Politics in a Divided Nation with Russ and Watson
[00:00:00] Welcome to Flashback to a Fabulous Future. We're embarking on a journey to gain a deeper understanding of our past in order to navigate the future with greater purpose and vitality. Our podcast will delve into historical events that have shaped our world and how they continue to impact our lives today.
[00:00:26] So come along and join me as I share a brief world historical events Today our guest is Russ Farnsworth. He is a well read, well informed intellectual, a world traveler, an inventor, and a champion of democracy and justice. He is a creative jack of all trades, is involved in music, filmmaking, photography, writing, comedy, and political cartooning.
[00:00:53] He has a wealth of interesting life experiences. which came from working as a [00:01:00] carny, building kit cars, and staking out and serving legal papers on dirty cops, as well as other unusual experiences. Welcome Russ, I'm excited to hear some of these unusual experiences, especially, I mean, we can touch briefly on serving legal papers on dirty cops, but the focus of our, our talk today will be on, you know, current events, Um, that you feel are really impacting the day to day lives of everyone and maybe briefly going back in history to kind of see where this might have happened before, but most important, what we can do in your opinion to move forward in a way that is productive and that will help everyone elevate their living circumstances.
[00:01:51] So, I'll turn it over to you. There's definitely a lot going on. So there's no shortage of important [00:02:00] current events. To me, corruption in government has always been kind of the biggest thing. And, you know, people who are on the right wing don't want to pay for liberal, uh, policies. But in my estimation, if we would just get rid of corruption, we would have so much money that we could fund all of the liberals, uh, policies, and, and still have money left over and still be able to cut people's taxes.
[00:02:31] So, to me, you know, the corruption that's rampant in our government is really kind of the big issue. We're seeing a lot about how the Supreme Court has been corrupted, uh, by different influences, and it's occurring in all of the levels of government everywhere, and it's really, really causing a problem in our country, and I feel like we're really in, we're living in a failed state, that the government really cannot [00:03:00] respond to the needs of the citizens, and part of the reason is because they're too busy You know, engaging in their own corruptions to be able to deal with anything else.
[00:03:10] So, I think that's probably the biggest thing happening. Okay, um, so what would you say the government's primary role should be? Well, there's gonna be a lot of debate about that, of course. I believe that the government should provide for the needs of the people, and in a lot of places they're really failing on that hard.
[00:03:36] So like all throughout Appalachia, you have communities that are surrounded by a coal industry, and they're just, The water's poisoned, you know, the air is, is not good. Everything is just kind of, you know, a mess for those people. Their schools are underfunded and they don't have programs to help people with drugs and alcohol, you know, issues and things like [00:04:00] that.
[00:04:00] And of course, it's all across America and it's in black communities, it's in minority communities all over the place. Um, and it's in white communities too, where the government has really just sold out the people for the, the greed of oligarchs. And so, that is, is certainly a, a crime in my estimation, and the government, uh, needs to clean up all of these places, and make sure that everybody is living in a clean community, that they've got clean drinking water, and that they've got schools in their community that are well funded and able to actually educate the children.
[00:04:38] Yeah, I agree. I think especially education is the great equalizer. And, um, you know, I'm a big fan, I guess you would say of our founding fathers. And, um, you know, in my studies of them, they felt that, you know, the federal government's primary role was to deal with international relations. And of [00:05:00] course, you know, interstate commerce and that can be, you know, that's a whole can of worms.
[00:05:04] If you want to open that, I don't know, you know, they kind of see the big picture and then states were more responsible for, um, you know, the local, the needs of the local people and maintaining law and order within society, making sure that we had, you know, not corrupt police departments, but, um, you know, You know, fire departments, um, they would manage education and that kind of thing.
[00:05:34] And I'll just briefly share an example of something that I found rather interesting from my own life, and maybe you can kind of run with it a little bit. I grew up in Wyoming where there was a lot of, always has been a lot of natural resources, and so it's because of the small population, um, we didn't need to have a state income tax.
[00:05:58] The taxes were paid by [00:06:00] a lot of these, you know, natural gas, coal, oil companies, things like that. I happen to live in a county where they mined Trona, which for our audience, you know, um, is soda ash. You probably see it as Arm and Hammer baking soda. But it also makes glass and plastics and other things.
[00:06:19] So our county, to be honest, was very rich. And people laugh at me, but I'm not kidding when I say I was in high school, and at the end of the year, um, teachers would come in with catalogs, especially in our PE class, which was always lots of fun, and say, here's a catalog, what would you like to purchase for next year, you know?
[00:06:38] And, um, I felt bad because you get out into the farming and the ranching communities, and because they didn't have all of the taxes from these big industries, um, they were very poor schools, and they didn't have all of the resources that we did. So Wyoming, in, in all their brilliance, you know, decided that, hey, [00:07:00] what we're, and, This is definitely back when education was managed far more on a state level.
[00:07:06] We're going to equalize things. All the money is going to come into Cheyenne, and we're going to distribute it equally throughout the state. And although that sounds great on paper, the reality of it ended up being, it was like, we are going to pay X number of dollars per student, however many students you have, kind of thing.
[00:07:26] And there were so many times Um, when I would drive by a community and in Wyoming, this is true of like 500 people, the school probably had 20 people in it and they had this giant school and it was brand new and nice and all these resources and then I would go to my high school where I used to go and the quality of education really deteriorated, um, because they could no longer attract the best teachers with the best salaries.
[00:07:59] So [00:08:00] I kind of, I shook my head and I'm going, okay, this, this really sounded really good on paper. Why didn't it work out in reality? What would you think of something like that? Yeah, I agree that it definitely sounds good on paper and then things can, can not work out when you actually try to put them into practice.
[00:08:19] And I'm not exactly sure about why it didn't work, but I can imagine that, um, you know, you've got a higher cost of living in certain areas or higher. expenses for, for different things. And, um, so maybe dividing the funds by the student isn't exactly the best way to go about it. Um, and there probably isn't a simple formula for finding the right amount of funds and how to distribute them.
[00:08:51] But, um, I think probably a better response would have been, you know, to, to look at the budgets of [00:09:00] each location and try to, Work individually with each budget and try to make sure that each school has a budget that's gonna allow them to do the, you know, to actually deliver that good education for everybody.
[00:09:13] Um, when you divide it up by student, I think it's gonna end up causing imbalances in different places. Yeah, I think that's good. And I think that also leads us down to this other path. 'cause we can talk about this in terms of education, but we can talk about it in terms of everything Going back to Appalachia and all, all of the things you were talking about is.
[00:09:33] You know, my opinion is when we do things on the federal level, it's hard to come up with those, and I'm just calling them customized formulas for each community. Um, you know, and then you run into the idea that, okay, we'll block grant everything. We'll send all this money to the federal government and then we'll block grant it back to the state.
[00:09:56] Which, you know, once again, sounds wonderful. [00:10:00] And then we'll let the states decide, but somewhere along the line, you know, these block grants didn't just come with no strings attached. You know, I, my first experience was, you know, under George Bush, where he was like George W. Bush, um, and, you know, no child left behind.
[00:10:18] It's like, okay, we're going to give you this money, but this is how you're going to run your education system with all of these standards. And once again, it all sounds good. So what do you think in terms of federalism versus, you know, running things at a local level? How do you manage that in a way that you really achieve the outcomes that I truly believe people are looking to achieve, but don't always meet those needs?
[00:10:46] It's always difficult to kind of thread that needle. Um, and you know, you talked about block grants a lot. One of the issues there is that the money gets spent in strange ways that weren't how the money was [00:11:00] intended. Um, so that's a big issue. Um, and it's, I guess it's just requires a lot of.
[00:11:11] It's a difficult thing for anybody to accomplish now because everybody's busy with their lives and it's hard to really oversee what the government is doing, but that's really what we have to do. And, um, a lot of citizens are, you know, becoming more activists, which is great. And if you put your focus into things like that, maybe create a group within your community that kind of watches what your city budget is and what your county budget is and where state money is going.
[00:11:41] It just kind of, it needs that hand on the wheel, and to be honest, and it would be nice if there was an easy kind of fix, but I don't believe that there really is. It just kind of takes our involvement. I think you, yeah, I think you really hit on something there and, you know, I'm, [00:12:00] I was in a, I do a Bible study class on, on Sunday nights and we were talking about kind of the same concept when our communities, I wouldn't, you know, or our country is in crisis, people become activists, they become involved, they become more aware of what's going on and then they find out what's going on and they go, whoa, wait a minute, you know, and I, I always kind of, you know, Tell people, you know, I mean, I love our founding fathers.
[00:12:24] I think they were great people, but I also think they were human and there was corruption, you know, from the beginning of our country, there's always been corruption and there's always been wasteful spending, I guess you would say, um, but then as life got easier, you know, especially as we moved in past the World War II era, that was considered one of the most prosperous times in our country.
[00:12:49] And yet that's when people really started to disengage. It was only your colleges, you get into the 60s, you know, and your students, and they were real activists, but [00:13:00] everybody else was like, Man, I'm too busy. And I distinctly remember having this conversation with my brother years and years ago. Um, and I've always been politically active, and I was like, Oh, you gotta go vote.
[00:13:10] Bare minimum, you gotta go vote. You know, learn about the issues and go vote. And he's like, Eh, I don't have time for that. And my vote doesn't count anyway. So where, where do you come down on all of this? Yeah, I definitely believe that everybody should be voting. And, um, I think it's not that hard to find, you know, to find out where you feel or how you feel about all the different issues and to get out and vote.
[00:13:36] Um, a lot of places have voting by mail now, so it's easier in some places for some people to cast their ballot. Um, And I, I think we have to, everybody needs to really stop listening to corporate media, corporate news. I mean, that's just, it's really just the oligarchs. Uh, venue for getting their [00:14:00] ideas and opinions out there and trying to get everybody to adopt them and to, and to agree with them.
[00:14:07] And I think if we were getting more information just from journalists that do real investigations and are really committed to telling the truth, and getting information just from our fellow Americans who are the people who actually care about this country. The politicians don't and the very wealthy people in this country don't care.
[00:14:27] about our country. Uh, they've got themselves kind of set up so that they don't have to worry about things. And then they're not really that concerned what happens to the rest of us. So we really need, I mean, it's just, it's when I discuss politics with people, you know, whether it's online or in person, um, most people will trust a politician, something a politician says more than they will trust what I say.
[00:14:57] And of course, If they don't know me, they're [00:15:00] not going to know the kind of effort that I put into trying to dig down to find answers and to vet the information that I get. You can pretty much assume that a politician is going to lie to you from the get go. So, you know, just people have to be more cognizant about where they get their information, what's behind it, why they're hearing the things that they're hearing, and what it all means.
[00:15:25] We'll really think about that. They're going to start to realize what, what, um, venues for information are worth looking at and which really just are not. Yeah, I agree. And I think that it's, it's interesting to me because if you ask somebody just, you know, in passing, do you think politicians lie? 100 percent of them will say yes, but yet they believe every word that comes out of their mouth.
[00:15:49] And I'm like, do you not realize, and I tell people this and it's, it's a very cynical view and I hate to be cynical because I don't like to be cynical, is we are [00:16:00] just pawns in their game. Yes. And that's unfortunate. And when you realize that you are simply a pawn in their game, you all of a sudden start to look at things differently.
[00:16:11] And, you know, it used to be, Oh, Republicans are all the corporate people and Democrats are all about the working class, which AKA unions. And then, you know, you have your politicians, right? And I'm like, now, in my opinion, the corporations, The unions and the politicians are all one in the same and they're not working for our best interest.
[00:16:38] Um, it's interesting too, because back in, I don't know, late 1800s, probably even before that, I'm sure you've heard the term yellow journalism. It's, it's been around. Yeah, it's been around forever. I mean, you know, in some form or another. And throughout all of history, all in all of my, you know, even [00:17:00] going back civilizations of time, the people in charge have always wanted to control the narrative and if they can control the narrative, they can control the people.
[00:17:11] And I think we need to take that back and say, you know, how, in your opinion, how do we take that power back onto ourselves and not let them. I mean, other than simply turning off the news, you know, corporate media news. They still managed to get their message out there somehow. Um, how do we, how do we turn them off?
[00:17:32] Well, one of the problems that I see is that people will often amplify what they hear from politicians and in the corporate news on social media. And I think that's a big mistake because social media kind of belongs to us. We are the curators of the content that gets displayed on social media platforms.
[00:17:54] And so, if we at least, you know, stop, stop amplifying the, this, the information [00:18:00] that we know is lies, and use social media as a tool for Americans to collaborate together, and, and find the truth, and work with each other to try to share the truth and, and get it out there. I think that's really the, kind of gonna be the key for us, is we have this really great.
[00:18:20] It's a great tool of social media, and I don't believe we're using it effectively for our own interests. And, um, you know, a lot of times, the reason people, I believe, believe politicians is because a politician will say a few things that the person really believes in. And they say, I, I agree with that 100%.
[00:18:42] Then the politician will go on to do other things that they would never agree with and they're really just stealing from all of us But because they kind of hooked the person with those, you know few comments that that really gained their [00:19:00] interest and made them feel like they were You know, part of the same struggle, people end up following that politician and then kind of doing their bidding.
[00:19:11] So, you know, we, we need to, uh, rely more on each other. We need to try to empower one another. A lot of the. things that politicians want to do, whether it's gerrymandering districts, or changing voting rules, or anything, it's kind of, you know, set up to disenfranchise one group of people and, and benefit another group, and we can't fall for those things either, we all have to empower one another, and when Americans are empowered to hold their politicians accountable, they're going to do so.
[00:19:49] And then the whole country will be in a better place. So I think it really has to be with trusting your fellow American to also love the country the way you do. [00:20:00] And, you know, I've been all over this country. I've met thousands of people uh, in many states, in many different cities, and uh, from what I see is everybody is really concerned about our country and wants to do the right thing for our country.
[00:20:16] Uh, very few people have the kind of far out fringe beliefs that, that you hear about on, on TV, especially, um, you know, most everybody has a pretty good understanding of, of what's happening and what is, uh, appropriate for government to be doing and not be doing, and so we need to trust our fellow Americans, empower them to make sure that they're able to hold their politicians accountable, um, And then we will be in a very much better place.
[00:20:49] Yeah, you bring up some very interesting and valid points there, just as a kind of point of interest. You might know this, but the term gerrymandering was named after some guy, [00:21:00] named, last name Gerry, and it was clear in the 17, you know, 1700s. You know, they're gerrymandering has been going on forever and that he, you know, it's named after him and that that's kind of what's been going on.
[00:21:13] Um, and so we like to live in this bubble and think that, Oh, you know, in the past, everything was so great. And now everything's so horrible. And I, you know, totally agree on the social media thing, but then we run into the problem where social media starts censoring information. Um, And so people aren't getting both sides of the argument, you know, social media has decided that you only get to hear this side of the argument because either number one, that's the narrative we want you to follow or number two, we don't believe that you're smart enough to make educated decisions.
[00:21:51] about this information. And, um, so I, you know, I have concerns about social media. I like [00:22:00] social media and I think it's a great way for just the lay person to get out there and communicate with each other. But I also have concerns about the power that they hold and their ability. I think they're very tied in.
[00:22:13] I think Silicon Valley is very tied into Washington, D. C. And they're kind of almost have become one in the same. Yes. And so there are, but people aren't aware that there's tons of other social media platforms out there that don't have that kind of, you know, power and sway, and so you can have more open conversations, but, um, the other thing that you brought up that I think, I think is really interesting is, I can't remember exactly how you phrased this.
[00:22:46] But what it made me think of, you know, and I don't want to get into the, you know, nuts and bolts of, did you agree with this last debt ceiling, you know, argument, um, kind of thing, because to me, that isn't relevant. What's [00:23:00] relevant. is that, you know, one side was saying, oh, the world is going to come in, come to an end, chicken little, chicken little, if you don't, you know, raise the debt ceiling and, you know, the sky is going to fall.
[00:23:13] And the other side is saying, oh, you know, the world isn't going to come to an end and we're going to do X, Y, and Z. And this is exactly what we're going to do. And when they went into negotiations and you walked out of that negotiation, you know, both sides are spinning it in a way that, you know, appeals to the people that they're trying to, you know, endear to their cause.
[00:23:36] But if you actually sat down and read the document, they're both sides are lying to you. And I think that's where I get frustrated is I try really hard and I know this is difficult. Sometimes I try to read the actual documents. that are being produced and form somewhat of my own [00:24:00] opinion, you know, sometimes it's hard because they aren't, they're sometimes written in legal, legal language that they don't want you to understand.
[00:24:06] But if we can get back to actually, we've been so conditioned to read. People's there's very few true journalists out there who prove, you know, print what, why, when, where, how, you know, and let you decide it's and they all say that's what they do. But we all know that's not what they do. Instead. It's like, oh, here's what happened.
[00:24:28] Here's what I think my opinion of it is. Here's the the outcome that I see from this. And once again, depending on, doesn't matter what issue you're talking about, you know, chicken little, chicken little, the sky is falling. Um, and so people get, they, they play on these emotional arguments and people buy into those emotional arguments.
[00:24:49] How do we get around that? Yeah, that's going to be a tricky one. I would love to see, um, the government come out with their [00:25:00] own social media platform, um, you know, something similar to Facebook and, uh, and make it so that it's, it's not empowering some billionaire or enriching some billionaire. It's there for people to use it, but it's there for citizens to be the new town square where we can all communicate and collaborate and share ideas and where nobody can get banned or have their comments censored.
[00:25:26] And, um, you know, that does open up a lot of can of worms as far as getting maybe hateful content out there or inappropriate content, but there's, uh, You know, ways around that as well, and you can downvote things, and if people downvote something, then maybe it gets shared a little less often, and there's actually a, um, You know, some theory behind that being a decent strategy, you know, a long time ago, they would have these state [00:26:00] fairs, and they would bring in a big bull, and ask people to guess the weight of this bull, and some people would look at it and say, you know, that bull is enormous, it must weigh at least 300, it must weigh 300 pounds.
[00:26:13] And then someone else would look at it and say, it's enormous. It must weigh 16, 000 pounds. And so you would get these ideas that are just way, way off the mark. But when a thousand people would all get together and guess on the weight of the bull, they would end up guessing it within a pound of its actual weight.
[00:26:30] So, I mean, that's pretty amazing. And I think the same principle would apply here, where if people said, okay, this is really not useful or not helpful to the discussion, and I'm going to downvote this, and you have a lot of people downvote something, then that would just kind of fade off and fewer people would see it.
[00:26:49] Um, so again, it's, it's kind of about, uh, us all getting our hands into it and making sure that things work and operate the way they're supposed [00:27:00] to. And, um, The other great thing about a government operating this kind of a platform would be you wouldn't have those algorithms that promote certain ideas.
[00:27:14] or post just because they know that it's going to make them money, that it's going to create a lot of, uh, a lot of activity and that that's going to be better for their business model. Uh, we really need to work on trying to create a system where our ideas are going to flourish based upon the strength of each idea, uh, and not anything else.
[00:27:39] And that's, I think, what one of the reasons why we're so far off base right now is we've got all these incentives. that, that, um, make people want to promote ideas that are really ludicrous. Someone's going to make money off it, so hey, let's get this crazy person and get them on TV and have them [00:28:00] spew a bunch of hate filled stuff and then let's let everybody's head explode and then there's going to be all this activity and ratings from it and that's just the wrong way to get anything, anything positive done.
[00:28:13] Yeah, I agree with you. And the other thing that you brought up, and I, I think this is really, really key to this conversation and valuable is, you know, like you, I mean, I've traveled around this country and around the world. I've moved 42 times in my life, and I'm not a military brat. Um, so I've lived a lot of places and what I have found is that, you know, whether you're Democrat or Republican, You take politicians off, you know, let's take them off the table here because they're a whole different breed.
[00:28:48] Um, but when you get people talking, you know, all of us kind of have the same goals in mind. You know, we just go back to the education conversation. We [00:29:00] all want everybody to get a quality education. You know, I think Democrats, I think Republicans, we all agree. We all agree on that. Now we may have different ideas about how to accomplish that, but once you realize that you're talking to somebody that, for the most part, you totally agree with, it changes the whole way that you interact with that other person.
[00:29:25] And you're not like, Oh, you know, we have to do this because of this, this, and this. It's more like, Oh, okay, well, tell me your ideas and why, why do you believe that idea will work and then I can share the same. What are your thoughts? No, I think that's absolutely brilliant. Um, and it's really the way forward is to kind of change our relationship with politicians and change our relationships with our fellow Americans.
[00:29:57] And if we can do that, [00:30:00] we're going to be, you know, much better off. And you mentioned that politicians are kind of a different animal, and, and the reason for that is because they're in the seat of power and wealth, and they have all these corrupting influences, and, you know, most politicians are oligarchs, most of them are very wealthy, they don't have to worry about How they're going to be able to afford to send their kids to college or how they can pay for a medical bill if they were to get sick.
[00:30:31] And so they don't have the same concerns that all the rest of us have. You know, these things weigh on our minds, especially, you know, certain people in certain situations. You know, they may be struggling every month. You know, just trying to make sure that they can come up with the rent and keep a roof over their heads.
[00:30:48] And all the people who don't have any of those concerns, their thinking is going to be very, very different than ours. And they're going to lead us in the wrong direction, which is [00:31:00] exactly what's been happening. Those are the people that own our politicians, they own the news networks. And so, and they own the social media and they can, they have a lot of control over us.
[00:31:11] Um, if we continue to follow them, I think we're going to continue to be led down the wrong path. I agree. And I, the other thing that I think is important for people to understand, and this goes, you know, you're going to think I'm this horribly cynical person, but, um, politicians feed off of division. That their whole business model in terms of getting reelected feeds off of division.
[00:31:37] And so they have to lead us to believe that we are a far more divided population than I think we really are. Um, and I don't, you know, two things. If you start to understand that we're just pawns in their game and they feed off of division, all of a sudden, you look at everything they say with a different [00:32:00] perspective.
[00:32:00] Okay. And I think we start looking beyond their words and start looking to their actions. And it's not that hard to see what they're actually doing. Um, and, you know, as they start spewing all of these, over the top kind of comments, you know, you step back and you go, whoa, isn't that a little bit over the top, you know, and isn't there kind of a, a, um, a middle ground here and that we can kind of all come together?
[00:32:37] You know, but they don't want people to come together, right? Well, if I can give a little bit of a plug here, there's a podcast. I really love called hidden brain and most of the episodes and the topics they discuss have nothing to do with politics, but I I believe that if you really want to understand politics You kind of have to understand the human brain [00:33:00] and how it works.
[00:33:01] And that podcast is a really good one for Understanding how we think, how we react to things and how a lot of it is just so involuntary that we have little control over it sometimes. And when you start to learn some of the things that they talk about on this show, you realize, okay, that's why this politician is saying this thing in that way.
[00:33:26] Because he wants my brain to react in a certain way that's going to benefit the politician and maybe not be it to my benefit. And one of the things I love saying over and over when I'm debating people is that we solve problems with our frontal cortex, not our amygdala. And politicians want to, they want to jab that amygdala and make sure that you are angry, that you're pissed off.
[00:33:51] That you're fired up about something, but when you get that way, when your brain starts to function in that way, [00:34:00] you are, um, you're not really thinking clearly, you're not using your best. brain effort to solve problems. Instead, you're, you're being, you're going to be very reactionary. And so politicians know that that's the case.
[00:34:14] And a lot of times they'll say things in a, in a particular way just to make people react in a predictable manner that's going to benefit them. And so that's another thing that everybody really should be aware of. And, uh, try to monitor within themselves. So it's called the human brain? The podcast is called Hidden Brain.
[00:34:37] Oh, Hidden Brain. H I V B E N. Okay, good. So it's about all the things about the brain that you don't really understand unless somebody comes along and does a bunch of experiments and then reveals it. And I think that's kind of the idea behind the podcast. They reveal a lot of these interesting phenomena.
[00:34:56] Yeah, I, and it's weird because I think, not weird, but [00:35:00] it's the wrong word, but I think that, you know, when you think of solving, you know, all of our current events and all of our problems, you wouldn't think of going to, you know, a resource like that, but in reality, that type of resource is probably one of the best things you can do just to help you think more critically.
[00:35:18] And to be, you know, to have better judgment in terms of, you know, types of decisions you make. But I want to kind of switch gears a little bit here. And, um, because I was fascinated by your prepping and kind of living off the grid, you know, concepts. And I, I am a fan of that. I will admit I live out on, you know, eight acres of property.
[00:35:41] And we have a garden and we have solar panels and, you know, we have all these generators. Because the power goes out here on a regular basis. Um, so, you know, I, and I really try to, um, live providently, um, and I, I have to step back and I [00:36:00] ask myself, why do I do this? Is it out of fear? Or is it because I think that, you know, eating out of my garden is more healthy than eating out of the store?
[00:36:08] I think, okay, yeah, there's a little bit of each of that in there. But as I look at our world moving forward, like I said, I don't want to really get into the pros and cons of AI or, you know, all of these massive, oh, I shouldn't say the technology itself is massive, but it's AI and Web3 and things like that.
[00:36:31] They are going to have a significant impact, a massive impact. That's what I'm trying to say. on the world moving forward and from a kind of a prepper kind of approach. And how can we be more prepared to deal with the future? You know, because people say, Oh, we should just put guardrails, you know, some people even Elon Musk, we should just put a screeching halt to all this right [00:37:00] now.
[00:37:01] Neither one of those solutions to me sounds like anything realistic, but as an individual, what can we do to prepare ourselves? for these new technologies that are going to be so disruptive. I mean, certainly the internet was disruptive, but I don't think the internet is even, and I use chat GPT, you know, and my husband, especially on a level that most people can't imagine.
[00:37:24] So I see the, you know, I don't know. Sometimes I'm like, wow, this is great. And other times I'm like, Oh no, look at the damage this can do. So anyway, your thoughts. Yeah. Um, I think that prepping is definitely a great thing for people to get involved in if they're not really familiar with the concept or how to get started with it.
[00:37:47] There are tons of groups online that they can join and they can get all kinds of great ideas. Um, there's prepper groups on Facebook, I'm sure they're probably on every social media, uh, [00:38:00] platform out there. And they all share ideas and share. excellent information so that if anybody's curious about it and not sure how to start, they can just join a group and they will get a ton of information very quickly and be able to get into it themselves.
[00:38:17] Um, it, prepping involves just trying to, uh, make sure that you're going to be able to provide for yourself in any situation that could arise. And there are A lot of crazy situations that could arise. Um, you know, we could be hit by a meteor and that could knock out power in a huge area, maybe even the entire country.
[00:38:42] For months, perhaps, um, like this, things like that, that could happen if, if it did happen and nobody was prepared, everybody would be in a very bad place. And so, the people who are prepping for things that are [00:39:00] unforeseen, maybe even unimaginable, um, those are the people who are going to survive, and they're probably going to help a lot of other people survive.
[00:39:10] If you're not big into prepping, if you live in an apartment and you don't have any land, you know, maybe you have a relative or somebody that does, you should have a plan for getting out of your city. Uh, and maybe going to some place that's more remote if, if that is the, the wise thing to do it at the time.
[00:39:28] Um, you know, if, if government systems start to break down, maybe city, you know, a city can't keep, keep, uh, purifying its water, you know? And so you're, yeah, you're going to have water coming out of the tap, but what's the quality of that water? Uh, so. You're going to have to think about all of those things.
[00:39:50] When I lived in Los Angeles, you know, for a while I had a swimming pool and it was like, oh wow, if there's ever, you know, a major event and I can't trust the city [00:40:00] water, I've got tons of, of, uh, clean water here in this swimming pool and I can pull it out, I can filter it, I can boil it, and I'll have drinking water, I'll have water to bathe with.
[00:40:12] And so it's, it's, you know, Prepping is really a mindset of changing your thinking to start to recognize where systems might break down, how it might affect you, and what you need to do to survive that, that change or survive more comfortably than you would otherwise. I, right now, I live about two hours away from, um, this major airport and my daughter, I have to take her back and forth to the airport periodically.
[00:40:43] And I drove up to the airport, everything seemed fine, but on the way back, all of a sudden, there was lines of people at the gas station, and I was like, I mean, this was like a year ago, this isn't like a long time ago, and I was like, what in the [00:41:00] world is going on, and I got home, And because people panicked, which they do, um, and there was a major disruption to, um, I think there was ransomware and things involved on a major pipeline in the Southeastern United States, it caused just all of a sudden, it was the panic that caused the, the long lines, but still there was a major disruption to our ability to get gas and, and, you know, Go where we need to go kind of thing.
[00:41:32] So, I mean, these things can happen easily and all the time. I mean, we don't, you know, maybe there's is an attack on our electrical grid. Maybe there is a cyber attack and that can knock out our banking systems. What if we can't get to our money and those types of things, but I think you brought up something really valuable.
[00:41:53] Those are all of the physical things. that can impact us. And there's a whole lot more. We could go down this road for a long time, [00:42:00] but I think it's a mindset. And when we think of AI and we think of web three technologies, and we think of all these things that can have a major disruption, maybe I'm going to be out of job.
[00:42:12] Um, how am I going to prepare for that? Um, what are some other things I can think about my, you know, my kids, how is this going to impact their lives moving forward? How can I make sure that they are getting the types of. education, skills, whatever it is, you know, so that they can provide for themselves.
[00:42:29] It's, it's just a mindset because we've lived, I believe is my opinion, in such prosperity for so long that we just take for granted that it's always going to be there, right? Yeah. People always say, well, you know, we, we live in a civil society. Why do we need guns? Why do we need it? Well, our civil society is very, very, uh, fragile and there are things that can happen that's going to deteriorate that civil [00:43:00] society.
[00:43:00] And then you're going to be in a very different, uh, you know, situation. And so you want to do the things that are going to help you to survive in any situation. No matter how improbable and, uh, prepping and owning firearms, you know, those are good things that we can all do to help us, uh, to meet those, those challenges.
[00:43:25] And I think when we talk about prepping, one of the things about it, um, is it allows you to not be dependent upon the government. but it also allows you to have a little bit of distance from their influence as well. And so those are two very, very important things. You know, I think we all kind of agree that we can't really trust our government very much.
[00:43:50] Uh, yet if you're not really into prepping, you're probably pretty dependent on the government and they have a lot of influence over your life. [00:44:00] And so those Those are bad, bad situations. And I think everybody can agree that having a little bit of independence and the ability to, you know, be out of reach of government is a good thing.
[00:44:15] And, uh, in my situation when I was living off the grid, uh, I ended up having, unfortunately, uh, some very ruthless neighbors. who were, you know, determined to keep me off my property. Um, and they started blocking the road so that I couldn't drive in and out. And so I was there, I had no place else to live, I'd already committed to living on that property, so I was just walking in and out.
[00:44:43] But the fact that I couldn't drive in meant that I couldn't build up the infrastructure the way that I had intended to. And so then these neighbors called the county And complained on me because I didn't have the infrastructure that's required for a person to [00:45:00] be living on a piece of property. But the fact that the property was off the grid, they really couldn't do anything to me.
[00:45:07] Um, you know, I was told, I can't remember who told me, but they're like, well, really all they can do is shut off your city services. And since you're up there not using any city services, there's nothing that they can do to force you off your property. And so I was able to stay. For as long as I wanted to stay, um, and they couldn't, the government couldn't touch me and force me off my own property.
[00:45:30] And so that was a really big, big thing, uh, that I think everybody should be aware of, kind of how that works. I think that's a, a good note to end on because I think that you, the, the idea of being independent, everything that we've talked about today, is, you know, independent of the news media, independent of our politicians, independence in thinking, you know, being more, the more we can take [00:46:00] care of ourselves.
[00:46:01] Whether that's, you know, from a physical perspective and, you know, being able to provide for our own needs in terms of, you know, food, shelter, money, those kinds of things. Um, but also, you know, looking forward, what types of, you know, instead of being scared of the future, let's look to the future and see what, because AI and things like that can bring wonderful things.
[00:46:31] Um, just like the internet. Yes, it was very disruptive to our society, but look at the great things that it brought about, you know, so changing our mindset, changing the way we think about things. and being more independent and really being more proactive in getting involved and finding out what's going on in our government, even especially local governments and, you know, our federal government and things like that, so that we can make better [00:47:00] decisions and that we can, even though we're independent, I'm sure you've heard this word, but, you know, we're more interdependent.
[00:47:08] You know, we're, we don't depend on each other, but yet we come together when we need to, in order to kind of, you know, because we, much as some of us would like to live on an island and be our, you know, an island unto ourselves, we don't live that way, and people aren't meant to live that way. So we need to have a certain level of interdependence, but that comes with trust.
[00:47:32] And that trust is so important, and I think that the world that we live in today has done everything they can, whether it be through, you know, our big corporations, oligarchs, politicians, you name it, they want to erode that trust that we inherently create. have in each other and in our neighbors. Sure, we have some bad neighbors.
[00:47:54] We all have bad neighbors. Once we can come together on that [00:48:00] level and say, Hey, we're all in this together. I can, you know, be a force for good in your life in this way. And you can be a force for good in life, you know, this way. So I'll give you the final word here. Well, um, one thing I would love to talk about really quickly is just mention, uh, my, so the solution that I kind of have envisioned for our country that would really solve a lot of our problems.
[00:48:30] And that would be for us all to look at the Continental Congress as a model. for how people, everyday citizens can get together and create reforms for our government. And I think if people started working on drafting reforms to get money out of politics, to make sure that we have election integrity, and to make sure that, uh, we, we don't have corruption in government, have very strong ethics rules that will [00:49:00] prevent any kind of corruption.
[00:49:01] If we put our efforts toward those. Those issues, we would fix a lot in this country. And right now we can't even have honest debates about things because politicians are bought off and they're paid to support or oppose any given topic. And, uh, so, you know, again, our ideas have to flourish based upon their strength.
[00:49:27] And, uh, when we have a corrupt government, that's not what happens. And we get bad ideas that end up getting put into policy because there's a corruptive influence there pushing it. And so if we citizens can draft reforms for government and when we were, when we draft these reforms, these things that are all non partisan Every citizen would agree with those reforms.
[00:49:53] They would agree with how we get money out of politics. And so then we would have this critical mass of people [00:50:00] that can force the government to enact those policies. And if they don't, we can, we can vote any person that doesn't support the policies out of office in their next election. and only elect somebody who pledges that they will support those policies and that they will enact them.
[00:50:18] And I think that would be a big game changer for how we can get things done in this country. And I think it would be a great way of getting people involved as well because a lot of things are huge topics. I mean, you know, you talk about that, uh, AI and things like that. It's hard for people to wrap their minds around it, and how many articles would you have to read, or how many books would you have to read, just to have a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence.
[00:50:49] It's such a huge, huge topic, and so we have to, uh, if we did this, if we, if we work on just [00:51:00] focusing on fixing the fundamental problems of government, which are about how our elections run, how they're financed, and about how we keep corruption out of government. Then that's just three issues, that it's easy for people to really get their minds around it, to understand it.
[00:51:18] And we can fix those problems, and then once we do, the rest of the government's policies will get enacted based upon this new understanding about how things can, can move forward. Um, there's not going to be that corruptive influence that's going to taint ideas or oppose good ideas. And then we can really have honest debates about everything and we're going to be in a better situation.
[00:51:46] Thank you. I think that's a great note to end on and I'm not sure how familiar you are with article five and convention of States. That's a movement that is trying to do exactly what you're [00:52:00] talking about and it's gaining a lot of traction. So, um, you know, there's those that once again, oppose it and those that support it.
[00:52:10] But I think the conversation is the important part of that. movement. So thank you for taking your time to be here today and, um, appreciate your perspective. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on. All right. Thank you.
