Podcast 429

Politics as Sport. Millions of people watched the most recent Republican debate on CNBC this week, and everyone is talking about how the candidates ‘really gave it to the moderators’. The moderators had it coming, but was this a surprise? Do you mean say the media is biased? Really? How shocking if true, right? Meanwhile this week a US Destroyer sailed past man-made islands claimed by China provoking quite a response. While the US should challenge Chinese ‘ownership’ of these islands this is just the kind of incident that creates foreign policy crises seemingly ‘out of nowhere’. To add insult to injury House Republicans this week voted to increase federal spending by 50 billion dollars in 2016 and something like 30 billion in 2017. (Editor’s Note: Republicans were shocked and dismayed in the 1970’s when President Carter’s budget deficit hit 45 billion.) Talk about the GOP betrayal of their voters? No, let’s talk about media bias, again. Republican and Democrat candidates running for their party’s nomination to run for president – technically not running for president yet – continue to play to the biases and fears of their most vociferous supporters, as part of a sick and dangerous symbiosis between media, pollsters, and politicians. People watch to see who will be ‘thrown off the island last’. Indeed, politics is being covered not as sports as covered, but is in fact a sport in itself. Why not talk about video games and fantasy football at the debates? The election is already a fantasy football league or video game, or reality TV show, anyway. With most people getting their news in shards from social media, google searches, You Tube and other sources like this, the story about three deep space objects hiding behind the moon is perceived with the same credibility as the story of US Special Forces and Navy Helicopters being deployed to Syria, where they may be as likely to get into combat with Russians and Chinese troops as they are to fight ISIS. We’re ‘Cruisin For A Bruisin’ in the United States if this is how we expect to elect the next President, and subsequently run the country. Don’t forget to join The Bob Davis Podcasts and Jason Lewis for a live podcast Saturday, Halloween at 11:00 AM in Lakeville, Minnesota at the Main Street Cafe. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: I refer to Russia Today, which is a propaganda outlet for the Russian Government as Russia Times. It’s RT or Russia Today.) 

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Podcast 425 – New Thinking Part 1

New Thinking Part 1. These days, politics is one emotional appeal after another. The media refers to politicians like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as ‘populists’ but in fact they are demagogues; Using emotional appeals and often stimulating people’s long held prejudices and biases to gain support for their campaigns. In 2016 we’re going to see the ‘new rules’ of politics come into play with a vengeance. Most of the action will take place on the so called ‘small screen’ which means your television and especially your smart phones, social media, news websites where viewers watch a video, or part of a video and move on. A strange and symbiotic relationship between media, polling and politics have turned American politics into a freak show. Outrageous characters and weekly ripples in story lines mean more eyeballs. Media moguls and the candidates are laughing all the way to the bank, to the Capitol and the White House. Meanwhile increasingly angry voters become frustrated, losing faith in the outcome of elections, voting and the government itself. Moreover, the worst invective is often heard at meetings where the same politicians and charlatans troop through and tell people what they want to hear. It’s time for a reboot of American Political Thinking. It doesn’t start with politicians or personalities. It starts with individuals, communities, and values. It means researching and thinking about the concerns of your community, developing ideas about issues, talking about those issues, and creating effective political organization around those ideas, not the rhetoric of some pol who will forget about you and your concerns the minute he is elected. A new America is being created.  A new way of thinking is being created, whether you want it or not. If we don’t change the way we think about politics, taking it back to the blocks and rebuilding it, we’re doomed to being controlled by personalities — demagogues — more interested in power than the people. I’m starting a new series of podcasts, which will bear the ‘New Thinking’ title. I’ll do them when the spirit moves me, or I encounter a person or situation I think will help build a new way to think, talk and DO politics in this country, because what we have right now, isn’t cutting it. Sponsored by Baklund R&D, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 417 – Nik Ludwig

Nik Ludwig. Live from Agorafest on Eclipse night, 2015. In Podcast 416 Agorists themselves talked about what Agorism is all about, how it works, and what they believe. Nik Ludwig has been at the center of this group in Minnesota for a long time and is at least the ‘spiritual father’ of the Minnesota Agorists. Talking to Nik is engaging, challenging and fun. Ludwig is either sitting in seminars and music shows multi tasking on his smart phone, sitting around the campfire or on his golf cart fully engaging in philosophical discussions or brainstorming future Agorafests. Since attendees were able to explain the movement in the previous podcast, Nik and I are able to get into a deeper discussion of his ideas, and philosophy in general about governments, and what Ludwig and other Agorists believe governments do … to us. These are the kinds of questions you won’t hear asked on the mainstream media, and you won’t hear these concepts discussed in mainstream politics. After these kinds of interviews people sometimes ask me, “Why didn’t you challenge” the interviewee on a particular position. One of the things I think podcasting does well is allow people to express to others what they are up to, and the listener can draw his or her own conclusions. There’s too much debate and arguing going on these days and not enough listening. Take some time and listen to Nik Ludwig and the other Agorists in an extended length Bob Davis Podcast, especially if you’re involved in mainstream politics. Is the desire to be an individual wrong? Is the desire to be an individual and to trade in truly free markets such a radical concept in America these days? Apparently for some it is … whether they have a D or an R next to their name. From personal nuclear power plants, to spaceports, and personal mesh networks to post World War I Eastern Europe, to individual freedom and the danger of too powerful government, one thing is for sure … you won’t be bored. Sponsored by Weight Free Wellness and Pride of Homes.

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