another call to action and social media is another venue with which we can further democracy. ♪ >> many years ago, and bit of writing played out a contrasting future that george orwell and albert huxley foresaw on the road ahead for our civilization. they feared that the truth would be concealed from us, huxley field -- feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. orwell field we would become a captive culture. huxley feared that we would become a trivial culture. in short, or will field -- feared that what we hate would ruin us. huxley feared that what we love would ruin us. >> with all of the negatives comes an opportunity that has never been seen before, and opportunity that is being silenced by misinformation and

media. >> all winning entries will be available online at studentcam.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today we are brought to you by these television companies who provide c-span2 viewers at the public service. -- as a public service. washington journal continues. host: all week we have been featuring political podcasters. joining us today is arnie arneson, the host of the attitude with arnie arneson, syndicated talk show host in new hampshire. thanks for giving us your time. guest: it's a pleasure. it is a gorgeous morning, lovely to talk to you. host: the podcast, talk about

it, and why you chose to entitle it the attitude. guest: anyone that knows me knows that i have one, so i guess that is the reason why. in 2011, we started a radio show and a small community radio station and started podcasting. why did i do that? my husband was dying of stage iv cancer. i needed an audience to talk to that was flexible, so if we have to go to the hospital because do whatever. it turned out it was matching my life, which was so challenging at the time, but still let me talk to the world about the issues we are facing. in 2011, i thought things were bad, but 2021, i have a headache. it's been an important opportunity for me to talk to people in texas, michigan, north carolina. while i am based in new hampshire, they teach me about their lives and challenges. i think that makes me a better broadcaster. host: how often do you produce a

podcast, where can people find it, what do you put in it? guest: the podcast is every single damn day, five days a week since 2011. they can download the podcast there. we begin the show every day -- we have our own version of calvin trillin. he writes a bit of political poetry, so i will give you an example of how we begin our show every day with a bit of political verse. i saw a political sign, trump 2024, in a diehard's yard who wants to restore a time of lies and deceit, constant hate and defeat, of a demagogue leader rotten to the core. obviously we are a progressive podcast. every day we have a different one, if it is about matt gaetz, infrastructure, maybe baseball.

we begin that way, but then the topics range -- i will give you an example of this week. this week we had the great tetrick smith, worked for frontline, wrote a book called "who stole the american dream," and he focuses on voting access and civics. he was a phenomenal interview. we had colonel wilkerson on who work for secretary of state powell, talking about why we need to move away from the voluntary military. we had john nichols of the nation magazine talking about hr one, and the fact that iowa and new hampshire may lose their first in the nation status when it comes to the caucus and primary. we talked to robert from cornell law school, who talked about the illusion of inflation and why it makes no sense. that is just part of our week.

we have this random conversation about all of these topics. i have to tell you, i am a nut about things like batteries and climate change. i believe in the democratization of energy and i want everyone to have solar panels in their roof, a battery in their basement, and then we will all feel secure no matter what the weather is like. host: if you want to call in with questions for our guests, (202) 748-8001 four republicans, (202) 748-8002 four democrats, (202) 748-8003 for independence. how do you view the first few months of the bottom presidency? guest: i am blown away. in the primaries, where did he place, fifth, seventh? we didn't see a pulse, we were not sure that he could make it to the next primary state. yet, what happened in south carolina was remarkable.

it was based on a very different experience than he would have gotten in iowa or new hampshire. south carolina is a much more diverse state, they had a different experience with him, maybe different expectations, a different experience with him, maybe different expectations. relief bill was remarkable what is exciting about joe biden, he wants to remake capitalism. he wants a capitalism that actually reflects the needs and wants of labor, of workers, not just wall street or finance but workers. everything he is doing is looking at people and zoning legislation that not only sees them, sees the challenges of their lives, but wants to improve their lives. what is an economy for? it is not for the 1%, it is the 99%. everything, he is doing says i understand your life i see your challenges. let's figure out what we can do with the child credit. let's figure out what we can do by bringing manufacturing home.

let's improve infrastructure so you can get to work. childcare is infrastructure. if i don't have childcare, guess what i cannot do? i cannot go to work. employers need me to be flexible. if i need to be flexible, i need support for childcare so i can accommodate your work. that is part of infrastructure, not just investing in the mother and father with the kids. it is investing in the community. that brings about security and success. host: when you see headlines like we are seeing in the past couple days about the president open to negotiating on the corporate tax hike, is that a good move for him as far as you as a progressive is concerned? guest: we went from 35% to 21 percent? i think he should have said 31% that he wanted to raise it to,

and then joe manchin would agree to 28. i think he is willing to negotiate, but let's be honest. in the 1940's, 1950's, corporate taxes represented 40% of the revenue we raised. by 2017, it was down to 7%. 7%. 55 corporations in this country, including fedex, paid zippo and corporate taxes. who pays nothing in corporate income taxes? corporations have been doing swimmingly well. they only pay taxes on their profits. not one corporation in this country should not pay anything in taxes. by bringing it up to 28%, it is a win-win for them. they were shocked when donald trump brought it down to 21. 28 is reasonable and they have been earning a helluva lot. host: you may have seen the op-ed that senator manchin has

about the filibuster, saying that he is not voting along those lines, kyrsten sinema also . what is your reaction to democrats saying these sort of things? guest: let's hold hands and talk, let's see how long the republican keep saying no to everything. they have become a party of no. no taxes, no government, no release bill. manchin needs to look at his state, one of the poorest in the nation. if he will say no to things that benefit his constituents, improve infrastructure, figure out what happens when the coal mines shut down. they need a job, need a life, education, if he says no to them, then the people of west virginia need to say i'm a you are not serving us, you are serving the gop who has said no to everything. they have not worked to negotiate. that is not a party anymore. if you don't have a party to

negotiate with, either get rid of the filibuster or look at reconciliation. but people pass things that will make a difference for his west virginia residents. host: first call comes from john in new salem, oregon. caller: good morning, america, from the great northwest. good morning, pedro, arnie. i just want to say real quick, i think this is a really good opportunity for democrats. i am a recovered republican myself. right now, the republican party seems to stand for insurrection, the big lie, and restricting people's ability to vote. democrats are looking at the future, charging stations for cars, we want to go to electric cars, planes, trains, automobiles.

we want to face the future. we want to get our country -- and ,arnie, one of the things that you didn't mention was the proposal to increase the pay for workers that take care of our invalid parents, people that need homecare. that is great. these people are aerobic, two things that -- he wrote it, do things that nobody else wants to do, and they need to be paid for it. guest: part of the infrastructure bill goes to that, $400 billion. we have an aging demographic. we don't have a lot of long term health insurance policies. the only way you get covered, if you get ill and become invalid, where do you go? you have to get rid of all of your assets and go on medicaid in order to stay in a nursing

home setting or home setting. that means the vast majority of people will end up spending every dime they have two take care of their aging parents or someone with disabilities. that is not only bad for them, not only do they lose assets, but it removes them from the workforce. if we are going to recognize our aging demographics, we need to prepare for that and have a care system in place that allows people to be cared for with dignity, affordability, so that their children and grandchildren can actually go to work. host: arnie arneson is our guest today. we are featuring political podcasters. you can ask a question, i know that some had mentioned that michael moore was supposed to be on today but he had to back out. guest: i will take over for michael any day. [laughter] host: as far as politics, particularly what you expect from the house and senate going forward, what are you looking at

on these bills, infrastructure, what is the best hand for speaker pelosi and the majority leader schumer at this point? guest: my biggest concern right now -- and in part, georgia is on our mind. hr one, the we the people bill, will be critical on so many levels. none of these big decisions, whether it is infrastructure or health care or childcare, they will not have any meaning if we cannot protect the franchise. what is so scary for me, the brennan center has been following all of these voter suppression bills. i don't even call them voter suppression bills. they are called legalized cheating. it is not voter suppression, they want to cheat in order to win. they want to make sure that people waiting in line for eight hours cannot get water or food, despite being in the hot sun. a good samaritan would have to give you a glass of water and they break the law?

they are looking at restricting the number of hours you can vote, restricting the number of drop boxes. the republicans support donald trump's big lie that somehow he didn't lose the election, but now they want to ensure that the big lie becomes the big cheat. 47 states introducing 360 bills to make it more difficult to vote, you have to ask what that is about. that is being antidemocratic. this country starting in 1776 only allowed white male protestants with land to vote. with each passing decade. we kept on expanding the franchise. the republican party to go back to 1776. they only want white male protestant landowners to vote. welcome to america, we are a different place. pass hr one, protect us across the board, then allow the voters to decide.

i come from a republican family. start talking about things that affect people's lives. saying no to your voters does not help them. saying no to investment doesn't help them. what will you say yes to to make a better state and country? that is when elections should be about. host: you have heard from republicans, and you have heard that georgia's bill is being misrepresented. is that a fair assessment? guest: it is not just georgia. georgia is the poster child for voter suppression and voter cheating. my state of new hampshire, we have almost identical legislation being introduced. texas, arkansas. 47 states. if they have republican legislatures and a republican governor, it's a slamdunk. the voters will have greater difficulty exercising their franchise in the future. i understand georgia, but what do you start doing, not showing

up for any baseball game in any part of the country? you saw what happened in texas, governor abbott refusing to throw out the first ball at the rangers game because they moved the game from georgia to colorado. we have to address this. the best way to address this is to create a level playing field with hr one, so that no matter what state you are in, you know you will have your vote protected. then let the politicians and the republican party and the democrat party speak to the voters, and people should exercise their choice. that is what democracy is about, information, boating, and a choice. host: high point, carolina -- north carolina. kenneth, go ahead. guest: what is she blown away by, the open borders allowing tens of thousands of people to come into this country without a covid test? and we have a vice president who refuses to see what the hell is

going on in our country. is she blown away by the cancel culture and the censorship of big tech? if you go by the 11,000 jobs that joe biden slashed in america and canada, it produces our infrastructure. issue blown away by the deficits and runaway debt that we have that her generation will not be responsible for? is she away by the transgender agenda that is dismantling the genitalia of our babies? issue blown away by the introductory nation in our schools? issue blown away by hr one? issue blown away. -- the supreme court should not have refused the case from pennsylvania. what exactly is she blown away? the destruction of our country? host: you have the gop talking points down perfectly. now let's talk about it. suddenly you notice deficits?

how come you didn't notice deficits in 2017 when donald trump gave huge tax cuts to the rich? one of the arguments in the corporate tax rate going from 38 to 21, don't worry, they will invest in their workers. they will make capital investments and improve their capital structure. what did they do? they bought their stock back. they didn't make the r&d investments, they didn't investment labor. we have huge deficits from donald trump and no investment. what you are seeing right now with joe biden is he understands that he will be spending money, but here is the difference between what he will do with the deficit versus donald trump. the deficit he creates is called an investment. it is an investment that grows taxes, gross income, grows the economy, brings back manufacturing jobs, and those 11,000 jobs that he got rid of because of the pipeline, he will create millions of jobs. do the cost benefit analysis. here is how you evaluate joe biden.

do the damn math. you can afford your childcare, access to health care, you have got a good job, they raise the minimum wage, and your country and community and your schools are better. you are healthier and you have a job and you have less debt for your kids for college. if that makes a difference in your life, then joe biden is a wild success in the republicans were a failure. host: let me bring up something he brought up, immigration. how is the immigration handling this at the border and are they to blame? guest: first of all, we have not. with immigration for decades. it is the third rail of politics. let's talk about undocumented immigrants. in the community of houston, there are 600,000 undocumented immigrants. if you want to know what is going on in places like california and iowa, the reason you have food on your table, the

reason you have meat on your plates, your hospitals are clean, so many are undocumented immigrants. those that are coming across the border, they are not given a go free pass. they will have to go to court and prove their point. if they cannot prove that they deserve the status they want, they are sent back. once they come in, they are not here permanently. they have a court date and that decide what happens to them. it happens all the time. it is the spring, it happens all the time. it is not about joe biden. the world is changing and migration is a part of the future. host: we are speaking to arnie arneson, appearing as part of our podcasting series. the attitude with arnie arneson is where you can find her. david is on from michigan, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. let's be real, too, the 11

million undocumented people in america right now, at least obama tried to get them out of the woodwork. but they all came in from 2004 until 2006, on the, so let's clear that up. let's also call it for what it is, the voter suppression laws in effect might now as we speak. it is good old-fashioned republican cheating. if republican do not cheat, they cannot win. it is an honor to talk with you. i could go on and on, the success of democrats always creating jobs, balancing budgets. my god, bill clinton left a surplus. what did george w do with it? gave it to the rich. let's be real, everyone. a republican caller that had the

republican talking points, he is just reading from a sheet of fox news. guest: let me just say, i have not always been very proud of the democratic party. i ran for governor in the 1990's. let me tell you what was happening what i ran for congress. i was running against bill clinton, the crime bill, the welfare reform bill. after i lost, remember, this is bill clinton who deregulated derivatives, got rid of glass-steagall. my party has not been the most enlightened. but what is so exciting looking at joe biden versus bill clinton, he was the big tech guy. he protected corporations, unfortunately. now we see joe biden say an economy is for the workers, and 90%. if we don't invest in labor, we are not investing in ourselves. corporations are able to do a

lot of things very successfully. according to mitch mcconnell, they are people, except they should not have a soul or a heart or a position on voting, but they should definitely have a wallet, so they know how to contribute to campaigns. we are seeing an enlightened democratic party. it has not always made the right choices. joe biden being around, he saw some of the mistakes, he made some of them. but the beauty of joe biden is that he leads from behind and it becomes the moment. what is fascinating is what is ahead of joe biden are people who have been talking to him about the yawning investment we need, about the inequality, the investments in health care infrastructure, not only bringing jobs back but using the infrastructure dollars to make sure that the steel they are making will be used in the bridges that we need. joe biden reflect what we need at this moment.

we have so many things to face with the pandemic, climate change, inequality, a changing global environment because of places like china. you have to be grateful that at least we are a party that involves. the republican party has devolved. they are not a party anymore, they are a mob. the only were they know in their lexicon is no. host: so what should republicans do to reach out to president biden to work on things? guest: it is almost a form of political theater because we want the feeling that we can be bipartisan. i want a strong and effective republican party. i come from a republican household. the man that asked me to run in 1984, believe it or not, was the republican majority leader. he watched me in action and asked me what i was doing in the fall. i said i don't know how to break this to you, but i'm a democrat, in fact, i think i'm a liberal

democrat. this is what joe biden and america hopes for. what the republican majority said to me in 1984, 75% of what we do the new hampshire legislature is what is good for new hampshire. 25% of it is very partisan. i think you need to be there for the 75%. that statement cannot be made today in 2021. it cannot be made in the u.s. congress and it cannot be made in any legislative body in america. that is what has happened to the republican party. they don't want to work, they don't want to do policy. they don't want to understand compromise they are a party of no, and that is not a governing party. host: was there a single moment where you realize you were a liberal democrat, or a series of moments? guest: my father bred me the wall street journal as a child. i came from a very conservative family. but there was one interesting thing my father taught me.

he used to say to me, always question authority. then at about age 12 or 13, i looked at my dad, and i said, you know that means questioning you, papa? i started to do that. my family was a little shocked at what i became. when i ran for congress, my father had three bumper stickers on the back of his car. one was anything but the liberal media, don't believe clinton, and arnie for congress. i looked at dad and said one of those things has to go. he took me off. [laughter] but i'm glad i came from a conservative family. they taught me to listen to a different voice, understand a different perspective. i did commercial talk radio for a number of years, in fact, replace rush limbaugh in five stations in our state. i am grateful for that because nobody has cornered the market

on virtue. we can learn from each other. the question is can we dialogue with each other and can we figure out how to trust each other? right now i'm so afraid because the gop does not want to dialogue. therefore, how do you create the trust you need to move forward? i miss that gop. i learned from them, always am indebted to them, would not have entered electoral politics because of them, but now i mourn for them. host: let's hear from a republican in woodridge, illinois. terry, you are our guest. caller: good morning. i wish your guest when talk so long so that callers cannot get in. i have some comments and then have a question. host: go ahead. you are on. caller: the people that you say you care more about, the blacks, in georgia, over 50% of the business owners did that.

yes, they are moving things to colorado, but it is only 9% black, so how are you helping black people? you are saying voter id is racist. are you saying the black population is so stupid they cannot go and get the free id they are offering? the white house, he is the one with other lawmakers that created the problem which put our country on their hands and knees. president trump was a great president. one question i want you to answer is, in arizona, if the election was so fair, and the court ordered them to turn over all of the voting ballots and the machines for a full audit, and they are fighting so hard over 100 days to not release it, what are you democrats trying to hide?

guest: let's start with georgia, all right? i want to remind everyone, stacey abrams begged mlb not to move from georgia to colorado. she begged them. this is a woman who is the most outspoken on voter rights. because of her experience in georgia really has taught us about voter suppression. she understood the boycott did not make sense and the boycott would hurt georgia. you are right, it would hurt georgia business people. it would hurt the black community. that was not a solution. but what did i say? 47 states have introduced voter suppression states have republican governors and legislatures. the problem is not the fact of what is happening in georgia, the fact is we have to protect

franchise in all 50 states so we do not depend on corporations to join the boycott or do not remove a baseball game because that does not fix the problem it absolutely does not. there are good things in the georgia bill, there are some petty and retaliatory things, not everything was bad, but the whole reason was to support something they did not believe in which was a big lie. that is why you are seeing -- that is the 47 states introducing the voter suppression bills. it is not that they believe that people should not vote. they have to support donald trump who said that it was a big lie i won, and if you do not change the voting patterns that i may not be able to win in 2020 four, and the gop is genuflecting to the lie and donald trump and that is what is happening. if we had hr one we have a level playing field and democracy is protected. host: illinois, independent line. tony. good morning. caller: thank you.

you have been talking about the points where the gop goes too far, could you enumerate the points where the left goes too far, please? guest: let me think, does it go too far because it once medicare for all, i do not think so. does it go too far because it believes that student debt is the anti-dowry and we need to take it off of students, i do not think so. when it -- doesn't go too far to protect the right of choice for women and lgbtq transgender issues. when the left -- the question i have is left of what? what do you see about the left that you are concerned about. i know as a progressive what i believe in and what i believe in is that i believe in workers, protecting the environment, and making investments. i want families to be protected

and the cops to be able to do their jobs because society has done its job, it has done the mental health work and the investment in education it needs to do. part of the problem is that we have --

>> they crowd sourced money for the wall, bannon took the money.

trump pardoned him. >> is there a specific you want to engage our guest in? >> william barr, he put so much stuff under the rug. >> go ahead. >> i do not want to get into semantics. whatever you do, don't take away my medicare and he saw the democratic party as challenging medicare, not realizing medicare was a socialism project. we should not get stuck on

worries, we should get stuck on policy. show me the results. if i see a positive benefit, we have had corporate socialism. you have corporations that pay zero in income taxes, tell me what that is about. that is corporate welfare, corporate socialism. what is exciting about what is going on with amazon, it is not

about the union drive. it is about recognizing the value of work. if we have that, we all win and so do corporations. they do not lose much. the difference is, we all succeed. >> arnie arnesen is joining us. she has a syndicated talkshow. can you find that online? >> we stream every day. my show airs at 12 noon. i have been very lucky to cover presidential politics. >> this is from jefferson, georgia.

>> you were talking about how despicable trunk what -- how despicable trump was, but here is biden, saying everyone knows following jim crow. he is accusing us of being racist. he calls the people in texas neanderthals and he will not say a word about the chinese, who are killing people, enslaving people. the border, children are dying. you need to get off of it. joe biden is a crook. >> when joe biden is referring to jim crow, he is talking about what is happening with the vote. when you are trying to creating laws around the country that allow politicians to pick their voters and not voters to pick

their politicians, he has a reason to call it out. you are worried about the fact he hasn't called out china, how come you did not mention russia? what do we know about putin? he has made himself president for life. what is that about. how come you mention china but not russia. joe biden is talking about china. china is the juggernaut. china does have its problems. he is talking about it. he wants to return to the world stage, bring the world together, address the pandemic, make sure we get shots in the arms around the world. he needs to work with people he disagree with -- he disagrees with. donald trump made love to putin,

ignored the problems with china until he needed an enemy. now we see the rise in asia hate . we are a more divided nation and we have asian hate. thank you, donald trump. what a great contribution. >> i have a question for you. do you agree with voter id? >> yes. >> it is a great thing. put an id and everyone's hands. as far as russia, we broke that gas station. trump did an outstanding job breaking that. as far as biden, we have money

going out for a while we are not getting. i have heard you talk about health care and affordable programs. did you like the affordable health care? >> it did not go far enough. >> we collect 180 billion monthly, over $1 trillion we are putting out monthly. you cannot say it is the pharmaceuticals. i want to know, if we had people who buy a policy and a half and we have 29 million more policies, where is that money? >> it is called the insurance industry. the affordable care act made a deal with the pharmaceutical companies and insurance

companies. if you want to know why your money is being pissed away it is going into insurance companies. if you want to create an opportunity, expand the public option. those dollars will go to your health and not to insurance company profits. it propped up a failure of health care. that is the insurance industry. they are using health care as their excuse to gain profits. you can spend money on your house, your rent, your kids, instead of writing a bill that is not there to protect you.

expand the public option. lower medicare down to 55 or 60, or 50, or whatever. put federal workers into the public option, make them part of the program. if they do the math, it will be more realistic to join the public option than to continue with private health insurance. people will be driven to something that looks more like medicare for all. i want people to get access to health care. the problem is it is not. >> the podcast is called the attitude. you can find it online. thank you for your time. >> always a pleasure.