Podcast 611-Define Political Progress

When it comes to politics these days noise is the norm. The latest outrage drowns out talk about political progress. Voters in 2016 made their choices for a reason. Not too early to ask whether the politicians are making progress toward addressing those reasons. We talk about it in Podcast 611-Define Political Progress.

ObamaCare Repeal

Number one issue on the campaign trail. Bogged down in congress already. Republicans wanted a full repeal of the ACA. New GOP plan isn’t a full repeal. President Trump has already endorsed it. What happened to promises of a full repeal?

Economy

Somewhere around 96 million people are out of the workforce. Need to create 375,000 new jobs a month for several months to get those people back in the work force. For years we were less than impressed with a quarter of a million jobs each month. Economic growth has been promised. In Podcast 611-Define Political Progress.

Cutting Federal Budget

Smaller government? Proposed budget cuts are accompanied with proposals to shift money to defense. Does this reduce the size of government? A hiring freeze can be considered progress. Corporate tax reductions can be progress. However making up corporate tax reductions with higher taxes somewhere else doesn’t cut the budget.

Foreign Policy and Military Spending

Resurgent Russia. Rising China. Political changes in Turkey. Expanding NATO. Cyber Threats. US troops in Iraq and Syria. ISIS. Terror. Climate Change. How will reducing foreign aid and increasing military spending address these concerns? What should the foreign policy of the US be? It’s all in Podcast 611-Define Political Progress.

Too Early?

First benchmark on progress made by a majority republican government in the United States. Did you vote for republicans? Are they doing what you wanted them to do?

Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing of Saint Paul.

 

Podcast 556-Defining Freedom

Podcast 556-Defining Freedom. There Is No Liberty Movement in the United States. Got a chance to talk about personal sovereignty on the radio and it was so much fun, I decided to do it as a podcast without the time constraints associated with radio. Plus, I do not have to do all the disclaimers about why I don’t like to take calls on talk radio anymore, and the commercial for my radio show, or the podcasts. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am much more a podcaster these days than a radio guy, although I will always love radio. Truth is, this concept for Podcast 556-Defining Freedom is a good radio show and podcast. With today’s political discourse descending into cartoonish fights, there’s little substance. I believe this is the cause of the rapid decline of the broadcast medium but it also applies to cable television news channels and unfortunately a good many You Tube, FaceBook and Twitter videos. Fighting back and forth about tactical political issues like Donald Trump’s Federal Tax Bill, Hillary Clinton’s Email and who called who a pig, by the way, is not substance but instead a distraction from the vital discussion we should be having; Neither one of the two major political parties is going to do anything about protecting your freedom. No one reads source material these days on economics, or history.  In fact, more than likely they’ll use your precious constitution and Declaration of Independence to take your freedom away. Even more depressing for some to hear; It will be the Republicans that do it. We already know democrats believe in the power of government to do ‘good’ things. Caught up in an ocean of political apologists shouting that if we don’t vote republican we’re going to get Hillary Clinton, we apparently don’t know The republicans are just as likely to limit our freedom as the democrats. While we’re caught up in the right-left political spectrum debate, both candidates are talking about taking more of our freedom away. How do you define freedom? I define it as Personal Sovereignty. The individual supersedes the government. Our right to sovereignty precedes the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. So how is it then, that we exist as servants to the government? How is it then, that the government thinks it is the sovereign. Nothing’s going to change until we take our power back. How do we do that? How can we benefit from the break down of the existing two-party system? How can we start a nationwide movement that ends government power over us permanently? Going to meetings and poring over copies of the constitution isn’t accomplishing this. That’s why I say, there is no liberty movement in the United States. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance.

Podcast 521

Stormy Weather. In a surprise only to ‘conservatives’ who listen only to ‘conservative’ talk show hosts, watch ‘conservative’ TV shows and go to conservative websites, the FBI decided not to recommend criminal prosecution of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her use of a personal email server while she was in the Obama Administration. Why? The short answer is, intent is a key consideration in cases like these. The long answer is, Mrs. Clinton played her ‘Benghazi Card’ better known as ‘If I go down, you go down’ and she got action from the administration. At least that’s one possible explanation. In the past few days President Obama suddenly closed ranks with the Clintons (despite all the rumors of the rancor between the Obamas and the Clintons). Attorney General Loretta Lynch had a now famous ‘tarmac meeting’ with former president Bill Clinton and President Obama allowed Hillary Clinton to ride Air Force One with him to a campaign event, where they walked, hand in hand, down the steps. “If I go down, YOU go down”. Now it’s a matter of politics. He said, she said. He said she’s a crook. She said he’s an anti semite. Congress releases a damning report on the administration’s conduct regarding ‘Benghazi’…Democrats say it is a partisan document. Republicans say it’s the ‘truth’ about Mrs Clinton and her boss, President Obama. “If I go down, YOU go down.” More fodder for the campaign trail. They were asleep and the switch, says one side. They’re partisan dividers, says the other side. Meanwhile the world’s leading economies are drowning in a sea of paper money and deficit spending, and economies are faltering. Do you really think this election is going to fix anything? We live in interesting times, with the great potential of a new technical industrial revolution and all that portends, and a personal challenge to change the way we think and how we work, and what we demand of our political institutions. Too bad our sclerotic politics delivers a statist who wants to spend and tax more, and a statist who wants to wall the country off from the rest of the world. We could have this technology revolution now, or we can languish for another thirty years while these idiots we call presidential candidates stumble around in economic darkness. Yeah sure, go ahead and talk until you’re blue in the face about Hillary’s email server, or about the Star of David on Trump’s twitter account, while the printing presses debase the currency, governments spend themselves into the poor house, the media puts on cartoons and calls them news, and we hurtle toward our destiny, whatever that may be. The US is now a country that’s happy about revised economic growth from .5 percent to 1.1 percent, with 95 million people out of the work force, a media that writes gossip and calls it news, and a population that believes Russian Propaganda and You Tube conspiracy theories because…what’s the difference? The Earth is hollow, you know and there’s a whole civilization down there, right? And you wonder about moral hazard? Sponsored by Karow Contracting and Brush Studio in the West End, Saint Louis Park. (Editor’s Note: In this podcast I refer to former CIA Director David Petraeus’ offenses regarding passing classified information with intent, and engaging in a coverup after as occurring while Petraeus was on active military duty. I wondered whether he would be under the Military Code of Justice in this case. This is incorrect. Petraeus was director of the CIA when the offenses occurred and not on active duty. For comparison to the Clinton question, one should refer to the FBI director’s congressional testimony regarding the differences between the Clinton question and the Petraeus case.)