Hill Billy Jon Radio Show

We talk through a hard election result without self-pity, focusing on why getting back up matters more than one bad night of returns. We also lay out what grassroots campaigning teaches you about money, turnout, and the people you meet when you knock on thousands of doors.  • a rallying message about resilience and staying in the fight  • what a low-turnout primary reveals about party machines and...

Politics gets weird when yard signs vanish overnight and someone tries to hack your ads right as momentum hits. We’re Hillbilly John Marietta and PA State Senate candidate Al Buckton, and we talk candidly about what the last two weeks before an election really look like in Greene County and Washington County: tight timelines, nonstop outreach, and the pressure that shows up the moment a race gets...

Gas is expensive, but the part that really makes people furious is the feeling that the system is built to take more and explain less. We start with Pennsylvania’s sky-high gas tax and quickly get into the bigger question: when politicians collect billions, why do roads, services, and everyday life still feel like you’re falling behind? From state budgets that outspend real revenue to taxes stacke...

Pennsylvania can feel like a place where you get taxed coming and going and then somehow taxed again after you’re gone. We get into that hard truth head-on, starting with the inheritance tax that can bite families at the worst possible time, turning grief into paperwork, bills, and forced decisions about land that’s been in a family for generations. If you’ve ever asked why it’s so hard to get ahe...

We make the case that Pennsylvania’s Republican Party is built by working people, not insiders, and we argue it is time to hand power back to the grassroots. Larry Dougherty joins us to explain why he is running for State GOP committeeman in Fayette County and how he plans to stay reachable, listen hard, and push real ideas for local jobs.  • sponsors, bills, and how local advertising keeps the sh...

If you’ve ever looked at politics and thought, “How did we get this far off track?”, this conversation goes straight to the foundation. We sit down with John Diamond, a field representative for the John Birch Society, to talk about faith, freedom, and the idea that our rights are not granted by government but secured by it. That one distinction changes how you see everything from daily headlines t...

George Washington’s name is everywhere, but it hits different when the story lives on a real front porch you can still stand on. We sit down with Mark Cook to trace the living history of Cook Farm in Washington Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and why one family is opening their home place to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. We talk about what people miss when they talk about food lik...

They tried to keep our guest off the ballot, and the fight ended up in court. That alone tells you something about how high the stakes are in Pennsylvania politics right now. I sit down with Al Buckton, a Pennsylvania State Senate candidate, to talk about the legal battle over ballot access, why courts matter to everyday voters, and what it means when people feel like the system is designed to nar...

“Be on your guard, stand firm, be courageous, and be strong” sets the tone, and then we get practical fast. I’m John Marietta, joined by Bud Cook, and we talk about what service looks like when the calls are real, the paperwork is endless, and people just want someone to help them cut through Harrisburg bureaucracy. That “We the People” mindset is not a slogan to us; it’s the standard we use to me...

We dig into why big money donors have become the real constituents in American politics and why voters feel shut out of decisions that shape their lives. We lay out a specific fix called voter dollars that aims to make voters the donors and pull power back from corporations, special interests, and mega-check politics.  Send us Fan Mail Data centers Data centers 2 Data center Support the show

Voters keep getting told to “pick a side,” but the ballot belongs to you, not party insiders. We open with a simple challenge: reason together, stop shouting, and let candidates speak in their own words. That’s why we sit down with John Thomas, the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania, to hear a full-strength argument for free markets, personal choice, and cutting governme...

They’re talking about “resiliency” and “economic development,” but what we’re hearing on the ground in Southern Fayette County sounds like something else entirely: a massive high voltage transmission line pushed forward while the people who live on the land scramble for basic facts. I’m joined by Susan, who walks us through how neighbors got blindsided, how routes reportedly shifted from several o...

Patriotism isn’t something you buy at a store or slap on a bumper sticker. We start with a faith-forward challenge: if freedom is real, it should show up as truth, courage, humility, justice, and repentance, not pride and performance. That message sets up a straight talk conversation about how regular citizens can stop outsourcing politics to insiders and start earning influence again. Then we get...

We draw a hard line against secrecy in Fayette County and lay out why NDAs and closed-door deals break public trust. We connect the FAYPEN scandal to insider patterns, political influence, and a concrete plan to publish documents and push investigators to act.  • NDAs as a tool for an “invisible government”  • Why an elected official refuses to sign silence agreements  • Concerns about disclosed m...

We follow a paper trail that we say points to insider benefits inside Fayette County’s economic development world, even as the wider county struggles. We push for outside oversight, urge listeners to check the documents themselves, and argue that trust requires transparency and proof.  • citing nonprofit 990 filings and what they show about loans  • questioning repayment visibility and record gaps...

Something smells wrong when public money keeps flowing and regular people keep falling behind. We’re looking straight at Fayette County, Pennsylvania and asking the questions that make powerful people uncomfortable: where do public grants and economic development dollars actually go, and why do taxpayers still feel broke while insiders look protected? I’m joined by Harry Cochran, who lays out a re...

A ballot fight can sound like pure politics until you see what actually decides it: procedure. We walk through a Pennsylvania election challenge where the outcome hinges on one unglamorous legal requirement, proper service. If you do not serve the right official the right way and on time, the objection can be dead on arrival. No amount of certainty on social media fixes that, and email is not a sh...

They don’t want to beat you at the ballot box, they want to erase your choices before you ever vote. That’s the charge we dig into from right here in Fayette County, where local politics shows how power really works when petitions, courts, and party leadership collide. I’m John Marriott, and I sit down with Harry, a candidate in Pennsylvania’s 32nd senatorial district, after a legal challenge targ...

A courthouse can feel far away until it starts touching your wallet. I’m John Marietta, and I’m sounding the alarm on what I see as Fayette County politics drifting into backroom habits, bigger budgets, and taxpayer costs that never get a clear explanation. I lay out the frustrations driving a lot of local voters right now: spending that looks cushy for insiders, contracts that deserve sunlight, a...

Your property tax bill can feel personal, but the person collecting it usually has the least power over what you owe. We sit down with Mary Grace Butello, a Dunbar Township tax collector with more than two decades on the job, to separate tax policy from tax administration and to explain what really happens between a recorded deed and a Fayette County real estate tax notice landing in your mailbox....

The moment regular people decide they’re done being treated like an afterthought, politics changes fast. We start with a straight talk challenge to government that shields itself with bloated budgets, hush-hush NDAs, and insider protection, and we frame it in plain terms: if the rules apply to taxpayers, they should apply to lawmakers and local leaders too. Accountability is not revenge. It’s a re...

We call for a local revival rooted in faith, gratitude to the military, and community action, then welcome guest Chris Morolo to share an event with Ted Cruz and a powerful WWII family story that shapes his civic work. We examine today’s political climate, the War Powers Act, and why quick, focused strategies matter more than endless wars. • call to wake up counties and towns • honoring service an...

A plain envelope on the porch. Lawsuits and 990s inside. And a blunt question: why would public officials sign NDAs to sit on the board of a nonprofit that doles out economic development loans? We take you through the claims surrounding the Fay Penn Economic Development Council—allegations that insiders received below-market loans while local businesses were turned away—and we lay out what true tr...

A date carved in history becomes a mirror for our moment. We draw a straight line from March 6, 1836 to the choices facing every county today, asking what it means to cross the line for liberty when pressure tells you to sit down and stay quiet. The Alamo isn’t treated as trivia; it’s a moral compass that points toward courage, accountability, and the belief that ordinary people can still turn a t...

What happens when the people who dig the ditches, run the lines, and raise the next generation decide they’re done with closed doors and whispered deals? We take you inside Southwestern Pennsylvania’s grassroots revolt against party gatekeeping and show how real reform starts at the county level, not on cable news. With guest leader Cheryl Keefover from Patriots of Green, we unpack how committees...