Speaker 1: . Let's go next to where do we want to go?
How about Isaac from Wyoming.
Isaac, you're on the air.
Isaac from Wyoming, you're on the air.
And Isaac is gone.
That's too bad, it was looking forward to speaking to a caller from Wyoming.
Let's go next to Frumpies from Chicago.
Frumpies, you're on the air.
Speaker 2: And can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm right here.
Speaker 2: OK, David, good to hear you doing good.
So I'm wondering, like with the with Biden not going forward with the public option,
I'm wondering what the strategy is there, because I know a lot of other people voted
for him on that.
And I'm wondering why he just decided to go with, like, lowering these deductibles.
I think a public option was even part of Obamacare's initial proposal before it got cut.
So what's the strategy?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
I wish I could tell you.
And, you know, it's not like I'm going to be defending things that I don't think should
be defended.
I don't I don't know the answer to that.
And is it part of some bigger strategy as a party?
I don't know.
And we we you know, I think that being four months in, as I said earlier, only four months
into the presidency, I'm still sort of open and waiting and seeing what the full trajectory
is going to be.
But I just don't have an answer.
And, you know, I'm not the defender of everything Biden does, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: I gotcha.
I try and I try to defend a lot of things Biden does, but it's really hard now.
But like, yeah, I was thinking, at least rhetorically, you could go with like this was Obama's thing
and all this.
And so it was just weird.
OK, that's it for me.
My girlfriend loves you, by the way, so you do OK.
Speaker 1: All right.
Thanks, guys.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Very nice.
Nice phone call.
OK.
Why don't we go next to Brett from Indiana.
Brett, you were on the air.
Speaker 2: Hi, David, can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
Gosh, I have to admit, I'm actually super nervous talking to you right now.
Speaker 1: You're doing great already.
I can tell you're going to be great.
Speaker 2: So I'm not going to lie.
I'm super politically active.
And I wish I could ask you 20 questions, but I know we're on a limited amount of time.
Right.
So I wanted to ask you how you felt about this.
So there's this debate of D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood.
Yep.
From D.C.
There's no debate.
Personally, I think it needs statehood at this point.
I mean, it's for another discussion.
But Puerto Rico to me is a little bit more complicated because there's people who think,
oh, it's just colonizers wanting to just add it to the United States.
And one concern I have about it is basically there was a referendum vote about whether
they should become independent or become a state.
And it was fifty two to forty eight percent.
Right.
And I'm just I'm just concerned about that number because my thing is I think that number
is way too low.
It's not overwhelming.
Speaker 1: It's not overwhelming.
And there are people who say it should have been you know, it should have a 60 percent
threshold or more.
I mean, let's go through it piece by piece.
It is without question that the D.C. and Puerto Rico situations are not the same.
There's no question now you can take the position that both should be states, probably for slightly
different reasons.
But there's no question that the D.C. and Puerto Rico situations are different.
Now, one of the differences is that D.C. residents are much more overwhelmingly in support of
being a state than Puerto Rican residents are.
And so what you're talking about is sort of the desire of the population and their ability
to to to to self determine.
I think that it's morally right to offer both the opportunity to be states and certainly
the people that are there can have a say in that.
But I agree that they're not the same situation.
Speaker 2: Right.
And one more question and then I'll just hit the road for you.
So I was wondering, how do you feel about education in this country?
Because I've always argued strongly that we should expand upon it because I'm in the National
Guard and the unit I go to once a month for drill.
Basically, it's in this small country town in Indiana.
And I'm just going to put it plainly, the high school there, it looks like crap.
Yeah.
And like I've always argued, there's this inequality of education funding, you know,
small country towns, they don't get a lot of they don't get a lot of money from the
state compared to like big city schools.
And then, you know, schools like, you know, in places like I don't want to call it the
ghetto.
That be rude.
I would call it.
Rather, not very wealthy areas as much as an state, and I was just wondering, how do
you feel we should expand upon education in this country?
Because council presidency certainly made me realize I feel like we have to work on
education.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
So, I mean, the educational system, this is such a big topic.
It has to be completely rethought and reformed.
But a couple of things are, number one, a lot of this has to do with how states are
run and you have states that pride themselves on.
We have lower no income tax or we have very low property taxes or whatever.
And then you get schools that are equivalent to to the amount of low tax that the states
sort of brag about.
You have state boards of education, including, for example, in Texas, where they are just
destroying the curriculum.
And you're not even getting a shot based on what these boards of education are are doing.
So one piece is at the state level.
Federal education policy is a really tough thing.
And how do you do federal policy for a country of three hundred and thirty one million people?
It's a really difficult question to answer and and a very complex one.
But part of it is we've had long strings of incompetent people in federal education leadership.
I mean, just look at under Trump Betsy Devise.
She had no business being in that position whatsoever.
And so we you know, we can talk about specific reforms, but you've got to completely go back
to the drawing board with the way that a lot of the where the funding comes from, how funding
is distributed, what are the metrics that are used for evaluating schools and teachers?
What is done as a result of those metrics?
The system is so broken, as you seem to be pointing out.
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree.
And, you know, there are you know, I speak Spanish and I'm learning French and German
and like basically I went to Madrid and I was really amazed as to how many, you know,
many people they spoke French or than some of them spoke other languages because they
literally learned since elementary school, basically.
Right.
Language, no.
Well, the Speaker 1: real issue, if you look globally,
the surprising thing is how few people in the United States speak two languages.
That's really the surprising thing globally.
But to many Americans, it's surprising to see that so many people in other countries
do speak two languages.
It's completely backwards, Brett.
Speaker 2: It is, and yeah, and so I just I just really hope with Biden's presidency,
something can get done because I'll say one thing.
I am pretty disgusted with Joe Manchin and Kirstyn sentiments here right now, because
I feel like there are work.
I feel like they're wolves in sheep's clothing.
Speaker 1: Listen, they're there with us on a lot of stuff, but they're not with us on
enough stuff that it's a big, big concern.
But I appreciate the call.
Thank you for your service.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I appreciate it.
And by the way, fun fact.
I just drove past Columbus, Indiana, where Mike Pence is from there.
What they wanted to put up a statue.
And then I just saw a sign where they just said Vice President Pence is from here, in
fact.
Speaker 1: All right, Bret, thank you.
Appreciate that.
That latest breaking news and hope to hear from you again of really close to a perfect
phone call, my friends.
That is all the time.
I have four calls today.
Apologies if I didn't get to you.
And I will hope to hear from
you on
the next one