Podcast 468

South Carolina’s Vote. The big first in the south primary is over, and the undisputed winner is New York’s Donald J. Trump. What must have made Trump’s night, Governor Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign. More ‘suspensions’ are sure to follow as actual votes, upend story lines, predictions and prognostications. Meanwhile Hillary Clinton defeated Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the Nevada Caucuses. Will it make any difference for the Vermont Senator’s chances to defeat the former Secretary of State this week in the Democrat South Carolina primary? Probably not. Caucuses are completely different animals from primaries, where people actually vote. Let’s not forget on the GOP side, Ted Cruz won the Iowa Caucus, but lost to Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. As the news rolled over the wires, I took a little bit of time outside a hotel where a huge celebration was taking place, to make some observations about the race, the presidential primary systems, and the difference between traditions, law, and a written constitution. Are you ready to have traditions — not the constitution — fundamentally change the way the United States chooses its president? Between the tradition of state by state primaries, a grueling campaign effort that wastes money and winnows candidacies and efforts to slave the Electoral College not to state legislatures but to the popular vote — and by ‘constitutionalist republicans’ no less — how we elect a president is changing, and judging from this primary cycle’s wacky, craven, foolish, disgusting and sad efforts by politicians described by the same kinds of words, not for the better. IS the cream rising to the top? Good question. Also in this podcast, the first excerpt of the Bob Davis Podcast Radio show, heard on GCN Live. Expect an announcement regarding this new show around the beginning of March. We’re in Key West Florida for this podcast, getting some maintenance on Mobile Podcast Command and preparing for the next leg of this massive road trip, which takes us back up Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Red Neck Riveria to New Orleans, Texas, back up 35 to Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 459

Rolling The Dice In Iowa. This was a day in which Donald Trump pulled out of the ‘sanctioned’ Republican debate. Des Moines was beset with a plague of TV trucks, politicians and rallies. Drake hosted two of these events, and after The Bob Davis Podcasts were denied media credentials for the ‘sanctioned’ Republican debate, we took to waiting in line for our tickets like everyone else. Rand Paul’s event at Drake was smaller – no lines snaking around the block – but no less enthusiastic. Paul appeared, and spoke for about 25 minutes about liberty, freedom and The Bill of Rights, saying ideas bring people together, and the concept of freedom seems to be very effective in this effort. Aly Eichman, volunteering for Paul joins the podcasts to talk about Paul’s impressive precinct organizing effort, which has netted the Senator as many as one thousand precinct chairs statewide. Remember the Iowa PRECINCT Caucuses? Will that kind of organizing make a difference? Then there’s Donald Trump who made sure thousands of people had tickets to an event in an auditorium that accommodates somewhere around 750 to 800. Was it a brilliant move? Will it mean Trump will win Iowa? Standing in line for two hours with Iowans was an eye opener, as well as a hand and feet freezer. Many of the people waiting to see Trump don’t plan to caucus for him. It seems they just want to see Trump, like they might come to see Justin Bieber. Here again, we’ll see. The more time spent here, the more one concludes this really is rolling The Tumbling Dice. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Cars!

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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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