're on psychotropic drugs.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Absolutely.
- JRJoe Rogan
And I don't know why you don't think that other people want to fix it, I just don't think that they have a solution that they can discuss that is not so controversial that it overwhelms the rest of their messages. What could be done?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Sure. I have a couple of answers.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- LSLarry Sharpe
The- the issue is this is an issue that's been going on literally for decades, so there is no (snaps fingers) do this and it's done.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 19:51 – 22:32
Education reboot part 1: end early standardized testing; shorten K–12 to K–10
- LSLarry Sharpe
Absolutely. It is a complete reboot. Right now, the first thing you wanna do for education is you wanna make sure there is no standardized testing until high school. None whatsoever.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Standardized testing is bad for several reasons. Number one, it's an unfair way of grading teachers. Right? Teachers are now graded by how their students do on a standardized test which is silly. That doesn't mean you're a good or a bad teacher. Next, it makes a bunch of kids who are 10, 11, 12, 13 years old feel stupid because they're not good test takers, and you create now a secondary class of student for absolutely no reason because the next reason is standardized testing is no indication of success in life. You could be a great test taker at 12 or 13, or a terrible test taker and it does not mean you'll be successful or not successful in life. Last is how New York State often will decide how to fund schools. So it's a way of funding schools that's also unfair. There's no advantage to standardized testing except it mean- means the federal government now begins to control our schools more.
- JRJoe Rogan
So when you say that standardized testing has an, uh- uh, there's an effect on funding, does that-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... mean that if a school does really well, they get more money?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep, often it is. It's part of a- a very complex algorithm that New York State has that almost no one can actually find.
- JRJoe Rogan
That seems like it should almost be the opposite.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
That if a school does poorly, that they should put more resources into that school because it's not being effective.
- LSLarry Sharpe
In theory, that's true. I'm not sure that's accurate either. We- we- we throw about $22,000 per student per year in New York State, more even than California, and it doesn't work. We have mediocre results at best. Dollars isn't the answer. It's- it's revamping the system. Right? Funding is not the answer.
- JRJoe Rogan
So how do you revamp the system?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Um, I- I- there's more parts than that. The first one was just getting rid of that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- LSLarry Sharpe
The second thing is we shouldn't even have K through 12. K through 12 is an anachronism and shouldn't exist.
- JRJoe Rogan
Why is that?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Should be- because the last two years... It should be K through 10. The last two years of high school for a huge chunk of people, gym, study hall, video games, and probably smoking weed. Just nothing but bad for too many students, just sitting around doing nothing. They have no purpose, they have no community, they have- they have no- no reason to do anything. They're unhappy, right? Another reason why they're unhappy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Isn't that a gross generalization? That they're unhappy and they're not doing anything?
- LSLarry Sharpe
No, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean, there's probably a lot of kids listening to this that are 16 and 17, they're working their ass off right now-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Absolutely. And I have a solution for them.
- JRJoe Rogan
... preparing for their future.
- LSLarry Sharpe
And I have a solution for them that's even better.
- JRJoe Rogan
What?
- LSLarry Sharpe
I have a solution. Again, you're-
- JRJoe Rogan
What's that solution?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Let's- let's keep moving.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay, go ahead.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Right. First thing is how do I know what I just said is true?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 22:32 – 27:37
Education reboot part 2: five post-10th-grade pathways + $20k ‘mini GI Bill’
- LSLarry Sharpe
The results are what's happening. And here's the worst part, now we ship these kids off to college who many of them don't even wanna go to college, so we send them anyway, takes them six years to graduate, they're 24 years old with at least 50K in debt if not more, minimum 50K, some 100K, some 200K depending on what it is, and now there's no job for what they want to do and now they're working at Starbucks. Wow, what a disaster that is. We wonder why our kid's coming back home. So how about this instead? At 10th grade take a test. You pass the test, you get a diploma, whether you were homeschooled, private school, public school, diploma's yours. Awesome. Now you have five choices, and this is exactly to your point. You have five choices. Choice number one, you're a kid who's hardcore, you think that college is your answer. Good, go to two-year prep school. Imagine that kid who right now you just said is busting his ass, he could be in a- in a prep school of his choice and- and the people in that prep school are all kids who want to be in that prep school. It would change his entire situation. No more knuckleheads who don't wanna be there who are forced to be there who are cutting class. The kids who will be there are those who want to be there. The teachers, no discipline- no discipline issues, they want kids who want to be there. Better for them, they can hustle better, now they're ready for college when they get there. They can take advantage of incubators, of- of internships, maybe even graduate in three years. Now they're rocking and rolling. Less debt, better off, life is good. Better services, better everything for less money. I'm not done. You're not that kid. You're the kid who's super smart. You wanna become a scientist, you wanna be- get a PhD, awesome. Go right to an associates degree. Start right away, 16, 17, 18, get to your degree 'cause you're that good. Take your SATs, you're that smart, you're- you're Einstein. Awesome. Go do that. Not, you know, one of those things. No worries. Go to trade school. Uh, become a plumber, carpenter, mason, whatever the case may be, go do it. New York State desperately needs tradesmen. Desperately. The average tradesperson in New York State is about 50 years old, too old for an average.... should be 30-something for an average, 35 even for an average. It's too high, which means we have a lot of trades jobs that are not filled and we have a lot of foreign labor that has to come to New York state. Right? New Yorker kids aren't doing it. Why? We've been told a lie and that lie is, "The only way to success, the only way is to do well in high school, get a great four-year degree and go get a job and sit behind a computer all day." That's a lie. That is A way to success. It is not the only way to success. There are a lot of kids now, and I'm sure you know people like this, who, they spent the first five, 10 years of their life trying to make it that way, struggling through school. Then at 28 years old they go, "I just wanna build houses, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Then they go build a house or, "I just wanna make, I just wanna be a computer guy," and they just make apps. They just go do something they wanna do. They shoulda been doing that at 18.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, for the-
- LSLarry Sharpe
I'm still not done.
- JRJoe Rogan
... for most people though, they don't know what they want to do.
- LSLarry Sharpe
This is-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a big part of the problem.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I get that all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't have a passion, they don't have-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... a direction and they're confused.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes. I... This is one of my biggest complaints I get about this plan, right? 'Cause the other two ideas are just go get a job-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... just go to work or start a business.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
And, uh, what you just said, that's what I get all the time. "But Larry, they're 16, they don't know what they're doing." Good. Make your mistake at 16, not 26.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
We're making mistakes at 26. We have people who are lost at 26. We have a generation now, if you ask the people in their 20s right now a- across this, across this nation and you say, "Do you feel like an adult?" Over half will say no. Over half will say no.
- JRJoe Rogan
I bet if you ask, uh, 40-year-olds, they'll say that.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Not as much.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
But yes, but not as much. No, it probably-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... won't be over half. It won't be over half.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm. Okay.
- LSLarry Sharpe
You go to 20-somethings, over half will say, "No, I don't feel like an adult." Right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Because they're making the same mistakes that many people made at 18, 19, 16, they're now making at 25, 26, 28.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, there's also not a rites of passage.
- 27:37 – 51:31
Education governance fight: administrators, local control, and ‘centralized control never works’
- LSLarry Sharpe
Great question. Now, a couple things to remember. Teachers ask me all the time, they say, "Larry, how are you gonna help us?" Here's what I tell you. "I'm gonna get rid of a bunch of your administrators." In New York state, we actually have school districts that have more administrators than teachers.
- JRJoe Rogan
What?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes. That's correct. Do your own homework.
- JRJoe Rogan
What's the b- value of having administrators?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Because you have to check boxes for government. You have to check boxes for government. Did you do X? Did you do Y? Did you do Z? These administrators are required.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's what's going on?
- LSLarry Sharpe
That's correct. There's, there's about $60 billion in our budget in New York state for education, give or take. About $4 billion comes from the federal government. About $35 billion comes from the state and about $20 billion comes locally, give or take. It's, uh, th- these are round numbers and they change yearly depending upon, on, on who you talk to, but it's about that. Once we get rid of the federal government being involved in, in the, uh, in New York state, $4 billion goes away. People get afraid. "Oh my God, we'll lose that money." Good. Good, let it go away because all those administrators go away also. If you can get rid of three, four, five, six administrators for every one or two teachers, oh my God. Look what you do.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm not a professional educator, but I would imagine that if I was, uh, I would be upset at this. I would say that there's a reason why those administrators are there and we need them to take some of the administrative weight off of the teachers. The teachers are stressed out enough by teaching these students. They don't have the time to be taking care of all the formalities and the things that these administrators do.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Um, I have never heard that ever because that's not true. You are the first person to ever say that to me ever in over a year of me doing this.
- JRJoe Rogan
So every teacher-
- LSLarry Sharpe
And the reason is, those administrators-
- JRJoe Rogan
... would agree with you?
- LSLarry Sharpe
No, no, no, no. Not every teacher.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- LSLarry Sharpe
As I said, I never heard it.
- JRJoe Rogan
You never heard it.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I'm not saying all teachers.
- JRJoe Rogan
But you've talked to a lot of teachers?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Lots of them.
- JRJoe Rogan
Lots of them.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Dozens of them.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Dozens of them.
- JRJoe Rogan
And what do they say about administrators?
- LSLarry Sharpe
And they say, "Awesome." Because it's-
- JRJoe Rogan
"Fuck those punks"? (laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
Not in those words.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
But yes. Because most of those administrators-
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh.
- 51:31 – 1:01:19
From regulation to ‘competing standards’: safety vs control (licensing, vaping, supplements analogy)
- LSLarry Sharpe
By having a better state. And one of the things I mentioned was education, but there are several other things you can do. First off, why aren't we supporting small businesses? And we don't in New York State, we punish them. Right? We punish them by, with licensing, we punish them. In New York State there's actually a license to braid hair, there's a license to walk a dog, there's all kind of licenses like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
You have to get a license to walk a dog?
- LSLarry Sharpe
That's correct, yes. So-
- JRJoe Rogan
What's involved in that?
- LSLarry Sharpe
I don't know, I'm not a dog walker.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I don't know. There should be none. Here, here's my rule on licensing. I got a nice good general rule. Would you ask your friend to do it? If you were a, uh, a woman who had lots of long hair, would you ask your friend to braid your hair? You probably would, wouldn't you?
- JRJoe Rogan
Probably.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah, you probably would.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sure.
- LSLarry Sharpe
If you had a dog, I don't know if you have a dog, but assuming you have a dog-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I have a dog.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... would, would you ask your friend to walk your dog?
- JRJoe Rogan
Sure.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Sure, of course you would. Why is there a license for that? Would you ask your friend to remove your appendix?
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, I think the idea would be that you wouldn't want someone to screw it up, so we'd want to make sim- sure someone has insurance so that the consumer doesn't get ripped off.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes, but the, the appendix thing, you wouldn't let someone-
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah. Get a license for that one, fine.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Get a license for that. But your point's a valid one. How about instead, there's a difference between licensing and what you just said, which is insurance.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- LSLarry Sharpe
There's a difference.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Licensing says the government decides if you can or can't do it, and if you don't the government will fine you and/or jail you. That's a license.
- JRJoe Rogan
So you don't have to have hair braiding insurance or dog walker insurance?
- LSLarry Sharpe
You might wanna have insurance, I didn't say that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I said license, there is a difference.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 1:01:19 – 1:30:28
Cleaning up New York corruption: reduce Albany power, eliminate authorities, localize decisions
- JRJoe Rogan
Now, you obviously know far more about New York politics than I do-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I know very little about it, but one thing that I do know is it's almost universally regarded as being insanely corrupt.
- LSLarry Sharpe
True.
- JRJoe Rogan
You get to a position where you become the governor-
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
... how do you clean up that fucking hornet's nest?
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yes. The one thing people always say is, "Larry, you gotta clean it up," like you just said. It's funny, you- you say a lot of things I hear all the time. "You gotta get these guys in jail, you gotta punish them," whatever. I rarely talk about that. And the reason is, okay, you put some guy in jail, you punish him, whatever the case may be. Great. Whose family came back from North Carolina? Whose kid got a better education? Who got a better job? Whose taxes went down? Who's happier? Whose business didn't go under? No one's helped by people going to jail. We feel righteous, and then we pack up and move to North Carolina. I mean, this is not the right answer. We-
- JRJoe Rogan
North Carolina's beautiful.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It is.
- JRJoe Rogan
You don't know it? (laughs)
- LSLarry Sharpe
It d- there's no-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's part of the problem.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It is.
- JRJoe Rogan
You go there, it's all green.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It is.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's less people.
- LSLarry Sharpe
It's great.
- JRJoe Rogan
People are not- they have a little twang to the way they talk.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Yeah, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
Barbecue's pretty fucking good.
- LSLarry Sharpe
... I'm trying to make sure a bunch of New Yorkers don't go there and ruin it, see? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I understand. I understand.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Let's- let's keep 'em in New York.
- JRJoe Rogan
I get it.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Keep 'em in New York.
- JRJoe Rogan
I get it.
- LSLarry Sharpe
Um, I wanna keep them all in New York. So, m- my- my point being, um, I forgot my point now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Um, I don't know your point.
- LSLarry Sharpe
I don't know my point either.
Episode duration: 2:11:09
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