One nation divided? What bipartisanship says about America.

Unf*cking The Republic

UNFTR Media

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 683 Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’ve all heard of the great divide. The most dysfunctional Congress ever. The end of civility! There’s an impression that nothing passes Congress with bipartisan support anymore. That every piece of legislation has to pass along party lines, setting us up for bloodsport events each and every fucking election cycle. There’s a lot of truth to this. And yet, each year thousands of bills and resolutions are introduced and hundreds are eventually signed into law. We define ourselves along partisan lines, but perhaps we should look more closely at what bipartisan efforts say about America.

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Chapters

Intro: 00:00:10

Bill Primer: 00:05:22

Rule One: Protect the “free” market at all costs. 00:12:48

Coffee Break: 00:20:06

Rule Two: Protect the war machine. Even if we don’t have our own war. 00:21:36

Rule Three: Protect the war machine. In case you want to start a war. 00:29:02

Post Show Musings: 00:31:54

Outro: 00:36:30

Resources

GovTrack: S. 1404: Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act

Ghost Army Legacy Project: The story of The Ghost Army in a nutshell

GovTrack: H.R. 1448: PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act

GovTrack: H.R. 8351: Formula Act

GovTrack: H.R. 2954: Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021

Committee On Ways And Means, House Of Representatives Report: Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021

CNBC: 41% of Americans say it’s ‘going to take a miracle’ to be ready for retirement, report finds

CNBC: Some retirees get by on just Social Security. Experts disagree on how many

Congress.gov: 1st Session S. 1770

GovTrack: S. 3522: Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022

ISS PSC Report: African conflicts to watch in 2022

ISS: Inclusive national dialogue is a priority for Ethiopia

ISS: Will this week’s AU mission to CAR deliver a change in strategy?

ISS: The clock is ticking on South Sudan’s transition

ISS: South Sudan’s transitional government: realities, challenges and opportunities

GovTrack: S. 1605: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022

U.S. Department of Defense: The Department of Defense Releases the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Budget

Politico Magazine: Where in the World Is the U.S. Military?

UNFTR Episode Resources

Procedural F*ckery: Quirks of our “Democracy.”

The Beatification of Ronald Reagan.

Immigration Nation: A Crisis of Our Own Design.

Building the Climate Industrial Complex: Strange Bedfellows, Wildfires and Heat Waves.

Priorities: War, Wealth and Welfare.

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Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Max and distributed by 99.

Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, "Unf*cking the Republic."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	UNFDR.
0:03.0	Did you know that this Congress has signed 177 bills into law, which incorporate a total of 573 bills and resolutions?
0:21.5	Wait, I thought we were one nation divided.
0:24.6	You told us that Newt Gingrich ended civility in Congress.
0:27.8	We are, and he did.
0:29.9	And we've spoken before about the sausage-making legislative process,
0:33.3	the curse of the filibuster, and other quirks that make it very difficult to get anything done,
0:38.0	especially in our procedural fuckery episode.
0:40.9	Right. And then you fixed everything with your big summer of legislation episodes.
0:45.6	Oh man, I forgot all about that. We covered like five, seven, nineteen.
0:51.2	You're like four whole bills.
0:52.8	I feel smarter.
0:54.1	Me too, 99.
0:55.7	Wow.
0:56.7	A2, man, A.
0:58.7	I will admit that I did not see the Inflation Reduction Act coming.
1:03.3	And even with all the mansion and cinema giveaways, I'm impressed.
1:07.1	But it did get me thinking.
1:08.8	Democrats and Republicans say and do a lot of things to insult one another.
1:13.4	And the further apart they get on culture, war, and identity issues, the more feverish their respective bases get.
1:20.3	Democrats are typically able to claim the moral high ground and show grave indignation while blasting out mass emails and spamming for dollars.
1:28.6	Like this one from Nancy Pelosi on September 22nd.
	...

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