Brian Gongol Show on WHO Radio - April 15, 2017
Please note: These show notes may be in various stages of completion -- ranging from brainstormed notes through to well-polished monologues. Please excuse anything that may seem rough around the edges, as it may only be a first draft of a thought and not be fully representative of what was said on the air.
Station announcements
Saturday:
6:35pm: Iowa Barnstormers pregame
7:05pm: Barnstormers vs. Nebraska Danger
Clean up after yourself: It's Tax Day/Weekend
I used to say that the GOP should hand out voter registration forms on April 16th. But now I need to draw a distinction between those Republicans who are really enthused about fiscal responsibility and those who are not. It's no longer a guaranteed condition.
When you build your philosophy around limited government, then fiscal responsibility should follow by definition. If your only objective is "small" government, then it can be just as easy to run a deficit as when you're running "big" government. If you only want something to be "small", then you might just decide never to pay for it because you don't value it.
If your concept instead is about "limited" government, then it does not automatically follow whether that should cost a lot of money or not. What does follow is that, by virtue of its limitations, it shouldn't extend its reach any farther than necessary into the lives of today's taxpayers -- or tomorrow's.
And that is a compelling point. If you truly believe in "limited" government, then you are committed to limiting its reach into your children's lives just as much as your own. That requires cleaning up after yourself.
It also ought to commit us to limiting the scope of what we ask government to do -- which itself has the effect of encouraging a sense of fiscal and budgetary prudence.
Constraints help get things done. Toyota developed its "just-in-time" model for production because it didn't have enough cash on hand to pay for a lot of raw materials in advance. Imposing limitations and constraints makes sense.
Government should be constrained to those things it has a unique capacity to do. It shouldn't be arbitrarily limited by what we perceive as "big" or "small" -- I'd rather spend $3 million to get $10 million worth of good we couldn't get otherwise than to spend $2 million to get just $1 million of good.
United Airlines passenger fiasco
- Reverse auctions
- Substituting a five-hour drive
- Should nudge middle-seat passengers
- If they offer $800 for a bump, that implicitly raises the "cost" of a trip for everyone on board by that amount
- We complain, but nobody seems willing to pay more for a seat
Hyperbole is going to kill us all
What's with the President threatening war on Twitter?
Segment 5: NASA says there are several "Ocean Worlds"
Interview: Emilee Richardson, Science Center of Iowa
This week
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Quote of the Week
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Contrary to popular opinion
21st Century conservatism
Have a little empathy
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Stop the deliberate ignorance
Tin Foil Hat Award
Yay Capitalism Prize
Capitalist solution of the week
Kickers
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