All Episodes
Previous Next
Aug. 28, 2019 - Ron Paul Liberty Report
15:54
Red Flag: 70% Of Americans Are Furious With US Politicians & Wall Street

According to a new NBC/WSJ poll, some 70 percent of Americans are as furious with the ruling class as they were in the run-up to Trump's election four years ago. While they feel satisfied with the current state of the economy, they feel Washington and Wall Street are running roughshod over the rest of America. How will this sentiment affect the coming presidential election? The economy?

|

Time Text
Why Anger Spreads 00:14:26
Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
We will be doing this by audio because Daniel is still on the road and we'll be back in the studio next week.
Today we'd like to talk a little bit about a poll that went on and Daniel will be the co-host of course remotely.
But Daniel, welcome to the program.
Thank you, Dr. Paul.
How are you this morning?
I'm doing fine, and we're anxiously waiting to get back onto our regular routine.
But in the meantime, our viewers and our listeners have been satisfied that we stay in contact with them even when we're on the road.
But today, Daniel, we want to talk a little bit about a poll that came up just recently, and it was done with Heart Research.
And the title sort of caught our attention.
Not that we're totally surprised, but the title of it, the headline was New Poll.
70% of Americans are angry at the political establishment.
You know, the first question is, why is this so low?
You know, I thought everybody was angry.
But 70% is significant.
And, of course, it's important to everybody.
Why are people so angry?
And one point is, you know, in spite of the fact that I see and many people see, and many people are suffering from a fragile economy, basically the economy is doing pretty good.
You know, the Democrats would like to think that it's really, really bad.
And the Republicans make it sound like it couldn't be better.
But there's still a discrepancy between the concern that people have and really the statistics, because things have been much, much worse at times.
But I believe there's reason for this.
I think people do get concerned about the future.
But this is anger that people are expressing.
And you hear it every day between the Republicans and the Democrats and how much they hate Trump.
And it just goes on and on.
So I think that there's a reason for this.
I don't think it's just the economy.
But for me personally, I might just throw this out, Daniel.
The one thing that I get upset with the most is the stupidity of what's going on with this social cultural Marxism that goes on and the insanity that's going on in our schools and the discrepancy of what morality and truth is all about.
There are other things, but that's sort of the one that gets to me first.
Yeah, and that was also included in the poll about societal attitudes.
But, you know, the headline really was that 70% of Americans feel what they said is, quote, deep and boiling anger.
And the reason cited was because the political system seems to be only working for the insiders with money and power, Wall Street and Washington.
So that's a pretty strong sentiment, especially as we move closer into the election cycle.
I think that's what really caught our attention and why we wanted to talk about it today.
Yeah, and you know, I think that though the economy is doing well, people are realizing that there's trouble ahead.
And I think it is a recognition what I have talked about before, and that is the bankruptcy of the country.
The bankruptcy is here, and the debt is there, and anybody with a brain realizes this can't continue.
So they are very concerned.
But I don't, what I'm disappointed about is the anger is in the fact that there's authoritarians out there that want to run our lives and the economy and the world.
It's almost like, how do I stay in the front of the line for my stuff?
It isn't just the establishment that benefits.
The people on the welfare rolls, they are concerned because that's all they've known for decades, if not generations.
So there is always this concern.
But I do think that in spite of the superficial statistics that things are doing well, I think deep down in the heart of many people realize that things are going to be tough and we can't sustain deficits of $22 trillion and a trillion dollars per year.
And so they're getting a little bit worried, and it's justifiable.
I always feel like my obligation and what we'd like to do in this program is indicate where the problems come.
And it's just not narrow in the sense as who's getting what, and we just need better management.
I'd like the debate to be between totalitarianism and the cause of liberty.
When you read these polls in the discussion, there's nobody out there saying, you know what, we just want our freedom back.
You know, we do talk about the invasion of our privacy and all, but I like to narrow it down to really the culprit, and that is authoritarian government.
It's way too big, and I think it's going to lead to a lot more anger, not less.
Yeah, and it's too bad people don't see that.
Maybe it just wasn't reflected in the polls.
But circling back on something you said when you started just now, trouble ahead, and I think that's probably the two most important words.
And I think, you know, as you would do, we can point to the Fed and how its actions change people's behavior.
One of the interesting sub-points of the recent poll is that although there is this, quote, deep and boiling anger, Americans are satisfied with the state of the economy and their personal finances.
And that seems to be incongruous when you think about it.
And in fact, I looked a little bit further and thought maybe they're being Pollyanna-ish about their situation.
I looked up another article, and this is something that came out in June, that consumer debt hit $14 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, which surpasses the $13 trillion in 2008, just before the last crash.
So it seems like they're satisfied, but they're living in a dream world.
Would you say so, Dr. Paul?
There's no doubt about it.
And it's propaganda.
It's the educational system.
It's the demagoguing by politicians.
And it's also the wishful thinking of people because everybody would like to have an easy road.
I think that is very natural that you have security.
The big problem is people don't realize that they have to be responsible for their own security in a free society.
And that's quite a bit different.
One thing in this poll did show that the Democrats are somewhat angered and more angry than the Republicans, even though the last time they did this, it was sort of more equal.
But all you have to do is turn the TV on and you can see why the poll would show that the Democrats might be angrier.
You know, the question is if people are angry and upset and they don't have a simple answer because I don't think they have a clear understanding of what the real problem is with government, because I think it's always we need better management, sort of like the Federal Reserve.
Oh, if we just had the right Federal Reserve chairman that knew what the proper interest rates would be, we wouldn't have these problems rather than saying they don't know, they can't know, that just gets rid of the Fed.
But for me, when I think about real satisfaction in life, I think about working for excellence and what virtue is all about.
But I don't believe people can truly be happy and satisfied and not angry if they don't understand that that comes from self-reliance and being productive and caring for oneself.
So When you have everybody taking care of you from cradle to grave and you don't have to worry, if you don't have satisfaction, I think sometimes this is what you see in the super wealthy who really didn't know a whole lot about working hard.
They sometimes are miserable people.
But I think satisfaction comes from doing a little bit for yourself.
And I think our society is now the argument is, how am I going to get my share?
And they're treating one group better than another.
But I don't think it's just the elite that are benefiting.
They are, and we complain about that all the time.
But there's a lot of other people who depend on government too and on the welfare state.
And it's completely different than what a free society would be like.
And they don't even realize it, I think, many of them.
But you started out talking about anger and why people are so angry and furious.
And it's really, I was thinking when I was reading about this about how does this bode for the coming election?
Because back in 2015 and 2016, Donald Trump, the candidate, was able to channel that anger.
It's the same level of anger.
He was able to channel it into an election victory.
And his opponent was not able to do that.
She couldn't really inspire anyone.
But the question now, he's no longer the outsider.
He's no longer the, hey, and when I get in there, I'm going to drain the swamp.
He's the guy who's in there, and the swamp hasn't been drained, and the anger hasn't been assuaged.
So I wonder what do you think, Dr. Paul?
How does this affect his electoral situation?
Well, I think it's going to remain a problem because I don't think anybody wants to recognize deep down the real problem is the bankruptcy.
You know, I think the system is bankrupt.
And most people say, yeah, that's right.
And we've already mentioned that deficits there and there's too much spending and all.
And that's a financial bankruptcy in a lot of people in their financial straits.
The statistics are out that if they were out of work for a month, they wouldn't have any money left over to take care of themselves.
They're not well prepared.
But I think the real significant bankruptcy comes in a moral sense, moral bankruptcy, where people become aggressive and they want to manipulate government and control government.
And they want to have a government that's very authoritarian to do these things as long as they benefit.
And so I think it's the, you know, the founders talked about bad manners.
And if you didn't have good manners and self-reliance, a good constitution doesn't do you any good.
You know, it depends on the people's basic morality that is reflected in the government.
And I would say that the morality of our system going on has been dependency.
And of course, right now, as I started off, I think the thing that annoys me the most is that our society is morally bankrupt.
But who's filling the void right now and gets all the attention?
It's the cultural Marxists.
And they're coming up with the craziest schemes and things that should be done.
And they literally think that Western civilization has to be totally wiped out in order for us to be happy again.
And I think that's the wrong track to take.
Yeah, there does appear to be, you could almost call it a war on speech.
And in fact, we've been talking about maybe making that a theme of a coming RPI conference because it's such an important issue.
And the poll did reflect that Americans are uneasy about this, what they feel to be a really rapid societal change.
They're really the sort of the working in of the political correct culture into our language and life.
And they're not quite sure how to take it.
So I think there is something in that anxiety that they're feeling, and probably rightly so.
Yes.
Well, the part that frustrates me and it gets me angry at times is that the odds against us presenting our case, I think we do well, and I think they can't stop good ideas, but we also have hurdles to go over, and they get more difficult because at one time I was more optimistic than I am now, the use of the internet to reach people, but we also know now that they monitor that quite closely.
And the people who manage the internet aren't interested in our message.
But then again, and Daniel, you've talked about this a lot too, is the control of this scenario by the media.
See, they're locked in this too.
So if they even lean toward what we believe, you know, non-intervention, personal liberties, responsibility, no Fed, and bringing troops home, you never hear that.
And also, to add to the frustration of this, are the universities.
You know, when they do, they come up with some really crazy things that they've done, and a kid gets punished for no good reason at all.
It's the administrators and universities and the professors who come to this rescue in their, you know, and they put the rubber stamp on it.
And this is where young people get their message.
So, yes, I think that the only thing that we can do with our beliefs is to do our best and spread a message.
And hopefully it will spread in different ways.
And I think it does.
I think that I think, you know, compared to 30 or 40 years ago, it would probably have been much more difficult to spread a message even today.
But that to me is the answer.
But it does aggravate me when I see what the odds are when I look at what's going on with our universities, the media, and all our politicians.
And the media is making it difficult to get a message out that's not straight down the line mainstream.
You know, in fact, I got a message from Google, which owns YouTube, which we do use for our show, and they said they're going to be cracking back on, quote, misrepresentative content.
And that's a pretty broad category.
They may think if you say the Fed is leading us down the road to oblivion, that that's misrepresentative because they're just trying to help us.
So it does seem like the social media is now becoming kind of like mainstream media and policing our thoughts, not letting alternative thoughts be out and be known.
And that's pretty dangerous in a society where you can't have a full debate.
Yes.
There's no doubt.
Feeling Good About the Conference 00:01:25
And Daniel, I think we're going to wind this down, but I wanted to give you a minute to say a few words about how you felt about how our conference went at Dallas.
Yeah, Dr. Paul, I was really thrilled.
I thought, you know, so many people said this is the best one yet, and that makes you feel good.
Well, I think all of them were pretty good.
But we had C-SPAN there.
We had RT covering Rick Sanchez's speech there.
And we had a terrific group of speakers.
I met so many great people.
And, you know, Bumper, Jacob Hornberger always says at these speeches, it really recharges his batteries.
And I don't know how you felt, but just talking to so many terrific people, watching them making connections, trading contact information, making friends, hopefully business alliances, what have you, it really does recharge my battery.
So I feel great.
I hope you feel the same way, Dr. Paul.
I do.
And I want to add that your plan to have a student seminar on Friday, the day before the conference, went very, very well.
And a lot of people liked that, even though it was small, but it was very intellectual.
And the people who attended it and the students we met, it was fantastic.
So I think we're getting more active all the time.
And that's why we have to thank our supporters for all the help they've given us in the encouragement and let everybody know that folks will be back soon.
Export Selection