Podcast 300

Republicans and Rhetoric. Wasn’t able to tape tonight’s appearance at the SD-61 Chili Dinner and Contest. Thanks to everyone who showed. Podcast 300, aside from being a milestone for The Bob Davis Podcasts, gives the listener an idea of what was discussed. One usually comes away from these kinds of events feeling a little uneasy, especially when hard political issues are discussed. I usually write these podcast notes in the third person, but not this time. I am either seeing things others don’t see in the political process — out in front of the vanguard so to speak — or the things I am seeing and feeling are internal issues and aren’t really there. At this weekend’s big confab in Iowa, the good news is that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was able to connect in a personal and substantive appeal to the conservatives gathered in the Hawkeye state for Congressman King’s event. The bad news is that Donald Trump and Sarah Palin made purely rhetorical appeals, which I think damage the so called conservative ‘brand’. Now, since it was a Republican get together I don’t expect good coverage from most of the media, but some of the things said were just not helpful. Aside from involvement in local politics, if so called conservatives are going to be able to argue their points, they are going to have more than just rhetorical arguments. If all Republicans are going to do is bray in an attempt to persuade, or shock, without eliciting any information, it is going to be a very long election cycle from next fall, to November of 2016. It is possible to persuade and inform. The problem is what do Republicans want to do? What do they stand for? What’s their plan for the long term? As people shift from outrage and frustration to addressing a kind of inner challenge, do any candidates in any political party understand that challenge? Mostly what I hear is a lot of empty talk about values and outrage and demands. Is that connecting with people? We talked about some of this at the SD61 event, and I review that conversation in this podcast. Sponsored by Depotstar.

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Podcast 297

Tea Party as Third Party? Word is some people in the Tea Party think it should become a Third Political Party. What’s involved in creating a so called Third Party, how successful have they been, how successful might an actual ‘Tea Party’ be? Some tea party groups have been criticized lately for making a lot of noise, but not controlling much money, or votes; Things that matter to politicians. It has been suggested what is needed is political organization at the grass roots: Podcast 287. Some people think that means starting a so called Third Party, or constituting the Tea Party as a Third Political Party. Judging from history, if Tea Party groups aren’t able to organize their neighborhoods and precincts, what’s necessary to build a viable third political party, is beyond them. There are many so called ‘third parties’. The largest among them is the Libertarian Party which is present in about 45 states and the District of Columbia, the Green Party is present in 37 states and the District, and the Constitution Party is present in 37 states. There are many other so called ‘Third Parties’. So far, they have not been able to elect representatives or senators, although there has been some success here and there in local races. Most recently in US History, Ross Perot created the Reform Party to support his independent presidential candidacy in 1992 and 1996, garnering something like 18 percent of the vote in 1992, and no electoral votes. In essence, third parties don’t have a very good track record. So, is this the right way to organize votes and have influence in Saint Paul or Washington. It might be fair to suggest that this is yet another effort at denying what needs to be done in order to gain so called ‘street cred’ with Saint Paul and Washington Politicians; Generate a lot of money and votes and scare the daylights out of them. Making a lot of noise, so far, hasn’t seemed to accomplish this. (Editor’s Note: I spoke with a couple of Tea Party leaders this week, and they don’t seem too thrilled with this idea.) Back to work! (Join Bob Davis at the SD61 Chili Dinner January 25th to talk this out, and eat chili.) Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 44

You hear the word ‘reform’ a lot these days. Tax Reform, and Immigration Reform are two legislative efforts currently. Politicians love this word. But, what does reform really mean? Back in 2010 when I did this podcast, the word and the concept was relatively new. Now they throw the word ‘reform’ around like saying ‘wazzup!’. What is a real reform agenda? How do YOU spell R-E-F-O-R-M?

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