Podcast 449

It’s Just The Presidency. Live from Minneapolis and Saint Paul International Airport, Lindberg Terminal, since this is where almost everyone will be at some point during the Holiday season. As family and friends get together for Christmas and The New Year’s, conversations about the Presidential Race and politics will inevitably come up. Some will be new discussions, others will be continuations of discussions began during Thanksgiving. As we walk and talk through the airport, we discuss the idea that there has been a predominant and early focus on the personalities for the presidential race, and with early primaries coming up starting February 1st, and running through next summer, that focus will only increase. With all this presidential coverage it seems like we have completely forgotten 435 house members will be chosen, a third of the US Senate and a host of local, state representatives will be elected, as well as governors in some states. How many of us will be talking about elections for congress, state houses, and governor’s this year, rather than the latest gaffe by some over-televised and exhausted candidate, somewhere in Iowa, or New Hampshire or South Carolina? We’re supposed to have a balanced government in the United States, with sovereignty resting with the people, but it seems more and more as though we rely on one person as the Imperial President to administer the largest and most expensive federal government in the world, with now huge responsibilities. What is the history of ‘mixed’ or ‘balanced’ government. How can a system of checks and balances work if all we talk about are the personalities running for just one part of our balanced government; the executive? What did the founders think of the presidency? Why are there a whole list of enumerated powers in the US Constitution for Congress, the states and a Bill of Rights for the people, and few for the President? What happened in our history to make our presidency so powerful, and is this a good thing? How do we undo it? This is the conversation and the question families and friends should be having this year, heading into 2016’s election. However, people just seem to want a personality to ‘fix’ things, they don’t want to be bothered with details. Maybe this is why the founders also checked the people with an electoral college and Senate appointed by state legislatures and governors. If we’re not going to do our duty as citizens, maybe we need to go back to the old ways. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Trucks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from the Bob Davis Podcasts. 

Podcast 182

The coldest summer on record? Updates to begin the last week of July, and it already feels like Labor Day in the Upper Midwest! Despite all the condemnations, Russia’s President Putin is ratcheting up the pressure in Ukraine, where ‘Drunken Separatists’ are apparently making calls and using the credit cards of the victims of the downing of MH-17, literally adding insult to injury. The US issues ‘evidence’ the Russians have been firing artillery, or missiles (or what?) into Ukraine. What does this ‘evidence’ prove? And what does the US President intend to do? What about Europe? As we wait for economic data on the 2nd Quarter, suddenly economists are hedging their bets. Remember when all the US economic woes were because of the polar vortex last winter. Apparently it continues. This is now the coldest summer on record. Maybe that will be the reason, if new numbers show the US economy in contraction. Wind Power kills birds, and a meeting in Bloomington over the weekend discussed this, but a ‘conservative’ approach to wind power saves the day? Really? More junk polls from Gallup and CNN. People are now saying they wished Mitt Romney had won the 2012 election? A little late for that now, huh? The Federal Government is stopping bake sales, because of nutrition issues, and a final shot at Comic Con. College Aged antics are one thing, but a 65 year old chidult trying to scare a car full of deaf people? Sponsored by X Government Cars!