Well, you know, one of the things that we launched a few years ago is our buck
eye blue crack. That's our plan to move Ohio from middle in the Midwest to number one of the nation. We've taken a really, in our team staff and activists supporters have taken a really serious look at what it's going to take to do that here in Ohio. You get great states like Florida, right? There's a reason it's called the Free State of Florida and it's not because folks who just hang it out
enjoying the beaches, there's folks like Skyler and the AFP Florida team that for a long time have been working really hard to pass whole policies that move the state and make it a top 10 state for economic opportunity education.
“And otherwise, and we can do that here in Ohio. We've been doing that, right?”
We've just recently, our most recent budget, we'll go high to a flat income tax.
Second lowest in the nation, lowest in the Midwest, puts us on a great trajectory
to get to that zero percent rate. We ought to be at, we've got school choice. We're one of the early states on school choice. Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American potential. Hey, everyone. Welcome to the American Tentral Podcast. I'm your host David
from this year. America's celebrating its 250th year of independence. So, we thought it would be fun for us to highlight the states that join the union each month. And a series called 50 stars, 50 stories. Each episode explores what makes these states unique, whether it's their history, what they're known for or just, you know, some fun trivia. Today, we're going to talk about the four states that joined in March. And
here's a little hit for each of them. The first is known for being part of a breakfast
favorite. Another gets to sink down from a tree nut that looks like a deer's eye. One is known for its agricultural industry and the last is a family vacation destination. Do you know which states you would be talking about today? I want to welcome two of Americans' prosperity state directors, Skyler'sander of Florida, and Donovan O'Neill from Ohio. So, clearly Florida and Ohio are two of the states that joined in March,
but either of you guessed the other two. This is a lot of torture. I mean, it's bad enough for state directors, but man, this is like going back to elementary school here. Are their states all they're going to Ohio in Florida that matter? I mean, I can't argue with Donovan there. I mean, once you got to be Vermont, yes, people sure. Yep. I'm guessing somewhere west of the Mississippi, probably. I'll give another hand. They have
no professional sports teams. Their college football team was good once upon a time. They tend. They're often identified with corn. Oh, Nebraska. Yeah, there is.
“You should know that. They're in the big tin now. But that's David. They're football team.”
Well, look, people, you don't love Donovan, Nebraska. People from Nebraska love Nebraska. Most of us on the outside don't quite get it, but they do love it. And I love that for them. All right. Let's go to the questions. Donovan, this one's for you. When did Ohio
join the union? Oh, gosh. This is embarrassing. I never get this man. Let's go.
1851. No. Try for 48 years earlier. So close. Oh, boy. I should not have signed up for this. Unfortunately, it's not at all a reflection on your policy knowledge or your political argument in the city. Thank you. Yeah, March 1st, 1803. That surprises me. Wow. So much earlier than Florida. All right, Scholar, when did Florida join? 1845, I think. Yes. That's third. Yeah. There you go. So far, say it's not represented here on this call.
Nebraska joined March 13, 145 also. Interesting. It's going to lay for a little brother. I guess then to Florida. Yeah. And then Vermont leads all with March 4th, 1791. Oh, really good. Yeah. Oh, there. You do all of the nicknames. Um, 50 one was when we updated our
“constitution. That's why I thought it all. Oh, that all exists. Just to do myself here.”
There is relevant. Oh, make sense. Thank you, Chad GPT. This is a flat and straight up straight up game. Are you all know the nicknames for each state? So what's Ohio? Well,
The book eyes, of course.
What's Nebraska? Corn huskers. Yeah. All right. This won't be hard. Skylar, do you know
“what Vermont is? Oh, man. This is a hard. And I steal. Yeah, you should. This is like the”
maple leaves. Like that's a canate. They're basically canada. Yeah, well, I was thinking
like the maple state as well. So I'm I'm in the same line as not. They are I think of a color and a mountain. Oh, they're the blue ridges on go all that. That's good. But that's not them. The green mountain state. Okay. Trees, mountains. Yeah. All right. I think this this can go for anybody. Skylar, maybe you should get it though. What Spanish Explorer was the first year P into land in Florida in 1513? Juan Pón's daily on. Yes.
Actually, there we go. Yeah. In fact, he was you. You know, do you searching for? It wasn't gold. It was the fountain of youth. Yes. They never found it. There it is. Yep. Yep. What is the group? I grew up near St. Augustine. That's an easy one for me. You were just saying that. I was going to ask what's the oldest continue to have in a European established city in the US located in Florida? St. Augustine. But did you know that the biggest
debate is actually between St. Augustine and Pensacola as to who was actually discovered
first. The answer is, Pensacola was actually discovered first, but St. Augustine was
actually the longest contiguous city in America. Wow. Oh. I have a big debate. And North Floridians. Yeah. Wow. It's good to know. I'm glad we're getting involved in the in the controversy. Makes for a better podcast. All right. I don't know if anybody will get this. So chimney rock in Nebraska was a famous landmark for pioneers traveling west on which historic trail. The Oregon trail? Yes. Think 80s video games. There it is. The Oregon trail. There you go.
Donovan. They're being kind of us here with the trivia. I don't even know what we're getting
to turn. It's harder. Neil Armstrong, who was the first man to walk in the moon was born in
which Ohio town. Uh, Wapa Canetta. Ohio. Yeah. Way to go. I have I have met Neil Armstrong. Personally. Okay. Yeah. We were at the Adler Planetarium for a private event actually in many years ago in Chicago. And we were in the restroom at the same time. I didn't introduce myself to we were out of the restroom. But it was pretty cool to meet Neil Armstrong. I'm not going to comment further because I don't need a call from HR after this
podcast. I mean, no. It was like, wow, that's Neil Armstrong. I'm going to meet him when I think what do we get out? But and I met Buzz Aldrin too. It was pretty cool. I've met Buzz. Very, very nice showman. Yeah. So Nebraska is the only state with what type of legislature by our unicameral. It's right. It's right. So they don't have a Senate house. They just have one body.
“Which seems kind of crazy. What famous age group company was founded in Vermont in 1978?”
It's a bed in Jerry's. Yeah. Yep. That badge of liberal ice cream. That's very good though. It is pretty good. They're still good. Yeah. Yeah. So Ohio is known for a certain food that is named after one of its cities. What is it? It's an eyeliner long. Oh, wait. Absolutely. Skyline chili? Yes. We called it Cincinnati chili. But yeah, I think Skyline's definitely appropriate.
So do you know the different ways that you can order Cincinnati or Skyline chili? I am not a fan. I know it's heresy in Southwest Ohio. But I am not a fan. So I am not a mom. I don't get this one wrong. But you're not from Southwest Ohio. Anyway, you're an eastern Ohio dude. We normal chili out there where I'm from. Yeah. So they have chili over spaghetti. Chili spaghetti and cheese. Chili spaghetti cheese and onions or beans.
Chili spaghetti cheese, onions and beans. It's a lot of freedom in your chili choices. So
“so Florida is known for a certain type of pie. What is it? Keline. Yeah. Yeah. Do you like Keline?”
I like Keline pie too. The first record of Keline pie, the recipe at least was in 1931 in
A cookbook from a Key West resident, which seems appropriate.
Keline pie with Key West. Well, I'll also tell you the best place you can get Keline pie.
“Might surprise everybody, but it's public supermarkets. If you ever were in the south,”
go do a public supermarket and you will get a phenomenal Keline pie. Do you have a on the side lobbying deal with the public? No. I should work on that, actually. You know, I'll get all such a great Florida company. You know? I love everybody. Florida loves everything by Florida. It's great. It's like Texas. Well, you know, I have three kids living in Florida right now. I'm so proud of you. They understand what a freedom really is. Yeah. What if we was at a college
and they actually decided to relocate there. I've been used to talking about all the time in the podcast. I saw my daughter, you know, yours at a college said, you know what? Florida's a better deal for me than Illinois. So I'm going to move down there. And she's loving it. Communists were public over Illinois. They escaped. We're still fighting a good fight, man. All right, believe in you guys. So the right brothers are famous for taking their first flight
in North Carolina, but they were born in Wichita, Ohio City. Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. Dayton, Ohio. Yeah. I don't know if we'll get to this later, but I had the joy in Dayton talking about flight in Ohio. I had the joy of going to the right pat base, their Air Force base there. I'm going to the Air Force Museum, which is outstanding. I mean, as good as Smithsonian or anything.
It was amazing. Took some of my boys there. And wow.
Hi there. I grew up going. My family is actually originally from the Dayton area. So I grew up going there. It's amazing. There's a lot of history in Dayton, Ohio. Go to Carol on Park and see one of the original right flyers. I actually took my kids there this past summer to go check it out for the first time. Something nice. Nice. Okay. Go back to Ohio. What Ohio Museum Park is nickname the roller coaster capital of the world. See the point of course. See the point. When you said one state is
a vacation capital of the world at the beginning of the podcast. I was instantly assuming that's Ohio. Of course you did. Yeah. I sure didn't. The North Dakota. I mean, the audience was probably evenly split there. Maybe it was misleading. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That's got to be it. Then when we talked about the chili, it really sealed it. So. So Ohio's tourism numbers are through the roof. I'm sure. Yeah. We're not bad. They're not bad.
Okay. In the summer. See your point. Nothing better. Not January. Yeah. Floor. Because we love
“that beach at the sea to point. So what city in Florida has the most visitors speaking of tourism?”
Ooh. Orlando. Well, technically, Kissimmee. Yeah. We have it in Orlando. But I get, I get the distinction. You make it there. Yeah. There we go. All right, down of Ohio is home to the pro football Hall of Fame. What city is it located in? Can't know. Ohio. It's right. Can't know. Ohio. I had the good fortune last week at one of our America's 250 birthday events to have on the podcast. Hopefully everyone could watch it Hall of Fame or Brian Erlacker from Chicago Bear. And it was actually
a wonderful conversation. Hopefully we can check it out. He was a great time actually. I always
thought he was very intimidating and played football. And when you meet him, he's very intimidating, because he's like four inches taller than me and much bigger. But he was just a good dude and fun and kind of joked around a lot. But one of the things I loved is when he got up to talk at the event. He said, you know, I don't love giving speeches. The first time I ever gave a real speech was that my enshrinement in my Hall of Fame speech. I was like, it's kind of a baller move. Just a humble
brag. I mean, David, at least you got more hair than he does. No, I don't. He's done the restore treatment. Yeah, and it's, you know, it's fake though. It doesn't go well. If you, I think it's a real hair. I mean, if you go to, if you ever drive around on a hair airport, it's like a joke. Oh, I've seen it. Oh, there's tons of billboards and they're super funny. I just love it. I think it's, you know, like the say like hair locker or all kinds of stuff. I think that's pretty good.
That's been like welcoming you to Chicago, uh, then having a much billboards with here's how you can regrow your hair. Yeah, you know, entrepreneurship. So, all right, what highway connects
“mainly in Florida to the key to Key West? Hey, when I, nice. What is the southernmost point in”
the continent when United States located in Florida? Key West, but the lowest base is actually even further south in the Dry Tortuga. Oh, really? Yeah, go to Dry Tortuga National Park.
That's cool.
and, uh, it is beautiful and pretty cool. A thinking of, uh, southernmost points, what river forms
most of Ohio's southern border? The Ohio River of Ports. The Ohio River, yeah. That's, that's original. There we go. Yeah, but, you know, we're nothing but not creative. Up. Yeah. Well, this, this was not creative. This, this one is creative. What river forms much of Nebraska's southern border with Kansas. It's a Nebraska river. It is not New York City, Kansas River. I don't know.
“Or I think it's like the flat river, something. It's the longest river in the United States at”
2003 or the 15 miles. Wow, longer than the Mississippi. But it might sound, it starts similar. Rio Grande Valley is further south. Right. Is it a river? Missouri River. There you go.
Oh, there you go. Yeah, we just start naming states. You'll get there eventually. Yeah, I know. Well,
so speaking of, uh, water in the US, what major lake borders Ohio to the north? We're very talked about Lake Eury. Yeah, Lake Eury. More water out of what massive wetland ecosystem covers much of southern Florida. The Everglades. It's right. Everything's a way more interesting. Yeah. More alligators than Lake Eury. I think, right? Yeah. Would take so. Just a few more. Just a few more. All right. And we got trucks to there, man. Do they really?
“Yeah. It's the only place in the US or North America that you can see not only alligators”
for crocodiles as well. Hmm. That's a snakes too. Lots of big snakes.
So I don't know if you guys do this, but Vermont was Vermont was once its own
independent republic before joining the US. What was it called? It's very imaginative. There are public Vermont or Vermont republic. Yes, we're like something answer. Thank goodness. This is a jeopardy. What is? Yeah. All right. Well, you guys are a good sports for all the other trivia. Well, I'm sure there's so many other interesting things to ask. You know, it's funny is I
listen sometimes to sports radio because I'm of that generation I suppose in the scog area. And there's a there's a show in the afternoon called Water on Silly and it has a poor football player who grew up in Ohio, but they play a game of half or years called Florida or Ohio. And they give some sort of outrageous thing that happened in one of the two states.
“And you have to guess whether it happened to Ohio or Florida like always funded so entertaining.”
It's rarely comfortable, my gosh. I was fun entertaining. I just don't understand why we didn't do that here. I mean, I know there was some real curve balls that we could. Yeah, I would have really kind of ripping off the idea, but it's not a bad idea. They really are two of the great states on the nation. I mean, obviously two of the larger states, but they are they're very consequential to the country and you know, contribute a lot. So, and I'll say look for my purposes
or not bias, but we think the same. The, you know, I'm pretty familiar working at America's prosperity with the work that you guys are doing. And for our listeners, for what it's worth, it's these are two of the top-state directors, two of the top-state leaders that we have in this organization who are just doing leading big teams who are really talented, working at the political level or the US Senate, the state legislative, governor Torio, but also passing
legislation, like historical legislation that's leading the way in the country. And then also, building these grassroots communities with their teams that are really effective and allow us to help pass that great policy to make people's lives better. So, I appreciate you guys doing this and talking to us, but I kind of, you know, kind of moving away from some of the trivia done. I mean, you know, I'm pretty familiar with some of the seven you guys have been doing
to reduce regulation based on different episodes and folks that we've had from Ohio on the show. But, you know, what are some of the things, what are the totality of the things that you guys are working on and Ohio trying to make people's lives better? Well, you know, one of the things that we launched a few years ago is our buck-eyed blueprint. That's our plan to move Ohio from middle and the Midwest to number one of the nation. And we've taken a really, in our team,
staff and activist supporters have taken a really serious look at what it's going to take to do that
Here in Ohio.
state of Florida. And it's not because folks who are just hanging out enjoying the beaches, there's folks like Skyler and the AFP Florida team that for a long time have been working really hard to pass bold policies that moves the state, make it a top 10 state for economic opportunity, education, and otherwise, and we can do that here in Ohio. We've been doing that, right? We just recently,
our most recent budget moved to Ohio to a flat income tax, second lowest in the nation,
lowest in the Midwest, puts us on a great trajectory to get to that zero percent rate. We ought to, we ought to be at, we've got school choice. We were one of the early states on school
“choice. I think we wrestled on our laurels after about 20 years, but we've got great champions,”
advocating for that here in Columbus. The regulation right tape, as you mentioned, but I think one of the big things that's, that's a challenge that our team is, is valid on is the amount of government we have in the state. Believe it or not, David, your home state at Illinois is only a few notches above us and the amount of government that it has here in Ohio. We have these six the most political subdivisions. And we're shining a light on that and you're wondering on what it's
going to take to help deliver more freedom here in the Buckeye state. So we've been a lot of work to do here in Ohio, but I appreciate the Cudos Sunday and our team is committed to helping helping deliver and make, make Ohio a bolder, better Buckeye state for everyone. And then we'll start to see folks relocate to the North Coast of the United States, rather than going to the Gulf of America as so many Ohioans find themselves doing. We can all hope for that. That's great.
“Yeah, no, I'm actually, you know, we worked together for a number of years and I've always”
keep an eye on Ohio and I'm so proud of the work. I mean, with your news issue built there and the work that you guys are doing and there's some, you know, this governor's race and other things coming on there, maybe even more opportunity to supercharge that to the benefit of folks in the Buckeye state, so I'm pretty excited about what you and your team are doing. So, Skylar, what's going on
in Florida? There's never really much going on in Florida, right? No, always busy. It's not like we've
got a president flying down every weekend, coming out and enjoy the sunshine that the free state has to offer. But we've been very busy trying to make sure that, you know, Florida is free as possible. So when those folks who retire from Ohio and Illinois want to come down and enjoy the nice warm weather in the Gulf of America, they can any day of the week. But I'll tell you, don't even in his team are constantly pushing. So it's an honor to be on with him. The innovation
that their team brings is really exciting and always fun to hear about and it gives us an opportunity to do the same. Iron sharp and siren and so I really appreciate his ideas that he brings to the forefront. And too, look, how's things at the top of the spear for us? You know, as Florida continues to expand and grow year in and year out a thousand people a day are moving to Florida continuously. And so we have to be prepared for that. And what that brings is a housing crisis, an insurance
crisis and a crisis when it comes to ensuring we have energy affordability long term for the state. And so we're working really hard to address those issues day in and day out with permitting reform on the housing front, making sure that we have insurers in place that are stable that won't bankrupt our state. It's incredibly important to us because, you know, our fiscal trajectories incredibly healthy right now and we don't want to be put on the back end in any way shape or
form when it comes to fiscal policy. And so those are just a few of the things that we want to tackle
and continue to focus on, you know, freedom is never done. We're never done fighting for it.
And we wake up every single day and it's a pleasure that we get to do so at Americans for prosperity. Yeah, I really grew that, you know, it's been fun doing some of the Americas, turns 50th birthday programming and just being some of the events. You know, I've
“been reflecting on the fact that freedom is kind of is really the key to us being a, you know,”
empowered to go and pursue our American dream. You know, we're talking this month a lot about the pursuit of happiness. And really the essence there is, you know, we need freedom and liberty to allow us to be able to go and pursue our American dreams and pursue happiness. And, you know, the founders saw that and I think that, you know, there's such a difference when we look at different states and how people are, how, you know, governments even interact with its people.
And I think, you know, your states are doing a great job in really moving in and even better direction in empowering folks to just go and, you know, take that opportunity to go pursue their dreams and pursue happiness. And it's where my daughter moved down to Florida, I suppose. But, and then the other states where it's more of a fight like my home state right now, Villanoia.
I'm really, it's been fun to watch, to talk about all the examples of individ...
we talked about our one small step campaign, of individual stepping up and taking that step to try
“to change your community or their state or even their nation. And, you know, but for that,”
we would never have seen so many of the great things that have happened in this nation making
a great country of the world. And it's been a fun time. I hope that all of us can keep, you know, as you go through this year of the 250th anniversary of our country, that we kind of keep thinking about that and kind of re-dedicate our efforts to, you know, keep in this the greatest country in the world. Well, guys, you're definitely doing your, your parts for sure. Well, thank you for that. Thank you for having us on. And I'll tell you one of the things David,
I love about Florida is how diverse we are. You talk about the melting pot and how America was founded. I mean, between the military communities, the influx of Latin American
individuals and Europeans and to Florida, it's always exciting to hear the new ideas that they
have and they want to bring to our country. And so having a low regulatory environment's really been awesome and hearing their stories is incredible. So thank you guys for sharing those and the one small step campaign and then also on this podcast. Well, gentlemen, I appreciate you bringing your, your trivia knowledge. Yes, it did really well. You know, your states, we didn't give you the questions beforehand. So I'm pretty impressed. So
way to go. I can't believe we didn't have any questions about the conquer public.
“Key West is seated from the United States. We didn't even talk about it.”
Well, I did, I did have something I didn't, I didn't go into, but I, you want to tell the quick, the quick story? Well, look, the key West basically got tired of a lot of different things at the federal government was pushing down. So they succeeded for a total of eight hours from the United States and became the conquer public. And once they were threatened immediately by the federal government's quick response, they decided to join the union again.
“As I said, I've been the key West. I do not know how well they would hold out against the federal”
government. Hey, man, it was the 80s. It was a heck of a time. That's awesome. All right. Well, thanks guys. We really appreciate you joining. So folks, if you like this episode, we'd like to stay connected with the podcast. Be sure to like and subscribe to our channel as well as following us on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube.
And always remember, liberty and freedom are easily taken for granted. Don't take for granted.
Quather and defend liberty and freedom. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to American Potential. You may listen to more stories from Americans working every day to expand freedom and opportunity in their communities by visiting ofamericanpotential.com.
