An Army of Normal Folks - Being Governed By Your Inferiors

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

For our latest “Shop Talk”, Coach Bill responds to a listener who is interested in working in government and disheartened by our tagline that our country's problems won't be solved by fancy people in DC.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal, folks, and this is Shop Talk number 14. Alex, I'm not allowed to say, can you believe it, right? Nope, you can't. Okay. I'm just glad we're going to be separated for a month. Alex is going to do something and I'm going to do something and we've worked hard for a week recording stuff for a month and he and I are not going to be together for 14

days or for about a month and it's going month and he and I are not going to be together for 14 day or for About a month and it's gonna be wonderful and I don't have to listen to him gripe at me about stuff But that's not what shop talks about Nathan seal I hope you're listening. I hope you're out there back in May He wrote me a really thoughtful He wrote me a really thoughtful email and I took the time to respond to him because like I say all the time, if you email me, I will respond. But I thought more and more about what he said and today we're going to venture off into politics.

But I'm not going to venture off into Republicans versus Democrats. I'm gonna venture off into us as an army of normal folks and why politics matter. I'm not gonna take sides, but I am gonna challenge you a little bit. So Nathan Seale, thanks for rattling my chain a little bit, getting me to think about Shop Talk Number 14, politics, right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, millions were plunged into silence. Radios were smashed, cassettes burned. You could be beaten or jailed or killed for breaking the rules and yet Afghans did it anyway. This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol. The danger they endured.

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Last season, millions tuned into the Betrayal podcast to hear a shocking story of deception. I'm Andrea Gunning, and now we're sharing an all new story of betrayal. Stacey thought she had the perfect husband, doctor, father, family man. It was the perfect cover for Justin Rutherford to hide behind. They led me into the house and I mean it was like a movie.

He was sitting at our kitchen table. The cops were guarding him. Stacey learned how far her husband would go to save himself. I slept with a loaded gun next to my bed. He did not just say, I wish he was dead. He actually gave details and explained different scenarios on how to kill him. He, to me, is scarier than Jeffrey Dahmer.

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Adult, a podcast from Ruby Studio and iHeart Podcasts. It's a show dedicated to helping you figure out the trickiest parts of adulting. Like how to start planning for retirement, creating a healthy skincare routine, understanding when and how much to tip someone, and so much more. We're back with season two of the podcast, which means more opportunities to glow up and become a more responsible and better adult one life lesson at a time. And let me just tell you, this show is just as much for us as it is for you.

So let's figure this stuff out together. This season, we're going to talk about whether or not we're financially and emotionally ready for dog ownership. We're going to figure out the benefits of a high yield savings account. And what exactly are the duties of being a member of the wedding party? All that plus so much more. Let's learn about all of it and then some. Listen to Grown Up Stuff How to Adult on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. grown up stuff Okay everybody, welcome back. Shop Talk number 14 politics. So So let me start by saying this. I have two of my four kids. Lisa and I had our number two kid and number three kid are living and working in DC in the political world. One is in fundraising and the other is actually the chief of staff for sitting congressman. So full disclosure, I have family involved in the political world on a federal level. So that's the preface. I don't care if it's the school board in your community for your school district or the city council or city commissioners, whatever y'all call it, mayor, state, house seat, state senate seat, governor, all the way up to federal government.

There are politics surrounding us everywhere that create policy and make decision that affect our lives every day. That is just the fact. And there are people on one side of the aisle that believe in big massive government. There's people on other side of the aisle believe in small limited government and in the middle, there's a group of combination of the two. But everybody agrees, regardless of the size of government, we got to have government. You've got to have somebody to make reasonable laws, enforce reasonable laws, and hold the citizenry accountable to those

laws. You've got to have somebody to run your military. You've got to have somebody run your school board. Every parent has a job to go to every day and you want your kids to go to good schools, so you got to have a good school board. Somebody has to get the paperwork done so that we have our cars registered and properly licensed. Somebody's got to run our municipal fire department, paramedics and police department. We wouldn't have the energy without the Army Corps of Engineers in many places. We got to have government. But what we got to have is effective government. And that's where politics come in. Because see, as you all know, we have this awesome opportunity every cycle to decide who we're going to allow to run this government, whether it's large or small, but this government

that we have to need, that we need, that we have to have. We all get to participate in deciding who we're going to put in charge of that government that is, whether we like it or not, vital in our lives. At the same time, we are becoming more and more polarized. And what that polarization has done is it's starting to turn us off of politics. It's starting to turn us off of people that run in government. I think the latest approval ratings of Congress

were in the teens, meaning less than one of five of us actually approve of what Congress does. Presidential ratings are rarely above mid-40s. And I think President Biden's right now are in the high 30s to low 40s, meaning more people disapprove of what's going on in the White House than approve. And by the way, before all the people on the right start jumping on that with Biden, the

same was true for Trump. So it really doesn't matter which party is in the White House or which party controls Congress, we don't like them. Ultimately, we don't like them. Ultimately, we don't like them. The Supreme Court, for the first time in our history, has had polling lower than a 50% approval rating, which is scary. All of it, I do believe, not all of it, but a lot of it, I do believe, comes from our media, our social media, and our propensity now to gather into cliques, to clan up. So, I'm not taking a swipe at the right or the left, I'm just trying to kind of recount

what I really believe is going on in our political theater today. One of the side issues that has come up as a result of this really vilifying, demonizing political demonizing political atmosphere we have right now is that we're having fewer and fewer qualified really good people even willing to run for office and that is the most scary part of it to me and God forbid somebody said something, God forbid a 65 year old or 60 year old man or woman said something in college or wrote something in college 40 years prior that may not agree with today's popular cultural narrative. We will dig that out, put it in the paper and hammer them over it. And so, as a result, there are plenty of really good quality people out there that could be great service to our communities, to our municipalities,

to our states, and to our federal government. They're just like, life's too short. I don't want to go through all that crap. And I sure as heck don't want to put my spouse and children through it. And so the pool of qualified people to engage in our political discourse is shrinking. It's shrinking. And therefore, the numbers of qualified people we have to choose to run our government that we have to have is becoming diluted. And that's scary, y'all. That is really scary. Also, because of the bickering and the infighting and the constant mashing on Fox and CNN and social media, More and more people are just getting disgusted with the whole political discourse in and of itself. And y'all, do you realize that like in Memphis's most recent mayoral election, only 34% of

the electric voted? I think barely more than 50% of the electric votes, even in the presidential election, somewhere around 55%. We're 26th in the world in voting. Huh? We're 26th in the world in voting. Alex just said we're 26th in the world in voting, meaning our participation rate in elections is, there are 25 other countries that have greater participation in their elections than they

do in the United States. It's terrible. And more and more, we become to get more and more disgusted with it, and we just walk away from it, decide I'm not voting, I don't want to run, I'm not interested. Well here's the thing, y'all. I have proof that this is not a new phenomenon when was Plato alive Alex BC or something Plato is around a whole long time ago we can at least say 2,000 years or more but I do So it was around 400 BC.

So Plato was around 400 BC. That's 2400 years ago. So 24 years ago, Plato said this. One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up getting governed by your inferiors. I'm going to say it again. One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Y'all, politics is a full contact sport, and I get it, and it is not for the weak hearted or the feeble or faint.

But politics is not just running for office. Politics is voting. Politics is engaging and supporting people you believe in. Politics is taking the time to actually found out the truth about people running for office and not really caring if they have an R and I or D by their name, but examining who they are as people and what their true belief sets are. Politics is taking the time to research to vote. Politics is taking time to get off your butt and actually go to the polls from the open. Politics may be getting involved on the staff or committees to help people get elected. Politics is running for office if you're so inclined.

Politics is being on the staff of people running to help them be effective. Politics takes all manner and walks of life. But if we don't exercise the freedoms that people have fought and died for, for us to be involved in politics, Plato told us 2400 years ago and it remains equally true today that if you don't involve yourself in politics, you end up being governed by your inferiors. Y'all, it's an army of normal folks that can change our country. But that army has a power in politics. That army has a power in its ability to make sure that we are not governed by our inferior because we do the work to make sure qualified we are not governed by inferiors because we do the work to make

sure qualified people feel comfortable rolling running feel supported running and get involved to make policy and procedures that positively affect our lives because whether you like a big one or a small one we got to have government but government is only as good as the people running it and if the people running it are inferiors because we refuse to get involved in the process then shame on us. Plato warned us 24 years ago one of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is you end up being governed by infers if you think the people governing us today in your fears do something about it. Get involved. Be a part of an army of normal folks exacting measure of change

and that army can affect change everywhere. I'm Bill Courtney, that's Shop Talk Number 14. Get involved in politics one way or another. I'll see you next week. number 14, get involved in politics one way or another. I'll see you next week. This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol. The joy they brought to the nation. You're free completely.

No one is there to destroy you. The danger they brought to the nation. You're free completely. No one is there to destroy you. The danger they endured. They said my head should be cut off. I'm John Legend. Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last season, millions tuned into the Betrayal podcast to hear a shocking story of deception.

I'm Andrea Gunning, and now we're sharing an all-new story of Betrayal. Justin Rutherford. Doctor, father, family man. It was the perfect cover to hide behind. Detective Weaver said, I'm sure you know why we're here. I was like, what in the world is going on? Listen to Betrayal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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At aexs.com. That's aexs.com. Let's take a moment to breathe. Deep inhale, extend your spine. Remain focused on what you're doing. If safe to do so, exhale slowly, leaning to one side. Inhale back to center. If safe to do so, exhale slowly to the opposite side.

Find mental health resources at loveyourmindtoday.org. This message is brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ed Council. Hey everyone, this is Molly and Matt and we're the hosts of Grown Up Stuff How to Adult, a podcast from Ruby Studio and iHeart Podcasts. It's a show dedicated to helping you figure out the trickiest parts of adulting. Like how to start planning for retirement, creating a healthy skincare routine, understanding when and how much to tip someone, and so much more. Let's learn about all of it and then some.

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