Ask Chuck: How Americans Abroad Can Stay Engaged

On this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck looks at new polling showing just how unsettled Americans feel heading into yet another potential government shutdown. With 93% of the country agreeing that political violence is a problem and a majority believing we’re in a full-blown political crisis, partisanship has hardened to the point where disagreement itself is seen as betrayal. Chuck traces how government shutdowns—once unheard of before 1980—became a recurring political weapon, thanks to Justice Department rulings, congressional maneuvering, and laws that reduced the political pain by exempting things like military pay and Social Security. The result: contractors left stranded, bipartisanship all but eliminated, and a system designed to fail.

Finally, Chuck takes a trip in the ToddCast Time Machine to 1974, when congress gave the Freedom of Information Act teeth, plus answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.

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Timeline:

(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)

00:00 Introduction

01:00 New polling out leading into potential government shutdown 

02:00 93% of the country believe political violence is a problem 

03:00 Majority of the country believes we're in a "political crisis" 

04:00 Democrats less likely to talk politics across the aisle 

05:30 Partisans believe you're on "the other side'' if you don't agree with them 

07:45 People need to feel secure in having political debate 

09:00 Independent voters are disenfranchised relative to D & R voters 

11:15 Before 1980 America never had a government shutdown 

12:30 Two Justice Department opinions created the legal basis for shutdowns 

15:00 Government shutdown threats are now an annual occurrence 

16:15 Two laws passed to make political cost of a shutdown less painful 

17:45 Exemptions for military pay and social security make shutdowns easier 

18:45 Proposals for automatic government funding haven't passed 

21:15 Government contractors can't work under shutdowns or CR's 

22:30 Politicians deliberately created the conditions that lead to shutdowns 

23:45 Congressional leadership wanted to create artificial leverage 

25:00 The incentive structures for bipartisan compromise are gone 

27:30 Congress had the power to deal with shutdowns and didn't

30:30 The ToddCast Time Machine 

31:00 October 5th, 1974 Congress put teeth in the Freedom of Information Act 

32:30 Cheney and Rumsfeld argued transparency would hurt national security 

33:00 Lawmakers overruled the presidential veto 

35:00 Florida has some of the strongest government transparency laws 

35:45 Multiple states created their own transparency laws after FOIA 

37:00 Pentagon demanded restrictions on journalists, no outlets agree 

39:00 We can't have a democracy without transparency 

41:45 When your party is out of power you're more likely to believe nonsense 

43:00 Ask Chuck 

43:15 Parallels between LDS church in UT & OK nearly becoming a black state? 

46:00 Chances the Republican gerrymanders backfire? 

50:45 How can Americans abroad stay civically engaged and bring about change? 

55:45 Where do you get your optimism from in this political climate?

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