Podcast 499 – The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show – 26

Podcast 499 – The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show – 26. Throughout this week the theme running through the podcasts has been the tribal nature of politics in the United States these days. There’s a great story in Gibbon’s ‘The History of the Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire’ about how Chariot Racing in Rome evolved from a convivial affair to a feral, bloody sport. It began with the idea that some Chariot teams would carry different colored flags to differentiate themselves. This progressed to ‘tribes’ supporting the various colors, and this eventually evolved to the point where there were pitched battles between the different groups supporting different chariot teams. Eventually the different groups began political pressure groups. These days, people seem to be supporting candidates, or joining cults of personalities. You’re for you’re guy no matter what. Depending on what tribe we belong to, we get our information from sources that confirm our worst fears. When we discuss politics with people in different tribes, discussions quickly devolve into arguments and fights. Not only are we not making progress, we’re making ‘regress’. Modern media and news sources online aren’t making the situation any better, since an individual’s newsfeed on FaceBook or YouTube or Twitter doesn’t expose that person to anything that isn’t part of their friends list, worldview or political orientation. Snark, insults, and shouts only add to alienation and separation of today’s political ‘chariot teams’. The radio show is posted here in digital quality sound. As I keep posting shows on here on the Bob Davis Podcasts I am learning each week’s radio is a good summary of the general trend of news and discussion for the week. Thanks for listening! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating and X Government Cars.

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Podcast 452

Jeb’s Baack! With less than a month to go before people actually start voting for candidates to lead their party’s presidential bids in 2016, get ready for the story lines to change. In this first of the year podcast, we get back on the political horse to both warn and speculate on the potential changes in media story lines, which have come to constitute ‘political’ coverage in our time. Our media may think of itself as an informal ‘fourth estate’; an additional fourth branch of government. Fortunately the founders vested sovereign power in the people as represented in three estates of our republic; The legislative, executive and judicial branches. Our media is more like The Borg, or a mob. A faceless, brainless maw that seizes on reactionary story lines, based only on the personality of various politicians, the things they say and outrage generated from it. These form story lines that run until they wear out, or some new outrage is manufactured, or some actual event called ‘news’ happens. The lack of actual journalism and reporting on issues is palpable. The dominant story line that started this political season was that flash in the pan known as Donald Trump. Now that Trump is the dominant candidate on the Republican side, a new story line is being manufactured that says, ‘Hang on, Jeb Bush is going to reemerge’. Given the power and money behind the Republican establishment, don’t be so quick to discount that one. When people start voting, look for candidates to get out. Those who stay in will reap the benefits. On the democrat side, the story line was Hillary Clinton was the inevitable candidate, then Bernie Sanders was going to upset the apple cart, now the story line is what kind of presidency Mrs Clinton will have. Fasten your seat belts; the one constant in politics is change. Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate, and Hydrus Performance.

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Podcast 435

How Tough Are You? How tough do you have to be? A new era is coming socially, economically, and politically. A selection of news stories about technology shows how quickly our world is giving way to something new. Socially our ideas about morality, fairness and even the nature of reality are evolving. Economically old systems are transitioning to new, even as industry and ideas minted at the turn of the twentieth century can still be dominant, new ideas in manufacturing, media, communications and the tools we use to do our work are beginning to take hold and to forge their own reality. Politically new issues, new ways to communicate and new kinds of candidates are emerging and wreaking havoc with ‘the process’. These are significant changes that make the world unfamiliar to people who became adults just twenty or so years ago. Our individual success, and our success as a country may depend on how tough we are and whether we adapt to these changes well enough not just to survive, but to thrive. It’s clear these days, that the new world will look nothing like the old. Even assumptions so called ‘experts’ make about the future are turning out to be not be so accurate. Rapid change can be disruptive and confusing to say the least. Especially when people have to live through it. With 64 percent of the working age population out of the work force in the United States, and the new jobs most vulnerable to new technology tough days might be ahead and we will have to be tough to deal with it. What is ‘tough’? What does it mean to be ‘tough’? We hear a lot about the difficulties individuals have these days, but we aren’t hearing enough examples of real toughness, and they’re out there. Maybe it’s time we started thinking that way as a nation? Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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