Some More News - Revisiting Some News: The Racist History of Austerity Politics In America

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Hi. Happy Almost A Holiday! Today, we're re-releasing our episode from July 2021, "The Racist History of Austerity Politics In America," featuring a new introduction from Cody Johnston. We'll be back with a new Reagantastic episode of "Some More News" next Wednesday. Watch the original episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMMTNwmED7w Check out our MERCH STORE: https://shop.somemorenews.com   SUBSCRIBE to SOME MORE NEWS: https://tinyurl.com/ybfx89rh   Subscribe to the Even More News and SMN audio podcasts here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA   Follow us on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeMoreNews

Hello there, news freaks. So, spoiler alert, Vader is Luke's daddy. Also, we're gonna be doing an episode on Ronald Reagan pretty soon, specifically next week. Also, we're actually doing two episodes. But news person, haven't you already done like a dozen episodes about Reagan already? No.

Is his name in the title of those episodes? No. Nice try, listeners. Although it may have seemed like that, because just about every political, economic and social challenge we face today can in some measure be traced back to him. And so instead of giving him a bunch of guest appearances, we thought we would shine a spotlight on him

with the hopes that he'll melt as As a primer for this upcoming two-part series, we thought it might be helpful to revisit an episode of the show-de from nearly three years ago, titled The Racist History of Austerity Politics in America, written by our director, Will Gord, in which Ronald Reagan and his enduring impact is heavily featured. This episode came out about six months

into the Joe Biden presidency, and just a few months after the passage of the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. But despite the frankly massive size of this spending bill, in a break from their decades long protocol of screaming bloody murder about the national debt, the Republican Party was instead fixated on a series of seemingly bizarre culture war issues like Dr.

Sois. Yes, that's how it's pronounced. And Mr. Potato Head's alleged lack of dick and balls. At first glance, if you were to listen to the words Republicans have historically said out loud with their mouths, none of this made any sense. And so this episode was an attempt to try and understand this moment in American history, which of course took us to the primary source of modern debt hysteria in America, Ronald Reagan.

The ol' Ronnie Reagan. But this episode is also an attempt to place the quote-unquote success of Reagan's impact on austerity-obsessed politics into proper context. The disturbing truth is that political efforts to sell and implement austerity policies in America have always been packaged with a heavy dose of thinly veiled implicit racism. And Reagan's presidency is exhibit A of this phenomenon. He sold his neoliberal ideas of tax cuts for the rich deregulation and cuts to

social safety net programs with the use of racist dog whistles. And in doing so he succeeded in cementing these ideas as the default political paradigm ever since. In many ways, we are still living in Ronald Reagan's America. Do you like it? Do you like Ronald Reagan's America? Is it good? Do you like it? Do you like Ronald Reagan's America? Is it good? Do we like it? The success of Reagan's program was not a result of the American people actually caring about the national debt or budget deficits.

It was an unspoken appeal to white supremacy. But what happens when you remove the artifice and start becoming explicit about the racism and the white supremacy. Well, you might just take the leap from neoliberalism to, well, full blown fascism. But in 2020, after a great deal of hullabaloo, which is what we call failed and comical insurrections that might happen again and be less funny next time,

America seemingly decisively rejected the fascist option. And following the pandemic, which highlighted the vital role of government assistance, the victory of Joe Biden, and the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, the question arose, is it possible that we are finally rejecting the ideas of Reaganomics? Is the Reagan revolution over? Honestly, I don't know. I don't think we know the answer to that question yet. The jury is still out and the judges are, well, just check the news about the judges actually,

it sucks. But to be sure, there have been some incremental measures under Biden that have scaled back the dominance of neoliberalism, some student debt relief, caps on some prescription drug prices, and large scale investments in infrastructure and the public good. But there's always the option that our politicians become so skittish over the backlash to inflation that they pull back on government spending designed to help the working class and alleviate poverty as a result, as they did by allowing the child tax credit to expire, a thing we actually,

sadly, kinda predicted would happen in this very episode you will soon be listening to if you continue listening. And then of course there is another option, and that's the aforementioned fascist option, which is still very much on the table. And so, while this episode is a few years old, I think it asks many of the primary questions that we are still contending with today, and exposes the underlying structures and assumptions of our political, economic, social, and cultural discourse. The fact is that issues of race and class and structural inequality are inextricably linked in no small part because politicians like Ronald Reagan have intentionally linked them together for political gain,

leveraging the political force and farce of white supremacy as a cudgel against all workers and in service of the ultra wealthy capitalist class. So get ready to binge some Ronald Reagan over the next few weeks. You're welcome, and I'm sorry, and you're welcome. Time for episode. Hello, some more news consumers, some new or newmers.

It's me, your news boss. Welcome to the marketplace of news. So the former president and current wedding DJ, Donald Trump has mostly been gone for a few months now. And I will admit that I underestimated the impact that would have on my mental, emotional, spiritual and digestive health. I'm having spectacular poops, my friends. But unfortunately, my friends, but unfortunately,

my intestinal insecurity has been replaced by a far more existential dread, a throbbing headache of anxiety brought on by the fear that Joe Biden and the Democrats will once again squander an opportunity of having power over the executive and legislative branches of government. And essentially, screw the pooch as it were, a phrase which literally translates

to having sex with a dog, which don't by the way. But this provocative pooch, this magnetic mongrel, this horny hound that the Democrats are currently flirting with is named austerity. Weird name for a dog. Austerity is essentially a set of economic policies that cut public sector spending with the stated goal of limiting the national debt.

And so the question is, will the Democrats be seduced by the husky allure of this government stinginess toward the working class and poor that has defined the last 40 plus years of American politics? A sociopolitical worldview grounded in capital and in turn white supremacy and designed to benefit the rich and powerful.

Or will they resist the seductive charm of this dog eat dog free market paradigm? Will I stop it with the dog stuff? Good news, yes. Bad news, we're talking about the federal budget today. Some more news presents the federal budget. Now, as we come up on the sixth month mark of Joe Biden's presidency,

it's safe to say that his most significant legislative accomplishment thus far has been the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. And even though the Democrats cut out the $15 minimum wage increase, botched both the policy and political messaging around stimulus checks,

and reduced the number of total Americans who would receive those checks for no other reason than a mix up with the 2020 election ballots. You see, actually, Joe Manchin was on the ballot and you voted for him instead of Joe Biden. And I'm sorry that this is how you found out. But it would be dishonest for me not to acknowledge that this legislation is arguably

one of the most progressive spending bills in more than a generation, which to be fair and balanced, T to the M to the C to the R, could also be seen as an indictment of the legislation passed over the last generation and the fact that it took a global pandemic to do this. Anyway, as the final negotiations

for the infrastructure package go on, time will tell whether Democrats will continue to buck the trend of the scarcity dogma that has executed a stranglehold over our politics for decades. But in the meantime, the COVID relief bill is providing billions of dollars for local and state governments, schools, union pensions,

the restaurant industry, the childcare industry, healthcare, rental assistance, and includes monthly payments for families with children that could cut child poverty in half. Why we couldn't just eliminate child poverty altogether, I don't know, but still, for all its omissions and shortcomings and self-inflicted political wounds, this bill is helping a lot of people

who desperately need it. But also those payments expire at the end of the year, but also the proposed American Families Plan extends them for four years, but also Joe Manchin. Anyway, also not a great sign that Biden suggests spending leftover COVID relief money on hiring more cops. Why yes sir, we will get the police right on that coronavirus problem.

But the bill did cost nearly $2 trillion. That is quite a price tag if you think money is real. So of course, in opposition to this bill, like clockwork, as predicted, the Republicans have been screaming from the rooftops about the budget deficit and national debt. Right? Now from the toy world,

was it a case of crossed wires or a major corporate U-turn when news broke that the company Hasbro was losing the Mr. from Mr. Potato Head? This is frightening where the left wants to go. I have said, I think this is the biggest threat to freedom we face. With thanks to the New York Times and Dave Chappelle, Pepe LePuy now has a bad reputation and therefore has to be cut out. There's no end in sight for all this. Nobody is perfect enough for the masses.

Oh, right, I almost forgot, which is weird because we just did a video about this topic and this episode was written beforehand and with care, but everything from the right is about canceled culture now. Hey, Republicans, I just said the Democrats passed a $2 trillion spending bill. Nothing. All right.

Something weird is going on. Again, the Democrats just passed the most progressive legislation in a generation and the Republican counter argument was Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, and Pepe Le Pew. Deficit and debt hysteria have been the foundation of the Republican Party for decades, and now what, it's just cancel culture nonsense?

And if you think I'm exaggerating, a morning console political poll conducted in March found that Republicans had heard more about the Dr. Seuss issue than they had heard about the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. And since then, of course, they've moved on to complaining about the most basic idea for a Captain America story ever,

and of course, critical race theory, which we will cover extensively in a future episode. Do we have a preview? Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Listen, I know I may be a crisp young news dude in his 30s, but I'm old enough to remember the frenzied outrage over the national debt the Republicans unleashed during the Obama years. Obama was so afraid of these attacks from these deficit hawks and or bought into their worldview that he scaled down the stimulus bill following the Great Recession to ensure it wasn't too big, which ended up being a huge mistake that made the recovery from the Great Recession last much longer than it needed to. And even still, the Tea Party movement formed in opposition to the supposedly out of control government spending,

allegedly, and dominated American politics for years, giving us gems like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who have haunted our nightmares ever since. Freedom! And then there was Paul Ryan, who actually carted out an enormous debt clock to illustrate how much of a crisis our national debt had become.

Obama even validated their concerns over the debt and offered up cuts to Medicare and Social Security in exchange for tax increases on the rich to address the national debt in an effort to appease their relentless austerity onslaught from conservatives and or he bought into their worldview. But the penny pinching proclivities of the Republicans were unsatisfied and they literally shut down the government

for 16 days over increasing the debt ceiling, putting our credit rating at risk with potentially catastrophic consequences, something that should concern a person who thinks money is real. This is how central and all-encompassing the issue of government spending and the national debt was to the Republican party during the Obama era.

So forgive me for being a little bit weirded out that after Joe Biden passes a nearly $2 trillion bill, all the Republicans can talk about is Mr. Potato Head's missing penis. Mr. Potato Head now apparently has to go by Potato X. And the whole point of Mr. Potato Head is that you can move the parts around. He was America's first transgender doll

and even he got canceled. I think it's worth taking a moment here to look more closely at the United States federal budget. Exciting and we'll start by defining some terms. Even more exciting, the national debt refers budget, exciting, and we'll start by defining some terms, even more exciting. The national debt refers to the overall amount of money our country has borrowed and therefore owes to its creditors, both domestic and international.

The budget deficit refers to the annual shortfall created by the difference between how much money we take in and how much money we spend as a nation. Basically, how much further we go into debt each year. It can be helpful to use an analogy. So let's use your household budget as a nation. Basically, how much further we go into debt each year. It can be helpful to use an analogy. So let's use your household budget as a comparison. In this example, your household income level would be the equivalent of tax revenue

and your credit card debt, student loans, et cetera, would be the equivalent of the national debt. So imagine a household where instead of paying the medical expenses to treat Clayton's rare blood disease, the family decided to squander over half of their discretionary spending on high-end surveillance and a 24-7 security detail of armed guards and multiple tanks parked out front

to keep away potential burglars. As they simultaneously and frequently send their private mercenaries to break into their neighbors' homes and murder them and replace the parents with people more aligned with their interests. And then imagine one of the other kids in this family, Jalissa, lives in a mansion out back

with a butler and a swimming pool, with more food than they could possibly eat and more money than they could ever possibly spend, while Bimothy starves in the cockroach and rat-infested basement. And in this analogy, predictably, Bimothy is disproportionately likely to be black. Did you forget we were talking about America?

Did I forget what I was talking about? Yeah, bimothy, duh. Oh, right. Your household finances are nothing like the multi-trillion dollar budget of an entire nation that can issue bonds, raise taxes, or literally print more money anytime it wants to. Now, we don't need to talk about modern monetary theory

or debate the impact of debt on interest rates or inflation or the potential risk of an overheating economy to have this discussion about austerity politics because big reveal, this is not an economics class. You're free to go to college if you want to learn about something like that. And I'm sorry, did I say free and college in the same sentence?

What I meant to say is you are more than welcome to go into massive debt that you will never be able to get rid of, including through bankruptcy, thanks, oh Biden, that will haunt you until the day you die. But more importantly, and I don't think I'm breaking any some more news by saying this, the obvious truth is that when conservatives clutch their pearls over the national debt and budget deficit in the name of austerity, And I don't think I'm breaking any some more news by saying this. The obvious truth is that when conservatives

clutch their pearls over the national debt and budget deficit in the name of austerity, they are completely full of shit. They do not give a fuck about the debt or the deficit. All you have to do is look at the deficit over the last 50 years to realize that it has increased under Republican administrations and decreased under Democratic administrations.

Because if the GOP truly cared about the national debt, they wouldn't vote to increase it by more than $2 trillion via tax cuts for the rich. They wouldn't consistently increase our military budget, which is larger than the next 10 countries combined. And if they really cared about fiscal responsibility, they would recognize that this country spends over a trillion dollars a year,

28% of our budget on the consequences of child poverty. And so even if you couldn't care less about poor starving children, spending money on the front end to make sure we don't have a bunch of poor starving children we got to spend money on, would save this country a lot of money. So no, they don't give a fuck or a shit

about the national debt. And it's not a coincidence that, as I mentioned before, poor starving children are disproportionately likely to be black. Now, the notion of austerity in general is not necessarily always motivated by racism per se. For example, in other more racially homogenous countries, it can often be motivated by classism or casteism

or just simply be misguided or guided by money. But it does inevitably maintain social and economic hierarchies and exacerbate pre-existing inequalities in a society. And it's typically implemented as a way to maintain and perpetuate those inequalities, including racial inequalities. And so, just for a little bit of historical context for you,

in case you weren't aware, America has had a pretty bad racism problem for some time now. For starters, we enslaved an entire race of people for nearly 250 years. It's kind of our origin story. That and of course, Native American genocide, white supremacy in general,

and nothing about America or its political history is going to make much sense if you don't start off with this fact. And in that spirit, it is important to understand that political arguments for austerity in America have always been marketed through racist appeals to white voters. A sinister sales pitch that political arguments for austerity in America have always been marketed through racist appeals

to white voters. A sinister sales pitch that implicitly promises white people a leg up in the social, economic, and political hierarchy. And no, I'm not talking about this guy who has infected our politics for the last 40 years. Not yet, at least, we will get back to that guy. In the meantime, join me as we pinball our way

through the ages, because the political bond between fiscal conservatism and white supremacy goes back much further in our history. It is time for Racism and Capitalism, a love story. In her essay, The Austerity Politics of White Supremacy, Vanessa Williamson describes how this dynamic came to prominence during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War.

She writes, When the former Confederate elite mobilized to successfully overthrow the multi-racial Reconstruction Era governments in the South 150 years ago, it was under the banner of fiscal conservatism. You see, during Reconstruction, political alliances between the formerly enslaved freedmen

and poor whites with shared economic concerns began to form, resulting in the elections of government officials that proposed using tax dollars to invest in the social goods, such as infrastructure, public education, and support for the sick and the poor, what the Constitution might describe as general welfare. And we couldn't have that. This did not sit well with the ruling class of landowners

who didn't like seeing their taxes increase or the people who they once literally owned, now in the seats of government power as elected representatives. Yet because the former Confederate states were still occupied by federal troops who protected the voting rights of the newly emancipated black citizens

and the politicians they elected, the wealthy elite found themselves in a conundrum. But efforts to maintain white supremacy in America have always managed to be incredibly resilient and innovative. These white supremacists developed a strategy of breaking apart this multiracial coalition by creating the political identity of the taxpayer.

Williamson writes, they focused their critique of Reconstruction on rising government debt and excessive spending, painting government by black people and poor whites as intrinsically corrupt. Adopting a new identity as concerned taxpayers helped the rich bridge the divide with small white farmers for whom new land taxes were heavy,

while avoiding explicit opposition to black male suffrage, which might smack of treason to northerners. And even though by night, they partnered with violent organizations like the KKK that intimidated and murdered black voters and politicians, by day, this group of concerned taxpayers used colorblind rhetoric to divide the burgeoning multiracial coalition in order to benefit the ruling class.

Is some of this starting to sound familiar? Because to me, it sounds a bit like Paul Ryan's depiction of makers and takers or Newt Gingrich calling the first black commander in chief the food stamp president. Or when Mitt Romney said this. There are 47% of the people who vote for the president no matter what.

All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you name it. But that's an entitlement, and the government should give it to them.

And they will vote for this president no matter what. And this motherfucker is probably the best Republican in the Senate today. How fucking sad is that? But news boss, you shriek, none of these people even mentioned race at all. They're just concerned about our out of control spending. The fact is that through code words and dog whistles,

the very notion of the social safety net has been racialized for decades. Watch as former leading contender for the Republican nomination for president, Rick Santorum, inadvertently let the cat out of the bag. He just keeps expanding. I was in Indian all a few months ago and I was talking to some works to the Department of Public Welfare here and she told me that the state of Iowa is going to get fined if they don't sign up more people under

the Medicaid program. They're just pushing harder and harder to get more and more of you depending upon them so they can get your vote. That's what the bottom line is. I don't want to make people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I wanna give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.

During this era of colorblindness, Santorum knew that he messed up. He said the quiet part loud. So he quickly scrambled into damage control mode. And the other thing is I've looked at that quote. In fact, I looked at the video and I don't, in fact, I'm pretty confident I didn't say black. When I think I started to say a word and sort of,

sort of mumbled it and changed my thought. You see? He wasn't talking about black people. He was talking about blah people. True story, when I was in second grade, a classmate called another classmate fat. The teacher scolded him for being rude, but then he said, he didn't say fat, he said vat.

And the teacher asked, what does that mean? What does that mean, vat? We never did find out, but that's just a random story about children that I brought up for no reason. Anyway, the truth is, these guys are all just cheap knockoffs of the kind of rhetorical dog whistles and racialized code words pitifully attempting to recapture the malignant magic exemplified

by the patron saint of the racist grift that is austerity politics in America. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. Unemployment is the problem uppermost on many people's minds. Getting Americans back to work is an urgent priority for all of us, and especially for this administration.

But remember, you can't solve unemployment without solving the things that caused it. The out-of-control government spending, the skyrocketing inflation and interest rates that led to unemployment in the first place. It's now common knowledge that our welfare system has itself become a poverty trap, a creator and reinforcer of dependency. A quick piece of personal advice.

I would strongly suggest that you not spend hours listening to unedited Ronald Reagan speeches for the purposes of research, especially if you suffer from anxiety because there is a fairly good chance that you will have a panic attack, is what I've been told by this episode's writer, who died from it.

Now you'll notice that this silky smooth rhetoric is completely colorblind. He even sounds like he legitimately cares and is earnestly trying to protect the citizens of the country from the dangers of out of control spending. This public perception gave Reagan the license to decimate the social safety net,

fueling an enormous increase in income and wealth inequality while dramatically exacerbating the racial wealth gap, which is why the content of the recently released audio from his call with Richard Nixon regarding African delegates to the United Nations should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Let's see, those monkeys from those African countries.

They're still uncomfortable wearing shoes. The fact is that Reagan's racism was always on full display for anyone willing to recognize it. But I'm sure it's just a coincidence that he kicked off his presidential campaign with a speech about states' rights in Mississippi near the site of the infamous murders of three civil rights workers

during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. This was the perfect dog whistle, finely tuned to the frequency of his intended audience with just the right amount of plausible deniability. Reagan was the king of the racist dog whistle, like his myth of the Chicago welfare queen, who he claimed had 80 names, 30 addresses, and 12 social security cards,

collecting veterans benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. She's got Medicaid, getting food stamps, and she is collecting welfare under each of her names. Her tax-free cash income is over $150,000. Mommy. Of course, this claim was total bullshit, but it helped him win the case for austerity

and two terms in the White House, carrying 49 states in the 1984 presidential election. 49 fucking states! 1984, folks! This psychic trauma is why the Democrats from this era are the way that they are. Because for many white voters, if reducing the debt meant preventing the use

of their hard earned tax dollars on T-bone steaks for all those strapping young blacks, I mean bucks, I mean blah people, then they were all in. Even as these cuts to the social safety net also hurt a whole lot of white people. The sick irony is that the national debt nearly tripled under Reagan's presidency

through tax cuts for the wealthy and a massive increase in military spending. That's weird, I just had deja vu. There must be like a glitch in the matrix. So what the hell is really going on here? But before we answer that question, and speaking of capitalist puppet masters, an ad with a puppet that everyone loves!

Thanks, best friend. To better understand what is happening in American politics today, I think it's worth examining another era in American history, in between the austerity politics that took hold as a backlash to Reconstruction and the Reagan Revolution. In the 1930s, a series of economic calamities

such as the stock market crash of 1929 and the manmade ecological and economic disaster of the Dust Bowl coalesced to create the Great Depression. In response to the devastating misery and nearly 25% level of unemployment, President Franklin Roosevelt ushered in a domestic political program known as the New Deal, a dramatic expansion

of the federal government's role in providing immediate economic relief to citizens. In essence, the social safety net was created, industries were reformed, and more power was given to workers through an expansion in union rights. And then following the enormous sacrifices Americans made during World War II and the subsequent economic boom and the geopolitical dominance that America experienced

in the immediate aftermath of the war, a political consensus was reached that the federal government could and should play a central role in improving the lives of its citizens, a promotion of general welfare, if you will. A massive government endeavor was undertaken that essentially created the American middle class, of general welfare, if you will. A massive government endeavor was undertaken that essentially created the American middle class,

which included huge investments in housing, education, employment, and the nation's infrastructure. Billions of dollars were spent on electrification and the interstate highway system throughout America. The GI Bill, one of the largest and most significant pieces of legislation in American history, provided for the education and employment of millions of people. The Veterans Administration guaranteed the education and employment of millions of people.

The Veterans Administration guaranteed the loans for millions of home buyers, which skyrocketed the construction of houses and led to the growth of suburban areas. In his book, When Affirmative Action Was White, Ira Katznelson writes, "'By 1948, 15% of the federal budget "'was devoted to the GI Bill,

"'and the Veterans Administration, VA, "'employed 17% of the federal budget was devoted to the GI Bill and the Veterans Administration VA employed 17% of the federal workforce. The basic tenets of this philosophy operated as the default political paradigm for decades. And while this era in American life may seem like an outlier, there was an important component during this period

that was notably consistent, white supremacy. You see, in response to the reconstruction years, the innovation and ingenuity of white supremacy overwhelmed the political body and the Jim Crow segregation era was born. As a result, there were explicit mechanisms to cut black people out of the benefits of New Deal programs

and post-war middle-class expansion policies. The disproportionate power of the South to oversee the shaping of federal policies is how transformative legislation such as the Social Security Act, was able to pass with 77 votes in the Senate. Because the Southern lawmakers were able to exclude its benefits to the people in minority dominated professions,

such as agricultural workers and domestic servants. Jobs that were also excluded from the newly created unemployment insurance program. Because as everyone knows, farm workers and maids don't need a social safety net after they retire. They don't live that long. And of course, black people were also denied

the opportunity to join unions and receive home loans because of redlining and restrictive covenants and were made to absorb the negative impact of infrastructure projects and electrification due to the fact that highways and toxic energy facilities were built in their neighborhoods. To this day, black people continue

to disproportionately suffer from the health consequences of air pollution caused by the implementation of these policies, regardless of their economic class. In reference to the crafting of the GI Bill, Ira Katznelson writes, written under Southern auspices, the law was deliberately designed to accommodate Jim Crow.

Its administration widened the country's racial gap. The implementation and enforcement of legislation in the Jim Crow era was intentionally put into the hands of local and state governments, which allowed them to cut black people out of the benefits of these laws. Katznelson writes, a survey of 13 Mississippi cities by Ebony Magazine

found that of the 3,229 VA guaranteed home, business and farm loans made in 1947, precisely two had gone to blacks. And one of the main mechanisms that the South utilized to exert such influence over these policies, even though they comprised a minority of the legislative body was the Senate filibuster. But wait a second, I thought that-

It has no racial history at all, none. So there's no dispute among historians about that. The turtle's dad from Robin Hood is right about one thing. There is no dispute among historians about the racial history of the filibuster because the filibuster does in fact have an incredibly racist history. While it seems to have been inadvertently unleashed

by that guy who shot Lin-Manuel Miranda, the obscure Senate rule that defined the mechanism to end debate on a bill became exploited by one of the great racist villains of American history, John C. Calhoun, who used this loophole to protect the interests of slaveholders. Over time, this totally random, unintentional rule that's not in the constitution and can be overturned

at any time by a simple majority vote, grew in its ability to, in essence, give veto power over many forms of legislation to a minority of senators. For decades, this tool was primarily used for the purpose of blocking civil rights and anti-lynching laws. And even just the looming threat of the filibuster was taken advantage of by the Dixiecrats,

who had developed seniority power through the proto-fascist one-party rule in the South to shape legislation in order to maintain the Southern way of life, which was of course, not so subtle code for white supremacy. During the Jim Crow era, when white supremacy was an explicit aspect of American life and codified into law,

and the benefits of massive government spending efforts could be easily denied to black people, the opposition to large government spending programs failed to coalesce. The white majority population was perfectly happy for the government to spend vast amounts of money to make their lives better, as long as it came along with the assurance

that black people would be mostly left out of the deal. By contrast, in the brief periods of our history where the rights and enfranchisement of black people in this country were actually enforced to some degree, white supremacists masked their appeals through the colorblind packaging of austerity politics, which benefited the ruling class. Appeals for austerity were never popular

because voters never really cared about the budget or deficits or government spending. This was always just the wrapping paper covering the real package, the promised benefits of white supremacy. It's the equivalent of your boner pills arriving in discrete packaging. When the rights of freedmen were protected

by the government during Reconstruction, they resorted to austerity politics. And then after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended explicit legal segregation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected the right of black people to vote, it's not a coincidence that they resorted to austerity politics yet again.

Which gives us some insight into our current moment. Because it is also no coincidence that Donald Trump was the first president elected after the Voting Rights Act was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. And even though Trump absurdly promised to entirely eliminate the national debt, he also proudly proclaimed,

I'm the king of debt. I'm great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I've made a fortune by using debt. And if things don't work out, I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that's a smart thing, not a stupid thing. And sure enough, he grew the national debt by $7.8 trillion in just four years.

During his presidency, Trump almost entirely discarded the discrete packaging of austerity messaging, and instead focused on the real selling point for the Republican base, white dick. Trump was the monster from the conservative id. For such a monumental liar, Trump further exposed the brutal truth.

It was never about the debt or the level of government spending. It was always about who's in charge and who should be in charge, culturally, economically, and politically. We know full well what the answer to that question has been throughout American history. Which is why today's complete abandonment

of austerity politics in favor of cancel culture hysteria is not really that surprising. This moral panic is just a frenzied attempt to reassert cultural dominance. Because at its core, cancel culture is about who's in charge. Most of these controversies are really about white people being mad that they aren't allowed to be homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, anti-immigrant, or racist anymore.

And this has become even more clear as the right has started to shift focus from their concerns over how cancel culture supposedly limits the free exchange of ideas in favor of literally trying to cancel a school of thought known as critical race theory, even though they have no idea what it actually is. Does it reinforce the edible notion all kids have

wanting to kill their father and marry their mother? Now, as I mentioned, we at Cody's Showdy will have a lot more to say about this latest boogie man concocted by the right. But for the purposes of this video, the main thing you need to know is that the aim of this latest endeavor by the GOP to create a moral panic over the idea

of critical race theory accomplishes the exact same goal as the cancel culture frenzy that they've been promoting. To incite the fear in their base of support that white people's cultural, political, and economic status in society is under threat by black people and woke ideology and communism. But it's actually the same old story. is under threat by black people and woke ideology and communism.

But it's actually the same old story. Only now they have the license to be more explicit about it in a way that they haven't been able to do since before the civil rights era. And while all of this comes across as ridiculous and embarrassing, because it is, the fact is that an ideology based on white supremacy is no laughing matter.

These jerk-offs looked pretty ridiculous too. And even though all of this cancel culture and critical race theory absurdity is seemingly devoid of any discernible policy agenda, the same forces that animate this cultural grievance also motivate the political counterpart to this philosophy, which can be best described as a brazen power grab and a reassertion of white supremacy.

Now we've recently seen the banning of critical race theory in several states. Florida has banned the teaching of quote, the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons. So in other words, this legislation is banning the teaching

of the truth of American history, canceling it, however you wanna put it. And even more significantly, Republicans have introduced hundreds of voter suppression bills throughout the country, and have passed 22 new laws across 14 states in this country, all enabled by the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in 2013,

paradoxically accelerated by the changes of voting laws in response to the pandemic that resulted in historic turnout and justified by the lie spread by Donald John President, that the election was stolen from him by black people. Quick note, the Supreme Court has recently just struck another blow to the Voting Rights Act. I wonder who that will give us this time.

It's probably just the same guy, honestly. That'll be fun. In a sick twist of irony, the death of austerity politics may coincide with the rebirth of Jim Crow. Trump's election big lie also incited the storming of the Capitol on January 6th. And it's no surprise that a recent study found

that racial and cultural anxieties, also known as racism, were the underlying forces responsible for this insurrection. And if you thought that this was our nation's only failed coup attempt driven by white supremacy, you'd actually be right. Because the last coup attempt was a complete success. No, we're not talking about the American Revolution.

As a brief historical aside, in 1898, the city of Wilmington, North Carolina was a mixed race community with a multiracial coalition of elected representatives and a thriving black middle class, perhaps the last holdout of the Reconstruction era. But following the elections that year, a mob of 400 white supremacists burned down the city's black-owned newspaper

and murdered an estimated 60 black people in the streets on their way to violently overthrowing the democratically elected government and inserting white supremacists in their place. In his book, Wilmington's Lie, David Zucchino describes how the politicians had been marched through the city, harangued by white onlookers

and shoved aboard trains at gunpoint. And they 100% got away with this. It was a completely successful coup d'etat. You see, you don't need to hide your white supremacy when there are no consequences for it. But back to the issue at hand. The other nail in the coffin for austerity was the fact that as a result of the mishandling

of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of thousands of citizens died and America suffered the highest rate of unemployment since the Great Depression. And capitalism and the free market had no solution to this problem. And as a result, more Americans than ever wanted the government to help.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language. I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Have been replaced by help is here, but like not a Reagan voice, like a Biden voice, and have been met with a 75% approval rating, a number typically reserved for puppies and the Great British baking show. This shift is probably why you've been seeing

all sorts of think pieces coming out asserting that the Reagan Revolution is officially over. And in many ways, this is true, but not necessarily because this ideology was defeated, but perhaps because it has been completely victorious. One of the other reasons the right wing is so devoid of policy today is because in many ways, the conservative movement has become a victim

of its own success. The Reagan revolution won. This is not to say that their theories were correct or that this was a success for the American people. On the contrary, this agenda has been an unmitigated disaster for the vast majority of Americans. Except of course, very few at the top. But short of a handful of items on their bucket list,

like privatizing social security, they basically did what they set out to do. They cut every tax for the rich they could get their hands on, got rid of every regulation they could find, and succeeded in their effort to turn nearly every aspect of American life into a marketplace and redefine the very identity

of a citizen into that of a market participant. For conservative ideology, the free market is a naturally occurring phenomenon. The invisible hand of the market is akin to an edict from God. Let there be free markets, so says God. In addition to the stock market and the housing market, we have the healthcare market, the energy market,

the education market, the dating market, the marketplace of ideas, the labor market, everything is a fucking market. The Reagan revolution succeeded in convincing Americans to look at every interaction as if it were a commercial transaction, to consider every decision in terms of a cost benefit analysis,

as if you were buying a set of Tupperware. By the way, I would highly recommend using glass Tupperware, it just keeps everything so much more fresh. But the point is that under this ideology, the highest form of civic participation is that of engaging in the market in order to maximize your personal profit at the expense of others. And if you can't cut it, too bad.

The argument has been that human nature seeks power and profit and the natural order of the universe to harness and maximize this energy is the free market, a kind of social Darwinism absent of government interference. In his book, Freedom from the Market, Mike Conksel writes, over the past several decades, we've been fed an idea that free markets, the unregulated flow of goods, services, and labor

are the fundamental form of freedom and the freedom itself functions like a market. The freedom of a business owner, the freedom to sell your labor, the freedom to buy the necessities of life like health and education. These are the market opportunities that keep us free and allow us to express ourselves as members of a society.

As a result, during Reagan's administration, we moved away from the notion that an educated population was a worthy investment for the good of the country as a whole. And so we cut government grants for higher education and instead vastly expanded the student loan system. We asked individuals to decide if the debt incurred by pursuing higher education was worth their future earning potential.

Another non-coincidence is the fact that this shift in educational funding came just as more black people began to participate in higher education. As Heather McGee writes in her book, The Sum of Us, over this period of growth among students of color, ensuring college affordability fell out of favor with lawmakers.

State legislatures began to drastically cut what they spent per student on their public colleges, even as the taxable income base in the state grew. And throughout the education system, instead of fostering a love of learning, our schools became a capitalist spin-off of Survivor, competitive boot camps that purported to train children for the job market with the ultimate goal

of making as much money as possible. Competition was valued over collaboration or community. And this all coincided with efforts to privatize education itself and turn it into a profit-making endeavor as opposed to a public good. And simultaneously, Reagan halted the regular increase of the minimum wage on a yearly basis, stating that the minimum wage has caused more misery

and unemployment than anything since the Great Depression, as he crippled the power of labor unions to collectively bargain for higher wages and better working conditions. These policies may have been sold through racist dog whistles and appeals to white supremacy, but the project was even more expansive. This is not to say that white supremacy

was incidental to this endeavor. In fact, white supremacy, the patriarchy, the class system, and the caste system are all essential components to this effort. Any structure that creates a hierarchy is critical to this mission. And while the belief systems of white supremacy and anti-blackness exist both independently

and in concert with the ideology and goals of the ruling class, there is no doubt that free market zealots utilize the power of racism to accomplish their goals and realize their vision. Welfare, according to this ideology, is out of control spending that creates a culture of dependency.

On the other hand, tax cuts for the wealthy, freedom that will trickle down and help everybody. Reagan and the believers that followed told us that all of these policies would unleash the potential of the free market, an endeavor that would save America. And it did? No. And of course, the very notion of a free market, an endeavor that would save America. And it did? No. And of course, the very notion of a free market is a lie.

Modern markets only exist within the context of government and our government is far from a neutral arbiter. In fact, the very aim of these policies was to shift the balance of power away from the working class and poor and in favor of the rich and powerful, away from the workers, and even further in favor of the rich and powerful, away from the workers, and even further in favor of the owners and bosses.

To better illustrate this dynamic, the Some More News team has created a reenactment of your typical job interview. If the nature of the disproportionate power dynamic were honestly reflected. Action! Say action? Action.

Action, roll the thing. So tell me, Wanda, what do you think makes you the best person for this job? Action. Say action. Action. Action. Roll the thing. So tell me, Wanda, what do you think makes you the best person for this job? Well, I'm a very hard worker. I'm very detail oriented and I am a great team player. Oh, fantastic. All right.

Oh, what would you say is your greatest weakness? Oh, probably that I work too hard. This is a little joke. Or you're too funny. I'm not. Oh, yeah. I love it. Okay. Well, your resume is excellent. Let me ask you this question. Do you want to live? Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you right. Can you repeat that question? Oh, the connection's off?

Okay, yeah. Do you want to live or do you want to continue being alive? Uh, I don't understand that. Oh, it's a perfectly reasonable question. Look, you have student loan debt, right? I don't understand that. Oh, it's a perfectly reasonable question. Look, you have student loan debt, right? Well, yeah, a lot actually. And I assume you're gonna need money to pay that off, right?

Yeah, I do. You want health insurance, right? Yes, I do. And I assume you're gonna need shelter, right? You need a way to pay rent. Of course, of course, I've gotta pay rent. And I'm gonna bet you're gonna need shelter, right? You need a way to pay rent. Of course, of course I've gotta pay rent. And I'm gonna bet you're gonna need food to stay alive, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, girls gotta eat, you know. Right, so let me ask you a question again. Do you want to live? Yeah, of course, of course I wanna live. Those don't really sound like you do. What, I do, I do want to live. Because I have a whole bunch of other people who've applied for this job who really, really wanna live. I, I want to live though. I do want to live. Because I have a whole bunch of other people who have applied for this job who really,

really want to live. I. I want to live, though. Hmm, but do you? I do. I do. I really do. Say it. I want to live. What's that? I want to live.

Say it again? I want to live. I want to live. Are you willing to work weekends? Yes. Yes, I'll work whatever weekends you want me to work. I'll do whatever you want. It's a terrible and soul-crushing job. Yeah, that's okay. I don't care. I don't care. I just want to live. The working conditions are deplorable.

Yeah, that's what I like. It's my favorite kind of condition. You're hired. Oh my god. Yes. Oh god, thank you. Oh, that was so close. Oh, yeah. No, congratulations. You can continue being alive. Oh, that's so differently. All right, so can you start today?

Actually, I have a few things that I have to sort out first. Okay, you're fired. No, no, no, no, no, no! So I guess the question is, will President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. do anything to fundamentally change this power dynamic between those in charge and everyone else.

So that this job interview is not possible in our society. Because even though Joe Biden has told us that- In order to grow the economy a year, two, three, and four down the line, we can't spend too much. Now's the time we should be spending. Now's the time to go big. He also told his rich donors that nothing would fundamentally change.

And there's not necessarily any contradiction between these two statements. Biden can spend a whole lot of money and go big without fundamentally changing anything. Republicans have done this successfully for the last 50 years. The question is, what are you spending the money on and who does it benefit?

There is no doubt that the American Rescue Act is a good bill that will help a lot of people who need help. But most of the provisions in this legislation will expire in a year from now. That is not fundamental change. And fundamental change is what is desperately needed. In his recent address to a joint session of Congress, Biden outlined his vision for America.

And putting aside his saber rattling about China, that's a topic for another episode, his domestic policy agenda is allegedly the most ambitious since LBJ. It doesn't go nearly far enough, but it's better than having a democratic president enthusiastically declare that. The era of big government is over.

Or having a democratic president propose reducing the deficit by making cuts in social security and Medicare. Instead, Biden denounced white supremacy as domestic terrorism and took a shot at the Reaganomics that have dominated our politics for 40 years. My fellow Americans, trickle down. Trickle down, economics is never worth.

It's time to grow the economy from the bottom and the middle out. But I wouldn't start calling him Joseph Robin Hood, Biden Jr. just yet. It's not his name. It would be disrespectful. But also, because another prominent aspect of his speech was that he insisted that his proposals

would not increase the deficit. Joe, have you not been paying attention to the episode? You're definitely watching. Have you not liked and subscribed to this channel more than once? You did it at least once, Joe, I you not been paying attention to the episode you're definitely watching? Have you not liked and subscribed to this channel more than once? You did it at least once, Joe, I know it. Nobody cares about the deficit anymore. It's a good thing to raise taxes on the rich,

but that's because we desperately need to reduce income inequality. Not because we need the money to rebuild our infrastructure or increase help to families. So don't limit your political program because you think people are worried about the deficit or debt. Just do them because they don't care.

Because unlike tax cuts for the rich, which Biden rightly pointed out, have been falsely sold as paying for themselves, investments in infrastructure and early childhood education actually do pay for themselves. And it's worth taking a moment to acknowledge the irony that of all the people to become the president

during this moment in our history, when neoliberal austerity politics is losing its grip and the country is undergoing the most significant reckoning over our history of systemic racism in decades, we get Joe Biden, a guy that played a significant role in shaping the bankruptcy bill that is a major contributor to our student loan crisis.

And was one of the main authors of the crime bill that has contributed to the era of mass incarceration and systemic racism over the last 25 years. And while it is good that Biden has proposed universal pre-K, as always, the devil's in the details. Because this proposal would rely on partnerships with states, which is one of the main ways that the benefits of large proposals were denied to black people

during the New Deal and post-World War II era. It's why there are still 12 states, mostly in the former Confederacy, that have opted out of Medicaid expansion, despite the fact that these states would actually make a profit if they adopted the provision, a move that would dramatically reduce racial disparities in health. And therein lies the rub, a move that would dramatically reduce racial disparities and health.

And therein lies the rub, because it is not that hard to imagine a world where universal pre-K is actually passed, but implemented in a way that continues to widen the racial gap in education. The fact is that austerity and systemic racism need to be tackled simultaneously. Otherwise, our politics are destined

for an endless game of whack-a-mole because austerity politics and anti-black racism in America have a symbiotic relationship. White supremacy will constantly find new ways to reinvent itself, and the wealthy ruling class will always find ways to leverage racism for their own selfish goals. And this dynamic hurts everyone.

And now is your opportunity, Joe! Pass your agenda you allegedly want to pass while the Republican opposition is either hyper fixated on the supposed dangers of wokeness or are literally asleep. For example, cancel student debt you're not going to but you could do it tomorrow with the stroke of a pen and it would both stimulate the economy and reduce the racial wealth gap.

And maybe spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure, not that two trillion shit, fucking six trillion, who gives a fuck? Challenge Joe Manchin to a push-up contest to get rid of the filibuster. Give Kirsten Sinema a season pass to Candyland. I don't care. Do what you can to ram through your insufficient,

but at least there's some decent stuff on their agenda, like a $15 minimum wage and the Pro Act. Hey, remember when your compromise to single payer healthcare was a public option and now like you don't even mention that as something you want to do? And allegedly the left is okay with that? How did we suddenly take healthcare off the agenda

after a global pandemic? Also the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Do those please if you can, or we could easily descend back into Jim Crow the sequel and be condemned to a continued era of white supremacy and austerity and ultimately climate catastrophe. Take the opportunity to be the FDR 2.0

that people won't shut the fuck up about how you are, but this time you can include everyone in the deal and maybe this time you won't shut the fuck up about how you are, but this time you can include everyone in the deal. And maybe this time you won't do the camp stuff. Oh no, too late. Whoops. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] You remember the camp stuff? Everyone was really mad about it.

But now like...