Governor - Lyman Bishop

LYMAN BISHOP (L)

• Founder and CEO of Hoplite Armor CEO 
• Businessman
• Holds a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering

Why did you decide to run for Governor? 

That's a long story.

And if you haven't seen my testimony in any of the various podcasts that I've done or interviews with PBS or radio, then it may be a bit longer of an answer than you're ready for.

But eight years ago, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

The night that I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I went before God and prayer, not begging for my life, not crying, not concerned, but just thanking God for a blessed life, thanking God that I had just received my first life insurance policy and truly giving myself over to him.

And as many Christians who have defied God does at times speak to us, not with an audible voice, but hard to explain.

Almost a voice in the back of your mind, not your own.

And in that moment, what God told me is word for word. We are coming up on the main event, the World Series of Human Civilization. And I want you on the starting lineup, but I'm happy to bench you if that's what you want. And my response in that moment was, Lord, I belong to you.

You do with me, as you will from this moment forward. Every word, every deed, every breath I will commit to you. But without the power of your Holy Spirit, I've got nothing. And you might as well bench me and I went to sleep with that thought and I woke up with that thought and I went right into prayer and I had a very powerful experience here in that moment, I'll encourage the listeners or the readers to dig deeper into the specifics of that. But shortly thereafter, God gave me a directive, a three-point directive. And at the time, it was very hard for me to wrap my head around the third part of that directive.

But it went like this move to Montana, sell body armor to the people and run for governor. And I did as he asked me to do, I moved to Montana almost immediately as quickly as I could. I had been in the body armor industry for the better part of ten years, but I was very much stuck in a partnership that was going nowhere.

Fighting hard and went before God, and I said, Lord told me to go to Montana, I'm here, you ask me to sell body armor to the people, but I'm stuck in this partnership. Will you please open the door? And I kid you not. The next day I received a call from my partners wanting to buy me out, and even though it was nowhere near the amount of money I put into it, I accepted the deal on one condition that I would be able to compete as long as I didn't infringe on our intellectual property. And that next day Hoplite Armor was born and we became the first body armor company to openly sell military or better grade body armor to the people openly online. That third part of the command running for governor. I did not want to acknowledge I ran from it like Jonah. And last year, in December, God created circumstances that sort of forced my hand.

I don't know if you're familiar with what took place with me in December, but at the time of the UPS shooting,...  In Florida. OK, two people hijacked a UPS truck with the UPS driver in it. Police engaged in a chase. It ended in deadlock traffic on a freeway. Police opened fire using civilian vehicles as cover, killing two civilians in the absolute most disgusting display of irresponsible behavior I've ever seen on the part of law enforcement, I openly called them out. As such, I received death threats from police all across the country. And it was at that time God said to me, Are you ready to run for governor now? And of course, the answer was yes, check me.

So that's why I'm here. God has called me to it. And I can tell you this right now, with everything going on in our country, I am the only one that can give us a viable solution.

Not my plan, but God's plan, God's perfect plan for Montana, for where we are here and now and how to move through it.

I see God's hand in it every step of the way. It's mind-blowing to me that all of these things transpired the way they did. And in December, shortly after I made the decision to run, I began to write various documents outlining my position on various issues. And it was at that time that God gave to me what I believe is this perfect plan for Montana. You see, in every case, when God raises up a nation and that nation falls into sin and debauchery and turns their ways, turns their back on God's ways and judgment comes upon that nation, God always leaves a remnant. And I believe Montana is or will be that remnant.

The size of that remnant will depend on how many people listen to what God has to say.

Why should MSU students vote for you?

I'm the only hope for your future and I shouldn't even say I. I only represent the will of God.

And this is God's perfect plan for you, for your future. If you want a future, look around you. Look at what's happening in your country. It's being torn apart. And I can promise you that if nothing is done, everything that you have come to, no one expects about living in and growing up in America will be gone.

I can promise you that we are heading into what will likely be the worst economic depression in human history. And God has a plan for that. If you look at my website and you go to the campaign section and you read the article titled Financial Sorry, Independence Through Financial Sovereignty, through Financial Independence, I'm sorry, I got my words twisted up sovereignty through financial independence. And this, I believe, is the only hope for the young people of Montana.

What would your top priority as a governor be concerning higher education?

Well, that stems from the economic plan, which will free us from the controls of the federal government and the manipulation, the financial manipulation of the federal government. As a result, we will be able to stand on our own two feet financially with a surplus large enough to provide everything needed to the people, especially the young people. Education, health care, lower if not eliminated taxes. It's the only option for young people moving forward. If you want a future in this world, if you want a future in the state, there is no other option.

Are you in favor of the proposition to legalize marijuana and why? 

Yes, I am 100 percent.

Alcohol is so much worse for the mind, for the body, for society. This gives people a different option. And it has tremendous medical benefits. It has tremendous financial benefits to the state and to the people. And furthermore, people have every right to make that decision about what to do with their own mind of their own body. And government has no right to tell them otherwise. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm not running for governor to tell people what to do, but rather to tell government what not to do.

In the previous legislative session, Medicaid was expansion was reauthorized, as governor would you work with both parties to reauthorize Montana’s Medicaid expansion program again? 

Not only that, but I would expand it into something better, greater and further and far-reaching than anything anyone has ever imagined.

Imagine a state with unlimited financial resources, all of those resources owned and controlled by the people read the financial plan. It will blow your mind.

What plans and policies do you have to help the Montana economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?

It's called the Montana Corporation.

With the polarizing political climate that we currently are experiencing how do you plan to work across the aisle to get bills passed?

I think logic dictates the day, right, and so whatever the situation might be that we're facing, there is always a logical course of action.

I believe that I'm in a position to you know, as a libertarian, you find yourself in the middle more often than not. And that allows me or would potentially allow me to bridge the gap between both sides of the aisle, between both parties. Both major parties in order to forge a future for the people that do this. And that's all I care about. And I'll tell you something else. I don't even like the idea of left, right, Democrat, Republican, libertarian. I want us to think of ourselves as Montanans first and foremost and only. And how then do we forge a future for ourselves and for our young people? There is no other option. Listen, you've got to you've got, I guess, four choices. But the Green Party candidate was a sham put up by the Republicans and he even said, don't vote for me. So really, you've got three choices. You've got Cooney, you've got Gianforte and you've got myself. Cooney is bought and sold by all the special interests and foreign powers that are currently trying to put a stranglehold on our country. Gianforte is a[n] [m]illionaire out of touch with the common man who wants to privatize our public lands. I am the only person that comes from and can properly represent the people, the common man.

In regards to the Black Lives Matter and Defund the police movements, how would you help to improve the relationship between law enforcement and minority communities?

Well, you know, that's a good question. I've been talking about this for months. And, you know, even before December, even before all of these things started to manifest, I've been very critical of police overreach in this country. By no means is any of this constitutional red flag laws, no-knock raids, absolute abomination, and flies in the face of everything that this country was was founded on. I believe and this works especially in Montana, I believe that the proper solution to law enforcement, keep your sheriffs, keep your detectives, but the people should have limited police powers, the right to carry concealed and the right to protect one another in public.

That is going to be the single greatest deterrent to crime that we could ever imagine, not only crime but crime on the part of the police as well.

Now, we don't have those kind of problems in Montana, thank God, at least not to the extent that they do in other states, but in order to prevent that, in order to maintain our way of life, in order to operate in accordance with our state constitution, which is by default, the legally binding agreement by which we joined the union in the first place, these things must be exercised.

Going back to the COVID-19 related question, could you just rename the title of the document you stated and give us a little bit of background on it?

That is not in relation to COVID as much as it is in relation to the economy. I'd be happy to send you a link, but if you go to my website and you go to the section called The Campaign, and then you scroll down and click on the article titled State Sovereignty Through Financial Independence, this is where I talk about the Montana Corporation. All right. And it comes down to this. I guarantee you that on a long enough timeline and more and more as we go into the future, that timeline seems to be shortened every day right there where I think we're really talking about a short term problem. The federal government will, without question, fall on their face financially, leaving the people holding the bag. All right. All of your wealthy people, all of your politicians are going to be hiding in bunkers while we deal with the aftermath of financial collapse and everything that comes with it.

Imagine for a moment that those things don't come to pass in full. Here's the other concern. I can promise you that on a long enough time, all of our natural resources will be pillaged. Growth and development are inevitable from Montana. We can either control that or be controlled by it.