This week, Kelley Richey and Julia Avery discuss Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the differences between Free Market System and Capitalism, and the importance of upholding personal values.
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Family Ties podcast is a fresh and new series created and curated by two sisters Kelly Ritchie and myself Julia Avery on opposite sides of the United States. We want to share our journey of staying connected through the weekly discussion of topics that both affect and inspire us. These topics range from arts and entertainment, inspirational women and role models, science, global issues, psychology, life experiences, pet peeves, etc. Distance may keep us apart but Family Ties creates the perfect backdrop to remain connected, challenged and always learning. Hi, everybody and welcome back to the family ties. Welcome back. This is Episode What three Julia? Yeah, so that's Julia. This is Kelly numero tres Yes. Today we're actually going to be talking about an inspirational woman. Let me disclaim this by also saying that I have put the dogs outside room because they seemed antsy, but one of them is currently scratching at the door. So if things get out of hand, I'll have to let her in. But just know that that's what that sound is. We're still deep in COVID-19. Guys, we're all just going crazy. Well, the dogs are going to be a constant problem when it comes to our episodes because they're in the house regardless of COVID-19 or night. So let's introduce our animals Julia just real quick. So I have you mean our furry fam our furry family, these are my children. You can't see them but I'm gesturing outside the room Maisy she is a mixed lab. She kind of looks like a lab and a Whippet. She is like 14 years old and the angel of my life. She's always quiet. And then REM my little bitch poo. She's a Shawn and poodle mix. She looks really ugly right now. She got a bath last night and she's about two two years old. Then there's Penny, my little Shawn Shawn shizu I rescued her so I didn't pay anything for this really expensive dog for Thomas for Valentine's Day and she adorable. Okay, she's so freakin cute. I haven't gotten to meet her or Aria yet and I'm really upset about that like legitimately upset about that my furry fam I've got Lux here in the room with me she's turning eight this year. She is a mix between a jack Russell and a Pappy on a Jackie Pap, is that what you'd call it or Pappy jack? I don't know. But I like that a lot is probably a Pappy jack Dee is so cute. She loves to play. As she's gotten older. She gets hot really fast. And so she'll like just sit there and Pat and look at you like help me. I need to get a fan for her. Yeah, and we need to we'll take some pictures of them and try and post them on the website so everybody can see them because they are Yes, it's very important, you all know, but yes, I also have two cats. They're equally as important as Lux. Okay, Kelly's not a fan of cats, but I love all animals. Okay? All animals and my kitties. Kendrick Lamar, Mama kitty. She's the sweetest. She loves cuddling. She will like if you stand up and you pick her up, she'll get onto your shoulders and sit up there like a parrot. So cute. And she'll purr. She loves it. And then there's her son ralphie. I, I didn't name him ralphie Skylar that fits them though. Like you look at them and you're like, yeah, that's a ralphie never works anyway, who ralphie I think he's like Forrest Gump. He's a little bit. He's not 100% with everybody else. That makes sense. He's a little slower. He's also slow. And I think he's gay. We'll talk about that another time. Anyway. intros out of the way. What are we talking about today? We're talking about a wonderful woman who's like, seriously inspires us it. I would be amazed if I accomplished half of what she's accomplished at her age. Amen. Really excited to talk about her today. I'll let Kelly do her intros because Kelly did some amazing research and I'm excited to hear about all of it. Well, basically, let's just start this by I'm gonna kind of copy what you said, Julie about like, every once in a while, guys, like someone comes along, who not only beats all of the odds, they stand for something bigger than themselves surpass others who are kind of their own age and wisdom, passion and foresight. So like this description is even too simplistic, I think for the wonderful woman we're discussing today. Alexandria, ocasio Cortez. Whoo. Whoo. I did most of my research you Wikipedia which really had an extensive amount of information, so I'll be quoting a lot of their stats and facts, so let's just credit them for doing my research for me. She is only 30 years old, two years younger than me. She took office at the tender age of 2019 2019. Wow. 29 She's the youngest woman ever to serve in the US Congress attended Boston University, which the university it kind of looks at it because I was curious as to like if it was super swanky. Now it seems that average is ranked like 14th among undergraduate programs at national universities and 46 among the global university, so it's not like Yale or Harvard. We all know she was a waitress and bartender before her big run for Congress. She is a member of the Democratic socialists of America. I looked it up and it's basically an organization of democratic socialists, social democratic and Labor oriented members in the US that fight for reform today that will weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of working people. Amen. So how you ask how does this happen? So their goal is to decrease the influence of money in politics, empower ordinary people in workplaces within the economy and restructure gender and cultural relationships to be more equitable, and she advocates a progressive platform that includes Medicare for all federal jobs guarantee, which aims at providing a sustainable solution to problem of inflation and unemployment, and the aims to create like full employment and price stability by having the state promised to hire unemployed workers. As an employer of last resort. She supports the green New Deal abolishing ice free public college and trade school and she also supports a 70% marginal tax rate for incomes above $10 million. She grew up in Bronx and both parents of Puerto Rican descent after college she moved back To the Bronx in took a bartending and waitressing job after her dad died to help her mom fight foreclosure on their home. And then in addition, like I mean, this lady is incredible. In addition to launching the now defunct from Avenue press, it's a publishing firm for books betraying the Bronx in a positive light. She has one worked for the nonprofit National Hispanic Institute, to worked as an organizer for Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential run three has visited places in the US affected by the Flint water crisis in Dakota Access Pipeline, and she continues to fight for the disenfranchised. So I mean, needless to say, her surprising grassroots victory over the 10 term incumbent Joe Crowley was just the beginning of her now well documented rise to fame powered notoriety. She was featured in that moving Netflix release called knock down the house. It's a powerful documentary about four female democrats running for office who were not career politicians. So it just kind of it's a really moving data documentaries so I highly recommend it. One of the thing I'd say is that the young turks, I don't know if you still listen to them, Julia but they're the holy grail of like honest news reporting in a world where news has become just so politically polarized become a cesspool of misinformation. Yeah, the news isn't news anymore. Now it's propaganda in it's just fear mongering, and it's hard to find Well, in the meantime, it is definitely left leaning, but it is so seriously, like, done to be as fair as possible. And I like to listen to the damage report, shout out to john at a Rola. It holds a very close place in my heart. It's the only source of news to me let me better. So the last little tidbit I'll mention is that her social media game is very strong. So even though recently she's been minimizing her social media usage, I didn't know this. I thought I was the trendsetter, but whatever. She was quoted as saying that social media is a public health issue. I agree. Completely agree and I was just talking with with someone else last night about it a social media use with government workers in general. I feel like people who hold the Federal Office should not have. I'm not saying that their freedom to use social media should be taken away. But I do not like how arguments and catty remarks are made to other other people in office, opposing members of office on Twitter, or social media. I feel like it's super petty. It's super catty. And I lose respect for the people who are just sitting there tweeting at other people and like, hashtag this hashtag that, Oh, you're so weak or whatever. And it's like it's easy to throw insults online. What I want to see is you making changes in office in law reform. I want to see action. I don't want to see you bickering on the internet right or trying to ruin Smear others. So I think let's, uh, take a quick moment to talk about our social media presence. Did you pick out some of your favorite social media moments of hers? Julia, did you get that far? No, because that again, social media stuff does not impact me the same as it does others. I don't have a lot of respect for it. So just because I feel like it's, it's I it's not as passionate or real tangible for me, because it's easy to just sit there and message something on your phone and upload it to the internet, just like a click away versus actions. So I'm not inspired by savvy remarks or whatever. So that doesn't impact me the same way. So no, I didn't do that. Well, why don't let's uh, let's talk about things that you you find most inspirational about her. Because she's in a position of leadership. I wanted to kind of talk about the things that mean the most about leaders To me, and how it ties into what she's demonstrated for herself. And that's super important because I don't feel as if a lot of people in leadership roles are leaders, they are in the position and they do what they think they need to be doing. But I don't think that everybody fits a leadership role the same or correctly or could have somebody who started for the right reasons, but now because they've accepted, accepted so much pac money, super PAC money and money from other corporations, they are having to stick up for their those corporate interests. Yeah. So they're, they're tainted by this. I think our whole political system is tainted by political interests that are made by corporations. So corporate, like the reason you know, you have so much pollution and can't get away from fossil fuels is because the fossil fuel industry has elected that you know, just like the Koch brothers, they are so far into it, that they're able to put money into the person who's going to look out for their interests. So it's kind of the ultimate quid pro quo. So I agreed, I will, I'll buy you this, you know, I'll give you money if you will stick up for me and you know, my interest. So the minute we can get money out of like corporate money out of the political system, it's To me, it's just as important as getting rid of religious interest. I completely agree. You know, we need to have such an overhaul. And the reason Bernie is our answer is because he knows he's been talking about this since before either of us were born. So I think she realizes that to AOC like fighting for him. He actually is what she quoted us. The reason she decided to run for office is because he inspired her with his grassroots movement and his genuine care for those who have beliefs. Yeah. And I think it's important to mention So, so I've got three points that I want to make about what I see in it. In great leaders, and that is selflessness and a personal attachment to the cause to their fight. For instance, like you'll have these gentlemen, he's older gentlemen that haven't had a very difficult life, so to speak, like maybe they've, they've come from a good family, middle class, maybe they were able to go to college paid for whatever, they haven't had to really fight a lot in their past a lot of hardships. So, I don't see a lot of passion coming through with people who come from an easy past. But when you have someone such as AOC, who's had to fight a lot in her personal life, like for instance, she's, she's always tried to help support her family. And when her father passed, she came back home to help her mom out and that she's very familiar and had close, like, firsthand experience with hardships and I feel like that is fueled. For passion and making positive changes and maintaining your focus on the fight the right fight the right path. So I feel like that's that's a great aspect of a leader is somebody who's got a personal fight in this as well. Well, and not just that, but just being somebody who came from a waitressing background and knowing what it's like to be not only just earning barely minimum wage with tips, they're really astute and know that it's not because they're not working hard or aren't willing to work hard and can't succeed. It's knowing it's a hard job. It's knowing that you can be smart you can be all of these things that could be successful, but some people have better opportunities and others and being aware that kind of like that stupid thing that Kevin sent me the other day about how the right thinks that we are all democrats are all lazy and just want to live off of government help and support. Let me read This because I don't find it funny. I don't find it clever. But he said, he said there was quote unquote this joke and it says COVID-19 has me acting like a democrat sitting at home not working, complaining about everything and waiting on my government check now, I've never received a government check before. No, I'm a Democrat. I work if somebody told me that's what being a democrat was like a wife. I've been working all this time. I've I've been busting my tail like since I was 12. I Wow, I missed the memo. Yeah, I totally missed that memo. I didn't know that I was in a party of entitled you just give me the money. So these polarizing things that are associated with each party just continue to get more polarizing, and still not truthful. It's interesting because you think about Bernie and AOC standing up for the working class and how we're our middle class is disappearing. They are giving us real facts and reasons as to why this is happening. But I also think their stance on not taking corporate money is vital, it is easy, because when you find a need, like you're falling behind, you could take that money, but they chose not to. And that stand I think is set the precedents for so many other people running for positions in any kind of in your local government, big government they are a lot of them are starting to realize that grassroots movement is the way to go. It is about the voice of the people. And we're not even gonna get into the Electoral College, which we're going to talk about, I would say maybe in the next couple of weeks, we're going to do some research and see where our thoughts on that, you know, are either fact based or kind of skewed and we're gonna set ourselves straight and others because I have a serious problem with it. And I'll leave it at that. Yeah. So that kind of your grassroots points kind of segue into one of my other leadership. The next one is I think it's super important that leaders understand They their role is supportive. The people they work for the people, the NACA Corporation, they don't, yeah, they don't work for corporations and the people don't work for them. So they are not just because you are a leader does not mean you are in a position to abuse power. That's not leadership. We're ram to serve our interests. Exactly. Exactly. So that's she, and she's got that. She's got that down, Pat. I love that about her because it's so important that especially government officials keeping that in mind because I feel like they lose their way at some point, and they forget that they're working for us. And it's like, We're your boss. I don't know if I don't know if you remember the dynamics of your job anymore. But like, wait, you do what we say. Yeah, so well, that reminds me of this. One thing that I think is Really impressive about her. I really loved the fact that she on her very first day of congressional orientation, she participated in a climate change protest outside Nancy Pelosi 's office. And it's interesting because Nancy Pelosi is a part of her party and she she ended up voting for her to be, you know, reelected as you know, committee chair, but I think I don't like Nancy Pelosi, I think she has lost touch with what it's like to be an average real person. I don't like her. I'm not a fan, but it looks like AOC isn't afraid. It's not about making friends. She is pushing for what's important, and it doesn't matter if it's holding her own party accountable. And we don't see that a lot. Her and Bernie, to me are the most non establishment because it's not just about sticking up for whatever is important to our party. They're just saying this is what's important to my constituents and people who voted me in I am their mouthpiece because that is why I got voted into this position. And you know, I don't care if you Part of my party, I will post a protest outside of your office hold you accountable. That's what we need from our leaders. You're like doing perfect segues into all of my points. Okay. My final point was about how leaders push boundaries and the status quo to do what is right not for what is normal, or what is acceptable with society at the moment, but for what is right. And that point you just made perfectly ties in with that. I love it. Good. And she's part of the squad what they call the squad. I don't like pop calling her the squad or as a member of squad, because I think that was a right wing term to try and make it seem like they're just as bully club of loudmouths who are just trying to wreck everything so I'm not even going to refer to her in that way. I am aware that that's what people kind of commonly associated with her but I'm not going to take the bait. She's an individual. She Hearing there's a whole host of women next to her who are also doing the same things and we'll talk about them later. But let's just suffice it to say that her brand hers and Bernie's brand of social awareness and caring for the people has earned them nothing but getting smeared in all the news like they're, they're not popular, they're seen as just a distraction. When honestly, they're calling out the distractions. And it's both sides don't like it. It makes them uncomfortable. They just want to keep going as it because they've created their own little box of what they consider an L the space that they're allowed to move around inside and is their party and anybody who tries to go outside their box they they ostracize them, they make them out. They they basically host a smear campaign against them online using Twitter. I hate Twitter. discrediting their their platform based upon the fact that they are threatened now, because now they've been called out and they feel threatened, break that status quo. Can I be really gauche here and say that there's only one other person in history that I feel like has earned those credentials for themselves and don't roll over in your graves, people who are dead, but I'm gonna say Jesus because and I'm talking about the Jesus Christ from the Scripture, you know, who walked the earth with his disciples. He was not very into money, you know, he was and it's okay to be wealthy. I think it is just fine to have money, not trying to vilify the rich but Jesus, he was the ultimate radical. I don't isn't there that point scripture where he goes into the halls and he flips over the table in the temple, because the tower then turned into a business place, which is what I think of modern churches across the board industry. Just a business to make money. It is not about God in the slightest. It is about money in their own interest and it spilled over into politics where it should never have been in the first place, money nor religion and now it's combined this danger and it's just pushing against any status quo, like people who are nice and comfortable and more than having a talking about needing to get rid of taxes on the rich. It is so impossibly ridiculous that they are so out of touch that Okay, let's just use the example you just really quickly. Can you imagine if the poor suggested they got tax breaks? Oh, well, I mean, they bought a duck. They would people would lose their goddamn mind. The rich would be like, Oh, no, oh, no. They're working citizens, they need to pay their taxes like everybody else. So this is a great segue into how this book I've been reading has really helped educate me as to the core issues of when we talk about democratic socialism. It's definitely seen as a very bad thing by Democrats and Republicans because they love associating it with communism and not separating the two and not doing their research to even know what it is. Well, okay, so I'm a democratic socialist, but let's just get this straight socialism and democratic socialism are two different things. That sounds confusing, but let's break it down. I've been reading this book called The Nordic Theory of Everything in search of a better life by an EU parliament. so incredible. She is from Finland, and she this book is discussing how Finland has been suddenly reaching this position of their economy is great. Their people are really happy. Their government programs are fantastic. they're seen as like a really good model and Bill Clinton, he was interviewing this this lady about Finland and why they're all of a sudden hitting the charts and what what they're doing to differently. We tend to think of Sweden, Norway, all those Nordic countries to be socialists and just dependent on their governments. But she lays it out in such a way that I think is fantastic because she's not supporting socialism either. She's just saying what they have in place is better than what we have. And she says why so she says, Every time I hear an American refer to Finland as a socialist country, however, I feel like I've been suddenly transported back to the 1950s. Finns of my generation and older have a pretty good idea of what socialism is not to mention communism, having grown up with the Soviet Union right on our doorstep. Our nation fought three brutal wars against socialism in the 20th century to protect our freedom, independence and free market system free market system to them is way different than what we consider capitalism. So let's just get it right. A little history. Until the early 20th century, Finland was ruled alternately by Sweden and Russia but gained its independence in 1917 when the communist revolution in Russia overthrew the Czar's creating the soon to be Soviet juggernaut. Finland was immediately plunged into a bitter struggle that pitted Finland's own working class sympathetic to the Russian communist cause against their own conservative capitalists. In a short but vicious civil war the free market forces in Finland one crushing the socialist uprising. Then, when the Soviet Union threatened Finland's independence two decades later, Finns beat back socialism both times, preserving Finnish freedom and independence at great sacrifice. Nearly a fifth of Finland's entire population fought against the Soviets, and many more participated as nurses and another supporting roles. Some 93,000 Finns perished out of a population of 3.7 million. So here's how we in Finland understand socialism. This is important guys, this is why I promised them reading this for a reason the government controls production and bands ownership of property, no private factories, companies or stores and no free market. No one is allowed to accumulate any personal riches. There's only one political party, few personal freedoms and little or no freedom of speech. socialism is one step away from communism, which Karl Marx defined as a situation in which the government or indeed the state itself, has become expendable. So the idea that a contemporary Nordic society is anything like this sort of socialism is absurd. The notion that even a liberal American leader such as brock obama could be considered a socialist, as some of his conservative critics like to claim seems to us downright comic. In fact, such stereotypes quickly were thin for us fins, the number of fins who sacrificed their lives fighting socialism and communism in the 20th century, is roughly the same as the number of Americans who died in Americans to hot wars against communism, Korea and Vietnam. And that's out of a population of one 60th the size of the Americas over the past 70 years. What the experience of the Nordic nations actually suggests is that even The United States with its already very impressive commitments to freedom might actually be able to learn a few things from us about freedom and free market capitalism. So, indeed, what if the entire purpose of the state in the 21st century as agreed upon and expressly stated by its citizens, was not to take more power away from the people, but just the opposite, to push the modern values of freedom and independence even further, to provide people with the logistical foundation for most comprehensive forms of individual liberty possible? It is exactly this exceptional commitment to individualism that defines the Nordic social contract today. And the results of this approach are plain to see from the Nordic region's rankings and global surveys not only in quality of life but in economic dynamism as well. All of the advantages I gave up when I left Finland and moved to America, universal public health care universal affordable daycare, real maternity benefits, high quality free education taxpayer Funded residents for the elderly. Even the separate taxation of spouses were not gifts from the government to make me a survival dependent on the state's largest, rather than Nordic system is intentionally designed to take into account the specific challenges of modern life and give citizens as much logistical and financial independence as possible. This is actually the opposite of community centered system or socialism or whatever you want to call it. This is also why the supposes social solidarity of people in the Nordic nations is not really as noble and undertaking it is, as it is often made out to be Wow. So what does that make you think it's, to me? The what they've established now seems more like common sense. And we could use a little bit more of that. I think she's trying to get down to the point of the right and a lot of democrats like to use the word socialism as a slur because Yeah, well it's it's easy to fall back on because They have no real justification behind it. And by saying that it's just a cop out, it's a cop out for them. They're trying to make it seem like what Bernie and like what AOC are fighting for and others is just a total dependence on the government. And you can create just people who are lazy and me direction when the opposite is true of these Nordic societies where it is about supporting and giving help to these families who have babies that gives them so much time off. I won't even go into all the details but they have so much time off to care for that child and me it's also a point of how you support your people and your your people make you the the country that you are. So for instance, with America, we'd like to say we're number one, right? If we're number one, why don't we invest in our people to make us number one, for instance, furthering education opportunities? Mm hmm. Making student loans a thing of the past Past Due making, making things so that it is not such a fight to do basic things. Because at this point, anyone who's not from the super idyllic background, it is such a fight to just meet basic requirements to get where you need to be. And especially when like you brought up maternity leave, that you use basically punishment, it's like you you're being It was a poor choice. You know, you made a poor choice to have a child but it's also like, doesn't this country want to continue to grow and have used to the next generation is the next generation not important. We'd like to act as if we somehow value family more than other countries. And that's just not the case. Oh, no, no, no, we we are the opposite. Yeah. Our views on you know, the right to choose people on the right want to act as if they're all about life and protecting that life. When is that It is they're basically saying, you know, you have to have this child, whether you can afford it or not, or whether you have the ability or place to do that safely for the child, what they forced you to have this thing you know, they want to be able to force you to have this thing. But then once that baby is out there, given any more things, there's no safety net for the children. Oh, they don't care about that life. And as soon as that kid is 18 Yes, send them overseas to fight and die in the endless war. They really only care about the fetus as soon as it's outside of the body. It suddenly Well, that was your choice to have the kid or that's unfortunate for them if they're poor. Well, guess they didn't use the capitalism's proper way it sucks for them, whatever. What about what you said about maternity leave, they said while Nordic citizens often don't realize how good they have it, Americans seem not to realize how terribly they're being treated according to a UN report from 2014 surveying 185 countries territories, only two did not guarantee any paid maternity leave Papa New Guinea and the United States. Holy shit. Okay, so just listen to the other countries that were listening here. So the United States is also one of only a handful of countries that don't guarantee their workers any paid time off or illness. Others include Angola, India, and Liberia. Wow, I don't there's so many. In the last year. I think what we're trying to get at is that I think, I think a free market is great. I don't think capitalism is working for everybody. What No, I think works better is a free market system. But I do think that our government's role isn't necessarily to rule our lives, but they're there to protect us and make sure that we have the tools we need to succeed. So when you do have paid maternity leave, and you do have great benefits, your people are happier, they're more productive, their children are better cared for And in the end, their kids are set up for better success. So they're willing to pay more in taxes and just even the section in this book I'm reading about maternity leave, and just having a baby. It's amazing how some of these couples, they spend the hospital, they get a private room and they stay there for over a week, you know, to learn how to breastfeed and to get on their feet and get the basics done. And one of the couples had to pay because they stayed a little extra they paid $500 Oh, another paid 50 some so that's chump change considering what we would have to pay I think it costs a needed I look up the the accurate cost, but it's astronomical just to hold the baby right after it's been born the skin to skin contact when they place the baby on the mother after it's been born. That's a charge, there is a charge for that specific action. Well, and it also makes sense that because our healthcare system is not about actually setting you up for success You know, we want to pump in and out as quickly as possible because it is nothing but a money making machine when you make it to where it's all about profit and getting people in and out as quickly as possible, you are sacrificing some of the needs and not setting your systems up for success. When you invest in people, they are more productive, they are able to put their money back into the economy. And so you know, and invest in other things other than just these crippling debts that are should be just things that are taking care of healthcare. And again, well, happy people means happy country, happy country means better country. So if you want to have bragging rights, why not invest in your own people, so why not make it so that it's easier for them to succeed and maybe eliminate some of the roadblocks. Unnecessary roadblocks. It's not about saying, oh, we're going to give everybody handouts. It's eliminating unnecessary roadblocks so that people are more likely to succeed And put that back into the economy back to the country. I think a lot of people's misguided thoughts that in countries like that these people are dependent on their government and have no individual aspirations. That's such a lie. Now, I'm not saying I think we need to be a socialist country, but we need to be more free market. And more, yes, our government should take more responsibility for things for healthcare, because when you have individuals, small businesses, like the one I'm working for, small businesses are crippled by having to take care of the health care of their workers. And so you end up getting worse and worse. Let's just say that I decided to have a baby. Now our company loves children and they love families. And I think they would try and help me as best I could, but they're not financially able to give me paid time off. It's just not an option for them. They would love to I'm sure it's just not something that they can feasibly. So it's crippling these small businesses that could grow. But now they have to be responsible for a loan. They're up against these big corporations who get tax write offs, who get grants, who get assistance from the government, who get write offs from the government. And somehow they're supposed to keep up with them when they don't get the same assistance, the same support. And then our sister Heather, she had to deal with the same issue with her maternity leave. When she had Kira last year. She had to save up money for the time that she was going to take off because she didn't get paid at all. Yeah, no support at all. For super religious. How do I say this? Our country is so steeped in this whole idea of Christianity and our love of family and how precious life is everything that we do says otherwise reminds me of The Handmaid's Tale yeah how they emphasize so much importance and love and passionate about these babies. But as soon as the babies get old enough to have formed their own thoughts, fuck them. Yeah, they're like cattle, you know, there's they're they're not valued lives anymore. And it's when people throw around The Handmaid's Tale as an example, it's considered extreme example. I disagree. I feel no, we don't have people wearing the exact same like red cloaks around, you know, saying those phrases and we don't have lock downs where people aren't allowed to have their own lives, but the whole point on the value of life and the freedom of choice for women's bodies. I'm gonna hand you a few of the nuggets of her social media because I think it's important because even if I'm not into social media, The Guardian says that she has more than 2.1 million followers on Instagram and 500,000 on Facebook. But Twitter is where she dominates the conversation. So I picked out a few tweets that I think it just shows how she's not necessarily trying to engage with people. But she's using this platform as a way to pretty much put to bed people's ignorance. Like she's like, nope, shut it down, shut it. So she says, in response to this dude was saying out of cacio 2018 refuses to respond to at Ben Shapiro's $10,000 debate offer. So Ben Shapiro, total turd of a human being. And she just said just like cat calling. I don't owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions. And also like cat calling, for some reason they feel entitled to one. I love that she did not take his bait. She didn't. She's not going to debate that guy because he's just so insignificant. He doesn't want to learn. He doesn't want to really get to the bottom of this. So she's just like, No, absolutely not. I love again. Again, it's hard for me to get behind social media but I get a. So she says whoever is coming at me in my mentions with a blue check when I haven't eaten in three hours she says and until more people start pitching in and holding people to account I'm just going to let them have it. That's great. So the above tweet was just one of the first big examples of her doing this when she picked apart Ben Shapiro's strange and expensive debate challenge. So random and it's like, okay, she doesn't have to send this other all these ridiculous tweets are coming from men. I'm sure there are some from women. All of the most insane stupid ones are from stupid men. So I don't know who this Charlie Kirk is, but he looks like an asshole. Hey, we'll see who pretends to be a champion of the people and believes the unemployment went down because we're two jobs just posed in a photoshoot with a 30 $500 outfit and $625 shoes all while saying the rich have too much power so then she says the alt right doesn't seem to understand the concept of magazine shoots you don't get to keep the clothes duh. I don't pretend to fight for a living wage and Medicare for All I do it and get used to me sling Luke's because I'm an excellent thrift shopper yes it's nice it's like a new dress you like of course they're gonna put nice clothes on you Are you stupid? Yeah. You did not purchase those clothes to yourself. You're not one of the rich their act their whole statement was so false like acting as if she had purchased the clothes herself and was above the poor. No, she's she's kind of like right there with sleep. She just said wow. Things like oh no, they discovered Vast conspiracy to take care of children and save the planet laughing face she's able to in a way that I can she's concise and it's just like the ultimate whip crack it's just the best that's I'm very envious of that because I'm long winded you're like okay wrap wrap it up wrap it up and she's like pregnant like there yeah it's the point and like you said people was because she's a woman they have nothing else to blast Ron but what she's wearing obviously we just saw that but this response she has to this guy okay so there's somebody took a picture of her backside but she's walking down the hall and it says Hill staffer sent me this pic of a Kazuya Cortez they took just now I'll tell you something that jacket and coat don't look like a girl who struggles and I mean. So she says if I walked into Congress, where ISAC they would laugh and take pictures of my backside. If I walk in with my best sale rat clothes they laugh and take a picture of my backside dark hates light that's why you tuned it out shine bright and keep it pushing Hell yeah. Then, you know in response to that ask she says oh does at a scary think he can delete his misogyny without an apology? I don't think so you're a journalist Readers should know your bias because he did try and delete this later because it looks so bad. But it's like no, you you have to answer for your ass foolishness. Exactly. It's just because you delete it doesn't mean you actually think it was wrong. You're just embarrassed and you want to backtrack. Yeah. hold you accountable. I'm so impressed by her ability to drown out the stupidity. And she may address it. I just don't know how she has the energy to do it. Yeah, because it's a non stop job. Yeah, that's a knock and I think she said she's Trying to distance herself from social media. Like on the weekends, she doesn't look at any of it. And she knows it's part of her job to stay engaged and to do these things, but for her own personal use, she's trying to minimize it because it is so negative i that's why I had to stop it. It's not nobody was picking on me the way they're picking on her. I'm not going to try and make it similar. I just got sick of it because I thought it was just a waste of my time. Now I'm reading now I'm talking to you. I mean, things that used to take up my time and attention, like the likes, or a particular person who's been on my nerves lately, sending all these really insensitive things. It's talking about how many likes they get on a meme they created. That's totally ridiculous and thinking, that's what's got you excited. Yeah, and that's another thing I'm not I'm not calling out meems but I'm, I'm just so annoyed by what my feed is flooded with. There's just like, there's there's hardly any real content anymore and it's just constant spread. Have misinformation and memes are notorious for spreading misinformation because they come across as funny and likeable anyone that people will anyone. And you know, people share that shit because they think it's all harmless and funny, but it feeds people's subconscious as they're flipping through their phone. And then they're just flooding their mind with misinformation. And I'm just, I'm over it. I'm fucking over it. So kind of getting back to the essence of why I think we need more a OCS and more Ilhan Omar's. I think that it's important that we have more grassroots movements and more people who are coming from the actual trenches, who know what it's like to suffer and work hard and support their family and be and the reason for doing this is to support families is to help serve the people. It's kind of like that mindset of people. Who are sort of pushing back against getting rid of like student loan debt and tuition free colleges. This pushback tends to come from people who went to school, and they've already paid off their student loans or they paid for colleges, they went, that's great for them. I'm really glad that they could do that. Not everybody has that ability to do it. It doesn't mean that person is less of a hard worker. Their opportunities are different. Some people's parents can pay for their school. Everybody comes from a different background, but people who I've spoken with who kind of think they have a bit of hesitancy behind it is that well what where do I get mine if you if you get your student loans absolved because of this, which I don't think it's going to happen now because it's like sleepy Joe is going to be the guy who's going to come in and underwhelm us. Oh, john at a roll in the damage report put it beautifully when he said that, you know, he's paid off most of his student loans and his debt, or maybe even all that I don't remember. But he said that if it came along where someone who is way wealthier than him got their student loans absolved, he's not going to have a conniption about it, he's not going to feel jealous, you know? Sure, he wishes that same opportunity could have been his, but he is not going to begrudge others who can have that opportunity. And he doesn't want other people to go through the same suffering. He went through, like why would he do that just work seems to be a boomer mentality where it's like, well, I had to pay for my college, you should have to pay to it's a part of the process and it's theirs college was also a lot less expensive. As was like you work a summer job and you get to pay for your college. You could you could work at a bank and support your family. But if I was working at a bank right now, I still couldn't support myself in this place. I live where the cost of living and providing for myself is so high, but the wagering income gap is so skewed. It hasn't gotten With the cost of living so I, I can it hasn't gone up for years the wage has not gone up as cost of living and not just cost of living but just cost of everything has gone up and free single year prices go up except for wages, but then people want to argue if he we raise the wages, then cost of living is gonna go up again. It's gonna go up again, regardless. It's time that you you you meet that you cut the gap out and bring them back up to an even scale so that as it continues to rise, so do the wages and start that process over again from scratch because there's a serious discrepancy between the two. I think we need to take the opportunity we're faced with right now with this Coronavirus. And I'd like to think that all of the what's happening now is a wake up call to I know it won't be for everybody but to as many people as possible that our values need to shift. It is not about bailing out these big companies like Boeing who don't actually need to be bailed out. They even said when Trump offered to bail them out, as long as they got like a, I guess, maybe a 10 to 20% profit share, they're like, hmm, now that you put it that way, like there's strings attached? No, we'd rather not have your money. If they needed it that badly. They would just accept it and say yes, deal. So our people, our citizens are what is important, not big corporate interests, not big business, not money in the government. I think we're going to start realizing that we are focusing back on families, we're focusing back on how we interact with each other and how we are totally unprepared for this and how we can prepare better so maybe we'll start to shift away from so much money in our prison industrial complex. Or our investment in war in our military budget spending, I think we need to shift our values over to the things that affect our communities the most agreed we should use this as an opportunity to refocus ourselves on what's important. And that's each other and not big money interests. That's just my idea of a perfect case scenario here. I love that dream and I share that dream. Yeah, let's get our reprioritize This is a good wake up call. And you know, blue. Let's check in with all these people like at the what is it the 700 Club who like to spew to their listeners that let's say kind of like a certain person who lives in in Tennessee mentioned recently to me, you know, they live in Franklin where it's the nicer area, the snooty end of town I think is how they said it and the tornadoes that just hit Nashville kind of cleared out some of the riffraff who to shoot you know They should just find somewhere else to be. Let's just say the 700 Club likes to talk about big disasters like that as being God's way of punishing kind of like the flood. Even though in the Bible God said he would never punish the world with some natural disaster like the flood again, the 700 Club likes to think that it is a way to punish the, you know, people who aren't super religious and maybe they're poor, and usually they're not white. That's God's way of punishing them and those people but what what they have to say about this scenario, because this doesn't seem to discriminate this virus doesn't discriminate against rich, poor, black, white, brown, whatever. So how would they paint this? This is God punishing all of us for being evil people, or is it just it's just a virus? It's just something that's a hoax or maybe God's punishing us for trying to get Trump out of office because he's the chosen one. Hmm. Okay, because is right around election time. Oh yeah, yeah. Wait, I forgot we we created this whole pandemic to undermine Trump and make his election bid joke. But wasn't it already a joke even though I fully believe he will get reelected if Joe Biden is our constituent that we decide upon. And when I say we decided upon isn't really we that we're deciding this or it hasn't been our news media that has been telling us that we have to choose someone electable to beat Trump, our one, our number one priority is beating Trump. So we need to elect someone who's not going to rock the boat too much. I want to know how many people have their opinion based off of their research. That is not Facebook and that is not media directed. That's not research. That is taking the bait of what media does that media distortion is so real, so prevalent and in overwhelming how much just a news can just manipulate what you think are facts, which you think is correct. And they'll leave out important information that will totally change the story that they're trying to spend. They leave out very important facts, and they will only focus on certain things. Like, for instance, if say, say Bernie, and Biden are in this debate together, right? They'll only focus on the top things that Biden said, that really spoke to voters, but it'll maybe be like a 2.2 second segment out of the whole debate, and they'll totally leave out all of the information. Bernie was dominating with that kind of thing. They'll take a little piece out of something, they'll spin their own story, and it influences so much so many people and it really pisses me off and it's everywhere. It's in the news. It's on Facebook. Facebook is where so many people rely on their information. I just wish that we could unplug ourselves. And I feel the most unplugged I've ever been, which is really where I'd like to stay where I'm challenging myself on some of my ideas and like we're going to talk about the Electoral College. But I want to make sure that before I even speak on it that I've done a little bit more research and I'm not just talking out of my ass, or just my my preconceived notions. I want to make sure that I'm not making things up in that I'm giving my views on real facts, not on something that I heard. And I think that's important because we grew up being influenced by our parents, Julie and I had parents who are extremely right wing, very, very bigoted, very pretty much puppets of their parties. And I think the only thing my mom votes on is if someone is pro life or not. So Trump's gonna get her vote even though before this, he was never even a Republican, but I think We have to stop letting the news tell us that we have to vote for somebody who's electable and you know who's electable? Whoever we elect, so, do your research. decide upon the things that are the core values that are most important to you fight the urge to be so damn impressionable. Don't be impressionable. Do your research. Lux agrees Can you hear her? She's whining second, like, seriously, guys. Don't listen to the media. And that sort of seems a little bit more to reflect your viewpoint. Don't let that blow you into complacency. Hey there, no, because then you'll fall into your own side of propaganda. Because I mean, propaganda has different extremes, different different levels, but it's all the same any type of information that is presented in a way to influence and Did not present all the facts and try to get you on a certain side. That's propaganda to me. And that's even with your own news outlets like I have to be careful where I get my news from sometimes I have to look for multiple sources to get an idea of, of the truth because you can, you can start to disillusion yourself not to say that that news outlet is wrong. But even they have a way of presenting facts in a way that favors their position as well. And it's subconscious too. So be careful. Be aware, Julia. Yes, I think that it is a fucking miracle that you and I and I think maybe Skylar, yes, have been able to research, do a little bit of digging, push back against certain things, which is why I think that things like racism and bigotry, you're not born with it. It is a social creation, it is something that your environment will shape. And of course, you know, we all have things that were bigoted about or, you know, definitely not quite informed about, but I think questioning and being like, why is that really the case? Right? Is that really fair and not accepting things at face value? asking the questions pushing back, and people take that as opposition, but it's just saying, No, I'm why. I think it is an age old misnomer that we use as a society. I think sometimes it's applicable. But sometimes it's not. Let's just use this example of this old man. Let's just say this old man is at a work party and he Pat's, a younger coworkers asks and says something slightly sexual. Now most people are going to say that's unacceptable in the workplace. You know, we've all been informed. we've all read this. The the forms that talk about harassment what's acceptable and not accepted? Now, yes, this man grew up in a time where like in Mad Men, women were just objects for you to use or boss around. But we're in this age now where we are learning and progressing. Hopefully, racism is not as bad as it used to be. I get it. We're not still lynching people and doing these wearing. Some people are still wearing hoods, I think Yeah, they're still claims there are still clans and active clan, things are still bad. Of course, they're better. I'm not saying they're not but switch that to a situation where this old man says something really racist to the sky. Everyone is quick to run to the old man's defense and say, well, it's just the time period he grew up in. That's just that's just how he was raised. But I would like to push back against that, because we were raised to hate gay people, too. I was told I couldn't marry my black neighbor. Because he was a different color, and it was all these different things, and I always ask the question why and never bought into it. And I don't know why or what made me buy into that it wasn't a rebellion that I just wanted to earn my parents by dating someone, though, because it made no damn sense. So you can be raised. I mean, we were raised in the Bible Belt, we will, we're raised in the perfect petri dish of hate to mirror that hate. And then if we move, but you can't use that as an excuse for anyone's behavior, because at the end of the day, you're, you're a human being with a conscious conscience and the ability to make your own decisions. You have your own free will, and ability to reason and use common sense. Regardless of where you come from. You are in control of your actions, that does not your past is not an excuse for your current behavior at all. So and that's the thing is when all of these movements started Let's just say the suffrage movement. There were people who pushed it back against it men and women. But there were people who thought this system isn't right. The system system isn't serving everyone to provide us all with the fair shot. And we all have that ability to look outside of our learning bubble and see what's right and what's wrong. And I hate hearing people use that excuse. We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard because if you are living in this current world, and you're older, you may have been raised in a certain environment. But there are so many things out there in our media that are having like gay couples are now on television. And we have all of this inundation of of what's acceptable now and they're still holding on to these archaic values. No, we don't get the they don't get a pass on hate. I don't think that is correct. No. And I understand that people should have the ability to believe whatever they want. believe and practice their faith however they see fit. However, when any of that stuff veers into the hate the realm of hate rhetoric, anything that is not building other people up and it's it's a it's targeted against some type of person or people's. I think that's an acceptable people should not be afraid people should not be targeted. People should not be ostracized just because of belief. I think that's where that's where we err. So on that note, I think it's a good place to wrap up. But let's wrap up AOC and say for me, I want to be more like a OC. The older I get, the more disheartened I get by the system that we are in and I feel like I fought for Bernie the first time around, and I've really invested in Bernie this time around. I hope that what's happening in the world right now can be a catalyst for bringing him back up. I think he's going to pick her I think you should stay in this race until we can see At this point where we actually are in race, especially on the on the side of healthcare with everything else going on right now, perfect platform. Like right now people more than ever understand how important it is to be covered. And if any of you guys donate to whatever political party or political person and whoever your candidate of choices if you are donating to their campaign in any way, shape or form, can I challenge you to look into that a little bit further, because I have been donating every week to Bernie whenever I can different amounts, whatever I can handle at the moment. But now he is not accepting donations for his campaign. All the money that he raises is going towards five different relief groups or forgot what these relief groups are. I'll have to look them up. I heard the mentioned on The Young Turks and I thought it was fantastic but he is really encouraging us to invest in those things. Because those are more important than a political campaign. And I find that says a lot about who he is and what he really stands for, and who you'd want to be leading. So what are your values guy, right? What do you want our legacy to be and don't make a decision based on the news telling you you have to vote for someone who's electable because they worked for Obama. Let's start to put our values first and say we can do better. We need someone energetic. We need someone with good not just good intentions, but a real plan some real energy, I've got a challenge as well. So I noticed with COVID-19 it's it's really shown more than ever how ignorant people are about a certain issue until it happens to them right. or a family member or someone close to them, like these people who were throwing COVID parties and Kentucky and then one of them got And then now they regret it. And now they're like, Oh, I'm so sorry, guys. Oh, now you're sorry. Now that you've got it and you're like, oh, it does suck. Fuck you, oh, I challenge everyone to make your decisions and establish your values based upon the idea that this is happening to someone you love and you care about. Because if you don't, it's just is that essentially endemic of idiocy? It's it's not tangible to you, when you when you don't imagine it as a reality, your reality potential reality, you suddenly don't care about it, but everything is possible, it could be your reality. So make your decisions based off everything being your reality. So do your homework, wash your hands, social assistance, do it. Don't throw COVID parties, don't do it. And don't just think about yourself. Think about the risks. You could pose to someone older that you love or that someone else loves it's not just a value that's what establish your values and hold fast to them be better guys we have to be better. Reminds me of milania Trump's Lola little group that she's got is it called be best. Oh stop uh don't mention her name right now we were eating on a hi Julia on something asked her medically incorrect. be best. Well, Julia, it is been wonderful. I love seeing your face. Oh, seeing your face. You're so pretty and I'm so sweaty. No I'm sweaty to my upper lip is just like Alyssa just. Yeah, they're like little droplets on my upper lip. And it's you guys didn't need to know. Go outside. Get some free Share, I'm gonna go see my horse and tell him, give him kisses for me. Well, you have a good day. And guys, don't forget to check out our social media. That's right. You can go to our web page, www dot Family Ties podcast calm, and it's got the links to all of our social media platforms. And there are blog posts, get everything. All the information you need is right there. Heck yeah. Go join the family. Love you guys. Bye