Podcast Ep. 51 | Too Close for Missiles
In this episode, Andy & Scott are joined by Commander Scott Downey, USN, Retired, for what starts out as a discussion of current events and the run-off election but what ends up being a rather vulnerable conversation between a liberal and a conservative.
Articles Discussed
hat Oklahomans Are Telling Their Legislators
State office independents running as a team on open government
Education funding remains a contentious debate
Oklahoma gave Boeing $90 million in incentive money, along with a few other breaks
Pruitt Watch
EPA watchdog faults Scott Pruitt's $3.5 million security costs
Take-aways
Honestly, the main takeaway from this episode is that most Oklahomans probably agree on a surprising number of political policies.
A point of personal privilege, from Andy: Over the past couple of years, I've grown to respect Scott Downey an awful lot. He's about twenty years older than I am, so his perspective on marriage, parenting, and navigating the workplace are personally valuable to me. Additionally, he is a former Navy fighter pilot with combat experience and, at one time, held the record for the most landings on an aircraft carrier. Those stories are very different...many funny, many inspiring, and many others just incredibly painful. General Sherman famously said "War is hell," and based on some of the stories I've heard from Commander Downey, that quote is completely true.
Scott and I would often discuss the current political climate in Oklahoma before class, and while we certainly butted heads on a few issues, we found that we agreed on policy just as often as we disagreed. Perhaps more importantly, we both made a point to listen to the other person's perspective and work to find common ground. I think we both hoped to change the other person's mind on certain issues, so we started with what we had in common first and then worked on the peripheral stuff. Did it always work? Certainly not! But we both have a better understanding of the other side, we're still friends, and our friendship is stronger because of it.
Update 9/8/18 @ 10:00am - I just received the following text message from Scott Downey, and am sharing it here with his permission:
I read your take aways at 12:41 AM, almost texted you then. That's some of the nicest things anyone's ever said about me although you give me l more credit than I'm due. And your readers, donors, board members, listeners should know that my reasonable, courteous discussions with you have altered my positions on many things, some large some small - I would say this shows that Lets Fix This is effective.
