You have to understand where we came from, to understand where we’re going. The electoral college? The 3/5ths compromise? Even the war for Independence?

You understand that women couldn’t open bank accounts in the 1960s, right?

Any time that someone says “good old days,” ignore them. The alleged glorious history of the United States is mired in the legacy of slavery, and the consistent disenfranchisement of many minority groups. We tend to want to look away, and that’s why things like the 1619 project, affirmative action, and even student loan relief, has been branded as “woke.” Also, recall that even today, we have slavery in the United States, as undocumented immigrants are being taken advantage of and forced to work long hours for little or no pay. This isn’t because there’s not money to pay them, but because of greed.

The idea that our history isn’t what it is, mired with violence and protests and oppression, is to forget to be watchful for the emergence of such things. Therefore, is it any wonder that one party would like you to remain “unwoke,” and cleanse your mind of actual history.

Think about it.

If you’re not familiar with the term “planned obsolescence,” the term is a business one which means that you intentionally design your widget (product) to self-destruct in a certain amount of time. For a while, every time a new iPhone came out, older iPhones began to degrade in performance with frightening precision. It was, in a court case, determine that Apple had intentionally planned the performance degradation. They’re not the only ones, and there’s another case happening right now before the French court.

What does this have to do with politics?

Project 2025.

We talk in broad strokes about different terms and accuse each other of socialism, fascism, communism, etc. But…what do these terms mean? To paraphrase the great Inigo Montoya, probably not what you think. When we talk about fascism in this podcast series, we use the terms as precisely as we can. In this podcast episode, we get into what some of these terms mean, and how their misuse confuses people. We also cover how society works. Surprisingly enough, being part of a society means you’re responsible for others. That’s what society means. Literally, you can’t have society without other people.

Some would divide us. But when it comes to it, wouldn’t you rather be in a community of people who support each other and build each other up than one of people who constantly tear each other down, and “put them in their place”?

I would.

Republicans: We’re going to punch ourselves in the face.

Democrats: No. Don’t.

Republicans: <punch themselves in the face by ousting McCarthy>

Democrats: …

Republicans: Why didn’t you stop me from punching myself in the face?

And yet, for some reason, these people keep getting elected. The truth is that there’s nobody there who is capable of even remotely up to leading that party, especially with the Freedom Caucus with their thumbs on the scale. It’s messy, it’s ugly, and it’s impeding our ability to govern.

This podcast episode get’s right to the heart of the current political unrest in the House of Representatives (brought to you by the Republicans, no matter what they might say).

What was that word? Ah…yes. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Well, the title doesn’t really work I guess, but it might just be California who saves us all. Why?

California is the latest entity to sue the fossil fuel industry, and this lawsuite has teeth. By now, if you listen to our podcast, you know that the fossil fuel industry knew about global warning over a hundred years ago, and actively worked to suppress it. Multinomah County (Portland, Oregon) is already suing for costs of combating climate change. There’s also that group of students in Montana who sued and won. So what’s different about the California lawsuit?

We get into it the details and implications in this Right and Freedom episode. SuperCaliforniated…uh, whatever. It’s pretty awesome, is the point.

We don’t have problems that we can’t solve…together. That’s the truth. In WW2, a scrapy upstart of a country stepped into the largest war that the world had seen until then, and did what needed to be done. From the women working at home in factories to the rationing of food and gas, whatever needed to be done to fight a war that wasn’t even ours, we did. That’s the spirit of this great nation. When rocks land in our way, we move them.

Climate change is just another rock. Mass shootings…another. But we can’t seem to move them. Why? The answer is obvious: we’re not working together. There are people lying to us, lying to our friends, who want nothing more than to line their pockets or eke out a little bit of power. It’s sad that such people exist in the world, but what’s even more sad is that they are skilled liars, and have corrupted the minds of a lot of this nation’s good people. We can’t continue like this. We just can’t.

If you’ve ever seen (or read) Macbeth, then you’ll likely remember the scene wherein Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, watches the staged play-within-a-play and comments on the woman playing the queen. The woman has gone on for some time about how she will never marry again once the poor (and poisoned) king has passed. Gertrude is saying at this point that she doesn’t buy it, and that the queen on stage is selling a bill of goods (basically).

Every single person at Right and Freedom signed up to serve our great nation in the United States Marine Corps. When we talk about things that happened to our country, this is the context from which we come. January 6th, for example, we feel as a personal attack.

We love this country. We hate liars. And there you have it...all of our reasons for railing against Donald Trump the way we do, as well as railing against all those who support him.

When people in positions of power continue to hold onto their power past the ability to do their jobs, it’s important for us to be able to say no. And if the people from West Virginia, or California, for example, refuse to hold their leaders to account for whatever reason, then there should be some other tool to ensure that those whose cognitive decline is impairing their ability to lead the most powerful nation in the world do not cling to power, as people in power often do. It doesn’t have to be based on age, whatever tool we employ, but we should be testing the cognitive capabilities of our leaders. I know, I know. I’m the first to say that such a tool would be used as a political cudgel between the two major parties (and I say as much in this podcast episode).

Jack Smith is closing in on Trump. It’s safe to say that the trial is going to begin soon for any of the multiple legal issues outstanding. For some reason, however, there’s still a fair amount of concern )(among us as well) about whether the trial will actually see Trump unable to run for the office of President of the United States.

So what?