Walter Rhein Podcast
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If you can help out with a sponsorship, it makes all the difference. I realize everyone is up against the wall economically. But the larger this newsletter becomes, the more we can influence who wields power in this country. Anything you can offer is much appreciated: Discount tiers. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Even now, the American public has not fully awakened to the crisis we’re facing. The conservative members of the Supreme court have transformed the body into the court of white supremacy. They’ve gutted the voting rights act. They’ve already robbed women of their bodily autonomy. Even so, there are still politicians who insist they should be “reaching across the aisle.” At this point it should be clear that the only reason you should reach across the aisle is to put a Republican in handcuffs. A big part of the problem is that the media is little more than a propaganda mechanism. They suppress the truth. They suppress the weaknesses of the regime. They tell only lies. Even many independent creators are acting as the abusive “flying monkeys” of a malignant narcissist. Many of them do it without a full awareness of their complicity. The problem is that they’ve been programmed by a white supremacy enabling status quo. On an unconscious level, they know the limits of the pressure they can apply. They come up against these barriers and they stop. They confuse decorum for truth and they allow abusers to avoid pressure again and again. We’ll often see our big name creators interview politicians like Hakeem Jeffries. The dance is always the same. They’ll exchange pleasantries. Then, at some point, the interviewer will bring up AIPAC. They’ll bring it up as if embarrassed. They’ll give a little nod and a wink to Hakeem as if to say, “I know this is uncomfortable but my readers expect this of me.” Then Hakeem will deflect and deny and even get a little angry. The message is clear. He’s not going to answer the question, and frankly he’s disappointed that the interviewer will even ask. At no point does Hakeem say he’ll stop taking that money. Then the interview ends, and the interviewer thanks Hakeem for being there, and Hakeem smiles and says it’s always a pleasure and he’ll be happy to return any time. It’s all a song and dance. It’s all a joke. Unfortunately, the readers watch that and think, “Wow, this creator really applied some pressure! He really hates AIPAC!” But the fact is, Hakeem Jeffries doesn’t feel any pressure from that. He expressed some performance frustration, but he’s never really pushed to back down from what he feels is his entitlement as an enabler of authoritarianism. Our representatives think they’re untouchable. They think that once they’ve earned a seat of power, it’s theirs forever. That’s the problem. We have to remind them that they have their power by the consent of the governed. This idea that they would get haughty on a show when they’re asked reasonable questions is a problem. That our creators abide by the false and artificial boundaries that enable authoritarianism is also a problem. It’s time that we shook off our submissive thinking and grabbed back control of our country. The simple fact is that creators don’t apply any pressure to our Democratic representatives by tossing them a few softball questions and then enduring their performative outrage. Get this through your head: Our current crop of Democrats is never going to stop taking AIPAC money just because we ask them. We have to pressure them. Again, we don’t pressure our representatives by inviting them to interviews. We DO apply significant pressure when we platform their progressive challengers who have already declared that they will not take AIPAC money. That’s where the pressure is! The problem is that our existing media mechanism has been built to undermine the primaries. Democrats don’t want primaries because they rightfully see a legitimate political debate as a threat to their power. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] Primaries are a performance review. Our representatives should have to sit for that just like anyone else. Any creator that wants to effectively apply pressure to our seated representatives can do so by providing a platform to their challengers. I’ve been interviewing progressive challengers for months. I know that I’ve been overwhelming the inboxes of my subscribers with these interviews. I know it’s probably frustrating to get so many emails from me. In fact, I’ve probably lost subscribers because I’m doing this. But I’m going to keep doing it. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. The American voting public needs to be awakened to their power. I get that everyone is the focal point of economic terrorism. Things are so desperate that we don’t have time to reflect on how unfair the whole system is. Unfortunately, the big creators out there leverage that for their own gain. They’re contentedly pulling in millions of dollars a year conducting worthless, easy interviews with our representatives. Then our representatives are emboldened to go out and do absolutely nothing for us. How do we change that? We change that by elevating candidates who declare that they are willing to FIGHT! That’s the kind of pressure we need to see. I’ve already heard of it happening in some of the races I’ve been covering. Incumbents hear that their challengers are gaining steam. When that happens, the Incumbent takes the cucumber slices off his eyes, and changes from a bathrobe to a suit. Then they take to the streets to actually start talking to people. When they feel the pressure they are roused. When they feel the pressure they start to act. We need action NOW! But even if they do start to work for us, we need to vote them out anyway. The problem is that our ability to apply pressure has been muted by the fact that our large platform creators refuse to recognize the existence of primary challengers. The simple fact is that these creators are cowards. They are so desperate to maintain their access to power, that they’ve forgotten they already have the power! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] The media has the power to determine which candidates represent us. But I look around our media, even our independent media, and I see “journalists” who have abdicated their responsibility in exchange for ease. They have huge followings, so they don’t want to rock the boat. But what they fail to recognize is that the boat they’re floating along in is a slave ship. They’ve insulated themselves in a luxury cabin, but they’re indifferent to the suffering that’s happening all around. That makes them enablers. We need to shake off this attitude that the media should never make our representatives feel uncomfortable. By “discomfort” I don’t mean asking them one or two hard edged questions in an ocean of trivial banter. I mean actively working for candidates of integrity who are campaigning to take the do-nothing incumbent’s job! Is that aggressive? Hell yeah it is! But look around! Children are getting raped in concentration camps. It’s not our responsibility to ensure our representatives feel comfortable. I believe our representatives should feel as uncomfortable as the people they’ve betrayed. So I’m asking for everyone to shake off their apathy and be more discerning in how you consume the media. If a creator or a politician is willing to interview a right-wing extremist, but not a person of achievement, you have to recognize that the creator is just as much an enemy as the extremist views they’re normalizing. As readers, we can apply pressure! The best way to apply pressure is to withdraw your support. Tell the creators with huge platforms that if they’re going to interview Hakeem Jeffries, they should also interview his challenger Vance Bostic [https://www.vancebforny8.com/] (I’ve reached out to Vance and he hasn’t gotten back to me yet). It’s not the media’s job to determine which challengers are “serious.” If people have filed the paperwork, if they’ve gotten the signatures, then they deserve the same media attention as the incumbents. We have to stop allowing our media to put their finger on the scales and deprive the American people of their voting power. Currently we allow our creators to sleepwalk through their performative activism. They do a few “fire and brimstone” clips that don’t accomplish anything. Do you want to accomplish something? Then use the primaries to replace this generation of do-nothing Democrats with a new generation of fighters. We need people with new ideas, not dinosaurs who have grown complacent because they’ve been in office since before the 8-track was invented. I have a great group of collaborators that’s working hard to elevate primary challengers. Friends, this is working! Some of the sitting incumbents are feeling the pressure. Unfortunately, we’re short on time and my platform isn’t large enough to land the knock-out blow we need. Please go out and recruit. Get more people on this newsletter. Spread the word. Most importantly, share each individual interview I’ve collected here [https://walterrhein.substack.com/p/check-out-this-list-of-amazing-political]. If you have the means to sponsor me, that also helps to keep my work from being suppressed. There are a lot of creators out there who claim they are against politicians taking AIPAC money. However, if those creators aren’t actively working to promote primary challengers, then those creators are just going through the motions of performative activism. Creators with large platforms actually have the power to pressure our representatives to not be corrupt. They are failing in their obligation. Go and look at the creators you support. If you withdraw your support, you can pressure them to do better. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]
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