Deval Patrick: "A Reason to Believe"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-04-14/deval-patrick-reason-believe
Deval Patrick is the first to admit his rise to power was improbable. Massachusett’s first African-American governor escaped a difficult childhood on the south side of Chicago to an elite boarding school in New England. After Harvard law school, he traveled from relief work in Africa to the boardrooms of America’s largest companies. Despite a lifetime of success, Deval Patrick has struggled with political missteps, his wife’s public battle with depression, and a tough re-election campaign. Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick talks with Diane on his unlikely path to politics and a friendship with Barack Obama.
Guests
Deval Patrick
governor of Massachusetts
Comments
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I am confused about the Bush tax cuts which have never been paid for. Why is it so hard to understand that you do not go on a spending spree for the top 2% then turn around and tell the rest of American to do with less? It is a fact that this policy has created the problem not solved it. Trick down econmoics has failed the middle class. To be more accurate it is trickle up econmocis. Take for the middle class and give to the rich in hopes that they will create jobs. Jobs nor salaries increased during the last decade. How is this a successful economic model unless you are he top 2% which saw dramatic increases in income due in part to the redistrution of wealth.
As far as vouchers for Medicare and Medcaid. It is a fact that cost have incresased more in a private insurance than under Medcaid. How is going to the private model benefiting senoirs?
Thank you,
Woody Jones
Charlotte NC
Well Woody the top 2% pay more than half the income tax in the country. So, they are the ones for the most part who pay the bills. So those of us who are in the bottom 98% should be thanking them for their hard work and all the taxes they pay, not demanding they pay more.
BTW- the top 2% does not stuff the extra money under their mattress, they spend it or invest it, making for economic growth and job growth. That is how capitalism works.
Gov Patrick,
Given the education you had at Milton and independent schools, do you support vouchers so that more Massachusetts families can choose the right school for their children, including independent schools?
In early 2005, I, a sometime campaign volunteer in Massachusetts, had a phone call from a Democratic activist. She asked if I would like to help an unknown guy running for governor in 2006. I learned about Deval Patrick and jumped at the chance.
A few weeks later, my husband and I sat in the basement of a Boston office building with 2 dozen other volunteers. From this tiny beginning grew a massive corps of supporters, the ground corps of the Patrick campaign and prototype for the later Obama campaign. We are so still proud of our fellow volunteers, and proud of the man who built that community.
Deval went on to give a speech at that year's state Democratic Convention. Had it been nationally televised, like another famous speech, Barack Obama might still be a Senator and Deval Patrick might have been the first Aftican-American president!
Being a women, and attempting to relate to Mr. Patrick experiences, I'm reminded of a book written by Jane Austen, "Mansfield Park", in which the lead character, Fanny, is taken from the difficult financial circumstances of her parents to live with well-off relations. Though it is written by a woman, perhaps, if Mr. Patrick is a reader, he would enjoy this one? Thank you, Diane, for such a wonderfurful array of guests who have wonderful stories to tell, such as this. We must stand for something, or we'll fall for anything.
pjnuge: I agree wholeheartedly that the rich and their corporations are paying less than half the taxes they rightly should pay. If you make it, flaunt it? The truth is that more than half of business in this country is predatory in nature, and amounts to a non-regulated business tax upon every citizen/victim. For instance, so many of us are victims of Microsoft's near monopoly on software. All philanthropy is a lie, not only Bill and Melinda Gates. If one truly wanted to "give" they would go open source. My life is an open book, and my financial affairs. I'm open source and still making a good living and paying all my taxes. Some people will work, others only grab. Which kind is Gov. Patrick? Is the price of his book a tax? Do we owe him a celebrity tax? Maybe that's another reason this system must die.
Mr. Patrick has really impressed me with his insight about how being a student of the world, is what frees a child--who would otherwise be confined to the limits of the ghetto. I have taught etiquette to children attending a school for the "at risk", so that they could participate in the world outside of their community. I have also taught reading to these kids and deliberately chosen works that would help them realize that they were citizens of a bigger world.
What's more, I am married to a man who grew up in the projects of Baltimore, MD and Montgomery, AL--and no one knows. In fact, no one can believe it. He is presently working on a JD/PHD.
Gov. Patrick, I appreciate your point to pass on kindness and grace. However, isn't there room in this national budget debate to disagree on which services we want government to provide? Saying Republicans think everyone should be on their own seems like an over simplification.
Being myself from a difficult background I am so inspired by you.
This was before your mentioning your being the son of a member of Sun Ra, gone to a white boarding school AND the governor of Mass.
With all due respect Gov Patrick. It is a math problem. The entitlement mentality that has been created since the 1960's is making us go broke. The future of our children is mortgaged to the hilt. It needs to be revised. Nobody including me wants the safety net to be lost but we cannot afford the entitlements we currently have and government is not the answer to every problem. I am about to write a check to the IRS that combined with all my state and local taxes and government fees exceeds 50% of my income. How much is enough? I am more than willing to do my share but I and many Americans are sick of hearing that the "rich" are getting a break. 50% of my hard earned income went to the government this year. Do you think I should pay more? How much more?
chagea: Every human being is already just by being born a citizen of this world. Learning to be polite to the wealthy and powerful is a mistake. Maybe you meant that you encourage self-respect, not teach manners. I do hope your determined husband completes his law doctorate and that he doesn't have to "sell-out" to pay the loans. Etiquette is no substitute for justice, and making money is no substitute for doing the right thing.
Patrick failed to explain adequately how providing vouchers for a minority destroys the educational system that must serve the majority. Picking winners is a science, a science of fixing and rigging the game. You never know which child your society may need later, and present values can distort rationality. Don't count on a jackpot: Invest in egalitarianism. If you and your husband "make it" please give back to younger deserving disadvantaged people. And in politics realize that "our house" needs both a floor and a ceiling. (The first one now shall later be last.)
KSF- Conservatives want to rip out the floor to avoid the construction of a much needed ceiling. Using jealousy and divisive hate to accomplish this aim will result in warring tribalism. I want socialism but right now I actually prefer Deval Patrick to Tony Soprano.
But if you like that sort of thing you could transfer your portfolio to Russia. Why ruin all our hopes here? It is simple, but you're in denial. Think-Are you on your own right now? Have you ever been? People are by nature social animals, not cannibals.
I wish I had commented earlier so my remarks could be read on the show and heard by all: It seems to me that Mr. Patrick brings up many sound points which solidly and factually answer the criticisms against President Obama by Republicans and others, but which arguments we don't hear from the president in response to these criticisms, and I therefore respectfully suggest that the president add the governor as a close advisor to his team, so that Mr. Patrick's thoughts and arguments could be part of the ongoing dialogue between Barack Obama and his detractors when they publicly accuse him and his administration of overspending and creating the budget crisis, for instance, or any of the myriad of other charges brought by Speaker Boehner, Paul Ryan, etc. Did anyone on the president's team listen to today's show, or is someone on the president's team reading this? This is the first time I have ever, ever commented on any show on NPR, but I was truly so impressed by Deval Patrick's appearance today that I felt compelled to try to get the attention of someone on behalf of the president.
Great interview! Loved learning more about this wonderful leader and his human approach to politics. Very hopeful for our future and such a contrast to the present leaders in my state of Arizona! It seems the AZ Legislators concentrate on guns and more prisons, rather than education and health care, as their legacy for a better world.