Once hopeful of entering the political arena, my journey led instead to a front-row seat to the spectacle of division that has engulfed American politics. In our latest conversation, I peel back the layers of this conflict-ridden landscape, revealing how the battle for power has eclipsed the noble mission to serve the common good. We tackle the troubling polarization that now characterizes our national dialogue, the erosion of civil liberties, and the desperate need to safeguard the representative democracy at the core of our identity. Join me as we confront the stark realities threatening the very fabric of our society, dissecting the mechanisms that have left the average American feeling disconnected from the political process.
As we navigate the tangled web of Congress and government transparency—or the lack thereof—we're forced to confront the discomforting realities. Do our elected officials truly have the best interests of their constituents at heart, or have they become ensnared in a system that caters more to personal gain than public service? We scrutinize everything from the influence of corporate money in politics to the problem of lifetime tenure for politicians, questioning whether it's time for a constitutional renaissance to meet the pressing challenges of our era. This episode is an invitation to explore the possibility of creating a more equitable society, where leaders are held to account and the voices of the people authentically resonate in the halls of power.
As we round out our thought-provoking dialogue, the focus shifts to accountability and the stark concerns for America's future. Through the lens of Chicago's urban crisis and the absence of consequences for deceit and corruption, we underscore the imperative role of civic engagement and the power of the vote. I share poignant reflections on the generational shifts in financial security and the vital importance of reviving practical education to rebuild the middle class. Tune in to this deep-dive exploration and envision with us a society where prosperity is matched by fairness and freedom, and where the actions we take today craft a legacy of stability and opportunity for the generations to come.
Once hopeful of entering the political arena, my journey led instead to a front-row seat to the spectacle of division that has engulfed American politics. In our latest conversation, I peel back the layers of this conflict-ridden landscape, revealing how the battle for power has eclipsed the noble mission to serve the common good. We tackle the troubling polarization that now characterizes our national dialogue, the erosion of civil liberties, and the desperate need to safeguard the representative democracy at the core of our identity. Join me as we confront the stark realities threatening the very fabric of our society, dissecting the mechanisms that have left the average American feeling disconnected from the political process.
As we navigate the tangled web of Congress and government transparency—or the lack thereof—we're forced to confront the discomforting realities. Do our elected officials truly have the best interests of their constituents at heart, or have they become ensnared in a system that caters more to personal gain than public service? We scrutinize everything from the influence of corporate money in politics to the problem of lifetime tenure for politicians, questioning whether it's time for a constitutional renaissance to meet the pressing challenges of our era. This episode is an invitation to explore the possibility of creating a more equitable society, where leaders are held to account and the voices of the people authentically resonate in the halls of power.
As we round out our thought-provoking dialogue, the focus shifts to accountability and the stark concerns for America's future. Through the lens of Chicago's urban crisis and the absence of consequences for deceit and corruption, we underscore the imperative role of civic engagement and the power of the vote. I share poignant reflections on the generational shifts in financial security and the vital importance of reviving practical education to rebuild the middle class. Tune in to this deep-dive exploration and envision with us a society where prosperity is matched by fairness and freedom, and where the actions we take today craft a legacy of stability and opportunity for the generations to come.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Take a breath, let's dive in. Let's talk about politics. What is politics today in the United States and the rest of the world? What does politics mean to you and does it dictate your everyday dealings? Where you shop, where you eat we hang out with? How does politics affect your social circle?
Speaker 1:
I must say that in recent years I've become quite despondent when thinking about politics. Growing up, I thought that I wanted to be a politician and or a statesman, and I just my eyes would just gleam with joy just thinking about the prospect of being a senator or a governor or a mayor. I knew that when I came to the United States I couldn't be president because I was not born here. I would have had to take the Arnold Schwarzenegger route, in that the highest I could climb would be a senator or a governor, and I was okay with that. That was also a different time, and in today's world, politics has changed and evolved into something that I don't even know if I can classify it as politics. It seems like reality TV. It seems like something that's out of the mind of. I don't need some dystopian book of some sort. Politics has evolved into so many things that they used to be the driving mechanisms that fueled my goals.
Speaker 1:
And now, when I look at politicians today and how they're destroying this amazing country and dividing people I mean family members don't speak to each other. You know, school teachers and principals are at odds with each other. College professors and their students are at odds with each other over things that are fundamentally their right the right to freedom of speech, the right of self expression, the right to simply exist. And now we live in this polarized world where you're either left or you're right, and if you're not, you get left behind or trampled on. What is this? What is this world? The world in which we no longer embody true community and our differences are not celebrated. Regardless of what's marketed to us, the thing that we see every day is division. We see sound bites and corruption. Meanwhile, we get bombarded with so much information that we don't know what the facts are, because we're so distracted by all of the kaka-may-may nonsense that's put in front of us.
Speaker 1:
The circus is what it really is, and tonight I would like to dissect and dive into what politics means to me at this current juncture and how I plan to proceed forward, moving forward and really just giving my all to analyze my true feelings as a lover of politics in general and as a concerned citizen of this great nation. Things are only great because people make them great, and if we take our democracy for granted, if we take our liberties, our civil liberties for granted, we may wake up one day not having those things that the Constitution as entitled us to have. Then so many people have fought for us to have you look at the world around you today. Can you truly say that it's a safer place when there's wars here and wars there? Conflicts are constantly springing up and America of today does not have a standing, as it did years ago, in which, when America spoke, the world listened and America could command a force to bring about peace. That America has gone somewhere, and is that our new normal, or is that something that we can get back? This nation is lost until we decide that it's time to give up. I would like for my neighbor's children to grow up in a world that is beautiful and clean, a world that is prosperous and fear. I would like for my children to grow up in a world in which they have endless possibilities. I want them to see the polar ice caps. I also want them to see what freedom of expression truly is to be able to express yourself and not have to worry about censorship or being canceled. And both parties. My goal, my wish, is that both parties can realize that this idea of manipulation and causing fear mongering of both sides, in which the only people that truly are harmed by this are the American people, but above that all, the part that really shakes me to my core is that the citizens of this country that get to vote don't understand the reality in which they stand.
Speaker 1:
America is often referred to as a democracy, and that's half true, because America is a republic and a republic is a type of democracy. It is classified as an indirect democracy because we have representative bodies that make decisions for us based on our vote, and each representative is in control of a constituent, and those constituents are what come together to form things. That mechanisms, I should say, form mechanisms. So we live in a representative democracy and the representative democracy elects our governing bodies. For example, the president is chosen by the electoral college, meaning that if we vote, our popular vote doesn't count for anything. What our popular vote does says that hey person that I voted for, all of us agree that this person should be elected and that person would cast the vote on our behalf. In that understanding as well, I would say to many people that how can democracy truly work when we don't hold politicians accountable? And in some ways, the game is rigged because we have delegates, delegates or representatives. We have things such as pledge delegates, and I would often say to myself well, how does? What is the difference between a delegate and a pledge delegate? A delegate is a person that represents a body of people and they have not chosen who they're going to vote for, whereas a pledge delegate has said I'm going to vote for this candidate, and I would always look at that as corruption, because how can an individual be a pledge delegate when I haven't even casted my vote yet, and things of that nature slowly began to make me lose faith in our governing body.
Speaker 1:
The second component to why I'm at a crossroad is our Congress. Our Congress gets a score at approval rating the same as the president. Our Congress, by all means, is a failure. But who holds Congress accountable? I don't, and neither do you. When Congress passed bills that are not in line with my view, well, what do I do about it? What do you do about it Nothing.
Speaker 1:
A Congress, our Congress specifically gets to vote on paid cases. I mean, can you imagine, as an American person, you go to work one day and you tell your boss I think I'm going to give myself a race today? How would that go over with your boss? And in this indirect democracy in which we should be the boss, how is it that we're letting the people who are supposed to work for us, the people who are supposed to represent our ideals they're not doing a very good job and they get to vote on giving themselves a pay raise and their pay gets adjusted for inflation? Last I checked.
Speaker 1:
American citizens and people who live here in general do not get to decide that they are going to get paid. The rate of inflation Doesn't happen. If that was the case, every single person living here would be able to afford every single thing. They would never have to worry because you're getting paid the rate of inflation. Inflation goes up, your paycheck goes up. That does not happen. So how can a governing body do that when our educational system is broken, conflicts are springing up all over and they get to choose to get a pay increase, but they're not doing a very good job? What is their approval rating? I'm not going to say it. I would like for you, the listener, to do your research, to see what it is, to see why this is so scary that a governing body that is failing can choose to have private jets by them to and from work on our dime, when we know that poverty exists.
Speaker 1:
There's a disconnect there. The fact that lobbying can be a thing is despicable. To know that our politicians, whether Democrat or Republican, are for sale is despicable. That should never be the case. The fact that the church and state are in bed together now, that is despicable. There's supposed to be a separation. I don't care if you're Democrat or if you're Republican. The church and the state have no place together. There's supposed to be a separation. For a reason there should be a separation.
Speaker 1:
Too many lines are being blurred Heads of corporations that are in positions in politics and government. That should not be a thing, because corruption is in the air. How can you work for a weapons manufacturing company and then become a politician? You're a politician that's associated with a war. Those are things that we have to look at. That's not even the tip of the iceberg. I honestly don't even care about that as much. What I do care about is where is this country headed? What dreams are our children allowed to have? What's available to them? So many things are making the American dream a little less of a reality and making it more of exactly what it is a dream. We need to figure out together how we can mend this great divide that we're living in every single day.
Speaker 1:
There's a lack of term limits and the absence of term limits for elected officials. That also contributes to the power struggles that exist today. You have a lot of conflicting views of people because they've been there in government too long. If you're a career politician, that's exactly what you are. You're a career politician. You are not a state's man or a state's woman. You are a politician. You are no longer for your people, you are for yourself. If you're, the longer you're in there.
Speaker 1:
They say that power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the longer you're attached to that power, the more and more the divide of the politician and the connection between their constituencies. There's a gap that cannot be filled. It's kind of like the analogy of an individual that they weren't born rich but they became rich and after a certain point they will live to be rich longer than they have been poor and when that threshold has been met, you can no longer connect to being poor because you've been rich for most of your life. You can no longer identify with those who have everyday problems such as how am I going to pay for my child's college education? How am I going to put food on the table? How am I going to pay these doctor bills? How am I going to find the funds to pay for my cancer treatment? Those are not your reality anymore and I think the moment that someone's reality, that's the moment they should be in that job because it is called. They're called civil servants for a reason. They're servants and they're no longer serving.
Speaker 1:
There's a lack of transparency in government and it's crucial in maintaining trust and accountability. And if we don't know what's truly going on or whatever secret negotiations are being made and with our limited access to information, how can the public truly trust the government? We don't have a trust relationship. We have a relationship that's based on speculation. I'm thinking, I'm hoping and I'm praying that you're going to do the right thing, and I don't even know if you are. I don't even know like. Why am I trying to wrap my head around this concept of politics today. I don't, like, I can't. I see it as a circus I really do and both sides are just absolutely corrupt. It's absolutely corrupt.
Speaker 1:
I think that this is going to be a very unpopular idea, but I think maybe it's time that our constitution gets updated. I think if all the things that are around us have updated and modernized, then our constitution should do so accordingly. And, yes, we can make the argument that it's what makes us who we are, but it's not working. It is not working. Where in the common constitution does it talk about special interest groups? Where in the constitution does it talk about lobbying? Where we have amendments? Where in the corporate and in the constitution does it talk about, you know, big tech and big pharma? These are terms that did not exist then. So, of course, I do think that we should modernize our constitution to create a more fair world.
Speaker 1:
When I say fair, I don't mean that when I'm talking about handouts or things of that nature. When I say fair, it's about people doing the right thing. That is fair, that is right and that is just. And that is why we vote, because things need to be right and just and justice has to be paramount. Be paramount. It has to be at the forefront of every decision that someone makes. Is what I'm doing just? And if it is just, it is for the greater good Not for me, but for the greater good. And that's the difference between being a leader and a servant leader. A leader can lead in the self-serving. The servant leader leads by serving, and through serving they bring about change. Serving they allow people to buy in what it is that they're selling, and when they have that buy in, they bring about change.
Speaker 1:
I can't think of any politician today that I would truly advocate and say that this person is 100% good. I don't believe in that. I don't think there's a government or an institution in the world that is 100% good. However, each government that has a constitution can put things in there to make people do good. Sometimes we can't do good simply because people tell us to do good. Why do we have laws? We have laws because it's what creates anarchy from happening. We have law because it gives us stability. That's why we have law. So the laws need to change.
Speaker 1:
Why is it that term limits are not something that has changed? Why are the American people not voting on term limits? Who's deciding that isn't the American people or isn't the people that we elected. That's deciding that they want to stay in power forever and we don't get a say in that. So should we not have a lot to make us have a say in that, since our rights are being stripped away right in front of our eyes? I would like for this to be cohesive and flow, but I'm so despondent it's like I don't even care.
Speaker 1:
Truly see the light of good in politics in America. I see the light and good in the American people, because they will be the ones to bring about change. Not the politicians, but your neighbor. Those are the individuals that bring about change. We have to be that change. Our politicians are on Twitter. Our politicians are on Facebook. Our politicians are on TikTok. We have to let them know how we feel on those platforms, not just the junk that they throw down our our throats all the time. They're not the information that they feed us to appease us. We have to decide that it's time for better. We deserve better. Our vote has to count, not, not, not the things that are marketed to us, but look around and ask yourself what has changed, what has been done? Are things getting better? Are things getting worse.
Speaker 1:
And if a person is the type of human being that said that, has to point the finger and say, hey, things are bad because of that person, they're not solving anything, they're just creating a disruption. Any time an individual points a finger, that means they're doing nothing. A person that's solving a solution says this is a problem, here's what we're doing to fix it, not this person messed up. And that person did do this. This is what I'm doing, because this is what I was elected to do Is to fix problems when a politician does not follow through to the ultimate countable. And what does that accountability look like? I can tell you what that accountability looks like.
Speaker 1:
Growing up, I was always a fan of philosophy. I loved Greek philosophy, I loved learning about the Romans and I was always captivated by how just brilliant these ancient civilizations were. And yet the Romans, the Greeks, fell because the Greeks were divided and there's political corruption. The Romans fell because they were divided and there was political corruption. And now history is simply repeating itself. There is corruption.
Speaker 1:
Many people may not have classified America as an empire, but we are an empire and it just so happens that the empire is collapsing. The empire is collapsing because we've lost a sense of who we are. Most of us are too busy trying to just live life, trying to be parents, trying to be college students, trying to be a person that contributes to society, trying to simply just exist and survive. We're busy being angry. We're busy being lost. We're busy with depression and mental health. We're busy with our physical health and well-being. We're busy taking care of families. We're busy simply trying to exist. And when you throw in the other components of all we hear and see in the media is negative. This about the other political side. All we're being fed is negativity and all we're being fed is problems and non-solutions. I get it. Inflation's high, okay.
Speaker 1:
What are you doing, as the elective body of this great country, to fix it? Not that this is a problem, but what are you doing to counter these issues? Does Flint Michigan still have clean water? Do they even have clean water? There was a group of elective officials that knew that the water was a problem and no one took care of it. That gets. Flint Michigan is on no one's radar anymore. That got lost in translation. Who's being held accountable for that? There was a Democrat in office. There was a Republican in office, then there was a Democrat in office again and a Republican in office again and Flint Michigan didn't have clean water in America.
Speaker 1:
And which politicians were held accountable? Children are dying. Children are dying in Chicago. Chicago's called Chirac. It's a war going on in Chicago with gangs. That's not in the media. What are the politicians doing there? It's a problem when your citizens are dying. That's a problem in what's being done there with the American tax dollars. If we can afford to allow these politicians to have private jets to fly to and from work, why isn't that money being used to build up the infrastructure of Chicago, to educate those people? Poor resources, where it should go. And we don't have a problem with that right. We don't have a problem when the media lies and no one the government doesn't do anything about it because maybe there's a special group, special interest group, that tells them not to when there is misinformation, who holds the media companies accountable for that misinformation?
Speaker 1:
Harvey Weinstein supposedly killed himself in prison or in a holding area. What's going on with that? Harvey Weinstein existed for a very long time. Harvey Weinstein, I'm sorry I misquoted too many perverts out there. I'm sorry, jeff Epstein. Harvey Weinstein, jeff Epstein, both of her perverts, the fact of the matter is that, either way, both these individuals have existed and they've caused harm to a great many people, and nothing was ever done about that. Jeff Epstein has been seen with many former politicians and current politicians, but he did what he did and somehow he wound up dead in a cell by suicide, and no one knows how it happened.
Speaker 1:
And what are we doing about that? Are we voting? And who are we holding accountable for that? No one. No one's being held accountable for any of that.
Speaker 1:
So wake up, america. What are we doing? There's a lot of problems that are out there, a lot of problem that needs to be solved and, yes, it's going to be an arduous task to fix it. But this is the same America that stood up to Hitler and this is the same America that has done a great many good, as well as bad, in the world. But this is an America that can do anything. America's greatest resource isn't our financial capital, it's our people. It's our greatest resource. We all bring something to the table, and now we have to bring change to the table to make things better for the next generation.
Speaker 1:
And it's not, it's not going to be easy. It also requires us to look within and say, hey, am I being led by fear and lies? Am I being lied to? Am I just going with the flow? Am I just believing what's told to me constantly, or am I researching and fact checking all of the information? Am I vetting the information that's being fed to me? And if the answer is no, then you have some work to do and whenever you come to a conclusion, you now have to hold those accountable that are not performing how they're supposed to be performing and they think that simply by pointing the finger at the other side or the person that was there before them is the solution. If they're not doing a good job, if we're not doing a good job, we get replaced. And what's any different? If they're not doing a good job, they should be replaced to someone that's more qualified or has more energy to do the right thing. But we have to put the effort there.
Speaker 1:
The baby boomers are retiring with pensions and social security. Where are the millennials going to retire with 401Ks that are not a guarantee? How many? What's the percentage of baby boomers that have retired with student loans? What's going to be the percentage of millennials that are going to retire with student loans? Where? What's the percentage of millennials that actually own a home versus the boomers that have a home? How did that come to be? Where did all the pensions go for my generation? Who changed those laws? We act like nothing's changed. A lot has changed, but did you vote on those things that were changed? Don't you want a pension and a 401K too? You want your guarantee, and I sure as hell want a guarantee as well.
Speaker 1:
Like many other Americans, I work too hard not to have a guarantee. I work too hard for my family not to have a future. What's our future when we turn 65? What's our future when we turn 50? Healthcare costs are going up, the cost of food is going up All these things and what is being done to counteract these problems? Are we combating these issues? What's going to happen when all the baby boomers retire in America? What are we going to do with that aging population? What's going to happen when there's more old people alive than there's young people? What is that going to do with the structure and the fabric of this nation? No one's asking these questions, but that problem's around the corner. It is. Who are we going to hold accountable for not having an infrastructure that's ready for that.
Speaker 1:
What's going to happen when we have a shortage of workers and all the fields that build up our infrastructure, a shortage of plumbers, a shortage of electricians those trades that were taken out of the high schools to give kids a purpose, to give college what's not made for everyone? You can still make six figures as an electrician. You can make six figures as a plumber, minus the student loans. Why is that not being pushed? Why? Because colleges are corporations and it's a corporation that if you don't like the service, you can't get a refund. Who voted to take? To take the trades out of the high school, to give families hope, to give that generation that never owned anything, to give them the means to do so through education? Who voted on that? To rob an entire generation of a future, a chance? The boomers got a chance. They had the trades. How do we get that back and how do we create a world in which the things that benefit our people are there and, instead of these things being systematically stripped out of our educational system, we get them to be put back in?
Speaker 1:
Last time I checked, if more people were making money, the better the economy is, but now it's almost as if the government wants us all to be in debt and be owned by the banks. The who's really winning is the American people or the, the people who donate to their campaigns, the big donors, the special interest groups, the people who lobby the banks. We're a country that in 2008, doing the great recession, we paid bankers to To retire hundreds of million dollars of dollars of taxpayers that we paid them After they failed. We paid people, we gave them retirement packages for failure and destroying this country's economy. Who was held accountable for that? For that stock market crash, for giving out loans that people couldn't pay back, the housing bubble that also popped at the same time, too big to fail? The only people that failed and got burned in the end were the American people. They were failed.
Speaker 1:
And now what's happening today is history repeating itself. Is there economic growth? Are people losing their homes? Is this a recession? Gas prices are high. The price of food is high. Rent is ridiculous. Owning a home is ridiculous. History is repeating itself again.
Speaker 1:
And who are we holding accountable? Just because we don't throw terminologies out there does not mean the problems don't exist. Wake up. We have to wake up. We have to call us. If it's a spade, it's a spade and if we're failing it we're failing. But a part of of fixing a problem Is identifying who's causing the problem and whatever those obstacles are, we remove those obstacles out of the way, and I'm not saying that's gonna be easy, but we do have this thing called a vote. We have to make that vote count.
Speaker 1:
I can't advocate for either political party because both are corrupt, but I can't advocate for change, change we so desperately need. And what I can say is that, regardless of who the party who the representative is is uh is being backed by, they have a track record. We need to look into their track record. But they're Democrat or Republican, I don't care. Are they good human beings that truly believe in serving the American people and we need to hold them accountable for that track record. If it's a track record of failure, then hey, they need to get out. If they are successful and they have truly benefited the American people, then they should be in.
Speaker 1:
It is that simple Either this is failing or this is working. If it's working, then let's keep it going. If it's failing, we need to do something different. We have a lot of work to do and everything that we do Should not just be a benefit to us in the present, but it should also benefit us in the future. We're not always going to be 25. We're always going to be 30. We're not. We're going to get old one day, hopefully and we need to know that there are certain things that are going to be in place for when we get there. Because we've worked too hard, each generation has a different way of life. Because we've worked too hard, each generation has built the next generation, but somewhere along the line we've lost that that we do what we do for the next generation. The greater good must come first. If you enjoyed today's content, please like and subscribe for more.