Year 249

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Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.

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I want to personally thank you for listening to the podcast.

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truth to power, and to expand and improve the show.

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listen to it. That will help the podcast tremendously.

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Third, go to the website, momenteric.com. There you can subscribe to the podcast,

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leave reviews and comments, listen to past episodes, and even learn a little bit about your host.

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Tell someone else about the podcast. Encourage others to listen to the podcast

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make this moment a movement.

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Thanks in advance for supporting the podcast of our time. I hope you enjoy this episode as well.

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The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.

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Music.

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Hello, and welcome to Another Moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

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So, as I am recording this, this is our 249th Independence Day.

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249 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental

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Congress that had convened to declare the independence from Great Britain.

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At that point, we had been in battle with the kingdom of Great Britain for about a year.

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And, you know, significant events had taken place, the Boston Massacre,

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the Boston Tea Party, Lexington and Concord.

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So this was a formal declaration by the colonies that existed,

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that they wanted to govern themselves and be independent of a king.

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And so we commemorate that day as the day that this country was founded.

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The Constitution would not be ratified until 13 years later.

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But as far as the United States being an independent nation,

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this is the day that we commemorate that.

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So I hope that when you listen to this, that you have, you had a good holiday weekend.

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That despite what's going on in the nation currently, that you personally had

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a good holiday and that you got to hang out with friends, family, neighbors,

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got to see some fireworks, got to watch some baseball,

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tennis, whatever you're into.

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And that you enjoyed a moment, you found some fun.

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This is also a significant time for me because, as far as this podcast is concerned,

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because on July 1st, 2019, is when I first aired A Moment with Erik Fleming.

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And in the beginning, for those who are just now finding this show, it was just me talking.

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It started off with me being upset about the current president,

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who was the president at that time as well,

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and just trying to vent some frustration.

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Because all my life, I revered the presidency of the United States as one of

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the most important titles in the world.

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Definitely the most important job in this country because that individual was

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a symbol of how we could unite and choose a leader.

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And of course, when I first started paying attention to that,

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like when I was three, four years old, you know, I was real naïve about that.

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I just thought it was cool that somebody could be chosen to be the President of the United States.

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Now, of course, as I got older and I got personally engaged in politics,

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I realized it's not as smooth or as unifying as I thought it would be.

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But it's still a great concept that the citizens of the nation choose somebody

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to represent them in front of the world and to govern,

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not rule, because there's a difference, but govern.

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Work with the Congress, work with the judicial branch,

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coordinate with the different governors and even the mayors of cities to make

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this country function and to allow people to live their lives and thrive in

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the lives that they're living.

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I think it's an incredibly noble concept.

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But with all things, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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And where we have not gotten to the point where we have absolute power in the

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presidency, it's pretty close.

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And it's not because of one dynamic individual.

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That's really never the case. it's the capitulation of many individuals ceding

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power to that one person.

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If you're the Speaker of the House or the President Pro Tem in the Senate or

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Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, you have a unique role to play in governing the nation as well.

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You're not the President, whereas the whole nation doesn't choose you.

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Heck, the chief justice doesn't even come before the people for a vote.

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But the way that that constitutional document was written, there was a science to it.

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Having experienced being under a monarch,

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it was very deliberate of those men who boarded themselves up in the heat to

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craft a document that would help govern the nation,

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that people would swear to defend with their life.

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There was a science and a rhythm to that document.

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And Henry Clay, who some people consider one of the greatest Congress people ever to live,

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basically said that it was a living document, right?

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And the majority of us, the overwhelming majority of us understood that.

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And if we didn't understand it, we hope for it, especially those of us who identify

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or come from the black community.

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We have always believed that a document written by people that owned us that

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could include us, right?

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And so, you know, I admire the people that acknowledged Frederick Douglass' speech on July the 4th.

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I think it was in the 1840s. I have to go back and look at that.

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Might have been earlier in that, I don't know. But, you know,

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he was one of the great orators of our time, of our history, I should say.

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And he was expressing the viewpoint of African-Americans, the slaves and, you know, for that time.

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And there's still some relevance to it today, but I have always made the argument

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that those descendants of slaves who went to law school,

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went to universities and colleges, whether they were HBCUs or PWIs,

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took their knowledge and took the challenge that Frederick Douglass offered

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and demanded that this nation recognize us as full citizens.

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And there's three amendments, the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th amendment,

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that above all else gives us that credence, gives us that credibility, right? Right.

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And because of those three amendments, we've been able to make the Constitution,

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make the Declaration of Independence, our documents as well,

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and has given us the strategy and the foundation to fight battles to this very day.

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So, you know, I know a lot of people get frustrated about where we are.

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I'm one of those people. And I've said this before,

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but it's always good to remind folks that I bought into the fact that we can

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do a lot of what we need to do being engaged in the political system rather than abandoning it.

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And again, I always state that you don't have to be a political junkie like

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me, but you do need to be engaged.

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You do need to vote. You do need to pay attention to who these people are in

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these positions, right?

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When you go to the tag office to get your tag, the guy who runs that office

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is on the ballot every four years.

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Now, the guy in Georgia has been around for a long time.

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I would venture to say he's probably one of the longest serving tax commissioners in the country.

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Definitely one of the longest serving black ones, right?

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But it's like he runs unopposed. I think this last election he had some opposition.

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But it's just kind of like, you know, he's been there so long as the name you know.

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And as long as people can still get their tags and they can get in and out and

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everything's automated and it's convenient.

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There's no need to really get rid of him, right?

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But it's only a select few people that pay attention to the fact that he doesn't get elected.

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In Mississippi, there was a position, every county had a position called a county surveyor, right?

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So this is a person that you elect to decide who gets the contracts to do the work in the county.

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As far as parceling out land or, you know, determining where the right-of-way

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is on the road, selecting who, you know, having some say-so in who does work on the road.

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That person's elected. Now, I don't know, since I've been gone from the legislature

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there for a while, I don't know if they've abolished that position or what have you.

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I don't think there's been a constitutional amendment to do that, but it may happen.

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But every county elects that person.

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So little things like that, you think, well, you know, it is what it is.

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No, Well, there is a process.

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You have to have somebody to do that work.

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And you, citizens, choose who that person is.

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My wake-up call in politics was, first time I ever voted, I'm going to vote

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for Harold Washington in Chicago.

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And I'm excited about all that and all that, but now I'm going down the ballot

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about all these different positions,

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the court of deeds and city clerk and council, you know, the alderman, all that stuff, right?

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So, you know, some of that stuff, because I was engaged a little bit,

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I knew. And then we had judicial positions.

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But then it came down to a part of the ballot that said the University of Illinois

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Chicago Board of Trustees.

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I had to pick eight of those people. I had to vote for eight people out of a slew.

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And I forget how many names were actually on the ballot, but it was three times

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the amount that you needed.

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At least three times. It was more than 24 names.

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And I had no clue who any of these people were. I had not received any campaign literature.

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Nobody in the media talked about it, nothing.

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So I just voted for the people who seem like they may come from my community, right?

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And then when I thought about it and remembered their names,

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I said, I'm sure there are people in other parts of the city that are doing

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the exact same thing I am doing.

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Because they have no clue who these people are. They had no clue that they had to vote on it.

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There's some people who probably just skipped it altogether,

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just said, look, I don't know who these people are. I'm not even voting for that.

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But not voting made a difference.

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And to be honest, voting out of ignorance made a difference too,

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but not voting made a difference, right?

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Because your vote could have determined whether a qualified person got in,

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even if you didn't know if they were qualified or not.

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Just the fact that you marked their name gave them a shot, right?

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And figure in the scheme of things it would balance out and,

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you know, it was pretty reflective of the community because there were some

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people that knew who these people were.

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Whatever additional votes they got, besides the people that actually knew them, made a difference.

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And so now in this day and age where we see books being banned and superintendents

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mandating that you have to learn about the 2020 election was stolen and you

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had to use Trump Bibles and all this stuff.

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I think people realize that even those positions that you didn't think folks

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need to be elected to, you need to pay attention to that.

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I was very fortunate to live in a state that was progressive.

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But just imagine if I was voting for the University of Oklahoma Board of Trustees

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and I didn't know any of these people's names.

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Pretty dangerous. Right.

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So I don't even know if you vote for the Board of Trustees of the University

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of Oklahoma, to be honest, but I just use that as an example.

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So I say all that to say that we have to be diligent. We have to pay attention because it matters.

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The right council person could determine how safe your streets are,

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how safe your community is, how effective garbage pickup is in your neighborhood.

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Electing the right mayor will determine how safe your city would be,

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how a vision for affordable housing could come into play, how people perceive

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the city throughout the world.

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Very, very important, you know. And I always made the argument that more people

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should vote for the, if you had to have a disparity,

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more people should vote for who their council people are and who their mayor

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is than who should be president.

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Now, I'm one of those people that believe that you should vote for everybody and everything, right?

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Every amendment that comes up, a referendum, whatever. Pay attention.

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Because when they put an amendment on a ballot in your respective states,

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that's going into your state constitution.

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That's going to be the law. When you swear to take an oath to your state constitution,

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you're taking an oath to that thing that you had a chance to vote on.

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Whether it's making hunting a constitutional right or determining how schools

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are going to be funded, right?

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All that stuff can be on your ballot.

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One constitutional amendment in California changed the education dynamic so drastically.

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They went from every citizen of the state of California being able to get a

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free college education to now you got record number of people taking out student

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loans and defaulting to go to a California institution.

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That's the power of voting. That's the difference voting makes.

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And so I do this podcast to highlight people in the community to do the work

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to talk about the issues that are before us but the most important thing is

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I want you to be engaged so if you're engaged,

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you're going to vote if you're paying attention to what's happening and you

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believe in the process you're going to vote.

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I can make suggestions about who to vote for and all that. I don't really get into that.

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I'm very opinionated about where I stand about issues.

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So I want you to take that with a grain of salt. If you agree with me,

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you'll vote accordingly. If you disagree with me, you'll vote accordingly.

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But I want you to vote. I want you to take the information that I provide and use that.

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Do your own research. church, it's kind of like the rule with the pastor, right?

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When you go to church, for those of you who are in the Christian church,

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when you go to church, a lot of pastors, a lot of preachers will say,

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don't take my word for it. It's in the Bible.

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So they're basically encouraging you to do your own research.

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If you don't believe what he's saying or she's saying in the pulpit,

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then grab the book yourself and read it and determine what it means, right?

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And if you agree with that, good. If you don't agree with that, question.

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In the political process, if you agree with that, vote for the person you agree with.

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If you disagree with that, then don't vote for that person.

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Vote for the other person, and hopefully you agree with that person, right? Okay.

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It comes up in these presidential elections a lot of times, speaking about that,

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about voting for the person you agree with, that a lot of folks say,

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well, voting for a third-party candidate doesn't matter.

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I won't say that it doesn't matter. I will say that you need to be accountable for that vote, right?

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Whether you vote for a Democrat or Republican, a Green Party,

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Libertarian, whatever, that's

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the person you support it. and you need to defend that position, right?

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If you're saying I'm looking for an alternative to the two-party system, cool.

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But there's consequences to that, right?

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But it's not the voters' fault that they're displeased.

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What I blame is the people who offer these

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folks to run for the highest position in the land and they don't offer candidates

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to run for Congress or governor or state legislative positions or mayor or city

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council positions or county positions.

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They just run somebody for president.

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If that person gets in and the rest of the Congress is comprised of people who

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are either Democrat or Republican, how effective would that third-party person be?

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It's okay to be a protest candidate or a protest vote, but I think it's disingenuous

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when you tell people that you can win,

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and that you can do anything once you get in there because you haven't done

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the groundwork to make sure that you can get people in.

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See, as great as Michael Jordan, as great as Tom Brady, as great as Sandy Koufax

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were individually in their respective sports, They played on a team, right?

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Politics is not like golf. Well, in some instances, but it's not like tennis.

00:21:48.872 --> 00:21:51.992
You know, one person can't make the difference.

00:21:52.852 --> 00:21:57.472
It's a team thing. Not only do you have to get elected, but you've got to get

00:21:57.472 --> 00:22:01.932
people who think like you to get elected in order to push forward the agenda.

00:22:02.652 --> 00:22:06.952
If you don't believe me, look at what's happening now. Right?

00:22:08.998 --> 00:22:14.998
Is able to do what he wants to do because he has a team. And if the team bucks

00:22:14.998 --> 00:22:21.698
a little or challenges, he threatens to kick them off the team and they get in line, right?

00:22:22.638 --> 00:22:24.478
So you gotta have a team concept.

00:22:25.598 --> 00:22:29.038
And we have to have a team concept, black folks, as far as voting.

00:22:29.718 --> 00:22:35.878
We gotta vote for the individuals that we believe are going to look out for our best interests.

00:22:36.818 --> 00:22:42.198
Now, we're not monolithic, So we're not going to agree that every person in

00:22:42.198 --> 00:22:47.638
every race, you know, we're not going to agree on voting for that same candidate.

00:22:48.558 --> 00:22:50.018
And we have options.

00:22:50.958 --> 00:22:55.718
A lot of that can be worked out in the party primary. And then once we get through

00:22:55.718 --> 00:23:01.218
that, then people can coalesce behind that one candidate that manages to get to the primary.

00:23:02.458 --> 00:23:07.498
But we do have to look at what's offered, especially in the general election.

00:23:08.278 --> 00:23:10.658
And make a determination who's the best person.

00:23:11.638 --> 00:23:16.778
And again, it's not going to be 100 percent. But we got to we got to make the

00:23:16.778 --> 00:23:18.158
case and we got to show up to vote.

00:23:19.118 --> 00:23:23.298
Can't root from the sideline and say, oh, I hope they win. You got to do your part.

00:23:24.578 --> 00:23:29.158
And people say, well, you know, the president's not elected by popular vote,

00:23:29.158 --> 00:23:31.558
so my vote really doesn't count.

00:23:31.678 --> 00:23:37.678
Yes, it does, because it may not mean anything from a national perspective,

00:23:37.978 --> 00:23:45.638
but your candidate wins that state that you live in, then that person wins those electoral votes,

00:23:46.298 --> 00:23:48.298
and they get some closer to being president.

00:23:48.938 --> 00:23:54.558
I don't like the electoral college, But until we change it in the Constitution,

00:23:54.998 --> 00:23:56.278
that's what we deal with.

00:23:57.638 --> 00:24:01.498
So we got to win. We got to vote to win our state.

00:24:04.275 --> 00:24:08.315
Candidate that's best suited for us needs our support.

00:24:09.175 --> 00:24:14.995
Again, not cheering, not as my friend tells a classic story when he's out campaigning

00:24:14.995 --> 00:24:19.855
and he has some guy, hey, I need you to vote. He said, I can't do it today. I'll get you tomorrow.

00:24:20.735 --> 00:24:24.995
It wasn't early voting. It was election day, Right.

00:24:25.895 --> 00:24:34.255
So, you know, democracy, governance, politics is a participatory activity.

00:24:34.975 --> 00:24:43.335
Now, if I had this podcast and I never voted, then what I would be saying would be worthless.

00:24:44.075 --> 00:24:50.975
But not only did I vote or do I vote in every election, but I actually was elected.

00:24:51.895 --> 00:24:57.215
That's how much I believe in what we're doing. And again, I'm not asking you

00:24:57.215 --> 00:25:05.415
to go as far as I go or be as engaged as I am engaged, but I do want you to be somewhat engaged.

00:25:05.415 --> 00:25:09.315
I do want you to at least know what's happening and I do want you to participate.

00:25:10.075 --> 00:25:11.495
I need you to participate.

00:25:12.455 --> 00:25:18.935
The democracy that we've had for 249 years, as flawed as it may have been,

00:25:18.935 --> 00:25:24.575
has only gotten better because we engaged, we participated.

00:25:25.355 --> 00:25:28.695
When we were outnumbered, we still participated.

00:25:29.595 --> 00:25:34.755
When we were denied a voice, we found one. And here we are.

00:25:35.515 --> 00:25:41.175
But the only way we can lose it is if we stop, if we disengage,

00:25:41.595 --> 00:25:44.335
if we give up, if we lose hope.

00:25:45.175 --> 00:25:48.475
And we don't have that luxury.

00:25:49.715 --> 00:25:55.035
And on the other side of the break, I'll give you an example of what that means.

00:25:55.935 --> 00:25:57.675
All right, guys, we'll catch y'all on the other side.

00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:19.120
Music.

00:26:18.964 --> 00:26:25.824
Are back. So when I left you all, I was saying that I wanted to give you an

00:26:25.824 --> 00:26:32.164
example of what disengaging or not participating would lead to.

00:26:33.604 --> 00:26:41.384
So this week, the United States Congress voted on a budget, H.R.

00:26:41.404 --> 00:26:46.184
1, for this term that, well, maybe it's S.R.

00:26:46.204 --> 00:26:49.924
1 now because they voted for the Senate version instead of the House version.

00:26:50.064 --> 00:26:59.424
Anyway, they voted for an appropriations bill that is going to do some major, major impact.

00:27:00.164 --> 00:27:04.284
It's going to have a major, major impact on all of us.

00:27:05.084 --> 00:27:09.584
Now, most federal legislation does, but this one is really, really significant

00:27:09.584 --> 00:27:18.244
because for a long time, I have made the argument that America does capitalism wrong.

00:27:19.004 --> 00:27:22.164
We pay to go to college.

00:27:22.884 --> 00:27:32.404
We, even at state schools, right, government-funded school, we pay for our health care.

00:27:33.384 --> 00:27:39.324
Doesn't matter if we go to the community hospital like University of Mississippi

00:27:39.324 --> 00:27:47.424
or Grady or Stroger, Cook County, doesn't matter. We got to pay for our health care.

00:27:48.224 --> 00:27:49.864
When we go to the doctor, when we

00:27:49.864 --> 00:27:52.744
go to the dentist, when we go to the eye doctor, we got to pay for that.

00:27:54.955 --> 00:28:00.175
Money to, like Israel and a few others.

00:28:00.915 --> 00:28:07.055
We give them money, but their folks don't have to pay to go to school.

00:28:07.275 --> 00:28:10.335
Their folks don't have to pay to go to the doctor.

00:28:11.135 --> 00:28:17.455
But we've got so much money in this country that we can give to those other folks, right?

00:28:18.775 --> 00:28:29.015
And that's a good thing because the money that we give to help people assures in a soft,

00:28:29.075 --> 00:28:33.575
diplomatic way that maybe these folks won't go to war, and maybe if they do

00:28:33.575 --> 00:28:35.735
go to war, they're not going to go to war against us.

00:28:36.495 --> 00:28:42.815
If we help them out during famines and economic crises and all these other things

00:28:42.815 --> 00:28:49.055
that maybe, just maybe, we can say, hey, you might want to treat your people a little better.

00:28:49.675 --> 00:28:51.175
Hey, do you really need to go

00:28:51.175 --> 00:28:55.535
fight this other country? Can we talk about this? Gives us some leverage.

00:28:56.115 --> 00:29:02.895
But this government, this current administration has ended that as of this week.

00:29:03.595 --> 00:29:10.235
So now we've lost leverage. And so this budget doesn't have money for that.

00:29:11.035 --> 00:29:17.755
Right? But not only that, the aforementioned healthcare that we talked about,

00:29:17.755 --> 00:29:22.515
the program that we do offer to help people that can't afford.

00:29:23.975 --> 00:29:26.415
Healthcare, we're scaling that back.

00:29:28.768 --> 00:29:34.248
Of close to a trillion dollars over the next 10 years.

00:29:34.968 --> 00:29:37.868
We're scaling back food assistance.

00:29:38.608 --> 00:29:43.668
For those of us of a certain age, food stamps. Current term is SNAP.

00:29:44.208 --> 00:29:52.148
We're scaling that back over a quarter of a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, right?

00:29:53.068 --> 00:29:56.608
And they say they're doing this to eliminate waste and fraud.

00:29:57.348 --> 00:30:03.068
But if you are concerned about waste and fraud and you're trying to balance

00:30:03.068 --> 00:30:05.548
the budget or reduce the deficit or whatever,

00:30:06.048 --> 00:30:13.448
then why would you increase the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement budget

00:30:13.448 --> 00:30:18.228
to the point where it is bigger than some countries' militaries?

00:30:19.428 --> 00:30:20.768
$45 billion.

00:30:22.068 --> 00:30:25.628
This legislation that just passed, this appropriations bill,

00:30:25.868 --> 00:30:33.228
makes ICE the largest law enforcement agency in the country and arguably the

00:30:33.228 --> 00:30:36.088
largest law enforcement agency in the world,

00:30:36.728 --> 00:30:38.228
larger than the FBI.

00:30:39.588 --> 00:30:46.048
So we're putting ICE in a territory where it's rivaling the military.

00:30:46.868 --> 00:30:52.088
We're putting more money in ICE than we are in the actual Border Patrol. right?

00:30:52.528 --> 00:30:57.928
The men and women who are assigned to protect the border, we're putting more

00:30:57.928 --> 00:31:01.588
money into the people that are rounding up people.

00:31:02.128 --> 00:31:09.968
And not in any kind of law enforcement ethical way, or ethical enforcement.

00:31:10.608 --> 00:31:14.588
You don't know if you're being kidnapped or you're being arrested.

00:31:14.588 --> 00:31:19.048
And we increased their budget, $45 billion.

00:31:20.128 --> 00:31:26.508
The guys that you've seen on TV covering their face, see on TikTok not identifying

00:31:26.508 --> 00:31:29.648
who they are or even what agency they're with, right?

00:31:31.487 --> 00:31:37.127
They're bounty hunters or they're actually federal law enforcement. You don't know.

00:31:38.227 --> 00:31:43.687
Some of these guys look more out of shape than me. We're giving them $45 billion,

00:31:44.227 --> 00:31:47.767
and we're cutting money to feed people.

00:31:48.707 --> 00:31:57.887
Overall border security over the next 10 years, we're increasing the budget $129 billion, dollars.

00:31:58.887 --> 00:32:05.727
Whereas the military, we're increasing their budget over the next 10 years by $150 billion.

00:32:07.027 --> 00:32:11.647
So, you know, part of that is going to be corrections, right?

00:32:12.007 --> 00:32:16.707
Or in the term with immigration, detention.

00:32:18.207 --> 00:32:23.267
Plus, there's some other things that we need to get into, but Like,

00:32:23.387 --> 00:32:24.687
for example, well, let's get into it.

00:32:27.267 --> 00:32:33.007
So one of the disturbing things is, y'all remember when folks kept talking to

00:32:33.007 --> 00:32:37.467
you about Project 2025 and Donald Trump said, well, I don't know nothing about that.

00:32:39.527 --> 00:32:44.907
But then he appoints the guy who wrote the book to be over the Office of Management

00:32:44.907 --> 00:32:48.487
and Budget to be one of his inner circle in the White House.

00:32:49.567 --> 00:32:57.947
Well, in this bill, there's been $100 billion set aside as basically a slush fund.

00:32:59.387 --> 00:33:03.927
Now, for those of you who have heard that term before, it's usually some criminal

00:33:03.927 --> 00:33:05.387
connotation put into that.

00:33:05.547 --> 00:33:12.447
But in government terms, a slush fund basically is a reserve fund.

00:33:12.747 --> 00:33:14.727
It's set aside for emergencies.

00:33:15.647 --> 00:33:19.107
In Mississippi, it's called a rainy day fund. right?

00:33:20.107 --> 00:33:26.947
So if the budget was short, you know, on revenue, and there were programs that we needed to,

00:33:27.667 --> 00:33:32.147
you know, services we needed to continue to provide, then we would pull what

00:33:32.147 --> 00:33:36.207
we had saved out of the rainy day fund to cover the shortfall, right?

00:33:37.107 --> 00:33:42.907
This fund is not necessarily for emergencies, it's for discretion. It's a,

00:33:43.883 --> 00:33:46.803
well, we're going to set aside $100 billion.

00:33:47.043 --> 00:33:52.643
So if the president says, hey, look, we need to get, I don't know.

00:33:54.883 --> 00:33:59.223
50, 160 new FBI agents in Spokane, Washington.

00:34:00.263 --> 00:34:03.803
I don't know why Spokane was on my mind. It's just firstly that came to my brain.

00:34:04.323 --> 00:34:13.483
Then you can take that 160, that money out of that $100 billion slush fund and put it towards that.

00:34:14.243 --> 00:34:18.963
Especially if the FBI doesn't have a budget to add those additional officers,

00:34:19.623 --> 00:34:24.063
right, or agents, or whatever the agenda is.

00:34:24.063 --> 00:34:27.803
If you want to hire somebody to help you close down the Department of Education,

00:34:28.003 --> 00:34:32.323
for example, a person get a contract out of that discretionary fund.

00:34:33.043 --> 00:34:34.643
It's never happened before.

00:34:35.483 --> 00:34:40.163
If it did, they had a lot more finesse in covering it up.

00:34:41.863 --> 00:34:46.123
But, you know, any other administration that tried to do that,

00:34:46.263 --> 00:34:50.723
they'd been like, oh, it's at least a corruption.

00:34:51.463 --> 00:34:58.263
But you hardly even heard any of the news media talking about it. But it's in there.

00:34:59.043 --> 00:35:03.503
$100 billion for this guy who wrote Project 2025.

00:35:04.583 --> 00:35:08.543
And again, if you haven't read it, you need to pay attention to it.

00:35:08.543 --> 00:35:11.863
Get a summary, get the cliff notes like you did in college or high school,

00:35:11.883 --> 00:35:17.143
and just kind of get an idea of where that $100 billion may go to.

00:35:17.823 --> 00:35:22.623
I gave you a clue, like with Department of Education, for example, shutting that down.

00:35:24.463 --> 00:35:27.743
So there's that. But the biggest thing,

00:35:28.203 --> 00:35:31.543
and it was the thing that, you know,

00:35:31.683 --> 00:35:36.943
just tickled me in the coverage of all this was that people said they were concerned

00:35:36.943 --> 00:35:43.503
about the debt increasing the federal deficit, right?

00:35:46.098 --> 00:35:56.138
Is huge. It's basically some estimates by economists three times what we bring in, right?

00:35:56.758 --> 00:36:01.478
And then it all depends on what you count as deficit and what you don't count

00:36:01.478 --> 00:36:10.238
because some of the deficit is based on one government agency funding another or whatever, right?

00:36:11.858 --> 00:36:15.538
The reality is that the federal deficit is huge.

00:36:16.598 --> 00:36:22.498
It hasn't been this big since we went into a world war, right?

00:36:22.978 --> 00:36:24.978
The last one, World War II.

00:36:25.598 --> 00:36:34.578
This budget in the next 10 years will increase that deficit by $4.5 trillion.

00:36:36.978 --> 00:36:43.598
And there's only one reason. why it's going to be that high of a deficit.

00:36:43.838 --> 00:36:47.498
And that's because of the tax cuts.

00:36:48.778 --> 00:36:55.258
In 2017, President Trump put in a five-year reduction in tax,

00:36:55.898 --> 00:36:58.858
excuse me, for the richest Americans.

00:36:59.958 --> 00:37:03.758
And one of the reasons, outside of the fact that he didn't want to go to jail,

00:37:03.938 --> 00:37:07.458
one of the main reasons policy-wise that he wanted to get back in the White

00:37:07.458 --> 00:37:09.678
House was to make those tax cuts permanent.

00:37:10.498 --> 00:37:17.198
And so, he was anticipating getting reelected in 2020 since that did not happen.

00:37:17.958 --> 00:37:22.618
The legislation was set up where it expired this year in 2025.

00:37:23.958 --> 00:37:28.538
So, he was basically planning to have those tax cuts go through his eight years.

00:37:28.938 --> 00:37:32.738
He could say, oh, I gave the British people a break and all that stuff.

00:37:33.218 --> 00:37:38.678
Well, he missed out on four of those years. Yeah.

00:37:39.842 --> 00:37:45.802
Out of how he wanted that plan to work. And so I'd say five years is longer

00:37:45.802 --> 00:37:49.742
than that because if he put it in 2017, eight years.

00:37:50.642 --> 00:37:54.622
So he wanted that to go through his second term, is what I'm saying.

00:37:55.082 --> 00:37:58.822
It was going to expire after he got out.

00:37:59.202 --> 00:38:05.902
But since he didn't get reelected, fought like hell to get back in so he could make them permanent.

00:38:06.702 --> 00:38:13.762
That's what he did. But he got in there, and it was like in all this talk and

00:38:13.762 --> 00:38:18.522
all these disputes about, well, we don't want the deficit to go high,

00:38:18.562 --> 00:38:21.162
and we got to make these cuts and all this stuff.

00:38:21.202 --> 00:38:24.982
That's the argument they were making about Doge, and that was the argument they

00:38:24.982 --> 00:38:28.082
were making about Medicaid and Medicare.

00:38:29.022 --> 00:38:33.722
Oh, by the way, did I mention Medicaid? They're going to cut $930,000. Yeah, I did.

00:38:34.062 --> 00:38:38.222
A trillion dollars. I did mention that, right? 930 billion.

00:38:39.382 --> 00:38:45.962
So I never was that great in math, but I do know that 930 billion,

00:38:46.342 --> 00:38:51.922
4.5 trillion, it's a gap there. It's a pretty big gap.

00:38:52.542 --> 00:39:00.322
So it seemed like to me that if you wanted to pass a budget that had savings

00:39:00.322 --> 00:39:10.182
in it and you didn't want to conflate the national debt or federal deficit,

00:39:11.202 --> 00:39:12.142
whatever term you want to use.

00:39:13.602 --> 00:39:19.162
Then it seems to me that the negotiating factor would have been.

00:39:20.022 --> 00:39:24.382
Let's not make these tax cuts permanent. But no matter how.

00:39:25.222 --> 00:39:29.222
And these people argued and even threatened not to vote for it.

00:39:29.262 --> 00:39:33.022
We're just talking about the Republicans now, how they threatened not to vote

00:39:33.022 --> 00:39:34.042
for it and all that stuff.

00:39:34.742 --> 00:39:36.922
The tax cuts never were on the table.

00:39:37.722 --> 00:39:42.782
And to me, if you really were concerned about the deficit, then that should

00:39:42.782 --> 00:39:43.982
have been the first thing to go.

00:39:44.762 --> 00:39:50.522
And then you could have a more focused discussion on do we need to cut that much in Medicaid?

00:39:50.762 --> 00:39:56.602
Do we need to cut anything in Medicaid? Do we need to cut anything in food stamps? Snap.

00:39:57.442 --> 00:40:02.822
You know, let's have a real discussion about how we manage the money that we're going to get in.

00:40:02.982 --> 00:40:09.402
Let's try to actually have a balanced budget, even though it's not mandated by law that we do.

00:40:10.082 --> 00:40:15.602
Which, again, you've listened to this podcast, you know that the federal Congress

00:40:15.602 --> 00:40:20.002
is the only legislative body in America that doesn't have to have a balanced budget.

00:40:20.762 --> 00:40:24.822
All 50 states in the District of Columbia, I would assume some of the territories

00:40:24.822 --> 00:40:28.542
like Puerto Rico and Guam, they all have to have a balanced budget.

00:40:29.042 --> 00:40:32.702
Virgin Islands, they have to have a balanced budget. In some states,

00:40:32.702 --> 00:40:36.922
you can't adjourn the session until you have a balanced budget.

00:40:37.602 --> 00:40:42.222
But the Federal Congress, the United States Congress, doesn't have that.

00:40:42.222 --> 00:40:48.042
There was an amendment offered right around the time the Constitution was ratified

00:40:48.042 --> 00:40:53.082
to have a balanced budget, and it never got ratified, right?

00:40:54.802 --> 00:41:01.822
So since you don't have that constraint, then why were the tax cuts down negotiable, right?

00:41:02.742 --> 00:41:06.942
Well, the president wanted it. Well, traditionally, presidents want a lot of things.

00:41:07.642 --> 00:41:12.422
Sometimes you can give it to them. Sometimes you can't. Why was that the imperative?

00:41:12.642 --> 00:41:17.082
Why was it important to have these tax cuts at the expense of people losing

00:41:17.082 --> 00:41:23.862
their health care, at the expense of people going hungry, children, veterans?

00:41:24.822 --> 00:41:27.102
Right? Now.

00:41:28.472 --> 00:41:33.872
Some things in the bill make sense. You know, President Trump in his first administration,

00:41:33.872 --> 00:41:37.872
when he pushed for his tax cuts,

00:41:38.052 --> 00:41:44.832
he capped the deduction you could have on property value and on federal taxes at $10,000.

00:41:45.592 --> 00:41:48.452
Well, he was trying to punish the states that didn't vote for him,

00:41:48.592 --> 00:41:54.112
like New York and California, that have incredibly high real estate value, right?

00:41:55.452 --> 00:42:01.592
Incredibly high property values. So capping it at $10,000 is a drop in the bucket

00:42:01.592 --> 00:42:04.012
for what these people pay in taxes.

00:42:05.952 --> 00:42:09.452
So that got improved to $40,000, right?

00:42:10.032 --> 00:42:15.992
But if you take out a student loan, there's going to be a new payment plan for you.

00:42:16.612 --> 00:42:20.712
And you're probably going to pay more per month based on a new plan.

00:42:21.632 --> 00:42:26.072
And you're not going to have any grace. See, with President Biden,

00:42:26.492 --> 00:42:32.632
even before he tried to erase all student loan debt, he did get in legislation

00:42:32.632 --> 00:42:39.372
and say, well, if you paid off X number of years, the rest of the loan would be forgiven.

00:42:39.972 --> 00:42:43.952
So you can live, go on and live your life, have more money in your pocket,

00:42:44.552 --> 00:42:47.512
enjoy the fruits of your success.

00:42:48.772 --> 00:42:56.192
But Donald Trump's taking that away from you. so the bottom line is these people

00:42:56.192 --> 00:43:01.892
got elected I don't care how gerrymandered the districts are these people got elected and.

00:43:03.302 --> 00:43:09.782
Into that. So, you know, the Congress is majority Republican now,

00:43:10.122 --> 00:43:11.042
both the House and the Senate.

00:43:11.662 --> 00:43:14.622
Senate, you can have some say-so about it because it's statewide.

00:43:15.642 --> 00:43:21.522
These districts are drawn in such a way where if, you know, they're trying to

00:43:21.522 --> 00:43:24.402
give the Republicans the advantage, right?

00:43:24.562 --> 00:43:29.922
If the Republican controls the state legislature, then they control the drawing

00:43:29.922 --> 00:43:34.582
of the map, and then and they're going to try to get more of their friends in the Congress, right?

00:43:35.342 --> 00:43:40.822
Now, Democrats have done that historically, too. Let's not get it twisted. It's about power.

00:43:42.062 --> 00:43:47.202
But what has been happening is that states that have gone majority Democrat,

00:43:47.782 --> 00:43:52.482
a lot of those states are going to an independent system to draw the lines.

00:43:53.262 --> 00:43:57.442
That's kind of the new Democratic mantra. It's like, we take control of the

00:43:57.442 --> 00:43:59.822
legislature. We're going to get out of the map-drawing business.

00:44:00.782 --> 00:44:06.382
Republicans, on the other hand, we're going to do anything to give us power.

00:44:06.522 --> 00:44:11.822
In North Carolina, for example, Donald Trump won the state, but every Democrat

00:44:11.822 --> 00:44:14.682
statewide on the ballot won the state too.

00:44:15.242 --> 00:44:20.222
But the majority of the legislature that got elected is Republican.

00:44:20.902 --> 00:44:25.642
So they had one Republican win a statewide office, one.

00:44:26.322 --> 00:44:31.942
And so that Republican legislature got in there and tried to change the law

00:44:31.942 --> 00:44:36.862
so that the Democratic governor, the Democratic lieutenant governor,

00:44:37.082 --> 00:44:40.862
the Democratic secretary of state all had to answer to the state auditor.

00:44:43.930 --> 00:44:51.730
Elected. That's not how this is supposed to work, right? It is what it is.

00:44:52.490 --> 00:44:57.890
Democrats have control, they govern. Republicans have their control, they govern.

00:44:58.430 --> 00:45:04.170
But you can't put your finger on the scale to have it favor you all the time.

00:45:04.730 --> 00:45:09.730
That's not how a democracy works, especially an engaged democracy.

00:45:09.890 --> 00:45:12.010
So see how it all comes back to you all now?

00:45:12.710 --> 00:45:16.410
In North Carolina, the people elect the state legislature.

00:45:16.710 --> 00:45:20.410
In Mississippi, the people elect the state legislature. In Idaho,

00:45:20.810 --> 00:45:22.770
the people elect the state legislature.

00:45:23.170 --> 00:45:26.290
In Alaska, in Hawaii, pick a state.

00:45:26.970 --> 00:45:31.590
They choose their state representatives and state senators.

00:45:31.730 --> 00:45:35.050
In Nebraska, all they choose is state senators, right?

00:45:35.650 --> 00:45:39.250
So you can determine who gets in there.

00:45:40.050 --> 00:45:44.210
You're going to elect people who want to be fair with the process or you're

00:45:44.210 --> 00:45:47.770
going to elect people who want to skew the process, right?

00:45:48.230 --> 00:45:55.590
And to me, I can't support a party who believes that white supremacy is the

00:45:55.590 --> 00:45:59.150
rule, that white Christian nationalism is the rule.

00:45:59.270 --> 00:46:04.690
I can't support those people because I'm not a white Christian nationalist. I never will be.

00:46:05.310 --> 00:46:07.530
Even if I wanted to be. I can't.

00:46:08.210 --> 00:46:13.470
Because I'm not a nationalist and I'm not white. I only meet one of the criteria, right?

00:46:14.550 --> 00:46:15.630
I can't vote for,

00:46:16.581 --> 00:46:21.641
that anybody that's not white is not qualified. I just can't support that.

00:46:22.581 --> 00:46:27.781
Now, if you agree with me, then I urge you to vote to make sure that doesn't happen.

00:46:28.601 --> 00:46:35.321
That's why you can stop a Congress that would vote for a budget that would give

00:46:35.321 --> 00:46:38.261
the richest 1% every tax break in the world.

00:46:39.641 --> 00:46:45.781
And make immigration enforcement the largest law enforcement agency in the nation,

00:46:46.701 --> 00:46:51.701
at the expense of people not being able to go to the doctor or not being able to eat,

00:46:52.641 --> 00:46:59.661
or not having a federal agency to make sure that your children are educated properly, right?

00:47:00.321 --> 00:47:02.821
Because that's what this whole Department of Education thing is.

00:47:02.881 --> 00:47:08.801
As long as it's Department of Education, it's like, yeah, we, no, you can't do that.

00:47:09.361 --> 00:47:12.561
No, we're going to make sure you've got some money to do what's the right thing.

00:47:12.981 --> 00:47:15.321
We got to put our foot down when you're doing something crazy.

00:47:15.921 --> 00:47:21.961
Like making every kid have a Trump Bible in your state. That's insane.

00:47:23.761 --> 00:47:28.781
Because, first of all, not every child in that state is going to be a Christian.

00:47:30.141 --> 00:47:35.281
Just math. You know, I don't know what religion they would fall under,

00:47:35.881 --> 00:47:39.221
but they're not going to be a Christian. You're not going to be able to do that in Utah.

00:47:40.341 --> 00:47:44.561
Now, of course, I guess all those kids have the Book of Mormon.

00:47:44.741 --> 00:47:51.281
I don't know. They have to know it, but, you know, it's not impeding on their

00:47:51.281 --> 00:47:52.621
social studies, I don't think.

00:47:56.047 --> 00:48:01.707
But you have the power, whether it's Salt Lake City or Tulsa or Atlanta,

00:48:02.047 --> 00:48:04.527
you have the power to determine what happens.

00:48:04.687 --> 00:48:08.327
You have the power to not elect a Congress that will do that to you again,

00:48:08.327 --> 00:48:14.947
that will placate to the richest people on the planet, some of them anyway,

00:48:15.227 --> 00:48:18.947
and your neighbor goes hungry.

00:48:19.107 --> 00:48:22.427
Now, they say, well, if you're working, you can get that money.

00:48:22.987 --> 00:48:27.807
You can still get aid. But what they're banking on is that you're working a

00:48:27.807 --> 00:48:30.407
job where they supply health insurance.

00:48:30.687 --> 00:48:35.907
Well, it's not mandated that every company, well, actually it is.

00:48:36.047 --> 00:48:42.447
But let me say, not every company is mandated to have quality health insurance.

00:48:43.267 --> 00:48:49.947
Just have something. Just like when it was mandated for us to have auto insurance,

00:48:50.607 --> 00:48:54.187
none of us can afford State Farm and Allstate, right?

00:48:54.807 --> 00:48:56.907
Some of us have to go to the general or direct.

00:48:58.107 --> 00:48:59.247
You understand what I'm saying?

00:49:00.907 --> 00:49:04.147
It is what it is. Same thing with healthcare.

00:49:04.847 --> 00:49:07.787
You don't have to get Blue Cross Blue Shield. You don't have to get,

00:49:08.007 --> 00:49:09.687
that's another one, Kaiser.

00:49:10.407 --> 00:49:12.987
You can get whatever. It's cheaper.

00:49:13.967 --> 00:49:17.987
But cheaper means you don't get all those perks and benefits.

00:49:18.607 --> 00:49:21.007
That means you're going to have to pay something out your pocket.

00:49:21.827 --> 00:49:25.547
And if you work in a business where it's not mandated that they have to have

00:49:25.547 --> 00:49:29.027
health insurance because of their size, then you got to get your own.

00:49:29.947 --> 00:49:34.167
Okay, that's cool. But what if you're in a situation where you were working

00:49:34.167 --> 00:49:39.427
and your dad gets sick and...

00:49:41.176 --> 00:49:44.036
You have to take care of them.

00:49:45.816 --> 00:49:55.016
Now, Medicare would cover a lot of that stuff as far as supplies and all that.

00:49:55.236 --> 00:49:59.836
But Medicare doesn't pay for you to take care of your parent.

00:50:00.736 --> 00:50:03.956
So you have to quit your job that has health insurance.

00:50:04.396 --> 00:50:10.156
Now, in the midst of you taking care of that parent, you get sick and you have

00:50:10.156 --> 00:50:12.256
no insurance. Now what happens?

00:50:13.016 --> 00:50:21.136
You can't qualify for Medicaid under this rule because you're an able-bodied person that can work.

00:50:21.916 --> 00:50:26.176
You chose not to work because you're trying to take care of your parent.

00:50:26.956 --> 00:50:29.616
Medicaid won't cover you. So now

00:50:29.616 --> 00:50:33.416
you've got to figure out a way to pay for health insurance on your own.

00:50:34.396 --> 00:50:40.596
That's the insanity of this legislation. And you can't tell me that nobody that

00:50:40.596 --> 00:50:45.856
voted for that bill didn't have that simple example presented to them.

00:50:46.536 --> 00:50:49.476
Maybe a majority of them don't have people to talk to them like that,

00:50:49.576 --> 00:50:54.016
but I'm sure there's at least one or two or three or four, because all you needed

00:50:54.016 --> 00:50:58.296
was about four of the Republicans to vote against the bill and it would have died.

00:50:59.656 --> 00:51:06.696
But, you mean, four people didn't hear that scenario and didn't put in an exemption for that even?

00:51:07.356 --> 00:51:11.256
Even if you wanted to pass the bill, you didn't put that in there.

00:51:11.776 --> 00:51:15.896
You give speeches and say, well, if you're able-bodied, you should be able to.

00:51:16.056 --> 00:51:20.176
You can get Medicaid if your employer doesn't have insurance.

00:51:21.176 --> 00:51:26.116
Some of those jobs are very time-consuming, like fast food restaurants,

00:51:26.976 --> 00:51:31.736
which by the way pay lower minimum wage than the federal minimum wage and the

00:51:31.736 --> 00:51:35.856
federal minimum wage is still at $7.50?

00:51:37.136 --> 00:51:40.356
$7.25? What are we talking about?

00:51:41.617 --> 00:51:46.057
Most of these restaurants pay less than that. Now, and then the other thing,

00:51:46.117 --> 00:51:48.117
I want to get into that because I got to do this.

00:51:50.777 --> 00:51:54.937
So there was a provision in the bill. One of the things that I had pushed for

00:51:54.937 --> 00:51:58.177
when I was a state legislator was no tax on overtime pay.

00:52:00.097 --> 00:52:05.057
But I didn't have any restrictions in my legislation, right?

00:52:05.457 --> 00:52:08.457
There wasn't a cap as to how much you could make.

00:52:08.457 --> 00:52:14.257
I think it's like for, in this bill, if you make over $150,000,

00:52:14.517 --> 00:52:22.497
which you probably shouldn't make, but if you make over $150,000, you lose the exemption.

00:52:23.257 --> 00:52:28.337
If you make over $25,000, you lose the tip exemption, right?

00:52:29.357 --> 00:52:35.697
So if you get more than $25,000 in tips, which can be possible if you work at

00:52:35.697 --> 00:52:38.317
a high-end restaurant, that is very, very doable.

00:52:38.997 --> 00:52:45.937
California, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, you can make that kind of money off tips.

00:52:46.937 --> 00:52:54.217
But if you make more than $25,000, the exemption stops at $25,000, right?

00:52:54.657 --> 00:53:00.257
If you work more than $150,000 worth of overtime, then you're capped.

00:53:01.057 --> 00:53:04.637
You might could do that. You might could do that at a government job.

00:53:05.677 --> 00:53:09.717
You better be able to account for them hours you better be honest about it.

00:53:10.137 --> 00:53:13.957
But you could do it, right? But there's a cap on it.

00:53:14.837 --> 00:53:21.657
So, you know, what I encourage people to do is not just go with your favorite

00:53:21.657 --> 00:53:24.977
network and, listen, I need you to do some research.

00:53:25.137 --> 00:53:29.737
I need you to go to places, don't just, you know, American media.

00:53:29.937 --> 00:53:35.357
Go to like the BBC or Reuters or somewhere where you can get a summary of what the bill actually does.

00:53:36.457 --> 00:53:39.857
One thing that's kind of fun to do is like the Center for American Progress

00:53:39.857 --> 00:53:42.057
has their interpretation of

00:53:42.057 --> 00:53:44.757
the bill, and then the Tax Foundation has the interpretation of the bill.

00:53:45.297 --> 00:53:47.537
Read both of those and weigh it out.

00:53:48.177 --> 00:53:49.957
Tax Foundation thinks it's great.

00:53:50.857 --> 00:53:55.497
Center for American Progress thinks it's terrible. Do the compare and contrast

00:53:55.497 --> 00:53:58.057
and see where you fall on it, right?

00:53:59.237 --> 00:54:00.517
Like I said last part,

00:54:01.557 --> 00:54:08.357
not any kind of adjective about beauty or pretty or big beauty.

00:54:08.917 --> 00:54:12.077
It's legislation. It's an appropriations bill. It's the budget.

00:54:12.837 --> 00:54:18.157
This is all it is. It's the budget for this fiscal year coming up. That's it.

00:54:18.897 --> 00:54:22.397
And it says guidelines for, oh, and then here's the other trick too,

00:54:22.517 --> 00:54:24.257
right? I got to get this in.

00:54:24.997 --> 00:54:30.557
So the other trick is some of this stuff ain't going to kick in until after

00:54:30.557 --> 00:54:33.937
the midterm election in 2026. Right?

00:54:35.497 --> 00:54:40.097
So the Republicans are going to make the argument that all the Democrats are

00:54:40.097 --> 00:54:42.637
just trying to scare you. The bill doesn't do that.

00:54:43.497 --> 00:54:48.437
So here's the favor I want you to do. When a Republican says the bill doesn't

00:54:48.437 --> 00:54:51.437
do that, you respond with yet.

00:54:52.697 --> 00:54:56.837
Because the way that they put in some of the cuts, which is why it's projected

00:54:56.837 --> 00:55:03.617
for years down the road, is that they didn't want to see mass amount of people going hungry.

00:55:03.797 --> 00:55:07.517
They didn't want to see mass amount of people dying in hospitals or not being

00:55:07.517 --> 00:55:12.257
able to get to a hospital because they didn't have health care before the 2026

00:55:12.257 --> 00:55:15.097
midterm election so they could stay in power.

00:55:15.937 --> 00:55:19.877
And they're going to fool some people that don't listen to podcasts like this

00:55:19.877 --> 00:55:21.897
and say, well, you know, we didn't do that.

00:55:22.437 --> 00:55:25.757
You don't see anybody starving. You don't see anything going on like that.

00:55:26.597 --> 00:55:27.977
They did that for a reason.

00:55:28.951 --> 00:55:32.611
So they can mask the damage that they're doing down the road.

00:55:33.171 --> 00:55:40.411
So again, a Republican says, well, this budget doesn't do that. You respond with yet.

00:55:41.311 --> 00:55:42.731
And then you vote them out.

00:55:44.331 --> 00:55:49.851
That's what I would do. But I want y'all to be objective. I want you to pay

00:55:49.851 --> 00:55:51.071
attention to what's going on.

00:55:52.211 --> 00:55:55.691
And I just wanted to get my perspective on that.

00:55:55.691 --> 00:56:00.111
But the most important thing I wanted you to understand as I close out is that,

00:56:00.691 --> 00:56:08.211
again, for 249 years, we have had a democracy, the longest democracy in the history of the world.

00:56:11.071 --> 00:56:15.211
And we need to maintain that if we're going to have a fighting chance.

00:56:15.811 --> 00:56:18.631
Some people may not believe that. It's okay.

00:56:19.431 --> 00:56:21.931
History would dictate that you don't want the other option.

00:56:22.791 --> 00:56:27.791
Because if you're on the wrong side of the option, it's not going to be good for you.

00:56:28.611 --> 00:56:34.271
And it usually doesn't turn up good for the people on the right side of the option in their mind.

00:56:35.071 --> 00:56:40.991
It's only for a short term. And then the people who are on the outside kick you out.

00:56:42.311 --> 00:56:45.111
Violence begets violence, you know, the whole thing.

00:56:46.551 --> 00:56:53.571
So the best thing to do is to keep this democracy. So my podcast is a contribution to that.

00:56:53.831 --> 00:57:00.751
I'm still trying to get 20,000 subscribers. Please go to patreon.com slash amomentwitherikfleming

00:57:00.751 --> 00:57:06.431
so that my voice can join the chorus.

00:57:07.031 --> 00:57:12.951
Well, I'm in the chorus. Just to keep it going is what I need.

00:57:13.051 --> 00:57:15.891
I need the subscribers. I said to go with 20,000.

00:57:16.071 --> 00:57:19.631
I'm sticking to that, right? So do what you can.

00:57:20.251 --> 00:57:23.811
Hopefully we'll be back to a regular program next week.

00:57:24.131 --> 00:57:28.431
I have some guests and Grace will be back and, you know, we do what we do.

00:57:28.591 --> 00:57:33.751
But it just kind of worked out where basically on my sixth anniversary of doing

00:57:33.751 --> 00:57:39.391
this and the magnitude of where we are, I needed to go back to the roots and

00:57:39.391 --> 00:57:42.351
just talk to y'all and express my frustration.

00:57:43.411 --> 00:57:46.491
Although I'd seem pretty cool today. I wasn't really too heated,

00:57:46.651 --> 00:57:48.591
but, and just let y'all know what's happening.

00:57:49.971 --> 00:57:55.471
And as long as I continue to get good listeners like you and continue to get

00:57:55.471 --> 00:57:57.791
your support, we'll keep this going.

00:57:58.791 --> 00:58:02.051
All right, guys. Thank you for listening. Till next time.

00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:50.066
Music.