WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.680 We'd like to thank Cozy Earth. No, we wouldn't let 2 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:05.839 me start that over. We would like to think bam 3 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:12.080 bamp three two one. Ask not what your country can 4 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:15.880 do for you, ask what you can do for your country. 5 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:22.440 Mister gorbach Off, tear down this wall. It's the Ricochet 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.320 Podcast and our guest is you the members who pose 7 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:28.679 questions to myself James Lylyx and Charles C. W. Cook. 8 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.359 So let's have us of the podcast. Oh and tariffs do. 9 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.000 Well the all first questions for the blood hand this 10 00:00:34.119 --> 00:00:38.920 evening is what's great a parent of Cartesian dualism. Resist 11 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:43.159 the reduction of zs ideological phenomena to physical states. 12 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:45.840 President Trump, I really don't know what he said at 13 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:47.799 the end of this, and I don't think he knows 14 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:52.159 what he said either. Listener mail welcome everybody. This is 15 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.479 the Ricochet Podcast, number seven thirty six from James Lylyax 16 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:01.119 in Minneapolis, Spring not yet here. Slake gray Sky's bit 17 00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:03.039 of a chill to the air. The other day the 18 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:05.680 tornado sirens went off and wailed for about four minutes, 19 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:10.719 to the extreme distress of all dogs and some people. 20 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:13.560 But nice to know that soon the twisters will be 21 00:01:13.599 --> 00:01:16.239 scribbling their way across the landscape to lift us either 22 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:20.200 into OZ or elsewhere. But in the other version of 23 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.920 American paradise OZ, like green, verdant, lush, humid, is Florida, 24 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.400 where we presume Charles is at the moment Charles see 25 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.359 w Cook, welcome, thank you. 26 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.640 Did the Hawaiian shirt give it away? 27 00:01:33.799 --> 00:01:36.480 Yes? Whenever I see Hawaiian shirt, I naturally think of Florida. 28 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.159 I suppose Stephen isn't with us, By the way, Stephen 29 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.239 is right now somewhere off with Peter Robinson and rob 30 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:47.519 Long telling you stories about me and Charlie. So I 31 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:49.640 suppose before we get to the member questions, because we're 32 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.799 just sort of winging it today, we're just having fun. 33 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:56.040 We're just, you know, taking having a lark. Is it 34 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:58.840 necessary to have the obligatory segment about terras, which will 35 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.239 immediately be rendered You're meaningless by some other twister turn 36 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.680 in the next forty eight hours or forty eight minutes. 37 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.359 Would you like to say something, would you like to vent, 38 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.439 would you like to spleen dumb? Would you like to 39 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:12.759 open a vein on everybody? Or are you just sort 40 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:15.120 of tired and beaten down by it all? And waiting 41 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:17.719 for the next week to change things again. 42 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:22.759 I'm never too beaten down to vent my spleen. James, 43 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:27.319 all right, well, it's silly, isn't it. It's counterproductive economically, 44 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:31.360 it's counterproductive politically. And here's the bit that I don't understand. 45 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:33.000 You don't need to hear me go on and on 46 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:37.240 again about the economics, but the politics of it fascinate me. 47 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:40.560 We just had a report that consumer confidence is the 48 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:47.960 worst it's been for years, that people are worried about 49 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:52.240 inflation in a way that they haven't been since Joe 50 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.360 Biden was alive. 51 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:57.280 What were the lace of the last inflation numbers, by 52 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:57.719 the way. 53 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.680 Very good, But this is the politics. Inflation went down 54 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:06.960 people expected to be seven percent? Why? Because of tariffs? 55 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:12.240 And my question is, even if you feel obliged to 56 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.520 defend Trump in this particular, don't you want the rest 57 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:19.240 of his agenda? Don't you want the rest of his 58 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:20.479 presidency to work? 59 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:21.400 Yes? 60 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:24.159 I don't understand the gamble here. 61 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:27.240 I know. I think the gamble is is that all 62 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:29.280 of this will be short term, and that everyone will 63 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.039 come to the table and that'll be good news, and 64 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:33.159 that it won't have an inflationary effect and that it 65 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.520 will all be forgotten in a month, which is entirely 66 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.639 possible given the speed at which these things pass these days. 67 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:41.879 But they ought to do a better job of touting 68 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.599 what they are doing. Had a post up on Ricochet yesterday. 69 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:48.199 This morning, there's a cabinet meeting. When they aired the cabinet, 70 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:50.360 it's all on TikTok and it's all on YouTube, and 71 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:53.400 everybody sits down and gives the report about what they're doing, 72 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:57.560 and it's like a wish list of the basic conservative ideas, 73 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.360 with the exception of a couple of things. And it's 74 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.680 really remarkable because when you look at it, as I 75 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:06.319 wrote on the Ricochet dot com, which you should join people, 76 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:11.240 nearly every single one of them is something that people 77 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:14.360 on the right would say, good glad we're getting on that. 78 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.120 And you realize if there was a Harris administration that 79 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:19.240 none of that would have happened. In fact, we'd have 80 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.000 the absolute inversion of every single one of those ideas, 81 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:26.680 all of them. And so yeah, they really a probably 82 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.480 are doing a bad job of communicating these things, or 83 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.360 they contend to communicate them in the usual means modern 84 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:37.759 means now, which is memes and social media. And two, yes, 85 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:43.480 this is bad for the future agenda because if you 86 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:46.639 do indeed have the dislocations, the economic dislocations that people 87 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.720 are worrying about, then the midterms are shot. But we'll see, 88 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:54.199 we'll see. It's a zesty farago, is it not. 89 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:57.759 You were going to say, well, the best case scenario 90 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.240 you just outlined is it's forgotten in a month. That's 91 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.160 the best case. 92 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.639 I well, no, politically, that's the best case. I'm not 93 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:09.879 saying economically, culturally, socially, etcetera. It's the best case, right. 94 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:12.199 But my point is that even if you were going 95 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.680 to do this, which I oppose, not least because I 96 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:20.240 think it's unconstitutional to delegate the tariff power, I agree, 97 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.079 But if you were going to do this, you do 98 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:28.639 it later. Because presidencies, and this is to us extensively 99 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:35.199 because we have created a pope like presidency and become 100 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.240 very superstitious about it. But it's nevertheless true that presidencies 101 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:44.199 rise and fall on the economy. And Trump last time 102 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:47.759 around did a pretty good job on the economy. The 103 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:51.000 twenty nineteen economy was not there because of Trump, the 104 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:54.720 Great and Wise Trump, but he did things that helped 105 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.519 create the circumstances of twenty nineteen that people really liked, 106 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:03.439 the tax bill that he signed, the deregulation in which 107 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:07.199 he engaged. These were good things that created stability and 108 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:11.959 optimism and investment, and because of that he should have 109 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.079 been able to then move on to other things. Now 110 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:17.720 he wasn't because he was very unlucky with COVID. I'm 111 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:20.680 pretty defensive of Trump over COVID. I think that Trump 112 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.240 dealt with it, okay, I think no other president would 113 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:26.839 have done better. We were all in very, very strange place. 114 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:30.399 And he also had a lot of his early presidential 115 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:36.160 months years even taken up with absurd lawfare and Russia Gate. 116 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.920 So I have a great deal of time for the 117 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:42.920 idea that Trump was screwed over in his first term 118 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:47.240 quite frequently. But the lesson from the first term is 119 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:51.480 if you create an economic environment that works for people, 120 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:57.240 which twenty nineteen did via the usual conservative policies, people 121 00:06:57.439 --> 00:06:59.920 like you, and when people like you, they have a 122 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:01.680 lot of time for the rest of your agenda. Now, 123 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:03.360 Trump is doing very well on the border, with the 124 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:06.000 exception of some due process questions that I object to, 125 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:07.839 but as a rule, he's doing very very well on 126 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:10.279 the border, and people are responding to it. His approval 127 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:13.279 rating in that area is very high. I just think 128 00:07:13.319 --> 00:07:15.240 that the smart political player would have been to come 129 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:18.759 in do what he's done on the border, do what 130 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.439 he did in twenty seventeen, renew the tax cuts, pro 131 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:25.519 growth policies, do some cuts which he doesn't seem to 132 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:30.800 want to do, deregulate which he is doing, and then 133 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.680 go about the difficult bits. Now that's not to say 134 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:38.120 I'm not going to suddenly endorse all of this tariff stuff, 135 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:40.439 both because I think it's unconstitutional for the president to 136 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:42.800 do and I think that it is just absurdly over 137 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:45.800 the top. It's one thing to have a China policy. 138 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.800 It's another to put ten percent tariffs on people who 139 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.319 don't have tariffs on us, with whom we have a 140 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:53.120 trade surplus, to talk to our allies as we do, 141 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:54.800 and all the rest of it. But some of the 142 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:58.199 things Trump wants to do are quite difficult to get done. 143 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:02.920 They require persuasion, and they are not necessarily sixty forty 144 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.480 seventy to thirty propositions. And I really worry that the 145 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:09.279 rest of those things have now been set back by 146 00:08:09.639 --> 00:08:11.839 the chaos that has been unleased in the last two weeks. 147 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.920 So that's why I think it's politically bizarre. Anyway, we 148 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.319 can move on side questions now that I. 149 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.399 Get that and I agree. The only thing that I 150 00:08:19.399 --> 00:08:21.079 will say, and I'm not saying that I agree with it, 151 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:23.360 that I understand the argument is that you are not 152 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:25.720 going to get China's attention otherwise, and you're not going 153 00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:29.040 to get China to do anything otherwise because, as we know, 154 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.480 everyone sits down around a table and talks for two 155 00:08:31.560 --> 00:08:34.360 years and comes up with something that eventually, supposedly down 156 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:38.039 the road and twenty twenty nine, we'll begin to address 157 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.759 the problem of possible finds for IP stealing in the 158 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:45.519 rest of them, and everything goes on as usual, and 159 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:48.440 everything that you buy on Amazon continues to be Timu 160 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.799 junk and etc. Etc. And this rankles Trunk in a 161 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:56.519 way that just apparently is just a corrosive, acid soaked 162 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.200 popcorn hull and his goal in his gums. And we've 163 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:01.279 been hearing it for years. But you're right, let's get 164 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.679 onto questions. Because members of Ricochet, of which there are many, 165 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.080 and they are a wonderful bunch with great opinions may 166 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:12.799 put some questions on Ricochet for Charles and to address, 167 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.559 and the first comes from Michael Minette. Question, what do 168 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.399 you see as the pros and cons of the current 169 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.440 global Packs Americana. Do you think there's a practical way 170 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.879 to pay for it without beggaring the American people? 171 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.840 Charles, Oh, I have many thoughts. Thore's are two separate questions. 172 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:32.759 I think the Packs Americana is a wonderful thing and 173 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.799 that it would be an absolute disaster if we traded 174 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.120 it for a Pax something else. The Packs of Americana followed 175 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:45.559 the Pax Britannica. The Pax Britannica was broadly begun in 176 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:51.279 eighteen oh five on the water and in eighteen fifteen 177 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.879 on the land, with the battles of Fifaga and Waterloo, respectively. 178 00:09:57.000 --> 00:09:59.279 In nineteen forty five, at the end of the Second 179 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:03.399 World Warish Empire was exhausted and depleted and broke, and 180 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:07.639 we handed over control of the seas to the United States. 181 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:10.279 That sounds like said we did it out of the kindness. 182 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:10.360 Of our heart. 183 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.159 We had to, but we passed the bat on to 184 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.679 another English speaking nation with the rule of law. And 185 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:18.440 this is a wonderful thing. This is why the world 186 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:21.480 looks as it does, is that America is in charge 187 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:26.960 because the alternatives are all awful. China, Russia, France. We 188 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.039 don't want those people. 189 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:34.360 You can take the British citizenry out of the man 190 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:38.480 but you but you can't take the British desire to 191 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.919 just take a little swipey if possible. Yes, I don't 192 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.000 think there'll be a Friendshire pack. 193 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:47.279 But that's the first part. So we should want this 194 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:52.799 because there is no alternative. How do we pay for it? Look, 195 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:59.039 this does cost us, but not that much. In nineteen 196 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:03.000 sixty that would have been much more difficult to interrogate 197 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.519 because fifty percent of the federal budget was spent on defense. Now, 198 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:10.919 the amount we spend on defense, I believe is eight percent, 199 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:15.320 and that is less than we're paying on interest on 200 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:21.679 the debt. We do not, relative to other things, spend 201 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:24.879 very much on our military or on the packs. Americana. 202 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:31.519 Relative to other nations in both absolute terms and when 203 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.000 compared to our GDP, we spend quite a lot, but 204 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:40.159 we do not spend much on defense compared to say, 205 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:44.519 social Security or Medicare, or interest on the debt. And 206 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.240 because of that, I think that the packs of Americana 207 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:54.639 is a bargain. So if you were looking at the 208 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:57.440 budget and the question were and ought to be given 209 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:01.519 our predicament, where do we cut? That's the last thing 210 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.720 I would cut, because that is, in my estimation, the 211 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:09.879 reason we have a federal government. The federal government, whether 212 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:11.679 it's a good idea or not, does not exist to 213 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.840 provide social security or Medicare, or the Department of Education 214 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:19.120 or farm subsidies, or to borrow money every year. The 215 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:24.960 federal government exists primarily for international relations and within that 216 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:30.799 for defense, and I am open to the idea that 217 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:35.840 across the board cuts would involve some reductions in defense spending, 218 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:38.080 although I think there are solid arguments against that too. 219 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:41.279 But to start with that, or to make that the 220 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:46.960 focal point of any inquiry into our expenditures, seems to 221 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:47.759 me backwards. 222 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:49.639 The cons woul seem to be that we feel obligated 223 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:53.120 to get involved in conflicts which manifestly on the surface, 224 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:55.559 do not seem to be issues you care about. And 225 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.720 that's why people on the right are indifferent to Ukraine 226 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.679 or what the off effect would be if Russia just 227 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.679 had taken over and rolled it up, and they're indifferent 228 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:07.360 in a large part. And I see you get a 229 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.720 lot of this from Vance to Europe in general. And 230 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:12.279 I was trying to explain this to somebody the other 231 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:15.799 day who is European and was baffled by what they 232 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.600 see as antipathy to Europe amongst people on the conservative site, 233 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:22.840 not all, but some. And I think it has to 234 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.879 do twofold. Part of it is maybe, look, we've been 235 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:27.919 you know, we've been paying for your defense, which allows 236 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:31.159 you to essentially perform the government equivalent of taking a 237 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:34.240 long vacation. You know, you get to spend the money 238 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.600 as you wish on the things that you like because 239 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:38.240 you know that we're going to be there to back 240 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.639 you up, and you don't have to spend any money, 241 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.240 and you can't project power, and your armies consists basically 242 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:46.399 of bureaucrats, and you know your guns are rusty, and 243 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:48.840 that we find that contemptuous. Why wouldn't you want to 244 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:51.159 be able to defend yourself. But the other part of 245 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.960 it is is that I think people on the right, 246 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:55.840 correctly or not, believe that there is a general lack 247 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.559 of faith in the European idea at all, and that 248 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:02.279 there's sort of been a combination of a hand waving, 249 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:08.720 techno utopian, transnationalist belief that all individual national identities can 250 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:13.320 be subsumed into this wonderful European project, coupled with a 251 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:19.279 sort of you know, strange, subconscious desire for cultural suicide 252 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:24.000 that requires the changing of the national character by importation 253 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:26.240 of people who are antithetical to it. And so we 254 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.240 look at this and say, you know, the reason perhaps 255 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:31.519 that America is not interested in Europe anymore is that 256 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:34.639 Europe doesn't seem to be interested in being Europe. Is 257 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:36.559 that you want to be a collection of quaint little 258 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:40.480 tourist places, dense little cities with nice old churches and 259 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.519 twisty streets and cafes and the rest of it. And 260 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:45.399 beyond that, you know, we'll visit and we'll see you 261 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.320 art and your art, and then get our stamped the 262 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.840 passport and go. But Americans don't feel that same sort 263 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:54.120 of connection as they used it. And part of it 264 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.840 may be again because we're a couple of more generations 265 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.759 distant from the immigrant project, with so many people from 266 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:03.000 your came over. You know, you know, now we have 267 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.159 the grandchildren of DPS. We don't have the children of 268 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.559 DPS and so just all those connections get severed. And 269 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.759 I hate it, frankly, because you know, the history of Europe, 270 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:14.799 bloody and awful and remarkable and storied as it is, 271 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:16.960 is a unique story in the elevation of the human 272 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.120 spirit and individual liberty, and I hate to find us 273 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.600 disconnected on an emotive as well as intellectual level from it, 274 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:27.919 says I. But then again, I'm not European. Let's go 275 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.879 to Henry henriqu castein this is this is great. I'm 276 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:36.200 getting out my twelve foot pole because I'm not going 277 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.960 to touch this with a ten. Don't leave it to 278 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:41.399 Would we be better off if we got rid of 279 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:45.120 universal suffrage? I'm sorry, I almost went daffy duck on you. 280 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.360 Storage would we be better off if we got rid 281 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:53.360 of universal suffrage? Because that's what's going That's what's going 282 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:55.559 to happen now with the new voting requirements, right, and 283 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.480 I'm won't be able to vote unless they show up 284 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:02.120 in a handmade tale outfit or provide some documents or 285 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.960 something like that. Would would be better? Charles? And what 286 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:07.840 is the argument? What is he saying though? What basically, 287 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.080 what's the underlying point that he's making because I think 288 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:11.879 we know what it is. Well. 289 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:16.399 Look, the United States is a republic, and it was 290 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.679 founded by people who are openly skeptical of democracy as 291 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:26.480 they had seen it operate in various places around the 292 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.440 world for the two thousand years prior to the founding. 293 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:35.679 We still have a great deal of skepticism towards democracy 294 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.799 in the United States. That's what the Constitution is, especially 295 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:44.200 the Bill of Rights. The notion that the public is 296 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:50.600 always right is a silly one, but there really is 297 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:55.639 no better mechanism to correct the behavior of those in 298 00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:03.120 power than elections. If you look at even the last 299 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.440 ten to fifteen years, it's been necessary over and over 300 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:13.519 again for the public to step in, especially with a 301 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:21.279 secret ballot that is inoculated against the pressures of public life, 302 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:28.279 and make their preferences clear. I don't want to see 303 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:30.200 that go away. I think that's an integral part of 304 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:34.480 the system. I think that our problem is not so 305 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:38.440 much in the balance of what we allow to be 306 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:42.759 voted on and what we don't, or in the balance 307 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:48.279 of who we allowed to vote, women, eighteen year old immigrants, 308 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:52.000 or what you are. I think our problem is that 309 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:56.680 we have put far too much authority in the hands 310 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:01.319 of the national government and then subject that national government 311 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.039 to the democratic will, and that's why we're all angry 312 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:11.519 with one another. I hear very few complaints about democracy 313 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:16.640 from people at the state level. Now, yes, I live 314 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:20.559 in Florida, and Florida has been a success story, but 315 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.839 I don't hear from those in other places Iowa, Wyoming, Massachusetts. 316 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:32.680 I'm really worried about this or that election, But nationally, 317 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:35.880 whenever we have an election, everyone panics because there's so 318 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:39.839 much riding on it. So I don't think our issue 319 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:42.319 is with the franchise. I think our issue is with 320 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:46.079 the vertical allocation of power, which is massively out of 321 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.359 whack in favor of the federal government. America is a 322 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:52.039 pretty diverse place. I say diverse in the useful sense 323 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:55.880 of that word, not in the dei sense, which really 324 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.799 means getting people who have differently mutable characteristics but all 325 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:01.880 agree and putting them in the same room. I mean 326 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:04.559 that it is a good thing that Minnesota is different 327 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.759 than Florida, because Minnesotans are different than Floridians. But if 328 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.519 you ask them to channel all of their political preferences 329 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.160 and energies through Washington, d C. They are going to 330 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.599 come to blost. That's the issue. As far as I 331 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:23.319 see it, I wouldn't change the eligibility for voting. 332 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:28.680 Well, you're right, and that is why it is baffling 333 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:31.839 to well, it isn't. But it is baffling why people 334 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:36.440 insist that we are presently under the increasing pressure of 335 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.480 the jack boot of fascism on our next because of 336 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:44.359 getting rid of the Department of Education. If you had 337 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:46.720 an administration that said we are now going to subsume 338 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.480 all educational requirements in Washington under the Department of Education, 339 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.799 if Trump had done this and said that we are 340 00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:56.640 now going this is the uniform National pro America curriculum 341 00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:59.359 that's going to be instituted, and people would scream that 342 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:03.599 this was that this was fascism. But if a liberal 343 00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:05.920 government did, a leftist government comes in and says, the 344 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:08.240 Department of Education is now going to be given double 345 00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:11.119 its budget because we're past the horrible days of Trump 346 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:14.720 and we're going to sweep out all these old ideas 347 00:20:14.759 --> 00:20:17.079 and institute this new thing, which we guarantee, if you 348 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:18.799 look at the stats and figures, are going to teach 349 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.640 our children well and all, by the way, tell them, 350 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.039 give them all the ideological tools that they need to 351 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:28.200 be good citizens, good planetary citizens, good climate citizens, and 352 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:32.440 the rest of it. That's to me, an idiot that 353 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.119 I am, seems closer to fascism than saying we're getting 354 00:20:35.160 --> 00:20:37.160 rid of the national Department and devolving everything down to 355 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:39.599 the states. The more you devolve down to the individual, 356 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.559 down to the smaller units of government, the less I 357 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:47.279 don't know fascism you seem to have, so that I 358 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:50.599 don't get And I'm all in favor of doing this 359 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:53.759 because it's more responsive, it's more immediate. I've got a 360 00:20:53.799 --> 00:20:58.640 better chance of going to my local city council. Well, no, 361 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:01.000 my city council is hopeless, but I've got a better 362 00:21:01.079 --> 00:21:03.799 chance of influencing something at a local level than I 363 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.279 do possibly being my one vote is you know, a 364 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:12.519 tincture of iodine into this great ocean of blue. So, yes, 365 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.920 you're right, You're absolutely right. It's the concentration of power 366 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:19.319 in the hands of the government. And if there's nothing else, 367 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:22.400 I hope that the left looks at the last one 368 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:25.720 hundred hundred and twenty days and says, you know, these 369 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:29.519 executive voter things here, let's rethink exactly how this works 370 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:32.000 in a democracy, because I'm not crazy about them, and 371 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:36.240 I wish that there was an instinctive revulsion on both 372 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:39.440 parts to ram stuff through using that. I prefer the 373 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:43.000 legislative process, That's what it was set up for. But 374 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:46.759 here's the thing. I think Henry's playing with us. I 375 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.960 think what Henry really means is didn't all of our 376 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:56.160 troubles start when women got the vote? And I think 377 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:58.680 the reason he thinks that, or he's just playing with us, 378 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:01.720 And because it's something that you hear people actually say, 379 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.400 you know that that wasn't the best idea. I mean, 380 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.000 I suppose we had to. What they're ascribing to the 381 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.519 female vote or half of it is a sort of 382 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:17.440 out group empathy amongst liberal women who have you know, 383 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.599 the childless cat ladies that shad Evans was talking about, 384 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:25.480 who regarded as a as a for a badge of 385 00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:29.880 moral superiority, that they have great empathy and uh and 386 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:33.359 well desire to help people who are completely outside of 387 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:36.160 their own social group, their own social norm, their own cohort, 388 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:41.599 their own tribe, whatever, and that this meaningless consequence free 389 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:46.319 desire to spread money and gifts and the rest of 390 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:51.119 it to populations for whom they have a strange, disconnected 391 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:54.559 empathy and sympathy has actually been injurious to the to 392 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:57.920 the government, and to the and to society. That that, 393 00:22:58.039 --> 00:22:59.680 I think is the point that he's trying to make 394 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.359 us say. And that's something that I hear from somebody. 395 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:05.960 I know that that's not the case in your household. 396 00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:09.599 Charley, Well, my wife thinks simon a left wing squish, 397 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:13.599 So imagine if that is where Henry's driving, then he 398 00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:16.720 would make an exception for her. Yes, my wife is 399 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:18.599 somewhere to the rights of Attila the hun. 400 00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:24.720 Well, yes, I can imagine a fun weekend at the 401 00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.839