Continuing last week where I answered questions from past interviewees, I’m answering questions from any reader who sent one in…so…
The Gurette asks “What sources do you use when writing an article?”
Brody: That’s a good one because it varies. I try not to use solely liberal sources, but that becomes harder when the Nightly News doesn’t cover a lot of things in depth. They might mention what the unemployment figure is but they don’t go to the cause of the issue, only skimming the surface. Right now I like Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Atlantic, 60 Minutes, some CNN articles, and even Real Time with Bill Maher. Then of course there’s facebook favorites like The Liberal Library, Mother Jones, The Other 98 Percent, Move On.org, and The Beer Party and different stuff gets sent to me on Twitter. I just generally try to get a lot of sources and develop a broader sense of what’s going on, but they usually match up pretty well. The details might be the same but the core isn’t.
Tabsf asks “What first made you a liberal?”
Brody: I didn’t really start out that way and actually had parents that were more conservative than not for most of my life (I’ve gradually pulled them more to the liberal side as their jobs have been tied to that). Then I started working. When you’re a kid–and even for most adults–you sort of take it for granted that you’re going to be a millionaire that barely has to work or be concerned with politics (reality TV does nothing to discourage this notion). After working a bit and seeing the dire straits this country had been put in by income inequality, I started to wake up. It started out economic but I also feel that liberal social issues make sense or at least that making all of the things Republicans want illegal would be petty and create more problems than it solves.
I still would completely be a Civil Rights liberal–how can I be in the relationship I’m in and not be right?–but for the most part, I focus on economic liberalism as that’s the key to America getting back on track.
My brother asks “What sandwich should I get at Firehouse Subs?”
Brody: I enjoy the Meatball Marinara, but you have to be in the right mood for that. On most days I enjoy The Engineer which is turkey, mushrooms, and cheese…add some of the 4000th hot sauces to it if you want to start crying. This isn’t like when Wendy’s says something is hot, this is actually hot. Oh, and this is a political website.
Sharia Law4Ever asks “What issues, if any, do you agree with the Republicans about?”
Brody: “If any” is a good qualifier because I’m increasingly stumped. I consider myself a Democrat through and through, both economically and socially, so it’s hard to think of any one issue I would side with them on. If there is something it’s probably an issue that isn’t really important one way or the other like gun control. I wish I could come up with something good to give you but as I am a believer in Civil Rights, social issues, economic liberalism, and science…there’s not much left.
Lauren asks “What advice would you give to the Republicans on how to beat Obama in 2012?”
Brody: I would tell them to run their most powerful, electable ticket Michelle Bachman for President and Ron Paul for Vice President. And on the campaign trail I would make sure Ron Paul spoke as often as he could about his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Civil War being fought to end slavery, the government helping out natural disaster victims, and sending the Navy Seal team into sovereign Pakistan to kill Bin Laden. Then I would have Bachman showcase her extensive knowledge of foreign policy as much as possible, and also make it clear cabinet positions will be made available to Donald Trump and Sarah Palin.
Shitake Mushrooms writes “What issue are you most tired of the media covering?”
Brody: The Presidential election that is still a year and a half away with no real contenders yet entered. They just seem obsessed with the horserace aspect of it more than if any of these candidates would actually be good. “Mike Huckabee is out, Newt Gingrich is in, Romney’s in the lead, Palin’s on the fence…will Chris Christie run against Obama, why did Mitch Daniels chose not to?” And it’s just endless. It’s so bad that an absolute joke candidate like Herman Cain–who has no government experience whatsoever and is the former CEO of a third rate pizza chain like Godfather’s pizza–is being seen as more credible than he really is, just because the media is desperate for someone credible and new and shiny. They’re worse than children chasing down bubbles.
A close second issue would be Anthony Weiner’s wiener which isn’t really his and everyone knows his profile was hacked. So much attention and speculation about this only does what the hacker set out to do: discredit Weiner without the actual dirty work of Anthony doing something wrong.
Pluto979 asks “Why is Pluto no longer a planet?”
Brody: Well, sometimes when a Sun and a universe love each other very much, they produce planets. And sometimes when the Sun is very bad and strays away from the universe it pulls in other blobs of mass that are not necessarily planets but since no one likes the term “bastard children” they just call it a planet anyway. Then some nosey ass scientist decided to call out Pluto as not a real planet, and there you go. I don’t like it either, I like the idea of nine planets, because 8? I mean…what is this 8 business?
Maria writes “What’s an issue you’d like to talk about more on the site but you just don’t think people will care that much or one you’ve talked about but the reader response was less than stellar?”
Brody: I’ve been fortunate to have pretty good readership on the days I really care about but there’s always a few articles that no matter how much you promote and push and go out there, you just don’t see the response you’d like to. So far, any environmental article or one about global warming has been a disappointment in terms of readership so you haven’t seen many of those and the readership on my “Interviews with the Invisible: The Illegal Immigrant” could have been better. I thought it was a really unique perspective–ironically, the one most affected by this issue–and wish more people had read it, because I know I learned a lot while doing it.
Also, I’ve been happy with the response I’ve gotten for pro-union articles but if the readership on those was more stellar I would probably write about them at least a few times a week. Unions and collective bargaining are probably my pet issue and I think it’s a shame to see them so often abandoned for “sexier” issues that have celebrity endorsements.
Carolyn asks “Is what the Republicans are doing going to blow up in their faces? Do you think the Democrats will finally get their act together and mount a big opposition?”
Brody: Two great questions as I’m beginning to wonder myself. As for if people are waking up to the ways of the Republican Party: I can’t really say to a certainty. Unfortunately, a lot of people naively lump all politicians together and don’t really distinguish them enough to see that the Democrats are fighting for them right now. If you’re a Republican voter right now you’re probably saying “Yeah, look at all these politicians stealing from us…Democrats are just as bad,” when there’s a pretty clear damn difference between the Republicans trying to end unions, end medicaid/medicare/social security, and end government pensions. The difference in the two parties hasn’t been this stark in decades but people just take the lazy way out and don’t do enough homework to be fluent enough in the issues to see the difference.
Then there’s the question of what Democrats will counter with…It’s important to note that they have a diverse base that can sometimes be a nightmare to lead into action. There’s really only three types of Republicans (social, military, and fiscal) but there’s almost two dozen different sects of Democrats and the culture of liberalism promotes an individuality that can sometimes make it impossible for us to unite. A lot of times I find myself arguing with other liberals more than conservatives as liberals just generally seem harder to please. I’m hoping against hope we can’t finally, finally get our base to see the bigger picture of union busting and a vanishing middle class and stop infighting long enough to save the US working class.
Rafi asks “If you were Obama” I’m hooked on this question due to that bit of wish fulfillment right there “what would you focus on in your next term should he get elected”
Brody: So let’s say Obama somehow manages to vanquish the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, the former star of a TLC reality show about Alaska, and original architect of his healthcare plan (Romney)…what does he do next? Whatever he wants. If he wins re-election he’ll become only the second Democrat President in almost seventy years to serve two full terms (Clinton is the only other). Without the fear of re-election looming, he’ll be more free to push through some of the social reforms that are closest to his heart like a path to legalization for our country’s 11 million immigrants and overturning the federal gay marriage ban.
But IF I were him I’d do the following 1. Dump Joe Biden as VP and talk Hillary into becoming the first female VP–I don’t think it’ll take much convincing in all honesty–and actually I’d run for re-election with her. The party needs a successor after Obama, and he needs a VP that will run in 2016 and Biden ain’t it. 2. Overturn the Bush tax cuts. We don’t need them, the richest individual tax rate needs to go back to 39 percent instead of the 36 it’s at now, and the decrease in the deficit we’ll see as a result will prove that. It’s also the only real way he can fight unemployment. What I mean is that people saying “He’s got to create jobs” don’t get that the President can’t create private sector jobs. BUT he can increase taxes enough on the people that aren’t creating jobs with their surplus wealth–that would be our richest 1 percent–to fund public sector jobs. This low period of taxation has led to government job layoffs because the government doesn’t have the money to fund public sector jobs right now. 3. End oil subsidies and other corporate subsidies. We want green sector jobs and alternative energy but we’re also providing subsidies to fossil fuel companies that have a monopolistic strangle hold on the market. 4. Create a millionaire tax bracket. Right now the highest possible tax bracket is 250,000 a year, but of course America’s wealthiest make that several times over. The 250,000 needs to go from 36 percent to 39 percent, and the millionaire and higher tax bracket needs to be set at 42 percent. 5. Aggressively pursue programs that promote national prosperity–like China and Brazil have to great effect–whether Republicans that hate domestic entitlements and regulations on outsourcing like it or not.
11. Baltimore Rob asks “What’s the strategy for Democrats going forward?”
Brody: Income inequality. That’s their only issue from now on if they want to win. Republicans say abortion, Dems say “Income inequality.” GOP says gay marriage, Dems say “Fuck you, income inequality.” Republicans don’t even have terrorism anymore since Bush didn’t get Bin Laden and Obama did, not to mention the lack of major terrorist attacks in Obama’s time in office. We hit them hard and fast on defense and Paul Ryan’s budget plan to end popular entitlements like social security, medicaid, and medicare. We hit them on giving all the money to the top percent and busting up the unions for the rest of us.
12. My mom asks “What would have to happen for people to finally get mad enough to affect change?”
Brody: Perhaps the best question of all. At what point will people finally, finally, finally stop bending over, and start standing up. The largest problem is apathy, laziness, and a refusal to get serious. Too many people instantly tune out real issues for what the latest celebrity is wearing. There’s an epidemic of frivolousness that people have to get a cure for first, and then we can start to see people wake up. They’ll stop watching the Kardashian’s every last move or stop thinking falsely that they’re just one American Idol audition away from that, and start demanding better pay/benefits/opportunities in the 45 to 60 grand a year range. Americans that have spent all their time thinking they’re going to become millionaires have actually been reduced to 25k a year…less than what their parents made at the same job thirty years ago.
I don’t know what has to happen for people to get fed up with the corporations that are keeping them down (and not the illegal immigrants, black president, or ACLU that has been scapegoated for too long) but I’m ready for it to start.
Thanks for answering!
In an effort not to “Over Gush” which I already did privately, I have two words for this post: Standing Ovation.
hAHA FUNNY BRODY!LOVE IT
Brody for President – 2020