Politically High-Tech
A podcast with facts and opinions on different topics like politics, policy, technology especially AI, spirituality and development! For this podcast, development simply means tip, product and/or etc. can benefit humanity. This show aims to show political viewpoints and sometimes praises/criticizes them. He is a wildcard sometimes. For Technology episodes, this show focuses on products (mostly AI) with pros, cons and sometimes give a hint of future update. For Development episodes, the podcast focuses on tips to improve as a human spiritually, socially, emotionally and more. All political, AI lovers and haters, and all religions are welcome! This is an adult show. Minors should not be listening to this podcast! This podcast proudly discriminates bad characters and nothing else.
Politically High-Tech
220- Dissecting the Presidential Debate, Election Predictions, and Conservatism's Value
What if the latest presidential debate left you feeling more horrified than enlightened? Join us for an episode of Politically High Tech, where we're thrilled to welcome back Josh Lewis, the insightful host of the "Saving Elephants Blog" podcast. Together, we dissect the recent presidential debate, emphasizing the dire need for more balanced and thoughtful political discourse. We also shine a spotlight on the importance of fiscal responsibility, critiquing the national debt issues that have plagued both the Trump and Biden administrations, while sharing our admiration for conservative thinker Thomas Sowell.
As we look ahead to the upcoming U.S. presidential election, we dive into the strategic dilemmas facing the Democratic Party. Analyzing polling data and internal party tensions, we scrutinize Joe Biden's challenges, from media bias to public concerns about his cognitive abilities. We debate the potential resurgence of Donald Trump and discuss whether Biden can stage a comeback. This episode offers a nuanced exploration of the political landscape, providing a rich context for understanding the complexities of the election.
Finally, we delve into the essence of conservatism and its appeal to younger generations. Drawing inspiration from Sir Roger Scruton, we discuss the value of traditions and intermediary institutions like family and community groups. We also critique Kevin McCarthy's tenure as Speaker of the House, emphasizing the importance of integrity and accountability in leadership. Concluding on a hopeful note, we explore how responsible action and the power of humor and gratitude can help build stronger institutions and guide us from despair to hope. Don't miss this enriching conversation packed with thoughtful analysis and a balanced perspective on today's political climate.
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Welcome everyone to Politically High Tech with your host, elias. I have a guest here and if we're going to throw in classic guests from the past yeah, that's not an exaggeration. We are traveling back to late 2021, when this guest was first here and, to be honest, I really enjoy this conversation. He's one of the best right-wingers in my opinion, because, well, what would the cool kids call it? He's based, he's not drinking the Kool-Aid of any kind, he's not spreading nonsense and bullcrap.
Speaker 2:He says it like it is.
Speaker 1:And he maintains a great demeanor, a chill demeanor. He's a great guy to talk to and, to be honest, I wanted him back for a while, but you could blame more of me on that one on the audience. So if you want to throw your pitchforks at me, go right ahead. Or, just for your comedy activity, just say why it took forever to bring him back. Or, even worse, if you don't care, just don't say anything. But I'll probably just feed the trolls at this point, go right ahead. I'm going to ignore those comments anyways.
Speaker 1:The good thing is he's back and I'm trying to balance this podcast as much as I can, because it's not just for the right wingers. I'll be bringing in some more left wingers as well to the show. Okay, and I just say my goal is to reach a certain demographic and a certain perspective, because my show is leaning towards just one direction. I don't want that one balance my political opinions. This mixes with comes to conservatism. I agree with them. With fiscal issues, yeah, I sound pretty right-leaning when it comes to that. We need to be more responsible.
Speaker 1:Look at the. National debt continues to go up. Trump did a horrible job. I didn't no surprise. He's doing a bad job as well. It's not going up, it's going. It's not going down, it's going up. Excuse me, let's flip that apart. No, no, no, no, don't worry, I don't got the Bidenitis. Ok, don't know, I just stumbled there, ok, I'm fine. I'm fine and, trust me, we don't talk about that and, trust me, we're going to talk about that thing called debate. That was, in my opinion, horrifying beyond my worst expectations. It surpassed my lowest expectations. I'm just going to say it like that.
Speaker 1:But I don't want to dabble too long, I don't want to keep this guest waiting. I'm a New Yorker. I'm naturally impatient by nature, so is a good chunk of humanity. You can think social media and spread the impatience throughout the world. But as New Yorkers pre-social media, we were impatient people. So social media now New Yorkers were impatient people. We were fast-paced before social media. Okay, and I could even lump it on the city. So I think we're especially taking the cake on that.
Speaker 1:So let me reintroduce this guest. Josh was here. He is still an active podcaster, yes, and I have to say there's one right-wing thinker that I do like and I do listen to his stuff very seriously Thomas Sowell. I enjoy his stuff. I think his stuff makes so much sense. Especially, he can explain complicated things that I just can't grasp, to the point where I just avoid it. It actually makes sense why things are the way they are. He explains about the rednecks and why some black Americans are failing. All that other stuff Might be controversial to some of you, but I think it's worth listening to for the emotional people grow up.
Speaker 1:Open your ears. If you're tired of this crappy cycle that you're going through, it's time for a change. Okay, so let me introduce this guest here, so it's joshua's here. He has a podcast called Saving Elephants Block. It is conservatism for millennials and if I'm going to add my little spice to it, I do want to specify spice that's up in the lovely Gen Z's in there as well. It's to try to sustain and maintain relevant and not make it irrelevant, just a pre-only to millennials.
Speaker 2:Even though millennials are important.
Speaker 1:don't get me wrong. I'll up in some gen Z because some gen Z's are showing pretty good conservatism, which I'm impressed. They're more conservative than I am. I'm more for mixed bag. What am I left-winging? Legalization of marijuana? I'm left-wing, I'm pretty left-wing in that issue. The only thing I'll just say is I had an education, but I'm not going to talk about weed.
Speaker 1:I'm going to start with this horrifying event called the presidential debate. It was horrifying and this is the first time I have to say this to my friends, my family. I said I hope you didn't watch this debate. I really hope you did. The highlights will suffice. Yes, the highlights will suffice. This is not Twilight Zone. I normally say watch the debate. I encourage you to watch the debate whenever you got time. Oh, it was garbage, garbage. All right, I want to curse, I really want to. It was horrendous. I mean, I became dumb for 24 hours. I couldn't think. I was just traumatized about how bad it went, and I don't say this to be gleeful, I don't say this to be a troll, but it was bad for both candidates, but one came out on top and before I do that, I want Josh Lewis's actions and insights to this, because he's been patient. Go right ahead. Let me shut up.
Speaker 2:Well, lice, it's good to be back on again and it's funny when you're introducing me as the right winger. It's a pure coincidence. I just happened to be wearing a purple t-shirt today, that's. I didn't do that in preparation for the program, I just happened to put it on. Yeah, I share your insight.
Speaker 2:To talk about the debate, it's difficult to know how to describe the debate without working some cuss word in there, because it was not. It's not even fair to call it a debate. Really, it was a tragedy, it was a, it was a national travesty. I don't, I don't know that I necessarily would say that it. It blew past my um expectations in that I thought both biden and trump behaved within the normal spectrum of Biden and Trump, as good or as bad as they could have been. Donald Trump was a little bit better in that particular debate than he typically is. He's a little bit more on message, a little bit more on point. I don't mean that he did a good debate, I just mean that, in the spectrum of how Trump is, he had kind of a commanding lady, didn't get rattled, he stayed on message and I think I would say just a few minutes into the debate you could almost see this look on his face of oh, I've got this Like this, this is going to be easy, and so I think it allowed him to calm down and not kind of tap into that. You know the crazier parts of how he sometimes just goes off on conspiratorial thinking. It was there. It just wasn't as bad as what he could have been.
Speaker 2:Joe Biden was also on the spectrum of again what I would call within expectations, on the extreme low side of those expectations, and this is what we've been hearing for what? Well over a year, now that the president's slowing down. He might have some cognitive decline and this has been a big raging debate in the political sphere for a long time. Sometimes people will and you'll hear right-wingers talk about this. You know to hear them talk he's essentially in a nursing home and he has no cognitive abilities. That's obviously not true. And then you'll have people who are Biden defenders who will make ridiculous comments like this is the most energetic Biden we've ever had, like he's at the prime of his life. You know it took him eight decades to get there. He's finally at his prime. So I think we all knew the truth had to be somewhere in between that and, just like anyone else in cognitive decline. You have good days and you have bad days. You have days you can get out there and you kind of got it held together and maybe I should say you have good moments of the days and bad moments of the days.
Speaker 2:I mean, this is kind of it's notorious that Biden does a lot of his work between 10 am and, say, 4 pm, kind of in the high point of the day. You know the debate was late at night. It was 90 minutes of kind of contemporaneous speaking. Obviously I had to memorize a lot of talking points but he wasn't just reading from a teleprompter. This was the true raw Joe Biden that a lot of his handlers probably get to see behind doors. The rest of the nation does not.
Speaker 2:And it could be that if we were to, you know, we could have an alternative history where if the debate had taken place, say on Wednesday night, say the Thursday, maybe it had done better, maybe it would have done worse. I don't know. I will say this as terrible as he was, he didn't necessarily get worse during the debate. Like he seemed to bottom out and just sort of stay there. And I don't say this with any glee, because it's heart-wrenching to watch a person. You can kind of tell just by his face he's not there, and it could have been that he couldn't have literally made it through the 90 minutes. Maybe he could have stayed up or maybe, you know, we've seen videos of Mitch McConnell, for instance, where he froze up. For what was that? Just a couple minutes, so he just didn't speak at all. That wouldn't have surprised me, given the performance Biden was giving on Thursday and fortunately, for his sake and maybe for the sake of the nation, he at least didn't get any worse as the night progressed.
Speaker 2:But I think it's needful that it be said. And here I am. I don't remember if we talked about this or not. I am a Republican, I am a conservative, I am not a Trump supporter. I don't think Donald Trump is a good candidate for a whole host of reasons we could possibly get into. So I'm saying this from the perspective of someone who is not just simply anti-Biden, although I don't think Biden's been a good president. The fact that Joe Biden was trotted out there in the debate this particular Joe Biden you know certain Democratic operatives and handlers knew that this was possible and like and probable. That is deeply irresponsible. It should have never gotten this far.
Speaker 2:Joe Biden is clearly unqualified not only to run for president. He is not qualified to be president right now. And if we were in a healthier society in which it wasn't this constant choice between Donald Trump, joe Biden, team red, team blue, I think a healthier politics would say for the sake of the nation, it is best that President Biden step aside so that we can have some sobriety. Some people that we have confidence in have this together. And that has no comment on his moral fiber. It's no comment on his policies. We could talk about those things. It's just a comment on his cognitive abilities, which is clearly not up to the job of being president. Also, just to be clear, that is no comment on whether or not Donald Trump is up to the job. I think we need to be able to have these arguments without this constant whataboutism. Oh yeah, well, what about this guy? What about that guy? What we saw on Thursday was a national embarrassment. It should never get this far and the fact that there are individuals who let it get this far is extremely shameful.
Speaker 1:We're alluding to this. Sadly, the winner of this debate by a small margin, in my honest opinion is Donald J Trump. Am I a supporter of him? No, but he had some zingers. He had good moments and then he had his bad moments where he had to go to that conspiratorial thinking and talking points. That's what took a lot of points away from me. Okay, you mentioned January 6th. That's a minus. Mentioned the lecture stolen Another big minus. And then Biden he tried to answer the question. He froze, he mumbled, he coughed. He was barely functional under debate. Try to answer the question. He froze, mumbled, he coughed. He was barely functional in the debate.
Speaker 1:And I am not being hyperbolic, I am not being dramatic, it was. I was actually afraid for this nation for the first time, just through a debate. I was like, oh my goodness, I knew this was going to be a dumpster fire, but, my god, this is much worse than I even expected. I expected immature Trump. I think the cut off the mics thing helped out Trump, ironically, because he could have went off the rails a couple of times with that.
Speaker 1:The setting that was meant to help Biden and CNN is biased. They favor Biden. It actually helped Trump and Trump is hardly the subject of the conversation. It's all laser focused on Biden. It's so laser focused that it's bad and and one of my news sources is the hill slash news nation they kind of like in the center and I like that. That's more like my brand of politics. Overall, they are forecasting that trump has a 60 chance chance to win. Biden is 40. Before it was almost split, it's 60 and 40 right now and of course some polls are going to say it's tied If you break it up by states. Yeah, but overall forecast they're saying Trump has greater odds and I have to agree with that.
Speaker 1:Can Joe Biden have a comeback? Maybe, but I don't know the handlers. You're going to have to drug him up really well. He needs those drugs. I'd say he needs those drugs. And because we cannot endure another, I'm going to say the word tragedy so long our debate. Tragedy for recurring again. It's a national embarrassment, like you said I'm just quoting you here because I agree and our adversaries, they're having a field day with this. They are having an absolute field day. They're saying look, let's go on. To America, it's falling apart. It's supposed to be the great nation, land of the free, home of the brave, it's falling apart. They are just. I've been drinking champagne and all that. They're just cheering at this horrendous event that, as an American, I don't care if you lean left, right or center this should be horrifying and as one Democrat, he was a nobody until he started calling Joe Biden to step aside.
Speaker 1:Lloyd Dodgett, pretty sure I pronounced his last name. He's calling for Biden out in public. Step aside, you can't be president. Is that going to spread hysteria? Is that going to? Or the Democrats are going to just suppress that guy? Shut him up. So let's make sure a message like that is leaked again. Even New York Times, the board of New York Times. They're going to support Biden. They're going to support Biden. Oh no, he needs to step aside. Let me pick that's going to support Biden. They know he's supporting Biden. He needs to step aside.
Speaker 1:Repick is spreading among the left-leaning circles and Democrat circles, that's for sure, panic and hysteria. To say otherwise, don't listen to jail people if you want to stay base. She's going to say just to maintain power. Some people say she's the president now. It's hard to argue against that. She's the one with a cognitive function and she's just cheering biden like he's a child. So good job, joe biden.
Speaker 1:You answered all the questions. Yay, and of course the. The left-wing partisan crowd cheered with glee and joy and I said oh, they must be paid, they have to be paid, they have to be, they have to be paid just to cheer, they have to. And who else? Other social media, that young social media, harry Simpson is another one that I say oh, biden was at his best. Kid, kid, who are you fooling? You may be fooling people around your age. I don't know politics. Some of them, at least Some, have got a brain. Just a question. That's great, that's great. I don't even want to know what worse is. Okay. But yeah, let me type it and see if you want to add anything to it. I think I already said a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's. I mean, obviously there's a lot we could say about this, but I look, I want to be able to always have the capacity to try to put myself in someone else's shoes, to understand what their motives are for doing things and generally assume the best motives of people, even if you generally believe they're mistaken. I can understand why a Biden supporter, a Biden enthusiast, is reluctant to abandon him at this point. I mean, there's all sorts of reasons, for example, if you believe the rhetoric that much of the Biden campaign has pumped out, that this is it's not exactly their words, but one could be forgiven. To summarize it, this is the potential for the end of democracy. Donald Trump gets elected again. That's it. This great American experiment is over. The absolute worst thing that could happen is for Donald Trump to be elected. Therefore, it does not matter how much cognitive decline the president has. He has to be victorious on election day. Otherwise, it's a choice between a president who may not have the capacity to lead but at least we have a functioning government and we could maybe turn over the vice president if necessary or someone who is going to be a dictator. Further, I can understand, because I've heard this argument a lot.
Speaker 2:Some say look, joe Biden, for all his faults, has been a remarkably productive president. Look at all the legislation he has passed compared to other presidents, and he has actually been very good at that aspect of the job. Now you have to set aside the fact that he's a terribly unpopular president. He has just by a sheer number of bills if you looked at been productive, and he has gotten a lot of things done. And then, of course, there's the third problem, which is we're so late in the game. If you pull the guy out now, then what I mean? We're talking about a civil war within the Democratic Party, and there's all sorts of unanswered questions. Is Kamala Harris popular enough to beat Trump? Doesn't look like it, and if she's not, is she willing to graciously step aside? And if not, what does that mean? And so I'm concerned.
Speaker 2:What happens is, for those reasons, individuals who are of this mindset delude themselves into believing that the right thing to do, therefore, is to just rally behind Joe Biden and just keep this train going, and I would hope again, I'm coming from a partisan perspective. I'm not a Democrat, I'm not a Biden supporter, but I would hope they would have the capacity to see if I take this argument serious, that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, the absolute worst thing we can do is wait another day, with arguably the weakest opponent running against him. Joe Biden might have been the only one who could have beaten Donald Trump in 2020. He might be the only candidate that can lose to Donald Trump in 2024.
Speaker 2:And if you play this out I mean you said 60-40 chance, gosh, I don't know, that sounds optimistic. To be fair, I really think. I think Trump had a slight edge before the debate, and Biden had one job above all others, which was to allay our fears that he was up to the task. And he not only failed to do that, he failed to do it so spectacularly that among some people, myself included, were even questioning should he even be the president right now, let alone running? And I would implore individuals who are deeply concerned about what a second Trump administration may bring and I am concerned what a second Trump administration may bring, and I am concerned what a second Trump administration may bring that perhaps the best way to prevent that is to admit right now this is a mistake and we've got to change course, otherwise it's inevitable that Trump is going to win again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean to be clear with the 60-40,. That's just a prediction from Dex HQ. That's one source. I mentioned sources that if I want to have my own prediction, I was going to say for the record I would say it's more 55-45. I mean, yeah, that's 100. Yeah, trump, still favorite Trump. Because still a favorite Trump? Because Trump can screw up and, trust me, he is prone to do that With his mouth, his rhetoric, his speaking craziness and sometimes being overly MAGA.
Speaker 1:This is a time when you have to broaden your base. Primaries, that's a spectacular strategy, but when it comes to this stage of the game, you've got to pull back on some and start having messages that appeal to more voters. I don't know, track moderate Dems, the independents, or well, don't try the Libertarian Party, because they just booed them offstage. Essentially, I was like, wow, the South Bronx crowd was more welcoming of Trump than the Libertarian Party. They drowned him out with booze, which is very interesting. I think the Libertarians are out of the question, except for what is this caucus called? That's leading more conservative beliefs, the Mises Caucus? Yeah, I think that's the only caucus that Trump has a chance to pull those people in. But the rest, like the real moderate, maybe the left-wing part of the Libertarian Party. They're essentially saying hell, no, they don't want Trump. So I think that's a fruitless effort for him. My real prediction is 55-45 favoring Trump, 45 favoring trump, still favoring.
Speaker 1:And now there's some polling. I think minnesota and maine might even become swing states and that is advantageous. Possibly let me just say possibly advantage appetizers for Trump. Can it still go to Biden? Yeah, maybe by smaller margins, but there's more. I still disagree North Carolina becoming a swing state, but I could be wrong. Of course they throw them in there. So now I think Trump's going to win that state, but you know, paul's not always right and that's what I'm going to say about that. But that transitions nicely to this replace Biden, which you already allude to.
Speaker 1:I mean, my belief is, if they do a replacement, the only logical choice based on procedures is Kamala Harris, but you already mentioned it. She is, she's, less popular than Biden. Across almost every polling that's been done, trump beats her on average like between four to seven points. You're essentially giving up the victory to Trump and I think if sadly, I think Democrats are going have to just stick to their guns and just stick to Biden. But the handlers got to do a better job, drug him, I don't know. Do wellness checks something if they want to do that and just be wearing more of the left leaning hat? I mean, I already did my right leaning hat, left leaning hat. You got to do something there because I don't like Biden, I don't like Trump, but I don't want them to die or anything like that. That would be very tragic. I'm a big picture kind of person. This. It would be tragic if either one of their deaths occurred, I mean even in general, especially during this election.
Speaker 1:It's extra dangerous because we're in the middle of this big, big, big political season and you know, god, god, we're just guide them through and if Biden loses, just put him in nursing home, let him expire in grace. Same thing with Trump Once it's out of the cups. Same thing, same thing. Not a big fan of these two, yeah, but I think if the Democrats want to be responsible, in coherence, they need to stop saying replace Biden or or trying to prop up Kamala Harris. But you know the ones that really pisses me off is especially coming from the right, not your camp, of course, but the more TV, social media personalities. I have a news of Gavin Newsom's going to replace Friday. Gavin Newsom, ok, you're going to have to change nearly 2000' minds on that. I think there's even state policies and even laws that if they vote against the electorate's wish, there's going to be consequences. So that's not a good idea. That's been passed on. Blue states that's not all the delegates, of course, because they've got to go through all 50 states, including the territories. But yeah, nascar caused a mess because they got to go through all 50 states, including the territories. But yeah, nascar calls the best and they need to stick to biden. That's just my personal opinion, or? Or they're gonna do a combo, they're gonna have to. They're gonna have to do that asap with comrade harris. That's one thing. I see.
Speaker 1:I am not entertaining the gretchen whitmer, the gavin news, so that's the most popular one, and I criticize the right-wing commentary personalities for just keep pushing that garbage. It's fear-mongering tactic, because they know if he comes in there he might and I say this with emphasis might have a shot at being trouble, or then not to, because he's probably too progressive for some of the light blue states Like, oh no, I think he's too left for me, you know, and that could turn some states off, social states probably, like New Hampshire, maine, like that northeast tip. They're like very moderate in their politics and Vermont, I think, has become more moderate too. It used to be blue. So, yeah, probably that little tip of the region is going to just say I don't know, he's too left for me, but that's just my theory. Could I be wrong? Yes, but I could also be right. I tend to be right when it comes to these predictions, not that.
Speaker 1:I'm arrogant. Yeah, you could call me arrogant. You don't call me arrogant, I don't care, I'm arrogant. Yeah, you can call me arrogant, you don't call me arrogant, I don't care. I'm not going to defend myself in that one. I don't care, I want to be right, that's all. I care about your feelings, don't matter to me. If I'm right, I'm right. If I'm wrong, I'm just going to say I'm wrong. It's not going to kill me. It's like a bullet's going through my heart. Just words Whatever. Yeah, so, yeah, so just stick to Biden Democrats and Kamala Harris I know you want to probably do a Michelle Obama thing too, but that's just irresponsible, in my opinion, very, very irresponsible.
Speaker 1:And this is what the media does. They like to play these hyperbole scenarios to get us all riled up. Stop falling for it. They cannot do that. There's probably like a .001% chance that could happen, but I don't think it's going to happen. I think that's just media nonsense. That's just another thing to get us outraged. And, you know, fertilize the Civil War within the parties and between the parties. Yeah, that's going to be nice. God forbid that happens. Of course, anything else you want to add before we talk more about you.
Speaker 2:Well, there's always something else I could add, but I tell you what, in the interest of us having a more fruitful conversation, maybe I should say I'm more than happy to talk about the next topic you want to share.
Speaker 1:What a nice way of saying hurry up, I'll be polite about it, that's fine. I think we touched on all the good, responsible parts of the tragedy debate and replaced Biden hysteria. That's what I'm going to call it. It's nothing but hysteria. So now let's talk about more on conservatism. I think it would be good just to throw in a definition that what type of conservatism you want to promote, and why should millennials and Gen Z become conservative, as opposed to being a centrist, which I might take take as an attack. No, I'm kidding, I'm a growing X-Man, I'm fine with that. Or, yeah, someone who's a centrist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that I mean it's kind of a two-parter right. What do I mean by conservative? And second, why should you be a conservative? And the harder part is the what do I mean by that? Because this is something that conservatives actually spend a long time debating. What does conservatism actually mean?
Speaker 2:Any definition I can give you, I'm just going to say straight off the bat, is insufficient. It is absolutely insufficient. But there are some succinct definitions I've seen that can be helpful.
Speaker 2:Sir Roger Scruton has the best one, I think, where he says that essentially, conservatism begins with this impulse or this passion that the good things we have in life are easily destroyed but not easily created. Therefore, the best posture toward life is one of preservation. This is something that people on the left, right, right down the center would all agree with Family, the things we own, the good things we've cultivated, the good things we've been given. You could easily imagine those things being destroyed and it takes a lot of effort to get them back. But obviously conservatism goes on from there. It is a posture, I think, in this world, of recognizing a connection, a connective tissue, if you will, between our past, our future and then where we are right here today. This is one of the ways it distinguishes itself, incidentally, from, say libertarianism are right here today. This is one of the ways it distinguishes itself, incidentally, from say libertarianism. It's very concerned with tradition, not because tradition is right full stop you know, we're more than welcome to question tradition but because it is old and has been there for a while. It was probably put in place for a pretty good reason. So if we want to alter our traditions, that's fine, but first we need to afford them some sort of reverence. Think about it. Why was this put into place and is it there for good reason? We ought to have a posture of saying what's come before us matters, and it ought to have some sort of a vote and inform our lives.
Speaker 2:Conservatism is also, I think, has a high view at least American conservatism has a high view of the individual, that we're not just a matter of that. The individual person matters. But I think again, unlike a libertarian, a conservative also has a healthy view of the place of intermediary institutions and I'll throw some big words out here but that all of life is not just about the individual and the collectivist state. There's actually a lot of stuff in between. There there's family, there's your church, your religious affiliations, there's the bowling club you're a part of. There's all these countless things that make you you, and you experience those not just as an individual, but as a member of a family or these other institutions, and that is what enriches your life, that's what adds vitality to it. If all of this was just us versus the collective estate, what a terrible world that would be. What enriches us is all these things we have in between that imbue us with purpose and power, and that kind of bleeds into, I guess, the second part of your question why should you be a conservative? Well, I suppose the reason you should be anything is because the person advocating it says it comports reality.
Speaker 2:I really think conservatism is the closest when we look around at the world we're in. It's not perfect, I would even say it's not perfectible, but it is something that we have good things we can be grateful for. That is the root of conservatism gratitude, and the most important thing we can do is start with what is working in society and how are we grateful for that, before we try to identify what doesn't work and how do we tear it down. It's totally fine to tear down things that don't work, but you have to first start with gratitude, otherwise you risk tearing things apart just through an impulse that may in fact serve a purpose, and I think for this reason my podcast is for millennials.
Speaker 2:You mentioned Gen Z a couple of times. I'm grateful we millennials have finally gotten old enough. I think the baby boomers have realized finally. We're not the kids right, it's the Gen Z, the sexual kids or maybe the alpha generation.
Speaker 2:But I think, specifically for us and for younger Americans, conservatism holds value because we suffer from a high degree of alienation, alienation from our institutions, alienation from a deep sense of what does it actually mean to be an American? What does that mean? In a way that when I get up in the morning and my day is mundane and boring, I still nevertheless feel like I am deeply plugged into something that has value and depth. And conservatism is the project of very much trying to cultivate that and see where that value in depth lies. And so I think for that and there's a lot of other reasons, but for that reason alone, I think younger americans could benefit greatly from conservatism, because it gives us the very thing that we're missing the most, which is a purpose that's bigger than ourselves hear that youngsters, these there, including the alpha I'll make an exception here you could come in.
Speaker 1:You know you got a bunch of babies, you got pooping your, you know your little pads and all that, and mommy has to change them, goo-goo-ga-ga. Well, your goo-goo-ga-ga spirit. There's a sort of piece of this, at least Child conservatism. It's not as obsolete like I initially thought it was. I initially came with that belief that these people want to be backward. They just want to protect every single obsolete thing. Who cares?
Speaker 1:As I get older I'm already in my mid-30s I have and I want to touch on the religion of different groups, but I've just realized how important those things are. They do enrich human life. When it comes to me being a right-winger, when it comes to religion and politics, I definitely lean right. The left wants to do funny stuff with religion. I disagree with them very strongly with them on that. I'm tax exemptions. I'm for that. I like where Republicans do that To me. Those are. I give them my brown points because I think they are important and more churches are going away and I'm seeing what a lack of church purpose community does.
Speaker 1:Let's go to these screens and be absorbed and do a clout chase. It lets you get a bunch of likes and positive comments. It lets you get a bunch of hate. If you're worthless, go downhill. Your self-esteem is short. So, with that being said, I'm going social media angle because it's the one that brings a lot of people's confidence and their identities. Their salary revolves around the screen on the snapchat I'm using or even the smartphones we're using. You know.
Speaker 1:Now, studies have proven that it does a lot of damage to us socially and a lot of younger generations. They'd rather talk to a robot than a human being. We humans are social creatures by nature. It's how we survived. If we all would operate on our own, humanity would have been wiped out millions of years ago. That's something to think about. Just try to preserve what's great and, it's true, good things are very hard to create. They're also very easy to either take away or destroy.
Speaker 1:So that part I have to agree with conservative thinking. That's why I think certain things are instinctually conservative. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's keep that. Let's try to keep churches and things like that, because I have a good idea what it's going to be like without churches and community. It's going to be a lot more violence, more depression, a lot more drug overdose, not against certain drugs, drug overdoses and cause of chaos and mayhem. I mean, look at my city, the riding apple, new York City. It's chaotic, they're rejecting churches on a good chunk of places and I'm seeing what's going on. It's falling apart.
Speaker 1:Is it something that certain elders try to warn me? I just reject, I just think they're crazy. Is it something I'm sure even God tried to tell me several times I said, eh, who cares? I was just thinking short term and sometimes I want to fit in the cool kids and I always want to seem like I'm the smart, hipster, up-to-date kind of person. To me that was more important at the time, but now I don't really care about that. It's about what's important, what maintains human civilization, and it all starts with the family. The family's dysfunctional, that's going to bleed to multiple levels of society and I'm quoting Denzel Washington it all starts at home. So if I'm labeled conservative in that issue, I really don't care, because when it comes to some things I think I'm definitely right-leaning conservative, but not on all issues, of course, but this one I'm definitely conservative when it comes to.
Speaker 1:Religion is important, church is important, community is important, not just oh, I don't know, it will be something that left things off. Do whatever you want. Just do certain pride parades in front of the children. Personally, I'm against that. I doubt they would consider me right. I don't really care. I think pride parades, we just be among adults. You know who you are, your body, your choice, that part more liberal than what's only adults. Once you have the kids involved, then, yeah, I'm going to shift more to the right as, uh, that's not. I don't think that's appropriate and well, I don't. The kids should be dealing with that, maybe until the 18 or I'm 21,. For me personally, they're not going to get into that stuff. But that's sadly a heated, heated comment that I just said to certain people. I just said, look, if you keep it purely adult, I don't care, I don't care. And to their credit, a lot of them do that to their credit, some of them not so much, especially like the real large groups. You know the LGBTQ plus community. They fought for their rights. I respect them that much on that. But when it comes to just flaunting sexuality among children. I personally think it's the right thing to do. It's not responsible, because kids are just trying to learn the world and just keep them in the same. That's all. That's all I'm going to say about that. Let them learn about what the basis of life is how to talk to a person, how to play with toys, have fun, imagination, things like that. That's what's important. So, before I continue to ramble on that's what I want to just add into conservatism, though those are parts of.
Speaker 1:I grew conservative wholeheartedly community preserving good, because I've seen what good taking away good was. Strong community I used to be in it gone. Everybody's in it for themselves. People want to screw other people over just to get ahead. Churches used to be in it Gone. Everybody's in it for themselves. People want to screw other people over just to get ahead. Churches Less churches, more people, more heathenistic. They're promoting gobbledygook, satanic stuff. So feel them out in the open. Yeah, that's what conservatism is talking about. I agree with them all heartily on that aspect. So that's all I'm going to say about that. Anything else you want to chime in?
Speaker 2:No, I'm never one to stray away from a controversial topic, but there are some can of worms there that again, if I respond, will probably take us way off course of where you want to go, so feel free to guide us elsewhere.
Speaker 1:Well, that's up to you. I'm not a stranger to controversy too, because I've said certain things that I'm sure has ticked off people. And when I criticized Mike what was his name? Kevin McCarthy, I'm surprised I got a lot of negative comments on that. I did a short attack at Kevin McCarthy. I said, oh, let him do his thing. I didn't say he can't do his thing, I'm just being critical about what happened and what's what's gonna happen. But yeah, people just respond with emotions and low iq and all that. I mean I'm not gonna engage with those folks because you're not ready in here and that's just gonna. Once you have two people arguing like children, I going to be stooped down to a level of idiocy and the person who will observe it from the outside won't be able to tell the difference. I think Mark Twain says if you argue with an idiot.
Speaker 1:I'm paraphrasing here. You become the idiot and I'm trying to live that. I just Just express yourself. Use my Comment section as a therapy. Whatever, it's fine with me. I got attacked For some of the right with that one, but it's it's nothing. I expected much worse, to be honest, that's Kitty Glove Attack and what else. It's nothing. I expected much worse, to be honest, but that's a kiddie glove attack and what else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was the one I got attacked for just for criticizing Kevin McCarthy that he shouldn't be Speaker. I knew he was going to be gone. I mean, anyone with a peen of a brain could have predicted that Does he hold the record for shortest stint as Speaker?
Speaker 2:If not, he's up there.
Speaker 1:That's a good question. I think he was like what? Eight, nine months?
Speaker 2:as speaker. Yeah, it's pretty short. He's certainly the fastest of the modern era. I don't know if he holds the record, but yeah, he was in and out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, the way he compromised, bend over backwards and asking Nancy Pelosi for help, out of all people, yeah, like she's going to help you, yeah, okay, yeah, nice try. I mean, I never liked that guy and I'm sure he doesn't represent the type of conservatism you want to promote. He's like a moderate corporate neocon and my, in my honest, in my office.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, so long as we're on the Kevin McCarthy bashing segment, I'll say yes, he doesn't represent the kind of conservatism I would. However, my biggest problem with Kevin McCarthy is not his brand of conservatism, it's his lack of character. I mean, here's an individual who clearly did not stand with Donald Trump when it was politically advantageous for him to and then completely abandoned those Trump when it was politically advantageous for him to, and then completely abandoned those principles when it was politically advantageous. And I think, above all, and I think, before we look at someone's ideology, we first look at their character, and Kevin McCarthy never had the character to be leader of the house.
Speaker 1:I just found an answer To shortest speaker ever, and it's not Kevin McCarthy.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:He's in third. Well, good for him. He gets a bronze medal For having the shortest, the shortest tenure Of being a house speaker. I'm going to reveal the other two answers. The one that got the Silver medal, but Not by much, for 258 Days, is Michael Kerr. And then there's One that's even much worse. This one went to gold medal by a mile For Hemroy. Guess how long you were speaker a week. This one went to gold medal by a mile for Hemeroy. Guess how long he was speaker A week. No shorter, just for a day A day. Wow, yeah, and this is when American politics was really volatile. This is like 19th century. Yeah, this is like post-Civil War. Yeah, 1867. Yeah, so that's just right after the whole Civil War, where it was still dysfunctional.
Speaker 2:I must say, and our politics today is not good, it's not functional, it's not something we can be proud of. But you can draw some courage by looking at the history of the United States. It's not as if it has been a beacon of virtue and honesty all the way up until the modern era. There have been some pretty terrible actors in our past as well. We can recover from this. We can do better.
Speaker 1:Yep, and that leads to my other question. I'm removing the instance of Donald Trump to a better question. I think it's dumb and low fruit. Are you still optimistic about institutions? It sounds like it was a yes, based on that short answer.
Speaker 2:You know, I take a page from Yuval Levin where, if he's asked a question like that, he clarifies, says I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic, I'm hopeful. And he defines that hope and optimism are different and that optimism and pessimism don't imply any action on our part. It just means we're expecting something to go either good or bad. Hope implies it could go well and we should probably be out there doing something about it to ensure that it could go well because it might not go well. And I really think that's where we're at. I don't think it's a lost cause. I think our institution and this is a broad subject right, what exactly do we mean by institutions? I think the problem here and here the conservative philosopher, roger Scruton, who I quoted earlier about his summation of conservatism. I think he says this very well. He says a civil, virtuous, free society is built from the ground up and it can be destroyed from the top down. The top down is important, but it can never make the society virtuous and functional and at liberty. The society virtuous and functional and at liberty. Part of the challenge there is that when things are working well or when we're in a recovery phase, it's really hard to see it, it's hard to measure it. It's hard to truly know where we're at. It's easy to look at a debate on Thursday and say there is a clear indication of failure of leadership. Again, both Trump and Biden I'm not trying to say either one of them came out of that smelling like a roast. What's difficult to actually truly measure is is there an actual groundswell of institutional revivalism at a local level, among individuals and certainly over a long period of time? We can't see this. I'm not at all deluded by the fact that things are bad and possibly getting worse, but I think that the human yearning is for functional institutions. That being said, there is an almost necessary reconstruction period.
Speaker 2:You mentioned the church earlier. One of the things I think is sadly necessary in order for people to put faith into the church, as maybe we once did, is for us to be a little bit more open and accountable and to stop having these ridiculous instances where some national religious leader of a mega church, it turns out has been abusing children for the past 20 years and the church knew about it, but they covered it up. That's not only wrong and evil, it's stupid. It's stupid because what that effectively does is it makes it to where it's hard to have faith, hard to put trust, hard to put confidence in our institutions. Step one is the people within these institutions. The leaders and the laymen need to genuinely look at themselves and say, given my role in this institution, what is? The people within these institutions, the leaders and the laymen need to genuinely look at themselves and say, given my role in this institution, what is the appropriate way to behave? And if I know that the senior pastor is sleeping with an underage, basically sexually abusing a child, it is not appropriate for me to say, well, for the good of this particular church, because it's doing so many great things, I'm going to sweep this under the rug. Maybe in the short term that works, but in the long term that is extremely damaging. And I know I'm just talking about the church we can talk about again.
Speaker 2:The debate on Thursday is an excellent example of individuals behaving irresponsibly. That damages America's faith in the government and maybe I sound like a crazy person suggesting we can have faith in our government, but it starts by people behaving responsibly. The more they do that, the more we can build institutions. I'm hopeful because that's what humans want to do. We want to be in vibrant families. We want a religious tradition that speaks to us. We want a government that works. We want that. It's hard to do and it's going to take some building, but it's not like anybody are against those things. It just requires us behaving responsibly, patiently, prudently and working toward a brighter future.
Speaker 1:That is well said and that's the disconnect I see with a lot of common people they talk about. They want good things to happen, but they don't want to do the work. They complain. What's the problem? Correctly identify it, but people don't want to do the work. They complain why not the problem? Correctly identify it, but people don't want to do anything. People got to put in the work.
Speaker 1:And the reason why I'm emphasizing work because that's a major disconnect I see, even when it comes to left-wing issues like, I don't know, climate change or if I'm going to use the more right-wing threats, conservation, right, that's a more right-wing flair to it. Put in the work. Put in the work Instead of just hashtagging save the earth. Hashtagging save the earth is not going to do anything if you don't have action to back it up. A hashtag won't clean the air okay. It won't give us cleaner pipes, cleaner water okay. It's not going to do that. Action working towards it, that's what's beneficial. And you know, god is not just a God of words. If he didn't tell you to do something, do it. He doesn't force you, of course, do it. He's also a God of action, not just of pretty preachy words. That's another major disconnect. I mean I could go deeper than that. It would turn into a very spiritual podcast.
Speaker 1:I've done several of these. Got to put in the work. There's no shortcut. There's no control Z or Y to undo or redo.
Speaker 1:Really got to put in the effort, got to work, and I think the aspect of work has been stigmatized. It's been oh, that's old school, that's too much. Not everything is a computer shortcut, not everything is like a control C and a control V, just copy and paste. Some things take work, it takes thought and, trust me, it's going to be tougher. But you know what. You're going to have more of an accomplished feeling and that will boost your confidence, your self-worth and contribute to society. You'll be part of making society better instead of worse.
Speaker 1:That's all I'm going to say. For that I could yap all for hours. I'm trying to be respectful of well, mostly the guest's time. I don't need to be respectful of my time in this case. I'm just doing my own things. If I was up to my own devices, I'll be blabbering about this for three hours straight without drinking water. But what's that going to prove that I'm a crazy person that can talk and that's not very fruitful. I can do that, but I need to have a strong purpose for me to do that. So, to wrap this up, do you want to add anything before we do the shameless plug-in?
Speaker 2:Well, something you said there in your response really resonated with me and it's right about the example of environmentalism or conservationism and the tendency of individuals to that their environmental efforts is essentially social media hashtags. And now look, let me be fair. On its surface, there's nothing wrong with being an activist in that sort of sense and trying to spread awareness, but I think a lot of this ties in with what we've been talking about this whole time. There are a lot of efforts, from feeding the hungry to fixing the environment, to providing for equity, eliminating poverty, on and on and on, where, when you really boil it down, what the individual is doing is not necessarily addressing those concerns. It's they're doing things to identify themselves to others as the kind of person that would do these things. And that's not because of bad motives Again, I'm trying to come back to what we're talking about earlier it's because they are alienated from institutions that matter and outlive them.
Speaker 2:The way you get out of this cycle, the way you stop focusing so much on yourself, which is an extraordinarily miserable, unhealthy place to be, is you plug into something bigger than you are, so that if you're concerned about the environment, more power to you You're actually out there doing something rather than just raising awareness with social media. And don't get me wrong, people can be involved in causes and do immense damage. I mean, not all causes are right, even if what they want is right, they can ignore the trade-off, sales or cause damage. But even so, institutions and groups are typically a little bit better about metering those human impulses of just trying to make this about your identity or yourself. Hashtags are fine, but if that is your idea of activism, you're missing the bigger picture. And the good news is there's a whole world out there that is not only more important, it will make you a happier, healthier person once you plug into it.
Speaker 1:Here are some scenarios. Normally, I would just lecture you to pay attention more. That's some solid stuff I hear there. Okay, look at that. He even made the hashtag more purposeful. Yeah, I tend to be cynical. I'm from New York. Once you try to sell me or project something, I'm going to assume there is a lie. That's just One of the curses of being a New Yorker. I don't trust her easily. Once I do trust and once that's broken, I'm going to make you work three times in order to get that back. But that's just me personally.
Speaker 1:If you're going to hashtag it, back it up with action. Make sure you got the receipts, your documentation about the impact that you do, if you're going to hashtag it. If you're going to hashtag it with no action, then I laugh at you. You going to hashtag it. If you're going to hashtag it with no action, then I laugh at you. You're just okay. This person is just pandering virtual signal and people can see that People are not stupid, so don't try to see. Just do these things with the best foot forward. That's all. That's the main thing I got.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, we started from Doom with the tragedy and replaced by a stereotype of something hopeful. What a way to end. It Started very dark and then we crawled ourselves out of there. Good stuff, good stuff, thank goodness. I listened to my intuition. I said, yeah, I want to start as low as possible and just crawl our way out. And we did. We see the light, figuratively speaking. It's not literal. If you can't Distinguish that, something wrong with your brain. Alright. So let's do the shameless Plug in.
Speaker 1:Listen to this podcast, the Saving Elephants blog. Well, it has a blog in there. Because, trust me, if you type in Even just Joshua Saving Elephants blog why it has a blog in there? Because, trust me, if you type in you were just Joshua saving elephants, you're going to see a whole bunch of elephants, and I did that just on purpose. So just make sure you type in Saving Elephants blog. And why elephant? Is it because he likes elephants? I don't know. I can just tell you one thing it is an animal symbol of the Republican Party. That's at least one answer to it. I'm sure Josh can give a much better answer, but saving elephants what he means by that is saving conservatism. Make sure it thrives before it gets crushed and extinct by this dysfunctional political climate that we're in. That's just me guessing out of a limb and, trust me, if you want to follow more conservatism stuff, ask for him.
Speaker 1:If you're a left who wants to at least be open to understanding the other side, check out the podcast. Yes, I'm marketing this to the left as well. Check it out so you can understand the other side better. A great debater understands the other side, might agree with it, but at least understand the other side. Yes, I'm pushing some of you lefties in there too. Yes, I don't care, give it a listen.
Speaker 1:It may seem discriminated, some of you left-leaning people, but give it a listen. You might learn something. Okay, and you might learn that you're not as liberal as you think to some of you. So, yeah, give it a shot. For the right-wingers, I don't have to convince you. You want conservatism without the Trump stuff. There's your podcast. You're tired of Trump, but yet you want conservatism. That's your podcast. It's conservatism without the hysterics at the circus that we keep suffering. All right, so you get the social medias and his website to the blog and the podcast, okay, so just go over there, check it out. The link is going to be in the description and also the link for the previous episode episode 94, is going to be in the description as well. If you really want to stalk us in an audio sense, here you go.
Speaker 2:Gosh, I've never come up with a good answer to that question. I just want to say thanks again for having me on. It's been an enjoyable conversation and I'm grateful to hear I was able to start with despair and end with hope. That's what I always hope to do.
Speaker 1:Well, mission accomplished Me. I tend to just start happy, then I go downhill. I don't know. I'm pretty sure I have a psychological issue, but I want a professional to diagnose that, not use social media. You call a bunch of conspiracy theories. I'm just going to laugh. You can make memes and make fun of me. I enjoy a good joke. Jokes are important, but let's wrap this up. From wherever you're listening to this podcast, you have a blessed day, afternoon or night. Thank you.
