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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.
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 U.S.
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.
Hey.
Hey, we're back.
are back.
A bit later than usual, but.
Well, you know, life is life.
Things happen.
it's very hectic.
Hectic with your job with my baby.
But, know, we're going we're going and the year is almost over.
So.
Yeah, I'm actually looking forward to that.
My.
One of my things I have to deal with at work that is probably my least favorite is flat
out ending the last day of this year.
So.
OK.
I'm very excited about that.
But it's not ending because you're losing your job, right?
No, not this time.
No.
It might be ending because other people are losing their job.
I'm sad about that part, but I don't have to deal with them anymore.
that sucks.
But I get it.
So yeah, so the weather, can't forget about the weather.
Well, it's honestly been very hot.
It's been extremely hot here for autumn, which really surprises me.
So it's been around 20 degrees Celsius, which is I got a double check in Fahrenheit, which
is like almost 70.
So it's pretty hot.
Honestly, I'm actually kind of grateful because unlike most people in the US, we don't
have a dryer.
So we hang our laundry out to dry.
So the hotter it is, the quicker it dries.
But there have been, you know, bouts of rain.
So I mean, there's that.
But all in all, very interesting August weather and the leaves are pretty, pretty brown.
One thing I just found out yesterday, even though, you know, I should know this, daylight
savings time.
So.
The clocks were turned back an hour yesterday in Germany, not in the US.
When was it in the US though?
It's going to be November 4th.
Yeah.
I can't ever remember if it's before or after.
And that really messes up our schedule.
Well, we forget about it every year and we don't talk about it.
yeah.
I always forget about it.
Always.
But I mean, the stakes have never been lower, so it's OK.
It's one hour.
I mean, yeah, that's definitely true.
So but it really messed up my my daughter's sleep schedule.
So she got up at six in the morning.
yeah, because she she forgot about the time change.
But yeah, so that's the weather here.
So what about where you are?
So we're still getting a real fall here.
A lot of the times out in Montana, it it's like a two or three week gap.
And then there's a snow and a freeze.
And then it's just awful for like five months.
I think we've technically had one freeze, but just barely.
It's been pretty pretty, pretty beautiful.
The leaves are nice.
I work in a pretty ugly industrial area, but I'm also like a five minute drive away from
a, a nice walking trail along the river with a bunch of trees.
And that's where I spend a lot of my lunches.
And it's been, it's been very pretty and it's been, you know, 50, 60, 70 most days.
And we might keep some relatively nice weather into November, trying not to think of the
global implications of that, but I will enjoy it for what it is.
Well, mean, that's good.
I mean, I really enjoy autumn weather.
I would like to say we're going to have a beautiful winter, but I definitely don't think
that's true.
At least not here.
We don't ever get snow.
But yeah, so there you have it.
The biweekly bi-national weather report, whatever you want to call it.
So what do we want to touch on today?
Well, real quick, an update to people on something else where we jump into the main topic
today.
We talked about my journey with jury duty in the past and how it really didn't go
anywhere.
Another friend of mine was called up for jury duty about a week ago and I was like, that's
great.
Tell me all about it, blah, blah, blah.
Maybe we'll have you on and interview you for the podcast.
It'll be great.
He got a little bit farther than me, but he was sent home in jury selection.
So, we're trying, but no dice.
well, at least he didn't have to skip it.
Yeah, yeah.
But no, what we're talking about today is very topical, very seasonal, is kind of what
it's like living in a state during election season with a tight election, which is
something I've been having to deal with.
And I'm not talking about presidential.
The presidential election in Montana will not be close.
No way.
However, and while it's changed quite a bit, I would say in the last five, six years,
Montana has a very, very interesting political history in terms of its culture and its
decisions.
For the majority of my life, it was a purple state.
Purple being Republicans have the color red, Democrats have the color blue, put them
together, you have purple.
See, and that is a new term for me.
So isn't that the same thing as a swing state?
Well, because usually swing states refer to like presidential elections like Ohio is
usually like a swing state.
Ohio can go either direction.
Montana is basically always going to vote Republican for president.
Huh.
See, so we're in the same situation.
So Missouri is for the most part also a Republican state.
Which I guess it is kind of unfortunate depending on who you ask.
So we're not a swing state.
So it's like the last election I've
believe we voted for Trump the presidential election either way.
I think it was like 54 % maybe.
So, but.
Yeah, for, so the reason I say it's purple for the majority of my life, there was, we
always vote for Republican for president, but we always send a Democrat governor to
Helena, our state Capitol, to be our governor.
We usually have, I think actually at one point in my lifetime, we had two Democrat
senators, but right now we have one Democrat senator and one Democrat, or one Democrat
senator, one Republican senator.
And the Congress person, which we only have one of, was a Republican.
And then our state laws have been a good mix of, different ideologies.
Like we've had very strong, worker protections here, some of the strongest in the country.
I believe some of those are kind of being dismantled now, making an attempt, but it's
just, it's an interesting place.
And the reason it's so close is our incumbent Democratic Senator John Tester is currently
up for reelection and he is going up against Tim Sheehy, who I believe is from New Jersey.
I think he was like this.
I think he's the second Republican politician that's come from New Jersey to come try and
win a seat here of some kind.
I might be wrong on the Jersey part, but I'm pretty sure the last guy you might have
actually seen news about I The name is skipping me right now.
I'm gonna look it up real quick, but there was a Right before the election maybe about a
week or two He body slammed a reporter like there was a small press conference not in a
very big room It was pretty good in a personal
and one of the reporters asked him a question he didn't like and he got physical.
Like he actually slammed them to the ground.
I'm gonna see if I can find that real quick.
Yeah, I do remember you talking about.
Greg Gianforte.
OK.
Yeah, that happened.
looks like 2017.
So that was a long time ago.
But I would say that's like, you know, that time period was when Montana politics started
really changing and.
Senators are on six-year election terms, so it takes a long time for the changes to really
start showing.
I believe it's looking...
it's a tight race for Senate this year, which is what I'm actually talking about.
I think it's leaning slightly Republican, but...
The ads here have been...
Yeah...
A lot.
That...
So that is one of the things that is most interesting about the US and one of the things I
hate the most are the political ads.
So when my wife and I were in the US in July and August, I don't know if it was the
Senate, I can't remember what it was, but we saw like a boatload of political ads.
attack ads for and against Trump and Biden and whatnot and it's it to me it's a reverse
culture shock because you don't have those over here you don't have really political ads
where they you know they attack people that's not really a thing here and so for my wife
it was also like very weird you know seeing basically in her mind what felt kind of like
propaganda
in a political sense.
Yeah, and it's man, it's been it's been very contentious here and like I don't watch a lot
of TV, but I watch TV when football's on.
So I guarantee you later today, it's Sunday.
I'm to go over to a friend's house.
We're going to watch some football and there is going to be some heinous things said in
these ads, not just personal attacks.
I just mean like things that I don't think are really OK to say.
they're just right on TV like.
very uncomfortable to have to sit and listen to.
And it's because Montana is Montana and over the last few years, it really happened during
COVID.
A lot of people due to COVID restrictions that they didn't like in more Democrat leaning
states, they moved here because we didn't have as many.
And that really swung Montana farther to the right.
And
It's...
So what basically, for example, John Tester's ads, he's trying to convince you he's
basically a Republican in his ads when he's a Democrat.
is he?
He's like, no, like, I love all these Republican policies.
I always fought against Joe Biden for this and that.
And there is one ad that actually got a small chuckle out of me.
I guess there have been some accusations that.
John Tester has blocked this bill that's stopping white farmers from getting funding.
And he's, and you know, John Tester is a white farmer.
He owns a farm that he operates in Montana.
And he's like, look at me.
I am a white farmer.
Why would I do that?
Yeah.
We were talking about it a couple episodes ago, cause you said that he was so famous for
his hairstyle that he's used on like a lot of ads and that's his trademark.
for his hairstyle and he lost a finger.
working on his farm.
So I doubt he's actively doing farm work these days, but he at least has the, like, that
finger didn't just fall off on its own.
He was a farmer.
But it has been just so...
It's everywhere.
And I get...
I have never gotten more texts for political things, ever.
I probably get two or three a day from a new number saying, what do you think about this?
it's, I'm part of John Tester's campaign.
I'm part of Tim Sheehy's campaign.
So-and-so is fighting for your right to do X.
I have so much junk mail.
I know everybody gets it, but I don't know if I've ever seen so much.
It's one of those interesting things because we're a swing state in the sense of the
Senate, right?
And, you know, Montana's not that big of a deal, but our Senate vote counts just as much
as everyone else's.
And there's a lot of money pouring into this election.
And so what do the majority of the people want for the election to be the outcome of the
election?
Well, I'll tell you this.
Driving around town, most of what I see is Sheehy, Tim Sheehy signs.
But you also have to think, one, think Republicans are much more likely these days to put
up political signs for various reasons.
Because Billings is a red city.
There are more blue areas in Montana.
Billings is not one of them.
I think it's reasonable that you would possibly fear some reprisal or maybe dirty looks
from your neighbor if you put up some, you know, Democrat-leaning political signs and
just...
I don't think people are necessarily excited about Jon Tester.
people who are gonna vote for him.
They're like, he's there, I'm gonna vote for him, I like him more than she he.
I don't love him.
And, you know, Tester's not been great all the time, but I mean, I'll personally say I
prefer him over somebody who, you know, basically was paid to come in and try and win the
election who's not from here, which is happening a lot lately.
which is happening an awful lot lately.
A lot of our politicians anymore are not born here.
They basically get paid to come here and try to win elections.
So you don't think that they have the the state's best interests in mind because they're
not from there?
So...
I guess there is really no way to do this without getting particularly political.
So Montana's huge, right?
Massive, massive fourth largest state in the union.
We have very, very strong public land protection.
We're one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We love our state parks.
We love our national parks.
We love our public land.
Even if it's not necessarily me, very much, we as a state love our outdoor activities.
a lot of basically what it seems like is a lot of out of state politicians are hired to
come here.
One, you know, winning a Senate seat is a little different, but there's a high incentive
to reduce those public land protections so more things can be bought up as private land.
And that's a lot of concern about some people who live here, myself included.
And
It would be sad to see because...
I don't know.
It's a beautiful place.
Look up pictures of some of the forests and mountains and plains.
It's a very pretty place.
Obviously I'm biased, but...
It's important.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with being biased.
I'm definitely biased towards a lot of political things, but it's really hard for me to
really get into the politics of, guess, Missouri because I'm not...
Well, I mean, it's something that really comes to Germany, so to speak.
But definitely, like, you have to have the right people in the House and the Senate
because at the end of the day, those people will be supporting the president.
And...
I think that's one of the biggest problems because a lot of people vote for the president
because they feel like if I get this candidate into office then he'll do what he or maybe
she has promised.
But you know, as you know, the problem is that the president isn't...
well, he's not a god.
And so he has to work with other people and you need...
you need to have both.
You know, because they always talk about like the Democrats control the House and the
Senate or the Republicans control the House or Senate.
I think that was like the bigger issue with Obama, where he really tried to push a lot of
laws through.
But because he didn't get enough support, you know, in Congress or in the Senate or in the
House, a lot of things were just blocked.
So.
But, know, these things are really, I guess, for most people less interesting because
people think like, you know, the presidential election is like the be all and all.
It's the only thing that matters.
But.
I guess the less interesting things are also super important.
mean, it's...
I'm not gonna say it's more important, but it's more impactful in a way.
Definitely.
Because of how the political structure of the US works, personally...
My vote for president is basically worthless.
However, I probably have one of the most powerful votes in the country.
because I live in a state of I think a little over a million people, something like that,
maybe less.
And we still have two Senate seats and those Senate votes count just as much as all the
other ones and it's a close race.
So my vote like on a national scale holds a lot of power.
I think I heard once something like
30 times, 33 times what it could in another place.
It's interesting.
And in general, the more local your election, the more it affects you.
That's a really good point, to be honest, because at the end of the day, I mean,
I think we've talked about a couple of times, but you know, the way the presidential
election works is you have the electoral college, you have to win the state, the electoral
votes, not the popular votes.
So if 51 % of your state votes for a particular candidate, then you lose the rest of those
votes basically.
they don't actually, they don't actually matter in the grand scheme of things.
So it's kind of like it's all or nothing when it comes to the presidential election.
But what you're saying is definitely true is that the local election, local elections, are
I think vastly more important.
Because if a certain candidate, I don't know, says, for example, he says he's for farmers,
and you live in a state where there are a lot of farmers, well, if he can enact laws that
affect farmers, that'll affect you more personally than if the president decides to send
troops to some country somewhere.
that doesn't really affect your personal life that we have troops in, I don't know,
Ukraine or Columbia or whatever.
You're more interested in the farmers that live a couple of streets down from you if
they're gonna have their farm or not.
So I think local elections are much more interesting and much more important than the
public ones or the federal ones or the national ones.
Yeah.
And you know what?
I have a question for you.
Huh?
Is Missouri not
also in contention to elect Democrats to the Senate because I know Missouri is a red
state, but you have two fairly large cities with Kansas City and St.
Louis.
That's a real honestly.
I don't know.
Not going to lie.
I haven't really been invested in local elections in Missouri and in God knows how long I
guess for most expats like myself, the local elections.
are...
I don't want to say irrelevant, but it's...
the local elections don't really affect us personally, because we're not really there to
feel the effects of them, you know?
So if they raise the lower taxes in Missouri as an expat, why do you care?
You know, like, I...
So those are like the local things that don't really affect you, and so I don't really
keep tabs on...
on those things.
Although I do try to keep a pulse on...
how people feel about the candidates in general and I know a lot of people in my family
and a lot of like Friends and friends of the family that they definitely go towards like
the red direction And I'm more or less on the fence but Yeah, so people who live outside
the country tend to keep more tabs on like the presidential side of things I can't vote in
local elections.
I just To be honest, I don't
Although I am registered.
is very hard.
Either I have to mail it in or fly.
Not even just the vote, but like once you get down to real, like I mean real local, like
city comptroller or local judge, like stuff like that.
Like, yeah, I sit there.
I remember, I guess the twenty twenty two election sitting down doing my ballot and it was
like, which judge would you like to vote for?
And I'm like,
I couldn't tell you a thing about any of them.
And that's the worst part, is you have to be really involved.
especially when it comes to, like, the president.
And so it's like, well, who do you vote for?
And so I guess maybe you have the benefit or the unfortunate, aspect that you live in the
U.S.
and you see all these political ads about, you know, the local and presidential, like,
candidates.
And so that kind of, I guess, can inform your opinion.
Whether or not those ads are actually...
...true or correct or honest is a different story.
But, I mean, there's still like a kernel of truth to them, if you will.
Whereas for me, I don't get any of that.
So I have to do all of my research.
Like I have to go on YouTube or read articles on CNN or whatever to like get my own formed
opinion.
So none of that really reaches us.
The only thing we ever get is like the mistakes they make, you know, with Trump, I don't
know, working at McDonald's for a day and stuff like that.
But like you never, you never really hear the little things that are actually more
important.
Yeah, absolutely.
And even like I can think I've seen signs occasionally around town for vote for judge so
and so.
I'm like, and that's all it says.
It doesn't say
vote for Judge so-and-so because they're hard on crime or because they're soft on crime or
because they believe in, you know, reformation over punitive measures.
Like, it just says vote for them.
I have no idea what they're about.
Yeah, and I think that's the problem with a lot of people is people don't do their
research.
And I'm definitely guilty of this.
I'm not going to lie.
And so it's you go based off a feeling or, well, I mean, that's the only guy running, so
I'll vote for them.
Or that's, you know, I think the lesser of two evils, so I'll vote for them.
But I don't ever feel like it's a very enthusiastic or informed choice.
It's just whatever you're guess you're feeling at that moment.
However, I will say with at least for the past couple of elections, including the one with
Obama, I do feel people have become more fanatic and invested in the presidential
candidates.
I don't know if that's necessarily reflective of the local ones though.
I don't know if they really get a lot of love.
I don't know if even they should.
But...
As an outsider, because you know, I know like, for the most part local politicians are
pretty small.
Like when I say local I mean like city and county level.
They're not really a big deal until you get to like larger cities.
I know there are some pretty popular mayors out there.
Like...
The one that comes to mind is Mayor Q from Kansas City.
I think his name is like Quincy or something like that.
Popular mayor.
Obviously, whoever's the mayor, I should know this off the top of my head, but whoever's
the mayor of New York at the time.
actually, the mayor of New York actually, I think, recently got arrested.
For what?
that's right.
I think he embezzled a ton of money.
Yeah, yeah, I remember.
I remember he embezzled a bunch of money.
He got a bunch of kickbacks from...
he like living in a penthouse and everything too?
He was basically just being a Spider-Man villain.
That's also an interesting point is corruption.
I think that's one of things that American Americans like to talk about with respect to
other countries is how corrupt they are.
I won't name names just for the sake of impartiality, I guess, if you will.
or country names.
But it's definitely something that people like to talk about when they talk about other
countries is, this country is so corrupt or their politicians are corrupt.
For me, as a general rule, I feel like corruption is everywhere.
That's not the question.
I think the question is how corrupt.
So I would like to believe that American politicians are less corrupt than politicians
from other countries.
But I don't have anything to base that on.
Right.
It's also a slippery slope kind of thing too.
definitely.
Yeah.
Like you're trying to get elected for some mid-level political seat and you have your
beliefs, you believe what you believe, you believe in them strongly and somebody from a
pharmaceutical company or pack or whatever, they, lobbyist, they donate a lot of money to
you and you're grateful.
You need that money to win the race.
And you know what?
Every penny you don't spend is yours anyway.
If you win that election, it's not like you signed a contract with them or anything, but
even if you don't plan on ever taking money from them again, you probably are like, it's
kind of nice that they gave me that money.
Like, I feel like I, I'm at least going to be friendly with them.
You know what I mean?
Like you're, you're incentivized.
Like it just, the part of you that's like, you know, you did me a good turn.
want to do you a good turn, which I think is inherently.
And this is like, you know, best possible scenario.
But I think inherently people want to like pay things back.
Even if you're the most virtuous politician ever, that can influence your decision making.
And let's be honest, most politicians are not the most virtuous politicians ever.
No, I mean, definitely not.
That that's the that's the dirty part about politics is it's not really about.
being honest.
think, I can't remember off the top of my head, but there are a couple candidates, or I
think there's one candidate who is running on the platform of 100 % honesty.
I can't remember what office it was for though, I have to check in next episode.
But long story short, was like, I'm like the most honest and open candidate, like I'll be
100 % transparency.
And he didn't really win.
And I think people
vote for the candidates that say what they want to hear, not necessarily what they're
going to do.
And you know, you have to get some of politicians to the benefit of the doubt, which is
they don't rule, well, they don't rule at all, but they don't govern 100 % on their own.
So they're kind of forced to make compromises and deals with the devil, if you will.
Although I guess maybe that's a bit, it's a bit strong of an expression, but you know what
I mean.
Yeah, well you're 100 % right.
Yeah, I mean, you're always making compromises, so you're always having to sacrifice
things.
And I would like to believe that a lot of politicians go into office with the best of
intentions.
I'm going to do this, this and this and this and this.
And when they get there, they realize that the reality is a lot different than what they
had hoped for.
Which is why I think one of the reasons why Trump was so popular, because like he promised
like all these like ridiculous things.
for like for example like with like the the quote-unquote muslim ban you know or like the
mall with mexico and lo and behold like he went through with a lot of these things he
didn't get to finish them but you know he was definitely going in that direction and so
that really garnered a lot of support with his followers whereas other politicians don't
really have that it's you know you take the small wins and throw the rest away so to speak
Yeah, and it's just a huge mess, isn't it?
But I think that's at the risk of possibly cutting it short.
I think that's basically what I have to say about, I guess, my perspective on living
somewhere with a very tight and very important election on a national scale.
I have seen national news articles about our election here and there, so...
it's gonna matter quite a bit but yeah I think I I think I've vented about everything I
can talk about no I definitely feel I definitely feel that it's definitely good to vent
yeah I don't really have much to say in the way of local elections because I don't really
vote in well I don't vote at all in local elections from abroad but we'll definitely see
how
the presidential election will play out next, well, next week, I believe it is.
man, or you want to think about how close that is?
Yeah, it's so close it's stomach-turning, so to speak.
And no matter where you are, can't ignore it.
People here always ask my opinion, so what do you think about...
This and that and you think this person will win or that person will win and people are
constantly asking me You know for my opinion like I represent I don't know the country so
that's one of the things that you get as an American abroad is your your viewed as kind of
like a representative of the US for better for worse and People really love to ask very
personal questions or
Like who did you vote for and why did you vote for and and that's such a terrible
candidate and they're all stupid and blah blah blah.
But anyway, without having to go on another rant.
Yeah so local elections are super important.
Obviously most people here who listen to podcast can't vote in local American elections
because you guys are all from abroad.
But definitely go out and vote in your own local elections wherever you live because
that'll have
much more impact on your life than you know the big flashy federal ones yeah so we'll
leave it at that short but sweet we'll be back in a couple weeks and then maybe we can
touch on what the results are or even if we have results because last time they were
highly contested and we didn't know for almost four weeks so who knows i don't want to
think about that i don't either i guess it's coming
Alright, thanks so much for listening.
We'll catch you on the next one and see you then.
Alright, bye.
Bye.
Thanks again for listening and until next time.