Jablow Interview – Podcast June 20, 2022

Posted on June 20, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

Focusing On Civic Engagement. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Scott Jablow, candidate for Mayor of Sedona. Jablow moved to Sedona in 2010 after a 31-year law enforcement career in New York. In 2012, he was elected to the Fire District Governing Board then to the Sedona City Council in 2014. He is currently Vice-Mayor of Sedona.

Asked why he wants to run for mayor, Jablow responds, “The mayor should have the proverbial finger on the pulse and know what’s going on throughout the entire city. So, when people email me, I will call them back or have them call me. I want to hear what people say and I truly mean that.”

Turning to the issue of home rule, Jablow says, “Some people have the misnomer that, if we don’t have home rule, the public can vote on everything we do. It doesn’t make sense. Nothing would get done. For people of my demographic, the term austerity budget comes to mind. Everything would be reduced, except for some police, our wastewater treatment, and a few staff. Everybody in the city would suffer. Nothing would be able to be done anymore. And our taxes would not drop at all.”

Jablow goes on to address ATVs, short-term rentals, and more, noting that the city’s powers to control the issues are often limited by state laws.

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Posted in Arizona Politics, Community, Democratic Governance, Education Funding, Elections, Environmental Issues, Funding, Government, Housing, Interviews, Local Politics, Monetary Policy, Political Candidacy, Public Lands, Public Policy, Public Service, Regulation, Tax Revenues, Taxation, Wilderness Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jablow Interview – Podcast June 20, 2022

Ploog, Jordahl Interview – Podcast June 13, 2022

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

The Origins Of Roe v. Wade And How Overturning It Could Change America. Steve Williamson welcomes two attorneys to the show, Holli Ploog and Mik Jordahl, to discuss what led to Roe v. Wade and the implications of Justice Alito’s leaked draft opinion.

“Alito went out on the edge to condemn Roe,” says Jordahl. “Other cases have expanded rights. This is the first one that is contracting rights. In terms of overruling precedent, we’re now seeing contraction. The draft opinion here says there’s no fundamental right to get an abortion. It’s just an irrational basis. So, they turn constitutional law and precedent on its head. You could easily see same sex marriage overturned.”

Ploog notes that polls show a vast majority of Americans believe in the right to abortion, but the leaked opinion ignores that. “What they’re saying is that the life of the fetus takes precedent over the life of the mother. When you ban abortions straight out with no exceptions for the life of the mother or for rape or incest or anything like that, you’re saying the fetus has greater rights than the mother does.”

Referring to the circumstances of women before Roe v. Wade, when women had few rights and even contraceptives were illegal, Ploog states, “What particularly irks me is that the younger justices who are in their forties and fifties have no experience with this whatsoever. Like Coney-Barrett. She has a large family with several adopted children. She’s a working mother. But that wasn’t the case back then.”

Jordahl explains, “In the draft opinion, Alito says there are protections now against discrimination against women. There’s childcare. There are all these things that are available now. So, it’s not so bad if abortion is made illegal.” But, as Williamson notes, “Not so bad as it once was doesn’t seem to me to be a good legal argument. What I’m looking at is the amount of intrusion necessary to ban an abortion. The amount of intrusion is extraordinary compared to a lot of other things government does.”

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Constitutional Issues, Cultural Change, Domestic Policy, Government, Health Care, Health Care Policy, Human Rights, Interviews, Judicial System, Jurisprudence, Justice System, Legal Issues, Marriage Equality, National Politics, Political History, Public Health Policy, Women's Issues, Women's Rights | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Ploog, Jordahl Interview – Podcast June 13, 2022

Hanks, LaMaster Interview – Podcast June 6, 2022

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

America’s Growing Gun Violence Crisis. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Stephen Hanks and Gary LaMaster to the show. After Hanks provides details for the July 9th golf fundraiser for Democrats of the Red Rocks (DORR), they address the most recent rash of mass shootings, including 12 that happened over the first weekend of June.

LaMaster offers the horrifying statistics from Gun Violence Archive and describes possible causes and solutions as explained by The Violence Project. What follows is a robust discussion of the issues, which include easy access to weapons of war, untraceable ghost guns, societal issues, mental illness, and the GOP’s steadfast refusal to agree to change.

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Posted in Campaign Finance, Domestic Terrorism, Domestic Violence, Elections, Firearms and Explosives, Firearms Legislation, Gun Control, Interviews, Mass Shootings, National Politics, Political Clubs, Political Polarization, Propaganda, Public Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Hanks, LaMaster Interview – Podcast June 6, 2022

Richtman Interview – Podcast May 23, 2022

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

Privatization Of Social Security: The Bad Idea That Won’t Die. When President George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004, he claimed that he had earned political capital and he was going to use it to privatize Social Security. It was a bad idea then. And it’s a bad idea now. It would put retirees at the mercy of the fickle stock markets. But some Republicans keep resurrecting the idea, including Jim Lamon, Arizona candidate for U.S. Senate.

To explain why this “zombie” idea would be a disaster for America’s senior citizens, Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Max Richtman, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

According to Richtman, Senator Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, takes the bad idea even further. He would have both Social Security and Medicare sunset every 5 years and force our dysfunctional Congress to reauthorize it. Otherwise, the programs would end. Of course, that would take the security out of Social Security.

“There’s a lot of scare tactics going on when it comes to this Social Security debate,” says Richtman. “Some of the statements and rhetoric about the program being broke, they’re myths. The only way it could be bankrupt is if we had one hundred percent unemployment. And that’s never going to happen. What we need to do is have a serious discussion about the long-range solvency of the program.”

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Posted in Aging, Arizona Politics, Civil Society, Corporate Welfare, Disinformation, Entitlements, Government, Health Care Delivery, Health Care Policy, Interviews, Medicare, National Politics, Political History, Privatization, Public Health Policy, Social Contract, Social Insurance, Social Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Richtman Interview – Podcast May 23, 2022

Ploog, Chaikin, Ferreira Interview – Podcast May 16, 2022

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

An Egregious Invasion Of Privacy. Steve Williamson and Kathy Kinsella welcome Holli Ploog, Peggy Chaikin, Ellen Ferreira to discuss the looming U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion and the weekend’s women’s marches in protest of Justic Alito’s leaked majority opinion.

The group discusses the far-reaching implications of the decision if the opinion holds. They agree that, since Alito based his opinion on 16th century law and dismisses a woman’s right to privacy regarding reproductive decisions, it could have a domino effect on a host of other privacy-related issues such as same-sex marriage.

They also lay out a number of ways for people to get involved and impact politics with Kinsella noting that things change rapidly in today’s political environment. The key is for people to come together.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Civil Society, Community Activism, Conservatives and Reactionaries, Constitutional Issues, Domestic Extremism, Elections, Ethics, Government, Health Care, Health Care Delivery, Health Care Policy, Human Rights, Interviews, Justice System, Legal Issues, LGBT Issues, Marriage Equality, National Politics, Political Polarization, Public Health Policy, Religion, Supreme Court, Women's Issues, Women's Rights | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ploog, Chaikin, Ferreira Interview – Podcast May 16, 2022

May 20, 2022 Fundraiser

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

Come Celebrate 11 Years Of Insightful Interviews And Programs. Democratic Perspective is a volunteer effort to counter rightwing propaganda and to provide listeners with expert opinion and information.

Given the growing threat to our democracy, that effort has never been more important. But it takes money. We rely entirely on donations to fund our radio show, podcasts, and website. That’s why we’ll be holding a fundraising gathering in the beautiful courtyard of Sedona’s El Portal Hotel on Friday, May 20 from 5-7 pm. As part of the gathering, we’ll also celebrate the lives of our dearly departed colleagues, Dick Searle and Klaus von Stutterheim.

So come have a glass of wine, enjoy some appetizers, meet others who care about the truth, and share your ideas for future shows. There will be no cover charge. All donations very much appreciated.

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Podcast May 9, 2022

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

Keeping Perspective: Looking To The Past And To The Future. As Democratic Perspective celebrates 11 years of programming, Steve Williamson and Gary LaMaster, two of the show’s founders, offer a retrospective of the past 11 years.

Steve explains how the series came about and who was originally involved. He notes that the show first aired with Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick as our guest in April of 2011. Since then, we have conducted interviews with a great variety of experts such as economist Dean Baker, as well as a host of professors and authors such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Austin and Nancy MacLean. There has been an array of political candidates and elected officials like Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Congressman Tom O’Halleran, in addition to activists, lobbyists, and local community officials.

And even though our group of contributors and sponsors has changed over the years as some drifted away and others passed on, the goal of Democratic Perspective is, and always will be, to get at the truth.

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Posted in Arizona Politics, Campaign Finance, Civil Society, Community, Community Activism, Conservatives and Reactionaries, Criminal Justice Reform, Cultural Change, Dark Money, Democratic Governance, Disinformation, Economic Policy, Elections, Ethics, Founding Fathers, Funding, Government, Interviews, Journalism, Local Politics, Medicare, National Politics, Pandemic, Political Candidacy, Political Clubs, Political Contributions, Political Polarization, Privatization, Social Security | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Podcast May 9, 2022

Casteen Interview – Podcast May 2, 2022

Posted on May 2, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

Issues Over Ideology. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Jeanne Casteen, teacher, school board member, and director of the Secular Coalition of Arizona. She is running for the LD2 Senate seat in the Arizona legislature with hopes of reducing the level of crazy at the state capitol.

As Casteen says, “I’ve been going down to the capitol and testifying as an educator for well over a decade now. And the level of decorum at this point is essentially nonexistent. It’s really kind of a very fringe climate there.”

The reason is that Republicans have controlled the legislature and the governor’s office for more than a decade. Despite narrow majorities in each house (31-29 in the House and 16-14 in the Senate), Republicans have essentially ignored both Democrats and the general public. The GOP majority controls what bills can be heard and often passes ideologically extreme bills without debate.

That could change by flipping just one seat in each of the houses, which will force legislators from both parties to negotiate and vote on issues that benefit all Arizonans. That’s why we encourage listeners to help Democratic candidates like Casteen in all of the state’s competitive districts.

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Posted in Arizona Politics, Conservatives and Reactionaries, Democratic Governance, Disinformation, Domestic Extremism, Education, Education Funding, Education Policy, Elections, Government, Interviews, Political Candidacy, Political Lies, Political Parties, Political Polarization, Poverty, Public Accountability, Public Education, Public Policy, Scandal Mongering, Social Services, Tax and Investment Policy, Tax Law, Tax Revenues, Taxation, Voting, Women's Rights | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Casteen Interview – Podcast May 2, 2022

Indicavitch Interview – Podcast April 25, 2022

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Gary LaMaster

The Arizona GOP’s Long-Running Plan To Privatize Education. Karen McClelland and Steve Williamson welcome Nicky Indicavitch, Statewide Outreach Director of Save Our Schools Arizona and a self-described angry mother, to discuss why Arizona ranks dead last in per pupil funding.

“I have kids in Arizona public schools, so it’s personal for me,” says Indicavitch. She explains Save Our Schools began in 2017 after the Arizona State Legislature voted for a major expansion of vouchers for private schools. “We recognized early on in those days that that bill was going to be extremely dangerous for our public schools here in Arizona. So, we referred it. We gathered signatures to send it to the ballot in the ‘No on 305’ campaign and we won that initiative. We stopped the voucher expansion.” But, knowing that the Republican-controlled legislature was not done with its attack on public education, the Save Our Schools group stayed together.

Indicavitch describes the group’s mission is to protect our schools noting, “It’s hard to track what these lawmakers are doing. They’re not open about the process of passing bills. They’re not transparent about the deals being made. We’ve seen a number of budgets pass in the middle of the night down at the capitol with no citizen input on those. And so, one of the things we’ve worked really hard at is making sure parents and teachers that are concerned about these issues have a place to go and a resource to better understand the impact of these.”

She goes on to say that this lack of transparency is completely by design – meant to make sure taxpayers don’t know what’s going on.

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Posted in Arizona Budget, Arizona Politics, Class Conflict, Education, Education Funding, Education Policy, Government, Interviews, Privatization, Public Accountability, Public Education, Tax and Investment Policy, Tax Revenues, Taxation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Indicavitch Interview – Podcast April 25, 2022