The answer by the majority of voters in the city of Columbus, on three occasions, to the above question was “No!” However, investors in Columbus would not be denied by the voters. In this episode we examine what happened to the City of Columbus, Ohio when a group of private investors decided to bring a National Hockey League team to Columbus. The voters voted against the idea of building a $100 million sports arena three times. So the investors built the arena then arranged for the elected leaders to agree to sell the building to the city through the back door (the city owns the building and the $80 million dollar mortgage plus the $100 million dollar proposed maintenance and upgrade package). The elected leadership of the city agreed to buy the arena on behalf of the public. Now we have an arena, but the people who bought the arena gave the investors a nice profit. The investors did not act responsibly toward the public and the elected leaders are not accepting accountability to the public. The voters can hold the elected leaders accountable or not—but they must pay attention to developments with the arena and organize a campaign to renegotiate the deal and/or remove the elected leaders, Voter non-response invites more abuses of the system. A new soccer stadium may be more the same. Voters must be vigilant! We must all pay attention. More information: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2020/11/25/nationwide-arena-repair-fund-short-need-upgrades/6277161002/. If you don’t live in Columbus, something similar may be going on in your city,

This episode describes what “Ascertainment” is and how it aids in the peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to the next presidential administration, Ascertainment became an issue for the first time since the General Services Administration (GSA) was ordered in 1962 to begin ascertaining a new president because President Trump claimed that he won the election in November 2020 and he did not authorize the head of the GSA Emily Murphy to “ascertain” the apparent winner of the election—Joe Biden. Now Emily Murphy was appointed to her position by President Trump, but she is not legally bound to make her Ascertainment call according to the permission or lack of permission of the sitting president. So, Emily Murphy finally did her job and made the call to ascertain Joe Biden’s being the “president-elect” on November 23, 2020–20 days after the election. Normally the process takes two or three days, but this is an unusual year and the false claim by Trump that he won the election is only one of the strange events of this year. So, on we go with the strange journey of 2020.

One of the foundational issues of the United States of America is the issue of one person, one vote. Each and every person over the age 18 has the legal right to participate the the choice of all of our leaders from the top to the bottom. Tens of millions of people have died so that we all have the right to vote and it could be secure and safe. No one has the right to manipulate the vote for their own agenda: not the Democrats as (in 1960 and many other elections), not the Republicans (in 2000 and many other elections). Donald Trump wants to appoint a Postmaster General who raised money for Tump’s re-election then strip the US Postal Service of it’s normal ability to delver the mail and undermine the postal service’s long term health in order to let UPS and other private companies to take over mail and package delivery, I say No! Donald Trump wants to file lawsuits in every state that he lost by less than 100,000 votes to try to undermine the vote of the people. I say No! More importantly many judges (including many of the judges that Trump appointed to the federal bench!) said No! The people of this country have spoken and their vote was no more president Trump, not as much Democratic Party power in the House of Representatives, and we still have to see about the Senate but we saw the Republican Party lose power in the Senate. Whether they lose control or not we will see January 5, 2021. But we need more of you 33% who have not voted to get registered and vote in Georgia! Again, I’m not advocating for a party, I’m advocating for progress for everyone! Trump has lost all but 1 of his law suits (38 as of December 1) because the was no significant fraud. It may take years for everyone to understand the truth: The election of November 2020 was not impaired by fraud, the election was not stolen. Our democracy held. For more info see John Oliver’s examination of the claims of fraud and 60 Minutes interview with the head of the federal program that prevented fraud. John Oliver: (https://bypass.the week.com/speedreads-amp/948764/john-oliver-celebrates-trumps-defeat-recaps-absolute-year-week-happened). 60 Minutes (11/29/20): (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/60-minutes/id81210923?i=1000500745564).

This episode begins the conversation about how the elections of November 2020 will impact our future. A record number of nearly 160 million people voted (the highest percentage sine 1900, but both candidates for president received record-setting support. Joseph R. Biden received 68.6 million votes (the most ever for the winner of any US presidential election) while Donald J.Trump received 65.9 million (2 million more than in 2016). BUT, 240 million people are eligible to vote so we are still far short of our goal to see at least 95% of our citizens vote (about 228 million)! The story of George Washington’s re-election in 1792 is a fascinating look at our history. Only white male property owners could vote, so it was really “rigged” but Washington was elected by 6% of the voters—not 6% more than the other candidates, 6% of the voters! Times have changed for the better. (See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1792_United_States_presidential-election. For the voter results see https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/amp34574744/2020-election-voter-turnout-high/ or https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/amp34589422/voter-turnout-2020/.

This episode begins the discussion of how spirituality and consciousness are central to so much of progressivism—the values of progressivism, the definition of what progressivism consists of, the direction and future of progressivism. The question of spirituality and consciousness are relevant to progressivism because, I believe, we are created and our Creator has given humans the ability to think and the power of perceiving senses and emotions. The thoughts and feelings of people over the centuries eventually led to the idea of political authority residing in the people who make up the state—democracy. And through the American experiment a nation founded upon the idea that the will of the people should be the basis of making the laws, deciding the political direction of the country, and electing the leaders. The founders of the United States could see that the forces of history were operating under a new set of principles (the enlightenment), but they also recognized that the new principles did not invalidate the understanding that we humans were created and the Creator must be factored into our new system of government. Little could they imagine the developments of the last 250 years when they began the experiment of self-government. Little can we imagine what will take place in the next 250 years. But we are sure that progress will lead to many wonderful miracles here on earth and we propose that Progressivism will be part of the future. To that end we share the link of the Hubble Telescope’s view of the “empty” universe which is actually full of marvelous unimaginable treasures and promise you that in spite of some dark days ahead we are headed into a beautiful progressive future—under God’s mighty loving hand! But we didn’t forget what we said in the beginning of this podcast—you atheists might be right, in which case forget everything I just said! https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS899US900&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ALeKk02JMtQcrvjsRBqq3G0X3PabjQg2Eg%3A1604330703197&ei=zySgX6XJC8_5tAbb54OgBQ&q=society6.com+hubble+telescope+deep+space+view+of+the+universe&oq=society6.com+hubble+telescope+deep+space+view+of+the+universe&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAM6BAgjECc6BAgeEApQ8oUCWLO3AmD00wJoAHAAeACAAYcBiAGFCpIBAzQuOJgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#imgrc=Oa7NSXwGXvfXFM

This episode opens up the subject of the history of the United States encouraging international cooperation after both world wars when we have been operating out of our highest and healthiest principles, while at the same time we have an undeniable history of interfering in the internal affairs of our countries at times in the most underhanded and despicable of ways—all in the name of righteousness. This must change and it will change as more and more people clearly examine the facts of our history. For a very brief overview of the subject please look at Wikipedia (not the most solid reference but generally pretty accurate): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_interventions_by_the United_States

In this episode we begin the discussion about how defense spending impacts governmental efficiency and contributes to the waste of precious resources that are needed to make our society healthier and more sustainable. Over the next 10-20 years goals, objectives, policies, and procedures must be adjusted to reflect new priorities.

This episode begins our look at the spending side of government and helps us see that all spending must be tested for results—does this spending help the people, does it help solve a problem, does this spending pass the test for efficiency or is it wasteful? The national debt is a very serious issue—the accumulation of spending to help accomplish our national goals. Is the annual over spending (deficit spending) leading to a strategic result? Is the deficit helping to accomplish something useful? We will continue this discussion in the next episode.

This episode continues the series of brief introductions to big topics—the progressive view that we must think about governmental and non-governmental policies, laws, and actions affect Nature in general and the environment of planet Earth. Political theories of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries did not consider how the environment might be affected by their views. Beginning in 1970 Earth Day ushered in a massive movement of considering how the Earth was being affected by the activities of humans. Now we see that the health of the environment on Earth is much more fragile than was previously thought. We must look at how policies and products affect the wider world. “Dark Waters” (2019) is a movie which illustrates the point very well. A labor saving chemical coating on cookware has by now completely penetrated all life on the planet. The damage is incalculable. But we must persevere and try to correct our narrow thinking to reverse the course of the future. Progressive thinking will hopefully help organize our thinking. In the mean time vote on or before November 3, 2020! Keep on getting informed and voting in each election. Every subsequent election will be eve3n more important!

This episode discusses the roles of renewability of resources especially energy and maximizing sustainability of human activities on earth in the 21st century (and beyond) in progressive political thinking. The excesses of late 19th century industrialization began to show that raw resources were not unlimited. Theodore Roosevelt (possibly the first progressive president) led a movement to preserve some landmarks that would be preserved for the public benefit for the indefinite future. Later in the 20th century the effects of colonial exploitation began to be seen around the world and people began to see that the Earth’s resources were limited and that it would be more and more important to factor renewability and sustainability into public policy although some people challenge the idea that limited resources should be managed and maximized. Progressivism recognizes that we are able to renew some resources, but we want to use finite elements and compounds wisely and sustain our lives for the long term. The Earth rise photo can be seen at https://s.yimg.com/aah/skyimage/apollo-8-earth-rise-50.jpg. Some other great resources can be found at https://www.activesustainability.com/renewable-energy/ and http://weforum.org/agenda/2015/09/renewable-energy-is-not-enough-it-needs-to-be%20sustainable/. Now go out and express your power and vote!