Transcription
And welcome into getting help from Uncle Sam. Most of you that are my age realize the fact that when you went to school, you learned about the government. There was a judicial, an executive, and a legislative part of our government. The legislature makes laws. The process of the executive is to make sure all those laws are done so we can run the country properly. The judicial just has to make a ruling if something's kind of awry.
Well, things are kind of awry. So, I went to the expert: Brian Coleman and Brian Baron.
Baron, I'm sorry, Baron. I didn't want to call you Brian. It was Baron right from the start.
But, Baron, um, you and a couple of your cohorts, you do a weekly, a daily, uh, radio show.
We do.
Called News and Views. It airs on 93.1 if you're looking for the dial, WACV. And basically, uh, you, you hit some hard facts, don't you?
We do. We cover a lot of, uh, current events, a lot of political issues. I'll cover elections when elections are going on. Uh, just try to keep people informed, try to be a little entertaining so they don't get bored and getting all the information, but we have a good time up there.
Well, you know, we've said all along, and I tell my viewers they need to get actively involved in things that are happening.
Absolutely.
Because what is happening, and we see it in the country, is that the very vocal minority makes things happen, and the very silent majority kind of sits back. When I was talking to you yesterday, I said, "We go around fat, dumb, and happy. Before you know it, we're just going to be fat and dumb. We're not going to be happy because things change on a day-to-day basis."
What do our viewers, what do you need to do to be involved?
Well, the first thing you have to do is be informed.
Okay.
Uh, you've got to, you've got to look at the issues independently. You've got to get information from both sides. You can't just trust that your favorite news outlet or your favorite cable outlet is going to provide you all of the facts. You've got to understand that everybody has a bias, even those in the media. And there are places you can go to get independent information. But even if you can't get the independent information, if you can't track down something truly objective, try to, try to look at news outlets on both sides of it.
If you're a Democrat, don't be afraid to turn over to Fox News from time to time.
Right.
If you're a Republican, don't be able to, don't be afraid to turn over to, to MSNBC from time to time, because you'll, you'll hear the other side of the argument. If, if anything, you just need to be informed what the other side is thinking.
Mhm.
How important is it for you to have contact with your representatives and your senators?
It's critical.
Yes. Absolutely critical. It's probably the one part of our government most people miss out on is the ability to interact with your elected representatives. They're not kings. They can be replaced.
Well, they're, they're your employee.
They are.
Yeah, they're your employee. They're not governing from on high, telling us what to do. They should be getting input from the community. Most people ignore that aspect. They, they don't realize that these guys have home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, email addresses, an office. If it's a state governmental official, they'll have a state house office. If it's a federal official, they'll have congressional office. You really need to interact with these folks, but you don't want to overdo it.
You don't want to overdo it. And this is the problem some people do.
Right.
You contact somebody too many times, and they start ignoring your letters. So, you know, if, if once a month, every few months you decide, "Hey, this is an issue that's important to me," don't be afraid to get out a piece of paper and write it down.
And especially if it's a critical issue.
Absolutely.
The big issues, certainly.
And you know, it's kind of funny, because I wrote letters. I actually wrote a personal letter to the Supreme Court Justices with regard to the, the gay marriage thing. And I don't know if a letter means anything to them. I don't even know if they ever opened up that letter. Would I be more better served to have used the telephone or to email? What's the best way to?
Letters are probably the best.
Okay.
They're probably the best. Phone calls, you might get the person on the phone. If not, you're usually going to get their staff person. You're going to get a staff person, and they're just going to take a note, a quick note. You know, Jack Galassini called, he's from Montgomery, his concern is about gay marriage.
Right.
If you write a letter, not too long, don't go pages, but if you write a couple of paragraphs and, and let them know this is an important issue to me, they will see it.
Mhm.
Now, again, when, when, when issues start to come up, then a lot of times the lobbyists have already got their take on the thing, and they've probably already done a lot cuz we, we hear about a person leaves here, they go to Washington, or even in the, in the state.
You know, they leave Lee, they leave Lee County or Covington County, and they come up here. How strong are lobbyists in making the decisions for these people?
I'd say they're 80 to 90% of the decision-making process.
Wow.
But that leaves 10 to 20% for the folks back home to weigh in.
Mhm.
Uh, and you may look at that and say, "Well, that's overwhelming. I could never compete with the lobbyists. I'll just quit." Don't do that.
Don't think that, because they do want to hear; they, they are worried about getting reelected.
Mhm.
The one thing the lobbyists control that most of the folks at home don't is the money.
Right.
And money is the mother's milk of politics.
So, don't be afraid to, to donate even just $20 to show up on their list.
Uh, and, and that's, that's not a bad thing.
And know that you've done it.
And in the case, obviously, the lobbyist has the money and maybe has some influence over that person. But that's just one vote, so to speak.
Right.
And so, the people in the county, can they come together in the county and find out that these are some common concerns we have, and then as a group, let this be known to their constituents?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One of the things that's underutilized are these town hall meetings, these telephone call-in forums, things like that. Don't be afraid to participate in those.
It's something that's absolutely critical, but when you go, don't be angry. Be reasoned, be rational.
And, and they do listen, because though the lobbies control the money, ultimately it's the votes that determine whether they come back in office. And ultimately, most politicians want to come back in office.
Good. I'm going to get you to come back in another couple of weeks because we're getting close to a mayoral election. And we want to just really to tell our people what should you be doing when you're just looking at elections in general. And we can maybe use that as an example.
That'd be outstanding.
Okay?
And just remember this: your vote is very important to elected officials. Make your voice known. Do become the vocal majority. You can make changes. And we'll be right back right after this.