The Cosultocracy if It All with Dr. Sondra Cosgrove

WEBVTT
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Right, stop. Hammer time. Applause. This is Derek
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Washington, and we're about to talk while black.
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It is some time in October, just before the elections,
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and the wind and the cold weather have finally
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hit Las Vegas. We're all just a frosty and put
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on our sweaters and everybody looks cute. And
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it's almost gray sweatpants time, if you know,
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you know, and I Today, we'll be talking to someone
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that I have talked to for years, anytime I want
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to know anything about Nevada politics, about
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school board issues, etc. With the higher education
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system, just anything about anything. She's my
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white chick that is on speed dial, that I call
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to find out everything about everything. And
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much like myself, she knows where all the bodies
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are buried. She understands the psychoses and
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the psychopathy behind party politics in Nevada.
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everybody, I would like to introduce you to a
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woman who has a PhD. She's a history professor.
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She's with the College of Southern Nevada. She's
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the executive director of Vote Nevada. Real applause
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for Dr. Sondra Cosgrove. All right. Thank you.
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Let's get right into it. Okay. We are having
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in Nevada, for those of you who don't know, it's
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a very small state. But politics play and I think
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an outsized role here. as opposed to other places,
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in that we don't really have celebrities, we
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have politicians. And so it's really odd here,
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like you'll be at the grocery store and you'll
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run into a congressperson. Everybody knows they're
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assembly person by their first name, that kind
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of thing. I have noticed in this election cycle,
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a lot of stuff seems to be changing and not necessarily
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for the better. And we were talking earlier about
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what has happened to, let's focus on the Democratic
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Party. There doesn't seem to be a point. What's
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the point? So if you look at the history of political
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parties, I mean, there was the founders of this
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country that said, oh my gosh, we shouldn't have
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political parties. They're terrible. And then
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they formed the first two political parties.
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And it was literally the southern slaveholders
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against the northern merchants. So it was kind
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of economically driven. Over the course of time,
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the parties became machines. And so you had people
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who found power in the parties and to be able
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to control taxes, be able to control zoning.
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So it made them wealthy and it made them very
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powerful. The machine era kind of came to an
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end in 2010 when the US Supreme Court issued
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the Citizens United ruling and dark money started
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flooding into our elections. And you know the
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movie Men in Black, there's a part where the
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alien like takes on the human skin and is walking
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around? That's how I imagine the parties right
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now because they're not parties anymore. It's
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a bunch of consultants that make a lot of money
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because it's all pouring in, basically driving
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us all crazy with commercials and mailers and
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text messages. And the people who used to run
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the party don't have any control anymore. And
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there doesn't seem to be a point. There just
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doesn't... Making money. which is insane. Can
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you explain to people, because we always say
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making money, explain to people what that means.
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How does a consultocracy make its money? Many
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of them will come in and they have a package
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that you can buy. And so they'll do events for
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you, they'll do your social media for you, they'll
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send out mailers for you, they'll do commercials
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for you. The candidates barely do anything anymore.
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Maybe at the grassroots level, they do door knocking,
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but you don't see the meet and greets anymore.
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You don't see the town halls anymore. We don't
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see debates anymore. That's not part of the package
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because that doesn't make anybody money. And
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so if you want debates again, we have to get
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money out of politics. The consultants charge
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a lot and many of them for a while have been
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very good at what they do. They push our buttons.
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They get us to be angry. They get us to be happy.
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They get us to churn out and vote. But I think
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we're starting to wear out. I don't know how
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many more mailers I can get. I don't look at
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them anymore. I don't look at them ever. The
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text messages, I'm like, spam, spam. I think
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we're at the point where there's nowhere left
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to go that they can fill in the space except
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maybe for local elections. And I think that's
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why we're seeing local elections now all of a
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sudden become very important because that's empty
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space for them. You know, for years and years
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and years when I was part of the Democratic establishment,
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I said, let's get involved in the municipal elections.
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And there I never got any traction whatsoever.
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They would say it's not worth it. Yeah. And now
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they're in it. And even to the point of pushing
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a state party chair on people of a city that
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she really has no connection to. I mean, she
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lives there, but no experience in the actual
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job. But yet they're pushing her. And why? And
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that is kind of unique in that we do have a lot
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of people that move from the state level to the
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local level. because the legislature is part
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-time every other year. You can't really make
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money. There's not a lot of power that goes with
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that. The county commission is really your prize
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if you want to have a lot of power. But you can
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only have so many people on the commission. So
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city level politics is becoming more and more
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important. So that flow downward has kind of
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always happened. But I think you're getting more
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and more people who... want to have some control
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over their campaigns, want to have some control
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over meeting and talking with people, are starting
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to fill into the municipal space. And it's interesting
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because municipal elections are open primaries.
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And so I'm finding it interesting that people
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who've told me they would never support open
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primaries are moving, gravitating towards those
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elections because they offer the benefits of
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the open primary. Right. And so we had a real,
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you know, I got to say the last election, Everyone
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I talked to, even if they didn't understand ranked
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choice voting, they wanted it. And they wanted
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it because they wanted something new. The people
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who didn't want open primaries knew that they
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wanted something. And then to see at the last
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minute the Democratic and the Republican parties
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basically hold hands and kumbaya for that one
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issue to stop it, explained to me why. Okay,
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so math is very powerful. Sometimes here's how
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I explain it. In the dark ages they didn't teach
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you how to read to keep control over you. And
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so especially the Catholic Church said you can
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have a plot of land to pay taxes but we are never
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gonna teach you to read because if you can read
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or write you're a threat. Now it's math and we
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don't we tell people that you're not good at
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math, you can't do math, math is confusing, stay
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away from math. But we now know data and math
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are very powerful. And so ranked choice voting
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gives you the power of math. It gives you the
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ability to rank people. And they say it's confusing,
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but I say to people, so if I said, Derek, you
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and I, let's go get ice cream. What's your favorite?
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OK, chocolate chip. Now, in case they don't have
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chocolate chip, what would be your second choice?
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People can do that very easily. But the political
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parties know it's a threat because ranked choice
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voting takes power away from them. And has produced
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some pretty astonishing results across the country
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where you do have it, like Peralta, is that her
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name? Mary Paltola in Alaska. Lisa Murkowski.
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So Lisa Murkowski is one of the senators from
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Alaska. She's the only Republican who's voted
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twice to impeach Donald Trump that he couldn't
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primary. And that's because in Alaska when she
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runs, she knows that she can get Democrats to
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give her the second choice vote. And that's how
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she wins is because The Democrats will do their
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first choice. It's going to be the Democratic
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candidate. And then she can say, I realize that,
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but can I please be your second choice? And so
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when they do the calculation, she wins because
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Democrats will support her and can give her some
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power. Which means they also have something because
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the way it is right now, if you're a Republican
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and you get elected, I have you don't even have
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to care about me. No, at all. And if it's a ranked
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choice thing, you sort of have to care about
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everybody. You have to care about everybody because
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you want those second choice votes. You know,
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I am, I'm no longer a registered Democrat. And
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it really, it got me this weekend because I already
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wasn't going to go to the county party convention,
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because I just think it's, it's the same 12 people,
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you know, and I'm just like, tired to love you
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all. No, I don't. But I realized, like, wait
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a minute, I can't go. I am out. Yeah, I'm registered
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as a forward partyist. And and even that was
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more of just approach. I don't see what they're
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about anymore. Right. They were about the ring
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choice voting. They had a point. And now they
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don't have a point. Yeah, I think most of us
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are gravitating towards having no parties because
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the parties are just the consultants. And so
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we're looking for is there another way to organize?
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And I think technology allows us to come together
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and organize without a party. Right. Which is
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how Mondani exactly got to where he is. Is. Is
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Mamdani the worst thing that could ever happen
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to the Democratic Party? I actually think he's
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going to be their savior because he's showing
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them what they need to do if they want to stay
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relevant. Walk away from the consultants, be
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authentic, go out and talk to people. Be willing
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to be pragmatic too. Say, these are the ideas
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that I have. Let's do them on a small scale first
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and see how they work. And if it works, then
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we can ramp things up. If not, then we say it
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was the wrong thing to do. We figure out why
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it didn't work. and then we try something else
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but it seems like okay let's say he does something
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and he says you know what this didn't work the
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democratic ecosphere is almost as bad as the
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republican one in wanting to make sure that progressives
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don't get ahead they'd rather lose like i think
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in in maine They really did not want the guy
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who was, now we all forgot his name, Plattner.
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They really did not want him to win and they're
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the ones who brought out all of the stuff about
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him at the last minute. And so you'd rather lose
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the Senate than let a progressive who has no
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ties to you win a seat. So the thing we don't
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talk about is the progressive movement was actually
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tied to something called the pragmatist movement.
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And there were people who were in both. But a
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progressive who was also a pragmatist said, we're
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going to try things out. So we're going to run
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an experiment. We're going to see what happens.
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That's what the Democrats are afraid of is if
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you have ideas and you're actually going to do
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a little small scale pilot to see if it works,
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you can prove that you're right. They don't like
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that at all. So it's not necessarily progressivism.
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It's the progressives that are like Mondami who
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will say, sure, I have grand ideas. Some of them
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may not work. Let's try. Let's see what happens.
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and the Democrats don't want those ideas to work.
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Right, right. And there's so many young, I'm
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really impressed that there's so many younger,
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let's say 35 and under people running now, like
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I look at Christian Solomon. Yes. He did amazing
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against an entrenched, incumbent, establishment
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dino in the county commission race. And you know,
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when After the election results came in, I called
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him and I said, bro, I don't know. This is your
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first time running for office. And you're so
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young. I don't know if you understand that over
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40 ,000 people, 40 ,000 people said they believed
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in you enough to give you the most precious right
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Americans have. Again, is that scary? The fact
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that he did that well in the county commission
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race is scary. So the county commission controls
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all the zoning for the county. And that's why
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the biggest power that they have. So the county
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commission decides where we're going to build
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new houses, what we're going to do with our roads.
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What casinos can do. What casinos can do. They
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control the water. So they control the water
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authority. That's where the power is. And so
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I was really surprised because usually if a young
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person tries to do county commission, the big
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guns come out against them and shoot them down.
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The fact that he was able to navigate that and
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to get 40 ,000 people to vote for him. That was
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impressive. And do you think that they didn't
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take him seriously? No, they're like, oh, you're
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just one of those young people pie in the sky.
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No, he's not. He is a pragmatist. He knew he
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had his ideas. And then he said, and this is
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how we're going to do it. And he was very methodical.
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And he had his details. And he had all of his
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facts. And so people, when they heard him and
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he said, this is the way we'll do it, they're
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like, OK, that might work. Give it a try. Give
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it a try. I'm so proud of him and I'm proud of
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people, you know, like Vinny Spotleson and Alex
00:13:41.700 --> 00:13:44.879
Preshai, whose name I can never say, Pres, can
00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.470
you say it? No. Okay. And then I also have been
00:13:48.470 --> 00:13:51.029
impressed lately by Minja Ninh. Oh, I love Minja.
00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:57.399
Yeah. Do you think that those folks have a chance
00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:01.360
to save the system, or not the system, but save
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.320
the party if the party's worth saving? Think
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.799
they can remind people that if you're looking
00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:09.879
at a hundred years ago and the success of The
00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:11.759
progressive movement which was both in the Republican
00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:13.980
Party under Teddy Roosevelt and then it moved
00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:16.220
over to the Democratic Party under Franklin Roosevelt
00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:19.440
There was very strong pragmatic streams within
00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.700
both of those movements, especially with Teddy
00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:24.360
Roosevelt Teddy Roosevelt will be like him. He
00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:26.539
reminds me a lot of Trump I'm just gonna do something
00:14:26.539 --> 00:14:30.129
and people didn't stop him, right? people gravitated
00:14:30.129 --> 00:14:32.909
towards those type of personalities. And Eleanor
00:14:32.909 --> 00:14:34.690
Roosevelt was really the one that was out like
00:14:34.690 --> 00:14:36.529
testing the boundaries in the water all the time.
00:14:37.149 --> 00:14:38.870
Say, well, let's try it. Let's see what happens.
00:14:39.190 --> 00:14:41.429
We need to get back to that. And that's why I
00:14:41.429 --> 00:14:43.070
like open primaries. It's like, I want to hear
00:14:43.070 --> 00:14:46.110
everybody's ideas. And I want you to tell me,
00:14:46.289 --> 00:14:48.549
how would you do that? How would you make that
00:14:48.549 --> 00:14:50.490
work? I think it would be better. For instance,
00:14:50.629 --> 00:14:52.870
in the congressional races, I'm in Dina Titus'
00:14:53.090 --> 00:14:55.389
district. Yeah, me too. No way I'm voting for
00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:59.370
her. because she voted to honor Charlie Kirk.
00:14:59.990 --> 00:15:04.389
And I'm a black gay man and a Democrat. And the
00:15:04.389 --> 00:15:06.889
things that he said about black women, the things
00:15:06.889 --> 00:15:09.350
that he said about gay people, the things that
00:15:09.350 --> 00:15:13.639
he said about black male pilots, to me, I felt
00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:18.940
like you either are so thoroughly taking me for
00:15:18.940 --> 00:15:23.200
granted, or you don't feel like you have to care.
00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:25.610
Like, and I understand it, Suzy Lee's whole thing
00:15:25.610 --> 00:15:27.590
is, you know, she's part of that caucus where
00:15:27.590 --> 00:15:30.029
they all work with each other. Right. But how
00:15:30.029 --> 00:15:32.610
is that supposed to, first of all, I don't think
00:15:32.610 --> 00:15:34.529
any Republican is now going to vote for a Democrat,
00:15:34.529 --> 00:15:41.110
period, and vice versa. So, she would say she's
00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:44.250
being pragmatic. The party would say that they're
00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:48.070
being pragmatic. Is that pragmatism? Or is that
00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:50.850
something else? So, it is pragmatism. She's saying,
00:15:50.850 --> 00:15:53.529
I think this will work. She did it now. Let's
00:15:53.529 --> 00:15:55.610
see what happens. So you have to wait until see
00:15:55.610 --> 00:15:58.009
what you see what the consequences are CD1 is
00:15:58.009 --> 00:16:01.450
very gerrymandered. I live in CD1 to CD1 used
00:16:01.450 --> 00:16:05.309
to go across the valley east to west and so socioeconomically
00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:07.909
everybody in CD1 were related I mean they were
00:16:07.909 --> 00:16:10.750
kind of in the working class middle class Now
00:16:10.750 --> 00:16:13.169
it goes up and down and then down into the gated
00:16:13.169 --> 00:16:16.149
communities down in Henderson And so you have
00:16:16.149 --> 00:16:18.330
my rural preservation property where I live where
00:16:18.330 --> 00:16:20.889
I've got goats on one side and a pig on the other
00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:23.279
You know with million -dollar homes that are
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.559
down at the lakes in close to Boulder City They
00:16:27.269 --> 00:16:30.149
tend to gravitate toward the money is but I think
00:16:30.149 --> 00:16:32.509
They're all assuming you're in the gerrymandered
00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:34.269
district. You're gonna vote for me. Let's see
00:16:34.269 --> 00:16:40.370
what happens. Yeah, I Again because of my identities
00:16:40.370 --> 00:16:43.830
for lack of a better word. I Don't want to see
00:16:43.830 --> 00:16:47.070
a Republican get into those who believes in the
00:16:47.070 --> 00:16:49.009
stuff you have to believe in now to be a Republican
00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:52.620
running for office but on the other hand I can't,
00:16:52.740 --> 00:16:57.779
in good faith, support Dina Titus. I can't, you
00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:01.230
know, and Susie Lee, I personally adore. But
00:17:01.230 --> 00:17:03.529
same thing, she voted to honor Charlie Kirk.
00:17:03.690 --> 00:17:05.829
And I'm like, you didn't have to do that. You
00:17:05.829 --> 00:17:08.609
could have just voted present or not voted at
00:17:08.609 --> 00:17:12.109
all. And it just, it bothers me because I see
00:17:12.109 --> 00:17:15.210
so much of what I expect the Democratic Party
00:17:15.210 --> 00:17:18.690
to be turning a little MAGA like this last in
00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:22.569
the primaries. CCEA, the building trade union,
00:17:22.789 --> 00:17:26.930
they seem to be very MAGA. And CCEA in particular
00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:31.440
had no problem lying, just sending out blatant
00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.680
lies. Like they said, Javon Jackson was MAGA.
00:17:35.640 --> 00:17:39.299
And Javon Jackson is a black, proudly a person
00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:42.200
who's an ex -felon who proudly changed the law
00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.140
and then became the first ex -felon to actually,
00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.059
I guess I'm supposed to say formerly incarcerated,
00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:52.660
sorry Javon, to actually went off this, and then
00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:54.619
they're just lying on him. Like, how are you
00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:56.920
going to say he's MAGA with a straight face?
00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:59.839
So, if you think about the unions being special
00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.420
interest groups, what do they provide usually
00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:05.599
for the candidates? Money. And so again, it's
00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.420
kind of money talking. And they see themselves,
00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:11.440
they see themselves as being the party. But they're
00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.920
just, they're money within the party. But everybody
00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.799
in the parties have become used to just being
00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:17.779
very transactional. Here's some money, do what
00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.319
we say. And if you're a politician trying to
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:23.180
navigate within the parties, now you've got three
00:18:23.180 --> 00:18:24.980
or four sources of money that are saying different
00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:28.019
things. They don't really focus on platform building
00:18:28.019 --> 00:18:30.940
anymore. They're not focused on, again, grassroots
00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:33.420
organizing anymore. It's just, where's the money
00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:35.299
coming from? How much more money can we get?
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:40.220
That's a good point because if you say, what
00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:42.799
is their platform? Chris Solomon, I can say he
00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.619
really fought hard against data centers before
00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:48.819
anybody was. I can say she's really about the
00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:52.440
public transportation system. You know, I can
00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:55.960
say what these younger progressives are for,
00:18:56.259 --> 00:18:59.160
but you ask me like Danielle Marino, I always
00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:01.339
tell people whenever she speaks, I always say
00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:04.140
to them, what'd she just say? But I mean, if
00:19:04.140 --> 00:19:05.700
you and I right now got on our phones, we can
00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:08.160
go to Chris's Instagram, we can go to Minja's
00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:10.480
Instagram, and they would tell us themselves
00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:14.819
what their platform is. Right. The older politicians,
00:19:15.099 --> 00:19:17.460
let the consultants do that. And they just say
00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:21.759
housing, jobs, homelessness. With no details.
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.519
Where Christian and Ninja will tell you, and
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:27.380
this is how I would plan to do it. And they will
00:19:27.380 --> 00:19:29.119
tell you on Instagram exactly how they plan to
00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:34.160
do it. Which to me is how it's supposed to be.
00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:36.480
We need to get back to that, I want to know what
00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.160
your idea is and then tell me how you're going
00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:39.640
to do it. How you're going to do it. You know,
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:41.640
I always ask politicians, what's your first hundred
00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:43.890
days? Now, what are you going to do? See, like
00:19:43.890 --> 00:19:46.029
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when he got into office,
00:19:46.690 --> 00:19:48.890
the depression had been going on for four years.
00:19:48.890 --> 00:19:51.369
It was really bad. Here's what he told his people.
00:19:51.650 --> 00:19:53.450
You get out into the streets, and you start knocking
00:19:53.450 --> 00:19:56.130
on doors, and you do whatever it takes. Whatever
00:19:56.130 --> 00:19:58.670
people need, do it. And that's what he did the
00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:01.269
first 100 days. He said, what they're going to
00:20:01.269 --> 00:20:02.690
need in Schenectady is going to be different
00:20:02.690 --> 00:20:05.269
than what they need in LA. Just do what is needed
00:20:05.269 --> 00:20:09.579
on the ground. That brings me to another thought.
00:20:11.130 --> 00:20:13.809
The Democratic Party and their mouthpieces in
00:20:13.809 --> 00:20:16.900
liberal media are all saying, well, you know,
00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:19.200
somebody might win so and so, but they can't
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.359
go into a general or they can't win nationally.
00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:25.460
And I'm like, why are we so concerned about that
00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:28.099
as opposed to why can't we just elect the person
00:20:28.099 --> 00:20:30.700
who's right for there? Why do you have to knock
00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:33.960
down all progressives because a progressive can't
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.640
win in a red district in Iowa? So, you know,
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.390
elect the person who can. And if that person
00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:41.910
is different, why can't the Democratic Party
00:20:41.910 --> 00:20:44.029
make such a big deal about being this big tent?
00:20:44.789 --> 00:20:47.869
But all I've seen over the last year is making
00:20:47.869 --> 00:20:53.029
sure that the tent doesn't include people. The
00:20:53.029 --> 00:20:55.089
media assumes that the point of elections is
00:20:55.089 --> 00:20:57.970
to win. That's it. All you want to do is win.
00:20:58.569 --> 00:21:01.150
Why can't we look at elections as an opportunity
00:21:01.150 --> 00:21:03.789
to get as many ideas out and talked about as
00:21:03.789 --> 00:21:05.930
possible, knowing that a lot of people are not
00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:07.829
going to get elected, but now we have to hear
00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:10.869
their ideas? Right now we get two choices. That's
00:21:10.869 --> 00:21:12.529
it. And people are tired of two choices because
00:21:12.529 --> 00:21:15.130
they don't seem to work. Elections need to be,
00:21:15.130 --> 00:21:17.769
and this is why I liked open primaries, let everybody
00:21:17.769 --> 00:21:19.730
that has an idea speak. Get them out there. Let's
00:21:19.730 --> 00:21:21.950
talk about ideas. But then ask them, how would
00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:24.450
you do that? And then I can judge whether I think
00:21:24.450 --> 00:21:27.009
that you could be able to do it or not. The media
00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:29.509
doesn't see elections being that way. They see,
00:21:29.650 --> 00:21:30.950
well, they're getting a lot of consultant money,
00:21:31.190 --> 00:21:33.650
too. Money flows to them, too. They just they
00:21:33.650 --> 00:21:35.690
want to know who's going to get power. That's
00:21:35.690 --> 00:21:37.769
it. That's all they care about. It seems to be
00:21:37.769 --> 00:21:41.039
all about a horse race, and the bet, and the
00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:44.019
polling. I feel like, and now that you can actually
00:21:44.019 --> 00:21:47.980
bet on the prediction markets, like I see, is
00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:50.640
it Harry Inton, or one of them, who I used to
00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:54.059
respect doing the polling, and then they'll say,
00:21:54.259 --> 00:21:56.420
and I think it's CNN that does it, and then they'll
00:21:56.420 --> 00:21:58.019
say, what are the prediction markets saying?
00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:00.740
So what are the bookies saying? What is that?
00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:02.759
No, again, it's just who's going to win. It's
00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:05.059
all we care about. Who's going to win? They're
00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:07.559
going to get access to power. We don't care about
00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:09.059
what's their platform, what are they going to
00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:11.000
do, what the first 100 days are going to be like.
00:22:11.819 --> 00:22:14.380
When you see debates, they will ask them about
00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:16.900
their positions. But it's always, you know, well,
00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:19.420
this person is going to win. Their party will
00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:21.819
then have power. What does their party want?
00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:24.740
As opposed to, hey, Derek won. What was his ideas?
00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:26.980
Right, right. We don't ever talk about it that
00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:30.539
way. Which brings us back to, I think, you know,
00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.940
man, I wish Mondani was born in America because
00:22:33.940 --> 00:22:37.559
he literally said, This is what we're gonna do
00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:42.539
and it seemed to just rock the boat So much that
00:22:42.539 --> 00:22:45.440
someone was saying, right? I know what I want
00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.200
to do I know what this place is needed and yet
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.099
all they wanted to talk about is what are you
00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:54.609
gonna do for Israel? Well, I mean it when you
00:22:54.609 --> 00:22:56.410
look at a lot of municipal elections The person
00:22:56.410 --> 00:22:58.670
will get in just hand the keys over to the party
00:22:58.670 --> 00:23:00.950
So either to the Democrats which is what I'm
00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:02.650
worried Danielle Monroe Marino is gonna do in
00:23:02.650 --> 00:23:06.599
North Las Vegas if she were to win Now you've
00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:08.380
got younger people who are saying, no, if I get
00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:11.099
elected, I have the right to do what I said I
00:23:11.099 --> 00:23:13.640
was going to do. And the parties can't control
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:14.859
that. And then they get all worried. They're
00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:16.599
not going to have power or something bad is going
00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:19.420
to happen. But the average voter is just turning
00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.579
off and checking out because they want to hear,
00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:25.539
what would you do? I mean, I think that was like
00:23:25.539 --> 00:23:27.900
the appeal of Trump. He said outlandish things,
00:23:27.900 --> 00:23:29.799
but he said, hey, I'm willing to try stuff. And
00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:31.819
he did. He goes out and just does whatever he
00:23:31.819 --> 00:23:34.539
wants. Now there's a point where we have to determine,
00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:36.950
did his thing work? And we're now determining,
00:23:37.349 --> 00:23:41.289
no, it didn't do what he said. I paid $5 .79,
00:23:42.170 --> 00:23:46.490
because I was on empty. I was like, I'm not paying
00:23:46.490 --> 00:23:50.069
$5 .79 for a full tank of gas for a tiny little
00:23:50.069 --> 00:23:53.150
car that's going to cost me $80. So no, it didn't
00:23:53.150 --> 00:23:57.029
work. And now he's refusing to say that. Right.
00:23:57.269 --> 00:23:59.430
Instead of being pragmatic and going, you know
00:23:59.430 --> 00:24:01.549
what? It didn't work. Mea culpa, which I would
00:24:01.549 --> 00:24:03.990
respect him for. Right. Put it in reverse, let's
00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:05.849
do something else. But he's just barreling down
00:24:05.849 --> 00:24:07.650
the highway and people are like, I can't vote
00:24:07.650 --> 00:24:13.329
for that then. Why is his party not putting the
00:24:13.329 --> 00:24:17.450
brakes on him? Because unlike this, a bully never
00:24:17.450 --> 00:24:20.579
stops until you smack them in the face. I mean,
00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:23.140
they've tried to impeach him twice. They've had
00:24:23.140 --> 00:24:25.119
all kinds of hearings. He was actually put into
00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:27.099
criminal court and he was convicted. That didn't
00:24:27.099 --> 00:24:29.880
seem to matter. But I think there are people
00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:32.900
in the party now who've been primaried out. who
00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:34.839
are fighting back because they're still in Congress.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:37.059
But again, it's that idea, I don't want to lose
00:24:37.059 --> 00:24:38.579
power, so I don't want to fight back. Right.
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:41.980
And so to me, those people are worse than the
00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:45.220
sycophants who didn't get out of power because
00:24:45.220 --> 00:24:47.380
the only reason you're saying anything, you know,
00:24:47.460 --> 00:24:50.680
so many of them are having Thomas Massey, Dune,
00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:52.880
I guess it is, the rest of them, they're all
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:56.519
doing things. But dude, where were you when this
00:24:56.519 --> 00:24:59.119
was going? You watched everything go on and now
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.880
that you don't have your power, you're pissed.
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:04.559
The only person on the Republican side who's
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.680
not doing that is Lisa Murkowski, because she
00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:11.859
can't be primaried. So she got re -elected, she's
00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:14.380
still in power, she's still poking him in the
00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:15.920
eye every time. And again, rank choice voting.
00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:19.640
Right. So she knows she's protected. Right. What
00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:25.589
do you see coming out of this election? Like,
00:25:25.809 --> 00:25:29.130
it seems we're at a turning point. What do you
00:25:29.130 --> 00:25:33.119
think happens? Let's say on a local level, you
00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:35.990
know, statewide down, where do you think we're
00:25:35.990 --> 00:25:39.220
going? The problems that we're dealing with,
00:25:39.299 --> 00:25:42.960
water, housing, transportation, really cannot
00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:46.480
be done at the state level. Because we're a Dillons
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:48.680
-Royle state, almost everything flows out of
00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:50.940
the state legislature. And they can say that
00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.480
they're going to address water, that they're
00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:55.380
going to address housing. They can't because
00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:58.039
housing is zoning. That's the county and the
00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:01.480
city. Water is kind of run through the governor's
00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:04.539
office, and it's done at a federal level, doesn't
00:26:04.539 --> 00:26:06.259
really involve the legislature. I mean, they
00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:08.259
can say some stuff about conservation, but they're
00:26:08.259 --> 00:26:10.500
not going to have a lot of power. We're going
00:26:10.500 --> 00:26:12.519
to definitely see a lot of the fights that need
00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:15.829
to happen at the local level. City Hall is going
00:26:15.829 --> 00:26:20.329
to be important. Right. And back to how the legislature
00:26:20.329 --> 00:26:22.710
can't really do anything. Even when they did
00:26:22.710 --> 00:26:25.809
stuff, Lombardo just vetoed it. And that's what
00:26:25.809 --> 00:26:28.109
the Republicans do. They don't invest a lot in
00:26:28.109 --> 00:26:30.170
fighting over legislative seats. They invest
00:26:30.170 --> 00:26:33.589
in law and holding that governor's office. Because
00:26:33.589 --> 00:26:36.930
in Nevada, the governor sets the budget. So in
00:26:36.930 --> 00:26:39.390
a regular kind of representative democracy state,
00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:41.569
the power of the purse lies in the legislative
00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:44.230
body with the people. In Nevada, because we have
00:26:44.230 --> 00:26:46.210
a part -time legislature, the power of the purse
00:26:46.210 --> 00:26:48.829
lies with the governor. And so Republicans just
00:26:48.829 --> 00:26:51.210
invest in holding the governor's office. Do you
00:26:51.210 --> 00:26:52.650
think they're going to keep the governor's office?
00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:56.019
It is really hard in this state to win against
00:26:56.019 --> 00:26:58.720
an incumbent governor. As we see, because he
00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:00.680
holds the power of the purse, he can hand money
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:03.519
out. Yeah, like he just did with the teachers,
00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:07.579
where he literally bribed them. And so if you
00:27:07.579 --> 00:27:10.599
can do that, and then we... But see, here's where
00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:12.799
I push back on what you just said with the Democrats,
00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:14.500
because here's what I'm afraid they're going
00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:17.140
to do with Donald Trump. If the Democrats control
00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:20.069
the House and the Senate, Are they going to start
00:27:20.069 --> 00:27:22.309
doing constitutional amendments or fundamentally
00:27:22.309 --> 00:27:25.210
fix the system and pull power back from the president?
00:27:25.230 --> 00:27:28.369
Or are they going to do performative hearings?
00:27:28.910 --> 00:27:30.890
And assume, oh, when we get in the office, we're
00:27:30.890 --> 00:27:33.069
going to be bad too. Yeah. And that's the same
00:27:33.069 --> 00:27:35.349
with the governor here. Our legislature could
00:27:35.349 --> 00:27:38.609
take budgeting power away from the governor and
00:27:38.609 --> 00:27:40.869
give it to themselves, but they don't because
00:27:40.869 --> 00:27:42.809
they want to have a governor that also has that
00:27:42.809 --> 00:27:44.390
power. And they get in charge. So if you're not
00:27:44.390 --> 00:27:46.809
going to do structural changes, the system is
00:27:46.809 --> 00:27:49.349
going to keep producing bad outcomes. And I always
00:27:49.349 --> 00:27:51.809
hear that about, especially in the Senate, you
00:27:51.809 --> 00:27:55.130
know, they say, well, when there's a Democrat,
00:27:55.210 --> 00:27:59.190
they'll do it to us. Well, if that's your...
00:27:59.190 --> 00:28:01.650
So in other words, we're going to keep this sucky
00:28:01.650 --> 00:28:04.410
system because you're afraid, well, they'll do
00:28:04.410 --> 00:28:06.910
it to us because you've been such awful people
00:28:06.910 --> 00:28:08.990
that you're worried someone's going to come in
00:28:08.990 --> 00:28:14.650
and be awful to you. Right. So Senator Reid passes.
00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:19.240
And... Ever since then, Nevada has sort of been,
00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:22.059
you know, like whatever. We were the powerhouse
00:28:22.059 --> 00:28:25.059
there for eight years. For a bit. Yeah. And now
00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:29.500
we're not. How do you think... And I attribute
00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:31.720
us not being first in the nation in the primaries
00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:34.960
to the fact that we have such a weak party here.
00:28:35.400 --> 00:28:37.500
And, you know, under the current leadership,
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:41.319
they lost the governorship, they lost the lieutenant
00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:45.200
governorship. I have to say this. How do you
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.440
lose... to Stavros Anthony. Again, it's the we
00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:53.480
put you into power. We you didn't really do anything.
00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:56.019
So we're going to try somebody else. That's,
00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:59.519
you know, that's that's one. And I know Stavros.
00:28:59.579 --> 00:29:01.160
He's actually he helped me when I ran for mayor.
00:29:01.740 --> 00:29:06.440
But Lieutenant Governor, I don't see it. Do you
00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:11.140
think that the state party is irrelevant now
00:29:11.140 --> 00:29:14.039
other than to the money people like as far? So
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:16.359
there was just a county commission, a county
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:18.980
committee, the central party committee, whatever
00:29:18.980 --> 00:29:21.900
you call it. And from my understanding, there
00:29:21.900 --> 00:29:26.940
were like 200 people online and maybe 100 in
00:29:26.940 --> 00:29:30.619
person. The last party meeting that I went to,
00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:34.000
it was in a gymnasium at the community center
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.059
and they had to block off half the room and it
00:29:37.059 --> 00:29:42.529
wasn't remotely full. Do those things even matter
00:29:42.529 --> 00:29:44.349
to the average person or is it all down to the
00:29:44.349 --> 00:29:47.380
mailers, the commercials? I think most people,
00:29:47.420 --> 00:29:50.900
they're trying to participate in citizen -led
00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:54.460
democracy. And oftentimes, when you look at what
00:29:54.460 --> 00:29:56.579
they're doing right behind the scenes as a millionaire,
00:29:57.059 --> 00:29:59.160
or somebody that's saying, oh, I'm going to help
00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:01.000
you guys go back to the grassroots, but I'm from
00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:03.400
out of state and I have a million dollars. And
00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:05.480
so when you're doing it, it's performative, like
00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:07.940
you just said. It makes people feel like they're
00:30:07.940 --> 00:30:09.759
having a say. It makes people feel like they're
00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:12.829
going to change things. And then the... you know,
00:30:12.910 --> 00:30:15.250
starter gun goes off and the system runs the
00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:17.970
exact same way because the software hasn't been
00:30:17.970 --> 00:30:19.950
changed. There wasn't an update to the software.
00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.910
It's going to run the exact same way. One of
00:30:22.910 --> 00:30:26.789
the things that Minjinin said, she says, Nevada
00:30:26.789 --> 00:30:30.589
is a state where other people tell us what we're
00:30:30.589 --> 00:30:32.650
going to do. So for instance, we have all of
00:30:32.650 --> 00:30:36.680
these Elon tunnels everywhere. But we don't do
00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:39.940
anything that's locally grown. So instead of
00:30:39.940 --> 00:30:43.059
doing, say, light rail, We let Elon come and
00:30:43.059 --> 00:30:45.720
go I've got this idea and we great like him,
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:49.160
right? And in the baseball stadiums and all the
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:51.359
things that don't really matters We don't do
00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:56.779
anything on a big level here. That is of us by
00:30:56.779 --> 00:31:02.849
us You know fubu for us by us, right? So is that
00:31:02.849 --> 00:31:06.660
do we have to how does that change? So that's
00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:11.279
muscle memory from the 1930s until about 2000
00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:14.380
Gaming was it there was gaming and mining and
00:31:14.380 --> 00:31:16.619
that was it and they they saved us from the Great
00:31:16.619 --> 00:31:18.980
Depression They pulled us out of you know bad
00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:21.119
times in the 1970s. They pulled us out of bad
00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:24.339
times in the 1990s and We all kind of agreed.
00:31:24.359 --> 00:31:26.099
Okay, if they're gonna be the cash cow given
00:31:26.099 --> 00:31:28.759
what they want. That's fine But then when we
00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:31.880
got to 2008 and everything collapsed and our
00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:35.119
economy got hit the hardest We had this aha moment
00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:38.069
that we need to diversify But when we diversify
00:31:38.069 --> 00:31:40.230
we diversify trying to do a portfolio of new
00:31:40.230 --> 00:31:42.210
businesses, but we didn't diversify the way we
00:31:42.210 --> 00:31:45.069
do politics So we just brought more businessmen
00:31:45.069 --> 00:31:46.690
in and then treated them as if they were the
00:31:46.690 --> 00:31:49.089
gaming in the mining industry, right? We have
00:31:49.089 --> 00:31:53.130
to readjust and say if we're gonna be have diversity
00:31:53.130 --> 00:31:56.130
in our business community we also need to bring
00:31:56.130 --> 00:31:58.150
in constituents the people who live here now
00:31:58.150 --> 00:32:00.769
because there's a lot of us and They need to
00:32:00.769 --> 00:32:03.430
be the ones that are calling the shots that hasn't
00:32:03.430 --> 00:32:05.630
happened. We're still kind of treating business
00:32:05.630 --> 00:32:08.589
as if it was gaming industry, if it was the mob
00:32:08.589 --> 00:32:11.750
and the miners. We have to figure out a way to
00:32:11.750 --> 00:32:13.630
say, OK, that's good, but you're only one group
00:32:13.630 --> 00:32:16.349
and the people need to have some say. And the
00:32:16.349 --> 00:32:18.869
people are migrating with their feet out of the
00:32:18.869 --> 00:32:21.569
parties. Yeah. And they're saying, whatever you're
00:32:21.569 --> 00:32:24.269
doing is not working for me. And then people
00:32:24.269 --> 00:32:25.769
will say, oh, well, if you were a real voter,
00:32:25.930 --> 00:32:27.549
you would join a party. And they're saying, I
00:32:27.549 --> 00:32:30.210
want something else. Yeah. And then you get screwed
00:32:30.210 --> 00:32:32.829
out of beat. So the only reason I stayed a Democrat
00:32:32.829 --> 00:32:35.289
as long as I would. did is because I wanted to
00:32:35.289 --> 00:32:37.369
vote in the primary. Right, not be disenfranchised.
00:32:37.549 --> 00:32:40.910
Right. And right, not be disenfranchised, which
00:32:40.910 --> 00:32:44.609
is the whole point of America is that everybody
00:32:44.609 --> 00:32:47.950
is enfranchised. Right. And now I just don't,
00:32:48.930 --> 00:32:51.750
I look at what's going on, you know, and I have
00:32:51.750 --> 00:32:56.180
to go back to Javon Jackson. The way that the
00:32:56.180 --> 00:32:58.839
unions went after him because he didn't vote
00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:02.930
their way on one bill. Right. Just disgusted
00:33:02.930 --> 00:33:07.670
me. And it did make me feel like, wait a minute,
00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:11.220
I know the truth, but you guys are spending all
00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:14.099
this money to tell lies on him and you've put
00:33:14.099 --> 00:33:17.299
a puppet up in Douglas Candido who didn't even
00:33:17.299 --> 00:33:19.680
know why he was running. He was like the darling
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:24.539
grandma in Nevada. It was so disappointing to
00:33:24.539 --> 00:33:27.779
be so disenfranchised. Do we have to just accept
00:33:27.779 --> 00:33:30.160
that? No, I mean, people are just saying I'm
00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:33.180
out. They're just leaving the party. I have a
00:33:33.180 --> 00:33:35.720
problem when I listen to Democrats talk about
00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:38.859
ballot question seven and not wanting to disenfranchise
00:33:38.859 --> 00:33:42.859
people because of voter ID. Okay, so if it's
00:33:42.859 --> 00:33:44.940
bad to disenfranchise somebody because they don't
00:33:44.940 --> 00:33:47.559
have an ID, why is it okay to disenfranchise
00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:49.319
somebody because they didn't join your party?
00:33:49.460 --> 00:33:52.019
Right. And why are we paying for all of your
00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:55.440
stuff that the party primaries, why am I paying
00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:58.119
for that if I can't vote in it? And since the
00:33:58.119 --> 00:34:00.339
majority of Nevadans are not affiliated with
00:34:00.339 --> 00:34:02.529
the party, Why are they paying for it? Right.
00:34:02.789 --> 00:34:04.670
So it's the people who have power are able to
00:34:04.670 --> 00:34:08.030
use public taxpayer dollars to then run their
00:34:08.030 --> 00:34:11.170
party apparatus. And because we're on the outside
00:34:11.170 --> 00:34:13.369
of that system and they've kind of built a fortress
00:34:13.369 --> 00:34:16.769
around them, it's almost impossible between gerrymandering
00:34:16.769 --> 00:34:18.409
and closed primaries and all the things that
00:34:18.409 --> 00:34:22.250
they do for the people to push back. I worry
00:34:22.250 --> 00:34:24.530
because we've been in places like this before.
00:34:25.150 --> 00:34:26.949
I'm not worried about, and I'll say it, I'm not
00:34:26.949 --> 00:34:31.219
worried about a mandami. practical. We want to
00:34:31.219 --> 00:34:32.800
do different things. Here's what we want to do.
00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:36.079
What I worry more about is that our civil rights
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:37.739
movement is going to end when everybody just
00:34:37.739 --> 00:34:40.079
says, I'm not voting anymore. Right. I'm just
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:42.400
I'm out. Right. I'm not voting. So I'm just going
00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.000
to let the billionaires on this side and the
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:45.679
billionaires on that side decide everything.
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:49.239
And the billionaires never, ever, ever decide.
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:53.460
I mean, look, we have a president partly a lot
00:34:53.460 --> 00:34:57.960
in part because Las Vegas casino money, our money
00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:01.059
paid for him. But think about Nevada compared
00:35:01.059 --> 00:35:03.079
to a lot of other states right now. The Trump
00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:05.699
administration has kind of left us alone. Yeah.
00:35:05.940 --> 00:35:07.800
And the reason is, is because the people who
00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:09.820
control the strip are very powerful. Right. And
00:35:09.820 --> 00:35:11.820
they're his friends. And they're like, hey, you
00:35:11.820 --> 00:35:13.559
know that tower with your name on it, it'd be
00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:15.579
a shame if it lost its liquor license. Yeah,
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:19.000
exactly. And so it's it's the flex of Las Vegas
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.619
capitalism. It's really able to push back on
00:35:21.619 --> 00:35:25.500
him. And Las Vegas capitalism values DEI. That's
00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:27.679
literally our bottom line. Do you did your culture
00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:29.849
have a holiday? Awesome. We will celebrate that.
00:35:30.050 --> 00:35:32.389
Right. Does it include alcohol? Even better.
00:35:32.510 --> 00:35:34.050
We'll celebrate that. Right, right. We don't
00:35:34.050 --> 00:35:36.090
care what it is. We'll just celebrate it. St.
00:35:36.329 --> 00:35:38.630
Patrick's Day, Juneteenth, you know, whatever.
00:35:39.670 --> 00:35:42.170
Because we say everybody come, come and celebrate
00:35:42.170 --> 00:35:43.570
your holiday here because we would like to make
00:35:43.570 --> 00:35:46.590
money. If we could bottle Las Vegas capitalism
00:35:46.590 --> 00:35:48.349
and spread it across the country, that would
00:35:48.349 --> 00:35:51.010
be the single most thing. But Las Vegas capitalism
00:35:51.010 --> 00:35:56.710
is paying for the is paying for black women being
00:35:56.710 --> 00:35:59.980
fired. Is paying for black people being kicked
00:35:59.980 --> 00:36:02.860
out of the armed forces, is paying for women
00:36:02.860 --> 00:36:05.800
not getting promotions now? That's a political
00:36:05.800 --> 00:36:08.380
problem. So we have to put a firewall up between
00:36:08.380 --> 00:36:11.929
capitalism and democracy. So I like the way we
00:36:11.929 --> 00:36:14.309
do capitalism because it values immigration,
00:36:14.690 --> 00:36:17.869
it values diversity, but it's bleeding over into
00:36:17.869 --> 00:36:20.750
our democracy. We have to get that firewall so
00:36:20.750 --> 00:36:23.590
that the money can't bleed over. And I've worked
00:36:23.590 --> 00:36:25.630
with with people where we've tried to overturn
00:36:25.630 --> 00:36:27.809
Citizens United, where we've tried to fight back.
00:36:28.309 --> 00:36:30.730
The media comes after you. The politicians come
00:36:30.730 --> 00:36:32.710
after you. The business people come after you.
00:36:33.269 --> 00:36:34.969
We're going to have to figure out. There's more
00:36:34.969 --> 00:36:36.829
of us than there are of them. Exactly. They have
00:36:36.829 --> 00:36:38.650
a lot of money, though. But we're going to have
00:36:38.650 --> 00:36:40.449
to be able to come together and say, we have
00:36:40.449 --> 00:36:42.309
enough signatures. We're going to do a ballot
00:36:42.309 --> 00:36:43.889
initiative. We're all going to turn out and vote.
00:36:44.110 --> 00:36:47.429
But then you have people like, I'll go back to
00:36:47.429 --> 00:36:49.349
Ranked Choice Voting. Was it question three?
00:36:49.449 --> 00:36:55.190
Three, yeah. OK. I literally can name 10 establishment
00:36:55.190 --> 00:36:58.869
Democrats who went out and fought against the
00:36:58.869 --> 00:37:03.469
people having rights. What do we do? You just
00:37:03.469 --> 00:37:06.210
don't give up. Unfortunately, it takes a while,
00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:08.130
but you don't give up. The fact that we got that
00:37:08.130 --> 00:37:11.210
close. So I'm not getting up. I remember when
00:37:11.210 --> 00:37:13.269
I first got involved in the game, the thing was
00:37:13.269 --> 00:37:16.510
getting rid of the mining industry's exemption
00:37:16.510 --> 00:37:20.170
from taxes. We have, I believe... the second
00:37:20.170 --> 00:37:22.769
largest mining industry in the world. And it's
00:37:22.769 --> 00:37:24.710
all foreign owned. It's all foreign owned. And
00:37:24.710 --> 00:37:27.409
we can only buy by log, get how much of the taxes?
00:37:27.829 --> 00:37:29.210
3 % or something like that? It's because they
00:37:29.210 --> 00:37:31.909
put their taxes into the Nevada Constitution
00:37:31.909 --> 00:37:33.769
because they were the only ones here when we
00:37:33.769 --> 00:37:36.070
wrote the Constitution. But it's a no -brainer
00:37:36.070 --> 00:37:39.929
for both parties, it would seem. Money talks
00:37:39.929 --> 00:37:42.250
again. Yeah. And I'm just like, we could have
00:37:42.250 --> 00:37:45.090
so much more money to provide for the state if
00:37:45.090 --> 00:37:48.360
we just tax them. But we won't every time it
00:37:48.360 --> 00:37:50.980
gets close and now nobody talks about it anymore
00:37:50.980 --> 00:37:53.260
I'm talking to some people who are considering
00:37:53.260 --> 00:37:56.650
it in the business community Because if you look
00:37:56.650 --> 00:37:58.769
at the the rest of the business community, they
00:37:58.769 --> 00:38:00.650
don't appreciate the fact that their taxes are
00:38:00.650 --> 00:38:02.989
not the constitution And so there's a lot of
00:38:02.989 --> 00:38:05.570
people and i'm not talking gaming because they
00:38:05.570 --> 00:38:08.389
have a lot of attorneys But everybody we've diversified
00:38:08.389 --> 00:38:10.269
and brought on these middle medium -sized middle
00:38:10.269 --> 00:38:13.010
-sized businesses And they're like, I'm barely
00:38:13.010 --> 00:38:15.610
treading water and you're basically feeding caviar
00:38:15.610 --> 00:38:17.590
to the mining companies. Who are then sending
00:38:17.590 --> 00:38:20.630
it overseas. Right out of the state. Right. We
00:38:20.630 --> 00:38:22.750
never touched that money. Because I end up having
00:38:22.750 --> 00:38:24.110
coffee with these people where they're like,
00:38:24.250 --> 00:38:26.989
explain to me why that tax is in the Constitution.
00:38:27.630 --> 00:38:30.190
What do we need to do to get it out? Do you remember
00:38:30.190 --> 00:38:32.369
during the pandemic when we had like the back
00:38:32.369 --> 00:38:35.010
to back legislative sessions, the special sessions
00:38:35.010 --> 00:38:38.079
over that summer? Do you remember that we had
00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:41.099
a June -July session where they did write a constitutional
00:38:41.099 --> 00:38:43.900
amendment to take the mining tax out of the Constitution?
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:46.960
And the legislative council bureau said, if you
00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:49.619
then go out of session and come back into a second
00:38:49.619 --> 00:38:51.900
special session, that would count as two votes.
00:38:52.320 --> 00:38:55.139
And it could go on the ballot in November. They
00:38:55.139 --> 00:38:57.719
wrote it. They passed it the first time. And
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.000
then the second time, the mining company said,
00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:02.239
OK, we want to negotiate. They negotiated some
00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:05.630
deal and it died. Right. They went away. Yeah.
00:39:05.829 --> 00:39:10.889
But here's what I know. The legislatively written
00:39:10.889 --> 00:39:14.760
ballot initiative is sitting online. The attorneys
00:39:14.760 --> 00:39:16.900
for the legislature that wrote that initiative
00:39:16.900 --> 00:39:19.000
to take the mining tax out of the Constitution,
00:39:20.250 --> 00:39:22.329
which they know how to write, you know, law that's
00:39:22.329 --> 00:39:25.429
sitting online right now to be used. Will it
00:39:25.429 --> 00:39:29.090
be used? I think so. Because I just look at it
00:39:29.090 --> 00:39:32.320
like we flopped with the marijuana money, you
00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:35.940
know. Well, we got... Hornswoggled on that because
00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:38.579
the marijuana money is in the distributive account
00:39:38.579 --> 00:39:41.260
for education, but what it is It's supplanting
00:39:41.260 --> 00:39:43.880
money. So for every dollar pop dollar that goes
00:39:43.880 --> 00:39:46.519
in a general fund dollar goes out, right? So
00:39:46.519 --> 00:39:48.460
we need to make sure not to do that again. Yeah,
00:39:48.460 --> 00:39:53.199
and to me How was that allowed? So all the politicians
00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:55.719
were in on it Yeah, they understood what it meant
00:39:55.719 --> 00:39:57.679
because to them it was gonna free up money for
00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:00.139
them to do other things And they thought that
00:40:00.139 --> 00:40:02.760
was a good thing And then when it happened, and
00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:04.159
we were all like, well, why didn't the amount
00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:07.239
go up? We were pouring more water into the distributive
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:08.619
account. And it was going right out the spout
00:40:08.619 --> 00:40:09.780
on the other end. Again, it was going out. And
00:40:09.780 --> 00:40:12.059
we were like, why is the water not rising? And
00:40:12.059 --> 00:40:13.820
they're like, oh, no, we're able to use this
00:40:13.820 --> 00:40:16.539
other money that's coming out to do other things.
00:40:16.599 --> 00:40:19.059
Isn't that a good idea? You know, I work in a
00:40:19.059 --> 00:40:20.960
school. I work in a school in the Clark County
00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:29.079
system. I make more money doing Uber than I do
00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:31.579
And I literally have kids that are assigned to
00:40:31.579 --> 00:40:35.860
me who I've gotten their grades from F to A in
00:40:35.860 --> 00:40:38.679
this past first part of the semester, two, three
00:40:38.679 --> 00:40:44.519
months. But yet, if I went to In -N -Out, I would
00:40:44.519 --> 00:40:48.159
make $3 more an hour than I'm working and not
00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:51.159
have to care. And I look at the people who've
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:54.449
devoted their lives to it. And I just go, this
00:40:54.449 --> 00:40:57.329
is why it's so hard to get, you know, God bless
00:40:57.329 --> 00:40:58.869
these people. There are people who've been there
00:40:58.869 --> 00:41:03.769
for 25, 30 years, very few men. And very few
00:41:03.769 --> 00:41:08.070
men of color. Because you can't live on it. And
00:41:08.070 --> 00:41:11.210
I don't, you know, for an elected official to
00:41:11.210 --> 00:41:14.949
let that deal go through, a pox on your house.
00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:19.059
When the founders wrote the Constitution and
00:41:19.059 --> 00:41:20.400
they brought it out and they said, okay, everybody
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:22.440
read it. We're going to discuss it because we
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:24.599
used to read things and discuss things back then.
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:27.019
A lot of people looked at the Constitution and
00:41:27.019 --> 00:41:28.780
they said, this is going to require an educated
00:41:28.780 --> 00:41:30.900
populous. How are you going to pay for this?
00:41:31.300 --> 00:41:33.019
And I'm paraphrasing, but they basically said,
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:35.920
that's okay. Women will do it for free. And there
00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:38.380
you have it. So it started back then. And so
00:41:38.380 --> 00:41:40.460
it was always considered women's work. Now, of
00:41:40.460 --> 00:41:42.099
course, eventually you get to the point where
00:41:42.099 --> 00:41:43.840
women aren't married and they need to be able
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:46.409
to pay for themselves. But it's always been considered
00:41:46.409 --> 00:41:48.670
women's work. Nursing is considered women's work.
00:41:49.010 --> 00:41:50.909
So anything that was considered women's work
00:41:50.909 --> 00:41:54.030
is paid less. But education, definitely. And
00:41:54.030 --> 00:41:56.929
the prime example of that is I feel that teachers
00:41:56.929 --> 00:41:59.369
should be paid the exact same amount of money
00:41:59.369 --> 00:42:03.150
as police officers and firemen. But police officers,
00:42:03.469 --> 00:42:07.769
cops, men, firemen. And it's just insane to me.
00:42:07.869 --> 00:42:12.130
I got one more thing before we go. When you have
00:42:12.130 --> 00:42:15.079
a team, You always have a back bench. You're
00:42:15.079 --> 00:42:16.760
always training people to come up. Yeah, which
00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:19.079
is why the aces didn't make it through the playoffs.
00:42:21.269 --> 00:42:23.389
So for those of you who don't know, Dr. Cosgrove
00:42:23.389 --> 00:42:26.489
is a huge aces person. We had a very terrible
00:42:26.489 --> 00:42:28.170
bench this year and that's why we didn't make
00:42:28.170 --> 00:42:30.429
it. And we also have a terrible bench, or no,
00:42:30.550 --> 00:42:33.190
we're not allowed to have a decent bench in the
00:42:33.190 --> 00:42:36.170
Democratic Party. I don't know of a single, and
00:42:36.170 --> 00:42:38.050
I'll just say black because I know the black
00:42:38.050 --> 00:42:40.250
politicians. I don't know of a single black politician
00:42:40.250 --> 00:42:42.420
who's building a bench. And then what happens
00:42:42.420 --> 00:42:46.500
is when the seat comes up, it's taken over by
00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:50.139
another ethnicity. And then there's no more representation
00:42:50.139 --> 00:42:53.940
for that. I constantly harp on Danielle Monroe
00:42:53.940 --> 00:42:58.480
-Lorino, but it's because her level of mediocrity
00:42:58.480 --> 00:43:04.099
is what bothers me so badly. She's been in charge
00:43:04.099 --> 00:43:06.159
at the state party now for two terms, I think,
00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:10.500
several years. There's no bench of young black
00:43:10.500 --> 00:43:14.659
women. coming up behind her. And one of the things
00:43:14.659 --> 00:43:17.119
before I even moved here, my mom, she used to
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:19.320
always say, you know, you'd love it here. So
00:43:19.320 --> 00:43:20.800
many of the politicians are black, the county
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:23.280
commission, the state legislature. And now I
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:25.920
look and there's barely any left. All under her
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:27.539
reign, they just sort of disappeared because
00:43:27.539 --> 00:43:29.639
there's no bench building. I don't know of a
00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:32.280
single black politician who builds a bench. I
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:34.940
don't know of any politician who builds a bench.
00:43:34.960 --> 00:43:37.460
And it seems like the progressives are the ones
00:43:37.460 --> 00:43:41.190
building a bench. So let's look at the Aces and
00:43:41.190 --> 00:43:43.829
the Valkyries and what happened. So the Aces
00:43:43.829 --> 00:43:45.670
are kind of, and the Liberty and the Dream, same
00:43:45.670 --> 00:43:47.929
exact scenario played out with them. The Liberty
00:43:47.929 --> 00:43:50.150
and the Aces are the kind of traditional teams.
00:43:50.730 --> 00:43:53.610
And their coaches said, okay, we have three stars.
00:43:53.809 --> 00:43:56.289
Each team has three stars. And the rest of the
00:43:56.289 --> 00:43:59.050
team has to then help those three stars to be
00:43:59.050 --> 00:44:01.210
stars. And that's all you do. We're not building
00:44:01.210 --> 00:44:03.349
the bench. We're not having you be a star eventually
00:44:03.349 --> 00:44:06.400
or you being able to carry. Your job is to make
00:44:06.400 --> 00:44:10.219
sure that Chelsea and Jackie and Asia, or Stewie
00:44:10.219 --> 00:44:15.199
and Jonquell and Sabrina on the other side. The
00:44:15.199 --> 00:44:17.460
Valkyries in the dream, their coaches said, no,
00:44:17.500 --> 00:44:19.940
here's what we're going to do. Every person on
00:44:19.940 --> 00:44:23.559
the team has to be equally the star and equally
00:44:23.559 --> 00:44:25.800
the supporter, whether you're on the bench or
00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:27.940
not. Which means they're all working at their
00:44:27.940 --> 00:44:30.920
peak. No matter who is in and out, they can play
00:44:30.920 --> 00:44:33.889
at the top level. And that's what's happening
00:44:33.889 --> 00:44:36.469
to the political parties is the consultants are
00:44:36.469 --> 00:44:38.010
like, okay, we're gonna have two or three stars
00:44:38.010 --> 00:44:40.530
and everybody's going to circle around them and
00:44:40.530 --> 00:44:42.969
just uplift those two or three stars. We're not
00:44:42.969 --> 00:44:44.670
gonna develop you. We're not gonna make you into
00:44:44.670 --> 00:44:47.130
a bench that can actually play. But the same
00:44:47.130 --> 00:44:49.230
thing that just happened to the Aces and the
00:44:49.230 --> 00:44:51.789
Liberty, they just got sweeped. Both of them
00:44:51.789 --> 00:44:55.210
got swept. The Valkyries and the Dream, it's
00:44:55.210 --> 00:44:57.590
gonna be interesting to watch them because every
00:44:57.590 --> 00:45:00.190
player on the team is valued and every player
00:45:00.190 --> 00:45:02.900
on the team is expected to produce. that's what
00:45:02.900 --> 00:45:04.980
we're gonna need politically. We're gonna need
00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:06.800
to move away from the model of the Liberty and
00:45:06.800 --> 00:45:09.559
the Aces, as much as I love my Aces, and we're
00:45:09.559 --> 00:45:11.920
gonna have to have teams that have a strong bench,
00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:14.179
and a coach that's willing to say, Derek, you're
00:45:14.179 --> 00:45:16.739
in. Zandra, you're in. And expect that you're
00:45:16.739 --> 00:45:18.519
gonna go in and be the star just like anybody
00:45:18.519 --> 00:45:21.440
else. Yeah, and that's not how we work things
00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:24.380
here. But I mean, to me... This I've never been
00:45:24.380 --> 00:45:26.460
a sports person. I become a sports person. Yeah,
00:45:26.460 --> 00:45:30.820
I'm like where did this come from? There's analogies
00:45:30.820 --> 00:45:33.360
to I would love it if politics was like sports
00:45:33.360 --> 00:45:34.820
and if you fouled there was a whistle and you
00:45:34.820 --> 00:45:37.500
got thrown out right and you got in trouble for
00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:40.599
fouling. I would love that if that happened in
00:45:40.599 --> 00:45:42.820
politics and there's rules and there's referees
00:45:42.820 --> 00:45:45.480
and it's very structured and people can understand
00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:47.739
it. But what we're seeing in the WNBA is it's
00:45:47.739 --> 00:45:49.900
going through an evolution where you have to
00:45:49.900 --> 00:45:52.440
go away from the stars and you have to go towards
00:45:52.510 --> 00:45:55.570
team building. But the stars bring in the money.
00:45:56.110 --> 00:45:59.449
Not when you lose, not when you get swept. And
00:45:59.449 --> 00:46:02.409
so I can see Becky and Asia and Chelsea and Jackie,
00:46:02.949 --> 00:46:04.610
who are all making a million dollars because
00:46:04.610 --> 00:46:07.309
of the new CBA that they got, thinking, if we
00:46:07.309 --> 00:46:10.210
don't change in the next season, we're out. We're
00:46:10.210 --> 00:46:11.869
never going to be here again. They're going to
00:46:11.869 --> 00:46:14.130
have to change or they're going to be gone. Right.
00:46:14.130 --> 00:46:15.630
Because they don't want to be on the losing team.
00:46:15.730 --> 00:46:17.469
Right. And so we should be able to trade our
00:46:17.469 --> 00:46:19.510
politicians, too. Let's trade. We'll trade up.
00:46:19.750 --> 00:46:25.889
I wish. Well, my next guest is calling in. So
00:46:25.889 --> 00:46:28.829
I guess we have to end this. Thank you so much.
00:46:29.010 --> 00:46:32.699
And as usual, you explain things which shouldn't
00:46:32.699 --> 00:46:36.219
be complicated, but are muddied and made complicated.
00:46:36.519 --> 00:46:39.719
And you always explain them perfectly, clearly.
00:46:39.940 --> 00:46:42.500
And I really appreciate it. I appreciate your
00:46:42.500 --> 00:46:44.659
time today. Being a community college professor
00:46:44.659 --> 00:46:48.179
is my superpower. And I got to tell you, now
00:46:48.179 --> 00:46:51.909
that I work in the system of education, I got
00:46:51.909 --> 00:46:54.610
to tell you, I get it. I get it. You got five
00:46:54.610 --> 00:46:56.510
minutes to explain something to somebody, figure
00:46:56.510 --> 00:46:58.530
it out quickly. Right. All right. Well, thank
00:46:58.530 --> 00:47:02.630
you, everybody. Dr. Sondra Cosgrove. You can
00:47:02.630 --> 00:47:05.710
look up the Vote Nevada on all the platforms.
00:47:06.289 --> 00:47:08.250
You've got a sub stack, right? I have a sub stack
00:47:08.250 --> 00:47:11.349
under my name. Okay. And you can always see her
00:47:11.349 --> 00:47:12.969
on LinkedIn and all the other things, all the
00:47:12.969 --> 00:47:16.050
platforms. So everybody give it up for Dr. Sondra
00:47:16.050 --> 00:47:21.559
Cosgrove. Real applause, real applause. Thank
00:47:21.559 --> 00:47:21.800
you.