Cedar Park Local

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Cedar Park Local E7.   
Why government keeps growing
Our responsibility as the governed
Practical steps on how one can help 

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Contact me at [email protected]

[00:00:02] Unknown:

Hello, friends,   and welcome to the Cedar Park   local podcast episode number seven   for Monday, 05/19/2025.   I'm your host, Cash Normandy.   On today's agenda   is primarily   giving some insight   to my motivation for starting this podcast.   As I have previously   as I have previously mentioned,   I was   motivated by Adam Curry and his vision of, hyperlocal podcasting.   And as as it overlaps with podcasting two point o and value for value,   it's,   it's a it's it's it's really a a brilliant   understanding of,   of the broadcast   ecosystem,   the sort of the pulse of the culture where we're at currently,   the state of our government and country,   and, and and and even sort of the broader arc of history. It's   it's a brilliantly,   it's a very astute   approach. So   it   it really spoke to me. And as a result, I, started doing this podcast.  

And these,   first many episodes are largely for practice,   allowing me to   sort of develop   my, technical,   skill set with respect to the editing software and and the microphones and hardware and the interfaces and these things,   and hopefully getting to know other people in this,   space   and learning some best best practices.   Anyway, so that that was,   the origins of,   how I ended up doing a podcast because I really had never had any intention of it. I   I, enjoyed listening to Rogan and Friedman   and all the big, the big names and thought what they were doing is brilliant,   but it was never something I had,   envisioned for myself.  

And,   and I've also become interested in the   the nature of,   government, community,   and what we can do,   to make a difference   in in the direction the country is going.   So   so these two kinda came together. That's why when I heard, Adam on, Rogan's podcast,   most recently   mentioned the hyperlocal,   podcast approach, it it made sense to me and seemed like a worthwhile endeavor for me to pursue.   So so today, I like to go over   some of what I have   sort of sussed out in terms   of my approach   to dealing with government,   community,   and,   and our responsibilities   as as the governed.  

First,   I think there's a couple of,   sort of axioms that we have to deal with   and understand   in order to lay the foundation for   how I approach   this the solution that I'm gonna propose.   One, government is a course of enterprise. That means governments have,   what they say is typically called the monopoly on force, and they can force the governed, the people to do things. They require it through laws, regulations, so on and so forth. It is a coercive enterprise   as opposed to persuasive enterprises, which is   really what's expected of   all other sort of relationships in a free enterprise system, is that it is persuasive.  

You voluntarily engage in commerce and conduct and affiliation with with other people.   And   and and that is fundamentally different from the government enterprise, which is coercive.   They   tell you what to do, and you have to do it. Otherwise, there's consequences.   And government is inclined towards growth.   It it is by its very nature, it tries to get bigger,   and   and the governed   have to contribute to this, typically through taxes.   And these are the two very fundamental   elements of government.   It is coercive   and inclined towards growth.   Because of this,   the government, the people, us, we have to work.  

And I emphasize the word work. Effort, work,   energy over time. What was it? What is the physics definition of work?   I think it's energy over time.   And,   so we have to work to limit the size of government. Otherwise, it will just keep growing.   There are certain functions which are necessary   for society   to work well,   and these are the functions   we give to government   Because of its nature, because of the government's nature towards,   one being fundamentally coercive, two,   inclining towards growth,   we have to limit those functions as much as possible.   It's a tough question.  

And and the question must be,   must   this function be done by government? Does the government have to do this?   And, really, we have to go with have to, not would it be nice. It would be convenient. It would be great.   Only if   that's usually a bad test. If you give government certain powers to do certain things,   because wouldn't it be nice   if this problem just magically got solved by, quote, unquote, the government. Usually not usually, almost always,   this is a failure. And if it's not initially a failure, eventually becomes a failure because of these two   parallel tracks   of coercion and growth, which is the nature of government. We understand that as its nature.  

We   make the government because it is necessary. And then we have to give it very minimal functions,   fundamentals   of keeping society together.   Otherwise,   we have to find another way of   solving problems and doing things. The government is is the answer to very few things.   So you can't   you can't set it and forget it, like,   Ron Pope Eals,   Ronco Showtime Rotisserie. I had to look it up. I couldn't remember what it was, but set it and forget it. That is exactly what you can't do with government. You cannot set it and forget it. It will grow out of control.   Left unchecked,   government will keep growing and growing and amass more power and eventually consume   all of the government.  

And by consume,   I mean,   consume all of their liberty,   all of their,   you know, freedoms and ability associate. Eventually, it just takes it all over and becomes   authoritative monster.   But this is not surprising. This is foreseeable. It makes perfect sense. We know it's coming because we know that's the nature of government.   We have to actively limit it. You'd make it.   You set it. Definitely don't forget it. And then you have to actively work   to have it   function   well and stay limited and keep those course of powers   in check.  

So then the question is, alright. You know, what can I do and how much time is it gonna take?   Because, Kosh, I got   Netflix to watch.   I got   I got bad media and bad food to consume.   So   you better not take away from from those basic   fundamental pleasures in life.   Force me to spend my time. I don't wanna be a politician, Cash.   I understand.   I don't either, actually.   I like to spend   my time   consuming   media and delicious food if I can also.   I just try to limit it to healthier versions if I can.   So   based on my calculations,   and I am,   I have   the the background and the capacity and the technical knowledge to apply some serious science to this. I've, used the Pythagorean theorem. I've applied the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to it, and I have done a lot of, Euclidean geometry.  

And, I even looked up some old DaVinci stuff and applied that to it just to make sure   that, the scope, the breadth, and depth of my analysis is complete.   And and so the number I came up with is   5%   of your waking hours.   Sixteen hours are waking if you're sleeping eight. 16 times seven is what is it? Let me see my calculations here. I can't do this Top of my head. Hundred and twelve hours.   So we have a hundred and twelve waking hours a week.   You gotta spend 5% of that   towards civics and governance.   Otherwise,   you will be consumed   by your government.  

5% is not a lot. That leaves you the other 95%   to do whatever else you want, typically working and then doing some leisure stuff. And that's the whole point. That's the whole point. If you wanna spend 95% of your time   doing the   free   to be free to do what you want, you have to spend the other 5%   checking government, paying attention to government. Otherwise,   it will grow out of control,   and it will start to encroach on your other 95%   to a degree which you can't even imagine. You think 5% is too much?   Before you know it, it's gonna be flipped. You'll be 95%   doing what the government tells you and 5% of the time wondering what the hell's happening.  

So based on my   scientific,   analytical,   rigorous process,   it's 5%. That's the answer. The answer is 5%.   That's how much of your waking time   you have to spend. That comes out to five hours a week. Sounds like a lot. That's only 5% of your waking time.   You can do forty five minutes a day, an hour a day.   You can do,   you know, designate one one person do ten hours.   Out of two people, one person does ten hours a week. And then the next,   two weeks later or whatever, the other person does ten hours,   you can get a group of people. And amongst you   get,   out of 10 people, you pick one and they make that their job.  

You know. That's   it's called politics, you know. That's make their part time job or whatever, side job. So there are ways of doing this   and,   where it   it it doesn't have to be every day.   But you could spend, you know, thirty, forty five minutes a day   paying attention to what's happening,   helping keep your government in check,   and   and making, making your world and your kids' futures better.   And   and that's the price,   you know, that's that that we have to pay. That is a, that's a fair price for a free society.   But if you don't pay it,   someone else isn't gonna pay it. For evil to triumph,   good men need only do nothing.  

If we just   remain passive,   people who are inclined towards power,   people who are inclined towards wanting to control other people   will gravitate   towards positions in government,   and they will   very happily   exploit the government's nature towards coercion and growth.   So you have   individuals   whose   natural propensity   is towards exercising controls over their   fellow   man as opposed   to voluntary,   relationships. They like telling people what to do.   You end up with them in government, and the nature of government as a as a as an entity, as an enterprise, is towards coercion and growth. And you have this marriage   made in hell   of power hungry people   in   a coercion   based enterprise,   and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And that's how we end up where we're at. So   we gotta work at it. You gotta spend your time. You gotta do your 5%   and   and keep government in check   and keep it working better.  

So in that 5%, what can you do? First things first,   community. It's a weird word. I have,   I have   I was   I have generally not had a good,   sort of vibe on the word community. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm an introverted person by nature and community   smacked of   mandatory events where I had to go to and be uncomfortable with. I'm not sure.   I am, however,   aware now and understand better that the term community   means many things. I have   experienced   community in   in the arena of sports,   like judo, which is what I like to practice, and there's a judo community   often referred to as a family around a a dojo. And so I kinda reflected back on on on many things I do in life that involve,   other people. And these are all different communities. And and and once I looked at it that way, I realized,   that it is just something I've been participating in my whole life. Yeah. I've been a member of multiple communities.  

And   and anyway, so that's, that sort of   adjusted my framework. So the first thing you have to do is community, which means you gotta talk to your neighbors. Your neighbors, by definition,   have shared interest.   We all live in the same geographical area, which means we are subject to the same taxing bodies. We are generally subject to the same,   regulations, municipal, state,   county, whatnot. And   by the fact that   because of our proximity, we are subject to the same governmental regulations, we have the shared interest in how those things are run.   So first thing is talk to your neighbors   and,   and and get a get a dialogue going and and an ability to communicate.  

So once you get to know your neighbors now, you're able to at least,   overlap some of that,   some of that information, some of that thinking.   You know, earlier, I was talking about people who are inclined towards power   and and and and and inclination towards controlling others.   The main,   opposition to and the and the main force that that they have to contend with as, aspiring tyrants   is,   organized communities   and and communities that are organized typically around a church or some house of worship. This is the the historical,   focal points.  

I grew up, in Chicago,   and,   and Chicago has a lot of distinct,   immigrant neighborhoods. And you can see the houses of worship that those communities built when they came. And it's it's it's you go to the, as you visit the neighborhoods,   many of them have changed, and the and the waves of immigrants have moved out of the city into the suburbs. Now there's, like, different suburbs with distinctive immigrant   backgrounds.   However, their houses of worship that they built,   remain.   And on the North Side Of Chicago where I I lived,   when I was young, on the corner of my street was a synagogue.  

And   the neighborhood at that time, this is in the eighties, was   largely   Indian   and South Asian, Indian. And,   but there was a synagogue because,   some   what?   That would have been probably eighty years earlier. It was largely a Jewish neighborhood.   And East European Jews   had immigrated through South Side Of Chicago, and from there to the North Side Of Chicago, and then from there   to the Northern Suburbs.   These are descendants,   generational shifts.   And,   so and the end of my block was a synagogue that eventually end up it was mostly closed. There had had really no,   no people attending to it. I I just saw caretakers and things, and that was about the only people I saw there.  

Eventually got sold.   But going further,   further down, there there was a small,   portion of the old traditional Jewish neighborhood that was still there, and they had,   like, the last Jewish bookstore   was   on,   nearby. And, there was a couple of Jewish delis were still kinda around because, even though the Jewish neighborhood had shrunk,   it was still they had some people there, particularly an orthodox community, which   maybe they were less more reluctant to   move. And, so they hung around, but the deli was there. So that was a good place to get some,   good sandwiches.  

Anyway, I digress.   The houses of worship were built by these immigrant communities   because   that was,   understood as a fundamental,   way of   so, for social cohesion.   And   and for for the would be tyrants, that is   the the biggest problem is a is a cohesive community   that is paying attention and can keep them in check.   And that's, I guess, the whole point of this podcast is to   promote   and   foster   a community,   a sense of community, an actual community, a dialogue in the community   of,   Cedar Park   and maybe Round Rock   and and, Leander since they're our neighbors.   And   and there has been a great deal of,   influx.  

And   there's a lot of people have have come to Texas,   basically fleeing   poorly run,   states like New York, Illinois, and California.   And and   us   I'm one of them. And us,   mixing with the   with the the people who are, here before us, the local Texans,   and   the sense of community   that we need to develop and foster. And hopefully using these new technologies and this vision of of   of,   podcasting two point o, the podcast index   that,   Adam and Dave,   maintain.   And,   and just sort of this all seems to   kinda melt together in my mind as a sensible way forward as our answer on the ground level of how we deal with because everybody can feel the country is going in the wrong direction.   This is this is it's palpable.  

Everybody I talk to doesn't think it's going the right way. Most people I speak to don't know quite how to fix it.   To keep us from becoming   a cohesive   and   organized   threat   to tyranny.   The government wants to grow.   The power hungry people that tend towards government   want it to grow.   The biggest threat to them   is an organized, informed,   and active community.   And the best way to prevent that   from happening is to keep people   divided   through rancor,   Point out the divisions,   race based divisions,   religion based divisions,   political based divisions, even though the difference between the two parties is almost nothing.  

And they all,   you know, the uni party as it's called. They make government bigger.   They make budgets bigger, and   they're they're almost   exclusively,   beholden to somebody else besides the constituents. Like, the population   is for sure, like, number six on their,   on their who the hell they care about,   with the exception of,   Thomas Massey and probably Ron Paul, Rand Paul Randopaul.   And, and Rand Paul's retired. But, there are just these couple of exceptions which appear to be true patriotic Americans   that,   that really care about the country.   Everyone else is caring about who knows what.  

It's it's bizarre.   But   but in order for us to,   to build a community, we need to get past those   intentionally,   intentionally   fostered divisions.   We have so much more in common.   And,   all the Trump supporters and all the Biden supporters and the Bernie supporters and all of these people have so much more in common. Just, like, 99.98%   in common than what they don't have in common.   It's,   and it is it is, remarkable   how these divisions have been formed   and fostered. And and but I understand the origins of it is because it's profitable.   It makes,   you know, it makes for good clicks, so it makes the media companies money. It makes the, the politically powerful people happy because it keeps the constituents divided and prevents them from forming communities.  

And,   and I hope to, in my little way, counter that and foster the building of community   using this,   local podcast model   and   this sort of infrastructure   and vision that,   that Adam came up with   that I think is,   is at least one viable path forward.   And   if,   if we are to,   if we are to keep this republic.   So building community and, spending the five, 5% of your working hours, that's that's my solution so far. I can probably get a little more specific. I'll come up with, like, a matrix or something, maybe apply some more of my,   Euclidean,   geometry to it and   and see if I can come up with,   like, Andrew Huberman does really good protocols. You know? He he likes to read those wonky papers   and and just go through all that,   scientific data, which is just mind numbingly   difficult for most people to read through. But he loves doing it. And and if I remember him correctly saying in Rogan's podcast, I used to do it when he was a kid. He just loved digesting,   just dense scientific data and then distilling it in what he calls protocols in actionable ways, which is brilliant because that's what I love. Because I'm not gonna be reading scientific papers, but I'd love it if you can give me a couple two, three pointers on what to follow.  

Get some light in the morning, get some ground contact in the morning, and, you know,   don't eat a bunch of sugar first thing in the morning. I can follow those simple protocols. And if that helps me out the rest of the day, thank you very much. I didn't have to read, you know, whatever study was out of Stanford.   So   hopefully, I can apply some of my,   some of my ability to distill   to a,   to some actionable,   some actionable,   you know, protocols, I guess. Maybe you can call them. Do some protocols and and be able to,   get a formula and maybe a matrix for how to spend those that that 5%. But but you gotta spend the five we gotta spend the 5%. It's gonna take 5%. That's not a lot. 95% of your waking time could be spent,   on on whatever you choose. That's the whole point. But if you wanna keep that 95%,   you gotta spend that 5%.  

We have to work together.   We have to,   limit the size of government, shrink it. We gotta shrink it now. It's just it's gone so big. It's it's, become insanely inefficient.   And   we have to shrink it, get it back down to a proper size, keep it there,   and, you know, we gotta take care of our neighbors.   The people are in need. Try and help them out. We have to find ways of taking care of each other, not expecting the government to do it because the government will not do a good job of it. It'll just grow and grow and grow.   And I think that's it for today.  

Hopefully, I can get out, out and about in the street and see if I can do some, local business,   interviews.   I really need to get better at that. Actually, I just need to do it. I haven't done it at all because I don't have a microphone that's,   portable. I just have this mic that sits on a stand,   and, this is, I guess, the   the beginning   the beginning,   bootstrap setup. So   maybe a little couple more pieces of gear I can I can do something   mobile?   Alright. Housekeeping.   So podcasting two point o with Adam Curry and, Dave Jones.   You can visit, the podcastindex.org.  

I, guarantee you when I,   when I if and when I receive anything of value of that that I can that I can forward or at least bifurcate,   give give a chunk   of to, to them? Because I I read somewhere   and I forgot which one. There was a lot of resources that, Adam has on on the various platforms that he's involved with. And one of them had to do with the value for value, the the payment system, the lightning   network, and and I must have been I don't have that set up yet, and I'm   not fully,   proficient and well versed on that. Actually, well versed. I'm proficient.   And,   but there was a way where you could automatically, you could set it up. So if you receive the donation from someone, you could set it up where 20% automatically went one way, another 10% went another way. So you could the the donations could be auto split   to support the things that,   you find,   useful.  

So for sure, I would do if I would get a donation, for sure, I would send 20% to a pot tech pot podcast index Org because they are the   they're they're the lifeline.   They are the only not big government   index and which is the linchpin,   the keystone,   you know, the the key to it all, if you will, of   of a free   free broadcasting, really.   It is,   dumb.   So   my contact email is [email protected],   and   you can,   send me email if you see if something of interest, and I will do my best to   make sense of it, Share it. If you got a local business you think I should check out,   drop me a line and, if I have a good experience,   I'll share it. If not, I'll keep it to myself.  

Okay, friends. You've done it again. You've wasted a perfectly good hour listening to this nonsense.   Remember that we are given a short amount of time   in this world.   Life is short.   Take more risks. Do difficult things.   Be kind to your neighbor.   Don't get angry at the guy who cuts you off   when you're out in traffic. You don't know what they're going through. You don't know if they're going through a hospital   because there's a loved one on their deathbed.   Thank you for listening. Till next time. Bye bye.