Podcast 540-The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-40

Podcast 540-The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-40. This week’s radio show addresses some questions about my assertions this election season is a bust. If I’ve learned one thing in years of talk radio, it’s that people want radio hosts and politicians to tell them what they want to hear. That all is well. That the new president inaugurated in January of 2017 will be the one they voted for, and that everything is going to get ‘fixed’ the way they want it. That’s not going to happen. Someone needs to say it, and often. In an election season characterized by the ‘lesser of two evils’ argument, if that is an argument, what if the lesser of two evils is a mistake. What if either choice takes us down a road we may not be able to come back from? That is why we all need to start thinking about building new political movements. The American political system is not working. I am not talking about the Republic, or the constitution. I’m talking about primary elections, controlled by the parties and mandated by state law. I’m talking about the way we choose our leaders. Changing that and putting pressure on political leaders is going to take organization and movements. No, making a few calls and knocking on doors, and going to meetings on Tuesday night once a month isn’t an organization. Why do we need to do this? In Podcast 540-The Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-40 I review again my fascination with western history, this week specifically my trip out to western Minnesota, and the deprivations of the settlers from the struggle with the American Indian to infestations of locusts of biblical proportions. Those people embraced the latest technology to handle a far greater challenge than anything we face. Our fear of new technology and obsession with recreating the 1950’s in this country, prevent us from ushering in a new age of opportunity and growth.  Finally, a review of some of the rants this week about the election and the candidates. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Hydrus Performance.

Podcast 537-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-39

Podcast 537-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-39. This week’s radio show contains 3 segments of new content for radio listeners and podcast subscribers. While the mission of the radio show is to bring content from the podcasts back to the radio, the political situation this week requires some additional thinking and reworking some of the ideas in Podcast 536. Podcast 537-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-39 takes a look at what’s wrong with our political party system and makes some policy suggestions on the economy as thought starters for listeners and subscribers. These aren’t so much policy advocacy as a method to provoke thought and conversation around the idea that we have to do better. We have to hold our politicians and the political system to a higher standard, because we deserve better. As we progress to the final stages of the worst presidential election cycle in one hundred years the realization comes that no matter who takes the oath of office in January of 2017 the chances anything will change are remote. In fact, our national situation will either muddle along the same lines, or chaos will ensue. Your guess is as good as anyone else’s when it comes to which mainline candidate will produce muddle, or chaos. I’m not even sure which of both negative outcomes I would prefer, if such a thing is something you contemplate. Later in the show, questions about our national political themes. What happened to the America that was strong, not afraid to compete in the world, not afraid of the world, and ready to take risks to achieve. How did we become a nation of depressed, conspiracy theory mavens and people demanding someone ‘help’, ready to attack anyone for their view if it is contrary to their own? What happened to our money? What happened to our leadership? I believe what happened was too much government, expected to do too much, with mediocre ‘leaders’ who go along to get along, so they can keep their cushy jobs. We have to take it back. Taking it back means creating a new political movement in this country that pushes past the crust of the political party and primary systems, designed to keep the establishment in control. They tax us, divide us, scare us and control us, all to the purpose of making sure we’re good boys and girls. Remember, the people are the sovereign in this country, not Washington. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

Podcast 535

Sturgis 2016 & The Black Hills. A trip to Sturgis 2016 turns into a tour of the Black Hills. Lots of riders come up here for the motorcycle rally but they head out on day trips to the many historic and interesting places in the Black Hills. Deadwood, and of course Mount Rushmore to name two. Lots of history in the Black Hills, especially in Deadwood. In Sturgis 2016 & The Black Hills I stop in Deadwood and have a great conversation about the history of the town, the history of the West and what it meant then and today, with a local historian in character as ‘Colorado Charlie Utter’. Then it’s onto Mount Rushmore and Keystone, South Dakota. A listener to the Bob Davis Podcasts emailed recently to suggest that some of the political podcasts contained some ‘repetitive thoughts’, as she put it. It seems like, when you talk about politics these days in any form, you come to an impasse and it’s almost always about the voters, or the political parties, or the candidates or the media and the fact that almost everyone is disappointed in the choices they have. The great thing about coming to Sturgis, and by extension these other cool places in the Black Hills, is that you forget about politics. It took awhile to come up with a theme for Sturgis 2016 & The Black Hills, Podcast 535 but it finally came to me. With all the talk about the founding fathers and the US Constitution, maybe it’s time for a new myth, a new ‘theme’ from American History. The fact is, the story told by the dime western novels, Hollywood and later TV pales in contrast to the real history of the west. The Hollywood version of the west made it seem like it all happened in Zane Grey’s Arizona, or the Sierra Nevada’s or California. Part of Western History did take place in those places in the late 1800’s and even early 1900’s. Many characters and themes later portrayed in Hollywood Westerns and popular TV shows happened a lot sooner – in the 1870’s – in places like Deadwood. Independence, self reliance, working harder and smarter and the opportunity to reinvent yourself, and to jettison your past are all themes that echo throughout the region’s history and across the area from Deadwood and Rapid City, to Mount Rushmore. As Colorado Charlie suggests maybe that inclusive, opportunistic theme is what’s missing a lot of times in the rest of America. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Brush Studio in The West End.