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“Don’t panic. A lot of the totalitarian methods have to do with promoting incompetent people who are liars to get you to lose faith in your institutions. Just vote those fucking people out, it’s not impossible. Go up and cast your vote, say: ‘Enough bullshit. Here you go, straight ticket. Get the fuck out of the statehouse, too.’ That’s how you do it.”
—Wes Clark Jr. on Bette Dangerous Podcast, Ep83
A few minutes into a chat over the weekend with my friend Wes Clark Jr., I was kicking myself for not recording it. He says so many smart things in a single convo that I started furiously taking notes and then booked him for a podcast to bring you his insights. And for the record: the easiest way to get out of despair, call a friend <3
Wes, who is the subject of the podcast American Psyop, is a writer, a veteran and environment activist. He has the ability to cut through the noise — or wade through the flooding zone of shit — to get to what matters.
With start with his musings on Gil Scott-Heron’s song B-Movie and get to the part where we save democracy. Along the way we talk about lazy ass Mao, Rev. Ted Haggard’s meth trip with a male sex worker as a GOP plotline, Aristotle and Plato — “Read more Aristotle” — Craztown Colorado Springs, Musk’s sociopathy, Russian bag men, Atlantic City toaster salesmen, humans and spectacle, US vulnerabilities, and saving Democracy by saving ourselves.
“One of fascism's goals is to unleash the beast and turn us into animals: prey and predator. They do it by spreading fear and bloodlust. Lot of monsters out there growing fangs. Stay human.”—Wes Clark Jr.
Among my favorite new Wes-isms is:
“The line between reality and imaginary bullshit has been erased.”
The best part of this podcast, and I do hope you take an hour to listen, is his decided optimism:
“I am not as pessimistic as many people are about the election this Fall. People are like, ‘No one is coming to save us.’ No one’s ever coming to save you. It’s Democracy — everything gets reset every two and four years. It’s a question of are enough of you gonna come out and vote or not? There isn’t a magic person who’s going to come fix stuff for us. It’s a mater of having enough people turnout to make stuff happen.”
Have a listen. I am making this podcast available to all subscribers, but if you appreciate the work, please consider taking out a membership.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep83: Stay Human with Wes Clark Jr.