WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.639 Kamala Harris was on a podcast recently, and it's it's 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:11.199 very interesting to me how the podcast choices of both 3 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:15.640 Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, that they're both wanting to 4 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.600 appear on different kinds of media things, and the choices 5 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:26.640 they make that just seem to lean into the demographics 6 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:28.320 they think are going to get them over the top. 7 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:33.840 Trump keeps going on all kinds of podcasts listened to 8 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:39.880 by young men, all kinds of different comedians and YouTube 9 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:46.320 influencer type guys that probably most of you listening who 10 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:50.679 are millennials or older, maybe it's not really in your wheelhouse, 11 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:55.439 but for sort of younger millennials and zoomers kind of 12 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:01.079 more in your wheelhouse. And Harris is doing very limited 13 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.799 as far as I mean, Harris is doing very limited 14 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.760 media in general, far less out there than Trump is. 15 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:11.799 But she goes on this podcast called Call Her Daddy, 16 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:15.959 which I think sort of started out of the Barstool 17 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:19.480 universe for those who know what that is, but then 18 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:23.000 sort of went off on its own. A lot of 19 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:29.200 young women listening to it. Now, this is interesting as 20 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.239 far as you know, to whom are the two sides talking. 21 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:36.200 Harris has a huge lead among single women, Trump is 22 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:41.079 gaining a bigger, bigger lead among men and single young 23 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.359 single men are leaning more and more into the Trump camp, 24 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:47.840 and I sort of wonder for Trump if how that 25 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.400 could go. I mean, no, one's probably a less reliable 26 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:56.719 voter than a twenty year old man, But if Trump 27 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:01.280 can get men like that out to the holes in droves, 28 00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:05.879 I think that could be a hugely untapped on accounted 29 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:11.639 for by the pollsters number of people that could really 30 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.960 push Trump over the top at this point. I mean, 31 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.919 I just saw a polling today showing Trump and Harris 32 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:22.680 in a dead split nationwide, which if that's the case, 33 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.280 then Trump's gonna win pretty easily, but we'll see. I mean, 34 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.560 I think it's going to be very close election still. Anyway. 35 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:30.840 The thing that I thought was interesting was Kamala Harris 36 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:37.400 goes on this podcast and of course she's leaning heavily 37 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.360 into the abortion thing. It's like the only It's so 38 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.080 dispiriting to me that how abortion is like the only 39 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:46.719 thing Kamala Harris has to run on that that it 40 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:51.039 seems for the most part, the nation likes her presentation 41 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.560 of what she believes on the abortion issue more than 42 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.039 they like Trump, and Trump has realized this and has 43 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:01.319 completely abandoned ship run as far to the left on 44 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:04.919 abortion as he can without completely alienating pro life voters. 45 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:13.080 So Harris goes on this show and she's asked about abortion, 46 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.680 and the host just is Harris is not going on 47 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.919 anything where she's getting anything other than complete total hanging 48 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.800 curveballs right over the plate that she can knock out 49 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:27.479 of the park, and even then she's not really knocking 50 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.400 things out of the park. The host asks her if 51 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.280 there's any law that tells a man what to do 52 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:40.680 with his body, the implication being that abortion restrictions tell 53 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:43.599 women what to do with their bodies, and there's no 54 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.520 equivalent thing for any man, no equivalent thing for any man. 55 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:48.560 And Harris is like, oh, no, of course not. There's 56 00:03:48.599 --> 00:03:50.599 no law like that that controls a man's body. That 57 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:57.719 only these evil abortion limitation laws. And I was thinking 58 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:06.599 about this. Of course there are laws like that. They're 59 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:10.599 one hundred are and it starts to make me think 60 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.000 about law and sort of what the purposes of laws are. 61 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:16.120 All right, So, first of all, I don't know if 62 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:18.160 all of you have heard of this thing called the draft. 63 00:04:20.439 --> 00:04:24.519 Men have to register for the select service, which could 64 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:29.560 be the draft when they turn eighteen. Women don't have to. 65 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.040 It's a law that's definitely controlling our bodies in the 66 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:43.399 event of wartime. And these arguments about bodily auton that 67 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.800 women's bodies are. There's no place so many of these 68 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:53.120 abortion arguments, you'll have the most liberal people in the 69 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:58.319 world who favor all kinds of left wing restrictions of 70 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:02.560 every sort of ever, every shape, all every liberal who 71 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:06.439 was in favor of every kind and species of vaccine 72 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:14.040 mandate possible, just like three years ago, all of a sudden, 73 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:18.480 when it comes to a law regulating abortion, which, by 74 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:21.800 the way, let's remember, these laws regulating abortion are not 75 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.680 dealing just with one person's body. They are dealing with 76 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:27.959 a second body. They are saying, there is another human 77 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:36.000 being here whose life has value and for whom the 78 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:38.439 state has an interest. The state has an interest in 79 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.399 preserving the life not just of the mother, but also 80 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:45.160 of the baby. So we limit the practice of abortion 81 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:51.399 because it's directly killing this other living organism who is 82 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:59.079 just stating inside a mother's body. But this idea, all 83 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.519 of a sudden, liberals become the most extreme libertarians humanly possible. 84 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:08.000 When it comes to abortion. The senator from Georgia, the 85 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:12.480 Democrat Senator from Georgia, Raphael Warnock, is like the worst 86 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:16.360 defender for this. His big line anytime anyone mentions abortion 87 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:20.000 to him, and he's an African American pastor, so people 88 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:22.879 talk about how hypocritical his abortion position is. But his 89 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:25.439 big thing that he keeps saying is I just think 90 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:28.759 a doctor's office is too small for a woman, her doctor, 91 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.439 and the government. And that's his big line. That's his 92 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:36.839 big line that justifies everything, every that rationalizes his entire 93 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.800 view in favor of expansive legal abortion. I just think 94 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.160 a doctor's office is too small for a woman, her 95 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.759 doctor and the federal government. Or the woman, her doctor 96 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:54.720 and the government. Now this is insane on like twenty 97 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:59.800 different counts. First of all, Democrats regulate the healthcare industry, 98 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:02.600 and the healthcare industry is maybe one of the most 99 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:09.680 regulated industries in the entire universe. The standards according which 100 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:15.720 your hospital room was built probably was influenced by the 101 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:20.000 government dictating the very structure of the building. You're in. 102 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:29.519 The licensure process for the medical professional whom you are seeing. 103 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:31.639 The doctor whom you are seeing is regulated by the state. 104 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.560 There's a state Board of Medicine governing it. The state 105 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.879 has all kinds of mandates. The federal government has all 106 00:07:37.959 --> 00:07:39.920 kinds of mandates for the kinds of drugs that your 107 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:44.120 doctor is prescribing or can prescribe or cannot prescribe. There 108 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:48.279 are layers and layers and layers and layers of state 109 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:55.480 and federal intervention present in any encounter at any doctor's office. 110 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.720 Are you on medical Well, guess what that's both the 111 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:01.439 federal government and the state government is therefore in the 112 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.800 hospital room with you and your doctor. Medical requirements alter 113 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:08.439 all kinds of ways in which care is delivered. But 114 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.959 for some reason, liberals all of a sudden become the 115 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.879 most extreme, make Ron Paul Blush level libertarians when it 116 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.639 comes to the question of the government telling me what 117 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:25.000 I can do with my body, and it makes me 118 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:30.519 think about law. Lots of laws, lots and lots and 119 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:34.559 lots of laws tell us what we can do or 120 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:41.679 cannot do with our bodies. Abortion gets singled out by 121 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.639 the left as if this is the only thing that does. 122 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:49.000 There are all kinds of laws regulating, for example, drug 123 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:52.120 use that tell you, hey, can't put this in your 124 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:57.480 body prescription drug abuse. Hey can't put this stuff in 125 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:03.480 your body. Hey, you can't help someone put this stuff 126 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:10.919 in their body. There's example after example after example of 127 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:16.279 this that, and we justify it as good. I think 128 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:21.600 a more classical justification of law. A classical definition of 129 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:28.639 law is that it is a dictative reason instituted the 130 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:35.559 general Actually that's actually been promulgated by a lawful authority 131 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:42.799 towards advancing the common good. The common good here does 132 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:47.559 not necessarily mean okay, five of you think it's okay 133 00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:50.759 to beat up a homeless person, and three of you 134 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:52.759 think it's not okay to beat up a homeless person. 135 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:55.200 Therefore the five people wins because that's the common good. No, 136 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.360 that's not the idea of common good. That definition of 137 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:01.279 law was from Saint Thomas Quite, and it's kind of 138 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:06.919 a distillation of the classical legal tradition of from Greek 139 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:13.799 philosophy throughout the Christian philosophical tradition. The common law in 140 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.960 that sense was not, you know, five people think it's 141 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:20.480 okay to, you know, beat up the slaves, and three 142 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:22.120 people don't think it's okay to beat up slaves. So 143 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.559 the five people went, No, the common good is basically 144 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.320 the good that is common to all, the shared moral 145 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.559 and ethical vision that's grounded in human nature, and the 146 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:41.799 goods towards which human nature is oriented. So in that light, 147 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:48.000 if that's your definition of law, then yeah, you can 148 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.000 have laws that kind of dictate what people do or 149 00:10:52.039 --> 00:11:00.200 don't do. But this is a thing where I think 150 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:05.360 conservatism and the Enlightenment philosophy that animated a lot of 151 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:08.120 the Founding Fathers kind of runs into tension with one another. 152 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:11.720 So the Founding Fathers were very much influenced by the Enlightenment. 153 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.200 The Enlightenment was this sort of philosophical movement that happened 154 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:20.840 in Europe during the sixteen hundreds of seventeen hundreds, starting 155 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.960 in the fifteen hundreds that was rejecting a lot of 156 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:33.519 the older order when it comes to ethics and ethics 157 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:37.840 and particularly philosophy of law. It was rejecting Aristotle, it 158 00:11:37.879 --> 00:11:41.600 was rejecting Thomas Aquinas, and it was elevating newer thinkers, 159 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:46.639 newer thinkers like Kant when it comes to ethics, newer 160 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:50.159 thinkers like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes when it came 161 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:57.000 to philosophy of law, and they rejected the Saint Thomas's 162 00:11:57.080 --> 00:12:01.759 ideas that there is one objective, no truth, there is 163 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:08.759 an objective, knowable human good that governments should order their 164 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.159 laws too. And instead they said, every single person should 165 00:12:12.200 --> 00:12:15.039 be free to choose the good for themselves, and as 166 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:18.120 long as you're not stepping on other people's toes, you 167 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:24.120 pick the good for yourself. That's the spirit that's animating 168 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:28.720 Kamala Harris when she says, oh, we can't have a 169 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:33.519 law telling women what to do with their bodies now, 170 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:36.879 is she wildly hypocritical in this because of all of 171 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.159 the laws she does support that tell people what to 172 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:42.759 do with their bodies. Well, maybe, but maybe she tries 173 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:45.120 to rationalize it by saying, well, a vaccine mandate that 174 00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:47.480 couldn't impact other people, So you need to do this 175 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:49.639 because if you don't, you're impacting all these other people. 176 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.360 You're stepping on their freedom. So we need to impose 177 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:54.519 upon your freedom insofar as you're going to hurt other 178 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:59.639 people's freedom. And that's the problem is that there is 179 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:04.240 still an objective. There seems to be still not a 180 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:10.480 subjective moral good that Kamala Harris points to. But she's 181 00:13:10.519 --> 00:13:13.240 got her own set of goods that she points to 182 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.799 that she wants to enforce in everybody else. So she's 183 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.759 acting like she's this total libertarian when it comes to 184 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:28.120 laws regulating abortion, but not really. If you are a libertarian, 185 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:30.840 I don't think it's that hard to make an argument 186 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:37.480 against abortion. I mean that the pure libertarian argument for 187 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.679 that justifies law is everyone should be able to choose 188 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:42.399 the good for themselves. You're allowed to choose the good 189 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.159 for themselves as long as you're not stepping on other 190 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:46.799 people's toes. Well, abortion is the biggest act of stepping 191 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:51.519 on someone else's toes possible. There's another human being involved 192 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:58.399 who's getting killed in this procedure. But the thing libertarianism 193 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:02.559 can't answer is what is the moral status of that 194 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:06.679 human being? Do we care about that human being? Is 195 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:09.799 that human being who doesn't know his or her own 196 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.759 good yet a valuable rights bearing member of the community 197 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:15.600 whom we should defend. And this is kind of where 198 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.000 libertarianism falls apart. They don't really have a great account 199 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:23.120 for that. That's why probably a lot of libertarians you 200 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:26.320 talk to, or ethical libertarians you talk to, probably most 201 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:28.480 of them are in favor of abortion because they view 202 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.799 the adult as important. They view the adult who actually 203 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:38.120 has an understanding of his or her own good as 204 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:42.360 far more important than this unborn child. So in short, 205 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.279 there's actually a lot of stuff, you know, Kamala Harris 206 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.240 coming on a show and saying, now, there's no law 207 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:51.240 that tells there tells men what to do with their bodies. 208 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:57.080 In addition to being completely nonsensical, there's a ton of 209 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:01.720 like ethical presuppositions that are really baked into what she's 210 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:04.360 saying about what is the whole purpose of law? Yeah, 211 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:10.639 laws can intrude upon bodily autonomy if it is a 212 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:18.000 dictative reason instituted by a duly authorized lawgiver, ordered towards 213 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.519 the common good. And this is where I think modern 214 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:25.720 conservatism kind of loses its way. On the one hand, 215 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.879 it's kind of there's this author named Joseph Bottom who 216 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:33.159 said this, and this line I keep reusing. Modern day 217 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:36.919 conservatism is in a tug of war between the Enlightenment 218 00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:41.000 on one hand, everyone's free to choose the good for themselves, freedom, freedom, freedom, 219 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.200 and the Bible on the other the Bible, which has 220 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:49.519 a very clear ethical vision of what is right and 221 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:55.200 what is wrong, and a clear sense that no law 222 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.679 should be ordered towards the good, this objective vision of 223 00:15:58.679 --> 00:15:59.879 what is right and what is wrong, even if he 224 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:07.279 don't like that. And I think what we're seeing is 225 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:10.320 with Trump, you know, slowly as Trump is sort of 226 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:14.240 abandoning ship more and more on the pro life position 227 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.399 right at the very least, leaving it up to individual 228 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.240 people to decide for themselves. Is a shift in conservatism 229 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.840 away from the Bible and towards the Enlightenment. I'll dig 230 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.679 into that a little bit next. This is the John 231 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:30.159 Girardi Show on Power Talk. I think Donald Trump is 232 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:35.440 signaling a kind of shift in conservatism, but it's not 233 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:36.879 the kind of shift that I think a lot of 234 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.480 people are thinking. I think it has a lot to 235 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.480 do with social conservatism and then the philosophical roots of 236 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:44.320 what it means to be a social conservative. All right, 237 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:49.799 So the big shift Trump has advanced when it comes 238 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:54.919 to the abortion issue specifically, and all this is prompted 239 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:58.639 by Kamala Harris talking on a podcast about oh, there 240 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.720 are no laws that control which is like, well, lots 241 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:05.319 of laws control everybody's bodies, and also there's the draft 242 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:10.000 and you're an idiot. But it's also making me focus on, like, well, 243 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:11.839 what is the purpose of law, What is the point 244 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:16.599 of law? What is law? What is the philosophical justification 245 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:21.039 for law? And the classical justification of law is that 246 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:26.680 it is a dictate of reason, issued by a legitimate authority, 247 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.319 ordered towards the common good. And the common good here 248 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.839 is not understood. As you know, five people think it's 249 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.599 okay to beat up almost people, and three people don't 250 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:39.799 think it's okay to beat up homeless people. So therefore 251 00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:43.599 the five people win. No, the common good is the 252 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:48.119 vision of the good rooted in human nature, looking at 253 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:51.200 the goods towards which human nature is ordered, including our 254 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.880 ultimate good and the objective morality that springs from it. 255 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.200 The natural law, the law that is part of someone's nature. 256 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:09.599 That's Saint Paul himself referenced. So this has been the 257 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:15.160 tug of war within christ within conservatism. Conservatism as in 258 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:24.000 American slash British post Glorious Revolution political rightsm that reacted 259 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:27.000 so negatively to the French Revolution, for example, but was 260 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:30.799 a little bit more accommodating towards the American Revolution. It 261 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:34.079 is this tug of war between on the one hand, 262 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:41.440 Enlightenment thinkers who think that law and right within government 263 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:46.160 is a question of preserving every individual in their individual 264 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:51.640 choice for what the good is for themselves. So the 265 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.319 government gets everyone latitude to choose the good for themselves. 266 00:18:54.359 --> 00:18:57.839 There's no common good. Every individual gets to choose the 267 00:18:57.880 --> 00:18:59.960 good for himself, and the government's there just to say 268 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.119 safeguard your ability to choose the good, but just make 269 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:07.400 sure that you don't step on other people's toes. That 270 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:11.920 is libertarianism in its loosest sense. Everyone gets to choose 271 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:14.759 what's good for themselves. There's no objective right and wrong 272 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.240 out there. The government's just safeguarding your ability to choose. 273 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:23.839 On the other hand, is again this classical vision rooted 274 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:27.720 in things like the Bible and American conservatism has been 275 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:29.920 in a tug of war between the Bible saying there 276 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:34.119 is an objective truth and libertarianism saying we don't know 277 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:36.359 what objective truth is, so just let everyone choose the 278 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:46.039 truth for themselves. I think we're seeing this tug of 279 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:49.119 war playing out right now in the Republican Party about 280 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:57.279 the abortion issue. Before twenty twenty two and the bad 281 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:00.240 election results of twenty twenty two, everything was pretty clear 282 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:05.160 Republicans were anti abortion. Republicans thought abortion was bad, Abortion 283 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:14.200 was wrong. Republicans supported federal restrictions on abortion. Republicans supported 284 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:20.160 a constitutional amendment safeguarding human life. It was right there 285 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:25.240 in the Republican platform. Look at the twenty sixteen Republican 286 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:27.880 platform and see all the things it's supported as far 287 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:33.319 as regulating, limiting, cutting off abortion funding, et cetera. We 288 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:38.160 had one bad election cycle in twenty twenty two, and 289 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:40.759 Trump has reacted to this by running to the left 290 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:46.759 on abortion, saying he doesn't like Florida's six week abortion limit, 291 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.960 basically limiting abortion only to the first six weeks of gestation. 292 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:55.039 He thinks there should be more weeks. But the big 293 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.839 thing Trump has said is he keeps saying this for 294 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:02.119 individual He's not even saying I am pro life and 295 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.960 I think abortion is wrong. He's just saying, I think 296 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.640 every state should vote on its own. Let the will 297 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:14.279 of the people completely decide the abortion issue. That's a 298 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:19.480 libertarian approach. His notion of the common good is what 299 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:28.200 the people decide to do, what the people decide to do, 300 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:34.279 getting abortion to the states, to the votes of individual states, 301 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:38.759 that is what he is proposing as what's right. Let 302 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.640 everyone be free to choose the good for themselves, and 303 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:43.920 so we have this situation. I mean, I was saying, 304 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.440 you know, the common good does not mean five people 305 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:48.559 want to beat up homeless people and three people don't. 306 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:51.079 Therefore the common good is beating up homeless people. But 307 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:54.960 that is the situation that Trump is sort of praising. 308 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:02.119 Within the states. Fifty one percent of the state favors 309 00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:07.359 the legal killing of children, who are just stating forty 310 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:10.599 nine percent oppose it. Therefore, we're going to kill them 311 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:16.559 because that's the common good in that state. And maybe 312 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:19.200 I'm being overly harsh about Trump's views on this, but 313 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:23.000 Trump has been very explicit about saying, you know, I 314 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.960 support the ability of states to vote on this stuff, 315 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.480 and I agree having states vote on it individually is 316 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.559 better than what we had before. It's better than the 317 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.279 Roe v. Wade regime, where we had the worst possible 318 00:22:34.839 --> 00:22:41.400 laws unabortion imposed on all fifty states. But at the 319 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:46.559 same time, John Paul the Second wrote about this pretty extensively. 320 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:48.960 I just don't think that the value of human beings 321 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:52.519 should be left up to a democratic up or down vote. 322 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:54.759 That's not what the common good is. There is a 323 00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:56.880 common good that is out there that is objective that 324 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:01.279 is knowable, that should be respected. That that's and that 325 00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:04.799 laws that don't respect that lose their legitimacy as law. 326 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:12.680 So there's a lot of I think, really deep philosophical 327 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:16.079 issues that are going on, and I think there is 328 00:23:16.119 --> 00:23:20.400 a shift on the Trump side when it comes to 329 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:24.559 especially the abortion issue. When we return. An interesting piece 330 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:32.240 about Proposition four, a bond measure for funding climate stuff 331 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:37.000 ill defined next on the John Girardi Show. So there's 332 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:39.279 a good piece that's been published by cal Matters. It's 333 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:45.160 written by Brian Jones, who's a Republican state senator, and 334 00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:50.440 it's about Proposition four and this lead up to the election. 335 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:53.000 I'd like to do more pieces like this, sort of 336 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:59.039 deep diving pieces I find that are interesting, that are 337 00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:02.359 doing kind of a deep dive on one specific ballot 338 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:09.240 initiative or another. And Proposition four is I knew I 339 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:11.119 was voting no on this from the start, just the 340 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.880 very description of it, but he State Senator Jones is 341 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:18.240 kind of digging into this a little bit more. Let 342 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:20.599 me give the first the first backdrop for it. So 343 00:24:20.839 --> 00:24:27.319 Proposition four is a bond measure to provide ten billion 344 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:38.720 dollars towards various kinds of environmental programs. Now, the first thing, 345 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.799 the first thing you should know is that it's a bond. 346 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:48.160 And I hate bonds, and I think I basically will 347 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:55.920 take a generalized approach that I am voting no on 348 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:02.960 any bond measure ever. And I think it's a problem 349 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.519 that people don't actually know what a bond is. I 350 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:08.559 think people hear the word bond. But I bet if 351 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:12.839 I pulled all of the tax bank, all the voters 352 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:17.440 of let's say, City of Fresno, and I said, define 353 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:22.079 for me what a bond is, I bet most people 354 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:25.599 couldn't actually define it for you. They kind of vaguely 355 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:27.839 know it has something to do with taxes or funding, 356 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:32.279 and they hear, oh, it's a Because right now we 357 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:36.799 are all of you listening to this, we'll be voting 358 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:41.119 on I think within the sound of my voice, there's 359 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:43.000 a good likelihood you're going to be voting for at 360 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:47.519 least four or against at least four different bond measures 361 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.279 this election cycle. All right, for me, I've got a 362 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:55.119 close unified bond that'll probably be on my ballot. I 363 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:58.200 think I've got a state center community college bond that's 364 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:02.599 on my ballot. I've got Proposition four, which is this 365 00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:05.960 climate bond, and then there's another I think it's proposition 366 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:12.799 one that is h or two that's the education bond. 367 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:19.519 I'll get the exact number. So if you're voting four 368 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.920 or against a bond, you better know what it means. 369 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.160 If you're a voter, you should know what a bond is. 370 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:28.519 So let me define it. A bond is a loan 371 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:36.240 to a governmental entity a city, a county, a state, 372 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:44.720 a school district, a community college district. Locally, for say, 373 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:53.680 school districts or community college districts. Bonds get paid through 374 00:26:54.039 --> 00:27:01.279 your property taxes. Okay, So it is a loan to 375 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:07.640 a governmental entity that the taxpayer must repay. That's what 376 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:09.559 you get with a loan. If there's a loan, then 377 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.680 you got to repay it. And if there's a repayment 378 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.160 and it's not all at once and there's interest, well yeah, 379 00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:22.400 there's interest. Okay. Most bond measures, most local bond measures anyway, 380 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:27.319 are thirty year terms and they have a certain interest rate. 381 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:33.119 So if you've got a local school district, like let's 382 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:37.039 take Clovis Unified. Okay, I live in Clovis Unified. I 383 00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:40.440 think we've got it's a four hundred million dollars bond 384 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:47.359 measure that's on the ballot. Okay, we've gotta so here's 385 00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:50.519 what will happen. We'll vote for this bond measure. If 386 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:54.720 it passes, Clubs Unified gets four hundred million bucks, all right, 387 00:27:56.680 --> 00:28:00.960 But somehow we got to pay that back. So the taxpayers, 388 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:06.440 the property tax payers within who live within the boundaries 389 00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:11.880 of Clovis Unified School District, they have to pay that 390 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:14.960 loan back through their property taxes over the course of 391 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:22.200 thirty years with interest. So it's not really a four 392 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.359 hundred million dollar bond. Yeah, that's what the school district gets. 393 00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:28.599 The taxpayer has to pay four hundred million dollars plus 394 00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:32.640 thirty years of interest. Meaning by the time we're done, 395 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:35.759 we might wind up spending seven hundred or eight hundred 396 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:38.359 million dollars to get four hundred million dollars worth of benefit. 397 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.599 President Unified, it's got a five hundred million dollar bond measure, 398 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:50.720 largest bond measure in President Unified history. That's gonna be 399 00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:55.559 maybe a billion dollars paid by the taxpayers. Okay, So 400 00:28:56.440 --> 00:28:59.880 bonds from a certain perspective are pretty In a f 401 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:06.440