Podcast 456

Bad Omen. A special primary election in Minnesota’s 35th Senate District results in 60 percent of the vote for RINO Jim Abeler over the Tea Party and Republican Party endorsed candidate Andy Aplicowski and may be a bad omen for the general election in 2016. The Iowa Precinct Caucuses are on February 1st. Minnesota’s caucuses are on March 1st. With the national media reporting on the Republican Party ‘Civil War’, and the impact of the Tea Party in that ‘civil war’ it looks like the Tea Party is all show, and no go. Tea Party groups can’t seem to get out the vote for ‘principled’ conservatives. Is this a bad omen? Is it possible voters don’t agree with the Tea Party message? Are the Tea Party groups lazy? Or, maybe Tea Party groups are just ignorant of what real political organizing requires. If this happens nationwide in 2016 then the so called ‘grassroots surge’ of ‘principled’ conservatives in the Republican Party, supported by Tea Party chapters all over the country, may be one of the biggest busts, and thus one of the biggest stories of 2016 bad omen, or not. Offering excuses doesn’t cut it. Win, or go home. Sure, the story line of the Tea Party as kingmaker serves the mainstream media’s interests now, but if the Tea Party can’t produce results what the media gives will be taken away, mercilessly. What’s wrong? This might be considered a harsh analysis for some, but when the Tea Party candidate loses by sixty percent of the vote, it’s a criticism that should be heard and a story that’s not being told. Is there something these groups can do to improve their performance? What happens if they keep failing to win? Sponsored by Hydrus, Pride of Home and Luke Team Real Estate.

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Podcast 386

Conservative Movement RIP. The last podcast in June before a short Hiatus, also announces News Cleanse 2015. The time is ripe. While travel broadens the horizons and raises the energy of the traveler, it seems staying glued to the television 24/7, hyper vigilance with news websites, social media and those email newsletters in everyone’s in boxes is making people more ignorant, as opposed to more informed. At the end of a week that saw two rulings by the Supreme Court go against the right, it’s clear the ‘last resort’ of the courts is not a solution for a ‘movement’ that is increasingly dependent on those same courts, Fox News and Talk Radio because it is too unorganized and ignorant of tactical politics to influence congress. A court that overreached in 2000, has been very sensitive to public opinion ever since and is loathe to do anything that might upset certain groups which are well organized and ready to march. Meanwhile, on the right, there is always another outrage playing on the twenty four hour cable channels and talk radio. You can be sure at the end of the day the right will do nothing…nothing about any of it. Given this reality, these court decisions are a surprise? Even with an open political system in Minnesota, Congressman Eric Paulsen recently suggested the biggest problem with the right is lack of engagement. That is, people to carry the water. What happens? The same people who have stood up to help year after year are the people representatives see, not to mention the lobbyists, operatives and big money donors. The so called grassroots movements that were ignited with the passing of the ACA have failed to mature, failed to organize, and are fading. Meanwhile millennials are entering the adult world and the political process and they have very different ideas than grandma and grandpa. It seems almost academic to ask whether the conservative movement that started with Murry Rothbard and Barry Goldwater, might have peaked with Reagan; The truth? Its bleached bones are visible in the desert, like the opening shot of a Breaking Bad episode. “Conservatives” these days can’t decide what they are and what they believe, much less build an organization and thus a real movement around some over arching theme, because there isn’t one. What’s left is a republican party that gets 38 to 44 percent of the vote in any given year, versus a democrat party that gets 38 to 44 percent of the vote in any given year, slightly different totals and majorities because of gerrymandering congressional districts, and a big fight held in the media — a circus, really — day after day. No wonder there are twenty or more running for president on the republican side. This doesn’t preclude a republican president, but it does mean a continuing drift toward a country where control of all social and economic interaction is in the hands of the state, whether the head of that state is republican or democrat. And that is exactly what we don’t need. It’s a tough message for people on the right to hear, but it’s the cold, hard truth. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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Podcast 376

Republicans Sound Like Democrats. And democrats sound like republicans. Updates to start the first week of June, 2015. Self described Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders was in Minneapolis this weekend telling a group of aging hippies that America isn’t a democracy and is becoming an oligarchy. Is this true? Meanwhile, in Delaware, republican candidate Carly Fiorina told a group of republicans big business and big government are crushing Americans. Are these candidates really from different ends of the political spectrum? Do any of them know how to fix the ailing US Economy and by extension, foreign policy and domestic policy problems created by the Obama, and yes Bush administrations? US economic performance in the first quarter of 2015 has been revised down to a .7 percent contraction, all blamed on winter, the weak dollar, the sun didn’t shine this weekend, and it rained, or the dog ate my homework, again. Meanwhile pollyanna’s tout labor department numbers as proof we’re on our way to ‘full employment’; So if we’re on our way to ‘full employment’ mister smartypants, how do we get a nearly one point contraction? For the record, the second quarter isn’t looking too rosy either, with the contraction in profits and manufacturing apparently continuing. Think it’s all those low-grade minimum wage part time jobs we’re ‘creating’? Oddly enough if you don’t read too much between the lines, crazy old Socialist Bernie Sanders, and some Republican candidates seem to be saying the same thing. The question is whether they know the policies currently in place — the kinds of policies Bernie Sanders wants to triple down on — have created inequality and poor economic growth? The republicans talk the talk but do they realize what a political ordeal it is to actually fix the economy and by extension, the country? Meanwhile, the Oligarch’s just keep on comin’. The LA Times published an expose this weekend on everyone’s favorite ‘Tony Stark’ (Elon Musk) who is actually a corporate welfare queen; The ‘electric car maker’, ‘rocket company’ owner and solar power ‘entrepreneur’ has taken nearly 5 billion dollars in subsidies from the Federal and various state governments. Yep, your smug hipster neighbor just bought a ‘Tesla’ because it’s great for the environment and got help from you, through your taxes while you hope the oil burning 96 Saturn you’re driving gets you to your part time job today. Finally, illegal immigrants get special help at Minneapolis and other Minnesota schools, while the children of citizens are pretty much on their own, despite the fact that two federal courts now have told the President his executive amnesty program is out of bounds. Yet it continues. This is a time for people to ask themselves what they expect the government to do, and whether the people running for office really understand what needs to be done, and if the answer is no, finding the path to the political revolution necessary to change it. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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