New Thinking Part II – Podcast 453

New Thinking Part II. Tyranny of The State? Browsing through today’s headlines yields a mix of factional outrage and emotion. Whether it’s the President issuing executive orders to ‘end’ mass shootings, or activist ranchers from Nevada showing up in Oregon to occupy a federal wildlife facility, or the UK parliament debating whether to ‘keep Donald Trump out’, it seems like the political world has gone crazy. With more and more people doing anything and everything to get on TV, or get clicks, eyeballs, ears, or supporters to show up at controlled events, one wonders whether the proverbial mob, feared most by the founders, has finally reared its ugly head. The second installment of the Bob Davis Podcast series ‘New Thinking’ looks at the desire factions seem to have to coerce ‘someone’ to ‘do something’ and the hypocrisy implicit in those demands. More ‘action’ these days is being taken by courts, unelected councils and boards controlling huge sums of money, their own police forces, are issuing edicts local towns and villages have to comply with. Local princes hold councils, in secret and behind closed doors to pound elected officials into submission. Protests are mounted by factional fronts with hashtag names and shadowy backing, all with the goal of dominating local or national television coverage. Presidential candidates vow to reverse executive orders of previous presidents, make promises that can’t and won’t be kept, and set unrealistic goals. Aren’t the people in this country supposed to be in charge? Isn’t the government supposed to protect our rights? How do we get things back on track when people operate on loose facts, when debate is a contest for the most slicing snarky comment, and name calling is the order of the day? Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Trucks.

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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 354

The Napa Valley. As our time in California comes to a close, the Napa Valley is a perfect place to say goodbye. Whether it is Napa, Sonoma, Calistoga, finally ending up in Nevada City the Golden State is a seductive place. The so called ‘warm and dry end’ of the Napa Valley was the destination for the parties of pioneers, of which the infamous Donner Party was part of. This valley is where many of them settled, and prospered after that fateful winter of 1866. Calistoga was also the adopted home of Robert Louis Stevenson, a fact they would much rather talk about than the fate of the Donner Party. Some highlights of the Donner Party story, and an interview with Al Derrick, who minds the Sharpsteen Museum in Calistoga. What does this tragic story in the history of settling California tell us about decision making and democracy? This is the only subtly political moment in this podcast. In the end, its seems tawdry to taint a Road Trip podcast with the grease of political pontification. (Editor’s Note: It must be pointed out, however, that the Hillary Clinton ‘inevitable’ presidential campaign has apparently borrowed the idea of hitting the road, going to real places and talking to real people, but not in a repurposed ambulance! Whether she is actually in the creeper van which headed for Iowa or not is another question.) Wine country is an impressive, pastoral location. It wasn’t always wine country tho. At one time this valley also produced Walnuts, prunes and other agricultural products on smaller farms. Today, vineyards are everywhere — and they are perfect. Finally, a surprise in the mountains as we come upon a Bikram Yoga studio in the middle of nowhere! Sponsored by Baklund R&D.  

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