Radio CG 14: Election Week Edition

As the music blaring at the beginning of the show suggested, we’ve definitely hit The Final Countdown portion of this very exciting (and intense, and at times scary) election. Today the guys discussed mandates, gun control, and even the polls – as well as what the country might look like once all the votes are in and counted.

Should Masks Be Mandated?

Masks work. They’re not 1000% effective – nothing is – but they help, and if we all wore them we’d probably have a lot more citizens with us today. So why not mandate it? Dean shares the viewpoint of a conservative friend who does wear a mask: “I wear one…I just don’t want the government mandating it.” The idea being, trust me to do the right thing. Do not force it.

That begs the question: what about seatbelts? Those are mandated. They are also part of public safety. And oddly enough, they also drew a lot of backlash before just becoming part of our regular driving lives.

Gun Control

We’ll be honest: the topic of guns came up because an awful lot of people are worried about what might happen after the election. Folks want to protect their homes and themselves. The guys discussed the castle doctrine and how different states might choose to support or persecute those who opt to defend themselves.

We did find common ground here: If someone breaks in to your home or business, you should absolutely do whatever you need to do to protect yourself.

The Polls

We closed out with a lot of chatter about how the polls are tilting…and what it might mean if they’re wrong. Everyone was so sure Clinton would win in 2016 – the polls said she would! – and the added difficulty of the pandemic means polls may not be as correct as we hope.

• Do polls encourage people not to vote? In some cases, polls were blamed for Clinton’s loss; she was viewed as so far ahead, voters who may not have been all in on her simply didn’t care enough to go out and cast a vote.
• Do polls present an accurate picture? One poll says Biden’s going to sweep. Another says Trump will win big. It boils down to who you’re asking and what your methods are.

Regardless of who’s winning at the polls, what matters is who’s winning after election day…maybe way after election day, as it will take time to tally up all the absentee and mail-in ballots. People are bracing themselves for a long wait.

We hope you’re planning to or already have voted in this election. As long as you’re casting your ballot and using your voice, heck, that’s democracy right there, isn’t it? And that’s a beautiful thing.

Stay safe and be well. We’ll see you next Saturday.