WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:03.279 Jesse Jackson. You're welcome forward to Jesse Jackson's junior show 2 00:00:03.319 --> 00:00:11.560 and provoking their stay. We are in the worldhouse Jumping Max. 3 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:15.800 Doctor Johnny Mack is a sociology in New York. A 4 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:23.199 smaller practitioner with expertise and subje is a peace conflict, 5 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:30.760 social change and movements. He has traveled extensively throughout the 6 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:34.200 America's Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, working in 7 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.479 the fields of peace, development, conflict, and non violent social change. 8 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:43.240 Doctor Max's seminal work After Confrontation Then what challenges the 9 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.240 putative logic of non violent social change theory and practice. Particularly, 10 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.240 he rearticulates non violence beyond the traditional understanding of non 11 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.600 violent struggle as principally non violent resistance. He articulates non 12 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:01.920 violence beyond the traditional understanding of non violent struggle as 13 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:06.760 principally non violent resistance. Important subject matter. Doctor Max's research 14 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.719 includes extensive study of Doctor King's logic of non violence 15 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:14.040 as in the US Civil rights movement. He explicates Doctor 16 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:17.040 King's logic of non violence using King's call to restructure 17 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:22.200 the social edifice and particularly it's triple evils of poverty, racism, 18 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:26.120 and militarism with a revolution of values that is affected 19 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:28.680 through peaceable power. Doctor Mack, Welcome forward to the Jesse 20 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:29.680 Jackson Junior Show. 21 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:31.680 Thank you, Jesse. 22 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:37.000 Glad to be here. It's always a pleasure. In this 23 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.840 week where we have been commemorating the ninety seventh birthday 24 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:41.760 what would have been the ninety seventh birthday of Martin 25 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.040 Luther King Junior, we did turn our attention to beyond Vietnam. 26 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.560 Vietnam a time to break the silence, and there we 27 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:57.280 found obviously the triple evils of racism, militarism, and poverty. Johnny, 28 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.680 for a few minutes and maybe even for a significant 29 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.760 part of the show, I like to turn our attention 30 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:09.000 to militarism. We've asked for more policing in our communities. 31 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.599 I remember when I was in the third and fourth grade, 32 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:15.840 Officer Friendly used to come to my class and he 33 00:02:15.879 --> 00:02:19.520 would bring tricks and magic tricks and some candy and 34 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:24.120 nice old jolly Chicago police officer had a lot of jokes, 35 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:30.000 just wonderful, almost like mister Ed mister Need from Boso Circus. 36 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:33.840 He just brought that kind of demeanor. Of course, I've 37 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:38.039 not seen the officer Friendly program in decades, because every 38 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:40.919 cop these days must be on the streets. There's no 39 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:46.360 more real community relations quite like visiting classrooms as law enforcement. 40 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:54.000 Today's military between the body armor and the stun guns 41 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:56.560 and the massive sophistication at the level of even a 42 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.960 patrolman obviously necessary for the security of law enforcement and 43 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:05.319 light of violent crime, but even the SWAT teams reflect 44 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:12.639 used military equipment. That suggests, even on our nation's programming, 45 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.879 that there is a militarized attitude with respect to the 46 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:21.479 American people that the nation itself is willing to accept. 47 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.719 And I'm thinking now that militarism isn't just what we 48 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:30.120 do in Venezuela, or what we do in Greenland, or 49 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:34.159 what we do around the world. We are so used 50 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.759 to what we inflict upon people around the world that 51 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:42.800 when it presents itself to us as Americans in the 52 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:49.199 form of warrantless searches by ice, half the population are 53 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.879 saying at this hour that they're okay with it. Johnny, 54 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:55.199 That's a problem from my perspective. 55 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.319 Yeah, Jesse, it is a problem. It's a problem among 56 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:09.520 a plethora of problems that we must understand, and too 57 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:16.079 many of us don't understand Jesse was intrigued by the 58 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:22.160 last hours conversation with a Tiba. Really an important discussion 59 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.040 that the two of you are having, and it speaks 60 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:30.120 to this problem that you're now raising, how we have 61 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:36.120 used the monopoly of power, which is what or how 62 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:41.079 we define a state its sovereignty, and it's monopoly on power, 63 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:47.959 excuse yes, and monopoly on force. Internally, Jesse, as you know, 64 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:52.480 that monopoly on force is pretty much what we call policing, 65 00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:00.680 and externally, that monopoly on force has been worrying or militarism. 66 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.720 What is interesting in this dispensation at this time in 67 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:11.040 the twenty first century, we find the script flipped where 68 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:17.839 we're using that external monopoly internally which is anathema to 69 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:23.759 the founding principles of our nation. And how is that possible? 70 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:27.319 And even Jesse, as you point out, it's being accepted 71 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.639 by too many of us as citizens of the nation. 72 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:37.680 I'm I'm Jesse Jackson listening to Jesse Jackson Junior Show. 73 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:39.680 When we come forward more with Johnny Mack, We're going 74 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:43.959 to have a deep conversation about the triple evils racism, militarism, 75 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:47.199 and materialism. We're going to hang around militarism a little 76 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:51.240 while longer more will we come forward? On KBLA Talk 77 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:54.720 to the Junior show, I was looking for a quote 78 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:59.680 by Martin Luther King Junior about studying war no more. 79 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:06.160 And if we continue to study war, Johnny, we become 80 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:09.759 what we study. If I study physics, I become a physicist. 81 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:11.879 If I become if I study math, I can become 82 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.920 a mathematician. If I study history, I can become a historian. 83 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.759 But if I spend all of my time studying war, 84 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:22.000 studying the Second Amendment and everyone's right to a gun 85 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:26.879 and the right to just you know, shoot people at 86 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.560 random or run into a schoolhouse with mental health crises 87 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.759 and take my my if we study war, we become 88 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:38.759 what we study. And part of doctor King's revolution of 89 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:51.000 values is that he wants us to study war no more, Johnny, militarism, Johnny, 90 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:51.839 I think you're muted. 91 00:06:55.040 --> 00:07:00.319 Sorry, Jesse. Fantastic point. And in his last book we've 92 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:02.720 talked about on several occasions, where do we go from here? 93 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:06.680 It it manages us to study war no more, for sure, 94 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.079 But more importantly in that book, it manashes us to 95 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:15.519 study nonviolence in all its forms, and how we can 96 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:21.279 use it as a tool of liberation, as a tool 97 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:29.000 of integration, as a tool for social change and human development. 98 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:31.920 And I think that's what we're missing, you know, Jesse, 99 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:36.680 we've talked about previously. What you've just said is what 100 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.839 I like to think of as the human nature. And 101 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.319 I've mentioned this before. Human beings are what the what 102 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:47.720 the academics might call tereleological in nature. We move toward 103 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.240 what we think about. Why am I raising this not 104 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:55.439 to sound academically profound, but to point out what you 105 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:58.160 were discussing with the table once again in the last hour. 106 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:03.000 We talk about racism. We talk about these these matters 107 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:08.160 often because it's driven by the media itself, and we 108 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:13.439 were very often spoon fed with things that the powers 109 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:17.120 that be want us to focus on, rather than breaking 110 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:21.199 those change and those those limitations, and being guided and 111 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:28.600 directed by memes and and and what's the term I 112 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:34.000 want the algorithms? Uh? In today's current technology that drives 113 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:41.240 our thinking and keeps us from really assessing what is 114 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.120 our challenge today? And more importantly, Jesse, what we must 115 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:51.000 do about it? M hm and and and not only 116 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:54.279 what we must do about it, but how we must 117 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:59.159 do about it the things we must do, And I 118 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:01.360 think that that's what TV was trying to get at 119 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.960 the close of your discussion with him. It's such an 120 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:10.200 important What are the things that are available to us today? 121 00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:16.039 How do we overcome poverty, racism, and militarism or their roots? 122 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.399 Remember Jesse that we describe the roots of poverty, racism, 123 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:27.480 and militarism as bigotry, violent rivalry, and cupidity or greed. 124 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:32.399 So racism is not merely a term that stands alone 125 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.519 by itself, but it is something much larger. 126 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.039 There's only so much time that I have left at 127 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:46.960 age sixty, and others have even less time. So how 128 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.360 do I address poverty? What is the best way to 129 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:54.679 address poverty? For me? In a single stroke, it is 130 00:09:54.759 --> 00:10:00.399 a tax structure that meets basic human needs of equal 131 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:08.480 high quality. Just basic human needs. Some need high quality healthcare, decent, safe, 132 00:10:08.519 --> 00:10:13.919 affordable housing for all as guaranteed rights, the right to 133 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.639 breathe fresh air. Doesn't get much more humane than that. 134 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.320 How about a minimum high quality floor beneath which no 135 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.600 American can fall? And what is the best position I 136 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.720 can be in or anyone can be in to guarantee 137 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:32.519 as doctor King I believe would suggest a minimum high 138 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:37.720 quality floor of human existence. So I say we have 139 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.679 to reform national tax policy, that we have to reach 140 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:48.000 the barrios and the hamlets of the nation. And that's 141 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.200 the mountain top view, because the valley view is that 142 00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.080 we need a floor. The valley view and there's a 143 00:10:54.120 --> 00:11:01.519 mountain top view. Now, it seems to me that tax 144 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:06.879 policy is a factor in doctor King's message when we 145 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:10.279 look at the skewed nature of where the nation's wealth 146 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:16.080 and income is going, and why people in the bottom 147 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:19.639 third or the bottom fifth of the nation can't get 148 00:11:19.720 --> 00:11:22.600 health care or even need an Affordable Care Act. In 149 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:25.519 the first place, they work already, they have jobs, and 150 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:28.759 they can't afford healthcare. They get high premiums if they 151 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:32.279 don't have the Affordable Care Act. That means that they 152 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.360 work every day, but they can't afford healthcare with but 153 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:39.720 for the Affordable Care Act. People working one, two and 154 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:44.720 three jobs needing a supplemental nutrition assistance program in the 155 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.279 first place is a problem. At the end of three jobs, 156 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:52.600 you can't get some knee. That's a problem. That is 157 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.600 a systemic problem that must be addressed, not one state 158 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:59.919 at a time, not one city, at a time, not 159 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.720 one hamlet at a time, but by the national government 160 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.600 which is in which is not in a position at 161 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:13.639 this hour to even come close to fulfilling that mission. Johnny, Yes, Jesse, So. 162 00:12:15.159 --> 00:12:20.519 You've mentioned an important inegal part of the social structure 163 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:27.919 that drives in many respects whether there is poverty or 164 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:32.879 non and who lives in poverty. You've mentioned that poverty 165 00:12:33.679 --> 00:12:37.159 is a function of tax policy, and policy is a 166 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:42.039 function of governing. Indeed, that is, Jesse, a component of 167 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.840 the social structure. But there are also two other components 168 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:49.000 of the social structure. That's the market as well as 169 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:52.679 civil society. What roles do they play. I would agree 170 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:57.960 with you that tax policy is important in defining what 171 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:03.279 levels of poverty this nation or any nation, particularly in 172 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:09.240 a capitalist society, might have. But what about development, what 173 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:13.639 about the market? What about a participation in the economy, 174 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:20.879 full participation, what about economic opportunity? They also those elements 175 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:24.600 of the social structure have as much And I would argue, Jesse, 176 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.080 here even more to do with who lives in poverty 177 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:32.919 and who does not than does tax policy. 178 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.799 So tax policy. 179 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:39.960 Is incredibly important, indeed, but so is full participation in 180 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.399 the economic structure of our capitalist society. 181 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:47.240 So I appreciate that because I watched Jesse Jackson take 182 00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:51.799 many Black people to Wall Street and make the argument 183 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:56.440 for participation in that very capital system. You're gonna hear 184 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:59.360 some critique of me and my dad in this. I've 185 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:04.200 also walked Reverend Al Sharpton take black people, black businesses 186 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:10.759 demanding participation as minority contractors to Wall Street. And I've 187 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:16.519 seen the Urban League essentially build its organization around the 188 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:22.919 corporate elite and structure demanding African American participation. But I'm 189 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:27.440 raising doctor King's point. In nineteen fifty four, the Dow 190 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.960 Jones Industrial average that measured how the economy was functioning. 191 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.159 By the way, that average four h four did not 192 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:37.840 include black fox black women, they lived in a separate, 193 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.519 unequal society that was probably not covered by the Dow 194 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:45.320 Jones Industrial average. By and large, the market was taking 195 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:48.679 off on its own. By the hour of doctor King's death, 196 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.879 the market was at nine to fifty six. Less than 197 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:55.360 one thousand was the Dow Jones Industrial average. At the 198 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.279 beginning of the Reagan administration, the Dow Jones Industrial average 199 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:02.799 was around seven thousand and points. At the end of 200 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.240 the Obama administration, with all of the hope that even 201 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.200 my brother Artiba was talking about, the Dow Jones Industrial 202 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:12.639 Average was still leaving millions of people behind, even with 203 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:16.320 the great contributions of the of the Man of hope himself, 204 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:19.919 Barack Obama, Even at the Dow Jones in nineteen thousand. 205 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.600 Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at forty nine 206 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:27.519 thousand and growing. Trump's jerking tariffs around and jerking the 207 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:31.879 world around. But what happens when the Dow Jones Industrial 208 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:39.720 average chows a system that is so intricately tied to 209 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:45.000 artificial intelligence, to robotics, to more and more industries becoming 210 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:49.080 more and more efficient to turn a profit where it 211 00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:53.240 doesn't need people any longer. That means the market is 212 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.080 no longer bound by the constitution. It's something that functions 213 00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:00.440 over here and out of space, outside of the rule 214 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:05.440 of law, with no capacity to provide healthcare, housing, education, 215 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.399 because tax policy doesn't extract from the progress of the 216 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:15.240 marketplace and deliver tranquility to the American people. So there 217 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:17.840 is a tipping point, and I'm gonna preach this until 218 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.320 I'm blue in the face. There is a tipping point 219 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:25.159 here where the government itself is now under Kennedy staying 220 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.679 that listen, no one needs to be vaccinated. Let's just 221 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.960 catch a disease and let the population itself dwindle on 222 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.159 its own. Let's stop taking care of seniors. They gonna 223 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.639 die anyway. Why should we be paying the Social Security 224 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:42.679 Let's stop all these minority programs. Let these negro shoot themselves. 225 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.679 We don't care so that the market concludes that we 226 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:52.759 are not necessary. And I don't find anything about market 227 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:56.600 economics that supports that human agenda. And I'd like to 228 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.399 think that I'm a capitalist, but let me tell you 229 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:01.679 where I really am. I'm not a democratic socialist, although 230 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:06.079 I think Jesus probably would be. But I'm certainly a 231 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:09.480 person who believes that every American deserves certain rights in 232 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.920 the Constitution so that they can exact from the Constitution 233 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:16.799 and from America the highest possible standard of living possible 234 00:17:16.839 --> 00:17:19.359 for them. And I think that I too, achieved doctor 235 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:23.400 Greening's dream without being called a socialist, without being called 236 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:27.559 a communist, without being called anything but an American. If 237 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.039 we just amend our way out of the problem in 238 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:31.039 the direction of human. 239 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:36.519 Rights, yeah, you'll get no argument from me. There Jesse, 240 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:42.039 and you are, I think, arguing that not only has 241 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:49.480 our social policies changed, but our economic structure has changed fundamentally, 242 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:54.440 and it has changed in ways that Ai and we've 243 00:17:54.440 --> 00:18:01.440 talked about this before. Blockchain and quantum computing eliminates the 244 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:07.480 need for labor, for the labor intensive economy that we 245 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:13.200 found in the mid twentieth century industrial economy, and so yes, 246 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:19.240 even a tax policy Jesse, under that system becomes significantly 247 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:26.960 irrelevant if, after all, all production, essentially or the preponderance 248 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:33.440 of production is done robotically. Who then works, what then 249 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:40.200 creates the value which then will be distributed, and how 250 00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:43.400 will it be distributed. I'm not sure that that's a 251 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:47.160 tax policy issue. I'm not sure anybody knows what kind 252 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:47.799 of issue it. 253 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:48.559 Is just yet. 254 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:51.440 And that's part of the discussion that we must have 255 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:53.079 as a nation in the world. 256 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:58.000 I am, I am. 257 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:06.319 I am deeply trouble that America at this hour, I'm 258 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:11.400 losing confidence of this how as to whether or not 259 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.160 I've asked my people to integrate into a house that's burning. 260 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:20.240 I am profoundly concerned about America. 261 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:23.720 That's exactly where I am. I'm right there with doctor 262 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:25.400 King on that I know it so well I can 263 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:30.039 hum it in my sleep, almost in its intonations. That 264 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:35.240 has a problem, and it's not being addressed by the market. 265 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:40.440 It's not being addressed by the moral fiber of our politics. 266 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:44.079 It's not speaking out and for the least of these 267 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:46.759 in our nation. I mean, I'm looking at so much 268 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.400 money coming in to these political campaigns that no wonder 269 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:56.160 the voices of our leaders are singing and blowing uncertain 270 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:01.079 tunes get elected. You know, man, I haven't raised three 271 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.039 hundred thousand dollars in my campaign, but do you know 272 00:20:04.119 --> 00:20:07.279 how much money people are spending in these campaigns. I 273 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.519 mean I had to be in a campaign to figure 274 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:12.920 out just how much money they're spending in campaigns. This 275 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.759 is democracy, This is ridiculous. I think money all day 276 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:22.720 long to get elected is outrageous. And everybody wants something 277 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.960 for the money. Everybody they do. 278 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:27.720 Jesse, We're going to have to come forward here in 279 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:29.160 a minute, but I sure want to pick up. 280 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:32.079 We got done here. I'm thank you. Johnny More on 281 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.400 Kbilly Talk fifteen to eighty when we come forward with 282 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.759 doctor Johnny Mack, doctor mac and Fiscal Year nineteen fifty 283 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:44.599 four National Security programs dominated. Military spending consumed about seventy 284 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:49.119 three percent of the federal budget, totaling approximately fifty seven 285 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:54.839 point three billion dollars the year nineteen fifty four when 286 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:00.519 Brown versus the Board of Education is decided. Today, the 287 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.880 US military budget for fiscal year twenty twenty six is 288 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:10.480 set at approximately eight hundred and thirty nine billion dollars, 289 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:12.920 a bipartisan agreement reached by the House and the Senate 290 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:18.920 appropriators in January of twenty twenty six, and now Donald 291 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:23.599 Trump proposes a military budget for fiscal year twenty twenty 292 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:29.640 seven that exceeds a trillion dollars. I am suggesting to 293 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:33.599 you and our listeners that the Dow Jones Industrial average 294 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:37.400 also follows the history of race in America. Well, it 295 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.240 follows everything, because every one of us wakes up every day. 296 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:43.279 Are we better off today than we were yesterday? Since 297 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:48.119 we think that way, since those are our values. But 298 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:53.920 today the economy itself is driven by the military budget, 299 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:59.440 the millions of corporations and contractors who keep the beast 300 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:04.920 of the mill military machine moving so much so that 301 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:08.920 this beast has to be fed. It has to be 302 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:13.279 fed with more oil. The largest polluter in the world. 303 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:20.480 Is the US military more pollution than most states and 304 00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:25.720 some countries the US military, that's just how much diesel 305 00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:29.920 and oil and gas we pump into the environment protecting 306 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:35.720 and defending the nation. Climate change directly tied to the 307 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:40.400 United States government willing to lower carbon emissions and its 308 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:44.759 carbon footprint. That's just how large it is threatening the 309 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:50.119 planet itself. But nineteen fifty four a military budget of 310 00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:53.720 fifty seven billion dollars and in twenty twenty six eight 311 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:57.799 hundred and thirty nine billion dollars, while we're closing schools, 312 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:00.839 property taxes are high, people can't afford to go to college, 313 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.319 people struggling to get healthcare, and some folks trying to 314 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:09.000 find something to eat. Johnny Mack, well, you know, Jesse. 315 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:12.799 In nineteen fifty four, the global population was around four 316 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:18.000 billion people, well three billion actually in nineteen fifty four, 317 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:23.119 and today it's almost nine billion, three times. The world 318 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.039 has changed significantly, hasn't it. So we moved from fifty 319 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:33.960 seven billion in US military budget to eight hundred and 320 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:39.680 thirty nine billion, and so that sets up priorities, doesn't it? 321 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:45.480 Really real changes. The populations change and the values change 322 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:51.799 as well. But the fundamental values that drive the military 323 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:56.880 budget also drives the conversation we were having in the last segment, 324 00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:02.240 and that's our market and those value use are the 325 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.440 ones we we we mentioned their bigotry and uh and 326 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:13.440 rivalry and greed, and how do we protect, how do 327 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:17.200 we defend how do we ensure the status quo of 328 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:22.880 that bigotry, rivalry and greed or cupidity. We do it 329 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:29.799 through our military or our control over the monopoly over 330 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:37.039 power or force or violence. Again internally through policing and 331 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:41.799 externally through the military budget. So that explained, That explains 332 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:45.920 I think, in large part Jesse, your point about a 333 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:54.440 military budget that's nearly a trillion dollars now. 334 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.240 And and it's it's it's not just that, it's that 335 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:00.920 the blue chip stocks that each of us as Americans 336 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:10.480 invest in for our retirement programs, our pensions, our iras, 337 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:18.000 investing in drone technology, investing in IE, investing in robotics, 338 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:22.480 our value systems are what we are investing in. We 339 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:30.680 are investing in war. And doctor King wasn't just challenging Vietnam. 340 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:36.559 He was challenging the conveniences that we enjoyed here in America, 341 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:44.359 in my home and in your home as directly tied 342 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:48.839 to our willingness to invest for higher profits on the market. 343 00:25:50.599 --> 00:25:52.759 But he said, I can't negate the fact that the 344 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:58.480 helicopters that are dropping napalm on these poor peasants in 345 00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:03.440 Vietnam are paid for by investments made by the American 346 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.880 people to fuel the military economy. 347 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:11.880 M yeah, yeah, But Jesse, keep in mind, I'm not 348 00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:16.480 quite sure that King said quite the way. I think 349 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:20.519 I'm understanding you to say it, because the average American 350 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:25.640 struggling from paycheck to paycheck is not invested in the 351 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:29.960 stock market's you know, I'm eighty percent of the stock 352 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:33.640 market is controlled by the super wealthy incorporations. 353 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.519 Yeah, Americans has gone off and left us. I think 354 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:39.759 that's no doubt that I don't have a stock yet, 355 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:41.880 I don't have an ir right, it is gone off 356 00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.240 and left us. We're over here, paycheck to paycheck, disability 357 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:48.319 to check, disability check, whatever it is, you know, whalefare 358 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.039 check to whalefare check. That's where we are. 359 00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:54.119 Indeed, and Jesse, what the average American is invested in? 360 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.640 If there is an average American, I'm not sure that 361 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.680 I agree with that definition. But let's use it for 362 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:03.319 the same think of our our discussion. What that average 363 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.920 American is invested in is supporting that very system that 364 00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:12.880 we are criticizing, that very system that allows one tenth 365 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:17.759 of one percent of the population to own sixty percent 366 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:22.599 of its wealth, and yet we the people, that very 367 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:28.200 population that we're discussing supports it. 368 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:31.359 How would you remedy that other than through tax policy. 369 00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:36.039 I don't think you remedied through through tax policy at all, 370 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:38.880 because I don't think, as we said in the last segment, 371 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:42.039 that tax policy will survive the way we know it today, 372 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:48.480 given the trajectory of how wealth is being generated, not 373 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:54.640 being generated through the through the sweat of you know, 374 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.599 of the brows of the ordinary citizen, as your father 375 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:03.319 and my father's generation understood in the mid twentieth century, 376 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.519 or even as we grew up, Jesse. The economy is 377 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:11.359 changing and we must change with it. What we haven't 378 00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.400 studied is how to change it. So I'm not suggesting 379 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:18.319 that you're wrong about tax policy. I am suggesting that 380 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:22.920 we don't know enough about the current trajectory of our 381 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.519 economy to understand what that change must be. But we 382 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:29.519 do know it must change. 383 00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:36.720 I am I'm right there with you. I just think 384 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:43.119 that the change is statutory. It can't be done state 385 00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:46.359 by state. It has to be the collective. There is 386 00:28:46.440 --> 00:28:50.319 a role for the federal government in that process. The 387 00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:53.480 way most members of Congress think, and particularly the progressives 388 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:56.559 in Congress, they would like a progressive tax structure. They 389 00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:59.599 would like to go where and get the money from 390 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.920 where they went. That's what my father used to say 391 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:04.000 in nineteen eighty four when he was running where you're 392 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:05.440 gonna get the money from? Just I'm going to get 393 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:07.359 the money from where the money went. The money went 394 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:10.319 over here to the wealthiest one percent of the nation, 395 00:29:10.839 --> 00:29:12.359 So we got to go over there and get it, 396 00:29:12.400 --> 00:29:13.960 and we get it and bring it back over here. 397 00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:15.759 It's not like we hold a gun to their head. 398 00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:19.920 We simply hold tax policy to their head. We tax 399 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:25.200 the various forms by which they shelter and pass that 400 00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:29.160 kind of wealth on generationally that is no longer circulating 401 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:33.039