Trickle-Down Socialism

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Pat talks to Lourin Hubbard, who is running for the Democratic Nomination for US Congress in California's 22nd District, about why big Progressive ideas are interconnected in terms of the impact they could have on communities. Mr. Hubbard has served the public throughout his entire career and has seen the urgency for action on the climate crisis and infrastructure in his role as Operations Manager for the California Water Department. If Hubbard wins the Democratic Nomination for CA-22, he would face off against Devin Nunes - a GOP Representative who has shown himself interested in serving Trump's interests, but who hasn't seeemed interested in actually helping the people of California's Central Valley (San Joaquin Valley.) Learn More about Lourin Hubbard here: https://www.lourinhubbard.com/

Pat, Dan, and CMoney Welcomed Jordon Barney as guest co-host in the open. Jordon's Leftist Podcast can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/805uncensored/id1471552828

Topics discussed: Homelessness, Medicare For All, Efficiency in Government, Retirement in the United States, Defund the Police, Allocation of Resources, the Modern GOP, Free Higher Education, Free Public Colleges and Universities, QAnon and the consequences it has had on the electorate and families, the Infrastructure Bill, Water Scarcity, Climate Change, the Green New Deal, Housing First, Housing as a Human Right. 

Pat talks to author and Union Attorney Robb Smith about the history of the Census, Redistricting, Apportionment, and Gerrymandering. Robb gives an in-depth understanding of where the census comes from, some of the pivotal court cases that have shaped the redistricting process, and why the Framers of the Constitution were afraid of true Democracy. Robb Smith can be found on twitter at @RobbSmithIdeas and his Margin of Error Blog is available on Substack at https://moeblog.substack.com/

In the Open, Dan, Pat, and CMoney Burns couldn't help but talk about the MarkeyVerse group of 16 year olds making change through online campaigns - giving us hope that the kids will be alright. Also discussed: the implications of the the 2020 Census and Apportionment, and how it seems like we're headed for absolutely no accountability on the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol. 

TDS is mixed and mastered by C Money Burns at Cosmic Black in Portland, Maine. For inquiries on audio production, mixing, mastering and post for podcasts and music, please contact [email protected] or say hi on Twitter @cmoneyburns.

Pat interviews Former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling (Mayor Strim) about People First Portland, Maine DSA, and his experience running a small city. Mayor Strim explains why Portland is so welcoming to immigrants, regardless of immigration status, and why welcoming immigrants has been to the benefit of the economy and the overall health of the city. While Portland is a Progressive city, the structure of the city government was directly affected by the Portland Chamber of Commerce and the Ku Klux Klan and xenophobia directed at Irish Catholic immigrants in the 1920s. Mayor Strim recounts the challenges he faced as mayor and the difficulty of being mayor in a city that has an unelected city manager who has executive power. 

When Mayor Strim left office, he engaged with Southern Maine DSA (Now Maine DSA) to work on electoral strategy. In concert with DSA and People First Portland, Mayor Strim helped get a slew of Progressive measures on the 2020 ballot: a local Green New Deal, a $15 an hour minimum wage, Rent Control, and a ban on Facial Surveillance technology. The ballot measure passed with an average of 60% of the vote. 

In the open, Dan, CMoney, and Pat discuss this type of direct democracy, some quirks of Portland politics, NIMBYism, and the Universal Pre-K that is included in Biden's American Families Plan, which has yet to pass both houses of Congress. A slightly new format is used in this episode, with no interview debrief. 

If you're interested in supporting People First Portland, you can learn more here: https://peoplefirstportland.me/

For Maine DSA: https://www.smdsa.org/

Follow Mayor Strim on Twitter: @mayorstrim 

The TDS Podcast is mixed and mastered by C Money Burns at Cosmic Black in Portland, Maine. For inquiries on audio production, mixing, mastering and post for podcasts and music, please contact [email protected] or say "hi" on Twitter @cmoneyburns.

Direct Democracy, Socialism, Democratic Socialism, Democratic Socialists of America, Maine DSA, People First Portland, Mayor Strim, Ban Facial Surveillance Technology, Housing, Rent Control, Limit Air BnB, Green New Deal, Progressive City, Sanctuary City, Fight for $15, Housing First, KKK, Xenophobia, Ku Klux Klan in the North, Irish Catholic Immigrants, Strong Mayor system, City Manager, Corporate Influence. 

Pat talks to District Attorney Rachel Rollins, who was elected to the Suffolk County (Boston, MA) top law enforcement position on a platform of declination and diversion instead of prosecuting low-level crimes, especially crimes associated with poverty, mental illness, and drug use. In the interview, D.A. Rollins explains her progressive values and her philosophy for reforming the criminal justice system and holding police accountable for uses of force and misconduct. District Attorney Rollins takes bold stances, like her willingness to forgive all convictions that drew on evidence that was processed at the embattled drug lab in Massachusetts. Rollins even took a new bold stance on the TDS Podcast, publicly supporting the idea of beginning the process of creating supervised use facilities in Massachusetts, arguing that the open-air drug market on Mass Ave and Melnea Cass has all the negative consequences of a supervised use facility without any of the public health benefits. Rollins also discusses how some police hide behind the "Blue Wall" of silence when they should come out and condemn actions like the actions Chauvin took that killed George Floyd. 

C-Money Burns, Pat, and Dan discuss the Chauvin trial in the open. 

George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, Police Accountability, Derek Chauvin trial, Supervised Use Facilities, Police Reform, Criminal Justice Reform, District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Treatment, Decriminalize Mental Health, Decriminalize Drug Addiction, Decriminalize Homelessness, Defund the Police, Abolish Prisons, 

Pat talks to Ally Dalsimer, an environmental expert who is running for Congress in Virginia after 30 years of working for Department of Defense's environmental management program. She talks about how she is refusing corporate donations from the outset, how it's too late for half-measures on climate change mitigation and environmental protection measures, about how her opponent doesn't do what he says he will do in Washington, and about how all of these issues are interconnected. You can find out more about Ally Dalsimer here: https://www.allyforcongress.com/ 

CMoney Burns joins Dan and Pat for his second appearance as a co-host and they discussed marijuana legalization, a proposed infrastructure bill, the purported end of "Trickle-Down Economics" and more. Burns is a hip-hop artist and member of his local (Portland, ME) Democratic Socialists of America chapter, provides cutting analysis of current political events in the episode's open. You can hear his unique brand of socialist inspired hip-hop here: https://brzowskimusic.bandcamp.com/

Environmental Justice, Green New Deal, Environmental Justice, Corporate money in Congress, Dominion Energy, Virginia Legislature, United States Congress, Migratory Bird Patterns, Deb Haaland Director of Interior, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Virginia 11 District, 

Dan talks to lifelong educator Josette Williams who is running for Boston City Council about how she plans to reactivate her district (D4) to create a city government that works for all residents, not just the fortunate few. Topics of their discussion include: a city-wide minimum wage, equity in public education, how to engage youth in government and education, racial and gender equity, and the myth of progress being achieved after one person breaks the glass ceiling. https://www.voteforjosette.com/

Special guest co-host: Deirdre Baugh, a Boston Public School Art teacher, shares her perspective on how things are going in Boston. You can check out her amazing artwork, printed on a t-shirt or sweatshirt, here (support black artists) https://www.thedeitrixartproject.com/

All politics are local

An episode dedicated entirely to understanding where we stand in the fight for Single-Payer Healthcare. Pat interviews Stephanie Nakajima, Director of Communications for Healthcare NOW, a grassroots organization fighting to win a national single-payer healthcare system because they believe access to healthcare is basic to human dignity. Topics discussed:

- Abolishing for-profit health insurance is the only way to achieve the efficiency, cost savings, and improved outcomes for all that a single-payer system would provide

- Why a public option won't work

- Why passing single-payer on a state by state basis could be the solution: it was for Canada

- Efficiency of 20+% for private insurance vs. 1-3% for publicly administered healthcare

- California and New York are close to passing a state administered single-payer system

- Our money, paid in the form of premiums to health insurance companies, is helping to fund the lobbyists who fight against a Medicare For All, single-payer system

- How centrists continue to co-opt the arguments made in favor of single-payer, but in favor of private, for-profit healthcare

- What can we do to help move this fight forward?

Medicare For All, Single-Payer Healthcare, Universal Healthcare, Lobbyists, Healthcare as a human right, Congress, the Senate, Employer-based Healthcare, Denmark, Vermont, 

Our guest this week, Mayor Colin Byrd, is mayor of Greenbelt, Maryland, the youngest black mayor in the US, a member of the Greenbelt city council, and has announced a run for US Congress, announcing his run against Steny Hoyer, who has held that seat for over 20 years. We discuss what he calls the "Audacity of Progressives" and his vision for his city, his district, and the country. 

In the open we talk about AOC on the picket lines, Bernie as Senate Budget Committee Chairman, and more. 

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In our final episode of Season 2, Dan talks to Pastor Chris Hall. They discuss what Christianity means to them, how Conservatives used wedge issues like abortion and gay marriage to consolidate political power, and how the New Testament can fit in with robust social programs that aim to alleviate poverty and extend equal opportunity to all citizens. 

#Christianity

#RepublicanJesus

#SocialistJesus