I don’t think I’m the only one who’s
tired of the toxic political climate of
today and I say today because I haven’t
been around that long and for all I know
the situation is not particularly novel
nor is it uncommon what I want to do
today is share my observations and
inflections on politics though I must
note that my experience is mostly
limited to these United States and
therefore I can only assert the validity
of my inflections in that context what I
would like to do today is share my
political lens that’s the tool which I
use to evaluate what I hear and see now
American politics seem to be divided
into two ideologies and I know there are
many others however those two are the
particularly dominant ones the first
being that the government has the
responsibility to provide for its
citizens that is in the form of medical
assistance unemployment protection
educational aid and above that they are
there’s a duty for them to protect the
citizens with regulation such as love
luxury taxes gun control building codes
and hate speech now these ideas are very
very attractive seeing as they are the
benefits of them are very apparent and
are right on the box and I would say
that the epitome of this thinking would
be the Sanders campaign of 2016 which
gained massive support particularly in
the youth on a platform of campaign
finance reform heightened minimum wage
and the famous or particular possibly
infamous for free college argument and
now that my obligatory Bernie reference
is over I am a Vermonter after all I
have to criticize this line of thinking
because regulation is a very
slippery slope if you can be arrested
for hate speech then who really decides
what that speech is if you if the
government is going to tax you for the
sin of having a luxury how much do they
deserve now the also there’s to contend
with the fell ability of legislation and
programs like programs the incomplete
and in imperfect implementation of many
policies can be have disastrous effects
on the country at large for example in
the United States there are many places
where the combination of food stamps
unemployment assistance and lower income
tax brackets they coincide to create a
barrier for economically where to earn
enough money to leave these programs
results in a net loss of income this
dissuades people from moving out of
these programs and it stifles economic
growth and now I would like to speak to
the inverse approach to government and
that would be the freedom argument we
are instead of the government providing
and protecting the onus is on the
individual and the citizen and their
responsibility this also gives less
authority to the to the government
because they have a lack of involvement
in the citizens lives and this is very
rooted in liberal philosophy such as the
invisible hand concept from Adam Smith
which states that in a free and open
market the if everyone is to work in
their self-interest society as a whole
we benefited even though there is no
group that is overtly controlling and
pushing for that societal growth now
these ideas are based in the
philosophies of Smith Thomas Hobbes John
Jack or so but they often take their
ideas to the logical or illogical
extreme and as we can see we can see
very clearly that the reckless
propagation of freedom has been a very
poor bulwark against corruption for
example there is the 2000
ten statistic that 1% of US income
earners had 23% of the annual income and
that’s a number that was up from only
10% in 1980 that is a might be a
familiar statistic to you because it was
the center point of the Occupy Wall
Street and that we are the ninety nine
percent movement now you may think that
that popular outcry would result in some
change seeing as many people were very
publicly up in arms however is also very
apparent that the the economic wealth is
very closely tied to political power in
a 2014 study by Martin gilens
and Benjamin paid from Princeton
Northwestern University’s respectively
they found that the bottom 90 percent of
income earners had an almost
imperceptible effect on legislation
passed in the United States and money
that’s 2014 years after the first
statistic came out and after the public
outcry it is clear that what we claim is
a capitalistic and free system has not
been able to self-regulate and protect
itself now why am I here what am I
trying to accomplish I I don’t I don’t
have a solution to our woes I mean if I
were to it would be completely
irrational for me to suggest anything
with a I don’t have a panacea to cure
everything even if I were more qualified
in the subject it would still be
preposterous idea now what I’m here is
to share my way to look at politics to
promote political involvement and
critical thinking I want people to look
at to not simply stick to labels like
socialist conservative Republican
Democrat progressive and instead look at
each candidate in a cumin Arial
congressional or presidential election
or even the motions and
meeting with a critical eye and a open
and open mind and now at best I’ve
provided a simple explanation to
political ideology and at worst I’ve
just been making a stream of useless
drivel but I think I can move into
something a little more interesting now
but I need to first be a little more
clear on my own personal philosophy I
believe in liberty and in personal
sovereignty mainly and that probably
comes from the fact that it’s stamped
all over this country even you can look
at our Charter the Declaration of
Independence with its unalienable rights
of Liberty life liberty the pursuit of
happiness and the Pledge of Allegiance
which has closing line with liberty and
justice for all and hopefully that’s not
just propaganda and unicorn dreams
because it is very that is also rooted
in liberal philosophy which is the core
of our Western world however total
freedom cannot function it of itself and
it’s if we take the example of the free
market
it is only proposed as a theoretical and
ideal ideal situation that cannot work
in the face of a imperfect and real
world if it’s rooted in the fact that
everyone understands and knows what is
best for them so that they can work in
their self-interest however that is a
impossible standard to hold every person
to and in light of that regulation and
social welfare is necessary though
regulation and social welfare is not
should not be implemented for the sake
of welfare and regulation very slope
must be considered and it must be
understood that every power we give to
our government
the potential to be a platform for a for
that power to grow to a repressive
extreme welfare and regulation is a
admission that we cannot provide for
ourselves and that we cannot protect
ourselves and that it should only be
implemented in the interest of
protecting our liberties and freedoms
and even if you disagree with what I’m
saying and think I’m just some kid who’s
gotten a little too uppity and preachy I
would at least ask you to be more open
and politically active and questioning
of the next election riot rally march or
political scandal and to keep an open
mind thank you
[Applause] [Music]
tired of the toxic political climate of
today and I say today because I haven’t
been around that long and for all I know
the situation is not particularly novel
nor is it uncommon what I want to do
today is share my observations and
inflections on politics though I must
note that my experience is mostly
limited to these United States and
therefore I can only assert the validity
of my inflections in that context what I
would like to do today is share my
political lens that’s the tool which I
use to evaluate what I hear and see now
American politics seem to be divided
into two ideologies and I know there are
many others however those two are the
particularly dominant ones the first
being that the government has the
responsibility to provide for its
citizens that is in the form of medical
assistance unemployment protection
educational aid and above that they are
there’s a duty for them to protect the
citizens with regulation such as love
luxury taxes gun control building codes
and hate speech now these ideas are very
very attractive seeing as they are the
benefits of them are very apparent and
are right on the box and I would say
that the epitome of this thinking would
be the Sanders campaign of 2016 which
gained massive support particularly in
the youth on a platform of campaign
finance reform heightened minimum wage
and the famous or particular possibly
infamous for free college argument and
now that my obligatory Bernie reference
is over I am a Vermonter after all I
have to criticize this line of thinking
because regulation is a very
slippery slope if you can be arrested
for hate speech then who really decides
what that speech is if you if the
government is going to tax you for the
sin of having a luxury how much do they
deserve now the also there’s to contend
with the fell ability of legislation and
programs like programs the incomplete
and in imperfect implementation of many
policies can be have disastrous effects
on the country at large for example in
the United States there are many places
where the combination of food stamps
unemployment assistance and lower income
tax brackets they coincide to create a
barrier for economically where to earn
enough money to leave these programs
results in a net loss of income this
dissuades people from moving out of
these programs and it stifles economic
growth and now I would like to speak to
the inverse approach to government and
that would be the freedom argument we
are instead of the government providing
and protecting the onus is on the
individual and the citizen and their
responsibility this also gives less
authority to the to the government
because they have a lack of involvement
in the citizens lives and this is very
rooted in liberal philosophy such as the
invisible hand concept from Adam Smith
which states that in a free and open
market the if everyone is to work in
their self-interest society as a whole
we benefited even though there is no
group that is overtly controlling and
pushing for that societal growth now
these ideas are based in the
philosophies of Smith Thomas Hobbes John
Jack or so but they often take their
ideas to the logical or illogical
extreme and as we can see we can see
very clearly that the reckless
propagation of freedom has been a very
poor bulwark against corruption for
example there is the 2000
ten statistic that 1% of US income
earners had 23% of the annual income and
that’s a number that was up from only
10% in 1980 that is a might be a
familiar statistic to you because it was
the center point of the Occupy Wall
Street and that we are the ninety nine
percent movement now you may think that
that popular outcry would result in some
change seeing as many people were very
publicly up in arms however is also very
apparent that the the economic wealth is
very closely tied to political power in
a 2014 study by Martin gilens
and Benjamin paid from Princeton
Northwestern University’s respectively
they found that the bottom 90 percent of
income earners had an almost
imperceptible effect on legislation
passed in the United States and money
that’s 2014 years after the first
statistic came out and after the public
outcry it is clear that what we claim is
a capitalistic and free system has not
been able to self-regulate and protect
itself now why am I here what am I
trying to accomplish I I don’t I don’t
have a solution to our woes I mean if I
were to it would be completely
irrational for me to suggest anything
with a I don’t have a panacea to cure
everything even if I were more qualified
in the subject it would still be
preposterous idea now what I’m here is
to share my way to look at politics to
promote political involvement and
critical thinking I want people to look
at to not simply stick to labels like
socialist conservative Republican
Democrat progressive and instead look at
each candidate in a cumin Arial
congressional or presidential election
or even the motions and
meeting with a critical eye and a open
and open mind and now at best I’ve
provided a simple explanation to
political ideology and at worst I’ve
just been making a stream of useless
drivel but I think I can move into
something a little more interesting now
but I need to first be a little more
clear on my own personal philosophy I
believe in liberty and in personal
sovereignty mainly and that probably
comes from the fact that it’s stamped
all over this country even you can look
at our Charter the Declaration of
Independence with its unalienable rights
of Liberty life liberty the pursuit of
happiness and the Pledge of Allegiance
which has closing line with liberty and
justice for all and hopefully that’s not
just propaganda and unicorn dreams
because it is very that is also rooted
in liberal philosophy which is the core
of our Western world however total
freedom cannot function it of itself and
it’s if we take the example of the free
market
it is only proposed as a theoretical and
ideal ideal situation that cannot work
in the face of a imperfect and real
world if it’s rooted in the fact that
everyone understands and knows what is
best for them so that they can work in
their self-interest however that is a
impossible standard to hold every person
to and in light of that regulation and
social welfare is necessary though
regulation and social welfare is not
should not be implemented for the sake
of welfare and regulation very slope
must be considered and it must be
understood that every power we give to
our government
the potential to be a platform for a for
that power to grow to a repressive
extreme welfare and regulation is a
admission that we cannot provide for
ourselves and that we cannot protect
ourselves and that it should only be
implemented in the interest of
protecting our liberties and freedoms
and even if you disagree with what I’m
saying and think I’m just some kid who’s
gotten a little too uppity and preachy I
would at least ask you to be more open
and politically active and questioning
of the next election riot rally march or
political scandal and to keep an open
mind thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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