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Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Chris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the US.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
And...
We're live.
We are.
And it's good to be back after a slightly
longer break than usual.
Yeah, but you know, breaks are necessary.
Yeah, I'll own up to the responsibility on
that one.
I came back from a party and then woke up
in the middle of the night and couldn't
fall back asleep and knew I needed to
write my sleep schedule or I was going to
be in for a bad time that week.
What kind of party?
So it was a birthday party and it was a
pool party and it was a party I had
forgotten I agreed to go to, which is not
a big deal, except I had perhaps partied a
little bit the day before and was already
paying for it.
And it was a little much to stack them
back to back.
Two birthday parties in a row?
No, it was more just I had some friends
over and we...
One of them introduced me to the world of
rocket pop flavored twisted tea.
Talk about American.
Do you remember rocket pops?
Like the most American popsicle there is.
yeah, yeah, yeah.
But there's a tea named after that.
So twisted tea, it's alcoholic tea.
It sounds like it would be too sweet, but
it's actually very drinkable.
It's so drinkable that I drink way too
much of it.
So.
yeah, more or less, two days in a row of
having to do some, I say having to, but,
yeah, it was, through my body for a loop.
So lessons learned, mistakes made and, you
know, on, on, on to the next day.
I'm too old for parties.
No, I haven't been to a party in a, in a
while.
but that's more or less my fault.
I've just been really hyper -focused on
work and school, you know, too much work,
no play.
Yeah.
But, speaking of breaks, we're coming up
on a big break here soon.
So we have a couple more episodes and then
we'll be gone for a couple of months and
I'll be in the U .S.
I really look forward to it.
It's been almost, almost two years, but it
feels like an eternity.
It really, really does.
I bet.
Yeah.
The weirdest thing, and I'll probably say
this when we come back, but the weirdest
thing is when I get there and everyone's
speaking English, which is very obvious.
but in my day to day, but in my like a day
to day life, like no one speaks English.
It's like, I never hear it outside of the
podcast or except for when I talk to my
family.
And so then getting to the store and
talking to people in English is always so
it's weird.
It's a reverse culture shock.
And I experienced it every time.
it's so odd, but besides that, go on.
I was just going to say that's gotta be a
unique situation.
Do you at least get the opportunity to
exercise a civic duty and maybe help
English speaking tourists?
yeah, it's a good intro to the podcast, or
to the episode.
Yeah, sometimes actually a couple of
months ago, I think it was like, no,
honestly, it's a lie.
That was actually like two years ago when
I bought my keyboard.
I thought it was a couple of months ago,
but it was a couple of years ago.
There was some guy at the electronics
store.
He talked to me and for whatever reason,
my face just screamed English speaker.
And so he came up to me and showed me a
keyboard and it's like, what does this
say?
And I'm like, I don't work here.
Why the hell are you asking me?
And he's like, I can't read this.
It's all in German.
Just like, does it support Bluetooth?
And I looked at the box and I translated
it.
I was like, yeah, I mean, it supports
Bluetooth.
And I think he was probably from like
Ethiopia or something.
So definitely didn't really speak German
or really like English that well.
I've definitely had a couple of instances
here where I've had to use English to help
people.
But before we get into that, we don't want
to forget the weather.
we almost did.
That's what happens when you take a week
off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We don't want to forget the weather, but
the weather here is it's OK.
I mean, it's definitely it's probably too
cold for you.
We're in like the 70s, which is perfect
for me.
It's almost too hot.
I can get up to the 80s and be fine.
And anything after that, I feel like I'm
dying.
But the weather here is pretty good.
I feel like my allergies are finally over.
for this year, hopefully.
And it's been raining a bit, definitely
been raining a bit.
Well, that'll flare up the allergies,
makes the plants want to spit out that
pollen.
Yeah.
But it's been beautiful here.
Like we're into like late spring and it's
like highs of upper 70s, low 80s every
day.
I still haven't turned on my air
conditioning.
I just.
And I'm home all day, so I just leave my
windows open all day and kind of let it
regulate the house and I get a breeze
going and it's...
It's pretty great, I'm not gonna lie.
That's good.
I feel like I always complain about the
weather.
So this is me just being 100 % positive.
Yeah, I'm pretty positive about the
weather here too.
I know we're in the middle of summer.
But I saw some meme on the internet
talking about how this is the time of the
year where Mariah Carey is supposed to be
thought out.
Because we'll start hearing Christmas
music here soon.
I mean, not in Germany, but in the US.
Some people like to play Christmas music
in July.
I wonder how common of a thing it is.
So like I've talked about how I'm not a
huge Christmas fan before and I start
thinking about Christmas in June.
Cause to me it's the halfway point, you
know?
Yeah.
Like it's like, I feel my death
approaching to be, to be a little dramatic
about it.
I wonder how many other people feel the
same.
They're like, it's, it's common.
I look forward to Christmas, but that's a
few months off.
But you mentioned, so now that we're done
with the weather report, you mentioned
civic duty.
To finish the story with English, I've
actually had a couple instances where I've
had to help people.
There was this one instance where I think
there was this lady from, I think like the
Ukraine or something, who, or Ukraine, I
don't know what's politically correct.
But I think they dropped the suit.
I don't think.
Yeah, I'm still not sure, but we'll go
without the dot.
But there was a lady who didn't speak
German and she was looking for someone who
spoke English, but I couldn't help her.
One, I'm not a doctor and two, I'm not
registered.
So like I've done like a lot of like off
the hand, like translation and like
interpreting and whatnot to help people.
That's I mean, that's my full time job.
not interpreting, but translation, but in
areas where it could be legal, legally
questionable, you can't really do it.
So like if I interpret, I'm not even
qualified to be an interpreter.
I'm probably too slow for that.
But, if I were to like interpret in a
situation where it could cause harm to
someone and I'm not really like qualified
or registered, that could be legally
dangerous for me.
I could see that if you if you get a
medical term wrong or a legal term wrong
and it It could ruin someone's life.
I get it.
Yes.
I'm like I'm not quality be like a medical
interpreter Although those are definitely
in high demand, especially with a lot of
the refugees in Germany.
Most of them don't really speak German.
I mean they They barely speak English But
generally they speak English better than
German.
So Yeah, a lot of the time
And because of my complexion, a lot of
people think I'm Arab, which I'm not.
So I definitely get a lot of questions in
English or in Arabic.
And I don't speak Arabic or Turkish or
anything, any of that.
I've also been called Portuguese.
I don't think I look Portuguese, but some
people do.
You're just getting everything but the
right answer.
I've gotten plenty of things.
In the US, people think I'm Mexican.
So, Mexicans will talk to me in Spanish.
and, on a closing note, I used to work in
a restaurant and, my boss tried to speak
to me in Spanish and I didn't understand
him.
And I was like, why are you talking to me
in Spanish?
And he's like, you're Mexican.
Aren't you?
I was like, no, I'm not Mexican.
You hired me.
You should know what I am.
I mean, you saw my application.
Like I'm not Mexican.
but yeah,
So today's topic is civic duty.
Yes.
Which Chris's idea, I think it's a
fantastic topic.
But before we get more into that, I think
it would be important to explain like,
what is civic duty?
Like, what would that actually be?
So I view civic duty is it's like, you
know, it's like the the practical side of
patriotism.
Patriotism can be loud and boastful.
Not necessarily a lot of substance to it,
but you know, people can make grand
gestures of expatriatism statement.
But the things that actually keep a
country going are the boring little things
that I'm not necessarily going to say
nobody wants to do, but it's, you know,
it's, it's the, it's the busy work that
keeps, that keeps the whole thing turning,
which is how I've used civic duty.
and the reason, the reason, we're talking
about this today is myself and most people
I know, got jury duty, paperwork this
year.
so I can get called for jury duty, for
about a 12 month period.
And I had to fill out some paperwork for
it.
And, just little things like that, that
keep like, nobody wants to serve on the
jury.
They, they pay you.
it's, it's not a lot, but in fact, I can
tell you right here, I would appear $12.
I would receive $12 for appearing and then
$25 per day.
I have to serve and then a mileage
reimbursement.
And I believe they also feed you lunch if
necessary.
That doesn't sound like a lot of money.
No, it's not.
But again, it's.
It's part of it is the civic duty if we
don't have jurors the legal system doesn't
doesn't function and That's extremely
interesting Because as far as I know like
a jury system as it exists in the US
doesn't exist in Germany So we don't
actually have like a like a jury trial
here in Germany And if you do I believe
they're made above judges in the US more
often than not.
That's just like
Would it like a jury of your peers,
basically people who are from like the
same community as you or like from like
the same walk as life?
Yes.
Yeah.
And so that's basically like a jury, but
that doesn't exist here for all intents
and purposes.
And so I was, I don't know.
I don't know how I feel about a jury, to
be honest.
I mean, it's a great idea on paper just to
make sure, you know, you're getting judged
by people.
I mean, the idea of it, you're getting
judged by average people.
the whole jury of your peers thing can get
a little squirrely sometimes.
So when extremely wealthy or, you know,
very popular celebrities have to, you
know, go to court and they need a jury, it
cuts down on what could be considered a
jury of their peers by quite a bit.
And, I think we've mentioned this a couple
of years before, but there's, I don't
think you would actually get away with it,
but it's kind of a meme at this point.
there's a place in Idaho you could kill
somebody or commit a crime where you could
get away with it because they wouldn't be
able to get a jury together because it's
like, so Yellowstone National Park is
mostly in Wyoming, a decent -ish chunk in
Montana and a very small sliver in the
state of Idaho.
And that sliver of Idaho is like on some
plateau, I think.
If you went up on that plateau and you
were in Idaho and there's nobody that
lives there and you committed a crime,
there would be no jury to pool from.
That's supposedly how it goes.
I'm sure there's I'm sure someone could
tell me I'm wrong, but that's kind of how
the That's kind of how the people talk
about it Yeah, so before we get any
further everyone should know that none of
this is legal advice and neither chris nor
I are lawyers.
yeah, that's a good idea.
Yeah, so none of this is legal So none of
this is legal advice Please please don't
go to idaho and kill someone
So definitely take this off the grain of
salt.
But I actually have heard that story of
that basically being a no man's land.
And according to the YouTube comments I
read, which is probably less reliable than
Wikipedia, you can't be tried for a crime
in this area via a jury trial, but you can
be tried under federal law.
And so with like federal and like federal
court, you don't necessarily need a jury.
So you could be tried either way.
And because Yellowstone National Park is
federal property can still be tried.
Now, I don't know how true that is or how
reliable that is, but I read it somewhere
so it must be true.
I'm sure there's some way you'd be held
responsible.
yeah, definitely.
But I know people like to watch TikToks
and then use that as like legal advice.
Yeah, that's not very good.
So I would consider that a civic duty.
And again, it's all the boring stuff.
paying taxes, nobody wants to do it.
It's a civic duty.
Every now and again, you know.
very wealthy millionaires and
billionaires, they usually dodge taxes.
I can't remember who, but there was one
that was talked, I heard talk about how
they could, they could stash a bunch of
money in foreign countries, but you know,
they believe in the exercise of paying
taxes.
I wish I could remember who, because most
of them don't believe that, but you know,
paying taxes, it's, it keeps the whole
thing turning.
I mean, yeah, that's definitely true.
I definitely feel like paying taxes is a
civic duty.
I mean, we have taxes here too.
The unfortunate part is that taxes in
Germany are astronomically high compared
to the U .S.
I think Belgium has the highest tax income
bracket in Europe, and I believe Germany
is like second or third.
But you can be taxed as much as like, I
think like 46%.
on personal income tax.
So it's pretty high here.
But you get a lot in return.
That's also a question that always pops up
within the context of taxes in the US is
like, what are you getting?
And I think a lot of Americans view taxes
as like a buffet system.
Because you always hear the phrase, I
don't want my tax dollars going to X, Y,
and Z.
Is a phrase you hear all the time or when
people bemoan things they'll say like our
tax stars are being wasted on X Y & Z and
So I feel like a lot of people if they
could Would just say I'm going to pay
taxes, but they're only going to go to a B
&C And unfortunately, that's now taxes
work.
No So I there was some sitcom I it might
have been George Lopez
Yeah, it was a fun show.
But someone got in trouble for, like the
IRS came up to them and was like, you
didn't pay your taxes.
Like, what's going on?
Like, we're going to have a problem.
She's like, what are you talking about?
I pay my taxes.
I just didn't pay the ones that go, you
know, towards bombing other countries.
I don't think there's like a separation
that you could like, well, you know,
State of California's federal income tax
or state income tax X percentage goes
towards bombing other countries.
So I'm just not going to pay that.
I don't think there's a way to determine
that.
Yeah, it's definitely a point of
contention for a lot of people in the US.
I think that's the problem with
billionaires and millionaires is they try
to get out of paying taxes and for them, I
guess they're saving graces that they
don't pay taxes, but they invest in
projects.
The problem with that concept is that the
investment projects that interest them,
And so the other projects kind of get left
behind.
So if you're super interested in
supporting schools in your local area, I
mean, that's all, that's all well and
good.
But what about the schools outside of your
local area?
What about like the roads and the
hospitals and this and that, like federal
and state tax?
So that, you know, kind of gets left by
the wayside when you just fund personal
projects.
I mean, I mean, yeah, paying taxes is, I
guess, a civic duty.
I would say, I don't know if it's like the
worst one, but like it's the most
expensive.
I think it can be kind of.
I think it can be kind of exciting in so
lots of local level governments will have
things on on ballots where it comes to a
vote or like a bond, which is essentially
a tax increase for something to benefit
the community.
Like, hey, we want to add bike lanes here
or we want to fix this road or we want to
add this road.
So, they, I can't remember the name of it,
but Yellowstone County where I live, past
the thing, I think it was like five years
ago to kind of upgrade a lot of the things
in town.
And they are just about to open a road,
that is going to cut like 10 minutes off a
drive.
I have to make once a week, which I'm
pretty happy about.
And it's actually going to make one of the
busiest and more dangerous roads in town a
lot less busy.
so that's good.
There was actually an accident there about
a month ago where a 18 Wheeler, tipped
over.
and that road is the only access to that
part of town.
Which is why they need a second road.
And, some people had to like go around,
get on state highways and interstates and
go like out of town and weird routes to
get home.
And they put a beautiful bike and walking
path on the rims, which is a natural cliff
face here.
We have it looks over the majority of the
town.
It's beautiful.
People like to park there and hang out and
do things.
The houses that are built up there, I
think are worth a fortune.
I mean, yeah, I mean, obviously I think
everyone would love for their taxes to go
towards sensible projects.
I feel like a lot of people don't think
that's what's actually being done, whether
or not that is the reality.
I don't know.
I can't really comment on that.
but yeah.
So for example, I know this from my mother
-in -law because, she ran a business.
and I know other people who have had
businesses here is I think like once a
year, the, the IRS,
So the German equivalent, they'll send you
like a letter saying like, you've paid so
and so in taxes.
I don't know, you've paid some like $20
,000 this year in taxes or whatever.
I don't know, depending on like how much
you earn.
And they'll say like, thank you so much
for paying your taxes.
This is what your taxes have been used
for.
And they'll list like local projects in
your area, like using your tax money, we
were able to fund, I don't know, like a
new park for like little kids.
a sports center or like fixing the road or
whatever.
And so this is what your tax dollars kind
of went towards.
It's more of like, like an informal
letter.
It's not like something like super thick
with like a bunch of graphs or anything.
It's just like a thank you letter for
paying your taxes.
And this is what we use them for.
Which, I mean, I guess it's kind of nice.
That's actually really cool.
I've heard people like.
that kind of come across as naive wish
that the IRS did something like that.
And most people just say that's not
realistic.
They're never going to do that.
There's no way to do it right.
But it's nice to hear someone else
actually just figured it out.
Yeah.
I mean, I know other countries do
something similar to that a lot more in
depth.
But yeah, I mean, some people don't really
care.
I mean, most people would like to not pay
taxes at all if they could.
But like you pay a lot in Europe, but you
also get a lot.
I think it's kind of the same in Canada.
I think taxes there are somewhat high.
But yeah, so.
But still, it's it's it's nice to have
that to have that visual.
I think that would help some people
because like those those ballot initiative
taxes I was talking about, those tend to
be they can be contentious to because
there are just some people who say all
taxes theft and I don't want to pay any
tax no matter what.
But those are the ones like the ones are
like, hey, you know that road you drive
every day that's like bumpy and awful?
Well, if you want it to be better, vote
for this and you're going to pay.
The slight tax increase and it's going to
get fixed like it's easier for people to
do it when it's like.
Especially like in a place like where we
live, it feels so far removed from the
rest of the country that I think the idea
of paying taxes.
Federally to help out, you know people
thousands of miles away like it just
doesn't connect like It just doesn't like
it doesn't feel real it just feels like a
waste of money But when it's it affects
you every day.
I think it's easier And that that's
actually a really good point I think
that's one of the reasons why Obamacare
wasn't really as popular as it could have
been because Obama was basically trying to
implement a version of what we have in
Europe because I'm not gonna
like, because they're like a bunch of
different systems in Europe, like each
country has its own system.
But for the most part, they kind of
function in the same way, at least they're
going in the same direction, if you will.
But yeah, basically, you're paying for
someone you've never met.
And you probably never will meet.
And so I guess like most Americans like,
well, why should I?
Like, I don't care.
And...
I guess the European mentality is kind of
like you are your brother's keeper.
And so like what goes around comes around.
And the US says that kind of works to an
extent, I would say to like your, like, I
think it only works within like your local
community.
Like even if you've never met the guy in
your local community, at least he's still
in your community.
So you kind of care.
Yeah.
But once you get past that, you're kind of
like, it's not my problem.
I don't really care.
And I think that's like another kind of
leads to another thing I want to cover in
terms of civic duty is just staying
informed in general.
So, you know, if you, if you go to vote,
which is another very important civic duty
that we kind of skipped over, but it's
simple, but very important.
But if you go to vote and you don't know
anything, you don't know who the
candidates are, you don't know who the
ballot initiatives are.
and you just start randomly voting for
this and that and this and that, and you
have no idea what you even voted for.
That's not you being a very good
participant in the country.
But if you come informed when it comes
time to vote or just in general with how
you function in society, society functions
better with a well -informed populace.
It just does.
And...
taking some personal responsibility and
trying to contribute to that, I think is
very important.
Yeah, I mean, voting is definitely, I
think one of the biggest responsibilities,
that you can have in a democracy.
Absolutely.
It's even the first thing on my list and I
looked right past it.
Yeah.
I mean, it's something that doesn't
definitely does get overlooked.
like for example,
In Europe, we have like the European
Parliament vote, I think is what it's
called, like a rough translation.
And like, I've been seeing ads everywhere
on TV, online, on the radio.
They're electing like new parties to like
parliament and blah, blah, blah.
And they're all talking about how it's
your duty to, you know, go and vote.
And basically, I don't want to say fear
mongering, but more often than not, I feel
like that's what it is.
It's.
Like vote for us so that the far right
parties don't get into power.
And that's kind of how it is in the U S a
little bit.
I feel like that's how it was with the
last election with Biden and Trump.
And that's out, scaring up again.
Yeah.
It's pretty much, why should you vote for
me?
Because I'm not the opposition, which is
such a terrible, a terrible like defense,
like a terrible reason to vote, but.
You know, as they say, it's like the
lesser of two evils.
I would like to believe that only applies
to like the presidency and not necessarily
to everything when it comes to voting.
But I really feel like it it kind of is
like that.
It applies to quite a bit at the risk of
going on too much of a tangent.
I remember when I.
I think the last major vote.
I voted in like a small local election a
few years back because Montana had passed
recreational marijuana.
and there was a local man in the area.
I can't remember his name and I don't
really want to give him the publicity
anyway.
He had been truck.
We had medical marijuana legalized before
we had recreational and he had been trying
to make it in the medical field.
just because there's a lot of money in it.
And for some reason, it didn't work out
and people didn't want to work with them.
So it kind of made him bitter to the whole
thing.
Like, well, if I can't do it, then I'm
just going to be your enemy for life.
So he ran all like the political
organizations in the state to just shut it
down out of spite.
And he got a ballot initiative far enough
to even though it was legal in the state,
he wanted to just shut it down in
Yellowstone County.
So everyone had to go vote for it again.
Like we had to vote for it before.
so I went out and did that, but going off
that tangent, I remember when I went, I
think I voted in 2020 and it's pretty
simple.
You know, you had Republican Democrat,
Republican Democrat for basically
everything from president, senators,
governor, all that stuff.
But then even all the way down to like
local, like county commissioner type
roles.
But then you got to the judges and there
was like a list of four judges, no party
affiliations.
And it feels so weird to be given more
than one choice.
And then to realize you don't know.
Like I don't know who these judges are.
I don't know what they're about.
And I think I just didn't vote.
I think I like, I just skipped that part.
And I kind of felt like I was letting down
the whole process, but I feel like it
would have been worse to just randomly
pick one.
Yeah, so in the that's the big difference
between the US and Germany is that you
have a lot more freedom in terms of
directly voting for people.
Funny enough, this freedom doesn't
actually apply to the president.
I don't know if you've ever talked about
voting before, honestly.
But as everyone knows, you don't directly
elect the president in the United States.
You elect people who elect the president
for you, the electoral college.
A super old system, whether it's good or
bad.
I mean, that's a discussion for another
day.
But besides that, you pretty much vote
directly for the people you want in the
US.
However, in Germany, you don't really
actually do that.
You basically vote for your parties and
then they vote on your behalf.
And so like you don't vote for judges in
Germany.
Judges elect other judges.
So you have like boards of judges that
will appoint other judges, which I feel
like is a better system.
Because a lot of the things in the US in
terms of voting run off popularity, not
off of competence.
So someone could be very popular, but not
very competent.
And the reverse is also true.
Yes.
And it has shown judges going into an
election year.
Their conviction rate goes up because they
want to because everyone wants to be able
to make that commercial that says I'm
judged so -and -so and I'm provably tough
on crime Look at all these people I sent
to prison Yeah, that's also really
interesting is that you don't have a tack
ads here really in Germany Like I always
forget that when I go about the US and I
don't know like senator.
I don't know Bob Smith spent
$200 million on this new yacht.
That's terrible.
Like we should get him out of office, vote
for me and I'll reduce unnecessary
spending in Congress or whatever.
Like you don't have that in Germany.
I am now looking forward to it.
I don't really watch TV except when it's
football season.
And that starts up in like late August,
early September, which is right before the
election in November.
I hate it.
I'll be, I'm sure it's going to be like.
Yeah, that was a great play.
Anyway, we're going to go to commercial
and then four minutes of depressing
reality while I'm trying to enjoy my
escapist entertainment.
Yeah, I mean, attack ads.
I mean, for any of those interested,
definitely go on YouTube and look up
attack ads.
They're the worst.
But in Germany, it's pretty much.
Hello, we're part.
I don't know where the Green Party, we
would like to have more renewable energy
in Germany and help the environment.
Please vote for us.
And that's the entire commercial, that's
all it is.
And none of it is really mudslinging.
The only thing that is really allowed, I
guess, unofficially is attacking the far
right.
So you'll see that vote for us so that, I
don't know, the Nazis don't get into
parliament or whatnot.
That's allowed, they'll openly say that in
the ads here.
But other than that, they don't attack
each other.
So like, I don't know, like the.
Like the Green Party and like, let's say
like a left party wouldn't really attack
one another because they're kind of on the
same side, but not really.
They're on the same side in the sense that
they're not far right, you know, so like
the enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of
thing.
But yeah, so I will say one thing I do
kind of look forward to.
This is kind of a slightly lighthearted
side.
So we have a Democrat senator here in
Montana by the name of John Tester.
I don't know if he's going to survive
reelection because Montana until recent
years was a very purple state like we
tended to.
We tended to vote red president, but we
tended to vote blue or we tend to vote to
the right for president, but we tend to
vote to the left for like a mix of left
for senators and governor.
It's not really like that anymore.
But John Tester is like the only serving
senator who like owns and works a farm.
And he has like a very distinct buzz cut
that like he uses his silhouette for
images.
And he he's missing a hunk of a finger
because he lost it working the farm.
And he always like, yeah, he's he's good
humored about it.
Like he always like shows his hand and
makes jokes about it.
And.
I mean, you know, I'm not naive enough to
believe that he's like always working the
farm and everything.
And, you know, he just spends half his
year going to run the government, but it's
pretty hard to deny he's never worked the
farm when, you know, he lost half of his
finger in an accident.
I mean, that definitely does play into
like...
I don't want to call it cult of
personality because that seems a bit
extreme, but it definitely plays into...
No, but it's like he's selling his
character.
Like this is who I am.
This is what I'm about.
Like he leans into it.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, that's pretty much...
I mean, that's pretty much what Trump ran
on is I'm a businessman.
He was a businessman doing business.
Yeah, pretty much.
And Biden ran on I'm not Trump.
And that's pretty much what they're doing
again.
Yeah, just like Clinton ran that she was
not Trump.
So it's pretty much that's it's I'm not my
opponent.
So please vote for me one way or another
next election cycle.
The Democrats will have to run some other
strategy.
Yeah, before it's too.
I'm definitely looking forward to it.
I don't know if I'll vote this year.
I voted last time, but, you know, I don't
know.
It's it's definitely kind of difficult.
Yeah.
But like what other civic duties?
Well, there's another, there's another
pretty, I would say it's unpleasant, but
it's pretty irrelevant these days.
And that's at least for men signing up for
draft duty.
yeah, but it's not called like the draft
anymore, isn't it?
Isn't it called selective service?
Selective service, yeah.
Yeah, I had to sign up for that too.
Which basically, so when, I'm sure it was
the same for you, when you're 18, you get,
you get something in the mail and I don't
you can't even register to vote until you
do it.
If I remember right.
In fact, they usually like combo the
paperwork like, hey, sign for you to
register to vote, fill out your selective
service stuff, too.
For me, it was I was applying for
financial aid for college, and so I had to
sign up for that.
And I was kind of like, what the hell is
this?
And someone's like, yeah, it's kind of
like.
It's kind of like the draft, but not
really.
But if like there's a war and we need
soldiers, they'll send you a letter and
ask you to like come to like a recruiting
center.
And I was like, okay, I still don't know
what this means.
But if it means I can have financial aid,
I'll sign up for it.
I mean, now I know that it was a bit
naive.
It's I don't know how real the reality is
of you actually being called to service.
It's not I mean, the US the US volunteer
or
Yeah, volunteer military is so
unbelievably large.
Like.
You would probably need full blown World
War III for it to be necessary.
And even then it probably wouldn't be very
much from my understanding.
Like we just have we just have so many
people in the military.
Yeah, and I think this is only for men,
though.
I don't know if it actually applies to
women.
So there's been arguments about it in
recent years, like try and get women on
it.
But it's like, for equality's sake, women
should be on it.
But then the same people who would argue
that don't.
Generally believe military drafts are
immoral to begin with so it's like but
wait a minute.
I don't believe in this whole thing so Can
we just get rid of it and it's it's one of
those it's not really worth anyone's time
to fight because It's probably not gonna
happen Yeah, I think for a lot of people
it's about principle.
Honestly, I couldn't really care less If
women had to necessarily serve because of
the draft But it does kind of make you
wonder
I guess for those who don't know we
haven't had a draft since Vietnam.
So I think after the Vietnam War we got
rid of the draft I believe we just haven't
needed it.
You don't think I mean we I think we've
definitely needed it We've just pumped
we've just pumped so much money and
resources into the military and so many
people that Yeah, we just don't need it
like we have the personnel
That's definitely true.
I mean, we definitely have the patriotism.
I would say it borders almost on jingoism.
But I definitely think we have a lot of
people who are willing to fight and I
guess, unfortunately, die for the country.
Which is another kind of civic service.
It's something that a lot of people would
disagree with.
But, you know, the military...
does a lot of things I think a lot of
people would disagree with, but at the
same time, there's the National Guard that
- I was gonna say that, yeah, the National
Guard.
Yeah, like, hey, I don't know this for
sure, but so the city of Dallas and Texas
recently lost power for a couple days
because they had some pretty extreme
weather.
I actually had a friend flying into Dallas
for an event he was going to during that
time and he had his flight delayed.
I don't know this for a fact, but I would
guess the National Guard.
Or at least the National Guard of Texas
got deployed to help out in Texas because
that is the kind of thing they generally
do Like if there's a natural disaster or
something like that I'm going to go out on
a limb here and say I would believe That
the National Guard is probably one of the
most visible branches of the US military
in the United States I mean you obviously
like the Air Force the Navy the army and
whatnot but like in like your day -to -day
I think you're most likely to encounter
someone from the National Guard because as
you just mentioned
When there's like a disaster or anything,
they're usually there In Germany, we don't
really I don't know how to describe it.
I mean technically we do have a military
here But it's more in terms of like
defense forces So like Germany can't I
think according to its constitution
actually, but don't anyone quote me on
this Feel free to look it up yourself, but
Germany doesn't wage war for obvious
reasons.
I
So anything we do is in like a defensive
capacity, whereas in the US you have both.
So like we can defend and we can attack.
But I believe the National Guard is just
for like the United States.
I don't know if they do anything abroad.
I think they can.
Also, I don't know if you remember this.
Do you remember the song Citizen Soldier?
Yeah.
So for anyone, probably lots of you
wouldn't know or wouldn't remember.
So the band Three Doors Down, I'm assuming
they got hired to make a propaganda song
for the National Guard.
It's called Citizen Soldier.
And I remember going to the movies as a
kid.
This is probably like mid 2000s, so
probably around 2005, 2006.
And they would, for like, it was in
theaters for probably like a year and they
would just play the music video Citizen
Soldier in like the pre -roll ads for the
movie.
And it was like just this super ultra
patriotic like thing like, yeah, you could
just be like a normal guy, but like you
can also be a soldier and help your
country and stuff.
And I remember as a kid really liking that
song.
It's probably like, you know, it's it's
just really.
In hindsight, it was probably just really
generic mid 2000s rock, but.
I recommend everyone check out the music
video, not because I think it's
particularly amazing these days, but I
think it's just an interesting look at,
especially because this was, you know,
very soon after 9 -11 when, you know,
military patriotism and support was at its
highest.
It had been for a very long time, probably
like the highest had been since World War
II, I'm going to guess, or the Cold War at
least.
It's just an interesting peak at a time
period from about 20 years ago.
Yeah, I mean, patriotism after 9 -11 was
like, was sky high.
I mean, I was super young back then.
I was only like around 10.
So I still definitely remember it and
everything around it.
But even back then with like the mind of a
child, it was really obvious how patriotic
everyone was.
And I mean, you had...
music in the radio, on the radio, you had
music, videos, movies, just about the
military, just everything.
And definitely everyone felt like it was
their duty to be patriotic.
You know, I bet they thought they were
doing their civic duty too.
Well, definitely, most definitely,
especially like the radio stations,
because there was a list of songs that
they refused to play because they were.
either unpatriotic or they were very
insensitive.
Two of my favorite songs, well, not really
favorite anymore, but they used to be when
I was younger was like, let the bodies hit
the floor.
And that was banned from the radio.
And I think another one was Chop Suey by
Three Doors Down, super popular song.
Chop Suey is...
my god, it's such, I keep talking, I'm
looking this up.
I know who this, it's System of a Down.
Yeah, it's from System of a Down.
And basically they were talking about
like, suicide bombers.
I guess that's how you could describe the
song and kind of inappropriate for 9 -11.
So they banned that too.
So a lot of radio stations felt like they
were doing their civic duty by suppressing
people's freedom of speech, so to speak.
Which...
I don't know how I feel about that.
I mean, that was over 20 years ago.
So it doesn't really matter now.
Yeah.
Which by the way, it hurts me talking
about this time period in terms of 20
years.
it does.
It's correct.
It's correct.
man.
Yeah, it definitely makes me feel old.
cause it feels like it was just yesterday.
when I experienced all of that.
But now, I mean, so we're slowly coming to
a close here.
Yeah, so like there are definitely a lot
of civic duties that you have to perform
as a citizen.
If you don't perform them, I don't know if
that makes you a bad American.
I think it's more like a very subjective
opinion if you're a bad American.
Yeah, I feel like that's a little harsh,
but at the same time, like if you found a
way to like...
not pay taxes and, you know, ignorantly
vote and, you know, just, and I feel like,
you know, there's a, there's a threshold
where you're like, you are just a drain on
this community.
You could, you could make that argument.
And even then it feels kind of gross to
say that, but I think for, for a lot of
things we've mentioned today, people can
be very forgiving.
So like, if you don't really pay your
taxes,
If you don't vote, and if you don't like
do jury duty, I think for the most part,
most people will be very forgiving.
However, I think one thing most people
wouldn't forgive is like a lack of respect
towards the military.
Because especially in a lot of parts of
the country, support for the military is
very high.
And so being against the military is
tantamount to being against the United
States as a country.
for a lot of people.
And the word respect means different
things to different people.
yeah, definitely.
Like some people under like I like my
perspective, there are things I don't like
that I respect and there's things I like
that I don't respect.
So I think there's plenty of people that
respect military personnel and families
and things like that, but they don't
necessarily love what they do or what they
represent.
And that's kind of a, you know, a nuanced
take that a lot of people don't want to
hear.
I think I fall into that category.
I respect the military for, I guess, for
what they do in terms of keeping the
country safe.
I respect people for honoring their
commitment because they signed up to, you
know, to be a soldier.
So I honor that, but I can't sit here and
say that I'm, you know, that I sign off on
everything like the military does,
especially abroad.
But that's like a whole can of worms for
another day.
Yeah, it definitely is.
Yeah.
So with that being said, I think that's my
final take.
I don't know if you have anything you want
to throw in there before we go.
You know, just real quick, I will, if I
get called to jury duty, I will keep
everyone updated.
I've never done jury duty before, so this
is going to be an educational experience
for me and I can hopefully provide that to
everyone else.
It would, I mean.
You're not really supposed to talk about
cases you're on, which I wouldn't do,
but...
In real life, you don't usually get on
multi -week cases.
You just, you know...
You probably show up and it's gonna be
like a traffic thing.
And I would just...
I'll talk about the process if it comes to
it.
We'll see if we can stream it live.
god.
Sure, I'm sure it's not a felony.
Alright, with that being said, thanks so
much for listening.
Catch you on the next one.
See you then.
Bye.
Bye.
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