Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keep on riding with us, says, we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from these hip hop
weekly studios. Welcome back to Civic Sipher. I'm your host, Rams' job.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
He is Ramsey's job. I am q Ward. You are
tuned in the saving site for hopefully still with us
or just joining us.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Yeah, if you're just joining us, please go back and
listen to that first part of the show. Because Q
he's bat in a thousand today. He took a loss
all week. CE this guy down lot on my heart
and I got a lot to say. Man, I appreciate that,
and we all appreciate all of us in the studio
listening to you appreciate that because it's a moment. But yeah,
(00:36):
stick around. We do have to talk some more. We
are going to be discussing and this should really go
with the second or with the first part of the show.
We're going to be discussing Republicans versus conservatives. I feel
like that's kind of an important distinction to make these days,
because there's a lot of people who are conservative and
not Republican and vice versa, and I think we need
(00:58):
to have that conversation. But before we get there. It's
just time to discuss Baba becoming a better allied baba.
So why don't you grab this one? Youre bye Ba.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Sponsored by Friends of the Movement. You can sign up
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Donate to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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(01:31):
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(01:53):
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dot ed.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
U, I want to make sure that people know that
the SI in that website. Of course you can google
the National Museum of African American History and Culture and
get the website, but that SI stands for the Smithsonian INSTITUTIONE.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That SI is important, yes.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Because that is a national It's not like, you know,
a group of black folks got together and put it together. No,
that belongs to the United What is it? The the
something of the United States of America. Like it's like
they put the of America part on it. So it's
a big deal. But we've also been there. We've been
to this museum. It's a very special and transformative place.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So and for those very necessary So any amount that
you can give matters. You don't have to be able
to change the world with your single donation.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
But also if you're able to please go visit it
as well, and in doing so, I think that that's
also becoming a better ally now Republicans versus conservatives. Before
we get there, I'm going to share something that I
came across that I feel is potent and this will
(03:13):
be kind of a launch pad for the conversation we're
going to have. So this comes from a writer named
William Weir. He's responding to an online forum and I
just just copied it and I wanted to share it
because I think that this kind of paints a picture this. First,
we're going to have a conversation between Democrats and Republicans,
(03:33):
and then we're going to have a conversation between Republicans
and conservatives. But first, this is where we'll start. So
the question posed to William Weir was if we had
two countries, one filled with liberals only and the other
filled with conservatives only, in the long run, which country
would perform better? And this is his response. There are
a lot of other variables that could influence this, but
(03:55):
let's just take a look at America. The states with
the highest poverty rates are Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Kentucky,
and Arkansas. New Mexico lean's blue, but the others are
deep red. The states with the lowest poverty rates are
New Hampshire, Maryland, Utah, Hawaii, and Minnesota. Utah is red,
but the others are all blue or lean blue. Okay,
(04:17):
so that's you know, who has the lowest poverty versus
who has the highest poverty. All Right, The states with
the best education are all blue or lean blue, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Minnesota,
and Wisconsin. The states with the worst are New Mexico, Mississippi,
South Carolina, Louisiana, and Idaho. Again, all are deep red,
(04:39):
except for New Mexico. New Mexico has some other things
going on there. Let's go to the incarceration. The states
with the highest incarceration rates are Louisiana, Delaware, Mississippi, Oklahoma,
and Alaska. Once again four red and one blue, which
is Delaware. The states with the lowest are New Hampshire,
(05:00):
North Dakota, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Maine. And the trends and
the trend holds with one red state, which is North Dakota,
and the others are all blue or landing blue. Let's
look at healthcare. The best are Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey,
and California. A clean sweep for Team Blue. Actually, the
top ten are all blue as far as healthcare is concerned,
(05:22):
with Utah scoring the highest of the red states at
number eleven, and the worst are Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, West
Virginia and Louisiana. A clean sweep for Team Red. Ten
of the bottom eleven are all red, with only one
swing state, Georgia, coming in at number forty three, and
with Nevada coming in lowest of the blue states at
number thirty nine. As if that wasn't enough, eight of
(05:45):
the ten states who pay the highest federal income taxes
per capita are blue. And that's you know, states with
surpluses and states with where people are doing enough to
afford that and paying in for national funds. You know,
because states pay to the federal government, and eight of
(06:08):
the ten states that rely the most on federal funding
are read. That means the government has to give money.
So California is paying money to the government. The government
then gives that money to Alabama, and then people in
Alabama are like, at least we don't live in California,
you know, and it's like they're that delusion that you
spoke of in the first half of the show. Anyway,
where was I all? Right? Eight of the ten states
(06:32):
that rely most on federal funding are read. The five
states with the highest COVID death rates were all red,
and three of the five with the lowest death rates
were blue. That's Alaska and Utah were the only red states,
and they're very sparsely populated. There's not a lot of
folks in Utah or Alaska, so obviously there are other
(06:54):
factors involved, or we'd see clean sweeps for every category.
But the overall trend is clear. Red states are by
and large terrible at everything, while blue states perform much better. Okay, again,
this is the writing of William Weir.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Want to I want to interject, please, because it might
seem like he's being light there, but they're only fifty states.
If you're in the bottom five of everything, you're performing terribly.
I don't want to hear the word terrible and what
that's being mean or hyperbolic or he's writing with colorful language.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
No, you're in the twentieth or what is it the
twentieth period? Objectively terrible? Yeah, that's that's fair, all right. So,
based on the data, in a hypothetical scenario where we
divide the Red states from the Blue states and form
two different countries, the Blue country would prosper while the
Red country would be quickly filled with poor, uneducated, sick
criminals starving to death with no one to pay for
(07:49):
their food stamps. Actually that's not entirely true. I'd imagine
that before that red country devolved to the point that
they look like the set of a mad Max movie.
They start listening to some liberals and turn some things around.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I wonder why he said that as the last sentence.
And I'm not just talking to our listeners. I'm asking
Ramses and not that knows this or can speak for you.
But why on earth would anybody think that, instead of,
as he said, turning into the set of a mad
(08:25):
Max movie, that they would just start listening to liberals
and turn some things around. Why does he think that's
that's not happening today in real life?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, well again, what they would do is.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Double down on support for the people who have them
under their thumb or that, because what it sounds like
here is that while that country was was filled with sick,
poor people, he's leaving out that someone's in charge, and
the people in charge would be very wealthy. Oh yeah,
(08:59):
it's and those people in charge will be very wealthy.
By convincing the people who are not in charge it
is not his fault or not their fault that things
are so bad like they're doing right now in real life.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
They would convince them that some other source, because.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
They're kind of are to Americas. Now another problem, right,
The thing that happened in the wake of nine to
eleven September eleventh, two thousand and one, was that our
then Republican president, who and this is objective fact, did
(09:36):
not respond fantastically to that situation, could have been prepared,
but ignored information and data coming from analysts after the fact.
Found someone to other, because that's what we're really good at.
Found an entire group of people to other. And for
a very brief amount of time, we were the United
(09:58):
States of America. Even if that was united in bigotry
and hate and fear, we were united. We had an enemy,
we had someone to point to, we had someone to blame,
and we got to look at each other as brothers
and sisters as we were either scared or hateful. You
were one of the other, as you waved your flag
(10:22):
and singing the Star Spangled banners. Start to feel a
little different, even if temporarily because you were afraid of
a group of people or because you hated a group
of people, or both. Since then, and maybe not since
that moment, but now this is very very much two
different Americas, with two different agendas, with two different points
(10:45):
of view.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Two different sets of facts, two.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Different sets of values. We are not united in our
request against anything. The most vulnerable and weak our country
has ever been. Now that's true.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Ever because we see one another as the enemy. Isn't
that weird?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
So we see one another as the enemy. So why
in this story does he believe that things would get
so bad that one side would ever look at the
other side and say, you know what, you guys are
doing this thing better than we are.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, Because, and I'll add to that, there's there's a
lot of countries around the world where they do a
lot of things better than the United States, and we
don't try. Well. There are some of some at least liberals,
that that point to those countries as examples, the countries
like Finland and in Switzerland and so forth.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And social problem with pointing at any other country. You
just said one of those bad words socialist our country
and those imposers problem want to keep us weak and poor,
have turned those those type of governments and to bad words.
There are people in this country that hear the words
(12:05):
socialist and think that it's a bad word. They have
no idea what it means. Yeah, they are socialists. They
hear communists. They hear anything that's not democracy and capitalists,
and it's a bad word. So it could not be better.
So the idea that you could get sick and go
(12:27):
to the doctor and get help, help is without being rich,
should sound great to everyone.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
It feels scary to them. Yeah, So here's let me
make sure that I'm very clear. I know that when
I when I mentioned like Finland and Switzerland, places like that,
those are capitalistic countries with very robust.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Socialist program as is Canada a much closer, a great
example to and I know that socialism and socialist programs
are kind of.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
The enemy of you know, our brothers and sisters who
are in the Republican Party. However, the point I was
making was to bolster your point, which is, we have
clear examples of countries that are doing great things. You know,
they've they've socialized health care, they've they've done a lot
of things that really make the citizens on the ground,
(13:22):
the people that live in the countries, the human beings
and the environment, the animals and the trees and so
forth better. And so with those examples, certainly a lot
of books on the right will ignore those examples and
continue to double and triple down on what they're doing.
So I think you're right in that they might ignore
the liberal side of things that he's that he.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Mentioned no question, our leaders, and this is just subjective fact.
Our leaders in general have prioritized profit and capitalist endeavors
over well being of the citizen. For sure, that's a
fact across the shore. But our Republican leaders have done
(14:09):
that to a far more extreme end and continue to
do so.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
So let's do this. Let's I want to make a distinction.
It might be a very small distinction, but I want
to make a distinction between Republicans and conservatives. This show
(14:37):
was started in Phoenix, Arizona in twenty twenty. That was
the first place to give us a home. KKFR Power
ninety eight point three, the first person outside of Phoenix,
Arizona that welcomed our show and allowed our show to
be syndicated. That birthed the Now we're on seventy five
(15:01):
radio stations around the country, sharing these concepts and hopefully
creating better allies out of you, our listeners. First person
that give us a green light and allow us to
air this show is a man named Steve, and Steve
(15:28):
has mentioned to me that he is a conservative man,
and I had to wrestle with that because I'm about
as left as they come. Well, I guess I'm not
as left as they come, but you know, I'm like
bleeding heart liberal with mine, you know what I mean.
I want to help the world. I think we can
(15:49):
all make it rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. This is
what you calls me, and has called me that for years.
But I really do believe that that's the best way
to be, you know, to be kind to each other,
to love each other, and to refer to each other
as brothers and sisters, because it reminds us that we're
all kind of playing the same game here and we
can go a lot further together. Right. This is just ramses,
(16:10):
you know. And Steve is a more conservative guy, you know.
And yet and still he saw his brother trying to
do something for his people, and he says he didn't
even just say, yeah, it's fine, go ahead and do
it because of the cultural climate. He said, I love
the show, How can I invest more into it? Right,
(16:34):
So I'm going to go back even further. Sorry Steve
for putting your political beliefs out there on the radio,
but you know it happened that way, and we love you. Man.
I'm going to go back further, if I'm not mistaken.
My birth mother was a conservative, right She was a
(16:58):
preacher's wife. She loved her from Jesus, and she found
herself kind of having more conservative beliefs right now. She
was not a Republican. She didn't, or let me say,
(17:21):
she did not vote Republican as far as I know,
you know, I didn't spend a lot of time with her.
She left my life when I was very young, but
well not very young, but young enough before I started
paying attention to these sorts of things. But she was
admittedly a conservative person. And she was black, not quite
(17:48):
as black as I am, but black. She lived the
reality of a black woman, you know. And I know
lots of black people who feel the same way. And
I know lots of non black people who are just
very conservative, very traditional, traditional values, these sorts of things,
(18:09):
and their only option, well not their only option, but
the option that they feel is closest to that way
of thinking is the Republican Party. And it's like if
I was to say, I'm not a fan of Joe Biden,
but I'm going to vote for him. I could see
(18:32):
a similar thing happening from folks on that side saying,
I am not that this Republican Party is not I'm
not a fan of this Republican party, but that's the
only option, and I'm going to vote Republican. I'm a
conservative person. I believe in conservative values. I believe in
this and and the third and so I feel like
(18:53):
somewhere in there is the dividing line between a Republican
and a conservative, and I don't know where that is,
but I do know that there are some people who,
based on their walk through life, they are nothing like
a Donald Trump figure. They don't like a Donald Trump figure.
(19:16):
They actively work against the Donald Trump figure. And yet
they are conservative people and their only option to vote
based on their conservative beliefs is Republicans. So they either
vote Republican, which is a vote for Donald Trump, or
they don't vote because they do not espouse a more
progressive liberal philosophy. And in the same way that I
(19:37):
don't espouse a conservative philosophy. It's a weird place to be.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
This is such a scary, strange place to be because
you have to marginalize the plight of others.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
A whole group of people in order to get your
conservative vote off right or a Republican vote off.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Saying it might be true for both parts for both
parties around, though they're always there, typically true, but this
time around worse than ever before. Our tax dollars paid
during this current administration's time in office directly funding what
(20:19):
many have coined and I count us among them as genocide.
So typically you get to stand on the moral ground
of man. This this group is actively working against an entire.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
People.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
That being true for both parties is a crazy position
to be, and it's in it's almost impossible to say,
but hey, here at home, here at home, one party
is looking to disenfranchise citizens of this country. It's a
cruel distinction to make, but it is a distinction to make.
(21:00):
There is a group that is looking to disenfranchise citizens
of this country a whole.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And the mass.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But then we have brothers and sisters who are citizens
of this country, who are also ethnically members of our
brothers and sisters on the other side of the world,
who are dealing with some of the worst circumstances in
the history of humanity, funded by our current administration today.
It is a very very very impossible place to be
(21:31):
right now with trying to encourage anyone to participate in
our political landscape.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And yet and still the only way that Eyebramses believes
that it gets better is a vote for Joe Biden,
because it gets worse and it stays worse when you
vote for the politics.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
As usual versus maybe a perpetual dictatorship.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah. Well, and we're gonna have to leave that one
right there. With that in mind, I'd like to thank
you all for tuning in to Civic Cipher once again.
I've been your host. Rams' Jaw.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
He is Rams' Jaw. I am qward. We are Civic
Cipher indeed, and grateful for every person that hears our voice.
Grateful for every listener that writes in. Whether you agree
with us or not, the fact that you listen, that
you care enough, and that you participate is really a
big deal for us.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Do us a favor lock in with us. We just
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of active bombs being dropped around the people in the households.
We're tapped in. We're at Civic Cipher on all platforms.
You can find us at civiccipher dot com. You know,
(22:49):
shoot us a question the topic, make a donation, download
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