I Would Like Katie To Be President...

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: Episode Summary – "I Would Like Katie To Be President..."

Release Date: November 19, 2024

In this engaging episode of "Armstrong & Getty On Demand", hosts Armstrong and Getty delve deep into the intricacies of the American electoral system, focusing primarily on ranked choice voting (RCV). The discussion navigates through the benefits, challenges, and broader implications of implementing RCV in the United States, intertwined with critical insights on voter engagement and the current political landscape.

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1. Introduction to Ranked Choice Voting

The episode kicks off with an intriguing statement from one of the speakers:

Unknown Speaker [01:30]: "I would like Katie to be president, but if she is not popular enough I would settle for Michelangelo. It's one more thing."

This leads into a broader discussion on alternative voting systems, particularly ranked choice voting. The hosts set the stage by questioning the efficacy of the current first-past-the-post system and exploring whether RCV could offer a more representative outcome.

2. Understanding Ranked Choice Voting

The conversation provides a comprehensive overview of how RCV operates:

Unknown Speaker [05:39]: "So I remember when well the first time and then subsequently I was had ranked choice voting described to me, I thought it sounded like a really good idea. The idea being in a primary especially, you got like, six people running and you've got a certain... you got, like, the same, the conservative vote spread over several people. And then there's one wackadoo."

The hosts explain that RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, reducing the likelihood of vote splitting and ensuring that the elected candidate secures a broader base of support.

3. Implementation Challenges of RCV

Despite its theoretical advantages, the hosts discuss the practical hurdles in adopting RCV:

Unknown Speaker [07:37]: "Because your description of it there was longer than most people want to spend thinking about it. Right, okay."

They highlight issues such as public misunderstanding, logistical complexities, and resistance from entrenched political interests that hinder the widespread adoption of RCV.

4. Voter Engagement and Knowledge

A significant portion of the episode addresses voter apathy and the general populace's lack of political knowledge:

Anthony [09:07]: "Why is half the country not vote."

Unknown Speaker [09:20]: "I think it's the... What JoJo said that people don't pay attention. I had a friend on election day realize it was election day. She had no clue what was going on at all."

The hosts lament the low voter turnout and attribute it to factors such as disinterest, lack of education on political matters, and feelings of inefficacy among voters.

5. Critique of Current Political Strategies

The dialogue takes a critical turn towards current political strategies, especially identity politics:

Unknown Speaker [03:47]: "They still think identity politics is on the rise. It's not."

The hosts argue that overemphasis on identity markers can alienate voters who prioritize policy and governance over personal attributes of candidates.

6. Proposals for Enhancing the Voting System

In an attempt to bridge the gap between voters and the electoral process, the hosts propose several ideas:

Anthony [10:03]: "But I wonder what I... My sense from her was she doesn't feel like she's smart enough or something to be involved in that, which is a terrible way to end up as an adult."

Unknown Speaker [11:00]: "But the so, but so... We ought to send out that message just culturally."

One notable suggestion is the implementation of a "poll test", which would require voters to answer basic questions about the government before being eligible to vote:

Anthony [11:59]: "That's why I want a poll test. Who's the current president, vice president, name three branches of government. Who's the governor of your state? Those."

This proposal aims to ensure that voters possess a fundamental understanding of their government, thereby fostering a more informed electorate.

7. Concluding Thoughts on Voter Responsibility

The episode concludes with a strong emphasis on the importance of civic duty:

Unknown Speaker [11:24]: "We ought to send out that message just culturally. But if you don't want to, don't. I don't want to rock the vote."

The hosts advocate for a cultural shift towards valuing participation in the electoral process, encouraging listeners to take active roles in shaping their governance.

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Notable Quotes

• Unknown Speaker [05:39]: "They tried it in Alaska, right? Yeah. They've tried it in a handful of different places."

• Anthony [07:42]: "Because most people don't care."

• Unknown Speaker [10:36]: "They want children to vote. Please. Could there be a more, you know, open and unvarnished attempt to do exactly what we're talking about?"

• Anthony [13:03]: "What percentage of Americans would you guess can name their governor?"

---

Conclusion

In "I Would Like Katie To Be President...", Armstrong & Getty provide a thought-provoking examination of ranked choice voting and its potential to revolutionize American elections. Through candid discussions, critical analysis, and innovative proposals, the hosts challenge listeners to reconsider the mechanics of their voting system and the role of individual responsibility in a functioning democracy. This episode serves as a compelling resource for anyone interested in electoral reform and the future of American politics.

Transcript

[Armstrong]

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[Getty]

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[Maddie]

The leaves drift to the ground. The wind rises. Pull up a chair by our fire and listen to stories from the darker side of the past. I'm Maddie. And I'm Anthony and on our podcast.

[Anthony]

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[Maddie]

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[Unknown]

I would like Katie to be president, but if she is not popular enough I would settle for Michelangelo. It's one more thing.

[Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Unknown]

One more thing. Ranked choice voting. Whatever happened to that idea? We'll talk about that in a minute.

[Anthony]

So here we are. We're going to just play a funny clip from a different show because it eats up some time. That's the behind the scenes view of what we're doing here.

[Unknown]

That's not true. No, it's an amusing springboard for conversation. Why do you say things like that? What happened to you in your childhood that you would seek to undermine your own primary occupation and source of income?

[Anthony]

Anyway, this is from the Daily show.

[Unknown]

In this freshman class alone and I'm going to stop for cheers for each one of these because they're remarkable. We have our first trans member of Congress. We have an engineer from an immigrant community in the San Fernando Valley. We have the first Iranian American Democrat in Congress. We have the youngest member ever elected to the House from New Jersey.

That's not a thing. How did you go from the reasonably impressive first Iranian Democrat to hold a seat to the I think somewhat reaching for youngest person ever from New Jersey. And by the way, to the audience, if you think that that framing is not that interesting, wait till you hear that this record breaking young phenom from New Jersey is 38 years old. 38 years old. God. How come on, how far are we going with this? Oh, oh, in Illinois we elected a ginger.

Oh, hey, well, what was the one? An Asian engineer from the San Fernando Valley?

[Anthony]

I disagree with the whole premise and I think go ahead, Democrats, keep harping on that stuff and see if you win elections with that. Because most people don't care.

[Unknown]

Yeah, who cares about all that stuff? How about are they good at their jobs?

[Anthony]

Right, right, right.

[Unknown]

Well, that's Rashida Tlaib though. She and your Pramila Jayapal and the whole crew. They still think identity politics is on the rise. It's not.

[Anthony]

No. Thank God.

[Unknown]

That might be the needs to be knocked down.

[Anthony]

In Illinois we elected a ginger.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Armstrong]

Head over to NFLShop.com today for the largest collection of officially licensed gear from all your favorite brands. NFL Shop is your ultimate destination for the official NFL Sideline collection worn by players and coaches on game day. Explore the same sideline and on field gear worn by your favorite players and coaches at NFL Shop. To shop now, go to NFLShop.com.

[Getty]

Immerse yourself in a world of over a billion vibrant colors with Vizio's quantum QLED TVs. No matter where you're sitting, everyone gets the perfect view thanks to wide viewing angle. Enjoy truly immersive gameplay with 120fps at 1080p. You can even stream your favorite songs with the iHeartRadio app ready to go on every Vizio Quantum TV. From movie nights to gaming marathons, the Vizio Quantum TV delivers unparalleled performance in picture. Head to Walmart to find your Vizio Quantum TV today.

[Maddie]

History has made this world of ours history is the reason I'm talking to you in English from a place called the UK with its castles, its warm beer and cricket. It's why the United States doesn't have King Charles and its currency, but Canada does. I'm Dan Snow and I host Dan Snow's History Hit podcast. If you want to know the origin stories of the cities we inhabit, why we've always been drawn dictators, or the long history of what's going on in the Middle east, we've got you covered. Learn about the past and understand our world today. Listen to Dan Snow's History hit wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unknown]

So I remember when well the first time and then subsequently I was had ranked choice voting described to Me, I thought it sounded like a really good idea. The idea being in a primary especially, you got like, six people running and you've got a certain. You got, like, the sane, conservative vote spread over several people. And then there's one wackadoo. This is obviously a prejudicial way to put it, but, like, one wackadoo, you know, communist. And it's possible that because of that splitting of the vote, the wackadoodle gets in. Even though if you said, if you ran it like ranked choice voting, where if nobody gets a clear majority, then the bottom couple are knocked out. And then you go to. You ask those people, all right, you like Joe Conservative. Joe Conservative's not going to win. Who's your second choice? And then you keep going in that way, you take the bottom couple, all right, your candidate's gone. Who do you prefer now? Until you have a consensus of the best candidates, so you don't, quote, unquote, waste your vote.

[Anthony]

They tried it in Alaska, right?

[Unknown]

Yeah. They've tried it in a handful of different places. And initiatives relating to ranked choice voting in open primaries were on the ballot in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota last week. Some of them varied. But now. And that, again, this has always struck me as a really good idea, and I think it is a really good idea. But the problem with a lot of good ideas is that they run into people. And the problem is you can't get people to understand it.

[Anthony]

Oh, okay.

[Unknown]

And do it right. You just can't.

[Anthony]

Because your description of it there was longer than most people want to spend thinking about it. Right, okay.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Yeah. And so sometimes it's called the instant runoff, A system that's. I like that way to describe it, actually. It's an instant runoff. So you don't have to reconvene everybody and say, all right, Jones and Smith are out. We got these last three people left. Who do you want to vote for? Now? You just do it all at once. But in most of the US where does it get to the analysis? Until last week, the system's use had been expanding, particularly in liberal cities and towns. Washington, D.C. can be added to the list. But essentially, it's like I said, people just screwed up. They don't understand how it works, no matter how thoroughly you. You try to explain it to them, which is a little discouraging.

[Anthony]

What? No way.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I know. I know.

[Anthony]

Why you think half the country doesn't vote, and it's been that way for a very long time.

[Unknown]

They're either busy doing other things or they just don't pay any attention to politics. They don't get it or they don't care because they're too busy.

[Anthony]

What's your guess?

[Unknown]

A lot of different reasons.

[Anthony]

Why is half the country not vote.

[Unknown]

I think it's the. What JoJo said that people don't pay attention. I had a friend on election day realize it was election day. She had no clue what was going on at all.

[Anthony]

Yeah, I poo. I don't want to say who this was because they're very, very, very nice person, but very low tier, working class, her and her husband. And she just said to me, I don't know anything about taxes and politics is all she said on election day. It's just like not a part of her life. Yeah. And I wonder, I wonder what I. My sense from her was she doesn't feel like she's smart enough or something to be involved in that, which is a terrible way to end up as an adult. You, you went through school and everything like that, and you come out feeling like you're not capable of participating. I don't know how many people are like that. I don't know.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I. And again, I would never belittle that person. I would say, let's continue to send the message that, hey, be part of it. You're a citizen, learn about the candidates and the issues and then vote.

[Anthony]

The problem is that if it, if you're starting with somebody who's never really cared much, doesn't pay much attention, if they do start to vote, they're probably going to vote the way I don't want because they're going to go.

[Unknown]

Right. Yeah.

They'll listen to the mainstream.

[Anthony]

They're going to go with. Yeah. Whoever Beyonce wants or whoever's going to give them the most stuff or whatever. And.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Well.

Right, right. Which is why the Democratic Party wants to register. You know, any fool who can fog a mirror. The mentally handicapped, children. They want children to vote. Please. Could there be a more, you know, open and unvarnished attempt to do exactly what we're talking about? I mean, come on.

Yeah. Mold them while they're young.

[Anthony]

But the so, but so. This just has always been hanging out there as a possibility, and so far this hasn't really happened. But I suppose it could happen someday. If you could motivate half those people that never vote and then get a big chunk of the people that do vote, you could win every freaking election forever.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Anthony]

If you had some message that appealed to that crowd in whatever way I'm.

[Unknown]

Going to give you stuff that's the message. And there are some people who. That's not even enough. They're still like, I don't get it. I don't understand. But anyway, that. I only gave you half my thought. As a society, we ought to say, look, your citizens, part of your responsibility, and it's. It's power in your hands. So you ought to vote on a fairly steady basis. We ought to send out that message just culturally. But if you don't want to, don't. I don't want to rock the vote.

[Anthony]

Because I want a poll test.

[Unknown]

Those you have to drag, kicking, screaming to the polls are not going to be good voters. They're just not.

[Anthony]

That's why I want a poll test. Who's the current president, vice president, name three branches of government. Who's the governor of your state? Those. If those could be the only questions, I'd be fine with that. If you can answer those, I'll let you vote. But there's a whole bunch of people couldn't answer those questions.

[Unknown]

I'm sorry, hit me with those again.

[Anthony]

Who's the current president, vice president, name the three branches of government, and who's your current governor? Okay, those are just off the top of my head, but there's a lot of people that couldn't answer those questions. I don't want them to vote.

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah.

I got a lot of joy this, this weekend from two people who had already forgotten Tim Wall's name. So that was, that was fun. They were just already. They were so over it. I kicked his name out of their head.

[Anthony]

Right.

[Unknown]

Seriously. Now, it's not fair for Californians because Gavin Newsom is, I mean, been a boil on the backside of California for a very long time.

[Anthony]

A boil. Ew.

[Unknown]

He's. He's been a presence in California. He's constantly discussed on the news shows, blah, blah, blah. But what percentage of Americans would you guess can name their governor?

[Anthony]

Okay, take that one out. Now that I've thought about it for 10 seconds, I would rather have a question in there, like, where does government money come from? I like that.

[Unknown]

Okay. That's a good one.

Oh, but seriously, though, what percentage of Americans do you think could name their governor? Is it more than half?

[Anthony]

No, definitely not. Really?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Anthony]

No, I don't think so. Yes, Michael.

[Unknown]

No, I was just agreeing. That's a great question about taxpayer money.

[Anthony]

Yeah, because that's the thing I want people to understand, because there are a ton of people. Well, I'll ask you a question. What percentage of people don't know where government money comes from?

[Unknown]

A horrifyingly high percentage. If it's 5%. That's horrifying.

[Anthony]

It might be more than half.

[Unknown]

Oh, no. Yes.

I would hope not.

Come on.

[Anthony]

Oh, that wouldn't shock me.

[Unknown]

I could teach my dog that.

Stop.

[Anthony]

I don't think most people know where government money comes from.

[Unknown]

I don't think it's half, though. Gosh, I hope.

[Anthony]

I don't know. Wow. You don't know the dumb people I know. You need to hang around my girlfriend.

[Unknown]

What kind of dumb people are you hanging out with?

[Armstrong]

Really?

[Unknown]

Really gonna hang around the dumb more. Where do they.

Under rocks.

Wow. That. No, that's brilliant, though. The government spends money. Where do they get that money?

[Anthony]

Love that one.

[Unknown]

You get one effing chance. Wow. Wow.

[Anthony]

Well, half the country doesn't pay taxes, so they don't think about taxes at all.

[Unknown]

Right, Right. Although everybody pays sales taxes.

Yeah.

Gas taxes, even if there's no income tax. Nobody understands that. They pay payroll taxes, in effect. So I won't even bark up that tree. But. Okay, so let's. All right, let's finalize our test. Who is the president? I don't even see the vice president.

[Anthony]

That's not a low bar. That's laying a stick on the ground is what that is.

[Unknown]

Who's. What are the three branches of government, and where does government get money to spend?

[Anthony]

Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah.

[Unknown]

You. You can't step over that stick on the ground, as you say. That's not even a bar. Then. Yeah, you don't get to vote.

[Anthony]

Yeah, I'm all for that. And just every time I bring up poll test, people always, you know, get into the south and racism and what they used to do, which is horrifying. Make sure you couldn't possibly vote if you're a black. Horrifying.

[Getty]

But you don't have to do it.

[Anthony]

The same way, you morons.

[Unknown]

Well, no, it's all under the auspices of the Justice Department and, you know, whatever else. Of course, it ought to be state by state. But anyway, for those who are illiterate, you say you can eat one of these. You hand them a hot biscuit and a rock. And if they put the rock in.

[Anthony]

Their mouth, sorry, you can't vote till next time. Now the exit. Think about it over the next year. Well, ask the same question again next year. Which of these do you eat? They grab the rock again.

[Unknown]

Buttery biscuits or this rock.

[Anthony]

Dang, that rock looks tasty. Give me that rock.

[Unknown]

I'm going to walk you out this door. It says exit, but you wouldn't know that, so just. Just walk that way. Here's my question. Which is a better investment? Lotto scratchers or a 401k plan?

[Anthony]

That's a pretty good one right there.

[Unknown]

That's advanced. No, that's too. Too advanced.

[Anthony]

Well, I guess that's it.

[Armstrong]

Head over to NFLShop.com today for the largest collection of officially licensed gear from all your favorite brands. NFL Shop is your ultimate destination for the official NFL Sideline Collection worn by players and coaches on game day. Explore the same sideline and on field gear worn by your favorite players and coaches at NFL Shop. To shop now, go to NFLShop.com.

[Getty]

Immerse yourself in a world of over a billion vibrant colors with Vizio's quantum QLED TVs. No matter where you're sitting, everyone gets the perfect view thanks to wide viewing angle. Enjoy truly immersive gameplay with 120fps at 1080p. You can even stream your favorite songs with the iHeartRadio app. Ready to go on every Vizio Quantum TV from movie nights to gaming marathons, the Vizio Quantum TV delivers unparalleled performance in picture. Head to Walmart to find your Vizio Quantum TV today.

[Maddie]

History has made this world of ours History is the reason I'm talking to you in English from a place called the UK with its castles, its warm beer and cricket. It's why the United States doesn't have King Charles and its currency, but Canada does. I'm Dan Snow and I host Dan Snow's History Hit Podcast. If you want to know the origin stories of the cities we inhabit, why we've always been drawn dictators, or the long history of what's going on in the Middle east, we've got you covered. Learn about the past and understand our world today. Listen to Dan Snow's History hit wherever you get your podcasts.