‘Awful’: Americans discuss Congress, Supreme Court, capitalism

Hi, I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and welcome to the latest installment of America speaks on straight arrow news, this session is particularly important because it’s dealing with three institutions that we haven’t spent much time about, but they all matter particularly now days before the election Congress and what Americans think of that essential institution, the courts, particularly the Supreme Court, and whether or not it’s keeping up with what Americans want and need. And finally, capitalism, and whether or not the system is working for working Americans. So let’s get right to it with a conversation about Congress.

And I want to raise a branch of government that we’ve not been talking about, and yet it is equally and in some ways even more important than the presidency, and that’s Congress. So the first thing I want to know from you is a sentence, if I ask you, give me a sense to describe Congress. Angelo, you start one sentence to describe Congress, awful, awful

pierce a sentence to describe Congress, extremely incompetent and unworthy of the for the American people. Lillian

Congress right now is dysfunctional and in disarray. Joseph, not representative of America. Chris,

gridlock.

Jasper,

well, they’re invested in their own jobs, and I’m not sure that that translates to, well, I don’t think that translates to being invested in America. Laura, unproductive. George, extremely inefficient and needed, and it needs fundamental change. Mark, more interested in news headlines and reelection than governing for us. Aisha, I’m gonna say dysfunctional as well. Abigail performers, not legislators. Jack

the worst part of the United States Government at any level, local, state or national. McClain, atrophying and not used to exercising its legislative muscle.

Jack, I’ve only been on listening to this for a short time, and I think I need to call 911,

on your behalf.

Please, if you can explain why are you so negative for Congress, for the Congress, yeah. I mean, I just have seen how Congress has been run basically since Trump was President 2016 now, these last four years and and it’s just total chaos. On the Republican side, you have Marjorie, Taylor, green, Matt gates, you know, just calling the shots, causing such disarray in the house today. On the Democrat side, with Pelosi, I feel like, you know, it’s all establishment BS, you know, trying to put, you know, with the Kamala, for example, you know, she was trying to say, oh, you know, we push, you know, Kamala In she won the primary. It’s just such a crock. So that infuriates me. And it just infuriates me how they govern, you know, they put a bunch of stuff into a bill and then pass it within a couple hours. Like, I think it’s freaking absurd, like, I’m sorry, like things should be passed, like within a few pages, there shouldn’t be hundreds of pages that we try to ram through just to put a bunch of BS together. And it just infuriates me. We got them sorry. I know I went over. It just really infuriates me. So I’m watching you guys and Abigail, you’re nodding more than anyone else here. What specifically frustrates you about Congress today,

Congress won’t pass common sense bills that are introduced by the other side, just so that the other side doesn’t get a win, even when those bills would be good for the country. That’s depressing.

Mark. You agree with that. Yeah, I agree. And I think the other thing that frustrates me is just seeing how much I think more than half percent of Congress are millionaires, and seeing how much all of us are struggling, and how much of them they enrich themselves they care about reelection. And like you said, common sense bills that would help us don’t get passed so they don’t have any interest in helping us

out. Laura and Joseph, you’re both nodding as well. Is it what they do? Is it what they don’t do? That bothers you more?

Um, what kind of what a little mix of both. I mean, what they do, and I’m not a pocket watcher, but what Mark said they’re millionaires, and that’s why I said they’re not representative, because they don’t face the same issues that we do. And they’re actors. They’re not like Abigail said, they’re they’re performers, they’re not legislators. It’s unfortunate to see,

yeah, I agree with that. They’re unrepresentative of our US citizens, and then more than that, they also aren’t very good at responding to their constituents, and that’s really frustrating to you, and you’re supposed to be.

Champion, you know, the poor champion, everyone in the US,

and so that’s really hard to see as someone who’s watching Congress sitting their high seats and ignoring all the US, citizens, their needs. Who’s, who’s, it’s me, Miss Crockett. I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde, bad, built Bush body that would not be engaging in personalities correct A what now,

Chairman, I make a motion to strike those words. I don’t think that’s trying to find clarification on what you

just said. We’re not gonna we’re not gonna do this. Look you guys earlier, literally.

Calm down. Calm down. No no because

you’re yelling. Calm down. Please calm down. Me to calm down. Calm down, and then you’re out of control.

I mean, it’s just, it’s just unproductive for America. I mean, you talk about building women up, and you’re watching two grown women go at it on the House floor about eyelashes and badly built bodies. I mean, is this really what we’re doing here? Do you Do you know what we’re here for? You know we’re here.

You know what you’re here for? Well, you don’t want to talking about I think your fake eyelashes are messing up

order. Mr. Chairman,

order of your committee. Order, please. There’s a point of order. We have a point of order. Mr. Lynch, state your point. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to ask the parliamentarian if your conduct here in raising money in connection with this hearing is referable to the Ethics Committee. Within this hearing is a motion in order to refer your conduct

and your abuse of not a point of order. I do have a point of order, and I would like to move to take down Miss Green’s words.

That is absolutely unacceptable. How dare you

are your feelings, her words down. Oh, girl, baby girl, oh, really, don’t even play, baby girl, we are gonna move and we’re gonna take your words down. I second that motion. Yeah, I think I just hate how they pass the buck on to other branches of government. You know what the Democrats yell about restoring Roe v Wade, but you know, they’ve had united control government two or three times since Obama was president. They could have codified roe at any point, and you know that, and they blame the Supreme Court instead. And want to you know, someone introduced legislation last week to pack the Supreme Court, and, oh, partially over Roe, but partially over the presidential immunity decision. And I think it’s just ridiculous. George, something specific that really bothers you about Congress. I think all the riders attached to all the bills, I mean, ever since the inflation Reduction Act, which, I mean, I don’t know what it did to reduce inflation, considering it went up afterwards. It’s looking at green energy, you know, frivolous taxes, I mean, a bunch of other stuff that didn’t influence relation, yeah, didn’t reduce inflation. And top that, you said a billion different riders to satisfy all these, you know, weirdos in Congress. Like, it’s just nuts.

These weirdos in Congress. You think Congress are weirdos? George, have you seen Matt gates? Have you seen a faceless on

it’s like

they’re nuts. Does anyone want to add to that? I’m going to keep going specifically, but you use the phrase weirdos. Does anyone have a want to be provocative? They’re weird as hell. I will say Congress is, I mean, I don’t want to say they’re scary, but it’s like, granted, that’s probably the way that they’re the most representative of America, because Americans are kind of weird. So, I mean, I will give them that, but I mean,

I don’t know. I just don’t think they’re efficient, and they don’t use their tax dollars wisely.

Okay, Mark, be specific. What bothers you the most about Congress, what legislation, what they’ve done or they haven’t done? I think thing in general that frustrates me is when you see bills that are voted on, and you see is completely by party lines, like you can’t tell me, every single Democrat agrees with this, and every single Republican is opposed, and it’s just shows that they’re more interested in party lines. They don’t want to have an add on against them that says, Oh, I Voted against this. And they’re not interested in actually meeting together and communicating. They’re interested in helping the party out and helping themselves. Laura, I’m sorry. Lillian, go ahead. Yeah, the thing that bothers me about Congress is the way that they write bills, especially about like spending. I think that they write way too long of spending bills, and it’s not clear. It’s not easy for the average American to understand where our tax dollars are going.

Thing, and it’s more of like a PR Spin, spin opportunity for you know, different parties to basically, like point fingers at the other people.

Okay, I’m afraid to do this, but Jack, you have to answer this in 15 seconds or less. Go ahead. They’re all bought. I think it infuriates me. They all passed up for the what that, what their donors, not what their what their constituents want. And I also think the conduct of Congress is repulsive in what way Jack. I don’t think they act like actual Americans trying to have a conversation. They’re trying to just win every argument and not have substantive debates. And it’s very, very enological, because if I acted like that in my workplace, I would certainly be fired, and there’s no consequences in the chambers.

Let’s say that Congress is listening to you right now. They’re right behind the screen, and you can tell them anything you want, but do so in no more than three sentences. Mark, you’re up. Congress is listening. You’re speaking to them directly, and you have three sentences, what do you tell them?

Stop enriching yourselves. Pass bills that we actually care about and act like an adult human being. McClain,

take more courageous votes. Don’t just focus on getting reelected. Jack,

split up your coalition so everyone can be an independent thinker and actually vote on things that they actually think about, instead of just going along with the party lines and cut out the rest of the BS. Chris, start acting like adults, stop buying stocks that you know are going to blow up in two weeks, and stop blaming other branches of government for your problem. Excuse you. Pelosi, stock record is terrific.

That’s a coincidence. I’m sure.

Aisha, maybe start doing something productive for once and stop Dean fighting.

Laura,

listen to your constituents and stop receiving your own personal goals. Joseph, I would ask them to meet tomorrow in the House chamber and watch the debate from last night, because that’s how adults are supposed to talk to each other.

Angelo, I would say, grow the hell up. Stop acting like children and represent your constituents. Lillian,

I would say, put your pride aside and stop spending our money on stupid stuff. And pierce Get your shit together before we the people, tell you you’re fired. That was awful. Arguably, that was one of the worst responses I’ve received in my 35 years of doing focus groups and discussions about topics like Congress, the members will be upset, and they should be, but let’s go to an institution that’s also controversial at this moment, the Supreme Court,

I want to focus on the other key institution that we’ve not spoken about, the Supreme Court in a sentence or two maximum mark. What is your evaluation of the supreme court right now,

we need an enforceable code of ethics, because they can’t be held accountable right now. McLean, excellent.

Jack, corrupt.

Jack, you ate everyone and everything. I want to just break everything and start

Okay, Jack, we’re going to need to call the cops so, so don’t open your door if they knock tonight. Abigail, that’s between a rock and a hard place right now. Aisha, um,

I’ll say for now. Decent

Joseph, you’re

doing what they’re intended to do. They’re doing their job. Pierce, they’re okay, but we can’t pack the court, and we can’t change the court. Angelo, we really do need term limits, but I do agree we should not pack the court.

So let me ask you, the court is deliberately sheltered from the American people by design. Does the Supreme Court understand you do? Then represent you

do? They do their jobs the way that they are meant to be done? Do you feel like

they’re a working institution based on how they’re designed to work? Lillian, go ahead, I do not need the Supreme Court to understand me, because I need them to understand the Constitution and write opinions that understand the Constitution and they don’t have to care about me. McLean, you’re applauding.

I agree with every single word she said that Supreme Court, they are not our elected officials. Their job is to interpret the law, not make law. And how are they doing? They’re doing a fabulous job. Mark, you’re.

Up. Um, they’re sheltered from us. But I don’t think it’s right that there’s an argument every four years about which president is going to be in power. In case one leaves it shows their bias when you’re hoping that they’re going to go out while your party’s in power, so you can get either conservative or liberal. Judge

me unbiased. And how does that manifest itself, and what it’s done over the last few years?

Um, I just think with some decisions, and also, just like you’re hearing stuff about Clarence Thomas just getting paid stuff bought for by I can’t remember the guy’s name, and I just think it’s not a good system if you’re hoping that one is going to pass away or retire while your party’s in power. So you can get a bias judge your way on both sides, whether it’s a Democrat or Republican, it should be a completely unbiased judge. It is clearly biased if a party is picking it at this point. Laura, do you think the Supreme Court is clearly biased? Yes, when I recompute, as Mark said, that’s why I said, why my word was biased. Because we value so much whether it’s Democrat or Republican who gets that seat, and we shouldn’t, if it should just be, you know, reciting the Constitution and verifying that they fall constitutional how the Constitution is written and just interpret it. But unfortunately, it’s not so you think they’re failing. Do you have any specific example

when I say that’s more on an individual level than as a whole.

Chris, go ahead,

I really appreciate, and I think Alexander Hamilton the Federalist Papers really, really put it well on the counter majoritarian

job that the Supreme Court has. And I think the public and I think I agree that it’s become very politicized. I think the public lacks a lot of understanding on what goes into judicial decisions. You know, it’s not you know that. I don’t know Samuel alitos opinion on abortion, but I know what he thinks about the specific provision in the Constitution that green lighted roe. Roe v Wade. So I think that there’s a big disconnect right now between what the public thinks the court does and what it actually does, and who’s wrong to you, the public or the court.

I think the public is but I think it’s really exacerbated by the politicians, specifically members of Congress. I think that some incredibly important decisions have come out, like Trump the USA, Trump the Anderson, and those opinions were not as helpful as I was hoping for them to be, but I also understand how politically careful they have to be right now, and so I, and I’m not smart enough to come up with an alternative. So, so, so you all know that Donald Trump was charged again, and that the accusations have been unsealed today about his behavior, and the question is whether he has executive privilege or not, and the Supreme Court says that if he was acting in his job as president, he has mostly immunity. Is that the correct decision to you, or is that a political decision to you? Chris, go ahead and if anyone else wants to comment, put your hand up. But Chris, go ahead on that one.

Yeah, I think it’s the right decision, and I’m very critical of Trump, but I think that the President has authority that ultimately, you know, can’t be can’t be stopped by criminal actions. You know, on the flip side, you know, would you support President Obama being prosecuted for bombing an American citizen in the Middle East? I think that we can all agree that that shouldn’t be the case. So I do agree. I had a little bit of problems with some of the intricacies of the decision, but ultimately, I think it is important that the presidents do have some sort of immunity for official acts. Well, well and power, George, should the President have immunity? Was the Supreme Court Correct? Yeah. And enact enroll as president, yeah. I mean, the President should not have to worry about our especially law, happy society, United States, they should be, you know, above that, they should be able to focus on their job as president, since it is the most important job in the world.

Jasper, your reaction?

Um, yeah, I think it was the right decision. But it worries me that people find it,

political, or have to,

you know,

wonder if it’s biased, because this should just be common sense. This should be bipartisan, but it’s not.

And Abigail Go ahead, I think it is the right decision, because political problems should have political solutions, not criminal solutions, and I don’t want us to head down a road where political problems are resolved with criminal with criminal consequences. So as a way to wrap this up, let’s say the nine justices are listening to this conversation right now. I.

In three senses or less. Give them advice.

If you had the chance to speak to them about how they should do their jobs or about their communication, what would you say if the Supreme Court were listening to you right now? Mark, you start.

I’d say don’t be a conservative judge. Don’t be a liberal judge. Be a judge that interprets the Constitution and each decision independently.

Follow the rule of the law. Don’t pay attention to outside forces. Joseph, only let the Constitution influence your decision, not a political party or politician. Angelo,

follow the Constitution and do not follow your own ideology or beliefs. Chris,

I would say, What, while you know, outside of the the term you know, go speak to the public more. Go to events that people can attend to learn more about what the court does, and also write your opinions in a way for normal people and non lawyers to understand equally as well. Aisha, I would say, Judge according to the Constitution, and don’t let like your other ideals influence your decision, Pierce, be fair and partial, and always follow the Constitution. I would tell them to keep on grinding and that they need a new PR team.

Maybe I can get hired George,

I’d say watch out for what gifts you take from your friends.

And Jack, focus on interpreting the Constitution. Stay as far away from the capital as possible, unless it’s necessary, and don’t accept any big thing from big money. Not bad, frankly, pretty good among these younger voters who see the Supreme Court as being necessary, but it just has to remain non political. Our last institution we talked about was capitalism. And here, too, some criticisms, but a pretty positive review. Let’s listen in two senses or less, when you hear the word capitalism, what do you think, Jack? I’m going to start with you

opportunity.

Abigail,

incredible at increasing the prosperity for everybody. Mark, it’s not the best system. It’s not the worst system, and I think we need to be open about debating its positives and its flaws and not be stuck in our bubbles. George,

the greatest creation of humanity.

Aisha,

fair chance to go from rags to riches. Laura, it allows individuals to achieve their dreams.

Joseph, a rising tide lifts all boat.

Chris,

the most humane economic system the world has ever seen Lillian, the epitome of freedom and liberty, pierce the American dream.

Angelo. It could be better

Jasper.

It’s better than what came before it. But I still hope that someday we can surpass it

for the most part, that is for the most part, that is a resounding endorsement at a time when inflation is pretty high, at a time when economic in

321,

a very strong endorsement for most of you,

but it’s at a time of high inflation. It’s at a time of economic insecurity. The public does think the economy is getting better, but they’re not convinced that they themselves are benefiting from it. Please. Why are you so positive when so many Americans are so negative? Anybody?

I think, when it comes to capitalism, I mean, you look at this period of high inflation, it’s mostly due to the stimulus checks we passed during covid, which is unprecedented. That’s not a fault due to capitalism. It’s a fault to our monetary policy. And ultimately, that’s a failure of the Federal Reserve. I mean, when it comes to capitalism, there’s no other system in the world has brought as many, you know, life and dreams in many people life. I mean, you can look at the average salary, average wage growth, I mean, across every single developed nation in the world, and see how much capitalism has brought it up, as opposed the authoritarians of, you know, the 1800s I mean, it’s a miracle. Somebody else,

I have a lot of friends from international countries, and they come to my university to study because of the opportunities here. And one thing that they all localize that there aren’t opportunities back home for them, they came here to this capitalist society because they see a chance to grow and succeed.

Just to say, like I know, that this is from.

Have Faith This is just a tough time, but not a tough era, and that we can change things and make the economy better.

Yeah, I’m piggybacking off of all those points. I don’t think there’s many places in the world that have different economic systems that you can go, grow up, come from, maybe not a super wealthy community, and then grow up and become what you want to be it does take a lot of hard work, and sometimes the spots are stacked against you, but in a capitalist system, you are able to make it happen. You can’t say that for a lot of different economic systems around the world.

Anyone else?

Joseph, well, I would say we, we cut a peninsula in half as a humanity. And the north part of that Peninsula is dark when you look at it, the south part of Korea is bright in the satellite view. I think that says a lot about capitalism versus the alternative.

Go ahead. Oh, no. I was just saying, I live in Miami, and, you know, there’s a lot, there’s a very big Cuban population here, and they’ll talk to you about what it was like growing up in under Castro’s Cuba under other countries and South America, Venezuela being a big one right now. Very relevant one right now. And you know, I think I would rather be poor, middle class and upper class in America than I would any other country.

How many you agree with that? Raise your hands.

Okay. Again, that’s most of you.

That’s a great way to end a conversation on I don’t know if you realize this, Congress, the courts and capitalism, the three Cs that so often get forgotten, but clearly you remember them, and I appreciate your point of view.

And they have it, three essential institutions, Congress, the courts and capitalism, all three of them at the core of what American democracy means, and all three of them at the center of the debate as we approach election day. I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and on behalf of America, speaks here at straight arrow news. Keep listening and keep your head up. You.