Boys State (2020) - full transcript

Okay, guys, before we begin,

we're gonna look at this book just a little bit,

that talks about how the fact that we are moving

more to a Internet-based society

has really crippled our ability to have a sustained dialogue,

which is what we see playing out today.

So, who here has heard of the book 1984?

What-- W-What's the premise there?

What-- What happens? Anyone wanna take a stab? Yeah.

Dystopian society. Guy works for the government.

-Okay. -He's kinda going against it a little bit.

Absolutely. I wanna read this to you real quick.

"We were keeping our eye on 1984.

When the year came and the prophecy didn't,

thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves.

The roots of liberal democracy had held.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision,

there was another slightly older, slightly less well-known

and equally chilling possibility: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression."

Big Brother.

"But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required

to deprive people of their autonomy and maturity.

People will come to love their oppression,

to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information.

Huxley feared those who would give us so much

that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism."

So, what this book really tries to impart is the fact that who we elect matters.

How we elect matters.

The most dangerous weapon we have in the fight to maintain our democracy

is us being willing to give a darn and fight for it.

We're very pleased you decided to apply to go to Boys State this year.

And, uh, the purpose of this interview

is to kinda get a-- a handle on who you are.

Yes, sir. So, uh, I have a wonderful family.

I mean, Dad-- Dad's the primary caregiver.

Our mom's been educating us ever since we were really young.

-You're homeschooled? -Yes, sir.

I play football, baseball, um, and then I team rope.

Been in the corps since I was in sixth grade.

Who is your role model?

Uh, honestly, I would say, um, Christ is, uh, my role model.

We're really like a military family, kind of,

although we aren't in the military.

Uh, tell us what the flag means to you.

Well, sir, I think that if you look closely,

sure there may be, you know, like, a little missed stitch

or a little loose piece of, uh, material,

but from far away, I think it symbolizes everything that the world is trying to be.

All right. Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

Okay, thumbs-up or thumbs-down on sending him forward?

Up.

Congratulations.

-We'll post it in the morning. -Thank you.

We're very proud to sponsor you this year to go to Boys State.

I hope you do run for governor.

-Yes, sir. Thank you so much. -Congratulations.

-Congratulations. -Thank you. Thank you, sir.

If there's 1,000 kids dressed like that, I don't know.

You know?

Okay, so what are, like, the best political speeches of all time?

'Cause I've gotta do, like, speechwriting and stuff.

Oh.

Now to print out the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

We come to Berlin, we American presidents,

because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom.

-Who is that? -Thank you very much.

-It's this guy. -...ladies and gentlemen.

-Reagan. -It's Ronald Reagan.

You know, some people say they're a sports junkie.

I say I'm a politics junkie.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

We live in the greatest democracy in the world,

and I feel like a big problem is there's a lot of people today

that are willing to discount the idea that America truly is a great country.

Hard work can still get you to where you wanna go.

You just might have to work harder.

And it's like, I think about me, right. Like, I'm an amputee, right.

Like, it is not fair that I am missing my legs.

I am put at a disadvantage

that most other people do not have to deal with.

But, like, clearly, I've been reasonably successful.

And it's like, I've had to work harder, and I've had to work to overcome that.

And the more we keep focusing on these other factors,

like race or gender or disability, you know,

and the less we pin it to individual failings,

I think that's a very, very bad thing for this nation,

and, like, I think, like, we're individuals, right?

Like, I don't think of myself as white.

I think of myself as Ben Feinstein, American, right?

-Future president. -Yeah, we'll see.

-Morning! -Good morning.

-How are you doing? -Good, good, good. Excited.

-Good! -What's your name?

I'm Steven Garza.

-Did your parents come with you? -Huh?

-Did your parents come with you? -Oh, no, they're not. No.

-No. -They-- They have work.

-I'm Steven. Nice to meet you. -Christopher.

-Christopher. Awesome. You excited? -Yeah.

-Nice to meet you. I'm Steven. -Nice to meet you, Steven.

-So you're excited? You-- You ready to go? -Yeah.

-Shh! -They told y'all we're going to Austin,

but we're actually going to Cozumel, Mexico. So, y'all...

I thought about that last week. I was like, "Mom, we gotta order these."

"One-day shipping. We gotta get it done."

Those things are illegal.

He's my president. I have to support my president.

I want him to succeed.

'Cause if my president succeeds, my country succeeds, you know?

And so, even though I may not agree with everything that he does,

I'm not gonna bash every single little thing

just because it's a Trump name on it.

I am a progressive person,

and I'm in a room full of mostly conservative people.

Certainly, I wasn't a fan of Obama whatsoever,

because he is, you know, near-socialist.

However, there were one or two things that he did that helped this country.

The person who got me into politics

was Senator Bernie Sanders, when he ran.

I saw him for the first time, and just being in that atmosphere

and hearing the things that he had to say really inspired me, really motivated me.

And so, very slowly but surely, I started volunteering on some campaigns,

doing phone banking and block walking.

You know, learning all I could about politics and how that works.

Uh, I'm here to talk to either Marissa or Martha.

Not a Democrat?

Republican.

-Okay. Well, thank you so much, sir. -Sure.

Hello.

Go in the door there and say, "I'm here for" name your city.

Your smallest element here, your smallest family is your city.

-Right, the city. -Right. Now let me get your photograph.

Okay, smiles are good too. Do you smile?

-I caught-- -Not much.

Mom, I caught a couple smiles from these guys.

Listen up, everyone. We'll start checking in a little before 1:00...

Texas is a perfect example of America.

A melting pot of cultures and people.

Boys State provides a--

a chance to learn from each other and hear from the opposite side

without screaming and yelling on a Facebook post.

-Five. -Thank you.

You know how to get to that room?

Boys State's a little bit too genderfied.

I think we should go for, like, People State.

There's Girls State.

Know what? We should just do it like People State.

-"People State"? -Yeah.

I'm just memeing on you. Don't worry.

Good afternoon, gentlemen,

and welcome to the American Legion Texas Boys State.

This will be an intense week of learning

about state government and civil discourse.

We had you stand up a while ago to see who was a leader in here,

and there wasn't anybody in here that didn't wind up standing up.

And as you look to the left and right,

you don't know them, and they don't know you.

Guess what?

That gives you an opportunity that's unique in life.

It's a chance to be who you've always wanted to be,

to put forth your better self.

Somebody will run your city.

Somebody will run your party.

Sitting beside you...

or someone sitting in your seat

may be the next governor of Texas Boys State.

Will that somebody be you?

Federalists, you are going to be with me.

So, Federalists, let's roll out.

Whoo!

So long, farewell Auf Wiedersehen, good night

So what are you running for?

I'm running for House of Representatives.

-House of Representatives. -I just-- I don't know.

They said the seats are comfortable...

-They really are. -Oh, they are?

If I wasn't running for governor, I probably would've run for-- for House.

Yeah.

-So where you from, Ben? -I'm from San Antonio, sir.

-So how'd you hear about Boys State? -I had a friend that went last year.

-Okay. -He ran for governor,

-but he lost in the primaries, so... -Oh, okay.

I hope to succeed where he failed.

We basically take, in a full week, the entire Texas political system--

running for office, party processes.

You get to build party platforms with what you believe.

Not what current Republican or Democrats think,

but what the Federalists believe and what the Nationalists believe.

So, you're gonna write down, "Hey, I wanna run for this position,"

and then you get signatures.

The filing form deadline is gonna be tomorrow.

-Question? -Wait. We're running for offices,

and we're running for all these different things, right?

But what is it that we're doing after we get elected?

Texas Boys State focuses more on the process leading up to the election.

The exception is our Senate and our House.

You'll get to pass bills, you'll get to debate at the state capitol building.

-Yes, sir. -What is the earliest

that one could start collecting signatures?

We are going to release you guys at 10:00 tonight.

And where do people sign things? What do they sign?

On this very conveniently printed off ballot petition form

-that we have up here... -Beautiful, sir.

-that we will issue to you guys shortly. -Beautiful.

Thirty signatures for governor.

Okay. If I'm a Federalist, can I get a Nationalist to sign my paper?

-No. -Correct.

If you'll turn with me in your manuals to page six,

it's "Electing Our City Officials."

I'mma take notes on this.

We have 24 cities here at Boys State.

Those cities filter into counties, and that's very much like real life.

So, what's an example of a political office?

-Party chair. -Party chair.

Somebody give me an example of an elected office.

-Yes, sir. -Governor.

Governor? All right, awesome.

We're gonna have one mayor, two color guard,

and then one press corps.

And then you're gonna elect a precinct chair

and then three other delegates. Okay?

Might be four. Got it?

-Have you already signed for senator? -I have not.

-You wanna sign mine? -Sure.

Uh, hello. I would like you to vote me as your platform chair.

I'm a right-wing libertarian. I'm a big-time capitalist.

My uncle is the youngest Republican senator in history.

My other uncle served as the attaché to Poland.

I scored a 35 on the ACT, putting me in the 0.2 percentile.

I would like to run for mayor because I'm really prideful in our city.

I've run for three positions so far.

I've lost all three, but I'm not giving up.

Nationalists,

-has anyone not signed for a governor? -I got you.

I'm one of the Nationalist candidates running for governor.

I'm gonna be on the ballot.

I don't wanna BS or try to sound fake about it.

I wanna hear what you think, what your positions are.

If you wanted to ask me any questions.

-Uh, what's your name? -Steven Garza.

All right. I'm gonna come back to you.

You support me?

I love it, boys. I love it.

Where you from?

What are you running for, partner?

-Treasurer, how 'bout you? -Treasurer?

Uh, oh, I'm thinking of a governor run. I'm not ready to announce yet.

Respected offices...

It's a little early to start running for governor, don't you think?

We don't even have a party formed yet.

You don't have any support in the primaries.

I know, but if-- You have to start early. You have to start raising support.

You don't have to start this early.

What do you believe in?

Uh, my views will most likely align with the party for the majority of them.

-I wanna hear opening debates. -So, in other words,

you're waiting for the party to come up with an opinion

and then you're gonna go with the party.

-What do you stand for, though? Like-- -I stand for freedom.

You stand for freedom. That's a bold policy.

-Has anyone here not signed for governor? -Me.

Okay.

Will you please vote me for county sheriff?

-Yes. Sign for governor. -County sheriff, please. Please.

You wanna endorse me for governor, my friend? Nationalists.

-All right, I need a reason why. -To the future.

Is that it?

Improved school safety.

Those two I got.

Better education spending.

Very important. Very important!

-Will you endorse me? -Yes. Absolutely.

My brother. My brother.

We will, we will win. Oh! We will, we will win.

Oh! We will, we will win. Oh! We will, we will win.

Oh! We will, we will win...

Have you voted for governor yet?

-Huh? -What?

Have you voted for governor yet? Nationalist?

Yeah, yeah. Sorry.

...big and bright

Deep in the heart of Texas

Be my final signature. Be my 30th.

-All right. -Be my 30th. Make it done.

I got you.

Funny thing, it's like I've prepared for governor in my mind, right,

but my sheet is completely blank.

Yeah. So I gotta get that figured out.

Gentlemen, as you go back to your rooms tonight,

good luck in your preparation for speeches for tomorrow.

Good luck in your run for political office.

Good luck in your time here at Texas Boys State.

God bless you.

-I have my 30. -You do?

-I do. -I'm working on it.

-I have, uh, 20. -Good luck. Good luck.

You too.

I bought some Bitcoin back in August.

I don't know.

Bitcoin was probably right at about 2,000 a coin, 1,500.

And then managed to totally forget about it, that I ever had it.

One of my friends said one day Bitcoin had hit, like, 18,000.

And so I sold my Bitcoin.

Just-- Got some new boots.

So this summer, I served as a Senate page for the Republican party.

I made copies, lots of copies.

You go there thinking this is all this larger-than-life stuff.

But you get there, turns out senators are about as tall as I am.

Just regular people.

All my friends are wondering now, "Oh, where do I wanna go to college?

What-- What do I wanna do?"

And I guess I've always had the luxury of knowing I'm only applying to West Point.

Um, I'm only applying one place.

People say these things like, "It's so polarized now,"

but you look back, we were just as polarized in the 1800s.

Then again, back then they were debating slavery.

Then there was the Civil War. So...

I feel like it is at least somewhat of a problem.

-Go, go, go. -Oh, my goodness.

I'm thinking of governor, so vote Ben Feinstein for freedom.

-All right. -Yes, sir.

-I remember that, yeah. -Feinstein for freedom. What about you?

-I have no clue. -You have no clue?

-No. -Feinstein for freedom.

-I hope I can count on your vote. -All right.

-I don't think we've met yet. -We have met.

-We have? -We were sitting at the door.

-I am so sorry. I'm Ben. Nice to meet you. -Parker.

Parker, yes, sir.

I need to get on the ballot.

There are 600 Nationalists. I just need ten or eleven more signatures.

-Then we're good. Yeah. -Really? That's it?

We wanna support our boy from Winters.

Could I talk to you for a second? I don't wanna ask you for your signature

unless you actually wanted-- want me to win.

-Okay, I don't know. -So ask me-- ask me any question.

What do you think is the objective of a politician?

Public service. Serve others, not himself.

-Good answer. -Yes, sir.

-Could I get your s-- -Yeah, I'll sign.

Awesome. Thank you so much, bro.

I have a little under 12 hours to get five more signatures.

All right, folks.

Welcome to your very first Nationalist party state convention.

The way politics are won in this country

is as a party, as a team.

You gotta work together, form your ideas

into a platform that's gonna work for you,

that's not only gonna take this team to the top,

but be so impressive that when the other team hears you guys talking,

they have no choice but to join with you for fear of being run over.

We are going to be electing a state party chairman.

I just wanna start off with a few things.

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country,

to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times.

I believe our society is stronger when everybody is disciplined yet dangerous.

Our masculinity shall not be infringed.

If you want the big guns, vote for the Barrett. Thank you.

He's good. He's good.

I'm going to use this devotion to see change for this year's Nationalists

and to pressure the Federalists into a state of absolute submission.

Yeah! Yes!

Do you want a chairman who will act

for each and every one of your personal desires?

Then vote for Wyatt Schafer.

Do you want a chairman for the people?

-Yeah! -Then vote for Wyatt Schafer!

Yes! Yes!

At the ripe age of 24,

Charles Jameson has been in and out of the jail system since he was 17.

To the point where he concluded that he couldn't even stay out.

That's when he decided he was gonna get his story told by any means necessary.

And to do so behind a jail cell, well, that's revolutionary.

And every revolution required a few weapons.

And his arsenal of choice was a crayon and a purple card

in which he wrote to me about the dismal conditions of prisoners.

And that's why I, René Otero,

began to conduct a case study approved by Harvard,

in which we looked at the state of ex-convicts

reintegrating back into society.

I then drafted a piece of legislation to create tax cuts for any business

that accepts an inmate as a charity operation.

This chronicle is important for two reasons.

Because first, it not only shows the experience that I have

when it comes to representing and drafting policy,

but it also shows just about how far I'm willing to go for any American.

I lobbied. I went to state council meetings

just so a man in prison can have his rights.

So can you just imagine what I'm capable of

for every single one of us out here who is free

and out of chains and are a Nationalist?

My grandmother told me a few things.

You have to have faith, hope,

and a bit of a pissed off attitude.

I wanna be civil and represent a whole working body.

And we're gonna take the example of a plane body.

It has two wings, a left one and a right one.

We're not gonna pick one.

We're gonna stay in the middle, because we are not an intolerable party.

We're one that is palatable to all.

And so as long as we are able to keep this plane afloat

with a healthy right wing and a healthy left wing,

we have the ability and the capability to pummel any Federalist into the ground,

because we are the only party that's worth voting for,

because it's this party that's going to represent every individual.

Vote for me for your state chair.

So, your state party chairman is...

-René. -René.

I feel like everybody has a secret underlying need for bipartisanship.

So, I think just running on a campaign of bipartisanship

and being as inspecific as possible

was a great way for me, I guess, to integrate myself.

You-- Yeah, you're-- you're the state party chairman. Congratulations.

-God. Whoo! All this power. -One of two out of over 1,100.

Thank you. Wow. You really-- You make that sound exclusive.

All I can say is that I'm very humbled and very grateful to be your state chair.

So as a strong Nationalist party,

get yourselves ready for a turbulent election.

I'm originally from Chicago.

I was in a bubble. You know, everybody looked the same.

Everybody had the same ideas. Everybody was mad at the same person.

And then I moved down here, and that just feels super isolating.

At the same time, empowering.

You know, 'cause it's like, I can be a delegate for black people here.

-Here's what-- Here's what we have. -Here's the one guy.

-No, we have 20... -Do you want me to write it down for you?

My mom was like, "It sounds conservative.

Just let me know if you need to come home."

I was like, "It's fine." So...

Okay, and if you're not a platform member...

I think I'm doing all right so far.

All right, big guy.

And I've never seen so many white people, ever.

Warm up. Get your muscles stretched!

-Tomorrow's the primary, right? -Tomorrow's the primary.

I'm feeling pretty good.

Write, like, a speech, like, bullet points of what you wanna cover--

Oh, yeah, no. I have key points.

I feel like trying to find a middle ground is gonna leave nobody happy.

You're gonna be the guy who's standing there

while one person raises their hand for you.

-We pitched for Speaker of the House. -Come on, push-ups.

-Let's do 'em. -I don't want to.

Push-ups. Come on. Anybody.

-Anybody? Push-ups? -I'll do push-ups

-if you do push-ups. -Push-ups right now?

Yeah, I'll do it.

Whoo!

If you are interested in trying out for the talent show,

we're gonna make an announcement at the start of the second session.

Why are you walking like that? Are you, like, hurt or something?

No, sir. I've got no legs.

Yeah. I'm on prosthetics, buddy.

Yeah.

I've wanted to serve in the military since I was a little kid.

I'm actually not allowed to do that, physically.

So instead, I want to go into something like the CIA or the FBI.

You know, Department of Defense. Something like that.

Where I can still serve my country but as a civilian.

You know, right outside here,

you know, when everyone was doing the chants, that's not me.

I'm not a very, like, rowdy guy.

I'm not the kind of guy to really get in there

and, like, do that, you know, "rah-rah" kind of stuff.

What do you think a guy like me should do here?

Like, I mean, this is a crossroads, right?

And it's like, I've already told a lot of people

that I'm seeking the governorship.

I guess my question for you would be, you know,

what are the real downsides for, uh, changing course?

I mean, to answer that honestly-- Okay, like, you know,

I'd look like I'm kinda backing off, right, in the face of competition.

So it'd be kind of like a sign of weakness.

But, like, now a part of me is thinking

state party chair might be the better option, you know,

'cause it's like, it'll, you know, it's still, like, a very high position,

and there's still a lot of, like, honor associated with it.

But it'll give me more of an opportunity

to, you know, express more intellectual views,

and it won't be so, like, personality and charisma-based, you know?

Sounds like you came up with a plan.

-Good luck, man. -Okay. Thank you.

I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time

-to kinda clear it up. -Yeah, absolutely.

Good evening, statesmen. I am Blake Aldridge.

And I'm Raleigh Dewan.

And you're watching Texas Boys State News reporting live from Austin, Texas.

You know, everyone likes to win.

Now, let's take a look at some of our state candidates

who are looking to try and make a difference.

I just need, basically, one more signature to get on that ballot.

So, I just wanted to talk to you about, you know,

what are the issues affecting you?

I'm not gonna vote for someone who doesn't have, like, the morals behind it,

that's gonna go up there and not gonna follow their morals.

So what are your morals on, like, some of the main topics

like abortion or gay rights or veterans and things like that?

I'm gonna try to support my party platform to the best of my ability.

-Uh-huh. Of course. -Um, you know,

without compromising personal or religious beliefs.

My big thing is individual freedom.

You know, you do you as long as it doesn't bother anybody.

In some countries it's punishable by death to be homosexual,

which is what makes this country so beautiful.

We're free to have other religions, uh, here and other ideologies

and other, uh, types of people, you know. Fair treatment of all. Uh...

Yeah.

We're double-teamed and short-stacked...

We're playing man for the most part, but man's not really working that well.

-What's up, bro? -I got 'em.

-You got 'em? You got your signatures? -Let me guard him.

Left!

Left!

Mr. Speaker, let's gavel in, and we'll get to work.

All right. Cool.

Howdy, gentlemen. Uh, my name is Harrison McFarlane,

and I propose a bill that requires the relocation of all Prius drivers

to the state of Oklahoma, because we hate them.

We don't want them here. Whoo!

All right. Who else thinks the letter "w" is way too hard to say?

All right. I propose that in Texas,

in all schools, we officially change the pronunciation to "dubya."

Yeah!

I think when you put a bunch of 17-year-old boys in a room together,

they're all tired because talking about taxes is boring,

you get crazy stuff like the-- the Lone Star defense platform.

Recognizing the looming threat of alien invasion,

this necessary defense infrastructure will cost around $15 billion to build.

I think last year's secession happening on as wide a scale as it did,

was, like, a result of just, like, a snowball effect

of like, "Hey, let's do this. It will be cool. It'll be funny."

And it just, like, escalated to a ridiculous degree and actually happened.

They've passed some crazy stuff.

-They banned cargo shorts. -Yeah, I remember that.

And pineapple pizza.

That's terrible. I love pineapple on my pizza.

What's wrong with these guys?

Guys, is Boys State a joke? I mean, this is honestly a joke.

We should not be voting on stuff like this.

This is not real legislation that should actually be passed.

I mean--

-Hey. What's up, man? -Hey, bud. How are y'all?

-I'm good. -All right, guys.

Today we are here on the statesmen podcast,

and we have a special guest.

Uh, Steven. What-- I didn't catch your last name, actually.

-Steven Garza. -Steven Garza.

And he's, uh, a candidate for, uh, Boys State governor.

You know, it is tough to run for governor,

just because what issues affect me

don't affect a boy living in a town of 4,000 people.

You know, we're from two different worlds, basically.

Our country right now is more divided than it has been in a very long time.

Yes.

The-- The easy thing is to get up and quit and say, "You know what?

We're gonna go be-- form the Republic of Texas part two."

It's a lot easier to give up than to keep fighting.

Well, I mean, that's a lot about holding a political office

is knowing the people that you govern and that ultimately elected you, right?

If they're going out there and talking to people, I feed off of that.

It-- It motivates me. It makes me happy.

You know, I'm-- I'm a Nationalist. What that means yet, I don't know.

As our party is-- is-- is creating its platform.

But if I'm gonna be their nominee, I should support the party platform.

But at the same time, there's 600 Nationalists and 600 Federalists.

You know, I'm gonna need some of the Federalist vote

-if I want to be elected. -Yeah.

How's everyone doing today?

Federalists, right!

I'd like to tell you gentlemen a story.

A lot of y'all might have seen my arm, right?

It's not normal. It's a little small.

It's a little shriveled, right? It's a little damaged.

The truth is, I've had a lot of surgery on this arm,

and I'm actually missing both of my legs as well. Right?

I'm a bilateral amputee, and the reason I mention this

is because I know what hard work means.

I know what progress means. I know what faith means.

I had to relearn how to walk. I lost my legs at age three to meningitis.

I know how to push forward towards a goal I want, right...

If I got state party chairman, I'd be in charge of the Federalist party.

So, I'd be responsible for example, like, whipping votes,

coming up with policy, picking who to back in a governor race.

It's like, you know, you're controlling like 500 people there.

Like, that's a power trip.

I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win.

I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win.

I believe that we will win. Win! Win! Win!

If I can lead a room of that many rowdy people, I can lead anything.

Hi, um, yeah.

So, if you elect me as your state party chairman,

I hope to fill every seat open, up and down the ballot, with Federalists.

Go Feds! Thanks.

I'm gonna say what I stand for.

We're gonna improve this economy. Progun.

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

We need to limit illegal immigration. Yeah?

Yeah!

I'm here to be your chair.

And do you know what? I will be your chair.

entitled "Resist the police and imagine a world without them."

In the article, CODEPINK claimed

that America was a white supremacist nation,

and it insinuated that the war on terrorism

was rather a fight to institute racism and colonialism across the world.

Now, is there a single red-blooded American in this room

-that believes that nonsense? -No! Hell no! No!

Hell no!

I certainly don't believe that.

I support the police. I back the blue.

-I want a strong Texas economy. -Yes! Yeah!

I want a strong Texas environment. I want good environmental policy.

I want good immigration. I want a Federalist victory.

Feinstein for freedom.

Vote for Ben Feinstein for freedom and Americanism.

All right.

Raise of hand for the delegates.

Understand?

Yes, sir.

Ben Feinstein.

-I like this. -All right.

Ben, come on up, man.

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA!

Just the political feel I'm getting,

you do have a lot of, like, conservatives, you know, your classic GOP.

But a lot of people who I kind of had pegged as,

"Okay, you're probably gonna be conservative"

are actually a lot more liberal.

So, in terms of how that's gonna play into political strategy,

it's gonna be a little harder to come up with a unifying policy.

But, you know, you gotta break some-- some eggs to make an omelet.

We've got some business to take care of first and foremost, gentlemen.

We've gotta get a party going, right? We just got here.

We need to dominate.

Unity of party is big,

and the way Boys State is set up where it's two parties,

you have to have a unified party to do well.

Get your arms and...

-So, yes! -Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

-Are we gonna beat the Federalists? -Yes! Yes! Yes!

We've got to get ready to begin to build our agenda for deliberation

that we specifically want to talk about.

So, can I have all platform committee members rise?

I'm the platform member for, uh, Burkett City,

and we decided upon abortion and gun rights.

-Great. -Whoo!

Immigration, education reform, and, uh, freedom of religion.

Rights for people with disabilities.

Ours is immigration, gun rights, and foreign policy.

Fantastic.

Would, uh, the gallery be able to chime into the debate?

-The gallery... cannot. -Boo!

Back there.

Uh, we would like to present, uh, abortion and secession.

I'm sorry, secession will not make the agenda.

Not your decision!

I motion to secede and legally call this "Boys Nation."

We can't secede.

Boys State! Boys State!

Abuse of power!

Impeach! Impeach!

Can we get decorum? Decorum? Thank you.

So, my city would like impeachment and revote for the state chairman.

I don't think he likes black people, and that's my issue,

because I'm doing so good.

So, how have things been for you, René, with what's on stage?

Okay.

No, honestly, I'm having a grand old time.

I love me an audience. Even if they don't love me.

I think it's just a very vocal minority.

I mean, like, for the most part, like, you know, people cheer you.

-Yeah, it's a v-- It's a loud minority. -Right? Yeah. I got you.

They wanna impeach me?

It's just a little different for somebody that looks like me.

So, I guess, my way of doing it is just going to be palatable

and congenial to what the body wants.

I'm gonna vote for everything, and then that's what I'm going to adopt.

And those that didn't vote for that side, they're gonna be mad.

They're gonna call for an impeachment.

They're gonna be on their one side, and the other side's gonna be mad,

and then what do we have?

A divided party.

I'm gonna keep my job if it's the last thing I do.

Gentlemen.

I've gotta be real, that was really cool

how you all were all quiet when I told you all to be quiet.

That was a pretty badass feeling right there.

Yeah. Raw power.

All right. We have two days until the general governor election.

We have a lot of governor candidates

who want policies that they can reliably run on

and start designing campaign materials for.

Furthermore, the Nationalist convention right now, I've heard, is in chaos.

We may have our little disagreements about this platform,

but ultimately, this is pretty solid.

It strengthens our economy. It strengthens our police force.

It has an eye to the social, economic and political issues of our day.

And our best move now is to get it in so we can start running, right?

-We need to dominate. -Yeah!

-USA! USA! USA! -USA!

USA! USA! USA! USA!

-Good morning. Good morning. -Morning.

-Morning. -Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Morning.

I'm saying here, out of respect for your time,

I'm gonna keep this short and dispense with the--

I wanna say dick measuring, but I can't say dick measuring

'cause I gotta give this as a speech.

-Uh... -Yeah, don't say that.

Right, I can't say that.

It's gonna be vulgar, anyway. So...

-What do you mean? -If you're starting off with that,

I'm pretty sure the rest of it's gonna be pretty up-front and honest.

That's how you get a 17-year-old boy's attention, okay?

-Seventeen and sixteen, apparently. -Yeah.

Oh, boys. I'm 18 this morning.

-You are? -It's my birthday today.

-Hey! -Hey!

Oh, congratulations.

Thank you.

Is, uh, is penis measuring too vulgar for government discourse?

All right, I've gotta do some networking with Federalists today.

-What party are you? -I'm a Nationalist.

-You're a Nationalist? -Yeah.

-Dude, okay, tell me honestly. -Mm-hmm.

Like, ignore the fact that I'm a Federalist.

-You know, just speaking to me. -Yeah.

What-- What's going on at the Nationalist convention?

We're, like-- We're hearing reports that it's, like, in chaos.

Our platform's still debating.

Oh, really? Yeah, we already have a platform.

Yeah, I heard you already have last--

Yeah, dude, we're going-- we're going fast.

-Beef? -Okay, yeah.

-Is it true that y'all are-- -I'll have lasagna.

Is it true that y'all are impeaching your state party chair?

-No. Can I get lasagna? -Is that a thing?

-Are you a speaker or something? -Lasagna?

Oh, it's for him? My bad.

-Yeah, I'm gettin' this one. -All right. That's all.

-You want green beans? -Yes, ma'am.

I'll see you later.

-Hey, guys. -Hey, Ben. How you doing?

-Good. How are y'all? -Hey, Ben! What's up?

Good afternoon, friends, colleagues, fellow Nationalists.

My name is Robert MacDougall,

and I am honored to be here before you today

to run for this year's Texas Boys State governor.

Now, out of respect for your time,

I will skip the part where I brag for three minutes

about how great and cool I am,

seeing as we are all qualified young men of skill and character.

-People like that stuff. -Yes, sounds good, yeah.