Between the Headlines

There were so many news stories this week, from Asian-American hate to transgender sports to Georgia's voting rights law; but, even as a political person, I had a hard time actually caring about them. So, I introduce six questions to have more focus and sensitivity in your political perspective: who, what, when, where, why, and how do you care?

1. Who? Ground yourself in reality by defining a clear subject, revealing the people behind the politics; attention is the most powerful thing.

2. What? Come up with a bucket list of three issues AT MOST; caring about 20 things really means caring about 0.

3. When? Make sure that your priorities aren't fickle, determined by popular opinion.

4. Where? Just as with who, ground yourself (literally) by pinpointing a physical location, local, state, national, or international.

5. Why? Which value or interest is motivating you? Make sure your standpoints are in line with the values you espouse.

6. How? Devote time to caring; research on proper sources, thoroughly, and make a difference in ways beyond clicks.

Very helpful resource on how to care: https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of-living-better/how-to-participate-in-government

Tucker Carlson is not a real journalist. FOX News is not real journalism. And increasingly, other news networks like CNN or NBC are drifting away from real news as well, by adopting FOX-style monologues and a gossip mentality.

Dissecting an except from Carlson's show, I explain how he hardly includes any concrete facts, instead choosing to construct a persuasive rhetoric—an agenda of emotions. In constructing un-factual characters of his opponents, he partially affiliates with a political party, though not completely. A channel like FOX, by amplifying Carlson's voice, mainstreams the language of conspiracy and replaces true journalism. Some subtitles and rhetorical headlines are outright ridiculous. Really, Carlson's agenda is best describes as—yes, propaganda—in fact, Wikipedia's description of propaganda perfectly matches his main features. Hopefully we will learn to differentiate fact from opinion, and explanation from persuasion.

Our electoral system — whoever has the most votes wins — is broken.

The seemingly obvious solution is actually incredibly dysfunctional and destroys democracy: the Spoiler Effect works against accurate representation and voter choice, makes millions of votes simply "not count", gives almost absolute power to the two much-hated parties, and allows for gerrymandering and political polarization, encouraging divisiveness.

Luckily, there is a solution. The Fair Representation Act proposes three simple fixes: independent redistricting commissions rather than partisanship, ranked choice voting to make races both more cooperative and more competitive, and multi-member districts to help with proportional representation.

Given the increasing political relevance of QAnon, claims of election fraud in 2020, and Plandemic, I discuss the psychology behind conspiracy theories.

There are three main motives — the search for truth, a sense of security, and a desire for superiority — which are fulfilled by conspiracy theories. They are fueled by an essential distrust in the status quo, not necessarily a particular belief, so they don't even need to be self-consistent. This is why they are so difficult to disprove by presenting facts, which don't address the fundamental suspicion and conviction; especially when voices like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump support them. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories have real consequences, especially during COVID-19, so we need to employ critical thinking to prepare ourselves.

https://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/conspiracy-theories

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/29/how-to-deal-with-a-conspiracy-theorist-5g-covid-plandemic-qanon

The most recent developments to issues I've covered in the past seven episodes, as well as reflections on interviews and ideas I missed out on.

Topics include: the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccinations, the American Rescue Plan (aka the COVID stimulus bill) and its passage, the elephant graph showing the decline of the American middle class, Biden's foreign policy stances, thoughts on resolving racial injustice (especially in education, and even more.

No policy matters unless it gets passed. How will Joe Biden navigate a Republican Party that opposes him in viewpoint and as a political maneuver?

Biden has shown an unwillingness to invoke the "nuclear option" and eliminate the filibuster, and budget reconciliation is a limited tool though useful for COVID-19 stimulus. He embraces compromise, negotiation, and concessions, as part of his institutionalist orientation; yet, there is an inherent tension between bipartisanship and getting things done. Some practical issues might be dealt with, but a 50-50 Senate will not allow most progressive policies or any reforms to the democratic system. So, rather than finding away to override opposition, Biden is trying to use it to his advantage; for example, it gives him more control over the Democratic Party. By taking a step back from the spotlight and portraying Republicans as obstructionists opposing popular legislation like the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, he is putting moderates in a tough spot: either work with the administration, or risk being on the wrong side of the public. This also builds trust in policy and bureaucracy.

Sometimes, being passive is the best way to be active in legislation.

In this episode, I discuss the state of the nation on issues of racial inequality and discrimination, both on the individual mindset and systemic / public policy levels, with Sabrina Ticer-Wurr, an advocate for racial justice and cultural competency.

Topics include: the myth of "reverse racism", the importance of proximity to the cause and taking action rather than abstaining, and the use of racial tensions as a political tool by many on the right wing; as well as the changes that need to be made to history education in schools, housing and urban development, monetary reparations, and police brutality (especially since George Floyd's murder).

The public option is Medicare For All for those who want it, and the main extension that was left out of the highly politicized Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Proponents of the public option argue that it fits all interests, keeping the private sector while creating a government alternative. Opponents of the public option in favor of Medicare For All argue that it squanders an opportunity for progressivism, and that a public option isn't financially viable due to weak purchasing power. Opponents of the public option on the right argue that the government should never interfere in the private economy. Everyone, though, agrees that things need to change, and there's a healthy share of support for the public option. Of course, the political reality of a 50-50 Senate makes it highly unlikely that Biden can pull something off.

On the COVID-19 pandemic — cases are finally on a steady decline; we have a vaccine plan, and vaccinations are on their feet; the stimulus package, which has elicited much frustration from both sides, should be in order by mid-March. Also discussed: immigration, and the FOX news response to it. Listen to the full episode for details.

In this episode, I discuss climate change and the associated politics with a passionate advocate for sustainability, Thomas Lyons, who leads a regional chapter of the Sunrise Movement — an organization supporting the passage of the Green New Deal.

We go through the causes of denying the scientific evidence behind global warming; weighing economic costs such as job losses against preventing climate change; the likelihood of Congress taking action; private sector action; and various areas of climate policy including renewable energy infrastructure, cattle farming, regulations on oil and gas, the transportation/auto industry, and foreign policy led by John Kerry.

America needs a large-scale economic stimulus package, now — in fact, it's essentially an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most voters agree on this. Biden's $1.9 trillion plan includes public health funding and $1400 checks among other items. The idea behind big government is that getting Americans out of the struggling situation comes first, cautious spending comes later. However, there is still partisan politics behind passing a stimulus bill. Democrats and Biden need to overcome a Republican challenge either by negotiation, taking up a smaller plan like Susan Collins' $600 billion one, or by using a brute force method like budget reconciliation. 

Once emergency mode is over, then comes his long-term economic vision, one that is in large part based on Andrew Yang's 2020 campaign: capitalism that works for the people. Biden's Buy American and trade policies attempt to resurrect and revitalize the American manufacturing industry that seems inevitably on the decline. Biden is actually surprisingly progressive, just judging by his first weeks in office: looking to invest heavy in infrastructure and innovation, taking workers' side on issues like unions and the minimum wage, supporting concentration-of-wealth measures like higher taxes, and taking further left stances on education than one might expect. After all, he is, as advertised, an old-school Democrat, appealing to Midwestern workers on down-to-earth economic policy, in contrast to the more contemporary brand.

Step 1 is getting stimulus done. We'll see where it goes from there. He does have the benefit of the doubt, though, holding a slim majority approval rating, and trust over the opposition party on economic issues.