Citizens Prerogative

Episode discussion topics

• Each day is an opportunity to learn something new.
  
• Black History Month is every month. Our peoples have one history. It is much larger than we can ever be and we have an obligation to grow from their shoulders and honor their memory.
  
• We need to move towards forming a new model of lifelong learning beginning with restructuring the current kindergarten through high school model. It needs to teach youth how to think, how their body and minds work, relationships to natural and social environments, their responsibility to grow knowledge and to satisfy their innate curiosity while adapting to the times.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• Yes, I messed-up the episode number in our cast, it's 15, not 16.
• If you haven't seen this, make the time and clear your mind to accept some hard truths: 13th (on Netflix) for goodness sake.
• Another Shout out to the Future Hindsight podcast, in particular for this subject, check out the episode Fixing High Schools: Ted Dintersmith. Very insightful discussion on the outcomes and expectations we should apply to what learning needs to look like for the future we want to live in.

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Episode discussion topics

• Provide people with the knowledge and skills to effectively participate in the pursuit of happiness. Teach everyone how to fish for republic's sake!
  
• Provide a full contextual view of humanity and the power of human knowledge and collaboration: anthropology, people's histories, society, and civics.
  
• Ensure that people learn about their environment, their place among it, and how to navigate it using reason and decision making.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• The planks of the Freedom Contract Platform, “In Pursuit of Happiness” (our draft working name for it). The three parts of this series align to the following:
  
  • Part 1: Freedom from oppression including equal justice for all, digital ownership rights, state surveillance, and other violence.
  • Part 2: Freedom from poverty including a donut-style economic model with a floor to stand on and a ceiling that protects the earth from greed and excess.
  • Part 3: Freedom from ignorance including the development of skills for lifelong learning and adaptability, to collaborate among different groups of people and achieve a common goal, and the value of civic society and science for the sake of knowledge.
• Shout out to the Future Hindsight podcast, in particular for this subject, check out the episode Fixing High Schools: Ted Dintersmith. Very insightful discussion on the outcomes and expectations we should apply to what learning needs to look like for the future we want to live in.
• Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function ! Researchers have evidence to make a compelling argument that, "it appears that poverty itself reduces cognitive capacity." (You may have to register to see the article) - What you need to know is... "The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced thoughts about finances and found that this reduces cognitive performance among poor but not in well-off participants. Second, we examined the cognitive function of farmers over the planting cycle. We found that the same farmer shows diminished cognitive performance before harvest, when poor, as compared with after harvest, when rich. This cannot be explained by differences in time available, nutrition, or work effort. Nor can it be explained with stress"

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Episode discussion topics

• Knowing what we know and being as capable as we are, providing an equal footing and a set of real opportunities is a moral imperative.
  
• We moved off the farm and stopped providing for ourselves in order to build the concrete jungle that enriches the rich. Healthcare and a lifeline to stem hunger and homelessness seem like a fair trade.
• We need to move towards fair and well-regulated markets to manage the efficient and effective distribution of capital for the betterment of society.

Your hosts: Michael V. Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• The planks of the Freedom Contract Platform, "In Pursuit of Happiness" (our draft working name for it). The three parts of this series align to the following:
  
  • Part 1: Freedom from oppression including equal justice for all, digital ownership rights, state surveillance, and other violence.
  • Part 2: Freedom from poverty including a donut-style economic model with a floor to stand on and a ceiling that protects the earth from greed and excess.
  • Part 3: Freedom from ignorance including the development of skills for lifelong learning and adaptability, to collaborate among different groups of people and achieve a common goal, and the value of civic society and science for the sake of knowledge.
• Speaking of donuts! Hot off the presses from Time Magazine: Amsterdam is testing a new model and it looks like a donut! It features a floor and a ceiling based on true costs. We can no longer afford systems that have known "externalities," which is basically lazy thinking.

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• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Episode discussion topics

• A recap on the car metaphor because we plan to keep using it in the discussion.
  
• This is a three-part series discussing freedom using a different perspective as you would expect us to. Peer through the lens of your pursuit of happiness. How empowered would you feel being free from oppression, poverty, and ignorance?
• The current state of the contract and the serious breaches by those not upholding their end of the bargain. Inequities, advantages, and entitlements, oh my!
  
• Playing by whose rules? Some get to stand their ground while others are run down.

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

More info

• The planks of the Freedom Contract Platform, "In Pursuit of Happiness" (our draft working name for it). The three parts of this series align to the following:
  
  • Freedom from oppression including equal justice for all, digital ownership rights, state surveillance, and other violence.
  • Freedom from poverty including a donut style economic model with a floor to stand on and a ceiling that protects the earth from greed and excess.
  • Freedom from ignorance including the development of skills for lifelong learning and adaptability, to collaborate among different groups of people and achieve a common goal, and the value of civic society and science for the sake of knowledge.
• Lastly, a shout out to the "Behind the Bastards" podcast, they do their research and have fun serving it up! This episode kicks off a multi-part on the lesser-known history of the police: Behind the Police: Slavery, Mass Murder and the Birth of American Law Enforcement.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Discussion topics in this episode:

• The events that occurred at the Capitol in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
  
• The reality of true grievances warped by social media and an old foe of liberty and democracy: the lost cause.
  
• A total layman aside on the nature of our consciousness and placing faith where at the edge of science.

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• This episode was inspired by the spirit of trying something different. We will return to our prior format next week and only do these periodically.
•  Let us know what you think about hearing the behind the scenes version by reaching out through our Contact Us page.
• If you're interested in learning more about how Italians and other later arrivals were discriminated against, check out The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America, by Daniel Okrent.
• Regarding the whole rant on dark energy, no I don't consider it the end-all-be-all of the "me" that's suspended in our heads. It is interesting however, the deeper we peer into our atoms, the less we find. All matter appears to be built upon nothing more than a weak energy field. Plus, we only call dark matter and energy those things simply because we have no idea what they are... or if they even exist at all. So far we only have hypothesis to test and no real knowledge as of yet.

Learn more and reach out

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• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Discussion topics in this episode:

• The original too-big-to-fail: our dearly beloved hydrocarbon industry. Hopefully soon, we can be saying: "our dearly departed."
  
• Our heirs deserve to inherit a livable world with air to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. After all, it was never ours to greedily squander.
  
• The tools we use to save our biosphere will also build a new way of life. We need to embrace a new vision and rise to the challenge of adaptation that is upon us all.
  

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• We will need to act big, in a systematic way, to save the best of our way of life and create an opportunity to transform it into something sustainable and cutting-edge.
• The Equitable and Just National Climate Platform presents one of the most comprehensive and bold visions for a healthy new way forward for our nation.
• Energy is everything. On the horizon of emerging technology are some exciting developments:
• A Tokamak fusion reactor in South Korea passed an unprecedented milestone. Yeah baby, it's star stuff! This ain't your grandmothers' nuclear fission.
• More magical properties found in graphene: it's a fantastically strong atomic material and a superconductor (no impedance or loss of energy in transmission) and now we see it can create topological quantum states. It also looks like a possible alternative to today's batteries too.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative Podcast.

Episode discussion topics

• Small business is a key to helping America thrive again.
• Install a dang floor in this drafty economy!
  
• Silly Citizens, wealth is for capitalists! Except if it were democratized...

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• Insightful content supporting this episode inspired by a Nation.com article titled, "Why the Left Should Ally With Small Business" By Stacy Mitchell and Susan R. Holmberg; November 18, 2020.
• Business creation, ownership, operation, and growth are a lot to manage and it is understandable why only some people are attracted to this calling for a lot of reasons. It is important for those who choose this pursuit, to have a level playing field and a fair chance to play the game.
• We all win when the capitalist economy is sustainable and strong and a fair set of rules is being enforced, better yet followed (idealistic indeed). We also win when there is fair, abundant, and diverse competition at local and national levels.
• If running a business is not your calling, then you should not have to participate to such a degree or at all. Tradespeople, artisans, mystics, philosophers, and servants of the common good shall have the freedom to invest in their craft with only the most tenuous connections to the capital system.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative Podcast.

Episode discussion topics

• There is no right to work! And an impromptu aside on... unions.
  
• The future of work and democratizing access to entrepreneurship.
  
• The retirement myth and an alternative perspective that does a citizen good.

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• Three major forces have dominated the arena: owners, managers, and workers. Only workers are not represented at the highest levels.
• The jobs we have now will not be here tomorrow. Period. So what would you rather do with your limited time in life?
• The idea of retirement has expired, we can tell not by the label but because it stinks!

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative Podcast.

Episode discussion topics

• Wealth at the cost of poverty is no source of pride for an enlightened society.
  
• Broken promises: capital at the cost of labor, life, and lost pursuits of happiness.
  
• It is a long road back towards the promised land, but we have restorative next steps ahead.

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• We've dug ourselves back into another steeply stepped caste system and we have options to begin making changes for the betterment of all Americans. 
• Dig deeper into the arguments around basic income by listening to More Than Enough by Mia Songbird.
• Learn more about the supplemental basic income idea by reading Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn by Chris Hughes.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.
  

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative Podcast.

Episode discussion topics

• A perspective on democracy and its relationship to knowledge.
• We ask the question: "Democracy, what is it good for?"
• What democracy looks like now, then, and the promise it still holds.

See our episodes page for more information.

Your hosts: Michael Piscitelli and Raymond Wong Jr.

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• Democratic societies provide a home for cultivating and caring for knowledge.
• Democratic principles are the best means to secure everyone's equal right to pursue happiness.
• Make no mistake, democracy best serves citizens who best learn its ways.

Learn more and reach out

• Head to Citizens Prerogative for additional information and log in or sign up to leave a comment.
• Don't forget to join our free newsletter and get 10% off at our shop! Go the extra mile by supporting us through Patreon.
• Please contact us with any questions or suggestions.