Unleashed - Podcast Transcript

December 2005

The following transcript is for the podcast entitled “Unleashed.”

Welcome to the PACT America Podcast.

I've got to warn you--I'm not in a very good mood tonight.

I think I'm going to start by talking about my newspaper article. I was happy with the way it turned out. The picture that they took was really great, and the reporter did a really nice job on the article. But there was one paragraph I was... I don't know... wasn't quite too happy with. I'll read it.

"He took this cause up, Florzak said, when he was unemployed and thinking about the war in Iraq.

"'Why is a guy with a family there and I'm over here,' he asked. Although Florzak is not a believer in the war, he felt he should be serving his country. To him, 'patriotism is how well you live up to the ideals this country was founded upon.'"

That's fair enough except for one thing. I didn't say I wasn't a believer in this war; I said that I was filled with uncertainties about this war.

You know, as I grow older and I don't know... just have to experience life and that kind of thing, I'm starting to realize that you know there's not always a clear cut solution or a clear cut answer to everything. Sometimes the decisions we make are hard, you know? There's not just one answer, or sometimes it's hard to know what the right thing to do is.

(pause)

And my brother tells me that we're accomplishing a lot of good in this war, you know, that lives are being changed for the better. And that's fine. But there are some problems with this.

You know, one of my problems, one of my big problems is that we're not even paying for this war; we're borrowing the money to pay for this war. And you know who we're borrowing it from? China!

So how can you claim to be fighting a war for freedom and democracy when you're borrowing the money to fight this war from a communist country? So we're going to indebt ourselves to a communist country to fight a war for democracy? No, that doesn't make any sense.

(sigh)

You know, in World War II, they sold war bonds. You know, and that wasn't such a great economic time. We were just coming out of the Great Depression; people didn't have tons of money. I mean we had rations! You know, you couldn't even buy certain things.

And yet, we were able to finance a war, a huge war with many nations. You know, American people banded together; they stuck together. And they were united for one cause and one goal. And I'm proud of that.

But now look at us. We claim to be doing this good thing, but we're borrowing the money from a communist country? We get started with a tax cut?

And everybody complains about, "Tax cut for the rich! Tax cut for the rich!" But you know, there were some... I don't know... there were some issues. Not all of that was bad. You know, there's... I don't know... one example: the double taxation on dividends. That was something that probably should have been handled. You know, so I can't say that all of that tax cut was bad.

(sigh)

But why would you go behind the backs of the American people and borrow money from a communist country instead of admitting that there was an issue? Or a need, you know?

And I don't want to hear people saying, "Oh, this is our tax dollars at work." No, it's not, because your tax dollars don't cover it. My tax dollars don't cover it. Nobody's tax dollars cover it. War is not something that's in the budget. We've had to borrow all of the money for this war.

(sigh)

You know, it's already about $250 billion, which means that's about $800 for every man, woman, and child. Are you prepared to write a check for $800? You know, if you say you support the war and you support all of these things, well show me that $800. You know, don't support it with a little magnet on your car. You know, if you're not fighting this war, pay your share of it if you believe in it so much. Don't let us indebt ourselves to a communist country.

And everybody whispers that, "The war is about oil. The war is about oil." I don't know. It's suspicious isn't it?

The President of the United States used to be a CEO of an oil company. The Vice President of the United States was a CEO of a major oil company. The Secretary of State was on the Board of Directors of a major oil company. And yet no one ever mentions that, no one ever talks about the oil in Iraq. It's suspicious.

Now I'm not saying that they started the war over oil. That's stupid; that's ridiculous. Nobody with any business sense... I mean come on. We've spent $250 billion on this war. Do you know how much oil we could have bought on the open market with that much money? You know, we could have bought it outright.

But there are some conflicts of interest. For example, when oil is... oil prices are soaring, and oil is $60-70 a barrel, it's $70 a barrel whether it comes from Iraq or whether it comes from Texas. You know, all of these uncertainties in the marketplace causes the price to go up. But oil... if it's coming from Texas or anywhere else in America, you're getting that same high price. So a lot of companies are really getting rich off this.

(pause)

I don't know.

(pause)

You know, and it's hard to believe some of this stuff, because you want to have faith in your leaders. You want to have faith that they always make the right decisions and that they're actually working for the good of the people. But I just don't understand.

You know, this country is not in a very good financial shape right now. This national debt, these budget deficits--they're out of control.

But you know what? That's not all of it though.

Because right now we're spending between $5-6 billion per month fighting this war in Iraq. Do you think that the terrorists are spending $5 billion a month?

You know, they can lose every battle. They can lose every battle of this war, every firefight, every encounter. They can lose it and still win the war, because it's not just a war of bombs and bullets.

So if they can drag this out long enough and if we keep spending $5-6 billion a month for you know, five years, maybe ten.

I mean they're bunkered down in some of these places. You know, they're on their terrain; it's harsh terrain.

I don't know. So yeah, we have the military might and the firepower to conquer any army or any battle anywhere in the world. It's not even a question. But it's not just about that, because right now our budgets are kind of... questionable.

I mean, think about it. Do you really think we want to borrow the money for this war from China? No, but that's what it's at right now.

So all I'm trying to say is that we can win the battles but lose the war. It's not just about fighting; it's about finances too.

You know, Rome had the strongest army in the world. Where's Rome?

England had the strongest army and navy. But there's no England anymore.

So we've got the strongest Army, Navy, and Air Force. But is that a guarantee? I mean, thank God for the Marines, right?

(sigh)

But just start to think about some of this stuff.

Look at the Cold War. The Soviet Union was going pretty strong for a long time. I mean, communism and the Soviet Union were a serious threat.

It was a Cold War though. You know, what happened? What happened to them in the end? How could one day or one year you're just like whoa, everybody's scared of this nuclear meltdown or this huge global confrontation, and the next you see these people fighting over cabbages or waiting in bread lines?

It was kind of a spending contest, you know? Even with like... Well, you know, Reagan had that thing with Star Wars, like, "We're going to create some awesome system that's going to shoot missiles out of the sky, you know?"

But I mean, that was cool, because it was like calling their bluff a little bit. Or even look at the Space Race. You know, we've got Soviets launching... What do they call those things? I don't know. Satellites or whatever going around the Earth.

And we got to try to do that. And we got to try to go to the Moon, because it's this big, huge thing. But hey. Going to space costs a lot of money, and we haven't been... I don't think there has been another Moon landing for like 30 years.

What's the point, you know? I mean, I guess it's cool for science or whatever, but come on. Yeah, it's cool to say, "We're America; we did it." Other than that, is there really a whole lot of practical value for the cost?

So it was kind of a spending contest, you know?

It was kind of a way to say, "Hey, whose system is better: communism or capitalism? Communism or Democracy?" It was kind of this big battle, this big Cold War.

And who won? We did. But was there ever a battle? No, it was just more like who ran out of money first.

So if we're spending $6 billion or whatever a month on this War in Iraq... And I mean, the terrorists, they probably don't even have that much money. And like I've said before, it just takes a small group. You don't need to be some massive standing army or some big country.

So we're opening up... We're going somewhere that we might not want to go. You know, we need to start thinking about this a little bit more carefully. And I'm not saying that we should run away from these people or that we should stand down, because we shouldn't. But we just have to be a little bit smarter about how we go about things.

I mean, we've only been at this for a few years, and people are all ready to withdraw.

You can't start democracy in two years. Look at it this way, the American Revolution. I mean, people look back in history and think that is was just such a cakewalk. It wasn't. I mean there were a lot of people in this country who were against the Revolution, who sympathized with the British. You know, the Tories and all sorts of stuff. And I mean... We fought our own war; we had the founding fathers and all those great men who fought for us.

But we're fighting this war for them. And I mean, so this is a culture that has been steeped in a different way of life for hundreds and thousands of years. So it's not going to happen in two years. I mean, get real.

We don't even have a democracy in America, not a true democracy. I mean, it's a work in progress. It's always been a work in progress, and it always will be a work in progress. Don't take it for granted or it will be gone.

And if you want to talk about democracy... I mean, democracy and economy go hand in hand. A democracy needs an economy to support it.

If the founding fathers had just started out in the desert with no visible means to support themselves, how long do you think that democracy would have lasted? You know, you've got to have an economy that can support people doing a wide variety of things, a diverse group. You have to be able to provide for your citizens and provide them with employment and that kind of thing.

So yeah, we've got a great system, but let's not be so arrogant that we think that we can just photocopy the Constitution and say, "Here you go. What's your problem? Why can't you make this work?" There's a little bit more to it than that.

(sigh)

What else do I want to talk about?

Let's talk about the President. Don't think I'm trying to disrespect him, because I'm not. You know, I'm saying some tough stuff; I'm being hard on him. But there's a lot at stake, you know?

Maybe I don't like the guy. But we don't always like our bosses in life, now do we?

And don't think I'm one of these people who wants to bash the President or just complain, because I'm not. What kind of a sick, twisted person wants to see the President fail? Because when the President fails, this country fails. I mean his decisions are... they influence our lives.

So don't sit back and laugh at... I mean, come on! Don't be self-destructive.

I want him to succeed. I want him to make a difference and to do good. But it's not happening on its own.

So I mean, say what you want about me, but in the end, I'm just trying to help.

(sigh)

And you know, the President makes himself out to be a real tough guy.

"Stay the course! Hold the line!"

You know, it's easy to say that when you're not the one fighting the battle, but why can't you stay the course, hold the line on Social Security? You know, you got a little bit of criticism or people didn't quite like what you brought to the table, so then it's time for retreat! We'll never talk about it again; we'll just run away from that issue.

But when it's someone else's kids fighting on the battle line, "Stay the course! Hold the line! You can't run away from this problem! We will fight to the end." But you're not the one doing the fighting.

Why don't you stay the course on Social Security?

(pause)

And you have no idea the depths of my anger on that one. Especially when my brother is now involved in this.

So if you want to be a tough guy, be a tough guy. Let's see you handle some of these problems, and I'll be the first one to help you. I'll set aside my differences, and I'll help you to the very end. But let's see it, you know? I've had enough of your talk.

(sigh)

You know, people say we're the richest country in the world. I could argue with that, but I'm not going to. So let's say we are the richest country in the world. Let's say we're the best country in the world. Are we always going to be the best country in the world no matter what we do? No matter what decisions we make, no matter what we do, no matter what happens, we're always going to be the best just by some... I mean come on.

Yeah, we're the best right now, but that doesn't mean it's always going to be that way. You know, we're not... We're not somehow exempt from the laws of reality.

Are we so arrogant that we believe all of our prosperity has been our own doing?

I mean we had a country... We got here and it was like relatively untouched, you know, this pristine land, abundant in natural resources. Yeah, we had to work at it, and yeah, we did a lot of effort. But I mean... I don't know.

We didn't even really emerge into a superpower until after World War II. And I mean, while countries in Europe were just devastated and destroyed, we were relatively untouched. So is all of our prosperity due to our own doing? Do we have a right to be so arrogant?

And it always hasn't been this easy either. I mean, think about the Great Depression. When that happened, yeah, that was really bad. But we were mostly still farmers, you know? We made most of our own stuff and pretty much took care of our own needs. Yeah, we might have had a little bit of debt, but nowhere near it is now.

And look at what happened to try to get out of the Great Depression. You know, we had all these programs like these building programs, all these new initiatives like the New Deal. We borrowed a bunch of money and spent our way out of it.

But look at where we are right now. We're already borrowing a bunch of money. If we have another depression, there's no way we're going to be able to borrow our way out of it. We're going to be taxed to the max just to pay the interest on our debts.

We're not all farmers anymore either. You know, people barely made it back then. People, you know, they were starving for a while, they were really hungry. And yet we were mostly farmers. What do you think is going to happen now?

So what I'm trying to say is that we can't afford to have another big mistake like that. We can't afford to have another depression, because it's just not going to work that way.

(pause)

Sure, I can complain about politicians, and I can rail against them day in and day out. But you know, it's not easy being a Congressman or a Senator.

You know, it takes so much money just to run for office; they have to devote a lot of time and energy to that. There's no other way around it.

And yeah, they might... I don't know. That's an issue we need to address of campaign finance reform. But not just make it so... I mean, we just can't make it so we're limiting how much they can take from these corporations, because they still need the money. They need the money. We need to figure out how to get them the money they need, so that they don't have to resort to some of these unethical practices. Okay?

So it's not easy, and I mean, I know these guys are in over their heads. I can tell, you know? I listen to what they have to say about some of this stuff. And I mean, they really don't understand.

I went to Washington DC. I talked with legislative analysts or assistants for Social Security. You know, they didn't quite always get the intricacies of all this stuff.

So these politicians, they're not geniuses. I mean, they're just trying to do the best they can sometimes.

But they get in, and they think, "Yeah, I'm going to make a difference. I'm going to be different from all these other guys. I'm truly going to represent the people."

But then it's like boom, it hits them how hard this really is, you know?

I mean, they're in way over their heads on some of this stuff. They have all these issues just boiling, and I mean, they can't possibly handle them all. What happens is, maybe they try, but they end up handling none of them. So I'm just trying to make it easy on them, or make it easier on them.

But at the same time, I'm not going to put up with their crap anymore.

I don't want to see you be some smiling guy and be so arrogant like, "Hey, hey. I'm Mr. Big Shot. Don't worry about it; I can handle it." No, you can't handle it. Admit it!

Things are tough. I don't want... I don't want... I don't want the government... I don't want America to pretend that everything is business as usual, that everything is doing great, because it's not. Be real. Be honest with people.

You know, we deserve that much. And once we know there's an issue, or once we know there's a problem, we can help you with it. We can work towards it. But not if we never even know it's an issue.

(sigh)

And we have such a culture of criticism that I think people are afraid to do anything.

I mean, do I really want to be the guy that's going to help Social Security? Yeah, I've got a great plan. It's one of the better ones that I've seen--the best by far; I'm not going to be modest. It is. But unless we start to get some of these other issues... Unless we start to take control of this budget problem, or some of these other issues, you know, the greatest plan in the world isn't going to work.

And yeah, so it's... I mean, as far as the average person is concerned, if you try to actually help something or take care of some of these issues, suddenly you're going to look like the guy that messed things up. You know, I didn't raid the Social Security trust fund; I didn't spend all that money. I didn't rack up the national debt, but I can't just ignore it, you know?

These politicians are content to ignore it, because if they try to address it, it's like it's all going to fall on them. But if I don't stand up and do something about this, if I don't say, "Hey, we've got problems; we need to get this under control right now," the future is going to be a whole lot worse.

I don't know.

(pause)

I just wish people would listen.

But look at, look at what happens in this country. You know, you've got Protestants argue with Catholics and even different denominations. They'll argue over the littlest bit of doctrine or these little Bible verses or these little ideas that they have different. You know, they won't go to the same churches together. Protestants and Catholics won't share Communion together.

But after the services, they'll go to the same stores and go to the same malls and buy products produced in countries that persecute and imprison people of faith. Wow, huh?

You know, China, yeah, they'll put up sort of a good front where it makes it look like they're open to religion. Or if a diplomat or the President visits, they'll have an official state sanctioned ceremony. But a lot of that's just for show. Because what you don't see is that behind the lines in those communist countries, it's a different story. People are actually imprisoned and persecuted because of their beliefs.

But... We'll just keep buying their goods, and we won't say anything as long as they continue to loan us money.

I mean, what happened? Did everybody forget about slavery? About Abraham Lincoln--what he was trying to accomplish like equality for all? I mean there's people making these goods in these foreign countries who are worse off than some of our slaves were.

Even people on minimum wage in this country... I mean, there were some house slaves, maybe educated slaves, that had better standards of living than people on minimum wage.

Congress... Congressmen are making $160,000 a year. Each year, they get an automatic raise unless Congress specifically votes to cancel the raise. They'll get a raise based on cost-of-living that will make their salary keep pace with inflation.

Minimum wage hasn't increased since 1997. I mean that's been eight years! Would you want to make $5.15 an hour? So our Congressmen deserve to have a cost-of-living adjustment on their $150,000 a year salary, but these hardworking Americans don't deserve a cost-of-living increase on their $5 salary--or $5 an hour salary?

You know, and all these economists will say, "Well, if we raise the minimum wage, that would slow economic growth." You know, I'm sure that when we abolished slavery, that slowed economic growth a little bit. You know, I'm no professional economist, but I'm pretty sure that slaves were good for a lot of industries or good for economic production. But that didn't make it right!

So don't let the richest of the rich have these cost-of-living adjustments when those who are struggling for survival don't get them. That's the hypocrisy of our democracy!

So maybe it isn't so hard to believe some of these other things that I'm talking about.

(pause)

And don't think I'm against this country either. You know, it takes a lot of courage to say what I'm saying and to do what I'm trying to do. I'm actually trying to make this country better. I'm not content to just stand by with things the way they are, you know, just go with the flow. This isn't right. We've got problems, and we need to fix them.

You know, I don't really want to talk about this stuff, because most people probably won't understand what I'm talking about, and a lot of the things that I'm saying are kind of dangerous to be saying if you know what I mean.

But look at our national debt for example. We're so far in debt it's unbelievable. Everybody tries to put on a brave face. All these politicians smile and act like there's not a problem, because it's so bad nobody wants to touch it. I mean, we're $8 trillion in debt.

You know, and how are we going to repay this money? I think people think that the government is rich. Like the United States is some rich country and we have a huge pile of cash.

You know, "We're the richest country in the world! Yeah, we're the richest country in the world!" If we're so rich, then why are we $8 trillion in debt?

You know, yeah, we've got assets. I was reading the budget report. We've got about $800 billion in mineral rights, $600 billion in land. But what are you going to do? Are you going to start logging our national parks? You know, cut down all the trees in Yosemite and some of these other national parks. Are we going to give up the mineral rights to Mount Rushmore? You know, carve up all that granite and cart it away. Or how about melt down the Statue of Liberty for scrap? Copper prices are really high right now.

No! You just can't sell Alaska to pay your bills. It's not going to work that way. So use some sense!

And people say, "Oh well, the government can just print more money."

If they could print more money, don't you think they would have started that by now? You know, why let the debt get so out of control? Why let it get to $8 trillion? Why not start printing money a little bit along the way, you know? So you can kind of gloss it over so it never even becomes a problem. You can't just print more money!

One word: inflation. If they start to just print the debt away, I mean, inflation will go out of control. The money will become worthless. Use some common sense people.

And I know not everybody is into this stuff, not everybody is into economics or stuff like that. But even people with economic degrees can't seem to grasp some of these concepts.

(pause)

I don't know what to say.

(pause)

I guess if you want to know what I'm feeling, it's this: I'm conflicted. And I guess what I'm trying to do is... It's my opinion that if we start to take control of this right now, and if we start to really educate people about the issues, that we can get this under control.

But I think we're at a turning point here. You know, this is like the point of no return. The decisions we make from now on will affect the future of this country.

And the funny thing is, I truly believe that we are poised for greatness. Right now, things are so dicey or so fragile that unless we truly unite together and move forward, we're going to lose it all; it's going to fall apart.

We are in such a position right now that we have to live up to our name. We have to live up to the name of the United States of America. We have to start living up to the ideals that this country was founded upon; otherwise, it's not going to be there anymore, you know?

But I don't want to leave it on that note. All I want to say is that, "Yes, we're going to have some big challenges in the future. Yes, we're going to have some troubles and some difficulties. But you know, previous generations of Americans have had their share of difficulties; they've had their share of challenges and problems. But they overcame, you know? They moved forward; they moved together united as a country. And that's what we need to do, because we have to do it."

(sigh)

And you know, the American Dream isn't about how much you have or how nice your house is or how much you have in the bank account.

You know, when people were coming over in boats and they saw that Statue of Liberty like a beacon of hope in the distance...

And what does it say? I don't know what the exact inscription says, but it says like, "Give me...” something like, “your tired and poor…”

(pause)

You know, I'm not very good at memorizing things, but just thinking about it has a powerful message for me.

And I mean, when these immigrants were coming over on boats, they weren't thinking to themselves, "I want a luxury car."

You know, when they were talking about coming here and say the word, "America!" I mean, they said it with such reverence that the word just seemed to hang in the air filled with promise. All they wanted was a chance for their freedom, you know? The ability to provide for themselves and their families. To have control over their own destiny, to control their own lives. This Freedom, this Liberty.

But hopefully if I bring the message, people will listen. And we can make a brighter future for ourselves. A better America, a stronger America, a united America.

That is our destiny. That is all it ever was and all it ever will be.

This is Adam Florzak keeping it real.